#may be a strong term)—

[blueskittlesart]

deeply refreshing to see someone critical of Swift who also like, genuinely likes her. Like i'm neutral to positive on her, but the online discourse has been absolutely rancid. flipping between "Taylor Swift has never done anything wrong ever and she's a fucking genius" and "Taylor Swift is the worst lyricist of all time and also a bad person" is exhausting, so thank you for like. nuance or something lmao

not to make it serious for a sec but i genuinely think that being able to like things that are bad is really important. like I think that it's an important skill to be able to look at something and see what you personally enjoy about it and then take a step back and acknowledge that objectively it's flawed. and to also be able to acknowledge that liking something isn't necessarily an identity or a moral stance. and i think that fandom space in general could really benefit from more people taking the time to learn how to do that. it's okay to like things that are bad

[lord-squiggletits]

On the MegOP fandom trend of saying "Optimus should apologize to Megatron"

(Speaking specifically for IDW1, though it applies to a lot of MegOP especially ones that do continuity soup with heavy reference to IDW1)

I was talking to a friend in DMs and they mentioned a common headcanon/fanfic trope that I also concurred with, and both of us said it's something that bothers us: a common take in the MegOP fandom goes basically along the lines of "If Optimus had just apologized to Megatron, the war would've ended" (or other variants including "if he'd tried harder to understand Megatron/work in collaboration with him").

And firstly, this is incorrect for a number of reasons:

There were attempts at peace negotiations during the war, but they fell through. So Optimus WAS trying to work with Megatron to the point of participating in formal diplomatic meetings.

Optimus tried multiple times on page to convince Megatron to just stop fighting and work with him for peace (Autocracy, Chaos Theory) that Megatron rejected. Given that these on-page examples take place at the start of the war and at the end of the war respectively, it makes sense that Optimus asking Megatron for collaboration is something he was trying/willing to do the entire time. So again, Optimus was always willing AND ATTEMPTING to work with Megatron and find a joint solution

Even before the war when Optimus was still Orion, he was very explicitly inspired by Megatron's writing and names Megatron as one of the people who "opened his eyes" to the wrongs of Cybertronian society. So how is it that people claim "the war went on for too long because Optimus never tried to understand Megatron" when OP literally named Megatron as one of his biggest idols, thus implying that OP does understand Megatron's ideals

But the primary purpose of this post wasn't to defend Optimus, actually. Even though I personally think Optimus did plenty (dare I say, everything) to try to end the war, there are some who may still think otherwise, so instead of arguing about whether Optimus did "enough", or who should apologize to whom, or who "deserves the blame" for starting/continuing the war, I'd actually rather talk about this:

No matter who is most "to blame" for the war, it's my firm belief that neither Megatron nor Optimus would even expect/demand the other to apologize to them at all.

On Megatron's side, he would never seek to judge Optimus negatively for the decisions to the point of saying "you wronged me, apologize." Whether it's evil Megatron who doesn't care about atrocities and revels in an opportunity to expose Optimus as a hypocrite, or post-war/Autobot Megatron who knows that his own evil actions are irredeemable, the idea of Megatron judging Optimus and demanding an apology for the war specifically strikes me as out-of-character. Why would Megatron demand or even want an apology from Optimus when Megatron knows fully well that he has his own sins to bear, he prolonged the war for his own selfish/material gain, and that he is responsible for an untold amount of suffering? Demanding an apology would imply that Megatron sees himself as the wronged party and Optimus as the wrongdoer, but by the end of the war, Megatron is too aware of his own part in the war to ever demand such a thing of Optimus. Even if he DID think that Optimus was "equally to blame" for the war (which he doesn't/wouldn't, btw), Megatron's own feelings of guilt would prevent him from trying to seek the petty satisfaction of the moral high ground or making Optimus beg for his forgiveness.

Additionally, Megatron knows Optimus very well as a person: he knows that the position of leadership is full of "loneliness [and] agonizing self-doubt" for Optimus (Chaos Theory) and that "when Optimus hurts others, he hurts himself" (MTMTE). Another reason that Megatron wouldn't demand nor want an apology from Optimus is because Megatron knows Optimus so well that he already knows that being a war leader fills Optimus with immense guilt and suffering. Given that Megatron knows about Optimus' self-doubt and guilt, why would he even need an apology when he already knows how much Optimus regrets the war and desperately wishes/wished for it to end?

Then, as established in the previous paragraphs, Optimus is too full of guilt for his part in the war (both before it started and in being unable to stop it sooner) to demand an apology from Megatron. Again, demanding an apology would put Optimus in an implied position of moral superiority and/or victimhood, but Optimus doesn't see himself as morally superior or as a victim (or rather, he sees himself as being responsible for these bad things happening and internalizes this as a duty to do better/fix wrongdoings). In other words, Megatron and Optimus both share this view of themselves and each other: Their hands are so dirty, and they both feel such guilt over this, and they know each other well enough to know that the other feels this way as well. Because both of them feel blame for the war and are acutely aware of their own flaws/part in suffering, both of them feel far too responsible for the war happening for them to ever blame their archnemesis for "not trying harder" or "being responsible for the war."

Hell, if you even look at the socio-political climate of Cybertron before the war started, neither Megatron nor Optimus were the ones who put this conflict into motion. The corrupt legacy of the Primes, Functionism, class issues-- all of these things existed before Megatron and Optimus did. Even once they started doing things like writing about social issues (M) or fighting against the Senate (OP), both of them were "underlings" in sense that they weren't leaders:

Megatron's writings may have inspired the Decepticon movement, but that movement existed as an independent entity with its own leaders and speakers long before Megatron became the "official" ruler of the Decepticons. He wasn't even the leader of the 'Cons until he took control of the gladiator arena and the nonviolent sections of the Decepticons were (presumably) subsumed into the underground, exploitative battle culture that Megatron created.

Optimus-as-Orion was a police officer to start, but even once he started going against the Senate, he mainly worked in collaboration with others like Senator Shockwave and Zeta (later Zeta Prime), who he either saw as his idols or who were literally superior to him in rank due to government/military structures.

So with this in mind, even from a social level, while Megatron and Optimus may have been "catalysts" of a sort that caused the war to escalate to an outright planetary/galactic level, the scenario is too complex to solely lay the blame for the war at either of their feet. I'm not confident in saying that Megatron/Optimus would explicitly think of this when talking to each other, but what I'm trying to say is that M/OP were just catalysts in a long chain of brewing tension that exploded into a war. Even if one could claim that one of them "started" or "escalated" the war, the social issues that caused the war and the positions of power that allowed them to become leaders in the first place were falling into place before either of them actually BECAME leaders.

In other words, this shared fate of being the final reaction that exploded a societal conflict into outright war... Megatron and Optimus both have that in common. And because of this, I really don't think either of them would even think to ask the other to apologize because they're both in such similar positions, with such similar feelings of guilt and responsibility, that they understand each other's feelings without words. To demand an apology would be akin to taking that shared vulnerability/guilt and stepping on it, attempting to claim that one is right/superior and the other is wrong/inferior, and that the inferior one needs to grovel and take responsibility for the bad things that happened.

[merakiui]

Meraaaa I loved Rabu (⁠灬>‿<灬⁠)⁠♡

You got the characterization just right hnnn (as always)

care to sharing the secret ingredient to it?

∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿ ✨ 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 ✨

Hehe thank you for reading RABU!!! I’m happy the characterization is accurate! Jade is the wife guy ever. \(//∇//)\ so very obsessed and adoring!!!!! 💖💖💖

Even if April Fools has passed, I realized it almost feels like an April Fools where sk Jade has a happy life with his darling. :O although because I am a tako lover I’m inclined to root for Azul. Catch that eel in his devious, illegal acts, Mr. Detective!!!!! >:(

[dezimaton]

My trust in social media/art sites has been dwindling for a while now

Witnessing dA steal a whole site's worth of art to train it's image generator, informing everyone in post- Knowing that twitter and instagram are likewise training their own generators- and now seeing tumblr implement an opt-out for training data

It's very disheartening to watch the internet communities I've found home bend and twist under the force of scraping for "AI" training

There is just so much bad, but making and sharing art is still one of my favorite things to do. I will still be drawing my freaks, but I'll need time to think about what to do with my personal work...

This blog will change to be fanart only & I'll put more time into finding a comfortable workflow for glaze/nightshade

[puck1919]

"What is food if never on is fed, when with strange disposals, even death lies dead?"

Mr. Mulligan, I know you considered Call of Cthulhu for "Mice & Murder"-- Lovecraft season when???

[aro-sora]

Heartless

This month's Carnival of Aros theme is "Humanity and the Non-Human" and these prompts were particularly resonant with me:

It’s been a fairly well-documented phenomenon that many aromantics tend to feel some sort of connection to some sort of fictional non-human species, whether as specific examples, or as a whole. If you relate, what are your thoughts on these characters and concepts as an aro(-spec)? Do you have any experiences in any subcultures related to non-humanity, such as Voidpunk?

So I thought I'd write something about my personal experiences.

It will come as no surprise to people who follow this blog that I am a heartless aromantic and I'm also a huge Kingdom Hearts fan. (To anyone who isn't familiar with KH, in the games there are beings of darkness called Heartless. There's a lot of designs and some are cooler than others so here are a few of my favorites:)

[ID: Various Heartless from Kingdom Heartles, in order, a Shadow, a Neoshadow, a Soldier, and a Darkling. End ID]

These beings are both literally and very much not literally (it's complicated) heartless. They are manifestations of the darkness in people's hearts and seek to steal more hearts to transform into Heartless.

(something something beings that are recognizably human but also . . . not and yet still have the instinctual desire to reclaim what was taken)

A common stereotype about aromantic people is that we are heartless and unfeeling because we don't experience romantic love. Aromanticism may influence a person's emotions and definitely impacts views on romance, but to say that all aros are cold and emotionless is hurtful and arophobic. But I also genuinely identify with the term "heartless." Not feeling romantic attractions makes me feel alienated from amatonormative society, and "heartless aro" is the best way for me to describe that feeling.

My love of Kingdom Hearts is also a huge influence on that. When I say KH rewired my brain, it's only a half joke. I was 5-6 years old when I first discovered these games and this bizarre Disney/Final Fantasy crossover was a very formative experience. "Heartless" is not just a way to describe my aromanticism, its a defining aspect.

What is it, to be Heartless? To be human, once, but now something . . . other: a being born of darkness. Darkness is a force that is often used for evil, but still KH makes a point of not making it inherently evil. Darkness exists in every heart. It can overwhelm, but it can also be accepted and mastered, like in Riku's case. To choose to become Heartless, in Sora's case, is a defining moment of humanity.

My blog url might be aro-sora (because let's be honest, he's super arospec) but the title, "My Heart Belongs to Me," is quote from Roxas, one of the best examples in KH of someone being denied humanity for supposedly not having a heart, yet being one of the most caring and emotional characters in the series. He's not an actual capital-H Heartless (that's Sora, briefly) but his story and his struggles just . . . resonate with me. "I am me! Nobody else!" I want for people to stop thinking of me as something I am not, as desiring relationships I don't want, or even being a gender I am not.

I don't have much experience with voidpunk culture (but now I want to look into it), but recently I discovered the term otherhearted: "Identifying strongly with something nonhuman and/or fictional, without literally identifying as that thing." (I'm a bit on the fence between being otherhearted and otherkin, but otherheart literally has the word "heart" in it and the KH influence is strong.) It's a very queer experience to want to change your identity and be something other than what people see you as. Sometimes I imagine that for myself—claws of darkness, eyes of burning gold. Darkness cannot exist without light, but neither can light exist without darkness. Nothing can destroy me, because I am the shadow at the very heart of the world.

I guess that would make me Heartless-hearted. An ironic term, I know, but similarly to my personal heartless aro identity I find it absolutely hilarious. So many parts of my identity are "contradictions": being bigender, being human and heartless. It fits with the lore of the Heartless themselves: some technically do possess hearts and some don't. (it's complicated)

I call myself heartless the same way I call myself queer. Bigots will use them as insults and an attempt to make me lesser and other and nonhuman, but to me these are my words. They are mine and I give them power, no one else. Someone thinks I'm "heartless" for not experiencing a certain feeling? Fuck them, I AM heartless. And I am still human because I choose to be, not because humanity is something to be given or taken away. I don't have to prove anything about myself to anyone. I define my own heart, NO ONE ELSE.

And if they still think that being heartless—being aromantic—is something "wrong" or "unnatural" or not human? I only have a warning for them:

Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it.

[skaldish]

.

[serethereal]

stewy is to me what princess diana is to my mom

[shararan]

If i wasn't so bad at watching any series I'd try picking up vinland saga again cause i swear its the only good viking fiction out there

[orchideae]

I'm typing up some responses to these asks, and this sounds crazy, but man, I only just realized how utterly in love I am with Yelan's trailer.

I'll make a post where I'll be dissecting her trailer like I did Kafka's, but it really hit me tonight how even in the first 10 seconds, they really emphasize this 'noir' element that it has. Now for anyone who's unfamiliar, 'noir' is often used in a film noir concept, which is a genre of film that usually involves crime, mystery and a lot of moral ambiguity; and its presentation is also quite specific, often defaulting to B/W or de-saturated visuals in bleak or low lighting, often in weather and hours of the day that only add to the setting and mood respectively. Along with this, because it emerged during the 1940s and 1950s, it goes hand in hand with a lot of smokey, smooth jazz music, as that was the era when that peaked.

All of these things are present in Yelan's trailer. Immediately when you load in, you see Liyue Harbor in the background but it's not during the hours during which it's bright or at its most beautiful, no, it's bleak, grim and it's raining, and immediately we hear a slow piano kicking it. And when we zoom in on her and the man that she's talking to, they're momentarily out of focus and we really see the stark contrast of the warmth of the lights and the street that they're standing in while there's something close to a downpour. And god, the reveal of her face, or more specifically, her eyes, is so incredibly delayed that it immediately adds a sense of mystery, but more so, of intrigue, something so significant to her character. But to return to the weather for a second; Genshin is usually so bright and rain isn't exactly the most common— that the rain in this, and the mood it creates, really stands out to me. Instead of the bright colors that we're always faced with, we instead see very desaturated colors which bring it closer to that B/W feeling that is so inherently and intrinsically tied to the 'noir' genre. And the music, ugh, and it continues, it literally becomes so jazzy, none of this can be a coincidence, but now I'm even more hooked to her character. Ugh. It's literally what I said in my NY'E' post, every time I think I don't get more crumbs, I either am given more or I re-watch things and have all these new revelations. Hoyo, this has got to be a strategic and very intended decision, it's driving me crazy.

Yelan started as a character I wanted to pull for game-play purposes (was told not to, and then I learned she's pretty much a must pull), and then finally got, to finally playing through Perilous Trail and going 'uh oh', to then still wondering sometimes why I love her as much as I do. And then I realize this stuff, and everything makes sense and I love her even more.

[christianborle]

be honest is disenchanted actually worth watching. give me your honest review

[bladebreecada]

BIG READING REST PILLOW

HE'S SO EXTRA THICC

Also, he saved my back while reading and resting on the bed.

His name is Brutus (he/him late 30s). He is BIG and LARGE. His BULKY arms are nice to lay in between. I like to imagine him caressing me when I sleep.

// unreality

Also, maybe new daydream para/verit? I started bonding with him just a month-ish ago (I bought him last year before I started exploring myself as objectum). He really likes my other para, Phyrrus, who likes carrying him around in my paracosm when I'm away from home.

Phyrrus was mentioned in this blog before in this post. Just know I'm an immersive daydreamer and use daydreaming to cope with anxiety.

One day, I need to introduce my paras here! I introduced them in my main blog and daydream account, but not here. Need to fix that!

[angomay]

okay but why can’t i romance aveline

[colecxre-17]

Quick describe your favorite oc(s) in ten words

ru, my genderbending oc:

blue

dual

confused (about a lot of stuff)

(formerly) gifted

burnout

gender

boygirlfailure

gaymer

friend

(a living) oxymoron

[eggobuggo]

Day 5 Element

Yes I have a specific headcannon for how magic in HK works and yes there is three gods only. More will be specified in the tags.

[marzipanandminutiae]

(also Help My Den of Angels Username Has “Suiseiseki” In It Because I Made The Account When I Was 14 And I’m Still Actively Collecting BJDs But No Longer Into Rozen Maiden To That Extent, And I Can’t Change It)