chickenleafs-world

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Friendly reminder that a couple weeks ago Trump signed an executive order calling for increased logging even at the expense of endangered species, calling on the Endangered Species Commission, aka “God Squad”, to get around environmental regulations! There’s also a plan to use the God Squad to help expand oil production in federal land.

The Endangered Species Act is a large part of why we have a healthy Bald Eagle population today. There’s something strangely poetic about the president of the United States endangering Bald Eagles for the sake of business interests.

Anyways, reminder to people in the US to vote during midterms. The Dems may suck but they will not suck as much as this will. Bald Eagles going the way of the rest of the dinos isn’t a good sign for the country, and minimizing harm is important on its own.

If you want to make a difference outside of voting (something I recommend to everyone) try looking for environmental groups in your local area. Even if there’s nothing you can do on the nation wide scale, they can get you started on local change. Figure out local species you can help. Donate to environmental lobbyists to try to get more environmental protections in law. Be annoying to your politicians, send emails and social media posts and letters.

Also, remember, if you feel so angry you can’t handle writing a letter or meeting an org, it’s always helpful to take out your anger on the invasive species in your area. It won’t change the destructive path of the Trump admin or get rid of the species, but it’ll be a little. Surviving while doing a little is a lot right now.

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Broke (bigots) keeping losing: getting upset and literally needing to take breathers where you think about owning people in arguments because you’re upset about an aspect of X-Men that’s always been there. Pretending to not get how many explicit allegories the series has always made towards ethnic, gender, and sexual minorities, then getting pissy when they’re allowed to be explicit. Wanting literally no new interpretations new X-Men writers because you like your nostalgia bubble too much. Literally being the bad guys of X-men.

Woke (me) very sexy and always winning: getting upset and literally needing to take breathers where you think about owning people in arguments because you’re upset about an aspect of X-Men that’s always been there. I mean really, even though we aren’t always supposed to agree with it, sometimes we are. I CANNOT stand idle while they blatantly misunderstand evolution. Even the X-Men calling themselves “not human” when they’re literally calling their species “homo superior” like bitch being in genus homo makes you human by definition! Not that it’s a very good name for a species, that doesn’t follow normal rules of the nomenclature and sounds goofy! Not that it even needs to be named at all because MUTANTS ARE NOT A SPECIES. There is no set of morphological characteristics uniting all mutants, nor are they all related, which is important when designating a new species because genetic relatedness is the throughline of evolution. We literally have separations between crabs and species close to crabs that evolved from different populations because even though they’re similar the genetic relatedness isn’t there. Like many mutants are probably genetically closer to several non-mutants than any other mutants. Namely, their parents. Everyone has some unique mutations but your parents and siblings will always be the most related to you genetically. Like non-mutants can’t even make “homo superior” extinct because they aren’t a discrete species genetically, meaning literally any person can give birth to a new mutant. Evolution is slow genetic and morphologic change over geologic time, it isn’t one day you’re a wolf and the next day you give birth to a German shepherd. I don’t know how none of the X-Men or mutant rights activists (which includes many scientists!!!) have talked to the dumb fuck pop science spreaders and bigoted scientists about how that’s literally not how evolution works. I know they’re the bad guys but that makes it so much more annoying when they let it slide even when they make claims debunkabke without thinking mutants are Homo sapiens. Bro the populace at large started calling you mutants even though literally every person has several mutations that their predecessors didn’t have, you bitches are all mutants. And bro even if you weren’t, you’re letting people think it’s some sort of “next step” in evolution when that style of “march of progress” evolution has never been true. There is no “more evolved” we’re all equally evolved because evolution isn’t a process with an end point we’re stepping towards. Crabs are just as evolved as we are, but at least they’ve gone through the trials of evolving twice. But also even if it were somehow a “next step” or a new species you could at least inform the public that that doesn’t, in fact, mean Homo sapiens stop existing. We still have wolves even though dogs evolved from them. Speciation doesn’t necessitate the extinction of the population that species is derived from. Magneto (and in some cases the X-Men) are playing into the bigots’ hands by accepting that they aren’t human, and they’re recreating ableism again by implying some people can be genetically inferior or that not being able to do something cool and special and exceptional enough makes you different and less evolved. And another thing-

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I need to talk more about Chronos and Melinoe cause they really do have a fun dynamic like (Spoilers for last section of the main route of the game):

Chronos managed to bar Mel's authority to open the final door to the House. Melinoe instead crawls through the gutter. He complains that none of the family has class. He does not fix the gutter entrance.

The image of Melinoe popping out from the gutter yelling "Chronos" has to a hilarious image I admire Chronos's ability to not burst out laughing at the spot.

Chronos or a projection of him anyway, meets Melinoe out in front of Erebus almost every run. I thought Melinoe knew it was him the first time, cause she tells him to get lost immediately. I was wrong apparently, as it's the second time when she makes the connection. Turns out, when meeting a random old guy out in the woods Mel's first instinct is to tell them to fuck off.

One such interaction outside of Erebus Chronos goads Melinoe and health bar appears. If you attack him, he laughs and leaves.

The first time Melinoe defeats Chronos he threatens to never allow her to see her family ever again. Melinoe's like "my family? Whatever you're talking about I don't care. I don't know them. I do know you dying right now. Last words?" It's such a power move towards a guy with some leverage over you, to not let him know your weakness. And it works.

If Mel loses to Eris Chronos shows up clowning on her in a mirage, in some cases talking to Hades about it.

The condescending way Chronos is when you pause the game and he forcefully unpauses it during their fight. He talks down to her like a child a lot but this is most notable.

I haven't done it but if you get the Aspect of Thanatos on the axe he points it out how he and Mel are matching weapons with scythes.

Anyways all of this is so funny.

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Due to recent events (other people posting) I am having Thoughts about the new Chaos design.

Now, I love me classic Chaos Hades. I am a certified Monsterfucker after all. It’s the lack of conformity to what beings “should” look like. It’s the many in the one. It’s the whole biblically accurate angel vibes of it all. The Gender of it all. They were an icon.

But the new Chaos design is also such a banger. Sure, on first glance it’s more “congruent” or “rational” than the original, but it has its own strengths. The Gender of it all, for one. But the severed head of their old design? Haunting. The fetus rising up from it? Iconic. There’s something so Chaos about holding their own birth and death in their hands as they ponder the state of their creation. And even their “normal” suit is so interesting because like. It’s so incongruent from other gods in the game. Out of time, in a way. A much more modern suit than the Greek attire of others. And it’s giving so many questions when you realize the resemblance to the Furies of the first game. Will they be linked in the plot? Is there a thematic link we’ll see? I can’t wait to find out.

I also just want to talk about how the designs can exist simultaneously. Not just in the sense of “the other one already exists and continues to exist in the old game and fanart” but also in the sense of Chaos themselves. They are incredibly fluid, they can change however they please. And we can always put our own headcanons to them and their myriad of forms that they would no doubt love.

For example. The myriad of Chaos’s forms exist simultaneously yet one at a time, manifesting in the mind’s eye of whoever perceives them, so as not to overwhelm their minds with the vastness of Chaos and origin. Because they are being filtered through the viewer’s perspective to dodge the Horrors, their appearance somewhat matches that person’s perspective and expectations. We’ve simply only seen two because we’ve only played as two pov characters interacting with them.

Just think of Zagreus. He’s alone and confused. So many people have kept him in the dark so long. The only stories he’s heard of Chaos are from Nyx, who has known them since primordial times and probably has the most complete view of them possible for beings that aren’t them. He has heard of the primordial horror and incomprehensible nature of Chaos. He meets Chaos as he is encountering the confusing world of Olympian gods and their family drama. And then there’s his own free spirited view. So of course, in this turmoil, with these expectations, his view of Chaos is a scrambled multitude. That’s him and his inner turmoil and his inner lack of concerns for the supposed-tos of being divine.

Melinoe on the other hand, is practiced in magics. She is equals with titanesses. The macabre is normal for her. The politics of the gods, from the mouths of Artemis and Hermes and then through experience, are her everyday. She doesn’t know everything, as she is well aware, but she is curious and ordered in nature. Her perceptions of Chaos were likely shaped by Hecate and the children of Nyx around her, many of whom seem to show deference to older and more powerful deities. She is altogether more formal than Zag, cordial with everyone and assuming the best in them and missing the joke more than joking herself. She knows her place as princess, student, and guest, and acts accordingly. Of course that more ordered person, who sees Chaos as one to be respected and deferred to for wisdom, who is an unknown to be known, would see a manifestation of Chaos in a slick business suit and a comprehensible form. No wonder Chaos seems to find Melinoe boring in comparison, to Chaos itself that perception must seem very flawed.

What will you see, when you gaze into the abyss and it offers you silly little deals and asks you philosophical questions before calling you boring and bouncing?

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Due to recent events! I think we should blow up the IPC.

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Cannot stress enough how sad I am that Boothill was made so pasty, because he’s so interesting in every aspect of his story and it would be better if some of those bits were more visible. They made his story to deliberately parallel America’s history with Native Americans, and he’s a cowboy which is a job that had mainly black and indigenous people in its heyday. It feels hollow to make the point of his story that colonialism and racism are bad, only to fall in line with those structures to whitewash him. Sure, it’s physically possible for Native Americans to pass that well (one of my closest native friends is pasty with blond hair and blue eyes) but it’s not typical, and we don’t have enough dark skinned rep in general. It comes off as lazy more than exploring the life of a mixed/passing character.

And I know it’s to be expected with Hoyo’s continued disregard for poc, but it doesn’t make it less frustrating every time they write a character to be poc then just. Don’t make the poc. HSR hasn’t added another dark skinned playable character since release and already has issues with roma representation, HI3 has… everything with Carole, and Genshin went through a whole saga of mostly pale people in the Middle East/Africa equivalent.

Please Hoyo I am begging you to for once let your bottom line be risked for poc rep the same way you’ve tried to with queer rep. If you can sneak lesbians and femboys in after being used as an example of what not to do by government censors, you can make Boothill at least a little tan. Being a Chinese company doesn’t suddenly let you off on the bear minimum. It feels like they wanna have their cake and eat it by using other cultures and histories without acknowledging the people who’s cultures and histories they are.

This isn’t coming from a hater. This is coming from a disappointed Hoyo player who has slowly come across all the ways Hoyo has fucked up in this department and who is getting tired of it. I want them to do better (even if I know they probably won’t) before I (and many other players) can no longer justify supporting them as players.

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I TOTALLY FORGOT TO POST HIM HERE !!! After almost 3 weeks, Sandnyan on a motorcycle is done and it was so worth it! I had so much fun animating this whole project and it turned out so much better than I imagined. I got to mix two of my fav GitM AUs in the process as well and that was such a blast!!!!! The char belongs to @/venomous-qwille on here though, he is not mine!

Sadly though because the file is so big you guys don’t get the full quality version !! Some of the background is fucked Ik due to this sadly as well but I hope it’s enjoyable nonetheless ^_^

Also a coatless ver!!

Anyways scurrying back into the depths teehee

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YIIIPPEEEEE neat fellows

i love them

(fool and misuta fromm ghost in the machine by @venomous-qwille)

kaBOOM

uncolored version too because why not :-0

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“Misuta, this behavior is most unbecoming~” - GITM: Three of Pentacles

IT'S FINALLY DONE HOLY SHIT!! I really hope you guys like it! Details under the cut!

@venomous-qwille *bows* this was one of my favorite scenes so far in the fic!! Can't wait for more bots to finally show up I HAVE A MIGHTY NEED FOR NOVA AND SOMBRA!

Uh, also, the term 'Comely Thespian' lives in my head rent-free now and pokes me in the ganglia every few hours 👀 I SEE YOU FOOL!

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i just couldnt stop thinking about this

ghost in the machine belongs to @venomous-qwille :D

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If Nerdy Prudes Must Die got a muppet adaption I think Max should be the only human because it would be so funny to see a guy enact terrible violence on a bunch of puppets like the level of cartoon violence you could get to would be insane and also it would make Literal Monster really funny bc not only is Max acting like a monster, but beside the rest of the cast, who are all muppets, he'd kind of look like a monster as well

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Man, don’t even assume that it’s someone who doesn’t know the myth. Me and my dad did the same thing when we saw it live and we’ve been into Hadestown (and for me Greek myths generally) for forever. That shit just wrecks you sometimes.

Got to see Hadestown for the first time ever today (and it was amazing oh my god I had no idea what I was missing) and I'd just like to give a shout out to the poor soul in the audience who had clearly never heard the myth of Orpheus before, because when Orpheus turned around at the end the audience was dead silent except for this one very audible gasp of "no!" from somewhere in the crowd. And after Euridyce was gone and Orpheus dropped to his knees in grief, all anybody --cast, audience, the uncaring gods, etc -- could hear was muffled weeping from the same person

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Rewatching the original animated X-men series in preparation for 97, so of course I’ve also been seeing a lot of X-men posts. And, as always, I have strong opinions on what people on the internet say. Most of the time those opinions are “how did these people read/watch X-men growing up and not get that they’re the villains” because people are being bigots and are upset that their favorite heroes aren’t. But sometimes I’m stuck being frustratingly close to agreeing and my strong opinions are much harder to voice. In part because you don’t want to walk into the Discourse Landmine, but also in part because there’s so much to go over on the take.

Case in point: the “Magneto is right, Xavier is wrong” take, where my main problem with people is more the lack of nuance than the base take. And I know most of the people saying it are also doing it in part as a joke and get the nuance is there, but it still irks me.

Let’s be clear, in general, Magneto is not right, but he isn’t wrong either. Xavier isn’t wrong, but he isn’t right either. Obviously it’s partly dependent on whoever is writing at the moment, but also depending on which individual take of Magneto’s or Xavier’s you’re talking about. Yes, sometimes Xavier is frustratingly, harmfully liberal. Yes, sometimes Erik is doing the best possible for mutant well being. But there’s a lot of wiggle room with individual portrayals, and I think Xavier deserves justice for it. I’m not saying Magneto is just a villain, Stan Lee himself didn’t see him as such, but depending on the writers he can certainly be wrong.

Xavier is wrong when he focuses just on mutants with “useful” powers or conventionally attractive and human looks. He’s wrong when he puts the safety of bigots over the safety of the mutants they’re oppressing. He’s wrong when his only way of helping mutants is through the system. He’s wrong when he’s sending the X-men out to fight mutants more than bigots. He’s wrong when he hides he’s a mutant to avoid the stigma, even when the reveal would help solidarity and public trust. He’s wrong a lot.

But Xavier is right when he focuses on teaching mutants to love themselves and teaches them to control their powers and use them for good. He’s right when he says mutants and non-mutants can live in harmony. He’s right when he send the X-men out to destroy government/private property that’s being used to hurt mutants. He’s right when he takes out all his students, “attractive” or not, to speak up for mutant rights. He’s right when he sends the X-men to break innocent mutants out of prison/jail/unlawful containment. He’s right when he opens his institute to all mutants, so they have a safe place to go to. He’s right when he gives X-men choice and training for hard experiences, be it the choice to hide their powers or be open with them, to break out of jail/avoid arrest, or wait and go through an unfair trial for the sake of mutant visibility and legal precedent. He’s right when he finds places like the institute around the world. He’s right when he himself is on good terms with Magneto and works with him when it’s necessary for mutant good.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of writers put Professor X as a filthy liberal. It sucks. Focuses on performative acts, letting fascists take ground for the sake of “civility,” and putting minorities at risk for the sake of optics, those are all bad. But sometimes liberal acts can be tools in the tool box. Voting isn’t gonna solve shit, but it can make it go downhill slower. Putting gay people in media isn’t going to end homophobia, but it will normalize gay people. Testifying before Congress for mutant rights might not be the flashiest or most effective way to get mutants’ rights, but it is a way to advance public opinion and slow anti-mutant laws. Just that isn’t good enough to beat the liberal accusations, but combined with the actions of some incarnations it genuinely changes their context. We can’t ignore all the times that Xavier has actively sent the X-men out to break laws and destroy government property for the sake of mutant well being. As much as we joke about the X-men being liberals, they usually aren’t afraid to break laws, break property, and raise hell for the sake of their people. And don’t forget that lot’s of “peaceful” acts of protest still cause disruption and still make a difference, even when it seems liberal on the surface, and can be organized by genuinely leftist people. Lots of Professor X’s portrayals could be genuinely leftist.

Likewise, Magneto is right a lot. He’s right when he says mutants shouldn’t be forced to stay in places where they’re being violently persecuted. He’s right when he advocates mutants fight back when bigots attack instead of just taking it. He’s right when he takes in mutants despite how palatable or useful they are. He’s right to actively fight fascists rising to exterminate his people. He’s right when he gives no fucks about the law when it comes to protecting minorities. He’s right when he creates a safe haven for mutants.

But boy, Magneto is also wrong a lot. He’s wrong when he says mutants and non-mutants can’t live together. He’s wrong when he says non-mutants are inferior. He’s wrong when he gets upset at mutants for wanting to live in harmony with humans. He’s wrong when he invalidates mutants who are upset with where being a mutant has gotten them, without helping them through the complicated feelings it brings. He’s wrong when he frames the X-men, a fellow mutant group, for his crimes. He’s wrong when he says mutants should exterminate non-mutants. He’s wrong when he thinks a mutant ethnostate is the end-all-be-all of mutant rights.

Erik is the kind of antagonist you get. He’s right on a lot of things. He has a lot of emotional appeal. As a (let’s be honest, gay) Jewish holocaust survivor, you know he’s coming from experience with his tactics. He genuinely doesn’t hate Xavier in most incarnations. But that doesn’t mean that in the incarnations where he literally calls for genocide, he should be let off the hook. Violence and resistance are important to most leftists movements, or even just mildly progressive ones. Be it a civil war to end US slavery, the riots at Stonewall, slave rebellions, or any number of revolutionary wars, sometimes active violence is necessary to stop the passive violence that minorities go through while oppressed. At the same time, it’s a fundamentally leftist ideal to believe in rehabilitation and the importance of people changing. And it’s also important to remember that genocide is bad no matter who’s doing it. Letting the genocidal versions of Magneto off the hook because it was “for mutants” is the same logic that lets Israel get away with how it treats Palestine.

I know that’s a lot of rambling to say something a lot of people already know, but as much as I love the “magneto was right” memes and the posts making fun of liberal X-men, I don’t want the genuinely leftists parts of the X-men to go unappreciated, nor the genuinely harmful parts of Magneto’s ideology excused.

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more silver sebek angst

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Reblog for larger sample size whatever

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Finally have the mental fortitude to jump into whatever the hell Beast: the Primordial has going on. Pray for me. Depending on how insane the book makes me I might spitball some of my own ideas to reflavor, since I’m already painfully aware of the… shortcomings there, but I also see potential for the idea when not written be a serial abuser. Wish me luck.

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as much as the concept of Jesus being a fairly normal lad has its charms, im personally very intrigued by the idea of him being just… extremely weird. not even in a mystical sense, just…….staggeringly BIZZARRE. 

you go to the well to get some water, and here’s Miriam’s boy, staring at the sky, completely still. his expression is unreadable. you hazard a hello and ask how he’s doing, and he slowly, unblinkingly, lowers his gaze on you (he’s 8 and is missing his frontal teeth, not that this is making you any less uncomfortable) and says “I cannot speak of the state of my being, Nathan son of Saul, my brother, but rejoice for the water you shall take today will be as pure as the soul of the children of Heaven”

…you start sweating