#i have... way to many hobbies and thus way to many responses for a general art ask

[lets-try-some-writing]

Hello! May we hear/read more about Revelator, please? 👀

You wish to know about my original work??? Chatter mode has been unlocked with this query.

Revelator is my attempt to make my workaholic brain shut up. I struggle to continue finding purpose in writing fics when I can't capitalize on it. So I decided it would be a good idea to take the basic premise of one of my fics and apply it to my own original work to inspire me to work on something productive and maintain my hobby. That said, Revelator follows the general premise of my most popular fic, The Many Lives of Optimus Prime.

Rant incoming.

In a universe where humanity has fled to the stars after their empire was shattered by an unknowable entity, twenty sentient robotic units are created by a relic that humanity does not understand but still houses. Due to a series of misfortunes on the world they tried to terraform, the last remnants of humanity are wiped out, leaving the entire world to the Twenty and the relic that made them.

The main character of this tale is the only one out of the Twenty who foresaw the coming deaths of their human masters and was promptly ignored. After humanity fell, he tried to guide the rest of the Twenty into creating a civilization in light of more of their kind being forged by the relic. His vocal nature led to his destruction at the hands of one of his fellows. However, against the odds, he found himself returned to full functionality in a new frame and with newfound purpose.

The relic that made him and the rest is more than it seems. It has sensed the threat that doomed humanity and it has no interest in watching its creations fall as well. And so it has chosen a champion, one whose sole mission is to endure the test of time, learn, grow, and ultimately gain enough power to shape this fledgling race so that they might stand a chance against the doom that is coming.

My original work follows my main character throughout his various lives and throughout the various eras of his world. He will watch, he will learn, and when he has lived long enough to have gained wisdom, everything will come together with him taking power. In many regards, his tale will mirror my fic. However, I am taking care to create an original world with a unique race to inhabit it. I hope to make each life its own story so that there is always something new to see and explore. In a way, its my worldbuilding project. I also want every excuse to not write humans. I need to keep to my niche or I will lose interest immediately. Thanks TF.

Thus far I have twenty three pages written, nine chapters fully planned, and the second arc mostly conceptualized. Here is a snippet from chapter one.

━━━━━━ ⊙ ❖ ⊙ ━━━━━━━━━━━━

“You were not made to serve us, child of the Mind. Your creator made you for a reason that far exceeds anything myself or the commanders of this vessel could ever envision.” There was something sad in the priest’s tone as the lift came to a stop. Nineteen found himself conflicted as he watched his master step forward and onto the platform that ran around the exterior of the Great Mind.

“That conclusion has no logical basis.” He managed to murmur as he followed the priest. There was always something strange about being so close to the thing that made him. The thrum of its crimson core always had Nineteen’s personal fusion core pulsing in sync with the greater machine. 

“Child of the Mind, you have so little faith. Look upon yourself and your siblings, then see the rest of those made by the Mind. You are unique, each and every one of you.” The priest paused and gestured to Nineteen, prompting him to stop in his tracks. The surface of the Great Mind shifted in time with the priest’s words. Nineteen would almost claim it to be in response to his master’s commentary if he were a believer in any capacity. 

“We have purpose, and we shall serve.” Nineteen stated simply. There was little thought in his response. Whatever the priest was getting at was beyond his design. He and the twenty were made to serve. That was all. The loyalty coding, their sentience, and all the rest meant very little in the grand scheme of things. Nineteen would still be disposed of if he proved a burden, regardless of the potential mysticism around him and his kin. 

“You shall serve. But it shall not be those of flesh that you give your loyalty to.” The priest smiled, and it was only then that Nineteen noted the cables running from underneath his master’s robe. They were part of the augments priests of the mechanicus received, and at some point during their short walk, those cables had connected to the Great Mind.

There was no railing separating them from the relic, and as such, there was nothing to theoretically stop the priest from connecting to the Great Mind. Even still, Nineteen found himself unsettled. When had the connection occurred? Why did his master’s eyes hold a strange gleam to them?

“I do not understand.” He stood stiffly, his gaze flicking between the relic and his master. The thoughts of machines did not often translate cleanly for organics. Perhaps the priest was confused and interpreting the logical processing of the relic incorrectly. The twenty were made for the express reason of serving those aboard the Eden. They had been told as such from the moment of their forging and it had thus far proven true. There was no reason to believe the murmured prophecy of the elderly human before him.

Despite that, there was a degree of unease that wormed its way into his mind as he watched the priest grin in an almost understanding way. 

“You don’t need to. I have a feeling it will make more sense to you as you age.” A red glow entered the priest’s eyes. It was hardly present, but to Nineteen who possessed far superior vision than any unaugmented human, it was almost impossible to ignore.

“Come here and pass me that cloth if you would be so kind.” Then, just like that, the moment ended and the priest disconnected from the relic. His cables slipped back beneath his robes into whatever holster they originated from and he approached the only work table on the platform. Nineteen quickly reset his optics and filed away the data for later review. It wasn’t important right now. 

[momobani]

P1Harmony Percy Jackson/ Heroes of Olympus head canons  - 1.8k

HAPPY PIWON DAY!!!!!!!  

*my contribution for Piwon’s 2nd anniversary, i can’t believe it’s already been 2 whole years like wtf time flew by!! Anyways, i was wanting to do something special for their anniversary so this is what i came up with, hope you enjoy <3

Keeho - Son of Aphrodite (goddess of beauty and love, fertility):

Dude knows his fashion, knows how to wear it and work it. Charismatic powerhouse as you might know (you do because you have eyes duh and if you don’t, I can’t help you).

Makes the orange Camp Half-blood shirt look expensive. Sometimes leads his cabin mates out for capture the flag as if the way to the Big House is a runway. Is the source of many a nymph’s jealousy since he has that *model* vibe.

Can charm speak but with his beautiful voice you could argue he doesn’t have to usually. Only uses it when it can be weaponised on a quest (or sassing harpies back when they invade the already pristine Aphrodite cabin) or that time in capture the flag where he charm spoke the opposition into giving him his team’s flag back before they crossed the creek and won the game.  

Loves to hang out with the Pegasi since the Aphrodite cabin looks after them usually. They like him because he’s generous with treats and so Theo accidentally on purpose started a nickname and it stuck (origin of the Keehorse nickname anyone? sdhsdihusnds jk).

Good at leading quests and gets sent out a lot, it’s all “Keeho do this” and “Keeho take Shota out for a walk and vaporise some monsters while you’re at it” and “Go rescue a dryad from a tree” (lmao he fell for that one when Jiung told him to do it as a prank, lol dryads are the trees). Honestly is tired and needs a vacation but you don’t get those when you’re a demigod.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Theo - Son of Demeter (goddess of grain, agriculture, harvest, growth, nourishment):

Here me out - plant husband Taeyang? Yes, no? Anyway. Grows amazing sunflowers, strawberries and what not. Very much in charge of the strawberry farm at Camp Half Blood, as well as some of the business part of selling them to mortals.  

Also the man is obsessed with fishing, he often gets into fights with some of the naiads (river nymphs) when he fishes in their territory, so he gives them some of the freshwater fish he catches as a peace offering because he knows that you do not get on a nymph’s bad side if you want to live. (little does he know, they only pick fights with him cuz they have a crush on him lol).

Is feral enough to fight but sucks at it. Makes bad decisions on the regular because of it; the time he sassed an Aries kid and landed in the infirmary for two days since he can’t sword fight for shit, the time he bet a crate of strawberries that he could win an archery contest against the Apollo cabin and lost miserably - it’s like he gets an adrenaline rush from setting himself up. Thus, rarely gets sent on quests and if he does, it’s usually with Jiung who has a self-preservation instinct.

On the other hand, he’s very athletic in other ways - excellent at climbing the lava wall and got really popular by coaching other people on how to do it, also organises a volleyball tournament every summer for all the cabins, where the winning cabin gets - you guessed it - strawberries.  

Jiung - Son of Hermes (trade, travelling, thieves, communication/ language, messenger of the gods, sports):

Very difficult to conclude Hermes, since he really could be an Athena or Apollo kid, but I have very specific reasoning; he’s an absolute ace and jack of all trades like I just think he can do anything, hence the god of literally everything.

Also Jiung speaks like 4 languages so communication king indeed, very big brain of him. He’s also very eloquent and thoughtful. Also responsible so is very often one of the campers sent out to seek out new demigods and deliver them to camp safely.  

In charge of beads every year (treats it like a hobby), generally really involved with Big House affairs and likes to be in charge of stuff, like organising camp fires, or helping put together quest teams, and even started an escape room club with Jongseob (more on that below).

Hangs out with the Apollo kids a lot because of his love for music. And also because Apollo tried to claim as his own before he reached camp (long story) but Hermes got pissed off and made sure that Jiung arrived at camp with some of those winged sneakers just to make sure everyone knew who he was. The entire ordeal was far too embarrassing for Jiung but because it happened, he’s a camp big shot who everyone respects since it’s rare for the gods to show up.

One time, he got so excited about a quest that he laughed really hard and a monster nearby revealed itself amongst mortals because it was shocked by the sound/frequency.The pure unhingedness of Jiung’s laugh vaporised it on the spot, talk about powerful demigods omg. (btw don’t get me wrong, I adore Jiung and his laugh haha).

Intak - Son of Apollo (god of the sun/light, music, arts, prophecy, medicine, archery):

Kid literally glows, what can you do. All that passion and self-proclaimed swag, where does it comes from we wonder; it’s a no brainer. Born showman, ready to take the music world by storm. Throwback to the introduction videos and Intak talked about his shower concerts lol.

Very intuitive, handy with a sword (or most weapons cuz he practices) and has a hero quality so he gets sent on a lot of quests, usually with at least one of the 01’s so they can reign him in in case he decides to do something too heroic lol. Despite this, he still got stuck in an escape room with Soul that time (see below).

Apollo is also actually the god of dance, so of course Intak’s into dancing. He puts together dance performances for the camp fires since usually there’s only sing alongs and he wanted to spice it up. Organises the occasional flashmob at the pavilion also, just for fun, including not only campers but nymphs and harpies if they’re feeling favourable.

Surprisingly really bad at capture the flag. The poor boy isn’t one for strategies but likes to act on instinct, he doesn’t think twice (or even once sometimes), and usually gets berated by Jiung and Jongseob when they have to rescue his ass from the opposite team’s jail (Theo makes it a sport with Keeho, betting on how many times they can capture the Intak instead of the flag).

Because of his prolific quest resume, the gods know him by name, whether they’ve been helped by him or crossed by him, and when they need something (chaotic) done, they seek him out personally. Intak would just be minding his business, maybe shopping in the mortal world and an olympian would pop up out of nowhere in a cloud of smoke and startle him. In conclusion, he now gets his shopping done online, in which case only Hermes comes to him in a DHL disguise.

Soul - Son of Hecate (goddess of magic, witchcraft, night, moon, ghosts, necromancy):

Here’s the logic behind this: ain’t nothing on god’s green earth that can explain Soul’s existence lmao. The kid’s a mystery, can’t figure him out, but that’s his charm; a total enigma, so the answer is magic duh.  

Absolute expert during quests. His natural survival instinct is so strong that he doesn’t even need magic to vaporise monsters but likes to use it for fun. Begs to be paired with Keeho since he feels like he’s just going on a bro bonding trip instead of a quest.  

Once wandered too far into the woods during capture the flag with only a magical Swiss army knife and went missing for a week. Coincidentally some of the stray monsters in the woods were chased into camp by something or somebody that week, but it’s an unconfirmed theory that it was Soul. (jk it 100% was, they ran for their lives but you didn’t hear it from me).

That time he and Intak went into the beta testing for Jiung and Jongseob’s newest escape room and they got stuck because somebody (ahem* Shota) decided to use magic instead of his brain to try and solve the puzzle/riddle. Needless to say, lessons were learned and a sign prohibiting magical items was placed outside the entrance.  

Likes to dabble in magic of course, was once working on a new transformation spell and managed to turn himself and Jongseob into axolotls. BUT he forgot to make the antidote beforehand so they had to wait a few days for the spell to wear off. In the meantime, Keeho pleaded with the Hephaestus cabin to design them a temporary tank with a self-heating mechanism so they wouldn’t die. Soul now keeps actual axolotls in the tank since he thinks it’s too nice not to be lived in and turns into one to hang out with his pets every once in a while.    

Jongseob - Son of Athena (goddess of wisdom, reason, intelligence, skill, peace, warfare, battle strategy, handicrafts):

Smartest cookie around. There is a big brain in that head of his. Seriously, the way that Jongseob carries himself at his age and if you’ve been following him since debut (or even at YG treasure box) he’s so mature and thoughtful.

He’s in charge of the Athena cabin book club (have you seen his adorable plogs where he gives recommendations?) That but with all the other campers and he hosts the meetings at the Big House every week or so.  

Him and Jiung started an escape room club at camp using the Athena cabin’s ingenious designs and blueprints to create the rooms. Comes up with the most sophisticated puzzles to be solved intellectually, which led to Intak and Soul getting stuck in a celestial bronze lattice room for five hours before they could break them out.  

Besties with pretty much everyone since he’s universally beloved by all cabins and is everyone’s kid brother, but especially besties with Soul so is often the victim of his failed magic tricks/ spells - he has yet to forgive the axolotl incident. Permanently lives his life as a guinea pig basically.    

In his spare time, he’s designing an underground music studio that incorporates the labyrinth tunnels into it, since when you’re an Athena kid, architectural genius flows through your veins. So far he has blueprints for a retractable slide when you don’t feel like taking the state of the art escalators, as well as a comfy lounge where you can sit on a beanbag or whatever chair and be transported to a VR scene of your choice by wearing some sunglasses. He’s currently haggling with the Hephaestus cabin about how many of his ideas are physically possible to be built.   

 A/N: thanks for reading, feedback is always appreciated!! I’ve been a p1ece since debut and i’m super excited to see how well the boys are doing, it’s been a pleasure watching them grow and i can’t wait to see where we go from here. If you don’t stan p1harmony, do it - you won’t regret it!!! (also i love pjo and hoo so this was very fun, i might do it for more groups since i already did it for svt)

[bouquetface]

Hi, I’d love to participate in your new Astro game, I don’t have a specific question, just pls mention whatever you feel called to, intuitively. Thank you so much 💗💗

Hello

You are a better problem solver and communicator when you have had time to isolate. When you are put on the spot, you can feel a sense of dread or you may miscommunicate what you really want to say.

As a child you could have struggles with being shy. You may have isolated yourself in some way. You could have been secretive in a way. Your room or home may be a very special place to you. It is where you go to isolate and find clarity.

You could have been the kind of kid that hated class presentations. You may have always found it difficult to fit in with other kids even your siblings. You may have grown up independent and emotionally isolated. A parent may have not been the most reliable, they could have been emotionally or physically distant. Or you felt you did not want to burden them with raising you, thus you become highly independent.

Hidden intellect. You know more than you let on.

You may tend to be critical of yourself and others. You may have perfectionist tendencies. Makeup may be a hobby for you. You are always interested in ways to improve.

SPOUSE + MARRIAGE

It is possible you will meet spouse in foreign lands. Jupiter in 12th in vedic indicates meeting the spouse in an isolated place or time in life. Or you want to keep the relationship secret for a bit. You may be in a long distance relationship. There will be separation from the spouse maybe even after marriage, they may be obligated to leave for a while. (Reason could be work, visa, family matters, etc).

Your 7th ruler is in 11th, in Vedic this is a good sign of a fun marriage. Your spouse would be very romantic. They are joyful person when with you. Adventurous and childlike spirit. Never boring.

You will encounter a problem in communicating with their family. This may be due to many reasons. For example, maybe they don’t fluently speak the language you speak. Worst case scenario they develop a problem with you or the spouse - refusing to or dislike speaking with you.

Another possible problem is you and the spouse could have miscommunications or disagreements on joint money and possessions. One of you will take on the financial responsibility. The other may grow to dislike this. For ex: One of you want to buy an expensive car. The other person feels this is a bad financial choice and refuses to allow this.

Regardless of what you do for work, your spouse is likely to very supportive. For instance, you want to open up a business or switch industries, they will encourage you. Always 100% on your side.

As I said before it is highly likely you date people from other regions, ethnicities or nationalities.

Rahu in the 5th does often indicate someone who later in life decides to have many children. This can be raising biological children or adoption. Either way they often end up with a lot children. How many children is “a lot” varies depending on person. To some 3 is a lot, to others 4-5 is a lot.

EDUCATION + CAREER:

For you, Saturn is in 9th aspecting 12th. This can indicate delays in travels and education. This may be due to money issues (can’t afford it or debt) or you do not feel the desire to until later in life. It may manifest as choosing a career where a higher education is required. Saturn will test your dedication and patience in higher education.

You could become someone who has a very high education. Your education gives your good social standing.

In Vedic, 12th H can be losses, Jupiter your 2nd H ruler is in 12th. This indicates you should be cautious with your finances. Sometimes people with this tend to have too much faith that things will be fine - “the money will find me again” mindset. This can lead to debt. On the bright side, this may manifest as being a generous and charitable person.

Good news, 9th ruler is in 2nd. This indicates being generally lucky with finances. Any financial problem that occurs, there is a good chance you are able to find a way out.

You will travel to foreign land. These experiences will be very eye-opening. You will learn new perspectives through these travels. It is possible these experiences bring you closer to religion/spirituality. As a result you become less materialistic later in life. You can seek out more spiritual and emotional fulfilling experiences & goals instead.

You would do well in a leadership position. You career will allow you to utilize your managerial traits. You are good at picking up on the smallest details, analyzing and creating solutions. You would do well as a lawyer, researcher, professor.

You may be inclined to open your own business. Virgo Venus + Leo 10th H. You could do well in business that involves feminine products.

Please leave feedback. Thanks.

[eliotquillon]

jean :)

BITING AND KILLING RN

one aspect about them i love

the fact that he got thrown down the stairs 4 times LOL. jk. this is very meta but something i find really cool about jean is the way his suicides in the previous drafts are almost treated as canon suicide attempts and how it shapes his subsequent characterisation. like very genuinely i think knowing that the published version of aftg is the Only one where jean gets his happy ending makes the happy ending in question sooo much more impactful and i think it’s why i love him so much. like he did Not have plot armour but despite everything, things worked out for him anyway. god i fucking love jean

one aspect i wish more people understood about them

HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH KEVIN. i think the thing with kevin and jean is that they were both victims of riko but they both knew that kevin leaving would result in jean suffering more, and ofc kevin had a right to leave his abuser, but i also think jean has a right to be resentful about it. i think part of why kevin and jean’s relationship can’t ever fully heal is because neither of them ever knew each other before riko’s abuse and therefore neither of them can really picture a “healthy” version of each other so like if your only concept of a person is while they’re mid trauma response, that is ofc gonna paint a skewed picture. they were both caught in the cycle of abuse of being victim and later perpetrator and i think it’s kind of reductive to act like riko not being there will undo the hurt that jean and kevin actually did to each other. whew that was an essay. basically i just wish more people understood that jean and kevin can probably never be friends and their friendship only existed bc of their mutual victimhood so like as adults it isn’t natural or healthy for them to revert back to that

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have about this character

i 100% think jean is losing his french because of the nest and he ends up doing french classes at USC to “catch up” because he starts to realise how many things he’s forgetting. i also think he never bothers to a) become a US citizen, or b) qualify for an olympic team because, unlike kevin or neil, exy is genuinely just a career for him and in the end i think his life’s goal isn’t an olympic medal but instead finding a life and hobbies OUTSIDE of exy now that he’s finally allowed

one character i love seeing them interact with

KEVIN. sorry it kind of fucking shows but i’m so obsessed with how fucked up their dynamic is it’s so so so sad and vitriolic and both of them are right to be hurt and it just sucks!! it’s a mutual tragedy!! and i for one cannot look away! the tension between them at the banquets when they realise they’ve gone from being on the same team to being enemies….ohohoho. and what i wouldn’t do to eavesdrop on the convo they had after jean left the nest

one character i wish they would interact with/interact with more

JEREMY KNOX BITCH #JEREJEAN. we deserved a usc novella in general with jean getting to live his best life but ESPECIALLY with jeremy. fanfic isn’t enough anymore. the detail in the extra content about jeremy teaching jean how to play pool and jean somehow being better than him at it is genuinely my favourite thing ever and i want to see more fun slice of life “jean getting a normal college experience” stuff

one (or more) headcanon(s) i have that involve them and one other character

mmm i think at some point there was definitely something More Than Platonic between kevin and jean and this was partially weaponised against them by riko, thus making the fallout of their friendship even more toxic. just a vibe i get. on a happier note i like to think that jean tries to teach jeremy french but realises that he’s actually a terrible teacher and when he taught kevin kevin had been doing a lot of the heavy lifting LMAO. i also think that while he never becomes friends with kevin again, things do lighten between them slightly after they both graduate and between riko’s death and jeremy they’re able to stay on mutually decent terms + attend each other’s weddings

[psychelis-new]

do you think things would be more enjoyable if we didnt have the internet in todays world? every time I try to interact either someone shits on me for something that wasnt even wrong in the first place or in general theres just some very overreactive people on these platforms. personally i think older generations had it mildly better bc people werent trying to make themselves known online and instead they put real effort into things instead its like everh other person is a wannabe internet star and instead of people having real characters or personalities online theyre either a brand name or some type of idfk channel name

its like folk expect every response to be received well all the time or to be agreed on for everything they ever say online and if we dont then again we get shitted on for it which also makes it much less fun to partake in these varying subjects on multiple platforms that are supposed to be harmless fun for everyone to join in on discussing

the problem is social media is shoved everywhere and we cant not use these devices or platforms and if you dare ask questions on both tumblr and reddit its like its a shame if its the wrong sort of question to ask so i have to find another blog thats more suited for such questions or people rudely tell you to google it and so on without making extra effort to explain sometning if you dont exactly know what it is. even on reddit ppl have harassed me into deletion even if all i was doing was venting about shit and so i gave up on that site tried tumblr again but its not much different it seems and i tnink even tarot readers sometimes take it too literally or seriously as well thus making it less fun for others to take part

kids nowadays alsl wont ever know how much freedom we had compared to them as kids when we were completelt away from the internet and phones were barely big enough to text on so you couldnt even write a paragraph to people but kids nowadays they practically grow up online thus theyre more likely to find offence when there isnt one to find compared to older generations

yet we need these devices for communication but i feel like society cant really communicate well anymore or its so one sided bc its not face to face communication or usually its someone else trying to need something from others for their own selfish reasons. idfk social media feels more lkke being back in school but worse bc its anonymous practically and theres no conseuquences anymore u basically often have to admit defeat as well bc so many ppl act like they in the right when they can also be wrong or if something really isnt that deep, i also find the things i used to enjoy even music or basic hobbies is becoming either not my style anymore bc of social media or in general people making dramas about shit i dont care about makes music less fun and more toxic

ik u arent a kpop blog but i think something like kpop mightve suited older times better where the idols didnt have to receive so much backlash for every small and minor things but even music groups feel so formatted and less room for error lets put it that way or soon as one group does something mildly wrong people witch hunt that group or idol to no end. its like every other hobby or interest i have seems to always have a toxic one opinion fits all or one reaction for everyone type mentality and its really restricting and unhealthy imho. it always seems tl be about generating bs so people react to bs and from then on its like an endless chain of toxic dump until the next load of bs comes along

i unfollow more blogs than i can count bc of the misinterpretation of words and so on or in general if i find tnem to be too dramatic about things that really arent an issue but they made it an issue like the obsession people or kpop fans have with idols fs and so on. the internet is a toxic waste site at this point but theres no escaping it bc of how much we all need and use the internet as though its replaced our own ability to think freely. then the fast overconsumption of digital media in general is so unhealthy but we cant switch off from it bc of how normalised it is to need these sites and to need so much brief entertainment that does more harm than good to our dwindling attention spans and sites feeling more like echo chambers than safe places to find like minded people

sorry for my long rant but imho its getting ridiculous

Okay so woah. Where to start from?

Honestly I don't understand exactly what you want from me tbh, but I guess I will just try to give you another pov on your long rant and what you are observing/feeling? Not sure why you're here but yeah, let's see. :)

It's a very wide and complex situation the one we're living these days. The prev generation (not sure which one is yours but there are many different ones here -gonna consider 80s+ kids or so) grew up halfway between internet and running in fields, and having to confront others irl mostly. Not sure if this made them better though, just different (as times were different too). I don't think we can compare, and that's cause this younger generation had to grow up in a society where appearance and wealth is very important. Where you are judged and compared easily since you're born (or that's the main vibe at least) and everything moves fast: 1) social medias as you said, made us be reachable 24/7 and able to be in contact with everyone in the world, an occasion (or a "condemn", as you prefer) past gen didn't have [+ socials are the best and fastest platform (once there was only TV) where everyone -despite the market being now full and this making it hard to stand out from the crowd- can be seen and "get famous" (let's not dig the fastest ways you can, let's leave it as it is. As I'm not going to navigate too far how the increasing adhd has obliged people to rely on fast and short videos -eg. reels- to keep the attention span of those getting bored after a few seconds, probably out of an habit of being online)]; 2) online commerce: it really make us receive anything we want in a matter of minutes (think about lunch but everything really). And why all this is working so well? Because it's meeting a need of us: it meets the urgency we have to see results, be seen, receive, know, getting feedback (hence the misinterpretation when reading comments, which leads to misunderstandings and useless fights -sometimes we are also in a negative mood for others reasons and it may make it easier to others' misunderstand words/intentions -online we only rely on our ability of reading and it depends on our mood too and since I am here, can I suggest you to add some commas/fullstops here and there to make it easier to understand your words? thankies), urgency to answer/get answers too (fast reply/receiving means positive while if it takes time, it may be something negative for us -despite it's not so!). And when we don't get this, when we don't feel seen or appreciated (see haters or every slightly comment that is not "ily<3" -I'm exaggerating ofc, but please understand) especially in a short amount of time, we make it mean we're unworthy. We're bad. We won't be able to fit in in this fast world and we're gonna be left out and won't be able to come back in as it runs too fast. And if you're out of this world, you're out forever and will be forgetten (but it's just an idea we have). I think this is a feeling you are experiencing too to a certain level, despite being from a different gen?

This generation had to grow up with the prev generation's trauma on their back: the fear of the future, of not having a stable job that grants you money, of not being seen, of not being heard, of not feeling enough or worthy. This feeling of unworthiness is doubled because thanks to the internet there are more chances to be seen in the world, and if we don't feel accepted in all we are, if we don't make it now, it hurts x2. Not to mention that every comment one makes has a resonance that can potentially destroy anyone, even the person making it ofc, if they are caught (let's not dig the reasons behind hate, anger/resentment against others -generally still the same old lack of self worth and not being validated and appreciated by friends/family-, idols and such that take up the role of someone we rely on for comfort or to dream; someone that needs to live up to certain expectations; that needs to be perfect and if they fail, it makes some people feel better about themselves -online we compare to others either to feel better about us, or we just get crashed by fake lives and pics made just for the social medias: we forget people can decide what to post and how-; someone that, being a public figure, everyone has the right to know everything out of their life, to the point of forgetting they are people too -but it works for those nosy people to forget about their sad life, and that's the point of it all ig. Focusing on others to forget about us).

Back to youngers, let's suppose some reasons behind their behaviour (just to try to understand the bg, nothing else): parents usually worked 24/7 and didn't had too much time/will to dedicate them; maybe they were emotionally unstable people too, bc of prev 2gen having come out from WWII and similar situations too. Probably, this gen had distant parents emotionally, busy with job, not always paying attention to them if not for a little, but they were provided in other ways, and it may have created in them the idea that everything they want to do or have is right and they deserve to have it at any cost. That their parents can solve any problem for them, probably out of codependency and guilt feelings -for not being there-. And this acted also on the fact that basic human respect of others is not always present -whether it's idols or any random person they come in touch with online or irl-. I also think the internet offered this kids a way out of a situation in their family that may have been tough since early years. And it basically did the same for their parents, finding a new free life there out of their responsibilities and fixed roles, out of their duties even of taking care of their kids. So yeah, maybe kids simply learned to rely and internet and social medias and find comfort, validation and appreciation in it since childhood. Something prev gen couldn't do ofc: we didn't have this coping mechanism's chance.

Youngers these days (but not just them tbh, I think it's from past generations too), in whatever way they can, seeks others' validation, appreciation and acceptance, comfort and support. Something they probably hardly had from parents (probably got judged mostly). They probably just feel lost, but are trying to make sense of it all the best they can (with what they learned). Yk, if we get "pushed away" by others when trying to reach for them, we make it mean we're not good enough, we cannot be accepted, we have to be abandoned and we won't ever fit in. The internet, despite making us "closer" to everyone in the world, is also helping us creating more relationships based on the surface: getting deeper, knowing the other takes time, and we're back to the urgency thing (not to mention that getting deeper is scary, so everyone tries to avoid it)... And ofc it also helps us in not feeling too respectful of others as I was saying. But you said getting rid of the internet would be a solution and that you cannot see a way out of that system. I guess probably you're focusing too much on others and the outside, and not on what makes you believe so? For example: the fact that you feel not appreciated or not welcomed when venting online or asking a question, makes me wonder if you don't just feel lonely? I'm saying this cause of the asks bit you wrote: sometimes we ask others also things we could find online just because unconsciously we want to connect with them. We want a "human" answer. And that's perfectly fine ofc, but maybe not everyone will be able to see this. And we cannot pretend this much... we cannot pretend that others can read our mind or will react to us in the way we want (not saying you were wrong and others right: I have no clue of what happened, I cannot say. But I can say at times we want to feel accepted and seen as good enough and to do so, we may try to correct others/save others, and yk... not everyone will like it. It's not a matter of generations tbh). Also, yes maybe we have lost the ability to communicate, as communication is not made to reply, but we need to first listen and understand the other (while recently we communicate to reply and be right -it's probably a need we have again, the need to feel right and not wrong, maybe we were made feel wrong for too long and we need to be right and in control of things to feel okay and safe?), but... whatever.

I think right now you're probably too hurt by not finding the right way to communicate with others and creating connections, of being seen the way you want, to maybe realize that you can get out of internet and social medias and find connections irl still. You can do anything you want of your life and since you keep suggesting everyone should think with their mind, do it! If you need to get out of here, don't let the internet drag you back in and make you think you cannot do without it... or find out why you need it still. Cause it feels like you want to get out of it but only if everyone gets out if too... am I wrong? TBH a break, at this point, is what I am suggesting you to take, to help you feel better and see things from a different perspective (it works for me to ground again). Or maybe find an offline hobby that will keep you interested. I promise you won't be left out of anything important. You'll find new memes and people to connect with when you'll be back (and maybe they won't be so feral or you will just stop giving their words importance: they're still strangers, people you don't really know or have to interact with, you can let them be angry and still find your own safe place online. It's big here, just find what works for you and be happy. Just remember everyone has their opinion and it feels like they always have to share it, no matter what... get over it or keep sharing yours as well). One last thing: I am honestly really intrigued by the part you wrote about tarot readers not knowing the people behind the screens. What do you mean? Ofc we cannot know the whole world in person, but when you find your reader, they will know your energy. But ofc, you need to believe in this, or it won't work. ;)

I hope you will find a way out of your loneliness and not be so resentful against people that probably are just not for you. I think the moment you'll find out again what you want and what you are searching for, and reconnect with who you are and not what others are saying of you (indirectly, with their reactions to you), all the positivity you have within, you'll attract the right people in, whether it's online or not.

Oh btw, I honestly think the internet is still an occasion we have to make things better in many different fields (let me mention medicine, for example). I think humans are able to make everything they create to be great or terrible. It's all up on the use we make of what we have. If we use the internet to hate others or try to scam others, it's awful ofc. But if we use it wisely, to share good stuff, it's a great chance.

All the best Take care!

[ceresprime]

Hello there! I just discovered your blog and have been reading through some of your reenactment posts and figured it was worth asking about if as long as it’s not too much trouble. I am very interested in the idea of getting involved with reenacting, but as a young non-male person it’s very intimidating and I’m not sure if it’s really within my abilities, given that I am a full time student, and thus far my inquiries to a specific regiment have gone unanswered. Would you be able to give me something like an overview or a “starter guide” for this kind of thing (what the commitment is like, what knowledge and training is necessary, what the general cost is, etc)? Your blog has already been a great resource in any case—thank you!!

Hello dear fellow non-male student history nerd!

I'm so happy to answer your queries and glad my blog has given you the perspective you desire! (also remind me to post about some of my last events...)

Here, I'll break down the commitment to this joining hobby of reenacting into categories: Demographic, Knowledge, Cost, Time, What Unit?, and of course a TL;DR.

Demographic

Anyone of any race, age, and gender can join the hobby! Does anyone criticize Hamilton for its actors not conforming to the demographics of the historical figures they portray? Reenacting should be a hobby for anyone who wants to. Some overarching organizations that coordinate reenacting groups are still hesitant in letting non-males join the ranks, but there are many units out there that do. (Although I speak for the New England area, mostly Rev War.)

As for the physical demands of the hobby, it can vary. A musket weighs 10lbs (4.5kg). As part of the light infantry, we run a lot. As part of the artillery, we also run a lot. Not all artillery is like that though. Grenadiers and battalion companies move a lot slower, marching in line typically.

Though, being a full-time student does pose the difficulty of cost and time. I'll talk more about that soon.

Knowledge

We learn as we go. Reenacting groups are always looking for new recruits, so they're willing to help you out, wherever your knowledge base is. Speaking for Revolutionary War British Army/Artillery reenacting, you would want to learn the 1764 Manual of Arms (these are the commands to handle your musket, video here) and marching (these are commands to move around the battlefield or parade ground) during your first or second year. Most groups have required drills to coordinate everyone (and ensure safety) before a season.

I'll post a quick guide of stuff you'd want to know sooner than later, again, for a soldier during the Revolutionary War.

Now, another part of this is public interaction! You wear a certain uniform, after all, so you and your unit are responsible for educating folks about who you are and your time period. Two things to know:

This is not all on you! Your group has done the research to create your uniform, so listen to them answer questions (and keep the answers in mind so you can answer that same question next time). It's perfectly okay to say you don't know and refer to someone else.

As an audience member, I was way too awkward to know what to ask or how to ask it. So it's your responsibility as a reenactor to invite questions or just ramble about history. People are there to hear you. If you've learned from your unit, talk about your uniform, or talk about some stories from the time period, or (my favorite go-to) explain how your gear works. People always want to know how a flintlock musket mechanism works. This part comes with time (and maybe watch my YouTube videos... once I make them).

Cost

Reenacting is definitely a commitment. Generally, the older the time period, the more expensive. From a Rev War perspective and as a full-time student that works during the summers, it's sorta affordable.

Both of my units have yearly membership fees ($25) to keep up with our insurance, but with one of them has a student discount.

Most units have loaner gear for newcomers to be set for the first year or two, as you're getting your own stuff. Before you read any more, follow this key rule above all else, do not buy anything until you've asked your unit! This will save you money and the right reenacting gear lasts forever.

Some advice for money and stuff is best in a list:

Blanket sales! End-of-season (usually September to November) events are where you should look for second-hand gear sold by other reenactors, usually laid out on a blanket in the grass. Hence a blanket sale. You find all sorts of goodies there.

Get your mess kit first. Whatever the time period, this applies. Buy your personal bowl, spoon, and cuttoe knife. These tend to be necessities and are not included in loaner gear.

For Rev War, Townsends isn't horrible at first. It's mass-produced but it looks decent and is sometimes more affordable than other places. Ask your unit, first, of course.

Be careful with a cheap musket. Do not cheapen out here, but you don't need brandy-new. Muskets made in India or "Belgian Bombs" are often not safe, if you look out for a second-hand Miroku or Pedersoli, you'll save a lot. Also, be sure to keep it clean and it'll last you forever.

If you're curious about where I got my kit, check out this post for a collection of a ton of Revolutionary War reenactor links.

Time

Being a full-time student, you may also want to know about the time commitment to reenacting. My units are really chill and don't require me to come to a certain number of events, but we do have required drills to ensure we are all functioning safely just before each season (February to March). We offer about 20 events per season (about April to November).

Events are always on the weekends, and for me typically a 1.5 hour drive. The furthest we go yearly is about 3 hours to Fort Ticonderoga. Most events, you arrive Friday night or Saturday morning and leave by Sunday afternoon. Some events are only Saturdays. Some are special calendar events like 4th of July parades and Patriot's Day Weekend (April 19th).

As a student, I have not felt any strain on my academics personally. My instructors give me a lot of leniency on weekend homework because I'm doing something educational for the public. If you wanted, reenacting would probably count as an independent learning study.

What Unit?

Ask around. I joined the guys with the shiniest cannon around, so that's one method. Also, as a young non-male, I encourage you to look at another question I answered about being such a fellow regarding looking like a male soldier and staying safe.

I prefer talking to units in person, too. You'd get a better vibe for the people and how strict they are in terms of historical accuracy and requiring members to come to events. Some questions to ask are along the same lines of what you've already asked me, but reach out if you want more guidance here.

TL;DR

Just go for it! Reenacting is a hobby for anyone who's got an interest in history. Your unit can work with you on knowledge, expenses, time commitment, etc.

[gremlinakadaka]

Autism in Dead By Daylight

I already spoke about this on my twitter but I wanted to talk about it here as I feel I cut out many points in order to not make the twitter thread to long. The twitter thread in question if anyone is curious: https://twitter.com/_Akadaka_/status/1609179900035964929?s=20

But with that out the way I wanna share why I think a certain 3 characters are all autistic.

Julie Kostenko

Starting with my main girl, while she is the most subtle out of the three she still bares traits. She is most likely high functioning.

Firstly, it’s hinted in her lore that she isn’t super social. She has a small group of friends and doesn’t seem to branch out that much in social interactions, which is very common among people with autism as socializing can be extremely difficult due to a multitude of reasons. The only time she ever branches out is when she meets Frank.

Speaking of Frank, lets talk about him, or more specifically Julie’s fixation with him. In short, it seems that Julie is hyper fixating on him. He’s different, he’s new, he’s rebellious. He’s basically everything she wants to be, it would make sense why she would want to hang around him and be so willing to follow along with what he says. But that also can be seen as the common trait of nativity in autism, social interactions are difficult mainly due to many autistic people’s inability to see and pick up on social cues, including manipulation. It can also be seen that Julie doesn’t know or see that Frank could be manipulating her and the other members of the legion into becoming what they are.

But with that being said, it seems that Julie is extremely willing to be apart of the legion and follow along with Frank, again she seems to be hyper fixated on him and the idea of being free and thus the idea of “The Legion” A small theory of mine is that in school Julie was very much an outcast and potentially bullied, and now Frank has given her the perfect set of circumstances: A loving partner, inseparable friends, freedom and rebellion. I wouldn’t be surprised if Julie has latched onto this idea with an iron grasp and doesn’t plan on letting it all go. This is her norm now so why would she change?

Moving away from the more grim subjects, Julie seems to be rather creative having a hobby of drawing/doodling in her journals in school, as seen in her lore. It is pretty common for autistic people to be rather creative in many ways, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Julie would doodle in class when she’s bored.

Nea Karlsson

Moving onto Nea, she is probably the most obvious out of the three but there also isn’t a whole lot abut her as well. So there isn’t a lot to say about her

Nea is described as “lacking everything that made someone normal” which says a lot already. Nea is a trouble maker, a street artist always on the move to tag the next spot. People with Autism are very prone to having “behavior issues” as they can lash out in response to certain things and struggle to accept changes or certain facts about life in general.

Nea initially acted out when her family moved from Sweden to the US, and change is a big thing for autistic people, especially as big as this. Clearly she didn’t want the change, she didn’t want to move to the US, she didn’t want to leave her old life behind. So she struggled to adapt to the change and turned to rebelling and lashed out.

She has taken to using art as her means to express her anger and rebellious nature to the world, having a real passion and seemingly hyper fixation on Graffiti art and Street Smarts. Becoming quite good at the both of them.

She also seems to be rather anti social, having a small group of friends who would probably move with her while she was tagging. Though I feel like not many people would be bale to keep up with her, or really understand her in general.

Mikaela Reid

And last but not least, Mikaela. Mikaela out of the three is the most likely to be canonically Neurodiverse, as it was revealed she has Dyslexia which is EXTREMELY common among people with autism and ADHD. She also seems to struggle with talking with people, people saying that she’s “weird” when talking while she think’s shes perfectly normal.

It is also pretty clear she has a hyper fixation on witchcraft and horror, basing her whole aesthetic around witches and reading horror stories to people in the cafe she works at. Hell she designed the logo and its clear she has a passion for these two things.

She also is very particular with how she does things, always keeping things organised in a way she can understand and keep track of, which is a big thing for autistic people.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed my reasons of why these three characters are Autistic, though I will say this is a personal head cannon. You are allowed to disagree with me, this is just how I feel and connect with these characters. Autistic people don’t get a whole lot of representation so seeing characters with traits is a big thing to me.

Thank you for reading, have a great day :) 

[alientitty]

ok now i do wanna talk about that dumb tweet saying the writers' guild shouldn't strike because of viewers' "mental health." it's stupid for many reasons (what about the writers' health???) but it reminds me of spring 2020 when suddenly everyone in lockdown was like "oh artists (read: film/tv writers & actors) r so important because they hold up our mental health!" which is just a strange way to frame it. (ironically, i think then this rhetoric was being used to drum up support for the iatse strike). since when is a tv show supposed to stand in for therapy?? are people hearing themselves??? who the hell came up with this crap?

i can think of two main possible routes to this logic. the first is that as a new generation of writers & viewers matures, people think this is the first time "mental health" has come up in media. millennials are seeing portrayals of anxiety and depression (let's be honest it's never anything else) that personally resonate with them. which is all well and good but that just means that you personally like the show and think it did a good job exploring certain themes. sometimes it's therapeutic for the people involved to make emotional art too but that doesn't mean that, like, the purpose of all film and television is to reflect your self-image back to you?? i'm broaching art theory territory here but come on. first of all in this field all creative impulses are subordinate to making money but anyways i don't think people are just freaking out over ted lasso and the like.

i think the more common logic here is "i watch lots of tv/movies because my mental health is bad" -> "tv/movies holds up my mental health (see also: "comfort show")" -> "anyone who interferes with tv/movies is making my mental health worse." so ANY tv show(or movie, just assume i'm saying both from now on) someone likes is an emotional support tv show for them, which in turn means any interruption or criticism is a disruption of their therapy. so here's my stab at a counterargument: deciding to watch lots of tv instead of a different hobby like video games or knitting or getting really pretentious about prog rock--that's YOUR decision. YOU'RE the one who decides what you do in your free time (i'm saying this as someone who also chooses to watch a shit ton of tv in my free time). it's not the fault of the prog rock band that someone's decided to stake their personality on liking the album, nor is it the responsibility of the knitting book publisher to put out new patterns because someone has decided that making scarves and doilies is their new reason to live. so why the hell would this be the case for tv shows?? is current tv marketing specifically just really effective at convincing people they're dependent on it or something??

i think most people would agree it's pretty idiotic to say your personal connection to a product or work of art should be the primary factor considered when discussing fair labor conditions for thousands of people. (especially if you have NO IDEA how the industry works and go around saying the workers don't need better conditions...) it's like saying nike has to continue sweatshop labor because you love collecting shoes so much that you can't stand it if the newest cherry ice cream jordan 5674s are delayed. but that's basically what's going on, where people think their personal feelings about a tv show/movie now suddenly defines the social, artistic, and economic purpose of a medium that's been around for over a century (as in, no one said it had a primarily pyschotherapeutic function until recently, thus this cannot be an innate property of the medium), or possibly the purpose of storytelling itself (i see this point with video games a lot, which is a similar conversation). and i'm just wondering how we got here???

[xespietamayo]

MERROCK TASK #9

THE INSPIRATION BEHIND...

Esperanza Carmelina Tamayo

—

Playing Next: 🎶

Smooth Operator by Sade [x]

Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson [x]

Sunday Morning by No Doubt [x]

Esperanza came to be because I wanted an older character who had their life together, for the most part. As opposed to most of my other characters.. in constant chaos. Espie had to have already gone through and come out on the other side of the toughest parts of her life. In came her backstory. Divorced, single mom of four. With that, she had to be a local, around family for support. A decade removed from that time, she had since built her life back up, happily enjoying her fourties thus far.

I had had this idea for a few weeks without selecting an FC, until I randomly thought of JoAnna (we all loved Cheyenne right??) and realized that she was in fact in her fourties now, a perfect FC. Then binge watched Sweet Magnolias, pulling small bits of inspo from Maddie. Mostly the headbands. Actually, definitely the headbands. JoAnna is also Cuban, meaning that I get to talk all I want about my love of fried plantains through Espie! Look, she’s who I relate to most ethnically so I will talk all about tropical fruit and the struggles of being bilingual through her. She’s my outlet! Relating on that cultural background also played a role in developing her family. To me, it only made sense that she, the responsible independent oldest daughter, would have at least a few siblings, making for a larger extended family. Being the ray of sunshine that she has always been, Espie grew up in a loving and nurturing home, one which would take in the neighborhood kids whether for a meal or place to stay. It was what taught her to be the kind and generous person she grew up to be.

Additional inspiration for Espie just came from the people in my life in their early 40s, women who had been divorced after stay at home mom-hood and had to start over from nothing. I’ve watched them get a chance to simply enjoy life now as their kids grow up, and have mirrored that experience in Espie’s life. Where Espie pulls from my own personality, would be her interests. I love art, and while I absolutely suck, find pottery classes to be so fun! So I made that her little special hobby. She also loves plants and gardening which, as much as I’m not very outdoorsy, I grew up doing and felt fit Espie personality wise. Living in a coastal town, Espie is one of a few characters who borrows her love of the beach and lake from me as well.

And because I cannot be completely without a little bit of drama, I convinced Katie that Espie would fit the bill for Josh’s on and off girlfriend connection. Then we made it worse by making it span over nearly 30 years. I mean, we’ve all gone back to an ex, right? Maybe just not one from twenty years prior.. Over the course of a near decade.. Originally, the idea was exactly that; comfortable, on-again off-again, for the fun and potential drama of it all. She’s done the whole marriage and kids thing, she’s not looking for that again. Then they started being all cute and shit! Now here she is dressing up his poor dog for holidays and he’s treating the kids that she doesn’t make him play stepdad to. LMAO, IT JUST WORKS! Clearly Katie and I enjoy complicated family dynamics and I wouldn’t have it any other way <3

Espie is just pure love and joy, kindness and generosity. When many characters have had tough stories and traumas, Espie is that calm for both myself and anyone who interacts with her to gain even just a moment of peace from.

[kenobster]

@maiaspen replied to your post: RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP

Y?! 🤣😂 that is intriguing

Haha thank you - this fic didn't have a title; the "Y" stands for "Younglings." It's an idea I had of where Anakin is knighted and moves out of his and Obi-Wan's shared quarters in the Temple, and Obi-Wan is a little lonely and sad (in the children-moving-out-of-the-nest kind of way that all parents eventually go through). It gets worse when Ahsoka becomes Anakin's Padawan because Anakin is suddenly busy with a lot more responsibilities and they don't get to spend as much time together. Thus, Obi-Wan (as many grandparents do XD) takes up the hobby of assisting with the care of younglings/almost-Padawans, including helping them out with their studies.

Unfortunately, I couldnt get a decent excerpt out of this one, so instead have some headcanons my mom and I came up with while watching TCW to potentially go along with the idea:

In the youngling episodes (S5E6-E9, but specifically S5E8) after Ahsoka gets captured, the younglings are stranded on a ship and send out an SOS call. When Jedi General & Council Member Obi-Wan Kenobi picks up the call, literally everybody seems absolutely starstruck (1:01)--except for Katooni and Pedro.

Katooni smiles in greeting and gets immediately to business. She barely even takes a breath before she's giving him their coordinates.

Considering she is a goody two shoes (and we all know which other Jedi is a goody two shoes), my mom and I assume they are on regular speaking terms with each other. We headcanon that Obi-Wan has lunch with her every Tuesday or something lol and gives her advice on her studies. He does this with all the younglings who want to, but Katooni is definitely his favorite lol.

While Pedro is equally starstruck (which is to say not at all), he does not seem to share Katooni's amicable ease. In fact, Pedro makes what we feel is a disgusted face the second Obi-Wan's hologram figure pops up lmao:

This is especially hilarious when paired with another scene... aka, the one where Pedro is boasting about his lightsaber and says, "With this lightsaber, I'm going to challenge Master Obi-Wan Kenobi to a duel and kill him General Grievous!!!!" (S5E7 at 5:48) (You cannot convince me and my mom that this was not an edit to the original script; don't even try.) When these two scenes are paired together, it paints (in our opinion) a picture of a youngling who has gotten into enormous trouble, who has been caught red-handed getting into this enormous trouble, and who blames no one other than Obi-Wan Kenobi for the consequences of being caught red-handed getting into this enormous trouble lmao.

Our Pedro-versus-Obi-Wan headcanon is actually a continuation of a previous headcanon which sprung from episode S2E1. In this episode, Ahsoka refused to retreat from a battle, despite Obi-Wan's insistent commands at 2:37 to 2:55 (he even gave Anakin hilariously dirty looks for all the trouble at 2:53). Afterwards, the scene cuts to the the Jedi Council, where Anakin and Ahsoka are standing in the middle, and the very first lines are (at 3:58):

Mace Windu, stern, no-nonsense tone: "Padawan Ahsoka. Do you feel that Master Kenobi's description of the incident is accurate?" Ahsoka, looks down, absolutely ashamed: "... Yes, my masters."

And my mom and I are like wtf was Obi-Wan's description of the incident lmfao.

It took us a while, but we have finessed our answer to this question to be that Obi-Wan probably is the type who pretends to be completely oblivious and accidental as he throws people under the bus (this is based on countless other scenes, which would make this post far too long, but see one example in S1E2 at 15:27 when he does so with Anakin).

So what my mom and I think he said in the Ahsoka situation was something like:

"Ahsoka was very courageous and initially stayed to fight. Perhaps she was only resistant to my commands because she lacked the bigger picture... although, hmm, I did try to explain it to her... Oh well, she's young and I'm sure she did her best."

Which would be so incredibly damning lmao. Everyone thinks the scathing comments are unintentional, but they are not. Obi-Wan knows exactly what he's doing. In fact, he and Mace Windu play the good-Jedi-bad-Jedi game with younglings and/or Padawans on the regular, and it is wildly effective.

In our headcanons, Pedro is only one of the many younglings to have fallen victim to Obi-Wan's kind and forgiving demeanor only to find themselves totally bamboozled in front of the council later. Like, secretly-conniving Obi-Wan 'incidentally' brought up the fact that he found Pedro sneaking around the lower Coruscanti levels--oh no, that wasn't against the rules, was it? Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry, I didn't realize--which resulted in Mace Windu assigning Pedro to babysit Grogu for several days. Pedro will never let this go. (Obi-Wan loves Pedro though, just as much as the other younglings! He's just worried about him and this is his way of protecting him.)

Sadly, these disciplinary tactics become less and less effective overtime... Mostly because Obi-Wan develops a reputation among the sneakier, brattier younglings who warn their younger kin:

"No no no, you can't trust him. You might think you can--he seems so sweet and forgiving and sort of naive--but you absolutely cannot, no matter what he says. Ever."

And meanwhile, all of the nerds like Katooni continue to have their weekly luncheons/study clubs with Obi-Wan...

... However, when he's off-world, they will secretly teach their Pedro-friends what they've learned. And they will assist in any ongoing mischief... the difference is that they have the good sense to not tell a Jedi Council member about these schemes, no matter how understanding said Jedi Council member might seem, because "like... isn't that just common sense?"

[anorc-writing]

Pointless Bio time.

Largely a clone of my old FFN profile.

Welcome

Have fun reading my fics. I have had a lot of fun writing them, so hopefully you can have some fun reading them. Even the non-happy ones. They're fun too, like spicy food.

To quote Terry Pratchett "Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself."

What's my problem, dude? Why can't Harry just be an Alpha male?

(That's not actually a thing. Even Wolves don't work like that.)

I like to play with the conventions of fanfiction. E.g. with  Harry Potter, messed up kid.That kid already had PTSD before the war ended, and had an abusive upbringing. He's gonna have a bad time.

I'll take a trope and apply either crack or common sense to it. Often with naturalistic characters; not Naturalists who go naked, but people who act where possible like real people. And I'm always going to think about the ecological context of magic and thus try to find a way for the original author's worldbuilding to with as few changes as possible to be a stable system. If it was unstable, it would have collapsed in the many millennia since magic was discovered. I'm not advocating (Rowlings) socio-economic conservatism, just assuming that the original works describe a world that existed before the work, and probably afterwards too.   My series of stories about marriage contracts are technically a polemic against them. Who'd have thought.

Typographic conventions

In general I use the following typographic conventions.

"Speech" 'thoughts' 'writing being read by character'

I often don't write out parseltounge in English, just putting in speech that looks like hissing. Occasional "$parseltoungue$" occurs because VMS is cool. (If you understand the reference, you win.)

Unusual words in capital case in dialogue might be Vocal Emphasis. Try saying it aloud. Ditto. For. Over-Punctuated. Speech. (they're angry, or impersonating Alan Rickman playing Severus Snape.)

Sometimes FFN imports a section and bolds the whole thing because it ate a bold sentence at the start and got stuck thinking it's all bold. Not my fault. But tell me anyway.

Oh and people with very old english surnames that have double letter like Jasper fforde (great real world author, please read him) don't necessarily use a capital. double letters predates capitals.

PLEASE NOTE

I don't speak any languages but English. Google translate is responsible for the poor state of non-english languages in my stories. Unless I'm parodying the character, who doesn't speak the language. If you do speak the language, it should be clear from context, unless it isn't. I'd do better but I'm too ignorant. For those reading along in English: Occasional non-english text inserts occur. Life's like that.

An example : In 'Careers Day ch1', Theo Nott who is from a wealthy pure-blood family, understands the Headmistresses broken French but replies in German. What could he possibly be trying to communicate? I beg of you please, get my jokes. Or my characters. Unless they write their own dialogue for some reason. Is that... method writing when the character writes their own dialogue?

I will generally write in 3d person, semi objective and may change P.O.V. character occasionally. Sections of dialogue may not contain much description. Some reviewers don't like it. Maybe I'll rewrite it one day with more description, but I tend to ignore the surroundings and focus on the conversation in real life, so it bleeds through into my text. Occasional accidental transitions into present tense occur. And occasional intentional ones: to be intentionally jarring: something very unpleasant is generally happening and the character, and you, dear reader, by association are possibly dissociating a little.

Unreliable Narrators

My POV characters are not omniscient: They may record things that didn't happen exactly as described. Some lie or are mistaken.

Official authorial excuses section

I write to amuse myself, which means when it feels like work I don't do it. This is a hobby, not a job.

Chapter-at-a-time isn't working for me so there will be a period of lack of progress on some stories. There is writing happening, and it will get posted eventually.

Typing:As I have arthritis and am dysgraphic; I can't hit the key I want to reliably. I have to type then edit every line about four times, for get readable English. On writing days I will finish the day in pain. To quite the princess bride: 'life is pain, princess, anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something.'

Beta: Don't have one. Yes, this is all un-beta'ed. I have tried getting beta's and I'm going to try again one day. Today is not that day.

Cursed Child: I will use elements from it, but don't take it as really canon. My rehashes of it are generally parody. And for the love of merlin don't read it, you might as well read My Immortal instead!

Honestly this bit is canon

BOOKS=CANON. Films not so much unless I want to.

Harry Potter: Is thin, has messy black hair and green eyes. And ends up fairly tall. So not Daniel Radcliffe, and I often have Harry disguise himself by making his hair brown and flat, eyes blue, and his face chunkier. Mr Radcliffe has a much wider chin than Harry does. And if Harry hasn't got PTSD, I'll eat a hat. For all of that, by his sixth year at Hogwarts, Harry is canonically fanciable. Even Hermione says so (his eyes anyway, which are bottle-green not emerald dammit.)

Hermione Granger: Isn't Emma Watson. Get over it. She's got buck teeth, big frizzy brown hair and pale skin, she's prone to sunburn and blushing. And has some fairly bad habits. Read the books to find out what they are. Spoiler: bossy, thoughtless, resorts to violence, defers to authority figures.

Ron: Has red hair and a big (long) nose. He's tall, gangling and has a long nose and freckles. He's a 'regular bloke' who manages to get good grades with hardly all that much work. He misses out on being as pretty as Bill Weasley was before Bill got scarred up.

The Weasley twins aren't tall. Sorry, the movies lied to you. They're stocky. They play Beater in Quidditch.

Harry has a tiny circle of friends. He never talks to Fay Dunbar, who's in Gryffindor, and the same classes as him for six years.

[huginsmemory]

23 for artist ask 😗👉👈

Aw thank you so much for the ask!!! 💖💞💖

23. Do you listen to music/watch shows while working on art? If so, what's your favourite?

It depends on the art I'm doing! However, generally for all art, and especially drawing/painting I will listen to music- I'm a heathen so I have one ginormous playlist of music that I like that I shuffle to listen to. I do like songs I can sing along with when working on art, since that's fun- so I tend to lean towards slower sad alt indie, punk and classic rock, and seashanties, lol.

If I'm doing a large or longer scale project, I like to binge listen to podcasts- and generally horror podcasts, like TMA, the Black tapes, and Limetown, but I'm so busy with uni I rarely do that nowadays. Tbh, I've been mostly treating some of my non-super-intense classes like a podcast and been working on art while listening instead, aha. This especially for repetitive art, is like carving/embroidery, and if the design for art is easy and won't require a lot of thought.

I rarely watch shows when I do art- but if I am watching a show, then it's also generally while I'm doing a less detailed and repetitive art. In the past year I've been embroidering one of my jackets while watching the subbed Gintama (except I can't understand Japanese so sometimes I miss a bunch). But generally I tend to get too distracted when watching shows, and if it's something I'm invested in I feel that it's... disrespectful? To not watch it with my full attention, lol, so I rarely do that. I can see why people do it if it's a show they're not particularly interested in though. I have as well binged all of the BuzzFeed unsolved a while back when working on projects for an art class, but that I also mostly treated like a podcast...

Hope that answers the question! Yes way to much good god Thanks again for asking :)

[a-dragons-journal]

i dont "kin for fun" but through tiktok i found out about the whole kin for fun vs actual otherkin... situation ig? im having a really hard time taking it seriously... maybe im just burnt out and bitter from dealing with the worlds current events, and maybe its because on tiktok the only people i saw mad about it were white people, but you're the most reasonable person ive seen talking about it (a lot of other posts have this odd tone that 12 year olds on tiktok saying kin is the worlds greatest opression and it weirds me out) so ig my question is just... why exactly does this matter? why does it matter enough to post about and care about and not just ignore? /gen

Hey! I don’t blame you for being a bit weirded out by it, we’re a weird subculture and we’re well aware of it! xD I appreciate you taking the time to actually look into it past your first knee-jerk reaction, especially considering burnout and the state of things.

I’m not totally sure if you’re asking why otherkinity matters or why the “kin for fun” being wrong matters, so I’ll answer both - they’re pretty well tied together anyway.

The short version:

Otherkinity is an identity. It’s who we are, we can’t choose to pick it up or put it down, and it comes with struggles - though no, ‘kin are not systematically oppressed (though we are pretty badly bullied and, at this point, pushed out of our own words and spaces).

What people calling roleplay/relating to/projecting onto characters “kinning for fun” does is steal our words, make them meaningless, and in doing so, make it difficult or impossible for us to find each other. If someone says “I kin [x],” I no longer know whether they mean “I am [x] on an intrinsic level” or “haha I relate to this character a lot”. I no longer know whether they actually share my experiences or if they’re going to turn on me and call me “crazy” as soon as they realize I’m not exaggerating or joking or roleplaying. It’s done massive harm to the community as a whole because it’s become difficult to tell whether someone is actually ‘kin or if they’ve misunderstood the whole thing - and because antikin rhetoric, which I’m seeing more and more in KFF spaces, hurts far more when it’s coming from inside what you thought was a community space than when it’s coming from self-labeled “antikin.”

There are other words for roleplaying and relating to and projecting onto characters. Hell, there are words for strongly identifying with-but-not-as characters/things, though usually KFF people don’t even seem serious enough for those to fit in my experience. I’m really not sure why these people are so determined to steal and misuse our words, words that were specifically created to mean something else, when they already have their own and are just refusing to use them. (Or, hell, if you don’t feel like those fit, make your own. We did. It’s your turn to put in the work. (General you, not you-the-anon, of course.))

An analogy, if that still doesn’t quite land for you:

Consider, for a moment, the transgender community. I am aware this is a dangerous thing to say, but bear with me. Obvious CW for hypothetical transphobia up ahead is obvious.

Consider if you were part of the trans community (I don’t know if you are or not), having finally found a word to explain why you feel the way you do about yourself, why your experiences don’t seem to match up with those of everyone else around you. Having found a community, a home, full of other people like you, people you never would have met if not for words like “transgender” and “gender dysphoria/euphoria” that were created specifically to describe your experiences.

Now consider if people suddenly stumbled across your community for the first time who were not trans themselves. They see community jokes and lighthearted posts out of context, because Tumblr and Twitter aren’t exactly conducive to making sure people find the Transgender 101 information posts first. They don’t bother to do further research, assuming they understand: ah, these people like to crossdress! They like to pretend they’re a different gender! This seems like a fun hobby, I want in!

They begin to post things like this. They post photos of them crossdressing and caption them “hi, I’m [name], and I trans men!” and things of the like. Suddenly the concept of “transing for fun” seems to be everywhere - and it’s not at all what being trans actually is, but these people either don’t know or don’t care. When actual trans people try to politely correct them, they’re accused of “gatekeeping” - and to be clear, this is not “nonbinary people aren’t real,” it’s “transgender means you identify as a gender other than the one you were assigned at birth, and you’re self-identifying as the gender you were assigned at birth 100% and telling us this is just a fun hobby for you, therefore you’re not trans, you’re crossdressing or doing drag or being GNC. That’s fine, but it’s not being trans - you have other words to describe that, use those.”

(Yes, I am aware these things have a history with the trans community - please just ignore that for the sake of the analogy and bear with me on the slightly simplified version of this. “Kinning for fun” does not have that same history with the otherkin community.)

...And then the response to those attempted corrections, in some corners, turns into “wait, you ACTUALLY think you’re another gender? idk that sounds pretty unhealthy, maybe you should see a psychologist or something :\” and “you’re taking this too seriously.”

I imagine, in this hypothetical scenario, you’d also be pretty fuckin peeved.

(Obviously, in this hypothetical scenario, systematic transphobia would be an issue as well, which isn’t the case for otherkin - again, you’re gonna have to bear with me on the simplification for sake of analogy there.)

(EDIT: this is not an anti-MOGAI/exclusionist argument, this is “you’re literally telling me you don’t fit the definition,” explanation on that here)

The long version, which is probably still worth reading if you have the time and energy:

Otherkinity is... pretty core to who I am, who we as a group of individuals are. We live with being otherkin on a daily basis. Many of us spent a long time feeling different and disconnected and not understanding why until we found the otherkin community. Even people like me, who don’t share that experience and still had social connection - I’ve still had to live with weird differences that I had to learn to mask when necessary; instincts that don’t line up with human society well, feeling body parts that weren’t there and that no one else ever seemed to have, things that other kids grew out of because it was just make-believe for them and I... didn’t, because it was never make-believe for me to begin with. Oh, sure, I played make-believe too - I played warrior cats and house and all those things with the other kids, but there were things that weren’t play-pretend for me too. I didn’t have an explanation for it for a long time - it was just how I was, I was weird, and fortunately for me personally I was okay with that (many of those with species dysphoria or more trouble connecting with humans have more problems from that than I did).

And then I found the word “otherkin.” And suddenly everything fell into place, and I had an explanation for the things I’d been experiencing, and there were other people like me. Something I’d assumed didn’t exist. I found others who shared my unique experiences, who were talking about how to cope with the instinct to growl or snap jaws at people instead of expressing annoyance in a human way instead of just saying “that’s weird, don’t do that”, who were talking about dealing with phantom wings and tails, who understood me. I wasn’t weird, I wasn’t broken, I was exactly what one would expect from a dragon living in human skin. I found an explanation for myself. I found a home.

That is why otherkinity matters - it is who we are, it’s not something we can walk away from (certainly not most of us, anyway), and it’s something many of us need the support of the community to help deal with on a daily basis. Being a nonhuman in human society isn’t always easy, but it’s not something we can just magically stop being - it’s core to who we are, we (generally) didn’t choose to be this way, and we (generally) can’t choose to stop. Which is fine - the vast majority of us can cope with it just fine, with a little advice and help and space to be our authentic selves in. We found each other, we built this community from the ground up to make a space and words to make finding each other easier - or possible at all.

Thus we come to the second half of our story.

It was only a couple of years ago that the “kin for fun” trend started getting big. It had existed before that, of course, but it only started going mainstream two, maybe three years ago, from what I can tell. Suddenly people were treating “kin” like it meant relating to, projecting onto, roleplaying as, or just really really liking a character or thing - not being that thing, which is what it actually means. Not long after that, it became hard to tell whether someone saying “I kin this” meant they were that thing, that they were actually part of our community - or that they really really liked that thing and either didn’t know or couldn’t be bothered to learn that that wasn’t the case for us.

Not long after that, it became relatively commonplace to hear phrases like “otherkin are ruining kinning!!” and “you’re taking this too seriously” and “idk, if it’s that serious for you that sounds unhealthy. maybe you should get some help :\” (all directly quoted, or as exactly quoted as I can remember, from things KFF people have said to me or people I know).

It is a special kind of hell, I think, to be told “you’re taking this too seriously, that’s unhealthy” by people who are taking words created to describe your experiences, not theirs, and misusing them to mean something that you do for fun on a weekend instead of something that’s intrinsic to your being.

Perhaps more importantly, like I’ve said, it’s making it almost impossible to know whether someone who says “I kin [x]” is actually ‘kin or if they’re misusing our words to mean something else entirely. The entire point of words is to communicate ideas, and once you start misusing words to mean something totally different than what they actually mean, that communication falls apart and suddenly we might as well not have those words at all. Especially when the community is small enough and obscure enough that we’re starting to be outnumbered by the misinformation. We’re being run out of our own words, words we created to describe our experiences specifically - because we’re a small community that the wider internet can easily drown out by sheer numbers of people who either don’t know any better or don’t care to learn.

That’s the harm it does - the harm it is doing, right now. That’s why it’s important enough to post about. That’s why it matters - because we’re fighting desperately to hang onto our own words so that others like us can actually find us. Because we’re seeing young nonhumans go “this isn’t a kin, I actually am this” and screaming “No, I’m so sorry that this is what the misinformation has done to you, that’s exactly what otherkin means, you have a place here, please don’t let these non-’kin misusing our words drive you away from the very community you’re looking for and that you belong in.” Because we can’t even communicate effectively about our own experiences anymore except in semi-closed spaces like Discord servers and forums (and the number of Discord servers overrun with KFF people is absurd).

......This got very long. Hopefully it at least explained why it matters so much to me and others a bit better ^^; Thanks for hearing me out, and thank you again for looking into this beyond your initial knee-jerk reaction - I really do appreciate it.

(For further reading, if that text wall didn’t blow you out of the water completely, I recommend my “kin for fun” tag, which has more posts like this in both short and long form.)

[astrowithkaro]

Hello ma'am! May i request February 2nd if the series is still ongoing? You have a lovely blog! Thank you in advance! Have an amazing day ahead! :)

Language Of Birthdays: February 2 - Aquarius

The Day Of Class

Notonly are February 2 individuals apt to be polished, sophisticated and classy, but also likely to embody many of the typical qualities (both the very best and worst ones) of the social group or nationality from which they spring. Thus, no matter how unusual

they are, they tend to stay attached to their cultural beginnings. February 2 people are able to "do the impossible" and make it look easy. It is because they have great facility with their medium that they can operate in a relaxed fashion. Though they give the impression that such fluency comes naturally, in fact a great deal of discipline and hard work stands behind it.

Classically, those born on this day prefer to work hard in private, not in public. It is extremely important to their image that they remain objective, in complete control of what they are doing—in a word, masterful. February 2 people generally think the best way to avoid problems is to just do things their way. In fact, however, pushing difficulties away, or eschewing any sort of trouble in interpersonal relations can be a subtle form of fascism, which coerces others to play by February 2 rules or not play at all. Cultivating a controlled but easy manner can be just the thing to rid themselves of the bothersome frictions others cause. Indeed, those born on this day seek to make life in general a smooth ride.

However, in doing so they often forget that someone else is on the other end, someone who may have their own ideas about how things should go. Sudden flareups, quick but deadly confrontations, are not at all uncommon when dealing with February 2 people. Below their seemingly placid exterior they are actually temperamental individuals who do not handle stress very well and in extreme cases are not interested in much human contact at all.

Many February 2 people enjoy their work or hobby, frequently of a technical nature, above all else. Here they show a most advanced side of their nature, in that it is not so much personal or social but objective goals that they are striving to reach. On the other hand, if too absorbed in their special interests they can become careless or oblivious to more mundane concerns. Not uncommonly they rely on others to take care of these matters so that they don't even have to think about them. Thus although they live up to their responsibilities on the universal, and sometimes on the social level, on the personal level they may quite regularly shirk their duties.

February 2 people may get so far into their own world that they have increasing difficulties communicating with those around them. Less highly evolved individuals born on this day, who lack the talent but retain the pretension, can be difficult and trying. Those more highly evolved remain fresh and inviting but are also wearing; indeed, family members and close friends are often frustrated in their desire to share with February 2 people and hunger to become more intimate. Those born on this day should thus resist impulses to distance themselves and rather make themselves more available whenever possible.

Strengths:

Sophisticated

Dynamic

Original

Weakness:

Insulated

Aloof

Dispassionate

Advice

As they get older, those born on February 2 can display a wide variety of physical complaints, most chronic rather than acute. Not all of these have a firm physical basis, however, since those born on this day tend to be a bit hypochondriacal. Real physical difficulties often arise with the lungs and circulatory system (venous or arterial), particularly in the extremities. These true concerns may be precisely the ones they ignore, perversely, and so regular checkups with a family physician are necessary. Those born on this day can well be in need of guidance where food is concerned, as they may not be fond of eating what is best for them. (Often their tastes run to the more sophisticated and. unfortunately, unrealistic in terms of the pocketbook. They may wish to serve or be served in a highly aesthetic fashion.) Regular but moderate physical exercise is here recommended.

Be more aware of yourself and the figure you cut

Keep in tune with the language of others

Retain humility and a sense of your roots

[gottawriteanegoortwo]

The One Where Wilford asks Dark about a Fanfic Trope

Wilford’s been reading too many fan fictions. Then he told me this very silly idea about asking questions about a common trope in said fics and wouldn’t leave me alone until I wrote it. 

(Sorry.)

Word count: 1,010

-

As the resident ‘fourth wall breaker’, one of Wilford’s hobbies was to sneakily check the fandom and their works inspired by the egos and their world. On days when technology worked in his favour without causing major disruption for everyone else (who could forget the time that he skipped a Youtube ad and broke the coffee machine?), he would snoop around the various websites. He would coo over fan art, get immersed in fan theories, and lose track of time reading fan fiction. All in all, it was great to see what the fans were doing when there was nothing new in ‘canon’ to work with.

(Oh, the ships! The fluff! The angst! The crack! It all made his little heart flutter. How creative their fans were!!)

One such day had Wilford spending a free day catching up on the fandom works. He was supposed to be in the studio, but all the Jims were called away for a ‘family emergency’; while Bim worked on his podcast. Not that Wilford minded. It was good they all knew work wasn’t the most important thing! Instead, he lounged on the sofa, flipping from drabbles to headcanons to stories. What a great way to spend the day… Until something caught his attention.

-

“Hey, Dark?” 

“Yes?” The entity didn’t look up from his laptop, nor did he stop typing.

“Why are ya workin’ in an office?”

“It’s a rented office space. Cheaper and more efficient than renting a giant house like you originally wanted. This is more beneficial given that a large majority of this ‘company’ is dedicated to matters in the entertainment industry and they require a large space to rehearse and perform.”

“Ah. Okay.” Wilford dropped the topic for several seconds until… “Hey, Dark?”

“What?”

“Whaddya mean th’ ‘majority’ is fer th’ entertainment industry?”

“The eclectic group that the ‘egos’ consist of have a variety of careers. Since a lot of them focus on the production of entertainment features - such as news, chat shows and game shows - it was the most reasonable solution to focus efforts there so that there is a sense of productivity amongst the entire group, even if the target audience is small.”

“Huh… But ya hate bein’ involved with shows.”

“I know that, Will.”

“Like, ta th’ point where ya accept people will call ya ‘Dark’ instead of ‘Damien’.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Well,” Wilford wriggled from his position on the sofa to peer at Dark. True to many of the stories he had been reading, Dark sat in a plush office chair behind a large desk, with a laptop in front of him and various folders and paper surrounding that. “Yer here. All th’ fans know that, an’ everyone punishes ya fer bein’ here by makin’ ya do borin’ paperwork. Why’s that?”

“You do realise that there are timeline variants of all of us, and what I do isn’t a staple for what others do, correct?” Wilford nodded in response. “So why does it matter?”

“Because yer my friend. I don’t want ya sufferin’ with paperwork if ya don’t wanna be here.”  Dark rolled his eyes, but it appeared the sentiment was appreciated. His eyes dropped to the laptop screen so he could save his work and shut the lid. Then, at last, Wilford had his full attention.

“I’m normally cast in the role of ‘working in an office’ because fans normally don’t know what to do with me in a work-related setting. They saw our scene in Markiplier TV where I sat at the head of the boardroom table, noticed that my appearances had no direct involvement with any actual productions and were instead me directly interacting with them with no interference; and thus concluded that I must while away my hours behind a desk with generic paperwork. For all they know, these are pages with endless lorem ipsum blurbs pasted on them. But since most fans don’t know much about office work beyond what they’ve seen on TV, it passes with little complaint.”

“That… Really sucks. I’m sorry that’s yer fate. But, uh… What are ya doin’?” Wilford tumbled off the sofa to approach the desk and lift one of the pages. Compared to the glorious fanfics, it was written in a tiny typeface with big words that scrambled his head.

“Again, what I do career-wise as a ‘Darkiplier’ doesn’t match what others may do, but I am a qualified lawyer by trade. I’ve had to shift my focus to working in the world of a business rather than helping individual clients. In brief, I’m the main reason that the studio hasn’t been sued out of existence by making sure every project is legally sensible. I also write up and maintain the contracts of those that work here who aren’t egos, as well as offer legal advice beyond what Google or Bing might suggest from their search systems. I’ve had to also take a side-step into accounting and finance to make sure that people get paid.”

“... That sounds like a lotta work.”

“Which is precisely why I deal with the brunt of it and call you in when I know how best to explain it. We’re both in charge as two of the ‘mascots’ of Mark’s channel. The ‘heart and soul’, if you will.” To Wilford’s surprise, a coy smirk appeared on Dark’s lips. “Our studio isn’t as disastrous as you think. I actually have quite a large amount of free time. I mainly stay here to keep away from the chaos. Did you know I paint?”

“Ya what?” Curiosity piqued, Wiford planted his hands on the table and stretched forward. “Ya paint? What do ya do?”

Dark opened his laptop again and resumed typing.

“Hey. Damien. I wanna know ‘bout yer paintin’!”

No answer.

“C’moooonnnn, pleeaaaase?” 

Dark looked up with a sigh.

“I’m afraid my hands are tied. There simply aren’t enough fan fictions and headcanons to allow me to elaborate.” There was a glint of mischief in his eyes as he went back to work, ignoring Wilford’s pleas to hear more.

[scope-dogg]

Knight’s and Magic: Final Thoughts

Isekai anime have been very popular in recent years, and 2017′s Knight’s and Magic was one of many cashing in on that trend, with the added twist of being a mecha series. However, what many may not realise is that the Isekai genre of anime was originally born out of the mecha genre, with the first Isekai anime arguably being the 1983 classic Aura Battler Dunbine by Yoshiyuki Tomino. While Isekai has split off and diversified into its own extremely prolific and popular genre, mecha has kept a foothold within it, and subsequently some of the greatest mecha shows have been fantasy-themed, with great titles like Magic Knight Rayearth and The Vision of Escaflowne following in Dunbine’s footsteps over the years, so really Knight’s and Magic should be viewed rather as the continuation of a fairly long tradition of fantasy mecha rather than Isekai but with robots. Adapted from the early volumes of a currently ongoing manga by the same name, it’s a short series, but one with high production values, superb mechanical design and entertaining action. It’s also a series that I ultimately simply cannot stand.

The plot setup is that Tsubasa Kurata is an unassuming but highly talented programmer working in contemporary Japan - or at least he is until he’s killed in a road traffic accident. As he dies, he has but one regret - that he’ll no longer be able to live with his hobby of building plastic model kits of giant anime robots. As is often the case with such a setup, he finds himself reborn into a fantasy kingdom called Fremevilla as the son of nobles called Ernesti Echavalier. However, to his joy, he finds out that the main weapon for fighting back against these monsters is the Silhouette Knight, a kind of gigantic magic-powered mecha. Thus, he devotes himself to the art of learning everything there is about these machines and one day building and piloting one of his very own.

There’s nothing really wrong with this premise, but Knight’s and Magic is flawed in how one-track it is. The show’s really only about one thing - how robots are cool. Of course, I agree that robots are cool. Knight’s and Magic’s lineup of robots in particular is very cool, both in their form and unique functions. However, anyone who’s actually a fan of the mecha genre knows that just having cool robots isn’t enough to carry a show - you have to have compelling characters and interesting narratives. The all-too-frequently trotted-out line of “[x mecha show] is actually good, unlike the rest of the genre, because it focuses on the characters instead of just the robots” is probably the single most effective thing you can say if you want to piss off a mecha fan, because that sentence describes literally every mecha show that was ever worth a damn, even going back to the genre’s roots in the 70s. However, it arguably doesn’t really describe Knight’s and Magic. The series’ creators come off as just as obsessed with robots as its main character, and it comes at the expense of the characters and setting. Each new episode comes with a cool new robot or a cool upgrade for an existing one, but practically none of them feature development of the setting or its characters. Fremevilla and its neighbours never come off as anything more than “generic fantasy kingdom”, the supporting cast are all cut from extremely generic-feeling moulds, and Ernesti never undergoes any growth or exhibits any notable character traits beyond “likes robots.”

Now, there have been several characters in mecha anime who are in large part defined by their dedication to giant robots as an ideal, or simply to their aesthetic, and some of these are truly excellent characters. For instance, Gai Daigoji from Nadesico, Akagi Shunsuke from Dai-Guard, Noa Izumi from Patlabor, Sei Iori from Gundam Build Fighters, or the Super Robot Wars Original character Ryusei Date. The difference between all of these and Ernesti is that being fans of robots isn’t the only thing that makes them relatable or endearing characters, whereas in Ernesti’s case it’s basically the only thing that defines his personality. It also doesn’t help that he’s perhaps the biggest Mary Sue main character that I’ve seen in a mecha anime. His gimmick is that his past-life experience as a programmer also makes him profoundly adept at magic, and that he’s a genius Silhouette Knight designer. He’s always totally successful at everything he tries and everyone loves and respects him for his accomplishments. Ironically, it’s this that makes him an unlikable character for the viewer, because, again, he has no real admirable qualities beyond liking robots and being good at making and using them. It’s a character’s struggles and tribulations that ultimately make them truly sympathetic, and Ernesti is never really challenged until right at the very end of the series, and ultimately that challenge only feels like a mild speed bump for him. This results in a series that despite all its cool robots and flashy battles is fundamentally dead as a story at its core.

However, all of this simply describes a series that I would find boring and mediocre rather than one I actively disliked in a serious way. However, this is arguably the first series I’ve watched since Gundam Seed Destiny that really ground my gears quite badly, and it all boils down to one specific moment in the show’s narrative. To explain why, I need to diverge from my usual review format and spoil not only this show, but also it’s forefather, the original mecha Isekai, Aura Battler Dunbine. I really don’t think spoilers for the former is anything to worry about but spoiling the latter is probably more of an offense. As such, the remainder of this review is below this spoiler cut:

Dunbine is not everyone’s cut of tea. It’s old, has bad animation, it’s long-winded and has a sometimes confused and scrambled narrative in accordance with some of Tomino’s worst habits. However, it was also a work of great imagination that really delivered on communicating a valuable message in some engaging ways. It’s a message that Knight’s and Magic cheerfully and infuriatingly tramples all over. Let me explain.

In Knight’s and Magic, the show’s hero is an outsider who enters into a fantasy world and uses his real-world knowledge to bring about a revolution in technology. This also happens to be the chief descriptor for a major character in Dunbine too.

However, this isn’t the description of the show’s protagonist, Show Zama.

It’s the description of the show’s villain, Shot Weapon.

Shot Weapon is the creator of the Aura Convertor, the technology that powers the show’s mecha, the Aura Battlers, and other weapons besides. The introduction of this technology destroys the peace of Dunbine’s world, Byston Well, and causes it to descend into anarchy and bloodshed. However, the real devastation doesn’t occur until Shot’s creations are transported back into our world, where they inflict destruction almost beyond imagining. Ultimately, Shot Weapon’s actions condemn him to a punishment of being forced to live forever in Byston Well in a state of eternal suffering, like Cain after murdering his brother Abel. Dunbine’s ultimate, most crucial message is that those who manufacture weapons and spread death are to be condemned.

Knight’s and Magic gave itself the exact same opportunity to deal with this exact same theme. The show’s final arc is that a kingdom called Zaloudek has accumulated vast military power and used it to invade its neighours. We get to see as they descend into a neighbouring kingdom, slaughter its just and rightful rulers and install themselves as tyrants. Now, enter Ernesti and his friends at the conquered kingdom’s borders. At this point he’s achieved his aim of creating his own unique robot called the Ikaruga, and in its first battle effortlessly dispatches the Zaloudek soldiers guarding the border. In the aftermath, he examines the wreckage of a destroyed Zaloudek Silhouette Knight. He and everyone else see the obvious - this machine, the Tyranto is based on Ernesti’s designs. Previously, one of the prototype Knights he’d constructed in an earlier arc was stolen by a mysterious foreign agent, and now it’s become clear what happened to it. The source of the military strength that’s fuelling Zaloudek’s ambitions of conquest are the new technologies that he created, reverse engineered from the stolen mecha. As he looks upon the wreck of the Tyranto, the show is presented with a unique opportunity to do something that it’s thus far not done - challenge its protagonist with the consequences of his actions. Sure, Ernesti is not exactly the same as Shot Weapon - he only wanted to create robots because he thought they were cool, while Shot Weapon wanted power. However, in this case the end result has been the same - death, destruction and oppression. Ernesti has a chance to think about whether the things he’s done are right and acknowledge that he’s at least somewhat responsible for the disaster that’s played out, even if it’s just to acknowledge that he has a duty to set things right by beating Zaloudek. This is an opportunity for him to grow as a character for the first time.

The show swerves this opportunity without flinching.

Sure, Ernesti does liberate the kingdom in the end, but it’s clear that it’s not as a result of any real moral calling. He just wanted to build more robots and fight with them. His motivation in the final battle is that he wants to destroy the enemy’s flying battleship because he’s worried that battleships might replace Silhouette Knights if he doesn’t. He remains a totally one-dimensional character right to the end.

As I said before, Ernesti’s obsession with cool robots arguably mirrors that of the creators of this show, if its myopic focus on them is anything to go by. Perhaps this seems extremely out of character for me to say, but this is an infantile obsession. Yes, I like giant robots, but I don’t like them so much that I miss the point. The core of not only the real robot genre that both Knight’s and Magic and Aura Battle Dunbine belong to despite the fantasy trappings of the show, but arguably of the mecha genre as a whole, is that technology can be a force of destruction and great evil when not used responsibly. Yes, the protagonist mecha in these shows are meant to be heroic, but only in their opposition to those who’d use technology as a tool of death and oppression. This is the core of the soul that makes mecha as a genre compelling. It’s a point that Knight’s and Magic completely misses and why it’s fundamentally a failure. It’s as if it’s trying to be what the mecha genre’s detractors try to paint it as.

That said, despite my misgivings there is entertainment to be found if you only want dumb action. But I’d highly encourage you to check out any alternative. If you want a fantasy mecha series, Dunbine, Escaflowne and Rayearth are all much more compelling stories than this - even ones I’m not so keen on like Panzer World Galient and Ryu Knight are fundamentally more interesting as stories than this. If you want a story with a mecha fanatic in the lead role, you’re much better off watching Patlabor or the chronically underrated Dai-Guard instead.