#no interesting power shifts

[obstinaterixatrix]

out of boredom/curiosity I read 60 eps of a webtoon. it was not good.

[creature-once-removed]

every time I re read GtN I am caught off guard by how serious it is

Like, Gideon spends the first few pages checking everywhere for possibilities for Harrow's skeletons to ambush her. And then she nonchalantly tells Aiglamene that Harrow would do literally anything to hurt her.

You don't really notice it the first time around because of the lighthearted way it's written, but when you know the context for all of it, it becomes uncomfortably clear how intense and dangerous the situation is that Gideon tries so thoroughly to avoid here.

[pynkhues]

Does the show ever definitively say that Claudia would have died if they hadn't turned her? It feels like by the time Louis gets her home in the "real" version, she's clearly dying--he says "she's going cold". But is there a chance that she would have lived had he rushed her to a hospital? And does it not matter because he should have let her die rather than turn her without her permission and trap her in a young teenage body forever? I would be interested to know if Claudia would say that she would rather have died than be turned like that. But of course, she could be furious that they would do that to her and still also want to live.

I just saw a phot of Delainey where she looks like such a little girl and it made me really want flashbacks with her as rue royal Claudia. She has such an endearing face.

No, it doesn't definitively, and I think the ambiguity there is pretty deliberate too. In theory, Lestat and Louis both would be able to sense how close to death she is, and the extent of her burns would certainly impact her health and quality of life into the future if they don't kill her, particularly given the time period, but we as an audience don't know for sure in no small part because I think Louis wouldn't want us to. He's made his choice the second that he sees her, and I think any version of the story that doesn't give him a daughter is unfathomable both in the moment and in hindsight.

As for whether it matters and Claudia's own choice - - mmm, yeah! It's an interesting thing to contemplate.

I'm kind of fascinated by the shifting metaphor when it comes to being turned without consent, because we've seen it (or, well, have heard but will soon see it in Lestat's case) twice now, but I read the metaphors very differently. Lestat's turning is a rape, which the book's clear about and the show has already implied, but I tend to see Claudia's turning as much more akin to this idea that no child asks to be born. There's no way to reach through time and space to get an infant's consent or non-consent before deciding to bring them into this world, and I think that metaphor holds strongly with Claudia having been so close to death she was voiceless and powerless before her birth.

Her turning is entirely about Louis and Lestat's relationship, as it is for most parents having a child, and whatever choice she may have made for herself is irrelevant because as a child she doesn't get to choose to be born. She just is.

This is kind of an aside, but I find the revisited turning really interesting at the moment, especially in the context of Louis coercing Lestat to turn her given we know for a fact now that he could've turned her himself. He turned Madeleine after all, with seemingly no further instruction to it given Armand's repulsion at turning others and Louis' disconnect from the other vampires. As a result, I think it's pretty heavily implied that Louis has the same knowledge at Claudia's turning that he does at Madeleine's, and while the emotions are very different, there's an interesting sense to me that Louis wanted Lestat to be the one to do it.

The motivation for that is totally open to speculation, of course, whether Louis wanted to shift any accountability by not being the quote-unquote 'birthing parent', whether he wanted Lestat complicit to be able to shift the blame onto him if things went wrong, whether he wanted to lock them together even further after having lost everything else, whether he really did just want a family with this man that he'd chosen, whether he was simply too emotionally raw to do it - - I don't know! I think it's probably a bit of all of that, which is what makes it such a fascinating scene, and honestly something I don't see talked about enough.

[beaulesbian]

I'm almost done reading Punk Hazard, and i have some thoughts especially about sanji and the body switches between the characters and his reaction to that, (and then also some sanuso possibly sanusonami moments - because their dynamic in this arc was really interesting - their own respective goals, as well as a different duos), but i need to sort these thoughts into something more coherent first.

so before that, just this part i noticed - which was like, almost unneccessary from usopp's part, such a small moment, but strangely heartwarming and cute!

usopp: oh, sanji, you saved me? nami (who currently looks like sanji due to the body switcheroo thing): i'm nami! usopp: *disappointed sound* nami: why are you disappointed?!

(*shaking usopp by the shoulders*: what to you mean by that reaction?? why are you disappointed it wasn't actually sanji rescuing you? that you woke up in the snow and after the fight, seeing sanji but learning it was still nami in that body, and even if you like nami, you wanted sanji to rescue you??? explain yourself!)

anime version, bc it's all cute too!

[wonder-worker]

Angelberga was a peculiarly prominent personality in manifold aspects of European politics [in the late 9th century. Born to the powerful Supponid family of Italy, she married Emperor Louis II and had several opportunities to establish her position as an active and controversial player in the vicissitudes of her husband's reign]. She acted as Louis's regent, accompanied him on expansionary military campaigns in the south of the peninsula and represented him at [congresses, tribunals, and diplomatic negotiations]. Strikingly, she was also the beneficiary of a spectacular collection of charters. Almost one in seven of Louis II’s extant charters were issued in her favour. Angelberga’s conspicuous exploits in the field of charter acquisition did not diminish after the emperor’s death, and this helped her to maintain a position as a key power-broker in Italian politics, control of land [particularly monastic foundations] being a fundamental building-block of power in this period. In the interregnum following 875, during which Charles the Bald of West Francia and Karlmann of Bavaria fought to claim the succession to the heirless Louis, Angelberga herself conducted the negotiations and decided the loyalty of a major sector of the Lombard political community. She maintained this high profile until her death [having supported her son-in-law Boso's quest for power, endured a temporary exile, maintained the support of Pope John VIII, and founded the monastery of San Sisto in the city of Piacenza, where she probably ended her days sometime before 891].

-Simon MacLean, "Queenship, nunneries and royal widowhood in Carolingian Europe"

[commsroom]

Hi, you’ve probably already addressed this at some point and I’ve simply missed it, but what’s your thoughts on Hera’s ending? (Particularly, how Pryce just removes the ‘I can’t do this, I’m not good enough’ line, and she stops glitching?) Personally it always felt rather… bad, honestly, given the whole “they could’ve made me better, they made me me” thing, if that makes sense?

hi! first: that absolutely makes sense, and i'm also very sensitive to anything that seems to "fix" disability or trauma, so i understand where you're coming from. that was not personally my takeaway about hera in the finale; i'll try to explain why:

pryce didn't remove that loop from hera's head. i don't think she could have - even if it's technically possible for her to do (and she is capable of a lot more than maxwell), she just had her mind wiped and wouldn't have access to that information, and even if she did retain it on an instinctual level, that would require allowing pryce access to the most vulnerable parts of hera's mind. and she would never allow that. there's a reason pryce is still a prisoner.

hera speaks to pryce not for reconciliation, but for reclamation. she's lived her whole life in fear of what pryce (and people like pryce) can do to her, with every aspect of who she is and what she does controlled and dictated by anyone with power over her. the finale opens with pryce telling her life's story from her perspective - at once self-mythologizing and self-victimizing - and, the final time we ever hear from or about pryce, hera is about to tell her own story. we never find out what was actually said, or how pryce reacted, because it doesn't matter. hera gets to take control of her own narrative. hera gets to confront her abuser, and feel in control and safe from harm.

it's worth keeping in mind that hera doesn't glitch consistently. that's one of the things i think also makes it a useful comparison to chronic illness. when, why, and how much hera glitches was an intentionally crafted part of the sound design. it happens more often, and more intensely, when she's stressed out, overwhelmed, or upset.

and, with that in mind... the ending leaves the characters on a generally positive note, because it's the end of the show and that's the feeling it wants to leave you with: that everything will be more or less okay, in the end. but it isn't the end of their lives. once they get back to earth, a lot of things are going to be very difficult for hera. even in the final scene, she says she's not ready to go back, but "when has that ever stopped us before?" when she's able to honestly say she's good, i don't think that means she's good forever. just, in that moment, that's a crucial step in her healing process, and i hope in the future she'll have a lot more moments that feel like that one.

[jaypgartifacts]

a weird guy appear

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I just thought.

Impa in the Downfall Timeline more or less "becomes hylian" as far as we can tell, as Sheikahs are no longer a discernable feature of Hyrule (chronologically in the game releases: not yet a feature) and she kind of melts into her role as a servant, represented far more often as a simple wetnurse or an old helpless lady... And I think it's kind of interesting when we see how TotK was seemingly in the process of assimilating Sheikah culture. Is this a thing that happened already? Does it become literal, mandated by gods like the whole shtick with the gerudo ears representing their alignment regarding Hyrule? I don't know, I think it's particularly interesting to think about in the context of the zoras becoming largely monstrous and unrecognizably hostile in contrast. I feel like part of Hyrule's patterns is to process people relative to their proximity or distance to hylians, and it's. Weird and interesting to take this literally if you're into quiet folk/gothic/religious horror at least

[crumbleclub]

Concept: before the Bite, the Foxy mask made Mike feel powerful. That power made him feel safe. It was a kid putting on a superhero cape and thinking nothing could hurt them.

After the Bite, he decided he'd rather feel all the pain in the world than ever be powerful again. He can only change things from the bottom up, because he fears any amount of power would risk him being blinded by it and hurting someone again.

[edettethegreat]

10/10 manga for pulling a “we’ll defeat you with the power of friendship!!” “That’s… incredibly ignorant of you. I’m significantly more powerful, whether or not you have friends won’t impact this fight”

[yuridovewing]

This would definitely... Bloat some things, but I still want to do it cause then it involves all four clans like it Should, but man I love the idea of each clan having their own "Power of Three" trio. Like a lot. Originally I was going to make them all descendants of the current leaders and spread the litters throughout TNP, Po3, and OotS, but that didn't quite seem right to me. There aren't a ton of descendants for me to work with to this end (especially for Blackstar, who I've decided is Darktail's dad who never has another litter in the clans). Soooo instead, I want all of them to be forbidden kits. Half clan and medic children, baby. So obviously this includes the ThunderClan three, and the other litters I'm considering are Tawnypelt's kittens (moved to be born late in Po3) who would technically be ThunderShadow kits... that or I'm changing who the other parent is. (Here comes TawnyFeather with the steel chair...? They could meet again in Outcast... owo?) and Sedgewhisker and her sisters who are apparently WindRiver kits?? Which I didn't know was a thing til now.

That just leaves the RiverClan three who I'm not totally sure on. My friend Vio suggested Icewing's first litter, which I kinda like cause that includes Beetlewhisker. Makes his fate in the Dark Forest all the more terrifying. But I'm also considering Minnowtail and her siblings (reviving her brother Tumblekit). I do not remember if those guys have confirmed dads but if they do, uhhhhhhhh. Well they aren't their dads anymore. Officially halfclan now.

[popsicle-stick]

Jonathan feeling repulsion for Dracula scaling like a lizard and then doing the thing... Jonathan feeling that Dracula's women belong in Hell and then declaring [redacted] into Hell for one...

i think this is the beauty of jonathan as a character study, to be honest, in how just about everything he previously believed and stood for gets broken and turned inside out. what is left of him after that? his situation changes, time and time again, and the entire moral framework he lives by has to shift to accommodate that. this pragmatic shift is something i notice throughout all the characters - arthur/the suitors conceeding to kill vampire lucy, mina's hate-turned-pity for the count, but none quite as stark as jonathan's complete restructuring of his whole reality and the deeply ingrained rules that he lives by. there's just something about vampire stories, man!!!! something that forces you to reconsider what you think of as human, what you find good, and bad, and in-between

[pynkhues]

Hey, just wanted to know your perspective on Shiv's decision. There's a huge discussion going on whether the decision was emotionally driven just to spite Kendall? Was it calculated in any sense considering her children's future or getting any power through Tom? Was she seeking Tom (the powerful man now)'s approval?

What do you think? I personally think it was multi faceted and complex and included all the things a little bit and lead her to the decision.

Would she have taken the same decision if she had no idea that it is infact Tom that Mattson's eyeing?

Hey! Oh man, it’s such a great moment and it’s one I’ve been thinking about a lot. I agree with you in the sense that it was such a multi-faceted and complex choice, and one that had many trigger points both in the sense of Shiv’s reality, her sense of power and control, and the real and mangled emotional root of her place in her own family.

Do I think it was strategic? A little, but I think she was passed the point of being able to strategise in part because she was out of time, but also in part because Shiv’s impatience means she’s just not very good at it.

I think one of Shiv’s greatest strengths is also one of her biggest flaws in that she tends not to see the wood for the trees. She’s a big picture thinker, she sees the end result she wants but not the daily machinations to get her there, which we see over and over again. She’s impatient, lives life on the backfoot so is always trying to hurry, overtake, skip steps, take shortcuts to get ahead, and when she’s asked to operate in a system where she’s forced to stop and acknowledge the reality of the moment, I think she can for once see everything for exactly what it is.

Funnily enough, I feel like the telling moment in terms of Shiv in that finale isn’t actually with Kendall or Tom at all, it’s the moment Sandi says yes in the boardroom. It’s the tiniest of beats, which Sarah plays beautifully, and it carries over from Stewy telling Shiv only moments before (after Kendall offers him Chair in their father’s office) that he thinks Shiv can still sway Sandi. We don’t see the scene, and I kind of wish we had, but the outcome is felt all the same. Shiv can’t do it, she doesn’t convince Sandi, the only woman she’s on any sort of equal footing with to vote with them, which means she has no accomplice at that table, no allies, no position, no weight, only brothers who have shown just how quickly they’ll shut her out.

I think its that failure with Sandi that ultimately untethers Shiv, because with that loss comes the loss of any way forwards for Shiv at the company. She’s no longer an heiress of her father’s making or even one of Matsson’s, she’s just a little sister, staring at her big brother, at the best friend he offers Chair to as a joke in his office when she could only play ‘behind the scenes’ so it didn’t look ‘wonky’, the person she’s spent her entire life trying to catch up to and beat, and I think she meant it, what she said to Kendall after.

She can’t stomach it.

If she can’t have it, he sure as hell can’t, and at least with Tom she has some sort of in, she has something. Not an accomplice at the table, but a trap door she could sometimes scratch her way beneath, someone who might not want a relationship with her, might not be loyal, but someone who’s bound to her, if nothing else, and someone who has no use for her brothers anymore.

Shiv would rather break the toy than let Kendall have it, even if she cut her own hands in the process, and honestly, it’s one of the reasons she’s a character of all time to me. She’s a survivor in a way none of her brothers are, but she’s also petty and selfish in the way all three of them absolutely are, and to see her really do what none of them could and cut their strings in the 11th hour was so thrilling to me. She’s kept her in, but she also knows she’s out, but at least Kendall and Roman are too. At least the three of them are locked out of the house together, even if, for a moment, they’re apart.

[pshiftcultureis]

schizophrenic p-shifter culture is knowing that you would be considered clinical particularly/especially by people outside of other p-shifters (and having thought you were clinical yourself for a time), and so feeling like you have to put up clarification after excess clarification to make sure anybody who looks at your blog knows for absolute certain that (A) you know you would be considered clinical by most others, (B) you reject being considered clinical in any fashion, and (C) your experiences are real, and sure they can think whatever they want, but that doesn't make your experiences any less real and your beliefs any less true (and besides, how in the hell is forcing the clinical label on people who reject it supposed to help delusional folks? seems to me like you're just doing more harm than good)

.

[atopvisenyashill]

Happy b day

thank you friendddd, i got distracted bc my man, quinn, went home on big brother and i was in mourning BUT THEN HIS GIRL WON HOH AND SHES GONNA GET REVENGE SO HERE LEAH IS but i gave her a sword to keep it on brand

[lavenderjewels]

Every day I have to live with knowing the hakari panda and kashimo fight is years away from being animated