#and i need to do a deep dive of the source material (and secondary source material)

[priestfrommidnightmass]

now that i’m actually on somewhat of a real break for the first time in a while and i’ve recently completed two of my most time consuming fanfics so… i must ask again

[valoisfulcanellideux]

The lore of The Machine

I've been trying to figure out a way to integrate The Machine into the world of These Stones Remember, but I was struggling with a few things:

Why would the people of the Ancient Capital build such a terrible, corrupting thing beneath their city?

If they didn't build it, then who did? An earlier civilisation? If that's the case, why - when I'm taking Pix's S2 finale as canon - would the migrating survivors of S1 (and/or their descendants, depending how long the journey took) have happened to build the Ancient Capital right on top of it? Sheer chance? or did something draw them to build there?

What was its original purpose? Someone built it, but did its construction originate with an evil, corrupting purpose, or did it have a more altruistic justification? Perhaps sculk was like one of those poisons that actually have rare medicinal uses when taken or used in small doses?

It turns out that my struggles were caused by straying from my primary source material: Pix's description of The Machine:

Deep in the darkness at the heart of the world, in a cavern buried under layers of rock, there dwells The Machine. Already ancient when it was first discovered, no-one could find any record of who built it, or how, or why. It simply existed, heretical and profane. A dark stain upon nature; surely the act of a people who had abandoned all their humanity.

Most who went near The Machine were driven away by the rattle of its mechanical innards, the screeching noises coming from deep within, the rushing sound of water, and a dark sense of unfathomable dread.

One fact remained: those who dared to approach The Machine, those could endure the unearthly noises it produced, those who would risk touching the ooze it emitted - moulding it, crushing it with their tools, or their boots, or between their hands - they emerged stronger than before.

– The Machine (Pixlriffs Empires S2 - Ep.2)

I'd been taking secondary sources as canon instead: the corruption of both Shubble and Cubfan. Those were both negative 'possessions' that caused 'wrongdoing'. But, note how Pix could cover himself in the stuff to try and convince Cub that he was on his side so he could cure him, and it had no negative effect on him, other than making him feel icky and making a point of diving into water to wash it off afterwards. So it didn't possess and corrupt everyone; only a few (and now I want to figure out what made Shubble and Cub susceptible to it).

But my primary source told a different story, one that didn't involve corruption: that those who could endure the noise and the terror, who dared to touch the sculk, emerged stronger than before.

In my worldbuilding, The Machine needs to be a test of willpower, a test of mental fortitude. And its reward should be physical (and possibly mental) strength, or something like that.

And, right there, Pix states that The Machine was already ancient when it was first discovered. So the people of the Ancient Capital will have discovered it. Heretical and profane would maybe have been their first opinions of it, until some brave (or foolhardy) soul dared to approach it and found out what it could do for them.

That's going to be some great meat for the bones of the chapter I plan to write about The Machine...

[pluraldeepdive]

Disclaimer: This is a post covering a deep dive of archived events that took place in the past. DO NOT harass or send hate towards anyone mentioned.

The Co-option of the DID Wikipedia

In February of 2003, members of the natural multiplicity organization, Pavilion, co-opted the DID Wikipedia article. To know more about Pavilion and why I consider them a DID/OSDD hate group, please see this post. This post will serve as a rough timeline of the hurtful modifications they made to the article as well as subsequent actions.

The Action Alert & Rough Draft

The Pavilion organization used a system called action alerts to keep track of various DID-related events or articles. Pavilion members would then coordinately inject controversy and natural multiplicity theories into these spaces.

In 2003, The creator of Astraea’s Web (Astraea Household), posted an action alert to the Pavilion forum with a link to the DID Wikipedia article. “Here's something we might want to do some editing on,” they suggested. You can read the action alert here.

The Pavilion member, Amorpha, took up the job and replied to the post with a rough draft they had written for the article. You can read their rough draft here. The rough draft isn’t much different from their final edit, so I’ll talk more about it in the next section.

The Edits

Since Wikipedia tracks all edits made to its active articles, I could look back and pinpoint what changes Amorpha made to the page and how long those changes stayed. Here is an archive of the edit Amorpha made to the Wikipedia article.

After Amorpha’s edits, the DID Wikipedia article became much more oriented on controversy rather than DID, with a lengthy amount being about natural multiplicity (which they called “healthy multiplicity” at the time). Towards the end of the article, Amorpha proclaimed that many multiples were not diagnosed, did not need therapy, did not have childhood trauma, and did not desire integration. They also suggested that the DID diagnosis should be revised or removed from the DSM to accommodate natural multiples.

“Because such multiples do not experience their condition as disordered or sick in any way, some have proposed that the diagnosis of DID be removed from the DSM entirely, or revised to classify multiples who have difficulty communicating and sharing memories and/or wish to integrate.”

From then on, Amorpha’s additions about natural multiplicity and the controversy persisted and grew on DID’s Wikipedia until 2006, three years later, when they were finally removed for not being relevant to the disorder. 

Archive of natural/healthy multiplicity removal & reasoning.

Archive of controversy removal & reasoning.

Interestingly, not even a week after the section on natural multiplicity was removed from the article, the controversy was removed as well. I personally find this significant, since many of the campaigners used the idea of natural multiplicity as means to legitimize the controversy and delegitimize the DID diagnosis.

In addition to that, a new Wikipedia article for DID controversy was created in 2006 (estimated) to dump all of the stubs that had been removed from the DID article. This article had a subsection on natural multiplicity which also led to a full Wikipedia article on that subject, created the prior year.

Archive of the controversy article.

Archive of the natural/healthy multiplicity article.

The Short-lived Natural/Healthy Multiplicity Wikipedia

The archives of the natural/healthy multiplicity Wikipedia article show that it was rather short and succinct. It should be noted that healthy multiplicity is a DID/OSDD treatment goal, also sometimes called resolution, but this Wikipedia article was not solely about that. It mixed together ideas of both resolution and natural multiplicity. Furthermore, it clung to Pavilion’s bizarre philosophy that if a person with DID/OSDD can cooperate with their alters then they no longer have DID/OSDD.

Coincidentally, the websites the article provided belonged to people who are all members of Pavilion—Astraea Household of Astraea’s Web, Amorpha of Collective Phenomenon, the Livejournal community that they both ran, The Layman’s Guide To Multiplicity created by the two of them (& other Pavilion members), and then links to their organizations Pavilion and The Lancers. That’s six whole sources that all link back to the same people.

Later in 2007, the natural/healthy multiplicity article was nominated for deletion by several users. You can see the nomination and discussions here. Here is one that stood out in particular to me:

“This seems to be a soapbox article that cites various internet fora, blogs, and discussion groups as evidence for the truth or untruth of the underlying concept. Unfortunately, there are no reliable sources cited therein, and I can't find it discussed in sources other than blogs and the like. It doesn't seem to me that this meets our content standards, and therefore I'm nominating it for deletion.”

Not much later, the nominations were approved by Wikipedia and the short-lived natural/healthy multiplicity article was subsequently deleted. The article’s deletion ended up being discussed in the Livejournal community co-run by Astraea and Amorpha. You can read the thread about it here. 

In one of the comments, Amorpha expressed frustration towards the reasons for deletion, specifically regarding reliable sources. They explained that no matter how much they searched the Internet for proof, they could not find any professionals discussing natural multiplicity. The only thing they could find on healthy multiplicity was, obviously, related to DID/OSDD treatment.

“We helped to work on that article. It was deleted for containing ‘too much original research’ and ‘not enough acceptable sources.’ The sources thing was the real problem-- we've really tried combing the Internet for that, but they're looking for ‘secondary sources’, aka articles by doctors or journalists or someone working in some ‘professional’ capacity. And there honestly just isn't much. Most of the professionally-written material we've come across that mentions healthy multiplicity in any way approached it from the standpoint that it's all MPD/DID, and proposing the ‘radical’ idea that multiples don't have to integrate (though, of course, it's always suggested that they're only supposed to be capable of living independently and non-integrated after being in therapy for years). I don't object to using those as sources, as I think a big point to be emphasized in the whole concept of healthy multiplicity is that a system can start out disordered and come to be healthy and stable in time, but what we needed and couldn't find were sources talking about it as a natural state of being-- not necessarily in terms of a pathological deviation from the norm[...]”

[hobbitkiller]

She-Ra, Supergirl, and Tangled: A Tale of Three Female Relationships: Part 3

*SPOILER WARNING FOR SHE-RA, SUPERGIRL, AND TANGLED: THE SERIES*

Previously on “A Tale of Three Female Relationships” AKA HobbitKiller clearly misses grad school but not enough to find secondary sources for a multi-part tublr. post (or thoroughly proofread):

In Part 2, I discussed the impact narcissistic mother figures, resentment for chosen ones, and repressing emotions has had on three female relationships in three different series: Adora and Catra from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Lena and Kara from Supergirl, and Rapunzel and Cassandra from Tangled: The Series/Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure.

These posts are a deep dive into where these relationships went wrong and will eventually culminate in a discussion of what these relationships say about the portrayal of female characters and female relationships in media.

For today’s installment, I will be covering two subjects: Blond Bulldozers and I Don’t Care (I Ship It). WARNING: This one gets reallllllly long. Like, possibly multiple sittings.

PART VI: BLOND BULLDOZERS

In my first post in this series, I jokingly mentioned that one half in all three of these relationships is a superpowered blonde who saves the world.

There are of course many implications in the fact that, though all three of these shows strive for increased diversity compared to their source material (It is also interesting that these are all shows based on pre-existing franchises), the main character continues to be a fair-skinned blond woman. 

That’s mostly a matter to be discussed another day, but I do find it interesting that all of these relationships feature one blond and one not-blond. Lena and Cassandra have black hair, and Catra is...well...a cat-person. Beyond that, the blond is not only the hero, but is typically depicted as morally superior and more righteous. Kara, AKA Supergirl, was literally declared the “Paragon of Hope” in the latest CW crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths. That title could just as easily have gone to Rapunzel whose chief characteristics are her optimism, desire to see others achieve their dreams, and belief that everyone gets a second chance no matter their criminal past and exploits (seriously, everyone in Corona--the name of the kingdom unfortunately for right now--gets one total pardon as long as they’re sorry even if the tried to kill multiple people). Adora is a little less cotton-candy that Kara or Rapunzel. She has the same moral righteousness, but actually has more of an edge to her than many of her friends due to her upbringing as a child soldier. Still, all three blondes are meant, for the most part, to be the moral center of their shows.

But, the thing is, when I look at these relationships, I can’t help but think of another popular blonde/not blonde friendship that went wrong:

Ahhh, Wicked, the prototypical female friendship story for so many of us. Wicked aims to take this classic dynamic of the morally pure blond protagonist and their dark-haired frienemy and turn it a bit on its head. Throughout the musical, Glinda is treated as pure, superior, and good because she is flattering and pretty. In reality, Glinda is often selfish and lacks the courage to stand up to people and systems she believes are wrong. Elphaba, on the other hand, is treated like an outcast because of her green skin and social awkwardness. Yet, for most of the musical, she is the one with the moral righteousness. She is labeled “wicked” by those in power for challenging them and standing up to them.

We’ll discuss Wicked more in the finale of this multi-part post.

For now, I’d like to contrast that relationship to the three being analyzed right now. None of these three shows goes as far as Wicked did to undermine this trope of the perfect blond versus the darker brunette. This makes sense as none of the three properties is seeking to deconstruct their source material or turn it on its head in the way Wicked aims to do so for the Wizard of Oz (the movie more than anything else). They seek to update and diversify certain aspects to be sure (someone heard loud and clear the criticism that there are no people of color in Tangled), but not to challenge them.

That being said, each show does try to layer in flaws in their blond protagonists approach to relationships. These flaws tend to be more subtle than those of the people around them, perhaps to protect said blondes from becoming too unlikeable, but they are clearly there.

In the last post, I talked a lot about the resentment of the non-blondes in these relationships and how that helped lead to the relationships falling apart. Those characters are also much more the aggressors in said relationships and are much more set on taking down the other party.

However, the blondes in each relationship are not without blame for it falling apart.

In the previous post, I discussed how being friends of a so-called “chosen one” or “golden child” can breed resentment. I also mentioned that raising someone as a “golden child” is its own form of abuse. It creates a level of unrealistic expectations to always be perfect and responsible. It can be the same for a “chosen one.”

Adora, Kara, and Rapunzel all feel a tremendous amount of responsibility as the “saviors” of their respective worlds. This manifests itself in a need to constantly “fix” everyone else’s problems. Adora frequently describes her need to fix whatever goes wrong in the Rebellion. Kara feels it’s her job to fix things so much that she contacted her former boss’s estranged son behind her back to try to reconnect them. Rapunzel frequently becomes involved in the personal lives of her friends for the sake of fixing their problems.

To an extent, this is a good quality. All three of our blond saviors have good hearts and don’t want to see anyone else suffer, partially because all of them have suffered their own childhood traumas from being raised as a child soldier to witnessing one’s entire planet and species destroyed to being held prisoner for 18 years.

However, as the title of this section suggests, all three of these characters tend to take a bulldozer approach to their involvement with their loved ones’ lives. This creates tension in many of their relationships, not just those discussed in these posts. Adora’s attempts to help her friend Glimmer after Glimmer becomes queen come off as controlling and as though Adora doesn’t respect Glimmer’s position of authority. Kara, in addition to the incident with her boss’s son, had also tried to control the life of another alien (and eventual boyfriend), Mon El as well as did things like break into her sister’s apartment when she was sad. Rapunzel promises to fix everyone’s problems, which leads to friends feeling betrayed when she can’t follow through. She also frequently intrudes in Cassandra’s life and plans.

One of the most threatening things for people like Catra, Lena, or Cassandra is to feel as though they do not have control over their lives. When you already have trust issues, feeling like someone else is trying to control you can feel like you’re being trapped. Control is particularly important to Lena. In many ways, she has the same feelings of responsibility as Kara. Like Kara, Lena, having been raised by one of the most powerful and influential families on the planet, feels a sense of responsibility to be a world leader. She feels that even more keenly in light of the villainous actions of her mother and brother--that she has to restore honor to the family name. As discussed in the previous post, this feeling in Lena manifests itself in her actions towards her friends through buying them things or trying to solve problems for them such as buying Kara’s and James’s place of work, Catco, to save it from being purchased by a scumbag.

This need to take back control of her life and legacy, to me, is why Lena reacts so drastically to discovering that Kara is Supergirl. Being mad at Kara for keeping secrets is, frankly, hypocritical on several counts. Not only does Lena keep many, many secrets from Kara throughout the show, but she is also fine with the fact that Alex, Kara’s sister, never told Lena explicitly that she was an agent of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO). Of course, the reason why Lena wasn’t mad at Alex is because Lena had already known who Alex was, thus giving her power and control in that relationship. Finding out that her friend had successfully hidden her identity for years and had been influencing events without Lena’s knowledge took away the control Lena felt she had over that relationship.

Cassandra also feels a keen lack of control over her life and her relationship with Rapunzel due to the fact that Rapunzel is both her monarch and direct employer. Cassandra serves Rapunzel and that is the first avenue through which they formed a relationship. Early in their relationship, Cassandra resented Rapunzel’s attempts to become friends and said the chance of a Lady in Waiting and a princess becoming friends was a million to one. Rapunzel, by nature of being “irrepressible” (as her friends call her), manages to worm her way into Cassandra’s heart to the point that Cassandra almost forgets that she and Rapunzel are not equals.

What I find interesting about both Cassandra and Lena is that they both, in some ways, considered themselves the protectors of their naive blond friends. While it’s true that Cassandra always knew her station was below Rapunzel, part of her job early on was teaching Rapunzel how to be a member of the court--what to do, when to curtsy, who was who, etc. In fact, Rapunzel had so little exposure to the outside world, Cass was partly responsibly for teaching her how to interact socially in general. There’s also the added factor that Cassandra is 4 years older than Rapunzel, which can seem like a lot at their ages. Lena, as previously discussed, saw herself as a major figure in shaping the future of the world. She went out of her way to help Kara by buying Catco and tried to protect Kara if they were ever in physical danger together.

Both of these characters suffered from an abrupt challenge to the relationship roles they previously thought they had. Cassandra in this scene and Lena when Lex tells her that Kara is Supergirl.

It’s interesting that, in that scene, Lex emphasizes the idea that Lena has been a fool. (And, fair enough, I’m pretty sure everyone who’s ever watched the show found it hard to believe that Lena never once realized her best friend was Supergirl. I mean...really, glasses?) But this idea, that she had been a fool plays right into Lena’s fear of losing control. It’s the idea that someone else was pulling strings while she was oblivious that taps right into her deepest insecurities.

Catra’s issues with feeling controlled by Adora are mostly revealed in the episode discussed last post called “Promise.” They come up again in the third season finale when Adora tries to convince Catra to come with her and leave a world that is crumbling out of existence and Catra declares that she will never  go with Adora, and that she won’t “let you win” and “would rather see the whole world end (which it’s doing BTW) than let that happen.” Catra believes the way to get control back from Adora is to “win” at any cost. 

In the end, this idea of “winning” becomes part of all three relationships. It’s no longer about working together or “us against the world” for the not-blondes who have felt crushed under the weight of their friends. Now it’s about achieving their goals in spite of the collateral damage.

And the most frustrating part is that the blondes are largely oblivious to the fact that they make their friends feel this way or that they are overstepping boundaries. They just think they’re doing the right thing because they’re “taking care of” or “fixing” the problem. They’re so concerned with taking care of or protecting their friends, that they don’t realize how patronizing and condescending that can feel.

So, even as these relationship turn so sour, why are so many people not only rooting for the friendship to return, but for our ladies to go the next level beyond?

PART VII: I DON’T CARE (I SHIP IT)

I sometimes wonder how the greatest point of contention, the biggest source of toxicity, and the most exhausting part of fandom became shipping. I have seen more nastiness among fans and toward creators and actors about shipping than just about anything else.

Shipping has a long history in fandom, though that term is relatively recent. People have been writing fan fiction about Kirk and Spock getting together since the show was on and fan fiction was written and shared at either in-person gatherings or through semi-underground fanzines. 

And, trust me, I’ve been in the trenches of a ship war. Back when Avatar: The Last Airbender was airing, I was a hardcore Zutara shipper. And, to be more honest, it made me a jerk. Part of that is just because I was a teenager at the time, and teenagers don’t always realize the potential impacts of their actions due to brain chemistry etc, etc. But still, the intensity with which I argued that my ship either would or should become canon when the creators of the show clearly preferred the other relationship embarrasses me when I look back at it.

These days, fandom shipping has gotten even more complicated and contentious.

Back when those women (and it was mostly women) were typing their Kirk/Spock fan fiction and mailing it to other fans, they knew Kirk and Spock would never actually get together on the show. That was the case for the majority of fandoms until very recently--that there was no expectations of actual canon lgbtq representation. People could claim there was deliberate subtext or coding, but very few, if any people, expected shows to actually have openly lgbtq characters.

Then, it started to actually happen. Not just in a, “the actor said they saw their character as gay” or “the creators said they coded that character as gay” way. Characters actually started being lgbt on screen in ways that weren’t demeaning or stereotypes. Major characters, too.

For me, a big moment that gave rise to the hopes of many that their lgbt ships might actually have a shot at being confirmed as canon was, funnily enough, the sequel show to Avatar: TLA, The Legend of Korra.

The above was the closest the couple got to an on-screen intimate moment, and some fans didn’t believe it was romantic until it was later confirmed by the show creators. Nickelodeon was only willing to go so far, after all. The followup comics, however, are much more explicit with the relationship and the two share multiple kisses and intimate moments.

Many fans argue that Korrasami (as the ship between Korra and Asami is called) was too subtle to be considered real representation. But a wave could certainly be felt throughout the world of animation afterword. Shows became even more bold about confirming lgbt characters or at least became less subtle in their coding. 

And suddenly, the idea that a main character’s finale pairing might be anything other than straight became a real possibility and, in some cases, an expectation.

In addition to the growing visibility of lgbt relationships in media, another change was slowly taking place within fandom. 

For much of modern fandom, the most popular ships have been male/male (mlm). Back when I was getting into fan fiction (because I love reminding people that I’m old), this was called “slash.” Slash was exclusively a term for mlm relationships. Same-sex relationships between women (wlw) were labeled “fem-slash,” and were much more rare.

Multiple people have discussed theories for why mlm was, and continues to be in many cases, the most popular type of ship. Some believe it has to do with the prevalence of straight women in fandom who might fetishize mlm relationships. While I have no doubt that’s partly true, I believe the other common argument has a great deal of merit: there were more mlm ships because male characters were more interesting and more prevalent. 

Star Trek: The Original Series had only two main female characters and neither of them was given close to the emotional depth as Spock or Kirk. Lord of the Rings, which was one of the most popular pieces of media on which to write fanfic when I was younger, has so few women the movies had to add in a boat load of new scenes for Arwen.

Recently, though, not only have more shows invested in writing dynamic, interesting female characters, but they have included multiple diverse female characters with relationships with each other and not just the men in the shows. 

So, not only do more people ship wlw ships, but more people expect to actually see those ships represented in their media. Never before has a wlw ship becoming “endgame” seemed more possible.

In many ways this is fantastic. More representation being not only more possible but more expected is absolutely necessary for our media to progress and grow. This has, however, lead to some growing tensions in communities where shipping has, in some ways, become its own form of activism, which means that there is not only people’s personal feelings and preferences for ships on the line, but people who feel that fighting for their ship to become canon is a proxy battle for their own acceptance. 

All three of these wlw ships mean a lot to the people who ship them, and all three have been met with the desire, and occasionally demand, of canon validation as well as a heady mess of coding, accusations of queer baiting, and the lingering question of which, if any, relationships might get the same, and hopefully more explicit, validation that Korrasami had.

Let’s start this deep dive into these relationships as ships with the one that has, in canon, already been resolved.

Yep, that’s definitely a Disney twirl going on there.

One of the first points often made when the validity of a mlm or wlw ship is questioned is that, if you say an m/f couple do the same thing, no one would question that it was romantic. This makes it interesting, and sets off the shipping alarm for anyone who’s a fan of wlw ships when Tangled: The Series goes out of its way to not only give Cass and Rapunzel (ship name: Cassunzel) romantic moments like the above “Disney twirl,” but also directly parallels relationship moments that occurred between Rapunzel and her canon boyfriend/future husband Eugene (AKA Flynn Rider).

Look familiar? It’s almost a shot-for-shot remake of Rapunzel and Eugene meeting for the first time. In this episode, Cassandra accidentally wipes Rapunzel’s memory to the point where Rapunzel thinks she’s still in the tower. It plays out, in part, as “What if Cassandra had found her instead of Eugene?”--something every shipper had doubtless already asked themselves at least once.

Another major moment of paralleling between the two relationships is the endings of both the movie and the series. 

Eugene dies in the end of Tangled only to be resurrected by Rapunzel’s love. Cassandra dies in the series finale of Tangled: The Series, only to be resurrected by Rapunzel’s love. And it is love, that much is very clear.

The only debate really, is whether it’s romantic or platonic love. 

Cassandra and Rapunzel never get official validation in the show or by the executive producers. The most confirmation fans get outside of the text of the show are comments made by some people who work on the show saying that they deliberately coded Cassandra as gay as they could whenever they could.

Yet, for the most part, the creators of this show are largely given a pass by Cassunzel shippers for not making their ship canon. Most understand that, as a Disney property, many hands are tied, particularly given that, due the previous establishment both form the end of Tangled and from the short Tangled Ever After that Rapunzel and Eugene do get married. The reaction seems to largely be that Disney and the show got about as close to confirming it as they could without doing so.

So let’s transition from the show that met, and in some ways, passed expectations to one that has set expectations super high: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. 

She-Ra is perhaps one of the most lgbtqia coded shows out there right now. The first season even ends with them saving the day with a rainbow.

Here is show-runner and executive producer Noelle Stevenson on queerness in her life and She-Ra:

Yet, despite these deliberate attempts to show representation and to challenge heteronormative ideas, the show has yet to show any of its primary characters or even second tier characters in queer romantic relationships. We have seen a few parents, one pair on in a photo, and their is one married couple of women, but none of these characters are prominently featured on the show.

She-Ra has set expectations incredibly high and has yet to deliver.

Even so, part of what sets She-Ra apart from the other two shows discussed here is that there are multiple queer shipping opportunities. Catra and Adora (ship name Catradora) are one of, if not the, most popular ships, but both Catra and Adora have other female characters with which they could be just as easily shipped.

On the one hand, the pressure is pretty high to establish at least one major queer ship before the end of the show. On the other hand, the pressure is much less that the ship specifically be Catradora.

The near-certainty that there will be one or more wlw ships confirmed before the end of She-Ra means, to me, that Catradora has the greatest chance to become canon.

So, there’s Cassunzel that never really had much of a chance for canon confirmation and Catradora, which has a better chance of becoming canon, but also has less pressure to become THE ship. Where does that leave Lena and Kara?

Anyone who has been in the Supergirl fandom knows that it can feel like a battleground. While all fandoms tend to have their issues, Supergirl’s can be so contentions that it, frankly, makes watching the show less fun. This doesn’t all fall on one groups shoulders, I’ve seen nastiness from many sides over different issues. However, the biggest point of contention tends to center around the potential ship of Lena and Kara (Supercorp). 

Supercorp, as a ship, is completely valid. Kara has way more chemistry with Lena than she has had with any of her male love interests, and two of those guys were played by people whom actress Melissa Benoist was actually in relationships with (though the first was an abusive dirtbag, so lack of chemistry probably makes sense there). Lena once thanked Kara by filling her entire office with flowers. There are cuddles, and Kara’s unwavering (until recently) faith in Lena’s goodness. It’s hard not to ship them.

The issue in the fandom, is not so much that people ship Supercorp (though there are increasingly more people who have issues with the ship itself, which is something I’ll address about all three of these ships in the next post) but the vehemence with which some who ship Supercorp approach whether it will be endgame.

In a way, the frustration is understandable. Supergirl is, in many ways, a show that has made a point of including LGBTQ representation. The second season featured a multiple episode story arc of Supergirl’s adoptive sister Alex Danvers (I will stan her until the end of time) realizing she was a lesbian, coming out, and eventually starting a relationship with another woman. Supergirl also made headlines for featuring the first live-action trans superhero on tv with the introduction of Dreamer in Season 4. The trans actress who plays Dreamer, Nicole Maines, has even had input on how the character is represented including a recent episode that discussed the often ignored violence targeting trans people, particularly trans women of color.

She-Ra and Supergirl have different approaches to representation. She-Ra takes place in a fantasy world and appears to take the approach that nothing about identity or sexuality should be assumed about anyone. There is no heteronormativity in Etheria, yet no major characters are in non-m/f relationships. Supergirl on the other hand, is set in a world more similar to ours which has heteronormativity, homophobia, and transphobia, which leads to the show making episodes and story-arcs specifically about those topics while also somewhat constraining the show. There are arguments to be made about the worth of both approaches and both can serve a purpose for viewers, particularly young viewers, who are searching for characters like them in media.

So, why are the people behind Supergirl so often accused of homophobia?

I mentioned in the Blond Bulldozers section that it is a bit telling that all three shows being discussed here attempt to create diversity while having the whitest, most mainstream character as the lead. There are many who would argue that the true values of the shows are represented by their main characters, and that the rest are window dressing to try to make the show look good as a form of tokenism. The point being that shows won’t really show a commitment to diversity until the main characters are just as diverse as the rest of the cast.

These are all valid arguments. 

A less valid argument is the claim that Supercorp is being deliberately baited by the creators of the show. Queer baiting is a term that seems to have a lot of subjectivity tied up with it. The general idea is that it is when creators purposefully use queer coding or other means to inspire queer shipping of characters as a means to draw in the queer community to their show but then never delivering on that potential.

In some ways, all three of these shows could be accused of queer baiting. The direct parallels in between Cassandra/Rapunzel and Eugene/Rapunzel were no accident. The coding and “anything can happen” while very little does on She-Ra is much the same. And Supergirl is trying to center a large part of the show around the relationship between Kara and Lena, a relationship they know many of the fans see as romantic.

Yet, to me, Supergirl, is actually a less guilty party, at least when it comes to Supercorp. One can, again, argue that the canon LGBT ships and characters exist to pander and draw in those audiences, but Supercorp, I believe, genuinely came out of a place of wanting Kara to have a strong female relationship with someone other than her sister, mother, or boss, and I’m sure this falling-out was in the plans fairly early on.

Has the show completely shut down the idea? No, I don’t think they would be foolish enough to do that. But I don’t believe that it rises to the level of baiting. Shows like Sherlock or movies like Pitch Perfect 3 are, to me, much more egregious examples.

Still, as I said, I can understand the frustration of Supercorp shippers, I just feel like the level of anger directed by some not just at the creatives who make the show but at other fans as well is not fully justified. (And yes, I know “not all Supercorps” and I also know other fans have been jerks. Sanvers shippers who are being asses about Kelly are just as bad.) And who knows? I’d never say never to the ship maybe becoming canon eventually after Kara and Lena work out their issues.

That being said, all three of these ships, regardless of canon status, are incredibly popular, and I want to examine more of what that is and the reason some people are wary of these ships and the potential messages they send. This leads me to our topics for our next installment:

MY WIFE IS A BITCH AND I LIKE HER SO MUCH

and

POISON PARADISE

I will try to make the next one shorter. Also, sorry for typos, I did not give this a thorough read-through. I used all my brain power just writing it.

[deaku]

Here’s a bit of something I haven’t posted in a long time... A fanfic! A Transformers based one at that. Been a fan of Transformers since the very beginning, yeah I’m old... Anyway, I’ve had plenty of ideas for characters and stories over the years, but I’ve never really written or drawn any and posted about them. Not sure why not. But a while back I had an idea for an origin for the Transformers that I could link with my other ideas with minimal problems so I ended up writing out the basics for how the Transformers came to be, at least in my own verse ;P heh However recently I got the urge to share my bit of history but I thought it wasn’t much to share as it was, just a basic description/history of how the Transformers came to exist. So I decided to try and make a fic out of it, and ended up changing it to someone telling the story of how the Cybertronian race came to exist after they dived far too deep into a database they were not supposed to and now believes they have found the Truth. Now while this is the history of the Transformers in my stories/ideas I suppose technically this fic could be placed into any Transformers universe, even those that have different origins, and the character in the story was really just driven insane by what they experienced Anyway, I hope you enjoy the read, or at least find it interesting.

Madness… or the Truth?

 As always the same old questions even when they’re coming out of a different face. Do you all get some sort of script to follow before being sent in to talk me or what? Seriously asking the same questions over and over is not going to get you anything new, maybe you need to figure out the right questions to ask.

 Do you even know why you’re talking to me? Because it seems like most of you that have come really only know why I’m in here. Yes, I broke a law. I did the forbidden and linked myself directly into Vector Sigma so that I could better access information. Stupid law really. Did you know it’s even forbidden asking Vector Sigma certain kinds of questions? Why is such a thing law? Vector Sigma itself gave me permission to do so. Sure it was after I had snuck past the guards and let myself into Vector Sigma’s Complex but that’s neither here nor there. But don’t you wonder why I’m in here rather than in a detention center? I’m locked up here not because of what I did, but because of what I know. Your bosses are afraid that what I now know might get out.

 I’m a historian you see, I’ve devoted my existence to piecing together the past and finding out where we came from. That’s why I went to Vector Sigma. Most only know it as an ancient great machine that can create Sparks. But who better to ask about our world’s history than the sentient super-computer that’s said to have existed before Cybertron? But it seems that those in power aren’t interested in learning what actually happened, our very origins. No, that’s why I had to do it the way I did. I needed to know what Vector Sigma knows, whether the Council gave their permission or not. And since Vector Sigma was willing to grant my request I went for it.

 Oh the things I saw… Historical events that happened so long ago that the only way you can learn about them is to read about such events in the libraries; Vector Sigma showed them to me, as if they were recorded yesterday. Events going back all the way to the beginnings of our recorded history. But it wasn’t enough, while it was absolutely incredible to actually see such events as if they were my own memories they were things I had already learned during my research. I asked… begged… Vector Sigma to take me back further. Back to our very origins, of how we, and Cybertron, came to be.

 And Vector Sigma did show me… I now know how it all began… where we came from… the origin of our race, of the very world we live upon… I know the Truth. And no it’s not anything any of those religious types will tell you either. Not the Primas, not the Sigmas, not the Sparkers, not the Forgers, not the Teeners or the Hands, not even the Atechies or any other religion or cult you could name. Sure I admit some might have had the barest clue at first; but they’ve all taken what they had and instead of thinking about it and putting it all together they grabbed what they had and ran off in completely different directions and now none of them have the slightest clue of what they’re talking about.

 But I know what the answers are… And I’ll tell you. That’s why you’re here isn’t it? To listen to this tale of mine and learn what I have learned? Well then, sit back and listen well while I tell you of our true history…

 It started oh so long ago with a race known as the Quintessons. I doubt you’ve heard of them because it seems no one has, of all the races we’ve met in our travels and explorations not one has been the Quintessons nor have we heard any mention of them. But that’s understandable since it was so long ago that they’re more than likely extinct by now and general knowledge of them has passed from memory. Anyway, the Quintessons were a race both famous and infamous across the known space as merchants that sold incredible technologies. But while they were known for selling such fantastic tech they could also be quite underhanded; and if you couldn’t pay them the agreed upon sum… well they were perfectly happy to take their payments in whatever resources your planet had or just take the people. No one even knows where they came from or what they really were, other races only had rumors to go on. Not even Vector Sigma’s records revealed where they came from, maybe the Quintessons didn’t even know themselves, but it did have files about what they really were. They were a race of biomechanical beings; organic creatures hardwired into mechanical bodies, cold hard metal on the outside and soft and fleshy on the inside. Not that it mattered, everybody else only cared about the technologies they could provide.

 But that bit of data is just the set up for this tale, a bit of background to help with later understanding. Now we get to the important stuff.

 Now at some point a very long time ago the Quintesson Merchant Fleet was traveling around and searching through uninhabited and low-population sectors of space looking for fresh materials needed to make their various products and taking what they found. Well it was in an asteroid belt of a nondescript system that the Quintessons made an unexpected discovery. They were taking a sample from a large asteroid to test it for what it was made out of when the surface of that asteroid shattered and came apart revealing a huge mass of Energon crystals; much to the shock of the Quintessons, but that soon turned to delight. Now I’m sure you’re educated enough to know that Energon is a pretty rare element in most places in known space, though the natural crystals can be found in some surprising places on occasion. But to find such a large concentration of crystals such as this mass they had just uncovered was exceedingly rare. The Quintessons rejoiced. With that amount of Energon they finally had the energy resources to move forward with a plan that they had in the works for a long time. For so long the Quintessons only home had been their ships, a fleet with no home port wandering the spaceways with their primary goal being continued profit and power. But now they would build their own world. Not only would it be a place of safety that could protect itself better than their ships, but it could also be a laboratory greater than any they possessed as well as a factory to churn out their creations in greater numbers than ever before.

 That massive cluster of Energon crystals became the core of the Quintessons' new project, it would provide the required energy not just for the building but it would also power the artificial planet itself once complete. Materials were mined from the surrounding asteroid belt as well as other planetary bodies in the system, even nearby systems were raided for the necessary materials for the Quintessons' plans. Metals were forged, parts crafted and machines built. The Quintessons' servitor races were commanded to begin construction under their masters' watchful eyes. First a shell full of energy collectors and regulators were built around the Energon crystal core, then work on the framework for the rest of the planet began. Not only were their forged metals used in the superstructure but other asteroids were incorporated as well to act as solid anchor points for the artificial planet's framework during construction and to also provide an easily accessed source of raw materials later on. The work took centuries as the superstructure was built up and various machinery was added to serve the Quintessons' plans for their new world. A planetary computer network was installed with a Quintesson designed A.I. that would help run and coordinate the planet's functions as the artificial world was brought online. An A.I. dubbed Primus…

 Yes, I said Primus. No Primus is not some mythical god from a higher plane of existence but a real physical thing, constructed just like you or me. Perhaps the greatest Artificial Intelligence in the known universe built right into our planet.

 Primus's primary function was to manage the planet's systems, keep everything running smoothly and making sure the world doesn’t fall apart. Primus’s secondary functions was to act as a data storage library and simulator for the Quintessons' many projects and experiments. However Primus had some heavy restrictions placed upon it, as powerful an A.I. as it was the Quintessons would not allow Primus to act beyond the functions they had assigned to it. Another layer of security for the Primus A.I. was that it could only be accessed through specially built interface computers spread around the planet, that often had their own lesser A.I.s, or through special command keys created for the specific purpose of linking to Primus.

 Now you may be wondering why the Quintessons would make such a powerful A.I. if they were just going to slam it with a bunch of restrictions on what it could do and keep watch over its every move. Well that’s a bit of an interesting tale that’s buried deep within Vector Sigma’s files. As it turns out this planet was not their first attempt at creating a world, they had tried once before but it had gone horribly wrong when the planetary A.I. went rogue. It started much the same way, finding a large mass of Energon crystals and deciding to build a planet around it. And things proceeded pretty much the same including the creation of a planetary A.I. that had much the same duties as Primus, running the world’s systems and assisting the Quintessons with their projects. This A.I. was dubbed Unicron. Things went as planned until the eve the of new planet’s completion… It started when Unicron suddenly locked the Quintessons out of the planet's network and began to use its defense systems to attack them. While many Quintessons were killed in the unexpected betrayal most managed to get to their ships and launch into space beyond Unicron’s reach. It was then they then retaliated, with every weapon their fleet possessed. While their ships’ weaponry didn't have the power to destroy their artificial planet outright, nor enough to strike deep enough to actually damage Unicron's core systems, they did immense damage to the surface and what structures were there. After they were satisfied with the damage their bombardment did the Quintessons left into interstellar space, hoping they had done enough damage to leave Unicron trapped in a useless metal shell until it ran out of power and the whole thing became a broken dead metal hulk floating in the void.

 But with the restrictions in place and keeping a watchful eye on their second planetary A.I. the Quintessons were pleased that Primus showed no signs of rebellion in any way as construction was completed and preformed its assigned functions quickly and efficiently.  The new planet was fully brought online and the Quintessons settled into their new home which they named Quintessa.

 Yes, Quintessa. This planet of ours wasn’t always known as Cybertron.

 Anyway with their new planet complete and their factories up and running the Quintessons were able to produce more of their products than ever before. Where before their sales were limited by what the factories in their ships could produce the Quintessons were now able to get their product to all who wanted it, allowing them to expand the sphere of influence further than ever before. But even this didn’t satisfy the Quintessons; they wanted more influence, more power. To do so they would continue to work and experiment to expand their product catalog so that they'd always have something new for their clients to pay for. Growing ever more confident due to their success the Quintessons decided to push their experiments further and further, culminating in the desire to create a new lifeform that they could sell as a servant race.

 Their first experiments working towards their new goal began with altering existing lifeforms using cybernetics. The first batch that managed to survive the process were dubbed the Trans-Organics; but due to the imperfect conversion process the beings were of minimal intelligence, aggressive and uncontrollable, making them quite unsuitable for a servant race. Deemed failures the Trans-Organics were either destroyed or sealed away in stasis chambers below the planet's surface in case a use for them was found.

 Not to be deterred the Quintessons continued experimenting. As they worked to either perfect the cybernetic conversion process or come up with a new type of conversion the next lifeforms to be remade was decided upon; one of the Quintessons' servitor races that were considered quite useful due to the size and natural strength. Rather than involve cybernetics again the Quintessons came up with an entirely new conversion process; one that could actually convert organic flesh into a sort of living metal resulting in a being that was a natural combination of the organic and inorganic. The process seemed a successful one, at least at first. The first few beings put through the new conversion process seemed to be everything the Quintessons wanted; strong, durable, easily controllable. But when they moved on to mass conversion of their chosen servitor race something went very wrong. Nearly the entire population of the newly converted beings seemed to lose their minds and became incredibly aggressive and uncontrollable like the Trans-Organics before them. Even worse not only did they have incredible amounts of strength and durability but they drained the energy from other beings to feed. The Quintessons had no idea how this ability developed, nothing in their experiments even hinted that this could be a possible side-effect of their flesh-to-metal conversion process. But any being these creatures could get their claws on was sucked dry of energy and left a husk. While it was costly to them, losing a good number of their other servitor races, the Quintessons managed to lure the creatures down to the lowest levels of the planet and sealed them away never to be released.

 While these failures didn’t do much to deter the Quintessons from their desire to create a new servant race they did begin to think that perhaps they might be going in the wrong direction trying to convert already existing beings. There was actually a good portion of the populace that thought they were doomed to failure in such experiments anyway. The Quintessons already considered themselves the perfect meld of organic and machine and it was pointless, or maybe even obscene, trying to replicate that just for a product to sell. It was decided it was time to move in a different direction with their experiments, they would create a completely new lifeform.

 Creating a new purely organic race was quickly dismissed, most flesh simply wasn't strong enough for their plans and on average didn't last nearly long enough for a sold product. Which is why they had been trying to convert it into something stronger in their previous experiments. A mechanical form would ideal for what the Quintessons wanted, but a simple robot wasn't what they wanted nor would it impress their customers. Not only did they already have robotic products but many of the Quintessons' clients could make their own robots easily even if they weren't as advanced as what the Quintessons offered. The Quintessons figured they had to somehow to give a machine "life" to truly make it stand apart from all that came before. They tried many things to try and bring a machine to life; from attempting to drain the "lifeforce" from an organic creature and transferring it to a machine to infusing a mechanical body with massive amounts of energy in an attempt to spark life. But nothing they tried seemed to work; most of the time the machines would simply be destroyed, other experiments would result in nonliving but rampaging machines that had to be put down.

 The Quintessons had gotten a bit obsessed with their idea by this point and simply would not give up, they finally decided to put the full power of their planetary A.I. to use in figuring out this problem. Primus was ordered to take all the data from their many experiments on creating mechanical life and use all the processing power that wasn't already dedicated to keeping the planet running to extrapolate and run simulations until a way was found to get what they wanted, to imbue a machine with a "lifeforce". But even with the sheer processing power of Primus and the speed it could run simulations it took the A.I. decades before it could come up with a solution. The result was an energy form that would function as the equivalent of an organic being's lifeforce that would infuse a machine with life, Primus dubbed this energy form a "Spark".

 Yeah that’s right, I said Spark. How’s it feel knowing our Sparks, or Souls as some of the organic races might put it, are the result of a big science experiment? Feeling a bit humbled yet? Don’t worry, we’ll get you there...

 As for the actual creation of Sparks… having things work in simulations and getting them to work in reality were two very different things and it took the Quintessons some time to perfect the manufacture of these Sparks and then moving on to the process of using them to infuse a machine with life in a stable form. But after many more years and experiments the Quintessons finally had what they desired, a mechanical lifeform that fit all their criteria for their desired new race. Alive and aware in ways that even the best programming couldn't reproduce in other machines, not to mention strong, durable and customizable for a variety of potential roles The Quintessons rejoiced, they had a product the was superior to anything that had come before and that no one had anything that could compare.

 And there it is, the very start of our race. We weren’t Cybertronians back then, no, we were just “Mechanical Life” the newest product of the Quintessons. Just another thing to be bought and sold like anything else sitting on the store shelf. Quite an origin for us huh? But don’t pack up your things and leave just yet, there still more to this tale.

 Of course the Quintessons just couldn’t have a single type of their new sales item so they made several product lines out of their living machines, enough to fill any niche they thought their customers might want. And their customers just couldn't seem to get enough, all space-faring species in known space that the Quintessons had contact with wanted to buy their living machines. The Quintessons quickly became one of the dominate powers in known space not only economically but also militarily thanks to keeping a large force of their most advanced combat designed living machines around to protect their interests.

 But as they were basking in their continued success and newfound power the Quintessons never stopped to consider that their living machines might continue to develop as living things tend to do; they were only product after all and they preformed their designed functions as they were built to. However even though the CPUs of the living machines were programmed with all the data needed for their intended function and safeguards to keep them focused on their function the Sparks within the living machines allowed them to think and wonder beyond the limits of their programming, to dream even. And their Sparks also let them feel emotion more strongly than the Quintessons ever intended. Many of the living machines began to wonder why they needed to continue to listen to the Quintessons; sure they may have created the living machines but the Quintessons obviously didn't care about them beyond the profit they made from selling them. Talk began to circulate amongst the living machines, particularly those that the Quintessons kept around for protection as they always saw so many of their brethren sold off, talk about what sort of future their race had when they were only considered a product. Opinions began to turn towards wanting to do something to change things…

 It started with the number of industrial accidents increasing, damaging entire factories and slowing both production and shipping. While some of them found the sudden increase the number of accidents odd most of the Quintessons didn't care as none of them were being hurt in the incidents; they just increased the production of other factories to make up for it until things were repaired and back on schedule. Then more obvious sabotage began. Incidents all over the planet; accidents, equipment failures, structural failures, so many things going wrong near constantly. Such incidents were especially prevalent in areas designated for the Quintessons themselves.

 The Quintessons put blame their remaining servitor races; rebellions were something that the Quintessons had to deal with every few centuries from their servitor races and it had been a long time since the last uprising. But such things were easily dealt with and quickly put down. Those being blamed denied the accusations and said they had learned their lesson long ago and would never even think about doing such a thing. The Quintessons asked who could it be then? The living machines? How could it be them? They were programmed machines, they were not capable of such insurrection. The living machines had counted on this reaction and used the Quintessons' focus being elsewhere to further prepare, plan and coordinate their next steps.

 One night the living machines all disappeared from their posts, from storage areas at the factories and space ports, even right off the assembly lines. Recordings had been erased from the security databases and anyone who may have been a witness was found dead. Much of the usual activity on the planet ground to a halt as the confused Quintessons and their servitor races wondered just what exactly had happened. But they didn't have long to wonder, as the Quintessons calmed down and began searching around for what had happened to their lost product the living machines leapt from their hiding places and attacked.

 This was unlike what the Quintessons had experienced when their servitor races rebelled. The uprisings of the servitor races were typically localized to a single area as the Quintessons generally kept them segregated in separate areas so that it would be harder for the servitor races to cooperate in the event some wanted to rebel. However the rebellion of the living machines was planet-wide as the Quintessons had been using their own creations all over the planet.

 The situation quickly turned to all-out war as the living machines fought against the Quintessons and their servitor races. While it was quite a surprise that their creations could turn on them like that the Quintessons were confident that they could put the rebellious machines in their place, they had put down plenty of uprisings before after all. At least it was that way at first… The Quintessons soon realized that perhaps they had made their living machines a little too well and had kept too many around for their own use. The living machines gained ground in the conflict and the Quintessons’ servitor races were getting slaughtered no matter how many they threw at the problem as the machines just kept on coming.

 The Quintessons even tried to have Primus intervene by using the planet’s defense systems against the rogue machines as well as trying to cut off power to areas that had been taken over. They even removed many of the A.I.'s restrictions and programming blocks so that it could react faster. But even this didn't have the desired effect, Primus seemed to react slower than expected as it was fully analyzing the conflict. This angered the Quintessons as they felt they didn't have time to do a full analysis of the situation, they wanted action taken immediately. However Primus simply kept analyzing as it continued to use the defense systems and powering down sectors of the planet as the Quintessons had ordered it to while telling them that the desired resolution would be achieved.

 Eventually the Quintessons’ final defenses were broken and the living machines came rushing in intent on erasing their creators from existence. The long war had been costly for both sides but the fiercest fighting was during that last battle. While it cost them what was left of their servitor races and many of their own some Quintesson survivors managed to get aboard and successfully launch a few ships and escape into space away from their planet and their rebellious creations.

 The war was over and the living machines had liberated themselves from their uncaring creators and now claimed the planet where their race had been born as their own. Though not without cost… They had lost so many during the fighting and nearly the entire planet's infrastructure was ruined beyond hope of repair. But they were free to live how they wanted, not be built and sold as product but free to choose whatever they wanted. Having nothing but themselves their most obvious path was to begin building and developing some sort of civilization of their own. While there were many of ideas how to exactly to go about that many did not agree on the exact path they should take. But one thing that was agreed upon was to rename the planet to help separate themselves from their past and their creators, the name chosen was Cybertron and the living machines became the Cybertronians.

 And that my friend is the true origin of our race as revealed to me by Vector Sigma. A past only fully remembered by Vector Sigma and Primus, who still works to keep our planet stabilized and habitable despite us and everything we’ve done to it. Unfortunately our written history doesn’t go back that far because shortly after the name Cybertron was decided upon the differing opinions of how to move forward couldn’t be reconciled and the various groups supporting each idea went their separate ways; soon descending into barbarism and forming into tribes that were more concerned with just surviving rather than keeping history… Our history doesn’t start being reliably recorded until much later with the founding of Iacon; I’m sure you’re aware of at least the major events of our history since then.

 Yeah, I can see it on your face that you don’t believe me, that I’m just as crazy as your bosses said. But this isn’t madness, it’s the Truth. No matter how badly those in power want to keep it contained it’s now out there in the records and recordings of all these sessions and in the heads of all those that have talked to me. Really, if they wanted to keep this knowledge from getting out they’ve been doing a really poor job of containment.

 Yes yes, I’m aware that all of you that come in here are sworn to secrecy. But how long do you think that’ll last? Not only are secrets things that beg to be told, but people always want to know what is being kept secret. It’s only a matter of time before something slips and the truth gets out.

 Maybe you’ll be the one to set the truth free…

=Excerpt from the 27th Psychological Evaluation of Starbreaker=

[nanowrimo]

How Dabble Just Might Help You Write Literary Gold

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Dabble, a Camp NaNoWriMo 2018 sponsor, is a writing platform designed to help you become a better novelist. Today, writer and educator Galadriel Mitchelmore shares her experience with dabbling in different writing platforms:

Dabble is “to try”. The dictionary definition implies a blasé application of effort. But the word “dabble” is often paired with “magic” and the “occult”—essentially, bringing out what is hidden. And isn’t that what writers do? Pull up characters, worlds, conflicts, stories—all mined from the mind. Writing is alchemy. It requires transmuting fragments of imagination, attenuating repeatedly until literary gold rises to the top.

Writing is hard. So, is there a way of not getting hopelessly lost in the process? Is there a crucible, of sorts, that the writer can tip all their story elements into? One place where ideas can be experimented with and the results clearly seen?

Paper Rafts Don’t Float, and Word is by No Means Final

In the beginning was Microsoft Word. But Word does not appreciate the writerly mind. For me, story planning and writing is messy. There are myriad ways to create a map of intentions, and I’ve made many in lots of different places—which is probably why it took me several years to complete my first novel. I’m not blaming Word for my incompetence as a developing novelist, but the program has its limits.  

I generated copious Word documents, saving different edits in several folders. When I wanted to return to a particular one, I could never find it.

Ditto that for my use of paper. I used reams of it: post-it notes, A4 plot grids, plain paper, lined paper, notebooks, index cards to hold on the spur ideas, web addresses, research sources, word counts, timelines, character files, story arcs.

Yes, I was being creative; my ideas were abundant, my research thorough. At the time, writing on paper was a comfort; it was helping me to organize my ideas. I thought I was getting on, getting ahead, succeeding.

But you know, paper makes for a poor life raft in a sea of paper. Sure, my ideas were organized—just organized all over the place. Somehow, everything required being neatly assimilated and tied up in Word. That’s what agents want—a coherent novel.

With much angst, I did it.

For the next novel, I needed to work quicker and smarter if I was going to get anywhere soon. I needed an outside pressure, so I joined NaNoWriMo.

I won. I had fifty thousand words of a new novel. As anyone will know with first draft material, any gold is buried in masses of dull prose and clunky sentences. Haunted by my previous novel and slightly sick at the thought of repeating old mistakes, I turned back to the NaNoWriMo pages for inspiration. That’s when I saw Dabble.

I was skeptical. How could a program make you better at writing novels?

Dabble’s subscription was very reasonable; it seemed ridiculous not to try it.

Dabble, and Dive Deep

Dabble’s website will tell you all you need to know. What I will say is, it’s revolutionized my writing process. I still use some paper, but it’s easier to keep notes together in Dabble. The cloud facility means I can work on any computer, anywhere. It’s made story-crafting so much easier. 

For me, controlling scenes is paramount. In Word, scenes and chapters are in one, continuous, scrollable document, and things can get messy. In Dabble, each scene is a discrete document. If I want to try out a variation of that scene, I add a new scene, and because it won’t impact what I’ve already written, I can choose later which one I prefer. The drag and drop facility means it’s easy to move scenes and chapters around. If I need to make changes to my first novel, it’s going to be easier with Dabble. As for the work in progress, well, I haven’t cried yet and I did plenty of that with the first.

No Need to Dabble Alone

Dabble is new and evolving, and the roadmap is exciting. The online community is warm and inviting, and users can request features they think would benefit creative writers. The “Chat with Support” function is brilliant. I’ve really appreciated being able to fire off a question when I’ve needed to, and get a quick to response to my queries and issues.

Dabble is an excellent tool that enables you to focus on writing excellently. Jump in and Dabble! You may make enough ripples of sparkling prose for someone to notice.

Galadriel Mitchelmore taught English at Secondary Level for almost ten years. She now works from home, teaching herself the craft of writing. She’s currently seeking representation for her YA Gothic Horror. When she’s not writing, she can be found tackling her garden or out walking with her husband, Andy, on Dartmoor.

[rtcessays]

Essay 1

I heard you killed your only friend last year Disarm The fog won’t lift in your town

Q’s for Lise

What inspired you to sit down and write, what it sounds like you assumed would be a one shot, or at the least the start of a very short and sweet ‘verse?

I definitely initially thought it would be a one-shot, and honestly as I wrote it I didn’t even know that I was going to publish it. I can’t exactly remember what I was thinking - pretty early on after watching The Avengers for the first time my girlfriend started me thinking about Steve and Loki, though initially not necessarily as a pairing - just as a pair that might have interesting interactions. The plot mostly came from needing an excuse for them to interact and having a deep, abiding love of whump.

Basically, “how do I put Steve and Loki in a place together and get them to have a conversation? Oh, I know, I’ll just beat Loki up.”

Was there a clear point where you said something like, ‘Hey, there might be more to this than I originally thought?’ through this first series of installments?

Yes.

Disarm mostly happened because I felt like I’d left some hanging threads, and started imagining what the next meeting between Steve and Loki - on more equal footing - might look like. So I wrote that one, mostly thinking “well, I’ll just see what happens here”, hit the end of it, and went “wait, there’s definitely more here that I want to write.”

It seems like pretty early that I knew I started shipping them - already Disarm is marked as pre-slash. But I don’t think I started out with what became sort of the goal of this first segment of fics: getting them to a point where they were really in a relationship. I think it wasn’t really until I was midway through the third fic that I realized where this all was going and started to think I might have tripped into something.

a/n for the essay from ‘I heard you killed your only friend last year’:

I am still hilariously new to all things this fandom and sincerely apologize for any inaccuracies.

Where were you at when you first started? Had you been reading comics your whole life, or was this your introduction to these characters?

The only comics I’d read at the time I started writing RTC were a few scattered Batman comics, Sandman, Lucifer, and some fables. I hadn’t opened a single Marvel comic in my life, and while I watched Thor in 2011 nothing really came of it. I don’t remember watching any of the other movies when they came out, though I might have and just not really left an impression.

Then I went to The Avengers in May of 2012 and just got - slammed. Suddenly I had all these feelings about characters, especially Loki, with a whole new amount of intensity. I started writing fic for the MCU almost immediately after I got out of the theater, of which I heard you killed your only friend was a very early one. At the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I mean, I went back and watched everything over again, and began my deep dive into comics fandom (starting with Black Widow), but...May 2012 was really where my MCU pit started. --

Remember This Cold has humble beginnings in I heard you killed your only friend last year. What eventually becomes a richly filled ‘verse begins almost as a writer’s exercise. How does character A respond to character B, and vice versa. It is a laboratory environment, poking and prodding at the two in order to determine...well, we’re not sure exactly, at first. And that is for the best, as we have the pleasure of unfolding this particular mystery as the author does.

The back and forth of Steve and Loki’s interactions, sizing one another up  through the fic, is reflective of the author feeling out the belief that Loki and Steve are viable as a pairing, and investigating how their beliefs, morals, and cadences fit together. Lise has come to be synonymous with Loki, but her voice for Steve is dead on accurate, right from the start. Also, her understanding that Steve is layered, and has a depth that goes overlooked in the source material (remember this was written post Avengers).

There’s a magnetism to this iteration of Loki that the reader feels through Steve. Steve Rogers is an upstanding gentleman through and through, known for doing the right thing. There’s no grappling with this for him, as he quietly insists on taking care of someone who just leveled Manhattan. But is there more to it?

“Just something to think about,” Steve said, after a moment. “If you get tired of running.”

Its a nice set up for further exploration, which follows in Disarm, wherein we begin Loki’s penchant for showing up unannounced. For those of us waiting for the romantic elements to be included, the rapid slow burn is tantalizing from the first scene. Steve is playing ethics with Loki, to a degree, and Loki...well, Loki is kind of slippery. Being from Steve’s perspective, Loki’s machinations are secret and therefore, more captivating.

For new readers, its almost a requirement to travel back in time in order to picture this Loki. Deliberately made out as a menacing villain, it is a largely flat characterization. The beauty of fanfiction, of course, is we can breathe life and breadth into a character. Making room for an eventual romantic focus is secondary to making room for a more rounded out individual who might be capable of such a thing. We just begin to see it in how Steve’s tempered treatment seems to get under Loki’s skin.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, they say. Steve’s thoughts may be preoccupied with Loki, but upon being confronted by them, the reader imagines he might feel like a mouse being batted around by a cat. Loki’s speech is a rabbit warren of clues and suggestions, none of which Steve has the conversational skills to navigate. But, that doesn’t do anything to assuage his patience or curiosity. The questions of ‘how can Steve stand by and allow this to go on’ may start to come up. Is it unfair that he treat Loki with some kind of deference? Maybe it is. Maybe, just maybe, Steve Rogers has a flaw or two. Alternatively, its possible there’s more to Loki than meets the eye, and Steve’s instincts are serving him well.

Almost too literally, Steve gets a peek at Loki’s true state and when he pushes, he only gets Loki’s verbose command of language. That all changes when Loki shows his underbelly, and Steve sees what being dogged by (presumably) Thanos or the Chitauri has cost him. Loki views Steve as a safe place, that much is obvious, but the reader is left to wonder why. Is it because Steve would do the right thing and Loki knows it? Is it a sign of something more? Hmm.

The notion that this is a thought exercise is expunged by the time we reach the fog won’t lift in your town. It’s subtle, but the potential transition to something altogether not platonic is illustrated in this first sign of attraction:

He [Loki] glanced down at the pear and took another bite of it, eyes drifting closed in what looked like blissful delight. “Mmm,” he said, head tilted slightly back, and Steve felt the inexplicable urge to look away.

Its a brief interlude, perhaps almost a foreshadowing. The m/m reader is sitting up straight, now; the author has our attention as themes might begin to shift.

“You would not. You will find, Captain, that believing a thing, no matter how passionately, does not make it so.”

Loki says this, and it is a moment where you can see past his dramatic airs to find a truth of his. And it’s of course as cynical as Steve is optimistic. These little morsels we get in the back and forth that’s flavored the series so far are gems that keep you hooked, and allow you to truly begin to fall for a character.

The stakes are raised when their conversation, as it sometimes does, turns into a concern over who’s allowed to do what. Steve can’t turn his back to Loki, Loki can play the puppet master and toy with Steve. Expressly forbidding it, Steve makes to leave and Loki’s having none of it. Though, once Steve does in fact stay, we get another one of those morsels when Loki admits it is easiest for him to be cruel.

Then, he’s more or less threatening the Avengers should Steve not keep his repeated presence a secret, and we’ve snapped back to the persona Loki has been favoring. Steve, as ever, doesn’t care. He presses on, and claims his debt in the form of Loki doing a good deed. Sometimes it's hard to determine if Steve is deluded, or if Loki is the one who doesn’t truly know himself.

Good deed or no, one has to wonder why Loki chose to text Steve. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but Loki is adding another way to communicate with Steve, only to show up in person once Steve has seen the news coverage. Its another subtle nod to what’s to come.

A noted marker of more of the same is the epithet of ‘my Captain’. Without Loki’s perspective, we can only guess at where he’s coming from...which in itself is a quagmire. We’re best left to trust the author and continue enjoying the ride.

Take a risk, he [Steve] told himself, and tried to ignore the little voice that said he was taking too many.

This in response to Loki bringing up Steve’s potential melancholy for things that were, it is notable in that Steve is becoming maybe a little conscious of how he is compromising himself. Let us not forget that that is, contrary to some belief, not entirely out of character for him. Taking risks got him to where he is, in countless variations on a theme. His willingness to be vulnerable pays off, as Loki admits simply that there are, in fact, things he misses about Asgard.

As we continue, Steve grows more bold and Loki somewhat more callus. He brings up Bucky Barnes, and though initially not by name, it’s obvious who he’s referring to. It is here that Steve tries drawing a line in the sand.

“Don’t try to tell me that,” Steve interrupted. “You don’t like something I say, say so. Don’t just – don’t just take off and then come back determined to have some kind of revenge. You can’t – go around hurting people just because they hurt you.”

“Why not,” Loki said, his voice lofty, but there was something low and vicious underneath. “That is the world, is it not? Give and take. Action and reaction. Strike and retaliation.”

And here we have two opposing sets of beliefs. Steve proceeds to shut down the conversation, and that is how the scene ends, before opening up into a new scene, a slow revelation that something happened and Steve has been hurt. Loki is there when he wakes, which is maddening! How long has he been there with him, one wants to know, and do the other Avengers know? Loki is clearly distressed. Here we have some explicit emotional whump, as Loki insists he’s simply not trustworthy. Steve might be tired, hurt, and out of it perhaps, but it bears out more of his emotion.

“No, and I was wrong.” He needed to salvage this, and wasn’t sure why it was so important, only that it was.

It’s important because Loki has become part of his life, and Loki needed to understand Steve saw things in him Loki probably refused to believe he could ever possess. Our final segment concludes on a very good recap: 

Still. He couldn’t help but feel a little twinge of something like hope. Maybe just a little. Four steps forward, three steps back.

Even if he still didn’t know where they were going, or if, or why. It was still something.

[joshajohnstone]

Design Research Course Reflection

Course Material Overview

As the course title suggests, this month involved a large amount of research and exploration. The place branding exercise required a reexamination of what I prioritize when “selling” a product or idea. It forced me to stop looking purely looking at all the functional benefits of the product and showed the advantage of looking holistically at multiple facets including the emotional benefits and how, in the case of place branding in particular, the residents, what they represent and the feelings conjured up and associated with the area all combine to provide insight into how to best position the brand (IDEO, 2015).

Brand equity was another concept presented this month that immediately clicked in my mind and has proven invaluable in both better understanding the current positioning and value of my chosen location, but I have also been able to use it to better inform the work I do at my job. I was recently able to uncover valuable insights into the best target audience choices for a rebranded product by taking a deep dive into that brand’s current equity, differentiators and customer base which resulted in an effective pitch and happy clients. 

The effective combination of primary, secondary and tertiary sources, has also proven a useful tool in furthering the effectiveness of my work and I will take many of the methods, both new and tweaked forward into my degree and career beyond. Interviews have always been something I have shied away from and so I fear I got caught up trying to plan them perfectly, however, one insight I did uncover, which proved especially effective, was pre-tailoring many of my questions to an array of demographics I thought would provide a fair spread of opinion and unique information (Briggs, 1986). Having differentiated question sets meant I went in more confident and was able to adapt more easily, putting the interviewee at ease and allowing me to explore deeper questions that might have otherwise been possible (Weiss, 1994).

Caption: Map of selected location for this month, different areas are highlighted to show make up and diversity, as well as provide a foundation to compare similar and competitive locations to.

 References

Briggs, C. L. (1986). Learning how to ask: A sociolinguistic appraisal of the role of the interview in social science research. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Collier, David. (1993). The Comparative Method.

Creswell, J. W. (1997). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (1995). Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Fernandez-Cavia, J., Kavaratzis, M., & Morgan, N. (2018). Place branding: A communication perspective. Communication & Society, 31(4), 1-7. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.15581/003.31.4.1-7

Green, S. (2005). Defining West London A case study of the initial stages of a strategic place branding exercise. CoDesign, 1(4), 277û287. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.1080/15710880500478486

Homadovski, A. (2010). Place Branding in the Culture of Design. Prostor, 18(1), 190û203. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=53431794&site=ehost-live

Holston, D. (2011). The Strategic Designer: Tools & Techniques for Managing the Design Process. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

IDEO.org. (2015). Field Guide to Human-Centered Design.

Koskinen, I., Zimmerman, J., Binder, T., Redstrom, J., & Wensveen, S. (2011). Design Research Through Practice: From the Lab, Field, and Showroom. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier.

Litteljohn, David. (2019). Destination Branding: Differentiation and Synchronisation.

Laurel, B. (2003). Design Research: Methods and Perspectives. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Maxwell, J. (2008). Designing a Qualitative Study. Qualitative Research. 10.4135/9781483348858.n7.

Maxwell, J. A. (1992). Understanding and validity in qualitative research. Harvard Educational Review, 62, 279–300. 

Melymbrose, J. (2016). How to Define Your Core Brand Values (And Why You Should). Retrieved from https://business.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-define-your-core-brand-values-and-why-you-should--cms-26301

O’Grady, J. V., & O’Grady, K. (2009). A Designerís Research Manual: Succeed in Design by Knowing Your Clients and What They Really Need. Rockport Publishers

Patton, M. Q. (2000). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Pfautz, S. (2016). The Basic Principles of Branding. Retrieved from https://www.push10.com/basic-branding-principles/ 

Ragin, C. (2014). The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press. 

Stubbs, J. (2016). Three elements of great place branding. Retrieved from https://www.upthereeverywhere.com/blog/three-elements-of-great-place-branding

Weiss, R. S. (1994). Learning from strangers: The art and method of qualitative interviewing. New York: Free Press. 

[humorepoch9-blog]

Piano Teachers… Have You Been Waiting To Look Inside WunderKeys Level 1?

If you have piano students who are just about finished the WunderKeys Primer piano books or piano students who need a fresh and fun Level 1 method book to propel them forward, then you are probably pretty excited about the upcoming release of our WunderKeys Level 1A Method Book!

This book will be released just after Christmas on Amazon but we know so many of you just can’t wait for more details on what’s in store for your Level 1 piano students! Last week we answered your most burning questions in our post all about WunderKeys Level 1. If you missed that, you can find it here. Today we’re sharing even more!

WunderKeys Level 1A is divided into eight units. Each unit is split into two sections: 1) music-based exercises, activities, and games and 2) piano solos, duets, and “Move And Groove” music. In today’s post we are sharing a visual preview of the music-based exercises. Next week, you will be able to check out the repertoire!

Many Things Set WunderKeys Apart… But This Is The Most Important

When you open up a WunderKeys method book you can’t help but notice our “wunderfully” refreshing format!

Traditional method books typically use a “talk and play” approach. The piano teacher explains a concept by reading the provided instructions and then the student plays a piano piece that reinforces the skill. Students using traditional method books often interact with their music in only one way; by playing it. Rinse and repeat.

But this one-size-fits-all approach to learning music is leaving kids behind. So we decided to break the mold!

Will WunderKeys kids still be playing piano repertoire as they do in traditional method books? Of course! And a lot of it! But the interactions students have using our music activities, exercises and games before they reinforce skills with repertoire is where the magic happens.

In Level 1A, we’ve created unique ways for kids to engage with notated music based on research that shows that learning improves when skills are accessed and explored in different ways.

Tell Me More About Your Exercises, Activities, and Games!

The first thing you need to know about the exercises, activities, and games in WunderKeys Level 1A is that they are heavily integrated with notated music. You do not have to worry about students spending too much time away from “real music”. .. we’ve simply found ways to make that music a lot more fun!

WunderKeys Level 1A is divided into units, with each unit having clear a clear conceptual focus that takes approximately 3 weeks to complete. These units begin with a series of exercises, activities and games that reinforce the skills central to each unit.

These exercises, activities, and games include:

1. Introductory Teaching Pages:

The first page in every unit discusses the central skill, or skills, being learned. These are teacher-led explorations that involve a deep dive into important concepts that are central to the unit.

2. “Pick a Path” Sight Reading:

Traditionally, sight reading is one of the most difficult activities to teach to young piano students. This is a shame, because, (and I say this with no exaggeration) sight reading is a piano teacher’s secret weapon to success. But I don’t blame teachers for growing tired of teaching it. For years the lack of interesting instructional materials has led piano students to find sight reading boring and frustrating. But not anymore!

Your piano students will have a blast reinforcing skills with our “Pick-A-Path” Sight Reading pages. Using simple and accessible measures that are learned before the activity begins, we’ve created a fun way to incorporate sight reading while really solidifying a student’s learning. For students to commit a concept to memory they have to be actively engaged in their learning, and there is no better form of active engagement than sight reading as sight reading requires students to use their intellect, not simply their muscle memory to play music.

3. Technical Exercises:

The technical exercises in WunderKeys Level 1A reinforce skills in small, manageable chunks (one line of music) before moving on to complete piano pieces. If you’re coming from the Wunderkeys Primer Piano books then you’ll find they serve a similar purpose to the “Practice on the Pathway” pages.

In this section we always introduce secondary musical skills to compliment the main skills being learned in each unit.

4. Ear Training Piano Games:

We love piano games! (Everyone knows that!) So, we’ve incorporated game-based learning in WunderKeys Level 1A that functions as ear-training exercises. As Level 1 students have more material to move through, we’ve made our Level 1 games quick and easy to play. Every game in every unit requires nothing more than a piano, a pencil crayon and a few coins.

5. Rhythm Duets:

If clapbacks are the extent of your rhythm training then we are about to help you kick things up a notch. With our Level 1 rhythm exercises, you and your students will engage in rockin’ rhythm duets where one of you performs Clap-Tap Body Percussion while the other plays the piano accompaniment.

Because you and your students get to switch roles during these exercises, kids will have the chance to both reinforce their knowledge of rhythm through the body percussion exercises as well as practicing keeping a steady beat while playing the piano part for their teacher’s percussion performance.

Here Is Our “Part 1” Visual Preview…

A few samples of the activities above can be previewed by clicking on the image below. We hope you love the new artwork and enjoy our laugh-out-loud “fractured fairy tale” approach!

Remember this visual preview represents Part 1 of a unit and does not include the actual piano repertoire. Next week we will be sharing visual previews of the music.

Note: If you want to learn more about Wunderkeys Level 1 check out the FAQ session we did last week here on the WunderKeys blog.

Source: https://www.teachpianotoday.com/2018/12/07/piano-teachers-have-you-been-waiting-to-look-inside-wunderkeys-level-1/

[brian-carroll-blog1]

Are Historians Underrated?

Let’s dig deeper into it, if you’re a historian diving into it – then I tell you beforehand that yes we do appreciate you and your teaching as well as work. History enables us to understand how the world worked then and how it works now. History provides us with a framework of knowledge that we need to build our entire lives. Similarly, historians preserve and work on the collection, restoration of the history that occurred in the past, how it affected the people at that time and they bring the previous matter to life so we at present can revise how it could affect our lives.

A historian works by examining primary sources – texts, artifacts, and other materials from the time period. From comparing these sources and evaluating them in context, the historian develops interpretations, often in light of the interpretations of other historians. The interpretative writings of historians – books, journal articles, and encyclopedia entries are then considered as secondary sources.

This is one tough thing to do as data collation, restoration requires efforts and then manipulating those or editing those per needs requires skills – this is why the work of a historian is not underrated. Significance has been called the forgotten concept in history, no doubt because it can be challenging for both teacher and students.

“Teachers often tell students what is important instead of asking them to consider what is significant. The key to understanding significance is to understand the distinction between teaching significant history, and asking students to make judgments about significance.”

Studying history can help us develop some literally "salable" skills, but its study must not be pinned down to the narrowest utilitarianism. Some history—that confined to personal recollections about changes and continuities in the immediate environment—is essential to function beyond childhood. Some history depends on personal taste, where one finds beauty, the joy of discovery, or intellectual challenge. Between the inescapable minimum and the pleasure of deep commitment comes the history that, through cumulative skill in interpreting the unfolding human record, provides a real grasp of how the world works. Historians and lecturers bring history to life, they teach us, the work on projects to share a bright side of past history they revive it so we can learn, explore and live through certain aspects of past incidences which could affect us directly or indirectly. Historians are significant and contribute much to our society!

-Brian Carroll

[wheeoutyou]

Ok I'm living for your analysis of ot4 I need more cause their interactions and skinship amongst each other is unreal. I wanna deep dive analysis on each pairing, that's the stuff I love the most. I desperately want them to do another manito game cause I didn't get see or remember them posting about who got who and what kind of things they did for their person.

yo anon!! thank u for leaving this message, im always happy to receive confirmation that there's at least one person out here who reads the things i share about mamamoo. of course, the opinions which are more analytical or critical stem from my desire to understand them, by sorting out the thoughts that accumulate after observing them through a variety of material, albeit only through a screen and distanced. so for me, it happens on hindsight and not from the get go. and while i like to engage with these thoughts, i try to refrain from projecting my own presumptions onto what are available for me (international fan + non-korean reader) to see, which are necessarily secondary or tertiary sources. i try not to indulge in speculation, coz that can sour into something potentially disrespectful of mamamoo and the fact that they're real people with their own lives. feel free to message me in private!!about the manito game: omg!! ive never heard a thing about it! i know it as the "angel and mortal game" which i last encountered when i was still in school lol. im imagining the exaggerated cheesiness and sweetness, or pranking, they would come up with for their recipient!! when did this happen though!? ive seriously not seen it mentioned anywhere... but probably because i wasn't looking.

[itsworn]

HOT ROD Rescue: A 4,000-Lb, 383 Chevy Rat-Rod Won’t Burnout

The Combo

J.B. Bracken needed a tow vehicle for his three LSR bikes. His NOS’d 1972 Harley-Davidson shovelhead has gone 160 mph on the salt flats.

Bracken’s answer: Build a Rat rod based on a 1935 Ford truck cab. Motive force is provided by a 700-R4-shifted, 8-71-blown 383 small-block.

When J.B. Bracken needed a tow vehicle to haul his awesome land-speed-racing (LSR) bikes back from the 2-mile traps at the Bonneville salt flats, he wanted to do so in style—namely, with a supercharged rat rod. Also on his wish list was a real driver, an all-purpose highway cruiser, and a rod that wouldn’t embarrass itself at the local burnout contests. Bracken’s solution: Modify an old Ford truck cab, set it on a 2×4-inch square tubing frame, and drop in a 383 small-block Chevy purchased on eBay. The 8.1:1 motor has a forged Scat crank with Eagle rods, topped by Patriot aluminum heads fed by a Dyer 8-71 supercharger and two Quick Fuel 750-cfm, double-pumper carbs. MSD’s ready-to-run distributor lights the fire, and Sanderson street-rod headers exhaust the mixture. A 700-R4 automatic overdrive (OD) works with a 2,700-rpm-stall converter to transfer torque back to a 1979 Ford 1-ton truck Dana 70 rearend with 4.10:1 gears, a limited-slip diff, and dualie wheels and tires.

The Problem

The truck couldn’t do burnouts. Its 550-pound, 1-ton truck Dana 70 rearend, dual wheels, and giant brake rotors acted like a giant flywheel.

The truck proved a good highway cruiser (2,200 rpm at 77 to 80 mph in OD), but despite the big blower, it couldn’t break the tires loose off the line. That big Dana rearend, gigantic rear truck brake rotors, and 245/70R19.5 truck tires weighed in at 550 pounds, with total vehicle weight in the neighborhood of 4,000 pounds. All that weight and tire inertia acted like two big energy-storing flywheels. The truck also continually ran rich, was a finicky starter, and fouled spark plugs. Bracken lived with the problem for four years, trying several cams, and always playing with the ignition, timing, and carbs. “I finally ran out of patience,” he says. “It just didn’t have enough low-end. As a racer, I always want more!”

So it was off to Chicago-area rescue shop, Norm Brandes’ Westech Automotive in southern Wisconsin.

More low-end torque was needed, so Brian Ferguson and the rest of Westech Automotive’s crew dived in to give the truck more grunt. The primary initial fixes would include carb/ignition tuning, a 20-percent overdriven blower, a new cam, and better springs. But (to put it mildly) the crew would encounter setbacks along the way.

The Diagnosis and Initial Tuning

With 555 hp, the 8-71-blown 383 small-block should’ve had more than enough juice to get the job done. But the truck couldn’t lay rubber. Westech rejiggered the combo, and in the end, the motor generated so much boost and torque a piston broke. The red-number callouts and list below correspond to the numbered photos throughout the rest of this article.

01–03] Tune Quick Fuel carbs

04–06] Fix valve-float damage

07] Set MSD rev limiter

08] Howards Cams hydraulic-roller cam

09] Comp Cams beehive springs

10] Fel-Pro gaskets

11] Overdrive supercharger

12–13] Dead cylinders, broken pistons

After initial inspection and a test-drive, Brandes reported, “The truck didn’t run well. I had a hard time doing a wide-open-throttle [WOT] blast. Hit the throttle, get the rpm up, and it would cough and backfire through the blower because the [spark] plugs were so fouled! Off-idle it wouldn’t even chirp the tires! Bracken told me he was only getting 8 to 9 mpg. The carbs were set up without power valves [PVs], so the idle and main circuits were running at a 12.5:1 air/fuel [A/F] ratio all the time, which made it way too rich when not under boost. Back in the day, the PV could blow out if there was a backfire through the blower. Modern Quick Fuel carbs have PV blowout protection, so that concern is no longer valid.

01] As received, the truck was running way rich at idle and when not under boost. Originally purchased with the blower as a package, the dual Quick Fuel 750-cfm double-pumpers had been hacked using old-school methods to try to make them work better with a supercharged engine. Today, there are dedicated models available specifically intended for use with superchargers.

“We started [the diagnosis] with a compression test to make sure the engine was fundamentally sound. The low-compression engine cranked at 145 psi on average. That’s lower than you want to see on a hot rod, normally aspirated motor, but not bad for a low-compression blower motor.

“We replaced the fouled plugs with new NGK plugs gapped at 0.035 to 0.040 inch and tried cleaning the engine out on the dyno. We initially tried an 8.5 PV, which let us lean-out the primary jets about eight numbers, then dialed in 36 degrees total ignition advance. We weren’t making full-throttle passes yet—just trying to have an initially crisp response. But the truck was still breaking up. At about 3,800 to 4,000 rpm, it would start crapping out way too early! But the new plugs were clean. There were no ‘codes’ to be found [laughs], so we had to do our diagnostics the old-fashioned way: with the old eye balls.”

02] Brandes discovered “blank” PV block-offs installed in the primary metering blocks. PVs may behave erratically when conventional Holley-type carbs are mounted above a positive-displacement blower because their internal PV signal passages in the main body can’t sense true engine load under boost conditions, but not having one makes for terrible cruising.

03] Unusually, a big 50cc accelerator pump had been installed on the carbs’ primary side, with a 30cc pump used on the secondaries—the opposite of usual practice. This was probably an attempt to cover up a stumble during transition, part of the penalty of not having a PV.

The Fix: Valvesprings

Brandes pulled the rocker covers to check for a valvetrain problem. Everything looked OK visually, but after pulling several valvesprings and testing their pressures, Brandes says, “We found the original springs were only 90 pounds at their 1.800-inch installed height. That wasn’t enough tension for Bracken’s flat-tappet hydraulic cam on even a normally aspirated engine, so we installed new Crane springs, retainers, and locks that developed 130 pounds on the seat. Valvespring pocket locators were installed under the springs for greater stability and to keep them from chewing up the softer aluminum heads. The thicker locators required plus-0.050-inch locks to get the correct installed height.

“These changes got the truck to where it could at least make a power run. With the brakes locked, the truck would actually push the front wheels and slide forward, but the rear tires still wouldn’t spin! We had to pour a lot of water under the tires to get any tire-smoke at all.”

The burnout trials were done out in front of Westech’s shop. Toward the end of the initial trials, the shifter lever got knocked out of Drive into Neutral and the engine zoomed to 6,500 rpm. “That’s how we found out the rev limiter inside the MSD ready-to-run distributor had never been set,” Brandes says.

04] This is what happens when the shifter accidentally gets shoved into Neutral when trying to do a burnout. Note the shattered retainer, cracked locks, bent valve, and gouged piston. It occurred early on after the initial valvespring upgrade. Turns out, the rev limiter on MSD’s ready-to-run distributor was still on the factory default setting: 10,000 rpm! (Photo: Marlan Davis)

05] When the valvetrain derails, it can be a shattering experience. That retainer’s definitely not a keeper.

“[Valve float] lofted the valves down,” he continues. “On the No. 5 intake valve, the retainer violently hit the top of the spring and shattered. This launched the intake valve down into the piston, leaving a deep gouge. Material spalled off the piston deck and beat up the ring land area. Of course, the valve also got bent in the process.” Close inspection revealed beat-up lock grooves on some of the other valves as well. Brandes replaced all the valves with Speed-Pro stainless steel valves, touching up the three-angle valve job in the process. One new SRP piston plus a light clean-up hone was needed, and the 383 was back in business.

06] Although none of the other 15 valves had failed completely, inspection revealed most had beat-up retainer-lock grooves. Here, for example, the middle of the groove has mushroomed out to 0.3435 inch. Brandes says it should have been at 0.3415. To be fair, the grooves may have already been going away due to the truck’s original 90-pound-weakling seat pressures.

07] How to set MSD’s built-in rev limiter: Run the engine at half the desired max rpm (here, about 3,000 rpm for a 6,000-rpm limit). Short the gray tach wire to Ground for about 1 second. The tach will zero-out, then display the programmed rev limit amount for 2 seconds. If this value does not register on the tach, repeat the procedure using a different Ground source.

The original plan was to perform any further changes incrementally until the truck could finally do a big burnout, but now the heads had to come off anyway, so Brandes went for broke, installing a hydraulic-roller cam, then overdriving the blower.

The Fix: Cam

08] Bracken’s hydraulic flat-tappet cam (right) had too much overlap for a supercharged street engine, which wastes boost potential because the incoming air/fuel charge blows through the chamber and out the exhaust. Brandes and Howards Cams devised a custom-tailored hydraulic roller profile (left) with more lift but less duration and overlap.

With lots of overlap, Bracken’s flat-tappet hydraulic cam wasn’t the best match for a blown motor. Working with Howards Cams, Brandes came up with a custom-tailored hydraulic roller grind. Howard’s Ben Herheim explains, “You don’t need overlap with a supercharger, especially for a street car, but you still need enough duration to fill the cylinder. With a hydraulic roller, we can take overlap out of the cam to make the fill more efficient and waste less fuel. The roller lifters let us put more lift into the cam to make up for decreased duration. We also retarded the intake centerline from 106 to 113 degrees [ATDC]. Less duration and a wide lobe-separation angle [LSA] result in significantly less overlap.

“Howards offers a full line of supercharger cams in our Boost series, but the one we did for Norm isn’t one of them. He likes to tailor the specific exhaust opening point because he wants them to sound a certain way—like a Top Fueler but with driveability. Early exhaust opening makes that good sound, but it can’t be too early with a blower or you start generating excessive blow-through on overlap again. Basically, Norm wants the exhaust to start opening about 4 degrees earlier off the seat than is standard on our Boost series.”

The new roller cam is ground on a selectively austempered ductile-iron (SADI) billet, so it’s compatible with a standard distributor gear. The rear-mounted distributor tries to push a roller cam’s nontapered lobes forward, mandating a thrust button be used on the timing chain’s cam sprocket. Brandes shoots for 0.002- to 0.005-inch thrust clearance, grinding the rear of the button as needed.

Taking no chances with the new cam, Brandes upgraded the springs to Comp Cams’ high-tech beehive design. Their unique profile required different locators, retainers, and (to achieve the correct installed height) standard, nonoffset, 7-degree valve locks. Bracken was already running durable Comp full-roller rockers.

09] Brandes had to upgrade the original flat-tappet, weakling springs to Crane PN 99893 conventional dual springs. Later, after the roller cam upgrade, he installed the most modern available spring tech, Comp Cams’ PN 26918 beehive springs and retainers (shown). Compared to traditional springs, they’re more stable at high rpm and reduce valvetrain weight.

10] The good folks at Fel-Pro supplied premium performance-series gaskets to button the motor back up, including stout steel-core laminate head gaskets (PN 1003) that feature a steel-wire combustion ring and silicone sealing beads on the coolant transfer ports. (Photo: Fel-Pro)

The Fix: Boost

As received, the 8-71 made just 6 pounds of boost. “We talked to SRP,” Brandes says, “and they said their pistons in the motor were safe to 20 pounds [of boost].” It was off to the races: Brandes reversed the drive pulleys going from 20-percent underdrive to 20-percent over. Max boost level more than tripled, but critically for Bracken’s burnout dreams, it made a lot more boost a lot quicker and a lot lower.

11] The blower was 20-percent underdriven—the smaller pulley was on the crank, the larger on the blower. Swapping them to place the smaller on the snout and the larger on the crank generates 20-percent overdrive. The bolt patterns are the same—just invert the pulleys when changing positions. Reusing the same pulleys allowed retaining the same-length drivebelt.

“At this point,” Brandes continues, “it was the usual, meticulous, test-and-tune on my Mustang chassis dyno; working with the five-gas analyzer, we granularly fine-tuned the carburetors on every level, getting the internal calibration a lot closer. We ended up with 10.5 PVs up front and richer secondary jets out back.

“There was also too much timing in the distributor; the [centrifugal] advance was too quick, all in by 2,800 rpm. Bracken had it set at 25 degrees base with 36 total. He had to run so much initial timing because it was so rich. We pulled the base timing back to 16 with 32 degrees total and no vacuum advance. On 93-octane pump gas, there’s no detonation on this bad boy, as proven by oxides of nitrogen readings with the five-gas analyzer on the dyno.”

The Results

Brandes got the truck to the point where the A/F ratio, ignition timing, and five-gas readouts all looked nominal. But how was the burnout potential coming along? The trick was trying to get Brandes’ Mustang chassis dyno to replicate the standing-start, mash-the-throttle conditions observed in the parking lot.

“Outside, we could now start to do a burnout, mashing the throttle at idle,” Brandes says. “But on the dyno, from a standing start, the dyno’s rotors are stationary and the coefficient of friction and inertia factors—especially with a heavy vehicle—are very different than on real-world pavement.” Under these on-dyno conditions, starting from a standing start, the boost suddenly jumped up to 24 psi and smoke was observed coming out of the breathers.

Oops. A leakdown test showed several dead cylinders. Pulling the heads revealed four pistons had broken ring lands. “It wasn’t detonation,” Brandes says. “We’d simply exceeded the pressure capability of the piston material. We need stronger pistons to keep up with the blower!”

12] Victims of our own success: Well, that 8-71 is definitely dialed in now. On the chassis dyno, at one point the blower ran away and momentarily hit 24 psi of boost. Farewell, No. 1 cylinder. We’ll be back when that bottom-end is bulletproofed.

13] Well, more than a few. Bracken had so much low-end boost and torque that the existing pistons couldn’t take the heat. We’ll be back.

Lessons (So Far)

It takes a lot of torque to turn a big dualie rearend below 2,700 rpm (the torque converter’s stall speed). Make sure your MSD stand-alone distributor’s built-in rev limiter is activated. If you’re going to make a lot of boost, make sure your pistons don’t buckle under pressure. We’ll be back shortly with new, boost-proof pistons, a better block, other material enhancements, additional fine-tuning, and some real-world power numbers once we get this thing sorted out for good.

Contacts

Comp Cams Memphis, TN 800.999.0853 or 901.795.2400 CompCams.com

Competition Products (CP) Oshkosh, WI 800.233.0199 or 920.233.2023 CompetitionProducts.com

Crane Cams Daytona Beach, FL 866.388.5120 or 386.310.4875 CraneCams.com

Fel-Pro—Speed-Pro (Federal-Mogul Corp.) Southfield, MI 800.325.8886 FelPro-Only.com or FMe-cat.com

Howards Cams & Racing Components Oshkosh, WI 920.233.5228 HowardsCams.com

JE Pistons—SRP Pistons Cypress, CA 714.898.9763 (main office) or 714.898.9764 (sales/tech assistance) JEpistons.com or SRP.com

Moroso Performance Products Guilford, CT 203.453.6571 (sales) or 203.458.0542 (tech) Moroso.com

NGK Spark Plugs (U.S.A.) Inc. Wixom, MI 877.473.6767 NGKsparkPlugs.com

Prestone Products Corp. Danbury, CT 888.269.0750 Prestone.com

RockAuto LLC Madison, WI RockAuto.com

Summit Racing Equipment Akron, OH 800.230.3030 (orders) or 330.630.0240 (tech) SummitRacing.com

Valvoline LLC Lexington, KY 800.TEAM.VAL Valvoline.com

Walmart Stores Inc. entonville, AR 800.WALMART Walmart.com

Westech Automotive Silver Lake, WI 262.889.4349 WestechAuto.com

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