#violence unlimited

[imvgeswrestling]

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[nitewrighter]

So last night I was watching the JLU episode "The Man Who Has Everything" and the plot synopsis was, "Wonder Woman and Batman visit Superman at the Fortress of Solitude for his birthday, only to discover he's been captured by Mongul." And I'm walking in like "Cool, fun, I'm going to see Bruce and Diana punching Mongul while surrounded by a whole bunch of nifty little Fortress of Solitude easter eggs" but NO it turns out that 80% of the episode is Clark trapped in an Illusory Krypton where he has everything he wanted and it turns out that just boils down to being a chill Dad on a farm (but also the farm is on Krypton which didn't die and also his dad is still alive). And when Clark finally realizes that this Krypton is an illusion, he takes his son by the shoulders and he's like "I love you and I'm so proud of you and I remember the day you were born and how it was the happiest day of my life and I am packed with all of these amazing memories of watching you grow up but I don't think you're real" and you straight-up feel your heart get ripped out of your chest at the concept of Supes having to make the conscious decision to part with all this to get back to reality and save his friends

And when Superman finally breaks free of the illusory Krypton he goes completely apeshit on Mongul and it's so satisfying.

But then also Bruce gets trapped in the same 'prison of what you most desire' and it turns out he just wants to see his dad beat the shit out of the dude that killed him and Martha.

It's honestly kind of funny because Clark's 'perfect prison' was this highly complex conceptualization of Krypton where Jor-El is talking about how it took him years to salvage his reputation after mistakenly predicting Krypton's destruction, and Clark's wife is this obvious fusion of both Lois and Lana, and Clark has to remind his kid to take the dog out, and it keeps cutting back to Bruce's fantasy which is just "Hell yeah, Thomas, beat his ass."

[dragonkid11]

Hypermall Unlimited Violence by Rat Bastard Games is a mission-based corpo murder TTRPG about assassinating the rich and famous. Enter the consumerist hellscape of THE HYPERMALL where death is cheap and life is cheaper. HM:UV is an unhinged gonzo meatpunk sci-fi dystopia buzzword game for financial geniuses.

[shallowseeker]

Real quick... do you think of Sam and Dean (and other hunters) as blue collar jobs?

Hunting can take on a couple of different meaning, I think, depending on how you go at it (i.e. criminal, American action-hero, cowboy, outlaw, low-class/working class, even humble/noble.)

With respect to how many characters talk about hunting, it's definitely low-class... ish? Many angels look down on humans as maggots and mud monkeys, of course, but specifically, you get Henry from the MoL calling hunters "apes" and Dr. Hess calling hunters "dogs." Henry Winchester was horrified to learn about Sam and Dean being in the hunter class. (Legacies are obviously better, more noble.)

SAM: Our father taught us how to be hunters. HENRY: [laughs] You're not. Are you? Hunters? Well, hunters are... Hunters are apes. You're supposed to – you're legacies. & HENRY: You're more than that, actually. My father and his father before him were both Men of Letters, as John and you two should have been. We're preceptors, beholders, chroniclers of all that which man does not understand. We share our findings with a few trusted hunters – the very elite. They do the rest. 8x12 As Time Goes By

&

DR. HESS: Hunters are dogs, Mr. Davies. You give them an order, and they obey. That's how it works. 12x17 The British Invasion

At the very least, hunters looked upon as soldiers to be used, who do the dirty work but have little agency.

///

There is a certain disdain that angels use with regards to humans, but Cas seems to regard hunting as noble, even humble.

Of course, compared to the brutality of angelic warfare, perhaps it is. Angels are hunters on steroids.

The worst thing Mary could imagine for her sons was them becoming hunters; perhaps the worst thing Cas can imagine for Jack is him becoming like an angel/soulless. He's more worried about Claire's vengefulness and being used by Randy than he is about her striking out under Jody's tutelage to become a balanced hunter. And with Jack, he's proud of his hunter-mindset:

CAS (to JACK): Well, what you did today made me so proud. You know, learning to hold your own in a fight without your powers. That takes time and training, but today you proved that you have the mind of a hunter and the heart of a hunter. 14x03 The Scar

///

And while not hunting per se, I feel like Kelvin the Angel also looks down on Earth and hunting with a big of disdain that feels "low-brow." "Smells like hay," he says.

What Cas views as noble and down-to-earth, Kelvin finds rather... kitschy.

KELVIN: I don't. Look, I know you're working with the Winchesters. Sam and Dean -- their hearts are in the right place, but wouldn't it be better to have us waiting in the proverbial wings? All the power of Heaven behind you? [Cas considers this doubtfully] KELVIN: You ever miss it? Upstairs? I mean, don't get me wrong. I love Earth. It's quirky. It smells like hay. But it's not home, is it? 12x15 Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell

///

Then, you get the heroes! Like Claire, who has a bit of a romanticized vigilante perspective, as she tries to save "younger versions of herself" from slipping through society's cracks:

MAN: Who the hell do you think you are? [CLAIRE breaks his nose and gains the upper hand; she pulls out a knife from her boot and stabs him.] CLAIRE: I kill monsters. That’s who the hell I am. [CLAIRE walks over to AMANDA, her lip is cut and bleeding.] Your mother’s been looking for you. It’s going to be okay. 13x10 Wayward Sisters

///

In general I think hunting is higher in the pecking order than (or at least "cooler" than) minimum-wage work. This can be seen in Dean's attitude towards gas station jobs: i.e. his "You're better than this!" attitude when faced with gas-station-clerk-Cas.

(Aside/// Though admittedly, Dean was motivated to convince Cas to quit. "You're better than this, so become a hunter with me!" It seemed like the whole episode was Dean warring between wanting to take Cas home against Gadreel's wishes and with the idea of Cas being better off where he is.)

But that said, they're definitely lower than most regular jobs and stuff we see in the 'burbs. The Campbells've got a chip on their shoulder, for example, when they see Dean's fancy house and his leisure-class-coded golf clubs.

We also note that many of the hunters are Scots and Irish (Rowena MacLeod Scottish, Eileen Leahy Irish), while the "higher class" BMoL are clearly more "British," and high-class British at that. "Lady Tony Bevell" etc.

The use of flannel is also meaningful in this regard... Although historically linked to aristocracy and family identification, in today's world, the flannel tartan is more commonly associated with casual wear... and is often linked to working-class and outdoor or country lifestyles. (I think it's very meaningful with Cas's coat becomes plaid-lined!)

And while not universally true, there's also weight to "lower classes" having less resources and needing to do more communal styles living/familial support/resource sharing���all things that more uppity classes seek to tear apart and/or identify as Weird/Unnatural (TM). The old divide and conquer, maestro. It's weird when we share nepotism, but corporate nepotism is just gravy.

Historically, families often lived together in larger, more communal units, and the division of family members into separate, independent households is a relatively recent phenomenon in human history. The historical trend of families living together in extended units was altered by the forces of industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of consumer capitalism, which favored the nuclear family structure as a way to segment the market and increase consumption.

IMHO: Today, many folks are taking a hard look at the benefits of communal/extended family living, because a lot of us need to collective support and shared resources (over consumer-driven independence). You would not believe the difference I get in commentary today about living with my extended fam versus even ten years ago.

////

I think my favorite angle to take on hunting is actually something a bit related to the idea of, for lack of a better culture term, an "religious untouchable." Hyam MacCoby talks a bit about this is The Sacred Executioner. Sacred executioners/ritual killers are a respected-but-despised designated underclass, necessary for many historical societies to function.

Typically, this underclass is outcast due to the complicated nature of their work. There is duality in the sacred and profane. They are seen as agents of justice or ritual purification, but their work also associated them with death and impurity, leading to social ostracism, a parallel to "untouchability."

Demons are obviously a bit lower than hunters but still analogous in the "work they do" is unsavory:

NAOMI (about MEG): She does know the location of the crypts. But working with a demon is... unclean. 8x17 Goodbye Stranger

This is a little controversial as a topic, as some scholars feel like it's an idea that people pretzel around to "force-fit across cultures." But narratively, I think hunters fit this well! (Angels even moreso with their immortality and via Naomi “slaying of the first-norms.) It accounts for the duality of being both revered and hated (not to mention its complicated relationship to purification i.e. Sam and purity, Purgatory, Natural born Killer Mary, even salt, and so on...). I personally favor it, even as a niche explanation because it fits for me in a way that more modern class distinctions do not.

[zot3-flopped]

How do you know maya called his team and they put him in a rehab place?

I've read Maya's book, Looking Forward, and she talks about it there. I suggest you do the same as you're clearly still a stan of that appalling man.

Here's an extract from the book that might change your mind:

[emergoatlover]

[amechyofsorts]

[vikugnavikugna]

Hypermall Unlimited Violence is having a physical release and I am seriously worried it won't get funded as is; hence, I am using my VAST SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM [the 2 people who like my posts no matter how unrelated they are to whatever originally earned me the follow] to advertise it. It's genuinely one of the funniest ttrpgs I ever read and I beat myself daily for not running it still. 45 of Canada's own dollars for a physical book - get to it, you worm.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hammercitygames/hypermall-unlimited-violence-physical-release?ref=thanks-copy

[dnds]

does anyone have any actual play pods to rec for me that are like. clearly an amateur group of friends trying to make something professional-- not even joking i find these kinds of pods and their awkward sincerity so charming. points if it's not dnd

[voidfell]

FROM THE INBOX: "I'm a nice person but I'm about to start throwing rocks at people." (Ainsley @ Chad) / @arcencielreve

"Honestly, if you don't I will. I am certifiably not a nice person."

It would be a terrible idea for him to start throwing rocks, but 'throwing rocks' was a feeling Chad felt deep in his soul, and had felt since not long before his 13th Birthday. Throwing rocks used to solve all of his problems, why should he think it would be any different now? Unless it got him in trouble with his parents.

[chaiaurchaandni]

im seeing a lot of people say peaceful protests are not effective.

and honestly, if you feel that way, please buy a gun and shoot the american president.

im not even joking, you wanna be effective? take action. people dont do assassinations like they used to. but that can always be changed.

[crimeronan]

As a chronic migraine haver. We should get to kill with impunity always. In my opinion

thank you i agree. i kept trying to make a post about how many people i would absolutely kill with a death note over petty fandom disagreements and then was like nobody wants to see this. it's true though. i am self-aware enough to know that my position in the leftist revolution commune or whatever needs to be far FAR away from any justice or rehabilitation based stuff because i DO want to just kill everyone to solve all my problems.

[yourdicc]

??faker ?

[lazy-universes]

i can't actually fucking believe one of my greatest spiritual breakthroughs in this year came from mel medarda's character arc in arcane

hand study as an excuse to draw mel

[amechyofsorts]

[vikugnavikugna]

They will keep you Down Here for as long as they want and if you try to escape into the clutches of death they will rip you right out and make you pay for it (literally, it ain't cheap)