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Orange-breasted Falcon by Carmel Brest van Kempen

https://www.cpbrestvankempen.com/

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Yamaguchi Kayo - "Cormorants,"

woodblock print, 1963

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I really don't fuck with the idea of "cishet men being there is a sign of a healthy queer community" and the way it gets touted as a litmus test like "oh but cishet men being there is a good sign for all the closeted trans women." Like okay if you're trying to convince a bunch of trans women that your queer community is safe for them I really don't think you should, even implicitly, be saying "oh don't worry, our queer community is totally inclusive of trans women! That's why we've got cishet men here! Y'all are pretty much the same, right?"

Like, a closeted trans woman is probably going to feel more comfortable in a queer community if she sees a bunch of other trans women who are safe and comfortable, innit?

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love tumblr I get to make silly art that the algorithm will deliver to the exact 10 people worldwide who would like it while it also get me to be noticed by amazing epic awesome artists life is good

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Gold and garnet pendant, Anglo-Saxon England, 7th century AD

from The Norwich Castle Museum

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was just informed make a bad comic day exists

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distant past

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if you’re not a little bit selfish, people will eat you alive

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New Banpresto plush and figure prizes for the month of July!

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May Rainbows Over the Marsh - Brett Scheifflee , 2023.

American , b. 1986 -

Oil on canvas , 9 x 12 in.

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👑 The Tyrant and The Assassin 🩸

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Know your insect antennae!

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What Eldes was trying to do in his battle with Michael (theory)

While looking at the teams of various Cipher members, I ended up side-eyeing Eldes quite a bit because his team could be a lot more threatening if his Ninjask did what a Ninjask is supposed to do: Pass speed boosts. Which yes, Eldes' Ninjask does have the correct ability. And in its gen 3 learnset, it gets Swords Dance and Baton Pass via level up and it's at level 45, which is actually the exact level it learns BP (SD at 25). Also it does have Protect in its moveset.

So. Eldes claims that "once we begin, expect no mercy", but he doesn't even have the proper Ninjask set? Interesting.

Considering that he's one of Orre's best Trainers in XD and Cipher Admins tend to have some strategy involved in their battles, I would say that Eldes probably knows how the aforementioned moves work and how this would benefit his team. Hell, Ninjask learning them via level up makes the set foolproof in a way, like all you'd have to do is let your Pokémon learn its moves naturally, no additional help from TMs or breeding needed.

To me, this implies that Eldes altered the moveset. And since he knows what he's doing, he must have done so purposefully.

My theory is that Eldes was lying to Michael when he told him to expect no mercy. In truth, he was... kind of throwing the battle. Not completely of course, he still had to follow Greevil's orders and he wanted to make sure that Michael is strong enough to have a chance of winning against Greevil. However, Eldes' behavior and doubts about Cipher makes it clear that he was at a point where he wanted his father to lose. He knew that Michael winning was the only outcome that would finally give him a way out.

What makes this even more interesting is that Eldes tells Michael in the Orre Colosseum, "This time, let's battle fair and square!". Now, this could be referring to several things: The fact that Eldes was using several Shadow Pokémon, the general circumstances of their first battle... or a subtle admission to what is outlined above.