#but she's definitely unique

[greyias]

Highlights from last night's stream (I swear, if I had the wherewithal I would actually do clips/highlights properly with Twitch's interface, but eh, effort):

Spending a good ten minutes or so to finish beating that stupid Ithorian at the spaceport so I could finally get the HK part I needed. As I finally beat him, and we cheered in chat, I realized: he had no HK droid parts. That was just being sold like normal by a different vendor a few meters away

Finding a room full of deactivated mute protocol droids, and without any reason whatsoever other than "chaos", activating them all at the exact same time, and cackling madly as they all bunched up and got caught in doorways as they tried to clank past one another to start their patrol routes

Baby Voice Padawan and Holly the Holocron -- most unlikely padawan/master duo

Not realizing the spider enemies somehow breathed fire until like, 45 minutes in of bonking them on the head

Running around for over an hour inside of the Enclave, progressing story bits, gaining light side and experience points, and in a moment of hubris-fueled chaos, decided to overload a computer terminal with a one second timer, insta-killing the entire party. I had not saved since setting foot inside. We had to do everything again

Mical. Just... Mical (being in the party .05 seconds before talking to the Exile like a stalker, "oh god I didn't mean to click on him! I was trying to talk to the turret!", "The Jedi Council convinced Revan to change her mind", *gives a guy some credits and tells him to stop breaking the law* "I've never seen a Jedi do anything nice ever! You're sooooo cool")

MOOKS BRING VROOK TO THE NOOK

Running around Dantooine acting like a little missionary for the militia, asking every single soul on this godforsaken planet if they've heard the good news about Zherron and his gravelly faux Clint Eastwood Voice

And maybe my favorite moment, fueled by my own particular brand of blonde obliviousness, where I am completely and utterly lost trying to find a stupid cave, and talk to our favorite bald, old Jedi hater hanging out near our ship:

Me: [proceeds through passing all of the persuasion/charm checks, probably making bi-disaster finger guns to get Baldy to talk]

Old Bald Guy: You're right random stranger who gaslighted me last stream! [proceeds to give detailed strategic info about all of Dantooine's weak points]

Atton: Wow! You're as smooth as the barrel of a blaster. I like that. 🤩

Me: WHOA THERE, ATTON! Are you talking about that guy's head? THAT'S SO INSENSITIVE!

Atton, probably:

Also Atton: [influence goes up], internally "My god she's so stupid. Why does that make me love her even more?"

[scarletsinsblog]

idk why it needs to be said, but Kimiko and Frenchie have never been platonic 😭 since that finale, I’ve seen mostly positivity about their confession/kiss, but I have also seen people claiming that the writers are “pandering to a minority” by making them a couple…??? THEY HAVE BEEN BUILDING UP TO THAT SINCE THE MOMENT THEY MET!

Frenchie has always been queer, yes, but it’s SO obvious that he’s been pining for Kimiko since the very beginning. and when she told him he was “family,” it didn’t necessarily negate their romantic vibe. family is simply comfortability and love between two or more people, and it isn’t reserved to platonic relationships.

and for those who claim they were “more like siblings,” I beg of you to answer this: what does your relationship with YOUR siblings look like?! because if it looks anything like the dynamic between Kimiko and Frenchie…that’s concerning.

he literally calls her “my heart” exclusively for the better part of three seasons. which, in French, is typically a romantic endearment.

needed to speak my truth because I’m tired of this debate and the strangely purist takes people have expressed about these two and their relationship. they are allowed to like each other as more than friends, and I’m not sure why it’s such a taboo thing for two fucked up people to find their soulmate in one another. 🤷‍♀️

[kacievvbbbb]

Rewatching Gumball is knowing that while there is no actual real overarching plot the episodes are still so amazingly interconnected.

I love how they do foreshadowing, how they build on little moments that we see through out other episodes. It's Banana joe's mom's future paintings being a small joke in "The Shell". Rob being in the deleted place with all the forgotten things in "The Void" after we see that Gumball and Darwin have a hard time remembering him and then completely forget him once Darwin kicks him into the sewers a whole season earlier in "The Pony". He then literally still has parts of the void ingrained in his design when he comes back. It's the fact that Penny and her family being hollow shells with something inside was being played as haunting jokes for episodes before the one based entirely around it. It's the fact that characters like Sarah have always been a little fourth wall breaky and so an episode like "The Fan Fiction" is so completely in line with her character that it's unremarkable in context, hell there's an episode where she sings the ending song to end the show and avoid an awkward conversation her being able to take some control of the show feels like the natural evolution of that.

The background characters in gumball have such distinct personalities that have been pretty consistent and built upon since season 2 which is completely insane and unprecedented for an episodic 2010 children's cartoon. The show might not have had an arc but it has always been continuous.

You do really get the sense that this is a world where everyone is very hyper-aware of the rules in which they operate. The show might reset at the end of the episode but the people don't

[astralleywright]

a lot of posts right now seem to rely on the idea that what happened in Aeor is common knowledge throughout Exandria, but based on what we know I don't necessarily think that's the case? back in Bassuras, an 18 history check (which would be a very high roll for an "average" person) only got Imogen the names of Age of Arcanum cities and the vaguest of context. in the most recent Cooldown, Matt talked about how most people have a similarly broad understanding of the calamity, and didn't know the reason the gods were warring in the first place.

There are of course specificalists and experts, like Imahara Joe or the professor they met in Yios or many of the high-level clergy of Vasselheim, that likely already know what happened in some amount of detail. And of course, many people's opinions on the gods would not change one way or another upon learning the details. But I think there are a lot more people who don't know the gods decimated an entire city than people realize.

[strawberryicemoon]

There are VERY few shows that are truly an ensemble main cast, as usually there is one character who is front and center. In group shots, in overarching narrative, etc.

Code Lyoko is definitely an ensemble cast though. You can make a compelling argument for every one of the main characters that they are THE primary character.

Jeremie is sort of a a shoe in as the the guy who started this whole thing. He turned on the super computer. And his role as "Guy in the chair" is never presented like some supporting cast role. He's constantly working to help fix whatever is going on, and whatever Jeremie is doing is usually the most important part of the plot. He's even blue. He''s just visually in official art, often to the side (though not always) on account of his lack of a Lyoko form's been central in some official art, but he's also been known to be off to the side or excluded altogether, since he doesn't participate in the cool sci-fi battles in the virtual world so he's really not cool from a marketing perspective. He doesn't have main character vibes so to speak, but they could tell me he's the main protagonist and I'd believe it.

Aelita is a late addition to the cast, not literally in show, but in development, not appearing in Garage Kids or the earlier short film, Children Watch Movies. However, the main plot of code lyoko is hinged on her and her backstory. She's the one who was trapped in the super computer, whose father built it, whose mother was kidnapped. She's not passive in her life either. She's the most important person on Lyoko, where most of the action takes place because her father gave her the keys to Lyoko, making her the only one who can do certain things. The one who must be protected.

For the first part of the show, when she's confined to Lyoko she and Jeremie have alternate roles. Aelita, the most important special powerful person on Lyoko (but unable to leave it). Jeremie, the most important person outside of Code Lyoko who acts as the eyes in the sky and programs things into Code Lyoko (and outside of it). The very thing giving them main protag potential also being an argument against that status for a show focusing on school drama and virtual world fights. On the other hand this leaves the trio of Ulrich, Yumi and Odd, who ultimately all don't have the same amount of personal investment in Lyoko, so the show wouldn't completely fall apart without them, but they still have their own traits that make them "main charactery".

Odd seems like he was almost the main character once, though not so much anymore. He's the new guy, the most extroverted and with a unique skillset (being a cat boy apparently) with the weirdly implemented, potentially but not really OP power of precognition. When Code Lyoko was still "Garage Kids", him being the new guy was seemingly more plot relevant as everyone else was in on "Xanadu" before he was introduced, and was front and center on the poster, giving the vibes that he was the main character. He's also got a dog that he snuck into school. Generally he just is not the center of the plot, and and outside of animal themed shows purple cat boys isn't something that makes you think "main character".

Ulrich is probably the closest to the expected lead character. He's just a dude. He's the everyman. He's not great at school and is the star athlete. He's the guy whose at the center of the shows main love triangle (which gets turned into a love zigzag later with him still involved in both triangles. He often gets to be front and center (in virtual form) in promotional material, but so do the rest of teammates. His associated colors are green and yellow, neither of which are ever strongly with leaders. He foils Odd, as his quiet and grumpy attitude is one usually more reserved for the edgy deuteragonist, complete with a harsh and demanding father.

Yumi is probably the one with the weakest argument. But she's still the character who is in the center of the group shot at the end of the first opening so there is still definitely an argument to be made. She's also the only day student and thus her family drama is the most prevalent, which is kinda a protagy thing to do. Her Lyoko color is red which along with blue is usually one of the central protag colors. But really, she and Ulrich go together, and the two form a sort of dual protagonist situation within the ensemble. He main argument is probably just that she's too she's too busy playing that role to be main protag. She's at the center of the shows second love triangle which is an extension of the first that centered Ulrich. She's a martial artist on par with Ulrich. Not to mention she and Ulrich both have Japanese themed forms and some official art places her on par with Ulrich in the center. She just doesn't have Ulrich's "everyman" qualities. In fact she has kind of "othering" qualities such as being the token minority (Japanese), being a grade above everyone else, and also being a girl in an early 2000s action adventure show. Basically she's got a lot going on that makes her a perfectly qualified deuteragonist type. Which may be for the best in a series otherwise full of protagonist types.

But really every character takes their turn at being central in the art, and the stereotypical "main protag traits" tend to be distributed amongst them. Ulrich may have the stereotypical skillset for instance, but Odd is closer to the stereotypical personality and Yumi has the more fleshed out home life. Jeremie drives the plot forward, but the plot is about Aelita's family. You really can't point at a single character and go "that's the face of Code Lyoko".

[commsroom]

i think there's something to be said about what exactly it means to be "non-human" in a story that is as much about humanity as wolf 359 is, where even the dear listeners are defined less by their own perspective and more by what they fail to understand and therefore reflect about the human perspective - to the point that they don't even have their own voices or faces or identities that aren't either given to them or taken from humans. they speak to humanity as a mirror.

even pryce and cutter are "very much humans" - pryce defined by her resentment of and desire to transcend its limitations, and cutter by his aspirations to redefine and create a "better" type of human - and find the idea that they might not be human laughable. it's interesting that they have distinctly transhumanist aspirations when their goal is the narrative opposite of common science fiction fears: that we will expand the definition of humanity so much that we'll lose whatever it is that makes us human. pryce and cutter's transhumanism narrows the definition of humanity to the worthy and the useful, as defined by them; "there will still be a humanity; it'll just be our humanity."

in direct opposition to that, i think it's meaningful that the show instead expands the definition of humanity in ways that include lovelace and hera, who in another show with different themes might be considered (in the descriptive, non-moralistic sense) non-human. i will always make a point of saying that personhood and humanity are two often-related but meaningfully distinct concepts, especially when talking about sci-fi and fantasy. i am talking about humanity.

the question of how hera identifies, and what social pressures influence that, is a complicated one. i've talked about it before and i will talk about again. what's important for the purposes of this post is that i think the show considers her fundamentally human. think about her role in shut up and listen - consider jacobi's lion example and the concept of different paradigms - that even things that are close to humans, comparatively speaking, understand the world in different ways. whatever differences hera may have from the others, it's primarily in experience, not fundamental understanding. she shares their emotions, their concerns, their values, their thought patterns. she has an appreciation for music, which the show considers a hallmark of humanity. she fits within the framework of humanity as the show defines and is, in her own words, left feeling "uneasy" about how difficult it might be to communicate with beings who don't. and it's significant that this takes place in shut up and listen, of all episodes, specifically because the way she is clearly and unambiguously included in the show's understanding of what it means to be human highlights the ways she and lovelace are othered by eiffel's careless comments that suggest otherwise.

(i don't want to get too into these details for this particular post, but it's worth noting that hera will refer to 'humans' as a category, often when she is upset and feeling isolated, but has never said that she 'isn't human' - she has never been upset that people are treating her 'too' human. i've seen it said about the line "you need to get it through your heads that what goes for you doesn't always go for me", but that's a frustration related to ability and safety, not identity. far more often, she will refer to herself in 'human' terms - referring idiomatically to experiences or body parts etc. that she doesn't literally have - and is upset primarily with comments referring to her status as an AI. it does not diminish how being an AI influences her perspective and experience, but again, so much of that is in terms of ability that it feels almost inseparable from a discussion about disability.)

lovelace's humanity and hera's humanity are so interlinked and directly paralleled in the text that i think it's impossible to really argue one of them is "not" human without making implications about the other. in desperate measures, lovelace tells kepler he's "not human" and he responds "you're hilarious. on a multitude of levels." later, defending lovelace against kepler's repeated dehumanization, hera very pointedly uses the phrase "that woman." in out of the loop, hera says she's never met anyone who "worked so hard at being inhuman" as jacobi, who says "what do you know about being human?" hera very emphatically responds, "i know plenty." later, defending hera against jacobi's repeated dehumanization, minkowski pointedly uses the phrase "that woman." with the care taken towards language and the way scenes and turns of phrase will parallel each other, that's not a coincidence. it might seem strange to have the "non-human" characters be the ones to express criticisms based on perceived "humanity" (something hera will do in other contexts as well - "we don't have funerals for animals" etc.) but in the broader context of the show, i think it's the point.

so, whether hera would ever call herself human, or be comfortable with that, is a complicated question for another time and depends on a lot of other factors. but wolf 359 is a show about humanity, it includes her within its definition of what it means to be human, and i wouldn't be comfortable definitively saying she's not human because of that. it can't be a neutral statement within the particular context of this show.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Rewatching again, and…

… There's no denying that 'Eliot, Parker, and Hardison' are a 'trio' w/in the team, but I'm also subject to an ongoingly increasing appreciation for the 'Nate, Sophie, and Eliot' trio.

[onthehighwaytomel]

No Doubt is absolutely killing their Coachella set right now.

[karouvas]

There’s something about Persephone being most suited to Adam and Calla being more suited to Blue.. in the way Ronan is similar to both Blue and Calla they’re really very similar to each other

[neonscented]

Now that my excitement for the OMORI cafe has worn off, the designs for Mari and Omori specifically look kind of... strange? I'm not sure how else to describe it.

[pacifistcowboy]

hey you ready for the most bonkers idea for my sol dimension ocs that i’ve had so far

so i’m thinking sol-rouge will have an older sibling who’s unwell in some way (might be motor neurone disease or based on it ‘cause my dad has that so i’m rather familiar with the symptoms and treatment but i probably won’t go too intense) ((also dw about that massive personal life bomb i just dropped, i also made sure my dad was okay with me applying our experiences into a story)) and sol-rouge tries to take care of them and support them both by just breaking into places for shelter or resources and sometimes fighting people if he gets caught in the act or is desperate enough. if they’re with him at the time, sol-rouge’s sibling will pipe up and try to ask people if sol-rouge can help in exchange for goods so he doesn’t immediately have to jump to just stealing, which is what he usually does ‘cause he’s so awkward and uncomfortable around people that he’d prefer to commit a crime than talk to anyone.

sol-rouge may or may not run into mittens during this time, or maybe they only meet later.

at some point shelly “ivy” organik will come across them and due to sol-rouge’s skill, seeming lack of morals, and desperation, she asks him to help her with her evil plans and in exchange she’ll help his sibling. at first sol-rouge refuses as he doesn’t believe ivy can help them, but using her chlorokinesis she creates some sorta tree-plant-machine-suit thing which helps his sibling in many ways including breathing n having a way to move around, n says they can use the plant-tree-mech thing as long as sol-rouge helps her, so he agrees.

sol-rouge’s sibling is probably very wary and hesitant about helping ivy, but the device she made helps them so much that they can’t really imagine just giving it back and struggling like before, so they go along with the plans, albeit very unconfidently. i think the tree-suit will have some form of weaponry so they can join sol-rouge in doing ivy’s bidding.

sol-rouge n their sib will either meet mittens for the first time or clash WAY more with her during this. things will probably escalate that blaze n stuff has to get involved, ivy probably also recruits glacier (i’ve decided sol-shadow’s name is glacier) so sol-rouge n their sibling are also working with her. stuff goes down.

eventually sol-rouge’s sibling will hit a point where they just morally can’t help ivy, and they choose to help the heroes stop her. glacier will also go through the discovery of how her parents actually sucked n that she’s on the wrong side so she’ll also join the heroes, but sol-rouge doesn’t really care about being good or bad, he just wants his sibling to be safe, but his sib is adamant about saving the people, so he joins them.

stuff happens, they beat ivy, and she tries to take her tree-suit-mech thing back, but literally everyone stops her n protects sol-rouge’s sibling from her, so she gets pissed n gives up. so now sol-rouge’s sibling permanently has a funky plant suit that alleviates their symptoms and they can walk around in! i’d say they’re scared ivy will constantly try to take it back, and might one day succeed, also they just care a lot about the innocent people of the world, so they’re determined to kill ivy. sol-rouge still doesn’t really care about people but his sibling is now healthier so he’s chill, plus he’s so close with them that he’s probably gonna have some of their compassion rub off on him.

anyway, really long-winded way of saying i’ve combined maria and omega into one character and it’s sol-rouge’s sibling. sol-omega isn’t a robot but a fella in a suit made by ivy. it’s bizarre but i think it works.

[wishesofeternity]

"Antiochos’ and Stratonike’s activities in the eastern part of the [Seleukid] empire are largely shrouded in mystery, but, as Engels has argued, Antiochos was far from idle since he embarked on a large building programme and was active in securing the frontier. There is some evidence to suggest that his new bride accompanied him for much of this period. We can perhaps identify Stratonike’s presence with her new husband in the Upper Satrapies through the gold coinage minted in Susa and Baktria in c . 287. The two gold coin sets are of the same type, the obverse features the laureate head of Apollo facing right and the reverse features Artemis in an elephant biga facing left with the legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΕΛΕΥΚΟΥ in exergue.

Figure 1: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 163).

Figure 2: Coin of Seleukos I from Baktria Depicting Apollo on the Obverse and Artemis with Elephant Biga on the Reverse (Houghton and Lorber 2002, SC I no. 257).

The reverse image of Artemis in the elephant biga is within the same design type as a large range of other coinage issued by Seleukos I celebrating the success of his elephants and thus his eastern campaigns. The appearance of Artemis is however unique to these coin types. This suggests the emphasis on the close links between the twin gods, Artemis and Apollo, depicted on the obverse and reverse of this coinage . Since there appears to be as a close link between Apollo and Antiochos as there is between Zeus and Seleukos, the presence of Artemis could be seen as a symbol for Stratonike. This would create a series of parallels: Seleukos/Zeus, Antiochos/Apollo, and Stratonike/Artemis. The first two reflect what we see for these two kings at the list of priests of Seleukid kings in Seleukeia in Pieria . Additionally, it may be notable that the sister-wife ideology [...] appears to be evident later in the reign of Antiochos.

As all of the Apollo/Artemis cointypes were produced on high value gold coinage, this suggests that it was issued in order to commemorate a significant event. While the type was similar to other Seleukid coinage, the shift from Athena to Artemis was clearly discernible and unique. The arrival of the new joint-King and Queen in the region to take up residence would have been a suitable moment for the issuing of the new coin type. This advertisement of their new rule certainly falls in line with Seleukos’ wedding speech which confirmed their new roles."

-David Engels & Kyle Erickson, "Apama and Stratonike – Marriage and Legitimacy", "Seleukid Royal Women" (edited by Edited by Altay Coşkun and Alex McAuley). The pictures of the coins are screenshots from the book.

[thehours2002]

the other thing about that nepo baby poll is that hands down the person with the most outsized cultural impact is jane fonda and one of the few people on that list who i think definitively eclipses her parent.

i'd probably also add laura dern to that list (but that could be a generational bias since i'm not very familiar with bruce dern's filmography). and even though star wars is a juggernaut i think singin' in the rain may give debbie an edge over carrie (but it's close). and actually jon voight sucks so maybe angelina jolie is on the list too. (he's prolific but she takes up way more space in popular culture.)

[sysig]

I somehow forgot how fun Spider Bites is to draw ♥ (Patreon)

[octahyde]

ok yeah literally I thought this game sucked because I picked bluebell now that I’m doing a konohana file this game is great LMFAOOO

[antirepurp]

i really like arven's story in scavio it might just be the best of the three really. boy has mommy/daddy issues and a cares deeply about his first pokemon to such degree he's willing to chase wild legends of local herbs to help him. not really a rival in the way they used to be in early gens but still full of flavor and personality, and a part of me even considers him a rival in some weird sense of the word? a compelling character arc that pulls you in and drives you to investigate the path of titans further. such a memorable character i enjoy him a lot