#ignore the colors not being 100% correct

[incorrectbatfam]

Does the Batmobile ever get ticketed or does the GCPD just ignore it

Bruce: *puts a box on the table*

Bruce: Gather around, everyone. It's time for our monthly ticket review.

Bruce: First up, Steph. Can you explain what happened last Friday?

[earlier]

Steph: *looking for parking in a full lot*

Steph: Screw it, I'm going around back.

Steph: *parks in front of a fire exit*

[present]

Steph: I just needed to use the bathroom.

Bruce: And in those three minutes, the Joker released a giant water balloon forcing everyone to evacuate through one less exit.

Steph: It said "fire exit." That technically wasn't a fire.

Bruce: Well, the penalty is $100 plus the towing cost. I can pay it off but you have to help Alfred in the kitchen for a month.

Steph: Yeah, that's fair.

Bruce: Next up... Cass and Barbara? Color me surprised.

Barbara: Oh yeah, I had to remotely pilot the Batmobile the other day because Cass needed a getaway.

Bruce: Then why am I being charged $250?

[earlier]

Cass: *fighting a gang*

Barbara: Orphan, ETA thirty seconds. Prepare for extraction.

Cass: *knocks out the last henchman and runs to the car*

Comm. Gordon: *writing a ticket*

Cass: ?

Comm. Gordon: You're in a disabled parking spot without a permit.

[present]

Barbara: Well I am disabled.

Bruce: Understandable. I'll let it slide since it's the first time. Just file the paperwork for a permit.

Bruce: Dick, you went thirty-five over the speed limit when you weren't pursuing a suspect. Explain.

[earlier]

Wally: Race you to Keystone?

Dick: *revs the engine*

[present]

Bruce: You're better than this. I'm disappointed. Next up: Tim. Driving without a license plate. What happened there?

[earlier]

Tim: I wasn't supposed to take the Batmobile since Bruce benched me for my wrist, but my other ride is in the shop.

Kon: What about cameras? Can't your dad tap into the city's surveillance system?

Bart: Traffic cameras read license plates, so if we take them off, no one will recognize us.

Kon: Now that's an idea.

[present]

Tim: That's on me. I shouldn't have listened to them.

Bruce: Put them back on, plus you're benched for another week. Damian, on to you.

Damian: What on Earth could I have done? I followed the speed limit, parked in the correct spots, and never so much as changed lanes on an empty road without signalling.

[earlier]

Damian, a middle schooler: *driving*

[present]

Damian: Tt.

Bruce: Don't do it again. Duke...

Duke: *cringes and remembers what he did*

[earlier]

Duke: *hooks the Batmobile to a freezer trailer*

Duke: *starts driving around with a megaphone*

Duke: Ice cream! Get your ice cream!

[present]

Bruce: Fantastic job. No complaints.

Jason, muttering: Teacher's pet.

Bruce: And finally, Jason.

Bruce: *empties the rest of the box*

[queen-breha-organa]

So ahead of the Bad Batch season 2 release, Brad Rau (the series director) has given an interview with Collider.

In this interview, he’s asked about Unwhitewash The Bad Batch and I want to take a moment to talk about his response. The interview snippet is below, and you can click the link to see the entire conversation:

Interviewer: Okay, okay. I also wanted to touch on something that comes up a lot in the Star Wars fandom. I know you're both on Twitter, so you may have seen it: "Unwhitewash The Bad Batch." I know that Season 2 was, I think, almost completely finished by the time Season 1 was already on our screens. So I'm curious to know if that's something you're going to address or at least acknowledge moving forward with seasons.

Rau: We listened to all the concerns of the fans. Interestingly, in Season 1, before Season 1 came out, we're always doing this, we went back to look at the skin tones, and we made some corrections to make sure that we're being true to the legacy of the clones in Clone Wars. Absolutely, 100%

-Collider, 'The Bad Batch' Season 2 Showrunners on Working With Dave Filoni and & Creating the Clones' Personalities

I have multiple problems with this response, and it’s implications. 

First, “We listened to all the concerns of the fans”. This is not evident now, nor has it been evident in the past. This interview is the first time we’re seeing a formal response to this issue. Saying you are listening, and showing you are listening, are two separate things. 

Second, “we went back to look at the skin tones”. Setting aside the fact that whitewashing is more than just skin tone, it’s evident that no one paid any attention to accurate skin tones for any characters. 

Besides the Clones, Kanan, Depa, and Fennec are all lighter than their original animated/live action counterparts. This skin tone lightening is a dismissal of the character’s and actor’s cultural and racial identity. 

Third, “we made some corrections to make sure that we're being true to the legacy of the clones in Clone Wars”. The Clone Trooper animation models in TCW are also heavily whitewashed. Going back and referencing whitewashed and inaccurate models does not allow for improvement, rather, it allows for a continuation of the original problem. 

Temuera Morrison is a Māori man. He plays Jango Fett, who is the Clone template. This means, all Clone Troopers should look like him. Temuera is the template, not outdated and whitewashed animation models. His round features, brown skin, dark eyes, and curly hair are the template.

This response from Brad Rau is not just inaccurate, but it’s disrespectful. It’s a blatant dismissal of issues while also implying they did the bare minimum when they really did nothing at all. 

This continued intentional ignorance and dismissal keeps proving that LucasArts does not care about taking responsibility for their actions, or providing accurate and respectful representation for People of Color. 

[physalian]

On Establishing Authorial Intent vs Character Voice (Specifically, in tragic queer characters)

Coming in hot with another controversial topic.

There is probably a better way to phrase that so what I mean is this: Your book’s message and your characters’ decisions don’t have to match, and if they don’t match, and your protagonist has a very polarizing personality or makes very controversial choices, unless you state otherwise, your readers are going to assume that your character is your mouthpiece.

In other words: If I write, say… a gay man, as a cis, female, queer author, and I write him suffering during the AIDS epidemic, and I write this gay man fitting every single harmful stereotype possible. I write this character that is everything Fox News wants you to believe about gay men and AIDS.

But in the last ¾ of the book, the man has an epiphany with Therapy Speech where I, the author, reveal that I’m not actually a homophobe out to punish my protagonist and perpetuate these stereotypes, and my agenda is not, in fact, to bring the queer community back decades because people are stupid and won’t get to the end of my book to realize that…. Whoo boy, I have f*cked up as an author.

—

Have I dropped enough heavy-handed hints that I read a book that did exactly this? Not a gay man in the 80s, but a queer character nonetheless. Now this was a book that I had to finish. If I didn’t have to read it, I would have quit about ten different times throughout for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being very stiff writing that wasn’t engaging. The actions and thought processes and arc of this queer character were so insulting, so harmful, so off the mark, it was horrifying.

I stopped reading for a day and I’d already drawn all my conclusions and was not very nice in my feedback, but I had to finish it so I did, and the book addressed all my criticisms within the last 100 pages, out of 367.

Meaning: Anyone else would have actually quit and taken away from the book exactly what I did—that this was homophobic propaganda. “Oh but if you just make it to the end-”

Nope, not good enough. I read for entertainment and the book did not hold my attention. I need no more excuse to drop it for something better than being bored, and yet I held on through some nightmarish representation.

So.

How not to do this:

You are completely free and welcome to write unhealthy representations of any minority (why you would if you’re not that minority and not out to make a mess of things baffles me). Not every character has to be smart and well educated on proper representation. They don’t have to be a perfect Mary Sue that makes no mistakes and has no controversial opinions and does absolutely nothing that could hint at being problematic. That’s not what I’m saying at all.

Rather, that character can go ham, but you, as the author, must establish as quickly as possible that all of that is the character talking, not you. Whether it’s a queer character or POC or heck just a woman.

Have a dissenting voice (I like to call them harbinger characters) that serve as the author mouthpiece and is ignored and dismissed by the Problem Character. Harbinger says what the audience is thinking through the flavor and color of a character (so it doesn’t read as super preachy), trying to warn the character about the path they're taking, and Problem Character very cleary doesn’t give a damn about what they think. Critically, the narrative makes sure you know that the Harbinger is correct, and PC is wrong.

Have the PC acknowledge early on that what they’re doing is wrong, minimize it, argue against it, and attempt to justify their own behavior anyway. They know they’re the villain, essentially, and they just don’t give a damn.

Have an equal and opposite healthy character to counterbalance all of PC’s terrible choices. Different from the Harbinger in that they’re less obvious about their place in the story and just living life as that positive representation.

Give the PC a “descent into madness” where they start out a healthy person and through dramatic, understandable, tragic circumstances, they’re forced into this role that they’d never thought they’d succumb to.

Have the PC horrified at their own state of being but too hopeless to think they can escape from it. Have the PC know exactly how harmful they are, to themselves, to other people, and just convince themselves that it won’t get better, that they’re too weak or too afraid or too selfish, whatever.

Because I just rewatched these movies and they’re fresh on my mind, I’m going to use Caesar from the Andy Serkis Planet of the Apes movies. Caesar is your Jesus/Moses archetype: The Martyr. This is the paragon good guy leading his people out from oppression into the blessed lands of freedom. This is the guy with unshakable morals and a compass that points unfailingly North. He is the inspiration to the rest of the cast on how to act and how to be a good, healthy, moral, respectable person. He alone takes on the punishment meant for the group and is literally crucified, he could not be a more obvious paragon and Jesus figure of goodness and purity.

Until he isn’t.

Caesar’s “descent into madness” comes after humans murder his wife and older son, amidst an ongoing war that’s taking a toll on the ape community and his own psyche as they continue to lose numbers and ground and apes defect to the human side because of the villain Koba—Caesar’s foil.

He becomes everything he sought to destroy and his friend points out that he’s become Koba in all but name and his actions inevitably lead to his death because he is so consumed with revenge that he doesn’t escape the climax of the movie when he has the chance, and suffers a fatal injury. Caesar acknowledges this and basically says, “I know what I’ve become. I have to do it anyway. I can’t escape my own rage.”

All of this is believable and understandable and tragic. He was realistically pushed to these horrible ends by the story and we saw what it did to him.

The book I read had the Problem Character flip a switch because they were horny and thought another character was hot.

—

But once again I was faced with an author taking on far more than they were qualified to write, having a protagonist who identifies as a minority that already suffers enough prejudice and misunderstanding—a minority that the author themselves is not part of.

So once again because this keeps happening: You can and should write minority characters. You should not write the suffering of these minorities if you did not live it, because their suffering is not yours to profit off of and you will almost inevitably do it wrong.

[brainwormsdepository]

To Take Up the Shawl (2/3)

Pairing: Liandrin Guirale x Fem!Reader

Warnings: None

Notes: In the show, many of the Aes Sedai have been aged up rather considerably (ie. Liandrin being 100-110 years old in the show and being 34-ish or so in the books. So I shuffled around some characters to account for that. Also this story takes place around 990 NE, 8 years before the book/show begins. Lastly, I don’t own any of the books beyond Eye of the World. So the descriptions of the final test are slim and just there to get the point across.

After your night in the garden with Liandrin, things had shifted. You could find neither hide nor hair of the red sister anywhere. Without her guidance, you forged ahead, studying alongside Desandre Sedai more closely than you ever had before. The Yellow sister was as haughty in attitude as she was strong in the One Power. If any of your weaves were less than perfect, you were ordered to take a chore off a novice and burden yourself with it instead. And there were few better motivators than keeping that list of responsibilities as short as possible. But perhaps more than anything, the increased workload kept the vacuum left by Liandrin’s absence at bay. That is, until the day your final test arrived.

You were once again brought to the basement of the White Tower, just as all those years ago. In the center of the room was another ter’angreal, different from the silver arches and in the shape of an oval ring. In attendance stood seven full sisters poised and ready to administer the test, amongst them your mentors: Liandrin Sedai and Desandre Sedai.

You watched as a complex weave channeled using the combined strength of all present Aes Sedai activated the oval ring. It shimmered with various colors and you knew the path was open. Words were spoken and warnings given, but you could pay little attention to anything other than what horrors awaited you. Not that it mattered. By the time you had stepped through, all was forgotten. There was no memory of being in a test. The world you saw was your only reality. You would be thankful after that so few sisters knew you well, their attempts to distract you weak as a result. But Desandre knew you buckled most for children and elderly alike and Liandrin knew the worst of it: your need to protect both herself and her fellow Reds.

You almost failed because of her. The expectation was full detachment, something you could not manage completely. You saw a figment of Liandrin and channeled when you weren’t supposed to, the call to protect her from danger too great to ignore.

One hundred otherwise flawless, well-timed weaves and innumerable tasks and distractions later, you emerged from the mirror world, injured but victorious. Alive. You passed, just barely. Your compassion was a stain, but your skill with the One Power undeniable.

The rest of the night was spent in contemplation and prayer. Time passed quickly after that. Raised to the shawl in the morning, ajah chosen and oaths made; everything had changed and yet you felt the same. Maybe it was because there was little joy in your success. Liandrin wasn’t there and Desandre seemed disappointed in your choice. Never had an accomplishment felt so meaningless.

You knew what you had to do if any of this was going to feel right. Things had to be reconciled with Liandrin and whatever wrongs were made had to be corrected. You just needed something first.

ᕦ ˚✧˳ ˳✧˚ ˚✧˳ ° ˳✧˚ ˚✧˳ ˳✧˚ ᕤ

“Two honeycakes, please.” You smiled to a familiar old woman. You had come to her stall many times over the years, finding her sweets the best the city had to offer and the company even sweeter still.

“Of course, dear!” She was all smiles until she saw the ring—now with stone—on your hand. Her lips made an ‘O’ and her eyes widened with shock. “Sorry, Aes Sedai,” she corrected.

“Thank you, Galaina,” you managed meekly, feeling momentarily self-conscious. “But you don’t ever have to be formal with me.” The woman looked ready to counter, but when she saw the pleading look in your eyes, she nodded her head in acquiescence.

“Alright, sweetie.” She finished wrapping up the honeycakes and gave them to you with shaking hands.

“Are they hurting again?” You asked as you slipped extra coin into her palm, a habit she long since stopped questioning you over.

“I think it might rain today.” You nodded in understanding, pulling the woman aside and sitting her down. You had developed a weave of your own just for her which used not only the typical flows of air, water, and spirit, but also fire. You both found that it would ease her pain for about a month, sometimes more, without Galaina feeling too fatigued after. After five minutes of careful, practiced healing she sighed with relief and thanked you. “You work wonders for me.” You kissed her knuckles and rubbed her hands affectionately, which drew her eyes back to your ring. “So you’re a Red sister now. I’m a little surprised.”

“Well, I couldn’t join the Yellow, you see. Can you believe they want healers? I haven’t the Talent for it.” Galaina swatted you gently on the arm and made a tutting noise.

“Are you going with the others today then?”

“The others?”

“Yes, the other Red sisters. They were here in the market earlier buying some last minute supplies.”

“No, I—I have to go. Thank you, Galaina.” You kissed the shopkeeper on her forehead, and hurried off back toward the tower.

ᕦ ˚✧˳ ˳✧˚ ˚✧˳ ° ˳✧˚ ˚✧˳ ˳✧˚ ᕤ

“You promised!” You barged into Liandrin’s room without so much as a knock at the door.

“I promised nothing.” To her credit, Liandrin didn’t even turn to look at you, her body turned away as she gathered what remained of her travel gear.

“‘I would like to, I think.’” You recited her words back at her, almost mocking if not for the obvious strain of hurt in your voice.

“Those words do not a promise make, child.”

“But they were as good as to me. They carried me in your absence and they were my guiding light during the test. Despite everything thrown my way—everything you threw my way.” You were a full sister, just like her, why had things not changed for the better? What good was being an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah if you could not be at Liandrin’s side? “I should have chose Yellow. At least then your indifference would feel warranted.”

“You are no longer Accepted. Reign yourself in, girl.” Liandrin hissed, turning toward you in acknowledgement. Unlike the irritation in her voice, her face remained an exemplar picture of Aes Sedai calm.

“I thought you were different. But I see now I was foolish to think otherwise.“ Your hands shook in quiet anger and you felt the weight of the honeycakes you had purchased. You looked down at the beige wrapping encasing them and saw a tear drop darkening the cloth. Of course. You stepped further into the room, fighting the urge to drop them on the floor and instead left them unceremoniously on the nearest table. Liandrin simply watched you and said nothing even when you turned and left. “Light shine on you, Liandrin Sedai.”

Fifteen minutes later, Liandrin had joined her sisters at the stables. There was an eagerness in the air. Her particular group of Reds were so used to constant travel that staying in the tower too long made them all restless. The White Tower, as luxurious as it was, would always be steeped in political intrigue and machinations, her own included. Sometimes it imposed a certain mental drain that even the most veteran and steeled of the Aes Sedai needed breaks from. Sure, the Red Ajah was tasked with punishing any misuse of the One Power and it was by no means an easy task, but the travel between it all? The open fields and still mountains? The camaraderie between women with a common goal? It was a welcomed reprieve even at the worst of times.

Courser saddled and bags tightly packed, Liandrin prepared herself to mount until she noticed something was off. Only four horses were readied. There should have been five. Someone was missing.

“Where’s Cariandre?” Liandrin swung her head side to side, but the dark haired sister was nowhere to be seen. None of the horses had her tacky grey, embroidered shawl thrown over them either.

“Ordered to stay in the Tower by Pevara Sedai,” answered a sister to her right.

“What in Light’s name does a Sitter need with her?”

“It wasn’t said, but if our eyes-and-ears near Illian are to be believed, the man we hunt is strong in saidin and a sennight away from claiming he is the next Dragon Reborn. If he hasn’t already. Maybe we should—”

“They all think themselves the Dragon Reborn. They’re mad!” Liandrin snapped back.

“But would it not be wise to bring another sister? Perhaps our newly raised friend.”

“How strong are her stunning weaves? Hard to justify throwing her to the wolves so quickly.” Piped up another sister, erring on the side of caution despite her own apparent curiosity.

“She trained with Desandre Sedai. Say what you will about our Yellow sisters, but they are not weak. At the very least, we can keep her in the back for protection, as well as her healing Talent.”

“Fine!” Liandrin relented, “I’ll get the girl.”

ᕦ ˚✧˳ ˳✧˚ ˚✧˳ ° ˳✧˚ ˚✧˳ ˳✧˚ ᕤ

You stood at your window, eyes fixed on Tar Valon’s gates. Liandrin and her band hadn’t yet left. You would know. You were all but nailed to your vantage point since you returned to the room. The tears you shed had dried, leaving in their wake salt on your cheeks and a pounding ache at your temples. All your studies for the past four years as an Accepted were geared toward this one, singular purpose. Without it, you felt hollow and directionless: adrift at sea. The same way it felt the first time you channeled saidar. If life was a wheel, it had looped back around to the beginning.

Then to your left, the door swung open, loud enough to startle, but controlled enough to not cause a commotion. Liandrin stood within the threshold, her face stern and as unyielding as the day you met. She tossed a brown saddle bag into the room.

“You have thirty minutes. If you are not at the stalls by then, we leave without you.”

[whysojiminimnida]

so let's out jhope as bisexual?? your insider info is just as bad as the stalkers bts have. totally inappropriate. but you're just a small tumblr blog why should it matter? it 100% does. there is something wrong with you. it's not your place to be giving this info to anyone unless you are an attention seeker. Dont read your blog right if you don't like it?? shame on you really. it's nobody's place to out anyone elses sexuality EVER.

Oh my Lord, Frances. Calm DOWN. I mean the man literally did this back in July in front of how many people? Are you even aware of Equal Sign?

I can't win with some of y'all and yet here you are to school me regardless. Which I would appreciate had I not my own Korean gay couple to explain things, had I not been intimately involved with the unstr8 community since before your birth most likely, had I not lost friends to AIDS when that was still a thing. And since I'm feeling generous I'mma school your sensitive ass right back so since you're here just have several seats and pay attention. SCHOOL IS IN SESSION.

"Somebody I know says he is openly bisexual" is EXACTLY THE SAME THING AS "someone I know says he's straight" WITH ONE DIFFERENCE. That difference is negligible in much of the world but in some places I will readily agree that it's not. Korea is one of those places. That's a dude on that bed, btw. In case you were unclear about the message.

We all knew Hobi was bi back then. You did too, don't lie because your white horse got a cramp. Give the crusade a lil rest and let's ride right along. See, in Korea it is one thing to BE part of the alphabet mafia. It is another thing entirely to SAY it. Out loud. And you are correct that in those exact words, Hobi has never verbatim-ly said it. But honestly, you're coming off with a lot of internalized biphobia or a serious denial issue if you can't extrapolate the message from the above imagery alone, much less his lyrics. To his own music. Which he released publicly and has performed in front of, what, a hundred thousand people or so? Live? Plus it's right there on Hulu and Youtube if you're concerned about his level of visibility. Of course he also did this:

And I don't know about you but for me it's a little harder to ignore the specificity of the color arrangement of those gloves in light of his performance. But see here's the thing, he's never really hidden his bisexuality from us. Very much like other unstr8 BTS members, he has openly chosen to use inclusive pronouns in his music. He has worn many, many items - far too many to list here - in support of inclusivity, knowing well that some, even most people would see support as personal identification. He has smilingly played the court jester knowing that some people would ignore him, some would validate him, and some would use him to virtue-signal as a cover for their own dis-ease.

To ignore that is to ignore the totality of Jung Hoseok as a person and is far more disrespectful, in my own admittedly tiny corner of the internet. You do you, if it makes you feel better. I just can't magine any straight man filming entire videos in a Gucci pride flag sweater without a certain amount of personal input.

Not to point out the obvious but also, would a straight guy really voluntarily share a room with Park Jimin for YEARS?

On PURPOSE?

I mean we all know Jungkook was literally sleeping with Jimin in that bed on the left, we have the receipts and admissions, ain't nobody honestly and truly confused at this point. Again, it's a matter of degrees of difference, but in Hobi's case it's a pretty big degree. Being a single bi dude who also DOES IN FACT like and date women is a very far cry, Korean-militarily-speaking, from being a committed gay couple. It's not even in the same realm, honestly, and that whole military question is a hot mess I'm not going to deal with here. But I knew you were thinking about it so I thought I'd mention it.

Irene ain't care, bro. She's out there hitting the rainbow and fire emojis every damn time he posts. And if you need to take a deep breath and have another look at why you're so bothered that people around Hobi don't hide who he is, maybe go on and do that. Because his friends know him better than we do, okay. And they love him, as do (hopefully) we all. I do. And if I thought for one instant that my saying he is openly bi would hurt him, I would never. I run a "Jeon-Parks are gay/fucking/married in all but name" blog, for heaven's sake. I really don't think anyone expects me to be saying anything other than the blatantly obvious. If that suuuuuper hurts your feelings and makes you angry, please feel free to locate your nearest J-Hope "Under The Rainbow" photo and use it to vacate the premises.

There it is!

I did not out this man. He outs himself without my help.

[princeescaluswords]

People like to say fandom racism (and misogyny, homophobia, what have you) is because of a few bad apples. They forgot the rest of the phrase: a few bad apples spoil the bunch. If you don't push back against the rot, it spreads.

You're absolutely correct.

I read this post-season 2 story, and in it, Stiles was pulling away from Scott and towards the Hale Pack because of Gerard's kidnapping and torture. This Stiles didn't blame Scott for his torture -- as some Scott-antis are wont to make their version of Stiles do -- but this Stiles said that it had created a distance between them, since Scott couldn't understand Stiles's situation because Scott had never been tortured.

We all know this isn't true. Depending on your definitions of torture, there's four separate instances of Scott being tortured: Heart Monitor (1x06), Co-Captain (1x10), Abomination (2x04), and Raving (2x08). All of these happened before Stiles got introduced to the concept. But it is emblematic of the empathy gap in the Sterek/Teen Wolf fandom.

I need to point out three things:

This individual, once I looked deeper, implied that they based their work on fandom content. They didn't come out and say it, but it seems that they took their cues from the fandom, not the show itself. This is important for your thesis, as a "few bad apples" are all that was required for this participant to ignore major aspects of the characters of which they claimed to be a fan.

This story was not written in 2023. It was written in 2013. So this isn't a function of fandom evolution or the distorting nature of the passage of time. This fandom, and especially the Sterek ship, seems to have been created from the get-go with elements of racism and misogyny built in. These are features, not bugs. Relationships they have determined might distract the focus from what parts of the fandom desired must be delegitimized or at last sidelined, whether it is Scott and Stiles's friendship, Scott and Derek's tumultuous relationship, or Scott and Allison's romance.

I wrote a very brief but very sharp comment to the author. I know this, for some reason, is seen as terrible behavior, but I felt like sweeping back the sea. The bilious directives of "don't like, don't read," "fiction =/= reality," and "authors are just harmless little bunnies trying their best" do very little to promote people writing but they do great work in protecting people who spew racism, misogyny, and decadence from any pushback.

There's a reason that even today with the show available in multiple formats, parts of the fandom can aver in their created content with 100% confidence that Scott ditched Stiles for Allison. There's a reason that the fandom, five years after the show ended, still insist on acting as if only the first three seasons matter, because that's when they could still pretend a white male character was the true protagonist. There's a reason that the first season is repeatedly described as "light-hearted and happy" when Scott gets physically or mentally violated in ten out of twelve episodes.

It's not a few bad apples. It's a bad orchard. And there will be more bad orchards until someone manages to convince the majority that treating characters of color and women like garbage in fandom they spend hours and hours and hours on is just as unfair as being racist and sexist to random strangers they see on the street.

[realjaysumlin]

The dehumanization of Black Indigenous People globally have always been the idea of whiteness being the experts on telling Black Indigenous People globally who we are and even today this ignorant idea sadly exists today 😭.

Black Indigenous People globally have always followed the narrative of whiteness as if they are slaves and can't identify themselves as free people. Slavery itself is something that changed to make slavery being solely Black Africans no matter where Black Indigenous People lived on earth.

The out of Africa migration is only told by the scientific community because of Darwinism, which he only got one thing correct, is the entire human race originated in Africa. Christianity and science became a symbol for the idea of whiteness and colorism indicating that the white race was created by God and Black People evolved from apes.

Today when I hear the word Neanderthals DNA being used as white people is something that they don't realize is the scientific evidence that Black Aboriginals and the Black Indigenous People in the South Pacific have traces of the oldest DNA of Neanderthals and other early humans in their genetics. There's no getting away from natural selection no matter what we do.

[leidensygdom]

Please forgive my ignorance on this subject as I am not Romani, but I wanted to learn more about what you said about the Vistani - I have a copy of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft that I haven't finished, but I skimmed over the Vistani a while back and if I remember correctly, I THOUGHT (and quite possibly was wrong - once again, I am not Romani so I can't be sure on my own) that they did an admirable job averting stereotypes, and I especially liked the way they dealt with the evil "Vistani" in Curse of Strahd by making them not actual Vistani but people profiting off of in-universe Vistani stereotypes, just like people (unforgivably) exploit Romani stereotypes in real life. So I thought they HAD done something about it, and actually read articles praising their handling of it if I remember correctly - could you tell me more about what they could have done better?

I do think that Van Richten's did a better job at that, although the fix came in quite late. They also changed some stuff on Strahd as far as I recall (on a book costing almost $100, which they later did make accessible through some means to people who had bought it before the errata), although most of these changes have been... Well, not particularly big, and they happened very silently.

I guess it's the issue of printed media. A lot of people will pick up a copy of Strahd from a book store, will still find the old Vistani, and engage with that stereotypical depiction without ever realizing they were later fixed or such. Correct me if I am wrong, but the only errata'd version of Strahd is the collection one (as far as I know), and there have been no reprints with the fixed content.

There was a post out there (from someone who had direct experience with the fixed version, and was Romani) that talked in deep about how this is just a bit of a rushed patch and still doesn't really solve much. I haven't had direct experience with that version, so I can't really address it properly. I'll do my best to find it if I can.

They are trying to do a bit better, but I think one of the main issues is that, at best, they'll get sensibility consultants, if they get them. But then they ask the same person who made some of the most horrific drow stereotypes come to light to rewrite them, and he'll repeat the same errors. I don't think that given the many problematic depictions the drow have faced, a white cis dude was the best person to do the rewrite. Not the one who wrote one of the two good drow in a book lament being born with "black skin" and envy the light elves.

The book that did it better was Journeys of the Citadel imo, which did have people of color writing the adventures and setting. I would actually love to see more of that!

[aladdin]

WHO STOLE MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? Aladdin Investigates

In 2021, I made a social media post to publicly call out one of my clients, Z2 Comics, for underpaying their creatives. I received between $45 - $75 a page for my coloring work, always below the industry minimum standard for mainstream work, while being pushed to work at rapid and unsustainable speeds. In that post, I expressed other grievances, as well, such as being told by Z2 leadership that I was simply replaceable - they told me they could hire new colorists for as low as $30 a page. 

The CEO of the company, Josh Frankel, appeared on my public call-out thread to tell me I was being "inappropriate,", and proceeded to terminate all active projects with my coloring studio, I Love Lamp, LLC. He was fully in his right to execute that decision - we had no work-for-hire contracts between us to complicate the business / legal side of things. 

Although Josh referred to himself as my “employer” on that thread, he must have either been confused. Luckily for him, because he was my client, and not an employer, it was not a federal crime for him to terminate our relationship over my open discussion of compensation with other working artists. 

Z2 found new colorists to finish up Elvis The Graphic Novel, Sublime: $5 at the Door, and Machine Gun Kelly's Hotel Diablo Graphic Novel. 

Although I met lots of great illustrators and editors during my time working with Z2, the experience was, broadly speaking, a nightmare. I was more than ready to sever ties. I retained, however, a massive financial stake in the work that I'd done - I never surrendered any of my intellectual property. 

The More You Know: In the American Legal system, a colorist is a co-author of the comic books on which they work, with the full rights that entails. 

I had no energy for a fight, so I straight up offered all of my IP to Z2, for free, under the condition that they write out an official contract. My intention was to have a complete list of work I'd done for Z2, and ensure that I'd be properly credited for my work, by the company, moving forward - a mutually beneficial arrangement, I believed. 

Josh rejected the offer, saying that a contract wouldn't be necessarily, and that the email itself "should work fine." In that same email, Josh also accepted an apology from me that I didn't make. I laughed at the clown, and wrote his name down in my burn-book ("Josh Frankel Is a Fugly Slut").

I made no further attempts to offer my IP to the Z2 circus show. Instead, when Z2 continued use my work in promotional material, I sent a cease and desist to Z2's marketing department, and offered an explanation to the various new hires that Z2 never secured the rights to my work. I was ignored, and the solicitations continued. 

The Hotel Diablo graphic novel, which was completed in my absence, was nonetheless heavily marketed using pages that my studio had colored - because, presumably, other colorists had been paid $30 a page, and their efforts reflected that. BloodyDisgusting and ComicsBeat both published uncredited previews of my work on that book, which have since been corrected to include my name. Explaining how my name had been omitted, the journalist at Bloody-Disgusting told me that he “was only able to run what I was provided with.” 

Z2 comics thought that it was in their best interests, apparently, to simply remove my credits from future publications - or, the company is just so sloppy that no one even knows who worked on what.

When the The Elvis Graphic Novel was released, the final print contained my my covers, my pin-ups, and more than a dozen pages of interior coloring, with the rest of the color art clearly modeled after my own - but my credits had been entirely stripped from the work.

Confused and angry, I checked the copyright text within the book - the Elvis Estate was claiming 100% of the IP rights in the book. Where did my intellectual property go? 

Did the Elvis Estate steal my color art? Does the Elvis Estate even know that my color art was stolen? Does the Elvis Estate they know they are trafficking in grifted IP? 

I'm sure that Elvis would be rolling in his grave to know that his brand was associated with stealing the work of other artists. 

Anyway, I checked online, and there exists no record (that I can find) that credits me for my coloring work on that Elvis, other than my own various social media posts. When I nominated myself for awards in 2021, I had included that Title -  how embarrassing to discover that there was no public record of my involvement.  

Newly incensed, I contacted an Arts / Entertainment lawyer for the first time. I never intended to file lawsuits - I just wanted to be treated fairly, and recover my intellectual property. The lawyer explained the dynamics of IP and copyright in 2022, and sent me on a quest to the US Copyright Offices to look up all the copyrights to the books I've worked on. 

Wouldn't you know it, almost every Graphic Novel I ever worked on with Z2 had been registered, with the entirety of the Intellectual Property being copyrighted by Z2's various clients. These copyrights were not filed independently by the artists - all the copyrights were registered by the same Lawyer in Alexandria, VA. I sent the lawyer an email asking, in effect, "Hey WTF?"

I have received no reply, and have since reported their office to the Virginia State Bar. 

Early in my tenure contracting for Z2, in 2020, Z2 co-founder Josh Frankel explained to me, at his birthday party, that he was withholding my creator credits in the press so that I wouldn't get poached out from under him. It was his clever solution for retaining my services. At the time, I didn’t have other offers for work, and I was encouraged by other creators to push through my frustrations, and earn my place at the table. I kept working for Z2, despite feeling devalued (because I was literally being devalued). 

Upon further reflection, there is reason to suspect that Josh's idea to withhold my credits may have had even broader implications than what he revealed to me. The concerted effort to minimize my association with Z2 comics happened to dovetail quite nicely with a possible corporate embezzlement scheme - Z2 had legal access to, but not legal ownership over, my Intellectual Property. Somehow, all of Z2′s clientele seems to be under the impression that they own 100% of the IP contained within their various projects.  I haven’t fenced a lot of stolen goods, but I imagine, as an arm-chair gangster, that it’s lot easier to sell stolen material if the buyers don't know that it was stolen. Did the clients even bother to check if the colorist had signed away his rights? 

From my studio in Baltimore, I can't do much other than speculate. Some questions remain, for me:

What happened, behind the scenes, that caused Z2's clients to believe that they owned all of my IP? 

Is there a relationship between this years-long IP 'displacement,’ and the fact that Josh Frankel left the company this Fall? 

If Z2 did, in fact, intentionally embezzle hundreds of pages of my coloring art over the course of 3 years, would that constitute a valid RICO case to be mounted against the company? 

Did God himself orchestrate these events to amuse himself over the irony of a bunch of 'anti-establishment' Artists and musicians using the power of the State to facilitate the theft of art from smaller creators? 

When I colored 2 pages of the Magic comic for Boom!, I was credited in their press release, and was tagged in tweets for months as the book was reviewed, and later collected into trade paperback editions. 

Z2, meanwhile, has sent dozens of my pages out for previews, while withholding my name from the credits. Some popular outlets that currently feature my uncredited work online include Paste Magazine, ScreenRant, the Hollywood Reporter, the Comics Journal, and BleedingCool. 

Was there a legitimate corporate conspiracy against me, with agents in place across all spectrums of Pop Culture? Is the US State going to stand in my way as I march through Hell to take revenge on God for his failure to protect me and my family? Must I surrender my own humanity in order to summon the cyberpunk that lurks within? What will I become? 

Sorry, my degree is in “Dramatic Writing,” not “Intellectual Property Law.”

Anyway, here's a non-exhaustive list of of Copyright Claimants that have filed, with the US Copyright Office, for full legal ownership over my Intellectual Property on their various publishing projects. For the lulz, I have added three asterisks to each book that utilizes “Anti-Authoritarianism” as a major literary theme. 

Grateful Dead Productions  Grateful Dead - Origins ***

Dominic Harrison ("Yungblud") Yungblud Presents: The Twisted Tales of the Ritalin Club *** Yungblud Presents: Weird Times at Quarry Bank ***

Moriah Rose Pereira ("Poppy") Poppy 1: Genesis *** Poppy's Inferno ***

Universal Music Group The Final Symphony: A Beethoven Anthology.

Skillet Eden II: The Aftermath ***

Dance Gavin Dance  Tale of the Robot ***

Rico Nasty, Inc.  Nightmare Vaycay *** Note: all images in this post were colored by Aladdin Collar for I Love Lamp, LLC, whose services were solicited by Z2 Comics. The Elvis Estate actually made minor adjustments to the Elvis cover, to their credit, they were very helpful in making their final touches, instead sending a thousand emails about inane bullshit. The paper texture on A Robot’s Tale was taken from an old book on archive.org, I don’t remember which one. The b/g textures of the Yungblud Presents cover below were originally from scans of a silk tie-dye scarf I originally made with my Mom for the Grateful Dead book and reused in at least 4 different projects. 

[reliand]

Hi there *puts chocolate cookies on your desk*. I adore your art sooo much and am very happy to have found your blog. I enjoy painting, but haven't done it for a while - when I had an idea I didn't have time and the other way around. Do you have any recommendations/tips how to start painting again? I would be very grateful for an answer.

Thank you, thank you so much <3 I know this message is a few days old, but I wasn't ignoring you! I was just really flattered and also trying to figure out what I wanted to say

This message means a lot to me, and thank you for reaching out.

I understand the struggle. I completely fell away from drawing for years. 5 or 6 of them if I have the count correct. between moving and the pandemic, depression and lack of time, and finally being in a fandom that wasn't all that welcoming and wasn't actually making me happy...it was difficult to find any kind of joy out of creating something for it.

Stepping back into the drarry fandom after 15 years of being away, wasn't just a breath of fresh air, but an (embarrassingly) healing experience for me. Heal Thyself was funnily enough the first fic I read because I needed a hit of astolat and that was her latest posted work.

There was so much beautiful fic and art just overflowing from the drarry community that I was inspired for the first time in years. It definitely helped that they've all been kind and welcoming :D

I feel like my main tip is going to be horribly cliche, but I would say to find a work you feel passionate about and try to create something for it. I was in the middle of reading book 4 of The Mirror of Ecidyrue and the scene where Draco is showing off his magic for Harry at the quidditch world cup was so vivid for me that I was thinking about it for hours before I finally caved and pulled out my tablet. I spent a good week on that piece just relearning how to draw and falling in love with it again. I'm entirely self-taught so it doesn't come easy sometimes.

That fic in particular has painted very vivid pictures for me, but it's also been so nice to know that it wasn't just that story, because this fandom is so talented.

Having the time is fortunately a drawback that I don't have to worry about at the moment. I am unemployed right now, so I know I have more than most on my hands. But I guess a big thing I do is put on a tv show or movie or youtuber when I draw. It's usually something I've watched before, or something I don't have to be visually engaged with at all times. Often, my husband will have Critical Role or a Dimension20 campaign playing, which can be inspiring as well.

The background noise is helpful and I don't feel like I have to give it 100% of my attention while I work or sketch.

SKETCHING. the HPtober event that bosh put together has been so helpful. I don't do enough sketching, and this has really shown me that I should engage with it more. It doesn't have to be perfect, and I don't have to throw down 100 colors of paint and make the light in Draco's hair be perfect. Sometimes, keeping it simple is not only better, but it can help you get faster and help fix problems with form or lines just with repetition. Honestly, I'd say the sketching I've done this month has probably been the most helpful tip I've used all year. Drawing Harry's hair over and over and over, has made it easier, because I find his messy hair frustrating to draw.

I'm not sure if this list will be helpful. I know it's not comprehensive, and I can't really give proper tips because I wasn't formally trained and I'm not sure what a professor might have told me...but even if it's only a little bit, I hope something might be useful.

[coldstoicism]

001. ⸻ Writing and artwork on this blog may contain mature and potentially triggering themes such as canon-typical gore and violence, body horror as well as mentions of abuse & depression. In most cases, posts will be tagged accordingly and nothing will be too graphic. However, as I have no triggers myself I'm often unsure of what warrants a tag and what does not. Please do reach out and let me know if I forgot to tag something you think should have been tagged. Mortal Kombat is not a game for the faint hearted so do proceed with caution if any of the above mentioned topics are triggering to you. Only follow & interact if you're 21+.

002. ⸻ I'm an adult with responsibilities and a job outside of writing, I might sometimes take a day or two to respond to you. Please be aware of that and don't assume I'm ignoring you. I'm doing my best to get back to everyone and I apologize if responses sometimes take longer. Lately, I've also been struggling with various health issues so it might even take me up to a week or more to get back to you. As long as you don't spam me, please feel free to sometimes send me reminders if I haven't responded to our thread in a while. I'm a human and I also tend to forget things sometimes.

003. ⸻ English is not my first language. While I'd like to think I have pretty decent grammar, I might make mistakes sometimes, especially when it comes to correct punctuation as it is vastly different from that of my native language. Please be patient with me, I'm trying my best.

004. ⸻ I use small text to write, but I don't mind switching to the regular text size for better accessibility. Just let me know ahead and I'll make sure to adjust the text size for my posts accordingly. I also use icons and graphics in my posts and occasionally colorful text for highlighting.

005. ⸻ This blog is crossover friendly and open to writing with original characters. With all the different timelines existing in the Mortal Kombat universe, the possibilites to craft unique stories are pretty much endless. Don't be afraid to reach out if you have a cool plot idea, I would love to hear it.

006. ⸻ I feel like this should be self-explanatory, but no godmodding, no taking control of my character or anything of the likes. It's very annoying and it will take away my enthusiasm to continue writing with you.

007. ⸻ I'm above engaging in petty drama with anyone on here, I made this blog to write for my favorite character and for no other reason. I can't stand negativity and toxicity. If I see you being rude to others, spreading hate or even bullying other people in the community, I will instantly block you. If you have a problem with me, feel free to reach out to me so we can have a civil conversation about it.

008. ⸻ Please be aware that my portrayal of MK1!Bi-Han is not 100% canon-accurate. While I tried to make as little changes to the character's personality and backstory as possible, some aspects of him will be based on my own headcanons. The writing for him in MK1 is annoyingly inconsistent, contradicts itself on multiple occasions and sometimes even makes no sense at all, so I won't be adopting much of it into my portrayal. Do not expect me to write Bi-Han as a one-dimensional joke villain just because ❛ it's canon ❜ in the current timeline. If that's the portrayal you're looking for, you might want to look for someone else to write with. That said, this blog will feature different versions of Bi-Han from different timelines, so please do specify the timeline you'd prefer for the plot to be set in. For now I only write Bi-Han as Sub-Zero and I haven't decided on whether or not Noob Saibot will become a secondary muse on this blog yet, but it's well within the realm of possibilities.

009. ⸻ I do not condone hate, homophobia, racism or anything of the sorts and if I see someone partaking in such problematic behavior that will warrant an instant block.

010. ⸻ Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of writing romance plots, I don't have any preferred ships for Bi-Han and I don't see that changing anytime soon. I just don't see Bi-Han as someone who's particularly interested in romance or relationships. Depending on how his character develops in the current timeline, that might change in the future. If I do feel like our characters have chemistry, I won't be opposed to shipping, but I will let you know ahead that I do not write smut.

011. ⸻ Feel free to drop random starters in my inbox, send me asks ic or ooc if you feel like interacting with me and keep in mind that inbox calls and starter calls as well as memes don't expire ! Even if the posts are old, you can still interact with them and I will get back to you.

012. ⸻ I don't have a preferred length for replies, I usually try to match the length of my responses to that of my writing partners, but please don't feel obligated to do the same.

013. ⸻ Where to find me: I'm mostly active on Tumblr, but if we're mutuals, you can ask for my discord as well. I can also be found on my secondary blog @shiraiflame.

014. ⸻ Lastly, if you have further questions, feel free to send me a message at any time.

[totheblood]

i'm a lesbian and i have an ex who's a man.... my girlfriend is bi she never dated a man in her life = we all have different experiences. if dating a man in the past is part of the plot then why not adding it in the story?

fics will never be 100% inclusive there will always be someone who doesn't fit in the whole thing example? my friend is albino, i've never never seen someone writing with albino!reader or trying to be inclusive with it.

or it's's the juicy ass, and what if i don't have one? big boobs, i don't have big boobs? a lot of fics are with preggo reader/reader with a child and i'm infertile. the world has so many different ppl in it we can't write for all of them, as i said, you can't include everyone always

different story if you're doing it on purpose

(and most of ellie fics are based on her and reader being both lesbians/reader being a fem lesbian and you can't say it's not true 'cause i've been here for a very long time i've read all the stuff about her)

blinks… i feel like the point just goes so over people’s head that you chose to ignore it. first, i’ve expressed multiple times that i dont include any identifying features, so no mention of body type or size, skin color, eye color, or hair color. i personally tend to not lean towards fics with these things in them??? half of this ask is you agreeing with my point.

many lesbians have dated men before, many bisexual people haven’t… it’s not about that? like get your critical thinking skills on for one moment in your life, reread it and come back to me or dont i don’t care.

fics will NEVER be 100% inclusive, that is correct but there are ways to make it reach a broader audience/to the audience you cater to! !

if u took my post personally look inwards or look away. again we all differ in experience but one simple thing that we ALL share is our attraction to women.

[findingtheperfectcharacter]

blorbo bingo for Kankri (i think that's the guy you like)

You’re correct he’s one of my extreme biased guys… Tw racism

He’s… Complicated. Because about a quarter of my relationship with him is Normal and a quarter is personal stuff, a quarter is Not Normal and a quarter is Spite.

So let’s start with Spite. Don’t you love when the writer’s self insert steps into the story and tells you exactly what to think and feel about their creation? It shows a lot of confidence in their abilities as a writer to portray things without holding the audience’s hand /s

So anyway-

HUSSIE: Did you know: it is a Homestuck fact that 99 percent of all readers didn't read or care about anything Kankri said. So in other words, he is exactly like all terrible social justice bloggers. Some social justice bloggers get angry at the joke that he is, but those are the terrible ones, and being terrible is why they get angry. They want to be terrible in peace without being mocked. That is what it is like to be a justified target of ridicule. You feel sad and angry all the time and you don't know why. HUSSIE: Kankri wears a cute red sweater and is otherwise fairly adorable. Porrim acts like his mom which is also cute as hell.

So what makes Kankri so terrible anyway? Well, he gives trigger warnings, tells other characters to not be shitty, supports otherkin, those on the ace and aro spectrums and plural people and- as suggested by the above- talks about his beliefs openly and in a way that’s a bit long winded because he’s discussing oppression which is complicated. There are other things he does but this is Hussie playing his hand. The problem that we’re supposed to have with Kankri isn’t that he’s occasionally wrong and subject to his own biases that no one calls him on, it’s that he won’t shut up about things Hussie decided no one cares about or wants to listen to. Explicitly the issues faced by Aro and Ace people, plural people, otherkin, disabled people who’s disabilities may not be recognized, and… POC. Okay that’s not 100 percent accurate but like.

Trolls are explicitly stated to have a hierarchy based on Blood Color, on Alternia it is outright stated that people of cooler bloodcastes have the right to kill those of warmer ones for defying them. Blood color is a trait you’re obviously born with and cannot change and having a certain blood color along with a sign can allow you to trace back your heritage, with those of the same color + sign being related.

Kankri is a mutant blood color, he was born on Beforus which is a gentler society. Cooler castes aren’t explicitly allowed to kill him for *checks notes* literally any reason they want to. But like-

HORUSS: 8=D < So true, friend. Your wisdom truly transcends your degenerate, mildly nauseating mutant b100d.

Even if you don’t think he was culled (in this context not meaning murdered but instead ‘adopted’ by a cooler caste member and denied autonomy due to perceived weakness based on his blood color) he’s still written as being subject to bullshit casteism.

Why is Kankri so angry and sad about casteism, it’s only AN ACT OF DISCRIMINATION THAT HE PERSONALLY FACES. You shouldn’t listen to him. He’s long winded and terrible. Ignore that reference to ‘the white man’s burden’ a concept that refers to a piece about white men having the hard job of having to ‘civilize’ those poor dumb nonwhite people who don’t know the proper way to live. Ignore how that may relate to the way Beforus culling denies the humanity of warmer bloodcastes. Who cares about how Kankri feels about that, silly Sjw getting so worked up over things that directly effect him and those around him and caring about other people.

A very sincere go fuck yourself to Hussie. I like him because he was created by a centrist freak who wanted us to hate him because he talked ‘a little too much about oppression.’

Spite out of the way, let’s talk about him as a character! He’s got a clear interest in society and how it works, but very little actual… Social skills or emotional awareness. He sort of tries to make up for it by being really careful towards other people. Like when he makes a comment that something stunk Latula jokingly says, ‘hey!’ And he immediately takes it dead seriously and apologizes for possibly offending her. He does the same for Porrim. He doesn’t apologize to Mituna (though it was Meenah in that scene who claimed he was being a douche) he just sort of leaves instead. He opens up his essay at Karkat with like… A series of warnings for what he’s about to say (including a long post warning), a comment that he doesn’t know Karkat’s personal triggers so tell him if he fucks up and a statement that if he’s told he’s triggered him he’ll try to find the best way to calm him down including finding his partner if he has one. And it’s kind of one of the things that gets me about him. He shows a willingness to learn and grow and apologize which suggests a greater level of maturity than most people give him credit for.

His relationship with cooler castes (specifically Horuss, Cronus and Meenah here) is interesting, on Meenah’s end she was called a cracker wader and he pretty quickly rushed to her defense. Pretty much saying ‘yes she’s privileged but calling her a cracker is kinda mean.’ … Sidenote people who take Hussie’s word as gospel quite give such bad faith readings. Like, no actually. He didn’t say it was the same thing as warm blooded slurs. He very explicitly said the opposite.

‘N9w, we all need t9 realize that R9yal-Vs and th9se rare few wh9 are even higher such as Meenah, as mem6ers 9f the arist9cracy enj9y a tremend9us p9siti9n 9f privilege 9ver 9thers, and theref9re we cann9t view such ver6al transgressi9ns against them as equivalent t9 th9se targeting the underprivileged’

On Cronus’s end there sits the question of ‘is he casteist towards Kankri or is Kankri treated as an ‘exception’…’ Because he straight up stated that he’d kill Mituna if he wasn’t dead and lived in a society that permitted him to kill warm blooded people. For the same psuedo crime Kankri commits seconds later. And

…

I just realized I’ve spent like hours writing this and I’m just. Gonna make a separate post on this bit because uhhhhhh…

[blubbyblubbub]

Dragon Siblings! 2

Okay, okay! I’m doing this for fun which is why my first post was a bit ignorant of the lore itself and any deeper analysis. HOWEVER, I went back through Nian, Dusk, and Ling’s operator records and read through everything. Well, everything  I could. Nian and Dusk are at 200% Trust but Ling is only at 64% so far. I don’t know or think that what I don’t have access to at 100/150/200% Trust are going to change the light bulb moment I’ve had so far but maybe it will. That will be a third part however. 

So! I am convinced that there are 6 sisters and 6 brothers and my previous color theory detonating age is kinda 86′d with my new theory but this one I think holds A LOT more water. 

Ling’s birthday is listed as March 3rd, Nian’s is September 9th, and Dusk’s is November 11th. This was too on the nose and really stood out to me. They say three makes a pattern and at first I was like nooooo it can’t be (I should have been able to tell by the fact that their Months/Days are all odd numbered, which to me implied that the 6 siblings with even months/days would be brothers) BUT then I laid it all out. Ling is the THIRD sibling, Nian is the NINTH, and Dusk is the ELEVENTH in the hierarchy. So Dusk and Nian, by this logic, are as close in age as I thought but Ling is much older than these two. Or if not necessarily older in years, then older in seniority. So, if I’m right (and this feels a bit on the nose so I think somebody has probably already come to this conclusion but like I said I do this for the joy of thinking out loud) that would mean the sibling order is as follows:

January 1st = Sister 

February 2nd = Brother

March 3rd = LING

April 4th = Brother

May 5th = Sister

June 6th = Brother

July 7th = Sister

August 8th = Brother

September 9th = NIAN

October 10th = Brother

November 11th = DUSK 

December 12th = Brother 

WHICH MEANS! Again if this is correct, which ya know, I think it is. This means that we will be having a youngest brother! YAY!! I also think, maybe, that Hypergryph will be releasing all the sister’s first and then the brother’s OR that they might go in batches of 3 --- so 3 sisters, 3 brothers etc. --- then again it is entirely possible they aren’t going to make it so matchy-matchy and that we’ll get them in no rhyme or reason based upon gender at all. Either is fine, but I would like one of the brother’s next tbh. 

I also think this 6 sister’s and 6 brother’s thing makes sense when thinking about the Dragon they split apart(?) from as this would show a proper balance of Yin and Yang energy. 6 siblings with natural Yin energy and 6 siblings with Yang energy would make sense as shards(?) from a complete being. Now, while I know Yin and Yang can be associated with feminine and masculine energy I don’t think they literally denote a woman or man specifically, I think from what little I know they can both be aspected in both genders. BUT whoever represents what I do think this does lend even a drop of credence to the 6 sister’s/6 brother’s idea. 

MOVING ON! My idea about Hypergryph wanting the siblings to be deployable as a balanced team holds more water now that I’ve got the number of siblings straight. As we all know there are 12 operator slots in each Squad, which means you'd be able to use them all as a team and I think that’s intentional. SO, it would make sense that their classes would reflect this sense of balance. However, and this next part is kind of up in the air but BEAR WITH ME---I think a big boss is going to be some fanatic or organization that wants to merge the siblings back into the rampaging beast they used to be---and if so the balance of the team of siblings might be based entirely on battling THAT out so the ‘balance’ there would be specific to that potential Event. A potential Event I think would be the New Year’s Event for the 12th sibling released’s banner. Of course all of the siblings will be Limited operators, from what we’ve seen so far, so I think like any Event that has a Limited operator available with mechanics that match well with said Event they aren’t required to defeat the Event I just think this sounds like something fun if it were to happen. 

If not I think the 4 classes most likely to have 2 Dragon siblings in each would be Guard, Defender, Sniper, and Medic. Again, based on what technically qualifies as the default of a balanced team and/or if the ‘balance’ is going to be Event specific it could go any way but this I think is a reasonable idea if not too simplified. Those, to me, are just the classes that people tend to bring multiples of in basic settings. I could also see 3 Defenders so that could shake the order up as well but ya know, just off the cuff. 

Now, FINALLY, while if I believe the sibling order is as listed above that means my previous color theory is trash I do believe a color schema for the siblings could still exist. 

My new evolved color theory is that each sibling has a Primary or Secondary color in their design and this is offset with White (Yang) or Black (Yin):

Red/White = NIAN

Red/Black

Blue/White = LING

Blue/Black

Yellow/White

Yellow/Black

Green/White

Green/Black = DUSK

Orange/White

Orange/Black

Purple/White

Purple/Black

*I no longer believe the Primary colored siblings are necessarily older than those with Secondary colors so this is not listed in the order I think the siblings follow. 

This makes a lot of sense as well as both Nian and Ling have White more heavily in their design rather than Black and they seem to represent traits that are commonly thought of as associated with Yang energy; basically warm and bright, outgoing or active etc. While Dusk whose Green color is offset with more Black than White like her sisters’ is more representative of traditional Yin energy; subdued, passive, cold etc. 

I know Dusk does have a White dress on but her overlarge Black coat takes up more of her design as does her Black hair. While Nian has White hair and more White overall despite the fact that the deep shadows in her design and like her black belt exist, they are still minimal in regards to the overall percentage of her design. Same with Ling, she has Black armguards(?)/sleeves and shorts, but she has Blue hair and a mainly White with Blue design. This is also a good representation of the idea of Yin/Yang which believes no one person has only YIN or YANG energy but a combo of both with one generally overshadowing the other. 

DISCLAIMER: This is oversimplified, I don’t know enough about YIN or YANG or the culture they come from to better explain myself but Yin and Yang energy are also heavily featured in the Events linked to the Dragon Siblings. So I think I’m on the right track. 

Yep. That’s it so far. 

[gigi-apologist]

i’m so glad i can say i wholeheartedly trust my interpretation skills when it comes to fiction, too.

i am aware most people in fandom also think so, even if mistakenly, and think they are the utmost authority in their blorbo of choice. a great deal of fans see their own opinions as superior/as the only correct ones, as it’s expected from humans in general, and unsurprisingly go bananitas over perceived mischaracterization.

but i’m simply built different.

i am built different because i make an effort to be. i don’t want the interpretation that will cater to my tastes. i don’t want the self-indulgent interpretation. i loathe being biased when it comes to fiction interpretation. when it comes to shipping, i want nothing more than to throw away my rose colored shipping glasses the farthest i can.

i do my best to not project. my analyses of characters aren’t based solely on kinning, especially considering the fact i don’t kin a single fictional character so far, and i don’t want any character to be a mere reflection of myself. i do my best to separate myself from the character i love; i might hate their romantic interest or sidekick, for example, but if they don’t, i can’t possibly pretend they do—not for the sake of my own comfort.

i more often than not find myself agreeing with word of god and/or accepting it readily. not because i think the authority of the author/creator is law, but because i genuinely agree with them. i’m rarely disappointed or enraged by their words; i’m frequently validated by them, instead, or at the very least fascinated, if caught by surprise.

(word of god isn’t necessarily canon, and you can of course choose to ignore it or not. i’m also proud to say i’m far from that annoying person cherry-picking only their favorite/the most convenient parts of word of god to weaponize it and shove down others’ throats, especially considering how contradictory some creators have proven themselves to be—coughs in george—and how much freedom other creators clearly want us to have with our interpretations and headcanons. to me personally, it’s useful because it provides very much needed insight into the authorial intent, which is the purer form of the text—or screenplay, or episode script, or storyboard—that is, the text stripped of any fandom bias for the sake of an objective canon analysis only, not something I’d necessarily take into consideration when writing my fanfics.)

i do have my fave blorbitos, and i do tend to side with them, but only in the limits of what is 100% canon and reasonable. i never make shit up. i acknowledge when my judgement is contaminated by bias, about characters i either love or hate. i, at the very least, always make an attempt to not be unfair.

canon is never dead to me. i am a canon girlie. i am faithful to the source.

[panglossesanddiadorims]

The Party and the Illusion of Guilt - Part 7

Hannah Arendt states, the target of totalitarian rule - and I would like to add totalitarian minds - is to convince ordinary people that, “the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists”. This milestone is easy to be attained in societies that individuals cling to pre-concepts, dogmas, rhetoric and conspiracy, focus on their individual well-being and refrain from questioning and logical reasoning and resorting to reliable sources of information. These Animal Farm audiences are Orwellian hens and lambs who just change their colors and sides according to the circumstances. As Aristophanes also quoted, “Youth ages, immaturity is outgrown, ignorance can be educated, and drunkenness sobered, but stupid lasts forever.”

Nevertheless, rhetoric, hubris and virulence are not a monopoly of the radical Left at all. The extreme Right also subtly abuses of innuendos, deceptive arguments, conspiracy theories and superficial reasoning, being a reflection of the toxic Left; by paraphrasing Oscar Wilde on the use of Shakespeare’s The Tempest character, one might suggest both extremes hatred for each other is Caliban’s rage to seeing his own monstrous face in the mirror, since both represent the same deformed principles and twisted tactics. In fact, the opposing extreme ends of the political spectrum feed on each other’s passive-aggressive fascism to exist, apply rhetoric to thrive, elevate political adversaries to enemies of the country and never relent to self-criticism. Their passionate but sinister co-existence is a Catch-22 intertwined dilemma: each extreme proves a person to be sane by supporting and advocating its ideals; however, if anyone does side with either, it is concrete proof of traces of insanity. Political activism is a major disruptive force that destroys reasonable, civilized debates and ends in no one’s’ complete victory. In addition, whenever activism joins forces with morality, either driven by radical left or right, the result cannot be more damaging to society. All of a sudden, it looks as if society is being strictly and diligently supervised by a both politically-correct and fundamentalist Nurse Ratchet, the domineering, perverse and destructive character in the book One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. Anyone who does not abide either by the approved thought and language of the “woke” society or by prudish biblical interpretations is excluded from inhabiting civilization or participating in its development. This combination resembles the Titanic sinking with the hubris, neglect, righteousness, ignorance but with additional features like her sinking so fast that everyone drowns and the band does not even have the time to play God save the King.

Every single process in nature is never 100% efficient, no matter how advanced a system is. In science, and specifically in thermodynamics per its Second law, this inevitable, but beautiful phenomenon is known as the abstract concept of entropy. In lain words, no matter how hard and efficiently an individual uses his energy to attain a certain work, part of the dispensed energy will be transferred elsewhere, for availability will always play a major role. For instance, after exerting energy on cleaning the house, a person will indeed accomplish the goal, but he will feel exhausted and dirty himself mostly because while performing the task, his metabolism was functioning to maintain his temperature within acceptable levels while transferring the body temperature with the surroundings. During sexual intercourse, huge amount of energy will be transferred to achieve pleasure satisfaction, mutual or not. Entropy is a property and its magnitude change is identical for all processes between two states. One may certainly improve the efficiency of the process by doing the cleaning with the air conditioning on, therefore reducing the temperature gradient, or using a vacuum cleaner instead of sweeping the floor to expedite the process. At the end of the day, the final work will be the same, but other entropies will emerge due to the applied equipment. It needs electricity and the transformation to this most noble form of energy may require, for instance, burning fossil fuels in thermal plants. If the country relies on coal-based plants, the amount of pollutants resulting from the combustion will add enormous amount of carbon to the atmosphere; other forms of energetic matrix such as natural gas and hydro plants will definitely improve the process/ operating under steady-state or not transient also adds value to the cycle, but neither ends entropy. For example, a Rankine-cycle system or vapor-turbine ones, is basically a closed cycle that generates electrical and mechanical power through vaporization and condensation of the working fluid, the vaporized water. In sum, fuel is burned in a boiler to heat water running in internal coils to achieve high-temperature and pressure saturated state, so that the vapor mass is expanded in vapor turbines generating work. Afterwards, the vapor is cooled down and pumped into the boiler coils to be submitted to heat transfer again. Even if system is optimized optimizations by increasing the boiler pressure or reducing the condenser pressure to improve heat efficiency, or adding re-heating or regenerative cycles, the system energetic efficiency, the ration of generated work and the applied heat will hardly ever exceed the order of 40 percent. If combining the vapor cycle turbine with a Brayton gas-turbine based cycle, the efficiency will be limited by the laws of nature.

The combination of political activism and morality, on the other hand, will never achieve any efficiency, even if assessed under the second-law, or exergy, analysis approach, for it is the product of pure entropy through endless and heated debates. The modern hostile tribal mentality can push society to the edges of a tyrannical and false moralist precipice. How has Western modern society spiraled itself into this dystopian and dysfunctional world of sheer dichotomy and polarization where huge amount of energy is squandered on irrational and idiot debates over morality, culture war, sexism, gender equality and race privilege? In fact, I say irrational and idiotic because they are based on self-righteous intuitions, generalization, rhetoric and baseless data and supported by idiots who favor conspiracy theories over facts, internet influencers over books, and victimization over hard-work and religious dogmas over science and fanaticism over reasoning. They are meant to never converge to a rational solution, but simply diverge by alienating people and different ideas and to make them feel guilty and responsible for having been branded outcasts.

Both Left and Right impose their family values, ideological principles and moral beliefs through guilt, morality and righteousness despite the fact both may be quite identical in their discourse and actions. The rationale behind the acts of the Christian Coalition, Tea Party, Cancel Culture and Politically Correct movements’ activists resemble those perpetrated by the thugs of the SS, SA, Revolutionary Red Guard, Ku Klux Klan, when, rather than discussing and debating diverging ideas and beliefs, they violently silence audiences, chant slogans, intimidate speakers, mar the individuals’ character, ban artists’ works and smear with fallacies, rumors and innuendos anyone who does not share their ideals and prefer to embrace diversity, but of ideas and opinions. Finally, these groups can also be self-contradictory when banning the same books and movies and smearing personalities, but for different reasons. In sum, both are self-proclaimed moralists who possess the monopoly of truth and final decision to determine moral and behavioral conducts. Because these minority groups are on a safe pedestal observing the rest from immaculate heights they can understand nothing beyond their own egotistical minds, fanatical voices and delusions of grandeur. These elements are like the mob in Monty Python’s The Holy Grail; they simply decided a woman is a witch without any evidence, but when asked reasonable questions on how they concluded her involvement in witchcraft, they falter to respond but then bellow in one single voice to “burn the witch”.  The mob does not want to debate or reason over their moral beliefs; they just want to impose them. The scene is intelligent, hilarious and ironic, as anything from Monty Python, differently from the left or right–wing moralists, who are only silly.

In a despotic society where freedom of speech and press is curtailed, information is manipulated, individual memories are eventually forgotten, brain-wash doctrines prevail and individual thought is exterminated, the idea of questioning the Party’s verdict is absurd. As a result, Parsons docile acceptance of his guilt and effusive defense of the Party’s decision is a result of the context. Consequently, citizens under a totalitarian rule may passively accept their guilt, for they are not entitled to think otherwise. Nevertheless, there are cases in history of individuals who underwent persecution by totalitarian regimes and religiously dogmatic societies but vehemently maintained their plea of innocence and kept their beliefs and ideas. They never relented like Parsons, despite also deprived of basic human rights. In addition, individuals living in democracies can also be targets of domineering movements disguised as paladins of universal ideals of equality and justice that apply identical intimidating tactics. Both aim at focusing on an objective, suppressing different opinions, smearing opponents and making anyone not on their side to feel guilty or isolated.