#I really really miss that forest

[femme-et-traditionnelle]

When I was a child I used to wander to the nearby forest daily to escape the chaos at home. If I walked long enough, the water stream eventually formed a little pond, surrounded by some dirt or sand all around. I would sit there and read and nap for hours. Over the summer, I watched tadpoles hatch and grow and leave the place and that's one of my sweetest memory honestly.

#It was terribly lonely but still good days #I really really miss that forest #or any forest actually #there isn't a single spot of nature around me right now #personal #tradwife #traditional gender roles #traditional femininity #tradfem #nature #summer #memories

[0rchidm4ntis]

Happy birthday Silver!! 💐

#micas art #twst #twisted wonderland #twst silver #silver vanrouge #its been sooo long since i last drew him my god.. silver sweetie im so sorry #i couldnt miss his birthday though so behold!! a gift just in time :D #im really happy with how this turned out! i wanted to draw a younger silver chilling in the woods. maybe he's exploring them or smthg #and ofc it wouldnt be silver if he didnt attract at least 1 forest creature on his outing so a fawn came out to meet him #theyre hanging out together now :)

[zeldadiscussions]

The repeated use of the specific word imperialism in fandom discussions of TotK really bugs me because like… we know what imperialism looks like, right?

Genocide either by murder or assimilation, leadership that is either of the conquering race or loyal to it generally for personal gain, control of the conquered’s resources, and a social climate where the conquerors are considered superior.

But in this Hyrule none of the other races had their cultures erased, they aren’t governed by Hylian leaders and the local leaders’ first priority is taking care of their people, they manage their own trade affairs, and Hylians don’t constantly subject others to put downs about their race.

If a Hylian man dares enter Gerudo Town without the Chief’s permission, they kick him out or put him in jail. That’s how much control the Gerudo have over their own territory and how little being a Hylian matters if you mess with them.

Rauru is accused of hoarding power but he literally gave his secret stones out to the other races and they remain in possession of them to this day.

Basically the only time the other nations seem to actually follow Hyrule’s lead at all is when facing common threats or working towards common goals. Hyrule only ever meddles in other lands affairs either to lend them aid (Link and Zelda fighting for everyone, the folks at Tabantha Bridge Stable providing disaster releif to the Rito, etc.) or requesting aid from them (Rauru and Zelda asking the Sages and Champions to help them fight Ganon[dorf].) They lead like a team leader leads.

Sonia and Rauru didn’t found an empire.

They founded an alliance.

I know I’m beating a dead horse here but to my eyes at least (for now) there is zero solid evidence of Hyrule exerting control over the daily lives of non-Hylians or stealing their resources, two major defining traits of imperialistic rule. Hyrule is at the head of the alliance, yes, but an empire isn’t the only system of governance that has one group or individual at the helm of a coalition. The difference is in the details and the details here are that Hyrule leads the others but it does not dominate them, and that is key.

The only empire in the game would have been the one Ganondorf was trying to force on everyone and that was pretty bluntly depicted as being a bad thing. How can we say it’s pro-imperialistic if the main conflict is preventing the rise of an evil empire?

You can’t effectively analyze a narrative by completely ignoring everything about it and its meta that contradicts a knee-jerk viewpoint. What is even the point of analyzing it at all at that point?

#tears of the kingdom #the legend of zelda #loz #totk #rauru #ganondorf #here i am once again arguing against my least favorite TotK take #it really bugs me because of how incorrect it feels and also because it glosses over how progressive the game is overall #like that’s the real rub #this is the most culturally and physically diverse Hyrule EVER and it is SUCH a bummer for that to be overlooked #I’m not saying the game is perfect there are many issues with it #but like #talk about missing the forest for the trees #edited for clarity and added screenshot

[arlenianchronicles]

Pov: You’re relaxing at the stream when you suddenly notice an Elf prince lounging in the shadows, gazing back at you ;)

Beren and Lúthion from my genderbend AU! It’s been a long while since I drew for this AU, but I got in the mood recently, so here it is! It was also an excuse to practice with sitting poses XDD I imagine this is when they’re still getting to know each other; Lúthion sometimes appears when Beren least expects it, and Beren usually lets him make the first move, since Lúthion still isn’t sure what to make of this adan!

I also wanted to give Lúthion more of a mysterious fae vibe, so I put him in the shadows. Meanwhile, Beren appears with the sun, which is a recurring (and favourite) theme of mine when drawing the Edain, it seems! :DDD

#ahh i missed these two! #i also gotta work more on different poses loll #i really wasn't used to drawing these sitting positions #art #my art #tolkien #silmarillion #fanart #genderbend #genderbent au #elves #sindar #edain #house of beor #beren #luthien #beren and luthien #romance #forest

[myenterpriseisparked]

Okay I understand where people are coming from with the "emotional suppression in Vulcans is learned not genetic" talk re: "Charades" but, consider......... the emotional suppression is muscle memory, and the aliens took away the mental muscles that remembered how to do it. It's a crude metaphor on my part, but that was the way I saw it.

Also consider: it's a sci fi show using extremely high-concept bullcrap science on a weekly basis and maybe nitpicking it is a fruitless endeavor because none of it is going to make sense otherwise and enjoying the ride for what it is is a much more enjoyable way to engage with this franchise. Sometimes you need to shrug and let dumb things happen and laugh.

#i am so sick of whatching people find itty bitty things to pick SNW apart over #I'm trying really hard not to get internet preachy about it because everyone it entitled to their own opinions #but some people really beed to calm down and stop taking everything so seriously #Star Trek has NEVER had completely accurate science #or consistent rules within it's own universe #I mean look at Threshold #that is 1000% Not How Evolution Works #like at all #but we all laugh it off and throw a party about it every year #or how about the fact that Miles O Brien was a Leiutenant #and then he was suddenly an enlisted man #I could go on #but the point is that if you get caught up in the trees you'll miss the forest #and also a bundle of laughs because that was a very funny episode #was it perfect? of course not #but I am not gonna let the flaws ruin the whole thing for me #I had fun and laughed and smiled and that's all that really matters in my book #Strange New Worlds #snw spoilers #I'm really hesitant to tag this because I don't want people coming for my head lol #but alas I need to make sure people who haven't watched the episode can block spoilers

[elodee]

HERMIT A DAY MAY - DAY 21

BDoubleO100 x Stand Still, Stay Silent

For Bdubs I chose the webcomic Stand Still, Stay Silent!

I chose this comic for BDubs because this comic takes place mostly in forested wilderness and has some of the most beautifully painted backgrounds I have ever seen in anything. I'm sure I don't need to explain why I wanted to represent BDubs with that.

I love the way this one turned out and I put a lot of effort into it, but it pales in comparison to how skillfully Minna Sundberg plays with light and shadow to make textured, atmospheric settings for her story.

While the comic is very beautiful, it is a post-apocalyptic story and does feature some disturbing imagery so discretion is advised.

To learn more about Stand Still, Stay Silent continue below the cut.

(Gamers Outreach, you know what to do!)

Stand Still, Stay Silent is a story which takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of Scandanavia. The comic heavily draws from Scandanavian mythology.

The story opens with the world succumbing to a strange pandemic. A century later, humans hide in reinforced settlements to protect them from the "silent world" - the wilderness outside their settlements, which is home to plague infected creatures.

The story follows a misfit group of humans as they explore this wilderness to gain a deeper understanding of their hazardous world. Also the art is absolutely gorgeous.

Style references:

Just your average stunning panel from this comic.

The wilderness in this story is as much a character as the characters themselves.

The title design

#I didn't even come close to nailing the rendering here #but I am still very happy with the results anyway #I am also especially proud of BDub's moss cloak #which I miss and really want him to bring back to wear in his beautiful forest #god I love Bdub's forest it's incredible #This is just as much fanart for his forest as it is for BDubs himself #bdoubleO #bdoubleo100 #bdubs #hermitaday #hermitcraft

[compacflt]

If you want, and only if you want to, could you explain about making Logistics a big part of Ice's career path? Not only did fit so well with your Ice's characterization, it was just so neat I've made it my HC for Ice's career path.

yes!

I got REALLy deep into the defense policy weeds in this post so I’m putting a cut to save people’s dashboards

1. when i was rewriting chapters 8 &9 last winter i did literally the bare minimum of research about the current set of high-level officers. the commander of the pacific fleet at the time had previously been the director of pacific fleet logistics ordnance & supply. So that was easy to yoink. a proven chain of succession.

2. but also: it fit ice’s (or his alter ego admiral Kazansky’s) neat, orderly, effective, collected, strategic characterization. And as professional tactics go, there would be no better promotion for a high-level officer looking to take over the fleet than DFLOS. understand the fleet by the numbers, you comprehensively understand the fleet.

3. In terms of secret-keeping logistics, ice is supposed to be kind of the best. like, because of his logistical thinking, he & maverick get away with it. Or that’s how I would’ve written it if I were a little smarter. Obviously in practice a bunch of people find out so it’s not great. but the navy AS A WHOLE doesn’t find out.

4. The field of military logistics is rigorously bureaucratic, boring, soulsucking, selfdefeating, notoriously corrupt, and yet entirely necessary for the military to succeed at any level (in the very first draft of WWGATTAI i included a famous US marine corps maxim that most people have heard at some point: “amateurs talk tactics. professionals talk logistics.” but that was literally the only good thing about the original chapter 6 which got entirely rewritten a month after i published it). So logistics as a field of specialization fit in perfectly with my secondary character thesis that rising through the boring bureaucratic ranks of the Navy sucked all the humanity & will to live out of ice one day at a time.

a couple related interesting things that I’ve never talked about on this blog & might never get the chance to again:

a) ice canonically joins the navy as a fighter pilot & ends his career as a glorified bureaucrat. that sucks. obviously the struggle to rise in the ranks is a notoriously cutthroat, political, sleazy business (you do not get to the top of the United States Navy by being nice to people), but i would also not be the first person to say that—for exemplary officers—leadership is an EXPECTATION that can counterbalance someone’s natural drive to excel, if that makes sense. You get promoted because you’re good at something (flying), but you get promoted away from the thing you were good at. There is an extent to which you have to fight for a promotion—but there is also an extent to which commanders above you pick you for the job, suck you up along the pipeline. Loss of agency—a major major component of joining the military—does still apply to upper-level officers.

B) to that end, i am reminded of one quote from Todd Schmidt’s 2023 book “Silent Coup of the Guardians: US Military Elite Influence on National Security.” This is an Army training & doctrine commander speaking: “the military has a lot of two- and three-star senior leaders that were confident, charismatic commanders at the O-6 level. But that’s the end of the story. One in fifty, maybe one in a hundred, truly have what it takes to operate successfully at the strategic level and make a real difference for their service. The problem is that they all tend to think that, since they have stars on their shoulders, they’re the one.” —I’ve been writing ice as “The Chosen One,” the officer unicorn, for two reasons: one, it provides him cover for his illegal relationship (and also asks an interesting chicken-egg question: does he get away with his rlnship because he’s so good, or is he so good JUST to get away with his relationship?); and two, he’s “the chosen one” in canon, i.e. he already has four stars in canon: canonically he is not a mediocre officer. But most officers (cough cough maverick) are not cut out for high-level leadership.

C.) in Thomas E. Ricks’ book “The Generals,” Ricks argues that (at least in the Army) mediocrity in the general/flag officer ranks is unfortunately by design. In WWII, if you were a mediocre officer, you got relieved! You got fired! It’s part of why we won: merciless culling of the general officer ranks! But between WWII and Korea, officer relief began to be associated with shame & wasted resources. Mediocre officers got promoted anyways. The military elite pipeline sucks mediocrity up the chain of command. Ricks blames this issue for (at least the Army’s) shit leadership in every post-WWII war, including but most especially Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s no penalty for mediocrity. That in turn reflects on military strategy (mediocre strategists at the helm) & the outcome of every military foray (mediocre outcomes).

D) additionally. There’s a whole neverending debate in the field of civil-military relations (an extremely interesting field of study btw) about the corporatization of the military—lots of high-level talk over the years of “running the military like a business.” If you get kinda into defense policy like me (am i still antimilitary? Idk! but i CAN easily tell you i am against the navy’s littoral combat ship program! It sucks!) then you will know that the navy is struggling right now on a lot of different fronts (procurement [shipbuilding esp. is a disaster—ford-class carriers are under budget though 👍🏽], recruitment, theatre prioritization, general preparedness, readiness against major adversaries [China in particular]). Simply, the navy is pretty mediocre at the minute. I talk a big game about ice being COMPACFLT & SECNAV, but if those are true, & if he “exists” in our current timeline, or even canon timeline (COMPACFLT in 2020), then he’s complicit in a lot of why the navy is sucking ass right now. He didn’t do his job very well. LOL. So, because I love (especially my version of) ice too much to see his legacy suffer, I am stating for the record that my timeline is a different timeline where ice saves the navy from itself and fixes all its issues & solves all its problems & makes it the pride of the armed forces & the tip of the spear of American defense :) because I said so

E.) unrelated but important. It sounds obvious but it must be said. Ice dies on the job in TGM canon. To the extent that in earlier drafts of the script, not-his-sister-Sarah even points out to maverick that ice is still active duty, in the same breath as she tells him ice is sick again. (A wise move to remove that line.) ice does not resign his commission. Ice does not retire to spend time with his family at the end of his life. Ice dies as commander of the pacific fleet. He dies on the job; he dies FOR the job, bureaucratic as it is. If you were wondering why I wrote ice so dormantly suicidal, it’s because canon (i argue) has made it clear that—since the second ice signed up to be a fighter pilot during the Cold War to the second he died active duty—ice has ALWAYS been ready and willing to die for his honorable Navy career.

#so imagine what would have happened had he been publicly dishonored 😶 #It’s also why i interrupted his SECNAV tenure with his cancer #to pay respects to compacflt Ice having the same thing happen to him #my Ice is built different tho. it doesn’t kill him #he retires to spend time with his family ☺️ #unlike selfish asshole canon ice ‼️🤬 #/s #this post gets DEEP into it but i find this stuff sooo interesting #got really into defense policy & missing the forest for the trees #i will admit that #military bad? yes but. #but defense policy so interesting anyway. #tom iceman kazansky #top gun #top gun maverick #icemav #edts notes #asks #last post of the night

[last-flight-of-fancy]

“Kingdom Hearts being an epic slow burn gay romance would be incredibly impactful to people both personally and as a landmark in queer representation by extremely popular and established characters. It has decades of legitimate buildup and has the potential to be both incredibly validating to queer fans everywhere and even possibly sway the minds of those who love the characters but may not have much contact or knowledge of queerness.”

and

“The Kingdom Hearts series is honestly kind of unique in its unabashed emotional sincerity. How it treats friendships and non-romantic bonds as being both extremely important and powerful, never giving the impression that friendship is lesser to romance, is depressingly still somewhat of a rarity in media. This is very important and validating to many, particularly aromantics but also most everyone who is just Tired of how friendships and romance are often presented in tiers of importance.”

are concepts that can and should co-exist.

#like i get it. there really is nothing quite like kh when it comes to how it treats the bonds between characters #and the latter is just as legitimate! #but i do think that the people who argue (in good faith) that kh shouldnt make anyone canon- #-are kind of missing the forest for the trees #(i specify in good faith bc we all know the bad faith ones are just co-opting the argument to hide their homophobia) #(and oh boy are *most* of them in bad faith. but i wanna take a sec to talk about this bc there are good faith ones out there) #and what i mean by that is that... well first of all making one ship canon doesn't invalidate all the other examples of stunning displays of #-the power of friendship #second of all i would like you to consider the framing of this #if no ship becomes canon and it's purely platonic for all the OC's... how is it different from any other kids show with no couples? #in terms of representing friendship as not being less than romance? #it's still not bad don't get me wrong. what i'm saying is that media DOES exist #there are shows and books and games out there where there are no couples to speak of #maybe not terribly common but they're out there #but a slow burn epic gay romance where platonic connections are legitimately just as important and powerful? i sure af havent seen it #sora being in love with riku and still willing to sacrifice himself (TWICE) to save kairi... is that not exactly what you want? #to show that the platonic connection is not lesser? that its just as important? #i dunno i've been turning this over in my brain all afternoon thinking about it #stop talking to yourself flight

[stormofdefiance]

Lonesome Transcendence

#shenhe #genshin impact #genshin fanart #my art #ughhhh okay I really should have pulled up actual mountains and studied the #m #but I just wanted to shut off and paint and omg it was so relaxing #there's so many issues with this but god I just had such a good time layering this on #sometimes I just go to the stone forest with shenhe and just watch the sunset and listen to the music #and its such a beautiful wee place to me #I really want to see the real stone forests in china some day #I just can't believe nature can play with the earth like this #I miss mountains so much ughhh I miss the smell of them all the different kinds of stone #the colours that play across them in sunset and dawn #the way it feels to be so grounded and cradled by them all at once waaaa

[ryssabrin]

incredibly cold take but i really do not understand how bl*od/weave became the most popular origin/origin ship, both for each character or like. just in general. like they both make way more sense in a romance with wyll than with each other and more compelling cases could also def be made for gale/shadowheart (both having a crisis of faith and struggling to define their identity outside of said faith) and astarion/karlach (touch-averse vs touch-starved and jaded pessimism vs boundless optimism). hell i'd even see gale/lae'zel before i'd see gale with astarion. they simply do not like or respect each other. it's literally anders/fenris all over again tbh.

#madelyn rambles #i think the prevalence at least in fandom spaces #comes from either gale fans or astarion fans wanting to play their respective origin #to see all of their specific scenes and such #but they also want to do a romance #and for a lot of gale fans the next best romance is astarion #and vice versa #so it's become this monolith among a lot of fans #that act like it's just such an obvious pairing #and ofc ship and let ship it's not that deep #but they're really missing the forest for the trees here lmao #sometimes things that are popular or worse etc etc

[blakistan]

You know it's kind of a shame that Asher seemingly deleted himself from the Vexnet after we fully constructed Vexcalibur, because imagine seeing interactions between Vexnet Asher and Infinite Forest Vance

#like. I do not remember CoO and dont really do trials and missed every season before arrivals #so I have no clue how their dynamic would look #Im imagining a return to the Infinite Forest wherein Vance and Asher are both manipulating the simulation to help us #but they just keep fucking with each other and cannot agree and then Problems Ensue #destiny 2 #asher mir #brother vance

[kickasstorrents]

im realizing lately i really am like utterly & completely terrified of people leaving me either for no reason . or for something i think is a good enough reason to suddenly hate me & want to throw rocks at me & hit me with sticks & crucify me upside down & skin me & spit on me etc. , But really its like either not a problem at all or its just a regular problem that gets better from talking

#its crazy how long you can suffer with something really intensely & not realize how like genuinely clinical it is until like IDK #God presents it to you thru orchestrating a series of events that make you realize it suddenly #or you suddenly are enlightened what the sound of one hand clapping is or w/e thru incident #i am truly invisible to myself sometimes idk why that is either bc that too is really largely invisible #my mom says i miss the forest for the trees a lot & i wld say the same thing to her but also i think its more like missing the trees for th #e forest

[metrixnos]

forest painting practice :]

(mixed media: watercolor, posca pen, color pencil)

#whaaat? something non dsmp? #traditional art #watercolor #color pencil #posca pens #forest #my art #i’m really proud of this #i love watercolor:3 #i missed traditional art #i wish i had more time for it

[ryderdire]

I don’t know as much as i should about warriors to make this post but . I really like the idea of an au where one of mapleshades kits survives and become firestars grandparent or smth because imagine her finding out about leafpool and seeing ashfur go to starclan would she protect her great grandkids would she even know. so many thoughts

#warrior cats #warriors #Mapleshade au #see cuz from my understanding of the character she’s like pure chaotic evil right willing to do anything to avenge her kits and the #betrayal of her former mate. #even though her own actions lead too the kits thing #but like can you fucking imagine that anger directed towards the dark forest? or Tigerstar even? that shit is interesting it’s not cuz he’s #cuz like. that’s her family her kits kits the one thing she’s ever cared about was her kits so like watching tiger try and kill them ofc #she would be pissed but like does that make her a better person now her anger and hatred is directed at ‘’the bad guys”’’ I don’t know! #maybe? it’s really interesting ahajajaja #but also like #I don’t think i would wanna write this au cuz a I haven’t read the books so I’d miss details and it’s possible I misunderstand the charater #and b I have too many ongoing projects #this is a prompt #warriors au

[abirddogmoment]

Will I ever tire of posting pictures of grass? Unlikely.

#ndr #scenery #grasslands #i used to think the grasslands were so boring #but there is so much to enjoy about them #the hiking is easy #bushwacking isnt the worst torture ever #visibility??? to die for #(mav gets way more offleash time than he otherwise would) #lighting? often gorgeous #wind? keeps bugs away #i miss the mountains and i love the forests but i really love living here

[aftonenterprise-moved]

remember when matpat was like "BY THE AMOUNT OF MINIMUM WAGE MIKE IS MAKING WE CAN DEDUCE THIS GAME TAKES PLACE IN 1987" youre fucking INSANE dude. THE CHECK LITERALLY SAID "20XX" ON IT

#ooc #it makes me so. ggh.AAAHHHHHH #I CANT ARTICULATE WHY IT MAKES ME SO MAD #BUT IM GOING TO TRY #FNAF THEORIES ARE ALWAYS FOCUSED ON THE LOGISTICS OF THE SERIES AND WHAT 'MAKES SENSE' FOR THE TIME PERIOD AND WHAT MAKES SENSE AS PER NUMB #NUMBERS** AND I THINK THIS IS PROBABLY BECAUSE MATPAT HIMSELF DOES NOT THEORIZE IN A FICTIONAL META FANTASY WAY #MATPAT TAKES FANTASY FICTIONAL STORIES AND TRIES TO APPLY REAL LIFE LOGIC AND MATH TO IT TO MAKE SENSE OF IT #WHICH IS OKAY. GO RIGHT AHEAD. DO THAT #BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT *FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDYS* IS ABOUT AND I DOUBT IT WAS A COMPONENT SCOTT CAWTHON WAS FUCKING WORRIED ABOUT WHEN WRITING #THE STORY CONSIDERING 99% OF SCOTTS INTIIAL WORK WAS FANTASTICAL RIDICULOUS COMEDY FANTASY SHIT ABOUT TALKING COFFEE POTS #AND JESUS!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE. BONAFIDE JESUS!!!!!!!!! I DONT THINK THIS GUYS DOING THE FUCKING MATH FOR HIS FICTIONAL STORIES #I THINK SCOTT CAWTHON LIKE *MOST OTHER ARTISTS WHO TELL STORIES ABOUT SHIT LIKE THIS* CARED MORE ABOUT THE EMOTIONAL REACTIONS THEN THE #LITERAL FUCKING MATH OF THE YEARS OR THE DATES OR THE PAYCHECKS OR THE FUCKING ANIMATRONICS PISTONS #okay yelling moment over im not actually that mad im just really impassioned #i love art. i love fictional stories. i love emotionally driven stories. i love abstraction. i love symbolism. the game is full of it! #but i feel like when you sit there and argue with the story *itself* about what its about youre missing the point of the story at all #and youre missing the forest for the trees my man