#will use that favor for

[earl-of-grey]

Some Hazbin thoughts:

I liked how the first season ended, and while I do think the pacing was sped up to clearly reach this arc’s conclusion (but due to time constraints of course) I think ending it off with the scene showing Sir Pentious in Heaven is the perfect cliff hanger for the show.

Throughout the first season, we see both the characters, their society, us the audience, and even Charlie herself asks, “will this hotel even work?” That was what the pilot, the whole premise of the show centered on: is redemption for sinners even possible?

Of course we the audience already know the answer because then there wouldn’t be much of a message to learn from, much less a story to captivate on. But in this world, in their reality, the characters don’t know that. Charlie doesn’t know either. But she has faith that it does.

And what better way to complete this season’s arc with answering that question from the very beginning: yes, yes it does.

So now, the story can evolve from there. It’s not about proving her theory anymore, Charlie’s got the proof that she needs. Now it’s all a matter of facing the obstacles of those who don’t want it to work.

The Vees will definitely play a big part in season 2, and I’m guessing their motivations to stop the hotel from working would be to both to still gain control of sinners (if the hotel exists as an alternative, then they would lose their audience) and still gain access to specific individuals in the hotel (Valentino with Angel and Vox with Alastor).

And we might get to see Sera’s response to this new revelation. It wouldn’t be a surprise if she leans towards fear, but how far is she willing to go (or maybe how much is she willing to fall) in order to enact to her duties and responsibilities? (And keep in mind, holding onto her fears and encouraging the exterminations may just be the very reason for her Fall.)

And another thing, I can’t wait to see Alastor’s reaction to the news that the hotel works. It’s very ironic how (from what he’s only revealed so far) the main reason he wanted to help in the first place is because he’s betting on Charlie’s ‘passion project’ not working.

He’s made it very clear that he believes that the human condition is innately selfish and malignant (with a few rare exceptions). He says “Why does anyone do anything? Sheer, absolute boredom.” While there are plenty of hints foreshadowing Alastor having ulterior motives for helping the hotel (whether he’s forced to be there or not), that still doesn’t mean what he said ISN’T an extension of what he believes the world to be. He says “the world is a stage, and stage is a world of entertainment.”

Alastor is a performer. To perform means to believe in something you’re fabricating. So what makes Alastor’s situation interesting is that his whole character and predicament is entrenched in two opposing ideals existing at once. Paradoxical truths.

He has to help make the hotel successful in order to prove that it will fail.

He can’t show that he cares about the group because then others will use that against him, but at the same time, he has to show that he cares in order for the group to trust him. (But just enough)

So when that moment of revelation is revealed to the whole group that Charlie’s redemption idea is possible and works, Alastor will have to craft a balancing act of both helping and sabotaging the hotel to ensure that he still has control over the entire thing (even though this new information will shake it all up).

If the world is a stage, then Alastor wants to be the one to build it. He wants to be both producer and critic. But that balancing act could only go so far until the consequences of doing so will eventually bite him back.

And I cannot wait to see it happen.

But those are just my thoughts and predictions for the next season.

I’d love to hear yours as well.

[inkskinned]

at some point it's just like. do they even fucking like the thing they're asking AI to make? "oh we'll just use AI for all the scripts" "we'll just use AI for art" "no worries AI can write this book" "oh, AI could easily design this"

like... it's so clear they've never stood in the middle of an art museum and felt like crying, looking at a piece that somehow cuts into your marrow even though the artist and you are separated by space and time. they've never looked at a poem - once, twice, three times - just because the words feel like a fired gun, something too-close, clanging behind your eyes. they've never gotten to the end of the movie and had to arrive, blinking, back into their body, laughing a little because they were holding their breath without realizing.

"oh AI can mimic style" "AI can mimic emotion" "AI can mimic you and your job is almost gone, kid."

... how do i explain to you - you can make AI that does a perfect job of imitating me. you could disseminate it through the entire world and make so much money, using my works and my ideas and my everything.

and i'd still keep writing.

i don't know there's a word for it. in high school, we become aware that the way we feel about our artform is a cliche - it's like breathing. over and over, artists all feel the same thing. "i write because i need to" and "my music is how i speak" and "i make art because it's either that or i stop existing." it is such a common experience, the violence and immediacy we mean behind it is like breathing to me - comes out like a useless understatement. it's a cliche because we all feel it, not because the experience isn't actually persistent. so many of us have this ... fluttering urgency behind our ribs.

i'm not doing it for the money. for a star on the ground in some city i've never visited. i am doing it because when i was seven i started taking notebooks with me on walks. i am doing it because in second grade i wrote a poem and stood up in front of my whole class to read it out while i shook with nerves. i am doing it because i spent high school scribbling all my feelings down. i am doing it for the 16 year old me and the 18 year old me and the today-me, how we can never put the pen down. you can take me down to a subatomic layer, eviscerate me - and never find the source of it; it is of me. when i was 19 i named this blog inkskinned because i was dramatic and lonely and it felt like the only thing that was actually permanently-true about me was that this is what is inside of me, that the words come up over everything, coat everything, bloom their little twilight arias into every nook and corner and alley

"we're gonna replace you". that is okay. you think that i am writing to fill a space. that someone said JOB OPENING: Writer Needed, and i wrote to answer. you think one raindrop replaces another, and i think they're both just falling. you think art has a place, that is simply arrives on walls when it is needed, that is only ever on demand, perfect, easily requested. you see "audience spending" and "marketability" and "multi-line merch opportunity"

and i see a kid drowning. i am writing to make her a boat. i am writing because what used to be a river raft has long become a fully-rigged ship. i am writing because you can fucking rip this out of my cold dead clammy hands and i will still come back as a ghost and i will still be penning poems about it.

it isn't even love. the word we use the most i think is "passion". devotion, obsession, necessity. my favorite little fact about the magic of artists - "abracadabra" means i create as i speak. we make because it sluices out of us. because we look down and our hands are somehow already busy. because it was the first thing we knew and it is our backbone and heartbreak and everything. because we have given up well-paying jobs and a "real life" and the approval of our parents. we create because - the cliche again. it's like breathing. we create because we must.

you create because you're greedy.

[buggachat]

one of the funniest things ml canon did was completely ignore the trope of "adrien loves seeing marinette dressed like chat noir, it drives him crazy" and instead go "actually, seeing chat noir in red and spots makes marinette go absolutely feral. it is actually a miracle that lady noire does not tear mister bug apart with her teeth and devour him at any given moment"

[just-your-average-tangerine]

The line between binary and nonbinary trans people is nowhere near as clean as some of yall think it is

[slavonicrhapsody]

Ranni has every reason to hate Marika. She is the figurehead of an order that has caused her and her family so much misery… and yet, in the Age of the Stars ending cutscene, Ranni holds Marika’s head with such gentleness. It feels less like Ranni is putting down a tyrant, and more like she’s laying her to rest, after many long years of torment. 

Ranni could have been Marika’s successor, but she rejected the guidance of the Two Fingers, slaying her own flesh in order to be rid of their influence: 

“But I would not acquiesce to the Two Fingers. I stole the Rune of Death, slew mine own Empyrean flesh, casting it away. I would not be controlled by that thing.”

Ranni goes to such drastic lengths because the most intolerable thing possible to her is to be a pawn; her will not being her own, but being at the mercy of a higher power. Ranni’s quest is above all about free will – it culminates with Ranni using the Fingerslayer Blade to tear her Two Fingers into bloody ribbons, at long last giving her full control over her own destiny.

Marika in the present day is a prisoner held in perpetual torment. According to Enia and the Two Fingers,

"Queen Marika is the vessel of the Elden Ring, carrier of its vision. A god, in truth. But after the Elden Ring's shattering, she was imprisoned in the Erdtree. A grim punishment for shattering the Order, despite her godhood. The Fingers speak... "Marika's trespass demanded a heavy sentence. But even in shackles, she remains a god, and the vision's vessel.”

Marika shattered the Order, going against the will of the Two Fingers, and was punished for it gravely. In many ways, Marika’s fate is Ranni’s absolute worst nightmare. This is exactly the fate she took such drastic lengths to escape… serving a higher power with her entire being, her will not her own, but the will of the Fingers, with any attempt at change met with violent suppression, her body essentially being used as a puppet to defend the last vestiges of the Order.

“I would not be controlled by that thing.”

I think that Ranni, seeing Marika’s broken body at the end of it all, felt nothing but pity for her in that moment, despite everything she’d done. To me, the act of Ranni holding Marika’s head in her hands feels like she’s saying, “you were my enemy. But there is no worse fate in this world than what you suffered. Now, you can be truly free."

[bixels]

I'm not explaining why re-imagining characters as POC is not the same as white-washing, here of all places should fucking understand.

[hiddenvioletsgrow]

Mary being treated as if she was sinless makes me so so sad. Like talk about erasing the wonder and glory of Jesus’ birth

[nikinikori]

“What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms, [...] We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.”

— Maester Aemon Targaryen: "Game of Thrones"

[kizzer55555]

Core Gems

So when a ghost becomes injured, they have a last ditch defense where they retreat into their core. And I mean, injured badly where their body is rip apart to the point they can’t hold a solid form anymore. And they basically go into a hibernation state until they are strong enough to form again.

Ellie, Danny, and Dan are all injured in a final battle against the GIW. The organization was destroyed and the ghosts were safe but the halfas ended up being so injured that they reverted to core form and then went to sleep for a bit. When they woke up, they were still weak but at least recovered enough to gain consciousness. And realize…they are in some kind of auction…in the middle of a heist. It appeared that two furries (one in a bat costume and one in a cat costume) were ducking it out. And they…they were a necklace. All three of them had been turned into a necklace with their cores as gems accompanied by sapphires, pearls, and opals. And frankly gorgeous craftsmanship as the metal was crafted around their cores as if to cradle them and the other gems.

Unfortunately, they were too weak to take a form properly, they could still feel the strain on their bodies. But at least they could still communicate through their auras. Then the cat lady punched a hole in the glass container surrounding them and grabbed their necklace.

However, the bat grabbed the other end and it resulted in a sort of tug-a-war. Meanwhile, Danny, Ellie, and Dan were having a back and form commentary on the situation and what they should do. Completely unheard by the other party.

In the corner of their eye, the three halfas finally noticed a third contender. Some kind of clown who was…hold on…holding a gun?! And it was pointed straight at the two fighting furies who had yet to notice him. The ghosts’ protective instincts went into overdrive and they frantically tried to shout, yell, move. Just do something to warn the two but their cries fell on deaf ears. All they succeeded in doing was faintly glow which immediatly caught the attention of the fighting duo. The two turned to look at the strange necklace but right at that moment, the clown fired and a gunshot rang throughout the auction room. Having no other options, Danny and the others poured every ounce of ectoplasm they had to try and phaseshift, making the two furries intangible as the bullets passed right through them, but in their shock, the two jumped away in opposite directions and accidentally ripped the necklace apart. Gems and pearls went flying and the three cores bounced along the ground.

Luckily, the two finally noticed the clown and went to deal with him and his minions who had appeared. Seemingly putting their fight on hold and forming a temporary truce. The three halfas could only watch as the battle finally wound down, ending with the cops barging into the place and arresting the clown and his grunts, the cat managing to escape with half the scattered gems and pearls from the broken necklace along with a few other jewelry pieces (none of their cores though) and the bat leaving through a skylight.

The auction continued and in the end, despite being broken, their necklace seemed to have caught someone’s interest. A man named Bruce Wayne bought up every piece of the shattered jewelry wear. The auctioneers appeared relived that the item managed to sell in the end and gratefully gave it to him.

Bruce had no idea what happened at the auction, but he could have sworn that some of the gems faintly glowed right before he and Selina were shot. If the necklace was some sort of magical item, then he needed to understand exactly what has been brought to Gotham. It was unfortunate that Selena had taken some parts of the necklace but he utilized his vast wealth to make sure all the other parts ended in his possession. Now he would take them back to the mansion for examination.

[syn4k]

seriously though, Alan Becker's Animator vs. Animation series is fucking legendary and for good reason. don't let the fact that all the characters are stick figures delude you into thinking it's a joke. AvA and its spinoff series, AvM (Animation vs. Minecraft) are both well written, complex stories with well-rounded characters and complex arcs that take themselves completely seriously and are also masterclasses in 2d and later 3d animation.

both series include original soundtracks mainly composed by Scott Buckley and they now have a full team of professional animators working on them, even though the project was started by just one guy (Alan). despite having zero lines of dialogue, they clearly and masterfully characterize every single character that's involved by depicting their body language and actions alone. there is love and dedication poured into all of these projects and it shines through in every second of playtime.

also, these feature some of the most jaw dropping choreography and visual effects in fight scenes that ive ever seen in 2d animation ever. the one in AvA s2 alone is higher quality than most fight scenes in almost all modern professionally made movies, in my opinion. alan and his team consistently push the boundaries of what can be done with animation both visually and conceptually and they never fucking miss. like ever. this shit goes so hard

in conclusion: just trust me on this one

[vaspider]

Okay, listen. I've seen posts about "not using JD Vance's chosen name, because his party thinks that's important, using your birth name," and cis folx pulling this? You're not doing trans people any favors. Trans people? Y'all should know better.

What that lands as is "your name is only your name if I think you deserve it." And that? That doesn't help me. That doesn't make people stop deadnaming me or misgendering me or make me (or any other trans person you know) experience less transphobia. You're not gonna "get" these people like that. They legit don't give a fuck, and it actually reinforces their beliefs when you do that.

All that says -- not to the diehards, for whom it doesn't matter, but to the people who just don't know very much about trans people, maybe don't know any in their daily lives -- is that not even our allies think our names are unconditionally real. It says "your name is a reward for Acting Right."

And that, chief, just ain't it. So knock it the fuck off.

[queenlucythevaliant]

Honesty hours: I've been working a summer job at a bookstore for almost two months now. Here are the books I will discreetly shake my head at customers for buying. My literary red flags, if you will.

Anything tarot

Particular romance and romantasy novels that I've been told are basically just soft erotica (ACOTAR being the most popular)

Harlequins, which apparently still exist

Colleen Hoover

The Colleen Hoover merch we sell for some godforsaken reason

Heaven is For Real, When God Winks at You, and other theologically sketchy but inexplicably popular books. I'm always internally thinking, "oh honey, no!"

Giant stack of self help books combined with books from the business section. This suggests a very particular type of person. This type of person scares me.

Especially that one book we have about how to become a "superior man" (??)

More than one book by James Patterson. One book is forgivable; multiple suggests you follow him as an author

More than one book by Danielle Steel (same reason)

Parents buying their kids books that are just "Adult Thing: For Kids!" Like we have a picture book that's called "A Day at Dunder Mifflin" or the one adapted from the Dumb and Dumber movies and I'm like. Don't you think your kid would prefer something that's actually for them??

That guy who bought the collected writings of Lenin, the poetic writings of Mao, and a giant, thousand-page biography of Che Guevara all in one go. You okay there buddy?

[anglerflsh]

she's quite possibly the best genshin impact character

[eterniravioli]

ao3 being down after this race is actually just giving lestappen authors a chance to rewrite all of their scenes that have lando as max’s best friend

[rius-cave]

Can you draw Angel Dust giving Adam a lesson in bottoming? owo

You'd think Charlie would have learned by now :/

[slabime]

is this anything