#(long winded)

[flawseer]

"#21 - Ancient", follow-up

I'm not going to be able to finish Smaugust #23 today, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. Apologies.

Instead, for a change of pace, let's talk about something different. I've seen a few reactions to my submission for day 21 that wondered what on earth must have possessed Secretkeeper to romantically pursue Morrowseer, and what that must have been like. Did they love each other? Was there any tenderness or affection between them? I figured I should give you my take on them.

I believe that Morrowseer--somewhere deep within his black, twisted lump of a heart--did indeed have feelings for Secretkeeper. You can kind of see this in the Prisoners short where he very unfavorably compares Farsight to Secretkeeper and sings the praises of the latter. He holds her in high esteem and seems to value her intelligence. He probably really wanted to have a meaningful relationship with her.

Unfortunately, he is wracked with the burden of having to be Morrowseer; a bitter, deeply unpleasant, emotionally shallow old dragon incapable of the humility required to be compassionate. For all the prestige and clout that Morrowseer has as an elite member of the Queen's court, his social life seems very empty and sad. He has no friends, only co-workers (who don't like him) and underlings (who butter him up), and I think he feels incomplete because of that. To fill this void, he fixates on asserting his importance and is desperate to maintain his status. He deeply desired to be the father of the prophecy Nightwing--which would have cemented him as the one dragon who saved his tribe--and the fact that he failed to sire a child in time not once (necessitating Starflight), but twice (necessitating Fatespeaker) eats him up on the inside. He perceives this as a huge failure, and Mastermind (who succeeded where he failed) picked up on this and mocks him for it. His entire conversation with Farsight reeks of "I am mad and jealous that your kid is special! It should have been mine!! Goddamnit why wasn't it mine!??"

For Secretkeeper's side... no, I don't think there's any deep affection there. I don't think she anticipated this relationship happening in the first place. But she did want to have a child, and when Morrowseer approached her, she weighed her options. If one can stomach living with someone like Morrowseer--who always has to be the most important person in the room--it's not an entirely bad deal. You get a lot of social clout as the Queen's right hand's mate, and since Morrowseer is exempt from the strict food rationing policy, you also get to eat. And he actively wants to have children to secure his legacy, which, if that's what you want as well, is pretty good. So in my mind she probably just went "Yeah, I can probably make this work. I'm sure he's not as bad to be around when he likes you." and agreed out of convenience.

But I doubt she loved him. There isn't really a reality where I can reconcile "She loved him" and "She kept their shared child a secret from him because she did not trust him". The only thing Secretkeeper genuinely loved about Morrowseer was that she was able to have Moonwatcher. So she stuck it out for her daughter, and I don't think she was upset for very long when Morrowseer died. She might have even felt a sense of relief that she didn't have to keep lying anymore.

I've seen people point to the fact that Secretkeeper felt a desire to tell Moonwatcher who her father was, and then posit that this means she did have feelings for him. I'm not sure I really agree. All that tells me is that she has feelings for Moonwatcher and wants her to know the truth. But if the truth is "I didn't really love your father, he was an awful and unpleasant person and I was just with him so I could have you", it becomes understandable why she would choose not to tell her.

That's my read of the situation anyway. Yours might be entirely different!

[isagrimorie]

It’s always frustrating whenever the BAU tackles a case where either the victimology or UnSub has similarities to Prentiss’s background/upbringing but the writers rarely use it to give insights on Prentiss or have Prentiss’s background provide some insights into a case.

As an example, The Performer is an episode featuring Gavin Rossdale as a rockstar whose kayfabe was being a Vampire ala Lestat but fake.

The show could have dove a little into the goth community, a community Emily Prentiss used to be a part of. Did they do that? Unfortunately, no, they hung a lantern on it. The writers had Penelope tease Emily about how she used to dress Goth. Even though, Emily still dressed like one but corporate style.

In the episode, Pleasure is My Business. The UnSub grew up around wealth and privilege and then used sex work to lure her victims.

We discover in Lauren that Prentiss was in a similar enough situation re: Operation Valhalla.

Ala The Americans show, Prentiss used intimacy to get close to Ian Doyle.

Emily Prentiss became Lauren Reynolds because she matched Doyle’s type.

I know the writers had a vague idea of Prentiss’ past only that the writers had breadcrumbs pointing to a rich, mysterious past. They don’t have a crystal ball, but the privileged background could have been a jumping off point for a discussion, an insight to the UnSub’s thoughts.

In the season 16 episode, Orpheus Wrecks, the writers could have again used that case as a way to get more insight into Prentiss’ hidden personal life. As a Politician’s kid, and a somewhat savvy political operator herself, Prentiss would have been as familiar, if more, to the DC wonk space as Bailey was.

Prentiss would also be familiar with the Beltway Elite app even if she didn’t use it herself.

(As a former Spook, the idea of having an app like that in her phone would give Prentiss OpSec paranoia. She would not want her photo distributed everywhere. Being on Politico was enough of a headache for her tbh).

I know Prentiss’ whole thing is she wanted to distance herself from her mother’s political life but she would still have friends and would have known more people as she climbed up the ladder in the FBI.

Other shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Elementary, and Person of Interest almost always use a kernel of similarity/parallelism in their various cases of the week as a jumping-off point to tell a richer story about their characters.

Criminal Minds does but selectively.

This is what makes the show frustrating. You can always tell when the show could have threaded the Case/Monster of the Week and connected the case to one of the characters.

Morgan and JJ also needed more exploration. The only one the writers they consistently use this with is Reid.

To the writer’s credit they have vaguely gestured at Emily’s mysterious past— setting up Emily’s existential crisis about her morality in the face of what she’s done while she worked for CIA and JTF-12.

But then the show goes several episodes mentioning the problem, an arc villain, and it’s frustrating!

(I sometimes lowkey wish some Whedon trained writers joined Criminal Minds to establish a good character-to-case ratio. Like, Jane Espenson. Or someone from Person of Interest writers room joining the Evolution writers team. The idea of Denise Thé writing for the CM ladies makes me yearn because delicious character development + inventive messed up twists. Erica Messer does a good job showrunning— a different job altogether than just writing for the show. But also— I yearn! Think about a POI caliber writer in a CM writers room! It would be so good to have, IMO. Not that PoI was entirely perfect either, I have my frustrations too!)

——

Chris Mundy seemed interested in delving into the internal lives of the characters, especially Emily’s. Demonology was really important for our understanding of Emily Prentiss.

Her guilt, her low-key self-loathing— the way she runs from the people she loves because she thinks she’s not worth it. The way she can conform to be anyone to fit into a situation and not stand out.

Her casual regard for sex as a tool to help her get accepted. All things that were helpful for Prentiss when she became a spy.

As Michael Westen from Burn Notice said: “People with happy families don’t become spies. A bad childhood is the perfect background for covert ops.”

TLDR— It’s just frustrating because they’re always nearly at the cusp of a great character driven procedural but then almost always back off from giving us really good food.

[everyoneisgayandtrans]

Fellow men, you're right to be angry, BUT, you're angry at the wrong people. Your problems are not the fault of women, feminism, racial minorities, or the LGBT. These groups are people that are exploited and hurt by the same system that you're being hurt by. And that's patriarchy, capitalism, and fascism.

DON'T BLAME IT ON THE GAY MEN, BLAME IT ON "THE MAN"

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE! OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT! ASSASSINATE ELON MU--

My lawyers have advised me to clarify that the overthrowing the government and assassinating Elon things were a bit, obviously you shouldn't actually go out and do that.

That said I do stand by what I said before that.

Men are being abused and manipulated by the system that claims to be keeping them in power-and it is keeping men in power, but only men who were born fabulously wealthy and well-connected. The average guy like you and me? We're nothing but blunt instruments to politicians and business men who control the world. Those people want to turn you into their willing slave army and turn you against women, minorities, and queer people while promising you purpose and fulfillment. Well you're not going to get purpose and fulfillment through misogyny, racism, or anti-LGBT bigotry, okay? You find purpose and fulfillment through KINDNESS! EMPATHY! COMPASSION! LOVE!

That's the kind of man I want to be. Not a he-man womun-hater. Someone who builds people up, not someone who tears others down.

I'm kind of rambling but I'm hoping someone understands what I'm trying to say. I'm a leftist, but I think a lot of leftist rhetoric intends to hold men accountable - which is good - but ends up either being or coming across as just bashing men and calling us evil - which is bad.

A lot of young men hear this rhetoric and don't hear "we need to hold men accountable for their actions", they hear "kill all men", whether or not that's the intended message, it's a harmful message that radicalizes impressionable men into hateful alt-right circles.

If you treat someone as the bad guy by default, then they're going to internalize that view of themselves, and instead of working to improve themselves, they'll embrace being the villain you tell them they are. If no one believes you can be better, why bother to prove them wrong?

Wow, I wrote a lot. ADHD POWERS ACTIVATE!

Well, TL;DR, uh... Don't hate the player hate the game?

[petemitchellapologist]

thinking about that one time last year I played stanley parable deluxe so much and i got to the part with the steam reviews but I didn't want to skip the narrators monolgue because I felt bad for him so I listened to it nonstop for ages and I kept hearing him say it out loud even when I wasn't playing the game

[hyperlexichypatia]

what are your thoughts on the people pushing the idea of things like social anxiety is some form of "narcissim" or individualistic way of thinking?

Fair warning, this might be rambling...

My first thought is that we should just abolish the term "narcissism." It's too tainted. Originally it just meant selfishness or self-centeredness, but now it's completely tied in to the psychiatric meaning, which is just constructed as "ontological bad person disorder."

I have heard (a lot) the idea that being socially anxious is "selfish" because it's thinking that other people are thinking about you, when in reality, no one is thinking about you at all.

I think this is flawed in a few ways.

First of all, people can't help how they feel, so an emotion, like anxiety, is inherently morally neutral.

Second, sometimes "Nobody is actually paying attention to you, and thinking they are is just self-centeredness" is... false. Sometimes people actually are paying attention to you! Especially if you visibly look "different" somehow!

And it's just denying reality to insist that's not true.

Third, even if being anxious about how other people see you is "individualistic" or "thinking about yourself"... so what? You are yourself. You are an individual. What else should you be?

I think most people really don't think critically enough about exactly when, how, why, and under what circumstances "selfishness" is a moral problem.

Selfishness is a moral problem when you're prioritizing yourself at the expense of others. Like, thinking of yourself as better or "more deserving" than others, or not fulfilling your responsibilities toward others, or monopolizing resources needed by others.

Having your own thoughts, feelings, individuality, interiority, or subjective reality isn't inherently "selfish" in a moral sense as long as these things don't harm others.

If you feel anxious, your emotional state isn't inherently harming others -- it isn't inherently "selfish" in a bad way -- unless you choose to make your anxiety someone else's problem or use it to take away someone else's rights. And in that case, the moral problem isn't your emotion, it's your actions.

Feeling social anxiety doesn't inherently harm others, so what does it matter if you're thinking about yourself?

The thing is, the kind of virtue ethics that concludes "thinking about yourself (even if it isn't at anyone else's expense and causes no harm to others) is inherently wrong, because it's the wrong kind of thinking" is every bit as selfish as social anxiety supposedly is! It's still locating the focus on the self, only, in this case, "the self" as something to be policed for Bad Self-Thought.

In sum: You're not somehow doing something wrong by being anxious. If it's wrong to focus on your thoughts and feelings, consider that the people trying to police your thoughts and feelings are also focusing on your thoughts and feelings, but with less justification, because they're not you.

[wormycomic]

[blazetbw-art]

Heya! Responding to the "reblog if you want people to ask you things" post: what's your favourite piece of headcanon (Sonic-related or otherwise) that you'll hold onto no matter what?

Still figuring out the new hellsite after migrating from a couple of the old ones. Glad to see you're still around!

Yodel! And thanks for the peep~

I've...honestly never been asked something like that before, or if I have, it's been a long long while lol. Let's see... favorite Sonic headcanon at this moment in time-

I like the idea that the world is generally at a point of relatively "world peace" that Eggman is literally the greatest threat to it.

Not that the writing has to be that deep, and sure spice can be added where one wants, but the amount of control and power this one guy has is kinda crazy.

Granted, I'm not too knowledgeable with the stories across other media beyond the games and maybe a few cartoon series. So for the sake of things, keeping the scale based around what I'm aware of in-game. He has access to SO MANY resources, or better yet, can recycle and extract even in the most minute details, and likely owns or has owned or controls several companies / areas of land / cities etc. It's not the complete control that he wants, but more than anyone on that planet likely will ever have access to at such a scale.

And yet...the (human) population as a whole is just "ok" with it? Or at least docile enough to not feel affected by him, until things go awry and suddenly they're involved and panic in a fright, if civilians. It's not to say that this world doesn't have conflicts we wouldn't be familiar with, else why would something like G.U.N. exist otherwise? Something that existed long before Eggman, Sonic and likely anyone of the current living and existing cast members, save for the likes of Chip, Chaos, Emerl, etc.

Chances are there's potentially other organizations just like it too, but they all leave him alone because they know they're simply outclassed by this one solo guy. This mad man who can make an entire space fleet and surround the world at his leisure, crack open the world and create amusement parks in his visage multiple times, while still discovering new forms of power and working to force his hand on them. THEN in the next breath just going- "Eyo, Imma televise a family friendly competition, watch/stream, buy my stuff and join the fun." beyond the usual bait to get Sonic and friends to pay attention.

Otherwise, people are just kind of living simple lives, probably rolling their eyes every time Eggman announces something until, "ah crap it got loose, fuck... I'm calling out sick tomorrow". Otherwise, people are just kind of living simple lives, probably rolling their eyes every time Eggman announces something until, "ah crap it got loose, fuck... I'm calling out sick tomorrow". It's a very "The City of Townsville" kinda vibe, but on a world scale. And everything that isn't human just catches all hell, save for the events of: - Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 - Shadow the Hedgehog - Sonic 06 - Sonic Unleashed - Sonic Chronicles

Potentially maybe even Sonic Lost World and Sonic Colors, if we're thinking about all that debris from the destroyed amusement part falling to the planet's surface. --- So uh...yeah- o < o / Thank ya for the question~

[infinitefluffderg]

Finished My Friendly Neighborhood! Good game! Can recommend if you’re a fan of Survival Horror games, though if you’re a veteran you’ll probably find Survival difficulty pretty easy. It’s almost a Baby’s First Survival Horror - and I don’t mean that detrimentally. It’s not bloody, gory, violent, it’s mostly goofy, but not straying from the real horrors of the world. It’s good for a younger audience. Though the last part of the game will scare the shit out of kids, not that they’d easily get past the puzzles.

Here’s some spoiler-free tips if you’re curious!

1. Wrench is meh! Though it’s a good way to initiate a necessary fight, it loses its usefulness by the time you have at least a full magazine of ammo. Largely this is because puppets will catch up if you’re attacking while moving backwards and the timing can be difficult before they grab/hug you. Once you have a few stacks it’s better to stick with ranged. Don’t be shy about using that ammo either. You’ll be getting a lot.

2. There’s DEFINITELY not enough tape to tape up everyone in the game. The best places to tape puppets up are hallways or rooms you expect to backtrack through a lot (save rooms, puzzle/key rooms) or have multiple puppets in an enclosed space. Even taping one out of a pair can be enough as you’re faster than the puppets as long as you’re not running backwards.

3. You have four health segments, one will take two hits and replenishes with a single heal item. There will be plenty of healing if you’re looking for it so feel free to stay topped up and only use a heal station if you’re down in Danger Town. There’s more than enough tokens to save and heal plenty (I saved around 22 times by the end). And heal bottles take up a lot of inventory space. Unless you get in a REALLY bad (self-inflicted) situation, just one bottle should be enough.

4. THERE ARE SO MANY SECRETS. Some you’ll spot casually, others you may come back to later. Keep an eye open as one chain of secrets gets you access to the game’s final weapon which’ll basically turn the game into a power fantasy. You don’t need it, but…

5. Save often! You won’t need to save too often, but a death (which can happen easily if you’re rushing into things) will put you back a ways and there’s not many save rooms. If you’ve cleared out a large amount of space, time to save!

[afreakingdork]

not sure if anyone else asked before buut.., how did you get into rottmnt and our purple clad menace, miss dork?

Hello, dear anon! I honestly have no idea if I've been asked, so I'll happily answer again.

I have absolutely no idea!!

The date was back in November 2022 and I had just finished up whatever I was watching before. Ready to pick-up on my next show, noticed Rise was on Netflix. Now, I have no idea why rise was on my radar. I have a list of bookmarks of things I mean to watch and it wasn't on it. Not a single person I knew in my life had watched it and by all accounts, i didn't know anything about it and yet... I thought I needed to watch it. I had a feeling it was on my list, I didn't check, and I simply started.

i could say the rest is history, but in all honesty I didn't like it at all at first. I didn't think it was funny, the episodes didn't interest me and I heavily debated stopping. When Stuck On You started, I got really confused and frustrated because I thought Netflix had screwed up and I missed an episode. Then I got even more annoyed to find out it was just like that. I whined to my best friend who told me over and over to drop it and why I subject myself to these things. Now, as a person, I hate dropping things I've started. i have no idea why, but once I've started something I feel compelled to finish it even if I hate it.

In the case of Rise, this proved to be everything.

I'd come to ADORE everyone and everything about the show, especially going into season 2. By mid-November I was all in and already showing signs of being in love with Donnie and after that, for real this time, the rest is history.

[sealingfan]

A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence

There are three things with which this film hits you over the head in its opening sequence: it is about death, the tone is lighthearted if miserable, and the use of sound, color, and still shots foreshadow a meticulous and deliberate symbolism. I have loved film, art, and media for some time now and recently have begun regulating my consumption at a new film a day. This film has inspired me to document my thoughts.

We are introduced not to our protagonists, but to the film as a character with simple and otherwise mundane vignettes of people living in a world whose color seems to vary widely between shades of beige. The color (or lack thereof) and apparently deliberate set dressing immediately prepares us for contrast: children blowing bubbles and playing in colorful clothes, a mother's red leggings with her stroller in the park, a red-haired woman stealing a puff off her lover's cigarette, a young couple making love on the beach, dressed in red, soldiers going off to war, men dying in literal representations of corperate machines. It seems color exists only in the lives of people with drama, with emotion. The gray-and-beige world of bar scenes, of our protagonists' flophouse, of shops and even streets are devoid of intensity and are bathed in an omnipresent fluorescent office lighting.

Our protagonists are door-to-door novelty salesmen, whos self-described purpose is to help people laugh. The obvious irony being that they lack energy and their wares are not funny. They move like mobsters, threatening their clients who are behind on payments for rubber masks. In essence, they are sad, poor, and unexceptional.

As we watch Johnathan and Sam fail their way through town, their pitiable sales pitch in yet another bar is interrupted by the army of King Charles XII of Sweden evidently marching to fight the Russians in the Great Northern War. If we payed attention in AP Euro, we'd know the young and inexperienced King Charles would force each member of the anti-Swedish coalition into submission save Russia, and upon invading Moscow would suffer wounds resulting in his army's defeat. As the young king is escorted into the bland, beige-and-pea-green bar, we see intense and bright color in the navies and golds of the Swedish military uniforms. This, to me, cements the presence of color as a physical representation to contrast the pervasive ennui and boredom of the protagonists with their lot in life. We know these soldiers will return from war wounded and defeated, if they return at all, and yet they follow a cause, they are inspired, and they have decided upon a meaning in life, disagreeable and tragic though it may be. They march to war singing a song introduced in a particularly characterful bar scene about "Limping Lotta" and her tavern in Gothenburg, with the lyrics changed to fit Charles XII's ten thousand men. We see here that persistence remains the same even when the nature of the struggle changes.

We continue to loosely follow Jonathan and Sam as Jonathan begins to feel a sense of existential aimlessness. He is listening to a song on repeat late at night when Sam comes to talk to him, concerned for his wellbeing. The source of Jonathan's misery is a fear of meeting his parents again in heaven; he is afraid of dying, and maybe even having died so plainly, in a place so dingy, without having been colorful, as those three mundane deaths we see in the beginning, set to insistent, even petulant music. He wears one of the play masks they had been trying to sell perhaps in an attempt at coloring himself so to speak.

Sam, however sympathetic to his friend, is uninterested in this childishness. They have work to do and the people they report to are on their asses about their low sales records. They end up fighting and we see them part ways and make up. The friends are frustrated with their lot in life. They are uncertain of what to do. They are lost but they are friends. They have to keep living and they will do it side by side. Sam's apology to Jonathan is really touching. It is clear he isn't sure exactly what he's done wrong but he won't do it again. It is genuine and confused.

The next time we see Johnathan, he is recovering from a vision of black men and women and children being forced into a huge brass contraption which is then set alight. It begins spinning after a while and we see the name of Swedish multinational metals corporation Boliden. This long, agonizing shot ends when we flip to a window, out of which appear the cast of background characters, dressed up in black and ivory. This shot begins to bring together the themes of the film. The senses of meaninglessness and alienation begin to become attributable to bureaucracy and the complexity inherent in global forces - forces too large to observe with ripple effects too broad-ranging and complicated to wrap one's head around. Why do we march to war? For our king! Why do we drink? Because it makes me feel better. Why do we sell our novelties? Because we are told to. Why must we continue? Because we must. This scene has music that is somber and contemplative and new. It is not a callback or a reprise. Sam wants to get to work but Johnathan is full of turmoil. He asks thrice whether it is ok to use others for your own benefit to no answer.

The film ends at a bus stop as a man waiting for the bus is confused as to what day it is. His intuition failed him. It's an understated but fitting end. One can't expect satisfaction out of a film such as this.

Ultimately, the film is a depiction of the confusion innate in life as an individual in a society too vast to understand. Systems and machines overwhelm. One scene begins with the words homo-sapiens only to show us a monkey, wires sticking out of its brain, screaming, as a scientist ignores it entirely in the background, on a phone call. This is an obvious depiction of the film's perspective on the state of the individual human in a global world: buffeted by forces beyond understanding, suffering and unable to escape. A mind-numbing, boring, purposeless suffering envelopes contemporary society and salvation lies in ignorance and the simple joys of company. One may find it comforting that those with means still wear black even if they have slightly warmer lighting.

I am still contemplating the scene from which the film draws its title. As I understand it, children play a rather significant role in the symbol language of the film which I've yet to parse through entirely but I'm certain the three bots that read this will figure that out and tell me.

Anyhow,

I give Roy Andersson's "A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence" flaming Kafkaesque brazen bull turbine out of 5

[mysticalcoffeequeen]

Average Tumblr posts will start with “I shat my brains out eating spicy McNuggets” & some user will reblog with a full college thesis on how an LGBTBLT inventor in the 90’s shat their brains out from a McNugget at 16 which led him to invent Glade plug-ins at 35 documenting his success, failures & donations to charity complete with a diagram of how the electrical device works and you’re scrolling for decades thinking this should’ve ended at OPs second post that says “Mcfuckin Help Me”

[flawseer]

On the False Dragonets of Destiny

Recycled art... Forgive me, I can't physically draw more than I currently am.

Just a little while ago I was looking at some replies to my recent work, and I noticed a nice comment from someone who expressed they enjoyed my comics featuring the false dragonets of destiny, but couldn't really get into them in the books. I am thankful for that comment, but even more thankful for the opportunity to ramble at length about something I kind of wanted to talk about, but couldn't find a plausible excuse for. Until now.

All of this is just my reading of the material, of course. You don't need to agree with me on this.

Content Warning: Some discussion of abuse, trauma, violence. I don't know if it's severe enough to warrant a warning, but better be safe.

General discussion

The false dragonets of destiny, the alternates, or whatever one wants to call them. They enter the story proper in book 4, after having made a few minor cameo appearances before, and serve as a kind of hybrid antagonistic force and pseudo-allies for Starflight during his stay on the Nightwing Isle. During that time, they are very abrasive, stand-offish, uncooperative, and a bit annoying, and I guess that doesn't make them come off very well. But like, in spite of that or maybe partially because of it, I am really fond of these guys, and I'd like to take some time talking them up to you.

One can examine how these guys act and conclude that they are a bunch of dysfunctional screw-ups. And they absolutely are that, don't get me wrong. But one should keep in mind: the majority of the time they are in the spotlight, they are in an extreme, tense, and frighteningly uncertain situation. It's easy to forget how stressful these situations are because the books as a whole really like to gloss over the more frightening kind of subjects on account of being written for young readers. You can't really go deep into themes of abuse, trauma, and depression in a story like that without tripping over some kind of censor on the way, but the implications are there, between the lines for you to find.

Understanding the group

Who are the false dragonets of destiny? They are posited as a mirror image of the true dragonets of destiny, who have all been extensively schooled in matters of education and martial prowess. The first thing we see THIS group do on page is brawl, so one may think they must be trained and capable fighters. Viper and Flame constantly throw around death threats and aggressive quips, so one may think they are hyper-violent and dangerous. They are neither. Nautilus admits the Talons haven't bothered training them at all, they haven't seen real combat, they've likely been deliberately kept away from the war as a whole. Flame doesn't even know how to use his fire breath correctly. Starflight, who is by far the least physically adept of the arc 1 protagonists, is able to outpace them even as four of them team up against him.

They are neither killers nor a crack team of badasses, rather they are a bunch of play-fighting, posing delinquents who talk a big game with little in terms of actual skill to back it up. Realizing this is key to understanding just how out of their depth and ill-equipped they are to handle anything that gets thrown at them on the Nightwing homeland, especially past the negotiations at the Skywing outpost.

Abduction and imprisonment

When Starflight first finds them, they have been on the Nightwing Isle for a good while, and they are suitably bristly because of it.

Look at this situation from their perspective. These guys have known nothing other than their semi-peaceful life in the Talon camp. Then the leader of that camp, Nautilus--a figure they all know and trust, essentially sells them to a frightening stranger, who looms over them and is so physically large he could crush each of them easily. This stranger pulls them away from their home without even giving them a chance to say goodbye to their relatives (I'm convinced Avalanche would not have let Morrowseer take her son if there was a chance to intervene, so Flame must have already been gone when she found out).

A contingent of Nightwing awaits them, blindfolds them so they don't know where the entrance to the Nightwing home is. They pass through a kind of eldritch tunnel that pulls at their souls. When they are finally allowed to see again, they find themselves trapped on an island where there is no sunlight and every breath hurts as the air is thick with ash.

The Nightwings won't let them leave, in fact they don't know if they will ever be able to leave again. Nobody tells them what's going on, what they are meant to do, or what the plan is. They are left confined in some room with nothing to do, and they (sans Fatespeaker) can't go outside without being arrested. Food is brought very infrequently, and usually inedible, so they haven't eaten since they were forced to leave home. They don't know where they are, nor where their parents are, nor if their parents know where THEY are. They are completely cut off from anywhere, isolated, trapped in this little slice of hell with no means to escape and little hope to acquire any soon.

I think if I was in a situation like that, I would be pretty cranky too. More than that, I would be scared out of my wits, and I believe that they are as well. If you look at their actions through a lens of them being frightened, their irritating quirks suddenly become very relatable. Viper is coping by throwing out threats and making herself seem bigger and scarier than the thing trapping her. Flame makes offensive jokes about killing Fatespeaker because making light of the situation helps him keep his wits together. Ochre is hard to read, but I think he's just tuning everything out. Squid is convinced that his father--who is the most important and smart dragon in all of Pyrrhia--has made the correct choice and knows what's best for all of them. And Fatespeaker is in complete denial, choosing to trust an inaccurate vision of the future while ignoring all the red flags that don't fit into it.

I think it's interesting that you can read this as all of them having a different strategy to cope with the uncertain and frightening situation they're trapped in. That's part of why I like them; they're very flawed and make interesting decisions.

Trauma and Empathy

You can look at someone like Squid and see his surface traits: He is annoying, he whines and complains constantly, he brags about who his father is, and he seems completely incapable of doing anything useful. If this guy was in any other story, I would probably dislike him. But Squid has the benefit of being a whiny dweeb in a situation where it is very appropriate to whine and be scared. He has a scene where he makes a somewhat goofy speech at Morrowseer where he calls him stupid and wants to go home, and is subsequently exiled. It's a bit silly in execution, but for me it did succeed in making me feel bad for Squid as he desperately and pathetically pleads for Morrowseer not to send him to his death.

But then you can read beyond the lines a little and view the scene in the full context that isn't really dwelt on. Here, you've got Squid, who is inept even among his peers, sheltered and doted on by his father, whom he has never been away from for any real amount of time until now. This guy, who probably can't even feed himself (otherwise he might have been able to catch fish in the waters around the island), keeps telling himself that his father has a plan, that all of this, even the questionable stuff, is happening for a reason. He hasn't eaten in weeks and he's been the punching bag for everyone else's frustrations (because Fatespeaker is not around enough, hanging out with Starflight). Now he has been chased halfway across the world, forced to cross the ocean while tired and starving, to be told he has to talk to a bunch of violent strangers who hate his kind and want to kill him. He tries to hide but is grabbed by the throat and held in the air by a soldier twice his size. This is likely the first time his life has ever been threatened that directly and with genuine intent.

The strange new Nightwing who was sent with them somehow manages to deescalate the situation enough to save him, but then, without warning, more dragons burst into the room. Suddenly everything is on fire, including the soldiers who just a moment ago threatened him. He is close enough to them to watch their forms twist and writhe in agony as they slowly burn to death.

As he is made to watch this horrifying spectacle, all the feelings he repressed by reminding himself of the faith he has in his father come flooding back in at once. It becomes too much for him to bear, and he breaks. He starts crying and verbally lashes out at their abuser for the horrid conditions they have been placed in and demands--half asserting and half pleading--to be allowed to go home. This isn't really whining anymore, this is a full-scale mental breakdown, rendered to be simple and digestible to a young audience. Imagine how harrowing this scene could have been if it wasn't filtered through a child-friendly narrative.

Closing thoughts

There is a scene some time after that I found kind of poignant. At one point, Starflight looks out and he sees Flame just standing out there, silently staring into the distance. There's maybe one line dedicated to it, and when you read the book normally, you don't really dwell on it since it's so nondescript. But this scene happens shortly after the visit to the remote outpost. The soldiers that burned to death in there were all Skywings. Skywings like himself, and like his mother, who also was a soldier before she joined the Talons. Whenever I picture him standing there, I imagine he is reliving that moment, hearing the dying screams of his kinsmen. I think he will be hearing them forever.

So in conclusion: The reason why I like the alternate dragonets so much is because of the enormous, untapped potential they possess as characters, and how deep some of them run if you take some time to look at them. I feel like all of them have a story to tell, and it's a bit of a shame that Sutherland likely won't come around to telling any of them. If I had infinite time, money, and energy, I would love to make many more comics about them, as they are an interesting lot.

Especially Flame's story I feel is such a heartbreaking tragedy, and thinking about the way it ended saddens me. He's one of my six all-time favorite characters in the series, I wish he could have gone out in a happier, healthier way.

[palepinkgoat]

TAG GAME WEDNESDAY: FANDOM EDITION (ok, it's Thursday, but let's roll with it)

Thank you @juliakayyy and @energieviefor tagging me!

your name: Karen

your age: possibly as old as your mom, youngsters

your first fandom(s): I was OBSESSED with Buffy in the mid season in particular, but I didn't really know how to connect with anyone, and our internet was very, very slow because we couldn't afford the better kind. And the computer was unreliable. Different times.

your current fandom(s): Shameless

how did you first get into fandom? I saw a clip on YouTube of the van kiss, which led to the kiss at Svetlana and Mickey's wedding, and then I was like WHAT and bought the 3 available seasons via amazon. I fell in love with every character, but we all know who ruled that show for me. At the time I was recovering from a serious injury where I couldn't really walk and had a lot of complications, so I spent a lot of time in bed re-watching the episodes and fan-videos/montages. Then I joined Tumblr, where I had 9 friends. I just lurked because I felt shy.

how long have you been engaging with fandom spaces? Oh sweet Jesus, since 2014. Not plugged in to social media for seasons like 7-9 just for reasons but I remained obsessed. The night the club kiss happened I seriously yelled and cried. I'm glad I could see that live because it was literally UNBELIEVABLE that that would happen and it was like a high intensity fandom moment. A group meltdown.

how often do you read fanfics? every single day

top 3 characters from your current fandom(s): Ian, Mickey, and I actually love Lip because JAW is fantastic and quite handsome.

have you ever written a fic for a fandom? if so, shout it out. I'm pink_ink on Ao3! My first fic was written in 2014 and I was so prolific in 2014 and 2015! I can't believe how much and how fast I wrote some of that stuff.

have you ever drawn fanart for a fandom? Oh man, that would be amazing if I could. But I can't draw anything other than a puppy I learned how to draw in the third grade.

share a personal headcanon that you feel very strongly about: Mickey was born at home and he has foreskin (aka was never circumcised). And Ian LOVES it. I will die on this hill. And despite Ian's disparaging comment in that highly stupid "carl is not circumcised" plot line (of course they would know he was intact, they would have seen his penis a million times in diapers and in dressing in close quarters, etc) he loves Mickey's dick just how it is. Which is with foreskin, obviously. It's (head)canon.

you’re trying to convince a friend to get into your current fandom(s) with you. what episode, clip, or scene are you showing them? I'd show the wedding kiss because it shows a bit of the intensity of the plot, and it's one of the first things I saw.

and finally, what does fandom mean to you? I've met some amazing people who are truly my friends as much as those in "real life." I'm still meeting new people who are becoming fast friends as well. We are connected by this love that makes us all so happy, and that's an incredible root of relationships. I've met a couple people in person and there are so many of you I'd love to meet someday! There can be drama in any group, but I'm too old for that shit. So I stay on the sunny side and love it over here.

[dilliedallieallie]

this is gonna be a long personal post so read if you want but I just want to get this out of me head

tw: talks of eating, body imge, body dysmopphia, a teeny bit of childhood trauma, but also it has a happy ending lol

I get really sad when I look at pictures of my younger years and remember how much I hated my body. I was a child, for god's sake. I shouldn't have been worrying about what my thighs looked like while sitting, or how much I weighted, or how much I was eating compared to other girls, or how my face was rounder than my friends. I shouldn't have been worrying about those kinds of things, but I was, and it sucked and a big part of my childhood was stolen from me BY ME because I was so caught up in other perceptions of me. I'm sad that I took the route I did. Im sad I lost so many years so an eating disorder and I'm sad I missed crucial parts of being a kid because of my body dysmorphia.

I'm so happy that now I'm in a headspace of recovery and acceptance. I love the softer parts of myself, that I'm slowly starting to wear clothes that I want to wear, that I can take pictures and not worry about how I look, and that I can genuinely smile in photos and not force it. This journey has been long and hard, but it's been so worth it, and I'm so proud of myself and the woman I am becoming. I just wish that this version of myself could have a conversation with that little girl and tell her how beautiful and how special she is and how life isn't about being the skinniest girl or prettiest girl or the most talented girl. I wish I could tell her that.

[amassofhumanity]

Doctor Update

This past December, my sister moved out of the nursing home we’d lived in for two years. The nursing home is a long story that I don’t want to go into but suffice it to say we both needed help taking care of ourselves.

This change meant we had to establish care with new doctors in a new town. Ugh, nightmare.

I was lucky to find a primary care doctor. She’s an internal medicine doctor. She’s great. She listens well (in my opinion women doctors are better listeners and more empathetic), she explains everything from all options, and she takes her time.

She referred me to a Hematologist because I have this weird genetic mutation that causes my blood to clot all the time. I’m on blood thinners for the rest of my life. There’s nothing new with that issue to warrant a referral other than it’s good to have a specialist on board. She also referred me because my platelets were low. My other bloodwork was fine so this was just a precaution.

I didn’t get as lucky with the Hematologist. It was obvious he didn’t read much of my chart before coming into the room. He had never heard of my rare blood clot condition. Which bugged me because he’s a specialist and he should know. I don’t expect PCPs to know of this condition because it’s rare and they didn’t even have a name for it until the early 2000s. He’s not too far removed from med school and all that other training, but he should keep up to date with what’s going on in the field nonetheless.

He then proceeded to look up this condition on the computer. This required him to have his back to me while I explained how I found out about the condition (working in Bosnia, blood clots in my lungs so massive that it suffocated me, and I thought I was taking my last breath-hello PTSD.) Not being listened to is a major annoyance of mine. BIG TIME ANNOYANCE.

He stopped looking up the condition and tells me that’s an interesting story but it doesn’t tell him enough about what caused my blood clots. I wasn’t there for a diagnosis of the condition. I already had that. He then goes on to say things about the condition that goes against everything I’ve ever been told. My anger was building with every passing minute.

Long story short (I don’t post much but when I do it’s wordy), there was nothing to worry about for now with the low platelets. I chose not to have him monitor the platelets and went with having my PCP monitor them. The new type of blood thinners don’t require ongoing testing which means there was nothing for me to go back to him. Thank the Baby Jeebus.

Synopsis: finding new doctors that are good is hard. I’m not finished finding all the doctors I need which means there’s more fun in my future.

[jhsharman]

Hearts