#and again. that is highly context reliant

[atalante241]

Batman’s no kill rule works for Batman when Batman is Bruce Wayne because that man’s impulse control is held together by spite. Every single time that he’s gotten superpowers of some sort he’s just become a straight up supervillain. If he started killing people intentionally and with drive his first meeting with the Justice League would be them arresting him and throwing him into supervillain-prison.

[fumifooms]

Rin, smiling, and nagging

Rinsha Fana’s character is summarized in a couple facts thrown here and there. Because she worries for him, she follows Kabru to help his cause and protect him, and to nag him. She’s a grumpy angry tsundere, but it seems not only rooted in her attitude but on a deep rooted physical level, to the point where any intense emotion she feels will make her frown and scowl even if it’s genuine joy. Her childhood was half spent ostracized in the tallman community her family lived in and half with the elves, where she’s said to have been treated like an animal.

We don’t know how she was raised exactly or who it even was, but knowing she was "treated like an animal" by the elves taking care of her…

Elves are shown to have a highly hierarchical society, not only with their concern with status such as nobility and the purity of bloodlines but also reflected by its social culture imo. They have high society and etiquette, upmost devotion to the queen, very role-oriented, like cogs in a machine, and as such, it’s a bit skewed since most of what we see of the elves is in a military context with military people but they seem to value having emotions under lock and key to be efficient and not bring dishonor, Flamela is an interesting character on this. Don’t be a bother and do your job until you’re called on, fulfill your role, everything else is extra at best inconvenient at worst.

Personally I do think the canaries kept Rin, it’d make sense that whichever canaries got stuck with the job at the headquarters would be barebones with her and treat her like an ‘impounded article’, they couldn’t find another place for her and this way they can get her report on the events whenever she can speak again in however many years, and this way it makes sense that she could keep in touch with Kabru too. They’re used to prisoners, not kids. Being raised in a military context rather than at some orphanage would shape her further.

All of this to say…

She’d already seen the world’s harshness to those who don’t conform in her hometown, but with the elves? Her disdain for those who had formal education at a magic school?

Wouldn’t she become very concerned with proving she is not an animal, proving that she’s smart and skilled in her own right on her own merit, even without schooling. And to do this she nitpicks and nitpicks, because even being pristine isn’t enough to be respected, but at least it’s not giving others reasons to disrespect and dehumanize her. Learning to school her emotions, to scowl as a defense mechanism because anything else makes her vulnerable, because they don’t care about her as a person with feelings, because showing other expressions was dangerous or punished in some way: because it was fit in or don’t fit in and that’s the difference between having your house burnt down and being tolerated, between getting her food or having her questions answered and being yelled at to shut up… Because all her life she’s been surviving in hostile social environments and at the mercy of others, but unlike Kabru she doesn’t become a people pleaser but becomes very self-reliant and wary of socializing.

So she nitpicks and nitpicks and nags, because she’s worried. Because flaws are dangerous. So she has a hard time smiling and laughing, because it’s dangerous to allow yourself to feel safe in being authentic.

It would be nice…

Is my red, red enough? I'm waiting for your teeth at my throat. It’s only good manners. -Stephanie Valente 

[witchesofvaliant]

A Cautionary Tale

Normally, we're not one to be deeply involved in online drama of any sort, but we don't tend to enjoy seeing injustice, ignorance, and harm come to others and stand by without saying a word if we can help it. I also don't want hate towards the other party involved, and I don't want anyone to target anyone. This isn't a war, this is a disclaimer and word of caution for anyone who is unaware of this situation.

The context:

I joined a discord server that actually originated through a tumblr blog here @atheneum-of-you (She goes by Poppy and will be referred to as this or as "the owner" the rest of the way) and while I hoped for the best, what I found was a fairly dangerous community in terms of helpol communities that can be found online, and after simply communicating my discontent with the owner over her passive aggressive attitude, and after trying to communicate logic in a mess of chaos, I was publicly made fun of and kicked, with the staff and friends of staff continuously and publicly joking about their actions.

Honestly? I'm not upset at that, I am however concerned about the issues that this incident exposed along with multiple others that we will get to along the rest of this post.

1: Religious Misguidance & Cult Practice

Now the primary issue of all here, so your time isn't wasted by reading this VERY long post.. The owner and the cult mentality surrounding the server. Poppy has established herself as the resident priestess under Hermes, and creating an environment that has shown time and again, that if you are in good graces with her and in agreement with all she says, then all is good, your life and your religious practice and spirit is well and your wellbeing with your deities is in good hands. She claims to be able to speak to the gods to tell others what the gods think of them, and others in the server are ridiculed, ignored, warned, or just outright banned, when disagreeing or simply trying to educate her and others with another perspective on a topic concerning practice and belief. Any ideas offered on protection, cleansing, or even just other ways to practice in having a relationship to the gods are met with ridicule and ignorance, with many members outright refusing to believe or listen to suggestions of cleansing stating that they are not "witches" and do not perform "witchcraft", funny enough, many religions support cleansing as an actual practice (holy water is one example of this). All actions taken by the majority of members, tend to be to crowd around the owner and to act nearly with praise toward her, approving of her every word, and hanging on in desperation for her readings (as just one example). But here, I'd just be going around in circles at this point, so here's an excerpt from this site on the psychology of cults: "Let’s start with a definition of “cult” from the APA Dictionary of Psychology as a baseline:  “n. 1. a religious or quasi-religious group characterized by unusual or atypical beliefs, seclusion from the outside world, and an authoritarian structure. Cults tend to be highly cohesive, well organized, secretive, and hostile to nonmembers.” " - This does coincide with the religious nature of the server and the lack of focus on education on outside topics, instead being reliant on Poppy's word and only her word. "Most cults share some common traits:  

They’re usually led by a charismatic individual whom the members worship without question. 

Cult members often live together in their own dedicated community. " - This does agree with it being led by Poppy, who constantly has shown a kind and good-natured intent, with deep-seated passive aggressiveness when given any form of genuine objection.

"The Psychology of Cults: How They Lure People In and Take Control 

Cults recruit new members anywhere you might expect to meet new people: social media, discussion groups, community clubs, events, and the like. These are typically nonthreatening, public situations that would not cause anyone to be suspicious. Cult recruiters get to know as much as they can about people and identify individuals who may be receptive to meeting a group of the recruiter’s friends at dinner or another social event. Though the chosen targets are generally unaware, these seemingly innocent gestures are the first steps to being drawn into a cult.   Obvious enough, but this speaks to the unknowing people that go into this seeking a kind community within helpol, getting to know the person happens automatically within the server, especially with introductions and so on.

Targeting Vulnerable Prey 

Receptive people are those who are looking to escape something—such as an unhappy life situation—and to belong, be accepted, and find meaning. Cults prey upon the vulnerable among us, such as teenage runaways, drug addicts, abuse survivors, those who have lost someone close to them through death or a breakup, those suffering from insecurity or mental health issues, or anyone who feels disconnected from society.  I myself had done readings for several people within the server, all of them in desperate need of guidance, and many admitting to needing their deities and even Poppy's help as they don't know how to live without either one of the two or both. And again, many in this server are definitely minors as well.

Drawing in Recruits 

Once the potential recruit is in the presence of cult members, typically still oblivious to the group’s agenda, they are showered with love and validation. This tactic, referred to as “love bombing,” makes the recruit believe they’ve found what they’re looking for and more likely to return for group activities in the future. This is critical in the early stages of cult indoctrination since the recruit is not yet under their influence and needs to feel secure.  The love bombing is done primarily by Poppy and the constant drilling that the deities are all telling her that you are definitely on the right path and need to keep going and keep devoting, as well as the seeming constant extreme kindness from Poppy (saying literally they are a "found family"), and after that, there's the many posts of documentation from Poppy literally named "lessons" on how you should practice that you are encouraged to read through (As well as other documentation written throughout the server on how to practice also written by her).

Taking Control  

As they indoctrinate new members, many cults separate them from their families, friends, and jobs, slowly remaking their identities to suit the group. They may force recruits to surrender their money, belongings, and bodies to the cult’s leader and other members. Sometimes they compel new members to marry people they just met. They may use punishment, deprivation, and other tactics to wear them down. These efforts, which sometimes include threats, make new members dependent on and afraid to leave the group. Fully indoctrinated members often engage in behavior they never would’ve considered in their former lives. " Members are encouraged to commit FULLY to the deities and give over their lives to them, there is a culture already established where the members are speaking constantly as if every single little thing in their life is to be devoted to the gods, and as if the gods are responsible for every little aspect of their life. There is a constant "joke" of how you should not push the owner or she'll ban, and I was quite literally told "You should watch how you act with our priestess", which I would say is evidence enough to prove this fact as well.

2: Racism

So, for the record, I am a large mix of cultures and backgrounds just within my immediate family, and within the last two generations of my family. I primarily identify with being Latino from Puerto Rico, but I am also of Indigenous background through my Puerto Rican ancestry (Taino tribe), I have Spaniard in me, Trinidadian and Jamaican, as well as British, and that is what I know of and am closest to. With that said, I go to the BIPOC channel they have in this server, and see several Latinos from various Latin countries, talking about how people from the US, especially Latinos from the US just don't understand how things work outside of the US and aside from making some other crude jokes on this, they start calling us gringos, which for context, can be used as a derogatory word/slur in many uses, meaning someone involved in white American culture or a white person (especially from the US), it was inappropriate, and after bringing it to the owner's attention, she proceeds to ban the word, but still not bring any justice to the people using it after they continued to defend using a slur and using it AS a slur, and she seemed to have needed my help in explaining to her, because she was not a part of the "Latino community" why that word is negative. I would think seeing it being used in negative context would provide the common sense to ban use, but she and other mods did admit not even moderating that chat and many others, so I digress.

3: Minors and Adult Content

This server is not 18+, now that's fine, but when doing so, especially with it being run by a supposed adult, that adult must have measures in place for minors to be safe in an online space, at least when that is a primary concern for you. The server has roles that only go down to 15 y/o, and if the server is restricted to that, there is no way for mods to genuinely tell such a thing as many minors lie about their age, and Discord allows ages as young as 13. Now, again, if you are putting measures in place for them, that's fine, but the NSFW/Adult channel is not truly safeguarded. All one needs to do is have a role for it and boom you're in! Of course, I have seen some "wonderful" adult content casually spoken about outside of that channel anyway, so it isn't as if it truly matters then. Sex-related things, and especially smut fiction is joked and SHOWN casually in several areas of the server.

4: Godspousal

I'm jumping straight into this one because this links with the previous point made in some ways. The channel focused around this is also only blocked by an adult age role, and that's a real shame, as there is no other protection for minors to just go in and start seeing casual talk about godspousal relationships with their "dad". What does that mean? Well, they'll call any close relationship with a deity a godspousal at this point. Familial, sibling-like, romantic, sexual, it doesn't matter, they can all be godspousal relationships. You decide if that sounds screwed up or not, but I don't agree with casual talk of incest.

5: Inappropriate Treatment for LGBT+ & Neurodivergent

Speaking of having used slurs, there are separate chats for neurodivergent and LGBT+ people there, let's start with the neurodivergent channel, where people start using "neurospicy" to joke about neurodivergent terms and to use it jokingly, now at this point, another member had informed people, and myself as I hadn't been aware of this either, that the term above was originally developed as a slur/infantilization towards neurodivergent people, mentioning also that the term "weeb" was also created as a slur towards the Japanese, and the response of all in the chat was to blatantly joke and continue using the words and proceed to ignore the member who was informing others about the issue. Moving on to the newly created LGBT+ channel, after calling it "skittles", they proceed to introduce themselves like they're in an AA group, with their name, and then LGBT+ orientation, you decide if that's a little uncomfortable to act like it's all a game and a trend, saying things like "princess is my gender" by the owner herself, and another member using "transwomen" as a gender because they just feel like it, and to each their own, but as a plural system, and someone not against endogenic systems, that's not what was being talked about, instead this was along the vibe of the latest trend found on tumblr and reddit.

6: Priesthood & A Cycle Created

Now, in this, there are multiple pieces to speak of that are cause for concern. Of course, this is a community centered around a religious community, so this would be the largest part to hold concern over, and while godspousal and cult practice was spoken of above, I want to speak of another major focus of this server: priesthood. The server was created by someone who claims they are a priestess to Hermes, and seeks to motivate many others, including a minor who is completely new to this situation into priesthood for the gods. There are many instances where people with little understanding of what they're even doing, little experience even understanding the gods, and little awareness of who they are even following with barely any time spent following these deities. While I dare not judge others' beliefs, practices, or experience, the true concern is that this is a cycle within the server to motivate or believe you can become a priest/priestess to a deity in no time, and being "training" at which point you must be absolutely devoted, and that the owner, Poppy, must be approving of your relation to the deity (and thus has the power to tell you that you can be a priest/priestess to that deity), but if a reading from her says differently, then you MUST rethink your entire life decisions (But that much was already mentioned in the first section). This cycle of believed intense devotion and living life FOR the deities creates an unhealthy fixation in many who understand no other way to worship or even live, and devote their entire life, health, body, and mind to deities, crediting everything to their deities, at this point, turning what is a non-organized religion into an organized religion reminiscent of strict Christian practices.

Conclusion

With all that said, I genuinely write this wishing that the members of the server will open their minds, think deeply and reflect on the people they are affecting with this. If you want to have a fun community to enjoy each others' company, then make that, but don't turn it into what is a religious community server that looks as if it is meant to teach and preach certain beliefs, even contradicting a supposed want for freedom and openness to all beliefs and religions/practices. I dearly wish the best for those in that server/community in the end, and only seek to educate and as the title says, provide a cautionary tale, especially so the younger audiences involved understand that there is much more out there that is safer and healthier for them than this environment and the ideas that they have been led to believe are healthy for them. All the best to anyone who sees this. <3

[selchwife]

ive talked about this before and it may be kind of negative but ill do it again i don’t care. i like talking about my feelings. under a cut bc it’s unconscionably long but stuff about emetwol in fandom and idk. Internalized homophobia I guess?

beyond not caring for some of the m/f emetwol writing i’ve encountered (depending of course on the individual author and WoL) and finding it regressive or sexist, it does feel kind of like. i don’t know, hurtful isn’t the right word, but it’s unpleasant to me that that sort of writing is much more popular than m/m emetwol because it kind of gets at a weird place for me vis a vis like growing up with homophobia that i think is kind of hard to articulate. (this is specifically about stuff that feels super reliant on very highly codified gender roles to me and the way i feel that that sort of work is exceedingly popular, it’s not about every m/f emetwol ship.)

it’s kind of childish language but there’s a part of me that consistently sees these characters as like, “fairytale princesses,” like their performance of womanhood is unassailable and their claim to beauty is unquestioned, and so Naturally they end up with a desirable man, and like. idk. there is an extra TRANS gay dimension in this for me, I guess. i was very invested in fairytales as a kid myself, but i always felt kind of torn about identifying with these female protagonists who inhabited roles I felt like I couldn’t, and very early on i was consistently frustrated by what looking back i recognize as feeling, like, emasculated by the whole idea. my Stereotypical As Fuck Childhood Fantasy at this point was wearing full body armor and saving a princess and having her assume i was male.

anyway, so obviously i have some friction with the whole Ideal Woman Role, given I’m a trans guy. duh. i think it was tough bc like, on an emotional level even as a child i was aware I was a boy, even if i couldn’t figure out how to express this or that it was possible to say so. and i liked other boys, and because i knew vaguely that being gay was “bad,” i felt discomfort and guilt about it, and like i was doing something wrong by liking other boys. compounded by the issue that THEY did not see ME as Other Boys and made me angry by treating me as a girl. so like, it was hard to know on some level that i wasn’t actually female, and like other guys, and then consistently have other guys only like me or interact with me on the level of like, this sort of socially acceptable female face I had to wear growing up. i could only get close to guys i liked on ANY level, whether as potential romantic partners or as friends, through the Girl Pantomime. but because i was stuck in the whole Girl Act there was this wall between me and other guys, and i could never really entertain getting close to even guys I might’ve otherwise been interested in because i knew like, the only reason they had any interest in me was because they were straight. like particularly with my friend from high school who I went to prom with, who i might’ve liked back if like, it were in a context where he was interested in me as another guy - but he only liked me because he saw me as a girl who shared his interests and a girl who was his friend, so he did not like ME.

i guess what i’m trying to say is that seeing these very very gendered like, “ideal subservient woman x guy you like” depictions be met with TONS of positive feedback and engagement and praise feels like a repetition of that rejection? especially because my own writing for emetwol is not met with nearly the same kind of engagement on The AO3. it feels like another sort of “you can only secure the attention of other men whose companionship or love you want by being a woman, rendering the whole thing entirely pointless because the only way that camaraderie and love will fulfill you is if you’re seen as a man — and this is because men and women interacting under the aegis of these extremely exaggerated gender roles is the ideal, it’s what everyone wants and views as positive, and what would be affirming and healing to you is what everyone else finds distasteful and perverse.” and i know it’s not necessarily that deep, but like, it feels that way! it really does feel that way when you’re repeatedly presented with this like stark Men Are This, Women Are This, Men And Women Interact Like This kind of narrative, and you see that narrative praised over and over again, and when you try to tell your own story nobody listens.

and I get that that’s discounting somewhat the fact that my dear friends DO listen, and you guys listen. i appreciate it a lot. it’s just like, idk, it’s a different feeling to have your friends say “cool fic!” when you show them versus publishing your work on ao3 and having other, new people respond and tell you they liked it and so on. and i also understand that popularity means very little, and that there’s no sin in other people writing things that aren’t to my taste and my taste apparently not being so mainstream.

i think it’s just like, I don’t resent other people for being something that I’m not and enjoying things I don’t. but it’s sometimes very isolating and painful to remember that like, idk, I’ve found connection with other lgbt people online and found a good community and structured my little social world around that and it’s great and wonderful, but that doesn’t change that in the wider world I do not fit in. i’m not what people want me to be and not capable of being that, and the things that are important to me are viewed by others with at best a sort of indifference or “how quaint!” and at worst disgust. and straight people’s relationships, and subsequently writing about straight characters’ relationships, are automatically conferred a greater sense of weight and value. and with emetwol sometimes I feel like an m/f story like this is automatically viewed as a sweeping epic and the love as inherently very deep and real, but with m/m it’s sort of relegated to like, oh how cute that men like him too, or whatever. idk how to articulate it precisely, but the feeling like men’s relationships just aren’t seen as like, as romantic or as Real in comparison. silly slash fans playing with dolls. you know. IDEK how much of that is even true, but it’s how it makes me feel, like “you don’t really belong here, no one wants to hear about your silly little Thing, but we suppose you can sit at the kiddy table with the other gays.”

i think one of the things that makes me maddest in this vein is the fic i read where emet having an attraction to men is included as a throwaway line SOLELY in order to establish that he’s become incurably morally corrupt and debauched. like. Cool

and idk, i don’t want to come across like it’s just “i’m crying homophobia bc nobody reads or talks up my stuff on the fanfictions website :’(“ bc i’m aware Not Getting AO3 Hits is kind of a petty complaint and no one is obligated to read my fic in particular. It just feels like the Environment surrounding the ship unless i specifically track down other m/m shippers or nb/m shippers, so it’s hard to pin to one thing. especially bc the perception by the wider ffxiv fandom is TOTALLY that emetwol is like almost exclusively a straight woman’s pursuit

no real good snappy conclusion to this. i just wish i felt better about it i suppose, and also like i didn’t feel i have to apologize so much for feeling unheard compared to other people. it’s not like i want to demand attention as though I’m entitled to it or something, I guess it’s just demoralizing sometimes to put a lot of my heart into writing for pfeil and emet and feel like no one will want to read it or take it as seriously because they’re gay men

[brightballoons]

Unlocking Potential: Exploring ABA Therapy Services at Bright Balloons Autism Center

Applied Behavior Analysis therapy has emerged as a leading evidence-based approach for supporting individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. At Bright Balloons Autism Center, we are passionate about providing high-quality ABA therapy services that empower children to reach their full potential. This blog delves into the core principles of ABA therapy and how our center can help your child thrive.

What is ABA Therapy?

ABA therapy is a scientifically-based approach that focuses on understanding the relationship between behaviors and their environmental consequences. By systematically analyzing these relationships, therapists can identify and modify behaviors to increase desired skills and decrease challenging behaviors.

Key Principles of ABA Therapy:

Positive Reinforcement: This core principle involves providing rewards or positive consequences immediately following a desired behavior, making it more likely to occur again in the future.

Skill Acquisition: ABA therapy emphasizes teaching essential skills such as communication, social interaction, daily living skills, and academic skills.

Behavior Reduction: ABA therapy also focuses on reducing challenging behaviors that may interfere with learning, social interaction, and daily functioning.

Data-Driven Approach: ABA therapy relies heavily on data collection and analysis to track progress, evaluate the effectiveness of interventions, and make necessary adjustments to the treatment plan.

Benefits of ABA Therapy:

Improved Communication: ABA therapy can enhance both verbal and nonverbal communication skills, enabling children to express their needs and interact more effectively with others.

Enhanced Social Skills: ABA therapy can help children develop crucial social skills, such as initiating conversations, understanding social cues, and building and maintaining friendships.

Increased Independence: By teaching daily living skills, such as self-care, dressing, and hygiene, ABA therapy empowers children to become more independent and self-reliant.

Reduced Challenging Behaviors: ABA therapy can effectively address challenging behaviors, such as tantrums, aggression, and self-injurious behaviors, creating a more positive and supportive learning environment.

Improved Academic Performance: ABA therapy can support academic learning by addressing attention, focus, and learning skills.

ABA Therapy Services at Bright Balloons Autism Center:

At Bright Balloons, we are committed to providing exceptional ABA therapy services that are:

Individualized: We recognize that every child is unique. Our comprehensive assessments help us understand each child's specific needs, strengths, and challenges, allowing us to develop personalized treatment plans that are tailored to their individual goals.

Family-Centered: We believe in a strong partnership with families. We provide ongoing support and guidance to parents, including parent training and education, to ensure consistency and generalization of skills across all environments.

Data-Driven: We meticulously track progress and use data to inform treatment decisions, ensuring that interventions are effective and continuously refined.

Play-Based: We incorporate play-based activities into our ABA therapy sessions, making learning fun and engaging. Play provides opportunities for children to develop social skills, communication skills, and other essential life skills in a natural and motivating context.

Delivered by Highly Qualified Professionals: Our team comprises highly qualified and experienced Board Certified Behavior Analysts and Registered Behavior Technicians who are passionate about supporting children with autism.

Choosing the Right ABA Therapy Provider:

Selecting the right ABA therapy provider is a crucial decision. When making your choice, consider the following factors:

Experience and Qualifications: Look for providers with experienced and qualified professionals, such as BCBAs and RBTs.

Individualized Approach: Ensure that the provider offers personalized treatment plans that are tailored to your child's unique needs.

Family Involvement: Choose a provider that emphasizes family involvement and provides ongoing support to parents.

Data-Driven Approach: Look for providers that utilize data to track progress and make informed decisions.

At Bright Balloons Autism Center, we are dedicated to providing high-quality, compassionate, and effective ABA therapy services. We believe that every child deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential, and we are committed to supporting children 1 with autism and their families on this journey. Thanks For Reading! For More Information Visit us: https://bright-balloons.com You can also connect with us on social media: Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/brightballoons_aba/profilecard/?igsh=eTNscjlncmV2c3Z5 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bright-balloons-inc/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightballoonsaba?mibextid=LQQJ4d

[patkinsel]

Companies with the capacity to innovate are worth 10x & the team you build is more important than the product

I believe deeply that the team and culture you build are more important than the product. Most companies only ever have one idea and even if that idea is wildly successful, they fail to build a culture of innovation. And the music eventually stops. Companies must avoid the trap of rock polishing and evolve to become civil engineers, building toward a vision and laying a foundation for years of innovation and the ability to respond to market changes. Companies with this capacity to innovate are valued 10x. Companies with a customer base plus this ability to innovate become the pillar companies of tomorrow when they can leverage their customer base as a highly efficient channel for their new products.

Think about Microsoft and their ability to keep selling new products to the same customers over and over again.

I have been obsessed with this idea for years and Proof (formerly Notarize) represents that journey. And because of the foundation we’ve laid, we are accelerating. My biggest learning? It’s not about me, it’s entirely about the team - they have to take over - team Proof will innovate for years with or without me.

I share this now because I believe what we’re seeing in this market correction is exactly this dynamic playing out. Companies without a demonstrated ability to innovate and expand their markets are getting crushed. 2023 was the year of put up or shut up - companies either owned a strategic wedge they can expand from with a clear vision to innovate and increase their TAM or they didn't.

And, I think an under-appreciated cause is that many larger and more established companies are suffering from having hired too many professional managers and generalists. Versus a common characteristic of winning companies — their team stays engaged and their early employees rise to leadership roles over time with the full benefit of context and alignment.

I’ll point to HubSpot, the core of their product team is still there, still innovating, still building on a foundation laid years ago as they’ve gone from 1 to many products.

---

I posted this on LinkedIn in June of '23. I believe it even more strongly now.

It's been 7 months since and I've come to appreciate it requires real risk taking. Teams must be willing to disrupt their core products AND also themselves, how they work, and what they focus on. Individuals must be comfortable branching out of their areas of expertise to learn new fields. Discomfort is ubiquitous on innovative teams and it must be celebrated. Wow that's a powerful team when it happens and I'm loving working with the Proof team right now.

I can say this with confidence not only because of my own experience at Proof. So many founders have reached out to me to discuss our transition from Notarize to Proof. So many actually have the big idea that transitions their business from a point solution to a platform, but they just won't take the risk, or their team won't, or their board won't let them.

Also, looking beyond Proof, I'm seeing companies successfully make acquisitions to solve this problem. In truth, a company can fail to innovate and still succeed so long as they can see their position clearly and act strategically. I am not saying Okta can't innovate [I don't know them well enough], but their acquisition of Auth0 is a perfect example of a company leveraging M&A to ensure a pipeline of products they can sell into their base. Again, no comment on Okta, but a company completely reliant on M&A to maintain a product pipeline is not a company I know anything about. Many exist. Look elsewhere for thoughts. We'll keep building.

[1111jenx]

Hey Jenx! If you're up for it can you describe the rising signs but in only short sentences and non-basic like other descriptions?💞they bore me out now:'(

Hey boo!

Ofcourse, I never back down from a challenge HAHAHA Let me try my best! Promise you I won't disappoint youu<3

The Rising signs in short

— a different take ✨

Aries Rising

Knows everything thats happening. Would never say a word unless they really feel called to. Smart but heavily underestimated for how quick-witted their min ds are due to their somewhat laid-back demeanour. Rather have one ride or die friends than a large group of people that don't truly care for them. Lion-hearted. Brave but in the sense that they continually try to do whats "right". Young at heart. Playful demeanour. Intense eyes that stares into your soul. Pretty bubbly and sarcastic when you get to know them better. Lover and fighter.

Taurus Rising

Visual people. Super ambitious. Know how to set boundaries and tend to take the lead unconsciously without others realizing. Adore beauty things in the world. Realistic but also hopeless romantic. Hearts that are so compassionate but can detach so fast if you do them wrong. Charitable people. Always looking to give back to society. Have a lot of people that idolize them. Appear passive and laidback but trust me, they're always in control:)

Gemini Rising

Anxious but humorous. Hopeless romantic and just want something stable and consistent to slow down their minds. Really smart in social context but act oblivious. Subtle but effective people. Hard working and but so much effort in work and in relationships. Need attention and reassurance more than anyone. A lover at heart but comes off very flighty or very scattered. Always feel like they're on the spot in public. People can't help but stare.

Cancer Rising

Realistic than most. Freaks out if they think they can't control that two aspects of life they really care for. Family people but also believes in chosen family. Stubborn and fixed in their belief. Loyal friends, would go to Mars and back for you. Amazing socialite. Affluent people in their community and their voices are usually regarded very highly. Fluent in sarcasm so always felt the need to tone it down sometimes. No filter with their loved ones.

Leo Rising

Warm and very welcoming but will have their moments of shutting down. People think they know them but they actually do not know them that well. Handle stress the best when they're by themselves, being with too much people just make them more anxious. Cheerful and tend to think positively of others but can be very critical with themselves. Make jokes to lighten to situations 24/7. Attract very chaotic people when they're already hella chaotic. Finds protectiveness very sexy. Oversharing 24/7 or literally not talking.

Virgo Rising

Their mother tongue is sarcasm. Will lash out at you if you don't appreciate their honesty. They only say it because they care. Knows everyone but have like 2 people that they seriously trust. Mood-swings wilder than dodo bird. Particular with their surroundings. Can never make them do things they don't want to. Find naivety very adorable. Jokester and always know what to say. Appreciates people opening up to them but they are very self-reliant. Pick themselves up from the ground and can have a lot of regrets deep down.

Libra Rising

Thinks they are either the main character, is the main character. Felt the need to sugarcoating things because you fear others would trauma dump on you again. Appreciate people opening up to them. Friendships that can text one another about every little inconvenience. Do not open up. When they do they only let you know info that can't get back at them because they're very used to people doing them dirty. Breath and attract people like magnets. Seemingly laidback, secretly the smartest in the room.

Scorpio Rising

Not that big on talking when you meet them, enjoy listening to others first. Can be super bubbly and social if you hand them enough shots. Flirty and have a way with their words that make people giggle. Find themselves being with people that are way more intense than them. They enjoy honesty and bluntness. Hate people pleaser to their core but also like when people are mannered.

Sagittarius Rising

Come off as very nurturing without even realizing it. The fun drunk when they allow themselves to let their hair down. Super hard working and have dreams bigger than most. Routine freaks but will run away when emotions come on too strong in relationships. Secretly enjoy romance a lot but would never admit to it. Prefer raw and authentic people. Appreciate emotional and deep people too. Struggles with their own demons but always seek out to help others.

Capricorn Rising

Rarely overshares but when they do they expect you to keep your words. Hate it when people lie to them. Amazing with people and do very well socially. People feel drawn to them without even realizing it. Surrounds themselves with like-minded people. Work-oriented but needs a crazy amount of stimulation. Thinks very logically.

Aquarius Rising

Funny without even realizing they are. Secretly likes clingy and possessive people, this reminds them of home. Don't overshare whatsoever and literally don't share shits unless you have proven yourself worthy. Impulsive more than they look and are big on risk taking. Likes it when people rely on them. Are very scary when they're angry. Explosive and rarely forgets things. Charismatic and people tend to put them on a pedestal. The loneliest hearts are the most beautiful ones.

Pisces Rising

Undoubtedly one of the most interesting people you'll ever meet. Self-sacrificing but will always know that they must value themselves first. Amazing conversationalist and can make anyone open up. Secretive with their business but are very open with their feelings. Needs a lot of clear communication or else they wont be able to process things clearly. Gives second chances often.

— So here are a few things that come to my mind thats not as traditional or basic when talking about the rising signs haha🥳 Let me know if this helps you boo

love,

saint jenx🪐

© 2021 Saintz Jenx All Rights Reserved

[senotsuri]

how would you have written Masquerade’s darkus trial? The show had to keep the spoilers low but it would have interesting to bring up Alice’s past and Masquerade having to deal with that (and not get distracted during the battle)

This one is tricky to answer on account of Masquerade having no obvious flaws to draw from. Instead, I'm going to make the trial a little bit sideways, but it will come back to a flaw.

We're never shown Masquerade's mask in anyone's possession until his reveal, and the flashback of Alice hiding it to wear it, out of sight as possible.

So, hypothetically speaking, must he be worn by Alice?

(This will get stupid long, bear with me.)

A little bit of context before I continue, though. It's my own interpretation that Masquerade is a parasite, not a preexisting trait that got supercharged. This lends itself to the hypothetical trial better than the idea that Alice is cruel and self serving deep down, until Masquerade lets himself out of his Alice shaped hideout. Also it's straight up less interesting than the parasite idea.

Anyhow, the trial revolves around Masquerade's autonomy. Is he stuck to Alice, who he fundamentally disagrees with on her brawling stance, her kindness to his enemies, and how frail she is (though it's highly implied that his attempts to get out are causing her fainting spells). If it weren't for her knowledge on the game, he'd find someone else to latch onto.

He never says Alice by name, and Alice's face is blacked out with scribbles. Hair is blonde, like his, and for additional fogging on who Masquerade's host is, she's wearing her pyjamas, not her day to day clothes.

Regardless, Masquerade's mask is placed down, and picked up by someone else. We'll go in trial order here;

Now would be a good time to mention that I mix up the order between Marucho and Julie constantly when it comes to the trials,

Julie. He's leaning defensive in the sense of using a shield to charge enemies with, and... his strategic knowledge is drastically worse than before. He feels decently free from his shackles, sure, but his in battle performance isn’t up to his typical, strategic standards. He loses a test fight against Exedra, who simply comments that perhaps he should try something closer to what he prefers.

Marucho. His strategics are back in full swing, that’s excellent for him, but he’s not able to get the battle to go in his favour; it’s too slow and reliant on having teams, or, worse, an attribute changer. He doesn’t do these things when he’s on Alice’s face, and doesn’t have attribute changers!! He loses a test fight yet again, and Exedra comments on his lack of team versus his team-based strategy, or at least a strategy based on multiple elements on his side.

Shun. Masquerade feels spiteful joy here, since he failed to recruit Shun early on, around episode 13. He joined Dan to Masq’s face. Strategies aren’t a problem; he made the rules, and plays a high strategy attribute. If Masquerade wanted to be more hands-on intimidating, Shun’s knowledge from Grandpa Kazami’s teachings on how to restrain an enemy (should he encounter someone) can be put to use. It’s just... Shun’s so, so indirect with his brawling. Blow Away is likely a favourite card, and it is aggravating Masquerade, even though he’s still brawling darkus. He wants to be in his enemies’ face to intimidate them into hasty, anxiety driven decisions, and this indirect combat doesn’t let him do that. He wins the third test battle, but Exedra notes his frustrations. His trial isn’t over yet.

Runo. Runo is certainly in her enemies’ face, and while strategically she’s not the best, her more direct brawling is a good change to previous. Of course, Haos is not a trap-based attribute like Ventus and Aquos can be, and is instead a weak mix of Pyrus’ offense, and Subterra’s defense. The best attribute for a newbie. It doesn’t work, Masquerade can’t set traps like he usually would, Runo’s brain just won’t let him, and Exedra notices how his strategies are falling flat.

Dan. Masquerade feels itchy, in the sense that everything feels off. If he was on Dan’s face, then his greatest adversary would neither exist, nor be able to fight him off without having to take turns. Pyrus’ offense is a great thrill ride, but there’s little strategy to work with, pyrus cards aren’t aligned for that, and are mostly direct damage with some shields. Exedra notes that he can fight like that, but he looks... bored. His brain looks unstimulated.

His old posse he tries off screen. Chan, Billy, Julio, Klaus, Komba... The best he gets out of them is Klaus (only he and Chan were able to clear the test), who has his giant collection he can throw to the doom dimension in one go and super charge Naga’s silent core with all the entropy...

No, nothing feels right. He’s placed back on Alice’s face, and he wins the test battle yet again. Exedra asks why he’s so comfortable on that face in specific.

“They’re the weakest link in their group, and the weakest link in me.” he explains, “changing the link is too painful, it doesn’t work... for me.”

“You’ve been distracted by your weakest link being replaced by stronger ones?” Exedra asks. Masquerade bristles.

“They were not stronger. They were...” Masquerade doesn’t want to admit nothing felt right. He wants to be stronger, but he can’t just let go of his weakest link, even with better links who can give him everything his old one did, and more.

He doesn’t outright say what he’s figured out, keeping the spoiler up, but Exedra clearly understands what he thinks. Cut to the end of the fight with Druman and Centorrior. Alice receits it instead (paraphrasedly);

“I am only strong in battle. Outside of that, I am weak. I must strengthen myself outside of battle, or else I am unbalanced and could easily crumble.”

[shihalyfie]

Kizuna itself vs. the two versions of the novel

Written on request from a friend who wanted to remain anonymous. This is more of an editorial than a meta, and while I usually have a policy of “this is an analysis blog, not a review blog” it goes into more of my personal impressions and opinions than usual, but it’s something I write hoping to be helpful.

There are basically three “official” full versions of Kizuna: one being, of course, the movie itself, one being the Dash X Bunko version of the novel, and one being the Shueisha Mirai Bunko version of it. While it’s certainly not to say that any of the three is an “incomplete” version of the narrative, if you really want as full of a picture of the story as possible, somehow, each of all three versions of the story happens to have really important information that the other two do not. If I had to pick only one of these three versions to recommend to people, I would of course pick the movie itself; it’s obviously the base story everything else is based off of and was the one the production centered around as a priority, but the novelizations have a surprising amount of info that provide a lot of insight into the movie’s story and themes.

I get the impression that the creation of Kizuna involved making a lot more story and background details than could fit in a 95-minute movie, so these novelizations, which were based directly off the original movie script, ended up being an outlet for a lot of these details (and as much as I could be harsh on the movie itself for being a bit “reliant” on extra material, I have to admit that Adventure and 02 were both like this too -- a lot of our current understanding of the series comes from the Adventure novels and drama CDs -- so frankly I’m thankful we at least got this with a 95-minute movie instead of a yearlong series). On the flip side, while I'm not going to say that the novels are completely and utterly inaccurate representations of the movie, in a perhaps too-close approximation of Adventure and 02's writing style, this is a movie where even the nuances in a single line or split-second moment carry heavy implications, which become much blurrier or harder to identify when they’re presented differently (or not even presented at all) in the novel’s context, especially when they emphasize very different things from what the movie itself was emphasizing.

The short version of this is that I believe the Dash X version contains the greater amount of “plot and story” information but significantly misses out on the emotional themes and presentation, whereas the Shueisha Mirai version abridges and cuts chunks of content but is much better at conveying the intended message. More on this below the cut. (Note that the following post spoils Kizuna’s plot events.)

The movie itself

Since the following parts are more “in comparison to the movie”, I’m not going to go too much into this in this section, but one thing I will say is that the official English subtitle translation for the movie is really not great. Even if you take out nitpickiness about the fact it misses several significant nuances (the difference between “unchangeable fate” and “changeable destiny”, or the fact that Gennai refers to partnership dissolution as a “case” and not like it’s something that happens overall) at really plot-important moments, some lines (thankfully, usually not plot-important ones) are just straight-up incorrect. And worse, there’s evidence the official English dub was based on that translation! (I’m not faulting the people in charge of the dub for this, but whoever handed them that translation to work with.)

The dialogue in the Dash X Bunko version is transcribed effectively word-for-word from the dialogue in the movie (or perhaps vice versa, given that the novel is based on the original script), so I highly recommend checking that version as a reference for dialogue or if you want to do any intimate analysis on it. I don't want to go as far as to suggest not supporting the official version of the movie because of this, but at least please be aware that the translation used there is not entirely reliable.

Dash X Bunko

If you talk about “the Kizuna novel”, this is the one that people usually tend to be referring to, for two reasons. Firstly, it was translated shortly after the movie’s release, and due to the unfortunate circumstances of Kizuna being delayed in accessibility outside Japan for several months, this basically served as the only comprehensive source of info about the movie outside Japan for a very long time. Secondly, in Japan, this one was marketed as “the one for adults” in contrast to the Shueisha Mirai one being “for kids”, which meant that a lot of people assumed that the latter one was just an incredibly stripped down version that was otherwise disposable or replaceable. (This is very, very much not the case, and is extremely ironic when it comes to a movie that partially centers around the dangers of looking down too much on things associated with childhood.)

When it comes to “plot and story info”, this is the one that probably serves as the best reference (especially for fanfic writers or those who need a refresher on certain plot events or to look up something quickly), and probably has the most “comprehensive” listing of plot events surrounding the movie. The dialogue in it is a word-for-word recreation of the movie’s script, and actually includes more scenes than the movie itself does, including two that I suspect to be deleted scenes (a detailing of the specifics behind the initial plan to pursue Eosmon, and a conversation between Koushirou and Tentomon) and adaptations of the first and second memorial shorts within their context in the movie. It also contains some interesting background details and extra context for some things in the movie that you might think would normally be animation flair or something, but take a very interesting implication of story importance if they’re going out of their way to write this in the script. (There’s a scene where Agumon and Gabumon appear in front of their partners when they’d been behind them a minute before, and it’s easy to think this might be an animation error, but not only does the surrounding context make this unlikely, the novel itself actually directly states that their positions had changed.) Given that, I think it was very fortunate that this novel was available to us for those outside Japan waiting for the actual movie to come out, because this level of detail was very important to have on hand rather than fragmented spoilers on social media.

However, the part where I think the novel is significantly deficient in compared to the actual movie (and also to the other version of the novel) is that it describes the plot events in too blunt of a manner and doesn’t bring out its themes very well. (It’s kind of like having a long and very detailed Wikipedia article plot summary; it definitely got all the hard facts down, but the emotion is gone, which is still a pretty significant issue when media’s all about the feelings and message in the end.) While “considering the movie to be more cynical than it’s probably meant to be” happens regardless of which version someone’s working from, I’ve talked to perhaps an unnervingly high number of people who started with the novel and were absolutely convinced that the movie’s message was about adulthood sucking and needing to just accept it, until they saw how the actual movie pulled it off and the surrounding atmosphere and realized it definitely was not. (I think one really big factor here is that a lot of the visual imagery makes it extremely, extremely hard to miss that Menoa’s mentality is completely screwed up and her way of seeing things was dubious to begin with; prose descriptions really just don’t capture the way they slam this in your face with visual and musical cues during the climax of the movie.)

You can figure this out from the novel itself, but you have to really be looking closely at the way they word things, and on top of that it’s hard to figure out which parts you should be focusing on and which parts aren’t actually that important -- in other words, the “choice of priorities” gets a bit lost in there. Even the little things lose a lot of value; it’s theoretically possible to use the novel to put together that Daisuke is wearing his sunglasses indoors during his first scene, but you have to put together the context clues from completely different paragraphs to figure this out, none of which compares to the actual hilarity of visually seeing him wearing the thing in a very obviously dimly lit restaurant because he’s our beloved idiot. (For more details, please see my post with more elaboration on this and more examples of this kind of thing.)

I wouldn’t say that the movie itself isn’t guilty of (perhaps accidentally) having some degree of mixed messaging, but I would say this problem is rather exacerbated by the novel’s way of presenting it due to its dedication to dropping every single plot detail and event without much in the way of choosing what to contextualize and what to put emphasis on (as it turns out, treating practically everything in the movie as if it has equal weight might not be a great idea). So, again, for that reason I think the novel serves as a good reference in terms of remembering what happened in it and knowing the movie’s contents, but I also feel that it’s really not the greatest deliverer of the movie’s message or themes at all.

Shueisha Mirai Bunko

The second version of the novel was not translated until several months after the movie first released, and shortly before the Blu-ray and streaming versions of the movie itself came out anyway, so my impression is that on this end a lot of people don’t even know it was a thing. On top of that, even those who know about it often dismiss it as the “kid version” -- and to be fair, it did baffle quite a few people as to why this version even exists (Kizuna is technically not unacceptable for kid viewing and its plot is still understandable regardless of age, but since the movie is so heavily about the millennial existential crisis, it’s not something kids would really relate to). So a lot of people tended to just skip over it...which is really a shame, because it contains some interesting things that actually aren’t in the other two versions at all. For instance, did you know that, as of this writing, this is the only thing that plainly states the specific explanation for why Yamato decided to become an astronaut, for the first time in 20 real-life years?

While there are still some things that weren’t in the movie proper (mainly the Eosmon initial plan and the adaptation of the second memorial short), for the most part, the actual events are somewhat abridged compared to the movie and the Dash X version, and other than a few stray lines, there’s not a lot of extra information that would be as helpful for referencing the events of the plot. The version of the novel here is rather broadly interpretive of the scenes in the movie, so several things are condensed or taken out (and, amusingly, because it’s assuming that the kids reading this don’t actually know the original Adventure or 02, it has to describe what each character is like in a quick one-liner).

However, interestingly enough, it’s because it’s so heavily interpretive that it illuminates a lot of things that weren’t really easy to glean out of the Dash X version. For instance:

Some scenes are described with “other perspectives” that give you info on someone else’s point of view. (For instance, we see more of Yamato’s perspective and thoughts when he has his first phone call with Daisuke, or a bit more detail in the process of how Eosmon kidnappings work.)

We get a lot more information on what’s going through everyone’s heads during each scene, and what emotions they’re feeling at a given time. (This is something that you could at least get to some degree in the movie itself from facial expressions and framing, but would often be a lot blurrier in the Dash X version; here, it’s spelled out in words.)

When things are abridged, you get a clearer idea of what the intended point and theme of the scene was because it’s stripped down to include only that part. In one really interesting case, the scene with Agumon finding Taichi’s AVs has a “censored” equivalent where Taichi’s pushed to a corner because he can’t find anything non-alcoholic in his fridge -- so when you look at the two versions of the scene and what they have in common, you can figure out that the point isn’t that it was a lewd joke for the sake of it, but rather that Taichi’s forcing himself into boxes of “adulthood” that are actually meaningless and impractical.

Some of the descriptions of the characters, scenes, and background information make it a lot more obvious as to their purpose in the narrative (it outright confirms that Miyako being in Spain means that her personality is getting overly enabled there).

The scene where the circumstances behind Morphomon’s disappearance are revealed makes it significantly less subtle what the point is. In the actual movie, a lot of this involved visual framing with Menoa seeming to become more and more distant, but in this version of the novel they basically whack you over the head with the final confirmation that Menoa is guilty of neglecting her own partner, which contradicts her own assertions that “they were always together” (maybe not emotionally, it seems!) and helps clarify the commonality between her, Taichi, Yamato, and Sora in what exactly led to their partners disappearing.

Bonus: this version of the novel really wants you to know that the ending of the movie is about Taichi and Yamato fully having the determination to turn things around and lead up to the 02 epilogue. (The movie’s version of this involves the extended version of Taichi’s thesis and the credits photo with Yamato obviously next to a rocket, while this novel’s version involves more detailed fleshing out of how Taichi and Yamato decided to use their experiences to move onto their eventual career paths and what kind of hope they still have at the end. The Dash X version...didn’t really have a very strong equivalent here.)

In other words, while this version of the novel isn’t the greatest reference for plot or worldbuilding, it does a much more effective job being straightforward about the intended themes and message of the movie, and even if the scenes in it are much more loosely adapted, it’s much better at adapting the emotional nuances of the things that would normally be conveyed via visuals, expressions, and voice acting. (Although I would still say that the movie itself is the best reference for that kind of thing, of course.) If you just want lore or plot ideas, I don’t think it’ll help you very much, but since this series is so much about characters that had their ways of thinking fleshed out in such incredible detail, and about strong theme messaging, this is all still very valuable information in its own way.

[bestworstcase]

I like to think if this moonstone crisis wasn't eating up time, Adira and Cass would become good friends

stares at upcoming arc of moonless air well,

kshgkjsdf tbh i'm of two minds on the subject of a cass + adira friendship or mentorship or what have you bc, almost always when i see it popping up in discussions or fanworks it takes the form of... post-series bonding and i gotta say i am. SUPER not about that on account of the whole, mind trap thing. while i don't see adira as the type of person to carry grudges i also absolutely cannot see her being willing to go beyond, like, distant civility with cassandra after the events of s3--this is the lady who put lance in a headlock for touching her without permission and who chose her ideals over her comrades-in-arms and her king over and over again. her free will, independence, ability to think for herself, and her boundaries are all things she clearly values very highly, and cass--whom she never had any sort of relationship with or strong positive feelings for--robbed her of all of those things.

i'm sure adira could work through whatever bad feelings she has about that. i'm sure she could make her peace with what happened to her and move on. i think she could forgive cassandra if she wanted to. but i don't think she'd do the--oh, water under the bridge, let bygones be bygones, sure i'll train you how to be a better warrior, thing that she often gets pigeonholed into in this sort of cass-and-adira-encounter-each-other-post-series discussion or fanworks. it just feels like theres this... pervading disregard for adira's feelings or opinions about what happened to her or what she wants or like, her personhood and it really puts me off; i am not a fan as adira the useful prop for cassandra's journey to self-actualization.

but

on the other hand

outside of the boundaries of canon compliance

such as for example moonless air,

i feel like under different circumstances cass and adira really could bond because... i mean, they're both strong-willed, outspoken warriors who value their independence and boundaries kjghsdfkj they're really quite similar! and in a scenario where cass isn't drowning in insecurity and suspicion--again, like bitter snow, where cass 1. isn't solely reliant on rapunzel for emotional support and 2. was introduced to adira in the wildly different context of adira fighting to defend everyone at janus point and then revealing quite a bit more of her backstory right off the bat than she does in canon, with the result that cass has zero reason to doubt her intentions and zero reason to see herself as being in competition with adira for anything--then i think cass would end up really looking up to her? in a lot of ways adira is who cass wants to be; she's strong and independent and respected and comfortable in herself and absent the cocktail of self-doubt and distrust that inhibited cass from getting close to her in canon, like, why wouldn't cass end up being a bit starry-eyed about her, in the same way she was a bit starry-eyed about the queen of ingvarr or her warrior daughters?

[stellocchia]

c!Dream dethroned c!George w/o consulting him, claimed it was bc he cared about him, admitted that was sugarcoating it, & when George was talking w/ BBH, Quackity, & Sapnap about their next move, c!Dream & co try to kill them all. Dream claimed he randomly made George king, but there had been a line of succession decided back in the day (which Dream states when making George king) & George was next after Eret. If Dream dethroned George someone else was next in line, not Eret. (part 1/2)

Like you said, c!Dream was later willing to take their lives again when they were in the holy land. He didn't originally even ask for their side of things, just immediately assumed their guilt & went with the nuclear option. (I felt like the ccs were trying to make an interesting storyline & cc!Dream signed on & just squashed it, like they were willing to give up one of c!Karl's lives for it & then they all just decided it didn't count). c!Dream is controlling, destructive & gaslights (part 2/2)

-

Okay... wow, this was a lot...

Let's go point by point and feel free to correct me if I misinterpret anything!

I think people should remember that, back during the independence war, Dream had, in fact, promised George kingship as you pointed out (if nothing else because it was a line in Sad-ist's animatic as well) so, as you said, it wasn't really a decision taken at random. I do think that more than that, the reason he went for George was that he was pretty strictly affiliated with Dream and didn't do much, so he seemed like a perfect pawn for the time being for what Dream needed.

Things changed though and having the king be so closely affiliated with him risked making the local anarchist suspicious for one thing and generally make people more aware of the power he had for another. Eret was, at that point, more suited for Dream's needs.

That said it's not like "someone else was next in line" because there wasn't a succession line. The kingship was always only a facade to distract from Dream's control. Dream is the one who gets to decide which puppet of his to put up there (and if anyone needs any more confirmation of this there was a very chilling dialogue between Eret and Dream pre-Pogtopia vs Manburg war that I highly suggest).

Now, the El Rapids conflict is a bit more complicated because... well... the El Rapids crew was guilty. They did stage an attack trying to get the kingship back from Eret. They're the ones who were willing to sacrifice one of Karl's lives. Of course, this didn't make hunting them down and trying to kill them any better, but they started it with what was basically an act of war and they expected the consequences (Quackity especially, who was leading, did it with the explicit purpose of provoking the other party).

Is it still sh*tty of c!Dream to do something like that to his friends and does it still prove that he really didn't care? Yeah. But it's far from being entirely a black and white situation.

Also, I feel like this whole part right here:

(I felt like the ccs were trying to make an interesting storyline & cc!Dream signed on & just squashed it, like they were willing to give up one of c!Karl's lives for it & then they all just decided it didn't count)

Is just very wrong. While I'm 100% in favour of criticizing the writing when it's warranted, these people are all friends. I really REALLY doubt that they didn't want cc!Dream there. Especially because the storyline was HEAVILY reliant on him being there. And, I mean, him being involved it's what made it interesting.

The reason why it, later on, fell flat was that it was never explored further. Let's not conflate criticism of the character with hate for the content creators here, please.

Also while c!Dream is indeed controlling and destructive, I think the term you meant to use there was "manipulative". Gaslighting is a manipulation tactic that c!Dream has used, don't get me wrong here, but I'm pretty sure it applies only in the context of his relationship with c!Tommy.

[runawaymun]

For the WIP ask game: 2, 13 & 15

WIP ask meme

2: Post a line from your WIP with no context. (can I cheat and give you two? They’re small)

Elrond swallowed and stayed behind the threshold, asking through osanwë, how is she?

Arwen’s answer was slow, measured, and furious at him. (How do you think, Ada?)

13: Your characters are stranded on a deserted island. What happens?

Maglor is having the time of his life. Cel is sunbathing. Elrond is simultaneously trying to build a boat, complaining that no one is helping him (until Arwen does), and also trying to make sure he keeps track of everyone at all times. Elladan and Elrohir fish and make sure everyone’s fed. The two baby kiddos build sandcastles (with Maglor’s suggestions on how to improve them).

It turns out to be a pleasant day trip (minus Elrond’s anxiety). 

15: Do you know your characters’ MBTI personalities?

I don’t, actually, I have spent a LOT of time thinking about their enneagram types, though. I’ll give you Elrond, Cel,  Elrían, and Thal. Under the cut for an essay length answer. 

Elrond: Type Two, The Helper 

People are drawn to them like bees to honey. Healthy Twos warm others in the glow of their hearts. They enliven others with their appreciation and attention, helping people to see positive qualities in themselves that they had not previously recognized. In short, healthy Twos are the embodiment of “the good parent” that everyone wishes they had: someone who sees them as they are, understands them with immense compassion, helps and encourages with infinite patience, and is always willing to lend a hand—while knowing precisely how and when to let go. 

I think Sleeping At Last put it best in his song Two, which he wrote for his Enneagram series. This entire song just screams Elrond so much that I actually sob while listening to it tbh. 

Sweetheart, you look a little tired / When did you last eat? / Come in and make yourself right at home / Stay as long as you need

Tell me, is something wrong? / If something's wrong, you can count on me You know I'll take my heart clean apart if it helps yours beat

It's okay if you can't find the words / Let me take your coat / And this weight off of your shoulders

Like a force to be reckoned with / A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss / I will love you with every single thing I have / Like a tidal wave, I'll make a mess / Or calm waters, if that serves you best / I will love you without any strings attached

It's okay if you can't catch your breath You can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest

And what a privilege it is to love / A great honour to hold you up

-

Celebrían: Type Four, The Individualist

Profoundly creative, expressing the personal and the universal, possibly in a work of art. Inspired, self-renewing and regenerating: able to transform all their experiences into something valuable: self-creative.  Self-aware, introspective, on the "search for self," aware of feelings and inner impulses. Sensitive and intuitive both to self and others: gentle, tactful, compassionate.  Highly personal, individualistic, "true to self." Self-revealing, emotionally honest, humane. Ironic view of self and life: can be serious and funny, vulnerable and emotionally strong.

And again, Sleeping At Last with description lyrics from Four, which make me sob: 

Flashlight in hand determined to find / Authenticity, only poetry could even begin to try to describe / Bodies fashioned out of dirt and dust / For a moment we get to be glorious 

Get to be glorious / Get to be glorious

What if we already are / Who we've been dying to become / In certain light I can plainly see / A reflection of magnificence / Hidden in you / Maybe, even in me

-

 Elrían: Type Six, The Loyalist

The committed, security-oriented type. Sixes are reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. At their Best: internally stable and self-reliant, courageously championing themselves and others.

Sixes are the most loyal to their friends and to their beliefs. They will “go down with the ship” and hang on to relationships of all kinds far longer than most other types. Sixes are also loyal to ideas, systems, and beliefs—even to the belief that all ideas or authorities should be questioned or defied. Indeed, not all Sixes go along with the “status quo”: their beliefs may be rebellious and anti-authoritarian, even revolutionary. In any case, they will typically fight for their beliefs more fiercely than they will fight for themselves, and they will defend their community or family more tenaciously than they will defend themselves.

The reason Sixes are so loyal to others is that they do not want to be abandoned and left without support—their Basic Fear. Thus, the central issue for type Six is a failure of self-confidence. 

Sleeping At Last is at it again, with his song Six: 

Oh, God, I'm so tired / Of being afraid 

What would it feel like / To put this baggage down? / If I'm being honest / I'm not sure I'd know how 

I want to take shelter, but I'm ready, ready to fight /  Somewhere in the middle, I feel a little paralysed / Maybe I'm stronger / Than I realize

I want to believe / No, I choose to believe / That I was made to become / A sanctuary

Fear won't go away / But I can keep it at bay / These invisible walls / Just might keep us safe

With a vigilant heart / I'll push into the dark / And I'll learn to breathe deep / And make peace with the stars 

Is it courage or faith / To show up every day? / To trust that there will be light /  Always waiting behind / Even the darkest of nights / No matter what

Somehow we'll be okay Don't be afraid

-

Thalionel: Type Nine, The Peacemaker

Nines are either in touch with their instinctive qualities and have tremendous elemental power and personal magnetism, or they are cut off from their instinctual strengths and can be disengaged and remote, even lightweight.

We have sometimes called the Nine the crown of the Enneagram because it is at the top of the symbol and because it seems to include the whole of it. Nines can have the strength of Eights, the sense of fun and adventure of Sevens, the dutifulness of Sixes, the intellectualism of Fives, the creativity of Fours, the attractiveness of Threes, the generosity of Twos, and the idealism of Ones. However, what they generally do not have is a sense of really inhabiting themselves—a strong sense of their own identity.

Ironically, therefore, the only type the Nine is not like is the Nine itself. Being a separate self, an individual who must assert herself against others, is terrifying to Nines. They would rather melt into someone else or quietly follow their idyllic daydreams.

One last set of Sleeping at Last lyrics, from Nine: 

Who am I / To say what any of this means? / I have been sleepwalking Since I was fourteen / Now as I write my song / I retrace my steps / Honestly, it's easier / To let myself forget

Still, I check my vital signs / Choked up, I realize / I've been less than half myself / For more than half my life

It looks like empathy / To understand all sides / But I'm just trying to find myself / Through someone else's eyes / So show me what to do / To restart this heart of mine / How do I forgive myself / For losing so much time?

Wake up / Roll up your sleeves / There's a chain reaction / In your heart / Muscle memory / Remembering who you are

Stand up / And fall in love again and again and again / Wage war on gravity / There's so much / Worth fighting for / You'll see

We were born to try / To see each other through / To know and love ourselves and others well / Is the most difficult and meaningful / Work we'll ever do

-

Thanks now I’m crying about all of my characters. 

Immense kudos if you read this whole essay. 

[allisondraste]

on writing kiddos

Hi, hello there, it’s me again back with the first bit of meta in a really long time. I’ve been incredibly distracted with school as well as my longfic, which was actually the inspiration for this post.  Just to provide some context, I write a story that spans the lives of my two protagonists from the time they are young children, all the way to their mid twenties, highlighting pivotal moments in their childhood that have had some lasting impact on their present day selves, and as such, I have spent quite a lot of time writing from the perspective of precocious kids and moody teens.  

Fortunately, I love kids, and I’ve had years of experience in both being a big sister and working professionally with kids as both a childcare worker and a therapist.  I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time around kiddos and learn the inner workings of their amazing, rapidly developing brains, and so I’m here to share some of the things I’ve learned AND how it can be applied in a writing situation.  I know that lots of people have apprehensions when writing kids, and so I hope that my anecdotal tips will be helpful to someone out there.

I’ll drop the rest behind a handy dandy read more to spare your all’s feeds. ;D

Age and Cognitive Development

When we write adult characters, part of getting their characterization pinned down is understanding how they think, and the same thing applies to kiddos! Cognitive and socio-emotional development are long-researched topics, so there are a multitude of varying theories, and it can be quite complex to break down into neat categories that apply to all kids.  In fact, all kids develop at different rates, despite following the same general trajectory.

Generally speaking, children start out understanding the world primarily through their senses, reflexes, and movements (interactions with the environment), and end with a fairly complex system of abstraction and understanding of hypotheticals.  (Note that these development ranges are based upon those who are neurotypical and neurodiverse characters would not necessarily have the same markers, so if anyone has any specific tips for writing neurodiverse kids and would like to chime in, please feel free to do so!)

0-2 years - highly sensory/motor based, lots of reflexes; learn the difference between self and environment and differences between objects.  Emotions develop more rapidly, beginning with anger, disgust, fear, surprise, happiness, and gradually developing more and more complicated feelings.  Even at 2 years old, they are likely to not have a solid grasp on labeling the ways they are feeling, and things are mostly behavioral and reflexive. 

2-7 years - children begin to understand symbols and develop language, beginning with the basics and progressing to fairly complex thoughts.  Children between these ages think in a very concrete fashion and are highly reliant upon objects, but they do begin to pretend and roleplay. Children around these ages are egocentric and usually struggle to take the perspective of others. However, they begin to develop the ability to identify and express their feelings and thoughts simply, but struggle to understand the thoughts and feelings of others. 

Mommy had a scrunched up face when she looked a the mess in the house. Billy didn’t really know why her face did that sometimes. (approx 4ish)

7 - 11(ish) - Development of perspective-taking and concrete problem-solving. Thoughts gradually become more complex and holistic, though children at this stage of development take things literally, and at face-value. They typically can understand their own feelings and infer the feelings of others from facial expressions, body language, etc., although they may be inaccurate in their assumptions. 

Mommy’s face scrunched up when she looked at the mess Billy made in the floor.  It was the same face she made when Daddy didn’t take his shoes off before stepping on the carpet.  It usually meant mommy was annoyed  (Approx. 7-8)

Mom’s face wrinkled when she looked at the mess Billy had left in the floor.  He began to pick his things up so she wouldn’t fuss at him. (Approx 10 or 11)

11+ - The ability to think in the abstract and understand hypotheticals begins to develop around age 11, however, it’s different for everyone.  Children and teens usually start to have rather complex thoughts and make inferences based on subtle cues.  They’re able to manipulate information mentally and come to develop their own opinions and conclusions. 

Billy’s mother wasn’t even home yet, and he could already see the look on her face she would have when she saw the mess on the floor.  He hurredly began to scrub the stain from the rug.  He was going to be in so much trouble. He knew it.  

Teenagerdom - Most teens have all the complex thoughts and emotions that adults have, but often have less experience and/or ability to cope with and regulate those thoughts and feelings. Many teens are stuck in this place of being expected to behave in an adult way, while still being treated as a child.  It’s a rough time.  Not to mention, teenagers experience a re-emergence of  egocentrism that takes the form of “Everyone is watching and judging me all the time,” and also “Nobody has ever experienced what I am experiencing and if they have experienced it, then they haven’t experienced it to this degree.”  That all settles down with cognitive maturation and experiences; however, the experiences of teenagers often extend well into the 20s. 

Examining the mess on the floor, Billy knew that his mother was going to kill him.  Murder.  She’d chew him up and spit him back out, never to see the light of day again.  It was the end.  Unless of course he could scrub the stubborn stain from the rug.  This had to be the worst thing that could have possibly happened. 

Personal Experience and Intelligence

As I mentioned above, those age ranges are broad, general “this is sort of what should be happening when,” but they’re more guidelines rather than hard and fast rules.  When writing children, it is helpful to consider the personal experiences a child has had in their lives up to that point as well as their intelligence.  Those are not the measure of a person (even a little one), but they make a huge difference in the rate at which a child matures and interacts with the world.  Generally kids who have more difficult upbringings and those who end up parenting themselves and/or caring for siblings, often seem older than they really are, particularly in regard to their behavior. 

Just to provide some examples for reference, the children that I write in my story are mostly nobles who have relatively comfortable, safe, and happy childhoods.  My Cousland, Liss, is generally a carefree, impulsive, emotional, messy, privileged child, and so I modeled her development more closely in line with the “guidelines.”  Nathaniel is also a noble, but he’s more thoughtful, and has kind of been placed into a parental role in that his dad is emotionally abusive at the very least, and after his mother dies, he is the rock that his siblings stand on, and at that point in time, he is only 10.  He has to grow up a lot faster than he may have had to otherwise. As a very strong counterpoint, there are other characters who do not have any environmental privileges during their childhood.  A very good portrayal of this sort of thing is this comparison of Isabela and Hawke’s respective upbringings.

Both intelligence and life experiences can lead to a quicker rate of cognitive development and maturation in some cases, that does not mean that they are “grown up” or in anyway done developing.  Even the brightest kids, even the kids who have faced unbelievable adversity are still kids and they often still experience impulsivity, emotion dysregulation, and other things that one might not see in adults with the same experiences.  Furthermore, some kids may not even experience advanced development, instead regressing from the lack of social support and modeling from attachment figures. 

Basically, nothing is hard and fast. 

Personality

The next thing I wanted to touch upon is personality.  I think there is a tendency to portray all kids as Standard Kids (which I have endearingly coined Standard Kid Syndrome).  It is all well and good if the intention is just to show a Standard Kid; however, if you really want to dig deep into a character, into who that child is, it’s so important to consider personality traits.  From birth, children have dispositions, and as they grow and learn more about themselves and the world, those dispositions become personality.  Personality traits should shine through very early on!  Kids can be open to experience or rigid and anxious, they can be introverted or extroverted, they can be impulsive or restrained, they can be aggressive, meek, funny, serious, meticulous, silly, cool, gruff, grumpy, snarky, sassy, nerdy, quirky, shy, friendly, withdrawn, and so on and so forth.  Children are new humans; they are not incomplete humans. 

The Kid Voice

When writing from the point of view of a child, all of the things discussed above factor into word choice.  Just like writing adult characters, the way a kid talks in dialogue, or narrates even, is influenced by a blend of so many different things.  Young kids’ descriptions are going to have simpler sentence structures and words.  They may introspect less and observe more.  They may express themselves through their bodies and actions more.  They may have trouble describing what they’re feeling, or understanding what they’re seeing.  Teens may describe things more dramatically and intensely than similar adults would.  They may not.  What is important is considering the mix of traits and experiences they have in relation to cognitive development.  It’s really no different from writing any other character.  It just takes research and planning to get in The Zone.

TL;DR

- Understanding how kids think is a good starting point to writing kids

- Personal experiences, intelligence, and the interaction of qualities can influence how a child thinks in a multitude of ways

- Kids have personalities!  They’re not blank slates that have yet to be filled.  They are whole people, and it’s good to give proper care to show those unique, wonderful little minds that they have

- It’s not so much different than writing adults! It just takes some time spent looking through a different lens!

- This is not a comprehensive reference by any means, so please feel free to chime in!

[dizzydaisygettinglazy]

I think a lot of this falls into the realm of headcanon and fan fiction, but how drastically would Mewtwo's character change if Amber/Aitwo survived the cloning process along side him? And in another hypothetical, how do you think she'd react if she knew he was the one who killed her father (assuming he died) if she still ended up dying but came back somehow either as a clone or a spirit?

Hi Anon! Apologies for taking so long to answer your question! I’m a sucker for ‘what if’ scenarios, and you’ve laid out some really interesting ones! I'll do my best to address them all. Here we go--

Hypothetical #1: Ambertwo/Aitwo survives the cloning process alongside Mewtwo. How would Mewtwo’s character change?

First and foremost, I think we’d see a big difference in his personality. Recall how Amber/Ai teaches Mewtwo about the world before he is even born, and he bonds to her quickly. If Mewtwo maintains his psychic bond with her as he matures in his containment tube, I imagine that he is kinder, more understanding, more emotionally secure with himself and the world around him, as Amber continues her role as his confidante and friend. Though it’s worth noting that Mewtwo is still destined to go to Team Rocket when he matures, and if Amber survives the cloning process, she may add a wrinkle in Giovanni’s plans. Dr. Fuji may still hand Mewtwo over to Team Rocket, but I can see Mewtwo still rebelling against them, though this time without an eye towards vengeance against the world. I imagine Mewtwo under Amber’s influence never agreeing with Giovanni’s worldview or his organization’s crimes.

On the other hand, Fuji may not want to give Mewtwo up to Team Rocket when he realizes how Amber and Mewtwo have bonded. In either of these scenarios, I imagine Mewtwo growing up to be highly loyal to Amber, still having a slight temper (though nothing compared to what we see in Mewtwo Strikes Back), he is confident in himself but not overly arrogant, and he is always on the side of the oppressed. The one downside I can see is him being slightly too reliant on Amber.

Hypothetical #2: The events transpire as in canon--Ambertwo dies prematurely, Mewtwo blows up the lab, etc.--but one day Mewtwo meets her again. How would she react to Mewtwo if she knew he had killed her father?

I think the answer to this really depends on the context of their meeting, as you’ve laid out. If Mewtwo somehow interacts with Amber’s spirit, I imagine her being very understanding and not blaming him for the death of her father. As it is, she and her father are joined on the ‘other side’, and I like to think she’s been watching Mewtwo throughout his trials and tribulations. She gets it.

In another scenario, if Amber is eventually cloned again and they meet, she may have mixed feelings. I think this also depends on whether or not she retains her old memories and what her age is. If she’s cloned again as a child and retains some memories, I imagine her being sad that her father is gone, but glad that her friend is OK. She may be fine with it until she’s older and fully grasps what happened, that Mewtwo killed her father in a fit of rage. I can also see her coming to understand that her father did unethical things and that her friend had been put in a compromising position.

If she’s cloned again and does not retain her old memories of her father or Mewtwo, Amber might reject them both, particularly if she’s older. I can see this happening if Mewtwo starts treating her as if she’s the same person he knew as a child. Ironically, this would be the same way that the scientists treated him, as simply Mew the Second. An older Amber might also resent being nothing but Ambertwo’s shadow, if you will. I can see her also disagreeing with her father’s actions in this scenario.

Finally, if Amber is cloned again, she doesn’t retain her memories, and she’s a child, perhaps Mewtwo finds a way to raise her himself. I can see him keeping the morbid details about what happened to her father and what Mewtwo did on New Island away from her until she’s older, or she finds out herself.  In this scenario, I imagine her having mixed feelings or being outright angry with him when she finds out, especially if she’s developed similar personality traits to Mewtwo through his raising her. 

It’s so much fun to think through ‘what if’ situations with Amber and Mewtwo’s story. Admittedly, it can be difficult for me to suss out how Amber would react in each hypothetical, since we don’t really get a three-dimensional view of her personality in her brief screen time and radio time. She is kind, generous, and oddly mature for a four-year-old. But we don’t know her quirks, her dislikes, what makes her mad, how she acts around her parents, what she would have been like as a young or fully-grown adult, etc. Then again, that’s half the fun of coming up with this stuff--you get to make it up yourself!

Thank you for the super fun question, Anon! Never worry if something sounds like fanfiction or headcanon, it’s all totally valid. I’d love to hear y’all’s ideas. What do you imagine would happen in any of these scenarios?

[comparatist]

Sabitribai Phule: The First Dalit Woman To Be A Teacher

Savitribai Phule, was the first Dalit woman to be the pioneer of spreading education among the impoverished section of the society by working day and night, firmly sticking to resolution of making academia inclusive. She always raised her voice against unfair segregational terms of the society. During her time, education was reserved for the dominant caste, class and gender but then, she was brave enough to breakthrough the notions of dominant hegemony and was hell bent to provide for the oppressed communities.

• Personal Life:

Born in 3rd January, 1831, in Naigaon, 50 KM from Pune, Savitribai was the eldest daughter of Lakshmi and Khandoji Neveshe Patil. She got married to Jyotirao Phule at the age of 10 in 1840. The couple started living in a Dalit working locality. Jyotirao took interest in educating his wife and trained her to become a teacher. Shakharam Yashwant Paranjpe and Keshav Shivam Bhavalkar (Joshi), his two associates took the further responsibility of helping in the progress of Savitribai's education. She went through the formal teacher’s training at Ms. Farar's Institute in Ahmadnagar and Normal School of Ms Mitchell in Pune.

A Voice Of Dissent Ensuring Social Justice:

Savitribai was the first person in the country to become a teacher and headmistress as a woman. The couple started their first female school and set up a Native Library in 1863. They also built a ‘home' in their own house, which was a safe haven for tortured widows and pregnant women, meant for the prevention of infanticide. Together they established the Satyashodhak Samaj which preached of marriage devoid of dowry and extravaganza, supporting widow remarriage and protesting against child marriage alongside. Savitribai and Jyotirao had no child of their own, so they adopted the child of a brahmin widow, educated him, and arranged an inter-caste marriage for him.

Their constant resistance against the brahminical hegemony was a ray of hope for the Shudra and Atishudra women. She started a school for Mangs and Mahads but then a lightening struck their fortune when Jyotirao's father threw them out while the training was going on. Govande immediately arrived Pune and took the responsibility of Savitribai. When she returned, Bhavalkar looked after her education requirements. Throughout the training process, the couple encouraged vocational and the practical form of learning for both sexes, so that the students can flourish their own independent thought process. The believed in the attachment of an industrial educational sector along with the school so the children can learn useful trades and acquire craftsmanship to lead a comfortable life. Education should provide the agency of free choice, they preached. The school they created had special zones for children’s creative freedom. The planning and their dedication sprouted shoots of success when the parents of girls studying there, complained about the ‘overindulgence' of their daughters in studies.

• A Staunch Personality Overthrowing Obstacles : She was one of the flagbearers of gender justice during that time. Women weren’t allowed to access education then. She went forth against the normalised patriarchal set up enough, to make men wait for her in street, passing lewd comments, pelting stones or cow dung at her. She always kept 2 saris with her and change into the cleaned one after reaching the school, which would again get soiled on her way back. This happened everyday but she refused to back down. The guard who was appointed for a safety had in his memoirs written about what she would say to those men who teased her for making education available for women, “As I do the sacred task of teaching my fellow sisters, the stones or cow dung that he threw seemed like flowers to me. May God bless you!”

In July 1887, when Jyotirao suffered from massive heart attack and got paralysed from his right side, she nursed him from dawn to dusk and was always by his side. Her intense support made him recover quickly. However the financial system of the family was in tatters by that time. Mama Paramanand, a well known political sage and a well wisher tried to help them the most. In the letter to the King of Baroda, Sayajirao Gaekwad, Paramanand mentioned the historical ground breaking work the couple was doing and said the following about Savitribai, “More than Jyotirao, his wife deserves praise. No matter how much we praise her, it would not be enough. How can one describe her stature? She cooperated with her husband completely and along with him, faced all the trials and tribulations that came their way. It is difficult to find such a sacrificing woman even among the highly educated woman from the upper castes.” The couple had literally spent their whole time working for the marginalised sections.

Students living in their hostel had praises for the couple for their contributions. Laxman Karadi Jaaya from Mumbai said, “I have not seen another woman as kind and loving as Savitribai. She gave us more love than a mother could.” Another student named Mahadu Sahadu Waghole wrote, “Savitribai was very generous and her heart was full of kindness. She would be very compassionate to the poor and needy. She would constantly give the gift of food, she would offer everyone meals. If she saw torn clothes on the body of poor women, she would give them saris from her own house. Tatya(Jyotirao) would sometimes say to her, “One should not spend so much.” To this she would smile and ask, “What do we have to take with us when we die?” Tatya would sit quietly for some time after this as he had no response to the question. They loved each other immensely.”

When Jyotirao passed away, she was present there. As municipality had refused the burial of his body with salt as he wished, the last rites were performed in the pyre. Savitribai had courageously approached for the earthen pot to be held, then, and consigned his body to the flames. It was the first time in the Indian history, that a woman performed the funeral rites. Savitribai later erected ‘Tulsi Vrindavan' with his ashes on the spot where he wanted to be buried. After his demise, she took the reins of Satyashodhak movement in her own hands and was the chairperson of the Satyashodhak Conference in 1893 at Saswad, Pune.

• Her writings:

Poems that she had pinned down, along with other forms of creative outlets, are full of anti caste hegemony sentiments and provide boost towards harbouring a thought of attaining a gender equal society. Her works continued to be an inspiration to many, not only in the present time, bearing the reflection of struggles of past, but in the near future too.

The list of her writings is presented here:-

1. Kavyaphule- Collection of Poems, 1854

2. Jyotirao’s speeches, Edited by Savitribai Phule, 25th December 1856

3. Savitribai's letters to Jyotirao

4. Speeches of Matoshree Savitribai, 1892

5. Bavankashi Subodh Ratnakar, 1892

• Death: The year was 1897. The plague had overtaken the city of Pune. People were dying in clouts. The Government assisted by the officer Rand went out for helping the needy. Savitribai with the help of Yashwant set up a hospital and would herself go to pick up people, hospitalise them and ensure treatment. She continued to serve selflessly in spite of being fully aware of the contagious nature of the disease. The son of Pandurang Babaji Gaekwad from the Mahad community was affected by the plague. As soon as the news reached her ears, she wasted no time, to rush him to the hospital, carrying the sick child on her back. This way the disease reached her too. On 10th March, 1897 she passed away at 9 PM.

• Teacher's Day:

Go, get education

Be self-reliant, be industrious

Work-gather wisdom and riches,

All gets lost without knowledge

We become animal without wisdom,

Sit idle no more, go, get education

End misery of the oppressed and forsaken

You've got a golden chance to learn

So learn and break the chains of caste

Throw away Brahman's scriptures fast.

Since 1962, 5th September is regarded to be the Teacher's Day and calls for apparently an unanimous celebration on the birth anniversary of independent India’s 1st Vice President and 2nd President, Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. The popular understanding of teachers, educators and gurus has been moulded by upper caste brains and has been always represented through the upper class and patriarchal lenses in the form of Dronacharya, Manu etc. The ‘meritorious' men shaping the history with their social-political and economical dominance over the forsaked is just a version of excluding the contribution of the marginalised and emphasising on the insurance of the right to education for the privileged only.

For a counter, a section of people are already speaking up against such dire injustice and celebrating Teacher’s Day on January 3rd as Education day or National Teacher’s Day, on the birth anniversary of Savitribai Phule.

Our academia, nation has disregarded her works in the context of societal upliftment, to a great extent, by erasing her contributions from history books, nationalistic discourses and our memory. Her resistive stamina against brutalities performed upon the non-dominant sections is a stain in the brahmin dominated and appropriated knowledge system in India.

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 21: MJ is more vulnerable than Spider-Man

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

Last time I dissected notable times where MJ had to defend her self and others. That dissection defined the limitations in MJ’s abilities to fend off assailants. This time we are going to take a brief tangent and hold Spider-Man himself to similar scrutiny.

At first glance, a counter to part 20’s conclusions are that a double standard is in play between MJ and Spider-Man

How many times has luck saved him?

How many times has arming himself or exploiting a resource meant the difference between life and death?

How many times has he  gone up against superior numbers or needed help to save the day? Heck, sometimes it’s MJ herself who helped save Peter’s life.

The problem though is that this comparison is kinda…disingenuous..

The key reason lies in the difference between Mary Jane and Peter’s comparative skills, abilities and experiences.

Spider-Man possesses…

natural abilities

reliable access to equipment and resources

years of experience

…that give him natural advantages over any non-powered civilian in dangerous situations.

He is physically more powerful than any normal human being. 

It’s not even that he can just do anything a normal human could theoretically do but better. That is to say, it’s not just that he can lift more, sprint faster, perform better acrobatics and heal faster than a normal human being. 

His powers simply transcend the capabilities of the normal human body. No normal human being can adhere to walls. No normal human being has a precognitive sense of almost any and all kinds of danger, whether it’s a holstered  gun or some spoiled food.

Additionally the vast majority of human beings lack Peter’s scientific acumen (which does  play into combat conditions a lot of the time) as well as his (relatively) unique web-shooters. He is also witty and adept at strategic thinking, most famously employing humour to throw opponents off opening up exploitable opportunities in battle.

Peter’s skills, abilities and equipment have been further enhanced through over ten years of on-the-job experience. This has given him athletic levels of muscle memory in combat and even developed his body to the point where he is incredibly fit even when his powers are removed, as witnessed in ASM #341.

All this taken collectively means that Spider-Man is incredibly formidable fighter for almost any individual or group, be they super powered or otherwise.**

Nine times out of ten he has the options of:

Tricking/outthinking his opponents

Wearing them out

Surviving many attacks lethal to normal people, enabling him to either find an opening later or save civilians

Simply physically subduing them with his body or webbing

Rendering them unconscious (or technically even killing) them with his strength***

Using his scientific acumen to outright invent a solution to a dangerous problem. This can include modified versions of his webbing tailored to an opponent’s weakness

Turning groups against one another

Disarming them

Intimidating them

Getting inside their head

Spidey cannot simply pick any one of these options against any opponent. But the number of options available to him means that he has a high probability of at least one of them working.

It also means he has a pretty good chance of success against a wide variety of opponents, even if they have an edge over him in one or more capacities.

Using his resourcefulness and scientific intellect, he has defeated Morlun multiple times despite him having vastly superior strength and durability than Spider-Man himself.

His fighting skills are such that he can hold his own against Captain America who’s generally more experienced than Spider-Man and a superior hand-to-hand fighter and strategist.

He’s defeated a whole group of the X-Men, whose experience, teamwork, raw power and diverse abilities make them incredibly formidable.

His fighting prowess is such that he was unable to be defeated by a similarly diverse group of heroes known as the New Warriors. Whilst the New Warriors are not the measure of the X-Men what made this impressive was that (due to mind control) Spider-Man was actively trying to let them win.

Even so, there are people very much out of Spider-Man’s league. For example, Spider-Man does not usually pick fights with Magneto, Mephisto, Ultron or Galactus. He rationally understands that he would have no hope of defeating such people and leaves them to better suited heroes like the X-Men, Doctor Strange, the Fantastic Four and the Avengers.

Spider-Man is not stupid, arrogant nor self-destructive. Like MJ, he is aware of his limitations; although he does at times underestimate himself. If he regards a threat as out of his league, even one more directly connected to himself, he knows to seek help. This is exemplified in ASM #361 after he has proven incapable of defeating Carnage on his own. He tries to call the Avengers or F4 for help but they are unavailable, forcing Spidey to team up with Venom.

Hmm, up against dangerous overwhelmingly odds and calling for help? Could this perhaps be something Mary Jane should consider in AMJ?

Only when he has no other options does Spidey chosen to fight people he doesn’t believe he has much (if any) chance of beating.

A classic example of this is ASM #269 when Firelord tried to kill him. 

For context Firelord is a former Herald of Galactus, putting him relatively close to the power level of cosmically empowered beings like the Silver Surfer and Thor.

Peter tried to find the Fantastic Four, who had experience dealing with Galactus and his Heralds. 

En route he even mentioned how the Avengers were better suited to handling guys like Firelord compared to himself. 

Unfortunately the F4 were completely unavailable. 

Peter considers going to the Avengers but realises with Firelord speed he’d be unable to reach them in time. Briefly, Peter considers simply changing into Peter Parker and avoiding Firelord altogether. However, his sense of responsibility compels him to fight in case Firelord hurts someone in his search for Spidey.

Thus Peter resolves to defeat someone who seems to outmatch him. 

But now let’s compare all this to Mary Jane.

MJ is certainly smart and resourceful. This then means she can outthink her opponents and get inside their heads as Spider-Man does at times.

But like I said above, Spidey has many more options than just those ones.

MJ lacks Peter’s specific scientific acumen, which limits her abilities to draw upon that to mitigate dangers. She cannot for instance invent a gadget or chemical tailored to a specific problem. There might even be viable solutions to a problem in the heat of the moment she is unaware of because you’d need a college degree in bio-chem to realise them.

Regardless of sex or gender, as a normal human Mary Jane is simply less capable of surviving physical attacks compared to Spider-Man.

She cannot move nearly as fast as him, nor even as fast as normal yet trained heroes.

Her strength level is average for someone of her height and build.

She usually doesn’t have access to unique weapons like web-shooters, nor even regular firearms (not that these are usually effective against super villains). Even if she were to have a set in her possession her ability to use them would be limited because she doesn’t know how to create or maintain them. Were they to be damaged, lost or run out of web-fluid she would need to turn to a third party to get them working again. In contrast Peter could create web-shooters from scratch with fairly limited resources.

And were MJ to have web-shooters she cannot optimise their use because she doesn’t have Peter’s other powers. She cannot combine strength, agility, wall-crawling and spider sense to bounce around a room, swing across a rooftop or even fire off rapid and highly accurate shots at opponents.

She doesn’t even have a mere precognitive danger sense, the single most useful power when dealing with Mysterio.

And her muscle memory, her battle instinct if you will, are pretty impressive but nowhere near to the levels of Spider-Man’s or most super heroes. MJ’s action amidst danger is not even half as regular as Peter’s. Peter has dealt with at least small-scale criminals for the vast majority of his adult life. It’s the difference between someone who plays a sport on every weekend for five years vs. someone who has played that sport practically every day for 10 years. The latter’s instincts and reactions are simply going to be better than the former’s.

Basically, unless there are very specific extenuating circumstances, Peter Parker enters into any situation objectively  safer than Mary Jane.

He has objectively  greater chances of surviving and ensuring the survival of others than she does. That would hold true even if Mary Jane is armed with a gun and is mentally prepared for what was to come.

In most dangerous situations Peter is highly likely  to be ‘punching down’ whilst MJ would be ‘punching up’.

This doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed of victory at all, but when it comes to dealing with criminals or super villains his chances are reliably  high  whilst MJ’s are far less reliable.

And those chances, that reliability? It’s mostly internal, a hardwired aspect of his very being .

Outside of exceptional circumstances his powers, experience and intelligence can’t be taken away from him. He will always be armed with that stuff no matter where he is. Even his web-shooters are tools he invented from (expensive yet) easily obtained resources and they are not strictly essential to his combat abilities. Were he to find himself without them amidst most dangerous situations, his chances for protecting himself and others wouldn’t be close to nil by any means and he could simply recreate them with time.

These skills mean he’s only intermittently reliant upon others in combat situations. Usually he could get himself or others to safety or diffuse most threats that crop up. Similarly his need of luck is greatly reduced. Of course luck has often saved his bacon but it hasn’t been a near systemic requirement. Even in his early career neither luck nor assistance played much (if any) role in his initial victories over the Vulture, Doctor Octopus, the Scorpion and many other opponents.

Mary Jane in contrast lacks  these internal skills. She has other  internal skills that can aid her and prove invaluable, but they don’t amount to reliably giving her a chance in the majority of combat situations. Not without external factors (luck, assistance, etc.) aiding her. As we discussed in the prior instalment, that’s actually how she has endured the majority of hazardous encounters in her time.

To use the sports analogy again, Peter would be a professional NBA player who is at least proficient in all positions on the court and Mary Jane would be an amateur player who practices on the weekend but only in one or two positions. Peter could go up against at least a large number of other players and stand a reasonable chance and possibly carry the team over all.

But for Mary Jane to stand a fair chance she’d need a lot more things to go her way. The right opponent(s), the right opportunities presenting themselves, the right amount of support from her team mates etc. The fact that she’s played a few games and held her own, even won some outright, is a testament to her inner talent. But as a basketball player she’s just not on the same level as Peter, or Black Widow or She-Hulk or Wonder Woman.

With all that context dispensed with let’s move onto a bigger question.

Given MJ’s abilities and combat history is she capable of preventing Mysterio and his cronies from harming her self and others?

*In fact Spider-Man has tended to fight more effectively against groups of opponents as his speed enables him to move between them and use his opponents against one another.

This is partially due to the fact that Spider-Man’s skills in tandem give him an incredibly unique fighting style that no one without his powers can possibly replicate.

**It should be noted that Spider-Man typically restrains his strength on a conscious and unconscious level. He knowingly adjusts the amount of force he applies depending upon his opponents but he also restrains himself without realizing it. The result is that the depth of Spider-Man’s  strength level is often surprising for him and his enemies. This is exemplified in ASM #700, when Doctor Octopus in Spider-Man’s body accidentally punches off the jaw of the Scorpion, someone who was designed to have superior strength to Spider-Man. Doc Ock himself is shocked to realize just how much Spider-Man held back.

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