#succinct and to the point.

[ask-trialtale]

guys I got so inspired by y’all’s pieces of the dtiys that I drew a dtiys of my own dtiys

anyways combat duo >>>>

[stupidlittlespirit]

This is so silly but I'm watching a short video essay on sincerity in cinema and the creator is talking about how he watched Lord of the Rings for the first time at 17. He explains that he'd grown so used to the 'ironic' meta style commentary in the movies of the 2010's that as he was watching the opening narration of LotR, he spent the entire time waiting for the joke to come. For someone to take it all back with a zinger line. He listened to Blanchett describe and explain the backstory, and he waited for the other comedic shoe to drop.

And he kept doing it. Scene after scene.

He spent the film expecting someone to make a joke about how unserious things were or to break the fourth wall or do some other self referential type thing.

Now, maybe I'm just at that point in my cycle or maybe I'm too delicate in general, but I literally teared up hearing that. Straight up cried a bit. It is so fucking sad that sincerity and genuineness is being bred out of people.

People say all the time 'this generation can't take anything seriously!' and really, is it any wonder? Younger people have been trained out of it. You are no longer encouraged to be genuine or show emotion or be honest. You are actively punished for it. In fact, you are almost guaranteed to suffer for it.

That is so fucked up. I'm sorry to go on a bit of a random ramble rant but it's so fucking gut wrenching to see younger people lose that element of themselves. You can't express your passion without being told you're 'crashing out' or 'cringe'. You have to live in this neutral state of fear of perception, and god forbid anybody step outside of it!

You're told you should only consume and succumb and be ironic and emotionless and cool.

Listen, if you're following me and you're like.... 25 or under, let's say. Please. I beg of you. Do not fall for this rhetoric. Please, for the love of all things, feel. Feel and create and be honest with yourself. Indulge in things that make you happy. Be sincere. Wear your heart on your sleeve. Do not let this hyper-capitalistic, hyper-consumerist, self-centred, individualist culture take that from you.

Bleed yourself into the work you create. Live. Don't fucking let anyone tell you different.

[heritageposts]

[professional-girlkisser]

Still. They made it 🥹

(source)

[kitnita]

Hi I hope this isn't a dumb question but I'm a new Stars fan (This is actually my first time watching the hockey season) and I was wondering what the "We're not going home" phase is from and why did some people here got emotional when Khudobin said it during our home game on Tuesday

hi!!! there are no dumb questions!!!! the phrase came out of the 2020 bubble playoffs which, wild as it is to realize, were nearly five years ago 😭 so even if you'd been watching for a couple seasons it's the kind of thing that you might've missed anyway!!!!!

technically (& i didn't even fully remember this!) the stars using 'we're not going home' as a rallying cry in the bubble didn't even originate with dobby!!! joel kiviranta said it first, after the stars beat colorado in game seven of the second round thanks to his overtime game-winning hat-trick goal.

the stars' player of the game token at the time was a chain with a big dallas logo in it; a long-haired roope rightfully handed it over to kivi, the room called for him to give a speech, and in response kivi said, 'fuckin' right. we're not going home!'

it became associated with dobby when he was given the player of the game token after the stars beat vegas in game five of the WCF, and succinctly said, 'WE'RE NOT GOING HOME!' before putting the chain on.

all the love to kivi but dobby just said it with a little more panache!! he'd presumably had more time to think on how he wanted to use the phrase!!! also, as you may or may not know, espn+ had a series called quest for the stanley cup for a couple of seasons (it looks like 2023 was the last, maybe because the amazon documentary series kind of took over last season? who knows) & the title of the fourth episode was 'we're not going home' & featured dobby's use of the phrase as a closer to its coverage of that series, which i think helped cement it as dobby's in general hockey media. sorry kivi. we will always have 'joel fucking kiviranta' though!

anyway. all that to say, it was very nostalgic to hear dobby say it on tuesday!!!!!! it's such a Bubble Playoffs Phrase because it just .......... wouldn't really make sense as a rallying cry any other year. eliminated teams in 2020 left the bubble pretty immediately after getting eliminated so everyone could go home & go back to quarantining and waiting to hear what the league's plan was to return to play for the next season.

obviously most of the time, getting to go home during the playoffs is a good thing!! it's part of why teams want home ice advantage so much!!!

2020 flipped everything on its head though & turned being stuck in a hotel in edmonton for that much longer into a good thing. 'we're not going home' essentially just meant 'we're moving on to the next round' but it sounds so much cooler. dobby saying it on tuesday didn't literally mean 'we're not going home' so much as it meant 'we're moving on,' except that he was a game early so once more: can he please come back on saturday?? for the vibes???

i really wish i could easily put footnotes into a tumblr post but here are some sources:

rmnb put out an article about dobby saying 'we're not going home!' because andrej sekera referred to him as the russian machine, which is ovi's nickname. this was super useful in sourcing the vidoes of kivi & dobby saying the phrase from the stars twitter so shoutout to them.

espn did a recap article about the 'we're not going home' episode of quest for the stanley cup, which is kind of fun as an artifact now because pete was vegas' coach when dallas beat them! which i Knew but had like. kind of forgotten. 'Apparently DeBoer greeted every Stars player with "go win it" after they eliminated Vegas in the Western Conference finals.' pete can you somehow bring this energy back but in the locker room this time & with some extra juice. please pete i'm begging.

[remitro]

was originally just putting ashe in a stupid shirt but i wanted everyone else to get a dumb one too. enrichment in their enclosure <3 text on the shirts + bonus tide doodle under the cut

ASHE: i got possessed twice and all i got was this stupid shirt

VYNCENT: every adult in my life has failed me <3

WILLIAM: issues too complex to fit on a tshirt

DAKOTA: i don’t value my life outside of what it can do for others

TIDE: i am more grief than person

[vampirefunkmetal]

clocking in for another nightshift at the "making fun of remmick nolastname sinners (2025)" factory

[lunarmoves]

people who are uncool and lame use ai

[fortune-maiden]

The Hundred Line: Box of Calamity

All I'm saying is that if Kodaka really wants to create Hundred Line DLC, he should really consider a full on Gnosia/Raging Loop/Among Us style route! (Note: Spoilers for the Kill Eito Routes as well)

The Good

I think this has become one of my favorite routes outside of 1st/2nd Scenario! This route had it all! Mystery! Intrigue! Fun Character Dynamics! Comedy! ENDINGS WITH RESOLUTION!

Like Slasher, the route has fairly distinct branches depending on your choices which leads to a lot of fun divergent paths. And it really feels like a proper VN where different branches reveal different things!

(Eva Path) FINALLY EVA GETS A GOOD ROUTE! Even though she was dead for it I loved this version of Eva so much and I love that she finally got a route that gave her a good amount of exploration and actual closure! The Eva Path was my favorite in this Route, even though it's also the path that is not relevant to the SF Route. I love how we got to see a kind, caring Eva who gets to see the SDU outside of the battlefield and recognizes them as a bunch of confused kids who have no idea what they're doing. I think she's a little too lenient with them in some aspects (Eva, they killed you, and they're going to destroy your entire plant.), but I do like how even though she really isn't that much older than them she still sees herself as the adult in the situation and therefore the person who should take responsibility for them. And take responsibility she does! If you believe in her to the end, she rewards you with one of the most satisfying endings in the game (albeit a painfully rushed one ^^")

I also loved the scene where Takumi decides to tell his friends about the Futuran Village and the argument about the Undying Flame missiles that ensues. Especially how Kurara points out that even though she's against stopping the attack, this is not a discussion that should be taken lightly and shuts down any attempts to shut down the conversation. The whole thing also made be realize and wonder why the Exodus project leaders let Humanity's xenocidal champions have such normal free lives instead of having more characters like Kurara with an inclination towards militarism and extermination. It's interesting!

Also in this path, if we choose to believe Eva is a resentful ghost, we get another bizarre Casual Route type of scenario... and the treat that is Nozomi's evil laughter!

Seriously if you are not playing with the Dub audio, please look up at least this ending dubbed! It's incredible!

Meanwhile, when we choose not to take our findings to the rest of the SDU, we get a Bad Ending where Takumi is confronted with his own guilty conscience! I really love this especially because Takumi doesn't know he's in a time loop story, but depending on where the player is when they get this Route, we may already know from Hiruko that it is, and we may also have seen all the other routes where different members of the SDU are dead. I think it's fun to imagine this manifestation of Takumi's guilt isn't just from BoC, but from other routes. I remember also wondering if that could mean his version of Eva is also an amalgamation of the Eva from other routes (because she never reveals anything that we don't learn from her in those other routes), but I do prefer to think this is the real Eva especially because...

DAHL'XIA REALLY JUST RAGE QUITS ON US! This is the first route I've played where we really just had no plan for Dahl'xia (even Slasher gave us a deus ex Tsubasa!) and the only reason we survive is because Eva talks him down (even on the routes where we're not nice to her). It's absolutely hilarious! I really wish we could have at least heard what she said in the trust in Eva path ;w;

Anyway! G'ie! This is technically the route that unleashes them and I've really missed them from Slasher! They have a different vibe here, and I love Nozomi as the G'ie host because she's always the one person beneath suspicion... but I also love it because of the ending where Takumi refuses to out her! The ending where he realizes that the Nozomi he knew and loved died very shortly after Day 21, very shortly after she asked him for space because she couldn't accept his easy decision to kill Eva. At first I thought that plot point got dropped because of all the other things everyone had to worry about, but then this ending addressed it - Takumi did notice this and this is one of his biggest regrets regarding Nozomi's possession.

(It does however make the plot point's disappearance in BoB even more egregious though)

I also love how we get more Hiruko reveals about the time loop and also more Hiruko making incredibly stupid decisions! Sure just... send Kako into another timeline. That is certainly a Choice but given how many stupid decisions Hiruko makes, it's very on brand for her.

That said, if you realize which timeline she (and Eito) went to, it's fun to go look up what was happening on those days! Kako's appearance causes the Mystery/KG split, and then Eito shows up only in KG (afaik)

(Though it does also raise other questions... such as who killed Gaku. That murder was well before Kako's appearance!)

On another note, I also wonder if the Hiruko in BoC remembers the non-Goodbye Kiss branch of Slasher when she realizes that groups wouldn't work. Its' really interesting to think about which order Hiruko remembers things in (especially when she also says she doesn't remember other routes the way Takumi remembers Route 0. She just remembers snippets...)

Also speaking of Gaku, after unleashing the G'ie in Slasher, here he beats the G'ie by accident BY GOING FULL OCCULT HAM ON THEM! I am never getting over the Gaku & Takumi go all in on the occult being a required ending. I can't wait for this to come up in SF! I can't wait for Hiruko to discover this!

Also Gaku finally gets to be the Final Girl in a horror movie he was meant to be. Good for him!

For the Gnosia AU: Hiruko is Setsu, Kako is Kukrushka now xD

The Not So Good

unlike with Slasher, Multiple Eitos, and some other routes though, I feel like this Route really wants to be played in a specific order and I .... did not play in that order which I think ruined the impact of some of the reveals in it.

I feel like you're really meant to get the Kako ending first for the shock value, and for Hiruko's later reveal about Kako's disappearance to have more impact. Instead she basically tells you what happened in this route and then you play it and... it's literally exactly that. Not even something like a Hiruko's POV scenario the way we got a Nozomi POV in Slasher

(Also why does G'ie!Kako know about the Liver Mortis codes)

Similarly I feel like the reveal that the other Ghost is Takumi's guilty conscience is supposed to be one of your last endings but I also got it fairly early on which made some of the other branches with the Bad Ghost (namely the one where Hiruko also reveals your strangulation is your own doing) less impactful

I'm still a little confused how Nozomi got infected by the G'ie... It had to have happened somewhere between chasing off Kako and Kako's disappearance I guess?

SHOUMA! I know Uchikoshi did not write this route but since this Route is related to both Mystery & SF, I would imagine he still had some involvement so WHY ARE THERE TWO UCHIKOSHI ROUTES NOW WHERE SHOUMA PROCEEDS TO ACT IN WAYS THAT MAKE NO SENSE! When it was originally assumed that Shouma did the murders, I thought 'hey look a route where literal mind control is happening can make a murderer!Shouma scenario plausible' and then it was revealed that Shouma didn't commit the murders, he just knew who did and was covering it up because Reasons. Very stupid Reasons imo. I already ranted about it before so I don't really have much else to say here but I really cannot buy that Shouma's attachment to a dead-ish animal would be so strong that he could overlook literal murder!

Tsubasa, I love you, and your remote was very useful and all, BUT WHY DID YOU MAKE A REMOTE DETONATOR FOR OUR BOMBS????

Also Kako... Once again a route teases the idea of Kako being important only for her to either have an 80ish-day skip or to disappear immediately. We do have a sense of where she went at least but one of those routes didn't do much with her anyway. The other one may still have a chance though...

Speaking of... Are we going to get an answer about the Bees? Are they Adult G'ie? Are they going to appear in Mystery? I'm still so confused!

(Give my girl a route!)

On another note, back in Retsnom, I theorized that Retsnom could be related to the G'ie and how Takumi & Darumi's well meaning attempts to save their friends could result in the G'ie accidentally invading the Multi-verse. I was way off there but in this Route, that did sorta happen! Only I'm a little less satisfied about how it happened... I'm not sure how to feel about Hiruko deciding the best way to deal with her friends becoming possessed is to just... send them into another timeline... and it also doesn't explain where the G'ie came from in Slasher. Did someone just happen to open another Box there or are the G'ie in Slasher the same G'ie from BoC? (SF Route could still provide an answer here though so this is a minor quibble for now)

(Less of a minor quibble is how many dead!Eito routes are the result of timeline shenanigans from the spare!Eito routes...)

Also as much as I love the Eva path, WOW WAS THE ENDING RUSHED! Everything resolves super quickly as soon as we decide that Eva is not a resentful spirit. Suddenly! Nozomi is the mastermind and Takumi accepts her death very easily! Eva takes care of V'ehxness for us (still more satisfying than in Eva Route though)! Suddenly we can investigate the school and find a way to disable the missiles! Everything just kind of rushes to a conclusion and most heinously of all - THERE IS NO ENDING CG FOR ONE OF THE BEST ROUTES IN THE GAME!

(In general some of the Eva Path things felt very rushed and not QC'd well. I caught a number of typos and plot holes such as Takemaru knowing FB's name, mentioning that Nozomi can be revived with the Revive-O-Matic, and Takumi at one point talking to Eva directly but the dialogue treating the lines as though he was thinking the words. With a script this massive, I can accept that not everything can be caught but it's unfortunate that so many script issues were in this part specifically)

[diaryofageekgirl]

Cross-posting my meta/ranting from the Helluva Boss subreddit. Originally posted June 22, 2024 (here):

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: I love both Stolas and Blitzø. I'm super invested in this relationship. Both of them made mistakes, but both of them are also coming from places of trauma and previous fucked up interpersonal relationships. That being said, I don't really feel the need to point out how Blitzø fucked up, because so much of the fandom is so biased towards Stolas that everyone is already well aware of that part of the problem. I'm also very aware of the fact that Stolas has grown significantly as a character, but sometimes people in the audience forget the difference between what WE know, and what the CHARACTERS know. Now that that's out of the way...

Oh my god, THANK YOU. There was one particular line in Apology Tour that stuck out to me, especially because Blitzø's reaction wasn't what I hoped it would be.

Stolas: "I don't look down on you! How many times do I ha- when have I ever?!"

Oh, I don't know dude, maybe the entire first season?!

Episode 1: refers to Blitzø as "my little imp" during the phone call (using his bottom-of-the-hierarchy species as a cute pet name is..... bad. It's bad). Also just fully ignores the fact that Blitzø tells him that it's not a good time, that he doesn't understand what he's saying (more than once!) and clearly just agrees to the deal in order to deal with the more pressing issue of being shot at.

Episode 2: CONSTANTLY flirts with Blitzø using incredibly sexual language throughout the episode, even when Blitzø repeatedly tells him that he doesn't want to be flirted with while he's working. (That's not even going into how he completely ignores Octavia's emotions/reactions to what's going on around her and just focuses on himself and what he thinks is a good idea in the moment. That's two for two on episodes where his stunning lack of self-awareness shines through).

Isn't in episode 3 or 4. Though I will take a second to acknowledge one line in episode 3 - when Blitzø charges into the room and challenges Verosika and her crew, one of the succubi says "Is this little imp boy starting a demon duel?" Yet another example of imps being treated as lesser by other demons.

Episode 5: The constant heavy-handed flirting in public, again, even though Blitzø repeatedly tells him not to, again. On top of that, there's the "itty bitty imps like yourself" comment that he makes to Blitzø while in bed, and not even a minute later, tells him in cutesy UWU baby talk that he's "sowwy his cwients wiw have to wait" - not taking Blitzø or his work seriously. And, of course, we get Striker telling Blitzø that Stolas treats him like a plaything.....

Episode 6: ......aaaaaand the very next episode has Stolas literally calling Blitzø his "impish little plaything". Side note, but I feel like most discussions about Stolitz's dynamic and the imbalance present in it focuses on this line in particular, but not the rest of his behaviour throughout the whole first season. He is constantly making aggressively sexual comments, oftentimes right after being asked or told not to by Blitzø, sometimes after being told more than once.

Episode 7, he's actually fine. Hiding his face when Ozzie singles him out isn't great, but he had just been publicly embarrassed, and if you watch in the background, he does get up from the table (likely about to try to help Blitzø) right at the end of Verosika's bit, before he's interrupted by Asmodeus. And while I'm certain he really did just want to "talk, or watch a movie, or cuddle", I can also see how easy it would be for Blitzø to interpret that as him asking to Netflix and Chill, as it were.

(Also, not a major thing, but having a little plush imp doll as a kid (as seen in S2E1) feels.....really weird, to me? Like I know most posts on SocMed and reactions on YT just see it as cute, and I'm probably reading too much into it, and I know that IRL toy dolls and stuffed dolls of people are a common thing, but just the idea of a prince having a plush doll of a low-class citizen feels really bad. A literal plaything, if you will.)

Season 2, Episode 2: Not much, but even though they had a tiny bit of a fight (if you can even call it that) after Ozzie's, and even though they haven't been communicating super well, and even though he's concerned about finding Octavia, Stolas still finds an opportunity to make a sexual comment towards Blitzø.

Season 2, Episode 4: Ohhhhhhhhhh my god, I never even used to be mad about this, but the way that it got brought up in Apology Tour made me pissed. Stolas now getting upset about Blitzø not coming to rescue him when Striker kidnapped him? Telling him that he "couldn't even be bothered to come help me"? Fuck. Off. With. That. As a father of a daughter himself, you'd think that Stolas would be sympathetic to the fact that Blitzø was trying to help out his own daughter in that scene, especially considering that he had to wait 5 fucking years for a mandatory medical procedure. Of fucking course he's not going to skip out on that! And just the way he responds to that:

Stolas: Oh, ha, ha. Well, I do agree that is very important...But, I-

(and then he's cut off by Striker). I urge anyone and everyone to go rewatch that bit of the episode, because his tone of voice is just so dismissive. Like, "yes, yes, that's nice, now drop everything and come rescue me, which is more important". And that's before he even realizes that he's in serious danger!!!

Like, I'm sorry, but where the fuck does he get off getting mad at Blitzø for "always making it about sex"? Blitzø has only ever reacted to the sexual advances that Stolas was putting out - even from the very first hook-up, Stolas just assumed that Blitzø was there to seduce him, and Blitzø just went along with it as a way to distract him while he stole the book. He agreed to the transactional fucking in episode 1 while he was being shot at and was trying to get Stolas off his back. He's expressed annoyance towards Stolas' sexual advances in episodes 2 and 5 of season 1. And now suddenly it's Blitzø that makes it all about sex?!

And what do you mean, "How many times do I ha-" Have to what, buddy? Tell him that you see him as an equal? You haven't done that yet. Tell him that you love him? You did that whole conversation in pretty much the exact wrong order and shut down when he didn't react like you imagined in your head. Tell him that you think highly of him? You haven't done that. Not directly to him, not where he could hear, not before the end of that argument, right before forcibly teleporting him away from you, which, y'know, just reinforces Blitzø's earlier comment about treating him like one of his butlers, and how he "can't just dismiss [him]."

He may not have ever actively viewed Blitzø as inferior to him, but there's a LOT of internalized classism going on that I'm not sure he's even aware of.

(continued in a later comment):

One thing I'd like to add to all of 👆 that: I mentioned a bit about other people in Hell talking down to imps, but one thing I forgot to talk about is how Stolas himself views imps that aren't Blitzø. Quick list (entirely from memory):

Refers to Millie and Moxxie as "you littler ones" in Loo-Loo Land

Refers to I.M.P. collectively as "you little creatures" in Truth Seekers

The generally condescending and dismissive way he talks to the imps of the Wrath Ring in Harvest Moon Festival - if I'm remembering correctly, he also refers to them as little! Like I get it, he's crazy tall, but we all know that's not the only way to interpret that comment.

3.5 Since Stolas (and a big chunk of the fandom) went ahead and compared Blitzø's comments to Striker's, I'm gonna do the same to him! Those comments are so reminiscent of Striker saying "you little things ain't worth the clean-up" to Moxxie and Millie, also from Harvest Moon Festival.

4. Picking up, forcefully squeezing, and swinging around his imp butler while he was mad during his phone call with Stella in Seeing Stars. I'm not saying that he's abusive towards his staff, or anything like that - just that the very fact that he did it at all seemed to be totally subconscious, which in turn suggests that he doesn't realize how demeaning that is.

5. Actually, now that I think about it - the fact that he's so upset that specifically Blitzø didn't rescue him in Western Energy. The main reason he's alive and not bleeding out in the bottom of a mine shaft is because Millie and Moxxie showed up, and they only knew to go there and help him because Blitzø told them/they were there during the phone call. Like, does he even know their names? Is he even grateful that they helped? We don't know!

I saw someone in another thread say that he was essentially at the equivalent of the "I'm not racist, I don't even see colour!" stage of racism, and I completely agree. He doesn't realize all of these internalized prejudices he has, but they are ABSOLUTELY there.

(comment on another thread, building off of the comments I made about s2e4, originally posted July 7, 2024):

Also, a few other points to build off of this & respond to other comments on this thread:

"But he didn't tell Stolas about the first time, and the Carmine-crafted gun that Striker had that can kill royal demons" - You mean the one that Moxxie took from him and still has in his possession at the end of Harvest Moon Festival? The one that Moxxie was shocked that Striker even managed to get his hands on? Remember, I.M.P. didn't know that Striker was working for anyone; logically, that means they would have assumed that he got the weapon entirely on his own, and something like that is both rare and expensive - imps don't typically "make it big" in Hell, and I can't imagine a powerful Overlord would be thrilled to give a weapon that could kill them to someone so far below them in status. With them taking it from him and keeping it at the end of the episode, it means that they would assume that he's no longer a serious threat. They had no way of knowing he was being bankrolled by a royal, with access to three more angelic weapons (two pistols and a knife) (four if you count the rope as well).

"Stolas: You knew someone was trying to assassinate me?" Uhhhhh, yeah? You were there for Loo-Loo Land, dude, you know that people are trying to assassinate you, like all the time. This isn't news in any way - and yes, Striker is generally more dangerous than any of the assassins that we saw in that episode, it still doesn't change the fact that you're already well aware that being rich and royal puts a target on your back. This is really unfair to get upset with Blitzø for. (I'm aware that this is an argument and sometimes you bring up unfair accusations in arguments and both of them were very heated and I shouldn't have to plaster every comment about this episode and this relationship with disclaimers that I'm not hating anyone, just expressing frustration.)

[gemini-queen42]

I've seen ppl talk abt how its high time Ganondorf gets some gender fuckery, but it's in refference to since we've got a bit of it for both Zelda & Link in games so far [As much as one can ofc w/out actually including anything queer], but I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that Ganondorf is just already so *Primed* for it. Like Real Non-Binary Shenaniganery. He already kinda IS-

Lemme Elaborate:

It is long established that the Gerudo are female only, using males of other races/species to have children- those males never being accepted within Gerudo society and there is only one Male Gerudo every 100 years, who will be their king- which is Ganondorf.

The Gerudo do *Not* have a gender binary.

they have a gender Unary, based upon also having a Unary sex:

Women, females.

[Side note, this also kinda makes them genderless, as there cant be any social constructs of gender when those just apply to everyone, thus just being.. general social constructs. Anyways-]

See, the Gerudo have adopted the *language* Of the gender binary, as it applies to when they interact with the other hyrulian races/species- [Cultural Exchange ! ♡ ] but the actual ideas/"rules" of this gender binary, as social constructs, dont actually *Apply* to the Gerudo [At the very least/especially not Within Their Own & Not Interaction with the other Hyrulian Groups]

So, being a gerudo Man is not the same Gender as being a man in any other hyrulian group.

Because the other groups are working on a binary social constructs.

And the gerudo are Not.

This is not going to come out as succinct as I want but;

Being a gerudo Man is much closer to being in a higher role of religious/spiritual power/authority due to being intersex / nonbinary or Vice Versa - than being a man as we / other hyrulian groups think of it.

Like. It kind of literally *Is* that.

He is outside the Gerudo's main gender structure, he is a special case, places in a special role because of it.

He's non-Unary. Technically every Gerudo is non-binary, but that's also complicated-

Because they kind of have this synchratism thing going on with the rest of Hyrule's ideas of gender, and they both generally connect Gender with Biological Sex, so they share ideas there- and they've certainly blended their ideas of gender together to cohabitate and match things up linguistically- but like. It doesn't feel right to say theyre just.. working under the gender binary everyone else is. Because they're not.

I kind of want to compare it to Two-Spirt & Trans. Like they're understood easily through each other, because theyre kind of the same thing- but like. Also No. And Two-Spirit is very specifically a Native American Identity that is specific to Native American Culture [I'm sorry I don't Currently recall specific tribes the term is tied to its 2am for me as im writing this fjsjdjd]

The difference between Gerudo Gender & Other Hyrulian Genders is kind of like that. Except lacking distinguishing terminology. And like this is a kinda loose comparison and not exact but hopefully it helps you get what I mean?

So like yeah. Obvi the rest of Hyrule does not regard a male gerudo as being a seperate gender from any other man, and the gerudo barely do either- because theyre using the language of the binary, and they've fit him into it, and the rest of hyrule isnt really considering how gerudo gender doesn't work like theirs. So they dont acknowledge it.

And neither does Nintendo lmao

But he IS.

Because what does being a man *mean* in a culture of Only Women?

Not the same as in a culture of two genders.

Because one is an exception, an outlier - and the other is just one of two boxes.

Anyways FUN FACT I have a LoZ au / storyline in which I incorporate and explore all this!!! [I have made no other posts about it yet I'm sorry but PLEASE feel free to ask abt it if you're curious !!! ♡]

Ok thats it thanks for coming to my TEDtalk lmao

[ssruis]

Otori group changing their goals from “quick and easy way to bring in more funds to the park” to “putting in the work to bring in more park attendance while maintaining the park’s original vision” & tsukasa not choosing the easy path to fame with the commercial opportunity and instead putting his full support behind the wms show & rui choosing the fast track to his dreams in curtain call but then ultimately staying with wxs (which was what he truly desired). And to a lesser extent - emu being told to slow down and take her time to learn and grow in popping in my heart/ohe and Nene refusing to just take the compliments her hero gave her and instead ask to undergo some really intensive training in canary.

[theladysherlock]

"You're quite obviously the bell captain of this ship."

Deryn blinked. "What are you blethering about?"

The woman took a step back, looking Deryn up and down like a tailor sizing up a client. "I grew up in a hotel, you see. Daddy was hopeless at housekeeping, and my mother wanted nothing to do with us, so it was our only hope of a civilized life. I learned at a tender age that the most important person in a hotel isn't the owner, or the manager, or even the house detective. It's the bell captain. He's the one who knows where all the bodies are buried. He got quite a nice tip for burying them, if you know what I mean."

"No miss, I don't know what you mean," Deryn said. "I'm a midshipman, not a bellman."

"Oh, yes. I caught your act last night, all white gloves and merrily pouring the brandy. But underneath it you're in on everyone's secrets, aren't you? And everyone glances at you when they've got a pickle to deal with. Dr. Barlow, Prince Aleksandar, even that crusty old count-- they all want to know what the bell captain thinks."

I'll narrow in on stuff under the cut but. I REALLY like this bit of characterization. I think we've been building to it a while and I really really like it.

1. I do wanna start by saying I love Adela Rogers as a character. I think she's fun and interesting and I genuinely think that if Eddie Malone hadn't shown back up, she was going to be the one who figured out Deryn's secret. She followed them to London, after all. She's just as nosy but she's fun.

2. I kept track of it in the last chapter and almost posted it here, but then this bit got too long. There are two specific places where the narration tells us that Alek looks at Deryn for confirmation. Let alone however many little times it happened over the course of the dinner that weren't worth mentioning.

3. There's been a lot of this in Goliath specifically, with Deryn coming into her own and people recognizing her skills. Every time she interacts with the crew in this book, they listen to her immediately. This is a stark contrast to Leviathan, where she told the officers about how she found Alek and they just kind of fobbed her off to the next person. This change has been so gradual, since we've always known that Deryn was talented and good at everything, but when an outside observer comes in we get to see that everyone else has caught on, too.

4. If Alek is meant to grow into being a leader, Deryn is a natural leader. People consistently look to her to figure out what to do because she has a handle on it. Alek wants to be a good leader, and if this conversation is any indication, Deryn doesn't want the scrutiny that comes with leading. It's another foil between the two of them and I really like it. If Alek stayed emperor and Deryn was an advisor I think we'd get a lot of this back and forth in a really interesting way.

5. This is a dynamic I think happens a lot in the Zoological Society later-- Dr. Barlow (and maybe Alek, if the situation calls for it) talks to the fancy people, and Deryn's in the back serving food and listening in on everything.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Babel-17

sci-fi set in a future in an intergalactic war facing unknown beings only known as ‘invaders’

when a new code from the enemy is discovered, a poet/linguist/cryptographer is asked to try crack it - but quickly realises it’s a language

she assembles a crew to travel to the war yards to study the language, and discovers that learning it changes the way people think and interact with others

explores linguistic relativity

queer and polyamorous characters

[birdmenmanga]

[thelaurenshippen]

this is a genuine question not at all meant as a rude gotcha, but I feel like I've seen lots of people cite the relatively low barrier of entry as a huge advantage of podcasts as a medium, "if you have access to decent audio tech you can make a podcast" etc etc. So where does the need to sell a script come in? Is it a financial thing, and IP thing, something else?

this doesn't read like a rude gotcha at all, it's a really good question! there is a much lower barrier to entry when it comes to podcasts compared to tv, film, theater, etc. (though not as low as writing a book if we're talking about hard resources - you can technically write a book with just a laptop and a dream and then self publish! though as a writer who has written a lot of scripts and four books (3 published) writing a book is a much bigger psychological burden imo lol).

the need to sell a script, for me, is entirely a financial thing. if I had the money to produce podcasts at the level I want to entirely independently, I would! I know how to do it! but, unfortunately, I really only have the funds to produce something like @breakerwhiskey - a single narrator daily podcast that I make entirely on my own.

and that show is actually a great example of just how low the barrier is: I actually record the whole thing on a CB radio I got off of ebay for 30 bucks, my editing software is $50/month (I do a lot of editing, so this is an expense that isn't just for that show) and there are no hosting costs for it. the only thing it truly costs me is time and effort.

not every show I want to make is single narrator. a lot of the shows I've made involve large casts, full sound design, other writers, studio recording, scoring, and sometimes full cast albums (my first show, The Bright Sessions had all of those). I've worked on shows that have had budgets of 100 dollars and worked on shows that cost nearly half a million dollars. if anyone is curious about the nitty gritty of budgets, I made a huge amount of public, free resources about making audio drama earlier this year that has example budgets in these ranges!

back in the beginning of my career, I asked actors to work for free or sound designers to work for a tiny fee, because I was doing it all for free and we were all starting out. I don't like doing that anymore. so even if I'm making a show with only a few actors and a single sound designer...well, if you want an experienced sound designer and to pay everyone fairly (which I do!), it's going to cost you at least a few thousand dollars. when you're already writing something for free, it can be hard to justify spending that kind of money. I've sound designed in the past - and will be doing so again in the near future for another indie show of mine - but I'm not very good at it. that's usually the biggest expense that I want to have covered by an outside budget.

but if I'm being really honest, I want to be paid to write! while I do a lot of things - direct, produce, act, consult, etc. - writing is my main love and I want it to be the majority of my income. I'm really fortunate to be a full-time creative and I still do a lot of work independently for no money, but when I have a show that would be too expensive to produce on my own, ideally I want someone else footing the bill and paying me to write the scripts.

I love that audio fiction has the low barrier to entry it does, because I think hobbyists are incredible - it is a beautiful and generous thing to provide your labor freely to something creative and then share it with the world - but the barrier to being a professional audio drama writer is certainly higher. I'm very lucky to already be there, but, as every creative will tell you, even after you've had several successes and established yourself in the field, it can still be hard to make a living!

anyway, I hope this answers your question! I love talking about this stuff, so if anyone else is curious about this kind of thing, please ask away.