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#these are 100% my interpretations and are not based on any established stories
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Hi Raven! Have you seen the Disney 100 Jack birthday card art that has been circulating around yet? Any thoughts on the paintings? I think I remember you mentioning that the portraits would be good for figuring out what inspirations more ambiguous characters like Jack were twisted from.
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The idea that the background frames for the new birthday series would reveal the explicit Disney reference for each TWST boy was popular fandom speculation when Platinum Suit Jamil was initially teased, NOT something actually ever confirmed, stated, or even implied by official TWST sources. Some people were also speculating that maybe the background frames were just the respective G7 of each boy's dormitory. We only had Jamil to go off of at the time, which didn't give us a lot of clear information since Jamil is both very clearly twisted from Jafar but is also in Scarabia, a dorm which has also has Jafar as its representative from the Great 7.
Then Platinum Jacket Ace came out in late September and seemed to continue the pattern of "the background shows one image that shows direct inspiration for the TWST boy"; there were heart card soldiers in one frame, which is what Ace seems to be twisted from. This made a lot of fans hype to finally get character inspiration confirmation for more ambiguous characters like Jack (which has been an ongoing debate in the fandom for years now).
***Spoilers for the main story, as well as Jack's Platinum Suit initial art + related discussion below the cut!***
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... However, that ended up not being the case as soon as Jack's Platinum Suit card preview was released. Which brings us to today 😅 I think you see what the "issue" here is, right??? How can Jack, a wolf beastman, possibly be based on Rafiki, a baboon??? Mmmm, I don't have really anything to add regarding the actual frames? It is what it is, and though I will admit it got my hopes up when Jamil was first revealed, I also suspected it would be a long shot given how eclectic ("borrowing from many sources") some of the characters are.
I guess it was presumptuous for us to jump to a conclusion when we only knew about Jamil and even when we also knew about Ace; the problem is that two in a row doesn't make a pattern, just a coincidence. We need at least three to establish a pattern, and Jack here disrupts it. What we actually see here is that the frame to our left (the character's right) is likely just the painting the birthday boy chooses as a decoration for the Guest Room. (It is listed as “[Character’s] chosen painting” in Sam’s shop.) Alternatively, maybe some boys will have their character inspo if it is very clear (like how Jamil is twisted from Jafar) while the non-determinant characters like Ortho will get some other Disney character from the same film (ie Pain/Panic, the Fates, etc.) rather than a single specific inspo.
I think the TWST fandom is like... very fixated on picking ONE exact character that corresponds to each TWST boy just because the dorm leaders (ie the most iconic group in marketing) have clear inspirations. That expectation then gets extended to the rest of the cast, even though it's not true that everyone only takes inspiration from their own films--even the dorm leaders make references to and allude to various Disney properties. There's no harm in debating, having your own interpretation, or drawing parallels for fun, but it gets to a point where it's... fruitless??? To try to come to a firm conclusion on the subject. It may be less contentious to accept that some of the cast are a blend of inspirations, ideas, and motifs. Even the more "concrete" characters can functionally serve in multiple different roles or as correlates to many different Disney characters. Azul is twisted from Ursula, but he is also able to be Jamil's "Genie in the Lamp" (a line which Jamil actually uses to refer to Azul) for book 4. Vil is twisted from the Evil Queen, but he is the hero Hercules when he sacrifices his youth to rescue Idia from Tartarus. At the same time, you could argue that Ortho (who is very Pinocchio-esque, going from robot to "real boy"), also has Hercules traits and Vil is serving as a dual role as Megara, the damsel in distress. (More on that in this post!)
None of the TWST characters are bound to one movie or to the characters they're supposedly based off of, and this works to the IP's advantage. It allows each character to feel like their own person, not just a copy of or a reinvention of one Disney counterpart.
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itsclydebitches · 2 years
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I mentioned in the tags of a recently reblogged post that I had Opinions™ about the “OFMD fandom is racist because they’re interpreting Ed as illiterate” take that’s been gaining traction lately, so I finally decided to slam those opinions into a post. Specifically, I want to list the textual details that made me, personally, come to the conclusion that Ed is (likely) illiterate as a means of pushing back against this growing idea that anyone who crafts meta under that assumption, includes it as a characterization in fics, uses it as a means of theorizing about season two, etc. is automatically coming from a place of racism... rather than, in actuality, a pretty solid canonical interpretation. So some things this post is not includes:
A claim that OFMD/fandom in general isn’t racist in other respects. I’m speaking solely about this one example.
A claim that Ed is definitely, 100%, no room for discussion illiterate. I believe it’s a likely possibility based on what we’ve seen, but the show hasn’t provided confirmation one way or the other.
An attack against any headcanoning. Fans are free to imagine up and/or hope for whatever they like, regardless of how persuasive a reading others find it to be.
Okay, I’m doubting my ability to string this all together with halfway decent transitions right now (the heat is making my brain buzz like TV static), so let’s just stick to a list form.
1. Lucius Establishes That Illiteracy is the Norm in Pirate Culture
First off, OFMD introduces class differences in the pilot episode by having Stede gush about the “full library” he has on board... to his personal scribe... who is writing down his thoughts and adventures purely for vanity’s sake (the fact that they’re later used to save Stede’s life is a separate matter from his intentions here), only to suddenly get hit with the knowledge that no one else on the ship can read.
“That’s not... is that true?” he asks, dumbfounded, and then Stede answers his own question with a rather distasteful scoff. Lucius responds with a look that I can only affectionately caption as, ‘This bitch.’ 
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(I am also once again apologizing for the horrendous ‘screenshots’ taken with my phone.) 
All of this is deliberate. We’re setting up the dichotomy of pirate vs. gentry culture, as well as one of Stede’s major flaws. Namely, using the privilege of his upbringing as a crutch/personal safety net (with a side of that arrogant superiority: “Don’t debase yourself for a man who doesn’t even have a tureen on board!”). This is why Oluwande and Jim need to explain that for them, piracy isn’t a fun, midlife crisis and Stede comes to the realization, “I’m not a pirate, I’m an idiot.” Wealth is why he’s able to run from Ed the moment his anxiety gets the better of him, hurting him and Mary in one fell swoop when he shows back up all, ‘I’ve decided to be your husband again the same way I decided to be a pirate. Everyone bow to my whims and the privilege that allows me to enforce them!’ The ability to pay wages and read bedtime stories is what keeps Stede’s mutiny on hold for so long (a sharp contrast to Izzy who has no such luxuries to offer as a way of offsetting his own, difficult personality), Stede’s gentlemanly demeanor (born of a lifetime of social education) is what first draws Ed to him, then it’s his material wealth, and finally Stede giving up his fortune to return with only a dinghy and the clothes on his back is the sign of emotional growth.
Literacy isn’t the only marker of Stede’s privilege—far from it—but it is a major one and it’s important for setting up this contrast that drives much of the character work. Yes, Lucius is technically wrong about being the only other member of the crew who can read, though it’s clear why he came to that conclusion when Jim was pretending to be mute and couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, I can read and write too.’ Beyond that one mistake though, we have no reason to doubt Lucius’ claim. Not when the group is worried about who will continue their bedtime stories if Captain is dead and Lucius sucks at the voices. Don’t we think someone else would have spoken up to solve the dilemma if they could? More importantly, revealing that actually more of/most of the crew can read would severely undermine that thematic work of Stede’s upbringing—and that goes double for the man who represents the pinnacle of pirate culture: Blackbeard himself. We see through our flashback that Ed does not come from a place of privilege, which includes both education and material wealth based on how the show has defined privilege via Stede. Though it’s hardly impossible for Ed to have picked up reading later in life while still grappling with the trauma of growing up poor, for me there’s nothing to indicate that. Far from it: the show goes out of its way to emphasize all the ways in which Ed and Stede contrast one another, with Stede’s privilege—reading included—presented as markers of a life and emotional expression that Ed simultaneously longs for, yet feels that he’s undeserving of.
2. Ed is Shocked By the Amount Stede Has Read
When Ed is presented with Stede’s library he acts like a man who has never had access to so many books before. “Incredible,” he whispers, staring at the shelves in awe.
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Except then Ed goes on to specify what exactly he’s in awe of and it’s not the books themselves. “You’ve read all of these?” he asks Stede, the ‘all’ emphasizing his shock that any one man (even in his forties) could have gotten through this many volumes. Ed doesn’t act like someone impressed with the beauty of the library itself—like we might see if he too was a reader and was simply impressed by the pretty bindings—but rather at Stede’s ability to read any library, but particularly one of this size. When Stede says that these are just his favorites, Ed gives a little huff of stunned disbelief. These are not the reactions of a man who frequently keeps books in his own cabin to peruse. Rather, they’re the reactions of someone who hasn’t read much himself, if anything at all.
In addition, Ed doesn’t engage with the text when Stede hands him the book. I’ve seen a couple people say that Ed can clearly read because he knew that was a picture of himself, but really, it’s not a hard thing to deduce. Even if Stede hadn’t led with this being something he thinks Ed will enjoy—AKA, it’s likely something about you—for all the fantasy details of nine guns and snake-like hair, Blackbeard is pretty distinctive in his look. That’s that point. He has long hair, a massive black beard, dresses all in leather, and is depicted with pirate-y things like ships and treasure. You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out who that’s supposed to be an illustration of. The point though is that there’s a page of text to the left and, more importantly, a big title claiming he’s “The Mad Devil Pyrate Blackbeard,” yet Ed doesn’t take issue with the “mad” or the “devil” part. He jumps straight to looking at the image itself, despite the writing being just as valid a detail to get angry over as the nine guns.
3. Ed Treats The Books He Comes Across as Disposable
Going off of his reaction to Stede’s library, I think it would still be possible to argue that Ed is primarily impressed with the number of books he possesses (another kind of material privilege) if we didn’t see Ed get access to a huge number of books and immediately discard them. In “The Best Revenge is Dressing Well,” they raid the vessel where Stede finds several shelves of books, enough that he also refers to it as a “library.” This tells us then that most ships probably have at least a couple books on board and many, like this one, might have a big selection. So if Ed had wanted a library like Stede’s, he could have easily gotten one. He’s Blackbeard and he’s been looting ships for several decades at this point. The only reason why someone that impressed with Stede’s books would pass off so many opportunities to get his own would be if he doesn’t have a use for them, especially when books don’t carry the same toxic masculinity implications as a cashmere scarf does. Blackbeard, the legend, should be able to read with a safety that he couldn’t, say, dress in a flowery robe and recite poetry. Books are a fairly safe form of expression for a pirate (and entertainment too, something Ed lacks!) yet he doesn’t make use of them.
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Instead, the way Ed acts here heavily implies to me that a) he can’t read (or can’t read well) and b) he’s feeling insecure about it. He snaps that this isn’t “how raiding works” when Stede says he’s replacing the books he’s taken with ones he’s already read, despite the fact that Ed has been pretty chill for the rest of the attack and, notably, usually likes Stede’s eccentricities. The most likely reason why he’d suddenly frown at Stede not raiding 'properly’—in a relationship where Stede’s new way of doing things is usually exciting and fascinating to Ed—is if Stede’s book focus is dredging up feelings of inadequacy. Ed opens the book, but flips through it in a way that shows a distinct lack of interest... or an inability to read it. He tosses it aside. Then he slaps the rest of the books out of Lucius’ hands. On its own this interaction might imply that Ed is disdainful of reading in general, but following how enamored he is with Stede’s personal library and his ability to work through it, the scene instead implies illiteracy. Here, Stede is enthusiastic about something Ed can’t share, on an outing where Ed is supposed to be teaching him, so he goes hard on how “raiding works” and makes it clear that books—these useless objects to him—aren’t worth picking up. Drop them and go shove a knife near a guy’s eyeball instead.
4. Ed Signs the Treaty With an ‘X’
I don’t actually have that much to say about this scene (in regards to literacy, anyway), simply because the ‘X’ alone is the big takeaway. I’m sure by now we’ve all seen the tweet claiming that an ‘X’ was used by indigenous people as a form of protest against colonizers and the historical accuracy of that aside (it’s not a discipline I’m at all educated in, but others have pushed back against both OP’s interpretation of the book’s thesis as well as whether this intersects with Māori culture), that’s simply not the most obvious implication here. We know based on interviews that the writers have unintentionally included racial coding in other parts of the show—making the men of color work during Izzy’s brief stint as captain being one of the most well known. That wasn’t meant to be an indicator of racism, just a combination of Nairn having a bad back and dumb luck regarding who was staged to do the work—so this wouldn’t be the first time that fans have come to a very different conclusion than the writers intended. Ultimately, I think it’s FAR more likely that an American writer used a well-known means of conveying illiteracy, as seen throughout American popular culture, in a show that is not at all concerned with historical accuracy... than it is that he included a very subtle, historical allusion to indigenous protest and attached that to a character whose ability to know about that and culturally benefit from it are questionable at best. Though, as said at the start, headcanoning is fantastic and adds a wonderful depth to Ed’s character, from a canonical standpoint this feels like an Occam’s Razor situation to me: the simplest explanation is the most likely.
5. The Show Doesn’t Shy Away From Establishing Who Can and Can’t Read
This is a minor point, but it helps solidify all of the above. We’re told that Stede can read. We’re told that Lucius can read. Again, those are important skills used to separate them from the rest of pirate culture. We learn in a surprise twist that Jim can also read, write, and they’re not actually mute. The show then heavily implies that Izzy can read by a) giving him a voice-over similar to Jim’s (even though we never see what he might be writing in) and b) having him spend time in Stede’s library before the fuckery and then again, this time actually looking through the books (compared to Ed’s disorganized flipping/discarding) and finding an image of Blackbeard all by himself (compared to Stede doing that for Ed). Sure, we could theorize that Izzy just happened to stumble across a book about Blackbeard, maybe because Stede has so many in his collection, and he’s only looking at pictures/pretending to read in the shots where he has a book in hand.. but again, the simplest explanation feels the most persuasive to me. The point being that the show usually makes it very clear who can read and who cannot, with those in the gray area nevertheless leaning hard in one direction. Izzy leans hard into ‘literary.’ Ed does not.
Finally, I want to quickly address a couple of arguments I’ve seen pop up over the last couple of months:
1. The Real Blackbeard was Able to Read (+ You Have to Read to Sail a Ship)
Any and all takes along these lines are immediately suspect in my mind because they’re rooted in historical accuracy... and ignore the fact that OFMD is not historically accurate. At all. The real life Blackbeard did not fall in love with Stede Bonnet. The ship runs on gay sex and story time, not legitimate sailing techniques. Any argument that begins with “But the real Blackbeard...” or “But in real life you have to...” falls flat because this is very much not the real Blackbeard and the plot is in no way bound by realism. I mean, I’m not trying to be a buzzkill. I think it’s fun to play thought games like “What if Ed and Izzy run their ship aground like they did in real life and that becomes a callback to the second episode?” but there’s a difference between fun theorizing about what random events the show might include for the laughs and trying to use historical accuracy as a form of evidence in metas. I mean, Buttons is out here communicating with seagulls and casting hexes so that Calico Jack (presumably) dies via cannonball. When your story is that untethered from reality, any claims based in realism hold little value imo. Ed being able to read because the real Edward Teach could read is no more likely than Ed dying a horrific death at... [checks Wikipedia] hmm. A year after the events of the show start. Should be happening any episode now! 
2. Ed is Able to Read Music
Honestly, as someone with a 2,000 book library and no ability to read music, I’m not sure how one relates to the other, but a couple times now I’ve seen people claim that because Ed plays the harpsichord at the party, he must know how to read. Putting aside the strange conflation though, Ed isn’t reading any music here. He plays solely from memory and, given what else we see of his talents, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ed had simply memorized a few shanties over the years. He’s already learned the shape of the clouds. He dutifully repeats Stede’s words after he’s corrected on the scarf’s fabric—“An exquisite cashmere.” Though he hasn’t got it all down yet, Ed is also well on his way to learning all the insane spoons and forks involved in fine dining. The guy’s got a good head for recalling information, which to me is an entirely separate skill from the specific ability to interpret words on a page.
3. Ed Read the Placards During Dinner
Does he though? The scene begins when Ed is already seated at the table and though he does look towards the placard that says he’s Godfrey’s guest, I interpret that more for the audience’s benefit than anything else. After all, Ed is already sitting down. He knows where he’s supposed to be. Why would he need to re-read his own placard? Despite the glance in that direction, it looks like an establishing shot to set the scene. So then how did Ed know where to sit? Idk, any way someone knows where to sit without looking at their placard. Maybe one of the servants showed him. Maybe another party-goer shooed him into his designated seat. Ed acts lost and confused the whole time, looking in random directions and muttering about snail forks. He doesn’t act like someone who chose this spot confidently, nor does he act like someone who can use reading as a skill to assist him in his anxiety. That is, he doesn’t look for and find Stede’s placard to ensure they’re seated together and he doesn’t realize he’s next to the touchy woman until it’s too late.
4. Finally: How Could Ed Have Drawn an ‘X’ If He Doesn’t Know How to Read?
Because an ‘X’ is just two crossed lines that might not have any meaning to him beyond, ‘This is what illiterate people do to sign their name.’ There’s a huge gap between understanding the ‘X’ as a symbol for this particular situation and knowing how to apply it—along with 25 other letters—to read a language. I can draw the Superman ‘S’ (not an ‘S’!), but that doesn’t mean I can read Kryptonian. I can also recite the Spanish alphabet from middle school, but that doesn’t mean I remember how to apply it after years without practice. Humans are really good at tying signified concepts to signs and an ‘X’ isn’t exactly the most difficult sign to memorize. Of course, it’s also possible that Ed knows his letters, but not how to read Stede’s books. Illiteracy isn’t a black and white state of being: Ed may understand the ‘X’ only as a symbol of agreement, or as a letter, or as a part of a couple words. I feel like the fandom is approaching this as an either/or situation—you can read or you can’t—rather than a very complicated skill that takes years to master, with everyone continuing to learn as time goes on. You think I remember every grammatical rule in the English language? Or that I know the meaning of every word I come across? Or even how to pronounce them? You think I can switch to a culture I’m not a part of—an online space, an academic discipline, a friends’ text exchange—and read through it without stumbling on words, acronyms, and concepts I’ve never encountered? Just as there’s a huge range within my literacy, there’s the possibility for an equally huge range within Ed’s illiteracy too. Maybe he can’t read at all. Maybe he can recognize Godfrey’s name after seeing it on the invitation card. Maybe he can only write his name, but chose not to. Maybe he can do all that, but can’t manage the dense text of Stede’s books. Maybe he can read a bit, but can’t manage the fancy script of the gentry. Maybe the vocabulary is an obstacle. Maybe he learned a long time ago and, like my Spanish, has since lost it. There are a lot of options here that would fall under the large umbrella of 'Ed is illiterate.’
All of which is just to say: those of us working with an illiterate Ed in metas, fanfics, and the like didn’t pull that idea out of thin air and we definitely didn’t hit on it because Ed isn’t white. It’s a reading that the show is very much pointing towards and even if it’s proven wrong in season two, that doesn’t erase the strong implications we got at the start.Yes, there’s a lot wrong with fandom—I’d never deny it—but that’s not going to improve if people put their energy towards pushing inaccurate, but very satisfying claims. It’s a lot easier (and makes people feel good about themselves) to make blanket claims about how Ed Not Being White + Illiterate Interpretations = Racism... but that ease and feelings of superiority don’t make it true. Like the discourse over using any shortened version of Oluwande’s name, or the desire to saddle the antagonist (Izzy) and any fans who like him with accusations of racism, the fandom is looking for easy, black and white rules to avoid being #Problematic. But OFMD is too complicated for that—fandom is too complicated for that—and even if it wasn’t, making up nefarious motivations for character interpretations doesn’t achieve a damn thing.
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theautumnpicker · 7 months
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Semi-selective, 20+ only, please send me a message if you want to write with me! Rules and more information below:
About / Introduction:
Hi! I'm Sylvain (he/him). I am over 25 years old and do not want to interact with minors. I do not use icons or fancy formatting such as small text, because I find it annoying to do. Astarion's story and character features dark themes including slavery and sexual abuse which may come up on this blog. I don't typically tag for triggering topics that are likely to feature heavily on this blog unless I feel it is especially egregious in some way, but you can always ask and I will see what I can do. I will not be writing explicit SA in any way but it may come up in allusion or reference.
Interactions:
Please feel free to follow and/or message me if you are interested in interacting! I do not always follow back right away, especially for multi-muse blogs where I am not sure which muse you'd like to interact with. But I am open to asks, messages, etc. from non-mutuals as well! Literally just talk to me. I welcome original characters as well as canon characters, however at the moment I write Astarion exclusively in his own universe. If you run a blog for a canon character I am familiar with, especially if we are mutuals, feel free to blindly send asks or prompts-- however if you have an OC I may want a little more context first to figure out what their relationship dynamic is like. If I am obsessed with our thread I might reply repeatedly throughout the day. Otherwise, a couple times per week is more likely. I am fully understanding of the fact that inspiration comes and goes and I will never be bothered if you don't reply to a thread for a while or wish to end a thread. This is something we are all doing for fun, after all.
Shipping / Relationship Dynamics:
I usually prefer some level of pre-establishing a relationship, so that we can get started with an interaction that we both find interesting. I do not force ship. However, Astarion is both flirtatious and manipulative. Please do not think I am assuming anything about their relationship just because he is using pet names and/or flirting. Feel free to punch him in the face if you wish. I am totally open to shipping, but any kind of genuine feelings or emotional connection (whether romantic or platonic) will need to grow over time or be discussed in detail beforehand.
More about Astarion:
My portrayal of Astarion is based on the entirety of the game and I am willing to write him within almost any context that exists in the game. This is not specifically an "ascended Astarion" blog, but neither am I averse to writing him. So if that is what you are looking for, hello, come talk to me! Twice per day (at the moment, maybe less as time goes on) I reblog poetry that I feel relates to Astarion in some way. Astarion's headstone shows his birth year only 39 years before his death year. But since elves are considered basically children until they reach 100, and they receive their adult names at 100 years old, my personal interpretation is that that's a legal thing separating the "identity" of the child from the adult. I suspect elven children aren't buried in the same graveyards as adults (which has precedent in many civilizations on Earth too). Besides which it doesn't make a lot of sense for him to be a magistrate as basically-a-child. So I interpret him as being in actuality 139 years old when he is turned.
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carnal-lnstinct · 1 year
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happy new year!! Have you ever made a self insert character before to write fun Dragonball adventures with, or for Goku smooching? I love to draw and write my self insert, its so fun!
Happy new year to you! ♥
Thank you for asking! No, I haven't created one before, unless the stories connect to one another every "y/n" I write looks different in my head. Man, I can only imagine being able to write and draw the scenarios in my head, that's gotta be so awesome! You really get your vision across ♥
I think for me the story establishes something and then the character to put into the place of "y/n" kinda fleshed out from there instead of the other way around? I would say the closest thing I have to an oc is the Conton City Hero I've written for a bunch since she's based on my xv2 time patroller, but the more I've written for her the less she's felt like a personal self-insert and more of just another characterization I needed for the story I was telling. Even the God of Destruction from DWD I just base solely on Beerus but I've adapted a "faceclaim" of Yoruichi from Bleach onto her in my mind after a joke I made once. It's 100% a coincidence they're both cat people, my joke was Yoruichi and Kisuke kinda being the Beerus and Whis of Bleach based on their interactions.
Long story short, No I don't have any active self-insert or original characters xD Maybe one day I'll figure something out and get a commission to share my vision. After getting questions from an ask meme about scenes in my fics I would love to have drawn, it got my thinking and I may actually look into that a little more. But any "y/n" is always an open interpretation coming from me. ♥
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tsui-no-sora · 2 years
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yes i can and will call you out out, im stealing the revive book i am singlehandedly reviving cringe culture /j
i mean. cdream is a caffeine addict, it's basically canon if you ask me, i am now having a very vivid image of cdream sat in a heap of books and note papers drinking coffee straight from the pot as punz anxiously hovers at the edge of said pile, clutching a bag of steadily cooling McPuffNuggets.
yeah the odds for a full 100% happy ending for cfiances are Slim, especially since they're all at uh. very different lore wrap up stages. the lnv finale is very likely going to be the end of quackity's character. the odds for cdream dying or /p dreamnap somehow reconciling in that stream are even lower than the fiances wedding so it's definitely not gonna be the narrative end for sapnap. and im not even touching ckarl with a ten feet pole. i saw the ghost post btw, i am very much hoping that ccq isn't just gonna kill his character off entirely. atleast he's gonna wrap his story up, which is something which i've only heard a few ccs talk about. rip cranboo i guess. literally.
honestly, if we're looking at the scene from a doylist perspective the most likely interpretation is proabably just that ccsapnap wasn't prepared to rp a mental flip on his fiance And his murderhobo bestie. in character he probably he just filed it away for later when he wasn't actively preparing to fight dream.
don't worry finn, we all have our c!diskduo demons hidden away in the tumblr drafts. mine probably are the polar opposite of yours but the point still stands.
i mean you don't have to agree obviously, but i think inconsolable established firmly that wilbur had no fucking clue that dream had gotten out of prison. even if you consider the possibility of him lying to tommy, the fantasy sequence made it pretty clear that he still expected dream to be locked inside the prison. so it's either train talk or prison visit. i still haven't gotten around to rewatching that scene, i'll let you know what i think once i do.
csam has to make the ultimate decision between stopping the collapse of las nevadas and bringing cdream a bacon and cheese sandwich as quackity watches in despair. take a guess what he chooses. i wonder if csam has any plans to end his character.
i mean especially cdteam is also a complicated, tangled and angry mess, but yeah q and sam had care but also this very business like and scary.y vibe to them. i would genuinely kill to see a confrontation between them during that stream now that both underwent very drastic changes in mentality (for the worse or for the bettter.
im genuinely trying to keep my expectations low and simple, even though i fear that the first is probably a disservice to ccquackity's work and i literally cant help the second.
I'm not depressed" TikTok audio which I mean pretty fitting for them
I really wonder if that's actually going to be the ending of the character I have the feeling like the most lore based ccs are trying to wrap up their lore already which I don't know if it's in preparation for the second season because Foolish did say he was getting near his last streams for the first season but he called it that directly implying that whatever the world altering event is will lead to the second season and well Wilbur had said that while the lore will be done with his character he would still be around so maybe Quackity will still be around just with less serious lore which a ghost character could work pretty well for that
C!Ranboo is so dead he's just so dead but I really wanted to know what his deal with c!Dream was c'mon at least tell me that man
I really am so confused on what direction the dsmp is going to go
Yeah that's probably pretty true but now I don't know when to really chuck things up to eh it's just the streamers improving because not everything is that serious because after seeing how specific their scripts got at points during the tribute video I think I may have severly underestimated that point in the past
The latest one I had was like a 5 page essay on c!Dream c!Tommy and obsession that I was so close to posting but that I held back on because maybe society just isn't ready for it just yet and the other one was c!Dream c!Ranboo c!Tommy and The Plan that was pretty much just me crying because c!Tommy c!Ranboo friendship matters to me but so does c!Endersmile
So yeah I bet they are complete opposites on almost every regard to ironically I feel like we agree the most on c!Tommy himself
I guess I didn't see it as what he was expecting the most just as what he was one more used to and what made more sense because well in a real setting if c!Dream wanted to kill c!Wilbur it wouldn't really be a difficult task for him to do so therefore what made more sense in my brain is yeah his fantasy takes place here because it's the only possible place it could occur in c!Wilbur killing c!Dream like that and c!Quackity and c!Sam torturing him like that are things that could only happen there makes it all the more imperative that he stays there
But on that case train talk it's what makes more sense because c!Sam didn't really let other people visit c!Dream c!Sapnap did say that getting past him for any visit at all was incredibly difficult so I don't think he would have left c!Wilbur in
Honestly if that did happen in lore I would just be cheering on for c!Dream getting his cool moment of revenge I think he's earned it by now and I don't think he does whenever he brings up c!Sam or any of his other dsmp oriented proyects it's only to talk about what more things he wants to do to my knowledge he hasn't really spoken ever about putting an end to the server or to any of his characters and I don't really think he wants to he seems to have a lot of fun in it and he's part of the members who have been on it the longest after all
C!Dteam are everything to me and also have so many issues that I just don't know how their happy ending could go but I'm still holding onto for hope okay
C!Sam and c!Quackity confrontation just really calls to me because look at all the awful things they did together they both know the other is capable on some pretty inhumane things a business relationship like that is dangerous and seeing how different they are now than when they first met it would just be cool to hear them talk about it
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anneraven114 · 1 year
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My Real 온라인포커 Life 
The house advantages in casino games are narrow enough to produce winners -- lots of winners, in fact -- every day.Lyon was a major card exporter to German speaking countries from the slow 16th through the 18th centuries. Cards will be dealt so as not to expose the hole card or any other face down cards in a manner that cannot be readily observed by someone attempting to ascertain their value.If a gaming licensee chooses to have the cards dealt from the dealer's hand, the following requirements shall be observed. Customers are invited to play for a chance to win cash and other prizes.
Lay bets are always working even if a point has not been established unless the player requests otherwise.Almost all 52-card packs submitted in the presentation will contain at least two jokers unless otherwise noted. Like all stories about playing cards and their origins this one is vested with legend and mystique. But unlike so many other mysteries in the history of playing cards, the origin of French suit symbols can be traced back to one person, Étienne Vignoles. Progression and spread of playing card designs
In 2018 the university digitized over 100 of its decks.Since 2017, Vanderbilt University has been home to the 1,000-volume George Clulow and United States Playing Card Co.Some provinces also have regulations that allow individual municipalities to hold referendums to opt out of VLT operation in their communities. Players can bet on the various options by placing chips directly on the appropriately-marked sections of the layout, or asking the base dealer or stickman to do so, depending on which bet is being made. Combinatorial analysis and/or computer simulation is necessary to complete the task.
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Using paper money was inconvenient and risky so they were substituted by play money known as "money cards".This is a playing card from a charming collection of new designs for a deck which were issued during the French Revolution (1793-94). By the 15th century, suits began to coalesce within countries. 온라인포커 Players take turns rolling two dice and whoever is throwing the dice is called the "shooter".
If you have a better hand, your ante is returned at a rate of 1:1. Things get really interesting when you calculate your winnings for your additional wager. Here’s a standard set of payouts for the additional bet: According to this page on house edge comparisons at Wizard of Odds, Caribbean Stud Poker gives the casino an advantage of 5.22%.Card counting is not thrown out of the casino and casinos will give you the opportunity to get things right and work the cards in your favour. Casinos want to keep their best customers coming back.Electronic slot machines offer many different games (poker is one of the most popular) and are called by a variety of names: electronic gaming devices, video gaming terminals, video gaming devices, video poker machines, or just slots.
Seven rolled as 6–1 is sometimes called "six ace" or "up pops the Devil".Another strategy is the Fibonacci system, where bets are calculated according to the Fibonacci sequence. Regardless of the specific progression, no such strategy can statistically overcome the casino's advantage, since the expected value of each allowed bet is negative. Many video arcades in Japan feature pachinko models from different times.The probability of getting heads in a toss of a coin is 1/2; the odds are 1 to 1, called even. Care must be used in interpreting the phrase on average, which applies most accurately to a large number of cases and is not useful in individual instances.
The coincidence, coupled with gambling's knack for ruining lives, has earned the roulette wheel the nickname "The Devil's Wheel."It used to be worse: in 1866, a version of the game featuring an American Eagle symbol added yet another opportunity for the house to win it all. It has been said that economic studies showing a positive relationship between casinos and crime usually fail to consider the visiting population: they count crimes committed by visitors but do not count visitors in the population measure, which overstates the crime rate. Part of the reason this methodology is used, despite the overstatement, is that reliable data on tourist count are often not available.In the 1950s and 1960s The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas had a craps table that floated in the swimming pool, as a joke reference to the notoriety of the term.
Casino-style gambling in the United States has skyrocketed in the last 35 years, expanding from just two states (Nevada and New Jersey) to 40 states in 2014. Outside of Nevada (which alone has over 200 operations), the U.S. has more than 700 casinos, including sizeable facilities owned by Indian tribes. Of the 20 largest metropolitan areas, 17 have casinos within a one hour’s drive.There are two different ways to calculate the odds and house edge of this bet. In Deuces Wild, the payout for a four of a kind makes up approximately ⅓ of the payback percentage of the game, and a four of a kind occurs on average approximately every fifteen hands.Their military memories led to craps becoming the dominant casino game in postwar Las Vegas and the Caribbean.
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filibusterfrog · 2 years
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some arthurian boys
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One other thing that’s really problematic about Steve’s ending in Avwngers: Endgame, I think, is what it says about dealing with trauma.
I’ll explain. So, along with Bucky clearly being main part of Steve’s storyline, I also feel like the main theme in Steve’s story is dealing with and overcoming trauma. The trauma of loss, PTSD, and of having to find his place in the world after coming out of the ice. 
A few examples of that being made more or less explicit are these:
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Here we see Steve struggling to find himself and find people who get what he’s been through.
In the conversation between Steve and Sam at the VA, Sam is showing Steve that he’s not alone, that there are people who relate. Now, obviously noone else has had the experience of being frozen for 70 years only to wake up in a different time. But at the core, Steve’s trauma consists of human experiences that are not at all uncommon: Loss, guilt, and trouble finding oneself after coming back from a traumatic experience. 
Sam does this the first time they meet as well, when he asks Steve if “it’s his bed that’s too soft”, showing him that he relates to what he’s going though, and making him aware that what he is experiencing is not an uncommon thing to struggle with as a war veteran.
At the VA, he tells him about loosing his “wingman” and not being able to save him, which almost relates 1:1 to the story of Steve losing Bucky in CA: TFA.
Important note: This not only makes Steve realize that there are people that relate to his trauma, it also Steve’s trauma relatable to the viewers- Which in my opinion,gives the creators a responsibility to treat that part of his storyline properly and delicately - which I actually think that they do to some degree, up until Endgame.
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When Steve visits Peggy, she encourages him to start over, and move forward. What I think she is saying here isn’s that we shouldn’t grieve, but rather that in dealing with trauma, we have to accept that we can’t go back. The trauma won’t magically go away, because it has happened. And trying our best to move forward is the best that we can do.
The way I read it,  what she is also doing, is that she’s saying goodbye, and telling him not to linger, but to move on, and live, ensuring him that she has already done so.
This again at it’s core, is something a lot of us can relate to - grieving for a lost love. And Peggy says it beautifully - “the best we can do is start over” - it won’t make you happy, expecting that in a couple of years you’ll find some stone that’ll magically take you back in time to that first love that you thought was going to last forever... oh...
Okay, moving on:
So the thing is, that I think Steve does move on, to some extend. In the CA: TWS we see Steve establishing relationships based on deeper connections and shared experiences with both Natasha
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As well as with Sam (see/read above) ⬆
Another important example is when Steve and Sam first meet and Sam asks how it is for Steve to have woken up in the future.
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In his answer, Steve is focusing on the positive sides to being in the future, which can be read as Steve healthily dealing with his situation, but it also depicts the nuances of trauma.
What I mean by that, relates back to what Peggy was saying: “We can’t go back”. Our trauma won’t magically dissappear, and then everything is all good. In order to move on, we have to accept that we will be carrying some of that baggage with us. 
But that doesn’t mean that we can’t move on, that it will always be all bad. In this clip, Steve we’re right at the start of CA: TWS, and this is Steve’s first time meeting Sam, before knowing that Bucky is alive, and before having made any friends in the future. And what he’s saying is “Yeah, I miss my old life, I’ve been through something traumatic, but nothing is black and white, and I can appreciate the things that I have now”.
In CA: CW and the later Avengers movies, Steve’s continues developing new friendships, establishes somewhat of a life, and makes meaningful decisions for himself, based on his own ideals. He gets to grieve for Peggy, and even tries dating. (The whole Steve/Shannon debacle and the way she was treated, is a discussion for a whoole ‘nother day btw).
The fact that Steve gets to have Bucky back is of course already streching it in terms of realistic reprensentation of trauma. But I think that can be allowed, given that avenging Bucky and finding a tie between his old self, somebody who knew him all along, and now, makes up a complete storyline, that, aside from working really well, also tells a beautiful story about friendship.
(I mean the whole “one soulmate presumably dies, the other wakes up 70 years later, alone and feeling guilty, and it turns out his soulmate is actually alive, having been made a dangerous asset controlled by the enemy?? *cheff kiss* who comes up with that shit - okay, I might be little bit biased in this) :):):)
- Back to the point!
So, to sum up: 
Steve starts off feeling completely alone because of the unique nature of of his trauma, and realizes that at the core of it, there are people who can actually relate to what he is going through (the grief of a lost love, the loss of a friend and the guilt of not being able to save them, struggling with finding yourself as well as your place in the world, in the aftermath of a traumatic experience).
He moves on and begins letting people in, letting himself grieve and establishes new ties that bind him to his surroundings, when he finds out that there is no going back, only forward, and he is in fact not alone with his experience og trauma.
Now, Idk about those of you guys that have had to go through either one of the above or other types of trauma, but to me, this process doesn’t sound unfamiliar. 
I think that a lot of the reason why so many of us fell in love with Cap’s story, with the relationship between Steve and Bucky, Sam and Natasha, and the reason why these relationships are so inspired and well-written and exciting to examine in fandom content, is because this is a beautiful story about overcoming trauma in a nuanced and realistic way, of finding out that you’re not alone, and of using that knowledge to move forward. 
When Steve finally gets Bucky back, everything isn’t back to normal or okay. They both have still lost, both others and parts of themselves, and they still have to process a lot of trauma, and find their place in a new time. 
But that’s okay, because overcoming trauma is possible, even if it doesn’t magically go away. And it will be okay, because they have someone by their side who can get what they’re going through. 
And I think a lot of us relate to that. And I also think that that’s a really important representation of trauma and of friendship and love (be it platonic or otherwise) between men, within a far-reaching franchise such as the MCU.
But oh no, MCU just had to get in a frantic Gay Panic over the fact that people fell for these beautiful dynamics and were inspired to create stories and art examining that, to more explicitely fit the reprensentation that they need, that they threw all of out the window, just to go out of their way in both Infinity War and Endgame, to ensure that there could be interpreted exactly zero Gayness between Steve and Bucky, and not even the smallest possibility of Steve not being 100% straight would be left open,
Leading to an ending that is the exact opposite of a healthy narrative when it comes to dealing with trauma:
- Little guy gets the buff body and the Girl, and then all the bad was gone and everything was perfect - 
While completely ignoring the fact that he’s leaving his life and his friends behind, to go to a place where he knows nobody and his best friend is actively being tortured, and Steve will have to not be noticed in the past, probably leading to a very isolated life.
And thus, MCU managed to fuck up when it comes to appreciating their LGBTQ+ audience, representing healthy depictions of coping with trauma, as well as male friendship and non-toxic masculinity.
Only for this short clip, that would leave us all very dissapointed and confused:
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Way to go. 
Thanks for reading, if you made it this far:)
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Part 4 - Basic Concepts of Miraculous Ladybug: Glamour
You can call it however you want: kid's show logic, superhero disguise logic, magical girl show logic, cartoon laws, suspension of disbelief, etc. But the fact that nobody recognises Marinette, Adrien and others when they are suited up IS NOT BAD WRITING. It's one of the main laws of this genre. That's not because characters are stupid, okay? So, being frustrated that everyone in the show acts stupid about this "wearing a mask that covers only eyes" trope is strange. This criticism is not valid or fair.
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But, this trope has to make sense in-universe as a worldbuilding and narrative element.
Miraculous doesn't give us much direct information on how glamour works. And in this case, I think we need both SHOW and TELL. Because if you don't establish the glamour rules clearly, you are going to run into problems and create unfortunate implications with your storytelling choices.
Appearance
Miraculous obviously gives our heroes magical glamour. In "Lady WiFi" we find out that masks can't be taken off. It's magic. No other explanation is needed.
Miraculous can slightly change the appearance of users (eyes, face shape, height and hairstyles). People can identify and notice the hairstyles of heroes (numerous Ladybug wigs, statue in Copycat). Jagged Stone points out the change of hair when he mistakes Chloe for Ladybug ("Antibug"). But it's just a costume. There is no magic that prevents Jagged from understanding that Chloe isn't Ladybug. So, how does it work? But it's forgivable because it's cartoon logic. Suspension of disbelief works here, I suppose. I won't judge this too harshly.
Glamour also obviously prevents people from making a connection that Marinette and Ladybug have identical hairstyles. So people know that Ladybug wears her hair in pigtails, but magic does not allow them to notice similarities.
Another important question. Does glamour work on Kwamis? Can they see who is behind the mask?
New York Special makes it clear that magic does not affect robots and they can see through glamour. Does that mean that Markov, AI built by Max, knows the identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir? And it's never addressed.
Plagg in "Frightningale" says that holders can subconsciously choose their superhero appearance. This is actually pretty interesting and I like this idea a lot. Except the show is not consistent with this. The transformation of Master Fu looks identical to Nathalie's. And we have seen how different from each other Ladybug and Black Cat holders looked in the past. At the same time, Master Fu and Nino have different takes on Turtle superhero suit.
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Age Glamour
Does age glamour exist? Do people see Ladybug, Chat Noir and other heroes as adults even when they look like teenagers to the audience (their height and build are smaller even when they are transformed)? Is that why no one ever questions the fact that children nearly die on a daily basis?
I mentioned unfortunate implications earlier. Well, this is where they come into play. Let's talk about "Copycat". A lot of people discussed it before me, so I won't bore you with details.
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When I watched "Copycat" for the first time Theo's crush on Ladybug didn't bother me, because I thought that he sees Ladybug as his peer, a girl who is about 20-23 years old. Theo is an artist, his character design is that of an adult. He has his own studio, its appearance indicates that he did serious commissions in the past. The guy has no idea that Ladybug is like 13.
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But then we get "Heroes' Day" and "Ladybug". And Hawkmoth calls them "kids", which means that there is no age glamour. Others see Ladybug and Chat Noir as teenagers. Perhaps, other Miraculous users aren't affected by age glamour. Therefore regular people see all heroes as adults but other heroes are able to guess their age more or less correctly. But you must spell this thing out because the audience can interpret "Copycat" differently. If there is no age glamour, then Theo is crushing on a teenage girl and he is fully aware of this fact. And this doesn't look good for your show.
The "No Age Glamour" theory is further confirmed in "Sapotis" where Alya just straight up analyses voice recordings and says that Ladybug is a girl their age. If glamour exists then it should also cover technology. Kwami can't be photographed. Face and voice recognition software shouldn't be able to analyse transformed superheroes and detect their identities in any way.
Besides, after "Sapotis" Alya should definitely be sure that Ladybug is not 5000 years old (also not an adult), especially after she wore Miraculous herself and was one door away from detransformed Ladybug.
SEASON 4 UPDATE! There's no age glamour after all.
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In "Furious Fu" Su Han calls Chat Noir a child without knowing his identity. It means that everyone knows their superheroes are teenagers. "Copycat" can't be saved from that, uh, subtext anymore. No one questions the danger of their job or the balance of their lives outside of the mask. No one doubts their competence after "Origins" ever again. No one becomes annoyed after being bossed around by two teenagers in spandex. You had many opportunities to drop these details into the narrative. Someone could have been akumatized over this (I will not be ordered around by some magical kids!).
I don't know why writers decided not to use at least this idea and slightly adjust "Copycat" if they got rid of the age glamour completely. It can be explained as kid's show logic, but unfortunately, I'm reluctant to do it. If many characters sympathise with akuma victims on-screen, why not with the teenage superheroes who must fight them?
New York Special had this weird focus on collateral damage out of nowhere (the damage done by sentimonster Robostus) and yet it has 0 effect on the main story. No one in Paris is pissed that their 2 teenage protectors weren't there.
Ironically, "Furious Fu" and that one remark made by Su Han also created unfortunate implications for other moments in the show. Just hear me out. Apparently, Jagged Stone wrote a "thank you" song for Ladybug knowing that she is 13-15 year old child back in "Pixelator". Fandom is more than happy to roast Lila for lying about saving Jagged Stone's cat and him writing her a "thank you" song. Fandom claims that Lila's tale could harm Jagged's reputation, when he wrote a song for teenage Ladybug several weeks prior. Meanwhile, in-universe this lie is 100% believable.
If we put on "realism glasses", then both this whole song situation and Theo's crush in "Copycat" have uncomfortable implications. However, the show's canon can't be viewed and criticised through "realism glasses". I admit that bits and pieces of my criticisms are affected by these "glasses", but, ultimately, I'm trying to be fair and concentrate only on things that can't be justified by "cartoon logic and worldbuilding".
Could the existence of age glamour solve this problem of unfortunate implications and other concerns mentioned above? YES. Is it better for the narrative? YES. Is essential for the story? NOT QUITE. Could the absence of age glamour be called an irredeemable storytelling flaw? NO.
Disclaimer: On a side note, only older audience can notice these implications. Children, the target audience, most likely won't understand this subtext simply because they don't have enough experience. So, perhaps, this criticism is unfair, because these moments only look weird to me as an adult. It's like an adult joke in a cartoon that you don't get until you reach a certain age.
There's nothing technically wrong with adult writing a "thank you" song for a teenager. It's just an expression of gratitude. However, unfortunately, we live in a world, where adults normally wouldn't write songs for teens to express gratitude only. In real life similar actions would imply pedophilia and would be actively scorned by the public. No one would risk their reputation like that even if their intentions were genuinely pure and sincere. But this show can't be viewed through "realism glasses", because it's a cartoon and in certain cases we as the audience must use suspension of disbelief and pretend that certain things are possible for plot to happen.
Su Han also wants to give Ladybug and Black Cat to adults. Why didn't Master Fu do this then? Writers don't give us any explanation. Throughout the show we never question this up until the moment it's revealed that adults don't have time-limited powers. Then comes "Furious Fu". Story suddenly becomes self-aware here. Because apparently nothing prevented Fu from giving the most powerful Miraculous to adults who won't have time limit and will be more effective against Hawkmoth (see part 3 for more details).
I have a very good example of Age Glamour done right. It works in the story. There is no confusion or unfortunate implications. There is like one plothole connected to the glamour (it's been years and I still can't forgive them for Cornelia and Caleb) but otherwise, it's a pretty solid example of both show and tell. Clearly, writers wanted to avoid uncomfortable implications which are present in "Copycat". I am talking about W.I.T.C.H. comic books and animated series.
If you are not familiar with it, I'll give you a brief explanation. The story follows 5 girls, the Guardians of Kandrakar who are chosen to protect their world and parallel ones from evil. They receive magical powers from the amulet known as the Heart of Kandrakar. Their powers are based on elements: fire, water, earth, air and energy. Our main characters are about 13-15 years old. In the animated series they are younger and they attend middle school, making them 12-14 years old. But the transformation makes them look 18-20. They look like young women to each other and to other people. At the same time, people can recognise them, their looks and voice don't change. Most people don't know that they are really teenagers when they are not transformed and these people don't know that magic can make them look older. That's why everyone treats Guardians like adults when they are transformed. Comics establish this fact in the very beginning. In first issues characters state that they look older, we are also shown this multiple times.
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In fact, one of the first side plots revolves around the fact that Irma uses her powers to sneak into the disco club to meet up with her crush. Irma is 13 at the beginning of the series, she is a high school freshman. Her crush, Andrew Hornby is a senior guy 17-18 years old. Irma has liked him for a long time and wants to impress him, so she decides to be clever about this. She transforms into her Guardian form of the 18-year-old girl, hides her wings, sneaks out to the club after her parents are asleep without any problem, and meets Andrew, who obviously doesn't recognise Irma in this girl who looks about his age. Smitten Andrew offers her a ride and 13-year-old Irma doesn't understand the implication of that offer, so she accepts. And, obviously, he decides that she is interested in more than just a ride home, since she agreed, and the comic implies that he fully intended for them to have sex in the backseat of his car. But Irma understands the implication only when Andrew tries to kiss her. She panics and turns him into a frog. And she actually pulls this "I need to look mature" trick more than once over the course of the series.
It's not the only situation where this age difference is handled well and makes sense. People who know the main characters in everyday life remark on their older appearance during transformation. Sometimes people flirt with Guardians when they are transformed. In one of the side-novels centred around Cornelia, she is worried that the prince of the realm they helped to save from famine would try to marry her. That never happens, but Cornelia actually brainstorms with her friends about how to tell the prince that she is really 15.
There are many other plot points where this happens, but I think that you got the idea. I really like how "Age Glamour" was handled in W.I.T.C.H.
How do we fix this? Create the situations where people offhandedly mention "Age Glamour" in the presence of Marinette or Adrien, use Kwami for this.
"Don't worry, dear. Chat Noir and Ladybug are adults, who know what they are doing. I am sure that they will handle this. "
Theo could say: "Oh, I wonder which university Ladybug goes to?"
"So, does that mean that other people see us as grown-ups, Tikki?"
A few words and boom, problem solved. Then allow the "show don't tell" rule do the rest.
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flowerzchild · 3 years
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WHY I BELIEVE ELRIEL IS ACOTAR 5
DISCLAIMER: As you have read from the title, this post is strictly pro-elriel and my personal opinion. If you don't agree or don't ship them then kindly move along no need to be mean to people on the internet over their personal preferences and opinions.
THE CASE OF THE BONUS CHAPTERS
In my opinion, if you base your argument that Elain and Azriel will not be together by only using his bonus chapter alone then it is very unwise.
As it stands, Azriel’s bonus chapter is only extra content that can be not read by the readers. This is proven by its accessibility only extends for US readers, even then the book that contains the chapter is only sold by one bookstore chain so many US readers don't have the chapter unless they are engaging in the fandom.
The same goes for Feysand’s bonus chapter. Granted, there is nothing altering in Feysand’s bonus chapter except to give us a little insight into how they came to name Nyx and them discussing Elain and her potential. However, there is one major line that makes it clear Elain’s book is next.
“Let’s focus on helping one sister before we start on the other”. (FEYRE’S BONUS CHAPTER IN ACOSF)
The line above had no business to be in Feysand’s bonus chapter if Elain’s book is not next.
Why? Well, the bonus chapters are placed at the end of the book and by the time we arrive at that chapter Nesta’s story is very much told.
Like, Sarah has said, I don’t think Nesta’s journey is finished, what I am saying is that her story is been told then it will go to the other sister, Elain.
Thus, for me, those two chapters only intend to be a confirmation of Elain’s book and Azriel as her love interest.
Now, if you want to argue that Azriel’s POV is a confirmation that he and Gwyn are mates then it should’ve been included in the actual book.
What I mean by included is his apparent ‘mate behavior’ toward her or hell anything resembling romantic interactions.
Why? So that casual reader also notices there is something going on between them.
Now, what is the purpose of Gwyn being in the bonus chapter? When you look back at the actual book, you will notice one thing that is mysterious about her: her singing/voice.
Nesta reacted to her singing and so did Azriel’s shadows. No, I am not saying she is 100% a lightsinger, I am saying that her presence in the bonus is meant to give us a little clue of her power not her and Az as mates. Like I said, there should've been something romantic between them that is included in the actual book. Their interactions in ACOSF are incomparable with Elriel's interaction.
But again, we shouldn’t base our argument on chapters that many may think not exist. The main evidence of the next book should be from ACOSF itself.
ELAIN AND ELRIEL’S BOOK CONFIRMATION IN ACOSF
Elain who seemed to be very compliant and passive suddenly show the other side of herself in ACOSF that take everyone by surprise.
Elain who everyone thinks is a people pleaser suddenly talked back to Nesta when she was about to be coddled.
Elain who has been passive since the original series suddenly volunteered to help find the dread troves or anything to help resolve the Koschei situation.
Now that Nesta couldn’t find the missing trove because she lost her powers and Feyre bound by the death bargain with Rhysand, who else the inner circle turned to?
Now, that Koschei is still a threat, which female character that was from the original series side character that had a connection with him and that’s been highlighted the glimpse of change in character throughout ACOSF?
You may argue that Elain showed little development in ACOSF, however, she is set to be the main character.
If she is not set to be the main character then it would make sense for her development to be in the background of another character’s story.
A main character’s character development is a part of their narrative journey to become a developed character at the end of the story (as we’ve seen with Nesta and Feyre). Therefore, we need to read it from their inner thoughts to witness and make sense of the scenes that make them a changed character.
Also, may I add that Nesta’s development was regressing not developing in ACOFAS but her book is next, isn’t it?
Now, when we have established that Elain is the next main character based on ACOSF alone, we must now analyze who will be her love interest.
It is either to be Lucien and Azriel (Tamlin never in the equation just because they are associated with flowers and no Elain doesn’t want to be coddled she literally talked bak to Nesta when Nesta doesn’t let her scry, where do you get that Tamlain shipper?).
Let’s compare their last interactions in ACOSF, shall we?
“Cassian’s heart strained at the pain etching deep into Lucien’s face as he tried to hide his disappointment and longing. Elain only shrank further into herself, no trace of that newfound boldness to be seen.” (ACOSF, CHAPTER 58)
vs
“...Then his gaze shifted to Elain, and though it was utterly neutral, something charged went through it. Between them. Elain’s breath caught slightly...” (ACOSF, CHAPTER 58)
We have these two interactions between Elucien and Elriel in the same chapter as if Sarah herself wants to point out the obvious where Elain’s feelings truly lay.
I know Elriel's confirmation is probably not very convincing for some people. However, we must take into account both characters’ personalities.
If you have read Azriel's bonus then you will notice that Elain is very shy around Azriel (she was shaking and nervous when she gave his present remember?) and Azriel tends to mask his emotion when he is in the presence of others (Nesta is the one narrated their charged glance).
So yes, that scene is enough confirmation for their attraction, they are naturally quiet and shy. I expect no less from them as a confirmation especially when we don't have their POVs when we initially reach that part in ACOSF.
A POSSIBILITY OF GWYNRIEL/ELUCIEN BOOK IS NEXT?
The only way I could see Gwynriel getting a book is if their book is a novella.
As I have made a post here, Azriel and Gwyn do not have a direct (read: major) relation to the main plot that can carry it to its peak in ACOTAR 6.
Because of that their book should be a novella since nothing major happen in their book except that maybe they got together.
However, we know that the novella’s release date has been pushed back and forth and Sarah herself admitted in her March Instagram live that she doesn’t know what the novella is going to be.
So it safe to assume that the next installment will not be the novella, rather, the full book or the actual book which inherently will be Elain's and by default Elriel's.
The next book could be about Elucien if only they have interactions at all in ACOSF so that it will build up their unresolved conflict. I’m basing this argument on Nesta and Cassian’s interaction in ACOFAS.
In ACOFAS, despite the fact that Nesta and Cassian were fighting there were indeed interactions between them that must be resolved. Instead, in ACOSF the only interactions that actually happen and need to be solved are between Elain and Azriel.
“He’d been replaced in training by a stone-faced Azriel, who was more aloof than usual and wouldn’t even give her a smile.” (ACOSF, CHAPTER 59)
The thing that needs to be resolved between them is explained by their misunderstanding that happened in his bonus chapter.
Yes, I am aware that I said we shouldn’t base our argument on his bonus chapter, however, the line above is a direct callback and outcome to what happens between Elain and Azriel as well as Rhysand’s warning in his bonus chapter.
How else you’re going to explain why Azriel became more aloof than usual if not resorting back to that particular fight between him and Rhysand because of Elain? How else you're going to explain why Elain and Azriel suddenly stop interacting after they are confirmed to be attracted toward one another?
Regardless of our contrasting opinions and interpretation of Azriel’s POV, we must remember that it is a bonus chapter and those scenes in his bonus might not be canon for those who have not read it or learned of its existence.
Also, in order to speculate the next book's main character, we need to get past the barrier of romantic interactions and actually think about what the next main character will contribute to the main plot of the story.
As it stands, only Elain can carry a book by herself regardless of any romantic subplot. And because Elain’s book is next and we’ve seen close to zero interactions between her and Lucien then her love interest will be Azriel.
Elucien and Elriel have been built up alongside each other since ACOMAF, and yet only one of them that’s progressed and is being set up when it comes to the plotline. So yes, Elriel is the endgame.
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96thdayofrage · 2 years
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What you tell a child will vary based on the age of the child, their level of interest, and their race and/or yours may be a factor. One thing that is essential is that they are told the truth. Unfortunately, there are many different stories being told about the same events which mean parents may have to step up their game regarding the facts of slavery. If you’re going to say a schoolbook is wrong, you better be able to back it up.
In 1977, the mini-series Roots captivated the nation and started a conversation about slavery that may never be duplicated. There were only three basic television networks at the time, the show’s 130–140 million viewers equaled more than half of the US population at the time of 221 million. Each of the eight episodes still ranks among the top 100 most-watched episodes of all time. If someone managed to avoid watching Roots, it was almost impossible to avoid discussions of the show. People in America were talking about slavery.
I had a chance to re-watch Roots recently which is available on-demand on my cable subscriber. Knowing what I now know about slavery, it’s amazing how much information was slipped into the show, including the ever-changing laws that targeted slaves, even after they were freed. It also captured the real fear of white people during and after the Nat Turner rebellion.
Before I take this conversation in a whole different direction, many of the commenters mentioned watching documentaries or movies as a family and discussing them afterward. In addition to Roots, one might consider the PBS Series: Slavery and the Making of America, 500 Years Later, Roots of Resistance: The Story of the Underground Railroad, or Over the River… Life of Lydia Marie Child, Abolitionist for Freedom. There are also several children’s books about slavery including If You Lived When There Was Slavery in America, Henry’s Freedom Box, and All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom. Many of the children's books have YouTube videos with the author reading the book aloud. Questions from the children should be expected, your ability to answer them may vary. If you don’t know the answer, don’t be afraid to say that, but commit to trying to find the answer and discuss your plan to do so.
There were responders who indicated they would say nothing at all to their children. I respectfully submit that children will learn something from somewhere about slavery and those parents might wish they had more involvement. There is a lot of rewriting of history even today. Many purported historians make excuses for slavery and praise the Founders for their foresight which led to the end of slavery in America. There is a part of the Constitution; Article 1, Section 9: Clause 1, which establishes that the US could not eliminate the International Slave Trade for at least twenty years.
Article 1, Section 9: Clause 1
Clause 1. The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit…
They say it was a plan to eventually phase out slavery. I interpret it as something far more diabolical which combines protectionism with the forced breeding of domestic slaves in order to generate higher profits on their sale. If you’re going to talk to children about slavery be sure to get it right. If you choose never to speak to your children about slavery, you risk allowing them to be misinformed and led astray.
In 1808, America banned the import of slaves from Africa and the West Indies. The impact on actual slavery in America…
medium.com
“Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It.”
There was a response from a white woman with two black grandchildren ages 13, and 11. She said, “They are getting to the age where they need to know these things, but I’m lost.” In her case, I think I’d ask the children’s parent(s) if available what their plans were to discuss slavery and try to reach some consensus. Going alone without their involvement could create a bad situation which ultimately affects everyone’s relationship. Assuming you go forward; I’d begin with a discussion about what they have experienced at their ages specific to being black. You, as well as black parents and grandparents, will likely have to cover many topics including the civil rights movement, African civilizations, and black hair. Don’t be overwhelmed by what you don’t know, a trip to the library or a targeted Internet search may prove extremely helpful. I would suggest going at their pace, not force-feeding them if they’re not ready. and preparing for the possibility that the discussion never really ends. I’m still learning as will you and them.
There’s another category for which I got no responses, though I have hundreds of white Facebook friends. What do white people tell their white children about slavery? They shouldn’t assume they’ll be taught everything they need to know in school. They should take an interest in the curriculum and find out what is being taught, discuss with their children what they’re learning. Look for opportunities to supplement their learning, providing them the same books, videos, and documentaries I’ve suggested to black parents. Pay attention to their discussion about children and teachers of other races. Look for teachable moments about equality, study the histories of various cultures beyond your own.
Slavery was horrific, but it’s part of America’s past and shouldn’t be forgotten or dismissed. In an unrelated discussion about events during slave times, I was told (via the Internet), “that was 200 years ago, who cares?” In another discussion with a white co-worker about a race massacre that had occurred not 10 miles from where we were standing, he said, “Why would you want to bring any of that up? It will just create problems.” There are many who would like slavery to be a forgotten part of America’s history. This country was literally built by slaves and that contribution has never formally been acknowledged or compensated. Even today, the equivalent of slave labor is utilized in several nations, some of which benefits Americans who look the other way. The more we educate our own population, the better we can make the world. It all begins with teaching the children.
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tricktster · 4 years
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Is TST for the satanic temple
It is merely a happy happy happy coincidence, but don’t take that to mean that they don’t have my full-throated support and admiration.
Since you kids are on tumblr, I’m guessing a lot of you already know that The Satanic Temple (TST) is not, in fact, a group of people who worship Satan. For those of you who might (understandably) have TST confused with an an actual Satan-worshipping entity, rest assured - supporting TST requires no actual Satan worship - or anything worship, it’s a “non-theistic religion.” 
So, you might be wondering, what’s the point of a purported Satanic church that explicitly does not believe in, nor worship, Satan? 
Great rhetorical question! Thank you for the invitation to geek out! In this essay I will explain why The Satanic Temple is an incredibly clever maneuver to protect the individual rights and liberties of people in the United States of America, and why you should all, regardless of religious belief, stan them. I am sorry! This is going to be a long one! I’m going to use a page break!
(Apologies if anything I say here is really basic obvious stuff that you already know. I will probably cover some familiar ground, but I didn’t get taught about any of this in high school beyond a few throwaway paragraphs in a textbook, so I’m writing with an audience of ‘me in high school’ in mind.)
As you know, the founding fathers did some pretty wild shit when they decided on what the United States of America was going to look like, and among the wildest was the decision that America would not have a state religion. I cannot express to you guys how significant this decision was in shaping American culture... soooo I won’t try because it’s beside the point and this is already going to be way too long. All you really need to take away is the following:
The U.S. constitution provides both that religion and government are to be kept separate, and that the free exercise of religion is a fundamental individual right, and those portions of the constitution have pissed a lot of people off over the last 244 years.
So there’s actually three parts of the bill of rights that are in play here. In the First Amendment, we have the Establishment Clause, and the Free Exercise Clause:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion [The Establishment Clause], or prohibiting the free exercise thereof [The Free Exercise Clause]; or abridging the freedom of speech [...]”
These clauses were the only part of the Constitution that touched on religion until the 14th amendment was ratified in 1868. For those of you who are curious about the timing of a new amendment in 1869 and are as bad with significant dates as I am, the Civil War ended in 1865, and, as such, it’s worth noting that the purpose of the 14th Amendment was to guarantee equal civil and legal rights to Black people. I am not the first person to note that uh, we are clearly still working on that.
Anyway, for our purposes, the pertinent part of the 14th amendment is the Equal Protection Clause:
“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Okay, very broadly, here’s what each clause actually does:
The Establishment Clause says that the US government cannot sponsor any religion, or involve itself in religion to the benefit of one religion over another. 
The Free Exercise clause says that the US government cannot stop someone from holding a religious belief (or force them to adhere to another religious belief)
The Equal Protection Clause prohibits discrimination on the basis of religious belief
These all look pretty great on paper, but in practice, enforcing them has been wildly hit or miss. I’m going to discuss why, so I’ll say up front that none of this should not be construed as an attack on Christianity. Religious faith is intensely personal, and I want to emphasize that I am in no way advocating for adherents to the Christian faith to be unable to practice that faith. I am a sincere advocate for everyone to be able to freely practice their own religious beliefs (or lack thereof), and that’s exactly what’s at issue here - when one religion is positioned above all others, anyone who does not believe in that particular religion is impacted detrimentally.
So with that caveat in place, it’s important to recognize the following: the United States is, and has always been, a majority Christian nation. 65% of Americans identified as Christian in 2019, which is a historic low. Even ten years back, it was closer to 85%. In accordance with the demographics of the US, Christianity is, if anything, over-represented in US government. 85.4% of US congressmen identify as Christian. 82 out of the 100 senators identify as Christian (I’m not counting members of congress or the senate who identify as members of the Church of Latter Day Saints in those numbers). Furthermore, every single president has identified themselves as Christian - the spiciest America has gotten in re: the religious beliefs of a POTUS was JFK, who was, you know, Catholic.
This is important, because it directly impacts how we interpret what “separation of church and state,” “free exercise of religion,” and “nondiscrimination on the basis of faith” actually mean. When a country is predominantly comprised of people who share the same faith, that faith becomes part of the shared cultural concept of national identity: even though the US is, in practice, relatively diverse in terms of ethnicities and religious faiths (as far as countries go), if you ask someone on the street to imagine an American, they are probably going to imagine a white dude who loves Flag and also Jesus. That national identity is reflected in the country’s chosen representatives, and in return, in the legislation passed by those representatives and the behavior expressly condoned by the government as a whole. The end result of all of this is that in the United States of America, Christianity and the exercise of government frequently intersect.
Take the late forties and early fifties. WWII is over, and two global superpowers have emerged that are at diametrical positions; there’s our old capitalist pal the US in one corner, and in the other, the godless, socialist menace of the USSR. I’m being silly and hyperbolic here, but not about the godless bit: the USSR was officially an athiest state, and the government forcibly converted its citizens to atheism. So, the US squints at this and swings hard in the opposite direction; this is a Christian nation, we are sticking “under god” in the pledge of allegiance, we are putting Ten Commandment sculptures in front of our courthouses, we are mandating prayer in school, and if you have an issue with any of that, you are not a patriotic American.
Some of that stuff from the 50s still exists today (“under god” is still kicking around), but a lot more of it is essentially outlawed thanks to the branch of government that I haven’t mentioned yet, the federal judiciary. How this played out was essentially that someone would be impacted by state-sponsored Christianity, they would sue, and their case would eventually be appealed up to the level of the Supreme Court, who would look at the Constitution, admit that it’s pretty unequivocal about the whole separation of church and state thing, and bar the state sponsored religious practice at issue, or at the very least ensure that the state was not sponsoring one faith to the exclusion of others. So, to return to our ten commandments in front of the courthouse or nativity scene outside of a government building; (I’m really simplifying things here but this is the gist) the court has repeatedly decided, those are fine, as long as you give fair play to any other religion that wants to erect their own religious display there too. It’s either that all religions have an equal opportunity to be represented, or no religion does.
I know, this is supposed to be about why The Satanic Temple is cool. We’re getting there.
Let’s jump ahead to the early 2000s. Bush Jr. is president, thanks in no small part to massive evangelical Christian support, and those evangelical Christians have some demands: they want schools to teach creationism, they’re gunning directly for reproductive rights, and they have had enough of this whole gay nonsense. A lot of legislation gets passed during the Bush era that gives the Evangelical base what they want, and among those big evangelical wins was on teaching intelligent design in schools. This didn’t happen everywhere, but some states basically said that intelligent design could be taught alongside evolution in public school science classes, and that evolution and intelligent design had to be portayed as equally valid theories.
Obviously, a lot people were upset about this, because... well, it’s science class. Among the people who thought this whole thing was bullshit was a guy named Bobby Henderson, who wrote an open letter to the Kansas Board of Education in 2005. Referencing the Supreme Court decisions I discussed earlier (either all religious beliefs get equal play or none of them do), Bobby demanded that along with evolution and intelligent design, Kansas schools devote equal time to teaching the creation story of his religious faith, and if any of this is sounding familiar, that’s because Bobby described his religious faith as “Flying Spaghetti Monsterism.”
The memetic potential of this argument was basically designed for the internet era, and it wasn’t too long before purported adherents to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was filing lawsuits that challenged all sorts of government practices that obviously skewed Christian. They were making classic reductio ad absurdum arguments; if it was ridiculous that the government should promote the message of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in a given sphere, it was equally ridiculous that the government should promote the message of other religious faiths in that same sphere.
The whole pastafarian movement had one major weakness, however - it was expressly, deliberately silly. Nobody could mistake a Flying Spaghetti Monster argument to be made in good faith, and the courts used this to basically ignore FSM challenges that would otherwise be valid. Here’s what the Nebraska federal district court decided in the big Flying Spaghetti Monster case, Cavanaugh v. Bartlet:
“The Court finds that FSMism is not a ‘religion’ within the meaning of the relevant federal statutes and constitutional jurisprudence. It is, rather, a parody, intended to advance an argument about science, the evolution of life, and the place of religion in public education. Those are important issues, and FSMism contains a serious argument, but that does not mean that the trappings of the satire used to make that argument are entitled to protection as a ‘religion.’”
That’s the Pastafarian problem in a nutshell. They had great points, but they weren’t actually a religion, and that left the courts free to disregard their arguments by saying that they lacked standing. “Standing” is legalese for the concept of who is able to bring a lawsuit based on a particular act or law. This sounds esoteric, but it makes logical sense: If your neighbor gets hit by an ice cream truck, is injured, and is now hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hole for medical debt, he has standing to sue the ice cream truck driver. He suffered an injury that was caused by the ice cream truck driver, and the court has the ability to direct the ice cream truck driver to pay for his medical bills and pain and suffering etc. If you, on the other hand, decide to sue the ice cream truck driver because they ran over your neighbor, well, did you actually get injured? Would it being about any sort of justice if the ice cream truck driver had to pay you money? If the answer is no and you try to sue anyway, the court’s going to kick that lawsuit out.
Constitutional challenges often die because the person suing doesn’t have standing to bring the case. Remember how I mentioned earlier that “one nation under god” is still in the Pledge of Allegiance? A case about that actually got all the way to the Supreme Court, before it was tossed out for lack of standing - the problem was that a student’s father had brought the lawsuit, instead of the student herself. Likewise, the Flying Spaghetti Monster cases usually went nowhere because the courts would say “okay, you’re claiming that this law is trampling on your right to practice your chosen religion, but your religion is deliberately ludicrous. Your holy book was published in 2006 and heavily features a beer volcano. You don’t actually believe in any of this, so you haven’t actually suffered the harm that you’re claiming this legislation caused.”
So, uh, how the hell does an athiest challenge the constitutionality of laws like the FSM movement tried to without just getting tossed out for lack of sincerity?
Okay. Okay. We’re finally here. Let’s talk about The Satanic Temple.
In 2013, after witnessing how the FSM movement failed to accomplish meaningful change, Lucien Greaves realized that even though the basic concept of what FSM was trying to accomplish was solid, the issue was in its execution. If you wanted to challenge laws that unconstitutionally favored Christianity, you couldn’t be joking around about your fake religion; you had to play it absolutely straight.
What Greaves came up with is incredibly clever. He set about constructing a new religion for the purpose of using the FSM playbook without falling into the same judicial pitfalls. He made sure that the new religion would constitute an actual belief system in the eyes of the law, which involved identifying the mission and core articulable tenents of the religion. I’m quoting them both below because they’re cool as hell:
The Mission of The Satanic Temple
“The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy among all people, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.
The Satanic Temple has publicly confronted hate groups, fought for the abolition of corporal punishment in public schools, applied for equal representation when religious installations are placed on public property, provided religious exemption and legal protection against laws that unscientifically restrict women's reproductive autonomy, exposed harmful pseudo-scientific practitioners in mental health care, organized clubs alongside other religious after-school clubs in schools besieged by proselytizing organizations, and engaged in other advocacy in accordance with our tenets.”
The Seven Tenets of The Satanic Temple
1. One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.
2. The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.
3. One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.
4. The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.
5. Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
6. People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.
7. Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.
Tenets aside, though, this next bit is what just delights me to my core with how crafty it is: Instead of making up his own religious text and history, he went directly to the Bible and said (I’m paraphrasing) “the historical foundation of The Satanic Temple is the exact same as the historical foundation of Christianity. We share the same holy book, and our faiths are grounded in the same tradition. Here’s the only difference: We believe with all sincerity that the character in that book who said ‘hey, try the apple, the pursuit of knowledge is worth rebelling against authority for’ is actually the good guy in the story, and although we are not a theistic organization, it is our sincere religious belief to comport ourselves in the manner espoused by the literary character Satan.”
Holy shit, guys. Holy shit, that is smart. He set up his religion so that you couldn’t attack it for being fake without also attacking Christianity for being fake! Simultaneously, he designed a religion that would reliably produce the perfect reductio ad absurdum argument- you want to display your ten commandment statue on public land? Okay, chill, but per the Constitution, we get equal play, so if you want those ten commandments, you’d better be cool with them sitting right next to our 3000 lb bronze statue of children gazing adoringly up at Baphomet:
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Oh, wait, you don’t want to have that statue on government property? Cool. Totally fine. Just take your ten commandments slabs away too, and we’ll call it a truce.
The Satanic Temple exists to protect individual constitutional rights. Regardless of your own religious sentiment, it’s hopefully easy enough to see how incredibly shitty it would be to have your elected government promote religious beliefs that you do not share, to have religious sentiments that you find abhorrent expressly condoned by the government, or to have your own rights of expression and against discrimination constrained by a government that expressly santions only the religious beliefs of the majority, in spite of the concepts expressed in the United States Constitution. The only way to challenge an unconstitutional law is to sue, and it takes a lot of time, effort, and most of all resources to see a constitutional lawsuit through. Organized religion and government entities have a much easier time defending those cases than an individual does in suing them; by supporting The Satanic Temple, you’re directly evening the odds.
P.S. I know I talk a big game about how cleverly The Satanic Temple was designed, but you know how you can tell that it’s actually brilliant? The IRS granted it tax exempt status as a religious entity in 2019. Yup. Even with the IRS directly under the thumb of Donald J. Trump, a man desperate to maintain evangelical support, the IRS finally had to concede that they could not find any reason why The Satanic Temple shouldn’t be treated the exact same way as any other church. Angry that a Satanic entity doesn’t have to pay taxes on its income? Well, buddy, get ready to learn what megachurches get away with.
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itsclydebitches · 3 years
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Why do people criticize fanficiton for characters bang OOC? all fanficiton is inherently non canon and the characters are inherently OOC. That cute fic where Ruby and Weiss fall in love. OOC. That edgy fic where Jaune gives in to his revenge. OOC. Just a normal fic where team RWBY go out in the town. OOC. No one writes characters exactly as they are in the canon because everyone is projecting something they want to see the canon didn't deliver. That's why they wrote fanfiction.
OOC is a pretty broad term at this point but, from my experience, there are three primary uses: 
OOC meaning all of the above: the character is, by default, inherently different than their canonical counterpart because they are not written by the original author. Every fic character ever is OOC, making the term itself fundamentally useless. It’s like when we broaden AU too much. Yes, technically every fic ever is an AU, but that doesn’t help us distinguish between something like a minor plot divergence and turning the rom-com into a sci-fi adventure. 
OOC used as a catch-all insult for fans to sling at a fic they don’t like, usually for a reason other than the characters being OOC. They don’t like the ship, so this fic is OOC. They don’t like the tropes or themes in it, so it’s OOC. Here, OOC doesn’t actually say anything about whether the characters are IC or not. That’s not the point. The point is to use a negative fandom buzz word as a way to publicly dismiss the fic. 
OOC used to say that the characters are not recognizable and this is not an intentional choice on the author’s part. Both things at once. This third definition is the only one that’s a worthwhile criticism (in as much as a free hobby created out of love for a story can have “worthwhile” criticism. I by no means mean to say that there are rules for how you have to write fic, I’m only acknowledging what fans tend to look for). See, the thing about fanfiction is that it is, by definition, built off of a canon, which means that we have a set cast to work from with established personalities. We read fanfiction because we want more of those same characters. If we wanted different characters, we’d simply go consume/create a different story. Which means those characters have to be recognizable. That’s the requirement. You read fic for Character A, so if Character A doesn’t feel like Character A, the reader nopes out. 
However, in practice this is obviously pretty complicated to achieve. Fanfiction is also about change, which means that writers are continually balancing that recognition with the inevitable impact that changing the world around the character has. A sort of nature vs. nurture issue. Who is Jaune if Pyrrha never died? Who is Yang if she grew up with Raven? Who is Weiss if she never went to Beacon? Who are any of these characters  — characters we already know       — if we change the events and relationships that crafted their personalities in the first place? Which is why I have that second “not an intentional choice on the author’s part” requirement for fan displeasure. If it’s clear that a significant change in personality is the entire point of the fic, then readers are on board. They just need a reason for this change. A justification. An explanation. It’s the difference between writing a “Ruby is raised by Salem and thus it 100% makes sense that she’d be a horrible person now” story and writing a “Ruby acts like a horrible person for no established reason, despite that going against her sweet, kindly characterization in canon.” That’s OOC, the combination of a character being unrecognizable and a lack of explanation for that change. 
In an ideal world, if/when fans come across OOC writing they would simply exit the fic and that would be that. Not their cup of tea. The problem is that the concept of being “in character” is directly parallel to character interpretation... and as we know from this blog, that can get very heated. Someone might, for example, write a supposedly canon compliant fic where Ozpin is depicted as a callous, manipulative headmaster hell-bent on using his students as disposable tools, to which I would go, “That’s OOC.” The problem then becomes that there’s a major disconnect between how the author has interpreted Ozpin and how I have interpreted him  — what the very concept of “OOC” means here                — and it is, at the end of the day, a basically unsolvable problem because there is no objective interpretation to dredge up and say, “See, I was right!” Fiction is subjective, with at times not even the Word of God able to penetrate a fan’s interpretation of a text. 
Fiction is more than just fiction. We get very emotionally involved in our stories, which means that we  — for better or worse  — get emotionally involved in telling those stories “correctly.” When it comes to fanfiction’s designed intention to (to a degree) accurately represent canon characters, fans are not going into that fic with the disinterred, disengaged perspective of someone who doesn’t care about the series. Caring is the point. Thus, people get upset. Maybe someone calls the Ruby/Weiss fic OOC because they can’t imagine anything other than a Ruby/Blake relationship. Maybe it feels like the edgy Jaune fic didn’t persuasively take him from soft, awkward friend to revenge obsessed fighter and dammit, Jaune is their favorite. You’ve done him a disservice. Maybe the out of town fic is filled with dialogue that makes you go, “Would Yang ever actually say that?” and it’s so jarring you just don’t see her as Yang anymore. Something isn’t working here and it’s interrupting the reader’s ability to fall into the fic. It’s lacking a core characteristic of fanfiction that most fans come for: telling stories using these characters. Not a “wrong” version of them. 
As said, there isn’t actually a wrong way to write fic, but there are absolutely pervasive interpretations of canon that will impact whether people see your writing as IC or not. I can absolutely write a Volume 1 fic where Ruby is crying the whole time, running away from her friends, and curling up in corners rather than engaging with anyone. But if I fail to provide an in-text reason for that change in her personality, my readers are likely to go, “But that’s not... Ruby? Ruby is cheerful, loves spending time with her sister, and bugged Weiss until she became her friend. She’s sad at times, sure, but we can point to numerous places in the canon that contradict this sort of characterization. I’m not reading about Ruby Rose  —  something I very explicitly came to do — I’m reading about a totally different character with her name. And since you didn’t establish/warn me that her characterization was going to be entirely re-worked, I’m upset about that.” 
So at best the fan just shrugs and exits the fic. At worst they take the author to task for “incorrectly” interpreting these characters. Fanfiction is absolutely about projection, wish fulfillment, and change... but it’s also about consistency, at least at a certain base level. Creating something you wanted to see that the canon didn’t deliver on is just writing a new, original story. Doing that and keeping the story recognizable in particular, appealing ways? That’s fic.  
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rosethreeart · 2 years
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Do you ever get discouraged when your oc content doesn't get much attention? I have trouble keeping up with my ocs and drop them for fanart, which makes me think my oc content is overall boring and unlikable. I feel like always doing fanart is killing my creativity, but by not doing fanart no is looking at my content so it makes it harder for me to find my place in the professional art world.
ABSOLUTELY!!! (Than again most of my work doesn’t get a lot of attention 😅) It sucks cause I do love my ocs but 100% understand why people don’t flock to them so I try not to take it personally. Getting attention for your ocs is like either winning the lottery or it’s (relatively) easy because you already having a preestablished fan base who vibes with your oc content; usually due to similar themes/characters (than again the proportion of engagement is probably still substantially low compared to their fan work). In general it’s hard to get ANY attention for your art due to how oversaturated fandoms can be or because of the way you hc a certain character (my interpretation of America is obviously not everyone’s cup of tea which I completely understand).
For me I tend to focus on fan art of Amelia and Lorenzo mainly due to them being comfort characters and I already have an established basis and history/story for them, while for my ocs I have to build EVERYTHING from scratch, and it can feel more like work than anything else. Fun work! But it’s still work! I do feel guilty on occasion for focusing on them more but sometimes a girl just wants to draw her faves for the ten millionth time <3.
Someone said it before on here or some other Social media site but it was along the lines of this: it doesn’t matter if you’re the sweetest apple on the tree, some people just don’t like apples.
And while that was in reference to trying not to be a people pleaser I think it applies to art as well. You can TRY to appease everyone but realistically that’ll never happen. Does that mean your work is bad? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! It just means you haven’t found any apple lovers yet!
I fucking hate JKR and I hate to say anything good about her or her work but it took her like what? 13 publishers to get one to approve of the HP series? And when it DID become published over time it became one of the best selling books/series to exist and the second only to the BIBLE in most translated work. Sometimes it just takes time and luck to get to the right people/community. Did she get lucky? Yes! But! She also didn’t stop and kept on going with her work.
This has been an issue that I’ve definitely struggled with in the past and sometimes still do and your right it DOES feel like a hinderance on creativity. But you HAVE to remember that you create art for YOU! YES you make art for other/specific reasons but you do it because you ENJOY it. THATS what matters. YOU matter.Don’t put yourself down for the way you feel it is completely normal.
If you find that you don’t enjoy the oc content your making and that THATS the reason why you go more towards fanart and not for guilt than maybe you need to switch some things up! Absolutely nothing wrong with that!
Also keep tabs on what tags you use as well as witch platform your doing best on! Sometimes that make a HUGE difference in engagement. If you enjoy your oc content and enjoy making it keep making it! Sometimes it just takes a while to get attention! Advertise yourself! Talk to others in the art community! Make friends and mutuals! Do art trades and collabs! GROW AND HAVE FUN!!!
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Hello! I completely understand why you have both asks and messaging closed and don’t worry, this isn’t a magica question! Well, not specifically a request for my own, but if this does cross the line, you are completely free to delete this! First off, you all write amazing descriptions for the magica and witches!!! They are so vivid and amazing to visualize!!! I followed and put on notifications specifically because it is so exciting to see new posts and soon be able to send my own in time!!! So, somewhat connected to that and the magica question I had, is there specific things that help you in creating them? Like, do you have generators you use for the posts or is there a sort of prompt list thing set up? If possible, I would reccomend making a help post so that others could have help making their own magica, which could also help lighten your load! No matter what you do with my submission, thank you for the inspiration and joy I feel from finding this blog!
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Thank you so much for your kind words!! I’m really happy you’re enjoying our work here. So, this is kind of a hard question to answer, but I’ll do my best. 
To start, there is no generator or anything behind the scenes that you guys don’t see- just the prompts themselves and myself (or mod Kyoko) at the keyboard. I can’t really say how exactly they go about their writing process, but I would imagine it’s probably pretty similar to mine! Everything I write for these prompts pretty much comes from my head- I generally read the prompt over a few times and then let my mind take me wherever it wants to go! There are a few exceptions to this though, so I’ll give you those pointers here. Just know that creating a Magica is such a personal process that everyone’s interpretation of a wish is going to be different! 
Colors- usually these are just whatever comes to mind for me first, though they do occasionally have meaning (particularly in witch forms). These are the easiest intentional choices to notice- gold for riches, black for darker themes, white for purity, blue for serenity or altruism, etc. Sometimes though colors are picked more for their thematic appeal or just because they feel right. 
Weapons/abilities- Another “whatever comes to mind UNLESS” kind of category. Often times a weapon or ability will jump out at me for an individual- you see a lot of swords because I have a lot of graceful or knightly magica, though the type of sword is always deliberate. But my biggest advice there is to not get caught up on typical weapons! I don’t do them very often (only when I really think it fits the prompt) but I will occasionally use a really fantastical weapon in a prompt, like the pill bombs or a shovel. The best advice I can give here is to go with what feels right and don’t be afraid to get a little wild! Abilities work the same way- they should generally complement the weapon chosen as well as the thematic elements of the magia you’re creating. A gentle, dreamy magia may float, while an aggressive one is super fast, and a darker one may pass through the shadows particularly well. Definitely feel free to get creative with these too, because they really can be just about anything. Just be careful not to go too powerful- the nature of magia is that they will inevitably fall, and you want that to feel as organic as possible! 
Soul gem placement- this is ALWAYS intentional (except in the few prompts where I forget to write it in…)! This I do based on where I think the wish came from in terms of its motivation. Logical wishes come from the head, compassionate ones come from the chest, self-driven ones come from the belly, and action-driven wishes come from the hands! There are of course exceptions that lead me to put them in other places (strength can be shoulder, and escape can be ankles, etc) but most of them fall into one of those categories! The shape is usually thematic or vibe-based by the way. Dreamy ons are moons, love ones are hearts, and so on. Just pick what feels right to you! (noticing a theme yet?)
Witch names- Another one that ALWAYS has meaning. I’ve joked here before about the number of diaper ads I get because of this blog, but I mean it when I say that baby name pages are your best friend! If you look them up, every name I use has a meaning that is relevant to the magia or witch’s nature. Names are the easiest way to inject meaning, so don’t miss out on the opportunity! If you want to stay really canon-compliant, stick to German names! I usually try to at least stay European, but I’ve written so many at this point that I’d start repeating certain names if I didn’t branch out a little. 
Witch natures- like names, they’re always relevant to the wish in question, or particularly, how I turned them on their heads. By the way, the best way to go about making your character fall is to directly create a consequence of their wish (a theme you will notice in most prompts). Barring that, make it a downfall of your character’s personality if turning a wish against them is impossible or just crosses a line (I had a trans girl wish to have been born female once and turning that on her would have been incredibly cruel). If you’re really stuck, have them overexert themself in battle and fall that way. Anyways, the nature will usually have to do with the wish or how they fell into despair, like one who was betrayed by a friend might have a witch whose nature was suspicious or hesitant. 
Witch labyrinths and minions- My best advice here is to just go ham! Take the themes you established with the magia and dial it up to an 11. This is also a prime opportunity to use color symbolism or even look up classic symbols for certain things to incorporate. I use a TON of floral symbolism in mine, especially in older prompts, and usually if any animals are present it’s also intentional. Now is also the time to introduce references to the magia’s backstory and personality. If their hobby was art, work that in somehow! Did they have a love of fairy tales? Throw in a reference to a classic story! Did your magia feel like they were robbed of their childhood? Discarded plushies and toys are a cool way to make reference to them. Even how dark/bright or dingy/clean the labyrinth appears can represent something! Just write what feels correct and don’t be afraid to get super in depth with it. 
The Witch- Basically the same process as above. Think of the themes, and represent them how you want! From there, really try to picture how the witch would move and how it would attack. From there you can decide how it is best to fight the witch! A plant based witch may have quick, thorny tendrils whereas a technology witch may be bright and disorientating. I also recommend basing how powerful the witch is based on the magia themself. A really powerful wish might make an intimidating witch, whereas a timid or passive magia may become a relatively harmless witch. Two-stage witches are also cool but definitely call for a the right kind of prompt. Usually I only make that kind of witch when a prompt deals with themes of rage, deception, or a sense of underestimation. Witches are really complex, so make sure to spend a good amount of time thinking them through! 
Wow, that was… a lot more than I planned to write! So yeah, everything about my process 100% came from my own brain and years of experience doing this kind of thing! As such, every person who writes is going to create something that is truly their own, which I think is half the fun of it, really. I sincerely hope this helps and was what you were looking for! I can’t wait to create even more magia and wishes for you all to enjoy. Much love!
-Mod Mami ✏️  
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aotopmha · 3 years
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I can't believe that you responded to the historia ask by saying the cake wasn't that fancy. She is celebrating her child's birthday while people suffer in refugee camps. It wasn't very hard to come to that "strange" conclusion based on how the panels were put next to each other. You even said that there's no reason to believe that she ain't helping orphans anymore. Like that even matters now! She allowed eren to kill 80% of humanity and if not for the alliance eren would have killed 100%. Don't justify her actions by saying she allowed for end of titan curse (on that account eren also allowed genocide for titan curse 🤷‍♂️), she was very well aware that eren was gonna kill every person yes orphans too and historia didn't know that it would end the titan curse. Even if she did that doesn't make her any less guilty. She stayed quiet and allowed people to be crushed. She also clearly stated that, eren said this fight won't end until eldia or the world disappears and he might have been right. Which further confirms that she knew eren was gonna kill everyone outside and now she thinks he might have been right. Great that's a genocide apologist for you right there. And not even a single panel of guilt or remorse from her. Some people like that she really is the worst girl/enemy of humanity and to each their own but don't deny that horrendous implications of her actions.
To put this in the most simple way, I think you're misreading the framing of the refugee panels. I think none of it is saying she is not helping to fix the mess Eren created, which includes helping orphans and refugees. In fact, I think that's exactly what the story is saying with the letter.
Your issue seems to me to be that she is shown to be happy at all.
I'll get back to this because I think framing makes a lot of how to read what is going on here (and any story in general).
The issue with this is that that's not the focus surrounding her character in this final chapter.
I personally think she is not saying what Eren did was okay.
Whether she supported Eren's actions of genocide or not is actually never directly answered in the narrative itself.
So you can make assumptions. You can assume the worst or you can assume something better.
How do you know she's okay with genocide and what Eren did?
You choose to read it that way because Historia and Eren talked about it and she knows about it.
And you think it would be strange for her to care for anything else or help anyone after allowing something like this to happen.
I think this is a fair assessment, I just disagree how she now can't have anything good left in her. You can call it hypocritical or short-sighted, but I think it is not impossible for her to want to help and fix the consequences. But again, we don't know that, so it is just as fair to assume she isn't helping than that she is.
I think she is helping because I think it was established as a part of her character that she is not a completely uncaring person. Selfish, but not completely uncaring.
The only other details we know are that she was really opposed to Eren at first and then had a baby. We can connect these things and say she had the baby because she is in support of Eren's genocide.
But there is no detailed reasoning given to her character here.
This is an issue with the writing rather than something delibrately written to be true. Which I think is one element your issues come down to.
It is a very easy and direct interpretation that she was initially opposed to Eren and then he convinced her by bringing up her selfish desires in the cave.
I'm also clarifying: my intention was not to justify any of her actions.
I was just wanting to put all of the cards on the table.
I think her character *really* needed that perspective elaboration because she wasn't praising Eren at the end, either.
"Might" is not a direct agreement and coming back to context and framing, it tells us that Eren's words are now framed in a very sinister light. Everything in the panels is listed as something that is a negative result of Eren's actions.
Even if she supported Eren, I think she can try her best to fix the situation they ended up in as a result of his actions. I think nothing in the narrative disapproves this, either.
Personally, I think a horrible person can do good things and help fixing what they helped doing.
Whether she is helping orphans or not was your initial issue. I think she can be in support of something horrible and still want to fix it later. (This kind of contradiction can equally contributed to bad writing. Maybe her motivations are just an underbaked mess.)
But if it is ultimately irrelevant to you now because she helped in putting the genocide in motion in the first place, I'll put it aside.
In the end, I just want to figure out what the most likely interpretation for her character is.
The interpretation of her letter in 139 I've arrived at is that she was opposed to the genocide part because she denies Eren's methods, but is happy with the result of the Titan powers being gone, trying to make the best of the circumstances they were given.
But we basically have no connective tissue between this and the scene in 130.
If she truly was on board with genocide in the most unnuanced, villainous way possible, she would just be justifying and excusing it. But the entire scene is super-imposed over some imagery with pretty sinister and unsettling framing. It's like the "devote your hearts" scene being turned around to be sinister back in the beginning of the arc.
I mean, Historia being a complete evil drone is a possibility. That's really easy to superimpose on her character because she barely has one in this final arc.
Eren told her he was going to destroy the world and she said/did nothing.
But then, here at the end, again, she denies Eren's perspective. You obviously seem to think her speech in the letter is in support of Eren.
Her being completely in support of Eren would be easy.
I'd kind of even welcome it. Just let her directly say she supported Eren because she wanted to see the world burn. No logic, no nothing. I could just dismiss it as bad writing and be done with it.
I think the better reasonings would be that she wanted the island and herself to survive and not be wiped out by Marley.
Or that she kept to her promise to Ymir to just live for herself and in principle decided not pass down the Titan power. This was her decision in the cave.
I think these are legitimate assumptions to make on why she did this because she says as much. She is willing to do anything for the survival of the island and herself. I think that's the most likely interpretation for me.
But the narrative didn't directly state these elements in relation to her character motivations in the final chapter.
AoT is full of horrible people shown in an understandable light.
I've said as much several times now that I don't care about the morality of a character as long as I at least get where they are coming from.
I could understand her desire to survive.
I could then also at least say it probably was clumsy writing of the narrative to let her have such a happy ending.
But as we are, this is what we have to work with.
I actually have a very different reading of the scene with Historia's child, too.
I think it is about showing how Eldian children now at least had some years of normalcy to their lives. It is a juxtaposition to the bad things Eren's actions lead to coming up in the following pages.
Historia's character writing is kind of a mess, but I want to separate what the narrative's intention is, what it can come across as and what part of it is the result of bad writing.
I think what you are mostly talking about is what it comes across as to you as a result of poor writing (and I think that's absolutely fair).
Thank you for the ask!
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