#so I'll be using it in any future posts I make

[qtjaz]

The whitefication of Electra, a well needed essay on Starlight Express' most unique character.

Just a little heads up before I do carry on, anything I say in this rant has absolutely nothing against the actors. At the end of the day they are just ordinary people like me and you so let's not make this a personal attack upon them, thank you. And also I am a person of colour so I do get a say in this argument :'P

I would also like to mention this will also be talking about on how much I dislike the Post 2018 Bochum revival, if you could even call it that. All photos used were taken from the Starlight Express wiki, if you would like credits please DM me.

To start this off, I only really noticed this when comparing Post 2018 Bochum (And Wembley, although I will cut them some slack) to pre 2018 and even the OLC of the show. I've never really liked Post 2018 Bochum, I must admit, I just think they screwed the show up horrifically but I'll get into that later. One thing I'd always complain about was of how Electra lost his colour, both with costume design and skintone, (I'm very funny I know.) I will be using the OLC costume and some of the actors portraying him from that time period and comparing them to Post 2018 Bochum, please do keep in mind this is not a personal attack to these actors. It is a simple way of comparing Electra's character then and now.

As you can see, there is a pretty big difference. The one on the left, showcasing Post 2018 Bochum has Electra with most of the colour of his costume gone, going for a more monotone pallette to compensate with how we see the future now. Whilst the costume on the right is more out there and bold, striking reds and blues, in your face almost. It also represents on how the future was viewed in the 80s with it being more colourful and bright, a contrast to the dull we usually associate with it now. Although this doesn't have anything to do with the actual skintone of the character, I know I will get into that in a bit I promise, it still shows of how they've washed Electra's character from what he was originally. Electra's supposed to be out there, different, messing with societal norms, his character is fluid and that's what makes him, him. But now his character is more of a copy and paste of characters we've seen popping up more lately with new pieces of media. Now this is where we get into the skintone aspect.

Originally, Electra was a genderfluid, bisexual character. The name of his main song, AC/DC not just being a nod to Electrical currents but also a word/piece of slang used for bisexual people back in the 20th century. Now think about this for a bit longer, the year is 1984 and a new musical has just came out, it's about trains fighting over prejudice, and what do you have? A gender nonconfirming, proud bisexual, black character. This was groundbreaking really, although critics disagreed, Electra being black is extremely important. I mean, in the 80s the AIDS epidemic happened, a horrific outbreak which resulted in millions of deaths worldwide, and here they were, showcasing a proud bisexual character with no shame! Not to mention his original London cast actor, Jeffrey Daniels, is a black man.

Queer characters have always been either non-existant or hardly mention that they are queer, let alone being black and queer. Can you name any characters off of the top of your head that are black and queer? Probably not, which is why Electra's character is so important. The Post 2018 Bochum Electra though is more of the average stereotype when it comes to queer people. A white drag queen who barely even mentions that they are of any kind, gender nonconfirming or queer. There is almost nothing in the show that hints that Electra is against the ideology of gender itself, I mean if we go back to the OLC, Electra boldly admits that he is the engine of the future, the future being more accepting of people like him, both his identity and himself as a whole, but now he's just some random white guy with almost nothing hinting about who he originally was.

Another thing to add, is that Electra in mostly the older productions of the show, has been played by black actors. e.g Jeffrey Daniels, Mykal Rand, David Michael Johnson, Koffi Missah, etc. And that was the norm, Electra was and is black! Up until the Post 2018 Bochun revival. Most of the actors are white, which also doesn't really help the case. And before anyone even thinks about using the excuse, "Oh but maybe they didn't have enough black actors to cast!" They managed to do it in the 80s. And that's saying something really, knowing the time period and the fact that ALW is a douchebag. Even some of the swings and covers of Electra from that time period were black! Not all of them, but some were! But now the only times we really see black Electra is when a swing or cover is on, which is quite unfortunate that it has to be like that, but you know 🤷���♂️

Also for the makeup of Electra's Broadway design, whoever drew it made Electra black, kind of showcasing that he is a black character.

But anyway,,, I really also do want to mention why I believe this may have happened. First off, most of Starlight Express' originality, strangeness, and whimsy have been dropped slowly over the years of the shows constant run. Costume designs changing over the years, characters coming and going, and the fact that the musical, in Germany anyway, is trying to be seen as less weird. I mean, ALW has said before that he hates Starlight, he's tried to sabotage the show multiple times, so it makes sense why he'd try and deweirdify the show. And having a genderless, genderfluid, bisexual and black electric train that is flashy and out there doesn't really seem normal. Or as normal as it gets as these are singing trains. Another thing to note is that the costumes are becoming more dull and bland, less colours, less whimsy and joy. Which is why I dont understand the slander against the new Wembley costumes as I believe that they bring back the strangeness of what Starlight truly was about. Anyway back to what I was saying,,, A perfect example of this is Pearl's costume.

On the left, Pearl's costume more resembles an actual Pearl, more creams and pearlescent whites. As pretty as the costume is, (I must admit I actually really like her post 2018 design), it lacks colour really. It's more dull and beige I guess, not really making her look like the Pearl we've known for around 3 decades. Whilst the one on the right it is still white I will give you that, but atleast it has the pink, and in newer productions pre 2018 her wig was much puffier and pinker, to be fair the lighting doesn't give her much justice. And something I have noticed is with characters called Pearl having pink in their design,,, like Pearl from Steven Universe and Pearl Houzuki from the splatoon franchise,,, anyway we are getting horrifically off topic.

And for my second reason on why I believe that ALW has made this change, mostly because of Electra, is because to put it short and simply. It is "woke". Having a genderfluid, black character who's a famous superstar and has his own little entourage that caters to his own needs and desires is something that nowadays is seen as woke. It's stupid, I know but it's ALW what do you expect 🤷‍♂️ What I'm trying to say is that he's messed up this musical pretty bad, if it was still the same without the post 2018 revival I believe it would be much better and Electra could still be a known black character in media.

That mostly finishes it off,,, essay over although I do think I Could've delved a little deeper but I'm really tired lmfao,,, It's like 1AM where I am so I need sleep,,, and please for the love of God, do not say or do anything racist in the comments,, I do not want this post to be hosting a triple k meeting in the comments and replies,,, Also sorry if I sidetracked from my main point, but as a summary it's basically just, keep Electra as a black character and stop whitewashing him 💔

[ldma-boodyshaker900]

Just a Lil Sneak Peek and a Reminder That I'm Still working on The Coming Out Comic !! 🫶💜

Don't Forget That The Tag Of this Comic is "Coming Out Comic"- It Will always appear on The tags underned!! 🫶🌸

It's been some while since i've got this Comic for Pride Month Started and I've Made some changes to It while it's The Next part Is on process so here are The diferences and changes i've done ever since The comic's Last updated!

1). So The Line art, It's gonna be like Thinner now since i've Made some changes In Ibispaint so it Will look Better.

2). Leo's and Donnie's Eyes, This Two Motherfuckers have Shared heterochromia so Leo's eyes are Red and Purple and Donnie's Eyes are Red and Blue.

3). Raph's Eyes and Desing change, So Raph Desing Is kinda different now, He has The Spikes and Features from a Drawing i Made not long ago so as The color eyes from before The Invacion Which used to be Yellow and Green.

4). Mikey's New Desing, So i've always been Struggling to find a Good Desing for Mikey but i have 2 features That Will be canon, 1 is That His eyes are Cyan and 2 Is That He Will always have a Tail And spots on His Face.

And Finally!!

5). Leo's Desing, So Leo's Desing wont really change a Lot aside from That His eyes, The Red marks on His Face That Will be Like shaper now, he has Fangs and Leo's Hoodie Desing, Which I'll post on Wednesday since it's gonna be Part Of His headcanons.

Okey so i hope this is usefull for You Guys In The Future When I post The Next part and I hope You like hos it's going so far

Make sure to ask me if You have any Question and If you'll like to give me Recomendations For any Of The Turtles flags I'll be more than happy to have Them since I Don't know a Lot about Pride 😅

Lord Bless You guys! And don't Forget That I'll post Leo's Hoodie Desing on Wednesday!!

❤️💙💜🧡

[byemizumikahago]

How to view reddit posts from a deleted account

Ever since MizumiKahago deleted both her reddit accounts upon being banned from the r/danganronpa subreddit, I've been struggling to find any archives and/or links of her posts/comments. My previous methods for viewing deleted/suspended accounts' histories was by using the website Unddit. However, since Reddit's API changes, the website has become basically useless for me. For a long time, I thought that there was no way to recover, and that I'd have to give up on my search forever...

that is, until I discovered a method for it. When typing into the reddit search bar on a desktop (or selecting the magnifying glass on mobile); author:Username, you can view the post/comment history of any account, even deleted/suspended ones, AND you can filter by specific subreddits.

I learnt this from this post, and with it, it has helped me find proof of which posts/comments were made by Mizumi, and which ones weren't. Now, you may be asking, how is that helpful? Well, I can give an example;

A while ago (nearly two months, wow, this blog's been alive for that long), I made this post where I linked a reddit post of someone I claimed to be Mizumi, calling komahina shippers an ableist slur. I made that claim based on memory, and memory alone. This is quite unreliable, as you cannot just take someone's word for something under the assumption that they're telling the truth. At the time, I had no tangible proof that this person was actually Mizumi, and as such, my post could be interpreted as me just claiming some random person was Mizumi, in an attempt to slander her.

BUT, now that I've discovered this method, I can test out whether or not this post actually WAS made by Mizumi. So, let's see if my hypothesis is correct;

First, I'll go to the r/wehatenagito subreddit.

Next, I'll type into the search bar "author:MizumiKahago"

Now, I'll scroll down a bit until I find the post, aaaaannnnd,

There it is! My hypothesis was correct, and I can use this method to determine what posts/comments were made by Mizumi, versus which ones were made by other users.

[serpentface]

Do you conlang? I was wondering if you had naming languages (or possibly even more developed ones) for pulling the words you use. I tried to search your blog but didn't find anything, wouldn't be surprised if the feature is just busted tho. Your worldbuilding is wonderful and I particularly enjoy the anthropological and linguistic elements.

Ok the thing is I had kind of decided I was not going to do any conlanging because I don't feel like I'm equipped to do a good job of it, like was fully like "I'm just going to do JUST enough that it doesn't fail an immediate sniff test and is more thoughtful than just keysmashing and putting in vowels". And then have kinda been conlanging anyway (though not to a very deep and serious extent. I maybe have like....an above average comprehension of how language construction works via willingness to research, but that's not saying much, also I can never remember the meanings of most linguistic terms like 'frictives' or etc off the top of my head. I'm just kinda raw dogging it with a vague conceptualization of what these things mean)

I do at least have a naming language for Wardi (and more basic rules for other established languages) but the rudimentary forms of it were devised with methods much shakier and less linguistically viable than even the most basic naming language schemes, and I only went back over it LONG after I had already made a bunch of words so there's some inconsistencies with consonant presence and usage. (This can at least be justified because it IS a language that would have a lot of loanwords and would be heavily influenced by other language groups- Burri being by far the most significant, Highland-Finnic and Yuroma-Lowlands also being large contributors)

The 'method' I used was:

-Skip basic construction elements and fully move into devising necessary name words, with at least a Vibe of what consonants are going to be common and how pronunciation works -Identify some roots out of the established words and their meanings. Establish an ongoing glossary of known roots/words. -Construct new words based in root words, or as obvious extensions/variants of established words. -Get really involved in how the literal meanings of some words might not translate properly to english, mostly use this to produce a glossary of in-universe slang. -Realize that I probably should have at least some very basic internal consistency at this point. -Google search tutorials on writing a naming language. -Reverse engineer a naming language out of established words, and ascribe all remaining inconsistencies to being loanwords or just the mysteries of life or whatever.

I do at least have some strongly established pronunciation rules and a sense of broad regional dialect/accents.

-'ai' words are almost always pronounced with a long 'aye' sound.

-There is no 'Z' or 'X' sound, a Wardi speaker pronouncing 'zebra' would go for 'tsee-brah', and would attempt 'xylophone' as 'ssye-lohp-hon'

-'V' sounds are nearly absent and occur only in loanwords, and tend to be pronounced with a 'W' sound. 'Virsum' is a Highland word (pronounced 'veer-soom') denoting ancestry, a Wardi speaker would go 'weer-sum'.

-'Ch' spellings almost always imply a soft 'chuh' sound when appearing after an E, I, or O (pelatoche= pel-ah-toh-chey), but a hard 'kh' sound after an A or U (odomache= oh-doh-mah-khe). When at the start of a word, it's usually a soft 'ch' unless followed by an 'i' sound (chin (dog) is pronounced with a hard K 'khiin', cholem (salt) is pronounced with a soft Ch 'cho-lehm')

-Western Wardin has strong Burri cultural and linguistic influence, and a distinct accent- one of the most pronounced differences is use of the ñ sound in 'nn' words. The western city of Ephennos is pronounced 'ey-fey-nyos' by most residents, the southeastern city of Erubinnos is pronounced 'eh-roo-been-nos' by most residents. Palo's surname 'Apolynnon' is pronounced 'A-puh-lee-nyon' in the Burri and western Wardi dialects (which is the 'proper' pronunciation, given that it's a Kos name), but will generally be spoken as 'Ah-poh-leen-non' in the south and east.

-R's are rolled in Highland-Finnic words. Rolling R's is common in far northern rural Wardi dialects but no others. Most urban Wardi speakers consider rolling R's sort of a hick thing, and often think it sounds stupid or at least uneducated. (Brakul's name should be pronounced with a brief rolled 'r', short 'ah' and long 'uul', but is generally being pronounced by his south-southeastern compatriots with a long unrolled 'Brah' sound).

Anyway not really a sturdy construction that will hold up to the scrutiny of someone well equipped for linguistics but not pure bullshit either.

[mjrdm]

.

[amplexadversary]

Completely self indulgent post but here's one of the post-canon scenarios I have in my head for G Gundam.

Maybe skip this post if you don't like dark themes. Not all of what I've outlined is dark (most of it isn't), but I do cross the line past what appears in the show in regards to DG cells and abduction.

The shuffles all get roped into restoration projects on Earth between the 13th and 14th gundam fights, partially to have something to do alongside their training, partially out of inspiration by the common points of the Kasshus' and Master Asia's goals, and partially because netting their countries some decent publicity is likely to earn them favors during the Gundam Fight's off-years.

Sai is contacted by Kyral about an effort to clear out the infamous buildup of trash and cadavers on Everest; he wants Sai to leverage Neo China's help as something of a reparation kind of deal and Sai goes sure why not.

Sai recruits Argo because Bolt Gundam is built to withstand the cold, and he thinks Argo and Nastasha could help reverse engineer that quality to enable the use of their Gundams as both heavy work equipment and protection from the harsh environmental conditions that normally prevent this kind of operation.

George gets involved because someone he knows has a distant relative who died on the mountain a century ago, and they wanted him to check in with the forensics team on the project. This detail is important because eventually it becomes clear that there is a mystery to solve (that I myself haven't figured out all the details of yet but broadly know the setup and conclusion); DG-infected people are disappearing and not being investigated due to stigma. Our heroes are naturally going to be pissed about this, and will need an "in" with the field if they want to do anything about it.

First massively self-indulgent element: The forensics/body identification team inexplicably includes the real-world author Kathy Reichs, who somehow exists in this universe, and there's a little side bit about her having written a Bones book right before the 12th fight that featured a cooked cadaver found inside a gundam after entry into the Earth's atmosphere. There are a lot of weird coincidences in the book that parallel the DG incident, which creeps everyone out, but the similarities are merely born of the writer threading the needle of being believable and interesting in a way that became very true to life.

What does become relevant is when the Shuffles eventually meet up, she's able to explain the implications of a bunch of weird shit the fighters discovered (also Marie Louise read her book, and one of the in-universe liberties Reichs took writing about the gundams' black boxes that she explains in the afterword leads to ML realizing something important; that Neo Germany does not have its gundam's remains.)

While the Everest project is happening, Domon, Chibodee, and Allenby all want to continue their training somewhere on Earth, and receive a proposal from (an OC of mine who is) a historic preservationist (and an acquaintance of Allenby's): she has acquired the grounds of an abandoned castle in Europe* after submitting a plan to restore it, and needs to hire people to help with the labor.

*the castle is probably somewhere in Germany because I also want this pitch to have drama over Schwarz (pre-13th fight), Schwarz (Kyoji), and Schwarz (the next guy who was supposed to inherit the mask when the older ninja retired). Also Germany is fucking pretty.

In exchange for the help of the three gundam fighters, they and Rain get paid, plus room and board anywhere on the grounds, plus full access to the grounds and miles of sparsely-inhabited countryside for training purposes, and the privacy and ability to practice with their gundams that comes with being in the middle of fucking nowhere. Rain sets herself up to work a clinic in the next town over as well as practicing pro re nata wilderness medicine (I'm convinced every medic supporting the gundam fight would need to be able to do this.)

The group involved in the Castle project sticks around for a time, makes some good progress, and engage in occasional Shenanigans that come up when you put a bunch of weirdos in a Situation.

They aren't in town a lot save for Rain, but when they are they eventually start to pick up on gossip and news about the Mysterious Disappearances correlated with DG cell infection (as well as details that turn out to be important later). Eventually Rain brings this to Domon and Chibodees' attention and they decide that, yeah, this is tied to the DG, this is their problem, they should convene with the rest of the Shuffle Alliance about it.

Also of course Schwarz is involved because I'm the one writing this; the culprits' DG-tissue harvesting operation relies on having him captured and helpless, using cells from his body to "update" other victims' DG infections to a less aggressive strain. One thing I haven't decided is whether I want a reinstantiated Wong to head this shit, or make up my own morally bankrupt opportunistic asshole looking to twist the DG to their own benefits. I also need to decide where on the planet the center of all this insanity is, and it needs to be a place that isn't going to have any unfortunate implications (because that's a genuine risk with dark story elements)

... That's about as much as I have that is thought-out enough for me to explain. I return to thinking about this scenario a lot because it puts most of the characters way out of their element (and has a bunch of details that appeal to me specifically), and it kind of evolved into an incomplete plot outline that I don't currently have any plans to flesh out.

I think it's an interesting enough direction to go, because it follows through with a lot of the themes present in G, but takes advantage of the genre shift to avoid DBZ-crazy power scaling and adjusts the conflict more to a matter of where the main characters' prowess is most effective (Both in and out of the gundams. I'm assuming there are a ton of guys similar to Michelo's gang that just need fighting interspersed with everything else I described. In fact, kicking Some Group of Douchebags out of their protection racket is probably how team Castle even gets ahold of evidence related to missing persons.)

[torgawl]

i keep thinking about how “is this what justice means to you, answer me neuvillette”, despite having been used in a case all those hundred of years ago, was probably a question that haunted - and still haunts - neuvilette during the entire time he has been chief of justice. i keep thinking about how they highlighted his struggles through time with both carole and wriothesley's trials. how guilty and powerless neuvillette must have felt for not being able to support and save those he recognised as vulnerable and victims before a system that corrupted their fates but that he wasn't able to change despite his position. the theme of being a casualty of a system no matter if you're the victim or the perpetrator in its eyes. the way neuvillette took, in both cases, things into his own hands. even if it was too late to fix the hurting carole and those who cared for her went through, even if it was too late to save her life; even if it was impossible to change wriothesley's past, his verdict and subsequent imprisonment; neuvillette went above and beyond, making use of his influence, to allow both melusines and wriothesley the opportunity of a better future - to melusines by making sure they weren't discriminated, to wriothesley by supporting his attempt at a second chance in life. i think part of the reason he's so intriguing is our awareness that this internal conflict he's bound to have is so complex. you have a chief of justice, or a judge, that is supposed to be imparcial and follow the law stictly confronted with situations of social injustice, unable to protect those who rely on him. you have someone who understands better than anyone what it means to be an outcast, being able to relate to those who are ostracised and have their pain weaponise against them. you have, in vautrin's case, a friend who cannot even showcase his own pain and is still expected to fullfil his juridical duties despite being personally related with those involved in the case. someone who people constantly turn to but whom he feels like he has no right to turn to himself. it's about the conflict between his feelings and his duty, between what's expected of him and what he can actually do. i think that's why the end of his story quest is so emotional and why it's so heartwarming to have him realise he isn't an outcast anymore, that he has a community there for him too. because a system is a system and he will probably never be able to save everyone, because yes he isn't human, but it doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to belong or that an active demonstration of love towards individuals and people he can relate to rather than the theoretical concept of humanity isn't meaningful. in fact, i'd it's a lot about that, about finding ways to be kind and how community gives meaning to life; how personal relationships and targeted kindness can shape society, or at least i think so

[dolokhoded]

the fact that people own ipads sounds fake to me

[heyitslapis]

Ok

[littlewigglers]

Gonna be taking a posting break for a bit, the tanks all need changed up and I don’t feel like taking pictures while I do it.

[ghostprinceiii]

Hey actually this is my blog look at my oc. ✨K'pheli Glam Blast!!!✨

[wardingshout]

hey guys have you ever heard about the game Star Stealing Prince? <- that's a rly cool link

sweet dreams and not so sweet dreams

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

I've been messaging with a 17yo kid from Gaza, named Nader.

When I asked what he wanted people to know about his family's situation, he immediately answered "the bitter cold".

His other answer was about how incredibly expensive everything is in Gaza right now. Here's context: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/16/how-much-does-food-cost-in-gaza

Can you imagine being in this situation? Made homeless where the stores are no longer getting consistent deliveries and might be bombed, the government is barely operating cuz it keeps getting bombed, there's not even charity getting into your besieged area, and most people's jobs—including your big brother's—have been bombed beyond repair?

Where it's getting so cold and you CAN'T get warm because you're relying on strangers to help you get that coat or blanket, or bc you need the little money that trickles in to just survive??

And can you imagine living this way for OVER A YEAR as a normal teenager who has a little brother and a baby niece with malnutrition to stress about too?

I know people are tired of hearing about Gaza. It's upsetting that this genocide has continued so long with so few powerful people even trying to stop it. But we have a responsibility to our fellow humans, to help them survive persecution.

Nader is seventeen. None of this should be on his shoulders. Please help his family be safe so he can stop feeling like it's his job to make sure his family has what they need.

This campaign was verified as authentic by gazavetters (#4 on this spreadsheet), which I have seen Palestinians I trust cite as a trusted source.

Can you give up one treat this week to help Nader's family have the basics?

If you donate at least $10 and comment on this post with proof, I'll record a silly voice message for you or draw you a post it note doodle!

Please also consider following @abdalsalam1990, the tumblr account this family is using to try to raise funds, as a reminder to yourself to share the campaign or contribute in the future.

Tagging usernames off the top of my head in hopes you'll share this fundraiser; please message me if you don't want to be tagged in things like this, or if I didn't tag you but you DO want to be tagged in posts like this.

Edit edit: thank you @transmutationisms for teaching me how tagging works 😅 i've only been on this site 10 years lmao

@wizardarchetypes @herpsandbirds @brattylikestoeat @tearsofrefugees @milf--adjacent

@vampiricvenus @mostly-funnytwittertweets @sweatermuppet @mostlysignssomeportents @probablyasocialecologist

@timequangle @repotting @robertreich @antifainternational @dlxxv-vetted-donations

[leonystic]

Leona out there smelling out ovulations(afab reader)...and being very needy is just something I can't get out of my mind...

when he's needy, he's needy. it's not something that usually happens with every woman he meets— it's something exclusive to you. your smell is divine, moving straight to his head; it's how he knows you're nearby, unique only to him. the other beastmen smell you regularly, but during that particular week of the month... you smell like your most preferred flavour. sweet, spicy, tangy, sour, bitter— no matter the flavour, he knows what's going on.

and so he waits, for his queen's show of hand, his divine, patiently, like a hunter. their consent is key to this week— it can make or break their future, as they may never feel safe with him. but oh, the dreams that almost seem like nightmares that strike him every night— he just wants to fold you or half and fuck you till the daylight. or you could fuck him till the daylight and beyond that too, he's not opposed to that.

*queen is used in a completely gn way, like vil! you can be any gender you like :) i hope you liked it! i couldn't really capture the needy needy in the word limit i'd set for this account (only ficlets) so maybe i'll post a full fic on my main lmao :) thanks for the request!!

[chirpingchorus]

chirp

(long and silly rant in tags so maybe don't open them if you're scrolling at a leisurely pace)