#even though for the VAST majority of users. they are not expected to say or do anything by the ppl who follow them on tumblr

[elftwink]

it boggles my mind that I still see reminder type posts about not consuming Harry Potter content, not because I expected everyone to agree to stop engaging but because I did sort of expect that the people engaging with hp in 2024 would at least have the decency to not grovel on the internet for random transgender bloggers to validate that they're still a good person and not transphobic for liking hp still. like these posts are not redundant they are FILLED with defensive responses and excuses for why actually its fine and its like not only can you not stop engaging with Harry Potter but you also want to be able to post about doing so non-stop and you never ever want to even see a transgender person point out that JKR is actively funding and directly influencing transphobic organizations and legislation. to the point that when someone does you are incapable of simply scrolling by because you need so badly to be reassured that this internet rando doesn't think you specifically are a bad person for doing the thing they said is bad. unreal main character syndrome. if you have committed to being an hp fan fine i am not a cop or your mom and I cannot make you do anything at all. but I am not, nor is any other trans person, going to give you 'permission' or absolve you of your own guilt for doing so. that is your problem to reconcile yourself and is not the job of random trans people. like jesus christ enough already

[givelifetoaworld]

i don’t wanna rb this post but i wanna say that everything this person said is valid and mostly true. the frustration and anger is justified and it sucks to have a website you love crumble and fall apart.

but i feel like talking about something that has been echoed by former staff members here - that this attitude is going to make it so you are never going to survive on another social media site.

we need a reality check here that like… websites and companies do not have morals. capitalism completely and absolutely controls all decisions made by a website, company, etc. to operate. since automatic is a tech company and tumblr is only a part of their product line, they have a very, very, very capitalist structure of what success and profit mean. we may all hold the belief that a website doesn’t need to be profitable, that a website just needs to be stable and reliable - but that is just a little bit too idealistic.

burn me at the stake, but tumblr live was not a bad idea. it could have been really fun and cool, but the problem was that we all quickly found out that tumblr live would require your data that tumblr has never required before. and so, it failed, because the userbase of this site tends to be more data cautious than facebook users. and i can promise you that a lot the staff working on this site probably knew that, but i’d like to see any of you on here pitch a major change or to insist a complement that you were just paid to work on for months is a complete failure to a CEO. see what happens to your income and livelihood.

transphobic moderation? yeah, that is a problem, and it sucks. but it has been acknowledged, and while some odd things have happened, a lot of the time it’s just shitty error and algorithms. which also happens on other websites daily. and yeah i’ve seen some staff members say some condescending and rude shit too, but damn, they are not some holy public figures, they are just some guy doing a job and y’all were harassing them and still harass them.

if any company or any website actually took into consideration user feedback, the internet would look like a different place. it might look something like it did 15 years ago. twitter may have not sold to elon musk. youtube wouldn’t do what it’s doing with ad blockers and content. reddit wouldn’t have fought back when users protested a couple months back. i could keep going! tumblr is not an exception to this and as someone who has been on this site for over a decade, i am not owed UI changes that i prefer. it’s a tech product and all tech products are inherently linked to and change only according to what might be appealing to capitalism.

and like… you can bitch and laugh about 600 people just trying to work and do their jobs to keep something like tumblr running far past it’s lifespan, but you need to understand that the vast majority of them weren’t “decision makers”. they were tasked with changes and plans created by someone who probably only knew of tumblr’s functionality rather than the culture of it (remember that Tumblr Is Gonna Be The Next PDF thing lol) and we’re expected to perform those tasks. you cannot just go “but i don’t like that/the users won’t like that so i won’t” when you’re told to do a task at a job, man. again especially not at a tech company. it won’t go over well for you and if you think the world works like that then well idk.

i knew all the way back in 2018 that tumblr wasn’t going to be around forever - a site doesn’t just lose over 50% of the userbase and bounces back to a state that even slightly resembles that peak of use. but they tried, and some things have been corny and some things have been just downright dumb, but you have to admit this site has been pretty creatively interactive even when it’s been “cringe” or ad based. there’s a reason you’re still here. there’s a reason you’re having these bittersweet and upset reactions to a staff you claimed to despise being reassigned, even though so many people have wanted them to “go away”. did you actually want them to go away, or did you just want them to appease to exactly what you wanted? you gotta be careful what you wish for man.

[animehouse-moe]

Konosuba: An Explosion On This Wonderful World! Episode 1: The Crimson-Eyed Wizards

The deranged explosion specialist, Megumin, is the first of her party to grace our screens in nearly 4 years now. A large gap (though not quite a decade like some other series), a prequel story, the third studio for the anime series. The cards are quite stacked against it, no? Well, through perseverance, chance, or some matter of fate, Megumin not only makes it to our screens again (and before Kazuma), but does so in impressive fashion. So, where to begin?

Maybe I'll address the changes first. Konosuba is under new direction (and storyboarding), found in Abe Yuujirou. A relative newcomer to series director, they've got a good few credits under their belt for episode direction. The biggest (and most important) being Kaguya-Sama. In total, they only did 4 episodes from S1+S2, but I think the impact of being an episode director for Kaguya-Sama is plain as day.

Visual comedy is an important aspect of both titles, so having worked on such a visually creative show beforehand gives me a lot of confidence in Yuujirou's approach. Sure, it might be a little "flat" at times, as in it opts for a lot of 2 dimensional scenes, but I think there's plenty of moments that help accentuate the comedy of various interactions, like this one.

Though to temper expectations, I'd still caution at the fact that it's not stellar direction on all fronts, as more often than not you'll get a "left-right" representation of a scene, almost like a stage play.

I'm a pretty big advocate for avoiding this sort of thing when you have (an imaginary) 3D space to work with. I wouldn't say it's the end of the world, but it's like the bare minimum in a two-way conversation for showing their involvement.

At the end of the day though, I don't think it really gets in the way of the visual comedy, and even sometimes, the more lax layouts can help with it. Take this scene for example. It's pretty straightforward, but does it job of showing how comically large the school is in comparison to the number of students that it takes in.

I guess to put a cork in my waffling, the overall direction and storyboarding isn't quite as outstanding as I'd hoped, but at the end of the day it ends up aiding quite well in the delivery of the overall comedy. The heart of the Crimson Demons of course is what runs away with the episode, and we get a lot of that on display in almost exclusively a flashy nature.

But oddly enough, the core of the Crimson Demons isn't near as much a driving force as Kazuma's ability to parody isekai anime. Sure, it dominates the episode and brings about the vast majority of the best parts, but peeling back that façade you get a more genuine approach with characters as well. Just little bits and pieces that keep the ball rolling and help Megumin find her way to being an explosion specialist.

And of course, who could say no to an explosion to cap the episode off?

Well apparently, Drive.

Overall, I think with tempered expectations, this first episode back is a treat. Its comedy hits just right, the visual effects look ridiculously cool still, and Takahashi Rie is killing it as Megumin once more. With the change in course towards a more fleshed out and directed story, I think there is certainly bumps in the road that stop it from being really great, but that's tertiary to the main point of watching this. You want funny and hilariously overpowered chuuni magic users as the main course, it's just that you get a little bit of story as a side dish.

[thebreakfastgenie]

Sadly that post you reblogged has a lot of the markers of being made with a less than healthy dose of anti-trans rhetoric, whether they meant to or not. The relating it to BLM as a movement is particularly disingenuous and a completely false equivalence. Your blog has been such a hotbed of Capital T Takes recently, and even though I think you are intelligent and genuinely want to come to these conversations in good faith, it sometimes just feels like you want to court controversy a little. Which. You do that at the expense of people who follow you. You take the time to tag Mash content but were openly begrudging when an anon asked you to tag hurtful discourse. I think you think you are somehow more open-minded or high-minded or less reactive than the average tumblr user, but yet you seek out replies on a post to ridicule… when you could just… not. You’re constantly fighting fights that don’t need to be fought - as if removing gendered language from discussions of bodily autonomy hurts the movement, or as if anyone actually needs you to say ANYTHING about what bisexuals deal with, or as if anyone wants to know what you personally think about this month being Disability Pride Month! Just stop! Please I’m BEGGING you, consider having these intellectual discussions in other spaces, or at least tag it all with SOMETHING. And maybe - though I feel you’ll ridicule all of this but I have to say it anyway - take the time spent ridiculing emotional reactions to posts in analysing and evaluating what caused it? You’ll take this as hate mail but it’s just… I think you are dabbling in intellectual curiosity at the expense of real people. You really are.

I'm not really sure what to do with this ask because there's a lot of personal stuff in here which, like, whatever, but I think the more important thing is sticking up for that post.

a lot of the markers of being made with a less than healthy dose of anti-trans rhetoric, whether they meant to or not

I've talked about this before, but I think it bears repeating. Looking for "markers" of anti-trans rhetoric is a fool's errand. Either a post is transphobic or it isn't. Acknowledging the connection between misogyny and laws that primarily affect women is not anti-trans. Equating acknowledging sex-based oppression with being anti-trans is actually what TERFs want.

I do not believe the BLM comparison was disingenuous at all. I also don't know OP's race or experience with BLM and I'm not going to make assumptions about it. I do think you have to be careful, because race and gender/sex are different, but there are legitimate parallels. It's well-documented that women are basically expected to put every single other marginalized group ahead of themselves. Pointing out that other marginalized groups are not treated the same way is legitimate.

I also believe that in certain contexts removing gendered language does hurt the movement. I recognize not everyone agrees with that. But the fact is that the people who are restricting abortion are doing it to restrict the bodily autonomy of women. It does also affect some people who are not women, but women are the target and the vast majority of people affected. Misogyny is gendered.

I did not seek out comments to get upset about. The comment I responded to showed up in my notifications, because that user reblogged it from me. I don't ever seek out comments to respond to. I respond to posts I see on my dash and to comments that people add to my posts and to asks I am sent.

I am making an effort to tag discourse posts because some of the people who have requested it are people I like and care about. I don't think I've expressed reluctance, just a hope that I won't need to use it. I tag mashposts because I was asked to and I've mentioned many times that I don't know why that one stuck and that it's the only tag I've ever used consistently.

You can believe me or not but I'm not courting controversy (except maybe with fandom nonsense sometimes). I used to do that. I'm surprised every time one of these things blows up.

I acknowledge there have been more Takes recently. This is just because I have happened to see more things that bugged me enough to post about them. I don't expect this to continue, but who knows? Also, I've gained more active followers recently, so Takes are more of an event instead of the 0 note posts I used to make in peace. I regret some of them. I don't think my feelings about disability pride month, specifically as I've seen it discussed on tumblr (since although I know it's been around from googling it, I have not seen it mentioned literally anywhere else this year), were out of line, but I do regret the post just because I don't think I was prepared to explain the nuances in the detail they deserved. But here's the thing:

This is my fucking blog. I have used it for, among other things, posting my thoughts, feelings, and opinions on a variety of topics for the last ten years. If you don't like it, you don't have to follow it, and neither does anyone else.

The "hatemail <3" tag is reserved for the messages calling me a fucking cunt.

[xythlia]

something else ive noticed every few months when tumblr does this will they won't they shut down thing is it always, always makes all these fresh posts pop up about how you just absolutely have to spend money on this site and need to stop being openly critical of the way this place is run & that's just not true. you can love tumblr as a platform but also remain vocal about the numerous failures of its staff

a vast majority of this site isn't so staunchly anti-monitization for no reason. over the last year alone the censorship by staff of trans individuals on this site is at a point where u can't say it's not rooted in bigotry. why are a majority of only trans people being told their posts are inherently nsfw when it's just... them literally posting the way everyone else does? staff has whipped out never used before content moderation tools for the sole goal of nuking anyone who ever says hey this is weird as fuck in regards to that behavior/the people on staff who are just blatant terfs & freaks.

you can't go scorched earth on people and just expect them to go oh but we'll still buy the silly billy crab badge <3. not to mention it's in poor taste to rip jokes made by others on this site, turn them into profit makers, and then offer absolutely no credit to the person who's shit they're using to generate revenue.

it's been years that people have been asking them to address the issue of nazis running rampant on here. that's literally never been addressed even though they've shown they do have the tools to address that in at least some capacity, they just have zero interest in doing so.

they'd rather use those tools to suppress tags for palestinian support then go oopsie woopsie the site did a lil fucky wucky. you cannot do that shit again and again and again & just expect people to fall for it over and over. staff thinks very little of their userbase if that wasn't already clear, they think we're stupid. there's people on here who've talked before about how tumblr did similar shit when the protests in ferguson were happening years ago, they terminated blogs belonging to black activists & then started that absolute bullshit line about russian psyop accounts. there were no fuckin psyops they were blatantly going after black activists.

I mean jesus christ you cannot expect people to kiss your ass & throw their money at your website when it has a mind boggling track record of piss poor treatment towards its users and an unbelievable preference for shielding people who are fucking vile and hateful freaks. sure a lot of that stuff occurred not under the people who own tumblr now, but clearly they inherited the playbook from those who owned this site previously because they just do the same shit then are so flabbergasted when we all can't stand them & are not exactly shy in showing how much we dislike them.

two things can be true at once you can absolutely be fond of this site but you can also go hey a lot of the shit you're pulling here is beyond weird and hostile towards certain parts of the userbase only... why the fuck is that? for a lot of people it's about withholding monetary support until things like that are addressed, which they haven't been so sorry im not going to be lining up to buy fucking premium and whatever stupid little vanity badge from the people who do nothing when non white people & trans people get harassed and have their safety threatened because staff is either too pussy to do anything or at worst actively involved in that behavior so they pretend they don't see.

I think they'd have an easier time of implementing monetized features if they didn't treat users like dogshit & blatantly treat us all like we're fucking idiots but hey what do I know

[automotiveera]

China's Green Revolution: Exploring the Electric Bus Market

On account of its high level of industrialization and vast population, China is the largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitter in the world. As per the International Energy Agency (IEA), “…the emissions growth in 2018 was largely driven by non-OECD countries, led by China and India.”, reflecting why the country is now trying to bring a major reduction in these emissions. As a result of the continued government efforts, China has also become one of the largest producers and consumers of renewable energy!

Consistent with its efforts to clean up the country’s air, the People’s government has been offering strong support to electric vehicles (EVs) for quite some time. This is why P&S Intelligence says that the Chinese electric bus market will see176.4 thousand unit sales in 2025 compared to 104.3 thousand units in 2017, with the number increasing at an 8.6% CAGR between 2018 and 2025 (forecast period). China is already the largest EV user in the world, with the IEA saying in the context of electric buses for 2019 that “About half a million electric buses are in circulation, most of which are in China.”

Even though China has reduced EV subsidies, the Chinese electric bus market is unlikely to witness any major impact, as most of the buses are run by government agencies, for whom subsidies do not matter anyway. In addition, the sale of electric buses is expected to pick up faster than those of electric cars and two-wheelers, as, compared to millions of individual vehicle owners, merely hundreds of commercial vehicle fleet owners have to be convinced to switch to electric mobility.

Get More details China Electric Bus Market Business Opportunities

Another key driving factor for the Chinese electric bus market is the constant decrease in the price of the battery. Between 2012 and 2016, the purchase price for large lithium-ion battery orders dropped from $540 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to $140/kWh. Since the battery cost accounts for almost 40% of the entire bus’s, this decline will be vital for increasing the latter’s adoption in China. Additionally, as battery companies increase their production capacity and achieve economies of scale, they will be able to further reduce the price of such components.

Among plug-in hybrid electric buses (PHEB), battery electric buses (BEB), and hybrid electric buses (HEB), BEBs are the most popular in the country. Because they only have an electric motor for propulsion, they are operationally emission-free, therefore receive the strongest support from the government. These buses can be powered by numerous types of batteries, such as lithium–iron phosphate (LFP) and lithium–nickel–manganese–cobalt oxide (NMC). Of these, the NMC chemistry is rapidly becoming preferred among electric bus manufacturers and customers, as it offers a higher energy density and has a lower self-discharge rate.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, October 15, 2022

Why You Can’t Find Child Care: 100,000 Workers Are Missing (NYT) Carolina Reyes was surprised when she heard that an assistant teacher at her child-care center in suburban Maryland was quitting for a job cleaning high school classrooms. The hours—6 p.m. to midnight—seemed crummy. And the work hardly seemed more satisfying. But then Ms. Reyes, who owns the center, heard about the salary—$24 per hour, compared with the $15 she was able to offer. The worker was only one of several Ms. Reyes lost recently—part of a national exodus from the child-care profession. The shortage is contributing to a crisis for parents, as child-care providers close their doors or limit enrollment in response to a labor market in which they cannot compete. There are 100,000 fewer child-care workers than there were before the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even as private-sector employment fully rebounded over the summer from the job losses caused by Covid-19, the child care sector shrank and was 9.7 percent smaller last month than it was in February 2020, federal data shows.

Haiti facing humanitarian catastrophe, U.N. body says (Reuters) Haiti is facing a humanitarian catastrophe as it struggles with malnutrition, gang violence, inflation and a cholera outbreak, the U.N.'s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday. Some 4.7 million people, almost half the population of Haiti, are facing hunger, with about 19,000 people in the Port-au-Prince neighbourhood of Cite Soleil facing "catastrophic hunger," the WFP said. "Haiti is facing a humanitarian catastrophe," Jean-Martin Bauer, the WFP's country director in Haiti, told reporters, adding that the situation there is "close to breaking point". Haitian gangs have for a month prevented the distribution of diesel and gasoline, crippling businesses and hospitals, and creating shortages of basic goods, including water, just as the country is struggling with a new outbreak of cholera.

After spate of gangster heists, Chile boosts security on copper trains (Reuters) Chilean authorities will beef up security on trains carrying cargoes of copper, a senior official said on Thursday, after a spate of violent heists that have been blamed on international organized crime gangs. FCAB, a major mining railway operator, suspended the transport of copper earlier this week following a series of attacks and thefts, forcing mines in the world's top copper producer to look for other transport routes. Long a beacon of stability in Latin America, Chile in recent years has seen a jump in organized crime, apparently related to the drug trade. Denis Varas, president of the National Union of FCAB Workers, said there had been about 70 train robberies in the last three years and that they have become bolder and increasingly violent.

Argentine executives expect already sky-high inflation to go higher (Reuters) Argentina’s surging inflation will just keep rising, according to the vast majority of executives surveyed in a poll released on Thursday, even though consumer prices are already on pace to end this year in triple digits. The government of President Alberto Fernandez has struggled to contain steadily rising consumer prices, expected to reach an annualized rate of 100% by the end of this year, as a prolonged economic crisis shows no signs of abating in a country where many shops no longer post prices since they are forced to constantly mark them up.

Ticket to ride: Germany eyes public transit revolution (AP) Germany wants to introduce a public transit pass that costs 49 euros ($47) a month and will be valid nationwide—if officials can agree on the funding. The proposal follows a wildly successful “9-euro ticket,” which was on offer in Germany for three months this summer as part of efforts to help people switch to environmentally friendly transport, reducing gasoline use and helping combat inflation. One of its biggest attractions for users is that it will be valid on all the country’s regional bus, train and tram networks, each of which have myriad fare options that many find baffling to navigate.

Is this a drill? Upcoming Russian nuclear exercises a challenge for the West (Reuters) With Russia expected to soon carry out large-scale drills of its nuclear forces as President Vladimir Putin threatens to use them, the United States and its allies will be challenged to ensure they can spot the difference between exercises and the real thing. Russia typically holds major annual nuclear exercises around this time of year, and U.S. and Western officials expect them perhaps in just days. They will likely include the test launch of ballistic missiles, U.S. officials say. But with Putin having openly threatened to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia in its unraveling invasion of Ukraine, some Western officials are worried Moscow could deliberately try to muddy the waters about its intentions. “This is why you don’t want to have extraordinarily overheated rhetoric at the same time you’re going to do a nuclear exercise,” a Western official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Because then we do have an additional challenge to really be sure that the actions that we see, the things that are occurring, are actually an exercise and not something else.”

As morale suffers, Russia and Ukraine fight a war of mental attrition (Washington Post) As the dark days of winter approach, keeping up morale is a challenge for both Russia and Ukraine in what is quickly morphing into a war of mental attrition. In Moscow’s ranks, the casualty count is high and forces have been in a retreat for more than a month—first in the northeast Kharkiv region and now in Ukraine’s south. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent mobilization has forced men who might not believe in the war to fight in it. On the Ukrainian side, many units haven’t gotten an extended break. Some have been under constant bombardment. One soldier in the 60th Brigade said his battalion already has “many losses” and “not enough strength or resources,” which was why he said he was concerned about Russia sending 300,000 or more reinforcements to the front—even if they are unmotivated and poorly trained. “People need some rest,” the soldier said, adding that the situation will worsen once the weather turns colder.

North Korea fires missile and shells, further inflaming tensions (AP) North Korea early Friday fired a ballistic missile and 170 rounds of artillery shells toward the sea and flew warplanes near the tense border with South Korea, further raising animosities triggered by the North’s recent barrage of weapons tests. The North Korean moves suggest it is reviving an old playbook of stoking fears of war with provocative weapons tests before it seeks to win greater concessions from its rivals.

Few signs that China is trying to escape its ‘zero-covid’ trap (Washington Post) China—one of the few countries still trying to eliminate the virus through aggressive lockdowns, mass quarantines and stringent border controls—finds itself in a trap of its own making. The zero-covid policy, once a point of pride, is wreaking havoc on the economy and disrupting individual lives. Increasingly unpopular at home, it poses one of the biggest challenges the Chinese leadership has faced since the pandemic began. But fully lifting the policy could invite disaster. China’s 1.4 billion people not only have little natural immunity as a result of a low infection rate, but they have been immunized with domestic vaccines that are less effective against newer, highly transmissible variants of the coronavirus. “If they open up now, there will be a major outbreak immediately. However, even if they do not open up, a major outbreak will sooner or later arise somewhere,” predicts virologist Jin Dongyan of Hong Kong University, who says the country’s approach is “not sustainable.”

Xi’s power in China grows (AP) When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, it wasn’t clear what kind of leader he would be. His low-key persona during a steady rise through the ranks of the long-ruling Communist Party gave no hint that he would evolve into one of modern China’s most dominant leaders, or that he would put the economically and militarily ascendant country on a collision course with the U.S.-led international order. Xi is all but certain to be given a third five-year term as party leader at the end of a major party congress that opens Sunday—a break with an unofficial two-term limit that other recent leaders had followed. What’s not clear is how long he will remain in power, and what that means for China and the world. He has already amassed and centralized power over the past 10 years in ways that far surpass his immediate predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, and even rival the Communist Party’s two other dominating leaders—Mao Zedong, who led the country until his death in 1976, and Deng Xiaoping, who launched China in 1978 on its rise from poverty to become the world’s second largest economy.

Nigerian city celebrates its many twins with annual festival (AP) Twins appear to be unusually abundant in Nigeria’s southwestern city of Igbo-Ora. Nearly every family here has twins or other multiple births, says local chief Jimoh Titiloye. For the past 12 years, the community has organized an annual festival to celebrate twins. This year’s event, held earlier this month, included more than 1,000 pairs of twins and drew participants from as far away as France, organizers said. There is no proven scientific explanation for the high rate of twins in Igbo-Ora, a city of at least 200,000 people 135 kilometers (83 miles) south of Nigeria’s largest city, Lagos. But many in Igbo-Ora believe it can be traced to women’s diets. Alake Olawunmi, a mother of twins, attributes it to a local delicacy called amala which is made from yam flour.

Prep for a Power Outage (NYT) A power outage can be a minor inconvenience, a threat to health and safety, or anything in between. But unlike the natural disasters that often precede them, blackouts aren’t relegated to specific regions the way earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornados are—just about everybody can experience one, especially now that extreme and unpredictable weather is pushing the limits of electrical grids. Even without counting major events, government statistics suggest that the average utility customer experiences about one outage per year, and that outages last two hours on average. Basic preparations for these average blackouts aren’t expensive, so it’s generally worth it for most households to take a few precautionary measures—a surge protector to safeguard your media center, for example, and headlamps to keep your hands free in the dark. For longer blackouts, whether they last a few days during wildfire-prevention efforts in California or stretch more than a week after a hurricane, extra backup power can prevent food from spoiling, keep medical devices running, provide power for fans, light, or space heaters, and help phones, laptops, and tablets stay charged and connected to the outside world. That said, should a power outage leave you without adequate heating or cooling options for an extended period of time, be sure to seek out a shelter.

[coupleskitchen]

Ys I & II Chronicles+

Ys I & II Chronicles+ offers a fresh coat of polish to the first two games in the long-standing Ys franchise. The series, for the most part, delves into the tales of fearless adventurer Adol Christin as he explores the vast world around him, somehow running into trouble at every turn. Because he is such a worldly young man, nearly all of the Ys games are standalone stories. However, Ys II directly follows the events of Ys I, which is why they are so conveniently packaged together in this neat little bundle.

For those who are motivated to follow a series from its inception, Ys certainly offers little Easter eggs throughout its many instalments—mostly in the form of referencing past events or revisiting characters from previous games. In essence, the games all take place in the same universe and follow a particular chronology, but as mentioned, it isn't really necessary to play all of the games, or even all of the games in order (with the exception of the two in this bundle). You generally won't miss much if you pass over one of the games.

It is probably no surprise that Ys I & II Chronicles+ gets our stamp of approval. We love the entire catalogue of Ys games—the challenge of powering through Nightmare difficulty, the ever-endearing characters, the intriguing story- even the developer. But if you've been following this blog for a while then you know that we try to mix our opinions with a hint of objectivism. There are, of course, reasons that people might shy away from tackling these two games.

Suffice it to say, video games have evolved in the decades that we've all been playing them. They're now much more user friendly. Puzzles usually make quick sense and the majority of games are geared towards making you want to continue playing them, avoiding any of the frustrating pitfalls that can sometimes crush a person's spirit. That's why in the past, video games were more of a niche hobby than they are today, and the older Ys games are just that—older games. It's something that is assuredly felt throughout, and if the somewhat outdated graphics aren't enough to remind you that this is a remaster of two much older games, the occasional challenging puzzle and lack of overall guidance is sure to bring it front and centre. It is completely understandable if someone were to want to skip these instalments entirely, though there is no shame in using a guide to get through them either.

Another make or break aspect of this game is the combat. Ys I and II employ a later retired combat system known as the "bump system" which requires the player to attack enemies by pushing Adol into them. If you attack at an angle, you have the chance to parry and take no damage whatsoever. It's an obstacle in and of itself, especially so in Nightmare mode where an enemy can incapacitate Adol in only a few hits, forcing you to reload a previous save. This requires the player to exercise a high degree of skill to survive each battle. As is to be expected, the difficulty consistently ramps up with each new area. It's a thrilling challenge, but it can also be aggravating at times dying repeatedly. On top of that, the difficulty is actually escalated on modern computers, with many people complaining that the final boss fight is impossible—however, this can be easily remedied. There are many fixes floating around out there, but the solution that worked for us is to open the configuration tool before you begin the game and change the refresh rate to 60hz.

If you're at all curious, we do suggest giving it a try. The game is fantastically worth playing, and we aren't the only ones who think so. While it is by no means a household name, Ys has long ago cemented itself as a beloved ARPG classic. It has evolved with time as Falcom continues to release new entries in the series, with a new one being recently announced. Overall, Ys I & II Chronicles+ is primed to welcome new and veteran players alike to the beautiful and imaginative world of Ys. With its vibrant scenery, incredible music, and gorgeous character art, it is easy to immerse yourself in Adol's world as he overcomes the odds. Though these two games are shorter than the later entries in the series, and can feel somewhat typical of the RPG genre, they evoke the warmth of nostalgia and a thirst for adventure. The beginning of Ys sets a precedent for outstanding narrative and interesting characters in Falcom games, which is a reputation that they never cease to stay true to.

View the full review here. [blogspot.com]

[xtruss]

Who’s Afraid of TikTok? The World’s Most Exciting App is Also Its Most Mistrusted

— Leaders | Social Media and Security | The Economist | July 07, 2022

With its wholesome dancing and lip-syncing videos, TikTok once billed itself as “the last sunny corner on the internet”. Since launching just five years ago the app has brought a warm glow to its 1bn-plus users, as well as an icy dash of competition to the social-media incumbents of Silicon Valley. With its rise, a part of the tech industry that had seemed closed to competition has been cracked wide open.

Yet even as TikTok delights consumers and advertisers, others believe the sunny app has a dark side. ByteDance, its owner, has its headquarters in China, whose government is addicted to surveillance and propaganda—making it a worrying place for a media app to be based. As TikTok’s clout grows and as elections loom in America, there is a brewing bipartisan storm in Congress over its supposed role as a “Trojan horse”.

The hype about TikTok is justified—and so are the concerns. The app has transformed competition in social media. Yet unchecked, it presents a security risk to the Chinese Communist Party’s enemies. Finding a way for TikTok to operate safely in the West is a test of whether global business and the global internet can remain intact as us-China relations deteriorate.

Beneath TikTok’s simple interface lies fearsomely advanced artificial intelligence (ai). Its knack for learning what people like helped TikTok sign up its first 1bn users in half the time it took Facebook. In America the average user spends 50% longer on the app each day than the typical user spends on Instagram. TikTok’s revenues are expected to reach $12bn this year and $23bn in 2024, drawing level with YouTube’s. Young creators are flocking to the app—along with some older ones. This week The Economist joined TikTok (no dancing, we promise).

The effect on competition has been dramatic. In 2020 American trustbusters sued Facebook, now known as Meta, for its alleged dominance of social media. Today such worries look eccentric; Meta has been particularly hard-hit as tech stocks have taken a beating, and the firm is re-engineering its products to mimic TikTok. America often accuses China of copycat capitalism. Now the boot is on the other foot.

Yet concerns about TikTok’s Chinese ownership have long simmered. Donald Trump tried and failed to force ByteDance to sell TikTok’s American business to a domestic owner towards the end of his presidency. Today, with TikTok approaching twice the size it was during the Trump era and with us-China relations at an even lower ebb, things are reaching a critical point.

The most frequently cited risk is privacy. China’s government gives itself the right to demand whatever data it likes from firms based in the country. Though most TikTokers are unbothered by the Communist Party analysing their dance moves, the app’s torrent of videos could be trawled for face and voice data to add to the digital panopticon that China is building at home. Yet this worry is probably exaggerated. Most such information could be scraped from TikTok’s front end or bought online—especially regarding Americans, who are poorly protected by data-privacy laws. The advantage of inside access would be marginal.

The bigger, underappreciated problem with TikTok is the chance it offers China to manipulate what the app’s vast foreign audience sees. TikTok has gone beyond sunny entertainment to become a major news platform. Open the app and among the songs and skits you may see Supreme Court protests or a flailing Boris Johnson. A quarter of American users say they consider TikTok to be a news source. In countries with weaker mainstream media the share is as high as 50%.

That makes TikTok’s Chinese ownership a serious worry. The Chinese government actively meddles in domestic media; four years ago it shut down another popular ByteDance app, unamused by the subversive jokes being shared on it. TikTok’s content moderators are outside China. But the app’s algorithm is nurtured in Beijing. A tweak here or there could give more traction to videos questioning covid-19’s Chinese origin, say, or blaming nato for the war in Ukraine. Because each user gets a personalised feed, tampering would be hard to spot.

TikTok insists no such meddling has taken place. But a company vulnerable to bullying by an authoritarian government obsessed with media manipulation is clearly a risk. Anyone who considers this paranoid should consider China’s record in Hong Kong. Without new safety mechanisms, Western countries might one day have to shut TikTok down.

The first step to avoiding that involves technical fixes. TikTok is working with American regulators on a framework in which American users’ data are held by Oracle, an American firm, with limited access for TikTok’s China-based staff. To tackle the manipulation question, TikTok has offered to let third parties inspect its algorithm. It is hard to understand the black box of an ai program—does a glut of pro-Trump videos indicate that someone in Beijing is pulling a lever, or simply that audiences enjoy polarising content? But showing the source code and allowing ongoing inspection of how the algorithm is updated would provide some reassurance.

Clouding Over

The harder step is to shore up TikTok’s independence. ByteDance’s efforts to separate TikTok’s management from the parent company must go further. TikTok should be ultimately responsible to an independent board of its own, with members from outside China (ideally including some who speak for wider interests than venture capital). Its ownership and voting rights should be more broadly distributed to give foreigners more say, for example by listing outside China. These would be ways of demonstrating that TikTok was genuinely autonomous.

China may bridle at all this. It recently classified content-recommendation algorithms as a key technology and may object to TikTok’s code being made available for dissection. It will be reluctant to cede any corporate control to foreigners. But it must recognise that if it wants its companies to operate globally in sensitive sectors, while the country remains an autocracy in which the state seeks to control business, adaptations will be necessary. If it refuses, the likely result is that TikTok—and more companies like it—will be locked out of the West altogether. ■

— This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "Who’s afraid of TikTok?"

[unforth]

What I think a lot of antis misunderstand about the message of someone like me - as someone outspokenly pro-ship and pro-kink is...

Everyone is within their right to want to protect themselves from content that makes them uncomfortable! If you're a minor, and you don't want adults to interact with you? That's a reasonable boundary to set! Boundaries, in general, are usually healthy, appropriate, and even necessary (not always, of course, but most of the time!). Heck, I am pro-basically-everything, but I still set boundaries, and there's lots of content I support the existence of without ever having any desire to interact with myself. Like. Ever. EVER. You do you but I'll be over here, having nothing to do with it, thanks. I'm anti-censorship, and pro-fiction-is-fiction, period.

So, when people like me roll our eyes and go, "God, why are all these people making ridiculous DNIs? Don't they know how pointless this is?" we're not saying "Don't set boundaries."

You absolutely should set boundaries, for your mental health, comfort, and protection.

We're saying - okay, well, maybe I shouldn't speak for everyone - but, I'm saying, "why are people who only feel comfortable within such narrow boundaries on a website like Tumblr?"

This is the fucking anti-boundaries website! It has reblogging functions you CAN'T TURN OFF. The instant your post leaves your blog? You lose all control over it! Even if you delete the original, you can NEVER get rid of those reblogs! So if you don't want certain types of people interacting with you? Short of hard-wiring that information into the very nature of the post (like, as an enormous watermark that covers your entire piece of artwork) you will never, on Tumblr, be able to set your boundaries, enforce those boundaries, and have them respected.

It's impossible, and it's not because everyone on Tumblr is selfish, or mean, or disrespecting you personally. It has absolutely nothing to do with you! The vast majority of Tumblr users see something they like - and like it for any of a million or more different reasons - and then reblog it without every considering the existence of the original poster beyond MAYBE noticing their username at the top of the post.

They won't check your DNI.

They won't know your squicks.

They won't remember your triggers.

Tumblr is not, nor will it ever be, a safe space.

You cannot, and will never be able to, control the behavior of the Tumblr userbase in the interest of protecting your own personal limits.

It is impossible to set and maintain personal boundaries on Tumblr.

People who say, "god, why do people have these DNIs" aren't saying, "you should be comfortable with everything and if you're not how DARE you," we're saying, "there is a fundamental mis-match between your desire to set boundaries, on the one hand, and the social media platform you've chosen, on the other."

There ARE platforms where it's possible to set boundaries. Discord, Pillowfort, Wordpress, even Facebook, have more functionality for any given individual regulating who interacts with created content and how they can interact.

THIS IS NOT THAT PLATFORM.

If you want to be able to strictly police your boundaries, you are in the wrong fucking place. Anything you post on here, could, at any time, wildly escape containment, get taken entirely out of context, end up on the blog of a domme, or a furry, or a parent, or your grandmother, or, or, or.

If you want to have strict control of your content, your blog, and who you interact with?

You should not be on Tumblr.

You are just setting yourself up to get hurt...and then you blame everyone else when it happens, even though the issue is the mis-match caused by your decision to be on a website that is a total free-for all. YOU CHOSE TO BE HERE, and then you get mad...at the people already here...for not conforming to your expectations. That's a YOU problem, not an everyone else problem. It's like you barged into a Pride parade and went, "Wait why are all these queer people here? And why is there a Parade? I'd rather just hang out with my own friends in a much smaller event CALL OF THE PARADE I DON'T LIKE IT." You sound like a child, and an idiot. Congrats, there are clowns at the circus, what a shock! If you didn't want the queers, if you didn't want the clowns, if you didn't want strangers interacting with you, if you wanted to set and maintain boundaries, then you failed the instant you came on Tumblr. Tumblr is not a website designed for this. End of story.

Have safe spaces. Set boundaries. I encourage you. Heck, I beg you. Having places you feel safe and surrounding yourself with people who respect your boundaries is stupidly important, no matter how young or old you are, how vanilla or kink, how anti- or pro-ship. But it cannot be done it here, and the expectation that it CAN is what so often leads people who are actually behaving like bullies to believe themselves to be victims.

So, like, if this describes you? If you want strict boundaries, and to have certain types of people not interact with you?

The best thing you can do is leave Tumblr, and find your communities elsewhere.

I promise, everyone will be happier if you do.

(and before you say, "but all the things I want are also on Tumblr!" it is...so stupidly easy to make a message board, or create a Discord server. I'm not saying don't have fandom spaces that suit you! I'm not saying you don't belong in fandom! On the contrary, PLEASE do things that bring you joy - but do it in a way you're comfortable with! You're entitled! You deserve it! And you will never be able to here! EVER. This is NOT that space, and you and those who feel as you do should create your own. For your OWN safety, first and foremost, because you deserve a space where your boundaries are respected. And you can't here. This website is explicitly designed to prevent bloggers from being able to protect their boundaries! Expecting your boundaries to be expected here is like going to a field of wildflowers and saying, "ONLY queen anne's lace here all other flowers DNI" and being shocked and personally offended when there'sother flowers all over the fucking place. You can't control what flowers are in the field. Tumblr is a field of weeds and they will grow like crazy, everywhere, no matter what you try to do to stop them. Because that's Tumblr's nature. So STOP TRYING. Go somewhere that you CAN prevent that, and tada, you'll be safe!)

[xaibaugrove]

Addressing the Casual (and Direct) Biphobia in the Korrasami Community

So this will either get a lot of flak or fade into obscurity. I am a member of the Korrasami community who has not been here for nearly as long as the more notable members and I am not very active to say the least. But this platform gives me the ability to speak my mind and after letting this topic fester within me for as long as I’ve been in this community, I am going to speak my damn mind because this shit needs to be said.

The Backstory

I won’t bore anyone with my whole confused bisexual life story, because this isn’t about me. But just for some background here, I was a confused bisexual for my entire life until Korra and Asami basking in the light of the Spirit Portal made me see the actual light and recognize my sexuality. Which was a little crazy for me to realize that, yeah, there is a way to be attracted to men and still be attracted to women.

I saw so much of myself in Korra. She was super awkward around guys she thought were cute, she was buff, she was tough and sometimes she just blurted out all her deep seated feelings towards guys she just met and you know, I felt that. She also fell in love with her female best friend and I felt that, too. Naturally after rewatching the series as an adult, I wanted to see if there were others out there who appreciated this couple as much as I did.

The Issue

While I found a vast online community that had as much love for Korrasami as I did, I quickly found that there were a large majority of lesbian/WLW fans who didn’t have as much love for Korra and Asami’s very real attraction to Mako. 

Take a look at the Korrasami AO3 tag. I’ve actually had someone tell me that no one who reads Korrasami fanfic wants to read anything featuring Korra or Asami with Mako. I’ve seen fics that have a timeline that starts with both women being toddlers growing up into adults without one single mention of them being attracted to boys or men at all, nonetheless attracted to Mako. And in the rare scenario that a relationship with Mako or any male is mentioned, then comes the frustrating storybeat that they either dated men because they were too shy/scared to approach each other (thus rendering the men as just things to do in the meantime) or worse yet, because they were CONFUSED OR CONFORMING TO SOCIAL/GENDER NORMS.

In the 3 or 4 years I’ve been part of the fandom, I’ve had actual conversations with lesbian friends who have found every way possible to wave away Korra and Asami’s attraction to Mako. Or even reacting in disgust to Makorra or Masami at every mention of it. Which is fair, if you’re a KA fan of course that’s an expected reaction to another ship involving your OTP but, to completely dismiss the importance of it...? There are those who would call those parts of the series “pointless” or “ridiculous”. It’s really disheartening to know that a lot of lesbian KA fans consider the queer rep in the series soured by the 2 seasons where they had to watch Korra and Asami, two bi women, be attracted to a man.

It was jarring to say the least, to have conversations with friends where I couldn’t bring up Korra or Asami’s relationships with Mako during discussions about their development without being shot down and having the relationships be dismissed. The reaction to Korra and Asami’s attraction to men was so strong that I even started to feel ashamed about how “frivolous” or “trivial” my own attraction to men was perceived. 

Not too long ago, I saw a meme on Reddit that sent me over the edge and inspired me to write this post. The user has since deleted the post, but I remember it very vividly, only because I’ve seen some version of it many times before. The meme basically referred to how frustrated the viewer had been after being told that TLOK had great queer rep, but feeling as though they were cheated having to watch them “fuck around with guys for 2 seasons” (their words), only to be saved at the end, when Korra and Asami finally get together.

When I saw it, I was immediately fuming. Because at that point, I had seen this shit so much, it hurt more than anything else. And the pain mixed with the rage but...I think the pain still comes through in my reply to the post. 

I’ve seen sooo much content and sooo many posts or comments where a user asks whether TLOK has good LGBTQ+ rep, only to have someone reply that it’s a letdown because the queer rep doesn’t happen until the finale. Another all too common discussion I’ve seen is where fans call Korra and Asam’s bisexuality into question. One example 

I understand that it sucks that we didn’t get more romantic interactions between the two women during the show for external reasons outside the creators’ control. I wish there had been a kiss here, more blushes there. But the crushes on Mako were real. And their interest in each other, albeit all too short in its depiction, is also real. And that means something to me, a bisexual woman. To say the rep is a letdown is...sad. Because Korra is featured in every episode starting from the first and Asami is featured in every ep from the 4th or 5th episode. And they’re both wonderfully, beautifully bisexual. Seeing that mattered to me. 

So, to anyone who is a lesbian or WLW and a Korrasami fan and you’re reading this post and feel attacked, just stop instead to examine your language within the fandom. I understand you want “pure” WLW content or whatever... but just stop making me feel ashamed for being a wlw who is also attracted to men... and please stop erasing that attraction from two of the few bisexual characters I have that are like me... I’m tired, so tired of having to defend my attraction to both sexes with people outside the LGBTQ+ community and those within it. 

[filipinoizukuu]

I saw your post about the FA's translations, and I totally agree. Sometimes, when they do not translate accurately, is to make it sound better or cooler in English, but it just ends up taking away a lot from the context and characters. We know how one of the most affected character interpretations is Katsuki's, a main character, no less. And Izuku and Katsuki's relationship too, which is something super super wrong, considering is deeply intertwined with the main plot of the series, thus if someone misinterpreted their dynamic, this person would miss a bigass chunk of the message the story has.

Here is the panel you mentioned before btw

I remember when I read this, only 10 or 11 chapters into the manga (?), and I was like "...I'm...pretty sure this guy didn't say that" khshsjdhs

OK FIRST OF ALL LMAO HELLO MANG!! THANK YOU SO MUCH AND DW ABOUT IT I TOTALLY GET WHAT YOU MEAN !!

(this is your warning for a long post ahead!)

In any case, I still think you're very correct on this! Not to ramble a bit, but Horikoshi's particular talent in developing the plot of MHA is actually very very brilliant and there are a lot of blink-and-you'll-miss-it details that together, assemble the big picture of what MHA is.

Translations are such an integral part of being able to understand foreign media. MHA or otherwise. The simplest of details say a lot about a character and often times make or break a series because everyone knows that strong character dynamics are what carry even the shittiest of plots.

First and foremost, I want to clarify that because of the nature of fan translations and the fact that most of it is volunteer work/ written out of pure enjoyment of the manga--we shouldn't judge these fan translators too harshly (if at all) for interpreting it the way they want to. FA, as far as I can tell, is a fan-based group that works out of donations.

The first thing I wanna bring up is that when it comes to fandom and its works, there are two types: Curatorial and Transformative. Now, the transformative part is something that must be very familiar to a lot of you. Fanfiction, fanart, and most headcanons fall under Transformative Works (i.e. AO3) because they are all about transforming the canon world to fit each individual's personal preferences. Meta-analysis posts and Character Breakdowns are also classified under this.

Curatorial on the other hand are fandom interactions made with the explicit purpose of being as close to canon material as possible. This is working out the logic of quirks, for example, or memorizing as much canon content about your favorite villain as possible. These are more cold, hard undeniable facts that lend themselves to the DIRECT VISION the creator/author had while making this media. If you were to ask me my opinion on this, this would be the moment where I tell you that the Curatorial side of fandom is where fan translations should (for the most part) fall under.

What people need to know though is that oftentimes, fan translations do not.

Translating isn't and has never been a one-is-to-one process. There are hundreds of thousands of aspects in a language that make it so that it isn't perfectly translatable. Colloquialisms to sayings to dialects, to just plain-out words that don't have a proper English translation to them! Manga is made by and for a Japanese audience, so obviously in a lot of instances, there will be cultural nuances that will not be understood by anyone who hasn't immersed themselves in Japanese culture/language.

So what does this mean then for fan scanlations?

It means that a vast majority of translators teach themselves to only get the essence of the message. They take the dialogue as they understand it and translate it to something of their interpretation. When language and cultural barriers exist, translators do what they can in order to make it understandable to the general populace. This means making their own executive decisions on how they see a character speaking. In example, if they see Todoroki using very direct and impersonal Japanese--one translator might interpret it to mean that Shouto is stiff and overly formal, while another may see it as him being rude and aloof.

The problem is, translators are fans just like us.

Like with the image Mang posted above, the translator based the usage of curse words off of their understanding of Bakugou's character. The lack of foul language in the original Japanese might have made the translator think "Oh. There just aren't enough Japanese cusses for his character." And took that as an initiative to make Bakugou's lines more colorful and violent because this was working off of the image Bakugou had had at this point in canon.

But Codi! You may cry. Wasn't it proven multiple times that Bakugou prefers concise and short lines? They should've known better!

Yes. Maybe they should've known better. But tell me honestly in your first watch-through of MHA, did you perfectly understand Bakugou's character either? Did you catch the whole 'direct and no flowery language' aspect of his language when you first saw Season 2?

Most people don't. I only really understood this fact after I'd read multiple discussions of it and even double-checked the manga myself. These are the kinds of things that only become noticeable with a sharp eye and some time to scrutiny. But the fact of the matter is that when it comes to fan translations, the clout and recognition are always going to go to who can post the quickest.

Am I excusing erroneous translations? A bit, I guess. It's hard for us to go in and expect translators to catch all these errors before release when we ourselves only catch these errors like 4 months in with a hundred times more canon context than these scanlation groups did at the time of its release.

Still, there are plenty of harms that come with faulty translations.

When a translation is more divorced from the original's meaning than usual, it creates a dissonance between what is actually happening versus what the audience sees is happening. This looks like decently-written character arcs being overruled and rejected by most of the readers because of how 'jarring' and 'clumsy' it seems. By the time translators had caught on to the fact that Bakugou was more than just a ticking time bomb, we were already several steps into showing how significantly he cares for Deku.

The characters affected most by these translation errors are often those with the most subtle and well-written character arcs. A single mistake in how the source material is translated can make or break the international reception of a certain character to everyone who isn't invested enough in them to look deeper into the canon source.

It creates hiccups in plots. Things that seem out of character but really aren't. Going back to MHA in specific, the way that inaccurate translations hurt both the 'curatorial' and 'transformative' parts of the fandom is that people have begun to cite them as proof of the main cast's characterization.

Bakugou and Todoroki are undeniably some of the biggest examples of mistranslation injustices.

Katsuki, in a lot of people's minds, has yet to break out of the 'overly-aggressive rival' archetype box that people had been placing him in since Season 1. One of the most amazing aspects and biggest downfalls of Hori's writing was that at first, nearly every character fit into a very neat stereotype for Shonen Animes (Deku being the talking-no-jutsu sunshine MC, Uraraka being the overly bubbly main girl, Todoroki being the aloof and formal rival). He made the audience make assumptions about everyone's characters and then pulled the rug beneath our feet when he revealed deeper sides of them to play around within canon.

What made this part about Horikoshi's set-up so good though were the many clues we were given from the very beginning that these characters were more than what they acted like. Even from the very first chapters, for example, we learn that Katsuki (as much as he acts like a delinquent) dislikes smoking because it could get him in trouble.

That is just a single instance of MHA's use of dialogue to subtly divert our expectations of a character.

Another example is when they replaced 318's dialogue of the Second User saying that Katsuki "completes" Deku with him saying that Katsuki merely "bolsters" him. This presents a different situation, as that line was meant to reinforce the importance of those two's relationship as well as complete the character foils that MHA is partially centered around. By downplaying their developed connection, it becomes harder for the MHA manga scanlations to justify any future significance these two's words have on each other without mottling the pacing of the story.

AKA, it butchers the plot.

With every new volume, there are dozens and dozens more of these hints and bits scattered around! So many cues and subtle foreshadowing at the trajectory of everyone's character arcs--yet mistranslations or inaccurate scans make it so that we don't notice them. This is what I mean when I said that some character arcs are being done great injustices.

Until now, many people can't accept that Katsuki Bakugou cares for anyone other than himself (much less his rival and MC, Izuku Midoriya), nor can they accept that Todoroki would ever willingly work by Endeavor's side. The bottom-line then becomes that because of people missing heavy bits of characterization that become very plot-significant in the future.

When it comes to the point where people can no longer accept or fit their interpretation of the earlier manga events to what is happening in canon, the point of a translation fails completely because it has lead people to follow an entirely different story.

TL;DR - Fan scans are hard. Translating is hard. Don't get too mad at fan translations, but also maybe don't treat them as the catch-all for how characters truly operate. Thanks.

Side note: DO NOT harass FA for any of these things. FA is actually a pretty legit and okay source for scans (they've been operating since like 2014 ffs), but regardless of that they still don't deserve to get flack for their work. You can have any opinion or perspective of canon that you want, I don't care. These are just my two (more like two million tbh) cents on translations. I suggest reading takes from actual Japanese audiences tbh if you wanna know more about the source material of MHA. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[cathyparrlyn]

TIME FOR A RANDOM HEADCANON POST YEEEEEEEEEE

Six: Fantasy AU

Premise: The queens are all rebels against the Tudor kingdom. They are wanted criminals as escaped wives of King Henry. Anne and Lina were the first two to group together and then decided to get the others to join their force so they could work together to finally put an end to Henry’s kingdom of terror. They then have many gay adventures together.

Aragon: a priestess from the church of Stanlicia (cause Alicia is the god of gay nirvana, no I don’t take criticism). Don’t let the holy woman vibe fool you though, she might focus on her bible, but she also is not afraid to drop kick any fucker who comes remotely close to her in any threatening manner. Aragon, although the only human of the group, is well known as the one you should not fuck with. She is the leader of the group, seeing as she is the only one who can read a map and not get distracted by colorful flowers or ancient ruins *insert Cathy and Kat feeling attacked in the background*. She has stupendous charisma and leadership skills, knowing when to be assertive and when to be cautious. She is also a distance fighter, rocking a nice bow and arrow set. Her talents are pep talks, singing, persuasion, distance offensive maneuvers, and leadership.

Anne: a fucking elf. What else did you expect? Okay, but seriously? Full on elf, raised from status and privilege, yet heavily burdened by expectations and gender stereotypes. Anne is a free spirit just like how her mother was, and after her mother’s passing she took on her mother’s dream of adventuring the world. She ran away from home with Kitty, never looking back. She is definitely the risk taker of the group, often causing chaos and laughing at their enemies failures. Truly a master of combat and swordsmanship, Anne wields dual swords that she had stolen from Henry. She struggles with magic even though she is an elf, and she is very insecure about the subject. She is also a bit of the flirt of the group, but only genuinely means it when she’s with Cathy. Often at times she can be found asking Cathy to do a spell for some impulsive idea she had. Her skills are sleight of hand, deception, persuasion, seduction, animal handling, combat, and dance.

Jane: a nymph who literally tries to adopt every plant and animal in sight. As long as it’s not among the “civilized” races, to her it has a heart and deserves love. Firm believe in fuck humanity and fuck kids, she’s a proud plant mama. A lover more than a fighter, she is more of the groups support. She has plenty of herbs for healing and knows where to go when in need of food or water, or even direction. She also befriends plenty of animals, so when push comes to shove they defend her. She can also control plants which is pretty badass, she literally used vines to yeet some of Henry’s men off a cliff into the lake once. Anne was so jealous and begged Cathy for a week to give her plant arms so she could be badass like Jane. That was a good day. Her skills are healing, navigation, empathy, nature knowlegde, basic survival skills, among a few others. Out of the group though, she is the worse fighter.

Anna: she is part demon. Demon have been banished and slaughtered for years, their existence is believed noneexistent at this point in time due to the years of war and persecution. Although minor, Anna is well aware of the demon blood that runs through her veins and constantly has to hide her dark magic or else she’ll be ostracized and murdered. It doesn’t matter how much demon blood is inside a person, they have the potential to turn into a full fledged demon, and that is Anna’s greatest fear along with the group leaving her and deeming her a monster. Although her race has dark origins, Anna is one of the most loyal and softest people you’ll ever meet, always caring for the others and doing whatever she can to protect them. She is attached to them. Sir, that is her emotional support found family. Just don’t breathe negatively in Kat’s direction, Anna will hear it and then give you a glare that makes hell seem like a playground. Her expertises are forgotten languages, sleight of hand, and tank battling styles. She is very well trained in hand to hand combat and can kick some major ass with her overwhelming strength (which is totally human and not demon what so ever.... hehehe.)

Kat: she is Anne’s baby cousin and somewhat like an apprentice, also a half elf. She is a dual axe wielder, but also quite the performer and grifter just like her cousin. Her elf nature gives off the image of status, even if she is a magicless elf whom are viewed to be worthless scum. However her human side gives her some trouble and nasty rumors, along with making her a bit more impulsive than most elves (then again, seeing Anne, that might just be the family). She is a very gentle gal when it comes to taking care of others, and she begs for a familiar everyday. Kat has a fascination with history and adventure and is the second best story teller, only falling short to her cousin Anne. More often than not you will catch her singing while she practices her axe swinging. Although small and gentle, don’t mistake her for incompetent and weak unless you want to lose a hand or your head to her axe. She might be baby, but babies don’t take shit from bigots. Her expertises are in history, disguise, music, and sneak attacks.

Cathy: She is a fucking witch, and a badass one at that. She was a gifted magic user since a very young age. While most people are able to unlock and control enough magic around the age of puberty, Cathy was able to manage hers at the age of six. This she was very proud of as her dutiful nature allowed her to learns a galore of spells, potions, and legends through her research and practice. However, it also caused her to have to pick her activation phrase and motion, something that can never be changed, at a young age. Let’s just say, she has regrets and Cathy’s parents knew she was bi since Cathy was six. Anyways, she totally kicks ass. After getting bored of mastering the basic extensive magics, Cathy decided to study mythology and psychology and dove into the dark magics. Although dark magic users are ostracized and in majority of the land illegal, Cathy couldn’t stop herself from falling in love with the subject and becoming a dark mage / witch. Her skills are potion making, knowledge of multiple languages, dark magic, sarcasm, explosions, enhancements, protection, writing, and more. She is one of the most powerful magic users in the land and have a vast knowledge of magic and beings. Now if only she could fucking figure out herself, or at the very least learn how to get a decent amount of sleep.

Thank you to everyone who read this xx

Here is the fantasy picrew I used:

[comrade-meow]

Bad data generates bad research; bad research generates bad treatments; bad treatments generate bad outcomes. The physiological differences between males and females are vast, and stamp their mark on every organ of the human body, not just the genitals and gonads. Ignoring these differences will muddle our data, blur our understanding of physiology, and hinder the discovery of new treatments for diseases. Females are much more likely than males to have autoimmune disorders. Males are more likely than females to develop Parkinson’s disease. Males and females may present with different symptoms preceding a heart attack. Males and females metabolize drugs differently. Blatantly ignoring sex as a variable hobbles the process of scientific inquiry and limits the types of questions that researchers will ask, thereby limiting the answers they get.

About this story: last November I came across some anonymous tweets from a person claiming to be a medical student at an American university where professors were teaching that sex is a social construct. I decided to try to find out if these claims were real, and I contacted the Twitter user, striking up a conversation with “C”. We agreed to meet on a Zoom call, and that C would show me C’s student ID, with their name and the name of the school covered, and that we would then do a written interview. C’s desire for strict anonymity is well founded in my eyes, due to the damage that could be inflicted on C’s career prospects if they were caught speaking to a publication about the ideological lies being peddled and the culture of fear at their institution.

On our thirty minute Zoom call, I met a highly intelligent, critical-minded, and determined young person who was expressing deep concern over the ways that gender identity ideology is distorting the teaching of medicine and the repercussions this may lead to in our next generation of doctors.

C held up their ID so I could see their picture on what was clearly a medical school ID. C told me their school can be categorized as “top tier.”

The irony of using “they/them” pronouns for a single person is not lost on me. I find it interesting that due to the tyranny of gender ideology, I must adhere to one of their tenets and accept the use of the plural pronoun for a single person whose sex I know. But the fact that I have to do this is because any information about C could potentially be enough to raise suspicion (just read their words to understand the climate of intimidation they witness in class everyday), and the knowledge of an individual’s sex is still a crucial identifying feature, no matter what the gender ideologues want us to believe.

C and I agreed that I would offer people on Twitter an opportunity to pose their questions directly and that C would respond in written form. Out of the many responses, the medical student chose what they considered some of the most representative and important of the questions. These are their answers below, beginning with a short message they wanted me to share.

-Sasha White

Thank you, Sasha, for having offered me this valuable opportunity to answer these questions. Before we start, I would like to clarify my stance on basic issues regarding sex and gender identity, so that people can keep these in mind while reading.

Biological sex is not a social construct – male and female are distinct material realities which have significant implications for medical and surgical treatment of many different conditions. These physiological differences are relevant on the levels of clinical practice, research, and policy, and absolutely must be acknowledged in order for physicians to best treat their patients. All patients should be treated with compassion, respect, and high-quality medical care, regardless of their professed gender identity. I remain agnostic as to what it truly means to have a “gender identity”, but will respect the wishes of my future patients in regards to their social presentation and pronouns. I believe that dysphoric adults should be able to pursue transition. Physicians should be aware of relevant aspects of trans healthcare, including hormone therapy and surgery, so that they can better advise trans patients on how medical treatments may impact their gender-related care, or vice versa. It is possible and desirable for us to have a healthcare system which is inclusive and respectful of transgender patients, in a way which does not pretend that biology is arbitrary or merely a social construct. Despite my liberal beliefs, the loudest voices at my institution would falsely accuse me of blowing transphobic dog-whistles, hence my anonymity. This hostile climate is corrosive to an inquiry mindset and critical thinking, and will ultimately be a disservice to the scientific community and to future patients, trans and otherwise.

IDD64 @IDD64 asks: “What happened to “nobody’s saying sex isn’t real”?”

This is actually what compelled me to speak out about this practice in the first place. Well-intentioned non-medical people often assume that medical schools are teaching something like, “Gender identity can be fluid and varied, but biological sex is real, binary, and relevant in medical contexts.” This idea is around five years out of date in the most progressive of institutions. I have been told multiple times in several classes that biological sex is a social construct – not just gender. Granted, I can speak only for my institution, but this change has been frustrating and disturbing to witness.

Robert Woolley @RandomlyBob asks: “Do any of the required textbooks also avoid using those words? If not, might you ask those professors if they think the books are either inaccurate or offensive?”

Our curriculum is constantly subject to revision. Around two-thirds of our written materials have been updated with this new language. For the one-third that has remained out-of-date, our class has received multiple apologetic, itemized emails from course instructors in which they provide corrections, beg for forgiveness and patience, and avow to “do better”. In class, we have been given multiple histories in which the patient’s sex has been deleted, even for cases involving disorders which can manifest differently between the sexes. The words “female” and “male” are being erased and replaced.

Born a space baby @ggynoid asks: “What’s the dynamic like for class participation? Do people start with pronouns? Do people tend to agree, disagree? What’s the female-male ratio in the class typically on these sort[s] of classes?”

When school first began, we were heavily encouraged to include pronouns in our Zoom names and email signatures; around 70-80% of the class did so. Most students and professors would start off verbal introductions with their name and pronouns, though that has subsided since we all have grown to know each other.

A vocal minority of students are loudly in favor of the most extreme aspects of gender ideology, while the majority seem to be vaguely supportive in a nonspecific way. I think that this comes from a mixture of naive goodwill and fear – they are trying to be good allies, and this is the only way they know how. Additionally, it is heavily implied that to ask critical questions, even in a way which is ultimately patient-centered and supportive, is perpetuating bigotry, so they just nod along. A silent minority seems to be secretly skeptical. I have met four or five students who have disclosed to me in private conversation that they disagree with one or more aspects of this dogma but they are hesitant to come forward in group settings. I am sure that more exist, but they are hard to find. None of these people have been transphobic.

The female-male ratio is approximately equal, with slightly more females than males in my class.

David Poole @MrDPoole asks: “Do you think the people telling you these things actually believe it or are they being forced to do it?”

I think that a very small minority of our professors actually believe that male and female bodies are interchangeable with the exception of genitalia and gonads. There are definitely more woke students than woke professors, and the most radical of students are far more radical than the wokest professor. Most of these professors are very fearful of saying the wrong thing, so they delicately couch their language by referring to “XX and XY people” or other such euphemisms, even though that can lead to inaccuracies.

The social consequences for misspeaking are highly magnified, especially when most classes are delivered online (due to the pandemic). Our class has been quietly accused of having a mean streak in regards to social justice. We have had petitions circulated (drafted by few, signed by many) to name, shame, and “hold accountable” various lecturers who used the “wrong” language, to the point of humiliation. One professor broke down crying after a genetics lecture which relied heavily on the use of “male” and “female” by necessity. (Though the lecture also made ample space to talk about transgender and non-binary individuals, this was not enough to appease the critics.) Another professor referred to “pregnant women” rather than “pregnant people” and spent a very uncomfortable few minutes after class abjectly apologizing for having caused offense “by implying that only women can get pregnant”. It was incredibly disturbing to see, for multiple reasons. One, this is based on bad science and zealotry that has the potential to harm patients. Two, the magnitude of the “crime” pales in comparison to the magnitude of the outcry. Three, it is a total inversion of the expected social order to see these physicians —some of whom are literally leading scholars in their field— be reduced to fearful puddles if a student so much as looks at them askance. Keep in mind that these professors are extremely liberal, compassionate, and well-meaning, yet they are turned upon with such venom and verve by the people who they are trying to please.

Chopper @RodeoChopper asks: How are cases presented? Normally the first line is “This is a such and such year old (male/female) with a past medical history significant for…”

Here are some examples of formats I have seen in our coursework:

“This is a 43-year-old woman with ovaries, presenting with …”

“A 3-year-old child, assigned male at birth, not assigned gender as of yet by parents, presenting with …”

“This patient is a 7-year-old child, gendered as a boy by his parents, who …”

“57-year-old woman with testes, here with …”

“A 16-year-old patient (gender non-binary, pronouns they/them) …”

“A 32-year-old woman (she/her/hers) …”

“A 16-year-old patient presents with complaints of …”

Of the myriad problems with this structure, the most concerning is that most of these cases do not accurately identify the sex of the patient, which is crucial in being able to weigh the likelihood of potential diagnoses and treatments. A person’s pronouns are not relevant when deciding to prescribe a particular antibiotic, and at which dose. Additionally, I find it somewhat irritating to be expected to state the obvious for things that are the default of the human experience. We do not say, “This is a 42-year-old woman with both her arms and legs”, although there are certainly women in this world who are missing one or more of their limbs.

MaryWrath @WrathMary asks: “So how are reproductively different bodies described then? How are cardiac arrest and stroke symptoms described, explained and taught as we know now they present differently across the two sexes? There are clearly two bodies in our species so how are the professors acknowledging?”

Organs are referred to by their actual names – penis, testes, vagina, ovaries, breasts. However, referring to patients as male or female is strictly taboo. If there are relevant but subtle sex-specific differences, then they will often be downplayed or ignored altogether. As an example, we were told that the higher risk of heart attacks in men was due only to the presence of testosterone, and not for any other reason, which is patently false. When the differences are utterly impossible to ignore, “male” and “female” will simply be rebranded as “people with testes/ovaries”, “AMAB/AFAB”, or “people with/without Y chromosomes”. My personal favorite is “persons with [testosterone/estrogen] as their primary sex hormone.” Oddly, “man” and “woman” are still used, often with redundant qualifiers (“56-year-old man with testes”).

thames pilgrim @thames_pilgrim asks: “What are the most dangerous medical implications for turning a blind eye to someone’s sex due to a belief that talking about “male” and “female” might offend?”

This is a very important question which should be addressed at the following interrelated levels: clinical practice, research, and public policy.

Clinical practice: Transgender patients who do not disclose their birth sex might be at risk for improper medical treatment. (I have seen a natal female person who identified as a nonbinary man, be suspected of having testicular torsion; this person did not disclose their sex to the physician, which resulted in a delay in their care). Out of fear of being branded transphobic, physicians may not accurately and completely inform trans patients about their sex-specific risk for certain medical conditions. And for all patients, if a poorly-educated doctor is unaware as to how disorders manifest differently between the sexes, then patients can be harmed through the failure to rapidly and accurately diagnose and treat their medical conditions.

Research: Bad data generates bad research; bad research generates bad treatments; bad treatments generate bad outcomes. The physiological differences between males and females are vast, and stamp their mark on every organ of the human body, not just the genitals and gonads. Ignoring these differences will muddle our data, blur our understanding of physiology, and hinder the discovery of new treatments for diseases. Females are much more likely than males to have autoimmune disorders. Males are more likely than females to develop Parkinson’s disease. Males and females may present with different symptoms preceding a heart attack. Males and females metabolize drugs differently. Blatantly ignoring sex as a variable hobbles the process of scientific inquiry and limits the types of questions that researchers will ask, thereby limiting the answers they get.

Policy: Patients who are not transgender may be misled by “inclusive” educational materials and miss out on crucial preventative care. This is especially impactful in women’s health; whether due to language barrier, subpar sex education, or cultural taboo, not every woman will even know that she has a cervix, but she will know that she is female. Additionally, recommendations made by professional medical associations are widely used in clinical practice; if these guidelines are generated based on faulty data, this could negatively impact patients on a wider scale.

However, the most pernicious of possible harms is not the denial of sex; rather, the denial of sex is just one manifestation of a greater problem, which is the corrosion of critical thinking itself. Whatever you call it – this postmodern poison, the triumph of dogma over data – it is fundamentally incompatible with critical thinking, the most powerful all-purpose tool a physician has at his or her disposal. Starting with a conclusion and working backwards, all while twisting the data to fit a narrative, strikes me as more religious than scientific.

Marjorie Hutchins @leakylike asks: “Part of being a doctor is taking on ethical & safeguarding responsibilities[.] Why aren’t medical students challenging something which [could] have health implications for patients?”

Our positions as students are precarious, especially if one is labeled as being on the wrong side of history. Consequences for speaking out can include shunning, being anonymously reported to the school for “remediation”, being informally blacklisted from research and leadership opportunities, and potentially expulsion. Until I have earned my degree and have completed residency, I need to remain anonymous. To do otherwise would be to kill my career before it has even begun, which would also limit my ability to help many more patients in the future.

Although I am very biased, I think it should be on the onus of administration and our tenured professors to stand up against this madness, rather than on lone students to publicly put themselves at risk of debt and ruin. For now, I resist in the small ways that I can; I wish to do so more publicly when I am more secure.

[beeshavethrees]

HEY LOOK it’s an AU I’ve sat on for a couple years and never talked about! This is also probably the *weirdest* AU I’ve ever made. This AU focuses mainly on Alexander and Thomas reincarnating over the years, though other characters sometimes pop up as well. Details below the cut!

Making the photoset small so that it isn’t immediately obvious how rough these little sketches are. I did this in like an hour which is why it’s so sloppy.

Don’t expect anything else from this AU, I just wanted to get it out once.

As stated this is a really weird AU, so I’m going to summarize it in the cleanest way I possibly can.

World setup:

This world relies on three main concepts. The first is that souls have power, and the second is that this power is represented by colors, and the third is that soul magic leads the world.

Souls have power, and this power grows over time. As someone is reincarnated over the years, their soul will continue to grow more and more powerful and refined. Souls can change their power type (explained in the next concept) each time they’re reincarnated, but often trend towards keeping the same or similar power types as those they’ve had in previous lives, or a mix of them.

This power is represented by colors, particularly light or the lack thereof. Magic is defined as two types: white/light (and its components), or black/dark. Someone can not have both types of magic. Dark magic is organic magic, allowing the user to manipulate the natural world. Only a small subset of the population has this magic, and most go into careers related to naturalism or farming. Light magic is inorganic magic (making it essentially limitless), and is held by the vast, vast majority of the population. It is broken down in the color spectrum -- most light magicians aren’t considered as having light magic, but instead have red magic, or blue magic, or so on.

Soul magic leads the world in the form of the High God. As the power of souls grow over time, so does the power of the gods. The High God is little more than a web of scraps of magic, and builds up the basis of the universe and everything within it. Two Lesser Gods are also much later brought into being by this same force of magic, but where the High God is concerned with the cosmos, the Lesser Gods care for the beings within it. The Lesser Gods also pluck individual souls out of the cycle to act as servants and ambassadors who can actively visit humanity to guide it down the path of the Lesser God’s vision. The Lesser Gods can correspond with the High God, but there’s little to be heard by a being in such a grand scale above even the other gods.

Plot basics:

The storyline takes place over thousands of years, and several reincarnations of the cast, but the main focus is on three lives.

One of three: This life takes place while humanity is still only beginning to gain its footing. Magic is in its infancy, and is capable of very little -- and while some regions embrace the natural variation in magic, others detest it. The main cast lives in an area of the latter sort -- a small tribe identifying themselves with their “red” magic is clashing with the “blue” tribe over a small area of land that grows a particular herb that is highly nutritious and thought to have healing properties. The one thing the two tribes agree over is in a legend of people with every magic type, “light” magicians, who are incredibly powerful and are sent by fate to lead tribes to prosperity. Both tribes also identify their affiliations by painting stripes under their eyes with their color.

(There are other tribes in the area -- many of the other cast members live in the green tribe, and Lafayette is of the dark tribe to the south, but they don’t have much standing on the plot.)

Thomas is the son of a the blue tribe’s leader and is particularly gifted with magic to the point where some people claim his family must descend from a light magician. He hates the pressure put on him to step up and lead, or to use his powers to defeat the red tribe.

Alexander is from the red tribe, raised by his mother -- his father is unknown to him, though his mother claims she found his father one day while out foraging, brought him back to the village to tend to his wounds, and fell in love until the day he ran away again. Alexander is a typical red magician, but often will go out alone into the woods to attempt to push his powers to the limits, with the excuse that he forages while away. One day, Alexander leaves to forage, but becomes caught in a heavy thunderstorm. Disoriented, he stumbles through the underbrush until he comes to a messy trail and follows it.

Thomas is the one to find him collapsed on the trail, bunches of the herb Alexander collected in his small bag. The rain washed away Alexander’s paint -- not knowing who this stranger could be, Thomas hauls him back and takes the herb from Alexander’s back to give to the healers.

When Alexander wakes up -- indoors, clothes dry -- he’s approached by Thomas, who introduces himself. Alexander is at first terrified, knowing that a member of Thomas’ tribe wouldn’t hesitate to kill a member of the red tribe. But Thomas has been working on a plan: he doesn’t want all this pressure on him to do this and do that as the heir to the only family descending from a light magician; instead, he slyly mentions that he heard legend of light magicians appearing to aid those in need. Alexander jumps on the opportunity, claiming that of course he’s a light magician, and of course he’ll help Thomas’ community. Anything to stop them from stabbing him then and there, he supposes. Thomas thanks him, hands him a bowl of broth made from the healing herbs, and their relationship develops from there.

Alexander never does find out his father was a light magician.

But other folks find out he’s a red magician -- and before he can escape back to his own tribe, he’s killed.

Two of three: Thousands of years later, magic is no longer a faint power only a few can properly utilize. Instead, it’s well-known and spread through the population, which isn’t tribal any longer, but is instead a relatively highly-developed interlocked society spanning the globe.

No longer are people defined by a single color -- many people descend from a mixture of many colors, and instead are simply inclined towards one over the other, though some stronger than others. Light magic has also become far more common, though it’s rare to see someone who can naturally use it; instead, people with great magical affinity will be invited to schools of higher education where they are trained.

Thomas is in his second year studying with one such school. His parents both attended it, and are ecstatic for Thomas to join it as well, though he’s less interested. He’s initially invited to the school to study light magic, but during the first week of orientation he finds out: hey! He hates light magic and isn’t inclined towards it at all! And instead he runs off to study blue magic. It just...feels better.

Alexander comes into the school a year after Thomas on a full scholarship. He comes from a far more unfortunate background, but shows incredible magic potential. So, a light magician it is! Where the other magics at the school dress however they want, work on projects all over the common spaces, wander the halls...to be a light magician is to be perfect, and that’s exactly what he wants. He dresses in the perfect white uniform, he sticks his nose up at other magics, and his class -- only one, all day, every day -- is set with the other 99 students in his class in an auditorium.

Only...light magic isn’t all it’s cracked out to be. Light magic is no longer the raw force of power it was; instead, students are encouraged to refine and control it if they want to use it. Light magic is pulled from the soul and spun into a string, then woven on a loom into the desired shape. First-years are still learning how to weave, so they work on projects as a community -- each student of the 100 is brought up to a stage during class, spins a single string, then sets it on the loom and sits down. The lecturer then weaves them all together. Though first-years are forbidden from meeting with the upper years, rumor says upper years get to weave their own magic, and go on to work at the greatest government-run magi-tech facilities in the world.

But Alexander feels off. He doesn’t like the clothes, and he doesn’t like the culture. Within the first month, the lecture becomes dull: there’s no notes to take, every demonstration is slow, and he’s terrified that every time it’s his turn to come to the stage, he’ll mess up his weave. Not only that, but weaving doesn’t feel...right.

One day he runs into a group of blue students while going to the restroom during lecture. They’re encouraged not to leave during lecture, but he’s falling asleep and has to get out of that uncomfortable chair. And he realizes...the blue students are using their magic freely, and already doing amazing things with their powers, not spending all their days in that awful lecture hall.

And just like that, Thomas convinces him to leave the light magic program. Alexander becomes a red magician, but something never does sit right with him about what was happening in those lectures.

Until it comes out that weaving light magic requires depositing a bit of one’s soul along with it. Light-weaving magicians will all burn out eventually, and while the soul will regenerate come their next reincarnation, their magic is stolen from them in their current incarnation.

Chaos breaks out among the magicians of the school. A microcosm of revolution between those who are learned and powerful and those who are plentiful and ready to throw all they have at it.

Alexander is killed in the chaos.

Three of three: Another several thousand years pass. It’s by this time that the Lesser Gods have fully formed, and light-weaving technology has surpassed all else to the point where humanity is post-scarcity -- cities are rebuilt for beauty, natural spaces carved out, portals and magic commonly integrated. Everyone has everything they could want, they only need to find their place and personal happiness.

Thomas is plucked out of the reincarnation cycle by the Lesser Gods; he’s brought into being as an adult with a strictly light-blue uniform and a purpose. He mainly takes correspondence and delivers messages, seeks out additional souls that would be good to be made into a being such as himself (a ”unit”), as well as various other duties assigned at random, such as setting things up if another unit will be doing things down in the world.

He doesn’t personally recommend Alexander’s soul be pulled, but he doesn’t mind when he’s assigned to wake Alexander up. Alexander is another unit, but this time an enforcer with a pink uniform: or, white-red, to be specific. An enforcer is more than a passive messenger -- they’re powerful, strong, and are meant to cleanly eliminate those who would destroy the perfect society humanity has built.

He and Alexander work next to each other for a time while Alexander is awaiting orders. One day, Alexander is sent off on a mission: some random crazy person has been trying to build an artificial god. Of course, that won’t fly, so he’s off to eliminate them and destroy anything remaining of their project.

But in his absence, Thomas starts to realize that he’s...lonely. He’s excited when he’s given his next assignment to go to Earth for some silly routine work, and realizes that he doesn’t...really want to go back. James is the final nail in the coffin for him: finally, someone else who likes him! They just have to disappear and pop off elsewhere, ideally avoiding enforcers, and they’ll be off scott free!

Shame that Alexander finds him.

(The funny thing about Thomas being a servant is that he does have some powers -- ones that happen to counteract all of Alexander’s offensive abilities as an enforcer. Making it a very awkward sort of manhunt. Units were never made to hunt each other, or even defect at all!)

And with each escape, every thwarted plan, Alexander cracks a little more. And eventually, when Thomas extends a hand -- maybe out of pity, maybe out of love, maybe just because it’s what he’s always done in all their lives -- Alexander takes it.

And they run free.

And that’s it for this AU! I’m never writing for it ever again. Goodnight.

[xoxoannimuxoxo]

HOTTEST TAKES OF ALL HOT TAKES

You know what is wrong with RWBY? 

I tried hard to think about why the show’s narrative/fandom’s criticism/fandom’s defense on its criticism bothered me so much and I came up with a reason.

The issue with RWBY and how their main characters are treated is that it’s completely overflowing with “minor mentality”. 

No offense to all minors out there; if you’re a minor and don’t do what I’m about to bring up then I’m not talking about you. 

Even though as of now Ruby and Oscar are the only characters in the cast that are still technically minors, the vast majority of the protagonists are in fact adults.

Young adults but still adults.

Since Volume 6 the protagonists got this mindset that the “adults” of the show, the REAL grown folk, have failed them thus it’s up to them to make all the calls cause they must be right cause they’re young and know everything. 

Ok fair enough that’s to be expected in an action show about kids. Except the show CONSTANTLY picks and chooses when the main characters’ age and maturity should be relevant to how responsible they are. 

The main characters, especially Ruby, are entitled to make all these big crazy decisions without considering the drawbacks or any “adults” outputs but when it’s time for them to face the backlash of their actions, the narrative want them to revert back to being babies in the eyes of Remnant. 

It’s literally minors going around social media, giving away all their takes, getting into conflicts with adult users, weave into adult spaces, yet as soon as they start getting negative attention for it they wanna pull up the minor card like “Why are you attacking me, a minor, as an adult?”

No y’all didn’t want to stay in a child’s place so you can’t just go back to a child’s place cause it sucks being treated grown

That’s what I have to say about RWBY’s characterization and the fandom’s mentality as well as what I honestly think is a serious issue in various platforms.