#i dont care about tadpoles anymore

[ionomycin]

Dame Aylin and Isobel...

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #i dont care about tadpoles anymore #all i want is a happy ending for these lesbians #i care them so much

[i-just-want-to-destroy]

what do you think of bakugou and endeavor redemption arcs?

SEE THE THING IS,

I feel like bnha is always on the precipice of like. Touching on some REAL stuff but it always backs out at the last moment.

First of all im a big hater of both characters so expect a biased opinion here (lol). But i do think they are “good characters” as in they are interesting and pertinent to the plot, complex etc. bleh. bleh bleh. but the way their arcs are written.... lots of things rly dont sit right with me 

**Fair warning i dont have the english skills to phrase this whole thing better.

1. Bkg first. I remember when bkg took the hit for deku i made fun of the whole thing bc OFCC thats how we r going to “redemp” him. Which in one hand ok, it does stay true to bkgs character bc he literally cannot communicate his feelings to save his life, hes more of an action guy. But also i really do think the buildup for that moment can be pushed more. And im not even gonna blame bkgs character entirely here bc he IS an established stubborn ass with the communication skills of a tadpole etc etc. what im gonna blame is the way horikoshi never lets deku even TOUCH on the bullying he’s endured before UA. Its literally never been discussed. Like the only time it IS brought up is the flashback we get right before bkg sacrificed himself. But deku, instead, never got the chance to process any of it. And i think thats my main problem with the whole bkg thing (and ofc there is a vindictive part where i feel like bkg hasnt got enough “repercussions” for it, which may be arguable, but thats a whole different ballpark).

i especially think bkg should apologize outright/address what he’s done to deku, but if horikoshi wants to drag that speech out (and thats if the speech will ever happen in the first place) i can accept that. BUT. to me. It has to be equal... as in deku should be allowed to address that too.

I get that deku is a virtuous main character who will supposedly forgive kacchan no matter what or whatever. And fuck it you know what, thats okay. But im begging let deku at least process it in some way. Bc the thing about deku’s character is whenever he gets angry, its always on behalf of someone else’s and not himself.

Which, again, is a virtue. But i also think the author tapping out on the whole bullying issue is kinda a coward move. Even when deku dukes it out with bkg its always about “im gonna get stronger and be number one kacchan!!111” and not “man you irreparably damaged my entire childhood and told me to [redacted] myself.”

literally the whole bullying nuance is casted out and replaced immediately with some boys will be boys rivalry. Which, really, just looks like the author taking the easy way out to me.

I can see how much both characters have grown, tho, and its clear that they care about each other. but the development is really :/ it leaves much to be desired wtf. 

I’m not satisfied w bkg’s redemption arc thingy but i dont expect anything better either. I think if i were to reread bnha from the beginning i can have a clearer perspective on the whole thing, but i dont really feel the incentive for that bc it simply doesnt compel me enough to do so LOL.

If its worth anything, i dont really hate bkg anymore. only sometimes lmfao

2. End*avor. Ugh.

Ok. I love family drama its like crack to me. the whole dabi thing had me yelling forreal. And todoroki fam has like some of my most favorite characters in the whole series.

I dont even wanna discuss end*avors character... like honestly, the ones that shine the most in end*avor redemption arc are the other family members and not end*avor himself. Which on one hand i appreciate but also i might be biased? But im really <3 over how we get todoroki rei’s character development from this arc. Not only is rei’s arc cathartic as hell but its also very, very encouraging to see a character stands over her ab*ser like that after suffering for so long. I cant express how much i love that. And fuyumi and natsuo? Insanity. I esp love how fuyumi’s efforts get the appreciation they deserve.

And i liked the surprise where dabi rained on end*avor’s parade right after end*avor thought he could actually redeem himself. Ok im not gonna sugarcoat it i just liked to watch dabi fucked him over, it was a standing applause eureka moment for me.

Honestly i think the whole concept is really delicious, like the son of the number 1 hero is a villain thing, heroes arent saints, etc etc etc. like that is so sexi so dramatic so soap opera literal superhero telenovela and i loved it a lot. Like i really enjoyed reading the whole thing. so like. i am entertained.

Do i feel like end*avor has redeemed himself? Mm NO <3. I appreciate the details that he himself thinks that he is unforgivable (blehh) and he DID suffer which was nice to watch, personally. but its not enough and it will never be <3 

im not sure if i think this way bc i just think what he did is irredeemable or bc the storytelling sucked OR BOTH <3. And i still do feel bnha did that thing where it backed out at the last moment with end*avor’s arc.... like it was touching it but it still didnt want to get its hands dirty, you know? Like what stance is it taking, really? It just never goes all out. 

i think some details about this arc also irk me...... like why does the rest family got to shoulder the burden of his fuck ups? <3 die <3 like this part annoys me so much. and seeing how he got to be comforted after everything he’s done.................................................... i cant even say how much that just ... pisses tf out of me <3 haha

like thats the thing. i feel like both characters (bkg n end*avor) are still coddled despite everything.

im fully aware im biased tho. and no i will not change

leaving that clownery aside, i didnt expect bnha to take this direction, so like. ..Applause i suppose :/. The recent arcs have been a pleasant surprise in some part and i will still be following its developments. i do genuinely think both characters are interesting btw i just kinda hate them lmfaooo. 

honestly, what i do. is just to keep low standards 🙌

TLDR I dont rly feel like either characters have redeemed themselves and i feel some disappointments over their respective arcs but i like the development n direction that the story is taking overall.

#anon #ask #scroll down for TLDR. #bit long btw

[colorfullfalls]

Helpful Parkers

Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: Reader gets self conscious and Peter and May help her. 

Peter Parker loves swimming. Sometimes you tease him by calling him tadpole rather than Spider-Man. That being said, he has been begging you to go jump in a pool with him. You have wanted to, but you couldn't. Your body grew from last summer, some in a good way and some not. 

Your boobs had moved at least another cup size up and your butt had become larger as well. Those were the main reasons why you needed a new bathing suit. Your boobs practically exploded of all of your old ones. When you had told Peter the dilemma, he had been eager to go with you. He wanted to impress you by picking out really cute suits. That boy is nothing but a pleaser. 

He had grabbed a lot of cute suits and threw them hectically into your arms as he shoved you into one of the many dressing rooms. You were laughing at how eager he was to see which ones you liked. After all, he did try to get the best possible ones. 

You stript yourself out of your clothes and looked at the assortment before mentally making a try on plan. You seperated the two peices from the one suits and decided that the two peices would have to be the first contestant. Excitment ran through your veins as you took the first one off of the hanger and started putting it on. It was your favorite one. 

Yellow was your favorite color and peter nailed it. This suit was yellow with white and blue flowers all over the top and the bottoms were just blue. You were grinning from ear to ear but that grin turned into a look of confusion as you stared in the mirror. The sight made your stomach drop. You did not look very good in this one, you thought as you turned. 

The bottoms looked fine but the top not so much. Your boobs were too big even though Peter swore that it was the biggest size they had. And not only that, your stomach was not as flat as you thought it was. The soft rolls made you bite your lips in complete and utter disappointment. You sighed as you shook your head. 

Some bathing suits just don't fit certain bodies, you were encouraged by that and decided to move on to the next one. 

Yet again you were upset as you stared at yourself in the mirror. The top was actually the right size and so were the bottoms, but you did not want to get it. You were embarrassed by your stomach and you didn't want anyone to see you like this. 

Maybe two pieces just weren't for you. You knew that other girls with a stomach could rock these easily and you thought they were beautiful. You just couldn't see yourself that way, it was your number one insecurity. The one peice were really cute too and you were excited to try them on. You prayed that they would look good, or at least better than the previous ones had looked. 

Peter stood outside the stall as he scrolled aimlessly through his phone. He was surprised that you hadnt come out to show him any of them yet but he wasnt worried at all. You were gorgeous and you were probably just staring at yourself in them. He would do that if he were you. 

You were staring at yourself, but not in the way Peter assumed. You were mad, upset, embarrased, and done with trying the bathing suits on. Even the one peices somehow managed to make you look really bad. You let out a shaky sigh as you put your clothes back on and sat on the bench. How were you going to explain to Peter that you loved those suits, they just looked awful on your body?

Peter slipped his phone in his back pocket as he heard your shaky sigh. You were on the verge of crying and he knew it. He knew it because he knew you like the back of his hand and the spidey senses did help a bit. He raised his hand and gently knocked.

"Y/n, baby, are you okay?" He got no reply, only a sniffle, "What's wrong? Was my fashion sense so bad that it made you cry?" 

"No." You cried out from inside the stall. Peter's heart clenched at the sound. His girl was upset and there was a wall seperating him from helping you. 

"Bub, let me in, open the door." He said softly as he put his head against the door. When you didn't he decided to take actions into his own hands. He looked around and saw that no workers or shoppers were around. He easily put his hands at the top of the stall and lifted himself up, moving over the wall and jumping down so that he was standing in front of you. You refused to look at him as you stared at the cement floor. 

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He panickly asked as he knelt down in front of you. Your watery eyes avoided his soft and caring brown ones as you shrugged. He sighed in frustration as he ran a hand through his brown curls. 

"I can't help you if you dont tell me anything, Y/n." 

"I'm fat. I looked so bad in each of those suits. I was so excited to try them on and it ended up being a disaster." You croaked out as the tears freed themselves from your eyes and ran down your face. 

Peter was at a loss of words. You were singlehandely the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and seeing you so upset about your body made him angry. Society made girls think that if they werent as skinny as a twig, that they were fat and ugly. Peter was not having it.

"I bet you that you were glowing in those bathing suits, you just let your mind get ahead of yourself," He sweetly said as he picked you up and sat down so that you were sitting on his lap. You stubbornly shook your head against his shoulder. 

"My mind could clearly process what it saw and it was not a nice sight, Peter. Can we please just go home? I dont want to be here anymore." 

Peter sighed as he placed a sweet kiss to your cheek, "Okay, lets go." 

~

On the walk home you were uncharacteristically quiet and that worried Peter. He hoped that you would soon forget the dressing room and that you were return to his happy go lucky gal. Apparently the suits bothered you more than he thought. He was determined to make you feel better. 

"Hey, there is a pet store around the block, why don't we go and look around?" He asked as he swung your hands back and forth. You smiled and gave him a nod. 

"Let's do it." 

You two walked in and you instantly felt the weight lift off of your shoulders. Why were you so upset in the store? You loved yourself and you were slightly ashamed that you let your insecurities get the best of you like that. You basically dragged Peter over to the cat room as you two slipped in. You had a big grin on your face as you kneeled down and began to pet the little fur balls. You let out a loud laugh as one even juped right onto Peter's lap. 

"Can we take seven home? I want them all." You cooed as you ran your hand down a grey cat's back and up its fluffy tail. 

"Aunt May would kill me. She isn't really a big cat person like you, love." 

"How can you not be a cat person? They are just so lovable and god, I need them to live with me right now." You scopped the grey cat on you lap and hugged it tightly. 

Peter looked at his watch and saw that it was almost time for dinner and his aunt would not be happy if you two were late yet again. You said goodbye to your new furry friends as Peter gently led you out of the store. Peter was glad that he made you feel better. Your mood had changed since the dressing room and for that he was glad. He hated seeing you upset and insecure like that. It hurt his little spider boy heart. 

When you stepped into the Parker's apartment you were met with the lovely smell of expertly made meat loaf. May burns things sometimes, but boy can she cook. She offered you two a sweet smile as she grabbed the oven mits and got the pan out. Peter grabbed two glasses as you grabbed the chocolate syrup and milk out of the fridge. It was a tradition for you two to drink chocolate milk for dinner. It was your thing. 

"How was shopping, get anything cute?" May asked as she sliced the meatloaf. Peter's eyes widened at the question as he saw your cute little face drop slightly. 

"Um, no. I didnt see anything I really liked. Just have to keep looking." You said. Peter's heart hurt at the tone of your voice. The bathing suit still hurt you, meaning it hurt him too. 

"That's too bad. After dinner we can go on to amazon and look because the bathing suits at stores are always aimed at the model type girls anyway." May offered as she set the food on the table and pulled her chair out. 

Her saying that made you feel better, because what she said was true. There had to be a bathing suit out there somewhere that would make you look really good. Stores in New York barley ever had cute clothes with sizes larger than a medium which was very aggravating. May did most of her shopping online too. 

"That sounds perfect May, thank you." You gratefully say as Peter ushers you towards the table. 

~

A week later the whole bathing suit ordeal was long forgotten. Peter constantly showered you with love and adoration that it was hard to think bad of yourself. You two were bored on the rainy late June day and were lying on his couch as you watched reruns of cartoons. You two were a bit childish but at least you could act that way around eachother. 

You laughed into Peter's chest as Wiley Coyote fell off the cliff and smashed right into the dirt. You and Peter were a tangled mess on the couch, not that either of you cared. Your legs were intertwined and Peter laid on his back as you rested on top of him, it was the go to cuddle positon. Peter had his arm wrapped around your back as the other lazily twirled a section of your hair between his fingers. 

May walked in, complaining to herslef about the box that she tripped on while trying to enter the apartment. She picked it up as she read it and then held it out towards you. 

"Hey, Y/n, this package is yours. Go try it on, sister." She encouragingly said. You grinned as you clumsily got up. Peter was being a little shit and wouldnt let go of you. 

"No, stop, try it on later. I want to cuddle." He whined as you finally made it out of his spidey grip. You playfully rolled your eyes at him as you walked towards the bathroom with the box in hand. You were nervous as you slipped it on. Would this one look bad too?

Not at all. The yellow and grey bathingsuit looked great on you. The bottoms were high wasted so it covered up the rolls that you were self concious about. You happily covered your face with your hands as you continued to look at yourself. For once you thought you looked great in a bathing suit. You ran out of the bathroom and into the living room to show Peter and May, only May wasnt there. 

Peter was on the couch still watching cartoons, his back to you. 

"Where is May?"

Peter sat up as he stuggled to get the blanket off himself. He stood up and turned towards you, mouth going agape as you took you in. God, you were stunning. His cheeks and ears got red as he realized that he was just staring at you instead of answering the question. 

"She went to grab milk because we used it all last night." He stumbled out the words as you walked closer to him. You were taking his breath away. 

"Oh, well I like this, I mean I think it looks really good.. What do-"

Peter interrupted by pulling you in for a kiss. His hand went to your chin to nudge your head a bit for more access as the other one grabbed your hip to pull you closer to him. You were driving him crazy and he just loved you so much and there you were, looking fine as hell in his living room. You melted as he moved his lips from yours and began peppering kisses all over your face. 

"You look like a snacc." He whispered as his forehead rested against yours. His brown eyes looked deeply into your e/c ones. 

"Peter, stop, thats the worst." You laughed as you playfully shoved him away. Peter was not having it though and he pulled you right back to him. 

"Seriously though, you look stunning. And as happy I am about you finding a suit that you love, I am reconsidering wanting to go swimming now." 

You frowned, "Pete, why don't you want to go swimming?"

He picked you up over his shoulder and ran into his room, shutting the door. May wouldnt be home for a few minuets and she really didnt care that the door was shut. She trusted you two. She once even had a talk with you two that she as okay with you two doing it, you just had to promise to be safe and wise about it. 

He threw you on his bed and jumped after you as he threw the blankets over you. 

"Someone might see how gorgeous you are and then take you, can't let that happen. Now we have to hide in here for the rest of our lives." He explained as he left sloppy kisses all over your exposed skin. 

You laughed as you attempted to crawl away from him but yet again he drug you back, making you squeal, which only made Peter even happier. The two of you stared at each other as Peter held you tight against him. It was peaceful until you felt the bathing suit top come undone. You accusingly looked at your boyfriend. 

"Did you just untie my top?"

#peter parker imagine

[betweengenesisfrogs]

OFF THE CUFF HOMESTUCK THOUGHTS #3: THE SELF PILE DOESN’T STOP FROM GETTING TALLER OR: THE PROBLEM OF DEAD MARIOS

DISCLAIMER

IMPORTANT THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

[CHECK THE TAG FOR MORE THOUGHTS]

So, a long-ass time ago, Rose and Dave had a conversation like this:

TT: After you go, what do you think will happen to me? TT: Will I just cease to exist? TG: i dont know TG: i mean your whole timeline will TG: maybe TT: Maybe? TT: Is there a chance it'll continue to exist, and I'll just be here alone forever? TT: I'm not sure which outcome is more unsettling. TG: the thing with time travel is TG: you cant overthink it TG: just roll with it and see what happens TG: and above all try not to do anything retarded TT: What do you think I should do? TG: try going to sleep TG: our dream selves kind of operate outside the normal time continuum i think TG: so if part of you from this timelines going to persist thats probably the way to make it happen TT: Ok. TG: and hey you might even be able to help your past dream self wake up sooner without all that fuss you went through TT: I think the true purpose of this game is to see how many qualifiers we can get to precede the word "self" and still understand what we're talking about.

This is the most important sentence in Homestuck.

I am dead serious.

Well, OK, I mean, it’s pretty important for understanding some major Homestuck themes and shit or something like that.

Also, I totally should have said: Pre-Retcon Doomed Timeline Non-Dreamself Rose but ultimately about to become Dreamself Rose who semi-merged with Pre-Retcon Alpha Timeline Rose and Doomed Timeline Dave aka Davesprite AKA future Davepetasprite^2 or as we all call them around the office, Davepeta, had that conversation.

Maybe you begin to see what I’m going to talk about here.

One of the major frustrations a lot of people had with the retcon was that the characters we ended up with at the end weren’t the ones we’d come to love and know throughout the story. Was it even worth it, to lose the characters we loved to the tyranny of Game Over? The victorious kids, with the exception of John and Roxy, were other people, with other histories, other goals, and other choices.

Allow me to submit that that may be the whole point.

SBURB is cruel. We’ve known that for a long time. It’s cruel not as Caliborn is cruel, but as the cosmos is cruel, as a supernova is cruel. It wants what it wants, and doesn’t care about how that intersects with the needs of humanity. It wants to make universes through a complex game-playing method, and drags hapless, vulnerable adolescents along for the ride. And most of the time it doesn’t even succeed, leaving its champions to rot in a doomed timeline or similar! Skaia’s victory is an amoral creation myth where individual human beings are just the carved pieces on the chessboard. (I mean, the other ones. Not the carapacians.)

Again, let’s consider the theme of VIDEO GAMES vs. REAL LIFE.

Homestuck, let’s be real, is basically some postmodern horror timey-wimey Jumanji. For a generation way more familiar with pixels than cute little tokens It’s easy for teenagers and in fact, basically everyone, to fantasize about escaping their life and slipping into some game world forever, where they get to do awesome things and be a heroic person.

Homestuck makes that literal. Congratulations, everything you ever knew is dead. You will never see it again, except your internet friends, who turn out also to be your family and other important people. I mean, from a distance, SBURB sounds like an awesome game, right? You figure out who you are and get to wear a cool costume displaying that identity. You get to make anything you want and enjoy this hyperflexible mythology tailored to YOUR CHOICES. HS fans talk all the time about how cool it would be to play a real version of SBURB. That’s a big part of the appeal of SBURB fan adventures. They put you and your friends in the story. Or your favorite characters! It sounds like a fantasy come true.

The thing is, as fantastical as it is, it’s also really fucked up, and ultimately you and your friends are being used. By a giant frog to let it have its babies. By the universe. By a smug blue cloud thing that doesn’t care about you at all.

SBURB does not care about you at all.

The funny thing, SBURB features a mythology with so many layers and nuances and seemingly human motifs about growth and self that you might search for some grand ultimate meaning behind it, but it’s not even human enough to have a personality, to be something you can argue with or fight. It just is. It’s all the cruelty and power of a god without any of the dazzling personality. It’s empty. It just wants to make universes all day long, or fail trying. It is a great, weird tadpole-making machine that eats children.

One of the big ways it doesn’t care about you is its attitude toward the self. Humans and trolls and whatnot prefer not to be relentlessly duplicated. SBURB says, oh yeah, let’s make tons of copies of the player characters and use them for a lot of different purposes.

There’s the dreamself, an essential bifurcation of identity (you are now and were always the dream moon princex) that sometimes gets merged into god tier but sometimes doesn’t. There’s doomed timeline selves, who exist ultimately to augment an Alpha timeline whose Alphaness is decided very arbitrarily and frequently by Lord English. There’s the you who exists before a scratched session and the you who exists afterward, who are two different people but started as one baby in an act of ectobaby meteor duplication, your player self and your guardian self. Dead timeline yous fill up the dreambubbles made by the horrorterrors and get endlessly confused with each other. Any one of these could be the you experience being at any given moment, and which one it is entirely arbitrary. Don’t like being Dead Nepeta #47? Tough hoofbeast leavings, kiddo.

To top it all off, in Terezi: Remember, we learn that every single time we thought someone changed from one self to another, was resurrected or something like that, it was another act of duplication. For every time someone’s died, there’s another version of them waiting in the Dream Bubbles, surprised that they’re not the main character anymore. And we have no way of knowing which is which. Even John, good old everyman John, may or may not be the person who died three or four times. It’s really impossible to say whether we’ve been following the same person throughout our story, or just the illusion of the same person, like a horrifying cosmic flipbook.

The retcon is a return to this same theme. Ultimately, there’s very little new in the changes John makes to reality except that they drive the point home.

John’s friends all died. John and his friends won the game. These things are both true at the same time, except those things may not have happened to the same people. There was a happy ending. Hooray! For, um, some folks who may or may not be the ones we care about. In fact, it’s very confusing, because from Rose’s perspective, Roxy is dead but came back to life, and from Roxy’s perspective Rose is dead but came back to life, except also she came back to life as a weird tentacle catgirl of pure id and self –indulgence. So there’s that. Um. Which Rose are we rooting for again?

Or wait: is it none of them, because the first Rose died in a doomed timeline, hundreds of panels and a number of years ago?

There’s a tension here which one experiences between saying it’s okay because it’s still the same people, and saying it’s not okay, because it’s not the same people at all. This tension is exactly what we’re meant to wrestle with. To put it another way, Homestuck asks if identity can work in aggregate. Are all Johns John, all Roses Rose, and do they all share in what they accomplish? Or are the final victors only accidents created by the whims and needs of the frog baby machine?

What I’m saying, basically, is that the retcon, in the sense that it pointed out our confused relationship with these characters, was already here.

In interviews and questions put to him over the years, Hussie constantly compares HS and SBURB to other video games, particularly Mario, which he frequently returns to as a baseline of comparison that most of his readers will know. One answer, from a recent Hiveswap interview, is particularly revelatory. To the question of “Why do you kill off all your characters?” Hussie replies:

[…]HS is supposedly a story that is also a game. In games, the characters die all the time. How many times did you let Mario fall in the pit before he saved the princess? Who weeps for these Marios. In games your characters die, but you keep trying and trying and rebooting and resetting until finally they make it. When you play a game this process is all very impersonal. Once you finally win, when all is said and done those deaths didn’t “count”, only the linear path of the final victorious version of the character is considered “real”. Mario never actually died, did he? Except the omniscient player knows better. HS seems to combine all the meaningless deaths of a trial-and-error game journey with the way death is treated dramatically in other media, where unlike our oblivious Mario, the characters are aware and afraid of the many deaths they must experience before finally winning the game.

The big man hass the answer.

Homestuck is the story of those dead Marios.

Other works, like Undertale, have engaged with this topic as well. But one of the major differences between Undertale and Homestuck is that in Undertale, between “lives,” one’s consciousness is preserved. In Homestuck, it’s discontinuous, and the value of the overall trial-error process is called into question by the fact that you, the player, may not even get to experience the victory. What meaning does victory hold if that is the case?

So, to put it in a nice thesis format:

One of the central themes of Homestuck is the challenge of reconciling an arbitrary and destructive pattern of growth and victory with the death and suffering you experienced along the way. Homestuck asks: is victory worthwhile if you’re not you anymore? And would you be able to know?

What even is the self? Is there such a thing?

If you were left feeling somewhat disconcerted by our heroes’ tidy victory and departure to their cosmic prize, or by how which Rose gets the spotlight is so deeply, deeply arbitrary, there’s a good reason for that. You’re supposed to be.

The philosophical problem of Wacky Cat Rose is insignificant next to the bullshit of SBURB.

And don’t forget—John and Roxy’s denizens helped them achieve the retcon. Ultimately, the victory they achieved was mediated by the same amoral system of SBURB, and was a victory over an enemy, Caliborn, whose power was created, perpetuated, and ended by that same system.

Okay, so here’s where it gets contentious. There’s an argument to be made, which I’m not sure how I feel about, that some of the character development that could have been in post-retcon Act 6 was left out precisely to push this feeling and play up this tension. Note that this is not the same thing as saying that they were deliberately badly written, but that they’re deliberately written to make us uneasy.That Hussie deliberately played with the balance between making these retconned characters feel familiar and making them feel eerily different to leave us feeling uneasy with the result.

I’m not sure I like that idea. It smacks a little too much of that “everything is perfect” thinking that comes sometimes from the far Metastuck camp. Some of the differences may also be the result of flawed writing. (See: Jane and Jake’s character arcs, which I might talk about later.) And I want to be able to critique those flaws. Ultimately, I think we still needed more time and development to figure out who these new people were—even if our goal was ultimately to compare them to their earlier selves. And again, more conscious acknowledgement of the problem from our heroes—especially John, the linchpin in this last and biggest act of duplication—might have helped drive this theme home.

Still, I think the Problem of Dead Marios is one of the most fundamental questions of Homestuck, maybe THE biggest question. It’s essential to understand it to understand what Hussie’s doing—or attempting to do— in the retcon and the ending.

I don’t know that Homestuck offers us a clear answer to that question. There are some confusions around the issue, too. Where do merged selves fit in, exactly? Clearly they’re a big part of the discussion, because Hussie spends some time in Act 6, especially near the end bringing the identity-merging powers of the Sprites to the forefront. (See also: the identity-merged nightmare that is Lord English.)  Can we even come up with a clear answer to what it means when a dead Mario returns to life grotesquely fused with Toad? How does he beat the game? Does he tell himself that the princess is in another castle? Or what if he merges with Peach? Are they their own princess? How do they know if they’re in the right castle?

Um. Anyway—

Interestingly, it’s not all grotesque—spritesplosions suggest that personalities that are too different don’t stay together long, so a fusion might rely on some inherent compatibility between the two players. Erisol’s self-loathing, sure, but also Fefeta’s cheerfulness. Davepeta seems to be a way of bringing out the best in their players, a way of getting Davesprite past his angst and Nepeta past her fear. Honestly, I know a lot of people don’t like Davepeta as the ending of these two characters’ arcs, but I can’t help but love it. They’re the ultimate coolkid. Cool enough to know they don’t have to be cool. Regular Dave got there, too, of course. But was his retcon assist from John ultimately any different?

Then, of course, we come to Davepeta’s speech to Jade in one of the last few updates before Collide. Davepeta suggests that there is such a thing as an ultimate self beyond the many different selves one piles up throughout the cosmos. A set of principles that describes who you are that’s larger than any individual instance of you. Your inherent Mariohood. (Maybe this is comparable to your Classpect identity, which attempts to describe who you are?) Davepeta even tells Jade, strikingly, that one might learn to see beyond the barriers between selves. Be the ur-self, in practice, rather than theory. This would be incredible news for Jade, who wrestles with the issue of different selves perhaps more than any other character. (There’s a lot to say about Jade.)

Honestly, I wish this ur-self idea had been developed more, and I honestly expected it to be. It doesn’t fully come to fruition, I feel. (Same goes for Davepeta’s character. Ohhhh, ZING!) I’m not sure it entirely makes philosophical sense, especially with fusion—I mean, doesn’t Davepeta themself disprove it? Or at least complicate it? Like, are they part of the ur-Dave or the ur-Nepeta? They seem to imply they’re BOTH? Does that even work? Does that mean that Marieach is all the Peaches and Marios at once?

(In fact, Bowser/Peach/Mario are but the three manifestations of one eternal principle. Also, Bowser/Peach are the true power couple. Read my fanfiction plz.)

And what, say, of Dirk, who ultimately ends up rejecting aspects of his other selves? It feels like there’s a lot more you could say here, and I wonder if Hussie would have said more, if he’d had time. What’s weird is, none of our victorious kids never reach an ur-self (though to their descendants, they become archetypal to some degree), which one might have expected. They’re just individual selves who happened to get lucky. Does that make them representative of the whole? It feels like something’s missing here, or like something got dropped at the last minute.

Same goes for the idea of the Ultimate Riddle. You’d be forgiven for missing it, but there’s been this riddle in the background lore of SBURB that seems to have something to do with personal agency in this overwhelming, overarching system. Karkat called it predestination, saying something like “ANY HOPE YOU HAD OF DOING THINGS OTHERWISE WAS JUST A RUSE.” But others have interpreted it more positively. My favorite interpretation, from bladekindeyewear: the answer to the Riddle is that YOU shape the timeline through your existence, personality, and choices, even when it looks like it’s all predestination. Ultimately it’s your predestination, your set of events, based deeply on your nature, that you are creating. Someone like Caliborn can use his innate personality to achieve power; someone like John might be able to use it to achieve freedom.

I definitely expected something like that to be expressed more explicitly. Like, a big ah-ha moment that helps John or Jade or whoever understand how to escape Caliborn’s system. Something like that would have been very helpful for a lot of our heroes, actually, who’ve been pushed around by Skaia and SBURB together, in finding a cathartic ending.  Once again, I wonder if something was dropped or rushed because there wasn’t time to put it all in. There’s places where you can see hints of that Answer being implied, maybe? But it’s kind of ambiguous.

You can see how the Answer to the Ultimate Riddle ties into some of Davepeta’s ideas. If your personality, the rules of your behavior are a fundamental archetype that goes beyond each individual self, then the answer to whether it matters if one self of yours makes it through to victory is an emphatic YES. You are all of those people, and by winning one round with Skaia, you’ve won the whole game, despite all the arbitrary challenges and deaths it heaps upon you along the way.

This may strike some as too positive for Skaia’s brutality, or again, some way of excusing flaws in many characters’ arcs, or unfair things that happen to them. To be fair, I don’t know that Davepeta’s necessarily meant to be taken as authoritative or the voice of Hussie. They may simply be offering a purrspective.

Hussie not choosing to come right out and engage with the Ultimate Riddle leaves the question of Dead Marios and what they mean for the victorious versions of our cast very open. I like that in some ways—let the reader decide—but I can’t help but wish we had more to work with in making that decision. Plus, it might have brought the thematic messages of Homestuck all the way home to tie them more closely to our characters and their experiences—character development being one of the things most people found most lacking in the ending.

NEXT TIME: All that wacky gnostic stuff probably

#homestuck #off the cuff homestuck thoughts extravaganza 2017 #homestuck meta #homestuck theory #homestuck analysis #The Ultimate Riddle #dead marios #ugh why is tumblr basically unusable #pictures and text can go together TUMBLR #GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER IT'S 2017 WE HAVE HYPERCOMICS #HOMESTUCK COULD TEACH YOU A THING OR TWO ABOUT COMBINING MEDIA

[sargentsnowy-blog]

I Hate You, I Love You

Star sat silently on the sofa, Marco sitting beside her. It was Friday night in the Diaz household, meaning it was movie night! Yaaaay…

Star got to choose the movie today. And Marco had a sneaking suspicion that it was a horror movie… which Marco hated.

But it turned out, it wasn’t. Just a simple romantic comedy of two best friends who fell in love with each other… Faked loving someone else… Becoming a thing with that someone else… One best friend not dating someone… That friend gets jealous… ends up with the friends together in the end.

Watching it gave Marco a sense of deja vu. Oh… how he hated the deja vu. Always… sneaking up on him and telling him this happened or whatever.

The end credits played and he stretched. Marco was about to get up when he saw Star, fast asleep on his arm. Looks like I got to carry her… Marco though with a silent groan.

Easing his hands under the princess, he lifted Star up, slowly making his way to the stairs. Marco was surprised that she wasn’t that heavy, actually… it felt like he was holding air.

Marching to Star’s room, Marco gently set her on her bed and covered her up. She turned a but and fidgeted… Marco raising an eyebrow.

Time for bed.

/\/\

Marco woke in a theater, red curtains flowing down to the stage. Where am ?! Is this a dream?!

/\/\

Star nervously shivered in her white, frilly dress. There was everyone out there and she had to dance. Of course… there was Marco. But she was dancing to a song that described her feelings for Marco.

Leaping out onto the stage, graceful and poised, the song started.

~Feeling used but I’m… Still missing you,~

~ I Cant, see the end of it,~

~Just wanna feel your kiss, against my lips~

Star twirled… remembering what went with the song.

/\/\

Marco gave a slight gasp… he wasn’t seeing the stage anymore, but a dark room… like no one was there. Star danced in her frilly dress, twirling to one end of the dark room.

Images flashed around him, startling him. These weren’t images… but memories.

Marco recalled when they were babysitting the tadpoles, him pulling his face so close to Star’s they almost kissed.

Is Star remembering this while she dances to the song?

~All this time, is passing by~

~I cant seem to tell you how it hurts me~

~Everytime i see you~

~I realize, how much i need you…~

Marco saw Star giving up her wand for him… Saw her face when he had arrived at the graveyard after he went to the dance. How hurt she looked.

~I hate you,~

Marco flinched at the words, him and Star flashing across the room, fighting about a sandwich.

~I love you~

Marco’s eyes grew wide when he and Star hugged over the barren landscape after the castle exploded… after losing her wand.

~I hate that I love you~

~Dont want to, but i cant put~

~Nobody else above you~

Marco gasped when he saw Star let go of a football player into a black hole… after she thought football was a war. She had ran to his need after he was jumped on by a huge squirrel.

Star rose her hands up and twirled across the stage.

~I hate you~

~I love you~

~I hate that I want you~

He felt like his heart was about to ripped out his chest… Star wanted him?!

Star leaped across the stage, twirling down to the ground. Getting back up, she looked like a spinner.

~You want her, you need her~

~And ill never be her~

Marco let his face scrunch up when he saw himself walking down the stairs to see Jackie in a beautiful seagreen dress. She wanted to go with me to the dance?

Star fell gracefully to the floor, staying like that for a while. Marco was surprised at her gracefulness,

~All alone I watch you watch her~

~She is the only thing you ever see~

~You don’t care you never did~

~You don’t give a d*mn about me~

Now that was a lie.

Marco felt his eyes almost pop out his head when he saw Star use a spell to spy on him and Jackie, skateboarding on her board. How he looked into her eyes.

Star raised her hands and suddenly the light on her went out. Then she started glowing a bright green… very little pink streaks on the dress as she gave another twirl.

Marco could hear the crowd.

~Yeah all alone i watch you watch her~

~She is the only girl you ever see~

~How is it you never noticed~

~That you were slowly killing me~

The memories flashed to the concert, Marco kissing Jackie while still holding Star’s hand. How she ran off to the bottom of the stadium… He could feel her jealousy pouring out the memories.

When Marco went back up to Jackie, he kissed her again… right in front of Star. Star left the stadium, shooting green magic from her wand.

Star’s dress glowed a brighter green… and brighter… and brighter. Marco then realized the green was her jealousy filling her up to the rim… that she was losing it.

~I hate you~

~I love you~

~I hate that I love you~

~Dont want to but i cant put~

~Nobody else above you~

Star jumped high, letting her frilly, glowing dress fly above her. She looked dark in the glowing green… the opposite of her.

Marco knew it was how he had changed her.

~I hate you~

~I love you~

~I hate that i want you~

~You want her you need her~

~And ill never be her…~

Marco flinched as one last image of him and Jackie at the concert showed up. She said she won’t be Jackie… she wanted to kiss me…

The dance ended, and Marco left his vision. This was clearly Star’s dream, and he was in it. Some spell probably allowed him.

Star walked off the stage, her green dress turning back white as the lights cut on in the room.

/\/\

Marco jumped out of bed, sun pouring onto his face. He had to see Star!

Running downstairs, he saw the girl at the table. She looked like she had danced all night. Well… she did.

“Star! I’ve got a question!” Marco told her, running up to the table with amazing speed.

“Chill Marco, ” Star yawned, smacking her tongue to get moisture in her mouth. “Can it wait? I had like this re-”

“Do you have a crush on me?!”

Star’s face paled and she slowly looked at Marco. He already knew the answer. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you I had a crush on you?!” Star whisper shouted. “I’m your friend! And you date Jackie!”

“I saw your dream!” Marco blurted out, covering his mouth. Star’s eyes grew in size, nearing sausers.

“Y-You s-saw m-my dream?!”

“Yeah…”

Star pulled her hair to her face. “Oh no…”

“You’re a nice dancer…” Marco whispered. “That dream was creative… especially how I saw what each verse meant.”

Star didn’t saw a word… so he continued. “I know the dance moves was you trying to not be jealous… but then the lights went out and you started glowing green. Your dance moves got more rapid and angry… I felt your pain… I didn’t like it.”

She still sat quiet as she listened to Marco’s words. “The concert… it hurt you more than you let on. I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be.”

Marco jumped at the sound of Star’s voice. “But I am! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“No one ever does…” Star sighed, giving him an oddly reassuring look. “Its okay…”

It’s okay?! There’s only one thing left to do then… Marco thought.

/\/\

I’m sorry guys but I’m not continuing this. It’s just I was listening to the song and I was like… “Oooohhh… let’s make a fanfic out of it since I’m bored.”

\/\/

Copy and Pasted from Random Starco One-Shots on FFN.

#starco #fanfic #starco fanfiction #fanficton #fan fiction

[holmanlaw8-blog]

How Do You Make The Itch Of A Mosquito Bite Go Away

Rub one drop of ammonia into your pores and skin the place the bite is. Follow this with a drop of cortisone ointment rubbed in effectively. In less than an hour, you will not even be able to find the place the chew was, much much less feel it. How do you cure blood sucker mosquito bites? Try vinegar, however guantee that the bite isn't open from scratching first, in any other case the cut will burn because of the vinegar. Can you put something on a mosquito bite to make it heal or go away sooner? First apply alcohol instantly (green alchol is most well-liked) then, put ice on it, it may go down till it's not seen anymore! What causes red dotted bumps on face that itch on a toddler? There are two things it might be, the little one might have been bitten by an insect or might have a dirty pores. With a chew, try puts some soothing cream on and ensure they dont itch at it.

And you're one in every of them! My nerves are fried from riding on this emotional roller coaster! Goodbye, Ken. And on your data, I favor sugar-free, artificial sweeteners made by man! I'm sorry about all that. I know it is acquired an aftertaste! I at all times felt there was some kind of barrier between Ken and me. I couldn't overcome it. Oh, properly. Are you Ok for the trial? I believe Mr. Montgomery is about out of ideas. We would like to call Mr. Barry Benson Bee to the stand. Yeah. Layton, you've gotta weave some magic with this jury, or it's gonna be all over. Don't worry. The only factor I must do to turn this jury round is to remind them of what they don't love about bees. You got the tweezers? Only to dropping, son. Only to dropping. Mr. Benson Bee, I'll ask you what I feel we might all wish to know. What precisely is your relationship to that woman?

The espresso was nice and the TCE a wealthy, chocolate-lover's dream. The ice cream melted all over my hand and i didn't care one bit, it was so good! The employees was affable and repair speedy. Great ice cream. Tons to choose from. Reasonable prices and generous scoops! In a pleasant evening be prepared to attend. Love the mosquito, cannot await summer time 2014! Always a long line at the misquito but it moves quickly. Big portions, you def get your moneys value! The tadpole is enormous! Love the ice cream they serve, its the perfect! So good. Many selections. Huge parts. And their sugar free was even scrumptious! That they had two sugar free decisions, coffee and a Carmel pecan. Usually I must settle for vanilla with something swirled in it. It was to feel like I used to be getting a treat like everybody else and never settling for what they'd.

These pests feed on human blood and are usually not attracted by dirt or filth. American Hotel and Lodging Association stated in an announcement. These insects are as prone to be present in a 5-star luxurious hotel as a modest 1-star motel. And there's the rub for travelers. A hotel room that is bed bug free one night time can be infested the subsequent. This insect doesn't live on humans. They crawl into beds to feed, then scurry away, hiding in crevices near beds until the subsequent meal. Suitcases and laptop computer systems positioned on the bed make excellent hiding places for these pests. When travelers check out of an infested hotel room, just a few of these pests are prone to stow away of their luggage, creeping out at the subsequent lodge to infest another room or, even worse, following travelers residence. The rising prevalence of bed bugs within the U.S. Use this handy guide to protect your self from bed bugs when you travel.

Nuances Of Hunting A Man Eating Tiger The most effective Home Hair Removal Tips (Part 1) Best Campsites And Reviews

[i-amusemyself]

Every and all space things👍

AAAAaaaah omg ty!!!!! (I did it once and then it deleted in case you were wondering why it took so long)

Planets: Life

Mercury: What’s your full name? I don’t even know my first name at this point

Venus: What’s your first language? English (though you wouldn’t know it some days)

Earth: Where’s your home? Not my house ~I’m not sure I’ve found it yet.

Mars: What’s your sexuality? Technically I’m bi/pansexual but I doubt I’d date a guy sooo

Jupiter: Do you have any siblings? Only step sibs but we’re not v close

Saturn: Any pets? Two very old rabbits that I adore and Borris the cocker spaniel who is currently trying to sit on my laptop and winning 😂

Uranus: What’s your hobby? Self loathing and meme farming 👌

Neptune: When’s your birthday? 6th october

Pluto: What time is it right now where you are? 18:57

Moon: What are you currently studying/hope to study? I’m doing a levels atm, and with any luck I’ll be off to uni in september to start a masters in biochem

Stars: Experiences

Sun: Have you ever had alcohol? I’m doing a levels so ofc

Sirius: Have you ever failed a class? I do p well generally though I almost failed gcse art last year

Rigel: Have you ever gone on a rollercoaster? yh

Deneb: Have you ever been out of your home country? yup!

Arcturus: Have you cried out of something other than sadness? I cry with any emotion if I feel it strongly enough but if it it’s not sadness it’s usually because I’m happy.

Betelgeuse: What’s something you can never forget about? I don’t remember many things to be honest. I suppose the way people have treated me and what they have said (in good and bad ways).

Aldebaran: What’s something you care desperately about? There are a few specific good people who I desperately want to see happy and will do anything to see them finally get what they deserve 💖

Canopus: Have you ever broken a bone? A couple

Bellatrix: Have you ever been forced to lie/keep a secret? Lmao I’ve been pretending to be a straight girl for 18 years 😂

Alphard: Have you ever lost a friend? Yeah, both in the growing apart and passing away sense. It sucks.

Vega: What’s something you’ve done that you wish you hadn’t? Everytime I speak I beat myself up about it later tbh

Constellations: Favourites

Centaurus: Favourite holiday? Halloween!! 🎃

Orion: Favourite month? October or July

Cassiopeia: Favourite book? Ugh I don’t read enough it’s so bad. I’ll say the 5 people you meet in heaven again.

Delphinus: Favourite study? …..I don’t have one. Though the first thing that popped into my head was the study of fire🔥 

Hercules: Favourite instrument? I’m always a slut for piano covers breaking my heart

Gemini: Favourite song? It changes so often but I’m really digging To Build a Home (by the cinematic orchestra) and Rats (by motionless in white) rn. Bit of a difference between the two 😂

Pegasus: Favourite place to be? There’s a couple of houses I feel chilled in but my fave place atm is just in the corner of this field watching the world go by and just escaping for a little while. I need to go back there.

Libra: Favourite colour? Like, a blood red or black.

Phoenix: Favourite thing to wear? I spend my life in Depression Sweatshirts^TM and jeans atm and I keep telling myself I’ll make an effort at some point but honestly I don’t even know what I like wearing anymore

Aries: Favourite movie? Deadpool/shrek (2)/hot fuzz/my sisters keeper/the life of brian

Cygnus: Favourite weather? I like it warm because I’m always freezing but The Ultimate is when you’re lying in bed watching a thunderstorm

Hydra: Favourite sound? Thats a bit… erm 😏? Let’s go with rain.

Galaxies: Love/Friends  

Milky Way: Who’s your oldest friend?  I don’t really have one. I’m still on pretty good terms with a girl I’ve known since I was literally a baby I suppose

Andromeda: Do you consider yourself social? I like socialising and being around people if they’re the right people but I’m anxious af 

Black Eye Galaxy: Do you believe in love at first sight? Nah, attraction though

Cartwheel Galaxy: When was your first kiss? I’d prefer to say I’ve never had one

Cigar Galaxy: How’s your flirting skills? 👏Fucking terrible judging by my relationship status 👏

Comet Galaxy: Have you ever had to leave a relationship because someone changed too much? No, but then again I haven’t ended  that many relationships.

Pinwheel Galaxy: Would you date the last person you talked to? My dad? No.

Sombrero Galaxy: Do you have a crush right now? Yhhh smh

Bode’s Galaxy: Have you ever had a secret admirer? It was quite a few years ago now but yeah, it was super cute. I still wish I knew who it was!

Sunflower Galaxy: Would you date/make friends with someone out of pity? I once dated someone because I didn’t want to be mean and say no again (for like the 10th time) and it was one of the worst decisions I’ve made. So no, I won’t be doing that again.

Tadpole Galaxy: Would you deny a relationship/friendship? Only if it wasn’t safe or my s/o wanted me to

Whirlpool Galaxy: Have you ever cried over a breakup? Yeaaah

Other stuff: Wishes

Comet: What’s your big dream? To be happy and to be able to look back on my deathbed and go “you know what, that could’ve gone a lot worse!”. Regrets are the worst too, so I’d like to minimize those.

Asteroid: What does your dream life look like? I’d like a stable job and to settle down with someone who genuinely loves me. I don’t know about the rest, I’m hardly the sort to make a life plan!

Meteor: What’s something you wish you could tell, but can’t? There’s people I wish I could tell them how I feel. People I wish I could tell them who I am. People I wish I could tell them where to stick it.

Nebula: If you could undo one thing in your life, what would it be? I can’t answer that, for starters because I’d freak out over the butterfly effect of it

Shooting Star: If you could bring back one thing, what would it be? (I’m guessing this means from the dead because I hardly have a burning desire to bring back VCRs or ought) I’m torn between Carrie Fisher, some people who died too young or a certain dog. 

Pulsar: What do you hope to do in the next 10 years? Oh wow nope I can’t think about the future! In a better place than I am now, with more experience and understanding.

Supernova: What’s one thing you want to do before you die? I mean there’s so many things, but tbh I’d like to ride a giant zip wire

Quasar: If you could spend the rest of your life with only one person, who would it be? Dont make me choose?!!?! Imma just say Lexa Kom Trikru lmao

Wormhole: What’s something you wish would happen, but know won’t? Me finding someone who isn’t out of my league and also a labour majority government (in the near future at least).

Black Hole: What’s the last thing you want to see? The stars!! The moon!! 🌟🌘