#it is so funny when i see other versions of my source bcs its like 'oh ur taking care of them n being a mentor' n im like? yeah technically

[fossys]

I think its so funny when i see stuff about my source because a lot of the time im written as this tired old parental figure (which is probably closer to my canon source maybe) but in system im just like. yea ive been around for centuries but i still just feel like a silly lil guy

[leohttbriar]

one day i'll make a whole obnoxious powerpoint (with the checkerboard transition effects obvs) that's a thematic comparison/contrast-ion between jadzia dax and odo and what they mean but for now i'm thinking again about "children of time" and the way odo and dax were framed as like the only possible actors in a impossible-to-act situation. it was odo or dax, who would let the potential closed-loop lives of a colony of people be rendered materially forgotten. and the more i think about it the more convinced i am that, actually, dax wouldn't have ever chosen differently. it had to be odo.

they're refracted versions of the other---defined by a multiplicity, which they understand and handle in different ways. where dax (who has been accused of frivolity the whole season by her upright buddy worf) can't see beyond the agony of her own selfishness, odo just does. he does what he thinks he is obligated to do based on his own individually-mandated moral rectitude. he is solipsistic in the way all of the changelings are for they can be anything and are also all each other and that is certain. but he loves kira, who is similar but solipsistically fastened to the world, thru a faith in fate, so he can just...selfishly act in a way she couldn't. and tbh the morality of the selfishness is up for grabs, too, bc kira "selflessly" choosing to die is also a condemnation for everyone else so like. odo's lawful/strict-desire sure does help them out of jam. and dax isn't about to step on anyone even if perhaps there should be some stepping. she is "conviction-less." but.

in a way. the show argues, while not really making the argument, that: dax's mistake is sourced in its own obligations. what's the point of anything if you're not going to risk it for sweet victory-biscuit? to risk something to get the details on some (potentially smart) maybe-fungus? to take a magic-carpet ride? to extract the dino-dna from the amber? to be curious? is that not also a carefully considered rectitude? is that not a justice--that, if one has the power to witness what exists, however weird, however potentially useless, then they possess a simple fealty, sworn to lord universe, as vassals made up of sensory powers, to continue witnessing? like "this planet is here and is therefore interesting and i seek glory thru it yay" and now she is presented with lives upon lives who absolutely need her--who existentially need her perpetual attention. as her curiosity dooms, her own version of personal law chooses for her too: odo and kira are sure of their own minds. dax is sure of everything else outside herself (or within herself but within a worm--the boundaries are fuzzy) and swears to it, quite a lot.

so like. where odo and dax agree about the value of a proto-universe, they disagree here. odo is like: "thou shall not kill. it is written." so he can just. unwrite a reality that is utterly dependent upon those that are not children of time, but freely moving amongst it. citizens, for instance, of the real. he breaks nothing bc the kira-dying reality is what is broken to begin with. also he's like. super in love. and dax is like: "phenomena! there it is! things that exist! in my hands and my choices, phenomena! you can't make me be god about it :(" and then her future self which is still technically her tries to be god about it and then ultimately doesn't. so.

what's really funny about all this is later when odo is fully on board with kira just throwing herself off a cliff bc of "fate," dax is in the background with miles coming up with scientific eviction papers for super-dimensional aliens. odo just accepts a law in contradiction to his own (he is large!) and dax is like "what even do we have to do with this" and "i think living is a lot more attractive." bc. the point is. they are foils.

[real-total-drama-takes]

Okay I think rather than replying individually to every single person it would be better if I complied everything into one take

if you guys can't handle me at my coderra takes, you don't deserve me at my reboot takes /j, but in all seriousness while no I don't "love the male stalker trope"/think coderra is the healthiest ship (or healthy in canon whatsoever aside from the last 3 or so episodes of WT)/whatever other bs people tried to impersonate me with back in december, I've always been a coderra shipper & will bring up my defenses of the pairing if prompted, idk why this is news to some people

first off, worm anon & watermelon anon, yes I would ship them if the genders were reversed. Genders aren't really a factor when it comes to my opinions of ships, like as a trans person I don't really like hearing "oh I'm ok with x if one gender does it but not another" because like I'm the same person I was prior to me transitioning, I don't want to be treated any differently because I present masculine instead of feminine now. I absolutley would ship coderra if everything was exactly the same but Sierra was male and Cody was female. The closest thing we have to a genderswapped coderra in canon is gwody and while I don't care about gen 1 enough anymore to activley ship any gen 1 pairings aside from coderra and maybe gwourtney, I do find gwody kinda cute actually and like it as a secondary ship/brotp

https://www.tumblr.com/real-total-drama-takes/757942733215301632/not-to-add-to-proshipcourse-bc-its-driving-me-nuts?source=share this anon is particularly based and kinda already said a good chunk of what I want to say, but TLDR, so long as a pairing isn't activley harming anyone you shouldn't really be shitting on people for liking what they like. Literally the most I've done for coderra is write a couple fanfics about them, comission coderra fanart and create a list of hcs and I really fail to see how that's somehow problematic. Again, if this was like an incest/pedo pairing or some shit like that I'd get it but coderra hurts no one

gonna be real with you guys I started shipping coderra back in 2016 when I was a literal middle schooler who just didn't really understand the negative connotations with it because I didn't know anything about stalking; Sierra was my favorite character because I thought she was funny and occasionally relatable and thus chose to ship her with her canon love interest because I wanted to see her happy. Yeah I lost interest in TD in mid 2018 and didn't get back into it until late 2021 but I've still been shipping coderra for a long ass time and it's kinda hard to let pairings go when you've spent years creating a version of them in your head that's special to you, even if you've grown to realize they have problematic elements to them with time. I'm sorry if my coderra defenses have offended anyone and I've met some really cool people through this app and blog (tbh I wish I could actually like start friendships with my moots I just don't have the balls to ask), the last thing I want to do is like activley hurt anyone and I can stop sending in coderra takes if it's really bugging people that much. Regardless tho, I'm not gonna stop shipping the pairing itself over pointless discourse lastly "catnon has been really quiet huh" I'm not trying to be rude but have you considered I'm 21 years old with a life outside of social media. Like I get some of you are young and have a surplus of free time currently with it being summer break and all but please like in general can we normalize giving people at least a day to reply to stuff? thanks

-🐈

[juniper-bunch]

It'll probably be obvious who i am since i dont chane my typing style but I am curious and Too Anxious to ask Anything off anon so.

this is also probably worded weirdly because I cannot put things into words well

If anyone in your system is alright w/ you sharing their experiences since I'm pretty sure its also something that would vary from alter to alter & system to system

For fictives, does it ever. feel weird at all. to know that in their source, nearly all of their life (or the life of some version of them) is just. able to be seen by anyone. and it's common for fans of said source to analyze everything/everyone in the source?

Do any of the fictives in your system have vivid memories of source? Does anything change/feel different when the source reveals some unexpected plot twist about the backstory? or is it just something like "oh lol that other-me sure has a funny life"? or does that also vary between alters?

& similarly do fictives of other people's ocs feel uneasy abt the source-oc's creator bc of them knowing/writing/sharing things about the story or anything?

Like I'd honestly feel a bit conflicted/strange about knowing there's just. casually someone who knows the entire life story of me / some version of me and can change it all on a whim if they wished. but also everyone probably sees things like that very differently

just things ive been curious about for a while honestly-

again very very sorry if anythings worded weirdly or awkwardly or if the paragraphs are long or if there's too many questions 😓 I Do Not mean to be insensitive or anything and am very sorry if anything comes off as insensitive

Umm.. I have like 2 guesses, but like I suck at telling who people are unless there’s like a really specific typing quirk, so I have no idea

(We’re going to answer everything in 3rd person because there are several people answering this)

That really depends. Like Venti and Z find it fun, some don’t really care, some get a bit iffy, and a few view it as some fun guessing game sometimes. It can be a bit weird sometimes when it feels like someone can see straight through us, but overall, it’s not that bad?

That also varies between alters. Some of us have source memories, some don’t. Some have only bad memories, some have good, some have.. weird, some have a mix of those. All source memories though do at least somewhat tie into some resemblance of things the body has gone through. Sometime seeing new things as media progresses means being able to get new memories, sometimes it doesn’t. Some don’t even like interacting with their source at all because of source memories, some just see it as “haha loser I never went through that”

Not really? We have 2 (maybe 3-) introjects of someone else’s OCs, so although it can feel.. weird, neither of them are uncomfortable at all. One of them even finds it amusing

That makes sense, but at the same time, it’s not exactly like that? The brain splits alters it thinks it needs for any given reason(s), so an alter can have their life fleshed out like that, or it can be completely different. It’s really weird, the way the brain works. Some of us are really source connected, some only somewhat, and some who aren’t source connected at all. So it really does vary heavily

It’s all good! We actually like talking about it and educating others and sharing our experiences (so long as we’re okay with sharing them)

[narwhalandchill]

(4.7 TCG leaks but Big Lore Implications? Maybe)

Well. This is (was) certainly an interesting Moment.

See. narwhal coming in TCG right? i obviously lost it we are all aware. so i was checking that shit out Instantly the second it was uploaded onto hakushin to see the kind of playstyle theyd given my beloved

but there was something else. see. tldr the narwhal starts at only 5hp but it basically eats all your discarded cards to increase its own max hp and dmg dealt (also takes into account the dice cost of the discarded cards). which i Love its so on brand and lore accurate. but anyway. its ult is to summon the electro dude whose dmg and duration is also affected by the cards eaten and their dice cost. such a cool kit right?

But then i saw what they Call the knight summon guy in the first uploaded version of the card kit in ENG

...SHADOW OF THE ANCIENT WHAT NOW????

and like. okay. okay. thats pretty fucking insane this is why i was looking so forward to the narwhal getting a card bc . sometimes tidbits like these just. Happen thru TCG. just casually like that (like parsifals Curiously Familiar Appearance for another relevant one).

bc like. an ancient nemesis huh. on one hand could reference surtalogi since the descriptor for the phantom in 4.2 patch previews in several languages (not sure what the in game stuff says these days) did have some similar wording to surtalogis CN title. also obviously fuels my personal foil hat agenda of surtalogis whole "keeping this very much sentient cosmic being as a Pet TM" being something that from the narwhals POV is very much like. a demeaning act of imprisonment and being used against its will as a pawn (im such a surtalogi hater dude. i Dont trust him). so like thats one option for the. whos the nemesis whose shadow is summoned. its surtalogi. but also ancient is a funny wording for when the guy is very well around to this day so

then theres the other option. bc the narwhal 4.6 namecard speaks of ajax intent on challenging the narwhal again and references hunting for the same whale the "third time" which like. most simple route u could just be seen as. okay despite just freezing up during their 1st encounter at 14 and doing jack shit to "challenge" it he still considered that the "first" hunt, fontaine was 2nd and next is 3rd.

but theres also the. what if the first hunt was the historical ajax of the myth? whose reincarnation our ajax may be? bc if His destiny was also to oppose the narwhal back then in celestias grand plan and possibly had the same constellation tying him to it too. would THAT be the ancient nemesis the knight in the narwhals stomach is the afterimage and shadow of? hmmmmm.

like dude i was. Actually losing my fucking mind bc this might be THE closest thing to a direct confirmation that If ajax has reincarnated over the samsara/cycles whatever . if That is the case. then this "ancient nemesis" being og ajax would then Very Much Imply that both his and Our Ajax' destiny in all incarnations has Always been tied to the narwhal in some way and that his "role" and "duty" in celestias decreed fate is to be its counterpart and opponent (read: tragic soulmate) . of Some sort. like yes inconclusive still but this couldve been such a massive fucking deal dude

Anyway .

then they removed that descriptor in the next update to the beta info on the new TCG cards 😭😭😭😭

so now its just called a dark shadow whatever 😔😔 this is So Sad. but. i have Witnessed the original so its not getting out of my head. what does it meannnnn

why would the narwhal be emulating its nemesis as the force that protects the source of its power that lies within it (like. we Had to be eaten in order to get close to that source in the AQ fight)??? did it eat that doomed soulmate nemesis (og ajax moment Surely) in the past and is now carrying its remnants and constructed shadowy afterimage within itself?? or does it represent some sort of control/power source surtalogi (if hes the nemesis) has inflicted upon the narwhal in order to keep it weakened and/or sufficiently subservient to be kept as a "pet"???? MANNN

obviously. since this was a clearly incomplete beta version text (like the narwhals kit was unfinished in ENG during this part) that was Very swiftly deleted (whacking myself over the head for not checking what CN said while this version was still up) its not like. something that can be referenced as legit confirmed canon lore for the narwhal since its not making it to live. but im just. Curious. like. even if its outdated text that was removed. Surely there HAS to be a Reason that description was originally written to describe the dark shadow summon.

so is this a case of. its no longer meant to represent an ancient nemesis, that was old ass lore for the phantom knight dude thats never going to happen and thats why they cut it. like fair enough it happens. old pre launch beta genshin stuff was directly a honkai sequel/spinoff but they changed that. it could always just be that

ORRRRR then. hear me out. that its STILL true but that the writers simply realized they dont want to reveal their cards (ha ha) on the subject just yet??? they dont want to leak this potentially Massive lore drop through a random TCG update?????? we arent meant to know the meaning behind the shadow just yet????????? 🤨🤨🤨 Surely

anyway. forever mourning shadow of the ancient nemesis as a descriptor . but i Have to post it here so that yall can at least know. this existed. this WAS a thing. so whats it mean...

(also if this turns out to be all legitimate and og ajax Was the ancient nemesis. Possibly the funniest way my original "who the fuck even thought the purple dude in the whales stomach was going to be childe" take from way back could be Technically proven wrong JSJAISJSJSISKD . if it was ajax. but just not. this one)

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

HII im new here and i LOVE the way u write 😭😭🫶🫶 trust me when I say that when I stumbled upon ur prince!gojo fic i fell to my knees. The way u wrote about his devotion and feelings for the knight 🥹🥹🥹🥹 ITS SO GOOD i read some of Ur other fics and the way u write suguru is so perfect like i don't usually read suguru fics cause ppl usually tend to mischaracterize him but U WROTE HIM SO PERFECTLY and im here to just appreciate ur writing and ask if there are any books or films that inspired the way u write? Genuinely curious 🙏🙏

ANON 🥺🥺🥺😭😭 u r the absolute SWEETEST welcome to my silly lil blog!!!!! i cant tell u how much it means to get messages like this and knowing that ppl enjoy my writing T_T thank u so so much!! <333

and wahh!! the fact that u like how i characterize sugu is also such an honour to me…. ive said this before but i rly do think hes so complex and multifaceted so it means a lot to know ppl enjoy my version of him 🥺🥺

AND AND AND…… we are so linked anon. i was literally JUST thinking abt different writing sources that inspire me (bc there are a Lot psjdjs)……. 

i think that just in general i try to emulate the kind of writing that i like the most!! so my writing style is probably like… just one big patchwork of every book/movie/game ive ever loved LMAO. but here are a couple of the most prominent!! 

first off all… poetry!!! :D a lot of books have probably inspired me too but i think poetry especially!!! since its usually so full of imagery its just become a super big inspo source…. :’3 some of my absolute fave poets are frank bidart, clementine von radics, AAAAAAND richard siken <333 hes my favorite ever and inspires me sm. my fave poetry collection of his is war of the foxes literally every single poem in it is so jjk coded ……

aaaa but also…. poetry aside!! i love kurt vonnegut a lot. his writing is so nice!!!!!! i recommend him a ton!!!!!!!! 

AAAAND honestly anon…….. my biggest inspiration source ever ever ever when it comes to writing is disco elysium!!!!!!! its my fave game and honestly probably just my favorite writing source in general? if u havent played it or watched someone play it pls do urself a favor and do so….. the writing is so earth-shatteringly good and pretty it makes me jealous. it’s such a genuinely funny game too (but also so so heartfelt!!!)…. gosh. i love disco elysium like i love nothing else in this universe.

if u play it and then read my fics its GLARINGLY obvious how much its affected my writing i think psjdjd 😭😭 here r some quotes from it for reference!! they’re so good it makes me cryyy

the last dream will be total annihilation. cinders peeling off the fuselage.

a white mourning. a modern death. divorce, or something similar. all you can do is put more distance between you and him, make him smaller. make him less *you*.

”every combination of words has been played out. the atoms don't form us anymore: us, our love, our unborn daughters…”

”where *are* we, lieutenant kitsuragi?” ”in elysium,” he replies, “behind our eyes. like all human beings, detective. (…) the world is what it is. i’m glad to see you’re stable. keep it that way.”

SORRY im just. so genuinely obsessed w this game psjfjdj i seriously could not recommend it enough!!!!

aaaa but what abt u anon??? do u have any sources that inspire u? or general recommendations? 👀👀 i would love to hear em if so!!! <33

[spider-xan]

I wouldn't mind the whole Curt being an Oscorp scientist if: - he started working there when he was younger, more ambitious but also naive, thinking Oscorp might be the perfect opportunity for him

- he stayed there because it's a solid jumping off point for him so he can add it onto his CV if he wants to change jobs and let's be real, a lot of people accept jobs at corrupt corporations to get a career boost

- plays into the ambitious/naive idea - thought he could get access for good equipment for his research

- he needs the money to feed his family and can't get a better paying job at the moment

I can see Insomniac Curt working for Oscorp only because no one else wants to hire him after the Lizard fiasco and he's probably desperate to get a job. But a lot of adaptations don't really consider those factors, so we get this weird distilled version of him that is straying further away from the original. I do think it would be funny if him and Norman had this disgruntled colleagues thing going on, but that would require competent writers.

Yeah, this is basically how I feel about Curt being reimagined as an Oscorp scientist instead of a professor or independent researcher too, especially as someone who, despite my personal preferences, tries to be flexible, re: adaptations taking creative liberties with the source material to explore new ideas or make the story they want to tell work - I don't think it's off limits, but it's a choice that, like you said, needs thought put into it, not just trying to keep the cast as closely connected as possible, though that is a valid concern for adaptations, especially if there is a limited run time; not to bring up Shed, but when Curt was uncharacteristically working for a corporation in that story and its lead up, it was an interesting direction (one of the few positive things I will say about that arc) bc it was a way to show that he had hit rock bottom and was out of options as far as employment goes, but still needed a job to prove he could support his son.

And yeah, I like the ideas you listed here bc not only would it make sense for Curt to work for Oscorp under those circumstances, but they would allow for him to be a dynamic character who actually changes and grows over time, and he can still be a relatively good person and a sympathetic character, which, as I said, are crucial traits for him or else he's a generic shady corporate scientist who diverges too much.

As far as Insomniac!Curt goes, I definitely got the impression that he was technically a medical doctor as his day job while the Oscorp research thing was a secret, as suggested by the underground Oscorp lab for studying the symbiote being off the books, and from what little we saw of his younger self in the flashback, I can definitely see him initially having gotten taken in by the chance to do extremely groundbreaking medical research, only to get stuck under Norman's thumb even before the Lizard incident, and after that, he really had no other options but to continue working on the symbiote in secret (though I do feel like Curt genuinely cares about Harry as well, at least enough to have tried to stand up to Norman on Harry's behalf before getting bullied into releasing him) and having a day job at the EMF bc no one would hire him after his identity as the Lizard became public knowledge.

But yeah, I agree it could be interesting if an adaptation ever tried going in a different direction where they are colleagues who despise each other instead of a boss bullying his employee! I guess nowadays, that understandably ends up as a Norman versus Otto thing as two of the Big Three A-list villains, but if you draw from the 616 comics for inspiration, you could get an interesting dynamic out of Norman the militaristic all-American capitalist weapons developer versus Curt the former army medic humanitarian who radicalized against US militarism - though yeah, like you said, it would require competent writing, and with rare exceptions like the Insomniac games, that's not really the direction Norman and Curt have been going in lately.

[daz4i]

T U B R & Z :) for the Ask Question :)

hi hi hi sorry for the late reply, and thank you for the ask!!! ^o^

answered t here!

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

bsd: gonna shock everyone i know..... nikolai :) his vibes are just impeccable. i love his whole view of life and what he does in hopes to achieve his impossible goal. i love that he's crazy cuuhraaaayyzeeee asylum but also is he. keeping us on our toes. and most importantly he is FUN every time he's around you can't help but have a good time even tho he's like, gruesomely murdering someone (i mean for me it's also part of the fun but eh)

fire emblem: ferdinand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he is just. ough. he is so dear to me. he fills my heart with joy and warmth i can't explain it. he has such a good and lovely arc and despite suffering and losing so much he remains positive through it all and tries his best to help others. and he's also just! very fun! like with nikolai every time he's on screen is just enjoyable, usually p funny, or very touching :')

persona: akechi. he makes me insane. esp in royal he's a very well written and interesting character imo, his motivations are illogical in a logical way (as in. they're illogical but you can perfectly understand why), he is so so tragic. and once again like the last 2, he is just so so fun, esp in third sem where he lets loose and becomes more violent and vulgar and sassy :)

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

tbh i wasn't sold on fyolai at first (which is probably shocking to those who haven't followed me when i first got into bsd lol) but creantzy's art convinced me of it ngl :P also the anthology art bc i mean. yeah

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

dazai and atsushi........ hits me very deep in my soul........... it's so dear to me it means so much to me............ i can't even put it in words bc it simply makes me overflow with too much emotion at once

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go!

ig when it comes to fandoms. one big pet peeve i have is the amount of negativity ppl have around the source material?

criticism is valid and understandable and no media is free of it, but some people really spend almost all their time in a certain fandom doing nothing but hating it and its creator (biggest example is the bnha fandom is 2017ish. i swear most posts i saw abt it were hate posts from people who were still following the manga religiously)

not to mention the version of this that's like ignoring canon completely and making up new personalities for the characters in an attempt to make them non-problematic and such. pls just make ocs

like at some point i can't help but wonder why they're still reading it?? please move on to different things? if not for your own well being then for other fans bc i don't wanna see your negativity when i'm trying to be excited over smth i like 😭

(also true abt ppl who hate a character/ship and spend more time talking abt how much they hate it than talking abt the ones they do like, or worse, leaving mean comments on posts/fics made by ppl who do like it. yes that includes "problematic" ships or characters. complaining here and there is chill ofc but you gotta move on at some pointtttttt just block the tags or ppl who post a lot of it come on)

but fr it's mostly for you. esp if you're someone who doesn't have a lot of free time, why are you spending so much of it on something you're not even enjoying? i just don't get it 😔 you shouldn't take sunk cost fallacy into account when it comes to your joy i think

[minsarasarahair]

My thoughts for The Sound of Magic drama as a fan of Annarasumanara webtoon

Well, it was decent. I can still recognize the characters and story which is a good thing for me when it comes to adaptation. Not the best and not the worse but I did like it. I find it cool that instead of using abstract metaphors from the source material, they turn it into a musical so its easy to understand for drama-only watchers. The drama still have metaphors tho but not that heavy. I recommend to read the webtoon if you really like the story to pay respect to the original creator. You can read it in Webtoon.

I feel like it will look more better as a 2 hrs movie film like Bollywood musical movies or stageplay musical. Yes, 6 episodes is already short but I feel like its draggy with fillers sometimes but that’s just me. The songs are great. I think only “I meant it”, the song performed by Il-deung is the only song I’m not fond of. I have nothing against the actor or singer, I just find the lyrics so bland compare to other songs in the drama that explore deep topics like Ah-Yi’s adulting song to face reality or Ri-eul’s magic song that tells you can still believe in magic while adulting. I wish he had a duet with Ri-eul or Ah-Yi in the main story. Like why not let him sing a song about what he wants vs what his parents want? I mean, its musical and he’s one of the main characters so let him sing more? The scene where the magician is teaching the two about magic will be more fun with a song. 

I really like the heroine of this story. She’s very realistic so its easy to empathize with her. Honestly, I have a classmate that looks like her and have the same family situation. She’s very thin and has short hair who always look down when she walks. One time, we have a homework for art class and our teacher is very strict. Strict in a way, she will throw your homework in the trash can if you didn’t follow her instructions carefully. I noticed that my classmate of mine used the wrong art medium so I told her to change it but she’s like its fine bc she don’t have money to buy the medium. I tried to give her my extra paper bc I’m done with mine but she didn’t accept it. She also the type who prioritize her work than spend time with her groupmates for a project bc she need money as her everyday allowance to go to school and bc of that some of my classmates don’t want to be involved with her. So yeah, a girl like her do exists. Sometimes she joined my circle of friends to eat lunch and she’s pretty nice despite what others say that she’s troublesome. 

I love this story bc its very inspiring and the message that you can be a fun adult is my favorite trope. It’s not really a romance story for me. You can ship them, but I can’t. If there is a ship, it’s Ah-Yi x Magic. Her relationship with other characters only look platonic for me. But that’s just me.

I’m kinda disappointed to what they did to Il-deung bc he’s my favorite character in the webtoon version. Yes, he has a long neck in the beginning of webtoon but that’s just a symbolism to show that he’s arrogant. I believe the artist draw him that way to show the world is twisted so it looks disturbing to others. I don’t really expect the drama to copy that but I wish they gave him more songs and he’s not really that cold in the webtoon. In contrary, I find him a funny character. He talks with his classmates, even offer free food to Ah-Yi and he’s the one who encourage Ah-Yi that they should help the magician near the ending when Ah-Yi starts to question the magician’s identity. I also find it unfair that we didn’t get to see him in the ending. In the webtoon, he grew up like Ah-Yi. A fun ordinary college student who believes in magic.

As for Ri-eul, what the drama did for his character is fine. His actor has great vocals and most of his songs were actually my favorite. Asphalt song is probably my favorite bc it reminds me of Kuroshitsuji Musical for some reason. I don’t remember the problem that he’s accused was resolve in the webtoon? So its a good addition that there’s actually a real culprit for people who want a clear ending. I just felt his ending before he disappeared is quite lacking. In the webtoon, Ah-Yi and Ri-eul kinda promise to each other that they will not surrender to harsh reality and face it bravely. That’s the great conclusion of the story for me. But I think they kinda promised it through the song in the drama and I just didn’t see what I want to see so I find it lacking? I want to add that Ri-eul’s story reminds me of my father’s friend. He’s a busy rich businessman but one day he forgot everything and he start to act like a child. But no worries, he’s okay now and back to his smart old self. I think they have a similar situation. Just bc they are mentally unstable before and trying to recovered from it, people still assume that they are still mentally ill despite that and use them as scapegoat. 

I find Hana more annoying in the drama. Maybe bc she keep harassing the poor parrot in the cage?? I don’t think she did that in the webtoon? She only annoyed mostly the magician, Ah-Yi and Il-deung. I dislike her in the webtoon but she’s less annoying there. Bullying a harmless bird is the last straw. 

Tbh I don’t really want a second season for this one bc that’s how the webtoon ended. Giving it a second season will possibly destroy the characters. But if there is, focusing in Il-deung story or new character story seem a nice choice. Ah-Yi’s story already ended after all. 

[batarangsoundsdumb]

guess fucking what? my inbox is so fucking full right now i'm unloading all of this shit in one post.

For the 11th gotham memes: gothamites react to bruce being jacked in a tiktok he made with kids, like super yoked, ripped as hell

fucking hilarious thanks. i think i did it in one meme post, but i genuinely don't remember which one

i dunno which of the batfam would do this but one time i was sleeping over at a friends house and ended up on the floor bc the bed was so very small and i just stayed there because the rug was soft

that's a drunk jason move i don't know what to tell you

tim and jason are "i listen to pop punk" solidarity. whenever jason highjacks the batmobile theyll go on long ass car rides blaring mcr and paramore and then never talk about it again

as they should!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tim: no jason it's my turn using the aux cord i gotta put on my jams jason: don't you dare put on weird shit tim: don't worry, you're gonna love this *plays fearless (taylor's version)

hear me out hear me out, red hood stans 🤝 nightwing stans t h i g h s

holy shit yes.

SNL au: Bruce breaks character when pretending to superman and says something like "I'm not superman! You've seen his gps!! It's from 2001!!!" @sabeanybabe

superman flies past the snl building the next day just to say 'actually it's from 2005, i'm not a heathen'

does your back hurt from carrying the batfam fandom

it hurts more from the exotic rock collection i keep in my backpack, but thanks for the concern.

I love your posts by why would you always leave the best parts in the tags?

as a treat for the people that check the tags ;) (and also because i'm committed to the short post aesthetic)

somehow your playlist was everything i never knew i needed. i mean it. this is my new favorite playlist.

and don't you dare get a new favourite playlist!

babe ur stoner tim playlist is exactly too perfect, earth is literally blessed by ur existence

babe thanks so much! i love my stoner tim playlist because it's just my usual playlist but people think it's an artistic choice that i put taylor swift and britney spears in there, when it's just what i unironically like listening to

JANDKSKDK BILLY RAY CYRUS ON THE STONER TIM PLAYLIST I LOVE IT IT

again it's not even an ironic choice, i know every single word and i genuinely like the song

The last chapter of Fundamentals of Casework has me crying at work. Thanks I love it @dudelookitsalesbian

oh babe, i'm sorry, but also, not sorry i love chapter 4 so much it's my lovechild with the 'mental illness' tag

soooo....stumbled on your tumblr by some stroke of fate??? read your DC fanfic first. which is PHENOMENAL btw. then found all the batmemes; the funniest thing EVER bc everyone forgets about regular old gothamites. kept scrolling and your blog pops up as recommended. clicked on the ao3 for shits and giggles and waddaya know?!?!? it's YOU!!! you're LEGEND!!!! ever seen that meme? it's a video of a cat that got into a baseball field and the two announcers get really invested in his escape attempt and start giving a play by play of the cat instead of the game. memeable moment: "GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!"

i seriously think about this ask every single day and it's so fucking funny to me that i've never seen the meme you're referencing, but i still find myself going 'GREAT stuff from the Cat!!!' whenever i see something funny. but wow i'm glad you liked this steaming pile of garbage

Fav dc character overall? And fav batfamily character?

don't ask me to pick between the loves of my life, but i can tell you i've cried about every single batfamily member and also wally west (my beloved)

What's your opinion on fans having a problem with batfam being "too big"? And some even claim that batfam is just "Bruce Alfred Dick Damian" and the rest of them are just "friends and allies" (source: reddit) Personally, I like batfam because of this reason but idk

stupid. a family can never be too big. i'm not that big a fan of like huge batfam stuff with everybody from every single universe, because as much as it's funny for bruce to have like 30 kids, it just feels a little too OOC for me.

This is the best tag I've seen involving the batfam, thanks for thinking of it

This is canon now @nctxrejects

lmao yeah i think at that point alfred has had to sit through like at least a dozen coming out talks and just has a pride flag collection in the attic that he pulls out whenever a kid comes out

idk why batfam hits different as compared to any other superhero family

bc it's found family and usually the other superhero families are almost all genetically related in one way or another

I don't know if you watch the umbrella academy but I saw your last post about batcest and saw the similarities. But the thing is (although I think it's weird) in TUA, they addressed it by saying "they were raised as weapons, not siblings" or something along those lines, which is simply not the case with batfam.

yeah i watched tua but i also thought it was ridiculous and they still treated each other as siblings so i didn't like the luthor/allison thing, and am glad they stopped doing that shit bc it fucking sucked.

Hot take: Batcest shippers are the same people who believe adopted siblings are not actual siblings

smoking hot take: batcest shippers are the people who watch 'my sister got stuck in the washing machine' porn

Duke was adopted by Bruce?

not technically no, but do i, tumblr user batarangsoundsdumb, look like i care?

True story but I had to change my freaking name because it used to be "Damien" and most people would go "OH LIKE DAMIAN WAYNE" like please I'm just tryna live

true story, but i don't actually think of damian when i hear the name damian, literally the first thing that pops up is damian darkh like bruh what?

apparently dc comics company supported comic stores by giving out new titles and stuff during the beginning of the pandemic to help them run and I just think that's wholesome

ah yeah that's so fucking cool, still don't like dc, the company, because this world is a capitalist hellhole and we're all owned by warner brothers or disney with no in between.

ayo looking at tumblr head canons and finding out bruce is actually a terrible father is a punch in the gut

lmao yes, in like 50% of comics bruce is a terrible father and it gives me whiplash

oooh I just saw the jason todd vs winter soldier post and the real question is: batman vs iron man

while iron man has like hundreds of cases of armor, batman could throw out an emp and have the guy dropping out of the sky in 2 seconds.

dickfast = fastdick = quickdick = quickie

magnum hot take

hey bata(?) just thought I'd let you know I have copied the obnoxious emoji and Billy Ray post for use on simping men going forth

thank you 😘🌷 (@spacebarsidecar)

why would you do that to your followers???? i get why i did it, but why would you???

what is scarecrow made the nightwing funko pop himself, like those diy-ers that paint over other ones

oh god no, horrible take, horrible take, that's a disgusting thought oh no

I see your HC that Bruce and Oliver fucked and raise you this: Dick and Roy ALSO fucked

yes they did and it was a horrible moment for jason to find out dick has fucked both of his best friends

"at this rate bruce adds like 1 child to his family every decade or so" Duke is introduced in 2013, Damian as Damian, not as an unnamed child, in 2006. And he is already 14 years old, Robins rarely remain Robins after 16 😬 It looks like a new Robin and Batkid will appear in a couple of years

i mean i can't wait? but somebody will probably die first tho, we're due for another major character death. my money's on either cass or duke this time.

BRO you're so right all of your Bruce's ex headcanons are amazing but they aren't ships, that's kinda wild. Like I don't want any peeks into how their relationship was I just want to see everyone make fun of them

lmao YES it's just i love bruce being a slut, like good for him.

I am in love with your posts your honour thank you

omg thanks are we like,, gonna kiss now?

The justice league needs to have a meeting to discuss how many of their members/partners have slept with bruce. Because through a combination of cannon & fannon (if DC wasn’t homophobic) we have AT LEAST: 1) clark 2) lois 3) oliver 4) dinah 5) john

Thats not counting villains or random civilians @dudelookitsalesbian

yes yes yes, they'll have a yearly meeting about how many of their collective exes could be out for revenge and batman's list just keeps getting longer.

tim was like "i'm drake now" and everyone was like ahh so your fursona is a dragon and tim was like pffffft no. ducks.

and what about it?

when steph's fighting livewire and she zaps her with lighting and nothing happens and then they both just. stand there awkwardly for a second and talk. yeah i couldn't stop laughing at that batgirl steph is the BEST

oh yeah that was fucking hilarious and i think it would be so cool and sexy of dc to give steph a little comic series,,, as a treat

Hi I absolutely adore all of yours "Bruce and Oliver very badly pretending they didn't fuck each other" memes

lmao i do too

I need you to know that “Bruce Wayne had frosted tips” is one of my favorite Bruce takes of all time it’s so galaxy brained. you’re right and you should say it

he also painted his hair blonde once when he was travelling and in conclusion, this is why he's being blackmailed by the gotham gazette.

you know my thing about gordon being branded as the only good cop in gotham is its a load of shit like arguably he's a good person and not working to screw people over or anything but the fact that he also works w. batman makes him a shit cop. like yea batman is better than the mob but its still illegal its still an abuse of power he just not making bank

babe, all cops are bad cops. (but yeah youre absolutely right, working with vigilantes makes you a shit cop, but also working against vigilantes just makes you an asshole cop yanno?)

ruh roh i think i’m about to add “so not yeehaw” every time i don’t like something

that's a very good vocabulary upgrade

somehow i feel like steph already knew. like babs obviously knew but i feel like bruce got high/drunk in front of steph and started telling his boarding school stories and steph was just like “oh you fucked up i’m never gonna forget this”

steph and bruce have weird uncle/rebellious niece dynamic and they just hang out sometimes and bruce will be like 'i once broke my arm when i tripped over a hedge when i was drunk so oliver drove me to the hospital on an electric scooter' and steph will just have to sit there with that knowledge in her head.

Hello I just wanted to tell you you are So right in all your steph opinions bc she is, in fact amazing and I think that's very sexy of you. Ps. Your Bruce/Oliver fic is hilarious

babe, thank you so much and yes steph is amazing and i love her and she deserves the world and she's the best member of the batfam hands down. also thanks

In Supersons we see a couple of kids that are implied to be Damian and Jon's children and the boy has laser eyes and can fly, so I asume he's not adopted. The girl, who calls Bruce grandpa, can also fly, btw. So it's canon (probably by accident) that Jon can have kids and he must have married one of Bruce's kids. (I'm hoping for Damian, mostly because any other of his children would be waaaaaaaaaaaaay too old.) @artemisa97

lmao that was probably an accident seeing as jon is a 17 year old superhero in the year 3000 (by the jonas brothers)

You know, I'm a die hard fan of your memes, but I gotta say one thing: if Gothamites actually took gas mask everywhere with them, then the Scarecrow would just be a weird dude in a weird costume, and not a villain oh so scary. DC really should just takes notes from you.

bold of you to assume there's no gothamite anti-maskers

How does it feel being the funniest person on this app?

horrible, next question.

I can't listen to Green Day or Billy Joel without thinking of your post about how Bruce got arrested at a Billy Joel concert @nightwings-kid

yeah that's your mistake, i on the other hand can't enjoy billy joel without thinking about the glee rendition of 'uptown girl'

I've FINALLY been watching the Batman animated series and I gotta say, after watching "the gray ghost" I am CONVINCED that Batman is a closeted super hero geek who was 100% freaking out the first time he met Superman and is just REALLY good at hiding it.

superman: so what do you do in your free time? batman, thinking about the superman fanfiction he's writing on the batcomputer: i have no free time

bruce and oliver be like boyfriends to co-workers 401k (do the justice leagues get 401ks??? not that bruce and ollie would need them, but-)

lmao yes just 400 thousand words of bruce realising 'oh dip oliver is such a fucking dumbass' (also i don't know what a 401 k is but i assume they don't?)

Gothamites would totally boo superman as he saves Gotham while batman is out. @meenje

he's like 'okay think about that next time you want to be saved from an alien octopus'

I just took long break from dc comics and I come back to see ric grayson ??

i think it's very cool and sexy of dc to see dick and just think 'you know what? let's just give him a traumatic brain injury' and then didn't develop his character in any real way

SPEAKING OF RIC GRAYSON, gothamites making confused memes out of ric grayson is much needed

'dick grayson is my taxi driver? can anyone explain what the fuck happened he looks like an italian plumber?'

i hate to say it but batfam are def "marvel characters" in that sense they are characters who are human but become superheroes unlike most dc characters who are gods trying to be human maybe this is why I like batfam

fair enough

[collisiondiscourse]

on the wonder duo (part 1)

(BNHA Analysis Post Ahead! This isn’t explicitly romantic, but it is an analysis of the relationship between the two most popular characters in BNHA--Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya. Split into two posts because I realized that this was gonna be long as HELL)

yall ever think about the fact that the wonder duo is perfectly set up in so that bakugou and deku together are the better version of all might?

bc like. ive been thinking.

everyone knows the win to save and save to win parallel. How they are supposedly two halves of a whole perfect hero (which, previously, was defined as all might)

but ever since bakugou and deku started working as one—growing together to win AND save and continuously reminding each other that they shouldnt try to do things alone, ive realized that its BECAUSE theres two of them that they surpass all might. its not a case of deku and bakugou both being 50% of an ideal hero, but rather i think that they are 100% of what all might SHOULD HAVE BEEN from the very beginning.

as early as the AM v AFO battle in kamino, we see the effects of all mights flawed existence. the fact that he, the greatest and supposedly infallible symbol of peace, was destroyed—society had begun to collapse. there was suddenly no pillar to hold people together and the impacts were so severe that even in the latest chapters of mha it keeps on getting worse. the truth is, all mights biggest mistake was the burden he placed on his own shoulders

with bakugou and deku... its different.

its different for them because down to their attributions, they seem like two halves of a whole person.

i think that the wonder duo are going to surpass all might because of the fact that they work together.

@bakugoukatsuki-rising @svpercraigus @tybee​ @isaustraliaathing​

(batshit crazy and conspiratorial essay under the cut !)

1. Complementary Colors

I’d like to first preface literally everything I say by the fact that I am not an expert analyzer or literary major in any way. I am literally just some random fan on the internet who has wayyy too much time and looks wayyy too deep into things, but here we go!

A common thing we see when we talk about bakugou and deku is the way they are... sort of an inverse of one another.

Down to the design of their features and the way they move, Deku is the obviously softer of the two. There’s an intentional contrast between the two of them, in the way that Deku’s drawn with round shapes and curvy hair and the way Bakugou is literally all spikes and half-mast eyes and rough muscles. Bakugou’s movements too are languid and showy, with the way he leans when he walks and splays his legs and kicks open doors. Katsuki, in a casual sense, is loud and dramatic. 

Deku on the other hand s finicky. He jitters when he walks and he’s often fidgeting and mumbling. Comparatively, the aura he radiates is energetic and frenzied, even self-conscious to a point unlike Bakugou’s calm and confident movements.

the point is, there’s a clear difference in how either of them are designed and what exactly they are supposed to represent. They utterly complement each other down to the way they behave and even their main colors (red-orange and blue-green) being literal complementary colors.

Now, moving to my more ungrounded points, this is quite a bit of a stretch so I’ll try as much as possible to make sense of these with hyperlinked sources because. yeah.

Down to their names, I think Deku and Bakugou both symbolize something deeper. I think that the way Hori expresses characters and what they’re meant to do is something that we have to pay close attention to when we talk about the Wonder Duo’s rise to success.

Izuku Midoriya (緑谷 出久), as some of us may know, does have an interesting meaning when broken up. According to a lovely fan translation of his name, ‘Izuku’--while not an actual name used commonly in real life--means to ‘Come out’ or ‘Long time’. ‘Midoriya’ on the other hand means (Midori) ‘Green’ and (ya) ‘valley’. The translator further pointed out that his first name ‘Izuku’ could be a reference to him being the first legendary hero to come out of the long-running All Might Era. (or, if you’ve been reading @/bakugoukatsuki-rising’s posts, the first significant anime protag in a long while to come out as queer, ppfft)

but that isn’t my focus right now.

We know that Hori LOVES telling stories with names, and more often than not in the BNHA universe, names alone tell us a lot of things about the characters. When referring to Izuku’s last name, Midoriya, it’s important I think to step back and realize that hey, maybe there’s something more to Green Valley than just the fact that his motif is all green.

After searching for a lil on the specifics of green valley, I’ve found out that across many cultures, the colour green and valleys in general tend to represent life. From dream analysts, to Christianity, and even old Taoist teachings, valleys are seen as areas of fertility and escape. They are seen as safe havens and often escapes for people to come to after running away from bad circumstances.

(Sound familiar?)

Deku, in essence represents life and peace. He represents being the “salvation” that the world in BNHA needed. To me, it sounds like Horikoshi is trying to say that he is the long-awaited hero in the sense. The one that people can feel will create a society that feels safe for everyone after years of All Might just saving people from themselves as a band-aid solution.

On the other hand, we have Katsuki Bakugou (爆豪 勝己), who’s name we commonly know means (Katsuki) Winner and (Bakugou) Explosion Master. He is essentially, the champion. The power. His name means success and power and all the things that make up winning.

When putting them side by side, it then becomes increasingly... interesting to me how their names almost perfectly slot into All Might’s save to win and win to save mantra, and how they are both quintessential parts to what made All Might as a hero.

2. Hero Too!

Now, I’m not even gonna really TOUCH much of what happens in canon. If you want me to do a step by step breakdown of their arcs in regards to the plot of manga and anime, feel free to send me a gratuitous ko-fi tip so I can pay for the headache I get after trying to organize my thoughts into word vomit.

What I WILL talk about on the other hand, is the subtle shift both of them slowly have in regards to how they look. Bakugou and Deku, while growing up, seem to have MANY many parallels--but before I elaborate on all of that, I wanna talk about something else.

Detour: Deku’s Red Shoes 

We all know the iconic symbol being Deku’s red shoes. For all his life, save for some outfits like his hero one, we see Deku more often than not wearing his signature red sneakers which have become a running joke in fandom.

But the funny thing is, in Japan, red shoes seem to have an interesting connotation.

In 1922, a popular Japanese nursery rhyme was written, called “Red Shoes”. The interesting part to me about this song was the symbolism that, in my tiny pea-sized brain, I could connect to the story of BNHA.

The story goes that there was a little girl with red shoes named ‘Kimi’. She was from Shizuoka prefecture (which, if you didn’t know, is most likely where Musutafu supposedly is) and was raised by a single mother. When she was young, her mother had to entrust her with a foreigner under the impression that they would give her a better life in America. The stranger is a man named Charles Hewitt (who was described to have blue eyes) and supposedly took her away. 

The singer of the song (supposedly the mother, but some argue it was written from the perspective of a childhood friend) believes that Kimi is happy and living a better life away from them, when the reality of the situation was much worse. The young girl with red shoes in actuality had Tuberculosis, and thus the foreigner whom she was entrusted to had left her to fend for herself and eventually left her to go to America while she died alone and orphaned.

“When I see red shoes, I think of her.”

A very interesting story with very interesting implications indeed.

-

Anyway, moving on to the more... “nuanced” and connected parts of this section, I have every reason to believe that Bakugou and Deku were simply MEANT to be working together down to how they dress. Now, I’d like to discuss their hero costumes.

At the start of their series, using these godawful pics for reference, it’s clear to see that neither of them seem alike in any way--reflecting the dissonance in their relationship at that point in canon.

ough. deku why. (yes we know why its because you love your mom you stupid little bunny <3)

Anyway, we see an immediate gap in how the two of them are. Deku’s first costume is one that reflects how he treated his dream of being a hero. He was still in that childlike idolization phase, the one where his dreams and aspirations were hinged on pure feelings and inspiration from All Might. Katsuki on the other hand was a lot more tactical--professional to an extent. The gap between their respective development with their quirks is something that is clearly felt in every fashion decision they’d made.

(Notice how Deku’s green is a lot brighter and less like the green accents Katsuki has all over his costume.)

As time progressed however... their costumes changed. The colors, the silhouettes, the practical functions, most things.

(Deku’s Gamma Costume and Bakugou’s Winter Costume used respectively)

we begin to notice a few similarities.

As the show goes on and we see more evolutions of their costumes, it almost seems like they begin to look like a matching pair. Deku’s green grows darker and almost teal in nature, while Bakugou’s orange is veering towards red territory. This is important to note because red-orange and blue-green as I said earlier were complementary colors as compared to simply orange and green. The minute shift is something I really wasn’t quite sure was intentional, but something I find interesting to pick up nonetheless as the colors they used to accent their costumes begin to match up.

Secondly, I think and important thing to note is silhouettes. The way that both Bakugou and Deku’s costumes are designed follow a lot of parallels that typically we don’t see with the rest of 1-A. For one, they both have a combination of tight long-sleeved tops with a bulkier set of bottoms. They also share the use of utility belts and metal pieces typically worn around their necks. Deku has his bunny-eared hood that mimics All Might’s hair, while Bakugou has his orange and black explosion ear-pieces that mimic his own quirk.

i don’t think any other people in class 1-A match each other as subtly yet strongly as these two. Uraraka and Deku and Bakugou and Kirishima do come close however.

“But Codi, you fucking knob!” I hear you plea. “This is such a reach and tells us practically NOTHING!” And yes, I’m inclined to agree with you! You’d be sort of right in the idea that this is a reach. Maybe I am looking too much into this, and maybe it really isn’t that deep--but I do think that them subconsciously matching outfits means something quite brilliant.

In the way that their costumes are designed, each aspect of either outfits have a very logical explanation. The changes were strategic and made with their fighting styles vividly in mind, so what that tells me is that BECAUSE these costumes are so complementary or similar in nature (Bakugou’s reinforcing his arms while Deku reinforces his legs), these two are implicitly showing the audience that their combat styles are complementary as well. 

The evolution of their design choices and similarities tell us that even unknowingly, their minds line up in strategy on the battlefield--a clear exhibit for why they would be INCREDIBLY POWERFUL as a Hero Duo to begin with.

When I look at their hero costumes side by side, I see a mirror. I see the way that these two are reflections of each other and are strong where the other isn’t. The point I see in BNHA repeatedly is that EVERYONE HAS A WEAKNESS. Nothing is infallible, regardless of how hard you train or how powerful your quirk is. Everyone will always have a weakness, but the significant difference I see when fandom discusses the future of Pro-Hero Society is that the new generation is finally raising itself to be RELIANT on each other. 

Observing their fighting styles and the simple use of their quirks, its obvious that they are indeed two parts of a whole hero. Bakugou, who’s quirk emphasized his arms and hands and the power that comes from it, while Deku who’s quirk now emphasizes his legs and lower body and the way he’s always running to save people.

IN CONCLUSION:

As they become heroes, it is easy to assume that if nothing else, Bakugou and Deku will cover each other’s weak spots (especially when you consider the way Deku probably won’t be able to keep using his arms with the way both the anime and manga are going...) (also chapter 285, anyone?)

-

Part Two: Interactions, OfA

kofi || commission details

[moved-to-void-kissed]

💬 hi im in ur inbox again feel free to ignore this one bc its longer than what the original prompt talked abt but .. would love to hear any ideas for like. if adri & luna had a "hey this is what u missed!" convo in the celebi quest .. was going to add taka in there as the timetravel partner bc im biased but elias being there also sounds funny

The fact that you took the time to send all these asks means a lot to me, friend. Thank you very much. I will not ignore this.

I will give a disclaimer that, since Adri doesn’t actually do the Celebi quest in our version of events, I hadn’t really had any ideas about this concept before you sent the ask. I had sort of envisioned lines from Adri as a part of the quest, since she can say about “don’t worry I stepped in as shadow champion while you were gone and before shelly became the new champion! after luna became an elite four member I took up a position as ghost-type gym leader and I take my battles in iolia valley”. However, this is something a bit different.

(source: this post by queenieboo22)

send me 💬 and a character and I’ll give you a line my self-insert would say if in a canon interaction with them - this is a full default Anna Route situation, meaning Elias is the other time traveller and it’s also in tier 3 instead of post-Tao Trio where you moved it to.

If you just want the one line: “I’m just.. so sorry that I left you all alone!”

And if you’d like the whole (dialogue-only) conversation: it’s under the readmore.

Luna: “My love.. It really is you! You’re still exactly as I remember you.. Oh, I cannot express how happy I am to see you again!”

Adriana: “I know it hasn’t been as long for me, but I am so glad to see you as well, Luna! How have you fared? Is everything alright?”

Luna: “Yes, with all things considered, I like to think I've done quite well for myself. I'm one of the Elite Four now, you see!”

Adriana: "Oh! That's amazing, Luna, congratulations! You're truly deserving of the title."

Luna: "Hehe, thank you kindly! I have been working closely with the Champion to help her keep a better record of this region's history, as well as to preserve what aspects of its old culture would be remiss to lose entirely. It would have been lovely to have you here to see our progress, I must admit."

Adriana: “I am so sorry.. If not for the Relic Stone in our original time being so inaccessible, we wouldn’t have had to travel through time like we did..”

Luna: “Ah, don’t worry too much; when the Champion figured out the answer, it brought us all much solace. Though it was still a miserable affair for myself, and others too, to begin with. Incidentally, where is.. the man who travelled through time with you..?”

Adriana: “As far as I’m aware, Elias is still.. Ah, yes. Up on the stairs over there, still miserably losing in a shouting match with Radomus.”

Luna: “Hah! I daresay Father shall trounce him in all arguments he could muster. ..I cannot say I was sad to be free of him. Though with the young master having previously been lost to us as well.. nothing remained of that time to me anymore. And I must admit, it was not entirely a miserable childhood when I look back on the time I spent with him..”

Adriana: “You’re.. referring to Taka?”

Luna: “Yes. I'm afraid that, even as we worked to deal with the anomalies from the New World, the only person we found from before was that young man who fell into the Void alongside us both; Cain, I believe."

Adriana: "Oh, I see.. Well, I'm glad Cain was brought back, at least. But I wish the same was true for Taka somehow, as well, even considering his fate. I know that you and him had grown up together, after all.."

Luna: "I know that I'm blessed to be part of such a lovely family, but.. With you gone, even once we realised you would return someday, it still wasn't easy. Nobody was surprised when I took up the training of Ghost-types once I joined the Elite Four, after all."

Adriana: "They are your secondary type specialty?"

Luna: "Of course! Not only do they fare quite well on my battlefield of choice, so it was a logical choice from that perspective as the final Trainer before the Champion, but.. I felt it was only natural to honour you in any way I could."

Adriana: "That's.. Luna, I'm not sure I know what to say.."

Luna: "My love.. Why are you crying?"

Adriana: “I’m just.. so sorry that I left you all alone! And- the fact that you did something like that for my sake.. You really didn't have to do anything like that at all!”

Luna: "Oh, there's no need for you to apologise! It is what I wanted. Please, come here; it's alright, I promise.."

Adriana: "Ah- Thank you.. If you're sure, then, thank you. To be entirely honest, the whole concept of being ten years in the future is still.. a little bit overwhelming to me. Seeing everyone and how they have grown older.. It's lovely, but it takes a lot out of me."

Luna: "I can only imagine how surreal this must be for you. But, even so, we hoped - and later, knew - that you would return someday. Even though you most likely aren't able to stay here with us as we are now, I have faith that everyone who's here at the moment will still be here once you reach this point yourself. In fact, I believe that with you still in our lives for these past ten years, as the shining shadow that you are and always have been.. It's safe to say that things will turn out even better than they already are for us now."

Adriana: "Hehe.. I must admit, I would like that. I want to be there for you, and for all of my friends here. Thank you, Luna.."

Luna: “It is never a problem! So please, do not worry, my love. When Celebi takes you back to the time you originally came here from, and ten years pass for us both.. I know that I will be standing here alongside you still.”

[superbatson]

how did you get into elvis btw? Don’t mean to offend but its pretty rare to see young people who are so into him these days

you're not offending me at all! honestly i've been thinking more about how this whole elvis thing started with me lately.

i think where it officially began was with disney. i can't remember exactly how old i was, but sometime in my early childhood, i watched lilo & stitch and obviously that incorporated elvis' music and likeness in a lot of ways so it taught me who he was. i mean, i may have had a vague idea of who he was from how popular the trend of impersonating him is, but i think watching that movie is what really introduced me to him as an artist rather than a caricature.

paired with that is hearing his music in disney world. i went twice as a kid (ages 5 and 8) and i think it's bc i stayed at a hotel called the "pop century", but the buses that took you to and from the parks were always playing old music so during those trips, you got this whole soundtrack of motown, rock n' roll, disco, etc. i think elvis was in the mix there and maybe because of lilo & stitch, i recognized some songs and came to like them.

and of course also as a kid, i watched full house, and we all know jesse was a huge elvis fan so that taught me a lot about him too. again, a lot of caricature stuff, but still. it was the exposure that mattered. (i remember recognizing the horn part of "it's all right" in the movie from full house bc it was referenced in a couple episodes. i don't think i ever knew that faster version of the song outside of the show.) ((oh and also, kinda unrelated, i remembered the other night that jesse canonically changed his name upon turning 18 - i forget what it was originally, probably something unflattering - and i wondered if he chose "jesse" after elvis' brother. i don't think the show addressed it but it wouldn't surprise me if that's where he got the name from.))

then as i got older, i got curious about the man behind this caricature - the guy who, for all i knew, talked kinda funny and had a weird singing voice and wore white, sparkly jumpsuits and was famous in vegas. when i got a biographical research assignment in 5th grade, i chose him as my subject. i think that's where i really became a fan of his.

i researched him twice more during my school career, in 9th grade and freshman year of college. honestly, i don't remember a whole lot about the 5th or 9th grade projects, but i think both pulled back the curtain, so to speak, on who elvis really was, and i found that fascinating.

the college paper obviously went into a more specific area of research, because that's just the kinda writing we did then. i think i focused on elvis' impact on american culture, really honing in on how revolutionary he was as an artist/performer. that's where i learned a lot of details i picked up on in the movie, about his interest in women's clothing and makeup, how controversial his dancing was, his black influences, etc. i remember asking my professor for recommendations of what kind of sources to use outside of books, and he said to check out old newspaper articles or watch some of elvis' performances.

i kinda did both, but it was the performances that i really had fun with, getting to analyze the differences in how elvis held himself before and after the heavy criticism.

while i only really skimmed one of the books i used for that assignment for information relevant to my paper, i went back like 4 years ago to read it in full, just for fun, and learned a heck of a lot more about him, both good and bad. but it didn't really change how i looked at him, as both a man and an artist. i mean, yeah, he had his flaws, no one's perfect, but i really felt for him and appreciate what he did for music.

sorry that got so long and probably didn't need to get into specifics at the end, but that's basically my story. i honestly don't remember a lot about why i became a fan of his, more just how. i think i just heard so much about him that he felt more like a character (hence my uses of "caricature") than a real person, so i got interested in learning about who he really was. i was raised in a music-loving household, but my dad was a big beatles fan, so maybe in a way, i went and had my own rebellion by becoming an elvis fan. and now i just have a big appreciation for classic rock in general (elvis, beatles, four seasons, etc).

[realisaonum]

book meme

thank you, jen @det395​ !! i feel like this meme got away from me a bit, but no shame! i love talking about books and writing so onward ~under the cut~

1- how many books are too many books in a series? 

mhmmmmm i guess it depends on the objective of the series, right? is the plan to have x number of books in the series and if so, when we finally get to the end will it be satisfying considering all the books we’ve read leading up to it? OR is the objective of the premise / characters just to exist doing whatever? both can be done well. i would say a lot rides on how much i trust the author.

2- what do you think about cliffhangers?

so this is meant for cliffhangers in a series like between books? i don’t really care if there’s a cliffhanger as long as i have the next book sitting right next to me. otherwise uh, only if the wait between books is tolerable, because at that point you need to know that the author can clear this mess up, right? there’s this other thing, like you know how if the entire series was already written, then they might release the books a month apart or a quarter apart - that could be alright too. but years in between? not especially a fan. is anyone a fan?

3- hardback or paperback?

jen, you and me are complete opposites here. paperbacks stress me out. i will go out of my way to buy a used hardcover if given the choice. of course, there are some publications i don’t mind in paperback —thinking poetry and super indie books that don’t have a hardcover release OR books where the spines are thin enough they won’t break and i won’t be holding them long enough for them to wear. hardcovers are sturdy and i don’t have to worry i’ll accidentally bend the cover in some damaging way. I am invested in keeping my books nice to the point that i create covers for my books out of kraft paper or brown grocery bags while i am reading them. this is something i started when i was in college and didn’t want these books i was hoping to probably resell get thrashed coming in and out of my bag for all these classes. My home library is probs more half and half paperback/hardcover but if given a choice usually it’s hardcover.

4- least favourite book?

i think it’s good to at least attempt to meet a book on its level. there are lots of books i didn’t like, but i wasn’t meeting them on their level and i know that so we’re ignoring those. i do however have a shelf on my goodreads dedicated to books that i have beef with so i’ll just go off on two of them.....

tana french’s the likeness for being plagiaristic shit. it is essentially poorly concealed alternate universe OC insert fic of the secret history. you’ve got french’s dublin murder squad folks and then this group they are investigating who bear a STRIKING resemblance to the greek students in tsh 🤔. this would be one thing. it is pretty well acknowledged that nothing is original and there are enough changes to The Likeness that MAYBE i could let it slide if not for this other thing: french’s book, the likeness, has lines that are just basically reworded quotes from the secret history and french positions these lines so they are said by the counterpart (essentially same!) character that gave them original life in tsh. i cannot stress this enough: you can HEAR how similar the sentences are and their core intent is always the same. it’s thinly veiled theft! it astounds me that French hasn’t been sued frankly. it is one thing to want to capture some of the genius that tartt’s debut novel holds, but it is completely lazy and disgusting theft to go about it in the way French did with this book. and YES the secret history was published before french’s book. if i could stomach how fucking goddamn boring the likeness was to read it a second time and cite every one of these offenses i would, but that’s yet a third strike against it—it’s too boring to be worth it. 

T. Kingfisher’s second book of the Clocktuar War duology : The Wonder Engine. this is a book that i feel violated the contract between writer and reader. the first book feels almost like a YA book. the stakes while described as very high are treated, as actions unfold, as very low. nothing truly irreparable happens until the climax of the second book and the fallout of that action is so off-tone of everything that came before i felt deeply betrayed. no, like, completely betrayed as in it ruined the rest of my afternoon, i am still viscerally angry eight months later, and i will never trust this author again. sure, maybe none of those actions that led to the climax were out-of-character, but there was nothing NOTHING in the proceeding action that even came close to that level of consequence. it’s a pity because right up till that point i was having a really good time. the entire vibe of the rising action to the climax of book one all the way through the rising action of book two was just a quippy fun version of roadtrip/quest - it felt like a comfort read. the abrupt tone shift had all the subtlety of dropping a graphically, brutal murder into Blue’s Clues. you don’t do that - this is a basic tenet of a writer / reader relationship. i’m not touching this bitch’s shit again.

5- Love Triangle, yes or no?

not so much. i like jen before me will scream ‘just be poly.’ love triangles that lead into poly relationships? yes, awesome will be glad i read. but i am at a stage in my life where your standard will-they-won’t-they-love-triangle is just fucking pointlessly frustrating to me. an example: i read a Nic Stone’s book Odd One Out a couple years ago and something about the synopsis or the hype made me think that it would resolve the love triangle that way, so when that did not happen i was incredibly frustrated and immediately wanted to resell the book. it’s the potential of the thing. stone’s book could have been the perfect vehicle for opening up the concept of polyamory to a ya audience but instead just really squandered that potential with weak floundering — in my opinion!

6- the most recent book you just couldn’t finish

uhhhhh i’ve got two and i’m not sure i’ve entirely given up quite yet buuuuuuuut 

fucking dune. i got really pissed off with this book. So just…setting aside the whole vaguing at a pedophilically inclined queer coded villain - it’s done so poorly, that it's almost funny? like it doesn’t (as of half way through) actually have any consequence on…anything at all and is tacked on like an afterthought to the end of his scenes. honestly it all could just be cut out entirely with no recourse to the larger story. So my actual beef with this book is the pacing is ATROCIOUS. like yo, not only do you expect me to give a shit about these Atreides cunts, when we just met them and we spend the same amount of time with them IF NOT MORE with the antagonist? but you also expect me to believe Paul was able to just convince the leader of the Arrakis people —the leader of an entire planet!!— with a single fucking sentence??? yeah, not so much. it was not set up for me to believe that Paul could do that! maybe if Kynes hadn’t died immediately after—or at least not died at that moment? baring the fact I thought he was by far the most interesting character, IF he had been convinced by Paul in that scene, it would have been great to see some actual work done around that - with a transfer or a liaise of power between Kynes and Paul and the Fremen. By not having any substantive scene that does it - it begs the question of what the fuck was the point of the character in the first place? unplumbed potential!!! over all there seem to be some key scenes missing to get the reader to where the narrative expects us to be? but the choices made of the characters we spend time with and the moments we see with them, the benefit to the larger story…is not always there. hey herbert, these words you have written aren’t doing what you want them to?? i feel like i should finish it but i reaaaaallly don’t want to :) the only thing i can say is it looks like from the trailer, villeneueve is giving space to these moments so that the viewer can foster a genuine connection with the characters? radical concept.

our lady of perpetual hunger - i started this one optimistically bc i like chef memoirs, but i am at the point where she has just given birth to her son and honestly DON’T CARE. i still haven’t officially given up on it yet since i actually fucking bought it like a dope. i certainly would not have if i knew how much NOT about working the line this was gonna be

7- book you are currently reading

Aside from the failures mentioned above, I am working on the second book in B. Catling’s Vorrh trilogy, The Erstwhile. Also very close to finally finishing Iain Sinclair’s The Last London - there’s a review of his work from the LA Times that goes “One of Sinclair’s greatest skills has always been his ability to take diverse if not chaotic source material and refashion it in a way that sometimes seems downright alchemical” which captures some of the wonder I experience when reading his work. His style and how he creates atmosphere and setting is just unique and astounding.

8- last book you recommended to someone

The Secret History by Donna Tartt. Before that I told my brother to read Eat a Peach, as we both love Anthony Bourdain and David Chang talks about him a bit here, plus it’s just a fucking great book. any book that gives insight into Chang’s methodology and paradigm is worth a shot.

9- oldest book you read

I think it might have to be Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (which apparently according to wiki premiered on the stage a whole four months before Hamlet so that’s what we’re going with) and if plays don’t count, I don’t care. I think they count and that’s what we’re going with.

10- the most recent book you read ?

Given the previous question, the most recently published book, right? It’s gotta be the one I just finished: The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic - Revised and Expanded edt., which like just came out this summer. I watched Jessica Hopper’s promo zoom, curtesy of my local indie bookstore, and went ahead and bought it. This was a great decision! It was just what I needed to read these last couple of weeks. i love there’s lots of short pieces that made the read quick and the fact that it’s non-fiction so there was no pressure of a plot or the emotional weight of character investment when I had a lot of big stressors dragging me down irl -it was such a relief. Hopper’s criticism is fun to read and there’s some real art in her appreciation of music here.

11- favourite author?

These are the top in a kind of order but not really: Donna Tartt, Jeff VanderMeer, Megan Whalen Turner, Flannery O’Conner, Chuck Palahniuk, Anthony Bourdain

Other faves very much worth mentioning: Emily O’Neill, Richard Siken, Brandon Sanderson, Warren Ellis, Nathan Englander, Stephen King, Eddie Huang, Carl Hiaassen, Anne Carson, and Iain Sinclair.

12- buying books or borrowing books?

Depends on if my library has it, of course! I nearly always see if my library has a copy first if i have never read it or the author before. If i’ve read the book before or trust the author, I’ll buy it. Like I’ll straight out buy new stuff from Jeff VanderMeer even though with him it’s either this-hits-exactly-and-is-my-new-fave or i-really-disliked-this-but-admire-the-boundaries-you’re-pushing-my-dude - so it’s always a gamble but a worthy one.

12- a book you dislike that everyone else seems to love

a little life (just bc it's torture porn elevated to art doesn’t negate the fact that it’s torture porn. Yanagihara’s project here is repugnant and the fact that this book is lauded as moving lgbt fiction makes my skin crawl)

sharp objects (good writing, compelling story, BUT typographical scarification doesn't work like that - i am not going to get into it but i know from first hand experience how Flynn described it is not accurate)

nesbø’s the snowman (what kinda dumbass detective would think THAT when a woman finds her missing father’s corpse? absolute idiocy - so obviously reverse engineered with that end in mind)

the raven cycle (fuck ronan lynch to start and then fuck him to end as well - there’s some other stuff but mostly he’s a total CUNT and if i don’t say that once a day i have probably died)

14 - bookmarks or dogears?

Bookmarks and sticky notes. Then I can place it pointing directly to the paragraph I last stopped on.

15- The book you can always reread?

This is my question because I reread all the time. ALL THE TIME. Books I reread often: The Secret History, Medium Raw (especially chapter 17 The Fury), Crooked Kingdom, The Violent Bear It Away, and The Goldfinch. Every year like clockwork (since it came out apparently) I will reread Stephen King’s The Outsider.

Other books I feel the urge to reread: VanderMeer’s Acceptance, Englander’s Dinner at the Center of the Earth, Frazier’s Nightwoods, Fresh Off the Boat, the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, the Peter Grant Series (which is queued up for another go here soon I think), any of the stories from A Good Man is Hard to Find, Sanderson’s Wax and Wayne Mistborn books, simon vs the homosapiens’ agenda, and there are two of Alan Morinis’ books on Mussar that I am technically always revisiting—when i need a reminder, i’ll jump around and read specific sections to get centered again.

16- can you read while listening to music?

Yes, but only ambient or near ambient (only usually one track on repeat) or a soundtrack I am extremely familiar with. No new music. I do usually need some audio stimulation or my mind will wander terribly.

17- one POV or multi POV?

Multi pov can certainly be done well (looking at the soc duaology and VanderMeer’s Acceptance) but working a multi-pov means there are more plates spinning, it’s more of a challenge, and some authors pull it off better than others.

18- do you read book in one sitting or in multiple days?

I don’t really do this anymore. that might have something to do with me picking up thicker books? but also i have a full time job now and let’s be real the book has to be hella good if i don’t want to put it down. the last book i attempted to shotgun was the final installment of my favorite series and it still took me two days so....i can get through a lot of books but none of them are ever in one sitting anymore.

19- who to tag:

@sybilius​ @mouth-rainboy​ @iwonderifthatisart​ @phereinnike​ @magnificentmoose​ @wambsgangs​ @moriarteaparty​ and anyone else if you feel so inclined!

Bonus Question: What’s on your to-read shelf? 

As for me, I am excited about one i just picked up, Danforth’s Plain Bad Heroines, which i might start tomorrow and I will be taking Paul Madonna’s Come to Light on my trip to see my brother this coming weekend. 

[angel-bazethiel]

What, How, Why is Flame Alchemy?

--or how Roy Mustang can potentially bottle up a star. --or I’m sleep-deprived and writing this fic that relies on a deeper understanding of how Flame Alchemy works and I’m posting what I thought of bc why the hell not? and if I read another post saying it’s plain ole combustion and how easy it is, I will probably lose my mind --or goddammit, where is Flame Alchemy?????

Content:

I. Introduction II. Mass-Energy Equivalence and Nuclear Energy III. Flame Alchemy? More like Nuclear Alchemy (and Other Myth Debunking) IV. Why would someone study such a research topic? V. Summary

Note: Long post and a lot of Science ahead.

I. Introduction

First we establish that whatever we know of Flame Alchemy is utterly bogus. Solely because of the fact that if Roy and Riza really wanted for the knowledge of it to die, no one will ever know of it. No one. So that explanation by Havoc about aligning oxygen molecules and then snapping to ignite them is not true. I mean, “reactive cloth?” What is that even made of? For a show that was extensively researched, that seems a bit lazy.

Also, this explanation makes Flame Alchemy sound so easy. So why isn’t everyone doing it? For a military-run country, one would think that something easy and can be weaponized would be mass-produced, right?

Another fact, fire feeds on oxygen, yes. But fire is a combustion reaction of oxygen and a C-H compound. Something I hope that the air in a 1900s FMA-Earth isn’t abundant of.

Although, I haven’t thought about what if the fuel Roy uses is H2 compounds instead of Hydrocarbons. That would be funny. Roy deconstructs H2O molecules only to create them again. But if you still want to see whether or not I’m crazy, by all means, do read on. I will still use Flame Alchemy = Nuclear Fusion for my fic. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Now, it got me thinking how does Flame Alchemy actually work? And my highly convoluted train of thought started while I was writing this fic where I based Riza’s mother on Marie Curie. (Which I may expand on but now is not the time.)

I thought then, so how about Berthold? Is he Pierre? Naw, man. Who else has had his research mishandled during a war? Who else was a brilliant thinker but is also such a shitty dude to the women in his life? Yeah you guessed it. And what is one of his greatest works?

II. Mass-Energy Equivalence and Nuclear Energy

Albert Einstein’s Mass-Energy Equivalence is such a simple and very elegant equation saying that mass is interchangeable with energy. This postulate led to this branch of physics (or chemistry, whatever) called Nuclear Physics/Chemistry. Bear with me.

Did you know that when you add up the masses of an atom’s nucleons (the collective protons and neutrons) the actual mass is not equal to the calculated? Where did that mass go? As it turns out, that mass defect takes in the form of energy that holds the nucleons together. And when we substitute that missing mass on Eq. 1, we have a specific number for that binding energy.

So what do we mean by nuclear energy?

Nuclear energy is the binding energy released when a nucleon is taken out of its nucleus. And that can happen by either of two reactions: nuclear fission or nuclear fusion.

Now I didn’t think much about nuclear fission because that’s shit’s nasty. And I’m sure that Roy doesn’t have Uranium just lying about. So let’s talk about nuclear fusion. Specifically, the fusion of Hydrogen atoms:

When you fuse two Hydrogen-1 atoms it has three products: deuterium, a positron, and energy. Fuse that deuterium with another Hydrogen-1, we get Helium-3 and energy in the form of gamma radiation. Fuse two Helium-3 atoms, we get helium-4 and hydrogen and more energy. Then start the process again if you want more more energy.

So what has that got to do with Flame Alchemy?

III. Flame Alchemy? More like Nuclear Alchemy (and Other Myth Debunking)

I firmly believe that the “Flame Alchemy” we see in FMA is just the H-H fusion reaction (Eq. 2).

And like an idiot, I only did my research after I thought of all that shit and found this interpretation of Riza’s tattoo.

I don’t know how how much of the tattoo is canon, I tried looking for it in the manga and the anime is too small to see. But I see it everywhere so-- it must be canon?

But in that post, in the upper left part of Riza’s tattoo, we see the fusion reaction of deuterium. And of deuterium and tritium. To which I say, why? Those Hydrogen isotopes are rare. I mean, fine, a D-T fusion reaction gives 40 times the net energy from an H-H fusion reaction.

And, sure, Roy can create deuterium and tritium himself, but it’s just not efficient. I don’t know how alchemy works but I do know that to do that (by which I mean an H-H fusion, then a D-D fusion, then a D-T fusion) would require more energy than just stopping at the H-H fusion.

So I stand by my statement that the “Flame Alchemy” we see in FMA is just the first part of the H-H reaction (Eq. 2).

a. So how does it work as seen in the manga?

Roy would line up the atoms to where he wants the reaction to happen. And here’s the kicker, he can use other light atoms just no heavier than Iron-56.

But I think he uses Hydrogen-1 because that shit is everywhere. Again, not the heavier isotopes. So we’re sticking to that.

How do we know that that’s what’s happening and not Roy doing whatever the hell Havoc said? Because we see this:

I don’t know about you, but I think the sparks we see when someone is doing a transmutation aren’t just there because it’s cool.  

Atoms require energy in order to stay bonded as a molecule. So when alchemists transmute, they break the bonds and release that energy. In this case, the energy released is in the form of light. (I also have some thoughts about why we see red and blue sparks but, again, now is not the time.)

If Roy is just controlling the O2 molecules in the air, we shouldn’t see any sparks because there is no deconstructing happening.

Hydrogen-1 is usually present as part of the many water molecules in the air. So, I think, what we see is Roy deconstructing the H2O molecules and pulling the Hydrogen-1 atoms to where he wants them to be. The Oxygen-16 atoms bond with each other and form O2 molecules but we don’t care about them.

Unless Roy fuses Oxygen-16 instead of Hydrogen-1. In that case, we will see an even bigger release of energy. OH! Maybe that’s why he uses his left hand for smaller and more controlled explosions and the other for bigger ones. Because the gloves are different! One is for H-H fusion and the other is for O-O fusion.

Anyways. Hydrogen-1 atoms, by themselves are positively charged. So to fuse two together we have to overcome the repelling force by those same-charged atoms. To do that, they must meet either at high velocity or at high pressure. In the manga, they do the former.

Remember the sound whenever Roy does his thing? That isn’t actually caused by his snapping. After all he is wearing gloves. The sound when you snap is made by the pad of your middle finger striking your palm. If your hand is clothed, you won’t produce any sound when you snap.

No. That sound is the sonic boom of Hydrogen atoms going faster than the speed of sound. Also, I don’t think his gloves is made up of some special material. He just snaps to cover up the sound. Everything is just nuclear fusion.

b. How about those “flames” that we see, then?

That is how we perceive the energy released by the reaction. When the energy is transferred into the surroundings, it gives off heat. Not only that, but the other atoms in the air get excited (this is a technical term btw) and glow. For all intents and purposes, I guess they are flames? Just not caused by a combustion reaction.

c. But if that’s how the Flame Alchemy works, then what is up with the useless when wet schtick?

That is a misconception. Sort of.

Roy’s alchemy will still be useless in the rain because there is just too much macromolecules in the air. He can’t align the atoms properly and the Hydrogen atoms may collide with the water molecules. That would decrease speed which he maybe can take account of. But the time to calculate then recalculate for each atoms can be too long. So he just lets Riza take care of the imminent threat when it’s raining.

As for when it isn’t raining, but he’s wet… I think he can still do his Alchemy, he just doesn’t. Because in doing so, it would deconstruct all the lies Roy and Riza have built around “Flame Alchemy.” Like that fight with Lust with Havoc. He manipulated Hydrogen atoms and I think he could have just fused them. Instead he let Havoc throw his lighter. Good thing Hydrogen is flammable. And this:

This is just Roy Mustang being the drama queen that he is.

d. Why would Roy and Riza lie about the Alchemy?

They feed false information surrounding Nuclear Alchemy because there can never be another Nuclear Alchemist. They created a version of the Alchemy and make up some magic cloth that supposedly becomes useless when wet. All of that so that no one can learn the actual secret. Maybe even discourage other alchemists, seeing as “it has such a huge weakness.”

IV. But why would someone want to study such a research topic?

Now, I don’t claim to know how Berthold Hawkeye’s brain works. But have you ever looked up to the sun and think, “Woah. That big ball gives life on this piece of rock? How does that even work?” I hope you haven’t because you will hurt your eyes. Please use protective eye-gear if you’re going to look directly to the sun.

All joking aside. It all comes down to energy. The sources of energy we have today have their pros and cons. Our main source, which is burning fossil fuels, is very much harming the environment.

So we look up. The sun has millions of Hydrogen atoms that undergo nuclear fusion. And the energy from that keeps all of us 7 billion little shits alive. What if we bottle up a star?

If we could ever recreate even the smallest fraction of that reaction, we can power hundreds of cities. And with Helium to spare, which we can use to blow out the balloons for our party in celebration of the fact we can finally stop killing our planet.

If nuclear fusion is so clean, then why aren’t we using it?

Because we still don’t know how to contain and control it. Today, there are two designs of fusion reactors and there are research facilities that conduct experiments. But so far they are still developing the technology.

And get this, this is a very hard and expensive thing to do. Whatever Berthold did, it’s genius. Way ahead of his time. He’s still an ass of a father though.

To add salt to the wound, like with what happened to Flame Alchemy in FMA, governments have used this research to create weapons instead. Because why try to contain that energy and use it for technological advancement when we can let it loose on a city, right? Hah. We are such dumbfucks.

V. Summary

So in conclusion, human beings suck. Kidding! Well, not really. But yeah. So. Flame Alchemy is a nuclear fusion reaction of Hydrogen-1 atoms. And it’s very hard to control and contain that even in 2020 Primary-Earth, we haven’t figured that shit out.

It could have been used for the people if the Amestrian government actually cared about the people. And after the trauma Roy and Riza experienced in Ishval, we may only see Nuclear Alchemy in the distant future when humans are kinder – not just to the world they live in – but to other humans they are living with as well.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[thebad---catholic]

My problems with AOS

Well here I am, 10 years late with an opinion no one asked for, but I have to write this down and throw into the void so that I can be at peace. I’ve been salty about this film franchise for a very long time now. This will mostly focus on Star Trek (2009) with the other two movies sprinkled in.

1. Starfleet

Honestly where do I even begin? In TOS, Starfleet was modeled after the navy (idk how accurately, but Roddenberry was in the air force so I’m assuming he’d know how all that works). You can get a feel for the chain of command, and everything feels natural with character ages and things like that. There’s a procedure for everything.

AOS Starfleet feels more like a high school club than an interplanetary exploration organization. Jim is supposed to be twenty-five when he gets the rank of captain- after he was almost expelled for cheating. He has no idea how to operate or run a starship. TOS Kirk moved through the ranks of Starfleet and was promoted on merit and leadership skills- he worked for his position.

Why was Jim the only person who knew what was happening when Nero showed up? Was there any requirements to joining to Starfleet other than get on the shuttle? Why did the linguist not know the difference between Vulcan and Romulan when they’re the linguist? How did Pike bypass the chain of command to appoint Jim Kirk as First Officer which was an obvious show of favoritism to someone was about to be thrown out of the academy? Why the fuck was he allowed to keep the title of captain? What the fuck?

Speaking of Jim.

2. Jim Kirk’s Character

I...don’t like Jim’s character in this film. It’s not terrible for a younger version of Kirk, but like I said though, there’s no reason Kirk should be this young. And in this one he’s just kinda a douche.

We know from TOS that Kirk gets around, but he genuinely cares for his exes, and in general respects women. He uses sex appeal as a strategy, but more than anything this comes off as a subversion of the femme fatal trope bc Kirk is a man. In the movie, he’s just a standard action movie protag who has lots of sex just because.

The scene when the Orion woman says she loves him and he replied “that’s so weird” is just...so weird? Like I can’t imagine Kirk doing anything in that situation than backing off and explaining that he doesn’t feel the same way. The scene continues with him hiding under the bed when Uhura walks in. Watching how the camera angle makes Jim out to be a voyeur made me uncomfortable then and it still does. It could be explained that Jim is trying to figure out Uhura’s identity or that he’s listening in and people look at who they’re listening to but like...she was in her underwear. You shouldn’t look at people while they’re getting undressed, especially when they don’t even know you’re there? Is that a hot take? Apparently.

In TOS there’s this really nice scene in This Side of Paradise(S1E24) where the whole crew is high (again) and has abandoned ship, leaving Kirk to tend to things. We see Jim move around the ship with a little clip pad and make the proper checks. This is a captain who knows his stuff. That is the Kirk we should have seen if we’re going to see Jim become captain.

AOS kirk goes through a standard “stop being an asshole” arc commonplace for male protagonists, but this happens well past the point he should stop being an asshole. Either the AOS series should’ve been a prequel with Jim becoming captain at the end of the trilogy, or he should’ve been older with a completely different arc- maybe coming to terms with his rank? Imposter syndrome? Learning to trust his crew and building trust with them? Building a friendship with Spock and McCoy? There’s a lot to work with here.

3. Spock and Uhura’s relationship

Why. Like why. For what. Por Que.

I like giving Uhura a bigger role, I don’t like making her a love interest to do that.

It doesn’t make sense for either of their characters. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, linguist expert who handles all transmissions to and from the enterprise- an icon of black women’s representation is now demoted to Spock’s nagging girlfriend. This bothers me more than a little bit.

It manages to make even less sense for Spock. A hallmark of Spock’s character is his duality. He struggles to combat his emotions and the human half of him. His repeating character arc in TOS is coming to terms with humanity while upholding the Vulcan way of life. Having him in an established romantic relationship before this arc is supposed to happen just makes for a boring romantic subplot about a relationship that shouldn’t happen and that I don’t care about.

TOS Vulcan culture is kinda shitty. Explicitly patriarchal and stuff, and also kinda racist against humans. The source of Spock’s inner conflict is not himself but a society that views him as lesser for being half human. However, one thing that I can certainly understand from a “logical” (logic in quotations bc racism and sexism is fucking stupid) people is ritualized arranged marriages. It just...makes sense to me that Vulcans would simply have their mates chosen for them and then marry that person and be done with it. Neat. Logical. Conformity.

This makes Spock and Uhura’s relationship even stranger. Why would Spock go so against conformity that he dates someone before he truly comes to terms with himself? Even if they throw out ponfarr and arranged marriage, it still doesn’t work but now it especially doesn’t work.

My personal theory is that Spock and Uhura’s relationship was established purely to make shippers shut up. It’s no secret Spirk is the most popular ship from TOS. I have no doubt they knew this while writing the movie. So to quietly wrap a no homo on Spock and Kirk’s friendship, they use Uhura as a prop to do so.

The teacher/student dynamic should only be relegated to fan fiction and the throwaway line about oral sensitivity makes me cringe. Every. Time.

4. McCoy

Karl Urbans performance is easily my favorite part of this movie. He captures DeForrest Kelley so well it hurts. He made Leonard Nimoy cry. His chemistry with Pine made McKirk go from the most underrated triumvirate ship in TOS to rival Spirks popularity in AOS. His scenes with Zachary Quinto are just *chefs kiss*.

So why doesn’t he have more of a role? The triumvirate is missing a third.

In particular, there’s a scene where Uhura, Kirk, and Spock make their way down to a planet to talk to a Klingon. I can’t remember which movie it was or why, but Spock and Uhura were bickering and Kirk remarks “can we do this later?”

The line was funny. It would’ve been golden if it was McCoy and not Uhura.

A fantastic performance by an underutilized character in a movie where that character should’ve been at the forefront.

5. Representation

I am skeptical of any movie that advertises diversity. Nonetheless, it made me happy to know Sulu was going to be gay. This is Star Trek after all, known for its diversity and large LGBT fan base, and an homage to George Takai who’s a gay man irl. So whatever.

The fact that I wasn’t expecting much says a lot about the current state of LGBT rep in media but this blink-and-you-miss-it shit is really starting to get to me.

I mean he jus- he doesn’t even give his husband a KISS. Like why.

6. Destroying Vulcan

WHY. Oh god why.

This isn’t Star Wars, JJ. We don’t do that here.

Imploding Vulcan was the most god awful shock value bullshit plot device I’ve ever seen in a movie and it was done entirely to make Spock sad. Besides the gaping plot hole of “why did Nero go back in time to destroy Vulcan when he could’ve just saved Romulus” I’m just grasping to find a purpose for this particular event. New fans don’t care at all about Vulcan while I was enraged that they would do Amanda that dirty.

It’s not just that they did that, it’s more that they did it like that. Vulcan’s destruction should’ve caused a federation wide meltdown as the biggest catastrophe in the entire franchise. If they were gonna make the stakes so pointlessly high, they should’ve treated the destruction of Vulcan exactly how they would treat the destruction of earth. There a million ways to treat that event with more gravity and million better plot lines that don’t involve G E N O C I D E

7. Miscellaneous petty bullshit because I’m a baby

-lower the fucking stakes Jesus Christ

-Don’t like the set. It’s bright and white and boring and gives me a headache. You don’t need a remake of the old set but like have fun ya know? Shit looks like an Apple store.

-Christine and I are the same in that we are both soft and are thirsty for Spock. Imagine my surprise to learn she wasn’t fucking there. Same with Janice but I’m more pressed about Christine. I don’t even remember the name of that blonde doctor lady who is Not Christine but i didn’t want her.

-The costumes in AOS look boring but still don’t feel like a uniform either. I deadass think Chris Pines outfit in the SNL skit looked better than the actual movie (minor adjustments needed)

-I didn’t notice this at first but someone pointed out that women’s uniforms don’t signify rank and now I can’t not see it. I don’t...think this movie treats women good? Or McCoy? Or just people who deserve better?

-Lens Flare

-I get why they did it but I don’t like that they misquoted the opening theme to say “no one” instead of “no man”. I probably wouldn’t have even notice except they gave the line to Uhura. Comes off as just a touch too “yay feminism” which is really rich coming from that treated Uhura like an object to be looked at when she wasn’t too busy being Spock’s emotional support gf, and completely cut two women from the main cast.

8. Conclusions

If I could describe these movies in one word it’d be generic. Which sucks because Star Trek far from generic.

They’re fun to watch but not think about. It was nice that I got to see a Star Trek movie in theaters. I just wish it as the same Trek I saw on TV.