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i-want-my-iwtv · 3 years

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I hope the rumours of Louis being a brothel owner aren't true, but if they are I can sort of see why they're going for this route? I mean, with a black Louis they can't have him being a slaver anymore, so maybe they're trying to find something that is also morally reprehensible for him to be.

TL;DR: My kneejerk reaction was to be saddened, and I don’t like that this is starting up, and will continue to fuel, fandom drama. Ultimately, if we want peace, we’ll embrace the fact that the existence of this adaptation doesn’t take away from the existence of the books, and it also doesn't mean we have to acknowledge it.

It makes me wonder whether AMC wants us to make a storm about this. We’ll see...

After all, what makes this adaptation any more important than the graphic novels of the ’90s, the graphic novel Claudia’s Story, movie!IWTV, or movie!QOTD? In fact, many fans here on tumblr consider VC to be a trilogy only!!! and don’t accept the majority of the PUBLISHED CANON so what makes anyone think we have any obligation to swallow this AMC adaptation as some kind of gospel?

I see movie!QOTD as a buffet of ideas carried in an official fanfiction work, and I don’t accept as my headcanon the various things it changed about the books that I didn’t particularly like, such as merging Magnus and Marius (which, IMO, effectively made both characters more morally reprehensible). I accepted the things I did enjoy, like casting a Black/POC actress to play Akasha. I see this AMC adaptation as a buffet of ideas, some can be taken, and some not, it’s just another official fanfiction work.

[Anon, I need to catch other ppl up on the information, too.]

Deadline.com informs us that in the AMC adaptation for Interview with the Vampire, Jacob Anderson has been cast as Louis. I'm not familiar with him, but it looks like he’s a successful actor, from Game of Thrones and other things, he’s also joining Series 13 of Doctor Who. I’ll have to check him out from an acting standpoint!

Aside from his talent as an actor, this is by far the most controversial thing that's happened in VC fandom recently. I've been thinking about this for a few months now, talking about it privately online and offline, still gathering my thoughts. So this post is not engraved in stone, it’s initial thoughts on this.

I’m glad to see ppl talking about it and I’m sure we’ll have more public discussions. I’m trying to discuss it very carefully, but also, this is an entertainment blog, my opinions are mine alone, and I’m not looking for dogpiling on anyone, I have no obligation to respond publicly or privately to anything. Plenty of other ppl have differing opinions on this. So take all of the following with more than a grain of salt, I’m not being salty, I’m providing the links to the little info we’ve seen pulicly, I’m giving my initial thoughts, and I’m also trying to add a little levity because ultimately, again, this is an entertainment blog, and I try to add a little humor to help with such serious topics, humor can help ppl talk about controversial things.

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The casting of a POC/Black actor (I’m sorry I don't know the preferred terminology, let me know if you know what Anderson prefers) confirms at least one part of theilluminerdi articles that stated that Louis’ race will be different from the books. I didn’t post about these before bc I wasn’t sure how reliable theilluminerdi’s sources are (and I'm still not sure), but this was one major aspect that theilluminerdi announced before Deadline did, so now seems to be the right time to share those articles. For now, you can go check them out yourselves rather than have my reposting of the information, trigger warning: mentions of sex workers and race in the changes to the canon story of Interview with the Vampire.

>>>theilluminerdi articles from May 21, 2021 and July 15, 2021:

www.theilluminerdi.com/2021/05/21/interview-with-the-vampire-amc

www.theilluminerdi.com/2021/07/15/interview-with-the-vampire-amc-2

^Meme of Dr. Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park reads: “Your writers were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

I’m using that meme with a little levity here, clearly an AMC adaptation of vampires in which the producers/writers have chosen to change the race of a main character (arguably the original protagonist of the series) isn’t in the same VICINITY as the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park that broke out of containment and killed visitors to the park, but John Hammond’s intention for the creation of that park was very good, as I assume this race change was intended. Time will tell.

“But with this place, I wanted to show them something that wasn't an illusion. Something that was real, something that they could see and touch. An aim not devoid of merit.”

“Creation is an act of sheer will.”

- John Hammond, Jurassic Park

Race is a more complicated subject than ever, so for AMC to make this bold change, I hope they have POC and Black writers on staff and are handling this very carefully. Even then, no racial group, including POC and Black people, are a hivemind, disagreements are bound to happen in the writing room, whether in good faith or bad. People have different intentions and motives, compromises will probably be made with the story in many ways, we all know how it goes with collaborations; the end product is a shared vision among multiple creators. This could be a potentially controversial adaptation, I don’t know whether they’re aiming for that or not, but with the elements it has so far, it seems to be headed that way.

Here's a comment by "Angellus" on the 5/21 article. It's undeniable that there's going to be the accusation of racism thrown at anyone who has any negative view of this change, regardless of their reasons. I find it unfair and narrow-minded that any negative response is automatically assumed to be coming from a racist point of view. To say that changing Louis' race is unequivocally an improvement fails to take into account how that change has a Domino effect on all of the other parts of the story. Not the least of which is that, if he is still a slaver/slave holder/plantation owner/(insert your preferred term) that adds a whole new racist element to his owning Black/POC people, even though, apparently there were Black/POC plantation owners.

Not the least of which: How will this change impact his relationship with Lestat? Particularly when Lestat has the added issue of being described in those articles as having “mind control abilities” and “insistent that he gets what he wants and when facing rejection,” a terrible combination in terms of consent, even in a relationship of the same race, let alone invoking Caucasian/white dominance over Black/POC people, AND Lestat being the catalyst to Louis’ questioning his sexuality:

Lestat is insistent that he gets what he wants and when facing rejection, petulance can quickly turn to ruthless rage which causes frenzied acts of horrifically brutal violence. Lestat also has mind control abilities. Lestat initially infuriates Louis, but this soon turns to fascination which leads Louis to question his religion and sexuality.

^Screencap reads: "I love how racist everyone is in the damn comments, this doesn’t pervert the story you’re all racist and it’s disgusting. I’m looking forward to it, I hope you keep crying your salty racist tears asswipes."

It makes me question whether Angellus truly believes what they wrote, if this is an ideology, or a troll. I would suggest their use of the term “pervert” is correct though, pervert means: “alter (something) from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended.” That’s what this race change does, factually. Although, in this context, “distortion or corruption” carries a negative connotation. It would take a lot to show how this change does not meet the definition or “to pervert,” though.

I hope the rumours of Louis being a brothel owner aren't true

I agree 1,000%, I was hoping that these were just rumors. But, aside from the race change, if this were the only change, I find Louis being a brothel owner to be equivalently morally reprehensible to being a slaver/slave holder/plantation owner/(insert your preferred term). Ideally, they’d change his career to something that doesn’t involve benefiting from the bodies/labor of others in any morally reprehensible manner.

I mean, with a black Louis they can't have him being a slaver anymore, so maybe they're trying to find something that is also morally reprehensible for him to be.

He might still be a slaver. Who knows. Being morally reprehensible as a mortal man didn’t seem to me to be crucial to the story, but they still could have chosen something better. It seems to me like they want a brothel so they can have eye candy for an audience who want to see sex workers, maybe full frontal nudity.

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What also gets my attention is that Anne and Christopher Rice have not yet posted publicly about it, which leads me to believe that this change wasn’t their choice. They take every chance to brag when they’re proud of something, every chance to crowdsource about casting ideas or which VC books Anne’s fans liked best, etc., and in this case, as of Aug. 31, 2021, (and to be fair, maybe I missed it), I haven’t seen either of them post about this on the official VC FB, Anne Rice’s FB, Annerice.com, Christopher Rice’s FB, or christopherricebooks.com. If it had been their choice, I think they would have gladly trumpeted their credit by now, but maybe they’re waiting to do it in a specific venue. Time will tell.

#vampire chronicles #interview with the vampire #louis de pointe du lac #race #racism #tw race #tw racism #tw sex worker #jurassic park #memeything #ian malcolm #anon #ask #anne rice #christopher rice #long post #iwantmyiwtv has opinions #Jacob Anderson #vc casting

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waywardrose · 4 years

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On Babbushka

There is a group of well-known writers in the fandom who have been discouraged and put down by one of their own, Zannah - @babbushka. It happens behind the scenes in DMs. It happens in posts and tags.

In DMs, she has started conversations with seemingly innocent questions. When she doesn't receive the response she was aiming for, she diverts the conversation to criticizing and humiliating the person. She has attacked writers for tagging—or not tagging—a post in a way she deems appropriate. She has gotten into arguments over how characters were portrayed and then tried to claim victimization when the other person wouldn't knuckle under.

She will appeal to her following to attack any fan or creator who has an opinion that differs from her own. She will encourage friends to send rude anons. Those same friends will also DM the target with rude remarks.

Several creators have stopped writing altogether because of their interactions with her.

We are tired of being discouraged. We are tired of being talked down to. We are tired of being bullied. Enough is enough. Under the cut we share our stories, let the chips fall where they may. It's up to you, the reader, to decide whether to support her.

We can only warn up-and-coming writers, artists, fans, and supporters of her behavior.

Hope - @callmehopeless

The Australian bushfires of the 2019-2020 season were nightmarish—for those living through it and those witnessing. As the season went on, cries for help increased. Joaquin Phoenix used the time during his Best-Actor acceptance speech at the Golden Globes to call for unity, action, and accountability. Regardless of what we may think of him, it was a thoughtful speech.

Hope, who is an Australian, found Mr. Phoenix's message encouraging and reblogged a gifset of his speech.

That morning, Zannah made a post about Mr. Phoenix's shady past and his association with a known sexual predator. The main reason wasn't because his speech was inappropriate or not timely, but because she didn't think he should be the one to get the attention over other actors who had spoken of the bushfires during the Golden Globes.

While Hope confessed she was scared of the bushfires, scared for her loved ones, Zannah was more concerned with purity. To Zannah it was about the face of the message, not the message itself. It didn't matter that Mr. Phoenix was amplifying support for Australia, what did matter was that he had done bad things.

It was virtue signaling on Zannah's part.

Still, this remains a complicated argument. Can a person who has done bad things actually have something positive to add to a cause? Should we listen to a problematic person if they share an insight? Does it reflect poorly on us to agree with their isolated statement? Will we be canceled, too? What about the bigger picture?

In this case, the bigger picture was hundreds of homes were destroyed in the bushfires and families were displaced. People died, thousands of animals died. And it was because of climate change. Mr. Phoenix called for his rich peers to examine their respective lifestyles and to give back.

Yes, Mr. Phoenix has done bad things. Yes, he has associated with people who have done bad things. His words resonated with people on Tumblr, and they reblogged part of his speech. He said something that gave Hope hope.

Hope was asked by a third party how they could help. She came back with a resource guide for those who wanted to send aid to Australians.

When it became obvious Zannah wouldn't silence Hope, Zannah decided to sub-post about the interaction. There, she accused Hope of being a rape apologist for reblogging a gifset and finding a little comfort in it. Zannah placed her ego before someone who was facing a very real danger.

Side-eying an actor is one thing, shaming a person you know for finding solace during a scary time is another. Hope isn't responsible for which voice got picked up. The only "colors" being shown here are Zannah's. She put her own concerns about being perceived as morally pure above actually supporting a friend.

I'll keep this brief - I knew Zannah for many years. And on one of the lowest weeks of my life, when my suburb was burning down and I feared for my family: she convinced me I was a rape apologist for sharing Joaquin Phoenix's speech asking for action on bushfires. In all my life, I never felt more alone. To add insult to injury, she then posted memes mocking me - something that has stuck with me to this day.

I've had dear friends quit the fandom because of her kinkshaming. I've had people I love message me distraught over what she's said.

Enough is enough.

— @callmehopeless

Rose - @the-wayward-rose

This PM exchange started after I tagged my reblog of Zannah's fic Feast (Cameron Bistle x Reader) with cw: white reader. I had been on her taglist, and I wanted to show support because I liked the fic overall. For context, the reason for my tag is because of this sentence:

"But then you're blushing so pretty and squeezing his hand affectionately and reaching for the handle to the passenger side of his car, and then you're laughing when he swats your hand away to open it for you, and then you're beckoning him down as if to ask a question – only to place a chaste kiss to his lips instead."

This is from Cameron's point of view.

She asked the reason for the tag, and I explained it was because of the use of "blush" to describe Reader's appearance.

She misunderstood my premise. I did not mean only white people blush.

According to Merriam-Webster, blush means "a reddening of the face especially from shame, modesty, or confusion" or "a red or rosy tint."

It is an autonomic response, though. It happens in all humans for body cooling and nonverbal communication. The main problem with using it universally is that melanin obscures the appearance of said autonomic response.

Here's an example of three runners:

The two pale women, left and center, are pink in the face. They are blushing. The woman of color on the right is likely blushing, too. However, the melanin in her skin obscures the blood in her cheeks. She is not pink.

That's the pitfall of the word "blush." The observer can't always see it. We know what it feels like. We all do it. The face and/or neck gets hot. The use of "blush" is shorthand in narrative, and I understand that. Nevertheless, when writing to cater to a reader-insert audience of unknown heritage, writers need to consider describing with universal terms.

Again, she misunderstood my premise. I clarified by asking how Cameron sees the Reader blush under an abundance of melanin:

She sidestepped the physiological explanation to go straight for justification. She tried to legitimize "blush" as "perhaps [this]" or "perhaps [that]" when I stated earlier that blush by definition is pink or is to redden. That's the logic. A noncommittal, covering-all-the-bases, complicated defense diluted the conversation.

With her earlier "I have friends of color, hence I can't be exclusionary" statement, I wasn't sure she would get my point. I take full responsibility for not explaining, too. I should've asked for some time to gather my thoughts, but I didn't. Truthfully, I was unprepared, because I didn't think my insignificant tag would be an issue.

Also, I was confused why she was trying to police my blog.

Her replies came rapidly—before I could mention my confusion—and felt aggressive in the moment. Maybe that wasn't her intention, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

That doesn't take away from the fact that words have meaning. It's why we use specific words. It's not understood in the narrative that her use of "blush" could mean a bunch of things. If I had known, I wouldn't have tagged as I did. How is a reader of color supposed to know that? How does Cameron see Reader's blush if she has darker skin?

As writers, we don't know who is reading. Someone could be very pale or very dark. A person with medium-toned skin can turn a shade of pink or red. A person with darker-toned skin will not. We can't assume all readers are medium to pale. We need to develop better writing skills. We have to include everyone.

Readers of color > White-writer feelings

When I stood my ground, she doubled down, stating I made no sense in my tagging and that I lacked the ability to learn from her. She then diverted the argument, attacking a ficlet I wrote a few days beforehand—which had nothing to do with this argument. The Christian imagery in that ficlet was upsetting to her and "in such poor taste" because she headcanons Flip Zimmerman (BlacKkKlansman) is 100% culturally and ethnically Jewish.

Flip stated in the movie:

"I'm Jewish, but I wasn't raised to be. It wasn't part of my life. I never thought much about being Jewish. Nobody around me was Jewish. I wasn't going to a bunch of Bar Mitzvahs. I didn't have a Bar Mitzvah. I was just another white kid. And now I'm in some basement denying it out loud[...] I never thought much about it. Now I'm thinking about it all the time. About rituals and heritage. Is that passing? Well then, I have been passing."

By his own admission, Flip is ethnically Jewish, but not culturally. These are two separate things, and that should be recognized. While Judaism is ethnically and culturally entwined in ways that other religions are not, one does not equate the other. You can be one and not the other.

At the time, I didn't want her to sic her 3000+ followers on me. I wasn't going to argue further. I asked myself if the ficlet was important and worth anon-hate and realized, no, it wasn't. It was a throw-away.

And since I'm not culturally Jewish, maybe I had misstepped. And since Zannah is both culturally and ethnically Jewish, I asked for her guidance.

She flatly refused my request. I don't know how I was supposed to learn from her if she wouldn't teach me.

It sounded as if she wanted me to delete the whole fic. Like none of it was worth saving because it hadn't been Zannah-approved. I had gone against her headcanon, and the fic was too offensive to fix.

The last sentence was supposed to cover her back from criticism, and it placed all the responsibility on me. Obviously, she was above such petty concerns as someone else's blog or writing. Never mind that she had just attempted to get me to change my tagging system and rewrite my ficlet. On my blog.

Later, I figured out she was only criticizing and not offering a constructive critique. Her argument was not in good faith. It was retaliation for not giving her the obedience she thought she was owed.

This is the passage that offended her:

"It’s because of the way he fucks you. Like it’s confession—though he’s never been much of a church-going man. Every touch, every thrust, is a truth between you. Even when it’s rough and greedy. It feels like flagellation when you claw his back. He wears the sin proudly."

This is what I edited it to:

"It’s because of the way he fucks you. Every touch, every thrust, is a truth between you. Even when it’s rough and greedy. It feels like flagellation when you claw his back. He wears your marks proudly."

Yeah, I'm not pleased with the revised passage. It's lost its teeth, but I keep it.

The anonymous message(s) she mentioned weren't very anonymous, either. Unfortunately, I've since deleted the two messages. I had apologized to Anon for disappointing them. I said that if the fic was too much, they should unfollow and block me. I meant that in a self-care way. At the same time, I did not—and do not—owe anyone discourse. I don't have to explain my art when it doesn't hurt anyone. And no one was hurt by some purportedly misplaced religious imagery.

I have been silent about this since late January/early February. I was embarrassed. I had been bullied into changing my blog and my fic by someone who proclaims to never do anything of the sort. I had been a fool. Since this conversation with her, I have been blocked/blacklisted by third-parties, most likely at her behest, when none of this exchange had been necessary.

Kassanovella - @kylorengarbagedump

Zannah's followers have asked her about Kassanovella’s Fix Your Attitude. For context, it's currently one of the most kudo-ed fics for Kylo Ren x Reader on AO3. It had a bit of a renaissance earlier in 2020 because a TikToker wrote a song for it.

There is nothing wrong with not wanting to read a fic. If the subject matter doesn't work for a reader, they don't have to partake. Easy as that. So, these tags aren't a problem.

However, it led to this...

She lashed out, calling Kassanovella's fic a joke. A joke.

She implied her fics should be as popular as Kassanovella's because she works really hard on them. She admitted she's tied to the metrics. She implied she wouldn't be writing fic if not for the external validation.

Here's the thing about fanfic: readers like what they like. They don't care about a writer's effort. They only know what works for them. They comment and give kudos, reblog and like what they connect with. That is not under the writer's control. All a writer can do is try their best and concentrate on what they're passionate about.

To bash another writer's fic because it's popular is disrespectful. This whole bitter rant drips of entitlement and is an affront to Kassanovella.

Some time later, an incident happened in a chatroom during a streaming event for veterans by Arts In the Armed Forces (Adam Driver's organization). At least one fan brought up Fix Your Attitude while waiting for Mr. Driver to make an appearance. They were also disrespectful towards the other presenters by demanding to see Mr. Driver. It caused a big stink within the fandom, and Zannah had some choice words.

While mentioning the fic during the livestream was inappropriate, it was also inappropriate to throw all fans of the fic under the bus as she did in her tag. Sweeping generalizations and incriminations of a subset of fans certainly reads as if she resents those fans for a perceived slight.

Next, Zannah made an earlier disparaging comment about Kassanovella's fic, Little Bird. Unfortunately, that comment is lost. However, the messages supporting the comment remain. (For context, Little Bird is a Kylo Ren x Reader The Handmaid's Tale AU. It has been well received in the fandom, earning thousands of kudos on AO3.)

What an author wants to write about and sexualize is their business. Fantasizing about being dominated by Kylo Ren isn't cringe. It's a sexual fantasy. Some sexual fantasies can be disturbing to those who do not share the same kink.

Sexual fantasies are like ice cream. There's a reason why there are different flavors.

Also, "I will never ever be a person that tells an author what to do or not do" is an absolute lie. As evident in this post, Zannah most definitely tells authors what to do or not do.

Again, she bashes Kassanovella, claiming her writing isn't good. Her motivation for bashing Kassanovella can only be speculation. With Zannah's previously stated opinion of Fix Your Attitude, though, it indicates a certain level of negative emotions.

Anonymous

An anonymous person came forward with a case of Zannah policing their blog. Anon has a sideblog for their personal AU with Flip Zimmerman. They reblog gifsets and post headcanons. They were an enthusiastic fan of Zannah's and reblogged a few of the gifset she made. Anon tagged their reactions, and Zannah blocked them for it.

Anon went to Zannah and asked why they were blocked, because all they wanted to do was have fun and support fellow Flip lovers.

Anon was under the impression that because they were shipping themselves, and not Zannah, with Flip, she blocked them. Their personal AU doesn't align with Zannah's headcanon that she alone is married to this character and has his children.

While Zannah's reply may sound innocent, and perhaps it is, it also speaks to someone who has set herself up as the owner of Flip Zimmerman. (Wait until Spike Lee or the real Ron Stallworth hears about that...) It appears that if a fan does not comply with the Zannah-approved headcanon, where only she is married to Flip, that fan shall be blocked. If a fan uses tags on their blog that she does not approve of, that fan will be blocked.

Zannah's policing is disturbing. Going into a blog to look for something as a reason to block is disturbing. Any fan is allowed to use any tag on their blog how they wish. If the OP has said their post can be reblogged, how a reblogger tags is beyond the OP's control. To punish that reblogger for not behaving in a way she finds acceptable is uncalled for and unjust.

Anonymous

Backstory: Zannah does not view Ben Solo's arc in the Star Wars sequel trilogy as acceptable canon. However, she does view the story she created for Flip Zimmerman in BlacKkKlansman as completely canon.

This is not the first time she has been asked to clarify her position. Nor is it the first time she has avoided giving an on-topic response. A question asked in good faith should be responded to in kind.

If a creator doesn't want to address the issue, they can state that they don't. Deflecting from the question only muddies the waters. Fans feel dismissed. The creator feels hounded, and comes across as irritated and unapproachable. No one has a positive fandom experience.

There is nothing wrong with having a headcanon. What is wrong is Zannah mandating her headcanon for Flip on the whole fandom. As evident in this post, if a fan does not comply with her headcanon, they will be summarily blocked.

Also, there is nothing wrong with rejecting canon. Writers of transformative works have always done this. The problem is shaming fans who have accepted canon while not offering justification for that shaming. A creator saying they "can't help them" is the creator washing their hands of responsibility from articulating their thoughts when they themselves began criticizing the canon in the first place.

Again, this is a bad-faith argument. Creators can't ask for discussion and attention and then get mad when their viewpoints are challenged. Just because a discussion isn't going a creator's way doesn't mean it's an attack, either. It means people want clarification, and if one criticizes, they should be able to back up their criticisms.

While sharing our stories has been freeing, it's not our aim as fellow fans to cancel Zannah. We would hope she would take the opportunity to reflect on the damage she has done to the fandom. We hope we all can move forward with a more approachable and supportive scene.

No one person speaks for our fandom. The actions of one fan do not represent the entire fandom. Whether creator or consumer, you are welcome here.

[posted July 25, 2020]

#babbushka #reader insert #flip zimmerman x reader #kylo ren x reader

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hekateanwitchcraft · 4 years

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Signs from Hekate

The question I receive the most on here is people asking me to interpret signs or whether or not something may be a sign from Hekate. So I decided to make a post about it. A caveat first though, this is not definitive and is not authoritative. These are my opinions based on history and my personal experiences. If you want to disagree with me that’s fine, and that’s allowed, I’m only expressing these things because I’ve been repeatedly asked. With that being said, let’s get into it.

Am I Seeing Signs?

This is probably the question I get asked the most. And it’s a complicated one. Ultimately, I cannot tell you whether or not something is a sign from Hekate. I would not dare say that I could discern that, as She is a goddess and I could not hope to know all that She does. But here are my general thoughts.

If you have not asked for signs or do not already venerate Hekate, or any deity really, you are probably not receiving signs from them. Deities are just that, deities. Their concern with the individual usually stems from an already existing relationship that individual has with them. Though there are scenarios in which the gods took personal interest in mortals for one reason or another. Perhaps in modern times this could be due to someone’s future as a leader or politician. But that’s not really for me to say. My general rule with the Theoi is that you have to give first as a practicioner before they intervene in your life. So my general answer for “Is Hekate reaching out to me?” is that if you haven’t asked for it, the answer is probably no.

Now if you have expressed interest in Her, and you’re seeing things, for Hekate, I’m inclined to say yes. Hekate is a household goddess, and is considered the Cosmic World Soul by many of Her followers, so it’s not unreasonable for Her to want to reach back if you reach out to Her. She is a very active goddess in Her follower’s lives. So Her sending signs has been very common in my journey with Her.

I’d say the best way to be sure, is to give an offering and ask Hekate to show you signs if you have interest in following Her. If you see signs after that, it’s a pretty good bet that they’re from Her at that point.

What are Hekate’s Signs?

So this is the second most asked question: “Is (insert symbol) a sign from Hekate?” To answer this question I am going to stick with traditional approaches, because those are verifiable signs that people have received for centuries. The following is not the end all be all, nor a list of symbols associated with Hekate. This is a list of symbols or signs that one might reasonably come across like crossroads, without being too absurdly common, that may indicate Hekate’s communication with you. Hence why things like lions and polecats aren’t included, though depending on your geography those might be common and could definitely be signs.

Dogs Barking/Black Dogs/Wild Dogs

Hekate’s presence is usually said to be accompanied by the barking of dogs. Dogs are sacred to Hekate and are likely aware of Her arrival for this reason. Furthermore, She is said to be attended by dogs which may be the deceased (like queen Hecuba) or spectral in some way. So the barking that may seem like it’s coming from nowhere may be these hounds. In my own experience I will often hear dogs barking after invoking Hekate or after I’ve finished a ritual in Her name.

Black dogs specifically are considered sacred to Hekate, so seeing black dogs may be a sign from Hekate. Wild dogs are also holy to Hekate. Feral dogs, coyotes, foxes, and wolves can be sent by Her. In my journey with Hekate, I often see foxes on nights when I’ve asked Hekate to show me a sign for one thing or another, or on nights when I’m having a rough time.

Snakes

Snakes are also considered associated with Hekate, and and Hekate was often said to have snakes in Her hair. This association could be due to a number of things, their being creatures of the earth that live in the ground and also visit the surface (much like how She comes and goes from the Underworld to the surface), their associations with magic, or the fact that certain daemons like the Agathos daemon were said to appear as snakes (indicating Her role as goddess of spirits). It’s hard to say why exactly. But either way, they show up frequently in literature and art as being associated with Hekate. So seeing snakes, a relatively rare animal to spot for a lot of people, may indicate that Hekate is sending you a sign.

Keys

Keys are associated with doorways and thresholds, and as a goddess of both, Hekate is sometimes represented with keys and may use them as a sign. If you come across a key as you’re walking or find some old keys, that could be a sign.

Torches or Lights

Hekate is the Torch-Bearer and is most commonly depicted carrying torches and She is also called the Light-Bearer. Granted we don’t really use torches anymore, so this one may seem out of place in terms of signs, but hear me out: streetlights. Now this is based on personal experience, but I’m including it because it’s the most common sign I receive. When I ask for signs, I usually see streetlights turn on or off. And what are streetlights but modern torches on roadways? So for me there is a continuity between torches and lights. If you ask for a sign and see streetlights turning on or off, especially in multiples of three, I’d consider it a sign.

What May Not be Signs

A lot of the symbols I am frequently asked about are not historically mentioned in association with Hekate. This does not mean that they can’t be signs, and I’m not trying to tell you Hekate isn’t sending you signs. However, I’ve been asked questions about these and there’s no verifiable evidence of their connection with Hekate, so that’s the answer I’m giving. Bats, cats, spiders, owls, crows, and ravens have no documented link with Hekate in ancient Hellenic religion. These symbols have come to be linked with Her through the Neo-Pagan movement, through literature like Shakespeare, art, and due to their associations with other gods who preside over similar domains as Hekate. Now I’m not going to say definitively that they aren’t signs (because who am I to say so), or that they haven’t evolved to be symbols of Hekate, but I would say that they have no evidentiary basis and that it might be helpful to look into other things these symbols represent. But ultimately, the rule of thumb is if it feels to you like a sign from Hekate, it likely is.

How Do I Know it’s a Sign?

This is a question I cannot entirely answer. I cannot dream to know the workings of Hekate and Her grand design, so there’s no way to ever know for sure if it’s a sign you are seeing. But that’s where faith comes in. I often tell people that if you feel in your gut it’s a sign, then it probably is. If you ask and you receive, then take that sign and run with it. Ultimately, trust in Hekate and have faith in Her and She will steer you in the right direction.

Sources:

http://hekatecovenant.com/resources/symbols-of-hekate/

https://archetypicalwitchcraft.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/understanding-hekate-part-5-the-meaning-of-her-ancient-symbols/

#hekate #hecate #hellenic polytheism #witchcraft #hellenic witchcraft

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yourdorkiness · 4 years

Text

More Fire Force Opinions That Literally Nobody Asked For (pt.2)

Guess who finished the manga~ Guess who finished the manga~ This gal~ I’m surprised that my Fire Force rant/essay meta was so well received by the fandom, thank you guys so much!!! Anyways, today I’ll be discussing some a lot of my ideas, opinions, thoughts, future predictions, and commentary on moments from the Fire Force manga.

Warnings: Spoilers for future Fire Force Season Two arcs, and for the Fire Force manga. Read at your own discretion! Now that the warnings are over, onwards! ヽ(ヅ)ノ

(I’m actually trying to order my opinions via arcs, but I feel that this is really important, so I’m putting it first.)

1. There are no iPhones in the Fire Force.

This is so sad? My favourite characters don’t know the joy that is staying up late, scrolling through social media, watching YOUTUBE, having MEMES, KNOWING👏THE👏GREATNESS👏THAT👏IS👏VINES!!!

I’m slightly disappointed that Vulcan, who is literally named after the god of forging himself, who can make frickin’ HOLOGRAMS, didn’t bring back any of the pre-Catalysm technology to recreate, improve, or experiment with. As an expert engineer (I say this 0.2% seriously, with the two years of high school engineering course experience under my belt), I would’ve been interested to see what kind of gadgets Vulcan could whip up. *insert ‘Inspector Gadget theme song*

Please have this very sad Jigglypuff to show how sad this is.

2. Sister Iris and Religion in the Fire Force Storyline

In the beginning of the Fire Force series, I’ve accepted the fact that Iris' role as noncombatant, meant to act as the religious and public face of the Eighth Company. I think it is a fascinating role, because it allows the story to explore the idea of religion and belief in depth, which I was really looking forward to. I was excited how the author would handle Iris’ character, but I’m somewhat disappointed that it took so long for us to see Iris and other side characters like Maki and Tamaki become more fleshed out (I’m not counting Iris’ and Hibana’s backstory in Season 1. I felt that was more backstory to flesh out Hibana’s character rather than Iris’).

Throughout Fire Force’s story, some of the things I looked forward to the most were the religious elements, motifs, themes, and questions that are sprinkled throughout the story, one of my favourites being the portrayal of the dichotomy of religion. In Joker’s backstory, we see the darkness of the Holy Sol faith, and what happens when any religious belief is taken TOO far, without any regard for human life or rights. This idea of viewing humans as a collective, no regard for the individuality and feelings of a single person in the pursuit of faith is embodied by the captain of the Shadow of the Holy Sun, Joker’s former captain and abuser. However, we also get to see the goodness religion and belief can achieve in Iris’ mini arc, which focuses on Iris’ internal struggle as she struggles with her faith after being informed of the Evangelist’s part in the founding of the Holy Sol’s religion. Shinra and Huo Yan Li, the bucket hat 1st Brigade lieutenant (Seriously, which is the correct way to pronounce this guy’s name? Huo Yan Li?? Foien Li???) interaction in the Iris arc really summed up the arc and Iris’ character beautifully. Religion and belief gives people closure, hope, and strength to keep on moving forward. Seeing the anime adaption was an amazing experience. Fire Force’s animation was the reason I decided to watch it in the first place (before staying for the intriguing plot and religious side plot), but this particular episode?? Pure art. The colouring, ambience, storytelling? So good＼\ ٩( ᐛ )و /／

Like, the little detail of the burning nun in Iris’ eyes? (lmao sorry for the extra trauma, sweet child) *chef’s kiss*

The importance of belief is also hinted in the Asakusa arc, where all the district’s inhabitants believe in Benimaru, and expanded upon in later manga chapters, when we learn that Adolla is linked to humanity’s perception and beliefs about the world around them.

I would’ve liked Iris a lot more if we got to further explore her character and the affects of religion on others more deeply, perhaps see Iris visiting the Infernals’ families and loved ones, trying to help give closure through the nation’s (mostly) shared faith in Sol. They mentioned offhandedly in both anime and manga that Iris visits the deceased’s families, and I felt it would’ve given the deaths more significance and depth if we get screentime of how families are affected by the death of their loved ones. It would have also given the Holy Sol’s religion more depth and meaning if we saw believers of Sol’s actions due to their religion, (also giving more impact when we learn surprise surprise! The Holy Sol temple is founded by the Evangelist!) since belief without actions is just lip-service.

I would have also liked to see how Iris’ prayers affect others in the Eighth company. We do get to see this, 140+ CHAPTERS LATER in the mini Iris arc does Shinra (finally) mentions how Iris’ prayers helps him not lose sight of why he serves as a firefighter and kills Infernal. I’m glad that we got this scene, because better later than never, especially since Iris’ and Shinra’s discussion and overall the entire Iris mini arcs shows the power of prayer, but I would’ve like to have this topic discussed sooner.

2. Obi’s Sole Flaw

I think that Obi was an okay character, but they kind of pushed the boundary of his “normalcy” when we saw him topple pillars and rip railways out of the ground with “brute strength”. There are limits to the human body, it is fragile, and it doesn’t matter how much conditioning or “going beyond your limits” you do. People do experience boost of adrenaline, which is probably what the very anime-like titled “Pressure of Death” is based on, since life or death situations can heighten your performance and strength. However, I do understand that this IS shonen, and it isn’t meant to be realistic.

What made Obi’s sole flaw (and a physical flaw, at that!) was his “normalcy” while surrounded by more powerful individuals then he, and having to make up for something he can’t help by working twice as hard as everybody else. Now, although I was disappointed that Obi didn’t have any character/moral flaws, what made Obi’s character mediocre to me wasn’t the choice of Obi’s sole flaw. In fact, I could see how this could be an interesting character narrative IF WE LEARN MORE ABOUT OBI’S BACKSTORY, THEREFORE EXPLORING HIS CHARACTER MORE!!! (We only know Obi was a regular firefighter, being decorated twice, and then having his titles revoked for prioritizing the lives of citizens before becoming the captain of the Eighth.) No, what I didn’t like about Obi’s character is that we never see him STRUGGLE with his flaw, how others were born “superior” to him thanks to there invulnerability to flames, how he lives knowing one day he could just burst into flames. There’s SO many interesting things about Obi’s character, that could explained further, making him so much more interesting!!!

On the other hand, Obi’s character is a great role model for what a “normal” person can do (while jacked up on adrenaline, and when they manage to overcome flight reaction in fight or flight). He works hard, training to the best of his ability, doing what he CAN do, pushing his limits so that he can go above and beyond, overcoming the “Pressure of Death”, and staying true to his ideals, something very hard to do in a world where you might burst into flames at any given moment. I know that if I were to wake in a world where I could die any second (I mean, I could die tomorrow in Real Life™, but what are the chances of that?), I would definitely find myself struggling with my faith, and staying true to the morals I admire and was taught by my parents, especially if I was putting myself in danger despite of this weakness.

3. Asakusa Showdown Arc and Shinmon Hibachi

The Asakusa Showdown arc. Yes. Just yes. I-

It was amazing, periodt. The art, the overall aesthetic, the storytelling. *Cue violent fangirling* I took SOOOO many screenshots of the fight between Benimaru and Hibachi, I’m pretty sure my camera roll is 95% manga caps now. I love how the author actually gave a (fairly) valid reason for the cool Japanese aesthetic of this arc, in that Adolla is slowly gradually colliding with the Fire Force universe, causing people’s perception of the fight to seep into the universe. Overall? It. Was. Amazing. Albeit not my favourite arc, (that honour goes to the mini-Iris arc) I think that the Asakusa Showdown arc is easily in my Top 5 Fire Force arcs.

The Asakusa Showdown Arc mirroring and showing the ideals taught in the Mini Iris Arc was quite clever, though I’m not sure if this was purposefully done Okubo, or if I’m just scrabbling at crumbs.

In the Mini Iris arc, we see how religion and belief gives closure; a stark contrast to Asakusa with its proto-nationalist/atheist values. In THIS arc, centering around Asakusa and it’s proto-nationalist inhabitants, we see what happens when there isn’t enough effort to emphasize or give closure in what happened to Hibachi, and his subsequent death.

Shinmon Hibachi, as the leader of the neighbourhood fire watch, understood the significance of killing Infernals; of taking somebody’s life. But because of the unwillingness to let others (i.e. the inhabitants of Asakusa, that one kid who stabs him) understand the weight of killing Infernals and gain closure through understanding the reasons behind his harsh actions, Hibachi shoulders the consequences of both his and the actions of his predecessors’ ALONE, therefore leading to his demise.

The kid who stabbed Hibachi was still a CHILD, and children don’t always have a comprehensive understanding of death and the consequences of responsibility (no matter how much that kid believes he was ready to be an adult and support his mother).

3.5 Extra Worldbuilding Questions About Asakusa

I also have so many questions about Asakusa in general! How is Asakusa powered without being supported by Amaterasu, which is the country’s (and isn’t that mind boggling, that a whole country is supported by one power source with no backup source or other forms of energy/electricity, because of patriotic pride in a machine that might one day shut down, cough manga readers where u at?) I’m assuming that Asakusa mainly use coal, candles, and lamps for energy and lighting, since we did see one example of lighting in Asakusa (an ancient oil lamp), but I’m not sure if that would be sufficient to support a whole district of people. People were able to do that in the olden days, but back then there was a smaller concentration of people, and power necessary to support them.

Is Asakusa a district that is mostly atheist or polytheist? Do the inhabitants believe in no gods, not just the Sun god brought by the White Clads and Raffles I, including the Shinto or Buddhist gods from before the Catalysm, or do they believe in multiple gods/ancestor worship and they just don’t want to worship the Sun God like the rest of the Tokyo Empire because they’re unwilling to accept the new culture, immigrants and religion caused by Amaterasu, wanting to keep up the old Japanese traditions?

4. Arthur Deserves Better Parents 2k20 (Hint of Arthur’s Secret Ability?)

When Team Vulcan + Arthur found Arthur’s parents in the sewers Nether... Honestly, I don’t want to touch on them much, since I want to be (fairly) logical in my opinions on them, not letting my personal feelings twist my hypotheses for what may happen in the future of the Fire Force storyline.

Putting aside Arthur’s parents obvious neglect and bad parenting, I’m curious if Arthur's dad is actually a prophet or did he just get lucky with his delusions. Is this related to how Arthur can notice the difference between dopplegangers and real people? Perhaps because Arthur’s delusions of knighthood are so different from how he truly is (an abandoned child who deluded himself as a knight), therefore allowing him to notice the difference between dopplegangers and Adolla, as they are created by people’s perception of a subject.

5. Let Sho Be a Normal Kid at the End of the Show 2k20

Please let the small child be happy at the end of the manga. I mean, being raised by a cult underground isn’t exactly a Hallmarks childhood. For example, in the beginning of chapter 231, look at how Sho looks longingly at those kids on scooters and was so happy when he got a balloon from the firefighter mascots! (bruh, same balloons bring me so much joy)

I hope that in the end of the manga Okubo lets Sho, Shinra, and Eighth have some quality time. In one of the early arcs (with the first speaking demon, Minamoto?) Shinra saw some kids going to school wearing school uniforms, mentioning that if Sho was still alive, he’d be old enough to go to school. I’d be so sweet if at the end of the manga, Sho would have the chance to go to school, maybe the Fire Force academy (if it’s still running if by the end of the manga they’ve discovered the reason behind Human Combustion), makes friends and beat up anybody who badmouths the Eighth.

6. Cool Combat Medics!

I’d love to see more of the cool combat medics from the Sixth! We only saw the captain, Kayoko Huang, in action with her Asclepius staff pyrokinesis, which, might I add is a fascinating and terrifying ability. Think about it, she’s controlling CELLULAR DIVISION!!! She could start creating tumors in the bodies of her enemies! Could disintegrate people cellularly and no one would know, because fire snake, so no fingerprints!

Anyways, that is all I have right now. Thank you for reading my opinions about “Fire Force”, and for the nice response I got when I published my first opinion piece! Bruh, it took so long for me to edit this... 😔 I’m thinking of doing another meta going more in depth with my theory on Arthur and how he’s able to distinguish the difference between people and their dopplegangers, but that’s for another day. Feel free to discuss about your own ideas or thoughts in the chat, or tell me what you think! I promise I don’t bite. Have a wonderful day!

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aku-jumbi · 3 years

Note

YOUR ART IS INCREDIBLE YOU’RE HONESTLY SO INSANELY TALENTED I AM HONESTLY IN AWE WHENEVER I SEE ONE OF YOUR ART PIECES, THEY’RE ALWAYS SO BEAUTIFUL!!! And pls ignore those haters they’re absolute idiots who seem to think asians only have certain features apparently and can’t seem to realise that there’s something called creative liberty😐

So many capital letters haha ^^ thank you a lot for your appreciation. *bow 😀 I gonna take your comment as opportunity to write down some thoughts I had on this topic.

Of course I am not painting isolated, I love to browse art from other artists, sometimes getting inspiration or just to get more stimulated. And for sure I stumble sometimes over art which technically is maybe not as refined but somehow hits me, then I stumble over art which is technically extremely good but well... I feel nothing but I still awe the beauty and there is even art which slightly disturbs me and fetishizes something I don't really am into... but dammit it's really well painted and I can just accept that the artist did a great job and I don't need to be in the fetish.

Then, there is also art which is technically undeveloped, due to the painters inexperience for example but I appreciate the try since ik myself, painting is work.

I caught myself a couple of times being about technically extremely versatile artists more critical and then thought.. who am I to judge, went into some introspection and realised: that was pure jealousy. Oh yeah, jealousy, nothing more, that yellow eyed monster within me trying to lower down others just to feel better myself. But... I never released that monster officially of course. In fact, before I leave a critical comment, I think twice and when I comment I just comment on the technical side. If the picture isn't violating any real persons or depicting very, very, very controversial topics like religion or politics to ridicule opinions of other people I basically don't care. Let people paint what they want, I don't need uniformity.

If someone wants to paint the earth is flat, just go ahead! First, idk if the person really thinks the earth is flat... or, is it maybe just some fantasy? Is it just for fun, did the artist just try out how the earth would look flat or is it easier for him to paint the earth kind of flat. Is the painter of that pic maybe someone who had no education and just painted what he sees and tries to imagine how it might look like. Or is the artist just painting something that came into his mind without a lot of thinking and it's now me interpreting something in his flat earth picture which he didn't even think of. But the most important thing: the earth won't get flatter just with that one flat earth painting.

Even with 1000 of that flat earth paintings, it won't. Being an individuum that is able to controle my emotions and to recognise what's important and what not I wouldn't even think to rent about that flat earth artist. Let him paint the flat earth, I can mildly smirk about him or shake my head and move on to the round earth painting I like most. There are more important things than to explode about a flat earth painting.

Now... I am not painting reality, I don't believe in my paintings showing reality or anything remotely close to reality. It's impossible that any character I paint is real. And I clearly distinguish between real people I see on the street or documentaries (I don't say media in general cuz... we only see the most beautiful people in movies or social media with all the filter and photoshop and it gives a contorted view on "reality") and painted anime charas. Recently I saw (oh I got actually an education by one of my "critics" in how I should paint!) a lot of realistic anime character fanarts which clearly just were repaints from given photographies of random prototype Asian models... the technical side was extremely good, forgetting the fact that it still was a repaint and repaint is always a bit easier since u don't need to think about the facial features anymore yourself... but the charas... they looked so realistic, so much like real people that again I wasn't able to see the anime chara anymore. For me it was just the random prototype Asian model (perfect as they are, because, well... model) from the photography with slightly changed hair and... blue eyes.

But! And now that's the big difference, I look at that kind of very realistic fanart and although it doesn't even remotely remind me of that anime chara and I feel nothing for it than some portrait photography repaint, it would never, never come into my mind commenting with (insert the vomit emoji here, cuz that's what happened to my art) a disgracing and hurtful comment just because I think my vision, my very private believe of what is a good fanart stands above anything else and I have the right and privilege to lower the artist in any kind of way. Who am I to feel superior?... exactly, I don't have that right, especially on something very subjective as looks of anime charas in fanart.

I realised by a couple of conversations with people who have no issues with my art that a lot of the hate roots from wanting to feel moral-wise superior. It's like a trend to stomp over everything, doesn't even need to be very important or influential, that doesn't meet the standard of what is moralistic acceptable in one owns subjective believe. Some call it being sensitive about what art should show and I guess the haters would call themselves even very sensitive and caring for over people... but want to be frank here, it's not sensitivity, it's being bored by their own lives and having no creative potential themselves. So.. what are we gonna do today? Complaining, cancelling, hating, yeah, that's a good hobby!

Sorry to inform you that your "sensitivity" is hurting me a lot.

I don't aim to call out specifically with my art to a particular group of people or disgracing them, there is clearly no hate inside or anything, I certainly don't try to portrait reality... dammit it's Anime charas! They aren't real in the first place! Gargh... If someone has an issue with the facial looks of how I paint, I am very very fine with a comment like: "hey you know, somehow I see in my mind Miya Osamu looking more like Toshirou Mifune... but, you know, it's ok, you aren't a mind reader. :) I would like to share my fanart of Osamu with u, too then u can see what I have in mind." That's a respectful, a very constructive and even inviting and mature comment. If I sounded a bit rude in the past towards haters it wasn't because I am rude but I got a couple of very humiliating comments that my only way to answer was to give them the same medicine back they forced me to swallow.

Hfff... so long... sorry.

Idk if haters or immature people who come across my paintings are going to read this and understand what I want to say so just for repeat: I don't have anything bad in mind with my art, I don't try to colonialize Asia, I don't see my art as absolute truth and its not a perfect replication of the original anime character. It's fan-ta-sy. If u don't like the style and aesthetic, move on, paint your own interpretation, that's the best way to put my art aside if u want to put it aside.

And for the people who like my art, you are my heroes, not because u are flattering me with comments (yeah also that tho lol) but because u let me see that there are rational thinking people out there, not oversensitive and in constant alarm to sniff around like blood dogs finding another topic to rent about but just enjoying fanart at what it is: fanart. It's you who enjoy their lives and I am enjoying it, too.

Thank you! :)

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writeyouin · 4 years

Note

How tfa sentinel, optimus,prowl, bumblebee,and tfp smokescreen react to finding out that their s/o is actually God (Jehovah from the Bible)in a human form and she is unleashing her godly wrath upon the humans due to prophecy and of Justice after the rapture.Plagues, earthquakes, disease, mental, starvation, drought, violent storms beyond measure, the oceans and rivers turn to blood, and fire falls from the sky. I got this idea from the prince of Egypt movie. Use the plagues song from the movie.

TFA X Reader Inserts – Jehovah

A/N – Man, that is a banging song from my childhood.

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

Sentinel

When the two of you had first met, Sentinel hated you, as he did all organics. However, after an unfortunate mission wherein you had managed to save Sentinel’s life, he came to see that you were different from the rest of your kind; you were superior to them. You always stood proud, walked tall, exuded confidence, and seemed to display an ethereal power. Sentinel couldn’t put his finger on what made you so amazing.

Now, he stood by watching as perfectly healthy humans starved within minutes, animals went wild and began attacking everyone, and the weather went from a blizzard, to a flood, to a searing heat and back again.

Sentinel was torn about what he ought to do. The Autobot code stated that he should respect and protect all life, but did it really matter if you were only harming other, inferior organics?

Sentinel considered this for a long time. Finally, he called up to you, “(Y/N), YOU OKAY BABE?”

“I am Jehovah, the God of this planet, and this is the rapture,” You replied coolly.

“UH, YEAH, BUT ARE YOU OKAY?”

“I am divine. I am perfect. I am flawless.”

“ALRIGHT, SO, I’LL SEE YOU LATER THEN? YOU WON’T BE MAD IF I LEAVE? I DON’T THINK I SHOULD INTERFERE WITH ORGANIC PROBLEMS, YOU KNOW?”

“Leave if you wish non-organic. I have work to do.”

Sentinel nodded and transformed into his alt-mode, driving back to his ship. Maybe this was just a bad phase. If it was, Sentinel was willing to wait until you were done with your bad day. Afterwards, if you wanted to see him, he would wait for you.

Optimus

Optimus held his helm in his servos, completely unsure of what to do for the first time in his life. Everyone was asking for his help, demanding that he either rescued or stopped you. As they asked for his leadership, Optimus himself was wondering who would help him. In rough situations like this when it felt like the weight of the world was resting on his shoulder, you were always the one to comfort him and make him feel like he wasn’t alone. Now, when the problem was you, he had nobody to lean on.

Optimus couldn’t help thinking back to the start of the day. Everything had started off so normally. The two of you were out walking through the park, talking about the future, and then suddenly your eyes turned fully white and you began rambling about how the time was nigh.

After that, you wouldn’t respond to your name, claiming that you were the one true Jehovah. Then, before Optimus could stop you, you had taken to the skies to claim your place as Earth’s God, and begin the rapture. Optimus had immediately called upon his team for help, but by the time they reached him, it was too late. Everywhere Optimus looked disaster struck and it was clear that you were causing it. The park’s water turned red and thick; instinctively, Optimus knew it was blood and the thought sickened him, though he was powerless to stop it.

“(Y/N),” He called you, “PLEASE, STOP, COME DOWN. LET ME HELP YOU!”

Frogs coated in the blood that now filled their lakes started storming the park in a blind panic. The few people left there were screaming in fear, a few crying, and all trying to run from the sudden lice that had appeared seemingly from nowhere to feed on them. Before you could bring about your next plague on humanity, the now teenaged Sari was thrown at you by Bumblebee. She latched onto your waist, trying to bring you down. The weight didn’t hinder you as you stared icily down at the young girl who you had loved so much before.

“Release me child, or face the consequences,” You said in a voice that was not your own.

“(Y/N), it’s me, Sari. Don’t you recognise me?” Sari gasped, struggling to keep hold of you as your body began heating up.

“I do not recognise Earthlings. I see only their merits and their sins. Let go of me youngling, for you do not yet deserve to suffer my wrath. I am Jehovah.”

At that, Sari let go in shock. She knew little of religion, but enough to recognise what was happening.

“Guys, get ready for a fight,” Sari warned.

The bots prepared themselves just in time as a group of wild beasts came forth, sniffing out the sinners and attacking them. It didn’t matter to the Autobots who was good or bad, all life was worth protecting.

After a day of trying to save Detroit from you, the Autobots had to return to their base for repairs, recuperation, and a new plan.

“So, what’re we gonna do, boss bot?” Bumblebee asked.

Optimus thought for a moment, wondering what you would do in his place. Finally, he answered, “We’re going to save (Y/N). (S)he would do the same for any of us.”

He looked around to find his team nodding in agreement.

“Good,” Sari said. “Because I’ve been doing some research and I know what’s coming next.”

Prowl

Prowl didn’t understand it. How could you, the God of planet Earth, create so many beautiful things to fill the world, and then destroy them so easily? He had been asking himself that very question ever since the plague had begun, when people started dropping like flies.

Not only where you destroying the beautiful organic world of yours, but no matter what anyone said or did, you wouldn’t stop. Prowl thought his opinion meant more to you than that but clearly, he was wrong. During his one attempt to stop you from hurting any bystanders in your first attack, Prowl’s pleas fell on deaf ears. You acted like you had never met him before and with a wave of your hand, a flood had swept Prowl away.

While the team argued around him, Prowl silently contemplated the situation, tuning everyone else out so he could think. Clearly, your Godly powers were interfering with your reasoning, and perhaps even your memory.

For every problem, there had to be a solution. Something had caused your sudden transformation into a God. If Prowl was to listen to Sari, then it was because of something called the rapture. Perhaps if Prowl could find out what had triggered the rapture, he could stop it, and hopefully that would be enough to turn you back.

Praying to Primus, Prowl begged to get you back to normal as soon as possible. When you had whisked him away in the flood, he was almost sure he saw a hint of sorrow in your eyes; if he had, then Prowl would make sure to do anything to save you before his team stepped in and made the ultimate sacrifice of your life to save the billions of others worldwide.

“So Prowl, what do you think?” Optimus asked, having explained his plan in great detail.

Prowl transformed into his alt-mode, and said, “Run it by me again over comms.”

He drove off, and Optimus instantly radioed him, “Where are you going?”

“To do some recon.” If Prowl was to defeat the God in you, then he would need all the information he could get.

Bumblebee

“(Y/N)- ARGH!” Bumblebee yelped, barely avoiding the boulder that flew his way.

He rolled to avoid another as he tried again to make his way to you. He didn’t understand why you were doing this, or how for that matter. The (Y/N) he knew didn’t even like to hurt people’s feelings in videogames, but this newer version of you filled with power was trying to kill almost everyone in sight. Since when did you have powers anyway? Everything had been normal until the two of you took a walk to the racing grounds. Then you had run off into a strange cave, and when Bumblebee caught up with you, you were holding onto a freaky burning bush. After that, everything had been crazy.

“RATCHET,” Bumblebee called his team-mate who was getting closer with each passing second. “CAN YOU HOLD HER?”

“I’ll try,” Ratchet said through gritted dentae. He aimed his EMP generators at you, hoping to contain you.

You smiled cruelly at his attempt to imprison you, escaping his weak hold and then opening a fissure at the base of his feet.

As Ratchet lost his balance, you addressed the two bots, “You have no business interfering with the will of a God. Now flee, and you shall not be punished.”

“(Y/N), COME ON. IT’S ME, BUMBLEBEE.”

“And why should your name matter?”

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, YOU IDIOT.”

Briefly, the earthquakes that had been assaulting the city stopped. “I- Yes. You do love the body that chained me.”

“Right, and you love me too, so stop hurting everyone… Please.”

For a moment, Bumblebee believed you were going to listen to him and end the rapture that you had begun only that morning. Instead, your face curled up in a snarl.

“I WILL NOT BE CHAINED AGAIN!” You roared.

The earthquakes began again, accompanied by vicious rain, thunder and lightning.

Bumblebee pushed himself up, forming a plan. He wished he had his team with him but they were busy rescuing people where they could, and now Ratchet was incapacitated.

‘I am the fastest bot alive,’ Bumblebee reminded himself. With that, he pushed himself up, dodging the debris that came his way.

“IF YOU’RE A GOD, WHY CAN’T YOU HIT ME?” Bumblebee taunted.

As expected, you lifted the earth to throw a miniature island his way.

Bumblebee jumped on the island, “IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?”

You threw more of the islands at him, becoming more enraged as he used them to get close to you in the air.

Finally, when he was only a few feet away, Bumblebee jumped. He latched onto you, enveloping you in a hug.

“Hah,” You sneered, making no attempt to remove the bot from you. “This was your plan? To defeat me with a hug?”

Bumblebee shook his head against your shoulder. “No,” He whispered.

You felt coolant soaking your shoulder, though you remained unmoved by his tears.

“I just needed to be close enough.”

Bumblebee let go of you, pressing his stingers against your heart before he fell. If you were still human, it would have killed you. As it was, the shock was enough to temporarily stop your heart, rendering you unconscious as all your power went into keeping yourself alive. Bumblebee landed on his knees, catching you before you could hit the ground.

Bumblebee opened his comm-link to Sari, hoping she was close, “Sari, I have (Y/N) knocked out. I need somewhere where (s)he can’t hurt anyone.”

Sari thought of a bunker that her father had prepared to hold Megatron in case he ever attacked again. “I think I know a place,” She replied. “Head to Sumdac industries, I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay,” Bumblebee said, cutting the call short. He cradled you close to his body thinking of every moment the two of you had spent together since he arrived on Earth. He gently moved the hair from your face, “We’ll fix this (Y/N). I promise.”

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rockofeye · 5 years

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Calling Out and Calling In: Jessyka Winston and Haus of Hoodoo

It’s not uncommon for me to receive asks or messages asking me to verify that a particular priest or a particular sosyete is valid/authentic/traditional/etc. By and large, I don’t answer these because it’s not appropriate in that there is no reason for me to comment on a particular person or sosyete. That’s not how you make friends, maintain a religious community, or serve the spirits.

And, there is the truth that, in Haiti and on the island in general, there is variety in practice. I talk a lot about regleman, which is the appropriate order for things, and I talk a lot about what happens when folks just want to grab what they thinks looks cool or spooky for their own purposes (no, Papa Legba is not a cocaine-sniffing demon, no, Ezili Freda does not want to be saluted with twerking). Discernment is a thing, and well-trained priests have it; folks can sniff out fraud versus ‘huh, we don’t do it like that but it makes a lot of sense that other people do it this way’.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t a lot of fraud and fraudulent folks who use the trappings of the religion to make a lot of cash. It happens a lot. A LOT. It happens in Haiti and it happens outside of Haiti. The birth of social media has given folks, legitimate and not, a place to showcase what they do and connect with people whom are seeking the spirits or, conversely, whom the spirits are seeking. It was that for me; I reconnected with an old friend on Facebook after at least 5 years of no contact and, through a series of Very Fortunate Events, found my way to my spiritual mother’s door from there.

Social media has given a platform for fraudulent people to really dig their heels in. Instagram (the platform I love to hate) is particularly awful with this. Folks who have not had exposure or training in the religion see beautiful photos and assume that what they are seeing is true and authentic because it looks like it must be, or someone is a very talented writer and uses generic photos along with compelling, persuasive text. This is not the fault of the folks looking—how can they know?--but the fault squarely of the people trying to trade the sacred for power, adoration, and, often most importantly, cold hard cash.

This reality often brings up a very difficult conversation to have that contains a lot of hard truths: the face of fraud in Haitian Vodou is not always white and birthright (or the presumption of birthright) can be abused.

These two things bring us to the topic at hand: Haus of Hoodoo and the person behind it, Jessyka Winston.

Haus of Hoodoo is a small business that began online selling fixed candles and posting lovely photos. Within the last 6 months or so, a retail location opened in New Orleans. It’s a cute shop (I like all the plants), and she portrays it as doing well.

Where things have gone from cringe-y to whose-child-is-this to ‘you have got to be fucking kidding me’ complete with the sort of strangled laugh that doesn’t come from something funny is around Haitian Vodou.

Let me be really clear: I have been watching this for a good long while, and I didn’t want to say anything for the reasons outlined above and because, quite bluntly, I know this is going to bring a whole lot of unpleasantness to my doorstep. Jessyka likes to flex, and how she flexes is making statements that she feels are intimidating/fear-inspiring, going in on character assassination, and, frankly, talking a whole lot of shit. She threatens sending spirits after someone, with the stated intent that a person will die or be made food, and she spins into this cyclone of nonsense that she thinks leaves her looking authentic and traditional. It doesn’t, and I don’t attach weight to those sorts of things or get scared of them. But, I have known that’s what is in store as soon as this is published and I had to kind of have a talk with myself to make sure I have really been willing to take that on. At this point, I am willing because what has been said is so incredibly untrue and, in some cases, downright harmful or unethical. There are times to be quiet, and there are times to speak. This one of those times to speak.

After the cut, I’m going to lay things out the best I can with the receipts I’ve got and the knowledge I have been blessed to gain. It’s going to be image-heavy and with a lot of text, and there’s a LOT of it.

But, before we get there, it’s important to acknowledge some things upfront:

Haus of Hoodoo/Jessyka Winston is alone in what she is saying. She is not gaining support from anyone and no one is standing up to agree with her. She has been a topic in the Haitian Vodou community for at least a year, and no one has said much of anything to her because, sadly, no one seems to be invested in her. I really do think this is sad. Haitian Vodou is familial in nature, even across sosyetes and lineages. Folks disagree with each other and argue, but they still come back and call each other sister and brother. She has said she is a part of no community and eschews what community means, but I can’t imagine what it must be like to not have anyone who will either support you because what you are saying is true for your corner, or anyone who cares enough to say ‘hey, I know you mean well but you’re really off-base here. Maybe you should walk it back’. I think this is why she has turned so poisonous. I know I have benefited greatly from a spiritual parent and siblings who have helped me right my course and/or given me a kick in the butt. Not having that is a huge loss and a huge spiritual hole.

I also do not think Jessyka is without redemption. She can change what she is doing and change the current course she has set for herself. While the things she has said will never go away, she can take responsibility for the inaccuracies she is spreading, the outright disrespect she is showing to Haitians and the people who made it possible for her to even have contact with the religion, and the harm she is inflicting. With the lwa, there is always a chance to do things differently. The function of community, in this moment, is to call out the hurt and harm she is spreading, and to call her in so that she may come back to center and work on repairing not only what she has perpetuated but work repairing herself as well.

(Quick note, some of the image formatting is weird and some images are darker than others. If you are having trouble reading something, let me know. I regret that I cannot caption each one. Additionally, I have removed the actual photos from the images for time and bandwidth)

With those things in mind, let’s take a look at what has been going on:

To timeline things for context, Jessyka initiated in Afa vodoun and Mami Wata practices in Ghana in early 2017. After her return to the US, she began talking about Haitian Vodou and began attending ceremony in New Orleans with a New Orleans spiritual community and a Haitian Vodou sosyete with their US temple in NO. At some point in here, she did a lave tet under the lineage head of the sosyete, and then followed that with kanzo in Haiti, where she was made a manbo asogwe. This is really fast and potentially really ill-advised. When you initiate somewhere, your head needs time to settle down and you need to get to know your spirits. When you spin through it and don’t give your head a chance to settle, things get messy—you are unbalanced, your head is unbalanced, and your spirits are unbalanced. A wise person once told me it takes 5 years to be proficient enough in something to have a basic understanding, and this rings true spiritually.

This is where things get sticky. Not too long after her kanzo (about 2-3 months, maybe a little more), she left the house she was made in, stating that she was taken advantage of. At this point, she had left her long-term partner, gotten involved with a Haitian man, and returned to Haiti to have other ceremonies done, somewhere near the end of 2018. I have receipts for these things but, for brevity and bandwidth, I’m not going to insert them all. If you want to see them, hit me up.

This is sticky for two reasons:

She wiped her Instagram of all visual cues attaching her to this house. She had written a LOT about them and a lot about the relationship she had with her initiatory mother, but she chose to try and re-write her history after she left. This is not how kanzo works and, in reality, not how the internet works. I saw a lot of what she had written myself.

Allegations of fraud in the way that she insists happened are hard to address because they often involve matters of secrecy that only another priest can recognize. I can’t say for absolute certainty what happened in the djevo/initiatory chamber she went into, as I wasn’t there. That’s not shade, it really just means what it says: I can’t pass judgment because I didn’t go inside that djevo. I would expect that sosyete to say the same of me in that they were not in the djevo that I went into and cannot judge the absolute correctness of what happened there. Priests are pretty solid on not extending opinions of things that have not verified with their own eyes.

What I can say is that Jessyka has posted things that are very true about kanzo (initiation in an asson lineage), and many, many things that are false. The largest problem with this outside of potentially betraying oaths of secrecy that I know she took is that she doesn’t seem to know the difference between what is true and what is manufactured, either by misinformation she has received or by her own lack of experience, as she has never stood inside a djevo on the other side of kanzo. She never went back to see how it was done, and she didn’t stay long enough to be taught.

I saw her post something once that she should know better than to post, and I addressed it as my one-and-done (or what I thought was one-and-done) shot at saying something, priest to priest, in the hopes that they would right their wrongs:

@anbadlo is my Instagram account that I use to post spiritual work and art, however infrequently, and I’ve mentioned it here before. It has the name I am commonly known by on the internet, which is pretty easy to link up to this blog and to my other online presences attached to Vodou. I wrote fairly quickly in my response below hers because I knew I was on borrowed time, as she blocks anyone who disagrees with her or that she perceives to harm her business (which is her prerogative, of course).

What I didn’t get a chance to screenshot before she blocked me was her further response saying that she would humiliate me with what I didn’t know about Haitian Vodou and that I should try going to Haiti before saying anything to her or anybody else. This was sort of eyebrow raising not because it upset me but because a) there is nothing humiliating or shameful about not knowing something and I am pretty open that I am always learning, and b) she spoke without giving a thought to who might be speaking to her. If someone was to pull me up online for posting something inappropriate or inaccurate, I’d at least click on their name to see who they were before asserting that I was an authority who could humiliate them. I also did not and do not understand why someone who claims to be a spiritual leader or authority would want to humiliate someone. Folks can be corrected without character assassination or purposeful embarrassment.

Far more interesting than those things, though, is that she denies she was made asogwe which is untrue based on her own words:

She’s since deleted this post, but it was a post that quite a few priests saw and saved. To be honest, I sort of chuckled about this because what is written here is not true about being a houngan or manbo asogwe but it digs at something more serious: her attitude and orientation of being more authentic-than-thou and being what she perceives as the most traditional of the traditionalists. Like, I come from a traditional Haitian lineage that is known for doing things traditionally, and all of this is above and beyond. I talk frequently about how Haitian Vodou is a practical religion, and it’s not practical to go bother the lwa if you want to have sex, shave your legs, or stay out late. There are situations where some of the things she has said might be true for a very short period of time, but no one does this nor is it traditional. Haitians are not going to their tables every time they want to get their hair done.

It is possible that she had some deep misunderstandings about what she was taught, it is possible she made it all up, or, perhaps most likely, it is possible that she offered all these things up to her lwa and they took them. Spirits can be opportunists and they love attention. If you commit to giving them a chicken every week, they will expect a chicken from you every week and are going to be displeased when you don’t deliver. If you offer things up, they are going to hold that as their standard. This is why discernment is important, as is maintaining ongoing relationships with a teacher and (IMPORTANT) asking before you make an offer when you are new to a religion and a religious office (priest).

It is also equally important to note that when you kanzo and come out a houngan or manbo asogwe, that’s an indelible mark that cannot be erased. You can point middle fingers at people and walk away, but that doesn’t change what was put on you. Other work and other ceremonies can be done (however ill-advised), but it can never erase what you willingly consented to and had placed on your head. Her desire to separate herself from this and her asson lineage of kanzo doesn’t mean it is erased, no matter how much you want to re-invent yourself.

But, this was kind of a fore-runner and warning sign of what was to come in terms of more-authentic-than-thou and, bluntly, honesty. In retrospect, if someone had sort of nudged her and said ‘hey, you don’t have to be doing the most of the most to be a good manbo’ maybe we wouldn’t be where we are. On the other hand, people have to take their own roads and it is not the place of any priest to really step in when there is no harm done to others. Like, if you want to tie yourself up that tightly, it is certainly within your rights to do so.

More recently, what she has posted has taken a turn for the truly bizarre. Her Instagram is a sort of echo chamber—some vodouizan read and largely do not interact, and a whole lot of people follow her who don’t have other exposure to the religion but, as before, she is standing alone. She says things and presents images that fit a narrative she creates, and it hits a nerve with folks seeking spiritual meaning or it fits an internal narrative they have, even if it is not a narrative reflected currently or historically. This is not a slam to folks who follow her or who have followed her and thought she was reflecting the Real Vodou she says she is, as we are all human and all searching for where our heart and heads feel at home, and sometimes that search has a pit stop or side quest.

She really got going with what amounts to flexing: she presents herself as powerful and untouchable, and makes statements that people she perceives as standing against her or attacking her will be harmed or killed:

At first glance, these things are laughable, literally. It is perhaps not my proudest, most enlightened moment as a person or an houngan, but I saw this litany of fear and I just chuckled because...c’mon. COME ON. This tells a really transparent story: someone got to her or she presumes someone got to her, and she’s Bothered. So, she posts these things about how spirits are going to eat people, she’s going burn things down, people are going to suffer, etc etc etc. This is a traditional internet spiritual song; I Have Been Wronged, Let Me Put On My Robe And Wizard Hat.

In Haitian Vodou, when these moments play out publicly, it is a moment when face is lost. Haitian culture and, as follows, the religion very much has an element of ‘don’t let them see you sweat’. Like, broadcasting that work was thrown at you means they win because acknowledgment is the loss. Haitians can be super stoic when things go sideways, and they don’t tell anyone that will listen (or the internet) that they are suffering. People want reactions, so you don’t give it to them. In some ways, this is where the chuckle comes from. In Haiti, it’s the aunties cackling.

Instead, you do your work. Do. Your. Work. You go to your spirits, you do your thing, and you get on with it because when you have the juice/power to do your work and take care of your business, you don’t have to tell people that you have it. The priests and workers who are the most intimidating and who can back it up are the ones who say nothing about what they can do—they just do it and wait for the conclusion.

And, like, after a chuckle, I have compassion for those moments of outburst because I’ve been there. When you feel you’ve been hit by work or are faced by things that feel like they threaten your livelihood, it can be hard to know what to do with that as new/young priest. These are things we unpack with our initiatory parent and our siblings who have been in the same spot. This is what the family and communal function of Vodou is for.

All chuckles aside, there are things to unpack here.

Intimidation is really about control. Statements (and actions, like she is talking about here) are made not to communicate a truth, really, but to bring about a desired outcome. Like, not having people publicly question the veracity of a statement or to create an environment where, if a person steps out of the perceived line, they are the target of the same vitriolic statements and actions.

There is also the perceive importance of the statements; that the spirits supposedly showed up in a dream and named names, that people will die, bloody imagery, that she has no control over things now. For vodouizan, this is kind of front-street pedestrian stuff. Dreams happen, sometimes they are violent, we keep it moving.

But, this takes what is meant for one person and tries to use it as a bludgeon to illustrate what Jessyka wants to be taken as fact: that she is something powerful to be feared. Beyond that fear is situational only, fear does not translate to respect. When you try to assert power by fear and intimidation, you only hold people by how violent you can appear. In Vodou, that might work for a minute, but it eventually backfires.

And, this sort of atmosphere is only maintained as for as long as those who are watching are not aware that this is fear, not necessarily substance. The folks who are wowed by threats of spiritual violence are the folks who have not yet seen Haitian Vodou is practice. The illusion falls when the cracks show and when seekers see anything else. In some ways, what has been presented is another version of the emperor has no clothes.

These kind of things—the threats, the descriptions of violence—play into a Western-dominated narrative of Haitian Vodou as uncivilized and dangerous. I showed some of these posts to my roommate, who is very much not a practitioner of anything spiritual, and their remark was ‘...and this is why people are scared of Vodou’. They are right. When we start playing up this idea of warring, bloody violence as what Vodou—and Jessyka claims she has ‘real Vodou’--we perpetuate the idea that Vodou is something to be feared, that Haitians are people are somehow inherently violent, and that Haiti is an uncivilized, backwards country. This is the dogwhistle of white supremacy, and has been since the first “zombie” movie was released in 1932.

And yet, there are more serious consequences to sort of gleefully portraying Vodou as something that always punishes and never embraces. For decades, Protestant missionaries have hammered on Haiti as a godless, devil-wracked nation, and used isolated images of animal sacrifice as a bludgeon to withhold aid or set requirements of conversion or church attendance on receiving aid. Those isolated images combined with a Western narrative that amounts to ‘yeah, I’m going to send my spirits at you’ gives that sector more ammunition than they could ever need. It may not hurt Jessyka or me directly, but it hurts Haitians living in Haiti who suffer the consequences.

The thread that gets tugged when even the slightest criticism of this comes up is that what Jessyka has is “real vodou”. She’s said it a few times, in a few different ways:

These are curious statements in a couple ways. From the top, anyone who tells you they have the absolute truth and are here to wake you up or that they have the real deal (versus the “fast food”) is looking for some kind of buy-in, whether it is someone falling into the same thought patterns or a financial buy-in. These are loops to get folks who may not have had access to information before on the hook. Everyone wants the truth, right?

This is manipulative and an attempt to control—if you’re getting the truth here, why are you listening to these con artists who are only out for your money? I’m giving you the TRUTH. The Bonewits Evaluation Frame for cults and new religious movements is useful here. It’s aimed at neo-pagans, but the criteria is universal.

It also perpetuates that everything in Haitian Vodou is secretive and mysterious. It’s really not. It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine because it perpetuates this otherness that doesn’t need to be there. The religion has moments of secrecy and seclusion, but it’s really not as much as people would like others to believe. Here, the idea that she has the truth is communicated with videos of things that she seems to think no one will have information about or have seen before, or with commentary that creates this aura of exceptionalism. It’s simply not true.

This is a video of a chèche fèy ceremony; where leaves are gathered for initiation ceremonies or other large spiritual work. Often Gran Bwa comes down and selects the leaves himself, for some folks Simbi might come down and do this work. In the video, you can see several of the folks bearing leaves on their heads are possessed or close to possessed, and they are wearing the country-style outfits that are worn for particular types of work.

This is a pile fèy ceremony, where, as she says, leaves are being crushed for spiritual work, under the gaze of Gran Bwa. In many asson lineages, the act of crushing the leaves is part of a larger ceremony ahead of initiation, stretching for three nights to make sure all the work is finished for the new would-be initiates.

This is a video of a spiritual feeding for Danti, or Danti Bitasyon, Danti Demanbwe, and other names, who is sort of the conglomeration of ancestral spirits issuing forth from a particular plot of land. Generally, Danti possesses people who are blood relatives of the lineage celebrating the feeding. The caption is interesting because it’s an interesting read on what is happening as this is OUR spirit blessing us. Like, it is certainly possible but it’s curious. When you go to ceremonies regularly, you see spirits behave like this a lot (leaning on folks or falling into them while dancing and then dancing around the room/space) and, truly and honestly, what it boils down to is that the spirit is not yet seated fully and is sort of getting adjusted to it’s meat suit or you are simply in the way. Here, Danti is waiting for the sacrifice, which is happening or being prepared just out of view on the right in the corner, and is dancing while they wait.

The idea that it is a spirit that belongs to Jessyka and her husband is...interesting. When people talk about their spirits coming to get something or coming down, it often refers to the spirit mounting their head, ie ‘my Ogou came down at the fete last night and took his bull’. I certainly have face recognition with spirits who take the heads of others, but my spirits come in my head.

It’s also worth checking in on what Jessyka is referring to as the truth.

In Haiti, there are two main lineages of what folks call sèvis Ginen or sèvis lwa; also known as Haitian Vodou. One utilizes the asson/ason and is often called the asson lineage or some variant, and one utilizes the tcha-tcha, and is often called the tcha-tcha lineage or Deka Vodou. Additionally, there are numerable family practices specific to nuclear families that are passed to family members only.

After that, there are things that folks often refer to as secret societies, which is a weird term..they aren’t secret on the island at all. They have many names—Bizango, Chanpwel/Sanpwel, Makandal, Makaya, Zobop, etc—and a good way to describe them is Ginen-adjacent or Vodou-adjacent practices. They operate differently than most/many ason lineages or tcha-tcha lineages, and subscribe to different methods/means of building relationships with spirits and different ways of bringing people together. There are often specific color combinations and symbols (black/red, red/green, sometimes red/yellow, black/blue, coffins, etc) and an understood hierarchy explained with government-related terms like emperor, prezidan/president, renn(queen)/rwa(king). There’s often talk about being given a throne (Googling Bizango throne will show beautiful examples) and being in command and similar. A lot of people have a lot of feelings about these things, but it’s really just another way to do things. Lots of folks who have the asson also will have Vodou-adjacent practices as well; it’s pretty common and fits well together, not unlike folks who have Lucumi and Palo, or Candomble and Umbanda.

Why go into all this here? Jessyka codes and displays things a particular way that describes a Sanpwel-influenced practice, whether she knows it or not. Sanpwel is often very rooted in more rural areas and might combine with a family practice or exist alongside one. The temple complex in her videos is painted red and black, some of the dwapo displayed are styled like many dwapo in Vodou-adjacent practices are, and a lot of her language around being part of a manbo-houngan pair or the ‘chiefs’ who over see a ‘bitasion’ (bitasyon in Kreyòl Ayisyen) reflects this. None of this is a bad thing, but the idea that it is the true Vodou or the real Vodou on the island stems from folks like E.A. Koetting (of Become A Living God infamy) who got wow-ed by skulls with mirror eyes and manufactured the idea of more-authentic-than-thou. There’s no need to go all cloak and dagger about what you do, unless the cloak and dagger serves your agenda.

This sort of coding shows up when she talks about her ‘bitasion’/bitasyon. She has posted extensively about what a ‘bitasion’ is in the last few weeks, and she seems to have some confusion about it and is mixing it with other concepts from Haitian Vodou. A bitasyon is literally the physical seat of your home; your lakou/yard where you were born or where your parents had their home or where your family has lived over time. There are certainly spirits tied to place there—a family may have a Simbi who really likes one particular basin, or Freda may show a great preference for a particular tree—but how she is talking about it is curious:

There’s a lot here that is weird, but there’s a few things to pull out specifically. She describes her ‘bitasion’ as the land she and her husband have inherited, the specific land from where her lwa spring, and the land that her family has lived and died on for generations.

So...if she says that she and her husband have this ‘bitasion’ together, she is communicating that her family and her husband’s family are related and/or the same. This would be a huge oddity in Haiti. Even relationships between initiatory siblings can be frowned upon, nevermind actual blood relations. Further, she is saying that her family has lived on this plot of land for decades, so they’d be REALLLY related. Like, brother-sister related. I can’t imagine that, if true, this would be something she would talk so much about on the internet. I assume she has misspoken or misunderstood.

It could be that she thinks you inherit a ‘bitasion’ when you marry a Haitian, as she had, but she has an odd idea about it. Like, if that’s where she is thinking on it, she’s close. When you marry a Haitian, you become acquainted with their bitasyon. Like, your spouse brings you around and you greet the land and the spirits there and are welcomed as their spouse, but you are not greeted as a blood family member would be. Marriage doesn’t change things like that. Like, folks joke rather crudely that I am Haitian-by-injection (since I am married to a Haitian man) and I am acquainted and welcomed by his family, living and dead, and can go visit his various bitasyon as his spouse. If he was in some sort of trouble, I could go to one of his bitasyon on his behalf and ask for their help...but none of that makes those my bitasyon.

She uses this idea of ‘bitasion’ to batter people, saying over and over that you must have a ‘bitasion’ in Haiti to be able to initiate into her idea of true Vodou:

She repeats this all over the place over and over. She hammers on it.

There’s a lot to unpack here. A LOT.

She out and out says that Haitians born in the Diaspora are not real Haitians and cannot be called a priest in the tradition. Not only is this deeply inaccurate, it’s jaw-droppingly disrespectful and displays a lack of understanding of Haitian Vodou. A Haitian child born in the Diaspora (outside of the country) has a bitasyon. Several, in fact, and more if they have two Haitian parents. If I have a child with my Haitian husband, they will have several bitasyon in Haiti.

The same goes for Haitians who were adopted out of the country, who were orphaned, and/or Haitians who don’t know where their bitasyon are. These realities are deep wounds in Haiti and for many Haitians, and who goes around deciding, essentially, who is and is not Haitian? Like, this isn’t even addressing the spiritual fucked-upness of those statements, but purely from a human standpoint. No one gets to decide who can access their Haitian lineage or call on their birthright. It’s not just insensitive, it’s rude.

This pulls up what actually made me upset when I read a lot of these posts: the temerity of a non-Haitian to make pronouncements about Haitians and dictate what Haitians can do. Like, a legit priest is a legit priest and has the authority to speak on the religion, but the caveat—PARTICULARLY for non-Haitian priests—is that you speak with grace and a bit of elegance, especially around issues of identity when it comes to the identity of the people who allowed you into the religion.

There was a particular example that tapped into some anger and was the straw on the houngan’s back that made me decide to write this entire post. Unsurprisingly, it comes from a post about ‘bitasion’:

I missed it on my first read because there’s just so much to read, but when I saw it I had to put my phone down for a bit and go do something else. Out of all the stuff that’s here so far (and all the stuff to come), this is truly what made this post a reality.

How do you show up and do this in a country where the average weekly income WAS (because ain’t nobody really working right now when it is essentially civil war) less than $4USD a week for Haitians living in urban areas? Are you really going to put poor rural folks through the indignity of having to ask to cut some firewood? This is a brand new version of an outsider trying to show they are a gwo blan via power and control. These days, people in Haiti are used to it because it comes via missionaries and NGOs and the voluntourism of folks who show up to take pictures with orphans and hand out candy.

There used to be a different word for an outsider who punished folks working the land to survive: overseer.

This is the re-institution of colonial systems, and it’s pretty ugly, particularly coming from someone who is not Haitian. You can certainly be the sort of priest who wants to punish rural folks for cutting some firewood and then brag about it, but should you be? Really?

But, the biggest issue about her saying that you must have a ‘bitasion’ in Haiti is that she seems confused about where her ‘bitasion’ actually is. First she was born in Cuba:

Then she was born in the DR with lots of family memories and history from there:

To be completely blunt, I have a hard time swallowing someone else’s requirements about a Haitian bitasyon when they do not have a consistent story about their own bitasyon.

Next to the thread of what Jessyka believes is true vodou is this thread of confusion. It’s visible when she talks about her ‘bitasion’, her background, and it leaks out in a lot of other places:

There’s so much here that it is basically word salad:

There is no religion in Haiti (or on the island) called Asogwe. Asogwe is a rank of initiation in the asson lineage

Any temple that only has one manbo or one houngan is not a thriving temple. The idea that a temple will only make one houngan and one manbo per generation is hilariously uninformed. Go into any temple in any part of Haiti, and you will find a wealth of houngans and manbos spanning generations because the ceremony doesn’t go without many hands made to do the work.

Yes, initiation costs money. I paid $8,500 plus airfare for mine, and, after going through it and going back to work the ceremonies each year since, I think my mother should charge more. I know exactly what was purchased with my money (I got an itemized list), and I know that my kanzo was done ethically and as equitably as possible—each person who worked on my behalf (at least two dozen houngans/manbos, innumerable singers, drummers, people who cooked, people who slaughtered animals, people who did laundry, people who drove, and on and on) was fed and was paid for their labor. No one should be asked to work for free, and no one should want a low-cost kanzo because no one should be wondering if corners were cut in the making of their head.

If she thought her kanzo was empty and meaningless, perhaps it was because she left before she could learn.

It is true that I and other non-Haitians do not come from a bitasyon in Haiti, but I descend from my spiritual mother’s demanbwe (essentially a field of ancestors not tied to place), which is a key facet of why the asson lineage exists and why it has spread...there must be ancestral approval before extending the asson for ‘adoption’.

It is perversely amusing that someone who left an asson lineage less than six months after they completed their kanzo elects themselves as an expert who can dismiss literally hundreds of years of lineage and ancestral work and Haitians, all to sell some candles.

She has a core misunderstanding on what a “zombie” (zonbi in Kreyòl Ayisyen) is. A zonbi, at very base, is a soul held in servitude and controlled by the person who created it or by the lwa who owns it. They don’t mount people and they aren’t given in kanzo as she thinks. White folks and non-Haitians get mounted and it’s not uncommon. There’s even video out there, embarrassing as it may be, of me beginning to get mounted with a spirit. She’s uninformed and is speaking on things she has no experience in.

People should read these posts very closely. Remember when I said way up there that I like to watch people because they will show you who they are? This is Jessyka Winston showings us who she is.

She is out of ceremony less than a year. She walked from previous commitments after two months. Now, she is telling you how she will initiate you. She says over and over that an asson lineage initiation is a scam, but this is a blueprint to take money and do nothing.

She will initiate you only as a hounsi, but you’ll be the manbo of your ‘bitasion’ IF your ‘bitasion’--the land and the spirits passed to you by your family—tell HER you are valid.

If they tell her yes, she’ll give you a manbo/houngan initiation so you can go be a manbo/houngan of your own plot of land….but you are not a manbo/houngan in their temple because There Can Only Be One

You can’t fake it, because they will know.

There are no lwa involved in any initiation.

They’ll know if you’re lying, but it will also come out in divination.

You can only serve your spirits of your ‘bitasion’, but the spirits of theirs will recognize you as a hounsi

Ancestors cannot be sold or bought.

They are going to do things differently

So, to serve your ancestors as a priest, you must pay for two initiations, and it’s going to be pricey because, as she says, her work is VERY expensive:

She is willing to charge $157 for a non-specific half hour spiritual consultation, and will require a $28 fixed candle and a $12 headscarf be purchased for that as well, so it’s not going to be an initiation that tries to keep costs low.

That first initiation is to hounsi, which makes you a servant of the house. You’ll be expected to show up and help with things, and probably financially contribute.

If you have the desire to be a manbo or an houngan, she is the one who is going to speak for your ‘bitasion’, which is a plot of land but also ancestors, and tell you whether or not you have a future as a houngan or a manbo. If you do, it’s another initiation which you will pay for and probably pay quite a bit more because you’ll be a priest. When you start propitiating a bitasyon, that requires big ceremony to feed them...so animals, people to dispatch animals, cook the animals, drummers...all kinds of stuff. In Haiti, with the way things are going, you’re looking at more than $10K for that...and they’re going to have to do it for you, because you’re not a manbo or a houngan yet.

There are no lwa involved in this, because that’s a scam. There can’t really be any ancestors involved, because you can’t buy or sell them and so they can’t really do anything for you there except feed your ancestors….? Except she thinks that’s a scam, too:

Even after you’re a manbo or a houngan of your ‘bitasion’, you’re still a hounsi with them and still have a responsibility to their spirits..even though you aren’t from their ‘bitasion’. I guess that means you’re still dependent on them, right? It keeps you a servant?

But, what’s a little dependency and servitude when you’re a manbo or houngan of your own ‘bitasion’. They’ll assign you a ‘main ancestor’ to work with...but that’s not like a met tet that they would pick out of a magician’s hat. So, you’re good, right? Oh:

I want folks to go look at the Bonewits tool again. I want folks to have that open in one window, and this open in another. Read carefully. She is not yet saying she is doing this, but she is paving the road to make this look authentic. It’s not, it’s psychobabble word salad with a price tag attached. She is telling you right upfront—doing things differently, changing the fuckery—that what she is giving is not traditional Haitian Vodou. She is making things up and planning on bankrolling her retirement home on someone else’s back.

She doesn’t even have any support for this because she doesn’t consult elders, she just goes ‘straight to source’:

Haitian Vodou is based on family. Vodou-adjacent rites have hierarchy. If she is not adhering to this, she is not practicing Vodou, she is practicing Jessyka Winston with Haitian trappings and accessories. The religion changes and grows, but it is never at the behest of one individual and her husband—it is at the behest of the lwa, who we serve and there are ways that happens, which is well-documented over the last couple hundred years.

She is telling you who she is right now, PAY ATTENTION.

If you have been saving up for a $157 half hour consultation/$28 fixed candle/$12 moushwa value meal, you are better off throwing your money in a bonfire and cracking a beer. Don’t buy pretty packaging when the insides are rotten.

It is one thing to create this atmosphere of disinformation on your own, with your own name, but literally within the last 24 hours, she’s gone further:

Now she is naming specific people as not being real Haitian Vodou. The kicker? Manbo Carmel was the manbo Jessyka did kanzo with in 2018. In roughly a year, Jessyka has decided she has enough experience and knowledge to determine what is real and what isn’t, and what is Haitian Vodou and what is not. The sheer balls it takes for a non-Haitian to say that what a fairly well-known Haitian is doing is not Haitian Vodou is staggering. This is not brave or anything, it’s just unchecked and uninformed arrogance.

This is not the first time Jessyka has done this, though. Not that long ago, she came for my mother and the sosyete I’m initiated into:

She sings an old tired song and performs a busted old dance. The line that white people are too stupid to function is one that she likes to repeat regularly, and she keeps going in on cost like she won’t be asking people to pay for her back-issue-magazine-collage version of an initiatory experience. She brings up a rumor that’s been dead for years, and makes it clear (for folks who have been around for more than 10 minutes) where here info comes from.

The worst part is that this is what she did when someone shared their process, and she did it as a priest because she had already kanzoed at that point. That’s a level of immaturity that someone needs to be better than when they call themselves a manbo or an houngan. Operating on rumor and spreading gossip is what teenagers do, not priests who care when people are coming to them asking questions.

And, like, “not to talk shit..”? Come on. Come correct on stuff like that. If you are going to talk shit, then talk shit and own it and own that you are spreading rumors that you were not a party to because they have been floating around out in the ether since before you even thought about making kanzo.

There are also ways to speak to and about elders when you think misaction or harm has been done. If you really thought Manbo Maude was out here hexing her children and hurting her lineage, there are ways to approach it. Like, she’s not hard to reach or hard to find; you could call her directly. I know she’s spoken about it to people before, one of them being me because I asked when I heard the rumor. Or, you could approach one of her numerous, visible children and ask them out of concern for their well-being and safety. Or, you could approach any of the priests who make their friendship with Manbo Maude and Sosyete Nago known, which is easy to track down on Facebook or in any of the documentation about what the sosyete does that’s online. But, when your goal is to defame so you can elevate yourself above all of that, this is what you do.

Since she proclaims she knows and understands Haitian Vodou, she should understand the culture Haitian Vodou has high expectations of how children and younger people treat elders, both in age and in religious settings. You don’t do this. You don’t go out of your way to character assassinate an elder, even if you think they are absolutely 100% fraudulent. You can disagree, you can say it politely, but you don’t act like an ill-mannered playground bully and you don’t pot-stir. This is basic cultural knowledge.

My initial reaction when seeing this was ‘well, she really tried it, didn’t she?’, and that was followed by showing it to a sibling or two and noting that if I ever did something like this, my manmi (Manbo Maude) would have my head on a platter. Like, I would get a phone call and the conversation would go something like “right or wrong, you do not do this. I raise my children better than this”. I have been very gently pulled up for much more trivial things, and when that has happened I have wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole because I was so embarrassed. Not because Manbo Maude embarrassed me, but because she sat across from me, looked me in the eye, and told me she expects better of me because she knows I can be better.

Sadly, Jessyka does not have this grace in her life, because, as noted above, she believes elders are a scam.

And yet, she keeps digging. This morning, she went in on a transwoman who pushed back at her assertions that everything that does not flow from Jessyka is fake news fake Vodou and called her a man:

Like, you can disagree with someone (and Blair, the person Jessyka is talking about, and I have disagreed) and still not disregard humanity and gender. Again, Jessyka is showing us who she is.

Then, she starts flexing, because she’s catching some heat:

First it was send the spirits, now it’s haul out the Masons. Maybe it’s watch out for little green army men outside your door? Like, folks who have the power don’t need to say they have the power. They don’t need to say their boys are coming, because their boys are already there. This is immaturity on display, and she should know better and be held to better by people who care about her…that freedom horn is just the sound of her own voice, echoing into the depths of Instagram, of all things.

And none of these people who she keeps posting quotes from are speaking for themselves. Not her husband, not her Mason friends, nothing. Anyone who has spent five minutes in a group of Haitians knows that, when folks have something to say, they don’t need someone else’s mouth to say it.

And, like, why not try some chante pwen on your *Instagram story* when you need to look hard? Girl WHAT? I had some inappropriate laughter because This Is Not How Things Work:

She goes on at length about people not coming to her page to discuss with her…but why? Like, why invest that way when she deletes and blocks and throws Instagram temper tantrums? She doesn’t want to hear anything but what she knows, but desperately wants engagement. She tells Haitians how to be Haitian, but then doesn’t understand why the folks she aims at—houngans and manbos who have had the lwa on their head for longer than she has been alive—won’t engage with her.

There’s a really simple and straightforward answer that has come up already and that is really at the root of all of this: they don’t care. They are not invested in addressing whatever random, strung-together nonsense some blan who cannot describe where she comes from or how she came by what she has post on the internet, because their spirits and their lineages speak for themselves. Likewise, she keeps wondering why non-Haitians keep speaking up, and it’s because it’s the job of non-Haitians to collect their own. Why would anyone expect Haitian practitioners to dig in to this?

If someone did care and was invested, maybe she would have gotten some mentoring around this. Maybe they could have talked things through with her and helped her clarify what she was thinking and feeling so that she could post organized thoughts, instead of a stream of consciousness laced with words she might think give her an air of authenticity and threaded with threats and intimidation. Maybe someone could pull her up privately.

But, we are here. There’s a lot more and it looks like she is posting more by the minute. She couches it as it being co-written by her Haitian husband (maybe for authenticity?), but it is her name on it and no one else’s. She wants people to be scared, but there’s nothing to be scared of. She wants people to be intimidated, but there’s nothing intimidating here when you know how to see past the frothy, frenetic posting and really see what she is/is not saying. She wants to keep identifying people and why they are not valid in her eyes, she can keep going.

She’s probably going to try and tell me some things about myself or insist that she’s going to have her spirits kill me or that Masons are outside my house right now and….whatever. It��s okay. I know who I am.I don’t walk around scared.

But, I mean what I said in the beginning: Jessyka is not beyond redemption or repair. She can turn all this around in a heartbeat and make a different choice. The lwa have immeasurable grace for us and all our human failings and, if we can be humble, they can give that to us when we need it most. She has a spiritual sickness and deep spiritual problems, but that’s nothing that can’t be treated because we have the treatment.

We. Us. Community.

She has set herself apart, but she doesn’t have to be alone. We are a community, and if she reached out there would be an answer. Part of calling out bad behavior is calling someone in to heal. She can heal what is clearly a hurting heart and a confused head because we can heal a hurting heart and a confused head. When one suffers many suffer, and her suffering is palatable. I would invite her to bath with cool water and fresh basil, and to sit with Legba for a bit and look for the other path. We are always given two paths, and we can always make a change. Ginen promises us balance, but only if we seek it.

Today, for Jessyka, for folks reading this, and for the general atmosphere of dis-ease and confusion, I pray for cool heads and peaceful hearts, and for the knowledge that, if we are brought to the table, there is a unique place for all of us.

Blessings,

Alex Batagi/Bonkira Bon Oungan Daguimin Minfort

Pitit Antiola Bo Manbo, pitit Selide Bo Manbo, pitit LaMerci Bo Manbo

Sosyete Nago/Kay Manbo Maude, Jacmel and Boston

October 2019

#vodou #haitian vodou #real vodou #vodou culture #vodoun #vodun #voodoo #new orleans voodoo #louisiana voodoo #mami wata #new orleans #conjure #hoodoo #rootwork #folk magic #haus of hoodoo #hausofhoodoo #jessyka winston

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spockandawe · 5 years

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And now, Drift!!

First impression: I was intrigued, but not expecting too much depth. I like the whole ‘decepticon fanatic becomes an autobot’ angle, but I had no prior knowledge of Drift or awareness of phase 1 events, so I was just like ‘huh, maybe he’ll be interesting’

Impression now: MY BOY ;-; I love everything about him. I love how many emotions he has, even though lots of times he keeps them muffled. Ratchet’s line about being a killer seeking absolution hits him real hard, plus we see things like how he retreats and hides and polishes his sword when he and Rodimus have the conversation about why Rodimus never came back for him. And there’s the way he handled himself when he was being exiled, where he wasn’t responsible for Overlord and was taking the fall anyways. And EOS!!! He’s trying to be stoic, but boy, I can see you on your penance adventure where you’re refusing to repair yourself, please talk to someone (ratchet) about these emotions instead of struggling on your own :C And on top of that, he’s still so good-natured! He’s so affable, and he can be so silly and/or snarky under the right circumstances. I just want him to have all the best things and settle into the post-war environment for long enough that he can work past other people’s main perception of him being a mass murderer. He is that thing, but there’s also so much more, which he kept muffled for so long while he was being Deadlock.

Favorite moment: When he’s telling his part of the shadowplay arc. Fucking wrecks me. He’s got a rough backstory, and he’s telling everyone in the room about how he was dealing with an overdose and then with being beat up and being almost dead-- and while he has control of the narrative, he makes a short, hilarious detour to give Ratchet shit about religion. And THEN he gets so much more serious when he’s talking about how Ratchet said he could tell Drift was special, go out there and prove him right. I already talked in Ratchet’s post about how much that hurts for both of them, given how later events played out, even if Drift only recently had a reason to start bitterly regretting everything. There’s the expression on his face when he wakes up and Ratchet is talking to him. And he’s downright subdued when he talks about how he planned to brush off Ratchet’s advice about turning his life around and getting himself on his feet. This scene is so wonderful in so many ways.

Idea for a story: Okay, so I’ve written some of this already. But I still want to write more, from different angles. I want Pharma on the LL, and I want him and Drift clashing hard. And a lot of it is... jealousy? But it’s a complicated jealousy. Drift doesn’t feel insecure with Ratchet, but Pharma has all this history with Ratchet that Drift feels like he’ll never be able to catch up with. And Ratchet has effortlessly forgiven Drift for being Deadlock (not really, but it’s what pharma sees), but he’s still acting like Pharma is going to start spontaneously murdering all his patients for no reason whatsoever. Pharma doesn’t want Ratchet back, he feels hurt enough by Ratchet’s response at this point that he doesn’t want any of that, but still. Drift doesn’t trust Pharma, and Pharma is like ‘you motherfucking hypocrite’, and then he can’t stop prodding Drift in all his sore spots because Drift did it first, what did he expect-- And Ratchet is pretty much 100% on Drift’s side, which makes Pharma more bitter and makes Drift more confident, and does not contribute at all to deescalation, and I... want a story where it escalates as far as I can manage :P

Favorite relationship: Ratchet. All the way. There is no contest. I fell in love with this ship in like... issue 4, before I even knew who half the cast was. Every moment I saw with them together just made me want for them to succeed more. When I learned EoS existed and my online comics reading site was down, I went out driving in a minivan (bad) on long island (bad!!) just to hunt down a comic store and shove that content down my face immediately. I cannot talk enough about the layers of painful history that are between them when mtmte starts, and how they do at valuing each other enough that they’re able to grow past that history and baggage and establish a relationship for themselves that’s so loving and stable. They bring out the best in each other in so many ways, both in terms of being a supportive, loving partner, and in terms of being able to tease and have fun with each other. I never, ever expected them to be canon, even after canon got super gay. Cygate was communicated pretty clearly, and I wasn’t stressed about it becoming canon, but dratchet was the ship I cared next-most about, and I didn’t think canon would bother to go there, and I was so delighted when it did.

Unpopular opinion: I don’t know, as always XD I think that one of the larger stress points in their relationship is that drift has a hard time becoming less casually murdery. He’s trying, he really is trying hard, but this is millions of years of habit he’s trying to unlearn. And Ratchet knows that, but Ratchet is a medic to the core, and it bothers him when Drift kills someone and it really wasn’t... necessary. Not that I see people arguing that Drift immediately/effortlessly becomes a flawless never-murdery cinnamon roll, but it not a pleasant facet of his personality to really talk about, hahaha

Favorite headcanon: Oooh, I have a good one for this. After the end of LL, Drift continues to worry about how Rodimus is doing, and eventually invites him to move in. By this point, Thunderclash is also very invested in Rodimus’s well-being, and [insert my other headcanons about hella depression and wanting to be able to leave his pedestal] and basically follows Rodimus back to Cybertron too. And what you get is essentially a tug-of-war between Thunderclash and Drift where they don’t dislike each other or anything, but they’re both very concerned about Rodimus getting the best everything possible, and at first Rodimus is too depressed/exhausted/worn out to realize this is happening. I can’t decide if I want eventual bros smooching bros (I’d want to give it a very particular emotional flavor so soon after Drift losing his spouse) or if it would be platonic, or if it would be a romance thing with Thunderclash either, but the overall idea is that people are very politely fighting over who loves Rodimus more, and when he eventually gets (a bit of) a clue, that competitive emotional support helps him pull everything back together and feel more engaged with life again.

#spock replies #drift #ratchet #dratchet #ask memes/#transformers

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lovemesomesurveys · 5 years

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5,000 question survey series--part thirty-four

3201. What if this is as good as it gets? Well, shit... I sure hope not. This isn’t good. 3202. Have you ever dated someone mostly or completely because of their looks? Absolutely not. It was their personality that made fall them more than anything. Looks played a small role. 3203. What does the word 'of' mean? It’s used to express the relationship between something. 3204. What should you never forget? Important things? 3205. How many of the 7 Dwarves can you name for us? Dopey, Sleepy, Bashful, Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, and Happy. You’re welcome.

3206. What animal does your mom resemble? She doesn’t resemble an animal... 3207. Have you ever had a palm reading? No. I don’t believe in it. 3208. What's acrazy thing you did that you got in troubl for as a kid? I lied about taking my medicine. I was hiding them behind my bed. :X 3209. What do you battle against? Depression. Although, if we’re being real it’s not much of a battle. It won. 3210. Do pircings really make the pierced area dramatically more sensative? I wouldn’t know. My ears were pierced when I was about a year old, so I have no memory of it and those are the only piercings I have. 3211. If you had put aside some money for a trip and the travel agent said he had 2 trips available in your price range during the week you want to go, which would you choose: a> a week in hawaii in a luxory beach resort b> a week in africa helping the red cross distribute food and medicine 3212. Have you ever played with a dreidal? I believe so. I remember in elementary school we’d have days where we learned about different cultures and religions and this girl in my class was Jewish and brought some Jewish food and dreidels. 3213. Did you know that Kraft is owned by a ciggerette company? I don’t know if that’s true. Does that bother you? 3214. With all the information constantly rushing at you, how do you know what's important? I don’t know. It’s just something you have to decide for yourself. 3215. How is your life unlike a movie? Everything isn’t all figured out in 2 hours. 3216. Where is the most beautiful place you have visited? Various beaches and mountainous areas. 3217. What is never going in your mouth? Shit. 3218. Are there realaly 5,000 different facts about you? I can’t think of nearly that many. I have a hard time coming up with like 5, ha. 3219. Do you like banana bread? Yesss. Banana bread or muffins without the nut are the best. 3220. Who are you the most gentle and tender around? My doggo. 3221. If electrodes were inserted into your brain and a button was put into your arm so that you could push the button and stimulate an immeadiate orgasm would you forget about life and sit at home pushing the button until you died? lol no. 3222. Is there a differance between being scared and afraid? I think so. I think of afraid as being more severe. 3223. Are you scared and/or afarid of death? Afraid. If yes, what is it about death? The pain? The seperation? the unknown? the fear of nothing? 3224. What is exsitentialism? The idea that a person is a free agent, basically. 3225. SUCCESS is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed. To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need. Not one of all the purple host Who took the flag to-day Can tell the definition, So clear, of victory, As he, defeated, dying, On whose forbidden ear The distant strains of triumph Break, agonized and clear. by, Emily Dickinson What is Emily Dickenson trying to say here? 3226. A college girl (maybe you?) blows a tire and pulls off the road in an unfamilliar residential neighborhood. She is having trouble changing the tire when a man in his late thirties-ish comes over and asks if she needs some help. He changes her tire and offers to let her go into his house to wash her hands. She is dirty from trying to change the tire. Should she accept? Absolutely not. I don’t trust people, man. I’m not going back to some stranger’s house. I’d kindly thank them and be on my way. I have hand sanitizer, I’m fine. She does accept and he gives her a tour of the house inclding the upstairs. The staircase in the livingroom leads directly into the master bedroom. The view out the window is beautiful. What are you thinking about this situation? This gives me anxiety, honestly. I’m imagining something bad is going to happen. 3227. Are you too trusting of others? No. 3228. What's the difference between a den and a living room? *shrug* 3229.Write a stream of consiousness sentance: 3230. Who is the hero of all kids? There isn’t one hero for everyone. 3231. Who do you tend to show more of your best side to, your family or strangers? My family sees the good sides, but they really bad sides, too, unfortunately. 3232. How do you think the harry potter series will end? I know how it ends, it’s been out for years. 3233. Name three things that would make really bad ice cream flavors: Mustard, ketchup, and mayo. lol. 3234. Would you try a jelly bean if it's flavor was: toasted marshmellow? I’ve tried ones like that they were disgusting. fried chicken? black pepper? vomit? grass? dirt? boogers? ear wax? sardines? Did you know that you can get these flavors of jellybeans at harrypotter.com? Yeah. 3235. What's at the center of the earth? Lava. 3236. have you ever wondered where holidays come from? I’ve wondered about the origin of some, yeah. 3237. Do you think there should be more movies shown in 3D? I don’t like watching movies in 3D. 3238. Are you just another brick in the wall? Yep. 3239. Write a haiku (a poem with 3 lines, 1st line is 5 syllables, second line is 7 sylabels, 3rd line is five syllabals): Nah. 3240. Are you cautious and tame? Usually. 3241. Do you like to eat at Subway? I used to. I haven’t been there for awhile. 3242. Is 42 the meaning of life? No. 3243. Would you agree that a blade of grass is nothing less than the journeywork of stars? What. 3244. Do you want to die? No. 3245. If someone was studying 'the humanities' what the hell are they studying? People and culture. 3246. Is this question REALLY is this question 3246? ??? 3247. Do you want to dieT? No. I’m supposed to be on a protein diet, though. 3248. What is colder, your feet, or the floor? Neither at the moment. 3249. What is older, your mouth, or the door? The door. 3250. Are you more beauty or more beast? Beast. 3251. Are we there yet? No. 3252. Scantron or handwritten tests? Scantron. 3253. What's that sound? The TV. 3254. True/false: To the maggots on the cheese, the cheese is the universe. True. 3255. What's the best treat to bring with you to elementary school for your birthday? Cupcakes. That was always so exciting as a kid. 3256. What would you expect to learn from self interrogation? I don’t knowww. 3257. When you feel cold does eating warm food help you feel warm? Eating Ramen does. 3258. Does being true to yourself mean saying 'screw everybody else, my shit is more important'? No. 3259. Have you reckoned a thousand acres much? No. 3260. Have you reckoned the earth much? I don’t know what you’re going on about. 3261. Have you ever had a vision? I’ve kind of thought so sometimes. 3262. If you have a vision or belief and someone else has a conflicting vision or belief, how do you tell which one is valid? It’s what you believe. Are they both valid? To each individual it is to them. 3263. Why is everything based around proof and facts instead of intuition? Not everything is. 3264. What is the grass? It’s a plant. 3265. Have you ever supposed it is lucky to be born? I don’t believe in luck.

Is it just as lucky to die? 3266. What is it that you express in your eyes? Sadness. 3267. What is man anyhow? What am I? and what are you?

You’re getting too philosophical for me. 3268. You understand enough. Why don't you let it out? I don’t know how to express myself a lot of the times. 3269. What is less or more than a touch? What. 3270. Why should anyone wish to see god more than they wish to see this day? Because then we’d be with Him, and that is better than anything else. However, that time won’t come until you die.

3271. Have you guessed that after death you yourself would not continue? I used think there was nothing after death, but that was before I believed in God. 3272. Have you dreaded the earth beetles? 3273. Have you feared the future would be nothing to you? The future terrifies me. 3274. Is today nothing? It feels like it. 3275. Is the beginingless past nothing? I don’t know what you’re asking. 3276. Do you believe in a collective unconsiouss? 3277. Jung or Freud? 3278. What is a 'fate worse than death'? Hell. 3279. What are the 5 main things you think about?/ Health, life, my loved ones, coffee, and food. 3280. Name someone you know. My mom. What is the biggest thing you have in common with them? We enjoy a lot of the same TV shows and we both love to read. 3281. Do you think that laws sshould be passed to regulate human breeding? Noooo. 3282. Do you think they already exist in a subtle way? 3283. Why is it that so many people are demanding the death penalty as punishment for a wider and wider range of crimes? I don’t know. 3284. Is it partially to weed the nonconformists out of the gene pool? 3285. What does it mean to be free? To have nothing tying your down. 3286. What does it mean to be tamed or domesticated? To be disciplined. 3287. Is the human animal becoming more and more tame and domestic? Uhh.

If yes, what is causing this? are we becoming more or less free? Probably less. 3288. Are you embaressed about your naked body? Extremely. I’m very self-conscious.

If yes, is that freedom? I guess not cause I care too much about the opinions and thoughts of others. 3289. Are you the result of all of evolution up to this point? We have evolved over time of course. 3290. The murderous person...how does he sleep? I wonder how they just live with themselves doing what they do. 3291. Your mother...is she living? Yes. Have you been much with her? We live together, we spend a lot of time together.

and has she been much with you? Yes? 3292. Are these questions disturbing you? They just make my head hurt. If yes, why? 3293. What are you focused on? What I’m going to eat when I’m done with this. 3294. Have you ever admired wickedness? No. 3295. Is the acomplishment of one person the accomplishment of all humanity? I mean... some things are done for the benefit of others and not just one person, so I guess in that way, yes?

Why or why not? 3296. Is the imprisonment of one person the imprisonment of all humanity? No?

Why or why not? 3297. We're just following anchient history. If I strip for you, will you strip for me? No, and I’ll pass on your offer as well. Sorry. 3298. Have you ever wished you had not so many clothes? Sometimes cause I just have no room for it all, but I can’t seem to get rid of anything and I keep adding to it. 3299. What is the balance between conformity and individual freedom? Uhhhh. 3300. What do these things have in common: nakedness, sex, killing, fighting, shitting, death? You’re most likely naked during sex. Killing is death. Fighting could sometimes lead to death in extreme cases. I don’t know how shitting relates to any of it.

#it's so hard to get through these cause these questions are just like what in the actual....#personal #text #survey #surveys #5000 question survey

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sicut-in-caelo-et-in-terra · 6 years

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Do you have any comebacks for if someone starts attacking the very idea of your faith? Like if they say you’re “deluding yourself” or something. Or that religion opposes science/LGBT rights/insert marginalized community here. Of course, this isn’t true, but most people only see the vocal minority of people who are bigoted and anti-science and etc. How do I defend myself from these kinds of commments? I know I shouldn’t let them get to me, but it’s hard sometimes. Any ideas? Thanks for listening.

Hey anon! Thanks for the ask!

It’s a really good question, and I think that what you’re describing is something that all Christians will have to face at some point in their lives, I’ve got plenty of stories about my own experiences with people assuming things about me because of my faith, people telling me I’m wrong about myself, people telling me I am only doing it because I wish it were true, etc. The more open you are about your faith, the more you will get attacked like that. And I feel the same way you do, I want to get upset, because it does hurt no matter how much you turn the other cheek. People will say offensive things, and as a Christian, that is part of the cross you have to carry.

Lots of people will say “you’re Christian because it is the most convenient” or “you just have wishful thinking about an afterlife.” But it’s clear that as a Christian, the world will hate you, and I don’t see how that makes my life more convenient. And often, the same atheists that will say you’re doing it because of some need for comfort or validation will turn around and criticize Christianity for “forcing” you to do things like going to church for an entire hour of your weekend or wait until marriage to have sex, almost like it’s too inconvenient for them.. Often criticisms of the faith are contradictory, and they’re almost always strawmen.

If it’s a friend telling you some of these things, often an okay response could be, “well, have you ever known me to be [homophobic/anti-science/racist/etc]?” There’s a whole slew of responses to that they could give you, most of which are pretty hurtful or indirectly attack you as a person, which hopefully a friend would not say, or at least apologize for.

A lot of the time, all you really can do is turn the other cheek. That’s often the best way to help them to the faith as well. You can study apologetics all you want, defend the faith perfectly, and the ears of someone who is resolved to attack you will be closed. It can be really hard, but the best you can do is remain calm in the moment, if you need to, say “I feel differently” or “that hurts me” or something along those lines, but even the soundest logic will not convince someone who has arrived at their conclusion without logic. Engage with the conversation if you feel okay doing so, and often you will have to correct what is factually false, but let them state their opinions and feelings. While this conversation is going on, it’s not a great time to try and correct those; there’s too much conviction.

The best way to help someone see Christ’s love is to show it to them. Patience is the most important thing. Treat them with respect and love (but of course set up necessary boundaries if they are really cutting deep). If they are someone you regularly interact with, they will eventually come to you with curiosity instead of a need to prove wrong or a desire to fight. (Sometimes it can take years but it will happen. I’ve seen it happen. Pray for them.) At that time, you can answer their questions earnestly and truthfully (and be sure to let them know if there is something you don’t know, and get back to them after researching it instead of trying to tackle a theological question on your own). If it’s a random stranger or acquaintance you rarely see, perhaps it isn’t you who will be the one to teach them the true ways of Christ, but you can still be a reflection of Him so that they have one more example of a true Christian, which will help offset the vocal minority you speak of.

I have dealt with many people in my life, many of whom I love dearly, that have had strong feelings against Christianity and Catholicism, and trust me, I have engaged with these arguments in a myriad of different ways. Responding with witty comebacks or the same venom they use has only ever lead to heightened discord, even if my points are logically sound and/or in complete accordance with the Truth. It always works out the best when I listen, sometimes point out how hurtful they were being (often because they had no idea), and wait until after feelings have settled (for both of us) before addressing their points in a much more calm and open setting.

As for actually knowing what to say to certain points, there’s a lot that can be done. Often an easy Google search will help you with specific points (although I recommend speaking with a priest or other religious person if at all possible); I usually try to make sure that when I do these searches the answer comes from a Catholic source since different denominations can have different theology on certain things. If you want to just generally deepen your understanding of the faith, there are lots of places you can go and books you can read, but recently I’ve been really loving talk radio; I’ve been listening to Msgr. Sweatland on the show Go Ask Your Father on Relevant Radio. I just listen to it in the car on my way to work, and it has really helped me become better at knowing good responses to questions about Christianity and Catholicism.

I hope this helps! God bless!

Jared

#ask #answered #apologetics #religion and science

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atmfrecruitingformula · 4 years

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How To Recruit For Network Marketing Using Facebook And Learn How Recruit 30 Personals In 30 Days!!

You Will Learn How Recruit 30 Personals In 30 Days

Are you wanting to use Facebook to grow your network marketing business but not having much success?

I’m going to share how to recruit for network marketing using Facebook.

What Not To Do For Your MLM Facebook Marketing Strategies

Here is what most network marketers do, they join a new company, then BAM! The spam fest starts on their Facebook profile. We’ve all seen it, the join my team post, or every post they put up has their company name in it. It’s a lazy way of marketing if you can even call it marketing and it does not work. What makes you stand out from all the other reps in the company? Why should someone join your team? These are the types of questions you need to be asking yourself.

What NOT to do:

Don’t tag people in post or pictures they have nothing to do with. Doing this is a great way to shrink your friend’s list.

Don’t use the word free, be upfront about what you are offering. Be a professional.

No mass invites to your next webinar. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this happen to me. It’s rude, especially when they didn’t ask to go. You are basically forcing it their face which most always leads to resistance.

Don’t post about politics, sex or religion. When was the last time you’ve seen a post about one of these topics that didn’t end in some type of disagreement or flat out argument. It’s best to just stay away from these subjects

5 Ways Facebook Groups will Help You Recruit, Duplicate and Grow Your MLM Business Click On Image

To take it a step further you should ask yourself, what problems of my target audience have I solved? What skills do you have? You see part of the reason why people join people is they think they can help them achieve their dreams and goals. That is why you need to constantly be working on yourself. There are a ton of other reps out in the market saying the exact same thing as you are if you are telling people to join your team and buy products from you. What are you doing to stand out from the crowd? What have you learned recently or in the past that could help your target audience?

Should You Mention Your Company Name?

You should never mention your company name when you are posting on social media, why? Well, what ends up happening is people will go out and research your company name. They will find a negative review of it and form their own opinion about it. Then they will have it in their head it’s a scam.

Now we all know you will find some good and some bad reviews on just about every company. You can’t control what someone goes out and searches. But you can control how they are exposed to your business. So leave your company name out, talk about the benefits and what it does.

Everyone Starts Somewhere

Look, nothing is more annoying than someone who just sent you a friend request and immediately sends you a link to their opportunity talking about join me or check this out. Even though it’s annoying and doesn’t work, all hope is not lost for them. We all were beginners at some point and had to start from somewhere. You don’t just come online and instantly turn into a rock star. All of these tips I’m sharing in this post are things I have learned myself. I didn’t know any of these things at first either.

When someone sends me a link without me asking for it, I like to take that time and actually connect with them. Ask them how long have they been in business. I ask them how has this approach been working for them so far. When you get pitched you should not be mean or rude to them. It just means they have not been trained properly which happens a lot inside of network marketing. I like to be polite and find out if they are open to getting better with their prospecting skills. If they are open to it great, I point them to a resource like this. If they are rude or say no, I just move on. It’s no big deal.

Where To Find The Best Prospects On Facebook

Facebook has groups, groups are where people who share a similar interest gather up and discuss topics. So for example, if you do a quick search on Facebook for network marketing groups you will come back with hundreds maybe even thousands of results. You can search for entrepreneur groups and personal development. These are all great places to connect with people who are already in the mindset of entrepreneurship.

Look for people who leave great comments. You want to find sharp, upbeat people to work with. Then just simply send them a message, not your link to your company or product but a simple message saying why you messaged them. To take this a step further you could hop over to their profile and check out what interest they have and open up a conversation with an interest they have.

Build A Relationship First

Cold market prospecting online is exactly like prospecting someone offline but it’s a lot easier to do it on Facebook since you can easily find out what they like and are interested in by checking out there profile before you even send the first message. Making starting the conversation a lot easier. When you are prospecting offline it can also be a bit different because you don’t know anything about that person.

Some Prospecting Tips

Work on getting better with asking questions. Questions make prospecting so much easier and it puts you in control of the conversation. Get better with asking questions vs trying to remember scripts and coming off all fancy with people. They will appreciate that more and most people will be able to see right through you if you read scripts.

In your opinion, do you [feel, think, believe] this would help (insert the pain they told you about during your questions.)

What would that be worth to you?

Are you just saying that or do you really believe that?

If you were to join now, what would be the best benefit to you joining?

Quick Closing Tips For You

Closing prospects is always a hot topic, here are some of the things that I have learned over the years about closing that I think will help you out.

Always point your prospects to a tool to do your presentation and to explain your business. You can even point them to an event. How they are exposed to your opportunity is going to set the tone. If you put on a fancy presentation, they are going to think they have to do the same thing. Hand them a CD or send them to a website, and they will be like hey, I can do that! Keep it simple.

Once your prospect get’s done watching a presentation simply ask them, “What did you like about what you just saw?” If they come off negative, just simply say, “what were you hoping to see?” Or “Why did you agree to going/watching.”

If they are have something positive to say about the presentation you say you liked that too, no matter what it is, then ask them “Why is THAT important to you?” The goal with closing prospects, you want to make it their idea into joining your team. Take the focus off of you and put it back on them.

5 Ways Facebook Groups Can Help You Recruit, Duplicate and Grow Your Network Marketing Business

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Save Time By Automating Lead Collection From Your FB Group To Sell More Of Your Products & Grow Your Email List Fast!

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MLM Facebook Posts That Will Get People Interested

Facebook is a social media first and foremost. So what you need to do is get people interested enough where they will raise their hand and say they want more information. If you are in a health in wellness mlm, posting before and after pictures of what your product has done is a great way to get people interested. Social proof is powerful.

Talk more about what your product or service does and not what it is.

In the video on how to recruit for network marketing using facebook, I share some of the do’s and don’t when using this social media platform.

Video On How To Recruit For Network Marketing Using Facebook

Was this training helpful? Make sure you drop me a comment below and let me know. Feel free to share this with your team or anybody else you think could get some benefit from it.

If this post was helpful, please do me a quick favor and leave a comment, like and share on Facebook or your favorite social media platform.To Your Massive Success

source http://atmfrecruitingformula.info/30-days/

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mrsq8geek · 7 years

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Seventy-three Things “Wrong” with When Stars Are Scattered

First: I say “wrong” because this is, of course, completely subjective, and arguably you can do whatever you want with your writing.

Second: I received this story from a friend who wanted to know what I thought about it. I don’t know anything about the author; this was a cold read, so I won’t be taking into account the context surrounding the writing or authorial intent because… well, I don’t know any of those things.

Third: End note: As I read I got some idea of authorial intent, so my responses get less and less serious as the story goes on. Sorry about that.

When Stars Are Scattered��will take you to the story on Tor.com

1. Right away the synopsis tells you that Ahmed is an atheist. Not just any atheist pretending to be a Muslim, but someone born Muslim and given a Muslim name who then became atheist. Because why would you want to write about a Muslim who likes being Muslim. (Later it’s specified he’d been an atheist since he was twelve.)

2. Why is “the imam” in the hospital? "Imam" isn’t some kind of religious title like “priest”. Anyone can be an imam. It just refers to the person leading the prayer. That’s it. They’re regular people who have day jobs and families and lives. Sometimes the imam is also a religious scholar, in which case the title “sheikh” might be used. "Sheikh" is used to denote superiority in knowledge or status, which is why we also use it to refer to country leaders and ruling or royal families.

3. “Ahmed forced himself to exhale slowly. Damn, did this guy ever love the word genocide.” I’m the one who’s exhaling slowly here. Immediately the imam is cast as a religious extremist. In today’s global political climate. I wonder what the author is trying to say here.

4. “If only God would tell us what to do.” Okay, this is the first of several lines of dialogue spoken by the Muslim characters that tell me the author didn’t do their research. I understand the intent of the sentence, wanting divine guidance, but the way it’s said as if it’s going to come directly just by wishing it is… “wrong”. Islam literally has a prayer called “istikhaara” dedicated to asking God to help you choose between two choices. If it’s not a matter of choices, then you just make duaa. You consult people in their field of expertise. The imam is written like a religious leader, he should know this stuff. I’d understand if it were coming from a layman Muslim, but the guy who’s written like a priest?

5. “the Muslim missionaries who came to “guide” the kites” Muslim missionaries? The Arabic word for “missionary” is practically never used except to refer to Christian missionaries, and the Crusades in particular. This also a) radicalizes the Muslims, because they’re here to spread Islam, not to lead their own lives, and b) Others them from the Nova Christos, who they are “opposites” from, and that leads to the question… why are they immediate opposites? Anyway, I’m not touching the “guide” in quotes, the context there is that the protagonist feels alienated.

6. “Christians killed them like pests, and the Muslims brought them to prayers” So the Christians, the Nova Christos, who are referred to by their religion and presumably have the same agenda as the Muslims, start by not showing compassion? Both religions are bad and the atheist is the only one who’s right? Given this rhythm, I’m sure if there were a Jewish character, they’d be horrible too.

7a. “Ibrahim is, like his namesake, a father of many nations. Twenty-four children.” Again, I understand the idea, but Ibrahim only had seven children, and the biggest conflict only arises from two: Isaac, son of Sarah, and Ismael, son of Hajar. Plus, the whole thing about converts changing names? They’re only supposed to do that if their initial given name had something that went against Islam. Besides that, converts are free to keep their old names.

7b. So my proofreader recognized this reference: Genesis 17:4-5 KJV “[4] As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. [5] Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” So this Muslim woman is a. familiar with the Bible to some degree, and b. assuming the Muslim man she just met and doesn’t yet know is atheist will also know this specific Bible reference.

8. Arabic and “Standard” aka “Common”. This is its own topic and it’s been written about extensively by people better qualified than I am. Here’s one example.

9. The alien says: “Friend, sadeaki, allahu akbar, inshallah.” Aaaand there it is, Muslims only ever speak one sentence and it’s “allahu akbar”, without even capitalizing the A in Allah. “The little thing babbled in Arabic through the whole blood draw” If you’re going to be repeating Arabic to yourself during something that worries you like a blood draw, the phrase is “bismillah”, “in the name of God”. Bismillah is prevalent throughout Muslim culture because you say it like a million times a day, while praying, before eating, etc. And “not a native speaker” is not an acceptable argument either, because non-native speakers of any language can usually make more sense than “friend, friend, god is great, god willing”.

10. “The old kite muttered more in Arabic. Ahmed caught the word “jihad.”” How convenient that the protagonist doesn’t know a lot of Arabic but knows one of the most politically-charged words. In space. Even atheists who started out as Muslims generally don’t leave Islam because of “jihad”. They become atheists for the same reason people leave Christianity or Judaism or any other religion– the people surrounding that person make them hate the religion. “He supposed everything must look like “the struggle” right now to the kites.” Ah, the direct translation of the word, to explain it to the reader. The word is handled from the perspective of an outsider.

11. “We praise God five times a day,” she whispered. “It is to remember what God has done for us.”” We pray to God five times a day. We praise God whenever it suits us. “To remember what God has done for us” is an adult concept. When you teach children about God, you’re more likely to say something like, “You pray to God so that God will love you and take care of you”. Children will often think of their deity like a parent, an invisible parent if you will. This isn’t character exploration, this is an opening line for the next thing: ““What has God done for us?” Ahmed asked.” Which, again, I get that he becomes an atheist when he grows up, but that question is used by adults, not children.

12. “I’ll get the stain out, habibi” So Arabic is a gendered language, and the male form can be used to address women if there’s a mix of men and women. Think of it like French. In some dialects, it’s also okay to use the male form “habibi” when addressing a female, but it has to be a very close relationship. So yes, mother and daughter qualifies. But given how weakly the rest of the Arabic has been utilized so far, I’d say it was used out of Not Doing the Research.

13. “Doctor, this is Khadija Sofia” I don’t understand what’s happening here. Does she have a compound name like Mary-Anne? If so, where’s the hyphen? If not, is it supposed to be a middle name? Because Islamic naming conventions don’t have a middle name. More from my proofreader: If they’re using Latinx naming convention, they’re both her name… so why isn’t she called Khadija throughout the story?

14. “On a Nova Christos world it wouldn’t be enough to avoid pork, booze, and loose women; they wanted a Qur’an-quoting, happy member of the ummah, who would help resolve disputes and argue the meaning of scripture. Ugh.” HolyBook-verbing used in a derogatory manner, now where have I heard that before. Also, news flash, the common garden variety Muslim doesn’t know enough scripture to argue the meaning. Most Muslims will know just enough to pray with and that’s it. Ugh indeed.

15. “He reached into the crumpled lab coat and grabbed the flask of whiskey, splashed a bit of it into a fresh cup of coffee and gulped the mixture with a deep, satisfied sigh.” …under the assumption that, what, whiskey doesn’t smell like alcohol on one’s breath, or that coffee would mask the smell? Muslims stand shoulder-to-shoulder in prayer. Believe me, you can smell what the person next you had for lunch hours ago, along with whatever toothpaste they used. Also, since he’s pretending to be a HolyBook-verbing Religionman, he should know by this point that Friday prayer is the one prayer you go to like you’re going to a wedding. So that includes taking a bath, putting on your best clothes, and yes, brushing your teeth and not going to prayer with coffee on your breath. I’m not even going into how is it Friday on this planet, because I’m sure Muslims have found a way to calculate that stuff using our scientists.

16. “It was an especially godforsaken place to inspire so much debate about the guy.” More disrespect coming from the narrator rather than the character. It’s almost like a self-insert.

17. “Allah, I see that you have brought me another man who knows everything.” When addressing “Allah”, you don’t just say “Allah”, you are as respectful towards your God as you are intimate. “Ya rabbi”, “O my God”, would have been a better choice here. At the very least, if it really must be used as an Othering device, it would be more likely to include the calling device “Ya”, ie “Ya Allah”, which is used in Real Life Arabic. We do say God when speaking English, you know. Excuse me, I mean Standard.

18. “Well, mashallah.” This isn’t wrong, just so forced it’s cringe-y. It’s like when you read anime fic and the author uses Japanese where it wasn’t really necessary.

19. “Yes, well, if something is important, I want you just to say it. Don’t worry what I will think. I need your help, and I appreciate the good nursing. I apologize again if I devalued your opinion.” She actually blushed. “I…well thank you.”” So Said the Enlightened Atheist to the Oppressed Muslim Woman, “I’m not like your husband, whom you can’t speak freely around for fear of being beaten.” This is barely a quarter of the way into the story. ““Say exactly what you’re thinking.” Even if it was religious nonsense, it didn’t pay to ignore a nurse.” Ah, more devaluing the intelligence of Others.

20. The mosque is a. an octagon and b. “The riches of the mosque were a sharp contrast to the poor colony outside.” A. I get it, because octagons are often used in Islamic patterns, right? It’s not like that would be impractical and wasteful of space, space that is precious because we’re in a space colony. It couldn’t just be a square or a rectangle like most mosques are. That would be too normal. B. And now the mosque is written like a church. Yes, there are fancy mosques, but they are built by people who can afford it. You can pray on any clean piece of ground. The only reason a particular building is designated as a mosque is practicality, so people don’t step in there with their shoes and bring in the dirt. That’s it. Full stop. You can even pray in your shoes if you’re praying outside. “Ahmed supposed that the only mosque on the continent, maybe the whole planet, had some kind of duty to impress.” Again, this is HIGHLY unlikely, because you can pray anywhere, and there’s probably a tiny mosque out by the fields somewhere, and another near the market, and another somewhere else. Any “riches” that were in the mosque in an environment like this one happened because of a surplus of resources at that point, not because The Religious Institution Steals From The People, Who Are Poor.

21. “We were taking kites with us on hajj next year, all the way to Earth.” Did you know there are Muslim astronauts? Not just Muslims, but Saudis, one of the strictest places when it comes to Islam. Scholars came up with new rules for prayer in space. Here’s something I quickly Googled: https://www.infoplease.com/askeds/how-long-mars So this Planet is presumably a little ways farther than that. Going to Earth for hajj sounds like it would take a long time. I’m no scholar, but under those circumstances, it might be dropped, just like other core rules can be dropped. If you’re too sick to fast Ramadan, you don’t have to. Also, one of the rules of hajj is that you have to be able to afford the trip yourself. If you can’t afford it, you don’t have to go. It’s why you see so many old people from the poorer parts of Asia and Africa at hajj– because they’d spent their lives saving for that trip. So I don’t know why hajj was chosen as a topic of conversation. Islamic atmosphere? (Later there’s a “In the hundred years of faster-than-light travel” so I stand corrected, there’s faster than light travel within a hundred years’ time– but the other reasons remain. The kites don’t sound like they can pay someone for the trip.)

22. “Ahmed pulled a prayer rug from the wall, rolled it out, and sat, trying not to show his irritation.” If the mosque is filled with “riches”, then the whole place is already covered in rugs or one big carpet. This is just writing consistency. Also, I doubt the author has seen an actual prayer rug. They’re not “rolled” like a yoga mat, they’re folded, because they’re made of fabric. What does that even mean, pulling a rug from the wall? If anything they’d be stored on shelves or in boxes or something.

23. “Jose, the imam, took the stand, clutching a Qur’an.” If he’s the imam, he already knows the Holy Book back to front and again. He doesn’t need to hold it, why is he holding it? He’s not a priest?

24. The Friday sermon is about jihad, because of course it is. My dude, have you ever heard a Friday sermon? Unless something of interest is happening in the area, it’s not about ~grand topics~ like jihad. It’s usually more like “be good to your parents, give to the poor, have patience upon your temper, have faith in God when you encounter difficulties in your life”… just boring, everyday things. Oh, but this is to incite jihad on behalf of the kites? Look, I wouldn’t put it past human beings to fight wars on remote planets, we’ve proven ourselves to fight about everything. But if you’re going to use Islam to incite a war, at least set it up right.

25. “The Qur’an asks us all a question. Will you not fight in the cause of the oppressed?” Okay, now the author’s just making stuff up. The Quran exists in English. You can look it up. You can google the phrase “Will you not fight in the cause of the oppressed” in quotes and there is only one instance of it, and it’s in this story. Was that not meant to be a quote from the Quran? Then why is it preceded by the question and implied as such?

26. “The congregation rose to pray. “Allahu akbar.” Choking voices. Weeping voices. “Allahu akbar.”” Again, have you seen a Friday prayer, my dude? It’s pretty boring. Common Muslims aren’t terribly faithful, they’re just average people doing their thing. No weeping, no choking.

27. “and nearly fell over while she was praying. One of the other women took her arm and whispered, “Get some sleep! You were up all night! We’ll watch your son.”” So this other woman interrupted her prayer to talk? You can’t talk during prayer. Nearly fell over means what, she swayed a little? So what? I’d maybe understand if she’d actually fallen over unconscious, then maybe one woman might cut her prayer to see what’s up. But besides that, no.

28. A Nova Christos woman is introduced. She’s a hick. A Space Bible-Belter. Aren’t stereotypes convenient?

29. “Couldn’t this empty-worlder read? Each pack declared its weight. Probably not, Adéla realized. A life coaxing crops from Isach, perhaps following life as an asteroid miner—neither was conducive to much reading.” The weight would be written as “five” or “5”. My nearly-illiterate gramma could read that much. This woman is a farmer who might have once been a miner? She can read numbers. She’s poor, not stupid.

30. ““Ya Allah,” she whispered. “Keep us safe.”” See point 17.

31. ““Good meat on a cricket,” Ahmed deadpanned. She didn’t laugh. “We ate bugs last year. The first shipment flooded and we had no food at all. The kites showed us where the good grubs were, along the creek. I know they’re haram and everything, but my papí said that God would understand.”” a. I don’t know whether all bugs are haram or not, but crickets in particular are not haram. Quite the opposite, they’re a delicacy. Well, they are with the older generations, I’ve never tried them even when given the chance because creepy-crawly. b. “God would understand”? God made a rule saying if the choice is eating any of the haram things or death, eat the thing. You’re starving somewhere and there’s nothing but pig? Eat it. You’re at a restaurant and you’re choking and someone hands you a glass of wine? Drink that glass like your life depended on it, because it does. Isn’t this girl’s father the imam/priest? He knows this.

32. “She looked as if she wanted Ahmed’s approval for eating haram bugs. He nodded in what he hoped was a reassuring way. It seemed to work.” I didn’t want to pull out Orientalism, but there you go. Hispanic, Muslim Female Child seeks approval of Previously Muslim Atheist Man Of Indeterminate Race But Probably White Because That’s the Default.

33. “Habibati.” Okay, that’s good, that’s the right word to address a woman you love, except nobody pronounces that second A, it’s only there as punctuation. This stuff is easy to Google.

34. “She rubbed cold water into the bags under her eyes and began re-pinning her hijab.” She’s alone with her husband in their room, why is still wearing her hijab? The whole reason they got married is so she can take it off and they can get it on.

35. ““What would the ummah say if they knew the imam offered to wrap his wife’s hijab?” They’d say, what a kind gesture, the imam is good to his wife. Also he’s got great coordination. Then they’d give their husbands some stink-eye and ask why they don’t treat them as nicely as the imam treats his wife.

36. “She wished someone else had asked first. The doctor, or Sofia, or the other Muslims, or even a kite. Jose would feel betrayed if she didn’t tell him first. But he’d also…I need to tell him first. He’s not just my husband; he is the imam. The community has to know. She wished she didn’t have to use that kind of logic so often. “I saw a homesteader.”” I don’t relate to this woman at all. Why didn’t she run and tell people the minute it happened? If there’s such hostility between the two groups, they need to figure out how that person got through whatever defences they had. I’m not even touching the order of wishing, first the new doctor, then her teenage daughter, then “the other Muslims”– who are other Muslims? Surely she has a close friend? A relative? Or is she just a plot device who isn’t a person?

37. “"I can’t believe it! Here! In the camp! In our own camp? They came in here!” Jose stalked out of the kitchen, toward the closet where he kept his home office. “I have to call the men together.“ The cupboard was full of bullets. Packs of bullets, in small, oiled-cloth wrapped, flat packages, stacked atop each other.” Not like that. Is that what the author really thinks happens? That this is how Muslims think? Or that this is how wars start, for that matter? They’re in space; even if they were enemies, both groups would posture a lot and want to avoid open conflict. Is this supposed to be jihad? He hasn’t even asked about his beloved wife’s safety, and the very previous scene had them being a sweet couple together. Is the imam, priest of the Muslims, so barbaric that the first thing that comes to his mind is I’m gonna take a gun and shoot those bastards? Oh no wait, it’s for… “hunting”, wink wink. The sweet thing was just a façade, this is the real guy.

38. “Have you thought about our children? She wished she could believe that would make a difference. What will change?” More evidence the imam is just a ticking bomb.

39. “Adéla put her arms around herself. It wouldn’t take long. She would walk back in there, and ask him what he was planning, and he would talk about how helpless they were, watching the kites die. She would ask him to be patient, to wait and find out what the doctor could find out, to not do anything rash, and he would say they were already out of time, and he would leave to pray, because he was a good man, one who never raised his voice or showed his rage, saved it all for his prayers, and sometimes she would have sold her blood to know what he said in those prayers. And what answers he received.” The woman, this sweet oppressed woman, needs to be saved from her violent husband, who is such a ridiculous caricature of a person, even the author’s getting sarcastic about. Brown women are hot. They need to be saved. And then maybe one thing can lead to another. More from my proofreader, who’s more familiar with the Latinx community: This plays to the stereotype that Latino men are violent, thugs, murderers, or rapists.

40. “We call them thugs, because they fight each other endlessly. Don’t worry, they’re halal. They’ll maul each other, but they eat bugs and grass.” I’m not even trying to take this seriously at this point. See, it’s funny, because the violent man is making fun of the animals for fighting each other. Get it??

41. “Little habibi.” Habibi is not a noun. You can either say something like “little darling” or “habibi ilsgheer” but not both. Ask any bilingual person and they’ll tell you how pidgin languages form. There are rules to combining languages, established rules that exist, because Arabic-English bilingual people exist. Some of them are atheists.

42. A scene where the enlightened doctor is trying and failing to allay the fears of the paranoid imam’s conspiracies.

43. “It was the stupidest thing to say in the whole galaxy. But it came out of Ahmed’s mouth anyway. “Don’t be so quick to consult God. No matter which way you look at it, He’s responsible for the virus.” Sofia, Jose, and Adéla all stared at him. Sofia looked shocked. Jose looked angry. Adéla put her face in her hands. Was she laughing?” See? I told you this knight in doctor armour would enlighten the brown woman. See how he makes her laugh with his blasphemy? Let’s not even talk about Jose’s views. Of course God is responsible for the virus. But as Muslims, we’re meant to do what we can with that, like we do with real diseases. It’s almost like Islam’s attitude on diseases is documented in the Quran and Sunnah? Nah.

44. ““Don’t question,” Adéla snapped. “Trust me.” Sofia nodded quietly. “Okay, Mamí.”” This just in: Muslim teenagers are so brainwashed, they don’t even backtalk to their parents! Astounding!

45. “She took a drink from the flask.” Yooo, he did it! He charmed the Muslim woman! Years of practicing faith because she believed in it can do nothing in the face of this handsome doctor’s assets! You go girl, drink that haram! “First time in quite a while” Oh never mind, she was never religious to begin with. Of course she’s the one with sense. Plot twist!

46. “He could smell her breath, sour with whiskey.” Funny, déjà vu. See 15.

47. “Quicker than he would have thought possible, she unpinned her hijab and removed it, letting it fall to the ground. Her black hair fell around her shoulders. She leaned over and her hair brushed his ear. “Please, tell me what to do.”” Okay, we’re past establishing that he’s saved her, now let’s focus on how this woman can wear her hijab without tying back her hair. Like a sexy librarian, she removed her hijab and her hair just flows.

48. “Are you using me for a convenient way to divorce?” Wait, is the assumption here that adultery automatically equals divorce? Because that’s a whooole other topic that’d take a long time to explain even for Muslims. Rules on adultery are complicated. The first of which is there has to be witnesses. Four witnesses. Unless four people are looking in through the window, which I don’t know, I’m not writing this.

49. “And Jose never sleeps. He prays, and he reads the Qur’an and hadith. All night long sometimes. Prays and reads and prays.” Hmm. What did I say about the imam knowing his religion?

50. “I suppose it would be a horrible scandal if I asked simply to sleep here? Simple sleep. I don’t want to be alone.” See, the thing is, he’s the doctor and she’s the nurse. It would have been so easy for her to ask to sleep on of the patient beds, to rest. But nooo, she had to throw herself at him. Kinky.

51. “How can you not believe? The universe is such a cold place if you assign everything to chance.” “It is a colder place when you have to know why a merciful God would do horrible things,” Ahmed said. “You got me there.” Well, the atheist won with his superior logic that hasn’t at all been debated for literally centuries. Game over, gg.

52. “the Muslims, knocked down doors, forced other humans out of the buildings with the crosses on them” Yeah, that’s what Muslims do in this story. They’re the villains, you see. The protagonist is brave because he has to pretend to be one of these evil, soulless men.

53. “The friends, the Muslims, made prayers, allahu akbar and bismallah.” See 9.

54. “Muslims shot homesteader after homesteader.” The homesteaders have guns, they are not helpless. Where are the guns?

55. ““Ibrahim,” Ahmed said. The barrage of chirpy Arabic would have been impossible for even a linguist to understand. But this was good. Ibrahim wanted to pray, and he had the faculties to do so—that meant the old kite was actually recovering.” Again, you can’t just talk to people while they’re praying, and even if you did it not realizing, they’re not just going to stop and talk to you. Also, you do of course know one of the reasons the Quran was revealed in Arabic is because it’s one of the most complex, nuanced languages in the world? "Impossible”? For a linguist of Arabic?

56. “What did you do last night?” He waited too long to answer her. “Cut myself, for one.” Really, now he’s lying? The zealot is lying? Shouldn’t be proud of what he’s done? He’s so fond of the word genocide, after all, he should be happy. Characterization!

57. “I did what Islam decrees— It was justified! They were warned!” Look, is this guy sure of what he’s doing or not? If he is, he doesn’t need to defend himself, he needs to ask her why she’s questioning him. If he’s not, then he’s uncertain of what his faith supposedly tells him to do, and Islam is all, well, “wrong”. Not even going into how convenient that phrase is “what Islam decrees”.

58. “she realized that her hijab was gone” …she’s been a Muslim for at least thirteen years, Sofia’s age. She’s been wearing the hijab all these years. Any human doing any habit all that time would not simply “forget”. Truly the powers of the doctor are great.

59. “threw her arms around him” Well they’ve already slept in the same bed, I shouldn’t be surprised at this woman’s sense of personal space.

60. “The missile hit the mosque.” I told you the Christians had weapons!

61. “No! I’m not going to wrap him—put him in the death, in the cold, I’m not…” Where’s the faith she wanted so badly a moment ago?

63. “Salaam.” Not what you say when someone dies, but at this point it’s pretty clear authenticity isn’t the point.

64. “One of the Arabic hangings, on woven grass, had blown into the square, torn right through the swooping characters invoking the name of God, tearing Bismillah in half.” Poignant imagery, reminiscent of how when mosques are attacked in real life, people focus on the ruined decor. Of course.

65. Another poignant symbolic scene where the atheist climbs up the top of the minaret to announce that science triumphed and religion was wrong after all, his worldview safe from challenge.

66. “He crossed the carpets, woven with fine patterns in Arabic, praising the name of God. He walked across blessings of mercy, praise for He who had made the universe, made man from a blood clot.” And then the doctor couldn’t even bring himself to take an extra two steps to avoid these people’s religious symbols, because they are all bad men and evil murderers. Never mind the “blood clot” part that’s just wrong, not “wrong”, actually wrong.

67. “So you drive these people insane and make them fight? Ahmed said. This is part of your good, merciful plan? This is what you taught Jose? Something whispered No. You’ll teach them.” Y’all. God spoke to the atheist.

68. “The words parted like curtains and revealed a huge T cell, a shining version of the antibodies he had seen in Ibrahim’s blood.” SCIENCE. The anti-religion!

69. “finally Ahmed brought out his flask and passed it around” That’s how you know the Christians are bad people too, because they drink.

70. “Salaam alaykum” said the Muslim to the Christian, not like they have Standard to communicate it, no it has to be symbolic.

71. “Ahmed put an arm around her. She leaned into him. Their dry lips touched, locked in a long embrace.” Still married. Divorced not implied. She could have divorced him but she didn’t. Yes, it does have to be explicit. It’s not complicated. Also, even if not married, still a Muslim woman. She knows he’s an atheist.

72. “Like you said. The universe looks different when you have to ask why a loving God would do horrible things.” Because as a Muslim, you couldn’t have possibly had those thoughts on your own.

73. “When the sky is torn, when the stars are scattered, then a soul will know what he has given and what he has held back.” Quran reference. So there is research, but where it goes into is erratic?

Some final notes:

1. The writing itself is good, my inner editor only found two issues, one misplaced comma and one run-on sentence. The pacing could use some work, but it was okay compared to the length of the story. The author does seem to struggle with consistency, in particular when it comes to characterization. The research is wanting. I say that objectively– if your story is based on a real thing that exists, regardless of the spin, agenda, or context of the narrative, the story has to maintain both internal consistency and some degree of accuracy.

2. Both my proofreader and I were surprised at Tor for publishing blatant hate. We’ve both owned many Tor books and this is, well, not up to their usual standard. Not just because of the hate, either, but because that story had to get past at least one, if not more, of Tor’s editors, who could have and didn’t check the research, spot consistency issues, or point out that misplaced comma.

3. At least when OSC shat on Islam in his fiction, he was halfway subtle about it. And it was done with great technical skill, there’s a reason he’s considered a master of his craft.

This ended up being way longer than I expected.

#tags how do they work #writing #islamophobia #tor.com #ender's game even has that muslim boy who's portrayed in a positive way #like seriously #osc did his research #he may personally hate us and wish us all dead but he can separate that from his work #well at least at first #but even when he went for it #it was done with such skill i almost can't be too mad #like #if you're gonna write about how much you hate us #at least be creative about it #don't use the same old tired tropes #even hollywood knows that #that bit in iron man with the british actor playing the terrorist #prime example #ugh i tell you

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jewelwriter · 5 years

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My Two Coins: Value Insulted

Disclaimer: "My Two Coins" are to be read as such, someone's two coins about the topic at hand. IF at any point you disagree with it or agree, remember they are just my coins about said topic and the value you have of it will differ from my own because of religion, upbringing, beliefs, and logic based on your own experiences. Do not assume my coins are the international equivalent for it may be considered of a lesser value in the bank of public exchange. Thank you.

Are you people sane anymore? I really want to know since this is where I know this is getting close to ea and is in the realm of Bethesta. Whom am I getting at? Game Freak and Pokemon Company. I think an introduction is in order. Welcome ladies and gentlemen of all ages. You've found a wild Jewelwriter.

And recently, we gotten news of BOTH Pokemon's Expansions (Frozen Tundra and the Isle of Armor.) and details of Pokemon home. Allow me to explain this stuff to people who have been out of the loop or have held on for some good news. First going with the newest one. Pokemon Home has this kind of line up (Down below)

Home {=} Sword and Shield

Meaning you can transfer Pokemon too and fro from Pokemon Home to Shill and Slop (YES I said it, NO I won't take it back, you know I got opinions, or did you forget the warning label up front?) No problems there.

Home {=- Let's GO Eevee/Let's GO Pikachu

Meaning Pokemon you get in this game are likely going to never come back if they ever step a toe inside Galar. Though as long as they don't they can jump back and forth between this and Let's Go. Kind of a painful roll but then again I didn't by Let's Troll.

Home {= Bank (Generations 6 and 7.)

You'll need the Premium (Paid Plan) and in return...you'll be paying the tickets for any Pokemon you sent into Bank to NEVER return to Pokemon of the past generations, likely giving nerfs to them, and having their intelligence and power subtracted...if they can get into the games at all. (There's more but I'll hold... until the ^ shows up.)

Home {= GO

There's not a word on this yet officially but Go might suffer the same as the Let's Go games at best.

Now we get into the features of Home.

The Wonder Box (iOS) is wonder trading without any big set up and can only be done... ON the application iOS variant. (that's right, there's a switch one but I'll signal which is which as we go on.) It'll allow you to trade for random Pokemon at the expense of having your Pokemon sent to whomever it can be at the other end of the world. In the free variant you can trade as many Pokemon as there are heads on a Dodrio. If you paid up for the bigger services, you'll be able to do add two more Dodrio and a Pidgeot to make that many heads as there are Pokemon you are allowed to trade.

Global Trade System (iOS) allows you to trade Pokemon for Pokemon with the exact things you need. This normally means you were seeing legendary and mythic Pokemon being asked for ...at the prices ranging from other legendary creatures that are impossibles like a male Chansey or something at level 100 which is kind of specific but then again I can only imagine how chaotic this'll be. By the buy... if you got the free variant, you can only get as many as a diglett face showing. With the paid service, it's like that diglett evolved into dugtrio.

Room Trade (iOS) is a special room that'll allow you to trade with up to 20 people in a special “Wonder Room” where you won't know what you get until you start trading. If you are a free player you can only get into the rooms but paying up allows you to host such trolling houses.

Friend Trade (iOS) … seeing a pattern yet? Anyhow this is where you can direct trade AND see what you are getting into. Only difference is you can't use this under the age of 16. (a thing understandable...to a point.)

National PokeDex (iOS & Switch) … FINALLY something found that belongs to both. Anyhow, You can access the national dex in both and can filter things to find what is desired. BUT... and here's the big one. If you run the iOS variant, you'll get details like list by abilities, Moves, and maybe more.

Mystery Gifts (iOS) are special gifts for either Stuffing and Slime or for online which can be stuffed into a box. Be sure you have the Best OS since some details won't happen.

Judge (iOS & Switch) ever wondered what your Pokemon's IV count is well this is where you can do it. Though if anything you can do it in the game too if I recall. JUST... you'll be able to do this if you paid for it. YEP, it's a premium service if you want to do it in Home.

Room (iOS) This is where you can decorate a spot and fill it up with stickers...especially after doing certain tasks which might reward someone with more than that.

News (iOS) You'll be updated on the battles that distributions, gifts and more in this variant.

Battle Data (iOS) This can let you see how the competition is doing. Using certain Pokemon, seeing which are at the top, and more. Though this won't be on release day...likely next month.

Home Points (iOS) by inserting and extracting Pokemon you can gain Home points to trans fer into BP (Battle Points.) Screenshots provided... the exchange rate is (and I can be wrong.) is 30 points PER Battle Point.

Now that the features are out, how about storage and the differences of price?

With Pokemon Home's “FREE” system you can only...

Store a box of Pokemon (thirty), send three Pokemon through wonder trade, get one Pokemon worked on in the Global Trade System, Partake only in other's Rooms of trading, and can't judge a Pokemon online.

^Meanwhile on the “Premium” version of the system...

You can have two hundred times as many storage boxes (six thousand); which is double Bank's (btw, you'll need this to take Pokemon out of bank.), Wonder trade ten Pokemon, go for three Pokmon in the GTS at once, host and enter the rooms of trading, and judge a Pokemon. Also this is where you can take Pokemon from Bank to home.

AND after hearing all this you are wondering the price. Well let me set it up for you. (NOTE: this is all in United States currency. Your prices may differ so please use the exchange rate to find this value in your homeland. Also I added 1 penny since it makes it easier to figure out.)

There's three flavors to pick from.

The Monthly munch, a tiny but pricey three dollars. If you are wondering why this is the pricey one. Paying this twelve months straight will lead to you losing thirty-six dollars a year.

Next is the Seasonal slurp, it's a bit higher but at the same price as the bank you get three months of this powerful 'service'. And adding it all up to a year that's about the price of one year of Nintendo Switch Online Pass. (though trust me that has a lot more value than what is given credit for by many, even if it can be better compared to what is next is a god sent.)

And finally the Yearly YUM! For one year you get all this for the price of sixteen dollars a year. NOW keep in mind what I said before but also are paying for. At worst... it's forty-one per year and at best it is twenty-one dollars yearly. Why the price hike? You'll need bank in order to use it fully if you aren't trying to use the DLCs (which are coming up.) for this service. Which might work if you had to keep in mind that if you leave someone behind, you might lose them if you don't fork over the coin.

Now I can hear people saying this: “It's a service, they have to make money in some method.”

Thing is, it was free in the past and they are also the LARGEST franchise in existence. And yet the small team split their focus and… fudged everything after their failure for fudging up every bit of this game. Graphical fails, animation fails, interaction drops to barely petting them. For what? Empty Story that refused to allow you to go see what's going on and just allow you to see the next gym; a wild “area” that is as barren as get out with barely any real life with bad graphics, barely a lot of Pokemon or people for that matter, and wonky weather systems that can be as random as dice, and you're Safari Zoned since you can't catch a Pokemon over your skill level; EXP love for everyone... NO matter what; and the most BROKEN GAME MECHANIC that ever existed. And yet...that's not all. It's time to see about the Island of Armor and the Frozen Tundra!

The Island of Armor is able to allow the following.

You get a new location that is likely more of a wild area as far as seen in the tropics to the west side of the region, you'll gain a new Pokemon Kubfu and it can evolve into Urshifu which can become Water/Fighting (Rapid Striker) or Dark/Fighter (One Striker) the Power to evolve the starters to be the drum machine with party hair, Goku riding a Flaming Jynn that is enough to gulp a mansion, and double zero seven now becoming the role of TF2's Snipper, new LOOT to allow one to do more than ever before, Move tutors... which is a bit of a requirement FOR competition play, and restricted battle play which probably is a problem since we don't know how it is restricted in 'sparring'.

As far as story content, you'll end up encountering Leon's teacher (when did this get hinted at?), Mustard who has an apprentice too who is aiming to craft a gym of their own. Though it'll be based on which version you roll with. (Klara for the blade wielders, Avery for the shield barriers.) This is so far all we got with this.

Now for the Frozen Tundra's gifts to the world.

You get a new location that is far FAR south in the world that is also in a wild area (Is that the south pole of Pokemon? Seriously? I really wanna know.) so you'll be tasked with exploring this chilly place, a Mythical/Legendary by the name of Calyrex which looks like a fusion dance of Sawsbuck or Stantler and Celebi and it kind of went south, and... just a Co-op Mode to explore a certain space which probably isn't safe since mythicals are said to be in those spaces.

Now for the NEW stuff both got.

New regional forms (*looking to her personal project.* Gahhhh!!!! I got more to do?!?), Pokemon of the past rejoining the battle (*Hearing #BringBackNationalDex cheers*)...but not all of them sadly (*Hearing #BringBackNationalDex boo hard*) for now, New Pokedexes, New attire to wear for all you fashion fowls to wear, and new Dynamax/Gigantamax battles to be ready for in the Max Raid Rumbles.

More information will be sent out but keep this in mind that so far they have proven that they CLEARLY removed this since it was MONTHS since the release and already releasing new stuff just to revive their LOST content that was in the base.

“BUT Smash has this kind of stuff too and you didn't complain. In fact, you're likely buying that stupid game's second pass while hating on this game that is giving you more!”

Very cute but wrong. Let me explain why I was saying that.

Super Smash Brothers has made clear what they are doing, and even announced that they are adding more but will take time to do it since it might not be out in time for launch and they took care to balance it to work with the fighters ALREADY in the game which have old and new faces and returning heroes. They shown they CARE for their community and even at times troll them. (...I got hate hammers for two in direct range: Incenaroar, and K.Rool.) And they have made the passes more fair than buying them one by one. So far each character is six dollars if you go solo and together they were twenty-five dollars together which cuts a dollar off of each. With the second one it can be the same and it'll be worth it since the full game already has a lot of heroes, villains, and copies to pick from. Clearly Super Smash Brothers Ultimate will be one of the largest fighting/party game line ups in video game history!

Pokemon Sucker and Pokemon Snot meanwhile... was able to lie about what was going into the game, they have shown quality drops year after year in an attempt to get more money with not only making their games almost so far that competitive players are paying out the @$$ but heaven help the completionist that wants to get it all for the price of each of these games that have added up. The total of all the Generation eight content has so far hit four-hundred and twenty-one dollars and this is using the price of having it all for at least the entire year.

“HEY! Don't forget the Nintendo Switch Online stuff since you are having to use that in order to get the Pokemon for free if you aren't going to by the-.”

STOP right there! STOP right there you piece of ignorance. Nintendo's online service has problems but in NO instance is that a part of Pokemon since they did offer you the power to trade and play against others on it's own, and UNTIL that price is shown the this price can be higher and trying to say that the Nintendo Online Service is it then sorry but that has more things to do than just Pokemon and thus THIS will not be added. Period and Exclamation POINT!

And before I forget, THANK YOU REAR ENDS FOR MAKING THE ONLINE SYSTEM A PAID SERVICE SINCE I KNOW YOU'VE CRIED FOR IT TO HAPPEN! HOPE YOU LOVE IT...

Now back on topic, and getting near the end folks...how it is @$$ that a system that has so called more power, more pixels, and more controls than the 3DS is able to give less Pokemon, less interaction, less story, and less post game than what was given on generation six which was the most insulted of all next to generation five. I can't help but feel this is the true greed of Game Freak, of Pokemon...and it's disgusting to the very bleeping bone. I will never buy that trash, I'll never put it into my switch, and if anyone even thinks of getting me that game it will go right into the nearest GameStop and I'll be getting coin off of your stupidity because I rather not own something that I would not even feed a Trubbish with.

I rather be playing a mobile game than ever touch that Cr@P willingly. And I have no love, respect, or heart to give for someone defending all of those practices, all of the things removed to be put into pieces of other things... and think they should be called a gamer. So help me I rather break your game karts of that sh!t so it never enters the hands of someone naive again. Maybe I should use them, erase their contents and put a BETTER game in it's place, especially if they aren't going to fix the version they flipped up.

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BUT... since this is the internet, I know someone's got something to say about this that I'll be likely arguing over but then again this is where I know I'll get it. So as a believer of what I feel, COME AT ME!!! in commentary down below As for me... this wild one runs away to get a shower in to cool off. F@<K you Game FrEAk!

#m2c #pokemon #pokemon generation 8 #rant #censored swearing #Bad practices #personal

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