#and the philosophies behind them

[naturallydark]

LadyLyra🤝determinution Tech!Mags is wires

Awesome Scrybeswap designs by @determunition [x] and @ladylyra [x]!

[theminecraftbee]

Cleo grumbles as she waits for Scar to leave so she can put away the stupid pies and eat something that's actually going to give her energy. "Gods, Ren is getting obnoxious," she complains to Joe.

"Which is wild, because Ren has never been obnoxious a day in his life!" Joe says brightly.

"You know, I can never tell when you're being sarcastic," Cleo says.

"Thanks, I try," Joe responds.

Scar vanishes over the horizon. While Joe does not switch from the bit of pie he'd been eating, Cleo immediately switches to a proper rare steak. Seriously, only pies? Ren's actively starving his kingdom at this rate. Cleo's a zombie. She's an obligate carnivore. Ren literally has her on his council. She'a working against him, true, but the point still stands - he should know better.

He just wants the diamonds, though.

"I guess he's just proving what they say about power," Cleo mutters.

"Oh! What do they say about power?" Joe prompts.

"You know. Power corrupts." She tears a bite out of her steak. Blood drips down her chin. She'd be more polite, but it's just Joe. She can be a messy eater if she wants. "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

"That's not how I like the phrase to go," Joe says immediately.

"...sorry?"

"That's not how I know the phrase, I mean. I mean I know that version. That version makes sense. I mean, it's the easy answer, right? That power, in it of itself, is an evil force. But really, I'm not sure it's so simple."

Cleo blinks. "You, of all people. Trying to say that you don't think power is evil."

Joe huffs. "I mean, I'm on the king's council too, you know."

"But you're also - I mean you - nevermind," Cleo says, watching Joe take a passive-aggressive bite of pie (impressive as a feat, really).

"Abstract concepts, by themselves, aren't evil. Things that just are aren't evil. Or, well, I guess unless you're the abstract concept of evil? Except I guess the abstract concept of evil isn't, itself, evil, it's just describing the idea of evil? Like, okay, the abstract concept can't - the existence of a concept of evil isn't evil, necessarily, unless the act of the gods to give us the capacity for evil could be considered evil, in which case, gotta say, interesting move to do that -"

"Joe, what does this have to do with the power thing," Cleo says.

"Oh, right. Anyway, the phrase I know is 'power reveals'. It's less like... power itself makes people evil. The power itself is neutral. But like, if you had the power to do anything in the world, you'd do whatever is the most you, right? Good or bad. So. Power reveals."

Cleo stares at Joe's pie, and up at the castle, and at the place Scar, with his license to kill whoever he pleases, had fled. She thinks about everything she knows of Ren. She thinks of Ren before. She thinks of Ren after.

She grimaces.

"Joe, I think that's bleaker than my thing," she decides.

"I mean, is it? Like, mine implies that you can still do good with power," he says.

"Yeah," Cleo says. "But he hasn't."

Joe opens his mouth. He closes it again.

"Oh. I guess I see now. I don't know. Hey, have you tried this pie? After the sixth one it almost stops tasting like sugar and just sort of tastes like a weird paste, which is definitely preferable to sugar."

Cleo sighs. "I have tried the pie."

"That's good. Also, I think Scar's coming back, you should probably hide that steak - too late," Joe says, as an arrow hits Cleo in the arm. She yelps and pulls her own bow out. Well, if that's how he wants to play...

[bolithesenate]

ik she's not an oc but she should belong to you! 🖊 for komari??

you know what? you are so right 😌✊🏻

*yoinks all the character rights away from canon*

anyways, you know what I want for Komari? That she isn't technically a *good* Jedi, but that she is a terrifyingly *efficient* one.

Yoda's words were 'do or not do, there is no try', so I like to imagine Komari as a true force of nature because she does not doubt herself at any point. At least not truly.

She just does.

Does she do it because it makes her feel cool and admired? sure. but people around her (and she herself) have learned to direct that energy into a direction that more or less serves the greater good. The way I see Komari is that she truly likes being a Jedi and that she has found her niche amongst the Order to live her dream. She might not exactly do it for selfless reasons like many of her peers do, but that doesn't diminish the good she does.

it's also what makes her the ultimative hype-man.

she lives unapologetically and is her happiest self, so she encourages everyone around her to also do that. social anxiety and fomo? she's never known them.

Also, out of her entire lineage, Komari is the one most firmly rooted in the Cosmic Force. Dooku himself leans heavily towards it too, but he's also got a strong Unifying influence in his life through Sifo-Dyas, so it's a bit muddled.

Komari tho is, in fact, *such* a Cosmic Force baby that she often doesnt realize it is working through her. She just does Her Thing TM because It Feels Good TM not really questioning *why* it does that.

It's a very simple mindset, technically, but also very effective

[onesunofagun]

This is probably a wildly unpopular thing to say, but I see chatter and takes concerning Hyrule and the Hylians and Hylia where the fandom dissects them as white European, or more often British coded. I've seen it be argued that this is because of surface level European (like Greco-Roman and Celtic) aesthetics are commonly used for them, though these are pretty shallow wrapping paper at best in game. Not that similarities can't be drawn! I'm saying this with all my Irish distaste for Britain! But it seems to be more of a symptom of ignorance or unfamiliarity with Japanese culture and history, and its own tilt at Imperialism.

Which I get! The average Western Fan's closest touchstone to Imperialism is likely Britain.

But Hyrule represents Japan. It's narrative is deeply rooted in Japanese Shinto beliefs regarding the relationship between man, nature and spirits-- including spiritual purity and impurity-- as derived from Buddhist concepts. Hylians are a fantasy race of elves who are Japanese coded, their Royal Family and Imperial structure and attitudes reflect a Japanese Nationalism that is deeply tied to Shinto. Hylia reflects aspects of the Goddess Amaterasu and her role as a progenitor of Emperors in Japanese myth.

I fully understand that many criticisms that apply also pertain to British Imperialism and their own Divine Hegemony, which is valid. But I think it's also falling short to critique and dissect the meta and intention behind this franchise without bothering to have the context of Japanese beliefs and history, and without bothering to really seek it out.

JP Imperialism formed as a response to the Western encroach and their subsequent focus on forced unification of the east in order to defend against it is deeply reflected in how Hyrule operates. The localisation of games like SkSw and TotK have wildly missed their mark in the impression that they give of certain concepts to especially the North American audience, and entire concepts and references to cultural beliefs and history (and what they might imply within game) are simply invisible to many who do not have that context to connect back to.

And I'm not trying to say that what anybody takes from the story they personally received isn't a valid impression based on their own experience with the games and media around them. There are many interpretations and themes that you can take away and play with.

But I don't think that saying Hylians are just white people coded or following Christianised themes or 'basically Britain' and calling it a day is quite good enough if you want to meaningfully and accurately discuss and dissect the narrative and intent of the Zelda franchise. Being able to critically read it with both external and Japanese context is really important in having the full conversation about what it reflects on real world history, religiosity and nuance.

[m4gp13]

RIP Ethan Nakamura you would have loved high school debate teams

[infinitelilith]

where does the name infinite Lilith come from?

The "Lilith" part comes from the fact that my name is Lilith and the "Infinite" part comes from the fact that I will live forever and never die

[www-pinkhearse]

It’s becoming more and more worrisome to me that “gay men love women more then straight men” is becoming more and more real like I know there’s more nuance of course there is always but I’ll see gay men make videos with their gal pals like “I’m so lucky I’m not straight because I would never be able to choose between these amazing angels” meanwhile straight men will call women’s peach fuzz a “beard” and complain that their wives aren’t Skateboard thin AFTER GIVING FUCKING BIRTH

[freakattack]

I compare the wario guys to muppets all the time but i need tou people to know how not kidding i am. Jim hensons legacy is obviously more sacred as much as i love wario people ao i dont want to undermine that but at the same time they are both ragtag bands of freaky weirdos that don't fit in anywhere else and are all best friends and their goal in life is to put on a wonderful show/game/mayhem, for YOU. And they all love each other very much. The end

[zevranunderstander]

okay time for my daily "i stand with john gaius" post but tamsyn muir did not write a bisexual maori man who was a renowned scientist who had dedicated his life to saving the earth and exposing the schemes of the ultra-rich who was then made out to be a terrorist and global threat when his only goal was to help and who ultimately was brought down by his own character flaws and shortcomings while under immense pressure in a situation where everyone he ever loved was being executed in front of him and seconds before death did something he - to our knowledge - could barely control, just for the entire fanbase to go 'yeah he's like a cartoon villain. he's an irredeemably shitty person and everything he does is inherently evil and manipulative'

[235uranium]

every day i barely restrain the urge to bitch about the social sciences

[embraceyourdestiny]

The funniest part of neverafter is Gerard moments the absolute most badass and insane and fucking awesome part of neverafter is everything to do with the stepmother

[m0e-ru]

if adachi held the attendant's hand for more than five seconds I think it would be a very attendant thing to do to clasp it in return

[space-age-babe]

I don’t think the point is to say “incest is morally fine” because we’re talking about fiction. Fictional weird kinks are fine. Because it’s… made up. It’s no more morally icky than, idk, Godzilla smashing a building with his tail that had 5K office workers inside it. No one is saying monster movies are normalizing mass terrorism. So are you genuinely implying that fictional incest is… normalizing irl incest?

My impression is that the whole point of AO3 is it’s self policing. If you don’t like it - don’t look for that tag or block that tag. It’s just that simple. The internet is not for children and should not be sanitized down to child standards. If you’re not capable of curate ur own experience on the internet then that’s an issue. Tools like AO3 are for that. Curating ur own experience. Freedom and all that jazz.

Or am I misunderstanding you?

I’m not going to engage with this if you’re not even going to follow your own advice. if you’re supposed to curate ur own experience on the Internet and ignore the things other people post that bother you why are you over here bothering me about something I posted?

[waffulaa]

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[spaceflight-shapesight]

Huh... that person looks like they've got their head in the clouds, right? Or is it a new fashion trend..? I never keep up with these things.

[catinfroghat]

I was a bit underwhelmed by a few of Kafka's other stories after metamorphosis because they were kinda like "what if there was a really neurotic animal" which is fair enough that's clearly his thing but I'm onto the penal colony now and I'm kind of obsessed