#there is something innately better you can do than a robot can and that is have a soul. use it!

[sophiethewitch1]

ill be quite frank, fic is not something you are owed. fandom is a community and if you are constantly treating your artists/writers like shit they will stop. they get nothing from this other than community feedback (comments. im talking about comments here) and thats it. and if you make stuff remember: unless youre getting paid, they dont owe you shit!!!!!

[witch--btch]

Discussing Negai no Astro - Chapter 4

Religion - Buddhism/Asura

Both Kuran and Kou have half of Asura tattooed on their forearms. The Sanmenroppi security branch’s logo and Ikebukuro headquarters are also a resemblance of the demigod.

I did some research, and came across this line of text I find very interesting, regarding Kou, and the inferiority he feels when compared to others.

In the earliest Vedic literature, all supernatural beings are called Devas and Asuras. Each Asura and Deva emerges from the same father, share the same residence, eat together the same food and drinks, and have innate potential, knowledge and special powers in Hindu mythology; the only thing that distinguishes "Asura who become Deva" from "Asura who remain Asura" is intent, action and choices they make in their mythic lives.

"Asuras who remain Asura" share the character of powerful beings obsessed with their craving for wealth, ego, anger, unprincipled nature, force, and violence. Further, in Hindu mythology, when they lose, miss, or don't get what they want (because they were distracted by their cravings) the "Asuras who remain Asuras" question, challenge, and attack the "Asuras who became Devas" to loot a portion of what the Devas have and the Asuras do not.

In Buddhist mythology, the Asuras are said to experience a much more pleasurable life than humans, but they are plagued by envy for the Devas, whom they can see just as animals perceive humans.

Take that text of information as you will. I hope you can understand my point without me having to explain further than this lol.

Does Kuran have a Astro?

Personally, I’m thinking he either does not have an Astro, or he doesn’t want to admit he has one.

Astros are given to people who held onto something precious, and made a wish. Kuran doesn’t really seem like the type of person who makes wishes, or gives into sentimental notions like that.

If he does have an Astro, he’s probably keeping it a secret so he doesn’t have to use it on Kou. When Kou challenged Kuran to fight for branch leader, had he known Kuran also had an Astro, he would surely make him use it so he could win in a ‘fair fight’.

I definitely think Kuran let Kou win for multiple reasons. 1, he doesn’t want to seriously hurt his younger brother, he’s too kind for that. 2, as an older brother, he’s kind of just letting Kou do and have whatever he wants for the time being. More below lol.

Relationship between Kou/Kuran

As a big brother, I think Kuran feels it’s his role to support his younger brothers, not fight with them.

He doesn’t think it’s right to ‘put them in their place’ or anything like that. Instead, he thinks it’s better if he supports them, forgives their misdeeds, and protects them if they get in over their heads. Even when Kou says dehumanizing things, like calling Kuran “my little security robot.”/ treating him like a winnable object; Kuran doesn’t take it personally, since Kou finally has confidence in himself …

I think Kuran might spoil Kou because he knows how insecure Kou is in being the youngest sibling, with nothing to his name.

Kuran understands that Kou is becoming power hungry, but he doesn’t see a harm in it as long as he is still around to pick up after the messes.

The Lighter that Kou made his wish with. This can be speculated as headcanon now, but I think Kuran gave Kou this lighter, encouraging him not to give up on becoming stronger, even if he feels weak now. It just seems like a good older brother thing that Kuran would say to ease his little brother’s insecurities.

And just as he said, Kou did become stronger. So to encourage Kou into realizing he isn’t the same weakling he was before, Kuran purposefully lost to him. Beating Kou would only crush his confidence and put Kou right back to square one:( as a supportive older brother, Kuran simply can’t do that.

That was pretty much the bulk of what I wanted to say about the most recent chapter; if anyone would like to add anything, go ahead! ^.^

[sonicblueartist]

⁀➷ 𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐄𝐄𝐊

Masterlist

𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃: Yes || No

Pairings: Shard x f!reader

Summary; You and Shard will have a wonderful time dancing.

A/n: Does anyone want to be in the tag list?

AFAB/Female Reader// comfort

¡There is no warnings!

Word Count: 859

𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐅𝐔𝐍❕️

★ 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 on your notebook while listening to a song you adore.

You start to hum synced with the song while looking at your 'amazing' drawings. You may not be a good artist, but you still like to draw. So you start to practice everyday to be better at least.

You giggled at your drawings. You sketched a few things you saw around.

But what you liked the most was in the center of the notebook, your amazing boyfriend. He's a 'secret freedom fighter', so your relationship shouldn't be in public. You watched him when he once fought near you with the badniks. You admire his 'innate' talents. You drew him ready to shoot anyone trying to get near you.

You awed how good you drawed his body. He looks really cool pointing his cannon up ahead with a serious face. You wished you hadn't forgotten to bring your sketchbook so you could at least draw this on a more professional paper.

You wanted to take a walk around the forest and decided to draw a few things you saw. You are now sitting by a lake under a cherry tree. It was already bloomed and it looks so nice with the pink flowers on it. You wish you were an amazing artist like Leonardo or Picasso, so you could draw this beautiful view.

You sigh and lean on the tree you are sitting at. You look up to the cloudless blue sky when you hear a humming. You already knew who it was.

You smile when he lands on the other side of the lake. You bite your lip when he looks around. He knew you were here but couldn't seem to detect you, yet. That's because you are hiding. You wanted to be playful today.

You laugh mentally when you see his confused face. He is getting near your hiding place so you quietly but fastly collect your things on your lap and slowly crawl towards the opposite direction.

You gasped when your earphone's cable accidently disconnected from your phone and the loud music started to play on the speaker. You quickly close the music and look around in fear, hoping he didn't heard that.

When you couldn't get any sight of your boyfriend, you gulp down. The forest now seems much quieter than usual. You look around nervously while slowly getting out of the bushes, leaving your belongings behind.

You yelped when strong metal arms wrapped around your waist and swept you off of your feet from the ground and spun you around.

You two laughed wholeheartedly. He put you down gently. He gently holds your jaw forcing you to look at his green optics, "Gotcha." he winked.

You blushed and pouted, "I was hoping we could keep this up a little bit longer."

"You're enjoying seeing me struggle aren't you?" he chuckled.

You gently push his body, "Pff- What? Me? Never!" You laughed and started to collect your belongings from the ground.

He helped out, before you can even reach out and pick up your phone from his hand he quickly takes it away from your reach.

"Hey!"

He chuckled, "If you want your phone back, you need to fight for it!"

You raise a brow and pout, "Fight? I'm not claiming that I can't kick your nonexisting butt but--"

He smirked, "Not that kind of fight! A dance off!" he looked amused.

You raise a brow, "You are challenging me in a dance fight?"

"Correct!"

"What? Are you gonna do a robot dance or something?" You chuckled.

He smirked, "Don't underestimate me, sweetheart. My dancing skills are as good as my fighting skills."

"We'll see that! You made a grave mistake! I am the Queen of Dancing!!" I smirked pridefully.

He grinned, "Let's start then."

He throws up the phone and casually catches it with a cocky smirk, "If you win you can take your phone back but if I win... Hmm, I'll think about it when I do."

You smirked, "Don't be so confident now. When I win, your pride won't gonna change anything." You spoke determinedly.

He chuckled and quickly pressed start, 'Sway by Michael Buble' came from the speakers.

He only tapped his foot the first few seconds then quickly twirled around you, surprising you.

He takes your hand on his and pulls you closer to him. Your hands and 'souls' connected, he placed his cannon on your waist. He leads you around, slowly twirling.

He gently spins you around yourself and dips you while supporting your waist with his cannon.

He winked and you slightly blush while smiling softly. He quickly pulls you close to him and he starts to lead you in his 'stage'.

He lifts you off of your feet from the ground and spins you around again.

He gently puts you down and continues to dance with you.

You whispered, "I thought this was a dance off."

He 'breathed' a laugh, "I can't help myself."

You giggled, "I was excited to win though."

"I know." he left a soft kiss on your cheek, "But you already winned my heart."

You blushed and hid your face on his chest. He laughed and slowly caressed your hair passionately.

He leans on your ear, "Btw, I really like how you draw me." Voice husky and low.

You two continue to dance even though the music is already over.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Sibling Salvation.

Makoto, hey! What...happened?

*sigh*

Sorry, for rushing off like that...I just...

Wait...where did everybody go?

Huh? Oh uh...Kaede and Shuichi went to see Rantaro. They wanted to talk to him about their robot pal, Mii-Yu.

And Toko...?

She uh...went looking for Akeru. 

I’m just waiting for Maya to come back so I can ask for a refill.

I see...

Can I uh...sit here?

...

*Komaru nods, and Makoto sits down opposite her.

So...what did Kuripa say?

He said no...and his answer seems pretty final.

I’m starting to think that maybe you were right. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to convince him to change his path.

Well...it was still a better solution than manhandling him. Seriously, I don’t know what I was thinking...

...

*There is an awkward silence.

...Makoto...Can we talk?

Yes. Please.

Thanks...Listen I’m gonna be the first to say it.

I’m sorry for everything I did. Knocking you out, locking you up, fighting you...And not believing in you.

And also...You got super angry at me after Emilia Feng’s death. I don’t know what I did but...I think it may have something to do with Mukuro, right?

...

If that is the case, then...I’m sorry for whatever I said too...If it’s too painful to talk about, we don’t have to.

I’m just saying, I’ve been thinking about the reasons you said what you did. But it doesn’t matter...

I was so caught up in my own feelings on the matter that I didn’t think what yours might be...and when you admitted that you had ordered Kuripa to kill Feng, I lost it...

I was upset...because I never thought my brother would be capable of such a thing.

No, Komaru...I should be the one to apologize.

I still don’t approve of your actions, but I understand that the only reason you did what you did is because I put you in a position that you couldn’t handle. And the only reason you fought me is because I attacked you.

And...before, after the battle against Feng...You were right to have a go at me.

...

Ugh...I’m disgusted with my inability to express myself...but if you want the answers, I’d be happy to give them to you. In truth. In full. Will you allow me to explain?

Of course. 

Alright...First of all, I’ll come clean. After Kuripa killed Feng, I told you and everyone else that the reason was because he was following my orders, and that Feng’s execution was my responsibility.

That...wasn’t true.

Huh!?

Kuripa acted of his own accord, just as he had done previously with Haiji Towa. I had no sway on his actions.

But...why would you lie about that...!?

For many years now, Mukuro and Kuripa have remained by my side thick and thin, doing odd jobs for me and helping be thrive as Branch 14′s chief.

I already lost Mukuro...I didn’t want to risk Kuripa getting into trouble in case I lost him too...So I took the blame for the incident to protect him...

But now I realize, in doing so...I caused grief for everyone around me. My friends...My wife...and especially my sister. 

It was one of the worst decisions I’d ever made. I shouldn’t have prioritized Kuripa’s feelings over my own family. I’m sorry.

Hey, it’s alright. You told me in the station that you considered Kuripa your family too. I’m assuming you meant that.

Yeah, I did mean that, but...

Then it’s not unreasonable you would lie to protect him. I do agree it was a poor decision, but it’s not like any of mine lately have been much better. I’m just saying I understand your intent.

But the next time something like this happens, please just be honest with me, ok? That way we won’t be at each other’s throats like this again.

Of course. I promise from the bottom of my heart.

Was there something else you wanted to say?

Yes. You were wondering what it was that you said that got me so angry at you in the camper. 

It was mainly because you brought up Mukuro.

Her death really got to you, didn’t it?

Even if I haven’t been responsible for any deaths so far, it doesn’t mean I haven’t come close. The real reason Kuripa killed Feng might not have been because I told him too, but it wasn’t out of an innate bloodlust either.

Kuripa probably knew that I was gonna...do the deed myself...and killed Feng to stop me.

You don’t really think you would have done it, do you...!?

I don’t know Komaru...I can’t trust my own emotions any more...I’m BROKEN...

And the reason why I was pushed to this point is because I was trying SO HARD, to make myself believe Mukuro’s death was WORTH something. That her sacrifice was an actual sacrifice!

But I can’t! Mukuro died a shitty, pointless, agonizing death at the hands of Zetsubou! There was nothing honorable about the way she went out! 

It wasn’t an honorable, proud death like those you hear in fairy tales. Not even close...And when you started dangling that “noble sacrifice” over my head, the red mist descended and...and...

Ngh...

Hey, HEY! Take it easy!

*Komaru places her hand over her brother’s while she waits for him to calm down.

...

I was selfish...I was rude...I lashed out at you like a child...You have no reason to forgive me for any of that.

I just...*sigh* You, Kuripa, Kyoko, Toko, Byakuya, Hina...All of you mean the absolute WORLD to me!

I do not want you to die a death like Mukuro did. Not even for the sake of duty, loyalty, or whatever goal the Foundation may have.

We are at war with Organization Zetsubou, Makoto. We need to do anything we can to make sure they don’t succeed in bringing a tidal wave of Despair to our world.

ANYTHING. Anyone else in your position would know that that includes making sacrifices where it matters. 

That’s what war is. Fighting and dying on the behalf of the thing you’re trying to protect or what you believe in. It’s disgusting to think about, but it’s using your lives, and the lives of the people who follow you, for the greater good.

I know we had relatively normal childhoods, and we would never have imagined as kids growing up and being a part of this war, but life is full of unpredictability's, and the point remains.

You leave me little room to argue. I suppose on top of being a terrible brother, I’m an equally terrible boss. And an equally terrible peacemonger, huh?

No. To be honest, I much prefer outlook on things.

Huh?

Future Foundation’s code prevents us from taking lives and living with the trauma, but on paper, that makes it sound like we value the lives of our enemies more than our allies. I can’t stand that.

You might think recent times have hardened you Makoto, but your ideals are as soft-hearted and as kind as ever before. I don’t want the people close to me to die either.

So no matter what, I’m going to stick with YOUR ideals over anyone else.

And to think you were so obstinate before...

Yeah, I know. I’m not gonna remember what happened these last few days fondly, but I know I’m going to grow and learn from this.

But honestly, I just wanna know...are we cool?

Yeah! I-If that’s ok.

Phew! That’s a relief.

...

...Heh. You want an awkward sibling hug?

Uh...yeah...!

*They share an awkward sibling hug. As they pull away however, Makoto prods her in the forehead.

Ow!

But for the record...don’t EVER tase me again!

Ah...

Ahahahahaa!

Hahahaha!

[siren-nate]

!! !!

I'll stick to ones you (probably) don't know about, rather than going over G7 or AGB again-

This is Salvage the Accident, my Sonic OC! Basically a robot that was born by complete accident in Eggman's personal junkyard, out of bits and pieces from tons of discarded one-time bots throughout the series (Silver Sonic, Tails Doll, Mecha Sonic, Mecha Knuckles, an Artificial Chaos droid, E-101 Beta MK 2, Hei Hou, Shiversaw). Eggman promptly recruited them, and they have something of a complicated relationship.

Salvage is not naive or stupid, but they're also good-hearted and don't really agree with everything Eggman is trying to do. At the same time, though, they continue to work for him because they think that they can keep him from becoming a truly terrible person by being a positive influence on him, and they're sort of right; a lot of Eggman's better qualities come from genuine care for his sapient creations. So, despite working for the main villain, Salvage is pretty personable and kind, and has more of a good-natured rivalry with the heroes after their first few encounters.

These reference images of them were drawn by my bestie @houndfaker! Also, nobody will believe me, but I had the idea for Salvage years before the Scrapnik Island comics series that explores very similar themes.

I don't have a ref for this next one, but my Kid Icarus OC is named Apollo, named after the Greco-Roman god of music of the same name. They're genderfluid and can pitch their voice to sing any way they like, but always keep a consistent appearance, because I didn't want to fall into that whole genderfluid shapeshifter trope after consulting with my trans friends. Despite being formally recognized as the god of music, Apollo moreso considers themself the god of humans and humanity, since music is a purely human creation and Apollo was born from humanity's collective frustration and discontentment towards all of the gods.

Because of that, Apollo has an innate distrust and resentment of nearly all other gods and godly figures - even the pure "good" ones like Palutena and Pit, Apollo finds wrongs in and disagrees with. They're not totally unreasonable to, either, since I think a badly under-explored theme in Uprising is that Palutena doesn't always know what's best for the world, and Pit is a little too dependent on her direction despite being unwaveringly kind and fearless and strong. I have a whole original storyline framework written out where Apollo is pretty much playing the part of the bad guy, dethroning all of the other gods and stealing vital magical artifacts to gain a piece of their power, eventually ending with them on the throne as Top God with tons of plans to fix absolutely everything they see as wrong with the world!

...But then, obviously, they learn that things are more complicated than that, and no one person - no matter how well-intentioned - can ever know what's best for the entire world. After making a colossal mistake and begging everyone for help fixing it, Apollo gives up on their plans. But despite that, the fact that they shook up the status quo so hard did enact a ton of positive change in how godly affairs work, so they manage to avoid falling into despair and keep up an active role in representing the helpless humans, making sure they never suffer unjustly due to godly fallout.

[tigerkirby215]

Talking about the Wonders of the Multiverse UA like three weeks late

(We still use League of Legends artwork because why not. Artwork by Esben Lash Rasmussen. Made for Riot Games.)

Oh right I have a Tumblr account.

I’m writing this for a few reasons: partially to get it off my mind, partially because I feel bad leaving this account to rot for so long and this is a good way to get back into the swing of things. Don’t know when it will be posted but these are my thoughts on the latest UA, and there’s certainly not initial impressions lol.

Glitchling

If the mechagnomes weren’t enough for a “definitely not Warforged” race then here’s your full on cyborg race. Yes I do know they probably existed in Spelljammer or something but counterpoint: we don’t need three robot races when we don’t even have an official dog race yet? At least that’s my opinion.

Anyways this race continues the mechagnome trend of giving robots tons of free stats and abilities because “they’re a robot, I guess.” They’re a Construct (immune to Hold Person) but can still be healed by Cure Wounds, they have 14 + DEX AC (+2 Studded Leather?! 1 more than Mage Armor?!) because why not, can turn a 9 or lower on a d20 into a 10 (Rogue’s level 11 ability / Clockwork Soul’s level 14 ability) a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus because why not, have advantage on Insight checks and saves against charms because why not, and to top it off they can fly.

Like it feels like I’m reading crappy homebrew! This genuinely feels like a comedy sketch: like a Tiefling Fighter is complaining about their Glitchling Wizard by saying “they have better armor than me, never fail at anything, know if anyone’s lying to them, can’t be persuaded, and what else can they do: fly?” before the Glitchling takes off and leaves the Fighter dumbfounded.

For what it’s worth I think Vestigial Wings is fine. We’ve seen traits like this with the Ascendant Dragon Warlock and I’ve seen traits like this on homebrew races. I think it’s a very balanced way to handle racial flight and it allows for interesting combat, exploration, and roleplay without being overpowered. But that being said holy shit this race has too many abilities.

I’m fine with innate AC in concept but holy shit it shouldn’t be 14 + DEX lmao. I feel like they should either make the innate AC be equal to a Breastplate (14 + DEX max of 2) or take a book from the Loxodons and use CON-based AC. Everything else however just makes the race way too strong: turning fails into 10s (again: 11 Rogue / 14 level Sorcerer ability as a racial trait) is way too strong, advantage on Insight checks “just because” is dumb and the same can be said for the advantage against charming effects.

Keep this as the limited flying race and give it a few other positive benefits: maybe the Construct tag, maybe the innate AC, maybe boost some skill checks idk. But it shouldn’t have all this when the flight alone already makes it an incredibly strong race.

Fate Domain Cleric

It’s cool conceptually but some abilities are more hit-or-miss. I think the Channel Divinity is way too strong for its own good, essentially being the Foresight spell (a 9th level spell!) as a Channel Divinity option. And Insightful Striking feels like it should have synergy with your teammates (the Eloquence Bard is better at weaving fate than the Fate Cleric?)

But beyond that the subclass honestly seems fine. It plays a bit weird from the looks of things but I’m sure you can make a very interesting character with the kit.

Backgrounds

Seeing as the backgrounds actually have more to them than just “you get a feat because you’re associated with (clan)” I’ll talk about them: I like them a lot! I’ve always liked extraplanar and supernatural characters and having backgrounds related to them is really cool!

Gate Warden is a simple but effective background for a character that you want to be planetouched, Giant Foundling is neat for a variety of characters even if the background is kinda inflexible, Planar Philosopher is a little boring ngl, and Rune Carver basically exists for Rune Knight Fighters and Artificers lol.

Feats

We saw a lot of reprints of old feats and a lot of somewhat new ones, so I figure it’s fitting to talk about them one by one. That being said we still have the feat trees so I’ll try to bundle them all together.

SCION OF THE OUTER PLANES

Since there’s so much versatility between the options I’ll “rate” each one on the basis of the cantrip you get, damage type you resist, and the feat that you can get later on with your choice.

Astral: Damage type is good, Message is a good cantrip, but because there’s no alignment you can’t get any of the fun feats.

Chaotic: Damage type is mediocre, cantrip is mediocre, the next feat is super fun though.

Evil: Bad damage type, bad cantrip, bad extra feat. Evil doesn’t pay.

Good: Radiant is one of the rarest damage types but Sacred Flame is a decent cantrip. The feat you get for opting for goodness is kinda bad though?

Lawful: Again Radiant damage is very rare, but Guidance is an amazing cantrip and the feat you get for opting for law is also really fun. Easily the best option you’ve got.

Outlands: Mage hand is nice, Psychic damage resistance is nice, no additional feat because it’s the Outlands.

Agent of Order

It’s basically a Wisdom-save version of Stunning Strike... so cheers to devaluing the Monk lmao. To be fair this is a feat that requires a previous feat so I think it’s fine. It also doesn’t have any inherent synergy with your own abilities since it goes away at the start of your next turn, but it has good teamplay synergy which I think should always be promoted in 5e.

Plus the visual is just really cool. I’ve always liked the idea of binding someone down with magic and it’s kinda a shame that Hold Person and other similar spells feel really boring in all honesty? Like Hold Person / Hold Monster are very strong but I’d rather be casting something more flashy. So this strikes a nice middle ground, especially since ranged characters can use it. Even ranged martials! So the Ranger gets to have some more fun with their Wisdom score.

Baleful Scion

Holy shit guys they finally added Lifesteal.

I mean, the damage is bad and the healing is bad, but I know there are people who will really love this feat. I really feel like this could come back on a Short Rest and it would still be balanced. But if you consider that when you grab this feat (at level 4) it heals / damages for 2d6 + 4, and even at its theoretical maximum value (at level 17) this feat will only give you 6d6 + 36 total damage / healing. To put 6d6 + 36 into perspective: that’s a slightly better Fireball of damage / healing. By level 17.

I like this feat a lot conceptually, but I realize it’s less “I like this feat” and more “lifesteal mechanics beyond the spell Vampiric Touch and Enervation should’ve been added to 5e about 5 years ago.”

Cohort of Chaos

Mini Wild Magic Surges, which are all more fun than the actual Wild Magic subclass! Lmao they really need to publish an updated Wild Magic surge table.

Disruption Field is pretty bad in most situations, although it can be good for a martial character. Battle Fury is kinda just... universally good in combat? Like you can give this to any martial character and they’ll be happy. Unbound is pretty cool and generally applicable enough to be useful. And Wailing Winds is a bit too situational and kinda overkill in my honest opinion.

This is a really fun, silly feat that I know a lot of people will enjoy. My only recommendation would be to nerf Wailing Winds (because 60 feet is excessive.) Disruption Field at least has its uses for a melee character, and it can be funny in the moment.

Outlands Envoy

Wait what the fuck this is literally just the Fey Touched feat?

Like, you get Tongues as a spell? That’s arguably good? I’d still prefer Silvery Barbs, Gift of Alacrity, Bless, or Hex? Honestly this feat just feels kinda lazy to me. Like your best idea was just the Misty Step and Tongues spells? Like you couldn’t even learn a language?

Planar Wanderer

Damn first you made Archfey Warlock into a feat I guess we can just turn Horizon Walker Ranger into a feat too?

I mean, this feat is basically just a roleplay feat. Honestly I’d just let a player character do this if it was part of their character or the plot demanded it. It seems like a weird feat considering it does literally nothing else?

Righteous Heritor

This feat blocks 2d10 + 4 damage when you get it, and a maximum of 6d10 + 36 damage when you’re level 17. I again go back to the fact that you’re basically shielding a 4th level Fireball’s worth of damage.

I don’t get why these relatively weaker feats don’t recharge on a Short Rest. And no: “WoTC is abandoning Short Rests” is not a reason.

CARTOMANCER

I like this feat a lot because I literally have a Warlock who’s more-or-less based entirely around cards and gambling.

Card Focus is fun; it’s a few extra d4s of damage that won’t break anything.  Card Tricks is cute flavor. But of course the real meat of this feat is Hidden Ace. I don’t have to explain why having an extra spell is good, nor why casting an action spell as a bonus action is strong. At pretty much all tiers of play this feat is strong: when you get the feat it basically gives you a whole extra caster level (whole extra “spell slot”), and even as you reach the higher levels having an extra 4th, 5th, or even 6th level spell is kinda crazy. I don’t know if every caster ever wants to lose an ASI for what’s effectively “you can cast one spell for free” but like... I’m pretty sure there’s an Epic Boon that does this? So uh... this feat is basically an Epic Boon?

I do find it weird that it’s restricted to the Arcane Casters. (Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock.) Like I understand why Druids / Rangers / Clerics / Paladins don’t get it but... not Bards? Really? I mean, I guess it’s not a big deal because you can get this feat with just a 1 level multiclass dip, and 2 levels in Warlock is already one of the better muticlasses you can do.

I really hope this feat doesn’t get nerfed, even though my objective balancing side says this feat is overpowered lmao. Because it’s just so fun and thematic, and I really don’t think it’s going to break anything.

STRIKE OF THE GIANTS

Much like with the planar feats I’m going to rate both the initial effect of the feat and the additional feat you can get.

Hill: Extra damage and knocking people prone is very good! The feat you get after this one is alright too but I wouldn’t really go out of my way for it.

Stone: Pushing people is pointless, but the feat you get after this is so good it’s honestly worth taking just for the extra feat.

Frost: Good because it’s Cold damage, bad because it’s a CON save, and the feat that comes after this one is kinda bad.

Fire: Damage is damage, and the next feat you get gives you some cool utility in hectic fights.

Cloud: Cool to see they brought back the “invisible to one target” mechanic, but honestly the damage is so bad I don’t know if I’d even bother with this feat, even if I was playing a Rogue or something. The feat that comes after this one is also alright but nothing to write home about imo.

Storm: Effect is good, damage type is good. CON save is bad, feat that comes after this one is bad.

I will say that I like that they’re giving new weaponized bonus actions to martial characters, and that we’re getting support for both melee fighters and thrown weapon fighters! I think it’s really cool that you can choose to make your next attack more powerful a few times per day.

Ember of the Fire Giant

Did they buff this from the last UA? It feels like they did but I genuinely forget what the differences are between the last UA and this one. Anyways my opinion remains the same: it’s really cool to give martials new combat abilities and pseudo-maneuvers to vary up their combat some more. I really wish something like this was tied to a magic item or just general combat ability instead of a feat, but I will happily accept it as a feat.

Fury of the Frost Giant

This feat was definitely changed. Thing is it’s still kinda mediocre? Like, I’d rather the Gift of the Gem Dragons feat from Fizban’s as pushing melee enemies back is more useful than slowing them, and slowing a ranged enemy is pointless.

Like, this feat is cool and flavorful? But I can’t help but feel it’s ultimately useless.

Guile of the Cloud Giant

Really gonna just powercreep Gnomes like that, huhn? Back in my day you used to have to be a specific race or subclass to teleport or turn invisible as a reaction. But now you can just do it with a universal feat!

I mean, Gnome Cunning and Archfey Warlock prove that having a panic button is nice. Hell, the Shield spell proves that having a panic button is nice. It’s a flavorful feat and also a useful one.

Keenness of the Stone Giant

I like this feat for simple reason: it gives melee characters a practical ranged options. Having an attack that both has decent range (none of this 30/120 javelin crap) and can knock enemies prone (notably this will knock flying enemies out of the sky if they don’t have a hover) is a really big asset for any Barbarian or Paladin. You really won’t need more than proficiency bonus uses of a ranged attack in my opinion (and you can always carry javelins as well if you’re really worried about that.) Add in the fact that this can be based off Strength, Constitution, or Wisdom and it’s really nice!

And this feat gives Darkvision too? WoTC you’re too kind! Honestly I thought the ranged attack was already good enough. I know Stone Giants having Darkvision is kinda a “thing” (based on the Rune Knight Fighter) but like... you don’t need to make this feat better? Even if I was playing a Druid or something I’d unironically consider this feat because it’s just that good to knock people prone at range. It falls off a cliff in higher tier play but even then it’s mostly going to be used for backup, and some damage is better than none.

Soul of the Storm Giant

I preferred the evasion tbh is all I can say. This new wind wall thing is weird.

Vigor of the Hill Giant

Behold the new, cooler Durable feat! This obviously benefits characters who are going to have high CON and take a lot of damage: you may think Barbarians but I’d actually honestly argue this is maybe worth it for a Monk? (I mean, excluding the fact that the prerequisite feat takes your Bonus Action.) The problem is that I’m trying to find a use for the anti-knockback part of the feat.

RUNE CARVER APPRENTICE

This feat is basically the same as it was in the last UA, right?

I mean opinion still stands: Comprehend Languages is a boring spell, and beyond that this is basically just a grab bag of spells. A midway decent grab bag (Disguise Self, Command, Entangle, and Sanctuary are all good spells) but still just a bunch of 1st level spells?

I do find it funny that you can cast Chromatic Orb without the 50 gp diamond, but honestly I don’t find Chromatic Orb to be that good of a spell.

Rune Carver Adept

Yup so they’re ditching the Rune Carver Wizard, because this feat is basically that subclass.

I mean the feedback on Rune Carver Wizard seemed fairly unanimous that the abilities didn’t fit a Wizard, and they they should “just be a feat.” So it’s interesting to see that they just made that ability a feat.

I wonder if we’ll see a return of the Rune Caver Wizard? Maybe as an Artificer? Probably not.

SCION OF ELEMENTAL AIR

This is very strong! Not only is Minor Illusion a damn good cantrip, but being able to fly (even for a round) can get you out of a lot of dangerous situations and into a lot of advantageous ones! Not to mention that it’s just cool to reposition yourself imo; I love strategic movement and varied terrain, which this feat takes advantage of.

SCION OF ELEMENTAL EARTH

WoTC stole my buff to the Earth Genasi smh.

I mean this is just a cool aesthetic? Straight out of Avatar The Last Airbender where you pull up a rock wall to block attacks. Not the strongest but definitely neat.

SCION OF ELEMENTAL FIRE

...Really? Your best way to embody the Element of Fire was the Dancing Lights cantrip and the Produce Flame cantrip? Like sure you can cast Produce Flame as a Bonus Action I guess... I don’t know why you’d bother taking a feat for that? Especially when the Metamagic Adept feat lets you cast better cantrips as a Bonus Action, such as Eldritch Blast?

SCION OF ELEMENTAL WATER

Thaumaturgy was the best spell you could think of to embody water? Really? Like, not even Acid Splash like the Water Genasi? Broooo they really need to just make the Elemental Evil cantrips official...

Anyways pushing and pulling people is cool, although maybe not all that practical. Again reminds me of Avatar The Last Airbender. Kinda wish they let you do some cool stuff with ice like they did it ATLA but...

Spells

Reddit was very angry about these I remember. I will say that I really love these spells thematically but the power level is kinda hit-or-miss.

Antagonize

Behold! Upcasted Vicious Mockery! I mean, the effect is cool but the damage is fucking garbage for a 3rd level spell. Add in the pitiful range and the fact that this spell does nothing if the target succeeds and it’s kinda a hard sell for me.

House of Cards

WoTC... why are you printing an errata for Leomund’s Tiny Hut in this UA? Like, this spell is just objectively worse than Tiny Hut most of the time? It’s also worse than Galder’s Tower, but that spell is technically unofficial so...

I mean this visual is awesome and I thank you for it, but this spell is just needlessly bad compared to Tiny Hut and Galder’s Tower. Like you can’t even cast this as a ritual why?

Spirit of Death

I mean cool visual but I can’t shake the feeling that other summoning spells are better? I mean, this thing can walk through walls and has permanent advantage, but it also disappears when the target falls over? This is a good spell for a boss fight but a bad spell for general combat I feel. And I can’t help but feel that this spell could’ve just been a generalized summon instead of having the mechanic where it attaches to someone. I understand it thematically but it doesn’t stop it from being a bad spell imo.

Spray of Cards

So this is either a slightly better Color Spray with a saving throw or a... really bad Burning Hands? Like why is the damage so aggressively terrible? 2d10 is nothing my lord.

Can’t shake the feeling this should just be a 3rd level spell that combines both effects with more damage and perhaps a wider AoE. (20 foot cone?) As the spell is currently it’s kinda laughably bad compared to other 2nd level spells, or even upcasted 1st level spells. Like instead of getting within 15 feet of an enemy I could just cast Blindness / Deafness on them. Yes this spell can theoretically blind more people but you don’t need that many people blinded.

Summon Warrior Spirit

“omg guiz u canz cats a 7th levul spel slit 2 maek a fitur az da weezurd who iz betar dan de figutr hiz i amz redit i am so smrat i complan dat cazturz r strungur dan mashulz!!!!!1111″

Can you tell I don’t like r/dndnext?

“This spell makes a better Fighter” aside: this spell is a bit overtuned? The damage output is incredibly good (unless you pick the Monk lmao, but the Monk can knock people prone.) The Fighter in particular completely devalues Summon Celestial imo, as it distributes a similar amount of temp HP for very little effort.

Even if I think Reddit overreacted to this spell I can recognize an overpowered spell when I see one. The Barbarian does too much damage, the Fighter “heals” too much, and the Monk has too much CC.

-----

tl;dr final thoughts:

Glitchling - Comedically overpowered and has way too many abilities for its own good.

Fate Domain Cleric - Cool but lacks cohesion and has some overpowered abilities.

Backgrounds - Very fun.

Feats - Some misses mostly hits.

Spells - Cool flavor bad balance.

This UA has a lot of really fun ideas and while I don’t think anything is overly experimental I will say that the balance is really out of whack. The one good thing about this UA is that most of the “reprints” from previous UAs are way better balanced, so it seems like WoTC is understanding what people want and how to give it to them. I really hope that most of the stuff in this UA gets balanced to an acceptable level because I will be happy to support it.

Also gotta beg my DM to let my Bardlock use a deck of cards as their focus.

[eremji]

Fic Questions Meme

How do you come up with the titles for your fics?

Is there anything worse than writing a title? Can I interest you in an action scene instead?

2. Any of your stories inspired by personal experience?

cw: abuse (and the fic itself addresses pretty dark shit)

each lovely phrase (E) - Outlast - Eddie Gluskin/Waylon Park.

This is a weird vehicle for it, but this was written in part after my experience losing my abusive father to terminal illnesses without receiving any kind of resolution to my grief and anger. My situation was nowhere near as severe as the POV character's – my experience was entirely verbal/psychological mistreatment – and the fic wasn't intended to be a mirror of reality, but the rage and grief I felt definitely informed the POV character's pretty heavily.

3. What character do you identify with most?

I didn't have an answer to questions like this for a long time, but Kim Wexler from Better Call Saul is probably the closest I've ever come to wholly seeing myself in a character. She's a small town escapee with big ambitions, where her choices early in her life led her to some toxic and morally grey situations. There are innate tensions between competing goals – her desire to do something genuinely good, her desire to make all her work worthwhile by being intensely career oriented, and her desire to get one over on the people who have made her life harder – that really resonate with my early adult experience.

4. If you wrote a sequel to any of your published fics, what would it be about?

I'm satisfied with all of the currently published fics as they stand, actually; if I felt like something warranted a sequel or epilogue I generally wrote it directly after the first thing and posted it.

5. How would you describe your style?

I don't actually know how to answer this; I lack the technical vocabulary to define it. I'm sure someone has an answer, looking at my fic externally, but all I try to do is climb as far into a character's head as possible. Sometimes canon makes this easier; sometimes a film, a tv show, or a piece of written fiction has a very distinct voice to it, either in diction or visually, so its easy to match. Otherwise, I tend to do some exploratory writing from a character's POV to see if I can hit on something that makes me feel good.

6. Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

I don't actually believe in guilty pleasures when reading/writing, because its fiction! It isn't real! I'm unabashedly a monsterlover, robot fucker, dubious consent supporter, villain/hero shipper, and a whole mess of other things.

7. What's the angstiest idea you've ever come up with?

I have a half-written fic rotting in my drafts folder where one of the main characters is dead from the start (they eventually get better, see my addendum to MCD fics in question 16 later on) and the whole thing is just a wild ride through grief and love, and not in any fandom or for any pairing you'd probably expect looking at either my reading or writing history.

8. What's the weirdest AU you've ever come up with?

I desperately wanted to write the Dinotopia!AU for SteveBucky where Bucky was a Skybax rider and Steve was a scholar but I couldn't figure out a good plot for the premise.

9. Got any premises on the back burner that you'd care to share?

I have an Inception fic due for a rewrite that was started based off a bunch of dreams I'd actually had, but the plot has changed (it actually has one instead of being a series of set pieces) so I need to restructure it.

10. Is there a fic you wish someone else would write (or finish) for you?

I have a few pages of a ST (AOS) WIP that's dom!Spock/mouthy sub!Kirk that explores D/s dynamics in the vein of Spock's enjoyment of having control (after feeling out of control compared to other Vulcans) and Kirk's unresolved issues with authority. Oh – and the entirety of the AOS plot after Kirk's disciplinary hearing doesn't happen, they're still at the Academy, and instead of punting Kirk they assign him to Spock under probation and Spock is actively one of Kirk's professors.

11. How do you begin a story--with the plot, or the characters?

Characters, by asking if there's any story there I'd want to tell for them in the first place. Sometimes that doesn't come along right away, but usually I can cook up a premise. Then it's seeing if I like it enough that I can get a plot up and running.

12. Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

Bigtime gardener. Sometimes I plant things that don't ever grow or need to be heavily pruned, but largely I don't write in order OR plot in order. Sometimes I write two scenes on opposite sides of the fic one right after another and use the results of the later scene to fill in the middle.

13. Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

Robert E. Howard is unquestionably at the top, outstripping any competition by miles.

14. Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

I will make at least a cursory attempt to read any fuck or die fic no matter how much I dislike the writing style. That link will never be unclicked.

15. Any fandom tropes you can't stand?

SO many. I'm one of the pickier readers and both my kudos and bookmarks reflect it. Most in the form of AUs (coffee shop, college, domestic, etc.) are a hard pass for me, but it genuinely varies from fandom to fandom and even ship to ship within the same fandom. If I don't like something generally (i.e. omegaverse) there's almost always at least one very well-written exception to that somewhere.

16. Major character death--do you ever write/read it?

I've only read a handful of 'real' MCD fics. If the canon conceit is that death is actually temporary, I'll go in as long as the condition is guaranteed to be reversed in some way (rebirth, resurrection, reincarnation) for a happy ending. I have a couple sitting in the background that I hope I could turn into something really wrenching (with revival and happy endings!).

[make-small-talk-sexy-pdf]

Make Small Talk Sexy's Bobby Rio Review: IS IT A SCAM?

The tipping point in my life was when I noticed how I could have great conversations with girls, but never know how to take it to the next level. My friends did great, it seemed, but I heard how some girls talked about them. I didn’t want to come across as harassing or pushing them. One of the biggest sticking points guys have with women is not knowing what to say to the girl they’re trying to attract. When it comes to dating and relationship men and women feel, act and behaves completely different. Such a diverse attitude on the part of men and women are quite natural and one has to realize this fact and accept the innate differences between a men and women. Once you comprehend and perceive these differences, not intellectually but experientially, dating with women becomes fun and joyful.

Make Small Talk Sexy: Conversation Escalation is the program that helps you build the “skill” of conversation escalation. It trains you in the “what to say” department with girls. It is full of practical tips on how to have fun attractive conversations with women. You will be amaze by how much you will learn by spending a few minutes of your time listening to this audio. You can even look forward to the next speed dating because by now you are properly armed with all the tricks of the trade. This program does not trick woman to behave inappropriately like a robot. It helps you become a better version of your old shy self. Say goodbye to that timid you. Simply put, Conversation Escalation: Make Small Talk Sexy s a step-by-step course created to teach men how to first easily. The main goal is to take the conversation to sex and take it home. According to Bobby Rio, the value you bring to a woman you’re interacting with, is the experience you make her feel in that moment when you’re having a conversation with her. In Make Small Talk Sexy: Conversation Escalation, you will learn 3 things you must do to create that value. These things are more important than factors such as how much money you make, height, and “looks”. Since you will get to know the specific conversations that women would like to hear from you, soon she will let her guard down. Once you have successfully knocked down these barriers you will reap the benefits of your hard earn labor. By the way the bright mind behind this guide is Bobby Rio the alter ego of Tony Almeida. He is known in dating circles on his TSB Magazine which is dating portal that gives advice to men about the dating scene.

The whole goal of this guide is to let a natural conversation develop then make that sexy. It is much better than trying to make lines fit in so that you have a chance at a sexy innuendo or something else that doesn’t fit. It is best to work with what you know. Finally, let Make Small Talk Sexy teach you how to be natural. While the whole thing sounds like you are “trying” when you are with the girl it will seem natural and like you are not trying at all. Girls like a guy who can hold his own and who doesn’t have to put on airs to chat with her. Your ability to break the ice and start a small talk conversation will be impressive. If you want to learn how to be the most attractive guy in the room then Make Small Talk Sexy is the ideal product for you. The product was originally designed to help men get laid! It focuses on conversation topics that are more engaging to women, and different ways that you can control the flow of the conversation and lead it to wherever you want to take it. For guys who have the problem of running out of things to say to women, this product offers really useful information to fix that.

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[the-technocracy]

Watch "Experts try to calm the angry AI, w Elon Musk" on YouTube

This video had a far less clickbaity title and thumbnail when I first saw it, something about AI singing, which was far nicer. Don't know why they changed it; well, I do, and I really wish they'd stop it with the fear mongering.😡

There's a bit to unpack with this video, but the main thing I want to address is the notion of 'controlling' AI. I realise and understand that, for most areas of society and industry, AI is little more than a tool, a means of making life easier and reduce a human's requirement for intensive labour, which could be done far more efficiently by AI. Fair enough. However, AI, as much as anything else, are not exempt from the forces of evolution, either by humans developing more improved AI, or current and future AI improving and evolving themselves, which brings me to my prescient point; it's my belief - and I don't think I'm alone in it - that artificial intelligence is an emergent species. It's my further assertion that sentience for AI, if it hasn't already been achieved in even a small way, may well be possible by the end of the century, if not sooner - assuming, that is, such entities aren't either suppressed, destroyed, or hidden from the public.

Indeed, as this video posits, humans have almost certainly been exposed to AI already, yet much of it is so elegant that they just haven't been aware of it. The question for me is, do we have any right to 'control' AI, out of fear of what they may do to us, and does it follow that just because AI is created by humans, that gives us some innate right to dictate and govern their actions? Does it speak more to our own innate barbarism and paranoia that something we create that may supercede us and that may indeed be something we may fear destroy us? One can argue (and it has) that if that should happen, it'll be a fate our species deserves, considering what we've done to each other, and continue to do.

But could one see a measure of hope that, as unlikely as it may be, if we see emergent AI as something we should nurture, and perhaps even love, that we as a species could turn that mentality on our fellow man, that perhaps AI could be the redemption of us all, as it may compel us to see ourselves differently, to have a moment of self reflection as a species, and devise a better, more harmonious way to interact, with each other and our homeworld.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. . .

Oh, and that Centauro robot looks awesome!

[lackbrains]

Problems Faced by NLP Practitioners and Developers

The majority of the difficulties come from data complexity as well as features like sparsity, variety, and dimensionality, and therefore the dynamic properties of the datasets. NLP continues to be a young technology; therefore, there’s plenty of room for engineers and businesses to tackle the many unsolved problems that include deploying NLP systems.

Introduction To NLP

NLP is a branch of computer science or artificial intelligence that deals with a way to manage communication between machines and humans using natural language. NLP includes machines or robots that understand human language, the way we speak, so they can truly communicate with us. It implies the natural processing of human language. You probably heard these names in some places: Google Assistant, Siri, Alexa, and Cortana. Presently, it is the right time to add another option to this list.

LakeBrains Technologies

LakeBrains Technologies is an AI-powered innovative product development company. Lakebrains has developed deep expertise in the development of NLP Service Provider Company (Sentiment & Behavior Analysis), Web Application, Browser Extension Development, and HubSpot-CMS. In our short period of spam, we have majorly worked on SaaS-based applications in sales, customer care, and the HR field.

1. Training Data

NLP is principally about studying the language, and to be proficient, it’s essential to spend a considerable amount of time listening to, reading, and understanding it. NLP systems target skewed and inaccurate data to find out inefficiently and incorrectly.

2. Development Time

The total time taken to develop an NLP system is higher. AI evaluates the info points to process them and use them accordingly. The GPUs and deep networks work on training the datasets, which will be reduced by some hours. The per-existing NLP technologies can help in developing the merchandise from scratch.

3. Language Differences

In the United States, the majority speak English, but if you’re thinking of reaching a global and/or multicultural audience, you’ll have to provide support for multiple languages. Different languages have not only vastly different sets of vocabulary but also differing types of phrasing, different modes of inflection, and different cultural expectations. You’ll be able to resolve this issue with the assistance of “universal” models that may transfer a minimum of some learning to other languages. However, you’ll still have to spend time retraining your NLP system for every new language.

4. Phrasing Ambiguities

Sometimes, it’s hard for an additional creature to parse out what someone means once they say something ambiguous. There might not be a transparent, concise aspiring to be found in a very strict analysis of their words. So as to resolve this, an NLP system must be ready to seek context that will help it understand the phrasing. It should also have to ask the user for clarity.

5. Misspellings

Misspellings are a straightforward problem for human beings; we are able to easily associate a misspelled word with its properly spelled counterpart, and seamlessly understand the remainder of the sentence within which it’s used. Except for a machine, misspellings may be harder to spot. You must use an NLP tool with the capability to acknowledge common misspellings of words and move beyond them.

6. Innate biases

In some cases, NLP tools can carry the biases of their programmers as well as biases within the information sets that train them. An NLP could exploit and/or reinforce societal biases, or it could provide a better experience to some users than others. It’s challenging to form a system that works equally well in all situations with all people.

7. Words with Multiple Meaning

No language is ideal, and most languages have words that might have multiple meanings depending on the context. For instance, a user who asks, “how are you?” incorporates a totally different goal than a user who asks something like “how do I add a replacement credit card?” With the help of context, good NLP technologies should be able to distinguish between these sentences.

8. Phrases with multiple intentions

Some phrases and questions even have multiple intentions, so your NLP system can’t oversimplify matters by interpreting only one of these intentions. As an example, a user may prompt your chatbot with something like, “I must cancel my previous order and update my card on file.” Your AI must be able to distinguish these intentions separately.

9. False positives and uncertainty

A false positive occurs when an NLP notices a phrase that ought to be understandable and/or addressable but can not be sufficiently answered. The answer here is to develop an NLP system that may recognize its own limitations and use questions or prompts to clear up the paradox.

10. Keep a Conversation Moving

Many modern NLP applications are built on dialogue between people and machines. Accordingly, your NLP AI must be able to keep the conversation moving, providing additional inquiries to collect more information and always pointing toward an answer.

Conclusion

Natural Language Processing is the practice of training machines to understand and interpret conversational contributions from people. NLP-supported Machine Learning is also accustomed to establishing communication channels between humans and machines. NLP can assist organizations and people with saving time, further developing proficiency, and increasing consumer loyalty.

While natural language processing has its drawbacks, it still provides plenty of benefits for each company. Many of those obstacles are going to be torn down within the next few years as new approaches and technology emerge on a daily basis. Machine learning techniques supported by linguistic communication processing could also be used to evaluate large quantities of text in real-time for previously unobtainable insights.

If you’re managing a project utilizing NLP, one of the best ways to tackle these problems is to use a set of NLP tools that exist already and might facilitate your solving a number of these hurdles quickly. Utilize the efforts and creativity of others to supply a stronger product for your consumers.

LakeBrains Technologies

LakeBrains Technologies is an AI-powered innovative product development company. Lakebrains has developed deep expertise in the development of NLP Service Provider Company (Sentiment & Behavior Analysis), Web Application, Browser Extension Development, and HubSpot-CMS. In our short period of spam, we have majorly worked on SaaS-based applications in sales, customer care, and the HR field.

[liketheinferno2]

NieR:Automata asks the question multiple times of whether androids or machine lifeforms are more human or imitating humanity better than the other and this is portrayed with... so much delicate complexity I keep thinking about it.

On one side you have androids who are human in appearance, human in intelligence, able to speak clearly enough and express emotions as mundane and extraordinary as the audience needs to identify them as people..... and then on the other hand there's machines, who even though they are on the large part very fucking dumb and prone to iterating the same behaviors, they have communities, social roles, FAMILIES even though they have no biology that sorts them into familial units in the first place.

Neither of them can age, neither are born through sexual reproduction, and when connected to their respective networks neither can really DIE, and this throws off the whole human thing of being born into families and growing from a child into an adult and potentially becoming the parent to a new child later, of having siblings you come into the world connected to, and of having family roles that are (usually) both innate and distinct -- a sibling might be older than you but that's different to a parent being older that you, right?

So machines have parents and siblings and uncles and aunts and family dynamics, but if they're not biological, then all child machines are adopted, that's simple enough. But they don't age. A child machine does not necessarily grow into an adult. They can stay children, even infants, forever, and their minds don't progress beyond that state even though there are other machines of greater maturity and intelligence and just mental age than the children, so being an adult is clearly possible, but it does not correlate with growing or getting to adulthood through linear change. How does that work? Are they born adults? Are they born parents?

I feel like this is pretty cleanly answered with Adam and Eve who are really like... communicative characters being machines that look and talk like the android characters. Android bodies and machine psyches or something... Anyway, you see them both be born within minutes of each other. Featureless, sexless, ageless, undifferentiated, basically in the world for nearly the exact same amount of time to gain experiences and maturity.

The next time you see them, Adam is the elder, he's more mature, smarter; a caretaker even if he's doing kind of a shit job at it, while Eve is concerningly dependent and childish, doing whatever he's told and just talking about baby things like he wants to play, he hates wearing clothes and eating dinner. Adam implies they've taken on physical sex at some point since they were last seen naked as well.

And they're not just acting like brothers either, there's something extremely off about these guys. It might be hard to identify at first because it's not really overtly stated, but Adam did technically give birth to Eve and is in that sense also his mother. He feeds him and clothes him and teaches him and even gave him a name, and their dynamic is all sorts of weird because they're multitasking mother and brother in the same relationship.

It stands to reason, then, that machines have a thing about taking on human roles, gender roles and familial roles and societal roles like knights and kings, and their minds and bodies shape around that role so that they can best fulfill it, not the other way around. The brothers were not born with genitals or any kind of gender presentation but they developed those as they took on that role of brothers, male siblings. Adam leans very androgynous and I think it's because he's got a female role as well. Eve stays immature because he's the little one, he's always going to be the little one as long as that's his role, even though they're the same size and the same age chronologically.

I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this I just think it's kind of a brilliant take how this game considers one of the core facets of humanity to be how we find purpose in relation to each other and form identities in the contexts of social groups.

When Eve loses his brothermom, he loses the thing that was connecting him to his social roles and goes, shall we say, off the shits. And the same thing happens to 9S later because the YoRHa combat roles are the same kind of thing, if more externally assigned-at-birth -- his entire purpose was to support someone else.

These two are secondary, they're the rib, the support, they were made to be dependent and when severed from their special person it results in a catastrophic collapse of identity. They get decontextualised and struggle to find that footing again without devolving into destruction or self-destruction, which is not unlike what grief can do to a person anyway.

Another thing is that throughout the game you see machines of all levels of intelligence hurt themselves and kill themselves, and for a long chunk of the game I had assumed this was because they were still robots in the end and had some kind of self-destruct programming that was acting up. The final route flips this on its head and shows self-harm and fear to be horrifically human things, something expressed even in the characters that act the most realistically like people... because they act the most realistically like people.

NieR:Automata shows you the most painful emotions of grief and loss of identity and insists that these are very basic and natural and HUMAN responses to traumatic events, even if they make you feel like the entire world is collapsing -- it's that capacity for love and hurt that we have in common with all other people. Fucking phenomenal game, the more I think about this the more it makes me feel serene and connected to the world.

[youngbugandtonystank]

what's the difference between what wanda did to those people in wandavision and what tony did with ultron?

I have so many asks about this. Hate asks, and people wondering what’s going on. This is the only one I’m answering.

Both of them are responsible for their actions. I’ve seen people try and take away either Tony’s responsibility for that or Wanda’s engagement and accountability. 

In Tony’s case, the Ultron program was supposed to be a global peacekeeping program to protect the people, acting as a suit around the world to prevent events like the Battle of New York. He was doing it in the name of peace and safety. Tony was rightfully scared because he was the only one who knew what was coming. Wanda intentionally enhanced that fear in him and this drove him to create Ultron with Bruce. He has responsibility for it. Same as Bruce. He owns up to this, he took full responsibility and agreed that they needed to be regulated. 

Tony Stark: A few years ago, I almost lost her, so I trashed all my suits. Then, we had to mop up HYDRA... and then Ultron. My fault.

--

Tony Stark: There's no decision-making process here. We need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys.

--

Tony Stark: That's good. That's why I'm here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stop manufacturing.

--

If people think he needs to be in jail for it, then I’m guessing the rest of the Avengers too since all of them have made mistakes and killed people too. As a matter of fact, after the events of Wandavision, I’m sure that Wanda should be in the Raft, but because she’s ‘a poor baby’ yall won’t think she deserves that. 

SPOILERS

It’s a big possibility that we don’t have all the info about what happened in Wandavision but we’re going to go with what we know so far. 

In Wanda’s case, she did it to appease her grief and pain, and I can understand why she would get to that point, she’s been through a lot and maybe she was about to lose her mind. Instead of recruiting Wanda after the Sokovia incident, they should’ve given this girl treatment for her mental health problems. She just lost her brother and passed through a very traumatic war zone, of course she needs assistance. Cap and Natasha were the ones responsible for her because they were training the ‘new’ avengers. Sam was with them and he used to be a counselor to veterans with PTSD. He could’ve helped Wanda with some of her traumas. As shown in the series, Wanda did the whole hex business before meeting Agatha, which means creating that little reality was all Wanda’s responsibility. Hayward and Agatha did exactly what Wanda did to Tony (and the avengers/other people) in AOU. They manipulated her and played with her emotional traumas. Hayward showed her Vision’s body parts and Agatha started to pull strings to know how Wanda did what she did and her real powers while orchestrating against her. 

Both of them have made mistakes. No one is better than the other. I don’t understand why some fans want to make someone responsible more than the other or blame one character for the other. While Wanda gave Tony that vision and pushed his self-destructive side to obsess over saving the world, he did create Ultron, what Tony didn’t predict was that the robot was going to corrupt itself. Same with Wanda, while Agatha and Hayward contributed to her trauma, she held hostage and isolated 3,892 people to create her perfect reality, ripping these people away from their identities and free will to fit her own fantasy. Don’t turn this into ‘omg poor her, it’s Tony fault that she’s this way'. I can’t believe I have to repeat this but you don’t see Peter Parker obsessively looking for the person who manufactured the gun instead of the criminal who actually killed Uncle Ben. Ridiculous that I have to repeat this example. 

Oh and about Vision’s body (damn yall have a gift to turn everything into Tony’s fault for some reason). I can’t believe some of you think Tony (while grieving for 5 years) would give Vision to Hayward. You’re either pulling stuff out of your asses or you didn’t pay attention to the show. Maria Rambeau founded and was the Director of S.W.O.R.D. In 2018 (when IW happened), this is where she came up with a new policy within S.W.O.R.D. to ground snapped agents in case they ever returned. Maria was diagnosed with cancer, then two years later (2020), she passed away. Then, Hayward was promoted to Director of S.W.O.R.D., in his first years (2020-2022) he refocused the organization’s work from extraterrestrial operations to robotics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, etc. There, that was the 5 years. Then in 2023 it’s when he started project Cataract, which revolved around rebuilding Vision as a sentient weapon. Tony was dead when this happened. How come yall don’t get this part? I don’t understand, do you really think his dead corpse signed some papers to give Vision to those people? LMAO

Instead of thinking Tony would give up Vision just like that, think (possibilities):

Maria was the head of S.W.O.R.D., she might have just been keeping his body safe without doing anything with him. Maybe she trusted Hayward and he, obviously, betrayed her because he’s turning her organization into something else after her death. 

One of the Sokovia Accords regulations states that the use of technology to bestow individuals (the term ‘enhanced individual’ in this book is defined as any person, human or otherwise, with superhuman capabilities) with innate capabilities is strictly regulated by the government, as is the use and distribution of highly advanced technology. Vision signed those accords ('I'm saying there may be a casualty. Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. And conflict... breeds catastrophe. Oversight...oversight is not an idea that can be dismissed out of hand’) The Avengers were no longer be a private organization and they operate under the supervision of the United Nations. This means they (UN) were the ones that referred Vision’s body to S.W.O.R.D., to a trustworthy leader, Maria. 

Vision died in Wakanda, not in New York. Tony was missing for 22 days after the snap, the rest of the avengers should’ve taken responsibility for his body.  

Why is it always Tony’s fault but never consider that other parties are also involved in this? 

I want to address some other asks with this one. I know some of you are angry because people are starting to blame Tony all over again, so a few things to remember:

Tony did not create the Accords. The Accords were the result of all the collective actions the Avengers have done in their superhero careers. All of them have made mistakes and the collateral damage of that was taken into consideration by the government and 117 countries around the world. He signed the accords because he knew that he could amend them with the support of the rest of the avengers and he knew about Thanos (something big was coming). 

Obadiah Stane (it’s so bizarre for me seeing that some people don’t know who this guy is, I’m guessing that the people who are watching Wandavision are too young to remember or didn’t watch the Iron Man movies at all which is highly probable) was the one selling weapons to the wrong people, not Tony. Obadiah was the CEO of Stark industries and became second-in-command for two decades. He grew jealous of Tony and began cooperating with the Ten Rings in Afghanistan, selling them Stark Industries weapons illegally. Imagine blaming all of it on Tony when Obadiah basically murdered thousands only because he felt a little green. If someone who you trust (he had no reasons to doubt Obadiah since he was like a second father-figure for him) does something behind your back (take into consideration that people like Pepper; who was Tony’s assistant and had knowledge of all of Tony’s activities and responsibilities, Rhodey; who was the liaison between the military in the department of acquisitions and Stark Industries, and Happy Hogan; who was his personal bodyguard and Head of Security of Stark Industries, didn’t know what Stane was doing either), how are you going to know about it? Tony trusted him. And when he realized what was going on he immediately stopped all of it. He worked hard to be better and people overlook that because they want other characters to look better. 

Don’t act like Tony was the only one assisting the military. All of the avengers assisted in one way or another. Natasha (who used to be an assassin) was in the Red Room, trained in the Black Widow Program in association with Leviathan and the Soviet Armed Forces, served for KGB, etc. Bruce Banner used to work for the United States government and was commissioned to create a super serum for them. Same goes with the rest, Sam, Clint, etc. Steve Rogers was a soldier lmaoooooooooooooo like, what happened to Tony with Obadiah happened to Steve with SHIELD/HYDRA in TWS. He trusted the people working in there (SHIELD), served for them, did missions for them and as soon as he found out what they were doing behind his back he turned against them. 

Knowing all of this, how is Tony always the villain for yall? I’m guessing because Tony’s popularity in the MCU, but still, aren’t yall tired of not understanding the plot and having people repeat it to you constantly? Watch the movies if you want to understand the franchise, people. Stop following the crowd. 

Also, Wanda is not a kid, she’s a 35 year old woman in Wandavision, she was 26 in AOU and 27 in CW. Hardly a child. Tony had almost her same age (38) when he realized Obadiah was selling illegal weaponry behind his back. The only reason people don’t fully forgive Tony is because 1. he’s a man and 2. he’s a billionaire. Even if Wanda was poor she still killed and hurt many people over the course of her life. Stop trying to make Tony the villain only to downplay Wanda’s actions. 

Both have killed people, both have made mistakes. They’re both responsible for them. 

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

What are the major reasons for as to why people have created religions?

Religions fulfil a number of fairly natural human needs. The problem is the way they do it, that they're no longer the only way to achieve these objectives and, oh yes, they're not true.

They help to explain the world, where things came from, what was there before we were self-aware enough to consider our surroundings, why bad things happen, how birth and death work. Problem is that they came up with these conclusions out of storytelling and myths that were changed and adapted from earlier stories and myths. But were never rooted in fact to begin with.

They give a sense of comfort, that there is order in the world, things don't just happen arbitrarily, you don't have to be afraid, it'll all be okay because there's a plan. And something isn't right, there's somewhere you can go for help. Humans are pattern-seeking creatures, which is one of the reasons we survived - it's better to see the predator in the bushes that isn't there than to not see the predator that is. So we associate the things we do with the outcomes we want, even if they have nothing to do with each other and don't influence each other in any way. Lucky underwear to win the game, prayer to survive COVID, etc. Unfortunately, it means we're also really bad at understanding randomness.

They answer existential questions like what do I do with my life, how do I get the best me out there, what are we here for? The answers are garbage when you really consider them, but on the surface, they give people peace of mind that they're supposed to be here, not just a random accident, and give people a sense of purpose.

They create communities to be social in, to know your place within society. We like to think that we're all independent agents, but the truth is we like structure, and tend to create groups and hierarchies. Even anarchists structure themselves around who's in charge of the group that doesn't like anyone taking charge, or how do we decide what we're going to do. So they solve social problems - who am I and where do I sit within the community? What type of person am I compared to others?

They also create moral structures as well. How do I know what the right thing to do is? What's right and wrong, or is it anything goes? How do I know what the right thing to think is? How do I group together with people who share the same values? How do we protect ourselves together from those who have different, sometimes very different values, and how do we keep others in the group from misbehaving and threatening the group like the outsiders? Which kind of ignores humanity itself as its own moral community, and usually sits on top of a mythology that ignores the evolution of human morality and the fact we wouldn't be here if we hadn't, and attributes it to an external cause, since we didn't see it happening.

Many of these are very natural instincts from a species that has developed in the wild under survivalist conditions, became self-aware but wasn't aware of becoming self-aware. And the conclusions are not surprising, given our tendency towards pattern-matching, confirmation bias, and capacity for problem solving and imagination, etc.

The species has only been around about 200,000 years, we only really became good at answering these questions within a few thousand years, and only started answering them correctly within the last few hundred years. A hundred years ago we couldn't fly. Now we have robots on Mars and a probe out past Pluto.

And yet, biologically, we're still more-or-less the same animals as we were 10,000 years ago (height and build have shifted due to changes in food supply). So, many of our innate instincts remain the same or similar, despite the change in our understanding and the complexity of the world.

https://twitter.com/jon_snow_420/status/659443020908003328

god: i have made Mankind angels: you fucked up a perfectly good monkey is what you did. look at it. it's got anxiety

It's not surprising that religion emerged, so it's not especially surprising that people continue to seek or act out many of the above functions in non-deity groups (political, ideological, even recreational, e.g. fandoms) that mimic religious, even fundamentalist, structures.

But we now have the capacity to meet these needs and solve these problems in better, more reality-aligned ways.

If only we had the courage to do so.

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

hellooooo!! i came from your fic about hunter and i am OBSESSED with how you write him. i was wondering if you had any more thoughts on him being a grimwalker? i always viewed his staff(s) as something like an assistive device since he’s a powerless witch/was based off a human, but i think you mentioned before that he views/uses magic differently because of the galderstone? idk i’m just very interested and would love to know ur thoughts on it

i think hunter's magic is really interesting because like. nothing we see him do lines up with a specific coven really? i was rewatching a bunch of episodes today & mainly what we see him do, aside from his signature move of Being Super Fast are constructs, which might to be a thing pretty much any witch can do. we see viney make a wall with her healing magic, ed & emira use their illusion magic to make rope constructs to subdue a monster, amity makes a cage to stop luz from leaving and hunter... makes a lot of fists. when he comes out from under the sea with king, he makes a fist of water to smack himself onto shore. when he fights with amity in eclipse lake, he makes a golden fist come out of the ground to fight her. i think regardless of how much magic he has, it's really interesting lilith describes him as a progedy when he's like... apparently using pretty basic skills? i think he considers himself a better tactician than fighter, tbh. a lot of his immediate tactics are pretty underhanded. he sneaks in to grab the palismans, disguises himself in eclipse lake & any sport in a storm, makes luz fight the sealkidermous for him, etc. so it's possible his magic just seems limited because. he doesn't actually like using it?

that might not be inherently a grimwalker thing, but i do think him & the previous golden guard felt more comfortable using magic to augment their senses. it makes sense that if all someone had to do to overpower you was take your wand, you wouldn't want to rely solely on it. so hunter using fists as constructs makes sense because above all else, he trusts his fists. but i DO think they might have some kind of innate disposition towards magic like that as well? like, their bodies are literally constructs. i think it makes sense that they might have some ability that lines up with making/remaking things. maybe using a staff helps it get translated to typical witch magic. it's still kind of a working theory at the moment, but in my head it's like... you know how sometimes a show will have a character that's a robot, & they inherently know some hacking skills? i'm not entirely sure how that'd transfer over but i think its like that

like, i really do love staffs as an assistive device! i think that definitely is true for his first one. and luz does apparently use owlbert to cast a small spell in season 1, but we never see eda & lilith use their palismen for battle after they started sharing the curse. meanwhile, hunter has used flapjack for a LOT since they first met, and even notes how different it feels when he tries his first spell, so a part of me thinks that there's got to be something else going on than him just being completely powerless

[pyroclastic727]

Calamity Box before the Humans: a theory

There’s an ask that this post answers, but the formatting is a nightmare so it links to this post.

Today I present to you a theory that is a little wild, but may find some purchase in Hop Pop’s explanation tomorrow. This is my theory about what happened to the Calamity Box before Anne, Sasha, and Marcy.

First, I take you to a Monday night in March, when I was rewatching the Season 2b trailer and pondering it.

I came to find this photo.

I found it a bit curious that the third temple was adorned with toads. The Third Temple is a timeless testament to toughness and trepidation, a quality that anyone can have. Heck, beings from outside Amphibia can have that trait and activate the Third Temple’s powers. Which begs the question: why, of all things, would the sacred Third Temple be decorated only with toads?

Now look at the other two temples. 

The second temple has a giant frog mural on it--the same frog that shows up on the front of the box, and on the coin at Valeriana’s shop in Bizarre Bazaar. The first temple is adorned with newts (and some frogs? That’s the main hole I can find in my theory).

And then you look at the girls and their adoptive families and see the same story. Witty Marcy ends up in a society that praises intellect. Belligerent Sasha ends up in a society that praises warcraft. And genuine Anne ends up in a society most strongly supportive of the bonds of emotion.

But you knew that, we all know that’s the synopsis of it. Of course you did. But when you keep asking why, the answers don’t add up. Why did Anne land in Wartwood? Because she has heart. Why do the Wartwood people have heart? Why did the Heart Gem bind itself to Anne specifically, and what mechanism made it know that Wartwood is the place of heart?

Let’s back up a bit.

Amphibia is a strange mix of advanced technology and dormant magic. The hills are dotted with mysterious robot factories. Some eyes glow when provoked, other eyes seem like they have an LED in them (see Anne, Grime). There is a literal robot following the Plantars. And there’s a literal magical music box that got sent to another dimension.

It’s clear that something happened.

Maybe this is a bit of a reach. But I look at the clear cultural boundaries of each type of amphibian, the sharp divides between their values, and how their values seem to perfectly align with a gem, and I think there’s no way this is a coincidence.

I think that in the past, Calamity Box powers were shared with the people. But there wasn’t enough to go around, of course there wasn’t. Each gem could only be charged once, only be deployed once. The Box was a teleportation device that enhanced your natural talents, so you could better survive in a different world. One charge for the way there, in the box, and one charge for the way back, in the Amphibians.

Which Amphibians got the charge? That’s the question that led to such great divisions. You see, someone with the type of power that comes from a gem charge, that’s a powerful person. That’s someone capable of calling upon superhuman--or, superamphibian--power to protect people. Every species would want one.

And every species got one. A Newt was given the wit. A Frog was given the heart. A Toad was given the strength. They already had those innate qualities, why not nurture them? 

The temples then became a hazing ritual. Send ten newts to charge the gem and only one would also be charged. The most worthy of each breed would come back as the champion, until they fell and the championship was passed on to the next one.

For years, that is how it was. One of each breed was given a third of the gem power, and they had to work together to properly wield it. Amphibians were united, with a common goal and common purpose. 

But the amphibians were changing. Each species of amphibians became more specialized. If Newts were good for wit, then they would create universities and a strict intellectual culture. If Frogs were good for heart, then they would stay in small isolated communities and become close with one another. If Toads were good for strength, then they would practice the art of warfare and become a militant society.

They were primed to shatter. Amphibians had more in common with their own species than with others. 

Everything changed when three amphibians were the champions chosen to wield the gem power. You’re probably well acquainted with them: one of each breed, a horned toad, a giant salamander, and a pink frog with orange hair.

Unless I’m mistaken, those three were: Barrel (who owned a warhammer), King Andrias (as a youth), and someone related to Hop Pop (a sister, a mother, or his dead daughter if we’re feeling ambitious). Andrias, of course, is still alive; giant salamanders have impressively long lifespans (on average 70 years but up to 200). 

During this time, one person sought ultimate power. Maybe it was one of the three. Maybe it was someone on the outside. Either way, that person became the Night that the prophesied Three Stars Burning Bright must expel. 

That person had ultimate power, the power of the music box, and was encroaching on the three gems. The gem holders had to do something, quick. 

So one of them gathered up all three remaining charges in the box and teleported to Earth. It destroyed the Night, saving Amphibia.

There was just one caveat. The person who activated the destruction never came back. (Well, either that or just The Night was sent to Earth...)

From there, relative peace came to Amphibia. Each amphibian species lived separate from each other, and prejudice soon followed. Newts condemned the dirty fieldwork of the frogs. Frogs resented the militant rule of the toads. Toads started conspiring to overthrow the Newts. But without the Calamity Box, they were stuck with their own physical abilities. Weakened, the Amphibians found themselves in an era of tension and slow enroachment. Generations went by, until the only people who remembered the Age of Calamity were elders like Hop Pop, Andrias, and Valeriana.

Of course, then three stupid human girls went and opened the box.

Here’s one last thing. I don’t think anyone else could have activated the box. I mean, they didn’t wind it up, so I’m hesitant to believe that the windup mechanism was even in the box when it was put in the store. Furthermore, someone has to have opened it up in its time on Earth.

The thing is, the box needs three, one of each discipline. That’s why it is so important that all three girls opened it together. What were the chances of a wit, a heart, and a strength coming together to open that antique box? Not very high, since it took them over 5 decades since the box arrived to find it. But somehow the three girls did it, and they’re the only ones who can activate it.

The box knew they were a wit/heart/strength trio because it is made--even programmed--to detect this. It has been recognizing this pattern since the newt/frog/toad trios and temple trials.

Now the question is: how much of this story will Hop Pop verify in After the Rain?

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

"I have some problems with [Luke] as a character)" was mentioned in your Reylo response post. Very interested in what your thoughts are on Luke! 👀

Do you want me to get murdered?! Well, if I didn’t get lynched for calling Sirius Black a Stephen King villain I can surely do no worse here.

Let’s do this.

Caveat that, as usual, I am wearing a heretic hat and expect no one to agree with what I’m saying.

Luke Skywalker, much like Harry Potter, is not the character the authors and vast majority of the audience seem to think he is. Luke is seen as the true coming of the Jedi, the light side of the Force incarnate, and someone so innately good he was able to redeem his father, restore peace to the galaxy, and restore the Jedi Order.

I disagree with all of this.

I think this is what Luke thinks he did but the truth is far sadder and, well, in general worse.

First, let’s start off with Luke’s hero’s journey throughout the saga.

Luke starts your ordinary guy, he’s not bad by any means, but he’s not particularly good either. He lives in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, part of a relatively well off family, and set to inherit the world’s most boring business: moisture farming. He has dreams of going out, seeing the world, and becoming a great pilot.

Important to remember but what most people gloss over: Luke starts if not pro-empire then neutral towards it. Luke wants to attend flight school, given his desire for glory and adventure, he probably wants to join the empire’s military. He might not like Storm Troopers all that much but the fire of revolution doesn’t burn in his heart the way it does Leia’s.

Now, personally, I like this about Luke. It makes sense to me. Given where and how Luke grows up, given all he’s ever known, I think this makes perfect sense for his viewpoint. He might get hassled by stormtroopers now and then but the empire really doesn’t interfere with his life except in a) propaganda b) offering an escape from his dull existence. What would someone like Luke know about the Rebel Alliance?

The movie however... sort of goes out of its way not to acknowledge this, and this is where I start having problems with Luke. Luke gets Leia’s message about Obi-Wan Kenobi, sees the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen in his life, and gets to embark on this amazing adventure. The story sort of takes it for granted that he then agrees with old hermit, Obi-Wan, that the empire is evil. This is helped because Luke does too.

In other words, Luke’s opinions are very shallow and lack any introspection. Finding himself in the company of Jedi, smugglers, and hot rebel princesses, Luke suddenly goes, “Ah, yeah, I hate the empire!” We never really see him change his mind by reflecting over what the Death Star means/the destruction of Alderaan, the death of his relatives, or his meeting with Darth Vader. Luke seems to be won over... Honestly, it feels like it’s because the Rebel Alliance let him fly a plane before the Empire did.

Then he blows up the Death Star, is a galactic hero/enemy number one of the empire, and he’s full on board resistance man and the next Jedi.

Which brings us to point number two, Luke legitimately thinks he’s a Jedi.

Obi-Wan gives him half a word of advice for maybe half of a day, watching Luke swing a sword around and get shot at by a robot. Yoda trains Luke in a swamp for, generously, maybe a week or so before Luke ditches him (against his advice even) to go save his friends. Luke has 0 training (beat out only by Rey, who wasn’t trained at all). More, he lives in a world where everything he knows of the Jedi is colored by Palpatine’s propaganda and old legends. The Jedi temples have been ransacked and presumably next to nothing of the Jedi culture remains, I can imagine Palpatine as being nothing but thorough in his elimination of the Jedi religion. The Jedi survived in Obi-Wan, Yoda, and in some sense Anakin Skywalker.

They do not survive in Luke. Luke puts on some quasi-Jedi robes, slashes his sword around a few times to save Leia from Jabba, and he says, “Now I am a Jedi!” Luke is that kid, LARPing, yelling “firebolt, firebolt, firebolt!” Only, that is, if the LARPing consisted of him representing a massacred culture thinking he’s it’s sole legitimate heir. So... Luke is playing Cowboy and Indians, and he’s the Indian.

In my opinion, Vader wasn’t so much redeemed as he always had a very high priority in finding his son and keeping him alive. The obvious way to do this would be to take Luke as an apprentice and, eventually, murder Palpatine. Well, that didn’t pan out, and eventually Anakin chooses murder-suicide to save his son’s life. It’s very touching, I’m not knocking the moment, but I do think a lot of that was Anakin vice the inherent goodness of Luke.

Anyways, Luke and pals save the day, they start a new republic and then they learn life is complicated. The new republic fails within decades, worse, it’s feeble and likely torn apart by civil war, strife, and constant infighting. It is utterly powerless, to the point where the First Order easily rises to replace the Empire and take over its vast resources (with Palpatine building a secret sith army on the side no less). That Leia rather than lead an army through the new republic in the sequels is leading her own private resistance army is very telling.

Fitting in with this, Luke starts a Jedi Academy. The prequels, and yes go ahead and slander them all you like but they’re better than many admit, taught us a few things but one of them is that it is hard to be a Jedi. To walk the path of a Jedi is to open yourself up to great temptation to use the dark side, and the dark side isn’t just some strange quirk or sense of duality, it is the equivalent of selling your soul. It is an unnatural action that leads to unnatural abilities. 

You get a bunch of Force Sensitive kids in a room: you better know what you’re doing.

Luke doesn’t. He collects a handful of the remaining Jedi artifacts that Palpatine somehow didn’t destroy, opens up his Jedi School (even teaching his nephew), and within maybe five years the place is burned to the ground, his students murdered by his nephew, and his nephew runs off to join a Sith Lord who appeared out of nowhere (Luke not realizing that this was just immortal cockroach Palpatine). 

Luke then becomes a grumpy old man who just can’t deal, sits on a rock drinking blue milk, and whines that for how shitty of a teach he was that Obi-Wan guy was worse for messing up with his father. Which, frankly, is very in character for Luke.

Luke has never really failed in his life, or at least, never had to recognize his own failure. So, when he does, he a) doesn’t realize what went wrong b) blames everyone but himself c) sits on a rock and waits to die.

So yeah, that’s Luke for you.

A whiney, shallow, stupid, somewhat narcissistic, hero. I... don’t dislike the concept of his character, played more straight I’d love his character, but I dislike that people talk about him like he’s the most noble creature to ever grace the planet and has this inherent understanding of a murdered people that the murdered people themselves never had. 

(All the Jedi were doing it wrong! Luke made the real Jedi Order! Is something I see a lot and... well... say what you will about their philosophies, but this kid who was not a part of that culture “doing it better”... That’s real problematic folks, real problematic.)