#... it's kinda true too!!! at least in the scope of their argument

[poptartmochi]

encountered a reddit post that talks about how lady is the main character of the story for 3... i'm rotating in my fucking MIND rn..

[secretgamergirl]

Do experience systems do more harm than good?

Earlier today I saw someone talking about the common wisdom that you can't make an RPG without SOME sort of system where after you finish a session (or maybe an adventure), the GM gives you some sort of points that, whether automatically or based on assigning them, makes your character better at doing stuff. Not only do I strongly disagree that that's something every game needs, I'd like to present the argument that even in games you'd have a hard time imagining without them, experience points might actually be doing more harm than good.

Before I even get into this, let's take apart the obvious perks to having experience systems:

1- It helps maintain longterm interest in keeping a campaign going when the players are getting some sort of regular reward.

This is true of certain campaigns, but I don't think I'd really ever want to be in one. In a good campaign, everyone involved should be having a fun time just hanging out with each other, putting themselves in the shoes of the characters, building up a story and a world together, and generating cool memorable scenes. That should be more than enough incentive to stick with a game, and if you don't have those things going on, you should really stop and work out what's going wrong, not try and pave over it by powering everyone's characters up. I don't need to boost some Watcher Score when I marathon through a good TV show or a movie, and I'm not even getting to influence how those unfold, you know?

This is also one of those many things where what we have today is sort of a twisted ghost of what was originally conceived back in the early days of D&D. I had an old project on this very blog where I was reading through the books for 1st edition AD&D with a critical eye, and a huge takeaway from that was that Gary Gygax seems like he was just the absolute worst kind of GM (also backed up by reading message board posts of his, and various accounts). Back in his day, leveling up wasn't the expected inevitable progression as a game went on necessarily. You'd roll your stats, with some harsh restrictions, be forced to play what you had, roll your HP too, and the game was just kind of inherently hostile to the PCs, so you had a good chance of dying in a given session. Not only that, but when you did, there was no real coming back from it, you make a new character, starting from scratch, with 0 experience, and see if you can keep this one alive long enough to get up there again.

And aside from the carrot of maybe getting one of those elite high level characters if you stuck with it, there was the stick of characters partying their gold away. Seriously, by AD&D 1e rules, characters would just kinda burn through... I want to say it was 100 GP per level per day. And not in-game day. Real life day. You'd better show up for every session, because a week from now, your character's going to have 700 less gold in their pocket whether you show up to play or not.

We don't really play that way anymore. At least nobody I know does. Leveling up is planned out in advance by GMs, characters level up at the same time as everyone else even when the player misses a session, and if you need to make a new character or you're just joining the game late, obviously you come in at the same level as everyone else. I don't even want to dignify the arguments against doing that with discussion. It's even common for people to start games at levels other than 1 because people just don't like low-level play.

And you know, this is way outside the scope of what I was sitting down to write, but I've gotten into the jobification of video games before, right? Where people keep doing stuff like daily login rewards and weekly challenges just so there's a sense of obligation to log into games every day? That crap doesn't actually make things more FUN, it's in there to keep players compelled to play regardless of how much fun they have, and that's... literally the argument behind experience as an incentive to keep a game running.

2- It good when number go up!

Funnily enough, this is the hardest one for me to refute. There is some basic direct release of the good brain chemicals when you have numbers, and they go up. And I mean... sure, but in a tabletop game you're not generally seeing a number climb on its own, you're getting points thrown at you that you have to jot down or mark off or otherwise track and do math with, and like... there's plenty of other results from playing the game good to release the good brain chemicals. You don't explicitly need this one.

3- It's cool when you can have a story where like some dorky little kid starts off barely able to do anything and all unconfident and then gradually gets it together and gets more confident and competent as time goes on!

Oh yeah, everyone loves that sort of thing, and there's a strong case to be made that this is the primary reason people feel the need to put an experience system in basically every RPG, but those systems are all kind of just the worst at actually delivering on that, is the thing.

D&D and its derivatives are the absolute worst with this. The way I put it in this earlier conversation, you start out all, "I am a poor peasant child, barely able to afford the clothes on my back, a length of rope, a week's worth of food, and this dagger here" and then a few months later "I am basically a god and any amount of money less than 1,000,000 times my starting net worth isn't even worth stooping over for." And when I made this point someone corrected me that if you really go by the expected pacing, a campaign without big stretches of downtime between adventures with the recommended combat pacing is going to get you to level 20 in a month.

Now, I don't want to completely spit on the D&D power curve here (the economic one though can absolutely go to hell, stop making me a billionaire as a side effect of killing monsters and do all that bookkeeping). I do enjoy the eb and flow, campaign to campaign, of playing the same characters as wimpy little nothings and demigods over however long it takes my regular group to finish a campaign. But as far as having characters with arcs to them? It is AWFUL!

First off, it's just too damn fast and abrupt. When our little ragtag band heads off into the swamp to deal with those goblins or whatever, we're going to come home from even that little speed bump of an adventure tougher than all our neighbors and absurdly wealthy, to a point where it feels almost inevitable that you leave your old life behind completely and look down on everyone you grew up with.

It's not IMPOSSIBLE to have some sort of long or medium-term personal quest to avenge my parents or show I'm better than some bully, but it takes a real delicate touch to do it right, since you really have to decide up front when exactly I'm going to have that confrontation, make the villain something of an appropriately challenging nature for the level I'm going to be when I settle things, and that I don't manage to arrange that confrontation much earlier or later than planned, because again I'm pretty quickly going from dealing with food rationing, animal attacks, and slippery ravines, to taking down monsters four times my size without breaking a sweat, to like changing the course of history and rivaling evil gods. There's a very small window where it makes sense for me to get back at that owlbear who put me in the hospital or whatever.

And that's not even getting into the problem of how I've got these other three humble little kids from home experiencing all this rapid growth at the same time. Can't really have a wise old mentor if we're using experience as experience. We're either never going to catch up, or we're going to leave them in the dust if they're not leveling with us.

Now, again, D&D is kind of a huge exception here. Most RPGs I've played instead go with a starting setup where you don't start off as some starry-eyed youth who can't do anything, but instead have some skill-based system where every character is an expert without peer in a handful of skills that fit some archetypical theme, and for anything else, they need outside help, either from fellow PCs, or making arrangements with NPC experts. Standard with this is a little drip-feed of extra skill points, but this... really doesn't work for what we're looking for here. If I want to be the party's hacker, I'm going to start off as an excellent hacker. I'm not going to put all my points into shmoozing people and then expect the rest of the party to put up with me looking for the any key over a dozen adventures before finally working out this make or break ability.

4- You gain new abilities as you level up!

So... first off this actually isn't generally all that true. If you're playing a wizard in D&D, sure, every couple levels you get access to a new tier of spells, and hey that's a big game changing deal maybe. Most level-ups though are just about numbers going up. All of them in most games. Hitting harder, more often, in bigger areas, maybe. Skills and abilities work more consistently. You maybe get more HP.

For now though let's focus on when you do level up and get cool new abilities. One moment you're some kid with a stick, then you bonk the magic number of goblins with it, and now suddenly you can make all your friends fly, unbound by gravity, or you can read the thoughts of everyone around you, or you can teleport home where it's nice and safe no matter what the situation. Well that actually really sucks for the GM!

Let's say I'm doing what everyone ever making an 8 or 16-bit RPG did and lifting plot concepts shamelessly from Laputa. We've got our big floating continent. Maybe we've got some kinda evil emperor up there, raining terror down on people or something. Nobody can get there and confront him... until they hit level 7 or whatever and have access to the fly spell. I better get any air superiority based adventures out before then. Also anything where there's a tower that has windows, or dangerous terrain, etc. Better get mysteries and hidden agendas taken care of before that mind reading. Better not think about trapping the party or them getting word of an attack somewhere else before that teleporting. And that's assuming I'm being on the ball about that sort of thing. I might have this whole thing planned, where the party desperately needs to get to that flying continent, and it's this whole quest hook where maybe they have to befriend a dragon or help build an airship or get some kinda rubber bones potion and access to a powerful cannon. Whole adventures about getting that power of flight, and any of these might just totally fizzle because oh whoops, the party leveled up and they just do that now.

Less dramatically, what if we're playing of those skill point games. I'm already a super great seductive femme fatale sneaking past laser sensors and stealing keys off people I'm charming right from the start of the game, and hey, cool, that's a nice simple archetype, everyone knows what I'm good at, we can plan missions around me being all sleazy over here while someone else sets up in a sniper position and someone else is in the basement hacking and all that. Several adventures down the road, well, I have all these skill points, I haven't been able to put them into the stuff I'm good at, so now I'm also a combat monster. The original combat monster can also hack. The original hacker can also charm the pants off everyone. We're starting to develop a lot of redundancy, but that's not necessarily bad? But then we play a bunch more adventures. Those secondary concepts capped off, we're working up more. Nobody is unparalleled at the thing they originally did. Have the party is equally amazing at a given thing. If we keep going like this, eventually everyone is going to loose all sense of unique identity, and there isn't really a strong in-game reason we need this whole ragtag crew anymore. Anyone of us can take on any problem solo, really.

5- The power fantasy of being super amazing.

This is kind of a point I've already hit but I'm stuck with this format, but the thing with experience is, again, sometimes sure you gain new abilities, but usually all your various numbers go up, and that actually kinda sucks in practice. First off, it's a lot of tedious bookkeeping, in basically any system you can name. It also doesn't generally really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?

I'm level 3. I've got a +7 to hit, doing 15 damage a hit, and an AC of 18. I'm fighting some orc with 40 HP, 15 AC, and attacking at +5. I level up a few times. Now I'm level 7. I've got a +13 to hit, doing 30 damage, and an AC of 24. I'm fighting crustaceanoids now, with 80 HP, 21 AC, and attacking at +11. Objective numbers wise, crustateanoids are way way tougher than orcs, but in my experience this is the EXACT same fight. I hit on an 11. I need 3 hits to take something down. It's bad news for me if my enemy rolls a 13 to hit me. All we've done is a bunch of annoying math refactoring with nothing to show for it but cosmetically reskinned mooks.

Now here, interestingly enough, I ONLY have the D&D type example here. Again, most other RPGs I have don't have that same sort of rampant power creep. You start out absurdly skillful at whatever your specialty is, and there's little if any room for growth, numbers wise. So here, if we go from orcs to crustateanoids to hellborn cyberdragons as enemies, not only is this technically a set of progressively scarier enemies to have to deal with, they actually ARE more meaningful threats to the party. Maybe those orcs were all show, they never really hurt us because we're awesome secret agents or something, but now things are getting serious because these crustaceanoids are just as good at sick flips and firing machine guns in two different directions as we are, so we have to take them much more seriously. And oh damn, after this we have to deal with a hellborn cyberdragon? Those are so scary if we all just rush in we're probably all gonna die. We need to come up with a whole complex plan to avoid directly engaging that if at all possible, and run for it if that doesn't pan out, or something.

And hey, we don't need something even more epic than a hellborn cyberdragon to top that. One of those is still going to be harrowing no matter how late in the campaign we bust it out. We can establish a power balance early on and keep it relevant like that. PCs gotta get more innovative and clever not just kill most monsters until demigods are easily punchable.

6: Revenge of 3- Well character growth is still important!

So, I really shouldn't be trashing experience points' ability to deliver cool character growth if I don't have some alternative to it, right? We need some way to change things up so the game doesn't stagnate. Well sure, but we can do better than experience there.

Just off the top of my head, how about we go with plot relevant respec-ing? Like at any given time a character's got their main spotlight thematic kit. Your best of the best at being a hacker or wizard or whatever. Maybe also a secondary skillset. And then definitely some number of slots for stuff they're into but it's not their main thing. Maybe we have a few variant minisets for those. Like if someone just unlocked their psychic powers and haven't fully figured them out, you have access to this here set of abilities. Once you have your big dramatic power mastery moment, that becomes their main thing and we demote their previous main thing to a secondary thing... and if we don't like this psychic stuff in the end, we demote it back down and fill a tertiary slot with like Lost Psychic Powers, where you still get to be all knowledgeable about how this sorta crap works and maybe have some battles of wills but your cool telekinesis is all locked away. At least for now.

I don't want to sit down and fully design a game at the tail end of a blog post here, but feel free to try this out with whatever system you like. Just pick whatever level feels like the good one, build characters with that as their basic kit, let'em have a few dips into secondary and tertiary angles, do a lot of getting thrown out of orders and taking major injuries and getting temporarily possessed or infused with mystery things. And you can do the plucky young kids in over their head thing with this sort of system easily enough. Start off with just the tertiary interest/mini-skill-packs, and once whatever you want to grow into starts coming up, rapidly grow into that over the course of a few adventures, no needing some big dramatic status quo change like this usually calls for.

Oh and I haven't been talking about video games here, but kill experience there too. If I'm not doing the whole Metroidvania/Zeld'em Up thing to pick up new powers as I explore, just gimme the whole kit from the get-go. Have traditional difficulty curves. We're good. Leave the skill trees and the level-grinding out of it. What are you holding back for, replayability? It's been raining free big-name big commitment games for years. Quit demanding that much of our time.

Oh and I keep forgetting to beg for money while I write these. I went 24 hours here without eating because I was just out of food and couldn't afford to go to the store. Someone took pity on me and hand delivered a big bowl of soup. Things are getting real bad. Patreon link.

[baeddelations]

I think this part of my loathing of seeing this article passed around "i am tw, iam staying in the closet" bc it is a diary entry that was explicitly not supposed to be advice or a rubric. She origanilly aays its just 1 narrative to take in then when it gets past around she says hey this was me venting i didnt intend for anyone to read this.

I think this is the major interest in this piece. A view into the interiority of a tw whos been closeted for 20 yrs and her personal xp growin up then being a closeted tw in a University WGS dept. Some ppl might call this a fetishistic interest in the interiority of this tw, oh how they love poking around in the frankenstein monsters guts, poking his brain to see what horrid mismatched limb will jump.

I think the main reason @autolenaphilia interacted with this is bc this article was passed around by a bunch of transmisogynist who are adpting and pulling together the transmisogyny of jeniffer and her recounting of cismanhating that exists in primarily cisfeminist spaces and by extension radical and queer spaces. Jennifer does not bring up cafab transness or transmasculinity once in this article yet it is cited as inspiration for truther framework.

I do think the way that jennifer talks about not wanting to acquiesce is kinda built on a faulty conjecture which is that if she transitioned she would be able to talk about femininity in these spaces... at one point she says this probably wouldnt be true(mb just for her) but then goes back to the original argumentation on many occasions. This argumentation taken to conlusion posits that it is easier to discourse or even exist in those spaces as a tw than as a cis man that u will be more include and less ridiculed. At the time of this article she had never actually tried out this proposition, so she never got to see how this prop is at least in all the copius amounts of personal and anecdotal xp i have false. But this prop is useful for ppl who want push tw have it easier and that men are reviled for being men. Enter prager xcuse me truthers.

I also hate internalized oppression framework, imo it is an idpol tool used to shift blame from the brainwashed oppressed to som aspirational that oppressive ideology comes naturally to. Is she promoting transmisogynistic ideas? Yah, shes not bad for this but it is why its useful to truthers, and part of why it hurts to read as a tw.

@autogyne-redacted i do think its hard to see point 1, 2, and 5 of y shes not trnsn nd say these arent related to passibility. Repercussion are often contingent with passablity. Movin towards phys transn being dysphoria inducing is connected with what expectations of feminity u hav and how u line up with them(i also xp this). And the gap thing is imo her wishing she could be passable w ease and recognizing she cant so settling and saying its not worth it to try.

I think lena is apply a broader scope of trans xp to jennifers xp i dnt think this is even necessarily harmful and i dnt think shes even saying jen is wrong for it shes saying her words are easy to coopt that they are capering to these tmras which they are however unitentionally. U could also take things ive said in the past and warp them into tmra shit. I fortunately didnt write these things in a medium article. She is handling in other ways and this is wut conv therapy wants... thats what it seems they go for a lot again doesnt mean jen is bad nd lena doest say shes wrong for this. The only thing lena says is she doesnt want this for herself thats not restricting jens autonomy. And that the article and responses made her sick. They made me feel bad too. This isnt necessarily a moral judgement. It could be but idk.

All this is a dissection. I hate it. I wish her vent diary post wasnt being aired, analyzed, and discoursed. Im doing it right now ffs! It makes me want to leave the internet. I hope ppl stop talkn bout it...but they wont bc the corpse of this diary can be a useful weapon against tw so itll keep gettn used.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

hi yeah i have a little more i want to add on to the Duel Links AI Characters thing. This kinda blurs the line between Headcanon and Theory tho

A really weird thing that is either brilliant subtext or me just reading in to things too hard is the progression of the AI Duelists. Not like, the release of duel worlds and stuff, or powercreep, or anything like that. I mean theres two real, defined types of AIs in Duel Links.

If you look at a lot of the DM characters... theyre fairly flat. Like yeah I know thats also true of Téa/Anzu and Mai and stuff in the show, but it applies to pretty much the entire starting roster. The most odd yet obvious example of this is, oddly enough, Yami Yugi. My mans got Nothing. Hardly shows up in events, any place he would its usually Yugi(DM) instead, and he had very few gate interactions.

Now, think about that from a lore perspective. Yami Yugi is the whole fuckin' point of this. This is the AI Kaiba set out and tried to make, wanted to fill the gay ass void in his heart see again, and he's so... bland. Uninteresting. Why?

Turns out, its because of that very reason. He was the First, of course hes gonna be worse than the others. As time went on, Kaiba got better at making the AIs. And at first, it really was him making the AIs. Let me explain.

Again, looking at the earlier characters again, something becomes obvious. These characters are bland because theyre almost... missing something. If you look at everything they say, everything they do, something clicks. Its all stuff Kaiba either heard about secondhand, or was physically present for. He made the best approximation he could, on his own, but theyre just that: approximations. Easy best example is the first ever event character, Yami Bakura. A fascinating character in Duel Links lore, simply because he's the first Self Aware AI. A big question that comes out of this is Why, and the answer I believe is rlly cool: hes not Yami Bakura. Not even close. Like yeah obviously hes an AI clone, but thats not even what I mean. Kaiba knows so little about Bakura that he couldnt even make a complete personality. He just put a kinda mischevious personality in a Bakura Costume, gave it an interest in occult and Tabletop RPG games, and told it to do its best.

But this is Seto Fucking Kaiba. He doesnt settle for that. So, he got to work on a new, better system. A System that lets him use [insert bullshit explanation here, I like "uses the collective memories of players"] to truly copy people down to their very souls. And the first few times, it goes well. It really is an exact replica... and maybe, maybe thats an issue.

Pegasus J. Crawford has been dead for years at that point, but his impact on the game and large presence make it almost obvious in hindsight. If it were anyone but Seto Kaiba, this might have been the cue to say "hey maybe this is a little fucked up and I need more control over who gets added."

However, Seto 'As the owner of a major corporation I have to do that everyday' Kaiba dont roll like that, so he just leaves the Soul Printer on to do whatever the fuck it wants, and... yeah. After that point, every other AI, along with the duel worlds, is a result of the soul printer. Maybe he should have at least limited the scope to this dimension and the egyptian afterlife tho.

Theres also an argument that its not that the soul printer wasnt ready, its that he needed a playerbase to steal the brain power off of to run said soul printer, so he whipped up the first few to get started.

...sorry i forgot just how much brain rot this game caused me and ur earlier posts got me going again ;-;

OOOHOHOHOHOO THIS IS SUPERRR SUPER GOOD STUFF and I definitely think this is picking at what's really under the hood here. Transcend Game was all about Kaiba using people's (many of which being CHILDREN'S) brainwaves to create images and experiences, so it really would not be out of his ballpark to get the system running and just leave it to do its thing while he goes off and obsesses over shit like Why Isn't The Atem AI Right. It's Not Perfect. Why Isn't It Perfect.

and now you've got the AIs themselves producing 'brainwaves' and feeding memories into the system, and that's popping More AIs into the world in turn (i.e. Yuto's and Yuya's memories being the catalyst for Shay showing up, etc.) and they're...uh. starting to get self aware!!!! SO THAT'S FUN. It's like an ouroboros feedback loop of fake memories creating fake memories creating copies of what was once someone's memories.

All cuz SOMEBODY wanted to be king of a virtual reality even though he has more money than god and better things he could be doing 🙄

[greylunar]

I have a house lore question. Would you agree that Gryffindors and Ravenclaws tend to be more ideologically motivated and that Slytherins and Hufflepuffs tend to be more... personally motivated? Not sure I am phrasing this right but basically: Gryffindor/Ravenclaw: This is my cause, I believe in it. Slytherin/Hufflepuff: This is my person, I believe on them. Just as a general rule, not true in every case. (1/2)

Also, Gryffindors and Slytherins are more devoted to their cause/person whereas Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are more likely to be able to be able to reevaluate their standing with the person or cause if they feel they are no longer totally aligned with it/them. Again, just as a rule of thumb. (2/2)

I wrote an insanely long answer to this so more under the break, warning there’s a LOT of like, psychoanalysis down here and a lot of its very personal and about core aspects so like please proceed with caution and PLEASE ask me to tag if I forget something

Super weird note to start this off with but did you have an icon of a dog like two days ago because if that was you it looked like my dog and made me really happy (I love the aesthetic of this one too, A+ design)

Anyways! I do have A Lot of thoughts on this topic in particular, and I’m glad you asked because I know that my interpretation of the houses verges more into “Casper has a specific idea of the sort of personality spectrums he would align into these broad JK-based categories” than “canon” haha c: My “rule of thumb” for causes/ideologies is this:

Hufflepuff: “This is my belief.” This is what is good, what is right, what I know I should fight for and stand up for when the time comes. I will stand by this belief, because a part of me wholly excepts it as fact and uncompromising. I may, however, not always be able to stand up for this belief, as there are situations where I have to evaluate what will be the safest for me and the people I love. But you will have a Hard Time changing a hufflepuff’s mind on something they believe unless you can prove to them that its hurting people and somehow in the wrong. In that case, a new belief is formed to account for this information. Now, here’s where people (in I guess my version of house lore) tend to misjudge hufflepuffs. If one of their People repeatedly acts against their fundamental beliefs, they will either A) fail to remain one of that hufflepuff’s People and get dropped from that sort of list or B) just,,, badger them with facts/reasoning/their opinion until either the hufflepuff changes their mind or they change the Hufflepuff. (Side note, but on how Puffs handle ending relationships of any kind with folks: Hufflepuffs tend to,,, ‘ghost’ toxic people because of their uncompromisable nature on these very core beliefs. A hufflepuff will often give someone a thousand and one second chances until they realize that person either refuses to or is completely unable to accommodate one of their core definitions of good/justice/kindness/personhood and then usually hufflepuffs just kinda bounce. They often struggle with conflict in an overarching sense and, to put it in a Puff’s terms for avoiding a person they couldn’t handle being around anymore “Damn, wish I could just like, disappear into the woods in Oregon somewhere and get a dog and not have to think about this and my friend Tim could make a true crime podcast about having known me.” This is normally a MOMENTOUSLY hard decision for a Puff (i mean yall get it its the house of loyalty) but its very key that Hufflepuffs don’t align themselves with people, they align themselves with beliefs or personal truths. When push comes to shove, the loyalty a Puff has is often to the concept of goodness and kindness and the Concept of People rather than clinging to a specific individual if they directly oppose those beliefs)

Slytherins: “This is my person/these are my people.” Slytherins are a house of change, and their belief systems are mostly fluid (often based on social rules, for example, “I know people don’t like it or get hurt when these types of things are said, so I will now no longer say things like this from now on” OR alternatively “I am Very Aware that acting like this makes people vaguely unnerved, and I Am Choosing To Act Like This Continuously because I am using it to separate myself from others/people deserve it/god wouldn’t that be hilarious”). Slytherins don’t have a lot of ‘fundamental beliefs’ in a way that at least they would refer to as fundamental beliefs, our lovely snake friends often struggle with knowing themselves and defining themselves rigidly enough to label them like that. In a,,, slightly depressing note some common ones are “I have to earn my worth” and “other people deserve more than me.” Hey Slytherins, I don’t remember where I heard this, but worth is a capitalist concept fed to you by corporations and you are inherently human and therefore loved and important and deserve the world. That all said, what Slytherins do not waiver from their people. Slytherin friends will text you three years after you last talked because you posted something vaguely sad on Instagram and they wanna make sure you’re good. Slytherin partners and friends will love you with all of them, the whole of their being. If someone is mean to me, my Slytherin friends will end them, and I have to be like “bro I’m not even mad, you’re being mad for me.” Slytherins don’t ghost their People, they will drag your ass through the mud until you are healthy or By God They Will Fist Fight Your Mental Illness Themselves. In this way, Slytherins are a lot like Hufflepuffs. The problem lies in when Slytherins find they don’t have any more belief or energy left in their stores to drag themselves up too. Perhaps now is the time to realize you should be one of the People you will fight for too.

Gryffindors: “This is my cause/this is a fact” I’m not going to touch too much on the “here is my ten-step plan to save the world, step one is I Do It” Gryffindors, because I think we’re all familiar with that concept of them. Again, Gryffindors will join the Peace Corps, hufflepuffs will give the person who needs cash twenty dollars if they see them, its a scope thing. What I want to dive into with Gryffindors is the Stubborn Bastard Energy that we know and love them for (I do legitimately mean that as a compliment). Gryffindors RARELY and I’m talking Borderline Never bend or leave behind a fundamental belief once they’ve established it. Gryffs often assume that these beliefs are inherent, they would not be themselves if they were not Certain about this, and therefore that certainty is essential to who they are. Therefore Gryffs deal in personal truths, or things they have decided are facts, pillars that do not change. You will want to punch your Gryffindor best friend sometimes because they put something in their head when they were six because of what someone on the playground said and now they live by that and sometimes physically struggle with processing contradictory information. This can be great, if a Gryff internalizes something like “I should do no harm” or “I will Fight A Bully” but has more frustrating consequences when its something like “If someone does something bad they are irredeemable, and I should never again respect them.” For Gryffs, sometimes the best thing to ask yourself is “wait, Why do I think that, and are there any cases that are exceptions to these rules.” But fundamentally, Gryffs often are the ones to save the world because they already believe it is a fact that they will, and that they should.

Ravenclaws: “This is complicated/This should be seen from all sides” and THEN “I’m about to end this mans whole career over this” Ravenclaws are such a fun house for this question. Ravenclaws often have a sort of information gathering stage before they even consider the idea of having an opinion in their head. Ravenclaws want to make sure they know everything they can about a cause/an issue/a person before they make that Final Call of verbalizing or standing by something, because a very serious fundamental fear for Ravenclaws is being embarrassed. I don’t mean to minimize that or invalidate it in anyway, a lot of Ravenclaws would rather be dropped in a pit of [insert distasteful creature here} than have the shame in their minds of being caught on the wrong side of an argument, without all the facts, or unprepared for a thorough discussion. Ravenclaws in this information gathering stage will often say things like “I’m not sure to be honest, I haven’t looked into it that much” or even “I don’t really like to have opinions on matters like that because I don’t think I could ever know enough to represent what I should correctly.” THAT SAID. That’s phase one. But y’all if a Ravenclaw Decides, even without acknowledging they have, a Raven Decides. From anything from “this 18th century poet was a lesbian and you simply will not convince me I’m wrong, here is a list of reasons why I’m right” to “So Determinism exists, and I fundamentally believe that, I am fascinated on what you think about Free Will though,” Ravenclaws are the probably the most complex on this subject inherently because of how much they want to make sure they know the truth. Ravenclaws will re-evaluate their beliefs, but if the information you’re bringing to the table isn’t valid enough to hold up against their previous evidence, there’s not a whole lot you’ll be able to do about it. Ravens will struggle if asked to take a stance before this phase though, so friends, please remember that no one is ever going to remember if you raised your hand and said something a little less intelligent in high school English than you would have liked other than you. It is more than okay for you to forget that too.

[misterbitches]

In my opinion Oh-aew had some sort of crush on Tay (I have to write it this way the dyslexia jumps OUT if I spell it Teh) or like affection whatever even if he didn’t know it which you can see when it manifests now.

(I mean ok I know it’s been one episode but I’m always right)

It’s interesting that he said he can’t handle the pain of losing a friend like that again. I was surprised when he said no to being that close again and that’s when I think it was made clear just how much it meant in retrospect.

The argument was so stupid and I’m not gonna make this explicitly about living in a Society but the idea of choosing and being jealous as if you can’t exist at once. What happens if art is fun? What happens when we realize we all have the lights in us.

When Tay was like I just want him to do poorly there was no basis besides insecurity. It’s such a stupid way of looking at things but human and immature. There’s no explicit guarantee one is better than the other but “nobody can replace anybody else so it would be a shame to make a comparison” (this is a fiona apple lyric) comes to mind. We can’t get to where we’re going together? And obviously that’s not true since they all have their friends that they grew up with.

I also like how it’s not outright opulence. Rich ppl suck and i dont want that in my eyes. I don’t feel bombarded with wealth and a fairytale. As if this would be the sole key to tbe happy ending that all media proposes is a victory in their laziness to ensure and please capital.

But that’s also clearly because this show was taken with immense care at least on the crew’s side. But for the cast yea that too I mean everyone’s so dramatic but it has its flair, very Thai, and they use the vibrancy and the landscape.

But this is what happens when things aren’t made at a constant rate and you try to churn out many episodes.

I find a lot of these shows to be unbearable and I have a high threshold for “good” acting because I’m overly critical and terrible but it was nice seeing them even if it was so much crying. I really love things that capture youth since a lot of mine wasn’t pleasant. The ups and downs are natural for them and it will be ok. They have friends and their city.

Usually I abhor the editing on most of these dramas (these = overwhelmingly the BL genre tho that recent japanese show...love...something idk they meet walking a line was very pretty and digestible) but, if I remember correctly, it’s really good here. In fact I am positive—it does absolute justice to the story. And the writing underlines the subtlety. So much of the show is about being young and exploration and I love it. Honestly, when he was trying to imitate the instagram picture it was just...wow that’s so teenage. I was so embarrassed.

That brings me to something else wrt editing. So a lot of asian dramas are very dramatic which isn’t my favorite thing but it has a clear cultural place so it means a viewer has to adjust to differences and see the merits within an alternate scope. I will never, ever, ever, ever, ever like the dramatic music they put in. I hate those musical cues like no other. This is just my preference and it will always be. I don’t know why it’s so allurin from a creative standpoint; we know the stakes! But it wasn’t so distracting that I couldn’t continue. I think I found the whole thing extremely cinematic so the hyped up musical cues kinda threw me off.

All in all it was very enjoyable and further critiques are minor and something that time can work out like some acting but seriously thag’s mostly nothing and I saw that they had acting coaches in the credit. I think they may have been on set—I haven’t watched the doc—but that’s something people take for granted and I respect it. Seriously. Or if other shows do these ones actually understand how to get their characters from point a to b.

Acting is such a cool art and comes in different atyles but I feel like our responses to it are so intuitive so the deliveryno matter what method has to embody life qualities. I could go on about this but I won’t cause ambien but even if there’s a political approach to acting (Brecht) it is stil rooted in life. For ONCE the cast and crew fix things accordingly (this isn’t just a BL problem but I also wouldn’t classify this as BL I guess gorl IDK im going thru it)

I’m more critical than usual and I’m going through a major artistic crises lol so it was nice. There’s a lot of unrest in Thailand so I won’t forget that people are struggling. I think something that moght get people to look mght is how beautiful it looks and that brings attention to artists. Artists who represent their country, or believe in something, or care and maybe introducing people to Thai film. Art can give us access to whole radical landscapes.

Even tho i’m in favor of pirating always I feel that contributing monetarily means support and it’s a big thing for me (which is why I so often opt out because I don’t support something but should have access to it bc LIFE) and the point is yo contribut and encourage, right? Which is why I believe in sharing, it isn’t capital that drives us to something, we get attracted to the merits and contribute with capital but that means a level if absolute respect back. This means that while I can’t really pay a bunch for the episodes I think I will buy two. Which never happens.

Lastly this is probably one of the worst yrs in existence. I break down crying when I think of lives lost and black people abd being inside and just the pressure of it all. I wouldn’t say escapism tho that has merit but we get to see a fun youthful world that is just missing. It’s missing. As much as I love contemplating on the absurd, theres solace in watching people go about without external pain cementing them

[theredhairedmonkey]

A few people had some feedback for my meta on Claudia here. Instead of reblogging the meta over and over again, I’d rather address the arguments raised by @silverspetz​ here and @atreefullofstars​ here.

So... neither of these posts seem all that enthusiastic with either (1) my treatment of Dark Magic nor (2) my assessment of Claudia. I’ll do my best to break down both of these arguments as well as possible.

From @silverspetz​:

I don’t really believe in the “power corrupts” thing in the first place, but even if I did it wouldn’t change the fact that primal magic users also have elevated power and the only reason you can give for why dark magic would be more tempting is because it makes things “too” easy. If you were actually honest with this argument you would be insisting that the true evil is that magic exists at all and not just that dark magic is arbitrarily “too powerful”. 

Let's break down these forms of magic. For Primal Magic, in order to take full advantage of all that it can offer you, a mage has to have an arcanum (or an uber-rare Primal Stone). An arcanum requires a deep, fundamental understanding of the Primal Source, and far more so; there’s a reason only a rare few elves even become mages, and why even sky mages can’t automatically learn to grow mage wings. There’s a lot of internal mental discipline and legwork that’s involved--the reason why Lujanne can cast spells, but Runaan and Rayla can’t. While Callum is an exception, canonically it usually takes years if not decades to master this kind of magic.

Dark Magic doesn’t require any of this. If you have the materials and the incantation words, that’s enough. No deep understanding or internal channeling of magic is required. That’s what makes it so easy. And this is canon; this is what Aaron and Justin describe as the difference between Primal and Dark Magic when it comes to ease.

But being easy does not in of itself make Dark Magic bad. It’s why it’s tempting (Callum catches on to this, even when Viren and Claudia do not). The fact that there is no limit to what you can do with Dark Magic, combined with the fact that everything you could ever need or want could just be a single spell away is what makes this dangerous. Again, unlike Primal Magic, Dark Magic is characterized as unlimited power. That’s what makes this a toxic combination.

Primal Magic simply doesn’t operate this way. It’s a naturally occuring phenomenon that can be tapped into. There are limits as to what can be done; Primal Energy needs to be nearby, and many spells, such as aspiro and mage wings, are limited by what the mage can physically exert.

The Primal Mages that we’ve seen demonstrate a separate issue with Primal Magic, but I’ll talk about that below. 

Sure, it is nice that you at least admit that Xadia probably exiled humans to preserve the status quo, but you are still insisting that dark magic is the only kind with inherently corrupting influence and acting as if being born with an inherent power isn’t already playing life at easy mode. You don’t ask the question “how long before elves decide to do the easy thing instead of the right thing” even though they have already done far worse things than any dark mage on the show. It is all so very reminicent of all the arguments you hear from the majority whenever a minority tries to assert itself. “No, you can’t fight oppression your way, that’s wrong and bad. Do it on our terms”. The show’s thesis is basically that “reverse racism” is worse than actual racism, and the fandom largely agrees. You can save your “is dark magic too powerful” concerns until humanity as a whole has been given even a modicum of the power they actually deserve.

The show definitely doesn’t pull its punches when it comes to dragons and elves. Sol Regem quite nearly wipes out a city, while the ethnic cleansing of humans had been compared to the Trail of Tears by the show’s creators. And the thing is, there are issues with the way elven mages and dragons use their magic, even though that’s beyond the scope of my meta on Claudia. But just because a group is oppressed or marginalized doesn’t mean any attempt to gain, as you say, a “modicum of the power they actually deserve” is justified. In fact, that’s all very reminiscent of real-life formerly oppressed groups who either gained that “modicum of power” through exploiting others or taking advantage of their newfound power to settle the score with their former oppressors, which just perpetuates a cycle of hatred and violence...which kinda sounds like the point the first three seasons of the show was trying to push!

To your question “how long before elves decide to do the easy thing instead of the right thing,” we already have an answer. There is an elf who isn’t bothered by questions of doing the right thing.

Who only really cares about increasing his own power in the quickest way possible, regardless of who he harms, corrupts or kills along the way.

And it’s this guy:

In spite of mastering all six Primal Sources, he still turns to Dark Magic as a means to get what he wants. Which does give us the answer to your question--when an elven doesn’t care about the right thing, merely the easy thing, they too turn to Dark Magic. That’s the corrupting influence of this branch of magic. Aaravos should have had all the power he needed, but he wanted more.

And what does he do with his power once he has it? He eclipses the Sun Nexus, creating perpetual night over Lux Auera and quite possibly wiping out the city. That should drive home what “unlimited power” means with regard to Dark Magic--you can quite possibly destroy Primal Sources at will. You can’t do that with Primal Magic.

But Primal Mages, at least who we’ve seen, don’t particularly care to bolster their own power over the lives of others because, honestly, they’re kinda indifferent to them. And that’s their flaw--not power-lust, but apathy to the plight or struggles of people.

Keep in mind, they’re not unkind or callous toward others. Lujanne, for instance, is nice and will help Team Zym...when they ask her to. It’s why she simultaneously tells the group that “dark forces are pursuing you” while still being willing to show Callum around and letting the team drag their heals. Rayla was quite indignant at that (”I thought you were on my side!”). 

Or, she helps Ez get to Xadia because Soren asks her to, then wanders off to fuck around with other humans, while a war for the future of the world is fought. 

Ibis is similar--he suggests to Callum that the group simply leaves with Zym rather than make their stand, thus giving Viren the opportunity to gain power. He helps out in finding dragons to fight alongside them, but we never see him take part in the battle itself. Just like Lujanne, he helps the group with their goals but doesn’t engage directly with any threats.

The differences between Dark and Primal Mages are similar to the Sith and the Jedi in the Prequel Trilogy. The Sith are power-hungry, perhaps beginning their fall to the Dark Side out of a goal to protect their loved ones or a similar aim before being corrupted by their desire for power and domination. The Jedi, however, are “keepers of the peace,” and will get involved when that peace is disrupted...and turn a blind eye to slavery on worlds like Tatooine. They’ll preserve the status quo, but don’t do much else, which is why the Separatist Crisis was started in the first place; countless worlds were irate that the Republic, and by extension, the Jedi Council, ignored their problems and struggles.

Primal Mages are the Jedi in this situation. From what we could ascertain, they didn’t do much of anything to help the humans before they were desperate enough to turn to Dark Magic.  The fact that a human learning an arcanum was so surprising just shows how little anyone tried to help humanity before dismissing them as a lost cause. 

This is also why Callum is such a standout example of a mage. He rejects the temptation of Dark Magic while also deciding to stay and fight to defend Zym. He’s chosen who he wants to be, and he’s not going to make the same mistakes that mages from either camp have made.

Primal Magic has its flaws, but to say that Dark Magic and Primal Magic both represent power and share the same temptations misses the larger point.

As for Claudia supposedly being “selfish”, yeah, this is where you are absolutely being dishonest to demonize Claudia. Soren was not willing to accept his condition. It was blatantly obvious that he was just having a breakdown and trying to find silver-linings whereever he could. Even his first poem was basically him lamenting his new situation. And he was very obviously happy when Claudia fixed his spine. 

You would have a point had Claudia actually obtained Soren’s consent. The fact that she didn’t even bother to ask his permission violated his agency. Even after she was done, Soren never found out what it cost for him to be healed. 

All of this is extremely problematic. It’s not a small thing that medical practitioners seek out consent from their patients, even when the treatment is painless, simple, and safe. The autonomy that people have over their own bodies is of utmost importance, something that can’t be dismissed with a simple “Oh well he was unhappy anyway, he would have said yes if I asked.”

I think that, deep down, even now, Claudia is a good person. She thinks what she’s choosing to do with her magic is ultimately the right thing. It’s just that, in her mind, other people don’t get to choose.

 So forgive me if I think that meta about primal magic you plan to write is going to be a bunch of drivel that admits elves wen’t too far in commiting genocide but ultimately doesn’t see how being born with the power to crush armies might make you at least as tempted to solve all your problems with sheer force as the ability to turn chains into snakes.

Hopefully, the little that I wrote about Primal Magic assuaged your worries somewhat. There’s a lot more to write about this form of magic, most of which can’t fit here.

And it’s not like creatures with Primal Magic never use sheer force to try and solve their problems (that’s exactly what Sol Regem attempts to do). But when you look at what you can do with Primal Magic versus what you can do with Dark Magic, the former simply doesn’t compare. This isn’t an apples to apples comparison in terms of raw power.

For @atreefullofstars​:

And miss me with “dark magic is easy and dark mages don’t sacrifice anything so everything they do is selfish.” Yeah, characters in the show–the ones who already don’t like dark magic–have said that a few times. But what’s shown on screen is dark mages collapsing, falling ill, panting, and turning corpselike and clearly unhealthy from using it, when nothing like that happens to primal mages. What is “Claudia doesn’t lose anything other than a streak of black hair” supposed to mean? She didn’t make a magical trade, her hair color for Soren’s spine; if that were the case she wouldn’t have needed the deer. She did something so difficult, that put so much physical strain on her body, that it turned some of her hair white. When that happens in real life, there are physiological consequences way beyond hair color; the hair is just a clear visual representation of how badly that strained her body.

Lets set aside whether Dark Mages never sacrifice anything for their magic (Ziard, for instance, sacrificed his life to save Elarion; Callum fell into a coma). What I’m talking about is in this particular case--Claudia momentarily collapses from using a lot of Dark Magic...then proceeds to get back up again and is none the worse for wear in the next scene. That’s all I’m trying to say. Claudia does not “sacrifice her own well-being” to save her brother when there are no long-term side effects to her other than that one streak (it’s not from the physical strain either; stress-induced grayness doesn’t just come up in one spot and it certainly doesn’t friggin turn already black hair white!).

The streak isn’t supposed to visually represent the strain on her body that was clearly temporary. It visually represents how Dark Magic is slowly starting to change Claudia. One might say it’s corrupting her.

And if that just isn’t enough, if she should have to give up more because she’s supposedly being selfish, well, it’s still more than primal mages sacrifice. What did Callum sacrifice to save Rayla? What did it cost him, what did he lose? Is it selfish that he used his magic to rescue her from falling, because he loves her and doesn’t want his life to change by losing her? What did he give up when he cast Fulminus to selfishly override Ibis’s objections to teaching him? What did it cost him to cast Aspiro and blow Zym up into the air to block out the sun, saving him and Rayla? Every primal spell in the show is “selfish” when you view it through a lens determined to show it that way, and not one of them has a cost. Every good deed anyone has EVER done could be construed as selfish because it made them feel good to do it; even if it was difficult or uncomfortable, they were obviously still satisfying some other principle they value more and getting net benefit.

I think you’re missing the point if you think that the issue with Dark Magic is that it doesn’t come with enough personal sacrifice. Me arguing that Claudia didn’t sacrifice her well-being for Soren isn’t me arguing that she should have.

But as for whether primal mages are selfish...Callum quite nearly falls to his death in a long-shot attempt to save Rayla. And keep in mind, he isn’t trying to save an idea of her, or the portrait of a perfect relationship, or something that he simply desires for himself. He’s trying to save her. And unlike with Claudia, it doesn’t come at anyone else’s expense--just, potentially, himself. 

Before that, he puts himself between Zym/Rayla and scores of enhanced soldiers. He risks his life just to protect them. Before that, he crushes a moon opal to learn the truth about Rayla’s parents, so she can feel free to make her own choice (and this was the epitome of selflessness; he didn’t attempt to convince her to leave with them. If she wanted to stay, fight and die, Callum was willing to accept that. Think about that when you say that every primal spell in the show is somehow selfish).

And before that, he uses Fulminis to get Ibis’s attention so he could learn magic...so that he could protect Zym and his friends from Viren’s army. Throughout all of Season 3, Callum does magic primarily to help others and never just for himself. It doesn’t come at the expense of anyone else’s life or anyone’s agency. That’s the difference between Callum and Claudia--to reduce all of that to just “well any choice is selfish when you think about it” is just pure nihilism.

[eintsein]

Warning: 10 min read ahead :)

Coming into freshman year, I was relatively optimistic. However, I also did that thing where I prevent myself from having too strong of an opinion or extreme expectations (whether it’s positive or negative) before actually experiencing something, in order not to settle on a premature judgment. Even so, before starting freshman year, I was excited for a huge change - I was sick of mundane high school life. When I finally started college, man, was it liberating.

On Intellectual Development

I’d been taking more or less the same classes throughout high school. These classes covered the exact same topics - the only difference was the depth of the material. In college, however, I got to study a breadth of topics and subjects - astronomy, anthropology, information science, philosophy - subjects into which I barely dipped my toes, and when I did so, it was only through the books I read in my own time.

Choosing a liberal arts school is one of the best decisions I ever made because it exposes me to so many things I simply did not have access to in the earlier stages of my intellectual development. Like, yeah, I can read philosophy books whenever I want, but who will I talk to when I don’t understand an argument? How can I discipline my thinking, my writing, my approach to this new learning material? I can find any topic fascinating, but I can’t exactly set my mind on any of them because I haven’t had proper academic exposure. Plus, where high school humanities courses were easy and contained little engagement - just lots of material - the humanities courses I took in my freshman year of college got me thinking and reflecting and engaging with the material even when I didn’t intend to.

What I particularly enjoyed was the discussion sections in humanities courses. For those less familiar with the system, each course usually has a weekly discussion where students are split up into smaller classes and get to discuss anything related to the course material that week. I am not a naturally talkative or articulate person by any standard, let alone compared to Americans, so obviously these discussions were very challenging. But aside from helping me practice putting my thoughts into words and to interact verbally with academic material, these discussions did allow me to engage with the material in a way that I could not have alone, in a way that a STEM course probably could not be discussed.

My STEM courses, however, had their own merits. I very much enjoyed the project based, hands-on approach of most of the classes, especially when teamwork is involved. For my final project for a web programming and design course, my team and I got to make a website for an on-campus, student-run grocery store. For my intro CS final project, I got to code an entire game of alien invaders. This was so refreshing compared to the STEM courses I did in high school, where I was basically just learning the theory for 6 months, and then drilling past papers for the next 6 months. Theory in these STEM courses are also more involved and require more thinking, while high school science courses tend to be on the mechanical side.

College is also liberating because whenever I have the urge to understand something more deeply or find an ever-present curiosity sitting in the back of my mind, I can always enroll in a course or attend a lecture, instead of always being redirected to a predetermined course combination that doesn’t allow for intellectual exploration, and settling for an article, a youtube video, or a book instead. It’s an amazing feeling to always have a fountain of knowledge with which I can quench my intellectual thirst.

When it comes to learning things, I still have the same attitude as the wide-eyed freshman when I first came last fall. I kinda wish I had experimented more instead of jumping into my ‘intended major’, though. In my first two semesters here, I took astronomy, anthropology, comparative literature, computer science, economics, information science, mathematics, and philosophy, which is already quite a diverse course combination, but there are some other subjects I’d like to try out and definitely could have if I hadn’t settled for a major upon entering college. But wherever I end up - and I still have a year to decide - I’m sure I’ll choose something interdisciplinary and requires diverse ways of thinking.

On Paths (in Life, School, etc.)

The intellectual and academic rigidity of high school also kind of narrowed my scope for my own future. The courses and careers built into my head were the ones I was exposed to at school, at home, or in mainstream media. However, being exposed to all this new knowledge made me realize how little I’ve experienced - certainly not enough to determine where I’m going in life - and that it’s okay to not be sure of where I want to go.

There’s this perception that you should know where you want to be in the future by the time you turn 17 or 18 or whatever age you graduate high school, maybe even earlier if you take into account the college application period. But honestly, how realistic is that? I mean, it’s great if you discover your ‘passion’ early on in life, but then where’s your room to breathe? How can you explore the other joys life has to offer? How can be so sure that the path you’re on is the right one if you haven’t walked any other or even seen other possible paths? 

College freed me from feeling like I need to be certain of where I was going. It freed me from trying to pursue a predetermined path based solely on my past academic experience, and instead focus on trying new things to build new experiences and knowledge that will evolve into a path that I enjoy every step of the way.

That also applies to choosing a major. I started out ‘wanting’ to do computer science - wanting being a loose term meaning something I thought I should do, based on my background, experience, academic strengths, and personality. But then I noticed myself being very impartial towards pursuing the major and just doing the minimum amount of work needed for the classes. I also took the minimum number of CS classes each semester because I was honestly not looking forward to them - and I didn’t particularly enjoy them when I took them.

It wasn’t the same with my Info Sci classes, for example, where I started early on projects just because they were enjoyable to do, even if they were challenging. I learned how to do certain things when they weren’t required for the class, experienced a good flow when doing the projects, actually came to class because I wanted to, had initiative when it came to group projects, made friends with people in the class who I didn’t know before taking it - I was just more involved in the class. Overall, I was more motivated to learn, and I think that’s the most important thing (maybe that’s just the ravenclaw in me, who knows).

On a smaller scale, you might be good at a certain subject in high school only to find out you’re suddenly incompetent in it and aren’t interested enough to push through it. I was a math person in high school - like I almost didn’t even have to try - but the two math classes I’ve taken so far in college were very challenging for me, and I suppose that’s a good thing because it allowed me to push my limits further and think about whether I enjoy the challenge.

Recently, I read that true happiness comes when you find problems you enjoy solving, and I think that’s a good ideology to help you choose the path you wanna take.

On Things that Spark Joy

This past year, I also found that I was a lot happier than in high school because I got to pursue the things that bring me joy, whether it’s in regard to academics as I’ve described above, extracurriculars, or things in my daily life.

I got to wake up at whatever time I wanted to and had breakfast how I liked - both in terms of food and whether I had my coffee at home or to-go, or example. I could change my physical appearance in ways that make me feel powerful and confident - in terms of clothing and hair and just how I presented myself in general. When I needed to breathe, I could walk around town or go down to the gorges. I could do my work when and where it was most convenient for me (most of the time).

With regard to extracurriculars, there were a lot of opportunities for me to try new things and continue doing the things I already love. I became a graphic designer for a cultural magazine, which allowed me to do one of my favorite things for a purpose towards which I’m happy to be working. My high school didn’t have any publications and had a seasonal need for graphic designers (mainly school events). I tried out for music groups, trained to be a DJ, watched and discussed films I wouldn’t have seen if it weren’t for Cornell Cinema, went to the concerts of bands that never come to Indonesia. I attended social events I was interested in, and skipped those that I didn’t want to go to, attended workshops, listened to guest lectures, etc. I hung out with people I enjoyed being around, instead of those with whom the only thing I had in common was physical location.

One of the things I’m still adjusting to, however, is the different dynamic of college friendships compared to high school friendships in that they’re more spread out in away - like you’d know a whole bunch of people but they don’t mutually know each other, and there isn’t really like a friend group. Maybe that’s just me. But either way, I also realized that my closest friends in high school took at least 3 or 4 years to go from merely a familiar face to people I’d call for four hours straight and send my sporadic thoughts to. So I guess I gotta be patient and have faith that with time, compatible and like-minded individuals will gravitate towards one another.

On Self-Discovery

Starting college also allowed me to be who I am and who I want to be as opposed to who people think I am and who people expect me to be. Whenever I decide to do something, I don’t have this fear of being ‘out of character’ since I haven’t entirely established who I am yet in the context of college. By doing things I've never done before, I learn things about myself that I probably could not have had I stayed in the same environment (i.e. high school).

Among other things, I noticed that if I don’t want to do something, I will deliberately sabotage myself to make it harder for me to achieve. On the other hand, if I want to succeed or do well in something, I’ll take initiative. That might seem obvious, but the thing is, I don’t always consciously know what I want or like so analyzing my own actions helps a lot. Because college exposes me to so many different material, there’s more data and information to work with, in which to recognize patterns.

A lot of the self-discovery that’s happened is personal, as it should be, but one of the things I’m really grateful for is taking that philosophy course the first semester of college. It made me reassess everything I knew and believed and decide on what values and thoughts I should keep.

I guess one thing I’d advise you to do is to experience new things and reflect on the impact of those new experiences. Sometimes it might not feel like you’ve done a ton of things after a whole year. I’ve had moments where I thought about all the things I thought I should have accomplished but didn’t, and I was like, ‘did I just waste an entire year doing nothing?’ But then I look back on the things I did do - took awesome courses, made amazing friends, got a job, learned to live on my own, etc. - and realized I gotta give myself a little more credit.

On Everything

Coming into college was a huge positive change. Something I wish I could tell myself at the beginning of the year is firstly not to fear making mistakes, so you won’t be afraid of trying new things. Keeping an open mind is great, but not entirely helpful if you don’t venture out into unknown territory to provide you with things to think about. Step out of your comfort zone and don’t be afraid to redefine yourself, but in all circumstances, don’t lose track of who you are.

If you’ve read this far, thank you so much! and please don’t hesitate to drop me an ask if you have questions or comments or concerns. Have an awesome day :)

[0poole]

Honestly, this is getting ridiculous

This whole Dexit thing is not NEARLY as bad as people as making it out to be. It’s actually gotten to the point where you can’t talk about Pokemon without someone bringing it up. It’s legitimately annoying, since it seems like 90% of people are overreacting and spreading misinformation.

Here’s exactly what IS happening:

You will not be able to transfer Pokemon to Sword and Shield from past games/GO if they are not already in the Galar Pokedex. 

First of all, no one with half a brain thinks this is a good thing. No one. I don’t think it’s a good thing either. My problem is the people reacting to it.

I don’t remember how credible the information was, but there’s talk that there will at least be 1000 models for Pokemon in these games. That’s including forms. Again, since this is just some random tumblr post and not an essay, another possibly less-than-credible number: There’s maybe like 250 total alternate forms of existing Pokemon. Pokemon like Spinda and Silvally probably take up most of those, and most of the others are legendary Pokemon. Megas are gone, so subtract how many of those there are. Now, think about how many of those Pokemon will actually be in Galar. Legendary Pokemon seem very region-specific, so they probably won’t be in there, and we haven’t seen Spinda or Silvally yet, so unless there’s a new Pokemon with a ton of extra forms...

That’s a shitton of Pokemon. There’s about 800 as of Gen 7, and if they introduce like 100 more, that still leaves 100 extra spots for forms. There’s talk of special Dynamax forms, but still who knows. Assuming there are, in fact, 1000 models of Pokemon, we will be getting a ton of variety anyway.

“Oh, but what about the few left behind? What if someone had a special Pokemon that just so happened to not be in Galar?”

Don’t forget, this is Sword and Shield we’re talking about here. Galar will only be relevant to these games and whatever sequels they churn out after them. After that, there will be a new region, and guess what? They will have the opportunity to have the leftovers in that region. Hell, maybe in the sequel games, they’ll swap out some of the Pokemon that didn’t make it with those that did. Kinda unlikely, but who knows? It’s not like they’ve just straight-up erased the Pokemon that didn’t make it in. There’s always the future. 

Here’s the biggest thing, though: Pokemon Home. Your Pokemon will have a place to go. And, if you don’t want to pay for that, then you can still keep them in Sun and Moon. If it’s free there’s no excuse, of course, but you will be able to keep your “hard work.” You’ll just have to wait another generation (or maybe not even one generation, assuming DPPt remakes are coming) to use them in a main series game. 

Plus, Home might even have a Showdown-esque feature to it, letting us do graphically simple battles with the Pokemon we already have. We don’t know. 

And that’s another thing: We don’t know. Hell, maybe, in lieu of having all Pokemon, there will be a much larger story and post-game. Literally the only argument against that is the generic “lul but its gf” pessimeme shit. Sure, the main series could literally be better, but that’s no excuse to act like the games are in any way bad. If you’re going to get angry, get angry when we actually know what these games are like. If they do have the same scope as SuMo with a new coat of paint, then you can actually get angry. But, looks like it’s definitely not going to be like SuMo.

Also, for the love of God, stop using that stupid fucking Double Kick “””Animation””” to try and prove a point. Literally like 99% of all other moves have animations. It’s the definition of cherry-picking. Claiming they’re lazy because one move doesn’t animate means jack shit. 

But, you know... Maybe it’s just preference, or whatever. Maybe everything’s just pent up anger for things that’s happened throughout the series. But, there’s one thing that is objectively and morally wrong about this whole discourse:

Masuda is NOT the issue.

Literally the only reason why people are hating on him specifically is because he broke the news. Ohmori was there too, and is also a pretty big role in these games, but no one’s focusing on him. While he is the director of Gamefreak, that doesn’t instantly mean he wants to steal happiness away from Pokemon fans. People are acting like if they pester him enough, he’ll change is mind, like he WANTS this to be the future of Pokemon. Like I said, no one with half a brain thinks this is a good thing. If it were so easy as to just press a button and have every Pokemon in every game, he’d do it. But, people think that making a game is just that easy, thinking they can make better models in 5 minutes. Sure, it can take that long to make a shitty model, but then give it 10+ true-to-form animations, approved by the higherups, and then implemented. It’s not that easy. Don’t forget there are animations for the human characters and environments. Even apart from that shittily textured tree everyone’s passing around, you see that giant fucking city in the middle of the map? Model THAT in 5 minutes. Hell, model that in a day. Have fun working 24 hours straight on something that isn’t good enough anyway.

Literally the only possible place to throw your anger is The Pokemon Company, assuming they press Gamefreak to do things in such a way or in such a speed that means they can’t get all Pokemon in in time or in a good enough way. But, even then, we don’t know exactly what’s going on behind the scenes. There’s nothing I hate more than people making up shit like they know what the exact issue is. There’s always more than what’s shown to us.

Then, the last thing that I hate to bring up but I legitimately believe: It is, in fact, just a game. Unnecessary happiness brought up by anything, no matter how petty, is always welcome. Unnecessary anger and hatred brought up by petty things is just stupid. This change won’t affect the experience nearly as much as people are making it out to be, especially because the vast majority of people don’t even go out of their way to “catch ‘em all,” or transfer in a specific team of super specific Pokemon in a game filled with plenty of new faces to use.

Obviously, you can just not buy the game if you don’t want to support this sort of thing. Personally, I think it’s physically impossible for that to make such a large impact that Gamefreak will actually change anything for monetary purposes, unless you literally boycott every single ounce of Pokemon related content for the rest of your life. Just stop whining, and let the people who don’t care enjoy what they can.

Plus, maybe the massive response will force them to try extra hard to fix the issue in the future. Just because Sword and Shield will be like this doesn’t mean it has to be permanent forever.

I’m still going to buy the games and enjoy them, since I’ve yet to not enjoy a Pokemon game, and I like everything else about these games so far. One bad decision and some less-than-perfect graphics will not sour my opinions on these games. 

I will say that I’m enjoying all the “Pokemon disguising as a Galar mon to get past the border” memes though. They’re actually pretty funny.

*** Also if you’re going to respond to this post, message me instead so I can actually respond. ***

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 129: “She Seems Scared”

Previously on BnHA: Deku tried to land a hit on Nighteye using rapidfire attacks lifted from Gran Torino, but was unable to pass Nighteye’s test and take the stamp from him within three minutes. Nighteye realized that Deku had purposely avoided hitting the numerous All Might posters, banners, and cutouts displayed all around the room, which surprised him so much he actually laughed. He then proclaimed that he would hire Deku and was actually planning to do so all along. However, he says he hasn’t acknowledged Deku, and he intends to use the internship to show him how ill-suited he is to being the successor to OFA. The next day, Nighteye, Bubble Girl, Mirio, and Deku set out to do some patrol and surveillance. Nighteye explained that his agency had been tracking a yakuza capo named “Chisaki”, whom the readers know as Overhaul. Because Deku is a villain magnet, of fucking course he ran into Overhaul himself not three pages later. But in a twist, he seemed to be accompanied by a scared young girl.

Today on BnHA: Overhaul, playing nice, apologizes for his “daughter” whom he says has run off. Oh, those bandages on her arms and legs? Not to fret, she’s simply been roughhousing too much and got a little scraped up. Absolutely no one is fooled by this, and Deku can see that the little girl is plainly terrified, so he refuses to let her go as she clings to him for dear life. Mirio is worried that Deku will throw off their investigation by acting too suspicious of Overhaul -- they’re not supposed to know he’s a villain -- but Deku thinks it would be even more suspicious if they, as heroes, were to leave a scared little girl after she’s asked for their help. Overhaul leads them into a dark alley to “talk”, and Eri, afraid that he’s about to kill the two heroes, runs back over to him. Mirio and Deku are forced to let them leave without further incident. Overhaul savagely kills the henchman who almost let Eri escape, and leads her to a freaky laboratory, all the while acting like a total creep. There, he’s told he has a phone call -- from Shigaraki Tomura.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 155 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

guess what time it is kids YEP, you guessed it, NEW VOLUME TIME

well this is all very vague and rather underwhelming

can’t remember the last time I saw a title and cover page that gave away so little. hey guys I think Deku, the main character, will probably feature in this volume pretty heavily. and he’ll be neither happy nor sad nor angry, but based on this, just rather meh. okay then Deku

(ETA: now that I know what the title is in reference to, I kinda wish All Might had also featured on this cover in some small way. ah well)

hey guys who is this

is this what’s-his-name? Amajiki? will he be working with Kirishima interning at this friendly Hamburglar’s agency? AMAJIKI WHAT’S YOUR QUIRK

loooool the character page doesn’t have Todoroki or Bakugou. I’ll try to be a big girl about this. I can go one volume without 2/3 of my sons being featured. but their efforts to pass the make-up provisional license exam had better be fucking successful goddammit. I can only take so much before I start going into withdrawals here

(ETA: sorry, past me. it turns out we’re not very good at handling this. it also turns out it is not, in fact, just one volume. the good news is that as soon as this recap is posted, we are going on a binge of destiny and we will not stop until we have reunited with our missing children. this is my solemn vow)

at least All Might, Ochako, Aizawa, Kirishima, and MY BOY MIRIO are still here

chapter SUTAATO

so we’re flashing back a few moments before the end of the previous chapter

Deku and Mirio are out on patrol!

Deku says he’s nervous, and Mirio’s surprised because this isn’t even anything particularly difficult, it’s just a patrol

and after a moment’s consideration he’s asking if it’s trauma from the League of Villains’ attack

oh Mirio you’re so considerate you precious little dumpling

but Deku says no, he just surprisingly lacks experience with basic hero stuff because so much out-of-the-ordinary shit keeps happening to him

you know what, it’s true. he didn’t even get to do a single patrol during his training with Gran Torino because he ran into the fucking Hero Killer on his third fucking day

Mirio’s all “wow that’s weird” and yeah, but only if you’re not a main character

by the way please look at this duck man here

is this a duck or a chicken or like what the hell is this dude

anyway, because Mirio doesn’t yet realize the scope of Deku’s Main Character Powers, he tells Deku not to worry and that they’ll just be patrolling while Nighteye’s team will be the ones doing surveillance

oh Mirio. so beautiful, so kind, so fucking naive

Deku’s watching this glorious shooting star at work, and thinking again about how he was the original One for All candidate and All Might never said anything

follow me baby

now Mirio’s asking Deku what his superhero name is, and Deku is like, “Deku”

I just really love Deku’s “I’m Deku” face. he has no right to make me keep wanting to ruffle his hair like this

Mirio’s name is “Rumillion”, which apparently refers to the fact that he wants to be a guy who can save millions of people. even if it’s not quite to All Might’s standard of being able to save all people

(ETA: so as we all know, it’s actually Lemillion, which is apparently French? so weird)

what an interesting interpretation of what the “all” in All Might stands for. pretty sure it’s wrong, but it’s still cool

so I guess his chest plate does say 1,000,000. and also his actual name is worked into the superhero name just like Uravity’s punny name. these fucking kids

Mirio gets Deku pumped up by reminding him that they’re heroes now. “don’t let your guard down, Deku!”

and now back to this hilariously terrible situation that Deku has somehow found himself in through sheer bad luck

maybe that’s his actual quirk. a quirk that charges up numerous small instances of terrible luck and then unleashes them as sudden Good Luck Energy. does that make sense. so much bad shit happens to him, but then he also has the absolute best luck at the most critical times. shit, this started as a joke but now I’ve half convinced myself into making it headcanon. goddamn

anyways

looooool. shit. fuck. :’D haha this is the worst

he says she’s been horsing around “so she’s a bit scraped up.” hahahahhaha oh my god Overhaul heyyyyy fuck you?!

(ETA: unbelievably, this sentiment will only keep growing stronger and stronger. it is rather impressive how he keeps reaching new depths of terrible)

Deku can’t control his face at all. he looks openly horrified. if anyone ever sat down to play cards with this kid they’d fucking clean him out

holy shit Mirio is SO FUCKING SMOOTH oh my god

Mirio I’m stanning you and your quick-thinking, cool-under-pressure heroic phasing ass, goddammit

Deku’s looking at Mirio in surprise and wondering what he’s talking about. oh my god, you’re supposed to be smart

and now Mirio’s apologizing to Overhaul

and now Deku belatedly realizes that his facial expression was giving away the whole fucking game and that’s why Mirio flipped his mask up to hide it

now Deku’s actually putting on the rest of his mask oh my god. how weird

meanwhile Mirio’s amiably complimenting Overhaul on his own “kickass mask”

Overhaul is amiably replying that he’s just sensitive to germs

I’m sure it won’t be the last time :’D

Mirio replies that they’re still new and so they’re “nervous”

he’s trying so hard to cover for Deku’s slip-up. I’m sure Overhaul can see through it in an instant, but you still have to hand it to him, it’s one hell of an effort

Overhaul’s asking what office they’re with. lol put them on the spot

Mirio says they’re still students and they’re not with any agencies yet and are just on patrol for some field training experience

he’s very deliberately avoiding any mention of Nighteye, and he’s trying to get Deku to leave with him as soon as possible

so he’s telling Deku it’s time to go finish their patrol. but here’s the problem, though

like. what the fuck. you can’t just fucking abandon this little girl who’s showing clear signs of abuse, and leave her with this guy who you know is a fucking villain

and she knows they’re heroes too, she knows this is her chance

so now. here’s a test for you guys. can you take her with you without openly letting on that you’re investigating Overhaul

I think the only way they can do it is if Eri gives them reason to step in, but I’m worried she might be too scared

oh by the way, I know absolutely nothing about Eri and she’s been in the manga for less than one full chapter, but I’ve already adopted her and would die for her you guys. so Deku, don’t you dare leave her or I won’t fucking forgive your ass. All Might wouldn’t leave her!

so now Deku’s politely pointing out that Overhaul’s “daughter” is scared as fuck

Overhaul smoothly replies that it’s because he just scolded her. fuckkkk

Mirio’s trying to telepathically communicate to Deku that he can’t show too much suspicion, and he’s again telling Deku “let’s go”

okay, Deku has clearly already decided to save Eri no matter what, so that’s good

he’s pointing out that the bandages are a little extreme for “just horsing around”

Overhaul says she falls down a lot. fucking...

Deku continues to argue that she seems unnaturally traumatized. that’s right, Deku. if he can make a plausible argument for there being good enough cause to save Eri here, he just might be able to get away with it

problem is, I don’t think Overhaul will let it happen. he’s still playing “nice”, but if push comes to shove I think he will shift from “polite citizen” to “rude uncooperative citizen” and he’ll still be able to get away with it without giving up his civilian cover

Deku would save Eri anyway though. we’ve already seen that he will say “fuck you” to the rules if he believes it’s necessary. even if it screws up the investigation

and then there’s the matter of “what does Overhaul want with this girl anyway, and what lengths will he to go to keep her?” I assume she must have a really useful quirk. I don’t think she’s his actual daughter, no way. kidnapped seems more likely. or something along those lines. this guy is an underworld crime lord after all

so as expected, Overhaul has stopped cooperating, and now he’s basically implying that this is none of Deku’s business

yet again Mirio is trying to push Deku to drop it, and he’s worried about them blowing the investigation

so far this is the only thing Mirio’s done that I disapprove of. sorry Mirio. you’re still a beautiful cinnamon roll

(ETA: Mirio I totally forgive you and I’m sorry for ever doubting you. you beat yourself up so much over this afterward and you were so hard on yourself and you pushed yourself to your limits and beyond to make up for it and you didn’t have to, it wasn’t your fault. you’re so good and brave. aghhh I’m still so upset about this)

but Deku thinks it’d be even more out of character and suspicious to leave at this point

point: Deku

oh shit, even Overhaul’s acknowledging this, and now he’s changing up his strategy

he’s shrugging and says he understands their concern

and holy shit now he’s inviting them to follow him into this dark alley

loooool follow him into the alley if you want to be spontaneously combusted, kids

oh my god they’re actually gonna do it. “it’s not like we can just make off with her”

sure, but you can argue that you want to continue this discussion over at the police precinct just to be safe. or in literally any private place that isn’t a dark alley where no one will hear you explode. or, and here’s a crazy thought, you could just tell him “no thank you sir, I think we can talk about it right here”, and to hell with whether or not he’s “embarrassed”

but nooo, they’re following him in there. sigh

Overhaul says Eri does nothing but rebel and that he’s ~worried~ about her

:’D cry me a riverrrr

so naturally Deku suspects abuse

but now he finally does have his poker face on -- he always did have that delayed reaction time, didn’t he -- and he’s playing along and says “that sounds rough”

Overhaul’s all “kids are hard to understand”

and now he appears to be moving to take off his gloves

heh. this isn’t good huh

well, you guys wanted to get proof of Overhaul doing something villainous, though...

I don’t suppose Mirio has like a panic button he can push to alert Nighteye in situations like these without letting on that he’s called for backup? that seems like something these guys should have

anyway so now everyone’s on alert because they all know shit is about to go down

oh shit

ERI NO

Overhaul, absolute bastard that he is, is asking Eri if she’s done with her “little tantrum”

and she’s nodding. fuuuuuuck

now Overhaul’s apologizing for bothering them, bidding them farewell, and HE’S LEAVING WITH THAT SWEET, SCARED LITTLE GIRL OH MY GOD

this is so upsetting?! I’m so fucking upset right now???

Deku wants to go after them, but Mirio’s holding him back again, and now I’m back to siding with him

he says that if they push it they’ll just make it harder to catch him later on

and he’s right. but this is still fucking devastating. and Deku looks just as upset as I feel

jesus christ look what he fucking did to the guy who was supposed to be watching her

JESUS CHRIST

and that happened because Eri tried to run. he doesn’t even have to hurt her to keep her in line; all it’ll take is threatening to hurt other people, because she knows he’ll follow through

fucking shit, I don’t like this! you guys this dude is SO FUCKING EVIL holy shit. he makes Tomura look like a kid playing cops and robbers

ughhh Eri’s trying to shut it out and I can’t I need someone to rescue her like fucking yesterday my dudes

Overhaul is telling Eri she needs to “stop being selfish”

whaaaaaat the fuck

what the fucking fuck you guys

okay so we’ve got a fucking torture chair or whatever, and it’s hooked up to at least two big stasis-chamber-looking things. and there’s all this medical equipment all around. what the hell, what is going on

this guy was not fucking kidding when he said he had a real, actual villain plan and not just vague All Might-crushing ambitions like Tomura. I have no idea what this guy is planning, but damn does it look legit

AND SPEAKING OF TOMURA

FUCK ME, IF THE LEAGUE OF VILLAINS GETS INVOLVED IN THIS TOO THE HEROES MIGHT JUST BE SCREWED

(ETA: ooooooor, it might just ironically be the thing that gets them unscrewed. definitely wasn’t expecting that. although I’m still not quite done with the arc yet so we’ll see)

oh my god. fucking bad guys. I’m gonna chill to Overhaul’s trap beat theme again for a little bit

 BONUS:

good for him, now we know it works. he can take it off again now lol

[zenosanalytic]

Zenofriend did you see the New Amplified Official Homestuck Personality quiz????? what are!!! your thoughts!!!

Ok! This is VERY LATE, but I am finally ready to give My Extended Zodiac Thoughts. This is Long :|:

First off, I found the possible answers really limited and limiting. For example #7 -Which option best describes what’s more important to you? Understanding yourself, and fully knowing who you are? Or thinking rationally, and making strong decisions?-is a false choice/dichotomy. Leaving aside the questionable adjective-choice of “strong”(I mean: wth does a “strong” decision even mean???), rational decisions require information, and the more the better; specifically, they require knowing yourself. To make a “rational” choice is to make a choice from reasoning, which is to say “based on reasons” using “Reason”(working from one point to that which it implies). If you are unaware of yourself and your interiority -your biases, your wants, your tendencies, your susceptibilities, your emotions, your impulses, your psychological needs, etc- then you can’t make rational decisions because you aren’t aware of, and aren’t considering, how the “irrational” architecture of your personality and behavior could be influencing your reasoning, nor are you making explicit(to yourself or others) the full set of potential reasons for why you are making the decision the way you are. Indeed, not only are these two NOT opposite extremes and NOT mutually exclusive, they are mutually Necessary. Just as one must “know thyself” to rationally know the world and rationally navigate it, so too must one be able to look at oneself rationally -to dispassionately assess oneself as a subject, as if with the eyes of another; judging your behavior, wants, and biases as a stranger might- to “understand yourself and fully know who you are”. Meaning to do good is irrelevant if you do harm and, if your concept of “good” requires the harm of another, then obviously they will not judge you as “good” and you will not be good, regardless of how you feel about it. The true answer to this question is that you can’t achieve either without achieving both, but that doesn’t fit into the simplistic(and sadly too common in Euroculture) Manichean dualism this quiz is built around -in this instance that emotion/interiority is the opposite of “Reason”/Intellect. And, more broadly, that the specific/practical and general/ideal are at odds- and so it isn’t a choice.

Many of the available answers to the questions are equally limited; some by false dichotomy, some by, just, insufficient choice-scope:

In #6: what if the result sought by the project is learning the process??? 

In #2: what if you prefer to help people learn through the Socratic method; by asking questions? Are you showing them, in that you are modeling for them the process of reasoning their way to an answer with the information available to them, or are you encouraging them, in that you are asking them to collate the information they have and extrapolate from it and doing so non-explicitly?

 #1: what if you see yourself as a protagonist of your story, but also understand that everyone sees themselves as the protagonist of their own story? What if you see “Society” as the emergent, evolutionary outcome of an inevitable “Egotism of Being” coming into contact with innumerable iterations of Self? What if you conceive of your existence as fundamentally lonesome but also of society not as a natural and essential aspect of environment, but as a natural and essential aspect/expression of personality, such that the equal personhood of all “characters” is inescapable, such that “lonesomeness” is a social act/choice just as much as “ensembleness”, and such that “protagonism” can only be understood as a purely narrative conceit and choice? These povs don’t really fit with the choices available.

#3: can’t it be both things? Can’t mystery inspire you to both learn and invent? Can’t learning lead to the realization of new mysteries, which is part of why Curiosity is so satisfying to you in the first place?

#8: to understand the consequences of your behavior is to understand your potential; to understand your potential is to understand what consequences your behavior can effect.

#9: What if your strong convictions are precisely what drives you to deconstruct arguments which said convictions deem inaccurate, limited, and poorly reasoned? What if you deconstruct arguments not because you find them particularly offensive, but because you hold a strong conviction that “Knowledge” is much more difficult or complicated than people tend to think it is, ala Socrates, or even impossible to attain by your own efforts, ala Medieval Christendom and anti-empiricism? “Can’t Decide” implies an ambiguity, indecisiveness, and moral disinterest in the question that would be inaccurate to these mindsets.

#10: doesn’t choosing “burn it all down” imply that one considers “burning it all down” to be a “better” state than the status quo? Wouldn’t it, then COUNT, as “A Plan” and “something better” waiting in the wings??

#11: what if your desire to help others is driven by an instinctive empathy and moral-revulsion towards situations which cause suffering, and allowing suffering to continue? The answers frame the choices as in opposition and empathy as something either to prevent or which prevents action, rather than compelling it.

Ok I’ll stop, but you get the idea.

Second, I thought the lean of each question was really obvious; to the point that you could practically score each available answer along a scale between the two binary choices the question engaged with(probably because this is exactly how the test works). The result of this is that the Test is easily gamed, and thus not really “impartial” or “rigorous” in any way. This is somewhat complicated by the test’s Built in Biases(Hat Tip to @the-awkward-goldfish for chasing this down), which basically require you to “no opinion” every non-Aspect-related questions to get anything “below” Light, but even that just goes to show how partial and contrived the test is, and thus how bad an assessment of one’s “Nature”, or affinity to the Aspects as presented in canon, it provides.

Which, you know, OBVIOUSLY -it really isn’t MEANT to be those things(well, one could reasonably expect it to be decent at Aspect-Affinity)- but this is a central problem of “personality tests” in general, and I’m going to rant about it for a second. When a test asks about The Thing it appears to be asking about, Social Animals will give it either a)the answer they think it wants, b)the answer they feel fulfills their social “role” in the test/situation, c)the answer they would like to be true about themselves(or would like you to think is true about them), or d)the answer they feel creates the least social stress in the situation, rather than an honest answer. Similarly, test-makers will, with stupefying regularity, render their own biases implicit within the tests they create if collaboration and strict oversight are not a part of the test design process. This is because Social Animals are Social Animals, and part of being Social Animals is 1)a near-instinctive awareness of The Rules of whatever Social “Game” happens to be being playing at any moment, and 2)an instinctive desire to project ones personal “Rules” onto the world[1]. This makes gaining an honest assessment of Social Animals(and even asking Honest Questions about them), independent of their own objectives and social assumptions, difficult. This is why modern psych studies are neither upfront about what they’re really studying, nor obvious in their design, and why the question of Method and Test-Design is so important to the field.

None of this matters when personality tests are seen as just A Fun Thing to Play With, but unfortunately lots of people take them really seriously(I will not speculate as to why), so I kinda feel like the huge biparagraphic spiel above about social psychology and why it means personality tests are A Crock is sort of necessary. Though, Ironically and completely tangentially, this also all means that the ominous and impenetrable Voight-Kampff machine and Turing Test it is used to administer from Bladerunner are actually closer to what an “accurate” psychological test should look like than most of the “personality tests” people are familiar with.

Third, I found the Test really unsatisfying from a canon-perspective. Some of them fit, others kind of fit but with important provisos, and others are just wildly far off. For example:

Sagittarius. Equius might count as an enthusiast, but inconstant? His interests are long-term and rigid. Expansive? He is self-effacing to the point of suicide. Magnetic? Everyone but Nepeta and Gamzee find him repulsive(though Aradia is attracted, at times, by her disgust for him). Rebellious? 8/ Optimistic? 8/ 8/ Surprising? 8/ 8/ 8/ Not Knowing his own Strength? He obsesses over it. Skeptical? He accepts Alternian Convention without question or complaint(Aradia being the notable semi-exception). Secretive? While he doesn’t put himself forward, neither does he keep his opinions -no matter how offensive- to himself, ever. A stronger argument could be made for this description fitting Roxy, but even then she’s rather single-minded and constant in her interests and feelings, and, contra the description of Derse-dreamers, not terribly self-aware, as symbolized by her dream-self -a metaphor for her self-knowledge- being asleep, albeit ambulatory, until she dies(minus seeing Rose once). Her most important arcs are about seeking answers, not accepting mysteries(Rose and Calliope).

Sagiries&Sagipia: Again, the Sagittarius description, specifically the “enthusiast” and “inconstant” bits, don’t really fit either Dave or Rose. While they ARE “enthusiastic” about their interests, those interests are rather constant, focused, and rather than trying to teach or pull others into those interests, they display them through creative endeavor. “Derse” fits them both pretty well, minus the “self-awareness”, and their approach to hiding insecurity is the opposite of “self-deprecating humor” and “false humility”; they do it through “evincing hyper-competence” and “false arrogance”. Dave is certainly a “Fighter”, but against Fighting, and while he can be goal-oriented he much prefers perambulation, even to the point of contributing to problems which he then must rush to fix. Really I’d say the description for Space fits him better than Time(though this Time description entirely ignores the repeated recycling/recontextualizing/remixing theme in Time characters in HS). Light fits Rose better, but it ignores how her interest in mystery and the unexplained drives her interest in learning, how personal and not “for its own sake” her seeking is, and how actual knowledge can petrify her if she is in the wrong place emotionally.

Sagigo: This is nitpicking, but I wouldn’t describe Jade as “careless”, and she, mostly successfully, struggles to remain tactful in the face of universe-ending levels of buffoonery and extra-amphibian-interference.

Leo: Again, Nitpicking, but I don’t think Nepeta can be described as having herself as her “favorite subject”. I think the rest fits well though

Gemini: Sollux isn’t preachy, nor railroady in conversation, nor difficult to understand, and his interests -at least what we see of them- are all about computers, networks, and the internet. The description of Doom I’m iffy on: it certainly describes him, but his willingness to drop everything and dedicate himself to a project he believed would save his planet, even though he hates it, doesn’t really fit with it.

Pisces: “Forget to actually do things”, “enigmatic”, “recalcitrant”(i.e., not being open about their feelings), “worrier”, and “trouble with follow-through”, are not things I would describe Feferi with. Meenah clashes even worse with this description.

Scorpio: “Blue Signs are the ones to watch”? Yes for Vriska, Aspirational for Aranea. “Those bound to the aspect of Light are the universe’s knowledge-seekers. They are, above all, driven to learn and understand”? “learn about it” certainly, but I don’t think either Vriska or Aranea feel any real impulse to understand anything. They’re more about hoarding information and manipulating it to their advantage/purposes, and Vriska’s interest in knowledge is highly selective, personal, and instrumental. “Marked by a flexible optimism”? For a given, and extremely idiosyncratic, definition of “optimism”; and provided it allows for bouts of deep negativity, and an intense, arrogant cynicism about the world and others. “They have a mask for every occasion”?More so for Aranea given he secretiveness about herself, but Not Really for either of them as Aranea really just has the one. “They often resent those they see as more well-positioned than they are”? This fits Aranea well, but I never got the sense Vriska was envious of her “social betters”; she seemed to be more envious of people with healthier relationships to less overbearing Lususes, and who had an easier time forging relationships.

I’m not going to go through all of these obvsl. There are those -like John’s, Terezi’s, and Kanaya’s- that fit near-to-perfectly, and those -like Eridan’s- that fit thematically while being wildly off-base on the specifics, but mostly I found them disappointing.

Fourthly, I object to it aesthetically. The signs are well designed; what I mean is that I very much dislike the idea that this is a complete Troll Symbology. If it were, it would make the Troll world and society much smaller and less creative than I would like it to be. There’s not enough signs here for a population as large as the Trolls would need to support a galaxy-spanning empire, and certainly not enough for sign-repetition in the context of such a vast population to be so rare as to become a mythical sign of genetic reincarnation. There’s not enough room here for imagination and invention. Part of what I liked about the Homestuck Fandom, and still like, is the empty places in it for the fandom to fill in. Presenting this as a complete list of signs, based on a complete Hemospectrum(and yes, I also object to the canon Trolls having the only canon blood-colors; minus Lime which apparently Karkat is now, which doesn’t make any sense[2]), makes the Homestuck Universe a far, far, smaller pond to swim in, which is less fun from a fan perspective.

And it also, through the “True Sign” designations, makes the canon Trolls far larger and more obvious fish than they(minus Feferi and Kanaya) ought to be. If the rest of the signs are seen as derivative of the “True Signs”, as the phrase and the EZ’s naming conventions imply, and the signs are associated with specific ancestors, then it’s reasonable to assume that the Ancestors associated with those signs would be seen as “Truer”, or perhaps more Significant and Primary to Troll History, than the ancestors of the other signs. Those who inherited them would then be inheriting not just the unfinished business of their immediate predecessor, but a historical heritage that every Troll would be taught to consider “Truer” and “More Significant” to Trolldom than that of the other signs. I don’t like this idea. The Betas were hardly social coded in a way that would have made them completely representative of Earthican culture, so why would the Trolls? And also: why wouldn’t any of the signs bear any resemblance to their writing? But this is getting into worldbuilding :T

So, basically, I think it’s a fun thing to play around with. But, I also find it a bit inconsistent, more than a bit biased, a bit limited, somewhat backwards and somewhat derivative(all signs derived from 12 prefixes and suffixes, themselves derived from the Earth-Zodiac, which was only made up of the signs of those Trolls who played The Game? Really??). As additional fan-fodder, it’s ok; as something comprehensive that invalidates fan-signs and fan-theories, I take exception.

[1]a weird sort of “Personification”. Coincidentally, we also see this in philosophy, where the pronouncement that moral decisions “declare a rule for all” can be found from Kant to Sartre.

[2]”Candy-Red Blood” is a mutation. It isn’t natural. Which is to say: It doesn’t fit into the Hemospectrum. The “Signless” had no sign because of this. So the idea that it would be the “True” Cancer symbol, rather than a later addition so insignificant that the breeding-bureaucracy didn’t even notice when it was snuck into the registry, is doubly ludicrous. Also: Why would the breeding registry 1)not notice a new Lime sign being added when the Lime Bloods were exterminated, and 2) not immediately destroy the grub when it was assigned the sign of a blood-caste registered for extermination? How is giving a mutant blood a caste-sign that would get them immediately destroyed any better than them not having one??

[6ix-dragons]

On the Great Contentions of Naruto, Chapters 699 + 700: Three Years Later

Before I begin, I just want to make it clear, on what this post will be really about. This will focus on the controversies that arose from the final couple of chapters, in the Naruto manga. Not only that, but there will be a few certain shipping fandoms of this series that will be mentioned upon—one of which, will be mentioned more in detail, in the rest of this post. All of the following in this post, is made from my own personal point of view...and therefore, are only my personal opinions for this particular matter. 

To those who are from the few, certain shipping fandoms that will be mentioned later in this post...feel free to skip/ignore this post, since it will have some of my opinions that you may not agree with. However, consider that preceding statement as my only warning, as I will block anybody who leaves a nasty comment, or bashes me for just expressing my personal opinions. You have been warned!

Now, I don’t mean to go into a Don Cherry-styled rant, or express whole-heartedly (like Steve Dangle does in his videos), but there has been something that’s bothering me for quite a little while. And, for one moment, I just want to get it all off my chest. 

For the record, Naruto was—and, still is, to this day—one of my favourite anime/manga series of all time. I first caught it on T.V., over 10 years ago...and I enjoyed it well, during that time. But, around that same time, the whole idea of putting characters together as a pairing seemed pretty new to me, and I didn’t really caught onto that idea, until a little bit later. It was after when I got into the idea of shipping characters together, that’s when I became involved in what would be called, the “shipping wars”. 

I’ll admit, in my disclosure, I am a profound fan of both the NaruHina and SasuSaku pairings. Back when I caught the Naruto series, not long before Shippuden even happened, I always thought about how Naruto and Hinata were a good pairing—and, the same, for Sasuke and Sakura. In hindsight, despite the seemingly-minor signs that pointed to this, I just saw something in those two characters that would suggest a good fit with each other. But, hey, that’s just me talking about how I got into shipping them, of course! xD So, I’ll move on...

Anyway, a little while after I was introduced into the Naruto fandom, I discovered that there were fans within that series, who got into arguments with other fans, over which pairing was better, and should be canon (official). There were some who ship Naruto and Hinata together...and then, there were others who ship Naruto with Sakura. Of course, there were other fans who ship neither pairing, with some shipping Sasuke with Hinata, Lee with Sakura, Karin with Sasuke...and even Sasuke with Naruto! It was stunning to think that there would be those who would pair different characters with each other, outside of the major ones, even though some of them didn’t make sense. Although, with the main focus of the shipping wars being NaruHina (and SasuSaku) up against NaruSaku, I couldn’t help but feel that I wanted to become involved in this. 

It was around when Shippuden began, where I had become more involved in the shipping wars between those two pairings. In hindsight, it really looked like NaruSaku had a compelling case for it to become canon, based on the amount, and strength of the moments, and the development of the realtionship, between those two characters. I wasn’t easily convinced, however, and so I pushed on. I had the time of my life, putting out stuff that was all anti-NS (and, to some degree, anti-SasuKarin). I even scoped around online, finding whatever logical and valid arguments that refute, not support, this particular pairing. Looking back at what I did, ‘though, I wasn’t totally proud of some of the things I did. But, if I was given the opportunity to do all of that...I would truly do all those things again.

As the years passed by, however, I started to become less and less interested into getting myself into the pairing wars, along with Naruto, in general. I had gotten myself into other fandoms around that time, focusing more and more on those, and even less on Naruto. Ever since then, I’ve been in and out of the loop, only learning about what had happened in the manga since—but, a little while later. I only caught what happened in some of the chapters here and there, but enough to gain somewhat of an understanding in what went on. 

However, as recently as three years ago, I caught the news that the Naruto manga was officially coming to an end. I did not make much of it, at that time, since I hadn’t gotten myself much into that series anymore. Then, when the final chapters of the manga did come out, in November, I only caught some of the hubbub about it, on social media. Well, little did I know that there was quite a lot of hubbub about it, online...and, a lot of it wasn’t all that great, in a sense.

At this point, in this post, I would like to explain—and, discuss in further detail—about what had happened during, and after the final chapters had come out. There’s so much I wanted to explain and discuss, however, so I’m going to separate what I will deliberate in, in only three sections:

The Lead Up to the Final Chapters,

The Final Chapters, and the Fallout After Them,

and,

My Take, on the Controversies

I feel that it’s necessary to separate into those three sections, in order for me to explain and discuss, in a chronolgical order. That way, you will understand, and get a sense of all the stuff that really went down during, and after, the finale (from my point of view).

THE LEAD UP TO THE FINAL CHAPTERS

As I already mentioned from above, it was kinda hard for me to catch up to the manga, during those recent years. Although, I finally managed to figure out what was going on, in the chapters that preceded the conclusion of the manga. I find that it won’t be that easy and simple to explain everything that happened in the manga, between the point where I left off, and the final two chapters. But, I will attempt to explain it in a way that’s both concise and precise, nonetheless.

Alright...to summarize what had happened in the lead-up to the manga’s finale: a lot of battles happened, some important characters had died, as a result of those battles (may you rest in peace, Neji T.T), the major antagonists (namely, Madara and Kaguya) get defeated, Naruto took on Sasuke in their final fight against each other, the war ended, and—last, but not least—Naruto saves the world. 

Well, I could’ve summed it all up, a little bit better than that...but for those who haven’t come across the final parts of the Naruto manga, yet—now you know! xD

So, with all of that having happened in the manga so far, there were still the ultimate questions that remained on the minds of those who have followed this series closely, for long: will Naruto end up together, with a female character in the end (and the same for Sasuke, and the other male protagonists)? If so, which female character will he end up with (and, again, the same for Sasuke, and the other guys)? 

In retrospect, it looked like either Naruto was going to end up with Sakura, or that he was going to end up with Hinata, instead. Both NaruSaku and NaruHina had stronger cases, for either one to become official, with each pairing having significant developments, at varying points in the story. It all pretty much came down to what the author of the manga—Masashi Kishimoto—would do, for the conclusion of his work. 

It was suddenly, then, just a short time before the final two chapters were officially released...the leaks happened! Days before chapters 699 and 700 were to come out on Shonen Jump, spoilers for the finale had spread across, online. Not just the real kind of spoilers, mind you, but also fake ones, too! 

Having combed through the many reactions of fans, at the time the spoilers were leaked, I can only tell that a lot of them were confused. Confused, over whether some of the spoilers were real, or not. However, many followers of the series soon found out what the true spoilers were, for the final chapters. Speculations had it, that Naruto was going to end up with Hinata, and that he would have two kids with her. Same for Sasuke, who was purported to be together with Sakura, and having a daughter with her. 

When those true kinds of spoilers came out, some fans were excited at the prospect of this kind happening, in the manga’s very conclusion. Others, however, were not. 

Right away, there was a growing amount of denial, over those reportedly-true spoilers for the ending. Chief among the growing denial, was the NaruSaku fanbase. They couldn’t believe a single thing that was described to them, in those spoilers. There was yet, some hope that their favourite two characters can still get together in the end, right? 

As the time got closer to the offical release of both chapters 699, and 700, the amount of hype (and, at the same time, denial) grew to an all-time high, barely being held back by the anticipation of all fans, of this series. 

And then, as soon as those two chapters were finally released on official channels...the floodgates burst open.

THE FINAL CHAPTERS, AND THE FALLOUT AFTER THEM

When chapters 699 and 700 were officially released—three years ago—on WSJ, and online, both chapters confirmed everything about what was mentioned in the real spoilers, the whole time. Not only Naruto became the Hokage, but he also ended up together with Hinata, having two children with her (a son named Boruto/Bolt, and a daughter named Himawari). On top of that, Sasuke ended up with Sakura, with both having a daughter named Sarada. Other prominent characters ended up together, such as Shikamaru, with Temari; Sai, with Ino; even Chouji, of all characters, ended up together with Karui. It was the conclusion that most fans and followers of the series had expected all along, and it was one that closed out the story, 15 years in the making. 

As I recalled from the time I found out about the manga ending, on social media, a lot of people were happy about it. Not just the fans in Japan, but also those from the West...and all over the world. Both the NaruHina and SasuSaku fandoms were jubilant, and in a celebratory mood, over how their favourite pairings ended up being official. The same can be said about the fans of the other pairings I mentioned above. 

At the time when NH and SS became truly official, I personally was satisfied with the way the story ended with those two couples. Sure, I wasn’t as involved in the Naruto fandom, as before, but I was still a fan of both those pairings. And, to me, they still made sense, when it came to the question of whether they should end up together, or not. As I looked a little bit more around, I saw more and more fans reacting positively to the end of the manga. Generally-speaking, there was excitement and joy to be had, amongst those in the fandom.

With all that excitement and joy, however, there was also outrage and controversy. 

Despite the positive reaction to the ending, by a lot of people, there were also a large number of fans who did not take to the ending very well. Looking back at the copious amounts of reactions from the entire Naruto fanbase online, from three years ago, it would seem that there was a substantial number of those who didn’t like the way the manga had ended. In fact, there were some of those who stated that they had outright rejected the ending. Even more, there were some who called out Kishimoto, on the way he wrote the ending. 

The worst of the outrage and controversy, however, would have to come from a couple of fandoms of those pairings that I didn’t like. 

To say that the NaruSaku fandom had thrown a huge, hissy fit, would be quite the understatement. Right after the final chapters came out, the whole NS fandom went into a meltdown of monumental proportions! At around that time, I had no idea that it was going to be that bad, until I looked through the posts online, much later, that were from three years earlier. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at!

A lot of the NaruSaku fans started to express their anger on social media, and threw accusations at the NH and SS fandoms. They even threw accusations at Kishimoto himself! And, even then, that was only the tip of the iceberg, for what the worst of their actions and reactions would soon follow. I saw some posts, from some of those NaruSaku fans that fudged things up, such as the interviews with Kishimoto, and the news surrounding the “The Last” movie...just spreading around #AlternativeFacts, and fake news (perhaps you can just say that the NS fans did #AlternativeFacts and fake news first, before #AlternativeFacts and fake news even became a thing? lol). Likewise, fans of SasuKarin—and, to a certain extent, SasuNaru—also expressed their outrage, although not on the same level as the NaruSaku fans. 

In fact, the outrage and controversies arising from the ending itself, can only be felt across the Web, for quite a long time. It was quite telling, based on some of the negative feedback I found from NaruSaku fans, most recently, on this site (and these posts from there, were from weeks ago!). Not helping to end the outrage and controversy, were the recent interviews with Kishimoto being released online. According to those interviews (official interviews, that is), Kishimoto actually planned to have Naruto end up with Hinata, from the beginning of the story—but, he only made that decision as final, halfway into the story. 

Furthermore, the sheer impact of how the manga ended, continues to perpetuate the debates between the NH and NS pairings, to this very day.

MY TAKE, ON THE CONTROVERSIES

Alright...after going through what had happened prior to, during, and after the final two chapters...what do I personally think of all the outrage and controversy that happened?

Well, after going through certain parts of the manga again, and looking at what was discussed from the fandom itself, I can certainly express that my opinions of the ending to Naruto have been changed a bit, from what they were, originally. 

Were some parts of the manga not that great, in terms of how they were written? Yes. Should there have been improvements to the storywriting? Absolutely. Should there have been slight changes to the ending, then and there, so that it makes more sense? Sure. 

I do think that there wouldn’t be a whole lot of outrage and controversy, too, if Mr. Kishimoto wrote and implemented things differently, than what it was/is now. But, don’t tell me, for one second, that he intended to make Naruto together with Sakura in the end. That is totally not true, and those recent interviews with him support this!

Now, what do I think of the NaruSaku fandom, who are among those that have expressed outrage at the ending, and have done those worst things they did?

Well, the thing is, I don’t necessarily think that the entire NaruSaku fandom is responsible for all the crap that was done, not long after the finale was revealed. If anything, I would want to address a few certain groups—three of them, to be exact. First, those who are NaruSaku fans, but did not partake in anything controversial; second, those who are NaruSaku fans, but did partake in anything controversial; and, third, the rest of those who are against the ending (in general, regardless of whether you’re fans of different pairings, and/or, who are against any certain pairings). This is what I would have to say to them, three years ago....

To those who are NaruSaku fans who did not partake in anything controversial: I commend you, for having such restraint from being involved in the backlash, like all the other fans were. I understand your disappointment, in the fact that your favourite pairing did not become official. Believe me, I would also be disappointed, too, if my favourite pairings did not become canon, somehow. At least you can take solace, in the numerous (and plentiful) fanart and fanfiction that your fandom has contributed to. 

To those who are NaruSaku fans, but did partake in anything controversial: I’m not going to hold back, from all the choice words that I have for all of you. All of you are just pitiful, and sorry. Actually, ‘pitiful’ and ‘sorry’ just doesn’t quite cut it, for those of your ilk. All of you are pretty much a classless, pathetic, ignorant, rude, ridiculous, disrespectful, and ungrateful kind of bunch—and, that’s what you all really are! I mean, are you really that dumb, dumb, DUMB...DUMB, that you would go ahead, and pull all that crap you just did?! Not only did some of you had bashed the NH and SS fandom around, some of you actually did this:

Accusing and harassing Kishimoto on social media

Harassing Kishimoto’s assistant on Twitter, to the point where she had to make it clear...in English!

Harassing Studio Pierrot—yes, the same studio originally responsible for putting out content that favoured your pairing in the first place!

Starting up petitions, calling for the ending to be changed; even calling for the manga to be banned in the U.S. market!

Creating and spreading around #AlternativeFacts...and fake news, too!

Taking fanart that featured NaruHina and SasuSaku, along with their children, and editing them to make it look like Naruto and Sakura together (AND THAT’S WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS!)

Even worse...sending Kishimoto death threats, and urging him to die!

I’m not even kidding on all of those...just look up all those links! 

Let me be the one to say this: your actions are totally indefensible, and totally inexcusable, to say the least! No wonder the NaruSaku fandom has gotten quite the horrid reputation, as they have now—it’s all because of those, like you, who have done those sorts of things, for your fandom to get all that kind of negative buzz from others! All of you should be ashamed of yourselves, for this!

And, to those who are generally opposed to the ending itself: look, I know you’re upset and concerned over how the story all ended, and I totally get that. It could’ve been done better...but, that’s just how it’s going to be, regardless. However, I did notice that there’s a large number of you, who aren’t going to be fans of the series anymore, because of this. Just because of how the manga ended, doesn’t mean you should stop being a fan of that series, right away! 

I even read that some of you are longtime fans of this series. I mean, really? You’re just going to throw away that many years of dedication to this series, all just because of an ending you don’t like? Honestly, I can only say that Kishimoto doesn’t deserve those kinds of “fans” like you, then. For all the flaws he has, when it comes to making stories—like the one that has entertained you for years...at least Kishimoto knows how to earn and maintain an already-large fanbase he already has. He doesn’t need to pander to fickle, and fair-weathered folks like you, anyway.

I’ve also seen some of those who expressed that they would do away with all the Naruto merchandise that they have owned before, just because of the ending. Seriously?? Well, I hope you know that whoever comes out as the real winner, in that case, is Kishimoto himself! That’s because he probably earns a percentage share of the royalties he gets from his own works, through all that licensing and merchandising. In other words, he already has your money, anyway; why go through all that trouble, over this? 

Oh, and don’t get me started on some of those folks, who have denied that such an ending actually existed for the manga! Now, I’m going to express myself, in a way that will probably make some waves (or get myself into some trouble), but it’s all about how those people insist that the ending “never occurred” to them. To me, having heard of the bunch who don’t acknowledge the ending ever happened—it certainly reminds me of those who deny that climate change exists...and, maybe even those who deny that the Holocaust ever happened. It just boggles my mind at how many people have went that far, into discrediting Kishimoto’s hard work...and all because of an ending they just can’t be content with. Are you freakin’ kidding me?!

I know that, at this point, this post has gone long enough. But, when I saw all those reactions from the Naruto fanbase about the ending, here (and elsewhere)...I was just simply appalled. It sickens me that such a large fandom was pretty much divided, over how the story ended. Even worse, the amount of unwarranted negativity was so downright toxic and venomous, such rough stuff had to occur (i.e: cyber-bullying) right away! 

Looking back at the aftermath of the Naruto manga finale from three years back, maybe I was fortunate enough to gloss over a lot of such hatred for the ending. As less involved into the Naruto fandom, as I was recently...I would have gotten myself into this whole mess, anyway—if I stumbled upon all of it, at that time. I enjoyed the whole series for what it is, and I’m totally okay with the way it all ended. However, I’m not totally proud of the fact that there are some in the fandom who have expressed such outrage at the ending, either out of spite...or, in a knee-jerk reaction. Those who really have...they should take a good look at themselves, and then consider if they were even fans of the series to begin with. 

Granted, the shipping wars will continue to happen elsewhere, on any fandom...and there will always be controversy and drama, on any fandom, as well. But, I think Naruto is a perfect example for all the controversy and drama that happens, all simply because the views shared by a certain portion of the fanbase are not lining up with the true intentions of the creator. As I’ve mentioned it before: I liked the series for what it is, and I was fine with the way it concluded. I didn’t need to raise some hell over it, unlike what a whole bunch of others were doing, at the time. And, maybe it is best to not put up quite a lot, over something that’s now considered minor. 

Maybe, it is the best to not—and, I will borrow an idiom that’s a few centuries old—“make a mountain out of a molehill”.