#considering how little evidence there actually is for any be-all end-all rule

[whaliiwatching]

How DO you think universe signatures work? I don't think I've seen many theories or discussions on it but I also haven't been looking for them either

HOHOOO UNIVERSE SIGNATURES. ok. as i was rewatching scenes so i could write this, my theories fucking blinked out of existence :) there is as much consistency to universe signatures as there is to the atsv timeline.

alright lets see how incoherent this gets

btw i’m not using the word ‘dimension.’ incorrect scientific terminology in an animated spider man comic movie franchise about the multiverse? couldn’t be me. i already let them keep their holograms*

itsv came out in 2018 and is reported to have taken four years to make. in 2014, we couldn’t have made atsv; the technology hadn’t been developed, because there wasn’t yet a movie to demand it. (usually when the question comes up during production, the team has to invent an answer. like animating violet’s hair in the incredibles in 2004, or water in finding nemo in 2003, or fur for sully in the monsters inc movies, or the entire animation process of 2019’s klaus, or reflections on the cars in cars—) this, combined with itsv being set entirely in miles’s own universe, means that the b team’s (noir, peni, ham) universe signatures changing between universes can be attributed to 1. less worldbuilding than atsv and 2. lack of technological ability in 2014-2018 (no diss to the og animators obviously, itsv is fucking gorgeous)

but that’s a boring doylist analysis. i wonder if we can get watsonian. atsv, which was likely produced from 2017 or so to 2023, explores four more universes, rather than sticking to miles’s. surely it’ll have more answers!

i went through the entire movie to see what changes. not gonna bore y’all with a scene to scene analysis, so i’ll summarize: the only person who substantially differs between dimensions is gwen (abstract in E-65, solid but still pastel in E-1610, slightly more painted in E-50101, abstract again in E-928 during emotional scenes). hobie’s collage changes to match the tone or color palette of the universe around him, but doesn’t take on its signature. other than that, the only effect any universe has on every character is with its light, and the only effect to overpower a universe signature is a portal.

let’s pretend that in an infinite multiverse, such a thing as a standard can be set, and that standard is Comic Style. comparing it to itsv, where peni and ham gained depth from previously 2d-esque universes, it seems as though some things don’t change—general color palette and extreme stylistic divergences from the aforementioned standard, eg when atsv peni is styled in 2d—and some change universally—like universe-specific volumetric light, eg in itsv when E-1610’s halftone-style light gives peni depth and in atsv when E-928’s holographic-style light does the same in a different way.

then portals. they distort the space around them in their style of origin: organic portals always have miles’s universe’s signature because that’s where they were born; any portal opened with an E-928 watch has miguel’s orange holographic hexagon, no matter who uses them or where they open to; portals opened with hobie’s homemade watch are always collage, though they take on the color palette of the universe they’re opened in. that means portals have to be watch-specific, prolly based on the materials’ universe of origin, but in that case, hobie’s would look a lot like miguel’s since he harvested most if not all of the parts from E-928. so it has to be specific to either the person who made it or the universe it was made in.

but neither of those make sense! the degree of separation from universe/person that apparently applies to the watches doesn’t apply to items left in other universes. E-1610’s rubik’s cube retains its color and volume in noir’s universe, but the sweater gwen leaves on miles’s bed isn’t abstract, and the shoes she nicked from E-138 aren’t scrappy. even hobie’s watch is rendered in strangely crisp 3d, brightly colored and noticeably not collage.

and of course, both universe-specific light theory and portals-overpower-all theory aren’t totally consistent. hobie’s only properly illuminated when he’s in his base colors. but maybe that’s a quirk of atsv? he doesn’t glitch like paper in the radius of a portal—renaissance vulture didn’t glitch like paper either, maybe that’s just how glitching works! maybe it’s always that tv-signal-bright blocky mess! maybe there is one concrete rule in all this!!!!!

noir’s universe (during his intro scene, at least) comprises of three solid colors: black, light gray, and white, and volume/shadow is communicated through the intensity of halftone used. in itsv and in atsv he’s always in black and white, no matter the color of the light around him. he’s also the ONLY CHARACTER who glitches differently. noir breaks down in black and white!! when the team is lit up by gwen’s portal in atsv’s final scene he’s the only one not distorting in color!!!!! what the fuck man!!!!!!!!!

there isn’t one cohesive multiversal rule for how universe signatures act and interact with different universes, much as i’d love to have one. it raises too many questions and doesn’t give quite enough evidence to study. the closest i can theorize is color/style generally sticks and lighting/spatial physics generally doesn’t, and since that’s relatively simple, i’ll use it. gwen gets her photo-booth-app watercolors and peni/pav/ham/noir get just a little more rendered.

theories i have seen floating around that i also enjoy

gwen’s universe requires people to be in tune with it, to reflect their emotions—implying that the floaty abstract art during her scene with her father is diagetic. so when she’s not in her universe, she’s not like her universe.

hobie’s universe signature necessitates that he doesn’t conform to any other style

on that note, so would ham’s, because cartoon logic defeats reality logic

hope you enjoyed!! or at least were amused by my suffering <3

*do not get me started on holograms

[leletha-jann]

Headcanon on reasonable evidence, actually: Every Heterodyne gets their own specific pack of Jägermonster guards.

Yes, the Jägermonsters are all sworn to the family in general, but Heterodynes do unreasonable and dangerous things on absolutely no notice, and it's helpful to have a specific set of personal guards who know them as individuals well enough to respond immediately. (Of course, Jägers think this sounds like fun.)

Agatha having Dimo, Maxim, and Oggie on more or less permanent assignment to her isn't unusual; it's normal. They know this, and have encouraged her to fall into a pattern they were expecting, actually, and she didn't take any steering at all. On some instinctive level she was expecting it too. Even if Dimo keeps his promotion to General, he'll be a General on the move, from wherever Agatha happens to be. They'll be with her for the rest of her life.

Consorts get their own squads, too. At some point in the future, Gil and Tarvek both acquire a handful of their own personal Jägers, sottle-like. (They notice it happen anyway.)

Jorgi is absolutely one of Tarvek's squad, because there's no way he wasn't designed to be Tarvek's personal guard Jäger, and it will be hilarious.

I'd also love to see Agatha assign Jenka to him, because Tarvek's recently on record as missing his personal spy network, and he and Jenka would have that up and running in no time flat. They'd have fun. (Jenka doesn't hold "being Andronicus Valois' descendent" against him, because Tarvek's loyalties are firmly with Agatha, and they share a "to hell with that family in particular" attitude.) Also, it would be a neat little parallel with Tarvek giving Violetta to Agatha. Agatha could give him a sneaky lady who can kick his ass (and will if when needed) right back. For maximum humor, Füst should take to Tarvek exactly the same way the wasp eaters did.

(this, but with JAGER BEAR)

I don't know if Gil ends up with Vole as one of his pack, because I don't know where the Foglios are going with him. But I nominate this guy from book one:

And this guy from book 14:

to follow Gil around and be reassuring to him periodically.

Higgs has sort of ended up as immediate supervision of the entire triumvirate. Whichever of them is in reach, or all three of them at once. Insert Higgs looking really deadpan tired here. This face. Forever.

Jägers get EXTREMELY excited when they learn a new baby Heterodyne is on the way, and start campaigning to be on the baby's personal guard squad immediately. Of course, being Jägers, there's a lot of biting involved. I imagine months of Jägers challenging each other, not just to fights, because they did all that already, but to increasingly ridiculous and pointless challenges that they're both making up on the spot and obsessively keeping track of. The only real rule is that if you challenge someone to something, you have to do it too (otherwise how will you know who won?) They challenge each other one on one, or everyone in sight. This leads to things like most of the Jägerhorde running a screaming, pushing, biting, brawling egg-and-spoon race down the longest street in Mechanicsburg. The townsfolk line up to watch and cheer. (They're considered a course hazard, so they get to throw things.) Whoever's currently winning (don't ask me how that points math works) when the baby is born gets assigned to the baby.

Bill and Barry both had their own Jäger squads and never knew it, because their guards weren't allowed anywhere near them. Theodora was pretty much out there with a shotgun if she heard even the hint of a Jägermonster accent. Those Jägers still resent it. They feel robbed of their (most recent) chance to be trusted favorites. They might get special-pleading rights in the next tournament-to-guard-the-new-baby, assuming their brothers aren't completely fed up with their whining about it by now.

Klaus Barry had his own guards, but Bill didn't know because the Jägers were barely even allowed in the Castle by that point, so they just didn't tell him. Master of Mechanicsburg or not, the Jägers didn't trust him not to send them away even further (and rightly so).

Nobody volunteered to guard Lucrezia. Bill didn't understand the insult in that, and the townspeople didn't tell him. But every single one of them NOTICED. Ho yez.

There are only so many Jägermonsters, so by this point everyone who's still alive has been in a personal guard squad at least once. Collectively, the Jägermonsters know all the gossip, going back centuries. They'll never tell. If pressed, they suddenly lose the ability to remember last week, much less 1528. They can't be bribed, not even with alcohol, although they encourage people to try.

Canon: Jenka was in Euphrosnia's personal guard.

Seen elsewhere on Tumblr but I forgot to reblog it: Vole was one of Saturnus' pack, which is why he tried to kill Bill and Barry. Saturnus had tried, after all, and Vole was most loyal to Saturnus in particular. (If this was your theory, let me know! Credit to you.)

TL;DR: Jägers running an egg-and-spoon race through Mechanicsburg. There. Now you have the highlight of this post.

Also: ä is alt-132 (using the keypad). NOW YOU KNOW. (hopefully I also now know, because this is like the fifth time I've tried to memorize that)

[amoonsong]

astro notes 🎀 .

please don’t steal 💗. —

Theory * if your Venus persona chart’s rising is the sign of any of your air houses natally, you might attract them a lot.

Ex: I have a Capricorn 11th house natally and in my VPC, I have a Capricorn rising. Deadass, the majority (and when I say the majority I mean the majority) of my friends have Capricorn Venuses. Whether they’re a Capricorn, Scorpio, Aquarius, sag, or Pisces sun, the majority of them have it. I don’t know if this is exclusive to that specific placement, I.E. vpc so cap Venus but that’s just a little observation I’ve made.

Trust, a Uranus 1st house or conj the asc is going to be controversial and they do it on purpose. I also find that if Uranus is in a water sign and fire sign they are super serious about that Uranian expression because they feel it more personally and/or emotionally and Uranus is reactive by nature so they end up being very disruptive. Uranus 1st house natives are so authentic because they are so willing to change and after a while, it just feels so liberating and they honestly just end up not giving a fuck lol. They also tend to be really bold too no matter the mars sign because again, they end up not giving a fuck.

Uranus 1h or conjunct the asc, Uranus-inner planets may not know how to live in the moment since they’re literally the future lol. Also, since they’re so spontaneous, fast, and have then Uranian traits, they always want more and end up losing the moment searching for another.

Mini cancer mars rant:

I feel like people highly underestimate cancer mars natives. Yes, they’re passive-aggressive but they’re still very, very aggressive. theyre only passive becaause they like keeping the peace and theyre really sweet people but when you push them to that point where they cant be sweet anymore, they’re just plain rude and aggressive and will curse you out or beat you up or something. It is definitely intimidating and overwhelming because they’re incessant and will not stop pressing you until they’re satisfied. They really see red and they won’t calm down until they feel protected or content so, if they’ve been bottling something in like they usually do, it’s gonna take some time to get it all out. Also, their feelings tend to play out in their mood so eventually, it gets really hard for them to repress their feelings when it’s practically written all over their faces and they also latch onto their feelings and feel them for so long. All in all, it’s very evident they’re the fall of mars LMAO and that incompetence normally causes them to act out of character. They act emotionally people!!!

air mars people are really annoying imo, Gemini mars are erratic and cannot stfu not to mention they’re all bark and no bite, like… Aquarius mars tend to be really indifferent which is weird because I find them to be the most humanitarian out of all aqua placements besides asc. libra mars r just annoying istg they are literally them, “where my hug at,” ass bitches. They’ll be bold when flirting but pussy when they gotta actually express anger, now they wanna play the blame game and play the victim like… (yall aren’t actually annoying I love you guys, especially libra mars 😋🤭😏)

A lot of Leo moons tend to be weirdos which are actually so cute to me considering the stigmas behind Leos and the way they’re portrayed.

Leo as the moon literally sucks because its ruling planet is the sun and it illuminates your emotions but Id say gemini moons are on this same boat because Gemini moons HAS to talk about their feelings and whatever is on their mind.. they’re so open which is cute but its also their detriment if you ask me. Hugeeee gossipers too.

them gemini placements know how to do hair like nobody business.

7th house ruler in the 2nd house might need a partner that has similar morals to them and with good self-esteems. I feel like this is strengthened too since this is a taurus house and taurus is so hard headed like if someones valueles aren’t compatible with yours you won’t have a significant bond whatsoever. I guess its because the second house is in the first quadrant of the awareness of self but when your 7h ruler is in one of these houses (1-3) its important to know yourself because in relationships you need to get partnets that are similar to you, your beliefs, and/or expression. if you go against that youll end up too focused on the other and their awarenesses and you often start to forget about your self.

i feel like aries second house people can either have that ‘who cares’ mentality about their morals, possessions, skills, money, etc, or they can be super hard-headed, strict, dominant, and domineering about these topics. often times than not though, this person will need to develop a very arian sense of self and self esteem. solid, unapologetic, free…

Your mercury sign is so important because its literally your brain and thoughts, it can be the way you react, express, talk, think, go about life, like your body needs your brain to function and the sign your mercury is in can explain a lot! No matter if youre a taurus sun, cancer moon, taurus rising, if you have an Aries Mercury, that Aries mercury will make that individuals mind so fast paced which could maybe make them pace to alleviate the storm thats occurring up there. They’ll be sooo much more outspoken and bold, they will rarely think twice or it would be hard to because they’re so used to seeing and reacting on the spot.

Venus in the first house can give you beauty but I feel like often times than not, venus will bring symmetry to your face literally or like your features fit your face perfectly. also, I feel that venus 1h house individuals are so beautiful because they take care of themselves and their appearence.

if you wanna call cancer and pisces mars passive aggressive and wimpy or wtv, go head and add scorpio mars with them too. scorpios mars’ are so sneaky and secretive until they can’t be anymore and when they get caught red-handed or called out they wanna act like the big bad wolf…🐱

the fourth house isnt the most private house, the 12h is. the fourth house open up to whom you’re comfortable with, who knows you for you so friends, family, and yourself. its how you can act when youre alone. the 8th house opens up to whom youre intimate with, so youre lover.. and the 12 house is the most private because you cant access this house unless you’re actively trying to, it’s a spiritual house so when you become more spiritual, you embody that energy more but still, no one sees it until you can grasp that energy and choose to embody it.

taurus’ suns usually have really good egos and they’re have really good standards lolz. unless poorly aspected, that’s an entirely different story.

[inamindfarfaraway]

Here’s a sad thought about Princess Jasmine in Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier, courtesy of listening to the soundtrack again and feeling the feelings about her and Ja’far: this version of the Sultan must be a really bad father.

We never see him interact with his stepdaughter. He already seems rather senile when he steals Scheherazade, and that’s sixteen years before the present day. His sanity may well have completely gone in that time. Even if it didn’t, he makes it clear in his one appearance that he considers everyone in his power to be objects defined entirely by how they can benefit him and remorselessly will torture, enslave and murder them on a whim. I doubt that he’d be sensitive or nurturing toward his child. Now, I think Scheherazade would be a great mother - but she never got to try.

The Sultan has evidently been very neglectful and distant, failing in his duties to teach the Princess how to be both a good person and a good member of royalty. Despite her being his only heir and old enough to marry and rule the kingdom, which apparently has no problem with a female sovereign, he’s let her grow up to be extremely sheltered and not at all adequately prepared for responsibility and politics. It doesn’t even occur to her that having her tiger assault a neighbouring country’s visiting prince might have consequences. The Sultan, and on his behalf the Captain of the Guard, don’t let her know important news and royal decrees: neither what a menace Aladdin is, leaving her vulnerable to him, nor the Sultan’s mass execution of the 2D Department, since for as insensitively egocentric as she is at the beginning, she’s still deeply sentimental and quick to empathize with the homeless peasant Aladdin, so I can’t believe that she wouldn’t be at least a little upset with the Sultan (or more likely Ja’far) over so many lost human lives.

More than that, her immaturity speaks to bad parenting on the most basic level. She hasn’t internalized the Sultan’s cruelty, but has learned his selfishness, entitlement, impulsiveness and poor emotional regulation. Her social skills are notably clumsy and underdeveloped (not picking up on Aladdin’s numerous red flags, “No high five”, “At least Abdul had a family who loved him!”, even cringing herself at the last one). The Sultan’s passed down absolutely zero wisdom of any kind.

Instead it’s Ja’far with whom she has a familiar father-daughter dynamic (“What’s up, are you mad at me?” “Where are you going?” “There she is!”). It’s him who shows concern when she runs away and gives the order to find her before all else, notices that she’s upset and talks her through her feelings, warns her about sexual predators, appreciates her idealism and effort. It’s him who provides the gentle but firm, healthy guidance and challenge that she needs to grow. Who sees her potential, respects and believes in her. Who loves her. However, he is ultimately in her service. Between the imbalanced power dynamic making him wary of treason (after all, the last time he had a stronger relationship than the Sultan with a woman the Sultan called his, it didn’t end well) and his other responsibilities taking away from their time together, he can’t be as influential a presence in his life as he’d like.

Maybe this why she’s initially so resentful of him. Subconsciously she does see him as a father all along, but he hurts her and lets her down sometimes. Like the Sultan, her only official parent, always has. That stings. The differences are that the Sultan hurts her much more, more consistently and without her best interests at heart… but Ja’far is the one she can lash out at and complain to and be a messy adolescent around, because firstly, he’s her subject instead of her ruler, and secondly, he’s actually involved in her life. He cares, and therefore yelling or halfheartedly trying to poison his wine will make an impact. The Sultan is untouchable. We know that she conflates the two in her head as unjust authority figures keeping her trapped and crushing her aspirations (“All the people who say I’m just dreaming, like Father and Ja’far”, one of the only times she mentions the Sultan). It’s easier to blame your problems on an employee everybody else hates than accept that your parent is a bad one.

Maybe this is the root of her discontentment as well, her yearning that she can’t articulate for something more than what the life she’s been given. The joke of “Everything and More” is that she doesn’t need anything besides what she has… but she does. She needs a competent, reliable parent. One who she can trusts loves her the person as her parent, not a servant of her bloodline, and she knows to love as such in turn.

No wonder she falls for “Orphaned at Thirty-Three” hook, line and sinker. She’s never known her mother. Her relationships with her paternal figures range from terrible to complicated. Having unconditionally loving, supportive parents and then suddenly losing them must be the worst thing she can imagine.

But in the end, the Sultan dies and her dad has to leave her. Although he found a way to live forever, it wasn’t enough to save her from the pain of being orphaned at sixteen.

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

I mean, as per TCW canon, we know that Rex at least has THOUGHT about the inherent contradiction with the clones' relationship to the war, enough to have seemingly made his peace with it. So it seems reasonable to assume that the other clones around his age who've survived to this point, too, have at least thought about it (so this would be people like Jesse, Cody, Bly, Gree, Fox, Thire, etc, basically anyone we might've met within the first season or two of TCW that is clearly still around by Order 66). Cody has his line about how it's hard to be the one that survives in season 7. So yeah, I'd say it's fair to assume they have a complicated relationship with the war itself and that this is something every clone would have to come to their own conclusions about. Not all of them reach the same one, though. Cut chooses to desert peacefully and Slick chooses to betray them all for a chance to escape. So while someone like Rex (and probably Cody) has made his peace with being made to fight in a war, not necessarily everyone does.

As for their relationship with the JEDI, I imagine that's also going to vary from clone to clone, but what we know from higher canon is that they honestly DIDN'T feel all that complicated about the Jedi. Rex discusses his complex emotions about the WAR, but he never seems to feel that conflicted about the Jedi themselves. He's always pretty positive about his relationships with Anakin and Ahsoka, to the point that he can't fucking STOP gushing about Anakin in Rebels. He also doesn't show any discomfort around Kanan and Ezra (unlike the obvious discomfort we see on Kanan's end) and pretty happily starts to build up a friendship with Ezra. Wolffe on the other hand DOES seem more conflicted about it, but his primary issue is fear of the Empire and the attention that the rebels' presence could bring, not necessarily fear OF THE JEDI themselves. During the chip arc in season 6, Fives explicitly calls the Jedi the clones' best friends and seems equally as upset about the fact that the chips would make them kill the Jedi as he is about everything else.

Even if we look at Cut and Slick, ONLY Slick has a complicated relationship with the Jedi, while Cut never even brings them up as part of why he deserted. So that's one example among many many many examples of the clones loving their Jedi and considering the Jedi their best friends. While you can certainly use Slick to argue that it's possible not every clone loved the Jedi and that some of them might've seen them more negatively, there is OVERWHELMING evidence of that being an exception, not the rule.

As far as what's in TBB in terms of how the clones feel about Order 66, there is... very very little. TBB's main characters don't actually care about the Jedi really at all since, other than Echo, none of them served with Jedi all that much so far as we can tell and never built up any kind of relationship with the Jedi. And Echo's relationship with Anakin (and potentially Ahsoka, we never actually get to see them together outside of the Citadel arc, so I'm not sure how much time they would've actually served together canonically but it can't have been much) isn't touched on at all in TBB and doesn't seem to impact his reaction to Order 66 in any way. Hunter seems upset by Caleb's lack of trust during Order 66 and does go out of his way to protect him by lying to Crosshair about killing him, but after that moment, there's no real attention paid to the Jedi. We saw Cody in season 2 and he says a few very vague things about how maybe they made some bad choices because at this point we have to assume Cody still HAS a chip that might be making him feel like he'd CHOSEN to turn on the Jedi even if it's weakened enough to let him doubt his actions. But because he's speaking to Crosshair, he's not saying anything particularly explicit and he's in one episode before he disappears. Most of the other real clones we meet in TBB are either freed of the chip already (Rex, probably Gregor), didn't have Jedi to turn on (Howzer, Cut, Mayday, also probably Gregor), or seem to be fully under the chip's control still (Wilco). So what discussions ARE had about the impact of Order 66 don't really center on the Jedi much at all, leaving us a little in the dark about how the clones feel about that in the more immediate aftermath of it.

However, given the way we see Rex, Gregor, and Wolffe reacting in Rebels, the way Rex reacts in TCW season 7, and everything else we see about the clones in high canon during the war itself, it's pretty safe to say that while there might have been some clones who weren't that upset about killing the Jedi regardless of whether the chip was active or not, the VAST MAJORITY of the clones would never have turned on them at all and have to spend the rest of their lives either mourning the Jedi and feeling guilty about what they were forced to do, or struggling to figure out why they'd even done it in the first place when something in them is telling them it was wrong.

[martellspear]

— power went out and I ran out of things to think this afternoon;

— this is a anti targaryen restoration post, be warned :)

One of the most surprising things in the entire ASOIAF books is simply HOW did that family manage to be around for over 300 years. I’ve never seen so many individuals being so dense – of course, we have exceptions – but ?? Perhaps that’s what you get for the inbreed, the stupidity gene remains and grows strong and turns into a parasite that eats brains.

Let’s start with the C trio; A united the Seven Kingdoms because he thought unity was the right path to defeat the Long Night, which is great, but then he did NOTHING to actually prepare for it ?? The Wall was built by the Starks. In F&B we see that, Targ after Targ, the prophecy has little impact on how they conduct things; I’d love to say something like: fine, let’s blame it on time and wars (which, they caused) but ?? your ancestors' most important words about saving the place you, and your descendants will, live just do not carry enough crucial significance for them to be carefully passed down to the next generation?

Then, we have R. I will admit that when I first read the books I liked him - and although I still find him an interesting character, I cannot let go of the idea of how obtuse he is (it’s deeper than that in his case but I’m annoyed) -. Since I’m venting, let me just say that it completely baffles me how some still view RL as a love story; that man was OBSESSED with the prophecy, he drastically changed his lifestyle for it, but he’d abandon everything for love? And then… proceed to – likely – hide from his lOvE that her loved ones are dead (his dad killed them) while keeping said person in a place that, regarding both climate and social aspects, is detrimental for her. Furthermore, to defy and insult three powerful Houses because he fell in love with someone he saw a few times?

Yes, love can make people take routes they wouldn’t normally take, but the cost was too high for it not to be “means to an end”.

Coming back to my original thoughts: I believe that Targs are unfit to rule – if you want evidence, you can literally just open F&B, any page will do – and the couple good monarchs that family produced doesn’t make up for all the damage they caused since they sat foot in Westeros. They feel entitled to a land that doesn’t belong to them and are saviors because the Gods said they are ??

It's a funny concept when you contrast it with how the series ended: Cersei on the Throne, Arya defeating the Night King and the two last Targs with awful endings (that’s martelldoo): one dead and the other exiled.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent because the thought of a Targ restoration pissed me off this afternoon – it validates every horrendous thing that happened to those considered “casualties” and puts these people in that obnoxious concept we see in succession: no real person involved. But since “we” have the power to save the world, it was worth it and everything it valid, RIGHT?–

[suck-a-egg]

Domino Headcanon Time, Hoes

I am working on a fic for this post but it wont be out for a while because I have a dumb dumb idiot baby brain and will focus on it way more than anything else.

so in the meantime, here are alot of headcanons about the Domino Squad some of these are sad

Domino age order from oldest to youngest: Hevy, Fives, Echo, Cutup, Droidbait

Domino squad is an actual defect squad where as the bad batch was made to have their 'defects'

because they were defects none of their chips worked the way the were supposed to

Hevy isnt good at spelling. He's not allowed to send out any reports without someone proof reading them for him.

Fives is the motherhen of the group. Hes the only one who can safely get inbetween Hevy and Echo when their arguements go a little too far.

Echo was considered the runt of the batch, and was often watched for decommisioning. It was constantly held over his head, which is why he became obsessed with the rules. If he could follow their rules and hit all the bench marks then they would have no reason to decommission him.

Cutup loves music but has absolutely no musical talent. This does not stop him from screeching lyrics to the galaxies most popular songs across the base.

Droidbait is often left behind on accident, he has been left in the mess hall more times than he can count.

Hevy and Echos relationship wasnt always rocky. At one point they were pretty close but after the multiple decomming scares, Echo pulled away to make it easier for Hevy if anything happened.

Echo didnt choose his name, he didnt like it at all but the rest of the squad made sure that he never had the chance to introduce himself so he was stuck with what they had named him. In the end, he kept it because he saw it as the one and only gift he had left from his batchmates.

Outside of missions, Fives went silent for months after the citadel and the only person who could get him to talk was Rex.

Droidbait insists on going by db because its 'less embarassing'

Cutup was the only one to embrace their squads differences. He would would practically hold an open mic night on any other cadets who would pick at them.

the cadets around Kamino will often tell one another about the "Fall of the Dominos" about how three died heros but were never spoken of again and how the two survivors went insane from grief and one lost his mind while the other lost his body.

Hevy use to steal pudding cups for Droidbait when they were cadets. he never had a reason to do it he just would.

theres a dent in one of the walls in their pod room and no one really knows how it got dented (Hevy Kyled the wall)

Echo has spiral curls that he purposefully keeps buzzed down because otherwise Cutup would start playing with them

This is a pretty common headcanon for Fives but theres too much evidence behind it, Fives shows affection through boardline violence, he gave Cutup a concussion once after an overly affectionate headbutt. Droidbait has multiple bruises on his arms from loving punches. Hevy got shoved into Sergeant O'Niner once and was given cleaning duty for a week that he forced Fives to do with him. During their 501st days he got a little too touchy with Echo and he started fighting back and ended up chasing Fives to Rex's office on multiple occassions.

and yes i do think Fives and Echo are pod twins, its another reason why Echo was watched for decommisioning.

[slimylittlemaggot]

OH YN GOD OLAY SO I NEED TO RANT FOR A MINUTE ABOUT THE HORRIBLE WRITING IN CANDACE OWENS "BLACKOUT" BOOK

So, for starters, I got this book from a little free library, so I didn't pay for it. I would never pay for it, and honestly NO ONE SHOULD not because blah blah blah opposing viewpoint blah blah blah bad author blah blah blah harmful stereotypes blah blah blah doesn't know what she's talking about (even if those are all true) BUT BECAUSE SHE'S JUST SUCH A BAD AUTHOR.

She'll start off a chapter talking about one thing, like saying that cats don't like water, and then goes on to SAY SOMETHING COMPLETELY UNRELATED WITHOUT SAYING HOW THEY RELATE, AND THEN JUST EXPECTS THE READER TO KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS. She'll go and say, "Oh, cats don't like water, so the sky is green." AND THEN EXPECTS US TO JUST KNOW HOW SHE CAME TO THAT CONCLUSION???? Like, one chapter she talks about how she used to have an eating disorder and would go partying every night, how she had no rules and would get into fights, right? AND THEN SHE SAYS THAT THATS LEFTISM UNLEASHED. Doesn't say HOW that's leftism, just says it, and then the chapter ends.

Second point, SHE DOESN'T USE ANY ACTUAL EVIDENCE/STATISTICS TO SUPPORT HER CLAIMS. In one of her chapters, she was talking about how women will falsely accuse men of rape, which IS real and something that needs to be addressed, but then instead of sharing a few stories of how that can hurt people and show some statistics that show how often rape claims are proven false, SHE LISTS THREE STORIES. THREE. ONE OF WHICH WAS A LADY MISTAKING A LITTLE BOYS BACKPACK HITTING HER BUTT FOR HIM SLAPPING HER ASS (Which still isn't cool, considering the boy was very young AND ALSO OF COLOR, SO THE LADY PROBABLY CAME TO THAT CONCLUSION BASED ON HIS RACE) AND THEN GOES ON TO SAY THAT MOST RAPE CLAIMS ARE FALSE AND JUST MADE UP BECAUSE THE WOMEN REGRET IT THE NEXT DAY. Doesn't show any ACTUAL statistics. Doesn't go on to mention the amount that ARE REAL.

Third, when SHE DOES bring up statistics, SHE'LL USE TWO DIFFERENT STATISTICS TO HELP HER ARGUMENT. In one chapter she was brought up some statistics on PREVENTABLE deaths in white people, and then lists BOTH PREVENTABLE AND UNPREVENTABLE DEATHS IN BLACK PEOPLE and then draws conclusions! YOU CAN'T DO THAT. THOSE ARE TWO DIFFERENT STATISTICS, THOSE DO NOT MEAN THE SAME THING.

Fourth, she'll mention articles that she's read, and EVEN QOUTE THEM! But she won't cite them! She won't give us a name! She just drops then there, interprets them, and then doesn't say where they came from. Like, once she was talking how FDR supposedly prolonged the great depression, she says that there was an article PROVING that, and then QOUTES THAT ARTICLE, but doesn't say the name of it! ON TOP OF THAT, THE QOUTE SHE USED DIDN'T EVEN MENTION HOW FDR PROLONGED THE DEPRESSION!!

Fifth, SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO INTERPRET EVIDENCE. Like, in the example above, she quoted an article that supposedly talks about how FDR prolonged the great depression, right? Well, the qoute ACTUALLY just talks about how many policies that FDR promised would help many black people in America really DIDN'T help. Like at all. And then she goes on to say, "SEE! SO THAT MEANS THAT SOCIALISM IS BAD!"

AND THIS ISN'T EVEN GETTING INTO ALL THE THINGS SHE JUST GETS FLAT-OUT WRONG!! THIS ISN'T EVEN GETTING INTO ALL THE HORRIBLE THINGS SHE SAYS, OR THE REALLY WIERD, RANDOM THINGS SHE SAYS OUT OF LEFT FIELD!!! THIS IS JUST ABOUT HER HORRRIBEL WRITING!!! SHE SHOULD KNOW THIS STUFF!! THIS IS, LIKE, HIGHSCHOOL LEVEL THINGS THAT SHE SHOULD KNOW!!!! AND SHE DOESN'T!!!!!

[sang8262]

JP rambles: default outfit and character design edition

cause i asked about his character design and now I'M thinking about it, also im procrastinating so i have thoughts here goes

mostly about his default outfit, with a tiny bit about outfit 2 at the end. I already know this is going to be a needlessly long post lmao

TL;DR - JP is inspired by playing cards, bartitsu, and vampires/bats. he's a poker faced gentleman through n through

~~also minor spoiler warning for World Tour things, such as having JP as a Master and getting to max level skills/ bond with him~~

This is a safe space and I will be HONEST: I didn't like his default look a lot at first, but I've since warmed up to it!! I still use his outfit 2 (color 10) online tho. I speed ran World Tour for that, I have suffered, and I WILL enjoy it.

Anyway, it was once I realized he has thematic ties to playing cards that really made his default design make sense to me. First, some proof that he takes inspiration from playing cards to begin with.

Once you get Master Skill level in World Tour mode, everyone gets a little cutscene movie featuring their skills, archetypes/ titles, and ends with a quote commemorating your achievements as their student.

JP's starts off like this, with a bunch of playing cards with his name on them falling down the screen:

(also, btw, where we get more of that bat imagery, but i'll get back to that later)

This is what made it click for me and made it really obvious why his name is stylized the way it is, using the font it uses. His name reads the same way right side up as it is upside down, and looks very much like how the values are printed on these cards.

Then, the video includes several 'titles' for each character. Some of these get used in other promotional material too, but JP's are as follows:

King of No Country

High-Rolling Pretender

Gentlemanly Tyrant

In which, again, the poker/ gambling references show up with the phrase "high-rolling", or "king" of no country.

And final proof, is that each Master in World Tour can be given gifts that they will react to in unique ways, and also receive extra bond points for. Sometimes they're things the character likes, or really hates: it's just what gets an interesting reaction out of them.

JP (unfortunately) only has one such gift item he has special dialogue for: antique playing cards.

Although his reaction to them are... less than positive (he literally calls them 'trash'), he also points out how old cards can't be used to play actual games, as it is against the rules.

Within the game's universe, it shows that he cares, or at least knows enough about cards to even have these notable responses to them. Considering it outside the game, the devs specifically decided to make his special World Tour gift a set of Antique Playing Cards, instead of any other item. They wanted to make this connection between him and cards for a reason.

So to me, I think this is a lot of evidence that shows a clear and intentional relationship between JP's character design and playing cards.

In retrospect, I honestly think he does look like the face cards quite a bit lmao. The white hair and beard + mustache, the cravat, the colors too (really strong orange/ red, paired with gold and that bit of marble on his cane), and the cane paralleling a scepter/ sword.

Speaking of, more about the cane: the devs had an interview answering fan questions, and at one point they explain the inspiration for JP. I'll link the video here with the timestamp for this question:

https://youtu.be/ORw3_BK7o70?t=146

But basically they say they wanted to have a character use a cane, and cites bartitsu/ Sherlock Holmes as well. So, even if they worked backwards from 'cane', all the way to 'gentlemanly tyrant who likes chess puzzles and launders money through fighting game tournaments', I think they made it work well with the playing cards aesthetic too!

Finally, I'll go back to the bat imagery that I think is pretty interesting.

Parts of his design subtly incorporate bats, such as his brooch on the default costume:

And more directly in his alt costume 2, seen on his buttons and coat pattern:

And I have to imagine the brooch on his default outfit is somewhat invoking of a bat (with wings and large ears) because of his WT skill Mastery video having a giant BAT in the middle of the screen. I also thought it might be in reference to the Shadaloo organization symbol, which is a skull with wings.

Then even further from the comics, Kalima-- his assistant while organizing the fighting tournament in Nayshall-- warns Luke that JP is like a "vampire who will suck this country dry". The vampire analogy just works so beautifully with how he works as a criminal, not to mention the other aesthetic associations with it.

All in all, I really REALLY love JP's personality and whole modus operandi as a character and villain so greatly in his design. I definitely also feel that his outfit 2 isn't nearly as symbolism laden as his default one, but I am a sucker for formal wear and suits, so I am just, in love. Plus the subtler nods to his bat/vampire-ness is there, if only very minimally.

Edit: noticing this as I literally posted this AH. But also on the playing cards from his WT skill video, it has two different faces, it has both the Jack (or possibly King...) and the Joker:

It continues to add to his duality/ hidden true nature/ deceiver type character so much, it's perfect. And of course, with his name, or pseudonyms starting with "J". So either Jack or Joker works perfectly. I mean literally, he isn't the king of any country... but he'll still bring it to ruin all the same.

Edit #2: omg i keep remembering things i meant to add thank you adhd very cool

BUT, in the original Japanese version of the Mastery skill video, his titles are SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT. As is the Korean translation, which is a more direct translation of the Japanese one than the English is.

'So "King of No Country" was originally also: "No-Life King of a Ruined Country"

And turns out, doing some good ol' googling, that 'no-life king' has some established meanings to it:

Basically, it's related to other media including vampires, undead, monsters, so I'm guessing 'no-life' is closer in meaning to 'immortal', having no natural lifespan rather.

So yeah, even more references to vampirism for ya

but aNYWAY,, Thanks for reading my silly observations!!

I think I got pretty much everything but if there's anything I didn't mention or something to add please please do, I love reading replies and the tags (this site's so much better for this kinda stuff lmao)

[eightfoldjourney]

Everything We Know About the Governance of Solistia

While it's not something that's particularly relevant to the story of Octopath 2, we don't really get to learn much about how the different nations/territories of Solistia are actually governed. There's precious little to actually go off of in-game, but I figured I'd try to compile everything we knew, regardless. So, with that being said...

Hinoeuma

The most obvious place to start is Hinoeuma, or more specifically, Ku. Ku is considered a kingdom, ruled by a king, though I honestly feel like its overall structure is more akin to an empire (which would make more sense given that it's heavily based on Japanese culture.) We know that there are supposedly other clans and territories in the desert, but most of them were subsumed by Clan Ku during the reign of Jigo and Mugen. According to the Mercantile Manuscript, most of these territories aren't even considered part of Solistia in the first place.

The town of Sai appears to be somewhat independent, but the exact details aren't wholly clear.

Leaflands

We learn from Castti's story that Timberrain is ruled by an unnamed monarch, and I presume that this king's territory extends to the entire Leaflands. This would mean that Wellgrove and Cropdale also fall under his domain. We know that Wellgrove is ruled over by Alrond, of course, but Alrond is a noble, which likely means he serves the king of Timberrain.

Wildlands

The Wildlands are modeled after the Wild West, and seem to mostly consist of independent towns. The fact that Pap had to purchase the land where Orserush was built, however (as well as the fact Roque legally owned it in the first place), would imply that the Wildlands do fall under SOMEONE's jurisdiction. I guess they might be part of the Leaflands' kingdom, since they're the closest.

Coastlands

There are only two main towns in the Coastlands: Canalbrine and Conning Creek. I guess it's probably safe to assume that these two towns operate mostly independently, though the fact that an organized force of guards exist in Conning Creek would imply that they fall under SOMEONE'S authority. Sadly the highest-ranking person we see there is Stenvar.

I suppose it is possible that they also fall under the jurisdiction of Timberrain's royal family, since Osvald was supposedly tried at that city's courthouse. If that's true, though, that would imply the king of Timberrain controls most of the wester continent.

Toto'Haha

This one is pretty easy to figure out. It's mostly just neutral settlements run by humans or Beastlings.

Brightlands

So these lands were apparently settled by people from a dead kingdom called Delstach, though it seems like any system of monarchy has long-since been abandoned, as evidenced by the sidestory Descended from Royalty. The Nyx family evidently ruled the area at one time, but lost all power and authority for unknown reasons. Given their industrialized nature, I presume that New Delsta and Clockbank are run by mayors.

Montwise is really up in the air, as plenty of nobles seem to reside here, though we don't know of any governing body.

Crestlands

The most notable location here is probably Flameschurch, which of course is run by the Church of the Sacred Flame. To that end, I suppose that means the pontiff would technically be head of the area? Unless the town also has some sort of elder or mayor that's never mentioned, I suppose.

Merry Hills is home to a grand theater and attracts many performers, but we never get much insight as to who runs the whole affair. The biggest authority figures we see are the judges, who I doubt are in charge of running the entire town.

Winterlands

The town of Winterbloom is lead by the Glenville family, currently headed by Melia, but there are a LOT of missing pieces. Given that the role of leadership is passed down through bloodline, it sounds as though the Glenvilles are some form of nobility, if not royalty. It is possible that the town is run by a sort of chief, but it's not confirmed.

Stormhail is extremely peculiar, as control of the city seems divided between Clan Mei and the Sacred Guard. Frankly I'm still confused how Clan Mei managed to establish such a powerful position in a city on the opposite end of the world as the king they serve, but I guess it's hard to argue with the lady wielding the lightning spear.

Cape Cold appears to just be headed by a village elder.

So yeah, that's about all we know at the moment, unfortunately. Again, the details for Solistia's governance aren't REALLY important, but it would have been nice to learn more.

[lemonthepotato]

Crows And Prejudice: An Unscientific Study On The Mob Mentality Effect.

If this was an essay, I would open this up with:

“Herd mentality (also mob or pack mentality) describes how people can be influenced by the majority. Social psychologists study the related topics of group intelligence, crowd wisdom, groupthink, and deindividuation.”

But this isn’t an essay. It’s a personal anecdote. In 2015, I discovered, or perhaps earlier, a song by… let’s call her Leilani Ortinez. I’m not kidding; Ortinez is a real surname. How many ‘nez’ surnames are there? Ortinez, Gonzales- the other ones. Anyway, Leilani had one album at the time, and one EP. I was young, so listened to them. When the music video for… Shush… let’s call the song Shush, came out, I was uncomfortable even as a 10 year old. Those music videos were weird.

Anyway, in 2017, she got accused of SA by a former friend. The internet, in all its glory, treated the allegations like an inconvenience more than a serious issue. They were waiting for someone to debunk the allegations so they could support their musical overlord. And someone delivered. That someone?

The Crow.

The Crow uploaded a video called ‘Why I No Longer Believe [The Victim].” At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. In 2018 and 2019, I remained impartial.

But then, that same person uploaded a 2 hour video further ‘debunking’ things, I watched it, and even though I was a young/mid teen (I’m an adult now) I didn’t like the video. It had little evidence in it, but I didn’t have the verbal skills to express why I didn’t like the video.

I became more skeptical, went through the evidence and concluded the internet mistreated a victim of SA. I listened to her music, which was released the same year. In fact, while I rarely listen to her music nowadays, it’s pretty decent. Unfortunately, the internet didn’t beat to my drum, but its own.

The fans rejoiced…

They continued to slander the victim to the point where she had to leave the internet. Mind you, the reason why this victim is doubted is because she didn’t react in the way a ‘perfect victim’ would. I suppose I should explain a ‘perfect victim’ is.

The ideal victim:

There are five criteria that make up the ‘ideal victim’ in psychology. The victim must be weak or in a position of complete powerlessness. If the victim had any slither of control over the situation, then they ‘weren’t doing enough to get out of it.’ The victim must be an upstanding citizen, someone respectable. The victim is somewhere that they can’t be blamed for being. The offender is big and bad; what you’d expect an offender to be like. The offender was unknown and had no personal relationship to her.

When people violate these sacred rules, they are considered fake victims. Liars, cheats, fakes. It doesn’t matter if it’s true, what matters is that you are perfect. Did you report it to the police, even though 2.2% of cases end in charges? Did you report it to the police, even if less than 5% of assault cases are reported and those that do aren’t taken seriously? Did you report it to the police, even if you are freshly traumatised?

Did you say no to the act? Did you say no once or twice? Did you say no enough? Did you say it too lowly, did you forget to say it? Were you quiet, were you frozen?

Were you actually there, even though the accused admitted you were?

Is the perpetrator someone we’d expect? A man?

Is the perpetrator a stranger?

Did you get dates mixed up, even though trauma does that?

Did you contradict yourself even once? Even once on accident?

Did you remain friends with the perpetrator because you didn’t realise what had happened to you yet, did you?

We put so many unrealistic expectations on victims, and it’s insane how people blindly watched a 2 hour hit piece and accepted it. I am so glad that all these years later, one YouTuber had the guts to actually call this person out on their shit, Brad Taste In Music.

Oh, and it’s pretty obvious who Leilani Ortinez is by now. Let’s face it, people only defend her because she’s famous, and because they want to enjoy her music guilt free, if they even have guilt. Which judging from the very kind attitude that her fans have, I’m assuming is true. You know, how the harassed the victim off the internet?

Oh, by the way. The victim never said they lied. That’s misinformation that The Crow AND their fans proceeded to spread.

Anyway, much like the post I made about Scott Cawthon, I have no interest in debating this topic with angry, resentful 13 year old girls who haven’t developed critical thinking yet. Then again, a lot of adults haven’t either. Nothing has been proven. It’s very rare to be able to ‘prove’ these situations either way.

I might go through the 2 hour video myself and debunk the debunking, but frankly, from what I remember and have seen… it’s disgusting.

Note: Post is getting some notes recently, here’s part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/lemonthepotato/735806499392258048/debunking-the-crows-amazing-defence-video-how-i

Another Edit: I’ve never even read Pride And Prejudice. I don’t remember why I made the title of this post that. Yeah.

[exiledinparadise]

[WP] Chaos Magic is the hardest to learn

but the easiest to master. All it requires

is the abject belief that your ritual will

have an effect, despite all evidence to

the contrary, and then it will.

Somewhere at the corner of Mayhem and Pandemonium--and in less abstract terms, 34th Street and 7th Avenue:

"Are you popping pills right now?"

"Mmf, yeah. Libido enhancers. I couldn't find any legit sildenafil without a script."

"Sildena-what?"

"Viagra."

"Artie, if we're doing this, I am not standing next to you while you're pitching a tent."

"Dont roll your eyes at me, Sasha. Considering how we look at the moment, it wouldn't be any weirder if I was sporting wood."

"Tch. Nobody ever wins around you, Artie. Not even you."

"We shall see," he said and closed his eyes, legs folded underneath him. He rubbed the bookmark that he carried with him, an icon of the fabled Ibn Talib employing Chaos Magic in the form of a golden woman. "You're free to assist me," he said.

"With what? A handy?" Sasha scoffed.

"I mean, maybe later, but I meant join me in meditation. Think of something sexual. It's easier to attach belief to something when you're in a state of arousal."

"Attach belief to what, Arthur?" she said, dropping her forehead in her palm.

"To Chaos magic. You know what--never mind. I've pestered you enough. Just give me a minute."

Sasha sat on the sidewalk, observing slacks, chinos, denim, and every sort of synthetic or organic fabric that clothed the legs that galloped across the sidewalk. Every gait, cadence, and sway told a story of urgency, of personality, of distraction in the endless maze of noise. Occasionally, a forearm would emerge from the stampede and almost defiantly drop a dollar in the overturned hat by Sasha, usually from a civilian who was dressed the least expensive and the most casual. It was strange for her to be on the receiving end, so much so that she nearly forgot to say thank you the first few times. She frequently twisted left and right to check her surroundings. Rats had overtaken the city, and the thought of even one climbing on her while she was sitting there made her stomach bubble. Feeling that the longer they stayed there, the less it was a possibilty and more an inevitability that one would jump her, she began to nudge Arthur. "Do we have an ETA on your performance, Houdini?"

"I'm trying. I'm feeling it the same way as last time, but it's just not--"

"Coming?"

Artie opened his eyes. "You're not helping."

"Y'know, I'd like to get a move on before it starts raining again. I'm not swimming through the subways if we have another deluge in this godforsaken city. It'd be a miracle if we get away with just a Staph infection."

"I'm trying. It's there, I can feel it. But I can't draw it out into space-time.

"You know, now that I think about it, the whole concept of Chaos Magic seems a little weird to me." Sasha mused. "Like, all the roots of the word magic go back to priests and sorcerors and wise men--you know, folks who were very educated and the like."

"Right."

"Right. So magic is basically an art, a skill. It's something that operates on rules and laws and order and all that. Chaos is the complete antithesis of that."

Artie's eyes narrowed. "You have a point."

"So, my theory is this: you don't really master Chaos magic. You master a medium through which you control chaos magic. The reason you were able to pull it off the first time was because you had zero expectations, so you let yourself go completely. Hell, the fact that you weren't torn apart by it was probably because as long as you retained some control of your wits, there's a limit as to how much power you can manifest. I mean, it does explain why every ancient icon and manuscript illumination always depicts Chaos Magic in human form, being controlled by a mage."

"I don't see how that explains it." Artie said, looking at his bookmark. "What does the human form of Chaos Magic signify?"

"It doesn't signify anything. It's an actual human. I think in order to wield Chaos Magic reliably, two people have to be present: one to relinquish control and be a medium, and the other to harness the Chaos that flows through them."

Artie straightened up. "Then it's not going to work. You don't know how to summon Chaos from the Aether. And even if you did, I'm not--"

"Yes I do know how to, Artie. I was able to sense it the first time you did it and I can sense it now. You just have to harness it--"

"And what if I can't? I'm not putting you at risk."

"Artie, our way of life is at risk. Our ability to survive is at risk. Our freakin' world is at risk! We have a chance at making a difference for everybody and you're worried about one per-"

Artie stormed off.

"Artie! Dammit...wait Artie! Would...you...stop running away and listen to me! I said stop!"

"Get off me."

"Artie, look at me. Look at me! I trust you. If I didn't believe you could pull it off, I wouldn't have said anything. But for this to work, you have to believe in yourself!"

Artie averted his eyes, turning his face every which way except towards Sasha. "Dammit, woman. Why d'ya gotta put me in these positions?"

Sasha smiled. "Because I know what you're capable of."

Artie sighed. "Yeah well you're expectations might be a lil' too high."

"We shall see." Sasha said.

Artie sat alongside Sasha on the sidewalk, legs folded, taking deep breaths with her synchronously. Instead of relaxing, however, he began to get tense. The overcoat and sweatshirt he bought at the thrift store made him sweat despite the chilly afternoon breeze. His damp feet writhed in his tattered tennis sneakers. He resisted the urge to remove his beanie so as to not disturb Sasha, who was deep in concentration. The disguise felt stifling. His saliva began to taste like copper.

"Artie."

"Yeah."

"Give me a safe word."

"Wha--" Artie could sense the swelling of power rising from within her. "Oh. Oh! J-Juniper! When I say Juniper, get back in control!"

"Okay."

Sasha became resplendent. A fountain of light emerged from her, and all the passersby gasped and covered their eyes.

She did it. She really did it.

Arthur stretched his hands toward her and directed the luminous stream into a bow in the sky. Sasha's form became more transparent, and was taken up into the stream of light. Arthur jumped onto it, and was swept into the current, emerging atop the bow in the sky, like some cosmic rancher riding a luminescent glow worm. He could see the cars on the street below frozen, and the drivers coming out of the cars to get a better look. Others were recording on their smartphones what appeared to be a hobo peforming a light show.

Artie looked up at the buildings that obscured the sky. There were many corporate suites and boardrooms that had wreaked chaos on his world. It was time that he returned the favor.

[killian-whump]

Do you headcanon any of Colin’s characters as queer?

I sho' do! *pause* I think. I mean, it depends on your definition of "headcanon" and "canon" and "queer" and how much I'm thinking about it on a given day.

I mean, I headcanon Peter Sheerin as gay, but I personally think there's enough "hints" in the canon content that it doesn't really count as headcanon. But then again, it's definitely not stated and the hints are subtle, so it's also not canon, so... 🫠

WHAT IS CANON ANYWAY, OKAY?!

I think Gerry's ace, but I feel like maybe ALL the leprechauns are biologically asexual and reproduce magically by popping out of clover patches fully formed or something. I mean, look at that adorable little beansprout! He's never had sex in his life, and he'll never have to. BLESS.

Also, I think Wish Hook post-Gothel (which includes Old Hook) is asexual, but not necessarily by choice/nature, but due to trauma. However, Detective Rogers IS asexual by nature, because his persona was formed from Wish Hook's - so he's got the aversion to sex, but without the trauma that caused it, so he'd read as just plain ace.

But... Do those two (three? four?) count as queer? Depends on how you define "queer" and whether you consider these cases "true asexuality" (whatever the hell that means) or something else - and even whether you feel asexuality belongs under the LGBTQ+ umbrella or not (I personally feel it shouldn't, but accept that it usually does).

As for the others... Generally, I tend to assume any/every character could be bi unless canon gives ample evidence to the contrary. I mean, a 20 minute short or even a feature length film gives you so little information about a character's life that it's impossible to really rule anything out. Sure, Brennan's crazy about Nora... but who's to say twenty minutes after the film ends, he doesn't meet an amazing bloke in the audience and fall head over heels for him? And it would be an international crime to deprive the men of the world the beautiful fantasy that is the nameless lumberjack in The Words. Basically, I don't rule anything out unless canon rules it out, and then I'm a stickler for it.

Like with Killian Jones. This is where I differ from a lot of Hook fans. I know pirates tended to be gay or at least bi historically speaking, and I know people love to pair him with male characters (as do I, but only in whumpy ways)... but I just don't see it. Canon gives us non-stop evidence of his attraction to women - flirting with literally every one of them he meets, sizzling smolders, innuendoes galore, climbing towers and banging random strangers, etc... with ZERO of the same in regards to men. We never even got something on the same level as David's "Emma, I'm a married man!" So I just don't see it. At all. He's not the kind of guy to hide his attraction to... well, anyone. And given the historical gayness of pirates, there's no societal reason for him to hide any queerness he might have. I think he's just not into men.

I'm also a stickler for Gordo Cooper being straight. AFAIK, the real guy was straight, and when it comes to actual people, I don't think it's "okay" to headcanon them as anything other than what they present themselves as, even if they're presented in semi-fictional media and played by a super cute guy named Colin.

So... yeah. I mean, I think one dude IS queer, a couple more might be queer depending on how you define the term, a couple are straight... and the rest like girls, but might also like boys. I don't know, man. I only work here 🫠

[accessibleaesthetics]

Hi there, I would love some advice for describing images please! Firstly, is there a preference for it to be in the body of the text or in the alt description? (This is for when I'm OP). Secondly, is there a preference for how quotes are given? I've not used a screen reader so don't know how they read punctuation marks, and quotation marks in particular (I guess this might vary too). I've used - The title reads: "Example article title". I can appreciate there won't be a way that's perfect for everyone, but I'd like to know what will make it more accessible for as many people as possible!

This is going to get a little long, so I'm going to put it under a read more. However, as usual, I invite people who use screen readers to share their experience in regards to both of these questions.

The preference varies a lot, to be honest. I personally prefer either having the full description in the alt text if it's short and sweet or an overview of the description in the alt text that ends with some form of "see image description in body of text for full details" if you can't describe everything necessarily in 200-300 characters or less. In those cases, you would then put the full ID as an image description in the post. This allows someone using a screen reader to get an idea of whats in the image and be able to decide if they want to hear more about it.

I tend to stray away from only using an image description since multiple screen reader users have told me that they will simply skip a post entirely if the images don't have alt text.

Of course, my preference isn't by any means the rule of thumb. This poll about length and placement of image descriptions gives some idea of the variety in preferences among Tumblr users. I think it is also worth noting that, as far as I know, some screen readers will not let you navigate alt text the same way you can text. It's very possible that some screen reader users will need to listen to alt text on a single image all at once, and then listen to it all again if they miss something. This makes long detailed alt text less than ideal for those users. Of course, that might not be as true with Tumblr since alt text added via the default editor is accessible as an image description as well, but it's still something to keep in mind.

There is also some evidence that Tumblr's alt text is not fully accessible to some users, though looking at the comments of the post, it seems like the majority of people answering that way actually mean that the presentation of alt text is less than ideal for them, such as the text being smaller than they'd like or the Alt Text button not being as obvious as they'd like. The expandable image description feature is not fully compatible with some older blog layouts either.

In terms of your second question, you're right that punctuation varies from screen reader to screen reader! I know that, at least with JAWS, quotation marks will be read as "left quote" or "right quote" if the verbosity settings are set to high, but otherwise they are not read. Using something like VoiceOver, quotation marks won't be read regardless (unless there is a way to navigate character-by-character like there is in JAWS and I just haven't discovered it yet, then it's possible that VoiceOver might be able to read it too). I'm not sure how NVDA handles it, but since JAWS tends to have the most user customization options of most screen readers, I think there's a good chance NVDA doesn't call them out either.

I'd say if the quotes are very important to the meaning, you might want to consider replacing them with text, such as saying: "this program is [quote] accessible [end quote], but what does that really mean?" You'll notice that I used quotation marks there too, and that's because I think it helps visually, even when it's not essential to the meaning. Adding a colon or comma before the quote can also force the screen reader to pause, making it more apparent to screen reader users where the quote functionally begins since that tends to be how we indicate it in natural speech.

Check out Why Don’t Screen Readers Always Read What’s on the Screen? Part 1: Punctuation and Typographic Symbols for more information one how screen readers deal with punctuation and other symbols.

[yr-obedt-cicero]

Did any of Hamilton’s friends from the military meet/know his kids? Meade, Lafayette, and also Edward (and more). Was his (chosen) family around the kids or just Eliza’s family?

I’m trying to think of asks for you 💕

Oh yeah, many of Hamilton's friends knew of his children. But if we're referring to any actual significant bond; it was really only people he was considerably close with that were in advance, maybe partly close with his children. Though I still think the hamkids were closer with the Schuyler's more than any others, as the children wrote to the Schuyler's, and visited them often. While as for Hamilton's friends, none of the kids continued to have any bond with them after Hamilton's death. Or at least there's no surviving evidence of such. Still they had somewhat very fond bonds with some of Hamilton's friends and/or work colleagues.

In fact, a close friend, and fellow aide de camp under Washington, Richard Kidder Meade, was somebody Hamilton often went to in his beginning days of parenting. Especially since it would be right when the war was coming to an end, Hamilton had just left Washington's staff and was quite the proud papa to his newborn first baby boy. Writing a very humourous letter to Meade on the 27th, of August, in 1782, affectionately rambling about his 7 month old baby Philip Hamilton;

“You reproach me with not having said enough about our little stranger. When I wrote last I was not sufficiently acquainted with him to give you his character. I may now assure you that your daughter when she sees him will not consult you about the choice or will only do it in respect to the rules of decorum. He is truly a very fine young gentleman, the most agreable in his conversation and manners of any I ever knew—nor less remarkable for his intelligence and sweetness of temper.”

(source)

They often shared correspondence and little updates about how each other's children were doing. One time, their wives even planned to have the Meade's daughter wedded to the young Phillip Hamilton in a letter during March of the same year (And they were all still babies, mind you);

“Betsy is so fond of your family that she proposes to form a match between her Boy & your girl provided you will engage to make the latter as amiable as her mother.”

(source)

Also in a letter in September 30, 1794, Meade wishes to hear about Hamilton's children also;

“If you have not leisure to grant Us a line, send me word by some chance acquaintance, your number of Children, their Sexes & how you all do. I have added a fifth to my number since I wrote to you, a hearty male, & a very few months will furnish the half dozen, but I am not knowing enough in the business to foretel the kind.”

(source)

Notably also, Benjamin Rush's family was also decently close with the Hamilton's. Which comes as a surprise when you consider the fact that Rush strongly opposed Hamilton's policies when he was Secretary of Treasury, and Rush even knew that Hamilton had blocked his appointment to the faculty of Columbia College’s medical school, and the two men had also disagreed publicly on a cure for yellow fever. Yet, despite this all, Benjamin Rush wrote very affirmatively about Philip when he would take a trip through Philadelphia and stay with the Rush's. Though the letter in recalling his stay is after his death, on the 26th of November, 1801;

“It may perhaps help to sooth your grief when I add to that united expression of Sympathy, that your Son had made himself very dear to my family during his late visit to Philadelphia, by the most engaging deportment. His visits to us were daily, and after each of them he left us with fresh impressions of the correctness of his understanding and manners, and of the goodness of his disposition. To One of my Children he has endeared himself by an Act of friendship & benevolence that did great honor to his heart, and will be rememb[e]red with gratitude by Mrs. Rush, and myself as long as we live. My Son has preserved a record of it in an elegant and friendly letter which he received from him After his return to New York.

You do not weep alone. Many, many tears have been Shed in our city upon your Account.

It afforded your friends great Consolation to hear of the pious manner in which your son closed the last hours of his life. God does not judge, nor condemn like man. There are no limits to his mercy.”

(source)

But I think the closest bond out of them all was the very special relationship the Hamilton's had with the Washington's. Maybe it was Hamilton's and Washington's mentor and protege relationship, or rather the Washington's were just really fond of children; but the Hamilton children were very close with the Washington's and their grandchildren. Apparently the children would spend much of their time and days at the Washington's, probably when their father was busy at work. As the families didn't live far from each other while they had been living in Philadelphia. Washington's and Hamilton's close partnership and friendship most likely played the stronger role though. As the elders were of the family were close themselves.

Martha Washington would even take Angelica Hamilton and her adopted sister, Frances Antill, to dance lessons with her own granddaughter twice a week, according to Frances' children when retelling their mother's story;

“Mother, at our request, would tell us of her early years. At the age of two, she was left an orphan. Her father, when he was dying, committed her to the care of General and Mrs. Alexander Hamilton. When Gen. Hamilton was Secretary of the Treasury, and Gen. Washington, President of the United States, they lived opposite to each other in Philadelphia, and the children of the two families were together every day. Mrs. Washington took the Custis children, and Angelica Hamilton, and Fanny Antill, (my mother,) in her carriage to dancing-school twice a week. She stayed with them through the lesson and brought them home.”

(source)

And other such stories of Fanny and the Hamilton children enjoying their visits at the Washington's;

“Mother remembered Gen. Washington once sitting on a sofa in the room where the children were playing, and laying aside his newspaper, to watch them, and smile and encourage them to continue their frolic. Once, on a reception evening, when the drawing-room in his house was filled with ladies and gentlemen, talking and laughing, and the children were amusing themselves in a corner, there was a sudden great stillness—and mother looked up with surprise and awe, and saw Gen. Washington coming through the folding doors.”

(source)

Philip Hamilton would also make great friends/playmate with the Washington's grandson, George Washington Parke Custis, who was nicknamed Wash or Washy. His father, John Parke Custis, was the stepson of George Washington. He and his sister Eleanor, or Nelly, grew up at Mount Vernon and in the Washington presidential household. And when the Hamilton children would visit the Washington's, they would often spend time with Nelly and Wash, who were close in their age. It is very imaginable the two boys made great friends with both sharing a rebellious nature and mischievous spirits to their characters. Wash wrote a condolence letter to Hamilton on the 5th of December, 1801, in comfort after Philip's fatal death in the duel against Eacker;

“Dr General

With the utmost sorrow have I lately perused the unhappy fate of your son, and among the many that have come forward to condole with you on so afflicting an event, I beg I may be permitted, to make one of the number. We were brought up as it were, together in our earlier years and that mutual friendship which then existed between us, would I have no doubt have at a future time ripened into esteem.

But my Dr Sir, he has fallen in the field of honour, & altho it has not pleased the Almighty Ruler to prolong his days, yet as he lived respected, & admired, so has he died lamented, & beloved. “How sleep the brave &c.”

Permit me to offer you my best wishes for your happiness & prosperity. May the shafts of faction fall harmless upon the shield of your integrity & should occasion require may Alexander Hamilton again appear as an American soldier.

My Compliments &c”

(source)

And even more so, Hamilton had also referred to John Church as "his little boy" so casually to Washington in a letter asking to be excused from work, dated July 11th, 1794;

“The Secretary of the Treasury presents his respects to the President. The state of health of his little boy & the situation of Mrs Hamilton in consequence of it, oblige him to request the President to excuse him from attending the interview with the Indians today & also to ask the President’s permission to make an excursion into the country for a few days to try the effect of exercise & change of air upon the Child.”

(source)

So overall answer; not too many had any super close familial bonds with the kids. Yes, many knew of them, but the only really outstanding relationship I would consider to be his "chosen family" is the Washington's. Whom had a very adorable and close relationship with the children, it's only unfortunate the kids grew out of contact with them after their father's death (And also because of Washington's death). But I'd still say they had a much closer bond with the Schuyler family than any others.

Thank you for the ask as always! I love to help research for others!

[astralfandoms]

And for the final batch of (main) character refs: Nyakuza Metro and ??? Zone!

So first up in the Nyakuza Group we have Shun, The Empress’s child. Cla had a nasty accident when cla were young that ended with claws lower face and one eye being mutilated, which is why cla wear the face mask. Cla is unflinchingly loyal to claws mother and has a dm with Felicity talking about their moms.

Next we have Korahu, The Huntress’s child. Fla is...a lot actually. Fla’s a little shit who likes to cause mischief for the Empress and make explosive potions that will wreck anyone who steps in flame’s path. Fla has turned the inherent Fire Spirit instinct of perishing into “if I’m eventually going down, I’m taking you with me”, which is evident when fla clash with Shun.

After that we have Takara, also known as The Empress. She has a lot of control over the city due to her immense wealth, but has a nasty rivalry with the Huntress which was actually the reason why Cooking Cat ended up asking for a break. There are rumors that the scars that Takara has is because of an incident with the Huntress, but these are unconfirmed.

And finally in the Nyakuza Group, we have Mizuki, also known as the Huntress. While Takara may have rule over the city using her wealth, Mizuki uses her power and magic to keep the city under her thumb. She is considered extremely powerful, as she is very old and has used the souls from paintings to keep herself alive for centuries, hence her blue coloring. And, as her name implies, her main “business” is by being a bounty hunter, which includes turning in anyone who is against the law, such as Takara. There are rumors that she and Takara used to date a long time ago, but these are also unconfirmed.

Now time to get to the more vague bits: the two characters from ???.

The first one, simply known as Unknown, seems to be manipulating the narrative in some way, but it’s unclear how.

And the second one, known as the Narrator, is what it says on the tin: The story’s narrator! She seems to be trying to stop something that Unknown, but it isn’t clear why or how.

And that’s all the designs!!

Wow that took a long ass time to actually draw sdfiopj

Now, y’all can send me any scrapped or canon characters not mentioned in any of my design posts and I’ll draw them and talk about how they would fit into the universe!!

(also free request if you can dm and say who Unknown is [even though i think it’s pretty obvious asdofjisa])