#the way they're just completely getting it and applying is wild

[aibidil]

My 10yo had a couple events at our place today and one friend was going to be coming for both, with five hours in between. To save his parents driving, I offered that he could stay through, but explained when I made the offer that my kids need a break from social time or they'll get drained, so could their kid bring a book or something over for some alone time in the middle of the afternoon for my introverts to recharge? His parents happily complied and I've been chatting with the kids about it. "I'm worried that you guys are having a ton of fun right now because your battery is still charged, so you're not taking a break—I want to make sure that you don't crash and need a recharge right before the party starts tonight, because at that point you won't be able to take your break to recharge." Both kids very seriously listened, agreed, and have been having their chill time separately. One's reading and one's watching YouTube.

Can you fucking IMAGINE learning this kind of energy management, which is so important for neurodivergent people to avoid shutdown/meltdown, before your 30s?

[celaenaeiln]

Nothing in Batman comics is canon because it’s literally 90% fanfiction written after the actual creators stopped writing the characters.

anon it doesn't work that way.

By that logic, practically noone exists because the original writer of Batman, Bob Kane and Bill Finger, only created Bruce, Dick, Alfred, and the villains gallery. That's it.

No Barbara, no Jason, no Tim, no Damian, Steph, Cass, Duke, Lucius, Tim Fox, Kate, Talia - there's no one then.

But suppose we go back on that statement and say 'well actually, the creators of new characters', which still doesn't make sense but let's go with that. Then major plots wouldn't happen. Because Max Allan Collins and Chris Warner created Jason Todd but Judd Winick is the one who brought him back to life. Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick created Tim Drake but Alan Grant wrote a lot of the Robin comic and Batman comic characterization for him.

It's physically impossible to say that just because other people continued the series, the comics can't be taken seriously.

Comics are the source material. Of which fanfics are based on.

The Star Trek and Star Wars book series are written by multiple different authors but that doesn't mean that what's written doesn't happen or isn't true or is wrong. The 39 Clues and Doctor Who series are the same deal.

Batman comics are canon. Because if only the works of the original authors of Batman were to be considered canon, then practically everyone in the Batman universe doesn't exist/doesn't matter. Because they're just fanfic then.

But this idea doesn't just stop at the Batman fandom anymore because every comic was written this way. The people in Superfam? Gone. Flashfam? Gone. Arrowfam? Gone. Like this logic doesn't just apply to Batman, it applies to virutally every character in the existence of DC.

The beauty of comics is seeing how the next writer will continue the story. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they need tweaking, and sometimes they're wrong although that's usually very rare.

The problem with fandom's view on comic writing is the belief that whatever the authors create must match our perspective of the characters. That's wrong. Their characterization is what we should be adding on/building on to our perspective of the characters. Unless there is something so wrong, something so illogical, that it must be noted because that character has never acted that way before, then we must discard or critisize a comic.

Comics develop. Characters develop. Each writer brings something new and adds a layer of depth to each character they write about. That's how we get new interactions, new relationships, new sides that make each character interesting.

Take the original Dick Grayson comic and his intro to Robin

Detective Comics (1937) Issue #38

Dick originally wanted to go to the police. He had no intention of going after Tony Zucco but Bruce is the one who demands they go after him together by themselves!

I love this version created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger, but I also love the version created by a completely different author where Dick decides to stake out Zucco on his own. Both versions show different sides of him and authors sometimes even choose which one they want to include. Some have gone with this version where Dick tries to go to the police before being interrupted by Bruce and others have gone with the second, more famous version. But neither of them are bad and you can't say that the one where Dick goes after Tony Zucco is fanfiction. It's canon. If it's written in comics, it happened unless there's some disastrous, glaring contradiction.

You have to understand, these comics - especially Dick and Bruce's - are nearly 100 years old. Dick, and it's wild to think about this, existed before even the Justice League did. Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Aquaman were all created after him. If the orginial writers stopped writing, and noone picked it up, there would be no Justice League and that's a problem because the Justice League is one of the foundations of the DC comics.

So much has changed in a century and new writers constantly come in to show that change. That's why comics after the original writers finish writing are still canon and important. The original characterizations of all these major players were all super peppy and cheerful before new writers added angst and drama to their backstories. Bruce and Dick used to laugh and grin when they went crime fighting with no sadness or anger or other emotions. It wasn't until a couple decades later where writers started writing that in which is how we get the grim avenger Batman today.

Here's the third point to why they're relevant even though they're written by new authors: the passage of time in real life, is included in canon comics characterizations.

One comic talks about Dick discussing the Joker and he says, "at the beginning, it was just all fun and games. He would cause problems but at the end of the day it was a game. But one day, things went too far. People got shot. That day, the Joker changed. He was darker and evil. It wasn't games anymore."

This comic panel talks about the Golden Age to now, the progression and development of characters.

The comics and reality are inseparable because reality is literally written in. The works of writers after the orignal ones aren't arbitrary or some whimsical thing.

It's very different from fanfiction because fanfiction has no need to stick to the truth or canon characterization but these comic writers do because they have an obligation to do so. The only problem they might have is accidentally focusing too much on one aspect of a character and neglecting the other parts but almost none of them are way off the mark.

So no, for the sake of characterization, personality development, plot events, and new interactions, all comics are extremely important and definitely canon. Us readers might have different opinions and thoughts on them but it's irrelevant in the face of the fact that the comics are the only truth to which we can base our interpretations on.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name: Spring Vault Debut: Super Mario Galaxy

Oh boy, a vault! A spring vault! A vault full of goodies and treasures, perhaps? Only one way to find out! Come on, Spring Vault, you have nothing to hide! Open up, and let us inside!

Uh oh, lasers? Those goodies and treasures aren't good or treasured! Nevermind, Spring Vault. You can keep your goodies to yourself. I don't want them and neither does Mario.

This is Spring Vault, from Super Mario Galaxy! I didn't know they were called that, but as it turns out, the wiki didn't until pretty recently either, so I'm not alone. Spring Vaults are a stationary enemy that attack Mario by shooting circular laser beams from a safe distance!

Which raises my first question: are "circular laser beams" even something that can exist? Does light work that way? I wouldn't know! That sounds like a physics question and I know next to nothing about physics because I'm bad at math. I got my degree in Applied Weird Mario Enemies Studies at Wet-Dry World's Wet n' Wild Wuniversity.

If you can hop over Spring Vault's possibly impossible circular laser beams, then you can jump on Spring Vault to reveal the real treasure: Spring! Jump on Spring Vault with the spring revealed, and you can get some impressive vertical, bringing Jump Man to heights never before thought to be possible...

Don't worry too much about breaking the Funny Robot though. If you leave it undisturbed for long enough, it'll fix itself by Recalibrating Its Spring Senors or some other vaguely technological-sounding mumbo jumbo. I don't know anything about computers either! I'm writing this post on a stone tablet!

If you're familiar with your Weird Mario Enemies, you may note that Spring Vault looks similar to the Topmen from the same game, especially the Spring Topman, which loses out on its laser functionality to let you enjoy Springing on the go! But just as the Topman is a whole family of enemies, Spring Vault has a bit of a family of its own, which I'll cover beneath the cut!

First up, we have the Sentry Garage, which is probably the closest relative of the Spring Vault. Sentry Garages are a similarly stationary enemy that can be jumped on to reveal the spring within, but instead of shooting out lasers, they shoot Topminis! I'd make another joke about the miracle of childbirth, but the name suggests these are just a Topmini storage unit...

Sentry Garage looks like a pretty stylish place to keep your Topminis, but if a plumber comes by and spins them into next Thursday, don't say I didn't warn you!

Sadly, Sentry Garage is about as interesting as the Spring Vault family gets, because the rest of these are more "obstacle" than enemy. Like Ring Beamer, for example! No eyes or anything. Just a bunch of spikes. But sea urchins have no eyes and a bunch of spikes, and they're awesome, so maybe we should extend the same love to Ring Beamer. Make it feel loved. Make it feel like part of a family.

It's not trying to make you feel like part of a family though! Lasers? Spikes? Everything Ring Beamer does is a pretty clear indicator to Stay Away!

Up next we have the Ball Beamers, but you can call them Banjo and Kazooie, because they have Nuts and Bolts! Like the Ring Beamer, these are more obstacle than enemy, but unlike Ring Beamer, they don't have spikes or anything. This makes them safe for Mario to stand on, but it also means you can't compare them to sea urchins as much. You win some, you lose some.

They're still not completely safe though, because you know. Circular laser beams.

The thing is, whether they're an Enemy or Obstacle, Nintendo must have really fallen in love with the Ring Beamer family, because they've kept making new variants in subsequent 3D Mario games! Meet Ring Burner, introduced in Super Mario 3D World! Rather than lasers, this one shoots fire, but otherwise it has the same basic attack patterns.

Or at least it can have the same attack patterns, because some Ring Burners shoot fire in squares instead! Haven't you heard? It's hip to be square! This feels like it goes against the name, but oh well. Like Ball Beamer, these ones are safe to stand on, and they won't fire while you stand on it. Are they scared? Does Ring Beamer have feelings? Is that skull marking its actual face?

That being said, by the time Super Mario Odyssey came out, "fire" and "being safe to stand on" were out of fashion again, because Pulse Beam brought back the lasers and spikes! Or rather, laser and spike. Pulse Beam thinks having more than one spike is excessive.

Pulse Beam also values its personal space, and as long as you don't disturb it, it won't disturb you. Pulse Beams will only start shooting lasers when hit by Cappy, so leave them be, and they'll leave you be! That being said, their lasers can clear out other small enemies, so it might be good to activate them if you're getting overwhelmed...

But be careful! Pulse Beams tend to activate other Pulse Beams, so once one goes off, you'll probably have to deal with a few. Time your jumps well, and you should be A-OK.

But hold on, what if I were to tell you that the Ring Beamer family wasn't restricted to the Mario franchise...?

Happy Tunky Tuesday, because thinking so much about circular laser beams you gotta hop over reminded me of the Wave Breaker from Splatoon 3! This special weapon uses basically the same attack pattern, releasing circular shockwaves you need to jump over to avoid getting damaged, and since this is a competitive shooter, getting hit by the Wave Breaker also puts a target on your back, letting everyone on the enemy team know your exact location! Imagine, getting doxxed by a cup and ball toy. Those Splatoons have it rough.

Clearly the Splatoon 3 developers fell in love with this mechanic, because it shows up even in other game modes, with DJ Octavio's boss fight, the Amped Octostamp, and the Big Shot from Salmon Run using the exact same shockwave mechanics. The sheer scope of Ring Burner's influence can not be understated!

It's weird that talking about a Funny Spring Laser Enemy from Super Mario Galaxy eventually led me to talking about a different franchise in a different genre, but it's apparent Nintendo has fallen in love with this sort of obstacle. Gosh, Nintendo, if you love Circular Laser Beams You Need To Jump Over so much, why don't you marry them?

...I can be Spring Vault/Ring Beamer/Ring Burner/Wave Breaker/the rest's bridesmaid if they need one! I promise!

[mixelation]

reborn au plot.... stuff. has plasticity spoilers. also canon characters die!

i said this recently, but i don't have much in the way of an overarching story after tori's, like, 17. part of this is just that i haven't made some major decisions about the premise (like what orochimaru is up to) and part of it is that...... what problems would even challenge these characters. like we have a bunch of weird interpersonal shenanigans but like obviously one appeal of this au is giving tori opportunities for Feats.

so i decided on a Feat.

i think as an ongoing looming threat, i might have some petty proxy war stuff going on. no one wants to reignite a multi-nation shinobi war, but everyone is scrambling to grab things for themselves, especially since konoha just like.... stole from iwa??? ame burned down half of kusa? oto-nin are just? in the wind???? someone probably hires orochimaru. people are out trying to snatch jinchuriki left and right.

so i was thinking thusly: one of the bigger nations captures fuu for the seven tails. ame sends an akatsuki pair which includes tori. somehow, the situation goes completely to shit. multiple nations are involved. the seven tails is released, killing fuu. everyone wants this weapon and they don't care if they had to kill a young girl to get it.

akatsuki's solution is that they should simply control all weapons. tori knows this will fall apart. she also knows that, even if she wrestles the raging seven-tails into a container and gets around the multiple nation's people ALSO vying to capture it for themselves, and she takes it back to konoha, this also solves nothing. and so she thinks: if no one can resist the temptation of a weapon, then i will remove the weapon.

this is the part that's a pretty big plasticity spoiler, but also a few people guessed it so i don't mind sharing. basically, the shinigami doesn't like tori because he can't have her. she's a weird, foreign thing that shouldn't be there. functionally, she can't die. she can be irreparably maimed, so she still has a healthy fear of most life-and-death situations, but she technically can't die. (she's unsure if this still applies in this universe in the earlier parts, but we'll let her figure it out eventually.)

the side-effect of this is that she has more bullshitty leeway with summoning the shinigami than other people. it can't take her soul so it will take things around her more indiscriminately, so she's not going to use it if her allies are around. but if she's fed up and doesn't care if everyone dies? fuck it, we're going to kill the tailed beast itself.

i want how this to be accomplished to be kind of metal and/or gross. you know that scene in plasticity where tori is simultaneously herself AND the shinigami and she's confused? like that but they're eating the seven-tails.

tori comes to later and the whole battlefield is dead, from the shinobi to the plants and wildlife. whatever other akatsuki was with her is either some probationary schmuck, a canon character who got separated, or hidan-but-he's-not-revived-yet (i'm leaning towards this last one). at first i was like "how does she explain she killed a tailed beast" to other people but THEN i decided

tori realizes she's done something she should not have been able to do. she's just created another weapon people will want to use. so she gets up and goes home, and she lies.

the seven tails killed everyone and ran off. yes, even the forest. even the little bugs in the trees. the soil is irradiated. i guess it was pissed off. how did i live? aren't i a barrier specialist..........?

and then of course everyone goes out looking for the tailed beast. like, you can't just have a wild bijuu running around!! but they can't find it. it's nowhere. it will never be found because it no longer exists.

probably at some point she'll tell someone, most likely itachi and/or deidara. hidan might confront her about it. but i just love the idea of her getting a major feat and then immediately denying it.

also she may or may not decide to repeat the experiment

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

I love accidental kisses, too. Especially ones where Steve and Eddie realize at the same time that they're bisexual. Don't get me wrong, I still firmly believe that Steve knows and is, in fact, Eddie's bisexual awakening. So here it is, the accidental kiss:

Eddie didn't know that Steve carried him out of the Upside Down until they were both completely healed. They were hanging out one on one at Steve's house when Steve told him. Eddie clutched his chest, gasping dramatically as he turned to Steve on the couch.

"Oh, Steve, my hero!"

Steve rolled his eyes, huffing. Eddie leaned forward to place a kiss on his cheek when Steve turned his head and their lips connected. They both froze. Eddie pulled away slightly, their faces still close together. Eddie gazed into his eyes, and then his eyes flickered to Steve’s mouth. He gave Steve’s mouth a tentative kiss, grasping the back of his neck. Steve leaned into the kiss, pressing his lips hard against Eddie's. Steve opened his mouth, allowing Eddie to slip his tongue in. Eddie curled his fingers into Steve’s hair, grasping it tightly but not enough to hurt him. Steve's hands were placed on Eddie's lower back, holding onto his shirt just as tightly as Eddie was holding on his hair. They broke apart, breathing heavily. Their cheeks were flushed, and Steve’s hair was wild.

"So. . . that happened," Eddie said.

"That was. . . really good," Steve said.

"Yeah, it was, which is weird because I've always liked. . .," Eddie trailed off.

"Girls?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, don't laugh when I say this, but this is like only my second kiss. Last year, this girl kissed me, and I was definitely super into it, but you know, it turns out she was hoping to pay me for my weed with sex. I don't do that, so it didn't get any further than that," Eddie said and suddered. "I mean, I definitely wanted to have sex with her, but it was clear that she only wanted one thing from me. Weed."

"That's. . .fucked up," Steve said.

"Yeah. On the way out, she yelled: 'I didn't want your ugly ass anyway!' It really felt great," Eddie muttered.

"Well, that's dumb," he scoffed. "You're hot."

"I must be a really good kisser," Eddie said, smirking. "To make you think I'm hot."

"Fuck off, no I noticed it early, I just. . .I didn't think it was just that I thought you were attractive, but I kept telling myself it was just something you notice about a friend," Steve said.

"So, you thought that I was hot in a platonic straight way?" Eddie asked, laughing. "I kind of thought that about you too. I was like, 'fuck, this guy is so hot that even a straight guy like myself is in awe'. The tearing the bat in half didn't help, I almost realized right then and there."

"So, what we were both in denial?" Steve asked, pausing and shaking his head. "You know, if you hadn't had a beer bottle pressed to my throat, I probably would have known back in the boathouse."

Eddie giggled, shaking his head.

"So, what does that make us then?" Eddie asked.

"Bisexual, I think. I knew because of Bowie, but I didn't realize it applied to me," Steve said.

"Oh, man, I love Bowie!"

"Seriously?"

"What? Just because I dress like I only like metal doesn't mean that I don't listen to other music," Eddie replied, licking his lips.

"You know, I think we might need to make sure that we are bisexual, you know?" Steve said. "To absolutely know for sure."

"Oh, I see what you're saying," Eddie said coyly. "Yeah, I definitely think we need to double check. Maybe even triple check."

Steve kissed him, his fingers curling into Eddie's hair this time, and slipped his tongue into Eddie's mouth. Eddie quickly broke the kiss with a gasp.

"You know, I think I used to check out Jeff!"

"Hey!"

"What?"

"Can you not talk about checking out another guy when I just had my tongue in your mouth?!"

"Aww, are you jealous?"

"Yes!"

"Aww, does Steve Harrington want me to be his boyfriend?" Eddie teased.

"For fuck's sake, Eddie! Yes, I do," Steve muttered.

"Okay, boyfriend. Boyfriend. . .that's so cool!" Eddie exclaimed.

"Eddie," Steve whined. "Kiss me."

"Right. . .where?"

Steve was in a good mood all day the next day at work, and it was quite frankly weirding Robin out. He was whistling. Whistling! They were in the break room, taking their lunch when Robin couldn't take it anymore.

"Okay, what's with you?" Robin asked.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"Not that I'm complaining, but you seem really chipper. What gives?" Robin asked and Steve giggled.

"He said it was okay if I asked you this," Steve said and waited until she took a drink. "Hey, how straight is it when last night Eddie stuck his tongue down my throat, and I liked it?"

Robin spat her drink out all over the table and started coughing.

"NOT VERY STRAIGHT, STEVE! Oh. My. God!"

[thefirstknife]

Getting real sick of a certain subset of Destiny players complaining that it’s a baby game and crying to Bungie to nerf exotics and abilities when their ENTIRE POINT IS TO BE STRONG in specific ways as if they are being locked into using them.

IF YOU WANT AN EXTRA CHALLENGE STOP BEING SUCH A DPS GOBLIN AND JUST EQUIP SOMETHING THATS NOT TOP TIER META AND STOP COMPLAINING JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

MOOD. Go off.

It's incredibly annoying to me. They always use the argument of "the game should FORCE me to do things, I should not SELF-IMPOSE challenges." And like. ? I'm sorry but what? It's a video game for a big audience, it's here to be playable and accessible to the widest possible playerbase. There are plenty of ways to make the game difficult for yourself, so knock yourself out if that's your thing, but don't force others into it.

Like, I enjoy hard content, I regularly at least attempt day 1 raids, I do master raids, GMs, solo and solo flawless content and all that. But only when I want to. Sometimes I don't and I don't want to suffer in a patrol zone or struggle in a seasonal activity I'm doing for the story. The majority of the players don't want that. Designing games for the professional gamers only has NEVER been a good idea and never will be. Fifty streamers can't sustain a video game. It needs casual players who will want to come back to the game instead of feeling defeated.

One of the reasons I really enjoy helping others is because I know that casual players tend to struggle in stuff that's basic activity for me. I've seen people unable to get through a strike. I've sat for 10 minutes rezing someone who couldn't do the jump in a seasonal activity. I want those people to be able to play basic content without feeling frustrated and I want them to know that there are people out there who will help them out.

And this doesn't apply just to basic content, although it should start with that. I think all dungeons and raids and everything should be things that all players can complete. Fine, doing a master raid with all challenges should be tough, but it should be achievable with time and practice, not impossible. What a lot of these "pros" want is just completely divorced from reality.

It takes days and days of practice every time a new master raid is out for me and my team (all with thousands of hours of playtime) to get comfortable to finally finish it. We're far from casual players and it still takes a lot of time to be able to finish hard content. Making it even harder is insane to me. Like, if something is so hard that my team full of people, each with 5000+ hours of playtime and a coordinated team that's been raiding together for years now can't finish it, that means it's absolutely impossible for probably 90% of the playerbase. That's wild to me. Raids and GMs should have more people playing them. If master raids are too easy for you, Mr. I-Play-Destiny-For-A-Living, that's on you buddy. Unequip the super god tier god roll meta guns and loadouts or play something else.

And ofc, another excuse they make is "if I don't use meta, I am not going to win a raid race!" Then don't. Idk. Let me play you the tiniest violin. This affects literally nobody except a grand total of 50 people. Run your meta in day 1, and play with random shit otherwise. Play raids with all white weapons. Play without mods. Play without a HUD. Do things solo only. I don't know, make up a way to spice things up for yourself. I'm not interested in that and neither are 99% of the players out there. The game is genuinely hard enough for the majority of the players. On top of that, I am here to feel like a powerful space fantasy superhero. I am NOT here to die to dregs in patrol zones. If there's ONE thing that I know for a fact that put people off from Lightfall (as in this year of Destiny), it's the difficulty changes. They're annoying, frustrating and for some a barrier to entry more than anything else.

[c0d33]

Richard Lore

WARNING! This post contains spoilers for Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye!

If you have not yet completed this DLC (Or Outer Wilds for that fact), I would suggest not reading past the read more. What I talk about in here will spoil some of the largest parts of the DLC, and they're too good to not experience for yourself first.

Y'all gone? Alright, now let's get into this mess of a character.

Richard the Owlk

(Art by @luckylazulii!)

Part 1: Origins

Richard's origins are probably not a conventional way for OCs to be made. Richard was spawned entirely as a joke from several VRChat sessions I had with some friends. In them, we would usually start in the Outer Wilds avatar world, and one of the avatars was a customizable Owlk! Naturally, I tried to make the silliest looking one possible, so I gave them no antlers (But I prefer just calling them bald). While I used this avatar, I jokingly called them Richard. Not only did this name stick for the character itself, but it also somehow got attached to me. So if you're wondering why I had that random name listed as one of the ones you can call me, that's why.

Part 2: The Lore

This is where it somehow gets sillier. I never intended for Richard to be a serious character, so naturally I just started making up whatever lore I wanted for him. So, here's what the initial lore was:

He's bald (As mentioned earlier)

He's a certified Fortnite gamer

He sleeps in doorways (The one on the top end of the stairs in the Party House in the Shrouded Woodlands is the main one he sleeps in)

He eats children

As you can see, not the most serious OC. But again, I hardly intended for them to be serious. It wasn't until they had been around for a while and I started getting art of them that more lore started developing. So, here's the Serious Lore™:

Richard was spawned through a bug in the simulation's code. Despite the Owlk's best attempts to fix the bug, he was never patched out and remained in the simulation indefinitely.

He didn't act like other Owlks. He would often be looming in the distance, watching. Waiting.

He wasn't very... friendly, so to say. Various reports were made and many stories were told about the various things he had done, but there were never any other witnesses for any one story.

By the time the events of the main game are taking place, there are no other Owlks left in the simulation except for Richard (And the Prisoner, but due to their current situation, Richard couldn't feasibly get rid of them).

And so far, that's the lore. There are some other meta things I could think of that would explain how they would work in the context of the game, but that doesn't necessarily apply to their lore.

Part 3: Personality

I've given a lot of thought about Richard's personality and how it would work with both sides of his lore, and I think I've worked something out.

Richard experiences what I would best describe as very extreme mood swings, due to how messy the bug that allowed him to exist was.

One is the very silly, very goofy Fornite-playing doorway-sleeping Owlk that most people (Aside from the other Owlks) know and love.

The other side is the side that the Owlks experienced, with the general creepiness and violent nature.

My best comparison would be to some kind of mental illness, but I'm very cautious and nervous about saying that since A.) I don't know nearly enough about mental illnesses to name any one that it could be similar to, B.) I don't want to offend anyone who may have the mental illness that I specifically name, and C.) I don't want this to vilify mental illness in any way, shape, or form.

I'm very aware of how bad mental illness representation in media can be, and the last thing I want would be to add to that pile of misrepresentation. I would greatly appreciate any feedback or advice about this, since I'm very worried about portraying something the wrong way.

Part 4: Conclusion

Well, that's the Richard lore! Thank you very much for reading!

Richard is still very much a character that's under development, as I'm still attempting to work out exactly how they act and behave. Any thoughts or comments are appreciated, and feel free to send me asks about them, be it questions or feedback!

(Entirely unrelated to Richard, but after writing this I'm realizing just how starved for lore my other two OCs are. Maybe I should get some for them too.)

[super-hero-confessions]

Honestly the people who lump Homelander into the whole babygirl thingy remind of those people who fawn over large and dangerous wild animals without proper levels of precaution because look how cute or beautiful I guess. And then get killed by those animals for not having reasonable precaution.

To be clear on a side tracked note I will say I would never blame the animal reacting to the dumbfucks that pull that shit. Humans are 100% at fault in those scenarios. Fuck around and find out.

Sure nature can be pretty. But it's also fucked with no limits and morality on a never happening scale. They get off on the idea of pacifying and depowering Homelander but realistically that's only something that would make him more miserable than he already is. Possibly more feral and a different kind of dangerous.

When you back someone or something into a corner when they're already backed into a corner they don't suddenly stop being a threat.

They explode.

His situation is similar to one of a wild animal that's been caged its whole life. That creates a boiling point waiting to overflow and it is bizarre to me that people ignore that or think further prodding and poking would somehow help him??

Hm. Like are y'all okay? Are you sure you're okay cause you don't seem okay to me.

Also please never ever get a cat because I can already see what horrid douchebaggery this kind of behavior or enjoyment would mean for that poor animal. Just because you can torture something and get on its nerves for a reaction doesn't mean you should. Isn't that kind of a point with Homelander's character?

That's part of the theme too. Billy Butcher isn't making him or anything better. They're both driving each other towards the brink. Homelander is a ticking time bomb and Billy is accelerating the count down because he's so self absorbed in his revenge schemes he's unwilling to pause and think about consequence for others.

Including Ryan and completely ignoring Vought in favor of going after Homelander.

Just seems like some are guilty of some similar lines of thought in a few different ways. Which is ironic given complaints about Vought being the real villain.

And I do get it to some degree. Some people have kinks. Some people feel the need to do this as a form of self comfort specifically and especially when it comes to nerfing the characters' powers. But some people just don't want to see the character or the image or even messages that is or are actually being portrayed because they feel they've made a better image in their head I suppose.

Have fun but please be cautious with that mindset as it can be extremely harmful when applied to real people or in real life.

The whole sanitizing or even nerfing of how dangerous Homelander actually is or what he's done or even where he's headed just to justify him as a babygirl? I really really think that could be done without.

Also I do not want to think of Trump as babygirl and I hate all of you so fucking much for that. I sincerely hope that image consumes your minds too.

Now imagine that unholy pompous cheeznip in babydoll lingerie including garter belt and sexy stockings that do not fit him properly and tell me it's fucking beautiful.

[raideo]

Bruh ...... let me tell you, I actually started paying attention to my nutrition intake and I was not eating as healthy as I thought I was like goddamn...

I mean the things I was eating WERE healthy but like, the pacing/frequency of food intake, ratio of macronutrients and micronutrients were completely and utterly fucked six ways from Sunday, I had no idea my diet was so screwed up and thats why I felt like I was DYING ALL THE TIME!!!!!! BECAUSE I KINDA FUCKIN WAS, LMAO!!!!!

I feel like a whole different person this is the best thing ive ever done for myself omg

If you feel like shit all the time please consider getting a nutrition tracking app and DONT!!! DO IT FOR WEIGHT LOSS!!! THAT SHOULD NOT BE YOUR GOAL UNLESS YOU NEED TO FOR HEALTH REASONS, Just do it with the goal of trying to get the macro/micronutrients you should be getting and oh my god it will make such a difference if your diet is unbalanced I promise you.

I was not getting nearly enough protein or fiber before omfg. No wonder i could exercise as much as i wanted and i never seemed to get stronger and i always fucking hurt all the time! Jesus christ!!! 🤦‍♂️ i feel so stupid but also I cannot be the only one who struggles with this PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BALANCE YALLS DIETS

Also extra note about the fiber- if you get very little you should not go straight to getting the full recommended amount you will have a BAD TIME. Im glad I knew about this already and did not have to learn it the hard way. You gotta give your body days or sometimes weeks to adjust to increasing it, because gut bacteria is responsible for helping you digest that stuff and if you don't have enough they cannot handle a large amount- you gotta give them time to multiply 👍 (i cant believe my fish tank cycling knowledge applies to my own human body this shit is wild)

Anyway nutritional education in this country is fucked so bad, overhauling my diet has only made me more angry that shit is so expensive and school/workplace culture is so hostile to you snacking often like you should be. How the fuck is a person supposed to get the nutrients they're supposed to to fuel their body and brains when they're only allowed to eat once like every 6-10 hours?! Im so glad my job doesn't have an issue with me constantly snacking on stuff because it's extremely physical and I have come to realize it's quite literally imperative to my body's optimal function that I have that.

🪓 capitalism die

[autisticsupervillain]

Fanfiction Throwdown!

Fictional Throwdown Friday applied to fanfiction characters. These fan works can be anything from fanfictions, fan songs, fan games, mods, scripts, creepypastas, and more. The original creator reserves every right to ask my to take these down and I will seek permission in advance when possible.

This Week's Fighters...

Clover vs Undyne!

Conditions:

LV 20 Clover vs Undyne the Undying

Scenario:

The end of the genocide route to Undertale Yellow plays out the same as in canon, except Undyne is in the throne room when Clover confronts Asgore. Getting obliterated alongside the King, Undyne comes back as the Undying to keep Clover from stealing the human souls and dooming the Underground.

Analysis: Clover

A long time ago, humans and monsters lived together in harmony. But, one day, that peace was broken, and humanity launched a genocidal campaign against monster kind. Mankind sealed the monsters away behind a powerful magical barrier that could only be broken with the power of seven human souls.

These days, everyone that goes near Mt. Ebott tends to disappear. Five children have gone missing already, their souls harnessed so that monsterkind could break the barrier. Clover, a young child, a self made sheriff with a heart of gold, lept into the Underground to avenge the missing children and bring Justice to the Underground.

We already know how that ends. It doesn't matter whether Clover approaches the monsters they find with kindness or cruelty. They will end up the sixth soul in Asgore's keep all the same. Except for one timeline...

There is one version of this story where Clover survives. Where they bring justice to the souls of the dead. The Genocide Timeline. Let Justice Be Done.

In Clover's eyes, every monster that tries to stop them is complicate in Asgore's atrocities, punishable by death. They've traded in their trusty toy gun with a real six shooter, loaded up with Flowey's own Friendliness Pellets, allowing them to attack both body and soul. Just like Frisk, Clover can withstand magical attacks that damage both body and soul and can move fast enough to dodge lightning, bullets, and sound. Even Neutral Route Clover, who isn't even strong enough to scratch Asgore, is still fast enough to dodge his attacks for a time. Genocide Route Clover should be even faster.

When Clover's trusty side arm isn't enough, Clover can fire shots directly from their soul, to the point of being able to charge up the blast to completely vaporize their enemies. This laser has at times been strong enough to split the mechanical killing machine Axis clean in half and even vaporize Asgore himself in one shot.

This ability, like all of Clover's powers, is fueled entirely by their single minded pursuit of their brand of justice. When Axis reveals he was the one who killed the Blue Soul, Clover gains several levels through sheer force of rage and obliterates him in a single hit. Warped as their definition of Justice may be, it is genuine. Clover will allow fleeing or surrendering opponents to live, will not kill monsters who don't get in their way, and will even honor opponents they find respectable. When Starlo, sheriff of the Wild East, challenges Clover to a quick draw, Clover not only humors him, but has a chance to let Starlo get a shot off on them, just so he dies feeling like a hero.

Clover's sense of Justice is so strong it can allow them to read an opponent's memories. In the Neutral Route, Clover was able to fight Flowey to a stalemate as he tried to absorb their soul, forcing him to reset. A feat they'd replicate later in Undertale canon when Omega Flowey loses control of the human souls. But, this version of Clover takes it even further. After reaching Level 20, they're strong enough to override Flowey's determination entirely, stealing his ability to SAVE and LOAD the game.

Clover is, as a rule, generally much weaker than standard Undertale characters. The reason Flowey sent Clover on a roundabout trip through the Underground was because they simply couldn't survive against Undyne or other obstacles Frisk could beat with ease. Their True Pacifist final boss is weaker than Papyrus according to the check stats. Undertale absolutely clears the Undertale Yellow cast and it's not even close.

Flowey never considered they'd get any stronger than that. But through the power of LOVE, Determination, and, above all, Justice, Clover did, becoming more powerful than any of their counterparts in other timelines and obliterating Flowey mercilessly.

With nothing left in the Underground to stop them, Clover tanks Asgore's hit so hard his trident shatters, before vaporizing him along with most of the throne room. Justice is done. The past can rest. And with a sea of dust behind them, Clover walks out of the Underground with the other human souls.

Analysis: Undyne

Monsterkind has not seen the surface of the Earth in generations. Sealed away by mistrustful humans long ago, monsters now live beneath the surface of Mt. Ebott. With limited resources that will one day run dry, the monsters live a life without light and without hope.

The Underground needs a hero. Undyne, the Captain of the Royal Guard, is willing to step up to the challenge.

Inspired by heroes who served in the Human-Monster War, Undyne dedicated her life to training, hoping to claim the soul of the next human who fell Underground so that monsters can break the barrier and save themselves. And if she had to kill a child to do so, so be it. Monsters have suffered long enough.

Undyne, as Captain of the Royal Guard, is Natura one of the strongest monsters in the Underground, one of the few whose blows can stagger King Asgore himself. She can summon her spears to attack from any direction, even directly beneath the enemy's feet, and can circle around you to attack from the opposite direction they came from. Her magical spears do damage to both body and soul simultaneously, potentially even destroying your soul with one hit. Furthermore, Undyne can turn a foe's soul green, physically rooting them in place to keep her foe from evading or escaping her blows. Though, her sense of fair play does bite her here, as she has a tendency to provide her opponent with a shield to defend themselves with.

But, above all, Undyne's greatest strength is her determination. Her shear stubbornness rivals even that of other humans, allowing her to harness the spiritual essance of Determination in a way no other monster can. Regenerating from being split in half in a burst of desperate willpower to become the Undying.

As the Undying, Undyne is far and away the strongest being in the Underground, trumping even Asgore in sheer strength by a wide margin. Her attacks from every direction become nearly unavoidable and her sheer durability makes any fight with her a marathon.

The only problem is, it doesn't last forever. When Undyne reaches her limits in this form, she will begin to melt, as her body just cannot handle high concentrations of Determination like a human body can. As a monster, Undyne is extra vulnerable to attacks with a high killing intent, which Determination can't quite entirely negate. Against a human with greater Determination, her defeat is inevitable...

Luckily, if the Player has any conscience at all, that won't happen. If Frisk is allowed to show mercy, Undyne gets the chance to realize that not all humans are evil, setting aside her prejudice to help Frisk save the Underground from absolute destruction and break the barrier.

No matter your choices, Undyne will always be the Hero of the Underground.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

You might've noticed that I was uncharacteristically light on calcs and numbers for this breakdown and that's ultimately because these two scale to around the same level of power. While Clover in most timelines is weaker than even Papyrus in a straight up fight, Genocide Clover is exponentially stronger than Asgore, just like the Undying, so stats should generally be about even here.

Undyne's attack style is completely unlike anything Clover's encountered before, being rooted in one place and forced to block instead of dodge. Keep in mind, Clover didn't even get a shield during their fight with Axis like they did in other timelines, so they're going to have a very rough time adapting on their first few attempts.

Clover's mind reading powers don't have much practical use here. If anything, they'd just give Undyne a buff by reminding her about what she's fighting for, making the fight even harder in the long term. On the other hand, Undyne's boisterous personality and tendency to be defiant to the end could cause the same problem. Any taunts about mankind being brought to justice or her jeering last words in the Genocide Route risk making Clover even stronger through sheer force of rage like Axis did, something Undyne can't risk.

That said, Clover has a lot more ways to attack than Frisk did, with several projectiles that could help wear down Undyne's durability, much as they did against a Determination boosted Martlet. And with free access to SAVE and LOAD, Clover's going to have as many tries as they need to bring down Undyne's bulky defenses.

Which brings us to the real deciding factor here. Who has more Determination? Or rather, can Undyne override Clover's Save and Load powers.

I don't believe that Clover, even in the Genocide route, has the same raw amount of Determination that Frisk just naturally has. Willing their soul back together or resurrecting Chara as their narrator through sheer determination are just feats that Clover hasn't replicated even at their best. Could Undyne in her Undying form override their Save File?

Likely... no. Firstly, Undyne doesn't seem to know that Save Files are even a thing, whereas Clover very much did when they overrode Flowey's saves. Secondly, we've never seen Determination amped Monsters use Determination like this. Only humans and soulless beings like Flowey. Given that Undyne, as powerful as she is, will eventually start melting from how incompatible her body is with Determination, it's entirely possible that she simply can't use Determination like this even without having to override the power from someone else. She's simply too incompatible with it.

Make no mistake, Undyne will put up one hell of a fight before going down. This is still Undyne we're talking about here. But with infinite retries, well... Clover's victory in inevitable.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Clover!

[furrylibrarian]

I want to talk a bit about Tears of the Kingdom.

It's hard for me to do that, because all my feelings about it are contradictory and tangled up. I think its storytelling is incoherent and is actively hindered by the game structure, but it also has unquestionably some of the best story beats in the series. I find the open-ended creativity encouraged by its mechanics wild and engaging, but in practice I tend to just fall back on a few simple solutions and get frustrated when they don't easily apply to the thing I'm trying to solve. Most of all, I think it (alongside BotW) represents a much-needed shakeup to a series that was getting entirely too stale, but it is those very games that stagnated the franchise that made me fall in love with it.

Expanding on the second point I just made; I think TotK might be the only game I've played (that isn't a fighting game, anyways) that makes me feel inadequate. I know enough about its mechanics to understand that, conceptually, there's an incredible amount of potential Nonsense you can do with Ultrahand, but I just don't know how I should tap into that potential. I think it's admirable that the game doesn't tutorialize everything and lets you discover functions on your own, but because of that I've missed critical information about mechanics and felt like a complete fool for having to look up the information online (case in point; I had to consult the internet to figure out that I had to hit devices to activate them). I often have this background feeling that I could be doing something more interesting and effective when I'm playing TotK.

But really, most of my issues with TotK come from the lore implications. Gonna put a break here because spoilers. It's kind of just a rant after this point.

I've always been sharply aware that the devs aren't really concerned with adhering to an extended continuity and would rather craft a self-contained experience, but I just can't get over how weird TotK's story and backstory are. I'm still not sure what to make of the revelation that APARRENTLY there was just a SECOND GANONDORF the whole time who nobody knew about, and I'm still not really sure if Calamity Ganon was the classic Ganondorf degraded to a primal form after millennia of reincarnation (as I believed before TotK dropped), or if it was related to this game's new ancient Ganondorf? It's a messy situation that's only a problem when you're thinking about BotW/TotK in the context of the rest of the franchise WHICH IS COMPLETELY REASONABLE

Also the memories are just so strange. They feel like a warped retelling of OoT's first act, especially since a main character shares his name with an OoT character, a name which is not one of the many continually-recycled named the series uses which makes it sound way more significant! Like when I was playing through, I had this weird creeping feeling that this game was trying to replace OoT with this new backstory? Like obviously, no, it isn't, but it hit so many of the same important beats! Ganondorf allies himself with the king of Hyrule (even mirroring a shot from OoT), Zelda realizes he's up to something and tries to stop him, only to fail spectacularly such that Ganondorf gets the exact empowered artifact he was gunning for the whole time. Even Zelda transforming into a dragon to repair the Master Sword and sacrificing her identity in the process reminded me of Link in OoT drawing the Master Sword and losing his childhood, LIKE THEY'RE TELLING THE SAME STORY, WHAT IS GOING ON

I don't have a conclusion, I don't have a thesis, I just have opinions and I needed to vent them

[20dollarlolita]

Sometimes, details are load-bearing.

A lot of the time, we think of details in something an an extra, a bonus, just a little something fun. But sometimes, they're necessary.

I bought this headbow at an anime con. I bought it for a few reasons: First, I like Zelda. Second, I thought at the time that it might have been made with a tutorial I made and coming across something in the wild and totally vanilla that was made with a tutorial I made would have been very cool. Third, it was attached to a blind bag, and I am an absolute sucker for blind bags. All in all, it was a good blind bag! I had a lot of fun opening it. But still, the bow bothered me just a little.

Budget handmade bow, not going to complain, but it's also just a good example of why lace can make such a big difference.

I kind of sloppily sewed some lace onto the bow just to prove the concept. Even though the top of this bow isn't doubled into loops, I sewed the lace as if it was. This meant that I only put lace on the long sides of the top of the bow, and around the three sides on the bottom loop. This is meant to give the illusion that the whole bow is a complete unit tied from one piece of cloth. We all know that it's not, but we like to pretend, right?

I also sewed lace onto the front and the back of the top loops, so that it'd "loop around" and look like the top was looped instead of being a flat rectangle (I'm sorry that I don't have a good way of explaining what this means).

And when the edges of the bow are defined, especially if they're defined in such a way as to build on the "this is just a normal bow tied super well" illusion, you get it looking much more like a bow. You have visual lines breaking up the pattern.

In addition to visual lines, the texture of the lace physically holds the bow into two sections, keeping it more a bow and less an unidentifiable head wing.

I absolutely love this bow. It's a little different from normal lolita headware, but I didn't really expect it to work super well with lolita when I got it. I'll try out some coords with it and my existing Zelda coord items (of which I have quite a few), but I also just respect the artist's work on it. There's so much on it that's just waiting for an extra little bit to push it over the top, and I want to experiment with it so that I can apply those details to future things that I make.

Also in the blind bag was a necklace that was a tiny glass bottle filled with translucent bows, and that necklace was worth the cost of the blind bag entirely. I love the idea of running around with some kind of magic potion that makes everything more frilly.

So there's just a fun little one. Hopefully, this shows how a small detail can really elevate a piece just beyond the cost of adding that detail.

[davyjoneslockr]

wait the mista thing reminded me do you remember that one quote murolo makes abt his stand being divided... what do u think that means if we apply it to mista bc murolo knows abt like bad company and the. other stand I forgot but he knew Things and ur the mista person.... so enlighten me if u can with ur very cool thoughts

YES I think about this so much. Like literally the first thing that came to mind when Murolo mentioned that was "wait. Mista though."

(For reference/anyone who hasn't read PHF, this is the quote in question:)

Obviously, by the time of Purple Haze Feedback, Mista has a "hollow pit inside," caused by the grief of watching his loved ones die and, very likely, having no other support mechanisms to process it (he's isolated from Trish, and his relationships with Giorno and Fugo are rocky, at best). At the same time, I think the Sex Pistols being a colony stand has to stem from something further back - after all, they've been a colony since he obtained them years prior (and his backstory seems to imply that, even before the stand arrow, they'd existed on some level, though they hadn't yet manifested).

If I can refer back to that Fugo and Mista post, I think what split the Sex Pistols might have been his very OCD-coded thought patterns. Just as All Along the Watchtower (a stand made from a deck of cards, which puts on performances with the "stage name" The Watchtower Troupe) reflects Murolo's belief that the world around him is flimsy and unstable, and that he can't trust anyone and must put on facades to avoid being betrayed; and how he claims Metallica, Bad Company, and Harvest reflected their own users' "hollow pits;" the Sex Pistols are another facet of Mista's life that give him routines and structure, even if it seems irrational to others. He actively has to take care of the Sex Pistols, feed them when they need to be fed, keep them in line behaviorally, etc, or he'll be defenseless, and tangible harm could come to him. Forgetting to, say, give the Pistols lunch would be, in Mista's mind, no different than taking the fourth slice of cake; in both cases, performing (or not performing) a specific, seemingly unrelated action puts him in danger.

The other thing that's interesting about the Sex Pistols, though, is that they're completely sentient. Historically, we see this with characters that have a strong resolve: Koichi, Trish, Giorno, and so on. At the same time, there's characters whose stands behave independently because they lack control over themselves - namely Fugo, to the point where Giorno expresses fear that Fugo dying without coming to terms with his anger/finding self-worth could cause Purple Haze to run wild like Notorious B.I.G. In a way, I think Mista's both; he has incredible resolve, yes, but it takes the smallest, most arbitrary thing to destroy that confidence. From his manga profile:

So the Sex Pistols are sentient, but unlike Echoes Act III, Spice Girl, or Gold Experience Requiem - who may act outside their user's conscious wishes, but always for the best - the way they behave is sometimes to Mista's detriment. They'll get distracted, fight with each other, feed into Mista's paranoia, and so on.

Going back to that Murolo quote does make me wonder, though - based on his theory as to why a stand splits into a colony, why aren't some other stands split? It would make a lot of sense for Purple Haze, Moody Blues, and Voodoo Child to be, for instance, because I'd say that Fugo, Abbacchio, and Sheila E all have their own "hollow pits" that shape them as people. Beyond Vento Aureo/PHF, it'd even make sense for Polnareff, Kakyoin, and Jolyne, off the top of my head. I'd even argue, if Keicho's obsession with his ambition is what made Bad Company a colony stand, shouldn't Giorno have a colony stand? Then again, maybe this implies something about Giorno - that, even if he tries to hide it, the people in his life are more important than his dream. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this.

But thank you for bringing this up, this Murolo line lives in my brain rent-free and I've been looking for an excuse to talk about it with regard to Mista forever lol

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 35 through the end of Gideon the Ninth

So if I understand right, the last door was the Seventh House door, the one that Cytherea used when she originally became a Lyctor, and Palamedes was able to tell that she'd been in there 10,000 years ago because of the "YOU LIED TO US" message that she left on the wall, I guess probably when she realized that becoming a Lyctor wasn't actually going to cure her cancer. And Cytherea hid the key and stopped up the keyhole to prevent anyone from getting in there to find out who she was, I guess before she figured out how to kill everyone

I only found one of those two times:

But possibly the second time was something else, and not related to that chapter specifically. Harrow has a good memory, though, I didn't remember that line of dialog

Not sure how I feel about Palamedes' weird relationship with the real Dulcinea, and I think Camilla is with me there

I love how this whole scene at the beginning of Chapter 35 is just Harrow and Camilla figuring out that Cytherea is not Dulcinea and Gideon completely missing the point of everything they're saying in favor of going "oh my god I've been trying to steal Palamedes' girlfriend"

You know, I suspect that is not in fact the reason why Cytherea was flirting with you

Ok, but why is Gideon asking for her sword here? Like, I think she is still on the wavelength of "I have to apologize to Palamedes" right now, she doesn't yet get that Cytherea is not Dulcinea and also is evil

If Cytherea killed Dulcinea and Protesilaus en route to Canaan House, why were the remains in the furnace a month old? I don't think they've been there that long

And I guess she punched out Mayonnaise Uncle way back when because he could have figured out who she was due to him siphoning everyone in the room

And then there was an entire long chapter of fighting, involving multiple literally unkillable people. Yes, there was some interesting stuff in there, some of Harrow doing cool necromancy stuff and applying knowledge that she learned from the challenges, but reading this was honestly kind of exhausting, and then Gideon hurt her knee and there was a bunch of text describing knee pain and I guess maybe this just me getting old, but I didn't mind any of the other descriptions of injuries or gore or etc but the knee pain was hard to read

I think I said way back when that I don't particularly like long fight sequences? Yeah, that's still true. But I appreciate that from a story perspective we had to completely exhaust their ability to defeat Cytherea and put them in a position where there was only one choice left to not die. I appreciate that

I also appreciate Palamedes and Camilla's relationship, and I'm guessing this exchange means that we have (hopefully) not seen the last of Palamedes

Also, it was wild that Cytherea is still trying to flirt with Gideon while this fight is going on. She's not quitting. Like, I know Gideon turns out to be God's daughter, but what exactly does that mean to Cytherea that she is behaving this way? I gather the Gideon that Cytherea used to know is either another Lyctor, or one of cavaliers who got eaten by a Lyctor

And yeah, I got last chapter that Ianthe and Naberius had some serious difference of opinion on whether or not Ianthe should become a Lyctor, and this is kind of fucking her shit up. I guess Gideon was right when she said the whole trial is about how good of a pair the necromancer and the cavalier are, and I guess maybe the closer they are, the powerful the Lyctor is? Only it seems like the pairs that actually are that close, like Harrow and Gideon or Palamedes and Camilla, the necromancer would never sacrifice the cavalier to become a Lyctor, so this is kind of a self-defeating trial. Like, I have to wonder what kind of people the original Lyctors were that they all sat down together and said, hey, let's figure out a way to absorb our cavaliers' souls and become immortal. We know that Cytherea just wanted to not die, and her cavalier was willing to sacrifice herself to help her. But what about the others?

Also, I guess Ianthe's skeletal arm is actually going to be a prosthetic? This book introduced bone prosthetics at the very beginning, with Aiglamene, I don't know why I never considered the idea that Ianthe's skeletal arm was just a prosthetic

I don't think Harrow actually ever got the last theorem, though, the one behind the black key door. Or maybe Ianthe spelling it out earlier caused her to figure it out on her own?

It is Jesus O'Clock, isn't it?

Ok, yeah, that's the good stuff

The last chapter of Gideon, like, merging with Harrow, I guess, was so bittersweet, but I'm not sure if Gideon in this chapter is actually Gideon's ghost, or just Harrow's imagination, but either way

And I guess Harrow was able to easily defeat Cytherea as a Lyctor when Ianthe wasn't because she was stronger due to her bond with Gideon? And also because Harrow knew about what Palamedes had done to her. I am happy that Palamedes had a role in killing her.

You know, I had thought that maybe the way that Gideon was going to die was that Harrow was going to become a Lyctor, and then I was like, no, Harrow wouldn't do that and that's the bad ending. But I don't know what kind of good ending I was expecting given that I already knew that Gideon was going to die at the end of the book

I cannot take the epilogue at face value. I cannot buy the Emperor as just a tired guy fighting a war to survive. This is a universe where they kill people to generate power for the elite, I can't believe that their god is a good guy on the right side of history, even if I didn't know like two things about him and one of those things was that he forced Cytherea to die of cancer for 10,000 years and would probably happily have done the same to Dulcinea

So, I guess this is the list of people who survived this book other than Harrow and Ianthe? Interesting, I wouldn't have guessed that Judith would make it, but it's true, we did not see her die on screen. I guess Harrow was wrong, and she does live to find out the answer to who killed everyone. But I'm obviously much more interested in what's going to happen to Camilla and Corona, and how we're going to get Gideon and Palamedes back, especially since apparently even God isn't able to extract Gideon from Harrow anymore. And then there is whatever Harrow and Ianthe and the Emperor and the other, I guess, three Lyctors are going to get up to separately

I think at this point, everything I was spoiled for has come to pass, except for Gideon coming back, but I think that would be a given even if I didn't know it was going to happen ahead of time.

There's like 40 pages of back matter in this book, although it looks like at least some of that is an excerpt of Harrow the Ninth, which I will save for when I get the next book, and then I will go look for the Dr. Sex side story

[not-poignant]

hey pia! i love your work, hi!!! im a young writer interested in posting some of my big projects online (not that i really expect them to get any traction lol). i was wondering how you protect your work from plagiarism, or how you deal with people plagiarizing your work. it seems like the internet is kind of the wild west, and that’s only sometimes a good thing :/ im probably a bit too poor to afford any sort of copyright or whatever online authors do, but maybe i can save up? 🙏🙏

PS - i didn’t actually care whether or not this ask was anonymous, but from my experience on tumblr it seems like an unspoken rule🤨 so i guess i’ll turn it on🫡

Hi anon!

Tbh the only real difference between anon and attaching your name is that I have the choice to reply to you privately if you send an ask under your name (which is sometimes preferrable if the question is personal or really niche!) and that gives me more options. Anon forces me to only answer publicly (which is probably why you're seeing that so much!!), but the downside is that sometimes I have to delete anon messages when I don't want the responses or even the ask/s on my public blog.

Anyway! This is something I'd respond to publicly anyway, because I think this is a fear a lot of new and young writers have. The tl;dr is that copyright is often assumed on the internet, provenance makes it easy to send DMCA takedowns, and letting a fear of piracy stop you from putting your work up is one of the biggest ways I see new authors handicap themselves on the web currently (idk if it's confirmation bias or what but it seems like I see this several times each month atm from specifically new authors), and it's like...not a thing...to be hampering yourself with.

Okay, now for the longer explanation:

The first thing with copyright is that it by and large depends on your country and what you want to do with the story. In Australia, every created work by default has legal copyright protection simply by being created by someone. We don't need to pay to apply for copyright on creative works, we automatically have it and if we can prove provenance (i.e. if we can demonstrate we created it first, with like a document date etc.) we are legally protected.

So I can't answer for the country you're in, anon, but honestly, this is how it works on most of the internet where you're likely to put a project online. AO3 will respect that a work is yours if it gets stolen, if you can prove you came up with it or published it before another person did (literally all you need is a screenshot or a link). In the Properties or Details of most of your documents, the 'date created' is your best friend.

I've had my work stolen quite a few times over the years. It's been stolen the most from AO3 over to Wattpad (it's almost like Wattpad authors don't realise that sometimes we look lol).

In one case, blanket commenting on one of the fics that the original fic was on AO3 *and complete and not stolen* was enough for the author themselves to take it down. x.x Otherwise what you generally do is send a DMCA takedown notice, which almost all creative sites give you access to when reporting theft (your readers cannot do this for you, you must do it.)

Similarly, on AO3, if this happens, you can just report it. The big downside here is that it can take the volunteers there some time - sometimes up to two weeks or more - to get on top of that, so it might feel like nothing at all is happening. Patience is recommended.

Look, theft happens, you can't avoid it. It is a normal part of putting your work out there in the world. And I can't tell you how many new authors I know who kind of shoot themselves in the foot trying to prevent the acts of thieves, while not realising they're hampering themselves in the process.

Pirating is the worst, but so is never putting your work out there, or waiting for a magical protection from piracy. It doesn't exist - and there's a general rule where the more steps you introduce to stop or reduce piracy, the more you actually alienate your general readers - think about how having right-click disabled on a website can feel, for example. It's considered hostile internet architecture that is often very inaccessible.

(There's also a phenomenon where the authors most scared of theft are the ones least likely to encounter it, because their works are new, and they'll need a lot of time to build up readers and engagement in the first place. Most of the time, those who plagiarise don't want to take the works of new/young authors over the works of experienced authors who just won't think to check the sites they're using. By the time you're popular enough for that to be an issue, you'll probably have more confidence in yourself and your ability to handle this. I will say theft of ebooks on sites like Amazon etc. is way more common than theft of original stories and fanfics on AO3, but both happen more often than they used to, that's just...sadly a part of life.)

Also, applying for copyright doesn't mean your work won't get stolen. You'll still have to send DMCA takedowns, and you'll still have to get in contact with websites. A lot of the time websites have a form you can fill out. You still have to do all that labour and pay to register copyright. The filing of copyright is sadly not a magical shield against theft of a creative work. It does make it easier to take someone to court, but that's expensive, often not worth it, and the labour someone can spend chasing down thieves is often better spent amongst the readers who actually give a shit (they're the ones who often notice the theft in the first place when it comes to serials).

If you plan on publishing ebooks, there's software and organisations you can pay a monthly fee to, who just exist to issue takedown notices to piracy sites so you don't have to. I've never used these personally, but from what I've read on Facebook writing groups, they're often not worth it compared to the past, because new sites spring up all the time. But different authors have different experiences with online theft (and different levels of income to combat it) so you'll hear different things on that front.

I'm...pretty zen about it. To me, it's only a worry when I have to send someone a notice about it, which I don't actually have to do all that often. Like, it sucks, but almost always it never happens as much as a new author like yourself fears it will. That doesn't mean you won't hate it when it happens, but you'll live, and your works will keep finding readers, and it won't be what you're likely imagining it will be. It's for most authors, just an occasional giant pain in the ass that we forget about a day or two later sdakfjdsa

[ms-hells-bells]

idk why the dog discourse is back again, but as someone that both lives in a country with high levels of pitbull/staffie ownership and interacts daily with dog owners and dog issues in my volunteer work, they aren't just randomly violent for no reason with good guardians who are shocked that it happened. the way people treat pitties here is fucking horrible, because they have the rep/stereotype of guard dogs or attack dogs, people who are lower class, close to or in gangs, use drugs, or are just hypermasculine get those male dogs, DON'T DESEX THEM (so, more aggression), don't properly train them, but scream at and beat them, because they think that's what will 'toughen' a pittie up and make them attack dogs. 99% of the time it does not, they just become miserable recluses, super withdrawn and fearful (most dog attacks are NOT out of anger or territory based aggression, they're fear aggression, when the dog feels extremely scared, and doesn't see a way out, and the human (often a child) ignores the warnings, like growling, showing teeth, certain poses, etc. another one is food/possession aggression, where their trauma and lack of proper training means that they cannot cope with people in their space and taking their things. you'll see bites at children who grab food from their dog bowls).

but they still love their owners, i have lost count of the amount of times, literally more than the fingers on my hands, i have seen men scream at, kick, punch, etc. their intact male pitbulls (not legal in nz unless a licenced breeder btw, but still a widespread issue), and the dogs still get excited and wag their tails, and want to play whenever the man comes back from work or whatever, they still seek touch and affection. it's just horrible, i have aided in someone else....disappearing a dog to a better life not exactly legally, that was treated like this because the spca wouldn't do shit, unless there's a dead or gravely injured animal, and people physically saw the owner/s do it, they don't care. those dogs have so often been abused from 10 weeks old, and they still seek love. very rarely some are so mentally damaged that they DO attack someone, and unfortunately they get put down, which i have complicated feelings about, but that's a different topic, i won't get into it in this post.

but yeah, you abuse a dog, don't train a dog, and destroy a dog's sense of safety, of course they are gonna be at a higher risk of aggression, because they have ptsd, they are traumatised and in constant fear of harm. and i do believe that there is a biological element due to the bite force of pitties and similar dogs, as well as breeding for specific personality traits. but we also see so many bites (far more than pitties and other large dogs) from small dogs, they just can't cause deaths or usually severe injuries because they are small, but they are attacking for the exact same reasons; fear and lack of training. so many people just have zero respect for other living beings. it's why i'm against breeding and domestication as a whole, because we just completely fuck with their lives for our own benefit. pitbulls as a species should not exist, just like near every other dog on earth apart from wild ones (that do include domestic species, but very quickly become just 'mixed' dogs). which is a similar opinion to many ANTI-pitbull people, but i come at it from an angle of empathy (as well as applying it to all dogs, we should not be breeding 'the perfect pet'). they didn't ask to be here and be treated so cruelly.

i'm not gonna reply to any responses to this trying to argue. i have posted about this before and had all those arguments. i know the statistics, i know the biology, psychology, and i have real world first hand experience. you are not fighting with me on my opinion on this.