#*finds hornets nest*

[rudjedet]

[laikabu]

a couple of the characters that oppose the main party are poc so inevitably you get white fans posting violent tweets about them but preface it with “man” or “twink”. maybe this is to be expected of a series inspired by tolkien works

[snapcracklepop-myjoints]

I've been seeing this a lot lately, but a little while ago I mentioned something to do with disability in a discord and someone asked me if I was a "spoonie". Not if I was disabled, but a spoonie. I need y’all to fucking get it into ur heads that disabled is not a dirty word. You can use the term spoonie for yourself all you want, but the second you start imposing it on other people and generally using it in place of the word "disabled", its just another woo-woo euphemism that seeks to soften and make comfortable the vocabulary and concept of disability.

Like at a certain point it becomes clear that a lot of people now are using “spoonie” in the same damn way as “differently abled” or "handicapable". The origin and intent of the term become moot within that usage because what it serves to do is invoke disability euphemistically, obfuscating and softening it in service of compulsory normative able-bodymindedness.

If you want to use that term for yourself, fine. Have fun. It doesn't have these same connotations when its used as a self identifier rather than as a replacement for the word "disabled". But stop applying it to others in place of "disabled" I’m so fucking serious.

[pharawee]

You must pretend to be me so he'll tell you more. You can do it, Non.

Ɐuq λonˌɼɼ qᴉƨcoʌԍʁ ϝμɑϝ λon ɼᴉĸԍ ᴉϝ ϝoo·

[mamawasatesttube]

sometimes i think about posting a jason opinion publicly. then i remember i value my mental health

[coulson-is-an-avenger]

ok I love Malevolent so much and all the art I see for it is absolutely fucking phenomenal, however I do have to speak my truth and throw in my two hater cents because Arthur Lester, widower who had a midlife crisis after his entire child died and then went headfirst into detective work for fucking years, is not a scrawny 20 year old twink. Some of you are drawing bill cipher😭

[zs-starwars]

Look before the War Within starts and Anduin gets to work on his Shadowlands gotten trauma and development I need to dunk on him (affectionate) for a quick second okay?

So in Before the Storm he has this line:

"Her [Sylavnas's] eyes narrowed. Anduin knew she understood the lesson of this day's tragic events. She was not universally loved among her people. He was. She ruled with an iron fist. He ruled with compassion. (pg347)"

Which comparatively sure, fair. Sylvanas has just put a hard, murderous, stop to Calia's first attempt at girlbossing and killed about half the desolate council. Before the Storm is what it needed to be for BfA and beyond.

But I would like to point out that earlier in the book we have this:

"Anduin had been informed that negative sentiment was not limited to his advisors. Guards and Shaw's people had reported that there was muttering in some of the taverns and on the streets. The guards had been instructed to interrupt such conversations if they verged on sedition or grew violent. (pg 248)"

Baby boy that is not universally beloved and ruling with compassion. Lol. Lmao even.

I've scrawled all in my copy with little notes and I have a messy word document with rewrite ideas for this 6 (!) year old book. I am excited to see what we have going on under Silithus. In the end WoW is a video game that needs to keep selling and making new storylines.

[ssaalexblake]

jodie ‘method acting’ whittaker growing another heart to play the role of a two hearted alien is what puts her at no.1 in the doctor actor competition and that’s that. 

[atopvisenyashill]

What if Rhaenyra and Alicent's children took after their mothers in appearances?

this is difficult for me bc the answer is “everything” and “nothing at all.”

rhaenyra has a much easier time convincing people the children are laenor’s bc the only evidence the greens & vaemond put forth is that they don’t look like laenor’s kids (which tbh, in a time before dna testing, saying “hey these kids look suspiciously like the mail man i mean the captain of the guard” is great evidence). if the three oldest LOOK Valyrian, then not only is Rhaenyra’s reputation much better bc she’s not considered an adulterous whore, but it leaves the greens with only one real argument against her and that’s HER gender and not that she doesn’t have a proper heir. The gender argument is still incredibly good because it’s the argument the greens push anyway - Boremund, Peake, Aemond, and that expired jar of mayo Orwyle all explicitly say that their issue is a woman inheriting the throne! Whether Laenor lives in this situation affects a lot as well; if he’s less stressed at court it’s possible he’s a better political ally to Rhaenyra so he doesn’t get offed for being useless & Laenor as Prince Consort during the Dance is just leaps and bounds better than Daemon.

HOWEVER. Alicent’s children looking like her actually gives Rhaenyra a new argument - something something, my son & heir is of Pure Valyrian Blood, look at him with his Pure Valyrian Looks and look at my brown haired baby brother. This can certainly be overlooked by being cool and riding a dragon - pls see Rhaenys and Meleys - but even flying on the prettiest dragon might not be enough goodwill to get people to overlook The Everything about Aegon not even wanting to be king. And an Aegon who doesn’t want to be king AND doesn’t even look Valyrian AND his sister has a true born son that looks Valyrian? Even if a faction forms up around Aegon - and to be clear it definitely still would because Otto will still be pushing it - I think it becomes an uphill battle to get Aegon to actually take up the crown.

I would say that they’d deal with this by betrothing Helaena and Jace but the thing about the Targaryens is that they are their own biggest opps so I genuinely don’t know if Rhaenyra, Viserys, or Alicent would see the sense in combining their lines & do this or if Rhaenyra still decides “Laena & Daemon are my besties of course I’m tying our lines & ensuring Daemon fights for me in the upcoming political showdown” (even tho Daemon was never gonna fight for Alicent in a million years) or if Laenor pushes for a different betrothal (either a smarter one that gets them allies, like betrothing Jace to one of the Baratheon girls, or wants to combine his line with his sisters & pushes for Baela/Rhaena anyways). If Jace and Helaena DON’T marry I think there’s still going to be a succession crisis, and if they still decide to use their dragons to fight that crisis, it’s still destructive no matter what. The main issue is that if Rhaenyra can make the greens look bad, they have less of a foothold in ousting her, but can Rhaenyra use the fact that her sons are legitimate well enough to shore up support? On her own I don’t think so - she got a lot of support in canon even with the boys looking like Harwin, but also needlessly shot herself in the foot like several times as well so - but with Jacaerys by her side (and potentially Laenor as well) I do think she’d have a better shot at taking & holding Westeros bloodlessly over Aegon. But again - while Otto focuses on Rhaenyra being a whore (bc they live in a hellscape and it’s a great argument) the issue is Andal succession laws & Jaehaerys. There was always going to be conflict surrounding Rhaenyra taking the throne. If she can make an ally out of Alicent somehow or even completely bury Alicent’s arguments (ie, why do your kids look like Criston Cole or something to that affect), the issue becomes more akin to Aenys’ problems of having a few unruly lords. Jacaerys and Laenor are good politicians though, as is Corlys, and if she doesn’t have the legitimacy of her children being questioned, i think she has an easier time but that doesn’t mean it might not still come to war.

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

hazbin fandom looks craaazy from the outside bc why the fuck did I see like 50 pieces of shipping content with lucifer but Clearly Meant To Be A Tumblr Sexyman/Grell Sutcliff but from TEMU before I found out that not only was there an actual fucking canon wlw ship but one of the parties involved is the main fucking character

[labyrynth]

PSA for “canon jiang cheng” folks:

please stop using the “subordinate” thing as a basis for your arguments. that word does not mean what you seem to think it means.

y’all talk about jc asking wwx to be his subordinate as if it’s like some show of disrespect. some of y’all literally use it as “evidence” that jc “never cared about wwx” and that he “never viewed wwx as anything but a servant” but like.

my friends. subordinate literally just means “someone with a lower rank (than someone else).” it does not carry any connotations of subservience, servitude, lesser worth, or disrespect.

we understand how sect leadership works in mdzs, yes? there is One (1) sect leader.

Everyone who is Not the sect leader, but is affiliated with that sect, is Subordinate to the Sect Leader.

nobody ever claims that lan xichen didn’t care about lan wangji, lan qiren, or any of the juniors, even though they were all subordinate to him as the sect leader.

nobody ever claims that jin guangshan viewed madame jin, jin zixuan, or jin zixun as “just servants” or even servants at all, even though they were all subordinate to him as the sect leader.

hell, nobody even claims that nie mingjue viewed meng yao as “just a servant,” even when meng yao actually WAS a servant!

[edit: apparently some people are taking objection to calling meng yao as a servant? y’all, they literally made him be their water boy. what would you call that?]

that’s just how leadership works! being subordinate isn’t a bad thing!! it’s just “a person who has a boss”

“right-hand-man” IS a subordinate position to “sect leader,” and it’s also literally the highest position jc could have given wwx without quite literally making wwx sect leader!

so like. unless you ARE legitimately arguing that jiang cheng should have forced wei wuxian to become sect leader of yunmengJiang, just…please drop it.

that word Does Not mean what you Think it means. the thing you are Mad about is Made Up. please just let it go.

[mitskiesques]

ultimately the darklina vs malina discourse is a discussion of would you rather have your man be your “equal” (boring) OR would you rather your man be senselessly devoted to you to the point of him (theoretically) existing only to become magical fuel to your unimaginably powerful unique in the world magical powers and being destined to die by your hand (cool and insane)

[fayedolan]

FUCK YOU SPRING AND SUMMER AND YOUR MOSQUITOES AND HORNETS AND HUMIDITY AND LOAD PARTIES

[waywardsalt]

my grievances with botw

Breath of the Wild is... undeniably a fantastic game, but it is very genuinely not the kind of game I like, and since I started playing it I’ve been enjoying it less and less so... I have a pair of problems with it that I’d figure I’d go into, as well as some stuff that, while weak in botw, were executed better in past loz games.

(small shoutout to @zeldanamikaze for encouraging this and having some points that i agree with and had some examples that i hadn’t thought about much initially)

Again, Breath of the Wild is an objectively impressive game, and I’m not trying to sit here and convince you that it’s a bad game. I’m just trying to point out things that detracted from my enjoyment of it, especially compared to my enjoyment of other Zelda games.

Before I get into the big stuff, I’ll just shoot off some quick little things that I think could’ve been improved:

- The dungeons generally felt like glorified shrines, and while they had cool mechanics and ways to access them, they were short and more or less pretty simple and all have similar visual and musical identities.

- Side quests and their rewards didn’t feel worth doing half of the time. I barely remember any notable ones off the top of my head and the longer ones just gave mostly generic rewards, which I suppose makes sense considering the limited amount of truly unique items in botw.

- Seeing the same enemies over and over again made the combat feel more like a chore than something to really engage with, not to mention that there is hardly any difficulty scaling beyond just making the enemies more durable.

- The story is fine, but in my experience, even seeing people go into more detail about the meanings of events, I never really cared for the events or the characters presented, since you don’t actually have to directly interact with any of that to play the game. Hell, you don’t even need to interact with the story at all to beat it, so the focus certainly doesn’t feel like it’s on the story.

- It would be a lie to call the soundtrack bad, but it’s sparse usage makes it hard to truly appreciate and the fact that most of it is meant to be more atmospheric generally makes them a bit less interesting to listen to on their own, though I will admit there are some fantastic tracks in botw, usually being some of the boss themes.

- While the Sheikah slate runes are cool, they feel very bland after a while, especially compared to the varied items seen in previous games. They’re good tools for an open world, but not much fun otherwise (the bombs were good though, since they had a variety of uses).

And that’s the quick stuff- again, mostly courtesy of @zeldanamikaze, since these are the examples I’ve seen her mention.

I have two big points that kind of encapsulate why I dislike this game and still adore the older games, that being: the minigames and the items and their relationships to dungeons.

Breath of the Wild is a very different game than what came past it, and I am very aware that it is a vast departure from those other games for a reason. However, this leads me to view it not only simply as a game not up my alley, but also as kind of inferior in some aspect to those previous Zelda games. Breath of the World is first and foremost an open world game, seemingly putting a focus on gameplay enjoyment above all else (not to imply that the ‘else’ is bad because of this, but I do think that the ‘else’ suffers in comparison to other Zelda titles.)

It may also be worth mentioning that the other Zelda games I have played is the following: LoZ NES, Link’s Awakening (Original and Remake), Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, Phantom Hourlgass, Skyward Sword, A Link Between Worlds, and Triforce Heroes. I have also played both hyrule warriors games as well as loz 2, wind waker, and minish cap, none of the latter 3 i have finished or currently have access to.

1: The Minigames

Minigames are common in Zelda games, so of course botw has a few scattered around it’s world. Botw’s minigames are very different than the minigames seen in past Zelda games, mostly due in part to the limited array of items and unique gameplay gimmicks available in botw. Botw’s minigames usually focus on different forms of archery, gliding, or rune usage: all things integral to normal gameplay. At best you get rupees or cosmetic items from most minigames.

Botw’s minigames are just slightly altered situations of normal gameplay. The bowling is just using stasis except this time the game has a special little arena for it. Pretty much all of the archery games are either just counting how many deer you can kill or if you can just hit some targets on horseback. There’s one race I can think of and one gliding activity I can think of.

This makes sense, considering that there are a handful of other non-minigame activities to engage in, but these minigames feel... hollow. None of the minigames feature gameplay exclusive to those minigames or feature gameplay only used in certain parts of the game. They all make use of readily available mechanics in botw, so they’re like tests of skill- but otherwise not really any worth giving a second-thought unless you want to see how good of a glider or archer you are or grab some extra rupees.

But they aren’t very... worth it or generally fun within the context of botw. It’s just another way to do something that is available to you pretty much all game. They don’t feel unique, they just feel like a task.

Previous Zelda games (obviously) have archery minigames and allow you to use archery when you get the bow and from that point onward. And yet the archery minigames are made unique from the rest of the archery in the game; ocarina of time’s archery minigame is simply just shooting at targets, but the possible rewards and the simple fact that not often are you going to be continuously shooting arrows at enemies make it a bit of a novel experience within oot. The minigames in past zelda games take advantage of the items and area-specific mechanics: they usually include item-exclusive mechanics like bombchu games, or take advantage of more specific mechanics, like the minecarts in skyward sword, the masks in majora’s mask, or being able to control gongoron in phantom hourglass.

They also gave genuine rewards- empty bottles, quest items, ship parts, new masks, heart containers or pieces, kinds of stuff that are hard to get and very valuable. They’re worth doing for reasons outside of just a little activity. The minigames in other Zelda games do really enhance the experience by taking advantage of situational mechanics or giving a unique usage for some items.

You can probably get every item in botw without playing all of the minigames. They have little actual purpose. But in other zelda games, they have a purpose in the greater game and provide novel experiences within the game.

2: Items and their relationships with the dungeons

Obviously, compared to past games, botw’s ‘dungeons’ kind of sucked. They’re fine in a vacuum, with interesting gimmicks and the like, but they’re really little more than glorified shrines with four different-but-similar bosses at the end.

In my opinion, one of reasons why the divine beasts just... fell flat compared to other zelda dungeons is the lack of unique items in general. The runes in botw are cool and useful but you get them at the start of the game and never get anything new. You are give every tool you need to beat all of the dungeons the moment you finish the tutorial.

Older zelda games’ dungeons being tied to their respective items is a big part- to me- of what makes those dungeons so good.

Obviously, the theming, musical themes, and larger layouts and more varied puzzles make them objectively better experiences, but the way they interact with item acquisition makes the whole thing even better. 

Even in a link between worlds, where you can get every item whenever you want from Ravio, each dungeon is still tied to one of those items, and one of those items is needed to successfully complete that dungeon.

The dungeons in past Zelda games are practically complex tutorials on how you can use your new items. They are where those items shine and they are designed so that those items are used to their fullest potential within. And then you must then use that item to defeat that dungeon’s boss, and you usually have no chance of beating that boss if you don’t make use of the dungeon’s associated item. It’s like a final test for the item, seeing if you know how it works enough to complete the dungeon and use it against a boss’s weaknesses.

The most recent example, and probably one of the best, is needing to use the whip to tear off koloktos’ arms in the ancient cistern, but the classic scenario of the bombs for king dodongo works well enough, and the bosses of majora’s mask requiring you to understand how the transformation masks work. There are definitely some bosses that require no use of dungeon items (moldorm in the tower of hera, either ghirahim fights), but the item’s usage is still showcased prominently in their dungeons.

Outside of the dungeons, too, the progressive acquisition of items makes more areas and secrets available to you, giving a much more palpable sense of progression through those games’ worlds.

In botw, you get every tool the moment you are released into the rest of hyrule, so while figuring out what to do with those tools can be fun, the sense of progression is dampened by having every item from the start and nothing you gain beyond that being needed for anything aside from a nice little ability to make things easier.

I’m not really too sure exactly why I never found botw fun the way everyone else does, but I think lackluster minigames and the general lack of items that aid a sense of progression are parts of it.

[detransraichu]

okay so. controversial statement, once again lol. and this applies more easily to binary trans ppl than nonbinary ppl, or trans ppl who want to transition and pass as the opposite sex.

(if you disagree with me saying opposite sex, implying there's only two, why do we only say afab and amab? why does it matter in discussions? why do we say male dog and female cat and don't mention intersex (DSD) animals? amab ppl are of the sex that can produce smaller spermatozoa gametes, and afab ppl are of the sex that can produce larger gametes (ova), whether or not they're fertile. and people with DSDs are variety of one of those, there are no third options. lmk if you can disprove that. but imo that's why there's two sexes, and why those sexes matter in social justice discussions.)

i think if trans folks had just said, like old school transsexuals used to say, "i want to become part of the opposite sex socially, i want to live being perceived and/or treated as the opposite sex" a HUGE amount of trans vs non-trans issues would be gone. transness once used a language that wasn't telling bio men and bio women that manhood/womanhood means having manly or womanly feelings in one's head, identifying as a man/woman - when actually most people have historically ALWAYS used man/woman as just neutral body types (well, neutral without misogyny lol) one is born into, not an identity - and it said what trans people actually want and request from bio men & women. it says that you have been debilitated by an unusual condition that creates a disconnect from your sex at birth, and that after lots of therapy and self-introspection you and your doctors saw it just wasn't going away. instead of being combative you politely ask to be accomodated to a reasonable degree, and to be allowed to transition to look like the opposite sex and be treated as such, whether other people understand it or not, without assuming what the opposite sex goes thru bc you haven't experienced it at all, at least not yet. it was disability accomodations in a way, more similar to disability activism than gay & bi activism, and was seen as a disconnect in the brain, something being wrong, not a neutral trait like someone simply being born capable of homosexual attraction

this phrasing of "wanting to live as the opposite sex" would recognize that you're not a man/woman from birth and you don't live as a man/woman right now, you have no clue what it's actually like, bc you don't live that way. and you recognize that's literally all being a man/woman means and has always meant, it's that you live in a certain body type and are seen like that in your everyday life without needing to wear pronoun pins or disclosing it. you are part of the population that either risks misogyny or avoids it. and not just conditionally avoids misogyny btw, bc afab ppl are still oppressed under misogyny for their upbringing and their body type medically, no matter how many surgeries they get. and imo transfems experience terrible yet conditional misogyny which ends if they're outed, at that point they're treated as gnc men again, no matter how transitioned they are (which also fucking sucks). they also need to listen to bio women!! and transmascs! and afab people should listen to transfemmes' unique experiences too! everybody needs to listen to eachother and give eachother space to have a voice!

i think some people may identify as a man/woman but not plan to ever live as such, and they should acknowledge it, see it as just a personal life thing if they're not questioning transitioning to be seen as the opposite sex. they shouldn't claim bio male or bio female or transsexual experiences. they shouldn't blame average bio men and women for not being trans and for society not being trans-centric by default. they're blaming others instead of coming to terms with their unique and difficult circumstances and trying to communicate their experiences and needs with cis society respectfully. y'know, like older transsexuals tended to focus on, instead of trying to fundamentally change language and affect women's rights. older transsexual generations tended to show so much more care to bio/cis women, they tended to be wayyy more protective of bio women. and trans women knew that they were immigrating into womanhood, and shouldn't claim to be born into it or affect women's rights in any negative way. they knew they had been privileged of not living under misogyny up until this point. bio women didn't understand transfem life, and transfemmes didn't understand bio women's lives at all, at least until transitioning, usually later in life. older transfemmes and male crossdressers had such a radically different dynamic with bio women even just 20 years ago. it's sad, honestly.

i think trans ppl who have no plans of ever transitioning are closer to living gnc lives than trans(sexual) lives. i think they have radically different experiences and needs than transsexuals. transgender & transsexual maybe should become two different categories? they used to be iirc. and cis feminists have different issues with each side, but usually wayyy more with transgender folks bc they tend to unfortunately be loud and inappropriately try to claim bio women's, transmascs' and transitioned transfems' experiences with ACTUALLY facing misogyny or the oppression and violence that gnc amab people who are actually seen as such in society face. not just gncphobia (is that a term?) and ppl being weirded out and confused by them. non-dysphoric transmascs also at times show weird misogyny, bc of their disconnect from womanhood, and an obsession with men's rights, and sexism. after transition trans men experience a sudden lack in misogyny and actually get more respectful from what i've seen??? but non-dysphoric transmascs can be so disrespectful of women in general, cis and trans. and act like they know transsexual experiences

i'd be really interested in reading more about transmeds' views on things like this and the disrespect, sexism, misogyny and just unhinged chronically online behavior non-dysphoric trans ppl often seem to show, especially nonbinary folks. i'm a trans-inclusive radfem with a research-gathering blog that has not-so-respectfully worded posts reblogged (they tend to still make some good points and i like hoarding interesting points for my dumb wip tirf book) and that understandably gets ppl heated, so np if no transmeds or trans folks in general want to share. but i just really wish we got to see more nuanced opinions from trans folks. usually ppl w nuanced views just get harassed off the platform in classic tumblr fashion :/

[biracy]

The issue w trying to talk to like "transandrophobia" people is that So many of them DO seem to think that there's some kind of systemic hatred of men and "traditional masculinity", so telling them that "transandrophobia" as a term is bullshit bc there's no such thing as "androphobia" (true) doesn't even work lmao