#it definitely isn't even limited to this region

[viksalos]

January road trips--Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia. mostly pleasant drives except the inbound trip through Virginia at night, when the fog was so low and thick in the mountain valleys that visibility was limited to one car ahead of us and one car behind us. At one point an extremely bright light appeared directly over our car and blinked periodically; was difficult to capture except in the ambient brightness on the ground in the last pic. Never figured out what it was. 

(more photography)

[writers-potion]

How do I accurately include diversity, and not make it look like I’m just putting it in there for the sake of it?

Writing Diverse Characters - Things to Remember

Honestly, there's no definitive answer to this.

Your characters are people with clear goals, desires and a role to play in the plot. As long as they aren't just sitting there with little else but their race/gender/disability, etc. as their ONLY personality trait, at least you're on the right path.

As for representing a diverse character realistically, here are some things you can consider to get started.

Do's

RESEARCH. There are plenty of blogs/YT vids/websites that exist to help you! Meet people!

Get beta readers.

It doesn't have to be explicit. Racial identities become quite clear early on through the setting, name, and initial description(hair, eye/skin color, body shape, etc) without having to drum it into the readers each time. Gender diversity can be conveyed through the use of certain pronouns without awkward declarations.

Character first, diversity second. Please don't intentionally create a diverse character and then think about how you can push them into the cast. Have a working character, who happens to belong to a particular group.

Read works that have represented a group well. There are plenty of non-fiction works, movies and documentaries that capture the lives of people around the world with a good eye.

Use the correct terms/language

Include different types of diversity

Don'ts

Race/gender/diability is NOT a personality trait. Please. Telling me that you have a Korean girl tells me next to nothing about the character herself.

Using sterotypes. Now, it's all right if your character has a few sterotypical traits, but definitely not if sterotypes are the only thing they have.

Diversity is not a "shock factor". Suddenly revealing that a character is actually gay and has been in the closet all this time as a refresher so that it draws readers' attention? Not a good idea.

One diverse character does all. This can often be seen in female characters of slightly dated works where one woman will play the role of supportive mother, sister, femme fetale and sexy Barbie at the same time. Don't write a diverse character who basically does everything a diverse character can possibly be. All that it proves is that the writer is lazy.

Things I personally hate seeing:

Weird pronunciation of languages. As a Korean person, I always get turned off by works (mostly badly written fanfics, yes, I read those...) that try to transfer Korean dialogue directly onto the page without even checking for the correct way to spell them out. A similar example would be pinyin for Mandarin. Please, this makes the character sound stupid throughout...

Character sticking out almost painfully. If your character isn't from the region but have lived in it for a long time, what reason do they have not to blend in?

Relying on variety shows/dramas as reference. Media representation of diverse characters that are meant for entertainment is not the best source for authentic research. I die every time someone lists a number of Korean rom-coms they've watched for "research". IT DOES NOT COUNT.

As a last note, remember that there's no limit to the kind of characters a writer can writer. Accept that our job as writers is to step into other people's heads, not seeing things from one (our) perspective - and it is not going to be easy.

Hope this helps :)

[twst-hottest-takes]

Tweel Anatomy discussion!

Part 1.

(Ask and ye shall recieve! This will be split up into a couple of parts because this could get long and it's easy enough to break up into pieces. [I definitely wasn't putting this off until the cards officially released.])

For starters I have to say again that I just love the twins and their merforms are so cool. I just want an excuse to gush about them. A lot of this discussiom will involve headcanons and hypotheticals and estimations, so there is your warning to not take anything in this post as law. This post, like pretty much all the others is very opinionated. Some of the fun bits about contemplating the anatomy of a fantasy creature involves drawing the imaginary lines between where the fish parts end and the human parts begin, and where the two become a blur and turn into something completely new. I like to think I strike a balance with my hypotheses, but perhaps others might not feel the same way. This is a post meant to start a discussion, not a fight. So let's see how far down the rabbit hole we can go . . .

Starting with a classic: How big are these guys?

Let's answer Ace's question. (While laughing like middle-schoolers about how that question was phrased.)

Now there is no canon answer to my knowledge so I can only give my best estimation. (Corrections welcome!) I firmly believe that they do not change "size" between their land and sea forms. For all intents and purposes, the twins are being treated as though their heads, arms, torsoes, and pelvic regions are the same size between human and merforms.

BECAUSE EVEN WITHOUT CHANGING SIZE THESE GUYS ARE ABSOLUTE MONSTERS IN THEIR MERFORMS.

I have no real proof of my theory. I simply compared the sprites and scaled the chibis until they had the same head size. Forgive me for not having a better method of measurement. I am not going to try and unravel the live 2D mermodels and I think trying to measure their shadows from their intro scene would be even less reliable. The length of the tail is approximately 75% the length of the rest of the body after where his feet theoretically end.

I didn't do the same with Floyd because I feel that it's safe to assume that he's probably a few cm longer (3-5 cm max) due to his 1 cm height difference when they are in human form. I hazard a guess that only the two of them actually care about that difference in length.

332 cm. (Or around 11 ft for those of us stateside.)

We know they're huge, but tying a number to the length REALLY puts things into perspective. Like it's actually a little scary.

Next: Gill placement.

I am a big fan of the gill slits being around the ribs! Not only do they look cool, but I like that it can be read as a combination of human and eel anatomy in their merforms.

Since they have a humanoid chest cavity, it makes sense that even though they don't have lungs, they may have a muscular structure similar to a diaphragm. By having a muscular system that works passively/sympathetically they could have a "breathing" motion similar to humans; but, instead of taking air in, it simply keeps water moving across the gills to maintain gas exchange.

Benefits of this system include: Being able to sleep (as I would assume merfolk do), and being able to stay in one place (most fish need to be moving constantly to keep their gills working). The ability to be stationary isn't necessary for fish, but for merfolk who have social conventions, even being able to sit still to have a conversation is a boon (unless the world of mermen is built around the idea that no one ever sits still, but I feel like the photograph from Book 3 proves otherwise).

Furthermore, having the gills on the ribs as opposed to somewhere farther up--for example, on the neck--the twins can reasonably stick their heads out of the water without fear of limiting their breathing ability. Though these new card illustrations show that they don't seem to have any problem with having their gills exposed to the air (at least as far as being photogenic is concerned), I can see it being convenient for merfolk to be able to poke their head and shoulders above the water and still be able to breath regularly (which definitely doesn't have anything to do with luring unwary travelers to their deaths. . .nope. . .not at all).

I have seen people say they don't like the choice and that the gills should be on their necks. If that's coming from a place of personal preference and is purely aesthetic I guess I can see it. But if anyone tries to tell me that it's not "eel-like" enough and they need to have the gills closer to the mouth, I will fight you. From a design and functionality standpoint the rib gills are fantastic!

For the last bit of this entry, let's talk about the elephant in the room: THE EEL ABS!

I'd say "don't get me started on this one" but I'm already here and we're already too deep in, so here we go.

Things are about to get spicy!

~They're fine.

Like, as a choice, the inclusion of these muscles is likely just for fanservice points, but it's not an anatomically strange thing.

Come here and I will explain to you a thing:

MERFOLK DO NOT SWIM WITH THE SAME MUSCLE GROUPS AS HUMANS DO!

Once upon a time, (this is going somewhere, just stick with me!) people complained that Ariel, the Little Mermaid herself, was too skinny and not built like a swimmer. People insisted that she not have such a tiny waist and her arms should be bigger. Now I, here and now, should not have to tell the reader why this is so ridiculous to say, but I'm going to anyway~ ARIEL DOES NOT USE HER ARMS TO SWIM! Those who have watched the movie may have observed that she swims like an aquatic mammal. All of her momentum comes from the verticle motion of her tail, and to some extent her abdomen, not her arms. When she turns human, Ariel does not even know how she can use her arms to help her swim upwards and out of the ocean. She struggled without her tail so much Sebastian and Flounder basically carried her to the surface.

In this way, merfolk do not need to have the same type of body as a human swimmer because they are functionally different and some people seem to get stuck on that.

Now returning to Jade and Floyd, again, their arms are not "built like a swimmer's." Once again THEY DON'T HAVE TO BE. There is nothing in all of Twisted Wonderland that suggests they swim with their arms at all. These boys have 5 foot long tails that are probably primarily muscle to propel themselves through the water. The arms are not for propulsion. The tails do the grand majority of the work, but this conversation was started about abdominal muscles so we'll circle back to that now. Unlike other merfolk (as exemplified by Ariel) who swim with verticle motions of their tails, eel-based mermen would swim by making horizontal motions, also primarily with their tails. I do say primarily because the idea occurs to me that there may be situations where the limits of their ability to move might be tested. If a merman built like this wanted to go significantly faster than whatever is "normal" for them, muscle groups higher in the body would get used. Essentially, given Jade and Floyd as characters, I don't find it hard to believe that, at the speeds they swim, they would be using their very human-shaped abdomens to increase their speed. That's a workout, especially for the obliques.

So, in conclusion, I don't think the abs are weird. Gratuitous? Absolutely. But they aren't the anatomical monstrosity some people seem to think they are.

Let me say once more, if you simply don't like how it looks, or the fish abs squick you out and you like to headcanon they don't exist--that's fine. But don't argue with me on the basis that it's not realistic. Mermaids are, after all, fictional creatures and depictions of them tend to be fanciful. The tough conversation comes about when we choose to draw the lines with how realistic we actually want them to be, HENCE THIS ENTIRE POST!

(Laughs like a maniac before signing off.)

Thank you for coming to the first part of my rambling. What should I talk about in the next part?

Other than the throat teeth. We've got a miniature essay about the throat teeth just about ready to go.

Also, apologies if there aren't enough visual guides. I really wanted to get this posted, so if anyone wants me to I can doodle up some more stuff to help with things like the image of the breathing aparatus and swimming motions. I have just not had much time this week.

(Going to fall asleep thinking about how sparkly these boys are.)

[is-the-snake-video-cute]

Hi 👋 I followed your blog on an old account a while ago and I’m glad I’ve found you again.

this is my woma Gordon Ramsay and he’s from a reduced pattern line (which will hopefully start to show when he’s older)

but I’m curious how much you know about woma morphs because I don’t know very many except this one and it’s not really a morph

He's a beauty!

So, to be entirely honest, "morph" is kind of a strong word for woma python breeders in general. There is definitely some pattern variation out there and there are breeders working to see to what extent these variations can be passed on, but I wouldn't say there are really any established morphs in the trade yet. A lot of the variations we see are regional variations (like your reduced pattern young man), and it's hard to tell if they could even become what we'd call morphs through selective breeding! This really isn't helped by the fact that woma pythons are nigh-impossible to find in the pet trade outside of Australia as it's illegal to export Australian native species, so it's a very limited playing field.

However, there are a few patterns that I keep hearing about that might really shake out!

The big one is patternless. This the closest I'd come to calling any woma variations a true morph.

And I'm not sure if there's a name for these, but snakes with one stripe down the back:

And it's also becoming increasingly common to find melanistic womas in the pet trade! As far as I've heard, though, breeding for them is currently pretty hit-or-miss.

[moondirti]

I just know, in my heart of hearts, that those men can bench press a bull but have zeeeeero flexibility/mobility because they don't train it. Pigeon pose? Can barely get their elbows on the floor. Half splits? More like quarter splits. Camel pose? They have already given up.

Cue: yogi/dancer reader, determined to get them to take care of their bodies by teaching the powers of Stretching Properly. And maybe also showing off a little bit...

yoga! reader is brought on to teach the boys how to manage stress through wellness exercises. they’re just so used to the rough and tumble, the physical demands that beat them to a pulp, that it’s almost a necessity at this point. like yeah, they’re complete units, but that doesn’t account for shit when their backs ache so bad in their 30’s and their knees pop every time they crouch – not to mention, how high their blood pressure is from all the exertion.

you’re the top instructor in the region, vetted by laswell and sent to base twice a week to host 90-minute ashtanga classes. which is a form of yoga that doubles as an excellent introduction into flexibility and posturing, or so you tell the begrudging men upon meeting them

though i can't stop picturing what type of student each of them would be–

gaz is a teachers pet, without a doubt. not lacking the reservations the others hold, but willing to try once he sees you bend over in a pair of skin-tight leggings the first time. brings you water and snack bars without having to ask. is the first to arrive to your sessions, even earlier than you do sometimes, and rolls his mat out right behind yours (which he claims is the best spot to get a sense of what you're doing – uncontested, seeing as he mimics you perfectly every time – but it's really because it has the best view of your ass). starts practicing alone in his room so he can impress you with a super cool pose that he totally didn't get off the internet, and ends up spraining his wrist because said pose actually isn't meant for rookies like him! pouts when you scold him the next day – there's a reason i didn't teach it, garrick – and spends the rest of the month sulking after you demote him to simple stretches.

soap doesn't try to hide his intentions. he's outwardly flirty in every capacity imaginable. the logic is, if he's being forced to come here, why pretend he's interested in anything other than the pretty thing teaching him? will pull up in the sluttiest shorts imaginable – i'm talking the tightest hoochie daddy pair in his closet – and a white undershirt, every muscle flexed to its limits. flashes you a big smile when you roll your eyes at his appearance and asks if you'd like to touch them. nae many men are built lik' me, bonnie. might nae git this chance again. definitely pretends to struggle to beckon your attention, despite being the most flexible of the 141. throws a fuss every time you instruct them to take a pyramid pose, complains until you personally position him. huffs and groans as your hands pull his legs the correct distance apart, taking note of the flustered furrow of your brow so when he approaches you after class, he has something to build his advances off of.

price pretends he's far above this whole affair, even though he's the one who needs it the most. will chuckle condescendingly when you ask why he's just sitting to the side, a cigar in hand as he 'supervises' the activities. don' get me wrong, lovie. s'sweet how dedicated you are. but i'm not subscribing to none of this... mm, business. you think it's a masculinity thing – older men are usually more averse to embracing yoga, seeing as it's a female-dominated exercise and they were raised in households that barred that sort of thing. in reality, price is just hesitant to make a fool of himself in front of his men. his joints creak when he moves and he can't touch his toes without toppling over, never mind contorting into intricate poses. the misunderstanding sets off more than one disagreement, and after a particularly rough day – wherein the two of you hashed it out in front of everybody – he starts to feel a tiny bit guilty. you're trying so hard, after all, driving out all this way to help some poor sods get over their physical impediments. so he opts to catch you on your way out to the parking lot, confessing the real reason why his participation is lacking before inviting you to his office for a private session.

ghost doesn't show up. no, seriously. you never see him, though you're aware of his absence; your attendance lists four soldiers, after all. you give him the benefit of the doubt for three weeks before reporting to laswell of his failure to meet expectations – only to be accosted by a big man in a skull balaclava on your way out. if y'wanted to me to watch you bend over so badly, pet, all you had ta do was ask.

[mono-chromia]

Team Sport

A Drarry microfic//oneshot by mono-chromia

Cover illustration by my beloved @basiatlu (alternate versions can be viewed here)

Word count: 1.015

Read under the cut, or on AO3

Draco hadn't understood, but as he comes to find out, Hermione's words had made perfect sense. Harry Potter makes a sport out of sleeping; commiting to a nap the same way he does to a game of Quidditch.

'Mione had once called Harry a "hard sleeper", whatever that may be.

"A heavy sleeper?" Draco had asked, unsure if he was missing some muggle turn of phrase. It comes up when they are trying to figure out the sleeping arrangements in the shared hotel rooms for Luna and Neville's destination wedding.

"Oh, no," she says. "Well, that too, I suppose, so he won't mind if you get back late, but he sleeps hard. I can't quite explain it." Draco doesn't mention the undiscussed assumption that he and Harry are apparently to bunk up together. "You know how he always tries to carry all the plates and cutlery to the table in a single go? Even if there's sixteen people dining?" Draco nods. "It's kind of like that."

Draco hadn't understood, but as he comes to find out, Hermione's words had made perfect sense. Harry Potter makes a sport out of sleeping; commiting to a nap the same way he does to a game of Quidditch.

Their portkey takes them from 5 A.M. in London to 11 A.M. somewhere in the Mekong Delta region, so when they arrive in their room, Harry immediately crawls into the pristinely made hotel bed, nesting the crisp duvets and the pillows into an iceberg-like structure and sleeps. Hard. Sprawled on his belly with his clothes still on (he's wearing sweat shorts at least, not jeans, thank Merlin) but with his feet sticking out for temperature regulation. He looks like he knows what he's doing. Draco watches him fuss and clumsily toe off his socks (because what lunatic wears socks to bed? Ridiculous) and then doze off immediately, squeezing in a highly efficient, half hour kip before they are expected for their lunch arrangements.

Harry seems more affected by the jetlag than the rest of the company, so Draco finds him, not unlike a cat, sleeping in strange places and at odd moments during the entirety of their stay in Vietnam.

For instance, on a couch in the hotel lobby one early morning, while Ron and Hermione argue with the clerk over the tour reservation that Ron definitely made correctly, with his head in Luna's lap, hoodie pulled low over his eyes, and his arms hugged around his chest.

Or, on the lawn chairs by the pool in the middle of the day. Which, Draco supposes, isn't that strange a place to sleep, but Harry's commitment to the activity is once again proven when Hermione ambles over to rub sunscreen on his back and place a sunhat over his head, all without as much as a twitch.

It's really quite fascinating to watch (though no one else seems to think so) and Draco finds himself somewhat jealous, because even when he diligently works through his own list of requirements for a good sleep (freshly showered, moisturized, teeth brushed, clean sheets, glass of water on the side table, window open for airflow, access to his own pillow) he still doesn't often manage to make eight uninterrupted hours, let alone any misguided attempts at a restful nap. When Draco naps it means the situation is dire, that he is unwell, that he feels like something has crawled up his ass and died there, and it usually only exacerbates his condition instead of having the much desired effect it seems to have on Harry. That effect being that he wakes up content, mellow and sleep-soft (objectively) and exists like that for five minutes or so, before moving onto stage two of his post-nap euphoria, which includes but is not limited to; a general lust for life, toothy grins, silly jokes (objectively), and a propensity for affection towards whoever is nearest to him at any given moment.

Which means that Draco finds himself subjected to the feeling of gently excited hands on his wrists and back as they ooh-and-ahh at the view on their hike, and a chin hooked over his shoulder as Harry feigns mild interest in the book Draco is reading, before asking him to come swim.

Apparently, it also means that, when Draco is keyed up with homesickness on the third of their eight-night stay, Harry invites him into bed.

"You okay?"

Draco looks back from where he has his head stuck out the window, spooked and feeling slightly caught. He stares at Harry in his bed, making up the shape of his body under the sheets from his feet (sticking out from under the cover) to his rumpled head that's more under the pillow than on top of it. Harry's voice is thick with sleep and so, so soft.

"Oh," says Draco. "Yeah. Um. Just— a bout of insomnia."

Harry just hums, low and noncommittal, and for a moment Draco thinks that he might be sleep talking. But then Harry shifts and lifts up the duvet, wordlessly and casually extending an invite towards Draco, and waits for him to get in.

Draco would object, but maybe Harry's bed is just that much more comfortable, maybe that's why he sleeps so well, and well— truly it looks much too inviting to resist. So Draco doesn't object, and quietly pads across their room to slip into bed with Harry. The blanket is bunched up and skewed, there are more than enough pillows, yet none of them in the right spot to actually fulfill their intended purpose, but Harry isn't fussed in the least, and wastes no time snaking an arm across Draco's middle and slotting his head under Draco's chin. Harry seems to fall back asleep pretty much immediately, and Draco is suddenly surrounded by an aura of sleep-warmed sheets, skin-on-skin contact and a bouquet of powdery scented curls, clean skin and sweet spearmint breath. It would have been overwhelming if it wasn't so blissfully sedative.

A robust dose of Dreamless Sleep has nothing on the deep rise and fall of Harry's chest, the dozy twitch of his toes against Draco's leg, the blooming warmth in all the spots where their bodies are touching. Draco dreamily wishes he could bottle it. Who knew that sleeping was a team sport.

[blackfeathercourt]

Got Nocmos Brain Rot™ again and made a timeline to pinpoint the most important events of her life and to illustrate the way she's been changing and growing

Close-ups and some notes below the cut

weirdly cut because I didn't want images to be giant and long to scroll by x_x

Just a baby. Nocmos had a relatively normal early childhood. Definitely cast her first spell before spoke her first word.

Nocmos begins her studies when she's around 10 years old… and that's when her free time is done for. Almost every minute of her day now is dedicated to studying, with magic being most paid attention to, which is a given with her Telvanni background. Moreover, she was taught with the intention of her enrolling to Shad Astula, a prestigious magic academy near Mournhold. She wastes all her teen years being stuck in her family's tower in Sadrith Mora, barely leaving the settlement and having little idea of the world outside.

elves must hit their puberty later then humans, so she's still yet to grow a little

Alright, Nocmos makes it to Shad Astula. She immediately starts distancing herself from her family back on Vvardenfell, since now she's away on the mainland (kinda). She keeps her studies up, a bit more enthusiastically now since she can finally meet people all over the Ebonheart Pact and not be limited to the Telvanni bunch. Starts learning to socialise on her own, catastrophically at first, with accidental racism all over the place... But it's alright, she even manages to make some first friends.

Initial meeting with Endalwe occurs at around this time, somewhere on a field trip I suppose while Endalwe is adventuring around the region. Neither one of them pays much mind to each other at this point.

Nocmos (barely) graduates Shad Astula and begins her own independent research, albeit under Divayth Fyr's guidance. She becomes his apprentice, living in the same tower as him, assisting him when he makes her and accompanying him in his travels. She learns a lot during that time and finally gets to explore Tamriel a little, which inspires her greatly to continue her studies.

At around that time, Nocmos discovers her new special interest - tinkering and constructing, though still on a very early stage. She meets Endalwe again in Vivec, when she's completing the Morrowind story line, and spontaneously decides to assist her. That allows not only for them to develop deeper friendship, but also for Nocmos to become acquainted with a former Clockwork apostle, Barilzar. I imagine she does all the quests which involve him, which means she gets a peek of the Clockwork city at the very end of the storyline. And… she becomes obsessed! Barilzar kicks her out and doesn't really want anything to do with her anymore, so she takes matters into her own hands and starts exploring Dwarven ruins on her own, eager to study the nature of the constructs. She even tries to build something on her own, bringing home spare parts and tools, thinking Divayth isn't aware of her new hobby. He is.

So, this is the most crucial point of Nocmos's life. She completes the Clockwork City DLC! With Divayth's guidance, as he notices her interest and deems her worthy of such endeavour, but she does all the quests mostly on her own. After that, they bid farewell and he officially ends her apprenticeship. Nocmos decides to stay in the Clockwork City and later becomes an Apostle. This allows her to bring two of her hyperfixations together - she starts practicing some actual constructing and occasionally studying magic from Sotha Sil himself as she's now in a pretty favourable position, having rescued his life and everything. Yeah, that also makes her times more religious than before.

Another point of importance is that her design finally settles down. Her appearance doesn't change much past that. She gets that Apostle tiara, crafts some ear extensions to correct their shape, loses her arm in an accident and gets a prosthetic (along with her staff, but that happens a little later) from Sotha Sil, adopts local clothing style which she uses later independently and grows her hair out to its final length, not letting it get longer or shorter.

Some time later, Nocmos's Telvanni heritage starts calling out to her. She gets a permit to travel freely to and from the Brass Fortress, and returns to Tamriel, intent to make a name for herself as a Telvanni sorceress, just to spice up her life a little. Nocmos manages to get on Mistress Dratha's good side in Vos, and gets a permission to grow her own tower in there. Then she starts eagerly and deliberately climbing up the ladder, rising in ranks, using all means to get as high as she can - charisma, cunning, thievery, backstabbing, secondhand murder... whatever. She acquires all those necessary skills which help her later on in life. Of course, this process is a very long one, and goes on for decades, but eventually she manages to rise to the rank of Master and only then does she settle down.

Here she's pictured in a Telvanni attire from ESO, tweaked a bit to my liking, but I think she continues wearing her Apostle robes just to remind people who she is

This is the point in her life when she reunites properly with Endalwe and starts adventuring with her, along with Bliss and Tanarion. Endalwe lures her in by promises of an endless research material during their world-saving quests... and Nocmos doesn't need a lot of persuading, since she's herself eager to travel and explore, especially in the safety of the company of warriors. And since she likes Endalwe as it is, of course.

Okay, so I haven't developed anything much beyond that point. Nocmos and others does all those big chapter and dlc storylines... and that takes years and years because I absolutely refuse to believe that Vestige has to do everything on their own within the span of one year. They also have periods of rest in between them, when Nocmos either collects the data she's earned on their adventures and writes a paper or too, ooor comes back to her duties in the Clockwork city.

[jadeazora]

I feel like some of us have that region that isn't "for them", and Galar was DEFINITELY that region to me:

Like, the story was pretty boring thanks to the hyperfixation it had on Gyms. And then when something interesting would happen, Leon would show up and redirect you. I get what they're going for, he's their unbeatable Champion and it's nice he's getting involved with the affairs of his region, but it came at a downside. (I feel like Alder was better since the player still felt relevant to the plot, even tho he was pretty active and involved too.)

Most of the major characters just weren't utilized well, fell flat, or annoyed me (tho there's some I liked, like Sonia, Piers, and Raihan) Like, we FINALLY have a jerk rival after two decades, and he's forced out of the plot midway in (due to his own decisions, but still wanted more with Bede), and I think Marnie only really got as popular as she did because of her design, because she's kinda forgettable personality-wise. 🤷‍♀️ There's way more going on with Piers imo. Hop was ok, but I think they could have done a bit more with him. (Maybe if they had explored him growing up in Leon's shadow more?)

I feel like this is gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I just never vibed with Leon and the way the games and anime shilled him just always rubbed me the wrong way. He's not the worst Champion, that still goes to Diantha, but between how the games just use him to redirect the player and the character-shilling, I just kinda found him annoying. 😔 (I tend to not really like showboaty characters most of the time, tho there's a few exceptions like Alastor. I feel like if they got the charisma to back it up, I might end up liking them, but sometimes, it just comes off as kinda lame instead. Imo, the charisma is there more for anime Leon over the games version.)

The idea of minor League Gyms was neat, but we never really got anything with them until Klara and Avery. Like, we can assume Allister/Melony and Bea/Gordie were minor League depending on what game you play, but in the games they're not Gym Leaders, they don't even appear.

I also hated them forcing me into a Gym Uniform in-game for those battles/League fights. (Let me keep my drip, dammit.)

The villain plots ticked me off. I've already gone after Rose a couple times in this blog, but if the energy crisis had been a few decades away, I could understand the rush and frustration with Leon, but 1000yrs was way too big a window. The Royal Brothers are meant to be annoying and ridiculous, and they definitely hit their mark there.

The box Legendaries were the most boring duo for me (They're not Pokemon I dislike, they're fine. The other box Legends were just cooler. I like the more eldritch Mons tho, so I really loved Eternatus.)

The base game's wild area felt really limited and small once you find your way around. The Crown Tundra's was way better, not to mention Paldea's.

I didn't really care for the Dynamax gimmick. (I've always been a Mega Evolution guy tho. Gigantamax could be cool, I think I just like the alternate forms.)

I will say that the DLC improved quite a bit imo. I liked characters like Peony and Mustard, the exploration was an improvement and the quests were fun, and it was cool seeing the interactions between Gym Leaders and such in the Galarian Star tournament. They also get bonus points for bringing back two of my favorite Pokemon, Volcarona and Magnezone. (I also feel like the Galar-original Mons were pretty good overall, and same with the clothing options.)

But like, by the time we got out of Gen8 and into Paldea for everything (well, the games and the anime anyway, wasn't the biggest JN fan either, I still have to catch up on Adventures), I was so happy. Technical issues with SV aside, I've enjoyed Gen9 a lot more overall.

[splinkoplinko]

Things I don't like about Nintendo:

Making games impossible to play again (Vimm's Lair getting raided by a bunch of companies including Nintendo, online stores getting shut down by Nintendo, more than one subscription required for some NSO Virtual Consoles like Genesis, N64, and GBA, lack of regional translations and ports, etc.)

Taking down fan creations (fan games, mods, music remixes, gameplay videos, etc.)

Putting limits on the monetization of tournaments featuring their games (https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/63433/~/community-tournament-guidelines)

Shutting down online services for consoles that are still very popular and used frequently (3DS getting shut down recently.)

The Switch and a few of the more recent games on it being not that great (Pokemon especially, I'm pretty sure the Wii ran better and it's almost 17 years old.)

Now I know that Nintendo isn't the only one that does this. Microsoft, Sega, and Sony aren't that great with their older games (though some of those are better than others), but Nintendo is much worse and much more strict. Sega doesn't even make consoles anymore, and modding isn't as popular on PlayStation and Xbox platforms due to it being tricky, but their games that are on PC have had plenty of mods, and the companies have no issue with them. I've heard the Xbox Series X/S isn't too good, same with the PS5, though I haven't noticed whenever I used my friend's consoles, and I have an Xbox 1 and PS4. The consoles are also definitely better than their previous gens, which is hard to say with the Switch (hot take, I prefer the Wii U 💀).

[bunningchaos]

..This was meant to just be a shading test, but it somehow turned out like this.

Anyways, from what I've seen and were told. It's the murderer's birthday, so uh.

Happy birthday to the dusty boi!

Albeit this drawing definitely isn't a good celebration

Dust belongs to Ask-DustTale, on Tumblr!

Swap belongs to Popcorn Pr1nce, on... Uh, where?

Andd, because I felt like it, putting a extra story thingy underneath the cut

This is mainly only for the drawing

Time and time again, the timeline kept on being rewinded back to the start. As if the human whom monopolized the power of 'Determination' had encountered some sort of issue that forced them to go back constantly. Starting all over again, rather than continuing from where the last save point left off.

How unusual, Sans couldn't grasp the situation at all. Even so, this wasn't going to stop him from moving forward with his plans on gathering EXP and LV for himself. All for the sake of hindering the human's progress and to get stronger, much stronger than the vile being that treats every monsters' lives like nothing but toys.

As much as he tries to tell himself, "It's for the better". Guilt still overwhelms him heavily, especially when he land the final blow on his own brother. His one and only precious family member, though that's besides the point. He had to forsake literally everything he knew, his morals, the others that he knew. Even the friends he made from other Universes, having no other choice but to cut contact with them. For the fear of possibly putting them in harm's way just.. didn't feel right.

Not like the current situation was any better! Why?

The current issue, right at this very point, lies in the fact that.. there wasn't any monsters in sight. No matter where he looked, exception for the few that he had managed to dust within Snowdin's town. All of it accumulating to lesser LV than the initial amount he'd normally obtain in the prior resets.

Adding onto the fact that he could barely even get one simple thing done courtesy of the constant reloading and resetting that was ongoing. This in turns, ended up frustrating him more than expected.

Just what the hell is wrong with that thing this time?

Did they finally get bored of dusting monsters and decided to mess with him by screwing with the timeline?

That surely can't be it, right?

Or was it...?

Hell if he knows, pushing aside every single thoughts in his head for the time-being. He made his way towards Waterfall, his slippers damp from the snow, the fluffy fabric making soft 'squish'-like noises with each step that was taken. Disturbing the tranquil silence, where nothing else could be heard other than the subtle noises from the waterfall.

Too peaceful, everything was far too peaceful. In a horrible way, dust could be seen drifting within the air. The atmosphere abnormally tense whilst then temperature dropped to a all-time low, even lower than the snowy region's.

Narrowing his eye sockets, his eye lights glowed dimly. Barely illuminating the darkened surrounding, there having absolutely no light sources other than the occasional echo flowers scattered around randomly. The bright blue glow emitted from those flowers was eye burning, to say the least. Yet it did a pretty good job of lighting up the area, albeit a limited range.

Even so, every single one of those flowers he walked past. All repeated the screams and noises of sheer panic, presumably from the residents of Waterfall. The culprit that caused all those, however, was unidentifiable from just these voice 'recording'. If one can even call it that.

For there isn't a single word nor sound, uttered from the perpetrator.

This definitely wasn't the doing of that disgusting thing, so, who else could it be?

Undyne? No, she isn't the type to harm others. Maybe except the human, after all. Sans did witness her going all out against them multiple times, yet it never succeeded. They were always stronger.. no, they abused their ridiculous ability to reload and kept on trying, when they failed the first few times. Unfortunately, getting the upper hand eventually and finishing off the Captain of the Royal Guard, once they learnt from their mistakes that caused their deaths and losses.

Alphys? Definitely not, she's too much of a coward to even hurt a fly.

Asgore? Yet another no.

So who...?

Unbeknownst to Sans, as he lost himself within his own thoughts. He failed to notice a presence behind him, one that was familiar yet also not anymore.

Within the blink of an eye, Sans was abruptly yanked backwards by a hand grasping tightly onto the bright red scarf that hung around his neck. Startling him right back into reality, his balance being thrown off as he barely managed to keep himself from falling onto his bum. His guard immediately rosed up, however, before he could even react nor do a thing.

A sharp blue bone, was pointed directly at his neck. It was a clear threat, that if he moved even one inch. The culprit wouldn't hesitate to harm him, and knowing of his current stats. He dare not make a move.

For once, in a dreadfully long period of time. He felt fear seep into his body, whoever this was. Is definitely dangerous, even though they didn't give off the same presence as the human.

"..Huh?" Sans uttered under his breath, his eye lights shrinking when he took notice of the all-too-familiar cyan gloves that the other person.. no, monster, was wearing.

It can't be. There's no way, he tried to deter his thoughts away from the numerous possibility that stirred within his mind. Yet it was all for nothing, once the other spoke up

"Found you." The voice was so unsettlingly cold, sending chills running down his spine. His entire body tensing up and freezing in place, he couldn't move. It felt as if his feet were rooted straight into the ground.

Not just fear, but sheer disbelief overtook him entirely. Not at all needing to turn around, to figure out the other's identity. As it was more than obvious, Sans so badly wanted to curl up into a hole and die.

It was Swap, the one other version of himself that resembled his own brother, Papyrus. Especially, being quite righteous and isn't afraid of speaking up plus doing things for the greater good. Due to him wanting to join the Royal Guards, hence having a more, dominating presence and attitude.

So, if that was the case. Why did Sans feel so much bloodlust from him? The one monster that is meant to be.. kind and forgiving, but not naive. At least, not murderous.

"Don't underestimate me, Classic. Did you really think you could cut me off that easily?"

Swap's tone was like a sharp blade, cutting through the tense silence. His entire demeanour had completely changed, there wasn't even a single shred of the once upbeat tone he used to have.

As much as Sans didn't want to cry, his body betrayed him. Bright blue tears welling up within the corner of his eye sockets, this wasn't supposed to happen.

The other skeleton wasn't meant to be here, neither should he be.. this.. malicious. It felt as if this 'Swap' was nothing more than a genocidal freak, with the presence he gave off.

Sans was more than certain he made sure no one else, but himself knew what was going on. He ensured that he left quietly without arising any suspicions.

..Or did Swap just paid too much of a attention to him?

No one could tell at this point, even Sans himself wasn't sure what Swap's intentions even were.

Since his thoughts trailed off, only now piecing together the puzzles of what caused the human to have so much issues.

They were caught up trying to deal with Swap, a completely new and unexpected obstacle.

....

This is going to be troublesome.

[pushing500]

I'm sure native folk of the far future will have plenty of landback and get to be connected with their homelands, but native folk spanned all the Americas. I'm sure Mechi speaks relatively regional to his tribe + how much time he spends connected to it, versus the rest of society (which, given his personality--). My mas from the south, so even though I was raised in the north, I still call her her ma (which is a bit more grown feelin than mama/momma), and slipping into her or my dads southern accents. It's especially pleasant in a long, 'But Mommaaaaaaa'. Hair style traditions also vary between tribes, but some embrace pan-indianism, meaning a lot of culture sharing in the modern era and likely future. I've taken to braiding my hair even though historically my people were more topknot oriented. | No shade on your presentation of native identity, its p tasteful, just infodump, because I didn't get to grow up In Touch with my tribe, so I've been doing studying. No need 2 post if it's hardly a question. I'll definitely send some questions.

I confess I was very nervous about trying to portray anybody who wasn't plain old caucasian white because I am very, very white, and I know that there are things I'll never understand about the experiences of being someone from another culture. I worried I'd do something wrong, but in the end, I thought it would be better to try and draw diverse people to the best of my ability and trust that if I did anything problematic or offensive, the internet would very quickly let me know in no uncertain terms.

I did a lot of research before I started drawing Mechi and planning his family and stuff. His name and all his family members' names are of Hopi origin, I believe. I saw a lot of traditional Hopi hairstyles while I was researching, and they were sooo gorgeous!! Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any RimWorld mods with traditional hairstyles, so the pawns wouldn't match any drawings I did if I used more traditional styles, which is why they all just have more generic long hair.

At the end of the day, though, RimWorld is set thousands of years in the future, and I'm pretty certain Mechi isn't even from Earth originally. He was likely born on some other urbworld. I just wanted to practice drawing people who weren't Caucasian, so I'm doing the best I can with what limited experience I have.

I do like the idea of Mechi calling Squashbug "Ma", though. Maybe he'll stick with that. It's very sweet, and easily solves my 'u' versus 'o' problem!

For anybody curious, Mechi's family names and their meanings ❤️

[noperopesaredope]

Disclaimer: I barely know what I'm talking about. I'm just putting some thoughts out there because I'm honestly confused about some things. These are the words of someone who can barely understand what anyone is saying and also trusts no one on the internet. I've accepted that I am too stupid to understand this conflict and no matter how much research I try to do, I will never understand any of it. Believe me, I have tried. These are the ramblings of a confused idiot who is out of the loop on everything and will never really be in the loop.

You can add your own thoughts or disagree. But don't yell at me for my thoughts. I've tried to educate myself, but that has failed. But I still want to throw some thoughts into the discussion using my limited understand of everything. I will likely be turning off notifications to this post if too many people shout at me for not understand shit or agreeing with them, so probably don't try to change my mind. Just say what you want to say and add your own essays in the reblogs.

~~~~~~~~~

I've been trying not to say too much about the Israel-Palestine conflict (not just Gaza, but in general) since it's so complicated and messy and I'm not informed enough on another country's massive, decades-long conflict for me to feel comfortable commenting on it. However, I have had a little nugget in my brain that has been bothering me for a while now. A common Zionist argument I occasionally see is that Palestinians aren't actually "indigenous" to the region of Israel-Palestine, and that they are invaders. They came from somewhere else to live in that area, and therefore aren't "the true people of Israel." But I find this argument rather silly and a bit hard to believe.

First off, and I'm not even saying this as an argument against Israel, but isn't the whole point of Jewish mythology (mythology is the technical term) that Israel is "the Promised Land?" As in, the end point? The final destination rather than the start? Maybe I'm confused and need to brush up on Jewish mythology, but from what I remember, the Hebrews came from a different region in the Middle East, then migrated to the region where Israel is. Therefore, they didn't exactly "originate" from there either.

It's also kind of hard to believe that there weren't already other people who were living there already. And then Abraham and his family moved to Egypt anyways due to drought, and the Hebrews were there for hundreds of years before coming back to Israel. And by the time they'd come back, a bunch of other ethnic groups had already made their homes in Israel, as people had been doing likely long before Abraham and his family first came to the region.

And even if Abraham and his family originally came from that region, Abraham already lived in civilization. Civilization still existed there, and people were still living there. Abraham was basically part of a different ethnic group before he created the Hebrews. Therefore, the Hebrews would be from Israel, but so would all of the other people already living there who weren't descendants of Abraham.

Whether or not you believe that the region belonged to the Hebrews by the will of God, all those other mfs were still living there first. You can say that you own the land because God said so, but you can't truthfully say that all the people who were there before Abraham was even born are not native to the region.

Even if we're not looking at Biblical accounts, realistically discussing archaeology and patterns throughout history leads us to the conclusion that there was no singular native ethnic group in Israel.

It is well known that Israel has had, like, hundreds of different peoples who have lived there at different points throughout history. It has switched around a lot of times, and has definitely had multiple ethnic groups living there at the same time. It is a region that has historically been diverse, and many have called it home.

On top of that, who is to say that Palestinians aren't actually also natives to that region? I've heard some people say that the Palestinians are decended from Arabs who invaded the region, but is it really true that all of them are of Arab decent? Again, this area is incredibly diverse, and I'm pretty sure it was ethnically diverse even before Israel was founded. It's unlikely that

Also, haven't the Palestinians been living there for thousands of years anyways? Because in that case, I'd say it's questionable to declare a pretty diverse group of Middle Eastern brown folks to not be native to a region they have been living in for hundreds/thousands of years.

Especially when a large number of those who moved to Israel when it was founded (refounded?) back in 1948 were of white European decent. I believe that Israel is still the homeland of the Jewish people, but is a white Jewish person whose family has been living in Europe for hundreds of years really more native to the Middle East than a brown person whose family has been living in Palestine for hundreds of years?

Like, I see these white ass mfs sitting here saying "I belong here more than you" to these brown people who have been there for generations. This statement is not about Jewish folks who have been living in the Middle East for generations, mainly just those of European decent who declare that the land belongs to them more than those who have been there forever.

I still believe that the Hebrews should be considered "indigenous" to Israel, but to say that they are more indigenous seems disingenuous when both groups migrated to the region. No one group has ever been the true native group of that area, and I feel that either side arguing that the other is not native to the region is full of shit.

We don't know who is native to the region. We barely even know if Israelis and Palestinians each are made of singular ethnic groups. So I feel like declaring the "One True Indigenous Group" is pointless and redundant to the discussion. Either both are or neither are. Shut the fuck up.

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Genuine question: you often talk about the West as if Greece wasn't Western and that leaves me in doubt… isn't it Western? I always see Greece referred to as such, so I figured it was. Like, I imagine there must be some details that don't completely fit into Western molds, but in general, isn't Greece Western and is it even considered one of the main origins of the West?

Hii! This is a very good question for someone who needs context!

In summary: Greece is not exactly Western. In fact, it has more things in common with countries that are considered Eastern. Greece definitely wasn't that "Western" in ancient times compared to the rest of the countries that are considered definitely Western today. Also, Europe has taken some stuff from Greece but most things it took are not Greek in culture, meaning they don't relate to us and we don't relate to them.

But from someone who's not from our general region and has little idea about our culture, there needs to be a big explanation, so all I have to say is:

Disclaimer 1: Let's appoint the US, the UK, and Germany as some examples of "definitely western" countries, as a guide. They are surely considered Western due to their geography and history.

Disclaimer 2: I'll speak in very broad terms about nationalities. In no way this is an attack on individuals who live in these countries. The statements are meant to be political and capture generic national sentiments. For example, the sentence "historically the Greeks don't like the Turks" doesn't mean that Greeks and Turks haven't lived (and continue) to live in peace under certain circumstances.

Everything exists within proper context and even I am using "Western" in a specific context. What is called "Western" today is a standard created by the European countries of Western Europe. And it doesn't make sense cause there are no clear limits between cultures. It's all a gradient, as I said in the past.

I also don't like how by "Western" we imply "progressive and technologically advanced". I haven't seen people fight about whether Albania is Western, although it's more Western than Greece geographically.

In fact, many a time I've seen maps like the one below isolate Greece and put it in the Western category but so many nations right above and west of Greece are not Western?? Notice how they show "West" = "pre-colonial/colonial nations/global empires (what I refer to as "the West" in my posts) + Greece" 😂 (Usually Turkey is also excluded, so I won't comment too much on that right now.) I mean... isn't this whole presentation... weird?? It's not even based on who is a NATO ally and who's not.

Greece is one of the most eastern European countries. Greeks existed in Minor Asia for thousands of years (Asian Greeks baby!) and we literally are right next to where Asia begins. Our capital for almost a thousand years was Constantinople which is in modern Turkiye, and Greeks still make pilgrimage there.

Our differences with the countries posing as the of the West are far greater than they want you to believe. The reason is that the western European powerful nations still want to claim the ancient Greek stuff as the basis of their national identity, and to do so they have to lump us in with their own kind. Only very recently they got "gracious" enough to do that. For most of history they claimed all things ancient Greek for themselves buuut they saw Greeks as "fallen from glory" and "mixed" and "these can't be the descendants of the ancients we admire!" (They had idealised our ancestors a looot in their minds, and by their own NW European standards) That's why maps such as the above exist.

The cultural divide in ancient times was much larger. We were kissing with tongue with Persians, Palestinians, Phoenicians and Lower Egyptians. The battle with Persians wasn't - as today west Europeans and the US want to frame it as a battle between East and West. The Persians were our freaking neighbours! 😂 Our cultures were - and still are - very similar. (Food, music, expression/openness, social politeness, phrasing)

Then came the old Rome, then came the Renaissance, and in these periods Western Europe got a bit more influenced by Greek aesthetics, for sure. But as I said the divide was greater when speaking about ancient times. Okay, our neighbors on the Italian and Iberian peninsula would be more like us, but the Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Norse, and Danish tribes were quite unrelated to the Greeks culturally. Even half of Italy (the Northern part) today don't see us as neighbors, because they are closer to other nations by land. (verified this with some friends abroad)

To go back to why I usually exclude Greece from "Western": "Western" is a standard term that former (and modern) colonial powers have created and choose to identify themselves and others with (if they deem them "worthy enough").

As I said, the term can be synonymous with power and progress, but it ignores powerful countries such as India, China, Japan, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Iran which have greater industries and more power than Greece. (This is a 2017 map but it still holds, I feel😂) Notice that Greece is not even at the bottom.

Greeks also often feel we don't fit the Western mold. Usually, however, they use the term "European" to substitute the "Western" term but in our minds it's the same thing. Additionally, most Greeks growing up - especially with the rise of communication with other Balkanians through the internet - realise that we have most things in common with our geographical neighbours. The video below is an example of that.

So, why don't we feel that European/Western?

As I mentioned in the beginning, Europe is not Greek in culture. Few of the things West Europe took from us were partly influenced by the cultural climate at the time (like philosophy and the three-act structure of theater). What about the rest? What do trigonometry and astronomy and people voting have to do with one's culture? I mean are people supposed to understand my culture through functions and equations, or the 5th century BCE aesthetics of the human body?

(And to answer your question, no. They have no idea how our names, words, culture food, and music have been. They often confuse clearly Latin words with Greek words, and that's the pinnacle of their interaction with our culture😂)

We have more in common with Turks, Persians and Lebanese than we have with Germans and Swedes. Because Middle Easterners and Northeast Africans have been our neighbors for millennia. To further demonstrate the point, Greeks in Northwestern Europe feel more comfortable with Arabs, Turks, Persians and Indians than with anyone else. And they don't vibe with the Northwestern locals that much because the Greek culture is not close to theirs. (That's a generalization of course but you can't imagine how many Greeks I've heard stating that)

I don't find it unreasonable for someone to lump Greece with the Western countries because that's where our allies are at the moment. As a nation, we look to Western nations for infrastructure (Although it doesn't work too well for us sometimes because the compatibility isn't there. Like the EU gives us money to plant certain trees that are not good for our climate and how often shit catches fire here). And, of course, sometimes Greece happens to be… geographically western than many countries. So in this case "western" also applies.

At the same time, someone should bear in mind that Greece has existed under the pressure-ehhh influence of Western European nations for a long time. After the fifteenth century, they've been stealing our artifacts, fetishizing our struggles, not listening to our people in Greek cultural characteristics (such as the language), noting our "unattractive" looks (and skin sometimes) etc. I mean, they still do all of this stuff sooo… how are we supposed to feel comfortable in the same group as them?

Add the Turkish occupation from 500-600 years so there's additional Islamic and Middle Eastern influence, and cultural exchange from Greeks and towards Greeks in the Ottoman Empire.

There's also the matter of religion and East Europe is religiously and - to a large degree - culturally Orthodox. This plays a larger part in the cultural divide between West and East Europe. In fact, religion played a big part, a thousand years ago, in the schism between west and east Europe.

This difference in cultures, and the dismissive attitude of the West towards Greeks and other East Europeans, shows from Charlemagne's time. A thousand years ago and more, West Europeans were calling Greeks (and generally Eastern Romans/ Byzantines) barbarians and degenerates. Greece has been orientalised a lot in Western art over the past few centuries.

The first colonial "stock company" in History was in the Byzantine/Hellenic island of Chios in the 14th century, established by Genoese occupiers! The island was managed by a monopoly share-charter "Company", Maona. The Company held the monopoly of the world's unique Chiot mastic, as well as control of the import and export trade, while many locals became slave-workers. The "Latins" (Genoese) took hundreds of buildings and homes for themselves. Later the Maona company expanded in Cyprus.

It had come to a point where Greeks and Byzantines in general preferred to be conquered by the Turks rather than the Latins (Francs, Venetians, Genoese). You can find the full history of this conflict in this article.

One should also bear in mind Greeks have been through slavery on a national level (called "chattel" too), and faced oppression, assimilation, and genocide. What I mean is: If someone is representative of the Western Powers…. that's not us 😂 We only play pretend. We are not the ones making the rules or decisions. For example, our PM asked the state of Israel (with which we are supposedly allies under Western contracts) to not harm the Greeks in Gaza, then the Greek Orthodox temple was bombed and our Western allies didn't give a shit.

Greece smiles and nods along so it can sit at the table with the Big Boys. It's not a Big Boy and I doubt it'll ever be for a long time. It can't turn towards the East (because Turkey, the old political and religious enemy) so it turns towards the West. And it has become an obedient puppy of the US and Germany. And if we refuse to play pretend, there's always some type of punishment. I won't absolve our country from all political responsibility. I'm just saying that we usually lack the power for things to go our way.

The reason for our nation's existence is the Western colonial powers (in Greece we call them the Big Powers) wanting to destabilise the Ottoman empire. They didn't give a shit about the Greek state existing. I mean sure they appreciated having one more pawn in the area, but they mainly wanted the Ottoman power to dwindle. The Big Powers gave and took land from us as they saw fit, for their own interests. (They did the same with other nations, too, of course). Our country's debt to the Big Powers started before our nation formed when they sold us half-ruined ships for a very high price.

(Although our debt became significantly worse after 2009, when our people gave money to stabilise their banks.)

So I ask again, how is a Greek - politically and socially - to feel comfortable in the Western group? Especially when we have actual neighbors in the Balkans and the Middle East who are almost like us culture-wise? And, don't East nations have Mathematics and Philosophy and Democracy (most at least) and Theatre and Astrophysics? In the study of things coming from Greece they have nothing to envy from the West. They were studying this stuff waaaay earlier, too!

So the argument of "who has taken the most from Greece" is purely political because if we actually measured, our neighbors are the ones who have the most similarities to us. (Yes, the political and social corruption rates too, as I've been told 😂)

Not to mention there can be found colonial/imperial attitudes from Western European nations which Greece cannot identify with. Except for the obvious neo-colonialism and the pressure to have more military bases on our grounds, there are more.

Some of these attitudes are; refusing to communicate in English, refusing to use subtitles and insisting on watching everything dubbed, straight up altering the names of foreign colleagues to appeal to them more, nitpicking on shades of white and what shade of white is "bad", having the impression that the world is as safe and comfortable as their own country, only getting you out of second class in their minds when you start speaking their language fluently exhibiting one of the highest forms of assimilation, treating East European cultures like an exhibition or a theme park.

Don't be mistaken, the use of language is a power play. Greece also has colorism, but the NW nations take it to another level, trust. It would kill them to admit they might have the same skin tone as someone from China, whereas the Greeks (although not void of racism) wouldn't think to compare the skin tones as different. And they don't categorize slightly darker peoples compared to theirs as another "race" entirely.

I know I rumbled again but there are many things to consider when it comes to Greece's position on the map that's not limited to geography. I also want to put many disclaimers and explanations around because someone away from our area is missing context, and they might misinterpret our notions through their own lens. Hopefully, my answer covered the main points and gave a better picture of our identification.

[spanishskulduggery]

This isn't really a question about a word per say. So I tell people I listen to "Spanish music" when I listen to reggaeton cause the words are in Spanish so I just equate spanish words= spanish music. But now I'm wondering if "Spanish music" is correct term to use cause alot of the people who sing the music I listen to aren't from Spain. So can I still say I'm listening to Spanish music even if the songs are by a Puerto Rican or Colombian singer? or should I just say latin music or something.

Okay so in general, don't stress because I think they'd both make sense in context; I'd say "I listen to music in Spanish" if I wanted to avoid confusion

Your question is a bit complicated just by the nature of the terminology here

...

The main issue here is that "Spanish music" and also "Latin music" are umbrella terms, and they encompass other genres and subgenres from folklore and traditional ones to things like rock or R&B that were popularized (or made into more clearly defined genres) in other countries, and it's probably easier to speak in terms of genres... but people recognize the limitations of the words for music ie saying "Spanish" instead of "Latin" music

You'll see sometimes people will say things like rock en español or rock argentino if they want to specify, but they recognize there are limitations to saying Latin music or even "Spanish" [en español "in Spanish", not necessarily just español like from Spain]

Me personally because I trip over this a lot, I tend to say things are de España if I mean "Spanish" as in from Spain

I've also seen the term ibérico/a "Iberian" used for Spain just because it's the same limitation you get with saying "English music" like from England or in English we don't know, and then people will say British rock to differentiate it sometimes

(It's a unique linguistic issue when the country of origin is also attached to the name of the language)

-

The main source of ambiguity to the terms is because Latin music also includes Spain; it's a thing, you'll see - but like Alejandro Sanz has won Latin Grammys and awards for "Latin pop" but is from Madrid and his parents were Andalusian and he's known for incorporating Andalusian elements into his music]

...In other words, the music definition of "Latin" and "Spanish" is a bit different from the geographical definitions

-

In music it's not usually a PC thing as far as what is more correct, it's that the terms are so vague that usually Spanish-speakers when talking about music in Spanish talk about genres [because something like Latin R&B is very different from something like Spain's flamenco]

There's a lot of ambiguity in the words

For example, and this is the main confusing thing - What really complicates your question is that "Latin music" also encompasses Spain... and also Portugal/Brazil because it's still "Latin" just not Spanish specifically; again geographical and musical definitions, very different

For all intents and purposes, "Latin music" tends to refer to Ibero-American music, for Spanish-speakers and Portuguese-speakers, and also the Spanish/Portuguese-speaking diaspora [as opposed to French/Italian etc Romance Languages which are considered separate from "Latin" in music terms, but not geophaphical terms]

...so even "Latin music" is a very broad category

Brazil in particular has many genres in common with Latin America just based on proximity and culture, often sharing bits and pieces of genres one usually associates with Spanish-speaking South America, and sometimes the Caribbean [like bossa nova, samba, and some music that people would classify as "folklore" like cumbia which is very regional but usually involves more traditional music and dance]

...

In short, I'd say "I like reggaeton" or mention genres or artists you like

It may be easier to say "I listen to music in Spanish"

Just know even Spanish-speakers don't always like or agree with the umbrella terms haha

[thenanamisimp]

This isn't something I've really done much since I started this blog but I really wanted to discuss this week’s TGCF episode.

This is your spoiler warning!!

Heaven official's blessing season 2, episode 6 spoilers but there are also discussions of the respective scenes from volume 2 so if you haven't finished reading the novel, I'd suggest maybe not reading this post.

For context, I saw a user on twitter discuss how the donghua has been adapting Hua Cheng's display of emotions towards Xie Lian.

Source

I also saw another user discuss the difference between how the novel/audio drama and the donghua have been showing Hua Cheng expressing emotions.

(I can't share the source as the OP is now private on twitter)

While I haven't actually listened to the audio drama and I'm only on my first re-read of TGCF, these posts inspired me and I have thoughts and opinions that I need to share before I implode (one day it’ll happen I swear).

The scene the posters are talking about is after hcg saves xl from the heavenly Xianle palace, where they talk about what happened at paradise manor (aka xl apologising for burning down the armoury and lying to hcg about the earth master and hcg apologising for hurting xl’s arm).

In the donghua, we see hcg very obviously upset. He appears obviously and genuinely very sad about having hurt xl, even with the whole incident having been an accident. The distress in his eyes and voice is evident and clear-cut, seeming perhaps even a bit childish. In contrast, when reading this scene in the novel, while hcg definitely comes across upset, his distress appears a bit more calm and collected and he instead truly seems like a responsible adult who made a mistake and is sincerely apologetic for it to xl.

I believe that there’s multiple reasons why the dongua team chose to show hcg’s emotions in the way that they did. In my opinion, a reason why they could’ve chosen to do it this way is because of censorship. Now hear me out; clearly as a western fan I can’t speak much on Chinese censorship as I’m not highly knowledgable on the subject. However, I’d like to believe that the producing team is trying to work around the censorship laws in their own way. By making hcg’s emotions a little more over-the-top and obvious, it’s a lot easier for us as the viewer, especially queer fans that might understand queer dynamics better than others, to see and pick up on the subtext of what those exaggerated emotions mean while never having to be said out loud. And yes, we could argue that for those of us who have read the novel, it’s easier to recognise those subtle moments of vulnerability even if hcg’s reaction was made as ambiguous as it is in the book, because we have a lot more context. We have to remind ourselves that Hualian’s love story is never gonna be shown in the donghua in the same as the novel and people who are new to the story won't pick up on their relationship as easily.

As someone who hand’t heard of TGCF until Netflix licensed the donghua in my region (in 2021 I think?), I actually highly appreciate this difference in hcg’s character in the donghua. And while I don’t appreciate queerbaiting, watching season 1 made me search for the original source material and ended up with 8 very expensive books on my shelf (it took me 2 years to find volume 2 in stock somewhere…. 2 YEARS because I refuse to buy from amazon). San Lang (specifically referring to hcg’s form in volume 1 or season 1) is definitely slightly more aloof and energetic than hcg in his real form, so I do believe that his adaptation in season 1 was a lot more true to the source than season 2 seems to be.

My personal opinion is that, we need to view the donghua with a little more leniency as they have limits to the scenes they will be adapting later on (if the donghua doesn’t get dropped. Let us all pray together) and they have to make some things a little more obvious (but still no homo) to keep as much of the gay factor as they can without getting, you know, arrested. At the end of the day, it comes down to us what we prefer to consume and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people preferring one over the other. It's valid to prefer hcg in the novels and it's valid to also enjoy hcg's donghua adaptation, even if he's different and not completely true to the OG material.

Now when it comes to the whole “making xl seem oblivious thing”…. The jury is still out on this one I’m afraid. This was the final scene of the latest episode meaning, we don’t actually know how they’re gonna adapt the following scenes and this could very heavily affect the way xl reacts from here on. An adaptation is just that and like mentioned before, the donghua team has to make decisions on how to adapt things due to censorship. And at the end of the day, I think this is an interesting take on xl’s character as one of the biggest parts of his character is how he struggles to accept love and care from other people so one can argue that… He actually is oblivious in this scene? Especially at this point in the story considering he’s known hcg for like, a week, 2 weeks max (do not quote me on that, I haven’t actually calculated, I am lazy. Point is, he hasn’t known him for very long at this point in time). And while I would for sure be a bit disappointed if he still is presented like this later on in the story, we’re still too early into it to criticise the donghua over this and future scenes that haven’t even been touched yet. It’s not in any way fair to base our opinions on the upcoming scenes on a singular 2 minute clip of Hualian’s interaction.

So, I have said my peace. Please remember that everything I’ve discussed is purely my opinion and not fact, so take this post with a grain of salt. I’d actually love to discuss this further with people so please send asks if you have anything to add!

(This is also another good post to read about the censorship stuff I talked about in this post. I like how this user phrased it.)

Once again, thank you for reading a (lengthy for once) ramble!

theNanamiSimp

[stillarandom-radfem]

So, something that irritates the ever-loving fuck out of me is when I'm chatting online with another woman/make a post about some feminist topic (for example, child marriage of underage girls to adult men, or female infanticide), and some stupid lefty moid jumps in with some dumbass comment about "oh, that doesn't happen here, that only happens in (name of foreign country or region of the globe)." Always with the tone and general insinuation of "oh, you don't know those women, that doesn't happen here, don't worry your pretty little head about it." And I'm just... ugh. I can't be the only white, Western woman who is disgusted by this patronizing and incredibly racist (not to mention misogynistic) "argument."

Not only is it not even necessarily true (if we stay on the topic of child marriage, for example, then we would have to acknowledge that there are multiple states right here in the U.S. where child marriage is perfectly legal with parental permission), but ALSO, even if that was the case, the insinuation is also that if a woman or girl is from a developing country, if she is poor, if she is a minority, if she is far away from where I am, then she is an acceptable target to be treated as lower than an animal and to be stripped of her human rights. That is disgusting. And often, these are the same moids who will join the libfems in shouting about "white feminism" and attempting to counter feminist arguments with some racialized psychobabble about black men or some shit (usually on a topic that affects black women just as much, if not more, than white women). Please. You don't care about racism; your attitudes about WoCs are incredibly racist. You're merely virtue signaling about MoCs, and we both know it. You don't actually care about them. As for women, no matter their color, class, or what country they live in, they deserve basic human rights as much as I do. Making not being denied basic rights into a privilege that is only to be enjoyed by white Westerners is disgustingly racist. And yes, I have every right to be concerned about women's treatment "over there", too, because I am a woman. Like, let's say that I wanted to travel. There are definitely places on the globe where I would feel unsafe traveling alone because of my sex (for example, Afghanistan). Why? Because women in those countries are treated horribly, and I wouldn't want that to happen to me. Their treatment still affects me, albeit indirectly, because of my sex class. It's fucking patronizing as hell to act like women who don't live there should just not worry our pretty little heads about a topic that limits all women (yes, some more so than others), just because some male decided that anything far away isn't relevant to him. It's still relevant to me; I am a woman, and all women deserve basic rights. The reason you're uncomfortable with me talking about it is because you're a misogynist, and you therefore don't think we do. You see women as property, and why, in your mind, would property deserve human rights? You would behave that way to us, too, if you were given the chance; the only reason you don't is because we have enough power here to stop you, and you don't want women there to get that kind of power, too, or else what would happen to your sex tourism plans or whatever? So, yeah. The argument is racist, it is patronizing, and it is deeply misogynistic. I have no interest as a woman in listening to that bullshit. Fuck off, moid.