#and they're also specific to each region

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

11 for Ingo and Akari?

(character dynamic ask game)

11. what's something A knows about B that most people don't? alternately, what's something most people believe about B that A doesn't?

ooh this is a good one. okay. so there's a Lot, obviously, right? on account of their similar histories, there are things that they know/believe about each other that most people don't.

like, from the one pov, everyone in jubilife thinks akari is. kind of intimidating. like sure, sweet kid, very helpful, but uh. if she ever stopped being helpful she's got like an army of terrifying monsters at her beck and call. and she came from space?? and doesn't remember why?? what could she be forgetting or hiding. suspicious. and then ofc everyone who doesn't suspect her of being a secret deadly threat to the village are like "wow akari you're so good at doing things here let me assign you every dangerous task i have that is too scary for me. thanks bye."

but meanwhile to ingo, and quite possibly only to ingo, she's just... a kid. i mean, she's a pretty good trainer, and her dedication to her dex work is impressive and deserves praise, and she's dealt so well with all of the tasks people have given her so far—but some kind of divine and/or demonic entity with a terrible secret? what are you talking about? look at her. she's the most normal ass 15 y/o ingo can remember meeting.

conversely i don't think ingo's dynamic with the pearl clan is quiiiite as rough as akari's with the galaxy team, esp. by the time akari arrives and he's had some odd years for people to get used to him, but he's still regarded as like, strange? he's not scared of pokemon in the slightest and is in fact great at handling them. he's got a habit of saying the weirdest sentences known to man and then immediately moving on. he doesn't know the things he should, and knows other things he has no apparent reason to. why does sneasler like him so much. how'd he do that so fast. but even if akari weren't already used to some of these things by virtue of being from the same future, the rest of it doesn't even register to her. he's cool and nice and fun to hang out with and that is the extent of akari's opinions on anyone.

so in that sense i guess to summarize their main thing they believe about each other that nobody else does is that the other is just. a person. like, a cool person, who they are friends with, but still just a pretty average human.

and then obvi you could talk more about how being as that is they're also better suited to understanding each others' respective feelings on the whole spacetime abduction amnesia thing, but this post is already too long as it is

[lavottino]

Self-indulgent but mandatory "What if the strawhats were Italian" because it has been plaguing my mind for months.

I'm putting some context (and also some headcanons) for each drawing under the cut for anyone interested in better understanding what is going on, so expect a lot of yapping 😭

I think I will draw more Italian strawhats shenanigans in the future (I'm sorry for sidelining you like that Jinbe...), we'll see...

1. Italy is divided into 20 regions, and I associated the 10 strawhats to 10 of those regions. The regions I chose have been mainly picked on instinct based on whatever felt right to me, so I wouldn't look too hard into it 😭

2. Tortellini are a type of stuffed pasta specifically from the Emilia-Romagna region (where I see Robin coming from) and even more specifically from the Bologna and Modena provinces; while fiorentina is typically from Florence (Tuscany) and Luffy would eat at least 10 of them a day if he could

3. Alberto Angela is a paleontologist and history and science communicator, and he runs some TV programs that mainly focus on history and science. He's well-spoken, he's educated, developing a little crush for him is basically a canon event, he's the IT Italian man if you ask me. Robin is watching Ulisse - Il piacere della scoperta, which is also the TV program that introduced me to him when I was like 9 😌

4. Table football is quite common in Italy (all my life I've called it biliardino, but apparently its name is calciobalilla? whatever 😭). I don't really have a lot to say about this one, actually. I just think that a Zoro and Sanji team up would be unmatched (just like in animanga). Like 10-1 (AT BEST) kind of unmatched. If they receive a goal (which was definitely a fluke) they're going to mercilessly trash talk each other into scoring the most diabolically aggressive goal ever witnessed in the history of mankind (Chopper is scared of them) (Luffy thinks it's kinda funny) (Nami decided they won't play at the same time until they learn to chill out).

5. Paolo Fox is a famous astrologer in Italy and basically there used to be this Sunday TV program (Mezzogiorno in famiglia, they discontinued it some years ago but it's the show that Nami and Zoro are watching), where he was called in every week as a guest to rank the signs from 12th to 1st based on the luck, love, money etc. they were going to get during the following week. And whether you believed in astrology or not, you were still going to eat that shit up regardless because you just wanted to know where your sign was going to be placed.

6. Easter eggs in Italy are this big chocolate egg that contains a "surprise", which can be toys or various trinkets (bracelets, keychains, that kind of stuff). When Easter is coming, the supermarkets have full aisles of Easter eggs because there are multiple brands and multiple themes (for example, the ones specifically targeted towards children could be One Piece/Pokemon/Winx etc. themed, containing a surprise that is related to them). I like to think that Chopper would be so excited about the chocolate that he would eat it all without even looking at the surprise 😭 (it's lying somewhere on the ground, a forgotten soldier amidst the raging battle)

7. Neapolitan songs can go pretty hard when you don't have someone in your ear telling you how corny and cringe they are. Franky has a whole arsenal. If during a conversation he hears a word that reminds him of one of his songs, he will start singing it. Brook joins him whenever he hears him, and if he doesn't know the actual words to the song, he will still string together some notes with his guitar. Luffy and Usopp will join at a certain point, while the other strawhats enjoy the little show. If Franky is singing and Robin appears in his line of sight, he will switch to a romantic song and start serenading her. When this happens, Sanji joins too (not because he's trying to woo Robin, but because he will never miss a chance to serenade a woman 😌).

8. I just know Brook has en entire repertoire of love songs that he sings whenever Zoro and Sanji are fighting. In this case he is singing "Bello e impossibile" by Gianna Nannini, whose chorus goes something like "handsome, handsome and impossibile, with black eyes and your Middle Eastern taste" and then again "handsome, handsome and invincible, with black eyes and a kissable mouth/a mouth to be kissed" (it sounds more poetic in Italian I'm sorry 😭). They get mad and flustered every time. It doesn't matter if they are still dancing around each other or are already together. Brook has the time of his life.

[doodlepede]

hey Rain World fans. I'm gonna show you a lore interpretation that I personally have never seen anyone talk about except myself. If you know me as Sliverist, then you know what's up.

Everyone knows the first five Karma glyphs represent the so-called Five Natural Urges. Violence, reproduction, trade and social connection, eating, and self preservation. People generally believe the next Karma glyphs before the tenth are meaningless, but this is WRONG. Understanding this revelation requires seeing the big picture, which I will guide you through.

Rain World really likes to blur the line between organic and inorganic, with the most obvious example being the Iterators themselves, these biomechanical superstructures whose function in large part is outsourced to their "microbe strata" (Purple SL pearl), but it goes even further, into the very world design.

Five Pebbles' internal structure resembles a brain with its many sections all divided into specific regions with specific purposes. His chamber makes the resemblance even more obvious, where you can clearly see the brainstem.

Within Five Pebbles' dark interior swim swarms of colorful neurons which turn white in broad daylight, each one a carrier of information. Often, they are brushed along by cilia lining the computer halls.

The Void Sea writhes with a swarm of beings enormous beyong reckoning which closely resemble real neurons. The void worm that takes interest in the slugcat uses a dendrite to make a tether to drag the slugcat to its final destination.

As the slugcat swims and swims, it is joined by countless many just like it, and together they swim toward the light, referred to in the code as "TheEgg" (VoidSeaScene.cs)

This is the table of Karma, showing every level above Five. Doesn't it look rather like..

dividing cells being crossed out?

In Rain World, birth and life, cognition and enlightenment, death and ascension are all inextricably connected concepts. You might even say they're connected in a cycle. The imagery and themes are rich and complete, integrated fully into the world. This is even without mentioning the voidspawn which also resemble sperm, swimming to the same place. This is why Ascension is the best ending :artiyoy:

[leefail]

This is just a mini info dump from an Arab batfamily fan because I find Damian calling his siblings Akhi... adorable (for me as a native speaker watching a writer use Arab words) and, not painful, just... itchy, it URGES me to make a pptx with 300 slides and just? Talk about Arabic?

So... أخي, Akhi, Brother.

It's not incorrect. The word is used in the right place and delivers its intended meaning. Other Arab speakers might not find a problem with it. They'd feel odd like I did but will likely go "eh" and carry on. But I'm an Arabic enthusiast, so...

Like with every language with geographically widespread users, the Arabic tongue kind of- deviated from its roots. The language has naturally branched out into so many dialects I myself can't keep track of.

Arabs from different regions can understand each other. They use the same words but for different purposes and with different pronunciations.

The original root language that holds them all (Quranic Arabic) was simplified into an easier, standard version that is used for formal speeches and as a communication bridge (seeing that you can't, say, translate something to Arabic and say it's for all Arabs if you use a certain dialect. Because an Arabic dialect is an identity at this point, tell me somebody is Syrian, and I know them already)

Now, with the fun part.

See, no Arab calls any sibling of theirs Akhi, I myself would burst laughing if mine did.

Yakhoi يَخوي (nonstandard, everyday Arabic for o, brother) , maybe, if I'm calling a stranger from the streets or an offender I'm going to give a piece of my mind.

Or, hold your breaths, my brother is crying, and the lights are out and I NEED to use the tenderest, most loving, most adoring, most revering tone I could muster so he just knows he is loved and family. Y'know? This specific situation.

And other Arabs might just say, no, I use it when, I use it when, I don't use it, etc.

The point is, nobody will mention Akhi. Because it's a Standard Arabic word, a formal word, and a word used in translated texts and stories when a foreign character we don't consider part of us call their brother. It's weird, it's devoid of emotions, and it's like watching a robot trying to be emotional, but it's a translated text. That's what translated texts use, and it's fine.

It is fine, Standard Arabic has been used for stories so much that nobody questions its influence on a character's characterisation.

I'm not saying Standard Arabic shouldn't be used for story writing, quite the opposite, in fact. I'm just saying that if Arabic is used to represent an Arab, its usage should also consider an everyday Arab experience and manners.

Now to Damian.

Akhi is robotic. Damian's personality does allow him to fall under that category. If for his well refined manners and polite, formal speech.

But even the King wouldn't call his brother Akhi.

He'd call him by his name. For my community (and most, I'm sure) siblings are called by their names, and if we look up historic Quranic (Root) Arabic speakers, they, too, call their siblings by their name. Yes, even the Sultan.

If not by actual name, then either endearing or demeaning names.

Arabs LOVE endearing names, but they're dipped in a pool of honey I don't think Damian would like to dive in.

Talia, on the other hand, would most certainly call Damian Mama. Arab parents call their kids by their own titles. It's the ultimate expression of parental love of all times, in my opinion.

(Don't make Batman call him Papa, though. Pretty sure Damian would malfunction)

-

Well, I said all that, but watching writers include Arabic words in his vocabulary is still sweet. Tt is not even a word, but it's such an Arab thing it's my favourite.

If only I could make subtitles of everyday Arab talk and show you, their speech is heavy with, excuse my English, word softeners, it's like they're talking in a TV drama and not the real world.

Watching Damian adopting it would be interesting :D

[draxofoy]

i haven't posted anything here omg kinda nervous... but here's zutara in traditional javanese wedding attire 🙇🏻‍♀️ commissioned this from my friend she's amazing 😖❗️

some facts about the attire! ☺️😙

The headwear these babies are wearing are called Blangkon and Cunduk Mentul, Blangkon is a traditional headwear worn by men usually in Central Javanese and Yogyakarta (especially the one Zuko is wearing!) The word Blangkon itself is said to came from the word 'blanco' referring to the blank cloth used to make the headwear, tho there are soo many theories about the origin of both the headwear and the name itself cause sadly there aren't many records about it :(

The headwear is also used to represent wisdom and class because back then, these were used to differentiate the nobilities from the commoners (wr don't really do that anymore dw). The Javanese people believe that your hair, head, and face are the most important and treasured parts of your body, so these Blangkon are used to protect those parts. We also believe that Blangkon represent self-control, since Javanese men tend to keep their hair long back then and keep them loose when they're in a state of 'conflict' such as battles or war, representing uncontrollable flow of emotions so keeping their hair up and covered is seen as an act of self control.

As for the Cunduk Mentul, these pretty headpieces are typically worn by brides on their wedding day! They represent 'the sun that shines over the universe' and also... well, it depends on the number of the pieces they use, usually it's 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, each representing a different value. 1 is used as a symbol of God's singularity, usually worn by muslim brides, 3 is for the Trimurti or the Trinity of Hindu Gods that deeply rooted in Javanese values, 5 is for the five pillars of Islam, 7 symbolizes 'help' or 'aid'- the Javanese believe that 7 is a lucky number since 7 is 'pitu' in Javanese, so, yeah, 'pitu' for 'pitulungan' or help and aid in Javanese language. 9 represent the Nine Saints/Wali Sanga, 9 saints that have a major impact on the growth of Islam in the island of Java.

Their clothing respectively are called Beskap and Kebaya 🤩 Beskap is more of a modern version of Javenese traditional clothing, for it was adopted from the modern suits worn by the Deutsch during the colonization era. The word Beskap came from the word 'beschaafd', meaning civilized (oh!)

Kebaya, on the other hand, has no specific area origin cause each region has their own styles and versions! The one Katara is wearing is a Central Java Kebaya tho, famous for the velvety fabric and dark colors along with the gold motifs. The history of 'modern' Kebaya itself started in the 15th century when Dutch first settled in Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia!) The clothing had taken inspirations from different cultures (like Chinese and Indian) along the way since Indonesia was (kinda still is!) One of the centers of trade routes for both Hindia and Pacific Oceans.

Damn I'm getting tired of writing this, but next 😭 is Kain Jarik! A piece of fabric with Batik motives wrapped around the legs :))) these babies have RANGE, like they could be used daily, for traditional dance attire, sacred rituals, weddings, even used in funerals 😀 they're usually 2 to 3 meters in length and more variations in width, easy to customize! They also usually have dark colors like dark brown and light brown motives, but i asked my friend to draw them with red and blue and gold motives cause why not 😝

Anyways I think i went a little overboard cause my fingers are hurting from typing this lol.

[ranticore]

eh i might as well just post em here. Sirenian humans for ya. ftr i never got round to doing this for selkies or the other guys

the individual drawings for these are.. not the best and the text formatting and typos are woeful but i have a lot of fondness for them (especially the hopper harpies, they're my favourites) and the reason i made this blog was originally to talk more about them in a more relaxed space

there's also... this attempt at describing the naming conventions of the most populated settlement

one thing i really wanted to avoid with these guys was the notion of culture being tied to what type of person you are (physically i mean). it's very rare that a settlement is limited to only one type of human. culture is instead related to settlements and geographical regions (can u tell I hate the common trope of Monolithic Fantasy Race Culture). because the humans who originally settled on siren spoke english, all of the languages spoken by modern sirenians are derived from english (and this is how scholars can back-translate ancient records about ishmael et al). some people with very specific adaptations (like hoppers) might be concentrated in the area that best fits their morphology but there are no exclusive groups based on body type.

the modern sirenians do not believe they are (or were, originally) aliens on siren, they do not know about earth, they know nothing at all aside from the fact that there were once Precursors who've left some technology behind.

the main story is about our guy Qedivar travelling from the spire to the old Precursor ruins to do some research, and on the way he hires Huarva as a tugboat and Terwy as an astronavigator. They have each lied to the other about some fundamental aspect of themselves of course so there's drama but eventually Qedivar gets home and publishes a preliminary report on what he found there (which is the record of Ishmael's life). Conservative factions immediately decry it as heresy and call for Qedivar to be killed, so he has to go into hiding and publish under a pseudonym.

[maximumzombiecreator]

I've seen a lot of posts recently where people say they can't find players to play non-5e TTRPGs with. As someone who moves countries every few years, I've had to rebuild my roster of local TTRPG players from scratch a number of times. Here's how I do it.

Caveats first: while I've done this in small cities, I have always done it in cities. If you're in, like, a rural environment, you might just not have enough interested people around. You can always do it online in that case. I'm not really going to cover finding players online, except to say you should probably look for communities for the specific system you want to play. Most of them are enthusiastically looking for new participants. Especially game masters.

Okay, first things first, you gotta find people. I generally find I get better results if the search is location first. That is, rather than using city-wide or regional Looking For Group type internet groups, I look for physical locations that host gaming groups. Local game stores, public libraries, gaming cafes/bars, etc.

Being location first helps avoid some common bad behaviours. Online LFG groups often have a few shitty people hanging around who can't find long term groups because they're shitty. They'll jump at the opportunity to join new groups where people don't know them, because everyone else knows better than to game with them. But location-based groups are better at filtering this. Someone who harasses people at an LGS can be banned from the store, but decentralized online groups struggle to handle these situations in my personal experience.

Being location first also solves the next problem, which is giving you a location to play. Eventually, when I have a long term group, I'll host games in my home. But there needs to be a level of trust before that feels safe, and we're looking for randoms, so for now we need a public gaming venue. If, for whatever reason, there aren't dedicated gaming spaces where you can do this, I've had the most success gaming in cafes or restaurants during off peak hours. I've run a bunch of games in restaurants from, like, 2pm-5pm on a Saturday, and as long as you're buying drinks and some snacks or something, and being polite and non-disruptive, it's typically not too hard to get permission.

Now, if that local group has enough interest in a non-5e system that I'm interested in running, I'll happily do that, and it's pretty free from there. Most people who are willing to play one other system will gladly try others if they find they like playing with you. But even in big cities, I feel it's pretty often the case that postings for local games of other systems don't wind up actually finding successful groups.

So, here is the bit where, unfortunately, finding people to play non-5e games with involves playing some 5e. Community groups are always looking for more GMs to run games, so I will set out to run a number of short 5e adventures, each with different groups. These are typically oneshots that I have the option of extending for another 1 or 2 sessions.

I always run adventures that I've written myself for these, because I want my particular GMing style to really come through. Looking for players is a two way street. I'm looking for people I like GMing for, but I'm also looking to make sure they know what they're getting. Especially if I'm going to ask them to play a system they've never tried, they should know that there's going to be something they enjoy. So, these short adventures are full of the types of silly but sincere NPCs I tend to run, the open-ended scenarios I prefer, the tropes I favour, etc. If someone isn't going to enjoy playing with me, I want them to know it from this adventure.

I structure the adventures to give me a lot of flexibility in terms of how long they run. They're nearly always mysteries, but with some active component to the mystery, so that if things drag or dawdle I can have the villain show up and force a final confrontation. They're also structured to have a natural "next thing." You find and defeat the villain, but there's an implied next villain you'll be going after. That way, if the group is working well and I want to continue, it's easy to present the option to the group. But if I'm not interested in continuing with the group, the next thing can just serve as an "and the adventures continue" implied epilogue, and the game still feels complete.

I don't like players just bringing their own character sheet to the table. Someone who brings a disruptive character can ruin a session without me getting much useful information out of it, other than that I don't want to play with that person. And if it ruins the experience for the other players, I'm often out the opportunity to game with those people, through neither of our faults. I've experimented with both asking players to submit their characters in advance or making them choose between a collection of premade characters. The former is a good check for whether people will put in a basic amount of effort and follow instructions, but it can dissuade people who are just looking to dip their toes into playing for the first time. The latter can turn off players who are into crunchy games and are excited about character building. As a result, I'll usually choose the approach based on what non-5e system I'm currently most excited about running. Do I want to get together a group for a rules-light game? Premade characters it is. Looking to run some PF2e? Please submit your character sheet in advance. Some locations also do more drop-in based games, in which case it's premades all day.

As I'm running the game, I'm observing the players. There's a simple vibe check, obviously. Do I like playing with this person? But I'm also looking at how they play. What are they here for, what's exciting them? Are they struggling with finding optimal turns in combat, or do they like mastering a system? Are they curious about the world, or do they glaze over when the spotlight isn't on them? Do they light up in dialogue scenes? Do they want to try crazy things outside of their on-sheet abilities? Remember, later, I'm going to try to persuade this person to try to play a game they've never played before. I need to know what specifically is going to excite them.

I have (always with permission) recorded sessions before to go over in making these choices, but honestly even just a few small reminder notes will help me unravel things later. If a session goes well, I'll ask at the end for people to give me their contact information if they'd be interested in playing again. Non-committal, at their comfort, and it doesn't single out people that I don't want to play with. I can always just not call them. Usually I find I'm interested in playing again with a little more than half of the players I meet this way. In my experience, it's fairly rare for a player to say they're not interested in playing again, TTRPGs rule and there's a DM shortage.

What I usually do is keep running these until I have enough people in mind to run something else, even if it isn't the system I'm most excited about. Probably it would be better to spend more time in this starter phase building up more connections, but after running like 4-5 5e adventures, I'm usually more than ready to run anything else, and if I have to shelve my Lancer ideas because I've mostly found crunch-averse players, I'm usually fine with that.

So, next comes the invites. Now, most players I meet this way will eventually be open to playing most games, but listen: you can put people well out of their comfort zone for their third TTRPG, but you gotta be real careful with their second. Most of the time, the game I'm inviting people to will be their first real exposure to a non-5e TTRPG. If they don't like it, they will run back to the safety of 5e and you will never get them out of it again. So I am very careful in picking the right system for the players I am inviting.

Whatever the new system I want to run is, I will set up a pilot session for it. I am very clear to players that I will teach them the system at the session, they do not need to know it in advance. Eventually, when I have a reliable group of TTRPG people to play with, I'll expect them to be able to pick up systems without a ton of help, but for players that are only used to the complexity of 5e, the idea of learning a new system is daunting. I rehearse the teaching of the game session. It's the only thing for TTRPGs I ever rehearse, but I want to know down pat how I'm going to quickly teach a new system and make it feel approachable and non-threatening. I'm also very clear that this will be a single session, with the possibility of turning into a campaign if we like it. All of this is structured to feel very safe. No initial learning required, no long term commitment, with a GM you already know you like.

But even as safe as that is, you still have to pitch the system. Why should the player be excited about playing this new game? Don't go all TTRPG nerd on them and explain all the details of the system, or use a bunch of jargon. Give them one or two things to be excited about with short, detailed anecdotes to back them up.

"We're going to be playing Blades in the Dark. It's a game where you play a gang of criminals in a haunted, steampunk dystopia. Every session you'll do heists, but instead of meticulously planning them, you start right in the action, and when you need to have planned for something, you can do a flashback scene to explain your preparation. One group I ran this for got busted by guards during an early heist, but used a flashback to create a scene where they had gotten a buddy of theirs a job as one of the guards, and he helped them out of the situation. And for some reason they fell in love with this bumbling goof I improvised to be the buddy, and then on a bunch of future jobs they kept using flashbacks to get him jobs wherever they were robbing. So this one idiot was just a de-facto crew member who worked a dozen different inside jobs despite being about as sharp as an eraser. And eventually they fucked up and got him killed, but they brought him back as a ghost, because you can do that in Blades in the Dark."

I find using a specific example of play really helps get peoples' imaginations going, which is what is going to help them say yes. And that example is tailored to what I know that player vibes with, what it is I think that makes them a good fit for this game.

The last detail about the invites is that I'm telling them, not asking them. It is not, "Hey, are you interested in playing this new game?" It's "I'm going to be running this new game. If you're interested in playing, please let me know what times work for you." If you're asking, you're going to get some "well but can it be 5e?" If you're telling, then they can choose to learn a new game in order to keep playing TTRPGs with a GM they know they like, or they can choose not to play at all.

Once you get enough yesses for a game, you run it, and then from there you're on your own. I think those are basically just friends you have at that point, and I'm not gonna tell you how to have friends.

Hopefully at least one person finds all that useful!

[ratwithhands]

We got Volo!! I've been thinking about Mahoumas again now that my school workload is lighter, so I finally got to draft Volo's champion design. Worst to ever do it, can't wait to draw him fighting our main duo.

Since I've had time to think about it, I've also done some more refining on where the magic comes from. Essentially in this AU, legendaries are such powerful divinities that just being in a place will cause immense damage to the nearby environment and creatures as a result of the energy they let off. In ancient times they would "resolve" conflicts by whaling on each other, which would obliterate any nearby settlements and mess up the ecosystem. Arceus then decided that the best way to protect all his children would just be to simply stop them from doing that by only allowing proxies to fight.

The basic idea is that a legendary has a divine champion (diplomatic assistant) that meets with the champions of others in order to discuss and settle issues. This ensures no region ending damage and also makes sure that decisions aren't rash, spur of the moment actions. The champions are protected under the rules too; once in contract to a legendary, they aren't to be attacked or harmed by other champions unless they've already been cleared and confirmed for trial by combat. There's some other specifics too but in essence they're basically just there to keep the peace and represent their divinity.

What makes Volo different (and such a pain to deal with) is that he's Giratina's first champion, so he got a lot more benefits that champions generally shouldn't have. Giratina had never had to set up a champion before, plus was excited to have one after eons, so Volo was lavishly spoiled. Since Giratina doesn't talk to other legendaries, he was also pretty much unchecked and just doing whatever he wanted without any regulation. This is a problem in general but it is especially troublesome when another champion (cough, Ingo) tries to revert the "corrections" he's making.

Anyways bonus doodle: since he was the first, Giratina wanted a little whimsy for him.

Let me know if you guys want to see more of this bastard, I'm off to take a nap

[thegoldendoorknob]

RF Guardians of Azuma general tips (Spoiler-Free)

Copying my advice I made for reddit for any GoA community here too-

I updated it because reddit blew up my tips post for a few minutes and scared me lol

Story Tips

Kai, Ikaruga, Kanata, Clarice, and the other Protagonist are unlocked late in the story, so if you're having trouble raising Kai's bond, or you can only find him at night, you aren't far enough in the main quest yet. It seems like a few characters have bond levels locked behind this too, like Mauro...

The main quest expects you to level up towns once or twice before leaving, so you can get an early start before you hit that point, if you want. The 4 Villages are set up to encourage specific builds, from what I've noticed:

Spring - Farming plots

Summer - Shops

Autumn - Rice, Barns

Winter - Fruit, Fishing

Press the R3 button (right stick) or T-Key to switch to overhead view in building mode to make edits much easier.

If you hold down the button (A | X | Left Shift Key) after deleting an object in this mode, you can quickly delete anything you move the cursor over -Odd-Implement-7045

When you are in build mode, the day timer is stopped. Your RP still recharges when you're in build mode, so if you want to get some early levels for Drum Dance without eating food, you can.

When the quest says 'Pray at the Kagura Shrines' after the winter village, the shrines are on these turtle-shaped islands in the sky, not the village shrines. [Thanks AdDecent7641!]

Speaking of, monsters on islands with a tall red tower on them will be around 40-50, since they're involved with a quest later in the game.

There's some parts of the main quest where they'll stop you until you cook something specific or tame an animal. So far I've had to tame a Buffamoo, Cluckadoodle, and a Wolf.*

*You can use Fubuki and Kurama for that quest instead of the Cluckadoole and Wolf, apparently! They even have flavor text if you do -asteriuszenith

Bosses also have weapon weaknesses and elemental weaknesses based on the free weapon and divine instrument they gave you for the region earlygame. Think of it like a Zelda game; whatever tool you picked up, they expect you to use later. It's always possible to go against the flow, though the lost bonus damage is pretty noticeable this time. The weapon weakness (first icon) and elemental weakness (second) will pop up above the boss's health bar when they are hit by them.

Boss dark attacks will slam the party for big damage. I thought I was underleveled my first death, but no, it was the dark element alone blowing up my party. Maybe invest in Dark Defense equipment when you get close to level 50.

Perfect dodging an attack before attacking lets you deal big damage to enemies and boss stun bars. You also charge a lot of spirit gauge by doing them

Suzu is really easy to level bond up on and doesn't faint, so she's a great team buffer for most of the game.

If you're indecisive about who to party, I ran Suzu-Iroha-Ulalaka for almost the ENTIRE game and rarely ever had to equip them to keep up. In the lategame whenever Ulalaka was unavailable, I used Yachio as a substitute until she returned, but any healer is probably fine really.

You won't have access to Monster Barns until you complete Autumn Village, so you may want to chat your favorite characters to Bond lv1 and take them out for a spin until you reach that point. You can check their personal skills by switching to them on the Equipment menu and pressing Y | Square | X | X Key

On that note, when you unlock the 'back row' after Winter Village, the back row gains passive exp. Good for grinding characters and monsters!

Some decorations show random stats like STR, these will increase your stats when you place them in the towns! Later decorations can raise them like quite a lot, so they may be fun to experiment with. Each unique deco can only raise that stat ONCE, so duplicates won't raise the stat again. You can check what town it needs to be placed in, and if you already placed one by looking at the highlighted symbol in the crafting menu. -Haktarius

Speaking of- some decorations also need to be placed in specific villages to get their buffs. They show this with flower icons on the side in the crafting screen. -KainYusanagi

Try to pace yourself- the bond and character locks suck, but this game is deceptively long and easy to burn out on if you rush. To give you an idea- there's roughly 16 to 17 dungeons total over the course of the entire game. 4 for the seasons, 6 for the story after, another 4, then 2-3 more.

General Tips

A lot of recipes are locked behind Frog Statues, make sure you grab any you come across.

In later village levels, they'll unlock more fields for you to build on top of.

If you use the first person bow scope with the Summer Treasure equipped on top of a harvestable crop, it will sickle the crop without using any rp!

If you dash just before falling off a ledge, you maintain that dash speed through the air for GREAT air-time. This is especially helpful and fun when you get the winter sacred treasure.

Negative trait villagers will lower your town stats- evict the ones with only negative traits whenever you can.

A good time to evict negative villagers is right before the day ends- on the next day, if there's any empty slots, 2 or more new villagers will reliably fill them. -Alexaius

It helps to invest a little in logging and mining villagers early on to stockpile materials for builds later.

Fruit trees will always be a plain-colored, green tree. You can find Oranges on some cliffs around the Summer Outskirts and on that small island to the south, Apples behind the purple vines to the west of Spring Village [?], Grapes directly to the right of Autumn Village next to an ore, Chestnuts further to the right side behind all the vine walls, Bamboo shoots are to the right of the castle, and Peaches I don't know where in the overworld they might be, but I found some in a dungeon you unlock after getting Kanata. There's a traveling merchant from higher village levels that can sell saplings later, apparently!

Algester has a visual of my fruit tree directions Here!!

You can find most Golden Vegetable seeds off of islands in the sky, the mushroom master has some gold pumpkin seeds behind his house as an example. You can also buy them off basic seed shops later once a town is leveled enough.

There's a traveling merchant for every region! They will randomly show up next to teleports and appear as a white dot on the map -ego157

Onigiri holes ask for: Onigiri, Salmon Onigiri, Miso Onigiri, Tempura Onigiri, Bonito Flake Onigiri, Greatest Grilled Onigiri (Cook Together with Matsuri) -Haktarius

inkstainedgwyn is starting a Unique Dishes list! You can unlock unique dishes when you are Bond Level 6 with a character.

SEEEECRETSmuahaha has made a simple Gifting Guide for the romanceable characters! Big-Buzz-Jet recently made a more in-depth one Here!

Taming bees for their honey is a pretty good way to make money! Higher level monsters will give you higher level produce for more $$$ as well! -ego157

The DLC swim suits and the default swim suits are different! You can unlock them by reaching bond 2 and inviting them to the waterfall or beach.

Yukata outfits are unlocked on Summer 20th! You get them by attending the firework festival. They can be unlocked a little earlier on Summer 7 if you have Kanata. -Kisaell77, Haddock_Lotus

Higher bond levels also unlock some personal accessories, like Iroha's headband or Kai's mask.

[tanadrin]

just spitballing here. but. English and many European languages are kinda interesting in that in lots of languages, names are etymologically transparent. older Germanic names were usually just a common noun or two: wolfstone. elf-read. bright-helm. but names are kind of weird as lexical items, and are apt to be borrowed and retained even when they're not lexically transparent (which they don't need to be, since they index people and not things or concepts), and lots of languages even if they once preferred lexically transparent names have acquired a large stock of names whose "meaning" is just an etymological curiosity. european languages really kicked this into high gear by borrowing a ton of latin, greek, and biblical names, and then borrowing and re-borrowing names from each other. i'm sure similar processes have operated in other parts of the world for centuries.

in english specifically, we've also had this phenomenon for centuries now of surnames gradually turning into given names. a lot of times this is because married women passed their names to their children as middle names, and middle names could then be re-used as first names, and of course a lot of times it's just that surnames became etymologically opaque, and if "chandler" doesn't mean "one who makes candles" to you, why not use it as a first name?

on top of that, surnames are also apt to cross language boundaries; English doesn't have a consistent system of phonetic spelling; and even within English surnames can exist in many slight variations which reflect minute linguistic differences or just variable spelling habits in the medieval and early modern period. in regions with high immigration you also have the melange of other languages' names entering your language, and often (though not always) retaining their spelling according to a different scheme. Sean, for instance, which is orthographically opaque in English, but perfectly phonetic in Irish

oddly names are one of the only lexical items in English which do not have a fixed spelling now--English did eventually settle on a preferred spelling for its whole vocabulary (though not a consistent spelling), except for personal names. if you spell your name shaun or shawn or sean, people accept these as normal variants of a common name. if you spell "brought" as "brawt," "brot," or "brotte," people think you're an idiot.

all of which is to say that even before you get into the social and psychological dynamics of why parents might choose to do so, the phenomenon of bestowing on your child (or even yourself) a name with a deliberately unusual or creative spelling seems quite historically contingent. that's pretty interesting.

[specshroom]

★~Kirara and Hakari flirting with you~★

(No actual smut but it's steamy so Read More just cus)

It starts with Kirara flirting with you to make Hakari jealous. Not anything serious, she just wanted to see what would happen.

She does this by paying more attention to you, touching you more, complementing you more and just being more flirtatious in general. Hakari knows what she's doing obviously, he does find it amusing that you don't seem to know what's going on.

So one day you're training your technique in the fight club training room and they're just watching from the side on a battered couch. Hakari pulls her onto his lap.

"You don't think I know what you're doing?" He says down at her, lazily stroking his hand up her thigh.

She pouts at him, "I don't know what you're talking about, Kin."

He scoffs and looks over at where you're trying to perfect a specific stance for your technique.

"Didn't even work, That dumbass can't take a hint." He mumbles resting his head back, still watching you.

"Well maybe I should try harder."

Kirara says, staring at the same place her boyfriend is.

"Good luck with that, Babe" he chuckles out patting her thigh.

She huffs at the condescending tone and brings all her attention back to him. "Cmon~ you never thought about it Kin?"

"bout what?" He knows what she's talking about and yes, he definitely has but he wants her to say it.

"bout the three of us..." she trails her slender fingers up his chest, looking up at him with lidded eyes, "Together."

Her fingers trails up his neck as she leaves light kisses there and he slides his hand up under the hem of her shorts to squeeze her ass. He leans back and hums for her to continue. She leans closer to his ear, "You could fuck them while they fuck me, or we could both suck you off." Her hand goes to palm the growing bulge in his pants as he smirks and closes his eyes, imagining the pretty picture she's painting for him. "Or we could fuck and have them watch, or you could both double team me, or we could-"

"OH MY GOD! COULD YOU GUYS NOT FUCK IN FRONT OF ME FOR EVEN A SECOND??!"

They both pause and turn their heads to look at you with wide eyes. You stand there, hands on your hips in your compression shirt and sweatpants. You've been trying to concentrate on your training while the lovers mumble and whisper to each other about whatever.

You've gotten used to feeling like a third wheel being around them so often, living with them, working with them. That doesn't mean it didn't bother you when you look over at them and they're half way to fucking right there!

After a second of silence they both let out light laughs. Both amused at your bothered state and the fact that they'd gotten so distracted with their shared daydream.

"Sorry, Y/n!" Kirara yells back, trying to look apologetic. Hakari grins at you and stands up, hauling Kirara in his arms as he walks out of the training room, a clear destination in mind. Kirara giggles as Hakari kisses her neck, her eyes still on you, waving goodbye as the door closes behind them.

You huff in disbelief, looking around the now empty room, definitely not imagining what your two friends are doing together in their room. You go back to training, trying to ignore the heat building in your lower regions.

After this, the couple gets a lot more touchy in front of you, even more than they already were. They also get more touchy with you. Hakari touches your waist and lower back when he's walking past you, he presses you up against the kitchen counter pretending he's trying to reach something above you. Kirara snuggles up to you on the couch and even gives you "friendly" cheek kisses. They also get much louder when they fuck, their moans and bed squeaking being very audible from your room right next door. Unknown to you, they can also hear the frustrated hushed groans coming from your side of the wall right after they fuck.

Safe to say you're pretty sexually frustrated as you sit on the couch trying to watch TV. The two menaces smirk at each other in the hallway, Hakari pats Kirara on her ass, encouraging her to prance into the living room and plop herself right next to you.

"Hey Y/n, You doing alright?"

She feigns concern, pressing up to your side, arms hugging one of yours.

"I'm fine, why?" You answer, confusion present in the tone.

"Well you just seem kinda...moody." She says leaning her cheek on your shoulder.

"Moody?" You arch a brow at her.

"Yeah, just- I dunno. You seem bothered, pent-up....tense." she starts massaging your arm before she places a hand on your thigh.

"Is there anything I can do?"

She says leaning closer to say it into your ear. That's when you realise what's actually happening.

"Uh No Kira it's alright. I'm f-" As you try to get up she pulls you down again and straddles you. Your wide eyes look into her pretty droopy ones, your hands hover in the air on either side of her waist, not sure what to do.

She runs her hands up your chest and shoulders, lowering herself until she rests her groin on yours. You sigh at the feeling and the way she's looking at you until you snap yourself out of it.

"What about Hakari?" Genuine concern very present in your hushed voice. As annoying as the couple was you didn't want to be the reason a perfectly good relationship ends.

"What about me?" A low voice hums right next to your ear, you were so caught up you didn't even notice Hakari leaning over the back of the couch. You suck in a breath, Is he mad at me? Is he mad at Kirara? Am I a homewrecker? You're so caught up in your panic that it takes you a minute to register Hakari's tone. Not one of anger but instead very amused.

Kirara giggles at your reaction and takes your hands in hers to place them on her bare waist. "Poor Y/n, so frustrated, huh Kin?" She says while softly kissing up your neck along your jaw, her cold piercings making you shiver. She slowly starts to grind down on your crotch. Hakari hums in agreement and gently places a hand around your neck to keep you from squirming away while he slowly kisses and licks down the other side of your neck to your shoulder.

"We can help with that." He says against the skin where your shoulder and neck meet before biting down.

You're soooo fucked.

[homunculus-argument]

Fantasy worldbuilding time: What if different magic skills are inherent, but the different "genres" of magic are cultural?

Like you've got a specific set of different types of magic that one could become skilled in, and people with the inherent knack for the different types are born at roughly even ratios all over the world, but the cultural ideas of what one should do with these natural inclinations are so deeply ingrained to the people of each place that they're not even aware that the spark at the root is the same damn thing as something completely different.

A highly complex and politically sophisticated merchant region combs through the local children to find the ones with potential for magic, puts them to school and sorts them into careers based on skills. A child born as a nameless orphan beggar might be raised to become a mage emissary if she is found to have the ability to subtly shift peoples' hearts, minds and opinions - a skill invaluable in politics. Visiting a different region for negotiations, she is shocked to have her horse taken by a lowly stablehand who wields the same gift as she does. Around here, the spark to shift minds is interpreted as the knack to tame and train animals - it wouldn't occur to anyone that the gift for handling dogs and horses could also be used for handling people.

Or a large empire that has slowly drifted into decline during their long span of peace, that has been cultivating the gift of training healers. They have the odd gift to make the body do things - move one vein to meet the other while mending a wound, tie broken ligaments together, sense where a lump in the body is a cancerous growth and shift arteries away from it to starve the growth. They see through the body, move things around, and shift the off-centre, tilted things to be more properly aligned. Healers are known as the most gentle type of magicians, who could not be forced to do harm even at the threat of death.

It's a bit of a shock to discover that the neighbouring warlike kingdom - who does not have healers - also has people born with the same inherent way to see through bodies and move bone, ligament and vein. They, however, are trained to tear people apart.

[vermiciousyidreborn]

So people keep assuring me that Palestinians are also indigenous to the southern levant and...well, I admit I'm skeptical of this. Like, I'm NOT advocating expelling them or genocide, etc. Those are all bad, just questioning the notion of indigeneity here. Mostly as a consequentialist. If Palestinians are indigenous to the Levant, that seems to imply other things. Let's think through this.

We're going to set aside the UN notion of indigenous because that's crafted to exclude Jews and often enough this is a statement by people who reject that and consider Jews to be indigenous, they're often saying both groups are. So...I guess that means something like "A group is indigenous to the region where they underwent ethnogenesis" so we'll take that as our definition of indigeneity. Jews are indigenous to the Levant, check. We're good. Arabs are indigenous to Arabia. All makes sense.

So, anyway, what's an ethnic group? From Wikipedia:

An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include a people of a common language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history, or social treatment.[

Ok, so common language, culture, traditions, history, etc.

So European American Protestants are indigenous to North America? Common history (going back to the 1600s!), identify as a group, believe they have a common culture (even if we need to break things up more finely, you can find common cultures, say, New England, or Midwest, wee American Nations), common language (English, which I will posit is part of why there's basically a moral panic about Spanish and has been almost my entire life, in much of the country). Note that an ethnicity "can include" and doesn't need ALL of these things.

So it seems pretty solid that European American Protestants are, at the least, a collection of ethnic groups unique to North America. Which means they did ethnogenesis here. Which means they're indigenous now.

So...let's be clear, to me this is a reductio ad absurdam. OF COURSE white US protestants are not indigenous to North America! But I've yet to see definitions that mark Palestinian Arabs as indigenous to the Levant without also implying that white Americans are indigenous to fucking Ohio (along with the rest of the country).

Especially when you consider that white american protestant as an identity in this sense is older than a distinct Palestinian identity. It just brings us to the eternal questions that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict brings up and that people REALLY don't want to discuss:

When, if ever, does indigeneity expire? Personally, I think it doesn't, and Jews are and will always be indigenous to the Levant, just like the Cherokee Nation is indigenous to the US Southeast, even though they've been displaced. Though I know many "Pro-Palestine" activists implicitly believe indigeneity does expire, at least for Jews, but even if I weren't Jewish, I wouldn't want that precedent set because it would fuck over EVERYONE

When does a colonizer become indigenous to the place they colonized? This is rarely discussed, but lies implicitly behind a lot of things. Again, I want to avoid setting bad precedents, but I don't see how Palestinian Arabs can have hit this threshold and white people in the US haven't, which leads me to reject the idea that colonizers can ever become indigenous, at least while holding onto the identity that did the colonization (White and Arab, respectively, hell, White Christian and Arab Muslim if we want to get more specific).

Now, I don't believe colonizers need to be killed or expelled, I'm generally against violence outside of self-defense, but I do think that the rhetoric we use matters, and I want to interrogate it.

[ghostprince]

well it only took uh. like. 5 days. but I FINALLY got my designs for Maxie and Archie done!! I initially just meant to draw over their official art to warm up, and then... I kept drawing so I just committed to it. whoops.

I wanted to do versions of them for the headcanon setting that @brannwen and I have! Featuring some slight tweaks to their ORAS outfits ( @endiecutieo6's lovely designs inspired most of them!! <3)

Headcanon rambling and design notes under the readmore:

Story/character headcanons:

(Overall, this setting is a weird mix of ORAS and Emerald. In simple terms, it's ORAS's characterization with Emerald's plotline)

Maxie is a trans man, and gay. Archie is a cis gay man.

Maxie is from Fallarbor Town, while Archie is from Lilycove. Maxie's family is fully Hoennian, while one side of Archie's family is from Alola. (He grew up visiting Alola yearly to stay with family there. He hasn't gone back to see them in a loooong time though, especially uh. after... gestures. all the kyogre and groudon shit)

They met after they both joined the Hoenn Pokemon Rangers in their 20s, and became best friends despite their differing personalities. Their mutual interest in the environment was an easy way for them to bond, even if they had different specific focuses

The major rift between them started when Archie confessed his love to Maxie, who rejected him. (Out of fear of being outed as trans, specifically. He was also in love with Archie, but was too afraid of what would happen if Archie found out about him being trans. the answer is he wouldn't have cared, u idiot)

When Groudon and Kyogre were awoken and underwent Primal Reversion, they possessed Maxie and Archie, causing the two to try and murder each other in Sootopolis City.

After Rayquaza quelled the fighting Legendaries, Maxie and Archie were left irreversibly changed -- neither human or Pokemon, with instincts and powers of the Legendaries that "blessed" them.

They spent a handful of months avoiding each other as much as they could (outside of the Delta Episode shit happening), until Maxie couldn't stand it anymore and went to visit Archie in Lilycove. While there, they realized that oddly enough, proximity to each other seemed to curb the surges of power (and irritability) they'd both been experiencing. Maxie hypothesized that it's due to the Red and Blue Orbs being able to calm the opposite Legendaries.

Maxie ends up visiting again after that, and. well. one thing led to another and they ended up confessing their feelings for each other and deciding to merge their teams to try and do Actual Good for the region. (keyword being try. they're doing their best, man)

May is basically their unofficially adopted daughter. Both of them think they don't deserve her forgiveness (she lost her parents in the natural disasters that the Legendaries caused) but she forgives them anyway, as long as they promise to try and Be Better. (Officially/Legally, May's been adopted by Steven and Wallace, who are only letting Maxie and Archie go without legal punishment because of May. also no prison could hold two people with legendary powers lmao)

May ended up in a similar situation re: Legendary powers, as Rayquaza offered her its power (either during the climax of the ORAS plot, or during the Delta Episode, haven't decided yet) and she accepted. While she doesn't regret her decision, it has made her feel even more aliened from other kids her age. Maxie and Archie have beef with Rayquaza over this, and they're particularly protective of May because they understand the struggle of being Less Than Human now.

Maxie's team consists of Camerupt (Igneous), Crobat (Travertine), Mightyena (Obsidian), Flygon (Arkose), Torkoal (Basalt), and Claydol (Shale)

Archie's team consists of Sharpedo (Styx), Crobat (Dango), Mightyena (Fang), Lanturn (Flicker), Kingdra (Admiral), and Dhelmise (Keelhaul)

Design/Legendary powers notes:

High emotions result in their markings (the black/blue lines on Maxie, and the red lines on Archie) to appear and start glowing. Especially high emotions/surges of instinct cause their eyes to change as well. Otherwise, they just have the "base" features shown in the post-game art.

If their power/instincts are particularly high/strong, they can start to become less lucid and more feral. It usually doesn't last long, and typically the other can snap the other out of it.

They've only been in their Primal forms when Groudon and Kyogre were, and were not in control of themselves at all during it. Both of them hope they never have to go through that again.

Weather affects them, with Maxie becoming lethargic and cranky if it's raining, and Archie drying out and losing energy if the weather is particularly hot and dry

Conversely, they are much more energetic during weather that "matches" them. Maxie LOVES it when it's super hot and sunny, and Archie practically bounces off the walls when it's raining/storming

To some extent, they can control the weather. Archie's been known to summon storms if he's particularly upset about something, for example

Prior to gaining the Legendary powers, Maxie ran cold (hence the 5 zillion layers of his Magma Leader outfit) and Archie ran hot. Now, it's the opposite, with Maxie's body temperature being very warm (and he has to consciously keep it from getting too hot, or else he risks melting things he touches), and Archie's being very cold. It doesn't bother them (they barely feel it), but physical contact between the two of them feels very good nonetheless.

Maxie's Mega Glasses were broken while Groudon had control over him, so he has new glasses post-game.

Maxie's post-game outfit is semi-based on his original RSE outfit, and it's specifically made so the slits at the side allow his tail easy movement despite him wearing a coat. He also specifically avoids wearing anything with the Team Magma emblem these days.

Archie's post-game outfit is basically just his RSE outfit, though he still likes wearing his wetsuit (after modifying it to accommodate his tail), and refuses to stop wearing his bandana, even though it has the Team Aqua emblem on it.

Archie got the facial X tattoo, and start filing his teeth to be sharp, after leaving the Rangers. He did it to match with his Sharpedo, Styx.

The scars on Archie's left arm are from wrestling with Styx.

[dailymanners]

I get my ideas for posts from a lot of random sources. Some of them are from doing research, like articles / books / etc. about different manners. Some of them are from suggestions people have sent to me or asked me about on this blog. Others are based on experiences.

The doing research is one of my main sources. But I don't think I've talked about before how I don't just post any and every manner I find, I put some effort into curating them, because not all the manners I find make the cut. Some just seem like bad ideas, some are hyper specific to one region or culture and would be considered rude in many areas outside of this one region or culture. Some have no good reasoning other than "this is just what's been considered polite for centuries so do it."

But in case anyone has been curious what are some of the ones who haven't made the cut, here's some of them and why:

If you're scraping ice off of your car, scrape off your neighbor's car too. I've come across this one a few times and have never posted it for a reason. It's a nice thought, if it was icy and my neighbor had scraped off the ice from my car without damaging my car at all, I would personally be grateful. But the problem and why I've never posted it is because of the risk you run of damaging your neighbor's car in the process. If you damage someone else's property while doing a favor they never asked you for, you bet they're going to be really unhappy with you and likely make you pay for damages. Now I have posted about shoveling your neighbor's driveway or walkway, because the risk of damaging a driveway or a walkway while shoveling is much much lower, if anyone has ever managed to damage a concrete driveway or walkway while shoveling please let me know how you managed that. But I also imagine it's less of a problem than a damaged car.

2. Calling service workers by their first name if they're wearing a name tag I worked the service industry for many years, and was lucky enough to never have to wear a name tag. It was already unpleasant enough getting hit on by people three times my age, or getting yelled at and chewed out by strangers daily, and I'm grateful I was afforded some anonymity. The last retail job I had we didn't have name tags, but for some reason beyond me the receipts would print the name of whoever did the sale, and I personally hated it when people would look at the receipt then call me by name and go "that is your name, right?". You encounter a lot of creeps and hostiles in the service industry, so many people prefer feeling anonymous. To each their own, maybe some people in the industry like it when customers use their name, but I never posted this because I know it's not universal.

3. Take off your hat while you're inside The reason is because I have never been able to find a good and logical explanation for this one, most of what I can find is based on outdated concepts like "back in the era of knights it showed trust and vulnerability for knights to take off their helmet while in someone else's residence" or "back in the day women wore huge and elaborate hats that would block the view for others" but nothing on why I can't wear a simple plain beanie indoors. Maybe I'm just personally salty on this. I have a skin condition that causes scalp issues for me, and I find wearing simple and breathable hats like beanies helps me. But when I was an au pair many years ago the host mom would scream at me and call me rude if I wore a beanie indoors because I was "setting a bad example for her children" by doing something so rude as wearing a hat inside. But I never did get a good explanation on why it was so rude and such a bad example for her children. I just wanted to ease my scalp problems. If you have a good reason, please do let me know because I would like to know. I'm sure there's more, but these are a few I can think of off the top of my head that I've encountered a few times but never posted. In case anyone was curious about what does or doesn't make the cut.

A few others are things that are more etiquette that manners like "make sure that x utensil is always to the right of y utensil" and I don't want to dunk on anyone who is big on etiquette rules and finds them fun or interesting, but it's the same problem as the hat problem. The focus of this blog is manners that have meaning and I can give a good logical explanation for how/why it benefits you and others.

And to be perfectly honest, sometimes I post things and later go "Actually, I don't fully agree with that now that I think about it more." But also, I trust that all of my followers are able to think critically on their own, so if they come across a post of time that's actually kinda unnecessary or they just don't agree with, they can think for themselves "actually, I don't want to do that or think that I need to" or even just "this might apply to other people but doesn't apply to me or my circumstances."

[haru-dipthong]

Despite my whole blog basically being dedicated to translating Utena at the moment, I don't watch a whole lot of anime. But I just finished Dandadan and I'm totally in love with it. However, every now and then I switched on the english subtitles to have a peek at what was going on in there and my god... it was so bad.

One of the first things I noticed about Dandadan's dialogue is that it really respects teenagers. Specifically teenage slang. As Gretchen McCulloch mentions in Because Internet, most language innovation comes from teenage girls (here's another source on that). They're often the ones pioneering changes in their language. Dandadan seems to very much respect this in the characters' extremely natural and realistic speech. This is how teens really talk to each other! And yet the translation takes this respect and spits on it with this how-do-you-do-fellow-kids 2012-era cringe inducing nightmare dialogue.

Also, Dandadan being MA15 (or whatever the equivalent rating is in your region) means that it could use lots of swear words... but the strongest word I've seen used in the subtitles is "crap". I'll rant about this another day but translations of Japanese media need to use the word "fuck" more. There's no equivalent word in Japanese, but a good translator should be able to tell when the vibe/grammar/tone would convey a fuck in english. Also, teenagers swear a LOT. If you want to convey a similar tone to the original japanese, you need to use swear words. It's just not optional.

Anyway all this to say, I'll probably start translating Dandadan after I'm finished with Utena. It sorely needs a translation that levels the same respect towards teenage girls and towards the sexual themes that the original script does.