#hornet's nest meet baseball bat

[cadyrocks]

No more "is transandrophobia real" discourse please. It's so fucking exhausting. To quote the eminent scholar James Stephanie Sterling (@jimquisition ) "The gays can do whatever they want". Even if the people denying that transmisandry and transandrophobia are useful concepts are right, I don't really care - they're still being dicks about it.

Whatever marginal value is gained from a strictly accurate use of terms to describe oppression, there's no fucking universe in which it's worth this much ink and invective. Trans men suffer from transphobia. We can all agree on that, right? As an academic discussion, sure, it could be useful to tease out the ways that the transmasc and transfemme experience of transphobia, misogyny, and [insert preferred additional terms here] differs... But it's a curiosity of language, not a fundamental split in the community. Posting "transandrophobia isn't a real thing" isn't Praxis, you're just being a dick. I guarantee you that anyone earnestly discussing their experience with transandrophobia has a better understanding of patriarchy and transphobia than, like, 95% of the general population, on account of, y'know, being trans.

Don't like the term trans guys use to describe their experience of oppression? Okay. I don't care. I think it's much more important that we understand what they're going through than that we split semantic hairs over the number of privilege points that can dance on the head of a clit.

If you are starting shit about transandrophobia, I am 100% certain that you have bigger problems. How can I be so sure? Because we still live in a world where being any kind of trans or gender non-conforming makes you a target for marginalization and violence, and if you're starting shit about this, you are, statistically, a trans woman posting on Tumblr.com, a website that keeps randomly nuking trans people's blogs. We're on the same side here, and if semantics are dividing us or causing members of our community to feel mocked or unwelcome, we've completely lost sight of the larger goal - trans liberation, community, and joy. (And, let it not go merely implied, mind-blowing T4T sex).

Inspired by @yak-leather-whips posting on the subject.

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

What do you think a modern version of enjolras would actually be like and do you agree/disagree with the popular fanon version of him ?

As always, I preface this by saying that fanon has its place and has value in its own right, and what is canonically accurate has no bearing on that status. If you like fanon, shine on, you crazy diamond.

To answer the question (or rather, how I am interpretting the question): I do not feel that popular fanon reflects what a modern, canon-based Enjolras would look like.

One reason I don't think it does is that modern AUs (and arguably fanfic in general) seek to humanize characters, and I don't think Hugo's characters were ever truly meant to be fleshed out and humanized to that extent: most of them are 90% symbolism in the same way we are 90% water. To ignore the symbolic ramifications of any given character's actions is already to sort of lose the concept of who they are. Any given two characters even merely conversing or interacting is already in and of itself a statement in the bricc (in most cases), and I think modern fanon in general often loses that. Like, Les Misérables is Invisible Man levels of "everyone is a symbol and no one simply Is a person unto themself."

Moving onto specifically what I think a modern Enjolras would look like based on the bricc description of him: an important part of the Amis, to my thinking, is that none of them are working in their own self-interest. Even Feuilly (and I may be forgetting some passage here, please feel free to correct me) is described as going out of his way to learn about the plights of fellow workers that don't actually personally affect him, and I think this really matters, because in that way Hugo indicates the importance of solidarity between classes and social stratuses in effecting change. As such, I think it remains important that Enjolras retain his privilege, though in what capacity can be very flexible (so long as he is privileged in whatever areas they are advocating for ie he is not rallying for his own rights).

It's also very important that les Amis is an actually radical org: he doesn't get caught up in the semantics of veganism or anything so milquetoast as gay rights in the year 2022. Les Amis de l'ABC are a terrorist organization in its most basic and literal of definitions ie the use or threat of violence in pursuit of political goals. In 1832, they literally were hoping to overthrow the government. Everything was so broken that it made more sense to throw the whole thing away, and this is what they were preparing to do! Enjolras does not get tripped up in the small details when there is a grander vision to behold, and he certainly doesn't argue those details with people who disagree wholesale with that grander image. Even when Courfeyrac prods at Enjolras about Rousseau's personal foibles, Enjolras's response is pretty much, "And?" The means are not perfect, but the ends are Divine.

It also means, though, that in pursuit of this divine end, the motivation throughout needs to remain as pure as possible. At no point can they allow themselves to be swayed by the temptation to loot or harm for looting or harming's sake (as seen with Bahorel and the eggs): as people they may be flawed, but the movement itself and its actions must remain immaculate (as seen in the deleted quarry scene and demonstrated in the killing of le Cabuc). If they are not restrained in this time, how will the government they hope to achieve show the restraint necessary in its dealings with the people?

On that note: I simply don't think pre-barricades Enjolras as he is written in the brick is interested in romantic or sexual relationships. I think he has room in his life for one (1) project, it is fixing the world, and it is all-encompassing. I love a modern ExR as much as the next person, but as long as there is still suffering in the world and his duty is yet to be fulfilled, even if he isn't aroace or somewhere on that spectrum, it's not even something canonically on his radar because his attention to this cause is so absolute.

Moving onto personal carriage and interpersonal relationships: Enjolras is someone capable of doing what needs to be done and making hard choices, but that doesn't mean he's senselessly cruel. Fanon likes to portray him as this outspoken leader-type, but in meetings he's actually usually quiet and content to listen to his friends banter. He rarely properly argues with anyone (certainly not over major and core beliefs), and if anyone is issuing verbal smackdowns, it's most reliably Combeferre My Beloved. Enjolras will be there for you through your revelation, but he's not wasting time or energy on closed minds — he has other things to be focusing on here. He makes stupid corny puns sometimes and speaks in a very matter-of-fact way when he does speak and above all cares about humanity, and he is willing to make hard decisions on behalf of humanity.

Back to the type of leader he is: uh, generally, not. He's happy to sink into the background, but in times like the barricade, he's mostly the leader by merit of the rest of the Amis turning into the closest approximation of a pack of cats to herd. Enjolras can inspire them, sure, and remind them of why they're here and what they're fighting for, but how many people went to sleep when he said to rest up? Feuilly was like, "What are you, a cop?" and spent the entire time doing A Graffiti. When all of this is over, he doesn't intend nor want to be in charge, he just wants to prepare the way for and facilitate a system where the voices of the people are heard. He sees himself as a tool of the revolution, not a leader.

(It is also important to note that the other Amis do care about this cause A Lot. Enjolras is not compelling them to come, they're not just here because there's nothing else to do or it's the most convenient way to hang out and they all Just So Happen to think the world would be better if they overthrew the government, and Enjolras did not drag them kicking and screaming to the barricades. This is a movement of individuals who seem very different but all have come together because they see that society needs to change, and they're all willing to whatever it takes [having sworn to go through fire but not water] to effect it.)

So uh, to sum all of those thoughts up into a single person: Enjolras is probably that person in your law class who seems really serious and rarely speaks, but when he does, he does not leave much room for argument; if you seem open to having your mind on a subject changed, he may interject with an idea or two (a la Waterloo), but he probably mentally checks out of a conversation when he hears a bad take, and he is not losing sleep over not changing their mind. Seems rather intimidating and distant until you see him around his friends, at which point he doesn't exactly talk more or even necessarily seem more approachable, but he does soften and sometimes makes little jokes in what he does say delivered so seriously that it doesn't even initially register as a joke. He's in favor of overthrowing the government (or at least major instutions within it) and is actively a part of a group planning to do just that, but they're not raggedy anarchists either: they understand that Presentation Matters and that they need to hold their movement to a higher standard. This movement and helping the people are the most important things in Enjolras's life, and no one gives him hell over it because tbh they all really admire him and everything he stands for (even if they don't necessarily aspire to be him).

[drivemysoul]

and i stand by my opinion that 1989 is the only good thing harry styles has contributed to pop music since one direction

[betteroffbutch]

🤡🤡🤡

[simmonsized]

Gimme your bro bingo, you nerd

Your Bingbro

You're insane (i get to say this because you are my partner and because i watched you send me this ask and you watched me get up and mumble, "i need to get my laptop" as i made the walk of shame to the bedroom for aformentioned laptop).

I know we all know okay I know, I know. We KNOW okay we know.

ALSO yes i edited one to say everything wrong, i felt like too many of these were complimentary and i needed a way to express my feelings.

Shamefully I'm putting my ramble (that no one wants to hear) under a readmore lol)

I will say, **re: everyone but me is wrong, there are THREE people in the world i trust FULLY w mr bro strider and they know who they are. i hope.

that being said i don't really know what to say about character arc bc as far as canon goes, he did not rly have one, and so i don't think that matters. am i obsessed with him in aus??? absolutely. my god. beyond belief i will drag him as close to redemption as i possibly can, and he will kick and scream the whole way, but he cannot stop me. i cannot stop me.

i think the "not enough screen time" is just me being selfish lol. like i've said i would have rly been more interested in the backstory hints we got in hiveswap but my god it drives me insane. i want to know EVERYTHING about the guardians. it haunts me. But similar to Mom Lalonde, I view the guardians as reflections of their kidselves, and so often become a representation of their failure, and their worst traits, and that is also what makes them rly neat to me. like you know rvb?? u know how Tex was supposed to be a fragment of the Alpha that represented failure?? it's like that.

i would never want to meet him. i think all the characters in homestuck are assholes and i don't know if i would even want to be friends w any of them lol

I DO ACTIVELY DISLIKE HIM. LIKE I LOVE HIM BUT I LOVE HIM IN THE WAY THAT I WANT TO BITE HIM AND ALSO SWING HIM FROM THE ANKLES and maybe sometimes kill him but only so he learns a lesson before we bring him back to life u know what i mean??? it's always more interesting to me if the guardians die but my god is it FASCINATING when they come back to life and have to deal w their shit. I think he and Mom are tragic, but it's complicated, and I think they are only beyond forgiveness in relation to their kids and how people grow and change as they get older, and how they choose to move on from the ways they were affected in childhood. Forgiveness post-mortem often has more to do with the person doing the forgiving than the person being forgiven. it's about letting go for yourself, not for them and like

okay ending the rant about that there before i get WAY too into it lmfao

I will not talk about shipping, not ever in 100 years and you (eponymous) can't trick me into it because i'm immune <3

no comment on the fanbase, because. well you know. but i posted my fic bc someone else made me feel so insane that i literally could not stop myself from spite-posting it so. there is that. it doesn't matter. i'm right, you're wrong, get used to it, etc

swings a baseball bat at the hornet's nest: some of you have never struggled with a complicated familial relationship and it shows

wow did you REALLY just look over at me and say "are you STILL writing your bro post??? are you okay??" LEAVE ME ALONE

DON'T ASK IF YOU DON'T WANT THE ANSWER, TONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW I AM DONE BC well because i am supposed to write a second essay so. i will stop here. lmao. i can't believe u. wow.

i just love him i think he's the worst character i love him he makes me insane.

[symptoms-syndrome]

[image ID: The Bernie Sanders "I am once again asking" meme with text that reads: I am once again asking for people to stop fear-mongering about forming introjects just from consuming media you won't just make new parts just bc you enjoyed a media a lot I promise pls do not limit yourself media-wise just because you think you're going to split an introject that's not how it works if a part needs to be made it'll be made regardless of whether they put on introject facades or not and if you don't need a part they aren't just going to show up for no reason. End ID]

[imightbeatomato]

I'm so sorry. If it weren't for all of the people constantly talking about critical role on my timeline I would never with this show.

3 years ago I tried to start with the web series and a) way too many people I can't keep straight and b) doesn't start at the beginning of the story so wtf is going on

Now I've watched the legend of vox machina and know a little about what's going on so I give the og series a second chance and I hate the way Matt Mercer says words

[comradekatara]

loves rick and morty: azula, jet

thinks it’s just ok: mai, ty lee

thinks it’s overrated: aang, suki, toph

hates rick and morty with a passion: katara, zuko

community was good tho: sokka, yue

[gontagokuhara]

obviously it is not to the same scale but the way i see some of yall be horny over benrey and make the fuck ugliest pasty white bread cop looking asshole sexy or cool is like seeing people legitimately thirsting over the onceler way back when

[thexam-union]

It’s fun fact time again! And it’s another character focus!! Antares is today’s chosen Jester, and let’s just work with their past a little bit, because there’s a lot to unpack here and even the local therapist is struggling with them at times. An allergy to talking about yourself would do that, though.

Also to prevent the post from being too long, there’s going to be a readmore.

Their name? Obviously self-chosen. Well, the self part’s actually a bit of a stretch, funnily enough, but it’s one that she resonated with so hard that they couldn’t say no to the suggestion. Specifically, the option was from the only person Antares considered family before the whole “end of the world” thing, and honestly? If you could say no to a bomb-ass name from Debbie Hawthorne? Holy shit are you something else.

Debbie Hawthorne was someone that died about three months before the Swarm started nesting in the District, and in hindsight? Antares is so glad about that. But enough about the grim stuff, she was the first person to actually reach out to Antares as a whole and as a person, rather than as the hyper-aggressive streetrat they acted up at being, and she had a sort of unhinged energy that really meshed well with Antares’ own style of living, given they both spent a lot of time in a local scrapyard. Debbie by choice, of course, but still. She had this whole fascination with scrap metal shards in particular, and really liked being around the frequent brazier fires, rather than trying to put them out.

She was just there to listen and to help, and didn’t understand modern technology. Debbie was the parent Antares wished they had, and eventually ended up having, even if it was for a short time.

It’s almost as if being more accepting when Antares was already ever so alone in the world made them feel better. She was also really, really into space, so when she popped around after hearing that Antares was kicked out over - how they would put it - “my parents’ headcanons for me not being canon” - Debbie just brought a whole star guide with a reference sheet of their meanings. 18th Birthday. Absolutely stellar. Exact words were “Well, I think this one fits you nicely. You seem like the type to be there.” and then after saying that they liked the name? “It’s good to meet you, Antares.”

To say they bawled? Understatement. But now they’re a slightly older streetrat, and find fire comforting and violence a good way to clear space. They can’t let anyone get that close and get them torn away again, it hurt enough the first time. They’re also incredibly picky with who they let get close. Really, the only people they talk to around the District are Jordan Wakely and Merga, and maybe sometimes Muphrid but they don’t get the full details.

Normally when their jacket was covered in blood before the end of the world, it was stage blood or red paint gotten near halloween. The first time they actually hurt someone - a Hornet - was soon after the apocalypse. With a baseball bat. Now they just use a shovel.

So that’s a rundown of Antares’ most important relationship pre-2012 and how they generally are! Living on a scrapyard during their formative years did break a lot of things when it came to personal development, but violence is less an aesthetic and more a standard, now. Even if it is self-defence that they promote up to murder. The less people want to be around them, the better, as far as they’re concerned.

[marwankenzarisgaylittleearring]

this post is very baseball bat meet hornet’s nest so putting it under a readmore to spare yall because like. i know you dont want to read it. i dont want to read it either. but omfg i gotta write it.

have yall forgotten that the old guard is media which is written by someone with the specific intent to tell a story. “we cant know what nicky means” eh not really accurate because if what he means was some super convoluted over involved Something the writer (not nicolo di genova, fictional character incapable of rational thought or any other thought for that matter) Would Have Elaborated On That. Would Have Made That Clear. like i cannot stress this enough: nicky didnt of his own volition do anything. he’s not real. if you’re assuming that there’s a second meaning to his words then i’m sorry but you should STILL criticise the comics for not making that clear because hjfkslkfhgj ITS A COMIC. IT’S A WRITTEN WORK. IT’S SUPPOSED TO, TO A CERTAIN EXTENT, SPELL THINGS OUT FOR YOU

[bluerosering]

If I ever read dune in public old guys come up to me to talk about it and I always tell them how much I love the Lynch movie. Baseball bat meets proverbial hornet's nest

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

Translation Elitism

I'd like to open by saying that I have definitely been guilty of this in the past, which is one of the reasons I think this post is all the more important to make.

We as a fandom need to stop shaming people for reading/enjoying the Denny translation. Seriously, cut it out. Norman takes a different approach to the material than translators before or since him, it's true, but it's also worth nothing that he was the first translation since Hapgood (1887 -> 1976), and the thing is, compared to Wraxall and Wilbour and Hapgood, Denny's translation is extremely approachable.

If someone is really committed to having the most precise and accurate translation, fine, steer them toward others, but there has been a really disappointing amount of general shaming of the Denny translation, and that's a really shitty thing to do to people who come in having only ever read (and enjoying!) this translation. It tells the same story with almost all the same beats, and what is different is mostly only noticeable if you're doing side-by-side comparisons with other bricks.

All I'm saying is, if we can respect the musical and the anime and little chocolate wrapper adaptations, I think we can accept a translation that shortens a couple of scenes.

[hauntedarbys]

baseball bat, meet hornet's nest

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

Isn’t that very ungenerous reading of grantaire? I know he’s the worst amis out there (not counting Marius), but he still made the choice to be there about to be counted as a part of the inner circle. To me, he’s more of a drunk friend rambling on the side as opposed to an active antagonist. He focuses on his personal love and liberty, but the basis is still there. If he’s that much of a garbage person wouldn’t a) the amis just kick him out or b)he go off and be literally anywhere else?

RIGHT, so, I was anticipating this ask.

I definitely don’t read him as an active antagonist, and I’m not sure anyone would.  The point is, before his transformation in OFPD, he’s a net zero: he shows up, he rambles about his own thing without contributing to the conversation at all (not even to argue or debate: straight-up Zero Interaction with the subject matter), sometimes sexually harasses a waitress, and Leaves.  We have an actual in-text example, even, of him offering to do something outside of the liminal space of a meeting ... and not doing it.  That isn’t to say that he doesn’t wish that it were true, as Hugo says: Grantaire admires the ideal.  He just doesn’t see himself as part of that narrative until he invites himself to be in OFPD, 

which is the point.

Grantaire is symbolic of this complacent upper-middle class who sees the problems of the world but decides without even trying that it’s not their problem!  Grantaire’s death and the significance of him offering to die by Enjolras’s side isn’t “I’ve loved him the whole time and have known better and been enlightened the entire time and want to make sure this naïve idealist doesn’t die alone,” because nothing about that matches the narrative or characters that Hugo has spent so much time setting up: the significance of Grantaire dying at Enjolras’s side is that the upper-middle class have finally invited themselves to the table, with no expectations of being accepted or it making a difference, and against all of their expectations and preconceived notions they were accepted.  Grantaire was finally ready to be at that table, had finally gone through the emotional development he needed to go through to be ready, and when he was, The Revolution was ready for him, even if he was late.  The efforts were still accepted, and they still mattered.

But until then?  He wasn’t doing anything.  Grantaire’s character is significant and named and existent because of that moment, that change, and its significance.

And you bring up a really good question: why didn’t the amis just kick him out?  I mean, we can observe how Laigle, Courfeyrac, and (most famously) Enjolras have all literally told him to shut up during his rants because they’re so off-base, offensive, and, at times, undermining their efforts (not to mention Grantaire’s canon propensity toward inviting himself to places that he was not invited ie bini’s oysters at the Corinthe aka How Grantaire was Accidentally at the Barricades), but we also see examples throughout the bricc of the amis putting up with some rather off-color behavior from one another.  What does this mean?  Is it another juxtaposition regarding the relative harmlessness of some assholery versus others?  (Because while Grantaire’s sexism is pretty gross, it’s far from Tholomyès levels of bad.)  Does Vicky simply find this sexism acceptable or not even to be an issue?  (We have to remember that the author is inherently flawed and was known far and wide for his own promiscuous behavior.)   Perhaps Hugo even intentionally seeks to have this example of pre-redemption behavior available for us to compare against what Grantaire could be, a Before picture as compared to the much more respectful Joly/Courfeyrac/Bahorel’s behavior toward women (however we may interpret their behavior in 2021 outside of its native period French culture).

In any case, Vicky says repeatedly, in every description and metaphor and symbol, that Grantaire as he is prior to OFPD is not who we should aspire to be if we want to be a responsible citizen of the world, and it is only through his actions in OFPD that he is redeemed.  Grantaire is a valuable character who represents a valuable message!  But glorifying who he is and how he behaves prior to that realization, in my opinion, is entirely missing the point of his story arc and why he is significant enough to be mentioned. 

To answer your original question: I cannot say how generous or not my reading is, only that it is how I perceive Vicky to have wanted us to read Grantaire.

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

Eddie Redmayne: I don’t agree at all with JKR’s tweets, statements, or stance regarding trans people.

Redmayne: Trans men are men, trans women are women, nonbinary people are valid and real.

Redmayne: I have witnessed that pain firsthand, both in my personal friends and the people I interact with through the Trevor Project, and no one should be subjected to the agony of constantly having who they are doubted.

Redmayne: But I really don’t think it’s appropriate to be sending death threats to anyone --

The collective internet community: CANCELLED.