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highlandwhackamole · 1 month

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A Grand(ish) Theory of What the Heck

I love the utterly unhinged, super detailed theories about what's going on in Good Omens, especially in season 2. I hope one or more of them turn out to be true, as some kind of glorious puzzle-box-hidden-code monstrosity. And also I think that there has to be a simpler explanation for things, for the people who are at least Somewhat Normal (tm) about this show. (... I assume such people do exist somewhere...) This is what I have been pondering recently.

The thing that started me thinking about this was this post, containing some promotional materials for season 2 that feature main characters with scenes in their heads. Like this:

Seeing this created a very similar situation in my own head, but with a nice shiny lightbulb.

All the weirdness: the car, the sideburns, the clock, the behavior of the folks of Soho, the vanishing storefront signs. The absence of God. I think this is all because everything we see is in their heads.

I don't mean it's made up. At least not entirely. Memory is already a plot point. Why not explore it on a deeper level? I've read theories emphasizing the minisodes' stories being retold by Aziraphale and Crowley. I think the whole season is like that.

You know that sort of conventional-wisdom-fact-concept that you can only dream faces of people you've seen before (or variations therein), because your brain can't make new faces up? So it just fills in what it thinks is close enough? I think that idea, applied to remembering or recollecting things, could explain so many things that are wonky in this show.

Wonky Things

Crowley parking in an impossible London location? He definitely remembers it was in London, so his brain just stuck some obvious London landmarks in there.

Awkward clattering happening when Crowley throws the stacks of books he's inexplicably carrying around the bookshop? He wouldn't actually throw Aziraphale's books! But he'd like to think he's cool and nonchalant enough to do that, and if he did it would definitely make Some Kind of Noise.

Jim walking toward the bookshop from somewhere mysterious? Maggie and Nina saw him first, and he came from that direction, so he must've walked all that way. They don't know about the elevator in the Donkey.

Aziraphale remembers tartan hills and the Loch Ness monster because he was having a jolly time driving through Scotland, so obviously the scenery must've been whimsical Scottish things.

Nina put the Honolulu roast sign up, so she remembers its presence, but perhaps the occult/ethereal visitors to her shop do not.

Maggie really did text Aziraphale about the rent, but a note through the mail slot is a much more dignified way for a scholarly angel to imagine he received a message.

On the Fallibility of Recall

This season is loaded with unrealistic inclusions. The colors are turned up to 11. Some of the scenes are more caricature than believable interaction. Remembering things never copies or reproduces them with what one might call high fidelity.

Scenes recalled by separate memories will inherently vary. One person's hefty jigger might be another person's dash. Who knows for sure where the sun was that day? You and I might recall an event having different lighting or a different color palette, sort of like viewing something with different lens filters.

According to Neil, Crowley is an unreliable narrator of the story of his Fall. He labels the variations in clock times as a continuity error in a show where Everything Is Meant, but he doesn't say whose continuity error it is. He insists that the Bentley is the same through the whole season; maybe it was the same, but remembered differently. Maybe this is part of why there's more CGI but it's harder to spot.

So What?

Is this all there is to it? I sure hope not. I like my Good Omens with enough layers to put to shame an onion wrapped in a cake and covered in a parfait.

Is this possibly the fancy footwork that's distracting from the real magic trick? I wouldn't put it past Our Gaiman. There are a lot of things one could hide in the narrative of unreliable memory.

Is this going to stop me from rewatching and repondering and remaking theories for the next couple years? Not even at gunpoint.

#good omens #good omens meta #ineffable mystery #neil gaiman #good omens questions #good omens 2

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animehouse-moe · 8 months

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I Miss The Case Study of Vanitas Because Sex

Okay, please forgive me for the clickbait-y title, but I just had to take it. The whiplash is too fun to me. Anyways, yes, I miss The Case Study of Vanitas (both as an anime and manga, since we've not gotten vol 10 in English yet) because of sex. Not the act in and of itself, but the appeal, the tension, the experience. Animanga isn't nearly as sexless as North American media, but it presents its own unique challenges and issues. So, if you don't mind, please humor my little foray into an attempt to explain the decoupling of fan service and sex appeal, with The Case Study of Vanitas as a medium.

⚠️Warning: I've done my best to keep it spoiler free, but by nature there is mild spoilers in regards to characters and certain interactions.⚠️

Is The Case Study of Vanitas about sex? Well, obviously not, no, it's about vampires. But as much as it's about vampires, it's also about despair, hope, penance and revenge, and the intricacies of the human condition. It just happens to feature vampires as the selling point. And I believe therein lies the best explanation of Vanitas: it's not about sex, but rather contains those aspects as a part of the people that exist in its world.

Fanservice has become a rather perverted term. Rather than appealing to a broad range of applications, fanservice tends to exclusively apply to displays that are sexual in nature (most typically in regards to catering to male audiences). In that way it's not particularly awful in how the term itself has shifted, but the use of fanservice is borderline pathetic in most series. A gaudy display of body parts, it hangs on excessive scale and movement to catch the eyes of touch starved individuals. I don't need a ballooned bosom besetting my vision before bobbing about in a baroque display for all too long. That's not the point.

But what is the point? Well, I've prattled on long enough so here's an example.

A look in the eyes, the right lighting. Even simple posing. Sex appeal is not limited to explicit displays of sexuality, but is rather the personification of both the character's intent as well as their external perception.

There are so many moments in this series that are in no way explicitly sexual, but can easily be perceived to have sex appeal or sexual tension.

But then, how would that appeal not feel weakened? It's a good question, honestly, and an important one to ask. When you display the chest of an underaged girl enough times, it won't elate the audience enough to be perceived as "good". It's a universal issue with storytelling, so how does Vanitas get around it?

My answer (and perhaps not the only answer) is how this appeal and tension is derived. I had sort of said it earlier, but didn't really explain. Its source is the very nature of the characters and world. It is not an external force exposing these facets, but the machinations of the plot and its pieces themselves.

Have a look at this example here. Vampires are hot, right? Their power, broody nature, and the concept of the unknown have played into their eroticism and appeal since time immemorial (seriously, look up Carmilla). Vanitas pounces on that concept and immediately plays into it. We don't get blood sucking every episode and every second, no. But we get it enough to provide variation, it appears at the right time to provide another layer to the nature of the story and characters.

Anyways, the example. Lord Ruthven and Noe. Two vampires, engaging in something strictly non-sexual. He is simply biting Noe. But the posing, the nature of the layout. It presents tension. It presents Ruthven's ownership and commanding nature of Noe in this moment. Domination and subjugation.

Even more is this sequence. The commanding nature that presents a clear power dynamic. The phrasing. It absolutely exudes sexual tension. But nothing of the sort is apparent in the actual interaction.

So what's the deal here. I know I had spoken on how characters themselves can convey tension and appeal without explicit intent to do so, but how can circumstance and interaction play into it as well?

Another lovely question. What comprises the act of sex? What are the pieces that elate, entice, and encourage someone? Well, aside from the answer that it's down to the individual, there's a few core pieces. The "top and bottom" dynamic is certainly the one that appears the most when dealing with pairs. Another, while a bit unseemly and slightly (?) taboo is the concept of fear and violence. Of course, I don't mean in any serious context, but the concept is how those things make you feel, and that they stem from that similar power dynamic. Perhaps that's the best word to describe it with: power dynamic. It's all about how two characters interact with each other, where they stand in relation to one another. The above image is the perfect example of that, and the following is how to build on it.

Vanitas and Jeanne, an incredible combination born not out of a mutual desire for the other, but the sheer interest of one and the needs of another. It's a one sided love spurred on by the actions of one that encourages the other to let loose. It creates the interesting dynamic of a power bottom that remains refreshing alongside the other relationships that exist in the story.

So here's a clip of that dynamic.

The way the camera and characters hang on each moment, the way the layouts aim to both obstruct but also apply razor focus. The voice acting. All of it, every single moments provides for that tension and appeal, and it extends past the act of sucking blood and into the souls of the characters themselves. A terrible plead that spills from blood stained lips, a promise that comes from the origin of that crimson.

This "sex appeal" and "sexual tension" is not something manufactured, but the absolute core of these characters. The act of domination, the incredible an undesired need of a substance, the mental fractures eroding at the ego of a person. All of these moments stem from the very souls of the characters and bubble up to the surface in these forms of expression. Where words will not do, actions speak in their place.

Also, Vanitas moaning. Yes please. The greatest benefit to this series is the fact that it's willing to lean into the men as well. This is not "just" for the guys (and lesbians), no. This is for everyone, but especially those that enjoy a side of insanity and toxicity to their romance.

So that brings us to the end. Vanitas is not "about" sex, Vanitas is sex and is the purest way to deliver on fan service while providing sexual tension and appeal. It's subtle, subdued, infrequent and benign. It does not bend to the desires of the viewer, but rather stems from those of the characters. And so many series need to take note. "Lucky Lecher" and perversely excessive displays have no home in my heart when there are far more artistic and desirable sequences that can be produced.

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ladykailitha · 1 year

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The Eddie Munson Guide to Dating an Oblivious Jock Part 5

This a short one because technically this is the end of the guide, but there is an appendix and an afterword with Lucas and Max. Which I will put out tomorrow. Thank you for all the support for this fun little story that got completely out of hand, but that I loved doing. Thanks again to @artiststarme for suggesting this. I hope you enjoyed it.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Step Eight: Kissing

“Whoa, whoa!” Max said. “We’re already at kissing?”

Eddie grinned. “I don’t mean on the lips. We’ll get to that.”

“What kind of kisses are we talking about then?”

The final step to bagging your jock is kissing. But by this I mean on the cheek, the forehead, top of the head, the hand. We’re talking flirty kisses. And then you build up to neck kisses and lips. And even lip kisses have different categories.

“Fuck,” Max said rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. “I didn’t realize it could be so confusing.”

“Don’t worry,” Eddie said, “I’ll break it down so that you understand.”

There are gentle good morning kisses, quick hello pecks, lazy warm kisses, heat searing could lead to something else type kisses.

“Oh. I get it now,” Max said. “Not all kisses are the same.”

“And you get to decide if it’s going too far,” Eddie said. “You can say no at any time. But also so can he. So if he says wait, stop, or no. Or even any of the variations therein stop. And if he doesn’t stop when you tell him to, break his knee.”

“Eddie...” she whined.

“I mean it,” Eddie growled. “Consent is hella important. I don’t care who it is.”

Max rolled her eyes. “That’s not what the movies and TV and books say.”

“Then you’re consuming the wrong kind of media, kid,” Eddie said. “Because yeah, you are going to get those kind of things in everything, but you’ll also find some good stuff. Usually written by women, unfortunately.”

She nodded.

Eddie started ramping up his affections by kissing Steve on the cheek when they said goodbye. Which always leaves him blushing and stammering.

And then he began kissing Steve’s hand hello which got the best reaction in Eddie’s humble opinion. A deep blush, the ducking of his head and cute drawn out cry of “Eddie!”

“The first time I saw that one,” Max said, “I didn’t know humans could even turn that color of red.”

Eddie laughed. “I know, right? That was also when our idiot friends picked up on the fact I was hitting on Steve.”

“I still can’t figure out how they missed all the signs up this point,” she said rolling her eyes. “Like I get Steve and Lucas. We love their obliviousness. It’s part of their charm. But how did our so-called genius friends miss you literally plastering yourself all over our baby-sitter.”

Eddie laughed. “One of the great mysteries of the world.”

Steve was curled up under Eddie’s arm on Eddie’s sofa for their weekly movie night.

“You okay there, beautiful,” Eddie murmured.

“I think I feel a migraine coming on,” Steve admitted softly.

Eddie kissed the top of his head. “I’ll be right back, sweetheart.”

Steve sat up after a bit struggling and Eddie helping him. Eddie went to the bathroom and got the extra strength pain killers he kept on hand for just such an occasion. He got a water bottle out of the fridge and made his way back to Steve.

He stopped at the entrance to front room. Steve was struggling to stay up right, his eyes were closed and pinched. He kept trying to smooth them out but the pain would get too much and he would furrow his brow again.

“Hey, hey,” Eddie murmured, as he knelt in front of him. “Let’s get you to bed. Can you stand, sweetheart?”

Steve nodded and Eddie helped him to his feet. Steve wobbled a bit, but was able to stand on his own.

Eddie led the way to the bedroom where he put Steve to bed. It was a testament to how bad Steve was already that the boy didn’t protest.

Eddie gave him the medicine and the water. Steve downed most of the bottle before Eddie took it from him and bullied him under the covers. He got up to leave Steve to his rest, when Steve grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t go,” he murmured. “Please stay.”

Eddie smiled softly. “Whatever you need, beautiful.”

He crawled into bed from the other side and curled up next him. He pressed a kiss to Steve’s poor belabored head. “I’m here.”

“Okay,” Max said. “I understand better. Kissing doesn’t have mean attraction it can mean affection, too.”

“Exactly,” Eddie said. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“So when was your first kiss?” she asked.

“When he woke up actually,” he admitted shyly.

Her eyes went wide. “Seriously?”

He nodded.

When Steve woke up the room was dark and the gentle light of the moon peaked through the curtains. The pain in his head was almost gone and he was wrapped in Eddie’s arms.

“Hey,” Eddie murmured, “you feeling any better?”

Steve rotated in Eddie’s arms so that were face to face. “Yeah, thanks to you.”

Eddie pulled him close. “You could have said you had a migraine, I would have postponed.”

Steve shook his head. “I didn’t start to get one until we were half through. Besides, I like it here. Remember? It’s homey.”

“Safe, you said,” Eddie replied, rubbing his nose up and down Steve’s.

“Yeah,” he murmured. “I would rather be here with a migraine then at home.”

Eddie smiled. “I would have come and taken care of you, darlin’.”

Steve breath caught in his chest. “You’re so good to me.” He brought his hand up to Eddie’s cheek. “I’m not reading this wrong, am I?”

“No, sweetheart.”

Steve pressed forward, slotting their lips together. Eddie melted into the kiss and he could feel Steve do the same.

“I love you, Stevie,” Eddie said once they had parted.

Steve looked into his eyes with such adoration that Eddie was sure he had taken psychic damage.

“I love you so much, Eds,” he whispered back.

Eddie sat up and gently tapped Steve’s forehead. “Let’s go get you something to eat.”

Steve groaned. “Oh I don’t think I’m up for eating.” He held his stomach dramatically.

“You need to eat something, sweetheart,” Eddie said soothingly. “I’ll find you something that is easy on your tum tum.”

Steve sighed. “Yeah, okay. I trust you.”

“Holy hell,” Max said. “That was even more sickeningly sweet then I imaged.

Eddie laughed. “It what I was going for, you know? The sweetness of it. Because that’s what Steve needs. Someone to be sweet to him. Robin is fantastic but we both know that when her and Steve get together they try and out sass each other.”

“And the rest of us are hormonal little shits,” Max agreed with a grin that split her face.

Eddie smiled fondly. “That’s certainly true. Well, except the older kids, Nancy, Jonathan, and Argyle. But they can be affectionate with Steve, Argyle especially, but they aren’t soft.”

“And Steve needs all the softness in the world,” Max said. “Is there anything else? I mean at this point you’ve bagged the jock. He is yours. What else can there be?”

Part 6

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @this-is-mycrisis @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @goodolefashionedloverboi @chaoticlovingdreamer @maya-custodios-dionach @messrs-weasley @val-from-lawrence @plyerice27 @thedragonsaunt @chaoticlovingdreamer @sapphirecobalt-1 @a-little-unsteddie @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @artiststarme @steddie-there @wonderland-girl143-blog @itsall-taken @thebrazilianatheist @rozzieroos @whalesharksart @mightbeasleep @theotalksalot @avacrebs @sassysleeplord @exhibit-no-restraint @sjullay @thesuninyaface @everywherenothere @nerdsconquerall @persephone13 @wrenisflying @lillemilly @cr0w-culture @edgelordesworld @manda-panda-monium

#My writing #stranger things #steddie #lumax #1000 followers #ladykailtiha writes

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devsgames · 5 months

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Game Optimization and Production

I wanted to write a bit of a light primer about optimization and how it relates to game production in the event people just don't know how it works, based on my experience as a dev. I'm by no means an expert in optimization myself, but I've done enough of it on my own titles and planned around it enough at this point to understand the gist of what it comes down to and considerations therein. Spoilers: games being unoptimized are rarely because devs are lazy, and more because games are incredibly hard to make and studios are notoriously cheap.

(As an aside, this was largely prompted by seeing someone complaining about how "modern" game developers are 'lazy' because "they don't remember their N64/Gamecube/Wii/PS2 or PS3 dropping frames". I feel compelled to remind people that 'I don't remember' is often the key part of the "old consoles didn't lag" equation, because early console titles ABSOLUTELY dropped frames and way more frequently and intensely than many modern consoles do. Honestly I'd be willing to bet that big budget games on average have become more stable over time. Honorable mention to this thread of people saying "Oh yeah the N64 is laggy as all hell" :') )

Anywho, here goes!

Optimization

The reason games suffer performance problems isn't because game developers are phoning it in or half-assing it (which is always a bad-faith statement when most devs work in unrealistic deadlines, for barely enough pay, under crunch conditions). Optimization issues like frame drops are often because of factors like ~hardware fragmentation~ and how that relates to the realities of game production.

I think the general public sees "optimization" as "Oh the dev decided to do a lazy implementation of a feature instead of a good one" or "this game has bugs", which is very broad and often very misguided. Optimization is effectively expanding the performance of a game to be performance-acceptable to the maximum amount of people - this can be by various factors that are different for every game and its specific contexts, from lowering shader passes, refactoring scripts, or just plain re-doing work in a more efficient way. Rarely is it just one or two things, and it's informed by many factors which vary wildly between projects.

However, the root cause why any of this is necessary in the first place is something called "Platform Fragmentation".

What Is Fragmentation

"Fragmentation" is the possibility space of variation within hardware being used to run a game. Basically, the likelihood that a user is playing a game on a different hardware than the one you're testing on - if two users are playing your game on different hardware, they are 'fragmented' from one another.

As an example, here's a graphic that shows the fragmentation of mobile devices based on model and user share. The different sizes are how many users are using a different type of model of phone:

As you can tell, that's a lot of different devices to have to build for!

So how does this matter?

For PC game developers, fragmentation means that an end-user's setup is virtually impossible to predict, because PC users frequently customize and change their hardware. Most PC users potentially have completely different hardware entirely.

Is your player using an up-to-date GPU? CPU? How much RAM do they have? Are they playing on a notebook? A gaming laptop? What brand hardware are they using? How much storage space is free? What OS are they using? How are they using input?

Moreover PC parts don't often get "sunsetted" whole-cloth like old consoles do, so there's also the factor of having to support hardware that could be coming up on 5, 10 or 15 years old in some cases.

For console developers it's a little easier - you generally know exactly what hardware you're building for, and you're often testing directly on a version of the console itself. This is a big reason why Nintendo's first party titles feel so smooth - because they only build for their own systems, and know exactly what they're building for at all times. The biggest unknowns are usually smaller things like televisions and hookups therein, but the big stuff is largely very predictable. They're building for architecture that they also made themselves, which makes them incredibly privileged production-wise!

Fragmentation basically means that it's difficult - or nearly impossible - for a developer to know exactly what their users are playing their games on, and even more challenging to guarantee their game is compatible everywhere.

Benchmarking

Since fragmentation makes it very difficult to build for absolutely everybody, at some point during development every developer has to draw a line in the sand and say "Okay, [x] combination of hardware components is what we're going to test on", and prioritize that calibre of setup before everything else. This is both to make testing easier (so testers don't have to play the game on every single variation of hardware), and also to assist in optimization planning. This is a "benchmark".

Usually the benchmark requirements are chosen for balancing visual fidelity, gameplay, and percentage of the market you're aiming for, among other considerations. Often for a game that is cross-platform for both PC and console, this benchmark will be informed by the console requirements in some way, which often set the bar for a target market (a cross-platform PC and console game isn't going to set a benchmark that is impossible for a console to play, though it might push the limits if PC users are the priority market). Sometimes games hit their target benchmarks, sometimes they don't - as with anything in game development it can be a real crap shoot.

In my case for my games which are often graphically intensive and poorly made by myself alone, my benchmark is often a machine that is approximately ~5 years old and I usually take measures to avoid practices which are generally bad and can build up to become very expensive over time. Bigger studios with more people aiming at modern targets will likely prioritize hardware from within the last couple years to have their games look the best for users with newest hardware - after all, other users will often catch up as hardware evolves.

This benchmark allows devs to have breathing room from the fragmentation problem. If the game works on weaker machines - great! If it doesn't - that's fine, we can add options to lower quality settings so it will. In the worst case, we can ignore it. After all, minimum requirements exist for a reason - a known evil in game development is not everyone will be able to run your game.

Making The Game

As with any game, the more time you spend on something is the more money being spent on it - in some cases, extensive optimization isn't worth the return of investment. A line needs to be drawn and at some point everyone can't play your game on everything, so throwing in the towel and saying "this isn't great, but it's good enough to ship" needs to be done if the game is going to ship at all.

Optimizing to make sure that the 0.1% of users with specific hardware can play your game probably isn't worth spending a week on the work. Frankly, once you hit a certain point some of those concerns are easier put off until post-launch when you know how much engagement your game has, how many users of certain hardware are actually playing, and how much time/budget you have to spend post-launch on improving the game for them. Especially in this "Games As A Service" market, people are frequently expecting games to receive constant updates on things like performance after launch, so there's always more time to push changes and smooth things out as time goes on. Studios are also notoriously squirrelly with money, and many would rather get a game out into paying customer's hands than sit around making sure that everything is fine-tuned (in contrast to most developers who would rather the game they've worked on for years be fine-tuned than not).

Comparatively to the pre-Day One patch era; once you printed a game on a disc it is there forever and there's no improving it or turning back. A frightening prospect which resulted in lots of games just straight up getting recalled because they featured bugs or things that didn't work. 😬

Point is though, targeted optimization happens as part of development process, and optimization in general often something every team helps out with organically as production goes on - level designers refactor scripts to be more efficient, graphics programmers update shaders to cut down on passes, artists trim out poly counts where they can to gradually achieve better performance. It's an all-hands-on-deck sort of approach that affects all devs, and often something that is progressively tracked as development rolls on, as a few small things can add up to larger performance issues.

In large studios, every developer is in charge of optimizing their own content to some extent, and some performance teams are often formed to be dedicated to finding the easiest, safest and quickest optimization wins. Unless you plan smartly in the beginning, some optimizations can also just be deemed to dangerous and out-of-reach to carry out late in production, as they may have dependencies or risk compromising core build stability - at the end of the day more frames aren't worth a crashing game.

Conclusion

Games suffer from performance issues because video game production is immensely complex and there's a lot of different shifting factors that inform when, how, and why a game might be optimized a certain way. Optimization is frequently a production consideration as much as a development one, and it's disingenuous to imply that games lag because developers are lazy.

I think it's worth emphasizing that if optimization doesn't happen, isn't accommodated, or perhaps is undervalued as part of the process it's rarely if ever because the developers didn't want to do it; rather, it's because it cost the studio too much money. As with everything in our industry, the company is the one calling the final shots in development. If a part of a game seems to have fallen behind in development it's often because the studio deemed it acceptable, refused to move deadlines or extend a hand to help it come together better at fear of spending more money on it. Rarely if ever should individual developers be held accountable for the failings of companies!

Anywho, thanks for reading! I know optimization is a weird mystical sort of blind spot for a lot of dev folks, so I hope this at least helps shed some light on considerations that weigh in as part of the process on that :) I've been meaning to write a more practical workshop-style step-by-step on how to profile and spot optimization wins at some point in the future, but haven't had the time for it - hopefully I can spin something up in the next few weeks!

#gamedev #game development #game dev #indie games #indie game #gamedevelopment #indiegames #pc gaming #pc games #indie dev #indiedev #video games #video game #blog #thoughts #optimization

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ineffabildaddy · 4 months

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Hello! I'm sorry if this question sounds a bit weird, but I've just stumbled upon your post about aziraphale and crowley's first time and seen "#i don't care that they can manifest superdicks or superpussies or superboth"

I'm new to the fandom I was wondering if it has ever been discussed what their sex and gender would be as in mainstream Christianity angels are considered agendered and to have no sex. All of the posts I've seen about them use he/him pronouns and talk about dicks and yours is the first one I've seen to open the possibility to something else so that's why I got curious

On another note I agree with your original post, they would last 30 seconds and would leave the sex marathon or the tender sex for later.

Sorry again if it's weird a weird question I'm already regretting asking

Have a nice day!

hi!!! thank you for asking me this, i'm delighted that you're interested in this aspect of the good omens universe and that you came to me about it:-)

gonna put my answer under the cut as it's quite long!

this is what the book has to say about angels and their potential sexes:

... angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort.

what most people have interpreted this to mean is that angels and demons are not inherently possessing of any particular primary sex characteristics (pasted from google: primary sex characteristics are those organs and other physiological structures that are directly related to sexual reproduction. These include both the primary (ovaries, testes) and secondary (vagina, penis) sex organs).

while they may have secondary sex characteristics (pasted from google: a secondary sex characteristic is any physical characteristic developed at puberty which distinguishes between the sexes but is not directly involved in reproduction) as part of their corporations - for example, tits or facial hair - most fans believe that angels and demons would have to actively 'make an effort' to manifest a penis or balls or a vulva or any combination or variation therein.

we've also got examples of what humans would view as gender variance within certain angels and demons the show - for example, there are angels with almost universally masculine names who are played by women (e.g. michael). these examples are largely seen to be a nod to the idea that gender identity is at least somewhat arbitrary for angels and demons.

here's a quote of a direction from the script book that sheds some light on this matter:

(There is a similarity to the angels, although they cross all races and do not necessarily have obvious genders. They all like wearing suits.)

here's another significant quote from the book, which is also paraphrased in the show:

For those of angel stock or demon breed, size, and shape, and composition, are simply options.

in fan content, this largely translates as follows: if crowley, aziraphale or indeed any other angel or demon wanted to 'make an effort', they could physically manifest whichever primary and secondary sex characteristics they chose. they are assigned a "corporation" - a body, or a 'vessel', as it's referred to in the tv show supernatural - that they must take care of, as we learn throughout the course of the story both in the book and the show, but the fanon view of this is that within that corporation, they can configure 'gender expression' and indeed have sex however they like.

why do angels and demons almost all have a perceived gender identity to viewers, even if they themselves do not subscribe to the idea of gender identity at all? why does gabriel read as a man, why does shax read as a woman, why is beelzebub referred to neutrally?

these questions are interesting and valid ones. gender expression always has a purpose in story, and good omens is no exception. i've actually got a detailed post that's been sat in my drafts for months about why i think that each significant character, and why the occasional side character, has the perceived gender expression they have. if people are interested, i shall go into this in another post.

all this to say - most people interpret crowley and aziraphale as at least vaguely male, in that they largely refer to both characters with he/him pronouns. for a lot of people, penis = male (even though this isn't inherently true), so most fans also like to think of them both as possessing penises by default, should they choose to possess any genitals at all.

popular headcanons posit crowley as genderfluid, due to their variety of gender presentations throughout the ages in the show (see the crucifixion scene and nanny ashtoreth), and aziraphale as agender, due to the way he's described in detail for the first time in the book, presumably among other things.

here's the first quote that i committed to this post in context, included here so you might understand better why people could see aziraphale as agender:

Many people, meeting Aziraphale for the first time, formed three impressions: that he was English, that he was intelligent, and that he was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. Two of these were wrong: Heaven is not in England, whatever certain poets may have thought, and angels are sexless unless they really want to make an effort.

especially in the time in which the book was written, gender identity and sexuality were and are inextricably tied to one another. to be gay was and largely still is to be a man who exclusively likes men, and therefore to refute the human assumption that aziraphale is gay is to also refute the idea that he is a man at all. of course, in the minds of terry and neil, this passage probably served to make a general point about angels with regards to gender and sex more than anything. however, some fans have drawn upon it to interpret aziraphale as being distinctly without a sense of gender identity. there'll be more to why people think of aziraphale as agender, but i don't know much about this aspect of fanon, so i'm not the best person to ask (someone reblog with more info pls?)

do feel free to interpret aziraphale and crowley's relationship to gender identity and sex characteristics in whichever manner you see fit :-)

the moral of the story: read, write, and look at fanart about crowley and aziraphale presenting with whatever characteristics you enjoy seeing them possess! i, for example, exist in a gorgeous little transmasculine corner of the internet where we love to write and read a male-presenting crowley with a vulva. this is not a requirement by any means for me to enjoy a fic where gender and sex presentation or sexual activity is relevant, it's just something i like in particular - and you get to decide what you like too, if you have any preference at all :-)

the great thing about crowley and aziraphale as characters is that, due to their ethereal (or occult, haha) nature, you can make them into whatever you want and put them wherever and whenever you want and it won't not make sense. go forth and be free with it!

i hope this clears some things up for you - if you have any more questions or thoughts, please do let me know<3

#good omens #gender stuff #book omens #ineffabildaddy

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erstwhilesparrow · 5 months

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might make a longer post later about more details from the video, but have been thinking especially about how delighted i am at the ways characters are categorizing and drawing lines around things in owen's newest new life ep? careful about the cut; there's spoilers in there.

i think... in other series, or watching videos created by other ccs, if someone monologued at the audience about how they think the mechanics of the world work, i would just take that at face-value and move on? this is a thing people do. minecraft is pretty open-ended -- the things that happen in it and the mechanics players interact with can have many interpretations, and probably the person holding the camera is telling you their interpretation so we have The Intended Way To Understand The Rest Of The Video. or at the very least, those interpretations don't tend to be characterizingly wrong? i'm thinking of pixlriffs in empires season two, who posits a theory in-character about how dreams connect different worlds. i'm thinking about scott literally in his most recent new life video saying to us, "oh, that bolt of lightning must be my light snare, one of my powers." these things tell us more about the world and its mechanics, smoothing over the gap between game and interpretation, than about the people sharing those understandings.

so it's. really really fun to me that owen is playing with that? sparrow newlife is just straight up wrong about a bunch of things, but he also has a really obvious stake in maintaining the distinctions and categorizations he's had in place so far. i'm thinking particularly about how long he goes on insisting that the sculk is good and the warden is bad -- it's something he's been saying some variation on since he first became sculk, and it's also increasingly evident that it's just not true! sure, it's in the warden's mind that he find the otherside and the memories therein, but those flashes of memory are about the sculk spreading. he's been saying himself that the sculk wants to spread! and at the end of the episode, sparrow, despite insisting he's a sculk hybrid, hears scott's heartbeat and literally sniffs him out like a warden. there's not really a perfect separation between sculk and warden even on the level of sparrow's hybrid abilities, but he's so lonely and scared, and he's been so convinced for so long that being a hybrid is the best or only way to be wanted and liked -- he needs the sculk to be benevolent, to have welcomed him into the fold because it wants him just for being him. thinking about his final monologue: he's so deeply hurt that, specifically, the sculk used him! he hasn't been upset about being sculk; he's upset that it didn't ultimately mean anything!

and speaking of self-interested drawing of lines, i'm also delighted that scott in his perspective of this episode's encounter does this thing too? as he runs away from sparrow, he mutters to himself something like, "i don't think [sculk sparrow] is the sparrow i used to know." it's... not completely wild to interpret that as scott telling us the viewers that sculk sparrow is genuinely A Different Entity and that this is something that is now just true about the world, but i like thinking of it as scott, the lightmancer, the character, terrified (that heartbeat sparrow hears is going so fast??) and frantically trying to reconcile the image of sparrow covered in sculk and pulling a knife on him with the pilot he befriended all that time ago. it complicates sparrow in interesting ways! it complicates scott in interesting ways! there's a mismatch, on both sides of this falling out, between who each person thinks the other is, and who that other person actually is, and scott saying this gives us a glimpse of another angle to that mismatch. the sculk is deeply a part of sparrow, yes, and is affecting him, but that well of incredible insecurity in sparrow has been here this whole time. he's always had that tendency to curiosity-cruelty and he's always been holding onto the belief that being a hybrid would make him worth something. this whole encounter is more interesting to me if Yeah, It Is In Fact The Same Guy In There. struggling against something terrible, for sure, but still the same guy! sparrow did that. he burned down those structures. he pointed a crossbow at that villager. he, hurting in a million different ways but still doing it, jumped into scott's head and killed him.

#sparrowsong #new life smp #owengejuicetv #yeah sure i'll maintag that.#he's so!! fascinating!!#Blorbo. Little Blorbo Man*.

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jasper-pagan-witch · 2 years

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What sorts of spells do y'all categorize as baneful magic?

For me, it's four kinds: jinxes, hexes, curses, and targeted love spells. (More information about why I consider them baneful magic can be found in this post, I'm not gonna repeat it.)

I've seen other people say that banishings and bindings are baneful magic - which, sure, if you define baneful magic as any magical technique meant to harm the target (or any fancy word variation therein), they certainly are. Personally, I feel like calling them baneful magic ignores a certain something in them, so I don't call them that.

What do y'all think? What do you count as baneful magic in your craft? Do you even make a distinction between baneful and beneficial magic?

#jasper post #discussion #baneful magic #beneficial magic

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declanscunt · 5 months

Note

kenstewy fic recs?

oh god… so many… first of all anything and everything by ao3 authors leoandsnake (especially tsd i & tsd ii) and stewyonmolly (im particularly fond of lesbian kenstewy & their senses series)

MORE RECS UNDER CUT!!!

coefficient of variation by trill_gutterbug

summary:

"No, it's not—I just want to. It's not like, a thing, you know?"

"You want to lie here slobbering on my limp dick while I read forty-seven thrilling pages of Macroprudential Policy Regulation, but it's 'not a thing.'"

Kendall's face, already hot, pulsed feverish with a livid mix of embarrassment and arousal. He shut his eyes. "Something like that, yeah."

Telemachus’ Detachment by magnoliabud

summary:

There’s one thing Logan hasn’t used against Kendall yet: his relationship with Stewy. Kendall decides to jump in front of it.

Or: thirty years of something.

Set from the middle of Series 3, after the shareholder’s meeting.

tenderness of heart by strangeluvz

summary:

Stewy,

My assistant said that you told her if I wasn’t using my phone “to at least send a fucking letter or some shit” and I don’t know whether you were joking or whatever but here. You know that being online is bad shit for me man. So here’s this: I’m OK. Is that good enough? Do you need a stool sample or something too? Vial of my blood? Let me know

Kendall Roy

Kendall goes offline. Stewy sends him letters.

we’ll meet in even greater darkness later by moonrocks

summary:

Kendall isn’t exactly sure what Stewy’s doing here, if this is a booty call for old times’ sake or there’s something else they need to discuss. Maybe Stewy’s just doing him another solid. Since his dad died, it’s been hard to be stagnant in his apartment all alone. Between the studio in LA and the corporate retreat in Norway, Kendall has actively avoided it, but the election is coming up, and there’s nowhere to run now. He’s in the bullpen and the beast is rearing its ugly head.

(Set sometime between 4x04 and 4x08).

some little language by strangeluvz

summary:

Stewy says, “Dude, sometimes. I think I, like, love you so much, it physically hurts.”

Kendall replies, without thinking, “What the fuck.”

Post-canon: Kendall goes to Stewy. Stewy’s arms are always open.

Make Good by Springandastorm

summary:

"I don't think…" Kendall trails off. His shoulders hang heavy.

"You don't think, or you do?" Stewy asks, the usual smooth scale of his voice a little softer, like he's talking Kendall off a ledge somewhere.

"I think I'm pretty fucking hollow."

"Yeah. My voice echoes when I talk to you." Stewy agrees, leaning a little closer and knocking his shoulder into his. "That's okay."

a current under sea / picked his bones in whispers by ingwertee

summary:

God, he’s been picking up the pieces for a mopey, strung out, kicked puppy version of Kendall for over a year now. Kendall’s sudden surge of confidence, however unjustified, turns him on, reminds him of the Kendall he had started to think only existed in his daydreams.

a little of the collapsing space by ohtempora

summary:

“I’m not gonna say you should have told me,” Stewy says. “You absolutely should not have told me fucking anything."

what did you tell me, mary by harukatenoh

summary:

In which Kendall and Stewy attempt to answer: what have you got in your fucking hand?

i figure you with love by alaczije

summary:

Stewy manages to do a decent job of forgetting about Kendall, and him-and-Kendall, and all the neuroses contained therein, until the pap photos leak.

Luxe / Redux by orestesfasting

summary:

He’s not sure what he’s more angry about, is the thing. The betrayal or the subsequent lie.

Or—maybe that’s not quite true. He knows which one he’s more angry about, and he knows that rationally it should be the other one. But needless to say, if Kendall had told him the truth about why he did what he did, Stewy wouldn’t be heading to his place uninvited at 11PM on a Saturday night, brimming with righteous fury like the proverbial woman scorned.

#succession fic writers are some of the insanest most talented ppl on the planet #when i was going through my bookmarks last night i was like. for the amount of kenstewy fics on ao3 (about 400?) ive bookmarked / kudos #about 1/4 of them.#which is a lot for someone as picky as i am #also… ive written a bit of kenstewy my ao3 is linked in pinned post :)#kenstewy #succession #fic recs

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spontaneousglitterbees · 8 months

Text

Trying to upload once a week on YT and I haven't even made the trackart, but I'm excited about this one if anyone knows where to find a higher quality off vocal please let me know

EDIT: Trackart and lyrics!

Part of the Evillious Chronicles by mothy(AkunoP) Referenced pricechecktranslations' transcript and octosan's translyrics UST by by NeeMiSo Cover, Mix, Thumbnail + Trackart, Translyrics by glitterbees

Notes!

I'd be remiss not to thank octosan for their translyric of "Madam Merry-Go-Round is she" in the chorus, which proceeded to get stuck in my head for several days straight until I made this.

I gave Alice the royal We both in reference to her position, Queen of Levianta, and the OSS novels.

This is also where I had a bit of fun with host/ess as in 'hosting a party' and host as in 'a whole host of people'. Happy coincidence!

Also given the novels and Alice's identity as MotC/Irina and variations therein: calling her a Clockwork gear seemed thematically and literally appropriate, like the figurine made to dance in a music box

Rather than noting how Alice's face is familiar, I leaned into the novels again (can you tell I just read Punishment and part of this is my processing it) with the way nobody has actually seen the queen's face in Quite Some Time. Until Gammon, anyway.

Alice's hands are certainly not pure by the end of Evillious, but technically time is transient here, making it impossible to know if this is facetious or not. Seemed apt. Plus holding a smile in your hands is just a dash of unreality that fits the vibe I think, as representation for the abstraction of interpersonal warmth and comfort

I'm still not positive just which "vow" Alice is talking about here, so I tried to leave it ambiguous

Final verse, same as the firt! Only with a few words mixed around, nodding to how on some level Alice is aware of her fate to repeat over. And over. And-

Where should we go next on our tour of Evillious?

Lyrics!

Welcome, all, to your new happy place! Pardon Us as We undo these chains binding you to one time and space.

Here's a tip from your Host: See the house brimming with ghosts! Give the ferris wheel a spin, don't be shy, tonight is yours so strap in.

But hey, if you find you need a break from the flurry of fun and games, our cold cradle will hold your weary frame….

Madam Merry Go Round are We, Ruling the park as the reigning queen. Madam Merry Go Round are We, always caught in the same machine.

From the top of the carousel you see in ever shifting Utopian glee…

Madam Merry Go Round are We, spinning through all the old worlds debris. Madam Merry Go Round are We. Nonetheless, We keep the same routine.

Round and round as it whirls fro and to, don't fret about a thing that you thought you knew!

So then if you want your wish to come true, I'm afraid you'll have to wait. So sit back, relax, and join in the queue.

What's that gleaming through the shade, but the famed Shadow Parade? They've been marching their whole lives to the beat of an end they've yet to find.

And as the clock strikes the midnight hour, see, desire for this in your power! It's just the role of your Hostess to oblige….

Madam Merry Go Round are We, Beautiful face hidden by a screen. Madam Merry Go Round are We, lost as a forgotten memory.

In her hands pure as driven snow, there she holds a smile warm and amiable.

Madam Merry Go Round are We. Even if you think your love is key, Madam Merry Go Round are We. Those fleeting feelings are all a dream.

As a vow made between two on both sides never lasted for long and was left behind….

Madam Merry Go Round are We, Ruling this land as the reigning queen. Madam Merry Go Round are We, Clockwork gear trapped in the machine.

At the top of the carousel you see, in ever rhyming Utopian glee,

Madam Merry Go Round are We. Spinning on through the new world's debris, Madam Merry Go Round are We. Every cycle the same routine.

Even if you have no way home, You should have known the only fault here's your own!

#ec #evillious #evillious chronicles #synthv #synthesizer v #vocaloid #solaria #synthv solaria

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mimble-sparklepudding · 1 year

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A very Happy Starlight Celebration to all the various OC couples and shipped couples and OCs shipped with canon characters!

It's not something I tend to focus on personally, but I really enjoy learning more about other people's characters and their relationships, whether tragic, romantic, spicy or wholesome.

Oh and I say "couples", but obviously this also applies to all the lovely group marriages, polycules and other variations in terms of number, gender and species (and height in some cases).

(Special mention to @furys-mercy for taking the time to explain to me what a polycule actually was!)

If love, sex and the various permutations to be found therein are something you like to read about I can recommend some FFXIV blogs...

@kissstealkai - Aymeric and OC

@hywl - Estinien and OC (and impressive chest hair)

@minilborel Aymeric and OC

@spotofmummery Amon and Scylla (but clones, it's complicated)

@scholarlostintime /@loldragoon-ffxiv OC and OC (and carbuncles and small children)

@nights-at-crystarium G'raha and OC

@amarestellas Pipin and OC

@pinxli OC and OC (plus supporting cast)

@miqomischief / @kskellington Four OC polycule marriage by two amazing writers.

@blucifer08 Elidibus and OC (more angst than you can shake a tragic narrative at)

@windup-dragoon Hien and OC

@talion-graves OC and sometimes other OC, but so so pretty...

@furys-mercy Multiple OC polycule

@avettabendrot Haurchefant and OC (and many baked goods)

@meepsthemiqo OC with different ships - Asahi, Emmanellain and others!

@superiorthaumaturge OC and OC (with current pirate AU shenanigans)

@firelightmuse G'raha and OC & Aymeric and other OC (two for the price of one)

@lunaria-de-borel Aymeric and OC (and angst, also potato-based dishes)

@windupsanson Sanson and Guydelot

@draculas-husband Count Edmont and OC (it's dadtastic)

@healersadjust G'raha and OC (with nice gposing)

@lizzy-of-the-dotharl-tribe OC and Sadu

@yloiseconeillants sometimes OC and Artoirel (and his critiques of her decorating choices)

@umbralaether G'raha and OC (with much beautiful Gpose and art)

Apologies to anyone I left out, this is just a quick list I dashed off.

This is one of my favourite Christmas Adverts and it reminds me a bit, in the best possible way, of the happiness people find in shipping and the happiness that brings me in turn.

youtube

Have a very Shippy Starlight Celebration!

#have a very shippy starlight #ffxiv #boosting #ffxiv rp #ffxiv ship #starlight celebration #ffxiv oc #ffxiv writing #Youtube

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guiltywisdom · 5 months

Note

I’ve been inquiring into Orthodoxy for a few months (coming from protestantism) and I don’t know for certain yet if I will choose to convert, I guess because I have a few hangups. I attended Divine Liturgy at my local parish for the first time last week and intend to continue worshipping with them and talking to the priests there, but I figured I would bring my questions to you as well.

I’ve been watching interviews and talks from Dr. Jeannie Constantinou, who seems absolutely brilliant and I love her. I’ve heard her explain at least 5 different times now this notion of “phronema,” basically the mind of the Church (the mind of the Apostles, as taught by Christ) and how the Eastern phronema is so different from the West because of the West’s emphasis on human reasoning. I appreciate mystery; mysticism and apophatic theology is what attracted me to Orthodoxy in the first place. But while denouncing Western appeals to reason and emphasizing appeals to Tradition and the mysteries therein, two examples she brought up were same-sex marriage and universalism, basically saying that no matter how reasonable an argument one might make, it’s not Tradition and therefore invalid.

While I’m honestly not sure what to believe about homosexuality (I have pro-LGBT leanings personally but am unconvinced either way I guess), I believe in a “Biblical Universalism,” the idea that Hell is temporary and ultimately corrective rather than punitive, like a furnace to purify gold of any dross. It makes the most philosophical sense to me, I see it in the Scriptures, and (most importantly in this context) I see it as historical.

I’ve read a summary of the points brought up in the book “Universalism, The Prevailing Doctrine of the Christian Church During Its First Five Hundred Years” by John Wesley Hanson and found them to be very compelling. It seems to show that universalism ought to have been preserved in Tradition, but for many reasons did not, and instead the idea of eternal torment in Hell has solidified.

Now we’re in a spot where the likes of the brilliant Dr. Constantinou is saying that, no matter how reasonable a stance like this might seem, we cannot rely on our own reasoning, as she appeals to the Apostolic Tradition. Truly, I don’t want to be prideful or arrogant, and I wish to conform my thinking in all ways to Christ. But it seems that such a stance should have been Tradition all along.

Please, how can I reconcile this? I think I want to participate in the Orthodox life. I like your worship, your prayers, your fasting, your asceticism, your mysticism, and (the bulk of) your theology. I think Orthodoxy is likely the closest to ancient Christianity. But must I take your tradition as wholly infallible? Is this an issue I need to humble myself on and conform to, or can I truly be welcomed if this is my view?

Tradition isn't "wholly infallible" because, for the most part, it was created by man. In general Orthodoxy teaches that, although we do have all we need for Salvation, some things we do not know for sure and that sometimes we must rexamine said tradition for new truths. Homosexuality wasn't really explored by the early fathers because homosexuality as we know it didn't exist. I think people see the Bible (and the words of the Church Fathers) as too black and white rather than something nebulous and deep. A common belief in the Orthodoxy of the people is something called "Hopeful Universalism" wherein those who believe it (myself included) argue that because God is infinitely loving and good then he would likely wish to reconcile all sinners to him but that we cannot know for sure and that free choice presupposes that there must be an option for those who might never choose to reconcile. You'll find that Orthodoxy has a lot of variation in belief, just ask about our infinite arguments over if Toll Houses are literal, a metaphor or heresy! I think you're a lot like me my sibling in Christ and I'm still here! Keep at it my friend.

#replies #asks #homosexuality

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