#I mainly operate on feelings and vague ideas

[adhd-merlin]

“After having watched the entire series, I feel like S1 Arthur comes across as more of a noble and good guy than in later seasons? I can't put my finger on why, exactly. Perhaps the way he stands up to Uther with no hesitation. I don’t know.”

I like this. Could you please elaborate? Maybe it's because S1 Arthur had hope and a future ahead?

someone read my ramblings!!

Good question. As I said, I'm not sure I can put my finger on why. S1 Arthur is at times dick-ish and a bit of a spoiled brat, but it's also established pretty quickly that he's a good guy (because we've got to care for him, after all). He's the Jerk with a Heart of Gold. But I feel like later in the series Arthur was, sometimes, just a jerk. The way he treated Merlin was unnecessarily mean and dismissive at times.

I said it's maybe the way he stands up to Uther -- which I know he does at other points in the series. And he does still follow Uther's orders in S1 -- he's the one who has Gwen arrested for sorcery! -- so he's not entirely innocent, but it feels like he was also quicker to point out the faults in Uther's logic and to stand up for his own beliefs?

It might have something to do with the way Arthur changes after he becomes king (first in all but name, when Uther's loses his mind, and then officially). He seems to become more conservative, almost -- which I think is actually realistic. It's easy to stand up to authority when you don't have the responsibility of an entire kingdom on your shoulder. But once Arthur became king, he had to measure up with his father's legacy and to come to terms with own desire for Uther's approval (even after his death). And of course, the way Arthur lost his father also contributed to the souring of his attitude towards magic (the second major blow after his encounter with Morgause, actually).

But yeah, things happen to Arthur in later seasons that make him a bit more conservative and a bit more Uther-like. And perhaps that's why he feels like a "nicer" character in S1.

I don't know though, I'm not sure it's just because of this. It's just an impression I had but I'm afraid I can't explain it any better than this.

[bibibbon]

What MHA's lacks: world building part 2

I have already talked about this topic before but I mainly focused on the world building of Japan as a society itself .

Now I wanted to talk more about the MHA world building outside of Japan. When it comes to world building outside of Japan all we have are the MHA movies (which are somehow canon but the timeline for them makes no sense to me) and the whole interaction with star and stripes/USA.

Obviously we were gonna get a look into heroics and heroes outside of Japan after the war arc (it was inevitable especially with Japans need for foreign help) but I can't help to say that the little amount of world building outside of Japan that we got was lacking to say the least.

America or star and stripes. It was obvious that we would be getting heroes from around the world but I really hated how the idea of America and American heroes was something that was heavily sterytopical (maybe Iam thinking too deep into it 🤷‍♀️) but I don't like how star and stripes legit had her costume based on the American flag (I know it's supposed to be like all might). To me star and stripes felt like such a rushed plot point who is just the female version of all might that lacks all the character depth and wasted potential that all might has. The idea of America actually having a military is very interesting but it's never expanded on why or how they have a military. How is a military army any different than quirked heroes? We just saw them operate various airships and that's it for them 🤷‍♀️. I personally think we should of gotten an idea or at least a view as to why there is a military for example, America has a military and heroes whereas Japan uses heroes as soldiers and entertainers. Star and stripes should of been introduced way earlier in the series because she is the number one in USA and everything about her is heavily inspired by all might so we could of seen bits of her after all mights retirement and whatever relationship she had with all might because everything about that plot point of foreign American military and heroes was so vague and needed expanding.

I-island. I love the concept of i-island even if it's introduced just in a movie (I think it should of been a canon manga plot point), if you think about it having an island that focuses on the creation and progression of technology and it being like a very high tech island is a very interesting idea. What type of Industries are in i-island? The population is well off due to the island being very neutral in political ideals and is considered a place of education and technology. You could of had it to be an area that has a very low crime rate because everyone is open to the same opportunities and the small population makes it so that people are very connected to eachother. I-island could also be a place where heroes are sent to train and usually go to find a support company to work with.

Other heroes. When it comes to the whole world of MHA there are a lot of heroes from many different places but I don't necessarily like their character design like is it only me who finds it weird that pro hero native (who is a Japanese citizen) has a hero costume that is of native Americans? Or when showing us a hero from Egypt their costume was a literal pharo?. I feel like horikoshi could of been more creative when it came to showing other heros form other parts of the world and their costumes. I am not totally against having heroes that share and represent parts of cultures but if it's done in a way where it's just them wearing a very sterytopical costume then what's the point ?!?!? Sure you can make a character who does wear a very sterytopical costume and profits off other peoples culture to show how hero society is messed up and actually critique something like that but we don't see that and I think that's wasted potential.

Political relations and political differences. Every country is bound to have a variety of different political relations and differences so this could be difficult to explore if you try and include every single place in the MHA world. However, the building up if the war arc and the aftermath we should of seen Japan's political relations with other countries. Did other countries offer aid in anyway? Did they send out something akin to peacekeepers to the field? Or something of the sort. Is there even a party or organisation that connects other countries together in a tien if crisis in MHA and did they refuse to help Japan because they feared AFO or something. I feel like this could of been an interesting plot point to explore but it's never mentioned best thing we get is one panel of a political saying something

Transfer students. I think it was a fantastic plot point to have pony as a transfer students in the heroics course but I just wish we got more of her. For example where did she live? How was her life before she came to Japan? How does she feel about everything? How was it for her and her family when it came to the war in Japan? Or how did they deal with the parent conference when she is a transfer student? Surprisingly, pony has more potential as a character and more plot points to explore than a lot of 1 A character but we don't get much of what goes on with her.

[what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me]

if you don't mind me asking, what did you mean when you said "star warriors have a supernatural influence hinted"? i've watched the show twice (granted, i skipped a few eps both times) and i've never quite caught anything like that. maybe i'm misunderstanding, but the other stuff you mentioned is (much to my pleasure!) very popular theory/fanon and it really piqued my interest when you mentioned something i didn't quite recognize.

okay so I took so long to answer this because i really didnt feel like rewatching any of the anime. So the compromise is just me going over a few episodes of note, rather than combing through the whole anime. There is a few things that i definitely have not talked about in this post.

And for reference, I'm mainly using the new Operation HNK sub, not the old sub, nor the dub version, as my main point of reference--bar one notable exception!

So! Star Warriors are strongly hinted to be something with supernatural influence rather than warriors with a simple title.

What exactly do I mean by "something with supernatural influence"? There aren't any better words to really describe it with, as the anime itself is incredibly vague. The general idea is that Star Warrior is something inherent to a person, and that there are some things in the anime about them that can't exactly be explained without calling them "supernatural" to an extent.

The explanation that I see for what exactly a Star Warrior is outside of it being a supernatural thing, is that it is some sort of military rank (usually for the GSA) that is earned. With the possibility of Star Warrior being a earned rank in mind, I will occasionally compare some things against it.

I'm beginning with Ep. 1, with a simple observation.

There are several things that cement the fact that Kirby is a star warrior well before his time reaching Popstar. So, it was not Meta Knight who have him the title.

By a glance, both Meta Knight and the NME Salesman were able to recognize that Kirby was a "genuine star warrior", although Kirby has no symbolism or memorabilia with him that would suggest an affiliation with the army.

Additionally, this is just personal, but I genuinely find it difficult to believe that Kirby would have been granted some sort of military rank. If Star Warrior IS a rank, then it would be a high one because NME is so interested in targeting them specifically (to be covered). ESPECIALLY because he wasn't even supposed to be awake for another 200 years, Kirby can barely speak or focus yet, and because he knew no sword technique until Meta Knight taught him in Ep. 3.

Kabu also refers to Kirby as a warrior that exceeds spacetime, though that could possibly be chalked up to the stasis he was in.

Additionally, On two separate occasions when Meta Knight is looking at Kirby (once in the first ep and another in the 3rd) there seems to be some weird… Connection? Sense? Out of body experience? I'm hesitant to call this any definite proof however because the scene is vague and this has literally ZERO explanation. It could be a supernatural connection between star warriors, or simply Meta Knight Being Weird And Explaining Nothing.

In the racing episodes, there are two notable things

Again, this is no definite proof, but it is INTERESTING with the implications. If Star Warrior's have their own cradles, this heavily suggests that being a Star Warrior is something a person is born with, rather than something that happens later in life. And again, i find it genuinely hard to believe that the GSA would rank infants with that high of a title.

ALSO there is one episode where Meta Knight says that he has been waiting for a "new generation of Star Warriors" or something like that but i do NOT want to find that so. source: trust me bro.

In the second half of this special, there is a scene where Meta Knight has Kirby's brakes cut, Kirby's ship is out of control, and he sleeps. His ship is crashing and he is ASLEEP. However. Before he crashes, he wakes up and uh. Just knows how to pilot his spaceship. Literally, just knows how to do it like an instinct.

Kirby seems just as confused as Tokori about how he got the skip to fly, although Meta Knight seems like he knew this would happen. This is a Star Warrior thing, according to him.

And this isn't any copy ability, either. He just woke up knowing how to fly his spaceship. Furthermore, it seems like Star Warriors mastering control of spaceships is something notable enough that 1. NME is not surprised it happened, like it just happens every Tuesday and 2.Important enough for the Salesman to report to Nightmare.

Also, there is the matter of Kabu. Kabu is a multi-planetary being who is undeniably supernatural, being omnipresent to some degree and being able to fix Warp Stars and give people visions, etc... And Kabu is allied with Star Warrior's specifically, and acts like a hospital to them, as well as a protector, but for nobody else.

Do you get what I mean when I say it is heavily implied now?

And uh. there was one thing that I purposefully left out until now.

In the new version of the sub, Kabu says that there were multiple demon beasts who rebelled against Nightmare, and it is assumed that these rebels are Star Warriors.

I am hesitant to use this as the gatcha card, so I checked out the old sub AND the dub to see what is changed in this scene.

DUB: Said only one creation rebelled and it may or may not be Kirby, though kinda dodgy.

OLD SUB: Said only one creation rebelled and its strongly implied to be Meta Knight rather than Kirby

I have a transcript for all three versions of this specific scene, so you can read and decide for yourself.

THE IDEA OF ALL THE STAR WARRIORS BEING MONSTERS IS SO FUN BUT IT IS INCONSISTENT SO DO WITH IT WHAT YOU WILL. There is one thing I want to bring up though in relation to this.

Dakonyo talks like there are demon beasts who looked like Kirby specifically. And there is at least five other orbs in the anime who COULD have once been demon beasts. So. do with this what you will.

Overall, there's just too many instances for me to brush off and i think everything kinda adds up to make the explanation of "star warrior is a ranked title" seem unplausible.

TLDR: HEAVILY IMPLIED Star Warriors are kinda supernatural.

Also fun fact that I found out while searching for screenshots! Garlude (at least in the new sub) is never referred to as a Star Warrior, but rather a Galaxy Soldier!

[roydeezed]

Hmmm. Ok so this isn't an idea I'm totally confident in and if ya think I'm wrong lemme know, but I think the OPLA showrunners/staff writers for the most part are anime-only's.

So a lil background, I'm a huge One Piece fan but mainly a reader. I've pretty much only gone through the anime twice. Once through east blue way back and the second time through till the timeskip in a One Pace like format. So, I wasn't too familiar with the format of the anime though I do remember feeling a vague sense of confusion when I'd watched it because things were different.

So now, I was watching this recap type thing on youtube of One Piece cause I wanted a lil refresher and the guy points out the difference between the anime and the manga and I noticed something interesting...

A lot of the structure of the live action show follows that of the anime. Such as pushing back both Zoro's and Luffy's backstory and maybe even more of a focus on the map that Nami was stealing from Buggy(a lil fuzzy on how important that was in the anime). Though those backstories aren't pushed back to the exact point as in the anime, the way they are pushed back in the live action seems to draw inspiration from how the anime did it as trigger events are needed to invoke the backstories rather than the backstories being inherent parts of the characters. Basically, it seems like the treatment of those elements in the anime either emboldened the writers/showrunners of OPLA or more likely, served as the basis for why the show is structured as it is.

When I watched OPLA I was fascinated by how it was structured, and believed there were certain interesting developments that the showrunners were going for. Now I think that belief was false and I was probably giving too much credit. Mainly because if it is true that most of the staff were operating from the anime, then a lot of stuff starts to make sense. Also, I do get that somebody like Matt Owens was a reader as he brought up Mr. 7 but otherwise I think many of the decisions and writing choices stem from experiencing One Piece through the anime.

For example the cramped pacing of OPLA is genuinely confusing when looking at Oda's masterful pacing in East Blue but completely understandable as a reaction from Hollywood writers seeing something with the pacing of the anime in east blue. And even more so, Oda is so consistent in matters like death that the death of Merry and just in general the treatment if death in OPLA is a really strange choice in relation to the manga but more understandable in a world that doesn't indulge Cover Stories like the manga does. Where the anime doesn't take the time to explore what seem to be extremely disposable side characters but Oda keeps coming back to them through these little adventures using them to show a growing and changing world.

Those are the main reasons I think the showrunners are mostly anime-only's. Though I could be totally wrong as I haven't dove too much into the bts. But what this does make me realize is that if they are anime-only's they are working off of a flawed foundation and that can result in flawed adaptation. It can result in fundamental misunderstandings and spiteful readings of the source material. I would love to know if anybody else has thoughts on this cause like I'm genuinely curious if there's thoughts or evidence to this either way. I understand I'm coming at this from a flawed understanding as well as I'm mainly a reader, but I wanna know if this makes sense.

[localsharkcryptid]

I never watched THOD (my bad), how easy is it to match with a dragon and how do riders deal with them ? Are they "glorified pets" (can't communicate verbally with humans, of course emotionnally connected and can "understand" humans just not talk), friends (can talk to their riders), dangerous and murderous "friend" that consider riders like their own pets (dragons have their own intelligence and see humans as entertaining creatures)... ?

How does DRAU's dragon and humans relations operate ? To be clearer I loved Eragon and was wondering if it was close to that or if it was totally different kind of deal

Alrighty finally getting around to answering this!

Ironically enough despite being obsessed with dragons for most of my life I actually never got around to reading Eragon so I have a very vague idea on how it's dragons function - and don't feel bad for not watching HOTD! I understand fully that it is not for everyone, I just happened to get really invested thus it became my primary inspiration - alongside the Ice & Fire Minecraft mod which is also based on GoT at least somewhat! (I would always recommend looking up the dragon scenes from HOTD though, mainly just for the amazing CGI work and neat designs both of the dragons and their sounds!)

Anyways to answer the actual questions here!

-

How easy is it to match with a dragon and how do riders deal with them?

Alright so! Admittedly the matching system is, vague, though this is a personal writing choice in all honesty - seeing as in universe no one is entirely sure how it works, dragons are creatures with little concrete information known about them.

What is known is that it is the dragon that makes the final decision, the dragon chooses its rider (hatching an egg is the exception and it's more so, an "if the egg hatches" in that case) and additionally that the bond is sealed in blood.

If a dragon rejects a rider it will kill or at the very least maim the unfortunate individual unless they manage to get away first (dragons generally won't pursue anything once it's out of their roost)- this is a very well known fact and is half the reason why Dream doesn't have a dragon yet when the plot begins, as XD doesn't want to lose his only remaining family to something as trivial as trying to claim a dragon. Which admittedly, XD got off easy in life cause his dragon found him so there's some notable disconnect between him and Dream on this matter. Anyways.

Those who successfully claim a dragon don't get out unscathed either, there is some weird blood magic going on when it comes to dragon bonds - so to establish the bond properly a rider will always gain some sort of injury that draws blood when they claim a dragon. For instance with hatchlings, they will simply just bite whoever hatched the egg - for larger dragons it can be anything from a bite to some other injury, regardless it won't be lethal and their breath will not be involved. Additionally there won't be any pain either, it's a bizarre supernatural phenomenon but it's something all dragon riders experience as it is the establishing link for the sort-of-psychic connection that occurs between dragons and their riders.

All riders have some sort of defining scar as a consequence to this injury as well! There's also a thought that the deeper the scar, the stronger the bond between a dragon and their rider - which does have some truth behind it.

(Admittedly this got a littleeee off topic but I've really wanted to talk about dragon bonds so I hope you don't mind! ^^)

As for how riders deal with them, for the most part a dragon can be left to its own devices and be fine, they'll hunt and care for themselves unless given other options. Think of them as this weird combination of falconry birds, horses and cats. They thrive best with human care but are fine if left alone for the most part with minimal interactions.

In the case of Orboros's dragon riders, they have the dragon keep - which is an extensive cave network/building dedicated to housing their dragons, the dragons themselves are tended to there and the riders themselves spend plenty of free time with them! The only notable exception being 'The Warden' (Sam's dragon) who has a roost on an offshore island due to her sheer size.

Dragons are 'trained' in a way to respond to often quick and simple commands (I really want to have these commands in another language but I'm still not entirely sure how to execute that idea) just to make things easier since there are dragon keepers who look after the beasts a fair amount of the time. Once bonded most dragons tend to be more tolerant to humans, especially if said humans are the ones who bring them food. They are after all very intelligent.

Are the dragons 'Glorified Pets, Friends or A Dangerous/Murderous Friend that considers the humans their pets?

Okay so by this criteria they fall into the 'glorified pets' category due to the inability to speak! Again my inspirations do take from a series that goes the very intelligent magical animal route so, yeah, unfortunately no talking dragons.

How do dragon and human relationships operate?

I think I inadvertently answered some of this in my rambles above but regardless!

Wild Dragons - Generally indifferent to people, smallfolk don't care for them for obvious reasons since killing a dragon is no easy task let alone driving one from it's roost if it's set up shop just a few miles away from your village. They're just very dangerous and often problematic wild animals.

Claimed Dragons - A dragon's relationship with its rider varies between individuals, some bonds are closer than others. They become more tolerant of people yet tend to often reflect their rider's opinions (conscious or subconscious) towards certain individuals (ie becoming bristly and aggressive towards an enemy/rival, more tolerant and maybe even affectionate towards a love interest) as well as following their own instincts and intuition about new individuals. The best example I have for that last bit is a very particular scene I have in mind, namely with Nightmare being particularly protective and reactive thanks to the arrival of Schlatt & Quackity for some event being held in Orboros's main city/the castle.

All in all they're very animalistic so the relations with people often reflect that in their operation, this includes a bunch of misconceptions as well, since who can truly know the heart of a dragon?

---

Also sorry about the wait! I had some stuff come up this past week and in general wanted to make sure the questions were answered as thoroughly as possible!

[wilcze-kudly]

I've seen your AU posts about Bolin as the Avatar, but here is another interesting thought experiment for you: what if Suyin was the Avatar?

[Disclaimer: Not making up a new timeline, so let's roll with some AU where the current Suyin we know is simply discovered as the Avatar at a really late age.] So, some of what often defines an Avatar are these common prerequisites: the world tour, learning the elements, spirituality, and approach/practicality. I'll give my thoughts on how I feel Suyin would fare and/or adapt in these categories, but everything said here is really just for fun discussion and is always up for your and everyone's own interpretation. World Tour: Suyin already has one foot in on this side of things as she's already been noted on traveling some parts of the world, seems relatively well-traveled, and has met a variety of people in her travels.

As the Avatar, I don't believe this aspect would be very hard for her. However, I could see her wrestling with the difficulty of hardly ever having the opportunity to enjoy any private time in her home for the sake of ushering peace and stability in the world. It's possible she could have someone act as an interim matriarch over Zaofu or possibly even step down permanently. Oh, who are we kidding? We all know she's a certified workaholic and will collapse trying to do them both at once. Learning the Elements: I also believe this should come easier to her as well. Her fighting style, for starters, is already very reminiscent of airbender movements in how nimble and mindful of her surroundings she is than most other earthbenders. Or, as Aang would say, "being quick or clever"

However, she thinks like a waterbender; how she redirects metal and earth thrown at her and redirect them to her opponent is a sight to behold. The one element I could see having an issue with as the Avatar is fire as it requires a mind of inner peace and tranquility (and she has definitely had some lingering issues in her past). She is also reasonably emotional (under the right circumstances) and impulsive which can cause lapses in her judgment or behavior. Lightning is a possibility as a skill, I suppose, but I definitely see her redirecting it more than generating it much. Oh, and traveling to find masters? Screw that. Nope, they're all getting an extended deluxe stay at Zaofu until she's mastered all the elements. Non-negotiable.

Spirituality: This is the shortest one as we don't know much of what Suyin thinks of spirits, the spirit world, or even how spiritual she actually is. She comes off as a bit materialistic, though, so that might affect how she interacts in those kinds of such matters but it's all very vague, to say the least.

Approach & Practicality: I think this aspect is the most interesting because I think it really hinges on how charitable one wants to be to Suyin's character. For all I've mentioned, she could very well be a Szeto-type of Avatar that mainly prioritizes the progression and safety of only Zaofu and any surrounding territories under their banner. There's enough precedent for that mentality given her response to the Earth Kingdom situation in Book 4. On the flip side, I could also see her acting with a sort of dual persona. One, that operates as sort of a "mother hen" kind of figure that over-compensates for the world's needs, albeit in her own fussy and systematic way with the best of maternal intentions. The other persona is more discreet and handles problems behind the scenes. Given that she had someone like Aiwei in her ranks and wasn't afraid to assassinate Kuvira in the dead of night, this is another possibility of how she would operate as the Avatar. Honestly, I envision her as a slightly more domineering Yangchen, with occasional flashes of Kyoshi if things REALLY hit the fan. But, hey, who is gonna piss off the cool mom, right? ....Right?

Oh my god I love this idea! I think a show following an older, more established Avatar would be very interesting.

One can actually put forth a theory that Suyin's travels have already kinda lead her through all three elements to some extent.

She spent time sailing on a pirate's ship, surrounded by water. That's waterbending down.

The circus she performed in looks incredibly similar to the one Ty Lee had performed in. This can also be backed up that Suyin also has a painted lady doll, a dragon mask, and some other thing (perhaps a flute? Or a pin?) With a dragon motif. So that's firebending also down.

Her connection to Airbending is a little bit less pronounced, but she did spend a lot of time in a sandbender commune. Now, while sandbenders are earthbenders, their bending methods are incredibly similar to airbending, to the point where they can propel their sandgliders with it. The commune could also be similar to Air Nomads and their communal lifestyles.

I can see her connecting very strongly with the healing aspects of waterbending. She seems to have a bit of medicinal knowledge, or at least enough of an instinct to get most of the metal out of Korra's bloodstream. We really don't talk about that enough man that was cool as fuck.

I could sort of see Suyin making Zaofu a bit of her home and "base of operations" like Aang seemed to fo with Air Temple Island. Also the idea that instead of a traditional Team Avatar, she has her gaggle of feral ninja children is really funny to me.

The more I think about Suyin as an Avatar, the more wonderful symbolism I can see there.

The Earth Kingdom is still probably suffering massively after the damage done to it by the Fire Nation. And who better to herald it's rebirth than the metalbender Avatar daughter of a renowned war hero.

Suyin is all about progress and people growing. And I can certainly see her wanting to spread that to others. As the Avatar, doing so wouldn't be seen as her subjugating others (which was one of her main reasons to not help during the whole earth empire thing) but by acting as a Spiritual Guide to others.

So yeah this is an amazing concept. Honestly i need to gather my thoughts on it but I may revisit this concept.

[thesinglesjukebox]

'WEIRD AL' YANKOVIC - "POLKAMANIA!"

"Weird Al"'s first Jukebox appearance... today, we have finally truly become the Singles Jokebox.

[4.38]

TA Inskeep: Oh look, vaguely recent pop hits set to polkas. <Miranda Priestly voice> Groundbreaking. </Miranda Priestly voice> [2]

Kat Stevens: There are a certain subset of songs which I've only ever encountered in "Weird Al" polka medley form: I have no idea what the original "Cradle of Love" sounds like, nor have I any real interest in finding out. So it spoils the fun a little when it turns out I know all the tunes already. [4]

Julian Axelrod: "Weird Al" Yankovic was one of my first favorite artists, which means I was exposed to some of the biggest pop hits in history via parodies and polka medleys. So while "Polkamania!" might disgust and confound the average listener, I find it charming that he's still committing to this incredibly specific bit forty years into his career. It's been a decade since "NOW That's What I Call Polka!", which means Al has a wide array of hits to cover, from the obvious ("Shake It Off") to the inspired ("Vampire") to the baffling. (My biggest laugh came not from his polkafied version of "WAP," but the censored rendition of "Thank U, Next" that immediately follows.) It's hard to judge this through a contemporary critical lens when it exists mainly as a funhouse inversion of pop's immediate past. Listening to a "Weird Al" polka medley in the year 2024 feels like returning to your hometown and finding out your favorite old haunt is still standing and still run by the same curly-haired weirdo, untouched by the evolution of taste and the passage of time. [7]

Katherine St. Asaph: A foil to Eminem: Em is crass where Al is gosh-darn unoffensive, dying to offend where Al is dying to please, but the two artists share a drive to present themselves as more chaotic than they actually are. (I interviewed "Weird Al" once, and he was so unwaveringly on-message that it felt like interviewing a career politician.) Their pop-culture medleys are as routine and unsurprising as holiday concerts, though Al's are more event managed: doing the press circuit, he was happy to break down all the logistics of the "Polkamania" assembly and approval process. In doing so, he critiqued the song better than I ever could: SZA ghosted him, but Lin-Manuel Miranda returned his call in like 30 seconds. [4]

Tim de Reuse: I'm sorry, Al. This kind of thing was your bread and butter, but we've pulled the rug out from under you. The genre-cloud of "recognizable song awkwardly re-rendered in different style" is the basis for a million clickbait YouTube thumbnails, ten percent of all videos on TikTok, and probably a quarter of all audio-based generative AI prompts. I've already heard all of these songs as Gregorian chant, as Norwegian black metal, Midwest emo, using the soundfonts from Super Mario 64, performed by a bad Kate Bush impersonator, in fucking "Negative Harmony" -- never of my own volition. This stuff is just in the air now, competing for my attention, and it all sounds the same as every cell phone ad. Wat's left here? Polka? Is polka still funny on its own merits? Was it ever? It's not you, Al. It's us. I'm sorry for what we did. [1]

Joshua Lu: "NOW That's What I Call Polka!" was a guilty pleasure of mine, operating as a genuinely catchy and humorous summation of then-recent hits made by a man with a palatable appreciation for pop music and a knack for taking on unserious tasks with the utmost seriousness. "Polkamania!" is mostly the same, and in being his first mashup since then (aside from some Hamilton thing I can't bring myself to listen to), he's had to distill over a decade of hits down instead of just a few years' worth. All of these songs included make sense, but every other song just instills a sense of "Oh yeah, that was a thing once," culminating in a Taylor Swift remake that surely would've amused me in 2013 but now just feels a dozen lifetimes old. It doesn't help that some of these songs are just kind of boring and don't offer much by way of humor, forcing pretty straightforward polkafications and awkward transitions.  [5]

Ian Mathers: Look, none of these will ever equal "Polka Your Eyes Out" to me, both because of the song selection there and because I was 10 when it came out. But I'm happy Al's out there doing his thing, and I hope he never changes. [6]

Mark Sinker: OK, back in April some clown called on him to become our beloved worm-man god-emperor, and now look what happened: “Brat Al” Yankovic! There’s a whole slab of cultural and music theory to be explored one day, about what happens when you convert modern pop into sheet music and then convert it back out again into your favoured local sound-style: what gets elided, but also what’s gained (not nothing)! And maybe some day someone will write it up — but that day is not today and that someone is not me.  [5]

Hannah Jocelyn: The polka medleys were never my favorites; it's almost always the same shtick and there's none of the cleverness of his usual material or his (underappreciated!) style parodies. There's inspiration here to be sure, "Weird Al" doing "Bad Guy" as klezmer gets this a positive score on those grounds alone. Maybe if he released this five years ago or in five years it would work and not fall victim to the Anxious Interval. But this is "Weird Al", long-reigning king of kitsch. Who wants him to be in touch? [6]

Nortey Dowuona: Both 10 years out of date and 10 years into the future. Welcome back, polka. (And "Weird Al," too.) [10]

Taylor Alatorre: I appreciate that there's a person out there who can get me to say with a straight face a sentence like "I miss when the polkas were more thematically consistent." [5]

Jonathan Bradley: "Weird Al" sucks. I feel so mean to say that: people love this guy who, let’s face it, is completely harmless and has been delighting (mostly) children for decades, and here I am telling you how appalled I feel that we celebrate such a pristinely executed vision of pure crappiness. And yet, here we are blurbing him, so: I hate the querulous insipidity of Al’s interpretation of pop music. His schtick demands familiarity with pop — otherwise the parodies make no sense — but shies away from the music’s flair and vision and emotion, as if the pleasure these things offer is too terrifying and too adult, and must be remediated through the lens of banality so as to be controlled. His jokes rarely riff on details of the texts themselves, the way a Lonely Island video might, but replace any intensity of feeling with artefacts of suburban triviality: crappy television, crappy minor medical ailments, and so much crappy, crappy food. Even the verisimilitude of his productions — his greatest actual talent — runs headlong into the crappiness of his adenoidal voice, reassuring us that he’s not so proficient at his craft as to be mistaken for a star. And then there’s his sideshow of playing covers with an accordion, which we understand to be a joke instrument, in the style of polka, which we understand to be a joke genre. Is his polka any good? None of his listeners care. Do they go on to explore more polka? Why would they? Do people who enjoy polka think Al is contributing anything to the music they love? Who cares; the incredible notion that someone somewhere might enjoy polka is part of the joke. Because the most desiccated and shriveled aspect of Al’s relationship with pop is that he can’t imagine it has its own jokes. Cardi B is funnier in “WAP” than he is here. Lil Nas X was a better troll on “Old Town Road.” Billie Eilish had better comic timing with her interjected “duh” on “Bad Guy.” And I understand how churlish I sound saying all this. I am Seymour Skinner; I am Ed Rooney. But I like jokes! (I’m not mad. Please don’t put in the newspaper that I got mad.) The problem is that there is nothing fun happening here! [0]

Alfred Soto: I'm happy Al exists. This song sucks. [2]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox]

[classasurreptitiouslurker]

Gabriel's Memory, Again

So, a while back I mentioned that I found that, with a nitpick-y approach, you could arguably say that all of the times (I make it five, but let me know if I've forgotten anything) when Jim remembers - using the term loosely here, because I'm also including his trances - something of Gabriel all operate differently. This, now, is the nitpick in question. Fair warning: there's no conclusion to be had here, since there's not enough similarities to draw one, and just the fact of the differences also isn't exactly sufficient for that, and as I mainly wrote this to lay it and my thoughts out - for clarity, recall and organisation, but also as a starting point and, so to speak, to-do list for things I want to look at still - it may be a little (or little more) rough.

First up, going by episode chronology, we've got whatever it was that drove Jim to seek out Aziraphale to begin with. From what he says, it seems to have been a combination of perceptions that led him to Aziraphale: a vague sense of doom - the "something terrible" - and an equally vague sense that this was a being who could help and shelter him - "as long as I came here [it] might not happen to me". Whether he's feeling love, or ethereal energy, or still subconsciously retaining a memory of Aziraphale's personality, or of a plan he formed while he was still Gabriel, and what exactly the "something terrible" actually was, since he can't actually remember, just that it's coming (and how did he find the bookshop anyways?), is, while interesting and a topic for the future, not making much of a difference here. Either way, whatever precisely's behind this, it's manifesting in a way that seems like a sort of sixth sense, a vague, generalised impression, strong enough to move him but not so strong as to give him any urgency, apparently emotion-based and possibly, at least partially, not actually a memory at all.

Next is when starts singing Everyday to himself in E2. He has no idea why he starts doing it - he doesn't even realise he is at first - or where it came from and it seems to have come to him later, rather than being something he knew from the start, with no particular trigger beyond a possible tenuous after K comes L -> L = love -> love = Beelzebub -> Beelzebub = Everyday connection, in which case it's still not jarring or abrupt in the way he suddenly gets snapped into his trance later in the episode. Everyday featured prominently in two of the three key Beelzebub meetings we were shown, and is a symbol of their relationship, not to mention played a fairly major role in the memory of him receiving the fly, the critical component of his escape plan, making it a personally significant piece of information. Like the instinct that made him seek out Aziraphale, it revolves around emotion; however, beyond that, it's practically entirely opposite. Whereas the former's broad, seemingly slightly random, and without the details to make sense of it, Everyday's essentially one single important detail, completely isolated and context-free, something we later learn is special to Gabriel, but which is without that additional background far too narrow in scope to explain even its presence, let alone its meaning.

In the same episode, we also get his first trance-like altered state. He 'snaps' into this state after Crowley directly questions him about "the first thing [he] remember[s]" - possibly what he meant in the last episode by "ask him properly" (and another post - really this whole paragraph is) - although snaps isn't really the right word for the way he struggles into the trance, wrestling either with his own memory or a possessing force. The process seems exhausting and painful, and he says he can't keep going, adding "not anymore" with a surprising sudden flash of insight into his former capabilities, and he appears disorientated - but aware of the situation - afterwards. His eyes go back to Supreme Archangel Gabriel purple and God's voice echoes alongside his when he speaks. The words are also God's, spoken when Gabriel was not actually present. It seems unlikely that the Bildad masquerade would have gone the way it did if he'd been spying on that scene, but there's no way to truly eliminate the possibility that he somehow overheard God, though that seems an utterly random memory to procure. It's possible God is somehow speaking through him, or perhaps Gabriel simply has access to Her words, in form of some kind of God's Messenger function, however, I've also wondered whether they both use the same words because they are both referring to the same, third, thing. Regardless of what exactly's going on here - as I said, I'd like to make a separate post for that sometime - it doesn't fit into a pattern with either of the previous occurrences, which, okay, this is a separate matter, but it doesn't seem the same as his next trance either.

Coming to said next trance: at the end of E3, Jim gets (apparently) triggered by Crowley's use of the word "tempest", which features in his own words, and accordingly, seems to have acted as a sort of key or index. Once again, there's a clear verbal cue, though of slightly different format, that snaps him into his trance, delivered, again, by Crowley. It looks smoother this time however, less of a struggle and more a fluid transition from one moment to the next. His eyes revert to Angel-Gabriel-BluePurple and while I personally don't hear anyone speaking, I'm taking other people's word that it sounds like there's a woman voice overlaid; it's certainly not God speaking again though. The words themselves, bizarrely enough considering that this is all about memory, sound very much like a prophecy. Of course it's possible that the memory element comes back in if he's either repeating a prophecy he's heard or read before (greetings to Agnes) or if it's referring to an event that's already happened (or that it's not a prophecy at all) but at first glance, we seem to be dealing with the future instead of the past, which, besides being strange, is distinctly the opposite of last time's distant biblical past. After the trance ends, with a moment's delay that almost gave the impression he was going to say more, Jim's memory appears inexplicably reverted to its E1 state, something I'd say doesn't seem to happen after the first trance. Having presumably plot relevant for as-yet-unknown reasons, clearly otherworldly moments of recollection, they would naturally be distinct from the 'regular' workings of Jim's amnesia, but the issue is that they're also different from each other.

Finally, there's his conversation with Crowley in E5, in which he describes where his memory is: "In a matchbox. No, I took it out first... and I put it in the box and I brought it here...". There's only really one piece missing here, the fly, which is the most important bit, sure, but at the same time a fairly small one. Beyond that, this is a fairly focused, specific, relevant memory of direct personal importance, decently detailed and even showing signs of putting a chronology back together, with which he is able to give a direct, on-topic answer to a question. He then follows this up with the "institutional problem" comment, which is unfortunately, unlike the matchbox-memory segment, back to being totally abstracted from context. It does relate to the topic, since it was connected to his trial, but of course, for the characters it's once again an entirely random statement. Still, this whole sequence (triggered once again by Crowley's probing) is the most precision Jim ever shows regarding Gabriel's memories, offering specific details and relevant, targeted, albeit not actually useful, answers, an on-point factualness that doesn't really align with the emotionally-driven, intuition-like flashes of his previous memories. He also says that it hurts to remember, which seems to be more the case in his first trance - he's even repeating the 'head not big enough' here - than in the two previous - and despite their differences, still more similar to this than said trance - cases of 'normal' remembering.

[mbti-notes]

Hi, entj here. What other Jungian theories besides the personality theory discussed here do you recommend to study in depth, mainly from the perspective of personality development? I read a book describing Jung's basic theories, one of the theses presented there was the statement that modern humanistic psychology is poor in its view of the human being, for example, it often ignores the past and focuses on the present and future. What are your thoughts on humanistic vs Jungian psychology?

I don't really know how to answer because you haven't explained the purpose of your question with the necessary detail, as per the blog guidelines. Generally speaking, people ask about different perspectives in psychology because they're trying to figure out which therapeutic approach to take. The way you've framed the question seems to indicate that you don't know much about the field of psychology, so you're not approaching the subject matter in the right way.

(1) I'm not sure what you mean by "Jungian theories" in the plural. Jungian theory is an umbrella term that includes a wide variety of ideas related to human psychology because Jung's writings covered quite a lot of ground. One aspect was personality. One aspect was ego operations. One aspect was human development.

Technically speaking, you shouldn't be comparing humanistic and Jungian psychology because they are not in the same category. The former is an overarching perspective or "school of thought" in the field of psychology, whereas the latter is a sub-specialty of another overarching school of thought called psychoanalytic psychology. Therefore, you ought to be comparing humanistic and psychoanalytic schools of thought.

Historically, humanistic psychology arose in part as a response to the shortcomings of psychoanalytic psychology. If you would like to know more about the pros/cons of various schools of thought in psychology, the best way is to consult a brief history of the field which explains the context of how each school came into being.

(2) You (or the book you're reading) seem to be referencing early developments in the field, so be forewarned that the ideas you're looking for could be outdated. The psychoanalytic school isn't really considered a part of mainstream psychology in the US anymore, though there are still some professionals who choose to specialize in it or adapt the ideas to current times. It tends to be more popular in European circles. Current approaches in the US favor more scientific/empirical approaches, e.g., neuropsychology or cognitive-behavioral psychology.

The psychoanalytic school encompasses many well-known early theorists in the field, of which Carl Jung is but one example. Others include: Sigmund Freud, Melanie Klein, Alfred Adler, Anna Freud, Karen Horney, Erich Fromm, Erik Erikson. IMO, all of these individuals (and their academic descendants) contributed some important ideas to psychology that are worth learning about. Most of them touched upon personality and human development in some way. I mainly discuss the ego psychology of Jung and his descendants, as well as how the ideas connect to current developments in psychology. Since "personality development" is too broad and vague a request, all I can say is feel free to explore other psychoanalytic ideas from the above theorists.

(3) Personality is a diverse subfield of psychology. If you'd like to get a good overview of the whole subfield rather than limit yourself to psychoanalytic theory, consult a current first-year college textbook that provides an introduction to all the schools of thought available. Or, if what you're really looking for is to realize your personal potential, you can look into the subfield of positive psychology. (See the recommendations on the resources page.)

A well-written book should provide an objective view/evaluation of whatever school of thought is being discussed. My formal studies in psychology included a strong emphasis on the history and evolution of the field. From this perspective, one should understand that every school was developed with a specific purpose in mind. For example, when you want to understand your past, psychoanalysis is a good choice. If that's not your focus and you want to do something such as learn how to handle depression and be a more functional person, then the cognitive-behavioral approach might be a better choice.

In other words, each school of thought in psychology was developed carefully by intelligent people who wanted to address a particular aspect/angle of human psychology. The tools of any school could be of great value to you as long as you understand what they ought to be used for and use them as intended.

[brianbrianbrain]

IDs are of 4 slides from this Instagram post by perfectunion. Each is a screenshot of a tweet by American Economic Liberties Project @econliberties, with an American flag hanging down sideways as their profile picture.

ID. Slide 2:

"But Apple is innovative!"

Apple's greatest innovations were the result of dynamic & begin underline competitive end underline markets. Today, its own executives admit that its monopoly power allows the company to ship products that are simply "good enough."

Competition, not complacency, drives innovation. End ID.

ID. Slide 5:

"Apple is better at privacy!"

From begin underline degrading the security end underline of text messages to begin underline selling your data to foreign govts end underline, Apple's clock of privacy is mainly a self-serving branding strategy.

Apple can improve privacy at anytime without engaging in anti-competitive conduct. End ID.

ID. Slide 7:

"Apple doesn't harm me with its dominance!"

Apple keeps prices sky high for consumers, charges as much as begin circle $1,599 end circle for an iPhone now, a fee for every "tap-to-pay" transaction, & more.

By begin underline blocking other hardware developers, there's no pressure to lower prices or increase quality end underline. End ID.

ID. Slide 9:

"I don't even use Apple products, why should I care?"

Apple begin circle exploits end circle its market power to hobble innovation by rivals across the economy.

Now, they're begin underline expanding their monopoly power to automobiles, content creation, and finance end underline -- using the same exclusionary conduct playbook. End ID.

aw yea... the u.s. centrism, the subtle xenophobia, and all the classic economic illusions.

2: consider that collaboration is what drives innovation. fricking capitalist BS that "innovation" requires "competition." usually "innovation" that occurs under "competition" is just new and fucked up ways to control people as much as possible. i'd argue that apple, or at least those that dominated apple operations, were already in the exclusivity mindset from the beginning, and so the natural next step was to continue "innovating" ways to create a monopoly.

5: seriously, selling data to foreign governments? this just feels like xenophobic fearmongering. hit me up with a source, please. i can, however, guarantee you that apple is "selling" data to the surveillance state in the us. to act as if they are only selling to foreign governments, or that it's only an issue if they're selling to foreign governments, is classic union nationalism and just so incredibly harmful and untrue.

7: so u.s. centric here. are you kidding me, whining about an expensive phone? it's not that hard to buy secondhand, or simply not buy a new phone at all. think of the folks who are being murdered and/or worked to death for cobalt and check yourself. do you really want to live in a world and support an operation where constant murder is the norm? because that's what you're supporting when you won't even talk about issues like rare earth metal mining when talking about tech companies.

and sure, there's something to be said about how the expensive phone is an example of how this entire system is bullshit, but you can't talk about that by only focusing on a price / without talking about the constant violence that it requires.

9: again, so u.s. centric.

and more vague economic propaganda. what do you really mean by "market power"? what "innovation"? what "rivals"? is the issue that things are not transparent / open source, or are you still for the worst of private ownership? do you care about people, or are they all just "consumers" to you?

also the fearmongering. apple does not have monopoly power over autos, content, or finance whatsoever. i genuinely have no idea what bro is talking about. cars??? content??? finance??? i mean ok maybe autos in the sense that i know newer cars might only support certain kinds of phone connections, but the rest??? hello??? google exists??? facebook exists??? and who tf only accepts apple pay? + all the real money is still in the banks, which apple does not own.

also like. that american flag is lowk suspicious ok. and the "American." like yea seeing that, i expected all of this shit. but i wonder what a world where perfectunion platformed more supply chain and establishment critical sources, even just very occasionally, would look like. and like, this guy already panders to Trump supporters, okay? why not balance it out? (i mean we all know the answer – at the core of today's union organizing is usually a lot of white nationalism).

obligatory yes i talk shit about unions all the time but it's still important to support them. which you can still do while criticizing them and thinking of ways to push them further.

[chengyangli]

General Idea from Week 1

Through the first week of lecture, I've come up with some vague notions of game design that might be feasible. Considering my relatively unique cultural background, I'm considering the possibility of designing a game that incorporates aspects of traditional Chinese mythology. It would be entertaining and at the same time help players from different cultural backgrounds to learn more about Chinese culture.

Applying the concept stage in the lecture slide, I described the game I envisioned.

Brief description of the game concept: The Path of the God Tree is a casual adventure game that combines elements of traditional Chinese mythology. Players tap on the divine tree to improve their abilities, unlock equipment and pass levels with the goal of becoming the strongest in the heavenly realm.

Gameplay: Players mainly tap on the divine tree on the screen to gain power and unlock different equipment to help pass levels based on Chinese mythology. Levels increase in difficulty as the game progresses.

Why it's appealing: This game combines simple tap operation with rich Chinese mythology, which is not only relaxing and fun, but also allows players to learn about traditional Chinese culture.

Target Players: Suitable for players who like casual games and are interested in mythology, both those who want to play a quick game and those who like to go deeper into the story.

Player Character: Players start as an ordinary cultivator, with the goal of improving themselves by interacting with the God Tree and challenging different mythological stories, and ultimately becoming a top being in the God Realm.

Incentives & Rewards: By constantly improving their abilities and collecting equipment to overcome challenges, players can feel the joy of growth and progress. Every major achievement in the game will bring satisfaction to the player.

Genre: This is a casual adventure game that combines role-playing and strategy elements.

World/Background: The background of the game is set in a world full of traditional Chinese mythological elements, with a variety of mythological characters and divine beasts, adding rich colour and depth to the player's adventure. IN ADDITION: As I was nervously thinking about my game concept I realised that there was no tutorial for the first week.

[cokeefedesign]

Design Rationale 

My goal with the Nuclear is Now campaign is to get younger, climate conscious voters interested in the idea of nuclear power through accessible information and an eye-catching design style. Nuclear is much more polarizing than other forms of energy production; mainly operating facility disasters and the association with weapons of mass destruction linger in people's minds and create unease at the thought of a nationwide nuclear power grid. In reality, nuclear energy already provides a majority of the United States’ emission-free power. 20% of all our electricity comes from nuclear plants. It is as safe as renewable energy sources while being vastly more efficient in regards to the space it occupies, wind and solar power don’t come anywhere close in the land necessary to power output ratio. 

When researching I came across atomic age Soviet posters used during the early years of the Cold War. They were propaganda posters designed to get the public interested in science behind the nuclear arms race. They are all recognizable in a way only propaganda posters can be, and I focused on a selection that stood out for their distinct vibrant oranges, dark reds, and pale yellows, along with still strong but toned down mid to dark blues as a base. This was the final palette I chose to work off, along with blacks and dark grays for added contrast. Most of the designs used the atomic symbol as a focal point and I wanted to incorporate both the recognizable atom and nuclear logo, I knew that I absolutely needed to include these for clarity.  

I wanted to create a striking design that used similar mid-century staples but also mixed them up for modern audiences. The discussion of nuclear power today is reminiscent of the original atomic debate, so I wanted the design to harken back to the past without overtly copying content from that time.

When I’m creating designs I rarely if ever have one idea and stick to it throughout the entire process. I don’t work rigidly within the stages of research, brainstorming, and final production, and if an idea strikes me late in the process, I will take time to sketch it out and see how it compares. I’ll often discover more designs that emulate what I want to create and give me more inspiration. Early wireframing helps me see how ideas are developing but those aren't always what make it to the final. For this project I knew I wanted light from an atom to illuminate a dark space and cast shadows on vague but discernible human silhouettes. I started with faces but saw other designs that utilized hands and decided that would be the better choice for this composition. I originally had the yellow nuclear logo providing all of the luminosity but then added a central source of light coming from the atom itself and that helped the atom become even more of a focal point. For the brochure I wanted it to feel different enough from the poster but still maintain the similar elements. Since I included almost no information on the poster, I knew the brochure had to contain everything important enough for someone interested to know. The poster was intended to function as the attention getter, and the brochure would be the supplementary material to actually learn. Even though it had to contain mostly information I didn't want the brochure to feel mired in text. I opted to portray the most important statistics as graphics, or just larger text visually distinct from a normal paragraph. The deathprint statistic I immediately knew I would include and the bar graph highlights just how massive the disparity across energy sources is. 

The design I felt most satisfied with was the poster. I had found multiple posters that I was using for reference and liked different elements from each but wasn't totally sure how to incorporate them all in a cohesive way. Once the elements were assembled, I started to fine tune the color scheme. I wanted a dark background and ended up going with a very dark gray instead of a black as pure black often feels too heavy. With the number of light elements I included it wouldn't have been enough to offset a true black. I downloaded a typeface called Fyodor which was perfect for emulating the bold Russian style of letters that dominated these kinds of posters. Overall, I’m very satisfied with how this campaign turned out and I feel more experienced creating and working within one cohesive palette, and also working simultaneously across the different Adobe programs on one project.

[childotkw]

dark side of the moon au(omg it has a name now) how would riddle react to him? how would orion? would grindlewalt(spelling???) be intrigued by him right away like; who is this, i don’t remember my dear dumbles having a cousin/apprentice/random colleague?? would anyone be like ‘hmmmm you vaguely remind me of someone’ random potter: *cough*

does riddle get curious abt harry? and if he does, does he try getting close to nathan to get to harry, or does he go straight to harry? how would orion react to riddles new obsession? would he even be obsessed or just somewhat curious? is orion wondering abt the new dude or is he concerned with how someone saw something that he missed(ie Nathans awesomeness) would he try to get on nathan’s good side?

so sorry for the many questions and the fact that they’re all over the place. i have so many more but i’m terrible at phrasing them 😭 so these will have to do for now lmao, answer whenever you can! i love ybtm it’s one of my favorite harry potter fics and i love the way you answer our questions! thank you for your time and have a good day!

Aww thank you! It’s a fun little idea to bat around with hahaha

I think Harry’s supposed connection with Dumbledore would actually keep him away from the Slytherin squad's attention for a while. There would, of course, be the initial scrutiny, but Dumbledore's relationship with Riddle would keep Harry relatively safe from any 'games' at least for a month. There's also the line drawn in the sand - because Harry is an adult, he's essentially a teacher and so he operates on a different schedule and in different circles then if he had been their age.

But as with all things, Harry would eventually attract attention. Evoke...curiosity if you will. 

His mentorship of Nathan would raise eyebrows, but the more time he speeds nearby - the more changes they notice in Nathan as a result of the young man’s presence - the more they would begin to watch and see. 

I feel Orion would actually be the first to clock onto it, mainly because he’s incredibly observant about everything around him, more so than even Tom. He’d sidle closer to Nathan, fascinated and amused, and through that he’d latch onto Harry as well. Orion would be the catalyst. 

Nathan would be cautious and more than a little freaked out about suddenly being on Orion’s radar; and Harry would be a combination of awkward, confused and agitated at Orion’s presence (at least until he got used to him, and then he’d turn his older-brother beam onto Orion as well).

Naturally, where Orion goes so too does Augustus - and their combined attention would bring Tom around. From there, things would develop. Harry actually being older than Tom, and more hardened and confident, would be a hilarious dynamic to play with. It’s funny in ybtm(ibty), but having Harry in his actual body, physically older as well as mentally...yeah, that’d be greatly amusing to see!

Also, Grindelwald would get involved far quicker in this AU. Someone claiming a direct (potentially blood) relation to Dumbledore, and having Albus back it up, is the fastest way to get Gellert’s attention. And the more Gellert researched Harry, the closer he’d get to the truth.

[theherocomplex]

Just curious, because I love hearing you talk about your process - how do you use your story notebooks together with Scrivener? Are the notebooks more about freewriting ideas?

If ever there was a question that was up my alley! :D I love my story notebooks. As uh is probably obvious -- so thank you for the chance to show them off!

I use my story notebooks for a few reasons (one of which is definitely that I can't resist an excuse to buy a new notebook), but they mainly operate in tandem with Scrivener. I use Scrivener for the actual writing I intend to revise and post/share, and for recording information that I've decided is most likely to be permanent canon.

The notebooks, then, are where I do most of my experimentation. It's become somewhat ritualized, which I know is ridiculous, but I love starting off a new major project by shopping for a new notebook, choosing an ink color for that project (I know), and giving that story its own identity in my head. I also like starting off every project by doing a lot of background work -- timelines, character sketches, worldbuilding, major questions that I have about the plot or setting -- so that by the time I start writing, I have a very solid grasp of the story I'm telling.

This isn't for everyone, but I find that starting the story writing by hand makes it a really pleasurable, intimate experience. As convenient as typing is, I get very wrapped up in watching my word count increase, or making sure each word is perfect, and with handwriting, I know it won't be perfect. It's not meant to be. It feels more like play than actual work, which lets me experiment and take risks I might not be able to if I was doing everything in Scrivener.

It's also great to have a notebook because I can carry my current project's notebook with me, and indulge in working on it during breaks from work or if I'm waiting for an appointment.

Working in the story notebooks is a fantastic memory exercise, too. I can't tell you how many details I might have lost because I have too many stories in my head -- but I didn't, because I wrote about them in a notebook and now that idea is in my head forever.

They're also a problem-solving tool; if I feel stuck on a section when I'm writing, I step back and write about it. It sounds a little ridiculous to write about writing, but sometimes just writing things like "I don't know why I'm so blocked on this story, I was excited about coming home to write and now I'm STUCK, why won't this scene WORK, I don't even want to write this anymore" is the key to figuring out what the story needs. Again, it's the association of the notebooks being a place of relatively low stakes and exploration that lets me figure out story issues.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is! But, I think it's worthwhile work, because where I've ended up is a point where my drafts don't generally change that much once I start writing in Scrivener. I've done so much of the work before my fingers hit the keyboard. My drafts tend to be fairly solid and clean, and once I lock into a version I like, they don't need a lot of work at the end of the process.

(The fact that I am a very wasteful writer, who has no problem restarting a story nine times or trashing 50,000 words at a stretch, is a different matter.)

My third notebook for ALID looked like this, for the most part: some freewriting, followed by brainstorming, then more freewriting to see where the new direction was taking me.

I've also gotten more organized over the years, so I keep detailed table of contents at the beginning of the notebooks, to make finding what I need a bit easier (this is the Vam Lin TOC).

I also keep bits and pieces related to each story in the notebooks (which is why I tend toward notebooks with pocket flaps), like printed versions of commissions I've gotten, post-it notes with vague ideas that I jotted down when the notebook wasn't handy, my (terrible) sketches of characters, maps I've drawn, things like that!

Thank you for the lovely question! I hope it was what you were looking for, and I would love to hear about your (and everyone else's!) process too!

[whump-a-la-mode]

Nemesis - Part 10

For the choices on Part 9, B won in a landslide, meaning that Leader will be going to find Hero on their own (well, bringing Villain, of course.) Yet, wounded as they are, will they be able to make the journey?

I tried out some new tropes in this one, mainly painful wound cleaning and field surgery. I’ve never done these before so I really hope I did them well! Thanks to everyone who votes on this parts outcome.

New to the story, or just need a refresh? The masterlist can be found here.

Taglist:

@wolfeyedwitch​

Without further ado, here we go!

CW//Blood, wound cleaning, knives

The first strike of Teammate’s knife missed.

The second did not.

In one side of Leader’s mind, they registered the pain. Registered cold, hard steel, slicing through soft flesh. In the other side, however, the more primitive one, the one that was currently active, the only thing noticed was a sudden, blooming numbness. As though the nerve endings in the area were simply gone.

In hindsight, they would have been well aware that said numbness was a side effect of the gallons of adrenaline coursing through their veins. At that current moment, however, only one thought managed to push it’s way into Leader’s mind:

I’m not dead yet.

“Leader?” The voice sent a jolt up their spine. They had entirely forgotten about the phone pressed to their ear. “Leader, are you okay? What’s going on?”

A pause.

“Stay where you are. I’ll be there in a moment.” As they spoke, Leader’s lips felt just as numb as their side. Without another thought, they hung up, placing the phone in their pocket.

Leader raised their gaze, wispy and vague as it was, to meet Teammate’s.

“Give me Villain, and everything will be alright again.”

Leader stepped to the side.

“I’m not certain that anything was alright in the first place.”

Their body, in those next few moments, did not feel to be operating on their own accord. As though they were possessed, their limbs seemed to move on their own, not on account of Leader’s desires, but on account of what was best for their survival. A new level of fight or flight.

Picking up Villain was easier than expected. Little more than skin and bones, they weighed less than a child, and were quickly heaved upwards, into Leader’s grasp.

“Leader.” Teammate’s voice was firm, even as their weapon-wielding hand shook and wavered. “Just hand them over. That’s all we want.”

“No.”

Despite the numbness, despite the blood loss, Leader was still as strong as they ever were. That was, far stronger than Teammate could ever hope to be.

Surging forth, they burst into the common room, not stopping to breath.

A hot feeling on their inner thigh. Still moving, Leader glanced downwards. It was only then that they noted the scarlet stain, spreading from their side now down their leg.

The limb twitched. They reined it back in.

Treatment was an afterthought. At that moment, there was only one thing that mattered: Whether or not they had enough blood to find Hero.

And, for that, there was only one way to find out.

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Five miles. That was the distance between Organization’s HQ and Hero’s hiding place, in the woods along the interstate.

For a car, such a distance would’ve been negligible, able to have been taken within a mere few minutes. For someone on foot, however, rapidly losing blood? Well, a little less simple.

Of course, it did not help that the route was only five miles on a straight-shot. Regardless of their state of mind, Leader knew full well how bad of an idea that would’ve been. Instead, they moved through parks, woodlands, wherever they could avoid being spotted.

When the figure at last appeared through the treeline, Hero did not at first recognize it as human. Its flesh was horribly pale, nearly translucent, with dried blood coating its entire lower body.

Emerging into the light, Hero was unsure whether to be more or less horrified to find that the beast was, in fact, Leader.

They took no time to think, no time to consider just how carefully they had been hiding, tucking their body uncomfortably and thoroughly into the undergrowth. Hero lurched from their hiding place, bounding to their friend with enough speed to nearly topple them.

“Leader! Leader, what happened- Are you alright- What-”

Their babble was stopped by Leader’s gaze. Looking into their eyes, Hero could practically see all the way through to the back of their head. Little consciousness remained in the wells of their pupils.

“They’re okay.” Leader whispered.

For a moment, Hero thought them to be talking in the third person, before realizing the second figure, curled up against the bloody one. In the low light, Villain was barely visible.

“I got them out. They’re okay.” Leader repeated.

Dropping slowly to one knee, Leader released Villain, allowing them to roll over into a heap on the grass. Their statement had been correct-- Despite a bewildered expression on their face, Villain appeared unharmed.

Leader, on the other hand...

“They’re okay.” Hero gasped, before turning their attention to the one in need of far more help. “What happened to you?”

“Teammate had a knife.” Leader did not rise to their feet again. They didn’t have the power to. “It’s okay. They only got my side, not too deep... No vital organs.”

“You look like you’ve lost half the blood in your damn body!”

They glanced groggily down to their own side.

“Oh. Maybe I have.”

For a moment, the two sat there in the damp grass, gasping for breath in their own rights.

“We can’t very well take you to the hospital.” Hero finally spoke.

“No.” Leader agreed. “I’ll be alright.”

“We need to at least do something.”

“It’s fine.”

Hero pursed their lips indignantly.

“I have a first aid kit in my car. I parked it nearby.”

Before long, the two had done their best to set up some sort of makeshift medical operation. To avoid Leader laying on the grass and risking infection, the kit’s shock blanket had been laid out for them to lay on. With a great amount of difficulty, their blood-soaked shirt had been removed, leaving the wound open to the sky.

By some miracle, Leader was right. The slash was low, below any digestive or cardiovascular organs. Its position would’ve only risked slicing the intestines, and it didn’t seem to have done so. Only muscle and fat had been sliced through, and the cut was mercifully clean.

None of that, of course, discounted the sheer amount of blood that had been lost.

“Wasting time.” Leader muttered.

“What?”

“We’re wasting time, ‘m okay.” Their voice had grown more and more slurred as the adrenaline had worn off. “They’ll be after us before long. We need to get moving.”

“No way.” Hero shook their head. “You’ll bleed out before we ever risk being caught. Just lay still, let me clean.”

Of course, Hero was no doctor, but they had gone through the same first aid training as anyone else, and had a decent amount of field experience. They could at least clean the wound and bandage it.

Taking a water bottle that had been helpfully forgotten in the backseat, they soaked a rag, placing it against the wound. Immediately, Leader let out a sharp hiss, drawing in the leg nearest to the wound. Without much direction, they waved their hands, trying to ward away the accosting rag.

“It’s fine! Don’t!”

Biting their lower lip, Hero came to understand why exactly Leader was being so resistant. It wasn’t nobility or humbleness, not entirely. With adrenaline wearing off, the wound was almost certainly becoming utterly agonizing.

Leader was scared of pain.

“Hey.” Hero placed a hand on their shoulder. There was something so odd about the situation. Usually, it was Leader yelling at them, getting up in their face about something or other, ordering them around. Now, they were trying to comfort their bleeding and wounded boss.

Now that they thought about it, all that nosiness and bossing about, had it ever been truly to their detriment? More than anything, in hindsight, it almost seemed like Leader was trying to keep them out of danger.

Hero shook their head. They could think about that later. With a deep breath, they continued to speak:

“Hey. It’s alright. I know it hurts, I know. Do you want something to bite down on? A stick?”

“Is Villain okay?” Leader groaned out. Always trying to change the subject.

“Villain is fine. They’re asleep again, I leaned them up against a tree. That’s not what we’re talking about, though. Do you want something to bite down on?”

Leader flashed an indignant gaze, refusing eye contact with a huff. Clearly, they didn’t think they should be stooping so low as to accept something to help with the pain.

Yet, after a few moments, they nodded.

“Alright.” Hero spoke gently. After a few moments, they found an appropriately sized stick that looked relatively clean, and took a moment to wash it in the water as well. “Just bite down on this. It shouldn’t break.”

Leader grimaced as the wood was placed in between their jaws, abhorring the taste but recognizing its necessity.

“Close your eyes.” Hero instructed as they retook their place at their boss’s side, picking the rag back up. “Close your eyes, and do what you do best. Plan. Use that brain of yours and think up a way to get us out of here.”

Silenced by the stick, Leader nodded.

Once ensuring that Leader’s eyes were closed, and that they were reasonably distracted by their own thoughts, Hero began to clean. With every dab the rag made along the horribly wounded area, Leader flinched and hissed, twisting on the shock blanket and biting down on the stick in their jaws.

Every wipe and dab brought Leader closely to giving up and slapping Hero in the face. Yet, Hero’s tactic had worked-- Thoughts of plans and escaped overwhelmed their mind too much for them to think of trying to stop the current pain.

After what must’ve been nearly half an hour, Leader was, at the very least, partially clean. Their shirt and pants had been completely ruined with blood. Luckily, the first aid kit had a generic T-shirt and sweatpants to swap them out for.

Before that, though, Hero had of course had to stop the bleeding, which was likely the most painful piece of it all. Pressing down on the wound would’ve been hard enough without Leader whining and rolling about. After an eternity, though, the blood stopped.

Then had come disinfectant. That was truly the worst of it. For a moment, Hero had even considered skipping the step altogether, before their mind had been flooded with images of gangrenous wounds and fevers. The last thing they needed right now was an infection.

The procedure had only taken a few seconds, yet, to Leader, it was a torturous eternal present. They had jolted upwards, trying to fight back, forcing Hero to push them back down to finish the ordeal.

Now, Leader lay on their good side, gasping, wearing at least somewhat clean clothes. Wrapped around their midsection was a great deal of bandages. Stitching the wound closed would’ve likely been ideal, but the first aid kit included no suturing equipment, and regardless, Hero didn’t have the necessary experience.

“All done.” The words felt heavenly on their tongue as they sat back on the grass, breathing heavily in their own right.

Letting the stick roll from their mouth, Leader raised their exhausted eyes.

“All done?”

“All done.” Hero nodded. “Now, let’s get our minds off all that, okay? What did that genius brain of yours come up with?”

Leader let their exhausted head loll back onto the ground as they began to speak.

Never before had Leader’s powers of illusion come in so handy. Within the hour, the bedraggled band of misfits was loaded into Hero’s car, magically disguised to appear as a different make and model, complete with randomized plates.

That had been the bulk of Leader’s planning. As for where they were headed...

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The best Leader had been able to come up with was a diner.

“What? I’m starving.” They rationalized as they seated themself at a table reeking of grease.

“I guess I’m hungry too. Still, it feels a bit...”

“A bit genius?” Leader raised a playful brow. “We’ll be able to think better on a full stomach.”

“I guess so.”

There had been a great deal of argument regarding whether or not to bring Villain into the diner. On one hand, they needed to eat, too, even if they could only get down a few swallows. On the other hand, they still looked utterly sedated.

In the end, Leader and Hero had come to the conclusion that Villain likely wouldn’t even be close to the most intoxicated person in the building, and had decided to bring them.

Now, the three sat around a table, sipping a trio of complimentary waters. Well, at least, Leader and Hero were. Villain still leaned back in the booth, eyes half-lidded.

Were they awake? Were they listening? It was impossible to tell.

“Villain?” Hero turned their gaze to look at the sedated person. “Are you hungry at all?”

“Mmmm...” They replied, before their eyelids drooped again. Leader had reported that, earlier, they had been awake and talking. So it seemed, though, their little bout of panic had taken all their energy. They would need another nap before they were ready for any more of that.

“I’ll order some toast for them.” Leader concluded. “Do you know what you want, Hero?”

“To go home.” Hero joked momentarily before shaking their head. “I think I’ll get a waffle. You?”

“I’ll see if I can get some toast down, myself. Turns out losing half the blood in your body doesn’t do wonders for your appetite.”

For a moment, Hero had almost believed, almost deluded themself into thinking that things were okay. That they were just out for lunch with Leader.

Yet, Leader’s words reminded them starkly of the blood that they had barely been able to wash off of their hands in the diner’s bathroom. Hero nodded.

“Sounds... Sounds good.” They paused. “Your plan. Did you think of anything after this? What we’re going to do after?”

Leader sighed, taking another sip of water before giving a slow shake of their head.

“To be honest, I thought it would just come to me after we had some to eat.”

“Well, has it?”

“Has what?”

“Has it come to you?”

“We haven’t eaten yet.”

“Oh. Fair. Well...” They picked up the wrapped utensils and began to halfheartedly tap the spoon on the table. “I’m worried. About Hacker.”

“Oh. Right. They were your friend, right?”

“Mhm. Supervillain was impersonating them, that’s how they tricked me to the warehouse.” Hero had already explained the whole situation in the car, on the way here. Leader had taken it better than they had expected.

“And you haven’t heard from them since?”

“Not a peep.”

“Then they could be in danger.”

“That’s what I’m worried about. Even so, I barely know anything about them. We always met in a restaurant. They could be anywhere in Metropolis.”

“Then we won’t be able to find them.” Leader shook their head in disappointment, taking another sip of water. “But they sound smart. They can handle themself, I’m sure.”

Hero raised their head. “What do you mean we won’t be able to find them? I got them into this mess, we need to at least try.”

Again, Leader shook their head.

“You said they’re in the city, right? Then we can’t help them, Hero, I’m sorry.”

“What are you talking about?”

“We can’t get back to Metropolis.” Leader spoke as though it should’ve been obvious. “They’ll find us in an instant.”

Hero’s eyes widened in surprise. They blinked for a moment before shaking their head.

“Then... What do you say we do?”

Another sip of water. Another sigh from Leader. They closed their eyes and breathed out through their nose.

“I have some friends a little ways from here. Real off-the-grid types. They have a cabin they’ve let me borrow before. We can bring Villain there, spend some time. Let this all blow over.”

Hero let out a horrified little gasp.

“You’re saying we should run away? But- But we’re heroes! Supervillain is in charge of the whole of Organization, did you not hear what I said? We have to help!”

“We can help from a distance, without reaching our own necks out.”

Hero opened their mouth, about to speak again, before a loud screech sounded throughout the diner, the kind one would hear at the announcement of a tornado warning. Scanning around, their gaze landed on the dinky television in the corner of the diner.

Across the screen, in dull colors:

Breaking news.

The red banner was quickly replaced by a video. A video of Director.

Well, the world would see Director. Yet, Hero and Leader knew exactly who was behind that mask.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast today to deliver urgent news. We have reports that the extremely dangerous Supervillain has breached containment, and is now masquerading as an employee of Organization. It must be known that Supervillain has the power of shapeshifting, and can blend in to look like any person they so choose.

If any member of Organization is acting suspicious, report them immediately. The following employees have already been known to be compromised.”

Two images on screen. Two faces.

Leader and Hero.

Sitting in the crowded diner, the two shared a look of terror.

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Thanks so much for reading! Just like last time, there are two options along with every part of this story. The option that receives the most votes will be the choice that Hero and Leader make!

A.) You don’t have a choice. Returning to Metropolis is the only option, wanted fugitives or not. What if Hacker is hurt?

B.) It’s too risky. Far, far too risky. If you lay low for a while, Villain can tell you the whole story, and you’ll be able to help much better.

[skybristle]

as promised, a more in depth lorepost regarding my fake event story in regards to this post [go look it has tk drip]

once again copy/pasted shit from discord, under the cut! no tws this time m pretty sure but putting it under a cut because its LONG and it would be very mean of me to clog ppl's dashes. rbs appreciated as always!! i love talking to ppl abt my ideas, feel free to contribute or send asks my way!

okay okay so basically the concept of this is like. operation timeguard costumes get an event because the lore was SO COOL and for WHAT. plus i have timekeeper mental illness and they gave me their interaction and did NOTHING WITH IT so fuck it im doing it MYSELF rougefort finds out their heirloom got auctioned to an unknown bidder and is like Hey! What The Fuck! and is desprately trying to steal timepeices to see if it's the right one. But uh. stealing timepeices is really fucking hard! mainly because tbd enforcers p much immediately get on their ass and its a lot harder to get away from someone with literal fucking time travel on their side. so they're stuck on a roof and cornered and like Awww fuck. but then time freezes around them, a rift opens framed with oversized golden scissors, and a cookie pops out of it and props themself up on their scissors in a gay little pose tk basically goes "i'm timekeeper cookie, and i see a quite entertaining future with you,,, but you won't get very far locked in the tbd slammer. so, would you like to strike a deal? you play your little games and i,,, help you along. the tbd's easy to play with when i'm a time god" and rougefort doesnt Really have a choice??? tk is kinda manipulative and an asshole but like hey what do you expect its tk} also tk is the one who gives them their airship AND their pursuit of lost time drip. for the former it's just because literally the ONLY other place we see airships in crob is in her fucking,,,, trailer animation and the latter,,,,,,,, Uhhh fuck you queue a BUNCH of fuckery with rougefort making mysterious getaways that don't make sense logically. they start hoarding timepeices mainly because. can't really RETURN them when you're a wanted criminal AND they can't really get rid of them because 'oo shiny' and also yaknow they're extremely powerful and could destroy the world in the wrong hands tldr tk sends rougefort off on a wild goose chase and makes good on her promise to help them, being incredibly vague to croissant abt it and not really helping at all to find rougefort and their mysterious accomplice. croissant chalks this up to tk being an asshole and liking to watch this unfold and doesn't think the DIRECTOR OF THE TBD is the fucking accomplice as soon as walnut finds out the phantom bleu has switched modus operendi shes like. "girl WHAT" and immediately heads over to the tbd because,,,,,, she's like 12 and this is WAY out of her league and it's the TBD's job to deal with time criminals. but it isn't like her to completely leave the case to them croissant takes the case [given how high profile it is] and i dont have as much on this but i just. Think that her and walnut would make a silly little team. i can't describe it but. Cool older sister energy. win! croissant peices together all sorts of weird evidence but is kinda,,, in denial it could be tk?? considering they literally JUST agreed on a rule that wouldn't let tk do this shit anymore [technically, she just said 'not to hurt people' but thought that was a good blanket. this is tk we're talking about. It Wasn't]. it could really be anyone with time travel,,, or anyone else at the tbd. the thought unsettles her and drives her to GETTING THEIR ASS eventually they finally get rougefort cornered in a clock tower [note: rougefort ONLY makes their getaways in secluded spots after evading authorities long enough. timekeeper doesn't wanna ruin the game by having their cover blown] and croissant starts hissing about what'll happen to them if they don't hand up the timepeices and tell them the accomplice, making all sorts of wild threats about what the director will do to whoever betrayed them in their ranks before a rift opens over their heads, framed by familiar golden scissors "oh, croissant. i'm rather not in the mood for self-mutilation. it appears i've been caught. it was fun while it lasted!" and with that, she leaves a dumbstruck [and very sick of tk's shit] croissant and walnut alone as she pulls rougefort away into timespace's safety insert a monolouge here i haven't

thought out fully yet, but it ends by tk basically saying she had the heirloom the entire time, handing it to rougefort [who's. Too shocked to strangle her ass for all of this when SHE WAS THE FUCKING BIDDER ALL ALONG], telling them to use it wisely lest they end up on the bad end of the tbd, and proceeds to return to her office to take their crimes off the record, only to be met with a very, VERY pissed croissant sitting in her office, ranting her head off and tk simply says "well, nobody got hurt, did they?" and, i mean. she's right, and croissant just slumps over defeated that's it!! my silly fake event. i can talk abt it more in depth if you ask specific questions probably but like heres the runover / stuff i remember from my brain