#really even in its predecessor or its successor

[skaruresonic]

no fear

"Bloober remaking Silent Hill 3, which has far fewer defenders because the game gets classified either as 'cult crap' or 'women's horror,' ignoring its psychological elements"

one fear

[silvermoon424]

Katyyy I’m in agony 🥲 have you seen what’s happened with Mangadex? Do you believe that it’ll be fine or will the site truly be gone for good? This is genuinely so devastating

It really is fucking devastating. I've been upset about this all day :(((

That being said, I'm old enough to remember when Batoto was the main scanlation hub and got nuked; it was devastating, but from its ashes Mangadex rose. And it was even better than its predecessor. This thread goes into the whole cycle of manga piracy and it's encouraging. Even if Mangadex doesn't survive, something WILL take its place.

Also, as someone who's been into piracy for longer than some newer anime/manga fans have been alive, I do just want to reiterate that piracy is a hydra. Cut off a head and at least 3 more take its place. Studies have consistently shown that the only thing that actually curbs piracy is making things more accessible for a reasonable price. Media conglomerates are just providing worse service for a higher cost than piracy, so they're doomed to fail no matter how many attacks they launch.

Also, reminder that the international anime/manga scene was literally built on piracy. Scanlations, fandubs, fansubs, etc were all that was available until relatively recently. Crunchyroll actually started off as a piracy site hosting fansubs until they went all corporate. Because of this history, weeb subculture is better at piracy than anyone else. I'm not worried about Mangadex or a potential successor bouncing back, it's just a matter of time.

[hayaku14]

pushing daisies kaishin au #2

pushing daisies au where shinichi has been able to revive dead animals, plants, even people since he was a child.

kudou "i can literally talk to the dead" shinichi

shinichi's parents didn’t exactly encouraged him to use this power. especially not in public. they’ve seen him revive and re-kill dead plants and animals in the same breath, it doesn’t take a detective to figure out what could happen near a human corpse.

but a young shinichi is curious, a young shinichi admired his father, and a young shinichi wanted to prove himself a detective. but most of all, a young shinichi wanted to help.

so when he saw his father struggle in solving a particular case, a young shinichi figured that maybe asking straight from the source would help give them a hint.

the complete horror in yusaku's eyes shinichi saw that day made him promise himself to never do it again.

shinichi realizes later on that reviving someone just for a clue on the whos, hows, and whys of their death only to touch them again, to basically kill them again, is sick and twisted and the realization leaves him feeling raw and dirty.

he then decides that if he’s gonna find out the truth, if he’s gonna bring justice, it’s not by making the victims suffer a second death. he will unravel the mystery not by magic but by logic.

the curious case of kuroba kaito

hakuba immediately contacts shinichi.

“he was...a friend. if i have to gather all the best detectives to catch his murderer then so be it.”

hakuba goes on to explain.

it was a kid heist. shots were fired. snipers. kaitou kid was caught on camera falling, as if he’d been shot, but he appears a minute later flying away on his glider with not a speck of blood on his suit. all should be well however, a few buildings away in an alleyway, the body of kuroba kaito is found dead. gunshots through the heart and chest.

a simple explanation would’ve been that the glider was a fake activated by kid’s assistant as a last ditch effort to save his legacy and this kuroba kaito was kaitou kid himself. he would’ve said it out loud but by the look on hakuba’s face, he can tell that he already connected those dots long before shinichi even stepped foot in the morgue. that wasn’t what hakuba called him for.

“can i...take a look at the body alone?”

hakuba raises an eye at him but moves to leave without questioning. "alright then. i have to check on another friend anyway. she's been...distraught ever since she heard the news and..." hakuba's words trail away as his eyes unconsciously drifted towards kuroba kaito's covered body. shinichi patiently waits through the quiet pain that he sees on hakuba. the pinch in his brows, the tenseness of his body. he must've been a really good friend.

hakuba shakes his head and turns his attention back to shinichi. "sorry, i...its been a long day. i'll leave you here then. call me if you find anything."

left alone, shinichi carefully zips open the body bag covering kaitou kid's upper body. he looked eerily similar to himself and imagining his own body cold and dead in the morgue sent a shiver down his spine. shaking his head, he pulls a chair close and reads through the file hakuba brought him.

"no witnesses. no camera. not a trace nor lead to anything. just some reports on mysterious gunshots in previous heists that lead to nowhere." they were professionals, whoever did this, shinichi thought. it was not going to be an easy case.

he takes another peek at the body. so this was kaitou kid, huh. too young to be the same as the one before his hiatus. perhaps a successor? motive could be related to his predecessor. his mother hasn't said anything of interest. does she really not know or is she protecting him? he runs his hand through his hair. there's too little information to go on...unless...

temptation rears its head. the source of information is right there in front of him. one touch and it could open up new leads to the case. an immediate disgust twists deep into his gut. he promised himself to never use it on people. to never kill. his father's haunted eyes embedded in his mind. he shouldn't. he really shouldn't. but he remembers the anguished look on hakuba's face. if he was going to do it, this might be the only good time. any longer and his touch would not revive kid. and gone along with him would be vital information to catch his murderer.

shinichi heaves a deep sigh. he has never used his abilities on dead people since that one incident as a child but he couldn't shake off the look on hakuba's face. it was now or never. shinichi reaches for kid's hand.

---

pushing daisies au #1

[demonicbaby666]

Tears on the Window Pane

One shot | Supergirl Masterlist | Masterlists

Fandom: Supergirl

Pairing: Lena Luthor x fem!Reader

Genre: Smut

Words: 2.6k+

Warnings: 18+, minors DNI, toxic ex, jealousy, alcohol, rough sex, fingering, humiliation (if you look hard enough), semi-public sex, degradation, hair pulling, asphyxiation, daddy kink, top!Lena, bottom!reader

Summary: months after a breakup, you bump into your ex. Though the relationship was filled with turmoil, and you’d long since believed you’d learnt some valuable lessons from it, it seems you’re not as strong to resist as you think.

A/n: this was originally going to be an enemies-to-lovers story but then a devilish creature crawled out from a dark corner of my room, muttered mean!Lena really seductively in my ear, and I was helpless to fight what came over me then...

It was foggy that Friday night. National city's streets pulsed with life as people filtered out of bars and clubs, only to move on to the next, then the next. When their wobbly steps turned solely to stumbling, they would wave their white flags and surrender to the night or, better yet, early morning. That, too, is what your plan had been - to wander aimlessly with a group of friends until your head spun and your feet hurt, till the sun rose from beneath skyscrapers and the morning breeze would snip away at the lingering effects of hard liquor and cheap beer. Those plans, however, had been wholly derailed when you made your way into a club, and tendrils of cold shivers made their way up your spine, forcing your gaze to flicker over the swarming sea of sweaty bodies, landing on one person. 

If it were a year ago, a mousy smile could be caught stretched across your lips. A sudden timidness to being perceived by this goddess whom you'd once called your girlfriend may have even sent butterflies flittering low in your stomach. But a year ago, you were naive, blinded by flashing lights that coloured red, green and toxic, sweet. 

You stood there, hand in hand, with a stray girl your group had adopted for the night, past feelings dwindling low in your stomach as your mind walked the line between now and then. Fear had the muscles in your stomach tensing, pupils dilating, and legs refusing to heed the commands of the arm tugging you towards the bar. The other emotion you harboured was similar in nature. However, it differed in that although its predecessor forced your legs to remain rooted, this successor wedged them closed to alleviate the quickening pulse, growing thick and lively. 

Trying to ignore that even from a distance Lena's eyes had locked onto your every move with chilling precision, you elbowed your way to liquid relief. It had been your intention to leave after slinging back a few shots of watered-down vodka, but then came the shift - the subtle twist in your gut that made you courageous enough to entertain the attention you were receiving rather than cower away from it. 

With a turn of your head and a feeling of which direction to turn in, you granted yourself a few moments to really take the CEO in. She appeared to have come straight from a business meeting, dressed in a navy suit, surrounded by white-collared men and women all fighting to gain recognition. And yet, she gave them nothing. She remained silent. Eyes cemented on the light sway of your hips and the shrinking space between you and the unknown body lurking beside you. 

With each boom from the speakers and the accompanying shake of the floor, bodies morphed together until there was only Lena and the blur of scattered masses. The music died in your ears, reduced to a faint hum, and the constant pounding of the bass became secondary to the pounding of your heart. The beginning of a slow-motion step forward was attempted, the heel of your boot hitting the sticky floor before, "You want to dance?" 

The spell was broken. Music assaulted your eardrums. The reek of alcohol polluted your nose, and calloused fingers brushed your elbow before a tall figure obstructed your view, sporting an aggravatingly hopeful smile. 

"What?" you snapped, not realising how harsh your tone was until the man’s unabashed beam faltered. You tried again, this time softer. "It's loud in here. What did you say?"

There was a charming awkwardness to him. The way he rubbed a palm over the back of his neck and let out a nervous laugh made you feel bad for the guy.

"Come have a dance with me?" he asked, voice gruff but not entirely unpleasant. 

The human blockade made it hard to gauge if Lena was still watching, and in the absence of her scrutinising glare, you allowed yourself to be led to the crowded dancefloor. 

As the music flowed and your body moved, you let your mind wander. You thought back to the breakup and how the following months were spent re-wiring your brain, re-learning how to make decisions independently and cultivating a life centred around yourself. You’d told yourself it had been worth it. The freedom was blissful, and opportunities popped up where they had never seemed to before. But with the merriment came the bittersweet - evenings spent alone, men thinking they had free rein to eye fuck you and, occasionally, get handsy. A day didn't go by where you wouldn't crave the guidance and praise Lena bestowed. But more than anything, you missed the feeling of being wholly owned. It was that deep-rooted longing that had you looking back to Lena. 

Despite not being in a relationship with the woman, the look she was shooting at the poor man behind you led you to believe her claim over you was still unconquered, and that single fact should have sent you running. But once again, strobing lights really did have a way of distorting things. 

Her gaze remained fixed, and though it was unnerving, it was thrilling. Being with Lena was always like this. She was intense and stubborn and so damn territorial it spoke directly to the servile side of you in a way that nothing and no one else ever could. It made you desperate to bend to her will, no matter the costs. The only problem then was you weren’t hers to bend, and it became clear in that second that that needed to change. 

You kept up the act, dancing as provocatively as stilettos would allow and laughing along to rehearsed pickup lines. The last straw for the fuming brunette came when a pair of hands snaked around your waist, pulling you back into a muscled torso, and a pathetic little jab touched your ass. Lena was up on her feet and charging towards you in no time.

"Hands off,” the older woman growled, digging her blunt nails into your forearm and yanking you forward. 

"Take it easy.” The man tried to make a grab for you, but Lena beat him to it, stepping forward to shield you from his grasp. Instantly, he backed away, throwing his hands up. “I didn't know she was spoken for." 

"Shut the fuck up." Lena was seething, her jaw clenched and her eyes vicious. “If you even think of you touching her again, I'll chop your dick off and feed it to you."

She didn't wait for a reply to come or give notice to the small crowd that had formed around the three of you. Instead, Lena hauled you into the bathroom in record time, practically threw you into an open stall door and pressed your front firmly against the wall. 

"A few months, and you're already whoring yourself out,” came the surly voice from behind you. "Did you learn nothing?" 

"I," you tried to answer, but a hand fell over your mouth, silencing you. 

"You're disgusting,” she sneered. "What makes you think I care what you have to say?" 

The palm over your lips was held tight. There was no space between slim fingers and no room to breathe from anywhere other than your nose. A woeful whimper arose from the back of your throat, sounding so pathetic heat rushed to your face and painted your cheeks pink. 

The fact you knew, from experience, there was no way to get out of Lena's hold evaded you. From the surface level, it could be said you were under the assumption your sudden hike in mental strength extended to your physical. However, deep down, you knew the fight was what you and Lena needed. All that pent-up anger, resentment, and hunger required liberation, and together, that was something you always did well. 

"You're so desperate, aren't you?" Lena snarled, lodging her foot between your heels and wedging them apart until you were spread open for her. "I bet if I reached into your panties, I'd find you soaked." 

As predicted, the contentious grunt that heaved a puff of cool air out your nose and elbow to the gut sparked something primal in Lena. It forced her hand to the back of your neck, where she pushed your cheek harder into the wall and laid a stinging slap over your clothed cunt. The yelp that followed met a quick demise, cut off by bracketed fingers restricting your airways and survival instincts chose then to seek the help of your hands. They flailed about, aimlessly reaching out for Lena, begging her to stop or to give you more; you didn't know. All you knew was your mind's conflict. 

The top half of your body fought hard, shoulders driving back and forth, whilst the bottom speedily submitted, rocking against the minimal pressure Lena's palm offered and greedily pushing down to gain more stimulation. It was all in vain, of course. 

"Pathetic," she tutted, delivering another swift slap to your aching sex. "Little slut wants her pussy fucked?" 

"Lena, please,” you quietly sobbed. 

Swift as the wind, the brunette had your back to the wall, one hand gripping your jaw, the other holding your wrists above your head. 

"Please, what?" she goaded, pushing your head up to work the blank space of your neck with not-so-gentle bites, topping them off with soothing licks. 

"I d-don't know," you whined. 

It wasn't far from the truth. Your mind was hazy from alcohol. You were letting your body lead you into something you knew you’d later regret. But the scariest thing was that it didn't frighten you at all how willing you were to throw months of hard work away. You knew what you wanted. The problem was grappling with whether it'd be a good idea to say the words out loud. 

Your indecisiveness earned you a piercing pain that rang from the veins of your neck to the tiniest of capillaries in your toes. There was no way to see the irreparable damage done. Alas, there was no need. You felt the sharp edge of each tooth sink into your throat, marking you. The agony, however, was thankfully quashed seconds later as you received your second reprimand. Between the tearing of lace and Lena thrusting three fingers into your tight channel, there was no time to stop the ear-splitting moan that tumbled from your lips and bellowed over the bathroom stalls. The sound alone sent any remaining occupants fleeing in fits of laughter as your stomach sunk due to both mortification and arousal. 

With Lena's new hand placement came the opportunity to use your hands again. Instead of using this as a chance to fight back, you pulled Lena up from the nook of your neck and hastily interlocked your lips together in a frenzied kiss. She reciprocated at first, then drew a sharp breath before pulling away. You attempted to chase her. However, you were woefully mistaken in thinking you had the authority to initiate such an act again. A brutal strike of curling fingers taught you that, alongside the smirk you witnessed when your eyes flew wide open and a shove to your neck forced the back of your head to collide with the wall. Lena wasn't shy with her pace after that. It was like she was adamant about proving how easy it was for her to drive you crazy. 

Trailing fingers up your jaw to the back of your neck, Lena bundled your loose waves into a bun and tugged, forcing you to look into her blackened eyes as she frowned. "Do that again, and I'll bring you to the brink over and over again, then leave you here crying. Understand?"

You heeded the warning with fast nods and chants of 'yes, yes, yes', which seemed to please the brunette. She kept up her hurried movements, digits sliding rapidly up and down your hot canal, occasionally curling to stroke the rough patch of tissue that had you seeing stars. 

The closer you got, the harder it was to remain still, and when Lena didn't stop your hips from matching the flow of her ministrations, you were beyond grateful. In fact, the move garnered reward, specifically a svelte hand moving south to knead your breasts. It turned out this was only a distraction from the nimble thumb readying itself for work. A swipe to your clit followed the next hit to your sweet spot, and before you knew what was happening, your stomach muscles were convulsing, and pangs of liquid heat soared through every vein in your body. 

Your breaths were short and shallow. Lewd moans were given free rein to fill the four walls of the suffocating stall, and the thrumming bass coming from outside was being overtaken by the pulsing sound of blood pumping in your ears. Yet, somehow, through it all, you could still hear the shameful jabs Lena was throwing at you. 

"I'm going to,” you began, only to be cut off by a stern voice.

"I don't think so, honey,” she interjected. “Who decides when you get to come?" 

"Lena, oh god, Lena," you cried, squeezing around her fingers and trying to stop the tight coil in your gut from unfurling. "I can't!"

"Who tells you when you get to come?" Lena barked, slowing down. 

Tears were welling in your eyes, giving shine to the stars interspersed across your vision.

"You!" 

"Who?!" Lena sped up again, redoubled her efforts and slipped a fourth finger inside you, filling you so completely that your knees almost buckled beneath you. Even still, you weren't granted permission to release the strained muscles holding you from your orgasm. 

"Fuck!" you screamed. A tear spilt down the side of your face, your jaw shook, and blood coated your tongue as you bit the inside of your cheek, tearing into the smooth flesh. “You do, Daddy!" 

Just when you thought you might pass out, hot breath skimmed the shell of your ear, and Lena whispered the words that were your undoing. 

"I want everyone to hear you. Come nice and hard for Daddy."

Finally, you let go. All the pent-up tension rushed to the surface like a tidal wave. It submerged you in a whirlpool of flooding pleasure that had you shouting out for Lena, begging her to hold you steady whilst you shook and shook for what felt like hours. Her arm was around you in no time, providing a lifeline to hold onto whilst her fingers kept you under, massaging soft tissue. 

You stood there, mind numb, body useless, until the shudders passed, and Lena carefully pulled her fingers out of you. It wasn't until after feeling had returned to your legs and the strain of standing wasn't registering that you realised Lena was practically holding you up. Her arms were on your hips, and her body firmly pressed you to the wall, so there was no chance you'd keel over. 

When your eyes met, you detected the slightest bit of worry, making your heart skip a beat, and that alone was why you didn't argue when the next thing she said was, "I'm taking you back to mine."

It wasn't so much a walk to the car; rather, Lena stormed through the club, dragging you alongside her before slamming you against the back door of the vehicle and kissing you silly. At first, you were taken aback. Her reluctance to do just this only minutes ago was still echoing between your legs. You shook it off and accepted the moment for what it was: fleeting. That was when the rain started to fall, and the drunken mob's laughter erupted into roars of childlike amusement, and for the first time in a while, you felt content. 

You laughed and laughed and laughed, genuine bubbling girly giggles shaking your chest and vibrating between rain-kissed lips. 

"I'm so screwed," you half-whispered, half-sighed, nestling your head into Lena's neck. And as the sky cried a fresh set of trickling tears that splattered off the car's window panes, you happily bled a few of your own. 

"Mmm," the older woman hummed in agreement, kissing your temple lightly. “Yes, you are."

Tags: @anonslay @homo-oddity | Click here to be added to my tag list

[cantsayidont]

When attempting to critique the values of a long-running franchise like STAR TREK, it's important to draw a distinction between superficial issues and structural ones.

"Superficial" in this sense doesn't mean "minor" or "unimportant"; it simply means that an issue is not so intrinsic to the premise that the franchise would collapse (or would be radically different) were it changed or removed. For example, misogyny has been a pervasive problem across many generations of STAR TREK media, which have often been characterized by a particular type of leering-creep sexism that was distasteful at the time and has not improved with age. However, sexism and misogyny are not structural elements of the TREK premise; one can do a STAR TREK story where the female characters have agency and even pants without it becoming something fundamentally different from other TREK iterations (even TOS, although there are certainly specific TOS episodes that would collapse if you excised the sexism).

By contrast, the colonialism and imperialism are structural elements — STAR TREK is explicitly about colonizing "the final frontier" and about defending the borders, however defined, of an interstellar colonial power. Different iterations of STAR TREK may approach that premise in slightly different ways, emphasizing or deemphasizing certain specific aspects of it, but that is literally and specifically what the franchise is about. Moreover, because STAR TREK has always been heavily focused on Starfleet and has tended to shy away from depicting life outside of that regimented environment, there are definite limits to how far the series is able to depart from the basic narrative structure of TOS and TNG (a captain and crew on a Starfleet ship) without collapsing in on itself, as PICARD ended up demonstrating rather painfully.

This means that some of the things baked into the formula of STAR TREK are obviously in conflict with the franchise's self-image of progressive utopianism, but cannot really be removed or significantly altered, even if the writers were inclined to try (which they generally are not).

What I find intensely frustrating about most modern STAR TREK media, including TNG and its various successors, is not that it can't magically break its own formula, but that writer and fan attachment to the idea of TREK as the epitome of progressive science fiction has become a more and more intractable barrier to any kind of meaningful self-critique. It's a problem that's become increasingly acute with the recent batch of live-action shows, which routinely depict the Federation or Starfleet doing awful things (like the recent SNW storyline about Una being prosecuted for being a genetically engineered person in violation of Federation law) and then insist, often in the same breath, that it's a progressive utopia, best of all possible worlds.

This is one area where TOS (and to some extent the TOS cast movies) has a significant advantage over its successors. TOS professes to be a better world than ours, but it doesn't claim to be a perfect world (and indeed is very suspicious of any kind of purported utopia). The value TOS most consistently emphasizes is striving: working to be better, and making constructive choices. Although this can sometimes get very sticky and uncomfortable in its own right (for instance, Kirk often rails against what he sees as "stagnant" cultures), it doesn't presuppose the moral infallibility of the Federation, of Starfleet, or of the characters themselves. There's room for them to be wrong, so long as they're still willing to learn and grow.

The newer shows are less and less willing to allow for that, and, even more troublingly, sometimes take pains to undermine their predecessors' attempts along those lines. One appalling recent example is SNW's treatment of the Gorn, which presents the Gorn as intrinsically evil (and quite horrifying) in a way they're not in "Arena," the TOS episode where they were first introduced. The whole point of "Arena" is that while Kirk responds to the Gorn with outrage and anger, he eventually concedes that he may be wrong: There's a good chance that the Gorn are really the injured party, responding to what they reasonably see as an alien invasion, and while that may be an arguable point, sorting it out further should be the purview of diplomats rather than warships. By contrast, SNW presents the Gorn as so irredeemably awful as to make Kirk's (chronologically later) epiphany at best misguided: The SNW Gorn are brutal conquerors who lay eggs in their captives (a gruesome rape metaphor, and in presentation obviously inspired by ALIENS) when they aren't killing each other for sport, and even Gorn newborns are monsters to be feared. Not a lot of nuance there, and no space at all for the kind of detente found in TOS episodes like "The Devil in the Dark."

[enchanting-chit-chat]

Beetlejuice's Backstory and the Black Plague 💚🕷️🥀💀 PART 3

Good evening! As promised, here’s Part 3 of my series on Beetlejuice’s past and movieverse. Today, we dive deeper into historical fashion, analyzing the outfits of Beetlejuice and Delores to uncover their personal stories.

If you missed the earlier parts, check out PART 1 and PART 2.

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ (2024)... and many, MANY speculations.

Quick recap: In Part 1, we discussed the Plague. In Part 2, we delved into Beetlejuice’s past, questioning the claim that he died over 600 years ago.

I wondered: is that really true? Why does his clothing reflect the Baroque style, then?

That's right! In Part 3, I confirm my previous point: there are several clues suggesting that Beetlejuice most likely lived during the Baroque era - a cultural movement that began in Rome at the end of the 16th century and faded around 1750. Here is the list of the clues I noticed:

The lace neckband around BJ's neck.

His three-piece wedding suit.

Delores off-the-shoulder neckline and puffed sleeves.

The bird masks used by Delores and the undertakers.

AliveBeetlejuice first outfit (when he's stealing from corpses): specifically, the pirate shirt and the type of shoes.

Keep in mind that most of these elements were revolutionary novelties of the 16th-17th century. Here is proof for every. single. one of them.

The Lace Cravat

A behind the scenes still of Michael Keaton in 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' vs. the portrait of Jacob de Witte, Lord of Haamstede (Netherlands). The artwork was made by Jan Mijtens in 1660.

The first cravat, the predecessor of modern neckties and bow ties, originated in France during Louis XIV’s reign as a political and fashion statement. (Although the early idea comes from the Ancient Roman focale, used around 200 CE). The King was inspired by a particularly eye-catching necktie wore by Croatian mercenaries as part of their uniform. The new article of clothing quickly became a fashion staple for high-ranking men across Europe.

In its use, it represented the evolution of the common handkerchief, already popular in the 1500s as a practical tool, a flirty decoration, and a status symbol. I believe the variant Beetlejuice is wearing in the picture is called ‘jabot,’ and is one of the older, simpler versions.

Lace, often used in cravats, highlighted the wearer’s wealth. Italian lace, especially from Venice, was highly sought after by the European elite since the 15th century, when ruffs and collars were in vogue.

This detail suggests two possibilities:

Beetlejuice might have been an impoverished aristocrat (or a rich merchant) clinging to his title until the end. This could also explain the ring on his index finger, symbolizing power or family ties. Or both.

Alternatively, he may have been someone who strongly wished to be part of the elite.

Jacket and Breeches

Aristocratic fashion, 1630 (Victoria & Albert collection) vs. What Beetlejuice wore in the wedding scene.

Another standout innovation of the Baroque period was the introduction of the three-piece men’s suit, known as the ‘Habit à la française.’

This ensemble included a tailcoat (a calf-length jacket), a coat (a long waistcoat), and knee-length breeches. Like the cravat, this fashion was adopted across Europe. As you can see, Beetlejuice is perfectly embodying this fashion, which evolved and remained popular until the 19th century. Interestingly, one shoe is missing.

Pirate Shirt

Originating in the 16th-17th century, the ‘poet shirt’ or ‘poet blouse’ remained popular through the Romantic era. These multi-purpose shirts served as both underwear and nightwear, featuring long tails that reached mid-thigh or knee. The body and sleeves were gathered at the collar and cuffs, creating a full, loose fit.

Delores' Outfit

For comparison, I’ve included an illustration of noblewomen’s fashion at the court of Louis XIII (died 1643). His successor, Louis XIV, made France a cultural and fashion beacon for the next two centuries.

In the movie, Delores wears two nearly identical outfits: long dresses with puffed sleeves ending just below the elbow, a corset, and an off-the-shoulder neckline. This style aligns with 17th-century trends when fashion became more comfortable and relaxed.

The black color suits her character’s personality and role in the film, possibly hinting at a connection to the late Renaissance and the Spanish Court.

In fact, during the reign of Charles V (1500-1558) and his son Philip II (1527-1598), Spanish aristocracy particularly favored the black color, as it represented austerity and power for both men and women. Additionally, a deep shade of black was particularly difficult to achieve with the dyeing methods of the time, making those fabrics quite expensive to make.

However, The Spanish style was quite the opposite to what France later proposed: it consisted in a severe and somber luxury, which increased in opulence as the time passed. As Spain happened to be the beacon of fashion before Louis XIV came along, it's only natural that black rapidly became quite popular all around Europe as well. The color was particularly appreciated by the members of the middle class in Protestant nations and, apparently, in Italy as well.

Finally, keep in mind that 'Delores' is a variant of the more common 'Dolores'. Both names have Spanish origins and means 'sorrows'.

So what do we think? Was Beetlejuice from a rich family? Was Delores a Spanish witch?

Who knows! But I’m willing to dream and speculate!

Until the big reveal from Tim Burton himself in the now teased but not confirmed yet sequel, have a fantastic week!✨

[very-sincerely-yours-zine]

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Q. What do I need to apply?

The writer's application will ask for three samples of written work of any size and format, while the artist's application will ask for five samples of visual art! None of the samples have to be Holmes or even fandom-related, and we encourage everyone to apply even if they have a limited body of work or have never joined a zine before.

Q. When will this zine be available to buy?

The anthology will run a Kickstarter campaign hopefully throughout the month of November, at which time it will be possible to pre-order a copy of the anthology in physical or digital formats! Printing and shipping will require at least two months, meaning that the earliest zines will arrive is in January 2026.

Q. How much will this zine cost?

The PDF should cost around $10 USD, and a physical copy around $30 USD. There will be additional Kickstarter tiers featuring merchandise, the prices of which are to be decided. Shipping within Canada and the US will be approximately $14 - 20 USD, while shipping outside Canada and the US will average upwards of $20 USD.

Q. What is the theme about?

The theme is homes and the idea of home, particularly as it relates to the history of queer domesticity! The iconic setting of 221B Baker Street is instantly recognizable as the house of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, but what really makes it their home? There is also the fact that each character has, at different points in the canon, left and returned to 221B—what can we make of that? There are its predecessors: Montague Street and Watson's hotel on the Strand. There are its successors: Watson's Kensington practice and Holmes' cottage in Sussex. Each of these living spaces represent something different to Holmes, Watson, and their relationship, which we hope to explore.

Q. Where is the title from?

The title comes from the note Holmes leaves Watson at the edge of Reichenbach Falls, before he leaves both his dearest friend and the world of the living for three years. Although not a terribly uncommon way of signing off a letter in those times, it denotes a sense of love and belonging to modern ears that we thought appropriate for our theme.

Q. Will this zine feature fan work of Holmes adaptations?

This project will focus on Holmes and Watson from the ACD canon, meaning that artwork and writing should be centered around the events of canon and in the Victorian/Edwardian time-period. However, there is space for flexibility, and contributors are welcome to take inspiration from adaptations similarly set in the Victorian/Edwardian era!

Q. Will contributors be paid for their work?

Half of the project's proceeds will go towards compensating our creators for their work, divided evenly between all contributors! Additionally, contributors will receive a free copy of the physical book with the shipping paid for.

Q. How can I support the zine even if I'm not a contributor?

We will have a public Discord server where you can keep abreast of project updates and see previews of the contributor's works in progress! The link to the server will be made available after the applications period in May.

[Updated 4/14/2025]

[thebreakfastgenie]

https://www.tumblr.com/thebreakfastgenie/774602874887995392/do-you-think-biden-was-genuinely-exemplary-for-any

Diff anon, but my initial reaction to him was more of a "okay, he's probably gonna be boring but it's still vastly preferable to a wannabe dictator". He managed to demonstrate that he was more than that, what with frankly doing his damnedest to right this ship into something after the colossal evils of his predecessor, and also put some serious holes and cracks in the arguments of his critics and detractors (especially as the latter started demonstrating their own serious myopia and flaws with their downright abominable behavior). That said, he's more of a mixed bag on the foreign policy front, as there's a number of points where I think he didn't push as hard as he could have in regards to Ukrainian aid (because honestly Russia getting its ass kicked and forced to give up would have really helped us all out in the long term, even if it didn't stop our own idiots from swallowing the lies and voting back Hair Fuhrer), and the whole situation with Israel and Palestine was, quite frankly, a giant clusterfuck that was more the fault of the two leading governments of those nations intentionally making things worse for their own agendas, mixed with copius amounts of people losing their fucking marbles and becoming open antisemites that I'd have hoped we would have grown past than necessarily anything Biden did wrong.

But as a whole, he did a damn hell lot better than people gave him credit for, and sadly was just held back (and his many warnings ignored) constantly by a perpetually dishonest and backstabbing media, apathetic and ignorant voters who unfortunately just weren't paying any attention because they didn't understand anything other than "borger slightly too expensive", and a multitude of assholes right and left who constantly swallowed radical-sounding propaganda without digging any deeper and treated Biden like he was the greatest villain of all time while blithely ignoring the actual villains in the room, and royally fucked over his intended successor in the process.

I honestly cannot ever forgive the media and the idiots who got us to this point in the first place, and if we make it out of here in some kind of pieces, this man honestly deserves the mother of all apologies and a fairer evaluation, instead of the blind and self-serving demonization he actually got.

Yeah I think he similarly exceeded my expectations but I will say that I didn't really have expectations about whether he would be boring or better because by 2020 the only thing I cared about was beating Trump. I filled out a poll at some point during that election and when I was asked what issue was most important to me I chose other and wrote in "the removal of Donald Trump." I approached the 2020 primary thinking exclusively about which candidate I thought was best equipped to win the general election and I was (and remain) pissed off that so many Democrats decided to run, most of them with no serious chance of winning, because I felt it was important for the party to be united and to unite quickly so we could begin the campaign against Trump as soon as possible. Once Biden was elected and I was able to pay attention to other things again, I was pleasantly surprised by a lot of choices made by the Biden-Harris administration, which is not to say I loved all of them. Foreign policy is definitely a weak point, but it's also the area I know the least about (I find the moral dilemmas so frustrating I deliberately chose to focus on domestic policy when I was doing my degree, lmao) and also an area where there just are no good alternatives in American politics.

I share your anger. I do believe Biden, along with Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, will be vindicated by history. But that's cold comfort to those of us living through it.

[flashypunches]

champbo one shot bleasepleaseplewseplease

hiii!!!!!!!1 thank you for requesting >_< I had a grand time writing this so here you go!!!!!! (ao3 link here!)

warninng for talk about corpses, descriptions of cannibalism, and general toxicity from evbo. he's like a nuclear power plant with how toxic his yaoi is.

He's handsome. Evbo can admit that, no envy within him as he admires the swell of muscle and the curves of which the past Champion possesses and of which he noticably lacks, starvation not yet willing to retract its effects on his body. The past Champion may not be on the same page as Seawatt, no lean strength or marked eyes, but he may as well be on the same topic, when in regards to his attractiveness.

It's a skill to be complimented on, how good he manages to look whilst a corpse.

Evbo can't shake off his giddiness as he wipes the table clean with a cloth, wood shiny under the towel's swipes, the best example he could present of a DIY dissection table.

He can't believe he gets to do this, that he's allowed to do this. But who would stop him? Who would know, before it's already said and done? No one, is the answer.

Seawatt is dead, his own body drying upon the Fighter layer, forever separated from the man he served as right hand. EMF does not care. They do not know enough to bother. And who else did the Evil Champion really have, besides those two? There exists no other answer, except, perhaps Evbo's own name.

A relationship between a predecessor and successor is meant to be sacred, important, but all Evbo can remember of the Champion who came before him was what his last words were, his last course ever failed; a neo-jump over the void.

Everything else he knows of him is second hand, Seawatt's lingering voice upon his consciousness informing Evbo of that Champion's pre-mortum nature.

Confident, self-assured, everything Evbo could never hope to be, Seawatt deified him to a level of which Evbo doubts that he himself, as God, could reach. He doubts that the past Champion himself could even hope to graze that layer of reverence, given his own sinful nature, unembellished by post-mortum adoration.

Evbo could never be worshipped like that. He's too much of a Noob to be spared a thought after death.

Clenching his jaw and fist at the reminder of how lacking his origins are, without any blade to aid him, no tool needed but his shaking hands and grit teeth, Evbo finally begins this mockery of an autopsy with a frown and an air of disgust to the deceased's title.

A ragdoll on its fraying stitches is an apt descriptor of the past Champion. His arm tears from his body with a sharp pull, Evbo delighting in the popping noise it makes, sickeningly loud, the sheer volume of it making him smile. Gore drips from the slit like stuffing, blood spilling from the crevice, making its home in the grooves of the wood, bone barely poking its nose through the muscle of his shoulder.

He watches as the liquid sinks down the edges of the table, pooling into the floor, around his shoes. Pays no mind as it splashes onto himself. Evbo can wash himself later. He doesn't mind.

Impulsively, Evbo sticks a finger into the bloodstream, dragging the print through the river before pulling out and examining it. There's only a moment of hesitation, a brief flash of should he or should he not, until he's sticking the finger into his mouth, licking the blood off with his tongue, savoring the flavor, unmarred by death. Savoring the past Champion, or what's left of him.

It's not weird. It was normal on the Noob level. He tastes okay. Not the best. He's subpar, at the most. 

Evbo considers the hand he's been holding for a solid moment, the point of separation which drips down by dark droplets, until he's sticking that in his mouth too, fingers first, biting down onto keratin without a second thought. Teeth sink in, tear through muscle and meat and skin, pull then swallow. Rinse and repeat, again and again, until the only thing left are bones.

Evbo wipes his lips, smearing the blood against his mouth with the back of an empty hand, the other gripping the skeletal evidence of his actions. He places it off to the side, the place between the past Champion's shoulder and head. His eyes are staring at him, a spotlight, the only witness he will allow. He's dead. He wouldn't remember this.

What's next, he asks himself. The leg, maybe. Evbo won't deny the ego rush that fantasy gives him, of taking and stealing the thing which ruined Evbo's life, and with the things that made the part Champion look down on him.

Who's weak now? Not Evbo, that's for sure. Not anymore. Never again.

The calf of his enemy is plentiful, and he feels sickened by his own greedy nature, as his mind urges him to take more. He deserves this spite, this appetite, doesn't he? The past Champion deserves this, for his evil, for his cruelty, he deserves this and more. Evbo has to take more. 

And so he does. Claws his nails into the thigh to tear off a chunk with his bare hands, he brings the cut to his mouth, biting down and swallowing as he would an apple or any other produce. The flavor is pales in comparison to those meals, tasting no better than before. He could say it to be even worse, considering how it has begun to lose its novelty, the more he consumes leaving him becoming acclimated to the taste. 

The brain, he recalls, is much better. Bland but smooth texture soothing his tongue from the slime of chicken or the stringy nature of the beef, one of the few comforts he allowed himself to indulge in at home. Evbo wonders if the past Champion, clever and smart like Evbo could never be as Seawatt puts it, would be any different from the rest.

With that thought, he moves past the leg, leaving it open and half-eaten, to fester and ache as much as it desires. It's not like he's hurting anyone important by it. Threading his fingers through his hair, mussed and stifled in its growth by death, it's at a moderate length, though still long enough to the point where Evbo is forced to gather it and move it aside in order to reach the crown of his head. 

A fingernail drags over the skin, and he's forced to peel off what he can assume to be an exoskeleton before he's allowed to tear off the scalp. He has to dig in and break off the plates which shield his face to reveal a mass of soft and fresh meat, untouched by the void via its time spent in safety, hidden under a shell. Evbo stops his twitching fingers before they can pick off a piece of the exposed muscle.

Later, he tells himself. He's got better things to focus on right now. 

The head is an arduous task. He struggles with freeing the brain for just a couple of seconds before he decides to stop it with the civilities to pick up the past Champion's head and just smash it against the table with an ear-splitting thud. There's a dent in the wood.

The loud sound is something Evbo still finds himself pleased with, though for much more baleful reasons.

An egg, is what he compares it to in his mind as the blood begins pouring down. A brittle, very breakable egg, is what the head is. And Evbo finds himself wanting the yolk very much. 

But he soon finds himself disappointed by the contents of his search. The brain looks the same as any other, same size as any other, nothing saying that this is the mass of meat and chemicals which ruled the Champion that had ruined Evbo's life. Nothing even hints to the wit Seawatt boasted of his boss to have possessed. 

It's not a point in the past Champion's favor that the muscle tastes the same as any other too. He'd expected excellence, an explanation, just a clue of what drove the player in his grasp to seemingly madness, his caliber wasted and lacking in the face of his legacy, horrid and ungodly. He gets nothing but home-sickness in return, one last curse to Evbo and his lowly origins by the player. He thinks of the evil Champion to be laughing in Hell.

Evbo still digs in further though, despite his forcibly lowered expectations. He's not one to waste food, after all. Especially not one so easily offered. 

If the evil Champion hadn't wanted his body to be taken like this, then perhaps he should have simply been a cut above his reality.

It's not God's fault that he was a waste of potential. It's just Evbo's job to purge his civilization of his example of perversion, of the lowest depth that a player could reasonably reach.

He's entitled to this desecration.

[clown-alchemist]

There's something to the fact that Focalors and Zhongli gave up their role as archons in wildly different ways.

Zhongli fakes his own death, meaning he chooses to give up his authority, not necessarily his power. Once he's given up his authority and role as archon (and traded the gnosis), Zhongli no longer helps his people. The Adepti and the Qixing defeat Osial and his wife entirely without his help. Arguably, that's fair. If he's no longer acting as the archon of Liyue, it is no longer his responsibility to defend Liyue, any more than it's any citizen's responsibility. But again, Zhongli has given up his position and his gnoses, but not his power as an archon. For all his talk about letting the people of Liyue govern themselves, Zhongli does nothing to prevent another geo archon from taking his place or to shield his people from Celestia.

Focalors, on the other hand, completely surrenders her power and divinity. She makes the decision to sacrifice her own wishes, life, and power for the good of Fontaine. When Focalors gives up her power, she well and truly gives it up. She doesn't cling to it and fade into the background, leaving any future problems for the citizens to deal with- she ensures that the people of Fontaine have a guardian who loves them with the necessary power to protect them. It comes at a tremendous cost to both parts of herself, Furina and Focalors, but she doesn't hesitate. And even though we know Furina is exhausted, lonely, terrified, and would step down in a second if it was possible, the thought never crosses her mind. If her suffering was weighted against all of Fontaine's there's no question which way the scales would tip. Focalors gives up her archonhood as an act of sacrifice, a completely selfless decision to protect Fontaine and return the hydro archon's power to its rightful owner. When Zhongli gives up his archonhood, the geo archon's throne is still fully intact. Zhongli's choice is partially to let the people of Liyue rule themselves, sure, but it's also because he's tired of doing it himself. So when Zhongli gives up his archonhood, he takes his power and leaves his people to deal with the fallout.

Focalors sacrifices herself for a "sin" her predecessor committed, while Zhongli lets his people deal with the consequences of his rise to power. I think it's a really interesting comparison between justice and law/contracts and the different ways they would tackle the same problem. To me, the quest really cemented the issue I had with Zhongli's character and the way he's discussed. Basically, if he was acting selflessly, with the people of Liyue's best interests in mind, he would have carried out his "death" more like Focalors', with a proper successor ready and waiting (or at least the government informed), all of his remaining duties handled, no giant vortex monsters waiting to jump out at his people. Focalors made sure her people were protected and the head of government was (to the best of her ability) informed, and she was under way more pressure than Zhongli. There isn't a particular point to this, I just think it's really interesting how differently Focalors and Zhongli handled giving up their positions.

[tartrat]

Mothigan Headcanons

I really like how mysterious Mothigan is, so i thought it would be fun to share some headcanons, mainly about how i think she's part of a line of people who came in possession of the crypt and how her powers work. I also hid an among us in this drawing.

So I mentioned in my last post about her that i headcanoned that there was someone before her who passed the crypt onto her, so here is that headcanon in more detail.

This mysterious coach is who i call "The King of the Butterflies". However he was dying, someone had inflicted an illness onto him, and so he needed to find someone to replace him. Mothigan stumbled upon the crypt one day and decided to investigate, finding the dying king. She decided to stay and help him. From here she was taught magic and how to control the butterflies. Once the King had taught her enough so that she would continue on the legacy, he succumbed to the illness and died, leaving Mothigan as the new ruler of the crypt and all the butterflies. Though she realised that inevitably she would have to find a successor too, but that won't be for many years to come. Maybe.

She does enjoy this power, and as she learnt more, the more she wanted to carry on the legacy created by those who came before her, and hopes that whoever she finds as her successor, falls in love with the butterflies as she did.

Though at this point she can barely remember her predecessor's face. She can still hear his voice when she falls asleep, guiding her, but otherwise he appears as a shadow with piercing red eyes. She misses him though, even if she only knew him for a short while. She wonders if this was how his predecessor appeared to him, and if this is how she will appear to her successor when she departs. Just a shadowy figure who appears in their dreams.

I tried to depict what one of these dreams would look like with this quick drawing(i used the noise and bloom features on procreate a lot.) I didn't want to detail it too much. I also made the dream version of her predecessor reference a certain cryptid.

This mystery man doesn't have a name, it would be something related to butterflies. i'm not going to tag this post with oc, because he's just a shadow and not really a full oc yet.

The coaches of eternyx have given her the name "The Monarch of Moths", and they revere her as they don't know her intentions. They say if you catch a glimpse of her, you are in danger. However this would be merely an old folktale that has been associated with the rulers of the crypt, and they are not evil in any way. Basically some think that they are cryptids.

I call her a Monarch mainly after the butterfly, i'm unsure if that's the exact butterfly that's used in her design or if its a different yellow and black butterfly, and its fitting as she seemingly has control over all the butterflies in the crypt. (Unless they actually control her?)

Thats about it for my headcanon on her past but I have ideas about how she uses the butterflies in her magic.

Most obvious, she can create portals in the shape of butterflies for her to travel through, much like the rectangular ones Wanderlust and The Traveller create. I just like the idea of her travelling wherever she wants, even if it seems like she rarely leaves the crypt. Also i just think butterfly shaped portals sound cool.

Another idea I have was that she can send individual butterflies off and use them as cameras. This would be most useful for her when she is keeping an eye out for a successor. This would sort of work in a similar way to how Wanderlust watched Night Swan corrupt Sara in yssmiac, except its only one way so no one can see her and its not an actual portal, just a window. (Does that make sense?)

I mentioned this in the other Mothigan post as well, but the Butterflies could be the souls of the dead. They choose to help the ruler of the crypt. They've been around forever, even before the previous king. Whilst the rulers of the crypt use the flow for their magic, these butterflies help heighten their powers.

I think about her a lot, like she's so mysterious that it just intrigues me. That's sort of why i created this headcanon that she inherited the crypt from a previous butterfly related figure. I don't think that she's evil. I think that she mostly just minds her own business and just ended up in this position. Scary Butterfly Lady (complimentary) you are so cool.

Lastly I like making her eyeliner more exaggerated. Like a member of kiss, but she controls butterflies. Thats all i have right now.

[covid-safer-hotties]

An even more contagious COVID strain is ‘just getting started’ amid California wave - Published Aug 30, 2024

The summer surge of the coronavirus subvariants nicknamed FLiRT has given way to ever more contagious strains, a key reason behind the current high levels of COVID in California and nationwide.

And doctors and scientists are keeping an eye on yet another subvariant — XEC — that could surpass the latest hyperinfectious subvariant, KP.3.1.1, now thought to be the most common nationwide. XEC was first detected in Germany and has since seized the attention of doctors and scientists worldwide.

XEC “is just getting started now around the world and here,” said Dr. Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in La Jolla. “And that’s going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave.˜

“XEC is definitely taking charge. ... That does appear to be the next variant,” Topol added. “But it’s months off from getting into high levels.”

While XEC has shown up in the United States, its prevalence is low and it is not being individually tracked on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s variant tracker website. A lineage must be estimated to circulate above 1% nationally over a two-week period for it to be tracked.

The expected midyear wave began in May, when the winter’s dominant subvariant, JN.1, gave way to a number of subvariants nicknamed FLiRT — a cheeky name based on the letters of two key mutations, F456L and R346T, Topol said. (Focus only on the letters and add an “i” as a connector, and you get FLiRT, which includes the officially named KP.2 subvariant.)

Then, “the FLiRT eventually gave way to new variants that had even more growth advantage,” Topol said.

A successor subvariant, KP.3, had a different mutation — Q493E — and dropped R346T. It was nicknamed FLuQE, pronounced “fluke.” And an even more contagious subvariant — KP.3.1.1 — had a mutation that was deleted, giving it the unofficial moniker deFLuQE, or “de-fluke.”

The “S31 deletion,” Topol said, is “what’s made that a kind of very pathogenic, very immune evasive variant. That S31 deletion has been studied — particularly by the Sato lab in Japan — and that’s the culprit that’s making this wave prolonged and getting into a lot of people who otherwise might have ... not gotten sick.”

“The KP.3.1.1 is definitely an outlier for growth advantage,” he added. “It’s not over yet, obviously. And we’re going to have new variants beyond KP.3.1.1.”

KP.3.1.1 is still estimated to be the nation’s most common subvariant. For the two-week period that began Aug. 18, KP.3.1.1 was estimated to make up 42.2% of coronavirus samples nationwide, up from 19.8% a month ago, according to the CDC.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that just came out just before the Labor Day weekend are designed against KP.2, a predecessor of KP.3.1.1, so they are a relatively close match for the main circulating variants. XEC, however, won’t be as closely aligned.

The new vaccines are still way better for the current season compared to the shot released a year ago, which targeted XBB.1.5, but the difference between what the latest vaccine is designed against and XEC, is “pretty substantial ... and we’ll see how it plays out,” Topol said.

“It would be surprising if this doesn’t turn out to be the next challenge,” Topol said. Still, “any booster will help induce a higher level of immunity.”

Dr. Elizabeth Hudson, regional chief of infectious diseases for Kaiser Permanente Southern California, said she thought the new vaccines would still provide some good protection against XEC “because there is some overlap, because these are all sub, sub, sub-grandchildren of the original Omicron. So there is still going to be some level of protection there.”

“We’re not like in a new Greek letter — they’re not that much different; it’s not like something completely new,” Hudson said.

XEC is a recombination of two different, little-discussed subvariants: KS.1.1 and KP.3.3, Hudson said. “It’s definitely one that I have my eye on,” she said.

“But this is a little bit different, and it does seem to be showing what we call a growth advantage over the JN.1, or the deFLuQE variants, or the FLiRT variants,” Hudson said.

“It’s going to be a little hard to know where this is going to go, because right now, KP.3.1.1 really still is the predominant variant,” Hudson said. “So we have to really monitor not only what’s happening within the U.S., but also what’s happening in Europe as they get more towards their colder seasons.”

Besides Germany, XEC has been reported elsewhere in western Europe, including the Netherlands, and has spread relatively quickly, Hudson said.

“We’ll really have to watch — because the overall info on it is not super robust now — but I would imagine over the next couple of weeks, particularly if it starts to creep up higher and higher, we will be hearing a little bit more about it,” Hudson said.

COVID has proved to be far more wily than the flu. Instead of one fall-and-winter wave, as flu typically delivers, COVID seems to bring two waves each year.

There are several reasons for that difference. “One is that the virus keeps evolving, and it takes that long for a variant to really pick up steam and to become dominant,” Topol said.

The second is that our immunity — at least in terms of infection — is short-lived, allowing many who recover in the winter to get COVID again in the summer, Topol said. (Luckily, protection against hospitalization and death has been more durable, explaining why hospitals are no longer strained despite high levels of coronavirus circulating nationwide.)

And finally, few people are adhering to precautionary measures that were far more common years ago, Topol said. That includes steps such as wearing masks in crowded indoor settings or even staying home when sick. In addition, fewer people are staying up to date on their vaccinations.

As of spring, 22.5% of U.S. adults and 29.1% of a subset of seniors 65 and older got the COVID-19 vaccination for the 2023–24 season. Vaccination rates were higher for the flu, estimated to cover 48.5% of adults and 50.6% of seniors.

In California as of July 31, 37% of seniors had received the updated COVID-19 vaccine for the 2023–24 season, as did 18.7% of those age 50 to 64, and 10.1% of the youngest adults.

[alfiereot]

my top 5 video games of all time (w/ recommendations)

Deus Ex Human Revolution

Why I like it

I fell in love with the world of Deus Ex back in 2011. The cyberpunk immersive story of Adam Jensen and his growing involvement against a high elite group illustrated a vision of world based on distrust and control of information. Human Revolution creates an extremely believable future which is inspired and grounded, with an enormous selection for approaching combat. This is probably my most replayed game of all time, and I cannot fathom the hours I’ve spent just reading every single piece of lore the game ever offered me. The immersive sim genre, of which Human Revolution belongs to, is one of the most underrepresented in the industry. I cannot come with an answer of why this is the case, but I think it is widely rewarded that Human Revolution, the successor of one of the genre originators, is a true to name sequel that should be experience at least once.

Other games like it

Deus Ex Mankind Divided: The sequel to Adam Jensen’s story, this is a contender for my favourite game of all time. There are two major reasons on why this has not dethroned Human Revolution as my favourite. The first one is the nostalgia Human Revolution has, as it was one of my first PS3 games. For the second one, you can tell the story presented in Mankind Divided is incomplete. A sequel was under-works but has so far been cancelled by Eidos Montreal new owners. But Mankind Divided is a great game by itself that improves on every system its predecessor introduced, while boasting an incredible city hub that is still lauded to this day.

Prey: I have so far only played the first couple of hours of one Arkane Austin’s most acclaimed games, but even I can tell how much magic the title boosts. The game offers deep combat rooted in the immersive sim genre and created an environment full of secrets to find. Additionally, I have also heard Prey’s DLC, Mooncrash is probably one of the best expansions ever done for a video game. It is quite a shame the game sold so little copies.

God of War: Ragnarök

Why I like it

Originally, I had God of War (2018) as the entry on this list. Over the last couple of months, I have been able to experience the sequel meticulously crafted by Sony Santa Monica, and I can honestly say it surpasses the original in every single way possible. I know one of its gripes is the story is not singularly focused as the one found in 2018, but I honestly believe it is for the better. Every single twist and turn offered by Ragnarök kept me on the edge of my seat, and it reinforced my believe that video games are the best media for storytelling. Maybe it’s the fact you get to experience the story first hand, or that you get to feel Kratos AND Atreus’ struggle firsthand, or just that the medium inherently has more room to breathe, but I do believe my 53 hours experience with Ragnarök, and Valhalla, reflects the best the medium has to offer. My favourite parts of the game are just taking a opportunity to reflect on the events of the story as me, Kratos, Atreus and Mimir told stories to provide a sense of safety and levity.

Other games like it

God of War (2018): If you like Ragnarök you evidently are going to enjoy God of War (2018). I do think it is meant to be enjoyed before Ragnarök, as it was clearly envisioned as a two-part story. This way you get to fall in love with the recurring characters, and you complete the character journey of Kratos and Atreus.

Portal 2: It’s been over a decade since I got a chance to experience Portal 2, so I really need to go back and replay the title. However, I do believe Portal 2 and Ragnarök share some DNA, specially where it comes to dialogue and writing. The first is inherently shorter than Ragnarök, but every single minute is packed with a sense of wonder which is enhanced with the incredible character writing. Whether it is GLADOS coming up with a joke at your expense or Mimir telling a captivating story, I do believe fans can find enjoyment in each one.

Sly Cooper Series

Why I like it

I officially started my gaming life back in the PS2 era of games and, among the plethora of game mascots Sony created for this console generation, I was only able to meet Sly in his first foray into the video game world. As I grown older (and became acquainted with what Ratchet and Jax had to offer) I can say this was one of the best happenstances in my life. The Sly Cooper series (not including Thieves in Time as I haven’t played it) has personally become synonymous with what a great video game should be. Everything from character to level design is immaculately crafted to be its very best, and I have little to no complains about these games. I do hope Sly gets a chance to make a comeback much as like Rachet and Clank have over the years.

Other games like it

SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated: My favourite out of the platformer and collectathon games from the SpongeBob franchise is SpongeBob SquarePants The Movie video game, and I am not holding my breathe for it to be remaster, as it is probably a licencing hell which they probably don’t want to deal with. It is for this reason I recommend Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated. Purple Lamp’s immaculate remake has crafted a compelling gameplay experience which exemplifies what this genre needs. If you are a fan of Sly Cooper, especially Thievius Raccoonous, I think you will enjoy SpongeBob BBR as well.

Catherine & Catherine Full Body

Why I like it

I was debating whether to include Persona 5 Royal or Catherine within this list, but I ultimately chose the latter. My nostalgia googles are right and burning for P-Studio’s 2011 puzzle game, and it has been ever since I laid my eyes on the gameplay. Back then, I enamoured with the simple, yet detailed, character animation, as Vincent and the gang felt as ever real every time I logged on to the Stray Sheep. Whilst the story is not groundbreaking, the gameplay is where Catherine, and its remaster, work their magic. To this day, I haven’t been able to find a game where the puzzle system has engrossed me to this degree. Its system is hard to master but incredibly rewarding, and my main reason for wanting a sequel to this underrated gem is basically because I want to move more blocks. Alongside its incredible atmosphere, I wholeheartedly recommend to any puzzle game afficionado this tale of love, magic and blocks.

Other games like it

Persona 5 Royal: There are no other games like Catherine. I could recommend puzzle games the likes of Portal, or a recent favourite like Carto, but there is no other I have played which can offer the experience found on Catherine. So, if you like the other elements which also make Catherine a great game, I recommend Persona 5 Royal. The atmosphere and character writing its P-Studio at its best (still haven’t played P3 Reload), and they were clearly able to take everything they learned in Catherine to create the king of vibes in video games. I personally enjoy the vanilla ending to P5 better than Royal, but I would be foul of me to omit the variety of improvements to the gameplay which makes it sincerely better than the original.

Citizen Sleeper

Why I like it

My history with gaming is mostly relegated to consoles, with some exceptions such as Team Fortress 2. CRPGs has been a genre which has eluded me, and this does, to this day, however, it came to me as a gracious surprise that in 2023, a year boosted by a cornucopia of excellent games, Citizen Sleeper was my favourite game of the year. I generally enjoy sci-fi settings more than fantasy and, within its theme, Citizen Sleeper is superb. I was immediately drawn into the story, on how you are a cyborg* quickly becoming obsolete thanks to your own sense of independence. Its world is extremely beautiful and harsh, and becoming independent in a collapse capitalistic society was an experience of extreme joy and tension. Parallel to this, the game boosts a beautiful soundtrack and marvellous art direction, which makes Citizen Sleeper an easy game to recommend.

*Cyborg is an oversimplification of the arrangement of human conscious and artificial body tale found in Citizen Sleeper.  

Other games like it

Tacoma: Tacoma is a beautiful first-person sci-fi narrative game in which you find yourself reliving what happened to the crew of an orbital station with its namesake. The highlight of the video game is its presentation, as it was able to make a believable abandoned space station that definitely felt lived-in, and both the usage of in-game augmented reality and sign language is supremely captivating. With extremely believable sci-fi, both Tacoma and Citizen Sleeper offer a glimpse into their dystopian societies whilst elevating their stories they are trying to tell. Fans of sci-fi will find something to like in either.

[varyathevillain]

did not want to negatively interact with the OP from whom I got this image, but this threw me into a fit of such incandescent fury that I had to talk about it, and I do not want to make others feel like they're at fault about something AJN said, about the implication (or outright possibility) of them being used for clout, or my own reaction to this. and I also will say, this is not an objective opinion. this is me, tired of this bullshit that keeps appearing in my life despite me repeatedly trying to move on.

what a fucking horrifying quote. this does not read as someone awkwardly relating to their audience to me. this is a rehearsed, researched 'funny guy' moment, scripted specifically to pander to people who would quote and reshare this moment, and it doesn't have the care or emotional attachment to the audience that many would ascribe it. this is a marketing strategy.

Alexander James Newall and his podcasting company have repeatedly in the past worked with companies like, for example, BetterHelp. in their case, Rusty Quill have been keeping the partnership and advertising it even after the FTC officially forced said company into paying settlement for breaking privacy agreements and selling customer data to third party services (such as pharmaceutical companies and other interest groups like Facebook/Meta), then the reveal of overcharging patients for subpar service, and repeated ethical violations within the company. you cannot say that this is an uninformed choice, since as a creative interacting with their fanbase via internet, especially as a multimedia practice (podcasting, youtube video creating, streaming etc), you simply cannot not learn about the scumminess and the actual legal issues of such a company. and it's not even 'oh, they did it only once' - people repeatedly complained about getting ads from AI training software companies, other 'mental health' help companies that turned out to also have AI training software, and on some notable occasions, a Noom app ad read, which is a weight loss app that 1) had also been in court reaching a settlement for tricking its customers, but for 'free trial' payments instead of selling their data, 2) had repeatedly been in hot water with health professionals about their diet practices.

and this is the company the face of which AJN presents. he is not a quirky fellow creative struggling for podcast space; he's a businessman running a company that is manipulating its audience with relatability, and it is working. he is not with you against the rich; he is the rich. and from what I am hearing and seeing, currently producing the main running show, the successor of The Magnus Archives, of a show that got critical acclaim and over 700 thousand pounds in kickstarter money to produce the 'sequel', only for that show to barely ever appear on anyone's radar outside of former TMA fans, to be quietly discussed as not being quite as coherent as its predecessor, and even outright criticised for the voice acting and issues with audio, where even interesting conversations turn into mumbled, inconsistent messes people can't really listen to without transcripts.

We Care What We Put Name To, in-fuckin-deed.

[thomasthewest]

RPGs, Imsims and You(r player character)

Part 1

I dislike genre discussions for video games.

Mostly because half of it is dogma. If a game is branded by a community or developer as something, it’s that something forever. Genre isn’t a discussion about its gameplay content or design, it’s about how fans vibe with an idea of a genre.

Specifically, it’s a pet peeve of mine how the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is treated. It’s not my favourite game, or even my favourite Elder Scrolls game, but some people have taken to bashing it for not being an RPG.

It's an odd thing to bring up, since there’s plenty to criticise the game for. Yes, it does lack a lot of the technical fidelity of its predecessors. Yes, the writing is inferior. But why is Skyrim (and its immediate predecessor the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) treated like this? What’s great about the third title of Morrowind that everyone hails as a cornerstone cRPG? What is about Morrowind that makes it an RPG and everything after it a not-RPG?

The truth is, nothing.

Morrowind is my favourite Elder Scrolls game, and one of my favourite games full stop. Its archaic, rough around the edges, and has its fair share of warts. But it has stellar writing and has one of the most engaging settings I’ve ever played.

I’m half-blinded by nostalgia but it is genuinely a great game and a great example of adventure in games done right.

But the gameplay differences between it and its successors are superficial. Many Morrowind fans are probably chomping at the bit right now, seeing red over how one could suggest the masterpiece that is Morrowind could ever be compared to the Toddslop that is Skyrim or Oblivion. But the truth is, while some of Morrowind’s features were streamlined in later titles, the core gameplay remains the same in every TES title since Morrowind.

Morrowind has plenty of technical fidelity. There are lots of ways to kill things in the world and move through the world. It’s fun. It’s great. But having more ways to kill or move doesn’t make something an RPG (or at least I would hope so, otherwise the definition for an RPG would also include Skyrim).

Morrowind’s capacity for character roleplaying is pitiful. Choices And Consequences are some popular buzzwords cited for why Morrowind is better in RPG discourse. This is a meaningless argument in favour of Morrowind, even when compared to the Choices and Consequences available to players in Skyrim.

For the first encounter available to the player in Morrowind, you meet an elf who is missing his ring. The big catch: you picked this ring up in the tutorial!

Okay, good so far. You can do something selfish and tell him you don’t have it or do the right thing and return it. It looks like you already have a little bit of the first C in those Choices And Consequences we were talking about.

Now, in the local pub nearby, you can meet a guard. This guard is an absolute prick, he wants you to find out where the elf hides his gambling winnings and take them for himself. Okay, we’ve already made a choice before, there should be an obvious option to defend the elf and do something about this corrupt guard, if that’s what we want our player character to do, right?

The game certainly gives us a choice: finish the guard’s quest or don’t. The choice here is do the quest or do nothing. It doesn’t really sound like much of a choice at all, does it? Do something that doesn’t fit your character or just skip out on content. This is the rule for most of Morrowind’s quest design.

Some people might kick up a fuss, saying I want my character to be able to do everything on one character, like a stupid Skybaby, but I want the opposite! I want to be locked out of certain outcomes, I want to suffer consequences and weigh up opportunity cost. I want my precious Choices And Consequences.

But Morrowind doesn’t give them. The choice is to follow a thread to its conclusion or don’t. That’s not an actual choice! There’s no actual opportunity cost; it’s all or nothing, that’s a terrible opportunity economy.

On the surface, Morrowind has more choices to make, like how you can kill anyone you want, while Oblivion and Skyrim have a pesky system that doesn’t let you kill NPCs tied to quests.

You may think this makes Morrowind the clear winner for having more Choices and Consequences, but the actual outcome for killing people is usually nothing happening. Related quests can’t be completed, and you might get a bounty, but that’s it. The only consequence is that you now have less stuff to do. It’s a false choice, just like the quest above.

Now, there are some examples of quests and encounters where you still can make choices! However, from a design perspective, there was not a studio-level convention for quests to provide those choices. It simply wasn’t a priority for Bethesda Softworks in 2001 to provide that. Or in 2006. Or in 2011. And probably not in 2030 or whatever year the Elder Scrolls VI is releasing.

By design, Morrowind’s game engine was not designed for this. Having been a modder for the game for many years, I can say firsthand the game’s dialogue system was not built for handling complex decision trees that react to your actions. It’s possible, but when you try and implement it, you can see why Morrowind’s team prioritised single-choice encounters that start at point A and end at point B.

Morrowind’s design simply doesn’t value those Choices And Consequences, and that’s fine. That’s not what it’s trying to do.

So why does a game like this get the RPG badge and Oblivion and Skyrim don’t? A lot of fans might point to the different skills available to the player. Morrowind has 27 skills, while Skyrim only has 18! Surely that means Morrowind has better roleplaying?

A lot of those skills are just flavour. That isn’t a bad thing, but optimal martial builds in Morrowind are decided by what kind of high-level weapons there are available for a weapon skill, not for any strategic reasons. Whether opting to become a swordsman or an axeman is generally a matter of preference than one that would offer a significant strategic advantage or disadvantage.

Some weapons hit faster, and some do more damage, but hold on…that’s something embedded in Skyrim’s combat as well. Except that Skyrim removed a lot of its weapon skills in preference to a one-handed two-handed weapon skill dichotomy, which had more mechanical significance than the differences between long blade, short blade, blunt, axed or polearm weapon skills ever did.

It is fair to lament the comparative lack of technical variety with Skyrim’s magic system, but this is partially made up for with other toys players can use in combat. And Skryim still preserves some of the fun of magic, and if anything, gives players a lot more combat flexibility to mix and match weapons, shields, and spells in their hands.

My point isn’t to decry Morrowind as a bad game, but to highlight its lack of narrative and role-playing fidelity. Again, if all it takes for a cRPG to be a cRPG is to have a player with variable stats and different ways to kill or move, Skyrim should be an RPG.

Which brings me back to my main point of why I dislike this genre dogma in gaming. Morrowind is lauded as this shining example of what cRPGs should be. While I think Morrowind is a great adventure, it’s an adventure that reads from left to right and then it’s over.

Morrowind writer Douglas Goodall even remarked on Morrowind’s lack of roleplaying fidelity[1]. The game puts words in player characters’ mouths, it doesn’t let you create your own character outside of how it kills and travels. The world isn’t built to react to your actions in any meaningful way, as it simply wasn’t designed to do that.

You can see it spelled out in old RPGCodex discussions. At one point Morrowind was Skyrim to Daggerfall fans! What changed except for the community’s attitude?

To try and make a point out of all this bellyaching, how can we make better role-playing experiences if we can’t get a baseline down? How do we learn from this? Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but people criticise Bethesda Softworks for the degradation of their game design and writing, but Morrowind was the first TES game to have one ending![2] People were so happy with Morrowind and its lack of player agency in storytelling that Bethesda has been rolling with it since.

And now that it’s apparently too far gone, we’re all scratching our heads wondering how this happened. Why do people get in all of a huff when the history is there? You can very clearly see the lineage of TES gameplay when you look at the progression from Morrowind to Skyrim.

We seem to be sentimental about what an RPG is; sometimes it might just be games that make you feel clever, or games that you played as a child seem to be the ones you give those labels to. To be an RPG is a good thing, and it makes you a smart or good person for playing them. Games you personally don’t like aren’t RPGs, because if they were it would mean you wouldn’t be as smart/cool/clever for just having played other so-called RPGs.

I think this double standard between Morrowind and its successors bothered me less so about how similar all 21st century TES games are, but moreso about how much we lack a baseline for what an RPG is. Is it a boring and reductive method to try cramming RPGs to a definition? Or does ‘RPG’ just need to be a sort of axiom for other relevant video game discussions? I’m not sure but I am not satisfied.

[1]: It’s well worth the academic interest to look at the interview with Goodall. Apart from the interesting takes on Morrowind’s writing, it gives a very honest and personal account of working in the games industry.

[2]: Perhaps slightly unfair to bring up, Morrowind’s development timeline was short and the fact the main quest had one ending was more due to time constraints, than an active design decision. However point being, people accepted this and still think Morrowind is a shining example of RPG storytelling despite it (and almost every questline in-game) having only the one ending.

[mishy-mashy]

That smile that Bruce has in his final moments really make me think he already passed OFA and already knew his successor was going to strengthen the quirk rather than fight straight away. So he knew the quirk would be safe and they had some advantage over afo

Yeah, he did pass it on before fighting AFO; every OFA wielder managed to pass it on before their death by AFO's hand. Only Banjo and En (excluding All Might and Midoriya) still held it when they fought AFO, so Bruce would've been like the others: fighting with the Ability/Quirk already passed on.

For reference, the excerpt from that volume extra with Banjo's face on it;

"All the predecessors besides the Fourth were indeed killed by All For One, but each one managed to pass on the Quirk before their death."

All For One killed them. But they passed on the Quirk before they faced him.

But also, Shinomori went into hiding to avoid society, I don't think he'd actually join the fight of the Resistance when they're fighting AFO's side—he's at the top of their chaotic land. It's a fight with the one who governs current society. The "demon lord". Most of the Resistance died with Kudo, so Bruce fighting AFO was either with whoever was left, or he was completely alone, and those are old corpses.

At Bruce's fight and eventual death with AFO, I think he might've gone back to where Kudo and the rest died. Whether he did or not, he took the last members with the Resistance for a last stand, if any remained. They probably did have some left; Kudo shouldn't have left Bruce to fight him and continue OFA, with no one on his side. Cruel, and a small platform for Bruce to stand on. The platform of the vestiges was already small compared to AFO when doing a symbolism of the power difference. Imagine Bruce on his own.

(This was when Nana and Yoichi pushed AFO+AFO/Tomura out of the vestige world)

Plus, since the Resistance started out of "our Leader [having] misgivings about the future", Kudo wouldn't have brought everyone to fight AFO. If he did, the Resistance ends right there; there has to be a chance their will and cause continues into the future, neverminding Bruce and OFA. I don't mean Yoichi's will here—I mean the Resistance's. Don't bring everyone to the death march.

But look at how we only see two others when Bruce died, and even after Bruce is clearly dead, AFO still tries getting an answer from him. He wouldn't have left any survivors in this fight, let alone Kudo's.

Since Shinomori got OFA when he was 22, I think he and Bruce had been something of colleagues before, especially since Bruce knew where to find him in the forests. Since Shinomori had run into the hermit life to escape society and its weirdos, citing it as a "horrible era"

Bruce could just trust him with it and ran back to the city. He knew where to find him, they're close in age, one decided to fight to restore society while the other ran from it for what it became...

He didn't choose a member of the Resistance. But Bruce made a smart choice for who the next successor would be. He chose fast (enough that AFO was still mad about Kudo and Yoichi to bother interrogating a corpse), and chose the guy who:

● lives off the radar

● has a will against AFO/society, driven enough that he went off to hide

● has an Ability that senses danger, so he can always escape or be warned in time

● can evade AFO and his influence repeatedly

● is cautious, if not careful

● isn't tempermental to go get himself killed, with enough fear to know to step back

● would be unknown and non-existent to AFO, because he avoids society, where the big evil lurks

Shinomori knew the instant he received the Quirk that he wasn't strong enough. Bruce would have to have been present to at least pass it on, so Bruce probably knew Shinomori's decision too, to build up the will.

Until En with his hair, each transfer was probably blood, since that was the OG method between Yoichi and Kudo that worked for sure.

When Bruce passed it to Shinomori, he chose a guy who didn't have an offensive Ability like him or Kudo (who managed to use his offensively when it was just small objects at his time). He chose a guy who could keep the wielder and Quirk safe, and would pass it on once he was done with his turn. I don't know if they knew Quirks stockpiled in OFA, but if they did, Bruce made a smart choice. If they knew or not, Bruce still chose well to ensure the will continued into the future, away from AFO's reach.

So yeah. Bruce passed One For All before fighting All For One, and likely knew Shinomori's intention. The reason he smiled could've been because he knew AFO would take another loss today, but the only details we got of his death are few. He smiled, fought, and died impaled, with dead comrades around, and AFO trying to get an answer out of him for Yoichi's whereabouts.

I'm still curious on why Bruce smiled because there are reasons we could put together, and reasons we don't know. Was it because he got one over AFO? Did he enjoy the fight? Because he was facing death in the face and couldn't help but smile? Because somewhere, One for All was growing to screw AFO over in the future? We don't know much of the fight's details itself beyond [AFO participated] and [Bruce was killed].

(Remembering how Bruce's Ability works just puts his fight against AFO as even more desperate or dire, really. He temporarily charges energy, but can only release it per limb once [ex. Midoriya still having a leg of Fa Jin]. So like when Midoriya used his individual fingers, Bruce only gets one shot for each body part he can think of. His strength with OFA isn't as much as it could be either, because he isn't the wielder anymore. All he has are the leftover fumes.)