#anyway I could rant about this for a while

[paper-mario-wiki]

"no art is good bc it's a misconfiguration of the natural world to suit man's vanity" Is an extremely misanthropic take on art. Is humanity not part of "the natural world"? Can one not make pigments from flowers or minerals? You say that the universe would never align so that a piece of art is made without human intervention, but the universe did align so that it could be made, you just assume humans aren't part of it. I understand that this is some faux-deep shit I'm on, but I love art and while I think good is kind of useless adjective when talking about art in general, to compare the concept of art to a tumor is a pretty bad faith take. Sorry if that was like, ironic or something and I just sent a rant into your inbox for nothing.

your faux-deep shit could never reach the faux-depths of my even shallower faux-deepness.

i think the main problem when establishing this argument in the first place was saying "all art is bad" because someone asked me if i liked any bad art, and i answered using "bad" as a shorthand for "not good". if i had known i'd be getting into this pedantic of an argument about it i definitely would have changed my wording, because things that are "not good" are not inherently "bad", which seems to be where the majority of the misunderstandings of my stance come from.

i'd ask you this: what could be considered "good" outside of something that affects humanity in some capacity? to be clear, you're absolutely right, humans ARE natural, humans ARE part of the world. but the idea of something being "good" didn't exist until humans came up with it.

100,000,000,000,000,000 light years away, two planets crash into each other, each with their own forms of biological life so different from earth's that we would find it difficult to even classify it as life if we were given the chance to observe it, but that doesn't matter because we would have never been given the opportunity to reach those planets anyway under any circumstances. is this a good thing? is it a bad thing? i don't think it's either, it's just something that happened.

because "good" and "bad" are code words used to reflect the societal values of the person using them, they cannot exist in a vacuum.

so if that's the case, and "good" and "bad" only exist to us, what does it mean to us?

well, something "good" is something with objective benefit or subjective enjoyment-- but subjective enjoyment of something can also contradict the nature of its objectivity. soup can be considered "good" because it sustains us and is therefore beneficial. soup can be considered to "taste good" because someone might enjoy the flavor. but "torture" can only be seen as "enjoyable", but it benefits nobody-- even if the person doing it enjoys it. that's just them subjectively enjoying it.

conversely, something can be objectively good but still subjectively unenjoyable, like having a soup that's healthy in a way you think tastes bad! you'd still benefit from it, even if you didn't enjoy the experience. but regardless of whether or not you enjoyed it, what has the greatest bearing on something being considered "good" is its objectivity, as it's something fewer people can debate.

now, all of that being considered, what can "art" do that is objectively good, without it serving some secondary purpose? something that is objectively good can be artistically created, like a children's hospital designed by a genius architect-- but its goodness in that case would be derived from its benefit, with the subjectivity of it being something that only enhances its good.

a piece of fabric, stretched across a wooden frame and painted using colorful oils, creates no benefit objectively, it exists solely in the world of subjectivity. how can something be "good" if the only thing it does is hold the potential (not the guarantee) for a person to look at it, and enjoy looking at it?

more importantly though, is that bad? it's not.

but it is superfluous.

^ please forgive me for typing all of this. im so sorry. it's just so easy to be pedantic. i promise im not a stick in the mud and i love art, i just also happen to be someone who is personally deeply concerned with rhetorically whittling communication down to the bare knob of its meaning (XRA style).

because it is something i find subjectively enjoyable.

[madockisser]

cardan/nicasia: why they’ll never happen again analysis/speculation

a while back i saw someone (or rather, a thread of ppl saying that they hope cardan and nicasia don’t get it on in the next book which is supposed to be nicasias book (supposedly) and i even saw someone say they WISH THEY DO ?!

so here’s your fun reminder of what nicasia put cardan through!

I’ve gathered together all the shit nicasia did to cardan: being the first girl he loved then breaking his heart w his friend, allowing cardan to catch them ON HIS BEDROOM FLOOR. (not entirely her fault but she totally had shits and giggles abt it when cardan confronted her) then when Locke screwed her over, she got CARDAN and his power as prince, to harass the girl(s) locke chose over her, one of which cardan liked, then later on was trying to manipulate him to marry her (which i think is when cardan realized they weren’t rly even friends anymore), THEN kidnapping and torturing the girl she knew cardan loved, AND befriending his abusive neglectful mother!

like damn. how u even fumble that bad, not just romantically but as a friend.

also I’d like to add her consistent entitlement, not just the whole “i bully girls bc I’m a princess and i can!” but the “cardan take me back even after i emotionally ruined you multiple times!” 😐

poor cardan

anyway, I’ve read lots of holly black books, and she is VERY mindful w abusive sort of relationships. and cheating relationships. she writes about them a LOT and each time they are pretty irredeemable.

note(the only exceptions):Taryn and hazel (darkest part of the forest) who sorta cheated on accident/ it wasn’t their fault-> but didn’t end well

add on note sorry: “but nicasia cheated on cardan on accident bc Locke was a gancanagh!” false! nicasia admitted that what her and Locke were doing was prolonged, the scene that cardan finds them is not their first time screwing around. nicasia KNOWINGLY cheated on cardan. then she was like “ok but i still care abt u! take me back” ?

now you can say that it could sorta be classified as an accident due to lockes natures (which are actually really disturbing if u think abt it) and that’s true, i never blamed nicasia for that relationship, but i do blame her for all the utter dogshit she not only put cardan thru, but Jude.

and this is cardan we are talking about. he who killed half an army for Jude when madoc tried taking his daughter back (sounds funny out of context).

we must remember that cardan does not want Jude hurt and humiliated and that’s exactly what nicasia went and did to Jude. through all the books bro. nicasia literally kidnapped and tortured Jude in the undersea so there’s 0 chance of cardan touching nicasia unless maybe to turn her into a tree again (but he can always just do that at a distance 😛)

anyway back to the cheating:

which is why i know that holly would never pull any sort of bull w cardan and nicasia, and you may be thinking (well that’s bullshit what do u know?) 3 separate books w cheating tropes, and 5+ diff relationships that involve cheating w no redemption. LOL

anyway black and i certainly agree on that front, and the way she uses the trope so consistently, and makes it so the cheaters are never endgame, or have a horrible death (Locke AND his mom, also Eva Duarte 😭the dude Ben dated from dpotf, and Kaye and that guy Janet was dating, Val and Tom and dave and lolli (modern faerie tales)) is pretty telling!

holly is great at writing healthy relationships, and she knows that tcp is her biggest hit w the media, so she won’t go and fuck that, not just bc she would never and it’s out of her writing style and character and literally moral compass when it comes to writing relationships, but also bc her publishers/editors would NEVER let that slide.

but i can’t wait for her book! i love knowing that nicasia will never have a chance w cardan again, it’s no less than what she deserves 😋

anyway sorry for ranting! I just feel so strongly abt this topic, cardan would never cheat on Jude, since he’s been cheated on before, and it was heart wrenching, and bc of his upbringing, he would never. if you haven’t, go thru my masterlist in my pinned and find the cardan /nicasia thing where i explain why he wouldn’t cheat far better there!

But feel free to add on, i probably missed a few things so lmk!! 🫶

[winterarmyy]

i am scared.

Finished my tasks at work way too early and got bored with the typing games. So I went on character AI and chat with one of the Bucky characters in there (cause I'm delulu like that).

I realize that I am shit at texting (who am I kidding, I know that my whole life) so while I was looping through of Sabrina Carpenter's Short n Sweet album; I just randomly write down the lyrics of Bed Chem to him; iykyk. I goes like this:

Me: "I bet we'd have really good..." Got distracted and sidetracked, the slipped through before I could process it, "Cum right on me" I tried to save it... "I mean, camaraderie"

Then:

Me: "What does it sound like to you, Sarge? Let me hear it."

now, I am scared to hear the voice version this dialog. that's all i want to rant about. anyway---

[veryintricaterituals]

So my little sister just started watching Supernatural because her boyfriend loves it. The thing is that if there's one thing she hates in life is getting spoiled (she still brings up that I spoiled Dumbledore's death for her in 2005 because she found me crying while reading the book).

Anyway, all of this to say that back during the infamous month of November 2020 I was distraught, delusional and going through it because of the last three episodes of Supernatural. And we had conversations, which basically means that I ranted at her about it, I went into "this should be a podcast" explanations, I went into to the history and the plot and the meanings. She basically got the delulu destiel fangirl experience.

And again she hates spoilers, so fearing for my life I asked her if she was enjoying the show (she's on season 2 atm) and whether she remembers our conversations.

I told her something along the lines of: "I was incredibly mad, and you had to deal with me so I'm sure you pretty much know how the show ends"

She shrugged and said: "I remember you saying something about supernatural but I mostly remember you being super upset about some other show where some characters turned out to be gay after 10 years or something"

She hates spoilers, so I just nodded and went along with it. That other show that sent the gay angel to super hell of course how could I ever forget.

[larluce]

Nearly laughed myself sick at the latest Time Travel post. Merlin going "no rebellion -> Arthur can have a little rebellion as a treat -> wait fuck rebellion is still bad" was so good.

Also. I hate Uther, and I'm so glad to see him get called the fuck out on being a shitty, abusive father. He was so awful to Arthur, I can definitely see him killing Arthur's dog because he loved it too much.

Thank you! Comedy aside, I believed necessary to show Merlin's line of thought to remind us he is from the future. Merlin went through shit, so obviously Merlin, while he's worried about the rebellion and is pretty aware of the consequences it could lead, he's not as escandalized or horrified as he should be. He even considers it fit when he finds out how abusive Uther actually was with Arthur if only for a moment, which also shows Merlin didn't know Arthur as well as he thought and that he also missed some things. In canon Merlin is only aware of one time Arthur was sent to the dungeons (when Arthur went to look for the Mortaeus Flower to save him) and one time Morgana was (In "To kill a King" when Merlin overhears Morgana talking to Tauren about how Uther chain her to a dungeon wall), but besides that, Merlin wasn't really present when Uther mistreated his children (like when Uther holded Morgana by the neck in anger) and I doubt Arthur told Merlin, not because he didn't feel comfortable to tell him exactly but rather the topic never came up. Other thing is that Merlin does notice Arthur is acting differently to the Arthur he remembers, on more than one occassion, the only thing keeping him from noticing Arthur's feelings for him is his eternal denial.

About Uther getting called out what he is, I would say the most gratifiying thing was Arthur realizing it himself. Rewatching Merlin's rant to Gaius about "not doing nothing" we all know well in the show, I thought "It would be great if Arthur had one too" so I made one. It's not as good as Merlin's but I think it matches the feeling. This Arthur is mentally forty, has been king for 15 years and has learned of all his father's wrongings in the past decade. This doesn't mean he doesn't love him, Uther is still his father, but he doesn't respect him anymore.

Also I love how the knights were like:

Knights: The Prince wants to overthrow the King! this is outrageous!😱

Arthur: He killed my dog.🥺

Knights: That is unforgivable. We must rebel!😤

Anyways, thank you for sharing your thoughts. It keeps me going 😊

If anyone else wants to make me and ask just do, I'll be more than glad to answer ❤️

[a-twistedheartslonging]

Hii omg it's been a minute, but Harpy anon is back with some thoughts on our less talked about boys!

First one I want to point out is Ruggie. Funfact about hyenas is that the females are super aggressive. Making the males be more submissive in turn. In fact the females are so aggressive that the males have to basically tiptoe around the females to court them otherwise they'll be eaten.

Imagine Ruggie realizing he likes a fem-yuu and starts freaking out cause he can't stop worrying that she might kill him if he does anything wrong.

He starts following you around and listening to everything you say. Just so you can pat him on the head and call him a good boy.[and also not eat him]

Second boy I want to talk about today is Silver who doesn't get enough attention imo. I feel like he'd either be a Reindeer or a Buck. Either way he's frolicking through the forest with you on his back and giggling whilst you try to hold on for dear life.

Just like Idia he's got a nice back[or would it be his butt technically?] That you can lay on. He lets you rest there as he takes his daily nap under his favorite tree and all you can hear the entire time are the sounds of his chest breathing in n' out and the birds chirping curious at the napping boy. Sometimes they land on his antlers and watch his face while he sleeps.

If ever the occasion were to come up he would use his antlers to prove he is the superior mate for you. Maybe if Sebek starts getting to close for comfort.

Anyway sorry for how long this is, I just felt like ranting lol. Hope you're having a lovely day/night! 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

Nice to see you around again.

Even with the Nonhuman AU I doubt male yeens gotta worry about the females hurting them unless they're being super creeps. Still, Rugs is gonna be pretty careful and respectful regardless. Like a few dif beasts his courting would involve some following around along with sniff sniff.

Silver as a deer could work, I've also even been talking to some about Rook being one. It would be interesting to see how they deal with their antlers randomly falling off during class and causing a startle, I wonder if it would even be enough to wake Silver up. With either guy, I for sure want to see their cute hoof feet and hear their weird mating calls.

Seeing ether prance around would kill me.

[rey2rey]

NUMBER ONE ROYOSHI posted on September 18th, 2024 ( TRANSCRIPT ) this is part two of my reyes guide :) part two will be split up into two parts, part one ( this part ) being his dynacmis with kun, ten, and winwin!

part 2.0 / 3 of the guide posted by youtube user number one royoshi; this part focuses on his dynamics and bonds between him and the other members of wayv, first up the hyung/ge line!

INTRODUCTION

hi fellow reyes fans! or soon-to-be reyes fans, or whatever! welcome to part two of my reyes guide. in the last video, we got to know him a bit, but in this one, i'll be diving into his relationships with the older members in this part and the younger members in the second part. i'll also include some fan-favorite moments or like common moments between each duo!

anyways! let's get started!

KUN x REYES ; FATHER & SON #1

one of my personal favorite duos in the group is actually kun and reyes, mainly because they’re so cute whenever they interact. they always have the most positive things to say about each other, and i swear there’s a clip of reyes somewhere online going on a full-blown rant about how cool and amazing kun is. check twitter or something.

something that makes their bond even cuter is kun has said on several occasions that reyes is his little leader ( to which reyes protests in the background that he’s taller than kun, which is true, but reyes, let the man breathe — he's complimenting you! ). since debut, kun himself has dubbed reyes the "little" leader or "baby" leader.

now for their first impressions of each other. i’ll include clips so you don’t have to listen to me ramble:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

reyes "when i first met kun, i was still new to sm. like, i had only started a few days before, but he welcomed me. he was like my rock during my trainee days because every time i seemed overwhelmed, he just knew without me saying anything. he’s a very reliable person, you know? someone you can always go to when you have problems. he introduced me to the other trainees and pretty much took me under his wing, so for that, i’m very grateful for him."

kun "reyes was young when i met him, around the age of a few of the other trainees at the time, but he reminded me of a baby turtle because he was afraid to come out of his shell. i always saw him away from everyone; he never tried to interact with us when he first started, and he seemed nervous. so one day, i decided to approach him. he was soft-spoken like i imagined he would be, but he seemed eager to be included. i think he was just nervous to start a conversation with anyone. i wanted him to feel comfortable around the other trainees, so whenever he wanted, i’d help introduce him to the others. slowly, he started coming out of his shell. it was fun to watch him become more cheerful and happy, especially when interacting with others."

they're so cute! what if i find a cliff and parachute off of it and fall to the bottom? anyway, past my dramatics, i'm not sure what to add now, so i'll go into my favorite moments of theirs because i am definitely their biggest fan.

MOMENTS

reyes is always teasing kun and making fun of him over the simplest things. he follows after ten and usually targets kun's age since that’s the only hit he can take. he’s always calling kun "old man" or "grandpa" — whatever he can come up with that day. one time, he even pulled out "ancient artifact," and i've never seen kun turn his head faster.

kun is one of reyes' mandarin teachers, for sure. of course, he picks fun at reyes' simple mistakes but often corrects him too. reyes said that at one point, kun would make him flashcards, and he’d have to sit in the dorm at night practicing his pronunciation and writing while kun helped him.

reyes also shared that when they first met and kun learned reyes could speak spanish, kun tried to learn from him but eventually gave up because reyes would just tease him instead.

kun is one of the members who indulges reyes' need for physical affection the most; he’s always patting his head or holding his hands.

TEN x REYES ; FATHER & SON #2

you all are probably going to hate me by the end of this video because i'm going to say every duo is one of my favorite duos, but i truly mean it, i swear! ten and reyes are probably my #1 wayv duo, they’re just very very cute to me.

it’s not new to most wayv fans, but if you're just getting into the group, ten has three cats: louis, leon, and levi. and well, according to him, he has another cat named reyes. it’s really funny to me because ten never shies away from treating reyes practically like a cat, and he often compares reyes to his cats too. what makes it even better is that reyes also has a cat, so reyes and ten have said on several occasions that they have cat playdates, and all their cats get along really well. ( ten has posted several videos of reyes playing with all four cats, throwing around their toys and everything—it’s very cute. )

now, you may be wondering why i titled their duo practically the same as kun and reyes’ duo, but that’s because reyes has two parents, kun and ten! like, he’s really their child, guys. i don’t lie. ten is someone reyes always brings up—he usually mentions all his members, but it’s always ten first, and it’s always followed by a long list of compliments. he’s said several times that he really admires ten, not only as an idol but as a person too, and that he hopes to be like ten when he’s older ( again, acting like ten is 10+ years older than him—it’s insane. don’t be even a day older than him, i swear, he won’t let you live that down ).

onto their first impressions!

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

reyes "i remember being practically star-struck when i first saw ten, he's just so... he's someone who catches your eye, and then you almost admire him for a moment, even when he was a trainee. around the time i became a trainee, it was a few months before nct made their debut, like the 7th sense unit did, and i never really interacted with ten much because he was busy preparing, but whenever we did have small interactions, even if it was only a simple greeting or we actually had conversations, he was someone i really wanted to get closer to. so going from that to then debuting in a unit with him, i want to say i won." ten "i saw reyes from time to time, he became a trainee, i think, around the time we were working on debut, so i was rather busy and didn’t always have time to talk or even greet him sometimes, but i know he had this almost awkward nervousness to him any time we did talk, and i found it very endearing, almost? he has grown a lot since we first met as trainees, and i feel like a proud parent watching him grow up through the years."

ten saying he felt like a proud parent watching reyes... i just crumpled to the floor and never got back up. so sad. now onto some of my favorite moments of theirs!

MOMENTS

they’ve both mentioned before that they helped each other out with mandarin more pre-debut. they both knew enough to assist each other, so they would have study times together, where all they did was either take classes or make the other members help them study ( usually kun was their victim teacher ).

reyes teasing ten over his age after helping ten tease kun over his age. reyes is basically ten's mini-me and will follow practically anything ten does, including teasing the other members, then acting innocent by throwing ten under the bus, because why not!

ten is the member reyes is always clinging to the most, no matter what, but especially at the airport. it’s not uncommon knowledge that reyes doesn’t like airports, especially when they’re crowded by fans and he can barely move freely. so, the other members—mostly ten—will stick by his side, keeping an arm around him or holding his hand and guiding him so he can keep his head down and music blasting, forcing fans away if they get too close for comfort.

being the neatest members within the group, they’ve both spent sleepless nights cleaning up the dorms from top to bottom, hopefully disturbing the other members enough to get them to clean for themselves, but if not, they would just continue. reyes said he used to check if ten was awake, and if he wasn’t sleeping, they’d get started on cleaning the dorms, taking as long as they needed.

WINWIN x REYES ; CALM OLDER BROTHER & HYPER YOUNGER BROTHER

the stark contrast between reyes and winwin’s personalities always surprises me. on one hand, you have someone who prefers to stay in the background, quiet and calm a majority of the time, while on the other, you’ve got someone who thrives on creating chaos and interrupting everyone's rare moments of peace the second a light bulb turns on in his head.

you know how people say every introvert needs their extrovert? well, that’s winwin and reyes, for sure. you wouldn’t think they’d mesh well because of how different their personalities are, but both have said that’s exactly what helps them get along so well.

reyes is known for being hyper and always excited, but even he has moments when he needs to take a step back and catch his breath. winwin, from what i’ve seen, is always able to provide that space for reyes to recharge, which is why their dynamic stands out to a lot of weishennies—but that’s just my take.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

reyes "actually, it may seem odd, but i had always seen winwin before debut and never really held a conversation with him. this may sound very bad, and there's a strong chance i’ll get made fun of for it, but i found him intimidating. i'm not sure why, but i was just like, 'oh, he's kinda scary' almost, you know? but closer to the wayv debut, we actually started interacting because we needed to get to know each other, of course, and he was actually completely different from what i imagined him as." winwin "i had this thought that he hated me, in all seriousness. i saw him looking at me a few times here and there, and it just didn’t seem like he was too fond of me—not that he needed to be or anything. but then a few months later, we finally talked, and i remember him going on a nervous rant about how he was afraid of me, and then we just had a really long conversation about the obvious misconceptions we had about each other. it was fun, actually."

MOMENTS

now, don’t let winwin’s laid-back personality fool you, or the fact that reyes is a constant ball of sunshine with no end in sight, because they could easily switch personalities one day and be the total opposite of their usual selves. in fact, they’ve done just that before to trick fans, which i find pretty hilarious because we were all completely lost during that entire episode.

they're also the tallest in the group, shout out to them for making wayv's average height taller one inch at a time—or whatever you measure height in, i'm not sure. but anyways, very tall boys, of course, and yes, they do bring that up any chance they get, often standing next to each other in photos just to make the point clear.

winwin and reyes are another pair where they don’t have to speak to know what’s going on with each other. it’s been seen in content a lot—sometimes they’ll just sit together in silence during recordings or whatever’s happening, as if they have a mutual understanding of needing a break. plus, there are endless clips of them sitting apart across the room, but the second they meet each other’s eyes, they burst into fits of laughter for who knows what reason.

when reyes is in his more hyper mode, bouncing around and unable to sit still, winwin just watches him for a few moments, almost like he's analyzing him. it’s really nerve-wracking at first as a viewer and fan ( trust me, there are so many compilations of this on youtube ) — but then, winwin eventually smiles at him, like it finally clicks what reyes is doing. it’s a really funny, recurring moment between them that always makes me laugh.

note i was going to do all of them in one post but that would've been a bit too long i think? but here is kun, ten, and winwin ofc <3 the first impressions are bit... ?? to me idk, i tried with each of them and sorry if any of the moments are repetitive, i was trying not to be. part 3 of the guide is going to be his solo stuff & maybe i'll write part one eventually but it's like those "unserious guide to _" that u can find on youtube!

[juiceastronaut]

Im too lazy to hunt for the screenshots AND I recognize that its happened at earlier parts of the story BUT

Laois protecting Marcille from the falling icicles is just the EXACT reason her and Chilchuck stayed despite everything (besides Falin for Marcille of course). Despite the two of them not understanding him, despite them being put off by his mannerisms at times, despite their varying levels of discomfort around monster food they KNOW at the end of the day Laois has their backs.

He will do everything in his power to keep his party safe with zero hesitation or convincing and he does so because he genuinely cares about them. He might not know how to time a Morale Boosting Speech for when people *dont* have a mouth full of food, but they know he'll be there for them when they need him the most.

[rainedroptalks]

What is it with fantasy high and girls dying before their lives ever began. How we can never really know who they are, or who they could’ve been. Brennan Lee Mulligan I will find you

[ink-the-artist]

forgive me if you've been asked this before or if its annoying, but how did you learn to use colored pencils like that? your art is so special to me.

ty :) I took an art class for a few years where our teacher had us buy prismacolor pencils as one of the art supplies and had us use them kinda like paints, pressing down hard right away and blending the colors together. its not how youre supposed to use them she was just trying to teach us to use color and ig this was more to the point. I picked them up again years after i stopped going to that class just bc they were there and i wanted to play around w them a bit and ended up actually enjoying it when doing it on my own terms lol

[natasha-in-space]

So I'm replaying Ray's After ending rn, and it got me thinking that what I adore so much about Rika as an antagonist is just how damn scary she can be. I always found those who cause harm with good intentions (at least in their point of view) much scarier than those who hurt you with pure intention on hurting you. I think the best example of it is this CG in particular:

Look at that. Such a loving, gentle expression on her face. Probably kissing his forehead. Because she loves him. Heck, without any context, this CG looks even sweet, if you think about it. And yet, all that is while Saeyoung is forcefully sedated on a powerful concoction of drugs even a trained agent like him can't do anything about (and Saeyoung WAS definitely trained to deal with this sort of thing, hence it's mentioned that this is a 'special' kind of drugs). He looks miserable. Bags under his eyes, his expression pained and troubled, even his hair is paler than usual. All that as a direct result of her actions. But she's utterly blind to it. What's scarier, is that she knowingly shuts off her understanding of what's really happening. She's not oblivious to it at all. She just chooses not to see it that way. Simply because she doesn't want to.

Rika is the type of antagonist that will cup your cheek into her warm hand with the most loving of smiles on her face, all while you are getting elixir poured down your throat. Even whispering to you that you're doing great, that the pain will soon pass, and that she can't wait to see you reach the happiness she knows you deserve. I won't be surprised if she even cried genuine tears of compassion during some ceremonies for her believers. All while being the sole reason behind their suffering.

And that's... God, that's terrifying to me. I love that about her.

Rika Kim, they could never make me hate you

[redhoodinternaldialectical]

"Murder is Werewolves" - Batman

I don't got the SPOONS to do this thought train justice, I have seriously been trying to write this thing for MONTHS so just, idk, have this half baked skeletal outline of the essay I guess:

I don't believe that Batman's no-kill rule is primarily about rehabilitation or second chances.

His refusal to believe that Cassandra could have killed someone when she was eight years old because "how could a killer understand my commitment not to kill" is absolute fucking MOON LOGIC from a rehabilitationist standpoint. No jury on the planet would think for even a second that she could reasonably be held accountable for her actions in that situation! Her past cannot condemn her to being incapable of valuing human life under a rehabilitation centering framework. However, Batman's reasoning makes perfect sense if he believes that killing is a spiritually/morally corrupting act which permanently and fundamentally changes a person, and that corruption can never be fully undone.

Dick Grayson killing the Joker is treated both narratively and by Batman as an unequivocally WIN for the Joker. The Joker won by turning Nightwing into a killer. Note that this is during a comic in which the Joker transforming people was a major theme! Batman didn't revive the Joker because the Joker deserved to live; he revived the Joker to lift the burden on Dick.

His appeal to Stephanie when she tried to kill her dad is that she shouldn't ruin her own life. He gives no defense of Cluemaster's actual life. Granted this is a rhetorical strategy moment and should be taken with a generous pinch of salt, but it fits in the pattern.

When Jason becomes a willful killer, he essentially disowns him, never treats him with full trust ever again, and... Well, we can stop here for Bruce's sake. Bottom line is that his actions towards Jason do not lead me to believe that he thinks Jason can become a better person without having his autonomy taken from him, either partially or fully.

The Joker is, for better or worse, the ultimate symbol and vessel of pure, irredeemable evil in DC comics now. He hasn't been just another crook in a long time. He will never get better, he will only get worse. If you take it to be true that the Joker will not or can not rehabilitate, then there's no rehabilitationist argument against killing him.

Batman does not seem to consider it a possibly that he'll rehabilitate. Batman at several points seems to think that the Joker dying in a manner no one could have prevented would be good. Yet Batman fully believes that if he killed the Joker, he himself would become irredeemable.

Batman's own form of justice (putting people into the hospital and then prison) is fucking brutal and clearly not rehabilitative. He disrespects the most basic human rights of all criminals on a regular basis. It is genuinely really, really weird from a rehabilitationist standpoint that his only uncrossable line is killing... But it makes perfect sense if he cares more about not corrupting himself with the act of killing than the actual ethical results of any individual decision to kill or not kill.

In the real world cops are all bastards because they are too violent to criminals, even when that violence doesn't lead to death. Prison is a wildly evil thing to do to another human being, and you don't use it to steal away massive portions of a person's life if your goal is to rehabilitate them. In the comic world, Batman is said to be necessary because the corrupt cops are too nice to criminals and keep letting them out of jail. I don't know how to write a connector sentence there so like I hope you can see why this bothers me so damn much! That's just not forgiveness vibes there Batman!!

I want to make special note here of the transformative aspect. You don't simply commit a single act when you kill, no, you become a killer, like you might become a werewolf.

The narrative supports this a lot!

Why did Supes go evil during Injustice? He killed the Joker. Why did Bruce become the Batman Who Laughs? Bruce killed the Joker. Why was Jason Todd close to becoming a new Joker during Three Jokers? Because he killed people, to include the Joker.

Even if these notions of redemption being impossible aren't the whole of his reasoning (people never have only one reason for doing what they do) it is a distinct through-line pattern in his actions and reasoning, and it is directly at odds with notions of rehabilitation, redemption, and second chances.

So why does he give so many killers second chances?

Firstly because this doesn't apply to all versions of Batman. Some writers explicitly incorporate rehabilitation and forgiveness into his actions. You will be able to provide me with examples of this other through-line pattern if you go looking for them. The nature of comics is to be inconsistent.

Secondly the existence of that other pattern does not negate the existence of this one. People and characters are complex, and perfectly capable of holding two patterns of belief within themselves, even when they conflict to this degree. You can absolutely synthesize these two ideas into a single messy Batman philosophical vibescape.

Finally and most importantly to this essay: he has mercy on killers the same way that werewolf hunters sometimes have mercy on someone who is clearly struggling against their monsterous nature, especially if they were turned in exceptional circumstances or against their will. They understand that they are sick, damned beasts, cursed to always be fighting against themselves and the evil they harbor within. It is vitally kind to help them fight themselves by curtailing their autonomy in helpful ways and providing them with chances to do some good to make up for their eternal moral deficiency.

I think in many comics Batman views killers as lost souls. Battered and tormented monsters who must be pitied and given mercy wherever possible. (The connections to mental health, addiction, and rampant, horrifying ableism towards people struggling with both is unavoidable, but addressing it is sadly outside of the scope of this essay.)

Above all, the greatest care possible must be taken to never, ever let yourself become one of them, because once you have transformed the beast will forever be within you growing stronger.

To Batman, it is the most noble burden, the highest mercy, the most important commandment: Thou shalt suffer the monsters to live.

[ganondoodle]

so with echoes of wisdom .. i havent watched any of the trailers beyond the very first one and the thumbnails/screenshots and what others have said about it-

but with the world inside the rift being called "Welt des Nichts" aka "world of nothing/void" in german ('still' in english, for some reason) and demises title in french being "avatar of nothing" ... yeah my anxiety is shooting through the roof again

(hopefully you can be a little more forgiving for me being anxious/weird about it bc demise is my blorbo)

i had similar worries with totk, that werent proven true thankfully, but the darn book is making it all worse again with all those weird lore things the game doesnt even so much as hint at AND potential retcons- im in for a really rough time huh, not just stress in real life (more in tags.. its alot) but now about my specific hyperfixation from two things even (AND artblock still..)

weird as it may sound, i dont want demise to get more lore, partly bc i dont believe theyd do anything with him that i would like (given their track record) but much more importantly- the fact that he has this little lore about him is precisely one of the reasons why i fell in love with him, i tend to like characters that are neglected by the narrative, and his story being both so flat and already done meant i can be very creative with what i come up with for him without necessarily contradicting anything in canon (which is ... or was a big point of how i wrote destiny's story and lore, working with canon in a way that reframes it all without straight up ignoring it ... but i suppose i urgently need to let go of that and accept i spend alot of time working things that will go to waste :( ) AND not having to worry that there will be more stuff with him that would massively change not only what im writing but also potentially how i feel about him since the game he was briefly in was the oldest chronologically and ended with his death- i didnt expect them to mess with anything that far back and thought theyd just go forward and leave the timeline behind and wouldnt mess with it again, given how botw seemed to be a sort of 'fresh start' that seemingly regarded the past as the past that needs to rest and that the timeline was finally no longer a discussion if everythings unified through botw and one thing going forward

but i suppose i was very wrong with that .__.

right now the only thing that motivates me still is the left over determination and spite to work on my zelda comic, since i have never gotten this far and really want to get something done for once, but i cant lie that im feeling like i should pause all work on it too to wait and see waht the book and the new game will do .. either to determine if i still have the will to keep working on it after those things are out (my love for tloz has been taking alot of hits lately ..) or if i have to change stuff (mostly bc of my lore problem trying to not ignore it ..)

[schmweed]

[arom-antix]

@fishshit I consider your post canon so I made it

Edit: I FOUND IT

Edit 2: Yakov trauma

Edit 3: I lied, here's the design rant

Edit 4: Updated design!

[solarpunkani]

I think one thing I struggle with when it comes to wanting to write Solarpunk stories is like

I like writing conflicts. But I don’t know how to write large conflicts—so something like ‘dismantling the government to install a solarpunk society in its place’ is way too big of a fish for me to fry

But also small conflicts just don’t do it for me. I just can’t stay entertained with them long enough. So something like ‘little Maisy lost her favorite doll and its up to her older brother to find it. Oh btw they live in a solarpunk society’ wouldn’t get past like one page if I tried it

But how fantastical can one get before a society is no longer solarpunk but just… fantasy? How far out of the realm of reality can you get before it just seems hollow? But how close can you stay? How much conflict can you have before your hopeful vision of a solarpunk future is no longer hopeful and no longer solarpunk? How big of an issue can you create in a solarpunk society, what kind, while still keeping it solarpunk? While still having a problem that can’t just be handwaved with ‘that wouldn’t happen in solarpunk’?

And of course logically I know the answer is different for everyone. But like. Still. How derivative can you get, how much conflict can you add, before a story intended to be solarpunk just becomes ‘random urban fantasy but with round roofs stained glass and a lot more greenhouses?’