#this is an essay and a half sorry

[rileys-battlecats]

Man,

Wrentail's character is just something I love, he is horrible in a very mundane, unfeeling, callous way.

He looks at Mudpaw, a cat that is only still alive because Wrentail decided to save him as a kit, and is just like "kid's a pussy (pun intended), let me toughen him up." and puts him through horrible training without feeling anything. Yet at the same time it doesn't seem like Wrentail is out to make Mudpaw's life horrible or is targeting him, it's just that this is the only teaching method he knows. He is callous and doesn't seem to know or care about how this is affecting Mudpaw.

At the same time, when push comes to shove, he clearly has a basic sense of right and wrong. Not letting a kit die isn't exactly a exceptional test of morality, but it shows that Wrentail knows doing so would be wrong, same with saving Mudpaw from falling. He does both without hesitation or ulterior motive. Wrentail isn't evil or deranged, but he can ignore his own conscience when it suits him.

Also, love his design, the contrast between his colorful pelt and permanent grumpiness speaks to me. WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST MAKE HIM A BROWN TABBY LIKE EVERY OTHER BAD CAT IN WARRIORS!!! Now I'm invested :(

YES THIS. He is a very mundane evil. Not mundane in that his abuse was unremarkable, not at all, but mundane in a way that is just... the way some people are. I've said it before on this blog, but I try to portray Wrentail in a realistic way. I don't want him to be cartoonishly evil, because real people aren't like that. Real people have multiple sides to them, and they can be terrible and abusive while also doing good deeds in other areas. This most certainly doesn't absolve them of the terrible things they've done, but it can muddy the water if you're only looking for someone who is pure evil. That's why I portray Wrentail doing good things as well; real abusers hardly ever seem like abusers from the outside.

tbh I've gotten a few comments on the youtube videos that have mistaken these good deeds as a form of redemption for wrentail. This is absolutely not the case. Wrentail's good deeds do not cancel out his bad ones. Him saving Mudpaw at the falls? Sure, Mudpaw instigated the fight but wrentail is the adult here; as a fully grown warrior, he should be fully capable of handling an out of control apprentice. Real teachers have to handle situations with students who are being violent, and they absolutely are not allowed to allow students to harm others or themselves (source: several college classes on classroom management and personal experience in classrooms). It was the bare minimum that he pull mudpaw up from the falls. And he did! He did it without hesitation! But that hardly means he's a shining beacon of moral good. Saving Mudpaw as a kitten? Literally it would have been illegal if he didn't. Once again, he shows a bit of emotion in the situation, he's swayed by a tiny kitten being in need, but it's still the bare minimum of what he should do for that kit.

Doing these things was good, to be sure. He's saved mudpaw's life twice. But it is absolutely not a reflection of him "secretly being a good person" or whatever. anyway I know those sorts of comments are likely made by people who don't have as much life experience or are just on the younger side, but it's kinda disheartening to see people misinterpreting those actions as me saying "oh actually he was secretly a good guy!" when that couldn't be further from the truth of what I'm trying to say. Black and white morality doesn't work here, good actions do not always equal good person.

And just because he's chosen to be harmful and abusive to Mudpaw, doesn't mean he's pure, abject evil. Wrentail wouldn't go out of his way to hurt Mudpaw if he weren't his mentor. It just so happens that he was put into that position of authority over this specific cat he had something against, and because he could hurt mudpaw, he did. He had the opportunity, and he took it. He could have just as easily asked for Larkstar to assign Mudpaw to another warrior, but he didn't, because it gave him the excuse and the room to hurt someone he thought deserved it.

Man, I really love the concept behind the designs I made for Wrentail and Mudpaw specifically. Wrentail isn't supposed to look evil, that's the point! He blends in with normal clan society. I specifically altered their designs after a while, making Wrentail softer and more rounded and Mudpaw angular and sharp-edged, to reflect the other characters' impressions of them. It is really funny though how many evil wc characters are big dark brown tabbies HAHA

[lovehours]

i don’t even fucking care

[mccall-me-maurice]

-> black rose and it’s members

(band au inspired by @lord-ofthe-bands )

[fairycosmos]

i know you hate taylor swift but i feel like you would genuinely love some of her songs

hmmm idk honestly a lot of what i've heard from her sounds generic as hell however 9 yo me was not immune to love story / you belong with me and then i liked marjorie from one of her more recent albums so i get what you mean! tbh the problem is not really solely her music for me, though i get why people find it trite and overrated, it is literally her consistently horrific character / beliefs unfortunately. same with a lot of these weird hollywood people ofc like she is not an outlier. it's just compounded w her bc she is so famous and there's the environmental element. also bc her pr team works extra hard to make her seem like she isn't that way when obviously she is so there's a large contrast there which obviously creates discussion. anyway sorry for rambling lol but yeah. it's an interesting question to pose about separating the art from the artist but i find it increasingly harder to do that with any artist i give my time to if they're egregiously asshole-ish tbh

[the-girl-down-the-street]

every time james vowles says anything about logan and his performance i get closer and closer to committing a very violent crime

[telekinetictrait]

What is beautiful is good and who is good will soon be beautiful. - Sappho of Lesbos

fuck it. higher class english woman from a jewish-italian family and her cornish childhood friend-turned-housemaid that slowly fell in love over the 1910s.

on a more personal note, i don't think i can describe the big old smile on my face when i saw the antique wheelchair from @lilis-palace and the accompanying poses. disability related cc is few and far between, and finding historical disability related cc is like finding a dolphin in the desert. disabled people have always been here, and will always be here.

we've existed throughout history! shanidar one was a neanderthal who had brain damage and possible paralysis, and is estimated to have lived to be between thirty-five and forty-five – pretty old for a neanderthal! disabled people show up often in medieval and biblical texts. the greek god hephaestus is famously described as "lame," "deformed," and/or "impaired". various disabled bodies are portrayed in ancient egyptian art. some people with developmental/learning disabilities were honored by western european courts in the renaissance and believed to be closer to god. closer to the time period portrayed in this post, rosa may billinghurst was known as the "cripple suffragette" and was involved in near constant rallying for women's rights. disabled people are overlooked in studies and perceptions of history for so many reasons; mistreatment, abuse, erasure, eugenics, different ways of categorizing and labelling disabilities, and simply being lost to time and translation. but we've always existed. for every iconic figure of disability history, there's hundreds more who simply existed and had their lives forgotten.

there's names you know like helen keller, frida kahlo, franklin d. roosevelt, and names you don't. if anything i've said at all has interested you, here are a few more notable disabled people from history and modernity to research if you'd like: brad lomex, wilma mankiller, niccolò paganini, ivar the boneless, and barbara jordan.

cc used under the cut! (if it's not linked, it's from the game)

see my resources page!

all/multiple - lilis-palace's antique wheelchair + poses / rheallsim's fancy hairline / mlys' sibel rolled updo / the-melancholy-maiden's edwardian bandeau / citrlet's ivy freckles / plumbobteasociety's fancy fascinator hat / waxesnostalgic's toque hats / blueraptorsden's vintage stockings / satterlly's elizabeth boots / waxesnostalgic's edwardian heel pumps / xldkx-cc's rogue brogues

everyday - linzlu's hattie dress (download link) / sokea-cc's sweater dress

going out - dzifa's holmes dress / dancemachinetrait's priscilla set

wartime - waxesnostalgic's female war worker uniform / waxesnostalgic's v.a.d. headwear / satterlly's v.a.d. nurse uniform

formal - madameriasims4's laurel wreath headpiece / satterlly's silk dress / simlaughlove's alyssum succulents / retro-pixels astor dress

athletic - vintagesimstress's 1897 cycling hat / waxesnostalgic's armistice blouse / waxesnostalgic's female knickerbockers / waxesnostalgic's open collar blouse

sleep - vintagesimstress's 1893 aesthetic dress / sunivaa's lola dress

party - simverses's hat with plume, bow, and roses conversion / historicalsimslife's tea in the garden dress / pinkpatchy's sunless walks hat / twentiethcenturysims' fern dress

swim - linzlu's bathing belle swimsuit / eirflower's bain de soliel bathing shoes / lollaleeloosstuff's historical swimwear

summer - happylifesims' 1910's day dress #1 / waxesnostalgic's open collar blouse (short sleeves) + 1919 skirt (i think) / twentiethcenturysims golden ring accessory

winter - simverse's edwardian tapestry coat conversion / waxesnostalgic's cloche hat / linzlu's florence outerwear (download link)

thank you to @lilis-palace @rheallsim @mlyssimblr @the-melancholy-maiden @citrlet @waxesnostalgic @blueraptorsden @satterlly @xldkx-cc @linzlu @antiquatedplumbobs @sokea-cc @dzifasims @dancemachinetrait @madameriasims4 @simlaughlove @losts4cc @vintagesimstress @sunivaa @simverses @pinkpatchy @twentiethcenturysims @eirflower and @happylifesimsreblogs !!!

[nekropsii]

I've been seeing the theory that pale erikar was fully intended to be canon. Do you have any thoughts on that?

I’ve read that essay and it is very much so not a good one.

[oopsallmabari]

....why are the youtube comments so mad lol don't y'all like to have fun. don't we like to have fun here

[notchaoticenough]

Duncan: reasons I should get to dictate the next 2000 years worth of major religion;

- I fucked Courtney. That’s all. Any objections?

+reactions:

Multiple people are typing ….

[megabuild]

im gonna be 100% honest with you man i'm not gonna post this in full because you are just going to open yourself up to getting clowned on again but i do need you to know this is my absolute favourite opening to any ask i've gotten ever.

[angelseverything]

I finally finished it!

[butchtwelfthdoctor]

the short answer is no the long answer is that there are a few possiblilties for how twelvespy would fit into the existing canon. the first is that twelve & the spymaster meet before twelve has experienced the events of world enough & time / the doctor falls, and the art in question that i just reblogged 18979187398 times shows him with his s9 hair, which does work timeline wise, if it was s10 i dont think he'd be able to cope both essesntially living with missy (OH MY GOD. HE IS PRETTY MUCH LIVING WITH MISSY IN S10. BWEEEUHHH..) and also being around the spymaster in any capacity, but yknow its that A Problem Happens in Space show so there could be but NAYWAYS, in that scenario missy has died on the colony ship, killed by simm!master, had her moment as the lumiat, been killed by missy iirc (if we're including audio continuity), and then regenerated into the spymaster, who is so so determined to never be anything like missy, never fall that far, to never (in his view) scrape the ground in front of the doctor, let alone admit he had any measure of attraction to them. spymaster burns down gallifrey because the timelords lied to him & also because he was so mad the doctor really was as fucking special a they always acted like they were. So. bearing this is mind.

would spymaster risk the timeline by telling twelve, if not that he probably dies on that colony ship too, that missy died there, killed by her past self, just as & becuase she was about to go stand with the doctor and probably try to save him - something thatspymaster would find embarrassing at best & disgusting at worst, BUT there's also like. A Lot to unpack there. esp if spy & twelve end up getting along fine (i think they'd complement each other's quietly and then explosivley deranged and angry sides, like thats a dynamic i want to see) - how do they ever discuss that. esp if twelve is with missy & if spymaster has met thirteen already then They Both Know that each other died during the events of the end of s10. how do you possibly talk about. that.

another option is that twelve bumped into the spymaster during one of the times he was disguised & stranded on earth but that doesnt quuiiiitteee work well for longer interactions cos then the doctor knows where he is & how hes disguised sooooo

BUT. the other option and the way funner (read : more messed up) option Is That. missy still dies on the colony ship in The Doctor Falls, from simmmaster shooting her, but that she somehow manages to regenerate, find the doctor again - maybe even save him??? from dying there?? maybe even before she fully regenerates you know? simmaster says 'dont bother trying to regenerate, you got the full blast' so if she thinks that she;s Dying For Real she might try to find the doctor before then. but she dies there and the doctor doesnt. bill & heather can still have their exit, just with less of the 'i cant leave the doctor' stuff. SO twelve Knows that missy dies (can probably infer some details that spy isnt willing to tell him), and now has spymaster with him who is far angrier (some of that directed at the doctor) - he didnt die alone as much but he still has tgat resentment there that make him into who he is, in such stark contrast to missy. the way simmaster reacts to her, the way spymaster decides conciously to never ever be like her ever again, BUT with twelve still there who Knows that missy was trying to be god, that she does have good in her heart like he always thought - OOH and spymaster could have this as some of the resentment towards twelve as well, that he Knows how close missy came to actually being good. and even though hes Not Like That Now he can still feel it insided of him and twelve is still there with his stupid sad eyes and its not like either of them could just say 'ok uhmmm see you round i guess' after that but its not like he was going to lock spymaster in the vault again ESPECIALLY if he saved twelve life even a little bit sdo thered be Tension and like what are they gonna do stay in the tardis???? together?????

ahah. uhm anyways

[literallys-illiteracy]

oh hey, thanks! tbh given that i'd already gone down two separate rabbit holes for both the odyssey and der freischütz shortly before magic bullet outis came out, it is genuinely fun just to talk about her. not sure what i'd request for an in-depth writeup, but given that you're really into faust, might i trouble you for your thoughts on the council of fausts, carmen-coded female characters, and the eternal feminine? i have the sliiightest inklings of a possible link along those lines, but it's been a while since i've read faust and i'm currently too deep into fighting fish (reading moby dick) to pick it up again just yet, so your opinion would be invaluable. pls don't feel pressured to do so though! i understand if there'd be too much conjecture in it to do (especially since we're still only getting crumbs abt the council of fausts as is)

also, if you're still looking for english versions of weber's der freischütz, i mostly get by via the 1961 rudolf kempe english production (libretto by edward j. dent) and a subbed version of the 1968 film, both of which can be found on youtube. the one thing i havent found yet is a translation of the original tale though, so you'd definitely know better than i would on that haha

Okay wow ive been procrastinating on this one for a while huh.

At first it was on purpose because of the implications that we would get some more information relating to the Council of Faust in the WARP event, which we did, but after that it was just because I was lazy.

As an additional note, I am currently in the process of reading “Man and His Symbols”, a book about Jungian psychology, which is the lens I personally primarily prefer to view the following concepts on. Following that on my reading list is another of Jung’s books, titled “The Psychology of the Transference”, which I have been told mentions the eternal feminine much more directly, not to mention the bakers dozen journal articles i have saved on the topic — I mention this to state that this is almost certainly not going to be my last essay regarding these topics. I already had the vague idea of connecting Carmen to the archetypes of the collective unconscious, and now I have more material to work with regarding this. Thank you Freischutz anon. - Literally's note

This is going to be the first of at the very least 3 essays on this request, just for you <3, also for my wife Carmen.

Moving on, here we go.

To begin, I want to establish what we already know, or what some reading might not already know, regarding the titular topics of this essay:

The Gesellschaft is the newly canonised name of the “Council of Faust’s” revealed in the WARP event — Gesellchaft is a German word meaning society, or a relationship/community built on non-interpersonal ties and relations.

I do not remember exactly when the theory of the council began, however at the same time I do remember more people mentioning it surrounding N corp Faust, however for reasons I will not discuss, there is reason to believe that she is not part of this society.

Carmen-Coded Characters, alongside the Eternal Feminine, are linked together with the concept of the Jungian archetypes — The Eternal Feminine is the divine, culturally transcendent, ideality of femininity. A Jungian Archetype is a similar concept, first posed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, of the universal concepts and images which exist in humanities collective unconscious. A notable and omnipresent archetype is known as the “Anima”, which acts as the internalised, primarily unconscious, feminine traits within a man, the counterpart is known as “Animus”.

Relating back to this concept of psychology (I am so sorry, half of all the essay topics I write about circle back to this topic), the Gesellschaft may act as a literal representation of this eternal feminine, a collective trait shared across mirror worlds, a communal sisterhood of the best traits of each and every Faust.

The council acting as a mass collective, similar to a discord server, of individuals who are independent from one another, may relate back to the Anima and Animus, with the final stage often being described in the image of Sophia, a representation of divine wisdom, which is a major trait present in Geothe’s depiction of the eternal feminine through Helen.

This final manifestation of the Animus is often considered a guide of sorts, acting as a messenger, as the highest level of harmony between the conscious and unconscious mind.

The primary flaw that one may direct to this explanation is in respect to the character of Faust herself, as, as is mentioned above, the Anima and Animus are manifestations of the Feminine in man and the masculine in woman — The argument may be made that the Gesellschaft may act as the Animus, the masculine, rather than the eternal feminine as is the supposed link.

To this I pose that, though you would not be incorrect, the council itself is “Faust” as a whole, acting, in a way, as the conscious mind of the sinner, having, up until recently, been the primary decision maker. Though Faust, the sinner (God this is going to be confusing after a while if I keep writing like this), is a member of the greater “Faust”, she does not act as the primary agent of decisions — Faust, the sinner, and the greater Faust, are both representative of the Feminine in their nature.

I have also seen it posed that our sinner is in fact Gretchen, and hence is why they refer to the knowledge as “Faust’s” knowledge, however I am extremely far from convinced for this.

It is important to note that, while I do attempt to read papers and literature on these kinds of topics, I am still extremely far from an expert in this field — Though I attempt to make sure that I thoroughly understand a topic before writing about it, it is important to note that there is inevitably nuance on this topic which may be overlooked, for that I apologise.

Moving on, there is additionally a link that one may make between the ego (Freudian, not PM), the conscious mind, your “Self” focused on the current moment alongside considerations of the future, and the Gesselschaft, once again placing the greater Faust as the primary ego within Faust’s body.

This can explain the fact that Faust’s base EGO line does not change during the most recent WARP event, the statement “Faust knows all outcomes” is not referring to our Faust but rather the council, the sinner’s primary ego.

It is additionally possible that, through one means or another, it was the council of Faust’s at large which manifested the Representation Emitter EGO, however this is simple conjecture.

This is the first topic that will be discussed in this series of essays, the next will likely be the relation of the ID and the Shadow to Carmen,

also if you dont mind Freischutz anon, it would be helpful if you could elaborate on what you mean by “Carmen Coded” characters, as if you dont, I will assuredly start rambling about half related notes because I am the biggest Carmen simp. - also Literally's note

[brown-little-robin]

ok I'm not subjecting my poor ceramics blog followers to 2 JoJo sculptures in a row, so for once I'm putting a ceramics post only on main. hi friends :] I am OBSESSED with the pose potential of sculpting a guy as a wolf and his soul as a wolf that's twice as big and fancier and has no sense of personal space

[theokusgallery]

What do you think about middle aged sunflower ????

Okay I'm going to pretend I'm normal and didn't just have a conversation about it yesterday within which I had to restrict myself because of Discord's stupid character limit

Anyway. Gonna talk about fanfics briefly, because fics tend to get more complex with characterization.

A while ago, I got really into Marvel, and for two months I did nearly nothing except read spideypool fanfic all day and night. If you know anything about these two (that isn't from the MCU) (I hate the MCU, I hate it so so much, this is not who Spidey fundamentally is, he is supposed to be a friendly neighborhood loner loser and you Cannot just give him an Iron Man suit and a mentorship with Stark and intergalactic missions at 16 or however old he is in those movies when the essence of the character is that he is an average struggling teenager who just happens to get superpowers and fucks up a lot at the beginning of his journey and mostly works alone and quit the fucking Avengers himself) (wow I started rambling sorry. Ignore that), you'll know that they are both around... 25-30ish, currently. Something like that. The only other fandom that I read as many fanfics of was Ace Attorney, where depending on the timeline, they can be from 23 to like, 35 with a kid. So I'd say me being so invested in a ship with 16 year-olds is... kind of an anomaly.

I don't usually like the coming-of-age, teenage love stuff, and I honestly have never found a single sunflower schoolfic I liked (except Spiral of course but even then they're in college) because all of them tend to... infantilize both Sunny and Basil at great length. And also tear down anything that makes them interesting characters. I think a lot of OMORI artists (that includes writers) are very afraid of doing anything substantial with teenagers, despite, you know, the actual plot of the game, and as a result, a lot of the time most fics where the characters aren't aged up tend to be... incredibly boring. Of course there are some that are good — exceptional even — but in the end all I can think of is the huge gap in... quality? that sounds wrong to say about a creative thing... interesting-ness, let's say (a very personal and subjective concept), when I stopped reading Marvel and went back to OMORI. I stopped reading fanfics altogether because I just couldn't find one I liked as much as the average Marvel fic that I hadn't already read.

Maybe it's a result of the writers themselves being young? I know OMORI's fanbase is generally a lot younger than Marvel's, so that could affect it. I mentioned schoolfics because there's a lot of them and because they were mentioned in my rant yesterday, but it's not really about the fact that they're schoolfics, it's about the fact that more often than not, the setting is the plot, and since it's just your average highschooler writing their favorite blorbos into their own environment and projecting (which is very cool btw, 99% of my own writing is projecting), the plot is... basically nonexistant. It's boring. It's boring and the characterization is usually dull. But even outside of schoolfics, I think I stopped trying to read fics that start with Sunny getting out of the hospital after the True Ending for the same reason : it's often plain and plotless and boring. And, fuck, my favorite books and mangas and such are slice of life, I'm all for mundane plots! But there's a difference between a mundane plot/realism and just no plot at all.

(This is not, like, an attack of OMORI writers who make schoolfics or fics that start with the above mentioned premise, btw, I want to make that very clear. It's very much a personal preference. I think it's boring because all of the fics I read in Marvel had a very unique plot/premise is my point. And also because the characters were a lot more mature and complex. Different strokes for different folks)

I think that's what I'm kind of sad about. OMORI characters tend to be complex and morally grey in their own way, and people tend to forget about that because they're teenagers and obviously no one can do no wrong before the ripe age of 18. Children are all innocent and therefore cannot be more morally complex than cinnamon roll soft boys/girls (looking pointedly at Sunny, Aubrey and Basil. But mostly Basil). Also, I think people tend to straight-up forget that 16 year-olds aren't, like, 10? Of course they're not going to be as mature as grown adults, especially Sunny OMORI, Dissociative Amnesia World Champion, but like... When I was 16 reading OMORI fanfics, half the time I was like "a 16 year-old would not fucking say that". But also generally more mature characters are inevitably more interesting to explore to me because I prefer more mature themes — I'm simply extremely upset at the fact that people don't explore the complexity that's already there when they're 16, including the very mature themes that are already there.

TL;DR: I love middle aged sunflower, I love middle aged ships in general ! In fact, I will tend to prefer sunflower when it's aged up.

(... I probably should've led with that.)

[atanxdoesstuff]

I saw this in a Yakuza vines vid and HAD to draw this

(read right to left)