#not all survived but LEGENDS AND ICONS

[righteousinadversity]

I don't think any protagonist can ever top Wei 'Yiling Laozu' Wuxian. No one is doing it like him. He is an icon. He can shoot arrows blindfolded. He is a prankster. He falls for a boy and decides immediately that he must have said boy's attention on him at all time. He is necromancer exacting his vengeance. He is just three years old. He is a flirt. He has his first kiss in his twenties. He does not remember your name. He does remember that one song his crush sang to him in a cave when he was injured and feverish. He is a sunshine boy. He survived the hell of hells. He died and was unhappily brought back to life. He's the bizarre genius, the miraculous hero, the force of the rebellion, the flower that blooms alone. He walks the single plank bridge alone. He is the awesome gay uncle who knows everything. He is a pretty boy. He is the most moral, steadfast person you know. He is just a man throwing flowers to his love. He rips his hard won talent out to repay a debt that never was. He is a sister's boy. He is an abuse survivor. He is an urban legend. He is one of the most handsome men of his time. He has so much trauma. He plants children like radishes. He threw the arrow he was shot with from a rooftop and killed someone. He is a talented musician. He is a scheming fox. He can drink you under the table. He is so fucking tired of this bullshit. He has probably long since burned his tastebuds with the spice he puts in his food. He is broke. He kisses skeletons on their hands in gratitude. He confesses his deep, abiding love in the middle of being held hostage. He attempts the impossible and succeeds. He is an untamed hero, standing against a world condemning the innocent. He is everything.

[omgthatdress]

According to legend, Marsha P. Johnson was the one who threw the first shot glass at the Stonewall Riot. Marsha would later say that wasn't true, that she only showed up to the riot hours after it began. While the story may not be true, her impact on lgbt and especially transgender rights is that tremendous.

(Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera)

After Stonewall, Marsha was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and along with close friend and fellow activist Sylvia Rivera, they founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) that advocated for the homeless trans people who were considered to be at the bottom of LGBT society.

In 1974, when "drag queens" were banned from marching in a gay pride parade because of the "bad reputation," she, Rivera, and other trans people marched in front of the parade in protest. When asked why she was there, she told a reporter, "Darling, I want my gay rights now!"

When asked what the P in her name stood for, her answer was "pay it no mind," a philosophy that buoyed her through immensely dark places. She spent much of her life homeless and engaged in sex work to survive. She was arrested over 100 times, and had numerous stints in psychiatric institutions.

(Marsha P. Johnson in a demonstration outside Belleview Psychiatric Hospital)

On top of all her tireless activism, she was a celebrated drag performer with the troupe Hot Peaches.

In 2017 the documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson came out and got mainstream distribution on Netflix. In 2018, The New York times honored Marsha with a much overdue obituary that recognized her for her work. In 2021, Youtuber NikkieTutorials honored Marsha with a look at the Met Gala, bringing in one of the best looks of the night (and one of the few to honor the "In America" theme in an interesting in creative way). In 2020, East River State Park in New York City was re-named Marsha P. Johnson State Park, and in 2023, a floral archway was installed.

I honestly had a really hard time writing about Marsha. I first learned about her when she was honored on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2012. Back then, there was little information about her available online, so coming to understand this icon Ru talked about so lovingly was difficult to do. Ever since then, it's been remarkable to see Marsha's name and renown grow.

[tfp-is-my-lifeblood-lol]

Reasons Why I Think TFP Jack is Underrated:

Welcome to my organized bullet list of why I think Jack is cool. I used to think he was boring too, but now I think he's the goat and here's why:

-He has Main Character Energy, but he's more snarky than most cliche main characters

In fact, he is a petty king:

-He doesn't wanna be on Team Prime at first, but eventually accepts it...

...He then proceeds to BURN Airachnid's ship to the GROUND with a stupid survival kit for babies

-HE DEFEATED THE ALIEN SPIDER QUEEN WITH NOTHING BUT A LIGHTER AND A POCKET KNIFE, BRO

-HE WAS DONE WITH HER BULLSHIT LOL

-Plus he tricked Silas by pretending to beg for mercy, when really, he was stealing his walkie talkie.

-Jack is boring, BUT the fact that Jack has nothing special about him IS his superpower; Miko has the Apex Armor and her brave personality, Raf has genius level computer smarts, and Jack has PURE SPITE. It's beautiful.

-He has zero skills, but he'll figure out how to defeat his enemies anyway, SOLEY because he's tired and doesn't get paid enough for this shit.

-For example, in one of the Titan Magazine comics, Jack literally kicks Silus in the balls

Evidence:

Iconic✨

Apex armor? Cybertronian technology?

Screw that. How about I KICK you in the balls?l

-A true legend

-He's also a mess though, and I relate so hard

-He's so petty he talked two aliens into helping him cheat at street racing to piss off his classmate

-His romantic subplot is treated like a complete joke, and I love that. Normally, the Main Character✨ is awkward, but gets the girl in the end. Not Jack, though. Nope. He just constantly looks stupid in front of Sierra, nothing ever happens between them, and Arcee is just watching with popcorn as his life falls apart. It's hilarious.

Also, if I'm correct, isn't the last time we see Sierra when she sees Arcee's homoform, and thinks Jack has a girlfriend, and then Jack is like "She's my mom😅." And Sierra's all like: "Your mom looks good in leather😐...on your bike😐😐😐😐..." Maybe I'm wrong, but if that's the case, it's funny. Jack is a simp and it gets him nowhere.

-His sarcasm works perfectly with Arcee's sarcastic attitude.

-Also Tailgate is voiced by Josh Keaton (Jack's voice actor) in the flashbacks, so I headcanon that Jack reminds Arcee of Tailgate, and that's why she has such a soft spot for him.

Tailgate and Arcee's dialogue had the same vibe as her and Jack's

Also, it gives more context to why she was so scared to lose him when Airachnid showed up. It would've literally been like losing Tailgate all over again.

-Jack is Team Prime's designated Good Ideas Guy

It was Jack's idea to hijack the spacebridge to send him to Cybertron

It was also his idea to drain the dark energon out of The Nemesis when it came alive and froze everyone

-I'm probably just projecting, he has generalized anxiety disorder vibes

-I feel like he prefers a comfortable, predictable life because he gets nervous easily

-He's always the first to freak out, and overthink, and Arcee always has to calm him down

-And she's so patient with him it's so sweet😱

-I agree the writing behind his existence is meh, and a lot of the cool stuff about him is probably unintentional, but I don't care, so take that!

Anyway, the moral of the story is:

Jack is just an angry little harmonica boy. Leave him alone. He's trying his best😭

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.

[gamequoteshowdown]

Quote 1: "Mickey! It's Riku. They put bugs in him! What?" - Sora & Mickey, Kingdom Hearts

Quote 2: "Don't you see? All of you... Your gods destroyed you!" - Ganondorf, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Propaganda

Quote 1: This is fucking perfection. Like I honestly can't put into words how good just go listen to it (Link to Video) - Mod Chaos, my eyes won't focus TwT

Quote 2: The iconic Wind Waker Ganondorf speech is probably his one about the winds and how he coveted Hyrule's, and rightfully so. But there's something fantastic about this speech, where he talks about how inhospitable the Great Sea is (a smattering of islands, with no fish to catch in the vast oceans,) and derides the idea that the gods sealed Hyrule away for its people's protection, or that those people would ever be able to accomplish anything so great as reawakening Hyrule. Does he think the people of the Great Sea are less than the Gerudo, who had their own struggles surviving in the desert? Or did he secretly hold the same contempt for his own people? Either way, the Great Sea holds nothing for him, and he has nothing but disdain for the gods. - Submitter

[mhsdatgo]

Since GOT they’ve been using rape and abuse to humble or break a woman/Girl because they aren’t the “right” kind of woman. They don’t ride a dragon or yield a sword. They don’t fight against their period typical role in life that they were born and raised in. They’re not “A guys girl” or the “I don’t have any girl friends, they’re too much drama” types who prefer the company of men to women, who would rather train with a sword and not learn embroidery. They don’t have dialogue that vaguely sounds more 21st century than Middle Ages.

These women are seen as of less value than our little dragon riding, sword and fist fighting tomboys. So they need to be taught that if you had just been more like this or more like that you wouldn’t have been brutalized and abused. The things that were done to you by other people is all your fault and you deserved it.

This show/franchise is not even in the same room as feminism.

👏👏👏 Nothing more to add anon. No lie was told.

The sad thing is, this is not what I got from the books of asoiaf at all. Women's experience was never told in juxtaposition to others. There is no humbling or brutalizing other women as a "punishment" for not being better, more rebellious, or bolder than others. The books tell stories of suffering and that's it. The way shows and fandoms decide to try and force other characters into another one's story for the sole purpose of comparing them so they prove that stanning one means having a moral high ground over another character's stans is the most idiotic thing to ever have happened among fandoms, to say the least. Especially when the two characters in question don't even know each other.

Just look at the way Sansa and Dany are treated in the fandom. Have a shot for every time Sansa in King's Landing is called a tradwife as if this wasn't a girl in middle school trying to survive they're talking about, or for every time she's called jealous of Dany. Imagine if a stranger girl with three dragons cames knocking on your door demanding that you and all of your people and their mama bend the knee to her and you are the jealous one and the villain because you just... Don't? Also, you deserve to be threatened with death when you pose a reasonable question, and you need to take it and be better and shut up. Then you're a "girls' girl" deserving of respect, etc.

We want strong female characters to think for themselves, except when that "thinking for oneself" isn't the same thing as kissing the ground the fan favourite girl walks on.

If only fandoms paid more mind to what makes a character likeable or unlikeable in their eyes BASED ON THE CHARACTER ITSELF, and not on their perspective on their faves, interacting with them would be way more fun. Books/shows like asoiaf/GOT or F&B/HotD aren't places where you just choose a character you like and that's it, she's an icon she's a legend and she is the moment. If it was, it would either be a story for kids or a hell for Mare Sues' fans. As long as you treat asoiaf characters like deities that can do no wrong and everyone else as villains in need of redemption, you should step back and read something else.

This is something that needs to be accepted even between writers and directors, btw. Just look at what F&B was turned into. Girlboss vs Girlfail. Blacks got the Girlboss, the virtuous rightful heir, good mother fine ruler, Greens' got the Girlfail, the rape enabler, the boy mom, the tradwife, you name it.

No, it doesn't matter that the latter is doing everything she can possibly do. She was a piece of shit the moment she stopped toiling behind the former because everyone is meant to be like or kneel before girlboss with dragon. Only then are your ambitions respectable. If not, fuck you, you're nothing. Everything that happens to you is your fault. I'll be in the front seats cheering for when everything you love is ripped brutally from you.

Even when your grown-up son rapes a maid. Even when girlboss with dragon threatens to put your people to the torch because you won't bend the knee.

TL;DR: There's no need to compare/stone certain female characters for being what they are instead of a completely different type. If all of them were tomboyish with swords or feminine with embroidery, it would be boring. You aren't better than anyone for having preferences. Also, learn how to blame men when they fuck up. It's great for the bowel.

[hadesoftheladies]

men are so annoying my god. they have some of the dumbest takes on women's sports its obvious how disingenuous they are. "wnba players are jealous of caitlyn clark" and all most of them were saying was that caitlyn has a lot to learn playing professional basketball because it's a genuinely tough game and they hope she succeeds. men just keep belittling how skilled a lot of wnba players are and have been until caitlyn clark. they make fun of the wnba without watching it and then act like they know everything and declare caitlyn the sole saviour of the wnba like we haven't had legends like Elena Delle Donne or A'ja Wilson dominating the game. EMBARASSING!

ALSO they are RIGHT to complain about the racism since most brand deals and sponsorships for wnba players are white women. im happy that female athletes are winning and getting money, but it's telling when 70% of the basketball league are black women and most of the sponsorships are held by white women.

the way these goons take out the nuance and the humanity when discussing women's sports and reduce it to infantile squabbles of jealousy just shows how underdeveloped their brains are. like i know you men like inventing drama out of nowhere, but can you just stick to discussing stats? you're so cringe fr.

anyways!

I can't wait to see Stewie for New York Liberty on the court! Las Vegas Aces, Chicago Sky, Indiana Fever and the Washington Mystics are about to give us one hell of a season coming this May 14th. I'M SO HYPED!

Here are the women to watch out for (IMO because I'm biased and not in order of skill)

#1. Breanna Stewart (Stewie) (New York Liberty)

I pledge allegiance. Sincerely. She's so fun on court and weaves between players like that scene in Korra when she had to learn air-bending by evading spinning doors. I can't wait to see her play! (Next to her wife I'm her no# 1 fan don't joke around with me). Check some of her playing out here.

Also, here's a video of her eating spicy wings and barely surviving (while telling her story):

#2. Angel Reese (Chicago Sky)

After an amazing career in college basketball, Reese finally got drafted to the Chicago Sky WNBA team early this year. She's gotten a lot of hate for being justifiably boastful about her skills but she's remained a strong leader for her teammates and had a positive impact on girls and women everywhere. This is her first season in the WNBA and you can expect a show from her! Check some of her highlights here!

Here's a video explaining why she's so freaking iconic:

#3. Aaliyah Edwards (Washington Mystics)

One of the top picks of this year's WNBA draft, Aaliyah has been a star player for UCONN for years. She is one of the highest rated draft picks of the season! This will be her first season on the WNBA playing for the Washington Mystics. Her rebounds and offences are amazing to witness. Watch her highlights here.

#4. A'ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces)

One of WNBA's modern GOAT'S. A'ja IS INSANE. She intimidates everyone on court and then the court itself. I literally saw the basketball hoop shaking when she looked at it during one of her games! I swear. It peed itself. Her wingspan and strength make her so formidable like y'all just have to watch herrrr!! Oh yeah, and she won the championship and several MVP titles. Check her out here!

#5. Caitlyn Clark (Indiana Fever)

Does she really need an introduction? Her career in college basketball has been spectacular and special for women's sports everywhere! She was breaking records in HIGH SCHOOL! This is going to be her first season in the WNBA and more eyes than ever will be on the game because of her! Check some of her highlights playing for Iowa here.

#6. Rickea Jackson (Los Angeles Sparks)

While playing small-forward on her college team, Rickea made a name for herself as one of the most aggressive offensive players in women's college basketball today! She's strong and fast and alert and is genuine fun to watch. You won't want to miss out on her debut into the WNBA for the LA Sparks! Watch her game highlights here.

#7. Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces)

Kesley Plum is just one of my favorite athletes of all time! She's so dedicated to her team and the people in her life and it shows. Her joy is so infectious! She is also an incredibly, impressively strong and SKILLED athlete! And she was a big reason why LVA won the season last year. (And hallelujah she's divorcing her dumbass husband rn! hopefully the dead weight makes her an even stronger player!). Watch some of her highlights here.

AND CHECK OUT THIS VIRAL VIDEO OF HER THROWING A T-SHIRT TO HER FATHER WHO IS FAR UP IN THE BLEACHERS!

#8. Sabrina Ionescu

Sabrina and Stewie are an unstoppable duo! Watching them play is electric for me! WHEW! Sabrina has made WNBA history with idek how many records! She is the top in the league in assists, triple-doubles, and steals. SHE'S INSANE!!! SHE'S FUCKING RABID!!!! See for yourself here!

Watch her break the all-time three point record like it's nothing here:

#9. Cameron Brink

Cameron Brink debuts in this season of the WNBA for the Sparks! Cameron has had an amazing college career, but is especially known for her strong defence (and being the god-sister of Stephen Curry). She's bound to have a promising season. Watch some of her highlights here.

The strongest teams (IMO) seem to the Aces, the Mystics, the Sparks and New York Liberty. But there are also strong players in teams like Indiana Fever, Dallas Wings and Minnesota Lynx.

If you don't know which team to support, you could just pick your favourite athlete and choose their team. Some people like underdog teams and some people like top dog teams. Based on last season, I'd consider Indiana Fever an underdog team and Las Vegas Aces the top dog team (they won last season). In terms of best teams? LVA players are SEAMLESS. They move like water and it's magical to watch. But so are the Liberties and the Mystics! I genuinely don't know who to pick between those three.

If any of you gyns watch WNBA, please tell me who you're supporting this season and why!

Anybody who wants to start the season with me in May 14th, comment or reblog and maybe we can organize a discord for it! I'd love to watch this with you guys! And I'm all up for team rivalries.

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the Comics: Writing a legend, building a history.

Today we aren't reviewing an issue of Moon Knight. Today we are going to talk about something important.

So who wrote Moon Knight?

"Easy!", you might say. "Doug Moench!"

Sure. But you'd be surprised to find that it's not as much as you'd think.

Doug Moench wrote issues 1-15, 17-26, 28-33.

He returns in 1998 for a 4 issue mini seires Vol 3 "Resurrection Wars" which revives Marc Spector, who had been killed off in the previous volume.

He continues in 1999 with Vol 4, another 4 issue mini series "High Strangers/Strangeness" which won an award for favorite limited series.

He also wrote werewolf by Night, which gave us the first iteration of Moon Knight. An instantly popular character that made appearances in other comics like "The Hulk" before he was given his own comic.

He had time to work on the designs with Bill Sienkiewicz. They built up the weapons, the costume, the cab, and the copter.

He also built up the side characters of Gena, Gena's two boys, Crawley, Frenchie, Detective Flint, and Marlene.

He set the ground rules:

Moon Knight system is Jewish.

Marc, Jake, and Steven are a part of a system and are not one man pretending to be someone else

Jake is the one that is friendly and loves being with the people.

Steven is posh, collected, and takes care of things.

Marc is the one with experience, has the skills needed to get things done, and holds all the pain.

They are former Mercenaries who did terrible things and have deep guilt.

Khonshu resurrected them to act as Moon Knight

They strive to protect any who would come to them for help that perhaps might not get it elsewhere

I would even argue that he was building up to the fact that Moon Knight himself was his own form of alter but it has since been glossed over and replaced with the idea that Marc is most often the one under the mask.

Pretty simple rules to follow to make it a Moon Knight comics, but you'd be surprised what some writers have done with it.

These comics were written long before DID was acknowledged and the different forms of PTSD and Dissociation were defined.

And yet, here we stand with a traumazied man from Chicago slowly working through a freshly cognizant system and trying to figure out how three (four) people can work together towards not just a life, but life as a superhero who wants to help people.

Further more, an odd thing happened in this.

We had a comic that often focused more on mental health than on super powers, heroics, or villains.

More often than not, we watched Marc, Jake, and Steven struggle with themselves and one another. We watched stories unfold from the villain's point of view, often just being ordinary people pushed too far by a system that failed them.

More so, we watched Moon Knight sympathise with these villains.

How often he let them walk away or he let them kill their abusers, wondering if he was doing wrong himself.

How can he help when sometimes the help he offers is not what is needed?

We even watched him fail. We saw him lose his temper and cause damage. We saw him curl into a ball and break. We saw him get lost in his own nightmares and dissociative fuges.

Moench stepped forward and often handled current events with raw emotion. We saw his characters cry over the loss of public iconic figures. We watched people struggling as they returned from war. We saw child abuse and poverty. We watched economic struggles with classism and we watched people struggle to deal with grief.

We even watched them deal with antisemitism over and over again. How many times were the victims of his stories Jewish and trying to survive in America? What about the story that took place with the mass shooting in the Synagoug? We heard stories of Generational trauma as elders struggled with survival after the Holocaust.

Moon Knight was a unique comic unlike any other I've ever come across. For it's time and for it's topics at the time. What's more, this comic continued.

It was no 'special of the week' comic and spanned multiple years as they grew.

What do we know about Moench? Who did he write this comic for?

The Moon Knight in the Were Wolf by Night certainly didn't have all this depth. He was just a man dressed in silver, fighting a monster and ultimately choosing the side of the monster.

Moench himself was from Chicago. He knew what it was like to live in the city and see the fall of factories and hard times on the streets. We know he witnessed the times of Vietnam veterans being forgotten and abused. He witnessed a lot of changes happening in the world and the places he was writing about.

He wrote about what spoke to him and what he saw around him.

And in his stories, there often were no clear heroes, winners, or villains.

But there was one issue that he chose to add into this comic that was already filled with so many things that other comics avoided.

Moon Knight wasn't written as Jewish in that one shot cameo. He wasn't written with DID either, but I'll get to that.

There are interviews of Doug admitting that "I didn't say, 'I'm going to sit down and create a Jewish character.'"

In fact, he picked a name and later found out it was a Jewish name. This made him do research. Not just into Judaism, but into the areas that Marc Spector fought in and where his family came from.

Do you have any idea how many writers of that time and our current time simply slap the label of "Jewish" on a character and refuse to actually look into what makes them Jewish?

I can't say how much he researched and how much he got wrong or right, but I do know that when he did choose to dive into topics that touched on certain issues, he handled them with a grace that is often overlooked.

The writer that came after Moench? Alan Zelenetz, a former Jewish day school principal from Brooklyn.

Zelenetz had been acting as an editor for a bit before he took a look at Moench's early start.

And it was in Issue 37 and 38 where we get the real backstory of Marc Spector. A man running from his Rabbi father.

Marc now became the son of an Orthodox Rabbi who had been forced to flee Czechoslovakia after the Nazi invasion.

Here, we get the story of Marc running to the Marines. Running to the mercenaries, and running from home. Perhaps even, running from G-d.

Zelenetz wanted to lean into the Jewish past and Jewish story. He explored themes of using a holy book to create a villain while playing with Jewish myths. He also explored Antisemitism without toning it down or hiding it under comic bookish villainy. He portrayed Moon Knight facing white supremacist vandalizing a Jewish Cemetery. He showed Moon Knight saving the Torah from a Synagogue fire. He also showed a strained relationship and the question of Moon Knight finding his own relationship in what he does with his father's views.

Alan Zelenetz edited/wrote shorts for issues 18, 21–22, 27, 32, Then wrote the whole story for issues 36–38.

Zelenetz voiced that he was looking to add some Jewish representation into his workforce and perhaps into the comic industry at the time. Considering his background, perhaps he was the only one at the time that had the proper knowledge to play with things the way that he did in the story of Elias Spector's death and Marc Spector's pain.

He did not stick around with Moon Knight for long after. Though, he admits that he wanted to play with the fact that Khonshu was an Egyptian god and Marc was from such a Jewish background. I am sad we didn't get to see that story.

After that, Moon Knight's original 1980s run was finished. The question of what to do with Moon Knight, where to take him, and who would take up the mantle of writing him now lay in the hands of Marvel.

Many failed after this. They failed to keep the heart of what Moon Knight stood for and who Moon Knight was. His Jewishness was forgotten and his mental health became a joke.

Not to say all of them failed. There are a few shining stars that gleamed in the darkness and I like to think that it was these moments that kept Moon Knight going all these years.

Moench didn't set out to write a story about mental health, and yet his approach is the most real I've seen. Hardly a shining picture of perfect representation, there is still something there in watching the character almost seem to push back against the unintended desire to push him into a corner.

No matter how often Jake and Steven and Moon Knight were seen as Marc pretending to be someone else, there was always ALWAYS that correction. Always that push back.

Call it the writer's curse of characters misbehaving and taking on a life of their own, but perhaps there was something more there. Perhaps he felt the weight of time and cry of the suppressed and overlooked.

So many of his stories danced the line of "I can't say it because it will get edited out by the big wigs at Marvel, but if you would just look... Just look over here for just a moment..."

And years upon years later, a writer did see the whispers there and said "I see the story of pain. I see the cry of mental health." Lemire told the story that Moench couldn't and from that, we are still pushing forward with McKay.

And more, perhaps we will see the Jewish story that hides in all that also get a spotlight again.

In the era of big battles, cross-over events, explosions, and super villains cackling about domination... I still look back at Stained Glass Scarlet, The Druid, the Music Box, And Colloquy.

As I finish the original 1980s run, I brace myself to dive into what comes next.

I think I'm trying to find where and how the original run ventured so far into the dark and insulting territory it did and the journey back into a revival that now means so much to so many.

In a way, perhaps it mirrors a journey into our own mental health. How easy it is to become lost in what everyone around you tells you that you are and how you are supposed to be until your own doubt sets in to drown you. Perhaps it is the journey of Moon Knight's character emerging from this to find a path to healing that is what kept us here so long.

[ostrichmonkey-games]

Stampede Wasteland TTRPG

WELCOME TO THE WASTES

good luck, you’ll need it

Stampede Wasteland is my in development rules-light ttrpg about adventuring, gunslinging, and surviving a dangerous, extreme, and weird planet. Players are wastelanders, traveling from settlement to settlement, taking dangerous missions, exploring the world, and hopefully making a quick buck or two.

THE SETTING

One of the main inspirations is Trigun, and similarly to that series, humans are the surviving remnants of crashed seed-ships, clinging to survival in the craters of the Crash-Sites that dot the planet. It's got a similar attitude too. Danger, adventure, violence. But things are their own flavor of weird.

During the Crash, the terraforming swarms of nanites that the ships carried were released into the atmosphere where they crashed against the volatile, quasi-living psychofield of the planet and created the Warp: dangerous maelstroms that change whatever they touch. Some even purposefully seek these storms out, welcoming their chaotic blessings.

Gunslingers refine the nanite-crystals that periodically rain down from the Warp Storms into gunpowder: for bullets and for consumption. If you can survive the first nanite-fever, consuming gunpowder can fuel powerful abilities. At the minor cost of staining your blood black, and possibly inducing madness.

The original crew members of the seed-ships have long since passed into legend and myth, becoming deified as Crash Saints. Technoccultists wield their icons and relics, but also risk consorting with dangerous tech-devils in order to harness Warp magics.

Dangerous implants can grant bearers psionic powers and the ability to interface with the psycho-net: a strange data-realm born from the melding of ancient Crash-tech dataspheres and the currents of the planet's psychofield resonance.

There's more to discover out there, but that's a good appetizer.

So how does Stampede Wasteland work?

THE GAME

It's built off of the Together We Go engine (born from the game Down We Go) which is a rules-lite OSR styled system. Dice rolls are simple. Roll over a target value to succeed. You can modify your roll with special bonuses or decrease the target value through narrative positioning. Like a lot of OSR-y games, being in a situation where you're rolling is risky. Players want to stack the odds as much in their favor as they can. Combat is quick and bloody. And in Stampede Wasteland it is made all the quick and bloodier by auto-hit mechanics: so long as you are using your fighting style (which you pick during character creation) you always hit and deal damage.

Stampede Wasteland is an open sandbox. It is player driven, meaning that there is no presumed plot. Whatever troubles the players get caught up in become the plot. And rest assured, there will be troubles. The players have a shared Bounty score that goes up through the game, and if you're unlucky, people are going to start coming after you to claim that bounty.

Resources are slim. Survival is always by the skin of your teeth, and you are almost always backed into a corner. Desperation breeds trouble.

The game is procedural. Settlements and the Wastes are randomly generated as the table explores, meaning that everyone's version of Stampede Wasteland is going to be unique. The procedures are also tools for creating trouble for the players to interact with.

Trouble is fun. I wouldn't call Stampede Wasteland a "play to lose" game, but it is an "embrace the trouble" game. Trouble creates interesting situations where player characters get to flex their abilities.

THE CHARACTERS

Player characters have three components.

A Background that describes their origin.

A Fighting Style that forms a core part of their identity. Think of it as a signature. It’s how you sign your checks.

Class levels. There are four classes; GUNSLINGER, PSYCHER, TECHNOCCULTIST, and WILDWANDER. These give you all sorts of special abilities and situational roll bonuses.

During character creation, you pick out a background, a fighting style, and initially get two class levels to assign to whatever combination of classes you want.

This is one of my favorite elements of Together We Go: multiclassing. You want to dip into Wildwander to pick up a beast ability and companion after spending a few adventures as a Gunslinger? Go for it. Just make sure you meet the "narrative prereq" first (in the case of Wildwander, if it's not one of your starting classes during character creation, to pick up levels in it you have to go out into a Warp storm and embrace the change).

Character abilities range from the bullet-curving feats of the Gunslingers, the symbiotic beast powers of the Wildwander, to the special "skill monkey" Crash Saint domains of the Technoccultist. There's some very cool stuff you can pick up.

And that's a quick rundown on some of the basic elements of Stampede Wasteland. The text has been coming together pretty quickly, so hopefully it gets a release date in the next few months!

As I continue to work on it, I'll share some deeper dives into some more of the procedural elements and play loops. But if you want a rough idea on what to expect, you can also check out DEATHGRIND!!MEGASTRUCTURE, which is also built off of Together We Go. Stampede Wasteland is going to be a bit longer, and characters have a bit more going on though.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale's Analysis: Frieza: Evolution of Pure Evil

To those who don’t know, Frieza is one of the most iconic villains in all of anime.

To give some brief background to the few that never heard of him.

Frieza is the Galactic tyrant, basically the emperor of Universe 7, and said to be the evilest villain in all of Dragonball canon.

Frieza is a cut above the rest in terms of villains. Mainly for 3 key reasons.

1. Frieza is naturally powerful, he was born with the power and in the Namek saga, has never trained a day in his life.

2. Frieza is established as successful. His frieza force are feared throughout the universe, even the galactic patrol doesn’t mess with him.

3. He is fully aware he is evil and LOVES EVERY second of it.

Most anime villains have some sort of backstory that made them evil, Frieza doesn’t. He was born powerful and believes EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE is beneath him.

In the show, people would be mortified at the thought of getting on his bad side. With the introduction of power levels in Dragonball, Frieza’s final form was so powerful, the system was basically thrown out immediately after his second transformation.

Frieza was established less of a character and more of a Force of Pure Evil.

At his introduction. Frieza was the antithesis of Goku.

Goku, born with a power level of 2, trained tirelessly and scraped by just to rise up and meet every challenge he faced.

Frieza, born with an ungodly amount of natural power that the only two beings his father told him to watch out for were Majin buu, a magical cosmic threat that killed the Kai’s (basically creator deities) and Beerus, the god of destruction.

Frieza knew he was hot s*** but he was also cautious, killing the saiyans after hearing about their legend of the Super saiyan, and super saiyan god. Resulting in him GENOCIDING most of them by blowing up their planet.

Frieza was never meant to be redeemable, he was the dark opposite of Goku. Which also made him an excellent foil and villain.

Frieza was so powerful, Goku needed to achieve a legend in order to fight him EVENLY!

Not surpass him, MATCH

Many Dragonball Z fans will forget that Frieza was still not at full power when fighting super saiyan Goku. It’s only when reaching 100% that the fight really begins.

But this is where the beauty of Frieza’s defeat comes in. Frieza never trained to utilize his power, so he never mastered his full power and as a result, his stamina drained quickly, allowing Goku to get ahead and frieza to resort to cheap tricks, which backfired. Frieza may have been gifted but his talent meant nothing as he didn’t work hard.

The decline and Fall of Frieza in this

Frieza eventually finds himself cut in half by his own attack on a dying world, begging for energy from his opponent. Goku, despite EVERYTHING, gives it to him. And Frieza then does what you would expect, tries to kill him only to be blasted back and left for dead.

Funny enough Frieza does survive, gets turned into a cyborg and goes to earth to get revenge.

Only for another golden warrior to appear and

And so ends the reign of Frieza, killed by the super saiyan legend he tried to prevent, sliced, diced and killed by a warrior he never knew of. And used as a stepping stone to show how powerful the NEW villains will be.

And overtime, frieza was only mentioned as a measuring stick, maybe some filler episodes or movies. But for DBZ. That was it.

“But Gale,” I hear you call. “How does this relate to your title “Evolution of Pure Evil”?”

Well my astute and very attractive Reader.

That’s where the sequel series Dragon Ball Super comes in.

During this new series, Frieza’s empire is in shambles with him gone, so Sorbet (the current head of the empire) decides to revive him. To establish order.

And sure enough, thanks to the dragon balls, Frieza is revived

In which he then kills a few guards and realizes he is rusty for being dead for so long.

Frieza is caught up with the situation and found out Goku killed Majin Buu and fought Beerus.

This is where Frieza makes a shocking declaration. He will train for 4 months and fight him.

Now this sounds ridiculous at first glance. Especially to those familar with the series. We know how powerful Goku is now. Frieza was basically as strong as Goten or Trunks (who were kids). Goku would one hit KO him. How could he close the gap in four months?

And this is where we remember, Frieza STARTED out with his current power. He never trained to attain it. He was always this freakishly powerful. Gohan, Goku, Vegeta, everyone had to train and fight impossible odds to reach his power. So now, Frieza was going to train with his potential.

And 4 months pass, Frieza shows up, and his power is massive.

Even Gohan, who despite not training was still the strongest on earth, nearly died facing Frieza in his restricted first form. (He killed piccolo who sacrificed himself to save him)

And when Goku and Vegeta arrived. Goku fought him evenly, until Frieza revealed his Evolution

A form he attained through training, choosing the color as a means of Mocking the super saiyan transformation that killed him in the past, and a way of showing everyone he was back on top.

And sure enough he was stronger than Goku, but there was a flaw, Frieza failed to realize he didn’t master the form, his stamina drained too quickly, something that Vegeta and Goku picked up on.

And the result was Frieza’s death once again.

Frieza learned the benefits of training, but he didn’t learn from his failures, something that Goku always did.

Though this isn’t the last time we see Frieza, he is called back. For Goku recruited him for the tournament of power. Where we learn Frieza learned Mental training in hell and learned to master control of his golden form

Frieza had learned another means of improvement, now being on par with Goku once again.

And in the tournament, Frieza faced many foes, defeating his universe 6 counterpart, and fighting with Goku to defeat the monsterous Jiren.

Frieza learned that the multiverse was more than he even knew.

In The movie, Dragonball Super: Broly. Frieza is looking for recruits as he realizes that no matter how strong he gets, Goku and Vegeta together can beat him. He needs an ally. Which is where we meet Broly.

And it should be noted that Frieza fought Broly for nearly an hour before Gogeta (fusion of Goku and Vegeta) appeared and put an end to broly’s rampage.

It was here that Frieza learned that there was more he needed to tip the balance back in his favor, if they have a way to fuse and become more powerful.

Now we arrive at the current time. In the manga, Frieza has returned. And he casually killed the villains of the saga with minimal effort, One of which had wished to be the STRONGEST in the universe.

And despite the best efforts of Vegeta and Goku (both of which had new forms/ techniques) couldn’t seem to put down. But Frieza did it with one hit.

Frieza tells the group he found a place where time flows differently (that’s right, he found a room of spirit and time) and stated he trained in that room for the equivalent of 10 YEARS.

Now if you do the math, Frieza after 4 months was able to catch up to Goku and Vegeta who were training with Whis. Imagine what 10 full years did to him?

And then, Frieza revealed his newest transformation

Black Frieza.

And after he transforms he does this

One shots BOTH his enemies.

Frieza was back.

And he learned from his mistakes. Frieza had become like Goku in a way. Training and achieving new power. A prodigy that learned to enjoy fighting.

Frieza had learned to evolve because of Goku, Goku had showed Frieza how working hard and pushing limits allowed him to achieve great power. Frieza was changed by Goku. But unlike Vegeta and piccolo.

This change was for the worse. Frieza fell hard and kept failing only to come back and show everyone why HE is the emperor of the universe, becoming arguably the most powerful villain in all of Dragonball once again.

Pure Evil is back on top. No complex motivations, no desires of changing the world. Just a very evil man with a ton of power and LEARNED from its mistakes.

In another anime, one punch man, there is a villain that wanted to be Absolute Evil.

Frieza, is that pure Absolute evil, and loving every second of it

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hi, do you know any games that include traversal/spatial puzzles? Say, a character needs to figure out how to get from point A to point B in a room that has a certain sequence of puzzles: find this ball, take that ball to another room, jump over an abyss to get the ball into some slot, and a door opens. Something like in Darksiders 2 video game or other action-adventure games.

THEME: Spatial Puzzles

Hello friend! I have a feeling most of this recommendation list is going to be dungeon crawlers, because those games have so many pieces that emulate the levels of action-adventure games. The OSR has a lot of stuff that you’re probably going to like, but I think I can also include a few games that explore dungeons in different ways, in case you want some additional rules alongside your dungeon exploration. Also, keep in mind that there are a lot of system agnostic dungeons out there that can be used for a lot of different kinds of games, so even if there’s a game that doesn’t have a lot of adventures pre-written for you, they might still be a good fit for these pre-written dungeons!

Forgotten Ballad, by coolwayink.

Forgotten Ballad is a minimalist Adventure Game - TTRPG, if you prefer - heavily inspired by The Legend Of Zelda series and the OSR movement. Its simple system uses only d6 and is built around the character's items and inventory, encouraging creativity and exploration based on how the players describe their approach to problems. 

This game is an excellent example of the core pillars of the OSR movement, and draws inspiration from one of the most iconic action-adventure games with especially memorable dungeons. It’s a beautiful game and while the base game has only one starting dungeon to work with, it also includes tables to help you generate your own dungeons, as well as links to supplements such as Sudden Swamps and Buried Power, which are (respectively), a goblin dungeon and a procedural adventure/dungeon-creator.

If you want a taste of the rules before picking up the full game, you can also check out the pamphlet version of the rules!

Derelict Delvers, by Cezar Capacle.

Derelict Delvers is a thrilling, action-packed sci-fi roleplaying game that immerses players in a struggle for survival and profit. The game takes place in a galaxy overrun by monstrous alien creatures, who have destroyed humanity's peaceful exploration and diplomatic efforts.

The players take on the roles of elite space troopers, scientists, and engineers who must explore derelict spaceships and space stations in order to scavenge for supplies, salvage for weapons and valuable resources, and ultimately, hunt down the monsters that threaten the very existence of mankind. They are a team of skilled specialists, who are on a mission to help humanity, but also themselves.

With a unique blend of fast-paced combat and challenging perils, players will have to work together (or alone!) to overcome the dangers of the derelict ships and outsmart the deadly aliens lurking within. They will also have to make difficult decisions that will affect the outcome of their missions, their potential profits, and their very survival.

This game can be played GM-less or even solo, but I can see it being useful for dungeon design due to the roll tables that help the GM put the rooms of the empty spaceships together. I can even see the tables being useful for other space horror games, such as Mothership. You roll for the room shape, as well as for the difficulties plaguing each room. The attached actual play on the game page showed the creation of a room with blocked vents, a jellyfish monster, and a radiation leak, which all probably need to be dealt with before the characters can move on to the next room.

Fight, Item Run, by Whimsy Machine.

Fight Item Run is a Powered by the Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying game that smashes action-packed combat and magic together with dynamic character and relationship exploration. The party begins in a chamber and there are monsters; once they’ve defeated the monsters, they proceed to the next chamber where there are more monsters. Chambers also have items, treasures, puzzles, and mysteries. When the party has collected the adequate gear to advance to the next level of the dungeon, they come to the chamber with the passage, staircase, portal, or alien warp pad to continue forward.

This game is dungeon-crawling as well as Powered-by-the-Apocalypse, which is a really interesting mix for me. It’s inspired by platforming and action-adventure games, and has a unique method of encouraging the group to collaborate in dungeon design, at least to some extent. When it comes to theme and atmosphere, the group is encouraged to collaborate - do they want to explore a crashed spaceship? A volcano temple? An icy cave system?

However, the chambers of the dungeon have special advice for the GM. There’s a whole section on creating puzzles, including 6 different puzzle types, and a series of steps to generate puzzles in the dungeon that you’re exploring. Players will have to use different moves to engage with these puzzles, such as Apply Force, Manipulate Components, or Navigate Danger. On top of this, you can populate your dungeon with monsters, sages, and key items.

The Tomb of Xul Lan Kwat, by Madeline.

10,000 years ago the god-queen Xul Lan Kwat was buried here, but now her leaking dreams threaten the world above. Animals and people awake to their skin paling, their hair falling out, their eye sockets closing over. You have been given a lead-lined chest in which you must seal the god- queen’s brain and heart to stop the flow of dreams.

This is a stat-less dungeon like I mentioned in the introduction to this rec post. It’s 7 pages long, with a grid map and details for each room. Some of the obstacles in this dungeon are combat related, such as mushroom women or pale monkeys. However, there are also interesting features such as mirrors that can give you a sneak peek into other rooms, sudden loss of vision, and crystals that could fall on curious, unsuspecting adventurers. I’d recommend using a game like Cairn or Durf for this. Cairn fits the gritty tone, and gives the GM a lot of freedom on how to adjudicate challenges, and Durf gives you a bunch of example NPCs that you can use as templates for the creatures you find in other system-agnostic settings.

Tomb of a Thousand Doors (Mausritter), by ManaDawn Tabletop Games.

Gather up picks and shovels and prepare packs as you delve deep into the forgotten stronghold of a mad mouse king - the Tomb of a Thousand Doors. A megadungeon for the rules-light fantasy adventure roleplaying game Mausritter.

It’s a deep and dark dungeon down there, and it will not be fair on a little mouse. But if you are cautious and maybe a bit daring and reckless, you may be able to retrieve unnumbered riches. And if you delve for long enough, you may just uncover the greatest treasure of all mousekind.

This dungeon is so big I think you could probably run an entire Mausritter campaign in here, and each mini-dungeon has its own unique pieces. I stopped at a random one, and landed on the Chamber of Flames: 8 octagonal connected chambers, walled with mirrors, with traps that shoot flames through each archway if you step too heavily on pressure tiles. I can see the players trying to figure out ways to avoid walking on the tiles, or making themselves super-light in order to get to the end of this tunnel.

As a system, Mausritter is fairly light in rules, so it’s easy to learn, and the emphasis on inventory means that your characters will have to learn how to use what’s in their toolbox to help them get from point A to point B. I think it’s got a lot of what you’re looking for because on top of this Megadungeon, there’s plenty of other Mausritter supplements to explore and enjoy.

[lesbiansforboromir]

HELLO??? OH MY GOD??? A new LotR game that has a unique and imaginative premise that is entirely about dwarves?? I’m going a little wild, here’s the Discord FAQ!

What is The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™? The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™, the only survival crafting video game set in the Fourth Age of Middle-earth™, the iconic fantasy world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™ follows the Dwarves as they embark on a new adventure to reclaim their legendary home of Moria beneath the Misty Mountains. Players will join forces to survive, craft, build and explore the iconic, sprawling mines. Courageous expeditioners will need to be vigilant as mysterious dangers await. When is Return to Mora (RtM) Set? The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™ is set in the 4th Age of Middle-earth™. Where is RtM Set / What does the game world look like? Set in a procedurally generated Dwarven realm of Moria, no two adventures will be alike, and every expedition is traversable either solo or online with companions *How many players can play together? Up to 8 players can play together in The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™. Who do you play as? Players become part of Dwarven Legend as they create their own Dwarf in the custom character creator. Dwarves can be customized in a variety of ways to create a unique Dwarven identity. Then, during gameplay, players can find and craft armor and weapons to further enhance their unique style. Will all Dwarves have beards? Players can customize their Dwarf in a number of ways including a variety of beards or no beard at all! 

What kind of items can be crafted? Craft and loot legendary Dwarven armor, tools, weapons and structures. Rebuild ancient forges to strengthen, repair and enchant gear. Upgrade and unlock new technologies and fantastical machines.

Where will RtM be available? The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™ will be available on PC from the Epic Games Store. Wishlist now at https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-lord-of-the-rings-return-to-moria-f01344

When will RtM be released? The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™ will be released in Spring 2023, the exact date is yet to be announced. 

Will RtM be available on other services / platforms? The Lord of the Rings™:Return to Moria™ is currently exclusive to the Epic Games Store. We’ll let the community know of any releases on other services / platforms in the future. 

Is RtM an official LOTR game? Yes, The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™ is approved by and made with guidance from the team at Middle-earth™ Enterprises

Is RtM linked to the Films / TV Show? The Lord of the Rings™: Return to Moria™ is an independent game set in the 4th Age of Middle-earth™ and is not related to the Film or TV franchises. 

[apenitentialprayer]

My dear friend,

Do you have any interesting Adam and Eve legends? I'm not talking about the apocryphal gospels in particular, because I know a little about them.

Hey there! Not sure when you sent this, hopefully you weren't waiting for too long. Ah, there's a lot of folklore that could be looked at.

For example, there's a theme in some Islamic and Jewish folklore that Adam and Eve actually separated for a length of time after their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. This may have been a conscious choice on their part, or they may have been separated during their expulsion. In some versions, Eve is already pregnant with Cain at this time, and it is Eve's wails while giving birth that draws Adam back to her. In other versions, Eve may not yet be pregnant. In some accountings, the demon Lilith impregnates herself from Adam's wet dreams and produces a race of demons.

There's a story where Adam created by dust that angels had collected from all corners of the world, so that his creation is in some sense an epitome of all Creation. (The fact that he is created from dust from all over the world is also an etiological explanation for why there are so many different skin colors among humans).

There is a legend that Adam was buried under Golgotha; Christ's Precious Blood spilled onto and soaked into the ground where he was buried. You can see this motif in some Crucifixion icons that depict a human skull (Adam's skull) under the Cross.

The number of children that Adam and Eve have vary wildly by source; some Irish sources suggest 100 children, 50 of each sex; we have a surviving monks' trivia game that says that Adam and Eve had 63 children, 33 boys and 30 girls. The lowest number I know is 14 children total. These are all postlapsarian children, by the way; some theologians speculated that Adam and Eve may have had sinless children in the Garden of Eden, beings we now know as faeries.

Speaking of children, one Islamic tradition says that Eve always gave birth to twins; a boy and a girl, a future husband and wife. According to this story, Cain killed Abel because Cain wanted to marry Abel's twin sister and not his own.

More children stories! In one tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm, Adam and Eve had many, many children. When God came to bless them with vocations, Eve was ashamed at the ugliness of some of them, so she hid them away while presenting the beautiful ones. When she saw God bless them with destinies like becoming scholars, knights, and princes, she called the ugly ones out. By that point, all the cool vocations were handed out, so they got destinies like becoming peasants, tanners, and sailors. And that's why.... us commonfolk are ugly???

At least some Rabbinic sources attribute Psalm 92 to Adam and the angels.

Oh! And Adam and Eve may have brought plants from the Garden of Eden to our fallen world; it may be a particular tree in Kashmir, clover, or maybe wheat.

[stereksthings]

things i liked about the Teen Wolf movie:

- dilf derek (loved ittt)

- eli (must protect omg)

- sherif ( icon, legend)

- coach (literally the best)

- dereks “complicated feelings” about the jeep …

things i didn’t like about the Teen Wolf movie:

- literally everything else

- i felt like it was too rushed (?) everything happened too fast for my liking

- how they left Eli to cry on his own after Derek died (only for a little bit) whilst they were all crying and kissing, like, celebrate ur survival after mourning the loss omg

- Allison … 🤨 do i even have to explain ??

- Allison and Scott talking about adopting Eli ?? he literally has other family members/the sherif and Allison tried to literally kill his dad not even less than 24hrs ago 😭

- no stiles ?? literally the most iconic character

- Derek’s death (i need more dilf derek pls)

- the fact that i wasted 2 hours and 20mins watching it

[mask131]

While I'm at it, because I just had a little beef with a fanatical Christian who couldn't believe I was born in a Christian setting because I had a pentagram as an icon (you see the kind of person)... [Edit: For more details they were a clearly antisemitic Orthodox person who, after refusing to believe I was anything else than Jew, atheist or a devil-worshiper, starting lashing out at me when I said I had a Catholic upbringing saying I was the cause of the crusades and the reason Hitler was alive, yada yada, you know the kind of crazy religious person]

So I decided to have a brief Christianity talk. Not much but just this:

If you ask me, yes, there is a Christian mythology, even though people do not like this term - because there is a bunch of Christian legends and Christian myths that form a Christian folklore and a set of Christian tales with distant, weak or inexistant links to ACTUAL Christian teachings, rites and the actual Christian religion.

And I do believe that folk-Christianity is a fascinating thing that deserves to exist alongside official, actual Christianity. Santa Muerte, and the local saint celebrations, and strange Christmas and Epiphany beliefs, and this story about God and Saint Peter getting drunk at a farmer's house, and the fairytale about Jesus and the Virgin Mary throwing the devil and his wife in an oven to save the girls they wanted to eat... Anyway, no matter how much one can try to destroy folk-Christianity it will always survive because it was centuries and centuries of rites and beliefs spread across several continents, and you can't destroy that easily.

The thing that many people do not get is that a lot of what is Christianity today was completely made up. There's not a lot of Christianity today that was originally in the Bible. There's a lot of Christianity as practiced by the first Christians that was lost. The dates and meanings of celebrations like Easter, All Hallows Day or Christmas kept changing all year long. Lots of saints were completely invented. Don't even get me started on the apocryphal Gospels!

This is why studying and understanding the history and evolution of a religion always allow one to be more understanding of what the religion currently is and what is actually an "option" in it. Religions never stayed the same thanks to times changing, scholarly debates, schisms dividing it into various branches, political and economical forces being at play, translations from one country to the next - and that's not just true for Christianity, but also for all other religions. Islam, Judaism, Buddhism... They all had their own evolution, they all are today very different from what they started as, and to better understand them one needs to learn of their past, what they were, what they still are, what they're not anymore. Heck, today there are talks in India of kicking out and banishing all Buddhists when the religion started there! But now, Buddhism's main nations are China and Japan, and its Indian roots almost entirely forgotten...

Fanatics usually fail to do this study of their own religion's history and evolution, because they imagine that the past was just always a carbon-copy of the present, and that their beliefs stayed unmovable monolith coming straight from God (or whatever principle they follow) instead of something that went through centuries of men and women and governments.

Just look at why and how Protestantism came to be. People realized the Church had added a lot of stuff that wasn't there when Christians first appeared, and decided to return to the "original" Christianity, rejecting all the added, invented stuff. Like the celibacy of priests: Christians priests married and had children in the first centuries following the Christ's death. And the only reason Catholic priests took a vow of celibacy and virginity was because of economic concerns with inheritance matters. Jesus never asked those that followed him to never have children or never marry or never have sex.

Or take the existence of Purgatory! Completely invented by the Church around the Middle-Ages, never spoke about by the Christ or part of the original Christian religion, then quickly removed a few centuries later as a non-existent, borderline heretical superstition, and that yet survived in folk-Christianity, and then in popular culture.

In conclusion, I would have to say that there is one book that made me realize a lot of things about religion as a whole, and that convinced me to go from Catholic-Christian to simply deist. Terry Pratchett's book "Small Gods", which exactly put into words my feelings about the world: there is a difference between religion and organized religion. There is a difference between belief and the organizations built around this belief, between faith and the hierarchy created around this faith. The Church is like a shell that was built around the turtle that is the faith/belief/god - and sometimes, when the shell becomes too big and too heavy or too unfit for the creature it hosts, it smothers, hurts and kills the faith/belief/god, until there is only the shell. And people stop referring to the turtle, and only speak and interact with the shell.

This is the perfect explanation of how Jesus only preached peace and love and friendship and forgiveness, and its priests later invented the Inquisition and caused the witch-hunts.

[heartsopenminds]

preshow hangout q+a! london 28 sept

I was at the show again tonight (I got to go on friday too!) and it was sooo good! I also got to go to the pre show hangout, so here’s some highlights from the q+a - putting under the cut as it’s v long and maybe a little spoilerish so....

- dan had lots of people he knows coming to the show tonight and was trying not to think about how how much ‘adult content’ there is and how they might react

- he had to remove some grandma jokes from the cardiff show because of the queen's funeral

- what disney prince would he bang? Immediate answer was the beast, then he clarified he meant in human form, then switched to aladdin

- people have mocked him for the fact that all he has in his rider is red bull, water and a banana (he reassured us this was not for sexual purposes)

- his feet smell like soap, but apparently americans have told him that's weird because everyone uses shower gel these days and soap is for medievel peasants

- he used to know how to do the dance to lucifer by shinee, and they're his number one all time group

- he thanked the person who wrote 'piss' on their piece of paper for bringing that over from instagram q+a’s

- the box where people post questions which is labelled ‘dan’s hole’ is now being referred to as ‘dan's slit’ because it’s a slot not a round hole

- the crew named the box dan's hole without consulting him and he's worried about getting it through customs to america

- the vip bags are meant to be an end of the world survival kit and you can use the bracelet as a weapon to fire at people's eyes and blind them

- there's lots of journalists coming to review the show tonight and Dan is worried they are all going to be bald white old heterosexual men and will think he’s just a woke child, but apparently if he wears nail varnish they'll suddenly realise he's gay and then whatever he says will be fine

- he said several times that we all have to make sure we cheer and look like we're enjoying the show so that the journalists will give him a good review

- his least favourite one direction solo music is liam payne’s

- the same person who asked that also asked for 'thoughts on’ daddy marx aka karl' and dan’s response was icon, legend, slay

- if phil were turned into a houseplant, dan wouldn't water him as he wouldn't deserve it because of how many plants he's killed

- dan thinks phil will live in filth for two months while he tours america and then do a panic clean 2 days before he gets back

- the person who asked them for a threesome was.....your mum

- corgi might win over shibe in the 'get a dog' discussion because shibes are apparently not very emotionally available

- someone said get one of each and Dan said he doesn't want to come home from tour and find two dog skeletons, so maybe that's a 2023 thing (!!)

- he emotionally vibes with the idea of becoming a cottagecore cat lady with 9 black cats

- his dream place to do a show would be in his house so he doesn't have to get dressed, so probably a livestream of him sleeping

- if he had to be a biscuit he'd be a hobnob - messy, large, circular and full of too much sugar

- fuck marry kill with mariokart characters - he'd marry then fuck then kill luigi

- he’s clueless about wine and never knows what to say when people ask him what his favourite red wine is

- phil only likes alcohol that tastes like ribena, and likes a nice gay rosé

- fave alcoholic drink - he said he's a gin girl because gin makes you cry and he's crying all the time on the inside so he's drawn to it on an emotional level

- someone asked how it felt to have turned an entire generation queer, and he laughed and apologised

- 'would you rather turn into sonic, godzilla or megamind every time you’re aroused?' dan’s response was sonic because whatever you're going to do, you can do it fast ‘time is money - spin on that, bitch!’

- he stopped posting the preshow selfies on his main account because phil said people were seeing it and not realising it was the preshow, so it made it look like only about 50 people were turning up to the show each night

[number-two-tournament]

Propaganda under the cut!

Roronoa Zoro:

"He went from barely trusting Luffy to 100%. My man is DEVOTED. He took all his captain's pain and said nothing happened, he respects his captain over everyone else. He is,, just to most ever. AND aside from his devotion to Luffy, he cares so much for the whole crew, prime example being Chopper, he is like a big brother to Chopper. But just in general he is just devoted and wonderful and perfect. He also goes into a three headed demon form and,, does not talk about it. He acts like it's just any other Tuesday. <3"

"this man saw a twink and went "dont get in the way of my dream" and then immediately decided he'd die for him. it takes him less than 3 days to be ride or die for his Captain. he takes upon himself his captain's pain and DIES (but he survived so hes ok) . cares for his crew so deeply that he's willing to promise killing one of them if he has to for their peace of mind even though it would destroy him. he risks his lifelong dream for them. Nami betrays them and he goes "alright bet" and tries to drown himself to prove to HER that she's someone he still trusts when she saves him. Hes also like. part demon or something but that's just cool factor."

"Unofficial vice captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, Luffy's first and closest ally, acts as a voice of reason and advisor to Luffy and occasionally leads his crewmates in Luffy's absence"

Sancho Panza:

"he follows quixote around everywhere and is super loyal to him. he feels a lot of fondness & affection for quixote. also they're foils what's not to love.

and he's the second-in-command of the protagonist of the #1 best-selling novel of all time. that has to count for something right"

"icon legend the moment the og if you squint really hard.a baddie tbh."