#A Riff of Retribution

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Hale- A Riff of Retribution (Heavy Metal Hunters) by Amir Lane

Selene- Dominion of the Fallen by Aliette de Bodard

Emmet Farmer- The Binding by Bridget Collins

Riley Sowell- Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo 

[theghostavocadoe]

After Sephiroth's death in Nibelheim, Hojo refused to accept defeat. Using the remains of Sephiroth and other formidable SOLDIERs, he created clones to stand against his tests, as well as the test of time itself.

Sephiroth Clone Experiment Subject 027 - Codename: Retribution

Name: Vassago

Age: 23

Chronological Age: 2 (as of 0006)

Birthday: February 13, 0004

Height: 195 cm (6 feet 5 inches)

Weight: 216 lb

Genetic Contributors: Sephiroth, Genesis O. Rhapsodos, Angeal A. Hewley

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Current Status: ACTIVE

Occupation: Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department ("The Turks")

Weapon: Dual handed greatsword

Physical Attributes:

Tan skin

Light purple eyes, slit pupils

White "fluffy" hair

Birth deformity on right side of hip

Double-jointed knees and elbows

Known Abilities and Notes:

Enhanced speed, strength, and reflexes of a Mako-enhanced SOLDIER

Sensitive hearing beyond that of a normal SOLDIER (enough to hear a pin drop through a solid wall)

Had a motive for joining the Turks that centers around gaining permission to "snoop" around Shinra's labs and their secrets without repercussions

Has a strong liking towards coffee and the art of making espresso and caffeinated drinks

--

HE'S HEEERREE.

Full disclaimer that the Sephiroth clones AU comes entirely from @scphircths (cool guitar riff and excessive explosion sfx) so all credit goes to them for this amazing idea.

But yeah!! Vassago!! woo!! he's the first of many Sephiroth clones that I've made and will continue to yap about until someone forcibly shuts me up

if you have questions PPLEASEEE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE hit me with them and I will enthusiastically respond because RAAAHH

[girlfriendsofthegalaxy]

tuesday again 01/28/2025

is this little bulleted preview helpful or does it make people less likely to click the readmore? a question i could answer if i went back to college for marketing. not a question but a comment, this one has the biggest range of dates in published works out of all the tuesdayposts

listening: Make a Man Out of You (2023, Vienna Vienna)

reading: Third Man Out (1992, Richard Lipez writing as Richard Stevenson)

watching: Automatic Moving Company (1912, dir. Bosetti)

playing: Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery (2021, mobile/PC/Switch/Playstation, Silver Lining Studio)

making: cross stitch

listening

i was served an ad for a forthcoming single by the artist Vienna Vienna on instagram and promptly listened to all his shit. yet another banger for the SOMEBODY COME FUCK THIS (GAY) playlist.

ex-religious alt-rock, self-described "glimmer rock". he's signed to pete wentz of fall out boy's label, pete wentz is a surprisingly good interviewer? very minimal input from the actual interviewer lol

Boxes be damned, Vienna Vienna revels in his own iteration of alt-rock — a genre he’s deemed “glimmer rock.” The result is a cathartic exercise in self-actualization as much as it is about a literal “glimmer” of light. Vienna Vienna’s sound is melody-forward, built on a foundation of shimmering reverb, electric guitar riffs full of personality, and juicy hooks lathered in witty playfulness, and ultimately, empowerment. ... VIENNA VIENNA: At its core, glimmer rock is about shared catharsis and a loud fucking show, like a really loud show where you can really express yourself and let out whatever's been holding you back — while leaning into the theater of it all, being dramatic because it's fun and campy. It's a good time, and it's a healing thing to express emotions completely. And it’s a great opportunity, onstage, to present it as glimmer rock and share this idea that you're catching hold of a glimmer, this special light at the end of a tunnel. You can see yourself, you can feel yourself — while doing it very loudly.

-

reading

the actual physical experience of reading this book was very pleasant: curled up on the couch under the strawberry blanket while it was raining, listening to ethopian jazz. it was so nice to actually read an enjoyable book. i feel like i've been in a little bit of a rut.

NOT an erotica novel this time, just a fun little noir murder mystery with an outsider private detective!

Which powerful mystery man killed the gay activist for outing him? After an attempt is made on his life, Queer Nation activist John Rutka asks tough-as-nails gay private detective Don Strachey to provide him with protection. Why does someone want to kill him? The activist's efforts at outing closeted gay homophobes have earned him a multitude of enraged enemies who would just as soon see him dead. After Strachey refuses to help, the man's body is found savagely murdered in apparent retribution for his deeds. Now, because of this, the reluctant Strachey feels obligated to investigate. Third Man Out brings back one of the most popular gay heroes in mystery fiction, Don Strachey, a private investigator as hard-boiled as they come, along with his lover, Tim Callahan, in a topical and very entertaining mystery dealing with the ethical issues of outing.

Third Man Out by Richard Lipez writing as Richard Stevenson was originally published in 1992, and my 2007 reprint is a movie tie-in. 173p, a softcover of middling quality. the cover is much glossier than most of the gay and lesbian novels on my shelf. must be that hollywood money kicking around.

both a fun frontispiece and a very helpful author's note. haworth press started early with publishing LGBTQ+ academic studies, and they had both gay men's and lesbian fiction imprints. available on the internet archive, i'm fairly certain i bought this one up in ct before i moved.

no on-page or fade to black sex scenes: this is just a briskly plotted murder mystery, fourth in a sixteen-book and four-movie series. i will be searching out more of these books, most of which seem to be on the internet archive thank god.

i would call it a capable modern noir: deeply concerned with ways and means, hypocrisy, bribes, government corruption, and a bumbling homme fatale. the final scene is at an airport for christ's sake. this is also a rare LGBTQ+ book where it could never be a straight book: it is too entwined in ethical issues specific to the community. i feel like a lot of the more modern LGBTQ+ debut novels ive bounced off are those where the characters feel coincidentally gay, or genderswapped from a straight romance. not so here! i need to read more books by cranky old gay men who have already written a zillion books!

I lived behind masks for much of my early life, and what this does to people’s psyches interests and frightens me. I think one reason I loved John LeCarre’s early spy novels was that his protagonists led double lives out of patriotism and not for reasons of shame or social embarrassment. Of course, it was more complicated than that for LeCarre’s characters, just as it’s not all bad for closeted gay people. Leading secret lives sometimes has a kind of romance to it too. But overall the closet is self-destructive.

this book is snappy: it manages to jam a lot of stuff in 178 pages. the dialogue between don and his partner timmy is particularly good: they feel like a real couple who loves each other to death but also gets frustrated, have inside jokes, have a routine and are there for each other.

very dryly funny in general and about the general albany NY region. i have spent so many thanksgivings out that way bc my favorite roommate's parents live there and i have heard so many of the exact same complaints from her and her parents lmao

-

watching

using up some kanopy credits on a series of early short film and early remakes of early short film. Automatic Moving Company (1912, dir. Bosetti) is the remake i prefer bc i think the stop-motion is better-- there's a bounciness and verve to it. crazy how the only real "tell" of scale is the straw

-

playing

THE most chobani hopepunk commerical game i have ever played, Behind the Frame: The Finest Scenery (2021, Silver Lining Studio out of Taiwan, originally a mobile game) is free until thurs morning CST on epic.

Guide brush strokes and solve a variety of puzzles to help an aspiring artist complete her masterpiece amid her brusque neighbor’s gaze and his pesky cat. As her painting starts to take shape, uncover an emotional tale of chance and artistry revealed behind unrelated yet familiar moments.

i didn't like this hand-animated two-hour point and click adventure game very much. it's cute and it's pretty but the storytelling is very muddy. i don't think their outsourced translation service (probably through Akapura, their publisher) did them any favors. all of the dialogue and flavor text is like that, so it's good they leaned into a lot of dialogue-less cutscenes.

this interview with one of the artists reveals they had a eight-person team, which seems kind of large for something that started out as a mobile game? it also has some helpful info about what they were going for.

What led you to become a Game Developer / Marketer? This decision came down on a simple question, which also motivated us to develop games in the first place. What would I rather do in a 90 minutes break? After collecting all the opinions on this topic from members at that time, we decided to combine three shared activities that we like to do during the break: see a movie, read a novel, and play a game. We want to make games that would let players have it all. ... Stories are the heart of our games. Behind the Frame is a narrative-driven game with escape room coating. Aside from the main storyline, which we hope would touch the players, we also have some breakthroughs on the display of the game scene. We adopted 2D 360°panorama for the presentation of several main scenes.

i do think the uniqueness of the 2D 360 panorama and pulling that tech from virtual museum and house tours does serve them well. they really only had to build out two areas, and the rest is traditional flat visual-novel scenes. however, this mechanic also really hurt their storytelling, bc such care is taken with the little clickable info boxes about many of the things in the apartment that it's really jarring when it jumps to a weird magical time nonsense thing? there is such a persistence of your actions on the world and the ability for outside factors to change your apartment (cat walking through paint, etc), and everything is very modern including the clothes, so it's never clear what's a flashback and what isn't. when you get to the end, the original framing device of amnesia just makes it seem like the protagonist is suffering from alzheimer's. i think something so focused on memory chose a very strange framing device, but unfortunately the framing device is The Whole Game.

i think they accomplished their goal (escape room with fun but not challenging puzzles you can finish in two lunch breaks). i love a short, self-contained story, but i think $15-$30 full-price is kind of steep for something with very little replay value. ported to steam and playstation, which is pretty good for a mobile game. can't be mad at a small team making at least their money back, the hand animated cutscenes were very pretty, i just wish the actual narrative was clearer

-

making

the first and last time this little wall hanging project will appear, bc instead of farm animals i am going to put some very doxxable items for a friend's birthday. got this cross stitch book as part of an 8/$1 sale bc i liked some of the alphabets and did not really expect to stitch anything else out of it but hey! sometimes you need some frames that look like they came ripped out of a 90s wendys fast food restaurant interior

[goodbysunball]

August 2024: Habitual socialite

Another delay-ridden post, this one gestating for about a month now, or at least mid-July's when I took the picture above.

Lucky for you there's a fix: Doug Mosurock, formerly of @still-single, is back up and running reviews at Heathen Disco. Doug's the real deal, an obvious influence on this withering Tumblr blog, and his short/sweet review digest, delivered once or twice a week, is well worth a (free, for now) subscription. The onslaught of reviews have hipped me to that CHBB reissue, and I'm sure there'll be a bunch more.

Onto the records, heavy on the punk and hardcore this round ---

Bad Breeding, Contempt LP (Iron Lung/One Little Independent)

Bad Breeding are back to crash your dinner party, armed with exhaustive pamphlets and not letting up on arguments about housing crises well past the point of decor. They have been singularly adept at cataloging the damaged, bleak, backwards, corrupt and blind state of the world, and have done so across a set of blistering LPs and their accompanying essays. Exiled is still my favorite, but I thought the band stumbled a bit on the follow-up Human Capital. The long tracks on Human Capital feel every bit their length, but listening back today, I think "Joyride," "Arc Eye" and "Straw Man" buoy the album with ease around the title track and "Rebuilding." Contempt could be considered a much sharper version of Human Capital, ripe with feedback, near-metal riffing and righteous fury as before, but still extending track lengths with mixed results. The best part of the album, and maybe of Bad Breeding's discography to date, is "Liberty" into "Discipline": the former cold-worked into a frenzied noise over two pummeling minutes, and the latter doing the most with drums, feedback and barked vocals, fighting desperately against being swallowed whole. While they don't touch that peak again on the album (and not many could), "Temple of Victory" and "Vacant Paradise" are furious pounding tracks that, when isolated from the album, pack some real heat. Over the course of the record, the band's relentless sound can wipe out distinctions between tracks, or worse, as on the second half of "Guilded Cage / Sanctuary," drag the momentum to a complete halt. Those minor quibbles shouldn't deface what is an album full of the mid-tempo, bass-heavy, feedback-laden hardcore I'd prefer to hear, and in any case "Guilded Cage" fuckin' smokes. I'd take an album full of "Survival"s or "Retribution"s if it meant more punks railing against the systems in place as Bad Breeding so fervently advocates, rather than against like-minded (or not) peers. Maybe Contempt is asking too much of the discerning public, or maybe the earnestness is a turnoff, because the record can feel easy to dismiss as too reflective of what we can read about or experience without much effort every day. But there remains a fire within the record that feels vital, even if it's not the soundworld I want to enter every day. I think it's one of the best records of the year, not because it has to be, but because the band clawed and teared their way there, producing a ferocious album/package that digs deeply into the late-stage capitalist system we all suffer from. Contempt's not the solution, but it might well inspire it.

Klonns, Heaven LP (Iron Lung/Black Hole)

The most recent Deep Voices post had an interesting dive into perfection vs. originality in music, and Heaven is swinging for perfection in a genre more often satisfied with filth and murk. Here's a rare hardcore record that sounds polished, barely smudged with experimental touches on the edges, and emerging fully formed and fun as hell. Now labeling their sound "The new wave of Japanese hardcore," Klonns are near-bulletproof across Heaven, so much so that I somehow don't mind when they pull out a "GO!" vocal command every track. Gruff, raspy but still intelligible vocals sit comfortably on top of near-metallic riffs and drums that flash just enough to make sure you keep a distance. The resulting sound is roomy and comfortable, like an old hoodie, but with the sleeves cut off and reeking of VFW hall floors. I'll point you straight to "Beherit"/"Realm," the breakdown on the former serving as a primer for the guest vocals of Sailor Kannako ripping apart the end of the latter. The bruising riff at the end of "Nemesis" or the finale to "Replica" sound like a finely honed point rather than emulation: this is a band focused on what makes hardcore vital to them and executing it nearly flawlessly. The electronic intro/outro portions are nice touches to bookend an LP's worth of evidence of what a supportive punk scene can produce when everyone's aimed in the same direction. Sick and wildly unpretentious LP, beautifully packaged and bursting at the seams with music that begs to be experienced live. Maybe someday, but for now, this'll do.

Osbo, s/t 7" (Blow Blood)

A "gritty, modern classic of a hardcore record" you say? I'm as numb to label write-ups for their own records as anyone at this point but that's still a bold gambit to throw down, along with the Cold Sweat RIYL, but Blow Blood rules so here I am. I don't really think many have come close to Blinded except for that way under-appreciated Pious Faults LP, but the sound and attitude on Osbo earn that Cold Sweat comparison. I'll leave it to the real hardcore scholars as to the rest. The band previously released a demo back in the first wave of the Covid pandemic, which I am forgiving myself for missing, but might have to cop after hearing this EP. The vocalist is what sells it here, going full ugly for the duration, the kind of hardcore that would've lit up message boards back in the mutated reign of bands like Twin Stumps or Mayyors. Still works today, especially as a companion to that Bad Breeding LP, feral and ugly hardcore sagging under its own weight, probably causing the rooms they play in to sway like a ship in rough waters. I think "Say It to My Face" is the best track here, but it's hard to deny the nearly side-long "Time," a plodding, abrasive four-plus minutes that basically serves as a perfect showcase for the band's strengths: bass up front, uncomfortably ringing guitar, and the finest "AUGHHHH" I've heard in a minute. That track's worth the price of admission alone, and the artwork/design is aces, too. One hundo copies only, so go scoop yours from Sorry State (they still have the demo tape, too) posthaste.

Shop Regulars, s/t LP (Merrie Melodies)

Another fine recommendation from Matt K.'s Yellow Green Red here, the debut LP of Shop Regulars after a handful of limited, self-released cassettes that you or I will assuredly not own. That's just as well, because the LP's got plenty to unpack. The band sounds like prime Julian Casablancas fronting Horse Lords (or whatever rigidly asymmetric rock band you'd like) covering the Fall, all disjointed rhythms and knotty guitars paving a path for the most unbothered vocals. You'd be forgiven if you're conjuring visions of bands like Dirty Projectors or other lauded indie bands that felt like homework to listen to from that ill-fitting descriptor, but it gives twice what it takes and even tiptoes into spine-tingling on the 11+ minutes of "Emerson Run Down." The two guitars calling back-and-forth in the middle of that track gets me every time, even though you know where it's going, and it sounds like the rest of the band falls into place in real time and thankfully captures it all on tape. The whole record has this loose-but-tight feel, which in the wrong hands can feel very annoying, but here it's anchored by the performances of the patient vocalist and the drummer ready to fill any available void. Doesn't mean the drummer has to work overtime: the restraint on "7 Winds," which utilizes repetition like The Double, chases the spiraling cut-short guitar riff ad nauseam. There is a bed of real feeling here, not the robotic core that bands trafficking in uncomfortable time signatures, repetition and overlapping movements often do. It all makes Shop Regulars surprisingly durable, even helping me maintain a cool head in unbearable traffic earlier this week. Somehow a portion of the 200 copies are still readily available from the link above, but I can't imagine that'll be the case for long.

Sin Tax, Abnegation 7" (Miracle Cortex)

To the point: here's a 7" record packed with hardcore played at the pace of grindcore, draped in the sneering, smoldering frenzy of first-LP Kriegshög. Sin Tax have dropped my favorite 7" since Healer's Resurgence EP a few years ago, taking the torch of Straightjacket Nation and driving straight toward Valhalla. The vocals take a page out of DX's book, which I'm guessing most don't do because of health or safety concerns, and the band cuts all fat and likely into some blood vessels in service of making this as lean and feral as possible. Only "Dog Eat Dog" lets you come up for air, but good luck getting past all the flailing arms, let alone the razor-wire riff of the title track on the first side. Flattened me the first time and now probably the twentieth time I've listened to it; shouldn't be surprised given as it's from the label that released that under-the-radar Execution 7". Still available from the label for about $20 shipped to the U.S., and I'm available to tell you how dumb it is to spend that money elsewhere. "YOU ALREADY PAY."

[koishi-komeij-takes-a-vaction]

KKTAV episode 23: Scarlet Retributions

The sun shone brightly over the Former Hell of Blazing Fires, despite it being underground and Utsuho Reiuji slacking on her reactor duties. 

Koishi Komeiji was practising her Dessert Eagle Sharpshooter skills in the Chireiden firing range when Spongey Duncton came in with tears of weeping.

''What is meaning of this rackettous noise, Spongey Duncton!?'' Roared Koishi Komeiji with indignation.

''It is terrible, Koishi Komeiji the Scarlet Devil Mansion have published mocking words towards Chireiden.'' Said Spongey Duncton with molely honks as they handed over a newspaper.

Koishi Komeiji's two eyes widened with the fury of a million dying stars.  Her third eye did not open, as it is still closed.

The newspaper headline bore savage words, ''CHIREIDEN IS IMPOVERISHED HOVEL''.

It was written by Remillia Scarlet, with words of mocking.

''We of Scarlet Devil Mansion declare ourselves the greatest faction of Gensokyo lands, better than the underground pigs of the Komeijis.  My charismatic fate weaving is far stronger than Koishi Komeiji' subconscious manipulations.'' Said the paper but in written words.

''DEFAMATION!'' Hollered Koishi Komeiji with pure furies.

''Koishi Komeiji, what is all of this racket?'' Said Satori Komeiji with mumbling.

''We have been cruelly insulted by the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the newspapers!'' Said Koishi Komeiji with rages.

''It is merely the fate of our cursed Komeiji bloodline to be ridiculed by all but wild beasts, sister.  We must move forewards with heads held high despite these indignities.'' Said Satori Komeiji with wisdom and resignedness.

''Sister, you may accept the hardships of our species, but I shall not stand for this!  I will storm the Scarlet Devil Mansion and battle for the honor of Chireiden!'' Said Koishi Komeiji with determination.

''At least stay for dinner.  I have cooked a meal of boiled roots and cotton balls.'' Said Satori Komeiji with Britishness. 

''I cannot wait for one second.  The longer we leave Remillia Scarlet, the stronger she becomes.'' Said Koishi Komeiji with hungry seriousness.

Koishi Komeiji went to Chireiden armoury to lock and load.  She grabbed her best knife, a few spell cards, and a cool rock.  Utsuho Reiuji walked in slowly with her concrete foot.

''The path of a hero is lonely and harsh, baby Koishi.  Are you sure you are ready for this mission?'' Rumbled Utsuho Reiuji with badassness. 

''As sure as cancer is serious'' Said Koishi Komeiji with wit.

''I understood that reference'' Said Utsuho Reiuji with music appreciation.

Koishi Komeiji swaggered to her 2005 Honda Civic with no roof and badass burning rose decals.  She lit a Garfield branded lasagne cigar to honour her greatest hero.

''Will you be going alone?'' Said Satori Komeiji with sisterly concerns.

''Yes.  Utsuho Reiuji and Rin Kaenbyou can hold the fort while I am gone and you are too much of a sad pudding to handle combat.'' Said Koishi Komeiji finishing her sentence with a salute.

Koishi Komeiji and Spongey Duncton cruised through the human village blasting tunes with blistering hot metal riffs. 

''Haha there goes bastard baby Komeij'' Said Hata No Kokoro with much mockings.

''I will strike you down once I wipe Remillia Scarlet off the map!'' Roared Koishi Komeiji with romantically confused rage.

Spongey Duncton who was driving turned the Honda Civit to run over Hata No Kokoro.  Koishi Komeiji could not drive.

''Uh oh, now we are the hot dog'' Said Hata No Kokoro with miseries. 

The Scarlet Devil Mansion loomed over the Misty Lake like a dog over a food bowl.  Hong Meiling stood at the gate with sleepiness.  Spongey Duncton parked the car on a rock.

''Out of the way, gatekeeper.  I am here to dish up justice to your dark overlord Remillia Scarlet.''  Said Koishi Komeiji with seriousness.

''But Remillia Scarlet went missing yesterday morning.'' Said Hong Meilling with much confusion.

''Lies!  How could she write this slander in the newspaper!'' Roared Koishi Komeiji with rage.

''But Remillia can't write these words, she has only passed fourth grade and can only read Ulyssus.'' said Hong Meiling with confusion.

''Liar!  Embers of Love!'' Yelled Koishi Komeiji, unleasing her powerful spell card.

''Owwwwwwwww...'' said Hong Meiling with pain as she exploded into P-Blocks.

As Koishi Komeiji stormed Scarlet Devil Manor shooting maid fairys with her Dessert Eagle, a shadow emerged from the shadows.  It was... the asthmatic magician woman!

''wheeze'' wheezed asthma woman with mercurry poisoning.

''I see...'' Said Koishi Komeiji with understanding.

Koishi Komeiji went to the stairs to the throne room.  The stairs were unpleasantly tall but Koishi Komeiji could float at ten mph.

After a few hours of floating at top speeds, Koishi Komeiji reached the Scarlet Devil trone room.

''Show yourself, miscreant!'' Roared Koishi Komeiji with holy rage. 

The true mastermind emerged.  It was... Aya Shamiemaru!

''Oh hey you took awhile to get here, I've been here for days.'' Said Aya Shameimaru with vicious mocking.

''How could you do this to the Esteemed House of Komeiji!?  Dragging our names in the mud like farm equiptment!?'' Roared Koishi Komeiji with indignations.

''idk someone paid me to do it and it sounded fun'' Said Aya Shyamemaru with evil.

''...Alright, but why frame Remillia Scarlet?  This is all very convoluted, like a terrible fanfiction written in tribute to other terrible fanfiction'' Said Koishi Komeiji with inquiries. 

''I don't actually know, they were a mole and I don't speak mole.'' Said Aya Shamiemamruma with tenguly spite.

''Oh alright then, have fun with whatever you are doing.'' Said Koishu Komeiji with thoughts as she emptied a full clip of her dessert eagle in the wall so her sharpshooting practise would'nt go to waste. 

''Aight, have a good one'' Said Aya Syameimara with camera clicks.

The drive back to Chireiden was uneventful but fraught with doubts.  Koishi Komeiji lit up a lasange cigar as Stan Bush's hit song 'You Got The Touch' blasts on the Honda Civic radio.

''I think someone inside the Chireiden has betrayed us'' Said Koishi Komeii with deductions.

''What will you do about it?'' Said Spongey Duncton with mole noises as they hit Hata No Kokoro with the Honda Civic again.

''Get my retribution... A Scarlet Reribution...'' Said Koishi Komeiji with cool badassery.

The end..?

[imbonewary]

Serif the Sans, character study

So, this is the first of my character profiles, which of course has to be my main character, Serif! He is my absolute favorite and I love him :3

Name: Serif Sans

Alias: Sans, Serif the Sans, Serif the Skeleton, Riff Raff, Guardian Angel

Universe: Crumbletale (original), Jumbletale (adopted home)

Soul/Magic Color: True Blue/Integrity, Yellow Judge's Star, Determined Red Soul Piece

Abilities:

~ Regular Magic - Bone Bullets, cyan bullets, blue soul gravity magic

~ Shortcuts - originally more like windows, only able to let in light, Guile (Crumbletale Gaster) was able to power up the ability to let through air vibrations (sound) and eventually matter. They look like portals and can be moved but only in tandem with the other portal.

~ Gaster Blasters - a magic construct used to concentrate magic energy into a blast rather than a bullet. Serif was taught the skill to see how long it would take while Cyprus (Crumbletale Papyrus) had the construct forcibly attached to him to compare the differences in capabilities.

~ Resets - Serif can remember resets almost perfectly due to Guile injecting him with DT. The DT injections coupled with the Human Soul Piece have put him in the running for reset control.

~ Expanded Inventory - While all magic users have access to a pocket dimension called an "inventory", it is usually limited in size in relation to their magic abilities: more magic means more space. Serif's inventory is near limitless but he is still limited by size/volume of the individual item in question.

~ The Judge's Star - Using an old and incomplete magic rite, Guile "consecrated" Serif to The Judge, visually represented by a yellow star attached between the lobes of his inverted-heart soul. This gives him access to several abilities that should be impossible:

~~ Judgement - While all magic users are capable of performing a *Check, which shows some of a target's stats, Serif is able to see a more detailed stat readout as well as a rundown of important past actions rather than a simple blurb about the target's current state.

~~ Laws of Encounters - Serif can manipulate the Laws of Encounters, which should be immutable, but only if he understands the Law and what he's doing to it.

~~ Karmic Retribution (KR) - A poison type magic, based on the amount of LV the target has.

~ Empathy - Serif's natural people-reading skills and Judgement abilities from the Judge's Star have been dialed up to the max and expanded into full blown empathy, allowing him to feel the emotions of those around him. He can't turn it off, but he can turn it down/tune it out.

~ Flight/Levitation - The Human Soul Piece gave him wings, which in turn granted him the ability to "fly" which is more of a levitation (not air displacement) based on his previous blue gravity magic. He can extend this levitation to anything he touches, people and objects, of which he gains full control. The magic snaps back to Serif if contact is broken.

Personality:

After absorbing the Human Soul Piece, Serif has a slightly different personality than the "Average Sans" he used to be in Crumbletale.

While most Sanses suffer from depression, Serif now has the determination energy to be anxious, which initially leaves him with mood swings but these eventually even out. He does still have to deal with spikes and dips in energy but he gets better at regulating it as time goes on.

Absorbing a soul piece with as much LV as the Anomaly had gained means that Serif himself has inherited some of that LV. Guile had messed with Serif's LV count in the Labs to understand how gaining LV increased one's stats and if the process could be replicated, so Serif's stats don't reflect his actual experience anyways. He still tends to respond with aggression more than he used to, which scares him.

Serif wants to be useful and has tied much of his self worth into his usefulness to others. However, he doesn't take complements well, leading to him doing a lot of work in the background, fulfilling his need to be useful and hiding behind "laziness" to avoid compliments. He will even go so far as to attribute his own accomplishments to others to avoid being seen in a positive light, as he feels he doesn't deserve it. Those close to him have developed a delicate balance of recognizing his use without going into praise, which has been easing Serif out of this stark mindset.

I'll probably add more to this later.

[thebooky]

Why Sci-Fi Keeps Imagining the Subjugation of White People

APRIL 25, 2014

By Noah Berlatsky

Science-fiction "contemplates possible futures." So says a new Smithsonian article, and it doesn't seem like a particularly controversial thesis. As the piece says, sci-fi tries to think about what’s to come for civilization. "The future is a safe, sterile laboratory for trying out ideas in," as Ursula K. Le Guin says.

But it's worth remembering that in sci-fi, the future actually isn't safe or sterile at all. On the contrary, with its alien invasions, evil empires, authoritarian dystopia, and new lands discovered and pacified, the genre can look as much like the past as the future. In particular, sci-fi is often obsessed with colonialism and imperial adventure, the kind that made the British Empire an empire and that still sustains America’s might worldwide.

The link between colonialism and science-fiction is every bit as old as the link between science-fiction and the future. John Rieder in his eye-opening book Colonialism and the Emergence of Science-Fiction notes that most scholars believe that science fiction coalesced "in the period of the most fervid imperialist expansion in the late nineteenth century." Sci-fi "comes into visibility," he argues, "first in those countries most heavily involved in imperialist projects—France and England" and then gradually gains a foothold in Germany and the U.S. as those countries too move to obtain colonies and gain imperial conquests. He adds, "Most important, no informed reader can doubt that allusions to colonial history and situations are ubiquitous features of early science fiction motifs and plots."

The iconic example of colonialism-inspired sci-fi is that most important of sci-fi stories, H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds. As Rieder says, Wells begins his book with an explicit comparison of the Martian invasion to colonial expansion in Tasmania. "The Tasmanians," Wells writes,

in spite of their human likeness, were entirely swept out of existence in a war of extermination waged by European immigrants, in the space of fifty years. Are we such apostles of mercy as to complain if the Martians warred in the same spirit?"

Here the Martian conquest is presented as analogous to, and even as just retribution for, Britain's colonial genocide. As has been visited on them, so shall it be visited on us.

With Wells in mind, it’s easy to see colonial metaphors throughout the sci-fi that followed him. In many cases, as with Wells, these works flip the racial dynamic that characterized the most influential imperialist ventures of the last few centuries. In such stories, sci-fi is about “them” (a non-white, foreign civilization) doing to us (Western, largely white powers) as we did to them. Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan and Into Darkness, for example, imagine a non-white antagonist who preaches the colonial ideology of eugenic culling against the less biologically perfect, Western-ish protagonists.

Even works in which the invaders are white can come off like historical fiction envisioning an inversion of Anglo hegemony. Take Terry Gilliam's film Brazil, about a totalitarian Britain conquered and occupied by Germany, in which native English people are second-class citizens. From Brazil, it's only a brief hop to 1984, which, as I've pointed out here at The Atlantic, can also read as a reverse colonial parable. Rather than seeing the novel as a riff on Hitler and Stalin's brand of totalitarianism, as it’s usually interpreted, you can instead think about it as inspired by the repressive state in which Orwell served—British-controlled Burma.

Even the Terminator films fit pretty easily into a colonial narrative. At first, they may seem far afield from geographic conquest; the plot, after all, hinges on time-traveling robots, not invading aliens. But Rieder points out that for Wells, the War of the Worlds was a battle not only across space, but across time. Wells's Martians, with their giant craniums and atrophied bodies, were meant to be a warning of our own evolutionary future, just as the Tasmanians were generally viewed by Westerners as preserved, primitive living remnants of the evolutionary past. Thus, the computers in Terminator can be seen as not-fully-evolved colonial servants, who eventually evolve into more-advanced colonial masters.

So what to make of this colonial obsession? What does it mean that all of these novels and films, from War of the Worlds more than 100 years ago to Into Darkness in 2013, are powered by colonial inversion, a dream of Western imperial violence inflicted upon Westerners?In some instances, it's clear that sci-fi reverse colonialism is anti-colonial. In others, it's a justification for imperialism.

To some degree, and in some instances, it's clear that sci-fi reverse colonialism is anti-colonial. Again, Wells uses the Mars invasion to directly criticize European colonial practices.  Similarly, Gwyneth Jones in her 1994 book North Wind imagines an alien race, the Aleutians, who are almost-but-not-quite exactly like humans. When they take over the earth, they nonchalantly decide to sheer off the top of the Himalayas to improve the planet's climate. Despite worldwide protests (which confuse the Aleutians; why would anyone object to sheering off the mountains, they wonder?) the Aleutians go ahead with their plan, and accidentally destroy most of earth's farmland (as we see in the follow up novel, Phoenix Café.) The depiction of bland imperial arrogance directed, specifically, at the subcontinent, is an obvious satire of Britain's own history of empire—and of the intertwined violence of Western expansion and environmental devastation more generally. In a similar vein, Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis Trilogy, told from the perspective of a family of black humans who survive and thrive after an alien invasion, cannily inverts and crosses identities of colonized and colonizers, self and other.

Reverse colonial sci-fi don't always have to be anti-imperialist, though. Ender's Game, both film and book, use the invasion of the superior aliens not as a critique of Western expansion and genocide, but as an excuse for those things. The bugs invade human worlds, and the consequence is that the humans must utterly annihilate the alien enemy, even if Ender feels kind of bad about it. Olympus Has Fallen runs on the same script, as a North Korea with impossibly advanced weapons technology lays sci-fi siege to the White House, giving our hero the go-ahead for torture, murder, and generalized carnage. In Terminator, as well, the fact that the robots are treating us as inhumanly as we treated them doesn't exactly create any sympathy. Instead, the paranoid fear of servants overthrowing masters just becomes a spur to uberviolence (as shown in Linda Hamilton's transformation from naïve good girl to paramilitary extremist). The one heroic reprogrammed Terminator, who must do everything John Connor tells him even unto hopping on one leg, doesn't inspire a broader sympathy for SkyNet. Instead, Schwarzenegger is good because he identifies with the humans totally, sacrificing himself to destroy his own people. Terminator II is, in a lot of ways, a retelling of Gunga Din.

On the one hand, then, the reverse colonial stories in sci-fi can be used as a way to sympathize with those who suffer under colonialism. It puts the imperialists in the place of the Tasmanians and says, this could be you, how do you justify your violence now? On the other hand, reverse colonial stories can erase those who are at the business end of imperial terror, positing white European colonizers as the threatened victims in a genocidal race war , thereby justifying any excess of violence. Often, though, sci-fi does both at once—as, Rieder argues, Wells does in The War of the Worlds, which both sympathizes with the oppressed and suggests that survival-of-the-fittest colonial exploitation is natural, inevitable, and unstoppable (there is, after all, no talking to the Martians—or, therefore, to the Tasmanians?).

The fact that colonialism is so central to science-fiction, and that science-fiction is so central to our own pop culture, suggests that the colonial experience remains more tightly bound up with our political life and public culture than we sometimes like to think. Sci-fi, then, doesn’t just demonstrate future possibilities, but future limits—the extent to which dreams of what we'll do remain captive to the things we've already done.

“The fact that colonialism is so central to science-fiction, and that science-fiction is so central to our own pop culture, suggests that the colonial experience remains more tightly bound up with our political life and public culture than we sometimes like to think.”

— The Atlantic discusses the link between science fiction and colonialism. (via ceeturnalia)

[allaboutherock2011]

IN SHALLOWS RETURNS WITH “UNDERTAKER”

Metalcore fury ensues on In Shallows’ newest single, “Undertaker.” PRESAVE THE SINGLE >> HERE << The New Hampshire band’s first single from their upcoming album focuses on themes of retribution and marching ahead. Ferocious riffs meet a touch of synth; melodic moments shine but the track never relents in its intensity. Melding modern and classic metalcore elements, there’s as much influence from…

[metalsongoftheday]

Thursday, March 21: Shadows Fall, "King of Nothing"

Retribution wasn’t so much a reset as a recalibration for Shadows Fall: after leaning too hard on the traditional metal aspects of their sound on Threads of Life, their sixth album aimed for something of a return to the trad/metalcore balance of The War Within.  To that end, “King of Nothing” weaved in both elements with traditional song structures and guest growling from Randy Blythe.  And although the band had taken a step backward both artistically and commercially on their previous album, their interplay remained strong as usual, with Jason Bittner’s prog/thrash drumming adding further dynamics to Matt Bachand and Jonathan Donais’ alternately crunching and weaving riffs.  Through it all, Brian Fair remained one of the more underrated vocalists on the scene, bringing plenty of his own personality to both his Hetfield-esque yarl and the metalcore roaring.  Shadows Fall unfortunately fell behind their peers in Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God, but “King of Nothing” was one of the better tracks of its time, and the guys presaged much of the thrash and trad metal revivals that would soon dominate the scene, and with better songs to boot.

[timeloooop]

Their attentive loitering is, perhaps, too intense, too prominent in relation to the other waitstaff who flow unobtrusively through the crowd of guests or stand in pockets of dead air where natural footfall streams past: the space behind foundational pillars, the perimeter of the room, the invisible barrier that seems to exist around every trash receptacle.

The child, to some degree, notices this disparity in behavior. His wariness is not concealed. Indeed, the opposite: it is immaturely broadcast; how he mirrors Rosalind's monosyllabic announcement is boyish in its retributive defiance. His held gaze, too. The negligible bite. All of it is a bullish, playful, goading act. Both Robert and Rosalind's heads tick to the side in perfect unison, minutely so, like the hour hands of two finely tuned clocks one hour after midnight. Heralding. And unbothered.

Mutt's wariness is warranted (aside: and is, no doubt, a contributing factor to his consistent longevity), but it is also anticipated.

There are other methods to test Mutt's—colloquially put—resilience. This is merely the cleanest—and least strenuous option. One will not readily accept an axe into one's body; not in the way one may a cookie (laced with cyanide).

And so, they do not yet abandon this stratagem. Patience is a practiced, conscious effort held within them much like perfect posture—not a natural state but a beneficial one.

Robert, not missing the opportunity to continue the ongoing riff developing between them, opens his mouth wide. Beckoning: «Aaaah.» Rosalind, understanding, plucks a chocolate chip cookie from Robert's tray, turns it in her hand to idly admire, and then slots it into Robert's mouth. He takes a larger-than-he-normally-would-were-this-solely-an-act-of-nourishment-and-not-a-deceptive-and-placating bite.

without entirely meaning to, he parrots rosalind. "ah," as if testing the faint pressure it creates in his own larynx. reflexive, not reflective. definitely mocking. mutt's gaze settles, unblinkingly watchful, as they stare him down.

unstoppable forces, meet immovable object.

in the back of his mind, he still wonders if he is being observed. if this is some test, the end of which he has yet to uncover, or—whatever it is, he has no intention of baring his throat or exposing his belly. it all seems remarkably too much for a goddamn cookie, but one never knows. he decides to give them the benefit of the doubt, seeing that no one in the dining room is currently suffering from poison ingestion.

out of habit, mutt gives it a preliminary sniff. he takes nothing more than a nibble after deciding it satisfactory, studying them over the rounded topmost edge.

[heavymetalseries]

A Riff of Retribution • Heavy Metal Hunters (1)

Genre • Urban Fantasy

POV • Third Limited | Alternating POV

Content Warnings • Substance abuse, self-harm, mentions of attempted suicide

Characters: Hale, Aleksandr Ecklund, Sterling Johansson

Blurb •

Dead men are filled with life. 

Eleven years ago, world-renowned guitarists Hale and Aleksandr learned that monsters were real. Hale lost the love of his life, and Aleksandr lost his brother. 

When the carnage was over, they vowed to make sure no one else had to suffer the same fate. 

A few months ago, another band's bassist has been killed at a festival, and she wasn’t the only one. Hale suspects a vampire was responsible, and that their drummer — the singer of his new band — knows more about it than she’s letting on. When a member of their new act is also attacked by a vampire, everything Hale has tried to keep in the shadows comes to light. 

Hale has made a bargain with the gods for the power to heal. But he can't save everyone. 

The dead are rising. The gods are angry. And even they won't be Hale’s biggest problem.

Read Now

[worldenough-and-time]

AO3 Masterpost:

WIP:

Tough, Tried, True Blue (currently drafting at 131k): Marauders Era, sapphic Wolfstar with transfem!Sirius starting Year 1 at Hogwarts through 7th year. Dual POV. Lady Marauders! Meditations on Girlhood! The slowest burn, but worth it for the sapphic pining.

got what i wanted (but it’s never enough for me, darling) (drafting at 10k): lesbian wolfstar vampire AU

Completed Fics:

Marauders

Not Enough to Save You (8.5k): Remus Lupin is Joan of Arc. Lesbian Wolfstar. (Currently hidden)

Immaculate Conception (Girls Kissing Remix) (4k): This is a sapphic riff on Claude's brilliant the immaculate conception. Go read that before you read this, come back if you want a story set in the same AU except his time they're girls and they're kissing.

Don’t Look Back In Anger (4.5k): This is my post-ATYD closure fic. Remus and Sirius visit Mary in the Spring of 1996.

All for the Game by Nora Sakavic

Not To Blame For Falling (26k): A three part series of post canon AFTG fics focused on Andrew and Neil’s relationship and healing and healing within their relationship. Basically my attempt to address lingering beef with Nora Sakavic about certain aspects of canon that were frustrating to me, especially when it comes to her portrayal of mental illness.

You Just Woke Me Up (~7k): Part 1 of this series. By far my most popular work on AO3. Andrew POV exploring his “holy shit I caught feelings” post canon spiral.

Stupid and Alive (~7k): Part 2 of this series. Also Andrew POV. This fic is mostly exploring Andrews suicidal ideation, but there’s also a Friendsgiving chapter. Idk dudes, check the tags.

stranger than your sympathy (12k): the third in my series of post canon healing AFTG fics. Neil gets a fever, goes to therapy, and starts dealing with his mommy issues.

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

The College Years (~50k): Co-written with Mel, my sister and long suffering beta reader. It’s the college prequel. Nico/Gideon, but also kind of all the other ships too because it’s TA6.

I Heard You Were Looking Like the Moon (1.5k): A chapter from The College Years that also works as a one shot. Gideon has a good dream.

Not Yet Drafting:

The Raven Cycle Untitled Pando Fic: So this fic is just a twinkle in my eye right now, but it was supposed to be the long fic I wrote this year before Sapphic Wolfstar took over my brain. But I do have extensive notes for it. Also Mel is going to co-write it with me but she doesn’t know that yet. What’s a girl to do when Maggie Steifvater offhandedly mentions on Twitter that she planned, but will never write, a TRC spinoff involving an 80,000 year old forest? Pando is a clonal colony of Aspen trees in Utah, and while it looks like thousands of individual trees, it’s actually a single organism connected by extensive underground root systems. But really this fic is about Blue taking Gansey to meet her dad’s side of the family and… let’s just say it doesn’t go well. Additionally Adam reconnects with his mother and starts a new job. Ronan adopts a teenage dreamer who is his karmic retribution for his own teen angst rebellion. Henry’s parents split up. I will write this, eventually. Probably. Maybe.

[vinylspinning]

Judas Priest: Firepower (2018)

If we ignore the occasional career misstep in recent years (the farewell tour that wasn’t, Nostradamus, the near-disaster of a ‘single guitar tour,’ Nostradamus), Judas Priest were setting a great example for how to age gracefully in heavy metal when they unleashed 2018’s Firepower. 

Has it been five years already?

Building on the momentum of ‘14’s Redeemer of Souls (which, in turn, had redeemed the band for ‘08’s aforementioned Nostradamus), Priest’s 18th studio LP wasn’t just heavier, it was simultaneously modern and vintage, which I guess is the same as saying that it was ‘timeless.’

Conceived with the express goal to, as Rob Halford put it, “re-invent some of the classic moments of Priest,” Firepower was co-produced by the past/present dream team of Tom Allom (glad you’re still alive and kicking, Tom!) and erstwhile Sabbat guitarist Andy Sneap, who later stood in for the ailing Glenn Tipton on tour.

But, when it came to writing and recording these cuts, not even Tipton’s ongoing struggles with Parkinson’s disease could deter his co-writing all tracks with Halford and second guitarist Richie Faulkner, nor from recording them alongside stalwart bassist Ian Hill and tireless drummer Scott Travis.

In other words, unlike many veteran bands, Priest gave themselves every opportunity to succeed, and then proved that ‘textbook’ doesn’t have to mean ‘boring’ (anything but) with a fresh yield of impeccable metal anthems such as “Lightning Strike,” “Evil Never Dies,” and “Spectre.” 

And these are just my personal picks; this album is so consistent, I could easily cite another two or three songs (e.g. “Flame Thrower,” the closing, semi-ballad “Sea of Red”) among the standouts.  

If anything, the band was so committed to staying ‘on brand,’ metallically- speaking (yep, I just wrote 'metallically’) that some of their riffs (“Never the Heroes,” “Rising from Ruins”) and lyrics (see the self-affirming “No Surrender”) reminded me of ‘80s LPs like Ram it Down and Defenders of the Faith.

But the band’s instrumental prowess (including Tipton/Faulkner’s sizzling solos) continue to defy the march of time, and while most elderly heavy metal banshees face an inevitable vocal decline, Halford remains the absolute gold standard (at least in the studio), as indomitable as his heroic lyrics.

In sum: it’s no wonder Firepower’s fourteen songs and sixty minutes proved so satisfying, and arguably superior to anything Judas Priest has put out since reuniting with Halford in ‘04, so now we wait patiently for a promised 19th Priest LP, which may just coincide with the band’s 50th anniversary.

More Judas Priest: Rocka Rolla, Sad Wings of Destiny, Sin After Sin, Stained Class, Hell Bent for Leather, Unleashed in the East, Living After Midnight EP, British Steel, Point of Entry, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders of the Faith, Turbo, Ram it Down, Painkiller, Angel of Retribution, Redeemer of Souls. 

[mmmmalo]

i started watching the fresh prince of bel air recently and it hit me with a question. is karkat black?

I love this ask.

By way of manifestation, we can infer that Karkat's relationship with Thresh Prince is explored in the conversation with Gamzee, who appears right after. I had originally thought that Gamzee was appearing as a specter of subjugglation, as though Karkat's support for the mildly rebellious Troll Will Smith were being immediately rebuked, but in revisiting the log for this ask, I found that Gamzee's speech isn't actually exhibiting the retributive qualities seen in his conversation with Tavros, which is a response to Vriska. Unless you take phrases like "bad self" literally and declare that Gamzee is casting judgement through the veneer of vernacular, or that his "checking in" on Karkat intrinsically carries a connotation of policing? Or you take Karkat at his word and regard the imposition of the conversation itself as a cosmic punishment. But those aside, the point seems to be more that Gamzee's presence as a black-ish voice was predicated by Troll Will Smith -- or rather that, despite Karkat calling Smith his hero, we immediately see him expressing nothing but contempt for Gamzee's mode of speech, which is akin to Will's.

Less firmly, "What is up, my invertebrother?" might've been a riff on Will's life getting "flipped, turned upside down", in addition to an "invertebrate" joke about trolls being bug people -- or if you read "what is up" in an overly literal manner and regard it as a questioning of hierarchy, it's an echo of Smith's rebellion? Though insofar as Gamzee is literally the highblood here, sassing Gamzee is the rebellion, so Karkat's kind of punching up and down at the same time, the terminal of his aggression is capricious. So we're back at the well-known, that Gamzee blends low class signifiers in a HIGH CLASS social position.

But hey, manifestation means we need to keep making this about Karkat's psychology so, stab in the dark, but wouldn't it be funny if Karkat's admiration for Will Smith and hostility towards Gamzee were reconciled by envy. Like Karkat's seething fury at Gamzee's love of miracles was a representation of resentment of the jouisseur, the figure who has direct access to some joyous experience, to which your own access is denied? "HE'S HAVING SO MUCH FUN BEING BLACK WHY CAN'T I BE BLACK?", that sort of thing. This is would add a layer to Karkat's exultance at having the same blood color as Jack Noir, it's not JUST a confirmation that he is not a singular mutant pariah, the shared blood is also a means by which he can securely identify with a "black guy"!

Oh and hey, you know how I keep saying Dirk can only "insert" thoughts that characters were already bound to think?

DAVE: karkat DAVE: you wouldve been so much more than obama

God damn if that isn’t the most romantic fucking thing I’ve ever heard.

[ranboo5]

Epic Dream SMP character joke apologism compendium, feat. every character I have opinions on

The next time someone dunks on your fave and you’re tired of repeating thought out arguments into a wall, simply give up and say “yes I do condone the war crimes” with one of these handy quips! Unless your fave isn’t on this list in which case feel free to riff on this format for them 

TECHNOBLADE: If I were a 7ft murderpig in a world where people respawn I too would get incredibly violent were I to be interrupted and also when he violates people’s human rights he is simply very comedic and/or cinematic about it <3

PHILZA MINECRAFT: He commits mass murder because it’s funny and he is disinterested in people’s sentimental attachments because who cares! Let him be evil!! Killza!! Killza!! Killza!! Killza!! Killza!! Killza!! K

RANBOO LIVE: Uh, not only is he literally holding a grass block, but some people??? Are self righteous hypocritical overrationalizers that live in the false cosmic narrative they’ve constructed in their brains and refuse to get evaluated by literally any outside perspective??? To cope?????  

WILBUR SOOT: It’s CALLED being COMMITTED TO THE AESTHETIC. Man had a PLAN for his character arc (yes, in universe) and he FOLLOWED THROUGH on it YOUR self-aggrandizing fave could NEVER  

DEAN WASTAKEN HIMSELF: Florida man manipulates minors spawned a good 60% of the memes I’ve seen from this fanbase give him some credit

QUACKITY HQ: That 👏 state 👏 violence 👏 was 👏 part 👏 of 👏 Mr 👏 HQ’s 👏 hot 👏 girl 👏 summer 👏

TUBBO UNDERSCORE: He can be an authcom and violate people’s human rights because it’s funny, he’s feral, and he likes bees. Next fucking question

TOMMY “DANGER” “CAREFUL” “KRAKEN” “BIG MAN” INNIT: Have you considered that he’s a cishet white highschool aged boy and if he doesn’t torment people and/or mooch off their work his metabolism will simply collapse and he will die? Smh

ITS FUNDY: He can do violence because it’s funny and he yells and his mic cuts out :)

THE ERET: Have you considered that that betrayal was simply just very cinematic???

NIKI NIHACHU: You don’t want to see Niki Nihachu descend into a self-destructive spiral perpetuating the violent cycle of retribution?? Sounds like you simply hate to see a girlboss winning

JACK MANIFOLD TELEVISION: He can do all the violence and unhealthy cycles of revenge he wants because he’s funny and he is Team Rocket

BADBOYHALO: EVERYONE KEEPS SWEARING AT HIM HE DESERVES A LITTLE EVIL HIVEMIND AS A TREAT! He is also simply very polite!!!!!!

Bonus: literally everyone who fucked over L’Manberg So what if they betrayed/destroyed/etc. L’Manberg. Maybe L’Manberg sucked.

[antigonewinchester]

Taking a bit of a break from my Gadreel / Trials meta to look more at the Mark of Cain arc. I’ve not seen much recent meta about the Mark and what’s going on with Dean in the narrative at this point, which also gives me some more analytical space to work in here. Felt like with my Gadreel / Trials thoughts, I was at best starting to just riff off of what others had written, and at worst just repeating what others had already argued better than me, and that’s no fun for anyone.

First, I’ve been trying to sort through the writers’s overall framing around Dean and violence, particularly post-Kripke. At the time when the Mark became a plot point on the show in season 9, the writers seemed to see Dean as a uniquely violent character, drawn to brutality and killing in a way that Sam (and somewhat Cas) were not.

The theme of Dean being violent is a thread that goes far back in the show. For example, there’s the exchange at the end 02x03, “Bloodlust,” which shows a dynamic of Dean drawn to violence and Sam questioning it:

DEAN What if we killed things that didn't deserve killing? You know? I mean, the way Dad raised us…

SAM Dean, after what happened to Mom, Dad did the best he could.

DEAN I know he did. But the man wasn't perfect. And the way he raised us, to hate those things; and man, I hate 'em. I do. When I killed that vampire at the mill I didn't even think about it; hell, I even enjoyed it.

SAM You didn't kill Lenore.

DEAN No, but every instinct told me to. I was gonna kill her. I was gonna kill 'em all.

SAM Yeah, Dean, but you didn't. And that's what matters.

DEAN Yeah. Well, 'cause you're a pain in my ass.

SAM Guess I might have to stick around to be a pain in the ass, then.

However, after this episode and over the rest of the Kripke era, Sam, Dean and their relationships to violence continues to evolve. Dean’s violent side is balanced by his hidden sensitivity and protective streak, while Sam’s innocent side is balanced by his hidden ruthlessness and drive for revenge. Over seasons 1 – 5, Dean gradually begins to question his violence and eventually expresses a desire to leave the hunting life, while Sam gradually becomes more violent, increasingly driven by his (both metaphorical & literal) thirst for retribution.

Post-season 5, however, Dean and his violence becomes a focus of the narrative again, often contrasted with Sam and Cas as less violent foils. Although both Sam and Cas have their violent moments, such as soulless!Sam in season 6 and Cas as Godstiel in season 7, Dean and his violence are especially highlighted within the story. For instance, Dean is presented as a “killer” while Sam and Cas are not, even though they also kill. Soulless!Sam is even framed this way in season 6, through the lens of Dean as a killer:

DEAN I thought [Soulless!Sam] was a monster. But now I think… [...]

DEAN He's just acting like me. [...]

DEAN No. But what I'm good at... is slicing throats. I ain't a father. I'm a killer. And there's no changing that. I know that now.

The Mark of Cain arc often presents Dean’s violence as something tainted or pathological; occasionally in season 10, Sam and Cas will use violence in a similar way to Dean, but only Dean’s violence will be pointed out by the narrative as something bad. During this arc, Dean is directly paralleled to Cain, the world’s literal first murderer, while Sam and Cas get paralleled to Colette, Cain’s loving and non-violent wife, with Sam also being linked to Abel, the world’s first victim. In season 11, Dean is explicitly linked to Amara, the amoral embodiment of destruction, with Sam more indirectly linked to Chuck, the embodiment of creation as God. While Dean is ultimately presented as ‘better’ than both Cain and Amara, overcoming the Mark’s curse unlike Cain and letting go of his resentments and choosing family unlike Amara (and in fact helping Amara to do so herself at the end of season 11), these parallels do frame Dean as a particularly dark figure within the story. And as I understand, the Dean as “killer” idea doesn’t resolve at the end of the Mark of Cain arc, as one might expect thematically, but continues on thru to the end of the show.

This thematic consistency makes it harder for me to sort through why the framing of Dean as violent works in earlier seasons but doesn’t feel the same to me in later ones. While this meta is going to be me thinking aloud, so my thoughts may change or shift as I go along, what I’ve come to so far is this: unlike most of the early Kripke seasons, later seasons decontextualize Dean’s violence from the ways he was coerced into violence in both childhood and adulthood, with the attention instead placed on Dean as being an innately violent person.

I want to talk about this idea first as it relates to Dean’s time in Hell and how I see that connection as an important part of the Mark of Cain arc.