#overdefined

[justheblueberry]

sunny days ahead

[switch]

look this is what i'm talking about do you get it

[memecatwings]

it drives me batshit when people start busting out the math equations to try to explain the difference between bisexuality and pansexuality. id rather you just say you identify as whichever one you like the flag of more. why are you jumping through hoops to talk in circles describing something that is ultimately indescribable? you dont need to be doing all this. you can just admit that the pansexual label only exists due to misconceptions about bisexuality, and that they are functionally the same exact thing. overcomplicating the definitions does absolutely nothing. "bisexual is when youre attracted to n > 1 gend-" shut the fuck up bisexual is when i break your jaw because youre causing needless confusion with your words

[the-timewatcher]

counterargument to the "sex/love makes us human" amatonormative bullshit:

spite.

our species has thrived and come so far almost entirely to spite god, nature and one another.

spite is what makes us human.

[taelonsamada]

So @thatlesbeanjew bought me a new keyboard, so I wouldn’t lose the progress I’d gained on my credit card, and would also get said keyboard faster. It’s gonna take a few days to get here, but when it does I am absolutely leaping on those updates 😅

Until then, have Guy in Honey’s leather jacket, as a thanks for her buying that keyboard 😏 😉 ♥️

He’s such a little shit, I love him 😆 he absolutely stole Honey’s jacket 😈 it took me way too long to get around to drawing him, considering how much I love him

(I’m not used to drawing slim muscle, this was tricky 😆 I kept wanting to overdefine the abs 😅)

[the-only-way-out-is-through19]

trans leo valdez hcs pt 2

. he tried out soooo many different pronouns before he found the ones he is most comfortable in (he/him [changes occasionally])

. i hc that he has known piper since around 12 or 13 years old, and at the time he was very confused and she helped him a lot with that stuff

. calypso was confused when he told her and said “but im not a lesbian??? i only like males” (yes im anti-caleo deal with it)

. at first he felt uncomfortable wearing or doing “feminine” things because he felt that since he is trans he must be fully masculine (definitely not speaking from experience /s)

. eventually thought he got much more comfortable; piper doesnt like to do much makeup on herself, so when she has an idea, leo is always (very willingly) her model. alsoooo, leo loves wearing dresses

. piper and leo wore matching dresses to the barbie movie. i will die on that hill.🫡

(sorry i got a bit off-topic anyways)

. he used to have a super transphobic foster home and the things they would say sometimes ring in his head and he hates it

. its like he just cant escape the tiny voice whenever something nice happens that says “you dont deserve this. you are disgusting. attention-seeker. you are such a fake. you cant just change your name. etc etc”

. ahem anyways-

. he doesnt have super “feminine” features (EX: big curves, soft fluttery face, round waist)

. although he does have a chest and slight curves, he feels lucky not to be overdefined

[nek-ros]

only fanart of leper darkest dungeon ive seen that doesnt give him stupid overdefined muscles and it's drawn by one of the official ultrakill artists

[poobit]

i think the problem with how ppl misinterpret "dont overdefine yourself by your disorders and your trauma" is that they think this is a matter of pride rather than the fact that when we take our disabilities and disorders and trauma as The Unique part of ourselves it can lead you easily towards a path of Inmutable individualism, it can lead you to making tonedeaf remarks or saying incorrect information about other people who share the same conditions as you Because You Know yourself the best thus You wouldnt/would act this way or this is what makes you specially tortured or worse or better than others, a disorder can influence aspects of your personality and everyday life, but They Arent your personality, they arent the full extent of your desires, its just how it affects your body n mind , the input of energy in your day to day life and Intensity of pain or emotion, its why even though people with schizophrenia can have patterns of religious delusion none of those delusions are gnna be always the Same thing on each person , or even how you react to those delusions, they wont dictate the subject, just easily factored in by how society teaches religion to a lot of people from young age , your identity is often more defined by what emotions you take the most, your culture, the things you want to absorb from the world around you, will they be impacted by your conditions? yeah, but this Isnt inmutable

[beeelderly]

i should start internalizing that im a meat mech and my Self Construct is piloting me around bc i feel so overdefined by my fatigue

[wazzuppy]

i love not having to overdefine the complexities of my queer identity anymore. i love the term aroace and i love having it as my identity. literally the most freeing shit on the planet to realize i dont owe anybody an explanation of what i feel when i'm not hurting anyone. highly recommend finding a term u feel comfortable with and just going with that

[theunusualchameleon]

The Narrative Importance of Mag 14: Piecemeal

Mag 14: Piecemeal is important in a narrative sense to prepare listeners for the intensifying of the plot, as an enduring piece of mystery and horror in a sometimes overdefined system, and to shake up and defy that same system, preserving the chaos and inexplicability that makes The Magnus Archives what it truly is.

Episode 14 of the Magnus Archives, Piecemeal, is often dismissed as one of the weird episodes in Season 1, before the general themes were ironed out. It involves a confusing and horrifying death, and brings up a character who, to those experienced in Magnus structure, would be expected to show up again. Indeed, the other character introduced in episode 14 is Mikaele Salesa, who proves instrumental in later plot developments. But we never see Angela again, except for the mildest nod to her continued existence in season 5. 

Some say that makes this episode a structural disaster; one of the odd, stupid, confusing episodes that give season 1 its unique charm. Even Jonny, in a Q & A, admitted to the episode being one he wanted to redo. But there’s so much more going on that makes Piecemeal important to the development of the Magnus universe. 

Firstly, the statement giver, Lee Rentoul, is a bad person. This is very clearly stated. He’s a career criminal who spent several years in prison, and later kills a man and is happy about it. The statement givers so far have largely been innocent victims, or at least sympathetic protagonists. Even Trevor Herbert, the vampire hunter from Mag 10, considers himself a force of good. Lee Rentoul gives us, the listeners, a gateway into the idea that the statements we hear will not always be given by good people, giving us time to get used to the idea before doing so is narratively vital, such as a statement given by an avatar. Later statements given by avatars, criminals, monsters, or similar are usually filled with vitally important information. If the listener were distracted worrying about the morality of the statement giver, they might miss something. Piecemeal gives listeners a chance to get worrying over morally unsound protagonists out of our systems, and more emotionally prepared for the escalation of the plot further on. 

Secondly, the eventual irrelevance of Angela and her assassinations reinforces the idea that Magnus takes place in a larger world than what we can see. In a different Q&A, Jonny laments the fact that to have sufficient payoff in the mystery department, concessions must be made in the horror department. So much horror comes from having no idea what’s happening, and that has to be given up as the story continues and the listener learns more and more. 

A prime example of this is the coffin. First introduced in episode 2, the coffin is terrifying and mysterious. We end up knowing nothing about it, and the horror is maximized. Over the course of the story, we learn more and more about the coffin. By the time its arc resolves in season 4, it is well established as dangerous, but not the nameless horror it was at the beginning. We know exactly what fate awaits those who open it, and while it isn’t pretty, it is known. Someone skilled and knowledgeable enough can even escape it. 

The occasional inclusion of incidents which are never properly explained provides the proper horrified feeling usually only experienced in first time listeners to those who go back and listen again. Even after 200 full episodes of information, we still have no idea what was going on, which keeps it scary and helps Magnus stand up well to repeat listeners.

Finally, the nebulous nature of what power is involved plays an important role in the later discrediting of Smirke’s Taxonomy. It is initially unclear what power is involved in Piecemeal. Initial readings might sort it firmly into the realm of Flesh, with the fascination with losing body parts. Closer or more thematic readings might pick the Web, for the strange pileup of coincidences, or the Stranger, for the strange woman who is never elaborated on, or even the End, focusing on Lee Rentoul’s struggle and fear of his inevitable demise, and still remaining alive even as more and more bits fall off of him. 

But here’s the thing: It’s none of them. The idea of Smirke’s 14 as categories that every manifestation must belong to one, with only the briefest concession for combinations, is ultimately doomed to fail. Smirke’s Taxonomy of Fear is a useful tool for initial cataloging and categorization, but it’s just that. A tool. Again and again, the powers are highlighted as something chaotic and unknowable. Any model used to understand them is limited by our reality. Some statements fit neatly into the 14, which makes sense, as that sort of event would have to be relatively frequent in order for Smirke himself to identify and catalog them, which could be further elaborated on in an entire other essay. But it remains important to have the occasional statement that doesn’t intuitively fit into any of the 14, for the sake of emphasizing the limits of the system. This is also true for various other early episodes, such as Mag 4: Thrown Away, also often dismissed for being nonsensical.

Mag 14: Piecemeal is important in a narrative sense to prepare listeners for the intensifying of the plot, as an enduring piece of mystery and horror in a sometimes overdefined system, and to shake up and defy that same system, preserving the chaos and inexplicability that makes The Magnus Archives what it truly is.

[beastlybardou]

For the asks would you mind answering 7 and 9? :3

Of course! :3

7) how do you view being otherkin? (i.e. spiritual beliefs, reincarnation/next life, pyschological related, etc.)

I personally don't actually put much thought into the "why" of me being nonhuman. I just am. I feel like whenever I stress about the how and why of my nonhumanity I start to overdefine it in a way that whittles away parts of my experience. I guess if I wanted to define it though I would say psychological and spiritual.

Psychological in the sense that I am a werewolf so of course I have a werewolf brain, I am autistic which I believe to have some influence over how I experience my nonhumanity, and I have had traumatic experiences that shaped what I am to some extent as well.

Spiritual in the sense that my nonhumanity ties heavily into my spirituality, and I do not practice paganism from a human perspective. I interact with the spiritual world as a werewolf and I believe that the spiritual world sees me that way back. Whenever I have had out of body experiences or crossed the hedge I have taken the form of a large black wolf.

9) how much of your life and/or identity would you considered is impacted by being otherkin?

Basically all. I approach my life from a wholly nonhuman perspective, because I view myself as wholly nonhuman! Whether I take the form of human or wolf I am always a werewolf, and I'm always gonna act as a werewolf does. This means pretty much any decision I make or path I follow was because my instincts guided me there.

[gayspock]

ok stark throughts specifically

stark is so strange because i find him very compelling as a concept but his execution (that is depiction-execution, but his execution-execution falls under that too LOLLLL) thus far is just so lacklustre to the point where like? i had to check whether i'd just...skipped episodes...

like ok. he disappeared at the end of s1 and i dont think they even explained where to. which like... fine, i can fill in the gaps - assume they just dropped him off, somewhere. sure.

but then he reappears in the locket which. ALREADY mentioned what i think about that episode - how i feel the elements with him and zhaan, though i wish they would work, would have been better off not in it at all.... and then he "dies" after LITERALLY in the next ep 😭 HE WAS HERE FOR 2 SECONDS...

and THEN i assumed he wouldnt come back for another season but?? hes...b..back again... after a single episode? like- huh?

and zhaan being so distraught, wanting to get to him- like its not ooc, and its not crazy that she would be. BUT. i dont actually care? whereas i would care for it more if they built up their relationship onscreen properly first

because i DO think they have a good foundation for a really interesting dynamic together. but its like... they spent that 1 episode, the locket, working together and thats literally it- and as i said, i did not care for their role in that episode, even. and its SUCH a shame bc zhaan, too, is like... ALSO another character whose premise is so good, but the execution is wanting. like they never seem to know what to DO with her half the time

and here it is!! something for them to do!! have them explore their dynamic. but they dont do that? and its so strange, the way they chose what episodes to do - because i know theres probably plot elements theyre trying to set up that need to be touched upon, but...

theres other episodes in this season that could have been cut. others that could have been reworked a lot to properly explore these things, in a more timely fashion. i think we COULD have had stark onboard earlier, and even if he was in the background then maybe we could have at least had small demonstrations fo him working with zhaan and maybe an ep of them properly bouncing off one another

but again. i say that. like i said they keep forgetting zhaan, too. she keeps getting relegated to, like, the background where they sometimes seem to forget about her entirely (i cant even recall a scene of her in clockwork nebari) or used as, like, the equivalent of a sonic screwdriver to fix stuff with spiritual-flavoured science technobabble.

which is funnily enough the problem both her and stark have, too, and its not the direct cause of the issues with their writing but they definitely occur more often together than not. like, the problem ive had with zhaan is like- i LOVE her concept, ive said that, but a lot of her "powers" and religion are this odd combination of too vague, and too specific, and pretty superficial all over. the same happened with stark. at first he was fine and it was all pretty well done (him in s1) but then with the locket, and with the dispersal thing?? its just... weird, man. because its like-

AGAIN. i dont think overdefining their abilities is the answer or trying to give in depth detail to what they do. i, like, like technobabble stuff a lot of the time- i think its fine? but it does so often approach a point wherein like... its hurting the actual narrative and its frustrating because i wish zhaan was MORE than just a tool to spout technobabble, and that what stark was doing felt like it was.. anything at all but sighhh

thats all to say. its a shammeeee. bc like even just making him a little plot device.... man, if u want to do that, why even bring him back the first time? just have him reappear at the beginning of this three parter, and do whatever it is he is about to do, since the journey in between for him really... was of no freaking consequence to any of us, and really didnt effectively build his character at all... so whyyyyy

(AND AGAIN. FOR THE RECORD. IM TICKED OFF BC I LIKE HIM. I LIKE MY FRIEND, STARK. I HOPE THEY DO BETTER BY HIM.)

[jrmilazzo]

The “magic thing” is to “make boredom and weariness blossom into immeasurable contentment”; the second kind of attention “brought a quality of delight completely unknown to the first kind”. Wide attention reenchants the world, narrow attention can diminish it. Narrow attention creates a certain kind of person – is a way of overdefining oneself; wide attention provides alternatives, alternative ways of seeing ourselves and others. Clearly what Milner is describing here as wide attention is a form of attention purged of aims and wants and conventional satisfactions (it is a version of forgetting oneself); and she describes in vivid detail her struggles to attain this wide attention, freed as it seemed to be of Darwinian and Freudian and indeed acquisitive purposes. It is a version, as she acknowledges, of what Blake called “vision”. It acknowledges that any ideology of virtue can only ever be a provocation.

[gorey]

was chatting in a server and this was a little too off topic to add but I really feel like people like to no-true-scotsman the notion of love to say that if it's not [xyz definition of Healthy Pure Love] then it isn't love at all and idk I don't think that's a useful way to talk about it at all I think it's much more relevant to acknowledge that love can be ugly perverse ungrounded in reality possessive or avoidant or any number of noxious things love can be selfish and coexist with abuse and often does and pulling a bunch of semantic overdefining as a way of erasing the complexity of the human experience of loving a person or thing isn't in any way helpful to me. it's much more reasonable to me to think that love like any other human emotion or experience can become a poisoned well in the wrong situation than to say if your love is tarnished by shame guilt possessiveness etc it's just not love at all. I believe my mother loves me despite all the atrocious shit she's pulled on me in my life and that's not some cope it would be easier for me to look at that and say she doesn't love me but she does she just doesn't love me well, or right, or in a way that I want. love between people is a contract and an ever evolving behavioral thing there are actions that can be taken that would make me say that's not love that's some bullshit but I don't think it's entirely productive to dismiss the emotional interiority of the person whose love has become toxic not out of any apologism for abuse but bc it can be useful in picking apart their intentions and determining how to engage with them or how to heal from the hurt they caused. is there a certain point where it does not matter if the person claims they love you? absolutely actions mean more than internal process at the end of the day but I don't think it's a good idea to uphold Love as this untouchable ur-Thing that will never be a reality even in the healthiest relationships you have to recognize the failings and horrors of love instead of divorcing the flaws from the concept entirely. idk ygwim

[twooshort]

My Tav: Megged

I've been seeing so much fanart of Gale romances recently and today my Tav had to make a choice. He's a big boy with a big heart and he's doing mostly well against his insatiable bloodlust, so I was planning on mixing the creative power of music with the power of creation together with that amazingly charming wizard.

But that's not Gale with him on the picture, obviously, because the game has other plans for this Dark Urge. (Dark Urge-specific spoilers below)

Thankfully those plans were not "Gale dying messily", because Sceleritas Fel had bad timing and showed up way before Gale could take the opportunity to open up towards Megged, probably saving their lives as a result.

I can only assume that Sceleritas Fel mistook sexual attraction for romantic, because Karlach was painted as the next target (after Isobel was left alive). She'd just had her heart repaired by Dammon and Megged was not going to say no to that hottie when she wants to (finally) get physical. Not all urges are Dark and he's been around the camp a few times already.

Seeing how I'd not seen the Durge romance path yet I got really worried when the options were "choose to kill Karlach or lose control and kill Karlach". Every other time when Megged lost control to his bloodlust, he's easily overpowered whomever it was (some bards will never be forgotten). This time though, he was hog-tied and kept safe by a giant woman, and she promised she'd do it again.

Yes, Megged is confusing security for love, but when he can't make himself put away the instruments of his first victim in memory it's comforting to be around an overpowering statue of muscles rather than a little pinhead with suspiciously overdefined "abs".

Ironically, two nights later Gale had his little night scene, but by then Megged had already talked to Astarion and Shadowheart and they both agreed that Karlach's heart might be burning hellfire, but neither of them wanted to see it broken in any way shape or form.