#( rallying the troops :: plot call. )

[semi-sketchy]

For an update (mostly) meant to flesh out the Ancients/The End, they still seem not all that memorable or compelling from what little I've seen. They're just as much as plot devices masquerading as (bland) characters as Sage still is. The plot EXPECTS me to care, but I just cannot because the lore/exposition in this game is soooo dull when it's not wholly confusing. And I gotta ask, is any of it gonna matter in future games? Does anyone really approve of this shite whilst still bemoaning how unnecessarily convoluted Shadow's backstory was? That for a supposed big threat, it all still took place on some small-scale remote islands? This stuff should begging for a retcon. Guess that'll be up to me. Hint: Fairy dust made it all seem real to both the heroes and Eggman. And the Kocos are Accidental Antagonists to have put them through all of it because they don't remember their true history on the islands...

The question of which ending is canon is up for debate, but personally I think this one is going to cause more problems long-term. I literally started yelling at the side story when Sage said the Ancients had satellites that are still functional.

Tens of thousands of years old, still orbiting, functional, and NO ONE HAS NOTICED THEM? This is the world that had a SPACE COLONY 50 YEARS AGO and they NEVER asked what these old satellites were?? Like man, if we discovered ancient satellites circling our planet, there would be some paranormal podcasts talking about this "unknown" and obscure fact, but here no one has noticed?

Also extremely disappointed they did nothing to expand on The End. If anything, this is regression from base game because it's missing that pretentious speech. I wanted to know WHY this consumer of worlds was specifically chasing the Ancients. If it's just supposed to be symbolic, then that was completely lost on me.

I'm with you on the not being able to care part. I'm not bonded to these characters and the short cutscenes around the trials doesn't change anything about the pilots. It's just "WE DIED TO CONTAIN THIS THING AND YOU SET IT FREE-- oh you passed my brute strength trial. K guess you're a good guy." Sonic gets some sass with the King Koco, but it also feels...off. It's not his normal disrespect towards authority.

To go on another tangent, the opening cutscene bothers me.

Sonic isn't the person to give a "rally the troops" speech. Although, how this scene was written made that direction the ONLY way it could've gone.

I think of the Last Story cutscene from Heroes. Sonic just listens.

When he says he'll fight Metal Overlord, it's Tails and Knuckles that pop up to say "we're going to help you!" and Shadow that says they'll buy them time.

Sonic doesn't ask anything from anybody, he just graciously accepts their help. Compare how this was written to sticking Sonic in a place where he's the one who has to explain what's going on and tell others what he needs.

It's a case where the plot moves the characters and not the characters moving the plot, which is the perfect storm for OOC moments. That is exactly what happened with Eggman when they decided Sage was a good idea.

Sage just regurgitates random info about rocks and other stuff no one asked about, like there was ONE LINE where she sounded kinda different which made me think it would've been so good if Sage was more like GLaDOS. I want her to have more sick burns. But no, innocent child because Eggman "needs" a daughter and Sonic has to have a reason to help the girl that's been trying to kill him the whole game.

I don't understand how anyone can call this "peak" because it's just so self-important and straight-faced serious, it's at the point of monotony. It breaks what I like about these characters to wrap them up in a "serious story" blanket whilst failing to properly build up the threat.

I hope they reevaluate their choices and this isn't really the standard moving forward because it's so stupid it hurts. And that's just the story/lore.

[wisteria-lodge]

badger primary + unBurning lion secondary (badger secondary model)

Hi, Wisteria!! I remember reading that you're a teacher, so I hope that the school year is going well! If you have time (I know your inbox is packed), I'd love some input on what my sorting might be. I can convince myself of anything -- most days, I'm certain I'm a double badger, but there are times when I think I could be an idealist with a badger-flavored system, or even a snake that *wants* to be a badger.

Childhood experiences that come to mind... I tended to be the ringleader of the neighborhood kids. 

Classically, this points me at Lion secondary (who naturally build armies) or Badger secondary (who naturally build communities.) 

I came up with the games, made sure people were included, and organized people (proudest kindergarten moment: getting my whole class to join hands and yell "POWER RANGERS, MYSTIC FORCE!"). When a neighbor girl broke her ankle, I went door to door, rallying the troops so we could all visit and comfort her. 

You do use the metaphor of an army... but all the examples are so soft and Badgery... which isn’t to say that Badger secondaries have to be soft... 

I’m thinking about that “[I] made sure people were included” part though. Because that’s getting into values, Badger primary values. I’m wondering if you might not be a Badger Lion, actually. 

I was also possessive of my friends, I'd get jealous when they'd talk about friends from school or feel incredibly hurt if I wasn't invited to something. 

Oh this is interesting. Because this sounds like an immature Badger primary who doesn’t want to even be reminded of groups they’re not part of. I wonder if you were aware of a very clear in group/out group when you were younger. And if you didn’t... Snake with a huge inner circle is also a possibility.

I was protective of my loved ones and stood up to bullies on their behalf. 

I’m liking Lion secondary for you. And Loyalist primary. 

I grew out of the jealousy as I got older, learning that I couldn't be everything to everyone and that I needed more than one best friend, so my friends could have other besties too. 

Maybe Snake primary? With this focus on BEST friends... which young Snakes do care a LOT about...

I'm not sure exactly when it started, but there came a point when I just... withdrew. I stopped inviting people over, stopped playing at recess. It was a lonely time, but I found solace in books and movies. Harry, Ron, and Hermione; Percy, Annabeth, and Grover; The Avengers; Han Solo and Princess Leia... they became my best friends. I'd create elaborate stories in which I became part of their world. In these stories, some higher power would send me to a fictional world, in which I already knew the plot and could help the main characters avoid pitfalls and save people from their scripted deaths. I also had healing powers, where I could touch someone and take all their pain (physical or emotional) on myself. 

Hmm. Now this is a very Badger secondary fantasy, I think, with that focus on literally absorbing other’s pain and being able to FIX it (it’s very relatable, is what it is.) Which makes me think that your “withdrawal” from life... could probably be described as your Lion secondary burning. And then maybe you’re putting a Badger secondary model over the top to keep functioning? It happens. 

This retreat into fictional worlds was sparked, I think, by moving schools and problems at home. 

This would be really, really hard on a Loyalist. 

My parents had a difficult marriage, and I took it on myself to be my mom's confidant and best friend. I was also my sibling's caregiver (they have some disabilities) and took my responsibilities toward them very seriously. 

Yeah, that is some serious, heavy Badger secondary. And I’m going to say it’s probably a model, because you talk about as though it’s this external thing - “I took it upon myself” “responsibilities.” 

My dad was a stifling presence-- everything had to be his way. He'd call himself "the general" and say that our job wasn't to ask questions: when he said jump, we'd say "how high?" Expressing my thoughts to him never mattered, so I'd just squash them. 

That’s brutal. That would be especially brutal on a young Lion secondary, and I would not be surprised if that contributed to your Lion secondary Burning. 

My solace in all of this was my mom, she knew exactly how it felt to be dominated by him and we'd often hold hands through his tirades, comforting each other through it. They finally got divorced when I was in high school. 

It is not - and it was not - your responsibility to be your Mom’s confidant, best friend, and emotional support. It’s just simply not a job that you actually had the ability to do, especially starting (it sounds like) in MIDDLE school. But it’s something that you tried to do, using a Badger secondary skillset. I’ve been there.

For years, my biggest fear had been that I'd have to choose between them. 

THE loyalist primary dilemma. 

But my dad ended up making that choice for me -- his behaviors spiraled out of control, and I had to run away from him. 

You throw that in so casually, but that’s a HUGE thing. And sure, if the circumstances were extreme enough, that could have been any secondary... but all things being equal that’s sounding like a Lion secondary solution. 

As time passed, truths about his past came to light. My mom and I found out about years of abuse that he'd heaped upon other women in his life. With those discoveries, I decided to cut him out of my life. It wasn't necessarily because it was the "right" or "moral" thing, I still feel guilty about it sometimes, but it was because of the pain he'd inflicted on other people. I couldn't reconcile his love for me with how he treated other people in my life, with how he viewed the world. 

Oh. OH. Badger Lion. Badger Lion ALL THE WAY. All that focus on communities? And I bet, in that moment, it didn’t feel like the ‘right’ or ‘moral’ thing because it felt like the ONLY thing you COULD do. 

I spent several months in a foreign country on a service mission. Though I'd always dreamed of other worlds, being so far from home hurt badly. I was constantly worried about my mom and sibling. Our dog died while I was gone, and that grief was made so much worse by the separation. I wanted to be there for them, but we were thousands of miles apart. 

Badger primary. They don’t like being separated from their people. 

A lot of aspects of mission life were difficult for me -- there was pressure to achieve certain numbers and statistics rather than truly ministering to living, breathing people. 

Oh I bet both your Badger primary AND Lion secondary HATED that.

My goal was just to provide service and love, which didn't always coincide with those in authority. 

That classic Lion secondary always has a bit of a rebel streak. Always has a tendency to butt up against those in authority, which we are seeing here with the mission administration (and previously, with your father.)

More random thoughts/details: I have a bleeding heart for animals and want to be a vegetarian (can't at home, so it'll have to be when I move out). 

Badger primary. 

I am incredibly indecisive and find it so hard to trust myself-- choosing a major has been a nightmare.

Burnt lion secondary. (It does seem like it’s getting better though.) 

My past experience predicts that if someone likes me, just wait: they'll find out the truth somehow, that I've fooled them, that I'm not who they think I am, and then they'll leave me. 

I mean, objectively you’ve had groups of fantastic friends, who adored you, and who you had to move away from. What this seems (apart from some just general human being abandonment issues) is the angst of a burnt Lion secondary who thinks that they have to layer on the Badger REAL thick in order to be acceptable and liked. Lion secondaries are intense, they are, and sometimes they do rub some people the wrong way. (And inspire intense loyalty in others.) 

Happiness, for me, would look like having a comfortable and happy home, taking care of the people I love, writing a book, contributing to the community, and just living a peaceful, quiet life. I just want to love, be loved, heal people, bring peace…

A beautiful Badger primary fantasy. 

What do you think? I feel a Badger secondary in there, and probably a charred primary. Loyalist? Idealist? Thanks for your time and patience, if you have any follow-up questions, I'll do my best to answer them. -- Rih

Your primary seems in really good shape. I wouldn’t worry about that at all. All the angst is coming from your methods - there’s a Lion secondary that you don’t really trust in there, and there’s a Badger model that you like, sometimes, but is probably being overused these days. Honestly, service missions are built on the backs of Badger secondaries, and the fact that you went on one, and did not gel with the way things were done... honestly gave me a lot of information. 

[iturbide]

If I had to guess, Claude killing people and using violence is kind of inevitable. It’s a series where violence being used to solve the problem is kind of baked into the gameplay. It’s hard to tell a story of careful diplomacy and patient negotiation in between over the top fight scenes. Not saying it is impossible (Verdant Wind), but lightening rarely strikes twice.

And I think that's the really disappointing thing for me. Claude in particular was notable in his presentation regardless of route: no matter who you side with, after the timeskip you're greeted with the fact that the Alliance has managed to stay out of the war for five years owing entirely to Claude's ability to keep the other Great Lords of the Leicester Roundtable arguing with one another rather than mustering troops.

In Crimson Flower the Alliance has control of Myrddin, but has only used it for their own defense; when Edelgard takes it and marches on Derdriu, though Claude rallies his own forces to defend the Alliance, he attempts to keep the loss of life to a minimum, saying outright if Hilda falls that he had ordered her to retreat if things got bad rather than lay down her life, essentially making his stand the last one before passing the Alliance's control over to Edelgard in the desperate hope that his surrender will keep the bloodshed to a minimum.

In Azure Moon, he once again only rallies troops to defend the Alliance, calling in aid from the Kingdom following the successful liberation of Fhirdiad in the hopes that it will keep the Alliance from falling to Imperial control (we won't get into the issues I have with him passing control of the Alliance over to Dimitri in that route because that plot point doesn't make sense and I think was just about having a united Fodlan regardless of route, which is stupid)

His own route of Verdant Wind did its best to defy conventions to the best of its limited ability: he joins the battle at Gronder Field because he can see the troops amassing, and when he sees Dimitri he specifically says that "he doesn't look interested in joining forces with us," because he still wants to avoid conflict as much as possible. He knows that conflict with Edelgard is inevitable and refuses to back down from a fight with her; but he still tries to get through to Dimitri, even though it's a futile attempt. He speaks gravely of the cruelty of war and the lives it takes -- a striking difference from Edelgard, who considers the lives lost to be "necessary sacrifices" for achieving her goals.

The thing is, there isn't a need to show the diplomacy and negotiation. Even Three Houses got around it by glossing over the roundtable in Verdant Wind, having it brought up that they're going at the start of a chapter and then skipping straight ahead to the aftermath: they don't have to show the details, and never have. Given that battles are so often life and death struggles, Claude's insistence on trying to reach out to people just in case he can get through to them, rather than gearing straight up for combat in every engagement, was unique and fascinating: he fights to defend himself and the people who depend on him, but only when there's demonstrably no other way. And in Three Hopes, they could have kept that up: I don't know if they have little dialogues where he banters with foes the way that Three Houses did, but in the case of Shahid -- who, as I understand it, was already defeated and disarmed at the end -- they could have had Claude order that his brother be detained after that failed attack and have him sent back to Almyra. It takes just as much time as having him kill his half-brother. But they don't. And that's what bugs me.

But hey, again, I haven't played the game yet. I'm only going off second-hand info. This is just the product of my tempered expectations.

[lockedfighter]

ˏˋ°• ׂׂૢ་༘࿐            ( plotted !! ) starter call . ♡ @enypneon

༊⋆｡˚                                  the    preparations  were  beginning  to  take  place  .  cloud  and  barret  had  already  formed  their    (  mini  )    alliance  in  rallying  up  the  troops  .  it  had  been  a  while  since  they’d  worked  side  by  side    like  their  days  travelling  .  it  certainly  didn’t  go  off  without  a  hitch  .  seventh  heaven  had  become  the  base  as  per  usual  despite  its  new  location  in  edge  .  vincent  had  been  the  first  to  arrive  .  him  l  e  a  d  i  n  g   their  battles  this  time  around  .  had  been  a  while  since  tifas  last  fight  ;  having  fallen  into  the  mundanities  of  domestic  life  .  ❛  ..  how’re  you  holding  up  ?  ❜

[sarah-dipitous]

Hellsite Nostalgia Tour 2023 Day 255

We Happy Few/The Zygon Inversion

“We Happy Few”

Plot Description: god reveals to Lucifer why he was chosen to bear the Mark. The Winchesters team up with angels, demons, and witches in an attempt to seal away Amara

Would I Survive the First Five Minutes??: No one died

I can’t blame Lucifer for acting similarly to an angst teen and telling everyone in this room “screw you.” Omg literally though!!! “If dad has something to say to me, I’ll hear it from him. Til then I’ll be in my room”

Crowley’s having a hard time rallying the troops after the character assassination he’s undergone in the last few seasons

of COURSE god won’t just apologize to Lucifer 🙄

Who are the Winchesters to facilitate this family therapy session??

*crying in why couldn’t horikoshi have given me a scene like this???*

No. Dean. That’s TERRIBLE advice “and the thing about apologies is you don’t have to mean them. I tell Sam I’m sorry all the time when I’m not…..sorry. Eh? See?”

I’m so team lucifer here. (No but if LITERAL GOD can give a sincere and specific apology to his son who HE favored and then abandoned, WHY CAN’T ENDEAVOR?)

This “getting the team together to defeat Amara” scene is a little hokey but I guess you gotta do it

…if Lucifer accepts god’s apology and they’re square, what are we gonna do for FOUR MORE SEASONS?!

You have god on your side, but do you have ANIME? Because I think you need both

Ah, RIP, Donatello

Why is god flirting with Rowena?! Lmao

Man…truly the way women get treated in this show is atrocious. None of the guys have any scratches but the women

Oh good. A little tit for tat. Amara may have just killed god. So I guess that might be part of my answer to “what do we do for four more seasons?” The Winchesters got tossed around, and it looks like Lucifer got banished out of Cas

Ok…so he’s not dead YET but only because Amara wants to let him watch her destroy all of creation first

“The Zygon Inversion”

Plot Description: with UNIT incapacitated, only the Doctor stands in the way of the Zygons

Day 8 of asking for one self-contained story. I know I won’t get it today, but maybe tomorrow…

Why is this some…alternate universe Clara being called upon??

Oh…she’s doing they from within the pod the Zygons have her in

Osgood telling the Doctor how she’d kill him if she were Zygon Clara BECAUSE she’s such a big fan of his is very funny

Yeah…there’s no way Clara knows what the Osgood Box is. So not only will Zygon Clara have a hard time finding anything in Clara’s mind, given everything in her past, she’ll HAVE to keep Clara alive

Truly feel like this could have been one episode…there’s so much dumb extra stuff

It seems so obvious now that there would be two Osgood boxes…and actually there are two buttons in each box, so you can understand how frustrated Zygon Clara is

Twelve has some really good speeches, and this one trying to stop the war between humans and zygons is no different

Surprise surprise, they stopped the war

[nenekobasu]

what really gets me about isagi calling himself king is not actually in blue lock at all but in as the gods will part 2 

blue lock nel isagi follows the broad atgw 2 plot/theme structure, the kaneshiro to kaneshiro pipeline. atgw 2 king arc starts off strong for its mc, he rallies and inspires his troops and in general does pretty cool things. atgw 2 king arc ends with the mc watching his girlfriend get crushed by a rock

[foodfightnovelization]

Chapter 17: Analysis and Discussion

Chapter 17 begins back in Marketropolis, at the security rally all the Ikes have been forced to attend. Lady X is giving a speech from atop the Brand X building, insisting there are only two kinds of product icon in the world...desirables, and undesirables. She insists the Ikes turn each other in and join Brand X, leading an Ike called Ant Acid to turn in the friendly Kiwi Koala, saying he causes heartburn.

The novelization describes Lieutenant X and General X being with Lady X when this speech happens, but in the movie she's just standing by herself. In addition, in the movie the Brand X Lunchlady is eating a giant hock of ham throughout the entire speech, letting out a disgustingly loud burp at the end and blaming Kiwi Koala for her belching. The Brand X Lunchlady isn't IN the novelization, so here we just have Ant Acid (a background character with no dialogue in the movie) selling out his friend in an attempt to save himself. I once again prefer the novelization's version of events here- the belch in the movie is really unpleasant to listen to, and the good Ikes selling each other out gives us a better idea of just how bad things have gotten in Marketropolis.

Kiwi Koala is grabbed by the Brand X Mashed Potato Man and dragged off (this novelization-exclusive character once again making an appearance! In the movie it's just a generic Brand X soldier taking him away). Meanwhile, Lady X continues her speech and the terrified Ikes join in her chant. Her dialogue here is identical to how it is in the movie, and the whole thing is giving some serious Nazi vibes.

There's an additional scene here exclusive to the novelization where it's mentioned some USDA members are on the stage with her (once again, in the movie she's just by herself). One of them, Francois Fromage blames Hairy for giving up the USDA to her. He nervously insists that Lady X promised it'd all work out, but you can tell he isn't convinced and is telling himself as much as he's telling Francois. It's a small scene, but I think it adds some much-needed depth to Hairy's character, and gives him a little more involvement in the plot.

Meanwhile at the Copabanana, a resistance is forming. Lola Fruitola can't believe what's going on out there, and says they should slice Brand X up like sushi. This frightens an "upmarket canned fish icon" who we established in previous chapters is supposed to be Charlie Tuna, and she apologizes, explaining it's just a figure of speech. This brief exchange isn't in the movie, instead being replaced by the California Raisins singing a very badly autotuned song up on the stage.

Francois, Polar Penguin and Sweet Cakes rush into the club wishing to join the resistance- in the movie, Polar gets an additional line of dialogue here saying he's reporting for duty as instructed by Dex, and there are a few more Ikes joining the Resistance (including Fat Cat's hairless hamster henchmen from the very beginning of the story! Remember those guys?) Here however, it's just the three of them, and Maximilius worries they don't stand a chance unless Dex comes back soon.

Lieutenant X and a troop of Brand X soldiers show up, claiming Dex Dogtective has been discontinued and that unless everyone else wishes to do the same they need to sing their alliegance to Brand X. The soldiers start singing, but the Ikes refuse to join in, with Francois Fromage starting to sing the USDA anthem instead. Just as Lieutenant X starts threatening him, Dex bursts into the club and tells the raisins onstage (obviously the California Raisins, but not referred to as such) to "play it".

This scene is more or less the same across both the novelization and the movie, give or take a line of dialogue or two. However in the movie when Lieutenant X insists Francois sing along, instead of singing the USDA anthem, he jumps in the air and farts in the Lieutenant's face- obviously I think the novelization does it better, as the movie seems to have a strange fixation with toilet humor that's mostly absent here. Curiously, the narration here refers to Francois as a "frog" at one point. He's very much NOT a frog (even in the color pages from this same novelization we see he's just a regular French man) so either the author made a mistake here, or they're using "frog" in the context of a slur against French people. And really, haven't the French been through enough?

The raisins onstage start singing the USDA song, and it's a loose parody of the French national anthem. If you hadn't guessed already (but really, why would you?) this whole scene is a parody of the part in Casablanca where everyone in the club sings La Marseillaise. That makes another of Foodfight's curious references to Casablanca (I count about 4 or 5 so far) and we're left wondering how appropriate it is to compare occupied France in World War 2 to a grocery store getting taken over by low quality detergent. Regardless, this scene is basically the same across both the novelization and the movie. Viva la France!

Lieutenant X and the other soldiers retreat, but threaten to return and pulverize them all. Everyone's overjoyed to see Dex again, and he says they won't go down without a fight. It's at this point in the movie that we cut to the Brand X tower, with Lady X saying they have the Resistance cornered and that they'll show no mercy- that's cut out entirely here however, and the scene goes on uninterrupted. We're treated to some some additional dialogue from Dex about how when Lady X finds out he and Dan are still alive, they'll come for every Ike left with everything they have, and that they have only one option. We get a Suicide Squad title drop from Maximilius as well- "Boss...youse talking about a food fight!"

Dex gives a speech about how we've all lost someone, but we can't fight for the way things were, only the way they should be. This speech, powerful as it is, is the same across both the novelization and the movie however, so there's nothing more to say here.

Everyone agrees to work together with Dex to stop Brand X, and he agrees to show them what he has in mind. What's Dex planning? Will there really be a food fight? Find out the answers to all your burning questions in Chapter 18!

[ghostofkemuel]

Abyssinian crisis, 1936

Introduction

The struggle for African independence is frequently and rightly credited to men such as Kwame Nkurumah and Jomo Kenyatta whose effect on the anti-colonial and pan-Africanist movements is visible and lasting. A figure often overlooked, hidden under the long shadow cast by its homeland is not even a person or an organisation- it is a well. 

Today, Ethiopia is a little bit like Berlin, with a rich history of war and oppression of minorities, a thriving diplomatic centre and a history of war and oppression by foreigners as vibrant as the one of minorities by the Ethiopians themselves. All three of these things are connected and if you were alive in 1920, you probably would not have seen it coming (although if you were alive and African in 1920, Ethiopia’s future would have been the least of your worries… even if you were Ethiopian!) So how did it happen? As I said before, it all started with a well.

The Body

Throughout its pre-colonial years, Ethiopia stood out as one of the major powers on the African continent. It was a little bit of a metropolis. Ethiopians have at some time in the past called themselves Jews, Egyptians, Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Ethiopians. The people were always diverse and as such spats were the norm. Any metropolis won’t remain a metropolis for long if the people don’t get along and because “society” Ethiopia got rulers. Some of them are characters in the world’s most-read and most-plot holed book, The Bible and others left the Italians butt hurt. The ones that left the Italians butt hurt are the more important ones although I’m sure the devout are Queen of Sheba stans.

The first butt-hurt guy is Menelik II. Menelik was an ambitious man, he defied the Queen of Sheba stans by contesting the royal succession along the lines of The Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and usurped the throne from the would be heir. His efforts were the foundation of the modern nation of Ethiopia and all the diplomacy and such. Here’s how.

Italy wanted to participate in a little event the Primary school textbooks in Africa call the scramble and partition for Africa. Everyone wanted a slice of the “African cake” as Leopold II of Belgium described it and Italy decided to take on the starving and under-developed Kingdom (masquerading as an empire) of Ethiopia. Well they wanted Eritrea but the treaty that they signed with Menelik was doctored to give them more power. A war was brewing. It was a guaranteed win for the Italians… until it wasn’t. The Ethiopians were scholars of order and Menelik organized a decent and well-equipped army to compete with the woefully mismanaged Italian army. He took to the highlands and utilized guerilla warfare which was to gain popularity across the continent in later independence struggles. After both sides bled dry of troops and money, the Ethiopians were able to gain a decisive victory in the battle of Adowa. Menelik had beaten them and Eritrea was his to take. He passed on that prize, didn’t want to rub salt into the wounds of the Italians although that decision would come back to haunt Ethiopia nearly a decade later.

And so the Italians returned to Italy with their tails between their legs. They did come back to Africa but only targetted Libya in the north and Somalia. They also took Eritrea which Menelik seemed dead set on distancing himself from. These lands were as barren as Arrakis and served no purpose for Italy (and I only mention Arrakis because I just saw the trailer for Dune 2, hyped for that shit). They still wanted resources and Libya was still nearly a century away from oil wealth so they came back to Ethiopia in the roaring ‘20s. In Italy, the ‘20s really did roar because of all the rallies and whatnot… “Rallies for what?” I hear you ask, well just some guy exciting the nation with a policy of aggressive expansionism and racial superiority. He’s fairly inconsequential so we’ll just call him Benny or something. Benny really turned up the heat on Ethiopia by placing more troops in Eritrea and Somalia. I know what you’re thinking, “The Italians never learn from their mistakes.” Well, they did because this time they had better weapons, better organisation, better planning (INSERT BETTER PIZZA MEME meme). Also, Menelik was dead. A guy called Selassie had replaced him. Selassie was a bit of an elitist, not an elite like Nkurumah or Kenyatta, elitist. The kind of guy who scoffs when you order Pinot Noir because “How can you be so basic?” The peasants up in the mountains hated him, the Rases (other elitist guys) hated him, and the Italians hated him. You can see where this is going, right?

They kinda ganged up on my boy Selassie and beat the shit out of his well. Yes, finally, the well. There was a well (an oasis actually but depending on where you grew up, they can be the same thing???) at a place called Wal-Wal and the Italians, recognizing its importance to the locals, seized it and a garrison there. Selassie came up and tried to toss them out as Menelik had before him, but the Italians had better weapons, better org and better planning (INSERT BETTER PIZZA MEME AGAIN). When he was beaten, Selassie turned to the international community for help. The League of Nations was frosty and placed weak sanctions on Italy, the US being the US was unbothered about the fate of a minor nation and continued to trade with Italy. The UK and France could have made further Italian aggression impossible by blocking their access to the Suez but zilch here as well. Less than ZIlch actually because the foreign secretaries of the two countries Sir Samuel Hoare (SPELLED HOARE) and Pierre Laval (executed for treason for a different matter) came up with a secret agreement that would see the war end but Italy gain control over large parts of Ethiopia. The public outcry when this was revealed caused the pair to resign but it had already shown the path of appeasement that the World Powers were determined to maintain. It wasn’t Ethiopia’s fault that they were pursuing this misguided policy to secure an Italian alliance against a certain German moustache model. 

The powers failed Ethiopia and Selassie fled to London where the story for Ethiopia and the continent as a whole would change. Members of the African diaspora around the world went to London to welcome the warrior king and offer support against the invading Italians. Men who would go on to become prominent statesmen penned articles in support of Ethiopia and Selassie was exposed to the idea of Pan-Africanism. Most importantly though, the Ethiopians were now Italian subjects. They suffered greatly under the oppressive rule of the Italians and turned to the tradition of their greatest ruler, Menelik, and took to the mountains. They waged fierce warfare against the Italians and painted the foothills with their own blood. The Black Lions (that was the resistance’s name, a decent one too) set the tradition that others would follow to dethrone the rulers that had been imposed on them. Dedan Kimathi and Wahuriu Itote pushed the British settlers out of the Kenyan highlands by adopting the Black Lions' guerilla warfare and Ahmed Ben Bella in Algeria fought out the British using similar strategies. 

The actions of the Ethiopians demystified the invincibility of the colonizers and in the years that followed, uprisings and rebellions spread across the continent. Kimathi and Itote’s MAUMAU in Kenya is a prominent one but the impact was more absolute than one would think. Mandela’s ANC against Apartheid South Africa, the FLN of Algeria and the EPLF’s struggle for Eritrean independence against Ethiopia all were influenced by the Ethiopian struggle. In the proceeding years of Selassie’s administration, this influence made Ethiopia a natural leader for other African states. Selassie was a revered leader and to some a God, he was a cruel administrator but the figurehead that he was during the independence struggle allowed Ethiopia to become a major player in African affairs with the African Union headquarters being set up in Addis Ababa. The country had seen it all, a strong imperial age before colonialism hit Africa, a valiant and ultimately fruitful fight against colonialism, a foray into colonialism themselves with their escapades in Eritrea and a renaissance as an African power with the continent being shaped by Pan-Africanism in the post-colonial age.

Note to self

And so the well or oasis or whatever shaped Africa. Well, Ethiopia did but the oasis is a symbol for Ethiopia, a beacon of what eventually happens when the oppressed decide to fight back. Ethiopia is a symbol of what happens when the oppressed use their voice to inspire others to fight. Ethiopia also shows who really cares about the oppressed: no one really does, the voice of the oppressed is for others in a similar situation. Men like Hoare and Laval pay no mind to these voices because they threaten the balance that allows them to keep the oppressed captive.

[kkfkoe]

사랑이라 말해요 다시보기 1화~16화 (완결) 디즈

사랑이라 말해요 다시보기 1화~16화 (완결) 디즈니 링크<<

사랑이라 말해요 다시보기 1화~16화 (완결) 디즈니

사랑이라 말해요 다시보기 1화~16화 (완결) 디즈니

사랑이라 말해요 다시보기 1화~16화 (완결) 디즈니

사랑이라 말해요 다시보기 1화~16화 (완결) 디즈니

사랑이라 말해요 다시보기 1화~16화 (완결) 디즈니

During the Galactic Empire, he was an officer in the Imperial Security Service and is said to have led the Great Purge of Mandalore. After the fall of his empire, he faked his own death as having been executed during the Seganen War Criminal Trial, and rallied his remaining forces to become a morph himself. He operates a 546-class cruiser as his flagship, and when he comes down to the ground, he brings storm troopers, death troopers, and incineration troopers [2] under his command. He also has dozens of Dark Troopers on his cruiser.

He is characterized by wearing a black cloak and armor resembling Darth Vader's attire. He owns a dark saber, a rare lightsaber and the ethnic relic of the Mandalorians,[3] and also skillfully pilots a tie fighter. He is serious and charismatic enough to gather the remaining troops of the empire under his command, but he is cunning and quick to turn his head, driving the main character, Din Jarin's party, to death several times. He is also shown to be good at plotting, turning the tide of battle by spreading alien plans to his enemies.

He is also quite capable of wielding a dark saber for a normal person without the Force. He is a warrior with considerable prowess and competes with Dean Jarin, who is even wearing Beskar armor, to some extent, and even if he is tied to a wire for binding that Dean fires, he can swing his dark saber in an instant to cut it off.[4] This is quite a big deal, because in the Book of Boba Fett, Dean Jarin and Faz Vizla tried to handle it only by force, so they couldn't use the darksaber properly and complained that it was heavy. This nobleman wielded such an extraordinary weapon at will. However, given that there are descriptions that seem a little difficult to handle, it is possible that this is a setting that has been discussed before. Appears from Chapter 7. Upon confirming that Dean Jarin is where the client is, 6 death troopers are sent to purify the client and his remnant stormtroopers, and a large force of stormtroopers [5] surrounds the main character's party. And he too arrives in an Outland TIE Fighter.

Afterwards, as Griff Carr, Kara Dune, and Dean Jarin call out their names and actions, Dean realizes that he is Gideon. According to Dean, Gideon was an ISB officer during the Galactic Empire, and led and executed the Great Mandalore Purge. Kara denies his survival, claiming that he was tried and executed for war crimes with the fall of the empire, but Dean says he is certain, seeing that Gideon knows his name.

Then, suddenly, IG-11 suddenly jumps out and starts slaughtering the stormtroopers, and even Dean gets into the fight and the tide is about to turn. In response, Dean aimed the E-WEB blaster cannon at himself, and with cool and quick judgment, he shot and exploded the generator before he could pull the trigger.[6] As Kara and the others retreat into the building, dragging the mortally wounded Dean, Grif sends incineration troopers to burn them to death.

However, when the flames of the incineration troopers are useless due to the baby's use of the force to protect Dean, he later appears riding a TIE fighter and opens fire on Dean's party, who were escaping through a drainage ditch. Soon after, Dean flies up with the jetpack he received from the armorer and clings to the TIE fighter with a rope launcher. Gideon tries his best to drop Dean, but fails. Eventually, when the bomb Dean attached to the solar panel pylon exploded, Gideon fell helplessly into the lava field.

[opisthotonos]

Here's a possible plot for a Russ Meyer movie: Title: "Amazonian Vixens vs. The Apocalypse" The film takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where society has crumbled, and the few survivors have formed factions and tribes to protect themselves. One such tribe is a group of Amazonian women who have banded together to form a community of fierce warriors. They are led by the charismatic and ruthless Queen Vixen, who will stop at nothing to protect her people and maintain her power. One day, the Amazonian Vixens discover that a new threat has emerged from the ruins of civilization. A group of mad scientists, calling themselves the "Apocalypse Cult," has been experimenting with genetic engineering and has created a new breed of mutant creatures. These creatures are faster, stronger, and deadlier than anything the Amazonian Vixens have ever faced before. Determined to protect her people, Queen Vixen rallies her troops and sets out to destroy the Apocalypse Cult and their monstrous creations. Along the way, they encounter other tribes and factions, some of whom are willing to join forces, while others are determined to stand in their way. The film is full of over-the-top action sequences, outrageous characters, and plenty of sex and violence. The Amazonian Vixens are portrayed as strong and independent women who are not afraid to use their sexuality as a weapon. The film also features a cast of eccentric supporting characters, including a chainsaw-wielding biker gang and a band of renegade cannibals. In the end, the Amazonian Vixens face off against the Apocalypse Cult in a final battle that will determine the fate of the post-apocalyptic world. Will the Vixens emerge victorious, or will they succumb to the forces of the Apocalypse Cult? The film leaves it up to the audience to decide.

[deck16]

This is a continuation of the campaign journal of Adventures in Lyria. The first entry is here and you can see all entries here.

Act 8: The Battle for Silvercap Mountain

Along with Salvius' Twentieth Legion, the heroes assault Silvercap Mountain!

Minor note: I'm no longer using MidJourney for art, as discussed in Act 1. My subscription ran out. Instead, I am running a locally-installed version of Stable Diffusion.

Para Bellum

The heroes return from the Feywild to Celandra's Glade. In the previous act, the heroes convinced the Marchioness of Helicalis to no longer support the lycanthrope rebels. The rebels are now vulnerable, and Davith Salvius has been using his position as Celandra's heir (see Act 6) to rally fey troops into an army. Now the heroes are back, it's time to launch the attack, and destroy the False Moon (see Act 5)!

Davith's army consisted of fey animals of usual and unusual size, animated trees and plants, and creatures like saytrs, nymphs and harpies.

Marcus Salvius (first seen Act 3) had forgotten about his stay in the Feywild, as mortals often do. (Luckily none of the heroes succumbed to this.) But his mind was still sharp enough to help lead his son's army!

Marcus was disappointed that the heroes had not managed to secure a reprieve for Celandra (see Act 6). Upon her petrified wooden form a small number of seeds appeared, as if she were crying. These seeds were called "Celandra's Tears", and would sprout into sleep-inducing dandelions. As DM, I thought these might be cultivated and used to neutralise Strabo's legions in an upcoming story, but the plot diverged, and these seeds would remain unused in the party inventory until the end of the campaign.

Xanaphia expressed private concerns to Cyrus that they would die. Marcus gave an speech, intended to rally.

"Forgive an old tribune from interrupting, but habits die hard. "This is it. Sometime tomorrow, we may be dead." He laughs. "I remember the last time I felt this way. Atop the final tower on Letocetum's walls, lycans crossing along the parapets, ascending from within, and scaling the sides. I thought I was to die there, along with the brave men and women who fought with me. I would've died there happily, knowing we had bought time for the city's evacuation. But a little boat sailed by and saved me and many of those fighting with me. Do you remember, Cyrus? Zeke? "Let's not forget who renewed my purpose. I was drunken shell until renewed by Lukil, and of course you too Cyrus and Zeke, and Zilt as well. They say it is easier to create than destroy. You, who have re-created me from ashes, and thereby this Legion, should have no trouble destroying an opposing Legion. "Fate heaps a great burden on shoulders. We alone can stop the lycan threat. Who knows how far it has gotten? Who knows what other souls are battling to the death in towers, streets, and fields across our Republic?" Salvius nods to Garo. "The gods of our Republic are watching. We should make sure they are not ashamed. If we are dispatched to the afterlife, let us be able to look at the parade of victims killed by the lycans with heads unbowed, able to say we did all we could. Let us not say we quailed when we should have been steadfast, or acted brazenly when we should have kept cool heads. "It will be a long day tomorrow. Rest well."

The Assault Begins

The fey army marches on Silvercap Mountain, the False Moon looming large over it. The army enters into battle against the rebel forces consisting of lycanthropes and undead raised by their necromancer allies. As the armies clash, the heroes split up to take out key targets.

There were a number of strategically important targets for the heroes: a horde of undead ripe for area-damage, a pair of tough were-bears, and catapults operated by were-rats. The heroes split up and tackled all of them!

While I don't remember who tackled what exactly, I do remember that Cyrus neutralised the bank of catapults with frightful efficiency by combining his magic with the Bellicent Torc, a magic item found back in Act 2.

Ascending the Mountain

As planned, the heroes ascend the mountain as battle rages at its base. The way is not clear, and many battles await them.

Their first foes were the necromancers Cazna and the Corpse-Whisperer (first seen Act 5), who guarded the start of the spiral path up the mountain with their own undead minions. Cyrus snuck around the side of the battle and employed a wall of fire to devastating effect, burning both necromancers to death.

Cyrus, mistaking the fight with Cazna for the final fight rather than the first fight, imbibed a potion obtained way back circa Act 1. It gave him supernaturally good luck, improving all his rolls, though the effect would end if he failed any. Cyrus spent the entire ascension of the mountain attempting to do as little as possible, and avoiding things that were trivial and/or likely to fail. It worked: when he did act he made it count, his good rolls ensured good results.

The ascension up the mountain was gruelling. Not only was the climb enough to possibly cause exhaustion, but skirmishes with lycanthropes whittled down the heroes' resources. It was possible to take short rests, but overuse of this would put pressure on the army below holding out for them. From memory, the heroes did quite well in ascending quickly and without great losses.

From the heights of the mountain, the heroes could see ships approaching the coast of Cantia. This confirmed Ezekial's vision -- Magnus Strabo was headed there to quell the rebellion.

The heroes turned a corner to see a massive force arrayed against them along a cliff. With determination, they got to fighting. But a short time into the combat, a gold dragon was seen approaching. With little they could do, the heroes battled on. Thankfully the dragon appeared to be on their side, belching fire at their enemies. (As DM I let the players place the massive cone and roll the immense damage.) The dragon is hit by a strange magical attack as it flies away, but its attack greatly helped the heroes push through. As the heroes climbed the mountain they would look to find where this dragon went, even sending familiars to search; but it could not be found.

The dragon flies past, belching fire on your foes! The heat is intense even at this distance, causing the rocks to glow a dull red. The dragon wheels up to avoid the mountain and begins flying away, perhaps gaining distance for a follow-up attack. Something strange is happening. The sun is getting brighter. Warmer. Out away from the mountain, you see a column of light gathering, shining down near-vertically from above. As it tightens, it grows brighter. It is chasing after the dragon! The dragon banks from side to side to avoid it, but it can't shake it. It intersects the dragon just as it tightens into a blinding ray, plunging the whole mountainside into darkness for a split second. The dragon flinches, left wing torn open, it struggles to control its descent. A second later the sound of its pained roar reaches your position, echoing around the rocky cliffs. The dragon's path takes it behind the mountain; you cannot see its fate.

This strange beam-magic was later employed on the heroes as they neared the top of the mountain. The same magic that was causing the False Moon was being used to concentrate sunlight on targets. But the heroes weren't foolish enough to loiter, and just moved quickly, avoiding serious damage. They didn't know, but they were being spotted by an arcane eye. The slow-moving nature of that spell meant the heroes could easily outrun it.

At the mountain summit, just outside the entrance to an underground area, the heroes met a group of necromancers who were trying to flee via teleportation circle. They told the heroes they had no desire to fight a losing battle, and that they would just leave if allowed to finish their spells. I cannot remember what action the heroes took. Either way, the heroes commandeered valuable supplies (including healing potions and spell-recovery potions) gathered by the departing necromancers.

The Summit

The heroes confront Phelund Phylund (first seen Act 1) at the summit of Silvercap Mountain.

There was a small complex carved into the mountain summit. Much of it was currently abandoned, used for sleeping areas for necromancers and other ranking members of Phelund's forces. Soon enough the heroes entered into the chamber from where the False Moon was being projected. Flutter recognised, from knowledge found in the previous act, that the place had been built long ago by the aarakocra -- their light magic was being abused for the False Moon.

You're in a large chamber carved into the mountain itself. It's in ruin, with scattered materials and furniture pushed aside. Central is an arcane circle, transcribed with various sigils and runes, whose markings on the floor radiate with a strong orange light. In the middle of the circle is a framed, round window, perched on a stand, whose likeness has been artfully crafted to look like the face of the moon. It shines a beam upward. Following the beam upward, you notice the ceiling opens onto the sky. A massive glass or crystal pyramid sits atop this chamber, replacing the rocky summit the mountain presumably once had. The false moon takes up the entire viewing angle. Between you and the arcane circle is a familiar figure: Pheland Phylund. He's clutching a greatsword in one claw. He's flanked by lycans. Inside the circle itself you see two figures: a ragged, emaciated kenku with frayed feathers, and an regal-looking bird-like humanoid not unlike Velthreek. "Here you are then. It all comes down to a fight in some ruined old chamber." "We may as well parley before we get to the bloody business. It took you time to climb the mountain, there's no harm in a few minutes more, is they? Whichever one of us lives tells the story, they may as well get it straight." "I fair knew you'd come. You graduated from meddlers to alliance breakers. First you free prisoners at my estate. Then you ruin Finella Bellicent's plan to take her family torc, set her daughter up as Cantia's true Queen. I had to kill poor Fiona, who quailed at the contingency plan of a wholly lycan nation. You killed Simserion, but not before he provided us with the two you see in the circle behind me." "What next? You escaped me at Letocetum, and from there you liberated the half-blood centurion from his fort that we had conquered. Apparently you then proceeded to break our alliance with the unseelie and somehow rallied this army to assault this mountain." "I can see patterns. I suspect I know how this ends. But I can hope you slip up. I'll even do you a deal: if you lose, I'll kill you quickly rather than let you turn. I expect the same; I don't want to be the trophy of any triumph in Lyria."

The battle was dynamic and brutal. Phelund's werewolf guards were expert fighters, and some stealthy were-rats emerged from the shadows. The taller bird-like creature was a powerful wizard that cast a number of spells, including wall of light. There was no clear front-line in this battle, and Garo, Ezekial, and Xanaphia found themselves constantly shifting to protect Flutter.

Cyrus, meanwhile, used the confusion to sneak up to the spell circle. He begun to disrupt it with his chaotic magic. It worked, though it need several attempts to fully disrupt. Each disruption sent rainbow-coloured lightning and sparks through the chamber, harming everyone inside.

The party eventually won and the foes were defeated. Flutter noticed that Cyrus was not stopping his disruption of the circle. Cyrus and Flutter were already at odds over Cyrus destroying archaeology precious to Flutter. To Flutter, this seemed more of the same, so he attacked Cyrus. Xanaphia hit back with her own magic, and hard. Cyrus did not stop, though, and the circle was disrupted. The intra-party conflict was put on hold as everyone needed to flee from a build-up of dangerous chaotic magics!

Cyrus's player had been presented with a secret choice. He could let the magics build up and overload, resulting in the cataclysmic destruction of the moutain-top (though with enough time to escape). Or he could more gently destroy the magic circle by internalising some of the chaotic overload, causing a less cataclysmic destruction (relatively speaking), but at high risk to himself.

Such a strange experience. For the last few moments you've had the increasing sense of a new, precarious source of magical power nearby, but you haven't been able to pinpoint where. Now you know what it is. It's you. Is it your mind? Your soul? Your sanity. A barrier that you never knew existed cracks. Thoughts come unbidden, from the mundane to the emotional, from the pleasant to the terrifying. Your death in the Underdark, Kytah's death in a basement; Zilt's triumphs with his kin, Xanaphia's picnic after her flight.

Cyrus chose the gentler option. This put him at serious risk of permanently losing his sanity. He rolled, and he avoided this fate.

Amidst the cacophony of unwelcome thoughts you see a butterfly with radiant orange wings. Concentrating with all your might you follow it, and are taken to the the twilight lake-side forest from your second vision. There's a figure standing some distance away. Is it short, or is it tall? Or is it just a rock or tree? You can't seem to focus. Despite the tranquillity of the scene, you sense your cacophony of thoughts and memories encroaching. It's now or never: you need to mentally prepare weather the storm. So prepared, you face the chaotic assault of thoughts. It feels like an eternity of rebuking your worst thoughts, and false thoughts, and embracing those that are true or good. Eventually, you find yourself staring at the cold hard real world, covered in sweat, sick to the stomach, but in control of your mind once more.

Lady Xilo waited for the heroes at the exit of the underground chambers. She had an injured arm, which led some to theorise she was the golden dragon seen earlier. Cyrus decided to leave with Lady Xilo, and gave the group his goodbyes. There was a partial easing of tensions: some goodbyes were heartfelt, and some goodbyes were diplomatically cool.

Lady Xilo rushes forward to embrace Cyrus. "See? I knew you were up to the task, my dear Cyrus!" "You've done everything I could've hoped for and more. I think you are deserving of a rest, Cyrus. Would you like me to return you home?" Xilo takes Cyrus and Xanaphia by the arm, and the trio vanish into a brief twisting storm of golden flakes.

The heroes had saved the day! The lycanthrope rebels lost their leadership. The ending of the False Moon meant that most of the remaining lycanthropes -- including the ones battling at the base of the mountain -- reverted to their natural form. And the Umbralenses -- which would soon be distributed to authorities -- meant any defiant lycanthrope remnants could be combated, and afflicted populations cured.

But there was little time to relax or rejoice. Magnus Strabo -- Ezekial's ancestral nemesis -- was en-route to quell the rebellion. The heroes feared his retribution for the rebellion would be bloody and misplaced, just as it was against the Nova Laconians some decades ago.

[lgcmax]

𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋 !

okay !! now that that plot call’s over i feel i can finally do a proper plot call. with a new trimester comes a whole load of exciting things, and though this is a tad late i’m happy to provide you with some plot ideas for max ! a lot of people expressed a desire to plot after my ooc love post thing, and i am really really happy to do so ! i haven’t been able to get to everybody individually yet but if you see something here feel free to lmk ! also, i feel like i could do better at interacting with newer muns / muns i haven’t interacted with much ! so, for now, priority goes to those who i haven’t gotten to plot with much yet !! i want to interact with more of you uwu !! and of course, comment or dm me if something catches your eye so i can cross it off !! thank you for taking the time to plot with me !! <33

𝐅𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌𝐒.

alrighty so although we don’t have official thread opportunities ( yet ) that doesn’t mean we can’t do something centered around it to get our muses together !

maybe they run through each of their “ star quality ” performances together, giving each other tips and overall just making sure they’re together ?? perhaps even a little heart to heart talking about their reasonings for debut / becoming famous & all that ?

alternately, someone who acts as a wake up person for max the day of the star quality performances and who he does the same for !! that sounds so confusing but basically these two make sure they both wake up on time & are energized lol !!! hyping each other up & all that ? if they’re dormmates, getting ready together, potentially exaggerated warmups; if they’re not, meeting up to walk over to the company building, having pep talks and getting each other pumped !

also if there’s someone who doubts their abilities and is like iffy on whether or not to join the show ?? let max convince you i swear he will tell you you are the **** and will make any muse confident and feel they have what it takes i swear !!!

𝐕𝐋𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐓 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐏.

the vlive prompt is solo this trimester but !! guys um ... max has no cooking experience. please help him prepare um ??? it’s sad really

so yeah !! someone who can teach him how to cook - literally anything pizza rolls are the best he can do right now rip - and you’ll forever have his gratitude and loyalty !! though ... i won’t lie to you he might make your job 2000x harder by being a menace and tasting all the ingredients and being a little stupid ?? but it’ll be fun !!!! pls help him out lmAO

𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐒.

just some general, non-event threads i had in mind !

canada line. canada line ? canada line ! i never won’t support max having more canadian friends, esp toronto friends too ??

still down for language exchange buddies !! max learns french & still could honestly learn some korean, esp slang or older words ?? but honestly, if your muse speaks ( or signs ) anything else he’s probably down to learn lol ! and in turn, he can do his best to teach you korean, or english ! all stan twitter slang included haha !!

i love mess so enemies are always fun ?? either the competitive type, or just always butting heads ?

new blossoming friendships that are just beginning to become something are always cute !!

friends to unwind with ?? like pls give me people who just have a routine w / max to watch movies, play games, eat & all that w max ?? like the ultimate casual friends !

( drinking tw ) before max hops on future dreams i lowkey want him to try drinking 😳 bc as wild as he is, he’s not a drinker at all ?? don’t think he’s had past a few sips if i’m being honest ? but just for the fun of it why not 😜 and listen ... i’m not trying to get him fired lmAO so this has to be with a male-presenting muse & within the safety of the dorms ok lol !!! or even a flashback thread from his bday ? 

omg someone he is indebted to for one reason or another ??  he needed their help really bad, accepted some stupid deal and now he has to stick to his word ?? bonus points if iit’s over some those are always fun haha !!

i think that’s all for now !! and as always, if you have a plot you wanted to present, don’t have ideas but just want to form a connection between our muses, or just want to bump our chat up in case i’ve forgotten to response please let me know !! i am always down to plot i am trying to get better at responding ok ... i am trying oijoijooi !!!

[ficforthought]

On being SO DONE with M*sha, a rant a decade in the making!

After giving this some thought I'm going to go ahead and give my opinion on Misha and yesterday’s situation in public for the first time ever. I was going to just post on Twitter but since this has been 12 years in the making I have exceeded the number of tweets I can put in one thread! There’s A LOT in here, so my summary is also long. I'm aware that I will lose followers over this, I'm not looking to offend anyone but it will inevitably happen. I wish anyone leaving all the best as fellow human beings.

TL;DR - having kept quiet for so long I’ve finally reached my limit and it’s all come bubbling out. I’ve never been a fan of Misha, I’ve been ambivalent for the most part, but have never criticised him in any hateful way, that's not who I am, but after all these years of putting up with his bullshit, attention seeking and troublemaking I am DONE. Deleting his tweet containing the word Wincest and replacing it with an APOLOGY just to pander to his Minions and save face is the straw that broke the camel's back. He has consistently pushed his ship on not only fans but on other actors (despite Jensen's discomfort, and him having repeatedly made his feelings known on it), he has stood by while his Minions/Hellers have harassed, victimised, doxxed and sent death threats to people based on their FICTIONAL ships. He has pandered to their gatekeeping, constantly demanded attention in obvious and not so obvious ways, and to the best of my knowledge never criticised their actions even though he's aware of it in a very real way. Some of his Minions have now taken their shit into The Boys fandom and created negativity for Jensen before the guy has even got a foot through the set door, and how is that supporting one half of your ship?

Misha has claimed to be a victim of targeted harassment from Wincest/brother fans (not only shippers) yet his fans have said and done the most despicable things on his watch, all in the name of what he must think is entertainment, or even his idea of a ‘joke’.

Any respect I had for the man based on his humanitarian work has gone because I can only take so much hypocrisy. He and his pandering because of a desperate attempt to be woke and wholly inclusive (which is actually impossible, no matter how good intentions are) are beyond pathetic. Whilst I have never seen why people think he’s so great I have friends IRL and online who genuinely adore the man, yet they have been shocked and upset by his contempt for half of the fandom that made him somewhat famous. It's disgusting and I'm not scrolling by any more. Misha, I hope to never see you on anything J2 related in future because none of us need that kind of negativity, *especially* not J2. Be gone, foul fiend!

OK, so to the too long part. Please be aware that these are my opinions as a fan of the show, of Sam and Dean, and J2, not only as a shipper. I can separate canon and fanon, and can view canon from a gen or shippy PoV. Whether you agree or disagree with my opinion let me be clear that I do not condone constant bashing and hate of a person or character so this isn’t the start of a regular thing for me. It's possible to have an opinion and not show the same vitriol that has been following this man around for years, and that’s what I’m doing. I've not posted this to prompt more negativity, it's simply to get it off my chest and make it clear how I feel. I stand by my philosophy of ship who you want to ship, enjoy it, but don't force it on other people and don't be a dick about it…hmm, that kinda sounds like familiar behaviour, though, does it not?!

I have ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUE with other people liking Misha, Cas or Destiel when it’s for the love of the characters and the ship. What I *do* have an issue with is people who are the true definition of a Heller. I don’t see that as a generic term, don't be ignorant and think I do because I know the difference between actual ship fans and the crazies, both ships have ‘em and I want no part of either of their venom. If you are reading this and class yourself as a Heller then you are part of the problem so run along and as you are all so fond of saying, 'get help' and take your bestie king with you.

I’m stating my opinion in what I feel is the most mature way I can, because unlike many people on SM, I am an adult and can act accordingly, with forethought and without resorting to temper tantrums and bullying of other people to get my point across. I am able to tell the difference between reality and fiction, I don't tar everyone with the same shipper brush and I don't expect everyone to agree with my opinion, but as we know opinions are like arseholes, we all have them and sometimes they stink. Unlike some, for the most part in life (online and offline) I *do* stand by what I say and don’t backtrack or delete things to appease the masses. I have spent a lot of time writing this out to be as clear as possible without being intentionally hateful. Bear with me jumping between actor and character where relevant, at this point they're conjoined. I will say this before I go any further, it doesn’t end well for Misha, I don’t mince my words and if you don’t like seeing facts and opinions laid out, this isn't the post for you.

I’ll say right off the bat what most of you have surmised - I’ve never held Misha (or Cas) in high esteem but I have never *hated* on him. I have shared mild criticism of his actions and opinions on Cas over the years but never, I feel, in any way that has made me feel I have something to apologise for. I have said several times I've been unhappy about Misha crashing con panels, taking attention away from J2 when at those cons *most* people paid their hard earned money to see the STARS of the show they love, first and foremost, and anyone else is a very nice bonus. The odd appearance here and there crashing a panel is fine (and Misha isn’t the first or last person to do it), maybe take up a few minutes then leave, but when someone commandeers an entire panel, that's just not on. It's not only selfish, rude and attention seeking but also disrespectful to other actors, fans and to the organisers who work hard to make sure everything ties in to give us the best con experience we can have. Everyone gets their turn on stage, there's no need to try and hog any more of the limelight, Veruca Salt style. Oh, and if you’re reading this and not getting that reference, (a) you shouldn’t be on my blog because you’re far too young, (b) look it up, and if you still don’t get what I’m saying… well then please refer to point (a). Thank you, kindly!

There was a time in Kripke's era where Cas was - I feel - intentionally used as a pawn by the writers to divert *canon* from the ‘questionable’ relationship between Sam and Dean, i.e. Wincest focus. Prior to that people (other fans) lightened up and just accepted the fact that Wincest had been there since day one in terms of the writing of the show and the fandom. All the cast and crew knew - J2, Kripke and JDM in particular - and made light of it, never judging, never shaming and often encouraging it because they understand it’s a fun part of fandom. Wincest was present enough to be part of the not so subtle subtext, as I said people just accepted it. Kink tomato was alive and well, so was ‘don’t like, don’t read’ and we all just scrolled over things we didn’t like without turning everything into a personal vendetta and excuse for bullying others who didn’t share our views. When the angels came into the plot I think most of us Wincest fans gave the Dean/Cas innuendos the small laugh they deserved and then turned back to the focus of the show which was the brothers, as it had always been intended. Misha, however, milked those moments as much as possible which was amusing at the start but got old *very* quickly, not just for fans (shippers and non shippers alike), but for other actors, in particular Jensen who is on record MULTIPLE times showing his dislike for Destiel. He told people outright that's not how he was playing the relationship between the two characters and CATEGORICALLY said "Destiel doesn't exist" but did it end there? No, it did not because neither fans or Misha let it go, in fact Misha only pushed more, goaded fans into flogging the same dead horse as much as possible. He’s never stopped, not even when there was so much discord in the fandom, a huge wedge was driven into it because of ships, which IMO he heavily contributed to.

Fast forward to over a decade later (a decade, seriously man, let it fucking go!) he didn’t even stop when Destiel did partially go canon. I have never doubted that Cas loved Dean (Sam, too) because in SPN lore angels are made to love, even rebellious ones. I, along with many others, liked that about Cas because who doesn't love a rebel, especially one rebelling for very good reasons, and because of those two wonderful men? Sam and Dean allowed him to see beyond what he'd been brainwashed to believe his entire existence. The fact is that although the nature of that love changed for Cas, it never did for Dean and was CANONICALLY UNREQUITED because Dean was incapable of loving anyone else as much as he loved Sam. All that mattered to Dean, even when he saw other characters as "family" was still Sam…ALWAYS Sam, every step of the way. Again for those who have too much Misha shaped wax in their ears, that’s canon. Whether people choose to see that love platonically or romantically is up to them, soulmates don't always have to be romantic, either way, brotherly love won out above all else on the show. No amount of Misha screaming ‘hey look, Destiel!’ changed that, but it sure didn’t stop him trying, did it?

So now that the obvious has been stated, here's something else we all know - never once in all of the years on the show did Misha drop rallying of the troops to his precious, ego stroking ship. Never once (that I am aware of) has he called out his Minions and Hellers on their continued harassment of everyone involved in the show and other fans despite the fact that they have bullied, victimised and wished bodily harm, rape and death on people who don't see their ship and because didn't get the ending to the story that they wanted. Not once has Misha shown any remorse for the trauma his "fans" have caused, and I’m taking REAL trauma, here, not the kind Twitter stans see as ‘triggering’ - people have been driven to close SM accounts, attempted, and in some cases succeeded in taking their own lives. These Minions have openly mocked Jared’s struggles with depression and anxiety, and Misha - who claims to be friends with J2 and be supportive of them in every way  - has stood by and let it all play out, knowing full well some of the goings on, if not the full extent of how toxic these people are. We know he sees things being said online, and I have absolutely no doubt he spends time online searching his name for things that are relevant in some way to him in an effort to insert himself into a current conversation, or even start one so that attention is on him. Gotta stay relevant, somehow, right, Mish?

He has actively encouraged bullying by his actions of enabling the behaviours above, both by the flogging of the aforementioned dead horse, AND by not objecting to unacceptable behaviours. Remember when Minions and Hellers were slating J2, particularly Jared, for not posting on SM about BLM and other topics? Yeah, he didn’t ask them to stop doing that, either, even when he was tagged in things along the lines of ‘If Misha can post why can’t J2?’ etc. There have been some token protests, con vids I've seen have show his 'objections' which IMO have been done in a very tongue in cheek way, meaning that those people who needed to be pulled aside and told to change their ways just carried on, because their evil overlord didn’t explicitly explain it in terms a three year old could understand that bullying and forcing your opinion on others is WRONG. Not all of his cult are young and impressionable, not by a long shot, but many of the more vocal and vitriolic ones are.

As a father himself I wonder what Misha would do if he found out that his kids were behaving in ways his Minions are? I’m aware they’re young, but kids are cruel and bullying doesn’t just happen online. Even at whatever age they are, would he laugh it off the way he appears to have done with all of this fandom toxicity? Not bloody likely! I wonder if he’s as desperate to gain the approval of his family, friends and colleagues as he appears to be for that of his Minions/Hellers? I would certainly hope so, but that question can only be answered by Misha, himself, and I can and will not presume to speak on someone else's behalf on things in their personal life. For the record I would never presume I know what J2's answers would be on anything, however I do feel that after 15 years I have an accurate gauge on what kind of people they are so would be confident that any opinion I had on a matter aligns with their morals and ethics. As much as J2 have shared of themselves with us - willingly and under no pressure to do so, I might add - we don't *know* them, but we know enough to have an informed opinion. I can’t say the same for Misha because based on the behaviour he’s repeatedly displayed, things I've heard about from other fans as well as people I know IRL who have had direct dealings with him through cons or GISH (including some very actively in the early days when it was GISHWHES) he just hasn’t seemed like a person I wanted to follow on SM. I’ve never watched any of his solo panels, though I have watched ones with both or one of the J's, mostly being left irritated because of his behaviour. Watching the J’s put up with that shit is painful, and it’s a testament to how good they are as actors that they managed to hide at least some of their disdain for as long as they did. Microexpressions give them away, particularly Jensen, and they certainly have faces I have spent many years watching closely. Beautiful faces to go with beautiful souls, both of them! <3

I have precisely ZERO interest in Destiel as a ship, very little interest in Cas as a character anymore (though I did like him in the early days,and his relationship with Jack in late seasons) so I have absolutely no reason or desire to follow anything Misha does. That said, I've obviously been peripherally aware of some things he's been involved in because of friends, from things I’ve seen on SM and general fandom stuff. Despite the things I've already mentioned about his behaviour, up until now I have been able to maintain a level of respect for him as a person because of the humanitarian and charity work he's done. He seems like someone who really does want to change the world for the better and I am in full support of that fact, so much so that I have supported TWO campaigns relating to him. I bought one of the Super Good t-shirts for the campaign he did with Michael Sheen (a true angel!), the SPN/Good Omens x-over to help homeless charities, and I chose the design with text only and not artwork of Michael and Misha on, basically because I didn’t want to be wearing something with Misha’s face on it and I make absolutely no apology for that, whatsoever. I also bought Alex's #TheEndHasNoEnd shirt, which some of the profits went to Random Acts who do great work, so again, despite not liking Misha I still willingly contributed for a cause bigger than me, and to support Alex, who I absolutely ADORE. I'm aware that Stands aren't popular with some of the fandom, however since most of the cast of SPN are happily affiliated with them then I don't feel it's my place to either judge, or to discuss topics I know next to nothing about. But I digress, as a decent human being I have shown support tangentially to a man who I don't care for out of respect for the work he does outside the fandom. Telling you this isn’t to paint myself in a good light - I don’t need your approval, I’m a big girl, unlike some I don’t need constant validation! - only to provide background on how I’ve actively *not* hated on Misha.

Now though, any respect I had for him has come to an abrupt end, the events of the past 24 hours has seen to that. Whilst I have been annoyed at his behaviour in regards to shipping, I don't feel it's ever gone this far, or at least not that I've seen first hand. This man has, IMO, contributed to so much toxicity in the fandom by way of things I've mentioned before, he's claimed - without actually saying the words - that Wincest fans weren't interested in him as a character when he came onto the show, and hasn’t felt included because of the fans’ love of the brothers. Um, hate to break it to you, love, but when you come onto an established show that is about two people, and you’re a *guest star* you can’t expect everyone to love you. Some characters we as individuals do fall in love with straight away (Bobby, Charlie, Crowley and Rowena are good examples for me), it takes time to establish a dynamic, so if that’s how he felt then it was incredibly naive of him as an actor to expect instant acceptance from anyone. Also, why wait until after the show finished to bring it up AGAIN … oh wait, yeah, that would be to step back into the limelight in a way intended to garner sympathy from Minions and INTENTIONALLY piss off bro fans and Wincest shippers alike? How fucking self centred, desperate and disrespectful do you have to be to shit all over the finale of a show that for the most part accepted you and kept you in paid work for 12 years? Well, Misha Collins levels of all of those things, obviously.  

So, on the topics of self centred, desperate to stay relevant, attention seeking and being oh so needy, the tweet yesterday from Amazon mentioned Castiel. He wasn’t tagged in it, so I refer to my earlier comment about searching online, because how else would he have possibly seen that? It’s possible someone sent it to him, I appreciate that, but if we go off past behaviour it’s not any stretch at all to believe that didn’t happen. So, once again, having seen the tweet he took it upon himself to - oh so predictably - turn it into something relating to Destiel. When I saw it I immediately rolled my eyes and thought ‘here we go again’, but then also had a little smile because I really liked the fact that he explicitly mentioned Wincest, therefore seeming to accept that his poor old dead horse wasn’t the only one in the race. I actually mentally tipped my hat to him then because it appeared that he’s matured enough to acknowledge by name the ship that predates his inclusion on the show. Great, I thought, this is a positive thing in a sea of negativity surrounding the man and his sunken ship, because what followed was Wincest trending in the US (it may also have been other countries as well but I had to sleep!) … largely due to the fact that Hellers were responding to it, calling him out on mentioning the dreaded ‘W’ word. I’ll repeat that because it’s been a rare occurrence up to that point… the Minions were actually disappointed with their overlord for mentioning another ship. We all know what they think of it and I for one, don’t give a flying fuck about their opionion. Ship and let ship, it’s all fun (or meant to be) so we have different tastes, that’s life kiddiwinks, deal with it. I mean, you really don’t have much of an example set for you when your king has proven several times over to be one of the biggest obnoxious brats out there, but just give it a try for your own sakes, yeah? Awesome, good on you, besties!

An unexpected development - to my joy and that of other Wincest shippers - them doing that got the topic trending, only *kept* trending by the fact that were all coming online asking why it was trending. Wincest shippers barely lifted a finger, we just flooded each other’s timelines with lovely content and basked in the Hellers - and Misha - shooting themselves in the foot, which was awesome. But did the vitriol stop? No. Did he get the attention he so clearly craves? Yes. Was it in the way he wanted? Fuck no, so poor, emotionally wounded baby backtracked after seeing that his name was trending alongside Wincest because that’s *so* not what someone narcissistic to do it in the first place, wanted.

Now here’s where I could easily have just moved on with an unusually fond chuckle, giving him an ironic pat on the back and a ‘thanks, Misha’ for being the one to instigate hours of fun, but once again his despicable behaviour made that impossible. It’s been more than obvious for many years that he cares more about what his fans think than anything else to do with the show and the fandom in a larger sense, but to delete the tweet and APOLOGISE for daring to be so insensitive to the snowflakes’ delicate sensibilities for mentioning Wincest in the first place was absolutely disgusting. Stating , “I used a term that I had never really given any thought to other than, "that's a thing?! Yuck." is not only complete and utter bullshit, it’s pandering of the highest order.  

We all know he has referred to Wincest on multiple occasions, so to say he hadn’t thought about is a flat out lie, which IMO is an insult to everyone, not just Wincest shippers. Does the man have no self respect at all, why would you contradict yourself in the face of such overwhelming evidence? Instead of either ignoring all the people calling him out, or addressing it with another tweet saying ‘yeah, that happened’ or something similar he chose, I repeat, CHOSE the route of claiming he didn’t realise he was being offensive to people who felt ‘triggered’ by him using the word Wincest. He basically shat all over an entire ship and large sector of the fandom in an attempt to appease his own fan base which consists of a lot of children (or those that act like children) who have no idea what RL is like.

Once again, he’s reinforced the idea that if you shout loud enough at someone just because you don’t like something they said, they will back down and apologise for something even when there’s nothing to apologise for. If he wants to be such a role model then he could easily have pointed out that a fictional ship doesn’t condone RL incest, any ACTUAL trauma people have suffered because of RL situations, and made an effort to make sure people understand that. He COULD have used it as an opportunity to do some good in the fandom by encouraging people to build bridges, to accept that people are entitled to their beliefs and that sometimes we see things differently but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t treat others with BASIC HUMAN DECENCY because of it. Instead he YET AGAIN chose to show that he cares more about what Minions think of him, keeping them onside to constantly stroke his unbelievably fragile ego in everything he does.

It is my understanding that Misha is big on (or claims to be big on) putting positive energy out into the world, treating people with respect, helping others and accepting people for who they are, not who you want them to be… all this after YEARS of consistently practising what he preaches only when it suits him. He sends out a message that it’s perfectly OK to bully, to spread hate, to draw attention to yourself at the cost of others, to throw colleagues and friends under the bus and at the same time use them to further your own agenda and get hits for your YouTube channel. Is this really the legacy he wants to leave? Is this an environment he wants his own kids to grow up in as well as future generations? Is this what he thinks is a valuable contribution as a human being? JFC, the arrogance, hypocrisy and the need for constant validation this man exhibits is nothing short of cringeworthy… actually it’s beyond that. It’s deplorable behaviour, it’s not new, and he will continue to act like this for as long as he’s being enabled and this harmful cycle needs to end.

I have friends IRL and online who are (now, possibly, were) big Misha fans, who have supported him from either the beginning of his run on the show, or since they started watching, and this is how he repays this behaviour? He’s willfully alienating decent people (including multishippers) all to make himself look good by being seen to do everything he can not to offend people. Spoiler alert, you DID offend people, you continue to do so time and again and we’ve had enough. I can’t imagine how exhausting it must be to be such a perpetual people pleaser, but let me say it’s not doing you any favours in any way, shape or form.

Misha, you are *not* a role model, you’re *not* someone to look up to when you can't live up to the ideals you preach. You’re spitting in the face of people who have supported you even after some questionable things in the past, who gave you the benefit of the doubt because we’re all human and we all make mistakes. The key to growing as a person is not to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over, understanding *why* what you said and/or did was a mistake and making a concerted effort to make changes. I don’t ever see you doing that, you will continue down this path of only caring about Minions under the guise of caring for people in general. You are transparent, you are sad and despite the fact I’ve never particularly liked you, I didn’t speak up because I didn’t want to get involved in the drama. Well now I have spoken up and I’m saying you’re a disgrace, you have no respect for other people and nobody is fooled anymore. If it hadn’t been this tweet it would have been something else, but I for one am glad it happened so soon after the show ended so we can finally be rid of the limpet-like behaviour. It’s over, let it go for the sake of what dignity you might have left, for the sake of your family and friends and for the sake of anyone who isn’t capable of seeing through your ‘it’s a joke’ mentality.

You have been weighed, you have been measured and you have been found wanting. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, Misha.

For anyone who made it to the end of my ramble, thank you. This has been a cathartic exercise and I’m drawing a line under it now, I don’t think I could possibly make my thoughts any clearer. I urge you not to get caught up in any petty squabbles with his Minions, let’s celebrate J2 and other cast and crew members who have shown us all respect and who I am proud to call part of the SPN family. There’s always one member of the family who needs to be frozen out for the good of everyone else.

[erazonpo3]

WOWM

so What Once Was Mine came out and I read it.

My General Thoughts are that this book was something of a rollercoaster but in like a pop up carnival with dubious safety regulations and diseases in the DIY log flume water kind of way. I had some fun reading it but I also feel like I picked up a rash.

If you're like me and you enjoy picking a book apart for morsels of interesting concepts then you might enjoy it, if you think holy shit why the fuck is a literal real historical serial killer in this book I need to see this then you might enjoy it, if you care about engaging plots and character beats then you probably won't.

If you want to ask me anything specific go ahead, but otherwise for more in depth thoughts: spoilers ahead

Basic Summary of the Plot

Okay so here's the deal. The story has the framing device of two siblings in a cancer ward, where one tells the other a story. I'll get into that later, but that's how it starts. Our actual story starts with a pretty long prologue: We learn that the King & Queen got the Moonflower thinking it was the Sunflower, Rapunzel was born with silver hair, and then baby Rapunzel kills a maid who accidentally hurt her when brushing her hair.

Oh, by the way, Max is a human man named Justin Tregsburg. Yeah.

Anyway, the royal family puts out feelers for legit witches who can safely take care of Rapunzel because the baby is too dangerous, and Gothel shows up to take her away. Queen Arianna visits Rapunzel once (but is only allowed to watch through a peephole) and decides watching another woman raise her child is too painful and throws herself into restoring the kingdom's orphanages instead.

Now we're in the present. Rapunzel is nineteen and she wants to go and see the lanterns (a mourning tradition of the Dead princess in this story). She tries to argue with Gothel but gets shut down, and Gothel makes her kill a chicken to prove the point that she can't go outside because she's too dangerous. However we as the audience already know Gothel plans to sell Rapunzel off as a bride or a servant or a weapon to some other nobles, because she's evil.

Also by the way Gothel still has access to our Sundrop Flower and is using it to live forever that's just a thing that happens in the background.

When Gothel is gone Rapunzel watches as a man (Flynn) stores a satchel in a tree outside of her tower, and that motivates her to leave the tower for the first time. Then she goes back inside the tower with her prize of a crown, and a skink she found and named Pascal. Rapunezl and Gothel have another spat, and Rapunzel decides she will run off to see the lanterns and she will find Flynn and make him her guide.

She ends up at the Snuggly Duckling and she doesn't find Flynn but she does find Gina, a young career criminal girl looking to break the glass ceiling. Gina agrees to help her find Flynn. They find Flynn, and he agrees to help guide Rapunzel to see the floating lanterns for a split reward of the crown with Gina.

The Snuggly Duckling gets burned down by Countess Bathory (yes that Elizabeth Bathory) and the Pub Thugs are pissed about it and also they're helping Rapunzel even though she didn't sing the I've Got A Dream song don't worry about it. We learn that the nobles that wanted to buy Rapunzel are now hunting her down so she can go to auction.

Gina takes them to her adopted mother's cottage. Gina's mother is a white witch, who goes by the name of Goodwife. She doesn't get an actual name she's just The Goodwife. Anyhow, the cottage is a magic safe space (for now) and Goodwife teaches Rapunzel that her hair isn't inherently evil and may not even be all that deadly! Rapunzel learns that her hair has other powers too, like the ability to turn skink Pascal into a sentient Chameleon. Yeah.

Also Goodwife tells Rapunzel she's the dead princess but this isn't like, an immediate call to action. Not a lot happens until we get this story's version of the Mother Knows Best Reprise where Gothel finds Rapunzel again but has to flee, but this Rapunzel has a bigger support network and isn't buying it. Flynn and Gina decide the safest course of action is to bring Rapunzel to the castle, but along the way she gets kidnapped by the Countess.

Gothel is pissed because she still wants the money for Rapunzel, so she rallies the armies of all the opposing bidders. Flynn and Gina convince Max the Man to send for his troops, and he joins them in going to the enemy castle. Flynn tries to sneak in, gets caught, and meanwhile there's a bloody battle out the front between the noble armies. Max jumps into the fray, Gina turns around and rallies the Pub Thugs.

Rapunzel uses her shrinking magic (!) to disappear half the castle and escape with Eugene, and the Pub Thugs arrive and basically end the battle. The Captain is dying but it's okay! Rapunzel turns him into a horse :) Also Rapunzel sees Gothel and tells her to fuck off.

The story ends with a tearful reunion between Rapunzel and her parents, Eugene and Gina are implied to be biological siblings, and things are good but of course in direct parallel to Cass Gina leaves at the end to become an adventurer. The end.

(There are a few other smaller plot beats, but you get the idea.)

MY THOTS

So here are my thoughts™.

Framing Device

I'll just state that I didn't like that the story was told via the vehicle of an older brother telling his 16 year old sister a different version of the Tangled Movie in a cancer ward. From what I've heard it also isn't normal for the Twisted Tales series to use a framing device for the AUs either.

I sympathise with the author's personal story, of course I do. That doesn't mean I'm stirred with compassion every time the flow of the story is interrupted to remind you to be sad because this is a story being told to a girl sick with cancer. It feels more than a little tragedy-porny rather than emotionally touching, and maybe that's because I'm too burnt out on real life tragedy to waste emotional energy on fictional cancer patients but we don't need to do Fault In Our Stars discourse again.

Real World References

This story goes heavy with Real World references. And another issue with the framing device as above is that you do feel like this is a story being told by someone namedropping every historical figure they know which makes it harder to get into the story.

There's like... a lot of references to Christianity, particularly in the prologue. There's a priest that thinks Rapunzel's hair is the work of the Devil or whatever. It's a lot. The Patriarchy is a thing. And that's not even getting into the Countess. I put it very succinctly in my notes so I'll paste it here:

I wish she’d just been an OC who could exist to chew scenery because the fact that she was a literal historical serial killer is super. Off putting. Like, she could have been an obvious reference to Bathory, but it feels like Miku Binder Hamilton levels of uncomfortable to me.

I miss Lady D.

Which basically sums up my problem with trying to take the setting of Tangled and put it somewhere in the Real World and somewhere on the Timeline. Who thought this was a good idea.

Misc. Thoughts

So, I used the five highlighter colours my ipad allows to organise my thoughts and organised them accordingly: Yellow for out of place IRL references, Blue for worldbuilding/character points that aren't plot relevant but still interesting, Pink for when something I find personally amusing happens, Purple for when the story feels like it's trying to 1-up the movie in some kind of way and Green for Heterosexual Nonsense. I'll touch on those last two in the Character sections but be prepared.

Also: for a book about giving Rapunzel killer hair, her hair isn't very dangerous. I wanted to see Rapunzel kill someone, and I'm disappointed that I didn't.

Characters

I'll do a deep dive into my thoughts about the characters before wrapping it up. I'm starting with Gina because she's honestly the easiest to get through.

Gina

Gina is a new character introduced for the story. She's a young woman trying to make it as a career criminal but keeps hitting that glass ceiling. So here's the down low, for all those who want to know: Gina is basically Cass, only not really. She's implied to be Eugene's biological sister, as previously mentioned, but you can imagine she's Cass the entire way through without breaking your immersion because if you imagined Cass if she were adopted by a Goodwitch rather than the Captain and had a looser, more wilderness survivor than trainee guard upbringing then you get Gina.

I liked Gina! I think she's fun as her own character too, and her best moments are when she's interacting with her mother Goody Goodwife, and she of course picks up a natural sibling rivalry with Eugene, but I was disappointed with how little she really bonded with Rapunzel because she needed to make room for Eugene and Rapunzel's romance.

Rapunzel

Okay, here's our protagonist. There's a notable effort to make Rapunzel more active in her destiny and whatever, and sometimes it works but sometimes it doesn't. I was worried they'd try to go full butt-kicking girlboss with her but I was pleasantly surprised that Rapunzel was pretty useless in most scenes, genuinely love to see it.

With a more intimate look into Rapunzel's psyche through the medium of prose, we see Rapunzel really questioning Gothel's behaviour even before she leaves the tower, and while I appreciate that she can develop her own cynicism I feel it starts unnecessarily early. This is my purple colour; the movie needs to be "fixed" by showing the readers that this Rapunzel is quicker to distrust Gothel. She's also quicker to hatch a plan to go outside of the tower on her own, and she makes a plan to make Flynn her guide for the lanterns even though he never stumbles upon her in the tower- and even though she has a perfectly rational reason not to trust him which is that he is a stranger and a Wanted Thief.

In the moments where it does work is when Rapunzel is surrounded by her new support network: Flynn, Goodwife and Gina, who encourage her to question Gothel's sincerity, and Rapunzel comes up with her own defences for Gothel so that she can poke through them herself.

I have some other thoughts about Rapunzel's hair and her powers, like how the story provides the interesting concept that her hair gets different powers with the different phases of the moon, but a lot of the powers are uhhh stupid and also I feel like it really robs the story of the whole gripping conflict of "Yes I'm Rapunzel Yes my hair kills people what of it".

In as far as just Rapunzel herself though, she still felt pretty in character nonetheless, and maybe that's all I can ask.

Flynn Rider / Eugene Fitzherbert

My boy I am so sorry. They neutered my boy.

Long story short: Eugene in this story is the sexy lamp. He contributes nothing to the plot except to be there for Rapunzel to drool over. And of course because he won't get any character development, he starts from the very beginning as a sweet soft boi with none of the Flynn Rider characterisation from the movie because we don't have time for that, he needs to be husband material stat.

His whole character is the colour green for Heterosexual Nonsense.

So, here's the problem. In the movie, there's not a lot of time for ~friendship~ between Rapunzel and Eugene because they kind of immediately see each other as a romantic prospect. And whatever, it's a movie and there's only so much time. But this book had the opportunity to take things a bit slower and instead chooses to make Rapunzel get jealous whenever Eugene and Gina interact and for her to be constantly wishing he was holding her hand.

Say what you will about Lost Lagoon, but it tells a good romance story just by virtue of not intending to be a romance story, because the author is trying to convey a strong bond between Rapunzel and Cassandra without using "and they kiss" as a cheatcode. What Once Was Mine says "he was a boy, she was a girl, could it be any more obvious?" and leaves it at that.

Now as for how this all pertains to Eugene's character? Well, it just robs him of any flavour. In the movie there's a clear distinction between Flynn and Eugene, when we learn Eugene's real name about halfway through. We see a clear difference between the Flynn we knew- kind of an asshole, wanated to drop Rapunzel off at the Snuggly Duckling and get rid of her- and Eugene, who is sincere and chooses Rapunzel as his New Dream in opposition to his Old Dream of living alone on an island with a bunch of money.

This version of Eugene is basically Eugene all the way through, because the plot doesn't really need Eugene there but he has to be there because it's a Tangled AU so there's no Rapunzel rescuing Flynn from the guards and healing his hand scene, he just loves her immediately and that's that. They have a little spat at one point but it's cleared up later and not because they actually communicate but because they kiss.

Rapunzel only learns Eugene's real name at the very end of the story, and gives a speech about how Eugene is the real him, but it's just so flat because 'Flynn' has been sincere this whole time? Anyway he does nothing of value for the entire story except be there for Rapunzel to lust after. Eugene I'm so sorry.

Gothel

Gothel's sort of the Big Bad and is characterised as an abusive asshole, the usual. I wish there were a bit more nuance to her character but then again in this story she's not just being passively evil- taking care of Rapunzel for selfish reasons but nevertheless maintaining the status quo- she's being actively evil in trying to sell Rapunzel off.

It's notably funny that Gothel sees the Countess Bathory and is like "what the fuck".

Anyway Gothel in this story also feels very weak in part because this Rapunzel is more critical and in part because this Rapunzel has a new support network. It's for that reason the Mother Knows Best Reprise scene doesn't really work, because the original has Gothel pit Rapunzel against Eugene, whereas she can't do that here so it remains a Gothel vs Rapunzel thing.

She gets a boring death as an epilogue addendum that someone rips out the Sundrop flower, which tbh? lame. It would be a lot more fun if it were open ended but I am also preferential to Rapunzel actually using her killer hair to kill someone. Please

Captain Justin Tregsburg

It's Max. He was a human but then he got turned into a horse. what the fuck you guys

[where-theres-smoak-2]

Hiya 👋 I find it fascinating when people point out stuff about main characters that are brushed over and was I was wondering what’s your top reasons you dislike Alina and what scenes made you dislike her / made no sense.

Well I don't dislike Alina in the show but in the books I do think she is badly written. But here are some things that made the book character less appealing to me than the show.

I think the main one is her complete lack of agency. She very rarely makes any decisions for herself and just seems to go along with what everyone else (mostly male characters) say. There is a problem and instead of Alina being the one to make a decision or think of a solution she is told this is what we are going to do by either, M*l, Nikolai or the apparat. She is pushed around the plot by others actions instead of taking control herself and so often appears more as a puppet than as a commander or influential person in herself. For example in the show Alina is the one who tells M*l that they should seek the stag and kill it for it's amplification powers before the darkling does. Yet in the books this decision isn't hers but M*l's and Alina just goes along with it. There are also several instances where she clearly doesn't agree with the course of action or doesn't want to do something and yet she does it anyway, an example of this is when Nikolai and M*l want to attack the Volcra nest in the fold. She clearly has qualms about it but ends up folding to their will, another example is M*l insisting that once the fold and the darkling are destroyed that they seek a way to remove the amplifier, again this is something Alina doesn't want to do but she agrees with M*l and doesn't tell him her true desire. So what we end up with is a female protagonist who very much seems to be a pawn to the male characters in the book.

Another thing I disliked about the character's storyline is that she was often the victim of men, held captive and used to their advantage and this included one the supposed heroes. The darkling takes her captive twice wanting to use the amplifiers and control her to meet his own goals, Nikolai also at one point takes her captive and only really gives her freedom back to her because she agrees to help him, and the apparat takes her captive so that he can use her to gain religious power over the masses. She also never gets herself out of these situations, she just accepts her situation and waits to be rescued, for others to save her so that they too can use her for their own gain. I find this theme of her either being a victim of men or the pawn of one really worrying.

Another issue with the way she is written which again ties into the two above is that she is made far too dependant on M*l. Not only does she make herself very ill by suppressing her powers to stay with M*l but when her powers are revealed her refusal to let go of her attachment to M*l means that she struggles to master her powers, she becomes physically unable to summon because her refusal to let M*l go. Later in book two and three she spends a lot of time pining after him and getting in arguments about their positions of power. M*l feels useless and resents Alina's new position and power, he wants things to go back to how they were. He really does hold her back in many ways and this really should have been a love that they both grew out of but instead despite it being made obvious that they don't really fit together they both refuse to let the other go which means one or the other has to make sacrifices in order for them to be together. Not only that but Alina often puts M*l's needs, wants and safety above the greater good, rather than save the grisha or other vulnerable people she will safe M*l even going so far as to let 30-40 innocent people die in the fold so that she can save his life. This co-dependant relationship that she has with M*l is very unhealthy and toxic which would be ok if this was recognised within the narrative and then steps were taken to fix it, but instead this relationship is presented as some grand love story despite how damaging it truly is to Alina. In the Tv adaption they show us that Alina can be very happy and actually thrive without M*l in ep 5, its the happiest we ever see her and the most confident, yet she never gets this opportunity in the books.

Alina is also very insecure and jealous and we often see her pitted against other females, in particular Zoya. If there is one thing I really am not a fan of its authors pitting women against women particularly when it is over a man. Throughout all of the books Alina is insecure that Zoya is more beautiful than her and is insecure about her own looks, particularly when is comes to M*l, she is often jealous believing M*l will be turned by other pretty girls instead of him staying loyal to her. She often worries that she won't be good enough as the Sun Summoner and that the people will come to hate her. Again all of this would have been fine if it were limited to just the beginning of her story arc and it was something she overcame, but she never really does. She often comes across as being quite sulky as well. There was this one quote that I kept seeing in the tag that Alina says which is 'I am the Sun Summoner. It gets dark when I say it does.' Obviously before reading the books I kept wondering the circumstances of her saying this. It is a bit of a badass quote so naturally I was imaging all kinds of grand, dramatic scenarios, her shouting it across the battlefield to the darkling, her saying it in a war meeting as they are making plans as a way of instilling hope and confidence in her troops. So you can imagine my disappointment when it is actually said whilst she is lying outside on the ground, sad and feeling sorry for herself. When presented with a problem or a wrench in a plan she doesn't rally her team and try to come up with a solution instead she just sulks which as a reader I found very frustrating. The thing is both Alina and M*l are written as rather realistic teenagers, but the problem is this doesn't fit the world they are living in. They live in a world based off imperial russia and yet the characters do not behave as if they are, instead they act like they are modern day teenagers attending high school with petty jealousy and childhood crushes.

There is also her identity as a grisha and relationship with the grisha. One of the more interesting aspects of the grisha trilogy is the grisha's story, their oppression and their fight to be recognised as human beings and equals. Yet Alina shows very little care for the Grisha. In fact to me it seems like the author just made Alina grisha to serve the plot. Alina is grisha because the narrative needs her to be, they need her to be powerful enough to defeat the villainous darkling and destroy the fold. Instead of striving to improve things for the Grisha Alina supports the monarchy that has spent centuries oppressing them. The moment LB no longer needs Alina to be grisha she is stripped of the identity and the grisha are left in their misery in a world that still hunts, kills and enslaves them.

Alina is also often punished in the narrative by other characters but also by herself. She is often shamed for the attraction she felt towards the darkling and is called things like stupid girl. Not only is she blamed for falling for the darkling's manipulation she is also told she is greedy and power hungry for seeking out the amplifiers and political power. It's a very twisted message that is sent because we are told she is seeking the amplifiers to stop the villain which is a heroic cause and yet we are also told that she is doing out of greed. There seems to be this message that women should not seek power or a change in their position because that means they are greedy and evil.

Then after three books of the protagonist being used as a chess piece by the men in the story she gets one of the worst endings a heroine could. Both Nikolai and M*l get what they want in the end but its at a cost to Alina, Nikolai gets the Ravkan throne and M*l gets the quiet farm life with Alina as his wife. But Alina loses her powers and the position of power she got with them. The two things she explicitly asks for and tells us she desires, her position as general of the second army and her powers/amplifiers. In fact she even tells us in the second book that given a choice she would not give up her powers not even for M*l. Yet that is what happens and worse than that the narrative tells us that she was wrong and greedy for seeking power and influence, they present this ending she gets as a happy one because she gets to spend her life with M*l living a nice normal life. As a reader I found this difficult to except because the character had told us on many occasions that it was not what she wanted, we are shown often how miserable she is without her powers and yet we are expected to believe that this was some wonderful fairytale ending for her when it seems like whilst the men got their happy ever afters it was at the expense of Alina.

There is probably more but before this turns into a full on rant I think it best to leave it here.

[southeastasianhistories]

Southeast Asia’s role in World War I is all but lost to history. There was no major invasion of the region by a hostile power, like Japan in World War II. None of the Central Powers – an alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire – had colonial territory in the region, except on the periphery. German New Guinea quickly fell to the Allies after the outbreak of war in July 1914.

Yet the First World War, which ended 100 years ago this month, proved a decisive event for Southeast Asia. For the first time, it severely tested the relationship between the colonial authorities of Britain, France and the Netherlands (neutral in the war) and their colonial subjects in Southeast Asia, for whom sacrifice in the conflict was to be a rallying cry for more civil rights. The burgeoning nationalist movements throughout the region swelled with veterans returning home from democratic and industrial nations, while others, with considerable consequences in later decades, brought home interests in the radical politics at the time, not least communism.

Arguably, the most interesting response to the declaration of war was made by Siam, as Thailand was then known. As the only Southeast Asian nation not colonised by a European power, Siam, under the absolute monarch King Vajiravudh, decided to go to war against the Central Powers in 1917, sending its own troops to fight in Europe. The Siamese Expeditionary Force of more than 1,000 troops arrived in the French port of Marseilles in July 1918. It was led by Major-General Phraya Phya Bhijai Janriddhi, who had received military training in France before the war. At first, the Thai troops were employed by the Allies as rear-guard labour detachments, taking part in the Second Battle of the Marne in August that year. The following month, they saw their first frontline action. They took part in several offences, including the occupation of the German Rhineland. In the end, 19 Thais had lost their lives – none from battle.

King Vajiravudh’s decision to go to war was calculated. Gambling on Allied victory, he believed Siam’s participation would earn it the respect of Britain and France. He was correct. Although it was independent, neighbouring colonisers (the British in Burma and the French in Cambodia) had slowly whittled away Siam’s territory in the preceding decades, with large tracts of land returned to Cambodia in the late 19th century. After WWI, though, Siam’s territory didn’t budge. Equally important, Siam took part in the 1919 Versailles Peace Conference and was a founding member of the League of Nations, a clear indication that Western powers now saw it as a legitimate force on the international stage and in Southeast Asia.

The rulers of independent Siam might have wanted respect and power, but the thoughts of ordinary people from the rest of colonised Southeast Asia are little known. Few first-hand accounts exist for historians. Quite probably, however, many did not want to be thrust unquestionably into the greatest fratricide the world had yet seen, and some no doubt hoped the colonial empires would be destroyed by the whole endeavour. Yet some nationalists, especially those of higher rank who weren’t expected to fight, saw the war effort as a means of gaining more political rights for themselves under the colonial system.

The war, for example, provided the Vietnamese with “an unexpected opportunity to test France’s ability to live up to vaunted self-representations of invincibility”, as Philippe Peycam wrote in 2012’s The Birth of Vietnamese Political Journalism: Saigon, 1916-1930. The prominent Vietnamese nationalist Phan Chu Trinh, who had spent years in jail before the war for his activism and was imprisoned for six months in 1914 on wrongful charges of colluding with the Germans, played a considerable role in recruiting Vietnamese men for the war. Another noted nationalist, Duong Van Giao, published a history of the Vietnamese war effort, 1925’s L’Indochine pendant la guerre de 1914–1918. Because of Vietnam’s sacrifice, he called on the French colonials to adopt a “native policy”: not quite outright independence but radical reform of civil rights for the Vietnamese. It was a similar sentiment as expressed in Claims of the Annamite People, an influential tract cowritten in France in 1919 by a young activist who later became known as Ho Chi Minh, who had spent most of the war working in a London hotel under the famous chef Auguste Escoffier.

As a French colony, Vietnam was expected to provide troops for the war effort, but there were differing views among colonial officers as to what role they should play. Lieutenant-Colonel Théophile Pennequin was a hardliner but also a keen reformer. Before the outbreak of war, Pennequin requested that he be allowed to form a competent military unit that was termed by some as an armée jaune (yellow army), similar to the force noire (black force) popularised by General Charles Mangin in France’s West African colonies. For Pennequin, a national native army would allow Vietnamese to gain “positions of command and provide the French with loyal partners with whom they could build a new and, eventually, independent Indochinese state,” wrote historian Christopher Goscha in 2017’s The Penguin History of Modern Vietnam.

But Pennequin’s designs were rejected by Paris and, instead, most Vietnamese recruits were sent to Europe to work in factories or as supply hands. Yet some did fight. One estimate contends that out of 100,000 Vietnamese conscripts sent to the war in Europe, roughly 12,000 lost their lives. A battalion of Tonkinese Rifles, an elite corps formed in the 1880s, saw action on the Western Front near Verdun. Do Huu Vi, a celebrated pilot from an elite family, became a national hero after his plane was shot down over France.

Despite overt racism by some French nationals and trade unions’ concerns that they were bringing down wages, many of the Vietnamese put to work in munitions factories found it a revelatory experience. Some started relationships with Frenchwomen, unsurprising since other workers in wartime factories were mostly women. Others joined social clubs and reading groups. After the war, wrote Goscha, “a hundred thousand Vietnamese veterans returned to Indochina hoping to start a new life. Some wanted French citizenship; most expected good jobs and upward social mobility. Several hoped to modernise Vietnam along Western lines, despite the barbarity they had just witnessed in Europe.”

It was a similar story for the Philippines, then a United States colony. It declared war on Germany in April 1917, the same time Washington did. At first, the colonial government requested the drafting of 15,000 Filipinos for service, but more than 25,000 enlisted. These troops formed the Philippine National Guard, a militia that was later absorbed into the American military. Most of the recruits, though, would not leave the Philippines during the war. Those who did travelled as part of the American Expeditionary Forces. In June 1918, the first Filipino died in action at the Battle of Château-Thierry, in France: Tomas Mateo Claudio, a former contract labourer on a sugar plantation in Hawaii who had enlisted in the US.

It is not known exactly how many Southeast Asians died during the First World War. Of those active in the European theatre, the number is estimated to be more than 20,000, mostly conscripts from the French colonies. It was a small figure compared to the number of Southeast Asians who perished during the Second World War. And, unlike in that war, there wasn’t a great arena of warfare in Southeast Asia during the First since none of the Central Powers nations had any imperial control in the region.

But Germany did have influence in China and possessed leased territory in Kiautschou Bay, near present-day Jiaozhou. It was invaded by Japanese forces after 1915, and China would later declare war on Germany in August 1917. But in October 1914, the German East Asia Squadron still had its base in the concession – it was from there that a lone light cruiser, the SMS Emden, slipped into Penang Harbour, part of what was then British Malaya. Disguised as a British vessel, the German cruiser launched a surprise attack on a Russian ship and then sank a French destroyer that had given chase. The sole attack on Malaya during the war killed 100 and wounded thousands more.

After the attack, the Emden is thought to have docked in a port in the Dutch East Indies, present-day Indonesia, raising British suspicions that the Dutch weren’t as neutral as they had claimed. Neutrality, moreover, didn’t mean the colony went unscathed. The Dutch East Indies was home to a sizeable German population that worked to “coordinate and finance covert operations designed to undermine British colonial rule and economic interests in Southeast Asia,” as historian Heather Streets-Salter wrote in 2017’s World War One in Southeast Asia: Colonialism and Anticolonialism in an Era of Global Conflict.

The Emden was finally stopped by an Australian cruiser that ran it ashore in Singapore. The surviving crew of the German vessel were interned there, then a part of British Malaya. Also stationed in Singapore was the Indian Army’s Fifth Light Infantry, which unsuccessfully mutinied in January 1915 after they learned they might be sent to fight in Turkey against fellow Muslims (though they were eventually sent to Hong Kong instead). The 309 interned Germans from the Emden joined in the mutiny, which left dead eight British and three Malay soldiers, as well as a dozen Singapore civilians.

A much forgotten history of World War I was a Turco-German plot to promote jihad (holy war) in parts of the Muslim world colonised by the Allies, including Malaya. Using the Dutch East Indies as a base, supporters of the Central Powers produced “pan-Islamic, anti-British propaganda” that was sent to Muslim-majority British Malaya, and also to India. One of the architects of this plan, Max von Oppenheim, wrote in a position paper in 1914: “In the battle against England… Islam will become one of our most important weapons.” The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed V, issued a fatwa against the Allies in November of that year. In British Malaya, the authorities doubled down on censorship by closing many Malay-language newspapers, some of which were considered supportive of the Ottoman Empire.

Pan-Islamic propaganda agitating for independence of Malaya was just as attractive to the Muslim-majority subjects of the Dutch East Indies where it was produced. In the preceding decades, these subjects had been demanding more freedoms, even independence, for themselves. This was a serious cause of concern for the Dutch colonialists, but ultimately the real impact of the war on the Dutch East Indies was economic. The Allies’ blockade of European waters, as well as control of Asian waters, made it difficult for Dutch ships to reach the colony for trade purposes.

“The Netherlands Indies was effectively cordoned off by the British Navy,” wrote Kees Van Dijk in 2008’s The Netherlands Indies and the Great War, 1914-1918. As a result, the war caused price increases and severe food shortages in the Dutch East Indies. By the end of 1916, the export industry was practically destroyed. Around that time, social unrest had gained momentum. Rural protesters burned reserve crops, eventually leading to famine in some parts of the colony. Nationalists and a small contingent of socialists began advocating for revolution. By 1918, unrest was so dire that the governor general called a meeting of the nationalist leaders where he made the so-called “November promises” of more political representation and freedom, but these were empty promises.

Economic problems were a constant throughout the region. To help pay for the war effort, the French and British were reduced to raising taxes in their Southeast Asian colonies. The burden fell mainly on the poor. Small wonder it resulted in unprecedented protests. A failed uprising took place in Kelantan, British Malaya, in April 1915. In Cambodia, the so-called 1916 Affair saw tens of thousands of peasants march into Phnom Penh demanding the king reduce taxes. None of these were exact appeals of “no taxation without representation”, but rather the germinal expressions of self-independence that were to become more forceful across the region in the 1930s, and decisive after World War II. Brian Farrell, a professor of military history at the National University of Singapore, has described the impact of the First World War on Southeast Asia as significant yet delayed.

By the close of the war, many of the colonies returned to some form of pre-war normalcy. Yet the colonial governments, indebted and weakened from the conflict, knew that reforms had to be made in Southeast Asia. In Laos, the French-run administration thought the county “secure enough” in October 1920 to introduce the first of a series of political reforms aimed at decentralising power through local appointees, wrote Martin Stuart-Fox in A History of Laos. The British authorities in Malaya also experimented with decentralisation in the 1920s, which involved placing more power in the hands of the provincial sultans. In 1916, the Jones Act was passed in Washington to begin the process of granting the Philippines a “more autonomous government”, including a parliament, which was built upon until full independence in 1946.

War also transformed the role of local elites, who took on more autonomy and power. In Vietnam, the years after 1919 saw the creation of reformist newspapers, written in the increasingly popular Vietnamese script instead of the Roman alphabet, which the French had imposed. In Cambodia and Laos, such forceful nationalism did not arise until the 1930s. Other reformists in the region grew interested in ideologies brought back from the West. The South Seas Communist Party, a pan-Southeast Asian party, was formed in Burma in 1925 before splitting along national lines in 1930. Ho Chi Minh, who spent the war in London, helped create the Communist Party of Indochina that year. Tan Malaka, who had actually tried enlisting to fight with the German army – without success – became an integral part of the communist movement in the Dutch East Indies, later becoming known as something of a father of the independent Republic of Indonesia.

World War I laid bare the unequal “social contract” that colonial authorities had forced their colonial subjects in Southeast Asia to sign. The contract would only become more obviously threadbare by the 1920s, yet it took the next global conflict, which had a far greater impact on the region than the first, for these anti-colonial movements to grab real political power.