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imminent-danger-came · 9 months

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I was rewatching s2 last night, and ohhh man mk looks over mei so much it's not even funny. times mei has been ignored:

maybe you need to really listen! (during the blindfold ep)

mk just? grabs stuff she's using out of her hands all the time? (video game ep)

maybe you shouldn't skip the tutorials? (video game ep again)

the way he addresses her in dumpling destruction and then immediately pushes her aside for tang

i honestly remember it lowkey kinda bothering me on first watch but now it's REALLY egregious on rewatch. are you scared? I'm so scared. do you WANT to end up like shadowpeach MK

2x03 is so rude because the whole fucking episode they're like "MK you don't listen" and it's so true. He doesn't. Pigsy literally points it out again at the end of 4x14 with the whole sun screen bit:

Pigsy: "Tch, don't bother, I've been telling him that for years but he LITERALLY never listens." Sun Wukong: "Yep! That's how we role."

THEY'RE SO FUCKING RUDE. "That's how we role." We. We????? Wukong and MK???? Like WHATEVER. FINE. (("I told you going against the Jade Emperor was a bad idea, but no. Wukong doesn't listen to ANYONE! He just does whatever he wants" Like shut up. Shut up!))

MK gets so stuck in his own head ("You're all stuck up in your own head! None of this is your fault!" +1 to the MK ignoring Mei counter from 4x08) and I think that really contributes to his s2 scramble to get more powerful.

LIKE:

MK: "Stop? Now? Never! I just have to try harder. It's just like the Monkey King said! *laughs manically* I just need to get stronger!"

(2x06 Game On)

MK: "Why didn't he just stop, right here? He was already so much stronger than anyone ever needed to be!" Macaque: "Wukong didn't think so, he always felt he had to be stronger—more immortal."

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

(Bonus thing between eps 2x03 and 2x06, look at 0:42 in this video for MK hearing Mei but not listening to her. Because of course that's what he would do. *head in my hands .png*)

The terrible s2 choices both Wukong and MK make in relation to their friends is just absolutely delicious after 4x11. Like, OH. This has been a lifelong pattern of Wukong's—paranoia is one of his fatal flaws (paired with his terrible communication and self-sacrificial nature), and while he had the power to stop LBD before he still feel's the need to go after the Samadhi Fire to stop her now, and to protect MK.

Hold on look at this parallel that I don't know what to do with:

MK: "Ugh, I can't do it!"

Mei: "It's alright MK—you did it before, you'll do it again!" Sandy: "Yeah! Maybe it's like Monkey King said: the power will come when you need it most!"

(3x04 The Winning Side)

MK: "What! But you said the Samadhi fire was the only thing that could stop her!" Sun Wukong: "I KNOW WHAT I SAID! But I've beaten her before I'll- I'll do it again! Mei was right—I need to stop dragging you into my fights, all of you."

(3x10 The Samadhi Fire)

Wukong and MK's reach for power inspires a lot of fear in me! It does! Because, well, MK's current reach for power is going to lead him to his Monkey Form, and uh:

Like I'm scared. I'm scared!

"All doomed to play a role in tearing this world apart!" ; "This is Azure's utopia, and this barren wasteland is the price he paid to build it." ; "I'd do anything for my friends! But at the cost of the world?" "I'm sorry pal, ain't NOTHIN' worth that price!"

#I've said it once and I'll say it again: 2x06 is one of the MOST retroactively mean episodes #Game motif. The callback that 4x10 does. Whatever the fuck is going on with the MK and SWK parallels in that ep #I hate lmk's exchange theme I hate it. Like FUCK #Anyways #asks #wlw-wukong #lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk MK #lmk SWK #lmk Sun Wukong #lmk analysis #lmk theme: exchange #fuckasdfoqweg #Sandy saying ''Helping my friends is more important than anything in the world!'' in 2x08 vs #''I get it! I'd do anything to help my friends! But at the cost of the world?'' in 4x13 is SICK. SICK IT'S SICK #Sometimes it's like. Hmmm. ''If you aren't doing everything in your power to help your friends you are nothing!''#''I'd watch my sword shatter 1000 times so long as I used it to protect the ones I care about''#I'm telling you Mei would choose MK over the world. I'M TELLING YOU #MK'S ALREADY CHOSEN MEI OVER THE WORLD (thank you 3x10) AND PIGSY/TANG/SANDY OVER THE WORLD (4x02)#MK really went: ''Oh releasing this curse could end the world? Well I'll risk it for my friends!'' and I went ''ohhhh nooooooooo''#WE ARE IN SOME DEEP SHIT IN S5 #And Wukong? Lol of course he's choosing the people he cares about over the world. No surprise there.#He's like ''yeah I'll go fight the jade emperor to finally be strong enough''. If eamk theory proves true he like #Chose MK over the world initially #And he was totalllyyy willing to sacrifice LBD's child host to protect his friends (MK)/the world #I'm. AUGHGHG.#''It's what he would do if he had to. That's the hard part of being a hero!'' OKAY BUT MEI WOULD YOU DO THAT SO EASILY IF IT WERE MK #ME THINKS NO #ME THINKS YOU WOULD NOT

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hyperfixation-tangentopia · 9 months

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WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER EPISODE OOOOF - YOU GUESSED IT - HT OVERTHINKS!

So, I've been thinking SO MUCH about this expression.

Now, I'm shit at reading expressions, but to me this reads as confusion. Of "that's not how it happened...was it?" and if it's not, completely disregard the rest of this.

I'm pretty sure Macaque tends to stir on things. From the fact he tended to quiet about his concerns when others didn't take them seriously to his anger in his debut, and the fact that he has twice now recalled lines nearly to the word ("Good to see ya, bud." and "You always were the most cowardly of the bunch."), I feel like there's a good chance he has stirred on these lines. Stayed up at night with them running around his head type thing.

And that kinda stuff tends to warp memories and perceptions, and we've already established that Macaque's an unreliable narrator (whether he means to be or not) because his perception of events is warped by emotions.

I was just using this as a headcanon, but then I noticed it's not the first time we'd be shown memories of events changing from one person to another (even subtly). And here's where I'm probably overthinking (if I wasn't already).

After the Samadhi Fire ritual, in Demon Bull King's retelling, he drops the ring when he runs for Red Son.

But in (what I assume to be Wukong's) memory of events, he holds onto it.

If this was a deviation between memories and not just an inaccuracy, I don't think I'm reaching too terribly far to say that Macaque's memory of the argument could've been warped over time.

Buuuut I'm probably just overthinking stuff. Fun to do though!

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unhelpfulfemme · 3 months

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I just realized that Ekaterin Vorkosigansaga's maiden name is Vorvayne because the structure and nature of her and Miles's romance are heavily inspired by Sayers's Wimsey novels, in which the romantic heroine is called Harriet Vane.

#I've never read the wimsey novels even though I have been vaguely aware of their existence since before I went through puberty #for some reason I spent a long time thinking that Lord Peter Wimsey was a wizard detective lol #but in these months I've been hyperaware of them because I keep making all these Bujold vs. Dunnett comparisons in my head #on so many topics very relevant to my heart #and I once had a theory that Bujold was inspired by Dunnett but I kept thinking that #this can't be true #because if it's true then Bujold misconstrued or ignored a lot of what Dorothy was saying in pretty in-your-face ways #and then I realized nah #they were both inspired by Sayers #they had the same parting point and each seems to have taken the elements they liked and made them her own #and each developed and elaborated on those elements while introducing other unique elements of her own from other sources #which makes a lot more sense and makes for a fascinating comparative reading project :3 #vorkosigan saga #lord peter wimsey

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miodiodavinci · 2 months

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head in hands like "maybe i should have realized this about myself sooner" as i am surrounded by neon flashing signs that Very Clearly Indicate the thing i should have realized about myself sooner

#anyway i'm just mulling about the 'tism skdjfhgljhdfg #thinking about how i've been having a hard time on site with my internship because i struggle to make small talk with my superiors #and everything is uncomfortable and terrible all of the time and i feel so so out of my depth #but talking with my university superior about the methodology of our profession #has me feeling like i'm playing just dance on extreme and i'm nailing every single beat w #like quite literally is like one of those rhythm games where when you get a combo it plays a cool sound effect #and i'm playing so well the sound effects are overlapping and the screen is just an explosion of stars w #so yeah i am. very comfortable talking academics and theory and things but. shit in social situations.#when i don't have that to rely on whoops #anyway it's just another thing on the incredibly long list of things i have building in my mind of #'why i should have realized i'm probably on the spectrum sooner'#the thrilling sequel to 'how did i go 20+ years without realizing i have ADHD' w #(speaking of)#(the way my ADHD has been leaping into the spotlight this week)#(biggest highlight was being jumpscared not once)#(not twice!!)#(but THREE times by food i had bought for myself)#(put down briefly)#(and then forgotten about for upwards of 30 minutes to 5 hours)#(like the other day i bought myself a little pastry on the way home as a congrats for surviving another week)#(and i put it on the table when i came inside)#(but i. forgot i did that. and went like 4 hours without even thinking about it)#(until i got up and left my room and saw the bag and went '! ! ! ! ! ! ! OH MY GO D MY PASTRY NOOOOOOO')#(the adhd and the autism . . . . they are attacking my ass . . . . . )

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fort-cozy-mcblanket · 1 year

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As of The Change Constant, Sheldon and Amy have had coitus 12 times. But do we know all 12 times?

The Shamy Coital Count: What We Know, What We Don’t, and What We Can Wildly Speculate

1. Amy’s 36th Birthday The Opening Night Excitation

Date: December 17th, 2015 Location: Amy’s bed in her apartment #314

Obviously we all know the first time. Sheldon skipped the advance screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens to be with Amy on her birthday, and coitus was his gift to her. It is implied that it lasted for approximately the runtime of the movie, which is 2 hours and 16 minutes. When they are done, Sheldon says he looks forward to her next birthday when they will do it again, to which Amy agrees.

2. Amy’s 37th Birthday The Birthday Synchronicity

Date: December 17th, 2016 Location: Apartment 4B, most likely on Sheldon and Amy’s shared bed

Per their verbal agreement after their first time, Sheldon and Amy do not have coitus again until Amy’s next birthday. Sheldon wakes Amy up right at midnight for it, however they are interrupted by Bernadette going into labor. They do not end up doing it until after the birth and after returning from a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Harry Potter roleplay may or may not have been involved.

3. Amy Leaves for Princeton The Gyroscopic Collapse

Date: May 6th, 2017 (estimated) Location: Sheldon and Amy’s shared bed in apartment 4B

Amy is offered a summer research fellowship at Princeton, and they break their rule of only having coitus on her birthday to do it once before she leaves. This is the first time we hear Sheldon refer to it as “lovemaking.” They fold their clothes neatly before they do it. Leonard, Penny, and Raj hear them going at it from out in the hallway of the apartment building. The exact date this occurs is uncertain, but if we assume the episode’s airdate of May 4th, 2017, to be the date at the start of the episode, they have coitus 2 days later on May 6th, 2017.

4. Amy’s 38th Birthday The Celebration Reverberation

Date: December 17th, 2017 Location: Unoccupied bedroom in Howard and Bernadette’s house

Back to tradition, the next time they have coitus is on Amy’s birthday. It almost didn’t happen, as the day prior they both got food poisoning from the Little House on the Prairie-inspired frontier dinner Sheldon prepared. They were still sick that morning, but felt good enough later in the day to attend Halley’s first birthday party. At the party, while everyone else is distracted by the baby, Sheldon and Amy jump in the inflatable bounce house and then find an unoccupied bedroom for their own celebration. This is the first known time they do it as an engaged couple and the first known time they do it outside of one of their own bedrooms.

5. Wedding Night The Bow Tie Asymmetry/The Conjugal Configuration

Date: May 12th, 2018 Location: Hotel room outside of Legoland California

Per The Athenaeum Allocation, we know Sheldon and Amy got married on May 12th. Nothing beyond the wedding ceremony is shown in The Bow Tie Asymmetry, but when we see them again in The Conjugal Configuration they are just waking up the next morning. Sheldon confirms that they consummated. Apparently Sheldon made Lego snapping sounds during the consummation.

6. Honeymoon in New York The Conjugal Configuration

Date: May 15th, 2018 Location: Hotel room in New York City

Sheldon and Amy get into an argument over Sheldon’s need to schedule their coital encounters, and this comes to a head while they are on the Nikola Tesla tour. Later, they reach a compromise and decide that Sheldon can make a schedule and just not tell Amy about it. He plans to create an algorithm that will generate a pseudo-random schedule to accomplish this, and Amy’s explanation of why it cannot be a true random schedule excites him so much, they rush back to the hotel so she can explain it to him again naked.

7. Three Weeks Ago The Donation Oscillation

Date: January 19, 2019 (estimated) Location: Unknown, but most likely their shared bed in apartment 4B

When Leonard goes to apartment 4B to get away from Penny, who was trying to seduce him, Amy asks him why he is trying to avoid having sex. Sheldon, mistakingly thinking the question was directed at him, says they just did it three weeks ago. The exact date this occurred is uncertain. Based on the airdate and events of the episode, they had this conversation on February 9th, 2019. Three weeks prior would be Saturday, January 19th, 2019.

Because this is a seemingly insignificant date, this could be one of Sheldon’s randomly scheduled sessions. It is important to note, though, that this does fall around the events of the Confirmation Polarization, where their super-asymmetry theory is proven by Drs. Pemberton and Campbell and they decide to fight them for the Nobel Prize. Perhaps they made love to celebrate that their theory got proven? Or as a physical manifestation of their commitment to either win the Nobel together or not at all? Something to think about.

8 & 9. The Avengers Trailer The Change Constant

Date: December 7th, 2018 or March 14th, 2019 (estimated) Location: Unknown, but most likely their shared bed in apartment 4B

When Penny says Sheldon has had sex almost as many times as she has fingers, Sheldon corrects her and says it was more by two, thus bringing the grand total up to 12. He then goes on to say it was because of the Avengers trailer. The dialogue is a little ambiguous, but this implies that those two extra times are both because of the trailer. I’m going to go ahead and count them both here, because that is my interpretation and also because I think it’s funny that seemingly the first time they go two rounds is because Sheldon got too excited about a movie trailer release.

Anyway, most likely Sheldon is referring to Avengers: Endgame, which hit theaters April 26th, 2019. The first trailer was released on December 7th, 2018, which potentially puts this prior to the previous list entry. However, considering this the events of the Change Constant take place in October 2019 (due to the Nobel ceremony taking place in December every year and this episode being set two months prior to that), it’s a little strange that Sheldon would bring up an example from so long ago. It’s possible too that it could have been the release of the second Endgame trailer on March 14, 2019, although that still is quite some time ago. (Unsure about any subsequent trailers.) Then again, perhaps Sheldon just knew that Penny was unaware of these two instances in particular, eidetic memory and all that.

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So, that brings us up to 9 confirmed coital encounters. What about the other 3?

Well, I have some suggestions . . .

10. Amy’s 39th Birthday

Date: December 17th, 2018 Location: Unknown

Although Amy was not given a birthday episode in season 12, I feel very confident in saying this was one of the missing instances. It’s their tradition, after all. In the timeline of the show, this would fall somewhere between the VCR Illumination and the Paintball Scattering, so while they’re still working on their super-asymmetry paper, before it was published.

11. Honeymoon Round Two

Date: May 14th - May 20th 2018 (estimated) Location: Hotel room in New York City

This is less of a sure thing than Amy’s birthday, but I still think it is likely that they did it another time while away on their honeymoon. Actually, I originally was counting their arrival in New York as a confirmed coital encounter, as Sheldon says they can either make love or steam their wizard robes once the bellman leaves them alone in their room. I ended up removing it as the dialogue is just ambiguous enough that I can’t say for sure, plus when they get back from the Harry Potter play they are wearing the same clothes and the bed looks untouched. I could see Sheldon wanting to remake the bed after sex, but putting back on the same clothes that they assumedly also were traveling in earlier? In any case, if not on their arrival, I think they could have found at least one more time to do it before leaving, especially considering Sheldon originally scheduled multiple rounds for them. It’s unclear exactly how long their honeymoon was, but I assume it would be for at least a week, hence the date range.

12. Randomly Scheduled Session

Date: Unknown but between May 21st, 2018 and early-middle October 2019 Location: Unknown

I know this isn’t terribly exciting, but the final time was likely due to the pseudo-random schedule Sheldon said he was going to create. Assuming he created one at all, it would almost have to be, as there’s only one other instance that could qualify as part of the schedule (the “three weeks ago” one discussed earlier). Clearly the dates are pretty spread out, so whatever algorithm he created must be set to generate dates at a fairly low frequency. But you could also disregard my additional honeymoon suggestion and say the remaining 2 were from the schedule.

Other opportunities that I think are less likely but still possible:

The Nobel announcement - This could have worked except remember that the announcement came in the very early hours of the morning and then they still went to work. Would they have had time to make love and still get some sleep in? Uncertain.

Wedding anniversary - Because the last two episodes had to skip ahead in time, Sheldon and Amy’s first wedding anniversary is not mentioned, but this does seem like a likely time for them to do it.

Valentine’s Day - They never had coitus on Valentine’s Day before but there’s no reason they couldn’t start.

Amy’s return from Princeton - Seems like a great way to welcome Amy home and get reacquainted, but I do get the impression that Sheldon was still more or less sticking to the birthday tradition at this point with only the one exception before she left.

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So, now that we’ve covered all that, where do we go from here?

The Future of Shamy Coitus

Sheldon and Amy started out having sex only once a year, but the number has been increasing. Here’s the information above placed into a handy graph:

I made some executive decisions for the dates we are unsure on. For the Avengers trailer instance, I split the 2 rounds between the 2 possible dates, and for the unknown 12th time, I placed it in 2019.

Now, this is just for the 12 times Sheldon mentioned as of October 2019. The year wasn’t over, and I personally believe they manage a few more times before it ends. In particular:

Make up coitus when Sheldon returns to the apartment after the Change Constant

Celebratory coitus after the Nobel Prize ceremony

Amy’s 40th birthday

So here’s a new graph:

Again, this is just speculative.

I would like to think it continues to increase for a few years, but perhaps that’s wishful thinking on my end. At the very least, I think it’s safe to say they continue the tradition of birthday coitus for Amy, and so it never drops down to zero.

Keep in mind, we know from Young Sheldon that Sheldon and Amy have children. How this affects their sex life is hard to say. Would the count jump way up when they’re trying to conceive? Would it drop down significantly while the children are young? Would Sheldon continue using his randomly scheduled coitus algorithm once they have a family? Would they need it?

No one knows, but perhaps as new episodes of Young Sheldon continue to air, we can get a better idea. It remains to be seen. But here’s to hoping!

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#amy farrah fowler #Sheldon Cooper #shamy #tbbt #the big bang theory #if I made a mistake somewhere please god tell me #i've been working on this for so long my brain is fried #I couldn't find a list so I had to be the change I wished to see in the world #thinking about reformatting this for ao3 so it can be used as reference material #oh and happy valentine's day #long post #my posts

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monards · 6 months

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things in symbiosis that make me soooo sick

/ the fact the burn mark over their wedding photo implies magnolia likely had it and was actively holding it during the laboratory fire. Which was after their divorce, and very much implies she either still missed Dove, or was trying to forget her so she could move on

/ the facT MAGNOLIA AND DOVE SSTILL LOVE EACHOTHER JUST CANT BE TOGETHER DUE TO CONFLICTING GOALS AND ETHICS OHHMYYGOD.

/ "I've chased you long enough." "Hmm.. wouldn't that be nice."

/ The fact they litearlly never stopped loving each other ohmyGOD

/ The fact Dove and Mint are the only two people who have cared for/loved Magnolia inn the genuine sense,,,

/ Mint.

/ tHE FACT DOVE AND MAGNOLIA ARE NEVER GETTING A HAPPY ENDING OH MY GOD.

/ The implications of Dove spending years trying to bring justice and 'right end' (because i have no fucking clue whats going in her head) to Magnolia

/ The fact Magnolia didn't hesitate to kill anyone but dove :(

/ The fact Dove didn't shoot Magnolia.

/ Magnolia implied to having been isolated and alone for almost 10 years

and more, that I can't type out because I am so tired, and if I try writing down all my thoughts at once I WILL go insane.

#guys please I needd to start brain dumping my theories and all my analyses here SO bad #this isn't including the months long brainrot i've had #i just #needed to get some stuff out.#magnolia symbiosis #dove symbiosis #mint symbiosis #symbiosis #symbiosis game #symbiosis spicaze

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louwhose · 9 hours

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I'm leaving it to you, the people that definitely follow me for the fics I actually share on here once in a blue moon, to decide.

(all of them are loz)

feel free to ask me about any of them if you'd like the help to determine your vote

#there are actually far more written down #I just went with ones that have at least one chapter fully written #well. in theory. at least one of those likely needs serious revision #and the second chapter on another might need to be scrapped (not looking forward to that)#but ANYWAY #lou writes #okay nvm not ALL of them have one chapter added one that isn't written at all because like. it's just fun. also I've had that idea so long

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whoopssteddiefeels · 9 months

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I now have about 10k words written of a Steddie AU in which Lord Harrington purchases the long term contract of a high society consort to try and get his son to settle down. All that sleeping around, hanging out with the servants (cue Robin the groomsman, Dustin and company underfoot), and getting into fistfights with his cousin Billy has to stop. A good distraction should do the trick.

Eddie is still mostly just relieved the Lord hadn't purchased his contract for himself.

idk though, I wanted to get it all down before I try posting anything in case I never finish it or something. For the first time I have an actual plot in mind, not just a vague idea.

#me talking #The big questions is do I combine it with my Eddie is a Changeling idea?#I don't think I've ever committed to writing something this long #I have most of the plot in THEORY but I've never had to make characters go from A to B in a believable fashion before #also I've just been living in the fanfiction so I worry they're both too ooc

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sisterdivinium · 10 months

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It might appear somewhat essentialist at first if used to examine real, breathing human beings, but Carol Gilligan's "Images of relationship" can provide an interesting framework with which to understand certain facets of Warrior Nun. More so when coupled with David Hayter's comment on how the show's "women are always right and the men are always kind of screwing things up," for her article, dealing in systems of moral understanding, might point us towards the reasons behind this openly admitted narrative "bias".

In a nutshell, Gilligan observes the different strategies by which boys and girls seem to resolve moral dilemmas, deviating from traditional interpretation. This is because, Rosemarie Tong reminds us, "Gilligan challenged the Freudian notion that men have a well-developed sense of justice — a sense of morality — whereas women do not". By looking beyond these hurried and prejudiced conclusions of (male) researchers before her, she "argued instead that men and women have different conceptions of morality, each equally coherent and developed and equally valid". She bases this idea, then, on those resolution strategies that were found to consist of, for boys, a tendency to see the moral dilemma as "sort of like a math problem with humans", while the girls were more inclined to view it as "a narrative of relationships that extends over time" — so if boys seemed "logical" through their impersonal abstraction of a situation, invoking concepts similar to those of law and justice, the girls were more likely to follow a different, "personal" logic, through "an awareness of the connections between people", identifying "a web of relationships that is sustained by a process of communication".

Where this all intersects with Warrior Nun is that the male and female characters seemingly display these same propensities of moral judgment.

If we start with the men, we will quickly see that they are all caught up in their own abstract systems, prone to grand ideas and concepts while detached from the world and the valuable human bonds that make it up, just as Vincent sees the quest for a hypothetical "better world" as more important than the life of a very real, concrete woman he claims to love. Mr. Hayter himself, in the same interview conceded during the OCS Conclave of June 3rd, mentions how father Vincent and cardinal William are irresistibly attracted to the notion of power: "here's this guy who can do godlike things, so why wouldn't I follow him, you know? ... We gotta have some power ... that we bow down to or whatever". This is how he transmits a glimpse into these characters' psyches and we could safely argue that this behaviour and thought pattern extends to the rest of the men in the show, including Duretti, Kristian, Adriel and even Michael Salvius.

Whether these men mask their fascination with power through other words or not, theirs is a cause which easily calls for violence and a willingness to kill or die for it.

Earthly power inspires Francesco Duretti to have the current halo bearer killed if need be as he attempts to consolidate his bid on the Holy See; Kristian Schaefer would sacrifice the world as readily as he does his old acquaintance Duretti in the name of this power that lay entombed for a thousand years but communicated through the voice of a sick little boy; cardinal William Foster is inebriated with the idea of being a new god's right-hand man, so he brutally slaughters his colleagues to buy himself a place at Adriel's table, even if that means getting no more than his master's crumbs; father Vincent is so eager to find someone or something powerful enough to take the burden of "his darkness" from atop his shoulders that he convinces himself of there being divinity in the parlour tricks of a manipulator, killing a symbolic daughter in this trickster's name; Adriel would bleed humanity dry without a second thought all the while claiming to save it in draining its belief for the benefit of his own megalomania; finally, Michael subjects himself to the will and authority of Reya, whom he claims to be "unimaginably powerful".

Of course the women of Warrior Nun are mostly all ready to lay down their lives for their own cause as well, or else we wouldn't have their iconic motto of "in this life or the next", but the motivation behind it is what sets the men and the women wholly apart here. If the former are intoxicated by the concept of power, the latter are embedded in a family of sorts, in a dense network of relationships that they can identify with some ease, and which informs their decisions and actions more than just dogma or theory.

Most if not all of the female characters struggle between two different stances: one is an offshoot of the males' abstract organisation of the world, while the other is a more "hands-on", "organic" order; between "duty", or what is said to be their duty, and that which their own perception reveals, their "personal" logic by which the "self [is] delineated through connection", seeing one another as actual sisters instead of mere pieces upon the church's chess board. We see the dilemma take place within Beatrice, Camila, Lilith and Mother Superion, who are all faced with a choice of sticking to their place in a well-defined (artificial, abstract) structure or valuing instead the human connections all around them and that stand in opposition to this man-made categorisation of life.

And, one by one, they take the side of that one character who seems to have kept her lucidity and fidelity to her own understanding through it all: Mary.

Mary never lost sight of her priorities. Her focus on friends and sisters illustrates Gilligan's point rather well when she is the only one who insists on understanding what happened to Shannon all the while the OCS is made to concentrate its energies on the halo instead. Of course it blinds her to Vincent's betrayal, but that is his fault more than it is hers; her moral compass points at the right direction for the most part.

And, each at their turn, the nuns adopt (rediscover?) this same mode of thought. Beatrice's efficient, obedient soldier façade crumbles beneath the urgency of siding with Mary rather than following the arbitrary decision of some man invested with the power of an institution; Camila outright admits wanting to be kicked out of the church just so she can stay near to the people who represent her allegiance more than liturgy itself ever could; Lilith literally travels to hell and back to rejoin her sisters, regardless of how her subsequent mutations upset her loyalty later on; Mother Superion sheds her prominence within hierarchy, risking it all, by standing with "her girls". Even Ava, an outsider with no ties to the church but who so desperately wanted to "live", trades a vague, abstract notion of what "life" and "freedom" entail for the very definite, tangible reality of the family this group of women becomes for her.

Another outsider equally stuck between "bodiless" logic and the reality of human connection around her, Jillian Salvius, too, falters before choosing her side when faced with these two points of view: that of "pure" reasoning and that informed by the consciousness of surrounding relationships. Her quest for "knowledge" is not sufficiently strong so as to potentially sacrifice someone in her inner circle. Season one has her holding young Michael back from stepping into the machine she herself had created for this purpose when concern overrides calculation; season two gives us a powerful scene where she is tempted by Kristian into joining Adriel's ranks as he claims she is already a part of it all and dangles before her the forbidden fruit of the world's hidden laws, the elusive answers the scientist in her has always searched for. He tries to hook her in by simultaneously appealing to her intellectual interests as well as her understanding of the web of relationships when he claims she is another link in the chain that leads to Adriel...

And Jillian refuses him.

Kristian would never convince her of already being within this specific network of relationships because he was the one to rupture it first.

To these women, unlike the men, it's not about ideas — or, rather, about rationalisations, given how their interpretation of what is logical or reasonable is more than open to inquiry. To these women, it's not about loud, large but empty words vulnerable to tampering and shifting meanings; it's not about power.

It's about people.

Rosemarie Tong says "Gilligan believed that women's moral development takes her from an egocentric, or selfish position to an overly altruistic, or self-sacrificing position and, finally, to a self-with-others position in which her interests count as much as anyone else's" — and this seems to describe perfectly well the inner trajectory that these characters follow. We see traces of the selfish in Ava, Jillian and Lilith, as well as of the self-sacrificial in Beatrice or Suzanne, but they all appear to converge on this path towards constructing a "self-with-others" whereby they are all individuals inextricably tied to one another — and aware of it, acting accordingly. A sisterhood, a direct sisterhood that supersedes the very church structure which facilitated it to begin with.

Of course Warrior Nun is too intricately built to allow itself to be so smoothly explained; if Carol Gilligan provides a framework that helps us to identify what is so positive and deserving of attention in the female characters' attitudes as championed by one of the show's own writers, it also falls short on other points and her propositions can then be questioned by the show in turn.

We need but a few examples.

If Jillian Salvius values the significance of association with others more than she does a cold, distant overview of things (the latter being the stereotypical scientist attitude), then how is it that she seems so prepared to immolate Lilith at the altar of curiosity? One relationship takes precedence over the other, yes, and we cannot compare the love for a son to whatever affection or respect there is for anyone else, but the nature of Jillian's experimentation with Lilith, had it gone forward, is quite brutal even for the sake of a debilitated child. Jillian's stance is understandable, but this "self-with-others" thing isn't as clear-cut as we might think.

Lilith herself oscillates between those three positions of moral development described by Gilligan, going from selfish to "connected" by the end of season one, but ending season two in almost complete isolation, with only a hint towards her previous place in a web of sisters as she aids Beatrice in getting Ava to the ark... Shortly after having dug her claws into the warrior nun's flesh.

But perhaps Lilith is a more special case than we realise at first. Our early childhood experiences define much of our character, after all, and the words we use have a bearing on how we view and reconstruct the world in our discourse; Lilith's understanding of the relationships between people, of "family", probably doesn't reflect that of her sisters given the ill-treatment she must have received from her relatives. If one's primary web of relationships is so tainted, what model can it ultimately provide for later connections? Just as Ava's mistrust for nuns is justified by her previous, negative experiences at their hands, Lilith's experience with intimate or familial bonds surely affects her maturing sense of being linked to other people. If family is a positive value for Ava and Mary, for example, it cannot boast of the same meaning for Lilith, whose family is a source of stress and misunderstanding rather than a harbour of love.

The treatment she has received might have corrupted her grounds for moral judgment by communal lenses in a way Beatrice's rejection by her own parents did not, leaving Lilith adrift as long as she does not somehow attempt to re-signify what human connection ultimately means. To Lilith, as of yet, the web of relationships she necessarily belongs to mirrors the initial disposition she was brought up in, as a hierarchical structure where every link is tainted by the stench of power and domination — the OCS is a family much like her own... Where orders are given and meant to be obeyed.

We cannot know for certain what it is that she sees or feels after Adriel "unlocks" her wraith-vision, but there is something peculiar in how, reflecting this idea of abstract versus material views of the world we've been discussing, Lilith claims to see reality when she casts her eyes upon the nebulous demonic figures only few others can see. In her opposing traits are mixed, delivering a strange synthesis we cannot quite make out yet and making Lilith a hybrid both in body and in thought.

And while this fact alone seems to interrogate David Hayter's comment about how the women in the show tend to be correct, we can further complicate the statement by glancing at Reya.

There is frightfully little we know of her, but a lot of the information we do have is conflicting: Reya is unimaginably powerful, yet needs to manipulate two young people to do her bidding for her in fighting Adriel; her predictions are "meant to be" yet do not manifest in the way they were said to; she is described as some sort of benefactor by taking Michael in, but she sticks a bomb into his chest and the very sight of her sends him reeling; she is, as far as we know, a woman, yet she might very well be at odds with the other women we see in the show. How, then, are the women always right?

Perhaps they are so when following their conscience as guided by their understanding of community and sisterhood, when belonging to a network of relationships and acknowledging it. That would exclude a murderous sister Frances, a confused Lilith and a mysterious, distant Reya from the definition.

In this sense, then, even if the characters are not static or simple, even if they waver between the moral positions suggested by Gilligan and which do not seem all that definite to begin with, her text is still enlightening as relates to why the women are, "word of God", the moral touchstone of Warrior Nun.

Having been robbed of further development of the story and universe for the time being, however, precisely because of an abstracting, impersonal corporate logic that sees only numbers where there should be people and the wonderful effect this show has had on them, there is only so much we can conjecture on this subject...

#warrior nun #analysis and similar #exercises in observation #i should tag all of the characters since they're all more or less discussed but i am too lazy for that sorry #i can't explain why i took so long to write this it's been in my essay list forever. then the david hayter revelations hit #and i knew i had to finally write it strengthened by his words #it's fair to tell you i have about a trillion reservations about psychoanalysis and psychology and whatever #but you also know by now i'm a pragmatist. if the theory helps me explain something i will use it.#then again i suppose i should have read gilligan's entire book lol but my eyes wouldn't have survived #i had read her text in january of last year i think because it's in a collection of feminist texts i own in print #so yeah. grain of salt etc #i'm not sure i've properly exposed what i wanted to say but i've had enough of this text and i'm releasing it into the world lol

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meirimerens · 11 months

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i'll write it down so hopefully i don't have to walk anyone else through that for the twelfth time since i've had this blog it's been a Long Time Comin especially since a previous version of this has been in da drafts since 2021 i'm also going to try to be as loving and like clear and concise (i am Not mad this is is not a Mad post i'm not sure how the tone will come across because. it's a poast innit but i'm just trying to be. at the very least informative)

i promise you that the homosexual blogger who has a homosexual headcanon about a character whose interactions with the opposite gender can be read as entirely platonic and even demeaning in ways Does Not need to be told on their own blog, in which they extensively share their art or writing or discussions about thinking of this character as homosexual, after they haven't asked, that you personally think that character likes the opposite gender (too) actually. they know. they do know. most people think most characters like the opposite gender. most people think most living people do.

you are within your god-given rights to make your own posts and your own writings and your own arts and talk about it when asked it's a free fucking website babeeyy and to associate and discuss between people who share the same headcanon as you do dearly and heartily but i Promise, I Promise you no homosexual with their homosexual headcanons for characters whose interactions with the opposite sex can be read as completely devoid of romance needs to be reminded, when they didn't ask, that you don't see it that way. they've seen it around. they've been around. we've seen it. we know.

#girl help this has happened when i was in tew when i was in mgs and when i was in patho it's been going on for so long i actually had this #in the drafts like not the whole thing but that second paragraph has been in my drafts since. 2021...?😭😭😭#wait i think this was about the Gay Solid Snake Theory comic originally........#i think. bc i posted it late 2020. the more things change....#i know it's very hard for people who are Not homosexual to like get in the head how bones-grindingly psychologically exhausting it is #to be reminded of other-gender attraction when you're just vibing and not asking (esp. in spaces that people boast are so accepting of you)#but for pride month. could you spare us a thought. a crumb of it #neigh (blabbers)#it's my blog. on it i've chronicled me spending over 9 months writing over 90k words about burakh realizing he's a homosexual #and living through self-actualization self-realization and love from that.#i think my position is quite clear [becomes transparent]

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shitty-check-please-aus · 1 year

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see this is why I can’t do tiktok, I need to be able to freely say that my immune system is going to murder my thyroid eventually, I can’t switch to “unalive” or clinical terminology

#if you say that for funsies then live your life and have fun #I can't deal with the mandatory aspect #I'm an adult I want to be able to swear and talk about life and death without writing d3@th #also shoutout to doctors who actually tell you how your disease is going to end up long-term #interestingly I'm now reading an article on how there's a new theory #that some people have hashimoto's symptoms even when treating the hypothyroidism #because it's not just a hypothyroidism reaction but also a reaction to the autoimmune inflammation #so some people are positing that the cure is to just take it out #which is interesting #I know one of my nodules is already pretty beat to shit and I don't think I've had this for that long

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movie-robotnik-positivity · 2 years

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Ever since watching the second movie, a question has been burning in the back of my mind: why doesn't Tails wield chaos energy but Sonic, Knuckles and Shadow do, even though Tails has the same color-coded trail as Sonic and Knuckles? Well, my theory is that he does have the capability to wield chaos energy, he just hasn't been able to yet, and so I decided to look back on everything we know so far.

The first time we see Sonic's chaos energy building up, it was because of his pent-up anger over ten years of loneliness after losing Longclaw, and judging by Sonic's reaction after he released it in a form of an electromagnetic pulse, this is possibly also the first time it's happened in his entire life. The next two times we see Sonic's chaos energy begin fluctuating again was him being upset at Tom's decision to leave Green Hills and then later hearing Tom declare him his friend. This shows that during moments of extreme emotion, that's when Sonic generates vast amounts of chaos energy, which is shown again during his first and third fights with Knuckles and him running across the Pacific Ocean, though it seems like he's practiced controlling it before he tried stopping the bank robbers in Seattle.

The rest of Knuckles' tribe fought with weapons and armor while Knuckles currently eschews any tools other than his chaos energy, but why he's so different from his tribe remains unexplained. It doesn't seem like Knuckles inexplicably possessed it before his father and the rest of the tribe left to go fight Longclaw, but much like Sonic, he must of gained it after loss of his people truly sank in. The earliest we chronologically see him utilize his own chaos energy is actually in The Official Movie Pre-Quill in presumedly the latest of many gladiator fights against his will, and Knuckles has obviously had more practice controlling it than Sonic.

We still don't really know about this version of Shadow, but what he has in common with Sonic and Knuckles is the loss of a loved one in the past, and with him being the Ultimate Lifeform combined with his current mental state after being in a fifty year coma immediately following the loss of Maria, of course his chaos energy is going to be even more powerful.

As far as we know, Tails never had any family before; if he did, he probably would've mentioned it to Sonic while explaining how he was bullied in the past. Combined with him being the youngest and having the least self-confidence and experience of all of them, he never had anything to lose unlike the previous three; isolation is all he's ever known growing up until he discovered Sonic and compared his tails to Sonic's powers. Even without that color-coded trail, the energy blasts from his insanely powerful inventions are also color-coded to his liking, which can even be similar to Sonic's quill serving as a power source for Robotnik's Eggpod.

TL;DR - That scene in SA2 where Eggman seemingly kills Sonic and Tails beats the shit out of him? Think of that as Tails' baseball field scene. But hey, that's just a theory. A Film Theory!

That's a great theory! And it got me thinking...what do we know about Sonic and Knuckles' powers? First, It's heavily implied (if not downright confirmed) that they're connected to chaos energy in some way. They're also not something just about any anthro alien can access, Longclaw says Sonic's power is unlike anything she's ever seen, and (like you said) echidnas wouldn't rely on weapons if they shared Knuckles' abilities.

But are we really supposed to believe that Knuckles and Tails just so happened to be born with these unique powers that no one else in the universe has? That's awfully convenient and goes against the idea that Sonic's abilities are special. And that's not even counting Shadow, who couldn't have been made with the emeralds and yet seems to have the exact same powers.

Unless, Chaos Energy in the movie-verse is like the Force in Star Wars, some metaphysical energy that surrounds the universe and is connected to all living beings. Maybe, like with the Force, every creature has chaos energy, but only a select few are born with the ability to harness it. Maybe the Chaos Emeralds themselves are a concentrated form of this universal energy.

And like we know, chaos is power enriched by the heart. That's why Sonic's powers first awaken in moments of high emotion, it's why the emeralds resonate with Sonic's love for his family. To add to your theory, maybe while these people with high levels of chaos energy posess superior abilities from the get-go (speed, strength, and maybe others), the full extent of those powers of those powers have to be unlocked through extreme emotions.

So yeah! If this were the case, I can see Tails also being born with a high chaos energy level (far below Sonic and Knuckles') that manifests through the speed of his tails. He just hasn't unlocked his true potential yet, unlike the other two.

#sorry this took so long to answer it's a doozy #I've had this theory for a while #I think it explains a few things and solves some potential issues #what do you think?#as for Shadow...I have no idea how to justify it. I don't even know how he could have been made in this universe #with no chaos emeralds and all #but I trust that they'll come up with something #sonic movie #sonic 2 #sonic 3 #tails #miles tails prower #sonic movie analysis

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einaudis · 18 days

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#making a playlist on spotify and it's just all the soundtracks I love (it's going to be long and I can't even remember all of them yet and..#I'll be adding albums and albums and okay...) and I just added the one from lion (2016) and now I'm listening to it #and I've had that album as one of my favorite soundtracks for years (top 5 even) and I KNOW I love it #but listening to it again... in full... is just... UGH I love that one SO MUCH #and the next one is the theory of everything's! AHHHHHHHHH!#random #personal #my shitty English #soundtracks give me life

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kryptid-kitten · 25 days

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Ah fuck it I'm gonna be funny, unfortunately the Marvel brain has kicked in

I have had a Theory since, very soon after ATSV came out, about how to defeat the Spot. I would simply like to get it down and, y'know, maybe have some feedback from others :3

To start, we need to look at 3 specific worlds: Strange's What If (s1 e4), the second Miguel's (the one who died), and Pav's.

Each one has had what are separate events that can coalesce, a "canon event" and an "incursion". A canon event is a specific moment that is embedded into someone's story, whether a loved one's death, someone getting powers, or losing them, what have you, usually there's a few worlds that share that fate in some capacity. I, however, am going to be focusing on the "loved one's death" canon event, as that triggers a major catastrophe known as an incursion.

An incursion is a mass of void that consumes and destroys a whole universe after something goes wrong with the timeline. But why? Why would someone dying cause this?

It's, actually not someone dying that's the issue. It's someone being saved that is. Hence why I mentioned the three worlds at the beginning: Strange saves Christine; Miguel replaces himself; Miles saves inspector Singh. None of these were supposed to happen, in the moment, a canon event was disrupted, and an incursion occurred due to the presence of life where there shouldn't be. And because of this, two of three worlds were destroyed, with only a couple survivors who've lived to tell the tale (how many universes have been lost this way, that we don't know of..?)

Two of three. As far as we know, Pav's world still exists, somewhat. All we saw in the film was them containing the incursion, we didn't see the outcome - sometimes they're lucky, sometimes they're not. They have the technology to be able to stop this, and have been doing it for a while, it seems.

So how does that work? On god, I don't know. But I can make a guess.

From observation (and, from memory, what Spot said in his apartment), I'm inclined to believe the material, that void that consumes the dimension, is dark matter. The particle collider sort of makes it - when Miles in the first movie had his head shoved into it, he saw the whole spiderverse, which is also what we saw during the second film when he travels to Mumbhattan through Gwen's portal. Perhaps some optimised collider technology is what powers the watches, to allow for multiverse travel?

Which is also what Spot has done, except in biological form - taken dark matter and used it to his advantage where he originally thought it to be a curse. And that's what he's made of, the same stuff that inherently destroys worlds when one person lives if they're supposed to be dead.

When I googled, ages ago, how to defeat Spot, all the articles claimed that he had one weakness: number of spots. As soon as he ran out, bam, done and dusted. But, this Spot has an infinite number of spots, portals across the entire plain of existence. How do you defeat that?

And the actual theory: The technology used to contain an incursion, can also be used to contain the Spot and stop him from Plague Inc-ing the web of universes. It'd be incredibly tricky, as it isn't meant to be used to contain something living, and Spot could absolutely break the equipment if needs be, but it could work.

Obviously, I don't know if this will change Jeff's fate. They've already established that entire canons can be switched if an anomaly does something dumb (which is Spot, to clarify, as he brought the spider from 42 into 1610-B in the first place), or does just about the right thing (Gwen accidentally making her dad quit, thereby removing his canon event as "captain who perishes"). Depends on how much Spot fucks things up, I guess.

As an objective observer with no skin in the game, Miguel just needs to step up his game and realise who the true villain is - if he weren't so hellbent on chasing Miles, then perhaps he could control the root cause of his problems. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long to find out...

#i am ok with waiting like 5 years tho #so long as the workers aren't crunched </3 #marvel #atsv #itsv #what if #we love various theories and brain moments #i've had this for nearly a year but i haven't seen any popular posts mentioning #ANYTHING close to what i've thought #people were probably too focused on miguel's ass and villainising him jfkdhf #(he is simply an antagonist trying to do what's right to him. blindsiding himself tho)

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