#zero the third sr.

[aciesvirtus]

[lavandulawrites]

Tears of Themis and why you should play it

Tears of Themis is a mobile otome game from the company HoYoverse/MiHoYo who brought us the games many know and love: Genshin Impact, Honkai Star Rail, Honkai Impact 3rd and Zenless Zone Zero.

Tears of Themis was released in China in 2020. The game has 4 male leads. The game is a romance game with crime solving elements and is set in the fictional city Stellis in the year 2030. You play as a junior attorney MC who has the code name Rosa (her real name is customisable) and with the MLs you work together to solve crimes and mysteries.

Both the story and characters are extremely well written and it’s a breath of fresh air compared to other otome games. The story is fun, romantic and thrilling. There are times where you will kick your feet in excitement, gripping your phone in suspense and other times where you will shed tears. The game explores multiple romantic genres/tropes and its psychological elements are interesting. It’s a game for both experienced otome players and those who are new to the genre. It is free to play and it’s rather easy to obtain the story cards you want.

The MC is kind, empathetic, stubborn and intelligent, in other words quite likeable. She is a true girlboss.

The first male lead/love interest you met is Artem Wing, a 29 year old senior lawyer and MC’s partner. He is a calm man who works hard towards his goals. The media calls him an emotional less robot, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. With his sometimes awkward demeanour when it comes to his crush (MC) is rather charming.

The second male lead/love interest you met is Luke Pearce, a 24 year old private detective and the owner of an antique shop. He is what one could call a golden retriever with his playful personality and his overprotectiveness over the MC who is his childhood best friend. His enthusiasm is a very likeable trait and it’s easy to get attached to him.

The third male lead/love interest you met is Vyn Richter, the 27 year old famed psychiatrist with two doctor grades and a mysterious past. His intelligence is remarkable and he is a master with his words. Vyn is man of many talents and he is always looking for a way to impress MC. He is rather cunning and has an enigmatic aura which draws you in.

The fourth and last male lead/love interest you met is Marius Von Hagen, the 21 year old heir of a multibillion company and an art student. He is what you may call a playboy with his teasing personality and his charming appearance. He is as all the other love interests extremely intelligent. He loves teasing the MC and it’s hard to say no to his puppy eyes.

The game play

The game consists of a main story with multiple chapters and side stories with the different characters. There are also events.

In order to unlock the different episodes you battle with cards which you can obtain by “pulling”. The SR and SSR cards each have their own stories. The card battles are easy to get the hang of.

So do like our girl Pela and play Tears of Themis<3

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

hoping for this in future events

I don't even like Jack or Trey that much, but I hope that they at least get a SR in the next event or sometime soon in the future 😅 Jack's gotten 4 event Rs and Trey's gotten 3... Meanwhile Ace and Malleus have ZERO event Rs????????? Must be nice being the "mascot characters, huh...

(If I recall correctly,Jade has 3 event Rs too but I’ll excuse him because he’s already massively popular outside of events whereas Trey and Jack aren’t 💦)

Jack in particular has it sooo bad because Stage in Playful Land is the THIRD event he has been in with Ace (the other two being Fairy Gala: What If and Lost in the Book with Stitch, the latter of which happened not too long ago in late summer). All three times Ace has been at least a SR and Jack has been a R 🤡

(Jack still has to get his Master Chef card, so that’s at least a guarantee, right…?)

[wardensantoineandevka]

I've been thinking about why Ginsberg was asked to kidnap Milton Fleit Sr. specifically, and I think, to put it the way @utilitycaster put it to me back in February, that the plan is Fight Club.

If you're unfamiliar with Fight Club, the film adaptation: the third act revolves around a plan to wipe debt records by blowing up the headquarters of various credit card companies and of a credit reporting agency, setting everyone back to zero.

The Breach doesn't need as many explosives. The Trust keeps their records of every account in the one place (per 1.15): the Central Vault, the precise location of which within the geography of the Highest Light has been pointed out at every opportunity this season.

There isn't a whole lot that kidnapping Fleit offers to the Breach other than vacating his office temporarily (dubious, unless they want to replace him with their own person) or to get information about how the Bank of Valor works as an institution and how the Vault is laid out (also shaky, but potentially possible). Kozma claims (in 3.07): "The Breach isn't just out there. It's in here: inside the Trust, inside the Company, inside this city." The fact that the Company is mentioned* but not the Bank makes me wonder if they don't actually have a meaningfully significant enough foothold inside the Bank. Thus, they needed a way to get inside of it, understand it, or both.

* Tangent, since the Company is specifically mentioned, there must be someone we know there who is with the Breach. It's gotta be Gretel; we have only two named current members of the Company, and the other one is Spahr. It has to be Gretel just by process of elimination. This is not actually relevant to this point but—

That also leads me to wonder if this is why there's this sense of hovering over Phineas early on. (Hieronymous is in the Breach, Kozma already knew a lot about Phineas, so many seem to be keeping tabs on him, etc.) I wonder if it's like... after the Fleit plot failed, the Breach needed someone who had or could acquire security clearance to move freely through the Vault, a familiarity of off-limits areas, or both. As the new Prime Adsecla, and an apparently contentious pick for it (as suggested in appendices for 1.06), Phineas both holds a valuable position and is potentially ideologically vulnerable, making him a prime [ba dum tsh] candidate to target for a flip attempt. So, perhaps they've been working on Phineas since the Fleit plot failed. But, that's also a bit of a tangent.

Point is here: they seem to have needed Fleit for something. Kozma had ideas for what to do with Phineas, and whatever they needed Fleit for must be a gap in their logistics, but there is not a whole lot that Fleit and Phineas have in common, other than familiarity with various high-security spaces. So, I do wonder if the thing they needed was Vault access, because the specific plan is to blow up the TRW building Vault and zero out the entire debt record.

[stupidsketchpad]

hey guys. im here to rant about how 2econd 2ight 2eer (second sight seer) by will wood is secret life bigb's song because god its eerie how similar the song lyrics are to his character. AHEM (also spoilers for secret life)

My grip on my secrets slipping while I'm speaking in tongues

ok. this is a really good start lol. basically bigb's task don't mean much when he does weird shit anyway for fun and, quote from grian, "writes his own tasks"

Screaming at the top of my lungs in the confession booth

he's saying stuff that litterally makes no sense. even after his task is done he wont tell anyone (confession booth is kinda like people asking about your task after it's done. your confessing your task to someone)

Take it with a pillar of salt, H.A.L.T., it's not my fault

i got nothing man

The devil made me do it, but I also kinda wanted to

THIS LINE AHSHDHSHAH. THE SECRET KEEPER GIVES HIM THE TASKS CAUSE HE HAS TO BUT HE WANTS TO DO THEM ANYWAY ANDDDD MAKE THEM AS CONFUSING AS POSSIBLE. SECRET KEEPER COUNTS AS THE DEVIL HERE

I'm cut from a different kind of meat

More than you can chew, hard to swallow me

"what the hell are you doing??" is a common question he gets asked. hard to swallow. y'know

Forget bored stiff, I got rigor mortis, call it morbid curiosity

How I cannot commit to reality, when my third eye's open and I like what I see

he's doing shit for the sake of doing shit.

Baby, I may be crazy but I didn't lose it, no I set it free

AAAAA THIS LINE TOOO!!! ok so he didn't just randomly start lying in secret life. it was weird before that too! i cant speak for double but LIMITED LIFE he was also confusing people about being the boogeyman. basically that one meme with the "guy weird about everything but its drowned out by how weird about everything the other people are"

I can't ignore what's under dance floorboards, the rhythm of my heart a dead-as-disco beat

But I still move my feet

To slip out of this groove, I'm free

dont got much here but i think this is just him having fun, yknow

Now to row, row, row my boat over the falls

And maybe wake up from but a dream, yeah

"but a dream" is the games. there are three rows in the line. lose your lives to get the game over with.

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I didn't lose it babe

There wasn't much to find

once again, this wasnt the first time he was being weird!!!

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I'm only passing through

say weird shit, refuse to elaborate, leave.

Oh, oh, o-o-oh

If you knew what I knew, if you saw what I see

You'd look through illusions, hallucinations, and lucid dream

And I know that meaning can be such a pretty thing to keep

But I got facts and I'm not afraid to use 'em, take the good with the bad, take off the back you make a new front

evo, anyone? anyway this man knows about watchers and doesnt care. he knows! he just doesn't give that any meaning.

Some days I'm glad that I am a madman and I'd rather be that than

An amicable animal, mild-mannered cannibal

red lives and how bigb doesn't have the same bloodlust as they do. this guy doesn't kill much, he's like the most passive on the server. /srs

But I'm more level-headed and clever than ever and I'm getting better one forever at a time

how many people guessed any of bigb's tasks? that's right, zero! (if i remember correctly.) he's getting better at the games (btw the games being referred to as "forevers" is just ahshahdghs)

And if sick is defined by what's different, well then pull the plug out and let me die

not much here

Vice-versa, vice versus virtue

Well who I am I choose through all the things I do

AAAAAAAA HE CHOOSES HOW HE IS PERCEIVED BY THE OTHERS BY SAYING HIS STUFF YA GET WHAT IM SAYING

And if it rhymes, it's true, but I hate poetry

contradicting himself. easy peasy analysis here folks.

Now with my moral compass pointing south, I'm going down

With no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no respect for reality

could say this is going red! but also. "going down?" LIKE A HOLE? HE MADE A HOLE?????

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I didn't lose it babe

There wasn't much to find

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I'm only passing through

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

I didn't lose it babe

There wasn't much to find

I'm just a psycho, babe

Come and go out my mind

same stuff

A tourist passing through

Well that was fun, goodbye

he died. but hey, he had fun!

anyways thats all thank you for listening to me ramble about songs and minecraft i WILL do this again. sorry if this is incoherent i wrote it at 10:00 pm.

psst... moot... @bigb-enthusiast... would you like this?

[billyshakesp]

POC's in Harry Potter

I'm willing to bet that most people do not know who Ludo Bagman is. I did not remember who Ludo Bagman is, though I haven't consumed any Harry Potter content in a good while. Nonetheless, I am fairly confident in saying that most people who aren't dedicated Potterheads do not know who Ludo Bagman is.

To give people like myself a refresher (and I promise this is going somewhere), Ludo Bagman's first appears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and his most significant role is in that book. The term "most significant role" is relative, since he barely moves the plot forward. He's portrayed as a bit of a shady character in this book, and he mainly serves as a decoy from the bad actors behind the scenes: Barty Crouch Sr., Jr., and Karkaroff. After Goblet of Fire, Bagman is seldom mentioned, and he never plays a significant role in the plot. If you have read up until this point, or if you have skipped ahead, you may wonder why I chose to focus on Ludo Bagman intensely, and focus specifically on why nobody should focus on Ludo Bagman so intensely.

I focus on Ludo Bagman because his name is mentioned more times in the Harry Potter series than any person of colour.

A character who is really only important for one book and whom the producers of the Harry Potter movies didn't even bother casting is mentioned more than any person of colour in JK Rowling's revolutionary, transcendental book series Harry Potter.

Hedwig, the freaking owl, has more mentions in the Harry Potter series than all but two characters of colour: Cho Chang and Dean Thomas. Chang serves as a romantic interest for roughly two books before, presumably, flying off to pine for Edward Cullen. Thomas plays quidditch, and that is the extent of his character. The point is that both of these characters are quite shallow, and JKR even writes the story in a way which the reader is supposed to feel a emotional connection for Hedwig, a literal messenger pigeon; the reader is not led to feel any such connection Chang, and they are led to give at least one-third of a shit about Dean because he is sorted into the good house as opposed to the nerdy house.

Adressing the argument that the lack of POC is because the UK does not have a large population of non-white people: first of all, who gives a shit? I'm not sure if you, my dear reader, are aware of this, but the percentage of the UK population in whom are wizards and witches (And, presumably, another title for all the enbies/otherwise gnc people. What would you like to be called? Sorcerers? Ghaster Blaster Master Casters? Just overall badasses? Please let me know.) is zero! I don't think the story would be significantly hurt by an important person of colour.

Secondly, I did the very basic, not at all difficult math. In 2000, the percentage of people living in the UK whom were white was 91.3%. This means that, given the fact that the Harry Potter series is set around the year 2000, one would expect to see 8-9 not-white characters out of the top 100 characters by times mentioned in Harry Potter. We see 5. Granted, 8 to 5 is not a huge discrepency, but it is a 37.5% decrease. I think what is more important is that none of these characters ever played significant roles in the books. These characters could be replaced with white characters and the story would not change.

Thirdly, I sympathise with JKR's plight. She would write more brown characters, but the people in the place she sets the book are just so white! If only there was some international wizarding event at some point; an event in which a number of schools gather and hold a tournament. It would be so convenient for JKR to write in POC then! Have them compete in this hypothetical tournament, have, say, maybe 3-4, and the winner would get some sort of trophy. A cup, perhaps.

In this hypothetical situation, if JKR was handed this opportunity, it would say a lot if she chose to feature schools whose student bodies were almost exclusively white, right?

This post is, admittedly, a bit dense, and it harps on points that several people have probably already made, but I do think that it is important. If I am incorrect on any facts in this post, please let me know. Thanks for reading.

[shazzeaslightnovels]

October 2024

(Series: Zero no Tsukaima | Artist: Eiji Usatsuka)

I've had two big distractions this month: Fate/Samurai Remnant and Papa's Cheeseria. F/SR is just a genuinely fun game with a really interesting plot that I want to keep on playing to find out more. I've done 2/3 of the endings and I'm currently doing the DLC before I get the third one. YouTube recommended me a video of someone playing the Papa's games and it made me really nostalgic so I ended up downloading Flashpoint to play them and it's been really addicting. There's something about the play loop that's so satisfying and makes it hard to stop once you've started.

Due to that, I've barely watched any anime this month. I've only picked up Love Live Superstar Season 3 of the seasonal anime. I'm really liking it though. I think it's an improvement over Season 2. I love that the group has been split up and it was smart to only introduce one completely new character and continue developing the existing ones. I've enjoyed both performances this season as well. I did try Acro Trip but it just wasn't for me.

I also read Fate/Alternative: Sougin no Fragments volume 4 but I haven't been doing review for this series due to the plot structure making it too hard to talk about. I've only got one volume left though so maybe I'll post my thoughts on the series when I'm done.

List of reviews:

Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei: Oukyuu Hiwa

Zero no Tsukaima 1

[the-himawari]

A3! Usui Masumi - Translation [SR] Zero Gravity Linguist (2/2)

*Please read disclaimer on blog; default name set as Izumi

---

Masumi: …

*closes book*

Masumi: (I finished reading “The End of the Universe”… It definitely takes longer than usual when you’re translating it at the same time.) *Sigh*…

Tsuzuru: Did you reach a good stopping point? Here, would you like some warm tea?

Masumi: …Huh? Why would you…

Tsuzuru: Take it as thanks and encouragement for working so hard and flipping through the dictionary every day? It’s fine to repay you from time-to-time for all you do for me while I’m writing.

Masumi: …I don’t do that because I want you to pay me back or anything.

Tsuzuru: I know that. But I just felt like it.

Masumi: …Thanks.

-pause-

Tsuzuru: You’re really dedicated every day. Which book are you on from the ones you borrowed from Chikage-san?

Masumi: I’ve finished the second one.

Tsuzuru: Oh. That means you only have 1 left!

Masumi: Yeah. I’m currently in the middle of the third one. It’s just…

Tsuzuru: What’s the matter?

Masumi: At the part I’m reading now, my own translation doesn’t really seem right. I feel like it fits, but it also feels off…

Tsuzuru: Why don’t you try asking Chikage-san? That’s the fastest way.

Masumi: No thanks. There’s no way in hell I’m asking Chikage.

Tsuzuru: Umm, do know you anyone else who can speak English then?

Masumi: Someone else who can speak English… I do.

Tsuzuru: Eh?

*ring, ring*

Misaki: “…Masumi? I don’t get phone calls from you very often.”

Masumi: Is now a good time?

Misaki: “Yes, I can take a moment. What’s the matter?”

Masumi: I’m reading an English book right now, but there’s a part I’d like you to explain and translate into English for me…

-pause-

Masumi: So that’s how you translate it… Thanks for letting me know. Okay, I’m hanging up now…

Misaki: “Oh, you’re hanging up already? How cold.” “…But I’m glad if it helped. Please ask me if anything comes up again.”

Masumi: Sure, I will.

-pause-

Masumi: Here, I’m returning these. I read all three books.

Chikage: Oh my… that was faster than I expected. Well, I thought you could do it though. However, I have to say I’m a little disappointed. I was expecting you to get stuck somewhere and come ask me about it at least once.

Izumi: Woah. You read those all by yourself, Masumi-kun? That’s amazing…!

Masumi: I’m happy to be complimented by you, Director… It was worth putting in the effort.

Chikage: Aren’t you glad you read those three English books too?

Masumi: This has nothing to do with that.

Izumi: By the way, Masumi-kun. What did you think of that novel?

Masumi: It was a good read and I think it’ll be really helpful. Thanks. I’m sure I’ll be able to act well thanks to you.

Izumi: You mean it? That’s great!

Option 1: “I’m looking forward to your performance”

Izumi: I’m looking forward to your performance, Masumi-kun!

Masumi: Yeah. I’ll do my best so you’ll compliment me.

Izumi: Not just me—work hard for all the guests too!

Masumi: …Yeah, I will. I’ll do my best to make it a performance that will move the hearts of the audience.

Option 2: “Maybe I’ll give it another read”

Izumi: Maybe I’ll give that book another read before the play. I feel like I forgot some parts in it.

Masumi: I’ll translate the whole thing for you. I’ll whisper it by your ear all the way from start to finish…

Izumi: Y-you don’t have to, thanks! I’ll come ask you myself if there’s something I don’t understand!

Masumi: There’s no need to hold back though…

Izumi: Oh yeah. Chikage-san. You have the sequel to this, don’t you?

Chikage: Indeed. I still have it on hand.

Izumi: Hey, Masumi-kun. If you’re down, then let’s read the sequel too!

Chikage: I’ll lend it to you any time if you want to, Masumi.

Masumi: … (I’d like to read Director’s recommendation, but I don’t want to borrow it from Chikage…)

Izumi: Is something wrong?

Masumi: It’s nothing… I’ll read it if you say so. (*Sigh*… It looks like my days of using English begin once again…)

---

previous |

[badlydrawnnsodu]

despaired, deadly, and on air!

what is badlydrawnnsodu?

badlydrawnnsodu,,, is just badly drawn new seasons of despair universe stuff! the art gallery thread in our server has had doodles of the stuff posted, and. we joked a little about having this blog, but thanks to impulse, i have successfully just- done this LMAO [-zenith]

what exactly is the new seasons of despair universe?

- to put it simply, it's a fanganronpa universe made by zenith. the characters drawn here are the participants, backups, and/or hosts in each and [almost] every one! does this count as cast art? probably. are we gonna make people pay for it? ... mayb- [/JJJJ] - nsodu is separated into seasons, and within these seasons are episodes. what do the episodes contain? the killing games, of course. we're still on the first season, but we're going strong with twenty-one (21) games! from zero to the twentieth. - we run a roleplay server for the series, from the 15th episode down to the 20th. applications for it are closed, but spectators are absolutely welcome to watch the show when it happens! maybe you'll have a chance when we open up submissions again... and now, time to introduce our blog hosts!

█▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█

✦ ：❝ 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐀 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐘.. 𝐀 𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐘! ❞

✧ — you're a lebanon! kobeni's a lebanon! hello, world! i'm lumasahina, alternatively known as mod luma - at least, in this blog. i'm a momfucker first, cosmos member second, and artist third. he/she/they. my gender? uh. let me look at this script..

..this just says "unspecified". what the hell does that mean?

✦ — lebanon! lemonade! hand grenade! as implied in the previous bullet point (is that what you call it?), i like to draw! i like to draw.. a myriad of things. like, ah.. gay people. dead gay people. specifically from the hit series "new seasons of despair". but of course, to recognize that the dead gay people are being drawn by yours truly, you'll have to know who's art style belongs to who. so, i've provided a useful info sheet featuring the man himself - stanley parason, ultimate [REDACTED], from nsod: s1:e15!

[DISCLAIMER: even though stanley happens to be gay, he is, in fact, not dead. yet.]

the art style used for stanley is something you'll see on the regular. the cooler stanley's art style, on the other hand, is reserved for the semi-shitposty, overdramatic pieces. you'll see what i mean in a bit. :)

✧ — lego! citizen! ..my relation with.. zenith? who's zenith? i don't know them.

what do you mean i run this blog with them? you must be hearing things. this is my blog. this is luma's blog. not.. zenitsu's, whatever their name was. and this is my only blog, too! badlydrawnnsodu is all i have! are you trying to take that away from me?! absolutely preposterous. i can't believe you're doing this! after everything i've been through-

✦ ：❝ 𝐀𝐍𝐃... 𝐂𝐔𝐓! ❞

█▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓█

☐ ; 𝐉𝐎𝐘 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐋𝐃! except. for. JOHN. I HOPE THAT FUCKASS DIES.

❒ ; [𝐢'𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐜𝐤. 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫. /srs, and i never will.]

anyway, hey, my name is zenith. mod zenith, if you will, for this blog. i use they/it/xe pronouns, and i'm the one that'll probably answer most asks about the series or even the characters. dadfucker first, cosmos memeber second, and general artist third. can't promise any like, consistency on my part, i guess? but i hope that you enjoy what we bring you as much as we like making them.

❒ ; 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎? 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎, 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎? 𝐔𝐇, i wanted to record a message for you...

i'm the sole creator of nsod. i mean- it started with me and the help of someone else. [hi, if you come across this blog. i'm sorry.] it all started three years ago, and we're going strong with a better plot than before. it was supposed to be a spin-off of the original dangan series... but i scrapped that. now there's lore with guns and ships ships, a world that isn't real, mothers that are agents- god damn! look at me now.

now- this bit may be like. a little too soon, but i just wanna put it out there. uh, i just hope that this is taken right. and that it's taken into consideration 'nd stuff.

my personal request to you, however, dear viewer... please do not bastardize the characters. please do not sexualize them, please do not ship yourselves with them. please don't get parasocial with them. please do not threat them extremely. i'm okay with stuff like "can we hold hands,,," or "what if we sat on froggy chairs together", that stuff's funny and it's nice. but anything related to what was mentioned, don't. do any of that, please. thank you.

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✦ ：𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐃𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐄(𝐒)!

the origin point ; house of carrds ; #luma commits several war crimes

❒ ; 𝐃𝐀𝐒 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐈𝐈𝐘𝐀𝐀𝐀…

down abysmal ; all in on me ; #zenith goes ballistic

[0player]

A personal account of detransition, reasons for it, and pain points with the community

So, on this hellsite, I am going to address a spicy topic. I'm not sure I should, but I believe I am not alone and it is a virtue to speak up.

I must preface this with saying that I wish no one harm, nor do I impose choices on others. I wish to be seen and to let others feel seen.

I'm a 26-year-old MtF dentransitioner (a desister, more accurately). (Pardon my oldschool language, but there is clarity in it which the modern lingo lacks). I have comorbid(?) ADHD with strong autistic traits, but I wouldn't call myself autistic - this is just a manifestation of ADHD and poor socialization.

My decision to detransition is not one made out of self-hatred, or "internal transphobia" as some might claim. I stay every bit as feminine (which is not very) in my expression. I desisted because I - and frankly, I'm not alone - have been systematically mislead about benefits and drawbacks of these procedures.

Let's start off with a banger I found today, which tipped my scales. Here's a study that simultaneously purports to alleviate detransitioning fears, and is so starkingly bad at it that it is still cited by far-right haters: https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-abstract/107/9/e3937/6572526

This study finds a desistance rate close to 20% in natal males (amab) and 30% in natal females (afab), but puts a positive spin on it. "More than 70% continue with the treatment!" What it omits, and what every endocrinologist worth their salt will tell you, is that those who don't often walk away with severe reproductive dysfunction, depression, and hormonal imbalances. And that's not even taking the Bottom Surgery into account. (See below). That 30% number may seem awfully high, but it checks out among those with whom I kept company in my young adulthood. Rates up to 10% have been suggested by studies before.

This is not the topic that you can bring up in a polite society, much less inside The Community. The Community is hardened by years of fighting war trolls from 4chan, evil witches of TERF, and dissenters in general.

The Community will tell you that every dissenter is a plant. The Community will delete posts of detrans/trans regret pains on suspicion of nothing from relevant subreddiys, then proceed to defend the decision by saying the posts are no longer there, so the posters must be trolls. There's absolutely zero genuine discussion being fostered about actual neccesity and efficacy of, let's face it, invasive care - facts are weapons in the Culture War on Trans Folk, therefore inconvenient ones must be silenced.

I recently saw a post making rounds, clsiming yet again that regret rates of "bottom surgeries" (SRS, or genital reassignments) are less than 1%. Another brings up that this is literally less than for heart surgery - on top of being implausibly small for any invasive surgery - but this is then framed as the evidence for wonder and neccesity of care. Needless to say, there's nary a cited source in sight. Indeed, I've seen the 99%/1% claim many times on what looks like powerpoint slides, never with a citation.

The numbers you can find on PubMed are less fun. Immediate rates of complication is, by different accounts, from 25 to 50 per cent (I am a hypocrite and providing no sources, searching PubMed isn't hard and you get a fuller picture than if I gave youa single link). The most frequent one is tissue degeneration - essentially graft rejection - in about a third of cases. Even in the best case, neogenitalia are numb (because nerve healing, insofar it occurs at all, takes about a decade), floppy, cause urination problems and are frequently inflamed. Nevertheless, the operations are advertised (even by surgeons, who should know better) as giving you "fully functional" genitalia, and popular hearsay would have you believe that you get a cool cyberpussy which is a hundred times better. It's not. Plastic surgery is appearance-only, functions are limited and incidental, and operations have no standard procedure.

When I last brought it up in my trans chat, the first person to reply did so using a phrase "I know you masturbate to axe-wounds on Reddit, but..." It didn't get much more civil than that.

This is far from atypical, btw. Much can be saud about transfem communities recently eschewing any reflection on learned toxic masculinity, or, indeed, making themselves less of a man outside or inside - the work can be relegated to magical hormones.

I'm going to go there, too. Call me a lookist, a transphobe, a bitter fuckup. Maybe I am. But imma say out loud:

Hormones will not make you pass. Also, passing is a real, non-arbitrary thing.

The Community, right now, will not tell you that you do not look like your desired gender. It is considered rude, sometimes hateful, and a general faux pas. I absolutely get the reasons for this, and I used to stand behind and to perpetrate those reasons. However, after seeing more and more people changing their documents and getting bottom surgeries before getting to shave their neckbeards, I realize that might not be a good thing.

As an ADHD person, I am often confused about things. As a troubled person, I was often confused about myself. I thought that if I hayed myself and liked girls and feminine things, then I must become a girl to love myself. I now realize that is not true. I am lucky to make my realization before making truly irreversible decisions, and am content with minor health complications as a price of self-discovery. Still, I know some who paid a steeper price, and I wonder how many more will.

I leave you with a link to Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine, which I found today, for most succinctly putting most of the talking points I wish I could express myself. They're the reason I'm bothering to make the post at all - by myself, I'm not a very persuasive person. https://segm.org/Dutch-studies-critically-flawed

[aciesvirtus]

i forgot i drew zero the third sr and tenmyouji in hot yaoi base so here have this

[mitchbeck]

HOCKEY NEWS AND NOTES

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The rampant rumors of the return of the Hartford Whalers following the defeat of the arena proposal in Tempe, Arizona has just one salient point, money exists in Connecticut, primarily in Greenwich, the home of high finance. After that, there is nothing to suggest that there is even the faintest hope that NHL hockey is returning to Hartford. Listen to our long-time source, who wishes to remain anonymous. "While I think the fans, and the media, get suckered into this every time it surfaces, the only reality is the hedge fund money in the Greenwich area. They have the sort of money it would take to bring hockey to Connecticut. Still, Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, has shown zero interest that he wants to vacate Arizona, no matter how obvious it may seem. "Once you get past that, there are too many other negatives. There's no regional TV network, no new building in sight, the Boston Bruins, and the player pool is diluted now, are four I can name off the top of my head, and there are more. It's a pipe dream and fantasy. The politicians are looking to get their 15 minutes of fame." Outgoing Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin and Governor Ned Lamont did themselves no favors by violating Bettman's primary rule of no public pronouncements. He dislikes owners-in-waiting, who are too loquacious. Former Quebec City Mayor Régis Labeaume (2007-2021) blew it by going public. They're still waiting to hear from the NHL. Relocation is a possibility, not a certainty, and given the owners and potential suitors who have tried to outwit the Commissioner are gone from the scene, i.e., original Coyotes owner Jerry Moyes and Jim Balisilie, the Blackberry founder who's bankrupt and gone. Yet Bettman is still here and in the NHL Hall of Fame. So if you're betting on this one, put all your chips on Bettman and no team in Hartford. PLAYER MOVEMENT Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack, Vitali Kravtsov, has left the Vancouver Canucks, where the New York Rangers sent the Russian after they traded him at the trade deadline for Will Lockwood. Kravtsov departed Vancouver and is headed back to Russia again after signing a deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk (Russia-KHL) for a third time. Jonathan Marchessault, the ex-Connecticut Whale, who the Rangers misevaluated the undrafted QMJHL free agent product they had signed. He scored 32 goals and led the team in his rookie pro year in Hart City. The thought was that he would only be an AHL player. Whoops? After scoring in a 6-0 series clincher Monday night, he is now heading to his second Stanley Cup final appearance and just completed his second conference final to play the Florida Panthers for the Stanley Cup. Marchessault is making $30 million with the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Vegas also has as a backup goalie Jonathan Quick (Hamden/AOF), and their coaches are ex-Whalers assistant John Stevens Sr. and goalie Sean Burke. CONNECTICUT CONNECTIONS Scouts are ex-Whalers Jim McKenzie (Pro Scout), Connor Jones (Amateur scout), the former Quinnipiac University/Sound Tiger, and ex-Whaler, Alex Godynyuk (European scout). The Florida Panthers have ex-Yale goalie, Alex Lyon, ex-Hartford Wolf Pack/Ranger Marc Staal, former Sound Tiger Carter Verhaeghe, and former Whaler coach Paul Maurice, ex-Pack Sylvain Lefebvre is the Panthers' assistant coach. Pro Scouts Sean Backman (Cos Cob/Yale/AOF) and P.J. Fenton. Ex-Pack Yevgeni Grachev was the first mercurial Russian in Hartford before Kravtsov. He had a short stay. He switches Russian KHL teams from HC Vladivostock to Amur Khabarovsk. In the IIHF World Championships, Canada won the gold medal. Ex-Pack Sammy Blais scored twice, including the first goal in a 5-2 win over a pesky German squad. In the semifinal, Blais scored a perfect top-shelf goal from the right wing that helped Canada to a 4-2 come-from-behind win over Latvia. The US bid to play Canada for the gold medal was derailed by Germany in a 4-3 overtime win in the other semifinal by Frederik Tiffels, ending captain Nick Bonino's (Unionville via Farmington/AOF) journey as they went home without a medal losing to tourney co-host Latvia 4-3 in the bronze medal game. EX WOLF PACK Ex-Pack Andres Ambühl, 39, and his Swiss teammates lost in the quarterfinals, and has played in a record 131 WC games for the Swiss. The Quebec Remparts opened the Memorial Cup in fine fashion with an impressive 8-3 win over host Kamloops Blazers, who the Pack's Dylan Garand played for last year. The Pack's Matt Rempe's former junior team, the Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL), took on future possible Wolf Pack teammate Brennan Othmann and the Peterborough Petes in their first games for each team and won 6-3. Othmann had one assist and was a minus-two. The Petes also feature Devils draft pick Chase Stillman, Kamloops came back in their next game, wiping out Peterborough 10-2. Then Monday, Quebec beat Kamloops 3-1. MORE EX-PACK Ex-Pack Ty Ronning and Stefan Matteau Jr., a Wolf Pack training camp invitee several years ago and son of the former Ranger, Stefan Sr., who was a Wolf Pack promotional guest earlier this year, were both released by ERC Ingolstadt (Germany-DEL). Ronning signed with Eisbären Berlin (Germany-DEL). Ex-Pack Jake Elmer leaves HK Nitra (Slovakia-SLEL) for Odense (Denmark-DHL). Cédric Lacroix, an ex-Sound Tiger, and late Wolf Pack training camp cut two years ago, who played this year at Grand Rapids (AHL), Toledo (ECHL), and Trois-Rivières (ECHL), signs with Vorarlberg (Austria-IceHL) next year. Cole Maier (Taft School) heads from Manitoba to Nuremberg (Germany-DEL) next year; Sampo Ranta, after one year and a minus-11, leaves the Colorado Eagles and heads to MODO (Sweden-SHL) as he joins the large AHL contingent to Sweden. Ben Tardif, who played with Hartford for 15 effective games mid-season before being sent to the Jacksonville Icemen after playing out West for the Colorado Eagles (AHL) and for their Double AA affiliate in Utah Grizzlies (ECHL), is heading to Europe and KooKoo (Finland-FEL). Tardif, Ranta, and Maier make 23 AHL'ers heading to Europe. PLAYERS MOVING AROUND The Islanders sign for next season Kyle MacLean to a one-year, two-way deal for $825,000K-NHL/$82,500K-AHL and Daylan Kuefler completing his junior career playing for Kamloops in the aforementioned Memorial Cup to a three-year ELC deal at $925K-NHL/$82,500K-AHL.Both players will likely be in Bridgeport in the fall. Roman Kinal, the former UCONN Captain, signs an extension with the AHL San Jose Barracuda. Alex Gagnon of Division III independent Albertus Magnus College (New Haven) becomes the 26th Division I or III player to head to Europe. He joins teammate Charlie Risk in going to Mont-Blance (France-FFHG Division-1). The Division I player conference pro signings breakdown is as follows; Hockey East-37, NCHC-36, CCHA-31, Big Ten-29, ECACHL-24, and AHA-20, NCAA Independent schools-13, and just one is transferring to the Canadian college school or university system. Division III is 31. Undergrads leaving school early are 37. In-school transfers, 47, and grad transfers, 38. Ex-CT Whale Kelsey Tessier retires from hockey as a champion after two years with the HC Rouen Dragons (France-FREL). The team won their 17th Magnus League title in the 100th year of French hockey. Sam Bitten, the younger brother of Will Bitten, will join his older brother in Springfield next year. He played with HC Plzeň (Pilsner)  this last season. He has played all of his pro career so far in Europe. CT HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY NEWS The CT high school hockey landscape was changed dramatically with the announcement that two of the Big Four, West Haven and Hamden, have downgraded their programs to Division-2 after 75 years as Division I powerhouses. West Haven went co-op last year with Seymour, Oxford, and Shelton and finished 3-17 with their only D1 win of the three they had was against an out-of-state opponent, St. Domenic (Auburn, Maine). The Hamden High Green Dragons, another part of the long-time unique high school hockey clique along with West Haven, Notre Dame-West Haven, and Fairfield Prep, were the Montreal Canadiens of high school hockey in the late 1960s through the 1970s into the late 1980s. Much like West Haven, they have had dwindling numbers after a sub-par season of their own with its three wins-two over West Haven and the other against Sheehan of Wallingford, have had just six coaches in the program's history. The local involvement in hockey, trying out for their teams, has not been good, and both towns' youth programs have begun admitting kids from neighboring towns over the last several years to pump up the numbers. So Hamden could be next in line in a few years. West Haven AD Joe Morrell Jr., who was the head coach for 21 years of the Blue Devils (one of six coaches in the program's history) after being an assistant coach at cross-town rival ND-WH for six years was matter-of-fact regarding this momentous decision. "It was a tough decision to make, a very tough pill to swallow. Put a lot of time coaching and playing for this program, we were in agreement-to be able to compete we had go to Division II. Some day we will be back at Division I." The current WH coach is Steve Harris, who played four years at ND-WH and a PG year at Gunnery (Prep) School (now Frederick Gunn School) (Washington) before playing Division III at Johnson and Wales (Rhode Island) and is set to remain was all in with the tough decision. MORE HIGH SCHOOL NEWS A far cry from 30 years ago, when Connecticut held the Connecticut Classic at Ingalls Rink at Yale against Massachusetts schools. The West Haven Blue Devils won its last title in 1994, and then WH head coach Art DeLucia forecasted the program's decline when he saw the youth numbers then and stepped aside. He told this reporter then, 'We graduated the smartest championship team academically ever and likely the last WH school championship.' It led to the West Haven AD, the late Tom Hunt, with DeLucia's resignation letter in his back pocket trying to back door in, now out of high school hockey Steve McCarty, then the WH assistant coach, to become the head coach. Hunt ran afoul of the WH Board of Education, who requested an open process in the coach selection. That led to the three-year tenure of former New Haven Blades and Nighthawk player plus former NHL defenseman Gordie's Smith's tumultuous reign and conflicts with Hunt. Smith's brother is Billy Smith, the great Islanders goalie who won four Stanley Cups. Morrell followed Smith. A sad day indeed. HOME HARTFORD WOLF PACK Read the full article

[edutainer2022]

@riallasheng I'm so loving all the thoughts this all makes me think!

OK, let's talk the Kyranos for a minute. I also think the Ninja Kyrano Sr. thing is, at least in part, informed by the fact the Tracies/IR all of a sudden DO HAVE a Chief of Security position in their ranks. So it's safe to assume while Kayo was still a kid - someone else was that (because bar Alan doing space rescues - child labor laws are thing, especially if it's a paid job). And since they're a very secluded social circle - it could have been her now retired Dad (who happens to be a brother of Jeff's erstwhile business partner and Criminal Mastermind). I have two ideas: a) maybe Kyrano Sr. kinda third wheeled it with Jeff and the Hood originally to keep an eye on his shady brother. And became good friends with Jeff, eventually; b) maybe Kyrano was never a Chief of Security, but Kayo's reappearance closer to the TAG s1 timeline prompted for those in the know (Casey, Sally) that the Hood was ready to resurface. So imagine Sally "suggesting" over breakfast one day they offer Kayo a Security Op - she's kinda family anyway, she's gonna be helping with IR (while Alan is still too obviously a kid), and she's scarily deadly. Scott trusts his Grandma, he didn't think anything of it and did.

If we run with the idea Bereznik happens AFTER Zero-X- Kayo could have reentered the picture as a shadow (pun intended), when attempts to rouse Kyrano out of retirement/depression failed. They needed a covert task force. So maybe that was Kayo's debut as a cover operative in the Tracy scene. In and out - like a shadow.

If we're running EVEN FURTHER with the idea (which my evil mind absolutely loves!) the Hood was at least partially either in the know or behind the arrangement of Scott's imprisonment- Kayo could have been the one to bring that information to the table. Maybe that's why/how she left in the first place. Yeah, Janus had been around A LONG WHILE, and who knows how long he had been in the Hood's employ. And how many of the GDF high command as well. In that case their goals aligned - GDF gets the Tracies and IR I suspended animation, till Scott is not dead, but not free either. The Hood gets yet another ONE UP on Jeff. If there were business powers that wouldn't mind the eventual demise of Tracy Industries- they wouldn't object much too, I guess.

The Mechanic could still BE a Kyrano. Hey, these people are all about secret identities. Hood and Kyrano are half brothers, I guess. Who's to say Kyrano didn't have a son before he married Kayo's mother and they had Kayo. The Mechanic is both old enough and young enough for that - schooled overseas, never really in the picture of Kyrano's new stage in life, then in the Hood's thrall (quite possibly the Hood played up the angle that Mechanic had been ditched to the curb; I also got the idea the Mechanic got into Hood's mind-thrall due to depression after T-drive malfunction - so he didn't know it was Hood's sabotage, which Hood would have more ways to hide if he played the "concerned uncle"). The Mechanic doesn't volunteer much information about himself. Brains seemed to know him - but he designed T-drive, so probably from that. Sally is sure generous with him (but she's in the habit of assembling a surrogate family of strays in case her actual kids don't make it).

John and GDF actually makes sense. He would have probably at least interned at NASA or International Space Agency (though, they have everyone and their brother going to space liberally in the bright future of TAG). Well, a guy who's off-handed code could evolve into an AI would have at least been on GDF radar for a while. I think you're right, the GDF might have thought they had the elder boys in the bag anyway with the IR gig. John would absolutely do what he sees as necessary by the means avaliable and then say f*ck you, no thanks. Virgil... yeah, Virgil, bless his heart, thinks good guys are mostly good and GDF is mostly Aunt Casey or Uncle Lee. Janus obviously baffled him. Maybe it was a thoroughly curated experience for the gentle soul.

*I'll follow up soon about Filthy Rich Tracies*

@edutainer2022 , the original post was so long it was causing issues on my phone for some reason, so I'm copying your last post and starting a new 'thread' (so long as that is alright with you. If you so wish I'll copy my reply and put it on your thread ^^;; )

Of IR is obviously a cash sinkhole. They also tend to wreck quite a lot of property through the rescues. Zero-XL trial and error construction alone seems to have cost a budget of a sizable country. Also... the way IR policy is about not saving equipment and John merrily suggesting Global One worth billions of hard fought for tooth and nail funding be abandoned - they boys probably never had to file a grant proposal in their life. In their life equipment the caliber and expense of a space station is replaceable on demand. Unless it has sentimental value.

I LOVE the idea Mom's heirloom money was a major contribution. Although, the old residence of the Gran Roca doesn't appear opulent - we don't know the extent of the estate (and horses? Where did the horses go?). Maybe smart investments, patents, not just aeronatic business. Mom is canonically old southern money (but still no name).

Oh, the Bereznik thing WITHOUT Jeff in the picture would have been a glorious mess. Scott is a) respectfully, a fairy nobody at that point (well, Daddy's boy, but no political and little economic leverage); b) all but a liability for GDF if they want to go ahead with IR - Scott is one foot out and vocal about his brothers being no foot in, the IR branching AWAY into Thunderbirds is afoot, and while it's not a problem to train GDF officers into operatives, the hitch is probably in the rights and specs for the tech (and Brains) - the Tracies are out, IR is out of GDF clutch. So yeah... Scotty MIA is more convenient... than not. So quite likely the Old Guard pooled up for an extraction that "never happened" under conditions that Scott's imprisonment "never happened" to anyone who should ask. Yeah, Scott doesn't like or wants anything to do with GDF law inforcement angle. Maybe IR is later greenlit under STRICT conditions they will only identify as civilians. Scott is so worried Kayo was breaking that rule as if their license depended on it. Maybe it did. He's worried as late as Chain Reaction (all the while aiding and abating an escape of a terrorist out of pure unironic goodness of his heart).

I agree, much as the idea of Military bros is appealing - Gordon indicates no exposure to that structure. Scott does, but, like you said, not in the manner that would suggest he thrived or wanted to do it for life. Semi-canonical "interview" with "Scott" has him flounder on a question what he would do, if not IR. The military service doesn't even come up. Something something about charity and philanthropy.

I wonder how much of Zero-X was built with Jeff and Lee in mind. Calypso was a two pilot mission. There wasn't much OUT THERE at the time to warrant T-drive powered rescues. No Marcian colony, nothing. Maybe Jeff and Lee felt stir crazy, "moored" on Earth and kinda expected to space-the-final-frontier it in their autumn days.

Yeah, TaG tends to be as hard on their equipment (and locations) as TOS was, but you have to factor that by the number of rescues... and with TaG being known, that means that people can 'contact' them for reimbursement for damages and harm and the like. Hck, protection from THAT might be part of the reason Jeff could ahve gone with a branch of the GDF initially. (actually, question... where does the Kyrano was a bad-ass ninja warrior come from? It's never said or even implied in the show that I recall. Is it just because Kayo is a kick-ass warrior? I ask because imagine if Kyrano was originally more of the lawyer type, or engineer who was helping Brains or the like). The Tracys, Brains, and Kayo are REALLY lackadaisical about objects and finances. Sometimes I get it, like when the choice is save a person OR save a thing... but they seem to be richer than even the TOS Tracys, and there are times where their lack of care of items is grating. Teh high-rise fire episode in example, where they took delight and went out of their way to damage the building / cut the top off of it - it legit would have been easier and safer to break the glass and lower the seats down, and the smugness to the building owner after bordered on them being asses. And in another example... yeah, Global One. O'Bannon was RIGHT in her call to try and save the station, that is a MASSIVE investment (and would have been a LOT OF DEADLY DEBRIS RAINING DOWN) and I frankly side with her on it. Like TOS tends to place people above the items too, but they do try to limit damage they cause, in the comics actually do their best to salvage /save items when possible (The ocean liner The President in example) and John and Scott even directly discuss how the Ocean Pioneer was a significant investment for the people involved and they should have tried saving it. Scott AGREES with John on that, but points out that they likely couldn't have done so before it blew up / they might not have been able to. In the comics (and novels to a degree) they HAVE made the call to save the objects as well on occasion.

On the Ranch not looking opulent... sometimes people with a lot of money don't spend it on mansions or the like, but instead on other things... and it's possible that the Mom's family prefered simply, homely, comforts and disliked ostentatious shows of wealth. (In an example... Tracy Island in TOS and TaG is like this. The interior is comfortable and not very showy... yes they're on a private island, but the home itself looks like a upper middle class home of the era. There's Virgil's piano, but it's a baby grand rather than a grand, and white pianos actually cost markidly less than black pianos. The game room has a pool table, but (esp in the 60s) Pool tables weren't that expensive unless you went all in, and even people on the lower end of middle class could possibly have one. The same is true for what we see in the TaG house. Upper end of middle class overall. One or two showy things, but not opulent. Not Southern money, Western money / South-Western money. Southern refers to the states in the south east and tends to come from foresty or farms, where-as western and south western are from ranches or oil/natural gas. (The USA is not so much one country as it is 50 countries in a trenchcoat XD The Mom's home is in the western states, which are about as different culturally from the 'southern' states as... hmm... Ukraine is from France. There are many simularities, but there are also many differences). Bad area for horses though, very rocky with little to no grass or open areas. Not good for cattle ranching either. Most likely it was oil or natural gas (despite teh show lambasting it, oil is vital for a HECK of a lot more than just fuel, and would still be required in the 'modern day' of the show)

Yeah, Jeff being gone when Scott was a POW would make for an interesting situation. a) Scott likely was at minimum a Captain, and the Tracy name would have been well known from how big the company was to Jeff's heroic 'death', so Scott would be in the very bad position of being a 'nobody'... related to several 'somebodies' who could be levereged for ransom and Scott himself would likely be tortured for information on Tracy Industries, the (at that point) shut down iR 'branch', the GDF in general... It wouldn't be a good time for him in the slightest b) Scott being a POW would, terrifyingly, be a 'good' situation for the GDF. He wouldn't have any information they would need to worry about, it keeps him out of the way and out of trouble, he doesn't have teh threat of leaving the GDF which means as long as he's a POW they have access to Brains and the funding from Tracy Industries, they might be able to get Virgil or John to join up (Gordon would still be too young to enlist, as he'd only be 16 or 17)... Horrifyingly, they'd have every reason to both make sure that Scott stayed alive... and stayed a POW. And Scott would KNOW THAT. Which would go a VERY LONG way to explaining his apparent SEVERE lack of trust (and at times apparent near hatred) for the GDF. He likes and trusts Casey and Lee, but the GDF as a whole? Odds are Casey was very much bending or even breaking orders to get even slightly involved in the rescue. Heck, just her HIDING the fact that others were planning a rescue might have been all she was able to do, it might have been almost entirely Penny's dad via his connections and possibly sending Parker in, and quite likely Lee finding a way off the Moon (oddly, despite my earlier statement... I do't think Kyrano would be involved in this rescue. There's no indication that he ever left whatever bolthole he fled to, and if he didn't show up to help when the Hood returned or when they started finding evidence that Jeff was alive... he isn't going to show up to save Scott. Which means the rescue party was likely Parker, Lee, and possibly Penny's dad... who I totally imagine to basically be a 1:to:1 for Sir Jeremy Hodge from TOS. Odds are all the POWs were rescued, not just Scott.

Scott leaving the GDF likely the SECOND he was recovered enough to be coherent / lucid likely was a blow to the GDF, as that means Brains and the Tracy income would now be gone. I could totally see them putting a 'if you become a military organization, we will be 'forced' to have iR become part of the GDF again... it explains the total lack of weapons on the Thunderbirds or Tracys (I'm sorry, weapons for self defense or defense of others is a good thing overall) and why Scott is SO INTENSE about Kayo getting into combat situations... but also why he doesn't really get snarly until Kayo WORKS WITH THE GDF. He sacrificed a HELL of a lot to make sure that never happened, and he likely sees it as the GDF getting one MASSIVE foot in the door to them taking over iR 'again'.

TOS Scott and Gordon show a lot of evidence of not only havng been in the military, but having thrived in it. And some people DO do well in the military, quite often very good people. But Gordon is only 18-20 by the tme of the Pilot, so there honestly is no way for him to have served while still having his lines indicating that he's been a full-time member of iR for a few years prior to the pilot apply on top of the fact that he shows NO behaviors or actions that fit with a former member of the military. tagScott DOES show behaviors and actions that match up with a former member of the military... but they match up with the behaviors of those who just did NOT thrive / work / mesh with the military life. He very much seems to be a 'I served and by God do I regret it' type (which hey, fair, some people just aren't right for it)

you know, oddly, I don't think Jeff or Lee (or iR) were in mind at all with the Zero X. The GDF wouldn't really want either to go out exploring the far edges of the solar system, and with iR up and running (and plans to go independent with it) I actually doubt that Jeff or Lee would have wanted to go do so. Lee AFTER Jeff's 'death' might have been interested in that sort of thing as we see with him staying on the Mars Colony... but not before, I don't think. Look at how happy he was to stay on the Moon Base. He had nodesire or drive to go out exploring, he was happy to stay at Alphie and only left when he had no choice.

[cralaofmandalore]

Y'all i know i died but it doesn't matter cuz it's time

MATCHING JIGLUP ICONS FROM THE LUPIN ZERO TRAILER!!

[pluckyredhead]

Character Profile: Henry King, Jr. (Brainwave, Jr.)

Since I already talked about Jennie and Todd, it’s time to profile the third corner of their weird little triangle: Hank! A.K.A. Brainwave, Jr., a strong contender for the dumbest codename in the DCU. Bless his heart.

CONTENT WARNING: So much ableism and stigmatizing of mental illness, you guys. Also a little brain-related body horror.

Like Jennie and Todd (and Al), Hank first showed up in the 80s as a founding member of Infinity, Inc. Unlike every other member of the team, though, he is not the child or successor of a Golden Age hero, but a Golden Age villain - specifically, his father Brainwave. Hank inherited his dad’s psychic abilities, but luckily not his looks:

A truly unhinged way to introduce yourself to the JSA, Hank: show up in disguise as your evil father, make fun of them, attack them, and then ask for help. Incredible.

During the course of the first Infinity, Inc. arc, the elder Brainwave does the only decent thing he’s ever done in his life, and sacrifices himself to save Hank. As he dies, he transfers his powers to his son’s brain:

This does not end well for Hank. Actually, it doesn’t begin well, either - Hank starts hallucinating his father berating him at inopportune moments:

On the other hand, Hank does end up in a very cute relationship with his teammate Jennie, as we discussed in her profile:

Awww, they’re cute! They probably lost their virginities in that cave! Good for them, I guess!

Hank also makes a connection to another member of the team: their leader, Sylvester Pemberton, the original Star-Spangled Kid and later Skyman. Syl is a Golden Age hero, but thanks to travel shenanigans, he’s only in his very early 20s, around the same age as the II kids. He also has an adopted sister, Merry, who became the obscure superhero Gimmick Girl...and who also happens to be Hank’s mother. How Brainwave Sr and Merry even met, let alone why Merry married a decades-older, extremely evil, crusty little nugget of a supervillain, is never explained.

Anyway, this makes Sylvester Hank’s uncle, a fact that they are both pretty gleeful about judging by the frequency with which they refer to each other as “uncle” and “nephew” throughout the rest of the series. So it’s pretty hard on Hank when Syl is murdered, leading to the disbanding of Infinity, Inc. At this point Merry was dead (she’s later retconned to be alive), so Hank has just lost his last living relative and his only support network, which may partially explain why things suddenly go...really, really badly for him.

By which I mean, he disappears until the mid-90s and then completely arbitrarily attacks a branch of the Justice League:

Oh BOY.

Yeah, so Hank is a villain now, and also “crazy,” in the thoughtlessly ableist comic book-y sense of the word. For absolutely no reason, he has decided to honor his father by attacking a team full of people with zero connection to his dad and barely to him (he met Captain Atom once, back in the 80s). I cannot overemphasize how much this character assassination is not explained and has zero buildup. I think it’s supposed to be funny, hence Hank constantly declaring himself to be “eee-vil”? But, like, it’s not.

Also, he shaved off all his beautiful hair! I’m so sad.

Hank next appears in the Green Lantern/Sentinel: Heart of Darkness miniseries. I talked about it in the Jennie and Todd recap, but suffice to say: everything about it is awful. The plot revolves around Jennie’s mysterious abduction, for which Hank is only a red herring, but it’s revealed that Alan has funded a private asylum solely for the purposes of incarcerating Hank and keeping him away from Jennie. It’s...brutal, and deeply disturbing:

There’s so much wrong with this. The breathtakingly offensive depiction of mental illness. The fact that Alan, a supposed hero, would do this - and Kyle, Todd, and even Jennie don’t seem to care in the slightest. The one doctor we see, who gushes about how fascinating a subject Hank is to study, but says nothing about helping or treating him - and Alan explicitly says all he cares about is keeping Hank locked up. The vague sense that this is Alan’s punishment of Hank for having had sex with Jen. Also, how did Alan even get any of this power over Hank? Why was he allowed to do this? It’s monstrous and I hate everything about it.

A few years later, Hank escapes (how? we don’t know) and attacks Kyle, Jennie, and Alan:

Honestly I’m kind of on Hank’s side here. (His calmness here is explained by having found the right combination of medications, which...may or may not be true, as we’ll see.)

We next see Hank a couple years after that, as part of a JSA storyline. Black Adam and Atom-Smasher (Hank’s old II buddy Al Rothstein) form a splinter group of JSA-ish characters who are willing to cross lines the JSA won’t. The group includes Hank and another former Infinitor, Norda, presumably on Al’s invitation because, like...he’s the one who knows them. I talked about this arc in more detail in Al’s profile, but essentially, they kill a terrorist, then go to Adam’s home country of Kahndaq, kill its current dictator, and put Adam in charge. War breaks out, and the JSA shows up to intervene.

Hank is very in control and more powerful than we’ve ever seen him, but he also seems to have zero scruples left:

That narration is from Black Adam, and his reference to “helping” Hank is also the reason that Hank has gotten so coldly vicious: Hank isn’t driving the bus anymore.

See, when the JSA invaded Kahndaq, they also brought the Atom, who decided to shrink really tiny and climb around in Hank’s brain for...reasons? And he discovered that he wasn’t alone in there:

Yeah, that’s Mister Mind, a Captain Marvel villain. It’s...not totally clear what the sequence of events was here, but I’m assuming Hank escaped from the asylum on his own, Al invited him to the antihero squad, and then Adam put a worm in his brain? I have to assume Al didn’t know about Mister Mind; Al has made some poor choices at this point but he would not do that to a friend.

Anyway, the Atom defeats Mister Mind, the JSA takes Hank back, and then we get the laziest possible resolution to everything that has happened to Hank over the past decade:

Yeah so basically when Hank’s father uploaded his powers into Hank’s mind, it caused a weird, tumor-like growth that made him massively more powerful but also drove him “““crazy,””” for terrible ableist comic book definitions of the term. But Mister Mind ate most of the growth, so Hank’s fine now! And still one of the most powerful psychics on the planet!

Oh, and that woman in the middle there? That’s his mother, Merry. You know, the one Hank believed to be dead, the one who he said he saw die? Yeah, around when he was stuck in the asylum she showed up in Young Justice, totally fine, never mentioning she had a son. So. (This is obviously a continuity error, but my headcanon to make it work is that Senior made Hank believe he’d seen Merry die. Maybe even put a compulsion on Merry to keep her from contacting Hank or Syl? I wouldn’t put it past him!)

(And while we’re talking about Hank’s family, I should also note that Hank technically has a sister, Jacqueline, who briefly took up the codename of Gimmix in honor of Merry. She only appears three times before dying, it’s unclear if she and Hank have the same father since her last name is Pemberton, and she and Hank never interacted in canon. So...there’s that.)

Hank teams up with the JSA once more when they have a problem that requires his particular skill set, and he seems to have made peace with...everything:

Hank, this costume sucks.

Hank then goes to the fictional South American country of Parador and winds up taking care of a bunch of children who have had genetic experiments performed on them by the evil government/drug cartels running the country (this story is WALLOWING in racist stereotypes). He also grows out white guy dreads, which is...a choice:

Like. Hank definitely discovered weed in Parador, and I’m happy for him but also think he should probably shave his head again.

Annnd that was the last we saw of Hank before the New 52 wiped out his entire generation and reset the original JSA back to younger, shittier versions of themselves. Hank and his father do show up in the New 52 but now they are French??? Their names are both Henri Roy??? Also Hank is a teenager. Anyway those versions sucked and they’re gone now so who cares.

Original Flavor Hank was restored to the DCU actually before the rest of the Infinitors, since he had a non-speaking cameo in Justice League: No Justice back in 2018, but as of last year’s Infinite Frontier, he has definitely been restored along with his team, with his full history presumably intact, although he’s only appeared in flashbacks so we haven’t technically seen him recently.

Buuut you can see him tomorrow, in my fic for HankTodd Weekend! And hopefully Hank will return to comics soon now that JSA characters are showing up again. Fingers crossed!

[merakiui]

Grading all the twst Halloween bois on how well they came home.

Vil (and Azul): EXTREMELY GOOD BOI!!! Came home with Azul on an "lol I only have 301 gems let's do a 10 pull so I can cry now and get it over with" pull. He made my week. TTATT (Still cried)

Cater: Very good boi! Bought my monthly allotment of gems, only had to do two 10 pulls to bribe him home.

Jack and Lilia: Came home with no effort as all good SR cards do. *nod*

Jade: NAUGHTY EEL!!!! VERY BAD!!! DX Took all my keys, saved gems, farmed for all the free gems I could, used double my alloted money for September and had to eat Ramen for a few days. Had the audacity to show up randomly AFTER 200 pulls!!!

I've been reading too many yandere fics and self-aware AUs... Jade got too many ideas on how to make everyone suffer for him.

Omg I’m glad everyone (except Jade,,, that naughty eel…) came home to you without much issue!! Everyone will receive passing marks! As for Jade… >:( he will have to get a zero for giving you so much trouble.

I only pulled for the SR cards (and attempted Halloween Jade), so the grades for my account are as follows:

Lilia - too good! Star student behavior! He came home so many times. It was overwhelming how much he would appear in every pull.

Azul - also good!!!! Third single pull. <3 I’m happy he can exist on my home screen now. :D

Jack - very good boy!!! It was my only tenfold, so I pulled and he came twice and brought along another Halloween Azul!

Jade - … well,,,,, it was like the sea he lives in: tumultuous. 0 marks. T^T writing yandere!Jade fulfills the emptiness that comes from not having him, so it’s okay lol!!