i've officially ascended a couple tiers of maslow's hierarchy of needs and instead of simple resting on the laurels of being in a very stable, very healthy environment and working on things patiently, my mind has decided to take a curtain and blind out the bottom layers as much as possible, so that i can never know peace as i now chase harder to obtain bullshit i guess

May I RQ a reader who is trying to learn their language to help them feel more comfortable, but feels insecure due to them not really being fluent? They mispronounce and misuse the slangs in context, but hopes they can make the boys see the effort they are trying to go through for them.

Lessons In Miscommunication

A/N: Hi doll, I hope you don't mind me using König for this one. I've got a lot of experience with Spanish irl, but that's not super applicable here, haha. To anyone who's German... please forgive me. 🤍 Summary: You're on comms during a mission getting a small lesson in König's language while waiting for your next orders from HQ. Things get complicated, and there's a language and culture barrier that makes things... challenging. T/W: canonical warfare, cursing, non-fluent use of German, flirting, feelings, and some other stuff probably. Not proofread, as always.

To put it simply, you didn't expect just how difficult it would be to learn a new language in your twenties. Sure the science spoke to the provable trouble you would have compared to a much younger version of yourself, but for all meaningful purposes, you really didn't think it would be this nuanced. And while Spanish, French, and other languages were of great importance, there wasn't anyone who could teach you those. The one person around was König, and he spoke German.

When you'd approached the topic nearly eight months ago, he'd been honestly shocked and surprised that you'd come to him in the first place and secondly that you thought he would be a good teacher. He was often thought of as reliable as a Colonel, but giving you suitable enough tutoring in German to be conversational was nothing short of uncharted territory for the pair of you. This made for very interesting moments in and outside of missions as well as a few times where it would've been better if you'd used an online app or something to keep from unintentionally embarrassing yourself.

Posted almost two miles away from the Colonel on a rocky outcropping overlooking a small encampment of a radical terrorist group, you laid on the hillside with a rifle and radio trying to pass the time between now and when you'd get the call to secure the site. The men and women down below were only one small stop-off point for a far larger caravan of armored trucks and a few tanks carrying supplies and weaponry toward the closest city of Almazra. It was a threat that couldn't come to fruition if the buildings and people still living there were to be left standing by the end of the week.

On the other end of the two-mile distance was König and a selected squad of men who were waiting just as impatiently as you were to not only get this mission over with but to get out of the damn desert heat. For security's sake, you knew you should be keeping the airways clear for any kind of information about the insurgent's movements, but König had insisted that this would be a perfect opportunity for you to get some practice in without losing focus of the task at hand. Your job at the moment was to keep eyes on the encampment through the lens of your sniper rifle and report anything that looked to be of importance.

König's definition of what was important could be easily debatable, yet it did ensure that you could make simple connections between real-world objects and the German words or phrases that matched. Whether or not the Colonel realized it or not, both of you had slightly gotten off the target of what you were supposed to be talking about and wandered into the more... personal aspects of things. Specifically just how bad you wanted to be home after nearly a full month away from American soil and your personal home.

"Ich habe für immer Fernweh," Your accent was certainly progressing, at least in the Colonel's mind, but he wasn't quite sure exactly what you meant by that.

"Was meinst du damit? Kannst du es dieses Mal auf Englisch sagen?"

His voice sounded a little confused and more than a tinge humored at the way you'd sounded so... formal. Even diplomatic to a degree. It was one of the more difficult parts of teaching you. Dialects, slang, and even simple English-to-German translations didn't always have a very direct or clear answer. Often it meant that you would say something with full intention and innocent honesty, and König would have to keep himself from chuckling. Most of the men he worked alongside didn't speak for one reason or another, so getting to hear at least one person -especially you- made the near and far miscommunication more than worth the effort.

Looking through your scope at a group of five sitting around a small fire, you sigh a bit, trying to think of how to explain yourself.

"I meant I'm feeling homesick," You mutter a little more quietly than necessary, almost as if saying it in English was broadcasting your secret while German somehow kept it from being found out. "What did you hear me say?"

König chuckled, his laugh vibrating in the speakers of your comm quite nicely. "You said you have wanderlust forever," You could hear him smiling from the other end. "It's okay, sometimes the words don't always mean exactly what you think they do. I had the same problem when I learned English." For a moment he paused, laughing softly again. "I still can't say Squirrel... properly."

"Vielleicht habe ich doch Lust auf etwas..." You mutter a bit frustrated and somewhat skarkily under your breath, making a small jab at wordplay not thinking that König could hear you over the radio or that he'd be more shocked to hear you say such a thing.

The radio stays silent for a long few minutes, almost tricking you into believing that you'd been safe in making your comment under your breath without any audible witnesses. Only on the other end, the Colonel was struggling between the actual meaning behind your words, the way it sounded so damn sexy... and how he was supposed to actually answer you without sounding too affected by something as simple as your voice.

"Se-Sergeant..." His voice sounded a little weak, much in the same way it did when he was in an uncomfortable social situation. "What did you just say?"

Instantly your body tensed up from fingers to toes and you felt a shock of heat roll through you. König heard you. Right away you assumed by the growl in his question that you were going to be in for some kind of punishment. Maybe even a good ass-chewing in front of the rest of the squad for saying something so easily considered lewd and totally unprofessional to utter in the presence of a superior officer. Your best bet was apologizing, and hoping he'd just let it go...

"I'm sorry, I was just frustrated and-"

His voice deepens over the radio, almost like he's got it pressed right up against his mouth. "Say it again." The command felt heavy in your stomach. "Now."

You repeated the phrase, staring through the lens of your scope with bated breath. waiting to hear what the Colonel would say in response. And the last thing you expected was to hear an almost pained sort of growling sound vibrating in your ears. It made you shiver and despite König being almost two miles away, it felt like he was breathing down your neck.

"Du klingst so hübsch, wenn du das sagst..." A noticeable static over the radio took your attention, but when it didn't get worse you had the mental capacity to translate what König said word by word until you had the full sentence running through your head.

The time between his praise and your response was nearly indistinguishable between seconds and years. Had it not been for you watching your targets moving in real-time through your scope, you would've thought the whole world had come to a stuttering halt in anticipation of your response. Yet it seemed that the world still had to do other important things which included bringing the key turning point of this mission right to your front door with the sudden sound of an approaching squad tailing the convoy of insurgents giving information and callouts for how to proceed forward. Of those, orders for König and his men to begin working down the side of the mountain to intercept the meeting of the convoy and the small ground sitting in tents around a high-burning fire.

"Ich werde später herausfinden, wie hübsch man klingen kann, wenn man schmutzige Dinge auf Deutsch sagt." The Colonel's voice growled lowly, almost threatening in a sense.

There was no telling what would happen after the mission ended and there wasn't a threat of being shot or failing to secure Almazra. What you could count on was König finding you and testing out his theory of all the things you could say in his language they may or may not have been provocative - on purpose or not. Something in your body shivered in delightful nervousness and anticipation of just how he planned on getting that kind of information out of you. A couple of ideas swirled in your mind, but the movement of the incoming convoy didn't allow you the luxury of daydreaming about your Colonel or how your mistaken words and German lessons had landed you here.

Comments and Reblogs are Always Helpful <3

literally stop being an mcr fan then! why can you forgive gerard but not lynz? everyone will pretend they support the idea of allowing someone to learn and grow and change but then they'll see a woman and go oh no not her she's irredeemable like? the double standards are ridiculous

It’s so crazy… I’ve seen countless people say that she needs to explicitly apologize for her actions and yeah I guess that would be nice. I just think it's a more complicated and nuanced situation than it might seem. Her apologizing for being in msi and participating in complicit racism would implement a lot of people and make them guilty by association. It would imply everyone including the sound guys who worked shows would then be connected to "having worked for a racist band" and could seriously complicate relationships - both working and not.

Also, I sometimes really don't understand why this is a discussion worthy of so much time other than reflecting on the atmosphere that allowed such a band to rise within the scene? (I think there's a real meaningful conversation to be had about the excusing of racism from a lot of people within the alt music scene even today.)The band hasn’t toured since 2014? Acts like Marilyn Manson - who among all his other crimes also used racial slurs as shock value - is actively touring. And for the double standards - Frank fucking toured with msi in 2013 like why not cancel him for that LOL!!! Or god forbid, Gerard for working with Jimmy Urine in 2018.

Even forgiving Gerard for saying he’s Japanese while dogpiling Lindsey for saying she’s partially Indian when she doesn’t even know her birth dad is wild to me. The tweets are very similar to each other - and neither of them have apologized? I've seen people start excusing Gerard's tweet, extrapolating info like "he must have taken a DNA test" well, there's no proof of that, and why not extend that benefit of the doubt to Lindsey? Like yes, she shouldn’t have said it but Gerard shouldn’t have either! I also just can't help but think there are more important issues oh my god!!! I've seen people - both Indian and East Asian alike - express discomfort with both Lindsey's and Gerard's actions, and I completely understand that! I just only ever see Lindsey's held to such irredeemable levels, and that's usually by white people who I personally feel are overstepping their role. I just can't help but think some white people do not have meaningful, real life, conversations with the demographics they are supposedly advocating for.

I am definitely not the person to absolve her of her sins or excuse anything she’s done and people she’s hurt, but do people (and I mean primarily other white people who - from my experience - are mainly the ones posting hate about her) realize she has probably been the most clear and explicit about her anti-racist learning curve? Out of anyone even remotely connected to mcr, she has posted and done more direct funding and outreach for Black organizations than anyone. Yes, that’s Twitter activism and doesn’t exactly amount to much in the grand scheme of things, but if people who hate her judge her off of her internet footprint, why not use the same to realize maybe she has learned?

I recently tried to see if she had acknowledged any of her faults publicly- and to my shock - she has!

I’m not saying this is the best response to every thing but I also never saw this mentioned ever before.

I truly think some of the worst stuff she’s done is publicly support Jimmy Urine after the allegations came out but again everyone who just spreads that as a fact completely misses the context of her ex friend spreading unhinged rumors about her for like a year before those allegations came out. Jessicka Adams accused Gerard of sexual misconduct and started claiming that Lindsey was in cahoots with a man who accused Jessicka of sleeping with him when he was underage. Truly unhinged stuff.

If I was Lindsey and my ex-friend was doing that, purposefully targeting people close to me, I also might immediately assume she was behind those against the lead singer of my old band! She should NOT have voiced her suspicions publicly, and I do think that was wrong, but it’s not like she doubled down on it since? I know a lot of people would like to think they would act differently if they were in her shoes, but really think about it! If allegations that arose online came out against a man you called a friend - who you let watch your daughter - would you immediately publicly turn against him? She should have apologized when it became clear the allegations were not unfounded, but even when the news first broke she was liking tweets which better explained her mindset. Also last I heard, they are no longer friends at all.

Again with the double standards though. I've seen no noise around Mikey’s wife publicly defending wife abuser Johnny Depp (a person she does not even know) when he won his trial? Or the fact that Gerard was also very good friend with Jimmy and most likely shares a similar opinion as his wife?

I've also seen people say things like "well she should have known because of all the signs" I think this a dangerous oversimplification. What about the band No Devotion? Everyone loves them here. They formed after their old lead singer was exposed as rapist with multiple situations of him sleeping with young girls on tour. Why didn't those guys know about it?

I also just feel like using this case a justification to hate her alongside stuff like "she made a mikey hate blog!!" (she didn't) just feels so wrong to me. It’s like people are happy this happened to a woman because it gives justification to hate Lindsey. I see no attempts to support this Jane Doe with tweets of support or some kind of fundraiser. It's always just rooted in hatred of another woman.

Hey If you don’t mind if I ask what was the inspiration for your story

It’s my party and I’ll fry if I’ll want to

Like the plot line or the character dynamic’s etc

AND AND Like WHY couldn’t Louise see that she’s in LOVE with Logan!!!!!

I absolutely don’t mind and in fact am thrilled that you want to know more about this piece! Thank you for asking!

It’s My Party (and I’ll fry if I want to): Rated E. “From the way the chairs on either side of her remain empty to the way the bartender—whose name she can’t bother to remember—never stays too long in her corner, Louise determines they’re all scared of the woman who mutters to herself while tearing paper label after paper label.”

The important thing about this story, no matter the inspiration, is that Louise, Logan, and Rudy ALL needed to be shown as complicated individuals, sympathetic and not at the same time, or none of it would have mattered. There is no completely right or wrong answer to life, and shit is messy in It’s My Party.

The inspiration for the character dynamics is actually a pretty uncomplicated answer! I asked “what would happen if I cranked these characters flaws up to 11” and then boom. Done. I wrote a few more notes on this on chapter two of this fic. As for the inspiration for the piece itself?

I won’t lie to you, this started as spite fic. It was only supposed to be the first scene in the bar, and Louise was originally going to leave with Logan then and there. I was in a place where I was tired of seeing Logan written as a villain, but never… in character? So, in the way that Linda explains how to throw a shrimp, I said “That’s not how you write Logan as a villain. THIS is how you write Logan as a villain.”

But then it… evolved? I sat down to write and just more and more things poured out until I realized I couldn’t write a spite fic, nor did I ever really want to. I had something more nuanced I wanted to say. Something that was meaningful—to me at least. And when you’re dealing with nuance, there’s not room for a Good Guy and a Bad Guy.

It also probably isn’t all that surprising that this is a… deeply personal story. Deeply personal, but also a story shared by a lot of people—usually women but not always. When you grow up being told that the way you think and act is in some way inherently wrong by institutions (for me, it was my family, my religion, my community), it’s not something you can shrug off. And sometimes you unfortunately start playing a part that isn’t right for you because maybe it’s supposed to make things “easier,” maybe it’s supposed to be “good.” And also, sometimes, it starts manifesting as self-hatred.

As an outsider, it’s easy to look at Louise’s situation and think “man… she really needs to leave Rudy,” but that undermines that she does love him and him needing her is going to mean something. Yes, she loves Logan too, but the theme of “love” isn’t what’s pulling the most strings (even though, yes, it definitely should be a focus, and that’s one of the reasons this story happens in the first place).

The relationship between Want and Need ends up playing a much bigger role. Louise may know she wants Logan but she is too disconnected from herself to be able to tell what she needs. Aren’t there some pieces of you that have wanted to be needed? Being needed is like being handed a purpose on a silver platter, and that’s hard to turn down even if it’s draining every last ounce of your spirit. This coincides with Logan and Rudy’s feelings towards her. Logan says it flat out at one point, “I want you, but he needs you.” That contraction with the “but” is meant to imply that the reverse is also true. Logan doesn’t need Louise and Rudy doesn’t want her. Or, at least, that’s how they’re presenting themselves. How is Louise supposed to be able to tell which is more valuable when she’s already so disconnected? Why does each one come with a catch?

And that’s how you get a story like It’s My Party.

Anyway, I’m just now realizing you may have wanted to know the answer behind this specific plot (ie: Louise and Rudy are in an unhappy relationship when her ex Logan moves back into town). It felt like the best way to explore closure and unmet needs by having these contrasting separations (physical and emotional) pulling Louise in different directions and confusing her.

Also, straight up, if I can be real with you… the idea of finally taking what you want even when it’s wrong is hot 🔥

Hidden Blade - Tony Leung, Wang Yibo

Hidden Blade / Nameless - no spoilers Since other threads on this movie are very spoilery, and it's a film that you do not want to be spoiled for, here's a post without spoilers. Hidden Blade is very good and well worth watching, even if you're not usually interested in war stories or modern-era films. It's historical enough to be tinged with an epic quality (the moment of China's desperate struggle against the Japanese invasion) and the kind of melancholic emotional tone that Cdramas often do so well. If you come for the Tony Leung or the Wang Yibo, you won't be disappointed, but there's a lot more to like too. I wish the English release had kept the original title - Nameless, or Anonymous, instead of a title that sounds like a Hong Kong 1965 kung fu movie. This is nominally a WWII spy thriller, but it's much more a psychological portrait of people intertwined among complicated political and personal loyalties. The director, who also wrote the screenplay, keeps his secrets close to his chest and takes the story step by step through its mysteries in a fragmented way that switches from flashbacks to flash-forwards. This takes a little getting used to. It's a beautiful -looking film, shot with a lot of style and atmosphere. With the exception of one weak performance, the acting is riveting. Tony Leung is never less than deeply absorbing to watch. The more he withholds, the more he gives. Wang Yibo will not surprise anyone who admired him in The Untamed, but he has more scope here for ambiguity and shades of gray. (And if anyone wondered if he could do a fight scene in modern terms, the answer is yes.) I like this director's style. It's not exactly subtle - he uses mirrors every chance he gets to play up the duality of characters and their uncertain identities (along with the use of dual languages). But it works here and doesn't seem gimmicky. The dim, period color palette is poetic. The very conscious use of light and shadow also looked beautiful and made sense for the story. The director borrows from film noir, up to and including the way fedora hats cast shadows on faces. But he also borrows from other cinematic languages, especially Zentropa (Lars von Trier's dark-poetry movie about Germany at the end of WWII) and Andrei Tarkovsky's apocalyptic films. --- The rest of this is some tips for western viewers: If, like me, you're relying on the translated subtitles, there are a few things useful to know. (First, though: shoutout to a real film production that allows the actors to keep their own voices, and whose translation subtitles make sense and are in natural English. I weep for the poor titling in Cdrama series, knowing how much we lose.) ~ The story takes place in several different parts of China, not always made clear except that the dialogue occasionally switches from Mandarin to Cantonese or Shanghainese. I would love it if a native speaker could list the scenes where this happens, as I could only sort of pick up a few of the moments. On top of that, whole very important scenes are in Japanese, with both Japanese and Chinese actors. It may not be all that easy for western viewers to hear this at first, so listen for Japanese and be alert to it from the start. It's meaningful for the story. (Shoutout to Wang Yibo, who delivers a crucial scene in Japanese. I know he's fluent in Korean, not so sure about Japanese, though - and his performance in that scene is emotionally powerful, nuanced, with amazing vocal rhythm. It's pretty amazing. The always-astonishing Tony Leung also has major moments in Japanese - but I expect brilliance from him in any case.) ~ If you don't know much about the part of WWII that involved China and Japan, it's helpful to have a little context, as the movie assumes familiarity and doesn't use bad exposition to explain the background. I'm only giving bare bones as needed for the movie - and oversimplifying a lot. Japan invaded China in 1937, before the European part of WWII started. The invasion was extraordinarily brutal. An estimated 20 million civilians died. The Japanese occupied eastern China and installed a puppet government under Wang Jingwei. The main characters work for this Japanese-controlled regime. Meanwhile, north of China, by the 1930s the Soviet Union had expanded and spread communism all the way east. Prior to the Japanese invasion, China was in a civil war between the Chinese nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and the communists under Mao Zedong. Both groups allied long enough during WWII to eventually repel Japan before resuming their war. So there are 3 different political entities vying for control of China. In all of this, the territory of Manchuria was particularly contested. Japan had invaded and occupied it in 1931, and wanted it as a buffer against the USSR, and for other reasons. Knowing these basic facts can help orient the film's story. I've seen some pretty stupid reviews in the US that call this movie "propaganda for the CCP." I'll just say this: If all the Hollywood WWII movies from The Longest Day to Saving Private Ryan are "propaganda for the USA" then maybe that's a legit pov. Whatever opinions any of us may hold about the Chinese government today (no doubt there are many different views here), the resistance to the Japanese invasion between 1931 and 1945 was heroic and patriotic. Anyway, the movie is findable on Youtube and I think Bilibili in some regions. Go watch it.

Feeling low and under-confident? The need to deliver and impress each time can be overwhelming! The demands and stress of the modern world pressure have indeed taken a toll on many. Do you often feel nervous or scared to strike a conversation with others, feel you are not worthy of the person you are attracted to, or can’t be at ease with others? If you are conscious of your behavior and personality, what you need is a mentor to steer you through the low self-esteem phase. The eBook ‘The Supreme Self-Confidence’ by Slade Shaw is a helpful and motivational guide. Being a popular product on the ClickBank marketplace, it has several positive reviews, and this drove me to try it out and review it for you here! What is The Supreme Self-Confidence The eBook helps you as its reader to improve your self-confidence whenever you are in a relationship or at social gatherings. People who do not socialize much are usually those with low confidence issues. With the help of the tips given in this ebook, you become confident and attractive, thus enhancing your connectivity with others significantly. Many readers have succeeded in developing their relationships faster and better, making them more meaningful. You get over your anxiety and can start interesting conversations with ease. The book also deals with handling awkward situations and managing disturbed relationships. You learn to become less irritable and also to attract other people with the positive changes that the instructions in the eBook provide you. You will start noticing remarkable changes in your attitude, emotions, thoughts, and lifestyle. Your confidence level will draw others to you. You will start rejecting unwanted social beliefs and start living your life differently. What Supreme Self-Confidence contains The author of the book mainly talks about the development of your inner self. The main subjects covered in this book include: Personal confidence: You will be surprised to find out things that you were not aware of, which had so far limited your interaction with others. You learn to accept yourself as you are. This personal confidence helps you gain control of your thoughts and your body. Social confidence: The book offers you guidance on how to get over your inhibitions when you are in public and become a friendly personality. You are taught the nuances of developing confidence when you are at a party. You will start talking to people with more confidence. The book gives excellent examples of what to do when you are at an office party, a family get-together, or a friendly dinner. It covers a lot of ground to give you several real-life scenarios to help you along. Sexual confidence: If you lack confidence in the bedroom or are afraid to make the first move, this section of the ebook helps you get over your problem. You will be shown how you can be a better partner by being communicative, experimental, and fun in your sexual encounters. How Supreme Self-Confidence Works The book offers tips and advice that are not complicated. You will find them simple enough to practice effectively and enhance your confidence in all areas of your life. The book gives you top-level tips to overcome confidence issues under challenging situations like death or breakups. Such cases are usually uncomfortable for many people, and they don't know how to react. I found a lot of relevant material pertaining to this in the book. Strategies to improve your relationships and tips on how to start conversing with confidence also find important coverage in the book. Once you start following the instructions, you will find that your mind has calmed down, adding to the confidence in you and lets you live a worry-free life. You will be able to handle rejections with ease and have no fear in facing such a situation. When you buy this eBook, you will also get some bonuses such as: Achieve Mastery of Your Inner Game: You get tips from the leading dating experts on achieving an excellent level of self-confidence.

It also has suggestions to develop a relationship for a positive effect on your life. Master Your Confidence Through Overcoming Shyness: Often, you would have observed that your shyness costs you a good relationship. You learn to get over the problem to handle life with confidence and ease. Tease Women and Make them Laugh: This is purely a product for men on making women comfortable in your company. A Saucy Guide to Teasing Your Man: This bonus for women teaches them how to have fun with men, feel more confident and at ease in male company. Pros Affordability Guidelines to remove fear from your mind and live a worry-free life Building up self-confidence You will learn to control your mind better. It works for both men and women. It comes with attractive bonuses Plenty of information to improve yourself continuously and even for those who think they are already out of the problem Professional design and impressive layout You learn to improve your leadership qualities. You are taught to handle any high-pressure situations 100% money-back guarantee without any conditions Cons Many feel it is slightly overpriced. Not all the suggestions may work out for everyone. The program is fully digital; no physical book is mailed to you. A lot of self-corrective action is needed from your end to achieve the result. Final verdict The eBook, with its 184 pages, is bubbling with instructions on how to gain back confidence in yourself - on the professional front, in your sexual activities, and when handling parties and society. The advice is general enough to be applicable to most people and specific enough to actually give targeted advice. I like how it's balanced out. You will find the book's suggestions quite easy to follow because you will be aware that self-confidence is the root of success in your personal life, career, and life goals. By overcoming fear and hesitancy, you will be able to witness steady growth in your life. Even if you feel that you are already following some of the instructions, there’s always room for improvement. A professionally designed eBook with an attractive layout, the book is for people who want to improve their social and personal life. I personally think it's worth a read. Like with any other self-help product, you need to sift the content you can apply to your life. Of course, you need to make a significant effort to get rid of your reserve to notice any changes. As the usual money-back guarantee is there, so you need not worry!

With Digimon Ghost Game starting, I thought about how different it is from previous Digimon series, though it's still undoubtedly Digimon... and then I realized all Digimon series are like that. So I wonder, what do you think sets each Digimon series apart from the rest?

I think both Ghost Game but also the reboot have been a wake-up call for people in terms of realizing that likes, dislikes, and tastes are subjective, and I think it's especially important in terms of this fanbase that is so obsessed with this idea you can objectively rank things by quality -- especially when each series is often deliberately trying to have its own identity, so it's arguably apples and oranges -- and forcing this idea of what's Good and Not Good on everyone else (especially when there's a nasty double standard phenomenon where Adventure and often Tamers get to be so impervious to criticism that people conveniently forget they're perfectly capable of being scrutinized for a lot of things they're weaker in). Very frustrating to see everyone who likes less popular series treated as if they have to accept that they like a "badly written series" for some things and everything else is a guilty pleasure, which I find to be incredibly dumb.

The most important take-home here is that the fact each series has its own identity is always going to be the main factor in what makes it "good" or not to you, not some arbitrary bar of comparison that's based on some narrow-minded view of "good writing" (which is usually unreasonably based on Adventure). For instance, the reason why 02 is so important to me is because (see below), to me, it has the highest amount of meaningful, important life lessons and themes that it wanted its audience to remember, to the point that I frankly do not care about where the plot goes in comparison. That may not be the case for everyone else, and that's fine, but should my tastes be called unreasonable for that? I think we're also coming to realize that because of Adventure (and kind of 02)'s precedent, so many people have been judging series purely by how intimate their individual character development style is, but this is unfair because Adventure and 02's ridiculous level of character depth to psychological detail is extremely unusual and unrealistic to expect of others; Adventure and 02 only achieved this by practically considering the plot utterly subservient to its character arcs, and it's arguably why they have some of the weakest "plots" in this franchise. It's so bizarre that I can see character development in other Digimon series that outstrips even most kids' anime on the market, but it's not as much as Adventure's so apparently it's bad. And, moreover, as it turns out, some people have priorities other than characterization; just because Adventure had that as its strength doesn't mean that's the only thing anyone should care about. Is the plot fun? Is there a meaningful message besides characters (also important to me)? Do you vibe with the tone being dark, or being silly? How much do you care about resourceful usage of Digimon lore? That kind of thing. Everyone is different, so that's why everyone has their own priorities. If you’re someone who prefers darker content, you may not realize that writing good and well-timed comedy is actually a very, very difficult task, especially when said comedy simultaneously has meaning (in comparison, it’s surprisingly easy to write “dark” but shallow content).

I think it's fair to like every Digimon series for its own thing, depending on your personal tastes. I can't speak for everyone, but my impressions are that it has to do with the following:

Adventure: Significantly easier to understand than 02 due to its more straightforward plot, and focus on individual character development ("individualism" being a strong point here). In terms of characters, it goes a lot into some very real social problems (the divorce around the Ishida and Takaishi families and the pressures surrounding Jou, for instance) in a very realistic manner. Also, it has that sense of mystique and absurdism to the Digital World that's both whimsical but also mysterious, and while 02 has it too, Adventure's the isekai story that has it the most.

02: The first is its focus on the importance of human relationships and the compelling group dynamic unparalleled in this franchise, and the second is its important themes and life lessons that I think are some of the strongest in said franchise. I have a whole tag for the ridiculous amount of nuance packed into every detail and dialogue line for this series, and I think every time I've rewatched an episode I've learned something new about it because there are so many things that clearly wanted to be said in each line. The entire series is basically an unpacking of the feelings of insidious self-hatred and the crushing feeling of being subject to society's expectations, and ones that are so deep-seated that you often don’t even have a single answer to how to unpack it (for instance, Miyako hardly has a tragic single event in her backstory, but she says and does a lot of things that'll be painfully familiar to those who have experienced chronic anxiety). Almost every plot point can be said to connect to each character arc in some way, and the mantras for appreciating and treasuring your own life and living life the way you will make this, in my opinion, the strongest series in terms of speaking to those who struggle with this kind of existential crisis for reasons of depression or otherwise. (Oops, I think I went too passionate about this; my biases are obvious...)

Tamers: I think it forms an interesting study and unpacking of the kinds of things you take for granted in Digimon or the monster-collecting genre in general, and an examination of how they'd work in a real-world context (although 02 had a focus on daily life, it didn't quite merge the Digimon and the real world factors until very late in the series). Also, probably the second highest on "hard sci-fi" (the only one that outstrips it is probably Appmon, but Appmon has a very different, more simplified take on it).

Frontier: A series that lies somewhere between Adventure's scale of individualism and 02's scale of group dynamic, and one more discussing the feeling of having your heart hardened from being an outcast, and what it takes to accept the idea of opening yourself up to others again. Recommended for those who like transforming hero and magical girl stories, too. From the Digimon perspective, also the one with the most detailed and consistent Digital World mythos.

Savers: I think this is the series that most drives home "life is complicated" (i.e. there isn't a single mastermind behind everything) in the most tasteful manner, because while it drives home the point that you can't just simplify everything into a good side and a bad side, some bad things really are evil (hi, Kurata), and it doesn't change the fact that everyone's responsible for cleaning up the fallout. The portrayal of the evils of government bureaucracy is probably the most realistic out of any of these series.

Xros Wars: For those who like fun, most of all! For those who like seeing Digimon finally get more of the spotlight and individuality since so much of it had been geared and biased towards the humans prior to this. For those who really like worldbuilding, and, after all, this is called Xros Wars, so it's interesting to see shakeups on the usual formulas in the form of the different factions and their priorities. Hunters is very different in tone, but I do think they have some of these aspects in common; that said, it being closer to having single partnerships brings it a bit closer in line to conventional Digimon partnerships, and it also has more of a picture of daily life. Also, as much as Tagiru is probably your-mileage-may-vary since he's not exactly a very nice kid (I get it if you don't vibe with that), which may also rub those hoping for not nice kids to become nice the wrong way, I do have to say I find him to be one of the funniest characters in this entire franchise, and you'd be surprised how hard good comedy is to write.

Appmon: Probably one of the strongest theme narratives besides 02, since it has a very clear and obvious theme about the importance of kindness in a world where technology is dominating and we're almost encouraged to strip the feelings out of everything. (Bonus for more straightforward plot than Adventure or 02 while still retaining a lot of its elements in terms of how to characterize them.) Also the first series to be speculative about the near future instead of taking place around the time it airs, and it's very obvious it wants to provide important and necessary commentary about what we need to do in the incoming era, especially as a lot of what it has to say becomes increasingly relevant.

Reboot: For those who like Digimon mythos and null canon -- this is probably the only series to show it off in this level of detail -- and the kind of cool action fights that would usually be saved for the climax in prior series (and animated in much more intimate detail with battle choreography than prior series would have). There are a lot of people into this franchise who felt like it genuinely was not making enough use of its Digimon roster and its potential because it kept going back to the old standbys (especially Adventure-based ones), so it was a huge relief for that crowd to see attention finally being paid.

Hi there! If you feel up to it, would you be willing to expand a bit more on the idea of white creators creating poc characters who are ‘internally white’, especially in a post-racialized or racism-free setting & how to avoid it? It’s something I’m very concerned about but I haven’t encountered a lot of info about it outside of stories set in real world settings. Thanks & have a good day!

Hey, thanks for asking, anon!  It’s a pretty nuanced topic, and different people will have different takes on it.  I’ll share my thoughts on it, but do keep in mind that other people of colour may have different thoughts on the matter, and this is by no means definitive!  These are things I’ve observed through research, trial and error, my own experiences, or just learning from other writers.

The first thing I guess I want to clarify is that I personally am not opposed to a society without racism in fiction.  It’s exhausting and frankly boring when the only stories that characters of colour get are about racism!  So it’s a relief sometimes to just get to see characters of colour exist in a story without dealing with racism.  That being said, I feel like a lot of the time when creators establish their settings as “post-racial,” they avoid racism but they also avoid race altogether.  Not aesthetically -they may have a few or even many characters with dark skin- but the way the characters act and talk and relate to the world are “race-less” (which tends to end up as default white American/British or whatever place the creator comes from).  Which I have complicated thoughts on, but the most obvious thing that springs to mind is how such an approach implies (deliberately or not) that racism is all there is to the way POC navigate the world.  It’s definitely a significant factor, particularly for POC in Western countries, but it’s not the only thing!  There’s so much more to our experiences than just racial discrimination, and it’s a shame that a lot of “post-racial” or “racism-free” settings seem to overlook that in their eagerness to not have racism (or race) in their stories.

A quick go-to question I ask when I look at characters of colour written/played by white creators is: if this was a story or transcript I was reading, with no art or actors or what have you, would I be able to tell that this character is a character of colour?  How does the creator signal to the audience that this is a character of colour?  A lot of the time, this signal stops after the physical description - “X has dark skin” and then that’s all!  (We will not discuss the issue of racial stereotypes in depth, but it should be clear that those are absolutely the wrong way to indicate a character of colour).

This expands to a wider issue of using dark skin as a be-all-end-all indication of diversity, which is what I mean by “aesthetic” characters of colour (I used the term “internally white” originally but upon further reflection, it has some very loaded implications, many of which I’m personally familiar with, so I apologize for the usage).  Yes, the character may not “look” white, but how do they interact with the world?  Where do they come from?  What is their background, their family?  A note: this can be challenging with diaspora stories in the real world and people being disconnected (forcibly or otherwise) from their heritage (in which case, those are definitely stories that outsiders should not tell).  So let’s look at fantasy.  Even the most original writer in the world bases their world building off existing things in the real world.  So what cultures are you basing your races off of?  If you have a dark skinned character in your fantasy story, what are the real world inspirations and equivalents that you drew from, and how do you acknowledge that in a respectful, non-stereotyped way?

(Gonna quickly digress here and say that there are already so many stories about characters of colour disconnected from their heritage because ‘They didn’t grow up around other people from that culture’ or ‘They moved somewhere else and grew up in that dominant culture’ or ‘It just wasn’t important to them growing up’ and so on.  These are valid stories, and important to many people!  But when told by (usually) white creators, they’re also used, intentionally or not, as a sort of cop-out to avoid having to research or think about the character’s ethnicity and how that influences who they are.  So another point of advice: avoid always situating characters outside of their heritage.  Once or twice explored with enough nuance and it can be an interesting narrative, all the time and it starts being a problem)

Another thing I want to clarify at this point is that it’s a contentious issue about whether creators should tell stories that aren’t theirs, and different people will have different opinions.  For me personally, I definitely don’t think it’s inherently bad for creators to have diverse characters in their work, and no creator can live every experience there is.  That being said, there are caveats for how such characters are handled.  For me personally, I follow a few rules of thumb which are:

Is this story one that is appropriate for this creator to tell?  Some experiences are unique and lived with a meaningful or complex history and context behind them and the people to whom those experiences belong do not want outsiders to tell those stories.

To what extent is the creator telling this story?  Is it something mentioned as part of the narrative but not significantly explored or developed upon?  Does it form a core part of the story or character?  There are some stories that translate across cultures and it’s (tentatively) ok to explore more in depth, like immigration or intergenerational differences.  There are some stories that don’t, and shouldn’t be explored in detail (or even at all) by people outside those cultures.

How is the creator approaching this story and the people who live it?  To what extent have they done their research?  What discussions have they had with sensitivity consultants/readers?  What kind of respect are they bringing to their work?  Do they default to stereotypes and folk knowledge when they reach the limits of their research?  How do they respond to feedback or criticism when audiences point things that they will inevitably get wrong?

Going back to the “race-less” point, I think that creators need to be careful that they’re (respectfully) portraying characters of colour as obvious persons of colour.  With a very definite ‘no’ on stereotyping, of course, so that’s where the research comes in (which should comprise of more than a ten minute Google search).  If your setting is in the real world, what is the background your character comes from and how might that influence the way they act or talk or see the world?  If your setting is in a fantasy world, same question!  Obviously, avoid depicting things which are closed/exclusive to that culture (such as religious beliefs, practices, etc) and again, avoid stereotyping (which I cannot stress enough), but think about how characters might live their lives and experience the world differently based on the culture or the background they come from.

As an example of a POC character written/played well by a white person, I personally like Jackson Wei and Cindy Wong from Dimension 20’s The Unsleeping City, an urban fantasy D&D campaign.  Jackson and Cindy are NPCs played by the DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, who did a good job acknowledging their ethnicity without resorting to stereotypes and while giving them their own unique characters and personalities.  The first time he acted as Cindy, I leapt up from my chair because she was exactly like so many old Chinese aunties and grandmothers I’ve met.  The way Jackson and Cindy speak and act and think is very Chinese (without being stereotyped), but at the same time, there’s more to their characters than being Chinese, they have unique and important roles in the story that have nothing to do with their ethnicity.  So it’s obvious that they’re people of colour, that they’re Chinese, but at the same time, the DM isn’t overstepping and trying to tell stories that aren’t his to tell.  All while not having the characters face any racism, as so many “post-racialized” settings aim for, because there are quite enough stories about that!

There a couple factors that contribute to the positive example I gave above.  The DM is particularly conscientious about representation and doing his research (not to say that he never messes up, but he puts in a lot more effort than the average creator), and the show also works with a lot of sensitivity consultants.  Which takes me to the next point - the best way to portray characters of colour in your story is to interact with people from that community.  Make some new friends, reach out to people!  Consume media by creators of colour!  In my experience so far, the most authentic Chinese characters have almost universally been created/written/played by Chinese creators.  Read books, listen to podcasts, watch shows created by people of colour.  Apart from supporting marginalized creators, you also start to pick up how people from that culture or heritage see themselves and the world, what kind of stories they have to tell, and just as importantly, what kind of stories they want being told or shared.  In other words, the best way to portray an authentic character of colour that is more than just the colour of their skin is to learn from actual people of colour (without, of course, treating them just as a resource and, of course, with proper credit and acknowledgement).

Most importantly, this isn’t easy, and you will absolutely make mistakes.  I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you will mess up.  No matter how well researched you are, how much respect you have for other cultures, how earnestly you want to do this right, you will at some point do something that makes your POC audience uncomfortable or even offends them.  Then, your responsibility comes with your response.  Yes, you’ve done something wrong.  How do you respond to the people who are hurt or disappointed?  Do you ignore them, or double down on your words, or try to defend yourself?  Just as importantly, what are you planning to do about it in the future?  If you have a second chance, what are you going to do differently?  You will make mistakes at some point.  So what are you going to do about them?  That, I think, is an even more important question than “How can I do this right?”  You may or may not portray something accurately, but when you get something wrong, how are you going to respond?

Essentially, it all comes down to your responsibility as a creator.  As a creator, you have a responsibility to do your due diligence in research, to remain respectful to your work and to your audience, and to be careful and conscientious about how you choose to create things.  It’s not about getting things absolutely perfect or being the most socially conscious creator out there, it’s about recognizing your responsibilities as a creator with a platform, no matter how big or small, and taking responsibility for your work. 

In summary:

Research, research, research

Avoid the obvious no-no’s (stereotypes, tokenization, fetishization, straight up stealing from other cultures, etc) and think critically about what creative choices you’re making and why

Do what you’re doing now, and reach out to people (who have put themselves out there as a resource).  There are tons of resources out there by people of colour, reach out when you’re not sure about something or would like some advice!

Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility

Thank you for reaching out!  Good luck with your work!

since dabi exposed everything with endeavor my biggest worry is shoto. like having your abuse out there in the open without ur permission has got to effect him in some esp when he’s trying to heal and forgive his dad in some way. I think shoto having the intense media coverage on him he could build a even more deeper bond between him and bkg and bkg is the only other student to face media invasion like that. ( im also thinking that he’s got another scar from the dabi hug but idk)

This involves a touchy subject that I won't pretend to have a well-read, objective view about. I have a lot of personal experience with this level of family drama and abuse that colors my perception of the Todoroki family, and in the past some people have been very uncomfortable with my takes on that plot line.

For me, the most important thing to do in these situations is adamantly resist the temptation to pass judgment (out loud) on anyone involved unless you are an actual party involved in the drama (for lack of better word). That’s not to say there isn’t judgment to be passed but that, more often than not, the only position an outside party can ever expect to find themself in is that of a confidant. The only opinions and judgments that should matter are those of the involved parties, and a confidant should devote their energy to helping that party/those parties work through their thoughts and feelings, not inject their own judgments into a delicate situation. It comes down to how we view and treat “victims,” and everyone is going to want different things when they are victimized. Instead of determining what’s good or bad for someone, I think the best we can do is empower a victim to utilize their agency and let them work through what they need to.

So when it comes to Shouto (or really anyone in the Todoroki family), I try to focus on what he feels and wants. If Shouto says he wants to reconcile with his father, then I support that. If Shouto says he wants to save his brother, then I support that. Would I make the same decisions? I don’t know. Is that approach something I would consider “heroic?” The answer to that question is not important to me. You’re not necessarily asking me about this stuff, but I want to be clear that this is my perspective before I say anything more about the matter.

The media angle obviously complicates things, but there are interesting, nuanced conversations to be had about expression vs. repression and Japan’s general approach to mental health/therapy that make this such a complex issue that I don’t think it’s meaningful to try to predict what Horikoshi will try to do with it or what he means by whatever he does do. I think you’re onto something by tying Shouto and Katsuki’s relationship together into this, but I think the far more important line of connection between them is the emotional aspect.

We as a fandom talk a lot about Katsuki’s emotions, how he expresses or represses them, when and how he chooses to cry, etc. We act like it’s a big deal when he cries as if it’s breaking some barriers created by toxic masculinity (and it is), but I haven’t seen this applied to Shouto yet (maybe because I just don’t see a lot of Shouto meta). I think this is the big connection between these characters as far as the narrative goes. Shouto...doesn’t outwardly express his emotions. The emotions he does display are usually very subtle, like small smiles, a single tear (like only once or twice ever), things so subtle to the point that characters comment on it (like when Iida is the only one who can tell Shouto seems tense before match 3 in season 5). When he has big emotions, I only ever really see him look mad.

But Shouto does clearly have some grasp of emotional expression. He comments on Natsu showing the most emotion Shouto has seen in years at the beginning of season 5. He implicitly gives Izuku and all heroes permission to cry during the Overhaul arc. I think this all ties back to the sports festival for him.

I haven’t had the chance to write my big sports festival meta yet, but I think a lot of people miss what’s going on in Todoroki vs. Bakugo. It’s not a simple 1v1 final match. It is such a fascinating drama with complex, interesting character motivations tied together among so many different people. For many reasons, Katsuki on some level is trying to save Shouto during that match, and he fails. I don’t think that’s the conclusion of their relationship development. I think Katsuki is meant to be instrumental in Shouto’s final character arc, and it all has to do with Katsuki’s journey to learning how to express his emotions, particularly his fear and sadness. It’s not that Shouto needs to express his emotions as dramatically as Katsuki does, it’s that he’s also working through his emotions, identifying them, connecting with them, coming to conclusions about them, and Katsuki has been on a similar journey. They can help each other, perhaps fill in the missing pieces for each other.

So yeah, I’m super stoked about future developments between these two.

(I dunno, you’d think Shouto would have so many more scars than he does. His body seems resistant to burns, which is part of his “biological advantage,” if you will, over Touya. But I can see him having a meaningful scar from Dabi at some point if he didn’t get one from that. Kinda ties into what you’re getting at with the media/”putting things out in the open for everyone to see” angle.)

hi! I just watched lok & liked it, but I felt that korra was done so dirty? she was a powerful indigenous woc & the writers spent 4 szns completely brutalizing her. then at the end they say she had to go thru all that to learn empathy?? I’m a woc & i feel like that’s a gross narrative to perpetuate but also idk if I’m overthinking it. I guess this is a long way of me asking if u think thats the vibe bc ur blog always has hot intersectional takes! ty for your time, hope ur havin a lovely day!

this is a really difficult question to answer, but I want you to know that you’re far from the first person to voice these concerns. (in fact, I’ve rambled written about my feelings on this matter in the past.) I think this is an extremely nuanced, complicated question. on one hand, korra is a character who was written by white men, and the implications of them orchestrating her suffering is fundamentally problematic in that regard. on the other hand, I also think that korra’s recovery arc is one of the most beautiful things on television, and it resonates with me so personally, and I am so grateful that episodes such as “korra alone” exist.

I don’t think that korra’s suffering is torture porn the way, say, the writers of game of thrones brutalized women for the sake of (male) audience titillation. I do think korra finding meaning in her suffering is significant and beautiful, and while her speech to tenzin about learning empathy through suffering maybe could have been phrased more delicately, I also don’t think it’s unfounded. of course, korra was already a brilliant, compassionate person before struggling with her disabilities, but I also don’t think that means that finding meaning in one’s suffering is anything other healing. had tenzin said, “you were already a wonderful person, you didn’t need to suffer,” that would have been accurate, but it also would have been invalidating. no one needs to suffer. but korra choosing to accept her suffering, and acknowledging that it made her more empathetic, is poignant and important and meaningful. 

katara and korra both mean so much to me personally because the depiction of traumatized brown women finding meaning in their (otherwise needless) suffering and pain rings so true to me. obviously, what happens to korra is fucked up, but the show also acknowledges that, and lets her heal on her own terms, and does so beautifully. she finds love, and hope, and happiness. her trauma makes her stronger and more empathetic—not because she wasn’t extremely strong and empathetic already, but because there is no human limit to empathy or strength, and we can always learn from our suffering if we choose to. 

I know viewers are divided on this, and I’m not saying that my take on this matter is the factually correct one. we’re all bringing a lot of baggage to this conversation, perhaps me more than most. I love korra’s character in a very personal, visceral way, and I have to be upfront about that when answering this question, because while I want to be nuanced about this, ultimately this discussion feels very personal to me. so while I obviously think that the implications of white male writers brutalizing a brown bisexual indigenous woman are complicated and due for critique, I also wouldn’t trade her recovery arc for the world. but that’s just me.

Hi can you explain romantic friendships? Sorry if this is a bothersome question I’m on the spectrum and stuff like this is a little confusing for me but I want to learn!

okay this needs a lot of caveats because it’s not a set concept with a specific definition (opposite of, in fact) and it’s just the way i think about it. and i’m a person who considers Love the basis of everything and thinks the increasing reliance on labeling emotions/micro-identities to be like... the antithesis to authentic human expression. 

basically the way i think about it is.... there is Romance involved in all of our relationships, but there is a strict delineation for most people, between Romantic Partner and Friend, which i would consider to often not encapsulate the nuance and depth of humans’ bonds with each others, and our individual lived experiences! 

our lives and relationships are a hugely rich and complicated tapestry of emotional/sexual/spiritual/practical bonds, and it seems like an absolute waste to spend our time demarcating these relationships with value-based labels, as if there is a meaningful emotional difference between a romantic partner and a “friend”. of course this happens because we live in a society that expects One Individual to be the provider of very niche/emotional need, whether it’s familial, therapist, child-rearing, sexual, financial, etc etc etc. and everyone else is somehow on a Lower level. this isn’t saying that i think everyone should be polyamorous or that True Love doesn’t exist, or that labels as a whole aren’t useful, or that each relationship isn’t different, but it’s more........ 

let yourself form an organic authentic patchwork of relationships with people without worrying if what you’re feeling is Romantic or Friendly. newsflash it’s all about love!!! whether we’re talking about “found family” or crushes or friends or romantic partners or sexual partners, what we’re talking about is the hugely varied intrapersonal relationships that make up our lives. you often don’t feel Less for someone just because you’re not having sex with them, or because you’ve chosen to build a life with someone else. and those boundaries shift and change constantly, as they should!!! you can feel Soulmate attachment to one person and maintain relationships with other people that mean just as much in different ways! intellectualizing the ways in which we Mean Something to others is a lonely exercise that i feel is mostly unneccessary. i feel like this is coming across as very hippy dippy free love in a way that i’m not intending but...... 

if you’re not in love with your friends??? what are you doing!!! love is not a finite resource and we all have the capacity to give and reiceve it in a billion myriad ways that go beyond “romance” vesus “friendship” and if you just let yourself feel the way you feel, it’s kind of crazy how connected and supported and warm you can feel. 

ALSO..... this is not me saying there is not a DIFFERENCE between a Romantic Partner and a Friend, but it IS me saying that you don’t have to attach a value judgement that marks one as better or more intimate/important than the other.

also, read this article bc it makes my heart squeeze and is a good concrete exploration of how these kinds of ideas function in real life, and is a more in depth portrait of how it’s possible (and beautiful) to prioritize the platonic relationships/friendships in your life even over your Romantic Partners) : https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/10/people-who-prioritize-friendship-over-romance/616779/

My 10 Favorite TTRPGs (2021)

There’s plenty of amazing tabletop games out there, but I have a few favorites that I absolutely love. The most important are presented below, along with a paragraph of explanation of why I like them. If you have a bit of spare cash burning a hole in your pocket, then hit up Drivethrurpg and find yourself a copy! Before we get started though, here’s a few ground rules.  1. No two from the same system (e.g. I can’t put Mummy: the Curse and Mage: the Awakening on the list even though I dearly want to). This is mostly to prevent one system from being overrepresented (Looking at you, PbtA). By the same token I can’t put multiple editions of the same game or anything like that. 2. None of my own games. Obviously there would be bias there, wouldn’t there? 3. I have to have enough experience with the game to properly rate it. This means I have to have read the game and have a keen understanding of it. 

4. This is my personal opinion. No specific criteria are used beyond whether or not I enjoy them.  With that being said, let’s start from 10#. 

10#: Golden Sky Stories (Star Line Publishing)

This game is on the list because it is one of the most avant-garde games out there, which only makes sense from the philosophy it was created from. If you want a simple game about talking Japanese raccoons you can play with children, check this out. Furthermore, the game is possibly the most peaceful and relaxed from a writing standpoint you can get with any piece of media.

9#: Vampire: the Masquerade (White Wolf But It’s Complicated)

This game is the most personally significant to me on the list. It has serious flaws which prevent it from being any higher, but this game literally saved my life during the darkest periods of when I was young, and I mean that. I don’t actually recommend this to the majority of people, at least not unless you’re already interested, but I could not honestly make a list without it.

8#: Deadball (WM Akers)

This may strike some people as an odd choice, given it is barely a TTRPG and completely flies in the face of many basic game design principles. However, not only does Deadball stretch the limits of both TTRPGs and the game of baseball at the same time, but it does so in a way so simple that even a child can pick it up. If you want a little soothing game to play with your friends and family, it’s definitely one to consider.

7#: Qin: the Warring States (Cubicle 7)

This is one of the few games, which, in my opinion, portrays my Chinese culture in a way that is nuanced and respectful while also doing something different with it. Portraying a criminally underused historical period is one thing, but the accuracy with which they do it is another. Easily the best historical game I’ve ever come across, sorry Ars Magica, Würm and Pendragon!

6#: Flying Circus (Newsstand Press)

There is not a universe in existence where I don’t praise Erika Chappell on one of these. While Flying Circus isn’t as personally significant to me as a lot of the other games on here, it’s mechanics, lore and use of PbtA are some of the best I’ve ever read. Please check if out, you would make me very happy doing so.

5#: Adventures in Middle Earth (Cubicle 7)

From the 5E engine specifically, this game is easily the most mechanically solid I’ve ever seen. While there were other competitors, the reason Adventures in Middle Earth is so high up is because of all the things you could do with Middle Earth, with Tolkien’s incredible imagination, this is one of the far superior uses. I cannot recommend this game enough. Sadly, this is out of print, but it is still occasionally available via humble bundles. If you can find a copy and want to see what 5E’s mechanics can do at their creative peak, get it.

4#: Star Trek Adventures (Modiphius)

Not gonna lie, my enjoyment of 2d20 is hit and miss. I thought it was okay for most things, I didn’t like the Dishonored hack very much, and the Dune hack had good ideas but top-heavy execution, but Star Trek Adventures is easily the best use of this system. Doing the world of Star Trek complete justice, this game combines masterful synergy with the 2d20 engine at its best with an understanding of Star Trek that has yet to be beat.

3#: Tales From the Loop/Things From the Flood (Free League)

If I’m being perfectly honest, I like this better than Kids on Bikes. This game captures the feeling of youth as well as the ideas of teen movies incredibly well, and the Year Zero Engine is one of my favorite systems. Without a doubt, Free League is one the best TTRPG publishers in the business.

2#: Shadow of the Demon Lord (Schwalb Entertainment)

Not only is the closest thing to a perfect 5.5E we’ll ever get, but this game is easily the most mechanically solid on this list. It’s difficult to argue that of all the interpretation of the D20 systems you could come up with that Schwalb’s isn’t one of if not the most captivating. The world of Rûl is excellently done as well, especially considering it wasn’t even intended to be more than a default setting, so go check it out.

1#: Promethean: the Created (Onyx Path)

This is easily the best TTRPG in the history of the industry. Not only does it function as an exploration of the human condition worthy of preservation in the MoMA, but it is mechanically solid with amazing lore and an incredibly meaningful message. This game is one of, if not the, most amazing creative endeavors in any media. Honorable mentions go to Hoodoo Blues (Vajra), Ashen Stars (Pelgrane Press), Legend of the Five Rings (FFG), and Dark Heresy 2E (FFG). Thanks for reading.

what's your opinion on arknights storytelling? I heard there are some people who don't read it because it's too "wordy", sometimes just going around in circles or just plain covering stuff that's not important to the event that's happening in the story. Though a portion of the same people also said it picks up around ch 5 and the events aren't all that bad. Do you find it weak and only made decent or good with the help of its lore? Or is it good as is but the flaws just can't be tolerated?

“Didn’t read because it’s too wordy” and “Nothing important happens” are two sides of the same coin. I can’t do anything if other people simply don’t want to read what’s there, or if they can’t interpret it’s depth, but Arknight’s writing is the kind that tends to not overstate the obvious and gives it’s readers the benefit of the doubt, not insulting their intelligence by directly telling you what it would much rather infer and let you conclude. Those kind of moments are much more powerful.

I think that if you’re paying attention to the story and giving it a fair chance you’ll find that while Arknights likes to indulge in lots of hinting about fringe events, it very rarely takes the time to cover anything that isn’t important or thought provoking to some degree; honestly, I think Ancient Forge is the first time a side-story has really mostly just been a set of gags (consequently, it’s also my least favourite event so far)

I think chapter 5/6 just gets the most attention because a) it’s newly released story so people have been experiencing them as a new event and not as backlog story while they learn the game and level up, and b) because it’s a higher point of tension and raising stakes than the previous chapters, broadening the scope and introducing more key players and political intrigue.

Does that make them better chapters overall? Perhaps. Chapter 6 was definitely a massive stinger that drew a lot of emotion and engagement from the fandom. So it’s good in that sense, but that doesn’t make the earlier chapters weak. Especially when you consider the work they have to do in developing the setting and characters in order for you to care about them enough for Chapter 6 to be meaningful.

Chapter 4 for example has plenty to say about the world and characters too, and while the tragedy of Misha may not have hit quite as hard, it served just as much a purpose in setting the stakes and tone of the story and establishing Amiya’s character.

Some people think Arknights isn’t saying much because it rarely makes clear, matter of fact statements; but that’s exactly why I find it so compelling. Arknights usually gives you all the variables and then drives you to ask complicated questions. It delves in grey morality, multiple perspectives on an issue, and conflicts where both sides are in the right. It delivers it’s information subtle and in multi-faceted ways; teaching you about the world and its characters through every bit of text; description boxes, character bios, menu text. Everything informs the atmosphere of the world Arknights is trying to describe.

Now I can’t read the story for people if they are belligerently avoiding it, but what I can do from time to time(and have before) is over breakdowns and meta analysis that help explain the nuances that many people are missing. If they still don’t like it, maybe it’s not for them.

But in just about every metric that I care for, Arknight’s writing is top-notch and keeping me highly invested in theorizing, analyzing, and waiting for more. It’s perfectly good as it is, and any of it’s perceived flaws are not found within the text itself (save for perhaps a few translation slips), but within the engagement of the reader.

Hi Bowie,

I really like your blog. It is beautiful that it is a combination of serious topics, a lot of knowledge about culture, religion but also moments of clowning and theories.

I really like your outlook on things and I was wondering what is your opinion so far about the season and if there is anything you are specifically excited about in the future.

Hello nonnie!

Firstly thank you for your beautiful words. I got to say I am lucky because you anons are extremely nice and sweet to me and I know that is not the case sometimes in fandoms. So I really appreciate that kindness.

Basically nonnie this blog is a little view inside my mentality as a person. I love real talk and serious issues, can spend hours absorbed by philosophical discussions but adore to let my hair down and enjoy to the fullest the fun and silliness of life. So expect all of that here.

It is pretty early to tell and form a complete view of the season, we are only on episode 2, but there are some positive things with potential that have been introduced for sure.

One thing I particularly enjoy in these episodes is how lighthearted they are but also how much nuance they have. The directorial work is extremely thought through and mapped out beautifully. Some of the topics and characters introduced have an amazing potential for a deeply meaningful season.

A season that deals with religion but not as a black and white issue but as a spectrum. The question what makes a good Muslim and a good believer in general. Is it about how strictly you practice your religion or is it about living by the general lessons of religion? The topic of different interpretations of religious scriptures and the effect culture has on that. The role of a woman in a patriarchal society and how that navigation in life can be tricky. Should a piece of clothing be used as an indicator for society of a woman’s moral compass? The topic of political entities making decisions about women’s choices and how they treat their bodies. Who ends up being the oppressor when freedom of choice is taken away. And also how the hijab ban laws under the pretence of equality end up marginalising further and disrupt Muslim women’s access to education and positions of power. Topic of racism, prejudice, pre conceived notions. What makes a person bad and what makes them good? The dynamic between honesty and lies. And so much more.

So yeah I am excited to see how the season will treat those issues. The supporting characters are of high importance as they can carry a lot of those topics and create a more inclusive overview of those issues. I don’t expect a series to give me specific answers to all those extremely complicated issues in 10 episodes but if it gives the audience food for thought and makes them question things then it has done its job. We should explore the grey areas. That’s where the beauty of life and humanity is.

Shadow of the Batgirl: A review type thing

I just read the graphic novel Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn and Nicole Goux, which reimagines the superhero origin of Cassandra Cain.

It was overall good and EXTREMELY cute! If you want an awesome story about a teenage assassin running away from her shitty dad and finding a neat library, a community of cool ladies and the hero within herself, AND WHY WOULDN’T YOU WANT THAT, definitely get this! 

It’s a standalone Batgirl story completely accessible to all and with none of the weird baggage and the complicated continuity of the regular Batman universe! it’s appropriate for younger teens but still a good read for adults, the art’s colorful and great, it’s packed to the brim with joy and hope.

And on top of all that, it gives a great character who’s been traditionally horribly neglected by mainstream comics for some reason (*cough its because she’s not white cough*) a spotlight and a chance to shine (and get written by an Asian American author for once!)! This also features one of my other faves, who had her disability and adult identity erased in the main universe, but not in this comic, hurray!

SO YEAH, if you like superheroes at all, highly recommend this!

NOW for a more detailed review, calling on all my expertise as a Cassandra Cain superfan and going into pros and cons. This’ll be long, but I’ll do it as a list to break it down.

Let’s start with the good stuff, there’s a lot of it:

- This story takes place in world where Barbara Gordon as Oracle (and former Batgirl) and Cassandra Cain as Batgirl exist, but Batman and The Killing Joke do not appear to. That is honestly transcendentally great to finally see this as an officially realized concept, Batgirl allowed to stand on its own as a legacy of powerful women, with all history of these characters being victimized for the sake of manpain erased. I am elated.

-The art was adorable, the designs were great, the clothes and Cass’s costumes were super cute, the setting was vibrant.

-Jackie was a really fun character and mentor figure for Cass. Loved her snark and how she and Babs basically become Cass’s two Moms and an awesome team in their own right. The relationships in this were just heartwarming. Loved the range of characters in general.

-Cass basically lived in a library aka my life dream. I mean, she did it because she was homeless and on the run from her assassin father, but like.

-Cassandra FINALLY knows her own race, (she’s half-Chinese) and gets to have a goddamn connection and basic feelings about it (Jackie bringing up what the bat means to Chinese culture), etc, god it should not have taken this long for this to happen.

(And it’s really important to have a version of Cass’s story where, y’know, the positive inspirational figures in her life include other Asian people, they aren’t just white people. it wasn’t until I read this it fully dawned on me how screwed up it is she never had that before.)

-For the first time in her entire existence, Cassandra Cain got to be in a canon romance that wasn’t fucking awful, can you believe it. Her love interest Erik was adorable, and him being a budding romance writer was an especially sweet touch- and I think there’s an implication/hint his dad’s the Bronze Tiger? Which is really cute Easter Egg for Cass fans, considering she had a strong friendship with the dude in her original series!

-The idea of Cass liking to draw and expressing herself through art is really fun and fitting. Her being visually focused, it makes a lot of sense.

-Cass extending her body language ability to sort of being able to guess at people’s underlying emotional problems from how they carry themselves is a really neat idea- it could have been implemented a little more smoothly but I like the concept.

-Cass going after the “evil-doers” in the library after becoming a hero was one of the best things I’ve ever seen. Deserves to be framed. I love what a huge nerd Cass got to be in this.

-The comic understood that core of Cass’s character is compassion and empathy, that how she reaches out for people, refuses to harm, and really believes in people and embodies change, rebirth, hope. THAT’S IT, THAT’S MY GIRL, THAT’S MY HERO..

-I’ve read a ton of comics with Barbara Gordon and this is the first one I’ve come across where she discussed her relationship with her mother having any sort of influence on her interests and personality, she isn’t even the main character of this and her mother matters more in it than every other comic I’ve read with her combined how sad is that

-I liked Babs just casually making gadgets and stuff all the time, and loved that she expressed she honestly preferred doing this and that was why she was giving Batgirl to Cass. MADE ME WANT TO SCREAM FUCK YOU DC ALL OVER AGAIN.

-Compared to the original Cass Batgirl comics, this story is obviously more accessible as a standalone, but it’s also just overall more appropriate for a wider range of ages since the darker elements of Cass’s story are way toned down. I was a young teenager when I read Cass’s series and was fine, but there are young teenagers that DON’T want like, graphic onscreen deaths in their comics, so it’s good there’s a lighter Cass story for them. It was just a really sweet, affirming story.

Now for some cons, none of them damning:

The romance was cute, but wish it’d had room to breathe. Ideally, it didn’t need to be happening alongside Cass’s origin, I think it would have been better if it was just hinted at and then was allowed to fully play out as an after-she-became-Batgirl thing, but I can get that Kuhn didn’t know if this would get a sequel and there were probably a lot of good reasons she wanted to include it.

-I think this came from Kuhn being used to writing as a YA author rather than doing comics, but it was weird to read a Cass comic with so much narration and the way it was used really detracted from the potential power of the story. We’re told through Cass’s super chatty narration she’s not a normal teen, she TELLS US that she barely knows how to read and speak and TELLS US she’s better at reading body language-but we never get a sense of this, not even at the beginning, because the story doesn’t trust the reader to take in the visuals without narration, and then she’s able to talk like a normal teen pretty much right off the bat.

 I’m okay with Cass becoming a chatty girl, and her voice in this comic was fun- I know “silent Asian” has a lot baggage and Cass’s original character leaned into some stereotypes- but the first chapter/part would been far more powerful if it had her world be a little more silent and fully emphasized the visual, for her interactions with people and words be garbled and confusing, and if it gave us more of a sense of the world she comes from and how her perception of things differs from the average person. Cass’s original debut and the beginning of her original series did a really good job giving us a sense of this, and took great advantage of comics as a visual medium, and I missed that.

-Cass learns to read and talk SUPER EASILY and it just comes off as unbelievable. I do like the idea of her camping at a library, eavesdropping, and teaching herself, but I would have liked to see her actually struggle like a person would. Moreover, while I know the presentation of it was very flawed, Cass basically had a learning/language disability in the original series. I was kind of hoping this comic would lean into that, and actually give a more realistic and nuanced representation of that kind of disability (it could have been presented as something she always had that was exacerbated by how she was raised, not caused by it!).

 Honestly, I think her romance with Erik would have been far more interesting and meaningful and tied in better if she’d actually struggled to read, maybe even discovered she was dyslexic and couldn’t quite read the same way he could. That could have been a source of development between them.

-David Cain’s a super flat as a character in this comic, he doesn’t have much presence, menacing or otherwise, and Cass’s complicated feelings and relationship with him is not nearly as painful as they were in her original series.This is partly because there wasn’t a lot of a space for it though, and that’s fine.

-Overall, the main thing that hurts the story is that we don’t see all that much of what Cass’s life was like as an assassin, and her life with David Cain was like. It’s harder to invest in Cass’s transformation into a hero when we don’t really have a sense of who she was before,it’s hard to appreciate her breaking free when we can’t get a sense of what kind of cage she was even in. How much language DID she know? How much of the world was she exposed to? What was she really deprived of? I hope if there’s a sequel we can see more of this.

-Babs isn’t the main character of course, so this isn’t a real complaint, but I did miss her cynical and angry edge. She’s pretty much just a chipper nerd with no sign of her own baggage in this, and it makes her relationship with Cass less interesting. It’s implied that her “accident” did affect her and she just managed to work through a lot of it before she met Cass, but I missed the element of their relationship where they both were hurting from losing  “the world they knew” and working through it together, sometimes clashing, etc.

-I read one of Sarah Kuhn’s YA novels in anticipation of this, and while I’m relieved this is better about it than her first book was (I expected it to be, writers improve, I definitely know how messy a first book is) there’s still some cringe-y ideas of how “average” teens talk creeping in, occasional clunky pacing etc.

But all in all? It was a really nice little story that did a lot of cool things, and I really want a sequel and want more of this version of Cass and her universe. As someone who was driven away from DC comics in part because of how badly they treated Cass, Oracle and the Batgirl legacy. it’s really like a salve on old wounds.

Feeling low and under-confident? The need to deliver and impress each time can be overwhelming! The demands and stress of the modern world pressure have indeed taken a toll on many. Do you often feel nervous or scared to strike a conversation with others, feel you are not worthy of the person you are attracted to, or can’t be at ease with others? If you are conscious of your behavior and personality, what you need is a mentor to steer you through the low self-esteem phase. The eBook ‘The Supreme Self-Confidence’ by Slade Shaw is a helpful and motivational guide. Being a popular product on the ClickBank marketplace, it has several positive reviews, and this drove me to try it out and review it for you here! What is The Supreme Self-Confidence The eBook helps you as its reader to improve your self-confidence whenever you are in a relationship or at social gatherings. People who do not socialize much are usually those with low confidence issues. With the help of the tips given in this ebook, you become confident and attractive, thus enhancing your connectivity with others significantly. Many readers have succeeded in developing their relationships faster and better, making them more meaningful. You get over your anxiety and can start interesting conversations with ease. The book also deals with handling awkward situations and managing disturbed relationships. You learn to become less irritable and also to attract other people with the positive changes that the instructions in the eBook provide you. You will start noticing remarkable changes in your attitude, emotions, thoughts, and lifestyle. Your confidence level will draw others to you. You will start rejecting unwanted social beliefs and start living your life differently. What Supreme Self-Confidence contains The author of the book mainly talks about the development of your inner self. The main subjects covered in this book include: Personal confidence: You will be surprised to find out things that you were not aware of, which had so far limited your interaction with others. You learn to accept yourself as you are. This personal confidence helps you gain control of your thoughts and your body. Social confidence: The book offers you guidance on how to get over your inhibitions when you are in public and become a friendly personality. You are taught the nuances of developing confidence when you are at a party. You will start talking to people with more confidence. The book gives excellent examples of what to do when you are at an office party, a family get-together, or a friendly dinner. It covers a lot of ground to give you several real-life scenarios to help you along. Sexual confidence: If you lack confidence in the bedroom or are afraid to make the first move, this section of the ebook helps you get over your problem. You will be shown how you can be a better partner by being communicative, experimental, and fun in your sexual encounters. How Supreme Self-Confidence Works The book offers tips and advice that are not complicated. You will find them simple enough to practice effectively and enhance your confidence in all areas of your life. The book gives you top-level tips to overcome confidence issues under challenging situations like death or breakups. Such cases are usually uncomfortable for many people, and they don't know how to react. I found a lot of relevant material pertaining to this in the book. Strategies to improve your relationships and tips on how to start conversing with confidence also find important coverage in the book. Once you start following the instructions, you will find that your mind has calmed down, adding to the confidence in you and lets you live a worry-free life. You will be able to handle rejections with ease and have no fear in facing such a situation. When you buy this eBook, you will also get some bonuses such as: Achieve Mastery of Your Inner Game: You get tips from the leading dating experts on achieving an excellent level of self-confidence.

It also has suggestions to develop a relationship for a positive effect on your life. Master Your Confidence Through Overcoming Shyness: Often, you would have observed that your shyness costs you a good relationship. You learn to get over the problem to handle life with confidence and ease. Tease Women and Make them Laugh: This is purely a product for men on making women comfortable in your company. A Saucy Guide to Teasing Your Man: This bonus for women teaches them how to have fun with men, feel more confident and at ease in male company. Pros Affordability Guidelines to remove fear from your mind and live a worry-free life Building up self-confidence You will learn to control your mind better. It works for both men and women. It comes with attractive bonuses Plenty of information to improve yourself continuously and even for those who think they are already out of the problem Professional design and impressive layout You learn to improve your leadership qualities. You are taught to handle any high-pressure situations 100% money-back guarantee without any conditions Cons Many feel it is slightly overpriced. Not all the suggestions may work out for everyone. The program is fully digital; no physical book is mailed to you. A lot of self-corrective action is needed from your end to achieve the result. Final verdict The eBook, with its 184 pages, is bubbling with instructions on how to gain back confidence in yourself - on the professional front, in your sexual activities, and when handling parties and society. The advice is general enough to be applicable to most people and specific enough to actually give targeted advice. I like how it's balanced out. You will find the book's suggestions quite easy to follow because you will be aware that self-confidence is the root of success in your personal life, career, and life goals. By overcoming fear and hesitancy, you will be able to witness steady growth in your life. Even if you feel that you are already following some of the instructions, there’s always room for improvement. A professionally designed eBook with an attractive layout, the book is for people who want to improve their social and personal life. I personally think it's worth a read. Like with any other self-help product, you need to sift the content you can apply to your life. Of course, you need to make a significant effort to get rid of your reserve to notice any changes. As the usual money-back guarantee is there, so you need not worry!