apparently Tumblr allows you to report ads for having flashing images, so that's nice!
kind of. it's also not nice that it's on Tumblr users to report it instead of Tumblr just. not taking ads that could cause seizures and migraines??? plus like. kinda hard to press the report button when you're having a fucking seizure.
so non-photosensitive tumblrinas! y'all have extra responsibility to report these ads<3
you can report an ad by clicking on the three dots in the top right corner
note: this ad in particular didn't seem problematic so I didn't actually report it, it was just the first ad I got to use as an example.
this may have been a thing forever that I'm just learning about but I didn't see it last time unsafe ads were going around so I thought it at the very least couldn't hurt.
oh well. post.
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Potential Ango backstory. Because I like to make connections that don't exist.
I received a tag under my last post about Ango...
I have been enabled.
What I said in that last post was that due to the disconnect between Ango's values and the values of the Special Division - in particular, their views on necessary sacrifice and the greater good - I found it odd for this to be Ango's career choice. So, I have this theory... it's really more headcanon than anything but basically, I wonder if Ango didn't choose to work there, but rather had no choice.
First off, Ango being a government agent before he joined the Mafia means that he was already one under the age of 19... which is. Well, far from uncommon in the BSD universe but... does the government itself really not have age restrictions on potential members? Ango would've been younger than 19 when he started working for the Special Division. He was 22 ish in Dark Era, first met Oda and Dazai two years earlier, and joined the Mafia one year before that. I know we like to joke that the preferred hiring age in BSD is like... 14-15, but for the Mafia, this makes sense - there's no hiring age there; most of them are or were kids with nowhere else to go. Fukuzawa hires minors who typically also have nowhere to go. Ango was really young when he joined the Special Division. Since they would, at least, have to follow some laws (I believe anyways), the circumstances of Ango's joining were probably not the usual.
Here's another weird bit: the government sent a 19 year old spy to infiltrate the Mafia, one who was too low-ranked to have any say in decisions (he had no say in their sending in of Shibusawa, for instance). That's... weird, on it's own. He had no influence but they felt certain the man wouldn't betray them or get caught? That's a lot of faith to place in him. Now, granted, he's a very reliable person and his ability is absolutely the reason he was selected - but it's still strange.
You might be thinking, okay, but what about his replacement? Tachihara was sent in after Ango so the government could keep monitoring the mafia's activities, and he was a young, new recruit. Yes, that's true but see, here's the thing: Tachihara's nature as a Hunting Dog means the government has a guaranteed hold on him - Teruko mentions that the Hunting Dogs need to undergo monthly surgeries to maintain their bodies after their enhancements. I see no reason Tachihara wouldn't have had to do the same. So, in my mind, that goes to show that they needed some kind of hold on Ango too, right? Wouldn't you want some kind of insurance on someone so presumably new?
I'm going to cut away from this for a moment so I can point out a passage from Dark Era where Oda finds how Ango (allegedly) joined the Mafia:
The gist of it was: Ango was a hacker -> he helped a gang steal money -> the money was stolen from a Mafia front company -> Ango was on the run for several months before the Mafia caught him -> Ango's manipulation of the trackers' information was so impressive to Mori that he invited Ango to join the Mafia
Obviously, this is a cover story. But at the surface it kind of has to be true, otherwise the Mafia would know. So, it was set up for Ango to help steal that money by the government. Why this particular story though? Well, they say the best lies are often rooted in truth. Before he joined the Division, I suggest that Ango really was a hacker and seller of information. (Just fyi, his real life author inspiration was a bit of a delinquent so... make of that what you will.)
Now this next part is a mess because we still don't know how all the pieces fit together.
Remember that the Special Division, and by extension the government, are considered so incredibly powerful that they could destroy the Mafia. From Dark Era:
That legal document appears to be the only thing that keeps ability users reasonably safe. Atsushi was being tracked as the "rampaging tiger" and had nowhere else to go. What about people like Yosano or Chuuya, associated with military research? Even Kenji - he was hired after he moved a mountain out of grief. It appears that the permit is a necessary protection to those ability users who reveal they are ability users publicly.
In Gaiden, Tsujimura explains that the Division also continuously monitors the activities of ability users. Essentially, in addition to the legal protection the permits provide, they also seem to make the Division's job of keeping track of all ability users, what they're using their abilities for, and how dangerous the abilities are, much easier. We also know that if an ability user proves too great of a threat to the general public, the Special Division can and will eliminate targets unless the target proves especially useful (ex. Ayatsuji).
Ok why am I going over all this? I'm just trying to make it clear how incredibly powerful the Division is. But what I also want to denote is that they are focused primarily on the greater good and will justify sacrifice of individuals (which contradicts Ango's beliefs directly), and they also take orders still from higher ups in the government (and the government in bsd is... a bit shifty if you ask me).
And about Ango: his values lie in life and an appreciation for it. He prioritizes memory and records, especially of those who have passed. He has many regrets and is, at heart, a kind person. However, he also has the capacity to do what "needs to be done", seems particularly vengeful and angry with Sigma for Taneda's stabbing, and was ready to shoot Atsushi when he collapsed after the Sky Casino arc. He also went from making deliberate stubborn efforts to create records of the dead, to being part of the cover up for a group of disgraced soldiers and one of his closest friends. He does things because he thinks no one else can do them - so this means it is his obligation.
So, finally, here's my deranged conspiracy: I think Ango was a hacker in his teenage years, and I think he always had the intention of preserving life in some way. Perhaps he attempted to make information about the war, or something to do with ability users, public. Whatever he found, he got in serious trouble, whether with a criminal organization, or with the government itself, I'm not clear on. Ango needed to join the Division for protection, and perhaps it was Taneda's idea to invite him, seeing that his ability would be very useful - that would explain the loyalty. It's also possible that Ango's actions resulted in a loss of life, and so he no longer trusts himself, which is why he is constantly torn between opposing values. I wonder if it was explained to Ango by the people in charge why certain information had to be withheld from the public, in such a way that he felt guilty for what he'd done - maybe that's why he's so diligent. It would be tragic if guilt turned out to have always been the motivator for his character and if he stands with the Division despite his offset values because he really does think they know how to better help people than his instinctive response ever could. While I'm sure the Division was confident in Ango's loyalty (one of his dislikes is written as betrayal for goodness sake), they also had a hold on him due to the nature of his ability. He is a walking store of classified information, which we are told repeatedly in Dark Era makes him a prime target. This means that nowhere is safe for him unless he stays with the Division. There is no guarantee that the government itself wouldn't also consider him a liability if he were to suddenly quit. In summary, Ango's joining of the Division was not a free choice, and while he likely feels grateful to people like Taneda for that chance - he also cannot leave.
Regardless of whether or not you all think I am wholly deranged now, there is definitely something to Ango we're not privy to yet. Here's some extra stuff on Ango to chew on:
He had the experience once of taking in so much information he passed out while his brain tried to process it (much like Atsushi did after Sigma transfers the information to him about the Page)
He had some run-in with Chuuya which apparently led to Chuuya owing him for something?
He seems to have been more comfortable defying expectations in the Mafia than he ever was in the Division
Thus concludes my Ango theory.
Source? Just trust me bro.
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I saw some discussions about how evil Gortash was when Karlach worked for him, and how she should have been aware, but there are a few things going on that make me believe she never got the whole picture. I think she only saw what Gortash wanted her to see.
She's a victim of powerful people who see other people as tools and pawns for their own ambitions. She's a soldier who was tempted by the promise of a good life doing a job that she believed in (at the time), only to find out the horrors happening under her nose. And I don't think she was ever aware of them!
Karlach makes it clear she wouldn't have worked for Gortash if she knew half of what he was actually doing. She didn't even get the whole picture until she returns to Baldur's Gate with the squad.
And again. She was a child when she started working for Gortash. He must have known what to say to her, specifically, because she believed in him SO much before he ripped everything away from her and betrayed her. I don't think she'd have trusted/respected him if she had even the faintest idea of what was going on.
And that's kinda the story with a lot of soldiers, y'know? They sign up to get themselves out of poverty, they grow up a bit, and they either double down in their beliefs or they realize the life of a soldier isn't what they thought it would be. I think she represents this kind of person really well, tbh.
Then, she spends her entire time back on the Sword Coast protecting people and doing the things that she wanted to be doing with her life, before getting caught up in the service of people out for their own power and conquest.
She is the goodest girl, but even the best people can be caught up supporting the worst people, especially when subterfuge and forced servitude are involved.
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I’m fascinated about the oc stuff you mentioned! I only recently (within the last year) started creating oc’s so I’ve not really thought about creating images of them. I pretty much just save stock photos and photos of celebrities that resemble what I’m imagining, but that can be a pain. I’d love to hear more tips (as well as hearing about some of your oc’s if you’d like to share!)
A beloved mutual, hello!!
It's cool to hear that you're getting into oc stuff, making up little guys is so much fun! You'll have to tell me about yours sometime! I gotta admit though, saving stock and celebrity photos sounds like a hassle :/ I can't imagine what you'd do for a non-human oc…
If you're interested, I have a ton of picrew links I can share (and obviously I can give you ones with more specific aesthetics if you have something in mind, versus just dumping a truckload of random links on you).
I also really like using Heroforge (D&D Minifugre website) to make ocs (D&D related or not). They update pretty regularly so there's always better options (especially for non-human ocs) and colors for more specific customizations. It's especially cool because if you decide you really like it, you can buy your oc as a minifigure (but you can still use the site/save your oc even without buying anything)!
I love free websites :3
Lately, I've been focusing on my batch of Minecraft ocs. I was supposed to join a big rp server, but that fell apart so now I'm just 'writing' it all myself. It's been really fun, and I like being able to build an intricate story and characters from a pre-set template that comes with making ocs within a pre-existing world/ruleset (It's just much easier on my busy brain for when I'm not working on my actual original writing or whatever XP). But because of this, I've also been making full Minecraft skins for those ocs. It's pretty much just pixel art, and I am nowhere near the levels of some of the proffesional skin-makers out there, but I've made some pretty cool stuff if I do say so myself!
TL;DR I am not good at art, but my imagination is very hyperactive, so having some of these online resources has helped a ton in just getting something out into the world.
I am more than happy to share site links and answer any questions you have about navigating them if you wanna dm me!
I'd also loove to talk about all my ocs more, but I know that can be a lot for a tumblr ask…especially if tumblr keeps eating them >:(
Thanks for messaging me, hope this helped some!
(Also, sorry for the weird formatting of this post tumblr is being dumb and I can't fix it for some reason...)
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