#its true to the culture and history and stuff of the us and sensitive about that stuff

[doctorwhoisadhd]

midnight burger is like if doctor who was always well written. and also, usamerican

[viktoriakomova]

the sensitivity and enforced politeness to athletes in the gym fandom is so fascinating to me. i used to think it's bcs it's a 'feminine' sport followed mostly by women (+mostly ones unfamiliar with any other sport) + the youth of the athletes + the real history of child abuse. But the thing is, 100% of this applies to skating too and skating fans, with few exceptions, don't act like this (they act unhinged in their own, special ways). Do you have any better take on why this happens in gym?

in a lot of ways the whole narrative of gymnastics and figure skating respectively has flip flopped in the last 20 years or so. like now FS (womens singles specifically here) is rife with stories of abuse and teenagers burning out before they hit 20, but it definitely wasnt like that 20 years ago, when the abusive tactics werent very publicized/normalized and when you could have a career well into your 20s and one injury wasnt career-ending. (little girls in pretty boxes was like 80% gym 20% fs). now thats kind of true of gymnastics (in the US) whereas only 10 years ago that was not the case at all. they've also kind of switched places in terms of Team USA's results and popularity among american fans. gee i wonder if theres a correlation there with athlete longevity

anyway all that's to say, i think if i had to name just one thing, it's that by default we as fans think of and engage with athletes (either directly or in the 3rd person lol) as if they're painfully sheltered teenage girls/children. and they just arent anymore. yes the culture of elite gymnastics keeps them kind of oblivious to "normality" as people on the outside would define it (homeschooling is a huge fucking thing here but thats a whole different post), but its not as bad as it used to be, for many reasons.

also the history of abuse, which fans in general (and media, lagging behind by a few years but following the same developmental path usually) have come to talk about in very different terms than even 10 years ago. that was gradual from 2010ish to 2016 and then there was a very big immediate shift when the nassar scandal detonated.

that whole paradox of elite gymnasts being temperamentally extremely precocious but emotionally very immature just isnt true anymore, at least from what ive seen. its a refreshing change. but i dont think the underlying current has changed all that much as far as the vibe (?) goes and people (both gymnasts and fans) still think technical and artistic critiques are personal attacks the way a sensitive teenager would.

and i honestly do think it has something to do with gender, a lot to do with gender tbh, but that it bleeds into other disciplines and sports so it's a less clear line to draw when looking at it superficially. like the mens gymnastics team and how everyone talked about them skipping press after they performed badly, to name just one example. and you're very right about gymnastics being the only sport a fan is familiar with correlating to how they think about all this stuff lol.

compassion is not a bad thing of course, but i have a huuuuuuuuuge issue with talking about and treating literal college students like 13 year olds....

[ofcowardiceandkings]

I think you mentioned listening to podcasts? Do you have any favorites to reccommend? I've run out of content :(

that i do !

im not entirely sure what kind of podcast you'd be interested in but i'll throw out a few of the goodies in my huge library of stuff , i'll miss out a few of the HUGE podcasts that have been all over tumblr though

a LOT of it is true crime or human interest stuff , or history because im nerd ,, and a few of these dont have nearly enough attention so [shrug] i'll try to keep this short i guess lol this isnt EVERYTHING ive got in my library or listened series' by any measure

i AM gonna pop a shout to both Stuff You Missed in History Class and Stuff You Should Know from iHeartRadio because their HUGE archives have kept me from losing my mind many times over , and they cover a wide range of both important and wacky topics

BomBARDed (ongoing) this is the only fiction podcast i have happening right now really but its DAMN GOOD ONE .... it's an actual-play D&D 5E podcast in the DMs own musically-inspired world, focussed on a group of multiclass bards going to music school !! and all players (+DM) are members of the Texas band Lindby !! and they actually use and play music in the show with one original song an episode !! Kyle's worldbuilding and storycraft are truly incredible, and (Nick) Goodrich, (also Nick) Spurrier, and Ali's characters are in depth and interesting as well as an absolute powerhouse :') i actually made a piece for its first fanzine, Bardic Dreaming, which published earlier this year and is free to view now, all the players and the community are super wholesome its just very good overall 💙

History & Humans;

Fall of Civilisations (ongoing) legit one of my favourite podcast finds, im so glad my youtube autoplayed one of these ... it took me like 2 hours to realise it was 1) not the same as what was playing before and 2) had been on for 2 hours and wasnt near finished lmao. anyway, this is a series by historical fiction writer Paul Cooper, and is honest to all thats good one of the best documentary series ive encountered in years - and ive consumed a LOT of documentaries. it covered the downfall of various civilisations through history, and the episodes run from an hour to FOUR hours depending on the topic. its so chill to listen to and just get done, but over the pandemic all of the episodes have been given full movie-quality video versions too on youtube if youre more of a visual person.

Casting Lots: A Survival Cannibalism Podcast (on series break) yeah that says that lol ... its a SUPER niche topic but its very interesting and treated very well despite being kind of comical at times, the hosts are just naturally funny lol ... it delves around from the history of cannibalism in whole regions to specific incidents as recently as the 1970s, and of course the first episode is about the Donner Party, and it covers things ive never heard of despite being kind of important ?? anyway Alix and Carmella are good eggs

Sawbones (ongoing) i probably dont need to mention much here other than say that Justin and Sydnee saved me from being SO BORED sooo often, the history of medicine is wacky as hell and its what most of my history GCSE was on so [shrugs]

Cautionary Tales (on series break) this was a wild-card find lol ... it's by Tim Harford "the undercover economist" who writes for the Financial Times, and its topics kind of weave modern topics and science with how to learn from historical errors ... its a bit weird but well worth a go, also each series has a few celebrity guest voice actors which is pretty awesome

Ephemeral (ongoing) this is a very strange but thought provoking series about sounds and other things just barely saved. topics include the last castrato, the hello girls, hand-stamped records, the spread of kīkā kila music, and acoustic fossils of wild places.

Neat! The Boozecast (ongoing) history and bartending whats not to like lol ... hosted by Teylor Smirl and now their dad Tommy, they're just digging around in how important booze is to human culture

True Crime (white collar and weirdness);

Swindled (ongoing) this is an amazing show full stop. A Concerned Citizen details some of the most impactful and unruly things to happen in white collar and corporate crime. very factually accurate but given the sheer bullshit of the topics the deadpan snarking is [chefs kiss] absolutely warranted ..

American Scandal (on series break) this one is a series within a series type, and spends a few episodes at a time poking holes in some of America's biggest scandals, from a dramatised but fact-based point of view. such as what the hell was going on with Enron, how big tobacco was forced to own up to covering its own ass, how Iran-Contra happened, etc. it also now has a sister show called British Scandal, which does the same thing for British cases but with a slightly different format.

Missing in Alaska (finished) this was a fascinating series, a deep dive into what happened to two US government officials who disappeared on a small chartered flight in Alaska in 1972. it goes some really strange places, but it actually turned up a lot of previously unknown information through the audience. John Walczak's new series in a new feed is Missing on 9/11 which looks into what happened to Dr Sneha Philip.

Pretend (ongoing) Host Javier Leiva holds interviews with anyone living a lie, or who have been touched by them. con artists, snake oil salesmen, former cult members, catfishing victims, anyone and everyone.

Power: The Maxwells (finished) hosted by journalist Tara Palmeri, the story of media tycoon Robert Maxwell from nothing to empire to mysterious death and the scandals uncovered after he was gone.

Lets Talk About Sects (ongoing) Sarah Steele covering cults from around the world, in particular those in Australia - where she is from. She often has former members on the show to share their stories, and share knowledge of how they left. each story has the relevant content warnings at the start of each episode.

Brainwashed (finished) investigation of the CIA's covert mind control experiments, centred on the experiments performed at a hospital in Montreal, and its cultural impact.

Dr Death (2 series finished) two series investigating huge cases of fraud and medical malpractice, and how they were brought to a stop. series 1 covers Dr Duntsch and his horribly butchered neurosurgery, series 2 covers Dr Fata and his fraudulent cancer clinic

The Immaculate Deception (finished) untangling the weird and disturbing fertility fraud of Dr Jan Karbaat, who fathered children himself through his fertility clinic, and the impact of his deception. later episodes also touch on other similar cases.

True Crime (Violent/General);

The Casual Criminalist (ongoing) Simon Whistler of-the-many-youtube-channels cold reads a script about the case of the day, with some of his daft commentary thrown in.

Southern Fried True Crime (ongoing) Crimes from the American South hosted by Erica Kelley, she puts all the facts out there but refreshingly for true crime she doesnt hesitate to tell you if she thinks someone is human garbage lol

They Walk Among Us (ongoing) probably one of the most popular UK crime podcasts, very measured and well put together, not weird or annoying about it either.

All Crime No Cattle (ongoing, feed slowed down for now) specifically about crimes from Texas, hosted by Erin and Shay, they're very sensitive hosts and a lot of the cases they cover shed light on why the Texas criminal system is how it is or show an impact at a national level

Canadian True Crime (ongoing) Canadian crime from an Aussie who's lived there for a decade, Kristi is again a sensitive and measured host covering some important topics

True Crime (Violent/Deep Dive);

Hitman (finished) journalist Jasmyn Morris digs around in the sticky tangle around a book published by fringe publisher Paladin Press, and its apparent use as a blueprint in the killing of a mother, her friend and her 8 year old boy for financial gain.

Camp Hell: Anneewakee (ongoing) this series is exploring how a wilderness camp "correctional facility" was endorsed by the Georgia care and juvenile reform system, despite widespread abuses and shady practices the whole time. warning for csa and child cruelty throughout.

True Crime Bullshit (on series break) this one is a huge huge rabbithole but a very interesting one where the host Josh Hallmark has spent years digging into the life and potential crimes of Israel Keyes. Keyes is often mentioned as a serial killer with no pattern, but in picking it apart thats not quite true, and has sparked some re-evaluations of missing persons cases and stumbling upon information the FBI has redacted organically. there's also a series in the middle looking into the crimes of Kelly Cochran

Forgotten: Women of Juárez (finished) this series looks into the huge numbers of missing women of Ciudad Juárez, the strange circumstances surrounding them, and the potential cover-ups and corruptions on both sides of the border, trying to give a voice to all of the forgotten women and girls and their families without answers. the series itself is finished, but a spanish language edition is being released every week now.

aaaaaand i'll call it there before i list everything lol, i hope you find something to plug your boredom hole with !!

[skeppsbrott]

Went into the American Song Contest tag and immediately got very tired. Here are some thoughts:

“Ugh! Do the Americans have to be part of EVERYTHING?”

Look chief I am as sick of the U.S.A. cultural monopoly as the next guy but this was not an initially U.S. project. The ASC started out as a passion project among seasoned people from the EBU, including most famously Christer Björkman, but is now being produced by american broadcasters for an American audience.

“The EBU is pandering to the U.S. to make money /:”

And it has been picked up by the NBC as something that they think might be interesting for their viewers. It is true that the EBU have been trying to expand the widely popular format of the Eurovision for a while now but from my understanding these formats are actually quite different. While the proposed African and Asian contests were deals between networks, from what I can tell, the ASC has been developed as its own concept and then sold to U.S. media producers.

“The Eurovision was a project of creating unity in a war-torn Europe, this is just commercialism”

While it is true that the Eurovision was intended as a project of unity, it was also a way of marketing the emergin European Broadcasting Union. The notion that Eurovision is not highly, highly commercial is absurd: many of your favourite entries amount to little more than very elaborate propaganda in the budgets of their broadcasting companies. This does not diminish the very real value of the contest to those of us who hold it close to our hearts and the same is true for any potential spin-offs.

I also think it is quite bold in 2021 to look at the United States of America (or any large geographical region) and say “nah, these fifty states and then some have enough unity, they don’t need any fundamentally harmless projects to bond over”.

“But the Americans don’t GET it!”

Yeah, man, I too saw some of the stuff the commentators said that year the ESC was aired on U.S. network television, it wasn’t exactly culturally sensitive. The first time I heard Björkman speak about this project was about a year and a half ago, at which point he specifically detailed that the ESC format had to be re-conceptualised to work for an American audience, so I would be very surprised if this had not been taken into account. The ESC has emerged over the better part of a century, obviously you cannot just wholesale export it and anyone attempting that is running a fool’s errand.

Obviously I cannot know how this will end up but neither does anyone else and so the response many Eurovision fans have had to the news is quite frankly embarrassing.

“Why not a REAL American Song Contest, featuring participants from all of continental America, south, north and central?”

The ESC started out with 7 participants and today it hovers around 40. As mentioned it has grown and developed since the 1950s. At that time, the television was new and the media landscape vastly different. To get this kind of project off the ground in our new media landscape, it needs to pack a punch. The U.S. alone is 50 states and the ASC will also include non-state territories. This alone is a logistical nightmare and as any good project engineer will tell you, lofty goals are useless if they are not also achievable. Europeans tend to vastly underestimate how fuck-all massive the U.S. actually is, let alone continental America.

“What’s even the point, though, it’s just one country and they all speak the same language.”

If this is you, you do NOT get to complain about Americans being culturally insensitive.

“Why would you DESTROY something as SPECIAL and PRECIOUS and UNIQUE as the Eurovision???”

The Eurovision will continue being it’s strange, lovely, precious self, I promise you. No one will force you to watch American Song Contest. Not to diminish the overbearing presence of American culture on the English-speaking internet because it certainly is exhausting at times, but these larger cultural institutions of Europe are not actually in any danger. If you want to preserve European culture which might be at risk of extinction, may I suggest learning about your local history, taking up folk music, or exploring the low-brow cultural traditions of your ancestors?

“The Americans are going to take it too seriously and there will only be boring pop songs and ballads :eyeroll: “

Have you even SEEN the Eurovision?

[sebastianshaw]

Hello everyone, it is Munday, which means I post a big OOC personal post to get most of my irrelevant personal OOC out so it doesn’t clog your dash in individual posts the rest of the week. Above the cut are just assorted historical fun facts, under the cut is random personal stuff, and the VERY last entry is some Heavy Family Stuff. -  Fun fact: Gorillas were considered merely mythological creatures by Europeans until the mid-1800s -  Fun fact: You are probably familiar with the term "draconian" which means "strict to the point of cruel" or even just plain cruel, but did you know it originates from a person? Draco was the first known legislator of Athens in Ancient Greece (around the 7h century BC) He changed the prevailing system of oral law to a code of written law, which could be enforced only by courts, rather than relying on feuds between individuals or families. These laws were the first constitution of Athens. Sounds good, right? Well, he was also known for his laws being extremely harsh. Debtors could be enslaved, and petty theft of food earned the death penalty, as did sleeping in a public place and a great other minor offenses. It is from this harshness that we get the term "draconian" and why it is usually used in reference to laws, rules, or punishments. However, Draco did distinguish between homicide and manslaughter, which was a new idea at the time from what we know, and would earn someone merely an exile from Athens (and they could return if they apologized to the victim's family and the family accepted it) - The week before last, I learned about Lucrezia Borgia and Hurrem Sultan, women whom history and pop culture has cast as evil scheming temptresses, but whose reality was far more sympathetic and complex. Last week, I learned about Grigori Rasputin, Vlad Dracula III, and Genghis Khan, men who were very real but who have been so mythologized that the legends about them are far better known than the facts. Admittedly, that’s true of nigh-every historical figure to a degree, but considering that Rasputin is portrayed most as a fairytale sorcerer and Vlad as a literal vampire, I think it especially applies here. Also learning about Hannibal of Carthage. - Speaking of Hannibal, I always wondered how he tamed those elephants. Because I had assumed that, being North African, he was using African elephants. . . which can’t be tamed. That’s why all the elephants you see in circuses and such are Indian elephants. Turns out, Hannibal used Indian elephants he imported, as well as an African breed of forest elephant, which, unlike the better-known plains elephants (which are the only kind I knew about) can be trained/tamed. -   Alexander the Great rode a horse named Bucephalus into many battles, and founded a city, Bucephala, in his honor after he died. Alexander got Bucephalus when he was 12 or 13, and it's a story I truly love. A horse dealer was offering Bucephalus to Alexander's father, King Phillip II, but the king wasn't interested because the horse was so wild and apparently untameable. But young Alexander said he wanted the horse, and that he would pay for him himself if he failed at taming the creature. Rather than treating the animal harshly, Alexander spoke calmingly to the horse, and then turned Bucephalus's head away from his shadow, which the boy had realized was what was spooking the horse. He also dropped his cloak, because its fluttering motion could also be frightening the horse as well. Alexander is mainly remembered as the grand conqueror he grew to be as an adult, but this tale is what impresses ME the most---that he looked at things from the horse's perspective and won him over with sensitivity.

  - My new year’s resolution is to eat better. I’m a sugar fiend and I should start cutting back. More fresh vegetables too. It’s better for my body and mental health. An exercise routine of some sort would probably be good too. - I also want to get mice again this year! I keep looking for them on Petfinder and Craigslist and the animal shelter website, and I posted an ad yesterday on the Rodents of Georgia Facebook group I’m a part of.  - I’m hoping this year I both have time to join a supernatural/urban fantasy board, and find one to my liking.  - I’ve found that while I do posting on Tumblr and boards really well, I’m just not cut out for RP Discord servers.  - I miss many things about LARP---the friends, the stories, the costumes--but one thing I never thought about much til today is what a big deal it was for me in terms of personal achievement. Doing the LARP required me to do a lot of things that are REALLY difficult and scary for me, such as driving a long (for me) distance through a route I don’t go often, driving BACK in the dark, and, of course, socializing for several hours. All of which is really intimidating to me just individually, let alone in combination. But I was willing to go through the trepidation and exhaustion because I enjoyed it so much, and the fact that I -could- do it was really cool for me too.   - “The King’s Man” isn’t my usual sort of movie but I might go see it just for the depiction of Rasputin

- Yesterday my dad said of my brother “He’s done enough to me and you both” and it was the most validating thing in the world. It may be sad and twisted but I am so, so glad my dad utterly disdains my brother as much as I loathe him. My brother is the only member of my immediate family that I adamantly do not love or even like, and my dad is the only member of my immediate family I can really full-on count to share that. And I’m the only member of the family that HE can vent to about it too, I’m betting, and I enjoy that. I enjoy hearing my dad vent to me about someone who hurt me and made me unhappy when I was too young to defend myself and my dad wasn’t around as much due to work. My brother has never apologized, and I’ve never forgiven him. I wasn’t perfect either because I took it out of my sister REALLY unfairly, but I’ve apologized to her many times over and she forgives me because she’s an angel. I still feel guilty. I don’t think my brother thinks he did a thing wrong, let alone feels bad. He’s very much got his own narrative of reality, and even my mom and sister agree with me on that. So I’m super here for my favorite person (my dad) having him as the active UNfavorite. Unhealthy? Maybe. But damned delicious.

[dariaslore]

1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 16, 20, 21 for Griffin x Valtor

1.What was their first impression of each other?

Well, the first thing that crossed Valtor's mind as he saw her was to play her. He was in front of a good looking witch and he thought she would've been swooning over him in no time. Valtor had just found his new puppet, ready to satisfy all of his ego's whims. He began flirting, but little did he know, Griffin hated his attitude. She hated his manners, everything about him seemed over stressed, emphasized and fake, he was playing a character she didn't like at all, plus she couldn't stand his bigger than life ego. Griffin could see what he was aiming at and she immediately tried to be straightforward and it turned out like "Everybody knows you're hot, but I'm here to work. I don't have time for sex."

3.Describe their relationship dynamic.

Bickering couple, they take everything as an intellectual fight and live for their bantering. Debating is their favorite activity and the topics can range between "what is best to eat for lunch" and "is the Council biased?". They tend to joke (some are very sexual) a lot, sass and sarcasm at their full potential, who can annoy the other the most is the winner.

( Valtor: Take that stuff away from my room!

Griffin: It's my plants, I live in this room now and I want them to stay with me.

Valtor: I don't care!

Griffin: Poor thing, I forgot they ruin your whole 'dandy wizard' aesthetic!

Valtor: Exactly. Buy me red roses instead, they look good with marble. Better if almost rotten, the decadence, the sweet perfume of death, you know?

Griffin: *facepalm* )

When it comes to feelings he's very closeted, but she tries to get him out of his shell.

4.What was their relationship like before they got together?

Bad. Griffin hated him and he hated her. Coven' members were annoyed by their dynamics and couldn't understand how childish their 'cracked to be power duo' was.

6. What do they love about each other?

Valtor is in love with her brain. He finds her simply brilliant and is always listening to her in awe whenever she comes up with a new plan. She's got wit and sass, her heart is as big as her brain is. He loves how she doesn't mock him for everything he does and she is willing to pay attention to his interest (something his mothers never did), so he feels comfortable enough to share his passions and doubts. He doesn't feel under scrutiny when she's around, he can be free to be and her smiles when she's proud of his doing are priceless. He loves the fact she truly cares about him and she's soo confident (it makes her so hot).

Griffin is a die hard for his charisma and she was quite surprised when he turned out to be most sensitive person she had ever met. She fell in love with his soul.

7. What do they have in common?

They are both ambitious and so into magic knowledge. Without magic and their drive for knowledge they would've never met. Their love bloomed between researches, books, ancient spells, strategies and missions, that's why even after they had gotten together, they still referred to each other as "partners" and not "boyfriend or girlfriend". Their partnership was almost sacred with a very deep bond. They're both dreamers, even though she's way more pragmatic and he's an hopeless decadent, they're prideful, vain and value their privacy. They may share some similarities and common interests (magic, history...) but their strength comes from the differences.

9. What made them realize they were in love?

They were fighting and teasing each other as always, they realized the might've liked and enjoyed that merciless bantering.

Griffin and Valtor started growing closer and their partnership got stronger and stronger as time passed. Sex came first, there was sexual attraction and they became "partners in crime with benefits". Then, after overcoming some barriers, they began to get to know each other more and more, he was finally showing her something real and she liked the fact he trusted her so much that he put aside the mask of the almighty and fabulous sorcerer from time to time. Valtor had gotten used to having her around, she was a great company and when he felt jealousy inside him for the first time by seeing her talking to another member of the Coven who had wanted her for a while, he realized that maybe it was more than just a partnership between the two of them. He hated to stay away from her and all her sides he had hated before, were now his favorites: the same witch he had thought a control freak and mean, whose now he adored the intelligence and sarcasm. Griffin knew she was slowly falling in love, but she was in denial, she believed it would've been just a fleeting crush and she tried every way to make it go away, she calculated pros and cons and looked for every single flaw in Valtor's personality to make him repulsive. But she loved those flaws. The witch was in love.

16. What do other characters think about this relationship?

Coven's members were happy they kinda stopped fighting all the time, some women (and men) were envious Griffin was his partner and lover. Griffin's friends were thrilled and found their couple really hot (where did she find such a good looking man?).

The Ancestral Witches had a controversial point of view, whilst they were satisfied they finally got along, their convergences were a blast and Valtor had a babysitter (the witches knew about his mental state, at least there was someone keeping him safe and sane now. The years before meeting Griffin had been really dark, the Ancestral were tired of the wizard self destructive behavior.) they feared the relationship might've distracted their son from fulfilling his destiny (he was created to be a weapon, not for love and kisses). They saw a threat in Griffin's figure, therefore they never treated her roughly, but always kept an eye on her. When Liliss found out of their relationship she said "This is going to end bad." Belladonna and Tharma were thrilled, Liliss was not, she knew the repercussions on their son if she ever left.

Griffin's father wasn't happy, he was worried and he tried to warn her daughter about what she was getting herself into, but she had to follow her path and he couldn't stop her from living her life and making choices (the witch was too stubborn).

Faragonda was also worried, very worried.

20. What does a typical date look like for them?

They're partners in crime, always together, and they can make a date out of nothing. A raid on a planet? That's a date. Stealing spells? Date. Spying on enemies? Another date. Theft on Eraklyion? The. Best. Date. Ever.

Whisperia is a bustling planet (I hc they lived there), there's always a ton of stuff to do. They didn't have a lot of free time, but they managed to make it worthy by going to some very classy nightclubs and going shopping (for Valtor's happiness. She's into fashion as well, but he's addicted)

He sometimes likes going to the theater and the opera (the drama queen he is), she doesn't understand a thing she's watching and it can bore her to death, but he's happy and she loves seeing him so engaged while he's explaining to her what is going on (she has to admit he's a wonderful storyteller and his humanistic culture is astonishing). She will definitely drag him to museums and scientific and political conventions where they discuss about magic and Magix's politics in a very technical way. Stargazing was another main activity, they could've spent hours talking under the dark sky (they did).

21. What’s a really significant moment in their relationship?

One of the most significant moment in their relationship was the first night they hang out together. The Ancestral were tired of their tantrums and decided it was time for them to bond, so Valtor and Griffin were forced to spend some free time together. The Witches thought it was important for their partnership to be strong also out of the battlefield, only in that way it could've unleashed its true potential. They had a new mission and it was building trust. And that night was just the beginning. (They were both slowly introduced in each other's own world). Another significant moment was Griffin seeing his demon form for the first time. It was a divide, a fracture, after that, their relationship was in free fall. Darkness became too much to handle, he was breaking, his mental health spiraling down towards insanity and she couldn't fall into pieces with him. It was toxic, his behavior, how Valtor got so obsessed with her she couldn't leave him alone for more than a minute. Griffin was sleeping next to a ticking bomb ready to implode, pressure from his mothers was too much, the demon rising, and she was afraid to hurt him.

There was no communication, she tried to understand and he erected walls, pretended everything was fine and at the same time he blamed it on himself if she was sad or angry for whatever reason. A dichotomy, the demon pursuing his mother's biddings and the man living just for her smile, fleeting sanity still standing in the name of their love.

[dailylgbtmusicals]

the only one making the implication that black men are violent and abusive here is you... how do you not realize that you’re the one perpetuating racism lol. most people who watched the show wouldn’t have even had a thought like that in the back of their minds until.. guess who brought it into the picture? you

Alrighty, strap in because we’re going on a history trip.

This article is a long read and very upsetting (trigger warning for racist images and the n word is used from a film quote) but it’s written by Dr. David Pilgrim, a black sociology professor, and it outlines the existence of the “brute caricature” throughout pieces of media and the impact that it’s had on real people, including the over 3000 lynchings of black Americans between 1882 and 1951 and the shooting down of the Dyer bill in 1922.

I’m not the one making assumptions here. This is a systematic and time honored tradition. Dr. Pilgrim puts it better than I do:

"The brute caricature portrays black men as innately savage, animalistic, destructive, and criminal -- deserving punishment, maybe death. This brute is a fiend, a sociopath, an anti-social menace. Black brutes are depicted as hideous, terrifying predators who target helpless victims, especially white women."

This is extra timely in connection to Carousel, because Billy dies in the process of committing a violent crime against a white man.

In specific connection to Carousel, though, I am not the only person who made this connection. Michael Feingold, a theatre critic, wrote a lengthy column that you can read here that explores how America’s troubled history with race relations and sexism and “every other kind of injustice toward individuals and groups” reflects in our arts, using the revival of Carousel as a case example. He puts it rather plainly when he writes:

“The recent revival of Carousel failed at least partly because it conveyed such discomfort with the collision of its subject matter and its colorblind casting: A swaggering black man who hits his white wife was apparently not the hero anyone involved wanted to put onstage, and so the gifted Joshua Henry came off as the most abashed Billy Bigelow imaginable.“

I think it’s foolish to pretend like we are beyond racism, because we’re not. Racism isn’t a switch, it’s a spectrum, and just because we may not have lynchings or segregation written into our laws doesn’t mean that we’ve reached true equality and we’re not wrestling with stereotypes and preconceived notions that are both consciously and subconsciously affected by things like the media we consume and what it says and crucially doesn’t say.

If we take a look at the site History on the Net, particularly it’s section on imagery and stereotypes and the mission statement for that section, it clearly says:

“The mission of this collection is to educate about the power of imagery in the stereotyping of race. By understanding how it happened, we can recognize it happening now. Once aware, we can make a conscious effort to avoid the messy thinking stereotyping promotes that leads to fear, prejudice, hate, and discrimination. Increasing sensitivity to these stereotypes can promote racial tolerance.”

(Emphasis mine) Which is something that I strongly believe in. You might benefit from reading the article on History on the Net about distancing yourself from the stereotypes, as you seem to believe that I am making a problem where there isn’t one by noting Joshua’s race and the implications included thereof. The last common excuse used as an example on this page addresses that:

“11. We should all just relax and not worry about this stuff. It's really no big deal. It would be nice if this were true. Unfortunately, we will never stop talking about race. Because of this, we must learn to talk about race better than we do now. Ignoring racism, pretending it doesn't exist is not the way to talk better about it.”

I don’t like Carousel for a lot of reasons, and I don’t think it should have been revived at all, and the racist stereotypes that it puts forth are only part of that. When we talk about the revival we often talk exclusively about the implications of putting on a musical that seems to justify domestic abuse through a forgiveness arc of a domestic abuser during the height of the Me Too movement, and that was not a smart move, but we shouldn’t let that obtuse decision overshadow the other harmful aspects, nor should we perpetrate the idea that noticing someone’s race is racist. 

We are not all the same. However, being different does not mean being lesser, it just means that we are having different experiences and coming from different places and carry different histories and cultures. Those differences should be celebrated, not erased. Pretending they don’t exist, whether by saying that you don’t see color or saying that I’m making it racist by noting them, is wrong. White people will never understand what it’s like to live as a person of color, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t still strive to listen to their experiences and recognize that things like media portrayals are a little too complex to express in 550 characters.

[red-the-dragon-writes]

Today's post is not on the usual "writer blog fare" side. Instead I am going to introduce you to several fun facts about various animals on our planet and then talk about worldbuilding.

1. Lampreys are a kind of "living fossil"- a not-really-so-scientific term for a creature that has lived unchanged for a very long time, so long that we have fossils of them looking the same way they do now. They don't have proper jaws, just a circular sucking mouth with teeth set into it and a tongue designed to strip flesh off of what it touches. They're finless fish, look quite a bit like eels, and have this really alien, uncanny vibe to them.

[id: a long, slender bluish-silver lamprey sitting among rocks. It has a long snout, an eye, and then six small perforations in its side arranged at an even interval sitting behind the eye. The environment it is sitting in is very yellow and green in comparison. end id]

[id: an image of a lamprey from below. The snout ends in a round, flat mouth which is studded with teeth in four concentric circles. The teeth are smallest near the outer edge and largest in the middle, and look like very sharp round points. In the center of this ring is another, smaller circle, where the pointed, tooth-like tongue can be seen, as well as a hole for the lamprey to actually ingest food with. Its eye is visible, as are some of the perforations on its side. This one is a more mottled gray than the first one was, and less shiny. end id]

Sea lampreys, which are the kind i've sort of not really kinda researched, are a major pest in the Great Lakes, where they regularly attack fish. They can get up to two feet in length. Despite this, they are not particularly dangerous towards humans.

2. Horseshoe crabs are also "living fossils." They've been around and virtually unchanged for millions of years. They're not true crabs, and are more closely related to chelicerata species, like spiders and scorpions (and many more). There are a lot of cool features of horseshoe crabs, but one of their most extremely cool, to me, is their blood.

I'm not going to post any images of what I consider to be animal cruelty, so you'll have to take me at my word here, but this is a bottle of horseshoe crab blood. If you're sensitive to images of animal cruelty, I don't recommend looking for proof, but if you aren't, there are plenty of images of the blood coming out of the creature for you to verify this with.

E[id: a bottle of slightly frothy, opaque blue liquid. It is sitting in a row with several other bottles of the same material. end id]

I am a sucker for blue blood, I just think it's neat, so that's all I'd need as an excuse to slam some horseshoe-crab-inspired nonsense in my exceptionally gory and fucked up wips, and if you've been reading along with WiB you may have noticed that blue blood does come into play at some point! But that's not all that's neat about horseshoe crab blood. Unfortunately for the horseshoe crabs, but fortunately for us, their blood is literally the only source of an important compound used for detecting the presence of dangerous bacteria in certain pharmaceutical drugs. (Fortunately, there are replacements that will hopefully become more popular in coming years.)

Now that we've gone over all that, onto the worldbuilding!

I worldbuild by Rule of Cool. Let's just get that out of the way. Every so often people will ask me how my worlds get so expansive (not WiB, WiB i made up on the fly by cribbing from fanfic and like... BBC Merlin. Assume very little of this holds true for WiB) and the answer is largely that I take every interest I have ever had in anything and smash it all together and throw it at my wip to see what sticks. and then I just... like... reasonably attempt to figure out what the natural conclusions will be.

So: we have lampreys. We have blue-blooded ancient sea creatures with spectacularly important and valueable blood. We are writing this into a story that takes place on land, somehow.

- The first option, and the one I'm going to talk about most because I did it, is just to rule-of-cool it into a character. (Or a place, or an item, or whatever, but largely I do rule-of-cool on living creatures and think harder about the world around them.) If you've been keeping up with WiB, you may have noticed that (spoilers) Zero Point is some kind of fucked up magician with a lamprey mouth in their hand who shapeshifts and bleeds blue. This is where I got those inspirations from (along with, like, some other stuff. I promise there are no lamprey assassins, but- continuing in the trend of stealing from sea creatures- the bobbin worm is a spectacularly beautiful, spectacularly deadly creature if you're within its weight range. which is like, goldfish size, but. And cuttlefish are known to disguise themselves as other animals, and can change sexes if the male:female ratio where they are isn't ideal.)

So you can take the elements you like, and just kind of slam them together haphazardly, which is what I did with Zero Point. The trick to this kind of worldbuilding is just to avoid looking too closely at it. The magical assassin has a fucked up mouth in their hand? Yeah, okay, that seems kind of fucked up and creepy. What do they do at all times? They hide it under a glove. So the protags Just Straight Up Never Ask. And voila; it never gets explained, and it never has to.

Same with the blue blood. It shows up, it functions as a plot device because only Zero Point has blue blood; it is never explained or even delved into with much detail. And if it were, it would fall apart instantly, because the justification is literally just "i thought it was neat. No, no one else is like that. I don't even know why they are. i just felt like it"

- The second option is to consider the effects of the things that you're working with, and then work off of that.

Let's take Zero Point again. Strip them of their context (weird assassin with magical powers) and just like, consider the fact that this is a creature with blood that regularly retails for over $10,000 USD, is intelligent as fuck, shapeshifts, has a mouth in their hand that may or may not be their actual mouth, and can exist on land so long as they have suitable access to water. What does that mean for our setting? Surely they're not the only person like that; so you have a whole species of people who are sort of but not really amphibious, shapeshift, and maybe have magical powers, who knows. They can't shapeshift their fucked up lamprey mouths, maybe. That seems like a reasonable limit. So their blood is highly valuable- what does that mean for their relations with other people, or their culture? What kind of foods do they eat? How do they create a sense of culture as shapeshifters; is there even a way that they represent themselves in art? How do they interact with the world? Do they have a "true form" or not? Every one of these questions will spawn new questions. If you answer all of them you'll lose your mind, but if you answer at least ten you'll spawn a much more background-heavy world that can help to shape your story much more effectively than trying to just craft a narrative will. Sometimes it works very well for a story. Sometimes it gets you lost in the weeds.

- The third option is to reference something else, and build off that. Again, let's use Zero Point as the example.

In the original story that the WiB ensemble is from, Closerverse, which may have some mentions on this blog but honestly I have no idea, there is a city that I've done quite a bit of worldbuilding on. This city is called Hudson, and one of the major important features of it is that it is partially underground. (This is a reference to the DFZ of Rachel Aaron's Heartstrikers series). Hudson is intentionally run to be the worst, most unpleasant city in the world, and one of its features are its wildly intelligent, dangerous forms of aquatic life. The lowest level of this city is partially submerged, and all of these creatures plague the people who live down there.

Closerverse was also set during a period of early industrialization, and Hudson heavily referenced US history, especially 1900s-1920s labor history. Tenements, pollution, zero protections for workers, et cetera. Hudson is a nasty, miserable place, and everyone who lives there can feel the jaws closing in on them.

Anyway, in Closerverse you got these fucked up massive eel-like creatures (lampreys, but with extra features) that due to some rather significant meddling wound up growing legs and then got really massive and started eating people. They have blue blood, glow in the dark, and make fairly decent eating as long as they aren't eating you. And they're intelligent. Given the whole "mutual eating each other" thing, the eels and the people of Hudson have some pretty major animosity going on.

Most of Zero Point's stuff is really just me referencing the Hudson Eels, because I fucking love those. They're some of my favorite worldbuilding elements ever. But given that no one else in WiB has ever seen a Hudson Eel, let alone seen their blood get dry on things, or whatever, everything about Zero Point is wildly out of context. And that almost makes it better, because the whole deal with them is that they're mysterious and weird, and having them be a mysterious and weird reference to something no one but I know about most likely is like, fun and neat.

There are, of course, other modes of worldbuilding as well, but I typically aim to stick to the first two as much as possible. The cooler you make something, the more possible questions it raises; the more questions something raises, the deeper your world gets.

Although, a word of advice: sometimes animals just do things. Sometimes bodies just have features. Who would invent fingernails? But having them is mighty convenient, isn't it? For that matter, who would come up with a deeply logical and reasoned explanation for eyebrows- but not having those would be very strange, to us. You can get away with doing a lot by just having that be how it is, and not having the characters comment on it.

Also, the more "shaped" a thing should be, the more you'll want to take the second approach. For house design, something intentionally built, you'll want to know why it was built, and what purpose is this and that room, and why is it painted such and such colors. But if you're talking about adding a second moon, like... fuck dude, who needs to know why there's a second moon? Maybe if you have sailors you have to know what it'll do to your oceans, but that's the kind of thing you can kind of just say exists and move on. You'll figure it out; it gets pretty intuitive.

Anyway, happy worldbuilding!

[morwensteelsheen]

History as an academic discipline is quite a bit more scientific than I think people on tumblr are really interested in giving it credit for. I don’t want to diagnose the root cause of the problem too much, but I do think it’s quite intimately related to the way in which lots of folk on here are driving by emotional politics rather than ideological politics — which is to say, people feel that something should be the case, and therefore believe X, Y, or Z, rather than people have a structural analysis of something, and therefore believe X, Y, or Z. This goes hand in hand with the rise of popular individualism in the anglo west in the late 70s, early 80s (see Emily Robinson et al.) and the various associates political/cultural elements therein. I won’t say more here, but this is a lot of what my research is on, So I do have thoughts.

Anyways — history is a far more scientific discipline than people are really ready to accept on here. When you go through training as a historian, you’re trained in a variety of methodologies and historiographical philosophies, and a lot of them sit in tension or contradiction with one another. However, even the most hardline subjectivists (like EH Carr, for example) would agree with this premise: historiographical narratives cannot be disproved on sentiment alone. They can only be disproved with sufficient research or reinterpretation of extant evidence. They cannot be disproved simply because they don’t feel right.

What that means — and this is an emotionally and politically complex reality of the field, please don’t assume that I’m endorsing it — is that as historians, we have to accept certain things as historical fact, even if we don’t necessarily agree with them morally or politically. For an example from my field, I think it’s incredibly gender essentialist and degrading to assert that ‘women tend to tell more emotive life histories and men tend to tell more event-oriented life histories.’ But the existing research says that this is true. In my research, I’ve worked to overturn this orthodoxy by uncovering new evidence of women who don’t tell emotive life histories and instead choose event-oriented narrative structures. I have also reinterpreted existing evidence to argue that the initial conclusions are wrong. However, given that my research has not yet stood up to peer review, nor has it been published, I have to accept that the state of historiographical play says that the above statement is true. I feel as if that’s wrong, but insofar as proving that it’s wrong goes, I haven’t met the criteria yet. I intend to, but I’m not there yet.

This is fine, this process doesn’t cause problems for trained historians, for archivists, museologists, etc. The problems arise when laypeople — particularly laypeople on social media — misinterpret how and why this process of knowledge production exists the way it does, and through that misinterpretation extrapolate information that they should not reasonably be extrapolating to draw illogical conclusions. To continue the example of my research, it would not be unsurprising to see people on tumblr call me a gender essentialist for accepting that historiographical premise in my work. It would not matter that politically I am not a gender essentialist, nor would it matter that my work seeks to problematise that gender essentialism, the very fact of my beginning with a widely-accepted (if politically and historically incorrect!) premise for my research would be enough to earn the GE label. You see this frequently with the generalisations that history as a discipline is homophobic, that historians are all colonisers, or that historical work is inherently misogynistic. The problem here is that it erases and complicates the work of historians who are trying to unsettle those norms — and the historians who are not homophobic, imperialist, or misogynistic and who are not working to unsettle those norms, but whose work nonetheless remains valid and important.

We, as historians, cannot problematise every bit of knowledge at all moments. The orthodoxy has to be chipped away bit by bit. I’m not going to say that it isn’t frustrating, tiring, or even (tbh) dehumanising, but it’s the state of the state in academia. But that we are forced to work within these incredibly tight parameters does not make us morally or politically illegitimate; if there is a way to secure a revolution in the academy that has not yet been tried, I would welcome advice on it. Such as it is, reform is the only plausible path forward (in the academy!!! Not generally!!!).

When people on tumblr, typically people who are not aware of how the historiographical process works, pontificate about historians writ large being homophobic/misogynistic/racist/whatever, they are actively damaging the historians who most need to be heard. The pale, male, and stale bourgeois academics aren’t hurt by those accusations, because they simply don’t give a fuck. Historians like me, however, queer, disabled, nb historians (for just one case), are hurt by those accusations. It functions as a delegitimisation of the research that I do, of the serious and credible political work I am undertaking both as a researcher and as an activist, and it encourages me to give up on this small corner of a wider struggle. If historians like me — or indeed historians not like me, but who do not fit the bourgeois academic mould — are chased out of the academy, you will not have succeeded in making history more accurate, more diverse, or more politically correct in its analyses. You will have, essentially, ceded the ground to the regressive orthodoxy. And for whatever criticisms I have of tumblr’s liberalism and general detachment from practical politics (go touch some fuckin’ grass guys!), I do not actually believe that you’re trying to undermine the effort to decolonise and democratise knowledge. I think a lot of you are being incredibly unhelpful and even very damaging, but I think it stems from ignorance, not malice.

Anyways, it’s really late, I’m very tired, I’ve had an incredibly difficult day dealing with people (historians! yes! bad women historians!) who promote rank misogyny in their obsession with emotive politics above serious politics, so I’ll do everyone a favour and stop talking and go to bed. But I do really wish people would approach this stuff with more sensitivity and respect than they do right now. Ugh. Okay. Night.

[terramythos]

TerraMythos 2021 Reading Challenge - Book 5 of 26

Title: Ninth House (Alex Stern #1) (2019) 

Author: Leigh Bardugo 

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Horror, Third-Person, Unreliable Narrator, Female Protagonist, LGBT Protagonist (?).

Rating: 9/10

Date Began: 1/31/2021

Date Finished: 2/06/2021

Alex Stern's had the ability to see ghosts for as long as she can remember-- and it's led her life in a terrible direction. At twenty, she is the sole survivor of a gruesome multiple murder case in Los Angeles. In the hospital, she's given a chance to turn her life around. She receives a full ride scholarship to Yale, but in return has to serve as an apprentice to Lethe House, an organization tasked with monitoring the shady magical dealings of the university's secret societies. Determined to leave her past behind, Alex accepts the offer.

But things start to go wrong partway into the school year. Her mentor Darlington disappears under mysterious circumstances. Months later, a young woman named Tara Hutchins turns up dead on a ritual night. Alex suspects the secret societies of Yale are involved in the murder, but no one seems willing to believe her. Going off a hunch, Alex decides to investigate on her own. But the past she's running from threatens to return and change everything.  

“All you children playing with fire, looking surprised when the house burns down.” 

Full review, minor spoilers, and content warnings under the cut. 

Content warnings for the book: Graphic violence, gore, murder, death, etc. R*pe, p*dophilia, grooming, abuse, and associated trauma depicted/discussed. Drug use, including recreational drug use, underage drug use, addiction, overdoses, and drugging without consent. Mind control/altered mental states. Body horror. Depictions of racism, antisemitism, and misogyny.

Ninth House is not the book I expected it to be. It has a generic-sounding concept; urban fantasy murder mystery! Protag with mysterious powers! Secret societies! I really liked Bardugo's YA Six of Crows duology, so I went in knowing she's a good writer and hoping for the best. Ninth House exceeded expectations for sure. This is one of those stories that has a lot going on beneath the surface, full of interesting twists, turns, and all-too-real social issues.

While this might seem like a “dark academia” kind of story, Ninth House is actually critical of the whole concept. The story takes place around Yale, stars college students, and focuses on the real-but-fictionalized secret societies of the university. But these details often feel incidental. Alex’s (and to some extent, Darlington’s) past, the murder investigation, and her ability to see ghosts is more important to the story. The societies are groups of privileged rich kids using magic for stupid and selfish ends. For example, one society kidnaps a dude, performs involuntary surgery on him, and reads his intestines to predict stock futures. Magic is apparently dying, and the societies have built themselves on top of the few nexuses of magical power in New Haven. The fact that a bunch of asshole college kids have near-exclusive access to a limited and powerful resource sure is a big problem. They’re also ultra pretentious, using certain languages or appropriating certain mythologies just because they seem more magical.

That’s not to say true mythological symbolism is totally absent. Water is a notable part of Ninth House, along with its associated meanings -- change, death, rebirth, cleansing the past, and so on. Lethe, the titular ninth house, gets its name from the river in Greek mythology. Anyone who knows its role there will have a fun time with certain story developments. There’s also a lot of tarot imagery not directly addressed in the story. So history/mythology is significant, but it’s not spoon-fed to the reader. 

There’s a lot of social commentary in the story told through a fantasy lens. Probably the most obvious one is r*pe culture and its horrific effects. Considering the numerous scandals centered around sexual violence, especially in colleges, it all feels very timely. There’s also a more general discussion of privilege and how it affects one’s access to a school like Yale. Alex is notably a victim of racism, misogyny, and poverty to some extent. Bardugo clearly did a lot of research about Yale and the social issues in the novel, and this comes through while reading. She even cites her many sources in the acknowledgements. 

While Ninth House is written in third-person, I still consider it an unreliable narrative. At the beginning, we know two major things about the past. (1) Darlington (the deuteragonist) disappeared under mysterious circumstances a few months ago and might be dead. (2) Alex, the main protagonist, was the sole survivor of a multiple murder case, but was cleared as a suspect For Reasons. Other than that, the narrative reveals few specifics about either event until much later in the story. When this finally happens, it changes a lot of things. There is also an interesting, character-driven reason why this information is obscured for so long-- but it's a big spoiler.

Bardugo also takes advantage of perspective limitations when switching between the Alex and Darlington chapters. One character might assume something, only for another character to introduce new context about it much later. This might be a simple concept, but it’s great when executed well. In particular I remember Alex doing something in an early chapter that seems in character at the time. Then a much later Darlington chapter throws it into question with a one-off line. I really like this kind of stuff in stories! It's an interesting way to characterize and worldbuild that's just plain fun to read. 

My LGBT Protagonist tag is a little vague because, while I'm reasonably sure Alex is bisexual, there's no direct confirmation in the story. Her relationship with Hellie does NOT come off as platonic, though. And while I'm pretty sure Darlington is meant to be the romantic interest character, Alex’s interactions with Dawes certainly give me Vibes. I have some suspicions where this might be going. Future volumes will probably address this more.

While I really liked the book, it's not quite a 10 because it's really dark, even for me. There are several (intentionally) disturbing and disgusting scenes that made me uncomfortable. Sexual violence is repugnant, and I appreciate that Bardugo depicts it in such a negative, traumatic light. But unlike Six of Crows (which explores this as well), Ninth House is pretty graphic, and I had a hard time getting through several scenes. It's a personal thing but did affect my overall enjoyment of the book. I can easily see other people having problems, too: it depends on your sensitivity to such content. 

In addition, Ninth House’s pacing drags after the big mid-story reveals. There's two exciting twists in a row, then a good quarter of the book to go after that. It's nice to view the story with new context in mind, but it feels slower and less interesting than the reveals themselves. The story also takes on a predictable "we SOLVED the mystery! ... or did we?" story loop, which I feel I've seen a million times. Alex does some real dumb/out-of-character stuff near the end in order to keep this going. That being said, while I predicted some of the final ending, I think it all comes together in a satisfying way. There's lots of little hints that are fun to go back to; Ninth House is one of those books where looking stuff up as you go REALLY helps. 

Ninth House lays the groundwork for an interesting series, and the ending is obvious sequel bait. I'm interested to see where the story could go based on some of the reveals and conclusions of the ending. There's also the impossible-to-ignore social commentary of the book; I have to wonder if that will continue in future plots, and what form that will take if so. Either way, whenever the next book comes out I’ll probably read it! 

[thebiblesalesman]

Right now I think there's a missed opportunity to work backwards from the Ayutthaya map and add a larger Thailand map and a Thai hero. I say "work backwards" because usually FFA maps like Necropolis or Kanezaka are based off an existing regular map and reuse assets from that map, but at the moment Ayutthaya is sort of standalone.

So a Thai hero or another hero from a SE Asian country are pretty high on my personal wishlist. I think SE Asia is outside the comfort zone for the US gaming industry, but Blizzard has the resources to pull it off- and they've even mentioned a character from Vietnam! And...he's in Talon... So how about someone who's not in Talon, but aside from that please go for it.

I can tell you from experience that it is not a burden to make a global cast. It is a joy, a learning experience, and an asset to the creative process. And if you take time to actually invite people from the population you are representing into the conversation, you end up with rich, convincing characters for people around the world to find themselves in.

Sometimes it's not a clean split like people from the US identify with the US characters or every Japanese person loves Genji (definitely not true), but authentically conveying someone's country invokes pride and love and familiarity, like Sigma's voiceline about stroopwafels or his spray where he eats salted herring. They also did a good job with Echo, except Echo is a robot so who cares lol.

I'm biased here- Genji is my favorite hero. I spent 3 years making up Shimada lore because I couldn't get enough of it. Yet even with that, I'm not completely sold on another Japanese hero that is part of the Shimada. I don't know that we need another hero to continue telling Genji and Hanzo's story, and my worry is that this person will be another anachronistic "I don't know what a gun is" caricature like the brothers (and like a lot of Japanese characters across all media).

It might be even worse than that. Genji and Hanzo bear a resemblance to a theatric character in kabuki called a hitogami ("man-god"), a warrior who grants possession of their body to a guardian deity. The presence of a dragon spirit connected to an elite family relates to a similar concept called ujigami. Hitogami tend to be protagonists in kabuki, and ujigami is also a positive concept.

But while foxes in Japan can be revered as messengers of the divine, they also have shades of trickery and possession by a fox is associated with witchcraft. There are also stories about foxes transforming into beautiful women and seducing men so that they can cause mischief. From the GameInformer silhouettes article, it seems likely that this new Shimada hero is female, and the "messenger of the divine" from Japanese Inari worship probably translates more to "servant of the Shimada" in Overwatchverse Japan.

So this female character would be a servant or assassin of the Shimada, who probably ran into Genji when he was on his "destroy the Shimada Clan" mission, and whose history is now tied to the brothers instead of being allowed to introduce new ideas.

And that's the real reason I think you'd want to add a new character from the same country- to show us new things about the culture, to explain that not everyone in Japan owns a katana, stuff like that. Sombra's initial concept was a Japanese hero named Omniblade whose theme was street fashion- I think that would be an awesome hero!

And I'm not trying to say you can't have a Japanese female hero associated with foxes. In fact I really like folktales about foxes (try watching the first 12 minutes of Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams", though tw for a suicide mention).

Rather, in this case it's the combination of factors that are setting off some alarm bells in my head right now. There are even things that aren't even from Blizzard that I think about, like the "Good Hunting" short from Netflix's Love Death + Robots last year, which is about the Chinese hulijing (fox spirit from which the Japanese kitsune inherited a lot of its more negative traits) and contains a ton of misogyny and sexual violence. Basically, I've seen this subject mishandled before.

It's also because I know Blizzard has in the past Google-translated Japanese on Hanzo's skins/the infamous Hanamura map scroll, which suggests to me that there aren't any Japanese people working on these Japanese characters. To be fair I think it's gotten a lot better in recent years- the Tengu skins, for example, are awesome. Hanzo's dance is awesome (I'm a real sucker for anything involving dancing or food). Weirdly enough, although Hanzo's skins have been the butt of jokes, Genji's Oni skin from 2017 not only had appropriate translations but really cool connections to actual figures from Japanese history.

And getting translations and cultural points right is a big deal. People can tell if you're a white person trying to write a Japanese person's story without study or visiting the country. If you have the resources, you absolutely should have cultural consultants and sensitivity readers, or even people from other countries directly on your dev team!

Like I mentioned Sigma, who was developed with the help of Dutch staff, but did you know that this year Blizzard shut down their office in The Hague? It was not a dev office, but if you're shutting down your links to a community, how are you going to make heroes that connect to that community? In a similar vein, the person who added an explicitly SE Asian character to an Overwatch story was of Filipino & Chinese descent herself, but now she's left the company. And Michael Chu, who for better or worse has been considered the face of Overwatch's story, has also left.

I don't know enough about this hero to comment further, but those are my current thoughts. I'm real interested to see the starting line-up for Overwatch 2. At the moment I think this hero, Sojourn, Mauga, and Junkerqueen are guaranteed. It would be cool if they added Asian heroes outside of Japan/China/Korea, but I would still appreciate another MEKA pilot or another Japanese hero too, so long as they are showcasing something different.

[off-in-the-moors]

It is not the responsibility of art to be morally instructive. It is 100% YOUR responsibility to research something if you know you are a sensitive person, take responsibility for your self. Art does not need to be some clinical sanitized morality play, get over your weird Puritanical obsession that all art must conform to your specific world view. Either engage in challenging works or stick to children’s cartoons where you can feel ‘safe’.

-

Dear Anon,

I’m truly confused by this. I have no idea what are you referencing and what “inspired“ you to send me this “ask“. But I will do my best to give you something.

(It only took me this long to answer, bc I don’t log in very often.)

Let’s start with your assumption of me.

I’m not a sensitive person, in any meaning. I actually love reading and engaging in media that’s morally questionable or straight up morbid and disturbing. Some of my favorite thing are: paintings by Goya and Beksiński, folklore/mythology (in it’s most unchanged form), “Perfume“ both film and book, Hannibal tv series, true crime, to name a few. Your assumption that I’m just “a girl obsessed and only enjoying modern cartoons“ is insulting.

I actually do agree with you that art, in any form, isn’t responsible to be morally instructive, but every work of art is made to send some form of message, be an obvious one or hidden between pages. In my opinion, authors and writers should be aware of what message they want to send with their works and what messages they are sending with what and how they’re presenting.

On your “It is 100% YOUR responsibility to research something if you know you are a sensitive person, take responsibility for your self“ this is also true. But on the other hand, given media should provide you with some kind of warning and not a third party entity. For example, if I pick-up a YA book from a bookstore, bc of its synopsis or someone (be a person I know or a creator) recommended it to me, I don't expect "spicy" scenes or blatant a*use of a character by its love interest or just "torture p*rn" scenes in it but here they are. With no warning. Is it my fault? Partly yes. Is it the media's fault for not giving me any warnings? Also yes.

Even with researching "warnings" isn't that simple. When it comes to books, the only way is reading reviews or recommendations. With reviews, they're either positive and say nothing book related or are negative and full of spoilers. Recommendations nowadays most of the time don't even give you what the story is about, just "it has x, y and z in it", let alone "warnings". From my own experience, they either don't tell you about "unappropriated" stuff (be r*pe, d*ug a*use, a*use, etc.) or they down play them and in worst cases, excuse it or say "it gets better/it's addressed in the next book/later in the series".

But if you feel the need to micromanage everything you engage in, go for it. But most people don't and a warning would be nice.

(This of course doesn't apply to thing and character's actions deemed "problematic". If said stuff is well handled and addressed, it's perfectly ok to portray it. But again, if it addressed and/or showed as wrong, and not ignored, excused, or played as a joke.)

I don't know from where you took the "your weird Puritanical obsession", bc 1) I never petitioned for that in my posts, and 2) I'm actually against censuring and sanitation of media.

Now, on to what "inspired" you to write this.

Again, I have no f-clue. So here are my best guesses:

If it's about Pathologic: I only have problem with people forcing their politics, modern sentiments and opinions/interpretations on to something they don't fully understand, because they're from a different cultural climate. An American can't fully (or in some cases, refuses to) understand something made by Europeans (in this case Russians) for Europeans in mind. I don't want to mix myself into the fandom discourse/drama, because I don't care what people think or how they interpret stuff, even if it's taken from something minor or from nowhere with no support (or even is debunked) in canon. I don't care if people like or hate this one character. Just don't police people for liking things, you don't like. Nor do public shaming or send people on those you don't agree with. You don't like a pixel man on platform shoes? Fine. Just don't bully and attack people who do.

If it's about my post about B*rdugo's adult book: I will admit, the wording and presentation wasn't the best. I was writing it from a place of strong emotions, but I'm still standing by my opinion that some things should not be presented with graphic details in a book without any type of warning. Here we could have a discussion about trigger warnings in books, hers response to the idea of putting them on her book and what is consider "too far", but this isn't about that. I actually have a lot of problems with B*rdugo and her fan-base, besides that. Her use of Russia, it's history, religion iconography and culture only for aesthetic and not doing proper research (she called her series "Greg's trilogy") or showing any respect for it (with characters, how are not main and secondary characters, a Slavic stereotype); her portray of dyslexia and how the fandom likes to use it as a joke in relation to this character; or people shielding her from any form of criticism with "She's is xyz, so she can write this". But I don't care about her and her works.

I stopped reading YA books, because I can't stand them any longer and their "handling" of topics, with people holding up every-single-one as "the best book ever written", not because of the quality or story but because the author is xyz, and spitting at every book written before 2000s. I'll get flag for it but YA novels are the Pulp fiction of our times (of course not all, but most of the popular ones are). I stopped trusting people recommending them to me, because 90% of the time, I'm just disappointed by them.

If it's about K and TRC: I already said so much about this. Margaret isn't aware of her audience, she writes for herself (which she admitted on a podcast) and refuses to change it to please anyone. She created and killed K for two reasons: to further Ronan's character arc (to be used for teaching him to dream better and a (not working) foil of him (or Adam... or Gansey)) and as her weird catharsis of killing everything she hates (who she apparently was; "fratty boys and chortling men") personified as one boy (and yes, boy, because this fandom likes to forget he’s only seventeen, the same age as the Gangsey. If you excuses their actions, like Ronan and Adam’s racist jokes or Gansey’s toxic behaviors towards Adam with “they’re just teenagers”, why K is excluded from being a stupid teen?). With Jordan, it's now obvious that she has a bias of suffering/dealing with your trauma (and addiction) "in the right way", of which in her eyes, K wasn't. She could not create K or she could not make him a harmful stereotype of a Slav, but she did. In a book targeted at 13-18 year olds, we have a drug-addicted boy committing a public s*icide and being demonized and forgotten by everyone.

But I'm done with this fandom, I never had a place in it. TRC fandom is 80% P*nch with a 1% being about K, but even this little corner is "too much" for the stans. I left for a reason, the only thing I regret is not apologizing for my out-burst. If someone who knows what I’m referencing is reading this, I’m truly sorry.

So, yea. I hope, I addressed your issue, Anon.

[echodrops]

*Slides in on a office chair* Now that you shared some of your HaaH headcanons for Shiro and Hunk, can you do Lance and Lotor?

Didn’t want to post these until I finally had some time to update them a bit and trim out spoilers, but I got a second last night, so here you are:

HaaH Lance and Lotor headcanons:

(Under the cut to save everyone’s dash)

First, a warning: Neither one of these characters’ backstories or plot event headcanons remotely line up with the show, one because I originally wrote most of this stuff around the time season 2-3 was being released and two, because I stopped watching Voltron after season 6 and have no intention of watching the rest of the show due to my dislike for the directions the writing took. I went back and updated some stuff, such as the names of some of Lance’s siblings, to more closely match what came later in the show… but for the rest… I’m just gonna do my own thing and pretend canon does not exist.

Lance:

- The literal definition of “rich as fuck.” When relaxations on economic policy were passed in Cuba that increased opportunities for private business, Lance’s grandfather made a solid deal for three massive sugar refineries. Today, artisanal coffee houses across the world utilize the sugar refined in Lance’s family’s factories.

- Grew up in a giant villa on the peninsula just outside the town of Varadero, on a sprawling property that included a long stretch of beachfront and individual bungalows for visiting family members and the family’s several live-in staff members.

- The whole family is incredibly down to earth despite this. Lance’s aunt and grandmother insist on having a hand in every family meal, Lance’s parents always make time to be involved in the children’s activities, and Lance was taught from a very young age never to take advantage of people, regardless of their position in the world.

- Lance is the baby of his immediate family by almost ten years. He was an accident that occurred after Lance’s mother believed she was too old to become pregnant. Of course his parents never treated Lance like an accident and loved him, but still, Lance has never been able to shake the idea that he wasn’t planned—and therefore he wasn’t wanted.

- He has four older siblings, two sisters and two brothers.

- All of Lance’s siblings are extremely successful in their careers. Lance’s oldest sibling, his sister Veronica, is a captain of the Cuban Navy and commands the impressive warship Audaz. Lance’s second oldest sibling, his brother Yuniel, is a decorated conservational ecologist working to protect Matanzas’ native forests. Lance’s third sibling, his brother, Marco, is a famous solo folk musician who made it big in Cuba. Rachel, Lance’s closest sibling, runs an immersion-based cultural heritage museum that preserves the rich and complicated history of Cuba and its people.

- In short—Lance grew up surrounded by the rampant success of his older siblings, watching as they excelled at everything they pursued—which just bred a greater and greater sense of insecurity in him, as he feared he would never be able to measure up.

- On Lance’s eighth birthday, in an attempt to cheer up his very depressed youngest son, Lance’s father dragged the family’s telescope down to the beach so that they could watch a space shuttle launching from the cape in Florida. At first Lance couldn’t work up the slightest interest, but when he finally saw the huge plume of the shuttle, arcing off into the unknown depths of space, he had a Moment™. Lance knew, right then and there, exactly what he was going to do with his life, something that none of his siblings had ever achieved: he was going to go into space and explore worlds unknown.

- Lance decided that he had, absolutely HAD, to go to Galaxy Garrison when he grew up. This part worried his parents, who pointed out that Garrison was not only in another country but also a solely English-speaking school and extremely competitive. Nonetheless, Lance was determined that he would not settle for anything less than the absolute best.

- Was totally that space obsessed kid. Still thinks Black Holes are the coolest thing in the universe. His parents bought so much “Astronaut” ice cream that they probably kept that entire industry afloat.

- Lance attended Garrison’s summer Astrocamp in Arizona when he was nine. Quickly made friends with his cabin-mate, Hyrum Tava. The nickname “Hunk” came about from a slip-up when Lance tried to compare his new friend to one of his favorite American cartoon characters, the Incredible Hulk.

- Even after leaving the Astrocamp, Lance and Hunk stayed close friends, exchanging frequent emails and phone calls, which helped Lance stay on top of memes popular trends back in the states.

- Shiro was Lance’s cabin leader at the Astrocamp, and his kindness and exciting stories about actually visiting space(!!) made a huge impression on Lance. Lance… may or may not have had a celebrity shrine to Shiro made of photos and news clippings taped to his wall for several years. Whatever, every kid does it and he took it down eventually, gosh!

- Identifies as bisexual, but has never successfully dated anyone, male or female. Due to several bad experiences and close calls, Lance doesn’t talk about his sexuality or express any attraction to men except around people he is extremely comfortable with. Hunk has known for years, of course. (In fact, it was Lance’s struggle with his feelings that helped Hunk develop strong sympathy for LGBT people, despite the fact that his religion is very against it.)

- Never had a real kiss. Might be just a tiny bit desperate to have a real first kiss.

- Also might buy a bit too much into the idea of needing to be stereotypically attractive to fit in. Although his nightly beauty regime is now a comforting routine, it originally stemmed from Lance being extremely self-conscious about his looks. He’s more comfortable about his body than he used to be, but he still frequently compares himself negatively against others; do you know what kind of hell it is to have to share a locker room with people like Shiro?

- Cries at the drop of a hat. Sad book? Sad movie? Abandoned kitten? Dropped something on his toe? Tears times ten thousand. Lance was never pressured by his family to “man up;” in fact, he was always encouraged to empathize, so Lance is extremely sensitive to others’ feelings. (He and Hunk are a great fit in this regard.) He can perceive even minute changes in people’s emotions and is always ready to cheer up people who are down.

- He can’t read Keith for crap though. Not really his fault. Keith’s a literal alien.

- Lance’s extreme empathy actually backfires on him. Because being sensitive to others is second nature to him, it’s often hard for Lance to remember that not everyone is as perceptive as he is. Lance has, many times, mistaken the other paladins’ obliviousness for indifference. Everyone on the ship cares deeply about Lance and would never want him to feel bad about himself—but not everyone on the ship is perceptive enough to notice when Lance’s insecurities are affecting him.

- Wasn’t put in the cargo pilot classes at Garrison because of his flight test scores—most green cadets have zero flight experience and all do pretty badly at first. Lance was placed in cargo class because he scored too high on a combat sensitivity test, indicating that he was a poor fit mentally for becoming a soldier. Fighting monstrous looking aliens is one thing, but Lance would have coped very, very badly if he’d ever been required to kill another human being.

- Struggled to fit in at Garrison. After the crushing disappointment of ending up in cargo class, Lance also dealt with a lot of people treating him like an outsider because he was an international student. “Why is someone from Cuba trying to join the U.S. military? Are you a spy?”

- Couple that with the complicated student visa process and how his status as an international student might affect his ability to take part in Garrison-sanctioned internships and cross-border activities, and Lance felt utterly alienated at Garrison in his first few months.

- May… or may not have done exactly what his parents taught him not to do by looking for a scapegoat to take out his frustrations on. Keith, the lone wolf, ace pilot pretty boy who was too cool to even talk to the rest of the cadets (really thought he was too good to even make eye contact with Lance, huh?!) was an obvious target. Keith had every single thing that Lance had ever wanted in his whole life—the combat class, the talent, the prestige, the respect, the effortless looks—and he didn’t even seem happy to have it!

- Lance had never hated anyone before in his entire life, but Lance hated Keith—Keith basically came to stand in for every obstacle in Lance’s way, every mocking insult thrown Lance’s way, every harsh reminder from the professors that he’d never even be close to good enough, never measure up when someone like that existed… Lance started to honestly believe that the only way he’d ever be able to achieve his entire life goal was if Keith was taken out of the picture—something that proved unfortunately true when Lance was bumped up to combat class the moment Keith went missing from Garrison.

- Lance never actually said any of this stuff to Keith’s face before Keith left Garrison (Lance dreaded his parents finding out he’d been rude), but he would shit-talk Keith to anyone who would listen, a bad habit that was reinforced by people actually accepting Lance more when he started gossiping and spreading rumors than when he’d just tried to be genuinely nice.

- Even though he’d like to repair his relationship with Keith now that they’re teammates, Lance has no idea how to do that after so much time has passed. He really has no clue how to treat Keith normally after building him up into such a bitter rival. It’s… a work in progress.

- A big fan of RPG games and roleplaying. Definitely gets the most in-character when it comes to Monsters and Mana. His favorite thing about meeting new cultures is discovering nifty space items that look like key items from video games. Used to play old school RPGs with his cousins every afternoon. Playing with Pidge is extremely nostalgic for him.

- Has a host of other hobbies that don’t get much use inspace but are nevertheless impressive: he can surf, dive, and was part of a traditional dance group all the up until he left for Garrison. He doesn’t tend to think much of his hobbies as they’re not exactly practical skills you need every day in a space war, but the other members of Team Voltron are quietly impressed whenever they’re reminded of the cool things Lance can do.

- Lance has the strongest bond with his lion of any of the paladins. His connection with Blue is so innate that he can actually activate Blue’s abilities from outside his lion.

- The first one of the paladins to transform his bayard and the only one whose bayard can take three forms. And no, none of the three is a sword because what was the point of that, even??? Lance can wield his standard blaster, a long rifle, and dual pistols. The strength of theshots from Lance’s bayard can be consciously controlled—his thoughts and intentions determine whether a shot has the strength to kill or merely stun.

- Lance’s incredible aim isn’t a natural talent. Actually he’s spent hours and hours in a shooting range he found in the castle, working on perfecting his shot. Just like the gladiator levels on the training deck, the targets in the range keep getting harder and harder, but Lance is progressing very well. No one but Coran knows that Lance has been training so hard with his bayard, since Lance desperately wants to pretend his skill is all natural and has sworn Coran to secrecy. Coran covers for him by pretending he’s sent Lance off on absurd cleaning missions all the time.

- Is 1000% Coran’s favorite of the paladins. Coran won’t even try to lie if asked. Although Coran has never expressed it out loud, he sees Lance as an example of the brave, kind-hearted son he would have hoped to raise—if his son had survived the war. (On Lance’s part, although he’s also never shared this, Coran reminds him very much of his beloved uncle, who passed away when Lance was very young, but whom he still remembers well and extremely fondly.)

- After his uncle passed away, Lance’s aunt moved in with Lance’s parents permanently, and Lance essentially helped to raise his two very young cousins, Nadia and Silvio. Lance does have very good experience with children—unfortunately for him, what human children respond well to doesn’t always work for Galra kids!        

Lotor:

- Has not spent 10,000 years kicking about the universe. We’re not doing that weird “If he’s immortal because of the rift creatures then how come his governess is still alive?” plot hole song and dance routine from the actual show. Lotor was born after the war decimated the Alteans 10,000 years ago, but due to Haggar’s condition (aka being, you know, dead), he was essentially unable to live on his own and was placed in cryostasis very shortly after being born.

- Roughly 20 years before the discovery of the Blue Lion on Earth, Haggar used advancements in quintessence manipulation technology to successfully revive the infant Lotor. But she didn’t wake him for no reason—she has a very specific intention for her son, a long endgame plan, of which Lotor and even Zarkon are currently unaware.

- We’re also not doing that dumb “How could Haggar—the only remotely Altean-looking being in all of Zarkon’s presence—possibly be my mother?” plot from the show either. Lotor is aware that Haggar is his mother, although he has never been able to infiltrate her research facilities and therefore has no idea how an Altean scientist ended up where she did, looking like she did, and siding with the Galra against her own people.

- Because his parents’ past and his own origins are such a mystery, Lotor is obsessed with learning the truth of the war, the Alteans, and every hidden secret from that time period, including Voltron and the mysterious “rift.” He devours any information he can get on this period of history, and especially on Alteans, voraciously.

- But even though he’ll take any pieces of information he can get, Lotor’s real favorite obsession is mythology. He’s a deep lover of folklore and fairytales, bestiaries and local legends, and more than one assassin has traded a good story in exchange for having his life spared. Lotor may or may not hunt for space cryptids in his spare time. However, no single legend occupies Lotor’s mind as much as the legend of the mythical realm of Oriande, home of the ancient Altean alchemists. As practical as he tries to appear, Lotor has never given up his deep-down childish wish to be the one who finds the promised land of Oriande and prove it is real. But when he thinks back… Where was it that he first heard about Oriande, again? Who told him…?

- That entire thing with the hidden Altean colonies is just… not going to happen. The writers were bad and they should feel bad. Although Lotor has looked, after 10,000 years and plenty of centuries of hiding any Altean connections, distinguishing those who still have Altean blood has become essentially impossible.

- Part of the reason Lotor has looked for Alteans is that he was born with a bizarre grab-bag of Altean instincts and abilities and no guidance on how to deal with them, because he’s certainly not going to reveal to Haggar that he has unexplained talents like precognition and the ability to speak to planets. Growing up with half of his bloodline extinct has been ROUGH on Lotor.

- Speaking of growing up… Even though he remains the crown prince on official record, Lotor took the first opportunity he could to leave his parents’ sphere of influence, and he has not physically been back to Galra Central Command in more than ten years.

- Lotor is effectively a universal wanderer. Aboard his personal ship the Urbanus (a Destroyer-class star cruiser which has been heavily modified and improved by Lotor himself), Lotor and his generals travel wherever they like, both within the Galra Empire and outside it, dodging Haggar’s frequent attempts to re-exert control over Lotor and even more frequent assassination and kidnapping attempts from Zarkon’s enemies.

- Although Lotor has a very specific goal in mind, progress on this goal has been slow and painstaking, and he’s often left waiting for the next bare bones clue to chase after; this has resulted in the young prince having an unfortunate abundance of free time, which is dangerous for everyone involved. In between progress on his mysterious life’s goal, Lotor and his generals frequently get into trouble with small planets, local governments, militaries both official and off-the-books, giant monsters, and at least two hundred museum curators. They may or may not be wanted for grave-robbing in 13 different star systems.

- Basically he’s space Indiana Jones, if Indiana Jones was still 20 and also purple and also not being paid enough to be a good guy.

- All that said, as much of a devil-may-care rogue as he’d like to be seen, Lotor did spend all of his childhood under the thumb of the empire’s brutal authoritarian dictators, and he is therefore every inch a crown prince; as befitting one of his stature, he speaks eight languages fluently, flawlessly matches his formal dress to the occasion, knows exactly which piece of silverware to use when, can engage in political battles of wits and diplomatic machinations with the best of them, and has been training in armed combat since he was three years old. Lotor’s impeccable manners and steely leadership ability were literally beaten into him, to the point that now, even among trusted allies, he sometimes finds it difficult to turn off his cold, calculated princely persona.

- Not that his generals really let him get away with that kind of thing for long. Only those who have lived with multiple older sisters can truly understand the constant state of teasing and mortifying blackmail that Lotor lives in. On official record, Lotor’s generals are a crack team of terrifying bodyguards; in practice, they’re more likely to be dragging Lotor for all he’s worth than rescuing him. They might keep up formal appearances in front of others, but they’re effectively a close-knit family behind the scenes.

- It’s not a coincidence that all of Lotor’s generals are women; besides generally being awful, most Galra men make Lotor uncomfortable. From a human standpoint, Lotor is ridiculously tall and powerful; but from a Galra standpoint, Lotor is a thin, unhealthy-looking thing whose stature doesn’t command authority or respect in the slightest. It’s exhausting feeling like you have to constantly prove yourself, so Lotor prefers to spend time with a group that doesn’t invite negative comparison.

- However, it should be noted that a Galra man having only female friends has completely different connotations than a human man having only female friends—Galra women are, on the whole, considered more aggressive, bloodthirsty, and over-bearing than Galra men, so any Galra man who would choose to surround himself with that many women must either be out of his mind or incredibly badass.

- When asked what it’s like to live with four beautiful women, Lotor is basically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ personified. Despite living together for years, none of the generals are romantically interested in Lotor and he’s not romantically interested in any of them.

- Many people have incorrectly assumed that Lotor and Axca are a pair, but Lotor helped Axca escape from a slave colony and she will never let another man touch her in her life. Axca is extremely grateful and loyal to Lotor, but given that Axca was Lotor’s first real friend, he’s just as grateful to her.

- If you think I’m killing off Narti, you’re out of your mind.

- Despite the fact that Lotor does not feel connected to the Galra Empire or the Galra as a whole, he’s somewhat more traditional and more likely to conform to Galra social standards than he wants to admit (even to himself). He insists that he has no interest in upholding the classic values of the Galra or meeting their expectations for how a prince should behave—but in truth, it’s impossible to fully kill that deep-down desire to just fit in. When push comes to shove, Lotor always finds himself falling in line with the Galra’s oldest and most deeply ingrained beliefs.

- With Lance in the “has never had a real kiss” club. Is not with Lance in the “wants a real kiss” club. Lotor is actually uncomfortable with being touched by strangers (36 assassination attempts will do that to you) and doesn’t make real friends, let alone anything closer, remotely easily. Some people are open books; Lotor is that one book from Harry Potter that bites people’s fingers off when they try to open it. Once you’re in his inner-circle, he’ll let you hang all over him, but before that, the space bubble is ten feet in every direction.

- Doesn’t actually put any special effort into his appearance. He just Looks Like That™.

- In fact, he actually kind of hates that stupid cowlick hair that’s always in his face but no matter how many times he cuts it off or slicks it back, it just keeps falling right back in his eyes. He’s basically given up at this point.

- His sword’s name is Eris and it was actually forged in the heart of a dying star.

- Kova the space cat hates Lotor. Lotor hates Kova. It’s a mutually antagonistic relationship. Somehow though, Lotor never makes any effort to get rid of Kova and Kova never takes the opportunity to leave. No one else understands it either, especially since Lotor gets along great with basically every other animal he meets.

- He’s not a pacifist by any means, but he is painfully practical and knows that, on occasion, sparing the life of one’s enemy nets more gain than indiscriminately crushing opponents beneath his heel. More manipulative than outright aggressive, he’s easily capable of twisting even the worst of situations to his advantage. Has an unfortunate tendency to be overly cunning—sometimes the tricks and twists he comes up with are unnecessarily full of flourish just because he thinks manipulating people like pieces in a board game is extremely entertaining. Riddles and mind games are Lotor’s favorite—the more convoluted, the better.

- Although most people refer to him by the basic “Prince Lotor” (Lotori Ahn in Galra), Lotor’s full name and official title is Lotori Kir Ahnja Avel i’ya ne Daibazaal, His Royal Highness Prince Lotor of the First Star. As the emperors and empresses of the Galra are said to be physical representations of the goddess, the firstborn children of emperors/empresses are always called “the first star,” after the supposed first creation of the goddess.

- Extremely competitive, but mostly about weird things—like sure he’s going to win if you challenge him to a swordsmanship duel, but challenge him to a staring contest? Your eyes will rot out of your head before this boy will blink. Do not think he will let you beat him in a spelling bee. More than once the generals have had to drag him away from getting involved in the bizarre competitions of the alien cultures they come into contact with. He was 1000% ready to learn to knit eight-armed sweaters with Rikrik fur, thank you. Would totally take up pig-farming JUST to win an Earth state fair.

- Likes to collect interesting artifacts and trinkets of lost civilizations by force if necessary. His ship is basically a floating museum at this point. The generals are starting to worry that they’re going to have add a whole ‘nother deck for all the war prizes Lotor wins himself. Lotor’s gathering hobby extends to games too—he’s a big fan of games that involve sets of items, like Renni, the Galra collectible card game. Would 110% be that Magic the Gathering nerd back on earth.

- In terms of other interests, Lotor is the picture definition of a Renaissance man. Although he’s not a flawless genius savant in every field, he is wicked smart and has studied a vast array of subjects; he’s a capable engineer, a skilled mathematician, a deft philosopher, a good scientist, and extremely well-read, and he is not going tolet you forget any of those things at any point in time. Lotor is always going to be better than you, please just accept your fate.

- Art is… another story. He might be able to sketch detailed architectural blueprints without breaking a sweat but ask him to draw a dog and you’re going to be in for some trouble.

And that’s more than enough for now I think! XD

[katribou]

hey! saw your post and was just wondering (no hate from me its totally your opinion) how come you didn't like future connected? I didnt think it was perfect but I definitely liked it and was just curious what you thought?😄

first off this is no attack on anyone who enjoyed the epilogue! it just peeves me personally. anyway i’ve gone and rambled a bit... my main gripe with it is melia’s characterization with regards to her mixed heritage… it’s prob something i’m more sensitive to considering i myself am biracial. personally i find the way she deals with the half-blooded extremist mess that is gael’gar goes against her original character arc.

so! lets start with the main game just to see with where i’m coming from. in the story, we learn that melia is half high entian and half homs, and how that affects almost every facet of her life. she is a crown princess, but she feels very isolated because of her heritage. just before her father dies she reveals how she always felt he never loved her, and she thought that was because she was not pure blooded. this is a telling moment; despite how good melia is at keeping face, being a royal and all, living with such a burden on the psyche like that is no small thing. it is something that defines a person and most certainly not something one would quickly forget. (remember that point...)

of course as the story goes on it’s revealed melia and her homs half are basically a failsafe for their civilization because pure blooded high entians are ultimately fated to revert back into their ancestral telethia forms and basically become monsters. so mainly just the mixed-bloods are left in the aftermath.

that brings us to future connected. among the survivors, the gang meets another half-blooded high entian called gael’gar. in their first meeting, he goes ‘a new age dawns, and we half-breeds are chosen for its caretakers! with you, lady melia, as our shining paragon.’ to which melia responds ‘hmph. i have no patience for wheedling. especially… from knaves who spit on their ancestors.’

a couple things here. melia’s response feels so… haughtily out of character to me. i can understand her maybe trying to be modest regarding the ‘wheedling’ comment, as gael’gar does come off as a bit pretentious but her overall response lacks so much diplomacy as she is known for. yes this dude is a bit of a freak from the get-go but….. her immediate takeaway from this is Knave Who Spits On Our Ancestors? her immediate reflex is to defend the original pure-bloods??? not only that but melia is a sympathetic and compassionate character. why is she so quick to be defensive and lightly hostile to this person? surely she is sympathetic to some of his feelings about being half-blooded? and being an empress in a new era surely she wouldn’t be so dismissive and hear people out more? it would have made more sense if she at least tried to see eye to eye with him and then realize maybe he's beyond help

bunch of stuff later, gael’gar becomes an antagonist, he tries to thwart research into recovering entian culture because of his oddly extremist ideology and says ‘we are what the race ought to become! we are the true face of the high entia!’ to which melia responds with ‘if not for our ancestors, we would never even have drawn breath! you will not so easily refute our history!’ i get her second line; i understand her responsibility in having to preserve the legacy of the entians as empress. but but that first line is so oddly defensive. maybe it’s because she’s a royal i guess lol but doesn’t feel very melia... who says stuff like that..?

gael’gar is a whole other story. what a joke of a character. he annoys me so much because, and i know this is a fantasy game, but biracial people are straight up Not like that. they literally copy-pasted a purist attitude onto him and it makes no sense. i mean this dude is obviously written as a nutcase so maybe that’s the end of the conversation there, but i find him so comical and unbelievable...

and in all of this? melia somehow never even brings up her own mixed heritage! i mean it’s not flat out ignored of course, gael’gar was obsessed with her for being this progenitor of half-breeds. but like? considering how much she dealt with in her own life for being half-blooded, how does she never bring up her own experiences and empathize? it literally feels like she forgot she faced that kind of discrimination! recall above how i said thats not something one simply forgets??? that stuff shaped her! multiple times there were literal attempted assassinations on her life because she was named successor to the throne but she was half-blooded. how does something like that not… come up? melia proves herself understanding and compassionate throughout the main game, how is she so quick to brush off someone as being inconsiderate of their ~ancestors~ instead of looking within to her own experiences at being discriminated as a half-blood?

it just does not feel right to me. which i find saddening. i really love melia and i feel like it got her wrong. part of the reason i love her is that her narrative involves mixed heritage, and there isn’t a whole lot of media that actually meaningfully delves into that, which is why i appreciated her in the original game. but the way they made this weird nutcase character who they put a negative spin on for being so loud about his half-blooded-ness, while oddly not bringing up that melia too is this way... just doesn’t sit all that well with me

[thelordofdarkreunion]

Tongues of Fire- Empire Week Parade Scene

I assure all of you that I am working most diligently on the Magnificent Scoundrels stories.  Currently, I have two just about finished.  However, I feel bad about not posting anything for a while, so I will give you this.  It is the intro scene of Thomas Drake’s galaxy.  I hope you like it.  If you have any requests for stories, please feel free to ask.  

“One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.” -Thomas Paine, Common Sense

Vorketh, Capital of the Empire of Prosium

It was Empire Week.  A celebration of all the achievements of the Empire of Prosium; technology, art, architecture, culture, and, definitely the most important to any proud Imperial citizen: military.  It was day one of the celebration, and today, on the broad streets of Vorketh Prime, the capital city of the capital world, the Empire of Prosium gave a military parade for all to see.  People and aliens from throughout the galaxy came to see the main parade of Empire Week.  Quite simply, there was nothing else like it in the known universe.  The entire Imperial Ninth Army would march through the streets, in a massive display of strength that no one else in the galaxy could even hope to match.  Fighters and gunship transports would buzz overhead in perfect formation, while massive ships of the line, this year led by the dreadnought Executioner, could be seen in low orbit above the planet.  The Emperor himself would be present at the ceremonies, as would every single monarch of the various solar systems of the Empire, including King Alderic of the Zerith System.  

Alderic looked across the raised platform along the parade grounds to where the parade would start, the Citadel of Vorkerth.  The sky was a grey color, lit well enough that people could easily see, and quite common on Vorketh, unlike the rich blue sky of Earth, the original homeworld of the human race.  The white stone architecture of the capital streets stood out against the jet black of the world’s massive planetary defense cannons.  He looked around.  There were a great many Federation humans here, enough to outnumber even the other various species the Empire controlled.  Odd, but it mattered little.  There were always a lot of them here.  He sighed to himself.  The Federation.  So argumentative.  So much...lack or purpose.  Everyone within the Empire of Prosium knew what they wanted to become, and if they didn;t, they served in the military.  Although, he himself never wanted to be King of the Zerith System, oddly enough.  But sometimes, circumstances were out of the control of individuals.  

He was generally thought as a handsome man, and many thought he looked like a more rugged version of the Emperor.  He was wearing his full kingly regalia, complete with cloak, crown, and sword.  His various medals hung on his chest, pinned on what the Empire called a tunshi, or a cross between a tunic and a shirt.  Black pants with a gold stripe running vertically down the leg covered his legs, and black dress boots that ran up to the knee protected his calves.  Next to him stood two of his closest friends.  Queen Naatz wore almost the exact same thing as he did, the only difference being she had several different medals than he did, and the crown from the system she ruled had slight variations in the design.  King Wachek had the same base design, but, fitting his personality, it was much more flamboyant.  Everything was styled and hugged his slim form perfectly, and a shorter crown than Alderic or Naatz covered his slicked back blond hair.  At his side was a thin rapier, unlike the heavy medieval-style Imperial Guard swords carried by Alderic or Naatz.  Each of the three monarchs ruled a somewhat mediocre system, not extremely important to the Empire, but not some backwater hovel, either.  This was what originally had brought the three together.  They were no one extremely important within the Council of Monarchs, but they still held some sway.  They were all savvy enough to realize that by banding together, they could get a lot more done than they ever could separate.  That political alliance had, eventually, turned into a fast friendship.  

Wacheck walked over to where Alderic and Naatz stood, carrying a glass of champagne.  He brandished it like it was some long lost priceless work of art.

“Look at this!  French champagne from Earth.  One of the Federation ambassadors brought an entire cargo crate of it for the festivities.  I must say, I think I like it better than any of the stuff we make.”  He took a sip.  “Of course, they’ve had more practice making it.”  He turned a wry smile towards a group of Federation ambassadors, who were talking with the group of high officials clustered around the Emperor.  The entire pavilion was packed with officials from every major government and race in the galaxy, including every human one.  The Federation ambassadors were being, as per their nature, extremely sauve, lavishing compliments upon all of the high Imperial officials.   The Guild officials were, as per their nature, trying to smooth talk several Imperial generals into buying Guild products and weaponry.  And, of course, the Union ambassadors were glowering in the corner.  Several Imperial officials were smirking in their direction.  Typical Union of Equality.  All bark, no bite.  In contrast, the Empire was all bite, no bark.  

What appeared to be a Dracus general approached Alderic’s group.  The Dracus were a warrior race, and had what most humans thought to be the body and legs of a kangaroo sitting on its haunches with the head of a lizard.  They were bipedal, and while they weren’t close allies with the Empire, they respected the Prosium for their martial traditions.  This one was wearing red ceremonial armor, which made it of very high rank.  Alderic couldn’t tell the difference between the male and female of the species, so generally he just asked Dracus their names and used that.  

“Magnificent parade,” he said, in the growly, guttural voice of the Dracus.  Alderic turned to him, or, at least, he thought it was a him, and smiled, careful not to show his teeth.

“Why, that you, General…”

“Itchernicer, King..”

“Alderic.  King Alderic.”  Itchernicer bowed and gave the traditional Dracus hand gesture greeting, moving his fingers to his lips, then his forehead.  He looked like he was about to say something else, but then the loudspeaker cut in.

“Ladies, gentlemen, species from all over the galaxy, the parade is about to begin.  If you or your species has sensitive hearing, you should wear protection.  Enjoy the parade!” With a flourish, the Emperor, flanked by four members of the Imperial Guard, entered the balcony.  The Emperor waved to the crowd, who let out a massive, roaring cheer.  Commander Robert Rorrenbrand, leader of the Guard, was several steps behind the Emperor with two more Imperial Guardsmen.  He was average height, with a rounded, scarred face and short cut black hair.  He was also, Alderic knew, despite his unimpressive looks, quite simply the best soldier in the galaxy.  Some might think these security measures harsh, unreasonable, but those people were not from the Empire of Prosium.  As any loyal citizen will tell you, the Empire never messes around when security is concerned.   

Itchernicer, Alderic, Naatz, and Watchek turned towards the Citadel.  The massive monument, built of white marble, towered over the wide streets.  White marble steps cascaded from the front of the building, lit by the fires of massive braziers.  Massive statues of Imperial Heros, some twenty feet high, towered above the streets.  Every culture had heroes.  Some thought that heroes were people who came up with new technologies, or those who were pious and strove to help others.  Not Prosium.  While all of those were traits and qualities to be admired, the people of Prosium believed that the only way to tell a true hero from all the rest was to forge them on the battlefield.  Only where shot and shell screamed, where man and alien alike died choking on their own blood and crying in agony, could a true hero come forth.  True heroes were those who fought and often died for the Empire.  True heros were not some scheming politician or sniveling scientist who strove to convince everyone that they and they alone were right; true heroes were the ordinary men, women, and aliens who performed insane feats of bravery in places that shred normal people’s sanity.  True heroes were like Private Stebban Wyric, who fought to the last bullet of his handgun to give the battered remnants of his regiment time to fall back from an overwhelming counterattack.  True heroes were the members of the Imperial 414th Army Regiment who fought to the last man and the last round to protect their standard.  True heroes were like Governor Isin Habbic, who volunteered to ram a cargo ship into a terrorist vessel holding a thermonuclear bomb to save his people and planet.  True heros were like Mary Strolheim, who called in an orbital bombardment on her position to repel an overwhelming enemy force and eventually win the War of Kraken’s Nest.  True heros were the selfless who laid down their lives for their people, and they all had one thing in common.  The exceptionally brave were awarded the medal and title Hero of the Empire, and, if they still lived after their feat, everyone, from the lowest factory worker to the Emperor or Empress themselves would salute them.  And, every single Hero of the Empire had their name, image, and deed emblazoned into the stone walls of the Citadel’s Hall of Heroes, an entire section within the Citadel of Vorketh that was dedicated to the preservation of their legacy and guarded day and night by the elite soldiers of the the Emperor’s personal bodyguard.  Just as the children of the Federation knew the names of human history’s greatest scientists and leaders, and the children of the United Guild of Merchants knew the names of all the great company leaders, and the children of the Union of Equality knew the names of all of Communism’s great heroes and leaders, so too did the children of the Empire of Prosium know the names of most of the Heroes of the Empire.   And it was from the glorious Citadel that housed the Hall of Heroes that the parade began.  

Legions of black uniformed warriors, the dauntless men and women of the Imperial Army’s 9th Army, 56th Regiment, weapons held at the ready, marched in perfect lock-step down the steps of the Citadel.  Massive crimson flags, adorned with the black eagle of Prosium, snaked their way down the buildings bordering the parade ground.  Alderic took in a deep breath of Vorketh’s sweet air.  He was glad to be a part of the Empire.  The sweetness of the air was suddenly snached away, to be replaced by the ozone smell of plasma jets, as a squadron of Naval fighters screamed overhead at a quite frankly alarmingly low altitude.  The crowd cared not, though.  They cheered all the louder at the jets’ arrival.  

The soldiers reached the base of the Citadel, and started to march through the streets themselves.  Loudspeakers placed upon the parade route struck up a military march as the infantry was joined by ranks of vehicles.  Black and grey tanks, armoured carries, and mobile missile launchers drove expertly through the throngs of soldiers, their hatches opened and each commander giving their salute to the Emperor’s box.  Alderic looked around, taking in the entire parade, looking through the clear grey sky at the forms of massive capital ships hoving in low atmosphere.  It was, indeed, a fine day to be a citizen of the Empire of Prosium. 

[bi-dazai]

2000 words on soukoku romance-coding in episode 26

i’ve talked a lot on here about how there’s a lot of romance-coding in the canon content featuring dazai and chuuya. here’s a rundown of my base theories here

i didnt add this in my original above post, but ill say now that diegetically chuuya and dazai are usually quite levelheaded and manipulative - both are the two youngest port mafia executives in history. even when dazai is annoyed with other characters (such as kunikida or atsushi) it is clear that he is play-acting. chuuya, meanwhile, is extremely level-headed and doesnt get upset at all - even when yosano and kenji appeared heavily armed. dazai is only slightly upset by shibusawa and dostoyevsky. the only person to genuinely get a rise out of both chuuya and dazai are each other. even so, their arguing has, from the beginning, been petty on the surface, yet upon reading into dialogue and animated/written/illustrated facial expressions show deep hurt at each others actions, particularly on their 4 year separation and dazai covering up his loyalty to chuuya by betraying his trust in episode 21.

i have two more points to add on concerning their non-diegetic relationship. firstly, that official merchandise and posters almost always depict chuuya and dazai either ogling each other (theres a trend of dazai ogling chuuya’s ass in particular) or doing something romantic together (for example there’s a poster where they are depicted hanging around together with no other characters near a christmas tree - christmas is considered a romantic holiday in japan. the same coding is given to many canon fictional couples in japan, and to another studio bones production pairing in bnha kiribaku, which has a similar level of gaycoding).

the second non-diegetic point you should understand about soukoku: it’s one of the most popular ships in japan, and japan’s anime industry tends to be a lot more open about showing same-sex relationships/gay-coding than the west is.

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and for a note on my authorship - i admit that i do ship soukoku, and that this gives me a bias. i am also bisexual and am much more sensitive to noticing homoeroticism than many straight audiences. however, to counter this point id like to clarify that it takes a lot to make me believe a same-sex ship has even the slightest chance of being canon. also, id like to say that i am an author in my second year of a creative writing degree and my first year of a film studies minor. these degrees both involve analysing text within production and authorial context (a lot...). in my free time i read a lot of papers and articles on the production context and general views of lgbt representation in different countries’ media, in particular the usa, australia, and japan. i consume every piece of media i view with an intensely critical eye and i specialise in connected diegetic elements with non-diegetic elements in terms of production, authorial, and social context

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*NOTE* im going to be doing things out of order here for no other reason than that i realised them in that order as i thought about the episode analytically

today i want to talk about something extremely specific that came up in episode 26, and it has to do with the use of symbolism and shot composition. it’s just a short, short sequence but to me it speaks volumes, both for their canon relationship and their coded romantic relationship.

specifically this sequence. this is just one shot and to me it portrays soukoku’s dynamic as explicitly romantic in a mise-en-scene sense.

before we like to go in, id like to clarify that the dialogue doesnt matter - it’s mainly expository stuff.

the first sc is the first shot we see of dazai and chuuya ‘alone’ in this scene. it’s unclear where mori is exactly. even though mori is clearly orchestrating the two of them and this entire scene’s dialogue, he isn’t in this shot until the very end. this defines the soukoku relationship, as well as their first meeting being entirely incidental, as being something that was supposedly orchestrated by mori but on a deeper level something they created and grow themselves. it is their relationship from the beginning, not mori’s. even though we know that mori is orchestrating this, we are told that this story will be about chuuya and dazai, not mori’s plans. along with that, it’s also the first shot of open sky we get in this scene, and it’s with just chuuya and dazai looking at each other, silent. it’s open and refreshing and new, but there’s something there already - which i will discuss now.

so. let’s talk about the vapour trail. the vapour trail has no real relationship to the scene or story at all. it would be perfectly logical to just place clouds here, or even place the vapour trail somewhere else. but this vapour trail is very specifically placed to form an arrow to comes from dazai’s heart and reaches towards chuuya, passing over mori’s head narrowly. mori watches the trail, dazai and chuuya watch each other. mori knows the middle part - that they will be tied together to be a device of violence of his own making. but at the other ends dazai and chuuya are tied together in a way that goes above and below mori’s knowledge. this symbolises their future together, and indicates a subtextual level to their dynamic.

the choice i want to focus on here, however, is the choice to have this arrow reach from dazai’s heart. as a writer, if i was trying to symbolise the general strategic soukoku dynamic i would have this arrow go from dazai’s head (the brains) to chuuya (the recipient and conductor of dazai’s plans). in fact, i have a dynamic im writing right now that is similar to this, in which one is defense and one is agility. however, these two also end up in a same-sex romantic relationship together later on. in order to code and foreshadow this, as well as add romantic subtext, often when using symbology i adjust my symbols to fit a romantic context subtly. as an author myself, this shot is a clear hint of adjusted symbolism in order to code dazai’s feelings for chuuya.

and if i’m to read further, i would even say that the fact that the arrow flies over chuuya’s head suggests that dazai currently has romantic feelings for chuuya that chuuya does not yet return (but comes to, something that i have discussed in my linked post above).

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secondly, tumblr user @cream-and-punishment made a fun joke post about dazai and chuuya “exchanging wedding vows” at their first meeting. firstly, it’s funny as fuck and when i first saw the post my reaction was just “haha it does sound like that!”. however, i keep looking at that post, keep returning to the script and that scene, and my reaction is now “wow. it does sound like that. like. exactly what soukoku wedding vows sound like. huh.”

for the lazy here’s the script (translated by the funimation subtitle team):

Dazai: You’re a cocky, overconfident child. You’re the kind of person I hate the most.

Chuuya: And I hate condescending pricks like you more than anything in this world.

and because im thorough, i ignored my english subs and listened the original japanese script as well (with my limited japanese to basically check for anything that could be translated differently or means something in japanese that is culturally untranslatable). what i found was that the english subs are right, and capture the original lines quite well.

dialogue can function as a tool for multiple results. in this two-line exchange, neither of the lines are meant as views into the character’s true interiors. instead, the purpose of this interchange is meant to be foreshadowing, specifically into the fact that this is how chuuya and dazai spend the rest of their relationship (up until the current point in the canon manga plot) expressing their opinion towards each other. it mirrors the kind of dialogue we see in episode 10 in which dazai and chuuya’s dialogue works as exposition for their past and their base dynamic, and here it is used to foreshadow what is considered backstory in the main plot (if that makes any sense?).

however, chuuya’s response to dazai is where im interested. im gonna pull my writer’s card here and say that if i was, again, just foreshadowing hatred and frustration as well as cooperation, i would cut chuuya’s line to something like this:

Chuuya: And I hate condescending pricks like you the most/just as much/etc.

“more than anything in this world”, of course, could just be incidental. but considering how a lot of soukoku’s dialogue is clearly double-entendre (read my original post linked above), it makes me consider a second option: that we are already putting that romantic double-entendre into their dynamic. if we refer to the future soukoku dynamic, in particular in episode 21, we are shown multiple times that chuuya genuinely cares for dazai’s well-being (secondary to rimbaud’s hat of course hahaha). chuuya would be genuinely upset if dazai died, and its implied (though still up to interpretation as opposed to the explicitness of chuuya’s shown feelings, however i would argue that dead apple is fairly explicit in dazai’s trust and feelings) the vice versa is also true.

going off that, often how both of them express concern for each other is by making ‘hateful’ comments towards each other. in episode 9, it’s clear there is uncomfortable tension in the room. there is 4 years of unspoken confusion lingering and chuuya is clearly, clearly upset. so dazai, in referencing an unchanging nature of what makes them them, calls back to one of his first mocking entries - how short chuuya is. it’s funny and it’s mocking, but the blows they trade are familiar and even when theyre brawling, despite being on opposite sides they take genuine pleasure in each others company. considering both of their personalities and histories as well as their trauma, both of them tend to struggle with interpersonal relationships and opening up. but chuuya and dazai canonically feel comfortable with each other, and know how to read each other well enough to both bounce off each other while also understanding what lies beneath.

so when chuuya says something like “i hate you more than anything in this world” we are pulled back to the present (in the plot), where chuuya says these things but moments later is concerned or worried for dazai’s wellbeing. chuuya in this line prioritises dazai as the foremost person in his life within minutes of meeting each other. diegetically (to the characters) we know this is them exchanging tense negotiation. non-diegetically (to what we know of the script and their future, as well as this entire exchange being mostly foreshadowing), we are clearly meant to interpret this to mean that chuuya will, eventually, hold dazai to be incredibly important to him, and vice versa. 

of course, we also have the fact that the phrase “more than anything in this world” is yet another soukoku romantic double-entendre. as i mentioned with things such as “the silent treatment” and mentioning drinking heavily when someone abruptly leaves you, it’s clear that these are used almost entirely as romantic tropes. i’ve discussed this before so i wont get too much into it, but just say that this scene adds yet another line to that long list of soukoku double-entendres.

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considering at least the first 3 episodes will be related to exploring the soukoku backstory, ill be trying to post an analytic of soukoku for each episode of the 15 adaptation. furthermore, these posts won’t be explicitly about the potential of canon romantic chuuya/dazai, but will analyse soukoku scenes in a focus that i see fit for each episode. whether this is examining it like this post again, or examining it for foreshadowing or cinematographic details etc, will be decided once i watch each episode.

anyway lol! yet another rambling analytical of something nobody cares about haha