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alpaca-clouds · 9 months

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The history of Solarpunk

Okay, I guess this has to be said, because the people will always claim the same wrong thing: No, Solarpunk did not "start out as an aesthetic". Jesus, where the hell does this claim even come from? Like, honestly, I am asking.

Solarpunk started out as a genre, that yes, did also include design elements, but also literary elements. A vaguely defined literary genre, but a genre never the less.

And I am not even talking about those early books that we today also claim under the Solarpunk umbrella. So, no, I am not talking about Ursula K. LeGuin, even though she definitely was a big influence on the genre.

The actual history of Solarpunk goes something like that: In the late 1990s and early 2000s the term "Ecopunk" was coined, which was used to refer to books that kinda fit into the Cyberpunk genre umbrella, but were more focused on ecological themes. This was less focused on the "high tech, high life" mantra that Solarpunk ended up with, but it was SciFi stories, that were focused on people interacting with the environment. Often set to a backdrop of environmental apocalypse. Now, other than Solarpunk just a bit later, this genre never got that well defined (especially with Solarpunk kinda taking over the role). As such there is only a handful of things that ever officially called themselves Ecopunk.

At the same time, though, the same sort of thought was picked up in the Brazilian science fiction scene, where the idea was further developed. Both artistically, where it got a lot of influence from the Amazofuturism movement, but also as an ideology. In this there were the ideas from Ecopunk as the "scifi in the ecological collaps" in there, but also the idea of "scifi with technology that allows us to live within the changing world/allows us to live more in harmony with nature".

Now, we do not really know who came up with the idea of naming this "Solarpunk". From all I can find the earliest mention of the term "Solarpunk" that is still online today is in this article from the Blog Republic of Bees. But given the way the blogger talks about it, it is clear there was some vague definition of the genre before it.

These days it is kinda argued about whether that title originally arose in Brazil or in the Anglosphere. But it seems very likely that the term was coined between 2006 and 2008, coming either out of the Brazilian movement around Ecopunk or out of the English Steampunk movement (specifically the literary branch of the Steampunk genre).

In the following years it was thrown around for a bit (there is an archived Wired article from 2009, that mentions the term once, as well as one other article), but for the moment there was not a lot happening in this regard.

Until 2012, when the Brazilian Solarpunk movement really started to bloom and at the same time in Italy Commando Jugendstil made their appearance. In 2012 in Brazil the anthology "Solarpunk: Histórias ecológicas e fantásticas em um mundo sustentável" was released (that did get an English translation not too long ago) establishing some groundwork for the genre. And Commando Jugendstil, who describe themselves as both a "Communication Project" and an "Art Movement", started to work on Solarpunk in Italy. Now, Commando Jugendstil is a bit more complicated than just one or the other. As they very much were a big influence on some of the aesthetic concepts, but also were releasing short stories and did some actual punky political action within Italy.

And all of that was happening in 2012, where the term really started to take off.

And only after this, in 2014, Solarpunk became this aesthetic we know today, when a (now defuct) tumblr blog started posting photos, artworks and other aesthetical things under the caption of Solarpunk. Especially as it was the first time the term was widely used within the Anglosphere.

Undoubtedly: This was probably how most people first learned of Solarpunk... But it was not how Solarpunk started. So, please stop spreading that myth.

The reason this bothers me so much is, that it so widely ignores how this movement definitely has its roots within Latin America and specifically Brazil. Instead this myth basically tries to claim Solarpunk as a thing that fully and completely originated within the anglosphere. Which is just is not.

And yes, there was artistic aspects to that early Solarpunk movement, too. But also a literary and political aspectt. That is not something that was put onto a term that was originally an aesthetic - but rather it was something that was there from the very beginning.

Again: There has been an artistic and aesthetic aspect in Solarpunk from the very beginning, yes. But there has been a literary and political aspect in it the entire time, too. And trying to divorce Solarpunk from those things is just wrong and also... kinda misses the point.

So, please. Just stop claiming that entire "it has been an aesthetic first" thing. Solarpunk is a genre of fiction, it is a political movement, just as much as it is an artistic movement. Always has been. And there has always been punk in it. So, please, stop acting as if Solarpunk is just "pretty artistic vibes". It is not.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, I guess.

#solarpunk #solarpunk aesthetic #solarpunk fiction #political movement #history #history of solarpunk #amazofuturismus #put the punk back in solarpunk #scifi #science fiction #clifi #climate fiction #ecopunk

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nellasbookplanet · 4 months

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Book recs: Queer science fiction, part 1

There is a lot of queer sf out there, and I read a lot of sf. When I started working on this list, I quickly realized it was impossible to include all that I've read and enjoyed in one single rec post. Thus, this is the first of so far three queer sci-fi book rec posts.

A note: queer here does not necessarily mean "guarantee of an f/f or m/m ship with a happy ending", but rather simply a significant presence of queerness. Some of the books feature no romance but has a same gender attracted/trans/a-spectrum lead, or features an m/f relationship with bisexual, trans or aro/ace characters, or simply features a world-building which is heavily queer inclusive in ways that don't always compare to our own ideas of sexuality and gender. I have however disqualified works where the only queer presence is along the lines of "gay best friend" or a blink and you'll miss it confirmation that never comes up again.

Previous book rec posts:

Really cool fantasy worldbuilding, really cool sci-fi worldbuilding, dark sapphic romances, mermaid books, vampire books, many worlds: portal fantasies, many worlds: alternate timelines, robots and artificial intelligences, post- and transhumanism, alien intelligences

For more details on the books, continue under the readmore. Titles marked with * are my personal favorites. And as always, feel free to share your own recs in the notes!

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley*

Dietz is a soldier in the war between Earth and Mars - to travel to the battle front, she and her fellow soldiers are broken down into light to be able to quickly travel across space. But something keeps going wrong with Dietz's travels; her memories don't match up with the mission briefs, as she experiences time itself turning in on itself. Is she going mad? Or are the things she's learning skipping through time the truth - and the war that's stealing her life the lie? A mindfuck of a book that's scathing in its critique of fascism and war. Features a sapphic lead but no romance.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk and Robot duology) by Becky Chambers

Novella. Long ago, robots, upon gaining sentience, simply laid down their work and walked into the wilderness. Long after, a tea monk looking for purpose follows after them into the wilds, where they come across one of the robots seeking its own sort of answers. While not plotless, this story focuses more on character and vibes over plot. Also has a nonbinary main character and features conversations on gender between human and robot.

Meet Me In Another Life by Catriona Silvey*

Thora and Santi are strangers, brought together by a coincidence and torn apart just as abruptly when tragedy strikes. But this is neither the first nor the last time they meet - again and again they encounter each other, as friends, lovers, enemies, family, every time recognizing in each other a familiarity no one else carries. But with every new life, a mysterious danger grows ever closer, forcing them to find out the truth of their connection. This is a puzzle-box of a story that goes some entirely unexpected places in a very wild ride, featuring a bisexual co-lead.

The Archive Undying (The Downworld Sequence) by Emma Mieko Candon

In a world where AI gods sometimes lose their minds and take entire populations down with them, Sunai was the only survivor when his god went down. In the 17 years since, he has wandered on his own, unable to either die or age, drowning his sorrows in drink and men. But his attempts to flee his past comes to a stop as he is forced back into the struggle between man and machine. Featuring some pretty wild world building and narrative techniques, this book will definitely confuse you, but it is worth the experience.

The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart

January Cole works security at the Paradox Hotel, last stop for tourists heading for the timeport, which allows them to travel to and witness any moment in time. But years of proximity to the timeport has left its damage on January, making her unstuck in time, letting her relive memories of her dead lover even as her sanity slips away bit by bit. As she starts witnessing proof of a horrible crime in the hotel that no one else can see, January must race against her own mind, a killer, and time itself to solve it before it's too late.

A Fractured Infinity by Nathan Tavares

Hayes Figueiredo is a struggling film-maker who wants to finish his documentary, whose life gets turned upside down when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan enters his life, claiming an alternate version of him is a great inventor who’s sent a mysterious device to their universe. As Hayes gets drawn deeper into the conspiracy - and his feelings for Yusuf intensify - he has to decide just how far he’s prepared to go to win the life and the love he wants. Featuring a very gay and very morally dubious lead, this is a creative and strange read.

Bridge by Lauren Beukes

When she was little, Bridge and her mother Jo used to play a game - one where they traveled to other worlds, inhabiting the bodies of their other selves. Now Jo is dead, and as Bridge is cleaning out her apartment she finds a strange device: a dreamworm, the very thing that supposedly makes inter-dimensional travel possible. Suddenly faced with the possibility that multiverse travel is real, Bridge is struck by a different question: could her mother still be alive? Scifi spiced with a healthy dose of body horror and some absolutely wild twists, Bridge also features a bisexual lead (however this is a blink and you’ll miss it moment) and a nonbinary co-narrator.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers series) by Becky Chambers

Rosemary Harper just got a job on the motley crew of the Wayfarer, a spaceship that works with tunneling new wormholes through space. With a past she wants to leave behind, Rosemary is happy to travel the far reaches of the universe with the chaotic crew, but when they land the job of a life time, things suddenly get a lot more dangerous. A bit of a tumblr classic in its day, this is a cozy space opera with an episodic feel and vividly realized characters and cultures. While pretty light on romance and focusing found family, there is a main f/f relationship.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Life on the lower decks of the generation ship HSS Matilda is hard for Aster, an outcast even among outcasts, trying to survive in a system not dissimilar to the old antebellum South. The ship's leaders have imposed harsh restrictions on their darker skinned people, using them as an oppressed work force as they travel toward their supposed Promised Land. But as Aster finds a link between the death of the ship's sovereign and the suicide of her own mother, she realizes there may be a way off the ship.

Ninefox Gambit (The Machineries of Empire trilogy) by Yoon Ha Lee*

Military space opera where belief and culture shape the laws of reality, causing all kinds of atrocities as empires do everything in their power to force as many people as possible to conform to their way of life to strengthen their technology and weapons. It’s also very queer, with gay, lesbian and trans major characters, albeit little to no romance.

The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle) by Ursula K. Le Guin

1969 classic. Genly Ai is an emissary sent to the planet of Winter, meant to help facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But he's unprepared for Winter's citizens, who spend much of their time genderless or switching between genders, making for a culture wildly different from that Genly is used to.

Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota series) by Ada Palmer*

Centuries in the future, humanity has deliberatly engineered society to be as utopian as possible, politically, socially, sexually, religiously. Written in an enlightenment style and featuring questions of human nature and whether it’s possible to change it, and what price we’re prepared to pay for peace, this book is simultaneously very heavy and very funny, and written in a very unique style. While still human, the society presented often feels starkly alien.

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

This book fucked me up when I read it. It’s weird, it’s gross, there’s So Much Viscera, there are literally no men, it has living spaceships and biotech but in the most horrific way imaginable. Had I to categorize it I would call it grimdark military sf. It’s an experience but not necessarily a pleasant one.

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling*

Possibly one of the most unsettling books I’ve ever read, and definitely the most claustrophobic. Gyre, a caver on an alien planet, ventures into the dark and dangerous underground, guided only by a woman who has no compunctions on using and manipulating Gyre as she sees fit to obtain her secretive goals down in the caves.

Escaping Exodus (Escaping Exodus series) by Nicky Drayden

While my feelings on Escaping Exodus were mixed, it cannot be denied that the dynamic between the two leads and the way they go from childhood best friends to enemies on different sides of a class and power struggle is very delicious. It also features some really cool worldbuilding of living, alien generation spaceships and the human culture that has developed inside them.

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky*

The Doors of Eden is something of an experiment in speculative biology, featuring versions of Earth in which various different species were the one to rise to sentience, from dinosaurs to neanderthals. Now, something is threatening the existence of all timelines, dragging multiple different people and species into the struggle, among those a pair of cryptid hunting girlfriends and a transgender scientist.

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

Ascension follows Alana Quick, an expert Sky Surgeon who stows away on a spaceship in hopes of landing herself a job. But the ship and its crew are in deeper waters than she expected, facing threats emerging from a whole other universe, all of them searching for the same person: Alana’s spiritually enlightened sister. Undeniably a bit of an odd read, Ascension is also very creative and features polyamorous lesbian relationship.

Contagion (Contagion duology) by Erin Bowman*

Young adult. After receiving an SOS, a small crew is sent on a standard search-and-rescue mission. But what they find are not survivors awaiting help, but an abandoned site, full of dead bodies and crawling with something... monstrous. No romance, but features one sapphic co-lead and one who can easily be read as demisexual (however this doesn't show up until book two, which has more romance).

A Memory Called Empire (Texicalaan duology) by Arkady Martine

Mahit Dzmare is an ambassador sent to the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire, where she discovers that her predecessor has died. Trying to protect her home, an independent mining station, from being taken over by the empire, Mahit struggles to find out the truth of her predecessor's death while carrying the voice of his ghost in her head, guiding her as best he can. Light on the romance but does feature a sapphic relationship.

The Outside (The Outside trilogy) by Ada Hoffman*

AKA the book the put me in an existenial crisis. Souls are real, and they are used to feed AI gods in this lovecraftian inspired scifi where reality is warped and artifical gods stand against real, unfathomable ones. Autistic scientist Yasira is accused of heresy and, to save her eternal soul, is recruited by post-human cybernetic ‘angels’ to help hunt down her own former mentor, who is threatening to tear reality itself apart. Sapphic main character.

Dawn (Xenogenesis trilogy) by Octavia E. Butler*

After a devestating war leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, survivor Lilith finds herself waking up naked and alone in a strange room. She’s been rescued by the Oankali, who have arrived just in time to save the human race. But there’s a price to survival, and it might be humanity itself. Absolutely fucked up I love it I once had to drop the book mid read to stare at the ceiling and exclaim in horror at what was going on. Queer in the sense that the Oankali doesn't follow human ideas of gender and relationships, which is mirrored in their romantic relationships with humans. It is, however, pretty dark, with examinations of agency and consent, so enter with caution.

Remnant by Kate Genet

One day, Cass wakes up and finds everyone else is gone. Not dead, just gone, leaving her in a world which nature starts taking back with a dangerous, unnatural speed. But as she tries to survive this new normal, Cass realizes she may not be alone after all - but who else is out there, and are they a threat?

The Scorpion Rules (Prisoners of Peace duology) by Erin Bow*

Young Adult. Featuring a dystopian future in which an AI forcibly keeps world peace by holding the children of world leaders hostage. If anyone attempts to start a war, their child will be executed. Greta is one of these children, kept in a school with others like her. But things start to change one day when a new, less obedient hostage arrives. A unique, slowburn take on the YA dystopian craze, also featuring a bisexual love triangle.

Iron Widow (Iron Widow series) by Xiran Jay Zhao

Young adult. Zetian is a citizen of Huaxia, where mecha aliens are constantly trying to breach the Great Wall. To keep them at bay, couples of men and women pilot so called Chrysalises, giant transforming robots. But the pilots are not equal - the women almost always die, sucked dry by their co-pilots. When Zetian sets herself up to become a concubine-pilot, she does so with the plan to assassinate the male pilot who caused her sister's death. Features a polyamorous main relationship.

Bonus AKA I haven't read these yet but they seem really cool:

Survival Instincts by May Dawney

Lynn Tanner has been surviving the post-apocalypse alone with only her dog for a long time, trusting no one. But when she's forced to travel the dangerous remains of New York City alongside another woman, her priorities are challenged. Is staying alone really the best way to stay alive?

These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs

When con-artist Jun Ironway gets her hands on possible proof of the powerful Nightfoot family, controllers of interplanetary travel, committing genocide, she has in her hands a chance of taking them and their monopoly down. But the family and their allies won't go down easily, and sends two brutal clerics to stop her.

Everfair by Nisi Shawl

A neo-victorian alternate history, in which a part of Congo was kept safe from colonisation, becoming Everfair, a safe haven for both the people of Congo and former slaves returning from America. Here they must struggle to keep this home safe for them all.

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tippenfunkaport · 1 year

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"She-Ra is bad bisexual rep because all the bi/pan characters end up in m/f relationships!"

Not true! Perfuma is bi/pan and she ends up with Scorpia!

"Oh, well I like to headcanon Perfuma as a lesbian."

...so then you understand that's not the show's fault, right? That that's just a problem you made up in your head?

Excuse me a second, I need to scream about this...

Because this has come up over and over (esp on Twitter and TikTok) with people who want to claim that every bi/pan SPOP character ends up in a m/f relationship... by conveniently pretending Perfuma is not canonically bi/pan herself. And every time they are asked to elaborate why they are ignoring her canon status, they give the same answer: that they consider Perfuma a lesbian because now that she's with a woman, she's "not bi anymore"

And... yeah... you know that's not how it works, right? That being bi/pan is not just a phase you get over? That a bi/pan woman dating another woman doesn't suddenly make her a lesbian any more than it makes a bi/pan person dating someone of the opposite gender magically straight?

The person you are currently dating does not change your bi/pan status. Ever. And insisting it does, especially just so you can score some points by making up an issue about a show to be mad about, is super GD harm harmful to the real bi/pan people in your life.

(This is the exact same thing The Owl House fandom does with Lumity and why Dana had to make Luz present a whole slideshow in the cartoon reminding everyone she is still very much bi even though Amity is a lesbian. TOH fans kept insisting because Luz is dating Amity now, she's a lesbian. Nope. Her and Amity can be married for a billion years and that wouldn't change Luz's orientation.)

"But I heard that someone's roommate's cousin who worked with someone on the show once liked a fanart that showed Scorfuma with the lesbian flag so it's basically canon!"

First of all, the legend of this grows daily and I think it's really telling that this archival obsessed fandom only talks about this mythical like and yet has never been able to produce a single screenshot of it.

But for the sake of argument, let's say that this really happened and actually exists, that someone related to the show, however distantly, liked fanart once that implied Perfuma was a lesbian somehow. That still doesn't make it canon. People related to the show and even ND himself have liked and reblogged all sorts of stuff that isn't canon, including g/a, and have been very clear that the only canon is what happens within the show itself.

And, in the show, Perfuma is canonically bi/pan. We see her crushing on Bow, She-Ra, Huntara and Scorpia. The fact that people want to pretend the Bow thing never happened when he's the only character we see her actually date over the run of the show AND it's a major Season 1 plot point is wild to me and just shows the lengths people will go for bi/pan erasure.

And I get that some people enjoy using Perfuma to tell a story about comphet or coming out as a lesbian later in life and I am fully in favor of doing your thing with your headcanons in fanworks. But when it reaches the point it has now where fans are attacking other fans for saying Perfuma is bi/pan or attacking the show for not having any bi/pan character in same sex relationships when Perfuma is CANONICALLY bi/pan is ridiculous.

Keep in mind that your headcanon is literally just something you made up in your head. It's pretend. Fun, yes, but NOT something you can use as justification to attack people over!

Especially when it's something like this that causes real world harm by perpetuating harmful stereotypes about bi/pan people being "just a phase" or a temporary state that changes based on who you date.

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melandrops · 6 months

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The Magnus Archives Entities as Greek Gods

The Vast - Zeus

The all powerful, infinite cosmic force that is both the king of the gods and the fear of insignificance. The fear of falling, and of openness. Pray that when lightning strikes, you will not taste ozone on your tongue.

The Buried - Poseidon

The ocean could very well be a part of the Vast, but they are fundamentally opposed. The same sides of a coin, one side pewter the other side copper. Two kings that rule next to each other yet are complete opposites. Pray that his brutal storms do not swallow you whole, crushing you under the weight of his world.

The End - Hades

He is the one inevitability of the world. He waits, passive, for victims. The other gods squabble and bicker and play their games while he looks on from the Underworld and knows that he is the ultimate winner. It is pointless to hope that he will not claim you eventually. Pray that you will be contented when he does.

The Web - Athena

The goddess of strategy, of weaving and trickery and cunning. She once cursed a girl to become a spider for her insolence. Pray that she does not lay her marionette strings over you, for then you will never know free will again.

The Slaughter - Ares

The god of war, and the gleam of bloodshed in your eyes and the eyes of the person on the other end of the battlefield. Pray that the blood streaking your hands and face is not your own.

The Corruption - Aphrodite

She is love, and the unbecoming of it all. The deadly force that eats away at your soul and changes you into someone you don't recognize anymore. She whispers that she is the most good and right form of the world, but her kiss is made of rot. Pray that her love will not break you apart piece by piece.

The Eye - Apollo

The god of the sun, who sees all the occurs in the daylight. Prophecy, truth, and the goings on of the world are the way he idles his time away. Pray that you are not intriguing enough to catch his vicious interest.

The Lonely - Hestia

She is the goddess of the hearth, of warmth and of family. Yet it was she who was foisted out of Olympus to make way for Dionysus. She tends to a hearth with no visitors to warm themselves by it. Pray that she does not beckon you to join her by the empty fire.

The Stranger - Dionysus

His parties are the raucous screams in the night, and people who walk in will never walk out the same person. There will always be something a little bit off about them. Pray that when the wine touches your lips you will still recognize yourself the next morning.

The Desolation - Hephaestus

Ugly, marred and disfigured. His wife refuses to look at him. He burns with a rage that he cannot distinguish as self hatred or as loathing for the world he lives in. He toys with the fire in his forge and the burns are the only thing that bring him joy anymore. Pray that he does not look at you with that fiery hatred in his eyes.

The Hunt - Artemis

She hunts in the dead of night, armed by the protection of the moon. Occasionally she enlists help. But always, she will dedicate herself to the next hunt. Pray you are not next.

The Flesh - Prometheus

He built humans out of clay. He built them with imperfections they would see in the mirror and insecurities that feel like a gaping pit in their chest. The god of innovation is also a god who wants their passions to hurt. Pray that when he creates you, your imperfections do not swallow you whole.

The Spiral - Janus

Doors and transitions and new beginnings but also endings all rolled into one. Everything and anything but also nothing and no one. He is a two faced god of deception and lies, and you can never trust what either face tells you. Pray for truth, but there is no point.

The Dark - Nyx

She's always there. Waiting for Apollo to leave. You're not safe from her. No matter how much you try to convince yourself otherwise, the most animal part of your brain will always fear her. Pray that she smiles at you without teeth as she watches while you sleep.

The Extinction - Pan

He is the god of nature, and there is no length he will not go to in order to protect it. Mankind is but a blemish on the world. The wild, untamable forces of nature will conquer it eventually. Pray that you will be overlooked when it floods the cities and burns the crops.

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bigmilkagenda · 2 months

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Of the many, many plates of pancakes* that were offered to the listener in magp 1-07, this one may be my favourite

[ID: A screenshot of an unofficial transcript to The Magnus Protocol. CELIA is saying "Yeah. I mean, it's an old system, but it could have been worse. It's not like we're wrestling with tape recorders and manila folders." /end ID]

When we meet TMA-Celia for the second time, she's lost her name. She was Lynne Hammond, and now she's not. She doesn't seem to remember Martin, either, but it's not clear how much of herself and her life from before the change she does remember. She's freaked out by the tape recorders that start showing up, and there's no indication that she associates them with the Institute specifically.

If Celia Ripley is, as we are clearly intended to believe or consider, the same Celia as in TMA, why is she making knowing comments about manila folders and tape recorders? Tape recorders in particular are hardly standard equipment at what seems to be mostly a text data-entry and cataloguing job. She could have said typewriters, or carbon paper. Fax machines, if we're dunking on Freddy specifically.

She says "tape recorders and manila folders." Celia Ripley is referencing The Magnus Institute, particularly the outdated technologies in use in the Archives.

Maybe she learned more from Melanie about what the recorders were and did at the Institute, sometime after MAG 190. Maybe she has those specific memories of giving her statement in MAG 100, and little else. Maybe Martin grew an apocalypse beard and she remembers everything, but just didn't recognise him out of context and in a tunnel and during A Pretty Weird Time Overall.

Maybe she stuck around with Melanie-Georgie-Basira for a while after things returned, and that's how she learned about the particular significance of tape recorders.

Maybe she found some tapes and listened to a couple hundred of them.

Or maybe she's simply an AU Celia, with a knack for oddly specific and kind of clunky comparisons, drawn into this through the powers of metafiction and string theory.

Or maybe someone filled her with spiders and sent her to finish the job of spreading Fear to this particular world.

And the reason this particular plate of textual pancakes** (short stack, butter and nightmare syrup) is one of my favourites from "Give and Take" is because I genuinely have no idea! None of these are theories because there isn't enough evidence to point me in any particular direction. It's a mystery!, Jon voice, etcetera.

If you cornered me and paid me to have an opinion about it I could say which options I thought were more likely, I guess. But the odds are high that I'd be wrong, and I think the boat for me getting paid to interpret texts probably sailed fifteen years ago, besides. I'm in this for the love of the game.***

November is the true spooky season in the northern hemisphere.**** Yeah, October ends with Halloween, but you know what month starts with Halloween? Mmhmm. By November of 2019 TMA had been on my list for a few years, and someone I was getting to know and really liked recommended it to me specifically in the days after 159 aired. The conditions were correct for me to get into something new, is what I'm saying. I still remember listening to "Anglerfish" for the first time, walking home from my office job in the blustery November dark. I got home starry-eyed and red-cheeked and thrilled by the story I'd just heard.

It took a couple of months for me to catch up, and though I loved having so much to listen to there were times when I wished I'd started earlier, to have the experience of seeing things unfold.

And now we're back at a beginning, and get to experience the horrible joys of finding out.

[ID: A screenshot of an unofficial transcript to The Magnus Protocol. LENA is saying "Of a sort. I hope you're as ready for it as you think you are. Consider yourself "in." /end ID]

*Sabrina pancake meme

** the best kind, especially if it's a contest between textual and fluffy pancakes. Keep those spongy bastards away from me, I'll take the kind with a typeface instead

***Being a huge nerd

**** For more of my opinions on November, see https://www.tumblr.com/almostmolly/188799234276

#tmagp #tma #the magnus protocol #celia ripley #celia tmagp #lynne hammond #tmagp meta #loosely. this is neither litcrit not analysis nor speculation in the sense that i don't subscribe to any of the possible paths as true #and also realise there could be a dozen other things i haven't talked about here #i know I've said spiders celia twice but I'm kind of like a person who makes red string boards for the aesthetics #it's part of the decor y'know?#sorry for the link to my tumblr poetry blog but also: I'm not bad at it so. not that sorry #pancakes (derogatory)

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otto-apocalypse · 10 months

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Basically, Otto is the main antagonist of HI3. I said antagonist, because while a villain actively wants ill for the main characters, he doesn't want that. He was born in the XV century in Austria, and was the most frail and sickly kid, fifth born of House Apocalypse. He then mets Kallen Kaslana, who instead compliments him and believes in him, and from then on he idolizes her. When they were teenagers, they witness Kallen'a father die to save them, and since the oath of the Kaslana family states to protect the weaks, Otto is then terrified that Kallen will also die the same way. It's then that he unlocks Void Archives, trying to sacrifice his live to resurrect Kallen's father, but she stops him.

Ten years pass and Otto is willing to do anything, even less… ehtic things, to protect her. He also SINGLEHANDEDLY CURER THE PLAGUE. In the XV century. Then she finds out he's doing questionable things and that th Church of Schicksal, founded by the three noble familie Apocalypse, Schariach and Kaslana, is also very sus, nd she flees. In the East she meets Yae Sakura, and they fall in love. But Sakura become sort of a Herrscher (powerful emissaries of Honkai, the main threat of the world) and Kallen has to kill her. She then returns, and sends a letter of excuses to Otto (who never received it) stating that she was wrong to criticize him for what he did for her, when she did the same for Yae. Once back, Schicksal sends her to death, Otto tries everything to stop it, asking her in marriage as last resort (he's always been in love with her, but never confessed because he knew she didn't feel the same, and only wanted her happy). But she refuses, saying that she doesn't want to live if it means being someone else's puppet. So Otto, as the very last resort, asks for help his older sister Risa, who with their newphew was aiming at gaining power over Shicksal. She help, by releasing Honkai beasts during Kallen's death sentence. She tries to protect the people, and ends up dying.

Otto kinda loses it for a while, goes around opening orphanages and taking care of kids, helps the rebellion take Schicksal back from Risa (who was doing even worse experiments), and ends up travelling to the East, to seach for that Immortal who defeated even Kallen, the strongest valkyrie, hoping to find a way to revive Kallen. He mets Sushang, stuff happens, this is the untranslated, unfinished Seven Swords visual novel (where he gets called Raksha and has an outfit similar to HSR) Thanks to VA, he's pretty much immortal himself, but can't revive the dead

For 500 years he protects the world from Honkai. Valkyries exist thanks to him. If humanity managed to fight off Honkai it's thanks to him. All the technologies that allows Valkyries to fight are thanks to him. In the fifties he tries to clone Kallen, and has the clones fight each other, and one refuses to kill another. This clone is Theresa Apocalypse, which he adopts as his grandaughter, and the other is Amber (his secretary). At the same time, the First Eruption happens, and Welt Joyce is the Herrscher of Reason. This is the plot of the Anti-Entropy visual novel. In summary Welt Joyce (welt is literally the german word for "world") is on the side of humanity, but Void Archives does some tricks, and Otto ends up killing Joachim Nokianvirtanen's father, who inherits the core of the Herrscher of Reason from the dying Welt Joyce, thus becoming Welt Yang (Yang is from his mother). Yes, our Welt Yang.

Fast forward in the '90s, the Second Eruption happens, with the Herrscher of the Void, Sirin. They fight, yadda yadda, stuff happens, Welt dies but then resurrects, and not without difficulty humanity manages to kill Sirin. Otto keeps the cores of the Herrchers, because he tries to find a way to make Herrshcers on the side of humanity. At this point, his plan is still to be able to capture the power of the future Herrscher of Death and use it to resurrect Kallen. But an encounter with the Will of Honkai, suggest that this is not the way.

Meanwhile a few years earlier, a descendant of the House Kaslana, Siegfried, has met Cecilia Schariac, they end up together and have a kid, Kiana. Cecilia ends up sacrificing herself to save all Siberia from Herrshcer of the Void, and while she was conscious of this, it was literally her choice, Otto made Theresa, her great friend, think that he killed her with a nuke. Otto tries to find a way to control HoV powers with clones of Kiana, and one of these clones succedes. Little Kiana, of roughly 10 years, decides this clone in a tube must be saved, so her and her father sneak into Schicksal to steal it. Things go horribly wrong, and Kiana gets left behind, almost dead. Otto saves her, and since she doesn't remember anything, gives her the name Bianka Ataegina, aka Durandal. Meanwhile Siegfriend is with Kiana clone, and he gives her the name Kiana, grows her for a while and then leaves to avoid her Sirin personality to emerge. She then goes to school to become a Valkyrie and meets Mei and Bronya. When Sirin ends up awakaning, Otto kidnaps her to Schicksal flying HQ (had she awoken at the school, it would've been a massacre).

She fights, and Himeko's sacrifice awakens Kiana's humanity. She hides away for a while and other stuff happens to other characters. Meanwhile Otto has discovered, also thanks to Su from Previous Era and Durandal, what he has to do to resurrect Kallen. You see, he witnessed many, many parallel universes, and Kallen ALWAYS dies (this is a nod to GGZ).

But to enact his plan he needs HoV powers, and Kiana won't help him willingly. So he devises a plan: in Kolosten, the old Schicksal HQ, he calls everyone. He sends a threat: he's going to reverse time, everyone who's currently in Kolosten will be safe, but everyone else outside will simply cease to exist as time gets reverted back to when kallen was alive. He taunts them all to come and stop him. This is actually a bait, and also his plan B. If the girls couldn't stop him, they'd have no hope against Honkai and future dangers, so 500 more years would be needed. His main plan is to trick Durandal and Kiana to kill him using theyr powers, so he could trascend existence itself.

All the "traps" he devised were actually personalized to each girl and her power, a sort of training. They fight, he gets killed, and manages to reach the Imaginary Tree. There, at the cost of his existence, CREATES new braches of possiiliy to let Kallen live.

His morally grey character has the best writing I've ever seen. His love for Kallen is something so… wonderful, it doesn't fit into romantic nor sexual, he doesn't want her for himself, heck, he doesn't even get to meet her once she finally has a new chance at life. He just wants her happy and safe.

#otto apocalypse #honkai impact 3rd #honkai star rail #luocha #hi3 #hsr #honkai impact

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sarahreesbrennan · 3 months

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Hi Sarah, I'm so excited to see your upcoming release. (Villainess deserve representation too!) I was rereading Love From Both Sides for the dozenth time - as one does - and I was wondering if you had any plans for a spin off with Adara and Natalie? Their story has so many uncharted possibilities, I'm dying to know more. And relatedly, we're gasping out here for more sapphic media that goes as hard as your work does 🥺

I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered before, I couldn't find anything in your archives. Thanks again for writing In Other Lands, a precious and rare delight. I hope you're having the bestest day with at least one friendly nuzzle from a puppy

Hey my love, Never be sorry for asking anything! This world is bettered by the questioners, and it’s a great compliment to me that you care.

As regards Adara and Natalie specifically, I couldn’t tell you. I’d love to write more in the In Other Lands world (about which more later) - but whether I could do a short story or a series of books would obviously change my answer. It’s not entirely up to me, but I definitely do have plans for Adara. She’s a foil for Elliot, and the kind of character I really like - one who I see treated shallowly in other media, when few people really are shallow. If there’s too much skimming the surface, I long to explore the depths. And with the depths come adventures. Thank you for your care!

I also thank you for being excited for Long Live Evil. Villains and villainesses do definitely deserve representation, and have long been beloved by me because they’re often complicated, witty because they see the world differently, and queer-coded. I was also thinking when writing it about the different ways audiences can come to a story, and using the same evidence how different people presume characters are (for example) straight or bisexual. And often the ending will be very uniformly heterosexual. But if you go into the story, and change its direction… Are the things you presumed true? Are the things characters presumed about themselves true? Would certain subtexts surface, and certain texts submerge? How do we influence art by engaging with it? Anyway, I am categorically not making any promises because that’s got me in trouble before. But it’s an ensemble story (I was inspired by the group dynamics and relationships, all given weight, of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows) and these are some of my preoccupations when writing it. I hope you shall find much to enjoy.

In the meantime, if you seek sapphic media that goes hard, and Sappho knows we all do… The Jasmine Throne and the Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri - this series is a huge favourite of mine - and not just mine, it won the World Fantasy award. Its central f/f pairing features one party holding the other at knifepoint for fine reasons and they have a brilliant dynamic based on understandably conflicting ideologies and complicated family situations! I love it.

Thank you for a delight of a letter and your kind words. I write this being yelled at by a cat for skritches, which is pleasant as puppies. I wish you a beauteous day with animal companions of choice, with apologies I couldn’t answer more definitively!

#in other lands #sarah rees brennan #lgbt books #the jasmine throne #sapphic #six of crows #Long live evil

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sepublic · 10 months

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It’s wild to me that the storyboards for Watching and Dreaming depict Odalia taking Camila’s place during this scene, and at a notable distance from the kids here, no less…

It really makes me wonder if the original plan was for Odalia to use the light glyph to awaken the kids from their puppet states, hence the setup of her being in the Archives as the Collector’s servant. She would’ve helped the kids save the people of the Demon Realm, perhaps realizing that her way of life was simply unsustainable, and that she contributed to Belos possessing the Boiling Isles as both knowing bystander and supporter.

They’d ultimately succeed, but Odalia being at a distance from the kids implies that they don’t ever forgive her; They won’t go out of their way to kill Odalia, nor keep her from improving as a person. But they don’t owe her personal forgiveness, which I appreciate. We may still have some variation of this scene where Amity reunites with Alador;

Odalia may or may not be salty, but it still reminds the viewer that even after all that, Amity rightfully doesn’t forgive Odalia, and chooses Alador; While Odalia is visibly upset, but can’t do anything about this but just maintain distance and accept it (Hence why she looks so awkward and closed-off, compared to Camila rejoicing with the kids in the final product).

That makes me wonder if we would’ve seen her in the epilogue, with the group shot depicting Odalia notably isolated from the rest of her family, instead besides Tibbles or something like that, as redeemed capitalists (maybe we should put her at the top left). Her redemption IS accepted, but not by her family members, who still maintain a distance;

Odalia improving herself could also be a way to emphasize one of the themes of the finale; That people can and should be allowed to change, but also they must choose to do so for themselves. Having Odalia be a contrast to Belos would’ve further hammered in that idea; They’re both detested by the fandom as abusive, controlling parents who mold their kids into the image of someone else, are complicit in the same genocide (to varying degrees), represent a particular real-world social ill, etc. Both claim to act on behalf of their families, but it’s clear they’re actually just self-interested.

These parallels highlight that the main difference between these two, why Belos is killed unmourned while Odalia has hopes for a brighter future, is that Odalia actually chose to change. It’s Restorative VS Retributive Justice taken to its natural conclusion; The fact that Odalia is much younger, and thus has turned down far less chances to turn back, also contributes to why she’s actually willing to change, as she hasn’t doubled down the same way Belos did, while still being guilty of some heinous things (Note that Blight Industries, as an arms manufacturer, always got its wealth off of the expectation that others will be hurt and even killed; It’s blood money).

It may also add to the Collector’s story; They’ve failed to redeem Belos, so it’d be easy to believe that their compassion is an inherent mistake, as is giving others a chance, the agency to decide for themselves, etc. So when Luz reassures the Collector that they DID do good… Well, they end up going to the Archives to prevent it from collapsing. And THAT leads to the Collector potentially seeing Odalia, maybe being wary after what happened with Belos (Odalia and Belos are both adults who sought to exploit the Collector for their own ends)…

But the Collector doesn’t let Belos ruin their compassion and accepts Odalia’s change, even if they personally may not forgive her (They have less of a past with Odalia than the other kids, so it’s not as unlikely). Just as Gus felt like his kindness was taken advantage of, only to be reminded afterwards that it’s still worth it in the end when Hunter does reciprocate, we could’ve gotten something like that with the Collector and Odalia.

And on another note, I also wonder if this was the writers’ way of addressing criticisms regarding how Odalia was handled in Clouds on the Horizon, by providing a sympathetic side to her character as compensation; We’re reminded in the episode right after that Eda still remembers her as a stand-offish friend and not an Evil Child, instead of the writers doubling down by excluding Odalia from that flashback. Eda thinks she’s about to die here, but the memory of who Odalia once was is included to comfort her alongside other childhood companions, reminding us she wasn’t always like this and isn’t pure evil (not without working to become that at least).

But by the end of the day, it seems the writers opted to exchange Odalia’s role for Camila having more of a story in the finale, and tbh… I think that’s the right call, I agree with them there. This is the series finale to a show that’s ultimately about Luz, our main protagonist, and it’s why the finale places particular emphasis on Luz, and her relationship with her fellow main protagonists Eda and King. If they did take the Odalia route, I think we still would’ve seen Camila reunite with Luz at the Owl House, meet Eda and King, etc. But…

Camila is Luz’s mother, and their relationship is the inciting, beginning incident of the series. To see it all start because Camila was worried for her daughter, only to finally encounter a worst-case scenario with Luz despite everything she did to improve… and emphasizing her reaction to it, how Camila handles herself, picks herself up because as much as it hurts, she’s got other kids to look after? Just as Camila picked herself up after Manny’s death for Luz’s sake? Or kept herself strong in Yesterday’s Lie for Vee? Good stuff.

It wraps up Camila’s storyline more nicely, as someone whom we began the series with Luz; Camila is more important than Odalia, so I don’t blame the writers at all for prioritizing her. Odalia having a redemption of sorts likely would’ve felt too rushed, and while she contributes to the narrative of Belos, the Collector, and Amity, Camila contributes to Luz’s story and thus takes precedent, especially at this point in the story.

Especially since some have criticized TOH’s handling of characters of color; The crew has shown themselves responsive to these points, hence Luz and Camila’s hair changing in S3. So I wouldn’t be surprised if the criticism of white characters being prioritized over PoC stuck, and contributed to them having Odalia get shafted for Camila, rather than the other way around. It’s not perfect (an ideal situation in terms of budget and/or writing would’ve had both), but it does show a willingness to listen and actually respond to criticism, which I appreciate.

So in the end, the kids are awakened from their puppet states, not by a conscious Odalia who isn’t transformed and stumbles across the light glyph, but because like Camila, Amity is able to muster enough emotional will over her love of Luz to barely nudge her finger... just enough to tap the light glyph and activate it, freeing herself! The kids go out of their way to free Camila for help, and we get to reap the rewards of Camila’s development in how she copes with her daughter’s death, when fear for Luz was what incited the series and led to a less-than-ideal handling of the situation.

Camila gets to guide the kids with glyphs like her daughter does, showing an engagement with the isles after being apprehensive in the previous episode; And a connection to Luz, who has the Titan’s magic and is powering these spells… Camila is unwittingly calling upon her daughter for help and Luz is answering! And when it’s done, Camila gets to stand by the kids and not at a distance, because they love and accept her for having always been a good mother to them.

#the owl house #odalia blight #camila noceda #emperor belos #philip wittebane #the owl house collector #luz noceda #parallels #foils #analysis #speculation #meta

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lungs4sale · 4 months

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my fav hannigram fanfics

png by @pngsforyou

1. Impasto by jiggityjams

“You’re not going to try to discourage me, Will?” Another glance, a pursing of lips. “... No. I can see the determination in your face. You know what you want and you have the means to obtain it. Most clients think they know what they want- until they hear how long it will take and how much that work will cost. We’ll work out some numbers, of course, and draft a contract. If you’re willing to be patient with the piece then I’m willing to give it my best go.” A small, pleased smile spread across the psychiatrist’s face. “I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership, Will. I look forward to working with you.” Or the one where Hannibal has found a lost treasure and Will has given up on police work and has turned his talents to restoring oil paintings.

this is a different au where will quits the fbi and becomes a painter (if im not wrong). abigail is alive and works for him. i read this awhile ago and i remember loving it because of how sarcastic will was. one of my notes was: will was so desperate to open up (not sure why but this man is so touch starved and craved for affection in the show so i guess it's canon accurate). i also have a soft spot for fics with abigail in it because she deserves the world.

2. Five Times Hannibal Visits Will and One Time He's Already Home (or: Coffee Cake) by bones_2_be

When Will tells Hannibal to leave at the end of Digestivo, he goes. And then, a few years later, he shows back up. They have long conversations, drink a lot of wine, at the end of it all they find something that works.

i just finished reading this 2 days ago and it was an experience. i loved how well paced it was. the writing really matched the same vibe of the show. both hannibal and will were written quite accurately to how i feel they would react in the show itself. the way both of them interacted in this fic was realistic and how i wish i could erase my mind of this fic so i could experience it again for the first time.

3. each according to its kind by chaparral_crown

Will does the only reasonable thing that someone fresh out of a mental hospital with no support system does - he leaves, and goes on a road trip to the Pacific Northwest.

this fic is THE hannigram fic, fight with the wall. kidding. this is more of a character study of will (hannibal doesn't even show until halfway through). the writing is top tier and just like the fic before it really does match the vibe of the show. i personally am not a big fan of smut (i don't mind it, i just prefer plot over that) and this book barely had any in it which is a godsend.

4. ...And This One is Just Right by Sabi

When an injured BSHCI escapee breaks into Dr. Graham's vet clinic, it doesn't end cleanly. Surely it couldn't happen again? Or again?

will is a vet in this universe and i'm not sure why but i pictured him younger? it's only 4 chapters if im not wrong and it's a fun read! the characterisation of will is not as accurate to the show but to be fair it is a different universe and i still love this fic dearly.

pngs by @saizun

i'll post more because i want to create an archive here. i don't really like how ao3 looks so i'm going to do it on tumblr instead. if you have any hannigram recs plsplsplspls let me know because i'm literally begging for scraps sire. also merry christmas to those celebrating!

#hannigram #hannibal nbc #ao3 fanfic #ao3 recs #will graham #hannibal #alana bloom #abigail hobbs #plasticghostbot's ao3 recs #hannibal lecter #each according to its kind #...and this one is just right #Five Times Hannibal Visits Will and One Time He's Already Home (or: Coffee Cake)#impasto #beverly katz #i love hannigram sosososo much #hannigram ao3

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lackablazeical · 1 year

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I'm kinda new to this au (I first saw it on ao3), do you have like a rundown of what exactly it is? lore and such? I'm super interested in this au jut i have 0 idea what the story is lmao

Since the masterpost is taking so long I'm editing a previously made post as a placeholder until the ACTUAL masterpost is finished enough to post

As for what the AU is, it's meant to be a horror/comedy but that also tackles dark themes in a (hopefully) well-written way. It's meant to take rottmnt and twist it much darker, and just to be something enjoyable to those who like spooky and disturbing things!

With that disturbing things mentioned, this AU also has a lot of TWs, including (but not limited to): underage drinking/smoking, violence, experimentation/abuse of animals and humanoid beings, dubious/no consent to activities such as kissing or cuddling, disassociation, toxic relationships, stalking, self harm, slut-shaming, useage of queer slurs, and more. Be careful with this one!

Also with that: this AU is not meant to glorify, romanticize, or endorse any of these relationships, warnings, or characters behavior. I do not want anyone finding the relationships cute, thinking they are redeemable, etc. None of my content is meant to be taken that way, it is not created to be sexual/suggestive, etc etc. These are MINORS. In ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS. don't be gross.

Lore is iffy in this AU, especially future canon. So good luck and I am sorry lol

Basically, for the Hamatos:

Splinters backstory goes the same, just he was also involved in the yakuza. Him and BM reconnected and ended up together when the boys were young (Raph was 11, L & D were 10, Mike was 9). Mikey starts going/working at the Nexus around this time, and drinking too. I Want to say the gang met April when she was 9 (so R8, LD7, M6) and they do shenanigans for a while. Leo meets Usagi at 16, goes wild.

The foot/kraang in this world are not exactly a threat, as the Hamatos themselves own the key and a large part of the Armour. None of them know what it is or does.

Usagis backstory:

READ USAGI'S BACKSTORY HERE.

Leo and Usagi are a 'romantic' relationship of the dynamic of stalker and victim. Usagi is a victim to Leo, who is obsessive, can't understand 'no', etc etc. Usagi is codependent further into their relationship. They are forever toxic, this will not change.

Donnie and Ishida aren't romantic, but still a toxic dynamic of sadist and masochist. Ishida wants to feel pain to 'prove' himself, Donnie provides and studies. I may use the term Donnida for these too, but again, not romantic. They are close friends.

Mikey and Kenichi ('Michi') are probably the most functional of the 3 dynamics. They are friends by circumstance, but find they both bond over their hatred of 'Leosagi' and often enjoy gossiping/shit talking together. They also play fight occasionally.

Characters such as Draxum, Evil league of mutants, Cassandra, and Mona Lisa all exist as well!!!!@ tumblr just has a FUCKING IMAGE LIMIT.

Draxum isn't close with the boys, and he works with BM closely. Only Mikey and Don are aware of the fact he made them.

Cassandra is still with the Foot, crushing on April hard, etc etc.

I promise I'm working on the masterpost, I'm just slow and. A little stupid

#addams! tmnt au #rottmnt au #addams! usagi #addams! leosagi #addams! leo #addams! mikey #addams! donnie #addams! raph #addams! april #addams! ishida #addams! chizu #addams! kenichi #addams! miyamotos #addams! lore post

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letteredlettered · 3 months

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Re: the ask about reading -- do you have any high fantasy recs?

I think the definition of "high fantasy" is pretty loose, but I generally take it to mean heroic fantasy that's really heavy on world-building, like Lord of the Rings.

I honestly cannot say that I have recs. I liked this stuff not because it was good but because it satisfied my id; the recent thing I found was the same way. Here follows some explanations, but if you're looking for recs, I don't have them.

I grew up on this kind of fantasy and read a lot of it. I read a ton of Terry Brooks, but now I'm kind of embarrassed about it. I also read the first book in Wheel of Time, but could not get into it. It's very slow, and I like some very dense, slow things, but I am a very slow reader, so there has to be some reward for a very slow pace, which there definitely is in something like LOTR, but imo was not there in WoT. But then I got into Sword of Truth, and read like three before I had to quit because the misogyny and the writing were just so, so bad. Like, it still hits lots of my kinks! But I could not stomach it.

So then I found this guy called George RR Martin--this was long before the GoT tv show; I only knew one person who had ever heard of him--my aunt, who btw recced me Wheel of Time and Sword of Truth, and was the only person in the world I knew who read this type of stuff. (Incidentally she was the only person I'd ever met who had read LOTR when I was a kid. I did not grow up in a population that did much reading for fun. My family read a lot! But not like me.) I was quite into the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire but in the end the misogyny and bad writing were even worse than Sword of Truth. (I remember one time years later when I met another living soul who had heard of these books and it was such a disaster talking to him. He was like, "Misogyny? What do you mean, misogyny??? That world is just like that!") Anyway, GRRT was why I quit high fantasy like that. I just got very tired of these worlds that hit so many kinks of mine that also made my skin crawl and made me feel kind of dirty for reading them. (I'm not knocking on anyone who likes these series! I don't think it's misogynist to read them or enjoy them! I just got tired of them!)

Anyway so you're asking because I mentioned recently in another ask that I had recently got back into reading high fantasy because I found a series that interested me. I'm so sorry to have misled, because the series interested me but I cannot, and I can't stress this enough, I cannot rec it. It is not good. It is misogynist. It is poorly written. It is all of the things that I did not like about Sword of Truth and GoT! And Terry Brooks and whatever other series like those I read! But it has this very scientific approach to the world-building that seems very keen on explaining exactly how the magic works in a way that I'm very attracted to, and it was really different and refreshing compared to a lot of stuff that seems very hellbent on this medieval Europe dragons and sorcery vibe.

Anyway the series is The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. I know! I know! I'm literally telling you this with my hands over my face; I'm so embarrassed. But look. Look, let me tell you, the best, the absolute best thing about reading a book by an unpleasantly conservative Mormon (who by the way, worships Orson Scott Card; now you know why I'm embarrassed) is that all of the writing comes across as deeply repressed. No one is allowed to have sex in these books, not even heterosexually. There are no ships in the first book. In the second book one ship emerges and another begins to emerge, but the one that gets realized does not have any sex scenes and also the man is deeply conflicted about having sex with the woman at all.

The result is that everyone reads as really flaming gay. Now, you might ask why I don't just go read LGBT books by LGBT authors, and let me tell you--I do! And they're good. But I think the world-building is interesting in the Stormlight Archive, and additionally--I like things where everyone is repressed and no one gets to have sex. And sometimes that happens because of censorship; witness my adoration of The Untamed. I don't condone the censorship. It sucks! But frankly, it can be hard sometimes to get media that doesn't have a lot of sex and romance but still hits certain narrative kinks, and honestly this is probably a big reason I like so many kids' shows too, because romance is often not the focus.

And I know there are now a lot more stories that feature asexuality or aromanticism! Which is great! But it's not what I'm looking for either. I'm not not looking for things that are explicitly ace or aro. I'm looking for things in which sexuality doesn't even seem to exist in that world, where everyone seems super oblivious to the idea of sex, where everyone is constantly gagging for it and does not seem to realize they could get what they wanted by just making use of their genitals. Why am I attracted to this? I do not know.

I can tell you're still looking askance at me, since I obviously like romance. I love it! But for some reason, I either don't like how lots of media does it, or I'm just tired of it, or I just want to do it my own way, so canons with intense relationships and no sex are often something I can really get into. (I still love romances as well! Variety is the spice of life!!!) Anyway, that's what I liked about The Stormlight Archives, but I definitely cannot rec them. Also while it's seems like it's trying not to be racist, it's also racist, in that fantasy racist way that claims it's not about skin color but is a metaphor for skin color and might actually be about skin color, really, when you think about it. And it's very gender essentialist. Honestly I could write a very long post about the ways in which these books offend me. But I still enjoyed reading them.

#high fantasy

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ajeepgirl · 1 month

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After a nearly 8 month break, I have finally finished another Supercorp story. Hope you enjoy it!

Excerpt:

The first time it happened, Lena was fast asleep. She fell asleep on her couch, a half-empty bottle of scotch on the coffee table. Ever since she woke up in this new world, she has felt even more alone than ever before. Like she is stuck behind a magic mirror, only able to view the rest of the world, but not interact with it. She knows it is partly her fault. She let her own anger and past experiences dictate her actions after finding out about Kara. She pushed her away. So far away, in fact, that Kara saw fit to come to her place the previous night, one final time, and let her know just how much distance is between them now. That she is now considered in league with her brother and that just like Superman does with Lex, Supergirl swore to take her down if she crossed the line. Apparently, a Luthor really can’t work with a Super. That just isn’t how their story was meant to go.

It is just after midnight. Lena’s arm hanging off the couch, her fingers barely grazing the hardwood floors. Her other hand rests on her stomach as she lets the scotch settle and her mind drift off to sleep. She spent the evening replaying her most recent conversation with Kara, over and over again. She didn’t know Kara was capable of such forcefulness, of such anger. But then again, she did know that Supergirl was capable of these things, her mind reminding her of the time Supergirl berated her and told her that it is dangerous for a Luthor to know a Super’s identity. Not only that, but Supergirl was willing to have her friend, Lena’s partner at the time, sneak in and see if Lena had kryptonite. That was supposed to also be her best friend. Regardless of that fact, Lena knows that if Supergirl had asked, she would have told her the truth. But in the end, it was the straw that broke Lena’s trust in Supergirl. She had finally realized that Supergirl was always going to have some level of distrust with her because of her last name. No matter how many times she helped them. Lena had accepted that fact and accepted that she would always be on the outside, coming to help when it suited Supergirl and her ragtag team of heroes.

That was before she found out that Kara and Supergirl were one in the same. Before she realized that Kara was two-faced and lied to her for years. That while Supergirl demonstrated her own distrust of Lena Luthor, Kara was showing up to console her and tell her that everything will be okay. Lena often questioned herself, asking herself how she had not seen the truth in all those years. She reminds herself that Kara and Supergirl were two completely different personas, and thus appeared to be two very different people, despite how similar they looked. How was Lena to know that the soft, warm-hearted best friend that was always there for her, was also the one accusing Lena of betraying her?

Something in Lena shattered after finding out the truth. Something deep inside, rooted in her very soul. That’s why she was driven to seek revenge this time around. She didn’t do what she did with Andrea and just cut her out of her life. No. She wanted to hurt Kara the way Kara had hurt her.

Well, Lena got what she thought she wanted… in the end.

As Lena’s breathing evens out, her mind finally letting her rest, she sleeps lightly for nearly an hour before her mind sinks into deep slumber. It is here when she first sees it. Something she knows never happened, but at the same time, feels so familiar. It is like she is watching herself, watching the scene unfold in front of her eyes. She sees herself sitting in her office at Lcorp, on her couch, eating lunch with Kara Danvers. Except this doesn’t go the way she remembers it going. Suddenly Kara is confessing that she is Supergirl. She echoes much of what she said when she finally did tell Lena the truth, the night of the awards ceremony. Lena watches her own reaction. As Kara is called away, Lena watches as she herself walks out of her office, dazed and teary eyed. It is like she is pulled along with herself, with no control over her actions. She blinks and suddenly she is in her private jet, in the air. Where the hell is she going?

She doesn’t have to wait long. Another blink of her eyes and she is walking down the street with Sam Arias. She is back in Metropolis. She flew to see Sam after Kara confessed that she was Supergirl. Inside, Lena chides herself for not doing this in real life. She listens intently as she watches herself confess one of her greatest fears, that she really is just like her family after all. That maybe she has been a villain all along. Sam, one of her dearest friends, is so reassuring and reaffirming. Lena is not a villain. She saved Sam’s life, after all. Watching the scene unfold, Lena feels her heart warm, wishing she did a better job at keeping up with Sam and wishing Sam never moved. Lena knows she just shut down and shut everyone out after she found out. Hell, she made herself an artificial intelligence to talk to. She now can’t help but wonder if maybe things would have been different if she had someone else around in her life to confide in. Someone to provide an alternative perspective. Someone to be supportive of Lena, but also willing to call her out when she goes too off the deep end. Something she is keen to do when she is drowning in her own pain. Something she has been doing for months now.

The scene shifts again suddenly, as Lena is back on her airplane, a look of sheer terror on her face as she talks into her phone. “Alex, I’m on my way back, right now. I have something that will help her. I swear.” She can practically feel the emotions radiating off herself. The fear, the anguish, the guilt. It’s overwhelming. “No, I don’t have anything to help get the kryptonite out of the air, but I do have something to sustain Super… to help Kara.” Lena’s heart drops as she realizes when this is from. The night her former mentor, Mercy Graves, released kryptonite into the air in order to poison and kill Supergirl. Lena remembers the frantic call from Alex. She remembers her own heart pounding as she raced across town to the DEO with the device that she had made just a few months prior. She might have been at odds with Supergirl, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to protect her. Supergirl gave everyone hope. Even if she didn’t trust Lena, Lena knew Supergirl was still doing a lot of good for the world and that someone had to help protect her.

Another blink and Lena is suddenly watching herself rushing into the DEO. Her eyes wild as she looks for someone to direct her to Supergirl. It’s when she spots Brainy walking into the open area from a hallway. She makes a beeline for him. Seeing her coming, Brainy stands still, his eyes wide, a look of disbelief on his face. She can see him visibly swallow. “Where is she?” She hears herself ask.

“It’s too late,” Brainy says softly. “We lost her.”

“No.” Lena’s heart sinks. Her body follows, crumping to the floor.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Brainy offers, his voice sounding distant and empty.

It’s then that Lena hears crashing sounds from down the hallway. She looks back the hallway and back at Brainy.

“Alex,” is his only explanation.

Watching herself, Lena’s eyes fill with tears. She was too late to save her best friend. A tear-filled blink and suddenly Lena finds herself standing in front of a gravestone.

Kara Danvers

“No…” Lena says, falling to her knees once again. She watches herself cry over Kara’s grave, apologizing again and again and again.

Lena gasps and suddenly finds herself shooting up into a sitting position, back on her couch in her penthouse. She grasps her chest with her hand, feeling her heart pounding out of her chest. Her eyes are wide, her mind taking a few seconds to register where she is and what happened. Lena is not one to remember many of her dreams. But this dream felt so real. It felt like she was living it. She could feel every part of that dream, almost like it was a real-life memory that she was revisiting.

“What the hell…” she says to herself. Looking at the clock, she sees that it is nearly 3 in the morning. She spends the next hour pacing her apartment, trying to will her body to calm itself down. It’s nearly 5 in the morning before she manages to fall asleep again.

Continue here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54572677

#supercorp #supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #kara x lena

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uselesstaroth · 2 months

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Over two weeks ago I made this post

And here it is.

Sonic gets attacked by new eggman robots that he cannot damage in any way, and he gets separated from all his friends.

His only leads are:

The robots are similar to the ones from Starfall Islands

A gut feeling that Sage might be involved

A mysterious medallion he found after nearly drowning to death appears to reveal a map to a location he's never been in

Creative process beneath the "read more"

So, Sonic Underground came out in between the JP and US releases of Sonic Adventure, meaning it is completely divorced from moder Sonic media.

I always wanted to make a post-frontiers story that didn't involve some form of Evil Sonic or dead/missing Sonic.

I also noticed how few appearances Sonic makes in my usual stories, so I thought him as a focus would have been fun and a change of pace.

I watched Sonic Underground a lot as a kid, and I have held to this day that the most interesting thing that show did was giving Sonic two siblings to bounce off of that are the same age as him.

Now for the actual fic:

Most of my fics are LARP'd / music daydreamed before I write them down, which is why most of them are based on songs, and this one is... Actually an exception.

The post linked at the top is essentially how I came up with if this one. "What if Sonic Underground comes after Frontiers", and that's it.

That means that Sonic, Manic and Sonia have been apart for many years after their childhoods and that influenced how I wrote them.

I wrote Manic as a sort of community pillar vibe because of his scrappy upbringing evolving into a sense of community and activism. It also complemented with the decision to make a cymbal shield his main weapon of choice which does appear on the show. Him always breaking silences will be a running gag, don't you worry.

Sonia is a little more stick in the mud, mostly because right now she's in "business" mode, and I do plan to have her relax a bit as they make progress in saving the world. Also, the keyboard gun is not my invention, it's in the show, and that influenced her personality in this first chapter for sure.

Sonic is Sonic. Self explanatory in my opinion. The main changes from canon I suppose is that he's a lot more awkward around the other triplets, which just came about naturally, the fact that he's careful now (I imagine because Tails eventually gave him an earful about his attitude in Starfall Islands). Changing the laser guitar into a guitar sword is my firm belief that's how they'd do it if Underground had come out after Sonic and the Black Knight. It also helps him stand out from Sonia who also shoots lasers.

The most important thing I avoided was making the triplets eager to call eachother siblings. There's no way they get there quickly, they've lived their own lives for far too long. Manic being excited about it probably says something about his character.

The ending of this chapter comes from me realizing the seven chaos emeralds aren't a thing in Sonic Underground, and wanting to incorporate that in some way.

Also Infinite! What's he doing here? Not too sure.

And that's the gist of it

#manic the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sonia the hedgehog #queen aleena #aleena the hedgehog #sonic underground #sonic underground odyssey #really like this one #miles tails prower #my creative process is a mess #sonic underground au

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isfjmel-phleg · 2 months

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A few adaptations/retellings don't get the significance of the fact that Mary has grown up unloved and for whatever reason try to soften her relationship with her parents. But many of them do grasp just how neglected she's been and highlight it, especially in light of how prickly it has made her. These versions tend to understand the root of her issues relatively easily.

But an overwhelming number of recent adaptations/retellings do not do the same for Colin. It is extremely common for these versions to give him/his equivalent a warm relationship with his now-deceased mother/equivalent. In The Humming Room, Phillip "adored [his mother] and she adored him back," and he is in the depths of depression after losing her. Callie in The Misselthwaite Archives has fond memories of her late mother and footage of the family enjoying happy times in the glade, as well as a father who, even though he's gone frequently, regularly keeps in touch with her through affectionate postcards. When Mary meets Colin in the 2020 film, he talks about his relationship with his mother, how she "loved me hugely" (painfully awkward wording), and her letters back that up. Colin in The Secret Garden on 81st Garden mourns the apparently very recent death of a loving father and, despite his anger toward Mr. Craven, is still surrounded by adults who appear to genuinely care about his wellbeing. Although Clement in The Edge of In Between was an infant when his mother died, he apparently had such a close bond with her already that he lost all color (something that happens to those who succumb to grief in this book's world) after losing her. It's been a while since I've read A Bit of Earth, but if I recall correctly, Colin in that book also knew and loved his mother before her death and struggles more with living up to (perceived?) familial expectations than feeling rejected or unloved.

And I'm not saying that these creative choices were necessarily ineffective within the stories that these authors/creators chose to tell. But it does take the character in a fundamentally different direction. Not only does it eliminate one of the deliberate parallels in his and Mary's backgrounds, but it also alters the root of the character's problems.

There are a lot of messed-up reasons for why he is the way he is, but what it ultimately comes down to is this: Colin is unloved. He has never been loved. Like Mary, he exhibits the behavior he does because he has never learned how to connect with others. It's easy to miss this about him, easy to get so caught up in what a horrid little brat he genuinely is that it might not immediately occur to the reader how loveless his existence has been--every bit as loveless as Mary's. His mother died giving birth to him, his father rejects him because of this, and his caretakers are all "tired of him" and (in one case) have even said in front of him that it would be better for him and everyone else if he died.

No wonder he has such ambivalence toward living. Dickon tells Mary once that his mother believes that unwantedness is "th' worst thing on earth for a child," that "Them as is not wanted scarce ever thrives." And that is the root of Colin's problems, the reason his expectation out of life is to die. This is more of the point than any psychological condition that we might be able to pin on the character--those things are symptoms, not causes. This is why developing strong friendships is so important to his arc, why his getting hugged (possibly for the first time in his life) by Mrs. Sowerby and telling her that he wishes she were his mother is such a poignant moment, why his arc ends with being reunited with and accepted by his father.

(Weirdly enough, an adaptation that did seem to pick up on this was the 1986 musical, in which Colin is introduced with a solo entitled "No One Needs Me." A bit too on-the-nose and self-aware for him to be able to spell out like that, perhaps, but as a summation of the problem? Spot on.)

If, as recent adaptations and retellings interpret him, he is a child who has been loved and has lost that, his behavior as Burnett depicts comes from a different place and possibly makes less sense, his whole character changes, and the themes shift. He becomes someone who needs to work through traditional grief--which in the original book is his father's arc, not his--rather than someone who needs to learn that his existence has meaning and that he can matter to other people (and they to him).

And I think that's why a lot of these reinterpretations of the character feel a bit off to me? There tends to be so much concern for remolding him in light of themes of disability or mental health (which are significant to his character! but not all that there is) that the original point of his being as much an emotionally neglected and unloved child as Mary can get lost in translation.

#The Secret Garden

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morally-grey-girlbosses · 7 months

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Gertrude Robinson art courtesy of @spiralstain.

Propaganda under the cut.

Mapleshade:

Ok I also submitted her to the toxic mothers tourney, so my description here is the exact same thing that I submitted there. THIS IS NOT PLAGIARISM. I AM THE ORIGINAL SUBMITTER. Mapleshade was a cat who died several generations before the main series began. She had kids through an illegal relationship with the man who killed her leader’s son, and she and her very young children were ultimately exiled from their Clan when the truth of their parentage was revealed. Mapleshade tried to take them across the river to their father, and all three kittens were swept away and drowned. Mapleshade then went on a grief-fueled killing spree, driven by hallucinations of her dead children urging her to kill the cats she perceived to be responsible for their deaths. Eventually, she confronted her ex and his pregnant mate (bc oh yeah, it turns out Mapleshade was the Other Woman), and the ex was killed protecting his pregnant mate. Mapleshade also died in this fight, but her hatred was so strong that she basically became a demon in cat hell and declared eternal suffering on her ex’s entire bloodline. Two generations later, the ex’s grandson breaks his jaw as a kitten and is rejected by his mother. Mapleshade swoops in as a maternal figure and promises to make the poor kid into the best warrior he can be, despite his broken jaw being a significant disability. She grooms and manipulates him throughout his entire life, and every person he loves dies horribly, one by one. Whether or not Mapleshade actually caused these deaths is unclear, but she does make Crookedstar (the cat she’s been manipulating) believe that she’s caused them. This is because when Crookedstar was a small, rejected child, she made him promise her that he would always put his Clan first. Being a kid, Crookedstar made the promise without a second thought, not realizing that Mapleshade meant that he could never be close with anyone (since that would mean putting his loved ones before his Clan). Therefore, Crookedstar thinks that every death of his loved ones is a punishment from Mapleshade, his maternal figure, for breaking the promise he made as a kitten.

Gertrude Robinson:

She is the definition of the trolley problem. Sacrificing those who trusted her in order to save the world, only to find out the world would have been safe either way.

Gertrude is a badass old lady who killed many people and many monsters, ate people’s fears and forced information out of them. She manipulated folks into doing what she needed, neglected the health of one of her closest allies, and stopped several apocalyptic rituals. She was only stopped because the guy trying to manipulate her into ending the world shot her in the chest three times. Morally gray queen, rest in violence maam

She once dismembered a guy and dumped him in a sinkhole, destroying an entire town, in order to prevent the end of the world. She's dedicated to preventing various armageddons, and her favorite methods to do so involve plastic explosives.

#poll #tournament poll #round 2 #mapleshade #warriors #warrior cats #gertrude robinson #tma #the magnus archives

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