#this is a copy of my comment from reddit

[amiizuki]

it amuses me how RWBY Beyond was advertised as "see what was happening in Remnant during V9, while RWBYJ were in Ever After", and yet the 2nd episode out of 4 of the series is about what Jaune was doing after V9. yeah, he talks about stuff that happened during V9 (or, technically, before, since it's about events from when he was with Alyx and Lewis), but the whole thing still takes place post V9, with him telling all those stuff to Oscar.

and then there's the 1st episode, which, while indeed taking place during V9, is just comedy filler, that supposedly continues with detectives joke from RWBY Chibi (I never watched RWBY Chibi, I only heard from other people that that show also had Sun and Neptune act like detectives) with no actual relevant info about what was happening with Vacuo, or the Atlas and Mantle refugees, or how people and the ruler of Vacuo were handling a whole ass nation of people just suddenly dropping onto their doorstep, or anything like that. the only sort of plot relevant info was showing that Summer Maiden is in Vacuo, but then again, her identity was still hidden from us and Kerry quickly jumped off from that plot point as soon as it was introduced with his """hilarious""" "nuh-uh, no more new characters lmao XD" line.

this 2nd episode isn't really that bad, it's kinda alright, certainly better than the 1st one, but, again, when I read that the series will be about what people of Remnant, who aren't RWBYJ, were doing during V9, I kinda thought it'll be about Atlas and Mantle citizens trying to get used to their sudden new life in Vacuo, or Oscar/Ozpin talking to Theo and all 3 maidens to figure out what to do next, or, hell, maybe even focus on Tai's feelings on everything that happened, with him thinking if he did the right thing by letting Ruby and Yang leave, since now he doesn't even know if his daughters, his last remaining family, are even alive, assuming he knows about the fates of Vale, Atlas and Mistral. (yeah, Tai's still at his house I think, but the description did say that it's about "what was happening in Remnant", not just Vacuo. yeah, Vacuo is a more important location right now, with everything except Menagerie and Mistral literally getting nuked just so the writers wouldn't have to go back to those places, but then change the description to "see what was happening in Vacuo during V9" if your only gonna focus on that location).

but no – the 1st episode is basically useless (and also very unfunny, but that's just my opinion) and the 2nd one, while okay on its own, takes place after V9 and doesn't focus on other people of Remnant, focusing on Jaune instead.

if the next episode is gonna be about bumbleby going on a date in Vacuo and telling everyone about how they got together in Ever After I'm gonna eat my own chair

and if the last episode will be the only one with any actual plot relevance, useful into or big reveal I'm gonna eat another

[casualbluebirdmentality]

Leon's immortality predates the Cup of Life, y'all. he's just Like That

I'm assuming people have probably talked abt this already but if they have, I haven't seen it (i'm relatively new here), so I'm bringing it up myself lol.

(It's important to note here that in the end credits starting from s2e2, Rupert Young has always been referred to as playing Sir Leon, so it is the same character.)

Remember s2e13 The Last Dragonlord, when Arthur asks his knights who among them are willing to ride out with him to fight this big-ass dragon, and Leon is the first to volunteer? And they then show Leon, with Arthur and the others, as they ride out to fight Kilgharrah in that weird-ass square field?

...And then Kilgharrah one-shots literally everyone except for Arthur & Merlin???? And when the two return, they're just like, "yeah all the other knights died valiantly defending the kingdom, very sad" ???????

Personally, I believe this only leaves us with two (2) options:

The writers just straight up Forgot (or maybe ignored) that Leon was one of the knights that died, and just kept writing him in bc he was a well-liked character,

Or,

2. They're therefore implying that, canonically, when Arthur&Merlin got back to Camelot and said that all the knights were dead, they were just straight-up wrong. Which means that Leon had to just... find his own way home, I guess, after having been freshly charbroiled by a fucking dragon.

Merthur: None of the other knights made it, even Leon :(

Leon, covered in burns, wheezing on the ground in that big-ass field: QUIT TELLING PEOPLE I'M DEAD

Merthur: sometimes we can still hear his voice :(

The wiki says that "many believed he'd been killed" when he "was injured by the great dragon," but that "this was ultimately disproven by his return in Series 3"...

...which I believe falls squarely into #2 listed above lmao. He wasn't dead, just injured. They just fucking left him there.

TL;DR: yes, he's immortal, but it's not even from the cup. he's just Built Different

[unsafe-chikku]

My number one COTL trick for rich money time, curious if anyone else does something similar.

In the late game, do Designer Baby Simulator.

My method is to get a couple different followers who have Lustful (optional) and Golden Poop, gather a lot of sin, do a ritual of lust, and match them with followers who may have good traits I might also want.

the important thing is to get as many eggs as possible hatching in tandem all with the golden poop trait.

Once they hatch, I’ve had up to 5 at once, they start crawling around pooping money so much I can barely keep up. (So don’t do too many at once or you’ll get sick followers.)

The drawback is that until they grow up you are basically stuck at home base collecting it all bc followers don’t seem to be able to clean up the unique poop.

I usually get 20-30 golden poops if not more every day from the multiple golden babies until they grow up. Then I use that in the fertilizer and get a few (5 I think?) gold bars from each farm plot. I’ve gotten over 110 gold bars at once from a single full farmhouse area !

I would not be surprised if they nerf the amount of gold bars you get from fertilizer or how much golden poop is made by the babies in the future tbh lmao

[atypical-artisan]

First reddit and now wattpad... what's up with orange websites and stealing?

[semi-imaginary-place]

more p5 ranting

Unless Persona overhauls it's writing team I don't think it's going to get much better. P5 clearly shows that their writing team is filled with conservative middle aged men who are trying to make a story that appeals yo the youths and have no clue what they are doing. They try to ape the aesthetics of social justice and progressive politics without ever actually engaging in the concepts. Despite wanting to write a story about the underdogs and marginalized in society there aren't a lot of marginalized characters and the writers fail to engage with the stories of those that are. They are so busy making Joke a self insert cishet male power fantasy that there aren't really any of the usual social stigma consequences usually associated with an arrest and conviction just some flavor text in the begining. One of the things I was alluding to above is that the social consequences of being a blond white girl in Japan are dealt with way better with Lisa in 1999 than Ann in 2016 despite having similar character setups. We really get to see how everyone judges Lisa based on her appearance like assuming she speaks English and how she fights to assert her identity by picking up cantonese and clinging to the one guy who saw her as she is. How even though she spent her whole life in Japan and knows nothing else and her weeb dad raised her as a Japanese girl, she's never been accepted. P5 never goes into how Ryuji is from a single parent household and the stigma of it instead making him a archetypal best friend meathead. Despite yapping on and on about social rebellion and revolution P5 fails to have an actually revolutionary character like a queer character or the child of undocumented immigrants. P5 boils down complex social problems into generational conflict (kids rule adults suck) which hides the actual social problems that transcend age. They talk about social rebellion and try to make it the main theme.while having no actual social rebellion in the game.

[phantomrose96]

Actually I should clarify: 99% chance the Reddit OP has no idea and nothing to do with the subreddit shadow banning me so no anger directed at them.

This is more about the concept OF a “tumblr subreddit” which has shadowbanned the person whose content is being farmed there. Buddy at least cut me a royalty check

Can you link the reddit post for your ao3 thread tumblr post

It's this the world is full of people : tumblr (reddit.com)

You know what the damnedest thing is? I'm shadowbanned from the thread. (Or maybe the whole subreddit?) On a post of someone posting a screenshot of my own post...

I had left two comments in the thread when it was pointed out to me. They didn't get responses or upvotes but really who cares. Except they were also not in my search results, and when I open this post in incognito mode my comments just Aren't There.

Like. Motherfucker. I don't care at all about being screenshotted and posted elsewhere but you take my post AND I'm banned from the thread/subreddit? Buddy the Fucking Audacity.

[doodlewizardry]

Have you ever wanted to find your old Ao3 comments? Easily keep track of which (and how many) fics you've commented on? Rediscover a fic that you left a time capsule of a gushing essay on?

Well, you can! And it's simple! (* Note: it only works for comments written after you turn this on.)

Go to your Preferences:

There's a checkbox labelled "Turn off copies of your own comments". This is selected by default. If you deselect it (and save your preferences) then you receive an email for every comment you leave.

But I don't want to get my inbox flooded by Ao3!

Understandable! Luckily, most email clients allow you to set up rules for incoming mail depending on their sender and contents. For instance (using Gmail), I've made it so that these emails skip the inbox, are marked as read, and moved to a label I call my "Comment Collection".

The result? A complete, organised and fully-searchable repository of any comments you leave from this point onwards! Search by fic name, author, date, that one sentence you vividly remember leaving!

I've set up other rules, too, like starring emails that are replies to my comments - I'm always excited to receive them!

I love this system, and I think it's motivated me to leave more comments. I hope that others find it useful too. Happy commenting!

Original preferences trick from this Reddit thread. Tagging @justleaveacommentfest, which motivated me to write this post!

[alexanderwales]

The Digital Corpse

I always read about what school shooters or wannabe assassins have to say. I read or at least skim through manifestos, most of which are really poorly written and usually just have badly misunderstood ideas that are copy-pasted from diverse places. I read social media posts and discord logs, where available. Some of this is morbid fascination that I don't endorse, but some of it is the impulse to understand how and why a thing like this happened.

So I've been following the news on Trump's would-be assassin, and to all appearances he was just a kid who was bullied at school and didn't have a lot of hobbies, skills, talents, or friends. He wanted power and control and had no way to get it, and I think there's something to the notion that a lot of white men think that their whiteness or maleness means they're owed something. When Trump came to town, it was opportunity falling into his lap. If you're 20 years old and feeling like the world cares nothing for you, then yeah, I can see why you'd take your shot. It's a way of being famous, of going out with a bang, and young men often feel invincible anyway. The shocking thing is that it almost worked, and that seems to be down to incompetence and complacency.

But if it had worked, and they hadn't immediately shot him to death, he'd have gotten all the worst parts of fame (in addition to what would probably be life in prison). In death he's got intense scrutiny of everything he's ever posted online. There are reports about how sad and lonely he was. If he'd succeeded, maybe there would be some on the left who would idolize him, but as it stands ... I can imagine wanting to be megafamous, but I cannot imagine wanting it to be like this. It was almost certainly different in his imagination though, a grand moment that would give meaning to his life and demonstrate that he did, in fact, have power.

And of course the whole thing will be forgotten in a week or two. A year from now you'll say the name "Thomas Crooks" and people will say "huh, that ... do I know that name?"

On the other side of things, there's Corey Comperatore. He was the other person to die that day, just a random guy who had attended a Trump rally and got hit by a bullet because from one specific angle he was standing behind Trump. If Thomas Crooks left almost nothing behind to make sense of his life, Corey Comperatore left behind what feels like a lot. The fame is more double-edged. He's lauded as a hero by some, even if the only thing he did was catch a stray. Generously, that's a way of making sense of things: just like it's not enough for Crooks to be alienated and dejected, it's not enough for Comperatore to just be someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But Corey Comperatore is also having his life torn open, or at least the parts of it that he put online. Posting online was something he probably did without thinking too much about it. The worst one, for me, was him saying that the Palestinians would "get over it" like the Japanese did. It's something I think about a lot in the social media age, the picture that people would get if they went looking through all our posts, if they were trying to make a picture of you from the things you've left behind. If you died in a very public way, what's the worst post you've ever made? What would people find ironic? But of course you don't need to die, we're in an era where anyone can get flash famous by random happenstance. And of course in the modern day we want the delicious little morsels, the worst thing you've ever said, the most ironic, most iconic, most infuriating sound bite that can represent a whole person. Anything more anodyne is pointless, even if that's the bulk of someone's life.

I'm probably a little unusual in terms of digital fingerprints. I'm active on discords, I've written some four million words of fiction, and my reddit comment karma is in the six figure range, which probably means that I've got something like fifty thousand comments. I talk a lot. But I do think about being torn apart like that, what would happen if I were famous for a day before the news cycle moved on, if there were hundreds or thousands of people trying to make sense of me.

When I die, if anyone has reason to go snooping through my history, I hope there's a good-looking corpse.

[spockandawe]

Double edit: actually, that's enough of that.

Edit: I was expecting maybe thirty notes tops. This is a surprise, and one that doesn't delight me. If I hear about any harassment stemming from this post, I'll be more pissed at the harasser than the person this is about.

God. Dammit.

I hate this, let's just out that out there! I'm unhappy that I'm talking about any of this, I'm unhappy there's an issue that's come up at the intersection of media preservation, respecting authors, and one of my favorite book series. And I'm unhappy that I've censored the names in the screenshots I'm about ti post! I'm not happy that I'm helping to slide consequences away from someone who thought this was an acceptable thing to do to a modern working author. But I'm even less happy this is something that happened in the first place, and I'm VERY unhappy the original post has been deleted without a whisper of accountability or apology.

And here's a partial screenshot of the IA page, which has since been removed. I get the excitement to share something you love with a new audience. This isn't the right way to go about it.

First, if Martha Wells' patreon is still in place, I encourage everyone in the strongest possible terms to go sign up for it. It'll charge you one dollar. I've been a member since probably 2018, and I mistakenly believed it was locked to new members (it's labeled 'Currently Closed To New Patrons') until I had reason to look it up last night, when I tripped across this reddit post from earlier this year.

Now. I was looking it up because of this sudden patreon message:

Even if the patreon goes away, I still recommend that people sign up. Explore the stories! They're very fun! Even though the patreon has been dormant for years, I've loved having that repository in place.

In fact, in the interest of full disclosure, what kept me from immediately reblogging last night is that I've felt the same archival urges! I bound a hard copy of these stories earlier this year, and let me quote my own words from that post:

I live in a state of perpetual low key stress over the impermanence of digital media and that goes extra for sites that aren’t designed to work well as archives. I hope, desperately, that someday Martha Wells publishes more raksura, maybe even including these stories! I will buy it immediately. No thoughts, wallet empty. I own all her other raksura books in literally three formats, fingers crossed that by printing this, I can actualize a formal official printing of these stories by the author 😂

So. Archiving, yes. But especially with a living, working author, I would never DREAM of posting a public free-for-all with IA and mediafire links. My most charitable interpretation is that OP thought it was fine since the stories were "free," even though the writeups acknowledge that access costs a dollar. Ao3 is also free. Reposting someone else's fic is still understood to be a dick move.

Last night i was left kind of stunned, and I was hoping to see some kind of response from op this morning taking responsibility, and was... disappointed to see that the post was just deleted. The IA listing was deleted too, and I hadn't actually looked up the mediafire post yet but I'm guessing it's also been nuked. Out of curiosity, I wanted to see if there was anything more in the comments, so I found a surviving reblog. And there was!

So I'm writing this post because I'm... frustrated. Taking down the files is a good step. Posting them publicly was a worse step, but hey. I still more than understand if Martha Wells still deletes her patreon. I don't understand what sending her files of her own stories is meant to accomplish, but whatever. Ascribing a profit-driven motive is driving me up a wall, though. She's financially stable. I read her email, and what i see is frustration that even though it only cost a dollar to access 62k of her work through her own chosen location, control of her writing is being forcibly removed from her. I'm sure that seeing copies sold by third parties wouldn't help, but I don't think that's the root issue.

This is a fandom-heavy website, I'm sure most of us have seen posts about not reposting art when you can share directly from the artist's blog. I've seen posts about stop copying your ao3 faves over to wattpad just because you like reading there better. At a fundamental level, I read the message from Martha Wells as a deep frustration at having no way to share her creative work without someone removing control of it from her hands. And I don't know if there's any way to really take back that damage.

[fortunatelyannoyingcrown]

Just went down the Reddit rabbit hole, and found this sub aside from the main acotar sub- non toxic Acotar? Lmao, I think I just found out what the "non toxic" refers to- it is just a community for Feyre/Rhysand Stans to sit in their little echo chamber and spout misinforming crap about Tamlin/Nesta and Lucien sometimes....

Anyways, there was a post someone put up about what it "would take for Feyre and Tamlin to be Cordial"....

And some of these stupid and biased responses honestly had my blood boiling .I have ss a few here and I'll give my response to each comment as I go...

Oh sincere apology, you say?The one at the end of ACOMAF was not enough?What do y'all Feyrug bitches want him to do?Fall on his knees before her? Frankly, I wish he didn't apologize at all, or save her miserable life.She owes him way way more than he does her so just sftu. And also, look at your own faves' sin list?She can't just be demanding or even expecting apologies when she has done even worse to ruin his life and his court and his legacy, can she?.When Feyrug gives her apology, we'll think about Tamlin extending the same.

Imagine belittling what a depressed suicidal human being is going through, and making it his fault.No sweetie, your fave is a big part of the reason he is the way he is, she destroyed his life for no good reason.But yeah, taking accountability is something Feyrug has never really been good at.

"Feyre might come around"- who TF even is she? That war criminal needs to sit down with herself for a bit, and look at all the peoples' lives she has actively destroyed.So yes, Feyrug Stan you too can stfu and actually understand that your fave has done worse shit to Tamlin that she needs to own up to and apologize for...

And then there's another loser

Like honestly the way there people prop Feyrug on a pedestal when she doesn't even deserve it, like Jesus Christ, I hope Tamlin doesnt even get a POV, if SJM is going to pander to this bitch ass fandom, and have him apologize to her.I would rather he even die than that. Because if he dies, he can die with his self respect intact, instead of bowing before that monstrous bitch and her POS husband.

But unless Feyrug apologizes for all the pain she has caused him, very knowingly in fact, and acknowledges that she has been a POS, I don't want her within a ten foot distance from Tamlin

Like bitch, stay TF away from him Go back to Rhysie poop, your favourite rapist husband, but don't you dare expect an apology from him

If it ever happens, I will throw that copy of the book against the wall.I won't leave Feysand/ Feysand stans alone after that...

Have to get off my soap box now...

[severus-snaps]

Densaugeo and Hermione and Snape

So, once again I find myself reading through Snape reddit threads but I don't really use reddit and they're years old so I'm importing it here. I'm tripping into Snape apologism territory here but also sort of not - yes, a teacher insulting a 14yo girl's appearance would be devastating and inexcusable irl but it's not irl - and it's these potential theories I'm interested in :P

Is it out of character for Snape, who never anywhere else in the books touches on people's appearances, to insult Hermione's appearance?

How likely is it that it's a misunderstanding or deliberate double entendre (aka he appears to be insulting Hermione's appearance but is actually saying to Harry/Ron, you just did the same thing to Goyle)?

And do we think it was part of his cover to be more cruel than usual in front of Draco, either by deliberately choosing a sentence to be interpreted either way, or intending it to sound mean?

I've covered some of my workings below the cut, but I don't reach any conclusions other than he probably was being more cruel for practical reasons, rather than for his own amusement, in this scene. As always, I just like talking to people about these things so if anyone wants to drop a comment then I'm here for it :P

I started with Snape is really at his worst in GOF but touched on a few others, too. Some of the arguments I've seen that interested me were these:

Snape has only once in seven books made a remark about anyone's appearance, which was following the teeth hex with Hermione

Snape was mocked in school for his own appearance - and mocked again in PoA by the Marauders Map for being an ugly, abnormally large-nosed slimeball etc, and mocked at home for being weird-looking (e.g. by Petunia). Harry/Sirius/others fairly regularly comment on Snape's unpleasant appearance, from his hair to his teeth to his skin. In short, he's not really set up to be in a position to be commenting on other people's appearances - and indeed, he generally doesn't

Snape tends to show his enjoyment when he enjoys an insult - he smirks, smiles, etc, when he's insulting Harry sometimes, or James, and even Umbridge for example you get the idea he's having a good time with the ironic bow - but he didn't here. He's described as looking at her 'coldly'. Usually he just ignores her until she speaks out of turn in class

It was potentially a misunderstanding? He's saying "I see no difference" to Ron's insistence that Draco did something wrong, when Goyle's just been sent to the hospital wing looking like something out of a book on poisonous fungi. Neither Slytherin nor Gryffindor get points docked until Ron and Harry start shouting (probably swear words) at him.

This post (or one of the comments in it) also argued that it's out of character; Snape insults Harry's character several times, but usually he's insulting people's abilities, intelligence, or behaviour, not their appearance (since he values those things, but not necessarily his/others' appearance)

Karkaroff says "It’s [the Dark Mark] been getting clearer and clearer for months" at the Yule Ball, and so is Snape's "Karkaroff’s Mark is becoming darker too" [emphasis mine]

Densaugeo-gate happens in mid-November, so Snape knows Voldemort is likely to return by this point, with several months' warning

The teeth incident happens in front of a few children of known DEs, most notably Draco Malfoy, whose father will hear about this - probably several times:

PS: “But this is servant stuff, it’s not for students to do. I thought we’d be copying lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he’d—” CoS: "… everyone thinks he’s so smart, wonderful Potter with his scar and his broomstick — ” “You have told me this at least a dozen times already,” said Mr. Malfoy, with a quelling look at his son. ... “The teachers all have favorites, that Hermione Granger — ” “I would have thought you’d be ashamed that a girl of no wizard family beat you in every exam,” snapped Mr. Malfoy. "I expect you’d have Father’s vote, sir, if you wanted to apply for the job - I’ll tell Father you’re the best teacher here, sir" POA: “God, this place is going to the dogs,” said Malfoy loudly. “That oaf teaching classes, my father’ll have a fit when I tell him —” GoF: Malfoy, whose pale eyes were still watering with pain and humiliation, looked malevolently up at Moody and muttered something in which the words “my father” were distinguishable.

Everything - from Hermione's grades to Harry's antics, up to and including the teachers' behaviour, punishments, and classes - is reported back to Lucius Malfoy, especially as it relates to Harry. A scenario in which Draco and Harry duel one another in the corridor and that isn't met by sufficient retaliation from Snape will make it back to Lucius, whether he cares to hear about it a dozen times or not. Lucius already knowing about all of Hermione's exam grades is interesting - how did Draco know? Did Snape tell Lucius directly when asked? I can't see Draco asking Hermione; I can see Hermione bragging talking about it. I'd love to know.

So what does it matter if Lucius hears about this incident? Well, he's widely known by Arthur Weasley and his kids, and therefore probably plenty of other people, as being in Voldemort's 'inner circle' as early as CoS:

“And when You-Know-Who disappeared,” said Fred, craning around to look at Harry, “Lucius Malfoy came back saying he’d never meant any of it. Load of dung — Dad reckons he was right in You-Know- Who’s inner circle.” (Fred, CoS)

Snape obviously knows; Lucius was probably the one who got him involved. Lucius probably had some level of influence or control over Snape even back when Snape was in school, or in his early DE days:

OotP: “Tell me, how is Lucius Malfoy these days? I expect he’s delighted his lapdog’s working at Hogwarts, isn’t he?” (Sirius)

lapdog: a small pampered pet dog | a person or organization that is influenced or controlled by another

Snape as a pampered pet:

I've seen some metas discussing this in terms of Ancient Roman society and patrons, in terms of 'fagging', and in terms of Lucius shaping Snape from a poor, jerky, twitching teen to a poor, jerky, twitching man who tried to hide it beneath a soft-spoken, well-spoken, cool air - modelling himself after Lucius. Snape was almost literally taken under the wing of Prefect Lucius Malfoy the moment he was Sorted. He probably learnt from his "old friend" to affect membership in the Pureblood/upper class - and did so well enough to shock Bellatrix when she first saw Spinner's End (and she never insults him for being half-blood, which she does to Harry, despite hating Snape).

In any case, Snape probably owed a lot to Lucius. He likely had a level of control over Snape, both through his existing personal relationship with him as a mentor-mentee ("old friend" at best) or abusive ("lapdog" at worst; see 'fagging') relationship. Until the end of CoS, Lucius had a hand in running the school on the Board of Governors, and had enough power/fear with the rest of the Board to remove Dumbledore, never mind mere mortals like Snape if he stuck a toe out of line. And even when Lucius was gone from Hogwarts, he retained strong ties in the Ministry, sharing a Quidditch box with Fudge, and evidently having at least a few conversations with Umbridge:

"I expected better, Lucius Malfoy always speaks most highly of you!"

So we can infer that Lucius thinks Snape is as dedicated to The Cause as he is. Even Draco remains convinced of this in later books, before Snape has cemented his position by killing Dumbledore, but even after Snape has usurped Lucius' position as Voldemort's right-hand man:

"[Snape's] a double agent, you stupid old man [Dumbledore], he isn’t working for you, you just think he is!"

[Draco likes/trusts Snape] “much less since his father has lost favour. Draco blames me, he thinks I have usurped Lucius’s position.”

Prior to Lucius' demotion/imprisonment era, Lucius clearly outranks Snape. Lucius is one of the most trusted DEs during VW1; only Lucius and Bellatrix are trusted enough to keep his Horcruxes safe (Lucius the diary, and Bellatrix the cup). Lucius was also supposed to be in charge of the battle for the department of mysteries, Voldemort's year-in-the-making plan, but obviously... that didn't go to plan, in the end.

But there's quite a rushed trajectory of Lucius' fall and Snape's ascent. The battle happens in late June 1996, Lucius is imprisoned, and not released for another year - during which time, Snape is rising, until he ultimately kills Dumbledore and is at the top. Still, he's not trusted with too much information; despite being at Hogwarts, he doesn't know the location or existence of the Horcruxes (unlike Lucius and Bellatrix, even if they didn't know what they were), and Voldemort doesn't allow Snape to see him enter Dumbledore's tomb.

Anyway, what with Bellatrix and other DEs not trusting Snape:

"Where were you when the Dark Lord fell? Why did you never make any attempt to find him when he vanished? What have you been doing all these years that you’ve lived in Dumbledore’s pocket? Why did you stop the Dark Lord procuring the Sorcerer’s Stone? Why did you not return at once when the Dark Lord was reborn? Where were you a few weeks ago when we battled to retrieve the prophecy for the Dark Lord? And why, Snape, is Harry Potter still alive, when you have had him at your mercy for five years?" ... "You can carry my words back to the others who whisper behind my back, and carry false tales of my treachery to the Dark Lord!"

What has Snape been doing all these years that he's lived in Dumbledore’s pocket?

Well, tormenting Gryffindors, for one. Tormenting Harry Potter and to a slightly lesser extent, his friends. Not all of it was tied to his cover - Snape was just a bitch with a bad classroom manner, no love of children, high expectations, and a short fuse. But if it helped, in the early months of his Mark darkening again, to become a bit more cruel to Muggleborns and Harry, then why wouldn't he - especially in front of Draco? He knew that soon - whether it be in a few months, a few days, or even a few hours, he was going to have to walk back into Voldemort's fold and pray to god he wasn't killed on sight for abandoning the cause. With others whispering behind his back - bold of them, since the ones left to whisper are largely people who escaped Azkaban, but it's a crab bucket being a Death Eater - he'd need a benefactor. A trusted servant, like Lucius, to back him up. "No, no, Snape's been tormenting Potter for years - Draco says so. He'll tell anyone on the Board who stands still for long enough how useless Potter is. Oh, he says he's Dumbledore's man, but when the old coot's back is turned, he insults that Mudblood Granger."

It wouldn't be much use to Snape if his Occlumency said one thing (I'm still a loyal Death Eater) but his actions said another (he's perfectly jovial to all students), especially as Snape is just not...a jovial person to begin with. He's got a nasty streak as a teen that Voldemort probably would've encouraged in the Dark Arts. Half of the Order were Gryffindors and half (or more than half) of the Death Eaters were Slytherins.

Also Lorrie Kim's books has some really nice observations about how his behaviour (in terms of his personality, loyalties, how he appears) really starts to contradict his core values in GoF especially.

Anyway, once again I don't have a conclusion, I just had thoughts, based around these again:

Is it out of character for Snape, who never anywhere else in the books touches on people's appearances, to insult Hermione's appearance?

How likely is it that it's a misunderstanding or deliberate double entendre (aka he appears to be insulting Hermione's appearance but is actually saying to Harry/Ron, you just did the same thing to Goyle)?

And do we think it was part of his cover to be more cruel than usual in front of Draco, either by deliberately choosing a sentence to be interpreted either way, or intending it to sound mean?

i feel like i've set anyone who read this far along homework :P one foot of parchment, on my desk by Friday

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

The wildest thing about the whole Moo Deng situation to me is (and of course I make this about cetaceans) the insistence that everything here is fine, there’s no mishandling, Moo Deng is a spoiled princess, how dare you accuse her knowledgeable zookeepers of being anything less than perfect… by the same people who decry any and all cetacean captivity as horrific abuse.

Moo Deng getting her bum smacked is cute but an actually cute video of a dolphin playing in an aquarium is abusive. A random zoo guest is to be trusted when they say Moo Deng’s zoo is great (and to be clear I don’t know enough about this zoo to make a judgement call, all zoos have issues), but someone who’s actually worked at SeaWorld is either a liar or delusional (actual comment I received) when they say that no actually, their animals are not abused.

Yep all of this!

Honestly there seems to be a whole range of people on the defensive- from people who just like the zoo to people who made Moo Deng meme their whole personality.

I have to say it’s been really really weird actively criticising a zoo when I’m usually defending them.

But at this point my thesis of the original post is on full display. That groupthink plays a role in perception of animal welfare and people will pick the side that makes them feel the most comfortable.

For whatever reason people want to believe that a baby Pygmy hippo needs to get regularly grabbed, poked, chased and harassed because that’s what this one guy does and he has experience doing it so it’s fine?

But some of those same people saw a documentary once and decided that they know more than people with hundreds of years of combined experience with orca husbandry and care.

The people that are accepting of a challenge to that perception are willing to accept some discomfort because they’re more concerned about welfare.

When that reddit post came out (with experience including: goes to the zoo, maybe knows some history of the keeper?) it was immediately snatched up and ran with.

Since then I’ve seen the same comment of “net zero information” multiple times, the same accusations of racism and the same lines of “he’s so experienced he knows what he’s doing”, “the mum’s fine with it” and “it’s desensitisation” (that one hurts to read every time ngl

It’s like they just are copy and pasting someone else’s thoughts. Just parroting it verbatim without any sort of thought.

Not a single question asked about how this person knows this information, no demanding of qualifications or where they work… just happy acceptance of information that allows them to continue to enjoy their meme.

it’s wild to see the notes popping up in my notifications of “but he’s so experienced! He has so much training!” About this one zoo keeper that has multiple videos of him deliberately sneaking up on his animals, hitting them and blasting them with a hose.

Like damn I wish people would go to bat so hard for zookeepers all the time. Except maybe the ones that don’t harass their animals for clout?

Of course it’s kind of hilarious watching this unfold as a former dolphin trainer that regularly was called an abuser for… let’s see… training dolphins with positive reinforcement in the ocean.

Is it the intelligence thing? Do people think Pygmy hippos are too dumb to need enrichment and decent habitats? Or that because this guy raised hippos before he is completely incapable of making a mistake or using outdated practises?

I had someone genuinely saying that Pygmy hippos “just behave differently” to other animals. As if a fight or flight response behaviour looks totally different in this specific species of animal.

As if they are not ungulates who are herbivores and do absolutely get predated upon and are not immune to the stress response or somehow is incapable of feeling a smack that they very clearly startle from.

Idk the mental gymnastics people are doing to justify shitty animal husbandry must be exhausting.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for saying my family shows favoritism towards my baby cousin?

(This is copied from my Reddit drafts because my partner told me tumblr would be better for this and I trust them)

Okay this is a long one so I’m just gonna throw out fake names for everyone and everyone is white middle class Americans

I, Op, 20M, I’m a trans man not accepted by my family. This is relevant

Renee, 20F, my twin sister

Bea, 16F, my younger sister

Lee, 35F, my aunt on my father’s side

Lucas, 2M, my cousin, son of Lee

Suzie, 5F, my cousin, daughter of Lee

My father, 44M, the patriarch of our whole family

My mother, 45F

Grandpa, 76M, paternal grandpa, previous patriarch

Grandma, 74F, paternal grandma

So I’m sending this in on Christmas Day of 2023. For some context, I still live at home, but it’s more of a roommate situation now that I’m an adult. Renee lives on her out-of-state college campus but visits for holidays, and Bea is still a high schooler. Lee, her children, and her husband who isn’t relevant to this (I love my uncle, we just literally never talk) live across the country. My father is losing the battle with cancer and can’t travel, so we had two separate christmases this year, one with my immediate family and one with Lee. Grandma and Grandpa went to Lee’s, which was awesome for me because that meant I got to avoid them this year!

As the character list above states, I’m (one of) the oldest of the five grandkids with my cousins being born a lot later than me and my sisters. My family is a traditional WASP family and staunchly conservative with Aunt Lee actively being a cop right now while my parents and Grandpa served in the military. Growing up undeniably queer was hilarious, I know. But the family dynamic wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, my family did a good job of trying to hide the fact that Renee was the favorite child lol, but that was more on the basis of her having the same traditional values that they do until Aunt Lee had Suzie, then she obviously became the favorite. Fine by me, she’s an adorable girl and I love spoiling her. Also, ACAB does apply for Aunt Lee for being complacent in this system, it’s not just the most relevant part of the story besides explaining how she fits into the family dynamic

But then Lee had Lucas a few years later and the focus in the family shifted to him. At first, it was baby fever making everyone dote over him (and I’m guilty of this too) but after a while, I realized that the fever hasn’t died down. If we had family reunions, everyone would flock to Lucas and I would be the one watching Suzie. For a toddler, she’s a great conversationalist, but it was still sad to see all her aunts and uncles and cousins showering her baby brother with attention and not her. And then the comments started. That my father would only refer to Lucas as “my nephew” even when talking directly to Lee (unhinged to witness in person). That Grandpa was so happy to finally have a grandson (felt great). The lady-killer comments and guessing what profession he’s gonna go into based on how chubby of a baby he is (the money’s on Linebacker, little dude is built like a truck). Stuff like that

None of these comments were ever made about Suzie when she was born, and I really don’t want to admit that it’s because Lucas is a boy, but thats the only answer I can think of when trying to understand the favoritism. Lucas is showered in gifts and love and while I know newborns need that, Suzie received nowhere near this much attention. Lee’s husband doesn’t go to family functions because he works full time, but I heard Suzie mumble at Thanksgiving last month that she wanted to go home to daddy. It broke my fucking heart, so I called him and she got to FaceTime with my uncle until my phone died

At this point, I’m not even upset that the family ignores my obvious trans-ness as I’m over a year on T (paid for by myself too) in favor of my boy cousin. I’m upset that Suzie is getting left out of the fawning while she’s still super young and she could grow up resenting Lucas because of it.

Anyways, so this morning we opened gifts as an immediate family and I got to FaceTime my significant other as they unboxed their gift from me and we were having a good time until my dad FaceTimes Grandpa. Grandpa answers and Dad immediately asks how his nephew is. Lucas is pushed in front of the phone and all I can hear is asking about how Lucas is, is Lucas talking yet, is Lucas reading yet. I manage to squeeze my head in and ask about Suzie and Lee’s voice off camera says that “oh she’s fine, just snobbish.” Snobbish? A five year old?

And here’s where I’m probably the Asshole. Honestly, I’m looking between ESH and JAH here, but would perfectly understandable if tumblr decides YTA. My response to Lee’s comment was: “well maybe she wouldn’t be if everyone didn’t pick Lucas as the family favorite.”

My dad smacked me upside the head, Renee and Bea got really pissed off, and the FaceTime went quiet until it was cut off and Grandpa called back to talk to Dad privately. Bea called me an asshole and while my Mom got onto her for her language, Mom agreed that I was.

My dad came back from the phone and did the silent point towards his bedroom, y’all with shitty parents know the one. Because I’m twenty fucking years old and pay RENT here, I shook my head, grabbed my keys, and went to go hang out with my significant partner and work friends. We had a great time and I’m currently in the car with my significant other while typing this. I’m gonna spend the night at their place and go back in the morning to see how bad the damage is. My significant other says I was justified in what I said, but two of my work friends (one who’s a Cishet guy who grew up in a similar household and another who’s a new dad with his own son) say that what I said was uncalled for and rude. They explained that I had no right to weaponize Lucas and Suzie like that and I understand that. I’m just tired of Suzie being neglected and, selfishly I know, I’m tired of how my identity is ignored as well

So, tumblr, AITA?

TL;DR, My two year old cousin is the “only” grandson in the family. The family ignores my male identity and my baby cousin’s five year old sister to fawn over the two year old. Am I The Asshole for pointing this out point blank in front of the whole family on Christmas morning?

What are these acronyms?

[bubblyshortie]

edit: this has been said on a private server, thus we should keep in mind that when you're talking between friends, everything can be taken out of context

reposting from reddit

(edit: i'm only copying and pasting what i saw for the people who aren't aware of what was posted on reddit, the screenshots aren't actually mine. but if you care about the context, you should read one of the server's member's post)

HUGE EDIT:

just to clarify, i was not aware of the context of the conversation and did keep in mind that it may have been taken out of context from the start

the only reason why i reposted it here was so that ppl on tumblr could've found out about what was being addressed on reddit, since i believe the fandom is more active on this platform (also, i considered that, in case the comments were actually done with transphobic intentions, gb patch deserved to know)

however, i have read the people involved' statements, and i understand this has been taken greatly out of context (and out of a PRIVATE server without consent). also, i would like to apologize if i seemed like i was trying to fire up drama, that was not my intention, but i recognize that it can be interpreted like that. i think it is wrong to jump onto conclusions without knowing the context, therefore accusing someone without knowing where they're coming from is something i want to strongly avoid

side note, i wasn't aware at the time of Rose being black, i reposted this before i found out. i want to make this clear, since i understand that this can be interpreted as me unreasonably going after a black person, when i actually wasn't aware of anyone involved's race. anyone who went angrily after Rose was being way too rude, but being unreasonably angry because Rose is black? uh... i got news for you, it starts with R and ends with Acism

[pinkchrissysposts]

JUST EMBODY THAT STATE!!!

I'm not the OG poster I just copy pasted it from reddit

It finally clicked - after 4 years of trial & error

Yes, I tried for 4 years to manifest the big things and it didn't fucking work and now I know why and it makes sense.

So I found about Neville like many of you, after a break up. And during this time I tried everything, followed coach after coach, reading his books and understanding shit, following another coach, reading Joseph Murphy, doing SATS, meditations, affirmations, mental diet eveything you can imagine and failed miserably.

I did have some successes though, but not the "big" ones I wanted.

So I read the books again. The Power of Awareness made the click for me.

So I realized the key is to embody the new state you long for. In your mind, you are already what you want to be. Yes, this has been repeated a million times but I never actually understood what this means.

I used affirmations but I never embodied the new state. Basically I was in the same old shitty state and repeating affirmations all day long.

Meditation and SATS, I used to repeat my scene over and over, trying to add tones of reality, feeling the relief of having it but I didn't embody the new state, I was the same. It's like the poor you is couting money in SATS. Yes, you feel the cash, the texture, but your state is the same, poor (embodying the new state is changing basically your self concept, how you see yourself in relation to your desire).

It's like, let's say you want to be a stand-upper but you freak out on a stage. Your current state of mind is of fear and anxiety and insecurity. So you can repeat a million times "I am confident", if you don't embody the confidence state it won't work. I realized the techniques are just ways to attain the new state until it becomes the natural you. See Kevin Hart on a stage, what do you think is his state regarding confidence?

So yes, it makes sense, now I realize what mental diet is. Whenever you catch yourself drop into the shitty state adjust it, by embodying the new one until it becomes who you are.

These are just my 2 cents.

Original post if you want to look in comments

[messrsrarchives]

i've spent a lot of the past 24 hours talking to various trans people in the fandom that reposted or dmed me about this video and i'm gonna yap here under the cut about it.

(i'm not a spokesperson for trans people obviously, and i don't mean to lead these discussions. i know i've had a lot of them recently but yeah it's been rough, i just thought this was interesting to share and can hopefully share a lil of how people are feeling.)

i've always assumed that the hate that i've received on my account was because of me? i post videos talking about discourses, i'm open about ships i like that are generally hated, etc etc, i've just assumed it was a me thing.

but then when people are mad about those things, it more often than not comes to slurs. it's come to people debating my identity, questioning how much of a man i am when i wear makeup, posting me on reddit pages, throwing the words tranny and "she-man" around farrr too much, and i thought "isn't it heartbreaking that this is their first thought?"

so it gradually became less about me as an individual, and instead my identity. and just that these people are mean.

and i made that video from the perspective of someone who's already upset. who's had a lot of stuff like this happen and is Sad about it.

but i've spoken to 47 trans people that reached out to me themselves about this, and have so many more requests to get through, and not one has said that they feel safe and comfortable in this space. not a single one.

so i thought i'd share some of the things that were said (with permission and anonymously) because i think it's quite interesting to see what the issues are:

the MOST mentions goes toooo: the discourse about male characters - namely sirius - wearing makeup and the way gender norms become the forefront of this - makes them feel as though people dislike "unconventional trans people" as one person put it.

alongside this, the hate for trans characters - namely regulus - and how people get very mad about it "reinforcing heterosexuality" - do not feel recognised as the gender they are, feel as though people are viewing trans people as "fake men or women" - quote.

discourses surrounding height, hair, 'gender presentations' etc - brought up by a lot of people and they recognised that this is coming from a good place (not reinforcing heterosexuality) but feel as though the amount of focus put on it is disproportionate to the presence of it. copy and pasted quote: "I'm a 5 foot 2 trans man and feel like less of a man because of it"

profitting jkr: (obviously, because that's what the video was about) i want to add that nearly everyone said that they understand the desire to, and were receptive of the fact you don't know what goes on behind the scenes re: donating elsewhere etc, but said that they've felt less safe since the surge of posts about the reboot.

guilt. which makes me glad that i posted about that here a few days ago because i felt alone in this. a lot of the people i spoke to feel guilty for being here, and feel as though they can't claim that this fandom is inclusive anymore.

comment sections: brought up by a handful of people who said that not enough people delete horrible comments on posts - one said "even if they argue against them it just feels worse than deleting it", another said "obvs i can't ask people to delete them on their own account but it does suck that they dont think to" - every person that brought up comment sections said that they tend not to look at them now which makes them feel like an outsider in the fandom.

cosplays: brought up by four people and feels relevant to above points about "gender presentation" - said that unless you're cosplaying sirius, they nearly always have to delete comments saying something along the lines of "xyz wouldn't wear makeup". all of them said that they just feel nice in it and never meant it in a bad way.

scared to be loud: scared to post, especially with face. a few acknowledged that they are scared to do so anyway, but worry about it in this space as well. bolded this one because it makes me so sad, but having been put on reddit pages for saying pete was their friend, i get it.

and the final point, a copy and pasted line: "i dont want to be represented when it suits them and i don't want to be a box they tick when adding diversity to a fic and then cry in comments. i dont want performative support"

ALSO ADDING HERE:

nearly everyone (bar 7 people) that reached out to me acknowledged that this is a minority, and not the majority. they were very clear that it isn't their whole experience, but is an issue regardless. a lot of focus was put on curating your own space and finding people who do support you, but algorithms don't always make that possible, and it's difficult seeing it happen even if they don't interact.

which is,,, yeah. that's the crux of it really. most of the time it's fine and it's lovely and things like this don't happen, but they still do, and how do you feel like you can engage when you don't know what side it will get on?

which,,, sucks. because there's not really anything anyone can do then. it's just screaming into a void and hoping that you don't end up on the wrong sides.

but anyway, i thought it was interesting. especially the comment sections and the headcanon discourse - which truly, i see less of on tumblr anyway but for all of the above reasons, don't fancy discussing this on tiktok right now which is the epicentre of it.

but yeah. food for thought perchance, and some very good discussions !! thank you to anyone that messaged me and allowed me to write this, you're not screaming into a void with me 🫶🏻