#i'm just as frustrated as y'all

[cinamun]

Missing class | Next

[fandomunsexyman]

SVSSS is a novel with a fandom.

[ID: A Scum Villain edit of the "missing the point" meme. A bullet arcs from velinxi art of child Shen Jiu kneeling while furiously glaring. The bullet says, "People are not entirely one thing or the other and holding them to these extremes ignores the complexities that come with their humanity." It arcs over the head of a person across from it, who ignores the bullet and exclaims: "Wow!! Shen Jiu's only crime was being mean and was wrongly hated!" End ID]

[cookie-nom-nom]

Reading Barrayar I felt trapped in Cordelia’s head. It’s incredibly effective for the dread of war as a civilian. Plans and machinations happening beyond you, with no input. Hearing of things happening that seem far off and like yeah that’s awful but then suddenly it dominoes in a way that destroy your life and it’s not your fault and you could've done nothing at all to prevent it. Especially the tension of being hunted in the Dendarii mountains with no idea how the war is going, if they’ve already lost, if it is already too late. Cordelia is doing actively important things in service of the war by sheltering Gregor, yet there's this pervasive feeling of helpless lack of control. She spends most of the book with this dread of not knowing when the next threat to their family will come, and I don’t think it could’ve been done so effectively if we had access to the information Aral had. I found it frustrating at times, since it felt like Cordelia was swept up in events with little agency (at first; obviously our dear captain didn’t remain there). I wanted so badly to be with Aral seeing and knowing and making the decisions.

But that’s the point! Most people have absolutely zero agency in those situations and little information and it’s terrifying. Barrayar captures the feeling of being a civilian in war where so many narratives narrow in upon the heroes and 'men of history' that control conflicts. That's what readers expect. I think that’s why I loved the ending so much. After so long trapped with Cordelia, just trying to survive the larger machinations of Barrayar’s bloody politics, it felt so, so good to finally be on the offensive, to have information the opponents don’t, to finally have power and the means to control what happens. It's a relief to the constant tension of having no agency in a giant conflict that frankly Cordelia had no business being affect by, yet was swept up in because of her love of Aral.

Which is the second thing I deeply enjoyed in Barrayar. I love how the war is made so human. A messy tangle of human relationships control it. I can’t stop thinking about the hostages. There are just so many children being used because the war holds the future hostage. Tiny precious Miles utterly incapable of comprehending how large a pawn he is. Young grieving Gregor vital to the plans of both sides whether dead or alive. Elena, who should be of no importance but she is because that's the kid of an unimportant soldier, just like every other hostage is another piece in the web of the war. I keep thinking about the relatives of Aral’s men caught in the capital. The hostages that Aral refuses to take. Everyone just trying to take care of those they love, and the points where they must put other priorities over their relationships are heart wrenching.

Barrayar looks dead on at how little people try to survive a civil war. From the mountains where the fighting seems so far, and information is slowed to a trickle of the singular mailman. The invasion of forces that disrupts people who may not even know there’s a war yet. The scientists and the genius lost in a single blast that goes unnoticed. The urban populations trying to sneak in food and people and keep their heads down. Random citizens debating who to sell out, weighing risks and bounties, if it will get them the favor with the occupiers that will help them survive. All so small in the grand scheme of things, and yet they are who Barrayar concerns itself with.

Cordelia’s uncertainty and fear would’ve been undermined if we were allowed to see in the heads of people driving the conflict, because Barrayar isn’t about those people. It is the desperation of two mothers, powerless and kept in the dark, that topples the regime.

Addendum: Cordelia’s relationship to Aral firmly places her in an upper class position that is important to note when discussing the role of civilians/‘little people’ within this analysis. But as a woman on Barrayar she is extremely limited in the power she is allocated, especially compared to someone like Aral, which would be the military leadership POV that novels more focused on the grander scope of war would utilize. Again not to say Cordelia has no agency or power, but it is not to the degree of the people in charge. Thus I place her alongside the average people swept up in a war outside their control. Still, her position as a Vor Lady gives her some access knowledge and connections that she turns into power, which while limited are far more than the average citizen. Her significance to Vordarrian is exclusively viewed as yet another hostage, an underestimation that Cordelia readily exploits, but still afforded only due to her status. Cordelia occupies a position of importance but not power beyond the scope of the people she’s formed direct relationships with, which only further ties into the essay's thesis.

[fizzyrodeo]

regarding some of the discourse surrounding the weird al music video and vivziepop's segment, i don't understand why vivzie stans are trying so hard to defend her REFUSAL to draw ethnic features. i say refusal because there's no way you're as advanced in the art industry as her and don't know how to draw ethnic features as simple as proper curly hair or different noses. and stans are going "it's just her art style!!!"— well i'm black and i say if her art style prevents her from drawing ethnic characters then she needs to stop putting herself in situations where she has to draw ethnic figures AND stop shoehorning ethnicity into her work.

[genericpuff]

a family member of mine just got engaged to his partner of the last several years

lore rekindled got a 30 minute readalong video made about it by DazzlingKate22 (the same person who made the "Is Persephone a Mary Sue?" video among many others) which is just absolutely amazing and overwhelming at the same time

and now the shit-talking train over the "never apologize for being sicilian" panel from S1 of LO has pulled into Twitter and people are dragging the FUCK out of it, i'm literally crying over how funny it is

hey webtoons i don't think your constant mass marketing of this series is working because this post is popping off way more than literally anything else regarding LO on twitter LMAO

it would be so genuinely hilarious if this one out of context panel from like 4 years ago is what gets people in the mainstream webtoon audience talking about how ridiculous it is

like it's not even a recent scene where people could go "wow this comic really went down the tubes", it's an old ass scene where people are going "wait this comic is still around, who the fuck reads this" 😭💀😆

so yeah, today's been pretty fun LMAO

[wandixx]

I didn't realized I haven't posted it before

Ghost of fries and hero of cookies art!!!

aka how I figured out Dani's Hoopoe costume design and some chibis (with my mediocre marker skills)

"Ghost of fries and hero of cookies" is a cute and fluffy fic I wrote about Dani going to Gotham and accidentally became Signal's sidekick. Here is tumblr link. Here is AO3

Anyway, let's get to the art

Photos may be poor quality, my scanner did shitty job, and I tried to fix it up a bit in Ibis Paint, but there is only so much I could do

Hoopoe with hoopoe, to get you hooked up :)

This is finished design, so now we can get to the journey there. Some drawings will be just Dani because, yes, she threw on a cape, but I still needed to know how she looked like underneath.

And in the love of Gods, I was not going to put a child in the crop top.

Or at least I changed that when it hit me that I can... just do that. I can redesign her. Anyway, chronologically:

As you can see, in the beginning, both her cape and her mask had some more interesting designs that I got rid of. Not because I don't like it, I still think it's pretty cute, but! Mask got simplified because I realized that Bats keep their masks pretty simple in color, and she got her mask from Duke, so it needed to be simpler. Just... let's say that the one with a bit more fun stuff going on was her original paper mask, and she was pouting up a storm when Signal gave her such boring mask in exchange. THE ABSOLUTE BETRAYAL!

And the cape got more boring because it's literally a blanket. I don't think she could get a blanket with this specific pattern. But for a funny bit that I thought out when it was too late, The Pin that holds her cape together is either something like "I ❤️ Central City" or Flash merch. I highly encourage you to suggest to me what it could look like

Anyway, then came actual figuring out of her actual costume

I don't know what to tell about this part, to be honest. Maybe I would vibe better with the first one if I kept green parts one shade instead of... 4 or 5. Second one just isn't it at all, though I could probably give her belt back at some point. Third one was pretty close but this 》 shape on her torso just felt weird, so I just simplified it to the straight line in the fourth, which is the final. The elbow protection there was literally spur of the moment idea when I looked at the figure drawing and decided "I like the elbow shapes. Let's keep them" and I kept them.

Anyway, this is other shot of finished Hoopoe!Dani, with better view of her costume:

And chibis! Chilling on the roof with Signal and eating fries like good lil gremlin ghosts oath to do:

I'm frankly really proud of the chibis because for the life of me, I usually cannot draw them without feeling that their faces went through a hydraulic press or at least met a wall at really high speed.

That's all for today

[paranorahjones]

i propose we kill walmart

[tea-cat-arts]

"Madam Yu would be a Karen/ treat minimum wage employees like shit-" literally the only servant she's shown abusing is Wei Wuxian (and that's because he's the victim of a proxy war between her and Jiang Fengmian around the idea of him being adopted into the family, not because of his class). Madam Yu's two handmaid's love and respect her, and Madam Yu actually defends them when Wang Lingjiao tries being a Karen to them. She also tells Wang Lingjiao to fuck off when she demands the Jiang servants bring her tea.

Also, Karens are unpleasant women, but not all unpleasant women are Karens. That term is about entitlement and being unreasonable (and often times, racist). Madam Yu is mean and unpleasant to talk to, but she keeps most of her interactions brief and probably doesn't have the time or mental energy to be a Karen or hold a grudge that long. If you want an actual example of a Karen in mdzs, Wang Lingjiao is right there

[kuwdora]

heyo tumblr friendos, what is bringing you joy and respite these days? get into a new show lately? eat a nice food? does anyone have any cute animal pictures to share? what are you all reading? or writing? late stage capitalism is wearing me down. I'm clinging to my vid WIP like it's a buoy lest my anxiety send me into a spiral.

[miodiodavinci]

good news about having something coming later today: buzzing with excitement ! ! ! i'm nearly free ! ! !

bad news about having something coming later today: oh god i'm anxious. i feel ill. i am watching movies to distract myself but i feel so so bad.

[deadmomjokes]

Getting the spouse to read The Thief and Y'ALL

He's too smart for this.

He's calling it! All of it!! He's picking up the hints and clues the first time thru with zero context!!!

I mean, there was this moment y'all may have seen, but also, just this morning:

"So, the magus is ethnocentric as heck and that whole scene was really gross, but also.... Gen is actually the King's Thief of Eddis, right? That's obvious? I feel like we were supposed to be distracted by all the storytelling and racism, but like.... It's not even subtle at this point."

and

"Obviously Ambiades took that food, right? My only question is why Gen let him get away with it...."

And the speculations are off in the right direction, too!

"So why is Gen here instead of with the King in Eddis? He was in prison for a while but nobody seems to be concerned or even aware that the King's Thief is missing from Eddis--at least the magus didn't, and he seems pretty aware of current events. But Gen isn't here on business, because what would Eddis want with Sounis's king's seal? So why is he here and not there...?"

I'm not saying a dang word, yea or nay, and he knows it. He's just speculating out loud, and I quote, "Because I need a witness to having called it when I turn out to be right." (And also because he likes watching me squirm when I'm forced to keep my mouth shut and put on my overdramatic poker face.)

I mean, he's been wrong, too. He's leaning towards "the woman who fell out the window" being a caretaker instead of his actual mom, or the alternate explanation that it was his mom and Gen's family had to flee Eddis for some reason or other, which is why nobody's worried he's gone. But he's also "keeping his thoughts open to new clues." But he's still been on the right trail more often than he's been wrong.

I'm gonna bust a blood vessel over here. He's too smart, guys. He's gonna figure it all out the first run through and I have no idea how.

[khaire-traveler]

Hey, so I find it hard to believe that I have to say this, but it's become a massive problem for me recently and continues to repeat. If I have blocked you in the past and you have hurt me (which you have come to now realize), do not reach out to me, dude. Do not reach out even just to apologize. I don't want to hear from you, and it's extremely upsetting to be continuously receiving asks from people I've specifically cut out from my life because they know I run this blog. It's shitty, it's sometimes triggering, and it's invasive of my boundaries, so stop. Leave me be, and go on your merry way. I've had to restrict who can message me, and STILL people choose to reach out to me through my asks now! I've had to turn them off temporarily because the problem is getting so ridiculous. It's nice that you want to apologize, but some of you have deeply traumatized me in ways I am still reconciling. Please, just leave me be. Stop reaching out on your other/new accounts; you will be immediately blocked the second I find out it's you.

If I've blocked you, Do. Not. Reach. Out. To. Me. If I wanted to talk to you, I would. Move on with your life, please, and respect my boundaries if you truly care.

[royalarchivist]

Head in my hands

At this point when errors, happen I don't even know if it's me or Tumblr's fault anymore, because like– Ok, to give you guys a peek into the clip posting process I've had to do for the past month or so:

I upload a clip, write the transcript, then write the tags.

If the clip is stuck in upload hell for more than 5 minutes, I refresh my drafts page and wait for it to show up in there.

I edit the draft, re-type the transcript that's missing (because the auto-save usually deletes half of it) and re-write the tags that are missing

Sometimes I'm able to copy over the transcript from the "still uploading" post if I don't close the tab, but occasionally, it copies transcripts of previous posts I've created (or parts of them) and I have to triple-check that nothing copied over.

I hit “post” then pray and hope the draft posts instead of getting sent back to upload hell 2.0

[pushing500]

I didn't know that the anxiety trait gave colonists panic attacks. Aw, poor Vu. At least Candlelight was there to help calm her down.

Irwin wants everyone in the colony to have a good time, which is all good and well, except that the food we're binging on is only edible by about three colonists. Everyone else is gonna be living off tea and coffee for two days.

We all headed down to the riverside for the feast, which was very eventful and lovely (well, lovely for some people- Candlelight couldn't walk for a few days, but that's what she gets for getting into a fight with someone who is actually capable of melee combat).

Why does nobody want to take the only colonist I actively dislike?? I don't want to deliberately accidentally get him killed, but it's getting to the point where I think it might be my only option...

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[byanyan]

want to be here....... want to write & interact & shove byan at everyone........ but sitting down to put words together... actually typing things out... is not what my brain wants to do

[lazykurocat]

I know most of this has been said far better by others but holy shit do I need to rant! I find it really sad yet funny how people will still try so hard to claim they aren't antisemitic and then be like"Israel shouldn't exist" that's one of the most bullshit things I've ever heard anyone say, then there's "I hate Zionist" when clearly you don't have the first clue about Zionism, it is simply put: Jewish people wanting a safe place to live, they've always been outcast everywhere so why is it so bad that they'd have their place? they've always been there and always will be in Israel. if you are anti-Zionist you are anti Jew. I've seen people try to claim that Israel started Hamas...?? like? what??no... sis you good?. most people, even now still don't know which river and which sea and it's embarrassing! I know I often come at this topic from a queer lens as I'm gay and trans and not Jewish personally, but honestly I'm scared both for Jewish people, and my fellow queers, Jewish folk I know personally have said to me they don't feel safe I don't feel safe around a lot of people anymore aswell for my queerness, because they claim to be allies... but how can you be my ally when you support Palestine? they fucking hate LGBT+ folk there, we are not welcome there, we would be killed there so to say "I'm an ally" feels so fake to me. to be part of the LGBT and still support that living hell of a place and act as though Israel started this and Palestine only wants peace and freedom? are you mad??! are you insane?? I only feel bad for people who want to be free from Hamas rule. and for the poor children who are raised into thinking Suicide bombing is a good thing and they should do it. not those who willingly support throwing my people off buildings and burn our flags. I will never fucking support Palestine as it is now EVER. if more people started saying free Palestine/Gaza from Hamas that would be a great fucking start. I am so fucking pissed off with some people my fucking lord. and another fucking thing! stop acting like Israel started October 7th! Israelis were murdered over nothing, I watched videos of Hamas shooting and killing people and even dogs. They are monsters they are rapists! you are supporting baby killers! you are supporting the real genocide! NEVER FORGET THE TRUTH OF OCTOBER 7th, because Hamas want to kill us all, Jewish, gay, trans, Queer, non Muslim! they are terrorists, they want to do October 7th over and over and over and over until there are no Jews left! FUCK HAMAS