#shield reply

[hitwiththetmnt]

Opinions?

There’s some concern for the Donrse :(；ﾞﾟ'ωﾟ'):

[anghraine]

Is there a good post outlining all the evidence against Gaiman? I know the podcast has it and that's what people pointed to me, but considering it has been days I was wondering if someone had gathered it all into seperate post so one does not have to listen to someone advertising their work every few minutes in order to listen to the important parts.

Belatedly (given that at least three other women have accused him since my post), there are some. The best of the original ones is probably "Manufacturing Consent" by Annabel Ross, but there are also transcriptions of the original accusations that, iirc, weed out some of the editorializing and focus on the raw material (which is, just be warned, very raw).

This (long) thread provides the important links in terms of the accusations conveyed by Tortoise, I think (a more to-the-point list is here at muccamukk's Dreamwidth account). I included the long thread because I'm in strong agreement with the final person in the chain that, Tortoise's many failings notwithstanding, they provided enough evidence for the SF/F community to judge and respond more appropriately than with a collective blanket of silence punctuated by occasional cavalier or desperate dismissals of the accusers, before the other accusations broke.

In all honesty, I'm pretty appalled by the idea that, well, now there's enough to start talking about it with a modicum of decency and respect but wasn't before, because apparently it was okay to use trans people (who had nothing to do with any of this) to justify defending a cis guy beloved of fandom from very thorough rape accusations.

I particularly feel this way about the parts of the community dedicated to publicizing news and major ongoing discussions that simply said and did nothing. Scalzi's "I'm horrified, might take awhile to process, here's a link to RAINN" personal statement was fine (Vernon's wasn't), and I don't think every random author was obligated to make their own statement as such. But spaces that exist specifically for covering ongoing discussions and news in the SF/F community not saying anything at all—even that the allegations existed—was far worse and really disheartening. So I wanted to link to a discussion that acknowledges how very few people lived up to their stated principles when there was solid evidence against an influential, popular man in their own circles who knows the right catchphrases and terminology.

I was particularly unimpressed with Mike Glyer's handling of discussion at File 770 and, as far as I could tell, Tor only acknowledging the whole thing on their German-language site. The German article seems to be very good, but ... they're based in NYC and Gaiman is an English-language writer, why was their only commentary for weeks shunted away from the English site? US law should absolutely cover acknowledging the existence of the accusations.

There was, let's say, a lot of disappointment to go around, so I'm also grateful for the other women who kept the ball rolling, awful as it is that they a) had similar experiences and b) had to reveal those to get the whole thing taken seriously.

[drenched-in-sunlight]

Wondering if Messmer was just the only one to help/sympathize with Marika on the shattering of the elden ring. His relation to snakes, fire, etc, could just be that he turned himself into a living weapon taking parts of all of the enemies of the Erd Tree he could find. Momma's boy headcanon tbh.

until the DLC is fully out and confirms otherwise, i'll stubbornly cling to the mommy's boy theory fr fr 😭😭

with Fromsoft's track record of portraying motherhood (*stare at Bloodborne*) i simply refuse to believe they made the Mom™ in Marika and won't expand on her further or won't have a kid that is just...insane over her. prayer circle for that theory to be supported in canon because i have ART to DRAW if true !

[evermoredeluxe]

his whole following comes from taylor haters. people think it is a slight against her and hits where it hurts the most. as for swifties he is a stand in for taylor. he is the right for everything wrong with taylor swift. moreover the industry and people hate anyone open about wanting success/ fame. you are supposed to be cool and act above it. this is the correct moral stance.

im sure there are some film nerds that know and like him, but it’s also the truth that in the last two years, he’s appeared as a supporting actor in exactly one movie and hasn’t booked another new role yet. so what you’re saying does stand true imo 🤷‍♀️

[blitzbuckz]

Christmas in July ??? SAY NO MORE --

[3-2-1-annihilation-station]

"YASUKE BEING THE PROTAGONIST IS DISRESPECTFUL BECAUSE IT SHOULD'VE BEEN AN ACTUAL JAPANESE PERSON...!"

Naoe:

[loquaciousquark]

quark i hope this isn't an imposition, i just had a thought which has rendered me unable to think about anything else—and this is not a fic request, per se, but if it INSPIRED a fic i'd be delighted—astarion participating in a resurrection ritual for tav(ish) à la critical role. revivify is so EASY in bg3, dying hardly feels like a big deal at all, and i crave that sweet sweet melodrama with a happy ending!

that aside it has delighted me to no end to see you fall in love with our favourite pale elf, and especially to see that he may already have inspired some fics—i've been an ardent admirer and frequent rereader of your fenhawke works since da2 was new, so it's wonderful to see you in another fandom i'm so gone for!

This idea is spectacular and I've added it to the list. There must be a way to make this work. It can't be the time he kills her on the first feed because that's just objectively hilarious, but somewhere in Act 3, post-Cazador...hm. Maybe Shar's involved? A little Sharran vengeance for plucking away her favorite cleric? HMMMMMMM.

[fairytalefragments]

❥ | GALARIAN YAMASK

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[randomnameless]

Adrestian: "Why would we follow someone who can't dye their hair properly?" Willy: "Show them the spin dive Seiros!" Adrestian: "The spin wha-" Now I'm imagining major crest people doing the most wild critical animations during the WoH or Rhea is an outlier who also surprised Nemesis by punching him in the opening. (Nemesis' thoughts: "Great... We're both disarmed‚ what's she gonna do punch me-")

Willy was the worst enabler ever, and encouraged her to do shit like the "spin drive" (since he didn't know what was a bullet) which is another reason why she's so fond of him!

I just find it funny how Seteth's seminar is all about proper and refined lance skills (hell is seminar is "A seminar on an ancient Fodlan fighting style utilizing lance skills"), like Cichol is a proper instructor... and then you have Seiros the Warrior doing random things like the "spin dive" and throwing her sword away to kick/punch people.

(also I just noticed but lol@Catherine's seminar's definition "A seminar on a fighting style in which practitioners dominate their opponent using improvised sword and melee techniques" -> it's just like Seiros the Warrior's technique, but given how Catherine mentions how Rhea only uses magic and sword when she fights, Archbishop Rhea dropped the "melee" techniques when she stopped being a fighter, maybe Catherine read some stuff about Saint Seiros and wanted to emulate her?)

HC Nabateans use the power of their crests in various ways when they fight, Rhea's spin dive has her kind of, jump and stand in midair before jumping, and given how she can jump 200 meters high, maybe her crest has some power to make her able to "walk/stand" on air, or something like that.

(Given how Cichol tried to teach humans, he used his crest less than his siblings, but the "Swift Strike" arte he invented is the way to mimick, for humans, the thing he does with his crest, when he hits someone and that someone is stunned, being open for a second blow.)

But in general, given how Nabateans can use their crests freely and at will (unlike humans) they can shape or use their powers in more creative ways that humans do.

[thyandrawrites]

Aren't the villains just as dismissive? Tbh I don't think there is any way of getting through to the villains even if they shown empathy. I hope I'm wrong though but this is the final arc and nobodies stance has changed and I don't see it changing but fingers crossed that things will change but I think there needs to half way meeting between both sides before things begin moving forward if it does.

It's true that the villains aren't stepping down from their points, but it's not on them to do that. The villains are not the ones responsible for the social injustice of their system. They are canonically a minority that the HPSC has repeatedly tried to silence with state-sanctioned assassinations.

And while it's also true that there needs to be a middle ground somewhere (the villains cannot be saved so long as they keep killing and the heroes can't save so long as they kill their targets), please note that the ones actively seeking a dialogue here are the villains.

Dabi's broadcast was aimed at people thinking more critically about the blind trust they put in heroes. He wanted them to ask heroes for more accountability in his stead, because he knew heroes would never listen to him. He didn't just want justice for himself or he would've simply killed Endvr. He wanted a fairer society to stop people like Endvr from doing what he did for two decades and getting away with it.

Shigaraki made a whole speech on the battlefield of the first war about how heroes constantly trample over the individuals for the sake of an abstract greater good. He addressed how thinking only of the masses creates pockets of evil under the heroes' noses. Shigaraki's whole shtick is that he was kidnapped and groomed by a supervillain because he was left wandering the streets for days, bloodied and traumatized, and the heroes of his neighborhood had so many bigger fishes to fry that they never noticed he needed help too.

And though we might argue that as an adult he's now vowed to cause indiscriminate destruction without dialogue because that's what AFO groomed him for, we can also argue that when Shigaraki is not directly under his abuser's influence, he makes choices that show us he actually does want that dialogue. Remember, he seeked out Deku at that mall and explained his whole villain manifesto to him. He told Deku all about how their society functions on this search for an abstract greater good and ignores individual in immediate danger. And he demonstrated it, too. He had deadly fingers on Deku's throat and no one blinked twice or stepped in to investigate, because "heroes would deal with it". He wanted Deku to acknowledge this. This is such a hangup of his that he brings it up again in the war arc as well. And no has given him an appropriate response still.

Then there's Toga, and she's the one who most clearly proves this. The heroes' argument is that they can't listen to the points presented to them because the villains hurt their friends. So long as the villains don't own up to their crimes, they say, that sours any good argument they might've had. Which is hypocritical as hell. The heroes also killed Toga's best friend and refused accountability for it. In fact, they let Hawks stay a hero.

Yet, despite all this, Toga was still able to put her grief in a box and set it aside for ten minutes, and seeked out Uraraka to attempt a dialogue anyway. A villain, who the heroes keep referring to as an immature, hedonistic and selfish freak, had more emotional maturity than any of them. She went to Uraraka to understand what a villains' life is worth to heroes. Ochako's response confirmed her suspicion; to their society, Jin wasn't human enough to deserve compassion. His death served the greater good, so it doesn't matter if he left friends behind, if people cared about him. It doesn't matter if heroes hurt Toga's friends, but it's a death sentence if Toga hurts the heroes' friends.

So.

Why should the villains act less dismissive? They tried fitting in and it didn't work. They tried setting out a conversation with heroes and it also didn't work. What the heroes wanted from them is what hero society always wanted from any disturbance to the status quo—either take it in silence, or to get erased as a threat.

The villains are literally fighting for their lives here, meanwhile the heroes are just fighting to maintain their privileges. It's not even remotely a fair fight. That's why it's on the heroes to change their attitude first

[kafkaoftherubble]

I've decided Yagaan is super weird in her allegiance with Ira and co :3

This has gotta be method-acting, right? "Super weird" = "Rather weird letters in my inbox" HAHAHHAHA

Oh but that doesn't mean I don't wanna hear about it!

[tomnii]

another one of these

[aceofwhump]

I might have gotten the rec here to begin with but bookrec!!!! for Winter be my Shield

The prologue sees a character kidnapped, I’m about halfway through and he’s still recovering. Everyone is protective, he’s stubborn, they’re on some sort of Trek through Winter so they worry about him while he constantly tries to do Too Much, while also feeling like a burden (tw for repeated suicidal thoughts/depression though)

A few points where the descriptive gore got a bit much (there are mages that feed on pain) but (so far) a little romance but no smut!

Oooh sounds good! I think someone has rec'd that before. The title sounds familiar. But damn that whump sounds super good!!! Thanks for sharing! I'm gonna have to look into it. Also mages that feed on pain sounds like an AMAZING whump trope 👀 And Yay no smut!!! Perfect!!

[fenthepokestudent]

Arc I can’t read apparently I did not see your info about Fib… tell Fib an anonymous person loves him

Fib loves you too (probably)! he’s very friendly so odds are he does. thanks anon :D

(i don’t have many good pictures of him because he loves shoving his face into the camera)

[hiddenbeks]

more than a month after my previous kotor update i am happy to announce that i have finally met jolee and had him join me <3

[fairytalefragments]

❥ | GYM LEADER ALLISTER

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