#transcriptional activity

[whats-in-a-sentence]

Upon binding to IDA, the HAE/HSL2 receptor complex is thought to trigger the MAPK cascade, which leads to the transcriptional activation of genes encoding cell wall loosening enzymes, cell expansion, and cell separation (Figure 22.25).

"Plant Physiology and Development" int'l 6e - Taiz, L., Zeiger, E., Møller, I.M., Murphy, A.

[willekieker]

don't enable him please

bonus

don't worry about stanley he's fine

[milogreer]

the sudden realization that the initial blake/bestie split wasn't about the love confession but about the seer confession and how they couldn’t be in a relationship with him because of it, even if he pretended to be a dreamwalker. because at the end of the day it's all a lie. his sight scares them because he wouldn't/couldn't stop warning them about their future and even if he could, his sight still would’ve affected every aspect of their lives and their relationship

i’m also thinking about “if you pick this, it’ll be all of me. and we both know a lot of that’s not pretty.” and how worlds apart totally recontextualizes it because a) it’s NOT all of him because bestie still doesn’t want him talking about the sight and b) “a lot of that’s not pretty” can mean both his obsessive tendencies as well as his compulsive need to talk about/act on his visions wrt bestie’s future and death

i feel like that reveal kinda came out of left field even with how, umm... vague? twisted? the story is in the confession audio, but i do enjoy how it worked out bc it gives bestie more depth. now they’re flawed. bestie is only talked to or about through blake’s rose-colored glasses so they’re very manic pixie dream girl (gn) but now, we find out that at the time of the confession, they didn’t want blake in their life at all unless he pretended to be just a dreamwalker. instead of being clueless about his sight and falling out because he said he was in love with them, they gave him an ultimatum to either pretend he’s a dreamwalker or end everything there. insane thing to do to someone and that’s what makes it a fascinating character choice

and yeah obvs it’s fucked up that they won’t let him talk about the sight or anything even now when they’re literally dating (a topic that is a post for another time i think) but it’s also like…. man they love/want each other so much that despite years of coming and going and struggling to stay connected, despite having to hide a huge part of himself away to stay in their life, despite having to pretend their boyfriend is somebody he isn’t so they can live in relative peace, despite him now literally being a vessel of the apocalypse, they still want to be together. isn’t that fucking bananas

[dimension-20-every-introduction]

Everyone Introduced in Dimension 20's Fantasy High: Junior Year episode 17

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I wouldn't really agree that boys are just arm candy in magical girl shows and only there to look cute. Yeah, sure the girls' friendships are the focus, but the boys are usually very much involved in the plot and most shows do explore their feelings about the odd things that happen due to magical shenanigans even if they aren't in the know (It's why ML baffles me even more with how they screwed up Adren's arc when he's the deuteragonist, when all these boys are supporting cast and get well rounded arcs)

I'm not much of a winx fan, but the specialists were very much not arm candy. Did the girls talk about them being cute? Yes, it's what teenage girls do. Did the narrative suggest they were good looking? Yes, but that's standard for most love interests in any genre. But we still got scenes with them talking amongst themselves about how they themselves feel and they got a fair share of badass fight scenes even if they wield no magic. A large amount of episodes actually included the boys and girls working as a team solving a mystery or fighting a villain. The girls might deal the finishing blow but the boys were still integral to the plot.

I hope this doesn't come across as hate, it definitely wasn't my intention. I'm just a bit too passionate about the magical girl genre.

I do think you have a good point with ML having a problem choosing a genre or blending two genres successfully.

For the CCS fans, I will add though that Cardcaptor Sakura had both Tomoyo and Syaoran serve as sources of motivation for Sakura. And both Sakura and Syaoran collecting cards even if Sakura is the only one who could seal them and yet never made you question whether Syaoran was even necessary for the job the way ml does with Chat.

I wasn't trying to say that boys have no part to play in magical girl team shows or that they're always treated as having no lives beyond the girls, that's why I mentioned that the Winx Club boys - aka, the Specialists - have their own (mostly off screen) lives and occasionally show up help the girls:

the boys are usually off doing their own thing and only occasionally show up for a date or to give the girls a ride on their cool bikes or magical spaceship

Even then, this is certainly a simplification of the roles that they play in the story, but I kind of had to simplify their roles down to their base components for the original post's discussion as I was talking in broad strokes of how these stories are written.

In terms of those broad strokes, the Specialists are absolutely only there for shipping fodder. That's why each one is assigned to a girl from the start and why their main role in the narrative is supporting their assigned love interest or causing relationship-based drama for their assigned love interest. If it weren't for shipping, then the Specialists would not exist.

While the Specialists do have fleshed out characters and may even effect the plot, the execution of those elements is designed around the girls. A really obvious example of this is the character Timmy, who has character development as the boy's tech guy. Why is he into technology? Because he's the designated love interest for the fairy of Technology and we have to show why they're a good match. Along similar lines, the boys don't really get plots that are removed from the girls because this is the girl's show. Every episode features one or more of the Winx, but the boys are optional and often don't appear.

This is because, narratively speaking, the boys are just love interests and that brings us back to Miraculous' big problem. You can't have a show where Adrien is written like a Specialist while also being part of the Winx Club and where Alya is written like she's part of the Winx Club while technically being more of a Specialist in terms of power set and actual narrative role.

I'm was thinking back to my memories of various Winx Club plots to find one that really highlighted what I mean here and I remembered that one of the big dramas in season one was the reveal that Bloom's love interest - Sky - was in an arranged marriage and had just never told her. As it turns out, that's a great example of what I'm talking about re Adrien!

Is that plot line technically based around Sky and letting his life effect the plot? Sure, but the fallout of that reveal revolves around Bloom, not Sky. The story doesn't really care how Sky's feeling as the conflict progresses. Instead, it focuses on how it affects Bloom and her friends because of course it does! She's the main character. It would be really weird if that plot suddenly focused on her side character love interest and his friends during one of her darkest hours/biggest moments.

Think of that and then consider how the ending of season five is written. Notice any similarities? Sure, this is Adrien's family drama, but because he's just a Specialist, the focus isn't on him. It's on Winx Club member Marinette and Adrien only shows up at the end for a kiss. That is the problem. That is what I'm talking about when I say that Miraculous will randomly write him as if we're watching a magical girl team show where Adrien is just the love interest.

In fact, let's really dig into this example because it's a good one.

You can have a look at the transcript for the finale episode of Miraculous season five here and see for yourself that Adrien doesn't even show up on screen until the final scenes when the big drama is over. The Winx Club wiki also has episode transcripts, so I took a look to see what happened in Winx land during the arranged marriage reveal plot (I love that this is a thing. It's so useful for fact checking myself!) This is the script for the episode after Bloom learns the truth. Sky does not appear even though his lies and family drama are the fuel for this episode's events, which are a major part of the season's arc. Note how perfectly that matches Adrien's writing?

Similarly, Sky's dialogue in the reveal episode is all about Bloom. He's worried about her learning the truth and thinking less of him. To match that, here's Adrien's only real dialogue in the penultimate episode of season five (full transcript):

Adrien:(Covers his ears.) I cannot transform... (Looks at his ring and tries taking it off.) Plagg: What are you doing?! Adrien: I'm not in my right mind. I'm too angry — at myself for falling short of Marinette's love, at my father for sending me here in London, at this stupid app and these rings that use my image... it makes me sick! This nightmare is giving me the horrible feeling that, if I transform, I'll get akumatized and destroy everything with my Cataclysm — Marinette, Ladybug... (Takes off the ring and hands it to Plagg.)

Switching back to Winx. After Bloom learns the truth about Sky, bad things happen because she's depressed. This results in her and the Winx going off on a journey to learn the truth of who Bloom is. After the girls share this big plot moment and Bloom gets her mojo back, the boys show up to be their ride home and to give Bloom her romance moment where Sky wins her back by declaring that he broke off the arranged married because he loves her.

Sky notably doesn't get an arc about choosing between his arranged marriage and his true love. We don't even know that the marriage is broken off until he tells Bloom because that was never really a conflict as far as the narrative was concerned. Of course he's going to pick Bloom! He's her designated side character love interest! He only exists to be with her. We don't need to treat this as a serious thing for him. The arranged marriage plot was never about him anyway. It was about giving Bloom a reason to have a darkest hour moment that moves the plot forward. Similarly, Sky calling off the marriage is nowhere near as important as him telling Bloom that he's called off the marriage to be with her in a grand romantic gesture.

This perfectly mirrors Miraculous' season five ending where Adrien doesn't appear until after Marinette is done fighting her big girl power fight against his father. As far as the writing is concerned, that fight isn't about him. His connection to the villain only really matters in terms of how it affects Marinette's actions during the final battle. Then, when the battle is over, Adrien shows up to give Marinette her big romance moment because, while the plot may be driven by Adrien's family, he is not a Winx club member. He's just a Specialist. Or, in the words of the head writer:

[image text: She's Barbie, he's Ken. You don't like it. I get it. It won't change. Anything else?] (The full, even more damning context of this tweet can be found here.)

What else can I say other than, "I rest my case."

Oh, and also that I didn't take this as an attack. I just thought it was a good opportunity to really dig into the nuances of this and what I was talking about in that original post as I never know how obvious this stuff is if you don't closely study story telling. As this case study hopefully shows, if a show is about a group of girl friends using the power of friendship, then their love interests may have important roles, but the boys are never going to be more important than the girls and most of the boy's screen time will be focused on romance and how their existence effects the girls because it's ultimately the girls' world. Without them, the show wouldn't exist. Without the boys? Well, then we just wouldn't have a romance plot.

[mammalsofaction]

In the middle of writing something INCREDIBLY self indulgent.

[dodgebolts]

dream DREAM Dream

[unofficial-drawfee-publicist]

Drawfee discuss catfishing as Goku on The Circle while Karina draws Chilchuck as a streamer!!

[chipsoda]

i’ve noticed a running theme in the homestar dvd commentaries

[mysicklove]

I LOVE BIOLOGY!!!!!

[dawdlecentric]

Holy shit! Maka & CRONA'S VAs??!!!

[subsequentibis]

hmmg. something about potted plants dying in the hotel. it's not a consistent motif but there's ted barrow's plant that would have drowned in the downpour from the window but is instead shoved out and falls to its death. then the dying potted plants in janet hurd's room which may have thrived outside but are confined & constrained to fit an aesthetic, ultimatley neglected and left to rot. [theres peas in here voice] there's.... THEMES in here.....

[htyfnetwork]

DELEGATE OF THE DAY - Kayoko Saito (1952 Japan)

sourced from Transcript Telegram, April 7, 1958

*note of misspelling of name

[paa-official]

Recording No. 10

I stood facing myself with my arms crossed in front of my chest. It must have been another shapeshifter working for the telepath and spying on me. At least that's what I thought, which is why I wanted to dive into his head.

>> Your mental ability doesn't work on yourself. << he said calmly and came closer to me. And I couldn't actually feel or change his feelings. Instead, I was reaching into the void with my ability, but the telepath could have just pushed me aside.

>> Who are you anyway? << I asked with a discontented tone.

But only one corner of his mouth twitched upwards >> I am your conscience. My job is to help you when you're in trouble. <<

>> Compared to everyone else, you have good timing though. And how are you going to help me? <<

As he stood directly in front of me, he calmly leaned back against the wall and lifted one leg to rest it against the wall as well >> By sorting out your thoughts with you. Let's start with the problem itself. What's bothering you right now? <<

I also leaned against the wall and crossed my arms >> If you're really me, you'd already know that. <<

>> It's okay. << he said after a moment >> But why do you have this problem? <<

I looked over at him. He was a perfect copy of myself and yet I was looking for any sign that it might have been someone else. But the look matched mine one to one.

I sighed and looked up before answering him, >> It doesn't feel right to wipe out a species that not only strongly resembles us, but is also innocent. And then too, when my own people lied to us all to force their war propaganda through because they shit all over the previous planet. <<

My so-called conscience laughed out in amusement. I immediately looked at him again and asked irritated >> What do you find so funny? <<

>> What did you find in those people that you should feel bad about? They're nobody, I mean, the most they can do is fly to their own moon and that's it. You've seen their technology and weapons. One snap of the fingers and they're gone. We won't even notice. <<

I raised an eyebrow. The look might be true, but if it had really been me, he would have known about Jenny. It seemed like the telepath in the archive hadn't been looking into my memories, just trying to follow my thought process.

>> Are humans then worth less because their technology is less advanced than ours? <<

My counterpart simply shrugged his shoulders >> I don't know. You tell me. I'm just saying, why should we bother? <<

One corner of my mouth twitched upwards that he had given himself away. Just sit back and push all worries aside. Who had he thought I was?

I pushed away from the wall and put a hand on his shoulder >> Thank you for coming here. I had completely forgotten that I could just relax. <<

He grinned at me with complete satisfaction, even if the grin was completely fake >> You shouldn't overwork yourself either. <<

>> True. And with any luck, these lizards will get under our bullets too. <<

He nodded to that and I ran back to the barracks to lie down on my bed. I'm definitely not going to be able to fall asleep now, I thought to myself. But at least I knew what I had to do. Even if I didn't like taking advantage of Luke and his high position, it was the price I had to pay. For every action there was a reaction and I had to deal with that if I wanted to do the right thing.

I don't know how much sleep I got that night, but it definitely wasn't much. I also had a strange nightmare that I didn't understand for a long time.

The ground beneath my knees was embers and ash mixed with blood. There were soldiers around me, but they were wearing full body armor and I couldn't tell who I was there with. Their armor had many burn marks and scratches and was made of metal.

All of them suddenly pointed their weapons in one direction and held their fingers on the triggers. In my hands was a weapon like the soldiers' and my armor was the same, except I wasn't wearing a helmet. Suddenly everyone started firing and a hellish screeching noise threw me off balance.

There was a wall of black hordes in front of us, moving towards us and even flying towards us. The bodies of the creatures fell one after the other onto the blood and ash-covered ground, but the mass hardly got any smaller. There seemed to be no end to it and it was getting closer and closer to us.

But then a loud and deep rumbling sound emerged from behind the creatures. They all froze and stopped moving. The soldiers stopped firing and waited to see what would happen. My blood froze in my veins and I continued to kneel motionless on the ground. Only a harsh and warm wind blew through the air when a tremor announced itself with a quick hiss and lifted us all two meters off the ground. Countless spears flew at us from the front and pierced us.

I landed on my back on the hot ground and the thick spear pushed out of my chest a little. A sharp pain and an empty feeling in my arms set in as the black creatures marched past my body after only a short time. A figure with red, glowing skin stopped next to me and looked at me. It looked as if lava was flowing down its face and the horns on its head were steaming black soot. Its glaring eyes, which could have been made of fire, looked at me scornfully before turning away from me.

My body quickly buckled upwards and I propped myself up on my bed with my elbows. I was breathing frantically and irregularly and small beads of sweat rolled down my chest. All the other scouts in the barracks were still sleeping peacefully, so I calmed my breathing and my heart started beating more regularly again.

I was about to lie down again and go back to sleep, but then the alarm clock in the room, which was built into the ceiling, sounded. Everyone jumped up unmotivated and prepared to run to the canteen. While some had already left the barracks, I threw my blanket aside and grumpily got up from my bed. It was just a nightmare, nothing more, I thought to myself.

Becka and I sat together at a table and ate breakfast. She had been quiet most of the time, staring sadly at her food. Everyone else in the dining room was talking to each other. Most of them were talking excitedly about getting a new home that they would even fight for. But Becka didn't seem to notice them all and poked around in the plate with her spoon.

I couldn't bear to look at her any longer and was about to say something to her when the sergeant entered the canteen. Silence fell immediately as conversation ceased and all the soldiers in the room stood up and saluted him, to which he replied with a short downward gesture. Then he looked around and called into the canteen >> Private Wilson! Step up! <<

I already realized what he was there for, but Becka and the rest looked to me with sympathetic fear. I put down my spoon and walked to him while everyone else followed me with their gazes. Even though what they were thinking must have been the wrong thing, I liked getting those looks. It felt refreshing to be admired with such respect that I had survived a battle with reptiloids.

The sergeant led me out of the canteen and walked me over to his office. Luke was already there in front of the desk, looking at us as the door opened. I saluted him because the sergeant was with us and Luke grinned.

>> Private, this is General Howard. He's responsible for preparing and coordinating the initiating attack on Earth. And he wants you as his advisor. What do you have to say to that, Private? <<

I quickly thought about whether I really wanted to use him and this position to stop the invasion. But it seemed to me that I had no choice.

>> I accept this position, sir. << I replied in a disciplined voice.

The sergeant nodded and spoke to Luke >> General, good luck with the attack. <<

Luke nodded to him as well and turned to me >> Let's go, Private. We still have a lot to do. <<

[bfpnola]

Hey! We're back with part 5, the final part! Better Future Program (@bfpnola) is officially looking for youth volunteers between the ages of 14 and 25 for our Advocacy Committee. Don't see a role that fits? Don't worry! We've got SO MANY opportunities, we had to split them up across multiple posts! Feel free to check our Linktr.ee for more positions or our "Apply Now!" highlight on Instagram in the coming weeks!

And if you don’t know who we are? Welcome! BFP is Black-, queer-, and woman-owned nonprofit, entirely run by youth! Since 2016, we’ve been accepting volunteers not just from Bulbancha (so-called New Orleans, Louisiana), but WORLDWIDE! Our mission is to globally expand peer-led political education, support, and imagination for marginalized youth!

To fulfill this goal, we offer over 3,000 free resources through our Liberation Library, design and execute mutual aid-based projects, and offer the safe space young activists need to ask questions and grow. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, check out our International Youth Leadership Positions page in our bio!

Image description below.

[ID: All slides share the same background. There is a repeating list of BFP’s guiding principles and core beliefs in translucent, all-white, capitalized letters. BFP’s guiding principles include youth-centricity, self-liberation, transparency, accountability, horizontality, community, and intersectionality. BFP’s core beliefs include the right to organize, educational equity, youth liberation, anti-racism, religious liberty, disability justice, climate action, decolonization, gender equity, queer/LGBTQ+ liberation, bodily autonomy, fat liberation, abolition, caste abolition, anti-authoritarianism, and anti-capitalism. A plum purple to magenta-purple gradient overlays this list. A bold, white square frames the image with a white arrow pointing right in the bottom right corner.

Slide 1 reads: “LINK IN BIO. APPLY NOW! INTERNATIONAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP POSITIONS! REMOTE & IN-PERSON.” There is a BFP logo in the lefthand corner and the words “Part Five” in the righthand corner, as this is the first of multiple posts showcasing open leadership positions.

Slide 2 reads: "Resources Committee: Resource Hunters

Responsibilities Include:

Upload a multitude of free and easily accessible social justice, mental health, and academic resources each week

Stay up to date on up-and-coming authors, artists, creators, and influencers within marginalized communities

Collaborate with Topic Inspectors to ensure all information found is both verifiable and aligns with our core values & beliefs

Time Commitment:

Other than our weekly 1.5-2 hr meeting, usually on Sundays, you're free to design your schedule around your tasks!

Requirements/Eligibility:

BFP prioritizes the leadership of marginalized communities. Tap the International Leadership Positions page in our Linktr.ee for more information! Link in bio @bfpnola :)" Slide 3 reads: "Resources Committee: Topic Inspectors

Responsibilities Include:

Review and organize a multitude of free and easily accessible social justice, mental health, and academic resources each week

Ensure that all links are still accessible and replacing those that are "broken"

Delete repeats to keep our resources count accurate

Time Commitment:

Other than our weekly 1.5-2 hr meeting, usually on Sundays, you're free to design your schedule around your tasks!

Requirements/Eligibility:

BFP prioritizes the leadership of marginalized communities. Tap the International Leadership Positions page in our Linktr.ee for more information! Link in bio @bfpnola :)" Slide 4 reads: "Resources Committee: Image Description Writers

Responsibilities Include:

Write IDs and/or alt text for photos on our website

Write IDs for photos posted on our social media platforms

Collaborate with Advocacy Committee to stay up to date on inclusive terminology and the cultural practices of the communities we serve to ensure accurate descriptions

Time Commitment:

Other than our weekly 1.5-2 hr meeting, usually on Sundays, you're free to design your schedule around your tasks!

Requirements/Eligibility:

BFP prioritizes the leadership of marginalized communities. Tap the International Leadership Positions page in our Linktr.ee for more information! Link in bio @bfpnola :)" Slide 5 reads: "Resources Committee: Transcriptionists

Responsibilities Include:

Write transcriptions for videos & audio on our website

Write transcriptions for videos & audio posted on our social media platforms

Collaborate with Advocacy Committee to stay up to date on inclusive terminology and the cultural practices of the communities we serve to ensure accurate descriptions

Time Commitment:

Other than our weekly 1.5-2 hr meeting, usually on Sundays, you're free to design your schedule around your tasks!

Requirements/Eligibility:

BFP prioritizes the leadership of marginalized communities. Tap the International Leadership Positions page in our Linktr.ee for more information! Link in bio @bfpnola :)" /End ID.]

[autisticlalna]

Twitch SMP Season 6's end date has been announced o7