#and just very briefly on the topic of characterizations I will say

[immunetoneurotoxin]

Just wanna drip by and say Incendiary has made itself a permanent resident in my brain.

Your writing is absolutely amazing, every scene got me gripping my seat in excitement. Seeing someone write a Pyro-focused long fic, let alone texas toast is so so so rare, I think I've only read 3 (including incendiary) that I've liked so far.

I love this little fire guy with all my heart, and I absolutely adore how you didn't make him too much like a child like how many mischaracterize him. There's the childlike wonder in him but he is capable when push comes to shove and I like that a lot! Every single characterizations in this fic is wonderful, I would love to give Engie a little kiss on his bald head.. he's so adorable.

I'm probably rambling but I just love this fic so much. I'm dealing with semester's midterms, stressed as all hell and this fic has been keeping me going. I practically cheered when I saw chapter 10 update in my inbox lmao. I would love to maybe make some fanart when I have the time, should I just tag you on this site?

Thank you so much for writing Incendiary dude, no kidding when I say it changed my life. I can't wait for the story to unfold! Please take care of yourself and rest well. Good luck on the job hunting as well!!

Omg stranger whoever you are, I just about teared up seeing this in my Inbox -

This is the most grandest, heartfelt comment I think I've ever received in my entire writing career and my heart is GUSHING rn!!!! I was literally out running errands when I saw this and I couldn't stop thinking about it -

When I joined the TF2 fandom in like... oh god, 2014 I think, I was really shocked to see throughout the years that there weren't many Pyro-centered stories out there, which blew my mind. Like how could there not be a deluge of fanfic for Pyro, who is this extremely mysterious, multi-faceted character with so much room for interpretation?! When I first watched Meet the Pyro, I KNEW I had to write a novel about Pyro. Who they are, where they came from, and what happened to them before the events of the gravel war. Massively inspired, of course. But still nonetheless, an origin story that could very well be canon if squinted at, hehe.

This rings true for texas toast content, too!! There isn't a whole lot of it out there and it makes me so sad - I love their dynamic so much! When Incendiary is finished, I do plan on writing some more texas toast oneshots on my AO3 to fill that void. <3 One of the plans is to write a short story about their relationship during the gravel wars as well, that takes place after the events of Incendiary. (plus, Incendiary has only just started to crack the surface tension of the slow burn, and it's only a matter of 1-2 chapters away from when the texas toast really starts showing through so there is that to look forward too as well. (｡˃ ᵕ ˂ ))

also I literally hollered when I read your comment about Pyro's characterization in this story especially, because THAT is THE ONE THING I have been working so incredibly hard towards holy shit - when I tell you the amount of stories I've read that writes them off as this danger-child that needs supervision - which don't get me wrong is not an entirely bad thing!! they do have this massive childlike side to them, but there is also so much more to them than how the fandom perceives them, not taking into much consideration how they typically canonically act in the comics/in-game, and taking into LARGE consideration Meet the Pyro. I was reeling when I realized that a lot of people seemed to completely forget about that interview. I could go on a whole rant about this sdfghjkl but yes, Pyro is definitely more than capable when push comes to shove! they are in a war, after all ;)

and engineer, oh man. I love that soft Texan so much. :') I could talk your ear off about him too!

man I am definitely rambling now, but I literally cannot even express how genuinely happy I am receiving this message, it means the actual world to me. and FANART?!?! oh my god YES - you can definitely tag me here if you do make fanart for Incendiary!! I would be BEYOND honored omg

Thank you so so much for brightening my entire year with this feedback literally - I'm so honored to have you here as a reader and a fan. <3 And I'm sending you all of the luck with your midterms!! You've got this!!

#also little fun fact about this story #It never actually started off as the novel I intended to write about pyro GASP #It was meant to be a bunch of texas toast oneshots #one in particular was going to be about Pyro working alongside engineer in his workshop #and how they created their own flamethrower that they canonically use in-game #but when I started expanding the plot around that #well that quickly spiraled out of control lol #and just very briefly on the topic of characterizations I will say #roswell is by far my favorite villain I've written #I took a lot of inspiration from strickland from the movie 'the shape of water' #that guy has got INTIMIDATION tactic on lock #chapter 12 will delve more in depth about director Roswell as a person and his goals and intentions and reasonings and all of that #and so you'll see why he does the things he does soon enough :) #also tysm again for dropping this comment I will literally gush over this for WEEKS

[rainbowsky]

Perspectives on a debate

I see a lot of people still steeped in the debate about GQ.

There are a lot of claims being spread around about GQ, including:

They are huge GG antis

They posted hateful slander about GG

They were one of the primary agents of 227 and GG's cancellation

They boycotted GG

They keep bringing up 227 to hurt GG

Here are the primary pieces of 'evidence' of these claims:

Two articles published by GQ, one in 2020 shortly after 227, and one a year later. Both consist of interviews with a media/culture scholar who specializes in danmei and fan culture, discussing the phenomenon of 227 and some other related sociocultural topics.

I urge every fan to read these articles and draw your own conclusions about whether they constitute 'anti-GG slander'.

Initial article

Follow-up a year later

Once you've done so you can read on if you're curious to hear my thoughts on the issue. (Please don't read my thoughts until you've read the articles and formed your own perspective.)

My thoughts

These articles are overall pretty rational, intellectual and inquisitive. The conversation primarily revolves around fandom and fan culture, and GG isn't even the central focus. Particularly the second article, which only mentions him briefly at the beginning.

Instead, the articles cover a broad range of entertainment business and cultural topics, and ponder the factors that played into 227.

They are not critical of GG, so much as they are critical of his fans, which is why his fans are so angry about the articles. It's not 'slander against GG', it's a critique of fandom and fan behavior.

I suspect this is why XFX have been so vocal about spreading the rumor of a GQ vendetta against GG. Because saying, "GQ has been critiquing XFX" wouldn't garner nearly as much sympathy or outrage.

Most people don't actually bother digging into or examining these claims. Instead, they take it all at face value and assume the claims to have at least some merit, and buy into the narrative that GQ is out to get GG. They in turn spread the word about GQ's supposed vendetta against GG, thereby doing free XFX legwork.

The reality is that 227 was a very big deal at the time. A massive cultural phenomenon. Of course those interested in culture would reasonably want to discuss and examine it. It's been discussed all over the world, not just in China.

It's not unreasonable for a magazine to do this type of examination. We can agree or disagree with some of the opinions presented in the article, but they're not anything unusual for that region of the world. However, in my view, characterizing them as anti-GG slander is just a bridge too far.

#ggdd controversies #fandom reflections #rumor mill #solos belong to moling su sect #bxg fact checking

[babacontainsmultitudes]

Ngl getting worried that "Sparrow doesn't like Normal" thing has been said so much on the show that the actual cast forgot that isn't true ......

Hi anon! Okay first of all, this was a very cathartic ask to receive, to the point that it kind of cracked me up when I first read it, so thank you, you were so real for this. I can empathize with this sentiment (though I had no plans on voicing it) and I've felt similarly for… A while honestly.

You sent this back in December (heh. classic baba.), and while I didn't forget, honestly I intended to answer this in a manner that's a bit more. Organized but… I sort of lost sight of where I wanted to go with things, to be honest with you, and I didn't wanna leave you hanging forever! Still, a couple notes and tangentially-related thoughts…

(Oh, maybe before we get into it- I assume based on the nature of this ask that you probably read this post of mine, but perhaps I'll leave it here as additional context for anyone who happens to find themselves reading this).

Okay, in Will's case to be totally real I've never confidently felt that he realizes that it's not true? If my memory serves, the first time the idea comes up at all is in episode 17:

Which irked me a bit at the time, in part because to me it feels pretty blatantly discordant with Sparrow's characterization- in general but also since he literally says this during the dance scene:

but even more so because it feels very inconsistent with Normal's degree of shock during this same scene. All the same, for a while I could still look past it, on the basis that y'know it's a very teenage thing to make mountains out of molehills and leap to increasingly cynical conclusions the way Normal tends to do, and so perhaps it was all intentional, and as both Sparrow and Normal went through a bit of growth and development, things would slowly turn out alright. :0 A bit willfully naïve, I suppose! But what can you do.

In Anthony's case… I've actually been pretty happy with what he's given us of Sparrow for the past little while, honestly. Sigh but still now and then Anthony will say things offhandedly like this (transcribing myself from episode 47 since the transcript isn't out yet):

Anthony: (…) The only thing keeping you together is the absolute ignorance you have of the fact that maybe the only person who ever showed you any real affection in the last couple years of your life is dead, and the fact that you don't know is all that keeps you going. But the only thing that keeps me going is [ADVERTIZEMENT].

And while that joke lead-in was very funny, it's also just. Objectively not true? Like even aside from all the instances of Sparrow being very affectionate with Norm (including in the dance scene), the other teens? Lark? Rebecca???? All of them have shown Normal affection in one way or another throughout the course of the show. Like, I get that he probably mostly did it for the joke but. Eh, still rubs me the wrong way I suppose.

As for the rest of the cast… It's hard to say, and I guess less important at the end of the day. The other teens' responses to Norm in the last episode make sense for the most part given their POVs imo, so while frustrating to a degree, I can't really fault them for it. Still… Hm, in Scary's case I briefly discussed what I would sort have wanted/liked to come from her own interactions with Sparrow after episode 37 here, and tbh I suppose everything outlined there is still more or less what my ideal scenario would have looked like!

So honestly I suppose that's it anon! I could talk more but I would most definitely begin to stray off topic if I did lol. Thank you kindly for the ask! 💜

#and I guess let's keep our fingers crossed that the finale is... alright 🤞 #dndads #sparrow oak #sparrow oak garcia #dungeons and daddies #normal oak #normal oak swallows garcia #asks #baba babbles #if I actually used that damn talking tag consistently it might actually prove useful smh

[minipisi-is-dumb]

hai, sorry to bother, but what exactly is giftedness? i dont think i trust google on it and id rather hear about it from someone who's gifted. is it like being a genius or something?

hiii thanks for asking about it!!! and sure lemme tell ya

it's a bit lengthy sorry

ill briefly explain the symptoms and then other extra stuff, thanks so much for asking, not a lot of people know about it :)

giftedness is a form of neurodivergent condition/neurodivergency or however you call it, that is characterized by asynchronous development between intelectual and "chronological" growth

an easy way to explain it (even if the theory is disproven so it's just as example) is how people see mental ages

you might be chronologically 15, but intellectually, your needs are those of a 19 y/o and emotionally your regulation is that of a 13 y/o. that's what asynchrony means essentially

the current "official" way to diagnose people is through iq tests, they're not always specific and is usually in a margin of error, but if it's a legit test and not one of those online, is used to measure the amount of connections your brain has. of course the results may vary if you have more than one neurodivergency or you have a mental illness. it's always important to discuss it with your doctor!

the more connections u have per braincell → the faster processing you got. the amount of connections is measured by iq number

the criteria for being diagnosed is simply getting 130 or more in the iq test, there's different types of depth to giftedness as a condition, just like there're different symptoms and levels of depth for autism, but that's the beauty of it isn't it

and contrary to what you might think, fast processing can be very difficult, it feels like your brain goes faster than you all the time you are asked a question, say, in a test, and you just know the answer! that's it, you can't explain it even to yourself. your brain "skips" steps to get to a conclusion since we don't have a linear way of thinking, or you make connections at the moment that somehow end up making sense all the time and you don't even realize it. it's overwhelming

other important symptoms are similar to other nds like autism or adhd like being able to hyperfocus, stimming or sensory sensitivity, but there are some different ones like latent inhibition deficit

latent inhibition deficit (you can google it for better understanding) it's basically not being able to prioritize the information you recieve

have you ever found yourself in a restaurant or a crowded space, and even if there's a lot of talking and music, eventually you "forget about it" and stop paying attention to it since it's not important? That's latent inhibition!!! your brain can filter information, wether is sensory or cognitive and ignore whatever it doesn't see as important

my brain can't, I am always listening to the music, the people talking in the room, small changes in smell, sound or how too many colors confuse me and give me migraine, my brain cannot "filter" importance in it, so it pays attention to everything and sees it all as important since it perceives it as one whole thing

connecting most of the stuff around you or "seeing the big picture" always is very normal, feeling like everything is happening at the same time simultaneously and you can't just pick and choose is the best way I can describe it

we also have overexcitabilities!!! that is a bit long to explain but you can google it

here's a very useful explanation that also mentions giftedness, since the term was created from studying our behavior

here's my favorite talk about the topic, I watched it years after being diagnosed and it explains it very well, the woman giving the talk is gifted herself and works in gifted education programs too!

she also has a talk about overexcitabilities!!

I really like this image because it is a quick way to see some basic symptoms, is not the be all of it but you can get a general idea compared to autism and adhd, since there's more info about them around

Alright we done w that

the BIGGEST misconception about giftedness is that it is just good grades, it's a complex condition just like any other! adhd is not "just getting distracted", autism is not "just being socially awkward" and giftedness is not "just being a genius"

I cannot stress enough how grades have nothing to do with giftedness , in fact, most gifted people end up dropping school or college since it never fits fully fits our educational needs

giftedness and academic achievement are not inherent to one another, you can be neurotypical and have good and bad grades too, it doesn't matter really . it could be a clue for some, where good grades might lead a parent to take the test, but the results are not there just because of grades or high achievement rate

now we need to talk kinda quickly abt ableism and how the concept of iq was originally created to stigmatize non-white races, women and neurodivergent conditions

the first people to coin the term for iq were (shocker) rich white men who liked the idea of being smarter than everyone else

however, the arbitrary measurement used to discriminate towards people on the bases of iq started to change it's perspective

we know NOW that there's a lot more than "just genius" and is a complex condition people like me live without, but the subconscious idea of high iq being something that makes you ""superior "" is still around due to it's origins and lack of common knowledge. the stigma about telling other people you're gifted is huge, people change the way they percieve you, they change the way they treat you, or at best you seem like an egocentric superb who thinks they're better than everyone

it's sorta how being a narcissist is used as an insult or to demonize the actual condition instead of people actually understanding what it is to have npd? kinda that. if you call yourself gifted you're basically doomed to be the egocentric one

and languages outside of english don't make it better.

for Spanish (my native language) even though we have one of the best resources imo for giftedness (the book "¿Demasiado Inteligente para ser feliz?") we also have the term "superdotado" that translated roughly means "super gifted". not doing much for the "we're literally people and not inhumane geniuses" part

but UGHHHH I kinda think that's most of my base info for u, I am SO happy you're interested, I have a little giftedness tag you can look at, and there's also gifted-centered blogs around this site

thanks for reading!!!

#minipisi.txt #giftedness #minipisi.asks #neurodivergency #neurodivergent #actually gifted

[rifki16]

Living with Him episode three analysis

Photo credit: Living with Him Twitter Promotional Account

A balanced and well-seasoned sandwich

This is the first time that I ever watched a bottle episode in a Japanese BL live-action show. Just like the pilot and the second episode, the show really went above and beyond in repackaging the story from the manga.

In the manga, Ryo and Kazuhito were supposed to be in this puzzling place where Ryo just found out on his roommate’s crush on him, and Kazuhito was just asked by his lifelong crush to kiss him. Kazuhito refused, Ryo was baffled by the rejection. Kazuhito immediately clarified the rejection, and tried to explain to Ryo about why he rejected the offer. The two of them set a boundary and tried to live together afterwards.

In the live-action series, this particular scene was interjected by a surprise, to Ryo, visit of his mother and sisters. The visit seems fun, Ryo’s mother and sisters seem to have a good relationship with Ryo. As I have written for the Pilot review, my biggest problem with the LA is that the series didn’t want to or couldn’t address the life-altering baseball-related injury of Kazuhito. In this visit, Ryo’s sisters brought up the question as to why Kazuhito didn’t continue playing baseball. Ryo’s mum tried to explain it, and stopped herself from doing so by saying that she was sorry that she didn’t say about the injury before the visit. Kazuhito explained it briefly about how he injured his shoulder(s) and afterwards, he stopped playing baseball in high school. Ryo then tried to move the conversation. Sure, you can say that the reason why Ryo did that was because he just didn’t like the awkward atmosphere with the topic. Ryo might also try to move the topic along because he knew that his sisters didn’t know Kazuhito that deeply or in the level that Ryo knew him. It’s just disappointing that Kazuhito’s injury couldn’t really be given a proper scene – a proper reaction and retelling by Kazuhito. I still think in the deepest heart of mine that they might be holding the high school baseball injury scene until the later episodes of the series.

When I wrote the pilot analysis, I made a section on “ryo’s receptivity”. I know what I meant by receptivity now, as I just watched the mother and siblings visit to Ryo and Kazuhito place: Ryo’s sense of competitiveness. We all know cis-men, right? They have testosterone in high dosage, and they love to compete. I think in the manga, Ryo sees Kazuhito as a competition, before the realization that Kazuhito actually has a crush on him, and thus Ryo was not that open or receptive to Kazuhito’s actions or even presence. However, as Ryo was serving tea to all of his siblings and mother, while the ones sitting around the table were just lapping up and praising Kazuhito, Ryo did not say anything about it, Ryo did not react at all to the barrage of compliments to Kazuhito and the lack of any kind of thanks to him as the only one who is helping the guest. I think I know why this is the characterization of Ryo in the LA. I will write it at the last part of my essay.

I never know how to write a good TV script. However, I was at first shocked that the ghost show watching party was written really differently compared to the manga. Why did Kazuhito look so stern and calm while watching the ghost show whereas the other kids were afraid. This scene was supposed to be the one that cemented Kazuhito’s fondness of Ryo.

I want to note on how beautiful it is that Ryo’s mother knows Ryo so much, the fact that she set him aside and asked him how he was doing because she knew that when he’s making Tonkatsu, he’s feeling sad or bad.

The confession scene that they made outside, after sending Ryo’s mum and siblings to the bus stop, was very beautifully done. I’m not one to notice or be enamored by color matching patterns in scenes, however, the way they coordinated the colors for the confession scene was so fascinating. The way Kazuhito headbutted Ryo intimately was very cute.

In the manga, the sleeping together scene after the confession was just that, a sleepover – sleeping together scene. In hindsight, it is weird that Ryo would just accept to sleep together after hearing Kazuhito’s confession and the fact that Ryo-kun couldn’t reciprocate the feeling. In the live-action, I think it is made rational by the fact that Kazuhito emphasized on the sleepover and not the sleeping together one. They played a boardgame together, they had snacks and spent the night just being friends. I think Kazuhito wanted to play the I like you but things are not gonna change between us kind of game. I don’t exactly know how it can grow romantic feelings in Ryo by setting his actions just platonically, I mean, Kazuhito could simply court Ryo.

So, in the last minutes of the episode, Kazuhito remembered what happened after the ghost show viewing party. Kazuhito remembered that Ryo let him hear his heartbeat, and it made Kazuhito felt at ease after being a little bit jittery because of the ghost show. However, more importantly, Kazuhito remembered that Ryo told him, “You don’t need to be perfect in front of my Kazuhito”. That explained why Ryo was more receptive and didn’t see Kazuhito as this generic “man” competitor, he already understood Kazuhito ever posturing behavior to be perceived as perfect. In the manga, Ryo couldn’t really understand that Kazuhito was doing this forever act of looking and seeming perfect in front of people until the making up resolution in the last scenes by Haruna. I really don’t know now how the show will resolve the ever-spinning Ryo’s reaction about Kazuhito’s confession in the end of the series without the understanding that Kazuhito likes Ryo regardless of people’s perception of him. I do hope that the show could spring up a good plot line for it.

In the next episode, it seems that we will see more of Haruna, and I’m here for it. I can’t wait for the 4th episode!

#gay #japan bl #bl live action #bl manga #living with him #kare no iru seikatsu #shonuen ai

[ninchen1909]

The Teacher and the Mob Boss -Chapter 3-

Warnings: fluff

Word count:~2.600

I narrow my eyes as stare at Barnes, only to be met with a smug smirk from him.

"Mr. Barnes thank you very much for the generous offer, but unfortunately it is not possible for the school to accept this donation, right Mr. Stark" you look desperately to your boss, he is the only one who can save you from this misery.

But he just frowns and looks at me with a look of incomprehension: "No Mrs. (y/l/n), it is very much possible for us to accept Mr. Barnes' generous offer and we will accept it" Mr. Barnes looks at me intensely, but I just can't keep my mouth shut "I'm just saying, Mr. Barnes certainly has other, much more important things to do than to plan a fall festival for elementary school children. I mean he is a very successful and wanted businessman.”

I can't elaborate on my explanation, because Barnes interrupts me.

"I have to disagree with you Mrs. (y/l/n), helping you plan the festival will be the highlight of my week. Besides, parents should always put their children first, shouldn't they? You made that very clear to me yesterday.” As he speaks, he steps closer to me, I can clearly smell his after-shave, a mixture of musk and sandalwood rises to my nose, and I resist the urge to close my eyes in pleasure.

The topic of our conversation topic makes Mr. Stark sit up and listen closly: "Mrs. (y/l/n), what did you say to Mr. Barnes now, we already had a very serious conversation about, how you always tend to overstep the boundaries of your work…”

But before Mr. Stark can scole my any further, Barnes, unexpectedly, comes to my rescue:

“Everything’s alright Tony, Mrs. (y/l/n) didn’t overstep any boundaries, she just spoke her mind and that’s something I can only respect. What I've heard about her so far from my daughter is all very positive and I have the feeling that she's an excellent teacher."

I am surprised by his words, right now he had the opportunity to tell Stark that I crossed a line yesterday. But he does exactly the opposite, he defends and praises me. Immediately my mind goes back to the article about the women's shelter which I read yesterday. Maybe there really is a softer side to the dreaded mafia boss, a side that is not characterized by violence and bloodlust.

Mr. Stark also seems very surprised by Mr. Barnes' words, but he skillfully overplays it. "Yes, Mrs. (y/l/n) is definitely one of the best teachers at our school.”” He gives me a forced smile, but I can see in his eyes that this situation would have been completely different if Mr. Barnes would not be in the room right now. I smile back cautiously, and try to suppress the rising tension in me, but that’s easier said than done. But before any of us can say another word, we are interrupted by the ringing of Stark's office phone, and with a quick nod, he releases us from his office before picking up the phone.

I stomp out of the room in front of Barnes, I can feel his eyes on me. It's only when we're a good distance away from Stark's office, and I'm sure he can't hear us anymore, that I turn around with a jerk and stare at him "What was that all about?" briefly I can see the surprise on his face before it gives way to the smug, arrogant smile I so want to slap off his face.

"What do you mean princess, I'm just following your advice and showing more interest in the life of my little girl. That's exactly what you wanted isn't it?"

"Don't call me that and you should not care about what I want, because that’s none of your business" I cross my arms in front of my chest, and stare at him.

The arrogant smirk has disappeared from his face and he looks at me from serious eyes, the cobalt blue of his eyes reminds me of the sea and I start to calm down slightly. Slowly he walks towards me, each of his steps is carefully chosen. He definitely doesn't want to scare me off.

"See and that's where you're wrong, I do care, if it was up to me you'd get whatever you want, you just have to tell me what it is and I'll make sure you get it"

i need a while to process his words before I ask:

"But why? Why do you care if I have everything I want, you saw me for the first time yesterday, you don't know anything about me and I don't know anything about you." Incomprehension spreads through me.

"See, that's exactly what I want to find out. I don't understand it myself, and I've never felt that way about anyone. But ever since Steve told me about the "mouthy teacher who just can't keep her mouth shut," I've been curious about you. I've wondered all day long, who would dare talk to a man like Steve that way. And then when I saw you yesterday, it was clear to me that I want to get to know you, for the first time in my life I felt like I wanted to open up completely to someone. Believe me I don't understand it myself, I don't understand myself, but I want to get to know you, I want you to get to know me, the real me, not what the media or some ghost stories make me out to be. I know it doesn't make sense as we don't actually know each other, but since yesterday I can't get you out of my head. So please forget everything you've heard or read about me, these are all stories about how people see me or want me to be and not how I really am. Please make your own picture of me, because something in me tells me that this can become something really special between us. If you just give it a chance, I will definitely do that.

I mean this right here is probably the most honest conversation I've ever had with a woman, and believe me, I've had talks with a lot of women.”

Slowly he reaches out to me, when he notices I don't flinch he tenderly strokes my cheek. "So please give me a chance to show you who I really am."

The only response I can get from my body is a slight nod, after which he begins to beam "Thank you princess, I will do everything I can to make sure you don't regret it. Is it okay if I come by your house today to plan the festival?" I shake myself out of my thoughts, trying to at least act like he didn't completely throw me off with his words, "Um, yeah sure. Just let me write down my address real quick.“

I'm about to avert my gaze from him to look for something to write my adress down, when two long, warm fingers slide under my chin and lift my head, so that our eyes meet again: "Don't bother, I already know where you live." he winks at me with a grin, before he turns around and disappears in the direction of the main entrance. He calls me a quick "See you later, princess" over his shoulder before leaving the school building. I can only shake my head at him with a smile. I quickly run to my classroom to pack up my things, and then make my way home as quickly as possible. After a short cleaning session, I quickly jump in the shower, then I put on fresh clothes and blow dry my hair before I subtly put on makeup.  And just when I remember, that we never set an exact time for our meeting, the screen of my phone lights up with a new message from an unknown number, confused I open it " Hey princess, I'll be with you in about half an hour, I'll just bring Charlie to my mother and then I'm all yours. See you in a bit, I'm looking forward to seeing you. -Bucky"

For some reason my heart starts beating faster after this text. Lately I don't understand myself, I've only known this man for about 30 hours and yet it feels like I've known him for forever, none of this makes sense. I know almost nothing about Bucky, and what I do know about him is not exactly pleasant or reassuring. So why does my body and mind have this reaction to him? I’m so enchanted by him, that I didn’t even question the fact, that he has my phone number, without me giving it to him.

A soft knocking on my door interrupts my thoughts, I hurry towards the door, only to dry me sweaty palms on my pants, before open the door. And there he stands in all his glory. In his hand he holds a beautiful bouquet of flowers, his eyes glide up and down my body, before he stops at my face, and he gives me a bright smile: “Hey Princess, you look beautiful, like always“ He gives me a light kiss on the cheek before he enters my apartment and holds the flowers in front of my face "These are for you, I hope you like them" I accept the flowers and take in their smell: "I do, thank you, but it was really not necessary" I give Bucky a bright smile, which he returns without hesitation: "I know, but I wanted it that way. You deserve only the best." I notice how the blush rises in my face and my heart begins to throb wildly.

After putting the flowers in a vase and draping them in the middle of my dining room table, I lead Bucky into my living room, I notice him trying to look around my apartment discreetly. He is particularly taken with my family pictures and photos with friends, but he doesn't inquire further. After a short while, in which we sit quietly on my sofa, I decide to break the silence: "Let's start planning the festival" I tilt my head and look at him, only now I notice how close he sits to me, our knees are touching and I can feel his steady, hot breath on my skin, again his pleasantly, bewitching scent rises to my nose "Ready when you are, princess" I begin to smile "This pet name I will not get rid of so quickly, right? " I pull my eyebrows together and look at him expectantly," Yes you will, because I hope that one day I will be abled to call you my queen." when he notices my startled look he quickly adds," Don't panic, we have all the time in the world, this is just the outcome I wish for us." He presses a kiss to the tip of my nose and I am perplexed by his openness. I notice the butterflies in my stomach making themselves known, so I quickly try to turn the attention to planning the fall festival.

Planning for the fall festival is going surprisingly smoothly, and Bucky wasn't exaggerating when he said I'll get everything I want. No matter what request I make, Bucky takes it seriously and sends a message to one of his men, who will then complete the request.

 It so happens that after not even quite four hours we have planned the entire festival. "Wow, I've never finished planning that so fast before." I sink into the back of my couch, and so does Bucky, our shoulders are touching, and I feel the urge to just let my head fall onto his shoulder and close my eyes. With my last bits of self-control, however, I discard those thoughts, and instead let out a long sigh. His pleasant baritone snaps me out of my thoughts," You see princess, we just make a super team." I turn my head slightly so that I can see his face, "I guess we really are." We look deep into each other's eyes, all the doubts I had about Bucky are gone and replaced by warmth and trust. His cell phone announces a new message and tears us out of our intimacy. With a deep groan, he takes it out of his pocket to read the message. However, he doesn't seem to like its content very much, because the smile disappears from his face instantly, and his distinctive features harden, a coldness appears in his eyes, which I have never seen before in him. At that moment, I get a small glimpse of James Barnes, the mob boss. "I'm sorry princess, but I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow and please lock your door and don't let anyone else in. Understood?" With a nod I let him know that I understand. I want to ask him what's going on and what happened, if i can help somehow, but I don't dare, and with a quick kiss on the cheek and a last, longing look at me, he's gone.

 When I wake up the next morning, my first glance falls on my cell phone, which lies next to me on the nightstand and informs me of a new message.

With a certain foreboding, I grab it with a smile, and immediately my smile grows even bigger when I read the message: "Good morning princess, I hope you slept well. I can't make it to school myself today, so unfortunately we won't see each other this morning. But I wanted to ask you if you would like to have dinner with me tomorrow night. Our first official date?" I have to resist the urge to scream, before quickly typing a reply: "Good morning, I slept very well, I hope you did too. Dinner sounds good to me, just tell me where and when" before I can even put my phone away, his answer appears: "Perfect, I'll pick you up tomorrow at seven o'clock from your place. I'm looking forward to it" I smile at my display and after a short "Me too." I put my phone aside, and start getting ready for work.

 Arriving at the school, I first go to Mr. Stark's office to hand over the plans for the Fall Festival, with a quick nod and the promise to go through the plans as soon as possible, he dismisses me from his study and I make my way directly to my classroom.

Even from a distance I can make out a person in front of my classroom, as I get closer I can see that it is a woman, a beautiful woman. Her tall, petite stature is further accentuated by a black somewhat knee-length dress, her blonde hair falls in even curls over her shoulders, and her full, pink lips and almond-shaped dark brown eyes are perfectly set off by subtle makeup. When she sees me coming, she straightens up and gives me a charming, but also fake, smile: "Good morning, you must be Mrs. (y/l/n), it's nice to meet you. She holds out her hand, which I shake briefly:" Yes, that's me, what can I do for you?" I tilt my head slightly to get a better look at her "my Name ist Linda and I'd like to talk to you about my fiancé." Confused I shake my head, "May I know who your fiancé is?" She gives me an arrogant smile "My fiancé is Bucky Barnes." And for a brief moment, it's as if the earth stops spinning.

#mob au #bucky imagine #bucky barnes #Mob boss bucky #mob bucky x reader #mob bucky au #bucky barns x reader #bucky barnes imagine

[madcatacres]

I've seen a number of posts about ofmd's Ed Teach changing his careful avoidance being a personal killer after his dad (and no, shooting someone who's already shish kebabed does not count *by his rules* which are what we're talking about here - "technically the fire killed those people") and then mowing through a bunch of British navy guys when he thinks Stede may be dead after that massive attack on the Republic of Pirates. The immediate trigger is concern for Stede but also, Ed's first kills are a couple of armed uniformed bullies harassing who they think is a harmless fisherman, an old man, an easy target, over the mere fact that he might be fishing.

Ed killing the two naval guys in the rowboat pulling alongside his is a proportionate response there even without a panic or fugue state triggered by grief/concern for Stede. If soldiers or pigs decide they're going to fuck with you while and because you're a solitary, isolated helpless target and you can respond with lethal force, that is both proportionate and morally justified (fuck the law) as self-defense. You are in fear for your life in that situation if you have half a brain.

The pirates on and around RoP are also, I have to say, at war. This is a show that balances humor with issues about trauma and slapstick violence with occasional actual real world consequences, yeah, but remember historically this is an era when you could be a sort of franchised pirate called a privateer, the justification for the British Navy attacking Republic of Pirates is definitely that these are people attacking ships not under the control of a crown, not that they are just out there doing pirate shit, killing and maiming and robbing and worse (the worse gets mostly kept out of ofmd's slightly more light hearted and allegorical piracy-is-queerness universe, I feel like I need to specifically and briefly address that).

Besides that, while we're only shown adult pirates lying around the republic dead, we don't see any live children either. Whereas we've been very clearly (while the crew is shopping for stuff for Calypso's birthday) shown children running around the Republic earlier (two of them being the waifs played by Taika's kids). The level of atrocity beyond which the British were unwilling to go to is not tidily defined. Incidentally kids historically got pressed into service (one of the OFMD BTS photos I have seen shows a flyer posted with others in RoP referring to impressment so I think it's safe to consider it something alluded to by the actual show's plot) - quick rip from wikipedia article on impressment, "In 1703, an act [of the Parliament in England] passed limiting the impressment of boys under 18 years of age to those who were not apprenticed."

So yeah Ed absolutely gets blood on his hands personally for the first time in roughly thirty-five years, and that is a huge step for him but it's not only things falling into place with his integrating his identity, and killing for the crew and for love in the metaphoric landscape of piracy being queer love and family, it's also probably (in context of the show) more moral/responsible than the killing by proxy he's been doing as a pirate (although this is a show about pirates. Sort of.) So. Jackie's poisoning the occupying force and the guerrilla warfare in the stolen uniforms in context of the plot pass as reasonable measures (if desperate). I haven't seen those characterized anywhere as personal murdery actions. (Slightly off topic, I did see a post complain that Jackie passing out the poisoned booze wasn't FAST enough or, overlooking the incident entirely, that there wasn't an explicit enough example of racism/colonialist violence being punished in S2. Beg to differ. Jackie being less hotheaded than S1, pre-unbearding Jim is also entirely in character.) The staff of Spanish Jackie's, citizens (?) of the Republic of Pirates, and crew of the Revenge (and QAR) have been invaded and are at war. Ed's also at war, but no longer at war with himself.

I'm just gonna post this phrased awkwardly because every time the thought comes to mind and I want to compose something worded well I don't get around to it.

I'm leaving out any mention of a character death which I do not consider controversial and which had no immediate influence on Ed's (combat) actions. Also have some S3 speculative thoughts I'm keeping out of this rambly mess of a post.

#ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd #edward teach #blackbeard #our flag means death #killing and needing to kill #british empire #british navy #republic of pirates #spanish jackie #stede bonnet #war

[ocd-kenobi]

firstly I am loving all of your posts about Padawan, I am loving the big breakdowns of Obi-wan's deepest insecurities. He's sooo afraid I love it.

Secondly, that post you made about not really desiring to be a padawan anymore and feeling unwell? disconnected? idk it's just really interesting there doesn't seem to be too much surrounding Obi-wan's shift in ideals. From wanting nothing more than to be a padawan to Leaving the Order. I mean there is evidence of like "well he wanted to do the right thing" and also his anxiety, but from what I've seen we are just left to guess why. Which ofc I would love to hear what your ideas are on that shift. Also, that passage about Qui-gon being the thing that drove Obi-wan out like ugh there's so much more to be explored there I wish it was more fleshed out. From subtext, it's a bit obvious that Qui-gon plays favorites, prioritizes his image, and doesn't really care for Obi-wan. So there's that there but ach! I want more!

I'm so glad you're enjoying the snippets of Obi-Wan's debilitating anxiety! I'm astounded by how debilitating it is in this book. He's the most pathetic 16 year old ever. I don't know how he's slipping through the cracks and I feel so bad for him.

But also, to be clear, I (so far) don't even like this characterization of Obi-Wan as much as the characterization of him in Jude Watson's books. They are somewhat compatible characterizations, but they also cancel each other out. To be clear, for context: Jude Watson wrote a great series in the early 2000s about Obi-Wan's padawanship, Jedi Apprentice. In those books, Obi-Wan is anxious and has OCD, but he also has friends and off-planet adventures. It is in those books (which are NOT considered canon) that Obi-Wan is sent to the agricorps before Qui-Gon reluctantly decides to make a special effort and take Obi-Wan back to the Jedi Order as his Padawan, and it is in those books that 14yo Obi-Wan briefly leaves the Jedi Order to join a revolutionary cause with some kids he befriends (before quickly regretting it and having to grovel his way back to the Order.) These events HAVE NOT HAPPENED to the Obi-Wan in Padawan, which was published very recently and is more of a contemporary YA (13+) audience type of book rather than the literary juvenile (8-12) audience we used to get from Jude Watson. (Don't get me started on the changes in children and teen publishing over the last two decades; as a sometimes-librarian, I have a lot to say.)

But let me do my best to reconcile the two characters while addressing the very interesting topic you brought up of "how could this boy leave the Jedi order." (Which, by the way, there is a whole Jedi Apprentice book on that subject basically, and @statius recorded an audiobook for it! And I guess Padawan will address this topic as well, but I haven't read that far yet.)

Obi-Wan has a deep need for life to align with a fixed set of rules. Any value system or set of rules that is more consistent and applicable to every inch of his life is inherently more valuable to him than a set of rules that is inconsistent and inapplicable to real life. When his value systems and rules do not perfectly line up with life, he obsesses over it and loses time and energy to his anxiety over the gap. In Padawan, he literarily stares up at stone carvings and wishes his life was carved in stone so he didn't have to worry about making choices.

The Jedi Order create the rules and values which he grows up with. He appreciates having the Code to guide him and to measure life against. But the Order isn't just the code, it's individuals who also interpret that code in different ways, sometimes. Which, to Obi-Wan, creates a divide between the ETHICAL IDEALS of the Code and the practical life of the Jedi Order. In the Apprentice books, he often struggles to understand why Qui-Gon does things that Obi-Wan considers unethical when measured by the Jedi Code and the ethics he has been taught. It is his certainty that he knows the rules of ethics (the Code) that enables him to make decisions that are sometimes in opposition to his Master's orders (the Order). (Actually, this happens in Claudia Gray's Master and Apprentice, too.)

And if someone presents him with a new set of rules and ethical code that is MORE consistent than the Jedi Code, he has the ability to adopt that system--especially if he is rewarded for doing so by things like friendship! Because he IS a child and of course he responds to rewards systems, especially when his own brain doesn't provide enough dopamine! At the Temple, if he follows the rules, he gets no social or instructional attention (Qui-Gon is a very hands-off teacher in Padawan especially) but if he breaks the rules (or even worries for a second that he might have broken the rules and been angry for one second) then he's spiraling in anxiety about whether he's actually an Evil Person. So the biggest win he can get is like, a neutral anxious state. So when a group of friends or a righteous cause come up in his life, he gets the (albeit short-lived) rush of social encouragement PLUS distraction from some of his usual forms of anxiety.

(This is random, but @predator-padawan and I were just comparing young Obi-Wan to young Hermione Granger, who also is anxious about Following Rules but is more loyal to ethics than to rules and breaks rules to follow ethics even though breaking the rules causes her anxiety. But each time young Hermione does that, she ends up publicly celebrated and wins hundreds of points for Gryffindor, so she grows up to be a teenager who is very confident in her choices. Whenever Obi-Wan follows ethics instead of rules, he gets neglected at best and punished at worst, so he grows up to be much less confident in his choices and abilities.)

Basically, he wants so badly to be a Padawan because it will help him feel like a good person. Then it doesn't work, he still feels anxious about being a bad person, so he's capable of leaving the order if he can believe it will help him feel like a good person. The fact that all his attempts to do things other than be a good proper Padawan go awry in one way or another turns him into someone who never wants to break the rules anymore.

You mentioned Qui-Gon--gah, he's such an interesting character. I don't know what he's doing in Padawan. Honestly, with the waves of anxiety that must be palpably rolling off of Obi-Wan, it seems like Qui-Gon is letting his padawan stew in anxiety because he's curious what will happen, or because he believes he has to stew in anxiety before getting to the other side (because he doesn't understand how OCD works or doesn't care.) No pain, no gain.

Anyways, THIS ALL IS MY FAVORITE SUBJECT. I always love to chat about this stuff with anyone. And I'm looking forward to reading more of Padawan even though he's so pathetic in it it's depressing!

#woke up and wrote an essay about obi wan's ocd surprise #obi wan #obi wan meta #obi wan kenobi #ocd things #padawan #jedi apprentice #asks

[sandshadow9]

Can you elaborate on what aspects of the WoF worldbuilding you find to be underbaked? I'm interested in your point of view(and it's been a while since I've reread them so my memory isn't the freshest lol)

Thanks for ask @aspirationatwork! To prevent this from getting too long I’ll use bullet points and try to briefly describe my thoughts on the topic. OK here we go

- The animus magic system: Its origins are a mystery, it’s limitations (if any) are vague and undefined, and its inheritance is random. Someone else (maybe on the subreddit?) pointed out that Tui had to get rid of animus magic since she had basically written herself into a corner and made it too overpowered which I think is a valid point but I’m not happy about it.

- NightWing powers: Now I enjoy mind reading/prophecy powers a lot, but these powers stick out like a sore thumb compared to the abilities of the other tribes and we never really find out how the NightWings got them.

- The aging system: Need I say more?

- The naming system: Also very creative for Tui to give the humans the same naming system.

-Size of fruits and non-dragon animals: Just overall proportions of dragons vs the environment that seems to change every so often as fits the scene.  

- MudWing breeding night: Of all the scraps of MudWing lore Tui could have given us, this is what she came up with. 

- The Scorching: the biggest event in dragon history was left vague for a very long time, and then once an explanation was offered it was lame and only provided half the answers. It might have explained why the dragons conquered the continent but not really why they then differentiated into different Tribes.

- Inconsistent characterization and character arcs: While it maybe doesn’t fall into the “world building” category, character arcs are definitely an important part of story crafting, and I don’t think I need to provide specific examples. Every WOF fan has their own.

-Overall dragon culture and society: This is probably a personal bias, but the way the different dragon tribes live and work and rule are kind of brushed over in a lot of ways. I’m not expecting Lord of the Rings level detailed world-building here, but there are certain things that just don’t hold up when you think too deeply on them. Stuff like the IceWing Circles or how currency works (is it a bartering system? Do they use coins and gold?) or how the postal system works. 

Others can feel free to add other stuff or disagree, these are just what come to mind for me. But I do want to explain that I don’t say this to be hateful of the WOF books as that would be immensely hypocritical of me, a person who actively creates fan content for the series. Some part of me loves this series obviously, or else I wouldn’t have the passion to write for it, but it's the same love for it that makes all these things stick out to me. 

I also want to take this chance to explain a comment I made in my previous post: that it is very telling that Tui was given the suggestion to write a book about dragons rather than her coming up with the idea from scratch. Anyone who has created their own original story or even an AU has probably felt the universal experience of feeling overwhelmed with the details of how the world works and the characters they are writing about. This comes from a place of love and passion for what’s being created - and I just don’t think Tui has that love for WOF. 

I am sure she had a fun time writing it, or I hope she did, but I just don’t feel the love in the story. The characters are wishy washy since she doesn’t really love them. The world building is shaky because she probably hasn’t spent years daydreaming about it and turning it over in her head.

Anyway, this post is getting long enough. I’d like to know how others feel about this, but these are just my thoughts :3

#wingsoffire #wof #wings of fire #long post #my asks

[funkymbtifiction]

Hi again, thanks so much for your evaluation. The more I think about it the more I find ENFP to actually fit me…I’d always just assumed I was cognitively introverted due to my intense withdrawnness and maybe that’s still the case, but being a 9 plus Ne already being the most ‘introverted’ extrovert function, I guess it makes sense.

Here’s what Jung says about extroverts:

Extroversion is characterized by interest in the external object, responsiveness, and a ready acceptance of external happenings, a desire to influence and be influenced by events, a need to join in and “get with it,” the capacity to endure bustle and noise of every kind, and actually find them enjoyable, constant attention to the surrounding world, the cultivation of friends and acquaintances, and finally by the great importance attached to the figure one cuts. Although everyone is affected by objective data, the extrovert’s thoughts, decisions, and behavior are determined by them. Personal views and the inner life take second place to outer conditions. He lives in and through others. If social mores change, he adjusts his views and behavior patterns to match. This is both a strength and a limitation. This is the extrovert’s danger: he gets sucked into objects and completely loses himself in them.

In previous submissions I fell into a crisis wondering if I was in fact a Ni dom and seemed to present some decent evidence, however I think I was looking too hard into it…or maybe just not looking in the right ways. I think what got me especially mixed up was how I’d heard some people explain the 'thought process of a Ne’ and then give the inner monologue of someone with severe ADHD and I just couldn’t relate. I feel like my Ne is in 'broader terms,’ if that makes sense; while I do a lot of ramblings in my head, they tend to generally stay on one track, while things like ideas, dreams or actions tend to change frequently over time.

Ne and Ni are very different, and if you dig into the descriptions in my book (I summarize them briefly on my website) you will see that. :) Ne/Te can stay on track and focus on things, but that’s Te having a goal in mind and steering Ne toward making sure all the ideas it generates are on topic. That is different from Ni’s singular focus and shifting of inner vantage points to find the best one.

Lastly, I know you don’t take tritype requests anymore…but you did mention how I might have a 3 fix instead of a 4 and I want to look into that while I’m on a roll. I do see evidence for both—obviously as a core 9 I’m mostly calm, passive and optimistic, but the reason I thought 4 fix (and 4 core when I first discovered enneagram because I thought 4 = caring about identity) was because even though I have a loving family and privileged upbringing, I tend to hold what pain I do have up on a pedestal, as though alienation and suffering are the only things that can make me special. However, now that I think of it, I see potentially stronger evidence of 3…Fear of being disliked, irrational fear of being 'cringey’ even when alone or in cringe culture/judgment free spaces, passing soft judgement on people I feel are overconfident in something I’m clearly better at, fear of showing emotion over stuff I find 'stupid.’ These are clearly all weak spots for me; though I can think of both my positives and negatives as a 9-6, I have none of the drive of a 3; only the bad traits. I’d like to know what you think, if it’s worth bothering. Thanks again.

This doesn’t really indicate one over the other for me, so I recommend you read through my 3 and 4 pages, as well as read Goblins of Discord’s 3 and 4 descriptions (both written by actual people of those core types, so it captures the flavor well). Prolonging pain and frustration does mean 4 is likely present, so you may be either 3w4 or 4w3.

#question #mbti #enneagram

[silenceinternalmonologue]

hi! I just wanted to say that I’ve just finished reading “impatient they start, fearful they end” on ao3 and OH MY GOODNESS IT IS SO FLIPPIN INCREDIBLE

like, I almost cannot express to you how much I adore it!! everyone is so perfectly characterized and your writing is absolutely beautiful!

I’m always out searching for fics about loki growing up, since — as your story delves into to wonderfully — there was bound to be so much angst involved with the fact that not only his temperament, but also his actual biology, were so fundamentally different than that of his peers. your exploration of this is so incredibly nuanced and insightful and emotionally devastating in the best way possible.

I just — I truly don’t know if I can accurately articulate how much I enjoyed reading your story and how absolutely phenomenal it is!

um yeah I just wanted to say thank you so so much for your amazing story, and should you ever choose to explore these concepts more in the future, I will be so excited to read it!

also, if you ever feel like yelling about loki headcanons (angsty or otherwise), feel free to message me (absolutely no pressure tho!)

I hope you’re doing well and having a lovely day!

yours in loki appreciation,

charlotte

(if you don’t mind, I will also mention super briefly that I lived with undiagnosed autism until less than a year ago, and so in many ways I was also able to relate to your characterization of loki feeling there was something fundamentally different about him but being unable to pinpoint it and thus forcing himself to suffer for the sake of others’ expectations)

ohhh hello, i want to thank you for taking the time to write this absolutely lovely message, it warmed my heart and genuinely made my day!! i am very happy that you enjoyed the story, loki's characterization, and his struggles. i would definitely love to write more stories concerning these topics in the future.

also what you said about it feeling relatable as an autistic person, i'm grateful you mentioned it! because you know what? i was also just diagnosed with autism 1 year ago! the feeling of being an outsider and in some ways isolated from everyone else is a big part of the experience for many of us including me. so while loki's experience is different i absolutely wrote the story with those feelings in mind and it makes me happy that someone else was able to relate :)

#loki #asks

[startrekexplained]

Star Trek: Discovery Stupidity #1 (The Logic Extremists)

Star Trek: Discovery is a very flawed show, to say the least. Not that the previous shows weren't full of flaws (especially Voyager and Enterprise, but even TOS, TNG and DS9 had plenty of flaws if I'm going to be honest), but IMO Discovery is the first Star Trek show where the flaws outweigh its strengths, to the point that I honestly don't enjoy watching it most of the time.

I recognize that it's a very polarizing show: some love it and some absolutely despise it. I'm actually in the middle, while not a huge fan of the show as indicated above, I don't absolutely hate it like a lot of critics of the post-2009 Star Trek productions (sometimes referred to as "NuTrek") do. I recognize it's not all bad and find many of the more rabid haters conspiracies regarding the series to be ridiculous (a topic for another post). But again, it's not a series I really like, and one of the reasons is its sheer stupidity in some of the writing and characterization. Yes, all the Star Trek series and movies had their share of stupid aspects, and I'll certainly be discussing those in the future, but Discovery just seems to have a lot more stupid aspects than previous productions. So this is the first in a series of posts discussing what I find most stupid in the series.

The Logic Extremists (what exactly does it mean to be "extreme" in logic? We're never told) are a plot point featured in the first two seasons of Discovery. They're a fanatical group of Vulcan xenophobes who believe the Federation is a "failed experiment" and object to all alien influences and presence on Vulcan[1].

While not a very original idea in the franchise (in fact there was a Vulcan Isolationist Movement way back in TNG, also there was a similar human isolationist movement in ENT), it's an interesting idea if explored well. However it's not. It's basically treated as something on a checklist for Discovery to briefly mention here and there to seem socially conscious and progressive. Discovery likes to mention and shout-out real world issues and topics (obviously in this case xenophobia) without actually exploring them and making them apart of the plot, and this is just one example. Alongside the re-imagined Klingons in the first two seasons also being (inconsistently)[2] described as xenophobic only for it to be totally forgotten later on, the Vulcan Logic Extremists are an element that the show briefly brings up to say "see, xenophobia, that's bad!" without actually exploring the issue. And to make matters worse, it's handled in such a stupid fashion that it makes you scratch your head in disbelief.

The first stupid aspect of the Logic Extremists I want to cover is in how they operate and who they target. They're a terrorist organization that is willing to murder civilians, including children in pursuit of their goal, yet who they target makes no logical sense. We're told that they bombed a Vulcan school to kill the lead character Michael Burnham, who's a human living on Vulcan, because she was adopted by Sarek, Spock's father. She was seen as a symbol of the union between Vulcan and Earth and as such, the "contamination" of Vulcan culture. Yet, Sarek's wife Amanda Grayson wasn't seen as such a symbol despite being a human married to a Vulcan, and of course there's the biggest problem of all with this: Spock. Spock is a half-human, half-vulcan hybrid so wouldn't he be the prime target for such an organization? This also presumes that there are no other humans on Vulcan, which is ridiculous (why not target the Federation governmental buildings or cultural centers?) and no other human/vulcan hybrids which we know did exist before Spock.

But apparently, Michael Burnham is the target because she's just so awesome and such a symbol for unity that the Logic Extremists care more about her than anyone else, adding to the argument that the character is a glorified Mary Sue. To be fair though, the writers seem to have been aware of this problem later on because they correct it with a one-off line in the second season that Michael Burnham (and I guess everyone else as well, since they all thought she was the target) was wrong in assuming she was attacked in the bombing, when it was meant for Spock, but this is basically bullshit after the fact rationalizing by writers who realized they oopsied at the last minute.

They also try to kill Sarek early in the series, to prevent him from going on a peace mission to end the Klingon War being waged in the first season. They try this by suicide bombing his shuttle, which makes no sense because why not just plant a bomb on the shuttle, or just shoot Sarek while his back is turned, or a million other ways you can assassinate someone? Even more ridiculous is that the suicide bomber doesn't just activate a suicide vest and blow up the shuttle, he injects himself with a substance that very slowly causes him to explode and then explains his evil plan to Sarek to give Sarek enough time to save himself. Yeah, okay.

I guess the suicide bombing was just to make the Logic Extremists seem that much more evil and fanatical, but no thought was put behind this whatsoever. Also why would they even want to prevent peace with the Klingons? They hate the Federation, fine, but wouldn't a Klingon victory mean that they would be conquered and possibly exterminated also? Maybe the idea behind this was they were planning an alliance with the Klingons, kind of like how the Moclans joined with the Krill in The Orville later on in that series, but wait, weren't the Krill also supposed to be xenophobes? Oh, nevermind..

The second, and even more stupid aspect is the fact that apparently Starfleet allows known and open Logic Extremists into Starfleet and even allows them to rise to the rank of admiral! We find out in the second season that there's a Vulcan admiral named Patar who's a known member of said terrorist group, and is said to be a particularly fanatical one.

So wait a minute, you're allowed to be a member of a presumably proscribed terrorist organization that commits murder as a modus operandi and still be able to join Starfleet? Even if your organization wants to destroy what Starfleet is tasked with protecting?

Remember how in DS9, members of the Maquis, who didn't murder civilians and just wanted to separate from the Federation in a frontier distant region of space, were hunted down by Starfleet and arrested? Their cause wasn't the destruction of the Federation or anything like that, they just wanted to form their own nation on the frontier edges of the Alpha Quadrant. So apparently that cause is going too far for Starfleet, but being in a murderous racist organization that targets children in the pursuit of the destruction of the Federation is okay. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

And why would a Logic Extremist even want to join Starfleet, a multi-species organization based on exploration and seeking out alien life and which is ultimately based on Earth? Doesn't this seem like a contradiction if you're a rabid xenophobe against all alien influence on your culture? Remember how Terra Prime in ENT wanted to destroy Starfleet because it was a symbol of everything they, as xenophobes and isolationists, hated? Wouldn't the Logic Extremists agree with this? It's baffling the writers even threw this plot point in. And then, just to make things even more stupid, we find out the admiral is apart of Section 31! You know, that top secret (although not top secret in Discovery, because the writers didn't watch DS9 apparently) organization that believes in doing anything necessary via the whole "the ends justify the means" mentality to protect the Federation at all costs? I'm sure such an organization would recruit from the Logic Extremists.

I guess it was to make the admiral look especially evil, continuing a bizarre trend in Star Trek to portray most admirals as evil dickheads, or maybe it was continuing NuTrek's trend to make the Federation/Starfleet itself look evil and bad, because why else would they admit known terrorists who oppose their very existence into their organization? Or maybe it was just a line they wrote without much thought behind it and I'm overthinking this. In any case, it makes zero sense and is painfully stupid.

So that concludes my first post on the stupidity of Discovery. Look forward to many more posts on this topic, because there's a shitload more stupidity to cover.

[1] Just to get it out of the way, I don't have a problem with asshole or evil Vulcans. I think a lot of fans problems with this comes from a misunderstanding of how Vulcans were portrayed in earlier Trek shows going back to TOS, and contrary to fan belief ENT didn't "recton" this, in other words ENT didn't start this portrayal of duplicitous and asshole Vulcans. So this isn't my fundamental problem with the Logic Extremists. My problem as indicated above is with how the writing is handled. It could have been a great idea, but alas, it wasn't. [2] In the first episode of Discovery, the sect of T'Kuvma is described as being xenophobic and against any alien influence in Klingon culture. Then we're later told all the Klingons agree with this and they're all xenophobic, despite the fact that we're told the opposite in the pilot. Then we're told the Klingons want to conquer the Federation and the entire galaxy, despite the fact the war was originally to get the Federation to stop "expanding" near the Klingons and to keep their society pure. It's kind of difficult to keep your society "pure" if you're going to conquer everyone and absorb all these cultures into your empire, isn't it? Maybe they planned to make everyone Klingon? So then they're imperialistic as opposed to isolationists? That would be in keeping with the original Klingons, but these reimagined Klingons are supposed to be a stand-in for Trump style nationalists/isolationists, apparently, so it makes no sense. You can't have your cake and eat it too like this. And then in the season one finale, we see Kronos has plenty of foreign embassies and even street markets full of aliens making a living there so it's a pretty welcoming place then it seems, and not at all xenophobic and anti-alien. Even humans, whom Klingons are at war with, are able to just walk freely around Kronos. Just another example of the inconsistent and bad writing of Discovery.

#star trek #star trek: discovery #michael burnham #vulcan

[soljaboii]

just some thoughts oh my portrayal of cloud and just meta stuff

firstly, i am so sad that my old url was taken! i don't actively call cloud by his name in conversation. i call him cumulus. buts fine, i do like this current url too.

i will say briefly that i do subscribe to autistic cloud. however, i'm not well educated enough to really define the depth and scope of it. that's certainly something i will have to revisit later. the important bits is the social aspect and how he interacts with others.

when i chose to attempt to write cloud, it was very much with the intention of playing him from a very specific angle. its not a particularly original angle, but it sank its claws into me and i can't let it go. so i try my best to try and make him my own.

but, i intend to focus more on gender identity and regular identity, and him becoming more comfortable in his skin. my cloud is trans (ftm) and his masculinity is a sore spot for him a lot of times. it's always something at the back of his mind. thats what i really want to explore with him on personal relationship levels.

and just like basically all my blogs, i don't really have a set canon verse for the blog. i pull from multiple sources in this funky little conglomeration. its why i don't tag any of it. it gets too complicated. it can be hard to really define it. though my characterization is more influenced by remake over og. while also including traits from other games like ac, cc, and others.

that's kinda it for now. i will probably revisit these topics in the future. but right now, i feel really uncertain and unconfident about my ideas and intent. but i suppose that's just new muse blues.

#; ( ooc ) #; ( headcanon )

[birdsjuicy]

Shadow the Hedgehog rewrite

It goes without saying that Shadow the Hedgehog was a mess. Not very surprising, but I want to change this game dammit. So, here are some ideas for a rewrite.

First, the topic of the bad guys and Shadow's morality. The Black Arms are very evil. This is made clear by how their missions are dubbed "EVIL," where the missions with Sonic and co. are dubbed "HERO" with the only exceptions being Eggman. This goes against Shadow's antiheroism. It's unlikely he'd just follow the obviously evil aliens just for the sake of regaining his memories unless he was just being an asshole. So, here's my suggestion: Make the "EVIL vs. HERO" system less black-and-white. My idea was "CHAOS vs. ORDER," to match my overhaul of the Black Arms. The Black Arms are now a race of creatures obsessed with the Chaos Emeralds and their energies, tying into the later reveal in Frontiers that the emeralds are from space. They don't just send their leader in to make contact, but instead summon an illusion of Maria's spirit, promising to give Shadow the answers he seeks if he can seek the Chaos Emeralds for her. On the other hand, GUN would be pushed much more as the bad guys for the early parts of the story, at least until the Black Arms' true nature is revealed... where they are demoted to co-bad guys with the Black Arms, slightly lower in threat but still antagonistic.

The dichotomy is no longer "Be good or be evil," but "Seek the answers, at the cost of unwittingly supporting the evil invaders, or protect the Earth but forsake the answers." The true nature of the Black Arms isn't revealed until later, giving Shadow good reason to follow their commands for as long as he does. Meanwhile, the fake Maria selectively gives Shadow the memories that put humanity in a bad light, encouraging him to keep working for the Black Arms.

The gameplay structure is painful, to say the least, as you have to complete the game ten times over, meaning playing Westopolis ten times, each final level twice, and most likely the levels between several times as well. So, how about the chosen mission changes the level? Maybe, if you've chosen the Order mission, your companion will open a new route to complete the mission that can't be unlocked if you don't have them with you. This could also help deal with the problem of Eggman's missions requiring you to kill his robots, and then having Eggman get angry at you for bad game design; just have Eggman open a path for you when on his mission. But this isn't enough, since you'll still be repeating levels. Why not skip to certain stages? Even if restricted to the neutral path, this would save a lot of time.

Now for characterization, which was briefly touched upon. Shadow is supposed to be an exaggeration of Sonic, primarily his edge, but while keeping his better qualities in mind, sort of like an affectionate parody of him. This game made him a typical brooding edgelord ditching his original angle as a copy of Sonic, which the plot at least partially pushes. How about giving him dynamic development, then? Push him into a more "Disgusting humans, I'll kill them all" characterization if he's taken more Chaos missions, and give him a more "I will not let you destroy this world" character for Order.

On the Black Arms' side... first off, Black Arms? Seriously? It doesn't matter if this is any less creative, I'm calling them the Chaos Arms, and Black Doom is being renamed Chaos Doom (if you know the sonic dev lore, this name may be familiar). Anyway, the Chaos Arms masquerade as holy angels that serve in the name of the Chaos Emeralds. They claim to be the rightful owners of the emeralds, and later on claim that humanity is corrupting the Earth, but it's all a facade as they just want the emeralds and don't care about humans or the Earth at all. Chaos Doom's words constantly drip with manipulative subtext, promising Shadow will understand the truth once he finds the emeralds. All this being said, they don't have any big connection to Shadow. Shadow was entirely Gerald's creation without any alien parties involved, but they do see him as kin due to being attuned to the emeralds' energy by design and a useful patsy due to his need for closure with Maria's memories.

And on GUN's side, well, they're not being whitewashed this time. They're still the corrupt military SA2 established them as. While the president is well meaning, he has an outright vendetta against Shadow for trying to destroy the Earth, partially absorbing the commander's role in the story (though, since he's the president, there is still a commander, it's just he doesn't have a confusing, convoluted backstory and is mostly just subservient to the president.) Whenever GUN shows up, they're still likely after something for their own gain that they don't want the Chaos Arms taking. For instance, Westopolis is treated more as territory than a city in danger, GUN trying to keep the Chaos Arms from getting a foothold before trying to secure the area and keep civilians safe. It's shown not just in the Chaos missions, but in the Order missions as well that GUN is bad news. Still, after enough Order missions, the president learns what side Shadow is on and GUN stops shooting him on sight... which isn't to say they're better people now, it's just they understand that Shadow is also against the aliens.

As for the True Story? The Chaos Arms are still the villains, yes, but so is GUN, trying to mount a final assault on the Chaos Arms to retrieve the emeralds for themselves. It's just that Chaos Doom is the bigger threat to Shadow. Chaos Doom intends on using the emeralds to become like a god of chaos. The scene of the Chaotix playing a message to Shadow that also pins Gerald as a good guy all along? Gerald is being pointed as a more morally grey figure. He meant the best for everyone, but his emotions always got the better of him, even before Maria's death. He was, arguably, an embodiment of the negative side of chaos, letting one's emotions control you and becoming a wild, snarling beast... where Maria represented the positive side of chaos, encouraging loving and growing, living and learning, becoming a protector of others. Maria is reinforced as the good influence on Shadow, bringing him hope in the final hour and encouraging him to stop Perfect Doom.

The series would progress with GUN as an enemy, yes, but Shadow would strive to bring peace to the people of Earth, becoming its protector. Gerald would still be expanded upon, but his misdeeds aren't forgotten either. Shadow retains his initial character, and moves on with the character Heroes established as well. And, a neat personal bonus, it also retains the moral Heroes gave him (by NOT HAVING EGGMAN GIVE THE ANSWER ON A SILVER PLATTER) that, real or cloned, Shadow is Shadow.

#sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #rewrite #sonic

[topknotstrunk]

Review Everything 32 - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Please note, this review briefly touches on simulated child abuse, and shows images of simulated animal abuse as well as discussing that topic with some depth. Please proceed with caution.

Hoo, boy. What to say about this movie. Let’s start with the neutral to good stuff. 

This is a weird send off for this team. It’s the last Guardians of the Galaxy movie, which in and of itself I’m happy with. I think 3 movies plus some bonus screen time in other movies and shows was the perfect amount needed to complete these character’s arks. It was cool seeing Mantis come into her own as a fighter, teen jock Groot was fun, and I am SO EXTREMELY HAPPY that they didn’t have Quill and Gamora get together. The fight scenes were done with better than usual polish, it was nice to see long shots in the action scenes instead of the often defaulted to in Marvel formula of hit, cut, hit, cut, hit cut.

I also really enjoyed Gamora’s characterization here. She went from, “I don’t get why some version of me would love you piss the fuck off.” To, “I get it, but also, again, that wasn’t me so I’m gonna go do my own thing now.” I like that she’s her own person and not a story loophole for Marvel to get out of killing a character in a way that wasn’t supposed to be reversible. Keeping her her own character who’s not romantically interested in Quill makes her feel like her own person, and keeps the weight of the original Gamora being gone in tact.

Now on to the not so good to bad stuff.

Not So Good:

Having Mantis just out of nowhere, with no prior hints, be like, “Yeah I’m leaving.” Drax I get because he’s had this whole “used to be a Dad” thing going from the get go, but Mantis? She was thriving! And having Quill stop running is good-ish but like. He’s my least favorite character on this team, so when, at the end of the movie, they’re like, “Peter Quill will return.” I’m like. On Earth? Just chilling with his Grandpa? Doing normal Human stuff? As is, not a thing I’d bother to spend my time on. Not a thing I watch Marvel movies for.

Outside of the rest of what I’m going to write about the stuff with Rocket and his first set of friends, it was VERY weird to have the final movie in your trilogy have one of the core friends just gone for the majority of it. Not having rocket to interact with the rest of the team for their final movie together. I guess it works, cause like, it sets up that the Guardians team is kinda modular. As long as a few of the core folks are around they can make the team work. Saying that this was “always Rocket’s story” though? I don’t agree. The thing that works about this series is all of them playing off each other. As much as the movies frame Quill as the “main character” it just doesn’t feel like that when you watch these movies, at least to me.

The Bad: 

Animal abuse is bad. Child abuse is bad. A movie where you child code anthropomorphic animals and then abuse them? Doesn’t make for a “bad” movie necessarily, but a hard to watch one. Honestly, if I had known how brutal and disturbing some of these scenes with Fllor , Teefs, Lylla , and Rocket were going to be I don’t know that I would have watched this movie. I cried though a lot of the half of the movie that’s Rocket’s backstory, and felt physically ill a few times. I’m greaful that they didn’t show us much of the actual surgeries, but I am sad that I’m gonna have to use Does The Dog Die from how on with Marvel Movies.

Let’s touch on Fllor as an example. She is the most heavily modified of the batch Rocket belongs to.

She has either part of her face missing or modifed, she’s had antentas attached to the top of her head, what looks like a second set of eyes, and robotic spider legs added on.

Now, here’s the thing. I “get” why Rocket was changed the way he was. Teefs and Lylla too. If you want a creature to navigate the world as a person when it’s an animal you need to change its body. It would be unrealistic for Teefs to move easily around a busy city that’s not under water as a walrus. So you give him wheels. The movie is so dark in those scenes that it’s hard to tell if he’s attached permanently to his wheel chair seat or not, but, like it as little as I do, that’s a choice that makes a sick kind of sense. Same thing for Lila, otters have short stubby arms that would make reaching things a struggle and they don’t have hands so adding some on, I get it.

But why the fuck does Fllor look like Fllor look like Jigsaw tried to make a spider cyborg? Is it for climbing, which we don’t really see her do? Rabits are already fast as fuck, so it can’t be for speed. They’re perfectly mobile and agile, so not for the same reasons that Teefs has for having wheels. And the thing over her face?

I think whoever designed her decided that the “upgrades” done to Lylla, Teefs, and Rockets weren’t... Gross? Upsetting? Gothic? Enough, so they took the cutest animal they could think of that we do real world animal testing on and made them look as fucked up as Disney would let them get away with.

Like, AFAIK Fllor isn’t in the comics. The closest thing we’ve got is Blackjack O’hare. And sure, he’s got cybernetic additions but they’re not needlessly gross or upsetting ones like Fllor has.

Floor was made up for the movie. Sot they had total freedom to do with her design whatever they wanted. And what they wanted was upsetting. So, ya know, I got upset.

They upped the gross factor for “Teefs”, Wal in the comics, and Lylla too but. I don’t know it’s just not the same as with Floor.

On top of being horribly modified animals, because this is a flashback and the characters are young, they’re also children. Children we get to see shoved around, screamed at, and shot. Alongside rapid, painful body changes, decapitation, gas lighting, and on screen immolation of other animals in similar situations. And this is all before we watch many animal-people die on screen as their entire planet is rased to the ground and crowds of children being trapped in cages in the cargo hold of a ship like they’re goods, not people. The movie just keeps piling on the longer it goes.We’re even treated to a nice, long, juicy close up of The High Evolutionary face after Rocket has torn it off. Normally body horror in movies really doesn’t bother me, but after all the awful animal stuff I just about barfed when his face popped up on screen. And there’s no real catharsis for any of this shit, which you would expect from the end of a series. You don’t need to go this far to convince us that these characters were honorably abused. Between everyone in America understanding that animals are abused in real life, and Neblula saying that it was worse than what Thanos did to her, that would have been enough. We don’t need to see them get abused on screen multiple times. It feels like torture porn, it feels unnecessary. I also really don’t get why Fllor, Teefs, and Lylla all had to die. Like, was it to help Rocket move on? The could have been dumped somewhere by their careless creator to come back later, and have a moment of reuniting and them owning their lives, instead of all getting murdered and then helping Rocket with a few kind words in the space between life and The Endless Sky.

And listen, I get it. The movie was impactful. So if shock value was the main thing they were going for here they got it. It was just a big let down to me personally, after the masterpiece that was Vol.2, and coming from the Found Family TM part of the MCU. Animal abuse isn’t fun, child abuse is worse, but it feels like the movie fell short by showing us all this graphic content and then not doing anything about it. Rocket looses half his friends at the end of the movie because they go off and do other things, they shot and killed his first set of friends instead of exploring what cool stories they might have to tell in the MCU, and then the movie kind of just peters out with them standing around in a room and talking, then going their separate ways. Will Rocket make a good leader? No idea, his history doesn’t suggest so. Taking care of Groot and being a good team member does not a leader make. Will we see more of Rocket? What will that look like? It feels so incomplete, like a 4th movie was being set up for only for it to not happen.

And the movie was so difficult to watch that I doubt I’ll ever watch it again.

What an unfortunate send off for many of these characters.

Really, why was I made to sit through all of that. What did I get out of it? Or Rocket? Or his friends?

In Summary: What a weird and gross way to end one of my favorite Marvel things. Good for Drax and Gamora, Mantis and Quill who knows, and Rocket I hope we see more of in the future. It’s too bad that Marvel now has gone over my personal threshold for disturbing content and I’ll have to be careful about that after 15 years of it not being an issue. There was some pretty great stuff in the not animal abuse parts of the movie, and I wish Rocket had been there for more if it.

4/10

#review everything - movies #review everything #marvel #guardians of the galaxy vol. 3 #guardians of the galaxy #movies #fandom #disney #review #spoilers #cw animal abuse #cw child abuse #cw #content warning #text #gifs #not queued

[pendraegon]

resources for sir gawain and the green knight

So. You want to read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight before the movie comes out or you’ve watched it and you want to read the text itself or you just want to read SGATGK in general and you stumbled upon this. Either way, welcome!

The author to SGATGK is unknown however people refer to him under the moniker of “Pearl Poet”. It’s quite interesting in that the characterization OF Gawain himself is very, very atypical of the medieval arthurian literature of this time (although I personally chalk this up to it being Gawain’s first quest however the amount of which Pearl Poet himself thought of matters such as this is up for debate lol). I would say however that SGATGK is a VERY hard text and not a text I personally recommend for people who are getting into arthurian medieval literature for the first time (here is a post with four texts that I recommend to read first before attempting either SGATGK or god forbid, Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, which personally, is so-so at best in comparison to the Stanzaic or the Alliterative. This link leads you to works by Marie de France and Chrétien de Troyes and discusses briefly what arthuriana is with a summary of the texts and links as well!) — I actually have a link here discussing SGATGK’s themes of honor, chivalric duty, and vassalship which can go over reader’s heads if they are not used to topics employed in arthurian literature.

Anyways, here’s links to some of the best SGATGK translations:

[1] The Raffel Translation. Link here as PDF.

This is my PERSONAL favorite as well as the preferred translation of Lou @/gringolet and Valentine @/lanzelet (and I believe Rey @/reynier also likes this one best) so you know it’s not just me aslkfjdsalfas.

[2] The Morris Translation. Link here as HTML, ePub, and Plain Text.

I believe this is the one that a majority of people read. It’s not bad by any means however it is the most accessible one.

[3] The Armitage Translation. Link here as PDF. (THE ONE I WOULD RECOMMEND IF YOU HAVE NEVER READ ARTHURIAN MEDIEVAL LIT BEFORE AND YOU HAVE NOT READ MY INTO TO ARTHURIAN LITERATURE POST ABOVE.)

This one takes a lot of liberties in terms of translation however Armitage has done an amazing job in making sure that the diction and the feel and the rhythm of the text still exists in modern day English. I would say that even if you have read through my Intro to Arthurian Medieval Lit post and if you still find reading medieval text difficult (because it is!) and you can’t seem to get through either the Raffel or the Morris, read this one. I’ve also read this one multiple times, it really is lovely despite not being an exact precise translation.

[4] Obligatory JRR Tolkien Translation. Link here and here.

Not my personal favorite but I know that there are JRR Tolkien enthusiasts who will jump at this so.

[5] The Borroff Translation. Link here as PDF.

Honestly I read this and I barely remember it but I remember thinking that it was okay so I’m highlighting this one too.

@/sorlouser has a giant masterpost as well with a BUNCH of SGATGK translations (20+) so also check this post out for more! (:

#arthuriana #arthurian literature #arthurian legend #sir gawain and the green knight #the green knight #sorry to enthusiasts of the jrr tolkien translation it doesn't do anything for me alsdfjsaokdfjas