#thread: new atlantis

[wolves-of-etoile]

New Atlantis

Starter for @the-expatriate

The Sentry and the Shuffle glided serenely through space. Though Alpha Centauri was well patrolled, space was big and could hide any number of bandits or opportunists. Fortunately, even just one of the two ships could handle most threats on their own. Attacking the two of them together would've been suicide for any pirate.

They put down in the main metropolis of New Atlantis. After taking care of the boring business of landing pad fees and services, David Weiss carefully navigated the bustling spaceport crowd to the nearest central area to meet with his travelling partner.

He greeted Pari with a smile. "I hope they didn't fleece you too badly. I managed to talk them down on the fuel fees and such. I forget that not everywhere is like Titan Station."

He then added, "You come to this place often?"

[creatingblackcharacters]

No, That’s Not ‘How Color Works’. - Whitewashing

Whitewashing, as defined by Merriam-Webster:

"to alter (something) in a way that favors, features, or caters to white people: such as a) to portray (the past) in a way that increases the prominence, relevance, or impact of white people and minimizes or misrepresents that of nonwhite people and B) to alter (an original story) by casting a white performer in a role based on a nonwhite person or fictional character"

In fandom context, we know it to include:

Making someone’s skin lighter

Making someone’s hair a thinner texture

Changing someone’s nose to be thinner

Shrinking their lips

Changing the character in their entirety to be someone else

The Normalization of Whitewashing

Remember how I mentioned last lesson that despite the nature of poorly drawn Black characters, most audiences are not turned off enough to discourage the action in professional works? Similar idea with whitewashing. Not the same- unlike the Ambiguously Brown Character, which claims to have plausible deniability, overt whitewashing is usually enough to make fans speak up! But that’s the key word here- overt! It has to be “bad enough” to make enough people speak up, but as we’ve seen many a time, “bad enough” seems to have a much higher threshold for nonblack viewership (sometimes the limit doesn’t exist!)

Some visual examples

This is a link to my personal thread on a Netflix show I was watching- Worst Ex Ever. Now, while the show itself was quite enlightening, there was something I could not get over. I thought I was going crazy. And that was that no matter how dark the person of color would be in real life, the animated portions would draw this light pinkish-brown. Every. Single. Time. It's like they couldn't fathom scrolling down the color wheel. And this is a Netflix original! Netflix has plenty of money for someone to have caught this in creation. But... it was produced. And put out. And they're making more of it.

I asked all of the Dragon Age fans about the series, and uh… I didn’t know things were this bad, guys! Apparently this is a man of color, but it doesn't seem like the creators want you to know that 🤣. Jokes aside, as I’ve discussed before, the noticeable whitewashing- and that was one of many racist things I was told- was not enough to prevent sales... so why would they stop? I can only hope this new game, with all the updates, is enough to turn the tide. But the series has gone on for a while now, that if they’d chosen to do ye same olde… there clearly would not be a lack of financial support to prevent it.

Colorism as a Tool

Even when actors of color are cast, colorism often plays a role in normalizing whitewashing to audiences, even to Black audiences! People think “oh well at least they’re Black!” as if that is the only important part. It is not.

While Aaron Pierre, the actor cast for John Stewart of Green Lantern fame, is a GORGEOUS, STUNNING man, he is not the dark-skinned man that John Stewart is supposed to be and should not have been cast! To me, this is overt colorism, but clearly for many people this is not “enough” to warrant concern or even prevent the casting itself- including the studio behind the movie! Black fans have plead for years for the character of Storm to be played by a dark-skinned, preferably African, woman, and it has never happened.

It naturally happens in fan spaces as well, which is another indicator that colorism as a tool for whitewashing is quite effective for audiences. If I see one more Zendaya fan cast for Kida from Atlantis, I will scream. It’s been happening for years, and I don’t think any of the people who just want to see her and Tom on screen either understand or care that Kida is a dark-skinned character. Zendaya doesn’t look anything like Kida- it doesn’t matter if she’s Black too! Just because someone is Black does not mean they can play every single Black character! I’ve even seen people fancast Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame, to which… I don’t have the words. I can’t fathom what would cause these decisions other than racism.

The Common Excuses

I must be honest. I don’t really feel like re-iterating how certain things are not okay and how to fix them, because I’ve already discussed these things in massive detail. So I’m just going to direct the excuses I regularly hear to my lessons, where you can read up on them.

“Their hair/eyes are like that because they’re biracial so-”

Relevant Lessons: 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 8, 9, 10

There is nothing wrong with having biracial characters with a range of features. I am not saying that! Because yeah, genetics do happen!

But I mentioned this in my last lesson, and I will re-emphasize here, that using biracial identity as a way to whitewash is a sinister form of racism. The intention here- the real intention- is the issue here! The idea that somehow this character can only look the way you want them to look by "diluting" their Blackness… I don’t know how you can explain yourselves out of that one.

You don’t get to use us as an excuse for diversity while still trying to maintain your preference for Eurocentric beauty standards. Black biracial people don’t always look light skinned, thin-haired and ambiguous, and even the ones that do don’t deserve to be treated as your fetish for pretend antiracism. If you just want to draw a white person with a tan, do that. But don’t change a character’s entire look just so you can work in some whiteness. If you want to claim that canon Black character’s mother was white, then I guess they inherited some of her personality because their features should not change.

“It’s my style/It’s the color-”

Relevant Lessons: 3, 4, 10

I hate all excuses for whitewashing, but I’ve grown to despise, hate, abhor and loathe this one the most as I’ve become an artist. I wish there were stronger words to describe just how much I hate the “style” and “color” excuse.

Are style and use of color oft intertwined? Absolutely. I’m not saying they aren’t. But out of everything, there are two things I want artists to understand:

1. Style does not cancel out racism! No style forces you to choose ashy greys and to change peoples’ features. That’s you! If you look at something, and it looks offensive, you change the style. You grow as an artist!

2. “Everyone who is brown will look ashy so I just-” if you recognize that your Black characters look strange in comparison to your nonblack characters, then it’s time to try something else! I don’t understand this sudden need for “realism” when it comes to color and lighting, but not when it comes to hair, for example. No one cares about realism when giving every and all Black characters wavy tresses they probably wouldn’t have, but suddenly milquetoast watercolor attempts at brown and off-putting lighting is “how it works”. That’s not fair.

The color picker is an available tool! I use it often!

Dead giveaway of purposeful whitewashing: if someone gets the outfit color palette right via color picking, but the skin color is multiple shades lighter. That means they were looking at that character and chose not to proceed.

Dead giveaway of purposeful whitewashing: if the white characters in the show are completely correct in their palettes. Again, that means they cared enough to look at everyone else… and not the Black characters.

If you use the color picker and the color picked is… disrespectful, you do not have to use that! You can simply choose a better color that is still similar to the brown that ought to be depicted!

“It’s the lighting-”

Relevant Lessons: 4, 5

If your white characters do not shine like snow in the sunlight because of your lighting, then your lighting does not make your Black characters suddenly light tan.

If your Black characters look bad in your lighting of choice- for example, putting a very dark-skinned character in electric white lighting can be ghastly- try changing the intensity or the color of the lighting. DON’T change your character’s skin color!

I'm going to show you some pictures of South Sudanese model Nyakim Gatwech. Pay attention to the choices of light, color, and makeup.

Look how BEAUTIFUL she is! Look at the choices of intensity and color of light, and how they make her look different in each image.

Now look at this image in comparison:

In this image, whoever did her makeup and took this picture did not take into consideration her skin tone. She's also under this really intense lighting. This is an example of "increasing the lighting does NOT make an image "better"". She didn't need to have lighter skin or "more lighting" to look good. She needed BETTER lighting, lighting that worked with HER.

To see this as an example in drawn art, @dsm7 makes an excellent argument for proper lighting and color, why it is an issue to use it as an excuse, and how to solve that problem.

‼️DISCLAIMER FOR NEXT EXAMPLE‼️

Okay. I am about to show y’all a fan-created example from my personal experience. It is a TEACHING EXPERIENCE ONLY. I am not including the artist’s name in this image. It happened a couple years ago, and it’s over- they’ve chosen to be who they are despite me kindly confronting them about it. The only reason I’m including it at all is because I feel like it would be remiss to have such a clear-cut, multi-level example, and not teach with it. That said, no, I am not telling anyone to act out towards them. Again, that is not what I’m telling you to do. The last thing I need is a literal lynch mob of angry nonblack viewership for trying to teach you all, and y’all sitting there watching it happen to me. Every example of whitewashing is not going to be so obvious, but I hope you learn how to spot the examples in the art you see and share.

I'm obviously a Hades fan, particularly of Patroclus- despite my disdain for the lack of effort in his canon character design. So I've seen a lot of things. That said:

“Well it’s just MY design of them-”

Relevant Lessons: ALL

The sepia coloring did not do this. The lighting did not do this. The design is the exact same as the Hades version, even down to the shape of the hair curling in the back. The only thing that is different… is the man himself.

Y'all. Y'all! You CANNOT take a pre-existing Black character and say “oh well this is my design of them” …and the design is of a whole white person. Because if the rest of the fit is the same, and the only thing that changed is the Blackness… Racism. If you’re going to “make up your own design”, then do that!

“Blackwashing”

Speaking of: I’m sure someone edgy out there thinks they’re so smart as they retort to the screen: “but if that’s not okay, then why is Blackwashing okay?” To which I say- shut up. 😐

The “definition” by fandom: making a nonblack character Black, usually an anime character, but characters in general.

Funny enough, the actual definition in the dictionary (or closest to) is “to defame”, in contrast with whitewash (as in whitewashing history). Maybe racist fans ARE using it correctly when they say you’re blackwashing their characters, when they mean you’re making them “less likable because they’re Black now”. 🤔

Anyway: Blackwashing is not real for the same reason reverse racism is not real.

Me painting these characters brown is not going to take away from the fact that there are far more of you in media than there is of me. Me saying that I ‘headcanon a character as Black with 4C hair’ is not going to make the studio go “oh! Well they must be Black with 4C hair now!” Me saying “oh I think I’d like this character better if they were Black” as a beta tester (less overtly, obviously, because I’m not racist!) will never make a studio change that character. Black viewers have minimal value in comparison to the power of the white viewer’s dollar. I could draw white characters Black every single day of every single game media… and they would still produce majority white characters. There has not been centuries- if not millennia, when we consider Jesus Christ himself, even- of purposeful “Blackwashing” with the intent of removing the original ethnicity- and thus importance- of white people. No one has ever been allowed to forget when someone is white. No one has ever been allowed to forget or not acknowledge white people.

How it could be "solved"

Personally, I love Black edits and I welcome them here. I find them creative and fun. But if you really, REALLY didn’t want us to make those edits, then naturally, we need more Black characters in all of our media!

I wouldn’t have to make edits if I saw more of me to begin with in the things I like to watch- but when we have those characters, racists act an ass about them. We’re not allowed to even be present! I’ve seen too many gamer bros mocking the existence of Yasuke in Assassin’s Creed, and he was a real ass man. But if we made a game about African peoples in African societies, how many of the gamer bros would actually play those games? Do you think there’d be as much support, when we hear so much about Black characters that are treated so abhorrently? How many games do we have where people would love their faves just as much if they were Black? I even learned that Solas was apparently supposed to be a man of color. IMAGINE how many people would not have liked that man, with the same exact plot and characterization.

Something I’ve noticed recently: apparently "Blackwashing" is not a thing when White fans “allow” it. Take this recent trend with Miku. International Miku was beloved! But if you draw any other character as Black on any other day, there will be people that are horrid about it. Ask any artist, Black artists and Black cosplayers especially, who’s ever done it what their comments are like. I’ve read entire missives akin to white supremacist drivel on how it’s somehow morally wrong to make characters Black. Meanwhile no amount of “hey maybe you shouldn’t do this” prevented the movie Gods of Egypt from being created, with a cast full of British White people.

Solutions to Avoiding Whitewashing!

1) Using References!!

Do I think you should know what Black people look like? Yes. We’re humans. It’s 2024. Everyone knows what we look like when it’s time to hate and discriminate against us, so you know what we look like when it’s time to love and depict us. If you’re on Tumblr, you have access to the Internet. ESPECIALLY if you’re in the U.S., as Black people are the source of damn near every piece of online pop culture. If you can find my dialect to make my jokes, you can find pictures of me.

Would I rather you use a reference every single time so that you can only strengthen your depiction of my people? ABSOLUTELY.

Anyone on the Internet telling you not to use a reference or that you shouldn’t need a reference? Unfollow them. You don’t need that negativity in your life. Why would you deprive yourself of a tool to create? The greatest portrait painters in history had to look at their subjects! You are not getting paid nearly as much to do this as Hans Holbein, and he had to stare at Henry VIII correct else lose his head- you can pull up multiple references. I’d far rather be judged for using hella references than be judged for being a racist!

Part of the issue is people draw what they’re used to, what they’re comfortable with (thus last lesson). But if what you’re used to is not what someone will look like… That’s not okay. Their features are not the issue, your skills are the issue. Learn! Practice! There is no rush. No one is rushing you to be perfect at drawing Black characters, and no one is rushing you to post them. You can just practice! If you’re not a professional, you can take as long as you need to draw! If you need to draw that piece of hair over and over until you feel like you have down the shape, you do that! If you need to use a tool that would draw the hair for you, you get that tool!

If you want to post, you can say you are practicing! If you make clear you are practicing, then be willing to accept that people may have feedback. I’d far rather deal with someone saying they’re unconfident and practicing, than someone posting a whitewashed caricature and closing their ears because “well at least I’m trying!”

2) Empathize! Care about actual Black people when you create a Black character!

Imagine, if you will, in the Twilight Zone: you went to an artist, and you asked for a white character (I typed in “regular looking white dude” on google). There’s hardly ever any white characters, you’re so super excited about this one! You paid good money, because you’ve seen just how amazing this artist creates! They’re so good at drawing characters of color! But no matter how many times you ask, they send you back an image of… Assad Zaman.

That man might be fine as hell! Gorgeous! Beautifully done! Chef’s kiss. Stunning! But… He’s not white. That’s not what you asked or paid for. You can’t even fathom how they mixed this up, they don’t even look alike! And when you confront them, they gaslight you, they call YOU the issue for not understanding how you can’t tell that this is a white man! They would never get this wrong! They have white friends, you’re the racist! But you’re not stupid, and you have functioning eyes- you can SEE what this drawing looks like! And… It’s not you.

It’s dehumanizing. It’s being told that there’s a “better way” to look like you, and that’s by… Not looking like you. You, as you exist, are what’s incorrect. Your identity is incorrect, not their drawing. It’s better to have thinner hair instead of an afro or locs, it’s better to have lighter skin, it’s better to have a straighter, thinner nose over a round one, and smaller lips.

And what makes it worse is knowing that people who don’t look like you? Probably won’t care. They won’t be willing to see- not unable, but unwilling- that playing with this caricature is harmful, that they’re propagating harm by not acknowledging it. They’re letting you know that your humanity means less to them than the clout received with a whitewashed or half-assed Black character, and that people will applaud them for that ‘attempt at inclusion’. And people will applaud! They will be entertained by the mere performance! And that hurts.

I’m going to say this, and it’s awkward and I try not to say it directly on here, but… Having Black friends and/or being around actual, real life Black people would help. I can tell from some of the questions I receive that Black characters and their traits- especially things like our hair and our cultures- are being treated as… alien concepts. But even if, for whatever reason, you legitimately don’t know any Black people, you do not need to know us individually to care about our humanity as a whole! Even if you do not know we’re there, we are, and we could possibly see your work!

By acknowledging Blackness and making room to understand what it means- and that includes how we can look- you are doing the bare minimum of acknowledging our personhood. If you cannot do even that, you don’t need to be drawing us.

Conclusion

Here’s the thing: if you want to draw a white man with tanned skin, do that. Just do it! You do NOT have to erase me to have more of you! There is not a single fandom where the majority of the white fans ever said “gee, not another white guy!” It simply doesn’t happen. God knows we wish it did sometimes. You will always have an audience for white characters. There’s no danger to any of you of “being erased”.

(Without putting on my political hat, I will say that a lot of white people who consider themselves to be far from white supremacist will express beliefs in line with great replacement theory if you push them hard enough. It is unfortunately not as uncommon an idea as you might think. I would do some self-evaluation.)

People are going to notice that you only ever draw white people, but… To be frank, that has never stopped anybody from being successful. Again, Jen Zee, at Supergiant with the terrible dark-skinned characters… Still has a job. at Supergiant. A professional studio. Dragon Age. Multiple games of consistent whitewashing and racist writing. Still going. If racism prevented creation and popularity, I wouldn’t have to have this blog. Alas, that is the society we currently live in.

But if you ACTUALLY want to depict Black characters, if you ACTUALLY want to do right and be respectful- not because you want the clout, but because it’s the right damn thing to do- then you need to commit! This means drawing them as they are meant to be! Accept that you’ll likely lose some fan base, who was there (whether they were aware of it or not) for the white and lighter skinned characters. Accept that this means that trying to appeal to those people by whitewashing characters is 1) wrong, 2) racist, which is 3) something you chose to do when you could simply have just… Drawn more white people.

I’ll say it again: antiracism is hard. It’s hard doing the right thing in a society that rewards racism so easily. It’s really hard knowing that people will stop supporting you or caring as much about your work when you start including Black characters as actively as you do white ones, especially if you start talking about the importance of it. But in my honest opinion, I’d far rather be someone that cared about others, with genuine fans, than someone that was racist for the fleeting internet clout of strangers. And that may be less ‘hopeful’ than I normally am in these lessons, but… People make choices. And people who have been informed- as you are now- are aware of the choices they are making. It’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers- let’s choose better actions.

[regnumveritatis]

'The necklace of Apollonia'

Upon hearing from Iris that one of her founding kits was selected as high priestess, Arsinoe was overjoyed at the wise decision of her devotees and crafted a beautiful necklace of coral beads for Parthenodora née Apollonia to wear with her priestess garments. She and her octopus meticulously searched the reefs to find the best coral that would henceforth mark Common Sense's vicar. Gold thread tied each bead together with tiny baroque pearls woven in between. A second strand of coral, longer than the first, held carnelian shaped like tear drops and agate stones bearing the seal of the goddess in the middle. The task was completed, and the goddess traveled to her temple. Her giddiness turned to shock and later rage as Sensibility learned the Hiereus had attempted to prevent the ascension of her prodigy as he beseeched Arsinoe to convince the priestesses to choose a different candidate, feeling her 'peculiarity' would humiliate the cult of the golden Athenide.

This led to the lady of the forsaken arranging a challenge of musical invention, which ended in Apollonia's overwhelming victory as her hidraulis was preferred to the high priest's bagpipe (which horrified the Athenide twins as it was made with otter skins and brought them to tears) by Hephaestus, Pan, Hestia, and Apollo unanimously. With the successful victory of Apollonia, Arsinoe gifted her the strands of coral and kissed the young woman's forehead in maternal affection.

Her token was passed down from Apollonia to the last Parthenodora, who had the jewelry robbed from her corpse at the desecration of Reason's temple. The gods were quick to show their displeasure as every soldier who tried to keep the stolen treasure died in a gruesome way until, finally, a Greek centurion who was praying for an end to the storm surrounding their ship recognized the necklace held by one of the younger men and sent it to Poseidon whilst begging forgiveness for the insult to his daughter. His fellow soldiers berated him until seeing the tides calmed down. Legend has it the coral strands now lay in a chamber in the palace of Atlantis, waiting for the day a new high priestess will wear them at last.

Real painting name is 'Madeleine' by Arthur Hughes

[rei-ismyname]

Feminist Namor vs Misogynist Magneto

The first year of X-Men publication saw a deeply unsuccessful recruitment drive from both Magneto and Xavier; their nonexistent people skills and ideological inflexibility generally driving potential allies away. After a conspiracy piece on Namor appeared in the news, both men raced to get him first. Chuck and Mags use fucking astral projection at the same time and head to find Atlantis!

Magneto just radiates evil apparently

This chicanery shows that Grant Morrison didn't just pull Chuck 'sensing evil' out of nowhere - though of course evil is pretty damn subjective. The Blob (poor, fat, didn't want to devote his existence to working for Chuck) and Magneto (wants to enslave the world) are not the same. Chuck lets Magneto go ahead and figures he can let him do the hard work of finding The Submariner. Classic Chuck.

Astral Magneto locates him almost immediately, but Namor's soliloquy on getting smashed by the Fantastic Four and rejected by Sue (get used to it buddy) frightens him. Instead Mags whispers to an ambitious yet fearful Atlantean lackey, offering power. Mags is all over the place in the sixties - a cowardly wizard that can do almost anything, except defeat five children and their bald dad.

Magneto's first island ❤️

The dude just suggests Namor ally with Magneto, winning him over with an appeal to mutant solidarity. It works! Mags gets a visit on his first of many islands; Namor is unimpressed and certainly not taking any orders. His super gross plan to influence the King of Atlantis is to throw Wanda at him. Despite the G-rated wording the intention is clearly to pimp Wanda, not for the last time either. Wanda 'agrees' but Magneto's emotional abuse of the twins complicates that.

Wanda thinks he's hot and cool but accidentally hexes Namor while he's exploring the island. She manages to warn him in time, though he's indestructible and isn't especially bothered. Namor is more like 'hmm, magnets.' I can empathize.

Angel breaks up the meet cute by divebombing Toad, then delivering a message. Rather, he announces a message from Professor X and Mags tells him to shut the fuck up, then yeets boulders at him. Namor wants to show off so he grabs Warren and gives him a pounding.

Wanda and Namor work out that misunderstanding while getting to know each other, but the rest of the Brotherhood aren't impressed. Pietro doesn't trust him, Mastermind thinks he's underdressed, and Toad disses his winged feet. Mags knows what's up though. Namor is strong AF.

GGM❤️

Warren flees to regroup with the X-Men and they assault the island. It wouldn't have worked regardless, but Chuck's strategy of letting Mags find Namor just means they have to fight him. There's a struggle over a GIANT GREEN MAGNET lol, culminating in Pietro's capture. I'm collecting all of Mags' 'using literal magnets for stuff' moments so stay tuned for that.

Namor attacks Magneto and gets assaulted by metal for his trouble. Cyclops breaks it up with his POWER BEAM, blowing a hole in the bunker and scaring TF out of everyone. Magneto just runs away, leaving his lackeys in danger. It's a super common thread with him and all Silver Age supervillains - they're cowardly selfish jerks with no redeeming qualities or pathos. Even coherent motivation and ideology are hard to come by, best illustrated perhaps by self identifying as 'evil.' The modern retcon that he was using 'evil' ironically to reclaim it and make a statement is hilarious. He always committed to the bit.

'Magnets ain't shit.... Fuck, metal hurts!'

Wanda and Pietro are ride or die and she insists he be freed. Mags is like 'nah, magnets' and threatens her, something Namor cannot abide. He refuses to ally with anyone who's rude to women, seemingly forgetting that he kidnapped Sue like yesterday. He may have spoken courteously but he tried to force her to marry him. It's the sixties, so he says 'female' instead of 'women' naturally. Gross.

Mags does offer escape to those closest to him, but Wanda refuses to leave Pietro. The idiot bounces with fewer allies than he started with, openly ranting about his disregard for anyone else's safety. Wanda, Pietro and Namor are left to deal with the X-Men. We'll see him again but his callousness does him zero favours.

With Pietro as their captive, the X-Men stand off against Wanda and Namor. They're just as bad at making friends, missing that the other mutants have been abandoned openly by Magneto. Instead of diplomacy they deliberately antagonise the unaligned trio and end up fighting the dude they came to recruit. It's a miracle that any of them ever worked with the X-Men at all, frankly.

Namor wallops the X-Men and shrugs off Cyke's POWER BEAM. He's not going all out but Cyclops badly misjudges the prideful Namor by insisting that he surrender. Gunboat diplomacy works better when the threat is unspoken, you know? The Scarlet Witch comes in clutch with a hex and Scott stumbles like a chump. Namor is about to fuck him up when Chuck mentally shouts 'HALT!'

Chuck shows up with Quicksilver in thrall and demonstrates where the X-Men learnt their outreach tactics. In trying to declare peace he condescendingly insults all three of them - Namor - the dude he came to recruit - is particularly put off by this jerk. It's a drastic failure for a telepath, though he does order the X-Men to stand down.

Chuck releases Pietro but Namor's patience has run out. Deciding that all these people suck, he resolves to work alone and heads home. It's not like Xavier even attempted diplomacy of any kind, he barely even speaks to Namor directly.

Turns out Magneto and company didn't go far, making their way to the GIANT GREEN MAGNET. Namor just wants to go home but Mags' ethos is firmly 'with me or against me.' He blasts Namor with magnet, somehow pinning him down. Dude escapes by simply flexing which knocks the GIANT GREEN MAGNET off balance. Nice try Mags.

Namor bails for real this time, with nothing to stop him. In his anger, Magneto zaps Mastermind (based) while engaging in revisionism and ordering the Brotherhood to fall out. The nearby magna-ship has a reverse chute thingy that sucks them up.

Cyke bemoans their prisoners (they weren't) escaping (leaving unopposed) but this is all according to Chuck's design, allegedly. He says it's no good until they join of their own free will, but he doesn't offer any incentive or argument to convince them to. He just expects that one day they'll accept his way of seeing the world as correct and beg to join the X-Men. Fittingly, that NEVER happens. Even when the twins are free once Magneto is abducted by aliens, they prefer to do literally anything other than be X-Men. They jump at the chance to be Avengers, and it's not until Chuck loses leadership and authority to Scott that Mags and Namor join up.

Oh, and Jean is glad Wanda is gone because she's hot. Smh.

Charles Xavier really sucks at recruiting people, insisting on adherence to his narrow vision and refusing to build a coalition. His journey from absolute authority and ideological leader of the assimilationist X-Men to barely tolerated bystander takes decades, and he only worms his way back through dying stupidly. As of 2025 he's fucked up so badly that mutants have it worse than ever and he's taken his ball to sulk in space. Ironically Magneto has come the furthest of anyone, recognising that superhero antics are a shitty tool for enacting social change.

It's incongruous with future Chuck lore, but I think the O5 makes the most sense if Charles Xavier is 17. A rich teenager that barely left the house as an almost adult who uses his wealth and telepathy to advance his simplistic ideals of good and evil. He's ignorant and arrogant enough that his first activist outing is heading to petition the government directly. He's not equipped to raise 15 year olds because he's 17 and has never wanted for anything. He treats people like things because that's what rich people do. He fails repeatedly at connecting with people because he doesn't know how the world works. Chuck's plans and training regime are ridiculous because he's a kid himself. The baldness is significant, making him look much older, and he's not a professor of any kind - he just piled lies on top of lies and he can't come clean without the house of cards coming down. It's a fun reading that recontextualises all dynamics, but it's not canon.

[creature-wizard]

I see this (alien abduction communities) having a lot in common with ROMCOA stuff. The Controversial History of Alien Abductions by Kaz Rowe on Youtube (https://youtu.be/of8igM9WFWc?si=LrE_pCrDUMbujQah) What people may get out of ROMCOA (Validation of trauma in a way that is more obviously bad and may be not be as emotionally difficult due to a less personal abuse or mistreatment having clearer motivations.) is different, but the conspiracism of it feels similar.

I say this as a system who has skirted the edge of ROMCOA stuff for reasons like those stated above, but I wondered if you'd have any thoughts on it. (If it's of any interest, I'll send a separate ask with thoughts on the why/how we've dodged the ROMCOA bullet despite being drawn to it, but that's a significant tangent. Also sorry to be anon, I'm shy.)

(To anyone reading this: If you've heard the term "RAMCOA" but haven't heard how it originated among conspiracy theorists and was always meant to push conspiracy theories within legitimate psychiatry, further information is provided at the end.)

Oh yeah, you are absolutely right. I've been comparing these two things for awhile now, and it's basically two presentations of the same exact social phenomena.

You usually have somebody with psychological or physical problems that seem to defy explanation, but are very likely related to something like anxiety, depression, chronic stress, PTSD, C-PTSD, BPD, schizophrenia, bipolar, autism, ADHD, allergies, mast cell activation syndrome, or fibromyalgia. Y'know, a lot of the kinds of things that doctors will dismiss as "all in your head," or that just aren't that well-understood by the public, or might not seem possible because they underestimate just how traumatizing their life actually was.

The way they fall into it is nearly always the same; they never really "remember" any of it until they start coming across literature and people who introduce them to the idea of RAMCOA or alien abduction. And of course by this point a lot of them are absolutely desperate for some kind of explanation or validation, so they look deeper into it. They start learning and absorbing the tropes and narratives that go along with whatever mythology, so to speak, that they've fallen into. Then when they undergo hypnosis, they start "remembering" events that just so happen to line up with whichever narrative they've been exposing themselves to.

There are other groups doing this same thing with their own narratives, of course. In New Age and neopagan contexts, people often seek explanation and validation by trying to uncover past lives. In fact, the whole entire practice of undergoing hypnosis to recover lost memories actually began with people trying to find their past lives.

A common thread is that people remember something that pretty much everybody would agree would be absolutely terrible to endure. Whether you're "remembering" being burned at the stake for witchcraft, eating the heart of a ritually murdered child, fleeing the destruction of Atlantis, or aliens performing invasive procedures on your body, there's no ambiguity or uncertainty that what supposedly happened is horrible. In a society that constantly tells people that they haven't had it bad enough to be traumatized, because real trauma can only come from something way more severe than what they're experiencing, it's just no surprise that this keeps happening. Their subconscious minds seek the images and narratives that seem to align with the distress they're feeling.

It's been observed that what people experience while under hypnosis is basically the same as what they experience while dreaming. What they experience isn't necessarily logical; in fact, it's often far from it. Weird, surreal stuff just happens out of nowhere. People just do things with no genuinely reasonable motive.

In the context of RAMCOA, this is often handwaved away with "well, they're cultists, this is obviously part of their weird cult practices." This is not only an incredibly weak explanation for most of this stuff, but when you look at other supposedly recovered memories, you just can't help but notice that this is a pattern in every belief system people try to recover memories in, so trying to do this for supposed cases of SRA and the like is just special pleading.

And yeah, if you wanna share your story, I'd love to hear it!

For anyone reading this who isn't aware: The term "Ritual Abuse, Mind Control & Organized Abuse", or RAMCOA, is not an innocent catch-all term for religious abuse, institutional abuse, sex trafficking, etc. It was coined by conspiracy theorists in order to repackage Satanic Ritual Abuse/Satanic Panic/Project Monarch alter programming conspiracy theories into something they could pass off as legitimate science/research. Essentially, it's a Trojan horse for far right bullshit. For more information, see Cathy O'Brien - The First Project Monarch "Survivor" and Fritz Springmeier and Cisco Wheeler: Two Of The Most Dangerous Conspiracy Theorists Most People Have Never Heard Of.

[cryptotheism]

I’ve been doing some of my own research particularly on the formation of the new age religions. One name I see come up a lot, especially in relation to high control groups, is Edgar Cayce. Do you know much about him, his beliefs, and his followers? I would understand if he’s kind of outside your wheelhouse but I figured it’s worth asking, who else would even have a chance to know what this stuff is.

Cayce is an early to mid 20th century clairvoyant and spiritualist who is interesting because of how inoffensive and boring he is.

He managed to thread the needle of "out there enough to be interesting" but also "not so weird it rots your brain." He's espoused Atlantis beliefs, and some oddball race essentialism, but compared to his contemporaries, he's downright white bread.

He was notably pretty careful about how he presented things like his claims of clairvoyance, often sticking to claims like "I believe" or "I feel" to avoid getting semantic trapped. Or sued.

Honestly his most outlandish beliefs are stuff like "crystals contain magical energy" and "there is an afterlife" and "I can talk to ghosts Sometimes". Which are all beliefs you can find on the average Los Angeles city bus.

He was still a spiritualist grifter, but compared to the average televangelist he's almost cute.

[scentedtheoristperfection]

sion isnt trustworthy

Sion's exposition is not trustworthy, and should always be treated with heavy skepticism. She is the cause of every wrong conclusion Chaldea has made.

A thread on the many contradictions and deliberate mistakes in her exposition.

(Spoilers for up to the intro of LB7)

Let's clarify something real quick, this is not me attacking Sion as a bad character. I adore her even more than Aoko. This is not me claiming that she's behind the Bleached Earth, or that she is pure evil. This is just me pointing out that she is manipulative for her interests.

She believes that Holmes was meant to guide Chaldea through LB5 and then destroy them from within. But she also claims his days were numbered when Moriarty was chosen as an Apostle... Traum formed before Atlantis as we know thanks to Quixote...

She doubles down on this contradiction with the aforementioned claim that Holmes could not betray the Foreign God because he was an Apostle- so he sealed his memories. Is that not an act of betrayal? But also… Moriarty betrays the Foreign God… or at least thinks he does. So let's go beyond the LB7 Prologue now back to the Traum Prologue. Trimegistus II and Sheba both return errors when observing Traum and act like it's a sudden thing. Sion references it in both Avalon le Fae and Tunguska- showing she is already aware of it.

This screenshot is Avalon le Fae. The second one is Traum right before entering the singularity- she gets the same prediction for it- but doesn't share it until last minute yet again. Since SHEBA/Trisgmegistus had errors, she either is able to fabricate their readings or-

Has a more accurate method of making predictions than even Trismegistus which is a replica of Tri-Hermes and SHEBA which literally observes the future? (She has Logos React, an Atlas Superweapon designed around predicting and creating hypothetical histories in a GudaGuda) Regardless of which it is, both have pretty big of implications of her manipulations. But scripting order is par for the course with Sion. Nemo outright admits she scripted going to LB2 and told them how LB4 would go in LB4.

But Tunguska takes things to a new level.

So why would Sion go through the trouble of staging a martyr moment? I'll let Mash go through the trouble of explaining this one for me.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Sorry if you’ve answered this but I don’t remember seeing it. What are the chances that with Daniel taking on some of the aspects of David in TotBT that he also gets his ending re: a new body. I just wonder how long Eric would want to be filming a show that’s this intense and I would think (if that was what happened) it’s always been the plan so he would know it. So it’s not like Rollin is dropping him, but that’s just the plan for his arc. I can’t see how this would happen, but I almost would think it more likely if they could get him in his own younger body, rather than a totally new actor (although I guess we’d have a season to get to love that actor by then).

Hey!

(Oh, I HAVE talked about this, but obviously tagged it so outrageously badly that >I< cannot find it, except one lousy post, so 🤪)

I am not sure if you know the later books, but there are possibilities.

Having an actor who is a bit older as a main character is always a risk for studios, and I say this with all the wishes and expectations for Eric to be with us for a long time yet. Still. There is always a risk.

And they're obviously setting up the body switching plot already, the concept of a soul, too. As said before, I take the switching eye-color as a hint for now, we'll see. Fareed is already there.

In the later books there are a lot of medical possibilities.

I have no idea what will happen, body-thief-wise, a lot depends on decisions that are already set in Rolin's brain and the decisions that are being made in the writer's room right now.

But these threads, these hooks do not exist in a vacuum. They were introduced for a reason. And a meaning.

There are clones in the later books. Created bodies, too.

I know Rolin has not talked much about "Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis"... but then he did not talk much about "Merrick" either, and Merrick clearly was taken in for s1 & 2 already, for both Claudia's diaries and Louis' attempted suicide. And her ghost and motivations will likely play into s3.

So the fact that Rolin does not talk about PLatRoA might weigh in similarly.

I do expect Daniel to be played by Luke in the end. Again, to make that clear, that is not something I necessarily want or need, just something I expect, given the way certain aspects were already introduced.

The details of that are "un-guessable" right now :) - but whatever they will do, I bet it will be clever and unanticipated, and I'm very much looking forward to that. :))

[itwoodbeprefect]

Fic Writing Review 2023 🌈

i wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past year and bring it to a nice close, so i took to tumblr search and google to see if there was some sort of tag game going around. i frankensteined this list of questions from a few different versions of what was probably originally the same thing, but the nature of The Website of course makes it impossible to locate an original, so this is me just sort of, well, joining the fun by starting a parallel thread.

-

Words and Fics (on ao3) 📚

words posted: 73,947, but this is a little deceptive because all the words for A flip-flop state of mind currently get counted for 2023, so it's probably something closer to 45-50k

fics posted: 21, which will eventually go down to 19 when i update the two multi-chapter works and they get sorted into the new year

first fic: Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Throuple [Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)]

last fic: Bases loaded, do your dance [h50]

-

Ships and Fandoms ⚓

ao3 tells me the following:

Starsky & Hutch (8)

Hawaii Five-0 (2010) (7)

Ted Lasso (TV) (2)

Stargate Atlantis (1)

Hard Core Logo (1996) (1)

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948) (1)

Top Gun (Movies) (1)

and for each of those it's probably the ship you most expect if you know the thing (and the way fandom works), except maybe ted lasso (both fics are keeley/roy/jamie) and sga (a gen team fic, no ships).

-

Top 5 Fics by Kudos 🏆

no big surprises here. ted lasso was easily the biggest fandom i've written for this year (not to mention that these two fics had the good fortune of being posted very soon after the finale), followed by h50 long before s&h comes on the scene:

How To Build A Triangle (or accidentally fall headlong into one, or whatever the fuck) [ted lasso]

Honey honey, how you thrill me (Honey honey, nearly kill me) [ted lasso]

A flip-flop state of mind [h50]

Oh, kiss me like the final meal (Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight) [h50]

Something old, something new [h50]

-

Top 5 Favorite Fics 💖

these are in no particular order!

3 AM, the time when most people die - this is a hard core logo (1996 canadian movie) fic which just kind of Happened, and it hung around on ao3 for a solid few days in a 0 kudos 10 hits sort of state, which had me giggling every time i thought about it. 2023 goal of writing for me, myself & i achieved (0 kudos on a fic)! ✅ (that said, it does also bring me great joy to see that the number is upwards of zero now. lovely to see an obscure thing find its audience. <3)

Your hands in my back pockets - a starsky/hutch fic, and in some ways the opposite to the previous one. i had a "this is alright" sort of feeling about it when i hit post, and the (lovely! very flattering!) way people responded to it surprised me somewhat. reading it back now, i don't know what bothered me about it at first - it's nice, it flows, it's all good! plus, i really like the title. it's a good s/h title.

POV: It’s a lovely day, you’re sipping a refreshing cold drink on your 70s apartment balcony, and the upstairs neighbor who always waters the sago palm outside your front door when you forget about it has that one friend over and his windows wide open. - this is a starsky/hutch all dialogue fic, and it was just plain fun! very easy to write, thankfully not hard to read, and the title is completely ridiculous in a way that still gives me a kick.

How To Build A Triangle (or accidentally fall headlong into one, or whatever the fuck) - can't not mention this one, i think. it's the roy/jamie/keeley ted lasso fic i wrote in record time (for me), and i had a blast doing that and i think that's palpable in the end result. i have warm memories of this!

Oh, kiss me like the final meal (Yeah, kiss me like we die tonight) - h50! steve/danny! they'd gotten swamped by all the starsky/hutch in 2022, but they made a minor comeback this past year. and again, this fic was just plain fun - a scene that really needed the mcdanno rewrite, and i'm glad it happened, and that it decided to flow so smoothly it grew twice as long as intended. the gag with the gun is still good, the banter works, and i like "it tastes like a laugh".

-

Fandom Fic Events 🤝

my knee-jerk first thought was none, which would have been a blatant lie for this year! i wrote a fic for the SHareCon (starsky/hutch con) zine, which is currently still zine-only but will appear on ao3 at some point in the future, and i also wrote something for this year's Starsky & Hutch Advent Calendar, which can be found here (which will also lead you to all the other lovely advent calendar gifts of 2023 and previous years!). neither of these things would have happened if starsky & hutch fandom hadn't been such a warm, welcoming, unbelievably well-organized space. <3

-

Projects for 2024 👀

oh god. oh god i have so many things on the grill.

the end of 2023 was a stretch of time where i did write some, and at times even a very decent amount, but nothing seemed to be getting finished - which was annoying for a bit, and then sort of petered out into oh well. it'll happen, eventually, when it wants to. which means that currently i have a whole bunch of nearly finished things for a whole bunch of fandoms:

bad buddy - should this be top of the list? who knows. but oh, i need to write something for this - i have to, i need to, you know. it's just that it's turning out to be more of a challenge than most new things i start writing for, because i do feel i have a reasonable grip on the characters, but the fact that it's a thai series which i'm only consuming through fan-generated subtitles is clashing with some of the fundamentals of how i usually write fic, as it turns out. usually i watch a thing and then mimic character voices to write a section of (probably mostly, maybe only) dialogue, which then gets filled out with descriptions and an actual setting later on. the problem with bad buddy is that i love, love subtitles, and i love, love the people who write them, but they do (understandably! naturally!) lead to some very clunky english at times, and i just can't write things like "are you chickened out, fierce eyes". i cannot. which means i need to half-invent the right english character voice (and how that blends with the little i know of thai speaking patterns and customs), which takes away the thing i usually lean on way more heavily than i previously realized i did, so. it's a journey! it's an experiment! i'm learning things! i'm making choices! and i'm pumped about it but it's also REALLY slowing down the bad buddy fic production.

starsky & hutch - many things are happening! many many! they're just happening slowly. there's one particular fic about starsky and hutch comfortably out at a party and hutch fielding questions about names which has been 98% done for a month or two, but i need one (1) more connective paragraph to wrap things up, and apparently i'm in no hurry. and i love that for me, at the same time as i'm tempted to flick my brain and go Do It. Just Do It. oh god, and then there's a much older comedy fic stuck in close to the same situation only there it's 95% and the missing part is the end, which is at least a little more serious, and there are. i think literally a dozen probably. things that are cooking, bubbling, making interesting little noises. it's yet to be seen which of those turn out tasty.

h50 - there are some shorter wips here that have great potential to go somewhere, but mostly i want to finally (finally!) wrap up a flip-flop state of mind, which only needs finishing touches (albeit a bunch of them) on the final chapter, and then maybe 200 more words for the short epilogue to round things out. i had somewhat hoped to get that done before the new year, but it didn't work out that way, and i'm at peace with it - the longer this fic takes, the more comical my initial estimate of "i can probably get this done within the month" becomes. and after that's done, i can refocus my energy on Sweet like a chic-a-cherry cola, another ill-fated plan which i Will see through (while also enjoying myself), dammit, but i think for that one i'll need to pre-write the whole thing before i start posting again or i'll just keep going in circles.

nashville - it's been a while since my rewatch, so i'm not sure it will ever really come together, but i have a fun little 5+1 will/gunnar thing which lives half in a google docs file and half in my heart. could be nice!

sga - there's One Fic that's near done and has a few turns of phrase in it that keep making me go "oh, this might be worth finishing, actually" every time i return to it, but i think i'll need to let that happen a few more times before we actually get there. there's also a light and comedy-ish aro/ace john fic (heavily featuring john&rodney and john&team) on a low boil. i think that one might need to wait for me to rewatch the show at some point so i'm correctly immersed in the Vibes of it all, but it's very dear to me, so it still gets a permanent In Progress label.

due south - there's one particular thing that i might get back to? maybe. it could happen. @redgoldblue's dedicated live reporting on their due south watch, as well as their ds fic, did stir something in my brain.

other - there's literally two paragraphs of hard core logo fic kicking around in my notes which might turn into something some day. (when i started writing 3AM those new words were intended to blend with the two existing paragraphs, but they never did.) there's some ted lasso that can still be considered wip, but my ted lasso fic moment burned bright and short, it seems, though it's nice to know the framework is there if i ever do a rewatch. oh man, and there's a weird homoerotic over the top (because that's what this canon is) tango & cash wip which i hope will make it across the finish line some day, but i wouldn't be surprised if in the end that's, like. coming to an ao3 page near you soon! in 2026.

-

Tagging ✨

tag any number of people you want as far as i'm concerned (which can be zero! that's a valid number), but i haven't spotted this going around in my fandom circles yet, so i'll shoot for some good coverage: @redgoldblue @luredin @actingcamplibrarian @stephmcx @pterawaters @the-arya-silvertongue @logicgunn @incognito-insomniac @dedkake @spaceradars @spurious @sparrowsarus @flownwrong @theroseandthebeast @jimmyandthegiraffes @soleadita @ivycross @murphyhatesme @bgharison @thekristen999 @cowandcalf @msbeeinmybonnet @ruztyryan and you, reading this. i fully tagged myself to do this, so please don't feel shy about doing the same! i really do want to read your answers, if you feel like giving them.

obviously there's no pressure, and also feel free to modify this any way you want! give different stats, list top 5 by hits instead of kudos, name just one favorite fic, add in fics you only posted to tumblr rather than ao3, skip a category or invent a new one or throw the whole thing out and only reflect on a single piece of writing in more detail - it's all fair game, as long as it suits you.

[threadfall]

Pern Resources

This is an ongoing collection of links* that should cover a whole range of bits and pieces relating to Dragonriders of Pern and Anne McCaffrey – from interviews to interesting articles!

* I check these regularly, but I cannot vouch for if the domains still exist and, if not, what is currently on them. A lot of resources relating to Pern are from the 90s/early 2000s and liable to be replaced by random hosting spam. EDIT: walks-the-ages has added some excellent comments about the Wayback Machine! (And many thanks for backing the pages up on it.)

World Building – Canon

Dragon Lover's Guide to Pern, by Jody Lynn Nye – Link

Hosted by peoplepern.narod.ru, this website is in Russian but has a full English digitised DLG complete with pictures.

All the Songs of Pern – Link

Song Lyrics and Poetry – Link

Music From the World of Anne McCaffrey's Pern by Tania Opland and Mike Freeman – Link

It's worth noting that while the songbooks and CDs are available to buy, all the music is also available through Spotify.

Curses, Oaths, and Maledicta – Links

Pernese Sayings/Curses from Pern Etc. – Links

Anti Fandom Wiki – Link

World Building – 'Fanon'

News From Bree – Multiple links below!

Threadfall Patterns – Link Pern Demographics – Link Can Menolly Outrun Thread? – Link Dragon Demographics – Link Bargaining for Bubbly Pies – Link Originally a Tolkien fanzine between 1970-1988, the site is now a resource that covers multiple topics of interest to Hartley Patterson.

On Impression, by Faye Upton – Link

A multi-part essay on Upton's thoughts about how Impression does/should work, and its relation to the canon of the fanwork Dragonchoice.

Kadanzar Weyr Handbook – Link

While no longer active (since 2013 as of 2024), Kadanzar has multiple articles talking in depth about the 'canon' of their site, which are interesting reads for how Pern may have functioned. The link is specifically to a text page sharing all of the files uploaded to Kadanzar, and may take some time to load. Not all of the files are world building information (some are just site lists), however many are.

Living On Pern – Link

Shoulder Knots by Wicked Zoeygirl on Deviantart – Link

Oath Roleplay Resources – Link

Notable for its page on dragons and its 'non-canon' charter, which collects or infers mentioned rights from the books.

Xanadu Weyrlinghood – Link

Possibly a wiki page for the Xanadu Weyr MU RP, it has a collection of links relating to weyrlinghood.

Dracogenetics - Link (Google Doc)

Apparently a compilation of work by McCaffrey and Dr Jack Cohen, the site still exists on Geocities but is riddled with spam/virus pop ups: here.

Ssthisto Dragon Size Generator - Link

A fan image generator made specifically for the fan weyr Under the Wings. The weyr is no longer active.

Fandom Topics

A Dragonlover's Guide to Pern Fandom from Kadanzer Weyr – Link The Tentpeg Interview (TW for homophobia and rape mentions) – Link

The Renewable Airforce Document – Link

Alliance Atlantis Dragonriders of Pern 'Making Of/Trailer' - Link

Hosted on Youtube, this is apparently from a CD showcasing the short trailer for their version of Dragonriders of Pern

Ronald D Moore on his cancelled Pern adaptation – Link

Dragons Made Me Do It Podcast - Link

“Weyrbred Is Best for Greens”: Containment and World-Building In Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders Of Pern by Nathaniel Harrington, Fantastika Volume 7, 2023 - Link

Anne McCaffrey – Interviews

Luna Monthly #56, November 1974 – Link

Hosted by FanAc.org, a fan history archive, and conducted by Paul Walker. This heavily discusses gender in the Sci-Fi genre.

Princessions #14, Summer 1983 – Link

Hosted on Google Drive, by this blog runner. Princessions was a Wonder Woman newszine, but switched to being about uplifting women's voices in the Scifantasy space. The interviews take place during the White Dragon book tour.

The Power of Science Fiction and Fantasy with Anne McCaffrey & Elizabeth Ann Scarborough – Link

Hosted on Youtube by A DISCUSSION WITH National Authors on Tour, conducted by Kay Drache of Hennepin County Library.

Collaborating with Anne McCaffrey: An interview with Elizabeth Moon – Link

Hosted on katemacdonald.net, conducted by Kate Macdonald. This talks at length about Moon writing the Planet Pirate series.

Anne McCaffrey - Women Writers, Channel 4 1988 – Link

Hosted on Youtube by Nearrrggghh.

Anne McCaffrey: Norwescon 16 Interview & House Tour – Link

Hosted on Youtube.

Advice from a Master: Anne McCaffrey – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Hosted on Youtube.

Time Out of Mind Episode 4 – Link

Hosted on Youtube, Time Out of Mind was a 1979 BBC 2 series about science fiction.

Anne McCaffrey interviewed by Don Swaim on March 22, 1988 - Link

Very short radio interview recording with transcript.

An Interview With Anne McCaffrey by Lynne Jamneck – Link

Interview with KarsMakers - Link

Interview with SFFWorld – Link

Letter to a Fan - Link

Sabria's Guide to Online Pern Interview - Link (Webarchive Version)

Covers a variety of world building, including questions on rider sexuality, craft information, dragon genetics.

Anne's Stances on Fanworks

2010 Guidelines - Link (Hosted on Pernhome, be wary of clicking links)

History of Anne Stances – Link (Webarchive, with links leading o Webarchive pages)

[sennenpharaoh]

See, I'm a HUGE fan of writing threads where Atem is NOT the "good guy" or the "victim" or the "aww poor guy" kind because, news flash, HE'S NOT.

He fucks up like everyone else, makes really, really bad mistakes, and hurts people who doesn't deserve it. He DESERVES to have his comeuppance when he messes up, just like anyone else.

It's why some of my favorite threads, no joke, are with those who are NOT friends with Atem. (ie: @atlantis-prince and @doomstarmagician )

Don't get me wrong: I'm a slut for shipping as much as the next guy, but Atem legit fucking up and him getting what's coming to him at the hands of your muse.

Yea... that's the good stuff.

[spider-gem]

if you feel like hearing some silly goofy mobius-mr tesseract thoughts, I have a hc that post-finale mobius might- after a long long time of looking for a way to reach loki- go a bit bonkers with grief (particularly the denial/anger/bargaining stages of grief), he gets a bit morally dubious. over time he steals as many tesseracts as possible, hiding them away in a secret tva office. eventually, surrounded by thousands of stolen tesseracts and out of ideas of how to use them, he has a “WWLD/what would loki do? probably suggest we take a coffee break” moment and puts a bunch tesseracts into the office coffee grinder, making a piping hot cuppa jOH NO. except there’d be a little anticlimactic fake-out after he drinks it (maybe pairs it with some pie) where nothing immediately happens because infinity stones aren’t active inside the tva. but the moment he exits the tva…….

On a more realistic thread, I can imagine mobius somehow absorbing/becoming the space stone à la Princess Kida in Atlantis, and the stone ‘asking’ “where do you want to go?” and mobius ‘telling’ it “outside of space and time, I know a guy” or something. And prying open a tear in time and space to reach Loki.

The idea of missing a friend so deeply and wanting more than anything for them to be ok because you believe they deserve to be with you, helping them to be ok because it’s NOT FAIR -to the point of obsession and corruption, maybe even loss of self… ouch… but if he succeeded, “Time and Space” are always paired together after all (lmao “mobius, king of space”)

Anon, I love your mind! Mobius initially using the Tesseract’s power to find his (boy)friend, but slowly being corrupted by its power… Loki being the King of Time and Mobius being the King of Space… Oh, the possibilities…

The first idea is hilarious (Mobius, sipping the triple shot Tesseract espresso: hmm I probably should’ve done this outside of the TVA…) but I love the second concept! Mobius merging and becoming one with the Tesseract raises many questions of how it would affect him. Does the Tesseract have a mind of its own? Does it influence Mobius’ thoughts? My best guess would be: yes, absolutely.

This raises another question: if/when Mobius reaches Loki, how will Loki react to his friend’s new power? Loki has been lured by the Tesseract before, he’s been where Mobius is now. Will he be shocked seeing what it has done to his friend? Or has he been suffering this whole time, watching the timelines helplessly as the Tesseract has been corrupting his friend’s mind? And ultimately, can Mobius gain control of this new power, or will it control him?

I have to get this idea to Marvel…

In the meantime, I would love to know if there are any fics with this concept! If not, I’ll have to get writing, I suppose…

[jess-total-mess]

okay, my bff is watching the latest season of Young Justice and crying about how awful it is so lets talk about how i would rewrite the series past s1 to be less terrible and more cohesive. readmore included because this is LONG

Season One worked because it had a small cast that had individually focused episodes, good relationship dynamics, and a cohesive plot that was foreshadowed well. Kaldur with his Atlantis episode, the entire episode after the simulation disaster (perfect!), Megan and her thread about identity and her shame around it, Superboy and... whatever the fuck you want to call his arc, but it was GOOD. Artemis had a lot of focus and while Wally didn't get a lot he still has a full episode to himself in Cold Hearted. Zatanna was only there briefly, but she was well-established and even Rocket had some interesting setups despite only being there for an episode or two.

Myself and my BFF both agree that the time skip is acceptable, but needed to be shorter. Way shorter. At most, I'd put it at three years, but let's say two years. That makes Robin sixteen, for reference.

This would give us time to have a few things happen. First, have Robin be co-leader, preparing to step into his role as actual leader. Develop Rocket some more by giving her at least one episode focused on her, and giving her more screen time overall (they did her SO DIRTY). Have Zatanna have an episode with Rocket, even, make them go on a solo-mission like Zatanna and Artemis did in S1, that would be awesome!

The team would then have a lot more experience, they work together great, they know each other. This means we can introduce a few new characters. In no particular order;

Beast Boy! He was set-up in S1 to be Beast Boy, and that's great! He's twelve (?) now, and maybe his powers have activated! Have him be sent to the Mountain, or even have an episode where they go back to him (wherever he might be living now!) and have the entire backstory of his dead mum! It would be emotional for the original Team present for that episode in S1, and would be emotionally charged! Maybe he doesn't join the Team for missions yet, but get him training! Establish his character!

Aquagirl and Tempest! They're already established from S1, so bring them in for a mission. Maybe they have intel and help out on the mission, maybe they just happen to be there, it needs more thought for specifics, but have them be set up to help the Team for the end of the season.

Batgirl! She's older than Robin is in comics canon, and probably in YJ canon too (I don't think we ever actually find out). She's been established as Barbara in S1, so have her join the Team as Batgirl, struggle with the same things that Robin did when the Team was first formed (disappearing, doing her own thing, etc) and have Robin have to teach her that she's got to be a different kind of team player.

Work on establishing and foreshadowing Jason. Robin/Dick is now sixteen, so throughout the season he can transition into Nightwing and Team leader. Have moments throughout the season where he mentions a new person at home, his frustrations with Batman, and have a few moments where we actually see/hear Jason, like what they did with Barbara in S1.

Also, focus on our favourites! How is Artemis handling her sister dating Red Arrow? How is that dynamic going in general? What about Superboy and his relationship with Superman? We saw that it had improved by S2, but actually show us that happening! The two of them working together, Superboy knowing stuff that nobody else does because Superman told him, knowing his villains and studying them like we're shown he can do in S2. We could have more scenes with Red Tornado, or even focus on a different Den Mother (and have moments where the Team is fed up with having a Den Mother! Wally is an ADULT!).

We had the Light, we had NO idea the Reach was there, they weren't even foreshadowed in S1. Instead, if you really want a new main threat, use Apokolips! The enemy of the Forever People from S1, the guys who made Sphere and the motherboxes?

It's not hard to make a loose plot just based on this stuff (I'm just fucking lazy). Follow the concepts and themes of the first season, have episodes focused on relationships between members (ie. Terrors and the dynamic between Megan and Superboy, Secrets with Zatanna and Artemis bonding, you get the idea). Establish the new characters and build up to another threat that the Team has to stop without the help of the League.

Give them undercover operations that are following a thread that leads them to the Light (and whatever they might be doing with Apokolips), and have them bring everyone along! Maybe not Gar/Beast Boy (he's still young and inexperienced, so maybe he runs communications from the Mountain or something? Sneaks out? Who knows!) but have the rest of the Team go kick ass, have Aquagirl and Tempest get called on for help, and give them answers, with still more questions.

And if your really want the Reach to be involved, start foreshadowing them throughout the season! The Light is having communications with someone who isn't Apokolips? Who is it? Why? What do they want? Those can be some of the unanswered questions we're left with at the end, and then in S3 after another time skip, you can bring the Reach in, along with the Beetles and develop that!

For S3, bring in Jason as Robin, establish his character as a brawler and kind of an asshole, but make us care about him before you kill him off for no reason! (Jason's death is incredibly important character-wise but please let us learn who he is before he dies). Nightwing is fully the Team leader now, how is he handling that? He said in S1 (Disordered) that he doesn't want to be Batman anymore, the guy who makes the hard call.

How does that mesh with being team leader? How's his relationship with Jason, with Batman, with Batgirl? If you really want Oracle, you could have her get her paralysis injury from the Joker in S3 too, he's established in S1 as a villain working with the Light to some degree, so why change that?

Also if I wrote S4 I would give Stephanie/Spoiler an episode where she's the focus because I love her and she needs the opportunity to declare "I'm here to spoil your plans!" to a villain SO BADLY

[garthofshayeris]

What’s your opinion on Garth possibly being Orms son?

I think it’d be interesting if Garth’s mom had an affair with Orm and they had a doomed love story where it could never work out. And it could make for interesting drama where Orm isn’t sure if he wants to drop the bomb on Garth or if he’s sure he’s really his.

There could also be an instance of Orm trying to get Garth to leave aquaman and join him.

Like...in the current comics? You mean Greg of Atlantis™? I think that guy is just some dude who got a scholarship from the king...

Obviously, it wouldn't work with preboot canon, considering Orm is either half- or fully-human depending on that continuity. And Garth being the son of Thar, a sorcerer and brother of Slizzath, is kinda his whole thing. Garth's magic is passed on from his father's side (not that magic can ONLY be from a father, but in the case of Garth that just is his canon) I don't think inserting Orm into the storyline of Garth that I like would do anything for the story tbh. I really love Garth's backstory involving Slizzath and Thar, I think it's very meaningful and complete.

THAT SAID I feel like you mean, if DC re-wrote everything, would I like a brand new version of Garth who is related to Orm. I guess my answer is...not really? We already have Jackson as the son of Manta (something that I feel is underwhelming, it's a cool concept that they never really do anything interesting with it) and it would be weird if that happened twice, you know? Since Garth would not have been raised by Orm and Orm in the current comics is arguably not really that evil, it wouldn't have the same punch as preboot "your dad was murdered by his people because he want homicidal and crazy"/"your dad's brother went homicidal and crazy and he died protecting the world from him". If this is about how animated DC stuff gives Orm purple eyes for some reason, I think that might just be something they do to make me angry, specifically /j

All that to say, I don't think it would add anything very meaningful to the current story dynamics. Saying Greg is related to Orm has the exact same punch as when they say every 5 years that Garth was totally raised by Arthur it just never came up and we never see it happen and he's never invited to any family events.

HOWEVER, the New 52 could have actually VERY easily made Garth Orm's son when they fucking BROUGHT HIM UP EARLY ON AND THEN DIDN'T FOLLOW THAT FUCKING STORY THREAD THROUGH I HATE YOU DC COMICS I HATE YOU I HATE YOU. They could have had Orm defending Garth from people who want to kill him, knowing DAMN WELL he fucked Berra and that kid might be his. Then after Orm is sent to Land Jail they could have killed off Berra and saddled Arthur with a young child that Orm was for some reason really defensive of but nobody knew why. And then they do the Atlanna story, blah blah blah... anyway fuck you dc comics

I actually think I posted about this years ago, but what they SHOULD have done with the Throne of Atlantis storyline is have Orm escape and return to Atlantis and start a group of outcast/terrorists that included (child) Garth and returned years later with a very powerful "child solider" because THAT would actually be a fun callback to Garth's preboot vibe but ALSO do what they try to do with Jackson. They're always like "omg is Jackson like his father, the evil Black Manta?!" but like.......Jackson was not raised by Manta, and being evil is not genetically passed down so it's lacking a little punch...anyway, this would be more like Damian, Cass, etc where there is an element of unlearning behaviors. Arthur would have to be like, this is a child and children are not evil, my brother is not evil, we need to help them.

I'm not saying it couldn't work, but I do think it would work better in a complete overhaul of the entire franchise. And I already posted my ideal overhaul of the entire franchise (dc pls hire me)

anyway it's a shame Garth hasn't been seen in DC comics since his death in Blackest Night (2009).

[phneltwrites]

I've read your Witcher works way before I realised you were in YR fandom as well. For the ask game, can you do 6, 11, and 14? Any ship works☺️

my witcher fic??? omg that's a blast from pre-panini. glad our paths crossed again!

6. Recommend a fic that does something cool with format or structure (epistolary, social media, 5 things, non-linear, etc.)

I also answered 6 here and here

And everyone's read the DC comics fic that's told through sex pollen release forms right? I don't have to rec that one?

User Since by rageprufrock. Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Ok so in the first Avengers film they establish that Phil Coulson is a huge Captain America head and has vintage merch. This fic is told primarily through forum posts on the Captain America forum that Phil moderated. Note that this fic is tagged mcd and that's for phil's canonical "death" which never happened cause we all know he went to Tahiti which is a magical place.

Howling Commandos HQ > Home > Profiles > PC

Username: PC (Mod) Posts: 100K+ Contact info: DM Location: New York, NY Occupation: Law enforcement Bio: Co-founder and chief moderator; new users should check out the FAQ here; disputes to the historical record belong in this thread. Pedantry that crosses into abuse will result in a one week ban on first offense, a one month ban on second, and a lifetime ban on strike three. Quote: "Sua sponte." User since: June 1998 Last post: May 3, 2012.

Wormhole X-Treme by Nindulgence. Fandom: Stargate Atlantis

This is a fake imdb page for a TV show that doesn't exist. Ok so for context, in Stargate SG-1 there's a show within the show called Wormhole X-Treme which is basically Stargate, and they play it for comedy. (supernatural has a similar thing). Stargate Atlantis is a spin-off of Stargate SG-1 and so this is the IMDb for the spinoff that would exist in universe.

Trivia: In episode 1.3 ("If Food Be the Food of Love..."), the "harvest banquet" clearly consists of a dozen or so Swiss Chalet quarter-chicken dinners with fries. In addition, the "alien sweetmeat" containing the hidden aphrodisiac appears to be a chocolate Timbit. (more)

Parts Unknown: Bajor by fresne. Fandom: Star Trek Deep Space Nine

This is a transcript of an episode of Anthony Bourdain's travel food how "Parts Unknown" as if it had gone to the fictitious planet of Bajor. Bajor, in Deep Space Nine, was recently free of over a century of occupation and a lot of the show is about the struggle after that.

"I believe in the Prophets. I just think they're *bleep," says the Bajoran man from before.

11. Recommend a fic you think is a hidden gem/deserves more reads.

The Moon Represents My Heart by afrai. Fandom: Star Wars: Rogue One

This is theeee Baze/Chirrut fic and it's gorgeous and so star wars and so them and also I get the song stuck in my head every time I see the title so that's also good. If you haven't seen Rogue One, Baze and Chirrut are both Jedi religion affiliated, with one of them being more of a believer than the other. They are devoted to each other and it's one of the dynamics I'm the weakest to, which is "I won't let you do that stupid thing without me, even if we both die trying." Which they do at the end of the film, but this fic shows so much how theirs was a beautiful life worth living.

"That's not what I mean," he said. "I just mean … you're the best." Unusually for Chirrut, he was struggling to express himself. He said, a little desperately, "The Force loves you." Baze's forehead creased. "The Force doesn't love anyone. That's not how the Force works." "I know, but – " Chirrut clutched his head. "I don't know how to say it. But the Force is with you." "The Force is with everyone." "It's with you specially," said Chirrut.

14. Recommend your favorite fic.

I could no sooner pick a star in the etc etc. I've done dc comics and mdzs fics before so here's a couple of old fics that were really formative for me.

Victory Condition by Astolat. Fandom: Transformers

This fic is actually a great one to introduce people to the concept of fanfiction with, a topic I'm happy to get into more, but basically you don't need to be fannish about transformers or know anything about it other than, you know, the cultural osmosis (i know this because i've never seen transformers). And then it does a really political plot with robot sex in the middle. It's a crowd pleaser.

What happens when it turns out your greatest enemy also wrote the poetry that inspires your survival?

“Survival isn’t the best measure of a life,” Optimus said. “It’s a fairly necessary precondition for all the others,” Megatron said.

Pre-Existing Condition by Helenish. Fandom: Die Hard

So in Die Hard four John McClane takes a hacker twink under his wing and it spawned way better fic than it should have.

In this fic John puts Matt under his domestic partnership benefits so he can get coverage for the rehab he needs for his knee after doing heroics. Extremely American premise. And it's theeee pinnacle of yearning it's unreal I re-read this fic regularly just to feel things. You ever read a narrator so unreliable you want to roll around in their mind forever and ever?

“Okay, okay,” Matt says. “I’m not used to, uh, it’s weirder than I thought, to have to lie about it.” “Just think about it like health care is a basic human right, so you’re not—“ “Whoa,“ Matt says, stiffening in surprise next to him, his head jerking sideways. “—really even lying,” John finishes. They’re stopped at a light, and Matt’s staring at him, his mouth a little open. “This is a lot to take in right now,” he says. “So is it that you think I’m dumb,” John says conversationally, shifting into gear as the light turns, “or that I’m some asshole in a suit who thinks if a guy’s kid gets cancer, he should just lose his house?” “No—I don’t think, uh, neither of those,” Matt says. “Holy shit, is that what you think?” “What am I supposed to think?” “You’re supposed to think it’s just a little weird for me when people call you my partner,” Matt says. “That’s all.”

if anyone else wants to send them in meme is here (fr ex if someone asked about a trope i could talk more than anyone wanted about bio bdsm aus)

[wanderingmind867]

Wonder Woman TV Show Plans (my edit and revision of my old ideas):

If I were making a Wonder Woman show (something I probably never will have the means to do), I have ideas on how I would structure it. Because I want to cover most of her pre crisis comic book history. And I want her to get a long running tv show (when I say long, I don't mean it's on for 20 years. But I mean I do want around 150-200 episodes). So here's some of my ideas for how to pace and split up the seasons for this show:

Season One: Season One would be around the length of Batman the Animated Series' first season. 60-something episodes, enough to get the show into syndicated reruns or whatever. Really, i just want 60 episodes so I can tell as many stories with Wonder Woman as possible. And so we can have a lot of episodes with her villians. Paula von Gunther would be introduced early in the first season. Around the halfway mark of the season, she'd get her redemption arc and join the amazons with her child.

But season one would introduce most of the major early supporting cast and villains. Steve Trevor, Etta Candy, Hippolyta, probably some original characters for the show, etc. We'd also have villains like Paula von Gunther, Ares/Mars, Doctor Psycho, Angle Man, Giganta, Doctor Poison, Queen Clea of Atlantis (or some other undersea realm), the Cheetah, Hypnota, and (my personal favourite, currently) the Blue Snowman, a genderfluid mad scientist and wonder woman's resident ice based villain. All these characters would get chances to showcase their abilities in this season, dedicated to William Moulton Marston's original ideals.

It would be set in the present day, unlike true golden age wonder woman stories. But it'd still keep a lot of marston's themes, because I think marston had some really progressive (by 1940s standards) regarding things like gender and body weight. He wasn't perfect, but we can't dismiss his work. It was foundational. He was a man in a polyamorous relationship who clearly liked bondage and hypnosis (those themes crop up a good amount in his stories), but he was also a man who promoted values and ideals of hope and optimism and equality. He really deserves his recognition.

Also, I kind of want this show to occasionally feature a "Wonder Women of History" segment near the end of every episode. Why? Well, marston did it, and he tried to teach kids about historical female icons that way. DC stopped doing it after he died, but it deserves to make a comeback as a brief educational segment. Teach kids about icons of history to inspire their future greatness. Marston would probably admire that. At the very least, i'd probably admire it.

Season Two: Season Two would be around 30 episodes. It's similar to the previous season, but now half the episodes are tributes to the weird Robert Kanigher period of the 50s and 60s. After this season, the show would go on hiatus. We'd return after a feature length movie. And then we'd have seasons three to six to wrap up the remaining plot threads left behind by the movie. But this season is a blend of the old marston style stories from before, combined with some stories in the weird silver age robert kanigher style, too.

Season two features Ares as our main villain, still. He mostly works from the shadows, but Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor slowly grow disillusioned with the american military as they see imperialism and colonialism in action. It shakes them, and so that's building up to the movie at the end of the season. Still, we do also get a lot of silly and lighthearted episodes too. Ones with Etta Candy and the Holiday girls, or with flashbacks to diana's childhood on themyscira, etc.

This season would introduce some new characters, too. We'd start toying with the greek vs roman thing by introducing Nubia, Wonder Woman's sister who taken and raised amongst a sect of roman inspired amazons. Nubia is far more disciplined and warrior esque. Mars earns the ire of Wonder Woman for taking her sister, but she forgives him before the season is over, however. In that time, though, we'd also see Wonder Woman duel with the Martian Manhunter, who's a devoted disciple of the god Mars. Mars is a deity all martians revere, so naturally him and diana initially don't see eye to eye. But after a while, diana makes peace with mars, and learns to befriend martian manhunter and her estranged sister Nubia.

So season two is more of the same as season one, just with new details added in. The final things i want to discuss before i move on to trying to plot the movie: we would get flashbacks to wonder woman's youth on themyscira. We would meet some of those obscure 50s wonder woman characters like the merboy she loved when she was a teenager. And we'll have him show up in later episodes as one of diana's close friends. Also, we just gotta work in Egg Fu. Perhaps we'll do a story about US Imperialism, but we'll make it absolutely ridiculous by hiding it behind the "so offensive it just becomes stupid" character of Egg Fu. I will see that horrible racist asian caricature of an egg, if it's the last thing i ever get on tv.