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super-paper · 2 months

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What was the point of Chapter 419 with AFO giving Tomura decay and being involved in his life since he was born, besides generating AFO is behind everything and Kotaro gay affair memes?

I still believe Hori could have pulled this off if he hadn't veered completely off course after 419 because a LOT of Tenko's (and AFO's) arc revolves around the concepts of "identity" and fantasy vs reality (Like, just scratching the surface: AFO attempting to escape from his reality through fantasy, Tenko angrily attempting to pull away the curtain of fantasy and expose the cruel reality of their world. AFO using "reality" as his source of power by claiming its victims for himself, Tenko using "fantasy" as his power by offering those same victims a dream and the promise of an "escape" from their painful reality. "Shigaraki Tomura" as the fictional construct that both AFO and Tenko are attempting to insert themselves into, for both different and similar reasons-- Tenko because he decides to embrace the fact that he killed his family and uses it as evidence that he was "born evil" and "wanted them to die" as a way of explaining his existence. AFO because he wants to escape from the reality that he murdered his brother, while also escaping from the reality of his origin as a helpless infant who no one would look at no matter how much he cried. Blah blah blah etc etc when I say u have to read AFO and Tenko's arcs as a set instead of getting angry at AFO for "inserting himself into Tenko's story," I really do mean it lmao).

Like, MVA aside, Chapter 115 in particular set the tone for Act 2 and HEAVILY foreshadowed what Tenko's arc would end up being about:

(lmao ya'll there is so much evidence in Act 2 that points to the idea that Hori really did want to write a deconstruction of your typical hero story. like, the framing of this panel with Jin angrily turning the TV off when they start talking about "focusing on the positives"????😭I get so sad when I think about the mha we coulda had)

(Side note: Jin was just so so so good as both a character and as a device meant to introduce the reader to MHA's concepts of identity + how a "hero/villain" identities are frequently used as crutches to stop a person from breaking apart under the weight of their trauma

..... which of course makes the fact that Hori rendered his death pointless in the end all the more upsetting :/)

(Pictured: AFO and Tenko fighting over the role of Shigaraki Tomura)

(this scene where Jin talks about the importance of knowing "who u really are" immediately transitions to a scene with AFO, btw. lmao)

((As an aside: 115 is another shining example of how Hori is definitely a competent writer, bc it manages to set up pretty much the entirety of Act 2 + its themes up in just 15-17 pages-- which is all the more reason why the extremely poor quality of MHA's conclusion is so hard to swallow. I definitely don't believe in blaming the editors/publishers alone for how things turned out, but all the same, I do think there was some executive meddling from behind the scenes bc of how rushed and disjointed the epilogue ended up being. It's not the quality we're used to, not by a long shot, and you can tell as much by reading pretty much any chapter before 423.)) /tangent over

ANYWAY. To me, it ways always pretty obvious that AFO was more or less grooming Tenko to be his perfect ~Demon Lord~ OC-- the idea of treating a real person like a fictional character is something I find pretty terrifying + it's something that further emphasizes MHA's metafiction elements, with Tenko being trapped in a role that was written for someone else. I feel that there was adequate build up to AFO being "the author" behind Shigaraki Tomura, specifically-- and it all seemed to be leading up to a point where Tenko would be encouraged to break free & finally take control of his own story ("I needed to hear those words" -> "Those guys (the villains) need a hero, too" -> "You CAN be a hero" "Uh, whoopsie??" 🥲🥲🥲)

Sadly it ends up amounting to nothing because..... Tenko isn't even allowed to fully process the implications of his birth/life and how this has influenced his actions/beliefs/"dream" before exploding, a core scene between him and Nana gets offscreened, and our MC never even bothers to react to the revelation that Tenko's life was scripted. It renders a HUGE part of Tenko's character arc almost completely pointless because we get no actual resolution/pay off for everything that was set up. Like, so much of the finale + epilogue just feels like Hori was going down a check list of plot points/parallels he wanted to include before putting MHA out of its misery, rather than building up to them naturally-- and it's just sad it had to end this way, bc, well. It didn't HAVE to end this way. Hori had all the ingredients necessary to make something truly wonderful, but he didn't use them.

#at the very least AFOtaro affair memes will always be funny #mommy issues recognizes mommy issues or w/e #sophie.txt #thank you for the ask!

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mildmayfoxe · 3 months

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big fan of your romance novel complaint posts (love to see a fellow hater living it up) but i’m also curious if there are any you would recommend? not looking for anything in particular, just would love to hear your thoughts as someone else with nitpicky reading habits and a taste for trash

ok hello. i left you hanging for a FULL week and for that i am sorry but i wanted to be able to have some time to sit down and type out a real answer to which the short version is YES of course there are several that i have enjoyed!! my disclaimer is that i almost solely read gay romance so if you are looking for lesbian or even straight reccs i don't have much for you (although i will put a couple at the end anyway). hopefully something in this list is interesting to you or at least interesting to someone else! links are mostly to goodreads. break bc i'm gonna write too much

-kj charles is one of my fave authors in this genre bc they're all pretty reliable and there's a ton of them. they're all historical fiction and usually there's at least one murder- she's good at keeping a plot going while developing a romance. often supernatural or magical elements. sometimes cults! i've read almost all of the books she's written and have enjoyed them all

-charlie adhara wrote a really incredible werewolf series that i loved, the first of which is the wolf at the door. this is one of the only series i've read which keeps the emotional stakes up through the whole thing & kept me interested in a relationship after it was established bc sooo many series get boring the second the leads get together. i actually read the first book of the spin-off series (a pack of lies) first which is technically possible but i don't recommend bc i was like "wow they're really throwing me in here. i love it" and then i read the first series and i was like "oh i was supposed to know all this stuff." but i actually liked the dynamic between that couple better and i'm suffering every day because the next one still doesn't come out til 2025 and i read it in 2022. also worth noting that this (the original series) is cops-ajacent (~federal special agents~) and one of the characters is really prejudiced at the beginning & imo doesn't have enough character growth before it's waved away but if you can ignore that it's really good. mysteries! werewolves!

-speaking of werewolves (i could suggest several but i'll keep it to two) tj klune's wolfsong ends up at the top of a lot of gay werewolf novel lists (i'm keeping tabs) and there's a good reason. i enjoyed it a lot. made me kind of sad which is always a good sign to me. the writing voice was very fresh and novel at first but i did find it a little grating by the end so i've put off starting the second book in the series (it's also about a different couple which was disappointing) but i will get around to it. i enjoy tj klune in general although his recent stuff has a very different vibe than this and lightning struck heart is very 2015 in a bad way imo

-bone rider by j fally is a standalone that really delighted me. the russian mob? aliens? vaguely western? possession? throuple? it's got it all. very fun

-ok speaking of westerns there's this other series called magic & steam (yes it's steampunk. sorry. it's very silly) that starts with the engineer. a federal agent is sent to a town to apprehend a ~madman engineer~ except he runs into an infamous outlaw in the process. and the outlaw is really sexy. and probably why i enjoyed the series so much. the series also keeps them apart a lot in a way that i enjoy- i love when things take a long time. it's ongoing so this is another one that i keep checking for updates on

-i've read a lot of stuff by nr walker and they tend to be VERY hit or miss for me but one of my faves is evolved which is almost pure smut. it's about a sex robot that gains sentience. what more do i need to say. she also wrote a three-book series about an amnesiac that made me cry cry cry. and her cowboy (australian rancher) series is pretty ok. i could go through a list and tell you which novels of hers aren't worth it and which ones are good; i've read most of them

-salt magic skin magic by lee welch was a big surprise to me. cool magic, good folklore, fairies in there too. historical. big kj charles vibes which makes sense bc she edited it. welch also wrote a book called seducing the sorcerer which i had more mixed feelings about but had magic in it that i think about OFTEN (the horses)- that one's about an imposing sorcerer and a rundown groom cum handyman. and they're in their FORTIES!!! 🥳🥳🥳 (i love when books are not about 23 year olds)

-another one with a magic system i enjoyed was magician by kl noone. this was the first book i read by this author and i liked it but generally i find their books are too "nice" for me. i'm in the middle of one right now that i started months and months ago that i keep trying to go back to and it's sooo rough for me. but this one and the twelfth enchantment are pretty ok

-emily tesh wrote a duology of silver in the wood and drowned country that i loved because i am suuuuch a sucker for a wild man/green man story. really good. haunting! evocative! kj charles has a green man story too which was actually the first thing i read of hers (spectred isle)

-i complained about the monsterfucker book i was reading a while back but despite that i will also recommend the series it's from: lily mayne's monstrous, which starts with soul eater. are they messy? yes. are they repetitive? yes. are the monsters usually disappointingly humanoid? yes. are a lot of them about the military? also yes. so we're starting off on a bad foot. but the world building is interesting and there's LOTS of kinds of monsters and most of them were pretty fun. the one i just read (#7) was the worst one of the bunch though imo. and i have problems with #6. but 1 2 and 5 were good

-ok i should do a quickfire round. honeytrap: about two enemy agents during the cold war. put it off for a long time bc i didn't love that but it takes place over a VERY long period of time which is always interesting to me. zero at the bone: about a hitman who needs to protect a witness to a mob hit. really strong start but fell off a bit in the middle to the end imo.

-you'll notice a lot of these have subgenres of like fantasy historical supernatural etc but here's some regular contemporaries. a lot of these are about sad guys bc those are my favorite. best laid plans: hardware store owner helps a guy fix his house. in the middle of somewhere: same author actually. guy moves to small town to work at a college. mr jingle bells: this is a christmas one. bad title. fake dating. part of the reason i think i liked it so much is because i expected it to be awful but it was actually pretty good. good emotional stakes. published 2021 but feels very 2014. ignore that part. work for it: i rated this five stars but actually don't remember much what it was like. i think they were both really sad which i love. give me big emotions and i eat them right up with a spoon. i should read it again

-OK now i've got some straight & lesbian options. talia hibbert's brown sisters series is good and cute. she also wrote work for it, above. the unhoneymooners is the first real Romance Novel that i read and it really surprised me because i had fun! previously i had kind of written off romance novels as not for me but this kicked off a reading habit that is still going strong (primarily reading romance novels). i read this in 2020 so it might not be as good as i remember. as for lesbian options olivia waite has a series that i enjoyed that's also historical, and a friend of mine really enjoyed delilah green doesn't care (but i haven't read that one myself). and while not really romances i will always be a sarah waters fan: you may recognize her as the author of fingersmith, which is the novel park chan-wook's movie the handmaiden is based on. if you haven't seen the movie or read the book i recommend both. her books are very dramatic lesbian historical fiction; they don't always have happy endings but they're all very good

ok i think that's the end! regular disclaimer that romance is generally not a genre notable for Good Writing so a lot of these are just things i had fun with or just stuck out in my memory for having fun conceits etc. i can't guarantee that any of these are actually good, especially because this is a list solely based on my own taste and bad memory. would love to hear anybody's thoughts and/or if anybody has recommendations for ME!!! this post took me over three hours to write! crazy!

#asks #dogda #ummm how should i tag this if i need to find it again #book reccs #book list #i have given a few of these to some of you as recommendations before! i love to talk about my stupid little romance novels #before you click on the readmore know that this is long

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thepringlesofblood · 5 months

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bonus content for those who read the taz: the 11th hour graphic novel and haven’t listened to the podcast arc

disclaimer: so. I lost my book about 1/4 of the way into this post. so the rest of it is just from memory (I did finish reading it several times, I just no longer have it to refer to). I wanted to post this before the next one comes out though, so here we are. If I find my book, I will attempt to finish up the details for the rest of the book. I cover some basic big things from memory, but nowhere near as detailed as the stuff I wrote down when I had the book to refer to. but in the meantime...let’s go!

by god they’ve done it again. 11th hr is a Lot and definitely the most plot-heavy book so far, PLUS they had to include the first lunar interlude where the boys had individual scenes. the result is frankly beautiful. we’re really hitting critical mass now.

as a result a lot more stuff got compressed, cut, changed, or skipped. i’m going to try to at least point out each difference, though there’s no way I could summarize EVERYTHING that got cut in one post. I’m going to be linking relevant episodes (& transcripts thank u tazscripts) instead, for things that are Just Too Much to include.

as always, this post is intended to be Fun and Cool Bonus Content for people who haven’t listened to the podcast, not a manifesto of stuff they “should have” included or a list of flaws. they had 11+ hours of content to squish into one graphic novel, that happened over a period of months. of course stuff got cut. and it’s stuff that was recorded in 2016. that’s eight years ago. of course some things are going to change.

tl;dr - I liked the dang book. you can be sad something wasn’t in the novel while still understanding why it isn’t. here is a list of the stuff that was changed, skipped, compressed, or cut, presented as cool facts & extra info for gn fans who haven’t listened to the podcast.

spoilers ahoy for the 11th hour, but I’ll try to keep spoilers for the rest of the series to a minimum or at least mark them clearly. At the very end I’m going to put a section of series-spoiler theories and observations, very clearly marked

Before getting into the nitty-gritty, there are a few MAJOR changes from the podcast I want to get out of the way first. This list also includes “stuff I remember but don’t have the book to refer back to on”

Several characters and a whole section of the map were cut.

I think this is the first time that any named, plot-relevant characters have been completely cut. The closest we’ve come so far was the bugbears, but they at least had a cameo in the photo in Lucas’ quarters. Luca, Redmond, and Stonefruit Farms fully don’t exist in the GN series.

the boys meet Redmond in ep 46, pt 6 of the 11th hr arc, having met his brother Luca at the end of the previous episode.

long story short, Redmond was the leader of the purple-kerchiefed ruffians and the brains behind the bank robbery, which The Boys had to go through with so that Redmond would help his lowkey-estranged brother Luca raise the temple of Istus from its decrepit state, as they were both devout priests of Istus. The whole key being in the vault thing is GN-only.

Also, Luca is a skeleton bc he was in the temple when it got rapidly old-ified, but dw he’s fine he’s just a skeleton. he gets better.

Redmond’s motivation for robbing the bank is that as a priest of Istus, lady of fate, he follows his gut feelings and intuition, and he had a strong feeling that whatever was in the vault would be the key to taking down the bubble.

they basically took all of the plot-necessary elements from Luca & Redmond and gave them to Ren. In the podcast, Ren actually blasts some of the purple-kerchiefed ruffians out of her bar after they get too rowdy. She isn’t involved with the robbery in the slightest.

Merle’s Temporal Chalice scene

in the podcast, it’s his arm being chopped off. or more specifically, grabbing a crystal that exploded and made him have to get his arm chopped off.

Him running out on his kids is played kind of for laughs at first in the podcast. Merle is a heel for a lot longer there, bc the funniest improv is usually not the most ethical improv. They do talk about his life and the fact that he has a family, but the offer made by the chalice is for him to have his arm back

frankly, I think they made the right move in the GN. We get very little of Hecuba in the podcast, and I really liked seeing more of that conflict.

Roswell, my beloved

so, in 2016 when they did the podcast, the McElroys were at, let’s say a different place in their journey of learning about the queer community. which is to say that in the podcast Roswell’s pronouns were wildly inconsistent, in part due to them being a clay construct, in part due to them not being introduced with any pronoun in particular [though Griffin clarifies that he intends for Roswell to use they/them a little later on in the arc], and in part bc the boys just weren’t really familiar with the singular they. they tended vacillate between they/them, it/its, and he/him. we all learn and grow.

in the book, thankfully, Roswell is 100% they/them. fuck yeah. related. The Boys are significantly worse people to Roswell in the podcast. like, significantly. we’ll get into it as it comes up more, I just want to signpost it here.

e.g. Taako giving Roswell control of themselves and their command word is a GN original, in the podcast The Boys kind of “junebug” them around for large swaths of the last few episodes. also, a significant number of earlier loops involve them basically negging Roswell into believing that Isaak hired outside help (The Boys) with security bc they weren’t cutting it anymore (rude). I much prefer the geologists gambit they go with in the GN.

Diamonds

Paloma’s prophecies cost money in the podcast, so a lot of The Boys’ shenanigans (and a significant number of loops) are in pursuit of getting cash. which, in Refuge, is diamonds. Some examples:

Before figuring out that you can’t take objects with you, the boys do straight up take some diamonds from the bank post-robbery.

Taako gets Ren and a patron of her bar, Ash, to sign up and pay for a seminar/magic lesson he’ll be giving tomorrow (one of my all-time fav scenes). This leads to a touching scene at the end when the bubble finally comes down where Taako gives Ren a little certificate that says “first graduate of Taako’s Amazing School of Magic.”

Magnus tries to armwrestle a guy for cash (Merle’s idea), and though he rolls a 27 Strength check, the Goliath barbarian he’s rolling against gets a 28.

Paloma offers 1 diamond for a small prophecy, 10 for a big one. in the GN they aren’t differentiated, and one small prophecy just doesn’t show up as it’s not needed.

the taz fandom wiki has a handy list of all the prophecies she gives in the podcast

ok! let’s go!

Prologue (the bit before ch 1)

this isn’t in the 11th hour podcast.

the information we get about The Visitor in the 11th hour (from The Boys asking various Refuge residents) is that

Jack and June brought them to Refuge

or, they brought Jack and June to Refuge. We hear both things at different times.

they’re depicted in the statue as having a Red Robe and being kinda broad-shouldered.

Roswell never met them. At first they refer to The Visitor with he/him pronouns, but then mention “I say ‘he’, I didn’t know them”

they tended to keep their face hidden (maybe?)

that’s pretty much it

we learn about this interaction much much much much much later in the podcast, not as a scene that is played out, but abstractly as an event that happened, after we find out who The Visitor is.

that said, I LOVE this scene’s inclusion and expansion. it makes total sense to me.

Jack is never described as having a sketchbook or being an artist. this will come back later.

the final scene of the arc in the podcast is instead June giving Magnus some previous designs for the statue of Jack, June, & a Red Robe/The Visitor in the middle of town, with a version where the hood of the robe is down and the face of the Red Robe/The Visitor is visible.

Ch. 1

this is where the podcast starts at episode 1 of the 11th hr.

boyland’s funeral is very accurate. his comically large family of 400 sons (mentioned in CK podcast) is why the Voidfish lights up like that.

the only real differences I could find were:

in the podcast what is erased is basically boyland’s personnel file. like, a report or write-up of who he is and his work for the BoB. johann writing songs about boyland’s life is new.

the only pronouns ever used for the voidfish in the podcast are they/them, it/its, and occasionally he/him. past taz graphic novels have used they/them. on pg 13 of 11th hr, both Johann and Merle use she/her for the voidfish.

I do not like this, but I have a suspicion as to why, and I don’t like that either. see spoiler-y observations at the end for more.

they merged this scene with a scene from the skipped lunar interlude before CK, where The Boys take cpt. cpt. bane’s “file” to the voidfish to be eaten.

I described this in my other posts, but the two things relevant here are Magnus putting his hand up on the glass and vibing w the voidfish, and this exhange b/w Johann and The Boys:

Johann: When I, um, can I ask you guys a question?

Magnus: Sure.

Taako: Of course, Johann.

Johann: Are you guys really okay with, with this part of the deal?

Magnus: That we get forgot?

Taako: Which part?

Johann: Yeah, are you cool with like, if you beef it down there, the world just forgets about you?

Magnus: Well, I’m not planning on ever dying.

in the podcast, bc Avi isn’t there, Angus operates the cannons (Avi showed him how before he left). he is extremely nervous about it and about killing them on accident. once they’re in the orb taako casts stoneskin on himself “just in case”, but everything works out totally fine, though avi mentions when The Boys land that the stoneskin should’ve thrown off the trajectory.

the gn keeps the spirit of taako trusting no one without the angus psychological damage by having him just cast a better version of the spell angus cast, and I am a fan.

the leveling up stats aren’t right in the book, as I’m sure every dnd 5e nerd has already tweeted about.

they’re all level 10, so magnus should be a level 8 fighter and a level 2 rogue bc 2+8=10, while the other two boys are still just a level 10 cleric and a level 10 wizard bc they didn’t multiclass.

fantasy costco-wise: aside from the stuff they have in the book (all things they do own in the podcast, though hole-thrower and the feather-weight cuirass were from the fantasy gachapon), merle picks up matthias the living grimoire, magnus gets the magnetic charge and the tarantula bracelet, and taako gets the arcane trickster’s glove (no wiki page rip it just gives you some arcane trickster powers) and mockingbird gum.

they beat up the baby worms more before letting them go, it’s a full battle

Ch. 2

in the podcast, when they go through the barrier, they find themselves in an empty white space where they see an old woman holding the cup. she says “It’s you!” with recognition upon seeing them, and then says “find me” before they wake up.

important: every time the boys die in the podcast, they go back to this space briefly before waking up.

sometimes the woman gives a cryptic message, sometimes not, and in their later loops, the woman collapses, breathing heavily.

we find out in the end that this woman is June - she has a whole extended de-aging sequence later that they probably cut so poor Carey didn’t have to do a bajillion character models for June at different ages just for a few panels of dramatic effect.

pg 36 - to head off any dnd 5e nitpickers, Magnus does not have proficiency in rustic hospitality, since that’s not a skill. Magnus does have a character feat called “Rustic Hospitality” that he chose at level 1.

claiming to have proficiency in things you can’t possibly have proficiency in is a longstanding goof both in taz and among people who play dnd 5e in general, because it’s funny.

in the book, they intercut each loop with a scene from lunar interlude 3, and it works really really well. we’ll get to those scenes as they come up.

Is this the first time someone uses he/him for The Red Robe in the gn series? (Roswell says ‘his’)

in the podcast Roswell mentions having never met the visitor, and comments “I say “he”, but I don’t know.”

in the GN, when The Boys tell the director about The Red Robe in CK they use they/them pronouns and so does the director, but after this, even @ the end of the book after Taako guesses that The Red Robe they’ve been talking to isn’t the same Red Robe from Refuge, he and the other boys continue to use he/him for The Red Robe.

“Mystic Analysis”

he just did an arcana check in the podcast, I don’t think Taako had Identify as a spell, which is what the DND equivalent would be.

they also don’t figure out that Roswell has a command word until much later, during the Diary Of Sheriff Isaak scene.

Griffin basically says “[they’re] an earth elemental, with a bird on [them], and earth elementals don’t generally have birds on them, so maybe it was just nearby when the spell was cast and got caught up in it”

Cassidy

in the podcast, she’s in jail for blowing up the temple of Istus, which she didn’t do.

GN Ren mentions later on that the temple got “un-built” which references how in the podcast the temple suddenly aged a matter of centuries in seconds, so from the outside it looked kind of explode-y. and cassidy is known for blowing shit up, so she was blamed. she also theorizes that it might be racism due to her half-orc heritage.

in the GN, cassidy’s arrested for trespassing on the closed mines, which she absolutely has done. it makes more sense, and eliminates a major plot point they cut from the book

she is otherwise pretty much the same, I love her very much

Paloma pretty much stays in her cottage in the podcast rather than sneaking around.

the fantastic exchange of “you guys have been here 45 minutes, what the fuck did you bring with you?!” “you should see what we can do in an hour!” is 100% verbatim from the podcast.

in the podcast, Ren is dead the first bank fire (and in most subsequent bank fires). she also wasn’t one of the bandits, or involved with the bank robbery at all

in fact, in the loop where The Boys were doing the bank robbery, she unexpectedly came in, recognized Taako, and almost blew their cover.

With so little time left on the clock, Taako cast Banishment on her to keep her safe and out of the way, but she made her saving throw - so it didn’t work, but she knew Taako tried to cast some spell on her, and there was a somber moment of her falling backwards trying to get away from him, tears in her eyes.

look it’s a good lil character moment

I can’t emphasize enough how brutal the first description of the bank fire and subsequent world-ending is. Griffin pulled 0 punches.

Magnus rushes in and he describes the scene like “you see a guy, who looks like this. they’re dead. you see two guards. they’re dead. you see a woman holding a tray of diamonds. she’s dead. you see this person, also dead. you see a dwarven bank teller. she might be alive, but it’s hard to tell, and if she was she is on the brink of death”

I think the boys, brogden, and maybe one of the purple-kerchief ruffians (which is how they are described in the podcast) survived the first one, and everyone else died in that bank. it felt so brutal listening to it the first time because you (and the boys) didn’t know about the loop yet, so it was just. horrifying.

I love how they pulled in off in the GN!!! the clock hands are just *chef kiss*

just before Griffin describes the destruction of Refuge, Travis interjects, “Ditto, did you base this on Majora’s Mask?”

while Griffin does not respond in the moment, he later confirms that Travis is correct.

Griffin’s description of the fiery deaths of The Boys: “And you’re being crushed by the shattered earth as it compresses down into the ground. And you hear an anguished scream come from something massive and furious, and all three of you have died…And there’s something about the dying that feels familiar.”

“and then you wake up.” hardcut to end of episode music. v epic.

Ch. 3 (i s2g they’re not all going to be this detailed the major plot differences are mostly out of the way now)

as mentioned, the scenes between each loop in the gn happen in Lunar Interlude III (transcript) (episode) - each of The Boys got to choose a scene to have in between arcs and Justin chose to have Taako give Angus magic lessons.

they’re all more abstract in the eps (Taako establishes a recurring time and place to give Angus lessons, and we get scenes from earlier vs later lessons, various shenanigans, etc.) but the major points are actually pretty much the same, just condensed into one scene in the book.

also taako giving magic lessons in his quarters makes 100% sense, but in the podcast they did it in the cafeteria, and that’s where the LUP is burned into the wall. significant? potentially.

in the podcast angus had made some macarons for taako but forgot to flavor them (he nailed the texture though which is hard to do in a macaron) so he asked taako to prestidigitate them better and then scorching ray happened and blasted em to shreds.

LUP. dude. I thought it was an acronym when I first heard it, bc in the podcast, Griffin says “So your staff, you lost control of it and you blasted the letters “L-U-P” into the wall.” Seeing it in cursive, all gorgeous and capitalized like a proper noun? knocked me the fuck out.

another dnd 5e tiny detail: in the gn, the description for Angus’ first wand says “wonderful stocking stuffer for the young sorcerer in your life”

i could have a whole conspiracy board about this.

skip this if you’re not super into dnd 5e mechanics

the difference (in dnd 5e) b/w a wizard, a warlock, and a sorcerer is:

wizard: gets magic from study and practice - taako is a wizard bc he studied spellcraft and learned how to do it.

warlock: gets magic from making a deal with something/someone far more magical than themselves - garfield is a warlock, so his magic stems from a deal he made with something (the devil??)

sorcerer: has innate magic within them.

this could come from a myriad of places, but usually from heritage or bloodline - maybe your great-grandfather was a god or a dragon or a demon or a djinn or something, or maybe your mom touched a weird rock as a kid and got magic powers that she passed onto you when she had you.

in the podcast, angus is only ever referred to as a wizard. makes sense - regular boy + magic training from taako = wizard boy.

but if he’s a sorcerer, the magic really was in him all along. is taako teaching him to channel it? does he know?

this also fits with a weirdly popular headcanon the taz community had for a while about angus secretly being a silver dragon (in dnd, color = different abilities, diff personality, etc, and silver ones like to shapeshift and pretend to be humans sometimes).

“draconic bloodline” is one of the most common sorcerer backgrounds - it basically just means ‘a dragon got involved at some point in this family tree, so now you can cast ray of frost’.

hmmmmmmm

end conspiracy theory

It is at this point that I lost my damn book. so. I’m just gonna post this bc the next graphic novel is coming out soon and I want to post it before then. If i find my book I’ll finish it up. If you have post-chapter 3 differences you noticed that aren’t already covered, feel free to reply/reblog with them!

Spoiler-y Observations Below!

CAUTION: contains spoilers for the rest of taz balance!

*voidfish speculation: my suspicion is that they’re using ‘she’ for the voidfish to foreshadow that they have a baby, so that makes them a “mother”? i call bullshit, but i’ve heard it used before as a justification for misgendering an enby who gives birth. obvs the voidfish is not a human being, people can have multiple pronouns, it’s not a 1:1 comparison, but i for one (as an enby myself) really liked the voidfish using they/them and feel oddly betrayed at them suddenly changing the pronouns. fingers crossed that there’s a different reason.

"what am statue” is low-key foreshadowing since magnus says it

merle knowing what relativistic time dilation is

LUP was burnt into the wall in the cafeteria in the podcast - lucretia would’ve seen it for sure. so they put it in taako’s room this time...

aw no ‘sorry about the cookies little man’

In 5 or however many years when gn series ends, someone should do a poll of people who only read the graphic novels and see if any of them pronounce “Lup” weird since they’ve only ever seen it written down.

hero wreathed in flames 0.0 I hope Joaquin is still there in the finale but I like the duality here

BATTLEAXEPROFICIENCYEASTEREGG

SNEAK PEEK AT THE HUNGER SNEAK PEEK AT THE STARBLASTER AAAAAAAA

257 - ‘I know him better than you could ever imagine’ because he created you? Oof ouch ow my bones. also....the magnus that made the cup was a very different person from magnus now. it’s not what Julia would want - the cup never met julia, obvs, and does not know the ways she changed him for the better.

Bottom of 327 - sweet Angus boy are you drawing something on that orb?

Istus is like you’ve been serving me your whole lives without knowing it in the podcast - maybe a bit too much foreshadowing for the GN

#dnd #taz #taz gn #taz graphic novel #the adventure zone #taz b #taz balance #taz b spoilers #taz balance spoilers #original post #ongoing

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sheikahwarriork · 5 months

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SOOOO i just binge-watched this silly tv show called "for all mankind" that is about when usa and urss were fighting over being the best™ at conquering space (but historic "what if" bc urss gets on the moon first) and it's cool bc astronomy and nasa and astronauts and etc and. suddenly the weirdest thing happened. i fell so fREAKING HARD for these two dorks desperately in love: austitic and lonely american woman x charming and blonde russian man (better known as margo and sergei). and i didnt think i would fall so hard for a ship about two middle-aged people in a kinda sci-fi serie?? but man i did. and of course then Things Happened That Made Me Sad. very Sad. but this is where my story gets funny: i tried to look for fics on ao3 about this tv show (bc that's what everybody does when something in the canon material goes wrong ofc). i was expecting something like, 30 fics in total, if i was lucky some about margo/sergei. but NOPE.

301 WORKS!!!!!

OF WHICH

MORE THAN A THIRD ABOUT MY BELOVEDS, ALSO FIRST PAIRING THAT COMES UP!!!!!!!

this whole thing made my day and almost made me forget about Sad Things. i cant believe i get to read stories about my babies being happy 🥺👉👈 people on ao3 really are the saviors of us sad folks. i love every author on this planet. thank u 4 existing

(p.s. "autistic lonely girl x blonde charming guy" yes i do see the dimileth elements here. yes i'm aware i see dimileth in everything. what did you expect, me to be normal for ONCE? >:D )

#for all mankind #margo x sergei #YES I'LL BE CRAZY ABOUT THESE TWO FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS BE READY #theyre so cute GRRRRR i'll never recover from season 4.#yuzu speaks

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treemaidengeek · 7 months

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Hey, fellow spoonies! Got a min for a bit of writing that has absolutely transformed my relationship to my chronic illness?

This is from Mindfulness Meditation for Pain Relief by Jon Kabat-Zinn, based on his experiences co-running (?) a clinic specifically for people with severe unmanageable chronic illness & chronic pain. Part of the book is exercises, which weren't hugely impactful for me. But this section I've listened to over and over. It's been a game changer for me. Maybe it'll help you too.

Below the cut bc it's long.

"First, a working definition of mindfulness so we know what we're talking about when we use that word. You can think of mindfulness as pure awareness. In particular, the awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, without judgment or reaction, to whatever appears in the field of your experience.

You already have awareness. It’s as much a part of being human as our capacity for thinking or for breathing. So you can always ask yourself in any moment: is my awareness of pain, in pain? and then take a look and see. You can also expand this line of investigation to ask yourself, is my awareness of fear afraid? Is my awareness of anger, angry? Is my awareness of sadness, sad? Very revealing and liberating exploration, as we shall experience firsthand.

Of course being non-judgmental and non-reactive sounds like an ideal. But it isn't, really, not in the way we’re talking about it. It's a way of being in relationship to experience, a commitment to--as best we can–suspend our judging for a time, and suspend believing in our judgements as being true.

Of course, we judge everything, and tend to react automatically whenever things are not to our liking. And we can be very emotionally reactive, especially when we're hurting. So as we shall see further on, and in the practices themselves, we just observe the judging and reacting when they arise, and–as best we can–refrain from judging our judging, or reacting to our reactions.

A number of principles, attitudes, and perspectives are important to keep in mind when cultivating a mindful approach to working with chronic pain conditions or any other distressing elements in your life.

Here are seven that are fundamental and bear revisiting and keeping in mind, and listening to again and again, just as with the meditation practices. We will be making use of them every day, and even moment by moment throughout the day.

1. As we said, as long as you’re breathing there is really more right with you than wrong, no matter what is wrong. And our work will involve mobilizing those interior resources of your own inner landscape, of your body and mind, to work for you to improve the quality of your day-to-day and moment-to-moment life.

2. One of those interior resources is the power of the present moment. The power of “now” is enormous, yet mostly we persist in living in the past or in the future, in memory or in constant anticipation, worry, and planning, most of the time. And we never realize and never recognize how powerful and healing it can be to inhabit this moment, the only one we are ever alive in.

So strange as it may sound, it turns out it is very challenging to actually live in the present moment, even though it's the only time we ever really have to do anything: for learning, for growing, for coming to terms with things as they are, for expressing our affection and appreciation for others, for loving. All this takes ongoing practice.

3. Of course we are happy to show up more in the present moment as long as it's exactly to our liking. But it usually isn't anywhere near as good or as pleasant as we would wish it to be. That is true even if we don't have a chronic pain condition that we could see as the cause of all our troubles.

Have you noticed how easy it is to always want things to be different from how they actually are?

We certainly don't want to inhabit the present moment if we don't like it, and we certainly don't like it if we are in significant pain. So we can easily get caught up in trying to distract ourselves and escape from the present moment because it's not to our liking.

4. Our usual options when faced with situations we don't like and wouldn't want anyone to suffer from, are twofold. As we just saw, we can turn away from them and try to ignore them or escape from them as best we can. Or alternatively, we can get caught up in obsessing about our troubles endlessly and feel victimized.

Either way we might (as so many people do) turn to familiar resources at our disposal to dull the pain, such as alcohol or drugs, or food or TV, even if those coping strategies don't work, are addictive, or have terrible consequences that may make our lives worse in the long run.

We might also get into the habit of being irritable, gruff, and angry a good deal of the time, out of our own pain and frustration. Or emotionally withdrawn from others and from life, distant, cut off, in a state of perpetual contraction of both body and mind.

None of these coping strategies make for much happiness and ease of being. Grinning and bearing it isn't much fun. And blaming all our troubles on the pain doesn't actually make anything any better, as we usually come to see at some point or other. This can just further compound our frustration and even despair.

5. There is a third way of dealing with painful experiences, a way of being rather than perpetual doing and forcing. One that involves neither turning away from painful experiences, nor becoming overwhelmed by them. That third way is the way of mindfulness, the way of opening to and befriending our experience, however strange that may sound.

We do this by turning toward what we most fear to feel and opening gradually, over time, and only to the degree that you choose, to the full range of our experiences in any given moment, even when what we are experiencing is highly unpleasant, aversive, and unwanted.

You could think of it as putting out the welcome mat for what is happening. Because whatever it is, it is happening already. Any attempt to turn away is really a denying of your situation, which doesn't help much. And succumbing to resignation, a sense of being defeated, or to depression or perhaps even self-pity will clearly only make matters worse. If we take the turning-away route, we will be turning away from the opportunity to learn from what the pain has to teach us.

If we take the turning-away route, even though it may seem simpler when we are in a depressed mind-state, we may never find openings, new possibilities, new beginnings, new ways of being that are available to us right inside our own circumstances and our own mind and body. We might not discover that we can become stronger and more flexible in the face of whatever it is that we are dealing with, discover new options for relating to what we are carrying – which is the root meaning in Latin of the word “to suffer.” The approach of mindfulness, of turning-toward and opening to our experience – even when it is difficult – can readily lead to new ways of seeing including new possibilities for coming to terms with our situation in the moment, whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not.

This is called resilience, an interior strength we can cultivate through practice. A way to live, and live well, with what life offers up for us: “the full catastrophe,” as Zorba the Greek called it – the human condition itself.

6. This path of mindfulness involves learning to open to experience moment by moment with kindness and compassion towards oneself, whether what you are experiencing in any given moment is pleasant, unpleasant, or neither pleasant nor unpleasant. And without judging the experience as good if we like it, bad if we don't like it, and boring if we don't have any particular feeling one way or another.

As we said earlier, that doesn’t mean we won’t be judging plenty. But we can form the intention to suspend our hair-trigger tendency to judge everything according to whether we like it or not, and also our tendency to react emotionally and fairly automatically in a similar way : with acquisitiveness, even greediness, if we like it and therefore always want it to last or want more of it; and with rejection, anger, hatred, or disappointment if we don’t like it and want it to go away.

So non-judging and emotional balance in the face of challenging circumstances will be factors we can cultivate in working mindfully with our moment-to-moment experience–not as ideals we try to impose on ourselves or strive to grab hold of, but as potentials already within ourselves that we can learn to recognize and bring into greater awareness when they do arise.

Over time and with practice, we may find that being less emotionally reactive and less harshly judgemental, and kinder and more accepting of ourselves and our moments–however they may be–becomes more and more our default setting, rather than anger, resentment, fear, self-loathing, and contraction in both the mind and the body. And since these kinds of contractions of mind and body usually increase the intensity of our pain, they just compound our misery and suffering. This is one easy way we can exert significant positive influence over our pain.

7. None of this has to do with making anything go away. We’re not trying to suppress our pain or “control” it, or suppress our emotional state. We’re not trying to fix anything at all–even though we may want to, or feel helpless and resentful that medicine cannot fix what we feel is the matter. On the contrary, we are just looking for a place to sit or to stand, a momentary refuge within which we can contemplate the present moment, and perhaps discover some respite right in the middle of things as they are, however they are. Amazingly, this stance of what I often call non-doing or just being can very quickly lead to things changing–since things are always changing, even our pain and our relationship to it.

But sometimes if we are too stuck in our thought-habits, in the same old ruts regarding our condition, desperate to get somewhere else or fix something you think might be broken, or else make it go away, our very desire and fixation may lead to its just staying around longer, as if we were actually feeding those energies, as if we ourselves are locking ourselves in and preventing our world from changing. The world and our bodies are always changing. That is a natural law: the law of impermanence. Everything changes. Why would we be an exception? So sometimes patience and forbearance may be called for, and good strategies for allowing things to change and even heal on their own."

#jon kabat zinn #spoonie #mindfulness #coping strategies #chronic illness #chronic pain #pain management #mental health #I just have the audiobook so I've made my best guess at kabat zinn's punctuation #I'm not affiliated with him or anything I just found his work super helpful and want to share #if it seems helpful to you you might consider checking it out from your library to hear/read more and to help him out as a writer #this is not mine!#in case that's not obvious

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marimbles · 1 year

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I know this is super random and like a year late, but as the consummate marichat fan, what were your thoughts on Elation?

first of all, apparently there are two definitions of the word “consummate” and until now i only knew the first one. HDNSND

second, i have many thoughts about elation but they are honestly kind of mixed and jumbled!!! On one hand, WHAT AN EPISODE!!!!! it still feels like a fever dream lmao. marichat fell in love and went on a cute little date and he took her up way in the sky with his baton carrying her princess style and then they tango’d over to andre’s and wanted to get Love ice cream and then they had the CUTEST KISS EVER!!!!! nose kiss cheek kiss lip kiss combo are you kidding. Are you KIDDING me. then he was trying to be respectful and not take advantage??? 😭 and she got AKUMATIZED bc she wanted to keep kissing him so bad??? HDJDJD and then the angsty second kiss to break her free omfggggggg people died (im people). the little moment at the end too when they agree to go their separate ways but hug like good friends who are in love. Waaaaa my heart. It was all really really good. I loved it. When I first watched it I kept having to pause and pace around like a madman fhsndn

On the other hand, it was so different from my personal vision of marichat that I wasn’t totally sure how to feel! The essence Marichat to me has always been a friends-to-lovers slowburn, so “sin ship” stuff or fics where they very quickly fall into a relationship against their better judgment have never been my cup of tea. And this episode felt like sort of a tamer, canon-appropriate version of that? It came on so fast and was over just as quickly. marichat ended up being just a one-night fling, basically. which is fine because I i always figured it wouldn’t play a big role in the plot—we got wayyyy more marichat than I ever expected to get! So I’m grateful! I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth haha. But at the same time I couldn’t help but feel sort of disappointed in how it all played out. because while I’ve always been rooting for reverse crush development, I never truly wanted a “love square flip” in the sense of them completely switching love interests from ladrien to marichat. That idea never felt super authentic to the characters to me. I feel like OG crush is so baked in to the love square, you know? This probably sounds rich coming from such a loud annoying marichat stan lmao but I always think of them as still being partly in love with OG crush underneath it all, even if marichat are together.

Anyway, i guess I just had a hard time processing it at all because I had a very specific vision/preference for how I wanted the love square to play out—which was basically, reverse crush develops simultaneously with OG crush and they have to figure out how to deal with being in love with two people at once, and then at the reveal they get the relief of knowing it was always the same person all along, and of course they fell for them twice. Idk to me that would be the most satisfying culmination of the love square—one of the most interesting romantic plot elements I’ve ever seen! And that’s not how the show writers decided to go. Which is OK. We got so much good love square and there will be more to come. I really have been trying to let go of what was always just my personal preference for the LS. But at the time I couldn’t help but feel it was sort of wasting a lot of potential by going in this direction. And that did kind of sour my experience watching elation. marichat was set up and discarded so quickly, as if to both satisfy the fans and also shut them up lol. like “here, you got your marichat, you animals. and now that door is permanently closed bc we just proved how it would never work.” Hahaha. And tbh maybe that was a necessity! Like the closure of that possibility.

All in all elation was an amazing episode. It just made me sort of sad at the end, watching marichat die within minutes of becoming canon. also at the time there were a bunch of marichat stans being kind of obnoxious and salting on ladrien which also dampened the mood a lot for me. So I felt weirdly sad for a while after watching it, even tho it was such an exciting ride that I’d been looking forward to. I guess I just keep thinking “yes this is what I wanted!! …except not like this tbh”

lol I’m so entitled Im sorry….we ate SO good. Elation will always be iconic. Weredad is still my all-time favorite episode though! :)

#anon #ask #marichat #ml elation #ml

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transsexualhamlet · 1 year

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i saw a post ranking how much each of the Valar hates Melkor and I thought I would make a post with kinda the opposite side of that, so

Melkor's Ranked List of Most Hated to Least Hated Valar

Burning Scorching Undying Hatred

Yavanna- There is just a special #1 enmity Melkor has for her, as is very obvious. He fucking hates trees so fucking bad and it is very difficult to escape her Stuff all Over the fucking place. There is absolutely nothing about Yavanna that Melkor wants to interact with. She symbolizes life and happiness and flowers and junk and well. Clearly makes him want to puke. He is a fan of the Corpse Flower which she made specifically because she was angry at him but it failed bc he was like oh this is awesome. But clearly there is NO redemption between them

Ulmo- Also has to do with conflicting elements. Ulmo fucking ruins this man's life and then ruins Mairon's life AGAIN later. He gets ZERO points for this and the sea is really the only place Melkor could never manage to conquer. As the sea is a very thematic thing for the elves and their salvation from Melkor and his nonsense, Melkor hates water so fucking much not even just because it spies on him and Mairon certainly did not have better treatment by it in his day

Manwë- The only reason he's at #3 is because Melkor does appreciate how much of a forgiving sod the dude is. He has to admit it is very easy to get off scot free from his brother, though Varda is not so forgiving. But despite it, he just cannot get over the rage of his brother being god's favorite. It's really an issue

Varda- Varda would be above Manwë if not for the fact that Melkor doesn't even hate stars, in theory. He wouldn't mind them honestly if they weren't literally all named "star that hates Melkor" "star that hates melkor 2" "star that shows we all want to kill melkor with weapons" above his head 24/7. Varda hates Melkor more than Melkor hates him, but of course that adds up to a Lot. She is the goddess of light which just. Well they really truly do not like each other

Nienna- Imagine having a bitch designated specifically just to be sad about everything you do. Very annoying. Get over yourself. You can just not be sad about it. There's an upside in knowing his actions have caused so much suffering because you know, that's what he's going for, but the idea of Nienna still just disgusts him. He feels as if his domain has been invaded and inverted towards Eru's purpose, which has been. A major point of contention. Over the years

Vana- She obviously gets hated simply thru association with Yavanna. She has personally offended him less, but it bothers him a lot that he has had such little effect on her. He's made Yavanna cry a lot in canon but Vana just . Can get through anything, she's there no matter what, she's happy no matter what. It makes him Sad

Namo/Mandos- This is a really weird one for Melkor because for him it's like. Going to the mall in your most fucked up and insane outfit to piss people off on purpose and then you see someone who looks even cooler and goth-er but they have a lot of friends with them and seem mentally healthy and it's honestly really getting to you. There are things about the world that he knows that Melkor doesn't and that makes Melkor want to fucking eat himself. Also he kept Melkor in a cage for 3000 years and literally never even made conversation. Melkor cannot tell if he wants to be friends with this dude or wipe him off the face of Arda but neither of those are options in any world

Tulkas- You'd think this dude would be higher on the list, but Melkor rarely thinks about Tulkas and often forgets the dude exists. Obviously it pisses him off that some random guy jacked as hell came in and beat his ass more than once and he has zero other purpose in life. But as to being a nemesis of Melkor, Tulkas thinks himself much higher on the list than he really is. It's kind of funny

Oromë- Melkor's main beef with Oromë comes from the dude and his people constantly one-shotting his Beautifully Handcrafted Beasts, and to a lesser extent him telling the elves about the trees, but there would be a lot less fun in making increasingly Fucked Up Creatures if they didn't have someone to fight, and well. He didn't really like the elves anyway. Mairon hates him more, personally, because of Huan, but on principle Oromë doesn't bother Melkor too much.

Estë- Although it is rather frustrating to have someone who can heal trauma which you worked so tirelessly to inflict, Estë's power is rather limited and doesn't often come into play. It's like someone comforting your ex who you haven't thought about in years and going ohhh he sucked he was awful you're perfect like. Ok? Like you're Wrong but it's not like this matters very much after the fact

Aulë- Melkor has very little to say against Aulë other than those like two times he yelled at Mairon during the years of the lamps. Aesthetically a really great guy, great ideas with weapons and volcanos and machinery and giant stone halls and whatnot. But seriously not a fan of the big chain. Melkor even thinks big chains are super cool. Just not like. Around him. Without consent ofc

Vairë- Melkor says keep on making awesome tapestries of people fighting against me and losing. Go ahead give him bigger horns make him look really scary. No notes just didn't like the hundred years she spent making a weaving of him sitting in a jail cell.

Irmo/Lorien- As much as he doesn't really have anything in common with Irmo, there's nothing really to complain about. Melkor is rather good at invading dreams and enjoys fucking with people thru them, so rather glad they exist. It is a pretty decent art medium and can make torture interesting. Generally not a threat unless in the rare and vague case of prophetic dreams which are just not heeded very often. Irmo can send some elf a thousand dreams of Melkor's battle plans and they will forget 99% of it within a minute of waking up

Nessa- She's pretty solidly on the bottom despite being almost entirely irrelevant because well, Nessa has done nothing to ever bother Melkor. He likes deer and dancing as much as the next guy (especially the fucked up kind) and they would probably get along at a party provided she didn't recognize him lol. She probably doesn't even talk too much about her cringefail husband

Indifference to Don't Even Mind This One

#rowan screams into the void #the silmarillion #had too much fun with this lmao

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patrice-bergerons · 2 months

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my american boomer 69 year old dad is one of those black sails normies....he liked the show a lot bc he loves naval battles, a decent fan of pirate stuff in general, grew up with treasure island the book and then the famous movie version that established the "pirate accent". he also loves history in general. to my utmost dismay he says he couldnt stand the scenes where they would "just talk" for ages. he still liked the show! but he only really watched it for the action and im not sure he ever even caught on to the meta fiction/story themes. this makes me so sad because i was on the edge of my seat in every scene by end of season 2. i dont understand how you couldnt be invested in everything by that point! i saw the show for the first time years after he did and talked a lot abt the deeper political or thematic elements afterwards and he would be like "oh yeah i kinda remember that" and seemed to enjoy the tumblr meta i regurgitated to him LOL. he does agree with me that its the most serious/best take on pirates yet. he also didnt really care about the gay stuff but didnt mind it either #ally. I think he appreciated it a bit more after i explained what it means to me (I'm out as gay to him). I don't think he understood the extent of flints rage at the time but specifically thought of the independence of Nassau as cool bc it was like they were trying to do the american revolution years before the actual american revolution. yeah. lol. a look inside the twisted mind of a black sails normie. other stuff he likes are: the expanse, everything star trek since TOS, everything tolkien. he cares more about plot/action than characters :(

Thank you so much for sharing his perspective to me anon, it was a delight to wake up to on a Monday morning. Not caring about all the gay stuff but not minding it either is truly such a Supportive Dad TM move — and to his point the naval battles and all the action are pretty cool (though of course to you and me, the scenes where they talk endlessly are just as much if not even more so the point). Though not English myself, as someone who lives in England, the American revolution parallel he drew made me chuckle also.

Overall it sounds to me like he is a great guy and it warms my heart that this is a show you can share, even if the two of you come at it from differing perspectives❣️

#black sails #asks like this are why i have anon on in my ask box truly ❣️

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f0point5 · 1 year

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HELLLOOO IM IN LOVE W YOUR SMAU and also how you see the drivers is very similar to how i do too!

disclaimer: i do not know these people. how i perceive them is strictly my own opinion and the image of them in my mind is something built from what i’ve seen them say/do in public. i won’t ever pretend to actually know them. what i think of them are probably two dimensional characters in comparison to the real people. i just like profiling/psychoanalyzing people sometimes but i won’t actually say how i see them are how they truly are.

im a max and charles girlie (and oscar too, but i digress) and the way you’ve portrayed them or spoken about them is so much like what i’ve been thinking. what was it about charles you said? something along the lines of ‘he shows enough of himself so that people won’t actually know him’ and that the way people see him is how he wants them to see him. also how he stays neutral whether from his own need to stay ‘good’ or from self-preservation (or both). i’ve just never seen many (if any) people other than myself (and you) point it out. because to me it’s so very clear that he’s maintained this sort of image that’s so likable and lovable that it’s easy to buy into it. he’s a tough nut to crack i think, other than the other points you’ve mentioned (not being able to stay alone, etc). the way he approaches things, it’s actually so difficult to know what goes on inside his head when not in very obvious situations (ie disappointment/anger/sadness after a race). his perpetually ‘good’ and neutral persona makes it nearly impossible to see what he thinks about certain things. yes, he has his tells, but again he’s very self-aware and in control of how he presents himself, and he’s great at reading people too to top it off, and so he can decide which words best to use and which way to best avoid certain conversations. of course that is not to say he is manipulative etcetc, just that he knows what he has and he knows what people want.

this is a stark contrast to max, which is interesting because he’s much more private about his personal life than charles is. with charles he’s so lovely all the time that one might think ‘you can’t possibly be this way all the time can you?’. not in a way that doubts his kindness, only that he comes off as surreal and therefore untouchable/unattainable.

max on the other hand, while pr trained (bc ofc they all are) is very transparent, in a way charles can’t (or won’t) be. he’s venomous when he’s pushed to the limit and he bites his tongue constantly from holding back (which you can so clearly see when he does, because there’s an energy that surrounds him that makes you want to take a step back even though he says/does nothing to show agression). his kindness and the way he shows his love is equally as palpable. have you seen his hugs? the way he smiles and looks at other people right after telling a joke before he can laugh too? when he shows this side of him he gives it so freely, so openly, there’s no room for question whether it was genuine or cordial. when he shows love he gives it wholly. i don’t think i’ve seen it any other way. i sometimes think maybe that’s the only way he knows how to.

that charles, who spends more time in the public eye than max ever did/does/ever will, is more unpredictable than max, is all that more interesting to me.

about oscar, i think he’s so similar to max. they’re both direct and cheeky, they’re very witty and sarcastic in a lighthearted tongue-in-cheek way, they’re not caught up in any stories of legacy or image (next schumacher, next senna, next hamilton, etc). there’s no dream to be realized other than their own. and this separates them from quite a number of the drivers on the grid. they want to race and they want to win; anything outside of that like politics, media, well, they can all piss off. but while they don’t appreciate the extra elements that come in the formula one package (being in the spotlight, having to do activities that have nothing to do with racing, etc) they know how to have fun with it. they don’t gaf and that’s what makes them so entertaining. of course this is only oscar’s first year in f1, so we haven’t seen much of his personality when in circumstances that are less than favorable (which… i have to say max has had plenty of) and i’ve seen how he was during f2 and he’s pretty much stayed the same, coolheaded silly guy. we might just get to see him be more and more agressive though, because after japan, and also the several other times he’d ended up losing out on a podium. idk i mean how patient can one be before thinking ‘hey, enough of this now,’ (no hate to lando ofc thats the bff i love him). i’ll be seated for that day is all i’m saying.

oh and they have similar preferences too in food and neither likes to dance and it’s just so funny to me bc they’re such an unlikely pair?? the way they do media activities too for content is hilarious they obviously don’t want to be there, but the differing quality is that max probably thinks ‘okay, i don’t want to be here, so let’s get it over with and have fun with it too’ (ie. make the people making him do these things regret it. the menace.) while oscar just wants to go home or go racing. there may just be a change in that though, because we’ve seen lando help him get used to the environment and be more open compared to the start of the season when he was still quiet and came off as shy/boring.

okay that’s it i’m done sorry for writing an essay in your anon asks have fun reading.

i also have a blast just going through your answers bc you’re always so articulate with them and it’s easy to tell you spent time thinking it through!

I agree with you about Charles, except for one tiny caveat. I don’t think he comes across so nice that no one could be that nice all the time. I think they probably could be, I just think he probably isn’t. He is a pretty aggressive driver, has been all the way through, raced Max hard in karting and very hard in cars, no way that guy is the type to just say “it’s like this” and breathe heavily and go home and do the same thing there. And that’s not a bad thing at all, he should be allowed to have his work face and go home and be himself. The funny thing with Charles is that it seems like he doesn’t want to acknowledge that that’s his work face. He seems to want people to think that they’re engaging with his whole personality. As I said, I think he just feeds the para social relationship, which is partly why his fans are so passionate but also so entitled to his time and personal space/life (not all, but I do feel that his fans find him more accessible than other drivers eg. Touching, grabbing, crowding him, turning up at his home etc).

I agree about Max. He just seems like he won’t bother to hide how he feels unless he feels there’s a proper reason, PR or media be damned. And good for him, but I think he can do that because he is so used to shutting out everyone’s opinions except his own. In order for criticism not to completely break you, you have to shut yourself off from other’s people’s opinion of you, which means neither their dislike nor their praise will make any difference to you. I think you can see that’s Max’s survival mode, because a father like he had will crush you if you don’t start compartmentalising really fast. I think Max knows the he knows what he’s doing and everyone else can pull up a chair or exit the theatre, he doesn’t care which.

I feel like maybe Oscar is similar, but it comes from a different place. I just get the feeling that Oscar has been on his own a lot. I don’t know why I think that, but he carries himself like a kid who flew on his own at 8 years old. I think he went to boarding school as a teen as well which would make sense to him because he does have boarder vibes to me. Like, he’s used to putting all his ducks in a row in his own, he doesn’t need or want much attention. I feel like he doesn’t lap up the attention from Zak the same way Lando does because he almost doesn’t need that mentoring that most young men would. I just feel like he’s fully cooked as a personality. And I think his personality is just a straightforward, funny guy, probably the type to only come out of his shell with a few people, and those people are definitely not the Instagram followers lol. I’m interested to see if his racing personality becomes more outwardly aggressive, but I also think he/McLaren might know the game they’re playing and he’s just biding his time. If they’re still undercutting him in 2025 I think the gloves will come up but I also don’t think they will be. I think he’ll become a more spicy wheel to wheel racer in time but I also think he’s doing the right thing not making enemies (except Carlos) in his rookie season.

I hope you enjoy going through this one!

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5-htagonist · 5 months

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lol if any of you who still read my posts find yourself in the position where you dont listen to rap/hiphop and have never given it a try, here are my personal recs:

brockhampton (good intro, bc its pop with rap and hiphop elements. heavily recommend the saturation series, with saturation II having a bit more of a classic spin to the sound and sat III having a 2000s party pop vibe. great emotional sad girl hour songs too)

tyler the creator (highly diverse, skip his earlier albums if you fear the scawy violence and shockcore though, cherry bomb has some bangers, but flower boy is excellent, igor is more rnb/pop oriented with some skillful vibesetting, call me if you get lost is a pretty straightforward rap album with fun beats and great lyricism. tyler is great at showcasing vulnerability and deep feelings, but he is also a comedian and his personality shows. very authentic, raw artist who does not conform to the rap genre and is often outcasted by the industry for it. he is 10/10)

denzel curry (im not suuuuper versed in his work, but unlocked and melt my eyez are excellent. unlocked is more unconventional, idk how to describe its sound. its nerdy, its unique, it tickles my brain. melt my eyez is a chill sounding album, with raw ass lyrics. theres also a cold blooded soul version of some songs super jazzy, live band, awesome. if you are put off by the violence in rap, this is an album that might help you understand *why* violent imagery is utilized in rap)

jpegmafia, danny brown (im also not crazy versed in their music, however jpegmafia features on a gorillaz song, and together he and danny brown made an album called scaring the hoes. it is super inaccessible. it is weird sounding. it is funny, and raw, and its the shit you play at full volume when you need a goooood brain scratching. the beats are crazy!!!! it sounds very little like generic rap and hiphop you probably think of)

kendrick lamar (of course i would recommend him, he is probably one of the greatest poets of the last century. also he is actively exposing drake's predatory behavior while being the top rap artist and one of the top artists in the world but unrelated, good kid maad city is a story album, at this point its a hip hop staple, im sure youve heard bitch dont kill my vibe, money trees, swimming pools, or poetic justice at some point. the lyrics are violent, yes, but its not glorified, its a tragic story. which is much more common in rap than i feel a lot of people who dont listen to it think! to pimp a butterfly is my personal favorite, very jazzy, empowerment album with high highs and low lows. damn. is a pretty mainstream album, pretty generic sounding, but if you get around the overplayed songs you will continue to see his awesome lyricism. mr morale is also a very good album with some hype bangers and introspective lyrics)

more recs i dont have much to elaborate on:

kid cudi outkast childish gambino MF DOOM lil yachty (lots of stuff of his i dont like but he is just so all over the place there will probably be something you like)

#rap #hip hop #please no argue me i am only trying to help some of yall expand your horizons #i wuv all kinds of music and i absolutely empathize with the i like all music but rap and country perspective #as there is a perceived commonality in those two in the subjects discussed in their undesirability to us sensitive nerds #rap being misogyny and violence (and talking about being poor or having been poor) and country being misogyny beer farm #(and talking about being poor or having been poor)#both genres arent entirely bad #though men will make misogynist art intentionally or not #1. what makes you believe your favorite rock is less misogynistic? listen to it! 2. what makes you so averse to listening to art #usually focusing on government enforced poverty and its consequences??

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proudfreakmetarusonikku · 5 months

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also like when I say I mostly play old games it’s not bc of, like, an elitist thing, it’s bc new games are way less accessible to me. turn based games and simulators just aren’t the big thing anymore and a lot of the most popular genres are stuff i physically hurt from playing. like, for context, i can play one single round of mario party and then I can’t use my hands properly for hours. the only fast paced game i play is isaac and there’s items in that i can’t fucking use bc the way they alter my controls physically causes me pain. i physically cannot play the games coming out today. they cause me severe pain that makes it impossible for me to do anything afterwards. of course there are exceptions but the time where turn based games were big is gone, and so i can play maybe a few major titles each year if i'm lucky. and even a lot of rpgs now have timing elements which again i physically struggle with! i haven’t beat legends Arceus bc the boss battles and catching Pokémon in it causes me physical pain and that’s like, not even that involved.

so that means the majority of what i can play, physically, without causing intense pain (as in, “comparable to an ear infection”- i'm recovering from one and it wasn’t as painful as some of my worst days!), are either indie titles, small studios in niches like text adventure and simulators, and stuff like Pokemon and sims. i feel sad sometimes when i see people really get into games i can’t play, because there’s just so much cool stuff that is still not worth me harming myself to go through, and i wish I could :(

#and yes I have tried accessibility settings #in games that have them #I also can’t play multiplayer at all bc not only do I find it stressful I cannot consistently play I need to take breaks #and you can’t save and quit midway through an online match if the pain gets bad #like. genuinely any game that’s primarily multiplayer I cannot. i just cant #disability sucks sometimes dude

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daz4i · 1 year

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Not to be a toxic skk shipper on main but PLEASEEE EXPLAIN THE SKK CLASSPECTS IM BEGGING

sure thing! :D I'm on mobile so it may not be the most organized thing tho hehe sorry.

so lemme start with the aspects:

from the start i knew dazai had to be void. i think the emptiness that doesn't leave him is a defining thing abt him, and i think his current self would be happy to utilize it to help, somehow, if he could. void is also about secrets and hidden information, mystery and uncertainty, which dazai is quite full of, I'd say, both inside and out. he seems to be comfortable in that element tbh

chuuya's aspect was smth i considered for a bit; the other options i thought of were rage (bc that's quite literally how arahabaki works, chaos and destruction) or time, an aspect that means you're gonna witness a looooot of death and lose most people close to you. which. well. *motions towards sb*

however!!!! i went with blood, bc it's all about bonds, unity, pacts, and i think this is a big defining thing about chuuya - his loyalty, and his need for bonds and friendship. i think going by his personality and motivations is better than going by his powers (bc that's kinda boring) or backstory (bc that's soooo sad)

now, onto classes:

this time let's start with chuuya bc we're on a roll.

"A Heir is one who Changes/Manipulates their Aspect and through their Aspect. Also, may become their Aspect."

an heir of blood doesn't directly manipulate the people they have a bond with, rather inspiring them and leading them (which, as we've seen during cannibalism, chuuya can definitely do. also he wouldn't become an executive with people in his charge if he couldn't do this lol). in turn, they will become stronger from their bonds and feel more secure when they have people to rely on, which, given how chuuya stayed with the mafia all this time, i think it's safe to say that's the case with him hehe.

ok now it's dazai time

to put it simply. a seer sees the future lol (or rather, will invite knowledge, to put it more fancily). but it's through their aspect, somehow - for example, in the original comic, rose sees the best course of action to take (as her aspect is all about luck), and terezi sees all possible outcomes to a situation (and her aspect is about thoughts and decisions)

so, a seer of void will have knowledge of secrets and mysteries, and things others may not be aware of or want to bring to light. i think this is perfect for dazai tbh, and how he gets info in shady ways or figures things out due to his dark past

unlike other seers, a seer of void would do better with not knowing all the details, which, given how s5e11 went, it seems dazai is relatively comfortable with in his current state.

at the same time, a seer of void will not be satisfied with what they're told is the truth, and may be distrustful and try to figure out what's really going on (see: dazai's suspicion of ango during the dark era). in addition, they will have their own view of the world which. not to get into analysis through nlh and comparisons to yozo. BUT- *i get pulled off the stage by a large hooked cane*

also lemme copy a thing from a post i found and used as reference rn. "If the Seer of Void is not careful, they could become cynical and pessimistic - apathetic and dismissive." hmmm reminds me of the younger self of a certain someone (tbh this one's true abt all void players lol). also "They wouldn’t allow themself to remain under the oppressive boot of a leader, especially a leader who thinks they know what is best for the Seer of Void" HMMM REMINDS ME OF THE CONCLUSION TO A CERTAIN BACKSTORY LIGHT NOVEL

bonus for how that works for them as a team, so we can sort of get into the shipping part too:

so, a seer of void will be the planner. obviously. they will notice if something is Off about the situation, and figure out a way to get out of it if needed. they won't have a problem relying on their teammate(s), and these are great news when their teammate is an heir of blood who will bring out the best of that bond between them! heirs are particularly powerful, so being backed by a good planner who will cover their blind spots will make them a powerful duo 😌

hope you enjoyed and that this wasn't complete gibberish! 🫡 i am no expert in classpecting so this may not be the most accurate take ever but i did my best ✨️

#also sorry it took me over an hour to reply akdlflglh i type slow on mobile + had to rush to the shelter twice in the middle.#dan rambles

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winterrhayle · 11 months

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if you could remove five songs from 1989 and replace them with the vault tracks, what would they be and why?

i'm gonna do this but WITHOUT suburban legends because no 1989 song deserves to be replaced by that mess, sorrrry (i swear im not a hater i just think it's the worst song on the album)

also while i'm here i reordered the whole album hahahha

okayyy so here's my ideal version of 1989 (vaults are underlined)

new romantics - i think this is the ideal album opener, just because wtny isn’t really a well loved song when you take it out of the context of it being the first track of 1989 (even though i like it personally, its on the bottom half of mine and most peoples 1989 rankings) but new romantics still works bc it sounds like a song of new(romantic) beginnings, and its kinda the thesis statement of 1989,, about how the album is supposed to be super free and light hearted (also the intro of this song is so iconic and its perfect as a track 1)

blank space - im kinda trying to do this album somewhat chronologically, but also im trying to get the themes and production to flow,, blank space is a perfect track 2 bc it still sounds like a city track like new romantics, but it also sounds equally beach-y, and those are the 2 aesthetic elements of 1989 so its a good joint album intro. ALSO blank space gives u a good idea of how Taylor was seen at the time, as a dramatic serial-dater or whatever..,,, which leads me into track 4…

“slut!” - like i was saying,, blank space is about how she’s seen, and slut touches on the same topic of being slut shamed, but this time its about what SHE actually feels, and it flips it into being like,, its worth it bc i met this really cool guy aka:

(harry) style(s) - and this is the first sense of like. problems in the album, as in its pretty clear from this song that the mysterious guy she’s dating is not someone that she’s gonna last with,, also it gets us back into the city vibes smoothly bc the rerecord of this song has added sparkles which is reminiscent of the beach songs, but of course style overall is a city song so it flows well

wonderland - this is a perfect track 5 bc its a super emotional song that details the relationship + the breakdown of it, also its a BOP (y’all need to appreciate wonderland more)

out of the woods -🚨 BOP BOP BOP BOP BOP BOP🚨and like most of this albums its a lyrically sad bop and it fits with wonderland and explains the anxiety further

i know places - same purpose as ootw, it explains why the relationship was doomed from the start as its 2 very high profile people

say don’t go - fits chronologically, and talks abt how he didn’t love him back, and all he needed to do was not go,, (as in all he had to do was stay if u know what i mean)

this love - this love came back to me woahohoh (i think this is where it fits chronologically? where mr lover man comes back)

all you had to do was stay - she decided its too late to get back together tho RIP HAHA

now that we don’t talk - post break up realisations, lhh isn’t that amazing

wildest dreams - back to the beach rq, with a side of post-breakup mystique and i bet you think about me energy

clean - still keeping it beach-y, and now she’s clean from both the relationship, and the album booklet secret message is ‘she lost him, but she found herself, and somehow that was everything’ which is nice bc self love,, and she’s moved on , ALSO LINKS BACK TO THE ALBUM THEME OF FINDING URSELF

shake it off - ngl i put this here bc i think going from the emotional song clean to SHAKE IT OFF is funny, and every ts album needs a jumpscare at some point. but honestly this kinda fits thematically, because its talking about her persona like in blank space, but this time instead of leaning into it she’s shaking it offff and she’s clean (^) from the expectations to be what other people want or expect her to be. also its a fun song and brings up the energy for the home stretch of this longgggggg album

is it over now? - is it ever really over????????? NO (also i would consider this song to be a city and beach song because the AUUU HAAAAAAAAAA parts remind me of seagulls) alsooo if u loop it the ending of this song leads nicely into the intro of new romantics

deluxe edition :

16. you are in love - the deluxe is my excuse to put my QUEEEN you are in love on here bc it didnt fit anywhere

ik u probably intended for me to replace songs that have similar themes with their corresponding vault but theres so many songs that i just cant bear to take off😭 but heres the parallels anyway: blank space / slut, all you had to do was stay / say don't go, style / suburban legends, wildest dreams / is it over now?(this is a reach), now that we don't talk / idkkkk i cant really think of an equivalent

#u always send me these asks probably expecting a short answer #and literally anybody else would answer that in like a paragraph but i always have wayy too much going on in my head #asks #bea tag #taylor swift

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