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mrsmarymorstan · 4 years

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Don't why the fans especially the manga readers are hyping about tooru breaking the curse when she didn't even do shit. she just went on that silly adventure and be an annoying crybaby whenever she learns something new about the curse. it was actually akito who broke the curse so i can't understand what you are all hyping tohru on.

Ah yes, I to remember the days when I’d be deliberately antagonistic just for fun and beat on female characters for showing emotions and caring about people. Or indeed, resent characters for having entirely realistic reactions to the cosmic horror and terror that surrounds them. Then I turned 16 and HER WE ARE ten years later and I get to see it from a whole new perspective! What fun.

In your misguided attempt to cause drama by shitting on people having a good time by being excited about upcoming character moments, much like Dr Flemming’s unwashed petri dish, you have hit upon something that benefits further discussion and interest.

That point being, was it TOHRU who broke the curse, or was it Akito?

The answer, I believe, is both. SPOILERS FOR ANIME ONLIES TONY YOU ARE WARNED DO NOT @ ME AGAIN IF YOU MESS UP.

When Tohru sets out to break the curse and stop the love of her life from being locked up in a cold dark room for the rest of his existence, she finds out that the curse is firstly, a bond of blood sworn by the spririts of the past and not something that can be physically manifested, and secondly, that the curse has already begun to break RE: Kureno.

Now, there’s a LOT of theories about why Kureno’s curse broke and if it truly was some random event or if there was a trigger. I think it’s a combination of the two. It’s noted by the maids and by (I think) Shigure that this is the first time in a long time that the entire Juunishi are present. There is also a sizeable age gap betwee Hiro and Kureno, that would about match up between Hiro being an infant when Kureno’s curse broke. Ergo, I propose that his curse broke soon after their first New Year’s together as a complete banquet with no spaces missing. Save that of the cat, of course, but more on him later.

Kureno is the rooster, and I believe that in legend the Rooster was seen as the closest to God because he could deliver messages between heaven and earth. Therefore it makes sense that the first to leave God alone, is God’s messenger. “We have had our final Banquet, it’s time to end the cycle.”

Of course Akito/God does not have a positive reaction to this, and the loss of one Juunishi inspires a great sense of loneliness and fear within Akito similar to that which lead to the creation of the bond in the first place. We do not see God being willing to make any attempt to work on achieving the Cat’s wish of finally being able to form friendships beyond the Zodiac and forming bonds with the humans he was so afraid of before.

And THAT is the crux of the matter. Tohru came into the Sohma’s lives and began to break the curse simply by forming close bonds with them all, and letting them into her life and react to the world around them. Hana and Uo are both friends with Kyo and Yuki, actively choosing to spend time together. We also see that in Kyo attending the same school as Yuki, it opens up that same school to Haru and Momiji where they too can form bonds outside of the Sohma influence. It’s a school THEY chose, not the single sex one Akito picked out. Equally this means we have to give some credit to Yuki for making the brave choice of defying his parents and Akito’s wishes by attending a mixed school, and Shigure (who continues to be the mastermind here) for goading Akito into allowing Kyo to also attend that school and not simply pay off the private school he was MEANT to attend and have them let him back in.

It’s also no real surprise that the two other Juunishi whose curses break before the final scene are Momiji and Hiro. Hiro is shown to be forming bonds outside of the Zodiac too. Not only has he matured enough that he is able to understand things from Tohru’s perspective now and has a relatively positive relationship with her, he ALSO becomes a Big Brother with a little sister he adores. Again, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his curse breaks whilst he is in the same room as her. The Sheep has formed a meaningful relationship outside of the Zodaic, so it is time for the Sheep Spirit to return to its original realm. We then have Momiji, who is absolutely desperately in love with Tohru and is also equally desperate to be allowed to have a relationship with his OWN sister. Momiji’s curse breaks only after he has gone through puberty though and reaches adulthood. It’s when he starts to truly understand the path that is laid before him, and where he stands in it. He WANTS a relationship with Tohru, but he can also recognise that she is in love with Kyo and that makes it all the more painful. He knows that as he ages he is only going to be made to feel more distant from his sister, and that hurts too. HOWEVER, Momiji doesn’t ever stop LONGING for meaningful relationships and a world beyond the life of the Zodiac. He recognises that he does not have anything really tying him to the Sohma anymore, and so his curse breaks. The rabbit spirit has no need to be part of the banquet, and so heads home.

Now, as you can see, whilst Tohru is a key trigger in the breaking of the curse, she’s still not the one to actively do it, right?

Well, wrong. Sort of.

Take note that when we’re told the ACTUAL story of the Original Banquet , we find that the Cat was the first friend God ever made, and was also the first to die. It was the death of the cat that triggered God into creating the eternal bond that would always bring them together, and it was the cat’s terror and dismay at being forced into such a bond that caused them to disown him. The cat has, all along, simply wanted God to make friends. The first who had the curse take effect upon them, was the one who rejectd it the most and as such was then shunned forever more. The cat wanted God to make bonds outside of the Zodiac, and in turn the cat was forever banned form making those bonds. Even though we’ve been show the Cat was granted some realtionships in the form of Kazuma’s Grandmother; it is a relationship made out of pitty rather than love and understanding.

Tohru though? Torhu is the God Damned (excuse the pun) Year of the Cat Fanclub PRESIDENT. Nobody loves and respects the OG Cat Spirit in the way she does. She emphasied with the Cat’s plight in the legend her mother told her, feeling sorry for them being tricked like that and being forced to miss out on being part of the legend. She wanted the cat to join the group! She cradled the cat’s body in much the same way God in his final moments, as instead this time Tohru brings him back into the light and forms a stronger and longer lasting relationship with the cat spirit through love and empathy.

And later on, in that same mountainside, it is TOHRU who is the one who reaches out her hand to god and asks to become friends. It is the act of God forming friends with mortal humans that triggers Akito/God to finally release everyone from their curse. That’s why it happens when it does, when Akito knows that Tohru is safely out of hospital, that she has still welcomed Akito into her life... and that if Akito is going to take those terrifying steps into forming relationships that can end in rejection, she’s going to have to do it on her own two feet.

THAT is how Tohru breaks the curse. THAT is what is important here and what is so FUCKING HARD ROCK about Tohru Honda. We see her willing to stand up to GOD in order to break the curse, but she stands before God as an EQUAL. Tohru WILL break the curse. She WILL fight for her soulmate. She WILL make you be friends with her and address your deep seated issues of self hate and abandonment (not that she has those issues herself ahahahha no I’m just your average happy go lucky teenager with two dead parents who lives in a tent I’M FINE)

Of course, it turns out that everything Shigure and Kazuma told her about breaking the curse was true: That she didn’t have to do anything other than to continue to be herself. HOWEVER, in order to BE herself she needed to try and have a “silly adventure” where she tested her metal and learnt to speak up for herself. Why are we excited? Because we’re going to see Tohru finally find the confidence to speak out against others without harm! We see her get into a fight with Rin about it. We see her refusing to back down against Kagura. We see her standing on her own two feet and saying “No. No I don’t want that. I REFUSE to give in and to leave well alone!”

All before, Tohru has been so scared to speak up for herself because of her debilitating abandonment issues (and please let’s not make fun of people’s mental health issues, okay? I haven’t been having a weekly therapy session for nearly two years now just because for the fun of it) but now she’s got to the point where she feels comfortable and secure enough to show an uglier side to herself that people might reject. She is able to be mean, and shout, and fucking break into someone’s house in order to get what she wants! How can a TRUE fruits basket fan NOT be excitd for that level of character development?

And to end it, please, for the LOVE OF GOD it is 2020. I am 26 years old. I have been on tumblr since 2011. Do not send me hate about female fictional characters and expect me to roll over. My username is “Mrs Mary Morstan”. Mary. Morstan. The most hated female character in all of BBC Sherlock. Do not even try to fucking test me, you Petri Dish.

#Fruits Basket #Furuba #Furuba Manga Spoilers #Tohru Honda #Akito Sohma #The Curse #The Juunishi #Anonymous #greatest hits

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nasa · 5 years

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NASA Spotlight: Brandon Rodriguez, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Education Specialist

Brandon Rodriguez is an education specialist at our Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California where he provides resources and training to K-12 schools across the Southwest. Working with a team at JPL, he develops content for classroom teachers, visits schools and speaks with students and trains future teachers to bring NASA into their classroom. When he’s not in the classroom, Brandon’s job takes him on research expeditions all around the world, studying our planet’s extreme environments.

Fun fact: Brandon wakes up every morning to teach an 8 a.m. physics class at a charter school before heading to JPL and clocking in at his full time job. When asked why? He shared, “The truth is that I really feel so much better about my role knowing that we’re not ‘telling’ teachers what to do from our ivory tower. Instead, I can “share” with teachers what I know works not just in theory, but because I’m still there in the classroom doing it myself.” - Brandon Rodriguez

Brandon took time from exciting the next generation of explorers to answer some questions about his life and his career:

What inspired you to work in the educational department at NASA?

I was over the moon when I got a call from NASA Education. I began my career as a research scientist, doing alternative energy work as a chemist. After seven years in the field, I began to feel as if I had a moral responsibility to bring access to science to a the next generation. To do so, I quit my job in science and became a high school science teacher. When NASA called, they asked me if I wanted a way to be both a scientist and an educator- how could I resist?

You were born in Venezuela and came to the U.S. when you were 12 years old. Can you tell us the story of why and how you came to America?

I haven't been back to Venezuela since I was very young, which has been very difficult for me. Being an immigrant in the USA sometimes feels like you're an outsider of both sides: I'm not truly Latin, nor am I an American. When I was young, I struggled with this in ways I couldn't articulate, which manifested in a lot of anger and got me in quite a bit of trouble. Coming to California and working in schools that are not only primarily Latinx students, but also first generation Latinx has really helped me process that feeling, because it's something I can share with those kids. What was once an alienating force has become a very effective tool for my teaching practice.

Does your job take you on any adventures outside of the classroom and if so, what have been your favorite endeavors?

I'm so fortunate that my role takes me all over the world and into environments that allow to me to continue to develop while still sharing my strengths with the education community. I visit schools all over California and the Southwest of the USA to bring professional development to teachers passionate about science. But this year, I was also able to join the Ocean Exploration Trust aboard the EV Nautilus as we explored the Pacific Remote Island National Marine Monument. We were at sea for 23 days, sailing from American Samoa to Hawaii, using submersible remotely operated vehicles to explore the ocean floor.

Image Credit: Nautilus Live

We collected coral and rock samples from places no one has ever explored before, and observed some amazing species of marine creatures along the way.

Image Credit: Nautilus Live

What keeps you motivated to go to work every day?

There's no greater motivation than seeing the product of your hard work, and I get that everyday through students. I get to bring them NASA research that is "hot off the press" in ways that their textbooks never can. They see pictures not online or on worksheets, but from earlier that day as I walked through JPL. It is clearly that much more real and tangible to them when they can access it through their teacher and their community.

Do you have any tips for people struggling with their science and math classes?

As someone who struggled- especially in college- I want people to know that what they struggle with isn't science, it's science classes. The world of research doesn't have exams; it doesn't have blanks to be filled in or facts to be memorized. Science is exploring the unknown. Yes, of course we need the tools to properly explore, and that usually means building a strong academic foundation. But it helped me to differentiate the end goal from the process: I was bad at science tests, but I wanted to someday be very good at science. I could persevere through the former if it got me to the latter.

If you could safely visit any planet, star, or solar system, where would you visit and what would you want to learn?

Europa, without a doubt. Imagine if we found even simple life once more in our solar system- and outside of the habitable zone, no less. What would this mean for finding life outside of our solar system as a result? We would surely need to conclude that our sky is filled with alien worlds looking back at us.

Is there a moment or project that you feel defined (or significantly impacted) your career up to today?

While I never worked closely with the mission, Insight was a really important project for me. It's the first time while at JPL I was able to see the construction, launch and landing of a mission.

If you could name a spaceship, what would you name it?

For as long as I can remember, I've been watching and reading science fiction, and I continue to be amazed at how fiction informs reality. How long ago was it that in Star Trek, the crew would be handing around these futuristic computer tablets that decades later would become common iPads? In their honor, I would be delighted if we named a ship Enterprise.

Thanks so much Brandon!

Additional Image Credit: MLParker Media

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

#nasa #science #educators #stem #Star Trek #Enterprise #venezuela #science facts #earth science #earth #motivation #Spotlight #hispanic heritage month

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strangertheory · 4 years

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Will and El are technically the same person? Along with Hopper? Did I get that right? This is so confusing.

Hello there! Thanks for Asking.

My current hypothesis regarding what might be happening in Stranger Things is that we are following a story about a DID System and that many characters in the series are perhaps alters and hosts (separate states of consciousness and identity within one human mind) dealing with trauma memories and seeking to learn to work together to protect one another and the DID System as a whole.

The short answer to your question is: only if you perceive of alters (different states of consciousness that have their own individual sense of identity and self) that are sharing the same human mind as being “the same person.” Generally those with DID will refer to themselves as being “multiple,” as being hosts in a DID System, as being alters or as having alters etc. Each alter will have their own distinct memories and life experiences that they’ve lived (both in the external world and the internal worlds that might exist in their mind) and that are part of who they know themselves to be just as individuals with a single state of consciousness have built their sense of identity over many years of lived experiences.

kaypeace21 and I might be (?) the only two bloggers on Tumblr analyzing the concept that El, Will, and Hopper (and potentially many other characters) are all sharing the same mind and are part of a DID System (but if there's anyone else I'd enjoy following their blog!)

@kaypeace21‘s hypothesis is that the writers of Stranger Things are telling a fictional sci fi / fantasy story that, like in X-Men or Akira (etc.), involves characters with superpowers and psychic abilities. Her theory is that because Will has both dissociative identity disorder and psychic / supernatural abilities that he has unintentionally and subconsciously brought his alters, his trauma memories, and his internal worlds to life and they’ve escaped his mind and are now in the real world and in Hawkins.

Although I do consider @kaypeace21′s hypothesis that everything has been brought to life and has emerged from Will’s mind into Hawkins by supernatural means (like David Haller’s / Legion’s alters do in X-Men) to be a very well-argued theory and analysis of what might be happening in Stranger Things, I have recently pushed my own hypothesis regarding what is happening in the story towards questioning whether the supernatural events and superpowers of Stranger Things might exist exclusively within internal worlds in our characters’ subconscious. I’m unsure of how much of their “real” physical world we have seen yet in the series if I follow this train of thought, and how much of it is memories that are symbolically playing out in an internal world of their mind. In short: I think there might be a certain level of consciousness and wakefulness at which they’re all still in the same body that we have perhaps not fully seen or realized yet because of the creative way that the series is telling the story (although this might have been imaginatively represented in season 2 when Will and/or the Mindflayer are conscious/unconscious at the Lab with Dr. Owens.)

Perhaps El and Will only appear separately and can only interact with one another in internal worlds, while co-conscious, or within liminal spaces between wakefulness and unconsciousness because Hawkins is not always their “real” world but is an internal world in their shared brain. Maybe Hawkins is similar to the Upside Down, which I also believe is a mental construct, but more comfortable since it’s meant to be a home for alters to live rather than a place that trauma has been hidden away. I think that El is a gatekeeper in the DID System. And I currently hypothesize that Hopper is also possible part of that same DID System and that Hopper is a protector and potentially also a gatekeeper. (Hopefully I will find the time to write a new post about Hopper sometime in the near future.)

The questions that I keep asking myself are: what if some moments in the story are not actually taking place in the ‘real world’ even within the Stranger Things universe? What if many moments in the series so far have been fantastical because they were moments in characters’ lives that were re-imagined by their subconscious mind in order to cope with trauma? Not hallucinations (because as Hopper says “these aren’t nightmares, it’s happening”) but imaginative re-workings of "what happened” in their life that are easier for their mind to process. PTSD and internal flashbacks and also reworked memories that manifest themselves more symbolically and metaphorically within fantastical internal worlds.

Many movies on the Stranger Things 4 Video Store Friday movie list encourage me to continue questioning the boundaries between Stranger Things characters’ physical lives and what they might be experiencing as flashbacks or as memories within internal worlds and different states of consciousness. A few films on the list which inspire me to question what might be going on in Hawkins and what Hopper, El, and Will (and many other characters) might be dealing with include Altered States, The Fisher King, The Matrix, Inside Out, Inception, The Truman Show, What Dreams May Come, Drop Dead Fred, The Cell, The Neverending Story, and many others.

The first season of Stranger Things had a lot of artistic and thematic strength in its mystery and layers of ambiguity, but I suspect that once Stranger Things was renewed and they knew that they could have multiple seasons they began planning how to reveal what’s going on behind the curtain of mystery in a meaningful way by the end of the story.

The big question is: what has been happening in these characters’ lives? Am I “overthinking things” as some of my friends have told me? Is it really “not that deep?”

Here are a few blogposts that I have written on this topic in which I explore some of my thoughts regarding what might be happening in the series if Stranger Things is about a DID System, internal worlds, and alters dealing with trauma:

🧠 What is going on with the eerie parallels between Will and El?

👀 My response to an Ask: "Do you think there’s any relation or symbolism between a Brenner and Lonnie other than being shitty/abusive father figures?"

🦸‍♀️ My response to an Ask: "What are the source of their powers?" in which I share my "first layer" and "second layer" meta theories/thoughts (re: The DID Theory) + a brief follow-up Ask regarding the concept that El's powers might only exist in internal worlds if she is a fictive alter

🏞 My response to an Ask: What do you think is going to happen with the Upside Down especially if Will and El's connection grows?

In this post I briefly address how El, if she were a teenage girl alter that exists in an internal world of the mind but who is sometimes conscious in Will’s body in the “real world”, would have experiences comparable to those of a trans girl

Truthfully: I am at the point that I speculate that nearly all of the characters exist as alters either exclusively or are introjects which are alters based on people that the DID System knows that exist in the external world. But I realize that would be quite the plot twist and might push the question of “what is real?” farther than some fans might be willing to go.

I recognize that this is a lot of information and theoretical content and blog links to provide to you in response to your general Ask but I wanted to offer you reference points and direct you to other blog posts regarding this theory in case you wanted to learn more about the evidence and analyses that led me and a few other bloggers to these hypotheses. If you have any other questions regarding my theories regarding what might be happening in Stranger Things (whether that’s this topic or others) please don’t hesitate to send me another Ask or to DM me directly. I always enjoy talking about ideas with other fans. :)

If this concept interests you I know that kaypeace21 would greatly enjoy sharing her own theories with you and answering any questions you have. I highly recommend that you visit her blog, read her posts, and message her if this topic interests you because my thoughts are often very different from hers and you might enjoy reading both of our blogs for two different theories based around the same hypothesis: that Will has dissociative identity disorder and that this influences all events in the series. If you are interested in reading about her current analysis that hypothesizes that superpowers are real in Stranger Things, that Will has dissociative identity disorder, and that both monsters and some other characters have emerged from Will’s subconsciousness into the “real world” of Hawkins then I recommend reading these two blogposts that she wrote: 🧠 Part 1: Will Created the Mindflayer and Upside-Down Theory + Part 2: Some of your favorite characters are Will’s split personalities (psych/narrative analysis) CW: abuse, sexual assault, psychological trauma (a content warning is also noted before the section in the post itself.)

I do agree with many aspects of kaypeace21′s theories and I think she explains how dissociative identity disorder might influence many events of the story so far in a way that I do find compelling, but the critical difference between our hypotheses is that kaypeace21 currently proposes that Stranger Things features characters with DID that also have superpowers (like David Haller in X-Men) but I currently think that the vast majority of what we have seen on screen in the series so far is “not real” and exists only within characters’ minds and I do not believe that El has any superpowers except when she is within internal worlds. (And that’s a fairly notable difference.) I also don’t think that the Mindflayer exists as a blobby mass of melted people except within internal worlds in their mind. I wonder if the vast majority of season 3 took place entirely in an internal world version of Hawkins and when Will said “what if we locked him out here with us?” to El that he might have been more accurate if he had said “what if we locked him IN here with us?” in very simple terms: I want to know if Will has actually woken up yet from being sedated in season 2 at all, or maybe whether he's sometimes present in the external world but then sometimes switches back to the internal world, etc. (But perhaps the events of season 4 will invalidate this thought of mine. I look forward to seeing what happens!)

Thank you again for your message. I hope my response wasn’t too rambling, that I didn’t repeat myself too much, and that it remained coherent in spite of how late at night I am writing this. I might return and edit this in the morning. (I’m wrapping up this reply at 12:56 AM but I started writing this at 10PM. Time flew by! Time for sleep.) Goodnight :)

#stranger things theory #stranger things theories #the did theory #stranger things is perhaps about a did system + internal worlds alters and trauma #el and will #will and el #and hopper #and many others

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wainwrightjakobshammerlock · 5 years

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finally. i decided to do this. anyways hello there, i am jake and today i want to talk about something; you see, if you are in the tf2 fandom, you probably know about heavymedic. Wherther you are a hardcore gamer who resents f2p’s or a person that never played the game but has trillions of notes on their art- you know heavymedic exists and most of all you probably ship it.

And I find that weird. In the few fandoms in my life I have been in I had never seen a single ship be so widely if not shipped, then accepted. Sure, maybe everyone in the GF fandom knows what Billdip is - for better or for worse. Sure, maybe the HS fandom is 70% shipping.

But I have never ever seen such a phenomenon in a prominent multiplayer game fandom. A fandom, sadly, oftentimes filled with toxicity. Overwatch is very similar here - yet ships are either a hot topic of discussion or straight up ignored. But TF2? In here for whatever reason we ship these two mercenaries. And in this essay I will try and find a reason or two why is that.

Apologies for any mistakes or incoherency. English is not my first language, I need to ramble, and my vocabulary is all over the place.

Content warning: mentions of homophobia, blood, death, mentions of WLW fetishization, nsfw mention. Also MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR THE TF2 COMICS.

Part 1: Canonical Evidence and Interactions

Let’s be honest: I could ramble about this one for days on end. But I’ll try and keep it short.

First and foremost we have the official videos. And of course the first thing that comes to mind is Meet the Medic.

At the very start of the part where Medic himself appears, we see him telling a joke about a particularly gruesome situation to Heavy.

He laughs along with him, visibly enjoying his company. He even smiles as he waits for another joke. Heavy only shows genuine fear a lot later.

And of course this damn scene always cracks me up. Medic slightly pinches Heavy’s cheek and strokes his lip gently (the other part is almost not noticeable unless you play the video at slow speed).

Of course we all know about the Hand Hold that happens somewhere halfway in the vid. I don’t think I have to explain the gayness in that. The fact their hands stay interlocked even after Medic helps Heavy up. The deep breath Medic takes because even he cannot handle the emotions. That few seconds is unresolved sexual tension manifest.

Overall the short shows a strong feeling of trust between these two. Medic confides in Heavy and reverse. Yeah he puts a baboon heart into his friend’s chest cavity but the fact (as proven at the end of the video) that Heavy was the first one to have an Ubercharge implanted into him shows that Medic at the very least considers him a lab rat.

I treat End of the Line as non-canonical, as do many others, and as such won’t discuss it here. But it will forever crack me up that Valve endorsed such levels of homoerotic subtext.

These two have some short moments in other videos, like for example in Invasion Heavy helps Medic up (CINEMATIC PARALLELS) but it’s nothing major so I guess I’ll skip forward.

Second is their interactions ingame. You might call me a weirdo for trying to find stuff in there but holy shit I have things to say and I’m going to say them.

You thought I was going to fanboy over the “i love this doktor” voiceline huh? Well not really. I wish these two had unique lines if they assist one another.

Heavy is literally listed on the official wiki as the “ideal medic buddy” and multiple pages on that exact wiki say some pretty interesting things.

I have to say something about the Gentleman’s Ushanka and/or Pocket Medic. They are both community cosmetics - but the fact they both got accepted by Valve says a lot. Above is text snipped from the actual wiki.

Last but not least: The Comics. Darned comics. The pair of mercenaries has basically no interaction - unless you count issue 6.

Heavy getting absolutely PISSED when Medic is killed by Ch*avy. Their reunion. Medic referring to Heavy by “my friend” in a totally straight way. Kind of sad Valve wasted an opportunity for them to hug. Maybe they knew their comic artist ships them and wanted to avoid having to answer the Question™.

Part 2: Dynamics

This part’s a bit trickier, mostly due to the reason that I’m new to this whole dynamic analysis thing. Yeah I’m good at spotting canonical evidence but very specific shipping dynamics often escape my gaze.

The most obvious one is Big Guy, Little Guy. Quoting the TVTROPES page:

[…] This trope describes a pair of guys who always fight together, are best friends forever, and quite often have a very obvious hierarchy: The little guy is often in charge […] The little guy is usually listed first, since he’s the leader, and they are always listed together, as if they are one entity. In fact, some episodes may center on the fact that they can’t live without each other. […] If this is a case of Brains and Brawn, the Big Guy is usually the Brawn, and the Little Guy the Brains. It’s almost never the other way around, but in some cases the Big Guy can be rather smart too. […]

A sub-type of this, a common favorite here on Tumblr is known as “small chaotic big calm” and hoo boy if that isn’t these two. I don’t really have much to say here - again I am not an expert.

Part 3: Fandom Impact

So you don’t think Red Oktoberfest (as Heavymedic is sometimes called) is super popular on anywhere else than Tumblr? Wrong.

It’s hard to find TF2 fics on Archive of Our Own not tagged with Heavy/Medic. Of course most of them only contain hints to their relationship but go in the main tf2 tag and I can guarantee you, you’ll gonna see “implied heavy/medic” all the time.

But these two go further than AO3 or Tumblr or Instagram or whatever. They are recognized even within the wider circle of the fanbase. Take this SFM, for example. (I am using the Saxxy Awards version of Secret Lives here mostly due to the fact that the Heavymedic moment is much gayer. In the normal version, the dialogue isn’t changed, but they simply hold hands.)

youtube

But it gets deeper. (WARNING: THE GAY MOMENT IN THIS ONE IS NSFW. NOT EXPLICITLY SO BUT JUST A HEADS UP TUMBLR PLEASE DO NOT FLAG ME)

youtube

And the best part? The comments are extremely positive. You’d expect hoards upon hoards of homophobes screeching but no, the comments are supportive. Even on places such as Reddit or Youtube, comments like “yeah they’re gay and in love” do not get downvoted/disliked to hell; in fact the opposite.

Part 4: Canon Status

Let’s be real. Most ships are shipped because people want to explore the dynamics in fanfic, fanart or something else. But Heavymedic is shipped because… well, I have no idea.

Actually, I kind of do - but only theories. You see, while the canonical evidence is here, the creators have never said anything about them. No confirmation, no disproval, no hinting, nothing.

But the ship is so prominent! There has to be something causing this!- you say. And to that I present you 2 theories on why Heavy/Medic is so popular.

Theory number 1 states that we simply all choose to interpret their interactions as homoerotic. And this is very easy to disprove - there’s simply no way we just collectively agreed on these matters out of nothing. There has to be something bigger.

And theory 2 states that, well, our interpretation is the desired interpretation. But this is even more ridiculous than theory 1 for a number of reasons. If they are in fact gay, why hasn’t Valve made them canon yet?

A Theoretical Scenario

I am going to ramble big time on this one, so buckle up lads. I’ll discuss a theoretical scenario in which, well, if that was not obvious, Valve confirms Heavymedic as canon. Maybe then we will see why they will probably never do so.

TF2 is considered by typical capital G, alt-right Gamers as a “non-political” game. This means no women (in the game itself, at least, and if even, sexy women only), no queer folk and no minorities (for some reason they accept Demoman but throw a fit if someone draws any other merc as not being pearl white). Team Fortress 2 was around before Gamergate and other things like Gamers Rise Up. It’s a classic and Valve is regarded as the good guy to Epic Game’s bad guy. If Valve did anything to confirm doubts, wherther it be clearing up popular fanon or confirming ships, these people would throw hands. (Although they seemed to ignore when one of the writers confirmed Miss Pauling is a lesbian. Huh.) Even those that don’t play TF2 would come to the aid of their bros.

Let me illustrate with two very similar examples. In both cases these confirmations were the first made by the company as a whole, both are fairly recent and both confirm a character as gay.

First we have the confirmation of Tracer from Overwatch as a lesbian. It was done in one of OVW’s comics. Tracer is the FACE of Overwatch as a whole and while most of the fanbase accepted it (thankfully the Gamers are reluctant to infest ow), some people threw what I can only describe as a hissy fit. At least her girlfriend’s a background character.

Second is Neeko from League of Legends. Unlike Tracer she was added a while before it was confirmed she was gay. LOL is much more toxic and filled with Gamers than OW and holy shit people smeared LOL so much.

Of course these are not accurate to Heavy/Medic. In both of the cases I listed it was girls being wlw and we all know how much cisgender heterosexual gamers LOVE yuri porn. Apparently only girls can be gay because they can jack off to it - if it’s two guys then it’s disgusting. Nevertheless I think these are good approximations - in every case the company gets “shat on” on social media and other sites. With the community that Valve has, I think even if they wanted them to be gay, they would never ever confirm it.

Conclusion

I’m sorry for that ending. I had to theorize a bit. Regardless I’d love if you shared this on other sites, reblogged or whatever - I wasted at least 1 and a half hours of my life on it. Feel free to cite this as a source if someone asks you why you ship the big heavy weapons expert and the feral battle medic.

#my post #text post #tf2 #medic #heavy #heavymedic #long post

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rankakiu · 5 years

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Thoughts of the Droid: Joker (2019)

Hello people from Tumblr! How have they been in all this time? As always, I hope very well. I will begin by saying that it was really in my plans to see the film of It: Chapter II; however, due to various circumstances, I could not see in the cinema. However, I compensated, watching another movie that shares a feature with It: both films have a clown as a great antagonist. Only the latter is more disturbing, since it does not need an extra dimensional being, but a human disguised as a clown, which in itself is more disturbing. On this occasion I bring to you all my impressions and opinions of the Joker movie, the second film that Warner and DC have released this year and which (obviously) has a plausible origin for the villain and nemesis par excellence of Batman.

Could it be that this movie continues with the hit streak of DC and Warner? Or is it a movie that had a very high expectation and ends up disappointing own and strangers? Stay in my review to find out.

WARNING: NOT SPOILER-FREE. Read at your own risk.

To start, what did I think of the movie? Short answer: simply magnificent and fascinating. Now let's go into the review in more detail.

Characters: What to say about this thing? Each of the characters has been thought carefully and although we do not see much of them, at least they fulfill very well their function of being support characters and even some of them serve as a catalyst to further explore the mind of our protagonist. None of these characters will leave you indifferent and also make the movie a more pleasant experience, due to their good performances.

Of course, I could not ignore our protagonist, Arthur Fleck, played by the great Joaquin Phoenix, who once again consolidates himself as an actor of excellent quality, in addition to demonstrating his talent to his full potential.

In this movie, he interprets (as I mentioned lines above) a man in his forties named Arthur Fleck, a poor unhappy man and that life does not treat him at all well. To top it off, he suffers from a peculiar disorder: he laughs uncontrollably when he suffers certain levels of stress and / or anguish. Basically, when he laughs, it is when he ironicly manifests his pain and suffering. And certainly, in the scenes where he laughs that way, it is where Phoenix's acting quality is most noticeable, since while he laughs, his face is disfigured in gestures of extreme bitterness and pain.

If there is something that the film does quite well, it is to explore the tormented psychology of the character, while offering a possible origin and reason why it became the iconic “crime clown” of Gothic City. Throughout the film, we see him resisting as much as he can the attacks and ill-treatment he suffers from a society that cannot and does not want to understand him; we see him slowly succumb to his madness and dark desires, pushed more than anything for days full of disappointment, bitterness and disinterest on the part of his fellow men. Thus, the film knows how to balance these two aspects that manage to give the character its own mythology, while paying a well-deserved tribute by taking certain elements of comics and stories that are already legendary in their own right.

Story: A story, which despite a somewhat slow pace, manages to keep the viewer's interest for about two hours. And it is not for less, since the history has been meticulously planned and well conceived and carried out. It's a story that doesn't bore you at all, and that really leaves you wanting more. It's funny, since, even long before the trailers, we all knew in advance that it would be a story of the character's origin, so we knew that eventually Arthur Fleck would become the Joker. What really left us intrigued and made us go to the movie theaters was the premise of seeing how he became the clown of crime, whose motives he had to let himself be carried away by his madness and had such a unique metamorphosis. Again, the film tells that story precisely and brutally.

And how to start a story with so much potential? Simple, through a scene, where we see Arthur make up as a clown to go out on another work day and while preparing, we see our protagonist break emotionally for a few moments, where he forces himself to smile and while he smiles he spills a Treacherous tear, shows palpable suffering that has to deal with daily and somehow manages to resist almost heroically. But reality and life constantly inflict wounds on his being.

Throughout history we see many evidence of this: we have that, while Arthur does his job, a band of brats steal a sign and Arthur pleadingly asks people for help, who ignores him in that dehumanized way and not according to that, the same band of brats beat him up.

Or how about the scene where one of his co-workers, Randall, gives him a gun so carelessly and that he lost his job - that despite everything, he loved - and his partner decided to wash his hands , before admitting his mistake?

We also have the case in which Arthur fervently tries to fulfill his dream of being a comedian and unfortunately not only does not succeed, but also Murray Franklin, his idol and role model openly mocks him.

But without a doubt, the hardest blow he suffered was when he learned that everything, ALL OF HIS LIFE, until now had been a lie. Finding out that he was adopted only to satisfy a narcissistic desire of his adoptive mother, that his own guardian allowed him to be abused in various ways and that his origin is completely uncertain create an emotional dent in him, since it has been given realize that his life - in his own words - has been a joke in its entirety. In my opinion, this is one of the most emotional and heartbreaking scenes of the film, since that is where we see Arthur laugh more uncontrollably than ever, while shedding tears and his gesture is of such extreme disappointment and pain, that one as a spectator, you can feel a total empathy with the character, despite knowing that he will become a murderous villain.

Another scene to highlight in the story, is when Arthur, already become the Joker, is featured in the show of his now former idol Murray. That is where The Joker, stopping to read for a few seconds a thought he wrote long ago ("I just hope my death makes more sense than my life"), is that he finally decides what he wants to do and what being he wants to become .

And is that previous scenes, Arthur is seen rehearsing his entrance and his act to the show, where we clearly see that he aimed to commit suicide in order to end his life so tragic.

In my opinion, when he reads those lines of his thought, he changes his mind and decides that he will now be forcefully heard and will do what he pleases and brings his own happiness and control of his life. It is also in this scene where there is a monologue that seems quite interesting to me, since Arthur rants against society that abandons not only the patients with mental disorders, but also the poor and the most needy people. It is, in its purest sense, a passionate speech, full of anger and resentment against society that, unconsciously, led him to become an executioner, now free from the bonds and ideas of good and bad with what society intended to retain him. And now the executioner intends to torture this society, which ironically now cries out for mercy when never had it in the first place with a human being like him.

Also in this scene is where the Joker gives another equally interesting speech, and it is that to some extent he is right in describing society as easily manipulable, since in his own words, that society was shocked by the death of the three Wayne business employees, without even knowing how they really were. Recall that behind the scenes, the three subjects were behaving like real patanes, harassing an innocent woman. In part, their deaths are brutal and to some extent an exaggerated punishment. But this must also be considered: at what point would these three have reached if Arthur had not been present? What limits would have been exceeded? An interesting reflection that gives a lot to think about.

Another point in favor of history, is that it not only focuses on the psychology and evolution of the main villain, but also manages to sustain, showing a dark side of society and especially the eternal struggle of social classes, especially The poor against the rich. Just remember that in the movie, these social classes make their position very clear: the rich condemn the crimes that they have done against them. The poor are full of joy for those acts that they consider pure and expeditious justice.

But…

Did it really happen everything that defined Arthur as the Joker?

Because in fact, in the same movie (and in various theories hanging around the internet) there are several clues that would confirm that the whole story we witnessed as spectators would be false. Some say that all their history is false and others maintain that only parts of it. And one might think that that little detail ruins the movie completely.

In this case, I would not think so.

And it is because of how the character is designed from the beginning. Basically the Joker is one of those characters who, as long as we knows less about his past, is much better, since it is part of his essence, being an entity of chaos whose origin is enigmatic and mysterious, a whole unknown. And if in truth his whole story is ambiguous or it didn't happen the way him told us, his past doesn't matter. What matters is precisely that we have been shown how his madness dragged him into becoming a criminal.

The story definitely gives a lot of fabric to cut from and is very worthy of analysis in many facets. The story, along with the characters - especially the protagonist - is the best of the film, and therefore it is a film that has no waste of seeing again and again.

Action and Visuals and special effects: Well ... where to start? Because if you ask me, I doubt that this film has been a great edition of special effects. I do not deny that I have one or another, but most of all the film is beautifully guided with the environments, the color palette and lights and especially a great script, so it is not necessary great effects. As for the action, the film has good sequences but they are very scarce and when they occur they are usually ephemeral. But do the film need action? Of course not, since it focuses on the character and his circumstances.

In conclusion, Joker, is a film very worth seeing and that has already become one of the best DC films, showing that in truth, when they want, they can achieve these wonderful results and that even overshadow their eternal rival Marvel. Therefore, I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 jokers. Beyond that, this film presents a new scheme that, if exploited in a good way, will create a genre in the superhero films: supervillain movies. And that is one of the greatest achievements of the film.

Definitely a highly recommended movie to watch and a very deserved achievement for DC and Warner. Hopefully they stay on this good path.

Greetings

Rankakiu

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flameontheotherside · 5 years

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Bible Disillusion

!!DISCLAIMER!!

I know I will have ruffled some feathers for being blunt...

And that’s okay! Honestly it doesn’t matter if you unfollow, repost a rant or what have you...If you can’t let go of your own personal beliefs for a second, like don’t be a hypocrite if you want people to understand you, yet can’t or refuse to understand yourself what knowledge is being given, it’s kind why we have such a dense planet. Maybe you need to rethink about your spiritual path. Open-mindedness is invaluable! On your spiritual journey you have to have the time to consider all angles of thought. I’m not preaching or shoving the dang Bible in your throat. I’m simply giving you another perspective and interesting information. What you do with the information is on you and your conscience. I did my part. It’s your turn.

So if you can be an adult, I encourage you to keep reading and check out the link to a video below explaining SCIENTIFICALLY (...and boy do I love science so this was kind of cool and interesting) how Moses, the plagues and exodus is proven through written texts shown in Greece and Egypt. Proven through scientific events. Step by step the break it down and what I appreciate most that it’s completely unbiased!

On the topic of REINCARNATION.

Yes it was mentioned in the Bible. The issue is that it doesn’t explain the TRUTH! Why is it we are told we only live once?

What does YOLO really mean?

...If we truly only live once, commercial domination benefits with temptations from the “devil”. We are tempted that because... YOLO we consume, consume, consume. Hurry and do this before YOU DIE! Get what’s yours in any means possible even if it means screwing people over. Greed manifests in the fear that you only live once! The consent of YOLO is an excuse to conduct in debauchery, abuse, greed, stealing, cheating, etc! People just don’t fucking get it!

The religious sectors that claim YOLO, benefit from people who think you go to hell if you don’t repent! Churches ask for money, they write religious books, collect money based on fear. God is not fearing. Yes, he can be kind of an asshole but he teaches even if it means you have to swallow some shit. Everyone is “tested”, everyone goes through hell in life. If life was easy or YOUR WAY, how do you learn? What’s the point in living at all if everything was handed to you? You think millionaires didn’t work, go through bullshit or didn't have to work hard? Money isn’t everything! Many have mental problems and they are basically paid to hide them!

Some of us incarnated during times of the bible!

I’ve heard the stories, I’ve read books about those who remember being around during the time of Christ. Finding it interesting, I decided to watch documentaries that PROVE that SOME stories from the Bible really happened and I encourage you to go to YouTube. It’s hard to find unbiased theories because a lot of times, they are one-sided. I find that Timeline documentaries to be very good.

Erik helped me understand by showing me I was Joseph’s mother. Just so happens one of my favorite bible stories was that. He was sold in to slavery to the Pharaoh by his brothers. My husband, the father happens to be someone I know. Surprisingly, not Vince. Wow well that’s kind of interesting. So if it is true (because it is) that means that at least SOME parts of the bible really did happen. So I wouldn’t be quick to judge by assuming the Bible is complete bullshit.

The Bible can be looked at like the myths and such we have today.

....To an EXTENT. Stories of Gods or supposed historical fiction may have little or big kernels of truth to them. Truth is hidden in plain sight. Why? It’s probably because we humans are just programmed to think and live with rigid ideas about what is real and what isn’t. The Earth is so heavy, so dense that being positive, open-minded, loving, compassion is very hard.It’s so much easier to NOT think for yourself. People who rely on professors, pastors, priests, parents blindingly accept information without their own research or critical thinking! Sure they are “experienced” and all, great. Good for them! It doesn’t mean they are always correct. So because they have their own life experience or life language (different than yours) or a bunch of diplomas, don’t mean a damn thing! If we can learn to think for ourselves, develop our own understanding.

Real evidence is cropping up overtime. It doesn’t mean they are now bible-thumping “Jesus freaks” trying to get you to turn you into one. There are people like me who have an open-mind that only CONSIDER the validity of the Bible as it’s proven. I say, grow some balls, open your mind and just educate yourself a little bit. You don’t have to agree with it, you don’t have to read the bible, you don’t have to start going to church or anything like that. What you HAVE to do is, consider the science that can prove details of the bibles truth! Reincarnation and law of attraction are explained in the bible but often misunderstood because it benefits those “in power”. We let people dictate what and how we live and believe.

Timeline: The Exodus Decoded

Chillingly this documentary uses real scientific proof that the story of Moses and the exodus really did happen. Including the plagues that make complete and total sense. Even if you don’t believe it to be true, they have science and modern examples that explain the red sea, separation of the sea and the plagues that took place. I’m a fan of spirituality and science. Personally I believe you can’t have one without the other. Science is WHY, and “God/Source” is HOW.

Thank you for your time and openness. I hope this was though provoking and interesting to read/watch. Suggestions on what documentaries are good along with the link posted above would be great as long as it’s not preachy and biased.

😘💞💕❤️ I 😍 you guys!

Check out my store where I offer readings starting as low as $5/per question with a response at least 1 paragraph!

Please visit: Twin Flame Medium

(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧Don’t forget to take a look at Erik’s blog ran by his amazing mom Dr Elisa Medhus. Lots of stuff about his afterlife and 💩 at channelingerik.com.

(◕‿◕)♡ Social: Twitter Tumblr Instagram YouTube Facebook

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emergentanimism · 6 years

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What is Emergent Animism?

As much as I would like to avoid it, I feel I must first define Emergent Magick (EMK). Especially considering that at this point, there are maybe about fifty practitioners of EMK on the planet. If you follow my other blog, Scroll of Thoth, you probably have some idea what it is, but I know that I have failed to define it with any concision. Part of that is because I am publishing a book on the subject, which will be released in early 2019. It really needs an entire book and more to get the concept across. Also because like any other magical philosophy, it’s slippery, and no matter how skilled I think I am as a writer, words always fail to encompass it in its entirety. And you’ve probably figured out by now I’m a wordy son-of-a-bitch, which makes it doubly hard to do this. I’ll endeavor to make it as short as possible so we can get on with the real subject at hand.

To learn more about Emergent Magick, follow my other tumblr blog Scroll of Thoth, and sign up for the EMK Facebook group.

EMK defines magick as, “The art of altering consciousness.” In essence, the universe itself is created and directed by consciousness, and magick is a way to influence that consciousness. Consciousness itself lacks universally accepted definition. For our purposes it includes any sufficiently complex system that can perceive. If you accept that sub-atomic systems are sufficiently complex, and that quantum theory proves that particles have some form of perception, this includes everything in the universe to a greater or lesser degree. Art, the activity of creation, influences consciousness. Ritual is the art of the magician, and it is specifically designed to alter consciousness.

In Emergent Magick, a magus performs rituals with the purpose of creating altered states of consciousness. The magus then takes what they learn from those rituals to build an ever more concise paradigm, essentially a model for the universe and a method to alter it. While a magus can certainly learn from the magi who came before them, it is what they learn through altered states of consciousness that best informs their magick. Since all consciousness is perspective, what a magus learns through altered states has more weight than anything they can learn by other means.

The ultimate goal of the magus is to perceive the unity of consciousness. To interact with it as part of a larger whole. This manifests in the physical plane by forming tribes of magi and working with them to experience their paradigm, form bonds of love and acceptance, and to influence the collective unconscious through the creation of culture.

At least that’s the short form description of Emergent Magick. Which finally brings us back to Emergent Animism (EMAN).

Emergent Animism is the art of communicating with the spirits.

At least that’s the one-sentence vital core of it. Some old-school magi like to have things summed up in a sentence or two (and I am one of those magi). Why Emergent? First, because I am one of the creators of Emergent Magick and it is how I currently define my practice. Since Emergent Animism is my personal paradigm, it comes from an EMK perspective. Because the methods used to explore and define the paradigm are the methods of EMK. Verified personal experience takes precedent over accepted knowledge (although there will be plenty of that). Those experiences are then shared with my personal tribe and their experiences added to the body of knowledge. You may notice the shifting tense there, because this is work that has been performed and is ongoing. In fact, the creation of this blog is a lot about me documenting my personal paradigm, and renewed awareness that I need to get back to the basics and start rebuilding things from the ground up. This blog will contain descriptions and results of my daily practice.

Which brings us to animism. Much smarter people with better sources have described animism. And I really want to just tell people to go read Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, by Mircea Eliade and Willard R. Trask, and then come back and continue reading this. But I understand that’s not a realistic expectation, so I’m gonna have to give you my woefully inadequate description. Animism has been called the world’s first religion, and from the archaeological evidence and current anthropology there is little reason to doubt that all hunter-gatherers practiced some form of animism. Animism as a world view, sees the universe as populated with spirits. In animism, all things have some vital essence that can be communicated with, from spirits of rivers, mountains, and lakes, to trees, rocks, and clouds, also the spirits of humans, animals, insects, and the spirits of those living creatures that have died. Some animists also believe in alien spirits that come from other dimensions of reality. The practice of animism is the communication with these spirits through some form of altered state of consciousness. This can be ritual, dance, music, meditation, and the use of psychoactive substances. Shamanism is a particular type of animism where individuals of a tribe use altered states of consciousness to contact the spirit realm, referred to as journeying, and petitions the spirits for the benefit of the shaman and their tribe. I do not consider myself a shaman for various nit-picking reasons that I am sure I will go into at some point.

In Emergent Animism, spirit is synonymous with consciousness. So the art of magick in EMAN terms is the art of communicating with the spirits. Which entails all forms of conversations, pacts, offerings, and all the other traditional and non-traditional methods of contacting them.

Still interested? It’s going to get better from here. This blog will mainly include my writing on the subject, and how I practice magick, along with other resources I find helpful. Know right off the bat that I don’t think anyone should try to pick this up whole-cloth and use it as their own. All magi must ultimately discover their own paradigm and follow that. But I do know it has been helpful for me as a magician to read about other people’s practice. To see what works for them and what does not and learn from it. I find the magical world to be sorely lacking in resources that describe exactly what magi are doing. There’s plenty of description of rituals and theory but little of what a magus actually does on a day-to-day basis. I hope I can add a unique perspective and inspire some people to try these practices themselves. I say don’t follow my path, but do feel free to steal anything that you think can work for you.

Why take my word on any of this? I have some credentials. I have dabbled off and on through my entire life, but truthfully, I only came to seriously dedicate myself to magick in the past decade, much later in life than most. I am initiated member of the Illuminates of Thanateros, and hold a degree in Comparative Religion. I am co-creator of Emergent Magick, and Scribe for the Order of Emergent Magi. At the risk of displaying my ego, I consider myself well-read on a variety of subjects—religion, history, anthropology, archaeology, primatology, Ancient Egyptian spiritual practice, to name a few. As a devoted magus in the service of Thoth, I also happen to believe I am a passable writer.

What I am not is a great magician. I admit that my own work is sloppy, ill-documented, lacking in discipline, and does not meet basic standards of progressive research. That’s another reason why I’m doing this. To hold myself accountable to actually doing the work the way it should be done. It’s well past time for me to get back to the bottom, and do this the right way.

Which is why I decided to make this a tumblr blog. I could have just decided to write another book, but I have plenty of other books I need to write. Doing this as a blog keeps it raw. No content editors, no limitations that come with putting things in print. I can use art that I find on tumblr to illustrate my feelings and link books, articles, and video. No need to make this a single coherent narrative. I can just fire off thoughts as I have them, long or short. Right now the goal is one long text post a day, maybe a couple of short ones, and miscellaneous re-blogs and links when I stumble across them or they seem appropriate.

For the sake of auspice, we begin on the Day of the Dead, All Saints Day. A time when so many cultures feel the nearness of the spirits and honor their ancestors.

Let’s go on a journey….

Threskiornis, “Ego Sum Legio”

Scribe of the Order of Emergent Magi

November 1st, 2018

#magick #animism #emergent magick #emk #emergent animism #eman

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rubbersoles19 · 7 years

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“Duck Amuck”: A JSE EGO THEORY

So this theory was a mix of my own headcannons for the JSE Egos, and a few clues put together by @archivefullofyoutubers‘s post about the link between Anti and Electrical energy. You should definitely read the above before proceeding.

(This is a long one, but I’m going to try to make it short.)

Anti Vs Dark really got my wheels turning on the two Egos; trying to figure out once and for all how they were different helped solidify my theories on who each one was. I’ve never really believed that Anti was a computer glitch or virus, but I have always believed that he is computer based. I think there was some footage or previous theory somewhere that said that Anti corrupted the videos after they were published, thus enabling him to attack and kill Jack, though IRL Sean was untouched, bc Anti only affected the image caught in the camera. So for starters:

Anti is a monster that is similar to Bloody Mary. However, instead of mirrors being his threshold, it’s monitors and cameras.

Bloody Mary, according to a few different legends, was able to affect, posses, or corrupt whoever’s reflection was in her mirror through their reflection. She could also bounce freely back and forth between mirrors. Anti, I believe, does the same thing, but his threshold is a captured, digital image, not just a light-based reflection. He’s able to affect, posses, or corrupt whoever is in front of his cameras whenever he’s angry, albeit Jack or even Schneeple. The more corners of the internet he touches, the more monitors he touches, the stronger he gets. He’s able to do this through his electric energy. He’s also able, on rare occasion, to reach out of the equipment and affect Jack; affecting the subject being captured instead of the captured image.

However, I also want to add that:

All of the JSE Egos are the same. They are all based in and operate out of the recording equipment.

Something that has been stuck in my head for a while is the fact that in “Kill Jacksepticeye”, Schneeple only appeared in the room after Jack left. In fact, none of the other egos have been in the same room as Jack, or anyone else, besides Anti, and none of them have ever left the recording room and its familiar equipment. (I will get to our troublesome boy in a minute. I know you’re thinking about him as much as I am.) My theory is that the recording equipment is home for them. Through it, they are able to interact with anything captured in its lens, like the recording room (moving the chair, headphones, and interacting with Operation and Marvin’s Magic Kit), the games stored on and recorded through the computers (like Schneeple playing Bio Inc.), of course the facecam footage and recorded footage (like Anti’s signature glitches and his ability to take over “Say Goodbye”, or the Power Hour videos, where no game was present), even the graphics within a video, and, in Jackaboy’s very rare case, the position of the cameras.

Anti, however, is very different from the other Egos, besides being the same kind of figment as them. Anti is the only one strong enough to affect other media forms through the computers, like Tumblr and Twitter, and strong enough to affect both Jack (a non-digital human) and Schneeple (another figment) while they were recording, in real time. So while the others can affect the captured image, Anti is powerful enough to affect the subject the image is capturing, in real time. That’s incredibly powerful. (He’s also powerful enough to manifest himself in Dark’s void, in real time, through Dark’s recording equipment, if you want to consider that video canon. I plan on making another, equally long theory about that video at a later date.)

Side note: I also think that their powers are thematic, as their appearances were as well. Jackaboy Man appearing first in “Cool Patrol” as then in “The Red Room”, a game about crime that was scaring Jack? Marvin taking his name after his own magic kit? Schneeple playing Bio Inc., a game about treating a patient and curing ailments? And, of course, Anti appearing during horror games.

Still with me? Take a breather if you need.

Now, we move to our favorite troublesome boy:

Mr. Cheeky “Bro Average” over there. Chase is anything but average when it comes to his place among the other egos, and it’s taken me all night and day to figure him out in line with this new theory, but I think I have it:

Unlike the others, who lurk in and work out of the recording equipment, Chase has his own threshold altogether, and is probably more powerful than Anti.

Three things stand out about Chase: 1, his completely unique location, 2, the fact that he vanishes off screen so much, and 3, the cameraman.

Chase moves around within this new location with dexterity, realistic physics, and the utmost freedom. He interacts naturally with doors, chairs, tables, walls, and of course, his props. Even Chad has hyper realistic physics, and he’s a puppet. This isn’t so surprising bc of how skilled the egos are, but remember, according to this theory, the sides are all digital figments, interacting only with whatever image their cameras are capturing, and if you’re Anti, you’re occasionally able to break through, existing only to and when they paint themselves into the scene. But Chase demonstrates almost no limitations with what he can do. Practically every segment of his video takes place in a new location, his control over the footage itself, the snapshots, the rapid cuts, even rearranging the footage to achieve those tricky shots (and not just with tea bags), his broad selection of music, and the added affects are all professionally done. The limitations put on Chase if he were a digital figment like the others would have made over half of the editing choices in this video impossible.

In this vein, Chase spends an awful lot of time off screen for being a digital figment. Chase’s powers clearly aren’t limited to his own appearance in the footage he’s affecting, a trait that only Anti has come close to repeating.

THE. MYSTERIOUS. CAMERAMAN. Every other ego has only ever manipulated the scene that their camera is capturing, or if Jack or another figment is in their line of fire, them as well. Chase’s video, however, has something that really throws this entire theory for a loop, and that’s the cameraman. The cameraman operates the camera when Chase isn’t present. He verbally addresses Chase after the suicide. He moves the camera around and fiddles with the focus to get that Aesthetic (TM). The presence of a cameraman suggests that Chase is not really the one pulling the strings here, he’s simply the host. The Cameraman is really the operations, the action man, the one along for the ride. But who is he? Is he Chase’s partner? Can he interact with Chase through the lens of his camera as Chase manipulates and lives in the footage in real time? Or, is Chase simply something different?

Let me sidetrack very briefly and note a key difference, in my theory, between the JSE egos and the Markiplier egos. Unlike the JSE egos, who were entirely conceived in the recording room, save for Chase, every single Markiplier ego, except for Dark, first appeared outside of the recording room and in their own physical space. The Markiplier Egos are entirely physical, as they’ve interacted freely with the world around them, Dark had a wrestling Match fist to fist with Mark for heaven’s sake, and with each other. With this in mind, I believe that Chase, like Dark, is the exception to the JSE egos. I believe that Chase is not trapped inside a camera like his counterparts, but is a free moving, independent ego, and is a trickster that one lucky cameraman was able to catch.

Of course, Chase can still interact with the other JSE egos, as Schneeple confirmed in “Kill Jacksepticeye” that he saved Chase after his attempted suicide. And the JSE egos, as seen in Anti Vs Dark, are able to interact with the Markiplier Egos in their physical state, or at least in Dark’s void, but if they are able to travel through cameras, and since Anti is exceptionally powerful, that makes sense.

You made it! Whoooooooooo!

TL;DR: Antisepticeye, Jackaboy Man, Dr. Schneeplestein, and Marvin the Magnificent are all figments that, like Bloody Mary, exist inside Jack’s recording equipment, and make their appearances by painting themselves into and manipulating any images captured by the recording cameras, including the recording room, various props, and any games housed within the computers. They can travel around between cameras and monitors, and Anti is powerful enough to reach past the camera and affect the subject that is being captured, not just the captured image, and also to affect other media types accessible through the computers, like Tumblr and Twitter.

Like how Darkiplier is the exception to the Markiplier Egos, Chase “Bro Average” Brody is the exception to the JSE egos, and is a free-standing, independent ego, that exists outside of a camera or computer. He can interact with the others through cameras, but he does not inhabit them, though he might be able to temporarily reside inside them. This makes him one of the more powerful JSE egos.

If you read all of that, you get cookies. :)

#jacksepticeye #chase brody #antisepticeye #darkiplier #dr. schneeplestein #marvin the magnificent #jackaboy man

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clockworkopera · 7 years

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Theories on Parabatai Bond Revisted Post LoS:

And the standard disclaimer: My theories are built not just on the Dark Artifices, but from all the previous Shadowhunter books, and will contain SPOILERS (including from Lord of Shadows). These ideas are based solely on book canon.

The parabatai curse does exist. Lady Midnight felt a bit unfinished with Emma turning her life completely upside down because of one paragraph from Jem, but it’s also been verified by the Unseelie Queen and Magnus, so they are definitely in trouble. We even learn more about the madness from Magnus (LoS pg599):

Magnus: “You become unrecognizable as a human being. After you become a monster, you are no longer able to tell friend from enemy. As your family run toward you to save you, you will rip the hearts from their chest. ”

Julian felt as if he were going to throw up. “That—I’d never hurt my family.”

“You won’t know who they are,” said Magnus. “You won’t know love from hate. And you’ll destroy what’s around you, not because you want to, any more than a crashing wave wants to shatter the rocks it breaks on. You’ll do it because you won’t know not to.” He looked at Julian with an ancient sympathy. “It doesn’t matter if your intentions are good or bad. It doesn’t matter that love is a positive force. Magic doesn’t take note of small human concerns.”

So, the best solution/offer Magnus had was to suggest exile: “And because parabatai magic is some of the most precious and most ingrained in what you are, exile deadens its power. All the things the curse intensifies—the power your runes give each other, the ability to feel what the other is feeling or know if they’re hurt—exile takes those away. If I understand magic, and I know I do, then that means exile would slow the curse down immeasurably.”

Slow it down, not stop it. So what happens to the Parabatai who can’t slow it down?

I made an argument in earlier posts (before LoS was released—it is outdated now) that the Parabatai bond might be connected with the Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters, and although I was hoping for more specifics to either verify or debunk that idea, not much has changed on that opinion. I’ll review for those that are new to following me.

What makes the Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters so different: their runes. The problem with Parabatai who love each other: their runes. Coincidence?

When Magnus talks about becoming a monster is that a physical description? And if it is, then would it match what the Silent Brothers physically look like? They are twisted and mutilated and everybody sees that. Question: Would Angel magic performed correctly have that affect? For having no frame of reference Tessa was terrified when she first saw one, but even those indoctrinated to see the Silent Brothers as a normal part of their culture see that something is wrong. Remember how the NY gang had to prepare Clary before they took her to the Silent City for the first time—words included, self-mutilation, warped and creepy (COB pg157-159)

Then there are the ‘mystical’ aspects. When rescuing Tavvy, Emma and Julian spoke to each other with their minds (something only the Silent Brothers can do). Their Runes were powerful enough to rival the healing of Silent Brothers when Emma saved Julian’s life after the poisonous cross bolt. Emma survived being blasted by the power of the Black Volume and Malcolm’s warlock magic with an Endurance rune. They melted stone at the church in Cornwall. The only Shadowhunters who can compete in wielding that level of power are the Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters.

Theory: What if the Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters were created as a means of separating Parabatai that become too powerful? Magnus recommended exile as a way of deadening the bond—slowing the curse down, but what happens if it’s not enough?

So, the Clave separates them: the men become Silent Brothers and the women become Iron Sisters, and their excess magic becomes the fuel for the Clave’s power from everything from wards to witchlight to Seraph blades.

And from the Codex (pg194): “In exchange for their special abilities, they have given up some of their humanity.” They sever a piece of their humanity and can no longer feel emotion. Would that halt a curse of madness?

In ‘After the Bridge’, on Cassandra Clare’s Tumblr, it’s the most we hear about Jem’s life as a Silent Brother. On Tessa: “He’d wondered during his time in Idris, after the heavenly fire had cured him, if it would still be like that with them: if his human feelings would return to him. He had been able to touch her and be near her as a Silent Brother without wanting her as he had when he was a mortal. He had still loved her, but it had been a love of the spirit, not the body. He had wondered—feared, even, that the physical feelings and responses would not come back the way they had. He told himself that even if Silent Brotherhood had killed the ability of his feelings to manifest themselves physically, he would not be disappointed. He had told himself to expect it.”

And if that isn’t bad enough in COHF (pg233) Jem tells Jace: “We—they don’t die, you know; they fade after many years. Stop speaking, stop moving. Eventually they are entombed alive.” (YIKES!! What do you think Will would have thought of that?) He also says, (COHF pg232), “But, I was never an ordinary Silent Brother.”—we assume it was because of his yinfen poisoning, but could it be he never reached that level of power because he wasn’t in love with Will?

The marks used to keep their mouths and eyes permanently closed are the Marks of Fettering (Codex, pg195). The very definition of fettering is to restrain with chains or manacles—while the Sisters (Codex, pg197), “They wear simple clothes, long white gowns bound tightly at the wrists and waists by demon-wire.” (bound by demon wire?). And the Iron Sisters sigil is a heart pierced with a blade. The language makes me think of prisons rather than a voluntary monastic order.

Jem says, (LM pg659), “Not everyone has a parabatai, but the fact that they exist is part of what makes Nephilim what they are. Without them, we would be infinitely weaker, in ways it is forbidden for me even to explain.”

If this were the case, then if the Parabatai bond were uprooted and severed in all parabatai it could both free and put an end to the Silent Brothers and Iron Sisters. But who would then forge the Adamas into steles and seraph blades—they would be as weak as the Nephilim in Edom.

There is a lot of debate on choices to make. Would Emma still say no if she thought Julian would be turned into a Silent Brother forever? I can see her making the sacrifice of becoming an Iron Sister, but would she ever let Julian suffer that way?

And let’s not forget that the Unseelie King now has the Black Volume along with Annabel. If he could weaken the Nephilim by destroying that bond, that might be the first thing on his agenda to do.

There is one thing I haven’t seen anyone ask. Who was powerful enough to place a curse on the parabatai in the first place and why? I think there might be a workable solution if they can figure that out. The Black Volume may be the obvious choice because it is the only choice, but I don’t think we should discount the possibility of other avenues.

***There is the Faerie binding spell between Mark and Cristina: Mark said, “A binding spell like that can tie two people together and send one of them mad, make them drown themselves and pull the other in after them.” Kieran also indicated: “That sort of binding spell is one of the oldest,” he said. “Oldest and strongest. I do not know why someone would play such a prank on you. It is quite vicious” and when Cristina asks for help he answers, “I could speak to my brother, Adaon. I am meant to ask him about taking the throne. I could inquire of him as to whether he knows anything of binding spells or how to end them.”

From my understanding to become parabatai is a combination of both rune and a spell. There has been speculation on Cortana cutting through the rune to sever their tie, but I think the curse lies with the spell and it doesn’t seem too dissimilar to the Faerie binding one. Since Magnus was able to sever Mark and Cristina’s spell, maybe he could sever the spell part of the parabatai using something similar.

***Another option I considered was inspired from an observation Julian made about Arthur: As Julian followed Diana out of the room, he couldn’t help but wonder what solace it was that his uncle found in old stories of gods and heroes, of an earlier time of the world, one where plugging your ears and refusing to listen to the sound of the music of sirens could keep you from madness.

Maybe they could just block their ears metaphorically and not ‘hear’ the madness of the curse.

Just from the way things are shaping up it seems likely that Julian and Emma will feel the need to go to the Unseelie Court and get the Black Volume back from the King, not to mention their unfinished business with Annabel. But, I think Julian is smart enough to not take the risk of venturing into that Court without getting some sort of protection against madness. He’ll remember how real the experience was for them seeing Emma’s father in the Unseelie Champion and will want to guard against that. It would be cool if that protection could extend to protect them against the negative effects of the parabatai curse too.

***And finally, an angel might be able to do it. There’s been a lot of talk about using necromancy to bring Livvy back from the dead or her becoming a ghost. I like to think of her as ascending to become a Guardian Angel, especially with her exposure to the magic of the Mortal Sword. And she’d look out for her family—Julian too. She might be in a place right now where she could do something that she wouldn’t have been able to while she was alive—making her death mean something. She seems the type of person who would beat down Heaven itself to help protect her family, so let’s not give up on her yet. That is my favorite theory so far…

Let me know what you think. I’d love comments, questions, discussion—all of it!

#lord of shadows spoilers #lord of shadows #parabatai bond #guardian angel #silent brothers #iron sisters #theories #dialogues #TDA #original posts #parabatai bonds

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lum1natrix · 7 years

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(In advance I’m super sorry if you’ve heard this before and are sick of it, I was offline for a couple weeks and idk what’s been mentioned before. Also I’m scared to post this on my own tumblr heh) Okay so something has been bugging me about the whole mTV thing. Why did Mark say he needed to shave for it? When all the egos are sitting around the table, they are shaven, but in the promo thing Warf created, Mark and associated acts had beards. We associate beardlessness with young Mark. So, what if this meeting happened in the past? Like, this entire video is set in 2013? Maybe all the egos are angry that Mark created a youtube channel and are trying to take control of HIM back. But to do this, they’d need to slowly introduce themselves to the audience to gain favor and lessen Mark’s sway over people. In mTV, they dream up this odd “TV show” where they each have roles and they portray themselves all as cohosts of sorts, as Mark’s equals in a way. But what if that was all this was? An idea the egos had? Because obviously, when you look at Mark’s channel history no thing of this sort ever happened. So this was the basic idea the egos had, but it actually manifested itself in real life (outside mTV) differently. For example, the Silver Shepherd, Ed Edgar, Bim Trimmer, and the Host managed to get themselves some visibility through Cyndago skits. Google scored a couple videos with Matthias. And Dark and Wilf were the lucky ones, the ones who managed to be on the actual channel. We the audience saw these “characters” and slowly fell in love with them, seeing them only as benign beings in silly sketches who don’t actually exist or anything. But little do we know that we are giving them footholds into Mark, giving them more opportunity to do what they’ve been wanting to do all along. The entirety of the past four years have been unfolding according to the plan the egos set in place in that room in mTV. And when Mark says we’ll see more of them soon, he means it. But not in the way we think.

Obviously there are some flaws with this theory (why is septiplier saying to kill them? Are they clairvoyant or something? And how did the Host get a role as the Author before losing his eyes mid-2013?) and it probably sounds a bit far-fetched but I’m too tired to think through it all haha. It’s just been rattling around in my brain for a few weeks and I needed to get it out. Thanks for reading though!!

...i...i have nothing to even say...i love this so much holy shit most theories are a bit out there but those ones are the most interesting! Plus I don’t even think it’s far fetched at all

#submission #egos

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mrsbeef · 7 years

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THIS IS INCREDIBLY LONG

AND FULL OF EGREGIOUS HYPERBOLE AND GENERALISATIONS. It is my attempt to write a paper on Chinese Communist cinema as a tumblr post so it feels less scary. If you’re interested in this sort of thing then I am concerned for you read on.

Content warning for violence, misogyny, Nazis, antisemitism, seemingly unavoidable gender binarism, sex, Chairman Mao, Hitler, Stalin, and Freud.

Behold the gateway to a bright Communist future!

Anyone heard of visual pleasure in cinema? Specifically the theory that Laura Mulvey was talking about? For anyone who needs context, Laura Mulvey’s theory is based on Freudian psychoanalysis, and it basically states that the spectator identifies with the male hero, and is always in a masculine position compared to the objectified women on screen, and gets a kind of sadistic pleasure from that power. And moreover, she says scenes of women bring the narrative screeching to a halt, because the cheesecake scenes of their fragmented and objectified bodies freeze the action so the audience can have those sweet, sweet phallic fantasies. For the purposes of argument, I’m lumping ‘torture porn’ of the Game of Thrones variety under ‘cheesecake’. Sick, I know, but we’re going to get into some sicker shit later.

Now this theory definitely has some problems, but let’s stick with it for the time being. We can see that parts of it manifest in totalitarian cinema. Let’s take the USSR under Stalin and Germany under Hitler as two examples. There’s a propaganda film from 1936 called The Party Card (партийный билет) where a good Communist party member has her party card stolen, and the audience gets to internally crow over her loss of power. This is most obvious in the scene of the disciplinary hearing, which our heroine Anna has to attend because she allowed someone to steal her card and demonstrated a lack of vigilance. If you look at the way this was filmed, it is so voyeuristic that you can almost sense the director or someone jacking off a bit; imagine all these important mostly male politicos all talking down to this one poor guilty cringing woman. This movie came out just before Stalin started the major purges, and it was intended to caution party members to keep their documents safe from the enemy at all times. And they got the message.

Meanwhile, in Nazi Germany (a horrible phrase, I know), the propaganda film Hitlerjunge Quex (1933) was casting the Nazis in a positive light by contrasting their bodily vigour and healthy lifestyles with the exaggerated degeneracy of the German Communists. Scenes of Communists drinking, smoking, gambling and canoodling with loose (probably Jewish) women were meant to make the collective monocle of German society pop off, at a time when the disenfranchised working class was still warming to the whole Nazi thing. And of course it’s loose Jewish women who are used to make this point; women with all the icky sex bits, so when you’re revolted by them you have your masculine spectatorial power reinforced (and on some level it can start to make you feel kind of okay with these women getting hurt or killed). Nazi ideology was pretty open about its misogyny; pure Aryan women gotta produce them master race babies yo. And arguably fascism begins with gender hierarchy (if you believe some authors). So the film makes sure to have a nice pure, sexless blonde girl (the kind Klaus Theweleit calls “the White woman”, as opposed to the Jewy Jezebel “Red woman”) for a contrast.

If you look at it this way, these examples of totalitarian cinema seem to be using structures of visual pleasure to produce a kind of revulsion mixed with sexual arousal, so that the audience will orient themselves properly towards the correct ideology, whatever that happens to be at the time. Karsten Witte argues that Nazi cinema goes a step further by trying to bleed the visual pleasure out of film so that the audience is left in perpetual frustration-- good for breeding violence, maybe. He’s specifically talking about revues, the Busby Berkeley-type ones with the kicking legs and crazy stage setups. Apparently Nazis were capable of making even that shit unexciting by making all the choreography monotonous and lifeless, and filming a huge wide shot to show the whole stage and some of the seats; it’s like ZE CAMERA VILL NEVER MOVE DOWNSTAGE ON PAIN OF DEATH.

Anyway, in all this discussion, doesn’t it seem like something’s missing from Mulvey’s theory? A couple things, actually. Why so binary? Why so essentialist and ahistorical? What happens to this theory outside of the West? Isn’t this theory based in capitalism? What about class differences? Where is the female spectator/the female hero?* This is my big problem with anything that has Freud’s name on it, but I’ll keep my personal loathing out of this post as far as possible. So far, all anyone’s been talking about with this visual pleasure thing is looking at sexy girls.

So let’s try taking this visual pleasure thing and transplanting it to somewhere really different: COMMUNIST CHINA IN THE 60′S. Think about it! You’ve got a communist political system and collectivist culture, different standards and signifiers of beauty, and radically different forms of gender expression mixed up with class struggle, thanks to a government that officially came out and said “men and women are the same”. Of course that was complete bullshit in practice, but it was the ideal, and movies are all about ideal. Chinese Communist propaganda movies were good for teaching women how to be good socialists. And in contrast with stuff like Party Card, revolutionary Chinese films had a lot of female characters who were actually heroic. They were revolutionary soldiers and workers and peasant militiawomen, and they were ideal models for real women to emulate. This naturally means that revolutionary films were being made with a mixed gender audience in mind, and not just to appeal to a certain gender demographic. Of course in traditional Confucian culture women’s social position was lower than dirt (not accounting for class difference), but all that was supposed to be over now. Now women can be heroic revolutionaries too! They too can approach the sublime ideal of the hypermasculine, vigorous Communist fighter who makes history with his own hands! Not actually reach, though. Only approach. See, this view of gender equality took hypermasculinity as the standard everyone was meant to aspire to. So anything ‘feminine’-- like long hair, bright colours, or sentimentality-- became icky gross and bourgeois. Nobody wants to be a woman, ewww. Revolutionary films offered women and girls a way to fantasise about being that hero in a kind of utopia where family/marital obligations and culturally ingrained sexism didn’t exist, unlike irl. With women and men supposedly being equal (on men’s terms), there also was less room for overt titillating sexiness on the cinema screen, and audiences could derive strong visual pleasure based on class differentials rather than sexual ones (more on this later). Sexiness did sort of find its way back in sometimes, though. And not just through subversive watching either.

I can’t really speak for Nazi Germany or the USSR as those aren’t my specialities, but Chinese political culture seemed particularly receptive to the bleeding together of aesthetics and ideology. Ban Wang calls it “aestheticised politics”; it’s essentially a totalitarian wet dream. They can get inside your head and reorient your tastes and desires so that everything that is ideologically correct seems beautiful and everything that’s taboo is ugly. Imagine that the government could influence what you think is sexy :O (I mean, it probably does in some way already, but that’s off topic) The aesthetics of the revolutionary film could concentrate the spectators’ visual pleasure in a way that benefits the state. You can accomplish this with visual cues, camera tricks, etc. And so the Chinese government may have indirectly produced a generation of young men (and likely some women) who enjoyed beating off furiously to female guerrilla fighters in shorts.

Case in point: the 1971 filmed revolutionary ballet The Red Detachment of Women (《红色娘子军》). It’s well known for causing a flood of jizz sexual awakening for a good many young men in the Cultural Revolution. It was part of a canon of ‘model theatre’ works made for the purpose of exemplifying proper socialist aesthetics, in accordance with Mao’s weirdly well-formed ideas about exactly what those should look like. Plot-wise it’s a pretty standard revolutionary fable: peasant girl meets manly Communist Party official, evil and somewhat effeminate landlord is vanquished. Gotta love those gender dynamics getting mapped onto class antagonisms. But this is a ballet. Ballet is an inherently sensual art form, even if you take away all the tutus and rewrite all the romance scenes. And now that sensuality in ballet gets to blend with the martiality of the revolution! Excellent example: the classic pas de deux in romance scenes has now been repurposed (with added kung fu flavour!) for fight scenes! Can you say SEXY COMMUNISM???

It’s also an art form that relies on dance and music to appeal strongly to the emotions. So when they show us wonderful scenes of the army and the villagers getting along, we’re supposed to feel a warm fuzzy feeling of togetherness with our comrades. When they show us a heroic character being physically punished or martyred, we’re supposed to burn with class hatred, and maybe even get flashbacks to similar abuse we endured at the hands of the enemy. Maybe you might even be so full of rage you might form a mob with your friends and go yank the town ‘capitalist’ out of his home and beat him up. And when we see the inevitable triumph of Communist ideology, we’re supposed to overflow with excitement and hope about the future that we can build for ourselves! All this represents the pleasure people were intended to get out of watching these shows, and all the outcomes are very positive as far as the state is concerned. Noteworthy is that hardly ever are we as spectators put in a position of power over any heroic central female character. That’s not where the pleasure comes from. There is a scene where the peasant-turned-soldier Qionghua is reprimanded for seeking personal revenge, but it isn’t wank material; it’s just a stepping stone to her political maturation. She, like us in the audience, needs to learn that the collective comes first.

All this is well and good, but the famously prudish** Communist ideology also kind of shoots itself in the foot by using the ballet form. It necessitates form-fitting costumes, hence the famous shorts worn by the women soldiers.The moves they perform don’t help either. And neither does the camera, which moves through the complete depth of the stage and lets us get closer to the sweet leg-kicking action than we ever could in a theatre. Also the costuming contains little callbacks to traditional Chinese notions of sexy: check out Qionghua’s red suit (it ain’t just for Communism anymore), and the army uniforms themselves (crossdressing a la Mulan was considered hot). It’s been said that ballet takes place in a secret fourth dimension of the imagination, and some people’s imaginations*** were very fired up. There’s a reason performance stills from Red Detachment were so popular.

Basically the point here is that Chinese revolutionary films had a way different relationship to gender and politics than Western films. Maybe they were both just as illusory. But maybe there’s also something to be said for chasing your own fake fantasy as opposed to just being stuck being somebody else’s?****

* I’m using ‘female hero’ here because whenever these film people say ‘heroine’ they usually mean female romantic lead, and I am talking about something completely different.

** Sexy is fine only when we get to decide what you like.

*** In quite a few cases this would mean ‘genitals’.

**** This has to be the most unfocused piece of shit I’ve ever written.

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bakurapika · 8 years

Conversation

BAKURA IS ZORC???(im not tagging for spoiling dsod but this hints at a part of the plot be warned)

Julianna L.: i was watching and i had a burst of insight about the zork-bakura debate

Julianna L.: that was SO OBVIOUS IN RETROSPECT AGH

Julianna L.: it’s so SIMPLE i was a fOOL

Julianna L.: ZORC IS THE DARKNESS IN MEN’S SOULS. he is the DEIFIC PERSONIFICATION of the darkness in men’s souls

Julianna L.: so

Julianna L.: OBVIOUSLY

Julianna L.: ONCE SOMEONE GETS TO THE POINT

Julianna L.: OF GETTING TOTALLY CONSUMED BY DARKNESS

Julianna L.: (no matter who they are)

Julianna L.: THEY BECOME AN AVATAR OF ZORC

Julianna L.: and zorc the personification of darkness still retains some of their traits, some of their memories and desires, but more than anything else he/it uses that to fuel its reckless destruction and despair and darkness etc

Julianna L.: that COMPLETELY gets rid of any contradictions about bakura vs priest vs [this movie guy] becoming zorc/yami bakura/whatever the hell

The Princess ~: TUMBLR THAT SHIT

The Princess ~: it's weird because it's sorta the 'he is both' theory and sorta.... not which is cool ~

The Princess ~: one turned into the other as opposed to there's a bit of both there right?

Julianna L.: kinda!!! like i think it’s canon that the spirit of the ring IS zorc

Julianna L.: but it’s thief king bakura, losing himself to BECOME zorc

Julianna L.: the villain in the movie does the same thing at one point (despite taking on a yami-bakura-esque form after his transformation)—he literally says

Julianna L.: ‘i am not this guy anymore. this guy’s not the one in control. im drowning the world in darkness. so suck on that, my sister’ (paraphrasing)

The Princess ~: how dare that not be a direct quote

Julianna L.: he still kept the original person’s rhetoric and the structure of his belief system and his relationship to family, but he acknowledged himself as something completely different, due to the Ring’s influence and the host being consumed by his own darkness

Julianna L.: I KNOW RIGHT i should have done translation on this movie

Julianna L.: although tbh i don’t envy them, the ygo budget was high enough for there to be something more than puppet mouths

The Princess ~: you know... that makes an interesting point then

The Princess ~: thief king gets warped by ring, becomes zorc-lite

The Princess ~: that's my new nickname for him now

The Princess ~: btw

Julianna L.: omfg

Julianna L.: yes good

The Princess ~: zorc-lite is in the ring with original ring-darkness

The Princess ~: ryou comes along, has the ring............ and zorc-lite is like

The Princess ~: MY TURN TO SHINE

The Princess ~: doesn't even let ryou get warped at all

Julianna L.: but like i think it’s because zorc is both a person AND a concept, so the person changes as the concept behind it changes

Julianna L.: YEP

The Princess ~: is it because ryou can't get warped then? why is zorc-lite clinging onto the ring as opposed to be being a separate thing?

Julianna L.: oh OH I ALMOST FORGOT!!!!!! OK

Julianna L.: THIS IS BLINK AND YOU MISS IT BUT

Julianna L.: IM 99% SURE THIS WAS TAKAHASHI TELLING US A MESSAGE HERE

The Princess ~: 'stop tendershipping you crazy people'

Julianna L.: during a flashback to the first time ryou put on the ring

Julianna L.: you can see

Julianna L.: the spirits of kul elna

Julianna L.: like i honestly believe

Julianna L.: the ring, and the other items, are a physical manifestation of the pain and anger caused by the sacrifice of the people of the village

Julianna L.: and that pain and anger infects those who use it

Julianna L.: certain hosts have the potential for corruption

Julianna L.: but hosts like yugi and ryou don’t, but the darkness is strong enough to overpower them completely

Julianna L.: i wouldn’t call yugi nor ryou weak-willed, but when they were originally possessed, i think they were, in terms of a concept of self

Julianna L.: i think ‘zorc’ normally in the ygoverse IS a real thing but it’s more of a nameless symbol of corruption/despair/hate that we all see in everyday livse

Julianna L.: the items and the ritual just kinda concentrated that into something strong enough to physically affect reality

The Princess ~: i'd like to imagine you in the center of the theatre having the greatest philosophical revelations about how the morality/magic system in the series works surrounded by people super into card games

The Princess ~: I WISH I WAS THERE TOO

#zorc necrophades #zork #zork necrophades #dark side of dimensions #yugioh #im not tagging this spoilers because i was intentionally avoiding those

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spidersanctuary · 8 years

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A disordered venting about RP problems:

My experience RPing with Tumblr RPing is not very extensive - goes back about five years, I think. Before that, I RPd a bit, much earlier, but for the most part the only RPing I've done is on Tumblr (and Skype, but as an extension of Tumblr RPing).

I don't like bouncing around. I tend to stick with a place that looks legit, get attached to the characters (mine and others') and stick it out, even sometimes unreasonably so. I've been in... basically three group RPs. Two of them were larger (let's say, defined as "more than around ten active players at any given time", and the third was smaller and purely reactionary, a-la "we don't like the way things are here so we'll make our own". Though not without problems (and I can't say I didn't have my part in them), it was the most drama-free as a whole. It also looks like the fourth, soon to come, might follow along the same pattern.

Despite my sample size of one, I'm confident in saying small groups have a different dynamic. Especially if they're founded by people who already know each other. Bigger groups are trickier, in many ways, and I was struck by the realisation that the different problems I encountered in both my bigger groups were representative of two ends of a spectrum. Similar things going wrong in opposite ways, so to speak.

One of them was defined by lack of forethought and planning. Indeed the whole RP just kind of happened organically, something more serious growing out of something very silly and casual. While it had its fun sides - and it was wildly fun, at times, for as long as the fun lasted - it's also obvious in retrospect how that could be a huge problem. Different players. No standardised rules or guidelines until way, waaay later in the game (after much drama had already happened). Lots of different people with different RPing backgrounds and personalities and playstyles, none of them fully on the same page. While many of the problems had to do with one or two difficult personalities in the group, that's not really the isuse. There is always a risk of... unpleasant people, no RP group is safe from them and no RP guidelines will truly protect you from someone who WANTS to start shit or manipulate things to their benefit and is cunning enough to do that. But even aside from that... the lack of regulation about who could grab what characters and how many (some players ending up with 20+ blogs), or any kind of spoken agreement about activity guidelines and replying etiquette. Lack of agreement about how "canon" certain plots were, in the RPing continuity. Lack of agreement about the continuity, period. A clash between people who wanted to develop a certain pre-planned (and rather exclusive) storyline and those who were more in it for spontaneity. It was a recipe for disaster. It didn't need to get as bad as it did, but starting off like that, it was bound to get unpleasant eventually anyway.

Now, the other group... oh, the other group. After the colourful experience of the first group, the things it offered seemed like a reassuring breath of fresh air. Planning! An almost DnD-esque level of detail to the established universe, rulebook, bestiary and lore! Basically an entire little sandbox lovingly crafted for you to play in. Transparent activity guidelines and rules! An actual mod team working to be approachable while still holding authority! New plots for everyone to participate in to be released basically by the clock, so nobody would feel left out! So lovely! Unfortunately, things are rarely as sunny as they appear. A certain type of literate, application RPs is infamous for their snobbishness and elitism, and despite the initially welcoming tone, that was exactly what this unravelled to be. On the flip side, many of the appeals of the group amounted to little more than elaborate publicity acts. Always, always must the group remain attractive and desirable to newcomers (perhaps unsurprisingly given the apparently abysmal player retention rates, both short and long-term). The tone turned out very different from what was advertised, the sandbox-like universe revealing itself to be more of a literal sandbox, with complex topics turned into gimmicks, and supernatural characters (prosecuted and feared for their in-humanity) easily and casually sharing information about their powers with near-strangers like kids on a playground comparing their toys. The "plots" thrown one's way are not only usually poorly (if at all) developed but intrusive, so that they are impossible to avoid completely even if one is not interested in them. Worse yet, the RP insists on doling out serious consequences and high-stakes crises like death, destruction, invasions of murderous monsters or malignant town-wide spells, but is curiously reluctant to allow any room for serious RPing or sense of consequences.

In fact, it's impossible to talk about consequences when even a sense of any basic continuity is thrown out the window, precluded by the occasional hiatus and re-launch and the various measures taken to make sure that new players enter onto a relatively blank slate. Yes, even if long-time residents of the area and the populace in general SHOULD remember and be affected by that politically motivated massacre half a year back, or that time monstrous vegetables SLAUGHTERED half a school of elementary schoolchildren. Thus, even though the RP is long-running (turning two years old soon), it is impossible for the setting to develop any sense of history, and instead it seems to turn more and more comically nonsensical the more tragedies befall the town and are promptly forgotten a few weeks later. Rather than a serious and in-depth setting, one begins to feel instead as if all the characters are living in a Lotus Eater-like state of vague oblivion, briefly reacting to various events but never quite letting them reach collective memory.

Now, all this might be bearable (and even fun! There's an appeal in a certain kind of wacky no-strings-attached horror-comedy-gore, no denying that), IF a couple things weren't true. a) If the RP (and specifically the mod team) didn't make such a huge deal about what a serious and respectable and serious RP it is. No OCs allowed. "We allow shipping but we don't put an emphasis on it! Please don't think this is one of those silly ship-obsessed RPs". No more than two characters allowed. Replies MUST happen every x days, and even though replies of various kinds are accepted (all prose, just different formats and individual reply lengths), only CERTAIN kinds count towards the activity requirement (???!), and a long-term failure to keep it up will end up in you getting the boot. Even if you ARE active and involved with other people and interact a lot. (Don't even get me started on that. I and about three or four other people, most of whom LEFT shortly after, ended up having our plots disrupted SIGNIFICANTLY because the mods booted - or in this case harangued into throwing in the towel and leaving in a huff - a player who was active with all of us, but wasn't active enough in "the RIGHT way" i.e. the right format. This was part of a bigger package of them caring more about keeping up certain pretenses and ticking off certain boxes to be more outwardly desirable to new applicants than the fun of the users who were already there.) b) The nit-picking. Oh god the nitpicking and micromanagement. Some of the shit I've personally seen, some of it I've heard about. It's one thing to crit a player for not being IC with a mod pre-made character. It's another thing to do that after they've been in play for A YEAR, and if you do that then, you're being blatantly disrespectful of all the development the player's put into them. And it's yet another thing to do that to someone's OC (before the 'no OCs' rule was instated). I've had mods dictate to me that my character shouldn't be reacting to x event like this or that, by listing a bunch of factors that, while possibly convincing, were only ONE possible way to interpret the big picture. For real. Psychology is complicated but for some reason all that goes out the window the moment the mod team decides they know how your character should be played (and I'm not talking about blatant realism or accuracy issues like "that's not how PTSD works" but actual decisions/ways of thinking, things that there should, in theory, be no "wrong" option with because once again, people are complicated).

Which brings me to: C) The omnipresent feeling of entitlement by the mod team aka the Powers That Be, as if they believe that theirs is such a supremely privileged, special and elite group, that they merely DEIGN to let you be a part of it. All of it manifesting in a complete lack of basic courtesy when approaching players. Or rather, any player who's been there longer than a month and who they're not actively trying to be Welcoming(TM) to. I should have seen it pretty early when I had a beef with another player who, to wit, disliked that an RP scene we had depicted her character as a "bad guy" (who was previously ESTABLISHED in canon as a psychopathic murderer!!! and the RP scene basically showed him doing more of the same!!!). She ended up badmouthing me to other players she was interacting with closely, and then they as a group complained about me to the mods, in which she twisted a certain conversation we'd had over Skype into something that reflected very badly on me, along the lines of me forcing her to RP a scene she would be triggered by. Now. This was resolved when I provided the mods with copied Skype messages (direct Skype quotes, a format that, in theory, can't be doctored) that showed she was fabricating that conversation - that she had outright told me she WOULD be okay with doing that scene. She eventually got booted for that (and other stuff). And all would have been well if it weren't for the way I had been initially addressed by the mods, and the condescending, denigrating, making you feel like shit TONE of it. Going from zero, utter peace, to "you have an attitude problem and you need to stop now or we'll kick you out". They also tacked on about half a dozen minor "offenses" I had done, like rambling too much about how the reasons I liked a school subject someone else disliked in the ooc chat, or trying TOO hard to get involved in plots, or other bullshit things that the people involved hadn't even complained to them about. I later realised that this, too, was a Pattern. Whenever they went to you with any sort of grievance, whether from their own side or from another player, they would tack on about half a dozen other "transgressions" you had made, sometimes making them up entirely out of thin air. (Other examples include: Me trying to "enforce a headcanon" by having my character react x way. I then pointed out that the "headcanon" I was allegedly """"enforcing"""" was the information stated on THEIR blog about how characters are large are reacting to a previous major town-wide event. (To wit: the information stated that the Event, a violent and deadly clash between two groups of people, exacerbated tensions between them and led to more mistrust between them. My character, who belongs to ONE group, was being mistrustful of the OTHER group. And somehow, this was not okay. Yes. That's it. That is literally how asinine it got. But then again, it's not surprising - as I explain later, it wasn't baout the offenses making sense. It was about getting to make me feel shitty for something) Or: I was being "inconsiderate" by having my character "out" the supernatural status of another character whose player was no longer in the group, and who they were not in contact with. Said player and I HAD in fact discussed this at the time, and they'd WANTED to have it happen, but the mods didn't know one way OR the other. They simply ASSUMED so they could try to pin it on me!) A long line of instances of them taking "offenses" that they didn't know for sure were offenses, that the player DIRECTLY affected HAD NOT come to them about, to paint a bigger picture of you being some kind of Problem Child who was daring to be naughty in THEIR classroom.

Now, I don't know if this was deliberate, but I can see why they did it. It makes you, as the player, feel like crap, puts you on the defensive, makes you question yourself. "Holy crap, were people really bothered by that time I went on a jokingly-serious rant about how awesome botany is when someone said they hated that topic in biology class?" (Hint: No they weren't. They thought NOTHING of it. But the mods saw it and filed it away for when they needed to make you feel like crap.) It puts the mods in a position of power and strengthened their authority. It forces you into a no-win scenario where you either deny the nonsensical accusations, and thus weaken your position and look less credible because it looks like you can't accept responsibility when you're wrong, OR accept the accusations and thereby agree with them that you're the naughty child and bad at following the rules. So it's a shitty, shitty manipulation technique. All of it coming from a place of entitlement and elitism.

I wish I could say I come from all this wiser, but it does feel like entitlement and elitism are the common denominator here. Part of the problem of the first RP was certain people needing to feel like they were superior and hating it when other people got in the way of that. Part of the problem of the second was stuck-up, self-important mods. Ultimately, it comes down to people who enjoy, just a little too much, to feel power and authority over people. To say that "it's THIS way, because I say it is" and have that listened to without question. Who enforce the rules not because it benefits the community, but because it makes them look good. Who view discussion, in and of itself, as disobedience, as an attack on their authority, an attack on them. I can't say I know for sure how to recognise the warning signs of a group like that BEFORE applying. But maybe big RP groups just aren't worth it, period.

#rp #roleplaying #rp problems #tumblr rp #honestly this is just for the purposes of catharsis #and man did it feel good to get ita ll out #certain past fandom rp #~~~certain original setting supernatural rp~~~~

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wolf-skins · 8 years

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Hey, I was wondering if you could tell me what bpd is exactly... I saw you posted about it once and I... idk I kinda related but I don't wanna just grab something offline and slap the label onto me when I don't know what it is and I was hoping if you could explain it? If not that's totally okay cause I wouldn't wanna impose or anything

Hey! It’s no problem.

A lot of people find various symptoms or experiences with BPD relatable. This is because a lot of experiences people who have BPD go through comes from trauma, plus BPD has a lot of fluctuating mood things which can be easily relatable to anyone who has a mood disorder. It’s actually something a lot of people in the BPD community get upset about, when their BPD posts are high-jacked by neurotypicals who go: “I don’t have BPD, but…” A lot of neurodivergent people could relate on some level too.

Keep in mind, too, that BPD is a personality disorder (PD). People with PDs tend to have similarities to them, especially if they share a “cluster”. (PDs are categorized in cluster A, cluster B, and cluster C, each cluster containing PDs with similarities). I just want to clear that up first, because exploring mental illness is always going to be complicated as heck! There are so many overlapping things, and everyone responds to different things in their life or traumas in different ways, so that could also have an affect. I cannot stress enough on doing excessive research.

BPD stands for borderline personality disorder. It’s also sometimes called “emotionally unstable personality disorder”. The biggest, common symptoms of BPD are: extreme emotional imbalance (to quote someone with it, it’s like all of our nerves are exposed, and every little touch causes an extreme reaction - this meaning that the very tiniest thing can set our extreme emotions off, and our emotions completely overwhelm us until we can’t focus on anything else), extreme abandonment issues (real or imagined), splitting (black and white thinking; something is all good or all bad, no in-betweens), identity disturbance, and impulsiveness. You can read the basics about it here.

BPD consists of a number of symptoms including chronic feelings of emptiness, dissociative symptoms, impulsivity, rapid mood swings, low self-esteem, instability in goals and self-identity, instability in relationships, anxiety, anger, fear of abandonment, and suicide attempts and self-harm. -shitborderlinesdo

Personality disorders are severe mental illnesses for which there is no cure - not even with medication. Meds can help, of course, and I personally wouldn’t be alive without them, but our biggest help comes from therapies, most prominently DBT (built for borderlines by a borderline, but it helps with anyone facing extreme emotions) and CBT. But looking into any therapy helps a lot.

A common, extremely common, theme around borderlines (but there are exceptions, as with anything) is extreme abuse in adolescence or adulthood. S*xual abuse is common and not unheard of. Another theory about why borderlines become who we are is that we may have been overly sensitive children, who ended up deprived of the attention/love/support we needed (through in some abuse, and, well). There are other factors, but that’s considered one of them.

BPD is one of the most life-threatening mental illnesses, following only after eating disorders.

There are a lot of disorders that have similarities to BPD, bipolar disorder being a common one. Most of us end up misdiagnosed with BD because borderlines can have both manic and depressive symptoms. They manifest in slightly different ways, and people with bipolar disorder tend to have longer fluctuations between mania/mixed/depression. Their moods are more likely to last weeks or months, while ours can change within minutes or hours.

If you feel like you relate to some of the symptoms, but not all, there are a list of mental illnesses/disorders which may be similar here. We also have common traits that are usually associated with other neurodivergencies, like child regression or stimming.

I cannot sum up a whole disorder in one post, however. Like any mental illness, it’s very complex and the experiences will range from person to person. The best, concise (and not biased) resources I can give you are shitborderlinesdo FAQs here on tumblr: 1, 2. The tumblr is run by borderlines for borderlines, and many of the mods that built the FAQ have or are going through different psychology majors and the like.Keep in mind to avoid Google when looking into this as best you can. BPD has been mislabeled for years as The Inherently Abusive Disorder™, and there entire sites and books set up building around this idea. The most popular one lists that all symptoms of emotional abuse means that, of course, your abuser must be borderline! Because yeah, that makes sense. (Try imagining the affect of telling people that their mental illness makes them abusive by default…. well, you can see the results because 98% of us believe we’re awful, manipulative assholes lmao.)

The FAQ has a ton of information ready at hand, but I can also recommend Girl, Interrupted (the book, not the movie - though the movie is good it’s way off the mark and doesn’t represent any mental illness properly) by Susana Kaysen for an inside look into BPD. I also really like The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook, which is an easy to follow workbook for DBT skills. If you feel you can relate even on some level to BPD, learning some DBT skills will help, regardless if you are borderline or not!

If you have any more specific questions (like perhaps what posts you related to, because maybe I can also help point you to reasons why you related to those) or anything, let me know.

I’m publishing this because it’s a common question, and many people think BPD is relatable without realizing that our symptoms are so much more intense than they can imagine. That’s not saying that relating to a post or symptom is bad at all, and could most definitely point to something deeper going on within you/whomever, but BPD is also much more complex than a lot of people imagine.

I’m going to keep trying to post more info about it as I go along, bc I’ve always been obsessive about research into mental illnesses, and because it’s nice to be able to share things that can help both myself and others understand what I’m going through. If you don’t want to go through the frickton of resources in the FAQs, keep a look out for my ‘bpd info’ tag. I hope some of this helps, and if you want me to remove this from being public just let me know, and I can instead send this whole thing to you privately.

#bpd info #kyoki-no-otoko #ask #oooooh! also! you can look @ anakin or chloe as they are often described as REALLY good character reps for BPD #like once you familiarize yourself w the symptoms you can totally see it in them

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