#and I think it says it beautifully

[bronzewool]

Phoenix Extravagant by Yooh Ha Lee is a fantastical alternative universe set during the Japan and Korea War; with mechnical dragons, fox spirits, and magic. Razan (Japan) have conquered the country of Hwaguk (Korea) and have subjucated the citizens under their rule, taking their language and culture away from them, and extorting their mining resources, precious artwork, and anything else of value.

Gyen Jebi is a struggling artist who has just taken the Ministry of Art exam in order to earn money for them and their older sister, Bongsunga, but is unsuccessful. Debt ridden and running out of time to make some quick cash, Jebi is tricked into accepting a job with the Ministry of Armoury to paint the mystical symbols that power the automata security drones.

Jebi is disgusted to learn the magical pigments used to paint these complex symbols are ground up pieces of priceless Hwaguk artwork, and gets in way over their head when they are tasked with continuing the work of the previous artist before them who died trying to complete the set of symbols that will allow the government to control their latest weapon, a dragon automata that will not listen to orders.

I love the themes and politics of this book. How Jebi’s pacifism and refusal to get involved with politics puts them in direct conflict with Bonsunga, who lost her wife in the war against the invading Razan and now is on the resistance’s side. How the conflict between the two countries is not black and white; as Vei, Duellist Prime and Jebi’s warden during their impronsment in the Armory (and future love interest), is a biracial soldier with conflicting loyalties to the government she is honourbound to serve and the commonfolk she is sworn to protect, both of which scorn her very conception. I love how the enby folk are incorporated into the society and have an established history and presence in that society. I love how magic and Korean folklore are incorporated into the advance technology.

But overall I found the characters lacking and the story not as extravagant as the worldbuilng itself. Jebi is a pacifist who does not want to get involved with politics and just wants to paint in peace. They are not a soldier, which makes their situation relatable, but it is also not very compelling for a main character who has figured out how to use pigment magic in creative and destructive ways, but doesn’t want to use it. Vash from Trigun is a wonderfully written self-proclaimed pacifist who wants to save everyone due to his love for humanity, but will fight to stop humans from killing each other. One of the major obstacles of the series is how Vash is pushed further and further into a corner until he is forced to reflect on his own ideals and just how far is he is realistically willing to go to save everyone, until he’s forced to pull the trigger. Phoenix Extravagant is not that kind of story and instead wants to put a regular person in the middle of a literal war zone and show how ugly war can be, but it is put in constast with the other fantastical elements happening around them

Azari, despite being the main weapon everyone is fighting over, does not have a lasting precence in the same way Toothless from HTTYD does, beyond its beautiful design. Jebi and Azari bond during their time in captivity after Jebi gives Azari the symbols that allow it to speak, and they do find commonality in their pacifist ideals, but their growing relationship is not the focus of the book. Jebi has deeper connection with Vei, and a more complex relationship with Bongsunga, that overshadows their bond with Azari. Despite Jebi being the only one Azari will talk to they do not have a reason to stay together once they escape and Azari agrees to help the resistance, much to Jebi’s initial concerns. Azari’s naive view of war developing into a complex understanding of what must be done to protect as many people as possible, is in complete contrast to Jebi’s resolute pacifism and the narrative doesn’t seem to acknowledge this growing seperation between the two.

Overall, I appreciate Phoenix Extravagant for its commentary on the Japanese settlement in Korea and how this effected the people who lived through watching their culture be destroyed and forced to integrate into their oppessor’s culture while being treated as third class citizens in their own country.

[sysig]

How much of me is me? (Patreon)

[elialys]

THE NEWSREADER | 2.03 | Helen x Dale - Not like everyone else

[sergle]

you bitches have got to watch Scavengers Reign if you haven't yet, i'm only a few episodes in and it's already completely unlike anything else i've ever seen

[allieinarden]

The generation that grows up with Over the Garden Wall will never understand how funny it was watching like 70% of the base flip from Team Beatrice to Team Sara when they watched it a second time.

[wasabi-gumdrop]

First base is comedic miscommunication. Second base is holding each other when wounded. Third base is being their royal advisor.

wow that’s crazy if you zoom in to Kabru’s notes that’s exactly what he wrote as his grand master plan

[simplykorra]

ava + her gay little hat - part I

[zorosdimples]

totally normal thinking about men who tie their long hair up before going down on you

[transmaverique]

amab and afab, if they were used as shorthand for the actual full phrases that they signify, with emphasis on the "assigned" part, and an understanding that they are enforcements of normative (ie, dyadic and cisgender and binary) sex, would be like. really useful. but people took the terms and started using them as shorthand FOR normative sex instead of the ENFORCEMENT OF normative sex. so when other trans people (almost always dyadic trans people) ask for your agab they are almost always asking for your Original Genital Situation. your starting point, so to say. and the reason FOR asking is also almost always bc they are trying to also enforce a certain kind of normativity within queer spaces (which is stupid bc being queer is inherently non-normative but here we are). like, you cant be a lesbian if you're ftm, bc you ARE m, so if you ARE a lesbian, then that means you're lying about some aspect of your identity. does that make sense?

it is always always always incredibly.... i do not trust dyadic trans people that use cagab terms, even moreso than i do not trust dyadic trans people that just use agab terms. agab is also coopted intersex language, but the "coercive" part of cagab SPECIFICALLY refers to medical "intervention" of intersex characteristics, such as "corrective" surgeries and hrt. i am deeply fucking suspicious of any dyadic trans person that uses those terms exactly the same as described above, even moreso if they do so bc "all gender is coercive".

like. yeah. that's true. but you use these terms to erase and overtake intersex discussions on the medical abuse of intersex infants. and i cant help but wonder why you would feel the need to do that.

[thepoisonroom]

'I flirted with the idea that instead of being trans that I was just a cross-dresser (a quirk, I thought, that could be quietly folded into an otherwise average life) and that my dysphoria was sexual in nature, and sexual only. And if my feelings were only sexual, then, I wondered, perhaps I wasn’t actually trans.

I had read about a book called The Man Who Would Be Queen, by a Northwestern University professor who believed that transwomen who were attracted to women were really confused fetishists, they wanted to be women to satisfy an autogynephilia. And though I first read about this book in the context of its debunkment and disparagement, I thought about the electricity of slipping on those tights, zipping up those boots, and a stream of guilt followed. Maybe this professor was right, and maybe I was only a fetishist. Not trans, just a misguided boy.

About a year later, on the Internet, I come across a transwoman who added a unique message to the crowd refuting this professor. Oh, I wish I remember who this woman was, and I wish even more that I could do better than paraphrase her, but I remember her saying something like this: “Well, of course I feel sexy putting on women’s clothing and having a woman’s body. If you feel comfortable in your body for the first time, won’t that probably mean it’ll be the first time you feel comfortable, too, with delighting in your body as a sexual thing?”'

-Casey Plett, Consciousness

[pianokantzart]

How likely do you think it is that Mario and Luigi Brothership has any sort of direct reference to the movie, and how would you feel if they actually did that?

I wouldn't bank on a direct reference, but I know that Nintendo and Illumination worked pretty close together on the film, with Shigeru Miyamoto himself acting as co-producer. Given the huge success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, I'm thinking Nintendo is taking measures to very subtly make the games and the film reflect each other.

What happened with the cover of Princess Peach Showtime comes to mind:

Say what you will about the design change in and of itself, but you can't deny that whatever happened there was influenced by the movie.

I think something similar (but much more subtle) might have happened here:

It's easy to see how that pose might have been based on that shot from the film, but it's also nothing so drastic that people who are only familiar with the games are going to feel out of the loop. Or perhaps it's just a coincidence. Who knows, really.

If there does end up being a direct reference to the movie in "Mario and Luigi: Brothership"? I'd be thrilled. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the thing that got me hyperfixated in the first place, so I'm always going to be on board with references to it.

[wyn-n-tonic]

Really sick of the batshit insane takes about how the Euros are so stylistic and fantastic and just truly good football and how Copa América is like watching a bar fight. But, of course, the US team is also stylistic and fantastic and just truly good at football apparently. It's just those other teams. Whatever the fuck that means.

Like that's a really shitty fucking take!!!!!

[fangswbenefits]

A solid reason on why you should read The Arrangement:

(I'll just provide the links: Ao3 & series masterlist)

[triglycercule]

i need the murder time trio to drink eachother's blood after causing an injury. that's so romantic in both my eyes and theirs. i need them to bite eachother and claw at eachother and injure eachother and hurt. and then when they try to patch eachother up make the injury hurt more before finally wrapping it up with a bandaid and a kiss or a lingering glance or DARE I SAY a hug (because imo a hug is much more vulnerable than a kiss). peak of romantism i dare say

i need them to use violence against eachother as a way to keep them grounded or to just let out anger towards eachother i need dust to gouge out horror's eye and then give horror his own to replace it. i need horror to squeeze killer's soul until he can feel the pain but in exchange killer gets to use a knife inside his head i want killer and dust to fight everyday and soon their bones will be littered with scars of the other's attacks I NEED THEM TO HURT EACHOTHER!!!!!!

they share pain and release anger and frustration and all that stuff onto eachother but dw dw this is how they love. but they do genuinely dislike eachother (because no matter how much they love one another they STILL can never manage to get over their differences and that's what makes them PEAK) but they also care for the other two and in their fucked up minds this is a good relationship. not because its not toxic because it definitely fucking is but because everyone is satisfied

i love murder time trio poly

[sheryl-lee]

idk if this makes sense. but i kind of love that the last of us makes me cry and viscerally FEEL true emotions on a weekly basis. like i cant remember the last tv show i watched that had me consistently bawling my eyes out and so immersed in a show because of the characters, the story, the incredibly strong writing, etc. and it doesn't feel manipulative. it just feels profound and beautiful and poetic but also tragic and... human.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

ooh big hug