#unironically i think this whole issue is similar

[cultofthepigeon]

actually i talk about math but i wanna say something on reading also

yeah a lot of people call the classics Snobby and everyone with a lit degree has taken that as a personal offense and decried it as anti-intellectualism and blah blah blah instead of actually like addressing why people might say that

but to anyone who cares im pretty sure people say that shit as a defense mechanism

The Classics as a whole can be intimidating, especially if you already struggle with reading/writing or didnt have a good education on the subject

theres decades if not centuries of people talking about these works and interpreting and argueing about them and on top of that theyre Great Works that Everyone Should Read and Everyone knows about. theres also, whether you like it or not, a nice sheen of Only Smart/Highly Educated People Can Truely Appreciate This on top

so when someone approaches one of these works for the first time it already feels like coming in late to the party

but on top of that the writing styles can be dense, the books/poems/plays lengthy. theres usually a lot of historical context thats needed to fully appreciate the story being told. and thats before you get into whatever literary/mythological illusions thatll almost certainly be inside the story itself

then they take a crack at it and its slow and confusing and boring and really time consuming but everyone else is talking about how amazing it is and what a Classic it is but because of all the reasons listed above this new reader Just Doesnt Get It and well

that makes em feel fucking stupid. they feel like an idiot

so they brush it off as pretencious and snobby because otherwise theyre just too stupid to get it

or alternatively, they push through the whole thing, dont get what the fuss is about, and assume everyone praising it is so far up their own ass theyre now a circle

the same can also be said for things like movies, art, and music

im not saying that the brushing off of The Classics or more involved books/art/movies etc is GOOD

but i think brushing it off as anti-intellectualism is just attempting to ignore the actual problem

[crippleprophet]

do you have any thoughts on functional neurological disorder?

it’s one of the cruelest inventions of modern medicine.

for a bit of context on my positionality i don’t currently have an fnd diagnosis but i am at huge risk of one (my rheumatologist already thinks i have a conversion disorder) & it’s one of the many reasons i’m terrified to pursue a second neurologist after my first one dumped me. fnd is, like, maybe not the pinnacle but definitely a major player in the field of doctors gaslighting us as hard as possible & being furious every time it doesn’t work.

i’m not gonna find these articles bc it gets to a point of self harm for me to (re)read some of this shit but literally doctors are like “the more convinced patients are there’s something wrong the more they’re lying,” “the more symptoms patients have the more likely it is to be fnd and not something really wrong,” etc. again just unfathomably cruel. also the fact that mainstream medicine can unironically write that people with hypermobility are “more likely to have fnd” rather than going huh maybe there’s a neurological component here is just. what the fuck are y’all doing.

a really fun (fucked up) “i told you so” moment with the social construction of the ‘real vs fake’ tics false binary was when doctors literally can’t tell the difference based on their own bullshit criteria.

i highly recommend checking out @fndportal for incredibly insightful thoughts on a lot of these issues. sociological research on post-hysteria diagnoses & the genealogy of hysteria has also been super helpful for me although it’s obviously a very difficult history.

on a peer support level i think disability community is especially vital in the face of these kinds of psychological warfare from doctors. & to anybody who’s been diagnosed with fnd or similar conditions: i believe you. something is really wrong, it is not your fault (& it would be okay, & you’d still deserve effective compassionate care, if it was), you’re not making it up.

obviously i personally want to destroy the whole thing from the ground up, but if i could change one thing about the medical field, it’d be that it needs, desperately & urgently, to create space for not knowing. to say “something is happening here but science hasn’t caught up with it yet.” …unfortunately, to do so would be to destroy medicine from the ground up, because the whole project is predicated on the manufactured authority of knowing our bodies wholly & irrevocably, of rendering our own knowledge irrelevant at best & lies at worst.

also imo cbt, especially for a physical symptom, is evil & in situations where people can ghost their doctors rather than go i wholeheartedly support that.

[dionysism]

okay fuck it tier list of every greek mythology or greek myth inspired musical i've listened to (so far)

with, if you care, short reviews for each below the cut. i'm like half asleep but take my poorly organized thoughts

paris the musical

this one is my all time favorite of all the ones listed here. the musical scores and vocals are just on another level. it's a rock opera so it's got guitar solos and the songs are so catchy. business is my favorite track i could loop it for weeks. i also love their patroclus characterization and i am obsessed with achilles in this unironically one of my top patroachilles adaptations of all time and the musical isn't even about them 😭😭 AND PARIS... the actual focus of the musical, i love this take on him too. it's kinda comical but also actually tragic at the same time. which i mean. paris is kinda comical but ultimately tragic in general so its fair 💀 things definitely go down differently in this than in the iliad though like agamemnon and the greeks are actually planning to invade troy before paris even shows up to take helen and ulysses (odysseus) is the only one who thinks this is stupid. he does manage to convince the rest of them to maybe Not, but then paris takes helen after what's supposed to be him going there to strike a trade deal. and agamemnon uses that as the perfect excuse to justify something he already wanted to do unprovoked anyway. also agamemnon and menelaus were going to violate xenia and kill paris in their home after making him a guest (again, before he does anything with helen) which was ?!?!!? but like similar to epic this is more like an au to me than a faithful iliad adaptation. i also love this helen characterization and the whole dynamic between hector paris and cassandra i wish i could put them all in my mouth and chew them up

ulysses dies at dawn

this is another great one. i will say this is the only album from the mechs i've listened to and the band itself has a whole ton of lore so there may be details i'm missing but i love it so much. this is definitely more of an inspired by tale—takes place in the future (i think?) on a planet that's entirely machine and metal and all animals and natural life is extinct. and all the characters are named after greek mythos characters and they have similar stories to their original counterparts but adapted to this futuristic universe and it's just so unbelievably cool. also ulysses nonbinary in this?! (the narrator says the records are lost to time and we can't be sure if ulysses was a "man, woman, both, or neither" and only refer to them with they/them pronouns) anyway i won't say too much on this one because the story tells itself and i don't want to spoil but GO LISTEN this album is fantastic

hadestown

this one i think is the most popular/well known on this list so most of you have probably heard of it but i'll still give my review. everything about this musical is incredible. i absolutely adore this take on orpheus and eurydice. and this is a take on persephone and hades i don't totally hate (because usually i do) and the way at times they paralleled orpheus to hades??? there was a quote i read from its wiki page once that sums it up pretty well, from todd osborne, "it is a musical both about how art can save us and how, especially in an apocalyptic world, hope might be the only thing we have left." just such a beautiful musical and beautiful story and the themes and messages like stop i could talk about this musical for hours let me stop

for epic i've already summed up most of my thoughts on it here

theseus the musical

um. i'm not going to lie there's multiple parts of this where i do not know what they are saying. i have auditory processing issues and i usually really need the lyrics and i cannot find any anywhere for this so i'm kinda just going on vibes. but the songs are catchy and i like the parts i do understand 😭 and well i love theseus. dearly. my little princess with a disorder my freakazoid i want to trap him in a jar like a bug and shake him around his enclosure. i'll kind of take literally anything i can get on him

penelope off broadway

full title is penelope or how the odyssey was really written and this is such a fun one. this is a comedy musical and the premise is that the epic poem, the odyssey, actually comes from fake letters penelope wrote to stall the suitors in odysseus' absence. so she's just making shit up like "umm... my men got turned into pigs so i'm gonna be late sorry babe :/" and signing it as odysseus. obviously not the most accurate characterizations but again its more of a comedy spinoff than a faithful retelling. telemachus also gets a cute little romance. (spoilers ahead if you care) they scared me for a second i thought they were having it that odysseus cheated penelope and she was gonna leave him but that's not the case and it has a happy ending so <3 this one is just so funky and silly like if you want a lighthearted not super serious musical you will love this it's really adorable and the woman who plays penelope's voice is incredible like omg some of the high notes she hits??? woah

jasper in deadland (tw suicide mention)

this one is also an inspired by/based on tale where jasper (orpheus) follows his friend agnes (eurydice) into deadland in an attempt to get her back from what was either an accident or a suicide attempt (but most likely suicide) he runs into various figures from greek norse and egyptian mythology and like it wasn't bad or anything really the songs just weren't catchy enough for me. i'm not gonna lie that's literally my only issue. i just cannot get into it and listen to it multiple times if it's not catchy enough. but the plot is cute!!

percy jackson the musical

i just don't personally care for percy jackson, sorry. never really did. you'd think as a greek mythology obsessed child i'd eat it up and i mean as a kid i did like it a little but i don't know it just never hooked me. i've tried to get back into it but it's even less enjoyable to me now unfortunately. the songs weren't catchy (to me) and i didn't like the lyrics either. it's not necessarily a bad musical. it's just not my thing

aristos the musical

sorry it just kinda felt like tsoa the musical to me and i immediately couldn't enjoy it 😭😭 that's literally all i have to say

[ride-thedragon]

Why Rhaena does not have Nettles' Narrative.

First things first, the tweet to launch 1000 posts.

Everyone was freaking out because

A. It's so close to the premiere

B. It's been around for a while.

This whole Nettles being replaced by Rhaena theory started during the airing of the first show. People really got into supporting Daemon and Rhaenyra as a couple, and rather than viewing Nettles as a full character realised, she was viewed as a hindering plot point towards our favourite incest ship. So the first person I remember saying it said something along the lines of "What if Rhaena replaced Nettles?".

That spiralled within that space and became almost a counterpart to Nettles being Daemon's bastard daughter. Both of these arguments are often used to deter the romantic narrative Daemon and Nettles have, not to benefit Nettles in any way.

Now I can't vouch for the original poster's validity, but I can point out flaws with what they say.

"Rhaena will claim a sheep eating dragon (Sheepstealer) in the Vale after tracking it for some time."

Counterpoints:

1. Rhaena has her dragon eggs.

In the books, Rhaneyra gives Rhaena dragon eggs to take to the Vale, hoping that it will hatch to her. We see them in the trailer. Similar to Dany's eggs, which, if you're interested, I have a post on Nettles, Rhaena, and Daenerys.

2. Claiming Dragons.

This one almost works as well, but it has a few issues. The time frame, what seems to be occurring in the Vale, and the dragonseed plot.

A. 8 episodes for one season is not a lot of time, but we do have a timeline for what occurs, and the start of the sowing is in episode 7. There isn't enough time for Rhaena to both track Sheepstealer and follow him, seeing as her and Baela seem to be in the Vale before Rook's Rest.

B. What's going on in the Vale?

Rhaena and Baela seem to be both at the Vale before Rook's Rest, and then Baela flies into combat alongside Rhaenys. Then Baela stays on Dragonstone and Driftmark during the sowing as she's at the table. RHAENA IS NOT THERE. This is after the sowing because we see Ulf, Addam, and Hugh but not Rhaena or Nettles. All riders so far are accounted for.

C. This ties into the Dragonseed plot.

If Rhaena isn't there to fight, she doesn't have a dragon. But she is a ward of Jeyne Arryn with her Dragon eggs, like in the book.

3. Tracking it for some time.

This doesn't make sense for two reasons.

A. Why would she try to claim a hungry dragon?

If Sheepstealer is hunting in the Vale, why would Rhaena try to claim a hungry dragon? Rhaena, unlike Nettles throughout the season, would have no precident to assume Sheepstealer wouldn't bend to her as a Targaryen. No one would've been killed in order to facilitate that thought for her at that point if Silver Denys is being killed in Episode 7. She also lives on Dragonstone. Why would she not try to claim him where he lives like a person with common sense?

B. Why is she tracking a wild Dragon?

She lives on Dragonstone, unironically.

The home of all the unclaimed dragons like Vermithor, Silverwing, and Seasmoke. Why would she seek out the wild dragons. Why would she, as he stepdaughter to the Queen, not get to claim all the tamed dragons?

Then, if she decides that she wants to try a wild dragon after all the tamed ones fail to bond with her, who around her would allow her to take that risk? Her stepmother, who just lost two children? Her grandmother who grants her dragonriding sister permission to stand at the council? Or the grandfather who just lost his heir?

I don’t think this is likely. What I think is happening is that she might try and fail at best to give her a narrative, which inspires Jace to send out the Dragonseed call. Are we not tired?

[practically-an-x-man]

character breakdowns for Nikoletta (yours), Eris (yours), Abner (canon), and/or Harley (canon) (optional Bernadette or Tiff [mine] but no pressure lol)

Oooooh thank you!!!

(under the cut for space, this got long lol)

Nikoletta:

How I feel about this character - I mean... she's my own OC. I'm irrevocably obsessed!! I love her story and it's genuinely so comforting to me to write about her and Abner being soft with each other

All the people I ship romantically with this character - just Abner, and that's not an entirely romantic pairing to begin with

My non-romantic OTP for this character - I do love her friendships with Harley and Cleo, I need to write about them more!

(not answering the last two since they don't really make sense for my own OC lol)

____

Eris:

How I feel about this character - LOVE, of course! Again, my own OC. Genuinely one of the most fun characters to write, especially his dynamic with Rick, and arguably my best whumpee.

All the people I ship romantically with this character - Rick, of course, and all the past relationships I've mentioned across their fics. Though given they're drawn to the gruff soldier types, I could also see DuBois or maybe even one of the older Robins.

My non-romantic OTP for this character - Can you imagine the utter chaos that would erupt if Eris, Harley, and Boomer were placed in a room together??

(ditto on the last two)

____

Abner:

How I feel about this character - God I just think he's such a great character and I want him so badly to be happy. His death scene pissed me tf off and is the entire reason I created Nikoletta as a character, dude deserves a chance for softness and happiness in his life. I suspect most of the reason I like him is me projecting my own medical shit and shitty mom issues, but we're not gonna unpack that right now.

All the people I ship romantically with this character - In canon... honestly, I don't see him with anyone. And of course my main ship for him is with my OC lol

My non-romantic OTP for this character - HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH CLEO IS THE SWEETEST THING I LOVE IT!!!

My unpopular opinion about this character - Saying he deserved better isn't really unpopular, so... I think the whole "he sees his mom everywhere" thing could've been a really powerful allegory for intrusive thoughts if they hadn't decided to make it painfully literal. He sees his mom everywhere? Easy mommy-issues trope, borders on trite. He hears his mom everywhere in the form of intrusive thoughts critiquing his every move? Realistic and impactful, would really strike home for people who go through similar things (cough cough)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - They should've kept the deleted scenes, for one, they were so good for his character!! But also I think they should've gone more into the chronic illness implications of his superpowers. The movie dips its toe into it a little, but still mainly treats it like a joke, and I really wished they'd explored Abner's relationship with his powers in more than just a few lines of dialogue here and there.

____

Harley:

How I feel about this character - Literally, unironically my bisexual awakening. One of my favorite characters of all time, cannot be beat, I have plans to get a segment of her diamond armband tattoo attached to my existing armband tattoo, I love her to death.

All the people I ship romantically with this character - IVY!! And I could totally see her with Dinah or Helena in Birds of Prey, but really for me Harley/Ivy is endgame.

My non-romantic OTP for this character - Her and Rick!! I know it's a popular ship but I just don't see it as romantic, however I love their dynamic as friends :D

My unpopular opinion about this character - She's! Not! Dumb! She has a fucking PhD!! Just because she's wild and chaotic and goofy sometimes does NOT make her dumb, and I get so tired of seeing her turned into the "silly dumb blonde" trope when that's NOT who she is. The fact that she's intelligent in addition to being a wild card is one of the main reasons I love her as a character!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - I'd love to see her strike up a romance with a live-action Ivy, I know it's happened in a few of the animated shows but I'd love to see it in the movieverse.

____

Bernadette:

How I feel about this character - LOVE LOVE LOVE!! Dying to read more about her, everything I've seen so far has made me totally hooked on her as a character!!

All the people I ship romantically with this character - I mean... who else but Tiff? Might be because she's your OC, but I really can't see anyone other than Tiff for her

My non-romantic OTP for this character - I don't know who all has interacted with her in your canon, but I think she'd get along really well with Cisco and Iris and the rest of the Flash gang, especially with her scientific mind :D

My unpopular opinion about this character - I neeeeed to read more about her!!! I love her so much already and she deserves her own longfic with Tiff!! (no pressure ofc, I'm just excited <3333)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - This is more of an AU than a suggestion for canon, but I'd love some sort of campy 70s-style sci-fi antics for her :D

____

Tiff:

How I feel about this character - Gonna be repeating myself here, but.... LOVE LOVE LOVE!! She and Bernadette are a package set, do not separate, and she's such a clean genderbend-OC (as in, she really fits both as her own character and as a genderbend of Tim). Also a GREAT source of whump imo

All the people I ship romantically with this character - Same as above, her and Bernadette are absolutely endgame for me and I love them <3333

My non-romantic OTP for this character - Not sure how the other Robins interact with her in your canon, but in my head there could be some absolutely to-die-for family teasing between them <3

My unpopular opinion about this character - Arguably cooler than the original Tim Drake. There, I said it :D

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - Whump that girl into oblivion and then send her back to Bernadette to take care of her <3333 I'm sure this has already happened but I want MORE!!! /lh

[goingrampant]

The Boys Marketing

Similar to issues surrounding The Hunger Games as a profitable franchise, the Amazon series The Boys critiques the excesses of modern capitalism and then Amazon reproduces them in marketing The Boys merchandise. There are numerous toys, T-shirts, and costumes paying homage to the various characters as well as general series logos stamped on whatever they can sell. In some cases, the satirical nature of a framework glorifying these awful figures is retained, but some are more ambiguous. The use of the character Stormfront as a Nazi antagonist serves to clarify the satirical nature of some of these products, but there also appears to be an active effort to obscure her nature as a Nazi to make her more marketable.

When it comes to depictions of The Boys, the protagonists, the merchandise accurately captures the sentiment of rebellion against Vought as an evil capitalist organization. We can critique this at a meta level--Amazon selling "fight capitalism" merch to make money from a "fight capitalism" show subverts the point of a "fight capitalism" show--but it is, at least, consistent with the message of the show.

Things get rockier when it comes to depictions of bad guys who act as part of the evil capitalist organization.

The most overt satirical product they have, in my opinion, is the "Brave Maeve" critique of rainbow washing:

The use of the rainbow-washed Claddagh makes it clear to any queer people what's being invoked here, and it has a very sneering tone at the whole concept--true to the show's satirical nature.

The Homelander merchandise presentation is largely ambiguous in nature, marketing both to people who appreciate him as a villain and conservatives who like him as a character they can relate to: a conservative American patriot just trying to stumble his way through life.

This Homelander costume is completely neutral. Someone might buy it because they like villains and want to portray a horrible person. Or, maybe a MAGA type would buy it because they identify with the figure as a beleaguered hard-right American just trying to keep America great, like the fellow who wore this costume at the Million MAGA March (2020-11-14 demonstration by conspiracy theorists claiming Trump won the election and Biden stole it).

In this Homelander and Stormfront shirt, the use of Stormfront as an obviously evil Nazi antagonist clarifies the satirical nature of the image:

You'd be hard-pressed to find any actual American fascists who like the vibe of this shirt. It is overtly about the show's villains and reads like it should be worn by people who like villains and/or the critique of American nationalism as equivalent to Nazism. I think even actual Nazis would be turned off by how obviously evil the Nazi character looks. (TBH, they were already alienated by the casting of Jewish actress Aya Cash, in the tradition of Colonel Klink.)

On the other hand, this shirt just looks like edgy patriotic fashion favored by conservatives. Even the metallic text lacks the hammy villain tone of the "Homelander & Stormfront" shirt and just looks vaguely intimidating in-line with such fashion. It would be really easy for a hard-right Homelander fanboy to wear this shirt unironically, in full support of Homelander as a patriotic figure. It could be said that this shirt was perhaps designed with satirical intent, but this is not clear at all from its presentation. In context, it looks like Amazon wanted to market to some of its known consumer demographic: hard-right unironic Homelander fans.

Meanwhile, on the official Gen V merchandise page, the lead actors simultaneously act as satirical figures hawking merchandise like the wacky capitalist institution the show criticizes and are the lead actors hawking merchandise for the capitalist institution producing the show:

Self-aware irony only goes so far.

In the show, Dawn of the Seven (a spoof of Justice League with elements of The Avengers) is used to criticize superhero movies in our universe (e.g. they're tropey, can be sexist, have questionable themes, etc.). In Amazon's merchandise, it's used to unironically market the superhero figures as these cool characters.

Is this a critique of Homelander or marketing at all? I'd argue no. It is unironic pro-Homelander, pro-marketing, pro-consumerism, and pro-superhero-fandom theming to appeal to the lowest common denominator of fan, likely to be a conservative fan of Homelander.

The worst part of this is with the use of season two's Girls Get It Done, a critique of superhero movies (particularly Avengers: Endgame) pandering to women with an all-woman team-up that purports to be feminist but doesn't back it up with any actual feminist writing surrounding it or understanding what women want past a simplistic disingenuous argument that women are better than men. The three female superheroes of the Seven--Starlight, Queen Maeve, and Stormfront--are arbitrarily teamed up and paraded around as a faux-feminist marketing gimmick. This is a clear satirical element in the show. However, the Amazon merchandise uses it unironically as a woman-targeted gimmick for the show's female fans.

It is weird as hell that someone thought this piece of satire depicting a literal Nazi antagonist would make a good "girl power" piece marketed to women. Again, possible satirical intent is nerfed by unironic capitalistic greed.

Let's talk about Stormfront. She's a likable villain, and it's fairly reasonable to sell merchandise representing the figure as a villain. Her only T-shirts are the ones I've posted above. "Homelander & Stormfront" effectively depicts her as a villain in a critique of American fascism. However, "Girls Get It Done" is ambiguous in the manner of the Homelander shirt that seemingly panders to conservative unironic Homelander fans. Stormfront is just there, alongside two heroic figures, looking cool alongside them. You'd have to watch the show to know she's a villain.

And here's another thing: her Nazi signifiers are all obscured. Her arm bands are seen from a weird angle and somewhat blocked by Queen Maeve; her imperial eagle belt buckle is hidden in artificially generated shadow, and she's not printed in a high-enough resolution to see her swastika fabric pattern. All that's left is her skinhead-evocative Skrillex hair, which is far from overt. Skrillex isn't a Nazi, after all. Amazon essentially did the same sort of thing they did with the Billy Butcher merchandise in censoring the swear words to make them friendlier wear around in public and removed hate symbols from a character who is innately a political figure as a means of critiquing racial hatred in America. In the process, they made a Nazi more palatable without the corresponding political critique.

The one other way they marketed Stormfront merchandise was with a limited-edition collection of themed Nike sneakers, available only through sweepstakes. Several of the main heroes and villains in season two got their own sneaker color theme, including Stormfront (top right).

Here, Stormfront's Nazi crap is retained with an allusion to her belt buckle--the Nazi imperial eagle--printed on the side under the swoosh. Other characters get their own symbols in the same general area, so it's in theme with the others but also questionable given its authentic Nazi imagery in absent of a context of critiquing modern America. People are expected to just don Nazi imagery as fans of the show. The Homelander, A-Train, Black Noir, and Kimiko sneakers are decorated with blood imagery, at least signalling "edgy show", but Stormfront's are without even that limited context. (Please do not take this as endorsement of people harassing Aya Cash for playing a Nazi. It's okay to portray a Nazi as an actor on a television show, just not out of context in the real world like this.)

The grey portion at the toe resembles Stormfront's arm bands and may, like the arm bands, depict a desaturated American flag like that worn by American conservatives. In the context of the show, this is used to critique American conservatives as fascist and embracing Nazism. Removed from context, it would suffer the same problem as the Homelander shirt aping conservative fashion.

The decision to make Stormfront's sneakers dark with white laces is another interesting choice. Neo-Nazis often signal to each other by wearing black boots with contrasting white laces. It's unclear if this was intentional.

I'm honestly unsure which is worse, merchandise obscuring that she's a Nazi to make her more palatable or merchandise retaining her Nazi characterization in a context completely absent of framing her as a deplorable villain.

All these bad marketing decisions come together in a weird capitalist kerfuffle aping at being a satire of capitalism while being outrageous in itself. It unironically showcases why the kind of stuff the show parodies is bad.

[alltheotherblogs]

So, Regular Show.

Apparently it's getting some kind of pseudo-reboot. A new series tacked onto the ending of the last with some returns from previously featured characters. This is not necessarily bad news! But, the reasons for fans being skeptical are obvious.

One of the most important examples of a good idea gone sour is... Adventure Time. It doesn't take a genius writer to see that they blatantly disrespected the themes they started with. I had a chance to analyze, and criticize the series from a new and fresh perspective. And so as I jumped into it for the last time, I quickly used an analytical eye to spot the things I had missed as a child. One of these things was Princess Bubblegum. Coming from an abusive background, I can spot abusive behaviors the moment I see them. And P.B. is textbook. The various ways she manipulates the Candy people, the main cast, and Finn himself... It's scary familiar to a lot of the controlling tactics used by abusive parents. I don't have any specific examples and if I'm gonna be honest I don't desire to find any. But one thing that always comes to mind is how she attempts to manipulate the Flame people using these same tactics, and it fails... This is where an inconsistency pops up in the writing, Flame Princess and Marceline have similar father figures with similar motivations for how they operate and their family dynamic. The main difference I want to call attention to here is that Flame Princess didn't just overcome it but decided to rise to the occasion and take over the Kingdom. Marceline distanced herself from her origins as much as possible... I think you can see where I am going here. Where Marceline comes to accept her father, it only happens after he changes. I don't really think Flame Princess ever accepted her father. And so when Flame Princess sees P.B. blatantly stealing, and attempting to trick her and her subjects, she gets pretty reasonably angry. A manipulative woman pulls up into your abode under false pretenses and tricks you and everyone else so that she can get her sticky grubby fingers onto some SERIOUS ancient tech. Acting like someone as tyrannical as P.B. is anymore trust worthy with it than anyone else is delusional.

From here it's not very hard to draw a comparison to real world behavior. For once you have a character that is reacting reasonably to something instead of being absurd. And then you have the last episode where Marceline just magically, for no reason and with very little buildup, just falls into P.B's arms like some sick individual with a different KIND of authority issue. Marceline has an issue with authority not an issue without it. Even in the very first episode, this is how P.B. is setup. An authoritarian with a very skewed moral compass. The fact that she is completely different by the end of the series yet lacks any real character development and still commits the same sins she did at the beginning, it isn't some clever subversion or smart multilayered writing... It's just bad writing. That is why I get so mad whenever people say "oh you are just bigoted that's why you don't like it." If you are one of those people who unironically thought THAT was the reason the ending didn't go over well, you are more stupid than your teachers and parents thought. It wasn't hard to notice that they just inserted a relationship between two incompatible characters right at the moment the rest of the shows writing began to suffer.

Haven't finished J.G. Quintel's other show, "Close Enough" but I'm working on it. And it has good parts, which makes me confident this new show will have a good energy and a positive impact on the series as a whole. Since it'll serve as a sequel rather than a reboot, we have a lot to look forward too in terms of new characters and unique dynamics.

Regardless, the history of this kind of thing cannot be ignored. In recent cinema everything is getting a crappy reboot. It's gonna take a few times before they learn, what made the old thing work was not that it was the old thing, but how it was the old thing. You get what I mean?

People don't like same shit different wrapping. They like same wrapping different shit. They want to see skillful talented writing. They don't want cringey politically motivated garbage and marvel-quality one-liners. They want actual comedy, they want in-world belief systems to help the characters play off each other. They want creativity and a well built world. Not Helluva Boss, not Hazbin Hotel, neither of those cringey politically driven shows with TERRIBLE writing. People want the first five seasons of Adventure Time! They want Golden Era KOTH! they want good comedy delivered without pretentious snark... While it isn't HARD to do this, with studios breathing down peoples necks, and the people who give orders being corrupt scumbags with what I like to call "Wrong Beliefs" it is super difficult to actually make something good. But, Smiling Friends did it, Adult Swim continues to produce quality, Newgrounds continues to let loose incredible people, and talent always rises to the top regardless of what corruption is going on in the western media. It takes some time for these mega corporations to fall, but sure enough, hollywood is failing as everyone predicted. The games industry is failing, as everyone predicted. What happens when Hollywood and the Games industry fail? Indie creators come up to bat. Not all of them are going to hit it out of the park, but strike while the irons hot, and you just might see sparks.

What I'm trying to say is, just don't fuck it up J.G.

[weemietime]

I don't agree that antizionist Jews are so assimilated they've become goyim, because at the end of the day, these Jews are experiencing antisemitism as well, they've just convinced themselves it is fine. But remember that post by a pro Palestinian antizionist whose friends "had an intervention" and the sole reason was because she was Jewish lol she was literally a propal.

The more nuanced answer here is that extremism and propaganda are intersecting with these Jews' progressive beliefs alongside a desire not to lose their community, but the second they assert themselves as Jews in any way those same people will turn on them, too.

Zionism means even those Jews who don't currently get this, still have a place at the table when the time comes that they inevitably have a personal confrontation with why Zionism is necessary. At lot of them are very young, too, and may not have a whole lot of lived experience with the genuine dangers of being Jewish because they have spent all their time in a bubble.

So when they see horrific war videos and photos coming out of Gaza there's an understandable instinct to want to distance yourself from the people doing those things.

As uncomfortable as it is, I would rather hold space for those people in absentia, for when the time comes that none of their political opinions and treatises will save them from the reality of a pogrom or assault or discrimination. Is it antisemitism? Almost certainty, yes, it is internalized antisemitism. But does it make them not Jewish? I don't think so.

There are some folks that I would exclude from this, like JVP, who basically completely reject Judaism and Jewishness and encourage "fellow Jews" (doubt) to not even pray or talk in their own native language. They are unironically literal kapos who are actively participating in the oppression of Jews worldwide, and spread literal Nazi propaganda.

That being said I don't think it is possible to be antizionist without being antisemitic, because Zionism is extremely broad. It is Jewish safety and Jewish self determination and you cannot oppose those things and claim to be an ally of Jews. A vast majority of antizionists cannot even concede that most Israelis are Mizrahi and sephardic, they are literally only talking about 31% (Ashkenazi) of the Israeli Jewish population, not even the total population (who they tell to go back to Europe, to countries that actively exterminated the rest of their Jewish populations).

Whilst refusing to answer what they think should be done with communities like Ethiopian and Yemeni Jews (not to mention a significant portion of that 31% who face similar issues, like Russian Jews). Yemen entirely expelled every single Yemeni Jew, if you don't have an answer for where these people go during your glorious resistance movement to expel all Jews from Israel and give the land to Palestinians instead, you are antisemitic.

If you don't have an answer for this and you continue to spout off Nazi gibberish about a fraction of the total Israeli population who have nothing to do with Europe or Zionist movements, you are antisemitic.

Yes, even if you're a Jew.

A thing about the discourse of where antisemitism and antizionism interact is that

1) a fair amount of antizionists are neonazis, Islamists, Arab supremacists, and communists who believe ethnic self-identity is a barrier to World Revolution, who are just *barely* concealing it (if that)

2) a fair amount of antizionists base their antizionism on a denial of an element (or elements) of Jewish self-identity (denial of Jewish ethnicity, denial of ethnogenesis in the Levant), and a whole lot of Jews find non-Jews essentially arguing that they should get to define what Jews are and aren’t offensive (and antisemitic)

3) there are a fair amount of antizionists whose antizionism comes from a deep hatred of an element or elements of what they determine is evil about “western” society, and for some reason they have decided to obsessively focus on Israel and ignore other “western” countries. This may be genuinely not antisemitic, but it’s still fucked up and weird.

[vitaminwaterreviews]

After School - Virgin

Okay… Wow. Like, wow. I expected … I dunno, kinda shitty synthpop, something along the lines of Twicetagram? But it turns out First Love isn’t the exception to their sound: it’s actually a pretty good representation of what they can do. I really need to see the song average for my own sake, so let’s see:

Average score of 8.1 which is stupidly high compared to what I was expecting. But this album kind of shattered every expectation that I had for it. It was well-written, it was well-arranged, it kept me interested the whole way though. Raina impressed me, Nana and Lizzy did more of the Orange Caramel thing, the trainees blended in just fine. The MV was a bit weird but honestly kind of wholesome in the end.

And ultimately, this album really wanted me to look into more of their discography. Like, I keep coming back to the word “mature.” And when I say that, I don’t mean sexy: I mean mature. And this was just 2011! They existed for several years before and after this, with subunits and japanese releases and all of that. So I guess now I have so much more to look into.

-

Alright, I’ve just done some cursory Googling and already this album seems crazy. It’s got re-recorded versions of various singles, as well as some solo- and unit-songs. So really, less than half of this album is actually new, full-group content. But even more interesting, it features Kyung-Min, a “pre-school girl,” which is kind of a weird way of saying “trainee”. So I looked into it, and it seems like she won some sort of contest to become the newest member of After School, but she never actually debuted with the group! The only references to her are short, like a single sentence, so that’s kinda neat. Anyway, I heard Bang! one time like a year ago and I don’t remember a thing about it except that it was marching band themed.

Let’s Step Up

Steps

Breath?

More steps

Oh okay it’s rhythmic

Lol this is really cool

Okay here’s the synth

Yes I’m ready

“Ah ah hi ah ah ha”

Yeah this is cool, I really like this

9/10, I’m such a sucker for a good intro

Shampoo

I’ll watch the MV for this one, but not the others

Well she certainly is wearing a backpack

Photos

Oh okay we’re synthy now

Butts

Wow look at those waists

Yeah this is more or less what we’d expect

Dude what is this filter though

This song feels super AKB to me for some reason

Actually … maybe that makes sense

Yeah that groove with this instrumentation

The MV is lowkey kinda wholesome tho

Oh no she felllll

Okay wait but

Huh

Yeah that’s … a bit awkward

That said I do appreciate a nice instrumental break in a song

Wait whatttt no way she looks like 12

I know I haven’t talked much about the song but I’m vibing

I’m gonna Wikipedia this before I rate it

Wait there is no Wikipedia article!

Well my guess is that the new girl is E-Young, bc this probably would’ve been her first thing with the group

Alternatively its a pre-school girl

If it is E-Young, then she’s 18 in the video, so fair enough I guess

Okay wait these lyrics are kinda wild

Honestly I might regret this buuuuut

9/10

Virgin

Mkay we’re all buzzy now

It suddenly occurs to me that I don’t actually know Madonna’s Like A Virgin off the top of my head, and maybe that’s an issue here

Pretty straightforward synthpop so far though, kinda want more from it

“Diva diva diva”

Mkay that was a nice bridge, I’ll give it that

Also I really do enjoy the Vibe of this song

8/10

Bang !

Mkay yep we have some horns going on here

I dunno what to think of this tbh, I feel like I really ought to be seeing the MV here

Pretty vocal harmonies

I’m not convinced that this is very similar to the Bang! that I heard a while ago

But also I don’t know a thing about that Bang! so who knows

Okay I just clicked through the original and it’s pretty damn similar so I dunno

7/10

Play Ur Love

Mmmm this is nice

What a coincidence, I also wanna stay with them!

Woah her vocal tone is So neat here

Wait why the random synth?

This is unironically pretty though, like if you didn’t tell me that this was After School then I’d have guessed like, Apink maybe

9/10, I feel like I should stop giving these out so freely but I’m honestly so impressed by this

Dream

Pre-school girl #1

Nice 6/8 groove

This is fun, I dunno if I buy it though

Okay well the bridge kinda just saved this song for me, I was getting bored but that tied it together really nicely

Haha the saxophone

8/10 I guess finneeee

Because of You

Mmm piano

Whispering and vocoded vocals

Oh okay we get a nice hard rap out of nowhere

I totally buy this

I think strong rapping over an otherwise airy song is one of my favorite tropes

Also kind of getting 2NE1 Go Away vibes from the chorus and the vocoding

8/10

Depend on Time

Mkay, groovy

Nice acoustic guitar and kind of a slow jam groove

But it’s not a slow jam it’s more folky

Mmmm okay now that the bass is here, maybe it’s a slow jam

Their vocals! Are impressing me!

Mkay I guess this definitely fills the slow jam role, but it’s not nearly as … obnoxious as some others

Maybe I should revisit some of the old SM albums sometime

WHY ARE THE VOCALS SO PRETTY THOUGH

Ohhhh wait that was just Raina?? That’s actually fucking crazy holy shit

9/10, I just had to re-listen, I am so impressed by her like wow

Nothing to complain of

Piano moment

Honestly I’m amazed by how mature this album is? Like yeah they do their sexy thing and all that, but it’s clearly well-written and arranged and like it’s just well done

Compare to Twicetagram

Okay, this is the slow jam haha

I’m just never going to get over that Raina song though like wow

8/10

Funky Man

Right after I just got done calling them mature lmao

No for real though this is Great so far like wow

Nana, Lizzy, and a pre-schooler

Like, this feels way more Orange Caramel than Depend on Time

Although I think I do prefer Depend on Time more

Still, I appreciate this a lot, and it fits well in terms I album structure

Guitar moment

Yeah, this is nice

8/10

My Bell

I dunno who Jung-A is but apparently this is her solo

Well she certainly has a pretty voice

I would enjoy this song a lot more if IU did it, and I’m not sure if that’s because I prefer IU’s voice, or if it’s because IU’s name carries that much weight in my mind

It’s not a bad song at all, but I don’t really care for her voice in it, and also I don’t really care for the OST-style ballads

6/10

When I Fall

Piano~

Oh okay nice, glad we get a good beat here

And that was a synth hit

Lovely harmonies

Honestly this feels SO f(x) so far

Like if this was just casually the last song on Red Light or whatever then it wouldn’t feel at all out of place

(I love Paper Heart though don’t get me wrong)

I do hope this has like, a Grand Climax or something though

Mkay, it didn’t quite get to where I wanted it to, but still

8/10

[sloptime]

I that it’s wierd you have an issue with HtR hunters, but not like mortal hunters

then again you do seem like the person who would berate someone for joining the second Inquisition

I would berate someone for joining the IRL FBI, CIA or US military, so yeah a right wing vigilante group known for drone strikes, bombings and arsons on US soil? Against civilian targets? With such little regard for collateral damage or how many of their own people are sacrificed to bring down a handful of vampires? I'd have a problem with that, for the same reasons I have issues with right wing militias and the War on Terror (and the War on Drugs) now. You seem like the type of person to think the Imperium are the unironic good guys in 40k, and that RoboCop was an aspirational movie.

I think mortal hunters are fine, because plenty of vampires and shit are evil, and people have a right to defend themselves. There needs to be consequences for breaking the masquerade or flexing your powers without being careful or the game doesn't work. I just think the SI works best as an antagonist, being made up of evil real life organizations known for brutalizing civilians, deep corruption, and a jingoistic attitude towards military engagement. It makes sense to me that mortal hunters who join are gonna be used as disposable foot soldiers by an organization like that. Plus vampires VS the government? Pretty cool, and it makes sense. The department of defense would cream their pants if they found out that vampires are real, and they could leverage all their spending on 'terrorism' against the new threat. It's the modern war hawk's wet dream.

Imbued I think are dumb because I dislike it when people have super powers that don't come with inherent drawbacks and don't have a Halloween monster theme in World of Darkness, a game about monsters. They read to me like a weird Christian fascist fantasy about being some kind of paladin who hunts degenerate urbanites, and seem more at home in some kind of flash-in-the-pan marvel Disney+ series than a horror role playing game. Does it not kind of ruin the point of being a disadvantaged mortal fighting back against the monsters if you're just another supernatural, except with no cost to your powers? If you're not a Hunter because you've faced abuse from a monster and chosen to fight back with what little you have, but because an angel told you to be? It's like you won't play the hardest WoD game line without cheat codes. Lame. I have similar issues with most sorcerers in oWoD, kinnian, and mummies. From what I've seen CofD does a much better job in making sure that no supernatural power comes without a cost. That superhero shit is lame and makes the whole setting feel so dated and juvenile. Take that shit back to Mutants and Masterminds where it belongs.

Not to mention, there's no theme that the Imbuned cover that Werewolf doesn't cover better. Zealotry, the downfalls of a good vs evil ideology? The inherent issues of a warrior culture? Trying to square being a holy warrior against evil with the shades of grey the real world is cast in? It's all in werewolf, and with much more dimension and depth. HtR hunters can't even claim the underdog title over the Garou because they have the aforementioned superpowers with no drawbacks.

WoD got big back in the day because it felt cool and contemporary. If you want it to retain that effect for a modern audience, you have to cut the stupid shit that makes it feel dated and the Satanic Panic era propaganda is the second thing that's gotta be cut to do that. (The first thing being the rampant orientalism and racial stereotyping that soaks the setting). I'm sure in 10-20 years lots of stuff in the 5th Ed line will need to go through some kind of pruning again to fit whatever the shape of the world is by then. Having "modern" in the description line of your game just comes with that consequence.

And I don't wanna hear about how the drawback is they "know about the supernatural now" every single WoD player character deals with that, mortal or otherwise. It's not a drawback, it's an inherent part of the setting.

Unless you were talking about my issue with HtR5th in which case I think you misunderstand me, I don't really have a strong opinion on 5th edition Hunter other than that I'm glad they cut out Imbuned.

[metawatts]

Thanks for answering my question. That is regrettable to hear even though GL was still my favorite part of the movie. I guess it's kind of on brand because even the things I do like in RWBY are mired in terrible writing decisions. Out of curiosity what are your opinion on how much of the fandom seems to unironically this incarnation JC even going as far as making semi joking comments about how they wish they could have her stay since he was the only good part of the crossover?

I'll be entirely honest, and this is not aimed towards you because you've been great, but my opinion of the hardcore stans side of fndm is one that I never think can get lower, and then they all pull out the shovels and prove me wrong. However, that doesn't mean I don't understand where they come from on the tamer stuff (compared to some of the other fndm drama Jessica Cruz's whole Thing is tame and I think that reflects more on how bad the fndm drama can get then on her being whitewashed and woobified).

Like, I get why people like Jessica, it's a Character Type that's very popular with fans, it's the sort that fits perfectly into text post memes and incorrect quote jokes, she's now The Cute Scaredy-Cat, The Innocent Babey, #Protecc, which is a character type rwby hasn't really had as a single character on their own. (the 'broader flattening of characters in some media to be gif bait/incorrect quote fuel' issue looms faintly in the distance)

I mean, character-wise, everyone else in the JL is broadly heroic and inoffensively bland 90% of the time (aside from Bruce and Diana, who are so wildly OOC that it made my blood pressure spike), so having Jessica as the Quirky Silly really made her stand out, even if I think that rwby's favourite style of 'quirky silly humour where the characters move like twitchy cardboard cutouts and we have silly sound effects' is both lazy, awkward, often mistimed, and poorly-handled.

It clearly goes down well with devoted fans, for some reason I'll never understand, so I get why they would have clung onto Jessica in that way, and without being aware of just how badly they neutered her broader characterisation, she does have the most moments written with, well, intent to evoke emotion, aside from Jaune. Her anxiety monologue would ring true with people who have similar experiences, and her voice actress was really trying with what she was given.

Also, Jaune is beloved in the fndm, again for reasons I will not understand because while I like Jaune I do think he's a 'works best in smaller doses' character and also the fndm just. cannot characterise him in a likable way, so having the Quirky Shy One paired up with Fandom Fav really would make her endearing to people.

So, yeah. I get where it all comes from, I really do, and, again, I'm not gonna hate someone for finding joy in something I don't unless they're like, being bad about it, but that doesn't mean I think the same, that's all. The fndm can do what it wants, I don't have to like it, but I'm gonna stay in my lane and reserve the right to judge quietly.

[system-of-a-feather]

Just wanting to say I love this post and resonate with a lot of these points

Honestly for me the whole like... long time thing is one of the most astonishing things and I think about it almost daily. Days flow TOGETHER one into another as an extension of the previous day.

Before fusion every day literally felt like a new day. It kind of felt like a rogue-like where you did one run and a few things from that run carried over to the next, but for the most part it was an entire restart from square one.

Now? It's very much just one long long long long continuous experience with sleep marking points of rest. Tomorrow is just today but later

And this continuity is INSANE and surprising in how it changed how I approach my plans, my way of living, and how I spend my time and honestly, it took a lot of pressure off me to use my time "efficiently" cause theres always the next day

Also the whole disability and not being able to push past limits like you used to is so real though. Honestly before fusion my autism was really negligible, but I'm unironically kind of being kept up right now because of stress and symptoms TM regarding it now and its honestly something I have to consider MORE than my PTSD / DID when making large plans

I chalk that up to largely being due to the fact my brain can actually tolerate processing it and being aware of it rather than repressing it until I crash and burn out due to not addressing my needs

and honestly, I actually have no real issues not being able to take dissociative breaks and haven't for a while cause tbh I don't really feel the need, largely cause life is so vibrant and theres so much for me to do and honestly, most simply, I just enjoy life too much to want to take a break from it.

But man I see your excitement and joy and MAD feel it and Im both happy and honored to be able to share the similar euphoria / joy

Things I've experienced post-Final Fusion:

All of a sudden, the days felt really... really... really long. I never really felt like there was any time in the day prior to final fusion; living my life in parts, I had never experienced such continuous flow of time before. It's long.

It feels like I now have a lot more time to do things in the day, and I have to be careful not to push myself too hard. I've found myself being online less and less and getting a lot more involved in my offline hobbies and reading. I have a lot more time to work towards things I want to do.

I can actually think about and plan for the future now, and it's incredibly exciting. I talk to my partner constantly about it. I am very excited about the future.

I can remember so much more of my childhood, things I never thought I would ever remember I now do. That being said, there are still things I don't remember, likely tied to other memory issues, and I've made my peace with that.

While my memory certainly got significantly better in many ways, I've realized I struggle with non-dissociative memory issues as well, and I will live with those issues for the rest of my life; it's just how my brain developed, and that's okay.

Speaking of memory, I can remember things freely that before were limited to the memory banks of my individual parts. I no longer have to worry about what parts hold which memories and go about tracking them down; I as a whole either remember something or I don't, and of my memories, I can remember any of them whenever I want.

I feel a sense of ownership over my life, over my memories and my sense of self and my body. I can look at it all and very confidently say "that's me", and I feel and know it to be 100% true. A long way away from not being able to recognize myself in the mirror.

I can't dissociatively "take a break" from life the way I used to (ie switching out and letting another part handle it), and while it took a long adjustment period to get used to this, I'm okay with that; I have other ways to take breaks while still being present, I can listen to music or watch videos. If I really just need to be unconscious, I take a nap.

I had to come to terms with the fact I couldn't push myself past my limits anymore in the way that I used to, and that this is in fact an expression of self-care for me. I used to be able to push far past what I should have been able to, especially with regards to physical pain, and to some extent I can still do this under specific circumstances, but it is no longer something that I will do in my day-to-day life living with disability and chronic pain.

Actually existing in my body now, I have come to realize just how much chronic pain I have been in. It's made me a lot more alert to my needs and how to care for myself, what makes it better and what makes it worse.

When people say "there's always a chance you'll split again", it doesn't scare me; it comforts me to know my brain would still know how to cope if such an extreme situation occured that I needed to split again. I've worked through dissociative barriers, I could do it again. I know what lies at the end of that path is love.

No part of me has ever gone away. Even fully fused, we are all still here. I can even still communicate with myself as parts if I choose to. I still have parts, they just look different now. There are no barriers between us.

My parts held a lot of different aspects of my identity to them, aspects I'm still to this day sorting out. I've had a lot of realizations about who I am as a person post-final fusion, especially with regards to gender and disability. A lot of things about myself were formerly very heavily fragmented and dissociated which no longer are, and I'm still making sense of them.

I no longer experience flashbacks and nightmares. This is a major thing for me I sometimes still am in disbelief about, my nightmares used to be so severe that I would refuse to sleep because of them, and my flashbacks were horrible and caused very intense physical sensations. I no longer have them, and that's incredible.

Life is so much more vivid and colorful than I ever realized. I never realized how dull everything felt and looked before final fusion. It feels like a complete perspective shift that is hard to grasp in words.

I can feel my body so much more now physically than I ever could before. I feel each of my limbs, I feel changes in temperature, I feel my own breath, I feel different textures and sensations, everything I hear and see and feel and taste has so much more depth to it now.

I have emotions! A whole lot of them, and I can feel all of them. I can feel emotions that might be percieved as "contradictory" at the same time, I can feel emotions over little things and big things and just about anything at all. I'm no longer limited to feeling my emotions in parts, and it's incredibly freeing.

On that note, I have so much more emotional capacity now for feeling all of the love I have for myself and others. It's wonderful. I can't shut up about it.

[subbyfoxelf]

[comic review] aliens vs. predator (1989-91)

writer: randy stradley artists: phil norwood & karl story 

as the story goes, the first alien vs. predator comics were the result of a brainstorming session between writers and executives at dark horse comics. they were apparently initially discussing doing some sort of crossover with dc comics, and as we’ll see in part 2 of this review that would eventually end up happening. but during the meeting they apparently realized that they could get started with a pretty big crossover between two entities they already owned. it would be simpler to pull off, and more profitable for them if it worked out.

the first alien vs. predators stories appeared as in issues 34-36 of the dark horse presents anthology series in 1989. with the success of this trial balloon, dark horse would move on to give alien vs. predator its own 4-issue miniseries in 1990, with the previously anthologized short story collected as alien vs. predator #0. the last story considered part of this run was another short that appeared in the dark horse presents fifth anniversary special in 1991. collectively, the two short stories acted as a sort of prologue and epilogue to the miniseries.

the story here is understandably quite straightforward, but considering some of the media tie-in comics i’ve slogged through recently (robocop vs. terminator…) i was pleasantly surprised by just how well-executed the whole thing is. i’m on record as a paul w.s. anderson stan and an unironic fan of his avp movie in particular, but i gotta say i actually think the story in this comic makes a lot more sense and i’d love to see a movie somewhat closer to this. (i still want the paul w.s. anderson movie though. i’m greedy.)

i appreciate the setting being alien’s futuristic one rather than predator’s contemporary one. the mechanics of getting the xenomorphs and yautja to fight each other are pretty similar between this and the movie, with the yautja dropping some xenomorph eggs on a world to hunt them for sport. and machiko being adopted by broken tusk–the yautja she befriends–is also echoed in the movie with lex being adopted by scar.

so the broad strokes are similar, it’s mostly just the setting and details that are different. plus the comic was able to be a bit less restrained with huge clashes between multiple xenomorphs and yautja. i’m really glad this crossover is as good as it is, and it’s got me looking forward to further stories set in this continuity.

b-rank

[barrenclan]

“Issue #8: Do You Really Think That’s Your Destiny?”

I’ve been looking forward to drawing this issue for awhile! Daffodilpaw hasn’t gotten much exploration in the story yet, but I’m really fond of her. She seems like a simple relentless optimist, but sometimes she’ll open her mouth and unironically say the most insane depressing thing you’ve ever heard. Like I’ve said, none of the apprentices in this story are remotely okay. 

Her injury is somewhat similar to Cinderpelt’s in how it manifests, as her leg from the shin down is paralyzed. However her upper thigh still works fine, and in any case three-legged cats don’t actually live any worse than four-legged ones. This is all moot against canon Warriors comparison anyways, because in PATFW healers still hunt and patrol. Daffodilpaw can’t run or fight as well as the others but she doesn’t really need to! Not much need in BarrenClan. All to say that canon-typical discrimination against disabled cats isn’t a part of Daffodilpaw’s story and I shall not be engaging with it. 

Yeah, her repressed feelings of misplaced survivor’s guilt and pressure to perform for her authority figures is a whole OTHER can of worms!

Previous < > Next

[beardedmrbean]

What are your thoughts on Tennessee Republicans pushing a bill that would legalize child marriage?

Got into that yesterday a little bit.

:::::Disclaimer, this is me positing a scenario and does not necessarily reflect my own personal views on any of this, I just like thought problems like this and considering motivations:::::

For starters it's already legal there so not legalizing anything, they're just removing the need for parental consent.

But only if you're straight.

Before you think about crucifying me, there's a reason I put it like that.

I think it's a stunt bill, not a serious one that anyone wants to try and get passed, they're making a point.

What it will do, and is already doing, is generating significant outrage from people that don't believe minors should be able to make that kind of decision on their own or (rightly) believe that they will be manipulated and taken advantage of by people who are older and make life altering decisions that they may not fully understand the weight of at their current stage of mental development.

And I think you can see where I'm going with this.

Gonna be really easy to take the people that are outraged over this and then point out that it might just be hypocritical of them to be willing to let kids transition, which is another huge life altering decision.

What you think a 14 year old girl has the mental capacity to go in and request a double mastectomy and hormones but not to agree to marriage?

There's also in with the parental consent bit probably a few points to be made about the current school curriculum issues going on around the country.

Oh so now you think parents should have a say, that's a bit different than you were saying when you were talking about what classes and books and lessons and such were going to be taught in school, back then you said the parents should stay out of it and let the 'experts' decide.

So which is it?

That kind of thing. ______________________

That or they're demons.

But the bit up above feels like the most plausible scenario to me.

Dems did it with a different bill a while back, not entirely the same thing but in the concept wheelhouse.

Had a whole warehouse of money that was supposed to go out to farmers, but the caveat was if you were white it's pointless to apply for it because you'll be considered last just for being white.

Violates the equal protection clause of the civil rights act and the people that wrote it knew that and knew it would wind up in court and the whole racial aspect would get tossed.

But the people that wrote it could say 'look we tried to do this but those ebil republikkkans took it to court and took this money that we illegally apportioned to you away'

Similar thing just happened in CA too, corporate diversity mandate from gavin got tossed because it violated the civil rights act. ____________

So this bull is just another variation on a political trick that politicians have been doing forever.

That's my best guess at least.

If it's unironic and straight forward, then they're demons.

Hope this makes sense.

[indigochromatic]

Hm. The way I think about it, "system accountability" is recognizing and internalizing that no matter how distinct and whole we are individually, we're still interdependent. Because we're in this whole thing together, for better or worse. (Like a spaceship crew, or, y'know, all of planet earth, if you want to get philosophical.) This means thinking about and taking responsibility for how my own individual actions impact not only myself but also us collectively and the other member(s) of my system (hey, L) individually. If I have a bad day and fuck up our body--well, we only have one of those, so she also has to use it. If I'm an ass to her friends, she'd be (rightfully) mad at me, because even if they're people I don't really care about personally, I've just done the moral equivalent of walking into my housemate's room and broken her stuff (in this case, damaged relationships of hers). Dude, what the fuck. Similarly, if I'm having a rough time and L just ignores me/it for weeks, I'm gonna be (rightfully) mad, too, because, as a system, I need some amount of cooperation and help from her to fix that shit. I can't always just shove her out of front and fix it myself--sometimes I'm too deep in the back, sometimes I've already fronted for 3 days and literally Just Can't anymore, etc--so we have to be a team.

We share a brain, so if I'm depressed, we're depressed: just because it hits me first doesn't mean it won't hit her too eventually. Likewise, frustrations that I have don't just "float away and magically get fixed" if I'm not in front (fun fact: that's called repression, kids!), and self-hatred issues that she has are still "in our brain somewhere" until we fix them. Neither of us can just 'walk away' from the other one's problems, because even if one of us went dormant, all of that baggage and the underlying issues beneath it would still be there, even if it took a while to make it back up to the surface. If we only have one car and I pop the front left tire, it doesn't matter if that's "my side of the car" and not hers--the whole car's still fucked, lol. Unironically, we talk about system stuff in therapy in very similar ways to couples therapy, because on some level, yeah--our life is a group project now. It's a relationship, and relationships take work.

To us, that's how we see our system overall, and why that unavoidable interconnectedness and interdependency doesn't clash at all with seeing ourselves as full individuals. Yeah, it's a closer level of interdependence than two people with their own bodies and brains usually have. So what? Every different interpersonal "orbit distance" between two (or more) people comes with its own challenges and benefits, its own versions of healthy and unhealthy; this is ours, and the more we take care of it, the more it gives back to us.

I'm curious to open up this discussion, so:

What does "system accountability" mean to you?

I have my own feelings I just want to open up a discussion post