#vs the stuff they translate extremely literally or even don't translate at all

[memorys-skyscraper]

yakuza drinking game- take a shot every time kiryu has a line that consists exclusively of:

the name of the person he's currently speaking to

nani?

sou ka...

omae.....

kuso....!

dou iu imi da?

kakatte koi!

[doggirling]

official warrior cats au sir arthur/meadowstar redux... my main problem with his original design was that he didn't look lion-esque enough in my opinion (which is crucial for arthur in starstruck), so i changed up his chest fur a bit to make it much more mane-like! :P

+ realistic fur color alt !!! he is still green in catstruck (we are not aiming for 100% realism here) but i still wanted to make an alt version that'd show what type of normal fur coloring he'd have. i was wracking my brain over what coloring he'd be but my dear oomf rudy gave me a good pointer so he turned out to be a goldish-tan! i like it a lot because it still feels like arthur in a way (being how it matches his golden armor) ^^

other notes below. these are probably just rambly but they're things i didn't write on the actual picture to prevent cluttering. and just to remind or give anybody a heads up, this is a warrior cats au for my kirby story/ocverse. ⬇️

he's a fairly big + broad cat, even if you take away the extra size his thick fur visually adds. he's not as large as some others in this au (ie: dedede, cocoba, mallory, nightmare are all prob the biggest ones), but he's still on the large side of cats.

this was NOT an intentional design aspect i made consciously but thanks to another one of my oomfs attention to detail, i realized i made his tail look a lot like the plume on his helmet!!!

as stated i did not notice i did this the first time i designed him, and i then forgot and literally did not realize i did it AGAIN until that exact same oomf pointed it out like 'wow i love how his tail still looks like his plume 😮'. i have unintentionally made his tail look like his plume twice now without even realizing it.

still not exactly sure what clan he's leader of. i initially considered skyclan but that clan fit floralia so much better, so that got scrapped. i think he's still alive with some of his clanmates, but its a bit of a similar situation as to how shadowclan chased out windclan in the books, just to a VERY extreme and prolonged extent. like how nightmare defeated the gsa/star warriors in krbay, and they went into hiding for a long while before returning to aid in the final battle against him.

he and nightstar are obviously still nemeses/sworn enemies in this au. relations between their respective clans were extremely unfriendly/hostile, which wasn't helped by nightstar's more... vindictive, wrathful, and arrogant tendencies, alongside his dubious schemes. typical hero vs villain stuff.

um. despite all that, i think in catstruck, meadowstar and nightstar are gonna have to. well. break the warrior code a tad bit to have a fleeting secret affair, in order for chavra (ie: mossshade) to exist in this au. i normally wouldn't put arthurnight in here since that's a ship of mine that i only consider actually shippable in certain circumstances/stories, but i really don't think there's any possible way for the whole cloning aspect of chavra's creation to take place in catstruck, even with the fantasy rules already bent quite a bit. so she's just gonna have to get here the 'natural' way. i'll work out what was happening between those two later. but hey at least we're living up to canon warrior cat plot drama.

and before anyone asks, with starstruck story context translated into warrior cats context, nightstar was the one that carried and inevitably gave birth to mossshade. he's already dabbling in literal magic in catstruck, so i guess he might've been able to do some... sex-change stuff...??? IDK

mentored maplethorn (sir percival/falspar) and probably someone else before he became deputy/leader.

ive been sitting here for a fucking hour just writing facts about this guy so im cutting it off here. peace and love but i knew i was yapping

[weishenmewwx]

Stars of Chaos 杀破狼

by Priest, translated by Seven Seas

Notes & Annotations List (by me)

I am truly impressed that Seven Seas had this translated. Major kudos to the translators. Maybe it’s just me and my not-advanced Chinese reading level, but I find the writing style of Stars/Priest-in-general to be extremely …. Juicy. Rich. Savory: if there is a 4-word phrase concisely describing something elaborately and with deep historical context, Priest will use that phrase. If Priest can refer to Character A in a manner that immediately conveys Character B's feelings and emotions about that Character A, she will use that reference style instead of any simple name or pronoun.

Sadly, none of those idioms or reference styles translate well into English.

For me, reading Priest in Chinese is like reading an epic story off a wall mural in an ancient temple, but add jewels and engravings and some filigree in precious metals, and maybe leave some imperial armor and weapons lying around to trip over while trying to decipher some crazy-long sentence punctuated only with commas, no periods or semicolons or even long dashes in sight. It's amazing, but sometimes exhausting, and especially exhausting if I finally puzzle my way through a truly difficult passage only to realize "Ah. Chang Geng is theorizing about the potential short vs long-term consequences of different types of monetary policy. Sarcastically."

Anyway, here are some notes. A few are literal translations that you would have gotten two sentences later; a few are of wordplay that I really enjoyed but which didn't survive translation. A fair number are translations that you could have looked up in the glossary, but, really, who wants to spend their time looking up "shifu" vs "shishu" from a minor unnamed character?

(After reading Vol 2:) AND it looks like Priest edited and changed her work just a little bit for print translation, but I love her (pirated) online version so much that I really really want you to know what I read and how much I love it.

The more important notes are fun cultural references and really tricky translations that I tripped over so badly that I had to go back to the original and figure out how to explain in English.

(Vol. 2) AND stuff that may have been edited out before translation. I mean, you don't want to miss even half a sentence that Priest wrote, do you?!?!?

Volume 1 (Volume 2 below the cut)

Notes 1, pages 12 - 81

Notes 2, pages 86 - 146

Notes 3, pages 148 - 202

Notes 4, pages 203 - 245

Notes 5, pages 249 - 281

Notes 6, pages 288 - 414

Notes 7, pages 415 - end

Volume 2

Notes 1, pages 21 - 46

Notes 2, pages 48 - 62

Notes 3, pages 63 - 87

Notes 4, pages 90 - 144

Notes 5, pages 153 - 237

Notes 6, pages 263 - 333

Notes 7, pages 339 - 366

Notes 8, pages 370 - end

Back to the Masterlist of all the books I'm making notes on.

[cishetamine]

the worst person in the world (2021) letterboxd review (already crossposted this to twt but reposting here for………'research'[you'll see)]

funny how i originally thought this movie was adapted from a novel even BEFORE a major character contracted a terminal illness (aka like one of the most common things that can happen to a character in a Realistic Fiction Novel, right after infidelity). it just has that MFA vibe!

this movie feels like a deceptive advertisement for living in norway. isn't it mostly cold there ? (update: i have looked up the average winter monthly temperatures in oslo & theyre actually pretty much the same as where i live. whooops!!)

the music in this is good when it’s good & rly annoying when it’s not

hilarious and insane that norway’s indie comics scene is (or is at least depicted as being) exactly the same as in the US—i.e., dominated by edgy cishet dudes all too willing to use mere shock factor as an excuse for originality

like…he has characters whose names are translated as “Dick Wolf Dick” & “Pedo the Parrot” which, come ON but also that literally is what these guys are like……like. So true besty

& yet ! i also can't help but sympathize w/ the comic boyfriend re: the Great Endless Cancel Culture Debate bc ppl have also told me stuff like, “i hate all the people in your comics”

which like! Fair, i don't intend for my characters to be Nice People (well ok some of them are well-intentioned but also kinda hopeless/lost causes)

but also the bf (well, ex-bf—in more ways than 1!!) is exactly right—comics are where i put all the horrible thoughts in my brain that i can’t exorcize by any other means!

love that she shares my hobby of “lying to strangers at parties”……she’s so cool

this movie has a lot of fun little moments that feel pointily realistic: (e.g.: getting interrupted repeatedly while fooling around w/ someone at a party bc you’ve decided to canoodle one another in the Designated Bed Where Everyone Puts Their {Admittedly Extremely Soft + Sensual} Coats, and now everyone is coming to get their jackets & keeps walking in on u while you're trying to snog)

^ another such moment: when her dad says that the link to the libfem girlpower-vibes sex article she wrote doesn’t work, & it’s up to us to decide if there’s actually an issue with his phone or he was just being squeamish abt sex

i wouldn’t call these "wow just like irl lmao" moments exactly the same as the ones in a coen bros movie, but they’re similar imo ? like, those are always my favorite things abt their films (the violence is fine but usually kind of boring to me at this point. like, okay, he has a gun, great. can we bring back the wood chipper? no, too expensive? well how about the cattle stunner thingy, do you still have that thingamajig laying around?)

nah i'm talking like, the way they make the pauses in an ordinary conversation as awkwardly real as possible. ofc when they do it it's often bc there's some sort of double entendre[not necessarily sexual] going on, like w/ the confusion re: the kidnapping in fargo or the student trying to cheat in a serious man. but lebowski has a lot of fun realistic conversationy stuff that's just plain weird, which i guess i'm comparing this more to?

wait. Holy shit. is it at all true that “most women don’t like giving blowjobs”!?!?!?!? Like What the FUCK. is this a straight vs gay thing??? i don’t get it……what could turn u on more than being good at making yr partner cum??? (ok well i can think of several things actually but literally why are u having sex w/ someone unless it’s mutually enjoyable i——???? honestly this was maybe the least believable part of the movie 4 me :// can straight women PLEASE weigh in on thisPLEAAAASEEEEE!!!!!!)

re: “they’ve housebroken bobcat” I HAVE TO KNOW whether the bit abt removing the cartoon cat’s butthole was in response to CATS (2019).

this movie feels like propaganda from the norwegian board of tourism. case in point: basically all of the action happens in summer. also, that scene where she runs outside and the world is frozen in time feels kinda like an ad. sorry if my brain has been broken by america superb owl commercial culture :(

it’s fascinating to see a film that’s so contemporary & relatable but also not quite my own life??? kinda like the gaggle of cishet-presenting girls i saw on the train recently—bc i was aware of most of the celebrity gossip & news stuff they were talking abt, but i still came away feeling like i inhabit a very different—albeit parallel—world from them. for more context, here is my best try at a transcript of their convo: www.tumblr.com/cishetamine/701574180800479232/lily-rose-depp-they-were-calling-her-a-nepo

(p.s. please don't get mad at me for snooping on strangers, i'm just one of many credulous clods who once heard that u can get better at writing by transcribing how ppl really talk. & from there i got obsessed w/ doing this whenever someone is having an interesting convo near me. also most importantly, i didn't write down any personally identifying info & also these ppl are totally anonymous anyway. so plz enjoy @ yr leisure!)

love how this dude reminisces abt being a Record Store / Video Store / Comic Store guy !!! i.e., he’s an alt bro!!! love that for him. it's so cute that norway has hipsters too<3 squee!

also luv how "i just took a dna test turns out / i'm 3.1% sami" is the norwegian equivalent of “my great grandmother was a cherokee princess” cosplaying indigeneity

^ overall tho, the extinction rebellion-core gf feels kinda way too flat & one-note……but also i literally know ppl who are like that!! like i've had friends who were into radical veganism + environmentalism & it did seem kind of culty……which is not to say that ppl shouldn't be vegan or environmentalist, of course! but i have absolutely seen it turn into Unhealthy Polycule Drama & we've just seen where that leads, cough FTX / EAs, cough

no but it’s fascinating how this depiction of norwegian ~radical~ environmentalism compares to the scene in the US. for instance i feel like i’ve never heard an american state that they chose not to fly across the ocean bc it would increase their carbon footpri——wait no actually yes i have heard this, but specifically in the context of academic conferences, never like, regarding travel for fun. Interesting difference here!

(^ also, those were basically only professors on twitter who were saying that, not ppl i know in real life. so another level of remove from me)

[meanwhile i would chop off one of my less-important fingers in exchange for being able to fly across the ocean, environment be damned] [anyway tbh i figure it wouldn’t be thaaaaaat evil so long as i was able to stay in that other country for at least several months, as opposed to business travelers who frequently fly back & forth. but i would want to stay bc i would be desperate to learn the language!

which language, you ask? why, my answer is—Yes!]

anyway enough feeling sorry for myself for not being rich. time to feel sorry for imaginary movie ppl instead!

“i don’t want to be the sensible choice while she’s the sexy one” damn that makes a lot of sense! i definitely feel that re: pressure to be Exciting & Spontaneous & Ever-Flexible so that ppl will find u attractive / alluring instead of setting boundaries (given the choice between setting a boundary vs having sex with someone hot, i will almost always choose the latte——ah, but you see, posting this in a public forum where people i've had sex with can read it is itself an act of performati——

So about the main character. We don’t get much interiority of her, like aside from the stuff at the beginning abt her various major + career changes, we don't get to hear directly the thoughts she is thinking—not just bc we don't hear much in the way of interior monologue, but also bc she doesn't explain herself to the ppl around her.

like, she didn't tell her then-bf that there was in fact another guy—which like, honestly, if i were in her situation, i might also take the coward's route! especially if she feared jealous retribution from her current bf. but we don't know if she fears that, bc we never see her talk to her FRIENDS, bc for all we know, she doesn't have any!!!!

which feels very……hard for me to believe? bc i have never met a woman who did not have Friends. (& supposedly guys tend to have fewer pals, but even they usually seem to at least have like, Gamer Buds, idk! i know i always did back when i was a Gamer in high school, even if i was kinda withdrawn irl.)

so i'm left wondering—are we supposed to see her as genuinely friendless? & if so, what does that say abt her?

or are we just supposed to assume that the movie doesn't want to show her friends? if that's the case, why would it make that decision??

if we as viewers are supposed to actually believe that she doesn't have friends that she can confide in whom she is not romantically involved with……it rly paints a very specific (& melancholy!) picture of her as a person. bc that's a stereotype i mostly associate w/ Isolated Guys, but yet she is not that! (i would like to be her friend & talk abt photography..)

still not sure how i feel abt the freeze-time gimmick. Like on the 1 hand—it’s giving crazy ex girlfriend tv show. But also………idk it looks kinda cool regardless!

between this & tár, i feel sooo…………something abt watching 2 movies in a short timespan that contain Bitingly Contemporary Cancellation Scenes, & also cell phones………i………hmm.

thinking abt gretchen from twitter, a noble woman fighting for a just cause (telling adult YA fans to get a life), yet whose ratioing ultimately feels sorta pyrrhic to me, such that i have to wonder if it's worth the stress it presumably causes her.

but also, i am much more of a wimp than many people! for instance, a lot of ppl are strong tough athletes who put themselves thru a lot of pain because they find it enjoyable overall! whereas personally i only do exercise when i can convince myself that it's fun (e.g., biking places, swimming in water that isn't freezing cold)

so what i'm saying is perhaps gretchen sees being a Culture Warrior as a noble pursuit &/or lives for the thrill of the takedown, whereas i'm probably conflict-averse to a fault. (also, on a materialist level, she gets plenty of publicity for fighting the good fight—& as an author, building an audience is pretty crucial to keeping the lights on!)

anyway, right—the reason i'm thinking abt her at all in the context of this film is bc of the Cancel Culture Scene. bc i'm sympathetic to both the comics artist himself as well as his critics—bc like gretchen & her supporters always say, i believe artists have the right to be messy & sexual & graphic & painful & problematic & difficult to untangle……both bc i prefer to consume art (like this movie!) that fits that description, & bc that's ultimately the kind of work i would like to create.

but what's weird abt the tv interview in the gym in this movie is that we don't really even get to see exactly what the feminists debating the comics boyfriend are actually mad at him about. it's all vague—probably bc the point isn't the debate itself so much as its effect on his ex-gf! (& we know this bc the camera spends hella time tracking her facial reactions throughout this scene, as opposed to focusing primarily on the ex-boyfriend being interviewed.)

(btw for the record, i've read some of gretchen's writing but not a huge amount, & i think she's quite talented at describing compelling visual scenes, but i do worry that some of her political commentary is just so on-the-nose that it isn't as funny as it wants to be?

like, sure, i hate raytheon tenderqueers as much as any Good Leftoid! obviously imperialist militaries are evil & should be systematically dismantled, & it's sickening seeing the cynical liberal war machine attempt to suck us gays into its awful whirling gears.

but—as we saw with countless lib comedians attempting to parody trump—just bc you're making fun of something genuinely bad, doesn't mean your jokes are automagically hilarious!)

oh right, i was building toward something—namely: it feels like there's 3 sides in the big Cancel Culture Debate these days:

(mostly but not solely) christian right-wingers who hate the gays

young people who ummm [takes a full minute to check something on my phone] believe barnes & noble should sort books by tone indicator & who think fujoshis will trigger the third impact

cool edgy trans ppl caught in the middle of these 2 groups, martyred like that one saint mishima used to jack off to & permitted to do any crime so long as it is judged as being sufficiently badass by the Council of Trans Elders

anyway i was just gonna say: you know how sun tzu art of war has that thing abt how u should make your enemies fight each other instead of u fighting on 2 sides at once?

yeah, i think we should come up with a new discourse designed to do exactly that. or maybe get the evangelicals & catholics to fight again over whether asexual priests are valid or if they have to be volcel to really count. hopefully they'll wear themselves out, & our[if i may be so bold as to number myself among the Edgy Trans] troops of keyboard warriors will be able to reenter the fray refreshed to fight another day!

[tokiro07]

I actually managed to finish medaka box after a while of putting it off because of you mentining it, and it was, weird to be honest? Some of it in a good way, but there were many parts that just, didn't really fell like they click all that well. There are stuff that just hasn't aged well and were annoying but mostly sometimes it really fell like who made it didn't really had much idea in what direction they wanted to take it or how to get there in a satisfying manner. It wasn't really bad overall, I stick with it to the end after all, just like I say, weird. (Hope you don't take this the wrong way, just wanted to share my thoughts since you are the only one I know of who read it).

That's a shame, but it's not for everyone. I've never really thought of Medaka Box as a perfect masterpiece that would appeal to everyone

That said, it is definitely up for debate where a lot of its flaws come from, whether they were from the Jump editorial department, translation issues, or Nisio Isin just being Like That

A lot of Nisio Isin's opining about philosophy comes off as pretty obtuse a lot of the time, like the whole thing about Medaka "killing her father" and it turning out to be that Fukuro a) wasn't her dad, b) killed himself because Medaka's personality was too extreme for him to handle, and c) wasn't even actually dead. Ajimu and Medaka both jumped through some pretty serious hoops to reach the conclusion that Medaka was at fault, but Nisio Isin is also the same guy who wrote a story about a disease that curses you to die at age 12, meaning that you're immortal until you hit 12. That's really just the kind of ridiculous logic this man uses, and I had three full years to get used to it while reading it during its original run

I do think there were a lot of points that Nisio Isin wanted to go a different direction, though, or where he wanted to expound on certain concepts a bit more, but wasn't able to because of the pressures of the editorial department. While the table of contents isn't a reliable indicator of popularity, it's undeniable that Medaka Box was consistently closer to the back of the magazine, averaging at 14th across four years, so it seems pretty likely that it was a heavily divisive series among fans, which could result in things being cut or trimmed just in case of a sudden cancelation. The final arc in particular feels like it was missing a lot, as multiple fights either occurred off-screen or were ended instantaneously (i.e. Medaka vs. Kakegae or Tsurubami vs. Fukuro), and the ones we got to see often had their explanations reduced or completely omitted (i.e. Torai being an artificial Abnormal without us ever learning what her Abnormality even was or Nienami telling Medaka that she's using Styles incorrectly without actually explaining what's wrong with her approach)

Again, though, a lot of what Nisio Isin has to say is difficult enough to parse in Japanese, so god only knows how much is lost in translation. I personally caught CXC making mistakes constantly, and the group currently translating the full-color version is, admittedly, not much better. Sentai Filmworks' subtitles were fine, but that was also the first two seasons where things hadn't gotten too out of hand yet, as Kumagawa hadn't even shown up until the last episode

The best advice I can give is to remember that Medaka Box is, at its core, a deconstruction of a lot of popular Shonen Jump tropes. It becomes more obvious once Kumagawa and Ajimu start literally talking about Jump, but once you know that, even the early chapters are clearly themed around that concept. Most notably, the Flask Plan and the differentiation between Normals, Specials and Abnormals are an indictment of the Jump ideal of "Effort," stating that anyone can achieve anything if they put in the effort, only for most Jump protagonists to have some kind of advantage like being the secret descendant of a deity or the spiritual host to a powerful monster or some such nonsense that automatically makes them different from the everyman. Medaka herself is meant to be almost a parody of the typical Jump protagonist, while Hitoyoshi is the Jump ideal, brought to its logical extreme when he is given the Devil Style Skill to completely erase any benefits he could receive from fate or luck, forcing him to rely solely on his own efforts and ridding him of the ability to make any excuses should he fail

Of course, Medaka Box being so parodic of Jump does beg the question: was the ending what Niso Isin intended? Medaka Box ended much more neatly than most Jump properties get to, but its relatively sudden conclusion would also feel right at home among all of the other "the story goes on" or "well that sure was convenient" or "whoa that's a lot of information to take in all at once" style endings that you so often see in canceled series. Was Medaka Box actually canceled and forced to rush its conclusion, or did notorious mad lad Nisio Isin construct the perfect simulation of a rushed ending? It's absolutely something he would do, especially when you consider that there weren't too many dangling threads or unanswered questions, just things that the fans would prefer to see given more focus

To address your point, I am absolutely certain that Nisio Isin knew exactly where he wanted the story to go, the main question is whether or not he was just unable to overcome his own Nisioisms, if the editors wouldn't let him do what he wanted, or if the translators just found a way to botch his intentions. Maybe it was a little of everything, but we'll most likely never know for sure

[astorythatwritesitself]

How about 3, 14, 20, and 21 for Adrian?

Well this one was a lot of fun 😂

3: Scars or painful spots: Many |D Her hands got it worst, ME1 era they were littered with scrapes and burns from weapons; and there's a large scar across her face that she has no active memory of receiving (happened while on raid-guarding duty on a colony world, she got ambused with a knife). All of these get nullified during the Lazarus project- but hey, blank canvas! From there on, she develops:

-Permanent burn scars and mild nerve damage (even with the cybernetics- its not enough to mess with dexterity, there's just some loss of sensitivity) in her left hand from heavy use of fireballs, she's actually lost part of her fingerprints for a while there.

-The glowing scars fade, but that side of her face is always a little... tender.

-Everyone Lives scenario sees some nasty damage from the Citadel's fall, but her right leg gets it the worst- even when re-set, it's not straight and tends toward nasty flares of pain.

14: Ingrained habits/force of habit: Adrian Shepard's weapons are extremely well maintained, her armor is spotless, and if she has a bed, it is  c r i s p. She also tends to position herself at the front of any group she's in- even fully off duty, which gets annoying and kind of hilarious when it's somewhere she's never been.

20: What Ifs/Alternate Timelines: WELL FOR A WHILE I just had an 'everyone lives' AU but in trying to cross media to poke a buddy's angst button I'm now on uh.

Take your pick depending on angst tastes I guess, all stemming from 'haha hey what if Cerberus DID chip Shepard with an Order 66 style deal', and further context that Shrios happens.

Fuck it, is it really an OTP if you can't make them kill each other: chipped Shep goes after the salarian Councilor so it's Thane vs Shepard instead of Kai Leng! Fun options of:

otherwise fully canon compliant so Thane is far from top form and further hampered because this is is partner coming at him with full intent to kill, and we basically get That Renegade Interrupt From Later but now. (Further flavoring: Shepard as we know her is gone. Or: oh no she is FULLY fucking aware in her own mind and can't stop her body)

Less compliance with canon but following the sense that yeah if Mordin starts trying to cure Joker's issues for shits and giggles, he can probably at least alleviate Kepral's symptoms if he puts effort into it. Thane is in good form. Reapers and emotions be damned, he is one of the best assassins in the galaxy and a Shepard under Cerberus' control will doom them anyway. Assume the Virmire Survivor takes over from there. (I've always thought one of the cruelest AUs for my runs is Thane Lives Shep Dies, but wait! It can get even worse!)

Non-lethal takedown and chip is neutralized but uhhhh. It was pretty fucking wired in there. You don't have Shepard actively trying to fuck things up! Because her memory is rapidly deteriorating and her health won't do much better, so it's similar to above of the Virmire survivor taking over, while Adrian rides out her last few weeks with this very sweet guy who she halfway recognizes as being very important, but can't really place it. (In particular: early in, it seems to be a good day, they're talking... and Thane is very abruptly thrown back to what had been a very treasured memory of the SR2 when Adrian says, 'I think my translator just glitched.')

(I'm aware these are far from original, I've seen a few chipped Shep takes around xD but I never really considered it for Adrian til now.)

21: Turning Points In Their Life: Getting lost as a little kid and a turian helped get her safely back to her family. She didn't have a translator of her own yet (& human dialects had literally only JUST been added), and she had seen glimpses of stuff from the war (hard to avoid when your mom had been on the ground at Shanxi), so she was very nervous but put on a brave face. The turian was nothing but concerned because like, that's a clearly lost kid and some instincts are very common between space-faring sapient species. That pretty much sticks with her forever, the fact that even if she couldn't understand the words, their body language and actions were just like when her parents were irritable from worry.

Akuze, naturally, is another one. For a solid three years after, she simply gave in to a near fugue state of following orders... and more importantly, even once she started waking up and really got back to herself, another notion stayed in: She's the first one into a fight and the last to leave, even if it kills her.

(Send me some numbers + character for some headcanons!)

[motherfactorin-pi-face]

Also of note: I don't slag off the translators at all that localized TWEWY and NEO, goroawase in particular is pretty much one of the things that's Literally Impossible to do a 1:1 translation so you pretty much have to do some form of localization to equivalent imagery (which *is* something both TWEWY and NEO do, masterfully IMHO, especially considering the untranslatability of a LOT of what comes out of Minamimoto's mouth) or you prepare to put out a LOT of translator's notes. (Something I did, literally, discuss in "Approaching Infinity", and that's before one gets into actual mathematical metaphor.) It's actually kind of a fun exercise in seeing how there is a bit of a different "feel" in Subaseka/ShinSubaseka vs TWEWY/NEO:TWEWY (some of which involve having to include cultural context that isn't necessarily going to be Obvious to international audiences but IS Obvious to Japanese audiences), and sometimes slight references that were probably meant as "easter eggs" by the original script-writers do get just a bit lost (like the route-3 "easter egg"). Translation and localization is as much an art as a science, and compared to MANY other localizations TWEWY and NEO do legitimately have good translations, and arguably good localizations (a lot of people consider Neku to be...considerably Nicer in Japanese, not realizing that honestly in cultural context he's being as much of a Prickly Asshole at the start but a lot of it is hidden in things like politeness registers) And occasionally even this context can be really difficult to bring across. (Yes, I am about to pick on Minamimoto. Again. So I have a special interest that's normal right?) I'm not sure it would have been POSSIBLE to localize just. The Sheer Level Of Utter Antithesis Of Inappropriate Workplace Behaviour Per Japanese Workplaces that Minamimoto Displays In Literally His First Three Point One Four One Five Nine Two Six Five Minutes In The Dead God's Pad in JP language and literally keep the game rated T for Teen or have it pass Nintendo US's muster (especially when they'd already made them change out Glockshua for the pepperbox revolvers): a) The fact he shows up 9 minutes 42 seconds late to a meeting (and yes, Konishi is literally timing this, and yes, this is something that is just Not Done) b) The fact Minamimoto proceeds to dismiss Konishi in a particularly smart-ass way (Not A Thing Done to Your Boss's Recordkeeper) c) Then...proceeds to bitch about meetings (again, Not Done, meetings are Very Important in Japanese workplaces) d) ...and in Japanese, proceeds to LITERALLY CALL MEGUMI "MEGUMI-CHAN" which is the very definition of You Do Not Do This In The Workplace Especially With Your Boss What The Fuck Minamimoto ("Chan" is used for...little girls or people you are EXTREMELY familiar with, and certainly NOT someone who's technically your boss in ANY professional context) e) and promptly EXITS THE MEETING WITHOUT PERMISSION (which Konishi even calls out!) which is again Something Not Done (you do NOT leave a meeting, traditionally, until your boss AND your supervisors have left) Like. How do you even pack all this out keeping in mind that there are storage limitations on a DS, they have to make everything fit in the speech bubbles properly (and the speech bubble limitation is universal across DS, smartphones w/ Solo Remix, Switch, NEO's multiple ports, etc.) It's generally this kind of stuff that if there's not enough room to put it in (or, quite possibly, Nintendo Censors in the US) you go with what you CAN get across, and for the most part they succeeded at this.

Do you ever think about the fact that the Leo Cantus Armo fight takes place in the Udagawa Backstreets, exactly where Neku was shot, once by Joshua once by Coco, twice had his life unfairly ripped away from him, and when he arrives Sho is furiously bearing down on Beat with the intent to kill so that even if he is out of his mind under the duress of Soul Pulvis' power Neku would be entierly justified in erasing him...but instead he chooses mercy? He shows him a kindness that the world never afforded him, because for all that Sho has done Neku still believes that he deserves it? And despite the horror he has been through all he wants is to extend the second chance that his friends once gave to him? I don't I'm normal.

[doubleddenden]

I beat Pokemon Opalo recently. Opalo is a Spanish pokemon fan game translated into English by another fan. Spanish Pokemon fan games in particular go REALLY hard from what I've seen, and this game is no exception.

Full review under the cut- But fair warning, the game isn't totally politically correct if you catch my drift. It's not 4chan offensive mind you, but it's a game that tries to make statements the creator may be ignorant about and also has some humor that may not exactly appeal to everyone. I wouldn't say it's purposely offensive, basically.

anyway, more under the cut, but I'd give it a 7 or 8 out of 10, mainly points docked for not being totally translated at times when the story is happening and some other stuff. I'd still say it's a really good fan game though, and I've had a lot of fun with it.

The story was pretty damn amazing and once the gas was pressed, it never let up for a moment. It went dark places, it delved into American colonization and theft of Native lands, American imperialism and toxic politics, death, and a bunch of other twists. Not to mention, this game went more American than even Unova did, visiting places from all over the map, including the south!

But the game isn't perfect, and I do think that the creator was maybe a little ignorant about certain things, but I don't think it was necessarily malicious in intent. As an adult that consumes a lot of media, I've learned to look at things with a bit of nuance, and I don't really think he meant to harm anyone. That being said, it does mystify and exotify Native Americans to a certain extent- you could argue it's not any particular tribe, but it's pretty obvious that they're the basis for the in game Natives and delve into good and bad stereotypes (admittedly for both sides as well), and it does delve into a lot of the atrocities that America and settlers have committed against them- especially one very disturbing scene towards the end game.

That being said, any extremism is definitely painted as wrong, and there's definitely an understanding that the government is wrong in how they handle things, and it seems like the natives have a happy ending, so there's that at least.

Just be prepared for that kind of stuff. Sort of look at it like you would an anime or video game interpretation of that kind of stuff. I mention it not to excuse it, but sort of as a head's up, and because I as a white person don't really think I have the authority or really the knowledge to talk much about subjects such as this, but I'd feel awful if I didn't give some sort of head's up.

However, the story I think is still.... Very, very good. Like Metal Gear meets Pokemon meets Disney's Pocahontas meets Final Fantasy type stuff. When you think "They can't possibly go higher" they go higher. I know I mentioned a lot of stuff about American govt vs Native tribes, but the plot also goes so far and beyond that. I can't even say some of the stuff that happens because it's that much of a spoiler.

Overall I think it was pretty fun and tough. I don't joke when I say that my team at the very end literally hit level 100 and STILL had difficulties- That being said, it's not too difficult until the very end. The game is paced very well, and the special EXP share system it has makes leveling up a breeze. There's hardly any grinding necessary other than to catch a new team member up sometimes, and even then most Pokemon you catch will be roughly your level anyway.

There's not really a lot of new Fakemon per se, in fact you're only going to see about... 20 of them? I think? 9 being starters, 9 more being starters from a previous project of the creator, and then 2 being the legendaries of the game.

BUT, there's a good bit of regional variants in the game that all look pretty amazing. My main issue is that a bunch are harder to find or are located in West Cefira instead of East where we start. But that is forgiveable, I think. Oh yeah, there's 2 regions- er, 1 region split into East and West. Don't worry, it's not like GSC or HGSS with the levels- as I said, the pacing is very good.

The characters are also amazingly written, with the two main rivals being my particular favorites. I actually cried at a couple of points out of admiration for how far they've come and happiness for them. I definitely think the MC gets with Gala at the end, and the ending left me in tears. I'm actually feeling something like I did BW2, where I'm sad to leave them behind. I'm doubly sad that they aren't official characters, because I feel like they have so much more depth than some real ones.

Music- Well, I think there's probably not any or much original work here. Most of it is either recycled from the games or from other sources. That being said, it works. The western vibes are very strong and I really dig the atmosphere at times. I do wish it went harder on some fights, particularly gym leaders. I'm left wishing that the gym theme had at least half the oomph Xenoverse or Uranium had behind them. But some themes fit perfectly, and usually have a western vibe to it.

There's also a LOT of really great artwork in the game and a museum in game dedicated to it and fan art. Color me surprised when that also included nsfw art. Fear not, the characters depicted are at least 23+ or and older, and the nsfw art is locked away to a bottom floor of an in game museum, and it does not come up at any point in story. Ignoring that, the actual trainer art is great, and there's sometimes very beautiful scenery painted or some great expressions on characters when presented. Trainer sprites, however, are pretty passable but could use some work. The fakemon and regional forms have much better work put in, imo.

Overall though, I think I had a very pleasant time. It's not perfect, but you can tell a lot of soul went into it, and some research into the American Gothic as well. Its actually kind of neat seeing a foreign perspective on us. I'd even argue that this game sort of depicts how I think my area would be as a game to some extent.

Anyway, that's all. Gonna upload a team shot soon

And if you have some disputes with my claims or whatever, please remember this is just an opinion. However, I'm open for a respectful opinion or take on how the game presents the whole Natives thing- particularly if you are NA yourself. Like I said, I don't mean any offense, I'm just pointing out what I believe was kinda sus stuff. I hope that makes sense, I'm just wanting to watch out for people I guess.

[faffreux]

I want a list of your fanon fawful pet peeves

ALRIGHT, you will receive them. I AM PUTTING A DISCLAIMER HERE SO I DON'T STEP ON ANY TOES but please keep in mind you do not have to agree w/ me. This is how I feel!! These are my personal thoughts.

1. I can't stand when people woobify Fawful and that's not just doing the "uwu so cute tiny bean boi little precious bean" stuff but also extends to talking about his motivations as if he didn't know what he was doing, as if he's NOT an intelligent mastermind, etc. Fawful is an extremely competent villain and literally came closer than any of the Mario Bros other enemies to actually succeeding. He brainwashed himself an entire army and conquered two castles in the process. Finding him adorable is not the problem but more the way I see him portrayed by some fans that bothers me.

I think it’s also important to note that his character comes across as far more serious in EVERY other translation except English. A lot of people in the west take him less seriously bc of his speech patterns so I think we need to take that into account as well.

2. I hate when people think he's a child. I wanna make something clear though and that's that I see a huge difference between creating an au/interpretation of Fawful that's a child VS actually believing he's a child in canon. The first type is something I'm completely fine with but the second drives me absolutely mad, I'm sorry.

Take a good look at this and tell me again how you think you're looking at a child.

Fawful's age, like many other Mario characters, is extremely ambiguous and kept that way on purpose bc it's not really an important or defining characteristic. I've seen hcs of how old he is range from young adult all the way to a weird old guy (I'm personally somewhere in between and hc him as middle aged!) and all of these are perfectly valid in my book. But I just cannot handle somebody legitimately believing he's a kid and nothing's going to change my mind about that.

3. Mommy Cackletta. I can accept that the idea of Cackletta raising Fawful like a son is cute in theory but can't get behind it at all because it simply doesn't line up with what we see of the interactions between the two in Superstar Saga. Fawful is straight up treated like a servant/minion and even refers to himself as having been a "toady" to Cacketta once he realizes what he's actually capable of on his own. He also never speaks of her again after the events of the first game which would be more than a little odd if she was actually intended to be a mother figure to him, let's be honest.

THAT BEING SAID I WANNA THROW SOMETHING IN... I notice that a lot of the folks who like the idea of Momletta tend to also support the idea of Fawful being a child to make the HC work more. But I feel that in the process of doing this many of these fans often forget that Cackletta is an OLDER WOMAN. She gets around in a flying rocking chair for a reason! If anything, if we're going to go with that kind of relationship between her and Fawful it would make far more sense to imagine a badass witch in her 60s still toting around her momma's boy of an adult son.

Come on, I'm not the only one who thinks that's funny, right?? LMAO.

4. I mentioned this in a previous post but it bothers me when people use Fawful's foreign names as a last name ex. Fawful Gracowitz or Fawful Gerakobits. This is a small thing and more of a mild annoyance than anything else.

Y'know what?? I think that's honestly it off the top of my head for now. If I come up with any more I'll reblog this post and add on. THANKS FOR ASKING AND I'M SORRY I'M SO PASSIONATE ABOUT THIS I LOVE YOU ALL

[notafraidofredyellowandblue]

Richard Kruspe interview 'Welt' 2009

By Laura Ewert.

Some of the usual stuff (Richard's difficulty with dealing with the Rammstein democracy, this-record-is-the-last, being happy vs being meaningful, the 'old marriage' comparison) but i liked the part about the orginal lyrics of Pussy being too 'platt' which translates to 'flat' or 'uninspired' and they changed it to insert a bit of humor into it, because even though it must exhausting for the band themselves, i think the qualitycontrol within Rammstein is a good thing really.

(also, i think Richard got a bit annoyed with the interviewer, which i can understand.. 😇)

English translation:

"Rammstein are too smart to be right-wing"

They are Germany's most successful rock group. On the new album "Liebe ist für alle da", Rammstein, as usual, played the bugbear. WELT ONLINE spoke to their guitarist Richard Kruspe about porn, national symbols and the imminent end of the band.

Black hair, heavy rings, black-rimmed eyes - Richard Kruspe looks exactly as one had always imagined a Rammstein member to look. The 42-year-old sits at a large table in a room of the Universal record company in Berlin, smokes and smiles friendly. The discussion again can start: Are Rammstein dangerous provocateurs or ingenious creators of their total work of art?

WELT ONLINE: Mr. Kruspe, the current Rammstein single "Pussy" entered the German charts at number one. Despite a video that cannot be shown uncensored on television.

Richard Kruspe: Any other band would have said: We can't make a porn, it'll never be shown on music television. I heard that over two million people saw it in two weeks like this. So there are other ways too, you don't always have to bend. "Pussy" is very independent compared to the other songs on the album. Our singer Till initially only wrote the text in English and I thought it was borderline at first.

WELT ONLINE: In terms of content?

Kruspe: Yes, in terms of content. It was just too much. There is a certain kind of humor that I find good, but there are limits. Then at the request of the band Till wrote the German verses. In that way the text got a humorous touch that I can live with. It's not exactly what I define as Rammstein, but Rammstein simply is a mix of six different people.

WELT ONLINE: Who actually had the idea for the porn video?

Kruspe: We asked the director Jonas Åkerlund. He listened to the song and after three hours wrote an email back: "Let's start a revolution, let's do a porn". All you could see on the faces of the band members was a big grin.

WELT ONLINE: But you have had yourself doubled?

Kruspe: Well, that's the big question. It doesn't matter. It was a nice challenge. I always thought the porn business was dirty and cold, but it's not at all. All the people there were extremely friendly and very accommodating.

WELT ONLINE: The text is not particularly friendly and accommodating.

Kruspe: I cannot and will not say anything about the text. I am not the text writer.

WELT ONLINE: But you said earlier that the first text version of "Pussy" was a bit too much for you.

Kruspe: No, it wasn't too much for me. It was just too uninspired for me. The German verses gave it a certain sense of humor that I can support.

WELT ONLINE: It is said that this text should be understood as a criticism of German sex tourists.

Kruspe: If you see it that way.

WELT ONLINE: I don't see it that way. But can you tell me what your understanding of the text is?

Kruspe: For me it's a party song, nothing more and nothing less.

WELT ONLINE: The line "Put bratwurst in your sauerkraut" is excellent to roar along to when drunk.

Kruspe: I think that's extremely funny.

WELT ONLINE: What about those who don't understand this humor? Drunken hordes of men on the way to the "Blitzkrieg with the meat gun"?

Kruspe: There is aggression in every society. They are acted out differently. My children, who are 17 and 18, don't do that. The only thing I can do is make sure things are different in my small circle. But when you start thinking about these things as an artist, you start limiting yourself. But I have a problem with censoring myself. I grew up in a system where I was constantly censored.

WELT ONLINE: Doesn't the question of responsibility arise?

Kruspe: I'm not someone who goes out with a raised finger and says: That's how you have to do it. We never did that.

WELT ONLINE: But don't you also say that you want to criticize something by exaggerating social situations?

Kruspe: Yes, you could say that. But that still doesn't mean that we tell people how to live. Everyone is responsible for their own life. Everyone has to have their own experiences in order to learn from them. We are not the Messiah.

WELT ONLINE: So is your music just acting out your own personalities?

Kruspe: When making music, of course, a dynamic of its own develops that you have to live with. These are things that cannot be influenced.

WELT ONLINE: The cover of your album is reminiscent of paintings by Rembrandt.

Kruspe: Hieronymus Bosch is a better comparison. The cover was created in collaboration with a Spanish artist who just tried things. Journalists are always entitled to question the meaning. But good things happen out of a certain naivety.

WELT ONLINE: What is that metal toothed monster up there on the cover on the right?

Kruspe: It should be some kind of alien. I already forgot. It was pretty good what the artist had thought out. Some kind of alien that eats up all consumption. Very philosophical what he has built there.

WELT ONLINE: And the naked woman lying on the table has her hands chopped off, right?

Kruspe: Yes, but that shouldn't be taken literally, in the sense that a woman is being massacred.

WELT ONLINE: It looks like an offering.

Kruspe: I see more the abysses of this world in the picture.

WELT ONLINE: Next to the woman on the table are two men closing their pants. Are you one of them?

Kruspe: No, I am not.

WELT ONLINE: It's a rape scene really, isn't it?

Kruspe: If you want to see it that way. I always find art interesting when it leaves things open.

WELT ONLINE: Let's come back to ...

Kruspe: ... to the difficult questions? Don't you have something else to talk about? Something nice? About life?

WELT ONLINE: I still have one question about the record.

Kruspe: Okay, one more.

WELT ONLINE: You are clearly using national symbols. Be it the German flag, the desk reminiscent of pictures of Hitler's speeches ...

Kruspe: Yes, but in a very humorous way. "I can't get laid in Germany" is very funny.

WELT ONLINE: Well I don't think you're right-wing.

Kruspe: No, we're too smart for that (laughs).

WELT ONLINE: Why does sex always have to do with fighting and war in your songs?

Kruspe: For me, sex always has to do with passion. I am a romantic. On the other hand, I like it dramatic. We'd have to go back a long way to my childhood to see what might have gone wrong. I believe that musicians more or less unconsciously always bring things across in a dramatic and painful way. At least that is how it has to be for Rammstein.

WELT ONLINE: Are you a believer?

Kruspe: Religious? No. I believe in justice.

WELT ONLINE: A justice that arises out of the human being, or one that is imposed from outside?

Kruspe: I think there is an idea. Some say this is God. Before things are done or before they arise, there was always an idea from which there is also a sense of justice. Do you understand? I believe that it is important in life to be punished for certain things. I believe in the fate principle and the karma principle.

WELT ONLINE: But if there is this punishment, won't Rammstein face a hefty punishment?

Kruspe: We only speak out what is reality or what is part of society. The Church used to say what is good and what is bad. That's bullshit. Just because someone has a sexual orientation that the Church classifies as evil doesn't mean it is wrong. On the contrary.

WELT ONLINE: Does "love is there for everyone" also mean that any form of sexual love, including that which is socially ostracized, is a part of humanity?

Kruspe: "Love is there for everyone" is a very Christian thought. Of course you have to ask yourself, is love really there for everyone? I would wish it to be that way. Can we forgive those who misunderstood love? I often think about it and fail and get a little further and go back again. Especially when you turn 40. A lot happens there. Especially with men.

WELT ONLINE: Yes? What?

Kruspe: For me there are two options in life. Be happy or be meaningful. And as a musician you naturally try to lead a meaningful life. The big problem with me is that my longing for happiness is great, but the strength I need to be creative comes from suffering. Even if you do not suffer, you try to bring it into your life somehow in order to be able to create again. A cycle. If I were happy I'd know I would never write again. I tried to find happiness outside of myself. And now at 40 there comes the point where you try to find something inside me that makes you happy.

WELT ONLINE: Can't you catch the creative moments by now?

Kruspe: I used to try drugs. I used cocaine a lot. You reach dimensions that you would otherwise never be able to reach. You can edit a kick drum for eight hours. This creative power comes to me in different moments. It's buzzing in the air and the only thing you can do is be open. And then the moment is gone again. As if a cloud is passing by and you reach for it and then wait for the next cloud.

WELT ONLINE: One hears that the current record could be the last of the band. Is Rammstein going to dissolve?

Kruspe: At the moment I couldn't imagine going back to the studio with the experiences of the last record. But I could imagine touring further. In a band you're trapped in an image. It's like a soap opera that never ends. You have your character and you play it. And then this Rammstein democracy. We have discussions every day. Everything is talked about and talked about. And voted. In a band you don't have that kind of sexual discharge that you would have in a relationship. It's like a long marriage with us. You just don't like to sleep together that much anymore.

[izzyliker]

hey - this is one of the mods of the bi jon project. we don't actually dislike or disagree with pan jon at all, we just want to make a project focused on and celebrating bisexuality. our carrd is a bit rambling, but frankly we were trying our best/overcompensating to try and make sure people didn't misunderstand us and do - well, this. our intentions are good, and it's really kind of disenheartening to see all the hate we've gotten for what was meant to be a positive project. (1)

you're under no obligation to answer these, but i saw some of your posts in the tag and felt like reaching out because you did give us even the tiniest bit of slack in good faith. honestly, if you have any advice about what in our carrd is so overwhelmingly bad, we'd be happy to hear it. we've been trying to respond to the overwhelming amount of criticism we've got in a positive way, and take peoples' suggestions. (2)

as for why 'no anti-antis' was at the bottom of our rules list, it's legitimately bc we were trying so hard to be preventative about this negativity that we forgot to add it when we first posted the blog, and just remembered later. again, you're under no obligation to answer these, i just feel like no one's really actually letting us defend ourselves/are taking things in as bad faith a way as possible. (3)

im not exactly sure how the posts showed up in the tag bc ive been very purposefully not tagging them, also ive blocked all of you back (not sure why you blocked me if you actually want feedback, so it seems more like you just want free positive pr and not actual feedback) so its unlikely youll see whatever it is that i reply to this but whatever. 

the issues have all been repeatedly brought up to you so i dont really see how me repeating all of them once again could help. when i last looked at the cardd the things that stood out immediately included. 

pitting ace & bi identities and people against each other REPEATEDLY,  

starting off with a guilt trippy tone and maintaining it throughout (in my experience this is the #1 best way to receive backlash because people do not want to participate in events where you feel like youre being guilted into it, which going into scrutinizing detail over there not being enough content and passing judgement onto authors or artists over it is something that comes across as guilt trippy.),

repeatedly equating asexuality with sex repulsion (not to get into the misleading information about modteam aspec identity breakdowns, since you claimed that 3/4 of the team are aspec, which is technically correct, but what you didnt say was that only one is acespec. surely you know that [allosexual] aro and [alloromantic] ace are not interchangeable) and calling using biromantic over bisexual a “misunderstanding” of the identity as if how to define romantic vs sexual attraction (how to divide, if or if not to divide, use interchangeably different labels) isnt a deeply personal choice ace people who experience romantic attraction make, 

claiming that bisexual jon is canon (he isn’t. this is why people are suspicious of anti-other mspec identities sentiments. which theyre right, if youll be so kind as to stick around til the last paragraph) and repeatedly implying that the reason there isnt “enough” content centering bi jon because the aces are simply unable to not fixate on his asexuality (again, pitting identities against each other),

making the banned ship list way needlessly confusing and including ships that dont even include jon to it, which simply comes across as some kind of a list of bad ships, idk. a way to bypass this would simply be to say “we are looking for portrayals of healthy relationships!” and that couldve just been it. if you felt that that wouldnt exclude specific ships (eg. jondaisy that a lot of people write as a relationship between trauma survivors who have done very bad things trying to get better and learning to trust each other) it is possible to simply say “the modteam is squicked[/triggered] by ships with daisy/elias/peter and we’d like to read all of the works submitted so we’re asking not to receive submissions with those ships.” hating ships is literally completely normal but making rules hard to parse is going to attract questions, especially when the implication is that ships are excluded on the grounds of morality, and a blatant power difference ship (jonelias) is equated with jondaisy, which is from what ive seen almost exclusively shown to be a relationship between equals. that makes people EXTREMELY confused about where the line is. thats why youre getting so many questions about this.  

in general the carrd was spotty, guilt trippy, and needlessly moralizing where it definitely did not need to be. the key to getting people to engage without getting backlash is to make the event seem fun. when your carrd is filled with stuff about unrelated negative stuff people are not going to think it’s a fun event at all. 

and none of this even gets into the fact that at least one of the mods has a history of open hostility against pan people. i heard through the grapevine that he has since made a fauxpology about it, but frankly it already shone through in the language used in the event descriptions. its extremely hard to take any of this is good faith when it is easy to see that one of the organizers is quite fucking clear about thinking pansexuality is biphobic and the carrd is or at least used to be full of anti-pan (and other mspec identity) dogwhistles, and is notorious in some of the tma fic author circles for being extremely fucking nasty about trans men writing fic he doesn’t like to the point of pretending that we’re all cis people (in case youre not keeping track that is misgendering us by implication) because he doesn’t like it. i think some of you (or maybe all of you? idk) in general could stand to examine whether your engagements and participations in the fandom have been at all about having fun or adding positivity to anything, or simply making posts about what other people are doing wrong. it seems that every post i see from anyone in this group is guilt trippy and authoritative, and sadly this translated directly into the event. 

when youre, say, a trans man whose first touch to one of the mods was a post about how fic where trans men have piv sex with cis men is hurting him personally and making it a moral issue and not a matter of a simple preference to the point where he feels comfortable making claims about the trans men (and transmasc nonbinary people) writing fic about trans characters re: their gender or whether theyre fetishizing trans men, your willingness to engage in good faith with an event hosted by him that features numerous red flags is not going to be unconditional. 

im sorry to hear that it has been bad for your mental health, and idk whats fucking going on with this event anymore, but my good faith interpretations have diminished significantly since i saw the shit tmc specifically has been saying about pansexual people and pansexuality as an identity label. i have no clue where the rest of you stand but tmc has repeatedly, consistently shown himself to be unable to act in good faith towards anyone other than people who agree with him.  

[homestuckexamination]

I don't understand how Gamzee is Prospitian. Sure he was passive most of the time but his true classpect was among the most active one among trolls, along with Eridan. He nearly destroyed the trolls through his rage; he killed Equius, Nepeta and decapitated their corpse, he then decapitated Eridan, Feferi and Tavros!

Prospit doesn’t mean ‘good’ and Derse doesn’t mean ‘bad’, that’s how.

Also, the Dreaming Moons is an extremely and difficultly arbitrary can of worms:

What exactly determines whether a person is a Derse or Prospit dreamer? Or is it just random?

I wouldn’t say random, but it’s certainly vague. I guess it’s a little like sorting hat logic in Harry Potter (which I have a really halfassed understanding of because I haven’t read it), but even more vague, and more binary.

You get some sense there is rhyme and reason to it when you look at the personality types of the two groups. John, Jade, Jake, Jane vs Rose, Dave, Dirk, Roxy. And the troll groups were divided by their teams, red vs blue. Blue team (Derse) was generally stocked with more scheming members. Red team (Prospit) had some more straightforward heroic types, at least as far as trolls go. But then there can be oddball designations that don’t seem to make sense by such simplistic parameters, like Vriska being on Prospit. If she and Nepeta were swapped the criteria might seem more clear cut. See again, sorting hat logic. Like I think Harry was supposed to be in Slytherin because he could talk snakes and was kind of moody and shit but he was just SO BRAVE and loved friendship SO MUCH he got put in the other one. But for real, my fanfic where he was a Slytherin all along is so much better. (he is naked in most of it)

You could also look to the passive/active nature of the classes in making some retroactive sense of the Derse/Prospit dreamer duality. Passive/active classes are also a pretty vague thing, and don’t resolve so easily into simple dualities like defensive/offensive and such. Those are the guidelines for understanding them, but there is clearly a lot of flexibility within that system. They seem to suggest tendencies rather than absolute capabilities. Like there isn’t a rule that says a passive class could never use an offensive technique. The system is meant to be very flexible, and in the story, classes suggest a little more about a hero’s path and role in the greater quest than what their battle capabilities are.

But if we’re saying active/passive literally translates to offensive/defensive for the sake of this topic, then Derse would be very active and Prospit would be very passive. Derse’s job is to attack. Prospit’s is to defend. This seems to carry over to the roles of the dreamers too. Dave and Rose turned out to be very active players. Dave time traveling all over the place, making a fortune on stocks and such. Rose went on her crazy solo mission to break the game and fight Jack. Jade and John had more passive roles through most of that, players who were “acted upon” by other players and circumstances. John was always being led around by trolls this way and that, drifting around wherever the wind took him. Jade was especially passive for a lot of the story, spending a lot of time falling asleep (or being put to sleep) at key moments. It wasn’t until she reached god tier as a Witch (said to be a highly active class) that she became extremely active, making lots of stuff happen, rounding up planets and all that. Rose may have been a similar case, being excessively active as a Derse dreamer, but then flipping over to a passive role upon reaching god tier as a passive class.

Being from Derse means you are from a culture of offense and aggression. Being from Prospit means the opposite. You could argue that these are qualities that either rub off on the dreamers, or they are designated as those dreamers in the first place because of those qualities. You could take the view that these are innate tendencies to overcome, as seemed to be the case for Jade and Rose. Or maybe sometimes they are tendencies that are resisted, and need to be understood and embraced. As a Prospit dreamer, did Karkat struggle because he was actually passive in nature, but had a very active self image as a leader and conqueror? Was Vriska an even more extreme case of misplaced active behavior from a Prospit dreamer? These are yet more things to consider when looking at everything contributing to the hero story of an individual in this game.

[thedispatched]

Ok so I finally read the soompi post defending Lucas and I wanted to share my thoughts:

They presented some strong points, but their bias is also pretty obvious and they always land with such bold assumptions that just don't make sense. It makes me a bit skeptical.

Anyway, I'll start with the information they got from the ooooshiiim account and the twitter prediction account:

The user ids they represented are def real, that can be easily confirmed by going to websites that translate user handles to ids.

But them comparing one manga character to lucas and assuming that somehow that disproves OP 1's claims is hilarious LMAO. The description of the fictional character would literally fit most male idols, idk how they went like "oh this guy severely resembles lucas, another evidence yay!"

As with the Instagram account, I can't seem to find it?? If, say, it's really OP, did they happen to find the soompi post and decided to delete the Instagram account/change the username? This is also poses the possibility that the Instagram account isn't actually real, but I guess we'll never know.

I also wish the soompi lumi provided a link to the account and some more elaboration on how their cyber investigator found it through the twitter acc's digital footprints. The manga part is very elaborate but most else is just pretty vague which I find a bit questionable?

The said fabrication of the chat records: doesn't the gaps depend on what version of WeChat it is? I searched for "wechat screenshots" and some gaps can indeed be as big as the ones in the chat records.

It would also have been better if they highlighted the gap inconsistencies/misalignments they are pointing out because personally I don't see it(but maybe it's just my eyes bluffing).

I don't have much to say about the schedule parts since I don't follow their schedules closely and I'm too lazy to search for it, but I guess what those fans said do make sense.

The voice messages: I don't have much to say either since I don't speak korean. But last time I heard the alleged voice message and the bubble one lumis are using as proof, they didn't sound alike. But then again, I don't know korean.

The sasaeng photos: I guess it also kinda makes sense. But I feel like the fan who said they got the same photo OP 1 had provided should have just showed a screenshot of her conversation with the sasaeng she claims to be selling them, I mean, the photo is already out, so what difference of not specifying which photo it is/not showing the screenshots of her conversation with the sasaeng would make?

The ring part: the soompi lumi's argument also seems pretty valid. It really does not look like his finger.

The OP 2 part: I don't know mandarin or cantonese so I can't really comment on the nuances the fans are trying to point out. I don't understand the red boxes though, were those part of the original photos OP 2 provided or are they highlights of the misalignments lumis are trying to point out?

The OP 3 part: Oh they can definitely be a guy, but it's also possible that they didn't use their actual gender in the account(I myself do that all the time, for privacy reasons). But once again, we will never know which is true.

The photo is indeed very questionable. Why is the background blurred? Why are there plushies everywhere? Why is there a reflection of what seems like a man in the glass when they're supposedly alone? But there seems to be a door and a small hallway reflected on the glass too? It looks clean and hotel-like. And the one who took the photo seemed to be sitting right besides him based on the photo's angle. If it's taken by a sasaeng staff as fans have claimed, how did the sasaeng staff secretly took a photo like that while literally sitting besides lucas and with other people around them(like the "man in the glass") without the other people in the dorm questioning what the fuck is that staff doing? But another explanation I can think of(if the photo really came from a sasaeng staff) is that a member took the photo(with Lucas being aware of it) and somehow the sasaeng staff managed to get it?

With OP 3's chat records, again I don't see the gap mistakes or misalignment they are pointing out, I again tried to look at WeChat examples on the internet and the difference between the size of the messages and the dates is a normal thing, so is the gap between 2 messages vs the gap at bottom of the chat. And the "difference" between the two s's in lucas's username they are pointing out is honestly ridiculous. The photo is taken from an asymmetrical angle, of course the sizes would look unequal.

The sleeping photos: the plushies' textures don't look the same, dorm plushie looks more rough while the plushie Lucas is sleeping with looks softer and fuzzier. And if it was taken by a sasaeng in the wayv dorm as fans have claimed, how the hell is the sasaeng within such a close proximity? There's so many people in the dorm and I doubt they'd be all asleep at that time to not notice that a sasaeng is right besides their sleeping member literally photographing him.

The jacket and photo receipts: Oh I've seen this on another article. I'm convinced with the debunking of the jacket part, and receipts are everywhere in the internet. I guess it isn't impossible that OP 3 might have just took the receipts somewhere online.

OP 4's surfing video: Yes, same pose, but different angles? That does not look exactly the same as the one he showed in his socials. But that black spot is definitely questionable.

OP 4's WeChat records: Oh another questionable one. Especially the imbalance in the color value. But once I again I think it would have been better if they provided the links to the other debunk posts they included because man I can't see the cutting traces in the chats that they are pointing out.

OP 1's second post: again I think the difference in wechat date layouts depend on the version? And why did most koreans themselves didn't question the difference in OP 1's wechat? Like if korean wechat really don't look like that, wouldn't they point it out?

"their account creation dates and account activity all falls within the same time period." Um no?? 2015, 2019, 2018 are same time periods??

In conclusion, as I said before, I think the soompi lumi presented strong points that really make you question the credibility of the allegations, but their intense bias towards lucas makes them quite questionable, too. And the way they treat every debunk post like the absolute divine truth is pretty off-putting.

I'm convinced not everything in the allegations are true. I'm just curious about the severity of his actions. Maybe he dated them, but maybe he wasn't an asshole? But if that's the case why would they try to ruin his image if he treated them right? Or maybe he really was an asshole but some of the story isn't true? Ah I'm still so confused of what to think but I believe there has to be some truth in the story, but just how bad is the truth???

thank you for sending me your thoughts! it's always interesting to see what other people think. (and sorry for the late reply!)

i'm not gonna say much as i've talk about my thoughts on the post already.

i agree about the manga, it's absolutely ridiculous how comparing one manga character to lucas debunks their claims. that's just one example of one of the far fetched assumptions that made me lean more towards not believing the article.

part of me also wondered if they created the ig account for their article but like you said, we’ll never know.

even if it doesn’t look like his finger in the messages, I’m pretty sure he mentioned winwin in the texts ??

I know some people blur the background of photos for either aesthetic, or mostly for privacy reasons.

I honestly don’t know how people are seeing a man in the reflection. It’s a literally blob. You can’t make out any (person) shape.

The jacket and receipts is the only thing I took away from that article that I actually kind of believed. I talked about this with another anon. That is super easy to fake, but the photos were also originally blurry so a “blur” around the words would be hard to solidify as evidence unless the photo is in ultra hd or something lol. But to me this is the most believable to be fake.

I once saw a twitter thread pointing out how the messages weren’t photoshopped and explained why they looked “misaligned” or whatever but I can’t remember what it said exactly besides auto translations. I won’t be able to find it again because it was so long ago :/

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but wechat is more of a China thing? Like not a lot of people outside of China/non-Chinese use it. You’re right about why Koreans didn’t point it out, but I don’t think they’d know if they don’t use it ??

You asked a lot of questions and pointed out a lot of things that are something to think about, but I don’t think anyone has a clear answer unless you have an extreme bias.

I also wondered the severity of his actions. I think this whole thing is a mix of truth and lies. We all want to know the truth and the worst part is we never will. Like you said, how bad is the truth?

(I might edit this later and add some stuff 😅)