#he needed to unlearn propaganda

[iamthepulta]

I've actually been scrounging for an ending to Ellenville, because it's hard to actually 'end' a tragedy with something that feels complete, and that last post hit me with yeah, that's right. Because we live in a world where blood is protection and the cost of safety; and it fits in so neatly with the themes of death as stasis and longevity.

The 'end' is the regulations in place. Not even watching it happen, but success. This is The Pushcart War but epic fantasy.

[theygender]

I keep seeing this post about nuclear power on my dash where someone pointed out that nuclear is dangerous in part because the radioactive waste it leaves behind will outlast everything else, and then some libertarian responded with "that's not how radioactive decay works you scientifically ignorant moron" and the first person immediately rolled over with "I'm sorry I guess I still have some learning to do uwu" and then the nuclear dude's friend made some masturbatory reply complimenting them on accepting defeat gracefully. And it's pissing me off, because the first person was objectively correct. Do you know what the most common high-level waste left behind by nuclear reactors is? Uranium. And do you wanna know what the half life of uranium is? It's 4.5 billion years. That's longer than life has existed on earth. 4.5 billion years ago the earth was a ball of magma that hadn't even dreamed of creating bacteria or fucking water yet. Yes, uranium decays, but by the time it's decayed into lead (after decaying through 7 other radioactive stages first) the earth as we know it will be a dramatically different place. Humans may not exist anymore. The earth itself may not exist anymore for all we know. That is how long your goddamn radioactive decay takes

[geegers22]

I’ve seen lots of conversation on here about Zutara shippers opinions on aang and mai and i thought I’d give my point of view.

I want to start by saying that I think there should be more of a distinction between disliking a character because they are a bad person and disliking a character because they are written badly. With that being said, I can confidently say that, with the material of the main ATLA show, I dislike Aang and Mai because they are badly written characters. Meaning, if their arcs were properly finished, I would have no problems with them. This brings me to another topic of how I don’t really ‘hate’ characters who are bad people if they’re well written but that’s a conversation for another post.

I need to point out that I didn’t start disliking Aang and Mai until they had their arcs undermined when Kataang and Maiko became canon. With the arcs they were going on, they had so much potential to be really interesting and I enjoyed their personalities.

When it comes to Aang, I had no problem with him as a character until season 3 part 2 when I started to realize that his world view (which is flawed based solely on the fact that he is young and there is no way he’s going to have a nuanced pov) was not going to be challenged. Aang should have had to give up katara. Aang should not have just had everything handed to him with the lion turtle and the pointy rock.

Then there’s the southern raiders which I would argue, if Aang’s arc had been completed, would not illicit as many conversations and arguments about it as it currently has. Because his actions in that episode make sense (Sokkas don’t really but again-that’s another story) because he’s a kid. This episode should have been a big decider of his change in worldview. The problem is that the creators decided his flaws didn’t exist and that he was perfect. (At 12 years old?!?!?)

Then there’s Mai. She’s a much smaller character but that doesn’t mean she deserves less of an arc. Mai is a character whose personality I love! (I’m all for gloomy depressed women!) There’s two ways Mai’s character could have developed, and I think both options are great, the problem is that Bryke decided to go in neither direction.

On the one hand, Mai could have been a representation of unlearning the propaganda she was taught in the fire nation throughout her whole life. I think this direction would make Maiko more believable, although I still don’t think they are a good couple because their personalities create a toxic dynamic and Mai’s story with Zuko is meant to represent that toxicity.

The second option would be to have her views not change, like we see in the show, and have her not get back together with Zuko. This is the more interesting path in my opinion because it’s more realistic. I don’t think the problem with Mai’s arc lies with her personal views of the fire nation, more so with her relationship with Zuko. As we have it in the show, Mai’s views don’t change. Therefor, it doesn’t make sense for her character or for Zuko’s for them to get back together like nothing ever happened.

When it comes down to it. Both Aang and Mai had their arcs sabotaged because the creators rejected Zutara. Even without Zuko and Katara getting together these were the wrong decisions. Both characters had potential to be well written, but in the end, the creators chose the path didn’t allow that to happen because they just couldn’t kill their darling. (Kataang)

Sorry for rambling, this is kind of just my take on the whole “Zutara shippers hate Aang and Mai” take.

[tepkunset]

I've seen a lot of people respond to Taika Waititi's anti-Palestinian stance with "but he's an Indigenous man! How can he say such a thing!" So like, let me actually answer that: Because being a minority does not exempt you from racism against other minorities. And no one is immune to Israel's state-enforced propaganda, especially considering how long it's been built and spread. I'm saying this as an Indigenous person who had to do a lot of unlearning and then learning myself (which doesn't really ever stop btw) as part of decolonizing my own understanding of Israel's tyranny against Palestine.

Waititi, like many others who are also minorities that have signed the same letter supporting Israel, have chosen to put aside their identities and critical thinking skills in favour of pleasing oppressors. And it happens more than you'd probably like to think, because unfortunately that's part of colonization. And I'm not saying we shouldn't hold them accountable! On the contrary, I think they more than anyone need to be taught that appeasing to colonizers is a dead-end, and if they really can't find it within themselves to think of others, then consider the fact that they too will suffer eventually as well. I'm only saying where it's coming from.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

man i saw this and i was gonna write a whole post abt how maybe the problem for these ppl isn’t that ed wasn’t punished enough (even tho that’s what they say) maybe it’s that it’s a poorly-executed redemption arc but they don’t know how to verbalize that.

and that would actually make sense bc ed doesn’t have a redemption arc in s2. bc the show does not think ed needs redeeming. even at his worst and most harmful to the people around him the show is deeply sympathetic towards him and gives us sooooo much screentime dedicated to showing us that everything ed does he only does bc he’s hurting. which doesn’t excuse any of what he does but it does shift the narrative framing away from an actual redemption arc, where a character needs to like, learn why the things they did were bad and try to make amends. but ed never needed to learn anything, he knew his actions were unacceptable and that’s why he did them. he was trying to be the most horrific monster he could be in hopes that someone would get sick of him and kill him.

so then i went looking for an old post i wrote abt redemption arcs to talk abt why ed’s s2 arc probably reads like a poorly-written redemption arc for ppl who are expecting an actual redemption arc and. i change my mind actually. because “is this character willing to accept that their behavior is harmful, to make amends for their past behavior if at all possible, and to try and become a better person?” yeah we see ed do all of that tho.

Accept Their Behavior Is Harmful: i mean aside from the fact that ed knew this the whole time, we also see ed talking to fang about how guilty he feels for how he treated the crew. but like this isn’t zuko slowly unlearning an entire lifetime of fire nation propaganda, ed doesn’t need a season(s)-long arc abt this. He Already Knows

Make Amends For Their Past Behavior: like literally the whole thing with getting pushed off the ship!! wearing a sack and a collar at the crew’s behest!! he’s very much trying to make amends!!!!!

Try To Become A Better Person: there’s a lot i could talk abt here but just on a surface level, he’s trying to quit his job where he attacks and steals from random innocent ppl for a living. like objectively that job does not make you a good person. and also that job makes him miserable and when his mental health is in the shitter sometimes he hurts other ppl in his efforts to hurt himself so like!!! he is very much trying to not be the kind of person who forces crew members to fight to the death anymore!!!!

so yeah, thinking this was abt a “poorly-written redemption arc” was giving these ppl too much benefit of the doubt lol they just want to see ed grovel and suffer for an entire season, which was never going to happen lmao. the show thought izzy had more to apologize for than ed and that’s why ed’s apology was one sentence and izzy’s apology was a whole speech on his deathbed. the show thought izzy needed more punishment for his actions than ed did and that’s we see izzy get put through the physical ringer in the beginning of s2 and ed getting beat to death by the crew happens off-screen. ppl can argue all they want abt how ed did so much worse than izzy but at the end of the day the show disagrees with those takes and that’s why it treats these characters the way it does. die mad about it.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Anyway,Hobie is literally (audhd and) a minor and him going to pubs was underaged drinking because he's Spiderpunk so he dosen't care about the law and it's normalized in poc cultures for teenagers to drink anyway-source:I'm dominican and i was offered beer as young as 14-and he's 'mature' for his age because he has the near universal adultification trauma black minors go through.This isn't up for debate and the only reason y'all keep turning it into one is you don't wanna unlearn antiblack propaganda Hobie was written to teach you to learn as much as he was written to teach you about wider punk culture which this in of itself includes in children's rights and black culture and extends to your refusal to let Hobie be lovable over being fuckable.You can't 'interpret Hobie as 18-20' because nobody on the crew said him being an adult is an option but they DID call him a teenager and a 'boy',not a man,in every official source and i'm gonna need proof y'all got for adult Hobie with how much you yap about it

[splatoonpolls]

SPLATOON OC BATTLE ROUND 3 BATTLE 6

Sicily Dyerize by @ghosthoodie vs Jett by @calicocoffee101

BACKSTORY/PROPAGANDA

SICILY

There's a lot but basically she's born and grew up in an orphanage and joined the military as Agent 3 because the only thing she knew about her family was that it was military related. Her life goes on and after Octo Expansion she learns that all this time she's been Marie's half-sister and (unbeknownst to her) was given up at birth. After a few years she's happily together with her wifey Kaity and is dealing with the separation with them both being in totally different campaigns :)

JETT

Some very unorganized notes and ramblings about what I have for him so far under the cut

So basics first, Jett is a college dropout (unsuccessfully) trying to start a band, she's working grizzco on the side until that gets going, and rooms with her best friend. Some loose concepts and facts ;

Jett has some Mexican ancestry and is fairly fluent in Spanish

His design aesthetic uses alt/punk aesthetics and I plan in going into visual kei in the future

She did have a loose band music group in college but they lost contact when she dropped out and realised they weren't really serious about it

He's made a couple demos and isn't very confident in his skill yet, so nobody's actually heard them

Jett's also pretty bad at singing but he's working on it<3 until then he's looking out for a lead vocalist

He plays guitar and knows a little on the drums and trumpet

She tries really hard to look cool and match the music and style she's going for but can't stand acting detached

Jetts birthday is 19th of July, her favourite animals are crabs, and she loves cold food

He's very energetic and enjoys socializing, but also kind of flighty, I think he has abandonment issues

Jett grew up somewhere between country and city, she had a fairly normal happy childhood, but did feel uneasy about some of her friends; being obliviously brash, energetic, and loud, meant that often he was described as 'too much' and his friends didn't really humour her antics. As such he tempered down a bit from age 14 to adult, and is trying to unlearn the need to suppress himself.

[stromuprisahat]

If Zoya is so stupid and useless, why was she chosen as one of the Darkling's main people?

Where?

Because in books, she was strong, yet ordinary Squaller. Perhaps promising, but hardly highly ranking, no matter what she likes to believe.

“You look amazing, Zoya! How are you?” gushed Marie. “We missed you so much!” squealed Nadia. “I missed you, too,” Zoya said. “It’s so good to be back at the Little Palace. You can’t imagine how busy the Darkling’s kept me. But I’m being rude. I don’t think I’ve met your friend.”

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 11

What stings, is that everyone knows it. It shows, when Zoya attacks Alina. If she were SOMEONE by herself, wouldn't at least one person note that?

to Ivan “... Please tell me you were there when he [the Darkling] told Zoya she’d be leaving Os Alta.” “I was.” “And?” I urge as we head down the hill to the birch grove. I’m a greedy thing, but how can I be expected to resist this gossip? Ivan shrugs, scowling. “He just made it clear that she’s replaceable and Starkov isn’t.”

The Tailor

Marie rolled her eyes. “She can’t bear the idea of anyone being the Darkling’s favorite.” I laughed and then winced at the stab of pain in my side. “I’m hardly his favorite.” “Of course you are. Zoya’s powerful, but she’s just another Squaller. You’re the Sun Summoner.”

Shadow and Bone- Chapter 11

She's rash, and to lead or bear considerable amount of responsibility, she'd need to unlearn that, start thinking about others and most importantly about impact of her (in)action. It might be why she was stationed near the Fold. I've theorised about it a few months back- it's the ideal position for her. She's (partly) answerable for the skiff and people on it, but danger comes in predictable form of volcra. It's the perfect place to learn what she's lacking.

She's barely out of school, she lacks experience- why would the Darkling give her important position, when he has hundreds of people to choose from? What's "main" about the person, who's driving a skiff?

Now where did the notion she's the Darkling's super special girl come from?

“Zoya Nazyalensky, who was one of the Darkling’s most favored soldiers.”

Yuri Vedenen; King of Scars- Chapter 9

That's an information coming from religious fanatic, several years after the Darkling's death AND merry application of current regime's propaganda.

Have you ever noticed how there's not a single mention of Ivan post-his death? We don't even know his surname. Aside from him, there's not one (1) named Grisha from his side.

It's easy to be remembered as the favourite, when you erase existence of anyone else.

Even in her memories, she's among the promising ones, yet not favoured, not hand-picked.

“... I was the youngest of the group and so proud to be chosen to go. I was half in love with him already. I lived for the rare moments he appeared at the school.” She shook her head. “I was the best, and I wanted him to see that … The older Grisha were all in contention for the amplifier. It was up to them to track the tigers and see who would earn the right to the kill. ...”

King of Scars- Chapter 27

The interest is one-sided, Zoya draws the Darkling's attention by stealing three amplifiers from other Grisha, her recklessness and short-sightedness, not her capability.

The closest we get to some sort of recognition, is in Aleksander's chapter in RoW, when he points out her deficiencies and admits some of it made her work hard.

And if Zoya ever learned to harness the power she’d been given? She was still vulnerable, still malleable. Her anger made her easy to control. When this war was done and the casualties counted, she might once more be in need of a shepherd. She had been one of his best students and soldiers, her envy and her rage driving her to train and fight harder than any of her peers. And then she’d turned on him.

Rule of Wolves- Chapter 26

I have one (rather big) objection- Zoya has never been a good soldier. She failed twice on rather important occasions- the amplifier and Alina incidents-, proving her self-control is lacking. That rage he's for some reason praising here, makes her dangerous to those peers she's trying to outdo.

But hey- he barely crawled back from the dead, his mental skills won't be at their best- why would he plan to manipulate Zoya without a single mention of Juris? The Saint isn't gonna disappear any time soon (if ever), and he's hardly Aleksander's fan.

[twothpaste]

thinking about how the hell porky managed to get a few hundred people to go along with being timetravel-relocated to a post-apocalyptic island, and why they just go about their daily lives as if nothing's horrifying or strange about that. writing it off as "he ran every single person through the mind control goo in the nice person hot springs" feels too easy to me, and less interesting, and kinda less meaningful too. i like considering all the forms of coercion that might've gone into it...

i think some of the ordinary civilians porky brought to populate the islands were brain-gooped, but others didn't necessarily have to be. they may be wholly in their right minds, just deeply misled about their displaced predicament. porky's probably got all kinds of stories he spins for them. kidnapping people who were traveling to a new place anyways, and convincing them they've arrived at their destination. coaxing people with promises of lucrative new careers or cheap real estate. some scientists might've been bribed with his wacky sci-fi technology, and promises they'd get to work on revolutionary futuristic projects. in dcmc's case, he scavenged a shitty indie band that couldn't find success, and promised them fame and fortune. etc. porky probably particularly targeted people who were down on their luck (and people who might not be missed...). those who're grateful for their newfound circumstances find little reason to question or protest.

i also imagine some pigmasks were more "brainwashed" than others. like? some of 'em were freaked out and/or rebellious when porky had them time warped to nowhere, and had to be dunked into the "hot springs" to be re-conditioned into serviceable soldiers. but others were easier to control via force, manipulation, and lies - no mind control goo necessary. and some (though perhaps a small few) were content to follow his orders without any coercion, for reasons of their own. happy just to feel important & powerful, and to push others around, unperturbed by the void of any coherent ideology or purpose.

i've got a hc that porky's most trusted soldiers & scientists were told a load of propaganda that goes like this: this really is the future, and humans really did destroy the world. porky's trying to rebuild society from the ground up, and he needs your help. all his efforts on nowhere are secretly a last-ditch effort to save humanity from itself. he pulled only the bravest and noblest souls from the timeline to help him with this task, so really, it's an honorable duty he's bestowed upon you. but y'gotta keep it a secret - if the riff-raff find out, it'll be anarchy in the streets 🫢

there's probably this awkward mish-mash where some folks can clearly remember their families & former lives, and wholly believe they'll return to them one day. or even that their loved ones remain alive and well, that they're still in the same time period, just halfway across the globe. while others have mysterious amnesia, or fabricated memories of serving master porky all their lives. everyone's got different levels of conditioning going on, different reasons for playing along, and different struggles in unlearning it later.

[hydropyro]

OC Smash or Pass

Thanks for the tag @octarinecat!

Rules:

Include physical descriptions or pics, and propaganda. The “other” label can be used for “sexuality misalignment” (ie: oc is femme and you’re gay, vice versa or you aren’t into smashing but a specific thing you wanna do with them like perhaps hug or study them under a microscope idc).

Alakvyr, Drow Noble — Lolth Sworn Fighter, Cleric of Kelemvor, Penitent to Abdirak (Loviatar)

Stats:

Short King: 5’5”/165

Gender: Male

Sex: Cis

Pronouns: He/Him

Age: ~80

Sexuality: Pan

Pros:

Confident

Ambitious

Skilled fighter

Noble blood

Good heart

He does his best

Multitalented (has served several gods)

Ropebunny

Up for anything (in bed)

Cons:

Menzoberranzanan Drow/little bit racist

Cult indoctrinated (unlearning)

Selfish/self-centered (not in a bad way he’s just oblivious to the needs of others)

Not very cuddly

Brat

Requires a firm hand

No direction/no plan for future

Lost puppy energy

I’ll tag @ankhegs-in-my-salad, @m-u-n-c-h-y, @firlionemoontav, @dark-and-kawaii

[lettermanjack]

Welcome back to some more 2am II headcannons with Letter (the slightly more angsty addition!) (Not all of these are sad just a good portion of em are lol.) (These are my personal headcannons, if you don't vibe with em that's fine just lemme be angsty in peace/lh)

- Mephone has undiagnosed Autism and Alexithymia. (because even robots can have a little yippee in em dagnabbit/j/lh) As a child Mephone watched how reality TV show hosts acted, saw how many people loved them online, then shaped his personality around that. (Y'know that sarcastic and sometimes rude Mephone) After the show ended Mephone found himself at a loss on how to act considering he now lives with all of his contestants and acting like a TV host with no show to host doesn't rly work. Safe to say Mephone has had identity crisis after identity crisis over that. He's slowly getting better at it tho and is learning how to unmask around people he trusts (mainly OJ, Test Tube, and Bot)

- Trophy and Mephone are both undiagnosed autism buddies :] (RotaryGold propaganda-/j)

- During her alliance with Taco, Mic unfortunately became very used to bottling up her emotions and not communicating what's wrong. Mic naturally posseses a lot of empathy and feels her emotions very strongly. All this repression definitely tanked her emotional stability a bit. She'll subconsciously bury her emotions until they become overwhelming, which can happen quite easily. Knife is extremely familiar with this type of behavior and is working on helping her unlearn it. Pickle may not be as experienced as Knife is, but he'll always be there if she needs a good cry.

- Cheesy grew up in the foster care system for around 5 years or so before getting adopted when he was around 12-13. Despite getting adopted, he never really felt truly "at home" until he started living at Hotel OJ. He loves his parents, but the hotel is and always will be his true home. Trophy and Tissues make him feel safe and secure, a feeling he hasn't felt for most of his childhood. He loves them dearly :]

- Tissues has a deaf therapy cat named Casper. She is, however, affectionately nicknamed "Achoo" by Trophy and Cheesy. She is an all white Turkish Angora who was born deaf and screams to remind Tissues to take his medicine and also to feed her lol. She is very spoiled and the entire hotel loves her to bits.

Aight time to slep NSNDNNF

[blond-jerk-tourney]

Blond Sweetheart Tourney: Round 1, Poll 50

Propaganda from submitters Under Cut

Cinderella

She had a shitty life but she was still kind. And she made clothes for the mice and birds!

"Have Courage and Be Kind" She lives a hard life that she did not deserve because her step mother had no affection for her. Cinderella makes friends with the mice (and birds) and treats herself gently in the cruel house. And she isn't expecting more than one night, but she shines and the Prince demands more for her. In the 1950 and 2015 she and the Prince are so cute and perfect, then Cinderella 2 and 3 she is so supportive of Anastasia

Dave Strider

he explicitly starts off as a douche but also he's 13 so like, ykno. it's about the JOURNEY. the GROWTH. the unlearning the extreme-to-the-point-of-abusive toxic masculinity he was raised with. so yeah at first he's a dick but he does love his friends and more than anything loves to joke around and make stuff to amuse himself and others. anyways, yadda yadda three years or so pass in canon and he's just affectionate and adorable. he's getting snuggling with his alien boyfriend(unofficial?) and giving out hugs and fist bumps left and right. he's getting flustered when he meets his bff from online for the first proper time irl then almost immediately tries to have an awkward heart to heart convo about compulsive heterosexuality. he is canonically described as adorable by others and occasionally himself multiple times. by nature he's a thoughtful, creative, and kind of passive goofball who hates fighting, but, as required: will die over and over for his friends (time travel shite), or get into in-depth feelings jams to talk them down from an anxiety spiral, or just clown around and make them laugh. all the things an adolescent superhero/god might need, ykno? also, is a massive mamas boy pretty much immediately after meeting his "mom" (alternate universe teen version of his biological mother who he never even met in the first place). because he's a BABY BIRD. and he's FULL of LOVE.

it's been a while since I read homestuck to be honest and I'm sure in the wider consciousness sweetheart isn't the first word that would come to people's minds for him but trust me. he is. he's my perfect lad, a puppy

[edelgarfield]

I'm so glad last night's episode went the way that it did. I'm still not the biggest Orym fan & he still needs to apologize for a lot of his past behavior. But after seeing his interaction with the Wildmother & having Liam FINALLY deconstruct some of his assumptions about the world, I feel SO much less frustrated with the game & story as a whole. Now that some of my trust in Liam/the narrative has been restored I can actually appreciate some of Orym's previous failures as they are.

Like I don't think it's a coincidence that Orym unlearned some of the propaganda he'd been fed, then had an extremely manipulative communion with the Wildmother, and then the group FINALLY got to have the conversation they needed to have about the gods & Orym finally listened and allowed the others to say their piece without guilting anyone.

Like I think it was a long time coming and it should've happened before now, but I'm so glad we finally got there and I'm hopeful to see what the future brings, especially since the others seem to be less pro-god than they let on with Ludinus.

[fireemblems24]

Scarlet Blaze Ch 15 (Final)

Last one, everyone! After this, I finally get to play Spiritfarer which I got on . . . Christmas 2022.

NARRATION

Last chapter. Finally. Killing so many people in this route is really awful. Especially since you just . . . don't in the other two.

I think the last chapter will take place at the monastery.

Oh, great, does this mean I have to protect Bernie's dad in this route? I hope Rhea kills him, like gets this badass cut scene where she cuts him down for perverting her faith by using it as a propaganda tool.

So TWSITD showed up and is attacking Rhea and the Empire.

They're mostly after the "beasts" (aka Nabateans? Or humans?)

I wish this meant that we teamed up with Rhea, but we know Edelgard would team up with TWSITD first.

Catherine and Rhea got a cool moment together though.

Yep, we have to protect Count Varley, gross.

MAP

No side battles! This final chapter will be super quick, which is nice.

I'm VERY curious what the Golden Deer students say after Claude's moment last chapter lamo.

And if any Lions mention Sylvain :((((

OMG, Ignatz is savage. He only cares about painting the battle. No mention of Claude.

Yuri wishes he could kill Varley instead of save him. Good for him. He really feels more suited for AG/AM/SS/VW than SB/CF/GW.

Well, at least Mercedes mentioned Sylvain. And Ingrid and Annette. Saying they died for what they believed in and admires them for it, since she could never.

Poor Ashe is having a crisis. Still had no idea wtf he's doing in the Empire's war camp. Honestly, this game made him so much more interesting.

Linhardt also has no fucking clue why he's here. I swear he does nothing but complain every map (in a funny way) and wish he was doing literally anything else.

Lorenz is more concerned about his future bc of Claude than worried about him. Man, guy really has no one loyal to him lol.

DOROTHEA & CASPAR C

I swear I did a much better job getting supports in GW and AG.

Caspar has a bunch of books, and Dorothea's horrified by the idea that he'll use them in training.

Caspar plans to read them. Dorothea teases him. Apparently Lin made similar comments.

Dorothea makes him promise not to hurt the books. A woman after my own heart.

Caspar's like, did you know my dad reads! Dorothea's like, yeah . . . how do you think he got his role if he didn't.

Dorothea tells a story about an unlearned commander who studied strategy in books and improved to become legendary.

The only stupid part of this is thinking you can read and understand complicated books in 5 days and become an expect in 5 days. For once, Caspar was the smart one being like, uh, I need more time.

MERCEDES & LYSITHEA B

This support is SB locked, but neither characters are Eagles. It may be the only support like that in the game. But, hey, new Mercie content, I'll take it!

Mercedes comes across Lysithea in the kitchen, trying and failing to cook.

The fruits she wanted to use are moldy though. Lysithea has an idea to use something else for the fruit - a sugar syrup.

Lysithea has dedicated her time to learning how to cook because of how good Mercedes' cooking was, so she credits Mercie for the sugar syrup, which she learned because of that.

Baking also helped Lysithea learn the importance of taking breaks.

Mercie calls her a wizened old grandma, lol.

They arrange a tea party.

SHEZ & LINHARDT A

It starts with Linhardt saying they haven't learned anything about Shez's powers. I wonder how funny this sounds if you get it after the special chapters.

Linhardt says it's find because the war is almost over, so there's less need and chance for the powers to go out of control.

Shez pretty consistently wants to continue working as a mercenary after the battle.

He also seems to have no desire to stay in Enbarr lol.

Linhardt wants Shez as a personal bodyguard. Honestly, not a bad choice.

Then Linhardt says something like "spending the rest of my life with some random bodyguard" and then makes an excuse to leave. so he wants to stick with Shez for life. It's kind of sweet.

EDELGARD & PETRA A

Their only support

Edelgard comes across Petra praying to Bigid gods. In Brigid they pray in nature rather than in churches in Fodlan.

Edelgard asks Petra why she's risking her life in the war because it's bad for Brigid.

So Brigid will only be freed if Petra remains alive.

To be fair, it's because she doesn't know the new leader. Still feels a bit icky for Petra.

Edelgard warns about "tricks" the enemy will use. She really has a beef with anyone using tactics.

Petra just says she's happy to fight and can't run while everyone else remains and fights.

Edelgard says she can't back out, which true, but she could've just not started one. But that's in the past I guess.

Overall, came across better than the Houses one where Petra didn't seem like an equal.

EDELGARD/LYSITHEA/HAPI PARALOGUE

My plan is to have Edelgard and Shez make the other two adjuncts and see if I can't beat the paralogue that way.

It's about TWSITD, which isn't surprising given that character list.

God, I've made SB Shez so fucking stupid. Never understanding anything. It's so funny.

So is this about Cornelia? They found one of her old hideouts.

I had Shez shrug about joining. Hapi got offended.

They're talking about Hubert. I wish he was here. He's my best unit.

I wish Cornelia showed up. She's so fun, but sadly she did not.

They didn't find anything. Hapi was mostly chill about it. Edelgard and Lysithea were more bothered.

Shez could show concern or change the subject. Obviously I made him change the subject since SB!Shez is not intelligent.

CASPAR/LINHARDT PARALOGUE

Like the last time, I just plan to adjunct Caspar and let Shez and Linhardt do all the work.

They're arguing if Caspar saw a ghost or not. Linhardt remains unconvinced.

Lamo, their dads showed up and Linhardt's dad called him a "fountain of positivity" when he brought up their could die any day.

Linhardt is also upset that he has to help.

We're hunting down Empire people who've turned against Edelgard.

I had Shez not want to go lol.

The main battle changed to defeating their dads. I don't think I'm supposed to take this paralogue seriously.

Linhardt had no fun.

Bergliez gave Caspar some gaunlets, and I could either be happy for him or jealous. I obviously picked jealous since it's fun to pick the dick answer lol.

FINAL BATTLE

Why is the S rank reward Edelgard's axe? This is the last battle, right? Is there some post game stuff? Because I'm so ready for this to be done (I don't think I'll do it).

Funny, Edelgard is the one defending the monastery this time, and Varley. Imagine your final battle being about protecting Varley. Ugh.

Only 40 points for the final battle?

Just killed Catherine :(

Cyril just showed up. Rhea's so concerned. Not looking forward to killing a child :((( He died too. This is by far the bloodiest route. I swear no one even dies in AG, and in GW it's only Sylvain's dad.

This can't be it, right? That was too easy. And Cyril as the final boss makes no sense. I'm betting it's a Thales and Rhea fight.

Rhea turned into a dragon. Badass. Glad she was the final boss poper and not Thales.

Spoke too soon. I think they're both here now.

Think I beat it. We're at a cut scene now. Thales is doing magic shit. Rhea attacked him and just ignored Edelgard and Shez like they weren't worth her notice lol.

Wait, that's it?

Rhea pushes Thales off a cliff? So RHEA's the hero??

There's no way they could've survived that - Edelgard. My girl, Rhea is a fucking dragon and Thales can warp. I have bad news from you. Also, Byleth survived a fall too so . . .

What happened to Dimitri? I don't think I killed Claude either?

Is that really it? The war just keeps going. The war just keeps on with no end in sight. Hahahaha. You mean I played how many hours for THAT? I'm going to laugh my ass off if all 3 routes end like this. What a cheap way to avoid killing any of the lords.

OMG. What a stupid ending.

Except for Rhea. She got the big hero moment lol.

I kept waiting for another battle. Esp since there's an S rank reward that's Edelgard's axe, so Idk what's going on.

OMG, this is going to take FOREVER. They're showing the MVP of every single side battle and not just the main ones. I'm only at ch 6.

There was a lot more variety in MVP than I thought. I thought it would be the Hubert show, but it's pretty varied.

Ok, so around ch 10 turns into the Hubert show. I like seeing battle data though, so I sat through it.

Ok, so you get a letter from the person you get a whistle from. Aww, I eventually won Hubert's trust, and he admits he and the army needs us. Glad I picked him.

Wait, no paired endings? That blows. I hope this isn't a new trend since Engage didn't do that either (I love paired endings)

Ok, so it looks like some stuff would carry over to another playthrough on this file. So, in the future, I'd replay AG over my GW or SB playthrough to at least get 2 on the same one. I can't see myself replaying SB or GW. It's not like the story would matter since I could just skip it, but the gameplay is pretty much the same, so why not play the route with my favorites and the most unit choices on top of that?

So you can carry over supports and even unit level. So I could play Dimitri as the absurd level he's at in level one if I saved over my AG file? Because that would be funny. Probably boring. But funny.

Still feels good. One down. Two to go.

xxxx

[meraxes-of-new-albion]

White person being annoyed with white people so if that's not your thing pls move on

but i was at hobby night at the warhammer store tonight, and one of the other regulars who's a white girl was there. she's nice, i like her fine, but sometimes she gets on a very black and white thinking mode and it just.... doesn't work with the way my brain works, because it's about things like "animal welfare" or "crime rates" or whatever and she's just regurgitating propaganda uncritically.

It was crime rates tonight, in regards to fucking public transport of all things.

and like. look. i'm a white girl from suburbia. (or close enough to girl to not matter, anyway.) i'll be the first to admit that there's some lingering biases in my brain about POC that i'm trying to unlearn, and probably some things that are stuck in there deeper than i realize. but also? i lived in birmingham AL with the only transportation i had being my own two goddamn feet for almost a year. i gave money to homeless folks whenever i had cash on me. i interacted with people off the street. sometimes they were weird! and i got a little uncomfortable!

but i was never in any danger.

once or twice i'd reach out to a friend discord and say "hey if i'm not home by x time, i'll be walking after dark, pls check in on me". because i'm also not stupid. but i was never threatened in any way.

so whenever someone else comes along, and goes "but stranger danger!" i think about that. about the guy who approached me and asked for cash, and i gave him what little i had, and the discussion we had about the ways the world had changed. how he addressed me with "we're part of the same community".

and so it really rankles me. when someone else very clearly hasn't dissociated "weird" from "bad". or "the south" from "bigoted racists". or "Black folks" from "danger". because i KNOW from firsthand experience that none of those things are true.

"but i have anxiety" bitch me too it's what makes me good at my job but like. there's a difference between "this person is acting weird and making me a little uncomfortable, i'm gonna message my friends and let them know to check in on me in a bit if I don't check in" (which i think is fair, all things considered) and "this person is making me uncomfortable and therefore I'm Going To Get Murdered Like Those True Crime Podcasts" which is just blatantly fearmongering.

something something white women need to learn how to sit with their discomfort literally ever

anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk

[punkeropercyjackson]

Y'all want Aang to be a normie to justify hating him so bad.He's a 12 year old boy who's gendernonforming and probably trans and DEFINITELY undiagnosed audhd and the plot of the show is he's a buddhist tibetan genocide survivor based on the irl genocide on tibetans by China.The average Zutara shipper i.e white allistic cis girls has more privilege than guys like Aang by default and that includes thinking of him as white-adjacent as if his design isn't not only distinctively asian like his story and personality but also based on a blasian kid who's the son of an Atla crew member.We get it,it's been almost 20 years and you still don't have your Zuko because no moc without internalized racism would ever even look in your general direction so that leaves you Zukoless by default too but that ain't the cause of 'boys like Aang',y'all are just racist womenchildren who invest too much in orientalism and not enough in intersectionality and that's just sad because Zuko's redemption arc y'all sob over to justify shipping him with Katara for westernization was about him doing the reverse aka unlearning propaganda,breaking the cycle of abuse by pseudo-adopting Aang and taking direct action against the system

Katara's not a normie either,she's canonically punk-not a skater boi,a P U N K G I R L.She's not for you,she's not for Zuko and it's way better that way because we need representation more than y'all do.P.S:Since there's a canon black etchnic Fire Nation subgroup in the comics,Zuko should have a black girlfriend and wife so leave Kataang alone as the actual good poc4poc interracial rep and let Zuko love black women instead of misuing misogynoir to justify Zutara crybabying as if Katara isn't strictly brown native-coded.'Kataang is for boys,Zutara is for girls' is like the og Barbies and Legos take and when y'all realize girlhood is a mold you can make your own as KATARA was teaching us,that's when you'll shut the fuck up and stop thinking Atla being a radicalist children's cartoon instead of age innapropriate propaganda is problematic