#if anyone has anything to add

[lasagras]

All right, so we've seen this post by @fuckyeahcoffeeandequality

And they're absolutely correct. Some people actually say that Lofn and other goddesses are just different names or aspects of Frigg and/or Freyja, but I am wary of these claims since there are very few sources for norse mythology and there could be many reasons why there is much less written about the goddesses than the gods. But that's just me, and I am by no means an expert in the field. Snorri's Edda does say that Lofn unites those for whom marrige is forbidden, though, and that sounds pretty gay.

A little digression, bear with me I promise I have a point. Lavender has been used as a symbol for homosexuality and queerness for quite some time, and the colour purple even longer. "The Lavender Scare", "Lavender Menace" and "lavender marrige" are all terms and names from queer history, and the colour and the flower came to be empowering for queer people.

WELL

In Icelandic, the name for lavender is 'lofnarblóm', literally translated as 'the flower of Lofn'. The plant is not native to the island and the word seems to be quite recent (the first written example of it I can find is from 1986), in all the other nordic languages they call it some sort of variation of lavendel, except for Faroese, where it appears to be called 'bath plant' (I'm so sorry, I don't speak Faroese). There are a few other words that start with lofnar-, most likely as a reference to the goddess, but most of them seem to be rather old and/or uncommon. I have no idea why 'lofnarblóm' was chosen as a translation for lavender. Knowing icelandic history, the queer connotation was probably not on purpose, but I can't help but get excited about the connection.

TL;DR: Lavender (aka the gay flower) is named after Lofn (aka the gay goddess in norse mythology) in icelandic

[clonehub]

I’m looking to start Andor! Is there anything I should be aware of beforehand? :0

Yeah it'll blow ur socks off!

Lmao but seriously Minor blood, mild swearing here and there, and the general metaphors of racism and imperialism all the way throughout. The worst for me was episode 7 bc they showed part of the body of a hanged Black man, and then at the end of that EP Cassian is v clearly racially profiled.

Me personally though I do have a high tolerance for dark things. This most recent EP this week was the darkest out of the whole series so far. BUT I highly recommend Andor regardless.

[yuwigqi]

Selina becoming Batwoman: Good AU. I like it. Cool.

But there's already a Batwoman.

So when Selina and Bruce marry: Bruce becomes Catman.

The entire Batfamily rebrands.

Dick becomes Calico. The multicolored patterns remind him of the original bright Robin colors.

Kate becomes the Lioness. Bette joins her as Lionette (a play on the word Lionet, a word for a baby lion)

Cass becomes the Black Panther. No ones sure how but she gets even more stealthy.

Tim becomes the Abyssian. (Reference to the Brown Color, like the Drake suit, and how they're supposedly the smartest breed of domestic cat)

Jason becomes the Blue Tiger. It's a cryptid, and no one's sure it ever existed, much like how no one's sure how Jason came back to life. There's some mythology to it, which I think ties in to Jason having some magic.

Damian becomes Leopard. The perfect predator, an opportunistic hunter that strikes from the shadows. (Plus they look like kitties...)

Babs becomes the Catseye. She sees everything, in an almost supernatural way, to outsiders.

Duke becomes Snow Leopard. 1. It's a Leopard, signifying his love for Robin in the first place. And the bright white is similar to his bright yellow, both a juxtaposition to the Batfam (Catfam)'s darkness. It also stands out in another way. Snow Leopards live in the icy tundra, much different than the greenery and savannas of other big cats. Similar to Duke's powers being a stark contrast.

Steph becomes the Pink Panther, but still wears Purple. She pretends she thinks its pink. Just to be silly, and annoy goons.

[the-mighty-mittens]

I think a lot of people misunderstand (movie) Nimona as a character tbh.

"It's her fault everyone hates her, she hurt people" You have to keep in mind people treated her like crap because she was different, that wasn't her fault. She was attacked and made out to be a monster for defending herself, that wasn't her fault. This went on for over a thousand years, and eventually it wore her down and she decided that nobody was gonna see her as anything other than a monster, so why not fill the role you've been given and have some fun? Why lie down and let people treat you poorly when you can fight back?

Even so, she didn't purposely kill or injure any civilians (she saved a kid in the cereal dragon scene, and she just spit cereal at the knights, she could have killed them if she wanted to) and even when she turned into the shadow thing near the end, the most damage was caused by the knights attacking her. There were plenty of times she could have killed someone and didn't, because she's not really a monster. It seems like she mostly just wanted to make the Institution's life hell because they did the same to her, and that's totally valid imo. (I think the only person she killed, if I remember correctly, was the Director at the end and she TOTALLY deserved it. Correct me if I missed something though!)

I see a lot of myself in Nimona, as a queer teen myself. A lot of anger towards people for treating the LGBTQ+ community like crap for being different, and a lot of sadness because it feels like no matter what we do, we'll always be seen as monsters.

"Kids. Little kids. They grow up believing they can be a hero if they drive a sword into the heart of anything different. And _I'm_ the monster?" "I don't know what's scarier. The fact that everyone in this kingdom wants to run a sword through my heart, or that sometimes, I just wanna let them."

Those lines resonate with me, because I feel that. I know what it's like, and it's scary. It wears you down and you really do start to believe the people telling you you're bad after a while, especially when it's coming from the people with more authority than you.

I see where she's coming from, because I know firsthand how it feels. A lot of people don't though, and it makes me sad when they boil her down to being "just a monster."

Anyway, everyone's entitled to their own opinions, I just wanted to talk about it.

Great movie, 10/10 recommend

[transmascutena]

Bird Symbolism in Revolutionary Girl Utena

There is quite a large amount of bird and bird-related imagery, symbolism, allegories and metaphors in Revolutionary Girl Utena, and i think all of them are very interesting. Here is a ~2000 word essay about the topic.

The Birdcage Garden: Anthy and Ohtori Academy

This is perhaps the most obvious of the bird symbols in Utena. It is literally Anthy's cage. It is where she, as the Rose Bride, is supposed to spend her time watering the flowers. Touga talks about never letting her out of it once he wins her, and calls her a "lovely little bird." And doesn't that just sum up what so many people's idealized version of her is like? A pretty thing to be admired, only in captivity.

I think the birdcage can also be seen as a sort of microcosm of Ohtori Academy as a whole. Akio does call the school "a garden where people will never become adults," after all, and Anthy is not the only person trapped there, nor is she the only character associated with birds.

According to this analysis, "Ohtori" as a word can mean "big bird" in japanese, and is also a Japanese term for the Fenghuang bird in Chinese mythology, said to be "beautiful, immortal and rules over all birds." Sounds a lot like a certain someone in charge of this place, doesn't it? Which would make every person in Ohtori a bird, symbolically speaking, trapped in the cage that is the academy and ruled by Akio (who, despite being the biggest, and the one with the most control, is also a caged bird.)

Additionally, the statue on the gate to the dueling arena is in the shape of a bird, before it transforms into a rose when opened. I am not sure exactly what this means, but I assume it is in some way symbolic of Akio, Anthy and Ohtori.

The Bird and the Window: Shiori and Juri

The bird that flies into the window during Shiori and Juri's conversation in episode 17 is a Java Sparrow. Despite its name, it is a part of the Estrildid Finch family, but I think the symbolism for sparrows fits the context more, as they can represent love, devotion and compainionship, all of which are very relevant for Juri and Shiori.

The bird is also the symbolic item for Shiori's black rose duel, which means we should associate the bird mainly with her. What, exactly, is the window, then? I think it is symbolic of Shiori's feelings for Juri, Juri's feelings for Shiori, or most likely both. The bird hits the window directly after Juri says "Is that all you have to say to me?" and turns to leave. The bird hits something it could not see in its flight, just as Shiori hits against something that hurts her, even if she doesn't understand it, in her conversation with Juri. The bird is shown to be lying still, presumably dead, after Juri reveals that she was never in love with the boy Shiori "stole" from her.

The bird is shown again after Juri throws her locket in the lake, and before Shiori finds it in her dorm. I've heard it discussed that this implies the bird retrieved the locket (probably through Anthy-as-Mamiya), and if the bird is symbolic of Shiori and the locket is symbolic of Juri's feelings for her, it would mean Shiori is the one to bring them back after Juri tries to rid herself of them. This makes sense.

The Bird Nest: Kozue and Miki

The bird nest that Kozue rescues from the tree that is going to be cut down is symbolic of her and Miki. Or, at least they are symbolic of how Kozue views the two of them. The comparison is pretty straightforward; Kozue projects her and Miki's feelings of abandonment onto these baby chicks, who have been left behind by their parents, just like the two of them were when their parents divorced. I think she projects her protectiveness over her brother moreso than her own feelings about the whole thing, as Kozue likes to think of herself as very independent ("a wild animal") and very unaffected by it all. As seen by her attempt to save the birds in the first place, she is very willing to put herself at risk, and is less concerned with her own feelings/safety.

Now, I don't want to get too much into speculation, but I have to wonder if there was more going on in the Kaoru family than just the divorce and the too-high expectations for the "twin prodigies." Miki's uncharacteristic cynicism in saying "adults who tell you something is for your own good can never be trusted," as well as Kozue's total disregard for authority and her tendency to use her sexuality as a tool both concern me. Although Miki and Kozue's parents are not explicitly shown to be abusive, I do not think it is a stretch to say that there is a possibility that they were. It explains some of Kozue's behaviour in regards to Miki as well. It's not just posesiveness but protectiveness. She has needed to protect him before, and she feels she needs to protect him still (pushing the predatory teacher down the stairs, saving the birds she sees his innocence in.)

Interestingly enough, Anthy interacts with these chicks as well. She advices Miki on how to feed and take care of them. Utena even comments on how unusually straight forward she's being about the whole thing. This might just be another instance of characterizing Anthy as a person who is fond of animals, and that is certainly part of it, but i think there is more to it as well. If these baby birds are symbolic of (Miki and Kozue's, but also a general) feeling of abandonment by parents/adults, as well as their potential abuse, what does that mean for Anthy not only knowing how to take care of them, but being eager to talk about it? Could it perhaps be that she, like Kozue, sees herself in them? Like Kozue, Anthy herself is symbolically a bird, but a caged one in contrast to Kozue's claims of being a wild animal. Could it be that Anthy has had to become an expert in taking care of those (herself) that have been abandoned or failed or abused by the adults in their lives? Rememeber that this is the same episode where she says that Akio is more like a father to her than a brother. A parallel is indirectly being drawn between him and the Kaoru parents.

If Miki and Kozue's parents were abusive, this might be a rare moment of Anthy empathising with other victims, telling them through metaphor how to take care of themselves. Although, it doesn't keep her from continuing to manipulate them, as she goes on to say her line about returning the chicks to their mother, which is what sets Kozue off. Anthy also says that she's never actually raised chicks before. Maybe she's not very good at taking care of them (herself) after all.

There's also what looks like two caged parakeets in Miki's flashback of their childhood. I assume this has similar meaning to Anthy's birdcage, as a feeling of being trapped, in this case by their parents' expectations for them. Kozue used to be a caged bird, but now claims to be a wild one, despite still being inside the birdcage that is Ohtori.

Brood Parasitism: Nanami and Touga (and Utena)

The Kaoru's are not the only sibling pair in Utena to be compared to birds. In Episode 31, Her Tragedy, a pretty unique shadow play is put on in the Chairman's Tower about a cuckoo leaving its egg in another bird's nest, a phenomenon known as brood parasitism. It also references the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. Perhaps the most interesting part of this play is that it's done in the style of the ones in the black rose arc, with C-Ko playing all the roles, the return of the monkey-catching robot, and Utena's fourth-wall breaking commentary at the end. I won't get into what this means, as it doesn't have anything to do with the bird metaphor, but maybe in another post.

This shadow play is about how Nanami and Touga were adopted, and specifically about Nanami's feelings on the matter. Of course adopted children are not parasites, but it makes sense for Nanami to think along those lines, considering her fear of being compared to animals or aliens, and of being ostracized by the society she lives in. Nanami doesn't actually know that she is adopted, only that Touga is, which muddies that interpretation a little. Perhaps it is about Nanami blaming Touga's birth parents for "leaving him in another nest"? Something about her resentment of Touga at this point in time, thinking of him as a parasite in their family? Or simply her fear of what not being his blood-relative means.

I'm more confident about the Ugly Duckling reference, and it being symbolic of Nanami's worry of not fitting in among her peers. Nanami mainly copes with this by thinking that the reason she doesn't fit in, is because she is actually better than everybody else, because she's related to Touga (being a beautiful swan among the common ducks.) The play ends with the cuckoo insisting that it will become a swan one day, when really it can't. It will never be a duck that fits in, either. It will always just be what it is, a parasite (a space-alien. A girl who lays eggs.) This reflects Nanami's despair at the idea that she's "just another fly in the swarm" after her duel in the next episode.

And like all the shadow plays this one can be interpreted as being about Utena as well. She is an orphan who is now being raised in Akio and Anthy's "nest". Although she wasn't placed there by anyone but Akio himself, so it's more about her insecurities about feeling like an outsider in their family. And like the Ugly Duckling/cuckoo, she is also out of place among the rest of the students, and dreams of growing up to be something she can't actually become, in this case a prince. (credits to this analysis on the shadow plays for helping me piece together my thoughts on that. Always cite your sources!)

Cuckoos can also be symbolic of one-sided love, and is the origin of the word cuckoldry. Make of that what you will.

I should mention that Nanami also lays an egg of her own a few episodes prior. ...Or does she?

Her nightmare sequences show her fears of being compared to a chicken, a turtle, a frog, and of course, a space alien, but it is quite obviously a bird egg. And since we are later shown that Anthy has a chicken named Nanami, much like the cow with the same name, it can be assumed that the egg comes from there, and that Anthy brought it to Nanami's bed, perhaps via Chu-Chu. Could this relate to the brood parasitism of the cuckoo in some way? Is this not one bird (Anthy) laying its egg in another bird's (Nanami's) nest (bed) and getting them to raise it? is this what Anthy means when she tells Miki she has never personally raised chicks? Are all of these metaphors connected??? There's also the fan-theory that Nanami's egg hatched a reincarnated Chu-Chu, and in that case would he be the baby cuckoo while Anthy is the mother and Nanami is the duck? I'll be honest I'm not really sure what to make of it at this point. Draw whatever conclusion you want!

Last and probably least interesting is the third of Nanami associated bird imagery: the crow in episode 10. Crows can be symbolic of death, and it feels safe to say that this one is just here to set the mood of the scene, and as visual confirmation that the kitten did indeed die. Not too much to say there.

The Chicken and the Egg: The Student Council

I'd be remiss if i didn't mention the student council's chicken and egg speech in this post as well, even if it has been analyzed to hell and back by hundreds of people before me. It is a reference to Hermann Hesse's book Demian. It is about breaking out of childhood and into adulthood. It is about escaping Ohtori, which is both the egg and the cage (and interestingly enough, during the speech birds can be seen flying by outside the cage of the elevator.) In Nanami's version of the egg speech she mentions "the cage of freedom" and how it cares for the chick. This something that ideally should be true for schools. A place that limits children, but in a way that prepares them for the adult world. Of course, Ohtori as a system has no interest in this, as it is a cage in its most literal sense: a place to keep people trapped. Trapped in their harmful behaviours, in their lack of growth, in their idealized memories of the past, and most of all, in childhood.

And with that, we have come full circle back to Anthy's birdcage as a symbol for all of Ohtori. Thanks for reading :)

[celluloidbroomcloset]

Our Flag Means Death is quite deft at not falling into binaries where one "world" represents freedom for all characters, and for showing how things like wealth, class, and piracy itself become prisons depending on who you are.

(Note: obviously the show deliberately avoids a good bit of the reality of the 18th century in Barbados, including slavery, and most of the historical elements of the real Stede Bonnet, Blackbeard, etc. But as OFMD proves in all its deliberate anachronisms, none of this is about historical authenticity, but using the broad strokes of history to craft a narrative about authentic human experience.)

Stede's wealth and status (and gender) allow him to become a pirate in the first place and to forge the family that he wants. But it soon becomes imprisonment, because it ties him to a society and a culture that cannot accept him (and that's fundamentally colonialist, racist, homophobic, classist, etc., all things that Stede clearly abhors). It is a world pushing him towards death by trapping him in an arranged marriage and a culture where he cannot be the man he is - he's uncertain, at the start, if he even wants to live. He's able to become a pirate because of his wealth, but he cannot remain one just because of it - and much of the show develops how the more Stede sheds trappings of wealth and status, the more authentic he becomes.

Where piracy initially represents freedom for Stede, it has come to represent imprisonment for Ed. He longs for the fine things that he got to brush up against but never be a part of. He's been trapped in the Blackbeard persona - the persona that undoubtedly once protected him and still enables him to survive. Stede holds out to him the things Ed thought he could not have - and Stede does it freely, right from the start, not as an act of bribery or condescension, but of friendship. Ed doesn't have to kill or steal to have those things; he doesn't have to be Blackbeard, but just Ed.

But the fine things are also hollow; Ed's foray into that world is ultimately degrading. And Stede, once again, reaches out to him with gentleness and the words that he needs to hear, from the man that he needs to hear them - the "fine things" already are his, and he wears them well.

In some ways, Season 1 has Stede as the fine thing that Ed wants and believes he can't have, and Ed as the freedom Stede wants and believes he can't have; the conversation in the moonlight represents the barrier breaking and both of them, simultaneously, starting to realize that they can have each other.

But class and the demands of two different worlds are working against them. Stede is captured and about to be executed and Ed demands an act of grace. At this point, Ed has been sold to Izzy and Stede has been sold to the English - their lives and bodies now belong to the two worlds that entrapped them and from which they were escaping towards one another. Stede accepts his execution as his just punishment, but then breaks down - having experienced freedom (Ed), he no longer wants to die.

But Ed refuses to be sold. Izzy's shock that Ed would rather symbolically kill Blackbeard than live without Stede is mirrored by Chauncey's shock that both Blackbeard and Stede's crew will show loyalty to him. Chauncey initially reclaims Stede from Ed - "he's from my world, not yours" - pulling Stede back into the prison of his class and towards death (both real and symbolic). But both Ed and the crew refuse to let Stede die - Ed won't move from in front of Stede, and the crew speak up for, and prove, Stede to be a "real pirate." They say that Stede belongs to their world, not Chauncey's.

Ed and Stede's first kiss happens when they're on equal footing - Stede Bonnet is "dead" and Blackbeard shaves his beard. But they're still imprisoned, and not just by the English. Ed has moved farther ahead in his search for freedom, having discarded his black beard (his piracy) that was imprisoning him, but Stede is still being pulled back into his prison by his guilt and sense of having failed as a man, and by Chauncey himself.

Of course, Stede's return home reveals that his death has actually freed his family. Where wealth and status represent a prison for Stede, they represent freedom for Mary. As a widow, she has financial independence. She has security for herself and her children. She's able to start doing the things that make her happy, and that take her out of the necessity of being "a wife" to a deeply unhappy husband and allow her to be "a person." She's able to fall in love with someone who understands her, supports her art, and loves her back.

It is by talking with Mary - perhaps the only authentic conversation they've ever had, because it's the first time Stede has given voice to his homosexuality - that Stede is finally set free. He can return to Ed on a more equal footing by turning his wealth over to those for whom it's actually freedom, his wife and family - it is both the fairytale "giving everything up for love" and the divesting of burdens to become more his authentic self. Stede hasn't actually given up anything; he's becoming himself, a man able to love Ed as he should be loved.

[lynnieos]

Hey is it just me or do certain fans complain about how much they hate the other groups instead of loving theirs.

I don't think calling out the misogyny in this fandom is wrong, not in the slightest (my most popular post is calling out the way people treat ena versus akito because of their gender), but most of the time these call out posts just result in more negativity and arguments rather than any like. Productive discussion.

I don't wanna hear about how minoharu and anhane are more canon than ruikasa and akitoya and are Therefore More Valid And Liking Ruikasa More Is Wrong And Bad (exaggerated but most of the time people do insult a ship in order to promote their own) (also sometimes implies that rarepairs are less valid which is a dick move). I wanna hear about the interesting (and I mean very interesting) relationship that an has with kohane, her feelings of inadequacy and slight envy, I wanna hear about how minori (and the rest of mmj) inspired haruka to get back on the stage, and how minori finally got to "repay" haruka in a way.

I didn't start liking ichika because of people endlessly complaining about how underutilized she is and how You Guys Just Don't Get Her, Read The Stories And you'll Discover That She's Actually Perfect Actually (this one isn't an exaggeration but it was on YouTube not Tumblr so in it goes), I started liking her because I learned about her character, her sheer determination and love for her friends, and her want to resonate with people's hearts from people who really like her.

I'm not gonna pretend the Ruikasa fandom and akitoya fandom can't be annoying, a lot of them are toxic and have a habit of making everything about Ruikasa/akitoya while reducing their relationships with other characters to push their shipping narrative. It pisses me off. A lot. I could write (and probably will write) an entire essay on how entitled and bitchy Ruikasa/akitoya fans can be, and I definitely understand how it can build up resentment towards a ship, and how their mass popularity is most definitely attributed to the fact that they are men (which results in an extreme lack of understanding of their actual characters and overall dynamic, reducing them to "top tall sexy one" and "bottom cute feminine one" which upsets me to hell and back). And calling this out is not wrong in the slightest.

but needlessly attacking a ship that someone likes is not a call out. calling Ruikasa and akitoya "a stupid ship" is not a call out. Actively insulting people for liking it is not a call out. Adding Ruikasa and akitoya tags to your post bashing them is not a callout. It's being a dick. You are not doing anything productive by calling Ruikasa and akitoya shippers idiots or stupid or insulting their taste you are only going to piss people off and you know that you are going to piss people off.

Acknowledge but do not attack. Be civil. And if you cant be civil then save everyone some time and keep it private.

Oh yeah. And be annoying about your blorbos. Make KING kanamafu art. Put shizuairi in Fragile. Talk about how much you love your girl ships and your girl characters and don't event mention the guys, make fanfiction and fanart of the girls, I really really want you to, genuinely, because they do get less rep in the fandom than their male counterparts, so more content of the girls is always great. It feels a lot better than complaining about a ship you don't even like, I promise

(Btw I mention this in the tags but if anyone wants to add input or correct me on something you totally can. My words aren't law and this post is just me stating my thoughts, and I invite you to share yours if you want.)

[chut-je-dors]

Now I'm curious cause of your tag. What did Swedish media say about the eurovision thing?

Oof yeah, here's a post detailing it ... here another... Basically they've absolutely flipped over the fact that Finnish public didn't give Loreen points at all (which I find absolutely hilarious) and suddenly started wielding such rhetoric as "the former eastern part of our kingdom" referring to Finland, which is???? like??? do I even need to say how Not Okay that is?

It might seem to some that the Finnish people are reacting to Sweden's (unfair) win and them being sore winners (which, points to them, I didn't know was possible!) with too much drama, but it's all tied to our history together. Finland has traditionally seen itself, and has been seen by other countries (Sweden included) as the sort of "little brother" to the more advanced, better-faring, glorious Sweden. While Sweden to my knowledge doesn't much care about what Finland gets up to (perhaps overlooking/ignoring us and our merits), Finland is always comparing itself to Sweden and trying to live up to it. It's a very common rhetoric and sort of, the atmosphere over here. We know more about Sweden than Sweden knows about us; we're constantly conscious that Sweden exists. Sweden gets talked about in international news; Finland, if mentioned, is often tied to - you guessed it - being Sweden's neighboring country.

We used to be part of Sweden for 600 years. During that time, Swedish was implemented as the language of the culture and the "civilised" whereas the finns living in the eAstErn pArT oF tHe kiNgDoM were seen as "wild" and "uncivilised" and just, generally a lesser people to the Swedish speaking population. We haven't been under Sweden's rule for some 200 years and STILL we can't seem to shake their influence on us. Swedish is still a mandatory language to learn at school (and I have many opinions on that, but that'd be another post). Finnish as a language has been disregarded for its whole existence. Our leading national thinkers and poets in the 19th century, who were the first ones to really push for the Finnish identity instead of us seeing ourselves as part of Sweden or Russia, wrote in Swedish. The first novel in Finnish was published in 1870.

So this is monumental to us, to have the whole word watching Finland and not Sweden. Finland has a lot of merits, especially considering how small a people we are (just 5,5mil). To have a song in our language, in Finnish be this popular, is something we couldn't have imagined. We as a people are humble to the extreme, so much that we might easily scorn anyone who is too successful (not a good thing!), and this is the first time in my life that I'm seeing the whole country rally behind someone like this. When we say "Our Jere" we mean it with our whole hearts. We're so so proud of him, everyone is, and for once Finnish people seem to think in unison that someone deserves all the praise and the success.

SO, to have Sweden in this UNIQUE moment of Finland raising its head and being "we're so amazing", with the rest of Europe going "yes you're so amazing!!", spew rhetoric like this, is just, unbelievable to me. Like I can't just believe that in the 21st century there are people in Sweden who hold up 200 year old thought patterns of our country. It's been shocking 'cos though there's always been rivalry, it's felt more... tongue in cheek. We "love to hate" Sweden over here. It's been "I hate Sweden (affectionate)". But now we find this unbelievably condescending and belittling attitude towards us raising its head, and we wonder, we thought we two were okay?? But have they always held these beliefs???

So there's a sense of betrayal in the air as well. And just, full on disbelief. And maybe we're starting to see that it has been like this all along, but we've decided to turn a blind eye to it? True colours shining through? Perhaps not... but yeah.

Sweden not looking good here!

(here's one more post that says the same that i did but was better at making it SHORT oops)

[kandavers]

Hi!!!! I'm a huge fan of your art, and I was wondering if you could just help me understand QPR relationships a little better? Google won't give me a straight anwser and I am very confused LOL. In your art they have kissed, that one mpreg related comic, and implied nsfw, so I can't exactly understand how it's different from a romantic relationship? AHH sorry!!! I'm just not sure how to understand better, and I thought it would be good to go to you, who seems to know a lot about it!

I've already explained a little bit on QPRs in one of the previous asks: here!

But the simple answer to the question of 'How a QPR is any different from a romantic relationship' is romantic attraction is NOT involved.

A lot of people view intimate acts such as Kissing or Going on Dates or Sleeping with One Another (as you have mentioned) as something only a 'romantic couple' would do. Thus, there's the term *queer* platonic, which quite literally means a sort of friendship that does these things that defy society's general view of 'intimacy can only be shared between lovers'

I'm not the best at explaining things (believe me, i'd defend QPRs with my life, the only thing capping me is English not being my first language 💀 /hj) and it's not like I'm the CEO of QPRs or anything so I may make mistakes myself too, but I hope this helps your understanding of it even a little bit ^^

[useramor]

a very important gifset

[Description: three large gifs of Ryan Guzman twerking.

Gif 1 is from the movie Step Up All In. Ryan is jokingly twerking on one of his male costars.

Gif 2 is from an interview he did for his movie The Boy Next Door. He's grinding back on an audience member who is dancing behind him.

Gif 3 is from an interview where he played Six Second Seductions. He shakes his ass at the camera before turning around and putting one hand on his butt. He's wearing a toy crown. End ID]

[good-beanswrites]

Reworking my neurodivergent Fuuta post because I had more to add and wanted it in one place 👍It started out just silly thoughts and projection but I have a lot of evidence now??? It feels pretty solid!

🔴 He holds to an overwhelming sense of right, wrong, rules, justice, etc. It’s a system that makes sense to him (you learn to apologize before anything else, right?) and he’s obsessed with it. He's an extreme rule follower. He's obviously careful so he's not called out online, but even inside Milgram. He follows Es' orders naturally. Even though they’re silly, in the minigrams he’s repeatedly reminding people of the rules about requesting items. Even though he'd been shown to voice thoughts about escaping, he refuses, and is too much of a stickler that he won’t even let other people request things considered dangerous.

🔴 He takes things very literally, most notably some of the interrogation questions. In both his vds he’s pretty particular about describing his involvement, taking a long time to admit he could be a killer because his situation falls pretty far out of its normal definition.

🔴 He’s shown to be intensely lonely: sitting alone, walking alone, watching others from the outskirts, but thriving online where the social rules are different. He has trouble identifying/defining friendships, choosing to focus on the sharing of interests and excitement.

🔴 However, he does find a group that accepts him and listens to him -- and that feeling of belonging becomes intoxicating. The typical “gets a taste of doing something correctly but then gets carried away and crosses a line in excitement”

🔴 He doesn’t think hard work can get him anywhere in society, he doesn’t have any goals, he struggles at school, he wants to just go with the flow -- aka, burnout from trying so hard in a society that isn’t made to accommodate you. Instead of focusing on that, he loses himself in fictional worlds of heroes and villains. He sees connections in everyday life, occasionally getting so lost in them that thoughts of them bleed into reality.

🔴 He's bad at lying. Or, he has to deal with people pointing out nonsensical body language cues to make assumptions about his emotions (which is just as much a neurodivergent experience, unfortunately).

🔴 I know all the prisoners have some kind of act they put up to cover up their true emotions, but it’s still so obvious how he lashes out in anger instead of properly processing/expressing his legitimate fear of the entire situation.

🔴 Extreme restlessness when waiting in an empty room all alone

🔴 This may be more personal interpretation than evidence (because I don’t know how it holds up in the original Japanese), but his line in Muu’s bday timeline just struck me as someone who isn't usually accepted or accommodated for when they're feeling down.

🔴 Also. Transed Gender. 🏳️‍⚧️

[rivalcobalt]

Woe, MS paint diagram of the retroactive Komaedification of N be upon ye

[lordspudbug]

I had some revelations after playing through Violence

So after my buddy and I played through violence when it was released a few weeks ago I had this whole ramble/spiel and I made a few connections I haven't seen anyone posting about so I'm gonna post them now, sorry if they're a little disorderly I'm ripping it off of discord

-Cause Imperfect Hatred was obviously a reference to Gabe and his whole rant about "You’ve taken everything from me, machine. And now all that remains is PERFECT HATRED." But it was very obviously imperfect hatred and he realized that he doesn't actually hate V1

So in regard to 7-4 and the Earthmover being the final boss for the layer of violence we learn through previous logs in violence that every machine in the war is built to counter the previous machine built, and through this we know v1 was built to destroy the Earthmovers. That v1 was created with the intention of being able to destroy things so much greater than itself from the inside out. It kind of reminds me of what we as the player of v1, are doing to hell, If hell is a living thing as it's sorta been hinted to be then maybe v1's purpose or driving motivation in hell is to dismantle hell at it's heart of it and the Earthmover was foreshadowing of what the rest of act 3 is gonna be.

Why do I think that has solid standing?

What's interesting is what that means for act 2, v2 fights v1 to try and get it's arm back and get revenge, v1 takes something from it again but more importantly v1 kills it. What this means when applied to Gabriel is that he fights v1 to try and earn back his holy light, his grace, and he loses again. I think the death in this instance in regards to Gabriel was a spiritual one instead of a physical death. His faith in god dies, the illusions he's forced himself to believe in have died. The boss music for Gabriel is quite literally called "The Death of God's Will", with Gabriel in the first act referring to himself as "...the righteous hand of the father" and his first warning to v1 being "Turn back, or you will be crossing the will of God." And in a way v1 is responsible for taking that faith from him too, like how v1 took v2's second arm.

So actually I'm not sure we're gonna be fighting Gabriel as much as maybe we'll be fighting and destroying the heart of hell itself for the ending of act 3. But that's just a theory and some connections I made

[vivitalks]

more adhd jason grace or die by my sword

[stargazostli]

Right so solargeist's really fleshed out watcher headcannons/ au got me thinking

and an idea that's been floating in my head for a while now is 'Grian was always a watcher'. Honestly it was probably originally inspired by the "He was only ever meant to watch", obviously it's about Grian being a watcher as of the end of Evo but also "only ever" made me think.

So we know the watchers thrive off of entertainment and bad emotions, and probably also chaos (aka Grian incarnate). So in my headcanon they 'recruit' young players to go onto servers and worlds and inspire chaos or entertainment that would please the watchers to, well, watch. These recruits would be taught skills/ powers like shapeshifting and other typical fanon watcher abilities to help them stay under the radar on the servers they go to.

So what if Grian was one of these recruits and was sent to worlds like yhs and any other worlds he was on before Evo to create entertainment for the watchers. He enjoys the chaos, likes having the friends and storylines he makes on these servers, and definitely likes the powers that come with the job. Soon Grian's one of their best recruits and possibly one of their most powerful, mastering shapeshifting almost immediately.

And Evo is the big one. Grian is properly undercover, pretending to not know who the watchers are and adding more people to the server (Taurtis and Pearl who both joined late) for them to feed off of. It's also Grian's world, which adds a lot of responsibility but also alot of power. The watchers originally just watched and kept an eye on Grian but started meddling when they realised "Hey, the admin isn't going to stop us or look into it, we're his boss!" and when they realised the entertainment that would come with players dealing with god-like beings they don't quite understand.

Grian's all up for this, he of course knows what the watchers are. And while he's a bit miffed whenever they punish him for something (see putting obsidian on his chests and making a clay statue he isn't allowed to mine), He plays along and enjoys being able to do his own thing on a world for the most part.

Then Grian joins Hermitcraft. Maybe the watchers sent him there too, or maybe it was him trying to get away from the responsibilities of his job. Either way, Grian being on two servers at once means the chaos is more spread out and less noticeable, so the watchers recall him, pretending to the other evolutioners that they are making G one of them (end dragon fight on evo). Evo sort of fizzles out and the watchers become bored of it. Most people escape to other worlds or servers, Martyn gets plucked out by the listeners, and the world is forgotten and overgrows again.

Grian continues to make chaos on Hermitcraft. Again, either the watchers telling him to, old habits dying hard, or just because he wants to.

Anyways, from then it's basically what you actually see happens, plus Martyn's lore, and anything that makes more entertainment or chaos is either the watchers or Grian. Grian if it seems harmless just fun and interesting, ans the watchers if it seems a bit more extreme (boogeyman and red bloodlust) or is obviously watcher-y (secret keeper)

I might flesh this out further, but yeah this is basically what I've been thinking about for the past few days

[sleepanonymous]

Heya! I just got into Sleep Token and I'm enamored! Do you know of any links to posts or anything that talk about the characters and their personalities onstage? I'm having trouble differentiating between III and IV (I know II is the drummer) and I want to learn more about them!

Also, is it pronounced Two, Three, and Four, or Second, Third, and Fourth?

Hi and welcome! 😊 Glad to see a new fan of the band. For the sake of clarity, I'll answer your second question first. The Sleep Token lore technically dubs them all Vessel 1, Vessel 2, etc. so it's my understanding that fans started calling the other band members Two, Three, and Four, and used Roman numerals for their monikers.

TLDR: This Weblink has almost all of Sleep Token's lore, and This Video also has almost all of Sleep Token's lore. The easiest way to tell III and IV apart from each other is by their instruments and height. III plays bass and is taller than the rest of the band. IV plays guitar and is shorter than the rest of the band (except for II, he is the shortest of the four).

I'll be honest, I also had trouble differentiating between III and IV when I first got into the band. Up until very recently, they wore similar outfits, too, which made pictures difficult to tell them apart. You can always tell via the instrument they're holding (if it's visible). III is the bassist and IV is the guitarist. Another way to tell depends on which side of the stage they are standing on. 85% of the time III is stage right, in front of the choir (Vesselettes) and IV is stage left, in front of II's drum set. My favorite way to tell them apart (before it just became secondhand nature to know which was which) was if the musician had a bun under his mask or not. IV's hair is relatively concealed beneath his mask, but III has longer hair and puts it up into a bun to keep it all in place under his mask during rituals.

The neck of III's bass is kind of in the way of the back of IV's head in the second photo, but here are two examples of the bun shape that III has. This is also a good way to tell them apart if they're standing next to each other, or, in this case, kissing. III is extremely tall and will always be taller than any other band member unless he's crouching or leaning over. If the two aren't standing near each other, you can always use Vessel as a measuring stick.

The photo on the left probably isn't the best reference, but trust me, III is about 5 centimeters taller than Vessel, he's just leaning back. The photo on the right also probably isn't the best since Vessel and IV are both just dark shapes lol, but at least it's obvious that Vessel is taller than IV.

The band as a whole is anonymous so you might not find much in the way of personalities, even of their stage personas. If you're willing to read up on the Sleep lore itself, you can do that here (this is a link to boolintunes.com). Or, if you'd prefer to watch a friendly, lecture-style video, there is this one here on YouTube. Persona-wise the most concise I can give you is this:

Vessel is very emotional. That is evident by the lyrics he writes, but doubly so when he is in front of an audience. He will cry, he will laugh, he will do silly dances, and he will hype up his bandmates. It's evident that he loves what he does, but he is also extremely humble about it. All of the love his fans give him he makes sure to give back 110% (the fact that he manages to do it without speaking is impressive in itself).

II is a beast, like no joke. This man has got to have started playing drums before he could walk, I swear. He, like Vessel, obviously loves what he does, has a blast, and also gives zero fucks while doing it. He will sit at his drum set and kick out beats while drinking Red Bull and Diet Coke through his mask 🤣🤣 During moments in songs where there is little to no percussion he'll often stand up and react to the lyrics Vessel sings. He also comes to the front of the stage at the very end of rituals to hype up the crowd and hand out his used drumsticks and sometimes even a drum head.

III is the most animated of the guys. I will often refer to him as the "main character" of Sleep Token because he is always front and center. This has also earned him the fandom nickname of Bassy Boi. I've seen him do everything from windmill headbang, to run in place, to high kick, to jumping up and down for 30+ seconds straight. He also has a knack for yelling at fans. There is a compilation video on YouTube here for reference. Also! Something I forgot to mention earlier in telling III and IV apart: III almost always has on his iconic checkered socks in the most recent shows.

IV (at least the current IV) is probably the most reserved and collected on stage (fun fact, there were two other IVs in Sleep Token before our current IV, I wrote about that here), In earlier shows he played with the band, around 2021/2022, he used to be fairly shy. Sometimes IV would stand off to the very side of the stage and let Vessel and III have all the attention. Luckily he's seemed to get past his shyness and has become much more of a crowd pleaser. He'll often do things like serenade the crowd (a bit like II does, only a lot closer since there's no drum set in the way), get roped into Vessel's or III's chaotic stage antics, or, you know, tease pulling his mask off in front of an entire music festival crowd.