#anyways another art with a demographic of possible three people

[vinsportgar]

"you're like me,

you have that same emptiness."

colors are shit.

#art #vinsportgar #fanart #kishou arima #take hirako #tg:re #tg #tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul root a #tokyo ghoul re #tokyo ghoul:re #hirako take #arima kishou #doves #black goat #ccg #arihira #is that. the ship name? #idk #anyways another art with a demographic of possible three people #shout out for us rarepair fans #ima post it at ao3 too maybe because idk maybe it will have more reach

[themollyjay]

The Myths of Forced Diversity and Virtue Signaling.

In my novel Mail Order Bride, the three main characters are a lesbian and two agendered aliens.  In my novel Scatter, the main character is a lesbian, the love interest is a pansexual alien, and the major side characters include a half Cuban, half black Dominican lesbian, a Chinese Dragon, a New York born Jewish Dragon, and a Transgender Welsh Dragon.  In my novel The Master of Puppets, the Main Characters are a lesbian shapeshifting reptilian alien cyborg and a half black, half Japanese lesbian.  The major side characters include three gender fluid shapeshifting reptilian alien cyborgs, and a pansexual human.  In my novel Transistor, the main character is a Trans Lesbian, the love interest is a Half human/Half Angel non-observant Ethiopian Jew, and the major side characters include a Transgender Welsh Dragon (the same one from Scatter), a Transgender woman, a Latino Lesbian, an autistic man, three Middle Eastern Arch Angels, and a hive mind AI with literally hundreds of genders.  In my novel The Inevitable singularity, one of the main characters is a lesbian, another has a less clearly defined sexuality but she is definitely in love with the lesbian, and the third is functionally asexual due to a vow of chastity she takes very seriously.  The major side characters include a straight guy from a social class similar to the Dalit (commonly known as untouchables) in India, a bisexual woman, a man who is from a race of genetically modified human/frog hybrids, and a woman from a race of genetically modified humans who are bred and sold as indentured sex workers.

Why am I bringing all of this up?  Well, first, because it’s kind of cool to look at the list of different characters I’ve created, but mostly because it connects to what I want to talk about today, which should be obvious from the title of the essay.  The concepts of ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’.

For those who aren’t familiar with these terms, they’re very closely related concepts.  ‘Forced Diversity’ is the idea that characters who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males are only ever included in a story because of outside pressure from some group (usually called Social Justice Warriors, or The Woke Brigade or something similar) to meet some nebulous political agenda.  The caveat to this is, of course, that you can have a women/women present as long as they are hot, don’t make any major contributions to the resolution of the plot, and the hero/heroes get to fuck them before the end of the story. ‘Virtue Signaling’, according to Wikipedia, is a pejorative neologism for the expression of a disingenuous moral viewpoint with the intent of communicating good character.

The basic argument is that Forced Diversity is a form of virtue signaling.  That no one would ever write characters who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males because they want to.  They only do it to please the evil SJW’s who are somehow both so powerful that they force everybody to conform to their desires, yet so irrelevant that catering to them dooms any creative project to financial failure via the infamous ‘go woke, go broke’ rule.

What the people who push this idea of Forced Diversity tend to forget is that we exist at a point in time when creators actually have more creative freedom than are any other people in history.  Comic writers can throw up a website and publish their work as a webcomic without having to go through Marvel, DC or one of the other big names, or get a place in the dying realm of the news paper comics page.  Novelists can self-publish with fairly little upfront costs, musicians can use places like YouTube and Soundcloud to get their work out without having to worry about music publishers.  Artists can hock their work on twitter and tumblr and a dozen other places. Podcasts are relatively cheap to make, which has opened up a resurgence in audio dramas.  Even the barrier to entry for live action drama is ridiculously low.

So, in a world where creators have more freedom than ever before, why would they choose to people their stories with characters they don’t want there?  The answer, of course, is that they wouldn’t.  Authors, comic creators, indie film creators and so on aren’t putting diverse characters into their stories because they are being forced to. They’re putting diverse characters into their stories because they want to.  Creators want to tell stories about someone other than the generically handsome hypermasculine cisgendered heterosexual white males that have been the protagonists of so many stories over the years that we’ve choking on it. A lot of times, creators want to tell stories about people like themselves.  Black creators want to tell stories about the black experience. Queer creators want to tell stories about the queer experience.

I’m an autistic, mentally ill trans feminine abuse survivor.  Every day, I get up and I struggle with PTSD, with an eating disorder, with severe body dysmorphia, with anxiety and depression and just the reality of being autistic and transgender.  I deal with the fact that the religious community I grew up in views me as an abomination, and genuinely believes I’m going to spend eternity burning in hell.  I deal with the fact that people I’ve known for decades, even members of my own family, regularly vote for politician who publicly state that they want to strip me of my civil rights because I’m queer.  I’m part of a community that experiences a disproportionately high murder and suicide rate.  I’ve spent multiple years of my life deep in suicidal depression, and to this day, I still don’t trust myself around guns.

As a creator, I want to talk about those issues.  I want to deal with my life experiences.  I want to create characters that embody and express aspects of my lived experience and my day-to-day reality.  No one is forcing me to put diversity into my books.  I try to include Jewish characters as often as I can because there have been a number of important Jewish people in my life.  I include queer people because I’m queer and the vast majority of friends I interact with on a regular basis are queer.  I include people with mental illnesses and trauma because I am mentally ill and have trauma, and I know a lot of people with mental illnesses and trauma.  My work may be full of fantastical elements, aliens and dragons and angels and superheroes and magic and ultra-high technology and AI’s and talking cats and robot dogs and shape shifters and telepaths and all sorts of other things, but at the core of the stories is my own lived experience, and neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males are vanishingly rare in that experience.

Now, I can hear the comments already.  The ‘okay, maybe that’s true for individual creators, but what about corporate artwork?’.   Maybe not in those exact words, but you get the idea.

The thought here is that corporations are bowing to social pressure to include characters who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males, and that is somehow bad. But here’s the thing. Corporations are going to chase the dollars.  They aren’t bowing to social pressure.  There’s no one holding a gun to some executive’s head saying, “You must have this many diversity tokens in every script.”  What is happening is that corporations are starting to clue into the fact that people who aren’t neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white males have money.  They are putting black characters in their shows and movies because black people watch shows and spend money on movies.  They are putting queer people in shows and movies because queer people watch shows and spend money on movies.  They are putting women in shows and movies because women watch shows and spend money on movies.

No one is forcing these companies to do this.  They are choosing to do it, the same way individual creators are choosing to do it.  In the companies’ cases the choices are made for different reasons.  It’s not because they are necessarily passionate about telling stories about a particular experience, but because they want to create art to be consumed by the largest audience possible, which means that they have to expand their audience beyond the neurotypical cisgendered heterosexual white male by including characters from outside of that demographic.

And the reality is, the cries of ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’ almost always come from within that demographic.  Note the almost.  There are a scattering of individuals from outside that demographic which do subscribe to the ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’ myths, but that is a whole other essay.  However, within that demographic, lot of the people who cry about ‘forced diversity’ see media and content as a Zero-Sum game.  The more that’s created for other people, the less that is created for them.

In a way, they’re right. There are only so many slots for TV shows each week, there are only so many theaters, only so much space on comic bookshelves and so on.  But at the end of the day, its literally impossible for them to consume all the content that’s being produced anyway.  So, while there is, theoretically less content for them to consume, as a practical matter it’s a bit like someone who is a meat eater going to a buffet with two hundred items, and then throwing a tantrum because five of the items happen to be vegan.

The worst part is, if they could let go of how wound up they are about the ‘forced diversity’ and ‘virtue signaling’ they could probably enjoy the content that’s produced for people other than them.  I mean, I’m a pasty ass white girl, and I loved Black Panther.

So, to wrap out, creators, make what you want to make, and ignore anyone who cries about forced diversity or virtue signaling.  And to people who are complaining about forced diversity and virtue signaling, I want to go back to the buffet metaphor.  You need to relax.  Even if there are a few vegan options on the buffet, you can still get your medium rare steak, or your chicken teriyaki or whatever it is you want.  Or, maybe, just maybe, you could give the falafel a try. That shit is delicious.

#writing #original fiction #media #representation #diversity #the war of souls #the hearts of heroes #The Master of Puppets #scatter #transistor #the inevitable singularity #mail order bride

[system-threat-detected]

So I’m running a D&D game set in the Horizon universe, so I think about a lot of unnecessary worldbuilding stuff, like main exports/imports of tribes, what resources they might have available to them based on in-game evidence, and other stuff. It got me thinking about their clothes. Specifically the stranglehold the Oseram seem to have on linen. 

I don’t actually know a lot about clothes, cloth, or armor, so take that as you will. It’s something that vaguely interests me, but most of my knowledge comes from quick google searches, or that one time I went down a cloth-based rabbit hole on Wikipedia, so please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about stuff. 

Out of all of the tribes that we see in-game, the Oseram are the only ones who use (what I’m assuming to be) linen in their armor. While this can be chalked up to design language - trying to get us to read someone as Oseram at a glance just by looking at them - I’m going to read more into it. 

Flax, the plant that linen is made from, grows well in Idaho/The Claim, and enriches the soil with nitrogen, blooms early, and is easily replaced by native plants, making it ideal for terraforming that part of the US. It would make sense for DEMETER to put it there, meaning the Oseram would be the ones who produced and sold the linen found everywhere else in game.

[ID: three Oseram mercenaries, dressed in leathers, metal, and cloth. end description.] 

Your average Oseram citizen also wears this cloth, though most of them seem to be wearing forge-worthy leathers (which could pass as armor anyways) based on my exploration of Pitchcliff and Free Heap. 

Another demographic who wears this non-leather cloth are common Carja citizens, as well as the poor/displaced people of Sunfall. More wealthy citizens and outlanders wear silk, and the nobles wear almost exclusively silk(Charles why did you think putting silkworms in the middle of Utah was a good idea? They are not native animals. Charles the silkworms that produce usable amounts of silk have been so domesticated they can’t even survive in the wild anymore. Charles silkworms can ONLY eat Mulberry tree leaves, which, thinking about it, I may actually have found in The Jewel. Charles pls.), but that’s a topic for another post. 

[ID: Five Carja citizens from the Horizon Zero Dawn art book. Two are labeled “Craftspeople Woman” and “Craftspeople Man”, who appear to be wearing mostly linen and some silk. One is labeled “Artisan”, and is wearing some linen, a lot of silk, and some decorative machine parts. The last two are labeled “Villager Man” and “Villager Woman”, and are wearing all linen, no silk. End description.] 

It makes sense that the Carja have access to this linen, as they canonically have good trading relations with the Oseram. 

It’s also worth pointing out that black/purple dye is time consuming and extremely difficult to do. The shadow Carja/Eclipse made it part of their Whole Aesthetic, which I find hilarious(but looking deeper into the implications, horrified). They’re canonically starving all the time and they still find the time to dye black clothes. 

[ID: A turnaround of an Eclipse thug, whose outfit is mainly tattered, deep black cloth, with some dark red, bullets, and a white mask. End description.] 

Black dye can come from chestnut trees, so there is, in fact, an in-game basis for this, as I found chestnut trees in The Jewel while looking for avocado trees, but I’m even more incredulous they figured out how to make purple. The most likely sources, since they obviously don’t have access to that super exclusive Mediterranean shellfish, are Rocky Mountain Irises, Blackberries, Elderberries, or Daylilies, none of which I have seen in game, but can grow in the Utah area.

We can interact with exactly one Utaru in the whole game, but the concept art for them appears to be mostly woven/dried plant leaves or leather, and some machine parts.

[ID: The front and back views of two Utaru. They both are wearing outfits with strips of dried plants or leather woven together in alternating black and yellow patterns, a mysterious mint green cloth, red feathers, a little bit of black fur, and a dried grass cape. Both are wearing hats made of woven plant/leather, machine parts, and what appears to be wood. End description.]

Looking at Rea, the Utaru we interact with in-game, the mysterious mint green is toned back to a more natural green, and it actually looks more like leather than fabric.

[ID: A waist-up in-game rendering of Rea, an Utaru woman. The rendered textures make everything previously assumed to be cloth or plant fiber, besides her grass cape, look like leathers that have been tanned differently. End description.] 

It’s possible the Utaru have access to cotton, but there simply isn’t enough in-game information to confirm or deny that. 

The Banuk and Nora tribes overwhelmingly use leather and hide, along with assorted machine parts (like metal or cables) in their wardrobe. It makes sense for them to be dressed this way, as where they live is colder than the Sundom or Plainsong. I have, however, noticed there are strips of cloth used in their outfits. 

[ID: Four generic Banuk warriors, wearing leathers dyed their traditional light greens, blues, yellows, and reds. Their heavy, warm outfits also include furs which range from, and sometimes gradient from, blacks to whites. There are strips of what appears to be vibrant blue cloth wrapped around their limbs, as well as attached to their weapons. End description.] 

The blue cloth the Banuk use to tie their boots up/their arm wraps on and on their spears is obviously a reference to the Blue Light, and is the only cloth in their outfits. The rest is warm leathers or furs. Their territory, Ban-Ur, is mostly covered in glaciers, so it makes sense they’d opt for overall warmer clothes.

While we know from Bergrund that the Banuk don’t like trading for ‘necessities’, it is possible that the easily-dyed blue cloth is one of the things they will trade for, as it holds religious symbolism for them.  

And the Nora:

[ID: Concept art of four generic Nora Braves, all wearing outfits comprised of natural leathers, white machine metal, and blue machine cables. End description.] 

[ID: Aloy wearing the Nora Silent Hunter Heavy armor. The armor is mostly made of natural leathers, but there is a green and blue net woven of some unknown material. End description.]

The green/blue net/rope stuff we see in Nora outfits is most likely woven from natural fibers taken from dogbane, nettle, or milkweed. 

Aloy’s scarf looks like it’s made of silk, 

[ID: An in-game image of Aloy. She is wearing the armor Teb made for her, and is standing in the dappled shadow of a tree. Her blue scarf is shining like silk. End description.]

But there’s a possible explanation: It’s the same one she had as a kid, that Rost wrapped her in as a baby. He was a well-traveled man, maybe he found it while he was on his vengeance quest, and kept it because it reminded him of his wife/daughter or something. (She’s wearing her baby blanket around her neck)

This, however... 

[ID: An in-game rendering of Olara, a Nora woman who is wearing an outfit made of natural leathers, dark blue netting, a dark blue cloth sash, leather belts, and what appears to be a knit wool shoulder cowl. End description.] 

Ma’am where did you get that wool. There are no sheep here. The Banuk have all the goats, and they don’t even use them for that. There are no Angora rabbits here. No alpaca. And yet. There you are. With your knit wool(?) shoulder cowl. Someone please help me out here. What could that be made out of. 

And then there are the Tenakth. The game doesn’t specifically state where they are from, but since only Carja texts seem to mention them, and the Banuk/Oseram/Nora lore we are provided doesn’t mention them at all, I’m assuming they’re south of the Sundom, kind of around Arizona/New Mexico area. So like. Hot. Dry. Sunny. I’d argue that what little we have seen of their designs supports this. 

[ID: Concept art of members of the Tenakth clan, shown from two different angles, one male, one female. Both are, wearing classic Tenakth blue and red body paint with thin white lines. Both are wearing light armor around their neck and forearms, and the woman is wearing a red chest wrap that appears to be made of cloth. They are both wearing skirts made of woven plant fiber, green, yellow, and red dyed leather, and red leg wraps. End description.] 

The body paint we see could easily double as natural sunblock, since they clearly don’t have the light, airy Carja silks to keep the sun off their backs. But I’m getting distracted again. 

[ID: An in-game rendering of Ullia, a Tenakth woman. The texture pattern on her clothes suggest the red material around her chest, arms, and legs, is in fact, cloth, while the strips of material around her waist and upper thighs are leather. She is also wearing shin-guards that appear to be made of dried bamboo. End description.] 

BAMBOO???? What does it MEAN?? (After a quick google search, I learned that bamboo does, in fact, grow in the Americas. A quick google search informed me it is native to a lot of South America, Central America, and the Southeastern United States. Why or how it got to the Southwestern States is beyond me, but it’s making me think the Tenakth territory (The Clan-Lands) is a lot wetter than I originally thought. Or they stole it from whoever boarders the eastern part of their territory.) But again, I’m getting off topic. Back to cloth. 

The Tenakth are known for raiding, and taking what they believe to rightfully belong to the strong, so even though they’re nowhere near The Claim, it’s likely they have stolen a linen from the Carja, but not enough to be able to consistently make a whole outfit out of it. They seem to just use it where it would be the most useful, like for attaching the bamboo/machine metal to themselves as armor. This lines up with having a scarcity of a certain material, so I’m pretty satisfied with this explanation. 

This concludes my long and unnecessary analysis of Horizon world clothing styles. I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I did figuring it out!

BONUS:

[ID: A still from the Horizon: Forbidden West trailer, showing two members of the unnamed clan that lives in what was once the Yosemite area. They are both wearing outfits made of leathers, scavanged machine parts, natural rope/string bindings, and carved wood. End description.]

Whoever these guys are, they don’t look like they have cloth, but they’re likely capable of growing flax, if I’m right about where they’re from. 

And the other one: 

[ID: A still from the Horizon: Forbidden West trailer, showing a person standing in a field of red vines, holding a withered carrot in their hand. They are wearing a yellow and green outfit, which appears to be made mostly of woven leaves and leather. End description.]

These people who appeared in the HFW trailer, who I’m no longer convinced are Utaru, don’t look like they have cloth either, but we don’t really get a good look at their outfits in the one scene they appear in the trailer. 

#thinking more about the silkworms in utah it's possible charles put them there cos he couldn't get them to china before it collapsed #I just made myself sad thinking about that #possibly planned on being reintroduced later #hzd meta #horizon meta #hzd #horizon zero dawn #cloth #linen #armor #oseram #nora #carja #banuk #tenakth #utaru #meta #analysis

[apex-academy]

Chapter 5: Caring Is a Hazard to Your Health (#24)

After an extended nap and some light reading, I head out to supper. 

Seems quiet in here.

Only natural at this point. Just 8 people—

Stop. It...

It’s just quiet because Aidan isn’t here at the moment. Yeah.

Still, silence beats fighting. I hop in the kitchen to make some vaguely lumpy onigiri and eat it in there. Not feeling sociable yet. I’ll probably head upstairs for the rest of the evening. Get a few games in. Or...

“I could go further upstairs than that...”

I still feel like I haven’t been that thorough looking through the new floor, and now...

Where did that key come from, anyway? To show up in the gym... It was right after we got our motive, so any of us could have dropped it then. Even Monochap.

There’s no telling. I’ll just investigate and hope this doesn’t turn out to be some kind of trap. If someone wanted this to be found, then... probably Kanagi? She started Horse. Not easy to believe she’d mastermind a trap like that, though, so I won’t point any fingers yet. It’s probably just what it looked like, anyway. Slipped out of a pocket somewhere.

Impatiently, I finish up my supper and head out. I cross Tsunyasha in the hall, but she doesn’t make any death threats, so not worth my attention. Maybe I ought to be hunting Mahavir down instead, but... I’ll just burn myself out if I’m not careful.

I check the Nurse’s Office anyway, but it’s empty.

Upstairs, then.

This many flights is a bit of a haul, but I’m not that tired. That, and I should probably double-check the shutters they’ve been using in here.

...Yup. There’s still a flight closed off. At least it keeps moving up.

“All right. Let’s see if I can get into anything.”

I dig around the Computer Room first, just in case I may somehow get access to a computer, but it’s not looking promising. If there are any secret compartments in here, they don’t have visible keyholes. Kind of a long shot, anyway. 

I go ahead and try the mysterious office at the far end of the east wing, but the key doesn’t even start to fit. Figures.

Finally I move to the Secretary’s Office. The door is unlocked, but...

“Probably my number-one suspect.”

I jiggle the key into the file cabinet’s key slot. It actually goes in, which is a good start, but it sure doesn’t want to turn. Maybe I’m wrong.

“Doubt I’m going to snap this thing in half, though.”

I give it another two rounds of heave-ho before it finally turns. I rub my fingers to try to get the key impression off of them before reaching for the topmost handle.

“Is there some way to make sure I’m not about to set off a bomb?”

Not that I know of, so I’ll just have to hope. Can’t see any wires running into the cabinet, so that’s a good sign.

The drawer offers some resistance, too, making a series of clangs as I pull and push on the handle. But then something manages to rattle loose, and the drawer comes on out. Not all the way, thankfully, since that probably would have knocked me over. But far enough to see the contents. Five files hang between the sides of the drawer, so widely spaced it still feels eerily empty. All but the first are labeled at the tab.

“Aidan, Aki, Arthur...”

These are files on us? In... first-name alphabetical order for some reason, but the secretary’s personal preferences probably aren’t worth worrying about. I reach for the unlabeled file. The thing is full up, but it looks like most of the papers are copies of blank forms. Mostly demographic-looking. Not terribly informative. But at the front...

“ ‘ Recruitment Guidelines’.”

If the files in this cabinet are on students, I doubt it’s guidelines for recruiting staff. As far as the student side goes, I honestly know precious little aside from the fact that they do recruit. I think there was something flowery about my qualifications on my acceptance letter, but I can’t remember the details now. So I can’t exactly verify this, but it looks authentic enough.

“ ‘Must be a legal resident of Japan or be or become fluent in Japanese within one year’...”

A lot of the qualifications are kind of arbitrary with a nice touch of legalese, so that’s not helping me any. The only thing that really strikes me is how vague the most significant qualifications are.

“ ‘Has performed a feat or collection of feats that could not be expected of any other student’.”

“...Have I done that?”

I guess tournaments must count. Otherwise, I’m not sure how I qualify. But it makes sense. It was probably similar for Kazusuke and Kanagi, and maybe some of the artistic talents. Seems boring, almost, but otherwise this school would just be a collection of obscure world record-holders, wouldn’t it?

At any rate, this isn’t helping my search for the young master. Or whatever I’m searching for right now. Honestly I feel like I just showed up over here without an actual goal in mind besides “try key.” But whatever. No one else should be coming in here, so I can take all the time I need. Might be nighttime soon, but that just means less chance of anyone being out to see me by the time I finish.

Anyone who follows the rules, at least. But no one would be looking for a victim so soon, right...? I won’t worry about it. Maybe bring some kind of blunt implement with me on the way back, but. Not worth any more thought than that.

I put the recruitment guidelines away semi-neatly and browse the rest of the cabinet. There are a few files in each drawer. At least, each drawer I can get too. Bottom one’s thoroughly jammed. I can deal with that later if I feel the need to. For now...

“...My file.”

This is the closest I could possibly get to verifying this cabinet’s info. I pull out the file with my name and stare at it.

“Why do I feel nervous about opening it?”

It’s not like it's a report card or anything. Probably? Would they have those mixed in here, too?

But there’s no reason for me to be nervous about that, anyway?? Just shut up and read it.

I start flipping through. Aside from a few oblique mentions, I don’t see any grades in here. Just the demographic-ish paperwork. That, and a few grainy copies of championship certificates. Guess I got accepted here for consistency, because no single one of these is that huge a deal. Unusual for someone my age, maybe, but... 

“Anyway, seems legitimate enough.”

Time to check out the rest. I put my file back and start at the top. Aidan’s first, then. I remove his file and gaze at it in my hands for a while. Seems kind of personal, now that I think about it. But most of this would be public information, anyway, right? That, or something that’s no big deal, like hometown.

Well, I won’t find anything either way if I don’t even look. Open sesame.

First few pages are the same forms, filled out differently. He is indeed from America, specifically Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

“Never heard of either of those, but sure, why not.”

Blah, blah, height, weight, medical conditions... Nothing earth-shattering. And then...

“What the heck? Everything on this page is redacted.” Aside from a few prepositions that don’t tell me anything, all the text has been reduced to a stuttering black line.

I try looking at the other side, then holding it up to the light, but it gets me nowhere. Nothing I can do with this besides think about it, and I can save that for later. There’s a newspaper clipping in here that looks a lot less difficult to read, so I’ll try that.

“ ‘Bioterrorist Attack Kills Three, Hospitalizes Eleven Others’.”

It goes on to summarize a recent anthrax-like attack on an air control tower that pretty much took out everyone there, lethally or otherwise, within a few minutes. One Abe Sorakubo managed to hang on long enough to redirect traffic despite technical difficulties and guide one plane safely to the ground when it was unable to change course. Abe remains in critical condition...

“...’but has received a better prognosis than the 12-year-old child caught up in the attack alongside him’.”

The child had already stopped breathing by the time EMS found them on the floor of the control tower wearing one of the controller headsets. Abe stated that the child was an aspiring air traffic controller, and he wanted them to be able to wear it before they died, even if they were already unconscious at the time.

“...........”

Yeah, three guesses who the 12-year-old child was. Is it really okay for me to be reading this? I mean, if it was in the news, a lot of people already have, right? And whoever was putting together the recruitment files read it, too. They even highlighted the bit just before Abe’s statement.

I quietly refile the papers and put the folder back. Next is Aki...

“...”

I don’t know if I can do this right now. Maybe I... I’ll come back to her later. 

Arthur, then.

Still hurts a little to thumb through his profile, but it’s a muted enough pain by now. At least we weren’t really friends. Classmates, for sure, but...

“...........”

Anyway.

Born on some kind of British military base in Germany, looks like. And lots of travel from there. Even his list of actual residences goes on for pages. Nothing in here seems suspect, though.

Instead of third-party material, his additional insert is more of a handwritten memo. Notes on his total distance travelled, the success of his blog, and an addendum that Super High School Level Hitchhiker may not be a very standard sort of talent but would nonetheless fit him and the standards of the school.

I flip through everything again just to be sure, but still, nothing of interest. “He’s been a lot of places” is about the whole gist of it.

“Ichiriki, then.”

I sort through his main file, which tells me a whole lot of nothing. Heir of the Tokino Hardware empire. No major moves.

No psychological profiles or anything, either. That would be too helpful, huh?

Instead of a single news article, his has several, though none of them actually have photos of his art. A few of them explain that he considers photography an abomination against everything chalk art represents. None of them specify what it’s supposed to represent, but I guess that’s to be expected.

At any rate, it really does look like he’s here as the Super High School Level Chalk Artist. As much as I’d like to say he has some fake talent to hide his involvement in this whole thing as some kind of warped observational psychologist, between this and his actual art skills, I really have no basis for saying anything like that.

Darn. He’d make an awfully convincing bad guy.

Maybe not so much at the moment, but. Overall. I can’t discount him entirely just because his talent is genuine, though, so there’s still that.

And that’s all the files for the top drawer.

“...........”

I’m weirdly tired already. Maybe I should take a break before I start overlooking any real clues. This cabinet won’t be going anywhere, right? And it probably is getting late by now.

“...”

I lock up the cabinet with much less struggle than it took to unlock it. I tug at each drawer afterwards, but they’re all sealed up pretty well.

All right, then. I can jump back in tomorrow morning.

Assuming nobody’s dead by then.

“...............”

Let’s just get moving.

[BACK] [NEXT]

#apexplot #apex5 #fanganronpa

[gascon-en-exil]

yes plz

Alright.

It seems that the handful of times my writing has been referenced over on the Three Houses anon meme it’s pretty much always complaining about how I interpret Ferdibert, with a major recurring thrust being that these anons are taking issue with how strongly I read Edelgard as an analogue for Arvis and Hubert for Manfroy and use these readings to inform how I perceive their relationship and the CF postgame. This did somewhat lead me to thinking about FE’s archetypical writing, because it’s undeniable that this series likes to reuse the same plots and characters with variations between games, and whether my repeated use of this metatextual framework in my interpretations of FE16 was turning off some readers who might see me as drawing too much from all these past games they may have never played...particularly as the often-referenced Genealogy remains one of the few games in the series with no official localization and/or localized remake. That got too much into me questioning whether or not I was an elitist though, and because obviously I am - I was playing FE before it was cool, thank you very much - I didn’t think that would be a productive line of inquiry.

Instead then I got to wondering: why among all the various opinions about FE16 I advanced over the year and a half that I was active in that fandom are people specifically taking issue with the ones re: Ferdibert? Ferdibert is easily the less Problematic™ of my two main pairings, and it doesn’t receive the same amount of accusations of fandom oversaturation as the even more popular Sylvix. There is seemingly some tension between its shippers and fans of rival ships, but as all of those that I’m aware of pair either Hubert or Ferdinand with women (ex. Ferdithea, Edelbert) it’s safe to say they’re angling for a different demographic anyway. No, whenever I receive criticism for the way I talk about Ferdibert it’s always internal - that I’m not shipping them the “right” way. Among these include:

That Hubert isn’t really evil and so my comparing him to Manfroy is unwelcome, as are my comedic exaggerations of his villainy and suggestions that his attraction to Edelgard is neither healthy nor respectful and may lead to him quietly usurping power from her after CF has ended;

That I once described Ferdinand as Hubert’s “silver medal” as a way of summing up how their respective relationships to Edelgard will play into their romantic relationship, reflecting Ferdinand’s lack of narrative presence in CF and the relative triviality of the last two Ferdibert supports;

That I acknowledge that Hubert is attracted to Edelgard at all somehow diminishes both characters, rather than offering another interesting angle upon which to build the Ferdibert relationship that remains quite consistent to canon (as one-sided Edelbert is);

And the largest and most obvious of all, one that the others all play into as well - how could I ship Ferdibert when I hate (read: criticize) Edelgard? This glides over the suffocating narrative presence of Edeleth, the implied tension in the Ferdibert paired ending, and other evidence to conclude that the only possible explanation is that I’m a misogynist who will happily sideline FE16′s headlining female lead for her male subordinates just because I can argue (successfully or not) that said subordinates are better written.

Of course most of this just boils down to more petty fandom faction drama, but it still surprises me how much pushback there can be against interpretations that come with so much canonical and metatextual support - and lead to a messy, complicated queer relationship set against a dystopian backdrop and the volatile political fallout that realistically should result from CF. I seriously doubt these complaints even come from impact on fanwork, because most Ferdibert fic and art I see shies away from the political complications of a post-CF world and each of their feelings toward the emperor...they’re not a trio of gay BFFs, that’s for sure. Even non-CF Ferdibert mostly engages with them as a tragic unrealized romance cut short by Hubert’s death rather than trying to make them work in a canon-divergent scenario where the circumstances are vastly different. I’ve seen a few fics work that angle, but they’re definitely in the minority.

All this is to say that I’ll never understand why these are the FE16 opinions that the fandom* chooses to criticize me over, when I’m very clearly writing with a metatextual focus and attempting to ignore the (to me) transparent battle lines of the fandom faction war when I write about the characters I enjoy regardless of which houses they belong to. The darkly comic Ferdibert headcanons shared by me and several of my mutuals don’t even appear to have that much reach in the fandom, even if I’ll maintain that they’re substantially more interesting than some conflict-deprived fluff where the post-CF world is a utopia and Edelgard lives happily ever after with her Two Jewels. That’s just so boring to me.

*Excluding the Khalidstans, who exist in their own bubble where the game, its developers, and all its fans except for the few they like are racist about everything.

#Fire Emblem #FE16 #Fire Emblem Three Houses #Ferdibert

[vroenis]

The 2019 Charlie’s Angels Reboot Was A Good Project & Deserved More Respect From Hollywood

We’ve just finished watching the film and there was a lot both J and I really enjoyed about it. We’re critical of media and art in different ways and I certainly don’t speak for them, as for me, oddly I’m lenient in ways that they probably aren’t when it comes to production and culture. I don’t have to dive too deeply into the cultural response to this picture to know how it went down, I’ve come into contact with just enough of it to have a clear understanding of the popular digest. The response is not at all unexpected, it’s just uninformed.

I feel that the 2019 (year of publishing) Charlie’s Angels reboot was a good project with a wonderful spirit. Elizabeth Banks’ aims were clearly evident in the final product, however it may have been shaped along the way, and that it was under-served in the production process likely from the very beginning.

This casting is fantastic.

I do wish there were better cast-ensemble promos for me to lift from the internet and wonder whether that’s another telltale sign of production or whether the heat has just faded since release and they’ve just dropped out of the archives but I struggled to find well composed images.

The first short sizzle-teaser I ever saw for the film, I thought was quite good. Neckbeards and mouthbreathers won’t have paused for a second thought before launching hate for the project - anything in the most vague proximity of feminism or empowerment of women, or even simply just not being centred around men - will be enough to bring snide internet snark by the truckload. It remains interesting that men continue to struggle to live in a world where there can be things that also exist that are not for them, they cannot simply let these other things also exist without contributing in some way. As it were, the project looked good. Sharp, clever, playful, and a timely reboot reclaimed in the most contemporary way. When I looked up the production details and found out Banks was championing it herself, I really took an interest in it. As the first full trailers released, the casting looked great - genuinely diverse and with real chemistry, I hoped it would find the audience it was looking for.

J and I have had a lot going on in our lives over the last two years and still do. We’ve gone to theatres I think twice in that whole time, maybe three times and I think two of those were gift certificates generously paid for by family. So tonight we finally got around to watching Charlie’s Angels. If we’d seen this in theatres, I’d have still be satisfied and had the same evaluation.

A production budget of $55 million is low-balling a project of this scope; 

There seems to have been a bit of pre-production shuffling and Banks did a lot of wrangling herself early on. 

The whole shoot front to back was just over two months and I assume three countries, US/or studio inclusive. 

CGI is noticeably subpar but not exactly cheap either, so it still would have cost a significant portion of that prod. budget. When I say subpar, the CG in this film isn’t bad, please don’t take that criticism as overly negative of the CG artists’ work - remember that people do the best they can with the time and money they’re afforded. If you want to understand what that’s all about, I encourage you to watch Corridor Crew’s channel on YouTube.

Combat choreography with principle actors isn’t great, there’s far too much editing but again, I’m betting there wasn’t a whole lot of money and thus time for training and rehearsing for them, so combat is noticeably slow. 

2nd Unit photography looked very good because this kind of thing is very old-school Hollywood in that it contributes to what makes an action/spy movie look like one. Unfortunately, that means it was also expensive. We’re really running out of money here...

There is a lot of licensed music in this feature which isn’t cheap at all. Again this feels super old-school Hollywood and definitely demographic targeting, but it firmly timestamps the feature - any film, really - and unless your film is about capturing the essence of the time IT WAS THE 80′s! or FOLK FESTIVALS JUST BEFORE COVID BROKE OUT as an example of not necessarily wanting to capture the past, I really think trying to nail down pop songs of the hot present ultimately does your film a disservice.

And I’ll address that one first because I feel like it may have been one of the easiest changes to make to lift the overall quality of the picture. Instead of burning thru an immense amount of budget on a pile of pop licenses, I think a calculated risk could have been taken in getting a young contemporary musician to create a slick electronic score in its entirety to back it along side the generic orchestral action fare, no disrespect to Brian Tyler. To be honest, Tyler probably could have done it all himself but was also probably just writing to spec. BUT HEY... WHY NOT SCOUT FOR ANY NUMBER OF AMAZING WOMEN OUT THERE WHO ARE PHENOMENAL ELECTRONIC MUSICIANS AND PRODUCERS what am I talking about it’s Hollywood...

This is what I mean by the project deserving more respect and being under-served. Hollywood doesn’t believe in projects like this, they don’t realise what the project is and why it needs frontier, sincere, good faith hiring and instead under-funds but funds it nevertheless SEE? WE FUNDED IT, WE DID THE GOOD THING, SEE US SUPPORTING THE WIMMINS? WE’RE NOT  SEXISTS YOU CAN’T SAY WE’RE SEXISTS YOU CAN HAVE YOUR FILM oh it didn’t do very well except we didn’t let you make it the way you wanted to make it, we still shackled you to 

THE SAME TERRIBLE HOLLYWOOD TRADITIONS THAT, BY THE WAY, ARE FAILING OUR MANLY MAN MOVIES FULL OF MEN HOLY SHIT THE DEBT-RECOVERY CYCLE IS REALLY DOING A NUMBER ON OUR INVESTORS I SURE HOPE WE DON’T HAVE TOO MANY CONSECUTIVE FAILURES OR, SAY, SOME KIND OF GLOBAL CATASTROPHIC AND/OR ECONOMIC EVENT HAND-WRINGING

ahem where was I

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross provided the entire soundtrack for The Social Network and it’s both fantastic and timeless. OK oranges and refrigerators, but the principle still stands - I get the intent of Charlie’s Angels was a summer blockbuster but it would have still been elevated by being all the more slick having its own identity in music, having its own sound. You want that soundtrack by that amazing young woman because it sounds fucken awesome.

Charlie’s Angels still needed a few passes by a dialogue editor. I say that a lot. I know my standards are high and it’s a Hollywood film. There’s no problem at all with the vernacular, idioms and the casual language, that was all fine. It’s always just the little details - again, it’s always time and money which - really is just money. A good dialogue editor or script supervisor might have been able to just elevate this whole thing to that super-smooth level of flowing just right. Or perhaps if the actors had spent more time in training and combat rehearsal together, they’d have riffed better and improvised more. They still have good on-screen chemistry but again, more time - more money for time - and things improve.

If you don’t know my taste in film, you could see if you recognise anything in the Film Notes page of this journal, but it’s totally OK if you don’t. Basically most of them are long and boring, with super long takes of people not saying or doing much. I still love Hollywood films tho - I love all cinema and I’ll repeat like a broken record, I should either add a section to Film Notes of my favourite blockbusters or create a page for them. Anyway - Charlie’s Angels still has too much editing mostly due to the aforementioned combat, but also because of that good old Hollywood formulaic style-guide. It’s easy to look up the production credits and pluck out names but on a project like this, it’s difficult to pin the end result on the roles themselves. In these cases, personnel like editors are more like daily jobs rather than creative contributors which again is an immense shame. I catch myself before saying “It doesn’t have to be a Malick/Shortland/Lynch project...” but why not? Why can’t a summer blockbuster have its own fantastic identity? General audiences can identify Michael Bay and Christopher Nolan - sure, one or perhaps both of these people take themselves far too seriously, but why not let a project have its own identity?

We run back into the conversation of protecting investments and style guides.

The easy answer to Bay and Nolan is they’re men, but they’ve also had time to prove their worth over time with previous work and track record. Because they’ve had the privilege to do so. Because they’re men. And most of the people making decisions and letting them experiment and sometimes fail to recover investment on their projects and hey, don’t worry, just try again, are men - and they were permitted to try again because they were themselves men.

Whether individual men do or don’t deserve whatever they did or didn’t get, I’m not here to discuss. Many of them definitely didn’t and I can’t change it.

What we should be changing is how we finance, how we empower and how we hand over autonomy of projects to women in cinema, in the arts - in professional life, in any industry.

YOU DON’T KNOW THE DETAILS OF THIS PROJECT

So. Fucking. What.

I can make educated guesses and I can support as much as possible as fair and equitable an arts industry wherever I engage with it.

I really liked Charlie’s Angels. It had a lot of heart. It had a wonderful sense of play and sass and smarts. Yes, a few too many “why didn’t they just shoot the bad guy” moments etc. - again - script reviews, better writers, more time...

More money.

More respect from an industry that doesn’t respect women and women’s autonomy; social, professional, in all aspects.

I hope Elizabeth Banks wants to make another one, can raise the finances for it and has even more control of the next project. More power to her.

#2020 #chrono #writing about film #cinema #Charlie's Angels #Charlie's Angels 2019 #Elizabeth Banks

[foxwatchesanime]

How I stopped caring about comments: A rambly post by me

This is rambly so hold onto your seats, I apologies. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about comment/review culture in the last few months, particularly after returning to a brand new fandom as a writer and regular content creator. Maybe this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, maybe not, but I wanted to share my thoughts on the way I perceive comments, how it’s changed for me since I’ve been in fandom and I’d love to hear from other people what their opinion is and how they relate to comments on their work.

I’ve been creating content in fandom spaces for about eleven years now. I started out on YouTube when I joined my first fandom, Merlin, and I made my first fanvideos in 2009. In December of 2009, I published my first fanfiction, plus one sequel which remains unfinished as well as a few other smaller projects. In October of 2010, I published my first podfic and would go on to publish two more. My focus in fandom had always been YouTube, where I regularly created fanvideos. My schedule was never consistent, as with most vidders back in the day, but I’d be comfortable in saying I posted regularly discounting three unintentional hiatuses, one in 2013 following the Merlin finale, one in 2015 probably due to a lack of inspiration and one in 2017 after what I was sure was going to be my permanent comeback to YouTube, only for my hard drive to break and delete all my footage yeeeeeey. 

I’ve now made an actual, official return to my original platform, this time creating videos for my new passion and fandom: anime. Since February of 2020 I’ve also been regularly publishing fic and have no desire to stop doing so. I’m thoroughly invested in new fandom spaces again and am engaging with its fans and the content. 

But the one thing I have seen change drastically in my approach to things is commenting, following and general engagement. 

Let’s take a step back. 

When I first started posting content, comments were not something I even had in my consciousness. I think I knew YouTube comments existed, but I didn’t really pay attention to it. I didn’t even know what subscribers were until I started hearing other people talk about them and then I suddenly felt like it’s something I should be keeping an eye on myself. 

In a centuries old vlog of mine that is now private on my channel, I noticed that when I hit 100 subscribers, I made a video thanking everyone because I was so excited that with more subscribers, I was going to “make more friends.” Oh dear xD 

But the truth is, I have been consistently and chronically bad at keeping up with or caring about the analytics of my various platforms. It wasn’t till writing this post today that I went to check my FF.net account to see how many comments my first two Merlin fics ever got. I still couldn’t tell you my exact number of YouTube or Ao3 subscribers, how many hits or kudos my fic have and I don’t think I’ve ever checked my bookmarks for notes, or whatever you’re able to leave on there. 

Commenting culture on YouTube, for all my joking earlier, was primarily about connection, at least back then. Most of the old guard have moved on and those who have remained are now vidding in other fandoms. The social aspect of YouTube in my opinion has changed dramatically since I was at my peak output on there, but I remember how interactive the comments sections used to be. They literally were, where you made friends.  

A couple of years ago, me and a friend of mine started a Merlin podcast called Merlisten. We created it for fun and without many expectations of what might come out of it. And it was this that changed my relationship with commenting for good. 

Doing Merlisten felt, for the first time in a long time, like pure creativity and passion without anyone’s permission. We always encouraged people to leave feedback as one does, but I don’t think either of us expected to get much, if any. Even considering the incredible support we’ve received with feedback coming in almost every single episode now, there is still a clear and overwhelming gap between the amount of comments given to an episode of Merlisten, to one of my old fanvids or fics. It’s even more interesting when one considers how much more effort and time went into creating Merlisten compared to say, editing or writing, at least for me personally. The amount of man hours spent on creating one 2.5 hour episode from pre-production to final posting often outweighs any other video or chapter I’ve created. Not always, but often. 

What struck me as interesting, however, was that even though comments weren’t always consistent and I always love and continue to love reading them, it’s not what was fuelling me to work hard on this project. I was doing it because I adored it and I knew it was something I was proud to put into the world. 

And that literally changed everything.

I think for a long time, I was always trying to cater my art to what might get the most attention or please the widest demographic of people. It’s how you think when you’re young and you don’t know any better. But for the first time, I was creating something on my own terms that I had no idea if anyone would even listen to and the actual creative process of making said art was ten times more rewarding than any single comment I could ever read. Which really, what I realised, is what art is supposed to be. I can safely say that if Merlisten didn’t get a single comment from here on in, I would still want to see it to its conclusion for one very simple reason: Because I had something to share. 

This brings me to my recent return to writing fic in fandom and it’s not a decision I’ve regretted for a second. More than anything, I’ve realised how personal art can really be, especially when it’s in writing. I’ve found it revealing and cathartic and fascinating in a way that I didn’t ever imagine.

But more importantly, I’ve realised that the real beauty for me in engaging in art is the ability to get an emotional response from it or to relate to it. And that goes for both other people’s work and my own. I can feel just as invested in my own work as someone else’s and that’s not because I think my work is amazing, it’s because I know it’s come from something that was living in me. When I put something out there that I made with my own two hands, that feeling now trumps any sort of feedback I could possibly get and that’s the endorphin I live off. 

Don’t mistake this for me not liking comments, that’s obviously not true. My brain gets the same dopamine hit as anyone’s when I get a notification for something or other, but I’ve realised that I have a very specific relationship with comments that I definitely didn’t have before, if my requests for review on FF.net is anything to go by.

Now, what I find exciting and thrilling is the thought that, if writing this fic got this sort of emotional response out of me, the writer, I wonder if there are other people out there who think the same way I do? Who have a similar way of experiencing joy or suffering or humour or who like the same things as me? That, is an insanely invigorating feeling. And then when someone chooses to take time out of their day to tell you that what came from your head is the same sort of way they feel about life? That’s not a comment, that’s not feedback, that’s a connection you have with another person. And that’s where I start to get excited. And it’s taken me this fucking long to realise it. 

Honestly, I was really worried upon returning to writing and vidding this year that my experience working in digital marketing, where everything is about numbers and social media is all about engagement and nothing else, that I would be overwhelmed and not be able to switch off the part of my brain that’s been trained to think like that. I’m so relieved that that’s not the case. 

As previously mentioned, I suck at giving a shit about analytics and looking at my own stats. I couldn’t give a flying fuck. But I did just go and check my YouTube videos since returning back to vidding. Not a single one of them has views over 200 at this point. Most have less than 100. My most viewed video on YouTube has 57,000 views. And the thing is, there might have been a time when I looked at that and thought, well, this means I suck. This means I can’t make art. This means there’s no point to it.

But no, that's not true.

The point is not how many people see it, how many people like it, how many people comment on it. The point is that I made it. I’m going to continue making YouTube videos despite the fact that the algorithm will destroy any chances they have at getting engagement or views. Even if not one single person comments on them. Because when I’ve finally rendered a new video, or finished proof reading a new chapter, I feel so fucking happy that everything else is just window dressing to me now. 

Because not only is online engagement and following such a stab in the dark these days anyway with algorithms changing and trends moving constantly, but this is the real truth about comments, following and feedback:

The truth is, I don’t need a stranger on the internet to praise me so that I can feel good about my art. The day that I start doing that, I’ve already lost. I used to think that way on a regular basis. Guess what, it didn’t make me produce better art. It didn’t make my life better. Because being validated by others never does. It doesn’t matter how many keysmashes I might get or how many sonnets or kind words, because If I don’t like what I create, there isn’t a single human being on the planet who will make me like it, no matter what they say or how they say it. For others, this might not be the case. But this is my reality. 

I know this, because I recently speed-wrote and published a fic for a fanweek. I wrote 13k in about 8hrs. So far, it’s received nothing but positive words. But it doesn’t matter. After I published it, I had a crisis about how it wasn’t good enough, that there should have been an extra arc, that it ended too quickly, that there wasn’t a climax. Even as the comments came in, it didn’t change my mind. Because other people’s comments will never really lead to fulfilment. 

I want you all to know that I get emotional over every single comment that is sent to me. Every personal story, ever keysmash and heartfelt thoughtful message that took the time to analyse my work. Connecting with you guys has been one of the biggest joys of entering this fandom. But it’s not going to be what fuels me to create and to carry on doing the best work I can. All I can do is treat it as the wonderful privilege that it is, and not any part of the reason I do it.  

In conclusion:

Finally, at age 27 and in the midst of enjoying fandom after a very long period of being either meh about it or lurking, I finally feel content with the fact that I want to create in order to put things out into the world that I worked hard on, that I’m passionate about and that hopefully, in whatever way it might be, it might have touched someone who feels the same things too. It makes me feel accomplished, it makes me feel like I might be contributing something small to the world and it makes me feel like maybe one other person was made happy by it. And even if they never tell me that and if no one else ever comments on what I create, or even if they comment on it in spaces that I never see; private servers, chats between friends or blogs that I don’t follow, that’s also fine. Because there’s always at least one person who is going to feel happy that she made something. And that’s me. 

The short version: I never used to care about comments, then I did, and now I no longer do. 

Sorry for the ramble, but I wanted this here for myself to look back upon in case my opinion ever changes on this or I ever start to lose my way again and feel overwhelmed. I’d love to hear your guys’ experiences with this sort of thing and whether you’ve ever felt bogged down by the need for feedback.

#writing #fandom #vidding #essay #personal

[balioc]

Talkin’ About Outsiders

Riffing on my recent post:

If you wanted to keep something like the traditional D&D Great Wheel cosmology, and you wanted all the planes on the Wheel and all the various alignment-oriented races of outsiders to be cool and thematic and not-shoehorned-in, what would it look like?  Let’s give it a shot.  Maybe this will be useful someday, if I ever run a planar-savvy D&D campaign.  Or if you do.

Guiding Principles:

* All groups of outsiders should feel narratively resonant.  Players should have an intuitive sense of what they’re about, what role they would play in heroic fantasy stories, etc.  We want to avoid “oh yeah, those guys over in that corner, because of course there have to be some guys over in that corner.”

* Outsiders should feel otherworldly and mystical, like the spirits they are, not like Another Race of Monsters that’s been jammed into a planar role by fiat. 

* Outsiders should strongly reflect their associated alignment, but, like, in a cool way. 

I’m also going to be working with my own personal gut-level sense of how the alignment grid “should” work on a cosmic scale, which suggests that the “corner planes” -- LG, CG, LE, and CE -- are going to be the strongest, most magical, most populated, etc.  In a metaphysical sense, a strong good/evil commitment and a strong law/chaos commitment reinforce each other rather than diluting each other.  In a demographic sense, while in fact the plurality of mortals are TN due to vacillation or apathy, most noteworthy mortals with plane-defining levels of soul power have corner alignments.  In a pragmatic storycrafting sense, three of those four corners are way cooler and better-developed than anything else on the Wheel, so we should probably run with that.  The upshot is that the NG, NE, LN, and CN outsiders can and should be constructed such that they just have less impact on the universe overall.  The in-betweeny planes...well, they’re afterthoughts, we’ll get to them (briefly) but can ignore them for now.

OK.  Diving in:

Chaotic evil demons from the Abyss and lawful evil devils from Hell are being kept, more or less intact.  They’ve gotten more attention than any other planar races, by like an order of magnitude; they’ve got lots of existing lore and monster-design that people know and love; it would be a crime to throw that stuff away.  Fluff should probably try to present them with a somewhat more-philosophical, less-Flanderizing spin than they usually get.  The conceptual heart of demon-ness isn’t “graaaargh kill smash consume defile” (even if that is a popular instantiation), it’s something like “literally nothing matters except my desire and my vision.”  Similarly, devils would benefit from a little less “we’re all legalistic treacherous assholes” (even if many of them are) and a little more “the order of the universe is legitimate, the infernal hierarchy is legitimate, we follow the rules but we play to win.”  But fundamentally these are the creatures you know and love, don’t fix what ain’t broke. 

Neutral evil yugoloths can stay, too, more or less.  They’ve gotten a fair amount of good monster design too, and they’re popular, although I confess that I have no idea why.  A race of fiendish mercenaries who manipulate and prolong the Blood War?  Sure, why not?  I do want to give them a bit more character, though, and not the inexplicable apocalypse-obsessed death-spirit thing from Pathfinder.  Rather: as I understand it, neutral evil as an alignment is mostly about pure selfishness.  It’s not hard to capture the idea of “selfishness” in spiritual cosmic form -- that’s the gaki, the hungry ghost.  Yugoloths should be driven by intense insatiable cravings, presumably with each kind having a different general category of craving.  This will do a lot to define their politics internal and external, the means of treating with them, etc.  (Also, to be clear, “daemon” as an importantly-separate thing from “demon” is very silly and I have no truck with it.)

The collective term for demons, devils, and yugoloths is of course “fiends.”

The lawful neutral outsider race has already been covered in my previous post: that’s the fae.  Inhumanly perfect spirits obsessed with rules, oaths, codes-of-honor, etc.  Dangerous, and certainly not benevolent, but also not inimical to the flourishing of mortals in the way that fiends are.  Hard to understand, as all outsiders must on some level be, but probably easier to deal with than any other spirits if you know the right codes and protocols.  Probably we play down the “capricious nature spirit” thing and play up the bit where they have courts, monarchs, diplomatic ties to Heaven and Hell, etc.

The chaotic neutral race should be...well, something better than the slaadi, that’s for sure.  “They’re infinitely variable and unpredictable, except that they’re all magic frogs who speak in word salad.”  Gee.  Useful for storytelling, that.  I don’t have any super-brilliant ideas here (and am open to suggestions), but I have what I believe to be a good-enough idea: genies.  Proud, wild, tempestuous spirits who treasure their own freedom and dignity above all else.  Binding them can be a road to great power, since they’ll do pretty much anything to escape, but it’s also unbelievably risky.  You can make up some cute lore about their anarchic ad-hoc anything-goes society. 

I’d like to use “angels” as the collective term for good-aligned outsiders, the equivalent of “fiends.”  We could go with “celestials,” I guess, but it’s awkward that the LG plane specifically is (sometimes) called Celestia, and really “angels” has a connotative punch like nothing else. 

Lawful good gets archons.  Yay archons.  Tiered choirs, divine armies, holy holy holy, the whole shebang.  The fluff for these guys could stand to be fleshed out some -- as far as I know it hasn’t been touched since the 3.5e Book of Exalted Deeds, and that version was kinda lame -- but there’s like infinite amounts of Christian angelology lore on which to draw, so I’m not worried.

Neutral good needs something better than guardinals, since “benevolent animal dudes” really had no spiritual resonance at all.  Fortunately we can do some conceptual repurposing here. I think we can just grab the beings that D&D currently calls “angels,” start calling them all “devas” -- even the planetars and solars, which I guess become “planetary devas” and “solar devas” -- and stick them all in NG.  No one really uses them as all-purpose divine servants anyway, as far as I can tell.  They are beings of pure benevolence, protectors and guardians and healers, etc. etc.  Possibly we call the NG plane “Celestia,” to fit with the celestial-objects theme of the devas, and just go with “Heaven” for the LG plane.

And then we come to chaotic good, which is definitely the hardest row to hoe.  CG has a very important spot on the Great Wheel, the CG outsiders need to have something akin to the narrative power of the demons and devils and archons, and...I just don’t think there’s any pre-existing thing that fits the bill.  “Chaotic good” is not the kind of idea that has been traditionally associated with mighty spiritual mysteries, which is probably why all the existing CG outsider races suck so much.  (Seriously, as far as I can tell, it’s always either “we’re elf knights who fight for freedom! but, like, planar!” or “uh, we’re spirits of art and beauty, I guess, sorta?”) We’re going to have to develop these guys from scratch. 

Rather than trying to come up with an “archetypically CG outlook” or something, I think it would make sense to start with an image of their world and society.  This is a good, lovely, beneficent version of the Abyss.  This is a place of tremendous diversity, where outsider lords carve out their own domains according to their own idiosyncratic specifications.  Which means you have, like, a million conflicting little paradises each defined by its own vision.  (But not, like, at war, the way demon lords always are, we’re all very Good here.  Just...different from each other.)  It probably adds up to a sort of hipster’s-vision-of-the-big-city vibe.  You imagine a race of cosmic Manic Pixie Dream Girls, essentially, always flowing into and out of each other’s circles, descending to the Prime Material Plane in order to experience delights / inspire greatness / find adoring mortal fans who will validate their coolness. 

I think it would be a mistake to give these guys a single strong visual theme, the way that the guardinals are “animal people” and the eladrin are “pretty elves.”  They’re a menagerie of weird-but-beautiful monsters, the way that demons are a menagerie of weird-but-ugly monsters.  The race needs a name, but right now I don’t have a good one.

For true neutral outsiders, I think we can just go with elementals and call it a day.  They’re mindless!  They do as they’re commanded, unless they don’t, in which case they have incredibly simplistic urges like “burn” or “flow!” 

The in-between planes -- y’know, Gehenna, the Beastlands, Acheron, etc. -- are cool, in some vague theoretical sense, and I don’t think we should scrap them entirely.  But I also think it’s a mistake to try and give them their own full-fledged native outsider races, to pretend that they’re going to have the same depth of inherent character as the main eight outer planes, etc.  Instead, I suspect it’s best to use them as divine domains.  Because they don’t have powerful native outsider races, they’ve all been taken over by gods.  Exactly which gods live on which ones is a matter of your particular setting’s theology, but it makes a lot of intuitive sense to say “these are the places where you’d expect to find gods by default, a god who lives on one of the main eight planes is doing something kinda weird and probably has a close relationship with the local outsiders.”

#roleplaying #d&d

[toasttz]

How to make games: RTS

Once, on a particularly lethargic day at work, In a moment of office stagnation and fatigue I realized "It actually wouldn't make a fucking difference if I was even playing an RTS since this is about the level of excitement I derive from those too,". So let's talk about Real-Time Strategy games! If sitting around accomplishing nothing sounds like a good time to you, check your back for encroaching fungus, because you're probably a literal sloth. You're also the demographic for RTS games, but that's a different handicap entirely. Anyways, making an RTS is easy because nothing, least of the dev cycle, is expected to move quickly, so if it takes you 15 years to churn out a sequel, that's perfectly fine, because Korea will still play it. Therefore you can take all the time in the world to make some isometric angle maps with random hills, valleys, and resource spawn points that are way too fucking far away from the base camp, you filthy asshole why would you put it over there I can't even begin to make progress on this fucking map, you asshats. I mean, after the maps are polished to the point where they are perfect - an irrelevant fact due to everyone keeping their camera as far out as humanly possible, like we were watching the action from the bird's eye view of a majestic eagle with a telescope - you can make the obligatory three factions. What three factions, you ask? Any three factions, be they fictional or based on actual history, but there's always three. The big guys who are resource-intensive and slow to build but each individual unit is a powerhouse, the small, speedy shitstains who require nothing to produce and upkeep but have the HP of moistened rice paper, and the guys who are in the middle of the two extremes. Play a few rounds with each to find out which one will be meta-dominant and then ignore the other two entirely when you get around to the eSports part of this equation. Which, if we're lucky, is fucking never because RTS games can only be made more boring by watching them in lieu of playing them. You can take on a sci-fi or fantasy motif if that's your thing, but personally, I prefer historic-themed strategy games because not only do you get to crow on about how """educational""" your game is by copy+pasting blurbs from history textbooks, but then you get to do shit like showing up to a war with your rivals armed with steel weapons and armor just as they're getting around to discovering bronze smithing. For historical context, that would be like time-travelers showing up in the 100 Years War with AK-47s. Motifs aside, the core gameplay is the same as you conquer resources like mines, rivers, towns, and rival-held resource locations in order to sit on your hands for a while and build up your forces while the AI players suck their thumbs and rival humans will attempt to Zerg Rush you at earliest possible moment. If you're like me and don't have any friends, but you want to experience the receiving end of a Zerg Rush for yourselves, you always have the option of eating nothing but Chipotle for lunch for several days straight. It's kinda like that. So, just copy a map of Europe and parts of Africa and Asia, plop down some countries and some resource locations and most of the work is already done. Music needs to come from either the "elevator" genre or the "intense Celtic metal" subgenre with no particular subtle segues between them. Once you have that, just pay some bored people off the street to provide some voice lines for your various ruler types and you're on your way. While beta testing, make sure that 80% of the game involves sitting on your hands and that sufficient time is made to roast an oven-perfect turkey before any legitimate action gets underway, but once it does, make sure it's hectic and crowded enough that sub-par processors drop frames like a clumsy optometrist. Once the action in an RTS starts, it basically doesn't stop until one side or the other is completely annihilated. Make sure no actual war tactics work, either. Things like positioning and unit movement should be handled automatically - never, ever give your players any sense of agency or, Heaven forbid, strategy in your strategy game. If you accidentally break ground and having a legitimate understanding of history, warfare tactics, and related sciences giving your players a leg up will raise expectations for your expansion pa-- I mean-- sequels. The sequels that will come out in 15 years, yes, of course. After all, we don't want to be arsed to re-invent the entire genre until at LEAST the eighth installment, if Sid Meier is to be believed. So be sure you don't, that way the bar is set nice 'n' low for RTS 2: RTS Harder. Once you have absolute mediocrity down to a fine art, you're more or less set for an entire franchise! Just keep telling your fans that the sequel is totally, totally coming! Really, all you need to do is keep releasing expansion packs to your first game, gradually expanding the map a few hundred miles more across Eurasia until you suddenly have Nobunaga's Ambition pressing lawsuits. Congrats, you can now turn out a lump of 'meh'. You could shoot for so much more and make it so much bigger, faster, and more in-depth, but, hey, expansion pack sales are good, so I guess I'm the retard here. You're welcome. *Sigh.* This feels a little phoned-in compared to the others. Just this once, I'm gonna make this a two-fer. Only because RTS is not really my genre of choice. Hope this makes it up to you. Hey, do you wanna make a MOBA? Start by looking into a mirror. Make sure you can plainly see yourself without too much difficulty. Take a rubber mallet in your dominant hand. Place your off-hand flat on the counter. Hit your off-hand with the mallet until you realize this is a bad idea. Literally nothing good has ever come from a MOBA. Seriously, you're just shitting into a mountain of already-solidified shit. Don't fucking do it. Congrats, you avoided contributing another mistake into a pool of mistakes. You're welcome.

#satire #video games #games #RTS #sorry I'll do better next time

[introvertchill]

Hogwarts Houses - A really fricking long post by Kayleigh Indigo

Because I have nothing better to do with my life, I’ve surveyed a whole bunch of people in an attempt to calculate the best predictors of Hogwarts houses. I asked them about their Hogwarts house and nine other questions which may or may not be relevant to their house. I will lay out the statistics below and point out some of the trends. However, there is one issue I have had to face: Tumblr users are different from the general population.

GASP!

Shocking, right?

But seriously, I used a very small demographic, and that will become apparent in the data. Tumblr users are much more likely to be introverted than most people, and since I run a blog specifically aimed at introverts, you can see that introverts are going to be popping up everywhere. I will try to point out all the answers that may have been skewed one way or another by my chosen demographic. Additionally, a lot of the questions will be scored differently, because some have a less even distribution or more variables to contend with.

Overall House Percentage

First off, I asked the participants what house they were in.

Out of those surveyed, 31% were Ravenclaw, 29% Slytherin, 24% Hufflepuff and 16% Gryffindor. This distribution may pose an issue, since we have almost twice the number of Ravenclaws than Gryffindors, but it could’ve been worse, trust me.

House Satisfaction

My second question was which house the participants would most like to be in, since the Sorting Hat is supposed to take your preference into account.

This is one question that I believe may be impacted by choosing to survey Tumblr users. Tumblr’s Potterheads have made post after post about house pride, so it makes sense that the lesser-seen Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs would be happier with their sorting than they would be if they didn’t use Tumblr.

Slytherins had the highest house satisfaction, with 75.86% of them saying that Slytherin was their house of choice. Ravenclaw was close behind, with 75.86% of members choosing Ravenclaw, followed by Hufflepuff with 54.17%. Gryffindor had the lowest house satisfaction with 43.75%.

Worst Fears

My second questions was a choice of which frightened the participants most. The options were:

“Destroying my relationships, upsetting people or creating conflict.”

“Becoming corrupt or immoral.”

“Being unexceptional, having no one respect me or remember me after I die.”

and “Losing myself, restrictions, being under someone else's control.”

The first and last were by far the most selected. While the first one is pretty self-explanatory - not all people strive for greatness, but near everyone wants others to be happy and not to fight with them - the “restrictions” one may be Tumblr-specific. This is only speculation, but think about the things Tumblr is known for. While the website has a large range of purposes, two of its biggest are art/aesthetic blogs and LGBTQ+ safe spaces. This combination of creativity and progressiveness may lead Tumblr users to be more afraid of restrictions than others. Anyway, back to Hogwarts.

Gryffindor and Hufflepuff mostly chose “destroying my relationships” (56.25% and 50% respectively), while Ravenclaw and Slytherin were most likely to choose “restrictions” (48.39% and 48.28%). Out of the four houses, Hufflepuffs were most likely to choose “becoming corrupt” (20.83%), and Slytherins were most likely to choose “being unexceptional” (13.79%). Absolutely no Hufflepuffs chose “being unexceptional” as their worst fear, which is unsurprising. Our Hufflepuff pals just want to be happy.

Use of Magic

My third question was a choice of how the participants believed they would handle magic. The options were:

“I would use it as a tool and a weapon. I like to apply things practically, and fighting for my beliefs is my purpose in life.”

“I would use it to better the lives of others. The best gifts should always be shared.” “I would use it cautiously and secretively. I can't risk exposing wizards or causing some horrible disaster.” and “I would use magic for its own sake. I would explore its potential, push the boundaries and learn as much as I possibly could.”

The last option was by far the most popular. It was the most picked in Gryffindor, Slytherin and especially in Ravenclaw, with a whopping 54.84%. The only house where it wasn’t the most likely to be selected was Hufflepuff, who instead chose “better the lives of others” and “cautiously and secretively,” with 41.67% each. Both of these options show how caring and responsible our good badger friends are. Not a single ‘Puff chose to use magic “as a tool and a weapon.” Slytherin had the highest percentage of people choosing “as a tool and a weapon” (still only 17.24%). Ravenclaws were least likely to choose “better the lives of others,” which you can interpret however you want. Surprisingly, Gryffindors were the only ones who were actually more likely to use magic “cautiously and secretively” than “to better the lives of others.”

MBTI Types

Agh. Tumblr, I love you, but your personality types are not really all that varied, and you make statistical analysis VERY DIFFICULT!

I asked those surveyed to select their Myers Briggs type, and it turns out Tumblr users are much, much, MUCH more likely to be INxx types than the average person. INTPs, INTJs, INFJs and especially INFPs are very common in Tumblrland, which makes a lot of sense. INxx types often feel the desire to escape from our world or to explore fictional ones, which is a desire we see all over Tumblr. Additionally, there are a few types missing from the survey altogether! The group of participants contained no ESTJs or ENFJs, who are presumably out doing whatever people do when they don’t have Tumblr. (Sports? Parties? I really don’t know, that’s a research project for another day).

I’ll break this down by house. The most common personality types in Gryffindor was INFP, with 33.3% of all Gryffindors identifying as INFP. The second and third most common were INTP and ESTP, with 20% and 13.33% respectively. The first two are pretty much just a Tumblr thing, but ESTP is the important one. In the group of participants, ESTPs, ISTPs and ESFPs were only found in Gryffindor, showing that Gryffindors have strong Sensing and Perceiving preferences. This isn’t surprising at all - in fact, it explains their focus on objective accomplishment and their, um, shaky relationship with rules.

The most common personality types in Hufflepuff was also INFP, with, *sigh* again, a third of all Hufflepuffs identifying as INFP. The second and third most common were INFJ and ENFP, with 20.83% and 16.67% respectively. All Intuitive types, as we’ve seen often on Tumblr, but also all Feeling types, which seems to be a more Hufflepuff-specific trait. What’s more, ISFJs were only found in Hufflepuff, which makes sense - they’re hardworking, kind, loving, helpful and loyal, all traits of the house of the badger.

The most common personality types in Ravenclaw was INFJ, with 26.67%. INFJs are actually the rarest type in the general population, which makes sense as to why some might find themselves in Ravenclaw, where eccentricity and creativity are praised, not shunned. The next most common were INTJ and INFP, with 20% each. Like I said, Tumblr seems to be the natural environment for Introvert and Intuitive types, and Ravenclaws represent these traits best, being independent, thoughtful and contemplative.

The most common personality types in Slytherin was INTP, with 32.14%. The second and third most common were the inescapable INFP with 28.57% and INTJ with 14.29%. Both ENTJ and ESFJ were only found in Slytherin. Both are highly ambitious types, but in different ways. ENTJs are probably the type you think of when it comes to ambition. But ESFJs are very ambitious too, albeit in subtler ways. The ESFJ desires not fame or money or reign of eastern Europe, but popularity. More than anything else, they want to be liked, and they will do anything to make this happen - I’ve seen it over and over again, especially in my brother. ESFJs will constantly give up more and more of their time, change their opinions and do things they don’t want to do in order to remain popular. They are making sacrifices to attain a goal they perceive as important - what could be more Slytherin than that?

Enneagram Types

I asked those surveyed to put their Enneagram type, which, while lesser-known than MBTI, is still valuable for this kind of personality assessment (and there’s fewer types. Yay! Less writing!) All the Enneagram types are numbers. Tumblr is absolutely filled with Fours, Fives and Sixes. However, I still managed to get people from every Enneagram type, so the data is somewhat reliable.

Ones, who are idealistic, principled and perfectionistic, were most likely to be Ravenclaw (16.13%) and least likely to be Gryffindor (6.25%). I’d predicted Gryffindor Ones to be more common, since Gryffindors have a strong sense of right and wrong.

Twos, who are caring, social and people-pleasing, were most likely to be in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff (12.50% each) and least likely to be in Ravenclaw (3.23%). This isn’t surprising - the confident Gryffindor and kind-hearted Hufflepuff are much more likely to be Twos than the self-sufficient Ravenclaw.

Threes, who are ambitious, driven and image-conscious, were most likely to be in Slytherin (7.41%) and least likely to be in Ravenclaw (0%). This is fairly self-explanatory - Slytherins are goal-chasers, meaning many of them are Threes, whereas Ravenclaws couldn’t care less for “succeeding” as others see it, i.e. popularity, political power or riches. Their idea of success is probably either knowledge or self-expression, depending on the person.

Fours, who are expressive, individualistic and emotional, were most likely to be Ravenclaws (25.81%) and least likely to be Slytherins (11.11%). Ravenclaws are very individualistic and can be very expressive if they build up the confidence. But even though Slytherins can sometimes act in self-interest, many of them are actually pretty-group minded when it comes down to it and like to have friends/minions to help them achieve their goals. They also tend to be more intellectual than emotional.

Fives, who are cerebral, independent and isolated, were most likely to be in Ravenclaw (32.26%) and least likely to be in Hufflepuff (4.17%). Fives are probably the stereotypical Ravenclaw, being quiet intellectuals who love learning. While Hufflepuffs can definitely be intelligent, they don’t pride themselves on it as much as Ravenclaw, and are very unlikely to isolate themselves.

Sixes, who are responsible, protective and anxious, were most likely to be in Gryffindor (31.25%) and least likely to be in Slytherin (14.81%). I will admit, this one threw me a bit -  I’d never thought of Gryffindors as having self-doubt or Slytherins as irresponsible. But the description of a healthy Six matches Gryffindor pretty well - they are described as “internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others.” And after all, bravery is as much about conquering self-doubt as it is about conquering ultimate evil.

Sevens, who are spontaneous, fun-loving and scattered, were most likely to be in Gryffindor (6.25%) and least likely to be in Ravenclaw (3.23%). There’s not a lot to say here.

Eights, who are confident, determined and confrontational, were only found in Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. This just goes to show that you should never mess with badgers, as even though they are nice they still have potential to destroy you.

Nines, who are easygoing, peaceful and passive, were most likely to be in Hufflepuff (20.83%) and least likely to be in Ravenclaw (3.23%). Hufflepuffs typically seek to avoid unnecessary conflict and like to please others, however they can fight back when necessary.

Big Five Personality Traits

I asked the participants to rank their scores in the Big Five personality traits highest to lowest, 1 to 5. Of course, this yielded a wide variety of results that are somewhat difficult to interpret. Tumblr users seem to be higher in neuroticism than the general population, which is why you see so many posts about mental health. They are also lower in extroversion, which I’ve hopefully beaten into you enough already. This was the most-skipped question, with 16% of people not answering it, so the data will be less accurate than it would’ve been if the sample size was larger.

For Gryffindor, agreeableness was the highest scoring trait, followed by neuroticism, extroversion and openness, with conscientiousness scoring lowest. As the only house where extroversion didn’t score lowest, we can assume that in the general population a large number of Gryffindors would be extroverts. This was also the only house where neuroticism didn’t score highest, meaning that Gryffindors tend to be emotionally stable. However, they are also the least open house.

For Hufflepuff, neuroticism was the highest scoring trait, followed by openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness, with extroversion scoring lowest. This is the same order the traits were scored in overall, so we can’t deduce a lot from this.

For Ravenclaw, neuroticism was the highest scoring trait, followed by openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness, with extroversion scoring lowest. Ravenclaw is the least agreeable house, not because of maliciousness but because they are detached from reality, wandering around inside their own head and not really caring if they come across as cold. I’ve driven a lot of people away because I didn’t realise I was coming across as hostile, and many of my fellow Ravenclaws have admitted to the same thing. Smart as we are, we really don’t know how others think. (A̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶i̶m̶e̶s̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶e̶.)

For Slytherin, neuroticism was the highest scoring trait, followed by agreeableness, openness and conscientiousness, with extroversion scoring lowest. Even though they are thought of as the “bad-guy” house, Slytherins are incredibly charming and loyal. While this may be manipulative or to further their own ends, often they just want to befriend people. I have a Slytherin friend who is incredibly good at getting people, even total strangers, to warm up to her, even though she is quite introverted and independent. Slytherins are just good at the people thing.

Four Temperaments

For this question, everyone selected which of the Four Temperaments they were. Tumblr users tend to be either phlegmatic or melancholic. Can you guess why? (Hint: it starts with an “i” and ends with a “ntroversion.”)

Sanguine people are enthusiastic, boisterous, expressive, active, and social. They were most likely to be in Hufflepuff (12.50%) and least likely to be in Ravenclaw (3.23%).

Choleric people are short-tempered, determined, irritable, proud, and charismatic. They were most likely to be in Slytherin (24.14%) and least likely to be in Gryffindor (0%).

Melancholic people are analytical, wise, quiet, sensitive, and perfectionistic. They were most likely to be in Ravenclaw (70.97%!!!) and least likely to be in Hufflepuff (still a respectable 50%)

Phlegmatic people are helpful, meek, kindhearted, calm and peaceful. They were most likely to be in Gryffindor (43.75%) and least likely to be in Slytherin (10.34%).

Gasp.

Did you see what just happened?

Each house scored highest in a trait exactly once, and scored lowest in a trait only once too. Does this mean that the Four Temperaments are the one true indicator of Hogwarts house? Nope. Not at all. (I mean, a large portion of Gryffindors aren’t meek.) But it shows that they may help to predict your house if you are unsure. Since both Hogwarts houses and the Four Temperaments are somewhat themed around the four classical elements (water, fire, earth and air), albeit not the ones they ended up corresponding with, this was probably a good question to include on the survey. Pat on the back for me.

7 Roles

This is much more spiritual than scientific, but I felt like I should include it in the survey anyway. Some have suggested that every human soul is drawn to a distinct purpose, and it will keep that purpose over its many lives. For Servers it is service, for Artisans it is creation, Warriors persuasion, Scholars knowledge, Sages communication, Priests motivation and Kings mastery. Fortunately, there are statistics on how common each role is in the general population (thanks, personalityspirituality.net). Servers make up 25% of people, Artisans 21%, Warriors 18%, Scholars 14% Sages 11%, Priests 7% and Kings 4%. Tumblr users are much more likely to be Artisans (29.47%) or Scholars (37.89%). This explains all the science, art and useless fact blogs. Servers and Warriors are also much rarer on Tumblr, probably because they are all out doing stuff with their lives. No, I’m not jealous.

Anyway, Priests were most common in Hufflepuff, with 12.50% of ‘Puffs identifying with this role. They were completely absent from Gryffindor and Slytherin, who prefer to focus on their own virtues and vices rather than motivating other people. There’s nothing wrong with that. Think of the “somebody’s Watson” Tumblr post. Achieving things for yourself and helping or inspiring others to do their best are equally important.

Egh, this is getting way too deep. Moving on. Servers were most common in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor (12.50% each) and least common in Slytherin (4%). There’s not a lot to say here - Hufflepuffs help others, Slytherins are destined for greatness, blah blah blah, the usual stuff. However, I do think it’s interesting that Hufflepuffs are both Priests and Servers, while Gryffindors are only Servers. I believe that this is because Gryffindors do not seek to reason with, negotiate with or inspire people as Priests do. They choose to help the common good more directly as Servers.

Artisans were most common in Ravenclaw (36.67%) and least common in Slytherin (20%). And this makes sense. I’ve met a lot of creative Slytherins, but few see their artistic expression as their greatest purpose or pursue it as a career. Ravenclaws, on the other hand, see creativity as vitally important, and often find things like art, theatre or music, the best way to express themselves to others since they keep their emotions bottled up. If you want to upset a Ravenclaw, make them hang out with boring people.

Next, the Warrior. Did you guess that they’d be mostly Gryffindor? Because you’re wrong. Warriors were mostly badgers! 12.50% of Hufflepuffs were Warriors. Don’t be so surprised. Think about how many of them took part in the Battle of Hogwarts. (Um, spoilers.) J.K. Rowling herself said that not all, but some Gryffindors took part in the battle for the thrill or to show off rather than out of duty, while with Hufflepuff it was purely a case of morals. No Warriors were in Ravenclaw. They don’t fight for their beliefs - they seek to influence things subtly. Which makes them sound like a secret government operative, but whatever.

Sages were most common in Gryffindor (12.50%) and least common in Slytherin (4%). This actually illustrates the difference between the two quite nicely -  Gryffindors are good at communication, while Slytherins avoid it. What you see is what you get with Gryffindor, but Slytherins are a lot more secretive.

60% of Slytherins were Scholars. In fact, more than one third of all Scholars surveyed were Slytherin. Slytherins just love knowledge. We think of Ravenclaw as the “knowing stuff” house, and they are, but it’s just as much a Slytherin thing as it is a Ravenclaw thing. Knowledge is power, after all. Hufflepuffs were the least likely to be Scholars, with 20.83% of them identifying with this role.

Only one King was found in each house, so that data is unreliable. I’d put them as Slytherin myself.

Cardinal Virtues

I’m glad most people I surveyed actually answered this one, since I doubt that many of you had heard of them before! Basically, they’re just like the Seven Virtues or the Seven Sins, but in four, because Ancient Greeks liked fours. The four virtues are (Fortitudo: Courage, willpower and drive), Prudentia (Wisdom, caution and logic), Temperantia (Self-control, practicality, diligence) and Iustita: (Justice, fairness and equity). If you look at them, you can probably see that they’re the root words of “fortitude,” “prudence,” “temperance” and “justice.” (Sigh. I love etymology way too much.)

I asked the group I surveyed to choose which one came most naturally to them. Fortitudo was most common in Gryffindor (31.25%) and least common in Ravenclaw (0%). Obviously Gryffindor would be the bravest house. Some Ravenclaws do have courage, but not so much willpower or drive.

Levels of Prudentia were highest in Ravenclaw (61.29%). Again, this makes sense - wisdom and logic come natural to Ravenclaw. Prudentia was least common in Hufflepuff (16.67%).

Temperantia was mostly found among Slytherins (39.29%), who value self-preservation, resourcefulness and ambition - of course they’d be thorough, practical and self-restraining. Ravenclaws scored lowest (9.68%). They’re just not that practical.

Iustita was most-chosen in Hufflepuff, with 58.33%, while Slytherin picked it least, with 14.29%, which…

IT HAPPENED AGAIN!

Okay, it’s not as neat this time. While each house scored highest in one virtue, Ravenclaw scored lowest in more than one. Still - this is really good! It means I chose the right kind of questions, thank goodness.

Now, for the final part - documenting the trends I’ve noticed. Please keep in mind that these are just that - trends. You don’t have to fit all, or even any of them, to be in a certain house. This is just research and a bit of guesswork.

Summary - GRYFFINDOR

Likely to be phlegmatic, unlikely to be choleric

Fortitudo comes naturally to them

Typically Extrovert and Sensing types

Are scared of destroying their relationships, upsetting people or creating conflict

Enneagram Type Two, Type Six, Type Seven and Type Eight are good examples

Score high in agreeableness and extroversion, but low in conscientiousness

Tend to be Servers or Sages

Summary - HUFFLEPUFF

Likely to be sanguine, unlikely to be melancholic

Iustita comes naturally to them

Typically Feeling types

Are scared of destroying their relationships, upsetting people or creating conflict

Enneagram Type Two, Type Eight and Type Nine are good examples

Caring and responsible, would use magic cautiously and selflessly

Tend to be Priests, Servers or Warriors

Summary - RAVENCLAW

Likely to be melancholic, unlikely to be sanguine

Prudentia comes naturally to them

Typically Introvert and Intuitive types

Are scared of losing themselves, restrictions or being under someone else's control

Enneagram Type One, Type Four and Type Five are good examples

Score high in neuroticism and openness, but low in extroversion and agreeableness

Tend to be Artisans or Scholars

Summary - SLYTHERIN

Likely to be choleric, unlikely to be phlegmatic

Temperantia comes naturally to them

Can be any MBTI type - anyone with a dream and a goal can be in Slytherin

Are scared of losing themselves, restrictions or being under someone else's control

Enneagram Type Three is a good example

Score high in agreeableness and neuroticism

Tend to be Scholars or Kings

So if any of you are unsure of your house, and can somehow make sense of all of this, great! You’re one step closer to finding your Hogwarts house. I wish you luck on your journey.

- Admin Kayleigh, INTP

(A/N: You may notice that I almost always put the houses in the following order: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. This is because they are introduced in this order during the Sorting Hat’s song, and so when I’m thinking about them I tend to remember them in that order. Now, I’m stuck that way, and sometimes I even get a little uncomfortable if they’re in a different order. TL;DR I am very weird.)

#istj #isfj #infj #intj #istp #isfp #infp #intp #estp #esfp #enfp #entp #estj #esfj #enfj #entj #hogwarts houses #slytherin #hufflepuff #ravenclaw #gryffindor #see i did them in the wrong order and now i feel weird #harry potter #hogwarts #personality #enneagram #7 roles #seven roles #four temperaments #cardinal virtues

[fieryfurry89-blog]

Course Post #13: Finding a Way In

There’s a scene in the first season of Mad Men when Don and Betty are playing Bridge with friends Carlton and Francine in the living room. It is nighttime, and the children (supposedly) have gone to bed. There is an excellent flat angle shot. On the left, there are the card playing adults, and on the right half of the shot, there are the children, Bobby and Sally, sitting on the stairs, listening. Bobby comes into the living room and starts to grab some candies. Don gets up to put Bobby away. When he comes back, Betty begins a conversation with the friends about how their son Bobby had won the class prize for drawing a lifelike portrait of George Washington. The teacher had even called the house to congratulate him. When Betty went into Bobby’s room, she found a textbook with Washington’s face on one of the pages. The similarity to Bobby’s drawing was uncanny.

“He had traced it,” Betty says.

Don throws a card down, leans back, pulls a cigarette out of his shirt pocket.

“My art department is run on tracing paper,” Don says. “Why reinvent the wheel?”

It’s a beautiful scene for a lot of reasons. Don Draper is a traced man of sorts. His real name is Dick Whitman, and he has made it big in America by erasing his past and stealing another man’s name.  He seems to have little problem with Bobby’s strategy. To him it seems clever, because he himself is doing it. Betty, the golden woman, has always been reticent to cut corners when it comes to tradition, decor, and her ideas of success. She begins an affair with Henry Francis, a politician with a golden heart, who almost cannot help but love Betty despite her erratic behavior. We could talk about Francine’s fascination with the Drapers’s life, their house with the red door, their perfect existence, and how it is built up on suburban ideals that will one day wilt and die, but for the moment, it seems to do these upper New York white people just fine.

We could also talk about Bobby’s behavior as a cry for help in terms of desiring attention. But that is a story for another time. (And nobody likes Bobby anyway).

The tracing paper is important. When I was Bobby’s age, I felt tracing to be cheating. It was fun, but I did not consider it art. I firmly believed that artists kept to form, were intellectual about their reasoning for technique, and were painstakingly adept at pursuing an idea to its limits. One time before a church camp, I traced a Dragonball Z character to give to the counselors. But there was a problem with the length of the image compared to my piece of paper, so I had to hand draw his right arm myself. The results were absurd. His profile was slightly turned, and even when his left arm was away from the viewer, it was still larger than the right arm, which looked emaciated and shrunken. When I handed the photocopies to the counselors, either they did not notice, or did not want to upset me. But I knew. It was the right arm that kept it from being what I felt to be perfect.

But lately, I have learned a great deal about who artists are, how they do it, and why they make those decisions to produce great works. The one thing I am most stunned by, each time without question, is the rate by which artists cut corners, cheat, and cover up insecurity with technology, materials, and an eye for the look of the world. I have already spoken about Hockney’s archaeology, so I will not burden you here yet again. But I will say that these words and idioms, though they have a negative connotation, have actually been a delight to me, and have set in motion some ideas for the future of art and creating artists that I would like to share.

I have an Oculus Rift headset. This should not be surprising: in marketing for the 2017 year, a year after the Rift’s release, it turned out that I am the leading demographic: young, white, players with a gaming history. But, to be honest, I did not want the headset for games. No, I wanted it for art.

Oculus Quill, a three-dimensional painting app, is something else I have mentioned in the past as a defense of virtual reality. Its beauty when discussing technology in the 21st century is, in my opinion, unparalleled. When we speak of groundbreaking ideas for mediums and subjects, virtual reality will be remembered as producing new professionals in the same way that Bill Gates established in his years at the Lakeside school. It is a thing difficult to understand unless you are in it. A person can form a loop over and over with their hands, like twirling a ribbon, and can put their head through it. It is an infinite canvas, where I can zoom in and create fleas bouncing up and down on the back of a dog that happens to be inside a snow globe that a man is presenting to his wife as a gift. It is a thing most beautiful.

It can also be dense and difficult and frustrating and altogether lonely. For weeks now, months even, I have pounded my physical head on virtual walls, trying to push myself and getting nowhere. My strategies were freezing up the computer, producing glitches that would have me reeling and sitting on the sectional in an attempt to recover. I couldn’t understand the controls, but I also could not understand the implications of the controls. Okay, so I could have a select button, what would I use it for? I could place my palette statically on the canvas, but why would I do that when I have it on my hand? I was stuck, I had plateaued. I remember very specifically apologizing to my wife that $350 had gone down the drain to purchase the headset. I felt doomed.

But here is Goro Fujita, renowned digital artist, to save the day. This video alone was so revealing that I instantly went to his Patreon and began to follow him.  All those years and history of tracing, cutting corners? You had better believe that Oculus Quill artists are just as bad. Goro Fujita makes one stroke, and then duplicates it repeatedly to make the floor of the forest. He makes one tuft of grass, then he shades it, then he duplicates it to create density. He copies trees to add lighting and shadow easily. He copies arms to use as legs! His workflow is so fast and efficient because, although he loves the intuitiveness of Quill, he actually takes his body out of most equations. The times he does use his body he loves, and it’s for the same reasons as me. When you want to animate a butterfly, I love that you have to move your hand up and down just like one to imitate its fluttering. I love when you have to animate leaves falling, you have to move your hands in ways that a leaf would when approaching new winds. When was the last time you pretended and the thing you were imagining happened?

But he also discusses the power of Quill, and I will paraphrase. With certain two-dimensional toolsets on a computer, it would take you months, sometimes years to become fluent in the technology in order to produce something artistically pleasing. Here, he is able to pick it up in mere hours. I too, once I saw this video, saw my artistic expression increase dramatically. When my wife left for a treatment in Houston, I presented her with flowers.

Tulips, daisies, stargazer lilies, all inside a translucent vase filled with water. I did this in forty-five minutes (don’t tell her that).

This is the demand for the twenty-first century: reducing the time to self-actualization. Before, I was a hack. Now, I am a beret wearing artiste who intends to start a gallery and send drawings to my friends as presents. Audacious and egotistical as it is, I love sharing letters, paintings, and other expressions. It seems to me that each person has an obligation to find in each other the path of least resistance when it comes to creativity. We have a lot of untapped human energy that we could use to express plights, complications, worries, fears, and intense bouts of happiness and care. Why should we have so many people on the outside? The future should not be boarded up. On the contrary, we should be finding as many entrances to happiness as possible, virtual or otherwise. Trace like Bobby, until you can draw like Dali.

[zoohyena3-blog]

Is Is A Good Time To Buy A Property In Cyprus?

Is Is A Good Time To Buy A Property In Cyprus?

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Content

Cyprus

Golden Visa Cyprus-- Citizenship

Citizenship By Investment Cyprus

Realty Financial Investment Cyprus

Cyprus From EUR1,025,000.

Cyprus From EUR850,000.

Cyprus

How can I settle in Cyprus?

Second of all, you need to apply for a social insurance number to secure employment in Cyprus. Within the next three months, you must submit an application for a residence permit to the Civil Registry and Migration Department. A permanent residence permit should take 6–8 months to arrive.

According to the Cyprus Ministry of Inside, the fast-track treatment is analyzed and it results to a positive response within 2 months, as long as you meet the demands as well as preconditions. There is a second choice to obtain a permanent residence permit, under more flexible prerequisites and also needs, but it takes 6-12 months to be checked out and give an outcome, plus it is tough to be provided.

Golden Visa Cyprus-- Citizenship

How strong is Cyprus passport?

Those who are renting long-term can expect to pay around 450 euros and up for the same type of apartment or house, and around 550 euros for a two bedroom place. This is the rate for Limassol. Renting Property For sale in Cyprus in Paphos, Larnaca and Nicosia will cost you a lot less.

The biggest non-EU teams are Filipinos, Russians, Sri Lankans and Vietnamese. There are an approximated 20-- 25,000 undocumented travelers from 3rd countries additionally residing in the Republic, though migrant rights groups contest these figures. The group changes in society have actually resulted in some racist cases, as well as the formation of the charity KISA in response. According to Area 8 of Annex D of the Treaty of Facility of the Republic of Cyprus, obtaining an international passport does not automatically suggest the loss of the Cypriot citizenship.

Citizenship By Financial Investment Cyprus

Nonetheless by having the Schengen Visa you will be able to access any type of Schengen participant state without the need to request visa per of the participant state independently. For that reason you will save time, money as well as various other related expenses beside the aggravation of the procedures. The Schengen Visa is a site visitor visa and also is issued to persons that need to obtain a visa prior to getting in Europe e.g. non-European people. The typical period of consideration of files takes around 2-3 months, although delays take place approximately six months. The business has to confirm the repayment of all tax obligations as well as social settlements in advance to put on the Ministry of Labour in Cyprus.

Property Investment Cyprus

According to EU law, people of the European Union have the right to visa-free travel as well as to function as well as live in any type of nation of the Union, including Cyprus. The demographic personality of Northern Cyprus transformed after the Turkish invasion in 1974 as well as especially during the last 10-- 15 years.

Cyprus From EUR1,025,000.

Though the treatment can use up to one year, there is at the same time no limitation on using the property, as well as in the not likely event that approval is not given, the customer can re-apply, and also anyway has 17 years in which to market the property. Importation of automobile to Cyprus will be subject to compliance, it is likely that obligation and tax will use. Provided that you have possessed as well as utilized your car for a minimum of 6 months before transfer, you may import it when taking up residency in Cyprus. Having Cypriot Twin Citizenship is related to a number of advantages, including visa-free travel to over 150 nations and also liberty to live, work and also do company. Library of Congress, you can make an application for citizenship after five years of residency.

Nonetheless, the nation does not need you to be present or reside in Cyprus.

Members of the same household - but submitting separate applications - might pool their resources provided that the complete amount of the residence/house covers the amount of EUR 500,000 for each and every applicant.

A financier as well as other reliant relative-- partner, small youngsters (under age 18) as well as economically reliant grown-up kids (pupils under age 28) obtain citizenship of the Republic of Cyprus.

If their Kid already obtained Cyprus Citizenship, parents can also get Cyprus Citizenship by acquiring a residence for a minimum EUR500,000.

The five-year duration can be reduced to two if you are of Mexican descent, are married to a Mexican for two years, or have actually contributed to the country's society, looks, culture, art or science in any way. For a country that makes use of Gross National Joy Index to gauge its success, Bhutan's citizenship provisions are not exactly simple. According to the Bhutan Citizenship Act, 1985, to be birthed a citizen, both your moms and dads must be Bhutanese. If either of your parents is a citizen of Bhutan, you have to live there for 15 years before looking for naturalized citizenship. In all various other instances, you can only apply after living there for 20 years, given you comply with a collection of strict policies.

How much is Cyprus visa fee?

Cyprus - Poverty and wealth. The people of the Greek zone are among the most affluent in the world. According to the World Bank's Development Report, Cyprus is ranked 16th in terms of per capita income adjusted for purchasing power. In 1988 per capita income was US$15,500, according to the CIA World Factbook .

The holders of the Irreversible home license have to not operate in Cyprus. Therefore, they ought to make Affidavits that they are not going to engage in any type of professional activity in Cyprus. Please note that any type of revenue from returns in a Cyprus Firm, of the candidates, shall not be considered as an infraction of the requirement (of not taking part in any expert activity in Cyprus). When a non EU Participant acquires a property for himself as well as his household of EUR300.000 and also even more, his application for Permanent House, visa Group F will be analyzed favourably. There are some various techniques to accomplish this yet you have to satisfy some particular prerequisites.

If you have a home authorization or long-term residency, you are not enabled to benefit an employer. So, if you have business skills, you might intend to take into consideration starting your own business.

This makes it possible for foreign nationals to obtain long-term residency or citizenship through financial investment in physicals; a really enticing possibility when you take into consideration that property costs on the island get on the up, making a residence below a sound investment. click here to learn more about Property in Cyprus to function will certainly remain the very same up until the end of the application duration (end of 2020) if there is a deal. Make certain to request a residence permit, permanent residency or citizenship standing relying on your eligibility prior to 31 December 2020. Under the typical means if someone wants to go into a number of countries in Europe he will be qualified to experience visa applications to the related countries to gain a gain access to in each one of them.

How can I get permanent residence permit in Cyprus?

According to recent studies, which rank the world's most powerful passports, Cyprus travel documents were cited as among the most powerful in the world, with Cyprus passport holders being able to travel to over 140 counties without visa.

Nonetheless, one may voluntarily relinquish it, provided that he or she "has acquired the age of 21 years (or is a woman that has been wed) and is not of unhealthy mind and additionally possesses the citizenship or citizenship of another country". To be a Canadian person, the law states that you must reside in the nation for a total amount of 1,095 days out of the five-year duration before you can use as well as additionally have an irreversible resident condition. Other than that, within the 5 years, you need to additionally fulfill three years of individual revenue tax filing commitments. Understanding the country's background and also culture is additionally a vital requisite throughout the application interviews.

Can I study and work in Cyprus?

Work And Study In Cyprus Students are allowed to work part-time for a maximum of 20 hours weekly. One can recover the cost of living and also the tuition fees with utmost ease. Part time work is allowed after six months' settlement period.

Nonetheless, there is an EU sequence regulation that enables foreign nationals to choose, with their will, for the succession legislation of their nation of race to use on their death, as opposed to that of their country of house. Take professional guidance initially to establish what would function best for your household and also heirs. It is anticipated that the business will certainly use Cypriots or Europeans for this group.

It therefore takes into consideration these Turkish immigrants to be "prohibited inhabitants" and does not include them in the population approximates for the whole island released by the Republic of Cyprus Statistical Solution. Large market modifications have actually been caused since 1964 by the activities of peoples throughout the island and also the later influx of inhabitants from Turkey to Northern Cyprus. According to the 2011 Census there are 170,383 non-citizens residing in Cyprus, of whom 106,270 are EU residents as well as 64,113 are from third countries. The largest EU groups by race are Greeks, British, Romanians and also Bulgarians.

You have to also take an oath of obligation to the king, country and also individuals of Bhutan. The country reserves the right to deny your application for naturalization anytime for any kind of factor. Those thinking about getting citizenship from a European Union member state-- and hence can live and also work throughout the bloc-- will certainly pay a whole lot more cash. Malta supplies citizenship to those who invest $1.2 million, typically after 12 months.

The treatment for enrollment of the staff member adheres to the basic stipulations of the work treatments of employees of companies in Cyprus. European legislation on freedom of movement makes it possible for EU residents to freely live as well as function in any kind of EU country.

For dual that amount, Cyprus concerns citizenship within 3 to 6 months. Purchasing citizenship isn't necessarily extra pricey than getting residency. In the Caribbean islands Antigua and also Barbuda, Grenada, St. Kitts and also Nevis, and St. Lucia, citizenship can be bought from between $100,000 to $150,000. Citizenship in these islands uses visa-free traveling to greater than 130 locations. In doing so, the Federal government aims to shield UK citizens and their family members that have currently developed their life in Cyprus at the time of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, under the Withdrawal Arrangement.

How many hours student can work in Cyprus?

Legally, an International student in Cyprus is only allowed to work for 20 hours a week. During the holiday season, you can work up to 36 to 40 hours a week. The per-hour salary is usually 5 Euro.

#Property for Sale in Cyprus #Cyprus Property #Property in Cyprus #Property in Paphos #Property in Limassol #Property in Larnaca #Property in Nicosia #Property for sale in Paphos #Property for sale in Nicosia #Property for sale in Limassol #Property for sale in Larnaca #Property for sale in Famagusta #Real estate for Sale in Cyprus #Real estate for Sale in Nicosia #Real estate for Sale in Limassol #Real estate for Sale in Larnaca #Real estate for Sale in Famagusta #Real estate for Sale in Paphos #Flats for Sale in Cyprus #Flats for Sale in Nicosia #Flats for Sale in Limassol #Flats for Sale in Larnaca #Flats for Sale in Paphos #Flats for Sale in Famagusta #Apartments for Sale in Cyprus #Apartments for Sale in Paphos #Apartments for Sale in Nicosia #Apartments for Sale in Limassol #Apartments for Sale in Larnaca #Apartments for Sale in Famagusta

[imeugene]

Outsider art is a really interesting concept. It’s when an artist appears and they have no formal training or background in any type of art. Usually something like this ends up pretty bad cause when people who don’t do art decide they want to, they just end up drawing what they think their art should be. With people in our demographics probably half ass tattoo styles with maybe some psychedelic overtones. Cause that’s cooo. Once in a while someone will create something completely intuitively and without pretenses and it’ll be so unique to itself that it can’t help but be interesting, leaving the viewer mesmerized. 

Like this work above is by a guy name Henry Darger. He’s some closet nutcase who did janitor work by day and at night he came to his empty house worked on his epic story book. Normally this wouldn’t be that strange, actually commendable to have that tenacity to do something like that but Henry Darger never showed anyone or told anyone. So it ends up being creepy and obsessive. His subject matter  doesn’t help his case either. All this was only unveiled when he passed away and somebody went through his belongings finding thousands of pages of this book tucked away somewhere in his house. 

I only bring this up cause if BMX is an art and there is certainly a genre of BMX which is Outsider BMX. It’s the type of riding usually from the East Coast where there is no semblance of any traditional BMX styles. They’re always attention grabbing and down right strange. Not something other people really try to replicate or aspire to cause it’s so out there. You wonder how they came to be riding that way cause usually we watch BMX, sweat something and work towards that. Most riders may diverge a bit but for the most part it’s on a semi predictable path. 

This Ian Mcomber section has nothing like that. I can’t think of any rider at all  who remotely has a similar style. Maybe a bit of George Dossantos but it’s like Ian took one aspect of George D’s riding and focused on it entirely. 99% of this section is fakie cassette tricks. It’s bizarre and almost counter intuitive. At this point freecoasters existed and freecoaster riders who specialize in that were around. Ian took a drastically different approach by almost emulating those freecoaster riders but at the same time retaining a very different and unique bag of tricks by keeping that cassette. Like the half cab brakeless fufanu on a quarter. That wouldn’t be possible without a cassette necessarily. Halfcab rails require a lot of pedal pressure something that freecoast riders don’t do. 

Another aspect is there’s no real precedence for something like that. No build up. No 180 bar before the truck. Progression is a line and BMX as a community follows these progression paths laid by different riders at different times Garrett Reynolds became famous and a lot of riders took what he did and made something a lil bit different but somewhat the same. Someone like Sean Ricany while now very different has that semblance of Garrett in his riding. Something like Ian Mcomber’s riders doesn’t have a real clear cut line. His influences, his beginnings, how he came to be is all a mystery. Even with the popularity of freecoasters today, this style is still not something that exists. All this with a cassette none the less when by 2008 I wanna say freecoasters were becoming more prevalent. It’s one of kind and it works cause it’s understandably hard. Just like making thousands of pages of some random picture book. Cause with a lot of things as long as it seems like it takes real effort than whatever it is becomes credible. 

I brought up earlier that this Outsider BMX is more prevalent in the East Coast. I think there is a case to be made that BMX and extreme sports in general are more of a rarity on this side. With that a lot of riders they become geographically and BMX socially socially isolated. I remember personally growing up a close friend of mine definitely had an outsider style. We only rode with each other, never had a skatepark close enough. I watched the same three riders who never really did any tricks obsessively so my personal riding is a derivative of that. He wasn’t the type to cosume BMX media, he just saw something that interested him and found a way to get it done. This is a guy who did a fakie bar to half cab before he could hop bar forwards. It’s this type of BMX isolation I think leads to these type of styles something I think is gonna become rarer as we progress towards the future. 

Because It’s impossible not to consume BMX media today. Only a real indifference anything in riding itself would be the reason for so. I think this is also a reason why riding styles seem to be more the same everywhere. It’s that idea of California-cation. Where Hollywood and in an extension mass media is washing over regional styles and exporting that brand to the world. It’s why there are kids in Indonesia who listen to Lil Yachty and dress like Soundcloud rappers. The BMX equivalent is a kid in Indonesia learning to pull up bars wearing a beanie in Winter or something like that. It’s absolutely a happening in BMX and a larger extent culture. 

If Henry Darger’s mom put him through extensive art school, he wouldn’t have created what he did. More than likely if he was born today he’d be painting owls or something. We are what we consume, physically and mentally. There isn’t anyway to predict outsider riding is ever gonna be in cause it doesn’t work like that. Every outsider rider is different one another. I think the best case in BMX with someone who took it the furthest would be Erik Elstran. Who rides nothing like Ian Mcomber. That’s the beauty of this genre, no two is similar. It’s just an interesting idea and concept to wrap your head around. 

Ian “Fakie Master” Mccomber 

Cold As Ice by Foreigner 

Fakie master 08 (2008)

Edited by Anthony Villani

#bmx #ian mcomber #fakie master #ctbmx

[theattainer]

Online Marketing Through Trial & Error

https://chuckbartok.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Carmen2-e1574695310247.jpg

http://theattainer.com/online-marketing-through-trial-error/

Online Marketing Through Trial & Error

The following is a guest post from the very talented author, Carmen Baca. Although her focus is on the marketing of books, the principles are relevant to all venues

Online Marketing through Trial & Error

In the three years, I’ve been an author, I’ve figured out a few marketing strategies that work for me, not for all, mind you. While I queried publishers, I wrote to twelve famous authors for advice about marketing due to my being a New Mexico Hispanic and because our culture is underrepresented in literature. The consensus of the five who graciously replied was that exposure is what I needed for acquiring readers and generating sales. So that’s what I did.

Carmen Baca, brilliant author from New Mexico

PRE-PROMOTING PRIOR TO BOOK RELEASE

I created a website, a blog site, got on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram and started experimenting without knowing what I was doing. All those failed to lure readers, by the way, all except FB. This is where my readers were engaging with me and follower numbers rising, so I concentrated on it. And because of my ignorance, I started promoting fifteen months before my book published because I didn’t know my first publisher would take so long. However, that act of ignorance worked (and still works) to my benefit. I told everyone about my book for so long and used so many short excerpts and photos that the week the book released, it sold out on Amazon and in my local bookstore four times. I still promote my works months in advance.

FACEBOOK

A couple of reasons why Facebook works for me has to do with the genre and reader demographics. That’s probably why it doesn’t work for all authors. I don’t write a genre that’s common: I write regionalistic literature. This means I appeal to a certain region and to people who want to know more about the region. The subject matter I include is due to my culture being a large contributor to my novels and short stories.

The reader demographics are women my age or older. The majority of the reader population have only FB, no other social media accounts, so there’s no way else to reach them. However, because so many of them won’t do online shopping, they can’t leave reviews on websites. They do leave reviews on my page though. They also prefer buying the books from me, signed and with custom-made bookmarks. I sell hundreds of books from my page, but it does nothing for Amazon ranking based on sales and reviews. So my books will never reach a high rank (the first one about the Brotherhood got to #32 once; I about fainted). That one has the best sales record and the most reviews. So anyway, that’s why FB works for me but doesn’t work for all authors.

Best day to post on FB—Wednesday at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Worst day—Sunday

ONLINE VISIBILITY

As for my other platforms, every once in a while I update my website and post on LinkedIn, which I don’t understand how to use at all. I tweeted till I was even more confused about Twitter, and I post once in a while on my Flipboard Magazines and in my Pinterest author collections about my books. This is what I discovered about other means to gain online visibility.

Bookseller sites—that’s the first step in getting online visibility. Once you publish, your books are going to be on a few websites, maybe more, so that is where the exposure begins. Google yourself to see how many you’re on and fill in your author information on such sites like Amazon and Goodreads. See how you can use those to your advantage. Some authors create ads. I haven’t done that.

Short Publications—publish short pieces in online literary magazines. I’ve gotten works published in over twenty different magazines, blogs, and anthologies over the past two years. When new readers appreciate my short works, they sometimes follow the links to buy my books, so online publishing does acquire new readers and generates sales. (Again, maybe it’s my genre—no guarantee this will work for others). So, say twelve bookseller sites plus the twenty-four more, that gives me thirty-six websites I’ve gotten in a little over two years. With my website, blog site, all those social media platforms, that gives me another five at least. Forty-one, more or less, websites—that’s how many I’m on right now.

Media connections—this started for me because of my first book, traditionally published. My publisher arranged for a small book tour, so I was contacted by the influencers first—members of the media, newspaper and magazine editors and reviewers. Through Facebook, supporters of the arts, gallery owners, other authors, and book clubs found me and now promote on my behalf. Again, this is most likely due to my genre. However, because of those online magazines I publish in, I made some wonderful and far-reaching influencer connections on my own, and not only in my state. One editor promotes my books in issues of his magazine based in California, and a few others do similar promoting in other locations.

Author Websites—there are websites where we can list ourselves and our works: Goodreads, Hometown Reads, Penstra, Robin Reads, and many more. When you post to any social media platform, tag them with their handles, and they’ll sometimes retweet or share your works. Two neighboring states’ magazine editors, radio talk show hosts, and even a newspaper follow and share my posts to their readers, just because they found me on social media.

Above all, find social media platforms where you can connect with your fans and communicate with them daily. They love that they can talk to a “real author.”

TWITTER

I’d probably still be avoiding Twitter and stagnating at 190 followers but for a kind author who took me under his wing and tutored me in Twitter and tweeting.

Following the tutorial below, some of which I learned from my friend and some of which I discovered through more experimentation, I followed these steps to go from 190 to over 4,600 in four months. If you keep reading, I’ll explain how important the number of followers is on Twitter.

A visitor to your profile who is interested will take the time to click on your tweet and see what you’ve included in the accompanying imagery. Check out other authors’ and writers’ profiles to get an idea of how yours should look. I replace mine once in a while with NM scenery or with my books. When acquiring followers, be sure to check their profiles for “writer” of some sort. (I got three messages from men seeking friends. I changed my profile bio to married and grandmother to decrease the chances of someone looking for something I didn’t want to give.)

Go to the search bar and type in #writingcommunity. Start there. You’ll find plenty of tweets. Respond to those tweets—as many as you can. Tweet something like this—“new to Twitter and seeking followers. #Amwriting #mystery #novel (or whatever, but use the hashtags which attract more writers/readers).”

Participate in #FF (Follow Fridays) #WriterLifts, and #TwitterTrains when you can, especially as you’re building your following. When you see those hashtags, join in the train of followers by following them, liking, RT (retweeting), and commenting a thank you for the opportunity to get more readers. Engage. Don’t tweet with a comment though (something about algorithms).

Try to keep up with new followers and say thank you for the follow when you can. Use #writingcommunity in your tweets. Use your own hashtags as applicable to you. Use your hashtags in your tweet; for example, “I #amwriting #regionalistim & #magicrealism.

My #shortstory went live today.”

You get the idea.

Remember to keep an important tweet pinned for easy retweets and change it after it gets a few tweets, maybe 7-10. I like to keep my tweets rather than delete them after they no longer apply because I’ve noticed when a follower takes an interest in me, he/she will go back and see my tweets and like them, so I figure the engagement by leaving them there serves a purpose too. Some writers delete the tweets after they served their purpose.

Before you know it, you’ll have hundreds of other authors following you. Doing those three steps, I noticed an immediate increase in followers, and every time I tweet or respond to a tweet, I get more followers every day.

I like to tag specific influencers like magazine editors or radio talk show hosts who promote for me. They retweet my tweets to their followers, and word gets out for sales. I use @KRTN or whatever to get the attention of influencers; find your influencer handles and use those you want to attract. (Natalie Morales of NBC-Today, liked one of my tweets once). Just keep your @handles to a bare minimum and alternate with different tweets. You don’t want to become a pest.

One writer who took me under his wing is now promoting my books to his 79K followers. Think about it—those you follow have hundreds of thousands of followers combined, and those get retweeted and seen by that guy’s followers and so on. The reach is incredible—doesn’t measure up with Facebook at all. On FB I can reach up to 30K in nine countries, but on Twitter, I can reach well over that. Let me share an experience—I participated in Twitter pitch mad on Thursday, September 5, 2019. My pitch to agents was retweeted by 108 followers (can you imagine how many people that reached?). Because of the exposure, my pitch attracted 1 agent and 2 publishers. Don’t discount Twitter; learn to make it work for you.

The following is a guide to creating tweets others will want to engage in and possibly retweet, which is what you want to generate all those thousands of eyes who will read or scroll past.

Use your pronouns—each tweet should be written with the following in mind:

The first few lines are a headline. If it isn’t catchy, people will scroll past it.

Each tweet should be written to be viewed singularly and not collectively.

However, a tweet should be written to be viewed singularly as it will appear in other people’s timelines and in future search results.

All of my tweets clearly indicate “My story…” and while we may view this as egotistical, remember these tweets are viewed singularly. You’re telling them you achieved some goal, you’re not lauding someone else. Like the query or the book pitch, a tweet has to hook a reader’s attention or he’ll keep scrolling. My friend also cautioned me that when posting images (like I do when promoting a book or short story), don’t bother with text on the photo; it doesn’t get seen. (I do this anyway).

Best day to post on Twitter—Monday-Thursday 1:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.

Worst day—Friday-Sunday

Carmen

My writing skills in both English and Spanish enable me to write with true storytelling talent (I’ve been told). My experiences growing up amongst los Hermanos Penitentes, traditions, and folklore permit me to tell the story of my father’s entrance into the secret society of the Penitente Brotherhood. Living on the land left to us by my father, my husband and I enjoy a peaceful county life in northern New Mexico with our furry friends. Visit me on Facebook and Twitter

What do you think?

#All #Money

[creditmonkey]

How to Start a Business: A Step-by-Step Guide

Talk to any entrepreneur or small business owner and you'll quickly learn that starting a business requires a lot of work. Generating a business idea is a great starting point, but an idea doesn't become a business without effort. Some budding entrepreneurs understand the effort necessary to create a business, but they might not be familiar with the many steps required to launch a business venture. If you're willing to put in the effort to build a business, you're going to want to know the steps needed to reach your goals. Tasks like naming the business and creating a logo are obvious, but what about the less-heralded, equally important steps? Whether it's determining your business structure or crafting a detailed marketing strategy, the workload can quickly pile up. Rather than spinning your wheels and guessing at where to start, follow this 10-step checklist to transform your business from a light-bulb above your head to a real entity.

1. Refine your idea.

If you're thinking about starting a business, you likely already have an idea of what you want to sell, or at least the market you want to enter. First, always start with your personal credit and make sure there are ZERO negative accounts so that is one last thing you need to do. Contact Audrey's Credit Repair Services for all your credit needs, trade line additions and business funding. Do a quick search for existing companies in your chosen industry. Learn what current brand leaders are doing and figure out how you can do it better. If you think your business can deliver something other companies don't (or deliver the same thing, but faster and cheaper), you've got a solid idea and are ready to create a business plan. "In the words of Simon Sinek, 'always start with why,'" said Glenn Gutek, CEO of Awake Consulting and Coaching. "It is good to know why you are launching your business. In this process, it may be wise to differentiate between the business serves a personal why or a marketplace why. When your why is focused on meeting a need in the marketplace, the scope of your business will always be larger than a business that is designed to serve a personal need." Another option is to open a franchise of an established company. The concept, brand following and business model are already in place; all you need is a good location and the means to fund your operation. Regardless of which option you choose, it's vital to understand the reasoning behind your idea. Stephanie Desaulniers, director of operations and women's business programs at Covation Center, cautions entrepreneurs from writing a business plan or worrying about a business name before nailing down the idea's value. "Many people think they have a great idea and jump into launching their business without thinking through who their customers will be, or why these people should want to buy from or hire them," Desaulniers said. "Second, you need to clarify why you want to work with these customers – do you have a passion for making people's lives easier? Or enjoy creating art to bring color to their world? Identifying these answers helps clarify your mission. Third, you want to define how you will provide this value to your customer and how to communicate that value in a way that they are willing to pay." During the idealization phase, you need to iron out the major details. If the idea isn't something you're passionate about or if there's not a market for your creation, it might be time to brainstorm other ideas.

2. Write a business plan.

 A business plan helps you figure out where your company is going, how it will overcome any potential difficulties and what you need to sustain it.  Once you have your idea in place, you need to ask yourself a few important questions: What is the purpose of your business? Who are you selling to? What are your end goals? How will you finance your startup costs? These questions can be answered in a well-written business plan. A lot of mistakes are made by new businesses rushing into things without pondering these aspects of the business. You need to find your target customer base. Who is going to buy your product or service? If you can't find evidence that there's a demand for your idea, then what would be the point? Conducting thorough market research on your field and demographics of potential clientele is an important part of crafting a business plan. This involves conducting surveys, holding focus groups and researching SEO and public data. It's also a good idea to consider an exit strategy as you compile your business plan. Generating some of idea of how you'll eventually exit the business forces you to look to the future. "Too often, new entrepreneurs are so excited about their business and so sure everyone everywhere will be a customer that they give very little, if any, time to show the plan on leaving the business," said Josh Tolley CEO of both Tribal Holdings and Kavana. "When you board an airplane, what is the first thing they show you? How to get off of it. When you go to a movie, what do they point out before the feature begins to play? Where the exits are. Your first week of kindergarten, they line up all the kids and teach them fire drills to exit the building. Too many times I have witnessed business leaders that don't have three or four pre-determined exit routes. This has led to lower company value and even destroyed family relationships."

3. Assess your finances.

Starting any business has a price, so you need to determine how you're going to cover those costs. Do you have the means to fund your startup, or will you need to borrow money? If you're planning to leave your current job to focus on your business, do you have money put away to support yourself until you start making a profit? Find out how much you're going to need. Experts generally agree that startup businesses often fail because they run out of money too quickly before turning a profit. It's never a bad idea to overestimate the amount of startup capital you need, as it can be a while before the business begins to bring in sustainable revenue. Additionally, don't overspend when starting a business. Understand the types of purchases that make sense for your business and avoid overspending on fancy new equipment that won't help you reach your business goals. "A lot of startups tend to spend money on unnecessary things," said Jean Paldan, founder and CEO of Rare Form New Media. "We worked with a startup that had two employees but spent a huge amount on office space that would fit 20 people. They also leased a professional high-end printer that was more suited for a team of 100 (it had key cards to track who was printing what and when). Spend as little as possible when you start and only on the things that are essential for the business to grow and be a success. Luxuries can come when you're established."   If you need financial assistance, a commercial loan through a bank is a good starting point, although these are often difficult to secure. If you are unable to take out a bank loan, you can apply for a small business loan through the Small Business Administration (SBA) or an alternative lender. 

4. Determine your legal business structure.

Before you can register your company, you need to decide what kind of entity it is. Your business structure legally affects everything from how you file your taxes to your personal liability if something goes wrong. If you own the business entirely by yourself and plan to be responsible for all debts and obligations, you can register for a sole proprietorship. Be warned that this route can directly affect your personal credit. Alternatively, a partnership, as its name implies, means that two or more people are held personally liable as business owners. You don't have to go it alone if you can find a business partner with complementary skills to your own. It's usually a good idea to add someone into the mix to help your business flourish. If you want to separate your personal liability from your company's liability, you may want to consider forming one of several types of corporations. This makes a business a separate entity apart from its owners, and, therefore, corporations can own property, assume liability, pay taxes, enter into contracts, sue and be sued like any other individual. One of the most common structures for small businesses, however, is the limited liability corporation (LLC). This hybrid structure has the legal protections of a corporation while allowing for the tax benefits of a partnership. "Corporations, especially C-corporations, are especially suitable for new businesses that plan on 'going public' or seeking funding from venture capitalists in the near future," said Deryck Jordan, managing attorney at Jordan Counsel.  Ultimately, it is up to you to determine which type of entity is best for your current needs and future business goals. More details about the different business structures can be found here. If you're struggling to make up your mind, it's not a bad idea to discuss the decision with a business or legal adviser.

 5. Register with the government and IRS. To become an officially recognized business entity, you must register with the government. Corporations will need an "articles of incorporation" document, which includes your business name, business purpose, corporate structure, stock details and other information about your company. Otherwise, you will just need to register your business name, which can be your legal name, a fictitious "doing business as" name (if you are the sole proprietor), or the name you've come up with for your company. You may also want to take steps to trademark your business name for extra legal protection. After you register your business, you may need to get an employer identification number (EIN) from the IRS. While this is not required for sole proprietorship's with no employees, you may want to apply for one anyway to keep your personal and business taxes separate, or simply to save yourself the trouble later if you decide to hire someone else. The IRS has provided a checklist to determine whether you will require an EIN to run your business. If you do need an EIN, you can register online for free. You also will need to file certain forms to fulfill your federal and state income tax obligations. The forms you need are determined by your business structure. A complete list of the forms each type of entity will need can be found on the SBA website. You can also find state-specific tax obligations there. Some businesses may also require federal or state licenses and permits to operate. You can use the SBA's database to search for licensing requirements by state and business type. "You might be tempted to wing it with a PayPal account and social media platform, but if you start with a proper foundation, your business will have fewer hiccups to worry about in the long run," said Natalie Pierre-Louis, an attorney with NPL Consulting.

6. Purchase an insurance policy.

It might slip your mind as something you'll "get around to" eventually, but purchasing the right insurance for your business is an important step that should happen before you officially launch. Dealing with such incidents as property damage, theft or even a customer lawsuit can be costly, and you need to be sure that you're properly protected. If your business will have employees, you will, at a minimum, need to purchase workers' compensation and unemployment insurance. You may also need other types of coverage depending on your location and industry, but most small businesses are advised to purchase general liability (GL) insurance, or a business owner's policy. GL covers property damage, bodily injury and personal injury to yourself or a third party. If your business provides a service, you may also want to consider professional liability insurance. It covers you if you do something wrong or neglect to do something you should have done while operating your business. Learn more about the types of insurance policies your business might need here.  Build your teamChoose your vendorsBrand yourself and advertiseGrow your business Your launch and first sales are only the beginning of your task as an entrepreneur. In order to make a profit and stay afloat, you always need to be growing your business. It's going to take time and effort, but you'll get out of your business what you put into it. Collaborating with more established brands in your industry is a great way to achieve growth. Reach out to other companies or even influential bloggers and ask for some promotion in exchange for a free product sample or service. Partner with a charity organization and volunteer some of your time or products to get your name out there. Read the full article

[oxourry]

OnS 57 Survey - Results

At 558 responses, the Owari no Seraph chapter 57 survey has come to a close. 

I will say that since this was my first time doing this, I knew it wouldn’t come without errors. It wasn’t until like 50 responses in that I realized I could have worded things better, not included so much leeway in some questions, left more write in options, and also included a couple more important questions. If I ever do one of these again I’ll have learned from this time.

There were two questions that took in opinions from respondents and in total all of those totaled up to about 600. Obviously, I couldn’t add every single one here, but I tried to include as many as I could to give you all an idea of the current mindset of the fandom at the moment. Things get pretty lengthy so this will be all under a read more.

Also, I know I shouldn’t have to say it, but sometimes this fandom can be demonically soul sucking, so don’t start any of that fandom wank bullshit because there are opinions here that you don’t agree with. We’re all mature enough to rant about it in private. Thank you.

Anyways, let’s start.

Though it was close, it seems the 18-24 age group are the majority in this side of the fandom. Not only that, adding up the other numbers (It should be noted that there was 1 person that responded with 35+, unfortunately, it seems like there’s barely even a tiny line to acknowledge it) minors happen to be the minority in the fandom if even by a small percent.

The graph speaks for itself, though it really does make me wish I could survey the SQ readers in Japan. Would the Male-Female results be flipped?

Among the 86 write ins, Instagram was the most popular with 30 respondents using it as a primary OnS social media platform. Amino and VK were the follow ups with 8 respondents.

I find this one very important. It shows the reaches of the survey doesn’t exactly speak for a diverse portion of the western fandom. Overall, I think it sticks in this little Tumblr niche of ours.

2 (0.4%) respondents began with the Light Novels. 3 (0.5%) respondents began with the Anime and Light Novels. 4 (0.7%) respondents began with the Manga and Light Novels. 15 (2.7%) respondents began the series with all three.

27 (4.8%) respondents have been following OnS for 4+ years (My condolences).

The two below ‘For the art’ and above ‘Other’ say ‘Someone recommended it’ and ‘Seeing posts about it on social media’

Here are a handful of responses from those that chose Other

Soundtrack by Sawano Hiroyuki

I was interested in knowing how would an anime based in Nagoya turned out (I lived in Nagoya for a year)

Found it under "new anime" section and just tried it

I found on mangapark and just checked out of curiosity

I'm a slut for anything Kagami writes. Especially MokuAri.

Played Tales of Zestiria, saw Seraph in the title of OnS, watched it

The option above ‘For the plot’ states ‘I’m not caught up’ and the two options below ‘For the art’ state ‘For a specific plot point/mystery’ and ‘For the fandom discussions/fanart/fanfics/fanvids/memes’.

While a majority of respondents originally got into the series for the plot, it seems like sticking around for a character and ship barely managed to become the new top reason.

A couple of write in responses

because I am a fandom grandma-- I fell in love with it and can't get her lazy ass out

I don´t really know anymore... I´m too deep into and it´s just a part of my life right now

Moving from the demographic questions, this next section was based off of character and ship preferences

Originally, I had omitted the ‘both’ option, but the person I had do a run through of the survey at first claimed she couldn’t pick between them. Given the disparity in the vampire and humans here, my guess is that the vampires really do have audience favorability when it comes down to it.

Shinoa’s squad takes a majority of the audience’s interest with the Sanguinem vampires falling in at nearly half as much. 

Some of the write ins

Honestly, they're all interesting, there are so much we don't know and it really is intriguing.

Hyakuya kids, I refuse to believe that a group that meet for a few months is more important than another group that you knew for years

The Hiiragi Family

Specific characters from each(Yuu, Mika, Guren, Shinya, Ferid, Krul, etc.)

Mika, Yuu, and Shinya hold the crowns for being the most popular in our end of the fandom. Shinoa and Krul trail behind in fourth and fifth place.

Akane was the most popular write in, having 2 of the 9 write ins go to her.

A few other write ins

Is Mika's happiness a character because I can't wait for them to return

Shuusaku

Yoichi's right cheek

Kureto, Mahiru No Yo, and Guren happen to be the least favorites with Ferid in fourth place and Saito and Shinoa tying for fifth after a considerable percent gap.

Tenri had 9 write ins of the 27.

Other answers given were

Seishiro

At certain times, the main character(s) will start to become annoying.

Kagami Takaya

Everyone else that's not Yoichi's right cheek or Mikaela Hyakuya

Mahiru and Mitsuba's weirdly drawn boobs

Mika, Shinya, and Yuu take the lead for most physically attractive with Guren and Crowley following in fourth and fifth.

Gekkoin was the most frequent write in with 4 of the 13 write in responses going to him.

Other write ins included

Everyone's gorgeous tbh

Kureto's eyebrows

An overwhelming majority of the fandom happen to be shippers or at least have a ship they have some positive feelings for. Only 25 (4.5%) of respondents don’t ship anything.

Yuichiro/Mikaela, Guren/Shinya, and Shinoa/Mitsuba take the top three spots.

There were a few popular write ins.

Mikaela/Yoichi (15), Kureto/Guren (8), Kureto/Aoi (8), Krul/Ferid (5), Kureto/Shinya (5), and Lacus/Rene (5)

The next section covered Chapter 57 and general feelings about plot points and the manga.

Though it’s kind of close, majority of respondents seem to have a midway satisfaction with the manga at the moment. There’s a definite lean to the optimistic side of things.

After this, I then asked if respondents could give a more detailed explanation for their answer. I received 346 responses and while I can’t put them all on here, here are a handful of opinions.

This story is still a baby bird, so I'm being patient with it. Besides, monthly manga always feel slower

After the time skip everything became rushed, characters just numbly move from plot twist to plot twist repeating the same "what should we do" conversation every time they get any new info. Characters make worrying statements that the framing shows as positive and people and character motivation driving plot points are resolved and thrown out like they were nothing.

I honestly disagree with those who are just ranting and raging about the last chapters, every (and I have to make an emphasis on this, EVERY) story needs some developement and that may take time, you can't just rush things and expect that complex aspects of the story will be explained in the most simple and stupid way just to go back to the action as soon as possible. I'm okay with knowing more about the story and the characters and get more details to think by myself of what could happen in the future chapters

The story feels like it's been spinning its wheels since the Shinoa squad teamed up with Ferid and Crowley. I actually liked the newest chapter quite a bit since it made some definite progress on the plot, but most of the other chapters don't seem to move things along enough for how many pages they have.

I'm excited we're finally get some plot development with Shikama being the first progenitor, though I feel like some things, like the three-month time skip was unnecessary and created a halt in the story.

Although not perfect, which is why I only gave a 4, I do feel like things are progressing smoothly and we continue to see interesting plot developments as the stories moves on.

I can't say I'm a fan of the direction Kagami is taking, but at least the plot is moving forward.

Generally I like how it is going, I just hope they have a good explanation for Shikama Doji being with Kureto and Shinoa at the same time. I'm excited about how everything will play out and I think they are on a good way.

Reading this manga is like drinking a margarita that you know is spiked with laxatives to be fucking honest

Majority of respondents didn’t expect Shikama Doji to be the First Progenitor while 34 (6.1%) totally saw it coming. Overall, I think the plot reveal caught most people by surprise.

This question was a bit divided. 58 (10.4%) of respondents wish the First Progenitor was someone else.

Among the write in responses we have:

I'm kind of wondering why he is so weak as a demon (e.g. Yuu is a lot stronger than Shinoa, but maybe that is their own strength?) I hope it will get explained

I wanted it to be like Dracula

I'm okay with it, but I also wish it was Yu

I'm not sure. While it was pretty obvious to me it still came out of nowhere, there weren't much hints at all, I just thought it was them via process of elimination, no one else gave off a vibe of being the First Progenitor. So I think it wasn't well developed at all, it's kind of like Scrappy-Doo being the villain of the first movie, except it makes sense in that case considering his history as a character both in the series' plot and in the fandom, and the reveal was better handled.

This question was hilariously split among everyone’s opinions on what Kagami has planned for this part of the plot. It makes me a bit eager to see what’ll happen to see which faction will be right lol

Half of the respondents would love for Yuichiro to just chill out with the next majority hoping Yuu is successful in reviving the deceased and the world doesn’t get harmed from it.

Most respondents don’t believe Shikama Doji will be the ultimate Big Bad. There will either be someone working alongside him or above him. Maybe God? We’ll see.

Majority don’t believe Shinoa will ever be at odds with her squad, though 20 (3.6%) respondents think she will be.

Although a hefty portion aren’t too confident in guessing what Kagami has planned, majority believe Shinoa will unlock the power Mahiru No Yo spoke about by having a desire to protect her squad.

Of the 27 write ins for this portion, some respondents believed this:

She will realize her feelings for Yuichiro, but I don't think it will go as far as having sex or a sexual encounter

One of the 7 sins that is not necessarily lust that awaken some strong desire inside her. Envy.

as seen before, probably killing one of her brothers

Over half of the respondents hope to see the power of family pull through with Shinoa getting the full power of her demon though over a quarter of people hope that she never unlocks that power. 18 (3.2%) of respondents do hope she has sex or a sexual encounter with Yuichiro to awaken her demon.

A few of the 31 write ins:

Something unexpected and cool

By having sex with Mitsuba

By pure wish and strong will

I hope she doesn't because I don't want to see her become her sister. I want to see her grow powerful without the aid of a demon.

Recognising her feelings for Yuu.

Through a sexual encounter with Crowley

While most people believe she is a set antagonist, a significant portion of people aren’t too sure.

Here are some of the write in responses:

Enemy of my enemy type of ally

I believe she was used by saito

Yes but not of her own accord. Seeing that she's mostly demon now.

Part of it, but not the mastermind behind everything

No, Mahiru no Yo is probably just a puppet trying to rebel

Majority don’t believe him to be an antaognist in the bigger picture of things, though a considerable fraction aren’t too sure.

He's just... weird. I don't trust him nor his intentions.

He's like the middle man-ish.

No, he's probably doing everything to contradict Saito, who is trying to contradict Shikama Douji.

I think Ferid is simply doing what Saito manipulates him into doing, by doing the opposite of what he THINKS Saito wants.

Though it’s close, most people aren’t too sure where Saito stands in the end.

I think Saito works for Shikamadouji but intends to betray them

A victim-turned-villain who's familiar with the antagonists' plan and so participated in it

Majority are hoping to see the Michaela factor get more attention in the narrative with the seraph gene falling behind in second place. 

Yoichi getting revenge for his sister

Asuramaru's and Krul's backstory and relationship

The Hiiragi family

The downfall of the JIDA

Explaining what the hell is going on with Guren. He's already with the main characters anyways, might as well give an explanation.

And lastly, I had asked for closping opinions on chapter 57 and Owari no Seraph as a whole before ending the survey. I received around 250 responses. While I can’t post all, here are a handful.

As a whole, I wished that we saw more representations of the characters' mindsets on the current situations. Their minds have to be pretty messsed up after all the things that have happened, but we only see how the characters act so impulsively in the moment and only hear their current thoughts that we don't get to know what they think of the consequences and impacts of their decisions. It may be because of my intense liking for Tokyo Ghoul, but I would really like to see the impact of the many things going on. I think it will help us understand characters like Yuuichirou, Mikaela, Guren, Shinoa, and tons of other characters better.

There is so much potential in the world Kagami has attempted to build, so much that can be explored in this series. There are some really incredible characters if they get the proper treatment. I really hope it doesn't get ruined or that Kagami doesn't take the easy way out with cheap/bad plot devices (such as Shinoa awakening her demon by having sex with someone, especially Yuuichirou, because that's cheap and boring and so unbelievably unoriginal). I adore this series so much, so I hope it gets the development it deserves.

I have faith for a solid story, even if I don't personally agree with every plot point.

WHAT IS MAHIRU ACTUALLY 

Kind of surprising, but overall I think it's okay as long as it's written well and everything ties together in the end. This new reveal could add a bunch of new plot points which might be odd because I think there's a lot of other things the writers need to explain or get into. I guess I'm just trying to think positively about what this could add or mean for future chapters.

Thanks to OnS, I've been able to find a niche I thoroughly enjoy spending many hours enjoying fanfics, shippings, discussions and fangirling over some of the characters.The Anime is Ok, but I absolutely adore the Manga

I want Crowley's thicc in my thrussy 

Needs consistent characterization as opposed to 'whatever mood the situation requires' as it's been doing, if it can pull that off then I think OnS would be able to flow better even if the plot development is slow

If we don't see Shinya's bare chest or dick by the end of this manga, what was the fucking point? @ Kagami 

I think the author worries too much on hitting various shonen tropes, and also making a commercial product. The manga would probably improve if it changed magazines to something less mainstream and less shonen focused.  

If Mika dies by the end of this manga, I will rip my asshole inside out

kagami why

Again, thank you for particpating in the survey! I will definitely do it again at some point if I can and hopefully I’ll be able to give more in depth analyses from the questions provided. Hope you have fun interpreting this stuff as you will lol

#owari no seraph #seraph of the end #mikayuu #gureshin #mitsunoa #kimiyoi #crowferi #yuunoa #guremahi #mikanoa #OnS Survey #mystuff #I didn't proofread this but I am tired and can't be bothered #Will regret it later #I was going to keep things serious with the write in responses but thought fuck it #Some of those responses kept me going while enduring the 3 pointless hours of trying to get my correlation bar graph done