#I see you people saying that strange isn't consistently written

[facelessfinest]

I think it's time we all admit that What if?...Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands? has been the only genuinely interesting and well done episode of the show so far.

High stakes, good pacing, phenomenal animation, and a story that actually deviates from the original in a meaningful way. It actually feels like such a small change lead to a vastly different reality.

I think what makes a What If? story interesting is the ties it has to the main timeline; if you want to showcase how a small choice can utterly change a whole universe, then you have to start in a universe that is comparably the same as what we already know, and show how one character choosing one different option can be catastrophic. Otherwise, you aren't really exploring branching timelines/butterfly effect, you're just looking at unrelated universes.

Even then, not every idea is interesting enough to warrant spending so much time on it. *ahem* captain carter *cough*.

Strange Supreme's appearances are just so fascinating because we get to see the new highs and lows a character can reach when their hearts are in a slightly different place. We get our unique factor in the form of him being genuinely in love with Christine instead of his job, and then our diverging path with him choosing to seek out dangerous knowledge, a choice which is highlighted by showcasing what would have happened if he hadn't done so! In the end, the universe is fundamentally changed, completely collapsed around him, despite starting off so normal. And that's not even the end of it!

He shows up in more episodes because of the power and knowledge he has attained, and as a lesson to the Watcher that choosing to sit out is only selfishness in the face of a danger that is ready and willing to take advantage of your compliance. It is genuinely fun to see the power he has in action; Ultron tried to blow up the universe in the finale, and Strange DEVOURED THE EXPLOSION. Like, that's fucking awesome!

And then there's Carter... Whose reason for being everwhere is just "I'm Captain Carter!" How dull...

Anyways, Strange supreme is goated and I will have no sass.

[soapisahimbo]

Their S/O Already Has A Kid - 141 (+Alejandro & König) Edition

Anonymous asked: Your work is god tier, absolutely slaying rn. I'm not sure if you're taking requests but if you are... hear me out- can I please get the mw2 boys with an s/o who already has a kid? How would they interact with the kid?

So I wasn't entirely sure on what angle to approach this from, but I've written this as if reader has been a single parent who has worked with 141 for a while (not necessarily a soldier), the other parent isn't really in the picture and the kid is somewhere around 4-5 years old. I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind, but I sincerely hope you enjoy!

warnings: none! couldn't find a good gif to use though :(

John 'Soap' MacTavish:

From the second he finds out you have a child, way before there's even any suggestion that you will one day be a couple, he's on a mission to become The World's Best Uncle. It's like he's participating in a competition that no one else signed up for - he wants to be your kid's absolute favourite and he'll be damned if anyone else tries it. Will frequently ask you about the kid; "how're they doin' in school?", "do they have friends to play with?", "what do they want for Christmas?", "are they growin' well?", and even checks up with you to see if they need new clothes or anything. He will always have something for them for their birthday or Christmas and will happily say to you, "this is from Uncle Soap, all right? Take pictures when they open it, I wanna see how they like it!"

He has a natural desire to look after the people around him, and since he considers you a close and fast friend, he'll want nothing more than to help you out if he can. The closer you grow, the more he gets the urge to prove himself worthy - to prove that he'll be good to you and that you can trust him - and it's a sentiment he keeps long after you get together. You and your child become like a family to him, and it's a family he's keen on keeping.

The two of them will be like two peas in a pod. He'll play around with them near constantly, tell them stories from his job (adjusted to be more child-friendly) and teach them how to play football. He asks them about school, helps them with homework and he will happily treat the kid as his own. You're the love of his life and this child is his best little friend. He loves you both dearly and it fills him with immense happiness to have you two to come back home to once you live together. If he's available for it, he'll go with you guys to events and theme parks, and hopefully longer vacation trips. He doesn't ever expect them to call him "dad" (although if it were to happen, it would probably have him sobbing uncontrollably), he's just happy to be with you, and to be The World's Best Uncle Soap.

Simon 'Ghost' Riley:

It's worth mentioning that he'll be hesitant to get any closer to you than necessary at first, not because of any sort of disdain towards you or towards kids, but because of who he is. Simon has been through some terrible shit, and his work consists of doing even more terrible shit, and so he thinks that being any sort of role model to a child is way out of his range.

This doesn't mean he doesn't care, though. When you first get to know him, he seems cold and aloof and he doesn't seem to show any particular interest in you. What with you being on his team though, and him knowing that you're a single parent, he might approach you with the intent of at least showing some sort of support, whatever support he might be capable of showing.

He'll get something for the kid, like a stuffed animal or some sort of toy, but he doesn't hand it to you personally; he'll leave it somewhere where he knows you'll find it, like on your desk if you have one, and pretend like nothing happened.

He wants to keep his distance, but he can't deny the strange urge to look after you. It starts slow. He never asks, but he'll listen when you tell him about your child; how they've been doing lately, what you've done during the weekend, something funny they did or said. At first you might think he's ignoring you, but then one day he hands you a little trinket and tells you it's "for the little one, figured they might like it."

Growing closer and realizing that he has feelings for you is a complicated ordeal for him and he tries to keep it locked away deep down, but he's unable to stop himself for some reason. Once together, he cares greatly about you and your child, even if he might not always know how to show it.

He makes an unspoken promise to never let anything harm either of you, and so he keeps you under the radar as best he can. His team might know that you're together, but that's as far as they're informed. You won't hear much from him while he's out on missions, and he rarely mentions you or your kid to anyone, keeping any information about you sealed up tightly in the back of his mind, and if anyone asks he'll only give short-clipped answers, if he even bothers to answer in the first place. It's all to keep you safe.

With you, though, he's much more loving and gentle than others would even guess he's capable of. If you live together, he'll pick your kid up in his arms when he gets home and plant a gentle and loving kiss on your lips in greeting. Never raises his voice at anything if one or both of you are near, even if he's aggravated or annoyed. He plays ever so gently with your kid, even if they're play-wrestling and he's tossing them around because he's incredibly aware of his strength, and he sits patiently and quietly while they doodle on his arms or even his face and tells them bad (child-friendly) puns to get them to laugh. You and the kid are practically the only ones that get to see him smile.

His own childhood was incredibly traumatizing, and he tries his damnedest to make sure that that doesn't bleed over onto you or the kid, even if it means that he has to step away for a while. He's working on it, you might just need to give him some time. If this is as serious as he thinks it is, he wants to be the absolute best that he can be for you.

Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick:

He is oh, so gentle with your child. He's the dude that calmly and casually follows your kid around to make sure that they don't get in trouble while they explore. He's done it since the first time they met, and he still does it now, only interfering when they're headed somewhere they shouldn't be, or when they turn to him to play or talk. The type to offer to take care of them so that you can rest or focus on other things, and tells you "it's no skin off my nose" when you tell him that he really doesn't need to. He lets the kid approach him rather than try to get them to interact with him, and it's because of this exact mindset that kids usually love him. If they want to hug him, he'll happily wrap them up in a big and warm hug, but he's not going to convince them to because kids deserve their own bodily autonomy just as much as any adult.

He's one of those people who just magically makes kids fall asleep even when they're in that "I am dead tired but I refuse to sleep for some ungodly reason so I'm just gonna scream and cry at everything"-state, and it baffles you every time, but you're certainly not complaining. He has this air about him that is just very calming, and he makes both you and your kid feel immensely safe just by his presence alone. He starts out as just a close and caring friend, and the transition to more than just friends to an actual couple is a smooth one; one day you just kiss and you're not even surprised. It feels natural to have him around and when you see him interact with your child, it's like he's supposed to be there. You can't imagine anyone else, as if whatever empty space was there had been Gaz-shaped all along.

Gets your kid to laugh delightfully without even trying, wipes their tears gently and kisses their cheeks when they've scraped their knees or bumped their head, listens intently when they talk, even if they're just speaking nonsense ("but of course, all superheroes are from Norway."*) and will absolutely not laugh when they call Soap a dumb stinky poopyface.

Despite his calm demeanour though, Gaz is still a soldier, and very well-trained one at that. Should anyone approach you or your kid with the intent to harm you or threaten you, rest assured that he will not just let that slip by. He would give his life to protect both of you without even a hint of hesitation.

*based on an actual conversation I had with one of my nephews

Alejandro Vargas:

He doesn't care what anyone says, doesn't care what anyone thinks, doesn't care about what the kid looks like or how old they are, he is Dad™ now. Will wholeheartedly claim your child as his own and fight anyone who questions it. What the hell do you mean they look nothing alike, that's his fucking kid, are you blind?

He's so eager and willing to help, even long before you start dating. Takes any chance he gets to invite you and your child over, be it for food, for movie nights, to go to the park, or simply to talk. Before you know it, he has clothes and toothbrushes dedicated to both of you at his place, reminding you again and again that his door is always open for you; no need to even knock.

Let's be real, as generous and charming as he is, it's his sincerity that has you falling for him. He offers to take care of the kid while you rest, or to come over to clean up your home (Rodolfo might join as well, partly because of his goodhearted nature, partly because Alejandro roped him into it), and he looks you deep in the eyes when he tells you that his family is your family, be it Los Vaqueros or his own blood relatives. It's how he confesses to you as well, telling you that even if you don't reciprocate, he'll still be there for you.

If you didn't know any better, you yourself would start to question whether or not Alejandro is somehow the actual father. It's like they have some sort of telepathic connection, almost. The only one who knows that kid's moods and mannerisms and habits better than him, is you. He works with you like a team to make sure that you're always on the same page and make sure that you know that he only ever wants the best for you and the kid. Teaches them Spanish if it's not already their native language, and if they happen to pick up a curse-word from somewhere, he'll be horrified (kid said "puta" once and you thought he'd have a heart attack).

Much like Ghost, he'll keep you under the radar to keep you safe. Sends letters and gifts in secret when he's deployed, and now has a stronger determination than ever to stay alive. He doesn't ever want to imagine that one day might be the last he'll ever see you, so he'll walk through hell and high water to make sure he will return to you.

König:

He doesn't really know how to handle kids, but he sure does try. He is huge compared to this tiny little human - his calf alone is almost the same size as the entire child - so he tries to shrink himself down as much as he can. They might be a bit intimidated by him at first, but once that passes he is practically given the role of a human jungle gym. He stays alert, making sure that he's able to catch them should they fall off, and as awkward as he might feel, he would never let this little one come to harm. When you tell your kid to leave him be or be gentler with him, he quickly assures you that it's no problem and that he doesn't mind it at all; thinks it's quite fun actually. Before you know it, this tiny being less than a quarter of his size will be like his little sidekick, and it's honestly the funniest thing you've seen.

He's nervous around you though, not only because it's your child, but because over time the harmless little crush he's had on you grows stronger and stronger and stronger, and he's not sure how to handle it. When he tells the kid to be good to you, it's partly directed towards himself as well, as if he's telling himself to look after you. The idea of holding the child in one arm and you in the other fills him with such warmth that it almost catches him off guard. You're the one who tells him how you feel, and it kickstarts a full avalanche of stumbling words out him, because he's trying to find the right way to tell you that he feels the same and that he wants to be a part of your life.

He will be incredibly gentle with that child - he'll fuzz over the tiniest little bump or bruise or scrape, even if they're not bothered by it in the slightest. Picks them up very carefully while they can pull and tug and jump on him with all the strength their little body can muster without him ever budging - play-wrestling and tickle fights will be very carefully done because he would hate to accidentally hurt them. Loves teaching them German if they don't already speak it, and much like Alejandro, he will practically see his life flash by his eyes if they ever happen to learn a curseword from somewhere - especially if they accidentally picked it up from him.

Will keep any semblance of violence away from you and your child to as far of an extent as he can, but if anything happened to either one of you, he'd crush the skulls of everyone involved with his bare hands, that's for sure.

[dootznbootz]

Odysseus was afraid the entire year on Aeaea in the Odyssey.

Content warnings: Rape, Sexual Coercion, Sexual assault, Sex Work, power dynamics, this will also be long as fuck as I talk too much. This is NOT a "Circe the Goddess Hate Post". I call her out but that's it. I tried to keep this neutral but still making a point (Let me know if I gotta put more)

Lots of lovely folks on here have written great essays on what Calypso did to Odysseus as it's soooo blatantly obvious there. It literally states how he cried every day and how he flinched from Calypso, very straightforward on how he was explicitly raped.

But I've noticed that a lot of people are always iffy about Circe's situation (understandably so, it's not so in your face.) She's usually always mentioned in the "Odysseus never cheated! He was raped!" posts but then the evidence is only ever given against Calypso, and then mentioning how you can't say no or disobey the orders of an immortal and how it was in exchange for freeing his men.

WHICH IS ALL CORRECT!!! But!!!

There ARE immortal/mortal couples who genuinely love each other. Dionysus and Ariadne, and Eros and Psyche are examples. Apollo and Hyacinthus. Psyche indeed becomes immortal eventually and in some versions, both Hyacinthus and Ariadne do too. But even while mortal themselves, their immortal lovers still remained respectful and loving towards them and definitely doted on them. There are definitely power dynamics at play here but there's some nuance.

Odysseus and Circe's relationship, however, is very different. We all know he slept with her at the very least once. And that was in exchange for his men being returned to humans. That was the only time it was explicitly stated. With Calypso, it tells you every night he was enchanted and slept beside her. It was the narrator speaking but Odysseus is the narrator now and it's his story. If you think he lied, this probably won't change your mind anyway.

But even if it was a one-time thing, (which isn't the only interpretation and I will have points that talk about others) then why did he stay a year? What was he doing?

I'm doing a deep dive into the year he spent on Aeaea based on evidence in Book 10 and then the beginning of Book 12. Step by step, and honestly I'm writing this for Tumblr, not as a thesis so I will be a bit more casual but still using sources. To me, it's very obvious that he was uncomfortable throughout the text simply based on the language that is used. But it's very subtle and not an outright statement of "He's been crying every day."

BTW, just so we're clear, this is not a "Circe is the root of all evil, etc." type of post.

This isn't meant to villainize her. She's an immortal being and in mythology that changes things. Everybody is morally gray. I genuinely think if we were to ask her feelings on it, she'd probably be like "Oh, yeah! Turned his men into pigs! Strange little man he was." I don't think she gave a flying fuck.

I just simply get pissed tf off when people think Odysseus was fine. It honestly disturbs me how often I'll go on other websites YouTube and see everyone call him a whore and a womanizer. It's sexism at its finest because 1.) "MaN AlwAyS wAnTs sEx" and 2.) women can't rape/coerce. THIS IS SIMPLY TO LOOK INTO HIS FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

This is also only for Homer's Odyssey, using different translations. If you want to discuss this, (I'd be happy to! Just be nice!) DON'T BRING UP ANY OTHER WORKS.

With all that out of the way, come yell with me 🤗

I've read multiple translations, as I know there's going to be bias depending on who's translating. And having done so, each one has basically the same situations described the same so that's nice for consistency. Also, there are some parts in the story that are vague and that we'll never have answers to.

Odysseus first simply sees the smoke from her chimney and then sends his men in, after drawing lots Eurylochus leads half of the men to check out the house. I mentioned here vaguely how the 2 immortals he sleeps with are both introduced while singing and weaving, which could be seen as an enchantment (which to me is most likely. They both possess magic and are goddesses). So I'm just gonna move past that. Just take a peek and come back or just know that enchantment was likely.

Next, I'll see people often joke on Tumblr about how

"Odysseus says that Polites is his best friend yet only mentions him once!"

I think Odysseus mentions his best friend, the one to jubilantly go in first, to show WHY he would go through with this. How much these comrades mean to him. That's his best friend, and there are approximately 20 others who are now pigs as well. Could you knowingly leave one of your best friends to live a life like that knowing you could've done something?

[...]Circe—and deep inside they heard her singing, lifting her spellbinding voice as she glided back and forth at her great immortal loom, her enchanting web a shimmering glory only goddesses can weave. Polites, captain of armies, took command, the closest, most devoted man I had: ‘Friends, there’s someone inside, plying a great loom, and how she sings—enthralling! The whole house is echoing to her song. Goddess or woman—let’s call out to her now!’ So he urged and the men called out and hailed her. She opened her gleaming doors at once and stepped forth, inviting them all in, and in they went, all innocence.

(Fagles, Book 10)

In the Odyssey, it's never mentioned why she turns people into animals. I think they were turned into pigs because, throughout the Iliad and Odyssey, Odysseus is often associated with boars. His men are associated with him, therefore: 🐖 Piggy. From what we know, the lads were just eating her food. With how much Xenia and hospitality are a large part of the story, they probably thought they were safe. They were GUESTS. This is especially welcome after the Cyclops and the Laestrygonians. And it literally says "All innocence". They were simply naive.

Then Eurylochus runs back, so terrified that he couldn't speak at first. He then begs Odysseus to just leave the men behind. Odysseus has shown that he does TRY to save his men when it is truly not reckless to do so.

But I shot back, ‘Eurylochus, stay right here, eating, drinking, safe by the black ship. I must be off. Necessity drives me on.’

(Fagles, Book 10)

Then the famous warning from Hermes. I've seen folks bring this up when talking about this. YES, he is literally commanded by Hermes to not refuse her if he wants his men back in basically every translation. It sounds like Circe was warned as well. When? We don't know, but it sounds like Hermes didn't pick "sides" here.

Strange that he was still like, "Sleep with each other" to both, because he could've been like, "Circe, there's this guy named Odysseus. When he comes to this island, change his men back." But who knows, maybe it was Circe's idea from the beginning and Hermes went along with it. Just food for thought.

Now here’s your plan of action, step by step. The moment Circe strikes with her long thin wand, you draw your sharp sword sheathed at your hip and rush her fast as if to run her through! She’ll cower in fear and coax you to her bed— but don’t refuse the goddess’ bed, not then, not if she’s to release your friends and treat you well yourself. But have her swear the binding oath of the blessed gods she’ll never plot some new intrigue to harm you, once you lie there naked— never unman you, strip away your courage!’

(Fagles, Book 10)

But that doesn't explain why he was there for a year afterward! Nor if he himself was okay with it, which is what I'm trying to delve into as he wasn't.

Also the knife thing? She's still immortal. It was meant to startle her. Her dad is Helios. Odysseus would've been toast, literally.

Also note this exchange wasn't a "Yippee! Hermes says I'm going to get laid!".

...just approaching the halls of Circe, my heart a heaving storm at every step, paused at her doors, the nymph with lovely braids— I stood and shouted to her there. She heard my voice, she opened the gleaming doors at once and stepped forth, inviting me in, and in I went, all anguish now …

(Fagles, Book 10)

Another translation by Ian Johnston, (they all say the same thing essentially but trying to make a point.)

I continued on to Circe’s home. As I moved on, my heart was turning over many gloomy thoughts. After I had walked up to the gateway                                                of fair-haired Circe’s house, I just stood there and gave a shout. The goddess heard my voice.                      She came out at once, opened her bright doors, and invited me inside. I entered, heart full of misgivings.

HE👏WAS👏SCARED! The tone is solemn and suspenseful. He was just told that without Hermes' help with the root, he wouldn't be able to survive and bring back his men. Circe was dangerous.

He made her swear not to harm him.

Straightaway she began to swear the oath that I required—never, she’d never do me harm—and when she’d finished, then, at last, I mounted Circe’s gorgeous bed …

(Fagles, Book 10)

Please note that she NEVER promised that to his men. His comrades did NOT have moli in their systems. He had no way of truly ensuring their safety in any way from Circe.

He then refuses to eat or speak, literally "lost in grim forebodings". If he "just got laid", then why isn't he happy? Not many men can say that a goddess CHOSE to have sex with them. He did it to get his men turned back. It was an exchange. I don't think Circe is "Evil" so maybe it slipped her mind. Or yes, she could've thought, "Hey, I got what I wanted. He's handsome enough. Homer never shuts up about how hot this guy is He hasn't brought up the pigs yet. I'll just let this play out. Maybe HE forgot. I don't have to do anything." We don't know. But Odysseus probably felt like he got deceived.

"Hey, I did my part of the deal. I slept with you. Now do yours."

She pressed me to eat. I had no taste for food. I just sat there, mind wandering, far away … lost in grim forebodings. As soon as Circe saw me, huddled, not touching my food, immersed in sorrow, she sidled near with a coaxing, winged word: ‘Odysseus, why just sit there, struck dumb, eating your heart out, not touching food or drink? Suspect me of still more treachery? Nothing to fear. Haven’t I just sworn my solemn, binding oath?’

So she asked, but I protested, ‘Circe— how could any man in his right mind endure the taste of food and drink before he’d freed his comrades-in-arms and looked them in the eyes? If you, you really want me to eat and drink, set them free, all my beloved comrades— let me feast my eyes.’ So I demanded.

(Fagles, Book 10)

He doesn't trust her despite what she had told him that he should when they sleep together. He has figured out that while she will not hurt him, his men were not a part of that oath, the men he was trying to protect in the first place.

She is then moved by how they rejoice when they see one another again. While turning people into animals for funsies isn't cool and coercion is fucked up, I think she comes to see this group as not quite friends but I think she did find them entertaining in a way.

This is very strange but I've seen some folks say that since Odysseus was pissed at Eurylochus for still not believing him about Circe is proof that "Oh he was trying to defend her!". Which??? Uh, Eurylochus was literally questioning his leadership as a whole. Calling him reckless and shit. He is captain and he's the King, he can't let that shit slide. The text literally says "Mutinous". Also if I had to sleep with someone I did not want to especially if it was to save my friends and I got called names afterward I'd get fucking pissed too.

Only Eurylochus tried to hold my shipmates back, his mutinous outburst aimed at one and all: ‘Poor fools, where are we running now? Why are we tempting fate?— why stumble blindly down to Circe’s halls? She’ll turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions made to guard that palace of hers—by force, I tell you— just as the Cyclops trapped our comrades in his lair with hotheaded Odysseus right beside them all— thanks to this man’s rashness they died too!

They stay a year. Again it's never stated that Odysseus slept with her that whole time. You could interpret that. (Honestly, I feel Circe would get bored with him? She's a goddess, she's got more important matters than mortal men. And she definitely doesn't love him.)

His men DO have to bring it up that "Odysseus has forgotten his native land." Maybe they thought they could sneak out without her knowing??? I am fucking REACHING but hold on as Telemachus did because he knew Nestor would well, be Nestor and try to coax him with "Have a meal with us! Let me tell you about how badass I used to be in my youth." But to sneak away from a goddess? Without her permission? That won't end too well. Aeolus in the beginning kicked out Odysseus when he tried to ask for another bag of wind. If she didn't want him around, she could literally boot him out. While she didn't force him to stay like Calypso did, she didn't "release" him either.

We don't know if they've been asking for a long time. Odysseus does say to Circe that they have been begging him nonstop, but he could also be saying that to try and convince her. He's good at persuasion. I think while he knew he could rely on her for food, shelter, and good advice, he still didn't feel...SAFE with her. I think he was possibly avoiding her personally.

I think HOW he asks her to leave is important to know as well.

...but I went up to that luxurious bed of Circe’s, hugged her by the knees and the goddess heard my winging supplication: ‘Circe, now make good a promise you gave me once— it’s time to help me home. My heart longs to be home, my comrades’ hearts as well. They wear me down, pleading with me whenever you’re away.’

(Fagles, Book 10)

Throughout all of Homer's works, the characters grasp another's knees when they are desperate and are literally at the other person's mercy. Priam did when begging Achilles for Hector's body back. The man who literally killed his son and was defiling his body by dragging it around. Leodes grabs Odysseus' knees to beg for his life before Ody kills him. If he saw her as a friend, and not a captor, WHY DID HE FEEL THE NEED TO BEG IN ORDER TO LEAVE?! No one, who is in a healthy relationship, has to BEG for permission to leave. Or to "Break up", if you interpret them as still sleeping together.

And even Circe acknowledges that he is there against his will!

‘Royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, old campaigner, stay on no more in my house against your will.

(Fagles, Book 10)

[...]Odysseus, man of many resources, scion of Zeus, son of Laertes, don’t stay here a moment longer against your will

(A.S. Kline, Book 10)

This is probably another reach that you can ignore but the whole "they wear me down", could be trying to appease her. "Look, you're REALLY cool, it's actually my crew that wants to leave hahahah please don't kill them"

I mentioned before how Telemachus snuck away from Nestor but that was simply out of necessity because he needed to go home now. Not rest for the night. NOW. Nestor is just everyone's grandpa. Menelaus kind of talked more but Telemachus is very straight up in "Please I have to go now" and Menelaus immediately got things ready for him. He never has to beg and clasp his knees. Telemachus was never afraid. Menelaus is a fun uncle and Helen is your cool auntie.

Back to Circe! She tells him instructions for the underworld, they were in her bedroom. But that might've been the only way to speak with her. As even Penelope is usually away from the suitors when they are in her halls, Circe may have done the same. The text never states she played hostess physically. If she was hosting in the halls during the day, why did Odysseus wait until night to talk to her? He could've just asked her while she was on her throne in front of everyone. (He did so with the Phaeacians)

Or maybe he went alone because she only swore an oath to not harm him and so he didn't want his men near if she decided she didn't want to let them go. I could be missing something here so feel free to say something. Idk if this was a pride thing on how "I don't want others to see me beg".

She has info he needs in order to go home as well. She tells him to go to the Underworld.

She gave him new fine clothes and put on pretty clothes herself but that doesn't mean they had sex. Nausicaa gave him nice clothes as well but he never slept with her.

Then he leaves. Immediately. Not even doing a headcount as he didn't realize one of his men had died. (That was negligence on his part but he wanted out) He booked it, to the UNDERWORLD BY THE WAY. Circe even had to sneak the animals he needed for the sacrifice. Odysseus even basically said "She's a goddess. She can do things mortals can't" at the end of the book. And it almost feels...Numb? Solemn? Neutral? Gives a "It is what it is" vibe.

But Circe got to the dark hull before us, tethered a ram and black ewe close by— slipping past unseen. Who can glimpse a god who wants to be invisible gliding here and there?

(Fagles, Book 10)

She’d slipped past us with ease, for who can see a god move back and forth, if she has no desire to be observed?

(Johnston, Book 10)

She's a goddess. She has magic. She can do whatever the fuck she wants.

NOW ON TO BOOK 12!!! That was long! GET A SNACK AND WATER! LUCKILY THIS'LL BE SHORTER!

In Book 11, Odysseus swears, upon all his loved ones in Ithaca, to Elpenor that he'd give him a proper burial as he's been "unwept, unburied". So in Book 12, he sails back to Aeaea to fulfill his promise.

But you know what's funny to me?

He didn't tell Circe he was there.

He didn't even go to greet Circe himself. He sent his men to go get Elpenor's body.

The biggest clue that he didn't love/trust her is that if she was his "Affair partner" then why not go see her for "one last night together"?

SHE came out herself and pulled him aside to know what happened and then gave more advice.

I dispatched some men to Circe’s halls to bring the dead Elpenor’s body. [...]

Nor did our coming back from Death escape Circe— she hurried toward us, decked in rich regalia, handmaids following close with trays of bread and meats galore and glinting ruddy wine. [...]

But Circe, taking me by the hand, drew me away from all my shipmates there and sat me down and lying beside me probed me for details

(Fagles, Book 12)

In every translation, it talks about how he sits, and she lounges/lies down. That's not sex 🙃 In some translations, it even says he tried to be with his shipmates but she pulled him away!

So we lay down and slept beside our ship’s stern cables. But Circe took me by the hand and led me away, some distance from the crew. She made me sit, while she stretched out beside me on the ground. 

(Johnston, Book 12)

Then, she gives advice about the sirens, Charybdis, Scylla, and her father's Cattle. He tries to ask if he could save all his men. She scolds him for even thinking he could try. He again books it out of there.

I think we all know it wasn't "love". But I think a lot of people think Odysseus was willing and happy with whatever this was. "Friends with Benefits", if you will. I guess you could see it that way but I will say that makes me feel itchy with the whole power dynamic and fear. I don't think folks who have that arrangement have to beg on their knees to ask if they can leave though.

I mean the entirety of Book 10 gives me the vibes of "Laughing uncomfortably because you don't want to upset the other person". To just grin and bear it.

A lot of this was just putting the text here and picking it apart step by step. What you do with this is up to you. It's rambling while banging pots and pans together.

Maybe you see him as drugged the entire year and still sleeping together, as the moli "wore off". Even then, just because her magic can't affect him, there are plenty of natural concoctions that can be created that can affect mortals.

Maybe you see the entire year as sex work in exchange for shelter and food.

Maybe he was just alongside his men the whole time under her roof and was avoiding her after the exchange. After he got asked by his men to finally leave, he would start to walk up to that room only to freeze and turn around, thinking "One more day won't hurt. Should wait until I know she's in a sympathetic mood".

I beg of you, however, PLEASE understand that there was fear and coercion throughout his entirety on Aeaea. He wasn't staying to get laid. While there is so much going on and too many things that are left vague to really know exactly what happened, it is consistent that he was scared/numb. Lots of people go through with things they don't really want to do just to appease others. There are plenty of situations of sexual trauma where one person goes through something and the other has no idea the other person isn't okay. ESPECIALLY WHEN SOMEONE CAN HARM THE PEOPLE YOU CARE ABOUT AT ANY MOMENT!

Sexual trauma is a very complicated thing and while he was scared, he definitely wasn't as traumatized by her as he was by Calypso. Calypso was a torturous hell while Circe was a year of walking on eggshells. Not comparable but I still think it should be acknowledged. It's wild because I read the Odyssey and kept thinking "Y'all are calling the sex slave a cheater? The guy who slept with a goddess to get his men back? The ultimate simp apparently doesn't love his wife??"

Things I'm adding that shouldn't affect the argument as it is not in the Odyssey but I want to mention as it's a "fun fact": Odysseus' dad was an Argonaut. Laertes probably met Circe as well, (or knew of her) with the whole purifying thing and maybe Odysseus heard his dad tell stories of her. Later myths also have Circe with the habit of turning her crushes (or their lovers) into something with Scylla and Picus.

In conclusion, Yeah, he was afraid of her. At least to an extent. And don't pull the whole "Ancient men didn't get raped". Male victims exist and deserve compassion for what was done to them and women are capable of sexual abuse. If you think otherwise, you are not a true feminist and Fuck you. I said in the beginning this'll be casual and I don't wanna write a fancy ending. You can still think Circe is neat but you have to know that this was fucked up.

If you think a lot of this is bullshit or wanna give more context or wish to yell with me but still know he wasn't alright on Aeaea, cool. If you want to point out mistakes or something I should keep in mind with interpretations then feel free to say so but give text evidence. If you try and bring up the Telegony and/or Madeline Miller's Circe, fuck clean off. This is Homer. If you call Odysseus a whore and not the malewife he canonically is I'll start biting. 😤

[kenphobia]

may I ask some frank x eddie but if you don't write about character x character can make poly relationship headcanon with male reader?

happy late or early b-day btw 👍

A CARD OF LOVERS!

"Alex play butterfly by smile.dk."

summary. it wasn't a secret that frank and eddie are the fruitest fruits in town, but what if we add another one in that bowl? (headcanons. read author's note at the end)

contents. absolute fluff, possibly ooc, separated headcanons (one for chr x chr, one for chr x reader x chr), polyamorous relationship, easter eggs from other welcome home fics

FRANK X EDDIE!

✦ Frank and Eddie, two completely opposites in personality and even so, they make a strangely good and iconic duo. They'd say that they never see them becoming lovers but that would be a terrible lie. They were the most fruitest— pardon my french —motherfuckers in the neighborhood.

✦ Now, Frank and Eddie are both independent and secretive people. Having to live on their own for a long time caused them to become a bit recluse and prefer to do things on their own rather than trusting people to help them. It was a bit rocky at first, having to navigate the simplest things like who gets to cook for dinner and which chores would the other do, but they managed in the end.

✦ The two of them even made a timetable for what chores they'll do each day and made a promise not to get in each other's way when the other is busy.

✦ Now, Eddie was sweet, a bit too sweet for Frank's own liking. It took a while for the monotonous puppet to get used to getting random hugs and kisses throughout the day, even the short love letters stuck on the fridge with the heart magnets on them became a normal occurence for him.

As Frank put another pancake down on his lover plate, He felt a pair of large, soft arms suddenly wrapping around his waist. He shivered at the hot breath caressing his cheeks as Eddie leaned against his slender form, hiding his face in the crook of Frank's neck.

Frank sighed, smiling softly. "Good morning, Eddie." He patted his lover's hand, signalling him to let go. Eddie didn't follow and only hugged him tighter, mumbling something under his breath.

"I love you too, Eddie. But can I get my waist back?" Frank patted his hand again.

"Mm... No."

✦ Frank was never the one for physical touch. Not that he didn't like it, no, but he was too stiff, too awkward to even initiate the simplest hand-holding, so he opts for the alternative: quality time and gift-giving. Little handcrafted butterfly pins and accessories aligned Eddie's bag strap and hat; matching custom-made rings on both of their hands; and countless papers of written down date ideas filled Frank's binders— that was Frank's idea of affection and Eddie loved it.

✦ Whenever Eddie comes across someone, he'd flex all of the wonderful handmade crafts Frank made for him, flaunting the ring in front of any neighbors that tried flirting with him. It made Frank's plush heart swell, nearly punching air when Eddie refers to him as his husband.

✦ Both of Eddie and Frank are incredible fans of nature, so their dates consist of walks in the woods, picnics and such. They're always rarring to go and be one with nature just for a while, but they try not to stray too far from the town because, well, there isn't much that lies beyond their little circle.

✦ Although, when the days are getting colder or when it's almost impossible to go outside, they'd huddle up on the couch and Eddie would narrate one of Frank's or his favorite books. Sometimes, they'd watch TV but there isn't anything worth watching on it.

✦ Even though they have seperate cooking days, one of them is bound to assisting the other in cooking. Eddie would turn on the radio and have Frank indulge in a little dance break while the cookies bake in the oven.

"You look quite divine tonight," Eddie sang along the tune of the radio, holding Frank's hand in his own as he twirled him around the kitchen isle. "Here among these vibrant lights!"

Frank yelped, eyes widening for a second as Eddie dipped him, his grip on the monotonous puppet's waist was firm but gentle. Frank took a breath, smelling the vanilla and jasmine scent on Eddie's shirt as the latter pulled him up. "How charming." Frank commented, rolling his eyes.

Eddie smiled, pecking a tender kiss on the corner of Frank's lips. "I know I am." He boasted, his collars was tugged and his lips crashed on Frank's, he could taste the bittersweet chocolate he had given to his husband (Although they weren't actually married, but gays will be gays).

As they pulled away, both of them had blazing red faces, warmth seeping to their fingertips and cheeks. Frank lets go, slapping his palms on his face. "Gosh, that was so embarrassing." He groaned into his hands.

It took some time for Eddie to snap out of the kiss before wrapping his arms around Frank, grinning and swooning like a teenage girl who just had her first kiss. "Aww, I didn't know you had that in you, Frankie!!"

"Eddie, please—"

✦ Random, unprecedented thought: Eddie would definitely call Frank 'My little butterfly' and sing that song we all used to hear from our plastic barbie filp phones whenever Eddie's in a fun, little mood. The reason is, as always, up to the reader's interpretations <3

FRANK X READER X EDDIE!

✦ Eddie and Frank are new to relationships, having little to no exprience in such things and you might as well be the same. If you have some experience— especially in polyamorous relationships —then, you can bet the two of them will mostly likely turn to you when situations regarding it arise.

✦ Like any relationship, communication is key, and Eddie and Frank are more than just willing to try polyamorous a try. There isn't exactly a reason why they were drawn to you, perhaps it's because of your personality, your skills or whatee, but you caught their eye and there is no way in Satan's living quarters you're escaping them.

✦ But of course, if you aren't sure with the whole situation, they'll give you some space and time to think about it. No matter what your choice is, they'll understand you and respect your decisions. Strange since literal puppets have more decency than most humans, but oh well.

✦ They'll also walk you through their schedule. Frank does more of the talking while Eddie sometimes comments and adds a few things that Frank forgot to mention. In the end, the schedule didn't matter much since all of you put equal work and often assist each other in their chores.

✦ Sleepovers aren't uncommon, in fact it happens almost every day of the week! You guys stay at either Frank's or your house, huddled up on a bed that's conveniently large enough for all three of you. Sometimes, you guys chose to set up a cute pillow fort and sleep there in peace until one of you kicks the supporting pillow and it all crashes down on you.

✦ Frank is surprisingly a messy sleeper.

✦ You guys get to have individual dates, of course! But the guilt of leaving one of you behind consumes you just a minute before your date, so it ends up with just all three.

✦ Frank loves to flaunt off his collection to you, feeling a sense of pride swelling in his chest whenever you compliment the crafted butterflies he carefully painted and organized for many straining hours or appreciate his intensive knowledge on insects. Sometimes, you two just spend bouncing mindless information you have consumed on hours without end until something or somwone interrupts your little session.

"And this one!" Frank pointed to a page on his book, more specifically an picture of a butterfly with bright orange wings and black vein-like patterns. "This one is a monarch butterfly. Scientists calls them Danaus plexippus, which in Greek literally means "sleepy transformation." It references the species' ability to hibernate and metamorphize. It's not exactly my favorite species of butterfly, but they are interesting."

"I suppose so, yeah." You nodded, having your head supported by your hands as you leaned closer to get a better view at the image. You, then, thought deeply and nugged Frank's arm for his attention. "Say, why don't we go out to the forest and search for some? I heard from a little star that there's a hotspot for colorful butterflies."

Frank raised a brow, his interest piqued. "Hm, I suppose we can go only if we invite Eddie. He has a better sense of direction than I am so..."

You rolled your eyes playfully, knowing full well that he wanted to bring the sweet mailman along was because he feels guilty of leaving him behind. "Whatever you say, my little butterfly."

"(Name), please. Not you too."

✦ On the other hand, Eddie enjoys taking you on walks, especially on days where you're stressed and need some relaxation. He also enjoys talking with you over some good lunch, sharing his experiences with you as a mailman. Eddie is a touchy person, so he also likes to spend his time with you cuddling. He's the big spoon most of the time but he loves being little spoon, he wouldn't admit it though.

"Wait, wait, wait!" You paused Eddie's little tangent, your brain processing the story he ahd told you before he went on about the history of mailboxes. "They managed to pull out Julie's mailbox and dragged it all the way to the pond?"

Eddie chuckled, pulling you closer to his figure. You can feel vibrations coming from his chest as he laughed. "Yeah! It sounds unreal but if you take a look at the dirt near Julie's place, it looks like something was dugged up and then buried again."

"Dear lord, what kind of food are they eating?" You shivered at your own visual interpretation of the scenario. Must be distraughting for Julie and her poor mailbox.

"A dozen of eggs, at least." Eddie shrugged, his entire being melting into the sofa. At this point, you can consider him a part of it from how soft and warm his arms feel.

A moment of silence pass before you finally spoke up to break it. "Anyways, wanna be little spoon and continue your story?"

"Yes please!"

author's note. hi hii!!! tysm for requesting, i hope this is okay <33 i'm not well versed with Eddie's character but I do know a bit of Frank since weirdly enough, i kin him. but ty for the birthday greeting!! my birthday was actually 2 months ago (feb 3) but even so, i appreciate it :DD

i also have another frank x reader x eddie coming up but yandere 👀 so be on a look for that!! anyways— likes, reblogs, etc are appreciated! my inbox is always open, so feel free to request or just drop by <33

[dmbakura]

I like 90% of your Astarion posts, but this game has a very limited portrayal of trauma and relationships. Sometimes you assume the game is better written and more cohesive than it is.

Multiple writers wrote lines for Astarion, there were several rewrites and variations to his story and there are a ton of contradictions between specific lines.

It’s not a good enough narrative to be able to do the type of analysis you do. There are always going to be multiple valid readings of his character.

Obviously there are always going to be different ways of reading his character (or any character for that matter) but I heavily disagree that the narrative isn't good or cohesive enough to make simple conclusions about him or the trajectory of his arc. Most of the inconsistencies lie in his backstory, which to my knowledge was changed and reworked because it didn't really fit with the final version they settled on, hence some strange things like the vagueness of his age and what he was like pre-Cazador.

To my knowledge the bulk of his writing was done by Stephen Rooney with Baudelaire Welch (Dark Urge's writer) assisting. I really don't see what "contradictory lines" you mean. His writing is extremely consistent throughout the entire game and he's by far one of the best, most nuanced depictions of trauma I've seen. When it comes to relationships, of course the game has a limited scope of how they work. Nobody is denying that, but I don't see anyone provide any actual contextual evidence as to why "he actually isn't okay with Halsin/his enthusiasm to try non monogamous arrangements isn't genuine and he is only trying to please Tav". It's either just personal bias or citing lines from much earlier in his character development and completely ignoring later character development entirely.

I don't think this is bad or contradictory writing. I think it's people willingly choosing not to engage in good faith. This isn't to say I think bg3 is a perfect story or anything, but it's definitely a good enough narrative to analyze in this way.

[webcomicreads]

The Issue with "Foefic"

For as long as humans have created things, others have looked at the fruits of their labour and thought, "I can do that better." Drawing inspiration from something you see and think you could improve upon is not wrong, it is how innovation works when it comes to creating tools, art, cooking. However, some people mean it in a malicious way. A way that teeters on jealousy and, if I may, clout-thirsty.

Lore Rekindled is a "retelling" of the (unfortunately) Eisner award winning webcomic Lore Olympus. From what I saw on the post introducing it, it is "better drawn and better written." I, like many, have issue with Lore Olympus. The writing is lacking and absolutely not award-worthy, and it even misses the mark as a cheesy harlequin romance. Persephone's characterization has no consistency. The art, while striking and easily recognizable, leaves a lot to be desired, especially when it comes to backgrounds. I don't consider it noteworthy, but it is heavily pushed by Naver's Webtoon, and that is probably why it keeps winning awards. With how low my opinion of Lore Olympus was, I dived into Lore Rekindled hoping to find something with more substance.

I did not find that substance.

LR suffers in different ways than LO. It assumes that you have read or are at least familiar with the major characters of Lore Olympus, which is understandable. The characters are re-written and interact strangely. Many of the characters in LO are meant to come off as "old money," and this shows in their lifestyles, fashion, and way they speak. The characters in LR all appear to have the same voice. If I were to print out a transcript of this comic and read it out loud, they would all be indistinguishable. LR is "better drawn," but what I think they meant is it is less toony. The backgrounds are better most of the time, but the panelling is boring and lacks the dynamicism seen in the original work. The plot is, if I'm being honest, just AU fanfiction (derogatory).

When I also learned that this creator had an original comic, I was very interested to see what it brought to the table. As I understood it, LR was a side project. So you can imagine my surprise when I looked at both the old and the new Project Reaper and it is just objectively a worse comic. The the majority of the cast has same-face syndrome, and seem to live in a cool-tone hell with no furniture most of the time. The concept of how to dress and style characters seems to be locked into what a 15 year old thinks is badass, but that fits for the story. The plot and dialogue reads like something a middle-schooler would make as an RP scenario with friends. The colouring is lazy dodge and burn, which just emphasizes that the author does not care about cultivating a space or atmosphere or world for these characters to live in. They are just toys to mash together to make your angsty super cool comic that you're going to pitch to Dark Horse for REAL, GUYS. And the first comic for this series is written right to left. In the author's defense, they were a teen when they started the original comic.

So how does someone whose average panel looks like the example above come to the conclusion that they can make a better comic? It's simple: Project Reaper is original, but LR has base material you can go off of. Anyone can read a comic and think "I would do THIS for this panel, and I would do THAT for this character introduction." I did it reading both of these comics. But if I were handed only the script for either of these projects, it would not come as easily. Lore Rekindled only looks "better" because it has Rachel's work to build off of. This goes back to what I was saying at the beginning, that the "I could do that but GOOD" view isn't doing you any favours, especially when you aren't doing your own IP well.

I think writing a little hate piece once in a while is good. Draw a hate piece if you really need to (though I would just show it to friends, personally.) Consuming a little media you hate is also good. As a creator, it is important to see and understand why you hate something, what you would change, and what little glimmers of good are in an otherwise pile of garbage. It helps you grow, to realize your tastes, and what not to do in your own work. Critically acclaimed writer Alan Moore agrees! But to have a whole comic with a regular update schedule redrawing something you hate is... It's giving "look at my sonichu comic redraw!" It is loser behavior.

Plenty of people create media out of spite, and I encourage it. I do it too. But the work should be your own. You need to put this energy into your IP. If you keep being a "hater," you'll never guess what you attract. Other haters! And those haters will like you, for now. But one of these days, someone will go through your list of essays and think, "oh, but I don't see any fat people in YOUR work that aren't plus-size model attractive." All it takes is one comment or take that a similarly-minded reader doesn't like and there could be a master list about you!

I am, of course, not saying you can't make derivative works at all. The doujinshi market is full of fan creations, and every art site you go to will be full of fanart. But the difference between LR and these works (generic sexy flavour of the month artists aside,) is that they are made with love. With passion for the original work. I think back to Homestuck AUs because, while I may not have liked them, these creators were doing it out of love for the characters. I follow a few guys on twitter who have been drawing a picture of their anime wife every day for over 10 years. That's love! Then you have more transformative works like Hello from Halo Head, of which some of it's characters are off-brand animal crossing characters. I love that. I think it's neat that the creator loved that little cat twink enough to bring him into their comic in a new form.

I think the point of this post is that you can use spite as a motivator, but it should be for your own creations. We have a limited time on this planet, and even less time where our hands are still able to pick up a pen. Put this towards your passion for the medium, for the stories in your heart. It's rough out there for creators, and it can be hard to find an audience in the ever-churning seas of the internet. But, please, don't put all your effort into "foefiction." That is cringe. And, if you're going to anyways, it'd better actually be good.

PS B^u

[john-macnamara]

TW: homophobia, minor transphobia, references to prostitution, vague descriptions of sex acts

I see you all had wonderful reactions to our last little bit on the general. But it was all on the act of the leak, not the content! We expected surprise, the man has killed three people! Though, I suppose most people at your organization have killed someone, so it shouldn’t be too much of a shocker…

Maybe this little bit of classified info on the general will throw you all off a bit more, show you who he really is. We created this file in the case that we ever had to warn the United States Government of the threat PEIP's general serves, and now's as good a time as ever. @goodman-howie, you might want to see this, Mr. President. Your employee has a very colorful past.

On General Johnathan S. MacNamara; Sexual Dalliances. Written by ██████ ██████-█████████. Dated ██/██/████.

In approximately one week of research, I managed to find evidence of 87 separate sexual encounters with MacNamara. With women, men, and others. Right off the bat, this is an immediate red flag. He is known to interact with children regularly, often being incredibly affectionate with them. He is also blatantly and unashamedly queer, often bringing it up in topics that are wholly irrelevant. Add these two together and you have a man who is a danger to our children running one of your own organizations. Do you really want that?

In regards to the sexual encounters, 45 out of the 87 occurred during a two year period that coincided with his time at Portland Community College. There are records of him being paid for his services among both men and women. He had two regulars and many one or two-off encounters. Yes, I am implying what you think. PEIP's favorite general, the responsible one, the straight-laced rule follower, spent his college years as a male prostitute. Now isn't that something?

The remaining 42 encounters occurred at various times in between 2001 and 2019. They were few and far between up until November 2005, during which the frequency of the encounters drastically increased. Between November 1st and February 14, he "hooked up" with ten different men. He was working on a major emergency at PEIP at the time, and yet he had the time to consistently have sex with other men? Strange.

After the 14th, MacNamara abruptly stopped any interaction of that nature for a year. Exactly one year later, his poor habits started up again. He fucked around, dated around, had short-lived romantic relationships, it doesn't particularly matter. What is strange though, is that up until the February of 2020, he would always find a partner to spend the night of the 14th with. He seemed to prefer female partners, but during earlier years he leaned more heavily towards male ones.

This is all to say that your general is dangerous, he's unstable. He interacts with men, women, and other genders in the same way. I can safely assume some of you know that's not natural. You either strictly like the same sex as your own, or strictly like the opposite sex. He says he's queer, but for all you know he's a liar, just trying to get extra brownie points. In addition to his instability, he has also proven he is unable to focus on work. He regularly makes time for dalliances of both the romantic and sexual nature, rather than doing the work he's meant to. Maybe if he didn't spend so much time fucking other men, we wouldn't have gained access to this information.

That is all. We here at ███████ █████████████ just thought it was necessary to know of your employee's unstable sexual history. Maybe he'll be blackmailed, maybe he'll go back to old habits, maybe he'll get distracted by an attractive enemy and get one of your sons or daughters killed. It doesn't matter, he's a danger. Thank you for your time.

[bookshop]

no one cares about avatar unless there's an airbender attached

I wrote this absolutely unhinged comment in response to Adam Burnas's attempt to quantify Avatar's cultural impact on Ryan Broderick's Garbage Day newsletter, only to realize that I couldn't even post it after I was done, so I hope you all like some salty thoughts on fandom and geek culture and cartoon-inspired rap lyrics and my experience as an internet culture reporter leading me to conclude that truly no one gives a fuck about James Cameron's Avatar.

Hi, Adam, I apologize for the length of this comment and for being a bit negative here, but a) I had MANY THOUGHTS!!! and b) you shaded the beloved fandom I was actively in for nearly a decade, so I have to protest.

Inception's strong AO3 presence is far and away reflective not just of the fact that it happened to have two hot guys in it, but of the film's overall cultural staying power. Within the fanfiction community, Inception fic has a reputation for being very smart and complex and layered and really playing around with both the film's worldbuilding and its metanarratives. Seeing it written off as "hurh hurh handsome boys" felt super dismissive and unnecessary.

I also felt like your read on the rap lyrics you were searching was also somewhat perfunctory and dismissive. For example, Space Jam's cultural resonance within rap lyrics also aligns with that of MANY other animated works (I wrote a whole article once for ex on how popular Dragonball Z is with hip-hop artists), and I think there's likely a lot more going on there than just people dropping Nike references, especially given how objectively popular Space Jam is with 90s kids. You seemed exhausted by having to sort through a bunch of random Nike mentions, but I feel like there's probably something deeper in there to find.

Again, seeing all of this cultural saturation summed up as "cartoons and sexy boys" felt really dismissive, especially when you're also trying to get us to take seriously the argument that references to Avatar as primarily "something big and blue" make a case for it having cultural staying power as a film/world/artwork.

Why? To me, those references strongly suggest that the collective cultural understanding of Avatar that's being spread is of a big blue bloated empty film whose contents are negligible. Nothing to do with the film or its characters or its world, but as a collectively understood white elephant.

As for the data, you spent a lot of time telling us that Avatar *is* culturally relevant to some people, somewhere, while showing us data that consistently suggests the opposite. I kept waiting for you to look at the relevance of Avatar in your chosen categories *over time* to see both how it fared compared to your other films and how much it waned or rose in the cultural conversation as time went on. That you didn't do this seems like a huge gap in any attempt to quantify its cultural impact and staying power.

You also say at one point that Avatar is "exactly where it should be" which feels like a strange assumption. Why *should* it belong anywhere at all in the cultural mix, and what factors have granted it such a place? I would have enjoyed some interrogation of that idea.

You say that Avatar is a movie that isn't made to perform well as a GIF. Really? It's a dazzling visual feast, a CGI spectacle, the kind of thing GIFs would surely enhance. You don't really consider that maybe its failure to succeed in such a visual medium despite it being such a visual film is an especially telling failure.

And you don't make any attempt to find and qualitatively examine another avenue -- fanart is the obvious medium that comes to mind -- by which fans of the film could really respond to the film's visuals and world in a way that both reflects their appreciation for the movie and helps boost its cultural impact.

I'm also really surprised you didn't look for Avatar memes on KnowYourMeme etc? If Avatar has no real memes to speak of (other than people mocking its use of Papyrus font, which arguably counts!), isn't that another giant sign that its cultural impact is negligible?

For that matter, why not look on Reddit to see how many subreddits are dedicated to Avatar (the first film), and how active they were in the years prior to the second film's production?

As an internet culture reporter, if I were tasked with writing this article, this is how I would report this out. You repeatedly assert that Avatar must be meaningful to certain communities or platforms, but then never show us which/where those communities are. So I'm honestly less convinced that Avatar is a cultural icon now than I was before looking at all your data.

Also! "But it also begs the question, where are all the people saying no one ever talks about Gravity or Mr. & Mrs. Smith or Hancock?"

... Dude people DO talk about Mr. & Mrs. Smith constantly, that movie has had significant cultural staying power haha. But also none of these other films made a zillion box office dollars which is the main factor that you have to consider in comparing them to the one movie that did. For so many of them to have more quantifiable data in their favor than Avatar is astonishing.

Crucially, the communities that you identify as ones that would be meaningful contributors to the film's lasting relevance are ones that gravitate towards the types of genres of which you seem dismissive. That certainly matters in terms of impact! Certainly on Tumblr, which is still one of the biggest fuelers of cultural conversations that travel far beyond Tumblr itself, Goncharov is already bigger and more significant to the community by orders of magnitude than Avatar ever was.

And I think it's hugely significant that the Goncharov memers chose Avatar, the big, blue, bloated, fully mainstream, pretty but essentially empty movie, to contrast Goncharov with. That says a huge amount about what type of stories and art and forms of creation people in those communities value and aspire to make more of.

That sense of transformativity may be difficult to quantify, but I think it's doable. I just think you probably won't get there searching Genius for lyrics mentioning "Jake Scully."

And honestly, I don't think you'll get there at all with Avatar. I just don't think, ultimately, there's anything there to find.

[cruelfeline]

I've been thinking, for the past few days, about why it's so strange to me, to hear people say that Hordak oppressed people. Or that the Etherian Horde was oppressive. Or just... insinuating that Hordak and his subordinates are somehow in a position of power on Etheria.

And I mean, I've written before about why I find Hordak far more sympathetic than I find the Princesses, but this isn't that. This is more... A disconnect. Between how people seem to view Hordak and the Horde and my personal understanding of oppression. Namely: the sort of "usual" social hierarchy of oppressed and oppressor don't seem to work here.

The patterns don't coincide.

When we look at our world, our societies, social power tends to be divided by wealth. Now, of course race and religion and gender and all of these other factors come into play, but financial resources hold tremendous importance. Members of oppressed minorities are more likely, statistically, to hold less wealth. Not always, obviously. There are no hard rules. But enough that it comes out in data.

And even in societal majorities, there is still the divide between those that hold great wealth, and those that do not.

My point being as follows: the members of the "upper class" tend to be oppressive because they have the financial means with which to exert control. Politically, economically, whatever. They are the ones oppressing, while the "lower class," the working class, tend to suffer under their wants and whims. It's an oversimplication, to be sure, but the general sense of it is all that matters for this discussion.

Essentially: the upper class oppresses the working class. The working class doesn't oppress the upper class.

So!

When we look at Hordak and the Etherian Horde, and when we look at the Alliance... who is working class, and who lives in absolute luxury?

Our protagonists are literal monarchs living in literal palaces with literal magic powers. They don't perform physical labor. They don't have "jobs" in the sense of earning money or earning their keep. And even during supposed wartime, they enjoy plentiful resources and delicious food and pointless luxuries.

The level of luxury is even played for laughs, sort of, when Adora first joins the Horde and has no idea how to live in a room that appears designed around impractical pampering.

But it also just kind of... borders on ridiculous? Like...they go to a magical floating island to relax at a spa. On a cloud beach. During a major war that we are supposed to believe they are suffering tremendously from. We're supposed to feel sad for them. While they're lounging on the cloud beach.

It's... hm.

Compare this to the Etherian Horde. And to Hordak himself.

There are no fancy rooms with decorative waterfalls in the Horde. Not for regular Horde members, not even for higher-ranking individuals.

The members of the Etherian Horde absolutely perform physical labor. They have few, if any, luxuries to speak of. Their entire lives appear to consist of working to earn and maintain their place in the Horde. And there are absolutely no spa days.

As for Hordak? Well, you might say: "CF, Hordak is in an upper class position; he calls himself Lord and sits on a throne and-"

And I'm gonna stop you right there, because Hordak is a purpose-bred slave play-acting a god-monarch to earn back his place as a purpose-bred slave. He and his clone brothers are actual servants of Prime: made to do everything from cleaning to serving meals to fighting on the front lines of Prime's wars. They are true, all-around workers.

Actually, the little details regarding Hordak and "work" are so interesting. Because he absolutely works, in a way that the protagonists really don't seem to: with little to no visible time for relaxation and absolute zero indulgence in luxury. We so often see him in his lab, working with tools, with his hands. And after Entrapta makes him his new armor, we see him using it to perform significant physical labor. Labor that, as "lord," he could likely have delegated to others. But he didn't. Because Hordak, at his core, is a worker.

Now, does he have a throne? Sure! But it's a throne designed to be a tool, a prop of sorts to help him mimic Prime. It's not an actual piece of comfortable furniture. And it's not somewhere where Hordak appears comfortable or leisurely. It's just... a tool of the job. I mean... just look at how he sits in it, compared to Prime. Prime, who is absolutely "upper class" and has all of the fanciness to show for it. Prime who just lounges on his throne, secure in the knowledge that he belongs there.

And beyond the throne, in his Sanctum? Not a drop of luxury to be found. Just machinery for Hordak's work. And tools for his work. And a bunch of junk, because he's pathologically unable to throw anything away for Personal Reasons. Totally unlike, say, Glimmer's room. Or Prime's trophy and dining rooms. We don't even see a place for him to rest from his work, though extrapolating from the pods we see other clones in, we can guess that it's likely not a soft, fluffy, copiously-pillowed bed.

Because that's the thing about Hordak: he's the leader of the Horde, but he's still a member of the working class. He's play-acting a lord, but he doesn't actually enjoy any of the leisure or luxury that comes with that. Rather, despite his position in the Etherian Horde hierarchy, he has far more in common with his own cadets than with his hierarchical equals in Bright Moon.

Which is why the patterning for oppression is so off, for me. People are trying to convince me that a bunch of working class people, including potential orphans and an actual cult-slave, are oppressing the wealthy royals? It just. Doesn't compute. Like... even when Mermista's capital city is destroyed, she still has the means to lounge about in a fancy bathtub, eating ice cream. It just doesn't carry the same weight as, say, Hordak sitting amongst the trash-wreckage of his Sanctum in season four. Mermista is upset, but she's still pampered. Hordak is upset, and he's just... upset. With nothing comforting to help him.

It's just such a disconnect. I can't view the protagonists as "oppressed" when they have the means and resources to essentially avoid any true fallout from the war. While Hordak and his subordinates, supposedly dominant and oppressive, live in spartan quarters devoid of even the slightest shred of opulence or comfort.

Perhaps the series could have circumvented this if it had made our protagonists members of Etheria's less-royal population? Or if it had portrayed them as true refugees, as they are under Prime's aggression in season five. But it doesn't. It has them hanging out in palaces, going to parties and spas, eating sleep-over cake while Hordak gets injured by his glitchy health-care machine because he doesn't have anything better.

Anyway. I don't know if all of this makes sense. It's just. Such a weird thing to me. And makes it hard to see the Etherian Horde as "the oppressors."

[aceinacloset]

A clown obsessed girl ranks all of the different versions of Circus Baby because I have an obsession with her.

I'm ranking every single version of Baby the franchise has created only out of boredom.

I'm ranking them from best to worst.

Topping In at number 1 'Circus Baby'

The OG, the classic, practically perfect in every way, Circus Baby.

She was a very well written antagonist for what I thought was a new story fnaf was building, she was a breath of fresh air from the purple guy and I love it. She was intimidating, calculated, manipulative, and tragic. She was an evil you couldn't help but sympathize with like 'damn I feel bad they went through this shit, I don't condone the murder but…' and best of all nothing about her character was kept hidden or obscured from us, we were given everything and just left to collect it all and judge her on our own, I wish more people would do that with characters. Anyway I really feel this is the best version of Baby you could ever find in this franchise and I love her with all my heart.

Coming in close 2nd, 'Ennard'

Ok ok I know Ennard isn't technically Circus Baby, but she Is apart of Ennard so I'm still counting it. Ennard being second isn't a negative on Ennards part only on the lack of screen time, like give me more fnaf. Other than that Ennard is just as great as Baby. I love their design, love how threatening they are, love how they kill and hide themselves as a person. Ennard is based. I have nothing else to say they are just great, I just wish they got more time in the franchise.

Off to the 3rd is, 'The Plushbaby's'

They are my little gremlin children. Yes I've adopted them, they are mine. I understand some people's dislike of the plushbabys I mean they are basically the modern Balloon Boy to sum, but I found their level in HW strangely fun. The reason they are in 3rd is because I can't believe they would be able to kill me, they are a plushie I could just kick them, I wouldn't, but I could. I love them because they are like tiny little babs, I picture them following CB in a little line, shuffling along behind her. The plushkins in the DLC are also wonderful and made me love the Plushbaby's even more, and the Scrap Plushbaby's are just as adorable.

4 below 3 '8-bit baby'

Just look at her she is babe ❤️🥺.

Lucky number 5 is, 'Scrap Baby'

I really wish I could put her higher on this, but sadly her design can't save her from the terrible writing. I don't know what it is. Something about the way she is written irks me, like there's a pivotal piece missing for her change from SL to 6 to make sense. I feel if her character was kept more consistent with CB or her character change felt more natural and actually shown to us then I would be whistling a different tune, but sadly since this isn't the case she has to get 5th. I still like her just not as much as ones higher on this list.

6 isn't anything to scoff at with, 'Heartsick Baby'

Yeah I'm even adding the AR skins. The skins aren't high on this list because we'll there skins, they ain't got much else going for them except looks. Heartsick Baby as a skin is wonderful, I just kinda wish her bow and arrow was like a crossbow attached to her arm. I feel it would give Scrap Baby claw arm vibes you know.

7 ain't all that bad, 'Broiler Baby'

I like this skin. I just wish more was done with it, you know, like it needed more.

You have now reached the bottom, these are the absolute worst versions of Circus Baby the franchise has created, at least that's how I feel about them at least. I couldn't put one before the other because both of them bring me ungodly amounts of rage when I see them.

Now before I rip into these two I'm here to say if you happen to like these two no hate towards you, and more power to yah. I mean no true harm to you, I'm just a salty person hating a fictional character. That being said

In the pits of hell, 'TFC Baby and Eleanor'

[They don't get images because I hate them so much]

I cannot describe how frustrating these two are as characters. Maybe it's Eleanor, such an inconsistent and annoying evil that would make William Afton blush, or maybe TFC Baby's frustrating writing that not even Scrap Baby has, or maybe it's the fact neither of these bitches are even Baby. Their origins are completely different or non-existent to Baby's story. No none of these, ok yes these, but these pale in comparison to the main thing that irks me about these two.

These two are the physical manifestations of how I feel the franchise sees and will continue to see Circus Baby as a character, not as a determined, competent, dangerous, yet tragic threat but as a one dimensional sexyfied villain with nothing going for them except about how evil they are. Whether they intentionally made TFC baby sexy or not (let's face it, if it wasn't intentional I wouldn't be talking about it.) doesn't change the fact that they had no reason doing this, let alone to a character that is big enough and thick enough to kick TFC Baby like a football (I already talked about this) and Eleanor is no better She's like even thinner like malnourished thin, and she isn't even CB she's literally just a bitch who stole CB's fit.

Now I would let this slide kinda if at least they were written well, but there not. Eleanor is a one dimensional villain and TFC Baby is a William Afton kiss ass.

I wanted to like these characters 'cause others liked them so that must mean there is something good about them right? I found nothing except more reasons to hate them, again if you like one of these two go off king, queen, or nonbinary bean you keep doing that I'm just gonna stay far away from that.

Also I will not be convinced otherwise, TFC Baby wants what M3gan has.

TFC Baby fell so M3gan could walk on her corpse and strut to the end.

[extasiswings]

I've been managing my expectations but I have to say I'm really excited for 6B. Most of the characters are facing serious tension. Subtext and themes have been consistent (couches and chairs, donor vs. dad). And now, because of Eddie's loud-and-clear evasion of the donor topic, we know that things between him and Buck have to come to a head. It's looking good! The fandom negativity is wildly out of proportion IMO.

I completely agree. The thing is, I am an impatient bitch and I definitely get frustrated when I feel like things aren't moving fast enough or going exactly how I want, but I also recognize that is a personal problem about me and doesn't necessarily translate to a valid criticism of the show. I do have some minor gripes with some of the pacing choices this season (mainly re: the sperm donor arc), but even with that I can understand why they might have done certain things the way they have.

With that arc in particular, it's a process that in itself takes time--weeks to do all the screenings and whatnot to get to the point of donation, weeks to do fertilization and implantation, still more weeks to find out if the process has taken and there's a viable pregnancy in process, so that's months of time right there without even getting to the actual 9-months of pregnancy. So in that sense, the on-again-off-again nature of how the storyline is playing out isn't that strange, it's just that audiences have gotten used to (especially in the era of bingewatching), focusing on one arc at a time/expecting that as soon as something is introduced it will be consistently emphasized until resolved. Could they have written it differently and had Buck not go through with it for one reason or another and proceeded from there? Sure. But that would have been a totally different story (and not necessarily better, we have no way of saying that one way or another, but different)--they are explicitly using this arc as part of Buck's journey of self-discovery, and a major piece of that is the level of regret and pain he's going to experience because he jumped into doing this selfless thing without thinking about the consequences (even though he was warned), an impulsive character trait that ties back to his root trauma of Daniel (which he hasn't dealt with). They've basically said outright that's what they're doing, and also that part of the reason to do a self-discovery arc for Buck is that because he doesn't know himself/what he wants generally, he can't see who he wants to be in a relationship with which...hello???

And as you said, the themes have been consistent. The season opened very explicitly with the idea of not knowing what you want/not being able to see what you already have/not allowing yourself to want certain things because you don't think they're attainable (and/or because you're afraid to want them). It's all one big play on fantasy vs. reality and what that looks like for different people/in different situations. And we've watched those themes play out character-by-character.

Maddie and Chim got back together and have been rebuilding their life together, learning what it looks like to be a family again, and their 6A arc on that front closed with them finding their dream house.

Athena and Bobby have dealt with it on a lesser scale, with the Florida trip and investigation. The idea of putting people on pedestals, and therefore not being able to see them for who they are, not being able to recognize reality. And we're going to get into it more with Bobby it seems like due to this whole situation with his sponsor.

Hen was struggling with med school vs. being a firefighter and paramedic. She thought she wanted to be a doctor in part because she didn't think it was possible to progress further in her career with the LAFD until she was actually given the chance to be interim captain. And when she was put in a position where she finally had to choose, she chose the LAFD because she could have it all and because her family was her real dream. Now, she's heading into a related arc with Denny that ties directly into Buck's (and Eddie's). Denny's the one now looking outside of what he already has, thinking he needs something more (a dad) while Buck is going to be struggling with being overly invested in the sperm donor situation because he didn't get it through his head that being a donor does NOT make him a dad and Eddie/Christopher/the will of it all is very loud.

I don't need to repeat all of the ways Buck's arc fits this theme, but he is the most explicit about actively not being able to see what's right in front of him/what he already has (that he has a partner in Eddie, that he's a father to Christopher, that they're a family, etc etc etc).

Eddie's arc is still in-progress. But his arc has also focused on these ideas of not talking about or acknowledging certain things (including things you want) because they're scary and/or because you think they're unattainable (especially if they're supposedly unattainable because of "difference" in some capacity--for Hen at the LAFD it was her race/gender/sexuality, for Christopher it was his disability, for Eddie...I mean come on, there's one answer here...). We've seen him do the things that he thinks are "expected" of him, try to fit the fantasy mold of a heteronormative nuclear family, and fail fantastically (fantasy not living up to reality). And we've seen him on his own journey of self-discovery, becoming his own person separate from Christopher, while the question of what following his heart really means remains open (and is going to be a focus of 6B as they return explicitly to him and Romance).

Idk, I've been enjoying this season a lot and I'm excited about 6B and I've been surprised by the amount of negativity as well. In S5, it felt like everyone was complaining that it was too dark, and when this season started people were happy that it was a return to more lightness. But now, that seems to have shifted as well and I see that being turned into a criticism that the writers aren't taking certain things seriously enough or giving them the weight they're due. I don't feel like the pacing is any worse than other seasons, I don't think the arcs are any more frustrating (like...I cannot emphasize enough how much I hate the lawsuit arc and street fighting arc and Maddie's stalker era, I really can't, and as important as the tsunami arc is overall for the show I felt like it was largely disconnected from the specific arcs of the season for most characters, but I don't claim that S3 is badly written just because I personally dislike certain dramatic choices that were made), and I don't think the introduction of new arcs or set-ups for continuations of established arcs in this episode was any different from any other midseason finale.

As with any kind of longform storytelling though, everything looks different in hindsight once you get the whole picture. I've made my peace with the fact that the writers have a plan that I can't see all of yet, but I trust them to create something that will answer the questions we have and deal with the things that we have complaints about if we just give them time/watch the rest of the season. We have 9 more episodes, there's a lot of exciting potential, and frankly, when I look back over the full seasons after seeing how all the arcs have played out, the writers have never truly let me down. I don't expect that to be any different this season. We just need to be patient and let them tell the story.

...this got really long, but anyway...tldr; they've been very consistent with subtext (and text) and themes and I don't think there's any real reason not to expect that to continue and I'm looking forward to 6B!

[jerek]

man seeing how wrathion is treated by the writers(and as such, the fans) in dragonflight is so fucking frustrating. like at first i thought they wrote him ooc but when i went to see the cutscenes, he's actually written consistently. its just that he's being written next to these characters old fans go YEAH MY FAVE I KNOW YOU and when THEY tell wrathion he's wrong and insensitive when they themselves are to him, it's like.. insulting? idk. Like he's never wrong or unreasonable and yet people say he is, and they play dark music in the background when he's reasonably upset and people go OOUUHH DEATHWING oh shitttt And NEVER do they consider helping him while he helps everyone all the time, literally everything he does is to help and ensure a future. He went for raszageth on his own to save everyone. like BITCH?? i feel like im going crazy when i see comments about him being evil or bad or mean and aaaaaAAAUUGHGHGH wrathion deserves to be free from world of warcraft, let him OUT

you are so real for this kisses you.

Idk what I can say that I haven't put in the wrathionposting tag lmao. He's.

Anduin Wrynn, feeling a deep sense of guilt for young men and women going off to war under his banner, for his kingdom, tells Jaina Proudmoore in the novel Shadows Rising:

"It isn't fair. It should make everything stop. The whole world should stop and point at that, but it doesn't."

I think of that line almost every time I see Wrathion. I've described him before as a 'walking humanitarian crisis.' He's inherited a role just below the living, physically incarnated creator gods of the universe. The Titans created Azeroth, and when they left, they left his father and his father's comrades in charge. For almost all of his life, he's been trying to assume this same responsibility. Acting as if he already IS the guardian of Azeroth.

He was transparently terrified in Mists of Pandaria. He might still be terrified, or he might be overwhelmed by the need to prove himself now that he's not just been the son of Deathwing, but a fugitive of Alliance justice (after the events of War Crimes.) I'm glad he seems confident enough, but...

Is there literally anyone on Azeroth who can care for him without insulting him? I wonder if there isn't a sort of built-in martyr complex in dragon culture too, explaining why Dracasia is a drake and a broodmother, Wrathion's a drake and a potential Aspect, and somehow none of this seems strange to someone like Ebyssian.

I do think there are tragedies like this probably built into the fabric of Azeroth itself. That's why I write my rogue, Midha, as having joined Wrathion's cause at around 13. There are few residential buildings in Stormwind because so much of the Alliance population is made up of travelling adventurers: soldiers with no rank. Same for Orgrimmar. Their leaders have no responsibility for them, and no reason to take responsibility, and the history of Azeroth is only recorded in terms of great heroes.

They're training up new, young heroes almost as fast as they're killing them. Isn't that something? Shouldn't the world stop and point at that? Imagine what the wider fanbase could say about Wrathion and other characters like him if they weren't so solely committed to either vilifying or sexualizing them.

[brw]

Do you not like Tom kings vision series? I havent read the whole thing myself but most people I see say it’s really great so I’m curious why you have mixed feelings

I mean, it's like, fine, if still IMO a fairly mediocre reading experience considering what Tom King's tone is for a lot of his work, if you have very little prior experience with The Vision.

The thing is that King has admitted before to not being able to explain massive characteristion changes and I think it shows a general lack of understanding of the character he was writing. The Vision (2015) isn't actually a Vision story; I think it would have actually worked incredibly well as an Ultron story, but it's not a story written with Vision in mind imo, it feels more like Vision just happened to be the character he was handed and now we have this.

See like, the cornerstone of his Vision series is that Vision wants to assimilate into human culture entirely, and be entirely accepted by them. This to me feels stupid, because like two years ago in Avengers A.I. Vision was a big advocate for treating A.I. as separate but respected people and was very clearly not trying in any way to be human, but in fact was showing a continuation to becoming more inhuman, more machine-like as their own self expression evolved. Cut two years, and now Vision is in a suit trying out the 9 to 5? Like what?

And the choice of Virginia was just strange, because prior to this Vision and Wanda had an extremely tense relationship. In AvX, one of the biggest events of the time, Vision actively tells Wanda to leave after murdering them via She-Hulk and seemed just generally incredibly angry towards her for doing something like that. Like yes this is bad writing, but it's also the literal first issue of that event but suddenly Vision wants to be with Wanda again so bad they will make a robot with the express purpose to only be their wife to be with her? Suddenly all Vision did to argue for their own personhood and their own autonomy, just generally as an android but also as someone with the brainwaves of Simon, doesn't matter because they want a nuclear family and picket fence?

Like the whole thing was just not considered with Vision's character and Vision's history. And I don't expect King to be going through the backlogs of like 90s Marvel Premiere or whatever but Avengers A.I. ended in like 2013. That was a recent comic and a recent point of characterisation where Vision had a major role, but almost no trace of that is there beyond the vague callback when Vision kills Victor Mancha.

It just to me showed a very poor understanding of who Vision was and kind of spits in the face of what Vision stands for in my opinion. Vision has never to me been a story about assimilation, but instead about building your own identity and your own life in the face of hardship and bigotry, of perseverance. Yes, I think Vision maybe during the Englehart era and that one time they tried to take over the world did crave assimilation, but to me the whole arc over the 90s and Busiek and Geoff Johns' Vision and Avengers A.I. was Vision slowly but surely coming to accept themself as they were. And seeing what had felt a very good continuation of stories for like 20, 30 years be ignored is just... puzzling and again shows to me that this story was never supposed to be about Vision, it was about the story Tom King wanted to tell.

Which is fine, but I don't think this stuff then belongs in like a medium where a big chunk of its allure is consistent characterisation built off the collective of hundreds of writers. So reading so many comics and coming to this that clearly doesn't fit and was never supposed to is just. annoying to me. lol.

[grem-archive]

Completely unrelated to anything on your blog unt I found a first edition copy of the london arts society thingy from 1865to 1870 (cannot remember the date rn) and it's just sitting in my school library.

The immense differences in what is considered old in the uk and the us is astounding, like that book isn't by far the oldest I've found, theres a copy of dante's divine comedy from even. before that that would sell for 500 pounds if someone 100 or so years ago hadn't cut bits out an annotated them.

Like socially something is considered old about in the 1500s and asking Americans and then they say the 1850s is so wild to me, like perspectivessssss.

Ah, relativism! My favorite word. Perhaps strange, but it is my favorite part of what I want to do. I have always been a person on both sides of the story; I love the when, the where, and the why, not just the what! The ability to know and understand that human nature is not consistent or cookie-cutter. You could say that I might have a view of life colored filthily by optimism and rose-tinted glasses, but I simply have an excitement for the concept of living on this Earth here and now. Through thick or thin.

I can't say much because I am, unfortunately, American (meaning I have a bias and you should take my words with a grain of salt), and I have had my own moments of handling artifacts only 400-450 years in age and thinking with wonder, "I can't believe how old this object is!" Meanwhile, I know perfectly well that many texts, buildings, and even simple bricks and beads across the globe predate my homeland even being a thought by centuries - millennia in some cases! History - both written and unwritten - is fascinating and characterized by many facets.

There is richness in the sheer multitude of perspectives in this world. The lenses through which we view life are endless in origin and form. We are products of where we are from, who we are raised by, the people we meet in our daily lives, and the environments in which we were raised. The average view is that this is both a good and a bad thing - and even that view is relative. It differs from person to person. Honestly, human nature is like giving a kid a box of random LEGO bricks and seeing what they come up with without an instruction booklet. Only imagination and suggestions from friends that are nearby.

To you, we are that young. To us, you are that old. And such is true in the grand scheme of things on both sides. Someday in the future, perhaps even us Yanks will look at something and think, "My, that's so young compared to [local event]." Someday the 1850s will be more than just two centuries behind us and the 1500s will look even more ancient. Now isn't that a weird thought?

I think that's the fun of getting to speak to so many different people with platforms like Tumblr and Discord. I get to interact with so many different perspectives and that's a beautiful thing. The mosaic of life I constantly build in my head is elevated by the stories of friends, family, and even strangers on the street. Do not be afraid to learn. Do not be afraid to question everything. Above all, do not be afraid to have an adventure.

[lan-barbie]

hey <3 can we know if you’re continuing clickbait? that fic is so so good and I would love to read more of it. no pressure ofc <33

the answer ultimately-- at this moment in time --is no.

i don't think Clickbait will be updated. it's discontinued this isn't something easy to say. i have a mentality that no story will ever be discontinued, because in a perfect world most of my unfinished stories have half written docs behind them that i update when i find inspiration. as a writer i am rather sporadic with what stories interest me, my adhd is behind 99% of these uploading issues, but clickbait is different. most of the story is technically finished, i just don't wish to release it without my co-author, Seza, who has slowly drifted away from writing and our friendship, it's hard for me to get in contact with her, and with her decline in activity on social media as well as our very different time zones.

i don't feel comfortable posting our fic, because it was our shared project, yknow. life is strange everyone and things come up, Seza and I are not the closest friends as of today, but clickbait is both near and dear to our hearts and posting the final chapter that consists of only my writing would be completely discrediting how much time and effort Seza put into making the story a possiblity.

i ask everyone who is fans of clickbait to please consider this and not hold anyone accountable. at the end of the day we are people who have jobs outside of writing and things are bound to come up that are beyond are perception of the future.

i plan on closing comments for clickbait soon, the story will still be viewable you just won't be able to comment as of 1/21/23. i will try my best to get in communication with Seza and see what i can do about the last chapter, i just ask everyone to please be patient ~♡

-TP

[falseandrealultravival]

Lao Tzu (老子), All chapters bibliographical ~ ~ Part 3 (３/３:final):Essay

Lao Tzu (Kouji Fukunaga: paperback Chikumagakugei bunko)

The Chinese classic "Lao Tzu" is a short document consisting of a short sentence fragment and 81 chapters (5,000 words), but its meaning is very deep. From now on, I will divide it into three parts and list the keywords and key points of each chapter. It is written as @ 1 = Chapter 1. 81/3 = 27 chapters each. The source is from "Lao Tzu" (Tamaki Ogawa, translation: Chuko Bunko). This blog makes sense to index and organize the Lao Tzu in me. This is the third (final) time.

(Before accepting)

@ 55: "Baby's virtue. It does not be attacked by dangerous animals (snakes, scorpions, bees, beasts, birds of prey, etc.)" "It has a lot of vitality." Lao Tzu praises the baby.

@ 56: " Those who know do not say. Those who say do not know.." Soften wisdom and assimilate with garbage:和光同塵" (@ 4) & "Saints can neither benefit nor do harm, because they are beyond praise and Backbiting . "

@ 57: "Government of the nation faces with" positive ", and military faces with" strange ". "&" A clever engineer creates an unfamiliar item. The people fight for this and the nation becomes dark. "" If you lose your greed, the people will become a Tree as cut out:樸 "(樸 has been frequent in the past. @ 19, @ 28, @ 32, etc.)

@ 58: "When politics is absent, the people are unsophisticated. When politics Keep eyes out, the people are dissatisfied and fight each other." & "Saints do not hurt people. Light in their hearts. There is, but there is no sparkle that catches the eyes. "

@ 59: "It is best for the monarch to take a regrettable attitude."

@ 60: "Governing a great power nation is like the act of" boiling small fish. " "

If you put your hand out too much and stir it, the fish will fall apart.

@ 61: "The great power nation are downstream of the river, the small ones are upstream. Just as the river flows from the tributary to the main stream, the small powers want to be fed, and the great powers want to feed." It is important to be modesty to the great power nation. "

(This part, in history, is inconsistent with the fact that the real powers forcibly annex the small ones for their own benefit. "The big nation only wants to feed everyone, All the small country wants to be subordinate to and serve another country. ”(P138) Of the“ Lao Tzu, ”I am the most mysterious contradiction. Is this the desire of the Lao Tzu? It is a small country. Did Tibet and Uighur move forward to become China's autonomous regions? And isn't China's policy a fierce attempt to erase their own culture and destroy them and make there unique country of Han Chinese?) (See @ 80)

@ 62: "The saint will not abandon the people even if they are bad. Everything is attributed to the work of the Tao." (@ 49)

@ 63: "Don't act, don't interfere. Taste the tasteless things." & "Take virtue against grudges."

This expression is reminiscent of the Christian teaching that "if you were hit your right cheek, give your left cheek."

& "There are some difficulties for saint, but in the end it will overcome."

@ 64: "Process in the signs of things. The trip of thousand miles also starts from your feet."

& "Because the saint does nothing, he does not damage anything, and because it does not stick to anything, he does not lose anything." & "The saint wants what it does not want. It doesn't want something that is hard to get. (@ 3, @ 12)

@ 65: "Negation of politics by wisdom."

@ 66: "The virtue of being low-profile." "No one can contend with a saint who does not contend."

@ 67: "The vast Tao looks stupid." & "Saints have three treasures. Charity, frugality, and not being Head".

(Head = head, head of organization)

@ 68: "The virtue of no conflict." "People who use people well are humble."

The old letter(kanji:漢字) of the letter "fight" is a hieroglyph that "two hands are trying to hold something one thing". In this case, the "thing" may be a political victory. There are many events that "things" point to.

@ 69: "The key to the war is not to be the main body of the attack, but to take a step back." "The army with sorrow always wins."

@ 70: "My words are easy to understand and practice, but no one does. (So) the saint wears brown clothes and have a jewel (wears poor clothes and hides the treasure)."

@ 71: "It's good to know and not know, it's a drawback to know without knowing."

@ 72: "If the people are not afraid of disasters, a big disaster will come."

@ 73: "Those who are not afraid to do boldly will be killed, and those who are not afraid to be timid will survive." & "The net of heaven is rough, but it will not be missed:(天網恢恢疎而不失). (This word is also famous. Although "天網恢恢疎而不漏" is more Overwhelmed by the population)

@ 74: "How do you threaten people who are not afraid of death?" "If I kill something new, why can I kill it unharmed instead of a great executor? (It can be done by God. Only.) "

@ 75: "People starve because the rulers take too much tax." & "Those who don't care about life at all are wise than those who value life."

@ 76: "When a person is born, it is soft, and when it dies, it is hard. The hard one is a death companion and the soft one is a life companion.

@ 77: "The way of heaven takes away from the surplus and gives it to the shortage, but the actual human society is the opposite."

Even if you look around the world, the rich are getting more and more financial power, and the poor are deprived more and more money. Since the time of the Junichiro Koizumi Cabinet, the Gini coefficient, which indicates the difference between rich and poor Japanese people, has risen.

@ 78: "Nothing is as soft as water, but no matter how hard it is, it is no match for water." (There are many references to the virtue of water ... @ 8, @ 43, etc.)

@ 79: "Even if you reconcile those with deep resentment, the resentment remains. Only the saints can reconcile this." & "There is no favor in the way of heaven. Always give to good people.  "

@ 80 "小国寡民(Small country&few people) :An ideal society drawn by Lao Tzu"

The country is small and the population is small (let's say). If you don't want the military to use the tools you need, if you have them, and you want the people to take their lives and not move far away, you don't have to ride a ship or car wherever you have it.  Where there are insteps and weapons, there is no chance to show them side by side. Once again, (as well as) the (ancient) world of using ropes tied by people (in contracts), making their (bad) food look good, making their (poor) clothes feel good, and Let them settle down and make their (simple) habits (life) enjoyable. (If that happens) the neighboring country is immediately visible, and even if they can hear the roar of chickens and dogs, the people will not come and go (with people from other countries) until they are old and dead.

("Lao Tzu": Tamaki Ogawa, translated from P167-P168)

The description around here is inconsistent with @ 61. It is not clear whether Lao Tzu really wants the people to live in a small country or in a large country. (Is the distinction between large and small countries relative?) This one point is difficult for me to understand.

@ 81: "The belief is not beautiful, the flowerly word is not belief. (There are some antithesis below)" & "I give out everything to others, and I have more and more possessions." & "Saint's way Is something that acts and does not contend. "

("Lao Tzu (老子), All chapters bibliographical " completed)