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nerd4music · 25 days

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I think overall there’s one of two „big“ problems happening for people who have a problem with TOWL (racists and the likes aside… 🙄).

1- The misunderstanding that this was truly much more a Rick and Michonne story than a TWD one. This was not TWD S12. It was about telling the story of these 2 characters and being able to put a dot at the end (or a dot dot dot). And you’ve laid all of that out perfectly. Like yes, in TWD, Beale (& the CRM) would have been draaaaagged out. But this was much more of a Terminus approach than a Saviors one if we will…

2- TWD was never the most ..subtle show. They tended to hit the audience over the head with stuff. And I’m not sure I would go as far as calling TOWL subtle outright either (idk, didn’t think about this until right this moment lol -obviously elements of it are, sure -just as elements on TWD could be on the subtler side) but compared to TWD, it certainly is lol. And there has been a very big „media literacy“ and „basic comprehension skills“ problem happening for a minute now. And I really don’t say this to be mean or make fun of people or anything but these are just facts. Some people really struggle with getting the information when they are not being hit over the head with it, over and over and over again. After the finale I saw several posts on my tl of people wondering why this, that or the other was not addressed or how/why this, that or the other did happen… and I was utterly confused because those things they claimed were missing were very much shown? I was like, there was literally a scene dealing with all of this? And it didn’t require any reading between the lines to be honest, no subtext, it was very much the text of the scene?! So it seems like some people just didn’t get a lot of things that were happening 🫤

(BTW I don’t mean that even if someone didn’t have these specific problems with the show, they MUST love it then. Likes and dislikes etc etc. As much as I really loved the show as a whole, if I decided to put down the Richonne-colored glasses I wanted to and did watch to the show with.. I’d definitely have a few complaints lol, though still very much enjoyed the show even then)

That's definitely what happened. And to some extent, I get why, considering Rick and Michonne are 2/3 of the main show's Big Three. But when the press and promos started, and people were still talking about some Marvel-style meet-up, I was like...oh they're definitely not listening to what's being said, because it's six damn episodes, and also The Richonne story, not the Team Family jamboree. And then acting as if it's somehow 'insulting' to the rest of the characters if Rick and Michonne didn't talk about them. The man had PTSD so bad, he couldn't remember his own son's face. Why would you think it would be good time for him to pause in the middle of his wife telling him about a traumatic moment during her pregnancy to ask about anyone else? Please be fr.

I feel you on the comprehension thing, which is nothing new for this fandom. The fact that so many people legit thought Rick didn't know how to drive stick and questioned the 'realism' of it but never stopped to think that it was because he only has one damn hand. Y'all were fine with every silly ass moment that happened in the main show, that was either sheer dumb luck or handwaved away, but now we need a complete breakdown from experts on how Rick managed to fight off walkers one-handed. Now y'all want the realism, when you've been so giddy for weeks because you need one of them to die for the show to be 'interesting'.

I'm really not listening to people who need the narrative to hold their hand through everything, or need to see every piece of the plot onscreen for it to be considered 'legitimate'. (I'm officially banning the phrase 'plot armor' for the foreseeable future).

People didn't get things, because they don't take a minute to sit with the damn material anymore. From live reactions videos to live tweeting/blogging, people are just watching TV to make content and have an online moment, not for what's actually being shown. And yeah, TOWL isn't perfect, but the minor criticisms I have for it doesn't take away from the fact that it is very enjoyable and easily the best material from the TWD landscape in a long time.

(sidenote: I will say one of my favorite things from these past six weeks is everyone struggling to figure out the overall TWD timeline, lmao.)

#.answered #towl spoilers #twd: the ones who live #richonne #I am once again rambling #but I appreciate the message!

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mmriesoftvat · 4 months

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a note about my chongyun portrayal, that hasn't changed from his old blog:

my chongyun is an adult. blog canon, he is 20 years old. the REASONS i made him older are because if you count the events in game as canon (which i do because they're lore heavy), then the characters are having birthdays and growing older. if at base, chongyun started at 16/17, then he'd be solidly an adult at this point. plus, canon ages are never stated, and i don't like it's treated as canonical fact that he's minor coded, when to me he seems more autistic over anything.

I'm also going by his career. i know it's common where the children (klee, diona, for ex) run around on their own without adult supervision. but chongyun also has an established career and fame to him that requires him to be away from home for days at a time. he rarely talks about his parents. while by itself that isn't really proof enough, for me personally, it tells me that chongyun is old enough to be entrusted with this kind of dangerous job. hes actively walking into danger and having to make decisions to get himself out in one piece.

i also chose to disregard some of his more naive personality shown in the game. the game doesn't give him all that much to begin with, and even if you don't count the passage of multiple years, time still passes, chongyun would have his matras memorized more, and he'd be less naive to the pranks xingqiu pulls on him. i would rather write chongyun as more street smart and intelligent overall, which is why i gave him the personality he does.

as a result, an adult chongyun would pick up on more suggestive humor, play into it himself, and see people for who they are. he's not blind to the harsher side of the world, he's snarky and passive aggressive, and knows what's what.

i really do not like chongyun, at least my portrayal of him, being treated like a child. i am not asking for ships (yes i am), but i am asking for base respect in that chongyun isn't treated like his game counterpart and given the "little brother" treatment, at least not without discussing it with me first.

i put so much thought and care into a massively underrated 4* and i get unreasonably irritated when all my work is dismissed and disregarded. when i say i love chongyun and have studied him, I mean exactly that.

if you're willing to interact with my chongyun, and YOU SHOULD!!, then please do not jump to kiddy mode. he is not a child, i did not pick his age lightly. it came from years of writing him and finding exactly what works for me and what in-game needed to be fixed.

tl;dr: my portrayal of chongyun is 20 years old. if you treat him like a minor i am side eyeing you.

also ps: chongyun is nonbinary. he/they pronouns please. yes, both.

#ᴮᴿᴮ ᴱˣᴾᴸᴼᴿᴵᴺᴳ ᴼᵀᴴᴱᴿ ᵂᴼᴿᴸᴰˢ / ooc #mobile post #I have rebuilt him from the ground up #he is mine

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vro0m · 9 months

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merc are desperately looking for that lightning in a bottle they have w Lewis. they've banked a lot on RUS but (in my personal opinion) Russell cannot fully extract the raw speed HAM does out of the car (he has been consistently slower on race pace for about half/a tenth in both seasons) and that is starting to eat him up inside when on track. He has a lot of potential and needs to focus more on his strengths rather than beating his teammate outright cause it is not happening. I have a lot of faith in the kid and I don't wanna see him trip himself up this early in his career

End of the ask posted afterwards : "btw off track I believe George has a ton of respect for Lewis, it's nothing personal"

Okay it became a long answer in the end so I'm putting it under a cut but TL;DR 50% agreed and 50% disagreed.

I think you're being a bit unfair to him.

For starters, I don't believe Mercedes is expecting him to be as good as Lewis, because I think they are fully aware that there is no such thing as another driver like Lewis. Doesn't mean they don't have expectations for George, but I don't believe for one second they hired him thinking he would outperform Lewis, and in any case not that quickly. First of all because, again, they know Lewis is a once in a generation driver ; second of all because Lewis is Merc's n°1 driver whether they admit it or not.

George is doing well. George won a GP in Merc's worst ever car. Yes there were circumstances around that, but there always are. Victories never happen in a vacuum. He's been pretty consistent. He's doing okay given the current car and compared to the rest of the grid.

Because yeah, the current car is still not good and that's a big factor. Lewis has 12 years of experience on him to make it work anyway. What is raw speed? You cannot realistically separate natural talent (whatever that is,I won't deny some drivers seem to have a magic touch but historically it's not necessarily a permanent quality and it generally doesn't significantly beat the state of the car) and experience, that allows to understand the car, know how to drive the circuits, know what works for you in terms of set-up, etc. The only way you could genuinely compare them is if they'd started at the same time in the same car. As this is not possible, you can't put aside the fact that Lewis is a veteran and George is still, actually, a newbie.

I do agree more with the second part of your ask. As I said in a different ask I do believe George to be slightly over-eager although it makes complete sense that he is. It's natural. He's a racing driver. He has an opportunity. He's gonna do what it takes. I think what's happening is

The car is legitimately difficult to drive and more than just that it's unstable, as in : they seem to still not be quite able to predict how it's gonna behave from one track to the next. It's frustrating, and experience does play a big part in that part of the equation.

I do personally believe there's some extent of him just going through what all teammates of Lewis go through aka realising that no, you're not that different from your predecessors that you're gonna be The One Who Does It And Beat Him. (And we're back to fan favorite blog subject : Lewis breaking his teammates.)

Concerning the second point, it might be a particularly difficult wake up call this year because he did finish ahead last year, firstly because, again, he is good ; secondly, because of non negligible circumstances re: car development and all that that we all know about.

I'm gonna give him grace about the mistakes he's currently making, not that he's making many of them in the first place, because he is learning. Lewis himself made so many mistakes on his way to were he is. On and off track. That's just part of the process, they all go through it.

As you somewhat point out, I do think he needs to be careful on the mental side of things to not, just as you are doing in this ask, compare himself to the incomparable and psych himself out like others before him did.

My advice to him, not than anyone asked and that I have any authority to give any, would be that Lewis won't be here forever, and in the meantime he should focus on learning rather than outright trying to beat him. In the end, you can't achieve the second without the first anyway.

#f1 #lewis hamilton #george russell #2023 #vro0m's asks

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thewoodbine · 2 years

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Hi, I came across your blog and thought you might be the right person to at least start with. I’ll cut right to it: I think I’m getting a sign from the universe, but I’m not sure what that sign is about or what it means. I know this is probably for me to figure out, so my real question is: how can I be sure it’s a Sign™? I’ve had a few things happen over the last two days that make it feel like it might be and I can tell you what they are if you’d like, but I’m still not 100% that this is like someone banging me over the head with a glowing red sign kinda deal, yknow? Any kind of help would be appreciated, thank you so much 💚💚💚

Hey! Welcome! 🧹

The question of " Is this a sign?" is one that pretty much follows witches from new to old, but there are some tips for getting better at sign discernment.

My Go To Questions I Ask Myself To Know If It's A Sign:

Did I ask for a specific sign? If the answer is yes, and it fits that specific request then I can stop here.

Is it common to the region or time? Is it normal? If you're seeing hawks in the Southern US or deer in a forest or flowers in the spring wellll- yeah. That's fairly normal. But if a hawk lands in front of you and stares you straight in the face before flying away, well that's quite peculiar!

Is it consistent? One hawk in your path is a neat encounter. It happening three days in a row is a phenomenon. This is where journals come in VERY handy to see more subtle patterns and trends.

Does it FEEL significant? Usually signs hit you like an Oh Shit ton of bricks. If you're really having to extract and connect the dots manually it's probably not a sign

Does it reference something that was laid in place a while ago? Most of the time, in my experience, signs will often directly have ties to something that happened a while ago but at the time I thought nothing of. Either an offhand statement or odd happening that suddenly just CLICKS.

Finally- do I know the meaning WITHOUT googling it. Now this is not to say that you SHOULDNT research signs or familiarize yourself with them but frankly a spirit or entity would not send you a sign you couldn't understand. Imagine texting your friend a bunch of garble with no context and expecting a desired result from them. It's impractical. When a white cat appeared on the other side of my ritual smoke in the middle of the woods I didn't *know* it was Freyja but I absolutely immediately understood it was a nod from a higher spirit saying they were there and giving me the nod of approval. I did research who had affiliations with white cats and compared it with other experiences I was having at the time when everything fell into place and I went "That's it! That's her!".

Tl;Dr: It's always a good idea to be critical of signs but ultimately when you know. You'll know. Trust that. If you're anguishing to make pieces fit, there might be no picture there to see.

#witchcraft #witch #pagan #wicca #witchblr #baby witch #Witch ask

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fen-dwxller · 11 months

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[Ask My Muse]

Does Fenris have any knowledge or opinion of Grey Wardens? If so, what are they? Does Tevinter have its own Command of Grey Wardens the same way other nations and regions do?

send me questions you have about my character! // @daughterofhighever-blog

( warning, long post )

i think fenris has a very surface level understanding of the grey wardens. he knows they exist to fend off the blight, have certain oaths like templars do, but other than that, i don't think he has too much of an opinion of them.

from what i understand, the first grey wardens originated in tevinter to fight off the first blight, but whether or not they still exist within the imperium is completely up for debate (and will most likely be explored in da:d) i'm certain that there are books that exist in the imperium which talk about how the grey wardens began since it is a big part of their history

but since fenris doesn't read, i don't think he really understands anything more than grey wardens being necessary to stop a blight. after all, he was alive during the fifth blight-- undoubtedly he would have heard the stories. i would say that he would even categorize the mages that are grey wardens as something akin to the circle, given his very limited knowledge on grey wardens. he'd be suspicious of them, yes, but once hearing that they're all doomed to die due to the taint in their blood? i think he'd just say that it's for the best, and it's a good thing that they don't overstay their welcome.

put him in da:i, i think he would want the grey wardens to be preserved, but only if they had a leader to help them rebuild (alistair or loghain, since they're heroes of the fifth blight). but of course, this is at the expense of killing hawke. if the inky chooses to save hawke in the fade, then i don't think he trusts the inquisition enough to rebuild the wardens, especially if inky chooses to side with mages. i think he'd vote to exile them in that case.

fenris would be on the same level as bull-- that it wouldn't be smart to get rid of the only people that know how to get rid of the blight, but also i think he'd believe that it's useless to keep them around if they don't have a significant leader to prevent them from being corrupted again

this is all banking on fenris not knowing that grey wardens originated from tevinter. if he did know, he'd want to exile them no questions asked, regardless of who is alive.

tl;dr - no opinion. understands their purpose, but no actual opinion. considers the mages within something akin to the circle. in da:i, he'd want to recruit if hawke is dead. if hawke is alive, he'd choose to exile them. this depends on his prior knowledge of grey wardens.

#headcanon // * fen dwxller .#answered // * fen dwxller .#ooc // * fen dwxller .#// oh my got im so sorry this was so long #// i got SO carried away #daughterofhighever blog

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egophillie · 27 days

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detransition, baby - reflections chapter 1

ok so hi, long time no see, apparently i am trans and back on tumblr. The girl I am seeing gave me the book "Detransition, Baby" by Torrey Peters and hell, this book is intense and really stirs all my feelings. Idk, I thought writing them out would help me and what better way then to do it on tumblr.

Ch. 1: Detransitioners. For ages there is this yt video popping up again and again in my recommendations (what they dont tell you about detransitioners bla) and I've been meaning to watch it yet I did not, like described in the book. Oh, yeah I finished the first chapter so here are some thoughts.

One thought I was having or am having is, that as a nonbinary trans whatever blob I am free and fluid to do whatever I want. Want to detransition? Ok ezpz its just my gender presentation even as a masc coded non binary person I'd still be fucking valid and accepted and part of the queers. At least to the same amount i would have been before as an amab trans/nb person. Which definitely is different and also less. Like as a gay man (even tho i am not gay (in a cis straight men gay sense) but whatevs) - acceptance, as a nb genderqueer whatevs - acceptance, but ofcourse the afab nb/trans queers seem to be accepted differently (also as described in the book but also from my personal experience). So tl;dr : as a genderfluid nb, detransitioning does not exist, because it does not make sense. Which is amazing.

But am I really genderfluid nonbinary? Or am I transfem? Ugh just trying to find a fitting category between fem, girl, women is overwhelming and exhaust. And yes I just took a 10minute break from this post and mindlessly scrolled through my blog. Ok. I like being a girl, instead of "just" a nonbinary genderfluid person. But I also feel that "the" girls are really mean and serious and though on each other. Like I am missing the lightheartedness of trying out gender, instead I am focussing on wether or not I'll ever be cis enough. Like wtf. I also guess it is a safety thing, maybe it is just "girlcode" aka cis womens way of acting and behaving to each other just with the added weight of being trans? idk, what if i am not ready for that commitment? what if i want to continue hormones but live a stealth detransitioned cis guy life?

The chapter named "it" (the transition) being too hard, too difficult, too dangerous, shortly too much for reasons why both the protagonist and a side character on which the book illustrated how the relationship towards detransitioned trans women works for trans women. And I also see that this is super justified and hard, and the bottomless pit of horror that is described in the book is definitely also present in me. Which is why I want to adress it, which is why we are here now.

So basically I for myself want this "feminist", nonbinary genderqueer ideas that I had on transitions (and therefore detransitions) also applied when it comes to binary trans women. Because prioritizing (physical) safety over gender expression is super valid and also really important, mature and aspirational. I wished I would be able to always prioritize my safety. Because as a women & as a nonbinary I am a feminist, and therefore I need to unpack the uncanny fear of detransitioning, for myself and for other trans girls.

One layer that definitely comes to my mind quickly when it comes to detransitioning is the fear of not being valid, of not being trans "enough". And how can I, just a few months into hormones and what, 1-2 years into transition, be valid & trans enough when people who transitioned way longer decide to detransition? Hormones definitely helped me with my dysphoria, now I start to realize that one thing they alleviated was that kind of insecurity and intrusiveness of validity. And while they definitely help with my dysphoria (amongst other things hihi), this certainty I had because "now that I took hormones I MUST be valid" is gone or at least got a good shake. I also think that this is a transmedicalist view and should be condemned and I also think I sound like the most baby trans ever.

Idk, I am still valid when I scrolled through my blog in an escapist moment while writing this thing I retrospectively found all the trans signs. So yeah still not the best thing to draw validity from, but I guess its better (at least for now) than being all shaken up, caught up in transmedicalist beliefs about the safety of hormones.

Ok I think I wrote down everything I had to say, made my little puns and feel different now? look at that growth, girl!

val, 03.04.2024

#me #mine #trans #transition #Detransition baby #transfem #nonbinary #nb #v #val #reflection #own

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rebelyelll · 1 year

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Whiplash Riot - Author's Notes

Hello and welcome to the official tumblr blog for my jjba fanpart, Whiplash Riot!

If you're here, then I can assume you are already familiar with the story and the characters. If not, and you find yourself intrigued by this blog, then feel free to click here and check out the story!

Notes:

Conceptualization of the Main Protagonist

💔 Léon's concept was actually something vastly different in the beginning. I wrote him to exist in the original universe as Polnareff's son, but realized that it wasn't fitting. He was going to appear in a sequel to another part I am/was writing, but to be frank, I couldn't wait that long lol. Every time I'd try to focus on the outline I had for him and Polnareff, it just felt like I was flip-flopping back and forth between the two. Oddly enough like they were two separate stories. Which, yeah. Léon's was a sequel, but it just...didn't feel right?? I guess?

Long story short, tl;dr, I came to the realization that the reason Léon wasn't working as Polnareff's offspring was because he works so much better in a completely different universe as Pol's son, with his own story and his own problems. It felt liberating to let go of the constraints and let him take the reins with the plot and the world. And you know what's fucking funny about this whole thing? Léon is that type of character that will rebel when it comes to people trying to make him fit a particular mold. Okay, Léon. I get it. Calm down.

💔 Funnily enough (and boy this may come across as cringe) but in the original drafting phase, Léon Polnareff had siblings...7 of them. Before you ask me why that is, I want to explain that there was a reason for this. Story reasons, but also personal ones:

I am 1 of 6 children who was adopted as an infant and acquired 3 new siblings. Technically, I have 8 siblings both biological and adoptive. So yeah. Kinda of an insert thing going on there. Except in Léon's case, he got to interact with his siblings, which was such a treat because I've never met my biological brothers and sisters, while I have interacted with my adoptive siblings. They however are a LOT older than me. So, in this bizarre circumstance, I'm the true middle child. Older than my bio sibs, and the youngest of my adoptive sibs.

Wow this paragraph was long wtf.

For Whiplash Riot I decided not to bog the story down with all these OCs, and went with giving Léon AU Sherry as his only sibling. Which in my honest opinion was the best decision. It's something familiar, but also brings something new to the table.

💔 Léon's stand, Rebel Yell, originally had a completely different stand ability. Originally it was copy-catting other people, then it was absorbing information and learning new things at a rapid pace. Both of which didn't seem to be working. Then I came up with the idea to take inspiration from one of Billy Idol's songs, Eyes Without a Face. He could blend into his environment -- become his environment. Well, it was interesting, but it wasn't enough. So, I started writing. To my surprise, the story seemed to know itself better than I did, because Rebel Yell is now officially a "clay" type of stand. Didn't really see that coming, but I'm so glad I decided to keep it. As for the Eyes Without a Face ability, I gave it to another protagonist instead that will be meeting him and the gang later on.

💔 Whiplash Riot is a story telling itself. I'm writing it by the seat of my pants with light planning on the side, editing as I go. Which mayyyy not be the best method, but I find that it works for me.

In Addendum

When I first published the first chapter on AO3, the scene with Iommi Legrand and Steve Ennui giving commentary didn't exist. It was a news report, yes, but not fleshed out the way it is now with a silly anchorman. The idea to add Iommi into the story came about when I was reading about a news reporter, and it sparked this urge to make a sudden change. The report asking the old lady with the snake questions was originally unnamed and just referred to as "the reporter". Since then, I've settled naming her Trisha Cle (pronounced "clay").

Chapter I References

Jean-Claude Léon Polnareff Namesake: I named him Jean-Claude after JCVD and Léon after Lyon Galtier, the protagonist from the film Lionheart. And yes, that is a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie. There are quite a few references to JCVD in Whiplash Riot that I plan to make.

Léon's stand, Rebel Yell Namesake: Rebel Yell by Billy Idol (I'm a HUGE fan of his)

Moncestierre Namesake: Okay, the lore behind this ridiculous name is so stupid. So stupid.... I wanted something that sounded like a Frenchified version of "Manchester", that way I could make the connection to Melissa Manchester. Looking back on this now, why the fuck did I think 'moncestierre' was a good idea... lol. I kick myself a bit for this one sometimes. But it's okay, it's just a really dumb fictional name. 😭

Moncestierre's stand, Quarterflash Namesake: Quarterflash, an American rock group from the 80s

Skid Row -- I got the idea to reference the rock band, Skid Row, as a name for the outer expanded city of Paris that Léon's from. Plus, it's a little reminiscent of Saints Row (shut up). It's fitting with all the gang activity that goes on in that district, so... Rue de L'espoir Vide -- French for street of empty hope. Empty hope in the street's name is a reference to Yours is an Empty Hope by Nightwish. (Fucking love that band.)

The title of the story, Whiplash Riot, is a reference to two things: Billy Idol's album, Whiplash Smile, and the band Quiet Riot, which is also the name of the gang that Léon, Tenmei, and Avdol are in.

Seven Nation Army -- a song by the White Stripes.

Tenmei Kakyoin -- I remember how Araki intended for Kakyoin's first name to be Tenmei, but his editors mistook it for Noriaki. So, in this universe, I named him Tenmei. :)

Abbas Avdol -- I didn't want to recycle Mohammed Avdol as a name, since I was creative with the others. So, I looked up Egyptian names online and picked Abbas because it comes close to being an ABBA reference... which is also another band I am fond of hahaha.

Léon's crush, Roxette -- named after the rock group from the 80s.

Iommi Legrand -- the first name comes from one of the greatest riff masters out there, Tony Iommi. Whilst the surname, Legrand, is based off of a French electronics brand.

Steve Ennui -- the first name is based off of Billy Idol's guitarist, and friend, Steve Stevens. The last name I just picked on a whim because I was having such a hard time finding a surname fitting enough!! I was just sitting there like "ugh this is so boring" and then it clicked. So long story short, I went with Ennui, which is French for boring lmao. (Steve Stevens is NOT boring!! Finding a surname good enough and struggling was lmao)

Idol News Network -- Pretty sure that anyone who is aware by now knows the real reason I named the News Station 'Idol'. (Yes, it's another Billy Idol reference! How could you tell?)

Company B -- a Latin American music group from the 80s and 90s.

Cherry Bomb Cafe -- the song Cherry Bomb by the Runaways.

Fight scene note: Because I love Polnareff, and kept Léon relatively close in terms of a few character traits, I wrote a whole-ass bathroom fight scene for the first chapter. And yes, this was intentional. Even in an alternate reality, Polnareff's bathroom curse haunts him to the ends of the earth.

This line: By the way, the name is Jean-Claude Léon Polnareff. And I'm not a fucking robot. It's a reference to the original universe Polnareff. (the whole 'my name is' speech thing anyway. Not the robot thing, that's this universe lol)

Moncestierre telling Léon that he drew first blood is a reference to the movie Rambo: First Blood.

Rebel Yell's stand cry, MOUREZ: In the song Rebel Yell by Billy Idol, there's a line in the chorus that goes more, more, more. Which sounds almost similar to MOUREZ, which is French for die. Hence where the stand cry originates from. Annnnd that's all the notes I have on Chapter One! If you have any questions, feel free to send me an Ask; or comment on this. Either one is fine. Whiplash Riot has an official discord server where you can earn roles and get announcements on chapter updates. If this interests you, feel free to join the server here!! Again, thank you for reading! It is much appreciated! 🥰

#writers on tumblr #writing #fanfiction #jjba fanpart #jjba #jojos bizarre adventure #author's note #whiplash riot #léon polnareff #writerscommunity #author

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thejustmaiden · 3 years

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So out of nowhere I was tagged and quoted by a SR shipper for a blog of mine posted in August of last year. Talk about throwback but, hey, gotta appreciate that level of snooping. 😉

Back in the day I actually used to encourage discourse amongst Inuyasha fans- both shippers and antis alike- but I've since realized that it's a lost cause. But for you, @feministmetalgreymon , I'll grant this exception. Just 'cause it's been a while so why the hell not. haha

I want to assure you, however, that nothing you say will ever convince me that Sesshomaru and Rin are meant to be together romantically or that the story intended it so. Nor will you find any validation here. You can ship them for all I care, but please for all that is good and holy while I have your attention try- I mean really try- to understand why it is so many of us Inuyasha fans are so against this pairing in the first place (newsflash: it's not about ship wars), and why we believe a romance between the two of them is completely and utterly out of character.

For those of you interested in reading this, the blog of mine in question that the above shipper mentions in their counter-argument is here for reference. It's titled "Jaken = Rin's Dad?" I'm going to try and keep this short, but I'm also making no such promises. After all, I'm not exactly known for my brevity. haha Now let's get crackin'!

Like you, feministmetalgreymon, did for your recent blog here where you took screenshots of mine to address certain parts, I will be doing the same and dissecting yours accordingly.

[Snippet 1]

I worked with kids for many years as a teacher, and many people in my family have too or still do. Two of them happen to be just over 5 feet which is quite short for the average adult woman living here. I've also worked alongside many a women of short stature, and never did I hear any of them complaining of issues with their students having difficulty differentiating them from their own peers just because they were short as well. I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous. Kids are quite smart and pick up on a lot more than you seem to give them credit for. Height is not the only characteristic they look at to determine who's an adult and who's not, and it's foolish to suggest otherwise. So unless you're a babysitter who's still in their teens and/or who has very childlike features or behavior then I'm afraid what you're getting at is total hogwash. This is just another example of how you shippers offer nothing of real substance to your reasoning, it's only ever cherry-picking or strawmanning from you guys. Stop deflecting from the real issues please, because this certainly isn't one and only winds up being a complete waste of time for all parties involved.

[Snippet 2]

Okay, calm down now. I wasn't insinuating that relationships between parents and children can't change over time in terms of how they get along. Of course that's possible, as all families experience their fair share of estrangement and abuse. What I was speaking about was in reference to the overall dynamic between the two. Because a bad mother or father can still be viewed as a parental figure to their child even if say they're not in said child's life anymore. Since Sesshomaru and Rin share a healthy bond- and just a friendly reminder that in my blog I even said that he doesn't have to necessarily be labeled her father but that a romantic relationship later would still be inappropriate- I didn't deem it necessary to address what you brought up. Plus, it kinda, umm, misses the point?? Please, let's stay on topic. And it's not captured in the screenshot, but stop acting like there isn't a small part of them that idolizes their parents at some point during childhood. Just like you mention later on how it's normal for kids to have innocent crushes on adults that they eventually grow out of? Well, guess what, the same concept applies here. Kids eventually learn that their parents are far from perfect and make mistakes too. Rin is so damn young in the OG series though that we never even get to see her reach that maturity level.

[Snippet 3]

LOL! Alright, okay, so the "unbreakable bond" bit you're mentioning was actually me quoting you sessrinners. Did you not catch that? I literally spelled it out. *sigh* The whole point I was making is that shippers like yourself make hypocritical and contradictory statements all.the.goddamn.time. One moment you guys claim that Sesshomaru and Rin were essentially strangers and meant very little to each other, only to say in the same breath a few seconds later that they were destined to be together and their bond is like no other. I agree, their bond is special, but why must that mean they're going to fall in love?

That is the root of the matter here. Too many animes/mangas have romanticized this older adult man & young girl growing up falling in love trope that it's become way too normalized and widely accepted across the world- and yes, in some cultures more than others. Sadly, you lack the awareness to recognize how this all works. You know how we know that? When we see that you shippers are so desensitized to sexualized images of girls in the media that you share posts like this one below which *subtly* imply a future romance although one half of that pairing is still just a child in the pic and then try and pass it off as cute. That's like super fucking problematic and it scares me that you can't see that (or deny you do). 🤢

After all that's said and done, Sesshomaru leaving Rin in the village with Kaede is to me the strongest indicator more than pretty much anything else he's done for Rin that proves he is her adoptive father. It's so funny to me how you somehow see the exact opposite though. 🤔 What I think is happening is that you got yourself on some squeaky clean ass shipper goggles fresh out of your little echo chamber. Because I hate to tell you, but what you're fantasizing is what you want to see and not what's actually there on screen or was written into the story. I'm strictly talking about Inuyasha and the manga of course. [For the TL; DR version skip to the last paragraph.]

Parents looking after their kids is what parents are supposed to do. A good parent will do anything to keep their child safe and ensure they are cared for, so what he did for her by leaving her there was in her best interests clearly. Besides, as a babysitter, you more than most people should understand that parents aren't always able to be there for their kids so sometimes others gotta step in to help. Haven't you heard of the saying, "it takes a village to raise a child?" Which in Rin's case is literally true! 😂 Sometimes kids are even sent off to stay with grandparents and that's who raises them instead. Or maybe they have to temporarily live with an aunt or uncle because their single parent's job requires they work out of town 4-5 days of the week so they're hardly home. But that doesn't mean that the parents care or love their kids any less, and it's foolish to assume that Sesshomaru must have thought very little of Rin simply due to the fact that he made the decision to leave her in the village. Come on, y'all are acting like he abandoned her there!!

It's just given the circumstances Sesshomaru finally came to learn that Rin traveling with him was no longer safe. I also like to think it's because he wished for her to live a more normal life and to learn how to fully trust humans again. Plus, continuing to travel with him as young as she was would have proven dangerous and unwise. Now for you to know all this and still manage to turn his past actions towards her while she was just a child into a romantic gesture is what boggles my mind. Regardless of how you look at it, from my perspective or your own, Sesshomaru is in the wrong. Either he's a father figure who impregnates his daughter at the young age of approximately 14. OR he's this man she used to travel with who maybe isn't a father to her but who nonetheless basically rapes her since kids her age can't consent to sex with an adult. Idk about you but it sounds to me like nobody here wins with either scenario we're given. In other words, you should be just as mad as we are. If only one side didn't choose to forsake their morals they know we both have in common for the sake of a ship. Welp. 🤷‍♀️

I agree, incest is disgusting but that's not the only problem we have with this pairing. A romantic bond forming between Sesshomaru and Rin would also constitute as grooming.

You realize that over the years he visited her in the village that he brought her gifts too and essentially watched her grow up right before his very eyes, right? I mean, I know you do, but I really shouldn't have to explain further why pursuing a romantic/sexual relationship with each other is plain and simple wrong. And before you say it's not because he didn't have any malintent, please understand that considering their history and power dynamic up to then that yes this is still considered grooming even if Rin supposedly "wanted it" or "made the first move." Whether you consider him her father or not, as the adult who took on a role resembling that of a caretaker in her early life- a critical developmental time for a child- Sesshomaru is obligated to turn down any advances by Rin and most definitely should not initiate any himself. As the first close adult figure she's had in her life since her parents died, it's unfathomable to imagine how Sesshomaru could go through with taking advantage of this young girl who was under his care and supervision since they met. To think he could be capable of betraying that trust sickens me to the core.

This. Now THIS is how a parent/guardian or a similar adult caretaker (babysitter, teacher, etc.) talks to a child. And, in turn, this is how some young children talk to adults. You'd be insane and delusional to deny it! We see it in our everyday lives, do we not? From where else do you think our stories draw most of their inspiration? Yes, obviously these fictional universes have aspects of fantasy that don't exist in the real world, but so how then do you suppose we're able to relate to them? The reason for that being is because these stories are written by people for people, so naturally there are going to be real life aspects embedded throughout. Sure, a little escapism doesn't hurt as we don't need to take everything so seriously, but ultimately we all need to recognize that the messages in the stories we tell matter. Most stories possess a combination of both light and dark themes, but when it specifically comes to the latter we gotta be careful with how we tackle this in children's media since kids are far more impressionable.

So if at the center of a story we have two of the main protagonists whose mom is basically their same age and to top it off she knew their dad when she was just a girl and who just so happened to help raise her, wouldn't you say that's beyond fucked up or at the very least so fucking weird? Like why would we think it's even remotely okay for our children to watch this garbage?? Really think about it. Try and be objective for once and think about how it would sound explaining this storyline to an outsider who's never watched IY or HNY. Well, antis have tried this before many times and we always get the same reaction: Ewww!

Like I said earlier, if you wanna ship it then fine, but 1) please stop seeking our approval or trying to change our minds - your ship wish came true didn't it, so why do you need us to validate it? 2) even though it's not canon, respect that we don't support this sequel portraying pedophilia in a positive light. It's harmful af to not only allow but glorify the continuation of sexualized images of young girls everywhere. And I shouldn't have to say this, but just because this trope is popular as you say does not make it right. Lolicon themes in the media have been an issue forever and it needs to stop. Yes, even some people in Japan or "the East" would agree. Shocker!

We're pissed off and rightfully so because Yashahime's TV rating is 14, not to mention it airs at the prime time kids in Japan watch TV after getting home from school. That's Towa and Setsuna's age, true, but if Rin being the mom when she's like only a year older than them (please don't argue w/ me about the math- antis have so far been right every time with it) is straight-up disgusting and not something we should be supporting or endorsing. Rin's a whole ass child!! Please don't start with the "but times were different then so her having kids at 15 is acceptable" argument either, because we've already debunked that and every other single excuse you guys throw at us. Besides, how or why would you expect young viewers to know these historical "facts" anyway, especially if as you suggest fiction doesn't affect reality so what does it matter? Yet here we are, arguing over a fictional show in real life almost a year and a half into the "Sesshomaru fucks?" sequel being announced. My ass, your ass, hell all our asses fiction doesn't affect reality!

Look, I do apologize if the tone of this blog came off as snippy or condescending at times. I do not wish you any ill will, it's just I'm not really sure what you expected to get out of all this besides maybe getting on my nerves perhaps. haha A lot of you shippers have been desperately scrambling to interact with us, lurking in our tags, jumping onto our posts screaming canon and getting so defensive even though you sought us out first. We've been sticking to our tags, so how about you stay in your lane too. By the way since we're on the topic, have you seen Twitter or Reddit?! SR shippers there are the actual worst and many Inuyasha fans (not just antis) have complained of not feeling welcomed to engage in fandom spaces anymore. Shippers swarm them and scare them off simply because fans don't like your ship and refuse to accept it. It's pathetic, really. No one should ever be bullied or harassed just because they don't like something you might. We're all fans of Inuyasha, aren't we? So let's act like it. Yashahime on the other hand, you guys are welcome to that pungent heap of trash. Fans have a right to criticize it too, but if you like it then good for you, so keep on liking it and don't mind us.

I'm almost done, but real quick back to Jaken! Let's not forget about how the official Yashahime website- which came out after my blog, mind you- described Jaken. This translation isn't the best one available but it's the only version a fellow anti friend could track down. They do recall a better one done by a native Japanese speaker who was also an anti, and that member confirmed that Jaken is indeed called Rin's babysitter. So you see, I was right in my interpretation. In the original post I did compare Jaken to a brother, but after talking to others (some comments can be found under said post) I did acknowledge that he's more of a reluctant babysitter who's not related. And if he's not at least a brother to Rin, then he's definitely not her father.

At the end of the day, the creator Rumiko Takahashi has the final word. Which is guess what? Hogosha. 💖 Probably should've just started out with that and saved us all the trouble, huh? Good day/night to you.

Papamaru bids you adieu now. 🤞

#anti yashahime #anti sessrin #sesshomaru is rin's dad #papamaru #hogosha 💖#the sequel may not be canon but sunrise can still burn in hell

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stubbornjerk · 3 years

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Why people keep telling you to block them if you support Pholo (Penumbra Edition)

Or: why jitterbug-juno really deactivated

I love when people categorize this as fandom wank. Really makes you feel like you’re putting the onus on either side of the conversation.

I’m making this post not because I want to stir up spoiled milk, but because I want it out there that this wasn’t a purity culture war.

The TL;DR version of this is that fans of color tried to tell Rab (prev. jitterbug-juno) not to post her Omegaverse (or A/B/O) fic. And instead of taking the L, she posted it on Ao3 and deactivated.

But, if you want context, well, buckle in. CW for mentions of racism and transphobia.

What did jitterbug-juno do?

Before I get into this I do want it out there that I will not be linking Rab’s fic, but I will show you this screenshot of the summary of it.

[ID: It is a screenshot of a fic, “As You Are” by Pholo.

Summary: Peter can hide his scent glands behind cologne; makeup; concealer pads. He can quash his heats with suppressants. He can divert the urge to nest and fawn.

But he can’t feign another gender’s subvocals. He lacks the anatomical capacity. Mag taught him to distract from his silence with fast, flashy words. For longer heists he relies on social convention. Traumatic mutism is uncommon, but remarked upon by enough war vets and soap operas to be widely recognized. Peter’s marks assume he’s been harmed long before they assume he’s a closeted omega. It would take quite the backwater brute to ask why he doesn’t murmur or chuff or growl.

On the 'Blanche there are the usual furtive glances. Juno makes clear to Peter that should he ever want “to talk about what happened,” he’ll be there to listen. The gesture annoys Peter more than comforts him.

‘Nothing happened,’ he wants to scream. ‘There’s nothing to talk about!’

There are 14 comments, 85 kudos, and 11 bookmarks /end]

You decide what you’re doing with that information, but honestly, I’d rather you don’t give it anymore engagement than it deserves.

There was a period earlier this June (yes, even though it’s only the 10th, at time of writing) when Rab was posting snippets of the aforementioned fic on her blog and tagging it appropriately, putting it in the attention of pretty much the entire Penumbra fandom.

What’s Omegaverse or a/b/o and why is everyone so against Rab for it

If you know what Omegaverse is, I don’t have to tell you why it’s controversial. If you don’t know what Omegaverse is, well, Fanlore said it best:

a kink trope wherein some or all people have defined biological roles based on a hierarchical system, with the terms originating from animal behaviour research. There may be werewolf, knotting, or other animalistic elements involved, or the characters may be otherwise purely human.

The term is generally written with slashes (a/b/o). Many fans, particularly ones from Australia and New Zealand, are uncomfortable seeing the term without slashes because it is also an Australian slur for aboriginal people.

I won’t get into the history or the heaps and tons of other discourses (mostly about fictional male pregnancy, homophobia, transphobia, sexual assault, etc.) that go on within that. We’re here specifically on Rab v. Penumbra fans of color and we’re staying there.

Anyone who’s been in Penumbra enough to realize that everyone draws the Junoverse characters in a certain way knows that a) Juno is black, b) Nureyev is Asian, and c) as a fan you have to be aware of what you’re subjecting or saying about either of them because of the political repercussions that come with it.

And despite that, Rab proceeded to write Peter Nureyev, a gender nonconforming gay Asian male character that is widely headcanon’d as trans, into a fic using a kink trope that relies heavily on animal behavior.

Unlike most people new to fandom, Rab is aware of what Omegaverse is and is very much white. She is (and if she isn’t, should be) aware of the racist undertones that writing him in would get.

I couldn’t get a screenshot of what snippets Rab was sending out into the ether, seeing as a majority of my friends would rather not have seen any at all (I have all of the usual tags blocked so I wouldn’t have seen it either way), but needless to say, Rab got attention for it. Both positive and negative.

Anne (@hopeless-eccentric) even posted a satirical fic, in the odds that Rab was just writing this thing to be “the first” to write Omegaverse fic in the Penumbra tags.

But, I’m assuming more than one fan of color came into Rab’s inbox and messaged her about it, but someone I know (who would like to remain anonymous) was gracious enough to take a screenshot before he sent his in and let me use it for this post:

[ID: A message to jitterbug-juno about to be sent by a sender whose name is censored with a black bar. His messages says:

“as someone who is a person of color i think the nature of the fic you are writing right now is extremely racist and attributing animal characteristics to lgbt people of color is not at all appropriate, especially when you are someone who is white. i have to ask you to not publish this fic and to reflect as to why you would want to write this in the first place, these tropes are extremely harmful and”

There are 33 characters left to write into the message. /end]

I can’t speak for whoever else sent asks about the fic she was writing. If anyone was actually not-so-gentle with her, well, minorities don’t really owe it to you to be gentle about what they can tell is bigotry-tinged behavior.

But, the message was clear: this is different from your garden variety, lily white straight male character m/m kink fantasy. This is an actual queer Asian character that a lot of queer Asian people feel attached do. Do not post the fic.

What happened next: the beginning of the end

The next morning, I woke up to most of my friends being frustrated by this post on Rab’s account:

[ID: Dated 5 June, a post by jitterbug-juno:

“Gonna leave the fandom for a while. Wishing you all well.”

The tags say the following: not sure if i’ll be back, thank you so much to everybody who’s read my fics, and who’s sent asks or engaged with my art or any of that, you’re amazing and I’m sending love /end]

That... was not what fans of color wanted, but it was definitely an action they took. Some celebrated, as they were very much wary of Rab for having caused much of the same category of drama in fandoms like Voltron: Legendary Defenders and Warrior Cats. This also meant that she was probably not going to post the fic either.

Some, myself included, were relatively pissed, as they’d wanted even just the measly bit of accountability. An apology or an acknowledgement of having been called out in private and that they’ll take time to consider why. But instead we got Rab leaving in the face of fans of color telling her not to post her Omegaverse fic.

Well. The next day...

[ID: Dated 6 June. A post by jitterbug-juno titled, “Well... that was short-lived”

“I gave the situation a lot of thought yesterday. The reaction to my omegaverse previews made me figure I should leave the fandom. It seemed like the safest option.

But you know what?

Hell.

I don’t want to leave. The fic discusses the tropes of omegaverse and I spoke to several POC on Twitter, and I’m going to post it with plenty of tags so people can avoid it if they wish. I’m not going to be chased out of this space.

Thank you to everyone who sent messages yesterday. I shouldn’t have made that post about leaving. It was really reactionary. I’m okay and I appreciate your support so much.

(bolded on the post) To those who are angry and uncomfortable with me: Please block me. If you’re going to talk about this fic on Tumblr and Twitter– and this may sound odd– PLEASE NAME ME as Jitterbug-juno or Pholo. Don’t vague me. That way people who don’t want to see this discourse can add my name to their block lists.“ /end]

That certainly was short-lived, she wasn’t kidding.

This got a lot of outrage. Again, the fic is up on Ao3 and she has not taken it down. A lot of POC were pissed and I didn’t see a single fan of color actively support what she was doing, at least, not in my friend group. Everyone started making those posts to block them if you liked the fic or Rab’s content in general, in accordance to what Rab wanted.

Perseus (@mraudiodrama) noticed/pointed out that Rab deleted the part where she said she spoke to several POC about releasing her fic, as well as the part where she said she refused to be chased out of the fandom. This was an incredibly pointed detail to edit out, according to some.

[ID: A screenshot of jitterbug-juno's last post taken 11:00PM. Much of it is the same except the following bolded words are removed: "The fic discusses the tropes of omegaverse and I spoke to several POC on Twitter, and I’m going to post it with plenty of tags so people can avoid it if they wish. I’m not going to be chased out of this space." /end]

That same day, Rab deleted her blog. I actually caught this one on tape, believe it or not.

[ID: A screen recording taken at 12:01 PM of someone scrolling down jitterbug-juno's account. The posts and asks about Omegaverse and her post about leaving and coming back are conspicuously absent. /end]

Initially, I thought she deleted all mentions of it. I wanted to see firsthand if the rumors about her deleting portions of it were true. If she added things where she was saying that she wanted to write it because she was autistic and wanted Nureyev to be autistic too, regardless of the numerous QPOC telling her not to do it.

Instead, it turned out, she deleted her blog.

And now, we're here. The fic is still up. Her blog is down. Rab's public Twitter account @nataclinn is quiet about this. Her @cushfuddled Twitter account is on private after her run-in with the Warrior Cats fandom, according to a friend. And her Tumblr @cushfuddled account has nothing but memes.

Again, I didn't make this post to stir up drama. I wasn't even obsessively making this post as a call-out because she isn't in the fandom anymore. I just want it out there that this isn't a purity culture thing that got out of hand in a fandom as niche as Penumbra. This was a case of someone being called out and failing to acknowledge it before running away. And I want all that out of the way before I say:

If you are on Rab's side of this debacle, I, a queer person of color, want nothing to do with you either.

#the penumbra fandom #jitterbug-juno #pholo #racism #white drama #im not tagging this as fandom drama or fandom wank because that erases the fact #that this was legitimate criticism of a white person #the penumbra podcast #junoverse #i put it in a readmore so its not gonna clog up much #but if anyone doesnt want me to tag this w the fandom tags i'll remove it #once again though this is the furthest thing from anti/proship discourse

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arcane-nari · 3 years

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why are you trying to make nari evil she's the only good one in the arcane order?

(re: this post I’m assuming)

sorry anon you've unlocked my trap card. now i can draw infodumping from my hand and place it face up on the board

tl;dr: Nari isn't evil -- but neither is the arcane order. It's just that nari is the only one of the three who isn't okay with the suffering that would be caused by doing her job of maintaining the balance.

from what i can tell, the order's morality isn't Good or Evil in Tales of Arcadia: Wizards. (I do not see Rise of the Titans. I am not looking.) i've had this blog since wizards first came out, so my interpretation of nari is largely from there, with only some points here and there taken from Nari.

(aside: i feel so vindicated with how she acted in the police station. this bug is feral and i love her)

they're antagonists for sure, and they're rivals, but their morality isn't good. Instead, it's sort of more focussed on the good of the balance between magic and mortals and keeping that in check. there isn't much explanation as to what that means in canon, but I think it's sort of a chaos vs order thing -- too much of one and the world explodes. too much of the other and it's rendered inert.

before the battle of killahead, while each demigod has their own personality, they seem to be of the same mind when it comes to the end goal: protect the balance, no matter how many mortals get hurt along the way. (Mortals, in this case, meaning anyone who is not a primordial wizard.) It's a matter of good of the many (the balance) vs the goods of the few or the one (mortals).

Coupled with their duty to the balance, i have the interpretation that they're simply too disconnected from the world of mortals to understand what pain is -- skrael and bellroc moreso than nari, which i'll get to in a minute. But they're so powerful and ancient that it's easy for them to feel Apart from the mortals, because of how short their lives are and how small their magic is in comparison. Kind of like how most humans view squirrels -- they're creatures living their own lives and having their own drama, but, ultimately, we are far more advanced.

to continue the metaphor -- the world at the time of killahead is something along the lines of a tree that's overgrown the sidewalk and is causing problems, in my mind. Yes, squirrels have made their home in it, but it's causing too much trouble to the humans living in the area, so it has to be cut down. It's not done to cause direct harm to the squirrels. it's just that the action of cutting down the tree will cause direct or indirect harm to the squirrels.

(I've used this metaphor way too often with the order lol)

So they aren't remaking the world because they hate humans specifically. Most definitions of evil is someone who wants explicitly to do other's harm. In my mind, the order doesn't want explicitly to do people harm. They don't care about people. Well -- they don't like them, and perhaps they aren't happy about the amount of people who will die when they remake the world, but it's certainly more than justifiable in their mind considering the ends they're pursuing.

And that takes me to pain. Nari explicitly says she can sense all souls, but it's not clear whether she can sense their pain and suffering. Rather, she seems to be right on board with the order's methods all the way up until she sees Killahead directly. Once she sees the pain -- once it becomes real for her -- she can't dismiss it as a necessary evil that comes with keeping the balance in line. She can't depersonalize it or separate herself from it.

Sure, she's able to occasionally Look into the aether and see souls winking out here and there due to the destruction being caused, but it's different from seeing it up close. And she realizes what they're doing has real and tangible effects and she can't do her duty anymore. It's not that remaking the world is wrong. It's not that the demigods are misguided.

"It's not worth it."

Those are nari's words when she realizes what they've done. The cost is too high. They can't move forward.

I think, were this turned around and the order were to be shown as the protagonists, nari would be written to be a coward. It's all about doing your duty until you face the consequences of your actions, and you can't keep your word. Instead of trying to stop things, she runs. She hides. for nine centuries, she spends her life hidden in a castle away from the world.

We don't see what she does, but I think she learns. I think she asks questions and learns how people work, and how trolls work. I think, once she has the chance to be up close and personal to living people -- even if it's just galahad for the majority of the time -- she falls in love with them. it's hard not to. The way they change and grow and create. The idea of constellations is as much a wonder to her now as it had been the first time she heard about it.

And her desire to protect mortals grow with it. The more she learns, the more her heart becomes entangled with the very world she once wanted to remake. To hell with her orders and her duty -- she's doing what she thinks is right.

By hiding. By doing nothing. We see in Rott that it's probably the only thing for it, considering mind control, but i'm iffy on whether that's something that's canon for me or not. It feels a bit too convenient, considering we've seen such massive power on her end.

She's ancient, but she learns in a few short years what it means to have friends. Her love for humanity is what separates her from the order but, on an objective level, that doesn't make her good, or even Not Evil. Ultimately, it's a human thing to label her as good because her intentions align with protecting us, rather than protecting this vague, enigmatic concept of The Balance that we get so little understanding about. Maybe if we as an audience got more, we would understand why it mattered enough to destroy the entire world to repair it, but we don't, so it's easier to side with the tangible "protect humans at all costs" goal over the intangible "repair the balance at all costs" goal

And the order cares about each other. The way nari teases bellroc and skrael, the way bellroc snaps at skrael -- it feels like a band of siblings. It feels like a family. There's more to them than evil. (And rott did a disservice by trying to make them such. Even at the end, bellroc showed empathy. They could have killed jim when they were certain of their victory, but they told him to go to his family. There's a heart in there, however much it may be of blackened stone.)

(But that's another story entirely.)

There's stories about the fair folk that come to mind, with their strange morals and rules. A lot of stories paint these fairies as evil because their punishments seemed harsher than what humans would expect for certain infractions, while their games often included things that hurt humans. But it's not because they wanted to hurt humans directly. (Okay, a lot of them did, but many of them didn't). It's that what they consider good and bad is so far removed from humanity, because they are not and have never been human. They're simply existing alongside them in the same world.

In conclusion, the order isn't evil. But because their goals don't include the welfare of humans, it's easy to label them as such - and because nari's goals ultimately were protecting humanity, it's easy to label her as good. But the order themselves are too far removed from humanity for me, personally, to label them in terms of explicit morals.

Nari is kind. She is clever, and she's capable of learning, and she's curious. She is herself -- but if we call her good, that's on us, whatever comes of it. She may be capable of change, but she is only ever herself, whatever shape that takes

also veggie lady good character and i love her. grey morality and all.

#gOD I COULD GO ON FOREVER about how our morals are human centric siince we are humans after all but once u bring in demigods all bets are o #but it's almost 1 am i gotta go to bed thank u anon for this question !!!!!#ooc #ask #trollhunters #trollhunters: rise of the titans #rott #rott spoilers #nari #the arcane order #bellroc #skrael #meta #fact #text post #trollhunters meta

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higgyisobsessed · 3 years

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Pokemon Meteorites Theory - Why the Darkest Day happened after AZ fires the Ultimate Weapon, and how it relates to the Tellur Meteorite

so umm idk when I turned into a theory blog but here we go

I always thought that the Darkest Day was an interesting addition to the Pokemon lore. It seems so... disconnected from what we know of the Pokemon lore, even though it takes place at the same time. Then something clicked after researching the timeline - do not judge how I spend my spare time - and it made a lot of sense, even too much sense, for me to ignore.

This theory is real smol and is kinda based on theories by like three other people. BirdKeeperToby, AlmightyArceus, and Ruin Maniac Files on youtube all have really deep and developed theories regarding similar topics and I highly recommend watching them!!

Following are spoilers for Pokemon Sword/Shield, New Pokemon Snap, Pokemon X/Y, and Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire.

Ok so here’s how the timeline goes, assuming the Pokemon games all take place in the same millennium:

20 000 ya - Eternatus lands on Earth in a meteor

3 000 ya - Kalos War occurs and AZ builds a resurrection machine for his lost Floette before turning it into the Ultimate Weapon and firing it, leading to Mega Evolution and now AZ is immortal and all that fun stuff, he is the first person to utilize the life force of Pokemon for technology - the Darkest Day occurs in Galar, where Eternatus causes an absurd amount of Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing in a black storm. It is stopped by Zacian and Zamazenta

2 000 ya - Meteor showers in Hoenn form Meteor Falls - The world is full of natural energy, which Groudon and Kyogre awaken in their Primal forms to fight over. They are stopped by Rayquaza as per the wish of the Draconid people - The Tellur meteorite heads for the Lental region, but is stopped by the Illumina Pokemon

1 000 ya - Meteorite in Hoenn forms Sootopolis - Primal energy from the meteorite awakens Groudon and Kyogre again, and Mega Rayquaza is summoned to stop them - A prophecy is foretold of another meteor in a thousand years

present - Groudon/Kyogre are awakened before the meteor can hit - Mega Rayquaza is summoned by Brendan/May and Zinnia to stop the meteorite, which contains a Deoxys - something about loving Pokemon makes the Illumina Pokemon wake up, idk I still don’t get it I just want to know more about Captain Vince

at some point in the past but it’s not specified - Calyrex saves the Pokemon of the Crown Tundra from a meteorite strike, explaining why ancient fossil Pokemon walk around in present day (the same also happens in Lental with Archeops and Aurorus)

So what does this mean?

How is the Darkest Day connected to Groudon/Kyogre’s awakening? Isn’t it a separate event? Well yes but here’s my idea

AZ fires a hecking ton of Infinity Energy into space (where meteorites are from) and, in response to that, Eternatus (a being that basically consumes and make infinite amounts of Infinity Energy) wakes up and causes the Darkest Day. Every thousand years after AZ fired the Ultimate Weapon, meteorites containing significant amounts of Infinity Energy land.

The Darkest Day happened because Eternatus felt all of that energy. Not only that, but Eternatus is connected to meteorites even before making the connection that, every thousand years afterward, the planet is bombarded with meteors. We’ve seen Groudon and Kyogre wake up multiple times in response to a presence of Infinity Energy, so it makes sense that Eternatus woke up in a similar fashion.

(idk if it was clear, but my theory is that I’m placing the Darkest Day after AZ fires the Ultimate Weapon on the timeline)

Side note: Deoxys is a mutated space virus in a meteor. Is this a result of being exposed to so much Infinity Energy? I think yes and I think I’m not crazy

Also I included New Pokemon Snap info in this because the Tellur Meteorite (which wasn’t a meteorite but just a meteor but whatever terminology is thrown out the window here) alligns PERFECTLY with the meteors in Hoenn that created Meteor Falls and the awakening of Groudon/Kyogre.

This begs one question that has been on my mind since finishing New Pokemon Snap...

If the Illumina phenomenon did not come from the Tellur meteorite, where did it come from?

Xerneas. I mean, duh, but why? Why did Xerneas do that? For the aesthetic? Probably not. I mean, let’s be honest, Instagram didn’t exactly exist two thousand years ago

Well, maybe it’s not a coincidence that this is 1000 years after the Ultimate weapon is fired, and Xerneas sleeps for 1000 years after expending too much energy. (it’s also said to have slept for 2000 years in New Pokemon Snap, sleeping extra long right after stopping the Tellur meteorite and even then not being fully awaken when you encounter it, sounds like me on the weekends tbh)

Anyways the meteorite didn’t create the Illumina phenomenon, but Xerneas did create the phenomenon to stop the meteorite, which spread its magic all over the Lental region under the barrier made by it and its companions that it selected to help, choosing one from each island.

Or not, whatever

Maybe I’m taking the lore established in a spin-off too seriously, but it matches up too PERFECTLY to ignore. What do yall think about the Illumina phenomenon, meteorites, Infinity Energy, and the Pokemon world in general?

TL;DR: AZ screwed everyone over a lot more than you realize

#pokemon #new pokemon snap #illumina phenomenon #pokemon theory #xerneas #rayquaza #groudon #kyogre #deoxys #az #xy #oras #swsh #sword and shield #omega ruby alpha sapphire #infinity energy

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relaxxattack · 3 years

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my blog isn't in smp fandom so i need to say it on someone else's: i've seen loads of people talking about how wil betrayed his brother and adoptive bro, but i've not seen anything about like techno vs tommy??? like tommy brought him in against wilburs judgement, and then both his older brothers betray him on the same day and attempt to kill their other brother for the second time. plus techno specifically did the withers in an attempt to kill tommy for playing hero

hey dude im super flattered you came to me for your smp venting needs!!! hope i get more of that LMAO

as for what you’re saying about techno vs tommy; i personally have seen a lot of discourse on that actually, so maybe you aren’t looking for it in the right places?

my opinion on that whole situation is that yes, techno didn’t really side with tommy ever, but he was very upfront about it. tommy usually chose to ignore it on purpose (for example, literally a few minutes into the finale techno said that manberg blowing up would “be pretty pog” and tommy yelled “NO IT WOULDN’T TECHNO!”). they brushed off all techno’s very clear warnings and goals with an ‘ohh, just classic techno’ without seeing the truth. techno did not betray anyone, because he’s said from the beginning that he’s only there to support his own ideals. he quite literally told everyone that he was there to destroy all governments, and then they built one right in front of him because of his help. it’s a little bit understandable that he snapped (even if it was a bit of an overreaction).

just because techno didn’t betray anyone doesn’t mean he’s not in the wrong, though. tommy is his younger brother who looked up to him and relied on him; and it makes a lot of sense that tommy would, in a childlike way, come to lean on techno even when it was obvious he was not there for him. which makes the whole thing exceptionally sad, because all of tommy’s family is either dead, a violent anarchist, or a potential violent anarchist (besides tubbo who is guaranteed to stick with tommy).

tl;dr: no techno isn’t a betrayer and no he never lied, but the fact that he doesn’t care abt his family at all is still pretty sad (especially since wilbur recently confirmed they probably grew up together)

#technoblade #tommyinnit #d v1 #dream smp finale #tubbo #wilbur soot #philza #philza minecraft #sleepy bois inc #minecraft #tw dream #og post

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thechildofstark · 3 years

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The Problem With Civil War

Civil War was supposed to be a Captain America movie. It was not a Captain America movie.

However.......

The problem with it being a Cap film is that Steve (+ his team) are supposed to be the ultimate good guys. In all the previous Hero Title films (Iron Man Trilogy, Thor Trilogy, Etc.) the guy whose name is on the poster is the guy the audience is supposed to root for. However, because of CA:CW’s marketing and story arc, it was very much a Steve & Tony / Steve vs. Tony film, while trying to simultaneously portray Tony as a secondary character.

This post isn't about Team Cap or Team Iron Man.

The catalyst for the story of Civil War is...........interesting. (in the comics, its different. and a whole lot easier to understand the reasoning of both sides of the argument. but that's a post for another time.)

Tagging/registering/tracking every mutant/mutate/superhero/powered person is objectively a very bad idea. but so is running amok with no supervision in other countries and destroying property whilst literally wearing the American flag.

There are big problems on both sides.

The issue I find most people have with Tony is that they find him an entitled sellout who only cares about himself and that he committed war crimes, and the problems I find most people have with Steve is that he defended a baby Nazi and went on an violent international rampage in direct violation of the UN because his dead terrorist ex-boyfriend may or may not have murdered a whole bunch of people.

Ooof.

The main reason I think people get very annoyed/attached a specific side is because they are still projecting the characterisation from the earlier movies.

Iron Man 1 and The First Avenger? I love them. No notes.

Obviously yes there are issues in-universe but these are flawed characters with complicated issues and stories and so on, and I like them that way.

If I wanted a Nice Unproblematic Superhero I’d rewatch the Christopher Reeves Superman films. That is not why I am here today.

But by the time we get to Civil War, Tony and Steve have become caricatures of the ideals that they represented, so that the studio can make a movie.

Morally, Steve is in the right. Legally, Tony is in the right.

Ethically? I don't fucking know, they both suck equally in that regard.

Okay to be fair, Tony does try to help Steve like.........so often in the film. Because Steve is the Protagonist and he is Right even though half his actions don't actually fit with his previous characterisation/character arcs/basic human logic.

CA:CW was supposed to be a movie about Steve Rogers. But it failed in the single regard that the story wasn't about him. Even other Hero Title movie, the main character either does something, or has something done to them, and then they react to the situations and there are gratuitous explosions and a life lesson and probably a kiss near the end. But this film had the kiss nearer to the middle ew Sharon why and while plenty of shit got blown up, plenty of civilians and local law enforcement also got mashed by/because of the title character.

That is not how the lead in a superhero movie is supposed to behave.

And the film also continues down the general path of giving Tony shittier and shittier character arcs. The war he behaves in his own movies vs the avengers films? it’s a complete values dissonance. It is literally not the same character. Probably the closest to consistency we get is Iron Man 3/Age of Ultron but even then the differences are pretty startling. At the beginning, Tony was, idk, a realistic if fictional person. But the time we get to CA:CW all we have is an avatar for the writers to manipulate, damn character consistency, damn reasonable behavior and logic and everything that the audience has been told about him in the past.

Same with Steve. Heck, same with everyone in the entire damn movie. Barely anyone acts or reacts in a way that either A) previous behavior would suggest, or B) an actual human person would act or react.

Yes. I know. It’s fiction. I can suspend my disbelief.

But like........damn they fucked Clint and Natasha over.

The creators were trying to recreate a well known and well liked comic book story arc, capitalize on the growing divide in parts of the fandom over preferred characters/character ideologies, and do so without using the expanded universe and added context which made the original comic book arc so fucking good.

They tried to split the Avengers in half, only to realize that they had split the Avengers in half, and then when Infinity War came along, they basically had to write a plot where both sides did their thing without sharing a single second of screen time together, because the whole -

S: you tried to kill my best friend

T: he killed my mother

S: actually he was brain washed

T: but you knew and didn't tell me for years

S: well I was worried you would react badly

T: I wouldn't have

S: you literally tried to kill him

T: yeah I'm sure you be totally fine if you saw your parents being violently murdered and the guy was right there and your teammate lied about it and you were very sleep deprived to boot

- drama would start up again.

ANYWAY

the point is, I used to really like both these characters - I still like the comic book versions tho - but then they got way fucked over. I'm extra salty about Steve, because this was supposed to be his movie but loads of the screen time was given over to other shit and he literally commits so much crime and murder and has absolutely zero moral or emotional consistency. especially when it comes to Bucky and Wanda vs. everyone else.

Also with Tony, there is so much of an issue with Telling vs Showing vs other characters in-universe opinions of him I genuinely don't even know what the creators want me to feel about him anymore.

uuuuururhrhrhrhrhrhrhghfjjhdhjf.

tl;dr -

I saw this movie like six years ago and the way I feel about it has changed a lot over time. I used to be team iron man, could you tell? But the basics of it is this should have been an Avengers movie if it had to exist at all, there are so many cool Captain America stories worthy of being put to film, and this really wasn't the most perfect option. Civil War has so many problems, and I can even begin to try and list them here.

But I'm making this post because I just followed a really cool blog who happens to hate on Tony a bunch (I don't really mind consciously) but that annoyed me out of habit, so I started examining why I liked him as a character, and it mainly boiled down to A) some of the comics are cool, and B) CA:CW said I had to pick a side and Steve did so much dumb shit I just went with the easy option.

the blog doesn't seem to be a huge fan of Steve either.

my current stance is that they both got fucked over and if you want some solid positive Marvel content go read Runaways, or the Hawkeye comics.

The Hawkeye comics are the best.

#literally only one person is going to read this #anti tony stark #anti steve rogers #pro Tony stark #pro steve rogers #cacw #civil war #captain america civil war #marvel #disney #mcu #hawkeye #clint barton #natasha romanov #wendy mayomoff #bucky barnes #marvel comics #team cap #team iron man

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sword-of-summer · 3 years

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okay so i did a breakdown and prediction for WandaVision before the show started and It's Turning Out To Be True, Guys, so I'm posting it below and just tell me if it's okayish or not-

Now, WandaVision marks the beginning of Phase 4 of the MCU, and it is in itself a pathmaking event because it shows normal life without the original Avengers. Now, the show explores Wanda's mental state after Vision's death in Infinity War, and how she uses her Chaos magic to create a 'pocket reality' where things are just what she wants them to be.

The entire series is set over 6 decades, and has a running theme of couples living in sit-coms throughout the years, the late 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s and present. Now, my theory is that WandaVision is the beginning of a Multiverse Act that continues in Spiderman - 3 and culminates in Doctor Strange in The Multiverse of Madness.

Now,Â as for the shots within the trailer, it seems that Wanda and Vision are changing their localities as time passes, and that is through the decades I mentioned above. Now, all the posters have this unique red-blue television static rip in the upper left corner, which is also the transition effect used by the editors whenever Wanda warps reality and tries to adapt to the passing, and this actually represents Wanda's warped reality fading away and opening up a multiverse. In the late 50s poster, there isn't much that suggests anything, just we know that this involves the b/w part of the show where Wanda and Vision are a newly married couple and Vision as a human, which is strange, because in all trailers/posters after that time, Vision is shown as the Android he is, from the 60s black and white where Wanda acts as Vision's assistant in the magic show, and now, the next transition is the most interesting for me because they shift into the era of coloured television and during this warp, Wanda becomes pregnant and slips into the stripes of the 70s - another fact is that the upper left rip is not normal, not it is a wood panel torn apart, like by a demon, which leads me to the obvious villainous entity for the show, Mephisto.

This marks Wanda's descent into confusion as to who is in control of this warped reality, because it may not be Wanda, it may be some evil entity who is using Wanda to get into MCU's Earth-199999 and is proved later when Jimmy Woo's voice is heard out of the radio saying "who is doing this to you?". Now, the 80s poster has a ton of references in the 2 paintings it has, one being a hybrid phoenix chicken, aka representing Vision, who here is both a hybrid between human and metal, and like a Phoenix brought to life by Wanda's magic from the ash he was left in by Thanos, and the second bird is a wren from Australia with varying plumage which is like Wanda, because her magic clashes with life in the same way. The next 90s poster is the most indicative too as this is the time where they have the twins, Wiccan and Speed, but interestingly, there's a picture on their wall with three, yes, three not two eggs, which is another reference to the fact that snarky Mephisto has snuck up into this reality using Wanda's magic, also the TV still here is of them in their original Avengers' goofy hallowe'en costumes, and the last shot is a trailer and poster mix where Wanda races out into their frontyard but there are 2 small bikes parked, meaning that is the 2000s where they live as a family of four, but what Wanda doesn't realise that Mephisto's using this fake family to claw his way into this reality and wreak havoc.

Some other shots that stood out to me were of Monica Rambeau constantly transitioning from friendly neighbour to outright "I don't know who (I am)", then the character of Agnes who I suspect is none other than Agatha Harkness from the West Coast Avengers comics where Mephisto, yet again, played with Wanda's chaotic magic and in a way it also merges with the House of X comic series where Wanda yet again creates a pocket reality (I mean, what is up with all the reality stuff) - another interesting thing is the beekeeper seen in the second trailer, which I propose is a reference to the way in which we make honey commercially, wherein the queen bee is kept incharge of a beehive with her subordinates, and she thinks that she is in charge, but the actual person benefiting from this is the beekeeper looking from above the hive, collecting the honey, just like it is here where Wanda thinks she is the queen but in reality it is Mephisto the Beekeeper looking from above the pocket reality using Wanda's brand of Chaos magic to enter into this reality.Â

I believe that the base of this entire series by which it will continue into the wider MCUÂ is The Mind Stone, because it was The Stone that gave Wanda her powers and also to the two men she loved the most - Vision and her brother Pietro. Now, there is an amazing amount of screen time given to shots of the Mind Stone in the trailer, the most intriguing of which is a tired Wanda with greyish hair looking up at the Stone with slivers of blue around it - this is the incident where Wanda received her Enhanced powers from Stucker is Sokovia and this indicates that there will be some flashbacks to earlier memories which may involve Quicksilver returning. Now, the Mind Stone is the smart one, so it has a certain intelligence which it imparts to those affected by it, as is evident in Wanda's Chaos magic and tele-abilities, Tony Stark's vision of the Earth ravaged and the Avengers dead, and maybe even Thanos's curse of Titan's fate. Now, for sure, the mind stone has been destroyed but this does not mean it hasn't already affected given the Universe changes.

Now, back in 2015, Marvel wasn't allowed to use the term "mutants" but now with the Disney-Fox merger, yes they can introduce the idea of mutants with Wanda and Quicksilver as the first in Sokovia, and then Wanda's Chaos-Mephisto born mutant kids Wiccan and Speed which of course may tie to the New Mutants storyline. Also, my theory is that mutants are made by a combination of both their mutant gene and exposure to cosmic radiation, just like Wanda was exposed to the Mind Stone. Also, the mutant gene may exist in specific closeted spaces of the earth like Sokovia, or just for the sake of an example, in Chernobyl cause well the incident. Now these mutant genes become activated on exposure to radiation, and well we have had Four Omega Level Cosmic Infinity Snaps by Thanos, Thanos, Hulk and IronMan, and there is plenty of reason to suggest that this may have triggered the mutant abilities. That is my first theory.

The second one involves Wanda unleashing her chaos magic in an exponential wave at the end just like she did in Age Of Ultron, maybe because she realises that in reality, Vision is dead and manipulation won't help, and in grief she lets out her power that rips upon the Marvel Earth 199999 to the Multiverse which will continue later for Doctor Strange and SpiderMan to put back to normal. This mega event was teased in the trailers where the S.W.O.R.D. helicopter escapes from a wall of red television like static energy, and yes, I expect S.W.O.R.D. to be fully involved in the last part of the show headed by Jimmy Woo and Darcy cause Darcy has had encounters with otherworldly beings and thus may be consulted here. The last act will culminate in Wanda and Vision rising back up to their original title of the Avengers and fighting Mephisto to stop him, but something turns and thus Wanda/Mephisto releases that wall of Magic to wreak havoc.

Also a side note - Vision will also play the act of a realist in the show where he makes Wanda realise that this is not the real earth and he realises that the Eastside/Westside area they live in as well as the people there are unusual, not real, but at the end comes to his usual humane proposition that they save them and the reality from the demon trying to wreak havoc.

TL;DR Wanda creates a pocket reality where she lives with Vision, maybe reincarnating him using her brand of magic in the grey android left after Infinity War, and as the decades pass by, their reality deteriorates due to the Satanic entity that is Mephisto, making his curses seem like blessings, but at the end Wanda and Vision try and stop this reality shredding with S.W.O.R.D and that leaves us with an indecisive future of the mutants, Vision's reincarnation(like said by Banner in Infinity War)/Vision's death and the coming of the Multiverse into focus.

That's it, I guess.

Sorry a bit long ik but i do this.

Enjoy?

Thanks for reading...

tagging @aredhel-of-gondolin cause it was in that chat i realized i have a blog ugggh why am i so stupid

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kondo-hijikata · 3 years

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My most knowledgeable Kondou knower, can I ask you what makes a Kondou RP blog an actual decent Kondou RP blog? What does it take to get this man on paper correctly? What are your tips (if you'd not mind to share!)

*blush blush* you flatter me. D: I can rattle off some info but it’s important for me to toss out the disclaimer: writing is based on interpretation so if anyone happens to disagree with what I lay out here, please go on with how you want to write and ignore me. Why am I saying that? I know how easy it is to see some random post on writing or characterization and feel demotivated. I’m majorly MAJORLY salty about how modern media snubs him and pushes him aside, so if you’re interested in writing Kondo’s character, I’m already supporting you.

As with any character, it depends on what universe/series you’re writing for but I think all the Kat-chans I’ve encountered can fit into some of the same qualities and share the same historical background.

- He is an ideal samurai through and through. That means he’s loyal to the core of his very soul to the Tokugawa regime and sticks to his convictions. He will die for the shogunate. He will send his soldiers to die for the shogunate. Protecting the Tokugawa is his number one priority.

- He has great pride in being a samurai and honoring what it means to really be one because of his roots. Though his father was well-off, he still hailed from a farming family which was the lowest societal class. Before the Edo era, shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi banned the ownership of swords and other weapons from anyone who wasn’t a samurai. When you’re living in rural areas though, the government can’t protect you from thieves and the like, so farmers studied kenjutsu to look after their own lands and possessions. Kondo was dedicated in his practice and while his father was away, he (as a teenager) and his brothers stopped thieves from raiding their house. His talents were noticed by Kondo Shusuke from the Shieikan, who was looking for an heir. Shusuke went on to adopt him and therefore taking him from the lowest class to the highest. Amazing, incredible. You’re doing great, sweetie!

- At this point in the Edo era, samurai were said to have become lazy as there were no wars to fight in. Kondo rejected this and was dedicated to being what he believed was the ideal spirit of bushi. He was respectful in how he spoke to superiors and other samurai.

- He went through several name changes throughout his life. He was born as Miyagawa Katsugoro. Upon adoption, he took the name Shimazaki Katsuta. When he succeeded in taking over the Shieikan, he was known as Kondo Isami. Toward the end of his life when the Shinsengumi returned to Edo, he was known by the aliases Okubo Tsuyoshi and Okubo Yamato to protect his identity from Shinsengumi enemies quickly closing in on the east.

- He could be good-natured around his friends and had a sense of humor (yes, I’m talking about the good old fist in the mouth) but don’t mistake this for stupidity or naivety. He was extremely knowledgeable about politics and current events. He could debate and wasn’t intimidated to call out anyone on their bullshit. He had the ear of Matsudaira Katamori and even the shogun at one point.

- He was a born leader with magnetism who was capable of inspiring and commanding the respect of those around him. The first members of the Shinsengumi had sworn loyalty to him as their teacher at the Shieikan and stayed at his side for most of the war. Even after Nagakura split from the group much later citing disapproval of Kondo and Hijikata’s “egos”, he went on to build a grave to honor them.

- Speaking of Hijikata, a lot of media today portrays him as the main decision maker with Kondo as some frivolous figurehead who doesn’t know left from right. Pshhh, no. If Hijikata somehow could know his popularity succeeds Kondo’s in this age, I wager he’d be ridiculously upset. Kondo lived to serve and protect the shogunate as Hijikata lived to serve and protect Kondo. He was instrumental in forming the Shinsengumi and absolutely had say in many things, but that didn’t make Kondo irrelevant or incompetent.

- Kondo was a warrior. He killed his enemies, and a lot of them. I can sit here and romanticize about how he was a nerd as a kid who loved reading or how he practiced calligraphy at night in Kyoto, but it can’t be forgotten that he was a soldier fighting a war. He’d seen some shit. He’d done some shit.

- Let’s talk about the Roshigumi! Hundreds of ronin were rounded up in the east by Kiyokawa Hachiro. They would march to Kyoto to stop anti-Tokugawa forces (lookin at u, Choshu) in their tracks. Upon arriving in the west though, Kiyokawa was like “lmao jk yall. we’re actually opposing Tokugawa and now we all have to walk back to the east and have a battle in Yokohama.” Kondo, ever loyal to Tokugawa, refused. He and his Shieikan men stayed behind and troublesome Serizawa did too since he had no place to go. Serizawa refused to acknowledge Kondo as the leader, so they compromised on having both of them lead. We all know what happened there, Serizawa did a lot of terrible things. Kondo had to clean up his messes and make excuses for his behavior, while trying to make a name for the Roshigumi and gain enough rep to be noticed by Matsudaira. Eventually, he did gain that attention and from there, Matsudaira went on to rely on Kondo’s expertise and his men to keep Choshu down. Like his adoption into the samurai class, this was no easy feat and I’m immensely impressed that he managed to do this.

- HE’S NOT AN OLD MAN. ffs, another thing most modern media would have us believe is that he’s a decade or more older than Hijikata. Kondo was born in November 1834. Hijikata was born in May 1835.

- He was said to be average height (around 5′4/167-ish cm iirc?) with a very athletic build from all the training.

- The last Tokugawa shogun Yoshinobu (*HISS*) and naval commander Katsu Kaishu (*DOUBLE HISS*) expected Kondo and his Shinsengumi to either die off or disband after they fled Kyoto. When he showed up with his men in the east, they didn’t know what to do with them. Katsu then ordered Kondo to change the group name from Shinsengumi to Kouyo-Chinbutai and take Kofu castle where they were severely outnumbered. Basically, he was giving them all a place to die. They’d managed to get some promises of recruits which never showed up, lost the battle, and needed to retreat. The group then settled temporarily in Nagareyama.

- Though there’s no official confirmation, he was executed for a crime he very likely didn’t commit: the assassination of Sakamoto. A member of the Mimawarigumi claimed responsibility for it years later. Sakamoto was a legend in his home of Tosa and people were understandably infuriated at his murder. Kondo was the scapegoat for it. He surrendered himself at Nagareyama to allow the remaining soldiers to escape. Hijikata wanted to surrender himself at the same time so he would die with Kondo, but Kondo insisted he keep carrying their banner and leading the group. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

- His sexuality and relationships are wide open to your interpretation. His marriage to Tsune was arranged, like many were in that time period. He had concubines in Kyoto, Miyuki being the most famous. These are broad statements I’m making here that can’t speak for every person but.... Same sex relationships (marriage/procreation) weren’t accepted because the point of that was to produce children...but same sex relations (physical and emotional connection) among men were rampant. There’s historical evidence from a letter Kondo wrote that he was perfectly aware it was going on in the Shinsengumi. Shinsengumi members went on to say Kondo and Hijikata were two halves of one whole. Again, Nagakura built them a joint grave. You decide. I already have. lmao

- Whether you romantically pair them together or not though, Kondo was the most important person in Hijikata’s life and vice versa. They had an indestructible bond, not even severed by Kondo’s execution. Hijikata fought on to clear Kondo’s name after his death.

WOW THIS GOT LONG......

The tl;dr here is, if I were writing Kondo in rp, these are the qualities I would give him: committed to living his life under bushi code (which has likely been overly romanticized compared to reality but hey), committed to serving the Tokugawa, can be friendly with his closest friends but a little colder with soldiers/others he isn’t close to, knows how to fight, knows politics, knows how to debate and hold his own. Genuinely likeable by nature, has the respect of his followers, has the respect of Matsudaira after proving himself. Has fierce loyalty from his men and even after some leave the group, they won’t let anyone drag his name. Strong-willed and stubborn on political issues he backs. Reflective and thoughtful in down time. Reliable to those who depend on him. Quiet and calculating in groups but absolutely willing to speak up when he disagrees. And never ever ever forgiving of the Satcho coup, or anyone who supports it.

#kondo isami #long post #LONGGG FREAKIN POST #historical #i just...i love him so much #kazenofuji #asks

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