#since the last one turned out to be ai!! ironically!!

[da-birb-writes-sometimes]

How You Turn My Word; Chapter 2

The day continues, and this time you find yourself in an entire new world... a world called The Underground.

Character; Lilia Vanrouge

Content; Gender-neutral reader, more shenanigans, reader isn't happy

Content Warning; Intoxication (Lilia), swearing

Word Count; 2.7 K

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 |

Don't put my work into AI; I'll make sure you end up in the Bog of Eternal Stench.

Lilia’s night was not going according to plan and he was mentally cursing himself over it.

Thing Lilia did not plan for #1; he got lost. To be fair though, many a thing had drastically changed since the last time he romped around the mortal realm. A few hundred years would do that though. Humans now seemed to live in tall metal boxes rather than the humble cottages of ages past. 

Thing Lilia did not plan for #2; a red flower deceiving him and containing something akin to liquor. So he was flying around lost while under the influence, which only worsened his situation. (Lilia did not know it, but the red flower was in fact a hummingbird feeder with sugar water which had been left out in the sun for too long and had fermented. Make sure to change your hummingbird feeder often on hot days so you don’t cause a nectar-loving friend to fly while wasted) 

Thing Lilia did not plan for #3; getting himself stuff in one of those tall metal boxes, and he was now stuck inside some cursed metal labyrinth. At least it was not iron or silver, as it did not burn, apparently, humans no longer fortified their abodes with those metals. Perhaps the times have changed for the better?

But Lilia finally escaped the infernal metal labyrinth, perhaps luck was finally on his side tonight after all! He bumped around a few corners. My my, what a small hovel. Perhaps things have not changed all that much from the last time I was here… But Lilia was rudely pulled from his thoughts when something swatted him clean out of the air. And the culprit? A rather rotund grey cat with large blue eyes, which was now carrying Lilia into its lair, most likely to play with him for a bit before deciding that it had had it’s fun and ultimately put him out of his misery.

His night went from a jolly and somewhat embarrassing tale he would regale about at the local tavern, to a bedtime story parents would tell their children about the dangers of going places that you really shouldn’t. Should he get out of this sticky situation Lilia would not live this incident down. 

The cat placed Lilia in a collection of socks and then sauntered off, calling out at the top of its lungs. Great, it's getting company for supper, and I’m the appetizer. How lovely. But Lilia knew he would have a better chance of getting out of this situation if he stayed calm and waited for an opportunity to escape. Even while tipsy, he could keep his cool.

And the feline was back and yanked Lilia out of the sock hole. Cracking open his one eye he saw that the cat did not come back with its hungry friends, but rather, a human. That was both good news and bad news. Good news; he most likely was not going to be eaten tonight! Yippee! Bad news; the last time he was in bat-form in a human’s abode, he was chased around with a torch, which he really did not want to go through again. So his best course of action was to play dead in this situation.

When the human left the room though, he took his chance and took flight once again, trying to find a way out. The cat was trying to catch him again, but Lilia knew of its tricks this time and dodged every swipe it sent his way.

But he was pulled out of his thoughts when the human screeched at the cat, “YOU CAUGHT A FUCKING BAT?!” 

Oh yeah, they did not sound happy, not at all, but it seemed to be directed more at their feline companion rather than him.

As he was busy flapping around, trying to find an escape but to no avail, he also heard the human whispering to him. “Don’t fly towards my head, bat. I’m just trying to get you back outside. You’re a nice bat, right? Nice bat, nice bat.”

Were he not preoccupied and in a better state of mind, Lilia would have been amused by this. Currently, though he was occupied with trying not to be eaten and finding a way out of this cursed place. He was not in a laughing mood. All Lilia wanted to do was get back home, pass out in his bed but he would also be happy with his sofa as well, and pretend that this was nothing more than a bad dream after a night spent tavern hopping. Dealing with a horrid hangover would be better than this… and he was most likely going to have one of those anyways. Tonight really wasn’t Lilia’s night, not at all.

Then the human grabbed the cat, and Lilia was finally left alone. The window was open, but he didn’t know that, as his mind was too preoccupied with you know, not dying, that he hadn’t noticed that the human had opened it for him. So where did Lilia go? Well, he went back into the metal labyrinth (air duct), and fumbled around until he tired himself out. It wasn’t the most ideal of spots to crash for the night, but it was better than going back and possibly being eaten, Lilia would rather avoid that. So this was going to be his bed for the night, a lonely quiet corner of the air duct system, where he could hopefully wake up sober tomorrow. But he yearned for his warm quilts that awaited for him back at home, back in Faerie, or as some call it, the Underground.

Lilia wasn’t even supposed to be in the mortal realm in the first place, but curiosity had won him over, and he even ignored the travel advisory that was in place. Some crow fae had travelled there about a century or so ago and had yet to return back, hence a travel advisory. But yet here he was in the mortal realm, tiny, drunk, and utterly lost. His bad decisions could be looked into further detail once he got some shut-eye. So he wrapped himself in his wings and passed out in the corner of the air vent. Hopefully, when he woke up he could turn this disastrous day around.

…

Upon waking up, Lilia groaned — or rather, in this case, squeaked — and stretched his wings out. So the wretched metal maze and last night's fiasco was not some liquor-hazed dream; how lovely. Utterly delightful.

At least the strange maze echoed sound quite well, so he knew what exits to avoid. Not that one, he could hear a dog barking, and the feline encounter was enough for him. No, not that one either, he could hear children screaming.

Finally, he came to an opening, there was some quiet chatter, but it was far enough away where Lilia felt comfortable enough to explore this potential escape route. 

Why does this look familiar? AM I BACK IN THE BUILDING?! Yes, yes he was. At least there was no sign of the ca–

“Mrp?” Speak of the devil.

The cat got out of its den and lept at Lilia, who dodged the attack, and the cat pushed some books off a desk. The cat was also screaming at him, and causing an all-around ruckus. Lilia managed to outmaneuver the feline, but soon a brand new human came into the scene.

The new human took one look at Lilia and backpedalled out of the room. But the human had just created another escape route for him, and Lilia flew, well, like a bat straight out of hell for it. Too bad the next room contained two more humans, including the one he had encountered from last night… maybe they would be nice again and spare him for trespassing on their small abode?

In the midst of the chaos, the human from last night knocked him out of the air with a broom. Okay, that hurt little Beastie. But that swing and the crash landing into a table caused Lilia to shift back into his human form, which also caused sparkles to happen. Did humans still think magic was evil? Well, he was about to find out.

Everyone remained silent, and after the sheer noise of the chaos, it was deafening, even the cat was quiet. And Lilia stared at the human that had knocked him out of the air, you. And you were staring straight back at him, looking utterly baffled. Well, this is awkward… I think I have overstayed my welcome… 

Lilia snapped his fingers, and he started to disappear into sparkles yet again, this time going home since he wasn’t able to use his magic when stuck in bat form. And it was happening without a pinch, but you seemed to trip on thin air and crash landed on his feet, disappearing with him; a stowaway coming to Faerie. 

… Well this is no good now, is it?

…

…

…

 When the green sparkles subsided, you found yourself sitting in some sort of bog, and the water had made it into your mouth by some twist of fate. While you were busy spitting the bog water out of your mouth, the stranger was standing by the bank, dry, without any sulfuric-tasting water in his mouth, and looking better for wear.

Pulling yourself out of the bog water — eugh, you smelled like eggs now, great — you pointed an accusatory finger at him, water dripping from the end. “Where,” you spat out some extra bog water from your mouth, “am I? And why does it reak of eggs?!” You would have looked and sounded more imposing, but you were sopping wet, covered in mud, and spitting out coughs trying to get the bad taste out of your mouth; which wasn’t really commanding any sort of respect.

The stranger, Lilia, snorted before letting out a cough, trying to hide his amusement very poorly. He waved his hand, green sparkles surrounded you and you were now dry, still covered in mud, but dry. “Faerie, although some call it the Underground.”

You opened your mouth, but he wagged his finger at you. “And before you blame me for bringing you here, you have no one to blame for this but yourself!” Despite the cheeriness, there was something cold and off putting in his eyes, like he was calculating something. But that moment passed, and the almost annoying cheerful facade came back in full. “As for the smell? That so happens to be The Bog of Eternal Stench!”

“Like eternal eternal?” You really didn’t need to smell like rotten eggs for the rest of your days.

The stranger just chuckled, “Fret not, Beastie, I decided to return the favour, since your feline friend decided not to eat me. But it is indeed ‘eternal eternal’ if you don’t have the means to get rid of it.”

Beastie? “Uh, okay.” not the most eloquent of things to say, but really, could anyone blame you? You just fell through some kind of portal, magic(?) was real, and oh yeah, so were fae/faeries or whatever the hell they called themselves. So ‘Uh, okay’ was perfectly fine in this situation.

Mr. Sparkles — if he was going to call you Beastie, he deserved a dumb nickname — just gave you a smile, exposing the barest hint of his fangs; despite his small frame, he was still dangerous, and the hairs on the back of your neck stood on end. It was as if he was assessing you, to see if you would be worth the trouble to help. You didn’t know if either option would be good by the way his magenta eyes twinkled with mischief.

He let out a huff and started walking away, and you followed. “I wouldn’t recommend following me, Beastie,” he hummed, and you tripped over a rock, vines keeping you to the moss. “The court would not take kindly to you.” 

You glared at him and tried ripping the vines off of your feet, but they didn’t budge. “And why should I listen to you?” 

Mr. Sparkles booped you on the nose, “Well, it would ensure that you made it out of here alive, which I believe you would find beneficial and all.” 

Obnoxious prick. But he did have a point, you would rather make it back home alive rather than fucking around and finding out (aka dying). “So what? Are you going to just leave me here? No welcome brochure? Thanks.” 

You were being sarcastic, since it was either sarcasm or having a full-on existential crisis, since hey, magic wasn’t real in your world! Dimension? Galaxy? Where the fuck was this place?! How the hell did you end up here?!

“Hmm good point…” he snapped his fingers and there was now a book sitting in your lap. “This should suffice, do be warned though, Beastie, I may call on you later to return the favour. For now though,” he started to turn into green sparkles, “toodaloo!~” And he turned into a bat, flying off into the sunset, leaving you alone at the edge of the swamp with the only things to your name being the clothes on your back and a book in your lap.

How to Survive the Underground; For Humans! … Did he just give you this world’s equivalent of a For Dummies book? What the fuck? Was this kind of sick joke to him?

…

…

Once some of your ire had subsided, you decided to sit down on a boulder and read a bit of the book while there was still some sunlight out, but it was dipping into the horizon fast.

How to Survive the Underground; For Humans! By Yelworc Erid Preface …… i - iv Chapter 1; Surviving Your First Night…… 1 - 10 Chapter 2; Edible Food for Humans …… 11 - 31 Chapter 3; The Basics of Fae Etiquette …… 32 - 35 3.1; Species Specifics …… 36 - 146 3.2; Government Specifics …… 147 - 169 Chapter 4; Help! I Have Been Indentured to a Fae! …… 170 - 200 Chapter 5; Adjusting to Fae Social Life …… 201 - 224 Chapter 6; Transmittable Illnesses & Diseases …… 225 - 261 Chapter 7; Fae Courting Practices …… 262 - 264 7.1; Species Specifications …… 265 - 366 7.2; Government Specifications …… 367 - 389 7.3; Accepting a Courting Proposal …… 390 - 393 7.4; Refusing a Courting Proposal …… 394 - 401 Chapter 8; How to Handle Fae Children …… 402 - 452 Chapter 9; How to Leave the Underground … 453 Chapter 10; Adjusting to Life in the Underground …… 454 - 482 Acknowledgments …… 483 - 485

Looking back up to the horizon, you quickly turned the pages to Chapter 1; Surviving Your First Night.

“If you are unable to find yourself some suitable shelter, one should find themselves safe by camping out in a rowan tree. These trees can easily be found by their vermillion clusters of berries. They keep away all native species of the Underground,” you read out loud, turning your attention to the trees nearby, searching for those berries. “Rowan tree, rowan tree–”

A loud screech coming from the undergrowth only pushed you further. 

Nope, I do not want to find out what THAT was! Nope! NoPe! NOPE! 

Finally, you found a tall enough tree and you hauled your ass up it like there was a fire below you, and you were up in the canopy, far enough up that nothing could reach you, but also high enough where you needed to be careful, since you didn’t want to meet an early death because you made a wrong move. But for now, you were safe.

“Nice try buddy,” you muttered to yourself, trying to get comfy. Wood wasn’t the comfiest thing in the world, but you weren’t really in the position to be complaining. “I am not on the menu.”

The screech came again, this time closer; yeah, you weren’t sleeping tonight. The sun was now beyond the horizon, and there was no moon, the only light coming from the stars above; it was very pretty, but you could see jack shit. This was going to be a long night… and not a fun one, since you could also see the glowing eyes of unknown creatures which were, quite frankly, freaky as fuck. So yeah, no sleep for you.

“This fucking sucks,” you grumbled, and a chittering from the bog seemed to mock you. “This really fucking sucks.”

…

…

…

…

Tags; @busycloudy, @eynnwwyjth, @identity-theft-101, @ithseem, @krenenbaker, @lucid-stories, @ryker-writes, @twistwonderlanddevotee, @xxoomiii

~~~~~~~

Author's Note; This chapter is shorter, but it felt natural to end the chapter like this. This chapter, and the previous one, were both rewrites of an old WIP, so from here on out I don't have to rewrite! YIPPEE!!! Rewriting takes me forever, so we shall see what I come up with next.

If you liked this, do check out my masterlist for more content!

[irondad-and-spiderson]

Hi! Sorry to bother, idk if you take asks like this (if you don't feel free to ignore!) but do you know any good fics where SI employees bully/threaten/mistreat Peter and Tony comes to the rescue? Thank you so much for your time 💙💙

Hi! I absolutely do! I might just take forever to respond and take your prompt a little loosely 😃 The three under the cut are employees with (valid) security concerns. I know there are more that I can’t find, so anyone feel free to add some 😉

A Big Security Issue by FotiBrit

When Peter lost his Stark Industries Staff ID, Tony handed the kid his own. That was never an issue, until Peter had to check in at the front desk.

-

The Cusp of a Breath by SpaceCowboysFromMars

“That was the most stressful thing I’ve ever experienced.” Peter says as he and Tony make their way into the crowd. He wipes his sweaty palms on his thighs, cringing when he remembers how much the suit costs.

“You got shot on patrol last month.”

“This was worse.”

Or; Peter is introduced as the official heir of Stark Industries, but not everyone is completely welcoming of his presence. Luckily, he has a pretty awesome mentor to keep him on track.

-

the love (and other things) you inherit by ironfidus

“Which is why,” Catherine says, unblinking, as delicately as she can, “the board requires that you name a successor in the event of your untimely demise. The risk has simply become too great for us to ignore.”

Tony Stark’s spent a large portion of his life thinking about legacy: his legacy, his company’s, Iron Man’s. He’s spent a lot of time fighting to protect his legacy, too. But today, with a lawyer as his witness and FRIDAY as his one-AI cheerleading squad, he stops, takes a step back, and lets go instead—because for the first time, his legacy isn’t about him, not really.

And as FRIDAY would say: it’s about damn time.

Alternatively: Tony updates his will and gets himself an heir, Peter gets a promotion (for lack of a better word), and the rest of the world gets a wake-up call—in that order. Ft. an impatient board of directors, a Stark Industries charity gala, and a universe in which Tony Stark gets to be happy.

-

Security Bias by Sara (ctrsara)

Happy Hogan asks Daren Anderson to help him out with a little project.

My take on idk-bruh-20's irondad fic ideas #128: Fic where, after a security incident in which some bozo accused Peter of trespassing at Stark Tower, Happy holds an emergency briefing for the entire SI security team.

The topic of the briefing? The absolutely untouchable, vital-to-know-if-you-want-to-keep-your-job level of importance of one Peter Parker.

:)

Five Times Tony Stark's Fabled Intern Just Showed Up + One Time He Was Invited by kingdomfaraway

While Leroy didn’t like gossip, he wasn’t immune to it and he’d heard about a young boy claiming to be Tony Stark’s intern showing up randomly throughout the building. He just figured it was some random mystery, a Stark Industries cryptid if you will.

Never did he think he’d have a sighting.

“Are you Peter Parker?” Leroy questioned, narrowing his eyes at the young boy, looking for any signs of deceit.

“Oh yeah, that’s me, hi!” Possibly Fabled Intern Peter Parker reached into his pocket and pulled out a badge and lanyard, this one with his face on it and INTERN written underneath it. “Mr. Stark got me a badge so I can get nachos whenever I want.”

-

Chapter 1 of 200 Park Avenue (5+1) by Sara (ctrsara)

Peter hasn't seen Mr. Stark, or been able to go out as Spider-man since he turned down his invitation to join the Avengers a few weeks ago. He ends up at Stark Tower rather randomly, finding an unlikely hero in Mr. Stark's AI, then keeps returning for different purposes.

The first chapter is a short I did for Comfortember 2022 that I've just kept thinking about. I'm building on that story and creating a 5+1 to explore the new dynamic (post-Homecoming) in another way.

Or

5 Times Peter Visited Stark Tower and 1 Time He Stayed

-

Home by patrochilles_trash ((it’s less angsty than it sounds))

Tony had been out of the country for weeks on SI business, and Peter was having a hard time. He missed him, plain and simple.

Okay. Maybe not so plain and simple.

Peter had a rough time in the weeks and months that followed the final defeat of Thanos in the ruins of the Compound. Thrust back into life, only to be forced to fight for the lives of the entire universe for the second time at only sixteen-years-old, and then to be told that his last living relative died in a crash during his five year absence did wonders for his psyche.

He developed a nasty form of separation anxiety toward his mentor-turned-adoptive-father -- not that Tony fared much better himself -- and his therapist had said it was a side effect of PTSD and that it would get better over time.

OR

A small field trip fic to SI where Tony has been out of the country for a few weeks, and Peter isn't handling it well.

Don't be fooled. This garbage fluff to avoid my other fics that I'm writing

[wordsandrobots]

IBO reference notes on . . . the lie of Agnika Kaieru

This is a post about McGillis Fareed.

Originally presented as an antagonist ala the Gundam franchise's 'Char clone' archetype (named after Char Aznable, an expy of the Red Baron by way of the Last of the Romanovs), McGillis turns out to be one of Iron-Blooded Orphans' key protagonists, his initial appearances reframed by an eventual alliance with Martian mercenary group Tekkadan, home to the more obvious lead characters. In large part, it is his story we watch unfold, as he attempts to secure control over Gjallarhorn, the repressive extra-national military in which he serves.

And it's hard to discuss that story without reference to Agnika Kaieru, the man credited with founding Gjallarhorn to counter AI-controlled 'mobile armours' three hundred years earlier. The apocalyptic conflict between humanity and the armours known as the Calamity War is the source of the current social order, not to mention the titular Gundam mecha. Agnika is responsible for leading Gjallarhorn to victory, an achievement for which McGillis idolises him. He is also a non-character, haunting events solely through McGillis' commentary, at once vitally important and entirely absent.

I thought it would be interesting to examine how that works. I ended up writing 7000 words about it. Spoilers for everything and content warnings for mentions of child sexual abuse.

The character who wasn't there

If we take McGillis at his word, his personal philosophy was defined by reading a biography of Gjallarhorn's founder at a young age. More specifically, at a young age, while being sexually abused by his adoptive father, Iznario Fareed, who had extricated him from working at a brothel, a situation he was previously forced into after being abducted while homeless on the streets. The Life of Agnika Kaieru was a light in this darkness, offering a path out of a situation that, though seemingly improved from his original impoverishment, continued to be highly coercive and harmful. McGillis was made heir to a powerful family, yet had to sneak out of his patron's bed in the middle of the night, naked, with visible bruises across his body. He was desperately in need of hope.

The abuse appears to have been baked into this plot-beat from the start, with hints to it provided at multiple points during Season 1. Iznario being accompanied by a blonde boy and blonde young man (echoing the excesses of Carta Issue, a character who surrounds herself with McGillis lookalikes owing to an unrequited crush), McGillis' reluctance to spend the night at the Fareed estate, and the questions of legitimacy surrounding his inheritance all take on darker significance when the truth is revealed in Season 2. We may safely assume he was always planned to be reacting to this form of exploitation.

I suspect Agnika was a later creation. Comparing the outline of the Calamity War provided at the very start of the show to the ways it later becomes relevant suggests a considerable amount of fleshing-out in the interim. There are few outright contradictions, or at least, few we cannot explained by assuming in-fiction ignorance. Nevertheless, the importance of Agnika as a historical figure, the myths surrounding his mobile suit, and the very existence of the mobile armours each enter without previous set-up. This is inelegant, in the manner of much of IBO's exposition: workmanlike additions to propel the plot along, extending exactly as far as required and no more. But we cannot discount their importance to the final result and since McGillis aspires, in a very real sense, to become his hero, it is instructive to consider what the show tells us about Agnika.

Immediately we run into the fact we know nothing at all about him as a person. The only 'canonical' description of his personality was provided by the series' director, who compared him to 'the hero in a shonen manga': a charismatic character who always saves his friends. Apart from reinforcing my belief any spin-off set during the Calamity War would be more typical fare than Iron-Blooded Orphans turned out to be, this tells us little. Within the story as it plays out, Agnika is blank space. Being three hundred years dead, it does not actually matter what he was like – itself a statement about how people can be forgotten even when their names reverberate through history. Indeed, the thematic parallel to the fates of a large chunk of the cast is a potent one. Time has rendered Agnika a cipher, subject to the judgement of distant strangers, his exact morals and intentions long-since stripped away.

What remains are his legacy and beliefs. That we must speak of these separately is telling. The Seven Stars, descendants of Agnika's fellow Gundam pilots and Gjallarhorn's present-day leadership, show little deference to the man who commanded their ancestors. There are no statues memorialising him and though Gundam Bael has its attendant ghost stories, of Agnika's spirit living on inside and how it will only awake for his true inheritor, it is shuttered away, a monument nobody ever goes to see. One gets the strong impression McGillis is the only person to pay him more than lips service in centuries.

Consequently, McGillis' personal interpretation of Agnika's philosophy is the only window we get on his beliefs, and the most thorough explanation of that interpretation is given to his eleven-year-old child-bride, Almiria Bauduin.

Fairy tales told by a pied piper

From what we see on screen, McGillis is never overtly abusive towards Almiria, to whom he becomes engaged as part of a political scheme. He is pushed into the arrangement by Iznario and in the side-story covering its commencement, he goes out of his way to provide Almiria with the choice he lacks – something that spurs Almiria to form a genuine attachment to him. However, the engagement also serves his personal ambitions extremely well and he unquestionably manipulates her over the course of it (hard to think of another term to describe comforting her on the loss of her brother Gaelio, for which McGillis is himself responsible). We could and probably should label his apparent concern for her emotional wellbeing and indulgence of her desire to be seen as a grown-up as an attempt at grooming her, not in the sexual sense, but to make her a more amenable chess-piece. On the other hand, McGillis prevents Almiria from killing herself when the truth comes out, at the cost of an injury that severely disadvantages him in battle shortly thereafter – a notable action when her political utility has just evaporated. On the other other hand, this incident prompts him to describe her, quite disdainfully, as 'troublesome'.

What I'm saying is, the question of whether McGillis sees Almiria as a tool or somebody he truly cares for is thorny, as it is for virtually every single character with whom he has a meaningful relationship. Nevertheless, I think we are meant to believe he is being honest when he talks to Almiria about The Life of Agnika Kaieru. What he says fits his actions elsewhere and there are no on-screen indications he isn't being truthful – at least from his perspective – when he credits Agnika's principles with 'saving him'.

McGillis states Agnika wanted a world where “humans could live as humans”; that is, where humans of all backgrounds could compete fairly to achieve their dreams. To a child of low-birth, abused behind closed doors, this is an enticing prospect. McGillis goes on to entice Almiria in turn with the promise of 'loving whomever you wish' and of neither of them being mocked for the age imbalance between them. He concludes the scene by saying it is time to “pry open the door to that world with my own two hands.”

A few episodes later, in an internal monologue, he refers to Agnika as the “greatest symbol of power the world had ever seen. Authority, vigour, might, capability, vitality, influence, as well as brute force.” Inspired by this man's life story, he is determined to usurp rule over Gjallarhorn and finally address the want of power that had defined his own life since birth.

Like everything to do with Agnika, what this tells us about his principles is somewhat vague. Quite literally the child-friendly version (sort of; McGillis openly tells Almiria he contemplated suicide prior to reading the book and is likely a poor judge of age-appropriateness). Still, the philosophy described combines individualism with egalitarianism. The stated goal is a level playing field, free of artificial advantages like wealth or social status, where everyone can pursue their dreams as far as they are each able. This is implied to be a natural state for humanity, such that achieving it would be a form of reclamation. Further, the kinds of power McGillis lists are personal – physical strength, intelligence, charisma – and he works obsessively to cultivate them. We don't get confirmation that self-improvement is another of Agnika's ideals, but it would fit from what is presented.

If you are anything like me, your brain will have turned to all sorts of weird capitalism fans and their buzzwords for justifying frantic competition between people at every level of society. Phrases like 'personal responsibility', 'rugged individualism', and 'rational self-interest', possibly with a side-helping of – gods help us – libertarianism. You may also be asking, if this is what Gjallarhorn's founder espoused, how did it end up enforcing disparities between different populations, oppressing workers and maintaining social hierarchies, at large and within its own walls?

To which I might reply, have you looked at what all those weird capitalism fans get up to, recently? This is an unsatisfying answer, though, and to properly examine how Agnika's legacy intersects with the dreaded c-word, we need to take a couple of side-steps, starting with why it should be a natural connection to make within the context of this show.

A digression into narratives about capitalism

Iron-Blooded Orphans is one of the few entries in the franchise to directly engage with capitalism as a major source of global problems. That probably sounds a little strange if you're aware of the the reputation Gundam has as a whole, so let me explain.

[Also, let me remind everyone the definition of capitalism is “an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.” (Wikipedia; emphasis mine). It's worth being exact.]

When the concept of space colonies is introduced in 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam, they are framed as a response to global overpopulation and the consequent ecological decline of the Earth (pause to appreciate the massive fuck-off dog-whistle; we'll come back to that in a second). The war the show depicts is presented as a matter of sovereignty, whereby those offloaded into orbit rise up against rule by an indifferent terrestrial government. The colonies themselves are cities built within artificially landscaped environments inside O'Neil cylinders. They do not appear to serve any commercial purpose in and of themselves; when we see labour happening in space, it is in service to the colonies, rather than something they are for (the Zeon miners in sequel series ZZ; there is also the fuel-collecting Jupiter Fleet but they are a very odd entity and not fleshed out).

Contrast this to IBO where Mars' utility as a source of 'half-metal' is of paramount importance to its political and economic position, and the space colonies are explicitly shown to be factory complexes, company towns, resorts, and prisons. The middle arc of Season 1 is focused on a workers' revolt against the corporation running a particular group of colonies, the Dorts, while the impetus behind spin-off game Urdr Hunt is the lead character's desire to transform his home's fortunes by making it a popular tourist destination. There are also mentions of 'resource satellites' and glimpses of what appear to be colonies built to mine asteroids. And true, it isn't stated whether all the colonies originate as extractive operations and production centres. But those purposes are depicted the reason they are maintained to the present day, removing such dirty businesses far above the 'precious', 'unsullied' Earth (cue 'The Lightship', played with maximum irony).

[Side-note: the Dort Company runs its colonies as a 'public enterprise on behalf of the African Union', implying state ownership. However there are multiple references to 'rich factory owners from Earth', suggesting private control. Best I can figure, the colonies are state-owned while the production facilities inside them belong to private companies? Since everyone appears to work for Dort (every worker we see wears the same green jacket), I'm not certain how that functions. Perhaps the workforce is leased to private factories via the Company? That would be fittingly grim.]

Now to be clear, I am not claiming Gundam as a whole doesn't tackle problems caused or exacerbated by capitalism. The introduction of Anaheim Electronics into the original Gundam timeline marks clear interest in exploring the influence of corporate entities on warfare. We may also – from the outside – interrogate overpopulation concerns as deflecting blame from capital's destructive activities, going hand-in-hand with racism over migration, and obfuscating who exactly gets sent to 'colonise the unknown' (spoilers: it's the poor and vulnerable). I'm unconvinced the original run from Mobile Suit Gundam to Char's Counterattack is intended as commentary in this manner; equally, I don't think it's hard to get there (as Gundam Unicorn somewhat demonstrates).

What I'm trying to articulate is a distinction between 'being about a problem' and 'naming capitalism as the cause'. Most Gundam series tend to depict capital as part of an amorphous blob of 'Earth-sphere corruption' or 'greedy elites'. Even Anaheim acts as a third party in the Earth/space conflict, taking advantage of the war rather than shaping the fault-lines along which it occurs. Additionally, actual money very rarely tends to be a factor in the plot. Groups like Celestial Being from Gundam 00 appear to possess near-infinite budget; Gundam Wing's itinerant teenage terrorists have only erratic and arbitrary issues obtaining supplies (where are you getting the damn ammo, Trowa?!); and even in The Witch From Mercury, where you'd really expect expenditure to matter, it… doesn't. G-Witch toys with access to funds and the requirement to be profitable early on, but overall is more a courtly drama in business drag, unconcerned with why corporations work the way they do. Issues such as the exploitation of vulnerable populations for the sake of driving down costs are gestured to without becoming strictly plot-relevant.

Meanwhile over in IBO, the poverty of the Martian characters is an ever-present threat and come the denouement, whether they have any money left is of paramount importance. The show tells us bullets have a price-tag, using this to drive actions inside a world run for the sake of profit. It is mentioned that productivity in the African Union's colonies is expected to drop following the Dort labourers wining better working conditions, a boon to the competing economic blocs that leads to one of them sheltering Tekkadan in gratitude for helping bring this change about. The reason co-main character Orga Itsuka does not survive episode 48 is because arms-dealer Nobliss Gordon thinks it will be financially advantageous to have him killed. That fellow businessman McMurdo Barriston extends limited aid to Tekkadan after publicly cutting them loose for the sake of the Teiwaz conglomerate's reputation and revenue is highly relevant to his characterisation. And Teiwaz itself is run like a mafia, a riff on yakuza practices that erases the line between big business and organised crime – a hell of claim to make in a story where another of the leads' entire goal is uplifting Mars by playing the economic system.

Now, in my reading the major theme running through Iron-Blooded Orphans is exploitation. An acute depiction of how capitalist societies operate – the amorality of the profit motive, the colonial underpinnings, the sheer, monstrous cost – is a subset of this. I don't feel it's any surprise that an attempt to realistically depict child soldiers and other exploited groups should lead to a detailed rendering of the gears in which the world is currently caught. Equally, I don't think it fair to reduce IBO to being about capitalism, full-stop. Patriarchy, slavery and repressive class structures all have older roots and there is an argument to be made that where it touches those things, the show cares less about them as artefacts of modern economic arrangements than as evils in their own right.

It still manages to say stuff about the functioning of capitalism with more bluntness than most pieces of fiction I've encountered and, speaking as an Englishman, the thing that strikes me most is the decision to make the lynchpin of its world an aristocratically-led military force.

A further digression into aristocratic fables

Aristocracy means 'government by a hereditary elite'. It is sustained via wealth passed down through generations of a small group of families and was one of the key mechanisms by which the feudal system operated, prior to the slow capitalist revolution of the 16th to 18th Centuries. It is often treated as obsolete, having been superseded by more modern forms of 'being rich'. Certainly it seems quaint in these days of tech billionaires and oligarchs to talk of descendents of feudal lords who prize family trees traced back to William the Conqueror.

What you have to understand about the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (official name used with illustrative intent) is that this country never properly rid itself of its aristocracy. We are a monarchy. Our parliament includes a House of Lords. And while these are both vestiges of earlier systems, they are neither of them ceremonial. The Lords and the Crown possess actual power that can affect decisions made by the House of Commons, our democratically-elected governing body. The Lords (who are not elected and include those appointed for life alongside ninety-two hereditary positions [this was a compromise]) can review and send back certain types of bills passed in the Commons, delaying their introduction into law. Meanwhile the Crown technically still holds an absolute veto at the end of the legislative process, which only by convention do they not use (royal assent is required for any bill to become law; apparently the last time it was withheld was 1708, but the threat remains and the Crown continues to interfere in proposals affecting their interests).

As you might expect, there have been murmurings for years about replacing the Lords with elected officials and we all like to pretend the King just exists for show. Regardless, these institutions – hundreds of years old and holdovers from a completely different social and economic order – persist because the aristocracy remains a useful tool of the modern British state. The Royal Family can be said to be its advertising wing, not in the sense of attracting tourism but of going around shoring up foreign relations, to help keep Britain the fifth richest country in the world. These diplomatic efforts are a key reason why they are worth the maintenance costs (and the noxious scandals). However it goes deeper than that.

Kings and queens don't make sense without the idea of hereditary superiority, and even with its overt political power reduced by changing times, the British aristocracy continues to shape our upper classes. We have an entire parallel school system preparing the children of the wealthy for life running the country. Our public schools (fee-paying schools open to all who can afford them; we call the free ones 'state schools') have been educating the sons of the 'best families' for centuries. They were the source of the officers and administrators who maintained the British Empire and they continue to be where a massive proportion of our diplomats, politicians, journalists, civil servants, and military leadership receive their education.

This system, funnelling kids through schools like Eaton and Harrow to Oxford and Cambridge Universities, is a factory for class solidarity. It allows students to network and, just as importantly, instils in them the signifiers of being 'the proper kind of person'. Ways of speaking. Ways of dressing. An awareness of who they should defer to and who they can look down on, so that they can be recognised by other alumni as 'correct'. Trustworthy. Reliable.

Above all, it reinforces the notion they have both a right and a responsibility to lead.

Because that's the heart of the lie nobility tells: 'there is something about us that means we must rule over them.' If Britain no longer entirely subscribes to this quality being inborn, it can at least be taught to those of the right stock, bringing them a little closer to the true aristocracy. They can elevate themselves above the plebs, as diligent servants of the Crown, who remains the untouchable pinnacle of quality. [Translation note: 'the Crown' refers to both the reigning monarch and the state. They are functionally the same thing. That's what being a monarchy means.]

Thus, the Empire was able to send its younger, weirder sons out to plunder far-off lands, and produced many an honourable sort to lead thousands against machine guns in Europe, and, in a post-imperial age, Britain can still present an impeccably polite face to the world, to negotiate better deals. Diminished as it is, the aristocracy's shambling husk continues on, manufacturing not the capitalists per se (although the successors to the original land-lords are hardly above enriching themselves and plenty of our lifetime peers are people who've run successful businesses), but the supporting apparatus for capitalist operations. The grease on the wheels and a permanent roadblock along the road to meaningful social change.

You literally cannot have equality if there's a guy at the top who gets a stupid hat and ungodly amounts of influence just for who his parents were.

The wrong story, at the right time

It isn't hard to imagine about how it happened.

Gjallarhorn is the only significant military force left standing after a quarter of a solar-system-spanning human race has been exterminated. Faced with the task of reconstructing civilisation, it splits the world into four blocs for easier administration, abolishing the old national borders. At those blocs' request, it then applies the same reorganisation to Mars and Jupiter, the better to funnel resources towards restoring the Earth. Throughout, it maintains the position of a neutral arbiter; Gjallarhorn was formed to stop the War; now it must ensure there will never be another.

To this end, the tools that allowed it to triumph – the Alaya-Vijnana augmentation technology and the Gundam frames that meant flesh and blood could out-compete tireless machinery – are buried. Victory is instead attributed to the resilience of pure, unadulterated humanity. The pilots slew the monsters not thanks to their equipment but their innate ability. The greatest among them are heralded as champions and natural leaders.

It is a small step to decreeing that their children will inherit their positions. Innate qualities can be passed down and heirs, raised in the image of their parents. Maybe this is an extension of those traditions from which sprang duellists bearing red flags. Maybe it is merely a result of the new-born legends. What matters is, Gjallarhorn endures, guided by its seven stars.

Over the following centuries, the system embeds. The ethos of human purity takes hold, measured by distance from the homeworld. Unfortunates born to space or on distant, dusty worlds posses utility for digging up half-metal or labouring in orbital factories but have no place inside Earth's atmosphere. They would make the place untidy, now the scars of the War are scrubbed away. Those who seek to upset this situation are dissuaded. Those subjected to augmentation, dismissed as subhuman. The peace is kept.

Sadly, new generations of the ennobled families lack the moral fibre of their forebears, accepting bribes, pushing the boundaries of Gjallarhorn's neutrality. There are rules and those tasked with enforcing the rules and yet still the rot spreads. These younger generations lack the moral fibre of their vaunted forebears. A sad decline.

Or perhaps that is bullshit and they are exactly the same: people come into power, who will justify anything for the sake of never giving it up and ensuring that all things flow towards the centre.

Gjallarhorn is the armed wing of the Earth super-state, operating for the benefit of the whole despite competition between the individual blocs. That is to say, it is the army of a capitalist state writ large, in the usual manner of sci-fi magnifying things across time and space. Broadly, a state's purpose under capitalism is to facilitate the smooth running of private enterprise by maintaining infrastructure, providing a workforce, and destroying anything that gets in the way of expansion. Tradition, upper-class solidarity and ideological frameworks all help hold the arrangement together. It is useful, after all, to train people to believe they're supporting a grand cause when they are in fact facilitating exploitation and theft for the benefit of someone else.

And it is here we must turn our attention back to The Life of Agnika Kaieru. Above, I glibly compared the things McGillis says Agnika stood for to capitalistic propaganda. What I mean is that it reads as the ideology surrounding free-market capitalism, where companies are released from all restraint and allowed to compete irrespective of consequence. This is often said to fuel innovation and create a healthy market that will – somehow – benefit everyone, despite observably driving owners to increase profits at the expense of large numbers of people, including their customers.

In that context, claiming you want to ensure everyone competes 'fairly' is disingenuous, since it entails the removal of both limitations and safety nets. No artificial advantages and reliance solely on personal strengths means those who are old, disabled, or otherwise lacking Agnika's stated virtues will automatically be left behind. This is not hypothetical; I see it around me everyday, as a result of policies predicated on exactly this basis, just as we see it represented in IBO by a wide-scale absence of social support and characters too vulnerable to survive a free-for-all (Atra, Builth, the Turbines, in flashback). But the ideological statement elides such problems.

Given the title of the biography, I assume it dates from after Agnika died. Any impression derived from it must therefore be suspected of being what Gjallarhorn required him to have believed. Historically, both aristocracy and capitalism alike have benefited from this kind of distortion, so it would be no great surprise if the book turned out to be more PR than honest report. While Agnika's principles are incompatible with the hereditary advantages enjoyed by the Seven Stars, there are ways to read them as being aligned with the wider social and economic arrangements. As such, it is entirely plausible the way he is remembered was designed to support those arrangements.

The right story, at the wrong time

The rhetoric of McGillis' attempted coup centres Gjallarhorn's failure to adhere to its original values, citing unwarranted attacks against civilians and inference in Earth politics. The Seven Stars must be replaced with sincere believers to correct a drift away from what Agnika intended. McGillis outright proclaims his 'revolutionaries' have the truth of Gjallarhorn on their side.

Even if this is a calculated stance designed to rile younger officers into being the army he requires, McGillis' internal monologues reveal a commitment to the ideal of the individual seizing their dreams through sheer personal strength. He seeks not only to prove this is possible, but also to inspire those who cower because “they don't know how to use their fangs” into following his example. From what we see, he has taken Agnika's words – as they were relayed to him – as gospel.

Is his interpretation correct? And if it is, was it what Agnika believed, or simply what it was useful for him to say? McGillis is manipulative, spinning tales to make others do what he wants. Was his idol the same, pre-empting biographical distortions by espousing a finely-tuned message that would reassure the masses while he built a system geared toward curtailing the power of all but a few?

Trick question. There's no answer in the text. As I said, Agnika isn't a character; what he really intended is irrelevant and therefore not present. Yet a distinction must be drawn between what is said publicly and what is said behind the scenes. This is a layering IBO captures via Rustal Elion, McGillis' rival for control of Gjallarhorn, who out-manoeuvres and defeats him. Rustal is a pragmatist unencumbered by quasi-mystic belief in Agnika or some 'true purpose' to Gjallarhorn. He does whatever it takes to best McGillis, casually breaking centuries-old weaponry restrictions and even provoking a fresh war to undermine his opponent's plans – all while presenting as a bastion of lawful rule. Privately, he admits to being 'shady', willing to deal with whomsoever furthers his goals (e.g. Nobliss Gordon, who starts violent uprisings to spur sales of his merchandise). It is this capacity for realpolitik that means Rustal comes out on top.

The narrative does gesture at motivations beyond self-interest. When Rustal reforms Gjallarhorn in the wake of the Seven Stars decimation at McGillis' hand, he abolishes the aristocratic council (of which he is also a member) and replaces it with a more democratic form of governance. That he is immediately elected to the role of supreme commander gives us some reason to doubt his sincerity. Offsetting this, he is also shown to be working towards the abolishment of slavery in his society.

Regardless of his exact degree of progressiveness, however, Rustal appears entirely uninterested in changing what Gjallarhorn is for. See, institutions and social structures have specific purposes, which need not be the ones they claim, via statements or appearances. A capitalist business may claim to exist to provide a product or service, but its actual purpose is the generation of profit. The police may claim to be an institution of citizen protection, but their purpose is the enforcement of the law, which can be detrimental to some or all of those selfsame citizens.

Gjallarhorn's purpose is to control the colonial holdings of the Earth and maintain the current division of the world. They administrate the extraction of resources, quash attempts at social change, and crush resistance to exploitative business practices. Moreover, Rustal is certainly well-aware this is what his job entails. It is his fleet that carries out a calculated massacre of the Dort workers' unions when they push for better conditions and he personally orders an orbital strike on defeated child-soldiers as an exercise in image management. His reforms thus smack more than a little of an army or a weapons manufacturer improving its hiring policies: sure, they now employ women and members of minority groups; they still exist to kill people.

For these kinds of entities, purpose is all-important. You can dress them up however you want, so long as their function continues to be carried out. I bet, when I described my country's persisting aristocratic elements, you immediately went, “that sounds like [mechanics of regional upper class and attendant justifications for social division].” Yes. Precisely. We don't have feudal system holdovers at the centre of our society because they're the most efficient or only means of fulfilling those roles. They're simply the ones that make the most sense at this point in our history. A different environment would necessitate a different form, but the function would remain.

[I am glossing over the mutability of function here – the power of the king has reduced greatly via political and economic shifts, so he's no longer performing quite the same role as his ancestors – but hopefully you get what I mean.]

Rustal's reforms are an illustration of purpose superseding form. At the end of the show, the narration informs us trust in Gjallarhorn has been restored, indicating an end to meaningful opposition to what we have seen it do. Similarly, when Rustal states that the organisation's history matters more than its mythology, he is saying it has largely been operating correctly and should continue to do so in the future. The public claims can be altered, the set-dressing reworked. The function remains.

Poor delusions

Like the British state and its equivalents, Gjallarhorn is draped in heroic, mythological imagery. From uniforms to equipment naming conventions, it presents as grand and noble, even possessing heraldry, as if originating in a gathering of brave knights. We, the audience, know that this is a veneer plastered atop the material reality. Scenes of its foundation are comparatively mundane: sober men wearing drab suits, shaping the future with the stroke of a pen. The dress-up played since is pure embellishment.

McGillis, however, takes the imagery seriously.

His plan hinges on 'awakening' Gundam Bael and being 'accepted' as its new pilot, fulfilling an old rule/tradition whereby whoever possesses this particular mobile suit is the undisputed leader of Gjallarhorn. By taking a disgraced Iznario's place among the Seven Stars, augmenting himself with an Alaya-Vijnana system, and capturing the facility containing Bael, McGillis intends to anoint himself the new Agnika. At a stroke, he believes he will gain the loyalty of all Gjallarhorn forces on Earth and thus the military strength necessary to defeat Rustal's Moon-based Arianrhod Fleet.

For reasons I'll detail another time, I don't think his strategy is necessarily ridiculous. But it doesn't work. The other Seven Stars do not automatically bow down to Bael's new pilot, instead adopting a neutral position awaiting the outcome of the impending battle, and there is no mass uprising among the ranks below them. Since Rustal otherwise commands an overwhelming number of troops, this turns the conclusion into a foregone one. The few who do join McGillis' cause are annihilated and he is forced to retreat, eventually dying in a one-man attack on the Arianrhod flagship.

It must be stressed that McGillis isn't stupid. He is a canny political operator who correctly identifies the biggest obstacles to success, and while his analysis of Gjallarhorn's corruption is deployed principally as a rhetorical tool, he's not wrong. The leadership are complicit in a lot of extremely shady activity, including experimentation with Alaya-Vijnana technology, contravening the taboo against augmentation their ancestors propagated. They do act against their publicly-stated values, to the detriment of ordinary people and in the interests of those who benefit from a hideously exploitative system.

His mistake is to treat this as a bug, rather than the feature we might more correctly diagnose it to be. Within The Life of Agnika Kaieru, McGillis believes he has discovered the hidden truth about Gjallarhorn. He imagines by setting Agnika aside, the Seven Stars obfuscated mechanisms to curtail their authority and an ethos more welcoming to people like him. (There is a lot we could discuss about the ways McGillis is immunised against some forms of bigotry by his station, despite his illegitimate status, and how he exploits more disadvantaged soldiers like Ein Dalton and Isurugi Camice for his own ends. It's just, that'd be another two thousand words and I really need to wrap this up.)

Yet if we follow Rustal's advice and heed history, the timeline shown in Season 1 has Gjallarhorn dolling out sections of Mars to the blocs a mere three years after the Calamity War ended. Among the many things we don't know about Agnika is if he survived the War, but whether he did or not, his organisation pretty instantly became a tool of social division and exploitation. The most we may allow is that its original purpose was truly noble. Its actions once the apocalypse had been averted speak for themselves.

This has been long walk, I suppose, for the fairly succinct summary of McGillis as a character who rejects private truth in favour of embracing a public, propagandising lie. I am compelled by the idea even so. Capitalism is far from the only system to have claimed universal virtue while benefitting merely a select few, but it has gone uniquely hard on the idea 'you can make it too'. Given IBO's uncluttered depictions of a world run for profit (with the complicity of ostensibly non-capitalistic institutions), taking a cynical read on Agnika's supposed ideology is trivial. Human triumphalism and Gjallarhorn conceptualised as the arbiter of fair competition dovetail into the show's unjust present in a manner too neat to discount. More than anything else, the choice McGillis makes is a common one in real life.

Sometimes, that's a positive thing, pushing people to insist on making promises come true to the detriment of the swindler proffering them. Others, it is a source of profound disorientation, leading in very dark directions as blame for the dissonance is attributed to anything but the root cause.

[This seems is as good a juncture as any to remark that McGillis is not a proponent of anything we can easily label fascistic. He focuses on individual freedom irrespective of national identity; he is attacking people genuinely perpetuating his world's ills; and he definitely doesn't bother courting a disaffected public by playing to middle-class anxieties. He doesn't need to. His plan is to enact a coup from high up inside a military hierarchy, while promising to lessen the force exerted against society. Though there are links to be traced between his ideology and fascist rhetoric, it isn't the avenue his circumstances compel him to go down.]

[I am 100% certain he would've gone in that direction if they had, but that's a counterfactual, not what the show actually presents.]

How McGillis got to where he did is another of IBO's many examples of adaptations to extremis that look utterly bonkers when seen at a remove. An outsider, thrust into the realm of a vicious upper class, he accurately declared the whole thing a nest of lies and hypocrisy. He could never buy the pretences it sold, to others and to itself. His very existence was damning disproof. Then, at his lowest ebb, he found a story about what it should be and that – that he bought, hook, line and sinker.

Already primed to consider power the be-all and end-all of life, he took Agnika's story as a guide to gaining the upper-hand, going so far as to tell Rustal (then a young adult) that the only thing he now desired was Bael. Though it seems he lapsed into a wait-and-see approach between prepubescence and his mid-twenties, witnessing children from Mars fighting using Gundams makes him believe destiny is taking a hand in events and the time has come to act. He betrays Carta and Gaelio, his two closest friends, both heirs to other Seven Star families, for the sake of clearing his path forwards. These were the first people to treat him like a normal child and he admits with his dying breath that he reciprocated their affection. This was part of why he killed/attempted to kill them: in their company, he started losing the will to pursue his dream, put off guard by finally having something positive in his life. So he chose to violently reject them, unable to give up on what he'd started.

That could easily be McGillis' epitaph. He is characterised by an overwhelming commitment to seeing through his power-grab, even if it means fighting an entire fleet to go personally kill Rustal. This is very far from a sane response and we might say likewise about everything he does prior. From his gleeful divinations at the sight of ancient relics, to his rapturous exultation on activating a machine he knows just required the appropriate brain/computer interface, the personality lurking beneath his habitually polite mask is little short of unhinged.

Which is of a piece with a group of teenage orphans clinging tight to the idea a good life lies just beyond the next battle, having internalised that proving their strength is the only way to survive. McGillis has to think taking on Agnika's mantle will bring him what he wishes, because otherwise his actions have been for nought, nothing can be changed, and the misery he endured is inescapable. It's the same self-reinforcing spiral, turned up to eleven.

(Re)imagining the world

In the final outcome, Iron-Blooded Orphans refutes McGillis' individualism, albeit not without caveat. Destabilising the Seven Stars creates space for incremental change and self-interestedly assisting independence activists lays the groundwork for Mars' eventual freedom from Earth. McGillis does create a “storm in this stagnant world,” with lasting consequences regardless of how swiftly it subsides. Nonetheless, his death is a futile one compared to the other causalities during the finale, who all manage to make their last acts count for something. Where Tekkadan share a mutually-supporting community – they are a 'pack of wolves' – he stands alone and saves nothing of what mattered to him.

As I said above, I don't want to treat IBO as a story solely and absolutely about capitalism. In a similar vein, I'm not trying to position an interpretation of Agnika as a vector for capitalist propaganda as the intended one. There are multiple moving parts here, spinning out from that serious consideration of child-soldiers as more than just a trope in fiction aimed at teenagers. My read on those parts is contextualised by my cultural background (I do now want to look into how Japan's own aristocracy mutated with their forced induction into global capitalism).

At the same time, McGillis indisputably misapprehends how a structure within a capitalist environment works because he wants to believe a version of what says about itself. And The Life of Agnika Kaieru is an artefact of that environment. Even without knowing more about its authorship, publication or veracity, and setting aside what McGillis brings to the table (his desire for power was set years before he'd heard of Agnika), the fact he finds it in Iznario's library speaks volumes. Biographies are not neutral objects. As alluded to above, the act of public remembrance shapes culture and hence society. I think it both reasonable and interesting to look at McGillis' arc with the assumption the book is ultimately commensurate with everything he was reacting against.

What would have happened had McGillis won is another moot question when the narrative hinges specifically on his failure. But a land of competition, overseen by the supreme authority of Gjallarhorn, where the only moral law derives from the dreams of the strong?

Perhaps the most damning thing to be said of McGillis' principles – of Agnika's principles – is that they would produce a world functionally identical to the one we started with.

———

Postscript:

For the sake of absolute clarity, I do not believe whether a story is about capitalism or not has any bearing on its quality. My discussion of the other Gundam shows is intended purely to highlight what I see as a fundamental difference between what they are doing and what IBO is. I don't think it is a problem that G-Witch is a personal/courtly drama, or that Wing is focused on fighting in a more philosophical than material sense, or that the franchise has overall tended towards addressing conflict per se, without any serious interrogation from an economic angle.

Stories can only fail at what they attempt, not at what they don't.

I nevertheless stand by what I said. A piece of fiction concerned merely with some generalised notion of 'human greed' is not about capitalism in any meaningful sense, and I fear that's where most Gundam shows land, one way or another, when they touch on corporate interests.

[Index of other writing]

[ilyuu-archive]

warnings : spiderman scara,,,,,,,,, hurt/comfort, fluff (at the end), exes to lovers, argument, injuries, mentions of blood, lmk if i missed anything!

a/n : this is so rushed head in hands

all thanks to @gekkow <3

“…again?”

there’s no response.

at the edge of the balcony, on the handrails, is a someone that you’ve seen a bit too many times for your liking (and yet not enough.) his mask is pulled off, showing you a face too familiar.

a shaft of moonlight frames him, and grazes his skin as to shine on the scars that tears - blotches of blood mar, and whether it was his or someone else’s, the stench of iron, copper, is something you don’t see yourself adjusting to anytime soon. his suit, tightly clinging to his body, bears ash, cinders to it as motes of embers float around him if you know what to look for. webs stick to the rails.

in the backdrop, sirens ring. an echo of disaster yet again.

strands of his hair are strayed, unruly, as it sticks to his skin in all sorts of ways. you took a step, and, even as the dark of the night seems to swallow him whole, just barely, you see him stiffen. you soon find yourself before him, and with little to no hesitation on your part, you cup his cheeks in the palm of your hand, and try to brush his hair into order (into what you’re used to.)

his breath hitches.

“i’m no doctor, y’know,” you told him, words with a bite, and yet, softer, quieter. your fingers comb his fringes. “you can’t keep coming here every single time you need a patch up.”

“…don’t know where else to go,” is all he says. you still. there’s a lack of… anything in his voice, his words. just a husk of himself. “this is the only place i could think of.”

he doesn’t meet your eyes.

you don’t know how to take that.

the silence finds the two of you again as you step back, seeing the locks of his hair, fade in with the night. free of ash, if debris, of any sign - it made you let go of the breath you didn’t even know you were holding in. (one of the many things from the last few months that made you think.)

“alright,” you let go of him, and turned, “let me just get the first ai—”

“[name].”

the way he calls your name has you in a grip. his shadow looms over you, lofty, and dragged out that you’re engulfed in his own sort of faint darkness. he alights himself from the rails and takes a step towards you, and that alone has you still. he notices and stays where he is for a bit - the bit that stretched on into minutes.

“i…” he sighs, and the sound is coalesced with thoughts and feelings that feels foreign to you. you aren’t sure whether you’d like where said thoughts and feelings were going to lead him to, even as you know now.

“can we talk about this later?” those are words you’ve played on loop as of late, scratching on its record; it tastes of vinyl. “this isn’t a good time fo—“

“will that time ever come then?”

“i… i don’t know.”

“you’re not sure if anything as of late.”

“as of late, as you put it, someone came back into my life after leaving out of nowhere. so, no, everything i thought i knew, i— it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.”

he falls quiet.

“you can’t just— just come and go whenever you want to. that just…” you bit your lip, a searing pain cut into the skin, and taste a bead of blood. the feeling doesn’t compare to this feeling, these feelings. “that just hurts. dammit, kuni, it hurts.

those feelings of loss, wondering whether it was something you’ve done, and all those nights, staying up until the sun itself welcomes you anew, turning on those corners of thoughts, memories with him. everything was alright, everything seemed fine - you were happy, more than happy, with him and every single shred of memory you look into has been blanketed in bliss.

and you were sure he felt the same. the small smiles on his lips, the quiet acts of affection he did to express himself in his way, the way he looks at you - was it all some sort of vision you’ve deluded yourself to fall for since the very start?was it something at all? or was it nothing? was everything nothing?

and those thoughts from those nights seems to flood into your head yet again. you aren’t sure (anymore.)

and when he wrapped his arms around you? awkward, light, and yet, gentle all the same? you felt like crying right then and there, in the one place, in the arms of someone you love, that you didn’t find yourself in for a while. you didn’t mind if some of the blood smears on you, you didn’t mind if the ash clings onto you, you didn’t mind.

and you didn’t like you didn’t mind. you didn’t like how you didn’t mind the way he held you, as if he wasn’t the first person who’d let go all those months ago. as if he want the one who left and never did look back, as if this entire thing that held the two of you so tightly, so tenderly, was simply a tie to be soon cut.

“to be the reason,” he says, and a silver of himself shines through, “that you’d get hurt, sooner or later, whether or not i was the one who caused it… i wasn’t going to risk it.”

“so leaving was the only choice you had?”

“it… was for the best.”

“even you don’t believe that.

“maybe not. i didn’t want you to be harmed simply because of what i’m involved in, in what i commit to on a daily basis.” his fingers curl into your hair. “because… because of me. i won’t let that happen. i didn’t want to let that happen.”

a pause.

“…do you hate me?”

“i do.” you feel his arms slacken a bit. “every single time i tried to sleep, and every single time i saw something that reminded me too much about you, i hate you all over again.”

“and then i fall in love with you in those same things.”

you turn around in his arms, and notice how close he is to you, a bit closer than either of you expect. he turns his head to the side, for your sake, giving you some space, but he follows along with you as your fingers tilt his head back to you. there’s a spark the two of you shared, flitting across your fingertips.

“it’d hurt, kuni, i’m not going to lie. and don’t think just because you had the intent to protect me is going to fix this or make me feel better either because there are a lot more of ways to go about that.” you wrap your arms around his waist, and feel him tense all over again, all on ends. his nerves are soothe, though, as your hand caresses his back in soft, slow strokes.

“…just don’t leave me again.”

he settles himself in the crook of your neck, taking in all of you - from your warmth, overwhelming the cold of his skin, the tremble of your voice, and all the other things that seemed to slip from his fingers over the months without you. your fingers shivered, pulling on his shoulders, leaving dents into his skin - he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“of course.” he pressed a peck to your forehead. the softness of his lips against your skin softened your nerves, if only for a bit, a second out of thousands.

“i’d rather be beside you if anything happens.”

general taglist (open!) : @/zuyoo, @starz222, @haliyamori, @kazumist, @/tartaglia-apologist, @mikacynth, @angelkazusstuff, @doumalove, @kpop-and-otome, @emo-mess, @kissedbysilk . . .

[warningsine]

The Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez, who spent some of his happiest years chronicling life in Caracas, once declared journalism “the best job in the world”.

Not so if you are reporting on today’s Venezuela, where journalists are feeling the heat as the South American country lurches towards full-blown dictatorship under President Nicolás Maduro.

In the four weeks since Venezuela’s disputed election, local journalists have come up with a distinctly 21st-century tactic to avoid being arrested for reporting on 21st-century socialism: using artificial intelligence avatars to report all the news Maduro’s regime deems unfit to print.

In daily broadcasts, the AI-created newsreaders have been telling the world about the president’s post-election crackdown on opponents, activists and the media, without putting the reporters behind the stories at risk.

Carlos Eduardo Huertas, the director of Connectas, the Colombia-based journalism platform coordinating the initiative, said far from being a gimmick, the use of AI was a response to “the persecution and the growing repression that our colleagues are suffering in Venezuela, where the uncertainty over the safety of doing their job … grows by the minute”.

Huertas said the increasingly authoritarian climate under Maduro meant that “being on camera is no longer so sensible”. The solution was to create virtual journalists to conceal the identities of the real reporters who were making the news.

The initiative involves about 20 Venezuelan news and factchecking outlets and about 100 journalists who share content, which is turned into daily newscasts presented by avatars called La Chama and El Pana, which roughly translate as Bestie and Buddy.

In the debut broadcast this month, the female presenter, Bestie, explained how they hoped to spread the word “about what is really happening in Venezuela”.

“But before we go on – in case you haven’t noticed – we want to let you know that we aren’t real,” the avatar added, before announcing the latest, all-too-real statistics about Maduro’s crusade to stamp out dissent. “In less than two weeks more than 1,000 people have been detained and at least 23 killed during protests,” Bestie said. The numberof detained now stands at more than 1,400.

The name of the AI journalism project, Operación Retuit (Operation Retweet), is partly an ironic reference to the name Maduro’s regime has given to his harsh crackdown on opponents: Operación Tun Tun (Operation Knock Knock).

At least nine journalists are among the prisoners, according to the Venezuelan journalist’s union, SNTP. One of them – the 26-year-old sports reporter and photographer Paúl León – was taken by police while filming peaceful protests and later accused of terrorism, a crime that carries a sentence of up to 30 years.

On Sunday, the prominent entertainment journalist Carmela Longo was taken from her home in Caracas by police after being sacked from her pro-government newspaper, Últimas Noticias.

The need for virtual-reality newscasters is easy to understand given the political chill that has descended on Venezuela since Maduro was first elected in 2013, and has worsened in recent days.

“Sources are not talking. Journalists are forced to work anonymously, sometimes in hiding, concealing their identities out of fear of government retaliation. Social media accounts have gone silent … vital parts of the news ecosystem, like X, have been blocked,” the Venezuela-focused website Caracas Chronicles reported last week.

This month the former head of the state-controlled broadcaster VTV, Vladimir Villegas, claimed about 100 of its employees had been sacked after messages considered hostile to the government were found in their WhatsApp chats.

The second episode of Operation Retweet tackled a particularly dangerous topic given the severity of the government clampdown: it questioned official attempts to blame the opposition – which Maduro accuses of trying to launch a fascist coup – for many of the post-election deaths.

Contrary to government claims, Operation Retweet’s collective investigations suggested state security forces were largely responsible for the body count.

“All of the victims were killed with firearms and, according to witnesses, the suspected culprits were police officers, soldiers or paramilitary groups which here in Venezuela are known as colectivos,” the male avatar, Buddy, told viewers.

His female co-host said most victims were under-30, while a 15-year-old teenager had also been killed. “They came from working-class communities and they had ordinary jobs such as barbers, caretakers, students, construction workers, street hawkers, motorcycle taxi drivers and sports coaches,” the avatar added. “In just a few days … at least 15 children were orphaned.”

Huertas, the Colombian journalist, likened his Venezuelan colleagues to firefighters who were risking their lives for democracy.

“If there’s a fire, you want to see firefighters at the scene. Well, now there’s a fire [in Venezuela] and there are many firefighters present,” he said, celebrating Venezuela’s talented and committed press corps.

Despite the dangers, “[they] are there on the frontline, doing the work that society needs them to”, Huertas said.

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

i hope ur having a great day !! would u be able to write a professor turo x reader (romantic and fluffy) one shot where they work in the lab together and one day the reader asks him about arven, and while he gets a little defensive, it’s that event that causes him to reach out to his son and mend their relationship :) maybe reader even gets to meet arven and it’s just overall fluffy ? it’s okay if not, i totally understand !!

"The second Miraidon's aggression grows more by the day...its territorial disputes with the first are getting out of hand. To quell its ferocity, [y/n] and I will be running tests..."

As Turo muttered to himself while logging today’s events, you were currently cleaning the exterior of a Shiny Iron Bundle, who was your personal lab assistant.

Being down in Area Zero for so long had its perils, but you’ve grown accustomed to life here. And with Turo you always felt safe, even if he did some rather...questionable things.

Such as bringing futuristic Pokémon into the present and obsessing over how to integrate them into the Paldean ecosystem.

That time machine worked wonders; though perhaps it worked a little too well considering it’s now automatically catching them, overcrowding the caverns. But he wasn’t worried about a thing, as he believed he was getting closer and closer to achieving his goal.

However, that didn’t come without its costs.

With Sada leaving him and all of his assistants--save for you--abandoning the project because of his arrogance and ambitions...those factors certainly tanked his mental health. 

If not for you staying by his side and helping him push his ego down a few notches, Arceus only knows what would’ve happened to him.

Even so, there’s rare times when he’d leave Area Zero to go on dates with you. And since you’ve both made a home down here, the only cuddling you’d really do is when he’s dead asleep and physically cannot work until he gets some reast.

But you were okay with that; you've signed up for this. You didn't mind just working as science partners, researching Paradox Pokémon and the possibilities of tomorrow. It was your dream to see this through to the end, too.

What you did mind, however, was when the AI version of Turo suddenly inquired about Arven--a child you didn’t even know he had until this very moment. It made you and Iron Bundle look up in confusion as he walked into the research station.

"Professor, it's been about a month since you've last contacted Arven-"

"Then why don't you call him and tell him how I’m doing?" Turo huffed, not even looking at the AI as he stored the log. "I’m sure he could reach out to me at some point, too..it goes both ways, y’know.”

“You have a son?”

"..oh, did I not mention him?” He looked at you, his gaze softening a little. “Sorry. But yes, Arven’s my boy.”

“Does he go to Uva Academy?” Curious, you rested your elbows on the table. 

“Yep. He’s majoring in uh..culinary, I think.”

“Oooh, does he wanna open a restaurant or something when he graduates?”

“....I dunno.” He simply shrugged, suddenly disinterested in any further discussion of his son as he turned back to his work. “How’s Iron Bundle-”

“He’s your only kid and you don’t know what he wants to do with his life?” You blinked, raising an eyebrow. “And also..why order your AI to talk to him? Shouldn’t it be you instead? I think a month is an awful long time not to reach out to him...”

With an exasperated sigh, Turo set down the tablet rather harshly, fully facing you. “Look, it’s not like he can tell the difference between us. I’ve just been very busy with this research. And with it, I’m gonna give him and all of Paldea a bright future! He doesn’t understand it yet, and he might hate me now. But one day it’ll all make sense, and he’ll be thanking me-”

“Hm, for all this chitchat about giving him a bright future..it doesn’t sound like you’re giving him the best present.” You pointed out, unsure of why he was getting so defensive--as if any of this could justify him neglecting his child. “I don’t mean to pry but..do you even know how he’s doing right now? Is he lonely?”

“No. I gave him a Maschiff to raise. It’s a Mabosstiff now and he told me it learned some powerful fairy-type move, so he’s fine.”

“...I’m no psychologist, Turo, but..people can pretend to be fine when they aren’t-”

“Fine, so what do you want me to do, [y/n]?!” His eye twitched as he stared at you, his arrogance springing up once more. “Shutdown the lab?! Erase all this precious data we’ve uncovered?! Send those damn Pokémon back to their own time?!!”

Your Iron Bundle emitted a robotic croon of displeasure, looking sad, though you rubbed its head in reassurance. “It’s okay, buddy. He doesn’t mean that.” You spoke in a low whisper before looking back at your partner, taking a deep breath.

“No, I would never wanna do that, dear.” You calmly answered. “I just...don’t think it’ll kill you to take at least one day off and see Arven face-to-face. We have all the time in the world to work on this project, but..you may not have much time with him.”

“If I may, I am inclined to agree with Professor [L/n].” The AI Turo spoke up. “I could take over your duties while you spend the day with your son. I know you truly want to see him, and not just through a screen.”

“Deli-li-li!” Even Iron Bundle was agreeing, which annoyed Turo heavily as he glared at it. But after a few moments he calmed down, thinking over both of your words.

You made some good points. 

Arven could’ve just been lying through his teeth on those video calls. 

He could’ve been struggling to make friends, failing his classes, and...who knows what else? 

And Turo wouldn’t have suspected a thing because all he could focus on was his research. He promised his boy a better life but...for all he knew, his current life could be a living hell thanks to him.

Was this truly worth neglecting him over?

“..I wanna see him more than anything. I miss him a lot.” His shoulders slumped a bit. “But..I’m just afraid he despises me now. It’s possible he wants nothing to do with me.”

“You don’t know that for sure, Turo. He could be missing you just as much.” You spoke softly, taking his calloused hands into yours. “I know I can’t force you to go, but..will you at least think about visiting him? I’ll double-down on my work here and help your AI if I need to. And I’ll look after the Miraidons..whatever you want me to do, I’ll take care of it.”

He looked up at you, his guilt growing more and more by the second. You never even met his son, and yet....you were so determined to help them mend their relationship.

He just didn’t understand why, nor did he understand why you’d stay with someone as arrogant as him.

But you kept trying.

Maybe..he should try, too.

“I’m sorry..” Sighing, he rested his head on your shoulder, feeling utterly exhausted and conflicted. “I don’t mean to act like such a child. It’s just...difficult being away from this project for even a moment..”

“You have nothing to worry about, hun.” You stroked his hair in comfort, wrapping your arms around him. “It’s not gonna disappear in one night. I promise.”

“.........”

Although he said nothing in response, he did hug you back for a little while, showing that he really did need this. And eventually you both returned to your previous tasks, but Turo kept your words in the back of his mind.

Perhaps..it won’t kill him to at least take one day off.

........

The next morning, Turo sent Arven a message on his Rotom Phone, explaining that he wanted to arrange a proper meeting near the lighthouse where his old lab was, far from the dangers of Area Zero. 

While he was worried about the Miraidons going at each other’s throats, his AI designed a holding pen that’ll contain them separately for the time being. It also suggested that you accompanied your partner so that you both got a break while it managed the time machine and everything else.

You immediately jumped at the opportunity to visit Arven, being so happy you actually hugged it in thanks.

Hopefully neither of you will draw any attention to yourselves, especially not from the media who liked to bug you about the tera crystals and whatnot. Fortunately you had some casual clothes that helped you blend in with the locals, so getting to Poco Path was no trouble.

This wasn’t the time for TV or Internet spotlights, but for a father-son reunion that was long overdue.

By the time you arrived, Arven was already there outside the lab, making a sandwich for his Mabosstiff and him to share, reading a recipe from a book. You saw he wasn’t necessarily a Pokémon trainer given his lack of pokeballs, but he was certainly a talented student who was passionate about his culinary studies.

Turo stood there awkwardly--unsure of how to approach the kid he hasn’t spoken to for an entire month--only to be motivated by a nudge from you and a smirk.

Finally, he found his courage and cleared his throat. “Son?”

Looking up, Arven nearly dropped the toothpick in his hand, clumsily setting it down as he stared at his dad in bewilderment, unable to believe he was standing before him. It looked as though he saw a ghost, mouth slightly agape for a few seconds.

“D...Dad..?”

Turo approached him, seeing Mabosstiff’s equally surprised gaze. “Hello, Mabosstiff. I’ve seen you’ve grown quite a lot. So um...” He turned back to his son. “How’s everything with-?”

“It took you long enough..”

“Huh?” He barely heard Arven’s muttering as he bowed his head, hands clenched into fists. And when he looked back up at the professor, there were tears in his eyes.

“You have a lot of nerve showing up now, y’know. You were down there for an entire month! I almost thought you...y-you...” Yet he fell silent, instead taking a few steps forward.

You suddenly believed this reunion was gonna go horribly wrong in the next few seconds.

Maybe it was a bad idea to push it

Maybe there was a reason Arven never reached back out to him.

Maybe..this bond was beyond repair.

‘If I just made things worse, I’m gonna hate myself-’ You began to think, until you noticed Arven no longer seemed infuriated, but rather..disappointed.

“I-I thought you got hurt or something..I was gonna look for you even though you always told me how “dangerous” Area Zero is.” Sniffling, he rubbed his eyes, before looking up again. “Why were you gone for so long, dad?”

“...there’s no excuse, Arven. I let myself be consumed by my work, and I’m sorry.” Turo bowed his head in shame. “I only have myself to blame for not being there for you. You don’t have to forgive me, but-”

Suddenly, the young boy did something neither of you expected..

He hugged his dad.

Turo was initially frozen in shock, but then he slowly put his arms around him, sighing in relief when he realized Arven didn’t hate him 100%. And here he was..thinking he permanently ruined things between them. 

He absolutely didn’t deserve an ounce of forgiveness, yet he was given it anyways.

“You’re still..a bit of a jerk, but the fact you came to visit me shows you still care, and..I-I’ll take that.” Pulling away, Arven wiped the last of his tears away, smiling lightly. “I missed you a lot.”

“And I missed you, too, kiddo. I’m sorry again.”

The touching moment warmed your heart, though you didn’t wanna stare at them the entire time like a werido. So you looked towards the gradually setting sun over the ocean, realizing it was such a lovely view. ‘We gotta leave the crater more often..’ You mused. ‘I miss seeing the sunset..’

“So um..who are you?”

“..oh! Me? I’m [y/n].” Snapping out of your thoughts, you turned back to Arven, shaking his hand with a polite smile on your face. “I work with your father. I figured I’d come meet Paldea’s next best chef.”

“A-Ah..I’m just sticking to sandwiches for now.” He got a bit flustered, huffing as he looked back to Mabosstiff. “I’ve been experimenting with different sandwiches ever since I found out the ingredients can affect encounters with certain Pokémon.”

“I’ve heard of that phenomena. It’s fascinating, yet holds so much mystery.” You nodded in agreement. “Care to tell me more about your findings?”

Arven’s eyes practically sparkled at the question, and he nodded eagerly, leading you towards the picnic table.

While you and him discussed sandwiches, Turo went inside the old lab--where all his research started prior to making his home in Area Zero once he got better funding.

He looked around at all the notes and obsolete equations that he left behind. The main computer was still functional, so he could communicate with his AI if necessary.

But he stopped himself from turning the machine on, shaking his head and silently scolding himself. ‘This is what [y/n] doesn’t want you to do, Turo...just..take a break. For their sake..and for Arven’s.’

It was hard to shake the workaholic part of him away, though he managed to do so as he turned away from the computer, sighing. He couldn’t break his promise, not this time.

And so he left the lab as it was, being greeted by Mabosstiff the moment he stepped back outside. But this time, he was smiling at the hound, realizing his boy raised this dark type well.

You were right. The future could wait.

He had to treasure the present.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

You know seeing that tweet of astruc hating on a fan and telling them to “do better” and “you wouldn’t get the opportunity” because the fan criticized him for saying “the show is what you need and the movie is what you want”, so I’ll do what he asked and do better than him on the aspect I hate the most about the show (besides the shipping and what he did to Chloe) the villains.

Dr.Franklie:a old friend of Gabriel which is the one helping keep Emilie alive in her coffin, eventually Gabriel reaches for him again to help him make permanent Akumas and The doctor does has asked but in reality he wants the miraculous for itself for thinking the human race needs to evolve and he wants it to evolve with him has the emperor of humanity.

Jawbreaker:a teenage boy in Paris has a very bad relationship with he’s parents, a prankster dad which is very aggressive physically and a Cold Mom which is aggressive verbally, he tries to drown he’s stress by dedicating in painting but one day he’s father abandons them and he’s mother blames him, he loses it and 💀, he’s arrested and put on trial but he’s freed by Dr.Franklie which runs test on him using the Akumas Gabriel gave the doctor, he mutate into a monster which ends up absorbing part of the power of destruction from cat noir and it mitates into a bigger monster named Jawbreaker (for he’s always open venom like jaw)

Iron heart:a young girl which has been lost in the streets of Paris since she was young, her family died on a car accident meaning she didn’t have anyone but herself and other criminals of her age to be with. She ended up developing a passion for music but because of her situation that dream kinda died, specially when she was arrested by none other than ladybug while trying to rob the Dupan-cheng’s bakery, but she was freed by Dr.Franklie which mutated her aswell except her entire body got melted into a puddle of meta till she absorbs some creation power of ladybug, she ended up turning into a humanoid monster with her body entirely made out of metal able to bend metal at her will (her villain names comes from he’s Last name “Lion heart” which is the only thing she remembers from her family mixed with her new metallic form)

Queen Astra:Dr.Franklie seeing how he’s monsters (jawbreaker and Iron heart) still hold some humanity, he decides to make a “fake miraculous” and he uses it on a plan with Hawkmoth to use Iron heart,Jawbreaker and a Akuma, all of them together so they can use the fake miraculous on ladybug but it accidentally latches itself with Vesperia, The fake miraculous is actually a artificial parasite designed to be the perfect Monster with no redeeming qualities whatsoever which absorbs the miraculous energy (or any kind of energy) and the AI of the fake miraculous ends up taking over Zoe’s body and mutating her into a energy based being named Queen Astra (from Astraphobia “fear of lightning”) she acts has the right hand and spy to the doctor till she decides it’s time to strike, so she reveals there isn’t a cure for their mutantions causing her mutant partners to riot and not only kill the doctor but also take over all of Paris and they even attack the agreste mansion in a attempt to get the butterfly miraculous, she ends up absorbing so much energy she mutates into a being similar to a kwami (like Tikki using her powers in dearest family) in power and betrays her partners revealing she wants to destroy the human race but she has a weakness which is Zoe’s family which she reuses to hurt even under Atra’s control (for family I mean Mr.Lee,Andre and Chloe. Audrey doesn’t count) at the end her partners and Chloe redeem themselves ripping out the parasite out of Zoe and allowing Ladybug and Cat noir to save the day and destroy Astra queen. Her partners surrender and are put under vigilance in hope they will find a cure for their mutations

I designed each villain to be a mirror to the heroes, Jawbreaker is a mirror to Adrien (instead of a distant family he loves, he has a family he wishes he never saw again. and meanwhile Cat noir Can destroy things Jawbreaker can Break things… which means he can break something apart but I can be fixed) Iron heart and Marinette (Marinette has thousands of friends and family meanwhile Iron heart has nothing, Ladybug Can create meanwhile Iron heart Can Modify preexisting things to make something new) and Astra is a mirror to Chloe (imagine the old seasons Chloe which wasn’t the best person but could get better, meanwhile Astra is just Season 4 and 5 Chloe, I see it has a way to showcase the fans fighting the awful damnation and Double standards the show has on Chloe remembering season 2 Chloe, and the fact they are controlling Zoe is to A-showcase the writers forcing the characters to do things they wouldn’t do, B-showcase how Zoe only existed to take the good out of Chloe, C-being ironical since Zoe is being forced to be a evil person once again except this isn’t something she can reuse to do now, and D-to add emotional stakes, since queen banana they said Zoe will always love her sister and I think if Zoe actually showcased that and tried to help Chloe to stop following her mothers footsteps, would also make the posession and the stakes of the situation all the more tragic and emotional)

Also notice how I said they are redeemed (except the doc and Astra) because they are kids, they didn’t even want to be here, they went through so much stuff I think redemption and rehabilitation is needed and deserved for them. Meanwhile the grown man and the robot die because 1-he’s a grown man which turned children into monsters, he deserves to die, 2-that’s just a machine doing what she was programmed to do, the only way to stop a machine from working is destroying it.

Also I thought of their personality’s to also mirror the heroes

Jawbreaker could be calm and collected but always open for a small joke outside of all the fighting, Iron heart could be loud and energetic always cracking jokes but a very good friend and Astra would be Chloe but smarter, eviler and Sadistic

I never wanted to share any of these because I thought I couldn’t do better and calling my own work better than Astruc’s would be too self centered, not self aware of how obnoxious that sounds, and knowing comparing my work to others and calling my own better is nothing but straight up being a “a**hole”, but in reaction to him being just that big of a I-di-OTA (get it?) I think calling myself better than him is nothing but deserved

The best part with all of these ideas is that even if you showed them to Astruc, he would still come up with a way to explain why they wouldn't work compared to the villains on his show.

[spotlightlowlife]

Helluva Boss Fizzarlolli missed opportunities + more!

Everything Fizz went through the episode prior to the clown pageant was glossed over. He was stressed out over the scratch that he struggled to mask which later resurfaced. We know how he got the scratch and heard him say he no longer wanted to go out. PTSD would be entirely consistent with his character yet it wouldn't be a healthy reason to quit his job, it would be justified but ultimately no good for him, though PTSD and the choice to quit his job could have worked had we been shown how this particular job is unhealthy because it's tied in with fear of danger, lack of security and control, something he needed to learn to overcome in the canon. His trauma could easily have been carried over to this episode had he been under threat for choosing to sit the pageant out because of what just happened to him. A true greedy boss, plenty of us have had them, tend to not care about mental health and safety especially if you're an excellent worker, he could have been locked into a 'signed your soul away' contract which forced him into performing and to remind us that this is hell. Or he could have been forced there.

We really could have seen more fan interaction which would add to his guilt and hesitation when it comes to giving up the job, something relatable and realistic. Fizz not wanting to be a let down ended up having nothing to do with his supporters.

This will definitely be an unpopular opinion but here goes, the inclusion of the cute little deaf imp could have been handled better.

Clearly intended to be heartwarming, this could have been so much more. A seemingly unnattended child managed to be at the front at a gig, stand out amongst a busy crowd and be given instant clearance to get on stage, showing how wonderful Fizz is for his sweetness and knowing sign. Had this fan been an adult who Fizz recognized because he always turns up, maybe as far back as the family circus, once that cute child we saw but way back in time when Fizz could only communicate on the most basic level or through someone else, however he was inspired to learn sign so he could reach more people, his fans mean so much to him, he appreciates them all and as stressful as a gig can be, he is used to looking out for familiar faces.

Familiar faces, on that subject, we have the only other 'fan' we get to meet, the creep or many years, one that predated Fizz knowing Mammon who Ozzie blames for the creeps, only where had the obsessed stalker been all this time? Ozzie and Fizz seem to be attached at the hip so surly that guy would have been dealt with. Has this person not shown up at Ozzie's, where Fizz is easily accessible? Has he really not been seen since Blitzø and Fizz where last friends?

This creep is the only example of creep we get, we could have seen more discomfort, or was the "thirsy" fans being a major issue more of a Ozzie problem? Immediately before Ozzie speaks about his dislike of the dolls he makes in Fizz's image, we saw Fizz looking uncomfortable during the commercial he filmed with Mammon promoting the dolls, that weren't actually promoted sexdolls but vastly multipurpose AI that you can also fuck. Is this codependence?

Is this an argument they're used to having? This would totally serve as a possibility for Fizz's discomfort, knowing what he will have to face when he got home.

Ozzie and Fizz are a couple but they're still individuals, Ozzie's lust has now been ironically shown to be selective (he's getting the Stolas treatment, which was an attempt to make him look better arguably making him look worst) but what does Fizz alone really think about the likes of the dolls? What if he truly just didn't think about it, as he said, and it wasn't down to avoidance?

A viewpoint of 'atleast creeps dolls they lust over' and 'only one person has the real thing' would make sense, controversial words but fitting and this is an adult show after all. Why not embrace Ozzie being jealous?

How often does Fizz have to answer to someone and be undermined?

He managed to stand up to and part ways with one controlling boss but still has yet to stand up to those who care about him but are controlling too. In the grand scheme of things, Fizz quitting working for Mammon seemed the lesser issue to address, so what if he had been a fan, compared to being hurt deeply by Blitzø who he had grown up with and fear of the powerful Ozzie who is the love of his life losing interest in him, this looked easy.

He could have clicked on to Ozzie withholding his foundation too, this wasn't cute, and we have seen him be prepared for Ozzie preventing him from doing things before, the previous episode where he had to act cute to be allowed to go from one location to another alone but had also just acted as Ozzie's PA and read him a busy schedule. Though Fizz, famous enough to be targeted anywhere, would also get humbled in this episode by getting randomly abducted then held ransom by the highly organized and quick to form a contract Crimson, in the greed ring, one of seven districts in the entirety of Hell, as Ozzie as good as specifically foretold. Ozzie W Fizz L.

Fizz could have addressed performing in general, both the yearly pageants and club which he has to be at more frequently, seems he's never not working because again, the previous episode was as good as forgotten, in that episode Fizz was keen to get out and go to pageant rehearsal alone, as if Ozzie was smothering him and needed a break. They are so attached at the hip and so seemingly comfortable and like minded in their dom and lapdog displays that it's interesting to learn what part of their conduct is in performative and how it affects how others view them.

The cute morning routine lost a little cuteness when Fizz made it clear he wanted me time, which was the space to go somewhere alone and have a break from the spotlight, this somewhere being the clown pageant rehearsal which I got the impression Ozzie normally attends with him, only Ozzie is busy today as Fizz let us know when he scheduled his day like a PA. Then the following episode when we were left to believe Fizz can now just live happily ever after, at home, the house he adorably relayed he didn't want to leave after being humbled, having quit working for his other boss who is his daily boss/lovers peer, the two have history that dates back before hell began and they clearly work together but Ozzie's whole issue with Mammon as far as we're concerned is that Fizz doesn't need him, which was entirely a Fizz issue. Not cute. Ozzie W Fizz L.

Coercion can counter consent!

There relationship is like a gentle S and M, which would be fine and fitting if it didn't come at the expense of Fizz's autonomy being disregard before him.

Who else does he have in his life aside from Ozzie, who is looking more like a sugar daddy now?

Blitzø the other controller?

Yes he made amends with Blitzø but Blitzø seems a completely changed person from the sensible and mild mannered kid he once was, but even then Fizz was susceptible to subtle steering, Blitzø not quite answering Fizz's question when Fizz asked if he could win the pageant, not because Blitzø knew entering was a bad idea but because he didn't want Fizz going places being one example, all going over Fizz's head. Chances are he never realised how manipulative Cash was because he was so innocent, so liked and so good at what he did he was never under scrutiny. Still, dispite the accident being an accident but Blitzø fault non the less, Blitzø expressed a lot of resentment towards Fizz, much more than Fizz towards him dispite being the one who was supposed to be sorry (but not really because he 'also lost that day'). It took a tiny mutual tiff in the street for Blitzø to run up on and attack Fizz from behind and Fizz to hold his own pretty well in their fight, only to loose his fight from there on out.

He showed he was capable of standing up for himself, physically and in a battle of wit, he showed exasperation earlier in that episode at having to answer to where he was going, but a whole episode later it's a new character ee just met who he stands up to, one who hadn't been a problem but now has to be because he's extra lovey dovey following trauma and he just made up with our lead. He's pretty much more vulnerable than ever but he has protection and to showcase this, he had to be the victim yet again, immediately. Ozzie W, Blitzø W, Fizz L.

Red flags can exist in people you love, want to be around and aren't going to cut off. Being a pushover harms you, there's nothing wrong with not being a natural leader and allowing someone else to take charge but that has to be a choice, not reluctantly allowing yourself to be dictated, that is not cute. Establishing boundaries with those you love, care about or have to be around is tough but needed, he's probably the best character to be able to pull this off because all we saw during the pageant episode was unwavering support from Ozzie and Blitzø, who clearly care as controlling as they were. Also Blitzø and Fizz making amends doesn't have to equal 'they're friends now'.

Though as much he is bossed around, Fizz needed to work on not only finding his voice with those he likes but his own need for validation and failure to hear what doesn't suit his ideals.

His 2 minute notice song features speculation of Mammon maybe sabotaging his future career, this is his major fear in facing off against this boss? Meanwhile he has a whole other sector of full time, secure work with his other boss who he's shacked up with who has just give him a yet another love declaration and yet another pep talk, only this time he was ready to hear. We know he let's himself get talked down, generally has no fight in him but in top of that he fails to hear others out when their words don't need to lead to a debate? These are issues, no wonder he gets so stressed, then, quitting with such a better option to fall back on, where is the self assurance that Fizz is able or willing to try to manage his own future in general?

Fizz needs a life outside of his relationship and work which is now exclusively with his lover. Circus performances was his thing but now he's given it up yet as comfortable as his life was, what else did he have. We could have seen him living a fun rich boy life enjoying numberours things that were just his within the episodes he has starred in, we didn't.

Millie and Moxxie have been seen as cute but with their codependency issues, Fizz and Ozzie according to many were the healthier relationship, but how the tables have turned in these past few episodes.

As problematic as they otherwise are, Millie's parents are the healthiest relationship in this by a long shot, nobody is nipping at their heels.

Here are a bunch of things that could easily have been addressed in a line or two, the Verosika episode being a fine example of this being something this series is capable of doing...

Fizz is famous but has he met other great people along the way?

He's not friendly with other celebrities?

He attends pageant rehearsals apparently happily, but has no friends?

Where are the many people of his past?

We could have got insight that may even speak for Blitzø and Barbie's background, are Fizz and Barbie still intouch and is this the reason she has Ozzie's crystal that Stolas, actual royalty, had to arrange a meeting to request?

Is Cash still living and if so are they still intouch?

Was the fire the end of the family circus?

Who lost their lives?

Who lost their livelihood?

How does he feel they feel about his big time success aswell as his decision to quit a major gig that served as the reward at the end of the tunnel?

Maybe he hasn't quit clown stuff and he has aspirations to follow in Mammon's footsteps and try to start up his own thing (which would require him to become more assertive), this could have been slotted in easily, we even got to hear about how his stalker had ideas!

Did Fizz gain the courage to fly the nest back in the day or did he have little choice but to move on because of the accident?

His guilt and sense of obligation could have been SOOOOOO multifaceted.

Reminding us that he has been through so much and collected so much baggage, however he only lightened the load of a bag that he took on more recently, is this progress closer to stalling?

[quibbs126]

Oh yeah, I made this last night

I was complaining yesterday about how I can’t draw, and while I tried and failed to draw traditionally (I think I’ve been out of practice too long and I can’t adjust to the layout of it not being right in front of my face at the same angle, if that makes sense), I decided maybe I can try drawing these guys again

I’m pretty happy with how the main trio turned out in this redesign, I think I was able to give them all distinct looks

Cassidy got some changes, Rasmus pretty much stayed the same other than a permanent ponytail, and Rowan's hair got completely changed. Mostly because I wanted to make his hair have a more distinct shape

I still need to come up with new names for them though. Best I got is Rowan becomes Rusty, but I don’t know for the other two. All I know is that in another world, Cassidy would be Peppermint, or some other variation of mint

Anyways, a while ago I was considering changing the setting of the story to be cowboy themed. It was mostly because at the time, a Discord I was on was making a Cookie Run cowboy AU that I really like, but also because the story never had a clear time period setting. It was part modern day, part fantasy, and I never really got it to be consistent

Though the big problem is that I’m pretty unfamiliar with cowboys and how they operate. Which is ironic because I’ve been living in Texas for over a decade. But like, I’ve never been that interested in Westerns or that cowboy stuff, probably in part because I heavily dislike country music. So I don't really know much about the era other than Victorian times were also happening

I would also have to change some things around so that they fit in the time period, most importantly the whole situation with Rasmus and the others. I'm thinking maybe I can turn that from science experiment to witchcraft and have magic be more of a thing, since they are meant to have magic

I've given a little thought into how the story works now, like that these three got hired either to drive cattle to a certain area or keep watch of a ranch. I guess if they got to travel, then the former, but if I just want them to hang out, then the latter. Former's probably better though, since if I want to make an actual plot, there's your overarching goal

I think I need to do more research on the time period though, so I know what I'm doing. Though also this isn't going to be like, completely historically accurate. I mean these guys are fictional goat thing people with magic powers. I don't think something like the Civil War happened recently, and I'm not sure I want sexism to be a prevalent thing in the plot. And I think I also personally I need that reminder since sometimes I forget that I can give myself wiggle room

In that vein, the cattle are probably also semi fictional, or at least maybe they shouldn't be exactly the same as real cows. I don't know, I feel like it'd be really jarring to have normal cows alongside brightly colored goat people

Anyways I trailed off, back to the actual drawings

So because of the cowboy consideration, I tried to sketch out outfits they could wear. As well as body types (though they didn't turn out as varied as I'd like). Cassidy and Rasmus I think are fine, but Rowan might need more tweaking. I also need more cowboy refs, especially ones that aren't just costumes or AI pictures in Google Images

Then afterwards I decided to start sketching some of the other characters I've made up. Which just so happen to be the parents of the main characters. Who also have names because I came up with the naming scheme at that point

Top to bottom is Periwinkle, Basil and Silver

Of those three, I think Periwinkle turned out the best, but for one thing, she's been in my mind much longer than the other two, so I have a much clearer idea of what she's supposed to look like. And on top of that, I've actually drawn her before, so I know what to change. Basil and Silver are very much first drafts, and first drafts are usually not the best when it comes to designing new characters. No wonder redesigns of characters usually end up better than the original, since you have a base design where you already know what works and doesn't, as opposed to working from the ground up

And with Silver, I made it a point that he and his son don't look anything alike other than both having darker hair, so I quite literally had nothing to work with, unlike Basil or Perri

I'm also realizing that I've made a pattern with the parent designs, namely that all three of the main characters pretty much exclusively look similar to their moms. I suppose you can't tell much here, since Rasmus was born green but got changed via the experimentation, while I drew Silver, Rowan's dad that he looks nothing like, with the mom he does look like not being depicted. But yes, Cassidy and her bio mom are blue, Rasmus and Basil are green, and Rowan and his mom are red

Periwinkle and Cassidy are probably the two who look the most distinct from another, in part because they're two different shades of blue. Which is ironic because in my more recent working of this world, I made it a point that Perri's family has crazy strong genes, with everyone in the family (outside of marriage) is blue. I might have to take that out or just change how this works

I mean with Rowan, I don't really know how to change it, since his dad's family is all in the greyscale, so him being red would have to come from his mom. And with Rasmus, his parents are supposed to be green and red, with the idea that it's plausible that he could turn out brown, while in reality he was born green. But I mean I guess I could turn him a more yellow-ish green? I don't know, I'll figure it out

And uh yeah, I guess that's it. Not really anything that remarkable, but at least I drew something

[axvwriter]

Twst: Idia at Port Fest

Idia actually contributes to his group's food stall by not only creating a machine to be super efficient at cooking up the waffles they're selling, but also ends up operating the machine the entire time. He's a bit reasonable while also a bit goofy with naming things. He named his waffle maker "Port Fest Waffle Iron Portable MAX Custom". Portable waffle iron is reasonable and I suppose putting Port Fest in the name helps indicate its meant for special events and not an ordinary house appliance. Which makes sense to clarify a bit as it's probably a big machine since Idia mentions it being able to cook several waffles at a time. Usual waffle irons only make one at a time. For the MAX Custom, that seems a bit silly and unneeded. Though I suppose the MAX is supposed to refer to how many waffles it can make at once along with Custom meaning it being specially made for this? Really could just cut it down to "Festival Waffle Iron".

He mentions that it has an infrared sensor and an ai to tell when the waffles are ready and to consistently make the waffles supposedly at the same quality of a master chef. Then he adds in that he put a small fan in to help spread the smell about to help draw in customers. I suppose importance on the "small" part of small fan since the others share their concerns about how hot it is near the machine. Idia shares that it's a byproduct of high performance yet that the ai is heat protected so things are fine. Which I suppose that means that it really is making a whole lot at once for the ai to cause the machine to heat up? I don't know how much processing power it would take for a machine to image or infrared read a waffle turning golden brown but I would assume some of the heat would be thanks to it being a cooking machine. Heat is required to cook something.

Anyway Idia says he's not worried about the heat, ignoring that the others concerns were more about their own safety of interacting with such a heated machine. Later Idia shares that no one could work the waffle iron so he had to deal with it the entire time with no breaks. This either means the others didn't know how to work it or that they simply refused to withstand the heat being produced by that machine. So either Idia overcomplicated how to use the machine or he's unaffected by the heat?

I would think a tech-genius would just make it so that the machine upon being turned on automatically opens. Once the batter is poured in, a button could be pressed and the machine closes. After the minute of cooking and the ai has assessed it to be perfect, the machine reopens. Upon being turned off it automatically closes too. Have it as simple as that.

Did Idia use buttons? Did he have to lift the lid to something bulky? Or did he connect it to his tablet and use the tablet to tell the machine to open? Did he have to pour in the batter himself? Unable to take breaks makes it sound like he was constantly watching over the thing but I do think Idia has the tendency to be a bit overdramatic about some things.

For example when it came to the Harveston Sledathon event, he was freaking out until he was pushed through the magic mirror. Then all signs of anxiety was gone. Which meant Ortho wasn't being a jerk by last minute pulling out of going with them all, but knew his brother was just going to overthink and freak out until he actually got there. Thanks to book 6 I can see why the idea of going somewhere does freak him out. It makes sense he would fret over going somewhere but upon safely arriving he completely okay.

Anyway Idia may be a bit overdramatic because surely it would slow things down if they had only one person pouring in batter. Idia just needs to be off to the side, making sure the thing cooks when its time to make more waffles. Idia then goes to say it's ironic that machine he made to make things easier ended up only operable by him. Idia... making a machine that is supposed to be easy, simple, and anyone can figure it out... but only you can do it means you've failed. Sure it worked in the other ways, but he's failed to make it user-friendly.

Also I'm pretty confident he wasn't constantly making waffles since the point of the machine was so they wouldn't have to constantly make waffles and could have a good bunch ready at once. He also took the time to fix up and upgrade a cotton candy machine when Sebek brought it to him. Which means he had some time to spare, because otherwise I'm certain the others in his group would have argued with Sebek that Idia can't fix it. Idia wouldn't have to worry about fighting off Sebek when their group is relying on him to work his machine. So since no one tried to argue with Sebek, Idia did have the time to work on it.

Pretty funny that Idia considers the upgrades he gave it as part of fixing it. He says it was a rush job and that he could only increase its power output by five times. This suggests to me that he can't help himself but improve anything put in his hands. He must give it more power. Though maybe arguably it is just part of fixing it. Floyd trying to make a large cotton candy which was too much for the machine to handle. In order to have it handle the stress of that along with keeping it from breaking again, upping its power/strength would help. Regardless, he can't help but rename the machine. Which follows the same pattern as the machine he made from scrap for making a bunch of waffles within a minute. He names the powered up cotton candy machine "Port Fest Cotton Candy Machine Turbo X Custom". Could have just named it "Cotton Candy Turbo Machine". Not even the X. If he insists on a roman numeral then he can go with V. X means ten, V means five. He only upped its power by five.

TLDR: Idia is a bit silly with naming and doesn't know how to make things user-friendly. That or he's immune to heat and thus doesn't know how to make things heat-friendly.

[deathb8dy]

THOUGHTS ON QUALIA AUTOMATA, TUMBLR EDITION

ORIGINAL POST I MADE WAS PUT ON REDDIT FIRST FROM DISCORD, I'LL JUST COPY AND PASTE WHAT I SAID AS IT'S EASIER. WITH EDITS OFC.

This point on holds spoilers in relation to the newest song 'Lamentations'. Please do not read unless you have seen the song OR are fine with it. Also this all will be copied and pasted from discord with edits to include examples (at least for the lyrics and such.)

If you have any comments or criticisms to make, please do so.

spoilers begin below here.

Even in the initial impression, the song about Fayrouz is the MOST human out of the three. In RBB, it's very mechanical and erratic in wording (no rhyming scheme at all but it still made sense for a song). In EWN it's still mechanical but has some humanity to it if that makes sense.

But both songs of the machines you can tell something is off.

Example in lyrics:

Tamari uses more nonsensical and complicated words as if to compensate for a lack of understanding. These words also tend to not make sense with each other either.

(EX; ‘Invite Suicidation, Transfer Enumeration’ is a great example. Suicidation is obviously about yk. But fun fact, it’s not even a word! And Enumeration is “the action of mentioning a number of things one by one.” Compared to the rest of the song of RBB, it does NOT make sense at all.)

Mariyam has more simple terms used and a rhyming scheme but still reverts to what Tamari does... And also references some really obscure stuff (Such as a french women's asylum!) that no one who would go looking would understand.

(EX; The lyric I mentioned is “Fleeting words in pen, I tell the story of Salpêtrière” with the last word in reference to ‘an institution founded in Paris in 1656 as an asylum for the infirm, aged, and insane. At one time, it contained nearly 10,000 people, and treatment was proverbially brutal.’ Which… is ironic since Mariyam is meant to be a therapist)

Example in art:

Tamari is FULL of references and barely anything that's actually their own design. While cool as hell, Tamari is basically what an AI does... Generate images/prompts based on wording and such. Which is likely why Tamari is so ... erratic!

Mariyam on the other hand does have more original art but most of it is ALL black and white until the end with Tamari. And even then, it's not complicated art with a lot of details unless with Tamari and even then... She still fails to have something to be put to human

And music wise:

Both songs are VERY metallic noise-wise with choir like sounds within the instrumentals. Both beginning and end. Tamari specifically has the "jumpscare scream" while Mariyam has just more "clock/chime" motifs. It's all still mechanical without any sort of "organic" tones if that makes sense

FAYROUZ ON THE OTHER HAND. Despite being the "villain" of the story is the most human.

Lyrics - She uses the most simple BUT effective words that aren't overly complicated/nonsensical (Tamari) or aren't as impactful as they should be (Mariyam)

PV - Unlike the two, I just noticed it's just a static one image pv as well as it's fully colored. Tamari and Mariyam had movements in their pvs, like they are trying to move to humanity but also how AI is always constantly shifting.

Music - THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE. It has some mechanical elements (like the 'siren' like sounds in the beginning and end) BUT IT HAS MORE ORGANIC SOUNDS UNLIKE THE GRITTY GEAR LIKE SOUNDS YOU HEAR IN RBB AND EWN

Fayrouz also admits to being at fault but pushes on to do better (at her work, mess up on words but ykyk). Which is ironic isn't it? Her creations are more "human" than she is. Which lyrically also- Fayrouz references more mechanical functions while Tamari and Mariyam reference more humane functions.

EX:

Tamari - My stomach turned at the thought of the stars / And my heart pounded louder than the ones I had before

Mariyam - Though you’ll never die, you’ve found that / All eyes are staring at your hands

Fayrouz - Restarting, rebooting null programs / Running, debugging their brains /Forging and sorting successes

AND FINALLY. Tuning wise, Fayrouz sounds more human (if it's intentional or not) but still has the lyrics that are guilt based BUT focused fully on being like a human machine. If you are raised up to be a "machine".... how can you even know otherwise? Tamari and Mariyam are learning to have humanity, Fayrouz lost hers due to the loss of her husband and control over what she had (aka the siblings)

(out of context but it’s related to how different the first two songs are to the newest.)

It makes you think it'll be the same as the two but it's not because Fayrouz is meant to have humanity. She's human after all no?

ANYWAYS.

Basically:

Paradoxical shit of the Robots being more human than their creator who’s losing her humanity with the losses she’s had.

BONUS: Forgot to mention since I made this BEFORE Mors made the tweet out. The title of the series supports what I said heavily.

Qualia, according to wikipedia, "... are defined as individual instances of subjective, conscious experience."

While automata means (according to google) "... a moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being." but also "...used in similes and comparisons to refer to a person who seems to act in a mechanical or unemotional way."

[stevensavage]

The Cybertruck Tells Us What We Want

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com, Steve's Tumblr, and Pillowfort.  Find out more at my newsletter, and all my social media at my linktr.ee)

Yes, I’m going to blog on Elon Musk’s Cybertruck and how it teaches us what people want. Buckle up, but avoid a crash because the doors will probably stick.

Now if you expect me to praise Elon Musk or the Cybertruck, then you’re new here. The Cybertruck is an ugly mess, a renegade PS1 asset turned into an overdesigned and overhyped dysfunctional chunk of metal. Even if Elon Musk hadn’t worked hard the last few years to ruin his reputation, the Cybertruck would be a joke (and indeed it didn’t help his image). There’s a reason it’s so hated - and ironically the reason the Cybertruck is so hated is a lesson in what people actually want.

See, the Cybertruck, for all its flaws, is the realization of a vision.

It is a bad vision. It’s got an ugly retro-futuristic design with no appeal. Its control system sounds horribly inconvenient. The design makes visibility questionable, to the point I’m nervous to drive near one.. Even the unintentional flaws like the rusting or the dangerous hood, are things that seemed to be ignored in pursuit of the vision. That vision, apparently, is being a prop from a 1980s direct-to-video film.

But it is clearly a vision made by a person, there is an idea here.

Even if people had not, soured on Musk, the Cybertruck would still be the fulfillment of a vision. This truck is designed by someone with a plan, it is an expression of a human voice and human intent. Therefore because we know there is a person behind it, the dislike becomes personal, passionate. We get why it is the way it is and we don’t like it.

To hate something truly, is to have a personal connection to that hate. There’s someone and some decision to understand and dislike.

The hatred for the Cybertruck also tells us why we like things. A vision that speaks to us, that tells us about the intent and the creator and what it means, is one we can love. Through a book, a movie, or a vehicle, we can feel the intent, the human agency behind it. The love of something is also personal, because we know there is a person there and we get it.

Why we hate the Cybertruck is why we can love things - the human factor.

This is also why we really hate everything soulless, personality-less, from AI to corporate bureaucracy. There’s no one there, no one home, no moral actor. Even in hating something, knowing there’s someone there to hate is enlivening, dare I say, human. The Cybertruck may be awful, but it’s awful in a human way.

So before you entirely write off the Cybertruck, take it as a lesson. Not in hubris or questionable design decisions (since we’ve already had that lesson), but in why we hate and love things. It is a personal statement, and humans gravitate to those.

Even if just to complain.

Steven Savage

www.StevenSavage.com

www.InformoTron.com

[cybernightart]

This is just word vomit with like little to no punctuation of a random ADHD FNAF fuled thought train I had last night at like 2:00 a.m. like this is so rambly I'm sorry in advance XD

There is an au concept at the end though!

So I went down a rabbit hole of glam Mike theory stuff yesterday, which then evolved into Cassie's dad could be the bonnie bully from FNAF 4, which then evolved into what if Cassie's dad was also one of the technicians that we see in sister location that "went missing" to put it politely and probably what the public knows, and then that turned into since apparently from what I've heard underneath the pizza Plex is the FNAF 7 location where Michael died in the fire and then under the pizza simulator place is the sister location basement storage facility where the technician died. Which then also turned into what if the reason (ignoring the safe mode thing) Freddy couldn't be infected with the Afton virus thing was because he's possessed by Michael in some aspect and what if the reason bonnie got decommissioned was because he is also possessed so the virus thing didn't work on him, and since it didn't work on bonnie then he made Monty kill him or something I don't know. Either way he got taken out the picture so he wouldn't alert anyone and prevent afton/vanny's plans from going through. And a lot of Cassie's voice lines make it sound like her dad is missing or isn't around so I mean it would be kind of funny in a sad way if Cassie's dad is glam rock bonnie and he basically got killed twice. And the reason bonnie is still semi active is because he's possessed and that's the only thing keeping his battery going until Cassie like turns him off.

Which then got me going down the thought path of what if all the glam rocks are possessed by one of the bullies who all ended up working for fazbear entertainment somehow and dying in one of the locations that are apparently in and around and under the pizza Plex. This was seeming kind of promising for a cool AU because I highly doubt that this random thread of loosely tied together things would be canon but who knows at this point fazgoo's a thing. That is until I realized there's four bullies and even though there's four band members including bonnie that would make five meaning that one of the glam rocks is missing a bully. And I mean it would have been interesting because the whole glammike thing is like him subconsciously wanting to help Gregory because either literally or metaphorically he is like a rebuilt reincarnation or is metaphor for the crying child, and he's wanting to make up for his pretty big mistake from so many years ago, and all the other animatronics are like hunting them down or something because the Afton AI thingy is basically making them torment who they think is like the crying child again I don't know. Also at least for Freddy, Monty and bonnie they have a bully counterpart with a similar color palette. Like the bonnie bully has the same color palette as Cassie, the Freddy bully is wearing like a Monty green colored shirt and I mean it would kind of be ironic because the whole Monty wanting to replace Freddy thing, and then Michael Afton and glam rock Freddy having a lot in common even down to their arsonistic tendencies and also the fact that the outfit worn by the player character which is believed to be Michael Afton in pizzeria simulator is basically the reverse of glamrock Freddy's outfit with the whole bluey and orangey thing.

Like the more I was thinking about it the more it was weirdly lining up in some ways and I could start to understand why people like the Michael Afton is glen rock Freddy theory because I had never looked into it before, and then I found there was game theory videos where that was the entire premise that I had never seen even down to the bonnie bully thing. And I mean he explained the very chaotic rough idea I had in a much better more convincing way.

And then I went to bed because it was like 2:00 a.m. and I'm tired XD

Additionally!!!! I just thought that with the whole Michael Afton is Freddy and the bonnie bully guy is Cassie's dad and glam rock bonnie, considering the romantic involvement that glamrock bonnie and glen rock Freddy seem to have, imagine the tragic love story that you could do with Michael Afton and bonnie bully guy being like best friends who both did love each other romantically but because of the time it felt like they could say that or actually do anything about it. So they have been trying to be together their entire lives and even in their afterlives, but it seriously just does not work out every time. And plus it would bring a new meaning to the always forever thing, because you could do like a whole thing with when they were kids saying that to each other all the way up to them meeting again as adults saying that again and then bonnie and Freddy saying that to each other.

Then you could make it a happier story by having a happy ending where Cassie and Gregory and Vanessa probably managed to fix the animatronics, and since the place isn't such ruin literally I don't think they'd be able to fix the pizza Plex themselves so they just take the animatronics away in the van.

This next part here is partially inspired by a comic I saw last night, with glam rock Freddy Vanessa and Gregory all leaving at the end of security breach and then end up living in the old Afton family home by pure chance pretty much.

Which if you were bringing all the other animatronics there and whatever parts they could salvage from the remains of the pizza plex and parts and service, and then the place they end up staying at because it's the cheapest house they could find, turns out to have a bunch of animatronic making supplies in it which would be ideal. And then one of them ends up finding like a family picture with a kid in it that looks suspiciously like Gregory down to the outfit and everything, and then even crazier if they find another picture having Michael Afton and the bonnie bully guy in it and Cassie recognizes that guy as her dad.

And even more freaky if when they go into Michael's room that's when they find that picture, and on the picture is written the same "always forever" message but this time instead of being from Freddy to bonnie it's from the bonnie bully to Michael causing a lot of them to go into an existential crisis.

I think that would be funny

[thessalian]

Thess vs Installations

Well, first, the Saga of the Graphics Card.

The graphics card was supposed to arrive just before New Year. And then it didn't. And it didn't. And it continued to didn't. So by about the third I just went, "Okay, fine, time to get on to customer service". Since this was a first offense, I decided it didn't require "talking to a human being", so I hit their support chat and basically went, "The graphics card I paid a fair bit of money for has not arrived, so could you just send me one that actually gets here? Thanks". And the AI or whatever said "Sure".

Taking the delivery was fun. While the doorbell technically works, I still can't buzz people into the building from the comfort of my foyer (my stepfather is looking into it; which means I'll probably have it fixed sometime next year). So I had to haul my poor disabled ass downstairs to let the guy in. He was such a nice guy. He not only had my graphics card, but he also had the new headset mic I'd ordered (since my last one has proven to have worn out to the point where my input is a staticky mess). Thing is, he only remembered seeing it when I got to the door, so he went all the way back to his van to get it. See, while we do have visitor parking out front, we have a few residents who use it for their second cars, so the visitors parking is usually full ... which is ironic when you consider that only maybe two-thirds of the actual residents have cars and use their allotted parking spaces. Anyway, he had a couple of deliveries for other residents in the building so since I was going upstairs anyway, I offered to take the one that was going up to my floor. He was so nice, I figured I'd spare him the trip.

So anyway, I wasn't going to install everything last night because ... well, the machine was on and doing things, and I didn't want to turn the whole thing off and on again, and I figured to do it in the morning (or afternoon, whenever I woke up) so I'd be fresher for any disasters that happened in the process of installing the new graphics card. I did test the headset mic, though, with help from a voice chat with @true0neutral - the new headset works fine, and proves that my poor old headset has to be put out to pasture.

So today, I put in the new graphics card.

THINGS I CAN NO LONGER DO EASILY BECAUSE OF FUCKING FIBROMYALGIA, #839 - manhandle a computer tower to install things.

I mean, the unplugging of everything was a bitch, and then hauling it onto the desk was more of a bitch, and then I had to do some dusting of the inside of the PC, which I guess was okay, and then I had to pull the old graphics card, which was a little frustrating, and then I lost a screw in the casing and had to rattle it around like one of those toys where you tilt a box to get a marble through a maze into a hole, which hurt, and then I had to plug in the new graphics card, which was awkward, and then I had to put everything back together again, which hurt, and then I had to plug everything back in, which hurt more...

And then it decided it wanted to enter setup mode because I guess something went wrong in POST, which was terrifying. But I honestly made no changes to it that I'm aware of; I just put it back to default settings (which apparently changed nothing) and it restarted just fine. However, as is the nature of things, I'm going to be paranoid about it until I'm sure it's not going to do that again.

For now, it all seems to have worked out. My machine is ... actually quieter now, and apart from a little bit of hiccupping as it decided which of my two monitors it wanted to be using for what, and which speakers to use (WHY is it defaulting to my headset? I have speakers and I want to USE THEM), things seem to be working as intended. Of course, I haven't tried to play any games on it yet. I did all this before I'd even had my coffee, y'see, so coffee has to happen before anything else. So the first part of the testing - regular PC function - has to happen while I have at least half my Big Mug O'Coffee. And then I am going to start slowly with an indie game, nothing too graphics intensive, and then I will check how it runs with DA2, and only then will I try it on Baldur's Gate 3.

Look, I get a little paranoid, okay? I've been doing this for about two decades and I should be pretty chill about upgrading my PC when I've literally built a machine from spare parts twice ... but it pays to be cautious, I've found. I'd rather have a little bit of paranoia for awhile and catch any problem before it becomes a big one than tell myself everything's fine and then get blindsided by something exploding. The last time I was too chill about an upgrade, my power supply basically blew up.

No, I am not kidding.

[rubykgrant]

(I've babbled a little bit about what my thoughts were for DigiMon AUs as a kid, and how I wish things could be re-done slightly, so I may as well just put it all together. To be clear, this isn't an idea of "the perfect" version, or meant to slam the original versions, just some thoughts I had when I was younger that I'm having fun expanding on~)

Original Adventure; not much different... I wish ALL the DigiDestined got to have the spot-light when it came to the final Mega forms of their partners (I also wish DNA Digivolving had been introduced earlier... it already kinda was, with the implications of OmniMon, but imagine if this was something each kid got to do, and we saw every combo of the original group)

02 Adventure; Kari is the one who inherits the goggles from Tai, so she's the new leader kid (Davis is still very much the man of action, he's just not in charge of everybody else. he's also come to accept that Kari isn't into him, and instead he's ironically over-protective when other dudes talk to her- "Is this guy bothering you?" she can handle herself fine, but she finds it endearing). A few more kids in the group, so there is a full team of new DigiDestined with each Crest (maybe some of the international kids we eventually met are introduced earlier, they get to be part of things through the internet etc), but they also still share/trade Armors, so we see every form of each DigiMon

Tamers; also not much different... I like the idea of Ai and Mako being a little older when ImpMon finally reunites with them, implying it has been a few years since they were last together (and as for who the actual partner is, I lean toward Ai being a little older, and thus the DigiVice was meant to be hers, and after they have a tearful reunion, she joins ImpMon when he goes to help the others, BioMerging into a new form of BeelzeMon- let's call that BeelzeMon Noble Mode. Mako still gives them the toy gun that turns into the big blaster). Also, ImpMon gets to actually have a cool Evolution sequence. A little more attention for Kazu, Kenta, and Suzie too~

Frontier; first of all, Zoe's DigiMon Warrior forms need to look BETTER. just... an actually COOL armor design for KazeMon, and a legit Beast Form (not just a lady with bird wings on her head and robot arms). When the main kids meet the antaginist DigiMon, they don't realize these are other kids at first, because they only ever see them while fighting and transformed with their Spirit Evolution. Eventually, when one of them is finally defeated a tired-out, the main kids see them transform back! They finally realize these "evil DigiMon" are just like them! Except, y'know. Being jerks to the EXTREME. Koichi is still dealing with the same issues (being separated from his physical body, and some memory-loss), but he's the the first one to officially switch sides. Eventually, the other kids come around, it just takes a while... but then there is a full team of the Ten Legendary Warriors!

[just-missunderst00d]

I've had this blog for who knows how long and I never wrote a text post to pin lol so here we go...

Hi! My name's Jess, I'm from Argentina and here's a few things about me:

✨ AFAB, bisexual. She/her pronouns. Don't really mind when or if people use they/them.

✨ I'm in my 20s (easier than to update every year, though who says I'm getting older 👀).

✨ Italian and Spanish heritage. My grandpa (born in Sicily) says there's some Turkish on his mother's side, and maybe some Viking/Normandie sprinkle lots of quotes on the last one.

✨ In case you haven't noticed already, I have ADHD. Went undiagnosed for 25 years so yea, that was fun. I also struggle with depression and anxiety.

✨ Intersectional feminist. Pro choice. BLACK LIVES MATTER. TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS. GUN CONTROL. FREE HEALTHCARE. FREE EDUCATION.

✨ I wasn't raised a socialist, I found Spend Rich Money dot com at a formative age and that did the trick.

✨ I've been studying witchcraft and the occult for almost 10 years now and I'm a practicing (ish) pagan since mid 2022. Started working with Odin and Freyja. Tried avoiding Loki for a while but it was futile, the chaotic energy was too strong, and they were SO persistent. They even took my partner's appearance in a dream.

✨ I have 5 tattoos, for now. I used to have a piercing on my ring finger. It was awesome, until I almost yanked it out and then it wasn't. Now I have two small scars on my finger as a reminder of my youthful stupidity.

✨ EAT THE RICH.

✨ Elder emo, turned goth babe. I very much enjoy horror movies, loud metal music, playing videogames and taking photos of pretty much anything. Specially food. I love food. Love cooking and baking.

✨ Yes, I'm a kitchen witch. And I'm also a Taurus, how did you know? Taurus sun, Piscis moon and Capricorn rising.

✨ I can't whistle and I hate cheese.

✨ Did I already mention that I LOVE football? Actual football, not the abomination the U.S. citizens call "football". No, I refuse to call them the A-word. America is a whole continent. Argentinian who loves football!? shocking I know. My favorite football club is Club Altético River Plate, a.k.a, El Millonario (the Millionaire) ironic, I know. Us fans are either called Millonarios/Millos or Gallinas (🐔) . Proud to be called any. Still, EAT THE RICH.

✨ LOTR and D&D kinda nerd. I can recite 90% of LOTR Fellowship of The Ring extended version BY HEART. It's my comfort film, alongside with Scream. I read The Hobbit as a teen, long before the movies (which ignoring a few CGI malfunctions blew my mind, you can fight me).

✨ I can kinda sing a little.

This is getting too long so here's me, because I don't think I show my face here very often:

Old pic from last summer (jan-feb 2023).

Anyways, if you made it this far, you might as well follow me. I reblog lots of artsy stuff and some witch tips. All pics I post are mine and tagged #me or #mine. If otherwise, credits are always given. DON'T STEAL PEOPLE'S ART. And that includes AI generated images.

Lastly:

THIS IS A SAFE, INTERSECTIONAL, FEMINIST SPACE.

NO TERFS, NO RACISTS, NO FASCISTS, NO BIGOTS ALLOWED PAST THIS POINT.

May you have the day you deserve ✨

-J