#1) is also very anti-alien and 2) is an alien

[fallout-lou-begas]

On the one hand, it is absolutely a sign of the complexion of the dev team and of the times that FNV has little to no presence of real life Indigenous people. Not "tribals." Real Indigenous nations that live in that general area like the Mojave, Paiute, Apache etc. On the other hand, I think using groups like the great khans, the unnamed "tribal" from Hanlons stories, the zion tribes, as props to hammer in on US settler colonialism in general and of the actual US state of California in particular, is pretty clever. That is, these things can be shown to the player without using the pain of Indigenous peoples, their lives and their blood, as a way to carry that message. If the massacre at bitter springs had been of Apache it would be less effective and in very poor taste, in my opinion. I think overall the criticisms are still valid, but I think theres some interesting alternative interpretations. But on the other hand, the allegory falls apart because the khans AREN'T the victims of colonialism. In the first game and onward they are chattel slave owning rapists. They are more of a criminal gang than a distinct culture. And in FNV theres the suggestion that the khans are defending themselves and are victimized in the mold of Indigenous tribes which fought the US and attacked settlers. But in reality, they are objectively in the wrong when attacking the NCR (don't deserve to get massacred, but still), and the genre fiction of the whole thing breaks the metaphor. Like applying anti colonial rhetoric to the hells angels. Like how the allegory of ghouls as a marginalized group breaks down entirely with the introduction of feral ghouls in fallout 3. While some ghouls in prior entries might attack on sight, this was only if the player got close, and they weren't really a danger. So people having this hard on about hating ghouls in fallout 1 and 2 was meant as entirely illegitimate. That allegory doesn't work after f3 since we are meant to think that at any moment, for no known reason, they can turn into a cannibal corpse. The genre fiction of it all spoils the thing. anyway, read cadillac desert.

this is exactly what i mean by the "baggage" of fallout's depiction of "tribals" and even just the word "tribal" to describe its various disparate post-apocalyptic nomadic groups, because while they can be used as you say to brush up against indigenous identities allegorically, there is a very deafening silence coming from the lack of actual indigenous people as well. it can't help but imply that these fictional groups are 1:1 substitutes for the thing they're depicting allegorically, with a mixed degree of intention and success, because there's no counterbalance or counterexample to either contrast these allegories against reality or even further ground them in it.

you run up against this a lot in genre fiction. the X-Men, for example, have served as a clumsy allegory for marginalized identities and civil rights struggles for decades, with several mixed attempts to try to reconcile its fictional symbolism with acknowledgement of what's real and literal. my own personal bugbear is that while I absolutely love Jadzia Dax in Deep Space 9, I would have loved it even more if Jadzia was a real actual trans woman that Dax had implanted itself into, or even if Jadzia Dax at least had a regular mundane non-alien trans woman bestie to queen out and compare notes with.

and yeah, the whole thing about feral ghouls being completely hostile sight with zero alternative interaction potential (and the same goes for powder gangers as cartoonishly evil victims of an empire's carceral justice system, and fiends as cartoonishly evil drug addicts, and...) is that videos games are constantly trying to stage endless combat encounters for gameplay reasons while also not making the player feel bad about slaughtering endless combat participants for narrative reasons. (and the powder gangers are only shoot on sight if you get vilified by them, but the first non-tutorial quest in the game is either helping them kill everybody in the town that just saved your life because they're harboring the guy they tried to mug, or...stopping them from doing that by killing them instead).

#asks #hey wait this one might have gotten a little too nuanced! #no nuance hot takes

[deputyrook]

man the romance options in rogue trader are something else. like how am I supposed to choose between:

1) imperial interrogator who tortures people for a living. ruthless, uptight, cold, secretly kind of sweet and protective, SO tired of your shit. will disappear your companions if you ask him to without hesitation and also also recommends blowing up a planet as the best course of action at one point

2) literally the main villain of act 2. cenobite torture alien. you can be his pet or you can make him your pet. branding is involved. everyone else on your crew is horrified by this. he is not redeemed at all, he is still very much evil. He makes you worse and will kill your crew members

I love the difference from bg3 where these are just like… very much not good guys at heart LMAO

#I’m romancing Heinrix right now but 👀 #1) is also very anti-alien and 2) is an alien #wh40k rogue trader #rogue trader #rogue trader spoilers #this is 100% serious though I adore both of these choices I’m so torn #I’ll probably Heinrix endgame but flirt w Marazhai

[homocidal-invader]

Professor Membrane: Good or Bad Father?

I've decided to scientifically argue weather or not Professor Membrane from Invader Zim father of Dib Membrane and gasoline the other one by going through EVERY EPISODE of Invader Zim (that he appears in) and making a point counter of every good and bad action he does.

Episode 1 The Nightmare Begins Ignores Dib -1 point

Episode 2B NanoZim Just gives him the tiny ship when he needs help even though what he says is insane. Proffy doesn't even call him insane just tells him to run along + 1 point

Episode 3A Parent Teacher Night He tried to show up for the meeting,,, even if it resulted in the lab exploding. + 1 dad point - 1 scientist point

Episode 6B Battle Dib Didn't recognize his son - 1 point Too hard to contact - 1 point Gave Dib the permission slip + 1 point

Episode 8B Bad Bad Rubber Piggy MADE HIS SON INTO A COOL ASS BATTLE ROBOT TO PREVENT HIM FROM DYING + 1 point

10B Bloatys Pizza Hog Only one annual family night out - 1 point Lets Gaz choose wherever she wants + 1 point Made sure Dib also came + 1 point If Dib doesn't show up, he'll put it off for next year - 1 point 12B Game Slave 2 One of the best lines in the show + 1 point

13 Battle of the Planets Told his son aliens were fake and said he had a big head as a baby. The iconic line "my poor insane son" debuts this episode. - 1 point

14 Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom said "It was only a matter of time" for Dib going to HIS INSANE ASYLUM THAT HE OWNS. - 1 point Did not consider Dib's opinion for a second. - 1 point Sent Dib to the asylum. For the rest of his life. - 1 point And an extra bad point, because that's really bad, and the worst thing he's done in the show and what most people remember him for. - 1 point Another bad point for apparently experimenting on baby Dib so much he has subconscious trauma over it. - 1 point

15B Future Dib Neglects his children (hasn't shown up for weeks) - 1 point However he makes prerecorded messages for them so he's not totally abandoning them. + 1 point Inviting his kids to the infinite energy thingy. + 1 point Pat Gaz on the head + 1 point Noticed Dib was missing immedietely + 1 point He told Gaz to make sure Dib doesn't do anything embarrassing. - 1 point Waited for his kids despite jeers from the audience + 1 point DOESN'T GIVE EVERYONE PERPETUAL ENERGY BECAUSE THEY DISRESPECTED HIS KIDS + 1 dad point - 1 scientist point Membrane doesn't realize the robot dib is fake - 1 point

18B The Sad Sad Tale of Chickenfoot Invasion of privacy by letting randoms in the house. - 1 point Calls his son insane to everyone there. - 1 point Insisting what his son's future is as I'm assuming he does that a lot offscreen. - 1 point Not defending Dib when everyone starts laughing at him - 1 point

20 Tak The Hideous New Girl Trying to make friends with Dib's friend :) + 1 point

21 Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars Tells Gaz to be nice to his brother and helps her out with her problem. + 1 point Calls Dib insane behind his back - 1 point

23b Dibship Rising He LIED about the can of beans wiping out ALL HUMAN LIFE - 1 point?

25 Gaz Taster of Pork Always keeps the fridge stocked with good food + 1 point Stopped what he was doing immedietely to help Gaz with her problem + 1 point Put his kid on public TV without consent - 1 point Turned his kid into an experiment - 1 point Makes his children have to do an escape sequence at all - 1 point Apologizes + 1 point

27 The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever Trusted Dib with his anti-santa arsenal + 1 point

DELETED EPISODES!

Mopiness of Doom Listened to Dib + 1 point Told Dib to give up on his dreams - 1 point Very encouraging to Dib + 1 point Constantly checking in on Dib + 1 point Very tuned into Dib's emotions and be able to tell when something is bothering him + 1 point Professor Membrane's love is conditional - 1 point Complaining about Dib to Gaz - 1 point

10 Minutes to Doom Did not recognize his son - 1 point Did not want to get involved with Dib's fashion matters - 1 point Deciding to take a look anyways + 1 point Didn't to his son and now insisting that they have to stop him - 1 point

Day of Da Spookies Calls his son insane - 1 point Stopping work to help him anyways + 1 point

TOTAL SCORE

Good Points - 25 Bad Points - 30

ENTER THE FLORPUS

Making his kids a food robot + 1 point Waiting for Dib + 1 point Calling his son insane to Gaz - 1 point Telling Gaz to be supportive, even using metaphors + 1 point BEHOLD MY BOY CHILD + 1 point Mean to Dib about his interests - 1 point Arguing - 1 point Calling Dib's spaceship fake - 1 point Wishing isn't very scientific son - 1 point Patting his son on the head + 1 point Unprovoked calling Dib's ideas imaginary - 1 point Confirming he knows aliens exist, thus meaning that he's just saying they don't to be mean to his son specifically - 1 point Insisting it's a hallucinations so hard - 1 point Saying he'll always be proud of his son before he thinks he's going to die + 1 point Saved his son from a pit! + 1 point Helped fight off robots with Dib + 1 point Saying "great work honey" to Gaz + 1 point Using the moose without arguing + 1 point Pretending like all of it was a hallucination - 1 point Convincing everyone else it was a hallucination too - 1 point 10 Good point 10 Bad points

TOTAL SCORE

Good Points - 35 Bad Points - 40

RESULTS ARE IN!!!! Professor Membrane, SCIENTIFICALLY, is a BAD DADDYO!!!!!!

#INVADER ZIM #professor membrane

[lemonhemlock]

tried watching the new queen charlotte series but was immediately put off by the ridiculous anti-corset propaganda, so get ready for another rant.

first of all, this is the georgian era so what she's wearing are called /stays/ - corsets are a victorian invention. why do we still not know this in 2023 when period productions have remained consistently popular throughout the years? the concept of tighlacing (the goal being a reduction of the waist) is also victorian and was not the norm at all and v much an extreme practice. this understanding of history is so superficial, it's as if an alien were to open up People magazine and conclude that all human women resort to butt injections and lip fillers to stay with the fashion of the times. also, no, you cannot tighlace in stays to obtain a waist reduction because they are shaped like a funnel (picture 1 = long stays, 2 = short regency stays, 3 = corset)

charlotte goes on to complain about how dangerous whalebone is and that it might kill her if she makes the wrong move. what the actual fuck? whalebone was actually the very best material to use for this because it was sturdy yet flexible and allowed the /stays/ to completely and comfortably mold around a woman's unique body shape. one of the reasons why today it is v difficult to replicate the same effect in corsetry is because we do not have access to whalebone (killing whales is not cool for obvious reasons) so corset-makers have to resort to other materials like plastic or metal, which CAN break. whereas whalebone doesn't really break as easily. furthermore, stays/corsets were NEVER worn on bare skin, but with a chemise/shift underneath.

why did women in the past resort to this type of undergarment, you ask? well, apart from the fact that women need bust support, the stays also serve the purpose of allowing all the many skirts and petticoats to be placed comfortably onto the waist. you try piling on that much fabric around your bare waist and see how you like it and if you can even carry it all around without it cutting into your stomach.

clothes throughout human history did cater to the popular fashions of the time, yes, but they also reflected the technological limitations and there was thus a practical aspect to it. this is a time before elastic bands, before industrialization and fast fashion, clothes are v difficult to make, everything is done by hand, so a lot of care is put into preserving them, because they are /expensive/ and labour intensive. you don't want your fancy outergarments to get ruined so you wear a lot of undergarments to absorb your bodily fluids since those are easier to make and don't have to look "pretty", can be stained and patchy etc. again, why do you need so many layers in the first place? because this is a time before comfortable heating, with poorly isolated and drafty houses, and it's bloody cold otherwise.

the third reason why that monologue was so dumb is because CHARLOTTE is the reason regency court dress was so preposterous. long story short, in a few decades, the fashionable silhouette changes wildly from the late 1700s to the 1810s.

the regency waistline was much higher and the gowns were much more flowy and unstructured than the late georgian ones (what's commonly known as the empire waistline). the long stays of the late 1700s were now replaced with short stays that really were similar to modern bras. the scene in the first season of bridgerton where they squeeze penelope's sister into what looks like a pair of long stays (?) is bonkers bc no one would wear a waist-constricting boned undergarment under a regency dress. why would they? the natural waist is not even emphasized in any way. this is just another reason to peddle the women-were-oppressed-by-their-lingerie agenda. so if charlotte really hated long stays that much, regency would really have been her time to shine, right? wrong. the woman loved the fashions of her youth so much she forced everyone who came to court to still comply to them, which is why we get the absolutely atrocious regency court dresses - essentially a combination of the georgian style with side panniers, but with an empire waistline.

yeah, this is how daphne SHOULD have looked like when she was presented at court in front of charlotte. i can understand why the showrunners decided to just leave her in a regency silhouette because this is ugly af. but, anyway, queen charlotte is the last person on earth to be complaining about how uncomfortable stays are.

creative licence aside, the reason this pisses me off is because it is SUCH lazy storytelling. the show wants us to know charlotte is a spunky pseudo-feminist character so the easiest way to do that is to have her complain about the evil 'corset' trying to kill her. it is so profoundly ahistorical and does nothing to contribute to the conversation about women's true problems and true limitations during that time. instead of genuinely exploring social history and women's actual lived experiences, we are STILL, in the year of our lord 2023, diverting the discourse towards fabricated issues that never existed in the first place.

the reasons actresses complain about boned underwear in interviews are manifold. costume designers are very overworked, they have to produce clothes for hundreds of people in a very short time, so they simply do not have the time or resources to construct corsets/stays that fit the actresses like they are supposed to. in the past, these garments were made individually for every person and completely to their own requirements. they also make these actresses wear the boning on BARE skin to look extra sexy to the audience or to emphasize their oppression - that never happened, a shift was always worn underneath (hello dakota fanning scene in the alienist??).

moreover, they lace them up until they constrict their ribcages - these women are already super thin and their bodies cannot support more reduction - instead of relying on the historical practices of padding and illusion. nowadays, body parts are what's fashionable - that's why so many resort to fat transfers or breast implants or starving themselves to achieve a flat stomach. in the past, anyone of any size could have accomplished the fashionable silhouette because they had a wide array of accouterments to plop underneath their garments - panniers, bustles, hoop skirts, padding of any sort. it didn't matter how big your waist was, you just padded other areas until you achieved the desired shape. fat women wore corsets/stays, too. working women, who did a lot of physical labour, did the same. how were they able to perform all of their tasks if they were incapable of moving or breathing? even today, people wear medical corsets all the time.

TLDR the media's obsession with portraying modern women as so liberated because they wear bras instead of "patriarchal" underwear is so tedious.

EDIT: Some very basic chronological tadpoles to make this easier to place within historical context. "Georgian" is used to denote the 18th+ century when Great Britain was ruled by several kings named George, so roughly 1714-1830. Within this interval, we refer to the Regency period as encompassing the regency of Prince George, future King George IV, when his father George III was incapacitated by mental illness. The official political regency took place during 1811-1820, but culturally speaking, this was extended to roughly the end of the 18th century up to maybe 1830 or 1837. This is the time period of Napoleonic wars and Jane Austen novels, so all her heroines should normally wear Regency styles. Think "empire waistline" as in Imperial France and Napoleon. The Victorian era (and its corsets) follows throughout the rest of the 19th century. Queen Charlotte was a contemporary of Marie Antoinette's, so they should be dressed in similar fashions (robe à la française vs robe à la anglais).

#but what can i expect from a production by shonda rhimes 🤷‍♀️ she certainly has a marvel-heroine type understanding of feminism #queen charlotte: a bridgerton story #bridgerton #fashion history #anyway this post is relevant for my blog bc i generally watch a lot of period media so this issue inevitably pops up now and again #would also like to add that while the term 'corset' did exist in that era #it referred to a v wide array of chest undergarments #so as to become impractical to use for a relatively short explanation #corsets as we conceptualize them today are tied with the victorian period #also pls remember i am simplifying for the sake of brevity else this post would have been enourmous

[robotshellyeah]

I'm behind on the babylon 5 rewatch but I just finished Believers. this is a great Franklin episode - he's only been introduced recently and the viewer prior to this episode doesn't have a great handle on his personality. from this episode we learn that he 1) has fantastic bedside manner: he goes to great lengths to be comforting and reassuring to the dying kid despite the parents making it really difficult (the gloppit egg bit is very cute), you get the sense that he really is passionate about helping people, and 2) his main character flaw is hubris: in a world where the existence of souls has been all-but-confirmed, how arrogant is it to really think you know better than someone else about their own bodies even though they are from a species/culture you're not familiar with at all?

when I first watched this episode in high school I 100% sided with Franklin and thought that the alien parents were so stupid. when I watched it again a few years after college (but pre-pandemic) I really sided more with the parents and thought it was not Franklin's place to use his authority to force his point of view on them against their wishes.

jms has a quote on the lurker's guide that I thought was interesting about how this situation is like the opposite of having an injured human who is "brain dead" but still has a soul in a living body. if an alien doctor wanted to operate on a human and insisted that it would be totally fine (even if the human's brain would be damaged) because the body and the soul would be unaffected, other humans would be horrified. it's absolutely within the range of possibility in this universe that there is a quality that the aliens have and can detect in each other that humans are oblivious to, and that quality would have been affected by the surgery.

on the other hand of course, watching this in a post anti-vaxxer world obviously felt different and you can't help but think of all the real life human kids in the exact same situation with parents who deny them necessary medical intervention, and in real life the ethics of that are much less ambiguous

I liked the tie-in at the very end of the A and B plots, with Ivanova's comment that sometimes a desperate gamble pays off (and Garibaldi's counter that sometimes it doesn't). I kind of feel like it leaves the viewer with the idea that there's nothing you can do other than just what you think is right, but you also just have to know that it's not always going to work out. it's too bad the B plot prevented us from hearing Ivanova's take on the situation, which I'm sure would have been spicy.

#babylon 5 #b5 rewatch #believers #stephen franklin

[captain-mj]

Can you do another part for alien korangi au? I'm starving 🙏😔 (love ur writing btw❤️)

Part 1 Part 2

Thank you!

Horangi sighed as König left. He really doubted that he'd actually be back. Maybe the next solar cycle of his species when he got horny again. As nice as being swept away sounded, it just didn't actually happen. All kinds of people and non people promised him this.

Horangi checked his debt, seeing the giant chunk taken out of it by König's generous payment. He had tipped heavily, easily paying a month of Horangi's work.

Two months passed. Horangi continued to work as normal. Sometimes, his mind would wander to König again.

The biggest part that he missed was the intimacy of it. König didn't speak the majority of the time but he had pressed into him and held him so tight.

It was a lot better than most of his clients who left him aching and starving for a nice hand through his hair.

Horangi groaned and stretched, back arching. He checked his debt.

5 coins.

5.

Horangi could go outside and ask that of someone.

He quickly went to check who deposited so much money.

Colonel König. As a tip.

Horangi stared at it for a long time.

5 coins.

Someone knocked and he sat up quickly. He scrambled up and got dressed before opening the door.

König.

"Hi."

König didn't speak. His hood kept his face covered. But he did lean down and brush their cheeks together. "My Liebling."

Horangi growled and shoved him before yanking him closer to him by his belt loops. "Not a word for two months!! Not a word! I thought you had given up on me!"

König shook his head. "Worked a bunch of overtime. Was too busy. Also didn't want to waste any money." He yanked him along before making himself calm down and instead gently lead him.

"Why leave 5 coins?" Horangi had none of the same scruples, yanking König to him constantly and making them bumbled around.

"Wanted to pay it in person."

"This is crazy. You get this right? You paid so much money for me. You didn't even purchase me! Just paid off my debt like a crazy person!"

"I could've purchased you?' König sounded rather interested but it was clear he was joking. Especially since he was currently trying to nuzzle back into Horangi.

Horangi hit his ribs and kept following him.

König handed Horangi the money and Horangi paid the last of everything. It was a rather anti climatic. He was just... there. And he was free to leave for once.

König hummed. "Can I have my date now?"

"Gongjunim, you can have whatever you want." Horangi said smiling at him.

They ended up a parlor nearby. It served tons of things, the best being pastries. König paid for everything, insisting on it. Mostly because Horangi had no money.

He watched Horangi eat with a ton of interest. He didn't lift his hood very much so Horangi couldn't return the favor.

König purred happily when Horangi took another bite. "Any plans?"

"Not really. Burned a lot of bridges back home."

"Could get you a job working for me."

Horangi stared at him. This wasn't hesitation. Instead it was introspective. "Am I just going to be your paid secretary that you bang?"

"Mercenary."

Horangi's interest was immediately piqued. "Go on."

"You'd be a merc that I scouted that I bang." König said with a smile in his voice.

Horangi tapped his fingers. "Only when I want it."

König blinked in shock. "That was a question?"

Horangi found something about this man to be very attractive. He wasn't sure what exactly it was, but he did.

Some patrons were watching them with unease. Probably waiting for König to suddenly go crazy. Start eating people like some beast.

Horangi finished eating. "I'll take you up on it. For a little while. Something to get me on my feet yeah?"

König smiled at him. "You'll stay in my home."

Horangi hummed. "You don't have a harem like some of your species does right?"

"No.... If i did, we wouldn't have met. I'm very glad I don't have a harem." König didn't meet his eyes.

"Take me home then."

Horangi was on König's bed and being attacked. König kissed him all over, pulling him in between his thighs. He purred and wiggled, rubbing all over Horangi.

Horangi laid back and let König snuggle him. "My liebling.'' König cooed and put his face in Horangi's neck.

They existed tangled up for quite a while before things dragged König away.

At night, they once again intertwined, being rather insistent about it. They tangled together and kissed.

König's hood ended up on the floor. Horangi held him close and kissed him sweetly.

They started to make love. König was so sweet about it. So nice and sweet. He thrust into him over and over and over again. Driving right into his sweet spot.

Horangi held on and reveled in the pleasure of everything. König kissed him softly, licking into his mouth. "You're so sweet."

Horangi wailed when he came. He couldn't help it.

#Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II #Konig #König #Horangi #Körangi #König x Horangi #Horangi x König

[fabuloustrash05]

So my top three favorite ships include of...

3) Two singing and dancing trolls, one is a princess who is always over hyper and so joyful and positive, and the other is an anti social grump who has A LOT of trauma and abandonment issues, but hey, he's in a boyband and has a cool bunker!

2) A prideful prince of an extinct alien warrior race who's way too obsessed with defeating this one guy and also has God levels of power and his wife who is the richest and smartest woman in the entire world with an "I can fix him" mentality and she surprisingly did in fact fix him.

1) A mutant turtle that knows ninjutsu, has anger issues, some unresolved daddy issues, beef with his blue brother and has a major fear of cockroaches and a very tall warrior woman who is apart of an alien salamander species and she can beat his ass effortlessly (and he likes that).

#also each ship consist of someone who has a blue aesthetic #or one of them is an alien #or royalty #or the male has some problem or personal issues with himself or someone close to him #random thoughts #TMNT 2012 #teenage mutant ninja turtles #dragon ball z #dbz #trolls #TMNT ramona #raph x Mona lisa #broppy #branch x poppy #vegebul #Vegeta x bulma

[cai-tan]

Hot take: The Half-Life series was NEVER about zombies.

Overall, zombies make up, like, 20% of encounters between both Half-Life 1 and 2.

The majority of Half-Life 1 was battling aliens of all types; more commonly things like Vortigants, Grunts, and the like. It was also about trying to escape from an active military coverup operation hell-bent on killing you. Your major antagonists were human military units and Very Alive Aliens That Are Not Zombies.

Half-Life 2 only ever showed you zombies that were a direct result of a dystopian fascist regime using biological weaponry to wage bloody war on the humans. The overwhelming majority of Half-Life 2 was a story about fighting back against literal fascist cop aliens. You got one or two chapters dedicated to zombies, with maybe a handful of encounters with them afterwards. Your first few combats in Half-Life 2 are with Civil Protection.

Calling the Resistance Crossbow a "weapon for hunting the undead" is incredibly insulting. No sane HL2 player ever uses the fucking thing for zombies anyways; it's a ranged sniper weapon for taking out the motherfucking space cops. It's a waste of ammo to use against primarily melee enemies that go down to a single shotgun altfire.

Gordon Freeman is not your Walking Dead or Last of Us protagonist, he is canonically an anti-military, anti-cop, anti-fascist Right Dude in the Wrong Place.

Half-Life was never about fucking zombies.

#half life #hl2 #zombies #rant #gordon freeman #cat screaming at the void #subtweeting a random video i watched 5% of on youtube lol

[burningtheroots]

💜🤍💚 Introduction Post & Guide/Masterpost 💜🤍💚

IMPORTANT

After three months, I think it‘s time to introduce myself and clear this mess of a blog a bit 💀

So, I‘m 20 years old and have been learning about radical feminism for quite a while before joining in myself, and I‘m really grateful to be part of this community and even be mutuals with some of my favorite women on here. <3

I joined Tumblr (and Instagram) to share information, my own opinions and to connect with like-minded women. Before discovering radical feminism, I always felt left out from the discussions and didn’t know that there would be anyone who‘d understand me and accept me. I tried to fit in somewhere where I didn’t belong, and whilst it‘s not always easy to be here, I‘m happy that this community exists. :‘)

DMs & anons are always open, and I‘m always interested in having discussions and meeting new people.

I‘m rather shy and struggle a bit with my social skills, but it gets better eventually.

The only people who aren’t welcome on my blog are p0rn obsessed men and generally anyone who only wants to harass me or spread misogyny. I‘m all for respectful discussions and willing to share my viewpoints, but I‘m not a punching bag.

As there‘s a lot going on here, I collected the most important posts and reblogs (quite many, to be honest) and decided to link them here. Some are simply informative, some are very subjective and some are a mixture of both. The list will be updated over time.

Here you go:

(I‘d also heavily recommend to check out @/radfemfox5, @/woman-for-women, @/butch-reidentified, @/radsplain, @/meanevilandcruel … and many more — not actually tagging them because this post is long & I don’t want to annoy them) 💜🤍💚

if a link doesn’t work, please let me know

Sex-based violence 🔗 links

‼️ Self-protection in emergency situations

Pornography 🔗 links

Prostitution 🔗 links

Gender Critical 🔗 links

Surrogacy 🔗 links

Sexual assault 🔗 links

LGB & Pride 🔗 links

Women‘s health 🔗 links

Pro-choice 🔗 links

Questionable men 🔗 links

Women‘s rights movement // General stuff continued 🔗 links

Women‘s movement // General stuff

Donation Megathread

Stop the infighting

"Not like other girls"

"Not All Men" is a war propaganda tactic

Age and attraction

Key elements

Andrea Dworkin works

Why feminism should center women and women only

Statement

How men see us

Prioritize women

Radical feminism is intersectional

Radical feminism definition

Double standards in terms of "unconditional love"

Favorite quote

We‘re not Nazis

We don’t support Nazis & vice versa

Misogyny vs. misandry

Why I‘m a radfem

Actual radfeminism

No good men

Feminist book list

Libfem hypocrisy

Andrew Tate fans

"Withholding sex" is a misconception

Sexism against women in sports

Choice feminism

Men ☕️

Sex-based violence

Radfeminism is superior

On motherhood

On motherhood 2

Workplace sexism

Motivation

Men‘s mental health month

eXtRiMiSm

Women are not protected 1

Women are not protected 2

Oversexualization

Oppressor classes

Men who want children

Bodyshaming

Misandry

Men‘s sexual entitlement

Beauty Myth

A man‘s world

It‘s all men

Double standards

Women in fiction

No conservatism

Lies about emotions

The system isn’t broken

Resist, don‘t comply

Male hypocrisy

Woman arrested in Saudi Arabia

"Unconditional love"

Beauty ideals

Again, men ☕️

Parental alienation ‼️

Men & gossip

Men dislike their own daughters

Women aren’t objects

On religion

Sexism at school

Women‘s labor

Men‘s victim mentality

Arranged marriage

Women are an afterthought

Oppression in the US

Purity culture

American women & maternity leave

Body neutrality

Dangerous men are around us

Anti-natalism

Men don‘t actually "love" women

Socialization

Stereotyping men

Neha Wadekar in Baringo county, Kenya

Tomiekia Johnson

Child marriage in the US

Workplace sexism

UN report (alarming)

"You are a man-hater"

People with disabilities matter

Disability Pride Month

Girls‘ clothing

So you‘re partnered with a male

#radfem #radblr #radical feminism #women deserve better #womens rights #gender critical #personal

[crepes-suzette-373]

【Dengeki Blue Game Stream】Battle Fruits Nine w/ Stealth Black - Dengeki Blue carries the level while Stealth Black is Useless as always [off-camera view]

A kind of fanfic version of that one drawing I made of Niji and Sanji being Vtubers. There's no real plot. Just modern AU chaos and rambling and general silliness. Everyone's normal/happy, the Vinsmokes are a good family, no sad, no angst, no painful drama.

This all basically just a big joke because "Nijisanji" is a Vtuber company name.

[AO3 Link]

----

He’d brought this upon himself, Sanji had to admit. The last time Niji nagged him to “guest” in his livestream, Sanji said he’d do it if Niji got him Vegapunk’s new mini combi oven, just to get Niji off his back. All Vegapunk appliances are expensive, and even if their family was well-off he figured it’s still high enough up there in price to make Niji leave him alone for a while.

The oven showed up in the brothers’ shared apartment within 2 days.

Sanji wasn’t sure if he was more baffled about Niji having that much money to spare, or that Niji wanted him on the stream that badly. He still felt guilty about it, though, so he’d told Niji he promised to agree to be a guest without protest 10 times, as long as he’s not tied up with more important things to do.

Naturally, he got ambushed the very next day.

That was how Sanji found himself sitting and waiting for Niji to set up whatever it is that was required to have a second person on his livestream, and hoped that it wouldn’t be a “talk stream” session that day. Chattering idly with anyone for an extended amount of time without there being some other activity involved, like eating or watching TV or him cooking, always made him feel awkward. With a gameplay stream, at least there was the game they’d be playing.

Not to mention, “his” virtual character apparently had a specific backstory associated with it, and being on a talk stream tended to involve having to adlib some kind of fictional story on the fly. Fortunately, he wasn’t required to keep up play-acting the character the whole time, no, and he left most of the wild details to Niji. He still had to include the fictive anecdotes, though, because of… some reason he much preferred to not know.

It was very confusing the first time he got dragged into this. Niji sat him down and explained in great detail about the backstory of his virtual persona, and Sanji still had no idea why he didn’t immediately run away then. It was a complicated setting with superheroes (or was it supervillains?) called Germa 66, mad scientists, clones, and quite honestly he wasn’t sure he remembered all of it.

Niji did set up their characters to have mundane daily lives, like all good classic superheroes do. That way they can also mention some things about things they did in reality and pretend that was part of the mandatory “lore”-talk, and not have to constantly make up random stories about aliens and robots.

They still had to be careful not to reveal things that are too personal or private, though. Sanji almost called Niji by his real name instead of Dengeki Blue a couple of times at first, and Niji kicked him in the shins every time that happened. As thankful for the save as he did, he still always kicked back.

“Aaalright, and here ya go.” Niji finally finished fiddling around the computers and handed Sanji a controller and headphones.

“What’s the game gonna be?”

“We’re continuing Battle Fruits. Still remember how to play that?”

“Of course I do, damn you, I’m not a techno-peasant!”

Niji cackled. “If ya say so,” he said with an oh-so-smug voice, putting on his anti-glare goggles and rolled his chair to face the screens.

Sanji doesn’t reply. Yes, he played by random button mashing and can’t remember any skill combos. Yes, Niji usually does most of the work in clearing the missions. He still knew what button does what, though, so that still counts as knowing how to play. 

“Starting in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… And—Loyal Germa fans rejoice, Dengeki Blue is back with everyone’s favourite guest: Stealth Black!”

There’s a reason why Sanji was very glad his character was just a static image, and not a moving model like Niji’s, because he doesn’t have to worry about his movements making the model behave weirdly. Niji’s opening babble were always ridiculous, and he could never not have the urge to cover his face and groan.

The character image was not actually him, but some of his friends were regular viewers of this stream, and they will make fun of him for any character hiccups. There was that one time the image was for some reason displaying upside down, from the top of the screen, and Usopp then called him “ninja” for days upon days after.

“Black, say hi to yer fans.”

Sanji removed his hands from his face, and saw that it was not the game screen that was on, but the setup normally used for the talk stream. Immediately suspicious, he asked, “Aren’t we playing Battle Fruits?”

“It’s just a little chat. I’ll open the game in a sec. Just say hi for a bit.”

“Do I have to?”

“They already heard ya talking, so ya might as well. Come on, say something nice, or yer fans will cry.”

It was an annoying testament that he had been here for too many times when he looked at the chat box and actually remembered and recognized a lot of the names among the flurry of comments. Still, he wouldn’t deny it was flattering to see the excited welcoming remarks.

Oh, there’s Usopp. The name “GodSogeKing” flew by, and he said, “Hello SogeKing” instinctively.

“Oooh, ya said someone’s name!” Niji crowed, “Ya done did it now.”

“What? Why?”

“Yer not playing fair. The others are really mad jealous now~”

“How is that any different from saying ‘Hello everyone in the chat’?” Sanji protested.

Niji shrugged, grinning. “I don’t make the rules.”

The chat was, indeed, now peppered with new comments saying the varying forms of “Stealth Black say my name too”. Once again, it was somewhat flattering (if a bit weird), but he would never loudly admit that.

“Say, what if we make that a chat donations thing? Nothing special, ya can just say ‘thank you whoever’.”

“Are you trying to use me for cash bait? No!”

“Fine, fine, but speaking of yer fans though, ya ok with having merch of ya, at least? One Dr.Death has been a pest about Stealth Black merch forever.”

Sanji huffed a laugh. “Dr.Death? What kind of edgy junior high online username is that?”

He immediately realised his mistake, but it was too late. Niji was already hysterical beside him.

“Ya heard that Dr.Death? He said your name! I know yer there. Bet yer drowning in happy tears, aren’t ya?”

“What the hell? Did you just trick me to say that? What merch are you even on about?”

Niji shook his head, still howling with laughter. “No, really, that right there is your biggest fan. Back me up chat, tell Black what Dr.Death said. And here’s merch.” He then pulled out his phone and showed a picture of a little Dengeki Blue keychain.

Well, if it was just the illustrated character and not him having to dress up, then it’s no issue. “Okay by me, about the merch, but...”

“Yes!”

Niji proceeded to go on about the logistics of the merch, so Sanji looked at the chat box again. Lo and behold, there actually was a Dr.Death in there. The aforementioned user was vehemently denying the barrages of comments providing so-called proof that Niji was right and other teasing remarks.

Dr.Death: Hey, Black, if you’re seeing this, I was NOT like that!

It was immediately followed by a ton of more comments, all saying “lies lies”.

SuperFrankyR0b0: Bro, the previous stream chats are all still there. Everyone can see it.

Damn. With even Franky saying that it was true, Sanji decided it was definitely too weird and ignored the chat until Niji finally started the game.

Despite even the game’s tutorial recommending using different Fruit Battlers for each stage, Sanji always picked the Orange Battler. She was his favourite and no amount of whingeing from Niji or the viewers about her being useless in certain levels could change that. Niji selected the Banana one this time, probably because that’s the actual best character for the level.

“The banana matches your hair,” Sanji said.

“Shut up!”

That was true of both Niji and Dengeki Blue, so Niji couldn’t kick him. Rather, he shouldn’t have a reason to, but still tried to kick anyway. Sanji dodged it.

Many minutes into the game later, the conversation topic had turned to future streaming plans, which was mostly answered by Niji.

Someone suggested another cooking talk stream, and this was the only kind of talk stream Sanji had no problems with. One stream session long ago, he’d been dragged onto a talk stream that he’d tried to leave multiple times, until somehow the viewers and Niji conspired to finesse him into talking about cooking. He ended up staying for 3 hours. Aside from the chat being flooded by people whingeing about getting hungry, it otherwise went pretty well.

(The viewers in that session, of all people, happened to include Luffy and Ace, who both came to him demanding to be compensated with real food the first chance they got.)

Another suggested a live cooking stream. That would be a no; not unless there’s some empty kitchen they could borrow or rent. Everyone in the apartment agreed that the livestreams should never show their building. Not even inside Niji’s room.

“Winch Green? Eeh, probably doable soon. No promises on Pink.”

Then the topic turned to guests. There were frequently requests for the other “Germa 66” members to show up. Niji had set up Dengeki Blue as a part of a team to make it easier to cover up slip ups when he accidentally mentioned overly-revealing real life things in his early streaming days. The 4 of them brothers share an apartment, besides. The backstory served as a handy excuse in case of noises of people walking around or talking can be heard through without breaking character. Yonji, especially, can be rather loud.

Getting Reiju to come on the stream was naturally difficult, since she lived with their parents and had full time work, but she was otherwise very agreeable. With Yonji, it’s only a matter of catching him between homework and classes and bribing him with a ton of food.

Ichiji, well…

It was just then that Sanji looked at the chat that he had been ignoring, and noticed that there was a wall of comments about “Sparking Red”, a.k.a Ichiji.

“Why are these people so obsessed with Red anyway?” he asked, “Is it because he’s the only one who’s never been on stream?”

“Oh that…” Niji said distractedly, his fingers hitting keys furiously to execute a combo attack, “I never told ya, huh? Hold on.” He didn’t speak again until after the Banana Battler on the screen mowed down a field of enemies, and “Objective Cleared” flashed on the screen. “Red came in yelling at me once, and everyone heard him. Chat’s gone insane ever since. It’s like those crazes over trying to catch a phantom beast or something.”

That was news. It was one thing to just hear about a character through the lore talks, but Ichiji has actually been heard clearly and not just vague noises through the door.

“How long ago was this?”

“Maybe almost two years ago? Around… around after that time ya crazy weirdos kept saying I was a zombie.”

Ah yes, the Zombie Niji incident—wait a second. Sanji straightened up. Wasn’t that also around the time when…

“Red’ll murder me if I ask him to come on, but eh, figured there’s still ya guys,” Niji babbled on. “The chat love it.”

That was about the time when Niji started pestering him and Yonji to come on the streams. To think that the entire reason for it was Ichiji—Ichiji!!

Sanji fumed. He decided it would be his mission to somehow, by hook or by crook, drag Ichiji on to the stream as well. Damn it all, even if it actually would make Niji and his weird chat group happy, he would still get it done. Ichiji caused it, so he should get to experience it too.

Maybe he’ll get Yonji and Reiju to team up for this mission later.

----

The quadruplets are still in uni/college, and they live in this apartment away from home. Ichiji working at the family company, whatever it is, part time. Reiju already working there full time. Niji is a Vtuber on the side when not in school. Sanji works at Baratie part time. Yonji is just a student full time. Sora still alive. Not sure how Judge would be like TBH, maybe just a normal standoffish dad, but otherwise okay.

I'm so sorry Law, but the meme of him being a Germa nerd is too funny.

#my writing #vinsmoke family #vtuber au #one piece #vinsmoke sanji #vinsmoke niji #vinsmoke brothers #vinsmoke siblings #black leg sanji #dengeki blue #stealth black #niji #sanji #germa 66

[sixofravens-reads]

re: 2023 new releases. hope you're ready for a long message because there were a lot.

hot new releases/things that were relatively popular

He Who Drowned The World, Shelley Parker Chan (Chinese mythological historical, very gay, very stabby a la Baru Cormorant. Book 2 of 2. A particular favorite of mine from this year)

Witch King, Martha Wells (New fantasy book by author of murderbot fame. I didn't actually click with this one but I'd be remiss to leave it off)

House With Good Bones, T Kingfisher (Southern gothic rose horror by the very talented Ursula Vernon)

Translation State, Ann Leckie (high sf alien horror regency romance. Wheeeeee. I had a lot of fun reading this. You can read it as a standalone, but you get deeper context if you've read the ancillary justice series, also highly recommended)

Will of the Many, James Islington (futuristic roman empire aesthetic rigged murder school. Not precisely good but appallingly catchy, I read all six hundred pages in pretty much one sitting. If you liked red rising you'll like this, if you hated red rising you will Not)

OH YEAH THE ACTUAL NEW MURDEBOT NOVEL (System Collapse)

A Power Unbound, Freya Marske (book 3 of 3, magic alt edwardian romances with murder. This is more romance proper but it's about equal with the action plot and Marske is very good. I don't think you've read these so you'd have to start at book 1)

Some Desperate Glory, Emily Tesh (The book that absolutely knocked my socks off, my pick for the best sff release of the year. I forget if I've already told you about this one)

Starling House, Alix Harrow (Southern gothic house drama. Similar feel to Ninth House or The Book of Night)

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty (Divorced lady pirate adventure-drama a la Arabian Nights.)

Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries, Heather Fawcett (Charming, heavily fairy tale trope themed, vaguely reminiscent of the Lady Trent books)

more obscure new releases from this year that I thought were cool, but not in the Hot New Reads You Can't Miss Because Everyone's Read Them category

Under Fortunate Stars, Ren Hutchings (sf timey wimey space shenanigans with aliens. Immensely cool premise.)

Small Miracles, Olivia Atwater (fallen angel sent to tempt a too good mortal. Extremely charming)

The King Is Dead, Naomi Libicki (vaguely persian flavored fealty romance, very heavy to the fealty. Original, thorny, and intriguing)

The Deep Sky, Yume Kitasei (What if we terribly traumatized everyone going on a generation ship by making them go to viciously competitive boarding school together and then act surprised when a murder mystery occurs. Heads up that it's more interested in the human drama than the SF worldbuilding)

The Saint of Bright Doors, Vajra Chandrasekera (early modern fantasy world anti-imperialism fever dream narrated by a cult survivor. Brilliantly written, spectacularly original, one of the best books I read this year)

Things for 2024, content warning for being (obviously) things I haven't read and thus without quality control

The Warm Hands of Ghosts, Katherine Arden

The Familiar, Leigh Bardugo

The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, P Djeli Clark

Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

Goddess of the River, Vaishnavi Patel

The Woods All Black, Lee Mandelo

Exordia, Seth Dickinson

A Sorceress Comes To Call, T Kingfisher

Running Close To The Wind, Alexandra Rowland

Wow tumblr just lets me keep writing words. I didn't think they let me have this many in asks. Oh, and pro tip-- keep an eye out for tordotcom's most anticipated upcoming books for the first six months of 2024. They should be publishing it within the next week or so and I always add masses of books to my tbr from there.

oh holy crap, thanks!! I'll have to check these out!

thoughts on a few of em:

He Who Drowned The World - still have to read She Who Became the Sun lol but hopefully I'll get to em next year!

Witch King - Martha Wells has been recced by like All my sci-fi mutuals now lmao I REALLY gotta get into her!

House With Good Bones - THIS ONE IS ACTUALLY ON MY SHELF!! I just didn't fucking read it this year whoops. Very excited for new Kingfisher

Starling House - I was on the fence about this one since I really didn't like Once and Future Witches, but those comparisons give me hope! I'll add it to the library list!

Some Desperate Glory and Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries are 2/3 of the books published in 2023 that I actually managed to read (the 3rd is The Woman in Me lmao), I can't remember if you recc'd Some Desperate Glory, but it was SOOOOOOOO GOOD OMFG

Small Miracles - my aunt has been trying to convince me to read Atwater for quite a while, I'll have to give this one a try!

The Saint of Bright Doors - I have this one on hold!! Saw a post for it a week or so ago and it sounds absolutely delightful!

The Familiar - SO SO EXCITED for this one! I hope Bardugo is maybe...slowly....extricating herself from the Grishaverse and going to write more books not related to it... (not that they're all bad, I loved the Six of Crows duology, I'm just not into it anymore and I reeeealllly like her adult books lol)

Running Close To The Wind - oh yay new Rowland! I still haven't read her last book (the one with the guy on the cover who looked EXACTLY like my boss to the point where it became an Office Meme that [Boss] Is A Gay Romance Cover Model, still meaning to get a UK version of it but haven't yet) but I'll have to look this one up!

#seriously this is SO MANY RECS THANK YOU!!

[spacelazarwolf]

Can i ask why people seem to only refer to black and brown people? I'm east Asian, and it can feel kind of bad not really being included in the language surrounding talk about racism. We're one of the groups that faces the most discrimination and hate crimes, especially with how covid started. Me and nearly every Asian person i know has faced racism over our lives and many of us have very pale skin. It feels very alienating to be, in a way, left out of the discussion. I understand that often we're included somewhat implicitly, but it doesn't look like it when the language doesn't represent it.

so before i get into it, i'm giving two caveats: 1. even though i'm jewish and my family and i have had a complicated history with being racialized as non white, i'm still racially white. so while i always try to take into account all the things that my family has experienced and that the people of color i know have taught me, that's still the individual perspective i'm speaking from. 2. i live in the us, so that's the culture and society i'm talking about. it may apply to different places in the west (or even outside the west idk) but it may not so like inb4 "#american centric" bc i am literally talking abt america.

re: your actual question of why people seem to only refer to black and brown people, i think it's mostly used to talk about issues that affect darker skinned people of color, but sometimes used as another variation of "people of color" that's meant to encompass all nonwhite people. i've definitely used it that way before without really thinking about it, but i can see how that could make groups who may not see themselves as being black or brown feel left out of a conversation that still absolutely pertains to them. i think we as a society are currently struggling with what vocabulary to use when we talk about racial issues. there's a bunch of different acronyms and phrases people use, and listing out all the different racial and ethnic groups we can think of always leaves someone out.

but i also think our struggles with vocabulary are caused in part by the way our view of race has become very black and white. especially when it comes to east asians, i think people fall way too easily for the model minority myth + think lighter skin = less oppression, so they think east asians don't need as much advocacy as other groups. but as you said, especially since covid, there's been a massive spike in anti asian racism, and that's something i don't think people are really taking seriously. there's this one scene in station 19 (cw for discussion of anti asian hate crimes) that i feel like addresses this so well. people are afraid to downplay the severity of anti black racism (which is understandable considering that anti black racism has been downplayed for hundreds of years), but they end up gaslighting other racial and ethnic minorities or even themselves about the other kinds of bigotry that exist. and as one of the characters states in the clip, "it's all bad."

and like, as a jewish person, i definitely feel a lot of solidarity with east asians because our struggles are dismissed in similar ways. for those of us who are light skinned, we're often told (in my experience, usually by non black people) that basically our skin is too light for people to care because "black people have it worse." people use any success our communities have had as a reason why what we experience Can't Possibly Be That Bad. but what they're missing is that it's all connected. the same people who are perpetuating anti blackness are likely perpetuating anti asian racism and antisemitism too. you can't get rid of anti black racism without dismantling white supremacy, and part of dismantling white supremacy is addressing anti asian racism and antisemitism. we can't just keep hacking away at one brick and expect the entire wall to come down. we have to bulldoze it all.

#ask avishai

[brielledoesastrology]

Asteroid VARUNA (20000) in your astrology natal chart 💕✨💸

(updated version) - by : brielledoesastrology (tumblr)

<Ok so basically i ever made a post on varuna like maybe 1 year ago if i am not wrong and turns out there is some stuff there that needs to be corrected, so i made this new post>

Asteroid VARUNA code number : 20000

[also just a reminder that varuna is a "dwarf planet" or a "trans neptunian object" not an "asteroid", but i am just gonna use the word "asteroid" to make it easier]

The asteroid Varuna (20000) in astrology represents : being globally known, legendary fame, amazing leadership skills (if relating to politics or being a leader of something), being iconic, being unforgettable, immortality, being believed by other people easily, charisma, immortal fame and power, grandness, fame that is in history, being extremely rich or wealthy (if relating to money or material stuff), having a feeling that the universe is always in their side, being judgemental, being connected to the waters (especially ocean water), immense, vast, hugeness, greatness, immortal fame.

Mythology of the vedic god Varuna : Varuna is the name of an ancient Indian creator-deity. He created heaven and earth and determined their outer limits, as the horizon. He is also responsible for ensuring that the sun crosses the sky each day, for rainfall, and the order of seasons. He is the supreme keeper of human order and god of law, insisting that people be truthful and honour their oaths and contracts. (Just a reminder that varuna is a god in the vedic era but in today Hinduism varuna became the god of the ocean, but he is still a vedic god from the vedic era originally). Varuna, in the Vedic phase of Hindu mythology, the god-sovereign, the personification of divine authority. He is the ruler of the sky realm and the upholder of cosmic and moral law (rita), a duty shared with the group of gods known as the Adityas (see Aditi), of whom he was the chief. Varuna is also the vedic god of the heavens, cosmic and space in vedic. (Please understand that i am not an expert on vedic mythology, so if you are an expert at it you can correct me in the comments if i am wrong)

⚠️ Warning : i consider this asteroid as prominent and brings the most effect if it conjuncts ur personal planets (sun,moon,venus,mercury,mars) and if it conjuncts ur personal points (ac,dc,ic,mc), i use 0 - 2.5 orbs (for conjunctions). For sextile, trine, opposite and square aspects to asteroids i usually use 0 - 2 orbs. Yes tight conjunctions of planet / personal points to asteroids tends to give the most effect, but other aspects (sextile,trine,square,opposite, etc) still exist, even they produce effects. If it doesn't aspect any of your planets or personal points, check the house placement of the asteroid, maybe some stuff/topics relating to this asteroid could affect some topics/stuff relating to the house placement . ⚠️

Some observations about famous people who have the asteroid varuna prominent in their astrology natal charts ✨ :

- people with varuna conjunct their descendant are very influential people but they are alot of fans and alot of haters who really hate them at the same time (example : Eminem, kim kardashian, paris hilton, vladimir putin)

- people with varuna conjunct mars are very vastly well known for their martian qualities (example : maddona)

- people with varuna conjuncting their personal planets but it is badly aspected by other planets are ussualy vastly known but for their bad qualities (example : jacob elordi, shia lebouf)

- people with varuna conjunct their vertex or anti - vertex are fated to be vastly well known (example : alexa demie)

- naomi campbell have varuna conjunct sun opposite her neptune this really make sense she is very vastly known of her shady entertaining personality, i love it 😂

- people with varuna prominent in their chart if they become famous or well known they will be considered as like a "king" or "queen" of something by alot of people

#astrology #astro notes #astrology observations #astro observations #astro community #astrology notes #zodiac #aquarius #gemini #libra #astroblr #tarotblr #witchblr #astrology community #astrology blog #astrology asteroids #asteroids astrology #asteroids in astrology #asteroid varuna #dwarf planet varuna #asteroid varuna astrology #brielledoesastrology #dwarf planet varuna astrology #asteroid 20000 #Spotify

[abnerkrill]

Nik! Did you watch Rebel Moon? How was it?

Yes hello this is my 4 star review of rebel moon on letterboxd.

But first: a professional, somewhat critical review of rebel moon that engages with the film well, especially regarding anti-colonial themes, and isn't just knee-jerk regurgitated Snyder haterism:

And now more of my thoughts: [edit: Oh No, He Went And Talked For 3 Hours About It, Thanks For Coming To My TedTalk:)

No one has a better knack at putting together a cast list SO ATTRACTIVE TO THE BISEXUALS. read it and weep, boys. (Jena Malone is there too but really just for 1 set piece)

...Jena Malone's one (1) scene set piece features her as an alien spider woman with legitimate grievances against the Empire who now wants to kill kids because all her kids were killed. Like, so valid, girl. Also, did I say Jena Malone as an alien spider-woman? And this is just one scene.

Look, if that pitch doesn't hook you, this film may not be for you, and that's okay, but by GOD my people are the people who hear "Jena Malone alien spider woman" and perk up. I love you, freaks.

The cinematography is ace and always will be under Snyder's direction. music by Tom Holkenborg SLAPS. Costuming and design overall is super super strong. (People on this hellsite are always complaining about inadequate, boring as hell sci-fi design and you get RM and you don't appreciate it for what it is. WAKE UP.)

Costume showcase! Second from the right in this photo showing off those sweet sweet sci-fi costume designs is my beloved non-binary they/them revolutionary Milius. CANONICALLY non-binary, let me add. Imagine SW doing that lmaoooooooooooo D*ve Filoni would fuckin keel over and die

Kora! Our tragic female protagonist of color who's over 40, with a dark edgy sexy background. [KIDNAPPED AS A CHILD!! DEAD FAMILY!!! DEAD LOVER!!!!!!! SHE FAILED TO PROTECT HER WARD FROM ASSASSINATION!!!!! SHE IS THE MOST WANTED WOMAN IN THE UNIVERSE!!]

Bitches on tumblr LOVE taking failmen with sad backstories from media and blorbifying them, but the second it's a woman? please. If this was a man people would be writing the filthiest x reader smut you've seen since Mandalorian S1 came out. If this was a man you'd already have seen 20,000 fan drawings of her with her muscles and tits OUT. God where's my Kora fanart.

I personally have no problems with the plot of this movie (part 1 of 2) being "we must collect warriors to fight the evil empire." That's kinda fantasy story 101 and I still love new, varied interpretations of that plot.

If there's not much interconnecting plot because Kora's just gathering fighters, it's kinda like... that's the point, babes, they'll actually get to it in part 2. We're just at the "forming the team" stage. I revel in that part of a fantasy film and I always want it to be longer, so this film is like catnip to me.

Uh, yeah, this is getting long. More under the cut.

Entertainment professional nitpick time! I've seen someone say RM would be better as a TV show to introduce a new character each episode. And I truly don't think that fixes any of the problems this person has with the film, while introducing way more problems. (Who the fuck would go in on an original concept TV show where each episode introduces a new hero. You could not sell that pitch to a studio, ever, and viewers would instantly check out if they didn't like the introduced character of the week, and the same complaints would be made: it’s just a new character intro blah blah blah. This wouldn’t fix anything! It would very much make it worse!)

Me, like every day, through gritted teeth: that's... not... how... tv... works...

Like be realistic for a hot second with me. Television is not "long movie"—it is a different medium with different rules. Yes, the past decade has blurred many lines between TV and film, but they're still different mediums, and when people blur them ("it's a 10-hour movie!") the results often suck ass, because you either lack episodic structure or you lack feature structure. Snyder is a feature filmmaker who has never worked in TV. Whenever features people jump into TV, it's a whole other learning curve! They're usually terrible at it! You want Snyder to have to learn a new medium? You want him to learn 5/6-act TV structure from scratch? You want him to (horrified gasp) lead a writers room? Those are not his strengths, baby. Let him play in his space opera sandbox.

And I'm not done! You want the casting team to have to deal with the headache of getting feature film actors to star in a TV show? (Pay cuts! Longer commitments! TV production timelines!) You want to do that to me, personally, and fuck up the TV landscape some more by going, "Oh, we can basically just make a Longer Feature Film in TV"? Fuck off with that. TV has different production realities and different basic story structures. A [long] film [with two parts] is still a film, in structure and production practicalities.

Truly, Tumblr media studies brains (derogatory) at it again.

To each their own, but again, I think RM's structure is fun because it gives me more of the goodies (badass, varied character intros) for the price of one (2-hour film.) Like... that's the good stuff, that's often the most exhilarating part of a film for me. And contrary to popular belief, it's not intro to intro without rising tension or stakes. It builds tension as it goes because new facets of resistance against the Motherworld are explored in each character's intro scene. New ways they fight back, new worlds on which they fight back. And a ticking time bomb of the King's Gaze (king's gays lol) catching up.

Here, have a trailer bc Tumblr's mad at me for too much text in one block.

...I like the RM characters. I want to spend time with them and see what other zany shenanigans Snyder will have them do. (Alien bar fights! Taming a space gryphon! Lightsaber battle!) I like the side-quest-y, exploratory, space opera sandbox playground nature. It's fun, and like, again, if you don't perk up at the concept of collecting cool characters like action figures, this film may just not be for you.

To me it's a polycule. Like, the most messed up polycule in the whole galaxy, but it's a polycule.

Speaking of: THE CHARACTERS ROCK. Yeah, we're missing some significant character development because Netflix truncated Snyder's 4-hr, R-rated film into a 2-hr PG-13 version (likely to be able to release the 4-hr cut later, drum up new press, and get more eyeballs on the movie in total in a few months.) That's... not really Snyder's fault [even though he claims he's in on the plan... some part of me thinks it was Netflix's idea and not his. Stinks of studio meddling.] And it's not indicative of the quality of the actual film, which I currently see as more of an abridged version of the R-rated film that's gonna come out and fill up some of these story holes.

If people are judging the film for not being the 4-hour version, and then decide not to see the 4-hour version, that's their call, but it's kinda shitty to act like the 2-hr version is all there is. Like it probably wasn't Snyder's call to do a 2-hr cut! He's said that the 4-hr one is a whole different movie. I betcha the common criticisms (not enough character development, just jumps from character intro to character intro without interconnection, lack of structure) will be helped, if not outright solved, by the longer cut.

I think people are also happy to take a Part 1 of a movie if it's, say, Dune, and the source material has another part, so Part 1 is allowed to be fucking boring, whereas people don't give that kind of allowance to original sci-fi movies, WHICH IS A REASON WE DON'T GET ORIGINAL SCI-FI. If you're painting with as huge and cosmic a palette as space opera Rebel Moon, the 4-8 hours total across the 2 four-hour parts is kinda bare minimum for an epic. So... patience is a virtue? Let part 1 have elements of IT'S KIND OF A PROLOGUE?

What's that saying? If you want the rewards of space opera worldbuilding with an ensemble cast, you must submit to the mortifying ordeal of 2 hours of setup. Geez. Enjoy the wacky exposition or get out of the space opera genre.

Yeah, that leads me to the point of people who don't enjoy space opera are getting mad at RM for fulfilling the promises of the genre. You might truly be happier elsewhere. The whole thing is over-the-top, huge-scale MELODRAMA and I thrive on melodrama. If it's too cheesy for you, don't come to space operas!!!!!!!

On that note, people have said RM is too tropey and too Star Wars-y. But like I said. If you don't love the tropes get out of the genre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you aren't here for bloodier/hornier Star Wars get out of RM!!!!

Another big idea I would be remiss to skip over. RM is an explicitly, deliberately anti-colonial, anti-imperial text—far, far more so than any other mainstream sci-fi currently being released. Well-intentioned liberals love to tout Star Trek/Star Wars as progressive media but they really hedge and defang all their political commentary, especially in their 21st century franchise form—think the SW sequels/shows straight up woobifying K*lo Ren in realtime and the Trek shows that (while fun!) are really often just nostalgia bait.

RM is pretty fucking radical. Its theme basically is Kill Nazis—or in expanded form, something along the lines of "The empire will eat up everything of value in the universe unless it is met with unified armed resistance built on solidarity."

And just look at RM's casting. We're not colorblind here; we're very color-conscious. (That's a rant for another day, but I've really started to despise colorblind casting for its extremely well-intentioned-liberal "we're all the same" mentality. It just winds up erasing.) Anyway: RM features the explicitly American-English-Afrikaans empire vs. the Algerian Amazigh protagonist, Black freedom fighters, Japanese revolutionary... and like. Snyder's always gonna be into Vikings so obviously we have Space Vikings too, whatever. Look at me, I can criticize Snyder too! The Poor Sad Space Vikings are not the strongest part of the film!

...Anyway of course the empire vs. revolution is absolutely kind of Star Wars-y since RM is highkey Snyder's Star Wars, but it goes so much further than SW dreamed (or, perhaps, nightmared). SW's rebels/resistance continually get defanged because they're kind of foundationally space magic/singular hero's quest deals, and modern SW with the exception of Rogue One/Andor is just politically, socially stupid. In contrast, RM is about forming a coalition, without something like the Force to help you out. I could write an essay on the ways RM starts in the same place Star Wars starts but takes its politics so much more seriously, so much further.

While I'd argue "good politics" and "artistic quality" rarely correlate, RM is explicitly and doggedly a text about the colonial empire that exploits, enslaves, abuses, and seeks to utterly control marginalized people groups in its quest for domination—and god, I would LOVE to see a resurgence in very fanged, very angry political sci-fi.

One more aside. Snyder has been rightfully criticized for his earlier works basking in fascist-adjacent, hypermasculine aesthetics; 300 is notably super duper racist in how it depicts savage/monstrous Persians vs. Beautifully Good White Spartans Defending Their Culture. (more on "300 Bad" stored up in my brain if anyone wants THAT rant.) To Snyder's credit, none of his films since 300 have really done that—parts of Batman v Superman and his cut of Justice League purposefully poke fun at it. The hypermasculinity is kinda still there, but it's subsumed in the service of melodrama and mythic-flavored cinema, and it's kinda a staple of the action genre anyway, and if you're gonna criticize Snyder without criticizing EVERY ACTION MOVIE EVER, that's just more regurgitated Snyder haterism.

No one is doing mythic action like Snyder these days. No one has the balls and the command of melodrama & operatic visuals. And it comes clearly from Snyder's background in art & art history because all his shots are jam-packed with symbolism and meaning and allusion. So criticize the film for its weaknesses if you like but geez, if I see another post railing about the lack of CRAFT in RM, I will start biting. ALMOST NO BLOCKBUSTER HAS THIS LEVEL OF CRAFT. It's okay that you don't understand visual storytelling, babygirl, but please don't accuse Snyder of lacking craft.

Sorry, you've triggered Cinema Defense Mechanisms in me, I'm gonna have to sit down for a while after this.

I have more takes. Takes hot enough to fuel the King's Gaze (king's gays lol.) But I'll end with a funny observation: I transed my gender (cheers, shouts, hoorays) just about the time I was getting ready to watch Rebel Moon, and in one shocking, epiphanic moment I turned to my partner and went "Of COURSE I'm a man. I like Zack Snyder." So........... do with that what you will.

#rebel moon #dragoninthelibrary #rebel moon spoilers #long post

[antrunner]

Hello....... what is Borderlands about..............

HI gayle my friend gayle

borderlands is a multi-game series that revolves around "The Borderlands", which are a group of planets on the edge of a galaxy that are kinda Mad Max-y except everything revolves around capitalism.

Every planet is more or less run by corporations that are large enough to have private militaries. there aren't presidents or dictators, there's CEOs. One of which is Handsome Jack, who is the CEO of Hyperion. (see below)

He's an important figure because he sets off the plot for each of the games, serving as the main antagonist for most of them. The whole point of the games is to find something called a "Vault", which are ancient prisons created by an alien race called Eridians to hold giant monsters, advanced technology, and a shit ton of money/loot. People, aptly named Vault Hunters, search these out in order to earn wealth, power or tech.

When it comes to gameplay, you play as a Vault Hunter. Like most FPS games you have the option of different classes you can play as with different abilities. I love the guns in these games, since they're all unique and feel reeeally good to shoot. Each game also has its own strengths when it comes to the gameplay and guns, plus leveling systems and skill trees.

The only exception to this stuff is Tales From the Borderlands, which is a telltale game that is almost 100% story-driven with quicktime events. It's actually the most popular game in the whole series and that's for very good reason. Because it's awesome. Highly recommend if you prefer story over combat, plus it'll give you some context to the world building without needing to jump headfirst into an FPS.

Though, if you're interested in playing through them all, I'd recommend following this order:

- Borderlands 2

- Borderlands: The Pre-sequel

- Tales From the Borderlands

- Borderlands 1

- Borderlands 3

You can theoretically play them in order of their release, but I personally think this way offers a more compelling story. Plus....... borderlands 1 is really old and doesn't have very good game mechanics comparatively LMAO borderlands 3 is the best for that. the pre-sequel is fun too because it has unique anti-gravity mechanics to spice it up.

All of the characters are funny as hell. There's a lot of toilet humor but also more subtle stuff. I'd also HIGHLY. recommend playing with friends (blinks at you) for a better experience overall. it's 1000x better (you can have up to 4 people in a game)

if you have any more questions i would LOVE to answer!!! this franchise is such a huge fixations its got its teeth and claws in me

#borderlands #is he acoustic ? #gayle lmk if you ever wanna play together!!! id be happy to its so fun

[yeswegetityoulovepodcasts]

Audio Drama Recs and Reviews

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality. If you ever wanted to get an unhealthy emotional attachment to the AI and anxiety - this one is for you. The first season seems like a collection of stories about supernatural objects in the museum. In later seasons we get a pretty high stakes plot with many cliffhangers + stories about the objects. Also has no romance as a major plot and it rarely appears in the stories so as an aro I love this one.

Hello From the Hallowoods. Well this one is very queer to the point of neopronouns and genderfluidity queer. Great Age range representation. Also very anti capitalist. There are many (no seriously like MANY) characters, engaging plot and one narrator with a very soothing voice telling us a story about humanity last days, demons, ghosts, libraries and revenants. Personally I feel like it has a very 1-world contry point of view but the pros outweigh the cons.

The Wrong Station. If you are not a fan of overarching plots and need good quality horror content this one is for you. It's a horror anthology podcast - every episode has a different setting though there are some connections between the names my favs are set in the past (esp. Alternative Italy or Byzantine) but is also has some pretty decent midwesrern gothic and future horror episodes.

The Silt Verses. This one is about gods and those that have to deal with them. About the world where ideal rules over the material and the entities made of those ideas are hungry gods. Not as hungry as the system that exploits those ideas though. The most terrifying thing about this podcast is how small the difference is between this world and ours is. This one is made by I Am in Eskew authors so give it a try if you need a good existential and relatable horror. Also has the great aroace feral old woman as one of the characters and I love her with all my heart.

True Tales of the Illuminati This one is a short comedy telling about shenanigans in the Illuminati organization and all the ways they fuck their shit up. First two seasons are set in the Ancient Egypt - 3rd in the 20th century America. If you want something light hearted, short and similar to the Parks and Recreation - try this one. If you want more audio drama workplace comedy go and listen to the New Ages.

Life with Althaar - sci-fi podcast/workplace comedy about a space station + awkward alien roommate who wants to be friends with a human. It uses word gentlebeings, okay?! I loved the first 2 seasons but the 3 season wasn't updated in a year, so i am waiting if it's come back. This is essentially my comfort podcast so i do hope it comes back to us.

#audio drama #audio drama recs #podcast recs #podcasts #the silt verses #hello from the hallowoods #the mistholme museum of mystery morbidity and mortality #life with althaar #true tales of the illuminati #wrong station