#sense in terms of functionality. sadly

[unloneliest]

my tmg song sorters are once again up to date! you can find them all under the cut. i added a total of 5 new song sorters this year, as well as an album sorter that's comprehensive of all of the mountain goats' releases, not just what's on streaming!

the rest of the sorters include only what's on spotify, but with each new (old) addition to streaming, it's looking like making the jump to a more comprehensive sorter situation is going to be easier and easier!

if you attempt the all spotify songs sorter, i’d recommend using a computer to do so - it takes a very long time to do & will sometimes refresh on mobile browsers, which starts you over from the beginning.

anyways! hope yall enjoy ^_^ let me know what you think! post your results and tag me! etc!

GENERAL:

all spotify songs

album sorter (just what’s on spotify)

album sorter (all albums)

songs released on eps/exclusively as singles (spotify playlist)

MERGE:

jenny from thebes

the jordan lake sessions 5

bleed out

the jordan lake sessions 3-4

dark in here

the jordan lake sessions 1-2

getting into knives

songs for pierre chuvin

in league with dragons

goths

beat the champ

transcendental youth

all eternals deck

4AD:

the life of the world to come

heretic pride

get lonely

the sunset tree

zopilote machine 

we shall all be healed 

tallahassee 

LOFI:

all hail west texas 

devil in the shortwave

jam eater blues

the coroner’s gambit 

isopanisad radio hour

new asian cinema

full force galesburg 

nothing for juice

nine black poppies 

sweden

beautiful rat sunset

bitter melon farm 

ghana 

protein source of the future… now! 

...

possible future changes:

adjusting the comprehensive song sorter to be in the same order as my all tmg in chronological order playlist on spotify, & linking it

including the EPs that were compiled in to ghana/protein source/melon farm as their own separate sorters

separating EPs and albums more fully in my lists of sorters & in the album sorters i've created

including EPs and albums not (yet?) on streaming

including unreleased and live only songs? pros: people can have a tool that helps people who've heard them before in figuring out their favorite mountain goats songs. cons: removes new fans' need to go searching for unheard gems, & that's a huge part of the enjoyment

[witchofthesouls]

I'm going to follow up on the fantasy-horror thoughts to be expanded Transformers, so-

Medical/Biological Horror

I haven't really seen takes about established Cybertronian medical biology and the complications with the "humans into Cybertronians" trope.

Like we see the heavy emphasis on T-cogs across the iterations and how it's deeply connected to independence, identity, and person-hood, so how about an ex-human that lacks a T-cog?

Ironically, T-cogs have a lot of emphasis on that particular organ is similar to human hearts in terms of emotional, cultural, spiritual, and physical capabilities and significance. Similar to how humans are capable of donating hearts to others, Cybertronians can perform an equivalent procedure with T-cogs. (On a related side note, the phenomenon of 'cellular memory' has to be extremely appalling to the mechanical species. Not in the sense of upcycling parts, but in the sense that the organs, frame, and equipment still retain the echos of the last person to the point that it influences the new body.)

Imagine that once human inside a medbay as the medics tutted and sadly inscribe their new medical file about their new monoformer status. What a shame, they said. They could have been an excellent addition to (insert whatever frame kibble visible that correlates to a function), they said. Poor thing! With that kind of extrasensory equipment, they'll be a walking target, they said.

So that monoformer with no kibble or those visible beastformer traits without the means to completely escape... What. A. Shame.

Until a random Cybertronian sees that monoformer casually wheeling around with heelies. It's easy to wave away as a reinvention of training wheels, but then they notice those heelies disappear back into the monoformer's frame. The ex-human still has no T-cog. Sweat breaks out because said ex-human had done the fucking impossible.

They're paying closer attention now. They're seeing little micro-transformations happening. The subtle signs of a frame shifting to accommodate an area or space, the way fingertips would sharpen too easily with a file or with a raw cut as a tip is used to scrape away at something, the seams expanding and contracting, so something is happening, they just can't tell...

While this can overlap with the body/psychological horror aspect, I say we should take it more extreme. There had been takes with dysphoria, particularly with the play between mechanical parts and human organs, the differences in senses, and if 'sticky sexual interfacing' is part of it, then sexual hardware of both sets.

However, what about acceptance? The exploration of feeling truly at home in your own new skin? Even if it's high-tech and something out of a sci-fi film/video game with a platform that's incomprehensible because you don't understand the language it uses, but guess what? You can download a packet to fully comprehend a new language. You may not be fluent or comfortably at ease with speaking, but you can read and understand what's being said. A possibility of delving into human disabilities that translate into something easily curable or nonexistent or have well-established accommodations in a Cybertronian framework. Something like hormonal disorders or gastrointestinal issues due to upset gut biome would be wiped clean. Poor/limited eyesight can be compensated with a visor that can't be easily removed or taken away or the additional sensors that provide environmental data. Cybertron has a form of sign language with chirolinguistics where communication is done "by stimulating the nervecircuits in the fingers, wrist and palm of their conversational partner. It seems to be fairly common to know at least a little hand." TFWiki page And it pairs well with internal comms that double as cell phones or an unique user on platform where a Cybertronian can live chat or text another.

A massive tradeoff for this kind of comfort? You now have a visible soul.

Think about it, your soul can be directly handled, as in someone can physically go mess with your most distilled sense of self.

Humanity had long debated the existence of it via philosophy, spiritually, scientifically as well. The heart is the most recent popular choice, but major historical contenders had been the stomach and the mind as well as arguments of the soul isn't found in one specific organ but rather the bridge between them.

People swear by souls and the afterlife. There are many myths and legends that involve souls. Even the most doubtful had been deeply raised in a cultural framework of the concept via media usage, figurative speech, religious imagery, and depictions in art.

That has to be the most mind-blowing and deeply unsettling reality a former human must accept.

I see the comparisons of sparkeaters to vampires as they both prey on the living, but the more apt description should be the product of Harry Potter with Dementors as those Dark creatures eat souls.

So this touches on another genre-

Supernatural Horror

Human adaptability combined with the Earth transformation myths/magic would deeply terrify modern Cybertronians as those new cybered beings don't fit the established medical reality they function with.

This can easily tie very well with expanding Cybertronian folklore of otherworldly beings of their version of fae, demons, spirits, or yōkai. Beautiful, terrible beings that mimick Cybertronians too well... unless to look closer: the shadow missing or not matching (can be tied to Unicron), conflicting kibble, EM fields too wild with a chaotic rhythm no one else can match, colors that change to suddenly, a strange wardrobe (made of dead creatures) that ripples and warps without a breeze, an mechanimal with too much intelligence glittering in its optics...

I'm not even fully delving into the rampant chaos of ex-humans having a host of adaptations suited for tolerating far more ranges of environmental stress and disease-resistance due to the rapid evolution by organic life compared to Cybertronian fauna. Remember, humans are animals. Highly intelligent apex predators that specialize in endurance/persistent pursuit with strong social and communal behaviors, and the cleverness to suit the environment from aquatic to deserts to wetlands to forests to grasslands to tundra. Humanity found ways to not just survive but to thrive in those biomes.

This opens a potential storyline where cybered humans become Cybertron's extremophiles, so that can easily translate into those beings capable of manipulating their own selves to a multitude of frames and shapes.

The example above with the human to monoformer was a show in how transformation mechanisms could be different between the species. If T-cogs are an inherently modern Cybertronian biological trait, then cybered!Earth natives should be either throwbacks or have another approach to it.

And that's the more muted fuckery, but what about straight-up transformations that were deemed unthinkable? Where unnatural formations keep twisting upon themselves, collapsing just to rise higher and higher? The sudden appearance of not one or two extra limbs, but dozens, even hundreds without a sequence as they try to compute how the hell they pull all that mass from nowhere? Armor plating, sure and steady, then turning into a substance that swallows everything and anything as a solid becomes a liquid.

The repression technology may or may not even work as it targets the frame's T-cog. What can it do to a mecha that doesn't have one?

Another aspect overlooked is the animal-human relationship in domestication of wild animals or how communities form symbiotic relationships with different kinds of wild fauna. Combined humanity's collective love for highly dangerous creatures... Wouldn't it be absolutely sick as hell if cyber!human got a sparkeater as their companion? It's still a wild 'animal,' not a fully tame one like a domesticated animal, so they're trying to tedtalk on a human's approach to curating a stable relationship with a predatory species while the rest of the Cybertronians are basically dead-white from sheer fright.

Or on the opposite yet equally delightful spectrum of said exhuman caring for orphaned creatures that reminds them of human pets (like a bunny or a mouse), but those 'cute babies' usually cause massive structural damage to city-states and a known mech-killer. Something like a Scraplet (because, let's be real, deep in your heart, you know a person that would try to keep it as a pet and succeed at it), so their tedtalk about behavioral training, 'reasonable precautions,' and emotional/physical fulfillment is filled with scientists who's curiosity (slightly to completely) overtakes any sense of self-preservation.

[wordsandrobots]

Endless Waltz is, of course, gorgeous and mad as a box of frogs. It's Gundam Wing playing the hits. Everyone is on fine form, too, as time, space and sundry laws of physics and geopolitics bend before the melodrama.

Treize Khushrenada wanted to make a point: thousands dead, millions homeless*. Quatre's grand gesture backfires, forcing him to once again prove he's more than a pretty face. Wu Fei makes his PTSD/identity crisis the entire Earth-sphere's problem. Heero remains chronically incapable of explaining the one and a half steps he's planned ahead. Duo goes along with him anyway because regular exercise is an important part of responsible death-wish ownership. Trowa and Sally quietly solve 60% of the plot on their own. Zechs is also there. And Relena gets locked in a room with the villains, listening to them monologue for two hours, before reminding everyone that though she is in favour of grand-scale disarmament, she's a bit fuzzier on interpersonal violence, and then catching Heero when his spring inevitably, finally winds down.

It works, as a capstone, and it's nice to get expanded backstory for everyone on screen. My main reason for rewatching it this week is noticing that Gundam Info had the OVA version up, which I hadn't seen, and wanting to compare the differences. Obviously the extended scenes help a lot in terms of rendering it as a fully functional story (plus extra Dorothy, always a plus). However I do think rejigging where the flashbacks occur lessens the impact in a couple of cases, sadly. I get why they moved Duo's, since you kind of need Trowa's to be where it is and keeping the double flashback would kill the pacing. But the loss of the OVA's particular transition for Duo is a shame. Although not as bad as what happens with Quatre, where moving the flashback later actively undermines the point being made. Kind of a little mad at that decision, even if it's broadly in service of spreading things out so the extended time-frame is clearer than in the OVA.

Still, it's good they didn't try to expand or explain how Zechs just sort of shows up again after being presumed-dead. Like - my man - how exactly are you walking into this probably high-security building, with inside knowledge of how the Preventers' code-names are themed? Have you been leaving Noin on read for an entire year, while she sends you increasingly long rambles about how things are with her? Like a jerk? (Noin and Une both perpetually deserve better.)

I'm not in the least surprised that Une's response is basically 'sure, go fight this entire army single-handed, we'll do the paperwork if you make it back'.

*Technically this particular farrago isn't Treize's fault in the immediate sense, but come on. It's still Treize's fault.

[ceilidhtransing]

I see people saying “a vote for a third party isn't a vote for Trump, no matter how much you try to tell me it is” and while this statement makes sense from one perspective, it also sadly just misunderstands the material reality of politics.

If we're talking about voting purely as something that affects the moral tally of your individual heart, then yes, a vote for the Greens or whatever isn't morally equivalent to a vote for Trump. If the way you think about this is in terms of getting to the pearly gates and being asked “and did you always vote for the purest and most morally clean person?” then yes, a Green vote is not the same as having to say “actually I voted for Trump”.

But down here in the real world where voting isn't about maintaining your own personal sense of having a Morally Untarnished Heart but about, you know, real material consequences, a vote for a third party is functionally, if not morally, equivalent to a vote for Trump. You might not be voting for Trump but you are voting in a way that only makes it harder for the only candidate that has an actual chance in hell of beating Trump to win. There is no world in which that does not simply help Trump. You are splitting the anti-Trump vote and making it easier for him to win because that is how this voting system unfortunately works. Frankly, you may as well be voting for Trump.

“But my vote isn't an endorsement of Trump! It's an endorsement of the exact opposite values of Trump!” Yes, but again, this terrible first-past-the-post voting system does not produce “the average of all the values that people voted for”. Any votes that don't go towards the winner are wasted votes. And the winner, especially if that winner is Trump, will not care that you voted Green. They will govern just the same, and your voice will carry no weight at all electorally.

“Stop blaming people who vote third party for all the terrible things Republicans decide to do! Those things aren't my fault; I didn't vote for them.” There is a certain value to the argument “it's not my fault for voting third party; it's the Democrats' fault for not putting up a candidate I could vote for”. But this slightly falls apart when it comes to the people who have already decided they will always vote third party, regardless of how perfect a candidate the Democrats run, so this whole “it's the Democrats' job to convince me” is purely theoretical. And I too hate the way our society often defaults to blaming leftists for whatever the right does, as if leftists are the only ones with political agency and the right can never be held accountable for anything. But when leftists had an opportunity to prevent the right from doing something evil and they chose their own moral purity over an imperfect choice that would nevertheless have prevented some harm, then no, I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to place some of the blame on those people.

US presidential elections hang on relatively tiny numbers of people in only a few crucial swing states. And because 132,476 people in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin decided to vote Green rather than Democrat in 2016, abortion is illegal in 13 states. That's less than 0.04% of the US population. Even margins that small matter. And no, those people didn't vote “against abortion”, but their failure to tactically unite behind the candidate who would have protected reproductive rights and who had a chance of actually winning directly led to the victory of the anti-abortion candidate. I'm sure all the people who now can't access abortion (ironically, none of whom lives in MI, PA or WI) are really glad that those people voted with their hearts rather than strategically. Votes have consequences, and things do change (for the worse, as well as for the better), much as some people like to harp on about how “nothing ever changes” and “your vote doesn't matter”.

“But why are you blaming those people? What about the people who actually voted Republican? Or the people who didn't vote at all?” Well, first off, this post is about third-party voting, not Republican voters or non-voters. But I do feel there is more ground to be gained by talking about the consequences of third-party voting than by discussing the others. Many Republican voters are essentially unreachable; they're not remotely progressive, so trying to convince them that they should be voting Democrat is mostly like talking to a brick wall. And non-voters are the people who didn't show up anyway; arguably they should have shown up, but they didn't. But third-party voters got involved, made sure they were registered to vote, got all the way to the voting booth, and then decided to vote not in the way that would defend at least some progressive values, but in the way that would only make it harder to beat the ultra-regressive candidate. There's an understanding that a lot of third-party voters are on the right side, they're just not making the right strategic decision, which is why so much more progressive energy gets put towards trying to convince e.g. Green voters than towards trying to convince people who aren't even remotely on our side to begin with.

“But both major candidates are agents of capital who will ultimately work for the continuation of the American empire. I'm voting for the benefit of the world, not just for the benefit of a few people in the US.” I'm not going to argue with you over that first sentence, because yes, you are correct. Both Democrats and Republicans ultimately support capitalism and both Democratic and Republican presidents have been responsible for some absolutely heinous crimes of US foreign and military policy. But as a non-American, the idea that voting in a way that makes it easier for Trump to win rather than uniting behind the person who might actually beat him - who is still flawed, but orders of magnitude better than him - is in some way liberatory to the rest of the world is just... what??? Do you not hear the people who are screaming “please stop the guy who's basically in favour of Putin annihilating Ukraine and endangering the rest of Central and Eastern Europe”? The people who are screaming “please stop the guy who seems like he just can't wait to drop nukes somewhere”? The people who are screaming “please stop the guy whose victory will only embolden the far right in our own countries and make it harder for us to beat them here”? Non-Americans are, by and large, not saying “ah yes, we are grateful that you chose moral purity rather than supporting one of the two capitalist candidates who will continue US imperialism”; we are screaming “PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T LET TRUMP GET ELECTED; THIS WILL MAKE EVERYTHING WORSE FOR ALL OF US”. Your Green vote does not help the world right now. Please get behind the person who isn't a massive, immediate, almost unprecedented threat to everything we hold dear, and then we can fight for a better world together.

[tikiki05]

Miles and Gwen’s relationships outside of being spider people really could’ve changed the tone of the movie but alas here we are. Now I don’t read many comics, but I can speak for the recent Spider-Man PlayStation games that Miles and Ganke’s relationship is way WAYYYYY different that what Across portrayed. I’m still pretty sure it’s like this in the comics I hope but Ganke was more excited to be involved with helping Miles when he became spider man (Ganke was the biggest Spider-man Miles fan I guarantee you). And not only that, I don’t know if you know but Itsv released scrapped scenes which showed a dynamic between Miles and Ganke where Ganke also played an active role in assisting Miles in figuring out how his powers functioned and who he could be. Sadly that idea got scrapped and fast forward to 2023 and we got a Ganke that takes a complete 180 from other versions of him. It’s kinda hard not to look back at Across and then start to wonder if they just so happened to change Ganke’s role in the story just for them to push this narrative that there’s only one singular person who can truly know Miles. And the same thing can be applied to Gwen. (I’ve never read her comics throughly to know how she balances friends who do and don’t know about her second life)

I’m probably on the minority side, but I have mixed feelings about Gwen blowing up at the Mary Jane’s in the opening scene. Granted, it’s not easy to open up about about being a spider woman much let alone about all of the other spider people you learned about that live worlds away. All I’m saying is that those girls were trying to understand why Gwen wasn’t being herself which is what good friends do despite not knowing the whole truth. And I could say more stuff but this all goes back to my main thing: the writers attempting to convince the audience that both Miles and Gwen HAVE to depend on one another and that they can truly know the other is just a huge, random stretch.

Now don’t get me wrong, Miles and Gwen go through certain things that only other spider people get , but the movie is trying to convince us that in a span of a few weeks these two are attached to the hip and can’t live without one another?? The sudden jump just doesn’t make sense.

Oddly enough it could be an interesting plot line in Beyond for Miles and Gwen: Miles learning that his infatuation with Gwen led to false expectations and he views her differently (not in a bad way, but more cautiously as they have to build trust back). Gwen coming to terms that she still isn’t properly healed from when she was close with Peter and lost him. And I think understanding that Miles clearly isn’t the same person he was a year and a half ago, he’s not that amature spider man anymore and he’s grown in his ideals and aspirations and he’s allowed to make his own calls about certain situations

Good morning and thank you for the lovely ask! This has been on my mind a lot since I reblogged that one tweet.

In terms of Ganke, as I keep saying, I think it’s great that they’re trying to do something that’s different from the comics, but it continuously gets harder to support that when I keep hearing about how the comics are better!!! Like yeah, be unique, but also be good and make sense please??

The Mary Janes scene is honestly frustrating when I think back on it. I understand how hard it can be to reach out for help, cause mental blocks can prevent you from doing things that are in reality very easy, I’ve been there. But I find it so hard to sympathize with Gwen when her friends were actively reaching out to her because they were worried about her, and she loses it at them. Did they come at her with some attitude? Yes, and maybe that was unnecessary, but Gwens problems were disrupting their band time, so their upset is understandable

Ahh, this is why spider-verse Gwen is so frustrating to me as a character! They somehow made a character with struggles I absolutely relate to and who I want to feel for, but simultaneously just make her (in my opinion) extremely unlikeable and unsympathetic??? Maybe that’s just a me problem but does anyone relate?

I just don’t even know what to expect from Beyond the Spider-Verse at this point, nor what I even want from it anymore. The anticipation is killing me and I want it out now now now BUT also want the animators to work at a reasonable pace that is most beneficial to them. Cause when the animators thrive, the movie genuinely will too.

I’ve said this before as well; the movie we got with ATSV was spectacular, but if the production side of things weren’t so bad, I think it could have been even better. And the characters deserve better! Because they are good characters, I just feel they’re not reaching their full potentials under the constraints and shitty directing (lookin’ at you, Phillip) (I guess he’s not the director but still you guys get it I hope lmao)

I really wish they would stay friends too, because I want to see strong powerful friendships more often in media, especially amongst opposite gender friends so that when it’s a guy and girl, they can show audiences it doesn’t always have to be about romance. But no, they can’t do that, because the spider-verse movies are about the “love story” between Miles and Gwen, for some reason. Even though it doesn’t make sense. And right now is just a one sided unhealthy attachment caused by refusing to seek help elsewhere when it’s readily available to her (this is Gwen I’m talking about Gwen 😐)

Ah this was a long one lol, thank you so so much for the ask! Idk where else it’s happening but I’m going to an Oktoberfest today, so, have a happy Oktoberfest i guess!! 💖✨

[vyvienne]

Blood, Power and Baking

It has been an interesting week.

Over the weekend I was raised within the Sanctum in what they term an Ascendancy ritual but in essence I feel it was a further way to tie myself to them by my own accord. Perhaps others would not deem it thus, but it is how I feel.

I will not commit to paper exactly what it entailed, as I felt it was a near sacred moment. At least for one such as me who has had precious few in her life. However, I came out of it stronger than before. I joined the Mystics under Varethuun who sadly could not be there but I felt him touch my mind through the Sanguine. He is pleased. As a side note, Nezzok attended. I was very surprised considering I believe he is not very fond of me since our last exposure to each other.

As I sit here, I am bleeding by my own hand. And while I bleed, I am learning the push and pull of blood. How it feels as I move it, spread it, pull it back. I am now able to heal myself seamlessly with it, skin returning to smooth porcelain each time.

I believe I will be able to control another entity’s blood with this new ability the same way I am able to control my own. Most of my power attacks consciousness but this? This is an overt power that I could use to heal, harm or even kill. Needless to say I am incredibly excited.

I have also found that I can taste and smell the blood more deeply than ever before. Taste and smell not only the coppery undertone any soul could, and not just the power a practitioner would, but some of my own memories and secrets. I am excited to try this with another sentient being and plan to seek one out soon. Will it work with them or is it only my own soul that I am sensing?

I was told that at times those going through Ascendancy emerge with new abilities. Some do not emerge at all. But I have never been afraid of death. It has become a lover in many ways, not something I have tried to evade. So apparently I am the former and not the latter.

Also, I spoke with a Lord Alistaer Bala’nari concerning Void and Shadow. The Defiler sent him to me and I decided to share the small book I compiled with my own research and thoughts concerning this power with the promise to speak further when we meet again.

I found him interesting. Powerful, I feel with a personality that goes with those of us who have seen the worst side of the Light and can understand it is not always benevolent. I semi met his paramour, Faydera, during my Ascendancy. She blended into the wall, so to speak, and I felt distinct terror roiling around her. He mentioned trauma in relation to her and I am curious as to how she will fit into the Sanctum. I believe he will do fine but she is concerning to me.

Not that the others cannot feel what I feel, but there was something dangerous about her. Perhaps it is not my place now, others being more situated to know her better and I am not part of that group. I suppose it is hard to give up part of your personality. I wonder if she would willingly offer a drop of her blood for me to experiment with? I fear asking her may cause an apoplectic fit though.

I am ahead of myself. Though I do feel something for her, a pity and an understanding of what extreme trauma can do to a person. It shapes us in ways we cannot foresee for years to come. I have occasionally wondered if my skills could also be used to help people forget what they experienced if it harmed them to a point they cannot function in life. But then I think would I wish to do that with my own? I would not.

Oh, I also had a lovely conversation with Lady Zali about cooking. Yes, a normal conversation concerning how to better a simple life skill. She suggested using the Sanguine to ask for a Namelss who wouldn’t mind showing me how to better improve my very atrocious cooking abilities. She also mentioned a new bakery in Silvermoon City. Perhaps I should investigate their cakes for future sweets on offer until I can learn that mystifying skill of baking.

As I said, an interesting week. I am excited for what may come next. I should speak with Varethuun soon concerning finding a test subject.

@dinthoqaf @nezzokthecollector @faydera for mention.

[mrstsung]

My unpopular mk opinions

These are my unpopular opinions,venting,and genuinely how i feel about mk lore and characters.

This is just my personal opinions and feels ok? If you do not agree nor like. Then this post IS NOT FOR YOU! so keep scrolling down. (I can't believe i have to remind people of common sense and how to use their brain functions.)

But yeah. Here they are. It's a long one.

Below cut

🔥🐲🔥🐲🔥🐲🔥🐲🔥🐲🔥🐲🔥🐲🔥🐲🔥

Ok like i said a but long. But bear with me.

• Im sorry but liu kang x kitana can not realistically happen. At least for long term. They both have too much going on. Kitana has a whole realm let alone her own goals too separate from liu. And no offense guys but liu kang said he wants out in several stories endings. So a peaceful,quiet,normal lady and/or spouce is what he needs. Away from kombat,away from mortal kombat especially. So yeah....sorry guys. But your little fantasy of liu kang being with some badass warrior chick is just that. A fantasy and a boring one at that. Liu kang just needs a simple honey by his side. (This goes for liu kang being paired up with any of the known established lady characters)

• Speaking of which,liu kang should've retired. Not become a god. What was nrs thinking?!

• Kung lao should've been champion and the new chosen one. But y'all allergic to good storytelling.

• I could say so much about the lady characters. But I'll keep it short. Unfortunately guys,sexism exists. And it's affecting men too so if they actually eant people to enjoy fighting games. Dont make your lady fighters like shit and only eye candy. Let alone make them broken because your too lazy to program good movesets for them that actually work.

• Ah raiden raiden raiden. Where do i begin? First,they screw you over AGAIN. they take away you're whole ass personality. Nrs  only pretends now to actually gaf about you. And most of that is lip service. Shall i continue? You should've been retired by now. And not to mention they defang you for plot and treat you like shit as well as your mains. That pretty much covers it.

• Shang tsung my baby sweetheart,look at what they do? Do people care about your character? No. They dont. They never did until you looked lioe a pretty boy band hack. And no offense....they brought back the irl goat shang tsung himself,for what? Only to mock us fans and tease us with the false promises of something actually good? Yeah. Sadly i feel this. Tho i appreciate all of shang tsung's incarnations and iterations. Cary hiroyuki tagawa IS shang tsung to me. And honestly the only one worth mentioning. Because he's honest to god skilled in his craft. Im not saying this out of fandom,to butter his toast nor nostalgia sake. I genuinely feel he does shang tsung like nobody else does. Look guys alan lee is ok. But i feel he NEEDS SOMEONE TO WRITE HIM SOMETHING BETTER. Honey plz let me write for you! I know what shang neeeeeeds!

• That being said. Im sick of people saying shang tsung is eViL. When? Also is he tho? Anymore than anyone else in that world. Dude you're killing. And even if that wasn't a factor,there are worse guys. Shang tsung is actually compared to the likes of quan chi,shinnok,shao kahn,ONAGA,THE FUCKING ONE BEING ITSELF!?! shang's a fairly honorable and reasonable man. He is psuedo-immortal but he was once an earthrealmer warrior(idc what nrs says thats what he is end of story. Because thats what he was truly and it makes for a more compelling story) so unlike the other "baddies" he's the only really "human" one. So he's more realistic and relatable. Which honestly makes for a more interesting antag. Or even neutral character. Seriously guys,it's right there. Why do people refuse to see it is beyond me.

• Bi-han....you dont deserve what you're given. Im sorry.

• Same with mileena.

• Also mileena isn't some disease ridden floosy,isn't secretly shangs kid,she is a clone and an experiment and is a fucked up lil froot loop. She does get a heart of gold later and reconciles with kitana or should. But shang tsung hates mileena,sees her only a an object let alone just a pat on the back for a job well succeeded. Shes an experiment to him. Shao kahn sees her as a means to an end but an heir to be used. Sindel say milly as a daughter but the lesser one and only in high regards when kitana "disappoints" her. Sindel before and after the dark magic purge,was kind of selfish. She never hated her daughters,but she was arrogant. But that's just her personality. Anyways. Mileena is a clone/twin sister of kitana and deserves better and to be her own person and have her own agency. Sorry not sorry but i hate "fandom" mileena.

• Kung lao....my baby.....you deserve better. But you deserve to obliterate nrs for the mistreatment

• Sonya blade deserves to kill more. Let alone never be written by men ever again. NEVER AGAIN.

• We as fans deserve a good game. No gimmicks,not unnecessary dlc,full functional and FULLY MADE gameplay,no guest characters,no characters that was in the main storymode not on the roster let alone some pre order fucking only. No a fully good game. That has minigames to keep you busy. That has a fully open world krypt. A game WORTHY OF THE TITLE OF MORTAL KOMBAT!

I have so much more but....thats it for now.

[wickmitz]

lo and behold, here’s my sexuality list for some of the lackadaisy characters! i am well aware most of these aren’t canon and that i’m being a little ‘too fruity’ with it, though that’s alright! these are just my opinions and, frankly, i don’t want nor need them to be canon in any way -- they are just aspects added to the characters mostly for my enjoyment. some of these are subjected to change ( due to a variety of reasons ) and some of these i may consider ‘canon’ in the sense that i read the characters with these headcanons in mind. i could also write an essay on some of the hcs listed here, but for the sake of simplicity i kept them as brief as i could … but without further ado, lets get on with it! :

rocky : he’s rather confusing, sexuality wise. tentatively would say he’s bisexual to some degree given how little someone’s gender matters to him, and that he also falls under the asexual umbrella ; being either demisexual or greysexual perhaps! he mostly just yearns to be loved and to serve as an invaluable object in someone’s life, taking his devotion to the extremes even if it’s unasked of him to do so. i don’t think he actually thinks about romance and any of his romantic feelings for people are more so vague and metaphorical … while he wouldn’t turn down a relationship, especially with someone he ‘desires’, i don’t necessarily think that’s his goal either. rocky is too easily caught up in outside factors to function normally in a traditional romantic sense, and any such activities that come with dating is the furthest thing from his mind. he likes being someone’s number one, their one and only, the most important force in their life … but if he can achieve that without romance, then he’ll be fine with that too. rocky will die for his crush ten times over but is rather okay with never getting to kiss even their hand. he’s an enigma!

freckle : transgirl and she’s too nervous to figure out the rest of her identity as it stands, though would probably be best described as demisexual. might have a phase where she adopts the lesbian label due to a preference for women only to find out she’s still attracted to men … swears off labels after this due to embarrassment! overall, freckle’s whole thing is about exploring her gender identity more than anything else ; finding a skin that’s actually comfortable for her to wear and easing some of that inner turmoil and anger inside of her. wiggling into something that feels freeing rather than being eternally tied down by her mother’s intense catholic views. ivy helps freckle out a ton too, making for a great mentor when it comes to embracing femininity and enjoying the girlish birthright of crushing on stupid boys, and speaking of ivy …

ivy : heteroflexible plain and simple! is primarily interested in men while showing little to no attraction towards girls, and wouldn’t have ever dated one had it not been for freckle transitioning. she staunchly refused to break up with freckle after, and decided ( rather brazenly ) that she’s got a girlfriend now and that’s really cool actually!! plus she now has a loophole to present to viktor so he doesn’t try to kill her paramor. love wins <3

viktor : straight. he is not sexually nor romantically into men, sadly. has mostly sworn off love in general though, so he doesn’t think about this stuff as it stands ; and he’s kinda behind on all these terms anyway. but despite this, he wouldn’t be opposed to being life partners ( or being in a qpr ) with a man if things fell that way. see my mini essay on vikdecai for additional info on that!

mordecai : transman, homoromantic(?), and asexual … mordecai keeps all of this under lock and key, with the only people knowing about his trans identity being atlas, mitzi, and viktor ( who all found out through various means ) -- though serafine and nico also heavily suspect it themselves. he’s more oblivious to his homoromantic inclinations though, as well as his asexuality to an extent. will typically dismiss his repulsion towards touch as something else he’s just being ‘neurotic’ about, rather than holding any real significance. the reason for the question mark near homoromantic is simply due to the fact i could see mordecai still being interested in women! so i sort of flip between homosexual labels and demiromantic labels for him. but he definitely, and without a doubt, has a heavy male preference regardless!

mitzi : straight and polyamorous … kind of. she’s experimented with women before ( on the road, most notably ) and has no qualms about being with them sexually or doing minor romantic acts with them either. she’s just never been particularly attached to them the way she is with men, hence her more serious relationships being exclusively with the opposite gender. still, she’s more casual and loose with her sexuality than most are, and is more than willing to be with a girl if it suits her needs or makes her happy. might become bisexual down the line after meeting women that fit her type, or she might always be straight with a few ‘exceptions’ … being kind of heteroflexible in that regard! and as for her polyamory, while she enjoys that lifestyle and could commit to it again, she much prefers monogamy now, usually. see my mitzi’s type post for more info on all of that!

zib : oh boy. i don’t think zib cares for labels and prefers being an unlabeled mess of a thing ( calling himself and resonating with ‘queer’ is as far as he’ll probably ever go ) but to make this simple, he’s sort of a … bisexual, genderqueer, demiromantic, and polyamorous cocktail. and even those labels are almost too restricting for zib, who’s rather unashamed and free where it concerns existing as his disastrous self. he likes men, he likes women, he likes people who aren’t men or women, he likes people who are both … he’s a man, and sometimes a woman, or at the very least enjoys dressing like a woman … he likes casual and multiple partners … he struggles with more traditional romantic commitment but wants it nonetheless … etc, etc. he’s sort of everywhere! views life through a simplistic lense of ‘if i like it, then i like it’ and doesn’t bother with it further.

wick : a man who is straight by design and default, since his type is as standard as it can get … aka being primarily interested in curvy women who are extremely feminine. he still likes all manner of women though! but he’s not really into men really, even if he’s extremely open minded about lgbtq+ overall and almost wishes he could have a queer experience of some kind. if only because everyone around him thinks he’s gay or has assumed it at some point in time. though there is some wiggle room despite this! wick could become romantically attracted to a man, i think, if certain things aligned -- but will never be attracted to them in a standard sexual manner. it’s too complicated for me to thoroughly explain here ( and @churchwick is more qualified to talk about this than me anyway, as the wick expert ) yet i do think wick could fancy himself an exception or two. he’d be rather awkward about the whole thing though </3

serafine : lesbian who barely ever bothers with men and isn’t shy about showing off her lady-type preference. she also has some gender stuff going on, occasionally embracing he/him pronouns alongside her feminine ones whenever she so pleases. operates on very hedonistic grounds too, constantly adorning herself with pretty girls until her arms are full and keeping her furniture warm, since she sleeps better that way if nico is unavailable. enjoys taking in girls who are ‘blind’ and need to be shown the truth … likes offering them a better life within her cult and by her side. although it’s worth noting that serafine is rather casual with her conquests and hardly ever takes on a permanent and more personal ‘lover’, but she’s semi open to the idea of it regardless. she is merely going through life and enjoying wherever it leads her, after all.

nico : i’ll be honest, i have no clue! i do not think about nico enough to have an opinion on his orientation, but it felt wrong to seperate the savoy siblings, so here he is anyway. he’s certainly cisgender and is extremely comfortable with being a man. and, like his sister, he’s more prone to casual arrangements rather than actual dating. i could see him being pansexual perhaps! i don’t think he cares for gender much, and will go for anyone who is ‘hot’ enough or ‘interesting’ enough if that makes sense. he’s a little shallow about it! but again, those are just my rather quick thoughts on the matter. i seriously need to think more about nico sometime, whoops.

lacy : extremely repressed bisexual! she is rather inexperienced with dating in general, having been strictly study focused in school and now that she finds herself as wick’s secretary, she still has little room left for a love life. her entire schedule is mostly just wick, wick, wick, and wick … keeping sable stone & quarry afloat business wise while also tending to her employer’s personal health and safety as well. such a busy life ( on top of tennis and the occasional lunch with friends ) has her rather closed off to meeting men or being courted by them, with her crush on wick being no help in this regard either! she is rather content with his company and has made little effort to seek out new men to converse with, or engage with women in a flirtatious manner. but eventually she’ll have a rather violent bisexual awakening that sends her reeling and leaves her confused, a little caught up in the almost teenage throes of envy, admiration, and hate towards the women she’s attracted to. over time she’ll get over herself and her perpetually reserved demeanor enough to explore this side of her -- though it will come with many bumps along the road and won’t be as seamless of a transition for her as it would be for some people.

church : homosexual through and through. he’s unmarried and is taking great advantage of the pansy craze happening underground. engages in more casual relationships with the same rotation of men due to a.) not caring for romance and b.) also being keenly aware of the fact that there are plenty of people out there who would use this to ruin him, blackmail him, or worse. so to say he’s extremely careful and secretive about it all is almost an understatement. hasn’t ever required a beard due to his disdainfully bored personality … but not having a wife to feign care towards leaves him with ample room to explore and carry himself as he pleases behind closed doors. if anyone knows the ins and outs of some queer scenes in st. louis, it’s him, surprisingly. and he’s rather tight lipped about the whole thing.

atlas : like the man himself, nobody knows, not even me! he definitely loved mitzi, though whether or not he was equally into men is a mystery.

so tada! those were my very brief and incoherent notes on the lackadaisy crew and what’s going on with them, sexuality and gender wise! i originally planned to discuss other characters here as well, like asa, the arbogasts, ruby, virgil, etc … basically anyone else i could think of, or whoever else that was listed on the lackadaisy characters page that i hadn’t covered yet. although to be frank, i don’t have many thoughts on those characters where it concerns their orientations! so i left them alone for now. maybe one day i’ll update this or make a part two -- who knows! though i’m more than content with this being my list for now haha

[coramatus]

Black Reshiram AU - part 3

Part 1 - Part 2

Emmet has to take a few days off work. The revelations that Ingo shared were just too much.

He spends the time cuddling his and his brother’s Pokémon teams. The gathered Pokémon do their best to take care of him in turn, keeping him fed and functional. They can do little more than watch in sadness as he cries.

To know that he was so close to getting his brother back, only to lose him to the machinations of higher powers…

It’s not fair… why did they both have to suffer for another’s amusement?

If Emmet ever meets Reshiram, he’ll… Well, he won’t be able to do anything really. But he’ll certainly give that feathery jerk a piece of his mind, Legendary Unovan dragon or not! And to think he liked Reshiram too!

It’s a lot to reconcile.

He wonders how Ingo is doing…

Ingo is not faring much better. He hides away in a cave, curled up in his dragon form, struggling to come to terms with his new reality.

But it feels impossible. Anger and guilt keep bubbling up, constantly reminding him of the unfairness of it all. Why should he have to suffer for the poor choices of others?

But that’s not fair either.

Everyone made the choices they thought best. His parent did it out of a love so misguided and oblivious that only a near-immortal could conceive it. And the old Ingo hadn’t known the full picture before agreeing to essentially die.

Current Ingo didn’t ask for any of this. He’d been perfectly happy living as a dragon, doing whatever he pleased. And now he’s stuck with a mess he didn’t even cause.

But Ingo is not so heartless as to be blind to the greatest victim in all of this:

Emmet.

Ingo’s heart aches at the thought of his once brother left all alone, going through life with half his soul ripped out. He had no voice in the matter and yet he still lost half of his world. Emmet deserves better. He deserves his Ingo, whole and home again. He doesn’t deserve some sad echo of his dead brother. Perhaps he would heal with time, but to even make him suffer through that pain in the first place is unconscionable.

Ingo doesn’t want to abandon Emmet.

But it’s better for everyone if Ingo stays away. He’ll only complicate and confuse things with his identity issues. This mess doesn’t need new layers of mistakes added on top.

Yet he still has no idea what he truly wants out of all this.

Ingo shifts and catches sight of Chandelure’s ball tucked in a safe corner. The urge to talk to someone suddenly proves too strong and without thinking, he releases her.

Chandelure pops out looking a bit rough around the edges, her flames dimmer and glass cloudier than it should be. Her eyes grow wide upon seeing him, her glass ringing out in surprise at the black dragon laying before her.

“…hello,” Ingo awkwardly greets her, lowering his head to her level.

Chandelure stares at him long and hard before asking, “…Ingo?? Is that you?”

Ingo winces and sadly informs her of his circumstances, that he’s just her trainer’s reincarnation and not the actual person she knew.

Chandelure floats over him, carefully scrutinizing his massive feathered form. Reincarnation certainly explains why his soul is in a dragon’s body now.

Ingo tries to argue, but Chandelure doesn’t care as she happily cuddles up against his feathery cheek. To her, Ingo is still Ingo even if he is a Legendary Pokémon now.

Her words remind him of his parent’s odd reassurance over a century ago, that he is Ingo no matter what. Now that he knows what his parent meant, it makes even less sense.

“I don’t understand. I have the old Ingo’s memories but… but they just don’t fit anymore. It feels wrong… like I stole his place.”

“That’s not how I see it,” Chandelure hums. “At your core, you’re still that little boy who caught me as a Litwick all those years ago.”

Ingo winces, “Then, why doesn’t it feel like that?”

Chandelure sighs sadly, but with understanding, “Reincarnation is tricky, even for ghosts. But sometimes bonds can transcend lifetimes. Maybe a bit more literally in your case.”

Ingo isn’t what to make of all this. Everything was dumped on him so suddenly; he isn’t ready for any of it.

Chandelure senses his distress and presses him to talk to Emmet again. She knows how desperately Emmet has missed Ingo. And it's clear to her that even with the reincarnation, part of Ingo desperately misses Emmet too.

Though he can’t deny it, Ingo is still reluctant. He doesn’t think that’s fair to Emmet. It’ll only confuse things between them. He just can’t be Emmet’s brother. He’s physically not that person anymore.

Why not? Chandelure points out that Emmet’s soul is still linked to Ingo’s, there’s nothing stopping them from forging a new bond. It doesn’t have to be that of siblings; they can still be friends, can’t they?

But Ingo still worries. It can’t be that simple… Emmet probably hates him for what he stands for…

At this, Chandelure bonks his snout with a sconce. Emmet doesn’t have a single hateful bone in his body! He is upset and he is hurting, but there is absolutely no way that he hates dragon Ingo. Emmet wouldn’t have given him her ball if he were that upset.

Besides, Ingo is hurting just as much. He needs someone besides just her to be there for him.

Ingo considers Chandelure’s words. He isn’t sure if she’s right, if Emmet would want him in his life at all. But she has a point. Moping in a cave won’t give him answers. If Ingo talks to Emmet, if he gets that ultimate rejection… at least then he’ll know he can move on from his past life completely.

With a soft sigh, Ingo shifts back to his human form. Chandelure floats up to him and he presses his forehead against her glass globe. He agrees to go back to see Emmet. Possibly for the last time. But he has an odd feeling that won’t be the case.

Four days after Ingo’s last visit, Emmet gets a knock at the door. He’s still shaken up and not feeling particularly sociable but answers it nonetheless.

He’s surprised at what he finds.

He hadn’t expected to see Ingo again. At all.

Ingo looks just as tired and miserable as Emmet. His black, feathered dress is a ruffled mess. He keeps his gaze lowered, ashamed.

“…you came back,” is all Emmet can say, clear shock coloring his otherwise dull, hoarse voice.

Ingo visibly winces and says with an uncharacteristic softness, “I… I wanted to talk to you.”

Part of Emmet’s spirit lifts with hope but the more realistic side of him knows better. If Ingo wanted to come back, he’d have said so already. What Ingo wants from him this time, he has no clue. But Emmet is patient and lets Ingo in. He has to hold himself back from simply clinging to Ingo as hard as he can.

Though Emmet is encouraged to see Chandelure hovering at Ingo’s side, her flames burning much brighter than before. She gently bumps her glass against Emmet’s forehead in a familiar act of comfort and he closes his eyes, leaning into her touch. With that, he follows Ingo to the kitchen table.

Their talk is an uncomfortable one.

Ingo speaks first. He expresses his hopes that Emmet can offer some insights as to their next steps. Does he want to be brothers again? Does he want Ingo out of his life? There’s so many ways to move forward but Ingo doesn’t have a clue which tracks to follow.

But all his questions do is uncover the uncertainty that Emmet feels. In growing frustration, Emmet openly admits that he doesn’t know the right choice any more than Ingo’s parent did. Hell, he knows even less about whether or not there is a right choice!! As Emmet starts to break down and cry, he buries his face in his hands, whimpering that all he knows is that he is so tired of being by himself.

Without another word, Ingo steps forward and wraps Emmet up in a hug. Emmet sobs and hugs Ingo back, practically collapsing in his arms. As they sit there embracing each other, Ingo decides that maybe this is enough to start with.

That night, Ingo stays by Emmet’s side, gently comforting him to the best of his ability. Emmet eventually falls asleep crying, cradling Ingo’s hand against his chest.

When Emmet wakes up, he’s alone. For a moment he wonders if last night was just a dream. Then the smell of cooking catches his attention. He gets up to find Ingo making breakfast. He looks a little strange doing this in his feathery dress and long hair, but otherwise it feels like a normal morning before Ingo… Emmet shakes himself off and shyly approaches. Ingo quietly passes him a plate of food before going back to cooking for the Pokémon. Emmet feels his heart twist in his chest at seeing the meal made for him. It’s all his favorites. He sits down with a soft thank you and starts to eat. It’s not long before he’s sniffling, his eyes stinging slightly from forming tears. He laughs between a full mouth as he starts to cry. Ingo drops what he’s doing and moves to Emmet’s side, but Emmet shakes his head and swallows his food. He just… he needs a moment… the food tastes just the way his brother made it…

Ingo hovers uncertainly before reaching out to rest a hand on Emmet’s back. He quietly rubs between Emmet’s shoulders as he cries, at a loss. As Emmet slowly calms down, Ingo apologizes for causing him so much pain. He knew that being here would just make things worse. If Emmet wants him out, he’ll go, no questions asked.

To his surprise, Emmet is quick to grab his hand, asking, almost begging Ingo to stay. It will be strange and uncomfortable and heartbreaking, but he does want Ingo to stay. He meant what he said before; he does not wish to be alone anymore.

Ingo considers this solemnly.

He gently squeezes Emmet’s hand.

“I’ll stay,” he softly promises.

If the pain in their hearts eases for just a moment, then they don’t say anything.

[anti-katsuki-lounge]

YAOYOROZU IS THE QUEEN OF DESERVES BETTER!

She was so competent, intelligent, and levelheaded in the beginning of the series. Not only was she screwed over during the Sports Festival (multiple times), her personality was retconned. She way more "uwu" than she was originally and it makes her less distinct from the other 1A girls. Her hero costume isn't just revealing, it just sucks. It says nothing about her personality. The intended goal is "functionality" but it fails in that department too (she could break her spine on that stupid bookcase and she has no chest protection). Every time Hori seems like he's going to treat her seriously, he turns around and screws her over again whether it's to make a perverted joke or to just ignore her.

Also, Creation is the most OP quirk outside of AFO and OFA and Horikoshi doesn't freaking use it

Momo’s definitely up there in terms of “most screwed over”.

For starters, according to Hori, Momo has an intelligence stat of 6/5 S. To put that into perspective, that’s higher than Mei’s 5/5 A+ intelligence and on pair with both Nezu and All Might, a being with an intelligence boosting quirk and the Number 1 hero. Only AFO (the oldest person on the planet and someone who’s probably got an intelligence enhancing quirk) and Garaki (a literal mad scientist whose able to create creatures from corpses and copy quirks straight from someone’s DNA) beat her out in brains.

Secondly, her quirk is absurdly powerful. I’d put it as part of the Top 3 best quirks (Overhaul and New World Order are my other three picks). Sure, it has its limits of needing lipids for fuel and Momo having to remember complex atomic formulas, but the second weakness hardly ever comes up. If she really wanted to, she could create nukes. If given time to prepare, she instantly becomes a top threat. Sadly, Hori never does much in terms of creativity. Poor girl’s relegated to mainly creating basic traps and weapons. Hori keeps trying to make her be a frontline combatant when she really should be support/nuke option.

In terms of her arc, I do believe that the idea of her arc’s solid. Her arc’s one we constantly see in fiction. Genius comes in confident in their abilities, gets humbled, has their worldview shattered, is lost, and then reignites their flame. The problem is how it’s executed. Her losing to Fumikage makes sense. Momo didn’t bother to prepare ahead of time and was up against someone who had no known weakness (the light weakness is only known by 1-A after the Sports Arc. Until then, only Izuku and Ochako knew while Katsuki figured it out due to luck). Sadly, after this, we really don’t get much outta her. Her internship taught her shit. Her spark is reignited when she and Shoto face off against Eraserhead, but that was temporary. Her fight with Saiko Intelli (unrelated but I actually quite like her) only happens in the anime and is more of a team win than a personal win. During the Joint Training Arc, she doesn’t get a win either, instead tying with Itsuka. Her final main contribution comes during the War Arc where she creates the sleeping gas to put Giantomecha to sleep. Don’t get me wrong, it was a cool moment, but that was more of Ejiro’s moment. Simply put, Momo takes a lot of L’s for someone who is usually crucial to various victories. Also, like you said, throughout the story, she goes from being one of 1-A’s leaders to being a follower despite her intellect and growth.

Her costume I 100% agree on. Seriously, what is this girl wearing? So many people have said this before but you can have her costume have flaps that open up when she’s using her quirk rather than have her running around almost naked. It’s really not that hard to make a practical costume. If Mirio can have a costume that can phase through things with him, then Momo and Tooru could have costumes that both work with their quirks and not have them running around naked.

Lol, this turned into another rant, but Momo really got screwed over.

[pympartic]

:[ OOC ;; RAMBLING //; I Feel like there was something Lost when writers started painting the Yellowjacket personality as an abuser and ignored the previous set up of him being the Definition of Fuck Around and Find Out. Ignoring my own hcs and fanon for a bit here; Actually treating yellowjacket as his own personality was largely something done to try and make sense of the Mess that was his early debuts where he was more or less just Hank but the writer wanted him to snark more. From this we get interpretations like the one done by Kurt Busiek who took the idea and went 'yeah what if he WAS a different personality, and then went further to establish him as almost his own person entirely. There's something deeply interesting about how he's portrayed during that era before the idea of him being some crazy abuser became canonized. He's often shown to be self aware, regretful and genuinely trying to do his best even though the way he thinks and his methods sometimes get him in deep hell. He held himself to avengers code, not wanting the past to repeat, he wanted nothing more then to live a life as an avenger As himself, but as it was shown he really cant do it without Hank, who likewise cant do it without Him. This is largely Abandoned by future writers which is really damn unfortunate as its Fascinating seeing him being able to introspect After the Moment and how he and Hank naturally complement each other in terms of being a functional individual. Kurt's era ends with the two becoming one body again with the goal that they'll work together to be the best person they can be, with that unfortunately never being followed up on which is a damn shame; I wish we could have seen more of him, sadly thats probably never gonna happen. (Guess I'll Do It My Self) ]

[iobartach]

@modestmuses [viktor] asked; why won’t you let me help you ?

morbid curiosity prompts

Help? Please. Had he still retained a sense of humour, Miguel would have plenty of reason to deride the Herald for his offer. Could it be that he had spotted something that resided deep within his corrupted self, that had been judged and deemed as being in need of repair? The mere potential of such a possibility annoyingly existed, though without explanation. It was something that only the putrid god he served could answer-- provided he didn't scorn him in turn for asking.

"I feel it is fair to say that you & I have drastically different opinions on what the term 'help' encompasses." Be it in the guise of presented aid, or a transformation in form and function, the word was broad enough that it could be used in a variety of applications; none of which would sadly come close to purging Vilemaw's venom from his veins.

"After all," feeling as though proof is required to better underscore the futility of attempting a cure, Miguel rolls up a sleeve of his robe, exposing blackened skin, covered in crimson markings and fingers that ended in inch-long talons, "What help could you possibly offer, to a damned soul such as mine?" To further hammer home his point, a flex of digits causes the same crimson markings on his arm to brighten before producing strands of silk, webbing that sported the colour of fresh blood as it coiled around his empty palm. "I'll give you a hint; nothing."

[vickyvicarious]

So much of Jack's letter is unintentionally funny to me. OBVIOUSLY the "for a personal reason" line and his entire effusive description of van Helsing, but also almost the entire first paragraph is funny in a kind of horrible way.

With regard to Miss Westenra's health I hasten to let you know at once that in my opinion there is not any functional disturbance or any malady that I know of.

key words obviously being that I know of because there's definitely obviously a functional disturbance/malady of some sort going on here.

At the same time, I am not by any means satisfied with her appearance; she is woefully different from what she was when I saw her last.

when she rejected my marriage proposal she was looking extremely fine in all senses of the term, sadly that is no longer the case

Of course you must bear in mind that I did not have full opportunity of examination such as I should wish; our very friendship makes a little difficulty which not even medical science or custom can bridge over.

the examination was slightly awkward due to aforementioned rejected marriage proposal and going "it's fine I'm a doctor" didn't really work since she and I both know I'm still deep in unrequited love with her

[misfitwashere]

Why Greenland?

And Canada, Mexico, Panama...

TIMOTHY SNYDER

JAN 15

In one way, Trump is utterly predictable. He wants to die in bed rather than in prison, and he wants that bed to be in the White House. That's what they all want, all of these supposedly strong men with their ostensibly national feeling: the eternal clean sheets.

But precisely because the authoritarians are predictable in this way, they are unpredictable in another. Because they are entirely fixated on themselves, and skillful at separating themselves from normal political checks, observers cannot evaluate their behavior in the familiar and comforting terms of national interest.

"America First" has nothing to do with the interests of Americans facing a challenging world, and no one has even pretended very hard that it does. What "America First" means, in the 2020s as in the 1940s, is that America should be the first democracy to imitate leading foreign dictators. Trump has admired dictators and will admire dictators. This might be in his interest: again, in the basic sense that he needs to learn how to stay in power and die in bed. But it has nothing to do with the interests of Americans.

The more power is concentrated in the hands of one person, the harder it is to say what is actually going on. People fantasize that strong-man rule will be simple and stable, but for everyone except the strong man it is exhausting and destructive.

Sure, we might want Trump to be concerned about the national interest; we might wish that he considered the world beyond the United States in light of what might benefit its citizens. It will be comforting for the many in the media to imagine that somehow Trump considers the world and his fellow citizens, and we hear a lot of hopeful nonsense along those lines.

But there is, frankly, zero evidence that any of his cogitation takes that form. Anyone imagining that Trump speaks of Greenland or Panama or Canada or Mexico because he cares about America would need to cite some pattern of behavior that demonstrates that Trump has ever done so.

Checks from elections, from the law, and from other government bodies force an executive to think before speaking. The interests and utterances of voters or other politicians can help us see what might happen. Insofar as they have a voice, we know that the executive is at least hearing that voice. Insofar as they have an ability to check, we know that the executive faces limits. Trump is now largely free of all that; and so we are forced, sadly, to try to figure out what is in his mind.

So why is Trump (or people in his circle) talking about building an American empire that includes (depending on the day) Greenland, Canada, Panama, Mexico? The statements are of course different in each case, ranging from threats of invasion to control internal politics (Mexico and Panama), economic pressure or possible invasion to annex territory (Denmark over Greenland), and economic pressure to achieve political control (Canada, although with lots of side commentary from allies about absorbing the whole country).

Even if we cannot be certain about what Trump has in mind, we have to be serious about the consequences of his statements. I would caution strongly against treating Trump's outlandish imperialism as a joke; whatever Trump's motives, the things he has said are dangerous in the extreme, making ongoing wars less likely to end, making new wars more likely, and promising a future of senseless resource war. Here are five Trumpian logics explanations, all of which can function together, and probably do.

1. Putin and Xi. Trump is assisting Putin and Xi, making present Russian wars easier and future Chinese wars more likely. The international legal order is based upon the notion that states are sovereign and borders are inviolable. To be sure, these principles have been ignored in the past. But hypocrisy is a very different thing than nihilism. By advocating a violent American empire, Trump is saying that there is no international legal order. Worse still: he and the people around him are repeating arguments that Putin has made for more than a decade: borders are not real; people on the other side of borders want to be ruled by us; the law does not apply to big powers. It is objectively the case that this makes Russian and Chinese imperialism easier. Trump is removing the arguments, supported by most of the world, against a Russian invasion of Ukraine or a future Chinese invasion of Taiwan. The reactions of Moscow and Beijing make it very clear that Russian and Chinese leaders understand the work that Trump is doing for them. The only question here is whether Trump is knowingly or unknowingly doing comms work for Putin and Xi. In my view, he knows exactly what he is doing. He is enacting a policy of fighting with friends and enabling enemies.

2. Musk. It is important for Trump's supporters to believe that Trump is the one actually in charge. One way to accomplish this is for Trump to seem more outlandish than Elon Musk. In recent weeks, Musk has expressed the view that Germany can only be saved by its far right, called for Britain's government to be dissolved, and even expressed preferences about who should lead the radical parties in these countries. Now, Musk's actions are broadly consistent with Trump's: he supports people in Europe who can be counted on to oppose alliances with the United States, to break the European Union, and to make life much easier for Beijing and Moscow. But, as even Trump's ideologues have to admit, Musk's money means that he might even be able to achieve these goals. What Musk has been doing has been outrageous, by any standard. If we regard Musk as an individual, he is claiming that he has a special power to make and break governments around the world ("we can coup whoever we want.") If we regard Musk as an American co-president, he is interfering in the domestic politics of other countries in a way that is openly imperial. Like Trump, Musk has never provided any evidence that he has a view of the American national interest, or cares in any way how changes in the world affect the lives of Americans. He uses the power that he has for his own purposes, and does not really seek to hide that. In this situation, where Trump may have less real power than Musk, he can compete at the level of spectacle. Musk's designs on Europe and the world may be more sinister, in the long run, than Trump's on Greenland etc. But today at least they are less spectacular and receive less media attention. So Trump's rhetorical imperialism might be there to distract from Musk's real imperialism. And, of course, Musk might very well be behind Trump's rhetoric anyway. Who do we think told Trump that Greenland and Canada had valuable mineral resources? Is this something that Trump read about on his own? Musk's own rhetoric on Canada, though it has received less attention, has been even sharper than Trump's.

3. Nominees. Trump is good at directing media attention this way and that. And he needs to do so, given that many of his nominees for high office, especially those with responsibility for national security, are incompetent and much worse. As I have written elsewhere, it is ludicrous to imagine that Tulsi Gabbard is a reasonable choice to direct American intelligence agencies, that Pete Hegseth should run the defense department, or that Kash Patel should direct our national police force (the FBI). These people are entirely bereft of qualifications for these positions. And that should be more than enough to disqualify them. What stands out about them is something that transcends even their total incompetence: their notorious positions in favor of destroying international and domestic legal order. Gabbard is known for nothing around the world beyond her defense of Assad and Putin. Hegseth believes that America should be fighting a "Holy War" against itself. Patel has argued for arresting Americans for their political views. As we approach their nomination hearings, we should be thinking about what kind of America, and world, will be created if such people are allowed the run some of the most powerful institutions of violence in the history of the world. All the talk of Greenland and the rest has been shielding them. It distracts the media. And it makes chaos seem normal. It should be pointed out, in fairness, that these people will not help to actually fight wars abroad. If Trump's nominees are confirmed, what we can actually expect is conflict within the United States. Trump is opening the world for Russian and Chinese expansion in this way as well. If we follow the logic of this hypothesis, we would circle back to the first logic: that Trump's fake American imperialism is just there to enable real Russian and Chinese imperialism.

4. Enemies. By essentially announcing that he wants to destroy world order and make life easy for Putin and Xi, Trump is creating a loyalty test. Anyone who wants to work for him or to be regarded as loyal has to support his wild and destructive ideas, or at the very least keep quiet about them. Regardless of whether or not Trump takes aggressive action against Canada, Greenland, Panama, or Mexico, those who point out the nihilism and self-destructiveness of it all can be presented as enemies. Trump's politics works on a notion of friends and enemies, not on a notion of the interests of people or the rights of citizens. So imperialist fantasies can be useful in domestic politics as a way of drawing lines and generating domestic conflict.

5. Minerals. People seeking some kind of American interest in the control of Greenland or Canada point to the mineral assets of these countries. This hardly means that invading them is a good idea. It would make much more sense to preserve our present alliances with Canada and with Europe, and to trade on a fair basis with our friends. Invasions and threats thereof will not actually get Americans access to valuable goods. They will undo the world order and leave everyone, including Americans, far worse off. Insofar as they make it easier for anyone to control the Arctic, Trump's threats favor Russia. Squabbling among Western allies and flouting of international law makes things easier for Putin everywhere, including the Arctic. And the hard truth about the real world is this: it makes no sense to dream of conquering northern lands for gas and oil. Even were it possible, it would be the worst of all possible policies. Given the state of the global climate, the resources currently under the ice have to stay in the ground if we want to have any chance of maintaining ourselves as a functional civilization. Even if Greenland and Canada were controlled by America, in some dark imperial world, the resources American imperialists want are only becoming accessible because global warming is melting ice. The people who want to profit from them are imagining themselves getting very wealthy in a world in which America is flooded on the coasts and on fire everywhere else, in which a very large portion of the American population is living through Asheville or Los Angeles every day. The aspiration to control these assets amounts to a politics of catastrophe, a plan to burn the world for the profits of the few. And this is the logic in which we take Trump at his word.

[sophieinwonderland]

trying to make sense of a little phenomenon me and my headmate have, but we need to elaborate some background first. i attribute my "self" to the right side of the body, and the left side of the body is their "self". when we're awake we're pretty blended, but it's easier to differentiate when we're about to fall asleep.

we almost exclusively sleep on our sides & tummy. when we're lying down on our left, it's a lot easier to feel my sense of self & presence (since we assume left side of brain has control of the right side's motor functions, and blood pools down to that side), and it's a lot easier for them to be in front when we lie down on our right. is there any sort of science or ideas you could extrapolate from this, or is it probably just something that we have the cause-and-effect of backwards?

Honestly, it's hard to know.

Personally, I would love to speculate that some headmates may be located more in one side of the brain than others. That would be really cool. Especially if we could study this and find correlation between where a headmate feels like they're located and different traits. For example, the left side of the brain is more associated with verbal working memory while the right is more associated with spatial working memory. Could we extrapolate this and say headmates that feel like they're based more in one region of the brain might be associated with those traits?

Like, if someone is better connected to the right side of the body and thus the left hemisphere of the brain, does that mean they might do better with verbal working memory while having a deficiency in spatial?

That would really cool if true, and a fascinating look at how headmates work and...

I'm probably getting ahead of myself.

Because the much simpler explanation for this phenomena is that this is just purely psychological with you attributing yourselves to each side. I've heard the term "partive" used to describe a headmate that feels like a body part. And this could be something similar, with you each just feeling connected to half the body for one reason or another, and then laying on one side just acts as a placebo trigger because you expect it to.

I am fascinated by split brain syndrome and its implications on plurality. But I'm also aware of the power of suggestion, and how different headmates may feel connected to different parts of the brain and body, or even external physical objects.

I would LOVE for the theory to be true and learn some headmates can be connected to one side of the brain, and that this could affect their functionality. I firmly believe it's something that could be possible.

But sadly, we just don't know yet if the psychological feelings of being based in one part of the brain or one side of the body actually corresponds to any sort of neurological reality.

Which, I'll confess, kind of sucks as someone who is interested in this sort of thing. I hate the not knowing. I hate that we may never get the answers we want in our lifetimes because psychology doesn't deem them important enough, and because worthwhile brain scans are too expensive.

Thanks for sharing though. It is something really fun to ponder even if we can't give you any answers. And we'll never be able to answer questions if we don't start asking them first. So keep asking and stay inquisitive! 😁

[girlbossyndrome]

Men are such fascinating creatures.

The title is (sadly) a constructed lie, but I got your full attention, right? I’ve been giving each and every one of you the silent treatment, I was busy sipping cocktails in new bars, with my new fresh set of friends, and my interesting books, acting untouchable, and unattainable to the average person. But I am back! And with back to school season (we’re literally in October but who cares?) it means that you are ALL back to your desks, except for the unemployed cunts (like me) but the thing about unemployed people, is that they are doing far more interesting complex things from their home couch, we see everything from our little screens.

This article is both a confession and a study on men, aka the “fascinating sex.” I love to use the term fascinating, because truth is, men are far from being boring, they’re just incomprehensible creatures, and the only thing that makes them somewhat “interesting” or “fascinating” is how women have been depicting them for centuries. If you want to truly know a man’s character, you should be asking his girlfriend, or his mother.

The second sex (as de Beauvoir loves to call us: women!) are a category of people who need to evolve, and pursue certain fulfilling activities in order to connect deeply with their sense of life, we don’t think life has any meaning, we strive to build a meaning to it, whereas men are pretty much convinced that they are here to either pay for their sins on a daily basis, or enjoy all life has to offer and by that I mean: SEX. This is probably why little girls go through their Lisbon sister era at thirteen, we grow faster, and we start getting depressed. Little boys just don’t care, they’re too busy playing their video games. And then by the time they reach high school, they’ll either start developing an interest on evil past historical figures like Hitler, or become an annoying communist who mansplains to women the economical situation of the country.

I may be biased because I am a woman, but I genuinely believe that men do not make sense, neither to women, and nor to themselves, they behave in such mysterious confusing ways, they either are too mentally limited to function properly, or just are evil unaware sociopaths, in both cases that is bad news.

A mentally limited person that can’t function properly is someone who does not understand the extent of their actions, and makes the stupidest mistakes repeatedly without facing backlash for such committed actions. An unaware evil sociopath is worse, because they tend to come off as charming, they are aware that something is bad when they do it, but because no one has stepped up to reprimand it, they continue to do so because why not test how far their limits can go? And unfortunately, these unaware evil sociopaths will meet nice cutesy demure shy horny starlets who will let them get away with it, and so the cycle never ends. It’s vicious, truly. This is why I advise all women aged 18 and more to go read “Why men love bitches?” and start behaving like a bitch. Otherwise, men will continue to walk over those nice cutesy demure shy horny starlets.

Now after having spent the entire summer surrounded by hot EVIL men (hello if you read this) I have come to the conclusion, that men are not meant to be understood, in fact, trying to understand men is like getting a lobotomy, therefore as a wise woman (ME) once said:

“A woman is much happier when she finally stops trying to understand men.”

So this is me giving up, toodles.

xx, girlboss syndrome.