#this can be an ongoing discussion btw

[thefoxholecast]

Hey, just listened to the first part of your TGR reaction ep as soon as it came out and I loved it! Can't wait for part 2. I wanted to respond to Oona's aside about Andrew's reaction to Neil's visit to Jean in TSC. I agree with the analyses that Andrew wouldn't be angry.

He considers Jean to be one of Neil's people, just like any Fox that isn't Kevin, Aaron, Nicky or Neil is Renee's. Jean is also kind of Renee's ofc (shared custody lmao) - Neil is more of a distant protector, but we know from his actions that he'll show up for Jean if he has to. Andrew knows Neil cares about Jean, in his own way. The whole FBI thing and Neil's deal with Moriyama is Neil's concern - Andrew would only get involved if there was an immediate threat to any of his people.

I don't think Neil straight-up lied about it either (they don't lie to each other), he just didn't mention it and Andrew didn't think to ask. I'm guessing that when he got back to Fox Tower he may have mentioned something about it to Neil, but I think there is mutual respect, trust and an understanding between them that this was something Neil had to do and could take care of without needing Andrew's help. Andrew probably figures that Neil would have asked his assistance if he had needed it. At the end of the day, Neil was doing what he needed to stay alive (by staying in Ichirou's good graces) and that's all Andrew cares about, anyway, since none of his other 'charges' were hurt or threatened in the process. After all, with Riko dead and Neil's deal with Ichirou, there's way less immediate threats to Neil's life than there were in the original trilogy (well...until the Foxes vs Ravens game lmao).

imo Andrew also really doesn't care about (and probably approves of) Neil ordering a hit on Grayson - I think the only reason he asked Jean about it was to of course confirm Grayson never touched him and to know if Neil had put himself in any danger by doing the deed himself. Ordering a hit keeps Neil safe so it's all good in his eyes - we know Andrew doesn't really care that Neil has killed people, he only cares about possible fallout/blowback to the people under his protection. That's how I interpreted those scenes, anyway!

Aw this is really sweet, I like your take on Neil and Andrew’s relationship. Also "shared custody" is killing me

-Nate

I see where you're coming from but something inside me still feels like Andrew would at the very least be annoyed that Neil didn't tell him where he was going. Whether Andrew actually brought it up with Neil is less certain to me. I can picture Andrew's first reaction being anger (at Neil for not being forthcoming, or maybe just at himself for not thinking to ask) but then talking himself through it using the logic you laid out re: Jean and the FBI are Neil's problem, etc.

Maybe it's just my own headcanon at this point but I'd like to believe that Andrew "Strangled Kevin When Neil Went Missing" "Might Quit Smoking Because He Couldn't Get to Neil In Time" Minyard had at least Some kind of negative reaction to hearing about Neil's secret trip to California. Would he actually confront Neil about it? I'm not sure! I'd love to read what that conversation would be like tho

-Oona

[my-deer-friend]

This is supposed to be the queer weirdos website and yet the standard of proof on here for whether a historical figure was queer is higher than in most academic contexts.

[princessofgotham777]

Dating Jason Todd (Part Twelve)

fanfic type: angst, fluff, comfort (ongoing)

If you liked the Titans show but wish they handled Jason’s story line differently you might like this fic!

Hey so this is in fact my first time writing fanfiction (idk what my life has come to). Sorry if it’s cringy but also I would eat this up cause I LOVE some good angsty comfort fanfiction. I won’t write smut. I don’t think I’m gonna do requests but if you have any ideas feel free to let me know. Also of course I don’t own any DC characters this is purely fanfiction. Thank you and I hope you enjoy. (I hope you like run-on sentences💀) (if you don’t like it don’t be rude just move on dude😃🧍‍♀️)

So story line, this doesn’t really take place in any specific universe but I’m gonna be pulling concepts from Titans, Arkham Knight, The Batman, Under the Red Hood, and whatever lore I remember from the CW shows cause I grew up watching those, then just my imagination of course. Reader is referred to as she/her btw.

Warnings: talking about death, suicide, depression, torture (it’s not graphic I hate gore it’s just sad), talking about intimacy (not graphic), struggling with eating, topics of grief, violence, panic attacks, PTSD, brief talking about rape (reader recalls a time she helped Catwoman kill a rapist)

Part Twelve: Prince of Gotham

You’d fallen asleep rather peacefully. If only the dream you found yourself in was equally as peaceful. You were back in the abandoned wing of Arkham, holding Jason.

“Please…I’m not ready to die,” he cried. The bloody “J” engraved on his face was wet with tears.

“I’m sorry,” you cried.

“Please Y/N, please help me,” he cried. You closed your eyes and rocked back and forth as he died in your arms. You opened them and were faced with his lifeless corpse. You screamed in horror.

Dick shakes you awake as he says, “Y/N! Y/N!” You begin hyperventilating. “Hey it’s okay, it’s okay,” he says as he sits with you. You calm down but he still wears a grave look.

“What is it?” You ask.

“The notes, Chicago police found new Joker notes here,” he says.

“Shit,” you say as you jump out of bed.

“There’s something else,” he says.

“What?” You ask.

“The note was signed by Joker…and Poison Ivy,” he says. Your face goes pale with shock.

“I thought she was locked up,” you say.

“She got out,” he says. You close your eyes trying not to cry.

“Right so what’s the plan then?” You ask in a defeated tone.

“We’re gonna go back to Gotham, to stay at the manor. At least there we can all work together,” he says.

“Okay,” you say meekly. You then notice Dick is fully dressed; not in pajamas. You throw on Jason’s leather jacket and grab your bag. He and you then get in his silver Porsche and head back to Gotham City.

When you get to the manor it’s like a living nightmare. Thea and Roy had to go back to Star city to help Oliver deal with Damien Dark. So it was just the titans, Donna, Bruce and Alfred; and they were all in mission mode. You all gathered in the batcave to discuss the note. It said, “even though the bird is dead, there will be more dread, once the kitten is taken, bonds will be broken, know that I’m not joking.”

“Doesn’t Poison Ivy hate the Joker?” Donna says.

“She does,” a voice you don’t recognize says. Out from the shadows of the batcave comes a short slim woman wearing leather pants and a form fitting leather coat. It’s Selina Kyle, Catwoman.

“Selina?” Bruce says surprised. “How did you-“ he begins to say.

“Relax honey, I come in peace,” she says calmly. “I’m just delivering a little message for Ivy; she wanted me to drop by and say she had nothing to do with Jokers little note.”

“Why would we believe her,” you say.

“Believe what you want Y/N, just remember she’s not the one who put Jason in the ground,” she says as she walks up the stairs.

“Right I’ll talk with her later for now focus on the note,” Bruce says. How you hated him ordering everyone around.

“When Y/N first started out the media thought she was Catwoman then they figured out she wasn’t so they called her “the mystery archer”,” Dick says.

“Original,” Gar says.

“So Y/N is the kitten in the note since the media sees her as a second Catwoman of sorts,” Kori says.

“Right and Jason is the Robin he’s talking about,” Donna says.

“Basically he’s gonna try to kidnap Y/N,” Rachel says. Your head feels fuzzy, you can’t listen anymore. You quietly slip out of the room, you were beginning to remember your talent for disappearing.

Upstairs you find Selina in the parlor.

“What are you really doing here?” You ask her.

“Maybe I’m just worried about my protege,” she says with a smirk.

“We went out once together years ago, you barely even taught me anything,” you say.

“Wrong, I taught you how to disappear. And if you’re smart you’ll go hide somewhere Joker won’t think to look. This stupid house can’t protect you and you know it; plus I can see it in your eyes that everyone’s driving you crazy,” she says.

“Why do you care Selina?” You ask.

“You know I’ve never been one to stick to one side, I work with Harley and Ivy but that doesn’t mean I agree with everything they do,” she says. “Plus replacement Robin actually got things done, he wasn’t afraid of a little blood; so I just came to give some friendly advice.”

“Thank you,” you say softly.

“I would say you can come to my place but I don’t think you want to risk a reunion with Ivy,” she says.

“Yeah I’m good,” you say. “I know a spot and sorry if when I go missing they think you kidnapped me.”

“Don’t worry about it, stay safe little cat,” she says. You and Selina had met a few times in the past. Once you helped her take down a couple of guys who raped one of her friends. And by take down, you mean you helped her hide the bodies. Batman never found out you did that, he wouldn’t approve. Dick and Thea don’t even know; only Jason knew. You aren’t ashamed of your part in their death, those guys had it coming. You just didn’t want Dick or Thea to see you differently. You didn’t exactly tell Jason, he found out back when he was Robin. You were worried he’d tell Bruce but he simply said if there’s ever a next time he’ll help you.

You quickly grabbed your bag and headed to the garage; not the one attached to the batcave, the one attached to Wayne manor. You’d been on Jason’s motorcycle many times and he taught you how to drive it. This wasn’t the exact one you learned to drive but it would have to do. You got on the bike and headed to your destination, Iceberg Lounge.

Two days since you left Wayne Manor.

The Iceberg Lounge: top floor consisting of partying the violence and pain of living in Gotham away and the basement consisting of the minds that create all the violence and pain in Gotham discussing their next move. You heard the club was under new management and Penguin was missing. You figured the last place Joker would look for you is at the most infamous nightclub in Gotham; and if all else failed you could always just blend into the crowd. You changed in a near by alley, your outfit now consisting of a black mini skirt and lace black strapless top. With the set you wore your fighting boots in case you needed to make a quick get away. You stashed your bag in a vent and then let the crowd swallow you.

The blaring techno music made your head pound. You’d been to the Iceberg before many times with Thea; dispite Oliver’s warnings and pleas for you two to stay away from Penguin’s territory. Looking around the room you saw people dancing in pure bliss. Some were high on snakebite; others high on the music. You knew in your heart no drug or song could mend the wound Jason’s loss has created in your heart. Regardless of your acknowledgement that nothing could take the pain away, you dance.

The music is so loud you can feel the waves of vibration floating through your body. You feel a faint vibration from your boot pocket. You quickly check and it’s Dick calling you, you ignore it. He’s called you about one hundred times the past few days and so have Rachel, Thea, Kori and Gar. After you stand all the way back up you notice someone watching you from the balcony above the dance floor. He’s wearing a suit and a red mask covers half his face. His eyes are hidden behind tinted red lenses, he’s unrecognizable. Fear washes over you at the thought he could be one of Jokers guys. You dance further into the club to better use the crowd as coverage. You had never been this deep in the club before but you’d heard some pretty fucked up things were known to happen. People overdosing on snakebite, people going missing, deals happening; the iceberg had all the crime in Gotham packed into one nightclub.

You’d officially lost track of time, you weren’t sure how long you’d been relying on the people dancing around you to hold your tired body up. You knew as soon as you left the crowd you’d drop. You climbed the stairs to the balcony that wrapped around the inside of the club. Your boots banged against the metal floor as you walked past people doing snakebite and making out. You leaned against the wall and sank to the floor.

You passed out but were only asleep for a few minutes. You felt someone’s cold hand shaking your arm trying to wake you. You opened your eyes and saw the man with the red mask. He pulls you off the ground, you’re so out of it you barely register what’s going on. You try to throw yourself away from him but you fail.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” the robotic voice says.

“I’m supposed to believe that,” you say out of breath. You pass out and he gently catches you.

When you wake up you’re in Penguins old office. You take note of the fact that you’re not restrained, a good sign.

“Who the fuck are you?” You say coughing. He doesn’t answer, he simply opens a bottle of water and hands it to you. “I have a boyfriend by the way, I’ll stab your fucking eyes out if you try anything,” you say.

“What’s your boyfriend’s name?” the man asks.

You are quiet for a moment, not out of hesitation, out of sadness. “Jason,” you say. You become more awake. The lighting in here is better than the actual club and you notice a white streak in the man’s hair. You mentally go through every criminal, anti-hero and hero you’ve met but you still don’t know who he is. “Why are you helping me?” You ask him. He says nothing. “Why were you watching me?” You ask.

“You should be more careful, this place is dangerous,” he says.

“I can take care of myself,” you say.

“So where is your boyfriend anyway?” He asks.

You don’t know what to say, the answer of course is that Jason is dead but you know you shouldn’t be truthful. “He’s on his way to pick me up,” you say as you start walking towards the door. He grabs your arm, not harshly just enough so you stop walking away. Standing so close to him you swear he’s familiar. He simply stares at you for a moment. You wish you could see his eyes then maybe you could tell who he is. He lets you go and you hurry away back into the crowd.

Hey, I hope you enjoyed the fic if you did please like. If you want to keep up to date with the series please follow me. Any positive feedback is much appreciated, it encourages me to keep writing and posting parts. I have a lot more ideas to develop the Redhood plot and then also I have another fic idea that would be a prequel to this (it will be how reader meets Jason and Dick and becomes a titan). Then I also have another idea for a reader x Jason story which would be separate from this one. If any of that sounds interesting please check out my Masterlist and follow me🩷

Here’s a link to my Masterlist if you want to check it out.

Masterlist

[mint-in-the-moonlight]

my take on revivalism (and eclecticism)

the topic of reconstructionism vs. revivalism is a popular and important one in pagan spaces - i even contributed to it with my own post some time ago. lately, i have been spending a lot of time in pagan spaces, specifically Hellenic leaning discords, reddits and here on tumblr. i have been noticing and engaging more actively with the wide variety of different approaches and practices within those spaces.

to me, part of my practice is also figuring out my theology and philosophy, why i want to incorporate certain elements and how, and why my practice is the way it is, so this is the kind of thing that i like to look for when engaging with other practitioners. i've been long identifying as an eclectic revivalist, due to the fact that i incorporate multiple traditions in a quite freeform way and sometimes try to adapt them to a modern world.

however, lately, i've realised that the terms i use and how i use them is different from how the wider pagan community seems to interact with them. this is not a big deal, as at the end of the day these are just labels but i find it difficult to use them if we don't really have a standardised definition for either "eclectic" and "revivalist"/revivalism". so, i would like to take a short look at it in this post.

revivalism vs eclecticism

sometimes i get the feeling that the terms "revivalist" and "eclectic" are used interchangeably. i often see strict reconstructionists label different practices outside of reconstruction as "revivalist" or "eclectic" without much distinction between the two (no hate to recons btw, just an observation).

what is the difference between the two then? well, revivalism is an approach to (neo)paganism that strongly considers how our world has changed from ancient times and how we can incorporate that into our practices. now, that doesn't mean that, for example, reconstructionists can't do that to some degree too, but in general they are more focused on reconstructing as much as they can how the religion looked in ancient times.

on the other side, a revivalist would, for example, reinterpret the domains of the gods through a modern lens (like i did in this post), adapt it for a solitary and urban practice etc. revivalism is concerned with reviving, reinterpreting, and renewing a practice based on ancient sources and ways of worship.

eclecticism on the other hand is about incorporating elements from different sources. i've always used it in the sense of keeping the sources within different branches of paganism, but there are also many other places that people draw from. this is where i would class practices that are completely outside of paganism, such as using tarot.

so, the two can look quite similar, they both introduce stuff that is beyond a strict reconstructionist approach but where they come from and how is different.

conclusion/TLDR

i think there is a little bit of an ongoing online war between reconstructionist pagans/polytheists and other kinds of practitioners and while i'm not interested in participating in that, i think we should define what "the other ways of worship" are. there are many, many different kinds of things that people do, and we can understand each other better if we come to some sort of distinction and definition.

if you incorporate elements from other pantheons, religions, spiritualities, traditions etc., i would call that eclecticism. if you're looking at ancient sources from one tradition and making those ideas work for you and your particular life in a modern world, i would say that is revivalism.

now, this is obviously just my opinion and i would love for people to chime in with their opinions and perspectives if they want to. despite how diverse we are, we are still a community and i want to foster more discussion and understanding in it. thank you for reading!

[hyperdemona]

On the ongoing debate on legalising same-sex marriage. Currently this is how things stand - If we can agree biological sex isn't real, we can have same sex marriage, because how do we even KNOW heterosexual marriage is between persons of opposite sex? 🤡🤡Might as well permit gay marriage.

The opposing side (The Union government) - Biological sex is real and same sex marriage goes against core Indian values.

Man this really wasn't how I expected this discussion to go. Ajdhhdksmandndm

HOW HARD is it to agree that homosexuality is a regular, natural phenomenon between people of the same sex, that is distinct from heterosexuality??? HOW HARD is it to argue that denying them the right to marry is groundless?? What is the need of all this obfuscation and mental gymnastics???? How do they expect to be taken seriously? In the end I already know this whole thing is going to end with gay marriage NOT being upheld.

Y'all stupid whites are why we're here btw

[decepti-thots]

If you want to and haven't answered these already: 12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them and 18) it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... for the Choose Violence ask game, please

not so much in the sense of people disliking the character but more in the sense that character gets very little attention: aileron! she's a really interesting addition to what the OP ongoing does in terms of introducing these civilian characters and how it focalises a lot of its discussion of religion and its role in these characters' world through her. and her relationship with arcee is really, really wonderful, and in itself very underappreciated in the fandom. AND her design is great. i love aileron!

as for what the fandom sleeps on: why is whirl/magnus a rarepair. this has always SHOCKED me tbh. look at me. listen. fandom, we can fix this. they're opposites-attract. whirl flirts with magnus repeatedly. whirl says out loud he flirts with magnus. they're both excellent characters with hidden depths. what are we DOING that we don't have a single complete dramatic longfic about them! we need to fill this void!!! please talk to me about whirlmags i am So Serious btw

[infinitelycynical]

Namimatsu for the ship ask!

4, 10, 11, 12 & 15

Btw, I love how you explain your headcannons!

god, it's been so long since i've done anything for namimatsu, i can't wait to get into it! and thank you 🥹 you're very kind!

4. what they do on date night. typically, they go out to dinner and sit at a table with the most privacy or get a balcony table to themselves. namikawa takes matsuda to places he enjoys, which are usually on the expensive end, and always pays. matsuda does not protest this - people aren't meant to know that he's dating namikawa in the first place (due to the very recent or even ongoing investigation of yotsuba). by expensive places, i mean exclusive clubs or golf courses and the like. does namikawa like golf? no. does matsuda? no. do they go at least once anyway? yeah.

10. what TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from the other. both of them watch the news together in the morning when matsuda is over at namikawa's, and they watch it all the way through so matsuda can catch the weather segment and namikawa can catch the stock market segment. namikawa doesn't care for television, whereas matsuda is an avid watcher. namikawa will sometimes sit with matsuda and watch whatever he is watching, but he will be doing it to keep matsuda company rather than for the show itself. matsuda gets VERY cuddly on the couch, and namikawa gets to use watching the tv as an excuse to let him cuddle up (despite his sensible nature).

11. what their first impression of each other was. their first meeting was when matsuda broke into yotsuba and fell into their meeting room. namikawa's first impression was that matsuda was rather dumb, going in at night instead of at daytime to promote misa-misa. he didn't spend much time thinking about him because he THOUGHT that he would die anyway.

matsuda was terrified of all the yotsubas and that he would be killed right there and then, he was focused entirely on instinct so really regarded them as an entity rather than as individuals. when they met later on, matsuda was tentative, because namikawa was confident and didn't seem like the type to take no as an answer.

12. what they do for their anniversary. namikawa takes matsuda out for a night at the town, they go to a theatre and watch the opera (which matsuda hasn't been to before, so yay for him!) then go to a restaurant for dinner and discuss the show. they don't do gifts. namikawa isn't a romantic man, but he knows matsuda likes the expensive places he takes them to and enjoys new experiences, so he tries to incorporate both.

15. what they would change about each other. disclaimer before i answer this, i choose to interpret this about what they change about one another (over what they would change about the other if they could choose, i prefer to think about the development of a relationship and how it advances).

namikawa learns to be more compassionate over the course of his relationship, matsuda is often late to dates or to coming over because of his long hours with the task force and needs leniency that at first, namikawa does not give. matsuda's work days are often exhausting and he typically works seven days a week as opposed to five like namikawa does, so when he gets home he needs to not be told off and treated gentler. matsuda is very grateful for this.

matsuda learns to think first and then act, he is usually impulsive and acts on pure emotion or vibe alone. namikawa is the opposite, acting on logic, and over time, matsuda begins mimicking the same pattern. it starts with things as insignificant as what drink to buy or what fruit to choose at the supermarket. he wants to make namikawa proud (because inferiority complex, yippee) so learns some things from him. namikawa is satisfied with this, thinks it's just him wisening up and doesn't realise his impact on matsuda.

thank you for the ask!

[stageplaymlp]

Hi I wanna start Trigun and you're the person in my feed who mentions it most, should I start with the manga, the old anime or Stampede?

Honestly? You can start wherever. The main three versions of Trigun (1998 anime, the manga, Stampede) are all incredibly varied and you'll get different things out of them. It's a "pick your poison" type deal. I'll give you a quick run down of the different versions so you can choose which is best for you, anon

It's also worth noting that my personal journey with Trigun went: '98 -> Stampede -> TriMax -> BLR

(Oh yeah, there's also a movie called Badlands Rumble. We'll get to it)

'Trigun' / 'Trigun: Maximum' manga: I think it'd be best to start this discussion with the source material. If you're looking for the most complete and rounded story of Trigun, this is it, mainly because it ran the for the longest out of all versions, and is a finished work (Stampede is ongoing). It's also worth noting that this is the darkest version of Trigun so far and goes into some very heavy subject matter (gore, (mostly offscreen) SA, suicidal ideation, etc.) There's a tumblr post listing the various trigger warnings that I'll link at the end of this section. That said, it is definitely my favourite version of Trigun narratively and BOY is it an emotional roller coaster. It's what gave me the brain worms. It's got a good mix of the silly and the sad, while also going BUCKWILD near the end. It's great. Highly reccomend

Oh, yeah, the manga is also split into Trigun and TriMax because the magazine it was published in got canned. Trigun was then picked up again by a new publisher with an added subtitle. Trigun is 2 volumes while TriMax is 14. The manga as a whole ran from 1995-2008. It's all one continous story so don't worry, with the events of TriMax picking up two years after the events of Trigun in-universe

Here's the post btw: https://www.tumblr.com/blackblockconsortia/719247451003977728/and-now-for-trimax-general-warnings-for-trimax

'Trigun' 1998 anime: Ah, the OG, for me at least. Watched this back in 2018 and started me on this ride. It should be worth noting that at the time of 98's creation, only the two volumes of Trigun and the first two volumes of TriMax were out at the time. Due to this, the 98 anime is about 60% filler (as in, anime original content) and it has its own ending, too. I consider it its own story compared to the manga, despite directly adapting a number of its storylines. 98 is only 26 episodes and leans very heavily into the comedic, episodic element in the first half of the story. The manga has this too, but 98 commits to the bit more. Then the second half rolls around and punches you square in the gut. It's great. Not nearly as dark as the manga or Stampede, but 14 y/o me was DEVASTATED by the end of it. Absolutely iconic. Also, while the ending is different to the manga with how things shake out, it's satisfying in its own way

'Trigun: Stampede' 2023 anime: This here is what reignited my love for this series. Now, Stampede is a VERY DIFFERENT BEAST to the 98 anime, which I think is part of why people were hesitant about it on reveal (including me). Stampede is a lot more serious in tone and less episodic, keeping to a consistent plot episode-to-episode (for the most part). It's also only 12 episodes in length as of season 1. The anime is also 3D, but the animation is BEAUTIFUL. Studio Orange know what the fuck they're doing. I also need to mention that Stampede is a reimagining of the manga, not a direct adaptation. It takes the same concepts, lore, characters and themes and moulds them into something new (kind of like the different versions of TMNT). If you watch 98 or read the manga before this one, you will have to go in with an open mind and heart. It's good, though, I promise. What's fun about Stampede is that it came out after the manga was finished, so characters and backstory elements that never got adapted into 98 (because they didn’t exist at the time) finally get animated. I'd say it's more faithful to the story and tone of the manga than 98, but with its own flavour mixed in. It was clearly made with a lot of love for the franchise, too

'Badlands Rumble' movie: BLR came out in 2010 and treats itself like an extra episode of the 98 anime for the most part. It's its own self-contained story, and plays off of the dynamics and characterisation of 98 than other versions, with a number of nods to the anime mixed in. Hell, a new version of the 98 anime opening 'H.T.' even shows up in the soundtrack. It doesn't tie into the wider story of any version of Trigun, but if you want another silly adventure with some killer action scenes, then I'd reccomend it. I'd suggest watching 98 before this, though, but it won't ruin the movie if you don't. You can know fuck all about Trigun and enjoy this. Although, warning for Vash being a bit of a weirdo to the leading lady. He needs to calm down

There was also a tie-in manga for the release of the movie called 'Trigun: Multiple Bullets'. The first two chapters directly follow the events of BLR, while the rest of the chapters are an anthology made by guest artists. Warning, though, most of the other chapters take place after the events of TriMax and can contain spoilers. In terms of quality, the chapters are... Okay. I like some more than others. Boichi (mangaka of Dr. Stone) drew a Very Manly Vash and he scares me. Also, I should mention the storyline about the side-character, Rei-Dei the Blade, has offscreen SA and CSA. It took me off guard because I didn't know it was in there, and it's pretty messed up. I'd still recommend MB if you want some extra Trigun, and some of the chapters are genuinely funny and heart warming, but I wanted to give the heads up

Now, with all this considered, there are two places I'd reccomend starting Trigun: the 98 anime or Stampede

The 98 anime is more lighthearted and keeps a lot of answers to the lore close to its chest. I found discovering more about the world through other versions to be narratively satisfying, like one big unravelling mystery. TriMax and Stampede also greatly expand and improve upon concepts in 98 as well. It's a good way to ease you in to the world of Trigun while making you want more. You fall in love with the characters, and THEN the plot whacks you upside the head with a frying pan. I like the slow burn

Stampede is the opposite. You get right into the action out the gate. It offers answers to questions far quicker than 98 ever did. The ball is rolling and it rolls FAST. You want the meat and potatoes of Trigun shoved in your face? Stampede is for you. It's also better if you prefer serious, story-driven media. Although, Stampede isn't complete yet, so you will have to wait for 'Trigun: Stargaze' to come out for the full narrative to resolve

AND THAT'S WHERE THE MANGA COMES IN BABYYYYYYY!!!!! It has the humour and slow build of 98 AND the complex story and tone of Stampede. It's the best of both worlds. You get all the answers, you get that satisfying resolution, and you get to cry on the side of your bed from the amazing writing (like I did). You won't even get that spoiled for what will come after Stampede, because who knows how much of it Studio Orange will take from and how. All roads lead to the manga. That is my advice

Also all the OSTs for Trigun (98, BLR and Stampede) are AMAZING. Go listen to them. They're all on Spotify, if that helps

I wrote this at 3am. I hope this is coherent

[nalyra-dreaming]

I hate the way this fandom is attacking each other and I feel bad for you because I do not think you asked for or started any of this. You simply gave your interpretation and theories of a show based on books and some people took that and twisted it and now it’s turning into something else.

Are parts of this fandom racist? YES. And whether we want to admit it or not, I’ve seen the most racist takes from many individuals WHITE and BLACK alike. I’ve seen some of the most hypocritical meta’s ever that support Louis and then others that support Lestat. I’ve seen some racisit shit said and everyone is nodding their head like there is nothing wrong. I’ve seen some individuals fly off the handle and start screaming racism all because someone dared to critique Louis or Claudia. And I’m not sure where the notion comes from that black people can’t be racist toward white people or racist toward other black people because I see this everyday and this is coming from a black person. I’m not sure where the notion comes from that there isn't racism taking place in the fandom and all blacks are being sensitive, they aren’t. Each situation is individual, and much like real life, there are shitty blacks and shitty whites and we shouldn’t lump all Lestat lovers into a category or all Louis stans into a category. We shouldn't assume all whites are racist and we shouldn’t assume all blacks are being aggressive or sensitive. Do y’all know how many problems could have been solved if people just discussed or educated each other instead of name calling and calling people out and responding with vitriol? Damn, let Jacob and Sam set the example. They disagree and discuss and don't let this shit bother them on a personal level. You know what I respect most about your takes? You never tried to reduce your takes on these characters based on their race.

Nalyra, keep being you, if they don’t like it, they can block you. I sincerely hope you aren’t stressing over this shit. You’re above it. You don't deserve any of this bullshit.

👆

And thank you 💕 I really appreciate it!

Honestly, over a year ago, when this started… I was very taken aback. I have never experienced something like this and I come from Hannibal lol. And btw that is what I mean when I say this has been ongoing. The latest iteration is just that - the latest iteration. (I‘m not taking this in any relaxed manner but I‘m far from being as stressed as back then, soooo 💕)

And yes, if they don’t like… they can block me. That’s what I‘m doing now, too. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[a-queer-seminarian]

*deeeeep breath* so. (cw church hurt, religious queerphobia)

another Thing has happened in the unfortunately still-ongoing saga of The Pentecost Incident (see my tag if you don't know, but basically, i visited my childhood church back in late May, my priest gave a queerphobic sermon, i got up and said something, got kicked out and verbally harassed by a dude, it went a little bit viral, ugh). (Oh btw i also discuss it a bit near the end of my latest podcast ep over here).

the priest in question, who's been at this same parish since 2002, has now been reassigned to a different church elsewhere in the Cleveland area.

naturally the same Cleveland journalist who's been covering this story since it started published a fresh article that questions whether the move is related to what happened back in May. The official diocese statement is that the events are unrelated, which. Sure. i could see. I definitely don't think it's "punitive" like the article suggests — apparently this other church is in a more conservative area / the parishioners are more conservative. So i could believe this is either a coincidence, or the bishop decided he'd be a better fit for this other church...or hell, that father tim is the one who requested the transfer to get out of the spotlight or something

which just. really bums me out. because unless he's really changed that much since i knew him better in high school (so a good decade ago), Father Tim isn't like, a Mega Conservative?? Like, relatively speaking, for a Catholic priest.

...If i really wanted to know, i guess i'd have to like, listen back through a ton of his homilies to see if they have gotten more conservative over time but. obviously i'm not going to do that because that would be The Worst thing i could do for my mental and spiritual health lol but. part of me is tempted just so i can Know.

i did what i did primarily as a message to anyone in the pews feeling as alienated and betrayed as i did; and secondarily in hopes that Father Tim would see how what he preached was so hurtful. i sent him a loooong email afterward to explain my feelings more (he replied with a quick sentence about not wanting to talk right now but i'm hoping he at least read it).

and now i can't stop thinking about like. what if what i did instead pushed him further right?? fed his persecution complex???

despite the fact that people on the left don't tend to pose any real physical threat to those we protest, and that i was the one who ended up verbally threatened in this situation, i was never surprised when conservative Catholics by-and-large responded to this incident by being like "see! Catholic-phobia is real!" ...But i hate to think that someone like Father Tim, who's known me for most of my life, would feel like i threatened him or whatever.

part of me knows that wouldn't really be on me if that's the case. most of me knows i would have felt the need to get up and say something regardless of how it's all shaken out — as gut-wrenching as it feels to have so little control over the narrative, i still couldn't have just sat there and said nothing. And i've had enough people from the broader St. Raphael community reach out to thank me and say what I did was encouraging or even healing to stand by my decision.

and yet. it still feels really painful. and this added bit about him being transferred to a new church just makes my stomach hurt. i bet there are people within the parish who now blame me and loathe me for like, tearing their community apart or whatever. and i bet the new church will welcome father tim in like a hero, maybe even expect him to preach more things like what he did that day, which will only push him farther right...

all of this is out of my control. i keep trying to center myself and remind myself of that. but God, it's just painful.

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics:

(mild catchup edition)

Stargirl: The Lost Children: I finally got around to reading all of this. I think it fits Courtney’s general isolation and separation from a lot of her age contemporaries by having been a JSA character. I’m torn between two reactions: there’s a handful of characters in here I wouldn’t mind seeing more about; and we in no way needed all these Lost Children added to the overload of underused teen characters we are already sitting on (particularly when all of the ones who WEREN’T white boys were pretty much invented for the book). As someone who was stalking the wikis as I read to check who was an existing character and who wasn’t, I did spot the Wing twist before it happened and understood WHY it happened (and the book could have been a little clearer about that I think, but eh).

I think, hmmm, it would have had more effect on me if there was realistically any of the retrieved characters who mattered to me (aside from Greta, and let’s put aside the ‘why is Greta a ghost again’ discussion). Oh look, the Newsboy Legion! Except the grown up members of that have been knocking around, as have the clones of them, over the years. They weren’t exactly MISSING, it was just their first reintroduction post Flashpoint.

Jay Garrick: The Flash #3: I’ve got to say it is very VERY obvious to me that this is a Jeremy Adams book and that Adams has his favourites and his favourite themes (and boy does he love a niche partly forgotten kid character. Chris Kent girlies, your best luck might actually be getting Adams onto a Superman book). It’s sweet and it’s fun and I really sort of wish the book was more about Jay rather than Judy? Judy’s adorable of course but when rewriting all this history of Jay and Joan’s place in the Flash family I think it needs a little more focus on Jay and Joan’s feelings here.

Hawkgirl #6: I wish this book didn’t have the ‘we are claiming these characters are at most 24 when they’re acting like they’re 28-35’ situation, but putting that aside. Gosh do I love this run. It’s just been really really satisfying. It’s so nice to be catered to by a writer. Bargains! The mythology of deals! Such a well written mini. I am also very fond of the little hooks set up for “if you want another mini or an ongoing, I have IDEAS’, btw.

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #22: again as I read this I think ‘I am sure I would be getting more out of this if I was obsessive about Kingdom Come’. Mostly staring at the pretty as I keep time waiting for this storyline to finish.

The Warlord #31: this week in Skartaris Travis kills so many wild dogs on the steps of a temple that he activates a secret switch that was protecting a hidden entrance until enough blood sacrifice was made, then falls into a pit of treasure guarded by undead trolls.

He eventually works out he can kill the trolls with sunlight (after using up some more gun bullets on them, what happened to your limited supply of bullets, Travis?), and escapes, taking a shield he found there with him, turning to head for Shamballah as he is once again so close to reuniting with Tara.

Only...the shield contains a bird demon!

FOILED AGAIN! Poor Travis, always doomed to be torn away from Tara.

[metanarrates]

dumb question: could you elaborate on what you meant when you mentioned the character relationships regressing in princess tutu?

honestly, maybe "regressed" wasn't exactly the right word. the progression gained in s1 still exists - ahiru has gotten to know a bit more about rue and believes that rue is still somewhere in the kraehe persona, fakir no longer wishes to deny mytho his heart, and most critically, fakir and ahiru are now allies. none of those major developments have been set back.

however, literally all these relationships have flattened by virtue of the show simply not choosing to focus on them. rue appears to no longer feel ambivalent about princess tutu (which is sort of gestured at as being part of her retreat into the kraehe role/the raven's daughter, but there's no actual attention drawn to it.) we get next to nothing about how fakir feels about mytho other than "well we gotta get his heart to him and solve the raven's blood problem." I DO think fakir and ahiru have gotten closer, but their relationship is a rather straightforward friendship. it's still a little complex, but it lacks the drive and relative complexity of s1.

this would not be a problem if fakir/ahiru was a background dynamic to all the other ongoing dynamics, btw. they don't need to always be in a fraught ideological struggle. I think their dynamic is cute! but given that there's just very little complexity in any relationship in the show at this point, it does feel like a regression. ptutu has always been a kid's show, and so I never expected a crazy level of complex characterization, but there was a sense of forward momentum and struggle between clashing personalities and motives in s1 😭 compared to that, s2 has felt so empty.

well, except for one dynamic. and that's between rue and raven's blood mytho.

i will say straight up that this dynamic is WEIRD. not for any actual reason of the dynamic itself (in a vacuum it's a fascinating dynamic) but for the writing surrounding it. ive talked EXTENSIVELY about how much I hate the choice to make mytho be possessed by an Evil Self, and this is another extension of that. we know raven's blood mytho is just meant to disappear like a puff of smoke by the end of the plot. in essence, this undercuts literally any and all screentime he gets. we know that, because he is a plot obstacle, he is just not supposed to be taken seriously. his scenes with rue are meant to establish HER as a poor little meow meow, and not to establish him as a genuine character with motivations and feelings of his own.

and of course rue, come season 2, has been established as being pretty much entirely princess kraehe. her motive to possess mytho has been further fleshed out as being part of her backstory as an emotionally abused girl who wishes to free her father and gain a happy ending with mytho.

I do feel this comes out of nowhere and undercuts some earlier stuff with her character. however, it's not a horrible change. even if it's not what I wanted or liked about her, it DOES say stuff about her and lend texture to how she views mytho. however, some of this was unintentional by the writers. rather than being only tragic, she just seems pathetic and sad. I'm wishing for her to both break free of her father AND break free of her idealization of mytho. both her father and raven's blood mytho treat her like shit, and she doesn't care if regular mytho loves her so long as she can possess him. i want so badly for that mindset to go away for her, but from what I know, it doesn't.

all that aside, that brings us to the one dynamic relationship in s2 so far, and that's between rue and raven's blood mytho. as discussed, he is basically a new character. he doesn't feel like he is at all related to regular mytho, even inversely. the only other character he Could be related to is the raven, but given that he's not literally the raven possessing mytho's body, his characterization tells us very little about either character. so... not great for the idea of Existing dynamics progressing. they had to invent a new guy for rue to have character development with!

I do like it. they're mutually using each other, which is interesting. I like their little plotting sessions, and I like rue's continual wish that he will at least love her a little, even though she's mostly concerned with actual mytho rather than him. they feel like fun, toxic allies, and you get a great sense of how they view each other. they're both characterized quite interestingly in their moments together. their mutual ruthlessness is put on great display.

but well... we get a good sense of how rue feels about regular mytho. we know exactly what she sees in him. mytho himself? we don't get his viewpoint on hardly anything.

now, this is justifiable from a watsonian standpoint because of his heart situation. he isn't himself, and is spending most of his time fighting against his evil alter ego. but s1 mytho also had an incomplete heart, and we got a good sense of how he viewed other people! he went from unquestionably allowing fakir and rue to overrule him to asserting his own emotions against them. we see that he was drawn by princess tutu. it seemed like he liked fakir and ahiru at least somewhat. and even before he had his heart back, he still pretty obviously had interests and had his own viewpoint on fakir and rue.

now? nothing. we know he wishes to see tutu, isn't interested in rue's attempts to control him, and that he dislikes his raven's blood persona. that's it. we don't know how his views on anyone else have shifted. a lot has happened - it would be really natural for his perspectives on everyone to change! but we don't see evidence of it. the only time we see the Real Mytho is when he is desperately struggling against the raven's blood.

so yeah. theres just less dynamism between any of the four main characters. it's really not great.

[firespirited]

As much as I've tried to take this to heart, it has been excruciating these past few days to watch (mostly USamerican) people learn about white phosphorus, mass punishment, illegal detention, the Geneva convention, hostage exchanges and not even bother to stick those terms in wikipedia.

The excitement at seeing people discover something you've been yelling about for years turns to ash when they have no curiosity about it, the outrage isn't going to turn into long-term struggle it's a flash in the pan emotion that'll be apathy from burnout within a few years.

Something REAL you can do with your anger is join up with groups in your country who are working to eventually get the USA to even be slightly accountable for those crimes (ongoing btw) like the rest of the world, for small gestures like closing Guantanamo: the 20 year torture prison without trial. Just having the talk about moving those men to american prisons, let alone release, or with compensation.

Right now one of the local (to me) issues is people imprisoned for terrorism being given the option of psychological care instead of isolation as we begin to dismantle the idea of the evil mastermind and see that for every charismastic sociopath there are dozens of groomed young men and women from vunerable backgrounds. Folding in what we have learned about gangs and cults instead of good and evil thinking. This is legislation that will totally be crushed under the current government of course but deserves to be formulated anyway so we can bring it back later and at least start the seeds of discussion.

There might be a few people asking for "nuance" who just want to not think but an awful lot of people asking for nuance are asking for curiosity: for you to put in the reading, the dialectical reading of things you may disagree with or may be outdated to have a fuller grasp on a situation that is also playing out in so many other ways close to home that you can actually act on.

Examples for me is that many Syrian refugees are also Palestinian refugees from earlier wars but the rhetoric about them is to not even call them refugees but invaders like they're not doing our care and janitorial work! We also have islamophobia and antisemitism in local schools: in my own half muslim neighbourhood. We also throw taxpayer money at weapons manufacturers and take pride in our civilian killing inventions: that's places we can blockade and boycott, we can expose who took their money and gifts.

Nuance is kind of like when the Black Lives Matter movement asked people to do some basic reading before turning up to protest and saying something wack. It doesn't mean "hey this is too complicated for anyone except scholars to parse so let's all shut up"

Nuance means let's learn what led us here, what we can do right now with our anger, how we could turn current impotence into future accountability, how to stop this from happening again, how do I protect and build in my own community where land and blood feuds are lurking under the surface.

[jupitermelichios]

@jughead-is-canonically-aroace (great url btw) asked me to make my additions to this post rebloggable on their own. for reference if anyone wants it, this is a pretty good write up of the whole ongoing situation

~~*~~*~~

Having read the thread, along with a number of other connected threads, there is no reason the believe AO3 is going to go down

(that's not to say you shouldn't back up your own fics, or save copies of other people's fics for personal use, it's always a good idea to have backups)

the linked thread is discussing institutional problems with OTW's Legal and Policy & Abuse committees (although the latter primarily in the ways the thread's author believes they are being negatively impacted by legal)

It's primarily a conversation about the OTW having structural problems and being slow to react/change when needed, but three accusations of specific breaches of the law which could get the OTW into trouble are made:

That the OTW does not retain works PAC identify as containing CSAM/CSEM for the legal minimum period of 90 days

That the OTW suspends rather than deletes the accounts of those identifies as being under 13 so that they can restore the account once the user is over the minimum user age, which is a breach of COPPA

Same as above, but this is a breach of GDPR

None of these could get AO3 taken down, and 2 of them are provably untrue

Systems have confirmed the first point is not true. While works are not retained on the archive for the 90 days, the archive keeps complete back-ups for longer than that, so the work can be restored if needed by the authorities. This is, as rahaeli points out, a pretty inefficient way of handling things, but being inefficient is not a breach of the law

Rahaeli corrects themself in their own thread when they realise that COPPA does not apply to the specific type of non-profit AO3 is, so that's moot

The GDPR point is slightly more complicated. I'm not a lawyer, but I work in the finance industry in the UK handling massive quanities of personal data, so I am required by law to be trained on GDPR.

Email addresses are not automatically personal data under GDPR. They can be, but only if they contain other personal information. So if your email is brony47@gmail, that's not personal data. If it's john.smith@company it is, because it contains your wallet name and employer. So, while it's fairly unlikely when dealing with AO3 accounts belonging to under 13s, especially as school issued emails are basically never wallet names because they just deal with too many people for that to be sustainable, it is technically possible that retaining this info is a breach of GDPR.

However, even if AO3 was found to have breached GDPR, that would not result in the website being taken down with no warning or fics being purged. That's not how any of this works.

AO3 would face fines (I don't actually know how those fines work for non-profits, since they're usually a % of annual turnover - I assume donations would be treated as turnover for the ICO's purposes, but I may be wrong about that).

It's possible that fine could be steep enough that the archive couldn't meet server costs and would ultimately need to shut down, but the ICO do not possess the ability to shut the site down, and AO3 owns its own servers so if the worst happened and the archive shut down, they would have plenty of time to warn people. It would not just vanish, that's not what the ICO does.

(The specific affected account would be need to be deleted, but since it would already be suspended and invisible to users, that would not affect any end-users)

(Also the entire process of it going through the ICO and being debated to get to the point of the fine would probably take at least a year, this is a massive pan-european beauracratic body, it is not famous for its efficiency)

None of this is me saying rahaeli doesn't have valid points, or that reform isn't needed, generally I agree that it is, and I think rahaeli's suggestions about what to change sound reasonable, although I'm not an expert and not on either of the affect teams, so that's just some rando's opinion.

But the this post is not about that, this post is about people worrying about the archive being taken down, and again, that is not what is going on here!

TLDR; back up fics if you want, but AO3 is not in legal trouble, and even if it was, the type of legal trouble being discussed would not result in the entire archive just going down without prior warning

Additionally, since a few people mentioned this in tags and reblogs, AO3 is set up in such a way that there is almost no risk of a griffindor's tower 'mod infighting tanks the website' type situation. No one committee has that power, and the OTW has lost its entire board before now and AO3 continuted to function. (That's actually part of the cause of the problems being discussed, because decentralised power makes it resistant to infighting, but the pay off is that it's slow to change, because it requires a lot of different officers and other volunteers to work together)

[xlntwtch2]

"WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is considering using provisions of federal immigration law repeatedly tapped by former President Donald Trump to unilaterally enact a sweeping crackdown at the southern border, according to three people familiar with the deliberations.

(BTW, this means they consider using an "executive order" only, *not* using one the way Trump did in the past and would use against millions if he can in the future)

"The administration, stymied by Republican lawmakers who rejected a negotiated border bill earlier this month, has been exploring options that President Joe Biden could deploy on his own without congressional approval, multiple officials and others familiar with the talks said. But the plans are nowhere near finalized and it’s unclear how the administration would draft any such executive actions in a way that would survive the inevitable legal challenges.

The officials and those familiar with the talks spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to comment on private ongoing White House discussions. The exploration of such avenues by Biden’s team underscores the pressure the president faces this election year on immigration and the border, which have been among his biggest political liabilities since he took office.

For now, the White House has been hammering congressional Republicans for refusing to act on border legislation that the GOP demanded, but the administration is also aware of the political perils that high numbers of migrants could pose for the president and is scrambling to figure out how Biden could ease the problem on his own.

White House spokesperson Angelo Fernández Hernández stressed that “no executive action, no matter how aggressive, can deliver the significant policy reforms and additional resources Congress can provide and that Republicans rejected.”

[ourlittlesister2015]

It’s so interesting to me how different things can be historically speaking regarding tradition and worker’s rights. I was at the bus the other week and a driver was using it as a ride and talking to the actual driver and they were talking about the union and how angry they were bc of how they were paying this fee for a long time and the union wasn’t doing anything for them and most drivers weren’t unionized and couldn’t blame them. That same week my mom was pissed bc the nurse’s union was doing some bs fast negotiation with the city and there was no open debate, they were making decisions arbitrarily and something seemed off (ongoing situation btw).

They’re so important and this really is just how weird it is how different things can be depending on where you’re looking. I had the same thought while I was in the study group and we were talking about Bolivia and community feminism. It's really about how different places are having totally different discussions which is why it’s so fundamental to read about wtf’s going on in different places.