#and I don't think I have the best scope of understanding to dig into what was going on with him or even pikelan is general

[revvethasmythh]

I've just read through your FCG meta/response from yesterday and I love it. With regards to the popularity of Sam's characters (and I agree with a lot of what you said on why), how much of that do you think is connected to how shippable his characters are from a fandom POV? In campaign 1, Pikelan is so much less popular than the other 2 canon ships. In campaign 2, anything other than Veth/Yeza (almost no fandom engagement) is treated as a crackship (fjeth) or most people insist it's familial (widobrave). Then obviously there is very little shipping for FCG in general. Is it because he's a funnyman? Is it what you were talking about with flawed characters and how they wouldn't consistently serve a fave enough to be shipped with them? Is it just that he tends not to create conventionally attractive characters? I'd say the gulf in ship popularity for the canon ships of campaign 1 followed the lines of conventional attractiveness a little strictly for me to write it off as coincidence, even if there were other extending circumstances like Pike being away a lot of the time. And the fact that one of Sam's most popularly shipped characters (Loquatius) happens to be one of the more conventionally attractive ones. Although it's pretty clear from watching calamity that those two would've been a very popular couple regardless.

That became a vent but the main question is do you think that one feeds the other? Are Sam's characters less popular because they're less shippable by fandom standards? Or are they less shipped because they're less popular? Or do those two things feed one another? I'm sorry that was a lot thrown at you but since your recent analysis was so good that I was curious to hear your thoughts on this.

Okay, there's enough to unpack here that I could probably write a few essays in response, but I'm going to try to keep this as concise as I can, so I'll answer the TL;DR as best I can keeping the rest in mind. I do think the two things feed each other to some extent, though I find myself leaning toward thinking his characters are less popular because they're less shippable, and less shippable because of their unconventionality. This might be the cynic in me, but I've been in fandom long enough to know that shipping tends to be a huge motivator for folks, though I'm also sure the fact that Sam's characters tend to have BIG personalities affects if people want to engage with them or not as well.

Like, I have caught myself on many occasions considering how balls to the walls popular Widobrave would have been if Nott wasn't a goblin and therefore very unconventionally attractive (lots of monsterfuckers in the fandom do be fakes, as it turns out), or considering how Veth gets overlooked as a shipping option or even just as a character who is attractive because, well. She's short, she's fat, she's brown, she's loud, and she takes up space. Like, we all know that's the reason even if we don't say it out loud very often. It's why it's easier for people to relegate her as a wife and a mother, heavy emphasis on mother, and not have to engage much deeper with her character and complexities than that, and certainly not her shipping viability (hence the "Veth is Caleb's mom" thing that will never ever go away)

And with FCG, I have seen with my own eyes people say that he's not shippable because he's a robot. Like, I don't think it's a secret that a fair few folk think that way. I find it interesting that when Sam said on 4sd, "Fresh Cut Grass is desperate to do things like be able to taste, be able to smell, be able to feel love, the things that you all can do that I can't" I saw people say in response: "but he CAN feel love. The love of his friends," but I've also not seen a single interpretation that this may be a desire to feel love in a romantic sense on his part. Now, I'm not saying that's what Sam meant--it could be much more general than that, as FCG is still struggling with understanding their personhood and what it even means to feel love at all, platonic or otherwise--but the absence of the interpretation is not, uh, lost on me.

So, I suppose the point to make here is that a huge amount of fandom prioritizes shipping over just about anything else. Sam's characters rarely take the spotlight in shipping situations (though he does do a huge amount of delicious, subtle pining. it's his speciality), with the exception of Quay, who is probably his most conventionally attractive character apart from Tary, who didn't actively get a big romantic plot in VM the way Quay did in Calamity (he got the Sam Riegel classic--quiet pining). So if Sam comes out swinging with these non-traditionally attractive characters, as he basically always does, who tend to make a lot of jokes, because he's Sam, fandom seems to write them off as jokes and/or unattractive and not viable for shipping, therefore less interesting or having less worth engaging with entirely.

And here's the thing--it's not just Sam this is affecting right now, either! Look at Chetney. Chetney is the fucking spiritual successor of Veth Brenatto, like all croaky and horny and hilarious and A LOT. He's also old, which immediately took him out of the shipping pool for a lot of people, and it feeds into the way people think of him as just a joke. like "lmao look there's an OLD guy in the party this time, what a racket." Which is ridiculous, but definitely an opinion you're going to find floating around, both said and unsaid. And I think all you need to do is look at the stark absence of Chetney on AO3, the fact that there are all of 22 Fearne/Chetney fics (a ship that gets seriously played up in canon, just like Pikelan did during VM), and the absence of serious discussion about him to see a correlation between a character being traditionally shippable and one that the fandom deems worthwhile to talk about.

I mean, here's the thing--this is a limited discussion that I'm able to do right now. This could be an entire dissertation and there are complexities I'm not hitting on, I'm absolutely sure of it. But I would generally agree that the more unconventional a character is, particularly one who is unconventionally attractive, the less shippable fandom will view them and then they would be less popular in general, and I think that's something Sam runs aground of often, yeah. Like I said, I'm sure there are complexities I'm not hitting right now, but I do think, generally speaking, this is often true. Even though I think it's really unfortunate that fandom bends so heavily toward prioritizing shipping like that. But, like, they do

[promisinininining]

post project rambling

blood spills over is finished!

The whole thing has been planned from the beginning, but the exact scope of it kept creeping and creeping until it went form something I thought I could finish in around 5k words, to 10k, to 20k, at which point I gave up trying to estimate the length it would end up at. The last part (five of pentacles, reversed) ended up being longer than the previous parts added together, sitting at 26 out of 47k. Oops! That's longer than the previous longest fic I'd written on its own! It was only supposed to be a little thing to tide us over until the final part but ,,. uh, well, I got carried away a little. I had only written parts 1 and 2 before I started posting, and at that point I thought I was mostly done, so I thought it was safe to do so. (As an addendum, I did start posting because of my cute little stalker digging up my old accounts and sending abuse to those inboxes, where I hadn't closed anon off yet, so it was a bit of a spite fuelled adventure at the beginning.) I don't normally like to post things before they're finished because quite frankly I didn't trust myself to actually finish it, but I guess because I had a clear ending in mind, I was able to get there eventually.

I am not used to being in such a big fandom, so the support has been a completely new experience, and it's honestly been a little overwhelming (in the best way possible). I have been on the struggle bus these past few monoths with moving to a new house and a ton of unexpected bills on top of it, and I don't think I would have been able to get to this point without my friends and reviewers. I've met so many wonderful people, and it's been fun being in a fandom that isn't just me and my best buds.

About the story itself, there were a few deleted scenes that I wished I could put in, but ultimately decided against. Goro was initially going to physically meet Rumi, for one, but it didn't quite fit, and it felt like it was distracting from the main story too much, which was ultimately Goro finding something to live for. There was definitely not enough time for him to learn to love himself in just the short space of time where the third semester took place, but he has the rest of his life to learn how to, surrounded by people who are willing to show him by loving him back.

Sumire's relationship with Goro is also one that I really wanted to play with, especially as two extremely cynical people who don't really interact in canon. I feel like it's easy to just see Sumi as someone who's peppy and a little airheaded, but she's also extremely depressed, and put her entire existence on fulfilling her sister's wish, much like Goro's existence is based on killing Shido. I think they would understand each other intrinsically on a level that is very fun to explore, beyond "well we both love pego". Also, Atlus what the heck did you do with her. Give her to me. Let me sort it. I didn't think it helped her character any by being kidnapped for a week then beaten up and suddenly being like "wow you're right I can live as myself now". She needed to find that inner strength herself, with a little nudge from Goro who recognises the same pain. Of course, Goro's solution was "kill the person responsible" and Sumire can't reaaally do that with a hit and run, but she has a better support system than Goro and can learn to channel that more productively. If it's gymnastics, or something else entirely, I don't know.

I don't want to go too deep into the details with futaba and haru because this is already getting QUITE LONG, and I'm certain that there are only going to be a few people who have read this far, and those people already know how I feel about their relationship. I mean I was pretty clear in the fic itself, it's one of the less subtle things, I think; Futaba is the youngest, and she's extremely traumatised, and people have been enabling her bad behaviour by indulging it. It's 'helpful' rather than invasive, and okay, it saved Akira's life... but I do think there was definitely a better way to do it than bugging his phone. (Actually, another thing I didn't get to touch on is how the Thieves blatantly used Goro for their own plan regarding the interrogation room rather than attempting to understand him or his motives, perfectly fine with manipulating him back to thinking he's manipulating them, and how much that would fuck up someone who already has a complex about being used... but that's for another day and another fic, I think).

Finally, Maruki: this man is fucked up. I know it's easy to see him as sympathetic when he has the best intentions, and wants to 'help' people, but intentions don't matter when it comes to hurt and abuse. You can intend to be a perfectly kind person and still abuse your power over them. Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly, he's such a fucked up little skrungley boy, but he's definitely not the wet cat that he looks like at first glance. He's a researcher, forward in his field of cognitive pscience to the point where he awakened his own powers by himself, and has been shamelessly abusing his position as a therapist to get more information for his own gain (which, I emphasise, is to control the lives of everyone ever so that nobody suffers again) from the main cast.

Anyway, before I sign off, I will put out there that I have been thinking about Strikers, But With Baby Rei On Board. It's been spinning in my head since I finished. it's not going to happen (I refuse to do an entire game rewrite--just the third semester was an entire Thing, and I hate rehashing canon scenes), but hopefully you can glean some fun and entertaining thoughts about it. If you do, let me know! or don't.

A'ight, that's it from me. Thank you for reading. It's been... well, not long, but I feel like my writing is a little dense and requires some re-reads to fully experience it, so it FEELS longer than it is. Either way, I am kissing gently every single one of you who have made it this far down my massive ramble. Thank you, truly.

MIS

[deeprockrivals]

Chapter 3

Caverns of Horror and Beauty

The drop pod doors opened revealing a large cavern full of life. Bioluminescent plants and fungi littered the walls, floors and ceilings of the cave. Strange creatures flew over head, understandably panicked by the appearance of a large shuttle. As the team stepped out of the drop pod mission control began the mission brief.

"Alrighty team, there's been a concerning development on Hoxxes. Our rivals have erected a mining facility. We don't know the exact scope of the facility as they have some kind of signal jammer. We landed you fairly far but once you get closer we will lose communications. Good luck team!"

"Well we best start movin" said Gunner "Scanner says the facility is due north of here" the team set out across the cave system towards the facility. Jeremy was enamoured by every sight, he couldn't see how these caves were so dangerous. Just as he thought this he was knocked of his feet. As he looked up he saw what could only be described as a box with legs walk by him. "Goddammit Molly!" Yelled Gunner. Jeremy complained as Engi helped him to his feet and Molly planted herself next to a wall ahead. "Looks like we gotta dig" said Engi. Gunner nodded and looked at Driller. "Driller, do your thing"

Driller walked over to the wall and began digging north and the team followed him through the tunnel. They chatted as they walked farther and farther. "So what are we supposed to do when we find the mining facility?" asked Jeremy. "We need to identify if it's a big problem or not" replied Engi. "And take out that damn signal jammer" Gunner added. "Gunner you know we can't do that. If our rivals know we're messing with their plans, it'll be impossible to-" Engi was cut off by Gunner. "Hold on, do you hear that?" Driller stopped digging and the team stood listening for a moment. They could hear a muffled sound through the rock. As they were listening the silence was broken by Mission control.

"Alright team. You've reached the edge of the signal jammers, the facility should be straight ahead. Get in there, figure out what we're dealing with and we'll send in the drop pod. Good luck miners!"

As mission control signed off the sound had gotten closer and was the indistinguishable sound of something burrowing towards them. "Brace for contact!" Yelled Gunner as not a moment later a large green mass burst into the tunnel. Jeremy, Gunner and Engi were knocked back by debris. Jeremy looked up in fear, peering into the dust only silhouettes could be seen. The sounds of whiring drills and pained screeching filled the tunnel. As the dust began to clear the tunnel had fallen silent. "You alright Scout?" asked Engi as he pulled Jeremy to his feet. "Yeah, I think so." replied Jeremy "what was that thing?" he asked. "A glyphid pretorian, but don't worry Driller took care of it" Jeremy looked down the tunnel and saw Gunner patting a filth covered Driller on the back "Ha ha! Great job as always Driller!" past them the body of the pretorian lay still. It's face turned into what could only be described as bug spaghetti.

Before the team could catch their breath roars and screeches could be heard from the tunnel ahead. Gunners smile faded quickly "Swarm! Everybody out of the tunnel!" he shouted. The team began to run for the exit created by the pretorian. As they exited into a larger cavern Driller strapped his drills to his belt and pulled a flamethrower from his back. The roars were getting even closer now. "Lock and load boys it's gonna be a big one." said Engi. As the team took stance to fight and the bugs entered the cavern, Jeremy couldn't be more terrified.

To be continued...

[onceuponalegendbg-rwby]

Reaction to RWBY Crew Commentary V9

Alright, as is tradition at this point, got my copy of the Blu Ray so let's get started.

Okay, first of all, before I even hop into the commentary, I love that the title screen for the menu is Ruby falling through that mural in the OP. That is... That is so cool man! Whoever thought of that... I love you. You're a genius.

So we start off with Kerry, Eddy, Laurie (hope I spelled that right). And addressing how they had to work mostly from home on this volume and the challenges that caused.

Yeah, quick reunion was the right call. I mean, we did the Team RWBY split for two volumes (4 and 5) and then again in V8. Don't keep the girls apart again.

Little origins! Give me! Someone that starts how Ruby started...

I mean... yeah, I assumed Ruby knew about Penny from Weiss. Like... duh.

Same peeps for episode 2 but also with Paula? Again, I hope I heard that right.

Return of Blake the Book Nerd.

Yang and Blake kind of dig the Ever After, Weiss hates it, and Ruby is lost in her thoughts.

Luci improvised Little's little song.

Oh, Yang might still think this is a dream so nothing here matters... That's an idea. Everyone grieves differently...

Man I love Weiss in this episode.

"We can't have her be the butt of every joke." .... I want to see what they cut.

Episode 3! We've picked up Conner, Dustin, and Kiersi! Lost Laura and Paula.

The animation is so good man.

Putting away depression to help her friends.

Prince Trauma(TM)

Neo Scary.

Episode 4. Kerry, Eddy, Miles and Dustin.

Curious talk.

Self critic!

"She learned her lesson in the end, right?" "Oh, I'd certainly say so."

"If there's something Ruby can blame herself for, do it!"

"Cat wanted to scope out which one of the girls was weakest."

Shout out to the VAs!!

Chapter 5: Kerry, Eddy, Paula, Kiersi!

Cat is dismissive of WBY. Focuses only on Ruby.

The Blacksmith: The Ever After itself is now reaching out to Ruby.

Walking the line between the audience knowing that Ruby needs help and WBY not quite understanding how bad it is.

Making sure the emblem wasn't on Ruby's model after was a pain.

"Oh no, he's hot."

Episode 6: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Laura.

The difference between Jaune having already lived for many years with this guilt in the Ever After and RWBY who are still fresh.

How protective Kerry is of the Bee scene is amazing.

There was an idea that the vision Alyx saw was that she saw that someone in her party was going to keep her from returning home, and it ultimately is herself before the Cat kills her.

Ya'll have already seen other posts about Kerry and crew's thoughts on the Bee scene and what it means for the Yang and Blake so I won't go into all that because, yeah, can't say it better.

"They were actually in front of each other the whole time." Excuse me!

"Now she has to step up again." ....Ow.

Episode 7: Kerry, Eddy, Miles, Dustin? I think that's what I heard.

How the meeting went: "Well he can't have been doing nothing, that would be really disappointing." *Beat of silence* "Oh, that would be really disappointing." Evil geniuses.

Stuck in the pattern of trying to be the hero. Both incredibly busy and doing nothing.

"He's more lost than ever."

Fighting on a hill. I'd never considered the complications of that either.

Miles and Lindsey kill this scene man. It's so good.

Episode 8 (oh boy): Kerry, Eddy, Miles, Paula, Kiersi.

Had to cut an episode due to scheduling and budget. Scary to have to rework that.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

The flowers on the Tea Cups are Forget-Me-Nots.

Imposter Syndrome.

Neo landed on the Brother's Acre.

"Neither one of them won that fight." Neo and Ruby.

Episode 9: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Dustin, Kiersi.

Blacksmith is a therapist.

Weiss is the best, true.

What do the characters want?

Episode 10: Kerry, Eddy, Yssa, Kiersi, Dustin.

Aw, their kids contributed some of the background drawings for Yang and Ruby's room.

Furious Cat.

"She's the self that chose herself." "She emerges herself but different."

"I'm so happy." I love how much they love this show.

"How do we not redeem her but give her this sort of neutral path?"

Oh man, I'm tearing up before Somewhat even shows up.

Somewhat is no longer defined by having one purpose.

Dude, they keep talking about not wanting this to be filler so they had the backstory of the Brothers but I will always stand by that if the characters learn and grow as people then it will never be filler. So from the beginning this was never going to be filler.

"One small kindness, in one small moment, led to such a marvelous transformation." That line always destroys me.

Whelp, that's a wrap on the commentary for V9. Now... we wait.

[scoopersims]

The following morning, Edward approaches Henry Clarke's general store near the center of town, where the man himself is just getting ready to open up for the day.

"Mr. Clarke." Edward holds out his hand. "I'm Edward Barrett, from the Henford Journal."

Henry hesitates, then shakes Edward's hand. "What can I do for you, Mr. Barrett?"

Edward explains how he's doing some digging into some information he's heard about the mayor. He assures Henry that he's simply trying to hear all sides of the story to deduce the truth. Henry shares just that — the truth, including the fact that he was offered a not-insignificant amount of money by the mayor's office to put toward his business.

"I couldn't accept in good conscience. I've worked hard for what I have." Henry gestures toward the store behind them. "I provide for my family honestly, and I was not going to be bought by some politician."

Edward writes down what he's hearing, feeling a little shocked, but not much. Politics is a dirty business, he knows, but that doesn't mean the citizens don't deserve to know what's going on right under their noses.

"I understand, and couldn't agree with you more. I've a family of my own to provide for," Edward tells him. "I appreciate your willingness to share your experience, and therefore help me provide for them further." His tone is light, his expression warm, and it's sincere; though he does need to ensure he gets the information he's after, Edward does not want to come across as feigning kindness or trustworthiness.

Henry watches him carefully, then eyes the words scrawled all over Edward's notebook. His face twists into a frown.

"You know, Mr. Barrett," Henry says, pulling Edward's attention away from the small book and back to him, "I admire what you're trying to do. To ensure those around you understand the full scope of what is going on where they live and work." He pauses, surely feeling that he may be overstepping. Edward mentioning his family reaches a deeper part of Henry, though. "I might urge you to take a small step back from this matter before pursuing it further."

Edward's warm smile slips a bit as he tries to make sense of what Henry is trying to tell him.

"I was sure the decision I made was the best one for my business and for my family. Be certain you will be able to say the same."

Henry goes on to open his store for the day while Edward finds a quiet place to think on what he's been told. He has the opportunity to get in early and break this story wide open. He will no doubt be compensated handsomely for spreading the word on such a scandal. But Henry's words replay in his head. There are a lot of risks that come along with getting involved in things like this, and Edward may not be able to hold on to his job if he pursues it fully.

He has some more investigating to do, regardless, so some more time to think on it. Perhaps it's time to have a discussion with Lucy.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Lot is 1800s General Store by HollieBBtv on the gallery!

[therealjammy]

Well, the IRL best friend and I finished TLOU2 Remastered this afternoon and spent the rest of the day going through most of the behind the scenes stuff--there's still more to get through and I'm thrilled. My thoughts will be beneath the cut, so you all don't have to scroll through a massive post lol

(Also, this will contain game spoilers, for my followers who haven't played it/watched it but may want to; please keep that in mind!)

So as you might know, this was my first time actually experiencing the game by playing it myself; I watched other people play it when it was first released in 2020 (nearly four years ago! WTF), and let me tell you, the narrative points that hit me hard while watching other playthroughs hit me so much harder when it was me who was controlling the character, or watching the cutscenes with the controller in my hands. The one that filled me with the biggest knot of hot dread in my stomach was the game's ultimate climatic fight between Abby and Ellie on the beach in Santa Barbara. It was an incredible experience the first time around in watching (and many watches since), but the incredibility was tenfold, I feel, not only because I was in control of the moments and how long the fight really lasted, but because Abby is a character that has wormed her way into my heart and has a permanent place there; I didn't want to harm her, I didn't want to press the button when prompted, etc.; and the catharsis I felt, when Ellie lets her go, was an even bigger brick to the face.

Naturally, after finishing the game, we watched the documentary of the making of--something that got me incredibly excited, when it was first announced, because as a creative person I love seeing how a project of this scope gets made, from the initial concept to the process of building it and to the final product, and all the people it takes to bring it to life. My thoughts on this are a little scattered, and I'll definitely have to watch it again to gain a clearer picture, but I can definitely say it was inspiring and emotional to watch. Everyone, from the higher-ups at the studio to the entry-level people, the writers and artists and actors and sound designers, etc., was so goddamn passionate about this game, even when it hit challenges and roadblocks, and seeing them overcome those to create the best game possible was inspiring. It was lovely to see higher-ups recognise the culture of their studio and how the crunch isn't a very healthy working environment for anyone to work in, and acknowledge that that needs to change (though it was, in my view, slightly disappointing that it took a pandemic and a radical shift of working remotely to realise that).

The part that really got me angry and emotional was when Laura Bailey came on and described the visceral hate and death threats she received for portraying Abby, and how those same people threatened her newborn son, and how she had to make certain that none of these threats came from anywhere local due to safety reasons--and I had to pause and absorb and breathe, because I could not, for one, imagine being in such a position, and two, couldn't believe the fucking audacity and lengths that people--"fans"--will go to when they don't like something, or a character and those actions that character does. I'll never understand how people cannot separate an actor from their character, or what makes them think they can send death threats to a complete stranger who was merely doing their job (and doing it with passion and love and nuance). I know I shouldn't try to; it'll only lead down a black rabbit hole. All I can say, now, is that no one else could have played Abby with such nuance and heart, or brought her to such vivid life that I would stand in that character's corner and take up sword and shield for them.

I'll have more thoughts later, I'm sure, but for now, this is where I'll leave it. Very excited to continue digging into the BTS, and to play the game again with the commentary!

[quiveringdeer]

i have sent anon asks usually abt bertholdt and i am far too scared to actually interact w u so instead i am going to timidly ask if i can be 🪷 anon 😭😭 and send u this bertholdt ask im abt to send right now LOL sorry 🙁😭 my adhd has taken the best of me and my brain can’t go any further than “wow opposite attract 😃” in this fic im writing abt savior goddess oc x god of destruction bertholdt where OC is a titan shifter and her titan is praised to be the saving grace of her homeland while bertholdt’s infamous CT is known as the god of destruction; they are both used as tools for the gain of power, OC being seen as a savior and bertholdts titans main purpose is to destroy - including OC’s titan homeland. back when the warriors first receive their titans, one of their first missions is to attack OC’s homeland, which puts this border between OC and RBA + Marcel but especially bertholdt since they’re the closest which is evident throughout the whole story; they are no longer comrades/best friends, they are enemies - this is the first realization OC has at just 11 years old when she witnesses bertholdt, who has fully mastered the CT at just 11 years old, blowing up her homeland; one day, she’ll go to marley and do the same, for her homeland. anyways OC is sent to paradis bc Marley doesn’t want her homeland gaining any power with her titan and like I stated before, there is a clear border between OC + RBAM, they do not talk, they do not interact with each other, they only talk when it is necessary. OC is very determined to gain liberation and embraces her role as a god. Bertholdt is very passive and meek about his role as the god of destruction. Although OC is very determined about her role as the saving grace for her homeland, OC knows she is not fit for the role, even if she is full of determination and will and comparing this to Bertholdt, who knows he is fit for the role because someone has to get blood on their hands and he would rather it be him than anybody else. So OC may have more of a spine, Bertholdt has more of an understanding of what it is to be labeled a “god”. so essentially, the relationship between OC and Bertholdt is savior and destruction, bertholdt is bound to destroy the world around him and OC is bound to save this world. Bertholdt is the forest fire and OC is the seed thst grows out of it. They are interconnected, no matter how much they’ve grown apart, one cannot exist without the other. Bertholdt will always seek to be saved and OC will always save him. anyways my question is, since I really really like the way you write, how do I write or better the connection (both romantic and non-romantic) between OC and Bert? i want it to be deep and full of meaning and angst and toxicity but everything I write is very surface level :(

IM SORRY ITS SO LONG!!! I DIDNT EXPECT IT TO BE THIS LONG!! :O

😲 First off!

Please don't be intimidated by me!!! I am but a ridiculous being who spends entirely too much time fantasizing about fiction worlds and characters ☺️ But you can totally be 🪷 nonnie!

Also, I'm so honored you'd write me like this since I feel like I so rarely post legit writing here. It means so much that you think so highly of my works!

Okay, now for my commentary, which may not be the best cause it's late but I didn't wanna wait to respond cause I might forget

I really dig this idea! I'm seeing some similarities with ideas I've had clunkin around my head about other nations outside the continent and Paradis, having been blessed with the power of titans but maintaining and utilizing them in a less power hungry way than Eldia did. And thus keeping them under wraps throughout the wars and all that-outside keeping their communities safe.

I guess to begin I want to pose a couple questions that may turn this into a way bigger fic scope than you want it to be so feel free to ignore!:

with OC being from a different homeland (so not Marley) how does she grow up and initially befriend Bertie and the crew?

In the same vein, how does Marley possess the power to send her to Paradis? Is it as an exile?

Why does OC not feel fit for her role? She seems pretty damn fit for it to me with your description of her embracing the role to gain liberation for her people /and herself from exile?

I think it may be difficult to really build a more solid, deep connection between OC and Bertie if the rift happens so early on in their lives. Perhaps, they aren't aware that Marley is planning to use the others to destroy OCs homeland? Maybe initially they broker a deal to help train OC to better wield their titan in order to be a proper protector for their homeland. In reality Marley is wanting her beneath their thumb as another power seat in their own pocket. Her bonding with Bertholdt and the others just helps solidify this piece and so they have he accompany the crew on the Paradis mission to further prove her/her homelands allegiance to the Empire of Marley?

So then they have those extra years to grow closer and such and get to an age where romantic feelings could be sparked due to puberty and such. It could be more canon divergent from there, in that they return (maybe victorious over Paradis even) and Marley decides after that successful mission, that wiping out/conquering OC's homeland will put them into an even greater seat of power among the nations?

[looye29]

Is making money online easy? Everyone thinks it is so easy, just like a tree which produces the money, we bring the bag and cut the paper money and fill our pockets. It was not so easy before launching the perpetual income 365. Launch of it makes so easy for newbies to make money online. What is Perpetual income 365? More or less, it's a product and preparing items that will tell you the best way to bring in cash online through offshoot showcasing. Honestly, that is the essential essence of the framework, notwithstanding the absurd cases on its business page about utilizing a mystery Netflix calculation to make this framework work. Fundamentally, you will be told the best way to advance the Perpetual Income 365 framework and make member commissions through email promoting. You get a scope of presentation pages and email swipes. Your activity will be to direct people to those pages, gather messages, and send your clients messages about the framework afterward. Ideally, some of them will purchase and make you some cash. It is all about affiliate marketing and cold emails. It works in both manners. You will sell products and earn the commission. Sometimes you must pay a little amount for marketing or email sending, or sometimes it is free. Are you curious to know the features of perpetual income 365? So, let's talk about features and work. When you make your installment, you get quick admittance to the course of member advertising. Register with one click name and email After that, they will redirect to a page where a video link and text link appear They will teach you and will guide you on how to use perpetual income 365 Testimonials are also there for your help Success stories are also available on this page After that, they will give you 14 days free trial with the cost of $9 If you agree after 14 days, they will give it to $49 per month Courses are available for your help Owner of Perpetual income 365 The maker, Shawn Josiah, is a successful 7-figure internet entrepreneur and also a proud member of the Clickbank Platinum circle, has performed practically all the work for you. You get a free site. You need to submit and follow the course. At that point, you can gain unlimited cash through it. I honestly didn't comprehend what it was attempting to sell. I couldn't understand it - both the video and text solicitations are madly long, and the substance is yapping insane. It clarifies something about the "Miniature Commitment Consistency Compounding Algorithm - absolutely over my head. This "framework" is supposedly co-made by a riddle individual, Mr. X, an information researcher who works for Netflix. Honestly, the story is refusing, and a portion of the tributes are phony. It is an innovative and adaptable stage that empowers you to bring in ideal cash on the web. You will have the option to gain an excellent month to month income through subsidiary promoting by adhering to the manual's directions. You can gain up to $433 in a day by making more deals through your website page. Perpetual Income 365 empowers you to appreciate the advantages of the partner market. It comprises certified methodologies for subsidiary and advanced promotion. You will have the option to make a lot a larger number of deals than before by driving more traffic. You can procure a considerable sum usually, regardless of whether you don't work. Perpetual Income 365 Videos Perpetual Income 365 course is isolated into different recordings that permit clients to find out about partner showcasing from the beginning. Shawn digs into other subjects through the videos and permits even the novices to make up for lost time without any problem. The main video imparts to clients the fundamentals of partner showcasing and how everything works. Clients will figure out how to ascertain ROI and rapidly make sense of their breakeven point through associate promoting. The following video permits

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[noodlegirl-googlyeyes]

Hollow Knight spoilers, idk. its like a 5-year-old game so like whatevs but i will say if u wanna play it and haven't, it is best enjoyed without the kind of spoilers im gna have under the cut. gonna talk abt my thoughts on the first final boss. also its a longass post so, like. yaeh.

final bosses of games(i know HK has other final bosses lol) can have a lot of different aesthetic vibes. the way a boss looks and moves, the music and audio, the way the boss is framed within the environment, and the way it is depicted(or not depicted) prior to the fight itself all play into this 'vibe'. the thing about hollow knight and the battle against The Hollow Knight itself is, that 'vibe' is both extremely unusual on purpose, and incredibly emotionally heavy and complex in a tragically beautiful way.

the last game i beat before hollow knight was metroid dread. no spoilers for that game, but the final boss of dread had a very stereotypical 'final boss vibe'. fuckass huge and cunning, consciously villainous character at the height of their power: Samus's greatest challenge yet. at various points through the fight, i found myself alternating between thinking "oh fuck, im gonna get my ass handed to me" and "gonna fuck this fucker the fuck UP ya bastid". it's a good boss battle with a lot of emotional weight.

but THK(or The Hollow Knight, the character/boss itself) was.... i don't know what exactly i was expecting. THK is not a villain, but a victim. it's not consciously evil or at the height of its power. and i sort of knew that going into the black egg, but i was not prepared for what it would actually look like, at all.

it's hunched over, missing an arm, its legs are bowed out and bent all weird like it can barely even muster the energy to stand. over all else, it just looks so... tired. and that's not just in its first animation, the way it moves gives off that feeling of a being who is running on mere fumes and has been for a long time, exhausted beyond imagining but the job isn't done, and so it has to keep going, keep digging deep, keep fighting.

ok now im gonna reference a bunch of more commonly talked about theories, but hollow knight(the game) is ultimately full of mysteries within the lore so this is all very much subjective and open to interpretation.

the radiance infects bugs through their dreams, right? she gets in through their dreams and corrupts their thoughts and hopes, breaking down their higher willpower until all that's left is this base primal violence. in the pale kings famous speech in the abyss climb he refers to the ideal hollow vessel as having "no mind to think, no will to break, no voice to cry suffering", because a being like this has nothing for the radiance to corrupt. this is all, like, my cliffs-notes understanding btw, and isn't really the point of this post.

the point is that we know that THK had failed, somewhere along the line. it's thoughts, thoughts it wasn't supposed to have, had been corrupted. to have a 'will' one must have a goal, or something to fight for. something to fight against. THK was, more or less, just supposed to be vibing, chained to the ceiling for eternity. the path of pain cutscene provides the best explanation as to why this happened, but all that is beyond the scope of this post.

then there's its 'no voice to cry suffering', which THK still doesn't have - the only sound it makes is the trademark infection roar, which, well, comes from the infection. the important part of that line is actually what it doesn't say, because it doesn't say THK does not suffer.

if you really feel like tearing your heart open with a spatula, btw, look up the Pure Vessels dream nail dialogue from the godhome fight. my heart 🥺

anyways, let me walk you through my emotional experience with THK's boss battle. first it drops down from its chains as seen above, and instantly, i'm not thinking, "oh fuck im screwed", im not thinking "gonna mess u up lol".

i see that and all i can think is, "you poor thing. i am so, so sorry."

but the madness of glorious combat overtakes me. i die a few times, then decide to go get the last nail upgrade and do other stuff around the map before beating the game for the first time. i come back eventually and... die a bunch more, mostly during phase 2. then, on a run where i'm feeling pretty confident, i get to phase 3, and i actually am getting into that mindset of "its fukin over u asshole! i got this! ur dead!"

then THK starts doing this:

its fucking. stabbing itself, over and over. this is a great opening to walk right up to it and get a massive amount of damage in on top of the damage the boss is literally doing to itself. unfortunately, i mostly missed it the first time because i was crying too hard.

theres 2 main theories for why THK does this that i've heard of; one being that its doing it to release more infection out of itself to be more powerful, the second is that The Hollow Knight, with its splintering will and thinking mind, sees and understands on some level what i, as the knight, am trying to do, and is doing what it can to help me in spite of its purpose and in spite of the radiances' influence.

i beat THK that attempt. i had maybe 5 deaths in phase one, at least 10 or 12 in phase 2, but none past that. but like, i didnt want to. all that pride i had in besting this difficult opponent evaporated. all i could think at that point was "not like this. please don't make me do this."

the first theory doesn't really resonate with me, because phase 3 only introduces one new attack, where the infection itself literally picks THK up and ragdolls it into the air, before just. brutally smashing it onto the ground a bunch to try and hit the knight. this attack does double damage, but it's also not super hard to dodge. if the infection was forcing THK to stab itself to become more powerful, it was not an effective strategy. using THK itself as a blunt weapon to beat the player character to death feels, to me, more like a wrathful punishment for THK itself. the fight gets significantly easier in other ways as well; THK's terrifying barrage of rapid-fire huge attacks is slowed by extra mini-staggers and the entire rhythm of the fight gets really thrown off.

hollow knight is a good fucking game

but i did want to beat it, also, because THK is a vessel, just like me. and it had suffered so much, for so long, and i was the only one who had any ability to do anything to help it. in my mind, as a person playing a video game, i went from "i can't look at this horrific a tragedy" to "this is terrifyingly difficult" to "i'm better and stronger than you and i will fuck you up" to "no, not like this, please stop hurting yourself, please stop helping me", and finally to "i'm so, so sorry, but it will be over soon. it wasn't your fault. i'm going to fix this, but it's too late for you and i am so sorry" in one boss battle.

[wannabegwenstacy]

Eden's Favorite Fic's (BTS Fic Recs)

Updated Version: Here!

Note: In the past I haven't indulged in tumblr fics often but I recently (past 3 months) have been reading quite regularly & am planning on branching out a bit. To keep track of the ones that I have enjoyed & the ones that I have even came back to I'm making this list. Again, I haven't been digging into the tumblr fics world for long so for right now its a very short list. I'm hoping with time I can get more fics of different types on here (btsxbts, some gender neutral xreader ones, & more ones that I genuinely like)

About me to understand what's going to be on here:

Age: 21 (99' liner)

Sexuality: Bisexual

Pronouns: She/Her

Ult Bias: Yoongi

Trio: Rap Line

I am OT7. I do enjoy smut but don't think it is necessary to FF. Overall I just want a well-crafted plot that makes sense. I read for entertainment & to escape. But I still need some form of realism (just me personally) to follow the trail of events. PSA: I'm trying to find a broader scope of writers I like but for right now I don't have many. There are gonna be some repetitive writers for now.

______________________________________________________________

Kim Namjoon:

- Librarian Namjoon Universe by @jungshookz

Beauty & the Bookworm (I love this concept SO MUCH)

Pairing: Cute, Good Boy, Nerdy, University Librarian Namjoon x Bratty, Semi-Popular, Procrastinator, University Student Reader

Word count: 20.8k

Summary: You're a procrastinator big time and you may or may not be failing. To get some extra credit you begrudgingly take the library assistant opening where you work under strict dorky Namjoon. Passive aggressiveness, cuteness, fluff, & some smuttiness arises.

Jealous-Boyfriend-Librarian Namjoon (Drabble)

Pairing: Jealous Boyfriend Librarian Namjoon x Oblivious Cute Girlfriend Uni Student Reader

Word count: 3.4k

Summary: You take an Art History Course and end up needing a tutor. Joon offers to tutor you but he doesn't know shit about Art History so you end up getting tutored by an ArtHoe Taehyung that may or may not like you but you are oblivious to this and Joon gets super jealous.

Kim Seokjin:

- Hockey Player Jin by @ve1vetyoongi

HEART OF GOLD (BLADES OF ICE)

Pairing: Sweet Hot New Hockey Player in Town Jin x Ex-Figure Skater (who has a history with jin) Reader

Word count: 20k

Summary: After a fall during figure skating practice dashes your dreams of competing at nationals, you vow to hang up your skates for good. That is until you cross paths with Kim Seokjin, captain of the ice hockey team, who is determined to get you back out on the rink and melt the ice in your heart. (Jimin is a bully in this and their other k-pop idols as characters. Very Very Fluffy and Hallmark Christmas Movie-ish so be aware of that. Overall, it's just cute :) )

Min Yoongi:

Note: these are all but one by the same writer @jungshookz & are written from the pov of a female reader. I'm gonna try to find some gender-neutral fics but for now, if you are female-identifying I really enjoyed these! :)

- Mechanic Yoongi Universe by @jungshookz

Baby, You Can Drive My Car (My favorite AU Fics I've read so far on Tumblr!!)

Pairing: Tatted, Mic Drop Era, Mechanic Min Yoongi x Spoiled Rich, Inexperienced, University Student Reader

Word count: 24.6k

Summary: Welcome to Min Mechanics - What can I do for you today, doll?

Maybe She Can Drive His Car

Pairing: Oblivious, Hot, Boyfriend, Mechanic Min Yoongi x Adorable, Spoiled, University Student, Jealous Girlfriend Reader

Word count: 11.6k

Summary: Yoongi's ex is back in town for a visit and you would be lying if you said you weren't slightly envious of a) how knowledgeable she is about stupid cars and b) how well she gets along with literally everyone.

- Uni Yoongi x Nerdy Reader (mini series) by @jungshookz

Note: these are all drabbles I'm gonna link my favorites in the series. I'll probably add more later.

Cocky Uni Student Yoongi x Nerdy Reader:

^^This is the start of the mini-series, recommend you read it first!^^

The One with the Scrunchie:

Contains: smut, a super cute scrunchie turning into a kink of sorts, slightly insecure Yoongi, experienced Yoongi, slightly inexperienced reader, shy about their own body reader.

Yoongi always had an Overactive Imagination:

Contains: talking about sex, implied smut, reader trying to be productive while also being horny, Yoongi being super distracted and horny.

"I'm gonna need you to shut up now please"

- CEO Yoongi Universe by @jungshookz

Suit&Tie (First Fic in the series)

Pairing: CEO Min Yoongi x Secretary Reader

Wordcount: 21k+

Summary: Young Intimidating Hot CEO Yoongi, Clumsy Secretary Y/N who loves Sugar, Best Friend Jimin. Funny Awkward Meeting that sets up the whole plot, was like reading a Kdrama in book form.

The One Where Augst D makes a Comeback (Favorite Fic in the series)

SPOILERS READ PRIOR DRABBLES TO CATCH UP!! (I recommend The First Date, The One Where Yoongi is Just a Little Jealous, The Proposal, The Wedding, Baby Makes Three, Baby Min's Timeline, The Birth of Baby Min, Daddy's Little Girl, Who the Hell is Augst D.

Pairing: CEO Min Yoongi x Secretary Reader

Word count: 6.5k

Summary: Yoongi finds out you faked an orgasm and he's going to gi-give it to you more ways than one.

- Demon Yoongi by @jungshookz

Hellish (I got some feelings for incubus Yoongi not gonna lie)

Pairing: Bratty, Super Sexy, Sex Demon, Mint Min Yoongi x University Student, Non-Supernatural Believer Reader

Word count: 22.1k

Summary: Jungkook is your clueless, energetic best friend. Wonho is a character in this fic, You are dragged into summoning a demon one night by your overly excited to be summoning a demon? best friend Jungkook. Spooky but Kind of Sexy Shit Happens! (This is probably my second favorite Yoongi Fic I've read!)

- Basketball Captain Yoongi by @jungshookz

Basketball Captain Yoongi

Pairing: Cocky, Popular, Charming Captain of the Basketball Team Min Yoongi x Water girl University Student Reader (who has been crushing on Yoongi hard for some time)

Word count: 18.4k

Summary: Jungkook is your athletic bro of a best friend that signs you up to be his replacement as the water boy (girl in this case) after he makes the team. You have had a pathetic schoolgirl crush on Yoongi for a while and is basically the only reason you agreed to be the water girl aside from spending time with Jungkook. It's fluffy & smutty!

- Android Yoongi @jungshookz

Technologically in love (..I cried! but I also smiled a lot so you know this is well written)

Pairing: Personal Assistant Prototype but SUPER Lifelike Android Min Yoongi x Messy, Junkfood, & Cartoons Loving Reader (basically your early 20s living alone kind of vibe)

Word count: 24k+

Summary: You live in a Detroit Becoming Human type universe but prior to a lot of the advancements. Androids are already a thing but not to the level the M1N Y00NG1 is yet. You are best friends with all the boys and they happen to be engineers which is how you ended up with Yoongi in the first place. Namjoon created Yoongi as a personal assistant prototype android & you are told to live with him. Things get fluffy, SUPER ANGSTY, and super smutty!

- Listen Closely by @avveh

Listen Closely ( sexiest Yoongi fic I have read so far, I kept wanting to go back and read again)

Pairing: Tsundere Office Worker Min Yoongi x Hardworking Office Worker Reader

Word count: 12.2k

Summary: Unintentionally, you stumble upon something that makes you view your coworker Min Yoongi in a whole new light. (SMUT 18+: Masturbation, voyeurism, exhibitionism, breathplay, spanking, degrading names.)

Jung Hoseok:

- Secret Boyfriend Hoseok by @kpopfanfictrash

Keeping a Secret (this took me places...Idk about you but I have trouble finding really good Hoseok fics and this one was perfect. One of my favorite fics on this website)

Pairing: New Relationship Dom Hoseok x New Relationship Tease Reader

Word count: 3.7k

Summary: You and Hoseok have been hooking up for a few weeks now. No one in your friend group knows. What happens then, when he shows up at movie night looking better than anticipated? SMUT!

- Studio Sex Hoseok by @joonbird

Studio:

Pairing: Boyfriend BTS Hoseok x Girlfriend Reader

Word Count: 5k

Summary: Hoseok is stressed about his upcoming mixtape, so you decide to swing by his studio and help him relax. (Hobi being the beautiful glorious sexy man he is and putting those ungodly hips to use!)

Park Jimin:

- Jimin and His Pregnancy Kink by @boymeetsweevil

ME, YOU, AND THIS THING WE HAVE BETWEEN US (NSFW)

Pairing: Sweet Caring Domestic but Horny Jimin x Pregnant Hormonal Reader

Word count:~3.7k

Warnings (aka what to prepare for): everything is graphic and gross lmao, blowjobs (face f*cking), boob job (not the one w/ silicon inserts), cunnilingus, dom!jimin if u squint, cumplay if u squint again, dirty talk/degrading language, penetrative sex (doggy style), unprotected sex, PREGNANCY KINK that’s a big one

Summary: You’re pregnant and Jimin is…happy about it (If I remember correctly this one is 25% cute domestic Jimin trying to calm his hormonal pregnant partner and 75% pure filth aka Jimin having a pregnancy kink and trying to hide it but not well at all. This is however my ultimate fav Jimin smut I have ever read!)

- Crush/Neighbor Jimin by @sketchguk

Lover to Lean On: (I absolutely adore this fic. Overall it's just really well written and I felt like I was watching a show in my head rather than reading a short Tumblr fic. Highly recommend it!)

Pairing: Cute Customer & Neighbor Jimin x Florist Reader

Word Count: 19.9k

Summary: For months, you can hear your no-face neighbor and his ‘girlfriend’ singing and dancing and laughing and falling in love. Above all, you can hear their bed banging against your shared wall, and they won’t ever let you sleep. You’d much rather stay up at night worrying about your own problems, like the weight of an unrequited crush, so of course, you’re bitterly single. But one day, the apartment is radio silent. And one day slowly turns into one week and then into an immeasurable amount of time since you’ve heard his laugh. So on Valentine’s Day, when you’re missing it the most, you beg your neighbor to open up to you with cookies in one hand and two broken hearts in the other.

Kim Taehyung:

-Roommate Taehyung Universe by @jungshookz

Stuck with You

Pairing: Frat Bro bit of an asshole Roommate Kim Taehyung x Clean Organized bit of a Pushover Reader

Word count: 37k

Summary: Kim Taehyung becoming your new roommate is definitely up there on the list of the worst things to ever happen to you. Librarian Namjoon is your Best friend and ex-roommate. Frat bro Jeon Jungkook makes an appearance. There is so smut and implied smut.

The One with the One Year Anniversary (Drabble)

Pairing: The cutest domestic boyfriend Kim Taehyung x girlfriend reader

Word count: 4.6k

Summary: NO SPOILERS! so I'm going to give you a quote: "well, um, look! I made breakfast for you. f-for us!" Also, SFW

Jeon Jungkook:

- Gamer Jungkook by @softyoongiionly

PRESS START (this is the cutest fucking smut type fic I have ever read! it is so pure and is the exact type of relationship I want! IT MADE ME SIMP SO HARD!) gender-neutral I believe!

Pairing: Night owl Gamer Domestic Boyfriend Jeon Jungkook x Witty Domestic Cutesy Relationship Reader

Word count: 5.5k

Summary: A night in with your boyfriend Jungkook includes all kinds of things: anime, witty banter, snacks from 7-Eleven and, you know, sex. (GREAT READ!! I AM A SIMP FOR THIS FIC!!)

[who-is-page]

We sort of started this discussion at Chimeras' Othercon panel, but I wanted to keep it going so I figured I would send an ask. What do you think it would mean for our community to drop the focus on voluntary and involuntary identities? I agree that we fundamentally should, but a bunch of things immediately jump to mind.

Our community has spent years leaning heavily into the lines between voluntary and involuntary identities and taken special care to make massive distinctions between them, leaving little to no room for grey area. It's no bit surprise that alterhuman spaces have had actual, legitimate, longstanding issues of grilling and gatekeeping. Nonhumans with nuanced and complicated identities are forced to shove themselves into a box to fit into the community, and the ideas we have about certain identities needing to be involuntary are absolutely baked into many aspects of our community and its history.

At the same time, we have used this unjustified gatekeeping in part to protect the community from genuine threats and appropriation of our terminology. The way we have limited our concepts of who is allowed to identify in what ways is generally wrong and has no doubt harmed a subset of kin, but at the same time is understandable in the sense that it has a cause. Yes, this was an issue even before KFF, but KFF certainly don't make it easy to create space for genuine voluntary kin and other voluntary alterhumans.

How do we create the space for nuance and fluidity and complexity in these terms and identities after we have spent so long defensively creating rigid boundaries and restrictions regarding the ways people are allowed to identify? How do we address community gatekeeping while also protecting our community from the people who use our identities and terminology in bad faith?

I have a lot of ideas, but this is obviously a very complex topic that we can't just solve in a day. I was just curious to hear your thoughts, if you had any. Hopefully once our personal website is up one of our first essays will be about this issue. (Also, how is Page? /hj)

So I know we’ve been sitting on this ask for... -checks watch- ...almost two weeks now, but it’s genuinely because I just wasn’t sure how to answer it for a good long while, and I didn’t just want to throw out some haphazard, half-hearted answer to such important questions. So here’s our thoughts on the debacle.

Voluntary and involuntary is a focus I doubt we’ll ever see any of the alterhuman communities permanently drop, for several reasons.

The first and foremost being that, by the definition of the term “alterhuman,” defined here as “a subjective identity which is beyond the scope of what is traditionally considered ‘being human’,” both experiences at their most extremes technically fall underneath the label, rendering the distinction (to some) vitally important to helping understand and define their identity/identity labels. The difference between KFF as an alterhuman identity and forms of otherkinity as an alterhuman identity, for instance, as you mention.

And then there’s the societal factors to consider. People like nice, neat little boxes: people like to be able to compartmentalize their communities, with no overlap, with no spillage, with no complications or grey areas or nuance. It’s a fact of life that people often instinctively want to water down labels and identities into more easily digestible formations, though there are arguments around why people precisely do it. And, as you point out, that often means alterhumans and nonhumans with more complex or nuanced identities typically get shoved into one box or another that they may not perfectly fit into.

When we zero in on specifically the otherkin community, this becomes even more complicated given the community’s rife history: abusive p-shifter groups, the appropriation of language by roleplayers and fiction writers, zoophiles attempting to forcibly associate otherkinity with pro-bestiality movements, and the blatant general misinformation spread by laymen and academics alike, just to name a few relevant problems the community has faced and continues to face. The community is stubborn to a fault, largely because it’s had to be in order to survive. It holds to its preconceived notions and rigid boundaries like a dog with toy aggression to their favorite plush stegosaurus. Fittingly so, really.

So how do we take that stubbornness and change it to be more inclusive to our own? How could we, while still surviving all that onslaught and more? That’s the big question.

In regards to the larger alterhuman community, we’re blessed in the fact that it’s still such a young concept: it hasn’t quite yet had to face the “pathological anger” Religious Studies professor Joseph Laycock has described otherkin as bearing the brunt of. It’s still a community figuring itself out, with much of the anger you find related to it aimed at specific subsets of community within it, rather than at alterhumanity as a whole. And I think the fact that the alterhuman community is still metaphorically air-drying on a table means we have the opportunity to prevent anti-nuance and anti-complexity attitudes from taking hold in it. How we do that is another battle in itself-- I feel like the encouragement of inclusive dialogue, of open discussion intermingled with considerate or civil attitudes, within alterhuman-marketed spaces is a good starting point. I also think that the encouragement and legitimization of “alterhuman” as its own standalone term would be a positive force, where it functions as a broad, diverse identity label in addition to being an overarching, joining umbrella label. A label where someone doesn’t have to give details away of their identity if they don’t feel comfortable doing so, or shove themself into a box they may or may not actually feel they fit into. Something functionally similar to how many people use “queer,” if you will.

But that still leaves aside the issue of identity and terminological misuse, I am aware. And that is...an abstract thing to ward against, at absolute best. I think that the defining of our own spaces not only through our words but also through our actions would perhaps be the best thing we could do, realistically. The cultivation of websites, of group projects--books, zines, comics, pictures, forums, anything!--, of community-led conventions and meet-ups and howls and gatherings. Things which foster and build a community identity of sorts is the best defense against those who would try and distort that which makes us, us.

Zooming back in on the otherkin community, these answers change slightly, because--going back to the clay metaphor--the otherkin community has already metaphorically been glazed and baked (in the fires of hell). That history is cemented, the ways people have wronged it and continue to try and wrong it is cemented, the assumptions and attitudes are cemented.

With the otherkin community, I think that the burden of changing minds and pervasive attitudes falls a bit more onto the shoulders of “community leadership,” because of how the community functions and values both community experience and articulation. There’s a reason we don’t have a term comparable to “greymuzzle” in any of the other alterhuman communities, after all-- it’s a well-known and often aggravating quirk of the otherkin community, to hold certain individuals in such high esteem and put them on a pedestal because of their longevity and the things they’ve done and said. I hate to say that they have to set an example, but in the otherkin community that really is one of the best ways to advocate for change, or to push against those gatekeeping and grilling attitudes--by those who are largely well-respected putting forward ideas that have previously been mocked or disavowed, pushing debates on their legitimacy into community consciousness until it eventually trickles into community normalcy and foundation.

(This is, as you can imagine, a double-edged sword depending on how it’s used. But that’s a discussion for another day.)

That’s not to say that the ideas of creation and creativity with the goal of cultivating an inclusive community identity, like I suggested for the alterhuman community, is inapplicable to the otherkin community: but the otherkin community already has a long-term community identity, so it’d moreso be creation and creativity for the sake of formative inclusion. “History is always written by the winners” is a very, very literal phrase in its application to the otherkin community. Our community memory, for lack of a better way to put it, sucks from individual-to-individual. The future of the otherkin community, its eventual-history, is determined by its historians and creators of today: day-to-day arguments and discussions, unless deemed historically relevant by one archivist or another, disappear to the sands of time, and much more long-term recordings such as essays, websites, comics, etc., often go far beyond just its creators hands and get passed around and down for years, potentially. If you want a more nuanced and inclusive community, you have to dig up the clay for it, shovel by shovel, and bake it yourself, brick by brick, and eventually, with luck, or enough backing prestige, or just because those bricks are so astoundingly solid people can’t resist taking some to build their own foundations to nonhumanity, things will change. It will take time above all else, but once it’s there it will be impossible to remove, because people will just assume those bricks have always been there given enough years.

But those are just some of my thoughts and opinions on it. It’s an issue with so many layers of complexity to it, that there’s really no perfect answer out there that I can offer, and I know even what I’ve shared here has its flaws and drawbacks. I’m sure plenty of my followers also have additional thoughts on the subject, and I’d love to hear from other people what they think in the replies and reblogs.

(Also, Page is a very tired boi.)

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Finale Review: The Last Adventure! or So Long and Thanks for All The Ducks

Hello all you happy people. The day we’ve all simultaneously waited for and dreaded is here. The grand finale to a five year journey.. and for me an almost one year journey of covering season 3 as it came out. It was thanks to this show i’ve been able to make money doing what I love. Without it I never would’ve found my patreon Kev, and I never woul’dve had the solid focus to keep going as long as I have. And I never would’ve had all you lovely people reading my work. Thank you for that. I hope you’ll stick around even though the series is gone, I love you all. But as the sun sets on this series I have one last episode of the season, and the series to cover. I won’t be doing it in my usual recap style due to it’s sheer length and scope, but I promise you if you join me under the cut I will break down eveyrthing I can about this final adventure, it’s huge, awe inspiring twists.. and it’s heartwarming conclusion. It’s everything you could want from a finale short of a Grandma Duck Cameo, and i’ts under the cut with full spoilers. Seriously if you do not want any spoilers TURN BACK NOW. I’m opening with probably the biggest spoiler of the finale. 

I Think She’s A Clone Now You were warned. So.. Webby is Scrooge’s Clone, made by FOWL as part of a decades long scheme to find the papyrus of binding, and raised by Beakly to keep this precious child out of their sinister clutches. I have hundreds of reaction images, several for what the fuck.. none of them seem sufficient.. ALL OF THEM together like some megazord of what the fuck are not sufficient for how much this reveal caught me off guard. It caught ALL of us off guard. I’m sure even those who called it still were suprised that’s the direction it took. I think we all expected her parents died by FOWL, or her parents were FOWl with Pepper being one of them, or anything else. So naturally it took around 14 drafts, and me going the fuck to sleep as I had stayed up to watch the finale and thought I could just smoothly transition into writing the review despite there being a LOTTTTT to unpack.

Even after the recharge though this took a bit of doing... so now i’ve done it... what’d I think? Whelp....

I liked it. I like it the more I think about it. Even the problems I had with it just kinda melted away as I thought about it. I understand if you do not. This twist will not be for everyone, it changes Webby’s character and story entirely, ruins tons of fan theories, and in general is batshit even for a series that in the same finale, turned Manny into a shout out to Gargoyles, complete with Keith “My Body is Ready” David. This series is genuinely batshit and loves it, but this is a LOT to ask dramatically, a lot to rewrite expectation wise and a lot to thinka bout. There’s a reason besides sleep deprevation it took me a whlie to fully grasp how I felt. So if you don’t like it fine, but i’m going to make my best case. 

Starting with something that made me realize I fully like it: It dosen’t invalidate Webby’s charcter. The one little problem I had left was “Well dosen’t Webby having the McDuck bloodline mean she couldn’t be specail if she wasn’t a McDuck? That sure the rest of the cast are specail but you can’t be really important without it?” Honestly.. no. Webby is who she is not because she’s a McDuck.. but because she’s Webby. She got her martial arts and mystery solving skills through Beakly and being raised. She had intate talent sure.. but as we’ve seen with the boys through the whole series, talent has to be honed. Skill has to be earned and learned.  Webby worked hard to research other civilizations, worked hard to hone herself into a deadly fighting machine with her mother’s help, worked hard to be every bit as cool as her idol who turned out to be her biological dad. She earned her badassery, her wisdom and her courage SQUARE. 

And more than that she’s her own person. Her adoptive parent and biological parent are both paranoiacs afraid of betryal, unwilling to trust, and slow to let anyone in. By all accounts Webby should be the same.. but she’s not. Oh sure she has some paranoia and is willing to slit some throats, she was raised by the world’s best spy and is the daughter of the world’s greatest hero, that was never going to be gone entirely. But at her core she just wants to trust people. She just wants to love them and be loved. And.. that’s why her family loves her. Because she’s the kindest, the warmest and the best of them. They love her because she’s Webby and that’s she’s family, they could care less who she’s related to. All it really changes is how Scrooge acts around her and that gives us fans tons to work with. 

It’s also expertly revealed, which helped ease us into it. Webby is just as shocked and confused as we are and is seriously hurt, which makes her vulnerable to the villains. Kate Miccui deserves a goddamn award for voice acting and if their isn’t an award show for that their should be. While she’s been fantastic with Webby all series long this is her finest performance, going from Webby’s usual self, to all the hurt she goes through.. to her quitter moments at the end, calling Scrooge dad and giving out a little noise that makes it clear as Beakly tries to leave, that no.. she’ still her family.. she’s still her mom and she’s not going anywhere. 

As for the concept being a bit ridiculous yes it is.. but so is this universe. This universe is entirely insane in the best fucking way possible: I mean.. look at this final group shot. 

We have an old man whose somehow still alive simply because he was too busy to die, an inventor whose cloned himself multiple times so clones are fesable and is probably a clone himself given how the last finale went, an awkward armored superhero and his biotech filled girlfriend, a small boy robot weapon of discretion who put his head on his brother’s body, a no longer headless manhorse former harbinger of the apocalypse with the silky voice of keith david as one big homage to gargoyles, a lesbian living shadow and her sister, a superhero who based himself on a fictional character and his boyfriend/sidekick who by all accounts should be dead by now, a lesbian military superheroine from the moon, STORKULES COCKBLOCKER OUT OF MYTH, his moong goddes sister, two adopted family stunt pilots, a bunch of super intelligent mice, an odd duck whose kinda sorta dating a giant shrimp, his cousin with super luck powers, my globetrotting boys, an immortal treasure hunter and in the family proper: a former spy turned adopted mom of a clone, a woman who lived on the moon for a good decade, a man who once trapped everyone in what would essentially be the plot of the mcu’s second best work by pure accident, a blue boy whose piloted a plain, captained pirates, and has his own talk show, a green boy whose ran a multi-trillion dollar company, nearly destroyed all of time and space and is under investigation for fraud, and a red boy who has a hulk-esque rage filled embodiment of all his suppressed emotions, whose fondest wish was tall legs, and who can easily take out a giant magica supermachine with some fancy wiring. So the richest duck in the world having a clone daughter, while divisvie and what not.. is far more plausable than we give it credit for. As are her new sisters who Id in’t forget but are part of the whole twist. 

So yeah, I like the twist and my nitpick is more that despite having a full season to set it up.. they saved it for the last episode. Instead of BUILDING on Webby’s desire to know more about her family and having the twins show up earlier.. it’s all shove into the finale. It’s a well done shoving but there’s so much that could be explored with Webby being Scrooge’s daughter, so much that futzes with the regular family dynamics and we don't’ get any of it. Sure it was probably saved for a possible season 4 but they treated this season as the last. Manny being an apocalyptic man horse voiced by the uber sexy keith david, and no I will not stop bringing that up even outside of it’s own section and why yes it is getting it’s own section, is the kind of revelation you can leave for one last episode. “One of the main cast is a clone” really isn’t and that’s disapointing. 

Especially since thinking back to life and times.. Webby IS a lot like Scrooge was before circumstance hardened him. She’s tough, resourceful.. but also has a peppy spirit to her. It adds interesting shades to her character, where she zigs where Scrooge zags, how much of it is her upbringing with Granny versus his with his parents, how much did Beakley play into it. There’s A lot to dig into and given I have most of the series left to review, I will get to dig into it, and there’s a lot to be explored in fanfic so if I wasn’t already planning a massive one before I sure as fuck am now. So it’s not a bad twist nor bad we get to write the future.. but I do wish the crew THEMSELVES had done more with it. Still my bar for “not fucking up the entire show” is pretty low after Star Vs ended with her committing implied genocide to stop a genocide and How I Met Your Mother ended “But the real journey was in how much I want to bang, bang bangity bang I said a bang bang bangity bang your aunt robin now your mother conveniently died”. I can handle “This twist is kind of weird but also really intresting.” If the twist isn’t for you, as I said i get it. This is my opinion. Now for the thing I won’t shut up about. 

I LIVE AGAIN:

Look i’ve made no secret how thirsty I am for Keith David nor how much of a national treasure I rightly believe him to be. He’s one of my faviorite voice actors, with a mind boggling number of awesome rolls, mostly recently as a fowl mouthed coffe cup encouraging a teacher to sabotage his rival teachers breaks on close enough. Even if I didn’t like Gargoyles, which I do, i’d have an entire section talking about that Manny reveal. 

Manny was already objectively one of the best parts of the show, a hilariously weird addition that was also relatable as he just wanted to fit in. I did not know you could make him better. Then they gave him Keith David’s voice and revealed he’s one of the four horseman of the apocalypse, but doesn’t want to end the world he just wants to be a normal dude, AND turned him into a shout out to the last part of the disney afternoon they hadn’t touched, my favorite part of it and a show i’ve been sitting on watching in full for far too long. Motherfucking Gargoyles. 

But given how unique it was for the Disney Afternoon and how much Disney had no desire to ever reference or use the franchise, still no fucking clue as to why they are sitting on money here, I expected it to be sadly but understandably left out. Instead they made Manny into an expy for them, gave him the voice of their leader Goliath, the voice of an angel, and had him say “I LIVE AGAIN” complete with the utterly transcendent theme song. Seriously give it a listen. 

So yeah I couldn’t not mark out at this. Amazing fucking stuff and almost as unexpected as the clone thing and easily my second faviorite part of the fiinale only NARROWLY topped by the curtain call. Which we’ll get to. Keith David took his time getting to this series but they saved the best guest voice for last. Utter tremendous. 

Huey Season?: I”ll save more of this for my breakdown as the season as a whole but yeah while the finale as a whole was good.. I do feel Huey got short changed. He got PLENTY of development this season, and some REALLY good scenes with Bradford.. but ultimately he got overshadowed by the Webby thing. it just never quite felt like Huey got a real resolution to his character arc the way his brothers did. He still got some REALLY good moments, his “Just cough up the information Bentina!” was one of his finest and Danny Pudi did his best. The BUILDUP was good but hte payoff was non existant and easily the weakest part of an otherwise triumphant finale. I feel the final plot was ultimately just a bit too jam packed to really have Huey feel vital to it the way Dewey was to the Della arc and Louie was to his own arc. Both tgot big emotional payoffs in his finale but the most I could gather here was he accepted adventure? I guess. It just really feels off, like I missed the payoff to everything when it’s probably just nonexistent and that bothers me a lot. In a finale that was almost all hit.. this was easily the biggest misstep. I don’t have as much to say here on it.. but that’s because it’s really that simple: they gave Huey’s arc a ton of build up in this last episode and some of his others, really made him into Bradford’s good counterpart.. then just sorta.. forgot it because “oh shit Webby’s scrooge’s daughter kinda need to pull focus here”. Had they given this arc at least one more episode, we might of had time for it. Granted i’m not sure how much they could get away with but we clearly needed at least one more episode and what they chose to jettision, the climax to Huey’s story.. was way more important than they clearly thought and i’m heavily disappointed. 

Bradford’s Big Hole Speaking of payoffs the missing mysteries payoff.. is a mixed bag. I expected all of them to combine some how into some elaborate plan I just wasn’t seeing. In hindsight it does make sense that wasn’t it: Bradford hates overcomplicated schemes, so his would be incredibly simple and require as few moving parts as possible. It still dosen’t stop the fact that the big plan to cap off the entire series built over a season... was to build a giant stygian hole of non existence to throw people into. 

Yes really. Instead of using the Payprus to write them out of existance, if carefully worded or try doing it all at once or anything practical.. Bradford just plans to shove everything he dosen’t want in the world anymore into a hole.  Look i’ts not like it ruins the episode, there’s still tons of tension from him holding Scrooge’s loved ones over his hole and threating to throw them into it’s gaping void. And it’s foiled by a 12 year old just.. shutting it off. Like I get him leaving an off switch on, that’s just common sense.. but why wouldn’t he have a remote or something to turn it back on? one with a password or something to lock it. There’s something inherently underwhelming about as series ending plan that can be summed up “hope no one shuts my unguarded hole. “

The finale does make for it by using the missing mysteries all in VERY clever ways. In fact every episode in the season had some sort of payoff here. It’s what makes up for how baffling the main plan is: every other thing, from the missing mysteries to the guest stars has lead up to this one moment, this one final adventure. Which leads me too

An Hurricane of Payoffs:

So from the top Challenge of the Senior Junior Woodchucks!: Isabella Finch herself ends up being VITAL to the story and to Bradford’s backstory, as does Junior Woodchucking as a whole. Quack Pack!: Gene is the fuel for Blot’s glove.. though he also fucks off right afterwords.. never to be seen again or help out at any point...

Double-O-Duck in You Only Crash Twice!: This was the most unexpected and elevated the episode in hindsight for me as what seemed like a waste of time.. wound up setting up the first part of the finale, and the final battle with Steelbeak, and in clever ways with Steelbeak using the intelliray on himself, Launchpad muttering the map in his sleep via his smart self and Dewey remembering the base layout. 

The Lost Harp of Mervana: Used as a lie detector for that heartbreaking interrogation scene. 

Louie’s Eleven: Introduced Daisy setting up Donald’s plot which i’ll get to. 

Astro BOYD: My baby boy comes back for this episode! He also gets one of the best lines of it “I’m a Head!”. That is the most ralph wiggum the boy has ever been. I’m so proud. 

Rumble For Ragnarok: Okay I was wrong nothing from this one comes back. Still a great episode. Same with the trickening. Both are VERY stellar episodes though, so I give it a pass. You can’t give a nod to EVERYTHING. 

The Phantom and the Sorceress: The Blot and Super Sayian God Super Sayian Lena, as well as Lena’s character development from said episode.  They Put a Moonlander on the Earth!: Launchpad helping Penny realize her purpose.  Forbidden Fountain: Jeeves is un-babied as a trap Let’s Get Dangerous!: Drake and Gosalyn Return, and Solageo’s Circut ends up being vital to the climax.. in the strangest and funnest way to say possible but still. It counts.  Escape from the Impossibin: Beakley’s near breakdown at the idea FOWL has come back. It was already heartbreaking and the first adventure had made it even more so.. but now it’s out and out DEVISTATING. The one thing after her daughter is not only back.. but SHE’S the reason he’s in Scrooge’s life and home and her giving up SHUSH has now left her wide open. 

The Split Sword: Probably the best out of all of these as it ends up directly playing into the climax in an awesome way i’m saving for Bradfords New Gods: Storkules shows up. Okay so that every episode claim bit me on the ass. Also when did these two meet? I mean probably at end of spear of selene but the more important question is WHY DID YOU ROB  ME OF THESE TWO MEETING AT ANY POINT IN THE SERIES. 

The First Adventure: Naturally the Payprus comes back as Does herons needling bradford to stop denying what he is. 

Fight For Castle McDuck: Suprisingly the blessed bagpipes ended up being VITALLY important. And giving us sexiest man alive infinity years running Keith David for an episode.  Last Christmas; Santa Cameo

Beaks in the Shell: Gandra being taken and the Lost Library being setup for this episode. 

Lost Cargo: The Stone of What Was. And Credit where its due what FELT like simply a filler episode with a tantengal connectoin.. ended up probably being one of the most important episodes. Fair play. 

Life and Crimes: Magica turning Bradford into a non sentient bird, like what happened to her brother.... proving once again this episode really REALLY needed as subplot attached to lead into the finale or something. 

Bonus Round: Pilot payoffs by the pound. Seriously Scrooge and Donald’s last lines to each other, the badass return of “I’m a Pilot”, more on that in a minute, and even other smaller call backs like “Keep Getting Up” and webby sucessfully getting some juice to Louie’s pride. All top notch stuff and it really makes the finale FEEL like one with all this coming back full circle. So i’ve hinted at it enough, let’s bring on the bad guy. 

The First Woodchuck

We’ve had some mixed payoffs so let’s get to one that’s just out and out excellent. Bradford Buzzard.. is the best villian the show ever had. Now I will give the caveat that my favorite forever and always will be

You know it, I know it. But Bradford is the best genuine threat of the series, with Marc Evan Jackson perfectly balancing his menace and genuine evil.. with his steadfast believe that he isn’t evil, and his calm, controlled business demeanor. It’s one of the best performances of the show and he deserves all the credit for it and after seeing him in supporting roles for his career, even if his role as Kevin on Brooklyn Nine-Nine is fucking awesome and I’m sad that show is ending, it’s nice to see him step into a big meaty role as the big bad and utterly nail it. 

And the finale.. pays eveyrthing off with him, apart from the plan itself perfectly. Starting off him being revealed as Isabella Finch’s grandson... was  a stroke of genius. I didn’t expect her to come back in play but it gives perfect reason both why he knew about the mysteries.. and why he’s like this. 

Like Scrooge did with his nephews, niece and daughter, Isabella dragged Bradford all around the world seeing the unseen, thinking it was fun. The problem was... Bradford HATED it. He hated every minute of it, like as one post pointed out Rusty Venture from the Venture bros, and felt he should be in school. He wanted a normal life and a normal world and not.. this waking nightmare. So to him, fixing the world, stopping this sort of thing is the only way and that doing so is a good thing. His problem is how he adapted to it.

We see that best in his mirror images, the people he’s in direct contrast with and the show knows it. Starting off with the one he’s not like at all is Scrooge. Part of what makes Bradford perfect is he’s Scrooge’s evil opposiite. The Luthor to His Superman, The Joker to his Batman, the Green Goblin to his Spider-Man, the Iron Monger to his Iron Man, the Sinestro to his Green Lantern. Both come from a long line of adventure but while Scrooge embraces that and loves it, Bradford hates it and wants to destroy it. One is energetic and always ready, the other’s calm, calculated. And one sees what he is.. and the other dosen’t. Simple as that.

But his other mirror’s are more like him, moving onto Huey. Their both woodchucks, both prefer caution and planning, and both want to make some sense of a nonsensical world. Both want to feel safe when they constnatly don’t. One’s prone to panic attack the other’s calm. But what makes Huey the better man... is that he accepts the world is the way he is. It goes all the way back to terror of the terrafirmains. While he was all for adventure he started his doubting things, not beliving things were real.. because the reality that there are some things you just can’t prepare for, just can’t know, and you can’t be always ready.. it shattered him. He nearly let himself die rather than live knowing what’s out there. Webby pulled him out of that, literally and figuratively.. and he never went back. Sure he still tries to have an order to things, still breaks when his structure’s broken.. but it’s gone from a paranoid fear of the unknown and weird to embracing it. To relishing in finding unsolved mysteries and new clues to unlock, to finding new things to explore. He went from seeing this chaotic world as something to run from, to embracing and studying it. To loving it the way it is the way his family loves him for who he is. Bradford.. denies reality belongs the way it is and wants to force it into what HIS idea of it is Superboy Prime Style. The world isn’t waht he thought it should be so he’ll MAKE it that way. Huey grew as a person.. while his arc didn’t have a full payoff.. it still pays off here by showing what he COULD’VE been. had he let his earlier fear and his always present neurosis drive him like Bradford has. Let his big brain make him think he knows what’s better for EVERYONE instead of using it to genuinely help people. Bradford lacks the boys heart and empathy and that’s why he fell. Huey had his family backing him, his best friends coming to get him, and his brothers ultimately rescue him. Bradford.. threw his only true ally down a styigan murder hole. 

Finally.. we have the one that’s not brought up directly.. but is very much there. Donald. While the two don’t interact hardly at all... it’s VERY fitting that Donald is the one Bradford picks to threaten Scrooge with. Like Bradford... Donald grew to hate adventure, he wanted to get as far away from it as possible and took it from his boys for as long as he could. Granted that was in part Bradford’s fault, and that was an INCREDIBLY clever twist: it dosen’t make him entirley responsible or anything that robs the moment of it’s imapct, Della still chose to take it out by herself, she still lied to Donald and she still got lost all by her own decision and impuslviness. But it fits perfectly into it: Bradford’s horrifying smile when Scrooge gets taken away from saving her is even WORSE now with full context, and it still fits that knowing about the project.. he’d want to set it up to screw up Scrooge’s life. I don’t think he sabotaged the rocket or anything, too obvious and something Della would’ve mentioned by now.. but he knew it was unfinished. 

Back to the parallel the diffrence is once again.. change. Donald let go of his hate of scrooge and his past and realized it wasn’t all bad. He let himself grow as a person after a decade of bitterness and anger. But most tellingly and poignantly is Quack Pack... both had a chance to make a world that was safe, normal and what they always wanted. Both out of terror of the danger of this world.  Thing is.. Donald’s was noble. He feared for his kids, his sister, his uncle.. loosing one again and any of them at all. He wanted a normal life to be safe, to hide from that.. but it’s not what THEY wanted or who they are. He accepted that’s not how the world works and how it does.. is still pretty great. And his growth shows: he’s ending the series planning to go off with his girlfriend globetrotting, KNOWING things might not be safe, but diving into adventure, having accepted it as part of him. He even finds some new family and takes in two girls who badly needed a home. He learned to accept things how they are... and Bradford refuses, not beliving in this world as it is and vowing to force it into the way he wants it to be. 

And it’s that inherent selfishness.. that makes Bradford the Cartoon Supervillian he desperatley claims he isn’t. Bradford dosen’t care how many lives it takes, how much worse it makes the world, or how many people he has to stab in the back... the world WILL be “normal”. Bradford cares for no one and nothing except his own ambition. He kills Heron despite her loyality, and his own clones who loyally served him.. simply because their chaos too. No one or nothing else matters, not how they feel, not their right to exist.. only HIS vision. If he wanted to keep the world safe he’d be more of a hero, if still throughly a bastard... but he dosen’t. He wants to make it “normal”. He wants the world the way he thinks it shoudl be and damn anyone else and perfectly represents all the old assholes like him today who refuse to accept something diffrent or against the norm because “that’s how it’s always been”.  Like those real world assholes.. Bradford is wrong. The Duckverse is beauitful how it is in it’s chaos and risk and love. And he just can’t see it because it’s not what he WANTS to see. 

And that’s why I also love the Sword giving him big, black and red classic villianous monster, slowly mutating him as he fights the duck family. Because that’s his inner strength: he may deny he’s a villian but he’s forcing his will on others, refuses to see the world as it is for selfish reasons, and is willing to kill his own friends and allies if it means getting it. He’s the bad guy. And while he denies it to those around him... it’s clear from the fact the sword is working for him that he KNOWS IT, he knows he’s a villian and this is just what he wants but is so up his own ass he can’t SAY it or admit it. And in the end he’s fully beaten by the fact that his forcing his will on everything’s what’s unnatural: While his plan was ingenious, have scrooge sign a contract agreeing never to adventure again, since he’s right Scrooge would solve nonexistance it’s the same reason “launch hulk into space” only resulted in a smarter, more skilled hulk coming back with a space army to get revenge. He just didn’t bank on the inherent rediclousness of the unvierse: family really is the greatest adventure of all.. and the papyrus accepted it. It was the one thing he coudln’t palnf or because he can’t see the woirld how it is.. and that’s why he lost. He was so confident how he saw the world and how he worked was the only way... another way beat him. 

His fate.. was also awesome and endleslly apporirate. Being mocked by the other villians who while less capable aside from Magica, at least admit what they are and what their doing.. and turned into a Vulture for Magica, left to be a mindless lackey in tons of chaotic schemes for the rest of his life. It couldn’t of happened to a nicer jackass. Okay three more sections to go. Let’s go.

Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away With Daissssyyyy

Donald’s leaving for a long, romantic adventure with Daisy is the perfect capper to Doanld’s character. Donald started the series hating adventure: blaming it for della being gone, his rough times during it, and wanted to escape it in the boat and keep from loosing his kids to it. He felt like a looser for not having reached his dreams or properly provided for his nephews, when really he did his best and still raised three wonderful kids. A bit overproective, god yes.. but despite his grief and anger he still got through ten years with them on his own merits, hard work and determination. 

As the series went he reconclied with his past, realized Scrooge lost something too and that blaming him soley when it was Della’s choice was just taking his anger out on the one person he had left to take it out on instead of embracing his only family left, accepted Storkules as his friend (JUST his friend), accepted adventure through quack pack realizing that while it may be weird, dangerous and sometimes stressful for him... it’s what his family love doing and they should be who they are instead of who he wants them to be, and finally.. accepted himself by finding Daisy, someone who loves him for who he is, and literally and metaphorically understands him and turned right back around from dumping him to save him from a giant monster she roared at. He’s finally at peace. 

And that’s why leaving. Not forever, He , Daisy, and his girls will be back in a few months or even a month. It’s very clear this is a vacation.. but it’s one  he’s earned.  He’ll always love his boys, his surrogate daughter/cousin, his sister, and his best buddy launchpad. But it’s okay for him to want to form his OWN family, to spend time with his future wife and show her the world. To make his own story for once instead of sharing it. To find his voice. 

I also find it very poetic that a story that started with Donald raising his nephews like their dad.. ends with him adopting two more children. Two kids whose lives had been misrable: rapidly aged in tubes, deemed failures, constantly bellittled by the closest things they have for parents, so desperate for answers they’d kidnap their own sister and betray her trust and do things they know are wrong, And all this.. for nothing as their  Dad kills their mom, bad as she was, and plans to kill them. And Donald’s first thought when given the chance to have a kid free time to himself, with no guilt having earned it? To take these girls in, start his own family, if Daisy’s cool with it mind he thankfully clearly called to talk this over first, and give them their own. Because that’s who Donald is, a good man whose finally earned his happy ending and the life he always wanted.. and accepted who he always was. An adventuerer, a loving fiance.. and  dad. 

The Real Hero: One last one before the bonus round and a quick one. The Launchpad Scene.. was one of the shows best. His arc in this episode of thinking he’s not a hero.. made sense. He’s been plenty heroic.. but his boyfriend is a martial arts and gymnastics savant and one of his three best friends has a giant suit of armor and is a genius. But the payoff made even more: He may not be the strongest, the most skilled or the smartest.. but he has the heart of a hero. He’s always been the kindest, most trusting, most friendly one of the main family, a guy who never gives up, even when he should, never surrenders and loves everybody. And that’s why he’s inspired so many people: Fenton to not give up after his firing and keep going, leading to his path as Gizmoduck. When Drake was lost, his fllm gone and his mentor seemingly dead (In fact skulking around the sewers like an evil ninja turtle), and his future unclear... TOLD HIM he could be Darkwing, that he could become the hero they both ihdolized and the inspiration to kids he wanted to be by his own bootstraps, and he gave Gosalyn faith in darkwing and hope at at time she had none. He also gave those mice their freedom. Not as poignant but you try creating the rescue rangers and see how far you get. I’ve lost a lot of chipmunks and mice that way. 

Launchpad’s last stand makes up for his lack of being in the season during the final  half. Launchpad realizing that despite his quirks he’s just as noble, valuable and wonderful as his families, both of them. And that he is a pilot. Sure he gets the gizmoduck armor.. but the armor isn’t what makes hi ma hero... i’ts being launchpad that makes him a hero. Loving adopted dad, wonderful partner, best friend... and a pilot

Bonus Round:

Okay this is just stray stuff from throughout the episode I didn’t have several paragraphs worth of material on before we get to the final thoughts. But it had so much good I can’t not talk about it. So...

Gyro calling Little Bulb BOYD’s brother. My heart wept. So sweet. As was him fixing his son at the end. BOYD has the two loving families he deserves.. and the brother he deserves.. and the brother he dosen’t deserve who will probably also is skulking around the sewers like an nafarious ninja turtle as the series ends. 

Gosalyn fixing up Darkwing’s outfit for him. Awwww. Adopt that child you coward. Also if they don’t base the reboot on frank’s work here, I will riot. 

“Just cough up the information Bentina!” that was just pure comedy gold especially the sheer fear radiating off him. Also right. 

Manny’s “I can explain” and , once he has silky smooth keith david voice going “Come on man I just want to live my life.” That man is a legend. 

Dewey and Louie just not talking the “you kids stay behind shit” pointing out both their stake in this and how they’ll just go anyway and him proudly accepting it. Given the kids turned the tied of things a lot, good call. 

Dewey and Don Karnage singing their own background music as they air joust. Hell yes. 

Pepper got a promotion! Goodf or her... it’s meaningless now but hey she has a partner in both senses. 

Speaking of pepper she had the best line of the episode “He’s a grown man who has the strength of a baby!”. Only Amy Sedaris could’ve given that delivery just the perfect way she did. 

The Funzo’s opening sequence was dynamite, from how well set up it was as an infilfration, to Webby having learned how to scam free drinks (Louie was so proud), to Lena cheating for her sister at DDR, to Scrooge paying full price.. it was wonderful> The payoff was also great as rather than be mad her special day was used as part of an elabroate spy operation.. she’s giddy. Because of course she is. Two specitic  bits that get their own items

The Cabs came back one last time! It dosen’t effect my now finished retrospective, but after spending all that time with them it was nice to see them for what will probably be the last time for some time. 

The whole scene where Della finds out about the trip. Just all of it. Her casually and accidentally choking daisy TWICE, Fethry, who sadly did not get an episode this season, being the one to blab about it and only realizing it .. after repeating that they told him not to, and Gladstone who not only was casually winning at Skeeball while his cousins both got pissed at it, relateable as hell, but then awkwardly escorting his baby cousin out of the situation. 

“Satstically with Hubert gone one of us should be pancking but WHO I ASK YOU WHO?” As if I needed more evidence they were perfect for each other. 

Lena just.. slumping over after Dewey finally has her drop the cloak. Comedy gold. BOYD scanning her later likewise so. 

The second best line and line read of the episode goes to Louie/Bobby Monihan. “That is not comforting, I do not want to die”. He couldn’t of summed up Louie in one line any better. 

Ludvwig was a national treasure.  Not only did I squeel internally when it turned out he was alive but the explination for it was hilarious as it was batshit, and him just causally revealing Webby’s origin was fucking amazing “Ill give you all a moment ot process” The acomplanying “bless me bagpipes” was also amazing. 

I do wish we found out where FOWL went but it was probably to leave the remains all free to come back as villians of the week. Frank outright said they had a tailspin sequel episode ready to go.

The Webby and June fight was a masterpiece and I REALLY need to do a top 12 fights list someday. 

Lena connecting with the new twins , having pretty much the same background of being created by a villian for shitty reasons. 

“one is silver and the other is “ “Flintheart glomgold!” they should consider a teamup. What’s a little brainwashing between friends?

“We’re sisters’. No you and violet are sisters, Webby is your girlfriend your both just in denial. I only say this because Webby also thinks Della and Penny are just friends and I feel she simply dosen’t know what being gay is or again is in denial. They’ll get there. Plus it feels like Lena just didn’t want to loose her and would say anything which is valid. 

Curtain Call and Final Thoughts:

The Curtain Call was the perfect way to end a spectacular finale. Each bit of it’s a masterpiece, and every character gets one last awesome, heartfelt and hilarous goodbye with the camera and ending how it should: on our five most important characters, in a circle, together, smiling, freefaling into the next adventure. I”d have it no other way and any other series finale credits and last moments will now pale in comparison. 

So the finale as a whole is messy, some bits aren’t resolved as good as they could’ve been, Huey go the shaft, and it REALLY needed another episode leading into it to help take the pressure off. While it needed 90 minutes for the plot it had to tell, it needed more to build up to that and while the season was tight with episodes they BADLY needed one more they didn’t get or even a subplto to help take the load off this episode. 

But even with that... it was an utterly awesome finale on par with other recent standouts like “Let’s Fight to the End”/ “Thank you For Watching the Show” (Both feel like finales to me but in diffrent ways), “The Future” and the whole arc leading up to it, both parts of “Heart” and “Nice While It Lasted” . It was heartstopping, heartrending and heartfelt and ended the show as it should be: with over the top insanity, big reveals, a hell of a final battle.. and a focus on family. It’s not the perfect finale, and I defintely need more ducktales.. but it’s still a classic one and one of the series finest hours.. literally in this case. 

I.. am going to miss this series. I went into it before but it’s thanks to this series I make a living. If you’d like to contribute to that, I have a patreon, patreon.com/popculturebuffet, my next stretch goal is a darkwing duck epsiode a month so  kick in a buck won’t you? and take comissions so if theres an episode from the first two seasons that’s not part of the season 1 arc (I’m almost done there) or Lena’s story (already being paid for that) feel free to shoot me a line to comissoin it for five bucks an episode. 

But more than that it was an excellent well crafted show that took a franchise I love and updated it for a new generation. My nieces love it, I love it, and I will always love it for that. Young or old, this show as phenominal, it was stupdendous.. it was a duckblur. It will remain in my heart for probaly the rest of my life among such shows as Steven Universe, Parks and Recreation, The Venture Bros, Letterkenny, DBZ Abriged, and so many more that have touched my life. It was simply the best. And i’m going to miss it. Thank you for reading this, i’ll see you at another rainbow, if not one quite like this.

Next on this Blog: Duck week continues after this review took two days to complete. Sorry about that. Our heroes head to castle McDuck and Dewey is forced to face the consequences of his actions, while Scrooge yells at his dad , his dad yells at him and his mom is the most precious thing tha’ts ever lived. Also Launchpad in Donald Cosplay. And it won’t stop there as till saturday the rest of the week is all dedicated to Ducktales as I finish up the Della and Lena arcs for season 1 and get started on Lena’s last three episodes. So if you liked some ducktales, stick around. And once again.. thank you. 

[bestworstcase]

"[Rapunzel] stops accepting blame for things that aren’t her fault". I've seen this mentioned before on other blogs talking about Rapunzel's character growth over the series, but I don't understand what it's referring to. Sorry if this is too vague/broad an ask, but what are you thinking of in seasons 1 and 2 when you say that Rapunzel has learned to stop taking the blame for things that aren't her fault by season 3? Apart from Rapunzel's Enemy and maybe QFAD, I can't think of anything.

i think this is one of the more understated things about rapunzel’s characterization in that there is never like, a specific moment where rapunzel Verbalizes acceptance of blame for things she clearly isn’t responsible for, but it still imo informs a lot of her behavior?

and it goes all the way back to the film. right out of the gate we see that guilt tripping and blame passing are two of gothel’s chief weapons: when rapunzel’s feelings get hurt by one of gothel’s “jokes,” gothel chides rapunzel to “stop taking everything so seriously,” which is abuser-speak for “nothing i say is wrong, it’s your fault if you’re hurt.” 

then there’s digs like “oh, rapunzel, you know i hate leaving you after a fight—especially when i’ve done absolutely nothing wrong...” 

and the big one, after gothel loses her temper and yells at rapunzel, and then immediately collapses disconsolately into a chair and says “ugh, great—now i’m the bad guy.” overtly blaming rapunzel for “making” gothel snap at her. (this of course gets called back to at the end of the film, though it’s less a guilt trip there than it is a threat.)

aaaand right before “mother knows best (reprise)” when rapunzel asks how gothel found her, gothel says, “oh, it was easy, i just listened for the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that.” this one imo is the clearest illustration of how all this impacts rapunzel emotionally, because she goes from scared/alarmed/startled to just. sagging, in obvious guilt. 

but then of course there’s also the scene right after rapunzel leaves the tower, where we see her oscillating wildly from jubilance to despair and guilt as she frets over what her leaving will “do” to gothel, how mad / upset / betrayed gothel will feel, etc. so even when gothel isn’t there, actively reinforcing this behavior, we can see that rapunzel very much feels that gothel’s feelings are her responsibility—and if gothel is upset, that’s rapunzel’s fault. 

anyway!! all this adds up to rapunzel leaving the tower with this subconscious mindset that all problems are her problems, and we see this expressed very early on in s1. i would even argue as early as before ever after... with both frederic and eugene. 

BEA goes really hard right out of the gate with driving home how restless and uncomfortable rapunzel feels in corona; how stifled she is, and how badly she wants to go out and explore the wider world. but it also shows how hard she tries to stuff it down, because her success as a princess is “important to [her] dad.” she tries to bring up her discontent with eugene, but in a roundabout way so as to avoid actually saying she’s unhappy—and then when he says that he’s perfectly happy and content, rapunzel takes a deep breath and agrees with him. it isn’t overt text, but she’s still in “managing other people’s feelings” mode, and there’s a reason the only person she is honest about her own feelings with is cassandra—because cassandra signals very clearly that she is not going to feel hurt, offended, or disappointed if rapunzel is less than happy in corona. quite the opposite, cass is the one who suggests sneaking out in the first place!

now obviously, neither fred’s nor eugene’s feelings are rapunzel’s responsibility and i think both would be horrified to know that rapunzel feels like it’s her job to make them happy... but that doesn’t really matter, because rapunzel has been trained all her life to do this and that’s not a pattern that just goes away overnight. 

and then also in BEA, we see how quick rapunzel is to castigate herself for doing something that upsets someone else... when eugene proposes and she panics and runs away, her reaction is “i feel horrible about eugene” and to feel guilty/upset about not wanting to marry him Right Now.

aaaand of course caine blaming rapunzel for stuff frederic did goes entirely unremarked upon, partly because things like the hair reveal took priority over that but partly also, in my opinion, because rapunzel just kind of Accepted That because she’s so used to being blamed for everything.

this is sort of a recurring theme throughout a lot of s1. you mentioned RE, but for the sake of completeness—i think the most telling thing in that ep is that, when rapunzel finds out what booing really signifies, her first question is what could i have done to this person?, because the concept that this might be a HIM problem doesn’t even cross her mind. she assumes that it’s her fault he doesn’t like her. 

and then there’s stuff like pascal’s story, which i think is an interesting one because like... frankly, it’s not entirely rapunzel’s fault that she stood pascal up. yes, as the princess she could have stood up at six o’clock on the dot to say no more petitions, i am going to dinner. but also she’s the princess, and she’s busy, and pascal’s story is as much an episode about pascal learning that just because rapunzel is busy that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still love him as much as it is about rapunzel learning how to navigate work/life balance—but it’s also very clear that rapunzel’s perspective is “i have been a HORRIBLE friend and i need to put EVERYTHING ELSE on hold until i have FIXED my TERRIBLE BEHAVIOR” when the reality is more like “rapunzel and pascal are both going through a major adjustment period and need to have a realistic talk about expectations now that rapunzel is, like, training to rule a country.” 

in painter’s block, rapunzel feels so traumatized by the (largely correct) decisions she made in QFAD that she can’t make any decisions at all and falls prey to sugracha’s manipulation, and i personally think this is the beginning of the tipping point for her where she begins to see that hey... she’s just a person, she literally cannot be responsible for every bad thing that happens, she can’t be in two places at once, she can’t fix everything for everyone... and sometimes she needs to prioritize one problem over the other. that’s why the emotional climax of that episode is rapunzel saying “difficult choices are what make us who we are.” that’s her letting go of the horrific guilt she felt about choosing corona over varian, and letting eugene and the others put themselves in danger to save her parents. 

that epiphany carries her through SOTS and enables her to make the tough calls she needs to make re: stopping varian, but it also doesn’t mean that her tendency to blame herself for stuff that isn’t her fault goes away altogether. just look at BTCW: while she’s trying to make sense of how/why eugene could be marrying stalyan, her first instinct is to blame herself. to wonder if maybe this is a response to her kind of sort of turning down his kind of sort of second proposal. 

and the rest of the vardaros arc is like... i would say half rapunzel delaying moving on because she’s scared of what waits for her at the end of the black rock trail (as freebird confirms) and half rapunzel making vardaros’s problems her problems and trying to fix them because she feels responsible. 

curses is... not a good episode (canardist, why) but the plot basically hinges on canardist successfully making rapunzel feel guilty / dubious enough about taking back her own telescope that she starts buying into the curse stuff and psyching herself out. 

*as a sidebar here, there are also instances in this same period of rapunzel acknowledging her culpability in stuff she DID do wrong, for example in under raps—but in these cases, it’s interesting to me to note that her apologies actually aren’t very good apologies. in the under raps example, for instance, she also foists off blame on cassandra (saying basically, well i wouldn’t have interfered and put you in danger if you had told me everything, even though i am terrible at keeping secrets and we both know it). and this makes sense, because gothel certainly did not model good, healthy apologizing habits for rapunzel, lol. so she’s in this weird zone where she tends to feel guilty for everything / feels responsible for other people’s feelings but when she DOES mess up for realsies she also doesn’t really have the skills to navigate a true apology. this poor girl

i would say that RATGT is about the point where rapunzel switches gears from accepting blame (both for things that aren’t her fault, like all this stuff, and for things that are, like when she apologized to cass for being a dick in goodbye and goodwill or when she apologized to pascal for belittling him in king pascal) to sort of... overcorrecting and entering her “i’m right, you’re wrong” phase. RATGT is when she starts overtly shutting cass down, and RATGT is when cass’s injury happens—something so horrific and scary that i tend to think rapunzel just cannot process the guilt. it’s too much, too painful, and not something she is emotionally equipped to hold onto or work through in a healthy way...

...so she shoves it away and blames cass instead, very openly. she transmutes her guilt into anger, lessening the pain she feels. and she sticks to that throughout RDO, throughout the rest of s2, and evidently through the rest of the series given she literally never apologizes for it. which is outside of the scope of what you asked alksdfjklsfd but i tend to think basically, rapunzel is not very good at distinguishing between “i feel guilty, but it isn’t my fault” and “i feel guilty, because it is my fault” so in the process of unlearning the former behavior she also forces away the latter, and at the end of s3 she’s in a place where she needs to re-learn how to feel guilt in a healthy, reasonable way. because guilt isn’t always a bad emotion, sometimes it’s just your brain’s way of saying “i did something bad, and i want to make up for it” and That’s Good. 

[theangrypokemaniac]

Normal Raichu's tail serves as a ground to avoid auto-shock, meaning this one is constantly frazzled from its own voltage.

Doesn't carrying his fat self hurt? Are they tears of liquid gold welling up from the strain?

Or is it the punishing light ever reflected, burning his black eyes blue and blind?

The modern obsession with softness, of symbolically filing down all corners as a message of intent, gets right on me wick.

Raichu had sharp ears and a jagged tail, being, you know, a bolt of lightning, but now he's as swollen and inflated as a balloon animal.

And what are these visible veins in his paws? Is he tapping 'em like Amy Winehouse in her bloodied-ballet-pump prime?

So 'getting high' doesn't mean levitation?

Hours of work went into this drastic image change of the same thing but with three hairs.

The Pokédex says he prefers a subterranean life, wilting under excessive heat, rendering him entirely suitable to thrive in the tropics.

Diglett's become a slaphead concealing the truth with an unconvincing comb-over.

Oh no! How shall I live in such a savage climate?

I know! Blond frizz in the midst of brown fur! That'll block heatstroke!

Dugtrio once featured in many a budding Trainer's squad, so beloved was Dig as the finest move around.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

If hairy moles made the final games, what horrors were rejected?

Such beauty in the Kardashian family.

Sweaty proximity of triplets is a trial itself, but consider all the strands coming loose, wedged and itching in the crevices, yanked right from the roots by constant friction, wrapping round their necks like cheese wire, and you unable to brush the damp cascade away, on account of having No Bloody Arms.

Oooh, make yer beady eyes weep, it would, and Dugtrio daren't move in case it slits throats like razor blades.

Born to die garotting himself and all those he knows!

That's why Oasis were so furious.

Plus, Geodude carrying eight hairs gives the opposite impression: that of a baldy desperately clinging on to the last paltry vestiges of a once-crowning glory.

It'll be those iron filings you always see lying about.

There Geodude and Graveler go, ready to flaunt hirsute manliness to their bearded womenfolk, only for it to involve social disgrace in the shape of gorilla arms, sideburns, and monobrows.

Why stop there? Why are they not coated in spines like a furled hedgehog?

Now magnetic, iron ravished their bodies, meaning they also share the pain of moles in sprouting a wig.

But they're Electric, not Steel. Nature avenged Pikachu by removing their invincibility.

And that molten sun's only gone and fused their fingers together!

Geodude salvaged a single digit, but Graveler's gotta make do with mittens!

What hope for mere fleshy beings, when Alola weather melts stone?

It's gonna boil yer inter soup, man!

Even Pa, master of the art, would look enviously on such achievement.

That said, I feel for Lady Golems having a shave every morning.

A diet of electrical rocks somehow erased the Ground element, and with it the resistance enabling Golem to eat 'em in the first place.

But didn't he have more toes than that? And some arms?

Of the three, Golem boasts the best sense of style, proudly displaying a hairy shell passing for a chest, besides a most debonair moustache.

Oh! Removing his earthly powers now makes him vulnerable to electrocution. It's blackened and blown bits of him off!

How's Golem meant to go wee-wee with malformed stumps?!

That's not claws, that's the jagged splinters of his humerus bones.

Marowak died during evolution. Must've got bone cancer from all the radioactive Muks slithering about.

It's based on the ghost from Pokémon Tower.

Quaint bit of euphemism, using 'based' rather than 'ripped off'. Yer'd burst if troubled with an original idea.

Ah, memories: traipsing up the many levels of said stacked sepulchre, brandishing me trusty Silph Scope, ready to tackle whatever spectre blocked the stairs to the summit.

He's got No Bloody Arms!

There I becalmed Marowak's anger as her soul passed to Heaven.

It was special.

Well that's gone. Turns out Marowak was sucked into the septic tank of Alola instead.

Bit of a downer, assuming I'd gifted eternity, only for this humdrum retcon to saunter up, stripping away the mystery.

Has she not suffered enough, man?!

Anyway...

How can one murder matter to the breed living thousands of miles away?

And up til then, all Alolan Marowak looked normal, then mutated in tasteless tribute, with their weapons spontaneously combusting?

UV rays will be the death of us!

The bone wielded is from its mother. Her spirit acts as protection.

Eh? But Ghost Marowak was the dead mom. She can't be both bereaved child and maternal avenger, else Cubone didn't just lose Ma, but Nana too!

In my day we were happy with the simple pleasures, like wearing Momma's head, and we were glad of it.

I don't know why Millennials have a prissy reputation. It certainly wasn't like that in me youth.

I well recall sitting in the back of Pa T.A.P.'s car, looking out the window, and seeing two lads playing catch with a human skull, since we had to make our own entertainment then.

But oh no, that's not good enough for today's entitled kids, they dug up Momma's mouldering corpse and rifled through her vitals, because it's just take, take, take with them.

And what bone is that meant to be, so casually set alight? Femur?

How bloody big was she, man?! It's longer than Marowak's entire body!

Don't you lie to me! That's a human leg if ever I saw it.

Eee, it ain't half hot.

You can say that again.

I wish I knew a way to cool down.

Well I find growing another head outta me arse does the business.

Exeggutor shot up via the sunshine overload, but his bonus coconut is green, unable to ripen thanks to extreme temperatures.

Marowak's been raiding hospital bins for amputated limbs!

Make yer mind up!

All this time, Exeggutor's suffered a secret head in his arse, just bustin' to be free, and I was none the wiser?

Yer think yer know someone, and then BAM! It's upon yer: illusions shattered.

Am I to understand Proper Exeggutor's walking around belaboured by arse coconuts?

Yer can get cream for that. Modern medicine is a miracle.

And it's buried for eternity, unless exposed to equatorial light?

But that's precisely where the sun don't shine!

I assumed two Exeggcute merged into one face, but this is a sign the remaining couple are secreted somewhere.

Specifically in his arse.

Poor Exeggutor hasn't completed puberty yet. If we linger we may well witness the emergence of the final duo to complete the sextet.

Out of his arse.

Many Alolans consider this its ideal form.

I bet they do. Perverts.

Besides haemorrhoids, it's not so ideal when Eggy can't fit in the living room and has to sleep outside, or its neck snaps during hurricane season.

O Game Freak, thou knows not what thee do!

[jakemediacomm]

What is social media?

Jake Santos

How would you define social media? To me, social media is difficult to define because of the sheer amount of information that is at the whim of anyone who desires to access it. However, social media has proven thus far one of it's greatest strengths is the capability to unite/divide the masses. Social media allows for those who have a specific interest or ideology to align themselves with like-minded people. These same people, though, now have the ability to weaponize themselves and their group to destroy the self-proclaimed opposition. For example, in a recent speech made by President Biden, he addressed the M.A.G.A. republicans and called them a threat to democracy among other things. After this speech I began to notice that by directly calling out the group who is opposing him, the President is taking a page out of his predecessor's playbook. Trump was able to rile up his M.A.G.A. supporters in such a way that no prior politician had. He was outside the establishment, rude, crass, and most importantly hated the same people his supporters so desperately wanted to get rid of. The way Donald Trump polarized the majority of the population was a feat that very few figures (let alone politicians) are able to achieve. With that being said, there's no doubt in my mind Trump would not have gotten nearly as far as he did had there been no social media. He was able to direct the rage of his supporters toward his opposition and eventually overcome them upon the backs of his hate-fueled, red hat wearing, gun toting, lunatics. So, in my opinion social media is defined by the beholder. You make of it what you want, for some people it's their entire life, for others they don't login for days or weeks on end.

How would you characterize yourself as a social media user? - I like to think of myself as strictly a consumer of media as a means to further my own opinions/intelligence. I don't use social media to post anything. I don't use social media to assimilate with people I agree with. And most importantly, I don't use social media as an excuse to not participate in everyday society. I utilize social media to appreciate art that I enjoy. I utilize social media to touch base with people I may not have seen or spoken to in a long time. I utilize social media to get a better understanding of the world around me. I utilize social media to understand why people hold certain values, how those values can be helpful or harmful, and the basis on which those values were formed.

What do you consider to be your strengths in your understanding of social media? - In all honesty, I believe my biggest strength regarding social media is that I'm simply not emotionally involved. Or at least not to the degree of some others. For instance, when I see a post with someone or something inflammatory, I don't get physically angry or click off and ignore it. I try my best to understand the entire scope of the situation in order to form my own opinions. As opposed to just regurgitating the same opinion of someone or something you love or respect. Maybe it just comes down to the fact that I simply don't care enough to be involved. I can't be involved in all the fights. Props to those who are, that seems like a very exhaustive existence, but props to those digging it out in the Twitter trenches. The challenges I face regarding social media aren't online but stem from me being too deeply rooted in a way of thinking or opinion. In this situation I try to remove myself and look at the topic objectively, rather than getting so emotionally invested that it makes me physically angry. That rationale never made sense and was never appealing to me.

What is it that you want to get out of this class and beyond? - This may not be necessarily related to the class, but I would like to get a better grasp of the psychology behind social media. Why certain topics/thought processes perform better on socials than others. I'm aware that conflict is the easiest way to get immediate interactions whether they be positive or negative. I think what I'm trying to articulate is there are certain tactics, with thumbnails or colors, creators use to go viral. And I want in on their secrets.

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How to learn maths for Investment banking courses?

Not all areas of Investment banking courses  require the same math skills 

Investment banking courses can be broadly divided into two areas: corporate banking and quantitative banking. Quantitative subdivision requires a high level of understanding of mathematical concepts and good technical skills to perform mathematical calculations. 

The business of a corporate customer requires basic mathematical knowledge. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and compound interest calculations are sufficient. If you're learning advanced math on your resume, there's no advantage over others. It just shows the recruiter that the concept of math is fairly easy to understand. recruiters don't dig deep into the course 

Recruiters don't care too much whether you mention 10 challenging classes or 10 simple classes. They are more focused on the overall score / GPA. I don't have  time to analyze all the classes mentioned and check the difficulty level. It is better to focus on learning basic math and getting good results than learning higher level math and getting average results. 

 How can I learn math for an economic career without previous knowledge? 

 You need to start with the basic concept. These include interest calculations, arithmetic calculations, algebra and more. As you build up, you will be able to better understand high-level concepts and apply what you have actually learned. It's best not to dive directly into advanced math. 

Check out this FMI course to get started at the beginner level. It teaches you: 

Financial Mathematics for Capital Markets 

Financial statistics 

Financial mathematics for the derivatives market 

By learning these concepts, you will feel ready to get to work! It will equip you with the basic knowledge and concepts you will most use when you work completed. For those who have no previous experience, doing math for Investment banking courses can seem like a daunting task. With the right thinking and the right courses, you can understand mathematics like a financial scientist. 

First, you need to decide which fields to enter in the IB. This clarity helps you understand the scope and depth of mathematics you need to learn. 

Corporate banking requires basic knowledge, but trading and hedge funds require advanced mathematics. If you don't understand high-level math, don't push too hard. Maybe you won't use it either. It is important to enroll in a good course so that you can answer your questions and understand everything well. 

Good luck on your math journey with Fmi.Online!