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arvandus · 4 months

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FICS FOR GAZA

Hello everyone, I've decided to join the @ficsforgaza fundraiser. I've had a couple people express interest, and I think that every little bit helps. I will be offering WIP donations as well as drabble requests.

Donations are to be submitted to a vetted fundraiser. Do NOT send donations directly to me or to @ficsforgaza. Once you have completed the donation, send me a private screenshot of proof of the donation. Once I receive proof, I will update my WIP and request list and begin writing!

If you have any questions about the donation process, please view the pinned post for @ficsforgaza. If you have questions about the WIPs or requests, please reach out to me.

Total funds raised (after dollar conversions) : $73.29 USD

REQUESTS

$2 donation = 100 words

1k word maximum ($20 donation)

Send me a character/characters and a dialogue prompt, trope, or just an overall idea that's been plaguing your brain lately and I'll write a short drabble/ficlet for you!

Fandoms I will write for: BNHA, Obey Me!, Wind Breaker, JJK, Haikyuu, Blue Lock, Black Butler, AOT, Bleach, Tokyo Revengers, Bungo Stray Dogs

Characters I will write for: Any! Bring it on, I love a challenge.

Will write: x reader (any gender), character ships, OCs, aged-up characters; SFW/NSFW, dark content (noncon/dubcon, yandere, etc). NSFW & dark content requests must provide proof of being 18 or older (request made off anon with age indicator in your tumblr bio). Note: If you want to make a NSFW/dark content request but remain publicly anonymous, send me a private message OR the same request off anon so I can verify. I will respond to your request using only the anon submission once you're verified.

Will not write: pedophilia; NSFW minors (even if no adult character is involved); anything involving bodily fluids that aren't saliva, tears, or blood; eggs, oviposition; a/b/o. If you're unsure about your request, you can message me privately and I'll be happy to answer, no judgment. :)

REQUESTS COMPLETED:

The Art of Looking (Haruka Sakura x f!OC)

REQUESTS PENDING:

Picture Perfect (Haruka Sakura x f!OC)

Sponsored WC: 0/7,604

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egg-emperor · 6 months

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Evidence for Eggman's age being 50+ and not "under 50"

First off, it was specifically the OP of the Twt thread saying Eggman's age was literally "under 50" as if it was said to be 100% certain and confirmed final fact.

But when they quote Iizuka directly, it turns out he apparently said: "His age *hasn't been disclosed* but he's *probably* under 50"

This isn't "Yes, Eggman is 100% under 50, finalized solid fact." Iizuka still saying it "is not disclosed" and the use of "probably" isn't confirmation.

He's just making a probable estimate that if Eggman didn't know Maria and Gerald, then he might not have existed at the same time.

But concepts, Sonic Channel and even finalized information the games, suggest Eggman's age is at least 50+

They considered putting Eggman at 60+ in the Sonic CD concept art,

he's referred to as old and middle aged constantly by himself, other characters, and bios,

Eggman uses the Washi pronoun in JP which is commonly used by older men, again implying older age,

Sonic Channel associates Eggman with Respect for the Aged Day, a day to celebrate senior citizens in Japan. If he was under 50, he'd be too young an age to be considered anywhere close to a "senior",

Most recently we have the Egg Memo where Eggman specifies he "never *really* knew" Maria (Eng) / "didn't know [her] *well* (Jp), so he had to exist at least some time when she was alive. It'd go without saying if she died before he was even born.

It seems to imply he didn't *really* know her *well* because while he was alive at the same time, even if just a little, he didn't meet her in person and only learned of her through how others talked of her.

As for him saying she was "gone" immediately after, it seems it's just him then jumping to the part after her death, where he really started learning about her through her becoming the big subject after her tragic death.

So there you have something from within the actual games, finalized lore instead of outside word, implying that Eggman's age has to be at least 50.

He's an old man, he looks like one, sounds like one, is consistently referred to as and hinted to be one lol

But overall, Eggman's age "is not disclosed" as Iizuka said. It has always been down as "unknown" for all of his bios for canon media.

So the final answer is that it's all just probable estimates but it all points to him being over 50.

Please consider supporting the Twt thread version of this! Thank you 💜

#dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #my post #age #maria robotnik #robotnik family #eggman age #hits

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ssa-atlas-alvez · 1 year

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Cowboy!reader Masterlist

Because apparently y’all love this lol (see- see what I did there? Y’all)

I'm trying to put these in a rough order as I go in the fic universe to try and make it easier to read aha

Edith

Description: cowboy has an elderly neighbour (this is literally just cowboy and his neighbour, in my head set before he joins the BAU) Warnings: none

Interestin'

Description: Cowboy reader is new to the team and is feeling unheard. Warnings: bad government knowledge on Atlas' part, I did try to google it but idk guys, trying my best here. Oh, also, stress eating.

I Understand

Description: directly follows from 'interestin'', cowboy reader talks down a teenage unsub. Warnings: guns, hostage negotiations, untrusting team

Lies

Description: Directly follows 'I Understand', Hotch accuses cowboy reader of lying to the teen unsub. Warnings:

The Post That Started It All

Description: Warnings: gunshot wound.

Baking and House Plants

Description: Warnings: briefly mentions anxiety.

Poetry

Description: Cowboy and Spencer talk about reading Warnings: the only thing I can think of is that reader suggests to spencer to read the warnings of a book reader likes

Allergies (Not Really)

Description: Warnings: transphobia, sad reader, guns, bullet wound, fighting, briefly mentions some murders to set the scene a bit, someone calls reader a redneck.

More (Not) Allergies

Description: Allergies (Not Really) Part 2 Warnings: minor sad reader.

Flirting, reckless driving, I didn't mean to hit you I promise

Description: Warnings: minor car accident, unsub is not a nice man, brief mentions of killings/murders.

Stronger Coffee

Description: an cop says a few offhand comments about Derek and you don't take no shit. Warnings: hints to racism (nothing 'on screen'), blood

Mama's Boy

Description: (Follow up from Flirting, reckless driving, I didn't mean to hit you I promise) Warnings: Brief mentions of murder and kidnapping (super brief), a man tries to intimidate a woman, that’s about it. Oh, some swearing.

Pretty As A picture

Description: Warnings: a shelter?

Gay Panic

Description: Warnings: gay panic, some unsavoury thoughts - like one

Gay Panic Part 2

Description: Cowboy gets hit on Warnings: None

Darla

Description: Cowboy is in love... Warnings: n/a

Tattoos

Description: the team sees cowboy's tattoos Warnings: n/a

Mermaids and Unicorns

Description: A kid sees his first real life cowboy Warnings: n/a

Protector

Description: a guy hits on JJ at a bar and cowboy reader is not happy about it. Set before they confess their feelings, they're still "friends" here. Warning: unwanted touching (arm around the shoulder), and guy tries to kiss JJ (when she doesn't want it)

Sleepover

Description: JJ thinks cowboy looks huggable. Warnings: none

Sunflower Seeds

Description: Warnings: Death, sadness, abuse, bad foster parents, death of a child, murderous foster parents. Word count: 2403

Quit

Description: Warnings: Smoking, addiction (smoking)

The Art of Actually Quitting

Description: JJ helps cowboy tackle his smoking addiction. Warnings: Addiction, reader snaps

I'm Sorry, I Promise, Have Some Flowers

Description: Warnings:

My Bio Daddy

Description: Not sexy times I swear. Cowboy reader's father visits, things don't go too well... Warnings: abuse, abusive parents, abduction, claustrophobia, judgy nurse, hospital visits, child abuse mentions

Farmers Tan

Description: just a little snippet of cowboy reader and the team really Warnings: n/a

Southern Belle Ex

Description: the BAU run into an old friend of cowboy reader while near his home town Warning: jealousy, mentions past smoking addiction, that's about it

Home

Description: Being close to home, the team finally get to meet reader's family. Things start out great and then... Not so much. Reader makes sure his younger brother knows that despite what their parents have said, he's still there for them. Warning: homophobia, someone nearly says the f-slur twice (they don't say the whole thing, reader puts them in their place), mentions of going to conversion therapy, pro-conversion therapy views, being kicked out because of sexuality, unaccepting parents, unaccepting sibling (Jason's a bit of a dick and I stand by that). I think that's everything.

Outlaws

Description: Cowboy reader babysits Jack Warnings: None

I was worried

Description: Warnings: Blood, guns, gun shot wound, passing out, hospitals, some swear words

Sleepless

Description: cowboy reader can't sleep :( Warnings: can't sleep (idk if it's insomnia tho), very tired reader, I think that's all

Birthday

Description: Warnings: implications of claustrophobia, it's his first birthday party so he's a bit overwhelmed bless him (I say over a fully grown man)

Sick

Description: cowboy reader gets sick and makes some confessions. And it's what everyone's been waiting for Warnings: illness, mentions throwing up (no actual throwing up), cold/flu, mentions high temperature, reader feels rough, yeah

Dates

Description: Warnings:

Crazy Ex Girlfriend

Description: Dana, an old 'friend' of reader turns up at his work place and decides to make a scene. Warnings: reader gets slapped, crazy ex girlfriend, she insults JJ, she calls her a sl^t and wh0re, she also tells reader to 'burn in h3ll'

Rain and Thunder

Description: It's raining, and reader can't help but feel connected with the earth. Ever the romantic, this particular type of weather leads to more discussions of feelings. Takes place quite some time after 'Sick' and 'Dates' but you guys dont know about dates yet. I've not written it yet but it happens before this. Warnings: rain, thunder, lightning, that's it this one is happy feelings, bit cliche but ya know I enjoyed writing it aha

TikTok

Description: Cowboy reader tries tiktok Warnings: None

Guitar

Description: Cowboy reader shows JJ his secret talent (sfw don't worry) Warnings: hints to kissing? That's literally it, oh and some bad language at the end.

(No) Self-Preservation

Description: scar reveal. Warnings: scars, abusive backstory.

Promise

Description: JJ and Cowboy hit a rough patch, the song is promise by Laufey (just in case you can't see it, Tumblr's being annoying for me) Warnings: sadness :'), smoking

Like A ______

Description: Warnings:

Save A Horse

Description: Warnings:

Allergy Reunion

Description: Mia and reader reunite, chaos ensues. Warnings: gun shots, unsubs go to the school, guns, schools targeted, criminal minds levels of violence (maybe even on the slightly tamer side).

All For Nothing (Part 1)

Description: Cowboy doesn't make it in time... Warnings: Death, death of children and a parent, shock, blood, mentions of a shelter/homelessness

taglist under the cut

Taglist: @xweirdo101x @xdark-acadamiax @ara-a-bird @heidss @chubbyboyinflannel @pendragon-writes @migwayne @bigolgay @technikerin23 @supercriminalbean @honestlycasualarcade @caffeine-mess @1s3v3n1 @oddmiles @kevyeen @stealing-kneecaps @criminalskies @woodandwaxwings @wizardmon3 @aphroditeslovr @ducks118 @azeal-peal @13thdoctor-run @introvertpan84 @goth-boi-atlas @iliketozoneout @chaosofmanyfandoms @logicalhorror @luvfornick @prmsn-17

@xweirdo101x @xdark-acadamiax @ara-a-bird @heidss @chubbyboyinflannel @pendragon-writes @migwayne @bigolgay @technikerin23 @supercriminalbean @honestlycasualarcade @caffeine-mess @1s3v3n1 @oddmiles @kevyeen @stealing-kneecaps @criminalskies @woodandwaxwings @wizardmon3 @aphroditeslovr @ducks118 @azeal-peal @13thdoctor-run @introvertpan84 @goth-boi-atlas @iliketozoneout @chaosofmanyfandoms @logicalhorror @luvfornick @prmsn-17 @pinxeajin

I might have missed some people out - I'm very sorry if I have, also please let me know either in my inbox, on here, or message if you wanna be added to the taglist :)

#bau x cowboy reader #bau x reader #bau x male reader #bau #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanficiton #criminal minds fanfiction #aaron hotchner #derek morgan #spencer reid #emily prentiss #david rossi #jennifer jareau #cowboy reader #male reader #x male reader

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genericpuff · 1 year

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You mentioned multiple times that Persephone is a self insert of Rachel, how is that so?

Also, I love Lore Rekindled

So obviously it's not like Rachel herself has outright stated that Persephone is a self-insert, but there's a lot of narrative and visual evidence that points to this being so.

Disclaimer before I continue: a lot of this is speculation, take it with grains of salt, but understand that all of the following evidence is why so many people subscribe to the idea that Rachel is using Persephone as a self-insert power fantasy, myself included. This is going to be a long post.

First, the most obvious - Rachel and Persephone look virtually identical, especially when Persephone's hair is short. In a way that's not even reaching at this point, like there are times when Persephone literally looks like she was traced directly off Rachel's face. It's panels like these where you don't even have to squint or fill in the blanks with your own interpretations, Persephone literally looks like Rachel.

There was also that time she dyed her hair pink and her own audience called out how she looked like Persephone (unironically for the most part, which goes to show how much the implications of Persephone being a self-insert of Rachel has gone over their heads, sigh)

She's also made absurd claims in interviews that Persephone and Hades were her "muses" since all the way back in middle school.

I say these claims are 'absurd' because frankly I just don't think that's true, there's nothing from her early-mid 2000's online presence (which is still accessible via the Wayback Machine) that suggests she was into Greek myth content, most of her stuff from back then was medical fetish and lolita art and not a single piece of Greek work is mentioned on any of her profile bios, favorite book lists, or interests, not even once you get to the 2010's when she started shifting away from blatant medical fetish art and more towards marketable storybook-style art.

(she definitely mentions Lolita though 😒)

I firmly believe she's just making up that whole "Persephone and Hades were my muses" thing the same way she's made up her 'folklorist' label to hide the fact that she has no connection to Greek myth whatsoever and was just creating LO on a whim during the era of Hades x Persephone shipping prompts that were popular on Tumblr at the time. It just so happened to become massively popular so she stuck with it and tried to pretend like she always loved Greek myth as a way to justify her success when really it was just luck and circumstance.

But we can go further back than that.

You see, Rachel also really... really likes Mads Mikkelson. Like, beyond just enjoying his work and entering teenage girl obsessive cringe territory. I wouldn't be calling it out if she was a teenage girl or even a young adult, but she isn't - she's thirty seven years old.

Mads Mikkelson is, of course, her dream cast for Hades, and when you see how she views Mads Mikkelson, the rest practically writes itself.

But we can go even further back than that.

Because, you see, Rachel has old art accounts from long before Lore Olympus. Normally I try to avoid posting a lot of this stuff because it's very much old skeletons that we usually understand to leave buried, but this particular piece is very relevant to this discussion.

'Madame issue' was the screenname of her account where this drawing comes from. You may also notice this is very likely where the name 'used bandaid' came from. This character is meant to be Rachel. It was very common for her to draw herself with short pink hair back then and it seems that's barely changed now.

Just wanna also throw it out there real quick that Rachel's birthday is March 21st. Guess what date Rachel chose to make Persephone's birthday? Oh yeah, the first day of Spring, literally March 20th. Which shouldn't even exist yet as Lore Olympus is based on The Hymn to Demeter which outlines the creation of the season. But I digress.

Now, this may be a little irrelevant and nitpicky, but to circle back around to the point I made earlier about her not having any genuine connection to Greek myth, Rachel seems to have always behaved like this, in a way that tries to 'hide' the fact that she's not 'legit'. There are old FAQ's from her art pages that answer questions she's asking herself in a very arrogant "how dare you ask me this" kind of way. Like, she claims to have imposter syndrome, which I'm not saying is a lie, but if she does, she definitely uses blind arrogance as a way to cover up for it. It reeks of early 2000's 'mean because it's cool to be mean' energy and that seems to be an attitude that she hasn't left behind in the early 2000's where it belongs - she's just channeled it into 'girl boss' Persephone instead.

It's become abundantly clear after going through old LO asks/livejournal/flickr/etc. posts that Rachel herself 1.) romanticizes purity culture (again, like the Greek myth 'self-proclaimed folklorist' thing, she's trying to claim she's 'deconstructing' purity culture when her actual beliefs are the exact opposite), 2.) values naivety and youthfulness vs. experience and wisdom, especially with how she talks about Persephone and 3.) constantly tries to act like a 'boss babe' similarly to Persephone.

There's also the fact that the time skip perfectly aligned Persephone's age to be in the same range as Rachel - she's now 30 to Rachel's 37. The time skip didn't have to be exactly ten years, if it was purely to retcon the age gap problems then she could have made it far longer, but she made it specifically 10 years and I feel like it can't be a coincidence when we consider how close in age Persephone and Rachel now are. Recalling that earlier point that Rachel seems to be obsessed with naivety and youthfulness, she probably didn't like the idea of making Persephone 40 because that would be too "old".

That's not even getting into the actual way that Persephone is written. This is the part where I say there's nothing inherently wrong with writing self-inserts, even famous authors do it, but the issue lies in authors writing them as power fantasies and not actual fleshed out characters. Persephone is not a fleshed out character. She does not have flaws - at least none that are recognized as flaws - and she never loses. She does whatever Rachel wants her to do on a whim even if it contradicts previous actions or information we've been shown. Sometimes she's an inexperienced "uwu" teenage girl, other times she's attempting to be a 'boss babe' (but really it just comes across as her acting like a Karen.)

All that said, it's not uncommon for poorly written self-inserts to lack consistent characterization because the author is too hopped up on writing them to fulfill their fantasies, even if those fantasies don't align with pre-existing information. There's also the fact that Persephone herself never suffers any consequences for her actions, even when she's in the wrong, and terrible things that happen to her are more for the sympathy of the audience and less for actual character development, depth, or underlying meaning. The comic's universe and the characters that reside within it bend around Persephone and her wants and needs, and this is something that happens with poorly-written self-inserts a lot especially when they're being written purely as power fantasies and not actual character studies or reflections. Nothing bad will ever happen to Persephone, she'll never suffer real consequences for her actions, and she'll never make any real sacrifices, because Persephone is Rachel and Rachel can't write Persephone separate from herself.

This kind of goes hand in hand with the whole "she didn't make Persephone 40+ because then she'd be too old" thing, but I'd also like to mention real quick that Rachel has never written a female character who isn't like this. All of her main characters from all of her works are women, which is perfectly fine in isolation, but they're all written as the exact same woman, sharing traits of naivety, inexperience, youthfulness and innocence. None of her female characters are over the age of 21. Making Persephone a "doesn't know she's sexy" 19 year old who's often drawn very childlike was very intentional as it's the exact same kind of character she's been drawing for years now, and the fact that she's 30 now is simply Rachel trying to retcon the problematic age gap that she got called out on; with the added bonus that it makes Persephone even more like Rachel.

No, Rachel has never directly confessed to Persephone being a self-insert, but I don't think someone like Rachel - who already speaks with a veil of disingenuous arrogance - would admit to it anyways. The writing is on the wall: how she's written Persephone and every female protagonist who has preceded her is a deliberate choice based around Rachel's own beliefs and values - that women are only desirable when they're young and thin, that the "ideal man" is someone who's above everyone else in power, wealth, and status and will and should use that power, wealth, and status to get what they want, and that women should be as cute and innocent as they can be until any degree of opposition or questioning comes their way, in which they are justified in exercising outright cruelty and abuse towards those in their way, with no in-between.

And that's all I'm gonna say on that.

#lore olympus critical #lo critical #antiloreolympus #anti lore olympus #ama #ask me anything #anon ask me anything #anon ama

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geek-fashionista · 5 months

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A Business Proposal

A little while ago, I posted an interest poll for a series I'm planning. Since many of you responded that you were at least curious, I come today with... limited information. Limited, because the novel version of this series is currently being read by a literary agent.

But I've always felt that this story was too big to be contained in book format. Under a traditional publisher, I would lose the rights to my own property, so if they didn't want to see more of it, that's that for myself and the characters and the readers who fall in love with the characters. Self-publishing is harder. It needs to be a collaborative effort between writer and readers if it's going to succeed. Thus, I turn to the only audience I have with my "business proposal."

(Note: If you've been around long enough, you might recognize some of these characters from posts that have since been deleted.)

~*~

Working Title: Trainwrecks Length of Series: 8 seasons Length of Seasons: 24 episodes, 12 main and 12 bonus, posted biweekly. (Each season will last three months.) Episode Length: 1000-2000 words Setting: Seattle, Washington and its surrounding towns, between the years 2004-2015 Genre: Contemporary, YA to New Adult

Trainwrecks follows a diverse group of six best friends from high school to their mid-twenties, with all the romance, heartache, college and career decisions, and confusion that entails. Our main cast:

A bubbly, fat Puerto Rican girl with a passion for art and matchmaking (Ages: 14-25)

Her adopted, Argentinian brother, who is adept at music and pretty much nothing else (Ages: 16-27)

Their childhood best friend, an Asian/British/American guy who hides years of trauma behind a flamboyant and overbearing personality (Ages: 19-30)

His ill-tempered younger sister, who has just moved back to the United States from London after their parents divorced fifteen years ago (Ages: 14-25)

An equally bad-tempered Hawaiian/French guy with a love of photography and a hatred of bullies (Ages: 14-25)

The coolest, most beautiful Chinese girl you'll ever meet, who is fighting a sex addiction after a history of abuse (Ages: 16-27)

Main episodes will be written in story format. Bonus episodes will be in epistolary format: MSN chats, text messages, letters, blog posts, and eventually Twitter posts. Y'know, cuz Twitter didn't exist in 2004.

The main series (8 seasons, 24 episodes each) will be completely free to read and delivered directly to your email inbox. There will be character artwork, a bio page to keep track of everyone, a tie-in Tumblr account for memes, Spotify playlists for each character, and helpful things like family trees and relationship charts as well. Each season will have its own key artwork---cover art, if you will.

In addition to the completely free story, there will be extra content for paid subscribers and Patreon patrons, including but not limited to:

Sneak previews/early updates

Side stories

Back stories

Character and universe development notes

Entire AUs with different relationships or different genres

Money raised will either go towards paying artists or towards my student loans. And if the series gets really popular, I intend to launch a Kickstarter for physical copies that will include all the artwork and maybe some bonus items as well.

That's my business proposal. If you like it or have questions, comment on this post, scream in my inbox, chat me---do whatever but do it vocally because I need to know you're out there. And then, feel free to follow my Substack for updates.

#original fiction #writing #writeblr #original characters #writing community #writers on tumblr

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seventhdoctor · 1 year

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Trauma Team Artbook Character Bio Lore

...As gleaned from running artbook scans from 2014 through a sketchy machine translation in the year 2023. I won't post the exact translations for fear of mistranslations ending up reported as fact on wikis and so on, but here's the gist of what Google Translate yields.

CR-S01

Is named Erhard Muller, a fact that already made the rounds in the 2010s

His nationality is also listed as German, though he clearly spent most of his life in America

Most of his backstory isn't anything new compared to in the games, but the artbook does provide a timeline: adopted by Professor Sartre at age 9 after his parents died, enrolled in medical school at age 12 and hailed as the youngest ever to do so, age 13 when Rosalia was adopted, age 16 when the Cumberland Institute incident happened

Erhard and Rose weren't super close siblings, but got along well enough and they had happy lives until the bioterrorism attacked

The government 100% knew Erhard wasn't the culprit when they arrested him - he was the public scapegoat because they couldn't find Albert Sartre, their real person of interest. They never stopped looking for Sartre, and S01's work to reduce his sentence was a quiet compromise for the fact that they, y'know, ruined this kid's life

After learning the truth, S01 is disappointed at his father's betrayal but also chooses to take blame for Sartre's crimes and work off his sentence rather than expose Sartre as the true culprit

Not in-game lore, but according to the concept art section he was nicknamed Chris (CRS) during development. Other people will be funnier about this than I am

Maria Torres

Has the shortest bio and the least amount of new information along with Tomoe, honestly

Born in the slums

Was already at the orphanage at age 10 when Rosalia (age 3) came there

Ended up in rehab of some kind after the orphanage fire

Hank Freebird

Also doesn't have much new compared to the game, sadly

Joined the military out of a sense of justice, left out of disillusionment following John's death and used the medical knowledge he gained in the military to become an orthopedic surgeon (not that this wasn't already implied in the game)

His bio specifically calls him out for being kinda clumsy/goofy. Poor guy

Tomoe Tachibana

Honestly the only thing that's new is a bunch of names, so this is the one time I break my rule and cite a translation directly. TAKE THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT, IT'S STILL A MACHINE TRANSLATION

The only daughter of the Tachibana Zaibatsu, a global organization run by a family descended from the leader of the Koga Shinobi Army, Hisayori Tachibana.

Gabriel Cunningham

Nationality is listed as Great Britain. Surprise!

His wife Lisa left him with Joshua and went to her parents' six years before the game because she didn't like his lifestyle

Lisa was willing to get back together if Gabe was ever willing to talk to her properly, but as seen in the game he kept his distance. He and Lisa met occasionally over the next six years, but he never saw Joshua - which is of course why Joshua never recognized him in the game

His decision to go through with the divorce was about acceptance of his failings and a desire to do right by Joshua and Lisa

Naomi Kimishima

NOW WE'RE COOKING WITH BACKSTORY

All right, so that bit in Second Opinion where she took a Savato sample after cutting ties with Delphi and used it to bargain amnesty with Caduceus [Europe in the US version; US in the JP version]? Yeah, apparently she transported that sample by CARRYING IT IN HER OWN BODY for Caduceus to extract

Her fatal condition is a result of that, though it's already implied to be a result of GUILT in the game anyway. It was a sudden development a few years later, followed by Derek's six-month diagnosis

There's also details about her illness! Apparently her specific brand of PGS or whatever involves excess serotonin and dopamine production, which she needs meds to regulate.

It also means she's no longer able to operate on the living, which is why she transitions to forensic medicine as part of her plea deal

[Insert grimace here] I don't want to get too into this because this bit because 1) machine translation fears, 2) even perfectly translated it's not likely to be accurate to actual philosophy/terminology anyway, 3) I'm not a doctor I don't know what I'm talking about…

But the bio then starts talking about pranayama and prana, defining prana as life essence and...saying Naomi lacks it because of her condition and its effect on serotonin? I'm not entirely clear on this and I'm hesitant to say anything for sure; the main thing is that they take her illness and use the concept of prana to connect that to...

Her new ability to hear the dead! Apparently Naomi reads the prana left behind in a corpse and translates it into the person's final words via her phone; the worse the damage to the corpse (e.g., skeletonization), the less prana remains and the weaker the voice she hears is

Whether any of this relates to the Healing Touch is not mentioned. IDK man

Technically this was in S01's bio, but it relates more to Naomi: Jacob Tillman originally wanted Naomi to perform his surgery and keep it secret. Naomi was already unable to perform surgery on living people at that point, though, so S01 was Plan B

Rosalia Rossellini

Admired her big brother Erhard :(

Albert Sartre

Adopted Rosalia to study the virus in her blood (that is, he already knew about it by the time he adopted her in case that's ever a timeline question)

Additional Note

If someone with actual knowledge of Japanese corrects me and anything I've written in here, absolutely believe them over me. I'm not the translation hero anyone still in this fandom in the year 2k23 deserves, I'm just the stopgap until maybe one arrives someday.

#trauma center #trauma team #trauma series #trauma center series #cr-s01 #crs01 #erhard muller #naomi kimishima #tomoe tachibana #hank freebird #maria torres #gabriel cunningham #rosalia rossellini #albert sartre #artbook #man i hope this post works this time #free me from reposting #UPDATE: IT WORKS #THANK GOODNESS

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majachee · 9 months

Note

YOU HAVE A TMNT SHATTERED GLASS AU?!?!

I DO, I DO! It's been in development for a WHILE now, and I've offhandedly mentioned it once or twice on here. But I never really delved into it lmao

The premise is that the OG turtles get transported into the SG world as a last ditch effort to defeat SG Splinter and save the SG turtles! >:3c

SG lore copy-and-pasted from discord:

So for those unfamiliar with Transformers: Shattered Glass (source material that directly inspired this au); it's an alternate universe where not only the roles of villains/heroes are swapped, but the main personality traits of the individual characters get flipped as well.

For example: in this AU, Bradford would be a genuinely caring, teacher-esque guy who got famous for teaching kids self defense and responsibility with his martial arts skills. The Rat King would still be passionate about rats, but he'd be a behavioral scientist who studies the behaviors and intelligence of domesticated and wild rats in order to beat the stigma against them. Teehee.

I love using the canonical kraang technology and dimensional travel in the show itself, so the main plot is that the OG turtles get isekai'd into the "shattered glass" universe as a last ditch effort made by Good Dad Oroku Saki and Oroku Miwa to save the "evil" turtles and defeat the EVIL YOSHI.

Karai and the turtles' roles are flipped in the SG universe, yes. Miwa sees the turtles as her brothers and wants to save them from her wacky as hell bio dad.

Shenanigans DO HAPPEN because this is post-season 5 for the og turtles, and the awkwardness of cooperating with alternative, good guy versions of your enemies to fight against emo versions of yourselves is... wild. Lol. Teehee. :^))

The flipped personalities are way more obvious with the turtles lol

Leonardo is aloof and slacks off, purposely shoving missions and chores onto his younger brothers. He's also lacking the enthusiasm and passion OG Leo has for his interests. SG Leonardo wears disinterest like a badge of honor, though he's also severely lacking in that as well.

SG Raphael is quiet, a pushover, and is much more emotional than his counterpart. OG Raph covers up his insecurities with snark and anger, SG Raph's an open book and is very easily worked up to the point of blubbering out all his weaknesses to his enemies. He hides behind his brothers in battle until Leo or Donnie makes him fight. Saki and his team avoid fighting Raph for obvious reasons.

SG Donatello is a genius and he knows it, that is why he sabotages his underlings and his two aforementioned brothers. He does not use his brains to make inventions or plan tactics, instead he uses his brains to bully everyone else around him and purposely cause problems. He dangles his intelligence above others in order to make them feel bad, especially if they ever ask him to do something with said intelligence.

SG Mikey spent several years in Dimension X on a mission for Splinter, he is now several years older than his brothers and is the self-appointed leader. He is deathly serious, ruthless, has no time for pranks or jokes, and ends up carrying the weight of the team for a majority of their missions. (Because Leo and Donnie keep trying to make Raph do their jobs. 👊😔)

The time difference between Earth and Dimension X fascinated me. So yeah, SG turtles saw Mikey go into a pink portal for like 2 minutes and he came back several years older than all of them. And also a foot taller. That was a very "well damn" moment for them. Lol.

SG Mikey is a more central antagonist than SG Splinter/Yoshi. Evil Mikey centric YEAHHH

#maja needs to shut up tag #ask #text #shattered glass tmnt au #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #tmnt 2012 au #lol imagine fighting an evil version of your dead dad thats so FU

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eomma-jpeg · 1 year

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silly in the meadow info that was never explicitly mentioned in the fic (they may make an appearance later but they just never came up in the Big Boy)

Knives has 5 scars: 2 in his shoulders, one over his heart, and 2 in the center of his thighs. This is pulled directly from the fight in the anime !!! Vash shoots him 5 times

Milly and Knives don't have sex for..... a while after they start their relationship. I have always felt that Knives struggles with both emotional and physical intimacy and has made exceptions for Milly,,,, but sex is... its too much that early on. He almost feels unworthy or scared he'll ruin something or hurt her T-T

Pet names are always hard for me to write bc they seem so cheesy to me. I think Knives refers to Milly by her name for so long, but he does eventually start calling her "my love"

I think milly would use cute country pet names such as: pumpkin, sweetheart, honey, hon, babe. But more often than not she just calls him Nai

I'd like to think that Knives grows his hair out at least once... and Milly just... its almost too much for her. The waves and the black stripe and when he puts his hair up ? RIP Milly Thompson

So there's 5 boys and 5 girls in Milly's family, and they're named in a fun order

Girls in age order

Amy (Amelia)

Ellie (Eloise)

Penny (Penelope)

Jenny (Jennifer)

Milly (Millicent)

Boys

Arthur

Emerson

Phillip

Jonathan

Marcus

I did this bc im from Utah and big families almost always have silly naming conventions hehe

Penny works the farm mostly bc she likes doing it but also bc her husband passed away soon after their daughter was born. Secret little behind the scenes tragedy (his name was Hiro!)

I think Vash and Meryl leave soon after the ending of in the meadow. They probably stay for the next cycle and up until the market... but Meryl is getting anxious. She doesn't particularly like to stay in one spot (and Vash unsurprisingly is returning to his old habits of wanting to wander)

Milly and Knives leave too but idk how far in the future.

@veilder got me thinking about plant ethics because that is talked about in trimax but the squad never gets to truly talk about it in 98, so I love the idea of Meryl and Milly going into journalism and traveling around to report on the sentience and incredible partnership humans have with plants.

Veil also convinced and solidified the idea of the twins becoming plant engineers (?) And traveling with the girls to help their advocacy and show how to properly treat plants !!!

Roberto is Milly’s Mom's brother,,, so Melinda's maiden name is De Niro

Oh ! I have hc heights !

Knives and Vash - 6'2

Milly - 5'11 (nearly 6 feet)

Meryl - 4'11

Wolfwood - 6'1

Meryl knows that Knives' real name is Nai but ABSOLUTELY refuses to use it. She can recognize her privilege

One day, Knives says Meryl's first name quietly to her with this like stupid bratty grin on his face and Meryl is about to go screaming around the lot that Knives said her name, but then Knives says "whos gonna believe you" and Meryl just 💀💀💀 (please refer to this clip)

Knives is the little spoon (most of the time)

This will become evident with a one-shot I've written, but when Knives has night terrors or panic attacks he just crawls up on Milly and lays his head on her heart. It's a steady beat that calms his racing mind (and her body is soft....)

In accordance with recent Tristamp concept art and ideas... the twins are genderless, but are certainly masculine presenting. This means that genitalia is .... different. Please refer to @millionsknives for their sketches

This also means that I don't think bio children are plausible for either couple... and that might be a hurdle that milly has to jump. And perhaps !!! Because of this!!! They do adopt a few kids

It takes Knives a minute, but when he finally feels like Milly's family is his family,,,, all of those nieces and nephews are His Children and if anything happens to them you have Him to deal with.

I do have names, ages, and birthdays for all of the members of millys family lol

I doubt I'll ever write this, but I think one day Knives reveals some pieces of his plant nature to Milly, like wings and feathers and milly is just ENAMORED. He's so pretty already and with the added softness of feathers and wings????? Milly is done for

This is like.... a trigun hc (not just itm) that I have in my mind but the boys have 3 sets of wings. One main pair on their shoulder blades, another medium pair that sprout at their mid back and a small pair at the base of their spine. Some of Vashs wings are damaged bc of the scarring on his back.

I think if there's ever a proper marriage proposal, it'll be under the apple tree. And milly will be the one to propose

I won't reveal too much bc I would like to write this but.... but Knives is there when Milly dies. That is all I will say.

Thank you for indulging me and if I remember more I will be sure to add them lol.

Also ! If you wanna share your own hc with me plsssss do. Stick em in the tags, replies, or my inbox. I will graciously accept them 💖💖💖

#trigun #millyons #millynai #in the meadow #vashmeryl #these have been bouncing in my skull for so long

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ccasey0 · 7 months

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alrighty, lets get this said and done.

i am likely not going to post on here a lot unless i get asks or comments or smthn, just so you know.

anyways, i have a question for you guys. ive got an au that ive been wanting to share and post about for a while, but im not sure if i can. reason being that it is pretty old and it started when i was young and stupid and didnt know how to draw my own poses and stuff, so i would trace the outline of characters and then draw over it. i don't know if i can post or share any of the art from that time since i dont have any of the credits to the owners anymore:( i would love to be able to share my world with you guys since ive put a ton of time and effort into the hundreds of doodles and sketches ive made for it, but i need to know if it's okay. let me be clear on this though so there is no confusion: i am not claiming the art to be mine. i did not trace directly over most of the art, i just copied the general shape/art style/pose and then turned it into my own characters. not all of the art for this au is traced.

anyways, with that out of the way i want to explain a little about the au so that i can know if anyone would actually want to see it.

so it's basically a mashup of my OCs, rottmnt, mha, lmk, and a bunch of other fandoms i've been inspired by. it is set in a post apocalyptic world in the year 2080(sort of). The main cast consists of Casey "Moon"(based off of me), Jupiter "Dellta"(based off a friend/sister of mine), Jasper "Spots", Raphael Montero, Keigo "feathers"(based off hawks from MHA), Kat(based off bakugou from MHA), Deku(based of Deku from MHA), Felix, Sandro, and Pancake(it comes in WAY later tho). these guys are known as "The Gang." aren't i so creative with names? they are also the people i draw the most. there are, of course, side-ish characters who play major roles on the story but aren't in the gang. as for the relationships between the characters, here u go: Jupiter, Casey, Jasper, and Raph are all siblings. Raph is the oldest by 2 years, Casey and Jupiter are twins, and Jasper is younger by a month. technically Jasper, Jupiter, and Casey are triplets. but they were raised by different people so jasper celebrates his birthday on a different date than the twins. they have a very complicated and definitely not realistically possible relationship with their Bio Mom but ill explain that in another post if ya'll want. Deku, Casey, and Kat are all in a relationship. Yes it is a threesome. no i do not care. please do not hate, it isn't that big of a deal. Jupiter and Felix are in a relationship. jupiter and keigo are besties. jupiter is sandro's adoptive mother(comes in much later). casey is pancake's adoptive caretaker(comes in much, much later). now for the explanation of the setting, yay! so, it is a post apocalyptic world that has been brought to ruin. the world divided itself into different Sectors, which are areas set up around still standing cities around the world.(i can explain how al that got established and all that stuff in another post if it is wanted.) The sector that the story takes place in is the New York Sector. it is a bit larger than Texas and was named the NY sector cause NY was the last city standing in that area at the time. NYS has 8 safe zones inside it. Safe Zones are walled off areas that are safe from Corrupted(ill explain that next). SZ are like towns or bases that people and yokai all live in. every zone is different and has different kinds of people. th zone that the gang usually interacts with is zone five(basically the blackmarket of the safe zones.) (ill explain what th different zones are like in another post as well.) okay, now for corrupteds. these guys are complicated and hard to explain w/o a picture for reference, so ill do my best and make a seperate post about them later. basically, they are the zombies or kraang of this world. they are the product of a failed lab experiment. A team of scientists were working on a project to make trees produce twice as much oxygen, but some bad guys called Seekers(once again, ill make a seperate post for these guys) broke into the lab and did something to the trees. they made them start producing these strange spores that began bringing corpses back to life zombie-style. but these weren't zombies. the corpses became mutated and horrifying monsters that would kill on sight. the more spores were released, the more corrupteds came to life. and the spores also mutated other trees, causing them to produce the spores as well. the corrupteds can only live as long as they have an intact heart organ inside of them. they are attracted to light and will kill on sight. although most of them are blind, so i guess they kill on sound?? anyways, as trees became more infected, their roots became vines and they started overgrowing everywhere, with huge vines the size of giant redwood trees(yes i had to search up giant trees to scale this) growing up buildings and through streets.

alrighty. wow. i can't believe you are still here. thank you for bearing with me. please tell me if you want more of this au via comments or asks. any questions go in the ask box. i do have some disclaimers for this tho: i don't do digital art, all this will be traditional drawings. also, i don't have this as an actual comic. it's more just a bunch of drawing that a the explanations to are in my head so i will likely post art and then explain the story bit to it typed out.

also important thing to add to the au:

TW!!! Blood, gore, swear words, trauma, physical abuse, psychological abuse, fighting, horror, queer ships, threeway ships, implied attempts, implied seizures, dark humor, mental breakdowns, panic attacks, sensory overloads, ect. it isn't as bad as it sounds i promise 😅

oke, i'm done now. thanks for reading all this and i hope for your feedback and/or much wanted advice or recommendations. like i said, any questions please go in the ask box and any requests for explanations or art go there too.

byeeeeee :)

#origonal au #oc #apocalypse #tmnt #sort of #idk please someone tell me if i can show this #zombies ig #:)

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symphonic-scream · 7 months

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Back when the Legend of Korra finale first aired, I was a little baby gay and had a different tumblr which I believe I deleted. On said tumblr, I think I mentioned vaguely that I had an idea for fankids for them

It's been 9 years since I deleted that tumblr. It's going to be 10 years since the finale this December. The release of the (underwhelming) live action Last Airbender has brought me back to a show that truly changed my life, and made me feel seen as a queer, mixed native kid (I'm a quarter, my grandpa was full)

So. Here's a little post about those ocs, who I found in my old seventh grade french notes (I never paid attention in that class lmao)

Anyways!y Korrasami kids. Let's go over them

Hiroto Sato (Ref age 16)

So I imagine that once their lives were stable, that they'd want to have a baby. Asami would carry in my mind, just because Korra would be all worried about how her body would handle it after the poisoning thing. However, their plans go, twisted. Cause they have twins

Their first born is their son, named after Hiroshi Sato, though Asami didn't want to directly name him after her father because her feelings would be still complicated. So, Hiroto. He goes by Hiro, mostly, and he's a fire bender

His eyes are a dark brown/grey, and he keeps his hair at a sort of medium length? It curls slightly around his ears, and he'd need glasses starting at age 14. He likes warm, comfy clothes

Hiro isn't very physically, well, talented. He's clumsy, trips over his own feet sometimes, the kind of person who's thinking so hard he smacks into polls and apologizes to them. He'd nervously chew on the skin of his thumb as he works. Hiro's an awkward guy, not great at conversation. He's always had a knack for art, and wants to become a city planner. He's not a great bender, but he does like helping out in the kitchen

Yasuko Sato (Ref age 16)

Their only daughter and youngest bio child, it's younger twin Yasuko! Korra chose her name. She knows how much Asami's mom meant to her, and honestly, the baby looked a lot like the old photos of Yasuko. As much as a baby can, at least. Like her brother, she's a fire bender

She's nearly a carbon copy of Asami. Green eyes, wavy black hair, though she smiles a little crooked. She keeps her hair up in a high pony, and even though she needs glasses like her brother, she rarely wears them. She forgets them more often then not, and just takes his to read momentarily. She's, like, "sleeves? Never heard of them"

Yasuko showed real promise in fire bending when Korra first started teaching her, so she decided to get both twins a proper teacher. Yasuko wanted to be a hero like her Moma, and grew up wanting to help people. Her goal is to be a fire fighter! She's the funny friend, always makes others smile, a jokester

Kova Sato (Ref age 19)

So, the next three are all adopted. There was a disaster type happening in the furthest parts of the Northern Water Tribe, and Korra went to help in the aftermath. After helping with search and rescue efforts, she goes to visit the injured to sort of, give them hope

That's where she meets Kova. He's 9 at the time, yet he was working hard to use his water bending to help heal alongside the elder women. She talks to him while handing out some food shipped in from Republic City, and finds out he lost his parents, and has been looking after his younger brother

Long story short, both boys return to the city with her, and Asami ends up understanding why her wife couldn't leave them behind

Kova is a big guy. He's mixed water tribe earth nation, so while he's got dark skin, his eyes are a dark green, and his hair is messy, dark brown. Quiet guy, but tall for his age. Real gentle, there's a reason he has an affinity for healing. He's got little sun freckles too!

He's great with words. He's a blooming poet, writing the stories people tell him during healing sessions. Incredibly kind, loves the idea of memories making someone immortal. The first poems he writes are of his birth parents, and the second? Of his mom's, and his siblings.

Haoyu Sato (Ref age 12)

He's Kova's younger brother, and was only 2 when Korra took them in and brought them to Republic City.

Haoyu is just paler than his older brother, with darker, messier hair, and blue eyes. His smile is bright, pure joy and energy. He's an endless ball of energy, and reminds his mom's and grandparents of a young Korra; he knows he's hot shit. He's an earth bender, starting at age 6

He's obsessed with pro bending. But, he doesn't dream of being an athlete, but an announcer. Reading is tough for him, and he struggles a bit in school, but when he comes home each day, he's surrounded by love, and care. Asami is always happy to sit with him and help him make sense of his school work, gentle, kind, and patient

I imagine he'd wear someone like a hoodie and soft puffy pants, the kind that end above the ankle.

Gyaltsen Sato (Ref age 5)

The youngest, and again, not exactly a planned adoption. His mother was a newer air acolyte, and she didn't make it through the birth. Tenzin asked Korra and Asami to look after baby Gyaltsen away from the busy temple until someone could take him in, but, the mom's got attached

Just barely darker than Asami and the twins, Gyaltsen has the lightest hair in the family, and the darkest eyes. He's an airbender who shows extreme potential, and is one of Jinora's most promising young students

He's got this spark for life. Everything is so cool to him, so amazing, it's rare for him to be disappointed by something. He feels things strongly, and his Moma Korra sits with him to meditate and talk about his big feelings

He's still very young and growing up, so he's got time to become himself

ANYWAYS. THERE THEY ARE. TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!

#avatar #avatar the legend of korra #tlok #korrasami #avatar korra #asami sato #fankids #hiro sato #yasuko sato #kova sato #haoyu sato #Gyaltsen sato

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egg-emperor · 1 year

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My sources for the Eggman info that's considered, compiled, and included in my analysis and fact sharing:

THE GAMES - English and JP. Number one source above everything. Anything outside of it has to align with them to be considered because I'm specifically all about game canon Eggman and there's no other place that's going to define game Eggman than, well, the games themselves

Sonic Channel - Because Sega/Sonic Team JP are most credible when it comes to their own characters. the information is valuable and adds a lot of cool details, fun facts, art, stories, and videos, faithful to the games

TailsTube English and JP - Because they're made to be informative about the characters and world we see in the games and are meant to be the rundown of facts and things we need to know. Possibly also JP VTuber stream stuff but I still haven't gotten entire translations of VTuber Eggman's first appearance yet to be able to compile and analyze anything

Sega/Sonic Team official writers/creators, English or JP - ONLY if they worked on the specific piece of media/story/character they're speaking on. For example, Flynn on writing Frontiers, but if it's game he didn't write for then no. Unless it's someone who is a credible source on possessing knowledge even outside of that like Iizuka for example, and it adds up with the games' contents

Small bonuses - Some promotional material both English and JP. For example, the Sonic Forces join the Eggman Empire video on the English YouTube and the JP Sonic Forces Eggman takeover Eggman video because they're used to promote the games and don't contradict anything and only add to it. This varies as stuff that isn't directly tied to the games or made entirely in jest doesn't count

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In rare cases I will also refer to bios to support already existing facts in the games further. But Eggman has had a couple of very inaccurate bios where he's done the exact opposite in the games of what the bio states at times. So it's not black and white, I don't take it as solid proof if it's only ever been stated in the bio and won't refer to bios alone. There has to be something to point to in the games that either proves or disproves the information provided

And these alone (not including the Boom videos) really do give you all you need to know above everything as they speak for themselves:

All the main canon titles are included here and I'm working on others.

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And that's it. And all of the above except for the games themselves can vary a lot because it needs to be 100% reflected in the games for it to be considered and added to my fact compiling and used in my analysis. If it contradicts it or there's no solid evidence reflecting it in the games and it also doesn't make sense as a result, I won't include it

I don't like to mash all the different official media together and use that as proof of character or stories in the games. I see people do this a lot by talking like something is game canon and when asked for sources, they pull up Archie, X, Boom, SatAM, non canon apps, Twitter DMs, contradictory bios, etc, it makes stuff super confusing and most are from separate non canon universes

You can do what you want in your own fan stuff of course but please understand that I specifically discuss, analyze, and write about game canon Eggman myself here and value and appreciate canon and want to show my love and passion for it. And these are my heavily excessively analyzed sources for everything I gather and perceive of his character facts and writing etc

I'm also always trying to keep my headcanons and fics as accurate to what I learn from all of this as possible, so if you don't like how Eggman is in the games/any of these sources in terms of personality and actions, you won't like my stuff. Trust me, everyone who has said they're not big fans of game canon Eggman has wound up hating my stuff lol. If you love game Egg like me then please discuss him with me 💜🥚

Figured this would be a good post to make and link in my pinned bio post when I make it. I may update and change things in this list in the future and have this post be the main place to refer to where I get my stuff from

#dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #my post #important #sources

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amiru-shrubfeast · 1 year

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Okay it's really time I make a proper pinned post.

IF YOU'RE A MINOR YOU REALLY SHOULDN'T INTERACT WITH MY BLOG. I WILL BLOCK ANYTHING THAT IS BELOW 18 OR HAS NO AGE IN BIO OR PINNED POST!

I am not going to flirt or be horny with kids.

Now that that's settled, Hi, I'm Amiru! Nice to meet you! I'm a fluffy foxwolf on the internet and a cuddly bear in real life, a punk furry in both! I'm pan to an overwhelming degree and currently in between genders. I'm into all sorts of things, currently I'm very into disco elysium, zelda, everything from the echo project, and many more things.

If you have a special interest or are currently very into something I'd absolutely love to hear everything about it! Even if I don't understand anything, listening to enthusiastic people ramble is a lot of fun!

I'll try to tag stuff and keep things somewhat organised from now on

#fandom for my blorbos

#activism for anything political

#pride for anything that celebrates diversity

#hornypost is self explanatory

#helpful for anything that directly helps out people with recourses, websites, information or so on

#support for people who need it

#for later is for guides, sources or references

#travel when I'm on the road

#commission where I show off great art from other people

keeping these updated

I have made a sideblog where I'll reblog the really nsfw stuff. If you wanna see that and are above 18, follow @amirus-hornyhole

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 9 months

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By: Michele Seminara

Published: Jan 4, 2024

My first exposure to what I now call “griftivism,” a hybrid of grifting and Critical Social Justice activism, occurred in the arts. It was 2020 when—in my role as managing editor of literary journal Verity La—I became embroiled in a social media cancellation precipitated by backlash to the publication of a story some deemed racist and sexist. The ensuing moral outrage razed our “little magazine that could” into internet infamy, where it remains strung up, replete with apologies, hanging its masthead in shame.

Verity means “truth,” and the journal’s motto was “Be Brave”—rendering its demise that little bit sorrier and sadder. The story that sank our publication depicted a disaffected Australian academic engaged in a sexual affair with a local woman while in the Philippines. The protagonist was uncomfortable with what the author described as the “patriarchal and colonial” power imbalance between his two characters, but not guilty enough to resist. He was an un-admirable and unreliable narrator, and in publishing the story, we sought to unveil an unsavory truth about how some men use women for casual sex. This truth was not well received.

What confounded me most about the backlash to the piece was not the mechanism of cancellation (if you’ve seen one online takedown, you’ve seen them all) but the beliefs and motivations of the cancellers, their supporters, and the silent mob of onlookers.

Upon examining this dynamic, I became aware of a new type of grifter who hitches their self-interest to activism and thrives in a culture hell-bent on “being kind”—or, at least, in appearing to be so. “Griftivists,” I call them.

The instigator of my cancellation was a colleague on the advisory board of our journal. Her bio on Ko-fi, an online “tip jar” to make “income directly from fans” proclaimed that she liked to “spread joy on social media, & care for others a lot.” Her Twitter feed was both a consummate work of self-curation and self-contradiction; earnest retweets from fellow social justice activists and scathing criticisms of “white people” (“Do not get me started on white men. Do not, ‘not all white’ me. I’m spicy today”) bookended daily selfies showcasing designer shoes, handbags, and dresses. Fine dining, trips to the theatre, and a steady stream of purchases sat incongruously beside tweets thanking followers for ostensibly essential UberEATS vouchers and requests to “buy her a Ko-fi” so that she could replace her cracked Miele cooktop or purchase a dehumidifier for her “damp” Sydney harbor-side apartment. Unbelievably, there was even a request for donations to enable the purchase of an alcoholic drink at the airport before boarding an international flight to go on vacation. Yet few seemed to notice the grift.

Someone that did was Sangeetha Thanapal, a Singaporean-Thamil writer and academic residing in Australia, who, in response to the plethora of praise showered on my colleague (“You are such a treasure. Such an advocate. Such a wonderful writer. We are lucky to have you in the world”), boldly tweeted, “It’s enraging to me that Singaporean Chinese people… who have access to every privilege and opportunity, can come here and play ‘person of colour.’ And y’all will fall for it cos you have zero understanding of the dynamics of race in Asia… This is why POC spaces in Australia will continue to shield privileged people like her while shutting out actually disadvantaged people like me.”

This surprised me. While I had no doubt that since moving to Australia my colleague had experienced racism, I hadn’t thought to question whether she was disingenuous to present herself as marginalized. She had, after all, grown up in a wealthy country as part of the dominant race and spoke English as her main language. Could she be appropriating disadvantage to her advantage, engaging in a kind of cultural double-dip to reap social and financial gain? For a lifelong small-l liberal, even entertaining the idea felt verboten.

* * *

Leading the charge in cancelling someone can be a profitable affair; in the cash-strapped arts, it can pay handsomely in the type of cultural capital that translates into invitations to publish work, speak at writers’ festivals, judge and win literary prizes, and secure competitive grants. In the year following the demise of my journal, my colleague succeeded in repurposing her tweets into a paid full-length article in a literary magazine, saw her Twitter followers burgeon from several hundred to nearly ten thousand, was featured in the news multiple times for her writing and social justice activism, and went on to receive two lucrative arts grants totaling seventy-five thousand dollars.

Of course, racism, disadvantage, and marginalization are real and must be challenged. Those dedicated to doing so have historically favored the left-wing of politics, a space heavily populated by my demographic: middle-class, educated white women (sometimes known as “bleeding hearts”). Having always been progressive, I was stunned by how swiftly and irrevocably I was recast during my cancellation as a “white supremacist.” A dreaded open letter signed by hundreds of my peers even demanded our funders withdraw their support for our “systemically racist” journal, despite the fact that we worked as volunteers and prioritized publishing and paying writers from marginalized demographics. Logically it made no sense; nonetheless, I was racked by guilt and shame.

However, after schooling myself in the recent trends in Western culture (a.k.a. scouring Twitter), my naiveté quickly resolved. I was both relieved and alarmed to discover that my case paled in comparison to more extreme pile-ons occurring around the world. Particularly in the arts, a space in which you might assume dissenting views could be aired and debated, there was a spate of ad hominem attacks being waged that seemed motivated by a mixture of moral certainty, self-advancement, and thinly veiled glee. As another Australian publisher confided to me when weathering their own public take-down, “One becomes a piñata.”

* * *

The moniker “Verity” in Verity La not only means “truth” but was inspired by the name of a once famous bookshop in Australia’s capital city, Canberra—which, in turn, was named after the inspirational woman who founded it. Verity Fitzhardinge brought literary culture to Canberra at a time when sheep still grazed on the paddocks of Old Parliament House and D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover was banned. From 1938-69, her bookshop was an oasis, a meeting place for thinkers, students and dissidents marooned in a cultural backwater. When Verity La was conceived in 2010, its founding editor happened to live on Verity Lane (rendered “Verity La.” on the street sign), and thus, the literary journal destined to live and die on the sword of its truth was born. Having no experience as an editor and no prescience, I enthusiastically took the helm in 2014 and would infamously go down with the ship just six years later.

After my cancellation, like the heterodox patrons gathered in Verity’s bookshop eighty years earlier, I sought comfort in knowing I was not alone. I discovered Counterweight, an organization established by author and academic Helen Pluckrose to help promote “reason and freedom by encouraging critical thinking” and support people like me who found themselves at odds with the new cultural climate. I devoured books, articles, and podcasts and realized that the verbal jabs thrown at me (“It’s not enough to be not racist, you have to be anti-racist!”) were not original but parroted from the rhetoric of far-left activism. As the 2020 global shitshow gathered steam, cultural commentators were warning that Critical Social Justice (CSJ)—a progeny of postmodernism and Critical Theory with roots in Marxism—had breached the walls of academia and was spreading its own divisive worldview.

CSJ was originally touted as a way to address “prejudice and discrimination on the grounds of characteristics like race, sex, sexuality, gender identity, disability and body size.” This certainly sounded rather positive to me. It appealed to my social conscience and to that of many others, as evidenced by the viral popularity of social media hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and corporate advertising campaigns like Nike’s "For Once, Don’t Do It," urging Americans not to turn their backs on the issue of racism.

Yet, as I discovered, the stated goal of ending bigotry was soon subverted—hijacked, if you will—by those wishing to bend the truth to their own advantage.

Perhaps this should come as no surprise since CSJ was born of the postmodern view that knowledge is not objective, but socially constructed to maintain power. Critical theorists scrutinize structures, language, and social interactions to identify and dismantle oppressive power systems and dominant “truths.” This makes for an enlightening thought experiment, but in the wilds beyond academia, it’s easy to see how things might go awry. For if there is no objective yardstick for ranking truths, how will we know what to believe, and what values will we allow to guide us?

Enter the de-and-postcolonial theorists who argued for not only dismantling power systems such as white supremacy but inverting them. Drawing on their revolutionary vision, CSJ activists declared that those best placed to call out the oppressors’ false truths and design fairer alternatives are the ones who suffer oppression most: the marginalized. Perhaps because, in the absence of any method for judging the worth of one socially constructed thing against another, our safest bet is to run in the opposite direction of the powerful towards the powerless. But while it’s undeniably fair and wise to acknowledge, listen to, and learn from the experience of marginalized people, when groups who are viewed as oppressed are elevated to an unquestionable ethical status, problems predictably arise.

This has been evidenced in numerous social justice movements over the last decade (think #MeToo’s “Believe All Women” slogan), with activists claiming that lived experience trumps all other forms of knowledge and that the most marginalized person’s lived experience is the most valid. It follows that your right to engage in cultural and political dialogue is now dependent on your identity and positionality: the lower your position, the higher your status and the more weight your “truth” holds. Any skepticism is dismissed as racist, sexist, and so on. Even if you are a “marginalized” person whose dissenting views are inconvenient to the majority of activists within your group, you risk being diagnosed with “internalized” prejudice or dismissed as an “Uncle Tom.” Sadly, progressives have adopted this worldview with empathic gusto. I know I did. Many well-meaning people do. And so have corporations, universities, whole industries, and governments, effectively transforming the left—a formerly meager hunting ground for opportunists seeking power and reward—into a space fertile with possibilities for those on the grift.

The socially-enforced expectation that we not question the efficacy of progressive activist movements (or risk backlash and potential cancellation) has proved a godsend for the griftivist and has engendered what cultural commentators call a form of “new puritanism.” Whereas society used to judge morality according to religious and conservative values, now there is a shift to make the same judgments based on absolute acceptance of the tenets of CSJ. This has fostered a rigid leftist ideology equal to the far-right in both its pronouncements of acceptable truth and willingness to extinguish dissent. That may seem counterintuitive for a theory embedded in postmodern skepticism, but it’s perhaps not so surprising given human nature; as Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” There is now power in being oppressed (or at least in appearing to be) and by establishing themselves as the marginalized or their allies and espousing the requisite leftist beliefs whilst denouncing those who fail to do so, the unscrupulous griftivist—like the Wolf dressed in Grandma’s clothing—succeeds in veiling their selfish intent under a cloak of harmlessness and virtue. And soft-hearted progressives, not hip to the ruse, are being eaten up.

* * *

A 2023 study published in the journal Current Psychology by Ann Krispenz and Alex Bertrams of the University of Bern entitled “Understanding left-wing authoritarianism: Relations to the dark personality traits, altruism, and social justice commitment” provides insight into the psyche of the griftivist. First, researchers characterized left-wing authoritarianism (LWA) as comprising three interconnected factors: anti-conventionalism, top-down censorship, and anti-hierarchical aggression. “Anti-conventionalism” is a dogmatic endorsement of radical moral values coupled with a desire to impose them on others. “Top-down censorship” is the use of authority to quash opposition and suppress “offensive and intolerant” speech. And “anti-hierarchical aggression” is the drive to overthrow and punish those with power. Together these paint a recognizable, if somewhat disturbing, portrait of left-wing CSJ activism, where the most virulent proponents possess traits mirroring those we’re accustomed to seeing on the authoritarian far-right.

To better understand left-wing authoritarianism, researchers designed two studies exploring its relationship with narcissism and psychopathy, as well as its correlation with traits they defined as prosocial, like altruism and social justice commitment. They found that left-wing activists who endorse aggressive actions to overthrow those in power are more likely to demonstrate “manipulative and exploitative behaviors… self-perceived entitlement, arrogance, reactive anger, distrust, lack of empathy, and thrill-seeking.” They also found that “neither dispositional altruism nor social justice commitment was related to left-wing anti-hierarchical aggression.” In fact, they concluded that “some political activists on the left side of the political spectrum do not actually strive for social justice and the support of underprivileged groups or persons, but rather endorse or express violence for the satisfaction of their own ego-focused needs.” Meaning that the most strident and morally outraged CSJ activists might not be driven by the desire for social justice at all. Quite the opposite.

As Krispenz and Bertrams explained to the science news website PsyPost, left-wing activism provides bad-faith players with “opportunities for positive self-presentation and displays of moral superiority to gain social status and dominate others.” Worse, those who “strive for influential positions that involve social visibility and outreach as well as access to financial and other resources” will likely misuse progressive movements for private purposes and cause “irreparable financial and reputational harm.” Indeed, it would seem a significant number of those marching under the banner of “doing good” while extolling others to “do better” and “be kind” are impelled by selfish, devious, or even harmful motives. And some are just on the grift.

So concerned were the authors that they advised minority groups should be made aware of these “narcissistic ‘enemies’ from within” who might hijack their causes and whose behavior could lead to dwindling public support.

Furthermore, they identified a phenomenon they dubbed “the dark-ego-vehicle principle” in which “individuals with dark personalities—such as high narcissistic and psychopathic traits—are attracted to certain ideologies and forms of political activism.” For example, someone might “participate in a pro-BLM protest pretending to fight against racism while actually using such protesting activities to meet their own aggressive motives and thrills” or because “this form of activism can provide them with opportunities for positive self-presentation (e.g., virtue signaling).”

The trajectory of the discredited Black Lives Matter Global Network certainly bears this out. In the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020, corporations and individuals desperate to demonstrate their CSJ credentials poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the organization globally. Happy to profit off the empathy (or, more cynically, the virtue-signaling) of those willing to donate to BLM, one of its founders, Patrisse Cullors, controversially bought a house worth $1.4 million. Another BLM organizer, Xahra Saleem, was recently jailed for stealing donations intended for a British “anti-racist” group. And there are still several lawsuits involving alleged misuse of BLM funds by members ongoing; as UnHeard journalist Niall Gooch noted: “When a cause is hedged around with taboos... to the extent that obvious questions about governance, spending and oversight are simply not asked, that cause will attract grifters like moths to a flame.”

Of course, activism per se is not psychopathic; Krispenz and Bertrams’ study merely confirms that for a confluence of reasons, leftist CSJ movements are currently attracting dark personality types. There are still many political activists who get involved for positive reasons. That’s a relief on the one hand, but a concern on the other; it suggests that the volatile world of left-wing activism is currently a murky meeting point of malignant griftivists and socially conscious bleeding hearts being manipulated into rewarding them. It’s a worrying trend that—once recognized—you begin to see everywhere.

Take, for example, my field: writing and publishing. The dirty secret behind the submissions wall is that many editors now read bios before even considering a writer’s work, and all know that the way to secure lucrative government funding is to tick as many diversity boxes on grant applications as possible. Of course, many (perhaps even the majority) of those working in publishing are motivated by good intentions and aim to nurture and platform underrepresented writers. However, it’s not a stretch to imagine that as publishers jostle to showcase the work of the marginalized, they might attract the attention of a canny griftivist.

One who twigged to these opportunities earlier than most was Norma Bagain Toliopoulos (otherwise known as Norma Khouri), who made a literary killing in the early 2000s with her “memoir” Forbidden Love. The book hinged on the false narrative of its author growing up in Jordan before fleeing on witnessing her best friend’s “honor killing.” Norma referred to herself as a “humanitarian” and claimed she wrote the memoir to give voice to the plight of oppressed Arab women, yet was not only found to have duped her worldwide readership, but was investigated by the FBI for having swindled lovers, friends, family, and even elderly and infirm strangers out of at least one million US dollars. Her ruse was uncovered after her publisher, Random House, received a twelve-page dossier from the Jordanian Women’s Commission outlining seventy-three factual errors and discrepancies they had noticed in the book. An eighteen-month investigation revealed that, far from being a Jordanian who fled her home, Khouri was an American passport holder who had lived in Chicago from the age of three. Rana Husseini, a Jordanian writer and human-rights activist who spent years actually exposing and working to eradicate her country’s honor killings, told journalists that by profiting off false narratives about Middle-Eastern women’s deaths and appropriating the work of activists, Khouri—like the opportunistic Dark Triad individuals Krispenz and Bertrams warn of—had effectively “ruined our cause.”

A no less scandalous case is that of Egyptian-Australian activist Eman Sharobeem, who grifted on a fake narrative of being forced to marry her first cousin as a child bride before escaping to Australia. She was a finalist in the 2015 Australian of the Year Awards and founded two publicly funded not-for-profit community organizations to assist immigrant women before being found guilty of fraud in 2017 for misappropriating upwards of $800,000 in public funds for personal use. Like Khouri, Sharobeem styled herself as a women’s rights activist while stealing from the marginalized communities she claimed to support. She wasn’t investigated until a group of determined migrant women working for one of her organizations repeatedly filed complaints about her financial misappropriation and bullying of staff. Only then was it discovered the prominent activist’s entire backstory was fabricated, including her claim to have two PhDs. When asked how such fragrant lies could pass unchecked, the Immigrant Women's Health Service board chairman Audrey Lai testified, “We trusted Eman. We thought she had such a good reputation and high profile in the community, we didn't check. It's not very wise in hindsight but unfortunately we were very gullible because we believed in her.”

* * *

Establishing belief in an oppressed identity, a common enemy, or a worthy cause, is central to the griftivists’ game. And it’s disturbingly easy because few of the precariously privileged who have the power to call out their lies are prepared to risk questioning the veracity of a social justice activist’s claims; their reputations and often livelihoods depend upon asserting the emperor is indeed clothed.

Instead, the dirty business of calling out the truth is often left to the people who can afford it least but who it affects the most: people from the marginalized communities that the griftivists leech off.

Take, for example, the case of Rachel Dolezal, a white woman whose career, memoir, and Netflix documentary were based on her identification as a black American. While some white commentators were quick to reach for explanations such as mental instability and childhood trauma to explain Dolezal’s bizarre behavior, many black critics accused her of exploiting the history of black suffering in order to opt into victimhood and co-opt lucrative leadership positions in the black community. One of the most intriguing aspects of Dolezal’s case is that she continues to uphold her black identity despite admitting to being biologically Caucasian, claiming that race is just a “social construct”—another example of how the postmodern elasticization of “truth” is artfully manipulated by griftivists.

Another sphere where griftivists opting into an oppressed identity to secure advantage has succeeded is in the gender versus sex debate, with some biological men exploiting society’s support for transgender people to enter previously sex-segregated spaces, often with disastrous results. After violent criminal Stephen Wood (who adopted the name Karen White) expediently claimed to be trans while awaiting trial for multiple sexual crimes and then reoffended while housed in a women’s prison, there was outrage from both the gender critical and trans communities. Many feminists claimed such outcomes were the inevitable result of the recent legal and social sanctioning of gender self-identification and used the case to demonstrate the incompatibility of all trans women in all women’s spaces. However, trans activists, such as Steph Richards, denied that Wood was transgender at all and argued that by claiming to be so with nefarious intent, he had created a public and media backlash that harmed the trans rights movement. Indeed, in 2023, the British Ministry of Justice tightened its rules in an effort to curtail people of bad faith exploiting policies designed to keep inmates of all genders safe. As Richards pointed out, “Wood was very aware that the Prison Service procedures at that time (they have subsequently changed) meant that he could self-identify as a trans woman and easily get transferred to the female estate. This offered Wood two significant advantages... Firstly he himself would be in a safer environment... Secondly, he would be close to vulnerable cisgendered females and trans women—potentially more victims.” Yet another case where a malevolent griftivist exploited the empathy and damaged the reputation of the social justice movement that harboured him.

Griftivists and their cons come in many shapes and sizes—from hate crime hoaxes, to identity appropriation, to outrageously priced diversity dinners—but what they share is a canny eye for the opportunities created by Critical Social Justice ideology and a willingness to trade on progressive guilt in order to advance their own ends, often while destroying their competitors with allegations of bigotry. It’s beyond dispiriting.

In his essay ‘The Curse of the Man Who Could See the Little Fish at the Bottom of the Ocean,” sinologist Pierre Ryckmans pondered belief, truth and lies after the ruthlessness of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was confirmed in the wake of the Tiananmen Square massacre. For twenty years prior to the massacre, Ryckmans (who wrote for security reasons under the pen name Simon Leys) was a rare dissenting voice in the West. His warnings about the Chinese regime were drowned out by leftist media, academics, and film stars who were convinced that the Maoist Revolution was a net good. When asked how the world could have failed to recognize the reality of the CCP for so long, Ryckmans chose to ponder a much more profound question: “How and why do we usually endeavor to protect ourselves against the truth?” For, as he noted, the truth can be disturbing, inconvenient, and dangerous to acknowledge. Perhaps this explains why, in a culture captured by Critical Social Justice, we’re committed to not seeing certain obvious but unpopular “truths,” or to bending the truth so far out of shape with clever theories that it essentially becomes meaningless.

With a nuance atypical by today’s standards, Ryckmans’ article outlines the varied reasons people might choose to believe lies, even in the face of evidence to the contrary: “What people believe is essentially what they wish to believe. They cultivate illusions out of idealism—and also out of cynicism. They follow their own visions because doing so satisfies their religious cravings, and also because it is expedient. They seek beliefs that can exalt their souls, and that can fill their bellies. They believe out of generosity, and also because it serves their interests. They believe because they are stupid, and also because they are clever. Simply, they believe in order to survive. And because they need to survive, sometimes they could gladly kill whoever has the insensitivity, cruelty, and inhumanity to deny them their life-supporting lies.”

The lies peddled by CSJ activism and exploited by griftivists are not ones we are supposed to question, and yet, everyone does—in their minds, in their hearts, and in private rooms and messages, away from the censorious and punitive eyes and ears of ideologues.

We question privately because to do so publicly risks joining the ranks of the cancelled, becoming one of the shunned. Calling out griftivists can extract a heavy personal and professional price.

One of the more tragic examples in recent years is that of Canadian school principal Richard Bilkszto who took his own life after being publicly shamed for questioning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion trainer Kike Ojo-Thompson during a Zoom presentation in which she claimed that Canada was a bastion of “white supremacy and colonialism.” The Toronto District School Board has finally announced an investigation into Bilkszto’s tragic case, but not before two years of bullying, disbelief, and social media pile-ons fatally took their toll. While his family must continue without him, Bilkszto’s peers who smeared him as racist for merely questioning Ojo-Thompson’s “truth” have prevailed.

Human rights activist Ginetta Sagan wrote that “silence in the face of injustice is complicity with the oppressor.” The questions we might ask in cases like Bilkszto’s are: where was the injustice and who was the oppressor? Or perhaps it’s time to drop the often-weaponized framework of oppressor and oppressed entirely for something that has the potential to unite us.

I imagine only a handful who took part in my cancellation did so out of self-interest or spite. Most believed the “truth” my detractors spun, and those who didn’t played along or stayed silent for fear of joining the ranks of the cancelled. Their fears were well-founded; the power of the scarlet letter is frighteningly real. To disarm the griftivists and limit the harm they cause their victims and the justice movements they claim to champion, more of us must fight for what Verity La tried to: truth and the bravery to face it. By doing so, and by speaking up, we can strip the Wolf of Grandma’s clothing and unveil bad-faith players.

#Michele Seminara #griftivism #grifting #social justice activism #critical social justice #machiavellianism #Richard Bilkszto #diversity equity and inclusion #diversity training #equity #inclusion #diversity #hate crime hoax #religion is a mental illness

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