#sometimes including analysis

[year-of-the-lion]

So concludes season 2! Actually finished it a few days ago and have started on season 3, but life got in the way of me documenting here. That said, my thoughts:

Thace:

Thace was genuinely one of my favourite side characters in the show (both so far and the first time I saw it). As a character he really gives insight into Marmora's ideals and operations— the complete dedication to his mission and the skill to evade both the druids' and Haggar's suspicions of him long enough to help Voltron set up their plan. Willing to die for a free universe, or to bring it any bit closer to freedom.

I'd have loved to get a comic or something exploring his background a little bit, maybe about how he got to the position he did (since he seems to have been Marmora's highest ranked infiltrator).

Slav:

Slav's a fun way to drop in establishing information and foreshadowing, especially because it's absolutely hilarious every time he shows up on screen. You might forget that he is genuinely hyper-aware of how the universe (and the greater multiverse) works, right up until you hit a line like "now there's no reality in which we all make it out alive!" during the attack on Zarkon's command and it punches you in the face.

Shiro:

I'm going to miss OG Shiro for the rest of time. It's no wonder things become disjointed when he disappears/dies, he was exactly the sort of leader that the paladins needed to pull them together. He cared for them, he cared for the cause, and he had the dedication and skill to back those things up. He was just good. His and Keith's dynamic has always been my favourite.

Keith:

I talk about Keith a lot. That's because I think about Keith a lot. In the early seasons it's so blatant that he has the potential to become an incredible leader for the paladins, but he's just not ready. He's got these issues and insecurities that he has to work through before he can put himself at the head of Voltron (literally and figuratively), but then Shiro's gone and he's the only one Black will accept, and that's that.

The groundwork of a leader is laid in him, but when he's grieving and desperate to find Shiro again, it's...possibly not the best time to see how well that holds up. Actually, it's more like turning the ground under the foundations to quicksand and seeing how well they hold up.

This was all possibly not helped by him having only just found out that he's galra, having had to deal with the change in dynamics with the team (Allura's hatred and that entire time he spent with Hunk getting the scultrite), and just generally not being in a very stable part of his life. Sure, though, we're going to put the guy who both suggested and then immediately volunteered for a suicide mission in charge. Not that they had much of a choice, but lord. Cut the poor kid some slack, he's like...eighteen? nineteen? All things considered, he's holding out pretty well.

And the final comment: the noise I made at "Summon Prince Lotor" may be the cause of my recent sore throat. (Only joking. Mostly)

To season 3!

[quicksilversnails]

I think it's neat how many of ISAT's tracks have very similar titles, only using parenthesis to differentiate themselves. It's a structure that actually reminds me a lot of the dialogue in-game. Even though the game's events and dialogue repeat over and over, Siffrin's thoughts, written in parenthesis, change with time.

So what if the parenthesis in the titles actually represented Siffrin's thoughts while the track plays? Looking at some of the tracks with this in mind:

Friend Quest vs Friend Quest (Solo). The added parenthesis are technically accurate, as the track is actually transcribed to solo piano, but they also generally invokes the idea of a solo performance. You could interpret Siffrin as the soloist, performing his script with a growing sense of detachment from his family. Alternatively, the party members could be the soloists, being the only ones developing in these scenes, the only ones emotionally present.

Do You Remember (King's Theme) vs (Our Country) vs (We've Been Through This Before). It starts out as a simple descriptor assigning the theme to the King, which is also used for Loop's Theme or the Battle Theme. The later two tracks uses the added text as a continuation of the question (Do you remember our country? Do you remember we've been through this before?). While the question in (King's Theme) is initially asked by the King to Siffrin, the later tracks leave more ambiguity: (Our Country) could be asked by either, while (We've Been Through This Before) could be from Siffrin to the King, or even Siffrin to themself. There's also something about how the question itself - Do You Remember? - can be spoken, but the subject of it can only be thought, never said out loud

The House (Floors 1-3) vs The House (Trapped). Similarly, the simple descriptors of the floor numbers shift with Siffrin's mental state. The floors can no longer be differentiated from one another; it's all the same prison anyway

Game Over vs Game Over (Don't Leave Me Alone Here). This one is genuinely so sad to me, with the parenthesis containing a cry for help, calling out to somebody, anybody, nobody. By the nature of it being in parenthesis, it remains in Siffrin's mind, left unspoken and unheard.

It's Finally Over... vs It's Finally Over... (Reprise). Finally one with a positive spin lol. The choice of the term "Reprise" here is really interesting to me because it refers to the repetition or return of a musical idea, when this track only plays once the loop is finally broken. They're often used in musicals to call back to earlier events and highlight any changes or development since the first iteration of the song, which is fitting for Act 6. Even though they're at a similar place compared to the end of Act 2 (King defeated, loop (seemingly) broken), Siffrin's changed so much since then. He's suffered immensely, but he also finally got to share his wish... there's much more resolution to the Act 6 ending and the music reflects this.

[gghoulish]

the implications of mr compress drive me insane because i can easily read it as in some way or another, he probably felt he failed his bloodline, or that he couldn't shoulder that responsibility--- but instead, he chose to believe in someone who COULD, aka tomura. he saw revolution in a person and it was him. he could've tried to be the star of that show, but he instead raised up someone he saw great potential in, only showing the hand he was dealt when it was the end for him. i have seen a few things that imply he chose to work with tomura because of afo, but i don't think that's true, i think if anything someone of his lineage would be hesitant to do that--- afo and harima don't exactly have matching ideals, they may be radical to a degree but there's a difference between genocide and justice, and the league tomura creates has an entirely different energy to the way afo himself runs things. also if it's any level of literal that atsuhiro is inherently drawn to justice and what is right, then that implies he instinctually knew tomura had the potential to take on the legacy he felt he failed to uphold, enough so that he'd risk his life for him numerous times--- first costing him an arm, and then costing him his freedom.

judging by his words on people choosing their own fates, be they heroes or villains, as well as speaking of people's agency/personhood, it makes you wonder if he felt trapped in his own destiny too. he seems like he probably rebelled a bit when he was younger given his failed days as a magician, which doesn't feel all that prestigious for someone with his history. i can imagine he also sees himself in tomura, since they are both the heirs to some of the most prolific villains of all time--- if anyone understands the pressure he is under, it's atsuhiro. not to mention, mha has an obsession with using hands as a metaphor for things (particularly, oppression or freedom/affection), and though it's only in the anime, one of the few shots we get of kid atsuhiro is with his father's hands on his shoulders, guiding him to fulfill his legacy as harima's descendant, a thing he doesn't necessarily have a say in. it feels like it mirrors similar shots with afo and tomura, granted i'm not saying atsuhiro's father was some kind of tyrant, just that the insinuation of that pressure is there. while other villains were made by their circumstances or decisions, it was in atsuhiro's blood to rebel against the suffocating system they were born into.

him and tomura both having hand quirks also makes me think of another way they're similar. compression is a quirk that can be as dangerous as it is useful. we see that it can effortlessly maim others, which begs the question, what was it like learning that quirk? surely not easy or without consequence. that takes a lot of skill and precision. i think because of that, atsuhiro also makes for someone who probably wouldn't be afraid of or disgusted by tomura's quirk, which adds a further level of intimacy to them. he doesn't just see someone who destroys everything around him--- he sees new beginnings, and has the knowledge that from death, comes life itself. considering, despite his obvious skills in such, he isn't very keen on being a thief or violent for that matter, i feel like he's one of the few people to see and understand that tomura is not just the aggression and expectations that were made by afo--- he is his own person.

it also strikes me as suspicious that even though they needed as many allies as possible, he was never broken out of prison while other much more difficult people were pursued--- in the past he spoke out against the mistreatment of tomura and i feel like afo likely knew he was a risk to keep around, in the event he could not fully control tomura. so for as useful as he was, and could be, he was a liability, a part of tomura's humanity that couldn't be risked, especially when spinner was still around.

to close out, i don't think this was a last ditch effort, i think this is what he always knew to be his final act, he knew the curtain would fall with tomura, not him. tragically, he also probably knew none of them would realistically survive, but i think it was that fire that he saw in tomura--- a fire that could rival his great-great-grandfather--- that made him want to believe in him and drove him to do as much as he could. for all his theatrics and at times ridiculousness, his final act makes him feel like such a classically romantic character, someone willing to give everything up for the person he trusts and respects the most. i'll just never get over how utterly heart-wrenching it is to see atsuhiro's final panel be that wistful smile, still stuck in the same society that worships heroes.

[thelemonsnek]

visuals i made for a real actual paper i wrote for my sociology class that my professor will be reading

[image ids: the first image is a black and white drawing of Ingo and Emmet, from some time after Ingo disappeared. They both look neutrally forwards. Ingo is bedraggled per usual in Hisui, and Emmet looks tired. To either side of them are triangles emphasizing what shape their goatee is.

The second image is a photo of a salt and pepper shaker. The Submas Sideburns are drawn on top of them.

The third image is an edit of Shrek. He gestures at Donkey, saying, "submas fandom is like onions. submas fandom has layers, onions have layers... you get it? we both have layers."

The final image is an edit of the Marge potato meme. She holds Ingo and Emmet up, saying "I just think they're neat!" End id]

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

ok i'm going to sleep but for the first time in months there has been progress on my quest to quantify how much dialogue each Star Trek character has!!! i've located and fixed the mysterious error that was giving me grief last time i was working on this project and now know what i need to get done — basically just making graphs for each individual character per season and then writing up the relevant tumblr posts with a brief interpretation. i did TOS tonight and it took about 2 hours so fingers crossed i'll knock the rest of them out in a few days and can finally share my results!

[mejomonster]

the more i listen to behind the bastards podcast history stories, the more i'm like 'wow rich people really will do endless horrible stuff in pursuit of ever more wealth (even if they're already comfortable and could remain comfortable simply NOT doing more horrible stuff to others)' and also 'wow lack of empathy is a huge problem'

[mikesbasementbeets]

it's getting a little tiring trying to talk about mike and having to couch everything in five layers of "not to excuse his actions" and "not to downplay anyone else's importance" and "not to demonize this other character" and "not saying this is the only thing going on" and "not dismissing every other meaning this has" and like i'm seeing other people starting to do this more often too

idk feels like some people just insist on having the worst faith interpretations when people want to analyze mike specifically i'm just constantly worrying i haven't put enough "i do understand this character and the implications around his narrative and relationships with others" disclaimers even on silly little posts/reblogs that aren't supposed to be serious i'm just kind of tired

[dulcewrites]

Your post about the constant misreading of both Alicent and Rhaenyra was so good I wish I could had it printed on a shirt. Like omg yes, PERFECT TAKE

I’m just gonna assume you mean the most recent one bc I (unfortunately) have quite a bit of post about the bad faith misreading of Alicent, and other characters lol. But thank you ❤️

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Okay I don't do this normally but out of curiosity, I looked at that guys' posts and yeah they're going around sealioning anyone who likes Dimitri being all like "how can you say Dimitri/AM is your favorite when you didn't play all the routes". Buddy it's called having preferences, subjectivity and opinion. I'm sure if we twist their behavior around back at them, they'll be like stop bothering us for liking Edel cause double standards is their bread and butter.

Yeah, I had taken a brief scroll through their blog the first time I saw them argue with Random about Claude because I had a pretty strong feeling that they were just another stan running around around against Rhea and Dimitri fans because I knew that person didn't follow Random when they started pulling the bad faith Claude takes.

I scrolled through a few posts before I was like yeah I'm not even gonna bother looking further because I could see all they were doing was arguing with people whose names I recognized, and the only people who ever do that are the stans. They also have absolutely nothing else but discourse on their blog.

It's crazy to me too, because I've seen those same Dimitri fans try to talk about anything else FE related and yet they still get pulled back into discourse. Like, I'm at the point where I believe everyone in that immediate group is just actively being stalked by the stans (and I recall one of them mentioning they are being stalked by them, but my guess is if one of them is, all of them are).

Also, the stans tend to pull the "you didn't play xyz route" when I'm quite certain most if not all of the Dimitri fans on Tumblr have at the very bare minimum watched the full route on YouTube of anything they didn't play. All these people have the information they need to know where they stand opinion-wise, and like you said, it's just... having an opinion. The stans have their opinions, we don't agree with them, and we don't engage with them unless they engage with us first.

Something I've noticed about the group of Dimitri fans that gets stans going after them is that it's always the stans who start it. They always respond to asks sent to those people. In other words they go onto those people's blogs, look at their posts/their replies to their anons, and start arguing at them over literally anything they say in thsoe ask responses.

Every single time I see a post reach my dashboard from any of those people (you might know the Faerghus/Dimitri group I'm talking about), it's always a stan going after them when they were just answering one of their own anons and posting something on their own blog. I'm sure there are people who think they engage in discourse too much, but they don't even start it. They get harassed and can't just blog in peace.

Unfortunately those same stans have been targeting Random as of late (and I've noticed it's more and more different ones so they're probably going after someone as soon as they notice their buddies are doing so) so it's not that surprising that they've taken notice of me since she and I interact regularly. They basically go through the chain of who interacts with who and try to start shit.

Oh nonnie honey, you better believe if even a single Dimitri fan did to them what they do to us, they'd be all over that and whining about it and posting callouts and shit.

I just want to be able to post whatever my feelings are about Dimitri without worrying that people will try to tear it down because "it's not about Edel-chan and it portrays Dimitri in a good light".

I've blocked every Edelstan I've come across but more of them keep popping up, so... I guess the blocking never ends. My block list is basically just Edelstans and bots at this point with few exceptions.

Funny how the stans don't block Dimitri fans who hate Edelgard to avoid seeing them (it's because they don't actually want to, because they want to argue), even though we're all over here trying to block them, but some of them block evade to keep going. Literally like Dimitri fans have tried to block them and move on, but they persistently find ways to keep harassing. And like I said, they go down the line, so eventually they'll just find every active Dimitri lover who posts about him and whine at them.

[tornad001]

god lefties r supremely good at 1 thing and 1 thing only and its turning their emotions into reactionary sentiment and then justifying those terrible and reactionary ideas with the language of progressivism and leftism until suddenly ur unironically ok with executing landlords and business owners and other heinous shit and u roll the tape back on that one and its literally just cuz they recognize the unfairness of the system and it makes them angry and want to lash out because they're not actually interested or capable of the systemic analysis that's supposed to be our whole thing as lefties so all they can turn to is reactionary fantasies of enacting violence on the individuals representative of those unjust systems of power and then you point out that this "logic" would give the global south the moral right to kill every individual who in their mind represents the unjust systems of power which oppressed them which could potentially include literally everyone outside the global south but at this point the lefty is so lost in the sauce invested in the batshit notions of justice they had to construct to justify their emotional desire to enact violence that they unironically are like "yeah based" and then you really have no options politically speaking but to give them ice cream and barring the success of the ice cream to deploy the rock

[suppenzeit]

always wearing a shirt that says Ask me about luther and five parallels

[sundry-whovengerslocked]

I understand and appreciate this take. and def agree it could have been gone about better.

but I also enjoyed it?

one because I thought it was hilarious! the implication that the doctor could become so much dumber within what was likely a 24 hour time span!? because again, The Doctor is Just Like That.

(esp when he's in that post regeneration high/sickness.)

i also of course found it funny because Donna would be the one to say something like that! because she's so sassy and loves to tear him apart!

I also feel it fit because it tied into canon lore! because woman time lords can choose their appearance while male time lords cannot. as evidenced by Melody choosing a dress size when she turned into River

so yeah I feel like it was SUPPOSED to be silly, and an easy way to free Donna from the past without going into an overcomplicated solution like Chibnall tended to botch with his writing.

the “he doesn’t get it cause he’s male presenting” was a bit silly to me like. the doctor can’t let things go bcus it’s a character trait for him, not bcus of his current gender presentation. he just be like that

[aphrodicci]

ᴀꜱᴛᴇʀᴏɪᴅ ᴀᴘʜʀᴏᴅɪᴛᴇ [1388]

follow for more content, patreon opening soon!

get a chart reading before i officially close on next week monday, which is the 9th of december <3

feminine archetype + venus persona chart analysis included

join my astrology discord server :) 18+

❦  asteroid aphrodite [1388] is an asteroid that is about fertility, love beauty and passion. where and how you are blessed with beauty, where people find you the most beautiful, your sex appeal. the art of seduction and where you can hook many suitors.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 1H/ARIES ⟶ strong beauty indicator, known for having a beautiful face, could have many moles + beauty spots. indicator of being very fertile, and people could think you're a heart-breaker, very seducing and hard to catch so people likely chase after you. can have many people compliment you on sight, or stare at you. people would likely find your face and your body as the most beautiful think you have, or just one of them and it just stands out. you are likely crushed by many people around you, this is the bombshell archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 2H/TAURUS ⟶ known for having a beautiful face, nice voice or curvy body/small waist. people might want to buy things for you and make you feel spoiled. could be someone who attracts very possessive people, potential sugar baby. someone in the family might have been in a cheating scandal, or even you. could have a roster of lovers, nice neck and eyebrows, could have freckles, this person values beauty a lot, this is the material girl archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 3H/GEMINI ⟶ could have beautiful twins, heart-breaker for sure, cant be tied down for too long. very nice fashion style, or even online feed. could gain fame for your beauty, adaptable beauty, many things suit them. could be the relative or could have a relative that could be considered as a cheater. nice hand writing, could easily get dates, particularly from online dating matches. charming and flirts easily with almost everyone and everything around her, easily distracted. can charm the pants off of someone, this is the girl next door/school crush archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 4H/CANCER ⟶ very fertile placement, other people might want to settle down with you and even trap you. could point to infidelity happening within the family, and could have a really nice smile and other people might like your breast/chest area. pinnacle of beauty, apple cheekbones and could have a wider/curvy body. voluptuous or just big in the front and back with wider hips. could have really nice hair, could embody people's wants in a significant other, this archetype is the old hollywood beauty.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 5H/LEO ⟶ could love to get into situationships, could have a breeding kink, beautiful back tattoos. star-girl kind of beauty. it reminds me of the six of wands type of charm and glamour. could have a lot of suitors in their dms, and even wanting to settle down or leave a child with them, this placement could point to being someone's arm candy, fur coats and diamonds, looking rich and expensive, sometimes people with this placement might feel like they're objectified very easily by others, this archetype is the golden girl beauty.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 6H/VIRGO ⟶ others would want to be fixed by them or would want to fix them. some would want to be serviced by this native, conquer and pin them down and even humble them. they challenge people and bring out people's desires. people who have aphrodite here might have others desperate to get their attention, this could be due to the fact that the individual could be frugal with their energy and who they hang around with, people would want to get to know them more, as they have so many layers to them, think of it as a cat finally allowing you to touch their fur, this archetype is the forbidden fruit beauty.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 7H/LIBRA ⟶ could have a nice ass, could be seen as the most beautiful within their social group, or their community, very smiley to other people, can be considered as someone who has a beautiful smile and could have nice clothes/style. is an indicator of being eye-candy, could be in relationships all the time, but attracts much chaos to their love life. could like the bad boy/girl lover archetype, you can look but not touch type of beauty, this is the popular girl archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 8H/SCORPIO ⟶ attracts the taboo love, romeon and juliet kind of connection. infidelity and love triangles, the intimidating dominatrix who oozes sex appeal, a lot of people likely watch this person and can become very jealous of what you have. other people would want to destroy you, in both ways. this person could have an obsession with beauty and can easily get people to finance them, another sugar baby indicator, this is the obvious femme fatale archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 9H/SAGITTARIUS ⟶ foreign beauty, Goddess type of beauty, think of cleopatra, nefertiti and it reminds me of elizabeth taylor as well. that type of beauty. could have a rich future spouse and even be very fertile, both you and the future spouse. future spouse could be someone who might want to settle down very quickly and even be someone who is very beautiful. natives humour and sense of self makes them attractive, people could worship them or admire the individual's beauty everything they do. their beauty can take up the entire room, and can have many suitors and suitresses, this is the goddess archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 10H/CAPRICORN ⟶ work-place bombshell, loved by the media, if you were famous, you would have much controversy when it comes to your romantic love life. dating your boss or someone who is powerful within an industry, this placement reminds me of the Queen of Pentacles, gets lovers from work, and whenever you're in a relationship people could talk about it all the time and could be nosy about it. a beauty indicator, face, style and charm, everything is beautiful here. might've had a father who was a cheat, this placement has many archetypes, office-siren, archetypal wife/mother. it reminds me of gabrielle solis, but mainly i would say this is mainly the office-siren archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 11H/AQUARIUS ⟶ other-worldly beauty, not from her type beat. the pretty friend, famous due to their looks, unique beauty. could have a nice aesthetic online, can rock and style anything. lots of dimples or moles, an indicator of having a romantic scandal with friends, or a friend of a friend. love affairs. gets more beautiful as you age, stands out in the crowd, extreme beauty, that it can be off-putting. it's like you will never see this type of person again type of beauty, i'd give this placement the fae archetype.

♇ ASTEROID APHRODITE IN 12H/PISCES ⟶ "i walked with you once upon a dream" type of beauty, mermaid, trickster, long roster; can be two-faced, doesnt know how to settle down. being someone who others can be confused about, might not want to have children or could think and dream about them all the time. attracts many envious people, can embody people's definition of beauty. ariel's song type of essence. the essence of a cloud and a dream, i'd give this placement the fantasy archetype.

follow for more content, patreon opening soon!

get a chart reading before i officially close on next week monday, which is the 9th of december <3

feminine archetype + venus persona chart analysis included

join my astrology discord server :)

[mayajadeart]

Fucking, thank god for grad students. Grad students are truly the GOAT of science. A lot of scientific research is limited by what kinds of research can produce results that might be profitable for businesses, including the journals that publish that research in the first place. But grad students? They're not trying to make money for anyone, they're trying to prove themselves as scientists before entering the professional world. The only thing a master's or doctorate thesis is supposed to do is prove to your university that you have mastered your craft and are capable of producing research that meets the standards of the scientific community. The only job that a graduate student has when producing that thesis is to do good research that has never been done before. They're just about the only scientists whose sole prerogative is to look where no one else has looked to answer questions that no one else has, possibly because no one else has even asked them yet, and to compile their results, whatever they are, for the pure sake of knowledge itself.

I'm not a scientist, I'm just someone who does scientific research in my free time because I'm deranged enough to think it's genuinely fun, and because a lot of the art I do is scientifically informed. But because I'm doing this research for art rather than a more "practical" application, a lot of the times the reasons why I want to know something are completely different from the reasons why these topics are actually studied. I don't want to know how to create synthetic equivalents of Feline Facial Pheromone F3, whose function we already know, in order to reduce stress and prevent undesirable behavior in pet cats in new homes and vet clinics, I want an analysis of the components that make up Feline Facial Pheromones F1 and F5, whose functions we don't know, in order to start building hypotheses about what those functions might be, so that I can figure out how catgirls would perceive these pheromones and theorize how they might talk about them in their native languages. But nobody's gonna pay me to do that, are they?

And let me tell you, sometimes the only people who seem interested in the kinds of bizarre and esoteric questions that an artist like me will have are grad students publishing theses. I still haven't found anyone trying to figure out what FFP F1 or F5 are used for, but I have found:

A full, comprehensive description of the complete phonology and grammar of the Lushootseed language and its dialects, spoken by several Coast Salish tribes of the Puget Sound region, published by Ted Kye in 2023 for his doctoral thesis at the University of Washington. Lushootseed is the source of many words from the region, including hugely important place names like Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Snohomish, Sammamish, Duwamish, Mukilteo, Shilshole, and of course, Seattle, but the language itself is extinct, with its last native speaker, Vi Hilbert, dying in 2008. There are, however, efforts to revive the language, and that would be significantly more difficult without Ted Kye's work. I think we can all see why this kind of thing is valuable.

And, this second one is a bit more esoteric but hear me out:

The discovery that a popular ornamental aquarium fish might actually have been sequentially hermaphroditic this whole time, which was practically a footnote in a 2016 thesis by Lia Gomes and Silva Henriques from the University of Porto, in Portugal. The fish in question is the red-tailed shark, Epalzeorhynchos bicolor, which is not an actual shark, but a member of the carp family that just happens to look like a shark, and two very important things to note about it are that it is critically endangered in the wild, and in fact was thought to be totally extinct in the wild until one was found in 2014, and that they are also practically impossible to breed in captivity. The primary threat to the species is considered to be habitat destruction. The quite substantial supply of this species in the pet trade today all come from fish farms in Southeast Asia, which use hormones to induce reproduction in the species, through processes that are kept as trade secrets and are essentially unknown to the scientific community. So, we have literally no idea how this fish breeds, which means that hobbyists can't breed it themselves, and scientists don't know what conditions they even need in order to breed in the wild. This one paper, written by students in Portugal who attempted to induce gonadal maturation in the species using hormone injections, is perhaps one of the only clues we have on the path to saving this species, and it hints at a conclusion that could have HUGE implications for the husbandry, captive breeding, and survival in the wild of the red-tailed shark: all of the individuals that were dissected without having undergone hormone injections were immature females, and immature males only started appearing in groups that had been injected, suggesting that all individuals of the species might start out as females, and then at some point in their development, certain individuals, for unknown reasons, may develop into males instead, making them sequential hermaphrodites. This isn't unknown in fish (clownfish do something similar, except they all start out as males and become female when they achieve dominance in their social group), but it was completely unexpected in this species, and could go a long way in starting to explain the difficulties with breeding them and potentially be a step on the path to learning how to breed them in captivity, as well as saving them in the wild.

Unfortunately, in the latter case, I wasn't able to find any other published work by either of the listed authors, and no one else seems to have repeated the experiment. This is a real shame, because the results of the experiments, while very intriguing, weren't conclusive; they had a fairly low sample size, and would need to be confirmed by further research. But there's no indication of that research being done, and I might be the only one other than the university's board of reviewers who's even read the thing.

All this is to say, fish testicles are interesting and I'm begging someone to do more research on them, please.

[sopastro444]

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞'𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲

Paid readings here

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According to derivative Astrology, this works because the 7th house shows your future spouse, and the 10th house shows someone’s career. If you count ten houses starting from the 7th, you land on the 4th house. That’s why your 4th house can describe your future partner’s job and reputation.

Aries in the 4th House:

Your future spouse is likely a self-starter, someone who takes bold risks and thrives in competitive environments. They're known for their leadership, directness, and ability to initiate projects.

Careers may involve action, leadership, or danger: entrepreneurship, the military, emergency services, sports, surgery, or tech start-ups.

They may have a reputation for being brave, intense, or impulsive.

Taurus in the 4th House:

Your future spouse values security, consistency, and luxury. They likely work in a field that allows them to build wealth slowly and steadily. Stability is their strength.

Careers may include finance, banking, luxury goods, real estate, design, art, or hospitality.

They may be known for their patience, reliability, and refined taste.

Gemini in the 4th House:

Your spouse is quick-thinking, curious, and versatile. Their work likely involves communication, writing, multitasking, or networking.

They may work in media, journalism, education, tech, marketing, publishing, or sales.

They are known for being witty, social, and mentally agile, with a constantly evolving career.

Cancer in the 4th House:

Your spouse may have a nurturing, protective, and intuitive energy. Their career is often connected to care, emotions, and home-related matters.

They may work in counseling, medicine, education, childcare, food, social work, or real estate.

They’re seen as compassionate, private, and emotionally intelligent, but may have public mood shifts or protectiveness over their career.

Leo in the 4th House:

Your spouse is likely charismatic, confident, and drawn to creative or high-profile careers. They want to be admired and make a bold statement in their profession.

Careers may include entertainment, fashion, performance, leadership, branding, or entrepreneurship.

They’re known for their presence, ambition, and desire for recognition.

Virgo in the 4th House:

Your future spouse is precise, practical, and hardworking. Their career is focused on service, healing, or intellectual analysis.

They may be in healthcare, education, editing, science, research, tech, or administration.

They are perceived as reliable, intelligent, and reserved, with a need to perfect everything they do.

Libra in the 4th House:

Your spouse may be elegant, diplomatic, and image-conscious. Their career could center around beauty, harmony, justice, or social balance.

Potential careers: law, design, art, fashion, mediation, event planning, or public relations.

They are known for charm, grace, and the ability to maintain peace and aesthetics in any environment.

Scorpio in the 4th House:

Your spouse is intense, private, and powerful. Their career likely involves transformation, crisis, or depth psychology.

They may work in finance, therapy, investigation, psychology, forensics, or energy work.

They are known for mystery, depth, and emotional control in their professional life. A powerful but often hidden presence.

Sagittarius in the 4th House:

Your future spouse is optimistic, adventurous, and driven by truth and freedom. Their career likely involves travel, philosophy, teaching, or exploration.

They may be educators, travelers, authors, spiritual leaders, philosophers, or involved in international work.

They're seen as wise, inspiring, and sometimes restless or idealistic.

Capricorn in the 4th House:

Your spouse is career-focused, disciplined, and ambitious. Their work often revolves around status, authority, structure, or legacy.

They may be executives, politicians, lawyers, architects, surgeons, or corporate leaders.

They’re known as responsible, hard-working, and serious in their public role. They likely mature into success later in life.

Aquarius in the 4th House:

Your future spouse is unconventional, innovative, and forward-thinking. Their career is likely progressive, humanitarian, or tech-oriented.

They may work in science, tech, activism, innovation, astrology, or community work.

They're seen as eccentric, intellectual, and socially aware, often ahead of their time.

Pisces in the 4th House:

Your spouse is dreamy, artistic, or spiritual. Their career may involve healing, creativity, or emotional depth.

Fields may include music, film, art, spirituality, therapy, charity work, or ocean/marine-related fields.

They’re known for their sensitivity, compassion, and mystique. Their path may be fluid or nontraditional.

[skyenish]

Seventeen - Heathers | Scarabia animatic 🐍☀️

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I love thinking about what JamiKali’s dynamic would’ve been if things had gone differently. I feel like both Jamil’s and Kalim’s personalities would really shine in ways we haven’t seen before of them (though maybe later, who knows! There going through a lot of development in the main story so here’s to hoping 🤞)

Ramblings/analysis under the cut

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This song, Seventeen, speaks of a desire to JUST be seventeen years old, to be normal, to not have damage and scars dictate all you are. I found this song very fitting with Jamil and Kalim, because they’re seventeen, but neither had the opportunity to ever just be normal teenagers. They’ve both gone through a lot, they’re “damaged”, but that doesn’t make them wise, or special, or different. They’re still just teenagers, not yet emotionally developed, young, and not capable of carrying so much weight on their shoulders. The line “we don’t choose who lives or dies” I find particularly applies well to Jamil’s whole, ahum, incident, but also in general to Jamil’s desire to be in control of things (which of course stems from his desire to be in control of his own life, so one could argue that he wants to be in control of whether he lives or dies).

Sometimes I feel we tend to forget how young the twst characters are. Even Leona, sitting at 20 years old, I’d consider relatively young, which just makes everything they go through that much sadder. They’re so young, and though there will never really be an age where it’s easy to handle this sort of stuff, as a teenager it’s even harder because life is already so complicated and difficult for them (speaking as if I’m not a teen myself lol).

Kalim in this song/animatic pleads to just be normal, to do normal teenage things, to set aside all the complicated feelings that have been bubbling under the surface for both of them, all the stupid things their lives have thrown at them, and to just be seventeen. Not the Housewarden and Vice-Housewarden, not Master and Servant, not an Asim and a Viper, but just Jamil and Kalim, just two seventeen year old boys.

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Soooo it’s been a month… I promise I’m not dead and I also haven’t lost interest in twst, I’ve just been hyperfixating on other things, plus I’ve been really busy with school. Drawing can be really hard sometimes :(

I kinda pulled a Wiege (Alien Stage) by including some weird AU of some sorts huh! What a fun episode Wiege was, I totally didn’t sob violently! Also!!! The Scarabia manga has FINALLY released and its so cool!!! Well worth the way. The new Yuu is a Gyaru, and she’s so cool! I had my doubts on the artist they chose, but honesty they really delivered, I’m really happy with how the manga looks :)