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x-lee-cya · 9 months ago

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maybe-hot-take here: cc!cuphead and mugman, or at LEAST cc!mugman, both think themselves to be bad people.

think about it. mugman, in the morality debate w the devil, literally SAYS, OUT LOUD, the scenario of thinking he’s in the right when he’s not that he himself is now stuck in. now, i’m not saying with this that cc!mugman isn’t arrogant and DOESN’T have a god complex of some kind a mile long, because it’s plain by now that he DOES — but being arrogant and thinking yourself better then others doesn’t equal into actually, genuinely thinking that the things you do and the actions you commit are unequivocally, morally good.

Look at the morality debate another time;

(credit, obviously, to brightgoat, former owner of casino cups)

now, we COULD focus on mugman’s reaction & all that, but i want y’all to look at the spades card. what’s its reaction to the devil’s card popping up? defensiveness, crouching down as one would do in a fight, all hallmarks of the fight that while the debate may SEEM civil, going by the (fairly obvious, i’d say) assumption that the cards are connected to devil’s & mugman’s emotions. look at the spade (& clubs) cade when the devil says “nonono, we’re talking about you-”

the spade card is disarmed, frightened. the club’s, on the other hand, is just surprised.

but let’s move on from that small detour for a bit. what does mugman say in the second ss? “A villain does not always need bad intentions, some bad people don’t think of themselves as bad, what makes a villain is their actions.”

and the devil replies with [paraphrasing] “doesn’t that make you the villian?”

and mugman replies with the fancy-people equivalent of “yes, but”. now, we may not ever know just what EXACTLY mugman would’ve said after that “but”, but i wager we can guess at what he might’ve been about to say. “we recognised our actions as wrong but i never said our actions weren’t wrong, i said that we had a morally good REASON, therefore making us NOT the villains in that specific scenario.” now, is there a multitude of OTHER things that mugman could’ve said there ‘fore the devil cut him off? yes, yes there are. but to make my point here, i’m going to go off of the assumption that THAT is what mugman was going to say.

the devil next said, “Villains can still recognise their actions and commit them, Mug.” mugman doesn’t respond to this remark; instead deflects with the fact that the devil’s evolution of the scenario/situation isn’t fair bc it doesn’t consider the context. i’ll get back on that l’il remark later, but the devil’s response is to IMMEDIATELY say [again, paraphrasing] “But it’s your debt we’re talking about here, don’t try and deflect off of the previous conversation.” when mugman says “no, this is about the debtors,” that’s a plain lie, because YES, the convo/debate began by talking about the debtors, but it evolved into a conversation/debate on whether the BROS were being morally good during the events of the game, so it IS about mugman’s debt. mugman & cuphead’s debt, technically, but both the devil & mugman’re ignoring that during that portion of the convo, so we’re ignoring it aswell.

strawmanning. what’s the definition of strawmanning? from goofle: “Straw man occurs when someone argues that a person holds a view that is actually not what the other person believes. Instead, it is a distorted version of what the person believes. So, instead of attacking the person's actual statement or belief, it is the distorted version that is attacked.”

when the devil says that mugman is strawmanning here, he is, as far as i can tell, right. mugman is strawmanning here; he clearly doesn’t entirely believe in what he’s saying, based purely off of how SURPRISED he is when the devil calls him out. i can say, from personal experience, that that isn’t how a person who truly believes in what they’re saying reacts when someone accuses them of lying - if they DO truly believe in what they’re saying/that what they’re saying is true, then getting told you’re lying WHEN YOU’RE NOT is incredibly frustrating. you don’t get caught-off guard, caught-out; you get angry, you get frustrated, and what a person normally does at being accused like this is either double down on their side of the argument, or they just drop the topic altogether because it frustrates one too much to continue interacting with someone who won’t believe them.

mugman does neither of these. what he does do is feebly try to deflect, deny, and move the debate back to the topic the whole thing BEGAN with- the debtors, & the devil accusedly taking advantage of people with his deals- and when that fails and devil turns to dice, the (obviously biased; i’m sorry dice ily but c’mon, you can’t deny he was) judge of the debate, for support and dice gives it, what does mugman do?

he stops trying to argue his point, and while yes, giving in and letting the other person win IS as i said a sign of someone who truly believes in what they’re saying, but here it’s obvious that that’s not the case. mugman, here, is giving in purely because he KNOWS he’s been caught-out, and there’s therefore no point trying to argue for something he doesn’t believe in.

but what exactly in that argument does he not believe in? the fact the debtors were taken advantage of in their deals? he definitely and wholeheartedly believes in that, even if not exactly in the way he presented it as to the devil, purely because if he hadn’t he wouldn’t’ve started that debate IN THE FIRST PLACE. so he believes in that, at least. so is the thing mugman doesn’t believe in - himself? does he not believe in the morality of him and his brother?

does he not think that he, himself, is morally good? if so, does he believe that he is morally BAD, or does mugman simply believe that he isn’t morally good? i wager he believes the former.

let’s take a quick look at Mortal Blues, aka the “Mugsy’s Mental Breakdown” comic strip(s).

here, we see mugman act the most arrogant we have ever seen him act in the entire 'verse of casino cups. he is flaunting his accomplishments in the middle of an honest-to-god mental breakdown and is clearly saying it all more to himself then to quadratus, saying it all aloud as a way to reassure himself that he deserves more, he deserves to know, he deserves to KNOW. so, clearly, he should ALSO be assuring himself of his morality, his goodness—yet he doesn’t mention it once in his list/rant about his 'accomplishments' (or more accurately, traumas).

he lists fighting satan himself, dying and coming back over and over and over again, and he rants about the injustice of it, about how he deserves more then this. how he deserves to know. he lists these things, in my eyes, as a way to reassure himself that he DOES deserve it, he’s done more then enough in his life to be deserving enough, to be powerful enough to know, so it’s only logical that he’d list off his moral goodness alongside all those other things: he’s above LUCIFER HIMSELF in his morality even if not in knowledge, he’s steadfast, he doesn’t break in his beliefs whether by actions or words, he is GOOD where so many other people aren’t-

but he doesn’t say anything of the sort, simply because it wouldn’t be true - or at least, deep down, he doesn’t THINK it’s true.

now, i’m not here to argue about whether or not mugman truly IS morally good or not (because in my genuine opinion, cc!mugman’s morality is more neutral then either good OR bad in my pov for reasons ill prolly expand upon in some other post someday); i’m just here to argue that mugman believes himself to be morally bad. and really, when you look at it all pilled up together, well—the evidence’s kinda hard to miss.

tl;dr: CC!Mugman Has Issues & Desperately Needs Therapy, Here’s (One Of) the Reasons Why

#xshim speaks #xshim’s metas #cc #casino cups #casino cups meta #meta #mortal blues #cc!mugman #cc!the devil #ch #cuphead #cuphead au

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megabuild · 9 months ago

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hey megabuild can you elaborate on the complicated feelings re: bdubs apologizing to tango thing because I too have feelings about it that are complicated and i either need you to confirm I'm insane, confirm I'm not insane or make my insanity feel more enabled

(cracks my knuckles loudly and uncomfortably) the number one c!bdubs defender has logged on for another take hated by all

i think the most key thing to take away from this interaction is not that bdubs is being manipulative and dishonest but that it very clearly lays out the main issues with tuff guys' ability to function, that is, they all have different goals and ideals of what an alliance should function as, but also they have far too much baggage and history that they are all either unable to or unwilling to move on from.

looking at this conversation and taking it at face value- that is, bdubs went in with the intent to manipulate and lie, and then immediately caved when called out- is extremely uncharitable at best when similar behaviours from other players (such as scar) is often handwaved away as them playing the game correctly or exhibiting trauma responses. why these players are afforded such leniency while bdubs never is.. well, that's simply a mystery because i can't think of anything that immediately and obviously might set bdubs aside from the majority of his peers (hint: there is.). this coupled with the fact that bdubs has spent the first two sessions making genuine, if extremely flawed attempts at communication and problem-solving (see: horse discourse, which DID actually work though only after etho defused and approached it on his own terms, and the formation of tuff guys, which is an extremely flawed plot but also tackles the main issues at the core of the alliance- etho's commitment issues, tango's fear of betrayal, and bdubs' reputation) and i find it extremely difficult to believe that this conversation is entirely made up to gain some sort of leverage, because by saying that one must imply that retroactively both of those prior conversations were also probably in part manipulation- at which point we're painting bdubs as a multi-session plotting mastermind and that's just not who he is.

reading over the transcript there's a few key points that i think are really important-

bdubs comments that he's truly apologising, because he apologises in last life (poorly, but still) right after the matter, saying "he's sorry, but he had to". not in any way justifying his treatment of tango in last life, because moments before he also calls him fodder, but this gives us some insight into what bdubs is thinking- that is, it is likely he DOES feel genuinely bad about tango, or at least is able to acknowledge that they need to resolve their prior conflicts if they have any hope of succeeding. otherwise, there is little point in bringing such conflict to the forefront of tango's mind; that's manipulating him in the wrong direction by reminding him of his past traumas and giving him more ammo against bdubs. strategically i cannot understand why he would do this (outside of from a creator standpoint having more drama to mess with, because cc!bdubs is known for this, but if i get into the very murky territory between cc and c here it'll stretch everything out a million miles longer).

bdubs also barely gets a chance to defend himself after his initial apology is not accepted- tango is the one who builds up a "self reflection hole", both immediately dismiss it as manipulation (they are the first ones to suggest this, not bdubs!), and they pick on small tells such as him not having his head down and smiling as proof that he isn't genuine. indeed, when bdubs goes into the hole he asks them to come up with a plan since he won't be leading them, and tango openly laughs at them, signalling to Me that there was never any chance of genuine communication; tango has already made his mind up from the get-go that this is bdubs fucking with him and is unwilling to take it any further. (the phrase "i'm not going to perform my rock bottom for you for the sake of being believed" comes to mind.) it's only after this sentiment is echoed (more unsurely) by etho that bdubs gives up. at no point does bdubs add anything of his own to the conversation past this, he only agrees with what tango and etho are saying about him. with his attempt at communication having failed he defers to "yes and"-ing all the negative things they are saying about him. when bdubs has just spent most of secret life imo proving that he doesn't need to be dependent on others after being dismissed as such for multiple seasons, i think that immediate rejection of his independence and ability to stand up for himself must sting, a lot.

I know they're his teammates but jesus christ he could not have picked worse people to do this with. every character can be assumed to be extremely traumatised as is the nature of the game but etho and tango both have severe issues with communication and trust, both of which stem in part from bdubs' actions in last life (which again, i will defend him to the grave but that was fucking insane of him.) tango on the whole, however, is a character to me defined by his bitterness, especially in WL where he's acting out and being openly cruel to others (which given his previous experiences is honestly understandable). his immediate dismissal of bdubs is exactly what i would have expected of him given everything right now. meanwhile, etho is more cautious and unsure, only committing once he has tango's backing, because despite his issues with bdubs he has more reason to believe him (see: horse discourse once again) and also he's just extremely insecure. go girl.

little to say on this point but the bravado he exhibits after being dismissed also to me reads in line with other bdubs moments where he's putting on a show- he isn't gloating about pulling the wool over their eyes or laughing about how quickly he was found out, he's just.. bigging himself up for the sake of it? i don't know exactly how to word this point but i hope you understand.

tl:dr; i don't think bdubs is intentionally trying to manipulate people here, though i also don't think his timing and choice of apology was especially well-thought out; he's making a lot of attempts at genuine communication this season, for better or for worse, but it's coming from a place of recognising the necessity for it if he wants to get anywhere rather than a sign of genuine emotional growth. and while i wish they could have heard him out i do not fault etho or tango even for a second for assuming it was a ploy.

#liau #asks #bdubs #wl #meta #i have not had the brain to do anything recently but i forced myself to get something about this down #before tomorrow makes it irrelevant

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wyverndreamers · 1 year ago

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WARNING for extensive talk about the dsmp and the characters in it !! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH CC'S THIS IS PURELY STORY BABBLE

loving the dsmp revival going on rn (maybe it's only on twt but i don't post on twt, so sorry for dsmp posting on this account) but i really don't like how a lot of the 'revival' is bringing back a lot of c!tommy's mischaracterization as a whole. i can understand the URGE to smooth him out, into something malleable and kind of babied, because for a while there he was just seen as this really annoying character in fandom spaces pertaining to the dsmp, but i see this urge around the internet to turn tommy into a 'perfect victim' with his trauma when that's just not true at all. i say this as a c!tommy enjoyer, i used to watch his pov's RELIGIOUSLY and i say this as someone who has an appreciation for his story and hate to see it cheapened by this constantly crying, blue sweater wearing blonde baby i see on my TL a lot. apart of what made c!tommy compelling is that at certain points he was very petty, and abrasive. he would act on impulse, and not always in a good way. a lot of the time, yeah it did good in the long run, but in the moment a lot of the stuff he does are stupid impulsive decisions that could've ended in FAR worse scenarios. people really like to hold up his trait of loyalty but completely ignore that his loyalty to a fault always came with a subtle sense of ENTITLEMENT that they were supposed to do right, because he was following him, kind of like how a child would be mortified seeing their parents doing something socially wrong like yelling at someone else. and a lot of people in the fandom actually LIKE this aspect of his character, but mostly because it can add to their characterization of him that is of inherent helplessness and childishness. and its usually painted as a good, pure trait to have, fully ignoring how a lot of his childishness is actually willful ignorance- especially in the face of his actions and how they'll effect people around them. he might bend eventually and mutter out a sorry, but that's not something he really WANTS to do. tommy is someone usually fully fixed in his own perspective and you can especially see it in the way that almost every other character at some point gets irritated at him FOR this in certain places in the narrative. and a lot of people would actually have you believe this is a good thing, because they actually view tommy as always having a perfect perspective on everything all the time. they think because he's the closest thing we have to a 'morally correct protagonist' that he is inherently morally correct and thus should be worshipped like the next messiah that will lead the revolution against the evil-doers. except, tommy just does not have that inherently morally correct perspective. yes he wants to do right, but his sense of 'right' is not always what is 'good'. bro literally tipped the initial domino that led to Doomsday happening, and that's not to say that anything that happened because of him burning down George's house was his fault (quite the opposite) but he also knowingly burnt down George's house knowing that George was friends with Dream, and having the full knowledge of what they could do at least to the extent of the L'manberg revolution where they literally had a traitor on the in betray them all. he recklessly incited George's (and again by proxy, Dream's) wrath because he did a reckless action. it's okay to call this behavior reckless and brash guys, that doesn't mean you're saying he deserved to be exiled. i could go on, but again i say this as an enjoyer of the c!tommy storyline and arcs he goes through. i just don't appreciate it when the thing that made his character so compelling, is cheapened down because the fandom cannot fathom the idea of liking a character that responds in complex ways to complex traumas. maybe some people relate too hard, IDK i just don't understand how you can praise a character for being human and then take out everything that MAKES the character feel so human sorry if this wasnt constructive or coherent, i didn't beta read my tumblr post

#dream smp #tommyinnit #c!tommy #dsmp #god i had to get this off my chest #IM SORRY APHMAU ENJOYERS #THIS WAS A JUMPSCARE FOR ME TOO #THIS ISNT WHAT MY ACCOUNT WAS MEANT TO BE FOR #but i had to put this somewhere

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genevawrenn · 1 year ago

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I have so many thoughts surrounding what Fit and Bagi discussed about Phil on stream today, then Fit's realisation it might be the Ender King.

First of all; FitMC, you chef above the rest, you fucking cooked today.

Second I think Fit was our best chance of that connection being made because he is the one Phil has confided in the most besides his own kids. Fit was the person he grabbed when he was convinced he was seeing things. He told the anarchist about the birdhouse plot. He brought him *again* when he saw things his kids didn't see.

Fit, is quite possibly, the only one outside his immediate family that knows the most about the crow and he knows something is wrong.

And of course this is happening the moment before he is also being dragged off to his own mission, but he can't help but worry about Phil's kids alongside Ramon and Pac.

Because Chayanne seemed genuinely worried and Fit took it seriously. He knew something was wrong the moment he saw the duckie-wearing dragon child and how he was snarky but sorrowful with responding where their father is. Tallulah told him she's had better days, and you can tell the moment he focuses up.

[And its delicious. Whenever those cc's focus in, I sit up straight cause its so impressive.]

Fit has some of the most regular content on that server. He sees things and records them, filing them away for later in case he needs that knowledge.

So the moment it clocks in that Phil is being weird enough his children are being outspoken, he engages. They took him aside, especially, and opened up more to their Tio Fit than I have ever seen [except maybe Tallulah with BBH, who now has amnesia, and Bagi, though misguided has a good heart (thinks Phil is a Federation experiment)].

And he's made the best connections using his past knowledge and experiences.

Bagi helped with showing the crying obsidian and comparing it to the markings that spread across Phil's shoulders and back where the backpack hung, and I think that's when it clicked for Fit.

But he didn't want to tell Bagi because he isn't certain and perhaps he remembers Phil stressing this 'him' is dangerous. But the similarities have started to snap into place; especially with crying obsidian being a marker of the End Dimension, or at least drawing his thoughts that way.

Basically at the end of all of this; Fit had the best damn shot of making the connection based on lore from months ago and I am so fucking glad he did cause at least another Islander finally has a name for the fallen god chasing their crow.

I hope to God he or Ramon share this knowledge with another trustworthy source if an emergency comes up [Hoping on Bagi, Etoiles, Cellbit and Pac]. I have never been more proud to call that beautiful bald man one of my streamers, Veteran's Duo understand each other on a level no one else comes close too.

Yes they have their own important secrets. But, when they are themselves, they will trust one another to protect anyone effected if it becomes dangerous. It's been them since Day 1, between the regular visits and missions Fit is the closest brother in arms Phil has.

Despite the crow believing no one will care nor want to get involved due to the danger, Fit, Pac, Bagi and their families are all ready to prove them wrong. Phil sees himself as removed from the rest because he can be rather blind to affection and fondness, his self-blame not allowing him to acknowledge he is cared about.

But he is. And by Goddess will that server prove it, with Fit and Ramon at the front of the pack.

#wrenrambles #wrenwriting #qsmp #qsmp fitmc #qsmp phil #qsmp chayanne #qsmp tallulah #qsmp ramon #qsmp pac #qsmp bagi #ender king #qsmp lore #qsmp text post #qsmp liveblogging #qsmp etoiles

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offtorivendell · 1 year ago

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The Asteri, the Daglan, and Prythian's Court System

Disclaimer: this is a stupidly massive crack theory that could end up being disastrously wrong. Oh well.

Spoilers: the ACOTAR and CC series to date (I'm halfway through HOFAS right now, slowly plodding along, so nothing beyond that).

Image from ACOSF, Kindle edition.

Buckle up for some more of my nonsense! I think I could have discovered why Prythian's land has the Court and High Lord Systems. This theory still has a couple of wrinkles to iron out, but it's plausible, so I figured I'd share what I've got.

A massive thank you goes to @ladynightcourt3 and @psychologynerd for our chat yesterday morning, which led to this post. I love you guys! 💜

Full warning that this will A) be absolutely cracked, and B) contains Maasverse spoilers, including from HOFAS (up to around 40% I think), but I was mulling over what I'd read so far and this popped into my mind.

Part 1 - The Court System

Bryce made, I think, one hell of an assumption when she said the following in HOFAS:

Vesperus, the only Asteri left on this world, lay dead. - CC HOFAS, chapter 26

@wingedblooms and I have previously theorised that some of the barren regions in Prythian may be so because the death gods were trapped there, drinking the magic of the land, rendering it spent - lifeless - and possibly unable to power up a gateway to an interstellar rift. We both also think it's very interesting that one Elain Archeron was referred to as “a rose bloom in a mud field,” but I digress.

However, in HOFAS, we learnt that there was a Daglan/Asteri, called Vesperus (who considered herself the Evening Star and their god), trapped in a crystal coffin far below the Prison, which was once a land of Dusk.

The female’s long nails scraped along the lid of the coffin. She didn’t look at them as she tested the lid for weaknesses. “I am your god. I am your master. Do you not know me?” - CC HOFAS, chapter 24

It's interesting, no, that the region was named after the Daglan who ruled it? Was this common practice? Because we just so happened to learn, in Feysand’s ACOSF bonus chapter, that there was once an ancient Night Court goddess named Nyx.

You know, their son's namesake? Yikes. 🫣

“You may call me Vesperus.” The creature’s eyes glowed with irritation. “Are you related to Hesperus?” Bryce arched a brow at the name, so similar to one of Midgard’s Asteri. “The Evening Star?” “I am the Evening Star,” Vesperus seethed. - CC HOFAS, chapter 25

Silene, Theia's second daughter, who “escaped into the night,” gave us further information that appeared - to me, at least - to be incomplete. Or perhaps inaccurate? She had been taught by her mother, so she could have been fed certain things as facts. For example, was the land of Prythian really divvied up into seasons and times of day before the Daglan came to town?

The land strengthened. It returned to what it had been before the Daglan’s arrival millennia before. We returned to what we’d been before that time, too, creatures whose very magic was tied to this land. Thus the land’s powers became my mother’s. Dusk, twilight—that’s what the island was in its long-buried heart, what her power bloomed into, the lands rising with it. It was, as she said, as if the island had a soul that now blossomed under her care, nurtured by the court she built here. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

The Cauldron was of our world, our heritage. But upon arriving here, the Daglan captured it and used their powers to warp it. To turn it from what it had been into something deadlier. No longer just a tool of creation, but of destruction. And the horrors it produced … those, too, my parents would turn to their advantage. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

My sister and I grew older. My mother educated us herself, always reminding us that though the Daglan had been vanquished, evil lived on. Evil lurked beneath our very feet, always waiting to devour us. - CC HOFAS, chapter 19

Reading between the lines, I think it's just possible to link the powers of each land with the Daglan who once ruled over them. Perhaps each region - each “precursor” to a modern day Court - had a Daglan/Asteri buried underneath a barren peak, or in a body of water? Is this why the lands have frozen seasons, pools of starlight*, or powers based upon the light of the time of day? Because of a monster buried far, far below the surface?!

*Is there a Daglan entombed in a crystal coffin far below the surface, or is it a cache of firstlight, one that may be refuelled each Calanmai? Or, as @psychologynerd has suggested, is there a Made object of power that will draw Elain to the Spring Court?

Our home had been left empty since we’d vanished. As if the other Fae thought it cursed. So I made it truly cursed. Damned it all. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

Despite my efforts to hide what this place had once been, a terrible, ancient power hung in the air. It was as my mother had warned us when we were children: evil always lingered, just below us, waiting to snatch us into its jaws. So I went to find another monster to conceal it. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

I left, wandering the lands for a time, seeing how they had moved on without Theia’s rule. They’d splintered into several territories, and though they were not at war, they were no longer the unified kingdom I had known. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

As a quick aside, I still suspect that Fionn may have been a Daglan - or similar, perhaps an Under King - who tricked Theia into thinking him a normal faerie and used her to overthrow his peers in order to gain more land for himself. It seems exactly like something a rogue Asteri would do.

Like I suggested earlier, could each region be named for its ruler? Because the names of at least one of the Midgard Asteri was, shall we say, coincidentally similar to the Daglan of Prythian, and others appear to match at least the solar courts.

Solar:

Dawn - Eosphoros

Day - Rigelus

Dusk - Hesperus

Night - Sirius

Seasonal (incomplete/unsure/probably incorrect):

Spring - Austrus?

Summer - Octartis?

Autumn - ?

Winter - Polaris?

As I said, the Midgardian Asteri don't perfectly match up to the seasonal Prythian courts, but it's too close to not consider as a possibility, imo.

Perhaps the lands of Midgard were broken up into solar regions and something else that wasn't seasonal? But given the Vesperus/Hesperus competition... maybe whatever species Asteri and/or Daglan are are strongest when travelling with a full complement of powers? And each "clan" (for lack of a better word) that travelled together had dawn, day, dusk, and night “lights,” as well as spring, summer, autumn and winter lights? Could it weaken them to be without a full cohort of powers? As @ladynightcourt3 said, it would explain why they were so upset about Sirius. Could Rigelus be hoping for a replacement to find them and return them to full strength, and that's why he keeps an empty throne?

Part 2 - The High Lords

No one knew that the infant who sometimes glowed with starlight had inherited it from me. That it was the light of the evening star. The dusk star. - CC HOFAS, chapter 21

An Asteri being buried under each Court could explain the high lord magic as well.The HLs are “a different breed,” per Lucien. Did the Asteri/Daglan need a Starborn Fae who is predisposed to holding, or withstanding, their magic? If this is the case, it would explain why the next in line to inherit the power - or who the magic chooses - isn't always a direct descendant of the previous high lord. Does it pass to the Fae with the strongest Starborn blood? And why the mountain shook when Mor got her first period. There has to be a Daglan/Asteri buried under the Hewn City.

That being said, why is it only men who can inherit the magic, and not women, especially when we now know that high ladies used to exist? Did Theia's betrayal made them distrust females in general, or was it something Seline did? Or is it because the women have the most/purest/strongest, starborn power, so did the men keep them down to use them as “breeding stock” in order to legitimise their rule, similar to what Pelias did with Helena?

Part 3 - Further Thoughts

I still wonder how Hybern and Hel could come into play here, because I think those lands are linked. A Valg/Hel Prince population on a different island?

@psychologynerd noted that we’ve previously connected the solar and seasonal courts, such Dawn = Spring, Day = Summer etc., and that it would track for Autumn and Dusk - an appropriately matched pair - to migrate together to Midgard. As an aside, this could tie in with the parallels shared by Azriel and Lucien, who may be/are linked to Dusk and Autumn. What if their power was connected via their “stars”?

@ladynightcourt3 wondered if Hesperus may have changed her name, hence Vesperus’ anger.

I can understand how a Daglan's presence may impart their magic into the land, especially if they're left buried - steeping? - in the soil for millennia, but how would that magic shape the faeries living there? Is it like I suggested in this post, that prolonged exposure to a powerful object allows a tie to be forged?

A bonus crack theory for fun - what if Merrill is a trapped Asteri? Either Nyx or Sirius, whom Apollion ate, and perhaps she escaped the pit of Hel through the base of the House of Wind library; nobody knows where she came from, she's descended from Rabbath of the Western Wind… her room is described as a cell and she called Nesta “girl” like Amren - an ancient - did. I dunno, but there's something about Merrill.

As always, thank you for reading! 💜

#hosab spoilers #hofas spoilers #acotar cc tog crossover theory #acotar theory #the dusk court #dusk court #the night court #night court #prythian #acotar #sjm books #maasverse #feysand #feyre archeron #rhys acotar #crack theory

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cloudiewrites · 2 years ago

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Opla zoro headcanons of saving his s/o from being kidnapped from other pirates

OPLA! Zoro Headcanons: He Saves You

Author's note: I love this idea so much! Thank you for your request! x

cc for the artwork below: original artwork for the POTC movie.

You knew something was wrong with Khaladore and the kitchen servants from the moment you met them. You could not explain how or why, but there was something almost sinister about them.

During dinner you noticed the black-haired man sneaking glances at you, his eyes narrowing every time your gaze met his.

You were not sure if anyone else paid attention to the butler and his actions, as nobody has said anything, so the longer the night went the more you tried to convince yourself that it was just your tired mind playing tricks on you.

Maybe he has seen you before and was just trying to remember why your face is so familiar. Or maybe he was deep in his own personal thoughts and hadn't even noticed he was staring...

Zoro, however, was of a different opinion.

While he has not voiced his thoughts or his urge to throw his dinner knife at the butler's head, he was aware of the sneaky glances from the moment you sat at the table.

While usually, he would've taken out his swords by now, there was a feeling of anticipation that was stopping him. Something was about to happen tonight and whatever it was he was prepared.

Or at least he thought he was...

Waking up at the bottom of the dried well, he cursed himself under his breath, trying to figure a way out.

A wave of panic washed over him, remembering that the last thing he saw before he passed out was Khaladore dragging you away with his hand over your mouth.

With you in his mind it took him less than three minutes to figure out a way to climb up the well.

Zoro rarely got into a state of rage. Whenever he was angry, he was good at holding back and keeping it under the surface. But now...

Now all he saw was red. His hands were trembling, his breathing was heavy and his feet were carrying him back toward the house with an impressive speed.

He knew he had to find you as soon as possible. As bad as it sounded, he didn't even spare a single thought about his other crewmates at this moment. All that was in his mind was you and the strong need to slice the sneaky into a thousand pieces for even touching you.

Unlike Zoro, you were not a great fighter. So when Khaladore (who you find out was actually named Kuro) dragged you into one of the halls downstairs, you tried to fight against him, however, he easily overpowered you.

Saying he would use you as leverage against your crew members if they tried to interfere with his plans, you couldn't help but feel like a failure. Sure, your extensive knowledge of biology and sea creatures was impressive, but were they enough to call yourself a "pirate"? You couldn't even free yourself from a set of ropes!

Kuro left you with the two kitchen workers, who turned out to be part of the same pirate crew as him, while he left to search for Kaya. Your body slumped against the wall, your spirit completely broken. Even the taunting comments by the pirates and their harsh poking of your limbs could not get a response from you.

It happened quickly. One moment you were deep in your self-loathing, the next you were watching Zoro slaying the pirates, his screams echoing between the walls.

You have never seen him like this. Eyes wide and teeth bared, he looked like a God of War, slaying his enemies with just one hit.

The fight ended as quickly as it started. Once both of Kuro's crewmates were on the floor, groaning in pain and bleeding into the carpet, Zoro turned his attention to you.

You would be lying if you said that his state didn't scare you a bit. You have never seen him like that and you didn't know what to expect.

He sliced the rope and before you can even stretch your limbs, he pulled you into a tight hug, burying his face into your neck. It took you a moment to comprehend the fact that he was HUGGING you, but once you did you wrap your arms around his neck, pressing his face closer.

"I thought something happened to you", he mumbled in your hair, taking a deep breath, "I thought I lost you... I... I have never been that scared in my life."

You let out a sigh of relief at his words, gently stroking his hair. Closing your eyes you relaxed in his arms, knowing you were finally safe.

"I am here", you said, more to yourself than to him, "I am here."

Staying wrapped in each other's arms, you both found comfort in the fact that you were together. You may had a lot of ups and downs since you've met, but one was for sure - you could not live without each other.

#opla imagine #zoro x reader #opla zoro x reader #roronoa zoro x reader #roronoa zoro #one piece zoro

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riderofblackdragons · 10 months ago

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I Wish I Could Stay

Day 6: Not Realising They're Injured | unhealthy coping mechanisms | healed wrong | "it's not my blood"

Yesterday got a little hectic, and therefore I shall post 2 fics today! Here's the first one, with yesterday's prompts. A little star wars, in a new AU I'm calling Run Little Clone. Many thanks to @cc1010fox for letting me use their "alpha 17 runs away with fox and adopts him" au! I'm having a lot of fun writing it :)

Hope you enjoy!

Decommisioning was a thing that every vod feared. Even more than reconditioning, because at least then you could come back. Somewhat. Well, your body would come back, at least. And if you were really lucky, eventually you might regain some of the memories you'd lost in the reconditioning.

But with decomissioning, you weren't coming back. Not your body, not your mind, nothing. You'd be taken away, and that was it. You were never seen again, your number going on to be given to some tubie that hadn't been grown in the tubes yet, if you were a CT. CCs didn't even have that. Their numbers were just tossed, marked down as a failure and only ever mentioned in low whispers by their batchmates to be remembered by.

In a way, it was better. At least the CCs didn't have to listen to their deceased batchmate's number being calledout, seeing an entirely new clone answering to the same number. In some ways it was worse, knowing that the number and the memories attached could never be overwritten by memories formed with this new clone.

Fox had always been of the opinion that it was worse this way. Another way that the CCs were seperate from the rest of their brothers, always remembering the one who was gone whenever he heard their number. Even when it was accompanied by a CT in front of it, the number itself had still hurt.

And now, he didn't know what he'd done wrong. If he'd been just a bit too lippy, gotten too relaxed with the trainers who liked to perform his "special training". Maybe his scores had dropped, just a little, but enough for the longnecks to decide that he wasn't worth the hundreds of credits they'd spent on him.

Maybe it was because his batchmates had kept their little CT pet whole, instead of breaking him like Fox had suggested they'd do.

Whatever he'd done, the result was the same. Fox, CC-1010, was the be decomissioned. Disposed of. He wasn't even worth the hassle of reconditioning. Just removed.

It was his fears come to life. They came for him in another "special" training session, Bly standing by after his own one was finished, ready to help each other back to their barracks after they were done. Fox had been taken away, no warning, just the longnecks showing up with some trainers and taking him away.

"Unfortunate that we'll lose his mouth," One of the trainers had said. "But there's still the other one, anyways,"

The other one was Gree. Older than Fox, but they were of the same cell line. The only clones of cell line 10, unless you counted the Aurek they were cloned from. They weren't batchmates, but Gree had treated Fox like one anyways. He'd be the only one left, now. Since Fox was being decomissioned.

The words registered in his mind, the implication of them sinking in bare seconds afterwards. Fox was going to die. And not even in the sense of reconditioning, where his body would still be around, and there was a slight possibility that he could regain his memories afterwards.

No, he was just going to be dead. Feed for the fishes. Fuel in the furnace.

Fox had never truly panicked before. Not even when he'd just been decanted, and Cody had smothered him to keep him quiet. Now, though, faced with his death, he felt the stirrings of panic bowling him over. He began to struggle, to cry, to scream for help. It was all useless, a small part of his brain told him, but Fox was in too much distress to really register that.

It made it harder for the trainers to keep a hold of him, but it wasn't truly impossible. He was five years old, only physically a 10-year-old natborn. His initial struggle got him free for a second, but they easily restained him once again. All his training couldn't help him escape this.

Aurek 17, who'd adopted Fox's batch as his ad since the first time he'd caught Fox hacking into the Kaminoans' records, was there when they arrived at the labs. An instinctual part of Fox quietened at the older clone's appearance, a naive reassurance that he wouldn't let anything happen to Fox soothing him.

It was just 17 there, as well. Fox wasn't an expert on these by any means, but he assumed that there would be some longnecks there as well, to actually kill him, and to open up his body to figure out what went wrong. Yet there didn't seem to be any there.

The trainers holding Fox seemed confused as well. "Hey, where are the-" The one of Fox's right got cut off, as 17 drew a blaster and quickly shot both trainers down.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Fox stared at the bodies around him, and gingerly poked one with his foot. It didn't respond.

"Come on, ad'ika" 17 hurried the still shock-frozen cadet out of the room. "We need to leave, now,"

17 had killed the longnecks and trainers for him. The thought kept circling in Fox's mind. 17 had killed them for him. 17 had killed them for him.

It didn't seem real. Fox didn't register their surroundings as 17 forced him forward, mind too stuck in repeat. He didn't know if he'd ever been there or not, which was strange, but he didn't even register it as strange, with out of of it he was.

Fox's mind didn't let go of his thoughts until later, when they were already in hyperspace. In a spaceship he didn't recognise, 17 as the only other person inside it. There was flicks of blood on 17's face, like he'd gotten into an up and close brawl.

Maybe he'd had them before he'd grabbed Fox. He didn't really know. Blasters, like the one 17 had used to kill the trainers holding Fox, didn't leave blood.

"Where are we?" Fox spoke up, startling 17, by the way his face shot up from whatever he was focussing on.

"Hyperspace. Away from Kamino," 17's eyes showed his relief at Fox talking, and at the younger clone's nod of recognition as he turned the information over in his head.

"Why?"

"They were going to kill you. Bly came and got me before that could happen,"

Fox digested the information, grateful 17 had anticipated his next question. Bly was a worrier, but he had been there as well when they'd come to get him, hadn't he? He would've been able to put the pieces together just as well as Fox had.

"The others?"

"Still on Kamino." 17's relief faded to caution, as though he expected Fox to attack him or something over this. He wasn't Wolffe or Cody, Fox could actually control himself. "I only had a limited window, and I couldn't get them and get us off Kamino in time."

At least they were alive, Fox decided. His batchmates could take care of themselves until the Jedi came back for them. They might be a bit boneheaded, but Fox was confident that they'd be able to survive it.

Gree was a different question, though. The only '10 left, he'd be scrutinised more than he already had, now Fox was gone. His batch would probably be able to make sure he made it, though. Stone and Bacara could be scary, but Fox knew they'd be able to keep Gree afloat. Or, well, he hoped, anyways.

"Where's the blood from?" Fox decided to ask. The flecks all over 17 were bothering him, although he didn't think there was any on him. Either 17 had gotten them before, or he'd managed to keep the spray away from Fox whilst he'd fought.

17 glanced down at himself, as though he'd forgotten about it. "It's not my blood, ad'ika," He reassured. "Just some aruetti's from before I managed to get to you. Don't worry,"

Fox wasn't worried, and he kind of resented the implication that he was, but he relaxed into the bunk under him anyways. Not because he was worried. It was just a comfortable bed, that was all.

Okay, maybe it wasn't so much, it was as solid as the pods back on Kamino, but that didn't matter. It certainly didn't stop Fox from drifting back to asleep on it anyways, the darkness enclosing in on his vision.

Tag List: @captain-effy @what-the-fuckis-happening

If anyone wants to be added lmk!

#star wars #whumptober2024 #no.6 #'its not my blood'#fic #commander fox #alpha 17

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catenary-chad · 4 months ago

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The real history of rail electrification in the US and UK, the unfair depiction of electric trains in Anglophone media, and why they’re the social metaphor Starlight Express should have chosen all along

(AKA ~10,000 words of Electra apologism, broken up into two ~5k word posts. This is a topic that is hard to be succinct on because of how broad and deep it is.)

This post is not intended to be call out anyone specific or pin you as a bad person. It is simply aimed to explain a problem many don't know about, how it impacts my views on Starlight Express, and how addressing it could have made the show so much better. After all- that kind of criticism without redirection has threatened and even killed electric trains in real life.

(Disclaimer: this is in reference to English versions of the show, and is probably 70/30 US/UK content-wise. German rail politics and history are very different.)

This is Part 1 and will address why this topic matters, the real history of electric trains in the US and UK, and what world Electra would actually live in. Part 2 goes into the widespread media under-and-misrepresentation of them, what it reveals, and what human parallels there are.

“The real railway too suffers from these differences [of voltage/frequency], making locomotives prisoners of their network when it is not of their line, incapable of leaving their electric ‘ghetto’”

To make steam engines an allegory for any kind of oppression, you have to actively disregard almost all basic realities of them

To make electric trains one, just look at how highly respected French rail historian Clive Lamming describes the CC 40100, which Electra’s replica helmet was based on. And this is a phrasing that becomes far bleaker and more accurate outside its nation of origin.

My greatest frustration with Starlight Express is that a story about institutional oppression with toy trains is a compelling idea, but it’s executed in all the wrong ways. The meta narrative that arises from the chasm between canon’s framing and reality is so much more fascinating. It’s a concept that could be made smart and relevant if it let go of train cliche and at least tried to address actual train issues. We could all finally discard the “it’s not LITERALLY about trains” line and embrace the true parallels and double entendres that exist between them and society.

They thrive in a true meritocracy, yet are frequently set back by institutional forces, highway construction being a specific and notable one (especially by Robert Moses)

They are disproportionately affected by infrastructure neglect, and often the first to suffer under conservative governments and austerity politics

At best, they are stripped of their identity in media and their unique issues ignored. At worst, they are treated as faceless non-entities, stereotyped in offensively counterfactual ways, or excluded altogether. To the point where most of the public knows little to nothing about them

Yes, I am talking about electric trains, and I am not being facetious or hyperbolic. The more I’ve learned about them, the more I’ve only doubled down on this. To the point where I’ve cranked out 10k words on the topic and this post is a two-parter because it got too long.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Despite years of being on and off into steam and early diesel trains due to Thomas and working at a museum, I never really cared about electric trains until the revival’s changes piqued my interest in Stex, and a thread between Electra and reality appeared while I was digging into the bigger picture of the musical. Amtrak X996, the closest thing to a CC 40100 to run in the US. Looking for more lore behind an ambiguously, thinly written character, I began to dig into that context, and things unraveled over the next few months. Why did so many make Electra wispy and delicate when the more conventional Nez Cassé models were robust, generally reliable mixed-traffic engines that would be stronger than Greaseball? Why were they shown as rich and sheltered when an electric train in the US would work on the tough and gritty Northeast Corridor? Why did so few others give this character a realistic spin when they did for most other characters?

Because it obliterates the musical’s entire framing and exposes how fundamentally wrong it is. And as I dug deeper into the reality of trains and their politics and social issues, I became more and more aware that this contrast between Stex and reality was so much deeper and more widespread and how serious rail professionals of all people often had the strongest opinions about this. I had eaten the forbidden fruit, estranged myself from the garden, and discovered an endless forest where every serpent was a master botanist begging for someone to care about their tree of choice. And now I throw forbidden cherimoyas, lychees, and rambutans in from the alien expanse, hoping others will discover its beauty and meaning too.

Rail electrification has been called an “unglamorous” issue by both British and American sources, invisible and inanimate to even most railfans. Despite how accessible high quality sources are, and lack of gatekeeping, electric trains are still a strange bastion of “true nerdiness”. If you’re seriously into them, you actively sought out information one way or another since there’s so little casual media and they’re not something the algorithm pushes. Yet they have an important and relevant history that explains and ties in to so many current problems with rail, general electrical infrastructure, and economic policy.

Perhaps the most succinct illustration of English media’s treatment of electric trains is the last 15 minutes of this podcast about the APT.

This video about the history of talking trains is also very telling

You’ll find long romanticized tirades about steam engines, a decent amount about diesel ones too (moreso in the US), and oh, there’s that juice jack. That damn commuter train that’s always dirty and late. That symbol of “modern sterility” slowly creeping in, treated as lifeless and boring when other trains are personified and glamorized. Rarely acknowledged except when they go wrong, often wrongly blamed for problems by people ignorant of their true causes. If seriously discussed af all, it’s often dry and technical and not very beginner-friendly and they’re handwaved away as “boring” compared to combustion trains and their history, because people don’t actually understand how messy and influential it was.

And it’s all for the worse.

Electric train history is deeply entwined with the broader history of electricity in general since they were such an early use of it. Separate power plants often had to be built to supply the lower frequency AC needed by motors. The “war of the currents” persisted for decades in trains due to early limits in power electronics. And due to the difficulty and sheer expense in replacing infrastructure, many of these strange old systems are used today and have to be dealt with at the actual train level (leading to multi-voltage equipment). Electric train history is also deeply tied to trends in broader infrastructure investment and the mindset of “public services vs private businesses”and it’s impossible to talk about what’s limited or enabled them without getting political and seeing repeated, aggravating failures of capitalism. Perhaps this is why media has leaned into the irrelevant distraction of steam engines as the end-all be all of rail history, or the business of diesel trains in the US….. electric traction tends to reveal things neoliberal governments and societies don’t want to bring attention to.

And then there’s the modern day problem that so much of this history has been forgotten that it’s harder to see how better things have and could be, even at “home”. Modern media pushes electric cars, makes serious rail electrification look like a lost cause or incremental improvement, and at best oversells the practicality of battery trains and “batterywashes” electric trains that would be third rail or overhead powered, completely sidestepping the importance of those issues. See above (this one just makes me die inside, that's a shinkansen), and Wemblectra too. It completely ignores how trains are among the few vehicles massively improved when electrified, due to their lack of need for batteries and the incredible power able to externally supplied. When train transport can cut into plane or road transport, whether for people or goods, it’s a vastly greater efficiency improvement than the change from combustion to electric trains alone. And with the greater speeds and frequency it can offer, as well as increased attention towards rail as an option, electrification has so much to offer in terms of “modal shift”. See the Acela taking the train’s share of New York-Boston route from 20% to 70%. See the “sparks effect” of the Intercity 225 and East Coast Main Line electrification.

Having a charismatic face and “gateway drug” into legitimate interest in electric trains could do so much good. It certainly swayed me into appreciating them. They’re something with so much to offer society that’s constantly undersold and a more metaphorical, sympathetic look at them would do so much good. Look at the internet- over the decades this is how it was introduced to the masses, who didn’t understand it and its benefits early on.

France is notably different. This more metaphorical, approachable, sympathetic light IS prevalent there. Just looking at the writing of Clive Lamming, there’s discussion of the “electricity fairy” and her nature and what her magic enables. Serious discussion of the “rustic” third rail vs the “delicate and exacting” catenary and it’s “marriage with the pantograph” and all the intricacies of that relationship.

Instead of treating electrification as a symbol of the privileged and inconsistant systems as “government stupidity”, it pities the trains trapped by the limits of their lines. It’s all such an inversion and I wish England hadn’t cornered the talking train market, a French approach would be so different and beautiful, yet technically informative.

In short, ironically what electric trains need is STEAM- applying the arts to STEM.

Electra is probably the best representation of electric trains in English fictional media despite their massive flaws and stereotyping. Because at least some specific implications of being electric are discussed. At least in the replica show, they are explicitly overhead powered vs battery (a massively limited tech especially unsuited for trains). At least they’re not a faceless box.

But broader context makes them such a different and more fascinating and nuanced character. Ironically, it makes many “stupid” and “superficial” aspects of them so much more meaningful. I become even more fervent of an Electra apologist and revisionist the more I realize how maligned and ignored they’ve been, on all fronts, for decades. So here is the real history behind canon, and my own madness.

ELECTRIC TRACTION IN THE US

I’ll address the US context first, because it’s the more dramatic, sad, and painfully obscure story. This is heavily abridged, if you want a good source, When the Steam Railroads Electrified is the gold standard, otherwise you’re best just starting with wikipedia and looking for sources there, this stuff can be a serious pain to find online. I plan to do more posts on this in the future because of that.

The US was once an early leader in rail electrification, which grew out of trolley and interurban technology around the turn of the century. You may have heard about how the US once had an enormous public transit network of them (which is true) but there were also several thousand miles of electrified heavy rail. And early electric mainline trains were a near instant success, a lot of them lasted well over 50 years, some even close to modern human lifespans. They trounced steam engines in almost every application before the 1910s were even over, and often wildly exceeded expectations. They were used in a wild array of places often not associated with electric trains now, like long tunnels in mountains and under cities, on steep mountainous lines, on lighter urban freight lines and heavy coal trains in the Appalachians, as well as more expected things like commuter trains and subways. A number of early European systems took inspiration from the likes of the Milwaukee Road and New Haven Railroad in the early 1900s. The latter was especially innovative as it was one of the first AC-powered railroads (the current standard), in an age where most were DC. A number of early European electric locomotives were built based on Westinghouse and General Electric designs. When Clive Lamming writes about it, it’s with a sense of awe and reverence reserved for dinosaurs walking the earth.

And hardly anyone knows about this history even domestically because so much of it is gone now, so little was preserved, and many museums barely even spotlight them. Even online it’s something you have to deliberately seek out, or buy 70s-era books where the authors are already lamenting how overlooked the topic was. For how important and influencial it was, it’s… just kind of gone in a lot of ways and almost sounds like a conspiracy theory if it weren’t so well documented. It feels like an alternate timeline or retrofuturistic ARG. The sight of trolleys roaming car-free streets, interurbans on countryside voyages under wire, steeplecabs and boxcabs scurrying along industrial and mining lines. Especially the hulking freight engines like the Virginian EL-2B or PRR FF1 or Great Northern locomotives. It’s like seeing photos of sauropods wandering around backwater West Virginia.

(the giants of the days of yore and their vestiges-abandoned catenary masts)

Electrification is often treated as inevitable, but it never was in the US. This veneer of inevitability masks how it’s been in agonizing decline or stagnation since WWII, in stark contrast to the rest of the world. “When the Steam Railroads Electrified” has several pages worth of prewar planned electrification projects that never happened. Maybe 1% of rails in the US are electrified. What happened to all those electric trains? They provided vital services to their communities but proved unprofitable in the long term, and infrastructure was often left to rot due to deferred maintenance. The end of many electrified lines in the US is given as “was successful, but when rolling stock and wiring needed mass replacement from being worn out, it was all just torn out instead”. The enormous up-front cost of electrification makes it nearly impossible for even extravagantly wealthy businesses to afford. It’s almost required for it to be government run to be successful long-term, or at least heavily subsidized. Rail was left out of the massive government investments in space, highways, and other civil projects in the 50s-60s, seen as irrelevant in the face of cars and a private business that should sustain itself. Unreasonable, outdated price and labor regulations put railroads in general in a nearly unwinnable situation post-WWII. Many of those early electrifiers were hit especially hard, whether by their main industrial bases drying up or heavy dependence on wildly unprofitable passenger trains.

By the time Amtrak and government-run transport agencies finally took over passenger rail in the 70s, almost everything had been de-electrified outside the Northeast Corridor and a few other lines in the region, and a number of transport and commuter systems. And many of these systems have been underfunded since, leading to the US’s global infamy for having awful trains for a country of its wealth and history.

Underinvesting in a service, so people are deterred from using it, so it can be shut down or privatized. I think more people have been waking up to the terrible cycle of government austerity recently with the cartoon villains taking over the US government. It’s been used against a variety of government programs for decades. It’s a theme relevant to both humans and trains.

Anyways, due to their external power supply, electric trains need a lot of infrastructure, and not investing in maintaining or improving it becomes a huge mess so fast. It’s what spelled doom for the Milwaukee Road’s hundreds of electrified miles- while innovative in the beginning, they were never really improved and increasingly neglected, until being ripped out for their copper in the 70s because the railroad could never afford to fix or upgrade them. Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor uses 100+ year old systems in many places because they can’t afford to replace it due to perpetual underfunding, leading to more and more delays. And the problems pile up due to deferred maintenance due to lack of funds, only digging the hole deeper and deeper until it needs 50+ billion dollars to fix. Antiquated catenary systems being vulnerable to temperature changes, having to crawl through old tunnels with limited clearance and poor physical conditions, giant moving bridges getting stuck open 1/7 times…. and people often blame the trains themselves for these issues, unaware of how any of it works. “You alone have the power within you, needn’t ask the world to turn around and help you” turns from inspirational to painful, even infuriating. Not to mention how the party of that mindset has repeatedly tried to force Amtrak to turn a profit or be defunded, and when something profitable is found (freight, mail service) that door’s slammed back in their face again by the private railroads crying unfair competition. And years go by, receiving barely crumbs while the highways receive orders of magnitude more as they spew more pollution and kill thousands in accidents alone.

There have been intermittent efforts since then to fix the NEC’s issues, but lack of funding is a perpetual issue. It flip flops between administrations, making strides in most Democratic ones when given at least some crumbs, then being cut off again in the name of “government efficiency”. Leading to some infamously old equipment on many systems, growing infrastructure issues, and still no expansion besides the 90s-era connection between New Haven and Boston. Outside the NEC, the only other recent electrification project was Caltrain.

“The electric ghetto” is somewhat fanciful exaggeration in the context of differing line voltages in France, but is so much bleaker and more resonant in the US. Freight railroads often have poor track conditions as well, due to railroads being incentivized to spend as little as possible in the short term. But being imprisoned in a small fraction of the nation, held back by constant decay the parties of “needn’t ask the world to turn around and help you” refuse to fix, even being explicitly slated to be killed off in the 70s. The constant growing hole of deferred infrastructure costs also mirrors the growing welfare costs needed to lift up impoverished communities the longer they’re left behind.

It makes me wonder if Broadway partly axed the social messaging of London because the absolute irony of it would be too obvious in the epicenter of it all. One look at a graffiti-riddled subway or recent memory of riding 1910s era commuter cars and GG1s, and the idea of an electric train being an oppressor is ludicrous. “I am electric, the future is me!” is anything but a threat, anything short of a museum piece was futuristic and aspirational then. One look at local transit history and the reason steam engines were banned from the city was… killing people in tunnels (and this was a repeated thing in tunnels worldwide).

UK ELECTRIC TRAIN HISTORY

Electrification was much more limited early on, mostly used on suburban lines, the London Underground, and other “typical” lighter more passenger lines associated with electrified rail. There was some usage for heavy freight trains too. Electrification is excellent for coal and other mineral hauling and has a long history of use in and around mines, especially in hilly areas. It wasn’t always an environmentalist choice!

Most overhead lines built were 1500 V DC, a system with a lot of practical limits that became largely obsolete after WWII. The North Eastern Railway had experimented with it to considerable success, but being merged into LNER led to that being quashed in favor of steam only. The Southern Railway created an extensive third rail network in the south… that’s become an interesting albatross in the modern day (not an uncommon fate for early DC and/or third rail systems).

It wasn’t pursued on a larger scale until the 50s, when improved rectifier technology made mains-frequency AC more practical for rail use. First planned as a gradual phase-in after the BR Standard steam engines aged out, then as as a gradual phase-in as diesel engines replaced steam en masse per the Modernization Plan. It actually did occur on a wider scale than the US, but has had constant issues with cutbacks, especially with how the success of the “stopgap” diesel HST in the 70s removed much of the incentive to electrify mainlines. Total electrification % is also much lower than much of mainland Europe (38%) which had rolling programs succeed far more successfully. Weak power supplies and underbuilt catenary systems on some newer lines have been issues. Museum presence isn’t nearly as bad for electric trains there, and there’s some ability to run them on mainlines. I’ve heard EMU preservation is notably poor, something people have also said about the US.

In short, the “inevitable” electrification wave never fully came, and was comparatively fragile from the beginning. It’s not as stark a contrast as in the US, but a notable fizzle vs all-consuming “threat”.

British electrification has had many similar obstacles to urban areas of the US. Old infrastructure with even more limited clearances makes the design of the catenaries themselves difficult. Curving lines that required tilting trains to increase speeds. Administrations going back and forth on willingness to fund rail improvement, treating rail as a business rather than public service, and throwing money at roads despite them not being profitable either (and orders of magnitude more dangerous). Austerity politics and neoliberalism has been a major enemy of infrastructure improvement and maintenance for decades.

In recent decades “bionic duckweed” has become a regional term for the likes of battery and hydrogen power in place of mass electrification, so-called wonder alternatives to avoid the cost of implementing an “unsexy” older and proven solution. Battery EMUs work for lightly used suburban services (and have a longer history of this than many realize) but battery locomotives are nowhere near being useful for fast, frequent, or freight trains. Hydrogen is its own conversation, tl;dr it’s very flawed but can be appealing for some instances, but ultimately trains are one of the least worthwhile uses for it . People usually put some effort into getting Hydra technically right so I don’t feel as strongly about him.

(And that conversation isn’t even on the table in the US beyond questioning the merits of battery locomotives and arguing whether electro-diesel bimode engines encourage electrification or stall it)

THE REALITY OF ELECTRA

In the late 70s-early 80s US, the best pick is the then-new AEM-7, or Amtrak X996 if you want to be more fanciful (and have a good reason to fail for outside reasons). Brought into the world in the wake of oil crises, raised by New Deal-era GG1s still dragging along, telling Electra of the rise and fall of the electric empire they’d seen over their 50 years of existence. The grandiose prewar zenith, and agonizing decline as the interstates were showered in cash, but still-private railroads faltered and crumbled. The Northeast is a post-apocalyptic wasteland for trains, cancerous roads zigzagging where trolleys once ran, palatial stations torn down or left to rot as infrastructure crumbled with the failure of Penn Central, and broader passenger rail. Surrounded by urban decay and some of the worst track conditions in the developed world, where Penn Central had stationary derailments from rotting wooden sleepers. The threat of dieselization is in recent memory, New Haven made that short-sighted mistake in the 50s and the de-electrification of other lines was hardly a decade away. There’s a simultaneous sense of fear and optimism as there seems to be some turn towards electrifying with the oil crisis. There’s been some attempts at rebuilding passenger rail in general, spurred by the debut of the Shinkansen the decade before. It’s often maligned as slapping new paint on old equipment, but there’s new rolling stock, including Electra, at least.

And then Reagan is elected and Amtrak has to fight tooth and nail for crumbs as he showers money on the interstates. His one backhanded concession is reviving the abandoned Washington Union Station into a “transit hub” with no mention of trains, more a glorified mall. And his once-mocked politics set in and become normalized, mainstream. Electra can fight and hustle all they want, but all they get is finally, wires between New Haven and Boston to complete the Corridor in the 90s. Maintenance is sparse, and they’re run into the ground and struggling in their 30s. Not a bad lifespan for an electric locomotive, but the AEM-7's closely related Rc4s in Sweden are still running today at nearly 50. TGVs displaced the Nez Cassé classes closest to X996 in France but their export variants are still going in other countries today. Screamed at all their life, run into the ground in subpar conditions, likely looking out in envy at equivalents overseas seeing their full potential on even reasonably well maintained conventional lines. Preservation? What a joke. There’s nowhere they can run besides the Corridor, the only museum running a preserved electric locomotive larger than a steeplecab is the Illinois Railway Museum. It’s like trying to keep great white sharks in captivity.

Electra would look bitterly at all the other Nationals in countries that supported them, capable of using their maximum speeds with half-decent track conditions. And here comes that filthy and inefficient but reliable and cheaper-up-front old EMD diesel engine boasting about how strong he is (2700 hp is laughably weak by electric standards, try close to 8000) and a preservationbait steam engine who could literally “just get a job” at nearly any tourist railroad or museum and have a real cushy gig, covered in aggressively ahistorical plot armor about being the real victim and underdog. Yeah, you’d start screaming “the future’s the duty to rub out the past!” too surrounded by regressives on all sides. Especially with how popular and prominent steam preservation was at the time in comparison, and American Coal Enterprises was genuinely trying to go back to coal-fired steam as a diesel alternative in face of future oil crises. God I love Jeffrey Daniels’ growing frustration in the preview recording, it feels like Electra’s screaming against the unfair framing he’s crammed into

No Comeback feels different in face of this, and running away to France like X996 has compelling parallels in Grace Jones and Josephine Baker, rejected by the US but embraced by France. They might shush Electra and question why they’ve become so insistent about what they are and it’s best not to play identity politics- a common mindset in France. But it’s infinitely more livable than a regressive hellhole.

ACROSS THE POND

We have a more direct and actually slightly “futuristic” option here.

Electra must not reveal who their “father” was, under any circumstances. The infamous APT, the basis for many of their physical components. A long beleaguered project, sabotaged and mocked for trying to move things forward and try something new. Reportedly more technically sound by the end, but so ruined by political will it was dead in the water. They are a Class 91, literally called “Electras”, set to run over the country as rolling electrification was done. Some initial problems, that would eventually be solved and in later year they’d become one of the most reliable on the network. Travel on the line still increases by 50%+

But once again, Electra becomes marooned, largely restricted to only one line, the East Coast Main Line. A line that’s had problems with power supply and catenary design. The dream of nationwide electrification the APT was built for never occurs in their lifetime. They can’t even use their full abilities in regular service due to signaling limitations, and pale in comparison to the high speed trains of the continent.

Their legacy will be “what could have been”. Not as bleak a life as an American Electra, but a disappointment few even blame on the trains anymore vs the systems that failed them repeatedly.

——

This was going to be a continuous post, but had to become a two-parter due to sheer length.

HERE IS PART TWO - TROPES VS ELECTRIC TRAINS IN MEDIA

SOURCES:

Clive Lamming - has to be machine translated if you don’t know French, but imo his style is still very colorful and approachable even with that. Very highly respected French rail historian, site has hundreds of articles on a wide variety of subjects (that often aren’t written about in English, like obscure African railways and electrification in general)

ocs4rail.com Free, modern, comprehensive book on rail electrification in the UK by an industry professional of 30+ years. First couple of chapters nicely summarize the history and politics, the rest gets very technical

William D. Middleton- “When the Steam Railroads Electrified” - The definitive book on American (both continents) rail electrification history. Encyclopedic in scope, beautiful photos, and relatively beginner-friendly, but not the cheapest and not very accessible outside the US

Banks Rail/ Robo Rail- youtube channel with extremely detailed, yet beginner friendly breakdowns of US rail politics

Railnatter - youtube podcast with long-form political, technical, and cultural discussions of modern trains. Run by someone who works in the industry. Mostly focused on British issues but has some episodes on other countries

youtube playlist with a number of my favorite electric train videos, though most of the ones relevant to this post are long-form presentations

#stex #starlight express #stex electra #we live in a train society

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legally-allowed-to-slime · 7 months ago

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As someone who watches both Jim and Pearl I have to disagree with your post for one big reason:

To Jim, being made fun of is fun. He plays along with it, he laughs at it, and even when he’s mad he’s being silly mad. I’ve never gotten the impression from any of his povs that he’s upset at being made fun of. People make those jokes around and about him because they know he actually finds them funny too. It’s a show that they are comfortable with him and know he won’t be mad at them. We all have friends who make fun of us or who we make fun of because in some way, someone making a joke about you is them seeing you, and that’s what we all want. I have entire friendships based on joking about how much we hate each other, but ultimately we know we are friends.

To Pearl in DL, being ostracized and hated wasn’t a show of friendship, or being known. It wasn’t a joke, not to her at least. Rather, it was a show that she was misunderstood and unwanted. People weren’t joke making fun of her, they were calling her crazy and a demon out of fear. Her decision to go along with it wasn’t her playing into a joke, it was her resigning herself to what people had already said she was (and going a little crazy in isolation)

for context this anon is in response to this post

so um, like i said, i don’t watch jimmy’s pov at all. i do watch scar, grian sometimes, but that’s the extent of it. but to me he’s constantly going through a lot because he’s getting mocked, teased, basically not being taken seriously at all. like, even if he isn’t explicitly ostracised he is still treated as an outsider in a way, someone who isn’t respected. i mean, obviously as ccs we know they’re all chill with it, but because c!jimmy cranks up his reactions a lot (eg the whole horn club thing in DL), when you take them as solely characters without the knowledge that they’re joking around then it does come across as that.

as for pearl, yes, we had instances like ren’s whole dramatic “something wicked within you” but her main thing was with scott and cleo. she was fairly friendly with the ranchers, with desert duo. anyway, she’s still taken seriously. when interacting with “society” (the other players that weren’t in the quartet), she was still respected, even if a little side eyed because of the narrative constructed around her. don’t get me wrong; a lot of bad things happen to her that isn’t her fault at all (martyn leaving her, box boys kicking her out), but if we went ahead and charted every interaction she ever had throughout the entirety of DL, there are more positive (or vaguely friendly) than negative ones. she had a miserable time with the powdered snow but even that was a product of a well-intentioned scar (still salty over his own soulbound, mind) trying to help.

whatever. a lot of words to say i hope they team up

#ask #the original post was kinda hyperbole. i do think dl!pearl is the most mistreated character of any season #like standalone. jimmy’s thing is more like. general disrespect

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hey-i-am-trying · 1 year ago

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Dude, IM part of the Spanish community and I thought Roier was being a total ass to Pepito's OG admin. That anon cant speak for us all and I honestly feel like Roier was mean as hell to that poor admin the hole damn time. I remember when he started pointing out the admins were changing and thought it was so rude to call out the REAL PEOPLE who were playing and acting like they HAD to act a specific way (like RIchas) or else he would spend the hole steam yelling at him, hitting him, insulting him as a """"joke"""" I fucking hated watching Roier and Pepito interact and NOT because of Pepito thats for sure. I was so glad when other people started looking after him and I feel so deeply bad for that poor OG admin who didnt get to play THEIR FUCKING character. I hate seeing people be like "we liked the other Pepito cause he fallowed Roier's story better" what about THAT ADMINS story???? As if these arnt real ass people roleplaying but just characters you can rewrite and should fit to form every time. The other eggs can have bad days and bad moods but Pepito cant? Its not only unfair and mean but it proved Pepito's self hatred right till the very end. Pepito's story is "If im not happy and bubbly 100% of the time ill be hated by the people meant to love me no matter what" and thats just shitty. I guess I can understand there was a tonal misunderstanding because Roier is more jokey and non serious and Pepito's OG admin seemed to me more in deep rp mode at all times and maybe that wasnt what was best for Roier's play style, thats fine. But to blame it all on """cultural differences""" and that the admin was rude is honestly just not it.

Thank you both for sharing!

Well, I think I will be fully honest and say that at the time, I stopped to watch any Roier qsmp steam because of Pepito. I didn't necessarly believed ccRoier was a bad person, it was just that the route qRoier's and Pepito's relationship were going was triggering some bad memories. It is weird that we know now that the actors weren't allowed to contact the ccs because you would think the story lines that both Roier and the og admin wanted to tell should required a lot of communication between the player and the actor.

I don't think that is either their fault that they wanted different storyline, but

I think Roier usually is very light-hearted with his humor and jokes about "la chancla"/"o chinelo" are very common place in LATAM, many latino kids are spanked during their childhoods and using it in humor is not a uncommon thing.

I think the context that the og admin is not from LATAM and did not speak spanish as her first language, adds to why they crashed so much in rp/humor style.

I don't think Roier was trying to be insulting, at least not out of charcter, but it is okay to have your own feeling about it.

It sad that I think this could have been avoided if Roier and the admin had a chance to talk.

I do not think that the admin was rude while I was watching but for what others said it was a situation were Roier was trying out of character explaning events of the week when the admin cursed at him. Not having spanish as their first language may have caused the admin to not realize the weight of what they were saying, they probably pretended to be light hearted.

But, well, it wasn't, at least not for those that were watching. And while I will repeat what I said before that the admin shouldn't be treated as trash or if there is something personallly wrong with them, they were rude in a situation, that is it.

#qsmp #otipep #pepitoadmin #qsmp discourse

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wildpeachfarm · 1 year ago

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Idk maybe I’m stupid but can someone explain it to me like I’m 5 years old how Hannah has enabled or how her audience has pushed TERF ideas or rhetoric? Because it’s the one place the dots are not connecting for me every single time this conversation gets rehashed. I think it’s fine to disagree with how she’s acted in all of this, but it feels like taking what could just be called shitty or annoying and turning it into a moral issue when it doesn’t really NEED to be one to claim she or her audience are acting like TERFs. I just would like to hear one explicit example of how this is the case. Because I just cannot see how it’s “TERF-y” for a woman who has spent years facing immense levels of misogyny to make the decision to distance herself from friends who potentially victimized another woman which looks extremely horrible on the surface, even if her decision was made suddenly and under pressure. Whether she regrets it or not is not relevant to it; it just feels like an extreme lack of empathy to take how she reacted while under a microscope to a situation that looked horrible at first glance and claim it’s her pushing harmful ideas. Especially when she deleted most of her original tweets about it anyways and has not spoken on it since. And I don’t even mean this as hate, I am just genuinely asking. Because I don’t necessarily love her distancing herself either, I just also don’t see the reason to keep harping on her about it or making it into some huge moral issue where she is in the wrong when it does not have to be one. And especially when other women involved from the sidelines have done the same or more than her. Sometimes we can just say behaviors are shitty or nasty and leave it at that.

ehhh honestly that's not even a part of that ask that I was hard agreeing with and that's also just anons opinion, but also I myself wouldn't even go as far as to say "terf rhetoric enabler" (because I don't agree with that) but more so just concerned that she could be attracting a bad crowd in her fanbase unintentionally that some people wish she became more aware of.

last time i talked about this i was getting yelled at to hell and back and being purposefully misunderstood as claiming she was somehow creating a terf army in her fanbase which...let me be crystal fucking clear I AM NOT SAYING OR EVEN IMPLYING. Nor am I saying that her actions in response to the gogcident are somehow fueling terf ideologies. Not saying that at all and please don't think or claim I am saying that.

However, recently a decent amount of people have seen an increase in people in her fanbase (even some that she interacts pretty frequently with) start speaking using terf and specifically radfem phrases (notably during and right after the gogcident) which was raising some red flags for people who are either fans of hers or on the periphery. Now, I've said before that of course hannah probably does not know this and it's not her job to do a background check on everyone she follows on twitch and interacts with on twitter (that is just a ridiculous expectation). However, I think that when you speak a lot about feminist issues, etc. (all very important topics to discuss!) sometimes terfs and radfems just come into your community because they think you are all talking about the same things and have the same ideology. But, as your community grows and as that portion of your fanbase starts concerning people, I think it could be good for CCs to at least be aware of it. Personally, I have more issue with certain fans than with hannah herself but I do think some of her mods are shitty and she needs to stop it with the idea that "any friend of hers that makes a big mistake is no longer a friend" because that's just not going to hold up for very long in the real world.

As per her reaction to the george situation: yeah it was incredibly shitty and honestly I think she could have been fine waiting a bit before making responses because her quick jumps to conclusions (and shooting friendly fire at sylvee in the process) without talking to anyone involved first was a very foolish thing to do and disappointed a lot of people.

I feel like a broken record for constantly having to say this but I get that these female CCs want to do good by the women in the gaming space, i get it. But sometimes they make impactful mistakes and publicly react to situations poorly and I will say that about any cc who I think makes a poor call, guy or gal. I will always have empathy for people reacting badly to initial news dropping like this because I don't know what these people have gone through in their lives, but what I don't have as much empathy for is people immediately broadcasting their initial emotional thoughts all over twitter and then backpedaling when they realize they were being too extreme or emotional. I have criticized Dream for that, and I will criticize Hannah for that.

And you're right not everything needs to be a moral discussion! I don't really agree with people that are trying to heavily mix these two discussions because I honestly don't think they really coincide that much anyway.

I will never say her reaction is "terf-y" because it's just not. These are two separate discussions in my mind so to put them together in that way just isn't something I necessarily will agree with. And I've said this probably 10 times at this point, that I have never once said Hannah intentionally fueling terf/radfem rhetoric in her fanbase. I'm saying it's a somewhat inevitable byproduct of being a large female CC who speaks on feminism and misogyny on the internet. It happens to tiktokers, youtubers, other streamers, etc. This is not a hannah specific issue but people in the mcyt see it with some of her fans because she's simply just a larger female CC so of course her fans are more easy to spot. (same logic on a larger scale applies to the few bad apple dream stans that get the spotlight because of how popular dream is)

Hopefully this makes sense, it is nearly midnight for me right now so I am very tired but I wanted to answer this as thoroughly as I could because it's always an important distinction I want to make and I hate being misunderstood.

#ask #anon #anti drummyache tag

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thecoolerliauditore · 1 year ago

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im very sleepy but fuck it ummm. quick and dirty jimmy ecosystem breakdown for you specifically @puppyocto this is very sleepy me writing this is wrong

scott: suffers inherently from The Ecosystem by default by being gay. He chooses to embrace this as kind of. his niche, therefore ridding the threat of being ostracized or humiliated for it. Type to get called gay and start flirting back.

However (possibly because of said ecosystem) his view on romance is extremely idealized and fairy tale-esque. He views Jimmy as someone who can "fill the role" of a partner who can give him the happily ever after ending and is frustrated when jimmy fails to live up to his standards.

In Utena terms Scott is a princess waiting for his prince to come rescue him and give him the happiness he desires from being loved. But when he discovers Jimmy is "incapable" he takes on the prince persona for himself and "keeps Jimmy safe" by taking away Jimmy's agency. This frustrates him, but the "prince" role makes him feel capable and Good so he doesn't complain too much and continues to make Jimmy more and more helpless so that their dynamic can continue.

joel: also suffers inherently from The Ecosystem by being gay except he's NOT gay he's definitely NOT gay which is totally the truth and not his defense mechanism. He overperforms masculinity and always emphasizes his relationship with lizzie for totally normal reasons and not because he's living in fear.

He sees Jimmy as almost this danger to him because he's attracted to him. If Jimmy is a princess to Scott then he's a very stupid seductress to Joel, at least at the start. Joel abuses Jimmy for making him feel things for him and tries to push him away, but at the same time can't keep Jimmy too far because he deeply desires the intimacy and non-judgment he can only get from jimmy. He also made a kid with him that one time I don't really know how to interpret what happened there still.

I also do think jimmy and joel do share a genuinely very close platonic bond so that's always there for when they're not caught up in the hell spiral.

fwhip: honestly I don't actually think fwhip is Super Into Jimmy the way Joel and Scott are. I think he feels some? level of resentment towards jimmy for one reason or another since he constantly seeks to punish him in some way (this is especially bad in esmp2) and the "romantic gestures" (see: forcefully kissing him, stalking him, making a serial killer shrine dedicated to him) feel more like they're in line with that than any genuine interest.

I'm willing to believe he is attracted to men and just very confused about it and acting out some of that frustration onto Jimmy I just don't think he's too into Jimmy past using romantic gestures to humiliate/punish and fitting in socially (I've noticed he's usually at his worst when in public, his one on one interactions with Jimmy are usually. fairly chill)

sausage: I don't really know if I can talk about him I actually went on a giant binge once of his videos trying to figure out what he is to me and I couldn't do it. He is definitely interested in Jimmy sexually is all I've gathered definitively.

He's also very. odd about gay relationships if we're talking story. Obviously this is more or less just the CC baiting for fan interactions but a lot of the times he mentions gay relationships are through a frame of humiliation or spectacle. See: him claiming bdubs kissed him during the crossover but also said he "only does that for etho" or when he put on a play in the sos talent show mog hosted where the joke seemed to just be. Joel and Etho's whole thing. And ofc how he treats jimmy just in general.

of course he's. very gay too in this context so idk maybe there's some depth there to be dug up.

grian: honestly kind of a tough one because he exists just on the verge of the ecosystem to me. Homophobic grian is the funniest thing in the world to me but also kinda canon, but homophobic in a very different way compared to Sausage where he doesn't find any humour from it.

Even when he admonished jimmy and joel for kissing in RL his tone is more. "think of the consequences" than anything else.

To me grian is kind of like. a fucked up little animal who protects himself by disengaging with all of it. He refuses to let himself be vulnerable for others and at the same time clings onto those who can give him comfort. I don't think he's really into jimmy though so. shrugs.

I think I'll talk about this more in that essay I'm planning to write but grians someone who bends the rules just enough to protect himself, but still plays the game and believes you can only survive by playing the game. He looks down on jimmy for not being good enough at that (e.g. southlanders) but at the same time is sympathetic towards him.

martyn: oh this bitchass um. also kinda exists on the outskirts of it. like joel he overperforms masculinity but I think it's much less because of insecurity and more because that's what he takes pride in playing the role for (which is also rooted in insecurity but. whatever. sleepy)

he sees himself as a protector/provider more than anything else and gets frustrated when that role is denied from him, such as in third life with jimmy, because when he can't do that he's forced to confront his insecurities and he very much doesn't want to do that. I don't think he's? attracted to jimmy as much as he just wants to keep him safe but. sigmund freud's face flashes in front of my eyes killing me instantly.

#random thoughts #sorry that's all i got in the tank rn have fun with whateverthis is peace

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im-out-of-it · 6 months ago

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season 2, episode 16 “day of atonement” discussion post

I’m not a big fan of this episode because it does feel like clace takes over. Magnus doesn’t appear at all but people do bring up Magnus. I get clary and jace are supposed to be the main characters but their presence is an irritation to my soul. kinda feels “hey we had Malec the feature for last episode so we can go back to making it all about clace again”. I want to see how Magnus is holding up after trauma dumping and how that has brought him and Alec together more. I’d like to see Magnus bond with dot or any of his warlock friends. Catarina, where are you? I’m just saying, we could’ve had more without them heavily focusing on clace. WE DONT CARE but anyways let’s begin

burnt toast is back

2. I don’t know why fire and dark colors and pentagrams are so fascinating to me but it’s just a beautiful sight

3. I think these scenes with jonathon and valentine are extremely important. Valentine sent his son to hell and he was there for years. all jonathon ever did was try to make Valentine happy. the fuck did he expect by using demon blood????? fuck around and find out Valentine. he wanted the strongest weapon, he got it, and then it didn’t satisfy him enough. I swear you can’t please any man lmao (anyone who watches the show YOU, y’all know what I mean)

4. I’ll be calling him jonathon now since the secret is out

5. while we don’t get Magnus, we do get Maia and we have not seen our girl for a few episodes. I love her checking up on simon. this is a ship I 100% approve. Maia understands Simon and they do have stuff in common. and while Simon did get his heart broken by clary, at least he knows now they won’t ever work

6. I love when people call out Simon for not appreciating his daylighter status lmao

7. I love Maia’s jacket SHE IS SO FUCKING BEAUTIFUL IMAGINE MAIA AND IZZY TOGETHER WAIT THEY WOULD BE ICONIC

8. Maia being supportive

9. technically no one alive since Simon is already dead lmao

10. Maia is a good friend by being there for Simon and trying to support him any way he can

11. Yom Kippur- Jewish day of atonement. I love seeing Simon embrace being Jewish. and just think, if he didn’t have a handle on things with Raphael and Magnus and Maia’s support- he could never go

12. and let the irritation begin

13. ever heard of space and letting people decide their own decisions jace? if clary doesn’t want to talk to you then give her space. the fact that he expects clary to jump into a relationship with him right after ending things with Simon is insane

14. yeah jace, Valentine is missing so keep it in your pants for a second

15. Magnus mention and secluded meetings are never good. I feel for Alec because this happened on his watch so he will likely pay for it. Alec has tried bringing meetings here with the downworld and trying to make it fair on everyone. and then all his efforts are going to be wasted? Alec is the leader everyone needs

16. THE SHADE!!!!!!! Jace had the best experience at the court while clary is still bitter because it lost her Simon lmao

17. Alec: basically my ass is toast (but not too burnt like good old jonathon)

18. it would be a crime to fire Alec for something he didn’t do while jace was able to commit a crime against a downworlder and paid zero consequences for it. I don’t care what anyone says but not having consent and illegally putting a chip on a downworlder so you can track them is or should be illegal. he didn’t try to stop it. saying wait does not count. Jace didn’t find anything wrong with his actions until his little girlfriend went off on him

19. shit like this makes me so mad. Alec is a Lightwood and in CC world, that doesn’t mean shit. while Alec will always be the better man, jace will win each time because the plot makes it so. Alec is a wonderful, brilliant, caring leader while jace has literally no talent, no brain, and gets everything handed to him. Jace can seriously go with a demented serial killer, save him on a few accounts, not get the soul sword, illegally chip a downworlder, get a promotion he doesn’t deserve, be the reason Magnus almost died twice, also be the reason he killed many downworlders with valentine- and still pay zero consequences. at this point, I don’t care if he was swayed by valentine. you should have a brain so use it. you and Alec are not the same.

while he got punished in season one for breathing, you get everyone feeling bad for you and saving your life jace. I’m CC world, jace can’t do any wrong. and this is technically still CC world

oh and to top it all off!!!!!!!!! he was responsible for many downworlders dying AND HARDLYBANYONE BRINGS IT UP!!!!!! and I don’t care if he believed valentine, he should have known better than to listen to some serial killer/mass murderer who almost always lies. I’ll never forgive jace for how he treats Magnus and Alec

Magnus almost dies twice by jaces stupidity while Alec almost dies about five times and two of those times can be traced back to jace. and I really hate how Alec is always something is wrong with jace but jace never talks about their bond until it suits him

20. Alec: shut the hell up already. you get a promotion for being a herondale while committing crimes and I don’t get a promotion even though I deserve it but it’s all because I’m gay and dating a downworlder. you can see the annoyance in Alec’s eyes here. but what’s great about Alec is that he never pushes the blame away. he will take whatever punishment is necessary

going to start another part quickly. you know this one may not be as long because Magnus isn’t included

#anti cassandra clare #anti cc #just my stupid opinions #alec lightwood #magnus bane #shadowhunters tv #show alec is superior #show magnus is superior #show malec is superior #anti jace herondale #putting anti cc on all show shadowhunter posts because i don’t want an pro book fans hating on my shit #marking this as 2x16 #shadowhunter show is superior #jace constantly pisses me off like stfu already #Alec being the biggest person in the room literally and emotionally

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