insofar as "traditional western culture" can be said to exist, it is violently theocratic and patriarchal and obsessed with inflexible racial hierarchies and the dehumanization of all that is foreign and "uncivilized". and crucially, it has these things in common with very many other "traditional cultures"! their exact manifestations vary, but there is nowhere on earth which has not at some point been under the yoke of some "conservative" force that through social and physical violence acts against any and all perceived threats its power (and to the obviously oppressive status quo). yes even non-state societies, yes even the most idealized gift-economy hunter-gatherer band, we will not be doing any kind of noble savage shit here

and so it is exceptionally frustrating when people try to position progressive~secular~egalitarian~multicultural values as, like, a Western Thing, whether they think that's good (pinkwashed eurodescendant chauvinism) or bad (conservatives and traditionalists labeling any social movement they dislike as western cultural imperialism). there is nothing inherently western about the idea of not being governed by moralistic busibodies and slaver-warlords (again, the west has had both in spades), and just as every human society is bound at least at some point to be very bad for most of the people part of it, so has every human society at least at some point developed its own sort of progressive ideal.

and if it wasn't clear, like, it is not a skill issue or a mark of inferiority on the part of the overwhelming majority of the world's population that they don't already live in some approximation of an enlightened egalitarian society. for progressivism to flourish requires a representative (usually democratic, for whatever value of "democracy") society that has attained a sufficient degree of wealth and stability and for long enough to be able to relax a bit and which has institutions that can be trusted. famine and violence beget stress and stratification, which beget more violence and worsen famine, all in a vicious destabilizing cycle that bleeds wealth and erodes institutions.

it's a really cruel irony of course then that the wealthiest and stablest places on earth, the places closest to having ideal conditions for progressivism, mostly consist of the military-economic hyperpower and its closest lackeys, who built and continue to build that wealth and stability by exporting their violence in the form of colonialism, whose governments are still by and large run by fundamentally unegalitarian factions that cling tooth and nail to whatever stratification remains in their own societies and exploit a global underclass of their own creation and maintenance. the colonized world has not just gotten unlucky in being trapped in the cycle of reactionary violence, but is constantly being pushed to stay that way, its wealth actively plundered and its institutions and infrastructure actively destroyed

the gist of all of this is: progressivism isn't some product of the West™ to be imposed with force as part of ongoing colonial violence – it's opposition to progressivism that is fundamentally in service of colonialism.

having a very rough night so raph doodles needed to be made

when in need, mash two interests together

[ cw: dismemberment / ]

I think a lot about how Leo’s rescue could have easily ended in him losing a leg as the portal snaps shut on the Krang still clutching the limb, or, alternatively, only having Leo’s right arm make it out, still held dearly in his brother’s hand as the rest of Leo is left behind. (The latter hits even harder, as it directly parallels his future self in the worst of ways.)

I think a lot about how so many things could have gone wrong during the course of the movie with even a little bit of a change, but it really is harrowing how much of a coin-flip the entirety of the Prison Dimension rescue was.

Los Chicos Peleandoooooo

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SUNNY IS A LOVE STORY @badnew2005

Lighthousekeeping, Jeanette Winterson | @boymiffy | @maccymacdonald | Rob McRlhenney, Philadelphia style | Is the Cast of Always Sunny Irredeemable? ceicocat | True Blue, boygenius | @dennisboobs | @starpeace | @chilledmac | @bitseventimes | Rat A Tat, Fall Out Boy | Its Always Sunny In Philadelphia (2005-)

IS ANYONE ELSE FEELING KIND TODAY!!! IS ANYONE ELSE FEELING GENEROUS TOWARDS OTHER PEOPLE!!! IS ANYBODY ELSE BEING KIND AND TRYING TO UNDERSTAND EVEN WHEN ITS HARD!!! IS ANYONE ELSE ASSUMING THE BEST OF OTHERS INTENTIONS AND RESPONDING IN KIND!!!! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME

i love sapphic people so much we’re all so beautiful and deserve so much love i love you i love you i love you

good morning I nneed to take off my skin and re-insert my bones so they feel normal in there again. I need to replace the fluid in my skull it feels like it's cloudy in there. need to take out my individual teeth and clean them bad. and I need there to be no blood because that'd be a another mess

revisiting an ancient OC. his name's orion.

saw that super wholesome video of a girl reuniting with her brothers and thought   ✨✨  Hug Refs  ✨✨  leaving the context of this up to you, i wonder what you cook up :'D

I wonder what clovers parents would think if they did know, like I’m assume there are still human problems and clovers parents seem to be the type of trashy people who would be xenophobic.

i dont think they would care all that much bc it doesnt matter WHAT clover is; just that they’re something they can use to keep their house clean and boss around. they would take clover back just to keep them and parade them around as a hero!

i dont wanna go tooo into the racism aspect bc. its not really my place to talk about being a minority bc im not. but i think they would be terrible people even without being racist

new hot take is that "i don’t need anyone but God" is pretty much wrong and we should stop telling people they can’t get married/have children/etc before they believe this fully. unless you have the spiritual fortitude of a hermit it is untrue. obviously God is perfection in which no lack can be found but we are not in His full presence by virtue of being on earth! if we were then we would be in heaven but we are not! in the meantime, the experience of God we have on earth necessarily includes other people whether they be friends or spouses or children. if that was not true God would not have said "It is not good for man to be alone" and given him a companion even though God himself was interacting with Adam! in this current state of separation from God as it exists on this earth, very few people can really be without all other people and rely only on contemplation and prayer. obviously God is enough and will always be enough, but our perception of Him in this fallen world is seriously lacking if we cannot experience His love through the experience of loving and being loved by others.

Oh yeah! Since I have no clue if/when I'm ever finishing these and I've had them laying around for forever by now- here's the adult IT metaverse outfits I've made! They're all based on their ultimate personas and the concept of heros! Since these were made for an aged up p4 cast, these aren't quite what I'd put their during p4 time selves in- some changing more then others- but if you wanna follow me into design details, that'll all be under the cut!

First off to get em out of the way- Teddie is very largely the same as his p4 time metaverse outfit I made for him back here . The design is still meant to be inspired by magical girls, but the biggest change is that while the old one was meant to look like a magical girl protagonists outfit, this one I tried to lean a bit more into the older/more experienced cast member of the magical girl group type design. Overall a pretty minor change (and I will admit, largely because I'm still incredibly happy with that old design) but it felt fitting!

Chie and Yukiko were, as always when I work on them, designed to match. Their masks specifically mirror eachother with the opposites sides sticking out, and they both have a golden dragon pattern on their clothes as a reference to the twin dragons move! Chie was... honestly one where I had to sacrifice my goals a bit. Like mentioned before, these were meant specifically for an aged up cast. And while p4 era Chie I would absolutely imagine in a kung fu Chung-Li type outfit, we know what a more mature version of her action hero dreams look like; the police! And I.... really did not want to put her in a cop outfit, Ill be real. Instead I just tried focusing on making the outfit look more mature. Also tried to combine a practical and strong look with a more feminine aesthetic, since she struggles pretty badly with her femininity in p4 and I like to think she'd grow more comfortable with her own brand of it over time!

Yukiko is perhaps one of the most drastic one for changes compared to her younger self- if you asked me to design a p4 era outfit for her, it would look nothing like this, hah. Anyways, she's definitely inspired by onna-musha! Compared to Tomoe who was a full on commander of an army going out there, for Yukiko the idea was more the women taking up arms to protect their home when the battle comes their way. Fully having embraced the role she has as the next owner of the Amagi Inn and the responsibility and want to protect it, it's meant to be somewhat of an outing of that!

Fun fact: She has two color schemes! Because uhh I did not know what to go for at all. Her ultimate persona is like a single solid color and I kind of panicked and just ended up winging the colorscheme. One is more red since, y'know, thats her color! The other is more white gold to match her actual persona better. Included at the end of this post for the curious

Rise was based on a greek goddess- though not any particular one, moreso how they're commonly depicteed in art and old statues. Pretty, holy, someone you'd go to for advice and help (someone just out of reach from the general public) It just felt like a good combination of something she'd like to be seen as and percieved as as well. She gets two outfits- for scan and fight mode! Kouzeon has no canon fight mode, thats just for Himiko, but man it exists in my heart. The transistion between the two is literally just her throwing off the long overskirt, hah.

How does her mask work? Excellent question. The p5 idea of having it there when vibing but gone when the persona is out feels a little awkward when her persona's whole thing is putting a visor over her face. Quite frankly I have no idea. Sorry folks. Have all concept sketches for the outfits I've done as compensation with a bonus Noot in there that I never continued on and finished.

Just had a sick thought that if Jean knew who Drake was and what he did to Andrew, that means that Riko must have told him everything. Thinking about Riko’s sick, psychopathic face, how excited he would’ve been to have found Andrew’s childhood rapist, how enthusiastic he would’ve been about Proust.

And Jean just had to sit there and listen to it. He had to agree to what he had to agree to, he had to tell Riko what he wanted to hear, just to keep the peace, to avoid another beating. Jean knew Riko was orchestrating Andrew’s assault. He knew what Riko wanted Proust to do to Andrew. He knew Riko was planning to break Andrew, the unwavering force that he is, and Jean couldn’t do a single solitary thing to stop it

btw not to make everything about My Fucking Guy but i honestly think one of the things that seperates q!phil out from the other islanders is the approach he takes to dealing with the lack of agency + control all the islanders have over whatever the fuck the federation's doing.

it shows up most prominently whenever tubbo is excitedly telling him about the 'progress' he's made with cucurucho or various investigations (ie: trapping him into a corner with the 'do you have free will' questions), and phil always shoots it down w an immediate 'that doesn't mean anything. curucuho will say anything to mess with you. you can't take anything he says as true.'

and it's not that phil is... a paticularly pessimistic character? he's just EXTREMELY practical. like, he's yet to give up on anyone EVER finding ANY answers (he was the one who initially gave the federation that one week ultimatum w the cage for a cage stream), he just doesn't trust the idea that curucuho is ever going to voluntarily give them. they're uncontrollable + senseless - you might as well argue with the weather.

and like, if that's how he sees the one (1) and only point of contact the islanders HAD with the federation for months, it explains a lot abt his characters lifestyle! ofc he sits on the wall all day, talking to his kids, and keeping his head down. he believes that the federation wants nothing more than to drag the islanders into sick games + tasks just so they can fuck with their head (ie: curucuho revealing he was the one cellbit gathered all that information for). and while he can't totally PREVENT any of that from ever impacting him, he can make sure his kids are well fed, well protected, and as happy + comfortable as he can manage. this is objectively not a perfect situation, there is a guaranteed amount of suffering + fear that he can't mitigate, but he can at least account for it.

like, he REFUSES to engage. whenever curucho shows up, he treats them with total ambivalence. he's not going to get riled up by anything they do, he's not going to get super attached to the guy, he's just gonna laugh it off and irish goodbye it when things drag on. the ONLY time he's strayed from that general guiding principle has been since he's lost his eggs, and can no longer afford to let the federation's fuckery go: those are his fucking kids.

hence the completely unprecedented levels of outward rage and sadness and terror he shows throughout the birdcage streams - almost all directed directly to cucurucho. it's all a completely fair + proportional response to the horror the islanders are being subjected to, but it feels so different bc until now, q!phil has been so dedicated to not reacting, and not giving the federation any sign that they're actually getting to him.