#these arent all from my brain

[agro-alone]

no gatekeeping

here is my list of patch ideas

● there is a war on the poor

● fund the NHS

● end law. take your rights by force

● trans and intersex bodily autonomy now

● nothing about us without us

● dead men don't rape

● queers hate cops

● no child deserves to live in fear

● biology was never binary

● not every disability is visible

● people not puzzles

● From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free

● this is a patch

● vaccines don't cause autism. I do

● nd nb (ACDC style)

● I'm here I'm queer and my joint pain is moderate to severe

● United we bargain. divided we beg

● I do not think. therefore I do not am

● the poor pay tax but the rich pay politicians

● the only hope for me is you

● there is no gender only rage

● easily distracted by shiny objects

● elect a clown expect a circus

● thick thighs save lives

● stop animal testing

● Good people disobey bad laws

● don't die wondering... transgenderism could be for you

● talk to your neighbours not the police

● it's never too late to be who you might have been

● they lied. hard work has killed people

● slightly burned out but still smokin'

● no fault divorce saves lives

● no more second homes

if you like some of these quotes, you may also like @grlofswords and @sweatermuppet

[ganondoodle]

sometimes i wish i was one of those artist that make people go "this is a PAINTING???" or "with WHAT programm/medium???" but its just not what i can do or find fun :/

[petrichor-and-moondust]

You know, I recently got my PC upgraded, so I've been playing this game I was obsessed with in 2018. I never had the chance to play it before because I didn't have anything that was powerful enough to run it. It's called Detroit: Become Human and I've fallen completely in love with it again as I go through the levels and get to explore it myself and make my own choices, rather than scrounging YouTube to see different playthroughs.

I've completed my first playthrough, so I'm slowly going through to try and unlock every possible ending. 100%-ing every level- you would have no idea how MANY times I sat through that damn interrogation level.

One thing I discovered, which I didn't realise before, is- Kara doesn't have to deviate.

Like, I knew Connor doesn't have to become a deviant- it's kind of a key plot point, the whole, choosing between who you have been raised, trained, expected, and believed to be, versus what you are, what you could become, what you believe- what you want yourself- to be. But I had assumed that, like Markus, Kara just... becomes deviant. As in, you get pushed into the "break programming" sequence automatically after Todd gives you the order, but... you don't.

If you don't try to move, at all- no accidental button press, no nudge of the joystick- you sit (or well, stand) through a nauseating, painful monologue from Todd, before he heads upstairs to where Alice has hidden in her room. Then you hear the sounds of their scuffle, and it is so painful to sit through, and, well, it leads to a final cutscene where Kara enters Alice's room to see Todd lifting her lifeless body to her bed, tucking her in, before turning on Kara to now attack her.

It was...really nauseating to watch.

But what got me is...That's it.

The next Kara level -which for anyone wondering is Fugitives- is just... skipped over. I half-thought it might just reset her back to "Opening", but if her and Alice die in Stormy Night, that's IT. It really- baffled me, so I went through the flowchart, and sure enough, every single one of Kara's stories is skippable after Stormy Night. Her solo levels are all set off from the main chapters, and ones she shares with other characters will just exclude her POV play if she dies before reaching it.

Unlike Connor, who is simply replaced with another model over and over, gravestones increasing again and again in the zen garden with each visit, or Markus, who gets resurrected, rescued, and even has other characters rip out their own biocomponents to keep him alive- at least until the plot is progressed far enough- Kara is just. gone.

And it maybe shouldn't grab me as much, but it does. Because from a gameplay POV, killing off a main character permanently, and so early on in the game, is generally a pretty bad move. But from a narrative point? God, it's fucking genius. Because Detroit: Become Human is a story-centric game. It is told from the three different groups of people that are involved in every war, conflict, and genocide, regardless of the cause, the time, the place, the outcome.

The Opressors: the group who is suppressing, invading, enslaving, or otherwise actively causing harm to the others.

The Rebels: the ones of the oppressed group who are fighting back against the oppressors.

The Victims: everyone caught in the crossfire.

A war cannot happen if one of the opposing sides is not there to continue- if one side loses their leader in such a way that doesn't convert them into a martyr that spearheads that side's cause, it's over. It's won. This is why both Connor and Markus have -admittedly unconventional- plot armour until they get to a point in which it is no longer necessary.

The sparks have caught fire, the revolution has begun- everything is in motion and can no longer be prevented.

Connor is on the side of the Oppressors. Markus leads the Rebels.

Kara and Alice represent the Victims. They're a family forged through their lived experiences, both desperate for something the war has stripped away from them. And the war has stripped EVERYTHING away from them except each other. Kara and Alice are displaced refugees seeking asylum. The war defines them; it impacts every single aspect of their lives. Your actions as Markus and Connor impact the path of Kara more so than they ever impact each other. This is how war works- it ravages and destroys those caught in the crossfire far before it ever reaches the enemy side.

But Kara's actions have very little impact, on the other two's paths, other than a few guilt-tripped cutscenes. In fact, you can functionally complete the game through to its end without her. And it just- it really grabs you by the shoulders and forces you to confront the fact of how victims of war and refugees are treated head-on. Because that is what Kara is, and what her role in the story can be twisted into:

Inconsequential.

The actions of a victim have no true impact on the tides of a war. Whether you flee, barter, or even kill in order to continue on Kara's desperate bid for the border, it has no true impact on the overarching story- and that in itself is a HUGE point of the story. Because whilst everything Kara does has practically zero effect on the way androids are viewed, every single one of Markus' choices - which affect the way the public view androids- impacts her journey. If the public become sympathetic to androids - achieved through the pacifist route- they are sympathetic to Kara and Alice, who can then safely make it across the border. If the public become hostile towards androids, more and more opportunities in which Kara and Alice might be found out arise, and they end up anywhere from shot dead, to seperated, to discarded in a recycling plant.

The lives of victims do not matter to the powers at war. They are meaningless, disregarded, and of no consequence- seen as expected, or even as necessary sacrifices. Every sacrifice made by Markus and Connor in the game- be it their friends (leaving Simon to be found at the Tower or killing him), their comrades (choosing to chase Rupert rather than helping Hank), and even themselves (Markus setting himself alight; basically every damn choice Connor can make, but for example pushing himself off of the roof with Daniel) is done in order to further their mission- to advance the cause of their side: to free androids, or to eradicate deviants.

Kara doesn't care about that- her only motive is to defend. Every sacrifice Kara makes in the game is to protect Alice. She doesn't care if she is harming or helping the image of deviants as long as Alice is safe. Kara doesn't care about the war, because it doesn't care about her.

Everything Kara is, everything she does is functionally useless in the face of how she is perceived. Whether she shoots Todd or escapes out the window doesn't change how the bus driver treats her. Her choosing to stay in the abandoned house with Ralph instead of robbing the shop to stay at the motel makes no difference to Rose, and whether she kills Zlatkov or leaves him to the whims of his "creations" is of no interest to the border control guards. This is because her choices are not made freely, regardless of deviancy- they are forced by her environment. Every decision Kara makes is between a rock and a hard place.

There is no room for morals when you're fleeing all you've ever known with barely the clothes on your back. Do you trust that the shell-shocked, trembling stranger holding a knife to your daughter's throat is only acting out of fear and try to talk him down, or do you take no chances and shoot him- traumatising your child further, yes, but at least keeping her alive? Do you forgive the one who helped trap you, watched as your very identity was ripped away, on the grounds that he wasn't truly alive- do you trust him with your life? With Alice's life? Knowing that he had once endangered them, willingly or not? Will you trust the woman offering you safe harbour across the border, after all you've experienced- well, you have to, you don't have a choice- there is no other option because you're desperate, you're terrified; and even a false hope is better than none at all, because you know you will die if you stay, and if you die, who will look after Alice? Who will care for your daughter if you are not there to do so? She is all that matters. Everything you do must be done in order to protect her.

So you shoot the deviant and you trust Luthor and you kill every soldier who raids Jericho before they slaughter your family first.

And none of this matters to anyone, none of it does, because you are acting out of desperation and the reality of a kill-or-be-killed world- you are not systematically hunting down every android that steps out of line, not trying to capture them, destroy them, enslave your own people. You are not going out of your way to build an army and fight, raise a revolution; to demand civil rights, equality, respect. You are scared and running and there are so many just like you, doing the same. This is not worthy of note, of news coverage, of knowing. So it is not known, not plastered across every news station, not taken note of.

You are just trying to keep your daughter alive, and because of this, you are entirely expendable.

You haven't betrayed your people and seperated yourself from them by creating categories of "good" androids and "bad" androids -because you don't have time, and you're all made of the same silicon and thirium, and you'll never be treated human, so it's pointless, it doesn't matter- and you haven't spearheaded an explosive revolution and caused the city, the country, the world to really think about whether or not you are an individual or a piece of property.

And because you are not doing anything like this, nothing noteworthy, newsworthy, or public- because you are acting just like everyone, like the general populous (and God knows, no, They know, that that is much more dangerous than a revolutionary- because people can't find out you are just like them, because then they empathise, and it is MUCH harder to control the masses when they find out that the "others" are exactly the same as them, and always have been-no, that creates room for the masses to realise that the war is not for them, but for Them- for profit, for control, for power) and thus, like the general populous, you are of no real importance to the "Bigger Picture."

You are dehumanised to such a point that you are met with only extremist reactions- of contempt, of violence, or- rarely- of pity. What people know about what is actually going on is so tightly controlled that even you, living through it, experiencing it, don't truly understand what's happening. The public are so thoroughly desensitised to violence against your people either by constant exposure, fear-mongering, or total indifference, and you don't know which is worse, and you don't know how to go about stopping it, so you run. And you tell yourself everything will be better once you're out of the town, the area, the country.

Everything will be better once you cross the border; you will be safe and happy. Your daughter will be safe and happy.

Everything will be okay once you cross the border, once you escape, once you make it- you don't have papers or money or a connections or a place to go, but it's fine, because the people there will understand, the people there will be different, because at least you won't be here, and surely that's what matters.

Surely they will see and know what you have gone through. Surely the people there will be different than the people here. Surely they will be compassionate and kind and help you- help your daughter.

Because who could look at her and feel hate? Who could look at her and act out of vitriol and fear and derision?

Detroit: Become Human is a story about an android uprising. It is a story that has been told a million times- a war story, where the protagonist leads the rebels to victory, where he realises he's been fighting for the wrong side and has a last-minute redemption, turning the tide of the war and the oppressed rebels are victorious. It is a story that is blatantly and directly inspired by POC civil rights movements, by the US civil war, and the Holocaust; it is interactive yet cinematic in a way not many stories of its calibre are- generally restricted to one or the other.

It is also a story about refugees- about the people caught in the crossfire. And not in the typical standard, where they are used to tug on the heartstrings of the protagonist, to guilt the enemy, or lament a heart-rending monologue about how the war has destroyed their life that suddenly changes the public's opinion so drastically that the war is over within a week, but in a more blunt, realistic manner.

The public's opinion of a group isn't swayed by the actions of the displaced and imprisoned because they are not made aware of their actions. All that the public know is what they are told by those in control, who are using your people as a tool to keep them in line. All the public know is of the worst events- of "terrorist attacks" and "murders" and "violent, unsolicited attacks"- which aren't even those, not really.

It is twisted truths and gaslighting and flat-out lies: it is withholding evidence. Reporting on an android "viciously murdering its owner", but failing to include that the death was caused from an initial act of self-defence, that the man had attacked the android with a bat, intent to kill (not to mention the months of constant abuse leading up to it), it's reporting a news-station hijack as a "terrorist attack" when nobody was killed- nobody except one of the hijackers, but of course, they don't count- when the act was not meant to strike terror but to demand that they are seen as equals and not "other".

It is about the vice and choking control that corporations and the government have over information and everything we see, hear, experience- the complete lack of regard for human life fundamentally stemming from corporate greed, systemically taught to a whole nation, country, world, setting them on each other, to distract them from what's going on. Smoke and mirrors and gunfire disguised as fireworks.

Law enforcement do not grow to treat the androids as anything other than subhuman and the public do not accept them and apologise; CyberLife does not relinquish all androids and admit fault. The government only step in to call off their attack dogs when there is no other way for them to come out of it without making a martyr of Markus and villainising themselves. It is not out of goodwill, not out of morality, not out of a belief that androids should be treated as actual living beings. It is a purely strategic play to regain control before they lose it completely and the situation crumbles to anarchy. It is harsh and cruel and an uncertain victory in even the very best ending, and still it has no positive impact on Kara and Alice's life.

Their best outcome includes them fleeing to another country, seeking refuge with relatives of people they met just the day prior, away from everything they've known to a place with "no android laws"- but that means there's no laws protecting them either. The revolution is over, it's successful, they won, but it's no use to the people whose lives were already broken, ravaged, destroyed. No amount of laws passed will bring loved ones back from the dead. No number of people charged for crimes against androids will make up for what they experienced.

It is too little, too late; the flames of revolution engulfed it all and no amount of firefighters can turn the ashes back to what they once were.

War does not care for who it harms and what it destroys, and ceasefires do not undo the damage already done.

[demadogs]

Since you wanted Byler asks: How do you think they will build up Mike's feelings, like slowly show to the audience that it might just be requited? And what could be the scene that fully confirms it is requited (presuming before an actual kiss scene)?

i am once again pushing my Mike Gets Vecna'd agenda! i've talked about my reasons why here but essentially the short version is, max says that vecna targets people who have something thats haunting them. mike is the perfect target for this. he is ashamed of being gay and hes pretending to be someone hes not ("its forced conformity. thats whats killing the kids"). i think mike will get vecna'd and vecna will taunt and torture him for liking will and thats how the audience finds out. and its also how el finds out. she was piggybacking. i've said it before, but i think it would be great if vecna used "its not my fault you dont like girls" against mike, and that could be the line that confirms it to the audience.

i also know that the duffers and everyone have been yapping about will being a huge threat this season, so im not denying that he is also likely to be vecna'd. i think vecna wants to hurt will and his method of doing so will be to hurt mike. the way vecna tortures will is to torture mike. and i also think will figures this out.

we leave off with will saying vecna is hurting though, so i think vecna is limited in what he can. i use vecna as a verb just for simplicity's sake, but it'll likely be a different method of getting in peoples heads than we've seen so far. it wont be like what max went through or even nancy. it'll probably be more like the early seasons because vecna has been getting stronger with each season and now he may be starting from square one. it might be like barb (only he doesnt die).

as for hints that his feelings are requited, i think there will be little things throughout the season that clue into mikes feelings before he gets vecna'd. similar things to what we saw in s4. hes awkward about physical touch with him. he and el kinda feel forced. but it would also be interesting if once he learns that vecna targets people who are hiding something, we see him visibly stressed about this. he knows hes gay and he knows he likes will. he might know immediately that hes at risk of being vecna'd but he can't tell anyone without outing himself. the audience might see this distress in mike and start to question what he could be hiding. maybe he hears this news and immediately looks at el or will. probably el. because he feels really guilty for still being with her knowing he doesnt love her.

my confidence in mike getting vecna'd being the way the audience and el finds out hes gay has wavered a bit since s4 came out. i dont want to imply that im 100% convinced this will be how it happens the same way im 100% convinced byler will happen. this is how i would write it if i was in the writing room. i think it would SLAP, but this is more of a "i want it to happen" thing, not a " i think it will happen" thing. but i genuinely have tried many times to think of another way it could go down and i just always go the vecna route. i know theres plenty of other possibilities but i only have eyes for vecna'd mike. its such a perfect opportunity. i really do hope it happens like this.

[salutethesargeant]

Nah I'm sorry but the pregnancy announcement after George confirmed that Max said that he would smash his head against a wall. No one is gonna say anything bad about a father to be. That was such a perfect PR move.

And it's marketable. Baby merch immediately popped up on his site after. I've physically seen people excuse his threat towards George (which under no circumstances would ever be normal?? even if anyone else said it) to get all cheerful (called it 'alright' because he's 'morally grey' ?? that's a real human being, not a fictional character) about the baby and also using it to defend Kelly too. (I'm not going in that rabbit hole more, but she doesn't deserve defense or a fanbase)

Does everyone fall for pr that easily? Apparently so. Average F1 fan sucks up to the worst type of (European) man so easily and falls deep for their curated, predatory parasocial relationships. Media training, media acting (DTS), fandom-curated content, and rpf have you all acting like everything is a movie. Like everything is fine and sunshine.

Holy shit I need a breather.

[sideblogdotjpeg]

"ultrus is right, i am weak and pathetic" / "callie believes the way she loves is fundamentally repulsive" / "all i ever cared about was being useful someday" . things i think about a normal amount

[scopophobia-polaris]

My farmer arc

[xxplastic-cubexx]

you say they can’t put telepaths in marvel rivals, yet we have some very credible leaks that jean grey and emma frost are gonna be in the game soon.

that being said, jean has telekinesis (and the phoenix force) and emma has her diamond form. telepathy is all charles has, lmfao. odds are pretty low for him, but maybe not zero if they give him telekinesis!

if yall have me say he got psionic blasts one more time i am going to scream HE HAS MORE THAN TELEPATHY . LIMITED BUT HE HAS IT <- he has gone against sentinels and disabled armies with it before HE CAN FIGHT I PROMISEEE

and technically they did give him telekinesis in krakoa (and very weak telekinesis sometimes before krakoa) so .... not my fave move but he does have that ...... and ig they give him a gun sometimes ........ last resort type shit but he has options ..

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[jade-len]

luo binghe better than me fr i think i would've gone fucking apeshit if the person i loved with my entire soul pretty much said "fuck you" because of my race and pushed me down into literal hell for me to suffer for years

i've said it before and i'll say it again, i really don't think we give binghe enough credit. that man was on concerning levels of forgiving all the way from the start

[sunsetforestzone]

public service announcement: im sorry women

[icewindandboringhorror]

"We can get through this by working together, reach out to your friends, community is all we have, a social network will be your security in the world, now is the time to lean on others!"

I do agree, and it's scientifically sound (pretty sure there is data about how people with better social networks live longer and etc) but also....augh..... what about the severe social issues, difficulty to leave the house, physical issues which lead to like zero socialization energy a majority of the time, etc. etc. Social support can be a replacement for structural support, but.. I guess I just wish it didn't have to be. Community is extremely difficult to build, even moreso if you're someone who has issues with social cues or group conversations or even just being around others in the first place. And blah, nuance, of course I'm just complaining or maybe being too negative or maybe misunderstanding, but, I hardly have the energy to brush my hair once every 2 months.. how am I supposed to maintain a wide social network and be active in a Community and Join Groups lol... sometimes it kind of feels like "er.. well if thats my only option then...... ruh roh". It's overwhelming

[vyvansecrashing]

can russia and north korea just nuke us already this is hopeless

[tillman]

btw guys can we all just finally agree to stop making jokes about zato one being blind please im at my fucking limit can we just stop with trying to be funny about it. can we maybe think for like 3 fucking seconds before we make a joke about a characters blindness when the series itself loves to just conveniently forget about it and hand wave it away and make it a joke. please. im literally begging. like lets maybe think about why joking about him not actually being blind or haha isnt it so funny hes using a computer or whatever arent actually funny. i dont even like zato one dont make me be the guy to put my foot down and say this shit is annoying.

[queenerdloser]

i'm writing a speculative short story for this writing class i'm taking where a cleaning robot witnesses a bloody mutiny and its aftermath. (why? no clue, i just love the idea.) for a long time, i only knew what i wanted the robot to be named and just had placeholders for the humans involved, but yesterday i finally went in and gave them all names. and halfway through the naming game i had the VERY amusing (to me) thought of giving the ship officers all names of historical ship officers involved in deadly ship crashes that ended in cannibalism. (the mutiny that serves as the plot is based on a lack of food resources after their ship gets attacked lol.) so the ship's first officer is named fitzjames. i'm rubbing my hands together eagerly waiting to see who will expose themselves as terror fans in this class or if i'll get away with my easter eggs.

[anxiouslyextroverted]

are you like a cinniter or reg c!Tommy apologist because I can never tell with your posts if you think c!Dream was obsessed with c!Tommy or not.

No offense you're not the first c!Tommy apologist I've asked.

c!tommy apologist but my best friend irl was a c!dream apologist so often I would hear all these different perspectives, so it put me in this grey area. I don't think c!dreams obsessed with c!tommy, however I think he enjoyed harming him and separating him from others as that was even said by ccdream not verbatim. And, I believe that narrative wise it makes a lot of sense that c!tommy would believe he was after him considering c!dream put that idea in c!tommys head so the idea of c!dream saying, "why do you think I am obsessed with you?" doesn't track, like this guy repeatedly made it out that he was targeting c!tommy. He should know why c!tommy believes he's after him.

Early days; even once their war is finished c!dream continues to try to get the discs and targets c!tommy despite other people causing more damage.

L'manberg era; he targets c!tommy over anyone else even over c!wilbur.

Pogtopia era; he gives c!tommy mars and despite claiming to hate chaos he destroys a building with c!tommy.

Exile era; despite this being off the back of c!tommy liking c!dream, c!dream still goes around the server destroying things with c!puffy then frames c!tommy for it with the goal of wanting everyone against c!tommy then later on he taunts c!tommy and provokes him then in actual exile he makes c!tommy dependent on him. At the end of it during l'manberg dying again he says 'you're just too fun' despite c!tommy wanting to move on.

Prison era; not only gets c!tommy stuck in prison with him, but also tries to bond with him like 'back in exile'

Break out era; chases c!tommy down with an axe claiming that he will kill and revive him over and over, later on has signs up of smiles and 'watch your back' further making it look like that he is tracking c!tommy down.

Like if you were in c!tommy position, you would 100 percent believe this guy was out to get you 24/7.

i wrote every instance here V