#christianity mention

[prokopetz]

Bryan Lee O'Malley remarking that he had Scott explicitly spell out that his relationship with Knives was inappropriate in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off because he feels like a lot of the comic's readers maybe didn't pick up on that is very funny not only because how do you not, but also because the original Scott Pilgrim comics are some of the most didactic media I've ever read outside of, like, medieval Christian allegories about the wages of sin. It's just constantly explaining to the reader exactly why Scott is a bad person, sometimes with little annotated diagrams. Genuinely, what's it gonna take for the twentysomething male audience not to idolise a loser?

[10yrsyart]

SO i storyboarded this comic and drew the first page back in 2015, and then totally and completely forgot about it 😂 i remember around that time i was struggling to accept that chronic illness was my life and couldn't be ignored.

it was really cathartic to come back to finish this, both with improved skills, and improved mental health. i feel like God allowed me to forget about it, just so that He could gift it back to me now, as a reminder of our growth together.

"(The Lord) lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along." (Psalm 40:2)

transcript:

Papyrus: SANS!! Sans: hey bro, how's the library job goin?

Papyrus: OH, EHM.. IT GOES WELL! HOW ARE YOU, ARE YOU TIRED??

Sans: not... anymore than usual?

Papyrus: WHAT ABOUT HUNGRY? HAVE YOU LOT YOUR APPETITE?

Sans: what-

Papyrus: DO YOU SUDDENLY FEEL SAD WHEN YOU'VE PREVIOUSLY BEEN HAPPY?

Sans: bro-

Papyrus: FEELINGS OF WORTHLESSNESS? IRRITATION? APATHY?

Papyrus: I'VE BEEN RESEARCHING ILLNESSES ON THE LIBRARY COMPUTER. I BELIEVE YOU MAY HAVE AN ILLNESS CALLED DEPRESSION.

Sans: - ..nah, i'm sure it's just.. me being lazy. like I always am, right? don't worry-

Papyrus: I HAVE FAILED YOU, BROTHER!

Sans: pap, no-

Papyrus: I SHOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD THE SIGNS!!

Sans: papyrus-

Papyrus: I HAVE BEEN CALLING YOU LAZY WHEN YOU ARE IN FACT SICK! THIS IS UNFORGIVEABLE OF ME! IT MUST BE REMEDIED!!!

Papyrus: WE ARE ON THE SURFACE NOW, BROTHER! THERE IS NO NEED TO FEEL SO HOPELESS. WHATEVER YOU NEED, I WILL HELP YOU! I KNOW YOU TRY TO HIDE THAT YOU ARE FEELING SAD, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT ANYMORE.

Papyrus: I AM HERE FOR YOU.

Sans: thanks, pap.. i.. i love you.

Papyrus: I LOVE YOU TOO, SANS. YOUR DOCTOR RECOMMENDED HUG SESSION BEGINS NOW!

Sans: just bill my insurance.

[dogkin]

Heavy x Sniper TF2

[spitblaze]

why the hell is christian music so devoid of lyricism. like i KNOW you guys can do better ive listened to sufjan stevens. ive heard that one jars of clay song. theres so much ground you could cover thematically and tonally and lyrically but like. it feels like a genuine oddity to find a song EXPLICITLY about christianity that sounds better than 'overproduced amateur who decided their first pass at the lyrics was good enough to sing to millions of people and also god'

[mossdaggar]

Unemployed Promo Post

Hey y'all, I'm Moss, a queer game designer who heads Brewist Tabletop Games. Late December, I quit a toxic job environment when my mental health was at its lowest. I fortunately had a big game launch just before I did, but I've now been out of work for 6 weeks (I've had interviews and I've got some hope!) and it has left me in the red. I'd love if you'd check out my games or boost this to people who might. <3 A notable release I've had is HELLWHALERS, a TTRPG of nautical and Christian-religious horror. Play as damned whalers hunting a leviathan whale in a bid for redemption in this token and d6 based game. There's even a metacurrency with its own gambling mechanic! I also have Rel1ct, a GMless eldritch body horror solo or duet TTRPG inspired by things like Annihilation and The Color Out of Space. Play with cards and dice in a journaling game that TTRPG reviewer/designer Sam Leigh called a "TTRPG that will wreck you". There's also my experimental gridless tactical TTRPG that is a love-letter to JRPGs and weird math, Infinite Reverie. It's only $9 right now, but the 2nd edition is coming this year, and it'll just go up in price from here. It's complete and playable in v1, but the layout is /bad/. Pip, the other half of Brewist Tabletop Games, is working on a gorgeous and fantastic redo of the game, and you'll want to pick it up before that price jumps! You can also find a draconic duo of games bundled together, Kn1ght and Dr4kk3n, two games about fighting their own respective terrible dragons, but in two very different ways. Kn1ght is a GMless solo or duo journaling game, the original model rules that Rel1ct was based off. Dr4kk3n is a d4 based dungeoncrawl for 3-4 players and a GM built on Caltrop Core engine, pioneered by designer Titanomachy. Regardless of whether or not you can pick them up, all my games can be found at brewisttabletopgames.itch.io, and as a thanks for looking, I'll be adding a few community copies of each of these games. There are also a smattering of pay-what-you-want and small microgames available on our itch as well.

[nepentheisms]

You ever find yourself down and out, going through a real dark night of the soul? Well if your name's Vash, then fortunately for you, you've got a Meryl Stryfe on your side.

She came in clutch, and I'm proud of her. Nightow even conveys the moment Meryl's words of resolve reach Vash as a burst of light in the dark. After Vash kills Legato, we see his soul teetering on the brink. He feels truly lost, boxed inside an all-black space, wondering what reason he has to go on living, "What's there left to see?"

And as if in answer to prayer, sparks of light begin to appear around him. As our eyes follow the flow of panels down to the lower left, we're then hit with the impact of the space around Vash brightening dramatically as he hears Meryl's words. Her faith calls him out of the void, and he gets the answer to his question: Here are the people fighting to realize your dream. Here's the woman who declares that she's among those who will share your burden because it doesn't matter if you broke the vow that defined you for so long - you're still worth believing in. And here, right in front of you is a fragment of your sisters' memories - the key to finally bridging the gap between them and humanity. There's so much left to see.

I love how in every version of Trigun, it's the sheer persistence of Meryl's faith that pulls Vash out of his lowest points (I know Stampede hasn't reached this climax in Vash's emotional journey yet, but I think what we've seen with Meryl helping him break Knives' control is a foretaste of bigger things to come). That tenacity and refusal to give up are so central to her character. Once her convictions are set, she's incredibly steadfast in them, and it's this steadfastness that makes the Mary Magdalene comparisons even more fitting.

In Thomas Aquinas' reflection on Mary Magdalene, he calls her devotion "constant," and says "it deserves praise" as a quality that "made her fit to see the angels." Aquinas remarks that while the other disciples left when Jesus was buried, Mary Magdalene stayed because of her "stronger and more burning affection." Thus, she is privileged among the saints as the chosen witness and messenger:

"Notice the three privileges given to Mary Magdalene. First, she had the privilege of being a prophet because she was worthy enough to see the angels, for a prophet is an intermediary between angels and the people. Secondly, she had the dignity or rank of an angel insofar as she looked upon Christ, on whom the angels desire to look. Thirdly, she had the office of an apostle; indeed, she was an apostle to the apostles insofar as it was her task to announce our Lord's resurrection to the disciples."

So how fitting is it that Meryl ends the story as a news reporter and thereby having even more power to tell Vash's story? She has witnessed the most hidden aspects of him (a fact that makes a great point of comparison to the characterization of Mary Magdalene in the extracanonical Gnostic Gospels), and there's so much she could say to help the rest of the world learn to understand him. She now has the resources to share his message on a much greater scale, and in those last few pages we see that the people Vash met in his travels, people like Lina and her grandmother and Badwick's family, are among those watching the broadcast. Meryl gets the word out to others who came to know him directly: He is risen.

"Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you. And she began to speak to them these words: I, she said, I saw the Lord in a vision and I said to Him, Lord I saw you today in a vision. He answered and said to me, Blessed are you that you did not waver at the sight of Me. For where the mind is there is the treasure." -Gospel of Mary (extracanonical)

[bread-tab]

okay random 4am rant time, don't take it too seriously, but: people need to recognize there's a difference between "bad worldbuilding" and "worldbuilding styles you personally don't like."

bad worldbuilding is, for example: internally inconsistent, bigoted, or something else that messes up the plot or characterization of the story itself. sloppy. careless.

things that are *not* bad worldbuilding:

minimalism.

i've been thinking about this in the first place because i saw a post about the Murderbot Diaries a while back (don't know who made it, don't care; this ain't personal) saying the worldbuilding in those books is bad and lazy. to me, as an avid sci-fi reader and writer, that is clearly not true. but i understood why they thought this. the series uses extremely minimalist worldbuilding which intentionally withholds a lot of detail, in a way that is consistent with the (nonhuman, robot, depressed robot) first-person POV. this could also be a feature of the author's writing style in general—i haven't read her other works—but i wouldn't bet too much on it.

the signature of intentional minimalism is that there *are* details about the speculative setting—they're just doled out very thoughtfully and sparingly. the intent is to leave you a little hungry for more. it's to make you think very carefully about the details you do have. this is best suited to stories that already have elements of psychological and/or mystery plot types. the worldbuilding you do see should still be believable, internally consistent, and have interesting implications if you think about it a bit. but you are for sure going to have to think harder to get it.

if you're not in the mood, i will concede, a minimalist style definitely comes off as a bit dry. if you are in the mood, it's relaxing.

whimsy.

this is a big one for sci-fi fans in particular. see: the constant debate about whether any particular story is "hard" or "soft" sci-fi, and whether soft sci-fi is bad, etc etc. but worldbuilding doesn't have to be realistic to be good. you're allowed to have Jedi and humanoid aliens and time travel in your sci-fi. you're allowed to have historical anachronisms and astrology and po-ta-toes in your fantasy. whether or not they're silly isn't the deciding factor on how "good" these worldbuilding elements really are.

the key thing is tonal consistency. you've got a serious high-fantasy setting with its own strict, un-Earth-like theology and magic system, and you throw Santa Claus in there? yeah, that's not gonna land well. but C.S. Lewis can get away with that in Narnia just fine. why? because the Chronicles of Narnia are whimsical children's stories with a strong Christian/Western mythological influence already, and their central conceit is a crossover between the mundane world and the magical world. of course Santa can cross over too. it's whimsical, but it's not actually random. (and if you ventured into straight-up comedy, you could get away with random too. as long as it's funny.)

the unreliable narrator.

i don't have a good example for this off the top of my head (maybe Murderbot again? idk, i'm sleepy, fill in your own) but i'll tell you how to recognize when this is done well.

by definition, an unreliable narrator has some key misconceptions about their own world. so how do you tell what's going on as a reader? how do you know the writer isn't equally confused?

you connect the dots. solve the puzzle. in practice this is similar to reading a minimalist setting—but instead of just sparse clues, you also have a boatload of red herrings. you can catch some of these misleading details by comparing them to your real-world knowledge and saying "wait, this doesn't add up." other times, the false clues intentionally trick you by subverting those real world expectations.

the trick is in the consequences. regardless of what the narrator says, their actions should still have logical consequences. there should be things going on that the POV character doesn't know about. the character will be forced to learn and adapt their narrative because of these shifting circumstances. you can catch them in a lie. the inconsistencies themselves tell a story.

...

i'm gonna stop myself there because this post is long and i oughtta be sleeping. just. this is a distinction worth making. is it really bad worldbuilding, or is it simply not the genre you're craving today? learn the difference for your own sake. you'll have an easier time realizing if a story is something you'll find enjoyable to read, regardless of its actual quality.

[mothmxwhump]

Me learning that not only are cishet people into whump, but hardcore conservative Christian transphobes are into whump:

[myryathedreamer]

I feel like the internet needs to hear about judas buns.

If you have even a passing knowledge of the New Testament, then you know Judas was the guy who betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 silver and then hanged himself.

So the Czechs asked "Can we make a dish around this?" and didn't wait for an answer.

This soft sweet pastry is traditionally made for Easter Thursday (google tells me it's called Maundy Thursday in English) and usually takes a form of various knots and spirals to symbolize a rope. Some take this metaphor a step further, as shown by my mother, who hands covered in flour asked me "Do you know how to tie a noose?"

When we speak of fucked up Czech traditions, we usually think of whipping girls with willow sticks in exchange for eggs. But I believe baking rope-like buns in "honor" of a guy who hanged himself should be up there as well.

[actual-changeling]

Bro just think about Michael and Joan of Arc in the good omens universe.

Michael was one of Joan’s (or Jehanne, as she was called in life) guides, and trained her in the ways of war and divine Justice from the time she was thirteen. Michael was sent to earth and watched this young peasant girl grow up, eventually leading the French towards victory over the English like she was always meant to.

But then, at the age of eighteen, she’s captured and imprisoned by the English, and Michael has to stand by because “it’s all a part of the great plan”. It doesn’t matter how much Jehanne prays or suffers at the hands of her captors, Michael can’t disobey orders.

Then, Jehanne dies. She dies in the worst way a human can die, being burnt alive. Michael can only watch in horror as the girl they raised and trained is burnt to ashes as a part of the Great Plan. She was only nineteen. There will be nothing left of her by the times the flames are put out.

When Gabriel announces how Aziraphale will die, Michael offers to deliver the holy water to hell, white knuckling the pitcher as they descend down the staircase and hear the distant screams of their protégée and surrogate daughter echoing through their mind.

I know absolutely NOTHING about anything bible or christianity related so this is a shot of delicious angst and knowledge all at once, thank you!

And ooooh Michael volunteering to deliver the holy water because even though they cannot openly admit it, even just seeing a large pillar of flames is a punch in the gut. They go through hell's corridors with their head held high and their eye's straight ahead, quietly praying that they won't walk past any hell fire on the way.

We don't know anything about where/if the humans are in heaven, but angels are probably not allowed to interact with them even now, and Michael wouldn't even if they could.

Jehanne is there, somewhere, and there is nothing Michael could say to her except an apology that means nothing in the face of her suffering.

Oh lord, my brain is currently speedrunning an AU in which Dagon and Michael are both send to earth when Michael is there to raise Jehanne, and it's not six thousand years of pining but still a good few centuries worth.

Michael dreams of licking flames and ashes, and Dagon dreams of burning wings and melting grace, and there is an intimacy in sharing nightmares that gives them an understanding of each other no one else will ever have.

[glownery]

wishing everyone who celebrates a happy easter and an even happier transgender day of visibility 🐣🪩🫶🪽

[prokopetz]

Everything Tumblr has told you about Moby-Dick is absolute bullshit, and everything that Tumblr has told you about Moby-Dick is 100% true. It’s a travelogue fantasy. It’s proto-science fiction. It’s cosmic horror. It’s shockingly original and it’s shamelessly plagiaristic. It’s a misotheistic Christian parable in which the whale is the mask of a cruel, uncaring God and Ahab is Satan himself, not as trickster or as tempter, but as doomed hero. It’s the most gripping thing you’ll ever read. It’s boring as shit. But above all else – and I cannot emphasise this enough – it is filled with Facts About Whales.

[yardsards]

so i think the real difference between catholicism and evangelical protestantism is that catholic guilt will leave you feeling like a monster for ever daring to be happy and protestant/evangelical guilt will leave you feeling like a monster for ever daring to be unhappy

[themisteriousentity]

You know, people forget that Soldier, Poet, King is a Christian song depicting different aspects of Jesus, but it sure is interesting to see that the fandom almost universally makes Dimitri the Soldier, Claude the Poet, and Edelgard the King

However, I argue a different order

*le gaspu*

Dimitri is still the soldier, but I think Claude and Edelgard should switch. I think Edelgard is the Poet and Claude is the King

Hear me out

Dimitri, we all know why he's the Soldier. I don't think we need to explain that. I don't need to get into the bible analysis, man LITERALLY tears cities down, oh lei oh lai oh lord

Edelgard is a very well spoken person. When she's actually given room to voice her ideas, despite being wrong because she's got just the tip of the iceberg of the true history, she can managed to convince almost anyone. In both games, she manages to convince most of her empire, which is FULL of very devout followers of Seiros and Sothis, to attack the Central Church and follow her lead. For a person who doesn't know much better, she's very damn convincing. She just doesn't do it very often, and she's terrible at listening when people try to counter her ideas (her argument with Dimitri and Azure Moon really highlights this when he tries to open a dialogue). But the important thing there is also that this is a role she chooses to take on in both games. If you look at the Poet, this easily relates to the start of Jesus's ministry in the bible, taking down establishments left and right on his word alone. Edelgard convinces her country to follow her on her accusations alone (as she was only 18 when she started the war and even as emperor she had to talk many ministers into following her lead or nothing would've happened without ministers like Count Bergliez and Count Hevring that she convinced), slaying the church with her tongue

Meanwhile, the King easily relates far more to Claude than the Poet. Claude doesn't really spend a lot of time convincing people of his ideals or talking them into anything aside from explaining his ambitions to Byleth and Shez, and depending on your supports in some ways to Leonie and Lorenz. Unlike Edelgard, Claude is in a situation he didn't ask for. He has a war thrust upon him and a conflict with a massive religious body that breeds prejudice to contend with. As an outsider who is deeply untrusted, he has to fight tooth and nail just to keep the Alliance whole. All the meanwhile he's constantly having insults thrust upon him by his own people, and in certain routes he's completely abandoned by one of the largest political players in his nation. The crown of thorns was not a burden Jesus chose to accept, like the burden of war Edelgard created and thrust upon the world, but was something thrusted upon him that he then had to deal with. It's easy to see that Claude never wanted to contend with this war and only stays because he HAS to, for the sake of both Almyra and Fódlan, despite knowing all he's doing is keeping things stable while not fixing the situation. But in the end he's still prepared to sacrifice everything to try and make the world better. In Houses, he even plans for his own death to protect the people of the Alliance, the people who fought against him and rejected him the most. In Hopes, he settles on working with people he fundamentally disagrees with and dislikes for the sake of protecting Fódlan. With a character progression like that, it just feels like the ruler who his brow laid in thorn, anointed in oil, that tracks to Claude much better than Edelgard

But hey, that's just my opinion. Wow, who knew being dragged to church kicking and screaming against my will would come in handy for a strategy JRPG

[darubyprincx]

thinking thoughts on this thursday morning

[phoenixyfriend]

Heck I just realized a thing about Anakin in fic. He's the anon in this post.

[ignore the sex mention in the post, it's unrelated to anything but unfortunately happens earlier in thread than the funny, relevant bit]

Fic Anakin: I have come up with a new approach to Jedi philosophy! The Jedi: [have existed for tens of thousands of years and have definitely covered this ground before]

Or as @whymylifewrites put it:

fics where anakin discovers a new and exciting way to think about/use the force except this time obi-wan is standing off to the side like "i knew you were lying when you told me you did your Jedi Philosophy 101 homework"