#complex project estimating

[asestimationsconsultants]

Built for Complexity | How Industrial Estimating Service Handles Custom Manufacturing Projects

Introduction: The Complexity of Custom Manufacturing Projects Custom manufacturing projects are often among the most challenging in the industrial construction sector. Unlike standard builds, these projects involve unique designs, specialized materials, and processes that may not be readily available in off-the-shelf cost databases. Each project brings its own set of variables—often with tight schedules and high demands for precision. This is where industrial estimating services come into play, providing the expertise and tools needed to deliver accurate cost forecasts, no matter how complex the project.

Understanding the Challenges of Custom Manufacturing Custom manufacturing projects typically involve the construction of facilities or systems tailored to specific needs, such as custom machinery, production lines, or specialized storage systems. These projects don’t always fit neatly into predefined categories, which makes estimating their costs particularly tricky. The lack of readily available benchmarks for labor, materials, and equipment means estimators must dig deeper to gather accurate data, assess unique risks, and account for variability in the construction process.

The Role of Industrial Estimating Service in Custom Projects Industrial estimating services play a critical role in ensuring that custom manufacturing projects are properly scoped, budgeted, and executed. Estimators rely on a combination of historical data, industry expertise, and sophisticated estimating tools to account for the unique requirements of each project. They assess design drawings, review material specifications, and factor in the intricacies of the production process to arrive at cost estimates that reflect the project’s true scope and complexity.

Detailed Scope Analysis and Custom Material Costs Custom manufacturing projects often require specialized materials that may not have standard pricing available in cost databases. Estimators take the time to analyze material specifications, identify alternative options, and gather quotes from suppliers to ensure that the cost of materials is accurately reflected in the estimate. They may also assess the long-term costs of certain materials, such as maintenance requirements or supply chain challenges, to provide a more comprehensive financial outlook.

Handling Non-Standard Labor Requirements One of the most significant challenges in custom manufacturing projects is managing labor costs. These projects often require skilled labor or specialized subcontractors with expertise in custom processes or equipment. Industrial estimating services evaluate the labor market, assess wage rates for specific skill sets, and account for the potential need for overtime or specialized training. This ensures that the labor component of the estimate is both realistic and aligned with project requirements.

Accounting for Unique Equipment and Tools Custom projects frequently involve unique or specialized equipment, from advanced machinery to custom-designed tools and fixtures. Estimating these costs is far more complex than simply applying standard equipment rental rates. Estimators must account for the cost of acquiring, maintaining, or leasing such equipment, as well as any potential downtime associated with custom tools. In some cases, they may need to work with equipment manufacturers to determine accurate pricing or cost projections for these items.

Risk Assessment and Contingency Planning The nature of custom manufacturing projects often leads to unforeseen challenges—whether it’s unexpected site conditions, delays in material delivery, or the need for rework due to design changes. Industrial estimating services help mitigate these risks by incorporating contingency allowances into their estimates. They conduct a thorough risk assessment to identify potential challenges that could impact the project’s timeline and budget. By factoring in these uncertainties, they provide a more reliable financial forecast, which helps stakeholders make informed decisions about project feasibility and budgeting.

Timeline Sensitivity and Cost Efficiency In custom manufacturing projects, timelines are often tight, and any delays can significantly impact overall costs. Industrial estimating services evaluate the project schedule in relation to the scope and complexity of the work, considering factors like lead times for custom materials, labor availability, and equipment procurement. They incorporate these time-sensitive factors into their estimates, ensuring that the project is planned efficiently from a cost perspective. By optimizing the timeline and identifying opportunities to streamline construction, estimators help reduce costs and keep the project on track.

Integration of Technology for Enhanced Accuracy To handle the complexities of custom manufacturing projects, industrial estimating services increasingly rely on advanced technology. Software tools and Building Information Modeling (BIM) platforms allow estimators to visualize the project in greater detail, integrate different design elements, and identify potential cost-saving opportunities. These tools provide a more accurate picture of the project’s scope, helping estimators refine their forecasts and catch potential issues before construction begins. Additionally, digital tools can analyze historical project data to inform more accurate pricing for custom materials and processes.

The Importance of Communication Between Stakeholders A successful custom manufacturing project requires coordination between various stakeholders, including the design team, contractors, suppliers, and equipment manufacturers. Industrial estimating services ensure that all parties are aligned by providing clear, detailed cost breakdowns and communicating any uncertainties or risks associated with the estimate. This transparency helps prevent misunderstandings and ensures that all stakeholders have a clear understanding of the budget and timeline.

Providing Value Engineering Alternatives In custom manufacturing, budget constraints are common, and finding ways to reduce costs without compromising quality is crucial. Industrial estimating services often work closely with the design team to identify value engineering alternatives that can reduce costs. These might include suggesting alternative materials, adjusting the scope of certain features, or proposing changes to construction methods that maintain the integrity of the design while offering cost savings. This value-driven approach helps ensure that custom manufacturing projects are both financially viable and high-quality.

Conclusion: Precision and Flexibility for Custom Manufacturing Success Custom manufacturing projects present unique challenges, but industrial estimating services are equipped to handle the complexity. By leveraging specialized knowledge, advanced technology, and real-time data, estimators ensure that these projects are properly budgeted, efficiently executed, and financially viable. Whether it’s managing specialized materials, labor, equipment, or risk, industrial estimating services help turn custom manufacturing challenges into opportunities for success.

[mangled-by-disuse]

I have such mixed feelings about the love languages thing specifically, because, like, gary chapman fucking sucks and there's no scientific validity to his work BUT

at the same time, i do think there's some value in recognising and discussing the fact that different people need different expressions of love in different amounts? Especially in relationships.

Like, I have just recently been having a discussion with my partner about how he really doesn't tend to express his affection through gifts, whereas (as someone who is mega-bad at expressing sincere feeling) I do rely heavily on giving gifts and doing things for people as a less scary way to express love. Joe doesn't like giving gifts, because he's scared he'll do it wrong, and is only so-so on receiving them. He prefers to express love through physical contact and saying nice things. I hate having nice things said to me unless I am allowed to immediately rebut them with a joke or sarcastic comment that makes them less scarily close to emotional honesty. too many words of affirmation and i will genuinely just start avoiding you because it is painfully awkward to me.

and none of that means we are fundamentally different categories of people, which is where the 5 Love Languages stuff falls into being absolute bollocks. but I have seen, and done, enough throwing the baby out with the bathwater on that to be a little defensive - I think reasonable applications of the concept are actually really quite valuable. and for me, the taxonomy Chapman suggests (words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service, physical touch) while not at all exhaustive or thorough, is a useful framework to hang those conversations on. bc, like, no, the way people communicate and receive affection is not universal, and from personal experience, assuming that it is can have really significant problems for a relationship.

...you could argue that this is parallel to BMI in terms of "tools being used in totally not the way they should be used" though, tbf.

I can't keep having the same conversations about love languages, mbti, iq, bmi, "brain fully formed at 25" and shit over and over again...

[apas-95]

Really, watching The Wandering Earth makes Interstellar seem pretty ridiculous in comparison.

In no particular order:

In Interstellar, we are only ever shown the US perspective, and the only time another nation is even mentioned is when the protagonists down a long-abandoned, autonomous Indian Air Force¹ drone - even at the end, when humanity leaves Earth, the space habitats are purely USAmerican, complete with small-town baseball field. In The Wandering Earth, however, a multitude of nations are represented - China is most prominent, but Indian, Kazakh, Russian, Indonesian, Korean, etc. crews are also shown, and are instrumental to the climax of the movie, where only the cooperation of all nations pushing together solves the issue.

While both movies feature the plotpoint of a cynical backup plan to re-seed humanity from frozen embryonic cells, in Interstellar, the best-case plan is evacuating a necessarily small number of people off of Earth, abandoning the planet to its fate. Solving the problem on Earth is impossible. Here, the solution is Noah's Ark. In The Wandering Earth, the best-case plan is to save the Earth, preserving as much of humanity as possible. Most resources are spent on constructing safe cities for humanity that can weather the storm, and on the infrastructure necessary for the Moving Mountains² project. Here, the solution is Great Yu Controls the Waters.

In Interstellar, the result of the crisis in society is a massive reduction in organisation. Governments basically cease to exist, armies are dissolved, and humanity turns to rural, agricultural production. Despite this, they are able to construct and launch complex interplanetary space missions, with secrecy even. In The Wandering Earth, the result of the crisis in society is a massive increase in organisation. A world government is formed to unite as many forces as possible, and a massive project of industrialisation occurs, in order to carry out the work needed to save the Earth. The construction of the Earth Engines is shown to have taken decades, with long periods of difficult experimentation.

In Interstellar, the focus is on the immediate family, on the protagonist's children. It is a tragedy that the protagonist spends thirty years in space, but the mission to leave Earth happens quickly enough that he can still see his daughter again, on the spaceship full of cornfields and single-family houses. In The Wandering Earth, the focus is on all generations to follow. The project being undertaken will not bear fruit for centuries, and in those centuries the people working for it will face extreme difficulties and struggle. But, many, many years from now, it will provide a good life for the children of a future Earth.

¹Originally, this was to be a Russian drone, operated by the Chinese military. The movie's plot originally included a conflict against secretive Chinese space forces who attack the protagonists.

²The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountains is a Chinese fable, about an elderly man who begins carving out a path in the mountainside - when asked why, even though he'd never quarry through the mountain in his lifetime, he answers that others will follow his work, and one day the pass will be complete. It was referenced by Mao Zedong as a metaphor for the long construction of socialism in China, estimated at the time to take a hundred years or more to achieve a developed and prosperous society.

[kenomacreature]

A META-HISTORY OF ELYSIUM CORONA MUNDI

Chronicling (almost) everything we know about the development of Robert Kurvitz's quasi-sacral object complex

This post represents an attempt to gather (almost) all the reliable public info we have about the broader worldbuilding of Elysium Corona Mundi (the series to which Disco Elysium and Sacred and Terrible Air belong) and how it developed over time into one place, presented more or less chronologically and in a way accessible to fans unacquainted with the, shall we say, more arcane lore of Elysium. In the original incarnation of this post, basically every sentence was scrupulously referenced; however, referencing is a major pain in the ass on tumblr, so instead I just have a broad list of sources at the bottom and if you want to inquire any further into a specific claim you can just message me.

I'll also warn readers that the sections discussing the Torson & McLaine campaign and the (currently cancelled) sequel to Disco Elysium contain potential (albeit relatively minor) spoilers for the planned plot of that game. The creators still hope to make that game one day, so if you want to go in totally blind, you know what to avoid.

Evermier

The first serious worldbuilding project that Robert Kurvitz embarked on dates back to at least the year 1997. It was developed with his childhood friends in Estonia, including later Elysium worldbuilders Martin Luiga, Argo Tuulik and Kaspar Kalvet, and went by the name Evermier. This was a medieval fantasy setting formed around a tabletop roleplaying system that Robert Kurvitz and Martin Luiga have referred to as “bootleg Finnish Dungeons and Dragons,” but which Argo Tuulik suspects was actually a Powered by the Apocalypse framework. The vast majority of the boys’ time with Evermier was not spent actually playing any campaigns, but rather formulating the setting and mechanics (both Argo and Luiga ended up never participating in a roleplaying session of Evermier). Argo splits the time spent conceiving Evermier into two broad periods – one he dubs “Evermier 1.0,” which stuck close to traditional Dungeons and Dragons – and one dubbed “Evermier 2.0,” where no tabletop campaigns were ever actually played and all the time was spent system-building. Argo estimates this latter period lasted some 2-3 years.

Scope creep quickly hit the project, with character sheets evolving into whole character books. Luiga alleges that that “the wizard book” was supposed to have 350 spells altogether, each with at least a half-page story about the spell, in prose, and that “about a healthy third of the book got done in the end.” Argo gives a different number, stating that early estimates for it had more like 900 spells, but agrees that two-thirds of each page would’ve been reserved for “juicy literary stuff” about the spell in question while the rest of the page was dedicated to stats, and says that Luiga and Kaspar wrote a lot of excellent stuff for these spells.

Argo says there were about twenty different schools of technology (such as “metallurgy” and “optics”), at least twelve classes of mages, and “so many” subclasses of elves. There was also a subclass of dwarf that, instead of being stocky, chubby and bearded like traditional dwarves, were veiny and more like “Russian miners.” When implementing necromancers, Robert “zoned in on this soul aspect,” which later became the basis for Elysium’s pale. Argo describes these necromancers as “hobbits, but with these little lanterns that guide spirits or souls from this massive fog.” Luiga places the invention of this “fog of death with whom some could communicate” as happening late in Evermier’s development and likewise considers it a primitive precursor to what would become the pale.

The worldbuilders spent a lot of time gearing up for an ultimate roleplaying session that never ended up materializing, but their artist friend Jüri Saks drew illustrations in anticipation of it, including character portraits. Luiga’s character was a “sickle-elf” whose class was called “saint.” This saint character was a handsome elf with small pointy ears and a neat little beard, who wielded two “light swords” (possibly katanas), and a crossbow called Crucifix on his back. The character was from a “grim northern land” and was a “religious lunatic type” who believed in a “grim, monotheistic God.” Argo alleges that Luiga related to this character so much that it almost became a part of his persona; he “developed this mode that sometimes when we were drinking he happened to slip in, where he would start judging people. I would like to say that it still remained within the boundaries of normalcy, but uh, unfortunately it didn’t.”

Kaspar Kalvet at some point played an archer character named Minor Mortifer (“Small Death-bringer”), and there was also a dwarf king named Fuirum Thundergate.

According to Luiga, the name “Elysium” was suggested by someone on the dragon.ee forums, but it took half a year for Robert to start seriously considering it. This was back when the setting was still a medieval fantasy world. Luiga and Argo both agree that the historicized Elysium as we know it now was born around the time when Robert decided to get rid of fantasy races, because – as Argo puts it – “they were kind of stupid.” With this decision, Evermier underwent a modernization process of sorts, an attempt to bring the setting closer to real life, where many other fantasy elements were stripped away in favor of more realistic representations of cultures, mostly in the form of nations. Argo says that many of the fantasy races transformed over the course of this process into the nations of Elysium – the dwarves became the nations of Graad, the elves became the great desert isola of Iilmaraa (formerly Armaghast, a nod to Dan Simmons’ Hyperion, still referenced to this day with Iilmaraa’s Erg desert), the night-elves or star-elves eventually became Seol, and the snow-elves became Katla (which apparently has not changed too much since the Evermier days, and whose namesake is the dragon in Astrid Lindgren’s novel The Brothers Lionheart). Among the first innovations of the new modernized setting was the concept of floating magnet trains, later described in Sacred and Terrible Air.

After the Evermier setting had been discarded, many of its ideas ended up being repurposed into historical periods within the new historicized Elysium setting.

The Elysium tabletop campaigns

Between the years 2003 – 2007, three tabletop campaigns were played in the then newly formed Elysium setting. These all took place in Revachol during the Current Century and featured Robert as dungeon master. The first campaign seems to have been called Soul Milton’s World Autumn, the second one Riget and the final one known simply as Torson & McLaine, or alternatively the RCM campaign. The first two were played at Robert’s old apartment in the concrete block project at Mustamäe, while the third one was played in the house of Luiga's dad, which the three later lived together in following his death.

Soul Milton’s World Autumn

Of the three campaigns, Soul Milton’s is arguably the one most shrouded in mystery as it stands. It took place in Revachol and Martin Luiga played the titular character Soul Milton. The character has been described as “one of the cornerstones of the Elysium mythos” and an “aspiring world-historical person.” By the time of the campaign, Milton seems to have become an amnesiac as a result of “suppressing his own mind to protect himself from his enemies,” and in this process apparently also adopted a disguise by “putting another skin on himself” (what precisely that means, we don't know). He was “very rich” and came from a well-off family, had a complicated and possibly romantic relationship with his sister and was a “politician slash businessman” who “wanted to be the innocence of consumerism.” As it turns out, the enemies who were chasing him were the Therriers of Elysium’s final innocence, Ambrosius Saint-Miro (a major figure in both Sacred and Terrible Air and Full-Core State Nihilist, to be discussed later), who Soul Milton met at one point. Saint-Miro apparently told him that “there has never been an innocence who is also not an innocence.” This encounter places the Soul Milton campaign firmly after the events of Disco Elysium, possibly in the late Fifties or Sixties. During this campaign, Argo played Soul Milton’s horse carriage driver, a man by the name of Elroy Quint Duval.

Also associated with Soul Milton are two other characters. Before Sacred and Terrible Air was conceived, Robert had planned to tell the story of Elysium in three books; one starring Soul Milton, another starring a character named Dister, and the third a character named Dallasz.

Dister, or Marius Dijsters, was an extraphysicist and published author hailing from Oranje. He was a son of diplomats, one of them the grand ambassador of Oranje on Iilmaraa. He seems to have been a significant enough figure to have an entire strand of thought – Disterism – named after him (mentioned in the inside covers of Sacred and Terrible Air), and like Soul Milton, he had an antagonistic relationship with Ambrosius (as made apparent by an incident where he was threatened by the innocence’s Therriers at age 25). He is also apparently involved in some way with Theo Van Kok (of Sacred and Terrible Air fame), along with a Paul Messier (presumably the husband of Disco Elysium's Joyce Messier), apparently the beneficiary of such prestigious titles as "Enemy of the Press '67" and "Worst Person of the Year '67."

Information is rather scant on Dallasz, but during the making of Disco Elysium, there were plans to repurpose him into another project, a comic book named Mercurio Dallasz and the Twelve Kojkos which was going to be illustrated by Aleksander Rostov. This project unfortunately fell through, but we know the premise: a band of kojkos under Dallasz’s leadership attempt to assassinate innocence Saint-Miro. This was presumably an Inglourious Basterds type affair. 

Riget

“It’s better to die in the Kingdom than live in a shithole.”

This was the tagline of Elysium’s second tabletop campaign, Riget, whose name is Danish for “kingdom” and was taken from Lars von Trier’s mini-series of the same name. Once more, the setting was Revachol, but this time it was limited to a peculiar part of it: Le Royaume (French for, again, “the Kingdom”) a vast network of dungeons and burial chambers two kilometers beneath the city, housing ancient ruins and remnants (quite possibly of the Seraseolitic civilization mentioned in Disco Elysium), along with treasures such as bioluminescent plants which have adapted to living in total darkness. The stars of this campaign were three impoverished children, all between the ages of 10-12 and members of a gang named “Earthworms,” who decided to venture down into the catacombs in search of valuable artifacts to sell. At some point, these kids somehow found themselves unable to get out of Le Royaume, supposedly trapped underground by demons who sought to use the children as vessels to escape back to the surface. When this campaign was being played, demons were still a part of the setting and haunted the halls of the underground network, along with monsters – such as the armakhaan beast, also known as Lelo Lelo, a terrifying blind and flightless hunter killer bird which was a mix between the xenomorph and cassowary. As for whether demons are still part of the setting in any way; both Argo and Luiga's statements are too ambiguous to reach any firm conclusion. Argo does note that the concept of 'demons' connotes something subtly different in Estonian than the scary red guys in popular Western culture, and are more like a primordial evil.

In the campaign, Argo played a boy named Miron, whose nickname was ‘Sneaker’, while Luiga played Joschka, a crippled boy with a bad leg. During the campaign, individual roleplaying sessions with Robert were held where the players’ stories evolved in parallel without them being kept on the same page. Each of them would get info the others were not privy to: Argo’s was that Joschka is unaware of the fact that he’s not considered a true member of the gang; in reality, he’s an outcast generally considered a weird, creepy weakling, and was only brought on for his lockpicking and mechanical skills.

Eventually, the Riget campaign got quite far into “Lord of the Flies territory.” Near the end, Sneaker and the third boy (played by another friend) conspired to kill Joschka deep underground.

Torson & McLaine

The worldbuilders continued to refine the roleplaying mechanics they were working with for the campaigns. By the time of Riget, the basics of the Metric system had been introduced, with the now familiar INT, PSY, FYS, and MOT. But according to Argo it was the RCM campaign, known principally as the Torson and McLaine campaign, which was “the first mature cycle of Elysium storytelling.” It took place, once more, in Revachol – this time in a ghetto called Jamrock, named after a Damian Marley song, and was focused on the goings on in Station 51 (renamed Precinct 41 by the time of Disco Elysium), the RCM’s lone precinct in Jamrock. The campaign took large amounts of inspiration from the TV series The Shield and its depiction of corrupt police officers and the intermingling of gang warfare and state-sanctioned violence. A central concept was: the cops are a gang, and the gangs are cops.

The RCM campaign began on a sort of prologue session, wherein Argo and Luiga played characters named Antwone Novak and Trinidad Tranquile respectively, two junior officers newly recruited into the RCM. Antwone was a “petit bourgeois type,” whereas Trinidad was a young communist who had recently been given time off work due to excessive violence. Luiga describes him:

He worked at a meat shop that belonged to Carson Torsson, Mack Torson’s dad, and had a system of stealing from work in order to ‘adequately compensate for his labour’. He also liked to practice a crude type of critical theory in the vein of ‘this building has been made that large to humiliate me, to show off with a power greater than me, to scare me into submission’. And he had a system of smoking no more than five cigarettes per day to cut down on smoking costs — Kim’s single cigarette habit might be a distant echo of that. He had, I think, a 7 in PSY (at least 5) and 2 in INT and mediocre physical stats, the core system was pretty much set by then.

At the end of this prologue session, Station 51 became the target of a terrorist attack. We don’t know much about the perpetrators beyond them being “Church of Evil type guys” in Luiga’s words, but the dice was rolled badly and Antwone and Trini both ended up dying in a “horsebombing” attack, falling onto the bridge outside the station.

Map of Station 51, located in a repurposed steel mill.

Going forward, Argo and Luiga had to find new characters to play, and they ended up going with ones they had earlier conceptualized, half-jokingly, on one of their many walks around Tallinn from parties and other events, since public transportation was notoriously unreliable. These characters were Chester McLaine, played by Luiga, and Mack “the Torso” Torson, played by Argo. Torson was derived in half from Vic Mackey, the protagonist of the Shield, and half from Argo’s own personality. Argo says that Luiga put his own personality into Chester as well, but isn’t sure where the other half of that character came from.

The main plot of the campaign centered on a revenge operation against those who perpetrated the attack on Station 51. In the second session of the campaign, Torson and McLaine are involved in a church raid; though Argo takes care to mention that he doesn’t think this is the church raid mentioned in Disco Elysium, and that it’s not a Dolorian Church but rather the “Armed Church of Saint-Michelle.” Among the tasks of Torson and McLaine were gathering “guns and drugs” for the “big revenge operation.”

Mack Torson was an idiotic body builder, an admirer of Lieutenant John “the Archetype” McCoy, the Station’s resident mass murderer, and altogether “way too stupid to concentrate on the main plot and politics of the police station,” focusing his attention instead on matters like “how to get it on with the captain’s secretary and tattooing the word ‘Jamrock’ on his body hundreds of times over.” Chester McLaine was a little more perceptive, wondering about things such as “what the hell is going on with the armour maker or Nix Gottlieb,” but was still an all-around uncritical person who put a lot of stock into “loving the captain” and “being a communist memebot.” McLaine was also “a sword guy,” since at this point in the worldbuilding swords were still viable weapons, with guns being slow to reload. Torson and McLaine lived together, along with two other cops, Sundance Fischer and Elfboy Williams. “Elfboy’s thing was being the dexterity bro, in which he continually lost to McLaine, and Sundance’s thing was having a fat ass and cleaning his guns all the time.” Torson had a wife named Tessa Torson, and later in life both Chester and Mack would apparently raise adopted daughters, Tessa and Triss (whether these Tessas are separate characters or represent the same character at different stages of development is unclear; Argo and Luiga seem to contradict each other, unless there's something very weird going on).

Torson and McLaine both regularly abused their powers, as RCM officers in general were prone to do, and in their heads they were justified in doing so. A highlight of the RCM campaign had been sessions dubbed “the Ballad of Chad Tilbrooks and Émile Mollins,” centering on two junior officers who were ritually abused and exploited by the older members of their station, including Torson and McLaine. At one point, Torson and McLaine were also involved in an interrogation of a local religious figurehead which devolved into mutilation torture, which only the “bullet-lobotomized” officer Damien “44” Latrec called out for what it was (enthusiastically). The interrogation ended up being ineffective as the religious leader simply “retreated into a happy place inside his head.”

The Captain of Station 51, Ptolemaios Pryce, was immensely respected and glorified by its officers, whereas the station’s lazareth Nix Gottlieb, while also respected, was generally resented and found hard to tolerate for being “an absolute horrible cunt.” In spite of this, Nix Gottlieb was known to have a curious friendship with Pryce, talking alone with him in the Captain’s office long into the night. This fact regularly perplexed the officers of Station 51.

Eventually, at some point in the campaign, Torson and McLaine would come to the focal point of the story, when they make a shocking discovery: the reason for Pryce and Gottlieb’s strange friendship is that they are both members of the top-secret underground anarchist organization the Ultra, and not only are plans underway for a national liberation movement freeing Revachol from Coalition control, known as THE RETURN, but the two have set their sights on a much larger goal: world revolution. 

The novel cycle

No more campaigns were played in the Elysium world after 2007, when the boys stopped playing the RCM campaign (with the story unfinished). Robert Kurvitz instead shifted his attention to writing a book in the Elysium universe. Eventually the plan became for it to be the opening to a cycle of novels, totaling eight altogether. We have the English titles of each book and their epigraphs, along with the order of the series, from a post by Kurvitz on the dragon.ee forums.

They are as follows:

#0 A SACRED AND TERRIBLE AIR My heart will not rest until it rests in you. - St. Augustine

#1 THE COUNTERMEASURES What am I searching for in your dreams? I am not searching. I am merely cleaning up. - Christian Emmerich

#2 NO TRUCE WITH THE FURIES Man-kind, be vigilant! We loved you. - Julius Fučik

#3 MADRUGADA It must be lit as dreams, by lightning flashes only. - Witold Gombrowicz

#4 TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY NINE DAYS REMAINING Evening brings the child back to the arms of the mother. - Sappho

#5 COALITION WARSHIP I don’t want to be in no indie shit. I want to be in the big ones. I want to be in the ones that matter. - Mickey Rourke

#6 WE ARE THE WAITING What remains, is longing for something completely different. - Luis Althusser

#7 INDIFFERENCE A great silence, some low pressure front is forming. - Arvi Siig

Sacred and Terrible Air was eventually released in Estonian back in 2013, and after the success of Disco Elysium plans were made to translate the book into English. Rumor goes that this translation was very far along or even finished, but unfortunately all plans for releasing this translation to the public have been halted with the ongoing legal dispute.

Fortunately, dedicated fans have taken it upon themselves to translate the book into English for those particularly interested. The most successful translation by far is the one by Group Ibex, which still receives updates to this day.

Read it here.

Full-Core State Nihilist

Many don’t know that Sacred and Terrible Air is actually not the only written work predating Disco Elysium. Before even Sacred and Terrible Air was released, Martin Luiga wrote a short story later given the English title Full-Core State Nihilist, which was uploaded to the old ZA/UM blog. While obviously not as meaty a text as Sacred and Terrible Air, it deals with some overlapping themes and gives us our first proper window into the nation of Mesque, so important to the broader narrative of Elysium.  

Full-Core State Nihilist was later heavily edited and uploaded to nihilist.fm, another blog site which many of the ZA/UM members were active on.

Finally, in 2022, Martin Luiga translated the Estonian story, basing his English version on the original ZA/UM blog version, and uploaded it to Medium. This translation itself could be seen as a third edit of the story, featuring new references to Disco Elysium.

(As it happens, I have also arrogantly taken it upon myself to create my own translation of this brilliant story, which combines elements from all three versions, and is an attempt to render the prose in slightly less idiosyncratic English, closer to the “house style” of Disco Elysium, while remaining heavily informed by Luiga’s own translation.)

You can find Luiga’s translation here and my version here.

THE RETURN

In 2014, Robert Kurvitz pitched an idea to his friend and associate, novelist and businessman Kaur Kender, to turn the Torson & McLaine roleplaying campaign into a full-fledged video game for PC. The pitch proposed a 3000 EUR investment to produce a vision document, with design and artwork handled by Aleksander Rostov and Juri Saks, detailing the setting, plot, game mechanics and art style. In 2015, this document was finished, and by this time a provisional name for the project seems to have been settled on: THE RETURN.  

This vision document reveals that the game was once planned to feature turn-based tactical combat. The plan was also for the player to create their own character from certain “archetypes,” each with different personalities, talents and appearances. Over time it became clear that these plans were too ambitious; by 2016 the archetypes had been narrowed down into a single character – the “disgrace to the uniform” Harry du Bois – and the prologue chapter of his story, set in Martinaise, was split off into its own game. This smaller project received the title that originally was given to the third novel in the planned cycle (which was almost certainly anticipated to center around the story of Precinct 41 in the year ’51) – NO TRUCE WITH THE FURIES.

No Truce became Disco Elysium and the rest, as they say, is history. But unlike many fans who view Disco as a singular statement that needs no further comment, the developers were far from done with the world they had created. The dominant internal view, especially among the original worldbuilders, was that Disco Elysium was merely a minor project to get ZA/UM’s foot through the proverbial gate. Work on the true game – the one they had wanted to create all along – could finally begin now.

As far as we know, the plot of the game would’ve stuck fairly closely to the events of the Torson & McLaine roleplaying campaign. The game was to open with an attack on Precinct 41, and the rest of the game would’ve been a revenge story of sorts. Players would assume control of Harry again, and this time his primary partner would be Jean Vicquemare, although there would be an assortment of other potential party members. The map would be at least four times bigger and set in Jamrock.

Plot points which would be explored in the sequel had already been set up in Disco Elysium – among these are Pryce and Gottlieb’s revolution, Le Royaume, Edgar Claire, and La Puta Madre. Cuno and Cunoesse would’ve featured as returning characters; not much is known about how Cuno and Kim would’ve been integrated into the game given how variable their endings in Disco Elysium are, but Argo says that he would’ve insisted on Cuno returning. X7 – the now-cancelled DLC project which Argo worked on for the remainder of his time at ZA/UM after Robert, Rostov and Helen were ousted from the company, would’ve featured Cuno as the protagonist. Meanwhile, Cunoesse was planned to reappear in THE RETURN as a leader of a gang of kids in Le Royaume, according to Martin Luiga.

Obviously, the characters of Precinct 41 would've featured heavily, and we'd be introduced to many familiar names which we were already given glimpses of in Esprit de Corps checks in Disco Elysium. One of these would be Lt. Berdyayeva, a superior of Harry’s, whose daughter is Jean Vicquemare’s ex. A character we know nearly nothing about except for the fact that he was conceptualized back in the tabletop days as a sort of joke character, but survived all the way into the planning stage for THE RETURN, is “Marivald the Merry Butcher” – what his role might've been, your guess is as good as mine.

Pryce and Gottlieb’s goals in the game might've involved an attempt to unite several diverse groups with a common interest in an independent Revachol; this would’ve included the besmerties, the West Revacholian crime syndicates mentioned in Disco Elysium. Prominent among them would’ve been La Puta Madre, a Mesque gang leader and drug manufacturer, a man of such immense power that he has RCM officers tending his poppy fields in terror (his influence also seems to survive past the events of the game; he gets a mention in Sacred and Terrible Air). The Madre would’ve apparently been an attractive feminine-presenting man, impeccably dressed and wearing beautiful makeup; his gender-nonconformity a way of projecting power over the traditionally macho culture of Villalobos. The rival gang, Ahura Mazda, led by a gangster known as the Mazda, would’ve presumably also featured prominently – Rostov recently released old concept art depicting one of their gang members.

There were more plans for the sequel that only came along after the development of Disco Elysium itself. Robert has talked about wanting to double down on events like the Mercenary Tribunal, handling big action scenes within the more closed literary format of the FELD dialogue system, hopefully allowing for even more variation than was possible in Disco's big confrontation. Another infamous idea was the inclusion of a second protagonist – a pregnant woman, about 5 months along. Kurvitz has mentioned this idea in interviews, saying that it would be "an incredible writing challenge" within Disco Elysium's internalized skill system: "It would be unbelievable to use our skill system to speak about the bodily sensations of having another organism inside of you, while you're in the setting and talking to another person." That said, the addition of an entire new protagonist is very ambitious indeed – it's not clear whether the idea would involve alternating perspectives of some sort, or a choice in the character creator of which one to go with, but Kurvitz made it clear that these would be entirely different characters, unlike many games which offer only a superficial choice between male and female playable characters. Kurvitz expressed some doubt about being able to include this in the game, but at least expected it to be integrated via an expansion post-release if not.

Miscellaneous info

Argo and Robert have both hinted that there is a metatextual element to the overarching Elysium narrative. Whenever presented with readings or theories that contextualize the game as some sort of story-within-a-story, they act coy and refuse to give any clear answers. Argo outright offered an interpretation of the pale which presents it as what happens as the narrative starts “leaking out” of the head of a reader or audience member no longer actively absorbed in the world and said that “Elysium is a fictional world that is aware that it’s fictional.”

Apparently related to this aspect of the narrative, according to Argo, are the three satellites in orbit above the world of Elysium – Iikon, Zenith and Shakermaker – which have been there since “before the 8,000 years of recorded history” and before “the Polycarpeum event.” The satellites have only been mentioned in niche corners of the currently published materials, and the innocence Polycarp has only been mentioned in secondary materials, such as the artbook and the inside covers of Sacred and Terrible Air, leading to speculation about him being involved with the pale and the memory of his reign being wiped from history.

Also related to the metatext, again according to Argo, is a character known as “the Man Behind the Black Sun” – he gets one mention by the Paledriver in Disco Elysium, but curiously she seems to refer to it as the title of a movie that was released in Mesque during the revolutionary era, potentially a boiadeiro picture starring the actor Gabriel Buenguerro.

The magical elements of the pre-Elysium fantasy world morphed over time into what is called “extraphysics” in Elysium. The innocences, the pale, and “plasm” all testify to this supernatural aspect of the setting.

At some point, Ambrosius Saint-Miro apparently constructs nihilist death camps, which Triss and Tessa (the adopted daughters of Torson and McLaine) end up in and eventually escape.

"Magpies" are not a real thing and were never a part of the original plan for the Elysium narrative. The concept artist who made the image from which the term was popularized has gone on record saying that he invented this idea himself and that it was taken from his own worldbuilding ideas. There is nothing to suggest that this was integrated into the game; Argo and Luiga reacted with confusion at the mention of this concept.

Kurvitz had an insanely ambitious list of projects he wanted to make in the Elysium universe before he was ousted from ZA/UM; "The last one I want to make, when I'm 50 or 60, that I want to absolutely go crazy on and throw out all commercial considerations and get this as conceptual as possible, is the tabletop setting. The working title for the tabletop setting is You Are Vapor. It will be a really, really, crazy pen-and-paper game."

List of sources:

All parts of Argo Tuulik's Human Can Opener Podcast episode.

Martin Luiga's Human Can Opener episode.

Martin Luiga's Medium account and other blog posts: Interview, 8 years ago..., Hello Fellow Worldbuilders, Correction, A Policeman In Revachol, Fuirum Thundergate (Substack)

Tweets by Martin Luiga: 1, 2, 3, 4

Tweets by Argo Tuulik: 1

The dragon.ee post about the novel cycle

"Welcome to Revachol" on the devblog

"Outro" by Robert Kurvitz, featured in the official Disco Elysium artbook.

Disco Elysium, Sacred and Terrible Air, and Full-Core State Nihilist. Obviously.

Possibly more that I'm forgetting. Feel free to ask.

[idrellegames]

Since I've been getting a few more asks about Episode 3—no I'm not hiding it from anyone, no it's not going to be released for the public any time soon, and yes, it is being worked on, and yes it is getting closer to being finished!

The majority of it is available to play as an alpha demo on my Patreon, although what currently playable is locked to specific Episode 2 endings.

My quarterly roadmaps are posted both here and on itch.io, and have all the updates about what's going on with Episode 3 and where I am currently am in development (Q1 report is here, Q2 report here!).

Episode 3 is the finale of Act 1. There are a lot of choices, a lot of decisions that will impact the future of your playthrough and your Wayfarer's journey. Many of your decisions from Episode 2 will come back to haunt you (in a good way or a bad way) in Episode 3. This episode is going to change everything, and the game and your Wayfarer will not be the same afterwards.

Finally, Episode 3 is the length of a full IF game due to its complexity. There is a reason why it is taking so long to develop. I know folks are impatient for more, but Wayfarer's episode structure is more like installments in a long-running series than chapters of a book. It takes time to pull off something like this, and I promise it will be worth the wait!

Green parts are playable and in the alpha build; blue is completed but not coded (and therefore are not in the alpha); yellow is in the drafting process; red is not started. word count is cumulative for all variations/routes/paths; single playthroughs will vary greatly in length depending on choices made.

I am very close to the end now, but it is very difficult to accurately estimate how long it will take me to finish. I know some people are angry about this, I know some people are disappointed and frustrated because the game is in-development and not a finished product. I know some people think I died and fell off the map or abandoned the project because it hasn't had a public update in a very long time (I didn't, I've always been here, working away).

I don't like releasing content before it's ready. I also don't like releasing episodes in bite-sized pieces even if it means more regular updates. I don't think that would make the game very enjoyable, and it also would make it buggier, with more time spent fixing stuff that I would have normally caught in the editing phase if I finished more things before coding.

I am well aware that Wayfarer is extremely ambitious in its scale, and I am going to live up to how ambitious it is. Ambition takes time, and also sometimes life hits hard. When you're a solo developer, no one else can pick up the slack if you get sick or have a family crisis or need to take time off, so you are going to perpetually be behind schedule.

(And no, other episodes are not going to be as long or as complicated as Episode 3!)

So, at this point I can't say when Episode 3 is being released. Only that it will be!

[whencyclopedia]

Eyewitness Accounts of the Holocaust

The Holocaust was the murder of 6 million Jewish people by the SS, Gestapo, and other organisations of Nazi Germany and its allies in the years prior to and through the Second World War (1939-45). Innocent men, women, and children were shot in mass executions, or, if not too young or too old, they were sent to labour camps where they worked until they could do so no longer. The ultimate fate of millions was to die in the gas chambers of extermination camps like Auschwitz in occupied Poland.

In this article, accounts are presented by those who witnessed the Holocaust genocide firsthand, both its victims and those involved in its execution who were obliged to give evidence in, for example, the post-war Nuremberg trials of 1945-6.

Unburied Corpses, Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

Wislon-Oakes - Imperial War Museums (CC BY-NC-SA)

The Nazis & the Jews

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) established himself as the dictator of Nazi Germany in 1933, and he identified Jewish people as the main enemy of the state. Based on dubious and inconsistent racial theory as propounded by such Nazi figures as Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946), Hitler and the Nazi Party began a propaganda campaign against German Jews, which presented them as an inferior race who were holding Germany back from achieving its full economic potential.

Hitler wanted to remove all Jews from German territory, but the first step was to identify who exactly was a Jew. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws loosely identified Jews since even having a single Jewish grandparent placed an individual in that category. A series of 'solutions' to what Hitler called the "Jewish problem" were rolled out, such as encouraging emigration and persecuting Jewish business owners. Jews were then attacked in such pogroms as the Kristallnacht of November 1938. Next, Jews were rounded up and obliged to live in segregated areas such as ghettos in cities or in concentration camps. Jews were deprived of citizenship and other basic rights.

From 1942, the Nazis began what was secretly described as the 'Final Solution', that is the plan to murder all European Jews. Jews were transported to labour camps where they worked on state projects until they died from disease, extreme malnutrition, or physical exhaustion. Other Jews, and those who could no longer work or were too young or too old to work, were transported directly to death camps like the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex in occupied Poland where they were killed in gas chambers and their remains were communally cremated. Jews were not the only victims since the Nazis also targeted Romani people, Communists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Freemasons, homosexuals, political rivals, prisoners of war, and those with physical or mental disabilities, amongst others. In addition, hundreds of thousands more victims were murdered in mass executions in occupied territories during the Second World War by mobile killing squads known as Einsatzgruppen. The Jews made up by far the majority of those killed, and it is estimated that 6 million died in what is today called the Holocaust. The sheer scale of the Nazis' programme means that determining the precise number of victims is not possible.

Arrested Jews, Baden-Baden

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-86686-0008 (CC BY-SA)

Hugh Greene, a British newspaper journalist, recalls what he saw of the Kristallnacht in 1938:

I was in Berlin at that time and saw some pretty revolting sights – the destruction of Jewish shops, Jews being arrested and led away, the police standing by while the gangs destroyed the shops and even groups of well-dressed women cheering.

(Holmes, 42)

Avraham Aviel, a Polish Jew and survivor of a mass execution, gives the following account of his experience in May 1942:

We were all brought close to the cemetery at a distance of eighty to a hundred metres from a long, deep pit. Once again everybody was made to kneel. There was no possibility of lifting one's head. I sat more or less in the centre of the town people. I looked in front of me and saw the long pit then maybe groups of twenty, thirty people led to the edge of the pit, undressed probably so that they should not take their valuables with them. They were brought to the edge of the pit where they were shot and fell into the pit, one on top of another.

(Holmes, 319)

An anonymous survivor from a ghetto massacre in Lviv, Ukraine, in August 1942 gives the following description of its aftermath:

I went with my mother to the office of the Jewish community regarding an apartment and there in the light breeze, dangled the corpses of the hanged, their faces blue, their heads tilted backward, their tongues blackened and stretched out. Luxury cars raced in from the center of the city, German civilians with their wives and children came to see the sensational spectacle, and, as was their custom, the visitors enthusiastically photographed the scene. Afterwards the Ukrainians and Poles arrived by with greater modesty.

(Fiedländer, 436)

Nazi Classification of Jewish People

VolksVeritas (CC BY-SA)

Rivka Yoselevska, a Polish Jew, describes her experience and that of her family in the Hansovic ghetto massacre in August 1943:

Some of the younger ones I got out naked covered with blood…I was still alive. Where should I go? What should I do?

(Holmes, 320-1)

The SS lieutenant-colonel Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962), in charge of the Final Solution's transportation requirements, here lies to Jews to make sure they do not create trouble as they are transported by train from a ghetto to the concentration camps:

Jews: You have nothing to worry about. We want only the best for you. You'll leave here shortly and be sent to very fine places indeed. You will work there, your wives will stay at home, and your children will go to school. You will have wonderful lives.

(Bascomb, 6)

The death camps were deliberately located in remote Poland to provide the Final Solution project more secrecy. Rudolf Höss (1901-1947), a camp commandant at Auschwitz, stated:

We were required to carry out these exterminations in secrecy, but of course the foul and nauseating stench from the continuous burning of bodies permeated the entire area and all of the people living in the surrounding communities knew that exterminations were going on at Auschwitz.

(Neville, 49)

New Arrivals at Auschwitz

Bernard Walter (Public Domain)

The typical conditions of the train journeys to the camps are described here by Avraham Kochav, an Auschwitz survivor:

There were twenty to twenty-five cars in every train…I heard terrible cries. I saw how people attack other people so as to have a place to stand, how people push each other so that they could stand somewhere or so that they could have air for breathing. It was terribly, terribly stifling. The first to faint were the children, women, old men, they all fell down like flies.

(Holmes, 332)

Zygmunt Klukowski, a Polish hospital director, describes the train journeys for Jewish people sent to the Belzec extermination camp in occupied Poland:

On the way to Belzec the Jews experience many terrible things. They are aware of what will happen to them. Some try to fight back. At the railroad station in Szczebrzeszyn a young woman gave away a gold ring in exchange for a glass of water for her dying child. In Lublin people witnessed small children being thrown through windows of speeding trains. Many people are shot before reaching Belzec.

(Friedländer, 358)

Yaacov Silberstein, a Jewish teenager, describes his arrival at Auschwitz in October 1942:

When we arrived we saw how the Jews were running to the electrified fence. There they stuck. They were tired of life; they could not continue in this fashion.

(Holmes, 330)

Dr Lucie Adelsberger, a prisoner of Auschwitz, describes the processing of new arrivals destined for the labour camps:

We undressed, had our hair cut – no actually our heads were shaved to stubble; then came the showers and finally the tattoos. This was where they confiscated the very last vestiges of our belongings; nothing remained…no written document that could have identified us, no picture, no written message from a loved one. Our past was cut off, erased…

(Cesarini, 656)

Aerial View of Auschwitz

South African Air Force (Public Domain)

Bernd Naumann, a survivor from the Birkenau camp, describes the prevalence of rats in the camp:

They gnawed not only at corpses but also at the seriously sick. I have pictures showing women near death being bitten by rats.

(Neville, 50)

Seweryna Smaglewska, a prisoner in the Birkenau women's camp, describes the living conditions there:

There were no roads, no paths between the blocks. In the depths of these dark dens, in bunks like multi-storied cages, the feeble light of a candle burning here or there flickered over naked, emaciated figures curled up, blue from the cold, bent over a pile of filthy rags, holding their shaved heads in their hands, picking out an insect with their scraggly fingers and smashing it on the edge of the bunk – that is what the barracks looked like in 1942.

(Cesarini, 528)

The SS, which managed the camps, made sure there was a hierarchy amongst the prisoners such as trustees who survived a little longer than the rest by being 'favoured' with certain duties such as burning the bodies in the crematoriums or beating other prisoners. SS Lance Corporal Richard Bock, a guard at Auschwitz-Birkenau, recalls:

A block chief would call out the kapo very fiercely, 'Kapo, come here.' The kapo came over and – boom – he hit the kapo in the face so hard that he fell over…And then he said, 'Kapo, can't you beat them any better than that?' And the kapo ran off and grabbed a club to beat up the prisoner squad quite indiscriminately. 'Kapo, come over here,' he shouted again. The kapo came and he said, 'Finish them off,' and then he went off again and he finished the prisoners off, he beat them to death…a kapo had to beat and club to save his own life.

(Holmes, 325)

Luggage of Auschwitz Victims

Jorge Láscar (CC BY)

Those meant for the gas chambers were often unaware of their fate. Bock describes the procedure that he witnessed with a colleague called Holbinger who was responsible for the Zyklon B tins that would produce the lethal gas:

…the new arrivals had to get undressed, and then the order came, 'Prepare for disinfection'. There were enormous piles of clothing…Lots of them hid their children under the clothes and covered them up and then they shouted, 'Get ready' and they all went out, they had to run naked approximately twenty yards from the hall across to Bunker One. There were two doors standing open and they went in there and when a certain number had gone inside they shut the doors. That happened about three times, and every time Holbinger had to go out to his ambulance and they took out a sort of tin – he and one of his block chiefs – and then he climbed up the ladder and at the top there was a round hole and he opened the little round door and held the tin there and shook it and then he shut the little door again. Then a fearful screaming started up and approximately after about ten minutes it slowly went quiet…They opened the door…then a blue haze came out. I looked in and I saw a pyramid. They had all climbed up on top of each other…They were all tangled, they had to tug and pull very hard to disentangle all these people.

(Holmes, 334-5)

Dov Paisikowic, a Russian-Jewish survivor of Auschwitz, was part of the team responsible for taking bodies out of the chambers, removing valuables such as rings and gold teeth, and then taking the corpses to the crematoria. He recalls:

…the doors were suddenly opened to the gas chambers. People, naked people, started falling out. We were all frightened, no one dared ask what it all was. We were immediately taken to the other side of this house and there we saw hell on this earth – large piles of dead people, and people dragging these dead to a long pit, about thirty metres in length and ten metres in width. There was a huge fire there, with tree trunks. On the other side fat was being taken out of this pit with a bucket.

(Holmes, 335)

Thousands of detainees in the camps were subjected to unnecessary and often horrific medical operations and experiments. One of the most infamous SS doctors was Josef Mengele (1911-1979), who performed all kinds of macabre operations at Auschwitz. Mengele was, though, only one part of a large SS medical team, which operated in many different camps. Dr Franz Blaha, a Czech detainee at the Dachau concentration camp, was obliged to work in this area of Nazi terror, specifically performing autopsies. Blaha reported:

From the middle of 1941 to the end of 1942 some 500 operations on healthy prisoners were performed. These were for the instructions of the SS medical students and doctors and included operations on the stomach, gall bladder and throat. These were performed by students and doctors of only two years' training, although they were very dangerous and difficult….Many prisoners died on the operating table and many others from later complications…These persons were never volunteers but were forced to submit to such acts.

(MacDonald, 59)

Auschwitz Bunks

Bookofblue (CC BY-SA)

Hertha Beese, a Berlin housewife and underground resistance worker, recalls that, unlike the general public, the resistance network was more informed about the camps. She states:

We knew that the concentration camps existed. We also knew where they existed, for example Oranienburg just outside Berlin. We sometimes knew which of our friends were there and we also knew of the cruelties in them right from the beginning.

(Holmes, 315)

Anthony Eden (1897-1977), British Foreign Secretary during WWII, notes:

…as the war progressed some horrifying reports began to come out. At first it was very difficult to assess their accuracy and they were so horrible it was hard to believe they could be true.

(Holmes, 314)

Wynford Vaughn-Thomas, a British journalist, recalls the conditions of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany when it was liberated in 1945:

In the huts typhoid, everything, had broken out and you couldn't hear yourself speak for the death rattle. There were people lying on top of each other, sick, vomiting, withered bodies crawling on their hands and knees…It was sealed off in this dark north German plain and you felt you'd reached the cesspit of the human mind.

(Holmes, 337)

Mass Grave, Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp

H. Oakes-Imperial War Museums (Public Domain)

The British Lieutenant Colonel J. A. D. Johnson described what he saw when he arrived at Bergen-Belsen:

The prisoners were a dense mass of emaciated apathetic scarecrows huddled together in wooden huts, and in many cases without beds or blankets, and in some cases without any clothing whatsoever…There were thousands of emaciated corpses in various stages of decomposition lying unburied. Sanitation was to all intents and purposes nonexistent.

(Cesarini, 759)

Hans Stark, Gestapo staff member at Auschwitz, stated, like so many others, that he had merely been following orders:

I took part in the murder of many people…I believed in the Führer, I wanted to serve my people. Today I know that this idea was false. I regret the mistakes of my past, but I cannot undo them.

(Neville, 57)

Rabbi Frankforter, who died in the Holocaust, which Jewish people often call the Shoah or Ha-Shoah in Hebrew, gave this last wish to survivor Yaacov Silberstein:

You are still young and you will remain alive. I have only one request for you that you should never let people forget. Tell everyone what they did to us at this small camp, in Buchenwald. Wherever you go tell this, also to your children so that they should pass it on. To remember and not to forget.

(Holmes, 339)

Continue reading...

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

The PledgeManager has launched!

Thank you for bearing with us. We’re happy to say that, as promised, the PledgeManager has officially launched!

In case you missed it, we detailed earlier this week that the publication of the graphic novel has been pushed back from its original July 2024 estimate into Spring 2025 - you can read the full update here. We also want to take a moment to say that we have seen the outpouring of love and support on Kickstarter, and across various platforms, wishing Colleen well in her recovery and the time needed for the graphic novel - a huge thank you from all of the team for your understanding and patience, and for the genuine community and care we’ve seen these past few days. We appreciate you all.

PledgeManager

With this in mind, we think it’s important to underline: though PledgeManager has launched, you do not need to pay for your shipping fees immediately.

The PledgeManager is there for those who missed the campaign to order the graphic novel, and indeed for any backers who would like to upgrade, get some other add-ons, or the new items. You, as a pre-existing backer, should receive an email with information via Kickstarter and/or PledgeManager to inform you that this is now open to you - note, these are sent in waves of smaller batches, so if you don't get yours immediately, don't panic! It will likely take between 12-18 hours to process all the backers.

You are, of course, welcome to pay your shipping right away if you'd like, however we completely understand that you may want to wait until closer to the fulfilment time, or when more solid dates are confirmed, before actioning this.

For this stage, we have compiled a quick FAQ below covering some key questions:

Will the whole project be moving from Kickstarter to PledgeManager? No. This is just for the fulfilment side and logistics - all updates will still remain here.  

Do PledgeManager backers get everything that Kickstarter backers do? No. While the remaining tiers will be made available for those who missed it, with certain stretch goals (e.g. additions to the book, loot boxes, etc), Kickstarter backers have a number of exclusives such as the Good Omens HQ discount code for when the store launches, and the backers only events.  

My PledgeManager address will be different to what is listed on my Kickstarter. Is that fine? Yes. We are handling all logistics through PledgeManager and, as such, that is the only place where we will need your address. If you move or need to change any details, that will be the place to do so.  

Can I change my address? Yes. You can update your address until we are at the shipping stage. We will keep this option open for as long as possible to ensure maximum flexibility around this.  

How are shipping fees calculated? It is based on both weight and the country it is being sent to. We have been working over the past months to streamline processes and bring the costs down from their original starting point.  

Do I have to pay just now? You do not need to pay immediately, but payment will need to be made prior to your items being shipped. You now have a bigger window during which you can make payment. As above, we will keep updating you on the progression of the publication schedule, should you be waiting for firmer dates before doing so.  

What about taxes and import duty? UK: VAT is included in the costs UK backers pay, there should be no extra tax charges. US: We believe (but cannot guarantee) that imports under $800USD in value should not attract import duty, those pledges above may be taxed at import. EU & REST OF THE WORLD: If taxes or duties apply to your pledge, these will need to be paid at time of import into your country. We’ve spent months trying to integrate the costs at this stage, but in having the project open across the globe, it has proven too complex to be able to fully refine and cover all instances and locations, and we’ve been advised that this is the best route forward.  We know a lot of international backers, particularly in the EU – for example – will already be used to this process, and we will keep you all updated on any developments on this front. For all of our backers, we are working hard to make labelling and declaring all of the contents of your pledges as transparent as possible, in order to make taxing and importing as easy and affordable as possible.  

I want to buy the new items, but am waiting to pay shipping. Are they limited? The pins, mugs, notebooks - all the new items specifically added to the PledgeManager are not limited and will be available regardless of whether you get them now, or months down the road. The only limited items are the remaining tiers that have moved over from the Kickstarter (e.g. the Obsidian Tier) that were limited to begin with, and a very limited run of the Alien Parking ticket. Everything else is fully available, in perpetuity.  

Will you be adding extra items to the PledgeManager? No. What is there at launch is all we plan to include at this point - any new items afterwards will instead originate via the Good Omens HQ store.  

Will Kickstarter backers get items first? Yes. We will have a staggered approach for fulfilment: Kickstarter backers, then PledgeManager, then everything that is moving to the Good Omens HQ store will subsequently be made available.

You can also view the more general PledgeManager FAQ at terrypratchett.com.

We will keep PledgeManager and logistical notes present in all the monthly updates going forward, but felt this warranted a dedicated one-off. 

These are available as part of the PledgeManager. Another beauty from our pin designer, Carl Sutton.

Thanks again for your patience. Back in the April monthly update.

In short: :)

The Good Omens Pledge Manager has launched:

those who missed the Graphic Novel Kickstarter: Now you can order the Graphic novel, not all things that were in the original Kicstarter are available but there is stil a lot of options and fuckton of lovely ineffable add-ons! :)<3

those who participated inthe original GO GN Kickstarter: you should an email (Dunmanifestin needs more information to fulfill your reward) with a link that logs you (if not log manually) into the pledgemanager and lets you edit the order (add new add ons) (yep, my wallet weeps :D<3)

The addons:

I mean... how can one resist for example these I do not know... :D

[hazbinhotelreimaginedproject]

✨🍎Charlie's Relationships!🍎✨

Vaggie, Angel, Alastor, Lucifer!

✨🍎Charlie + Vaggie🦋🗡️

Ever since their first meeting, Charlie has held Vaggie in high regard. She was the first 'sinner' she had ever officially met, and the first true 'friend' the princess ever had. Strong, organized, determined, a person you can rely on when you're hyperactive, messy, confused, frustrated... lonely... ↓↓↓

Charlie is the ideas person, the one with both wonder and will, and Vaggie is the manager, helping shape the lengthy schemes into direct actions. Sometimes she wonders how she would've gotten this far in her plan without her girlfriend's help.

Wait- GIRLFRIEND!? W-well y-yes, they are both girls a-and they are certainly friends!! Yes!!! Definitely no weird bubbly feeling she can't explain because she's never been in love before!!! LOVE!?!? Uhh y-yeah, of course she loves her best friend!!! Her bestest best friend that she loves and wants to remain friends with forever-- n-nothing more, *sob* y-yeah DEFINITELY!!!

✨🍎Charlie + Angel🕸️🩷

Charlie has been very sheltered her entire life, so to live with one as familiar with hell life as Angel is a great opportunity to learn more about her subjects! And he is proving to be a great teacher! She didn't know a lot about his profession, never had experience dealing with drunk people, nor has she ever witnessed an addict's creativity in finding new stash locations, but after a week with him? Got pretty familiar.

Hes unfiltered and always lets her know whenever he's unhappy with something, which makes reading and accommodating him so much easier! She's often wrong in her readings, but slowly realizes it's because Angel as a person is much more complex than she ever thought possible.

Overtime, she stops looking at him as a subject of study, but as a person she has genuinely bonded with, and they develop an older brother - younger sister dynamic. Soon he also softens a bit and starts teaching her social cues and sinner etiquette so she can learn to navigate her people and their struggles.

✨🍎Charlie + Alastor 🦌🥩

Alastor is a trickster whose reputation precedes him, to the point even the shut-in princess knows to be cautious of him. Completely unpredictable, he is quiet and reserved on some days, and the most talkative extrovert on others, which makes getting him to help or even getting in contact with him absolute hell.

His suggestions are always either violent or absurd, but there is always a pinch of truth to them that she has to sift through and find. Something about him tells her that he's really guiding her on the right path, but something else urges her to be careful.

Another thing that surprised her about him, is that apparently that old-school gentleman loves pranks. He has certainly shown her and the hotel residents so multiple times. And she, of course, lovely gullible she, is his favorite target.

✨🍎Charlie + Lucifer 👑❤️‍🔥

Charlie and her dad... aren't close. It was better when her mother was still around, but now she hardly considers him family. He is the one funding her endeavor, but she hates having to rely on him or ask him for help, mostly because he would always dismiss her with a laugh and start talking about his duck projects or whatever.

She knows it's his curse, she knows he would never truly empathize with her or give her the time of day because of his sin, but she still hates him for it. She hates how he never treats her seriously, she hates when he gives her estimations of when her program would fail, she hates him laughing at her plans like they were children's drawings. She hates him.

... Except she doesn't. She can't really bring herself to. He seems to be trying this time around. Really trying. Almost like hes... fighting himself. If she's already trying to redeem sinners... would it really be a stretch for her to try and redeem the devil? Would she succeed...?

Woah! I'm cooking up so many interesting dynamics I would love to explore in the future! Too bad I will probably be real busy till next year probably. But by my calculations season 2 would release around that time sooo! >w<

[smoulderingocean]

On June Osborne and Grief

I've been thinking a lot about June and grief in this final episode of The Handmaid's Tale. While there are some flaws, the more I've sat with it, the more I've come to appreciate the brutal and raw honesty of it.

I’m going to be straight with y’all before I get into the analysis: I have had serious issues with June going back to the start of the third season. I have serious issues with her still, as you can see from my posts from episode nine of this season. But with that said, there is something striking about her grief in this final episode and I'm going to be somewhat generous with her here as grief is a difficult, complicated, painful thing to live through and is something that happens for years and years. (Bruce Miller himself said June would be grieving this loss for 25 years and frankly I see that as a low estimate.)

Having currently been going through the grieving process myself, there are a lot of recognizable things going on here with June. She is numb, she is angry, she is detached, she thinks of good times warmly but can't linger on them because the pain is too fresh, and she has so many emotions that she can't work through them all.

The most prominent emotions we see with her are shock and anger.

Let's get the anger out of the way first because it's this part of the story that I see people upset with. And I get it! June's words are awful. They're cruel and heartless and they're lies. And she knows it. She's saying those terrible things for a couple reasons. The most obvious one is that June is projecting the feelings she has at herself towards Nick. She is angry with herself for not helping him and for not being there when he needed her like he always was for her. She is trying to justify the terrible choice she made, because she knows deep down when she accepts what she did, the devastation of it is going to destroy her because she made the wrong choice and it cost her the love of her life and her daughter her father and Nick's unborn baby their father. June knows that in the future she is going to have to explain to those two why their father is gone and that they may well reject her completely because of it. So by projecting her anger, she is protecting herself for the time being. But it will come to get her eventually.

June is also trying to ignore the fact that she is violent and dishonest. June is the one who is reaping what she sowed and she is suffering for it. By dumping those words on a dead man who can't fight back and force her to look at herself, she can push past a part of herself that she doesn't like and doesn't want to see. But she can't run from that forever.

On top of being angry at herself, June is genuinely angry with Nick. In a tight spot, he messed up and shattered every perfect illusion she had of him, turning him from a perfect dream to a complex imperfect human. A terrible, devastating thing happened as a result and in his panic, Nick did not tell her himself (not that I'm sure it would have made a difference) and that fear-based deception also hurt her. Things then fell to pieces because June in turn made a terrible choice. Without her Nick spiralled completely, lost without any love. It is not lack of sex we die from, it is lack of love, and this is starkly visible with Nick as the lack of love in his life drove him deep into Gilead survival mode and he died in the end.

I truly don't think June meant the things she said. She doesn't think he's violent or dishonest or bad or that he reaped what he sowed. In the episode she looks up at the sky and is clearly thinking of him in the moment. It's a subtle acknowledgement from her that he was truly good and he's in heaven, not hell, as she directed her gaze heavenwards and her eyes lingered. She knows in her heart who he was and where he's waiting for her, because now Nick can wait for her and he will be there for her when she gets there.

As for shock, June spends much of the episode in a daze, wandering around and just completely incapable of truly hearing kind words about Nick. Early grief is full of shock as our worlds are destroyed and our brains are trying to keep us alive and we are narrow in our focus. June struggles to even acknowledge those kind words to the degree that she needs to in order to even begin properly grieving this loss, but in the moment she knows Serena was right: Nick never had a real choice in life and if he did, that choice would have been her. (And these words again go back to her guilt- she killed a man who had no real choice and that's a terrible thing. Nick was possibly the most trapped person she knew as unlike others, he had no freedom anywhere that didn’t come compromised, and she made no effort to help him find his way out when he couldn't see a way.) She has an easier time accepting that Nick loves her, because it is impossible to deny such a thing, even after everything that happened- his love for her became his entire existence and she knew it (and frankly she liked it until it became imperfect). It is also impossible to deny he kept her alive and without him she is vulnerable. June is not someone that likes feeling vulnerable and so pushing Nick away in her mind is her trying and failing to not feel vulnerable without him there.

June looks at his apartment, at their little sanctuary, and smiles a broken, faltering smile. She wants to go there and to live in their love, but she is not ready and so she walks away. To go in she first needs to accept she killed him when she could have helped and that she rejected him in his darkest hour when she should have embraced him. In order to accept her role in his death, she needs to accept she is not a perfect person; she is not above others or more moral than them or more righteous. Without Nick there loving her, it'll take a lot longer for her to accept that as he loved all of her, good, bad, and ugly, and in a way no one else has. (And I think his love overwhelmed her and scared her in a way, as he loved her more than she'd ever been loved before.) But when she does, the real work in grieving will begin and that will take many, many, many years. It'll probably take years just for her to accept herself as flawed and that she killed Nick.

When she does accept her flawed self and then her role in Nick's death, I think she'll be grieving him more fully and will be able to open up that apartment door once more and then she'll embrace that he was a flawed man who she did love very much and that she betrayed him and not the other way around. She'll fully live in the love they shared and in the dreams they had that never came to be, and especially in what she has deprived their daughter and his child of. (At the very least, she needs to be looking for Blaine family members to help fill that gap, and this will come once she gets into this grieving space.) She'll def be experiencing complicated grief and will spend decades in the throes of it. But she'll get to experience the good side of things too, once she gets there, as the happy moments will be lived in more and will feel more happy and not bogged down by everything else.

I picked up on a bit of tension in the music in this ep and I think that combined with June's wife coloured teal coat is a sort of nod to her being like the wives of Gilead- standing by and causing so much pain in their goals of achieving their own ends, everyone else be damned. And June is having to face that she is like Serena in ways she hates and that Nick's death is the result of that.

With all that said, I just wish this show didn't rely on subtext so much. Bruce Miller had always relied too much on subtle glances and facial expressions, and doesn’t use dialogue and props enough. They needed a line of June telling Nichole that her Daddy loved her, perhaps another of her really feeling that guilt (Moira would have been perfect here, especially given she lost her fiancee and so she understands this specific type of grief well). A moment of creating a little memorial for Nick or pulling out a secret photo of him and smiling also would have been helpful in adding depth to her grief and emotions. All that would have tied June’s regret and pain together so much better. They lacked a balance with her cruel words and showing what she was actually feeling deep down. Yes, it’s not in her nature to be open or rational, especially when it comes to Nick. But having her do so, even if only with Nichole would have portrayed badly needed character growth.

All in all, after a lot of reflection, I think they got it decently right. Grief can be deeply ugly and we see that here. I just wish we’d seen the beautiful side of grief too, which is love. Grief and love go hand in hand and cannot be divorced.

[asestimationsconsultants]

Residential vs. Commercial | Comparing Construction Estimating Services in Australia

Construction estimating services play a vital role in both residential and commercial projects across Australia. However, the scope, challenges, and approaches differ significantly between these two sectors. Understanding these differences helps project stakeholders choose the right estimating services tailored to their specific needs.

Scope and Complexity

Residential construction estimating typically involves smaller-scale projects such as single-family homes, renovations, or small multi-unit dwellings. These projects usually have simpler designs and fewer trade specialties. Estimators focus on detailed takeoffs for common materials, labor costs, and basic site works.

Commercial estimating covers a wider range of larger, more complex projects such as office buildings, retail centers, hospitals, and schools. These projects often involve sophisticated architectural designs, multiple subcontractors, specialized systems (like HVAC, fire safety), and stricter regulatory compliance. Estimators must account for more variables, higher volumes, and longer timelines.

Estimating Methodologies

Residential estimating often relies on unit rate pricing for standard materials and labor. Estimators typically use detailed plans combined with historical cost data. Because residential projects have shorter durations, estimates may be less layered with contingencies.

Commercial estimating requires more detailed cost planning, including allowances for escalation, complex subcontractor bids, phased construction, and regulatory fees. Advanced software and BIM integration are more common to manage the complexity.

Regulatory and Compliance Considerations

Residential projects must comply with local building codes and standards, but commercial projects face more extensive requirements including fire safety, accessibility, environmental standards, and often more rigorous council approvals. Estimators working on commercial projects need to factor these compliance costs into their estimates.

Risk and Contingency Management

The scale and complexity of commercial construction introduce higher risks related to delays, design changes, and cost escalations. Estimators typically include larger contingencies and conduct detailed risk assessments. Residential projects may have smaller contingencies but still require allowances for unexpected site conditions.

Client Interaction and Reporting

Residential clients often require more straightforward estimates with clear explanations as they may be less familiar with construction processes. Commercial clients expect detailed cost breakdowns, phased estimates, and ongoing updates aligned with project milestones.

FAQs

Are estimating services priced differently for residential vs commercial projects? Yes, commercial estimating is usually more expensive due to complexity and detail required.

Can the same estimator work on both residential and commercial projects? Some estimators specialize, but many have experience across sectors.

Is commercial estimating software different from residential? Commercial estimators often use more advanced software with BIM integration capabilities.

How do contingencies differ between residential and commercial estimates? Commercial projects typically include higher contingencies due to greater risk and complexity.

Are regulatory fees always included in commercial estimates? Yes, professional commercial estimates factor in relevant regulatory and compliance costs.

Conclusion

Residential and commercial construction estimating services in Australia differ significantly in scope, methodology, complexity, and client expectations. Understanding these distinctions helps project stakeholders select the appropriate estimating expertise and tools. Both require accuracy and professionalism, but commercial projects demand more detailed planning, risk management, and compliance considerations. Choosing the right estimating service ensures realistic budgets and smoother project delivery in either sector.

[arminreindl]

The Cryptic Crocs of the Caribbean

I have been positively swamped with work and other responsibilities and of course that's just when theres a lot of really interesting papers coming out. The subject of this particular post is something a little more recent than my usual focus, by which I mean it concerns crocodiles very much alive right now.

In "Novel island species elucidate a species complex of Neotropical crocodiles", author Jose Avila-Cervantes and colleagues present a large scale project attempting to establish a more robust history of neotropic crocodiles by taking a closer look at species and population divergences, specifically through genomic and phenotypic data.

Part of the stated goal was to try and shine a closer light on the relationships among the neotropic species of Crocodylus (consisting of Morelet's crocodile, the American crocodile, Orinoco crocodile and Cuban crocodile), who's phylogeny remains somewhat poorly known. One of the complicating features is the poor fossil record. I've mentioned it before, but as it is currently understood, the oldest neotropic crocodile is C. falconensis from the Pliocene of Venezuela, which sits outside the modern species and might be most closely related to the Miocene C. checchiai from northern Africa, by extension establishing a link to today's African species. Beyond that tho the American fossil record is poor, with fossils typically only identifyable to the genus level (not counting some island localities preserving the remains of Cuban crocodiles). The second complicating feature is the fact that neotropic crocodiles seem to be quite fond of interbreeding, with hybrid populations between American and Morelet's crocodiles present along the Yucatan Peninsula and possible hybrids between Cubans and Americans on, well, Cuba.

The four classically recognized species of the neotropics, the large American crocodile (Jose's crocodile river tour, top left), the agressive Cuban crocodile (Steve Cooper, top right), the humble Morelet's crocodole (yours truly, bottom left) and the slender-snouted Orinoco crocodile (Phoebe Griffith, bottom right)

Particular focus of the study is the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), given that it is without a doubt the most wide ranging of today's neotropic crocodiles. This species ranges from the Mexican Pacific coast to Florida and south to northermost Peru and Venezuela as well as a huge swath of the Caribbean, inhabiting both inland freshwater biomes as well as mangroves, islands and everything in between.

The current range of the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) via Data Basin

However, as a consequence the paper has found that there is quite a lot of genetic variation within this species, especially among the populations of the Mexican Pacific Coast and island populations. Now in terms of morphology it is noted that the range of American crocodiles is quite wide, with the phenotypes of island and mainland species overlapping. However it is also noted that there is only minimal overlap between the island forms themselves.

Especially distinct are two populations found south-east of Yucatan, namely those of Cozumel island and the atoll of Banco Chinchorro. Phylogenetic trees actually suggest that these two form their own branch among American crocodiles that is positioned as the sister clade to all other populations. The two populations are noted for their surprisingly diverse genetic pool, no signs of admixture with other populations and an estimated population size of about 500 individuals each (as is highlighted by the study, this is about 10 times more than previously thought).

A crocodile in the waters around Banco Chinchorro by javie.33

As a consequence, the team supports the not-that-new idea that Crocodylus acutus is a species complex rather than a single well separated species, with the Banco Chinchorro and Cozumel populations judged to be distinct enough to warrant being given their own species names. Now the team has refrained from coining those (so far), but at least suggests naming them after their home islands. If this comes to pass and is widely accepted, then this would essentially make the two "cryptic" species, something thats happend before in crocodile research. Just to give a concrete example, similar things have previously happened with the split between Nile and Sacred crocodile (C. niloticus and C. suchus) as well as the two New Guinea crocodiles (C. novaguinea and C. halli). Furthermore, the fact that these two are distinct opens up the possibility that other populations could likewise be a lot more different than previously thought once enough genetic data is collected. One such population not given much attention in this study would be the "hybrid" population on Cuba, which the paper off handedly suggests could also represent a cryptic species.

To take a brief detour, the paper does spend some time highlighting some of the stuff that makes the Chinchorro species so distinct. Physically, they differ from their Cozumel relatives by having longer and broader skulls and subtle differences in their armor. Even their ecology is different, appearing to consume more hard-shelled prey.

Compared to other populations in general, they seem to produce smaller and fewer eggs than other populations, something that could have to do with the high salt content of the local waters. Their entire growth rate appears to be lower, taking longer to reach the same size as their relatives and females become sexually mature at a smaller size. Despite all of this however, they are doing quite well for themselves with a respectable success rate aided by the lack of predators. Following the research done on the population, the main threats to hatchlings seem to be heavy rainfall and tropical storms. What's even more interesting however is the relationship between the Banco Chinchorro crocodiles and the salinity of their surrounding environment. As is known, true crocodiles of the genus Crocodylus may have different habitat preferences, but as a whole they are quite capable of dealing with saltwater, having allowed their dispersal across much of the planet. Now the paper mentions that though prefering freshwater, Morelet's crocodiles can tolerate a salinity of up to 22 ppt (parts per thousand) while the typical American crocodile inhabits environments with a salinity of around 34 ppt. Now get this. The salinity at the Banco Chinchorro atoll ranges from 30 to 65 ppt with an average of 52.9 ppt, the highest salinity tolerated by a member of this genus.

Like the famed saltwater crocodile, American crocodiles are well known for entering saltwater.

As a final point, the study goes on to highlight the positive aspects that coining two new species could have. While populations would obviously be quite small and both islands face similar dangers, they suggest that this could be a great opportunity to use the Cozumel and Banco Chinchorro species as umbrella or flagship species to promote not only the protection of the crocodiles but also of all the other animals that inhabit this part of the world as well as their habitats as a whole. To this extent, its good to hear that while Cozumel is a partially urbanized tourist destination, some of its most important crocodile populations inhabit protected areas while all of Banco Chinchorro is a Biosphere Reserve.

Left: Naturally a major threat to these animals is habitat destruction and conflict with humans, as one can imagine might arise given their proximity to tourist beaches as recorded by Iliana Acosta Right: Over at the protected Banco Chichorro meanwhile it seems that you can actually dive with crocodiles. (Photo by Oceanographic Magazine)

As a final note I just want to say that I'm very excited to see these two animals described in proper and what other cryptic crocodiles might be found elsewhere. And of course I hope that they get the protection they need so that they are preserved for future generations.

[spinji]

to me Bakugo always seemed like one of those genius kids that were constantly praised for this one thing he excelled at(his quirk) that he didn't really have anything else besides that. It gave him an inferiority complex. And when he went to ua, it's like when those gifted kids go go to a school where they're are tons of lifted kids just like him all starting at same place. He realizes he's not the best anymore. In fact he starts to fall a little behind(which is normal) and that hits him hard because who else is he if he's not the best.

With no exaggeration that is exactly it.

That is the entire basis for his early character development before it becomes even more ridiculously intertwined with Izuku. His entire beef with Todoroki comes from feeling upstaged by him and then never getting an opportunity to properly one-up him because Shoto pulled his punch at the sports festival. It's why he was so SO fucking upset at the award ceremony even though he got first place.

And the thing is; he keeps losing these personal goals for himself time and again until the exact moment he stops treating his classmates as people to compete against rather than people to collaborate with. You take away all the Izuku-specific issues and his struggle with the death of his ego and trying to ward of imposter syndrome is extremely relatable, especially if you were one of those high performing kids who now cringes at how much they used to flaunt their own skills or intelligence.

Personally, I think Izuku has the other end of the gifted child problems spectrum. He wasn't openly praised to the point of swelling his ego but he's clearly very smart. I like to think he was a very independent worker when he was young which only made him not learn how to ask for help when things are difficult.

It's not a point of pride, he just genuinely doesn't consider outside help as a factor because he hasn't needed it yet (he did and his grades suffered a bit as a result and maybe that got tied up in his self esteem a little but hey he's still passing). It's a bit of personal projection but I think the contradiction between the emphasis on his intelligence from a character perspective and how actually middling/inconsistent his grades are when you actually look at what the narrative says makes sense in that context.

Whenever they show him studying he always looks like he's struggling to some degree, his expression very tense and hunched over his desk for hours to make sure he understands what he's doing. He was smart enough to guesstimate his entrance exam score but his estimate was that he barely passed. That one innocuous scene of him very confidently answering a math question wrong. Combine that with the fact that learning to ask for support in other areas is a major part of his character growth and idk the vibe just really fits.

[chubsonthemoon]

Fandom Trumps Hate 2025 - Moonham Press Fanbinding

Hi, everyone! I'm participating in the Crafts Bazaar for @fandomtrumpshate 2025. I'm offering one hardcover and one paperback fanbind of a fic of your choice, with author permission. More details under the cut and/or on my Craft Stall on Dreamwidth, here!

What I'm offering:

One (1) custom-made, fully typeset, hardcover fanbinding of a fic of your choice. (MUST be your own work or have author permission; please see below for more details).

One (1) custom made, fully typeset, paperback fanbinding of a fic of your choice. (MUST be your own work or have author permission; please see below for more details).

Details - General

You MUST have either written the fic yourself, or have provided a screenshot of the author giving explicit permission to bind their fic for this event. A blanket permission statement would work fine! The only exception to this rule is if a fic has been posted anonymously (NOT orphaned).

Due to the nature of how I typeset, the fic must be posted to AO3.

I'm very open to suggestions or design ideas! That said, I reserve the right to make any final decisions re: design and construction based on the materials I have on hand.

I can include art pieces; however, you must have permission from the artist to include their work.

I will not be binding anthologies or series; if you would like a shorter fic bound, please feel free to check out the paperback auction!

Fic can be any rating, but if it is rated Explicit, you must sign the age statement in the bidding form signifying you are over 18.

Bidders may participate in both auctions if they wish.

Details - Hardcover

Please choose a fic with a word count in the 25k to 150k word range (some leeway of a few thousand or so words here is fine).

My hardcover binds are usually letter folio sized (~5.5" x ~8.5"), but if your fic is closer to the 25k word mark, I also offer the letter quarto size (~4.375" x ~5.5") (dimensions given are estimates; actual dimensions may differ slightly).

Minimum bid: $45 USD

Details - Paperback

Please choose a fic that in the 5k to 20k word range (some leeway of a thousand or so words here is fine).

Dimensions for the paperback are more flexible! I have a few examples above and on my blog of both letter-sized folios, which are more like traditional zines (~5.375" x ~8.25") (see "On Elba" in the photo grid), as well as letter-sized quartos (~5.375" x ~4.125") (see "there are violets in your eyes" for a size comparison between the letter quarto and folio). I can also do a legal-sized quarto (~4.125" x ~6.75") (see "King of Infinite Space") (dimensions given are estimates; actual dimensions may differ slightly).

Minimum bid: $10 USD

Details - Shipping and Timeline

I will pay for tracked shipping within the United States. If you are outside the US, I am happy to craft for you, but please note you will be responsible for the shipping costs, which can be significant as books are heavy. Please look into how much it costs to ship a book sized object from the US to you before bidding.

I'm aiming to have all books completed and shipped out by the beginner of September; however, this deadline is tentative and subject to change (either earlier or later) depending on the complexity of the project. Regardless, all books will be shipped no later than the FTH deadline of December 31st.

Examples of my work

You can also find more examples of my work via my tumblr fanbinding tag, here!

How to bid

The auction will run from Tuesday, Feb 25th 8 am EST to Monday, March 10th.

Please fill out the forms linked below:

Hardcover auction form: [Closed!]

Paperback auction form: [Closed!]

You can check the status of your bid at the links below:

Hardcover auction status: [Closed!]

Paperback auction status: [Closed!]

I will contact the winners within 24 hours of the auction closing.

Upon winning the auction, you must donate the amount specified on your bid directly to any one of the following charities:

Crips for eSims for Gaza

Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights

Freedom to Read Foundation

Any of the LGBTQ orgs listed here or below:

Equality Texas

Transgender Education Network of Texas

Fund Texas Choice

Proof of your donation is due Wednesday, March 12th.

After I have received proof of your donation, I will be in contact to talk details about your book!

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions! <3

[anarchblr]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean by civilization? Native people's communities are also civilizations. The Mik'maw, Yaqui, Otomi, Sápmi, etc, were their own societies. The city that is now only the Cahokia Mounds across from the Mississippi River was estimated to have a population of 15-20 thousand. Treaties with native tribes simply weren't honored by the colonies or the newly formed nation... Or the current nation. :/

Computers could be made without human suffering with proper regulations. No part of the process requires suffering - but it's more expense and more work and more care to do so. Those who don't care about others won't bother if they don't have to.

I don't think anything about this is besides the point. You are fighting an uphill battle, and every single thing you say will impact how you are taken and whether your message is actually heard. Like obviously you're just a study blog here on tumblr and that's not what your blog is about, but if you are actively arguing with other people online, what could your purpose possibly be other than to convince them of your correctness? Good speechcraft needs to account for the listener as well.

Saw you mentioned you were translating something from French in a different post. Are you French? I've heard (at least for prose) that French often prefers more florid and beautiful language. Is that true? Would you say there's anything noteworthy or different about your writing styles in different languages? This is not connected to the prior points at all for most people, but I can never separate how language structure can impact not just your worldview but also the way you think about things because it is interesting to me.

Addendum to the last ask about the computer part: Computers should not be made without human suffering. I don't think we're anywhere close to living in a civilization that will actually make computers ethically. Humans clearly don't know how to see the species as one singular "tribe" yet, and we're horrible with scale - but they *could be*. I think it's important not to conflate the two together. If there are computers in a future utopia, it's because humans stopped making them with exploitation and eventually got it right. A nice little sentence that makes it sound easy, but obviously to do so in real life would require a change to our ways of life that people will fight. Everyone feels like they're entitled to the little luxuries they've gotten used to in life. That doesn't mean it's impossible.

1. Yes. You are misunderstanding what I mean by civilization, from the first response to biotipo i defined it as, "a series of interlocking and mutually conditioning set of relations and systems, most notably capitalism and the State —the economic and the political—"; this is not a the first time I've defined it as such, I've said before that "for me Civilization is the culmination of both The Economical and the Political, i.e., Capitalism and the State. You can criticize one without the other, focus your criticism on one side, but in doing so you still attack Civilization, to me anyways. Some uninitiated will simply abstract 'Civ' to mean community, or society, or technological advances"; and that, "civilization is the violent enclosure of the commons, everything else is just built on top of that. It’s not having good manners, it’s not having etiquette, it’s not having a culture, it’s not living inside structures, it’s not having complex tools or intricate machinery, it’s not transportation nor any of these other things commonly confused with civilization. It is the violent enclosure of the commons, a project that has not yet been completely realized. 'Bringing Civilization' to peoples has always meant bringing private property-based relations into those cultures, alienating them from their surroundings . . . It does us no good to keep on confusing matters otherwise."

This, of course, is a contested term even within the anti-civ discourse which is why, I hope you see, I've aimed at clarifying the matter, at very least to myself. In doing so, I hope you recognize that I do not readily equate Society to Civilization; I agree that native communities have their own society, but that not that all of these societies are Civilizations. In fact, I wrote something addressing this as well which I think goes to your point:

Proponents of civilization, understandably, react to anticiv critiques if we take into consideration, in part, a fantastic anti-racist stance devoid of historical accuracy of what “civilization” is; should be noted here, something they, eventually bring up themselves against anticiv anarchists or otherwise demonstrate their ignorance by conflating anticiv with primitivism or civilization with health, stability, or otherwise some idealized form of material, complex progress by way of alleviating hardships of the human race. This anti-racist position is instinctual due to an education inculcated into them that the White Man™ “brought” “civilization” to the “savages” of the Americas. This education at some point became considered outdated by them themselves, and later they were taught that they used to be taught that but that that was offensive because indigenous peoples were “civilized” in their own right, and what European conquistadors and colonizers was genocide, and in doing so, showed themselves as less “civilized” than the peoples they brutalized, raped —genocided. Of course, this is the wrong way to understand “civilization” since it is an academic category and not solely a racist, moral one. Civilizations very much existed in the Americas when Europeans arrived and it's a shame that they're held up as a sort of defense or pride by mestizo nationalists or otherwise misguided anti-racist colonizers because they don't realize that what they're upholding is actually simply intra-amerindian colonization; the “Aztec”, better understood as Mexica, held sway over multiple peoples who were forced to pay tribute, man power, and participate in forced “flower wars” which served, in part, to lessen their potential military force; the Inca would not tolerate refusal to being denied what can scarcely be called “willful admittance” to their empire in pain of being forced into it. I'm less learned on the Maya treatment of their defeated, but they can hardly be considered exemplary given the quickness of their descent which heavily implies a class struggle between the rulers and ruled. Of the Cahokian, much the same from what I've read. The Mexica ruled, or tried to, over multiple peoples some of who manages to maintain some autonomy through struggle such as the Ñantho/Hñahñu otherwise known by the Mexica as Otomí; the Inca rather included and tried to assimilate their conquered so that they felt themselves as part of the empire, a completely different tactic the Mexica took that instead fostered conflict with their conquered. None of this takes away that these peoples where eventually subjugated by European conquerors, for European crowns. Simply pointing out that American Civilizations, understood here by the academic consensus as a society with clear-cut, enforced, social stratification. that is to say, by Class Struggle. You will understand, reader, that Civilization is Class Struggle. Civilization is dependent of subjugation of Peoples. Thus, one nation or more nation's subsistence dependent of the labor of one or more nations. Class Struggle. Thereby, you will also understand, reader, that a certain proponent of Civ will react violently to the spectre of ‘anticiv’ well as they've they been thought to equate “un-civilized” peoples with the “barbarian”, the “savage”, or otherwise a grossly uncouth, offensive understandings of human behavior that deserve to be eliminated from the conversation of what humans —human nature— can do or is capable of; offensive to “civilized” sensibilities. However, we know that ‘bringing civilization’, for example: displacing indigenous peoples as exemplified by the Trail of Tears or the Conquest of Mexico, which was the killing of millions of peoples that would've been the slate upon which European control of what was immediately Indigenous lands/control over who says who can live where, thereby effectively relegating indigenous peoples to near animal/non human status. What is offensive to proponents of civilization is exactly what civilization exacts of its subjects.

1.2 Perhaps some elaboration is needed,

I'd argue that a stronger definition is that Civilization is the creation of economy and State. Not every economy has been capitalism, not every State has been a Nation-State; but everywhere there is an economy there has been a State. [..] the Aztec or Inca [are] acknowledged as civilizations, [..] “Empires” —at very least they are acknowledged as civilizations by acknowledging them as empires. Only civilizations can make empires. If nothing else, the Mexicans certainly regard their native forefathers as a Civilization, brushing aside all the other peoples subjugated under the Mexica triple-alliance. (If there's any that don't get acknowledged as civilizations it is the groups that created the chinampas which would later go on to be expanded upon by the Mexica.)

1.3 To the point of the Cahokian mounds, there was this bit of clarification by one my mutuals,

As I understand, though scholarship on Cahokia has many conflicting theories, there's a significant argument that it was not a civilization or state in the regular understanding, but a meeting-place for hunter-gatherer nomads of a shared cultural tradition. They did farm, and moreso than other cultures, but less so than the major empires in Mesoamerican and Andean cultures. Sort of similar to some of the ancient Old World cultures that developed agriculture but didn't create farm-based civilizations, engaging in something closer to permaculture in a supporting role to hunting and gathering rather than replacing it. I think under that theory, the reasons for its collapse aren't any particularly dramatic class conflict or climate crisis, but just a gradual diversification of cultural practices that made the large-scale cooperation necessary for Cahokia more difficult. (Though I'm sure the Little Ice Age had an influence on this.) There's not much archaeological evidence for large scale wars and conquest in the Cahokian era Mississippian culture, which we would expect if it were an imperialist city-state civilization.

I hope this drives home what my position on what Civilization is, which I had already defined from the first comment I made to biotipo. As Samuel B. wrote:

My understanding of the true nature of industry and civilization did not come instantly. It started, as with all anarchists, with an understanding of state and capital. But here is where most anarchists also stop. The critique and rejection of authority is partially widened to other areas like that of the patriarchy. But industry and above all that underlying authority of all authorities, civilization, remains largely untouched by anarchist analysis. I think this is in large part because the term 'civilization' is poorly understood and falsely described as social-togetherness. If this is the case then consequently there has only been civilization throughout all of human history, since people have always lived together. Yet civilization can be given a particular date: the beginning of the Neolithic Revolution. Humans first started to erect civilization 10-12,000 years ago and laid aside their 'uncivilized' lifeways bit by bit. Civilization was and is not a specific event in history. It has continuously developed and it continues to do so today. From urbanization to governments, states, borders, social stratification, colonialism, expansionism, heteronormativity, patriarchy, police, military, surveillance, control, genocide, and ecocide… all of these are essential features emerging from civilization. A civilization is not shaped by social-togetherness but rather by the centralization of power in a few people. Why then is the authority of civilization not recognized and rejected by most anarchists, who allegedly are against all authority? [A Black Critique of Civilization]

I hope this conclusively shows how I have been using the term "Civilization" and why I disagree with you. Certainly there have been civilizations outside of Europe, but they have carved out this from their most nearby neighbors' subjugation and in no way can be simply equated to the broader sense of "community" or "society".

2. One should hardly be surprised that the treaties weren't honored; what was done to the Amerindian peoples was something that Europe had already experimented with before, the enclosure of the Commons,

As late as 1608, in the newly conquered North of Ireland, the legally established communal ownership of the land served the English as a pretext for declaring the land to be ownerless and, as such, escheated to the Crown. [Friedrich Engels, MECW vol. 24. 1.V, pg. 46]

Per Marx,

. . . when workers were displaced by the means of labor--horses, sheep and so on--direct acts of violence functioned chiefly to make the industrial revolution possible. Workers were forced off the land; then the sheep arrived. The large-scale theft of land seen in England (and elsewhere) supplied large-scale agriculture with the space needed to operate. When this transformation of agriculture was in its early stages, it thus looked more like a political revolution than a revolution in production. [Capital: Critique of Political Economy Vol. 1. Prince University Press, 2024. pg. 397]

Per Engels,

This applies to Germany too. Wherever large-scale agriculture exists in our country, hence particularly in the East, it has become possible only through the clearing of peasants from the estates ('Bauernlegen'), a practice which became widespread after the sixteenth century, and especially after 1648. [Capital: A Critique of Political Economy Vol. 1. Penguin Books, 1976, 1990. pg. 557]

In the same way, treaties were made --if at all-- only to then be disregarded by the colonial powers, is a continued expression of that same centralization of land and resources first experienced by the European peasantry at the hands of their Lords, States, and Bourgeois, something that is now called "Original Accumulation", ursprungliche Akkumulation in German.

So then we can see why property relations developed in Mexico, as an example of the treatment that their indigenous communities are treated like the Yaqui, etc., the way they did under bourgeois rule:

The legal definition of a corporation "included the governments of the traditionally rural towns, or municipalities whose communal property where to be decided from that point on.” The government imposed by the Reforma sought to simulate the private sector and private property, which was befitting of the liberal economists given that during this time frame [..] it was about intensifying the nationalizing process of communal land. Thus, the range of communal property that had been conserved since the precolumbian epoch, the colonial period, and the first years since the [wars of] Independence, were finally sacrificed to the demands of liberal entrepreneurship. Despite the imposition, the dispossessed did not cede in the least, the clergy lost a good chunk of if its economic and political importance, but the military and large landowners survived the expropriation and for the rest of the century enjoyed mostly the same power and social prestige they did beforehand.“ [Fernando Méndez Lecona, "Las Rutas Del Primer Socialismo En México” transl. (2015)]

To conclude this part: No treaty was ever going to be sufficient to hold back the death drive that is the need for capitalist profit, something that can only exist within a Civilization that creates the political and economic. There's no Civilization that has that interest at its heart, especially not in one in which society is dominated by the capitalist mode of production.

3. You are once again misunderstanding things or otherwise misreading my previous responses re: Computers being besides the point.

You see, I never said that computers can't be made without human suffering, however, going back to my responses to biotipo, I said that,

If the anti-civ position is that we stop the production of computers, let it be so because we, anarchists, abhor child slavery and human degradation in all its facets . . . True, you will not find a position explicitly for computers, but that's quite besides the point: the aim of socialism is not to ensure a computer to every single person but rather to upend the logic of capitalism that curtails and contours life such as it exists in order for the accumulation of capital and its consequent effects. If this means an end to workers tied to a monotonous assembly line and the unrelenting extraction of precious metals and resources, then I readily accept that --as said in my previous response . . . I will say that insofar as my studying goes, it certainly doesn't seem possible, at least not in a long-term, sustainable manner that is both in line with a communist set of affairs regarding the abolition of classes nor with a serious ecological commitment to maintaining the planet in any sort of sustainable equilibrium for either human and non-human flora and fauna . . . HOWEVER! [biotipo is] not me, and in fact . . . [writes] that: [They] can think of ways of making computers that don't involve this immense human suffering, that; Computers CAN be built without it; and moreover, that, [they] know people who are actively fighting for it such things. This is, of course, wonderful! Please, tell me, in as precise detail as humanly possible, how exactly is that.

I hope you understand, then, that I wholeheartedly agree with you when you say, "If there are computers in a future utopia, it's because humans stopped making them with exploitation and eventually got it right. A nice little sentence that makes it sound easy, but obviously to do so in real life would require a change to our ways of life that people will fight."

That is a big "if", however.

3.2 Moreover, with my last statement, I made two points:

I am unsure if computers can be made within communism since I take a perspective that is highly skeptic of this; and,

If biotipo 'can think of ways' in which it is, in fact possible, to then lay it out.

As I said in my last response to you, "I'm asking him to spell it out. I certainly don't know how to even make em today, much less in the glorious tomorrow that is anarchy. I think it's fair for someone from the proletariat to ask such questions to would-be 'vanguard' politicos. Afterall, if they want to lead, and lead me, I want to ensure I'm in good hands. This is practical, no?"

I will admit that this was a facetious line of questioning, but I was only responding in kind to biotipo; let us not forget that he, in clearly bad faith asked me, "Can you think of a way of dismantling "civilization" that doesn't involve the deaths of billions of people? Can you tell me the ecological advantages of reducing the world population to either subsistence farmers or hunter gatherers? Can you explain to me why anyone would desire and fight for a world without medicine, without computers, without access to knowledge and science, without sounding like a RETVRN traditionalist?"

What you should take away from this is that, I, and mine, are at least honest in saying that we don't know how things will be organized in the future, in contrast to people like him to pretend to but when set to task instead say,

yo, personalmente no, porque las operaciones mineras son cosas que involucran a cientos o incluso miles de personas "will you get permission" concepto totalmente irrelevante en un estado socialista donde se hacen las cosas para el beneficio de la población en general . . . "are you so charismatic to convince them to work" no, porque los gobiernos no se hacen a partir de un líder despóta carísmatico sino a partir del mandato de las masas que no viste Monty Python "you know people who are fighting for this thing can you name 5" HAY PARTIDOS COMUNISTAS SOCIALISTAS Y DE IZQUIERDA CON CIENTOS DE MILES DE MIEMBROS, ALGUNOS ADMINISTRAN NACIONES ENTERAS Y OTROS ESTÁN EN LUCHA POLÍTICA E INCLUSO ARMADA, NO TODA CONCEPCIÓN DE LA POLÍTICA INVOLUCRA A 5 BOLUDOS MANDANDOSÉ MAILS ENTRE ELLOS

This is, evidently, a long-winded way of saying that, no, they don't in fact know anything about what they mean any better than the people they criticize, but worse off: they don't even want to, but prefer to have someone else involved in the actual process of anything they advocate, to have someone else do it for them: the "hundred or even thousands of people involved" or the "socialist state" or the evergreen "the masses" that these kinds of idiots love to invoke, knowing none of them, not even being able to name five.

I asked of them no more than they asked of me. Surely you can see that.

If you think it can be, and then you also inherit the the explanation. It is only practical, imo.

4. You are right, I am fighting an uphill battle; however, which communist isn't?

D'ya think Marx or Engels or Lenin or anyone else on the actual "left" --for as nebulous as that term is-- had it easy?

This is not a worthwhile criticism in the least;

In any case we will have on events the kind of influence which will reflect our numerical strength, our energy, our intelligence and our intransigence. Even if we are defeated, our work will not have been useless, for the greater our resolve to achieve the implementation of our programme in full, the less property, and less government will there be in the new society. And we will have performed a worthy task for, after all, human progress is measured by the extent government power and private property are reduced. And if today we fall without compromising, we can be sure of victory tomorrow. [Errico Malatesta, Anarchy]

5. Re: my translating in French,

No, I am not French,

Yes, the French, especially in the 19th century, use an overly flowery style,

No, there's nothing particularly noteworthy about my writing styles in any language except that I am more adept/have a bigger vocabulary in some than in others; my speaking does differ rather noticeably in different languages I've been told.

However much linguistics impacts worldview i do not think it does it to any meaningful manner that can't be compensated by in other ways.

6. Happy new years!

[mariacallous]

Kyle Brett had a feeling Sinners, the new supernatural horror from Black Panther director Ryan Coogler, would have a big opening weekend—but he was also hyper aware of the consequences of failure.

“It’s already extremely hard to have a successful original horror movie or just any original movie,” Brett, a former Netflix lawyer who works as a creative executive at Blumhouse, the production company behind M3GAN, Get Out, and the Insidious franchise, tells WIRED. “If that shit had bombed, original film would have truly gone away.”

The night before its US release, Brett predicted on X that Sinners would clear $60 million, based “on nothing but the number of Black folks who have asked me about it.” In the business of Hollywood, nothing is guaranteed, least of all a hit movie that’s based on an untested story. But not only was Sinners a hit, breaking multiple box office records, it’s becoming a full-on cultural phenomenon, complete with memes and literary deep dives.

Perhaps most importantly, it has challenged what’s become conventional wisdom in show business: the idea that audiences won’t respond to original stories.

Sinners has almost everything you could possibly want out of an original film: sex, vampires, a haunting score by composer Ludwig Göransson, and Michael B. Jordan in maybe his best performance yet. The movie opens in Jim Crow–era Mississippi during 1932 and follows identical twin brothers Smoke and Stack, both played by Jordan, who have returned home after time away in Chicago, where they moonlighted as gangsters for Al Capone. They’ve come back to start a juke joint but are put to the test when a coven of vampires encroaches on their new business. Across its two-hour-plus run time, what unfolds is classic Coogler: a lush, complex story about family, community, and survival that dares to reinvent the horror genre into something new altogether.

The premise has resonated with audiences in such a powerful way that Sinners opened with $48 million domestically and $63.5 million globally, making it the biggest debut for an original film since 2019, when Jordan Peele’s Us opened to $70 million. (The anticipation surrounding a new Coogler project likely also played a role.) Sinners likewise surpassed Nope, also by Peele—which pulled in $44 million its first weekend in 2022—as the biggest opening for an original film since the pandemic began. It is now the only horror flick in over 35 years to receive an “A” on CinemaScore.

“IPs are a comfortable, safe bet, but originals, when you have something that right out the gate can connect with audiences, they can have as big a punch,” says Daniel Loria, an analyst at the Boxoffice Company. “That’s definitely what we’re seeing.”

It can still be hard to pinpoint exactly what kind of movie works best in Hollywood these days. The success of big-budget blockbusters—Dune, Barbie, Wicked—aren’t exactly a litmus test of how well the industry is faring or what audiences are ultimately satisfied with. Certain IP, like The New Mutants from 2020, bomb or never take off for a number of reasons; often it has to do with earnings, but poor reviews and studio mismanagement can also be a factor.

“Some franchises are past their best and haven’t performed. This happens every decade or so, which means the studios are looking at new franchise stories to take forward,” says David Hancock, an analyst at Omdia. “A Quiet Place did this. Minecraft may do it.”

Minecraft, a Warner Bros. property, currently holds the top spot at the worldwide box office, with $720 million, and is estimated to eventually top $1 billion. Video game IP is especially hot right now. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released by Universal Pictures in 2023, topped $1.3 billion. Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog has yielded major dividends for the studio. Until Dawn and Mortal Kombat 2 are also slated to drop this year.

One of the things Sinners got right, Brett says, “is that they treated themselves like they were IP.” That means, per his agreement with Warner Bros., Coogler gets the rights to his film back in 25 years—the type of deal that’s mostly unheard of today. Some studio executives believe it sets a “very dangerous precedent” for copyright ownership and distribution entitlements, Vulture reported, saying it will crater the current power dynamics of the studio system, “effectively imperiling the cinematic back catalogue: the core asset behind all movie-studio valuation.” But “that’s the kind of attitude you need with an original,” Brett says. “It's like, No, this is my intellectual property.”

For a time, a new Marvel epic was a proven seat filler, but the fatigue and declining critical reception around superhero movies that has bubbled up in recent years—a consequence of Marvel flooding the market with comic book IP—means that is no longer the case. Marvel is currently in rebound mode. It dropped Jonathan Majors, who was a rising star in the MCU, in light of his domestic assault case (he was found guilty of two out of four charges), and The Marvels became the studio’s lowest-grossing film across its 33 titles, earning $206 million globally, well below its $374 million budget.

It’s “hard to reinvent that form, and I think this next generation is looking for ways to tell their own stories that service their own sort of collective ADHD,” Avengers: Endgame codirector Joe Russo told GamesRadar+ last year, likening young moviegoers’ communication style to “memes and headlines.”

Not all original films are seeing a huge demand, as the age of streamers has reshaped consumption habits. As of March, movie sales in the US and Canada were down 7 percent this year compared to the same period in 2024, according to Comscore.

In a recent interview with The Independent, director Steven Soderbergh bemoaned that very reality. His latest feature, Black Bag, a spy thriller starring Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender that was released in theaters last month, has yet to turn a profit; it pulled in $37 million worldwide on a budget of $50 million. “This is the kind of film I made my career on,” Soderbergh said in the interview. “And if a mid-level budget, star-driven movie can’t seem to get people over the age of 25 years old to come out to theaters—if that’s truly a dead zone—then that’s not a good thing for movies. What’s gonna happen to the person behind me who wants to make this kind of film?”

Still, the success of Sinners offers a beacon of hope. It’s currently on track to have a second weekend increase, which “would be much more impressive for a non-IP April release,” Erik Anderson, the founder of Awards Watch, noted on X. It also belongs to a cohort of original films, many centered around identity, from directors that have also found audiences, commercial appeal, and critical acclaim in recent years, including Celine Song’s Past Lives, Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, Lawrence Lamont’s One of Them Days, and Sean Baker’s Anora, which won Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards.

Hancock predicts the “next decade will see a return to original stories” as a bid to bring in a wider range of audiences.

But the takeaway from Sinners and other movies like it go beyond just IP fatigue, says Brett, noting that these films—and their unique audiences—need to be adequately marketed and prioritized.

“If there is anything Hollywood misses it’s how much Black audiences will continually engage with them,” he says. “It’s not just like this one-time-customer type of thing. People will return to Sinners. The excitement of it, to me, shows that it has a long shelf life.”

[queenofsquids]

spent all day patterning a mushroom body pillow for R as she & her bestie have been obsessed with making mushroom creature oc's all week 😂

she wanted to buy one online for $40 of her own dollars and I was like, I can surely make that out of two colors of thrifted blankets, which I promptly went out and procured for $2.50 each

now it's 12hrs later and I'm still working on this "simple" project 🤣 accurate time estimates continue to be a dark art that eludes me

(snow storm forecast for tomorrow)

(so mushroom cap shape is more complex than it looks I swear ... and I'm trying to make it look like her little guy)