#human protagonists

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

On the subject of choosing the human race

I remember when I played Inquisition, I first played as the elf race and when i got to the Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts quest, my anxiety rocketed so high during the entire quest and ball stuff that I PHYSICALLY could not progress through the thing. I had to close out of the game. It was when I chose to play the human race years later that I felt comfortable (while still being horrible anxious) to do the quest and finish it with the best possible ending because of the fact human rogues (and warriors too, but I am basic and like being a rogue) get I think 5 extra points for rep out the gate for the quest? So yeah in summary, play what race you want and don't judge because sometimes people play certain races to make THEIR LIVES EASIER.

[indragonsaur]

“ALRIGHT, YOU READY TO FIGHT AND NOW GET READY TO GRIND MY GEARS, CARLBOT, ACTIVATED PLASMA BERSERK” - Siouxsie Violet

redraw of this beautiful art request from discord.

[youngestrunningleek]

The Tale of One Bad Rat

Content warning: this book covers familial sexual abuse, suicidal ideation, and homelessness. The review will get into that. I know the previous book also did, but I promise it won't be a pattern.

The Tale of One Bad Rat, by Bryan Talbot

This is a comic written in 1994. It begins in London and follows a homeless girl named Helen as she heals from abuse.

I am going to get into detail about the story. The actual plot doesn’t have many “spoilers”, but I’ll undress a lot of the emotional moments.

I saw the title at a library, and I took a closer look. Haha, I love rats, so funny… Then the back cover had these reviews about the importance of addressing child abuse, and I realized it was a serious book. I think the book handles Helen’s situation very well. It’s not an easy read, but it’s sympathetic and it shines light on something that people rarely want to talk about.

Something silly about me is that I often get annoyed by book titles with animals. Take Dinosaurs, by Lydia Millet. I get interested, only to read the back cover and see it’s not literally about dinosaurs.

This book was not like that. Helen has a pet rat, she admires them and shares facts about rats, and rats are generally a theme throughout the book. Surprise surprise, she’s the One Bad Rat the story is talking about. She’s unwanted by society and shunned.

I thought she was a boy at first, just based off the cover. I realize that’s intentional— she deliberately has short hair because she doesn’t want to be seen as a young woman alone in the world.

I think that also reflects the representation of homelessness. It was easier for me to imagine a solo homeless boy than a solo homeless girl.

I admire that the book shows Helen’s hair growing longer. I personally just appreciate when media shows characters change over time, but it’s also a good metaphor for her healing. When she’s safe, she is free to grow it out more.

The book used the medium of comics very well. At several points, Helen has intrusive thoughts, like jumping off a bridge. The panels don’t change or anything. You see her do it, then, there’s another panel and you realize she was just envisioning doing that. It felt very similar to my experience. You’re in that current without even realizing it’s happening, and then you jerk back to reality.

Something bittersweet about this book is the kindness Helen receives. She deserves it. She’s taken in by some older kids. I think it’s a little funny how she agrees to pretend she’s sleeping with a boy, so he won't get bullied by the others. It’s very utilitarian. They’re both getting what they need from the relationship. She later finds an older couple to live with, and who doesn’t love found family? It’s very, very sweet. But it's bittersweet because I know so many people don’t have that support.

The healing is really, really amazing. I wrote in my notes that reading this book felt like unclenching a painfully tight muscle. It hurts, but the release and healing is very powerful.

The afterword really made me appreciate this book. In my edition, Talbot talked about his process making the book, and the reception since it was first published. He originally wanted to write a story about the Lake District in the UK. He basically had the protagonist fleeing parental abuse as an excuse to tell the story. 

Then, after doing more research, he realized he had to fully address that. It became more central. He says it much better than I can, but the general point is that abuse is far more common than we think. People don’t want to talk about it, but talking about it is the only way we’re going to make things better.

I strongly encourage people to read the afterword here.

Note on language: I know there are many terms to use for unhoused people. I say “homeless” in this review because 1. It’s commonly understood and 2. Helen’s journey is just as much about finding an emotional home as it is finding a roof over her head.

My rating: 4.5

Overall rating: 4.5

[nostalgia-tblr]

One thing New Who doesn't really have that Old Who did was the thing where everyone (audience included) thinks the Doctor is this amazing genius from space with the best spaceship of all time, and then someone else from Gallilfrey shows up and goes "Oh, it's you. Did you get expelled from our university or did you just fail your degree? Is THAT what you're driving around the universe in? How does that thing even still work? And why are you dressed like that?"

[batshaped]

i paused reading chapter 76 to make this LOL

[chidoroki]

"Unstoppable" by Donna Ashworth

[noknowshame]

always a fun time when real life people are doomed by their own narratives. like guys you know it doesn’t have to be like this right? this isn’t a stageplay the foreshadowing isn’t real until you make it real

[yuseirra]

**persona 3 reload spoilers**

Ryoji is honestly too cute(and sweet) to come off as threatening

[apricothere]

[queersouthasian]

I am back here since I saw someone say how Charlie would get away with forgiveness 'cause he had "good" intentions...that man did 10x times more than any character did in any BL I have seen combined, that too, unprovoked, he didn't need to but he did, he bended time to protect babe, respected his boundaries and most importantly never went against his wish. All pain he inflicted on himself was even for babe, dying is easy, living with the physical and emotional pain while being injected by untested drugs is way different and worse. Charlie got forgiveness 'cause his intentions were genuine and selfless, 'cause he didn't do anything to babe, yet he saved him. And in this show, given the context, Charlie could not have done this without lying, how was he supposed to?

I have said this before and I am going to say this again and again, y'all don't like Charlie because he is not a stereotypical "green flag", since he is not "morally perfect" he can't be a good character. His flaws and his love makes him human. Neither he is a green flag nor a red flag. He is very human. And obviously y'all hate humanization of characters 'cause it disturbs y'all understanding of morality and people in general.

The same goes for Babe. Since his trauma and trauma response made sense, y'all hate him too. I mean, how dare they portray him as a human who suffered and had human reactions to everything. How dare they not antagonise that and make him an undeserving asshole.

[skrrtscree]

me and you and him 🫀🫀

[maypersonne]

Shang Qinghua really does think that he is unlovable huh

He really thinks that he is of no value to anyone if he isn't making himself useful he will be disposed off and that will be it

He genuinely believes no would ever want him so he manipulate and posture as a lesser so to be seen as a necessary annoyance rather than the pest he believes himself to be

He hates all the work he has to do but he prefers exhaustion to the paranoia and anxiety that eat him up when he isn't showcasing his value

He is in a constant battle just to be acceptable rather than loved so he can just be in the presence of those who are dear to him

Like damn like father like son I can see where binghe got all his issues like airplane bro stop unloading it all on your OCs look you gave the poor dear anxiety

[indragonsaur]

“Battle Mode on Activated” - Carl-bot901

[youngestrunningleek]

The Coming of the Rats

Content warning: the book I'm reviewing today has a lot of sexual content.

Today I am reviewing The Coming of the Rats, by George H. Smith, published in 1961. It's a science fiction novel about a man surviving nuclear apocalypse.

Image description: The book's cover. It has a skinny blonde woman with her clothes being ripped off by hordes of red-eyed rats. It is 50 cents.

Before I go further, I will say that this book has a lot of sexual violence in it. It is treated badly. That's all I'll say in this review. Also, I'll be spoiling the end, but it's a bad book so don't feel too bad.

So, when I picked the book up (just the title was enough to get me excited) I knew what I was getting into. It was really funny. If you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you will like. I could write a thousand words taking down this long-dead author's sexism, but I'm not going to waste anyone's time.

Something that surprised me was that it's a near-future book. It takes place in 1963, and was published in 1961. I think of near futures as being a modern trend. Today, technology feels like it's advancing by leaps and bounds. It's easy to set science fiction just a few years from now. But Smith was doing this in the sixties. Early on, his protagonist explains why the year has to be 1963. I can't vouch for the accuracy of his calculations about the Russians' nuclear arsenal, but he clearly put some thought into it.

I find it kind of reassuring to read accounts from the Cold War. (It feels funny to use that name since it wasn't cold at all, for so many people.) I don't think people were wrong to be worried about the end of humanity, back then. But the world didn't burn. We live in scary times now. It's nice to know people were afraid the world would end, and it didn't happen.

One piece of evidence the book cites is that 90% of humans will die if exposed to 400-600 roentgens, and only 50% of rats will die if exposed to 825 roentgens. Again, citation is needed. In the text, it quickly becomes "rats can survive twice as much radiation as humans and live".

In reality, most of the book is set before the bombs fall, and very little of it is about rats. The protagonist spends the first part preparing and trying to convince Bettirose, his coworker, to go with him to his cave in the mountains. Once the bombs do fall,  he has some incidents with other survivors and prepares for the rat invasion. He sees the occasional rat and worries about them, but there's no horde until the last chapter. The vast majority is not really about rats. I guess that's a hazard of an older book. I'm used to covers talking about the first 10-20% of a book. But in this one, the rats are less of the premise and more like the climax.

Speaking of the climax, it was just fine. I'm obsessed with rats, and I was happy they finally showed up... but it was an awfully long wait for an average action scene. Something I would have liked to see is more description of the cats, dogs, and weasels the protagonist stores. Throughout the book he collects as many of them as he can, and they're useful in the end because they kill rats. But, compared to the detail given to farming and other preparations, there's never any description of the animals. They say the animals are taking up food, but how much? Dozens of animals are a lot of mouths to feed. And he never mentions taking the dogs for walks, or waste disposal. I'm not talking about animal welfare, I'm talking about them literally being able to survive. If you're going to have tens upon tens of weasels, dogs, and cats, you need to spend most of your time maintaining them. And there's never any description of that. Are they plants?

Also, the very ending is especially bad. It's hard to end a post-nuclear apocalypse story, but this is not the way. After waves upon waves of rats, there's a king rat. The protagonist kills it, and the rest scatter. Eyeroll. Then, there's a few paragraphs, maybe a page and a half, of thinking about the future. He knows the rats will come again, but he'll breed dogs, and make more preparations. That's the end. "I'm confident we'll be ready". Very weak.

If I was hard on this book, well, it's because it's bad. The sexism was really funny, until it stopped being funny. You don't need to read this one. My personal rating: 2.5 / 5 My overall rating: 1.5 / 5

[pmdthehumanconnection]

We return to our main characters with a tense standoff! Is their short friendship already at an end!? How can we have a PMD comic if the protagonist doesn't want to form a team!? This week only you get a free Monday page update (but the updates are always free...)! We will also be returning to Tuesday and Friday uploads. Mid June there will be slowed updates, and there will be a short week long hiatus in July. More details to come soon. otherwise... We're back! Start from the Beginning

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[jjohhuii]

frieren aikotos......