#recent examples that come to mind (but I did correct them in this one) my surgeon assuming it was natural

[sergle]

I think my favorite thing about doing ginger red hair instead of cherry red hair is: lying to people about it

[creatingblackcharacters]

“Across cultures, darker people suffer most. Why?” Multiethnic and Multicultural Blackness

“Across cultures, darker people suffer most. Why?”- Andre 3000

Tell me what's wrong with this picture.

Hint: This is Miles Morales- from the video game depiction- canonically an Afro-Puerto Rican. Jefferson is Black American; Rio is Puerto Rican.

So why is the Cuban flag on their wall?

This is what happens when no one (with any saying power) in the board room is representative of the group being depicted! And mind you, this was produced under SONY and MARVEL, for the PS5, a product under two brands that combined churn out hundreds of millions in profit! And… No one on any level corrected them until the beta came out and fans saw it. That's how pervasive this sort of ignorance of other cultures can be. How are you writing a story about a character, and you don't even know how he identifies?

Multiethnic & Multicultural Blackness

Realistically, you’ve probably walked past many a biracial, multicultural, or multiethnic Black person before and assumed they were “just Black”. One example: Rae Dawn Chong- known as Mama du Pointe du Lac- is Afro-Chinese, but that Chinese background did not play into the role she played. A more personal example: my recent loctician was also Afro-Chinese, with very dark skin (she made jokes about how her eyes reveal it, but we can’t make those jokes here). I would have never known.

Point is, we reacted to what we saw, and that’s not an accident. Blackness is treated as a monolith, and an indicator of social level whether you realize it or not. You see a ‘Black’ person, and without wondering any further about their identity, you will treat them as you’ve been socialized to treat ‘Black’ people! But every Black person is not the same!

You don't have to write an entire essay with citations mid-story about how you learned so much about the Afro-Chicana or Afro-Iraqi experience for your main character. We didn't ask. But, slipping natural things here and there into the story of a character’s culture helps cement that yes, this character has this multicultural identity and it matters to them; it is who they are, it has an effect on their life and character in some way. It is how you deepen the character and show respect for the culture you are depicting!

I love using Miles as an example, so here’s a good example. In Across The Spiderverse, he goes to a party to celebrate Jefferson’s new position. In that scene, Rio walks through a mix of all his family members. Even when he speaks with his parents in this scene, they managed to incorporate his Afro-Puerto Rican identity without shouting to the rooftops “HEY! HE’S BLACK AND LATINO! SEE HOW I’M TELLING YOU?”

Race vs Ethnicity

The Black experience stretches as far as the African diaspora- worldwide! It's why it's frustrating when people assume "Black people" means "United States" and the West's perception of "Third World Africa" (especially when it comes to existing in media that people have strongly claimed is just White). Latin and Central America? West Europe? East Europe? Southwest Asia and North Africa? The Mediterranean? East Asia? Australia? You will find Black people!! Just because we aren't the majority doesn't mean we aren't there!

But just because we're Black doesn't mean we're all "African-American". Ethnicity is "the quality or fact of belonging to a population group or subgroup made up of people who share a common cultural background or descent." Race is "a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society."

"But I thought you said Black is an identity!"

It is! Black does not only mean “Black American”. The reason Black Americans identify as just Black (which is why I demand that you show respect by capitalizing it) is due to the loss of our specific heritages from the enslavement meant to scourge us of them, to make us property. To call us by our actual names would be acknowledging our equivalent humanity and culture. In order to enforce slavery without qualm, they had to be violently removed. Black Africans of numerous ethnic groups, now violently forced into this amalgamation, had to come together and forge something new. We had to find a common connection- our Blackness (and that experience as defined by whiteness in this society) was it. It also functions as a reclamation of our identity, of our presence in this world. We are a culture, we are an entire group of people, and we should be acknowledged as such.

Again: all Black people are NOT the same!!! This is like… anti-racism 101, but so many people continue to fall for it, even those ‘well-meaning’. You cannot ask one Black person to represent the ENTIRETY of the world's Black experience. Many other factors will come into play, and this includes their culture.

Keep in mind how being multicultural and/or biracial and Black will put many people at a crossroads that is complex and difficult to traverse. There will always be parts of incomplete acceptance, an extra layer of code-switching based on where you are and who you're with. A Black Kenyan is not a Black American, who is not a Black Greek, who is not a Black Colombian, who is not a Black Filipino. They're different cultures, that will treat each other differently. Society- from strangers to your own family- may try to pull multiethnic Black people one direction or another- are you ‘Black’ enough, are you ‘technically Black’, are you ‘technically’ something else, are you that ethnicity enough?

(I will discuss Black biracial people with whiteness in the next lesson, because I felt like the interracial and biracial White & Black topic needed its own talk, but this is relevant there as well.)

Where- In the world- Is-

Coming back from the opening of this lesson: keep in mind that you need to know specifically WHERE your character is from! For example, just saying they're "Afro-Latino" reveals very little- there's an entire chunk of the planet that falls under the "Latin America" category (as defined by U.S. standards).

A follower of mine- they identify as Caribbean Latine- sent me this in discussion about the topic:

"I wish people actually thought about where their Afro-Latino characters are from. It’s always very vague and it’s so reductive because an Argentinian Afro-Latino is very different from a Puerto Rican Afro-Latino. This is very subjective but I think this issue is pretty blatant in The Owl House. They flash the Dominican flag a couple of times, but when it comes to actually making her Afro-Latino…I don’t think they did a very good job. They barely made her Black in the first place. I don’t want to dog on the voice actors too much because there are a million factors that might have affected this but. When they make a point to have the characters speak Spanish, it’s really noticeable when the accent/dialect doesn’t align with their ethnicity. Dominicans have a really identifiable dialect in Spanish. When the Afro-Latino characters speak in Spanish, it’s the most neutral accent I’ve ever heard. This is such a me-issue, but this is to say that people should actually research where their characters are from instead of vaguely painting them as Afro-Latino. We are all SOOO different. Our dialects vary so much that sometimes an Afro-Mexican and an Afro-Puerto Rican won’t understand each other even though we speak the same language.”

WHO are we talking about? How does that factor into their identity, and the way the world- both in story, and how readers from around the world- will perceive them? Will an Afro-Dominican know that they're supposed to relate to your character if they're vaguely Latino?

Note:

While I was doing my research, I noticed that searching for “Afro-_” doesn’t always offer much, as it does the ubiquitous antiblack experience and roles in politics and resistance. And while I think that’s super cool and mandatory, I think another way to approach this would be to focus on the culture as a whole, and then go from there. So for example, if I wanted my character to be Afro-Mexican- maybe even from a specific location in Mexico, or their family is from that area- it would be easier to look up the cultures and activities of that area itself, and then inform with my knowledge of how Blackness is treated there.

As I am not a member of these groups, I thought it would be better for me to find resources that better explain, than to try to speak for them myself. Hell, just from doing this research, I learned that I have far more to educate myself on. There are so many good resources out there! People speak on these topics that y’all want to know about, and there are so many books and videos- find them and educate yourselves! This is a long section filled with links, so I'm going to put them under a readmore.

I also could not possibly sit here and name every single ethnic combo because that would be endless. So what I'm going to do is give some broad strokes of a few major groupings, that will hopefully start you on the path of how to conduct your own research!

The African Diaspora

This is such a good resource. There are short chapters going into the details and history of Black people in many regions, all around the globe. I’m honestly in love with how this is set up. It's a good starting point!

Black Africans

This one isn't specifically an example of multiethnicity; I just want to emphasize that there are many ethnicities and cultures within Africa itself! One is still multiethnic if they are Black American and Ivorian, for example! As the birthplace of humanity, there are plenty of ethnic groups in Africa with endlessly rich cultures, and all of them will come with different foods, fashions, languages!

Notable Figures: Nelson Mandela, Tobi Lou, Patrice Lumumba, Tems, Wizkid, Kwame Nkrumah, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wangarĩ Maathai, Agnes Tirop, Chéri Samba, Sheikh Abdullah Ssekimwanyi

Internalized antiblackness in African countries is due to the long and violent history of western imperialism in Africa. “The Carving Up of Africa” by European nations has long worn on the continent, its resources, and its peoples, and that includes remnants of their beliefs. Another pervasive idea in media is that all African peoples are ‘poor’, ‘living in huts’, and ‘starving’. There are people doing that all over the world, it is not inherent to being Black African. But even if that were the case- and it is not, every African does not live that way- it would still be the fault of aforementioned imperialism. Please do your research, and do not EVER write that if someone is African, they ‘must not be used to food’ or ‘have never seen such magnificent things as [what white character offers]’.

Afro Latinos

Notable figures: Celia Cruz, Frantz Fanon, Zoe Saldaña, Colman Domingo, Lupita Nyongo, Gina Torres, Cardi B, MJ Rodriguez

Notable music styles- Reggaeton? Salsa? Rumba? A lot of the best music of the area has roots in Blackness.

Antiblackness in the Afro-Latino community

Colorism plays a huge role in perception, to the point of putting you into classes of people. From the same Caribbean Latine follower:

Also, they have to do research on racial groupings in LATAM. It’s unavoidable. A Latino that’s considered Black in the USA may not be considered Black in LATAM. This is because of Blanqueamiento. That is a LOT to explain, but TLDR: A big difference between racism in the USA and racism in LATAM is that white people aren’t focused on segregation. It’s racism through imposition. “Blanqueamiento” refers to whitening and it’s the belief that you can cleanse the bloodline by having children with white people. The lineage will get increasingly lighter. That is why whenever a child comes out lighter than their parents, people will praise the parents for “bettering the race” (mejorando la raza). So a light skinned Black person in the USA may have another racial classification in LATAM (prieto, moreno, mulato, etc)."

One example is 'pelo malo' (bad hair)- how afro-textures are deemed unwanted, as a holdover from Spanish colonization and ideas of whiteness being equivalent to purity. Another severe example is of the slur "mayate"- apparently, it means "f*ggot black bug". If you're Black, and someone ever calls you this, know that you are being severely insulted. If you are interested in more Afro-Mexican history, Colonial Blackness by Herman Bennett is a book that follows the stories of enslaved Africans and their descendants in 17th century Mexico, questioning the existing history told that often leaves out their presence.

Afro Indigenous

*Indigenous doesn't just mean "to America", though the links are to the Afro-indigenous experience in the U.S.

Notable Figures: Crispus Attucks, Lucy Parsons, George Henry White, Charlie Patton, Jimi Hendrix, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Ausben Jordan

What’s interesting is that it was much harder for me to find solid evidence of people who are Black Natives, mainly because it seems this history was lost and/or never recorded, or due to Blood Quantum and antiblackness, not acknowledged. That is something worth thinking about, if you are writing an Afro-Native character.

Blood quantum: A system developed by the United States federal government to determine how much “Indian blood” an Indigenous person has and if they are qualified for Tribal enrollment. Blood quantum limits accessibility to citizenship and is designed to decrease enrollment numbers. Today, some tribes still use blood quantum as criteria for Tribal enrollment. As part of their sovereign status, every federally recognized Tribe determines its own criteria for membership and enrollment.

Further reading:

Young, Black Native activists say it's time to appreciate Indigenous diversity

Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage

Blood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma By Circe Sturm (2002)

We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power By Caleb Gayle (2023)

Afro-Arab/SWANA

Notable figures: Bilal ibn Rabah, Fatima Bernawi, Layla F. Saad, Samirah Srur Fadel, Ahmed Osman, Sara El Hassan (known as bsonblast), Ali Jiddah, Maryam Abu Khaled

Here's an amazing resource cataloguing the history of Afro-Palestinians, as well as a timeline of the solidarity between Black Americans, Afro-Palestinians, and Palestinians!

I sat here and tried very hard to come up with a way to summarize this, especially given current events in our world, and I found that at this moment, I lack the skill to do it. Not because there’s nothing to say- God knows there’s plenty- but unraveling the intersections that comes with the SWANA experience would take me far longer than a summary. I think Maryam Abu Khaled can speak on her experience far better than I, anyway:

Afro-AAPI

Notable figures: apl.de.ap, Michael Ealy, H.E.R., Karrueche, Rae Dawn Chong, Naomi Campbell, Naomi Osaka, Chanel Iman, Anderson Paak

Interview from famous R&B artist, guitarist, actress for Belle, and Afro-Filipina: H.E.R.

There is a strain between Black and Asian communities, in the United States and beyond, white supremacy playing a major role. But that does not mean that we cannot move forward together, or have not shown one another solidarity.

One of my biggest pet peeves that happens often in fandom spaces is fans who claim that Asians- East Asians in particular, but Asians in general- don't know what Black people are and what we look like. It's racist to every ethnicity and background involved. Yes, there are Black East Asian and Black South Asian people. Yes, these countries have access to the Internet to look up what we look like. There have been plenty of well-drawn Black people by those artists. Just like every white artist isn't going to draw a caricature, every Asian artist isn't going to. It all comes down to practice, their commitment to their craft, and their commitment to not being racist. Being from these areas is not an excuse for not drawing Black people accurately- the same amount of effort they can be put into depicting a white person (that would also be a minority in these places), can be put into depicting us as well. Knock it off.

Conclusion

Antiblackness is unfortunately ubiquitous, yes, but that doesn’t mean the rest of every Black person’s life experience is going to be. We are everywhere on this planet, which means there’s a planet’s worth of experiences to be had. If you decide that you want to create a Black character with a multiethnic or multicultural background, you need to commit to that! Even by mentioning their music, or their food, or- if you’re going to get into it- how others might treat them due to their Afro-identity. Something that lets us as the viewers know that you didn’t just write a white person and then claim they were “Afro-Blank” for clout. If you mean it, do it, because as always, it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

[handweavers]

something that comes up for me over and over is a deep frustration with academics who write about and study craft but have little hands-on experience with working with that craft, because it leads to them making mistakes in their analysis and even labelling of objects and techniques incorrectly. i see this from something as simple as textiles on display in museums being labelled with techniques that are very obviously wrong (claiming something is knit when it's clearly crochet, woven when that technique could only be done as embroidery applied to cloth off-loom) to articles and books written about the history of various aspects of textiles making considerable errors when trying to describe basic aspects of textile craft-knowledge (ex. a book i read recently that tried to say that dyeing cotton is far easier than dyeing wool because cotton takes colour more easily than wool, and used that as part of an argument as to why cotton became so prominent in the industrial revolution, which is so blatantly incorrect to any dyer that it seriously harms the argument being made even if the overall point is ultimately correct)

the thing is that craft is a language, an embodied knowledge that crosses the boundaries of spoken communication into a physical understanding. craft has theory, but it is not theoretical: there is a necessary physicality to our work, to our knowledge, that cannot be substituted. two artisans who share a craft share a language, even if that language is not verbal. when you understand how a material functions and behaves without deliberate thought, when the material knowledge becomes instinct, when your hands know these things just as well if not better than your conscious mind does, new avenues of communication are opened. an embodied knowledge of a craft is its own language that is able to be communicated across time, and one easily misunderstood by those without that fluency. an academic whose knowledge is entirely theoretical may look at a piece of metalwork from the 3rd century and struggle to understand the function or intent of it, but if you were to show the same piece to a living blacksmith they would likely be able to tell you with startling accuracy what their ancient colleague was trying to do.

a more elaborate example: when i was in residence at a dye studio on bali, the dyer who mentored me showed me a bowl of shimmering grey mud, and explained in bahasa that they harvest the mud several feet under the roots of certain species of mangroves. once the mud is cleaned and strained, it's mixed with bran water and left to ferment for weeks to months.  he noted that the mud cannot be used until the fermentation process has left a glittering sheen to its surface. when layered over a fermented dye containing the flowers from a tree, the cloth turns grey, and repeated dippings in the flower-liquid and mud vats deepen this colour until it's a warm black. 

he didn't explain why this works, and he did not have to. his methods are different from mine, but the same chemical processes are occurring. tannins always turn grey when they interact with iron and they don't react to other additives the same way, so tannins (polyphenols) and iron must be fundamental parts of this process. many types of earthen clay contain a type of bacteria that creates biogenic iron as a byproduct, and mixing bran water with this mud would give the bacteria sugars to feast upon, multiplying, and producing more of this biogenic iron. when the iron content is high enough that the mud shimmers, applying this fermented mixture to cloth soaked in tannins would cause the iron to react with the tannin and finally, miraculously: a deep, living grey-black cloth.

in my dye studio i have dissolved iron sulphide ii in boiling water and submerged cloth soaked in tannin extract in this iron water, and watched it emerge, chemically altered, now deep and living grey-black just like the cloth my mentor on bali dyed. when i watched him dip cloth in this brown bath of fermented flower-water, and then into the shimmering mud and witness the cloth emerge this same shade of grey, i understand exactly what he was doing and why. embodied craft knowledge is its own language, and if you're going to dedicate your life to writing about a craft it would be of great benefit to actually "speak" that language, or you're likely to make serious errors.

the arrogance is not that different from a historian or anthropologist who tries to study a culture or people without understanding their written or spoken tongue, and then makes mistakes in their analysis because they are fundamentally disconnected from the way the people they are talking about communicate. the voyeuristic academic desire to observe and analyse the world at a distance, without participating in it. how often academics will write about social movements, political theory and philosophy and never actually get involved in any of these movements while they're happening. my issue with the way they interact with craft is less serious than the others i mentioned, but one that constantly bothers me when coming into contact with the divide between "those who make a living writing about a subject" and "those who make a living doing that subject"

[yuurei20]

Hi there! Quick question, How does Idia feel about Leona?? to me, they have such weird dynamic. They don't like each other but they don't outright hate each other either, but sometimes it feels like they're totally fine with each other?? Is this just a respect thing??

Hello hello!! This gets into character analysis which is definitely not my strength, so I reached out to one of the most knowledgeable Idia-analyzers I’ve ever seen ( @frost__tw ) who was so kind as to collaborate with me on this response, and I am forever grateful ♡

Also: agreed! Their dynamic is particularly fascinating because they are both complete opposites and extremely similar, simultaneously:

Both are housewardens, near the same height, canonically attractive, unusually intelligent, very sarcastic, enjoy chess, are from important families, keep others at a distance, often complain about having to go out of their way to do things they are uninterested in, have brother issues and won’t put effort into things they have predetermined to be impossible, which ties directly into how they are trapped in situations they can’t do anything about due to the circumstances of their birth.

And we also have their recently introduced titles (on JP server): “Ambitious King” and “King of the Underworld.”

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how Idia feels about Leona, possibly because he doesn’t know very much about him (which is possibly because Leona doesn’t want him to).

During Book 6 he assumes that Leona isn’t suited to a leadership role, for example, despite how people who actually spend time with Leona say otherwise.

The two overlap in Idia’s second birthday vignette, where Leona gifts him with an artisanal chess set and the two pause the interview to play together.

They seem to mutually agree not to mention who won the game, and it may have been a draw.

We see Idia categorize people and generalize them into character tropes (from anime/manga/games) throughout the game, and based upon Leona’s appearance/outward behavior, Idia may labeling him as the scary top boss of the Savanaclaw hooligans (re: their Halloween vignette together) in his mind.

But he is able to overcome his initial flight response in this birthday vignette once Leona procures the chess set (one of Idia’s personal interests).

(This is part of the reason why Idia’s stutter is such an important part of the character: he stutters when he panics, but then speaks smoothly when he becomes passionate, which the characters even comment on in the game (Ortho calls it his "go off switch" on EN, and his "heat up switch" on JP).)

(Recreation of this trait varies by scene on EN.)

Leona is difficult to read because he will insult the people he likes and respects just as readily as he does those he does not (something that we see Jamil come to understand in real time during Book 6), so trying to work out his true opinion about anything can get into conjecture.

They also do not overlap particularly often, which gives us less to work with, but his teasing of Idia in the birthday vignette is not dissimilar to his teasing of characters like Jamil and Vil. Whereas they understand Leona’s humor, however, Idia may not.

What we know for a fact is that Leona has canonically complimented Idia for being both intelligent and powerful during Spectral Soiree, and this may have been a parallel to Terror is Trending when, extremely impressed by Savanaclaw’s Halloween set, Idia asks, “Did Leona use his magic for it?”

Idia also comments on Leona’s power during his evaluations at STYX, saying, “I already knew Leona was tough and could handle whatever danger comes at him…”

I think you are correct, and it is a respect thing!

They are both aware of the other’s familial situations and strengths and, in any other circumstances, they might get along well. But their personalities are just too different, they frustrate each other in every conversation they have, and whatever positives the other person has might just not be enough to outweigh how obnoxious they find the other to be.

We learn from Vil that the rule at NRC is “the weak obey the strong,” and the Housewardens at NRC seem to take this literally, with Idia, Leona and Vil all being constantly torn between sincere annoyance and grudging respect. The three referring to others as “spudlings,” “normies” and “herbivores” is another interesting overlap that they share.

(Despite being even more different than Leona and Idia, Leona and Vil repeatedly find common ground in allying against Idia.)

(In a parallel to this, Leona and Idia find common ground on the subject of Malleus, with Leona saying, “It’s a pain when the majority forces their opinion on you,” which is an opinion Idia seems to share.)

Thank you so much for this question, it was wonderful to dive into!

Overall, Leona and Idia seem to share a mutual undertone of “I know you’re the best at what you do, but I can’t stand you. I acknowledge that you’re intelligent, capable and talented, but please go be that somewhere else,” which ties directly into a comment from Yana’s 2023 interview:

“Since the characters in the story are villains they do not admit defeat, but they will admit, ‘Hey, you did pretty good.’ Even if they don’t like each other, they will recognize each other’s abilities.”

(And thank you again to @frost__tw for all the amazing insight! ♡)

[lxmelle]

Do you think there's a way/chance Gojo might still return.

I very very very much don't want that but some theories around here started getting to me.

For example the fact that we don't know Kenjaku's technique and how it works, also in the recent fanbook in Gojo's timeline the airport scene was referred as "a certain place" not afterlife.

Also his end was uncharacteristically 'happy' for jjk. Yes, his body is still used but his soul escaped the exploitation.

Soooo I'm curious as to what you think?

Hi, Anon 😊

Thanks for submitting a question - I don’t get many of these! What an honour that someone wants to hear my thoughts 😆 You’ve opened the floodgates of my mind, so proceed with caution 🙈

I’ll preface by saying that I generally feel that people can believe what they want to, so I don’t typically go out of my way to impose my opinion if I disagree with someone about their views. It’s just about being respectful I guess? I kinda wonder what theories there are out there about his revival, because I don’t engage with the content-makers much at all.

I will say I’m not ignorant to them, and do sometimes come across some posts on twitter & Reddit of that nature. Nobara and Gojo seem to be the most popular for revivalists. I get the impression that these posts dissect phrases / how things are described, or focus on the symbolism of specifics like that of lotuses’ regarding rebirth… but I think it doesn’t change what cannot be changed. Gege has hinted at his stance of them not returning for some time with how the story has been unfolding. Correct me if I’m wrong, and I know satosugu fans also do this for their “ship”, the only difference I perceive is that theorists exclude evidence that refutes their opinions (i.e. cherry picking things that become twisted into conclusions) and therefore it becomes a confirmation bias.

For example, the lotus symbolises many things, including purity due to how the blossoms grow in the murky depths of muddy water. Not necessarily rebirth in isolation. The lotus also carries some meaning in enlightenment. Resolve for growing despite its conditions. So... ince again, it’s not necessarily just rebirth.

In terms of the permanence of death… The have been too many reiterations of the narrator and reactions of characters that describe Gojo’s death for it to not be fact. I know this will disappoint those hoping for a comeback, and I think this question wouldn’t be posed if there wasn’t a sliver of hope that Gojo would “return”. I dunno, I guess I have mixed feelings about this because why just Gojo? Because he was the strongest, therefore he “deserved” to live again? His students need him? But… What about Choso? He didn’t get to be more of a human. And Nobara? Was that all her young life amounted to? What about Yaga? Didn’t panda need his dad? And Nanami? He didn’t get to go to Kuantan or retire with his riches he slaved for as a salaryman. Countless others, really. And let’s not forget Geto. He deserved to have a better life too. Did he not? (I, for one, would love for Gojo to come back on scene if Geto could as well... but... yeah. Alas. 😔)

So I guess I naturally have to ask: If it was so easy for the dead to rise again, why was it not possible for others who have died before Gojo? Also, unlike others, Gojo didn’t seem to reject the possibility of his death, so unlike Sukuna who had an interest in becoming cursed objects to extend his life or Kenjaku who body hopped, of Tengen who erased people... Gojo had no such wish, and felt he would “win either way” whether he lived or died in battle. This was his philosophy that was akin to a Military General. He was, to his core, very objective and accepting. It was both a strength and a weakness - just as Gege described in his character book.

Speaking of being a character… within Jujutsu Kaisen, Gojo Satoru was just one person. Gege spoke about his process behind Yuji as the main protagonist over Megumi and how Gojo’s role as the sensei was sealed after JJK0, whereas Yuta could be omitted. What remains true is that Gojo wasn’t the lead protagonist of the series. It would narratively be a disservice to Yuji, Megumi, and Yuta as members of the new generation.

What remains also true is that he was loved as a character. His legacy had been left. He made a significant dent in combatting the biggest threat to humanity. His role has been fulfilled... as fans we can continue to love him and recognise his impact. I think Gege depicting him in so many flashbacks is an ode to him in many ways. I don’t think it would be done like this if he were “returning”. It just does not make sense.

If we also think about what Gojo wanted as a character, or as an individual - I think he also found his own fulfilment. He didn’t want to return. I’ve come across some interesting perspectives of international fans who opened my eyes to a different perspective too: that Geto was happy to support him “as long as he was satisfied” and wasn’t going to urge him to go back - if going back was even possible in the first place. Because Geto prioritised Gojo as a person and not as the role of sensei or role as the strongest. So if Gojo was satisfied enough, Geto was satisfied that he was there to stay in the afterlife.

Let’s talk about directions too. North, according to Mei Mei, seemed to mean... rebirth. To become someone new. No where does it say that returning back to life was a possibility. Was she even right in the first place? Was the plane actually going to take off? So many questions. Whatever it was… Gojo also said he wished that the airport scene was not a figment of his imagination. The strongest sorcerer. Praying? I mean... why shouldn’t he get his wish? 😪 I think Gege said that the airport scene was like a reward for those who died. There is a better word for it but I can’t remember what it was. Will edit this post when I can remember.

I mean, these are my personal views and I guess people will believe what they wish to believe and hold onto different pieces of what’s shown to justify their beliefs. I suppose I wonder what has begun to sway you if his comeback isn’t something you particularly want? Is it a hope that he can continue something that you feel has been left unfinished? Is it out of love for him?

Hmm… I guess I feel like the baton had been passed, and he’d done all that he could possibly do, as the strongest

…even to the point of letting his body be used once he could no longer use it.

I know it is disturbing on many ways. However, within the series itself, it was a necessary strategy from the perspective of those not knowing how things would transpire.

Everyone there experienced a desperation to survive - to find any potential way to defeat Sukuna without the umbrella of safety that was Gojo Satoru. And Gojo cooperated - he never bothered with collaborating with to others since he always fought alone. This was character development too. This was for the next generation too. He couldn’t fight all battles for them. Some things, they needed to do themselves. Just as how he and Geto, as teens, were assigned to a mission that nearly got them all killed. This was the screwed up jujutsu world.

Ultimately, Gojo did his best in the battle. He did his best before the battle. Killing the higher ups included.

We may not know what Kenjaku’s CT is, but only Yuta can body-hop now… Gojo’s body, without Yuta in it, will not have a functional brain. Remember: he was also brain damaged from the fight with Sukuna.

It isn’t possible to survive without a brain. We don’t know how they’re keeping Yuta’s body fresh and how fresh the body needs to be in order for Yuta to return to it. These are the strange questions we can only speculate since we also don’t know how Kenjaku managed to enter the body of Geto in the state he was in, and then regenerated his heart and arm. Gojo’s body was stitched up in preparation for Yuta, for example. Yes it is mysterious. But. As it stands, again, only Yuta can hop. Gojo... I’m sorry to say 😪😢 is lifeless.

I think some theorise that it’s about the soul. But honestly, I believe Geto’s body with Kenjaku in it did not have Geto’s soul in it. It’s not a “Megumi’s soul co-existing with Sukuna” situation. Nor was it “Yuji with Sukuna”. Geto’s body was imbued with his CT and his memories, just like a cursed tool would - e.g. Nanami’s weapon. So Kenjaku can pilot it and receive information from it as part of his CT. It’s like a humanoid mecha.

It reacted to Gojo’s voice like a “dragonfly without its head” - it was merely a physical reaction.

Just like how a human body will twitch and move even after the person has expired.

Like the tail of a lizard that twitches even if detached from its head. It is involuntary. A residual instinct.

Kenjaku’s perspective of how the body and soul is one directly contrasts with Mahito’s view. So I don’t think we should pick one interpretation as more correct than the other when they both agreed that it was dependent on Cursed Technique in the end.

So... I guess those are my views. I really like how you phrased it - as his soul escaped exploitation. I suppose I see this as being true, since we saw Gege describe Gojo in this kind of “afterlife” that he doesn’t try to explain. I mean, this is an afterlife specific to Gojo, so who knows where it is?

Gege is funny like that I think. Multiple characters have been shown to hold conflicting views, and even as the story creator, he doesn’t play God who knows all and sees all that is able to describe a definitive afterlife. It’s both poetic and frustrating at the same time imho.

Honestly, I also find it challenging to accept. A part of me wonders if he wanted it to be an actual delusion, but I’m reminded of how he talked about souls and reincarnation - so I know in the verse that souls exist and that what Nanami said about his death was something Gojo couldn’t have just imagined in his dying moments.

Sorry it took a while to respond! Hopefully it’s... thorough enough? If you have something else to follow up, please drop me a comment or another Ask!

[radarchives]

I dont think youve gotten an ask like this before since this is an om! blog and all and this is possibly gonna sound weird or dumb of me to ask a german native this, but how hard is your grammar really?

Reason (1-1) for my question: languages are my guilty pleasure. I'm only fluent in arabic and english rn but I wanna learn as much as I can, even if just basic facts, not a language itself

Reason (1-2): people learning german insist that the grammar is "brutal" especially for english-speakers but frankly it kinda feels that theres exaggeration or a "trend" along the lines of "german grammar is impossible because everyone says so" even if it's not THAT gory, yk?

Any new language IS gonna be hard at first- thats a given. And some languages like arabic / chinese / japanese / korean are listed at the top for difficulty. Ik that german grammar has many many rules and has exceptions... Linguistic sites say thats a reason for its complexity and the majority of learners agree with "yeah it's too difficult"

But tbh?? Idk

At this point it feels like a stereotype that was based off facts at first but then got negatively exaggerated?? I think yes german grammar is more "detailed" than the english norm / other grammar rules but it isnt monstrous like whats being often said and spread about it?

Thats why I wanna hear an authentic objective thought on this from a german if you dont mind🎤

hey there!

i really don't think German is one of the most difficult languages to learn. if you're an english native speaker the things you might struggle the most with are:

- pronunciation (harsher sounds, less soft than english, äöü sounds. when you have someone who can correct you this isn't as difficult to learn)

- grammar (lots of rules and lots of exceptions as well. words are gendered with der, die, das /feminine, masculine, neutral. also learning how to decline words can be tricky as well, but i think that just comes down to memorisation and practice)

- the sheer volume of vocabulary. a lot of words are HIGHLY specific (which is the fun part to be honest. there's lots of german words that are difficult to translate to english bc of this. an example would be the German word "doch" which is something similar to "yes it is" or "is not, is too")

i can imagine the difficulty level might be similar to learning french (at least from what i can compare). honestly i can only judge this so far, at work i do have lots of people around me who are just starting to learn the language, these are a few things that i saw them struggle with as well.

i think it mostly comes down to dedication and interest. you do have to put in a lot of effort, but you obviously have to do that for every language.

i think German gets a bad rep for sounding harsh and brutal, but i think it sounds quite beautiful. here's a little comp of German words i appreciate.

Nickerchen - nap

Maus - literally means mouse, but more recently has become youth slang. you can call someone "eine süße Maus" / literally a cute mouse / when they did something nice for example. Maus is originally gendered female = die Maus, but is used in a gn way like this. Meine Follower sind zum Beispiel richtig süße Mäuse 🥰

also used as an adjective (mausig)

Fremdschämen - being embarrassed for someone else. Wenn ich sehe, dass Lucifer redet als hätte er drei Wörterbücher verschluckt, schäme ich mich fremd.

unschön - unattractive, unpleasant. this one isn't special but it's my morally acceptable way of saying "well that fucking sucked" at work. Das ist jetzt aber unschön verlaufen.

so yeah! if you want to learn it don't let the naysayers stop you!

[showmey0urfangs]

Do you think Louis in Dubai already knows about Armand's role in what happens to Claudia? It would explain why he doesn't correct Armand when he says he never harmed him. I've seen so many contradictory theories about that but I believe their relationship is real, it's just not fully honest.

Hi Anon! That's the million dollar question, isn't it? We don't really have a definitive answer but for my part, I think Louis already knows. I'd much prefer if the show stuck to that bit of book canon.

IMO it makes for more interesting storytelling than to have some cheap dramatic reveal at the end where *gasp, [cue young & the restless music ♫] Louis ✨uncovers a treacherous betrayal✨ after living with the ♥︎love of his life™ for nearly 80 years. Shock and horror!!! What will Louis do next? Tune in on Sunday to find out...

I know Armand is one of, if not the, most powerful mind gift wielder but even he couldn't possibly maintain such a massive lie for that long. Especially not when he and Louis regularly exchange blood.

And as I've said so many times before, Interview With The Vampire is Louis' story and it's about him trying to come to terms with his own mistakes and how they contribute to the tragedies he suffers. Like almost all the books in the chronicles, It's more about internal conflict than about some external evil that the 'hero' must defeat to save the day and get the girl. Jacob sums it up perfectly in his recent Newsweek interview where he says;

❝ I think this season is quite a confronting at what happens when you really dig into your own culpability to things that that you felt you were the victim in or ways that you felt were wronged. And how much did you play a part in both fronts and responsibility you're really willing to take for your own actions and the way that you manifested your thoughts and feelings?Louis is way more powerful than he would ever admit, he is way more responsible for the tragedy of his own life than he would ever admit. ❞ 

I've seen some hints here and there about the angle the show might approach it from. For example, Armand and Santiago's official character bios which I find very interesting;

This suggests they will initially paint Santiago as the sole villain and Armand as a helpless spectator (I could not prevent it and all that)

But ultimately, I think it's crucial to the story that Louis knows the truth AND chooses to stay with Armand anyway. In the same way he says yes to Lestat's marriage proposal in the church, after witnessing him go on a murder rampage. In the same way he invites Lestat back into their home after Lestat beats him to a pulp and nearly kills him in episode 5, and then tells Claudia to "do better" when she's less than thrilled about it. In the same way, he can't bring himself to burn Lestat in episode 7, even while knowing it puts Claudia in potential future danger if Lestat were to come after them—which btw, he does and his testimony is ultimately what seals her fate.

I could go on and on but the point is that Louis is a complex and flawed character, whose desires and self-imposed morality are completely at odds. I think this season will be all about revealing just how flawed Louis is and I for one cannot wait to see all of it.

And no, unlike 'some people', it's not because I need Louis to be revealed as an evil liar because then it 'puts him on an equal level with Lestat and so Lestat's not so bad. 🤡 It's because just like Jacob says, I believe we need to allow space for black and brown characters to also be complex, flawed and even problematic at times. Let's be monsters and enjoy it! That's what makes for good representation and that's what makes for interesting storytelling. And don't worry Jacob, I'll still love Louis at the end no matter what he does! ♥︎

[feminist-space]

"Do’s and Don’ts of communication and dementia

You can’t control memory loss – only your reaction to it.

For people with dementia, their disability is memory loss. Asking them to remember is like asking a blind person to see. (Common questions like “Did you take your pills?” or “What did you do today?” are the equivalent of asking them to remember something.) A loss of this magnitude reduces the capacity to reason. Expecting them to be reasonable or to accept your conclusion is unrealistic. Don’t correct, contradict, blame or insist. Reminders are rarely kind. They tell a person how disabled they are – over and over again.

People living with dementia say and do normal things for someone with memory impairment. If they were deliberately trying to exasperate you, they would have a different diagnosis. Forgive them…always. For example, your wife isn’t purposely hiding your favorite pair of shoes. She thinks she’s protecting them by putting them in a safe place…and then forgets.

Here are some basic Do’s when it comes to communication with someone with dementia:

-Give short, one sentence explanations.

-Allow plenty of time for comprehension, and then triple it.

-Repeat instructions or sentences exactly the same way.

-Avoid insistence. Try again later.

-Agree with them or distract them to a different subject or activity.

-Accept the blame when something’s wrong (even if it’s fantasy).

-Leave the room, if necessary, to avoid confrontations.

-Respond to the feelings rather than the words.

-Be patient and cheerful and reassuring. Do go with the flow.

-Practice 100% forgiveness. Memory loss progresses daily.

Here are some Don’ts:

-Don’t reason.

-Don’t argue.

-Don’t confront.

-Don’t remind them they forget.

-Don’t question recent memory.

-Don’t take it personally.

We’ve put together some specific examples of good and bad communication below, keeping these do’s and don’ts in mind.

“What doctor’s appointment? There’s nothing wrong with me.”

Don’t: (reason) “You’ve been seeing the doctor every three months for the last two years. It’s written on the calendar and I told you about it yesterday and this morning.”

DO: (short explanation) “It’s just a regular checkup.”

(accept blame) “I’m sorry if I forgot to tell you.”

“I didn’t write this check for $500. Someone at the bank is forging my signature.”

Don’t: (argue) “What? Don’t be silly! The bank wouldn’t be forging your signature.”

DO: (respond to feelings) “That’s a scary thought.”

(reassure) “I’ll make sure they don’t do that.”

(distract) “Would you help me fold the towels?”

“Nobody’s going to make decisions for me. You can go now…and don’t come back!”

Don’t: (confront) “I’m not going anywhere and you can’t remember enough to make your own decisions.”

DO: (accept blame or respond to feelings) “I’m sorry this is a tough time.”

(reassure) “I love you and we’re going to get through this together.”

(distract) “You know what? Don has a new job. He’s really excited about it.”

“Joe hasn’t called for a long time. I hope he’s okay.”

Don’t: (remind) “Joe called yesterday and you talked with him for 15 minutes.”

DO: (reassure) “You really like talking with him don’t you?”

(distract) “Let’s call him when we get back from our walk.”

“Hello, Mary. I see you’ve brought a friend with you.”

Don’t: (question memory) “Hi Mom. You remember Eric, don’t you? What did you do today?”

DO: (short explanation) “Hi Mom. You look wonderful! This is Eric. We work together.”

“Who are you? Where’s my husband?”

Don’t: (take it personally) “What do you mean – who’s your husband?” I am!”

DO: (go with the flow, reassure) “He’ll be here for dinner.”

(distract) “How about some milk and cookies?… Would you like chocolate chip or oatmeal?”

“I’m going to the store for a newspaper.”

Don’t: (repeat differently) “Please put your shoes on.”…You’ll need to put your shoes on.”

DO: (repeat exactly) “Please put your shoes on.”… “Please put your shoes on.”

“I don’t want to eat this! I hate chicken.”

Don’t: (respond negatively) “You just told me you wanted chicken. I’m not making you anything else, so you better eat it!”

Do: (accept blame) “I’m so sorry, I forgot. I was in such a rush that it slipped my mind.

(respond positively) Let me see what else we have available.” Leave the room and try again.

Need support? We’re here to help! Speak with one of our dementia experts by calling 858.492.4400 or emailing info@alzsd.org."

[pastself]

17, 25 and 29 for the writer asks game!

29/ how easy is it for you to come up with titles?

Sometimes, super easy. Want for Nothing, Everything is Legal in Jersey and Bare just... arrived with their names! Other times, it is literally the last thing I decide. Called on the Devil & Groupie Love were so fucking hard to name.

25/ besides writing, what are your other hobbies?

I'm first and foremost a reader! In a previous online life, I managed to turn that hobby into a side hustle as a reviewer. (And subsequently learned that monetizing my hobbies was v v bad for me lol.)

17/ talk about your writing and editing process

*cracks knuckles* (mild spoilers for Want for Nothing below, as well as way more detail than asked for :)

This year, I finally diagnosed my writing style: I'm 95% a "methodological pantser". (Highly recommend this youtube series on writer types, icymi. Tell me what kind of plotter you are, ursa!)

In practice, this means I intermix writing and editing, and really struggle to know if something will work unless I actually write it. (For the record, after learning this about myself, I did *try* techniques for other writer types in order to test the diagnosis. It was ±okay but I clearly have a preference.)

When I start a story from scratch, I usually only have one situation/vibe in mind. I write outwards from that and see where it goes. Sometimes, this means I have to loop back and imagine background that got me to that moment. But other times, it is just a case of constantly building forwards. (And course correcting when I lead myself in the wrong direction.)

E.g. I started Want for Nothing writing the prologue and the first Peter/Steve and Pepper/Peter scenes -- and then worked backwards to get them to that moment. I repeated that back and forth a million times to establish the first 50%. Harry cheating, for instance, was only something I worked out once I wrote the Gwen intro -- and I only wrote that because I had just written a scene where Gwen called Tony a creep and where did she come from?

The struggle with writing this way is that I can get myself to a problem with no solution. For example, I knew the Ned/MJ/Tony games night would be the catalyst for breaking Peter out of his "hide from the world" stasis. But then what? I literally had to write out like 5 versions of that scene to find out.

Sometimes that "then what?" material can be reused in other contexts (as I recently did with a good 3k of scenes I just wrote for Bare), but it's often thrown away. Life would be much easier if I could "feel" what works via outline, but bon.

Where the "methodological" part of my pantsing comes in is in my endings and establishing plot beats. I write my outlines *after* I've written ±50% of a fic, to get an overview of where things stand, where things are missing, what needs to go. Once I realise "oh that scene is the midpoint", I can usually sketch out the ending without needing to write a million drafts of it. (That said, the last 25% is often when my brain stops having ideas :)

In terms of final edits: while I am a fast "write the bones" type, adding on the details takes me forever. I usually rework a section ~10 times, sometimes even tweaking plot points. My last step is to listen to the text read aloud ~2 times (using disability functionality) for final read through and to spot typos. 

thanks for indulging me with the asks! <33

[waitmyturtles]

Turtles Catches Up With Old GMMTV: A Tale of Thousand Stars Loving Rewatch Edition

[What’s going on here? After joining Tumblr and discovering Thai BLs through KinnPorsche in 2022, I began watching GMMTV’s new offerings -- and realized that I had a lot of history to catch up on, to appreciate the more recent works that I was delving into. From tropes to BL frameworks, what we’re watching now hails from somewhere, and I’m learning about Thai BL's history through what I’m calling the Old GMMTV Challenge (OGMMTVC). Starting with recommendations from @absolutebl on their post regarding how GMMTV is correcting for its mistakes with its shows today, I’ve made an expansive list to get me through a condensed history of essential/classic/significant Thai BLs produced by GMMTV and many other BL studios. My watchlist, pasted below, lists what I’ve watched and what’s upcoming, along with the reviews I’ve written so far. Today, I write about my LOVING rewatch of one of the best BLs out there, ever, in A Tale of Thousand Stars.]

While I’ve been in the midst of a plethora of awesome new shows (Only Friends, Dangerous Romance), I’ve also been treating myself with some oldies. I just wrapped up a rewatch of Until We Meet Again, to prep for New Siwaj’s Absolute Zero that’s coming out this fall. And one of the joys that I set for myself in the course of structuring the Old GMMTV Challenge was to allow myself some loving rewatches of shows that I originally first consumed out of any chronological order, and/or out of total curiosity for the amount of space they generally take up on a daily basis on Tumblr, and/or for the amount of times that I had seen these particular shows listed as top examples of genre-defining or genre-transcending BLs. Those shows include Bad Buddy (of course), and A Tale of Thousand Stars.

Way, WAY back in the day -- November 2022, to be exact -- just a couple months into my joining Tumblr and actively blogging, I realized that this show called Moonlight Chicken was being bandied about excitedly, mostly in part because EarthMix and FirstKhao were going to be in it. I was intrigued, excited to participate in my first active Tumblr fandom from beginning to end, and I asked the Tumblr gods -- oh hey, should I watch A Tale of Thousand Stars first, to get to know Earth Pirapat and Mix Sahaphap first? And the answer was YES, so I did, and I totally loved it.

And of course, I look back at that review from almost a year ago, and I giggle, because while I picked up on a lot of the raw elements that make ATOTS great, I didn't have ANY context for why the show was transcendent vis à vis pre-existing BL tropes in the Thai BL genre, what it meant to be watching a classic Backaof Noppharnach show, what it meant for the show to be set in Northern Thailand, etc. I even wrote -- oh wow, I see why some of the elders on Tumblr are saying that there are shows way better than KinnPorsche out there (LOL, oh, hindsight). I didn't have any of that context.

Now, I do. And during my recent ATOTS rewatch, I just ATE, ATE, ATE, oh my god, I just sat and fucking ENJOYED this FABULOUS drama. I was yelling and gesturing to the screen -- oh god, WHY are you SO GOOD, YOU SHOW, YOU?! Man, oh man. It was a shit-ton of fun to start rewatching dramas that I already have nostalgia for, even if I only saw them for the first time last year.

Besides rewatching some of these important dramas back in chronological order through the OGMMTVC, I also have a mission in mind: to properly rewatch ATOTS and Bad Buddy before rewatching Our Skyy 2, which I've been wanting to do for a while. That rewatch will take place after I rewatch Bad Buddy in a couple of weeks. And I'm glad I waited until I could consume Aof's entire oeuvre, because I think his whole slate of shows -- not just ATOTS and BBS -- give us clues as to what was happening by way of Pat and Pran's relationship in OS2 before their physical separation in BBS that further explain the ATOTS and BBS universes. But more on this in a few weeks, when I get to my BBS and OS2 reviews.

Back to ATOTS. As I rewatched it -- in the context of the OGMMTVC, and what I've learned about the Thai television BL genre NOW, what were the elements of this show that stood out the most for me?

1) The striking use of flashbacks to tell a story. I know NOW shows that haven't used flashbacks as well to tell a compelling narrative -- for me, most recently, the biggest example is Double Savage (and maybe even KinnPorsche goes up there, too). Before ATOTS premiered, I think the BL that used flashbacks the BEST in its narrative was Until We Meet Again, which *needed* flashbacks to tell the entire scope of its intricate story, from past to present.

Something that I forgot about ATOTS until my rewatch was how very PACED the show was. I think I had it in my head that it was a slow-ish story, because -- again, it bucked a lot of BL trends and tropes, just like He's Coming To Me also did. No side couples. No university setting. No warring faculties and uniforms. When I first wrote about ATOTS in December 2022 -- after having watched The Eclipse as my first GMMTV BL -- I marveled at the singular storyline of Tian's life change and journey. There was a LOT we needed to know about Tian to GET where he was going, and where he wanted to go. What I didn't appreciate back then was how Aof TOLD the story.

Sure -- it could have frustrated some folks that we didn't get the truth of who was driving the car until much later in the series. But that would be missing the point of that piece of truth. Tian had blamed himself for Torfun's death the second he learned about it. It didn't *quite* matter who was driving the car -- what mattered was the self-blame he assigned himself to, and the journey he thought he needed to take to absolve himself of the guilt that he carried.

The structure was beyond sharp, and just INCREDIBLY compelling. Between UWMA and ATOTS, we have two tremendous dramas that flirted with VERY risky past-to-future infrastructures, and both succeeded exceedingly well.

2) Phupha and Tian's TERRIBLE communication. I'm serious! Oh my god, y'all. Did we appreciate back then how AWFUL they are at communicating? HA! Our Skyy 2 obviously emphasized this even more -- Tian himself accuses Phupha of not being open enough to tell Tian why Phupha won't meet Tian's parents.

But, holy shit, these two guys are such drama bastards. By episode 9, I had to write in my notes, in all caps: THESE ASSHOLES ARE SUCH AWFUL COMMUNICATORS. If one person wasn't angry at the other, and avoiding the other person, then something was off in their world. Tian's titchyness, Phupha's avoidance, played against each other like opposing magnets.

And yet: of course, we know WHY they are bad communicators. We know that Phupha grew up in a traditional, rural household -- one that likely wasn't welcoming to his inner truth as a queer man.

Tian grew up in a privileged and patriarchal household that disguised itself as a matriarchal household. Now THAT shit's confusing. What Tian was to do with his life, as assigned by his parents, supposedly came from his mom -- but it was his dad that enforced those rules. Who could Tian go to to talk about his own growing inner truth as well? Not to either of his parents, who both had designs on who *exactly* Tian should be by way of their own demands and outward-facing lives.

So these two men -- both of whom barely had any practice in expressing their inner truths, their raw feelings about themselves, their life situations, and each other -- are figuring out their emotional shit vis à vis each other, for the first time in their lives. And what we get, gloriously, is a whole bunch of damn hilarious drama that left me shaking my head and laughing a bunch. They were SO passive-aggressive with each other, I had to applaud EarthMix.

And through their bad communication came so many resolutions to each storyline -- the illegal merchants, the revelation of Torfun's death and the story behind it -- that what we ultimately got to see were life-defining moments for both Tian and Phupha of utter growth. The trade-off between those dramatic anguishes and the TRUE drama of the show itself -- was well worth it, and brilliantly done.

3) The metaphor of freedom. We know, now, that Bad Buddy was existing in the same world as ATOTS.

God, I LOVE what Aof pulled in Our Skyy 2 by way of the Nong Nao eye mask (Tian even wears the Nong Nao eye mask!) -- because in rewatching ATOTS, I would have NEVER clocked that Tian was talking about his own freedom through his OWN eye mask.

We know now that Tian and Pran, in their respective shows, were on their own paths to freedom -- both from demanding families that demanded that each of them comport to absolute idealistic images of what perfect sons DID in those family structures. Both Tian and Pran have overbearing mothers with complicit fathers who demand exacting obedience. And both Tian and Pran ultimately sought freedom from that pressure.

In episode 9, I clocked a message on Tian's tote bag -- I can't get a clear-enough screenshot of it (it's in the 3/4 segment), but the tote bag says, "what is the meaning of free?" All of ATOTS is based on Tian's journey to emotional freedom -- freedom from his parents' expectations, freedom from the guilt he carries from Torfun's death.

An interesting comparison to UWMA happens in episode 5, when Tian asks about his growing feelings towards Phupha: "I don't know if these feelings are mine or Torfun's." And, of course -- combine that with what Tian needs to reckon with at the cliff in episode 9, when Tian is struggling with figuring how who's life he's truly living. As Tian separates himself from his parents -- as Tian understands his needs vs. Torfun's needs -- what Tian's struggle ultimately comes down to is, who is he really living his life for? Torfun saved him, his parents bought him the transplant -- but what does that actually mean for the meaning that Tian brings to his own life, and to the lives of others, including Phupha?

What Tian ultimately realizes is that needs freedom from the influence of everyone and everything around him to gain clarity as to who HE truly is. That, to me, is the ultimate core message of ATOTS -- it is Tian's defining journey towards the freedom that only he himself can find, vis à vis Torfun, Phupha, and Pha Pun Dao.

But because Aof is so good at wrenching our hearts with every last bit of energy he’s got: he showed us that Tian was able to come to this conclusion, ultimately, through Phupha, and Phupha's love for Tian.

ATOTS is a wonderful coming-of-age story, but without the typical cheesiness that that structure can often bring. It's a story of individual and internal change that we know gets echoed, expanded, and transformed in Bad Buddy through Pran. I see now that ATOTS and Bad Buddy are Aof's deep studies of internal maturing, both told through queer revelations, through empathic love with a rock-solid partner, and through fights against oppressive societal and familial resistances to living one's full truth.

Way, way back when -- and thank goodness for the OGMMTVC for allowing me to dive into this -- Aof depicted queer men living their very robust truths in Gay OK Bangkok. As I wrote in my GOKB review, what happened after the premiere of GOKB is that Aof went to the BL genre to begin slowly changing it, to make the genre a true home for real queer revelation and introspection. Did he ever nail it in ATOTS. Did he ever expand it in BBS. Watching ATOTS felt like coming home, because once again (as in HCTM) -- Aof defied typical expectations of the genre to get honest about what an internal reality of being queer could really be like. And to do that in Thai television BL, with all the tropes and expectations the genre had created by the time of ATOTS's airing in 2021, was remarkable.

Hearing the theme song, seeing Pha Pun Dao and the villagers (AND THE CHILDREN! I LOVE THOSE CHILDREN!), seeing the schoolhouse, seeing Earth in his forest ranger uniform, hearing the original source of the forest ranger t-shirt joke, seeing Rang and Yod again -- man, was it ever nostalgic to rewatch ATOTS, even after having seen the guys in Our Skyy 2. This show is SUCH a classic, SUCH a must-watch of the very highest order, and the fact that it does NOT shy away from a very real and difficult emotional journey is only just a part of what makes it one of the enduring diamonds of Thai BL.

[We'll return to Pha Pun Dao in a couple weeks once I get through my Bad Buddy and Our Skyy 2 rewatches -- stay tuned!

In the meantime, my review of Lovely Writer is on deck for next week. By far this is my favorite Tee Bundit drama. For the sake of my fellow drama clowns, I am giving I Feel You Linger in the Air a shot, but the editing choices are giving me slight Step By Step-PTSD. I'm gonna keep a close eye on this one.

But Lovely Writer is Tee's anomaly, and what a fabulously genius anomaly it is. I can't wait to get into it, and if you loved it, too, and you have NOT watched the Lovely Writer special episode, PLEASE watch the special ep, as I'll be referring to it -- it has a super important conclusion that wraps up the entire series beautifully.

A heads-up that I may need to take a week's break or so in early September.... hopefully I won't, but I am moving, so while I'm ahead on a few dramas, getting pen to paper has proven difficult by way of time. Hopefully this project won't be delayed too much -- but send me your best big ups nonetheless as I move domiciles!

In the meantime, here's the list -- as always, I welcome your feedback! (Tumblr's new web editor is jacking with the list below and not allowing me to strikethrough the shows I've watched. For the very latest updated list, please click here!)

1) The Love of Siam (2007) (movie) (review here) 2) My Bromance (2014) (movie) (review here) 3) Love Sick and Love Sick 2 (2014 and 2015) (review here) 4) Gay OK Bangkok Season 1 (2016) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 5) Make It Right (2016) (review here) 6) SOTUS (2016-2017) (review here) 7) Gay OK Bangkok Season 2 (2017) (a non-BL queer series directed by Jojo Tichakorn and written by Aof Noppharnach) (review here) 8) Make It Right 2 (2017) (review here) 9) Together With Me (2017) (review here) 10) SOTUS S/Our Skyy x SOTUS (2017-2018) (review here) 11) Love By Chance (2018) (review here) 12) Kiss Me Again: PeteKao cuts (2018) (no review) 13) He’s Coming To Me (2019) (review here) 14) Dark Blue Kiss (2019) and Our Skyy x Kiss Me Again (2018) (review here) 15) TharnType (2019-2020) (review here) 16) Senior Secret Love: Puppy Honey (OffGun BL cuts) (2016 and 2017) (no review) 17) Theory of Love (2019) (review here) 18) 3 Will Be Free (2019) (a non-BL and an important harbinger of things to come in 2019 and beyond re: Jojo Tichakorn pushing queer content in non-BLs) (review here) 19) Dew the Movie (2019) (review here) 20) Until We Meet Again (2019-2020) (review here) 21) 2gether (2020) and Still 2gether (2020) (review here) 22) I Told Sunset About You (2020) (review here) 23) YYY (2020, out of chronological order) (review here) 24) Manner of Death (2020-2021) (not a true BL, but a MaxTul queer/gay romance set within a genre-based show that likely influenced Not Me and KinnPorsche) (review here) 25) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) (review here) 26) A Tale of Thousand Stars (2021) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake Of Rewatching Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS  27) Lovely Writer (2021) (review coming) 28) Last Twilight in Phuket (2021) (the mini-special before IPYTM) (review coming) 29) I Promised You the Moon (2021) (review coming) 30) Not Me (2021-2022) (watching) 31) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) (thesis here) 32) 55:15 Never Too Late (2021-2022) (not a BL, but a GMMTV drama that features a macro BL storyline about shipper culture and the BL industry) 33) Bad Buddy (2021-2022) and Our Skyy 2 x BBS x ATOTS (2023) OGMMTVC Rewatch 34) Secret Crush On You (2022) [watching for Cheewin’s trajectory of studying queer joy from Make It Right (high school), to SCOY (college), to Bed Friend (working adults)] 35) KinnPorsche (2022) (tag here) 36) KinnPorsche (2022) OGMMTVC Fastest Rewatch Known To Humankind For The Sake of Re-Analyzing the KP Cultural Zeitgeist 37) The Eclipse (2022) (tag here) 38) GAP (2022-2023) (Thailand’s first GL) 39) My School President (2022-2023) and Our Skyy 2 x My School President (2023) 40) Moonlight Chicken (2023) (tag here) 41) Bed Friend (2023) (tag here) (Cheewin’s latest show, depicting a queer joy journey among working adults) 42) Be My Favorite (2023) (tag here) (I’m including this for BMF’s sophisticated commentary on Krist’s career past as a BL icon) 43) Only Friends (2023)]

[princeescaluswords]

I always find there's such a stark difference between tgt fans and soc fans, and this is could possibly be because of the way the fandom interprets the texts. Six of crows is a heist novel, about people who aren't chosen ones and just live in Kerch. You don't have to be special to be worthy of getting your story told. Soc fans get that. But Darkling fans? Well, it just *can't* be that Alina chooses to be ordinary over being the Darkling's queen, so she apparently *must* end up with her abuser, even though she does not share his morals; even though she is the antithesis of everything he is because she will never see others' lives as expendable for a greater cause. Alina is compassionate and revels in being the 99%, and Darkling fans seem to hate that. Alina was never meant to be a power fantasy, but for Darkling fans, the idea of being normal was never an option - because to them, why would you not choose to be part of the 1%; why would you not turn this into a power fantasy, even when when the author always intended for tgt to be the opposite?

Unfortunately, I have only seen the Netflix adaptation of the Grishaverse. I don't know what "tgt" stands for. However, I can talk about the unpleasant intersection I find between power, status, and ethics that occurs in fandoms. When I refer back to Alina, the Darkling, and the other characters in the Grishaverse, you should bear in mind that it is constrained by my limited knowledge, and I welcome any correction of what you feel is a misinterpretation.

When it comes to many people in our culture, they may claim to want a good story, but they tend to be quite simplistic in their value systems when they think they're not going to be judged for it. Which means they want power fantasies, instead. The problem, of course, is that power fantasies don't make satisfying stories. It's like trying to survive on a diet consisting solely of cheeseburgers.

Let me give a concrete example. In my primary fandom, Teen Wolf, I recently came across an unlabeled post-season 2 story where Jackson Whittemore -- who, for those who don't know, is white, rich, good-looking, entitled and captain of both the lacrosse and the swim team -- is talking about Scott McCall (the lead protagonist in the show but not this story) in very negative terms, complaining about Scott's lack of decency in not telling Allison Argent that her mother was bitten by Derek Hale, an alpha werewolf, while Mrs. Argent was trying to kill Scott. The bite caused Mrs. Argent to kill herself, and, for a time, Allison blamed Derek for her mother's death.

Now, they set aside the fact that the show made it clear that Scott didn't tell Allison because, by the time he figured out what had happened (he was unconscious when Derek bit Allison's mother), it was already too late to change anything, so Scott decided not to tell Allison so that wouldn't be the last memory she had of her beloved mother. You would think that people would view this as an effort to be kind, right? Wrong!

Fandom sees this as an utter betrayal, because it is Derek Hale's feelings, as a white, rich, god-looking, entitled Alpha Werewolf, that should take precedence over Scott's girlfriend's feelings. It doesn't matter that while Derek did come to Scott's rescue, he had beat, manipulated, lied to, betrayed, and tried to murder innocents under Scott's protection for almost all of the first two seasons.

Also relevant is that this is the same Jackson Whittemore, who witnessed his next-door neighbor "kicking the crap" out of his son, Isaac Lahey, and said nothing about it to anyone. This is the same Jackson Whittemore, who when he got the Bite, dumped his girlfriend and told a homeless man to go die in another parking lot, before turning into a murder lizard slave. This is the same Jackson Whittemore for whom the only solution that Derek Hale managed to come up with when this happened was straight-up murder. This is the same Jackson Whittemore whom Scott fought to save from Derek. There is no hint in this fandom story that Jackson is being a hypocrite or being ungrateful or even aware of the contradiction.

The author chose this. Jackson's signature callousness and selfishness simply vanishes just long enough for him to condemn the person who tried to save him for not wanting to hurt his girlfriend's feelings. Why? Jackson is privileged, and he has that in common with Derek, so it is obvious that Jackson will take Derek's perspective in the matter.

Which brings us back to your example. Alina is the Sun Summoner, a living saint, and incredibly powerful. Of course she's supposed to take the side of the Darkling, who is also incredibly powerful. His creation of a slave caste for his kind, his manipulation and murder of countless others, and his creation of the Shadow Fold poisons her nation. This is irrelevant to power fantasy, where power should make her perspective identical to his.

In the modern day, our culture certainly talks about the dangers of the elite, but fandom gives its participants the way to celebrate a freedom from the ethical consideration when it comes to personal power. To them, since fiction =/= reality, they can indulge in their lust for power and status regardless of the consequences. To them, there is no reason for Scott McCall to value Derek Hale's feelings above Allison Argent's; Derek is more powerful, richer, and better looking (and a guy!) so Scott should choose Derek's side. To them, there is no reason that the Sun Summoner will choose a course in life that will prevent her power from corrupting her; if she allowed herself to be corrupted, she'd have all the status of the Darkling.

The problem they have is that the artists behind both the Grishaverse and Teen Wolf, which you are free to consider trivial, still examined the world around them and came to the conclusion that power doesn't supersede the necessity for ethical thought. In other words, the artists realized that power fantasies might give momentary pleasure, but in the end, they don't produce meaningful stories.

Some people have a problem with that.

[mxtxfanatic]

Sometimes seeing the way that people react to your posts about character development and what they tend to say in response makes me think that many times you and the other person are in agreement, but inadvertently approaching from two different conversational sides.

I’ve noticed that usually when you run into confusion, you’ve been using character development as a way of saying they have improved their character - they’ve recognized their flaws and they’ve met them and they’ve put in the work to overcome them and become better people. They’ve developed their character through deliberate hard work to grow and become better than they were yesterday. From that stance, you are correct in none of the mxtx protagonists needing to overcome it possibly barring Shen Qingqiu. None of their journey involved them having to improve and overcome their flaws in order to become better people by the end of the novel.

However not everyone is reading it that way, I think, cause frequently the responses you get make me think that they’re using character development to say that they have grown from the person they started as in any way, which is still true for the mxtx protagonists. They mature, they wisen, they gain a broader understanding of the world they’re in and sometimes they make different choices based on that. The first example that comes to mind is the difference between Wei Wuxian choosing Jiang Cheng in the past when they met up after he was thrown into the Burial Mounds as opposed to choosing Lan Wangji in the present, now that he has a deeper understanding of both of them and is no longer still in a space of recent trauma from what’s happened to him since Lotus Pier fell. It is a type of character development in that his growth and maturity does lead him to make a different choice than he did in the past, but it was not a flaw back then that he sided with Jiang Cheng and it was not a mistake he needed to examine in himself to overcome to grow.

Sometimes you do genuinely have people who just don’t read what you say at all or disagree because they are not arguing in good faith, and that’s a different conversation again. But I think sometimes it’s just genuinely you saying a thing and meaning it one way and people reading it and hearing it a different way, neither of whom are wrong.

I could be wrong, but it really does seem to me sometimes that the miscommunication really is just that simple. When I look at the confusion you and your responders have sometimes, I think this might be why.

No, I think you’re pretty spot on with that assessment. This is the same issue I’ve had with convos about grey morality and paralleling/foiling. I am using these terms as literary critique and analysis not as the general phrases they’ve since been relegated to outside of the classroom. (And this is a me thing, I am a teacher at heart and adhere to a very strict definition for these things.) I don’t think the mxtx MCs had “character development” under that definition, but I would never say that they are wholly unchanging and unchanged, as one of the things I love about them is the ability to adapt to continuously developing situations. But in that original post, I tried to mitigate that by narrowing the scope of the “change” I was talking about to just their morality, because that was the subject I was seeing talked about at the time.

People wanting to discuss how the MCs may change in relationships or as they age had nothing to with the my original point. I tend to address them anyways because I think they’re wrong and don’t like them being added to my original point. For example, saying that the MCs “changed” by “learning to accept love,” which is false because “accepting love” is not a struggle any of them had. That is just popular fanon. Unless the disagreement is over the morality of the MCs or the intentions behind their actions, I don’t really want addendums bringing up unrelated stuff on that post, specifically.

[doberbutts]

Okay so I have a question and I really hope I word it properly so if this is written incomprehensibly, let me know and I’ll try to write it better.

In regards to the recent reblog chain about titling your dogs related to their working ability and not just their conformation titles, I was curious if there are titles you would not expect certain dog breeds to have, and if they did title well in certain things would it seem like the dog is against breed standard?

For example, based on your extensive sharing of knowledge on Doberman temperament and breed ideals, would it actually be wrong for them, and other protection breeds, to have a CGC/CGCA/CGCU? Another example- would it be kind of a fault for a Doberman to achieve a high title in herding based on the actual purpose of the breed? Or is it just a testament to good training and partnership between handler and dog?

Let me know if this makes sense! It was just a curiousity that came up in my mind for the opposite end of the spectrum. Thanks for your thoughts!

This is a really interesting ask, and I wanted to give a detailed answer and not just something short I fired off while on my phone, so I wanted to wait until I had a moment on my computer with a proper keyboard to answer.

Your example- dobermans and the CGCs- is sort of complicated. I've discussed before how breed uses have changed over the years and with the current world how some things we had to let go of and focus on something else, and dobes aren't immune from that. The original temperament of the doberman was a very sharp, very aggressive dog that would bite any stranger that touched it and was not particularly safe for other people to be around, that bonded closely with their owner and refused another master, that was so good at being that type of dog they were called "devil dogs" and people went out of their way to avoid them. The AKC came up with a set of rules regarding vicious and biting dogs in the ring largely due to dobermans biting the shit out of judges during exams, and biting their handlers for being held back from biting the shit out of judges. There is a reason that until the late 90s, one of the generic "vicious aggressive dog" looks was usually a doberman. The breed reputation is very well deserved.

Let me be perfectly clear when I say: I do not think there is space in this world for this type of dog anymore. Clearly, neither did people in the 70s, and there were a lot of breeding decisions that took place to try and adjust breed temperament to what we expect of dog behavior today. Being able to allow strangers to touch them is something every dog now needs to know, because we like veterinarians and don't want our dogs removing their hands, because fully sedating a dog or drugging them into oblivion just to get a shot and a wellness is incredibly hard on their body, so we as a breed community kind of changed track.

So... do I think dobermans getting their CGCs means they don't quite have correct temperament for the breed? Really depends what you're considering correct temperament. The original temperament of the breed certainly I would say that dog could not get a CGC due to needing to accept a stranger coming up and touching them/their owner without biting, which is completely against the entire point of the breed created to bite strangers that touch them or their owners. At the same time, I think in current society a CGC proves that the doberman in question isn't a total loose cannon, which is more relevant to today's world and the priorities of today's dog laws and ethics.

Herding on the other hand some people do with their dobermans. Personally I think it's stupid but not due to being against breed temperament, more that dobermans often have a lot of terrier in them and are just as likely to bloody the sheep as they are to attempt to herd. It is true that herding breeds were used to create dobes along with mastiffs and terriers and the occasional sighthound, but herding was never the point and I think risking someone's stock due to a barely-there ancestral connection to herding is, um, not super ethical. I feel more strongly about this than I used to, just because of learning more about herding through the use of my swissy and her breeder's sheep. GSMD and dobes both branch off the butcher dog, which became rottweilers, but in very different directions, and so the more I learn about how dogs move stock the less happy I am about the few people that put their dobes on sheep.

I don't think herding titles are any proof of breeding quality because, again, the doberman was never intended to herd in the first place. Similar to how I don't think dock diving, agility, or barn hunt titles are proof of breeding quality in dobes either, because jumping into water, maneuvering around obstacles at high speeds, and killing rodents on a farm also aren't doberman-specific jobs. I would find more value in dock diving for water rescue breeds, barn hunt for terriers and other vermin-killing breeds, and agility for breeds intended to work closely with their owners in difficult terrain and high stakes/high speed settings. Again I do not think they are necessarily against correct breed temperament, in fact I think a good doberman should be able to do any of those without too much issue because they like to work with their owners in training, but I do not think they objectively show me anything about the worth of breeding that dog either.

Don't get me wrong, I also think that bitesports are also an incomplete picture- the doberman was a personal protection dog, not a sport dog. IGP, which used to be IPO, which used to be Schutzhund, is a sport developed from a breed worthiness testing program specifically for the German Shepherd during a time when Nazis took over Germany. It has very little to do with the doberman outside of being a German bitey dog thing developed during the lead-in to WWII. That is why dobes are considered an off breed in IGP, they were never actually developed to pass those standards. There are less than 50 living IGP3 dobermans in the country currently.

Ringsport, similarly, was developed primarily with malinois and dutch shepherds in mind. There are currently two MR3 dobermans in the country and the same person owns both of them- historically I believe there have been 5 and that person also owned one of the remaining 3. You'd think PSA would be more in line with what dobermans were meant for, being advertised as most similar to real personal protection street work, until you learn that there has never been a PSA3 doberman and the PSA2 doberman club is extremely limited (I believe to-date only 3 dogs have managed it, two males and one female). American Schutzhund was also developed by and for GSD people and is too new to have dobes scoring very highly yet. And this new combo PSA-dock-diving hybrid thing called Shark Bite I believe was created by malinois people.

In other words, the breed-worthiness titling system we do have was never created with the doberman in mind, being the only breed developed specifically for personal protection. I have met plenty of IGP3/IPO3 dobermans who I think have bad breed temperament. I have also met plenty that could not pass even the IGP1 that I think are more correct. BUT, I will say, it is very easy to claim your dogs are not passing because they are REAL WORKING DOGS when in reality it's because your dogs are shitters or because your training is bad, and in fact it is a crutch I see a lot of unscrupulous people in the breed rely on when asked how they can be breeding TRU WERKIN DAWGZ when they haven't titled a single one of them.

There are people who are of the opinion that high scores in these sports actually means that the dog is not quite to-standard temperament-wise, as the correct doberman is a highly defensive, sharp dog that in theory should actually struggle a bit on some of the exercises. I am not experienced enough to know if I'd go that far, but I think it is important to keep in mind that even judges will say this- I have heard judges say "technically this doberman scored higher on this exercise, however that other doberman while scoring lower had more correct temperament when considering this sport was not made for the breed's drives" in their critiques. So if what sports we do have are not quite the full picture, we cannot rely on titles or scores to tell us the full story on whether the dog is necessarily correct.

HOWEVER all of that to say, I still believe that even a low level relevant working title should be required of the breed- and all working breeds- because far too many people as said have used this as an excuse not to do it at all, and thus breed dogs who can't even pass a basic temperament test let alone put in real work. Far too many people have felt comfortable saying "well, I'm not interested in this" or "it's too hard/expensive/time consuming" or "what we have isn't currently adequate so I won't do it at all" and now breed dobermans who run at the first sight of conflict instead of, you know, showing any amount of GUARD in a GUARDIAN breed.

[star-vessel1237]

Baal!Yuu Miscellaneous

Just some Random stuff involving Baal!Yuu

Baal!Yuu wears the standard NRC Uniform with their head-wrappings and their cloak

They have argued with Crewel multiple times about keeping them

Crewel agreed they can keep their head-wrappings, but must take off their cloak for Alchemy and PE

They mostly hide away their right arm using charms to make it invisible or just having it behind their cloak only having their left arm exposed

They do very well in school, even going out of their way to study subjects above their year

This is mostly because of their obsessive need to gain more knowledge, which sky rocketed after coming to Twisted Wonderland

They practically spend almost all of their time in the library if they aren’t getting dragged into shenanigans with Ace and Deuce

This is also because they try to do their own studying since Crowley is doing NOTHING to help them get home

Don’t get them wrong, Baal!Yuu likes it here. But they have some ‘unfinished business’ to settle back in their home dimension

They also may or may not have started an online business selling study guide pdfs online for money before Chapter 3 (Helps that they got all of the subject courses memorized)

For this interpretation of Yuu, they mostly come off as serious and aloof towards others, spending most of their time alone in a library or in their dorm. But they eventually spend more time with some of the friends they made in NRC after warming up to them, showing them a more generous and good meaning nature

Also, while they’re the most mature out of the first years, this is often contradicted because they have a petty side to them, often using their abilities to their advantage to mess with others

Example:

Ace: Hey Prefect, you here?

Baal!Yuu: Hello Ace, Deuce, to what do I owe pleasure?

Deuce: Grim asked us to help find his tuna stash.

Baal!Yuu: And this concerns me because?

Deuce: He said he “forgot” about where it is. He also said you wouldn’t tell him where it was unless he answered one of your questions.

Baal!Yuu: Again, how am I involved?

Ace: Yuu, be honest. Did you use your weird magic to make Grim forget where he put his damn tuna?

Baal!Yuu: ...

Baal!Yuu: Grim threw out the chili sauce I bought from Sam’s, I’m not giving back his memory until he apologizes or he gets my question correct.

Ace: Geez, and you say we’re immature.

Baal!Yuu restrains themselves from using their full strength when fighting the overbloted students, they know that their own power can brutally harm them if they're not careful

The same cannot be said for the huge blot monsters that are dealt the most of Baal!Yuu’s attacks

I also like to think that when they defeated Riddle their curiosity got the better of them and they used a weaker form of [Leak Information] to partially see what’s going through their mind (i.e. the flashback scenes we see in game)

When they realize this will be a common occurrence across overblots, Baal!Yuu decides to find a therapist that's cheap and can take calls over the phone

They still give some advice from what they have learned over the years to the overbloted so that (hopefully) they can change for the better and not suffer through this, again

Rook’s calls them “Roi du savior” (Translation: King of Knowledge)

Rook started calling them this after Baal!Yuu told them some information about their species(?) of digimon and how some have the title of “Sublime Lord” or in one recent case from their world, “God of Knowledge”

Floyd’s nickname for them is Giant Squid, mostly because he saw them in their regular outfit, combined that with their height and intelligence (Baal!Yuu doesn’t mind)

Malleus and Baal!Yuu didn’t share their names at first when they met, Malleus called them “Baal”, and of course Baal!Yuu called him “Tsunotaro”

Reason: Malleus is a fae (or fairy) and Baal!Yuu is technically considered a demon (digital variety but close enough), both creatures that are known for keeping their true names secret so I thought it would fit for both of them to call each other by nicknames until Chapter 6

There’s more I want to write about this AU, maybe make this an actual TWST x Digimon AU, give the main boys digimon partner and write some scenarios where digimon end up in Twisted Wonderland with Baal!Yuu being the first with more following after, the first incident of this happening post Chapter 1. However, this is all I’m writing for now. Hope you enjoy.

[nikithagonch81]

Sunset Shimmer is one of the central characters in My little pony: Equestria girls, getting a redemption arc in the second movie (and at the end of the first when she was forgiven).

I like the character for her design (it just screams her cutiemark), her story, and her personality.

It's a story about a human (or should I say pony) who earned her trust through honest labor. And, as is usually the case in children's cartoons (not a rebuke, I'm just stating the fact that this is usually the case in children's cartoons), such characters are quickly forgiven and treated better already. But! As many people saw in the second EG movie, Shimmer was prejudiced in school. Even the main six, although they accepted the fact that the girl corrected herself, still did not really communicate with her, even joked at her sometimes. And they turned to her for help only when they couldn't cope themselves (google The Dazzling - welcome to the show and see for yourself).

Sunset's motivations in the first movie are quite clear, which is good for a cartoon. Shimmer was Celestia's apprentice long before Sparkle (Twilight) showed up, studying quite diligently until the girl got the thing she wanted. Eventually, Shimmer decided to find her own way and fled through a portal to the human world. There she began to literally "rule" the school. All the students feared and shunned her, and Sunset enjoyed her power. And the plot of the first movie began with her act: she stole Sparkle's crown in order to rule the entire human world. But, after she realized she knew nothing about friendship, Sparkle and her friends in the EG universe forgave her. Since then, she becomes a central character in the following movies and Sparkle's apprentice.

In all the other movies, Sunset learned friendship and then started teaching friendship to Sparkle from EG.

Sunset is pretty honest to her friends, tolerant and loyal. Often comes up with interesting ideas that work.

Sunset is quite smart, but not smarter than Sparkle (logically, both were apprentices of Princess Celestia).

Sunset Shimmer is a very important character because she teaches us that if you lose trust once, it can be earned again, but the hard way. She teaches us that it's okay to make mistakes. Sunset shows us by example that even if a person has corrected themselves, they will still be prejudiced against them (because people already know that they have done bad things before and are likely to continue to do them). Sunset teaches us that trust is the kind of thing that is hard to earn but easy to lose.

And some interesting facts about this character:

1) Sunset Shimmer is one of a kind, she has no counterpart in EG, her cutiemark literally means that she is native to both the pony world and the human world.

2) Based her design on the third generation pony, Sun Shimmer.

3) Flash's ex-girlfriend Sentry. In the recent EG movies/series they start their relationship again (already as friends).

4) Very good friends with Twilight from EG.

5) Sunset Shimmer and Mighty Trixie have one thing in common: the two had the same sidekicks, Snips and Snale.

6) Although it was said in the movies and in the show that Sunset Shimmer often visits Equestria, you won't see her in the MLP: FIM series itself, only in the final episode of season 9.

7) Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer are pupils of Sparkle, as well as reformed antagonists (by the way, they will meet each other in one of the series).

8) Sunset Shimmer's design was already known in 2013 because of the dolls' release.

9) Sunset Shimmer has her own element of harmony in the human world, "forgiveness".

10) In the fourth movie, Sunset gains the ability to read people's minds and their pasts (with the help of an artifact - a bracelet representing her element).

11) Sunset has the same problem as Rainbow - they both had no pets and their friends helped them find them (Rainbow eventually got a turtle as a pet and Sunset got a salamander).

12) Sunset Shimmer and Princess Celestia make up after a long fight.

13) Sunset Shimmer is one of the most well-described characters in EG.

14) In the Forgotten Friendship series, she regains the trust of her friends.

15) Many people dislike her.

Now, my opinion on the character.

I like Sunset a lot. I consider her on par with Twilight as the most well-described of the mlp characters. Not only does she have a deep meaning in the series (she was literally born to live in the world of EG and the ponies), but she teaches us, the viewers, a lot. She has her downsides, especially in the first movie, but she makes up for it in the end. Like Sparkle, she learns from her mistakes. And, most importantly, she's fun to follow, which is the most important thing.

P.S. Sorry for any mistakes, my native language is not English.

[feedingtheflockministry]

The Problem of the Rainbow Flag

Recently another online ministry / tv show we love to watch and promote was caught having a gay pride flag hanging from one of their filming cameras. When the director was confronted about this issue by his supporters and fans he gave several excuses, but did not correct the issue and allowed it to stay. Due to his unrepentant stance, supporters and fans are disassociating themselves from his ministry / tv show as the scriptures prescribe for such matters.

For it is written in Matthew 18:15-17, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church (a larger gathering of believers); and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

Why do followers of Christ have a problem with the pride flag? It is because it is a rainbow. The rainbow is a symbol of a covenant that God made with mankind that states He will never again destroy the earth with a great flood. Today, however, this symbol of God’s promise has been overtaken by those who walk in sexual sin. They have taken what was meant for good and defiled it.

When Christians allow the gay pride flag to be on their property, place of worship, or among any of their ministry efforts they are silently showing their support for that sin and therefore defile their ministry or evangelical efforts. In these situations our support becomes a stumbling block to others who might be wrestling with these desires. We must remember what Jesus said about those who cause others to stumble. He said, “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!”

Once darkness has been allowed in it only spreads throughout the ministry, project, or media outlet. Many other ungodly things will be tolerated as time progresses in these situations. We see this in so many ministries throughout the church age, and it is not only sexual sin that runs rampant. For greed, pride, arrogance, desires for control and power, and so much more are found at the center of ministry collapse.

In Revelation 2:20-23 Jesus was addressing the church at Thyatira. He had this to say:

“But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality (unlawful sex) and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.”

Jesus started by pointing out they were tolerating this false prophet, then He addressed their practices. We can not tolerate or support immorality among us. For it is not good to do so.

Stop and consider this for a moment. If a group of bank robbers robbed a bank and had a get away driver waiting for them outside, would the driver be guilty of being part of that crime as well? Of course they would! Even though the driver did not commit the crime, they still supported it by driving them away.

Consider another example. If a person is given an envelope with poisonous powder in it and they know what it contains but still deliver it anyway, are they innocent or guilty of spreading poisonous powder? They would be found guilty in a court of law.

So how would it be any different for a Christian to allow a gay pride flag to be seen among their ministry, or on the set of a show about Jesus Christ? If they allow it to continue by tolerating it, then they are misrepresenting The Way of Christ and the biblical message as a whole. They once again defile the image of Christ by mixing darkness with light, good with evil, and wickedness with righteousness.