#continuous-integration

[ljbrary]

For today’s farce of media coverage on Jewish topics, our top contender is the BBC!

The BBC claims that there is a “Jewish Quarter” where Jews live among a diverse population of Muslims and Christians in Damascus.

Which is such an interesting conclusion, given that there are a total of 3 Jews left in Syria.

Nobody ask the BBC what happened to the Jews of Syria, they might have an aneurysm.

[ongreenergrasses]

I just love how “continuity” for Lionsgate is a malleable construct that can either be invoked or removed in the pursuit of whitewashing as many characters as possible!

[saturnniidae]

Headcanon: As well as the abundance of scales dragons shed, many species also lose and regrow their teeth periodically (like sharks) and it's always been tradition amongst vikings to display parts taken from dragons they killed as trophies, but now Berkians celebrate and use things dragons lose naturally. For weaponry (like how the dragon riders used shed scales for their armor) for jewelry, accessories and decoration.

Dragons have always been an integral part of Berk's culture but over the years the reasoning behind it has shifted, now they wear teeth or scales of their dragon's in pride of their beauty and the bonds they share, or for remembrance of the deceased. They put up tapestries and include them in their architecture no longer as displays of their dragon killing prowess, but in celebration of them, their nature and the peace they've made.

They're proud of their dragons, they love them and want the world to see it.

[essektheylyss]

current mood

[bitchyblkqueer]

yall grammarly does not work if you're writing erotica. btw if you were wondering

[emblemxeno]

If we're being honest, I got a lot of issues with Ingrid because I feel like she has the wrong character development

Her support with Dedue is realizing that she shouldn't apply her negative view of Duscur onto every Duscurian indiscriminately

That kind of thing works for Oboro because Nohrians really did kill her parents

But, Duscurians didn't actually cause the death of Lambert or Glenn, so her development should've been to learn that all those years of hatred were misdirected, and she hated them for no reason

It also didn't help that Dimitri states multiple times that Duscur didn't commit the crime, and Ingrid is still ignorant about it

I have this unhinged hatred of the Faerghus Four as a concept because every time, it's like they're consciously refusing to acknowledge the importance of Dedue in Dimitri's life in the present "Oh, these are Dimitri's childhood friends. Of course, they're close." Yeah, sure.... They're totally closer to Dimitri than Dedue is in the present.... *Internal screaming*

Combining these because my answer to both is similar!

In my opinion, it showcases how 3H's writing philosophy is ultimately shoddy in its foundation. The backstories, supports, and character-to-character dialogue itself is great in theory, but execution it clashed with what both FE usually tries to do and what 3H desperately wants to do.

FE typically has characters join chapter to chapter, with important ones having plot moments, while side characters fall to the background once their designated chapter is up. But this isn't at the cost of character interaction, pre-established relationships, and the micro-to-macro worldbuilding precisely because they're not overly important. You can have canon romances, friendships, familial relationships, etc. because that's all supplemental side material.

3H was written in a way in which the characters were all connected to its grandiose world, to the point where Fodlan itself can be almost considered a character. Multilayered backstories that infer key points in the narrative, each character no matter how trivial having opinions on how the world works, shifting dynamics, etc.

The problem though is that these two philosophies clash already at base, but also run into the problem of FE's gameplay integrated story elements.

None of the Faerghus Four can meaningfully comment on their relationship with Dimitri during a story cutscene because they can die. Ingrid can't meaningfully change her perspective on Dedue or Duscur beyond her supports because she can die. Therefore, all you get are (admittedly pretty good) supports, the monastery dialogue, and other tidbits intentionally disconnected from one another so as not to be important enough to write around potential death. The comments they do get in cutscenes were intentionally written in a way to be surface level and easily replaced. Look at the FEdatamine site for example, where conclusions are reached by Byleth, the lord, the unkillable retainer, and other important story figures, with numerous possible instances of "if X character is alive they comment this, but if X character is dead this line is skipped."

That is proof of how sloppy 3H's writing is in foundation when you think about it long enough. The game that has such an intricate world, thorough details, and fascinating story beats, is actually extremely bad at delivering a story, especially an FE story. Being the judgmental and petty cunt that I am, 3H gets a pass most of the time a) most don't care or bother to care about actual stuff like this and b) the game has the aesthetics of being a down to earth, gritty, serious narrative. The foundational issues don't matter when you have Edelgard yapping about "THE CREST SYSTEM", dark character circumstances, and intriguing mysteries to solve in part 1.

People want the appearance of sophistication, especially after Awakening and Fates bent a lot of rules to fuck around with their respective stories. It's why Engage, despite not having nearly as many basic issues at conveying its plot and is actually extremely good at being a Fire Emblem story (e.g. more character being able to actually die, pre-established relationships, chapter to chapter joining, not nearly as much centering on Alear as the ultimate decider on a character's fate compared to Byleth), is panned because... why? Its bright aesthetic? Its good dragon vs evil dragon plot? Its softer or humorous moments?

Hell, even its call backs to past FE games is called cheap, soulless, or a gateway to gacha (one video I saw even described it as something like "when art becomes obligation" or some such nonsense), despite it LITERALLY being the prime anniversary title. The main character is the Fire Emblem, and the writers-through Lumera-wish a happy birthday to Fire Emblem!!! What about that is lacking heart and soul?

But yeah, again, I preface that I'm a judgmental asshole who proudly proclaims that the audience (at least the western one) has for years been too obsessed with yearning for darker serious aesthetics of FE's past (despite said past being wackier than they remember), that when a new game has them in overflowing spades, the many fundamental video game writing issues do not matter as much anymore.

Aesop for the day: Serious tones and aesthetics are not automatically better than lighter, heartfelt, or funny ones. You still have to write well for a story to be good.

EDIT: Funny enough this is also why Three Hopes is a more comfy environment for the Fodlan cast's in terms of tangible development, because the things the writers want to do with that game's story complements its gameplay. Because KT is better at making Warriors plots than FE plots.

[theallianceofcelestials]

I just had an idea pop in my head what if baby eclipse got sent to the mirror dimension, you know with solar and his version of the family, because you know babies touch everything and is bound to touch something they aren't supposed to. How do you think that would go, and if you're comfortable and have the time would you be okay making a small drabble if you'd like

-🩸

I mean it's not gonna be as indept, but sure!

Solar stares at the tiny, baby version of his second body, barely noticing Killcode twitch beside him. He's too busy staring into big faded gold optics, that are slowly filling with tears, as the tiny him seemingly realises he's surrounded by a bunch of strangers.

It's almost in slow motion how the kid takes in a deep vent, only to begin wailing.

Behind him he can hear Moon hiss, and that's what snaps him out of it. Old protocols activate, and then he's scooping the kid up in a hold that comes to him incriminatingly easily.

"Hey, it's okay, you're fine. Where're your parents little one?"

The standard protocols written into him are hard to defeat, and he can feel questioning gazes burn into his back, but he ignores them. Right now the crying baby is what matters.

A tiny uncoordinated hand raises towards Killcode, and Solar already winces, because yeah, he can understand he looks pretty creepy-

"Not Papa!"

Not papa? What the hell those that mean?

He looks at his dad, finding him just as lost as he is. So he looks back at the child, and starts thinking.

He technically knows other dimensions exist, and thus other Foundations, but he was never quite sure if he existed somewhere else, but now...

"Hey Eclipse?"

The little animatronic looks up at him, and it's almost like a gut punch.

"Does your papa look like mine?"

The child, Eclipse, sniffs but nods.

"Too cold"

Cold? Does he mean his optics?

"Not Papa!"

And then he gears up for another round of crying. Solar has to think fast to stop it.

"Well I know your papa!" a lie technically, but the little tot stops to blink at him "And he asked me in case you ever got lost, to take care of you until he can come get you!"

He hopes those SCPs are as stubborn as his, because otherwise they're gonna have a problem.

.*.*.*.

He doesn't trust anyone with the child except himself and Killcode. Maybe Sun. But not anyone else.

It's clear the child is greatly upset by all these people who look like his family, clinging to Solar.

His siblings are curious of course, but they don't push. So he lets them play with the baby when he wants to, and he thinks there're pictures getting snapped of it.

It's Moon he's worried about. His uncle looks at the child with that weird, soft look of his that puts him on edge. Not because he's afraid the SCP will hurt the baby, that looks differently, but because he's afraid Moon'll fight the child's actual family.

"Soley?"

"Yes Clipse?"

Eclipse holds up a picture of them holding hands, with what he assumes is the kid's family on one side, and his own on the other. It makes something clench sweetly in him, and he smiles warmly at the child.

"It's a very nice picture! Do you want me to put it up on the fridge?"

The baby grins, and Solar hoists him up. He's immediately hugged.

"Can I know what the inspiration was?"

"Bwothe Soley, Dada KC, and new brothas and uncles!"

Solar hums, unable to stop a smile from forming.

"Yeah, brother sounds just fine to me"

Perhaps he loves kids more than he thought

[isa-ah]

post confessions arc apologies and catharsis

[transingthoseformers]

Been thinking, we need to get gayer about cybertronian weapons when so often cybertronians themselves have integrated weaponry or associated altmode

[jynxedshapeshifter]

The really interesting thing about TGAA to me and how people treat it as a result is that it's quite historically accurate. Like obviously there are aspects of it that are played with in terms of historical accuracy (Sholmes and Iris's tech for example), but for the most part it feels pretty accurate to the turn of the 20th century in terms of how society was.

The reason this even occurred to me is because I'm playing The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro, and when Ryunosuke mentions the domestic dispute between Joan and John, Patricia says "I can't even imagine being so horrid to the one you love." And that, there, had me like "domestic abuse like what Joan inflicted on John was probably normalized at this point in history" and I think the lack of much response regarding that specifically from anyone except Pat and I believe Ryunosuke shows that pretty well (and even then I think Pat comes off as a bit of a hypocrite for even saying "I can't imagine being so horrid to the one you love" but I digress).

Like The Great Ace Attorney very much uses multiple historically accurate attitudes — not just racism — to tell its story. It utilizes classism (to the point the overarching plot hinges on it), it utilizes the fact that in Victorian England domestic abuse was viewed as socially acceptable (in fact, based on a little research, I'd say how it's portrayed is incredibly accurate to Victorian attitudes irl), even Sholmes's attitude towards Ms. Garrideb (which, to be completely clear, is based on her behavior and not her weight, at least not consciously, but let's pretend he was consciously referring to her weight for a minute) is emblematic of the time period in which The Great Ace Attorney takes place.

The Great Ace Attorney is a story told about a Japanese man studying in Victorian England, and it's historically accurate about it. That's not to say you can't be uncomfortable in regards to certain parts of TGAA, but I also think understanding the historical context behind the game and how that drives the story is incredibly important. The racism, classism, domestic abuse, what can easily be taken as fatphobia/fat shaming (but I genuinely don't think is meant to be read that way); they're all perfectly in line with The Great Ace Attorney taking place in Victorian England. Those were normal in Victorian society and not looked down on like they are now. Looking at The Great Ace Attorney through that lens explains a lot about how the game is written, actually.

It turns a lot of the dialogue into a "This happened during this time period in England, but that doesn't mean the game's writers endorse it" and the game even critiques it, via dialogue from Susato and Ryunosuke (and occasionally other characters). I think we are very much meant to like characters like Sholmes and van Zieks, but we're also forced to acknowledge that they live in Victorian England and what isn't acceptable now is acceptable to them, because they live in Victorian England and for the story Capcom wanted to tell, it would've been dishonest to ignore what English society was like back then.

Really interesting to experience culture shock related to time period vicariously through a video game, I think.

[qoldenskies]

If cc Donnie had died because of his ninpo breaking, does that mean he technically would have died of a broken heart?

................in a figurative way, i suppose!

[untangling-my-headphones]

honestly can't thank them enough for not committing to the ghost bit too hard and trying to stop Charles and Edwin from looking like they breath because it just wouldn't be the same without Edwin's dramatic sighs and eye rolling

[cyle]

I know you're on paternity leave so feel free to ignore this if you don't want to think about it, but has there been any progress on open-sourcing Tumblr's front-end? Inquiring minds would like to know

i hadn’t seen any progress on it before i left. there’s a strong willingness to do it, it’s just a big task to get it open-source-able in a sustainable way. a lot of our CI/CD processes rely on stuff that would need to be rebuilt from scratch, i think. totally doable, just not a priority.

but maybe there’s been progress since i left, i dunno! 🤞

[marlinspirkhall]

I assumed the reason Logorhythms was trying to make sure Caspian's life mirrored Stephen's as closely as possible was because they wanted to download Holstrom's UI into him & didn't want his brain to reject it, but their actual plan was much stupider.

[stoat-party]

“How dare they burn everything the Courier loves to ashes!”

*imagines my courier reacting to watching everything she loves burn to ashes*

“…that’s some good stuff. you got me this time todd.”

[genderhexed]

OPENING OF COLD HARBOR EXTREMELY RELATABLE AS A PLURAL SYSTEM LOL