#yes there are plenty of issues with what people are actually writing

[starwikia]

so like are we done with the idea that james is a victim of the internet harassment mob or whatever you guys like to call it when in reality no one like forced him to be part of the public eye again. he had multiple times to disengage but he threw himself head first into the spotlight with some half assed apology where he used his dead mom, illiterate dad, and like 293 mental illnesses that he was in the right to do a widdle plagiarism but it’s not his fault! it’s everyone else’s fault for not being nice to him about it!!! how dare these people bring these issues to the public not thinking how james would feel about it! like ppl are forgetting there was notable period of time james went off air entirely. and every time he’s jumped back it’s always attempts to paint himself as the victim.

like be real for a second if anyone was weaponizing the internet harassment machine it was james somerton. he knew what he was doing when he posted that note. he knew the shit his victims would get for having the crime of (checks notes) voicing out their issues with him. he knew there’s people out there who are foaming at their mouths to use anything they can get their hands on as a “gotcha!” at hbomberguy (right wing people yes, but don’t act like it’s just them i’ve seen plenty of lefties trying to prove they’re superior to harry). they don’t give a shit about james, not really. he’s the dude who hbomb did a “hit piece” (yes that’s a term i’ve seen people use) and that’s what matters.

not to mention the writing that’s also very clearly targeting nick who’s basically cut ties with him at this point. james pushed all the burden on nick by saying it’s their fault, actually. he’s one of the co-writers and everything going to shit was nick’s fault when they had the audacity to move. james is faultless! with james still trying to monetize stolen content on the blatant lie that he’s doing this for nick’s sake as a portfolio. acting as if nick isn’t an sentient human being who could upload their own content, as if nick would even want to be associated with james at this point. this isn’t a teenager being harassed for an honest mistake, this is a 35-year old con artist who’s stolen hundreds of thousands and peddled the most vile shit as actual history but realized he was in deep shit and weaponizes very serious mental health issues as a “i’m just a poor little gay baby!! my alter ego did it!!!”

for the record if you’re among the people who tried to wash down james’ crimes as “he just did plagiarism!! it wasn’t that bad of a crime!” fuck you, man. i’m not kidding.

the fact i’ve witnessed people whitewash his acts of racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, antisemitism and misogyny (in fact i’m probably still missing a few things here), and say he’s being harassed by the internet just because he stole articles makes it so clear they have no fucking idea what they’re talking about. his shit isn’t fucking erased just bc he realized that he has to handle the consequences. he’s grasping at anything he can at this point to make sure that even if he’s not coming back, he’s sure as hell trying to take anyone he fucking can down with him.

he doesn’t get a second chance to be a content creator at this point. he doesn’t get to show himself to do better. he needs to fucking leave. and if he tries to publicly make himself the victim then he better know that he’s going to get public backlash.

if anything situation proves to me that he can never be trusted with a public platform ever again because he will immediately guilt people into feeling sorry for him.

[thenightling]

Tumblr has discovered The Sandman...

Tumblr has discovered Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.   Here are some of the examples of proof of that discovery.  The good and the not-so-good.

1.   The Corinthian (A nightmare entity) has been referred to as a “Blorbo.”  Based on my understanding of the meaning of the word I am pretty certain The Corinthian probably should not be your Blorbo.  But then again you might be into that sort of thing.  I’ve seen some strange things in the Horror movie slasher fandoms.  Just know that if he was real it would probably not be safe to think of him as your Blorbo.

2.  The Corinthian has been called Cori and Cory respectively.   And so it begins...

3.  Morpheus has been referred to as a poor little “Meow Meow” and not while in his cat form.  And yes, I know he fits the criteria for the term.  It’s just this was the first time I’ve seen him called it without it being literally related to his cat form.   You have truly made it in the world of Tumblr when they start calling your character a Blorbo or Poor LIttle Meow Meow.  Whatever happened to Woobie?   I would think Morpheus would fit under “Woobie.”   

4.   I have seen Tom Sturridge (Morpheus’s Netflix actor) referred to as a DILF.  (Dad I’d like to ...have fun with).   As the term is usually reserved for older men, and I, myself, am forty, and Tom Sturridge is a few years younger than I am, this term usage came as a surprise to me. It turns out some fans are using the term quite literally as Tom Sturridge literally is a father.  I was used to the term being used specifically in regard to age.

5. Morpheus has been compared to a Disney Princess.

6.   A scene from the source material has been taken out of context to make the character look more like an asshole than he actually is even though there are plenty of real asshole moments as the character is on a long redemption arc.

The scene in question is when Matthew the Raven says “Penny for your thoughts.” And Morpheus responds with “You have no pennies, Matthew.”  Later Morpheus offers Matthew a literal penny in exchange for him voicing his thoughts.  Morpheus being too literal is what is happening here. Context matters.

7.  There are people trying to bluff having read The Sandman without having actually read The Sandman to try to gain clout in the fandom.   It’s okay to have not read it yet, guys. It’s a great read. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.  Go have fun.  I promise it’s not as difficult as some people make it out to be.

Someone genuinely tried to argue with me that the “White haired version of Morpheus” was not created by Neil Gaiman and was created long after he was done writing The Sandman.  If you have read The Sandman you would understand how wrong this is. 

Don’t try to bluff having read The Sandman if you have not.  We can tell.  We can always tell.  

8.  There are gatekeepers trying to intimidate new readers into thinking there’s nothing whimsical in The Sandman and that it’s “So deep” and “you won’t get it the first time you read it.  You have to read it a few times to understand it.”

Yes, there is darkness in The Sandman. It’s part dark fantasy / part Gothic Horror with moments of gore but there are light things too.   Don’t discourage new readers.   I promise the story isn’t as hard to get into as some people make it out to be. I know terms like “Classic” can make some people chafe.  Just give it a try.  If you don’t like the first issue, try the second. If you don’t like the second, keep going until at least issue four.  If you still don’t like it after issue 4, it’s okay to stop.  No one will judge you.  If you don’t like comic books, try the audio drama, it’s divided into chapters like a novel.  Each issue being a chapter.   If you don’t like it after chapter four, that’s okay.  You’ll know if you like it or not by then. 

9.  There is already fan art of Tom Sturridge as Morpheus in funny / ridiculous scenarios.  No picture is given here as I did not get permission from the artists to share them yet.

10. There are already people complaining about the casting without having watched the show yet. One faction claiming the casting is “too woke” while another faction seemed concerned that it’s not inclusive enough even though Desire is nonbinary and pansexual, Death is a black woman, Rose and Unity are black women, Ruthven Sykes is a black man, Lucienne is a black woman who wears spectacles, Lucifer (who has no set gender or even sexual reproductive organs) is being played by a woman, Alexander Burgess is gay, The Corinthian is gay, Johanna Constantine is bisexual, Cain and Abel are South Asian...      

There even seem to be politically charged rants complaining because the English language show, with an English cast, written by an English writer, has a lead actor with an English accent...

So what do I have to say about Tumblr discovering The Sandman? 

Well..

 Welcome to the Sandom!  

You’re in for quite a ride.   And don’t put your fingers too close to The Corinthian’s face.  Just... Don’t.

[silly-writes]

Hi! I love your work! Can you do a Mike + alters, Scott, Alejandro (seperate) x reader where the reader has really bad sensory issues, especially with loud noises, and can have panic attacks from them? if your not okay with writing this then that’s totally fine /gen. it’s important to take care of yourself.

Contestants with reader who gets overstimulated.

Aaa thank u for this request anon! Yes i'm totally comfortable writing this kind of stuff! Thanks for being so kind about it! As an autistic person with really bad sensory issues myself I actually find it a thearputic, lol. Okay enough about me, enjoy!

Mike

dealing with a traumagenic disorder (DID) I would imagine he's honestly kind of in the same boat.

He's no stranger to panic attacks, and is pretty well versed by now in how to deal with them.

The first time it happens though he's sort of an anxious wreck, he's just nervous that trying to help might make it worse, but he doesn't want to leave your side.

He gives you lot's of words of encouragement, and helps you through breathing exercises, and gets you plenty of water.

"It's okay, breathe with me, I'm right here," he assures you gently.

If you require pressure/physical contact during your panic attacks, he's more than happy to give you that.

He gets good at catching them too, he'll always be able to identify when you're about to spiral because of too much noise or too bright lights, and he'll find a quiet secluded room so he can work through it with you.

"Sorry you have to deal with this too," you said, after a particularly bad one, you still felt dizzy, and tears still stained your face, but you had come out of it now, and felt a little guilty.

"Hey don't apologize, I don't mind. Not at all."

He's just very caring with this kind of stuff in general.

Manitoba

Maintoba is similar to Mike, and I would think he likes to carry around a backpack whenever he is fronting (you never know when you're going to run into treasure). So he always keeps noise canceling headphones and a pair of sunglasses in there just for you.

Honestly I headcanon him as the caretaker of the system, so I imagine he's used to caring for people during panic attacks.

He's very observant, probably even more so than Mike, so he's better at avoiding them all together by identifying what situations you can handle and what you can't.

He always does a little research before the two of you go out in the environment to ensure that it doesn't seem loud/bright/overstimulating.

However sometimes these things are just unavoidable, and inevitable.

He'll provide you with whatever physical comfort you require, if any at all.

Anything you need, he's there to get for you.

"Take all the time in the world treasure, I'll still be here," he said.

He's all around good at keeping you grounded, and just good at being there with you.

Svetlana

I would think Svetlana is probably the protector/gatekeeper, most of her comfort comes from her just being fiercely loyal.

She'll be there no matter what, and you take great comfort in that fact.

She's not as good with being traditionally comforting, since it's a little out of her element.

Not that she doesn't try of course, she really cares about you, and she wants that to come across.

(I would think she would panic a little and ask Manitoba and Mike for help from the inner world).

But she would absolutely stay with you, coaching you through breathing exercises, talking to try and distract you.

Eventually if you let her know what you need (be it space, a distracting, physical comfort, quiet, dark) you name it, she will get it for you.

She's much better at caring for you after the panic attack honestly, when you feel really tired and put out, disoriented and just overwhelmed.

"Svetlana's here now to melt all your worries away," she smiled at you once.

She'll almost always bring you home, or take you to a secluded room, and just hangout with you. She'll turn all the lights off and sit in silence with you so you can have basically zero sensory input for a little while.

She'll absolutely stay with you until you feel yourself again.

Mal

Okay things with Mal are a little tricky.

He's for sure a former prosecutor and after a bit of system healing, definitely prosecutor turned protector.

Don't get me wrong though, he can still be a little nasty and snarky sometimes, but he's working on getting better.

Which is why he feels sort of out of his element when he's with you when you're having a panic attack.

He's not good at being comforting, and he barely knows what to do when he has a panic attack, so the first time it happens he completely freezes up.

He might even let someone else front to help you out instead of him.

After a while he gets better at keeping up with your triggers, and while he remains pretty awful at being comforting, he's good at grounding you.

He's glad sometimes that being there is enough sometimes, he doesn't know what he'd do if it wasn't.

"Sorry I can't do more..." he said one day.

You smile at him "You being here is enough sometimes."

Scott

Scott is also somewhat of a wreck I would imagine.

Growing up fairly isolated on a farm he's understandably really rough with being intune with people's emotions, he's not really all that good at reading you. Or anyone for that matter.

The first few times, he's shocked everytime.

What could be making you feel like this? He had no idea.

He would definitely need a list of all of your triggers, you have to tell him what helps you and what doesn't outright. Scott doesn't really like playing guessing games, especially when it comes to your safety and comfort.

Clear communication becomes pretty important for the two of you in all honesty, and the two of you work at it all the time.

Eventually he gets better at serving you during panic attacks, or meltdowns, he knows what to do after a little while.

Again I would think he's really good at protecting, so I think he's super good at keeping people away when he sees you're overstimulated.

"Don't touch them!" he huffed when someone was trying to tap you to get your attention.

Overall, he's really really trying for you, and knowing that is comfort enough.

Alejandro

It's no secret that Alejandro is very intune with people, just one of his many skills.

So he can tell right away from his very first meeting you, any loud noises, bright lights, things like that just don't mix well with you.

He steers clear of them when around you, always guiding you more towards quieter, much calmer and secluded dates.

When driving he turns the music down, and makes sure that all audio input looks like its helping you and not harming you.

Plus I feel like (and this is totally me projecting btw) he would carry around stim toys for you to distract yourself with, and headphones for when things are a lot.

But again, sometimes things just happen, and try as he might to protect you, it's not always possible.

He can always tell when things are getting to be a lot for you, he's good at reading everyone but you in specific.

He's really good at covering for you, if someone is asking where you are, or needs/wants to talk to you when you need to be alone he'll keep them away from you.

He'll spend as much time as you need helping you.

"Are you feeling better mi amor?" He would ask.

"Almost-" you said, voice a little course and shaky "-sorry," you said softly.

"Don't apologize, I don't mind at all."

Alejandro can be really nurturing when he wants to be.

He might deny it, deny it to the ends of the earth but he's very good at taking care of you.

[girlashfur]

Transmisogyny In The Warriors Fandom : The Mothpool Issue

hi, my name is muyang / @girlashfur and i'm a transfeminine being who enjoys the fictional series of warrior cats. i've been into this book series for as long as i can remember, ever since i was a little kid. and growing up with this fandom, i've noticed a reocurring issue among it, which i aim to do a break-down of now.

the issue is transmisogyny. for those who are unaware : transmisogyny is the unique combination and overlap of misogyny and transphobia, specifically targeting transfeminine individuals. it's a widespread issue in just about every corner of the world, even spaces for transgender and otherwise queer individuals seem to have a problem with being transmisogynistic, intentionally or not. the warriors fandom is not exempt from this; and they're not special, either, i'm yet to encounter a popular fictional fanbase that doesn't have several transmisogynists among it's members. but the warriors fandom seems to have a peculiar way of going about it.

to start, i want to clarify that there seems to be...a surprising lack of transfem warriors fans to begin with; i can name about three off the top of my head, not counting myself, compared to hundreds of cisgender, transmasc, or otherwise tme (transmisogyny exempt) fans. perhaps we're just underrepresented, i'm sure there's more of us out there, but nonetheless i'd like to make it clear i'm writing this mainly based off of what i personally have experienced and witnessed in this fandom. my word may not speak for every transfem person, and that's okay.

transmisogyny isn't always violent and obvious; it's not always slurs and misgendering and harrassment, although don't get me wrong, plenty of transmisogynists do engage in such a way. but it can also be a subtle practice, something most tme people would not pick up on. like all systems of oppression, it can also be a learned behavior, one somebody witnesses happen (typically unpunished) and assumes is okay to recreate. one of the ways this can happen is through the objectification and sexualization of transfeminity. stereotypes are a common form of this. oftentimes, transfeminine characters are portrayed as violent and agressive, masculine and gruff, or as suave and predatory womanizers, sometimes a mixture of all three.

the warriors fandom does this often. there are several characters that are commonly headcanoned as transfem by the fandom, and most are victim to being portrayed this way. a few i can think of off the top of my head are cats like russetfur, crowfeather, mapleshade, darktail, tree, and yes...mothwing. mothwing is a bit of a special case, because i believe most people only headcanon her as transfeminine so they can ship her with leafpool (the ship commonly named mothpool) and imagine the two with biological kittens, in some aus, even as the three's parents.

this is a form of objectification already, although one might not catch onto it immediately. mothwing's transness is turned into a token, a special card to be exchanged to fit the fandom's idolized version of the ship. one could argue it could be interpreted as sexualization as well; while the warriors fandom tends to stray away from outright sexual portrayals of the cats (for good and obvious reasons), mothwing being transfem is still only done for the purpose of making her a cat with a penis, so she can have kits.

mothwing isn't canonically a particularly violent or angry cat, nor does she seem to be particularly romantic (she actually doesn't have a canon mate at all, being a medicine cat). however, in fandom based portrayals of her, she's often twisted to fit these stereotypes. sometimes she's designed to be large and masculine with the excuse of it being because she's a tigerkin, or sometimes she's portrayed as being very proud and open about her love of leafpool (who is often portrayed as shy and defenseless, practically hiding behind her). i've seen several aus with transfem mothwing in them "conveniently" include things like her formerly training as a warrior, or killing another cat (such as crowfeather) "for leafpool", or even portraying her as evil, typically falling to the manipulation of her father.

mothpool as a ship isn't really the issue here. it's the fandom's doing. the two have quite a few canon interactions that could be portrayed as romantic, and sure, it's really not my buisness what people ship as long as it's legal and all...but when you get exposed to so much hidden transmisogyny tied to one ship, as a victim of transmisogyny, you grow kinda wary of the ship as a whole. the few transfeminine people i've spoken to about this issue seemed to share my feelings as well. the moment i see a mothpool shipper mention making mothwing trans, i get shivers.

another point i'd like to make clear is that it's not every mothpool shipper doing this either, even out of the ones who do make her trans, i've met a few who portrayed it well and seemed very open and concerned about my views on transfem mothwing as a transfem person. i'm also certainly not saying you should go harrass people for shipping what they want, that's not my point nor is it helpful. as i've mentioned before, there's a good chance some of the people portraying mothpool in harmful ways like this don't fully realize what they're doing, and think it's okay because it's something they've seen before. i don't want those people to think they're bad for falling into those false beliefs, as long as they change them when they realize how they're offensive.

what i'm aiming to do here is give my two cents on why i generally dislike the ship as a transfeminine being myself, and to also spread awareness to why i feel that way. if i can make some people out there rethink some transmisogynist views they had perpetuated before, then my work is done well. as i'm finishing off this little essay of mine, i hope my message was explained clearly and gently, as it should be. see you guys in the next post, muyang out.

[sailing-ever-west]

Nobody acknowledges that Misako has trauma, man. Like tbf the show doesn't really either, but that's kinda ninjago's thing. The fandom examines the traumatic experiences of everybody else regardless of canon, but not her. Even with Wu, who I see plenty of mixed opinions on, nobody ignores that he dealt with some traumatic things. But Misako is just bad, magically, and it doesn't make sense.

When you take a look at her story without the fandom lenses, it's really quite compelling. Her husband, the man she trusted enough to have a child with, took a sudden sharp turn downwards from what had previously been a manageable condition, tried to go commit a crime, and then was banished to the underworld. This left her as a single mom dealing with the grief of losing Garmadon in one of the most messed up ways possible, with a child who she knows in her gut is the chosen one to battle him someday. A child who looks just like him. Who she has to protect. But how? She can't give him to Wu, who would train him and set him further on the path of the prophecy. Wu, who sent her husband to the depths the second he became at all violent. Wu who has already lost one student to misuse of this prophecy. There's no one she can trust.

And frankly, I wouldn't blame any woman in her position for giving up her child, especially if it was supposed to be temporary. Being a mother is now terrifying and probably very triggering. Being an archeologist is a way she knows she can help. So she leaves. Maybe it's weak, maybe it's strong, maybe it's loving, maybe it's cold. It was the decision she thought was best at the time in a situation with no good options. And I think it's reasonable to assume that in itself is traumatic, since she tells Lloyd later it was the hardest thing she ever had to do.

Did it traumatize Lloyd and give him abandonment issues? Yes. But the circumstances were going to be bad no matter what.

I truly think the two writing choices that made her seem so terrible to people were

1. Darkley's School for Bad Boys. Like who sends their child to that. It seems like it was invented as a gag and then when they went to develop more backstory they just...didn't think of how that made sense

2. The weird hecking romance between her and Wu that just made her seem disloyal and took so much screen time away from actually developing her. I'm still mad at them for that.

But aside from those main two things, she's actually a really interesting character and it's disappointing to see that go unnoticed because people can't handle her making decisions that hurt other characters.

[the-irreverend]

Why the Third-Act Breakup in Nimona makes the film better (yes really).

If you've watched enough modern animation you know that the Third Act Breakup has been one of modern animation's most notorious cliches. I mean you know it's an overused trope when Kevin Temmer writes a whole song about it. But what if I told you that the way the Third Act Breakup is used is Nimona is not only forgivable but actually benefits the story. And I tell you why...

Reason 1: It doesn't happen for no reason.

One of the biggest issues with T.A.B.s in other animated films is that they usually happen for reasons that are contrived and arbitrary, all while damaging the characters doing said Breakup. But in Nimona, the Breakup doesn't feel so contrived because the characters have understandable reasons for becoming at odds with each other. Take Ballister, for starters. While he may be disillusioned with the director, he sadly has not become disillusioned with the foundations of that system she's in charge of: the legend of Gloreth's crusade against Nimona. And when you also consider his experiences with being deceived and manipulated by those he looks up to, it's understandable why he would be fearful that he's been manipulated by Nimona. Speaking of which, Nimona has plenty of understandable reasons for being at odds with Ballister as well, especially when you consider all the betrayal, hatred, and persecution they've endured. Just like with Gloreth, she watches another friend of theirs turn on them despite all the care, support, and kindness they've shown. As a result, the Breakup not only makes sense from a character standpoint, but it also ties into the themes, messages, and commentary of the film

Reason 2: It doesn't pretend the moments they had together didn't happen.

Another reason that the Breakup is done well here is that even though Nimona and Ballister turn against each other, they don't COMPLETELY turn against each other. When their distrust and fear toward each other reach its peak (when Ballister draws his sword and Nimona bears their fangs), they immediately stop, looking at each with shock and horror as they both realize what they're doing. Not only that, but they don't even split apart on their own volition but rather because of circumstances beyond their control. The reason this moment's important is that it shows that despite everything, they haven't forgotten the bond they forged with each other; that even though their friendship may be down, IT IS NOT OUT.

Reason 3: How Nimona and Ballister make up.

What ultimately justifies the inclusion of the Third Act Breakup trope is the way that both Nimona and Ballister make amends with each other. It's not some little sidequest that happens before the climax, IT IS THE CLIMAX!!! A BEAUTIFUL, HEART-MELTING CLIMAX THAT LEFT ME IN TEARS! As a result, the film justifies Nimona and Ballister's conflict, because the steps back they've taken are used to make a bounding leap forward! Ballister finally forsakes his doubt towards Nimona and his faith in the system that persecuted her, and Nimona destroys the very foundations of that system by saving the people from the person who was responsible for controlling it (the Director).

So in the end, while Nimona does have many familiar tropes you see in other animated films, what ultimately matters is that it uses those tropes in a way that's actually effective, and in doing so, helps make Nimona one of the best animated films to come out this year.

[deathonthe]

mona lisa's smile | 1418

pairing: fernando/lance

rating: teen and up

word count: ~7000

tags: pre-relationship, 2021 season, non-driver lance au

summary:

Two-time world champion. Robbed from his third. A villain’s making—a slow descent from glory, trajectory fixed on an unfulfilling end. Back from his sabbatical. Fernando Alonso.

director's cut:

don't let my ramblings influence ur interpretation of the fic!

these are my notes/reflection on the fic. they don't have to be urs. different minds can come to different conclusions that are equally fantastic!

mona lisa's smile is supposed to disappear when u view her directly, but out of ur peripheral, she is always smiling mysteriously (eerily). i thought it was fitting given the characterisation of lance and the facade he kinda keeps up in the fic

my obvious issue is that since it is an incomplete fic, the focus on lance and esteban's friendship overshadowed his developing one with fernando

i thought the risotto scene was corny, i'm glad people liked it

yes, it's written so that u can't really tell if someone's talking about something or somehow implying it or thinking it

i'm impartial to when people portray lance as having daddy issues and lawrence being a bad father. obviously i don't know jackshit about lance's relationship with his dad, but i wanted to depict it in a positive light this time around

whether or not scotty was going behind chloe's back with daniel is up to u. i couldn't decide whether he would or wouldn't so i left it vague

i don't know shit about ice hockey. i had to google who the canadiens were. they're not mentioned more because i couldn't be stuffed doing more research

i back read way too many articles about lawrence buying racing point, because i thought the dts portrayal was a bit inaccurate

lance and esteban do speak french when they're together so i'm glad i at least got that part of their characterisation correct

i actually started taking duolingo lessons for french because of this fic

the style is choppy on purpose because i hate grammar and tense

the line of 'offers security physically in the only way he knows how' is not implying that lance fucks este. i think lance often grabbing parts of himself to kinda subconsciously reassure himself, i tried to transfer that vibe into his friendship with esteban

to be clear, fernando does not give a shit about lance really until he meets him again when lance is like 20/21

the part that goes 'lance had watched from the grandstands that day. the crowd roared. he hadn't thought much of it' was actually regarding fernando's abu dhabi retirement donuts, and not him winning in spain in 2013

if misappropriating classical writing in my trashy fics was a crime, i would be on death row

at this point, it is not clear whether fernando is approaching lance as part of his El Plan or if he's genuinely interested in him

re: esteban and pierre possibly both being in renault. hindsight is a beautiful thing

fernando's "we are like lions. podiums soon" is another reference to the iliad. i wasn't sure if the implication was strong enough

i was originally going to scrap the 'must've misheard italian for indian' line because i wasn't sure if it would offend people

in the risotto scene, sebastian is actually oblivious as to what's happening. he's not pretending to be. he is fully unaware

my most despised line in this fic is: a son of a billionaire he may be, but a waster of food he is not. i think it's too cheesy and doesn't fit with the style of the fic. looking back now, i'm not sure why i kept it

i think the 'lance's lack of passion' character choice stems a lot from how f1 fans think lance is somehow detached from the sport and doesn't really care for it as much as, let's say, fernando or max, who are always very clearly enthusiastic about racing. it's probably also got something to do with lance's 'monotonous voice' that people like to complain about. it's ok, though, because lance is plenty expressive in his face and body language

fernando's post-race interview after his bahrain dnf is an amalgamation of some of the actual post-race interviews he's given

my favourite line in this fic is: Un jour, vous en ferez l'expérience. Cela fait battre votre cœur pour la première fois et votre cœur ne cessera de battre après. too bad it had to be in french

the ass-tap was inspired by the video of fernando congratulating lance after lance got p3 in the wet qualifying for brazil 2023 (i believe, need to double check on that)

the aston engineer is 100% suspicious about lance and fernando

thanks for putting urself through all of that!

[mylordshesacactus]

LOVE, WATER, FIRE

What is your best writing advice?

"Show don't tell" doesn't mean what you think it does. Learn it better, and free yourself from a half-understood mnemonic.

When you show, you slow. Learn THAT one backward and forward as well; it won't fix pacing issues overnight, but it'll help you understand what causes them.

Writing fanfiction? Go back to the source material FREQUENTLY, or you'll lose all sense of the characters and end up writing someone unrecognizable.

If you struggle to block out action sequences, genuine advice? Think in terms of combat rounds in D&D. Not literally, of course, nobody should be taking rigorous turns, but: Play out the action in your head. If six seconds have gone by, everyone in this sequence should have done something. That thing could be charging into melee range--noting that this extra combatant is running toward the fight but hasn't gotten there yet. It could be reloading a weapon. It could be clutching their side in shock and wheezing. They don't need to be Selecting A Combat Action, but fight scenes become incoherent when you lose track of who's doing what. When you forget about Goon #3 and then have him show up again doing something that doesn't remotely track with where you last left him. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO INCLUDE THEM IN THE NARRATION if they're not important! If two seconds ago your protagonist kicked a guy off the dock, we can safely assume they'll spend at least the next several "combat rounds" climbing back out. But at any given moment, YOU should know where everyone is, what they're doing, and why.

But most importantly:

Anyone purporting to give The End-All Be-All Writing Advice is either delusional or a scam. Yes, including or perhaps especially famous bestselling authors. What works for them won't necessarily work for you, and there are plenty of people who don't even like their work. You're never going to be whoever's advice you try to mimic. Write your stuff, not theirs.

Do you prefer urban fantasy or high fantasy?

Yes!

Genuinely though. They're both good and they both serve their respective narratives in some way. In general I'm more drawn to high fantasy, personally, but I'm never not going to be interested in a well-done urban fantasy.

Pedantic nitpick though, these things are not the opposites they are being portrayed as. I think what the question was GOING for was actually "low vs high fantasy" which is a completely separate concept. Words mean things! But also, I'm not an ass, and the intent was pretty clear.

(High Fantasy: This story is set in a completely separate world from ours, with no crossover into our known and lived reality. ANY completely separate world, regardless of technology level! STAR WARS IS HIGH FANTASY. This is not an opinion, this is a genre fact.

Low Fantasy: The story is set partially in our world or includes crossover or other intrinsic connections to a realistic world that follows the same rules and expectations of our world. Isekai and portal fantasies like Narnia fall into this category, as do hidden-world/veiled-magic fantasies like the Bad Wizard Lady Books, Percy Jackson, and Artemis Fowl; and also a lot of true-anthropomorphic fiction like Watership Down, Warriors, etc. Note that "low fantasy" does NOT mean "gritty" fantasy or fantasy that focuses on the lower classes instead of nobles, nor does it mean a low-magic pseudo-medieval setting

Urban Fantasy: A story with fantasy tropes and themes that takes place in an urban setting. Can be low or high fantasy!)

What is the worst thing you've ever created?

Okay so this one time in high school me and my best friend Sam were trying to make lemon bars at his house and to this day we do NOT know what the hell ingredient we neglected to add to the lemon bars

but given the state of the results, there is a non-zero chance that the ingredient we forgot was flour.

[oscconfessions]

You know what? I'm just gonna say it. About 90% of II neg/crit is a crock full of shit. The 10% who actually criticize the show in a contrastive and nuanced way? Amazing. To die for. We love them around these parts. But this rant isn't about them. It's about the 90%. They anger me. It seems like they don't actually want to critique the show and just want to hate on it and the creators. I'll start off with some of the crit against certain characters like Bot and Cabby. OFC, it's 100% fine to dislike any character you want (/gen), but man I feel like some people just didn't understand the point of these characters. For example, I've seen a critique against Bot and Paintbrush that they're NB stereotypes for being "overly sensitive" when they literally aren't??? Paintbrush just has a strong temper (trust me, just because someone has a strong temper, it doesn't mean they're easily offended) and as for Bot, I have no idea where that critique even came from. Isn't it a bit hypocritical to say a character is a stereotype and then proceed to boil down their personality to a few simple traits. With Cabby, how she's been seen is a whole mess, but that transitions into drama with the creators. There was the whole ableism issue with II3 EP 14. Which, in hindsight, what happened in the actual wasn't that bad. Was the writing clumsy when it came to the Cabby stuff? Yes. Did it warrant a massive drama. Absolutely not. Especially with EP 15. The ableism thing doesn't even matter when watching it. Because it was addressed that Cabby shouldn't feel bad for using her aid. Another thing is that people don't actually treat the team, especially The Key Three as, well, humans. I've seen them be called "corporate cishet guys", which isn't even true in the slightest. First of all, they're not a corporation. They are literally a smallish indie team. And the "cishet" comment isn't even true in the slightest?? While I can't say if Adam and Brain are cishet or not, Justin is very openly gay man (I've heard that they're questioning his gender, but take that with a grain of salt). While it is good to critique and point out how they've failed with representation like with disabled people, people forget that a the worst of it happened when they were teens. In the 2000s. Representation isn't the way it is now. The crew and what they made are products of their time. And a quick note about EP 18 coming out during the Palestine Strike: what would delaying the episode even do? An episode coming out during a strike doesn't mean you suddenly can't talk about it. You can still talk about it even if the EP came out during the strike. And what about literally every single YT vid that came out during the Strike and didn't talk about it? Should those have been delayed as well? OFC not. Because a YouTube video doesn't effect the Strike. OFC, people should talk about it. But an II EP coming out while it happened affected nothing. Now, don't get me wrong, II isn't perfect and has plenty about it to critique. Because it was made by people. It's *going* to have stuff to critique. That doesn't mean stop giving it constructive criticism. But more people need to actually treat it like people made it. I'm SO sorry this turned out to be such a LONG and messy rant. I got angry (and I'm still a bit upset) and it sort of spiraled.

.

[a-town-called-hometown]

hi!! i loved your post about deltarune's metafiction and its (not) escapist themes, and it got my brain jogging, like... i guess ive just been thinking "why"? like ive heard that take before and i think its valid, but also like. why ? its obvious enough to me that deltarune uses the lightner/darkner relationship as a reflection of the player/game relationship and both of these things are addressed critically, but i can't help but wonder if there's a driving force for it all, outside of deltarune. like i can accept diegetically the darkners are not, or shouldn't be, subject only to the whims of lightners, but with any good story if you break it down to its core is ultimately saying something about humanity or the world and such. i mean i seriously doubt the people who seem to think that Toby Fox intends to induce *actual* guilt into the people who fund his life's work and career by purchasing his videogames, like, it's obvious that "you are a bad person because you play this videogame" isn't the intended message, nor was it in undertale. but then, what is? what is the purpose of a story that invites us to think of toys and game characters as "real"? not to trash my beloveds but i mean, literally speaking, their lives DONT matter, they r not real. it just feels like ive seen a lot of discussion about 'what' toby is doing with the narrative but i feel like that's only half the ordeal, the other half would be the reason why. my first thought was that the implicit 3rd thing being compared to the light-dark, player-game thing is actual social hierarchy IRL in which people are oppressed by another group that doesnt see them as human, bc iirc toby talked a bit about feeling powerless and wanting to do more to change the real world on real issues in an interview in 2020ish and of course there's the snarky gag about the fedora plugboy who doesn't like politics, so he doesn't care that an evil ruler is taking over the world. im not sure if that sits right with me as what the intention is (esp because the latter is a darkner talking about another darkner) but i couldnt think of much else although i do feel like a fallacy people get themselves into a lot in the fandom is the assumption that toby fox is this Impeccable Writing Machine and not just like A Guy. people make weird or flawed art sometimes, it doesn't *have* to adhere to standards. maybe deltarune is meaningless (or the meaning IS that it's meaningless, as though to complete the metaphor of it being a "real" fictional world, because if it is 'real' then like our world there is no "answer" or "purpose", it simply *is*.) dunno! im not expecting it to boil down to a simplistic fairytale moral like "dont bully people!!" or something, mr. fox tends to write more convoluted than that, but i feel like if there's something to be gained from this particular part of the game's story then i'm not sure i see the vision. what do u think? do u think this question is even answerable with only two chapters?

respectfully, I do heavily disagree with the notion that good stories necessarily have to say anything about the world or about humanity. one of the reasons I like metafiction is that it usually says something about how stories are constructed, and that's enough for me. there's plenty of stories that have bigger themes that aren't really all that much about human nature, at least, not directly. a story can comment on one specific thing without necessarily making a broader statement about people, you know? not every story has an easily explained moral lesson.

that being said, yes, this plot element is in service of deltarune's larger themes! which are about agency, control, fate, and identity.

deltarune's fate theming and its metafiction elements are a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation given how interlocked they are, but I've found it helpful to describe deltarune as a "person vs. fate narrative that uses a metafictional lens to characterize fate." rather than the three fates of greek mythology or whatever dictating its characters' lives, it is instead the structure of the rpg their world was made to be. they are player characters. they are npcs. they play specific roles in the narrative. no one can choose who they are in this world.

control is emphasized in this story. there's the control we have over kris, of course, and in a much subtler way the control we have over the world through them. there's the darkner-lightner hierarchy, which parallels our dynamic with kris. i would argue that there are even social forces in hometown which also serve to place the lightner characters into specific roles. under this level of control, it's hard for characters to push back and determine their own identities.

all these forces combine to mean that deltarune's characters are fighting back against the narrative itself! which says stuff about people's agency, and the way rpgs are written, and how we interact with all that...

ultimately, you can apply this to real life. even if there aren't things like "fictional people who are actually real," hierarchies of control do exist in real life. narratives that erase the agency and internality of certain types of people exist in real life. it's admittedly a rather general statement, but like with any narrative about fate, seeing characters resist rules that are seemingly written into the fabric of their existence can make you feel inspired to also define your own identity! and to be transgender. don't forget to be transgender

[sweetcloverheart]

Unpopular Opinion Time

It genuinely kind of bugs me when people dismiss Chloe’s (weak, yes, but I blame that most on the writing) efforts on being a hero because “Well she’s not doing it because she wants to help - she just wants Adrien/Ladybug to like her and be popular!”

Because while I can understand the reasoning for the argument, it feels just needlessly nitpicky because...so what? She’s doing her job, she’s following Ladybug’s instructions, and was (somewhat) accepting of no longer being allowed to become a hero anymore before “Miracle Queen” happened. Does it really matter why she’s doing it so long as she’s actually helping people as asked? So long as she’s doing her job as a hero and helping people, should her reasons matter?

Plus couldn’t that have been a good starting point for her? Her wanting Adrien/Ladybug’s approval and popularity could have been used to help her develop an actual sense of heroism, or at least encourage better behavior out of her. At some point she might of found she actually does like doing good deeds even without the chance of getting a “good girl” from the two, or at least begrudgingly put more effort into being a good person. Even if her reasons might of started out bad, that doesn’t mean they have to stay bad or that she can’t find other ones outside of that. 

“But that means she doesn’t care! She’ll just pretend to be nice and keep acting mean once ‘forgiven’, or just fake it, or just stop doing her job once she realizes no one cares!”

Then just take away/stop giving her the miraculous if it gets to that point or it becomes detrimental (seen plenty of fics do the latter). She’s a single person who’s only real means of interference is her credit card and the fact that her mayor father has a jellyroll for a spine. Unless Hawkmoth gets involved, she really has no recourse should she continue bringing in a poor attitude when working with LB and the rest.

But I have to ask, aside from this scenario, what about Chloe’s motives are harming her abilities as a hero - Does the fact that she wants Adrien and Ladybug to keep liking her interfere with her hero work? Does wanting to be popular make her sloppy/lazy? Does she act combative, argumentative, or antagonistic towards the other holders when there’s work to do because of it? Is there anything about her reasons that are preventing her from actually doing her job and being a good holder?

“But she’s still mean! Even after becoming Queen Bee, she caused a bunch of Akumas, so it’s obvious she doesn’t care outside of being a hero.”

Again, take away the miraculous if it’s becoming too much of an issue then. Or make it clear to her that she needs to clean up her attitude if she wants to stay on the team. If she genuinely cares that much about Adrien and Ladybug’s opinions, then she will make the effort or try and fix things regardless - otherwise, just boot her.

[nitewrighter]

I get what you are trying to say, but for the most part the ones complaining about Vicki's portrayal in MAWS are women.

I mean I can definitely get those complaints as part of the general body of "DC can be a major sausage fest" angle, and honestly I would love to see Lois develop a strong relationship with a female character within the show (like Ronnie pleeease can we see more Ronnie???), but I think it's also the general funky balancing issues of any show that's taking significant creative liberties with a well-known, well-loved IP and hasn't had a lot of time to really establish itself.

I mean for the most part, most of Lois's interactions with other women (in this case I'm talking about the League of Lois Lanes and Vicki Vale) are more about holding up a mirror to Lois as a character--the league of Lois Lanes obviously discussing both Lois's internal self-doubts and how there are significant differences between her and previous incarnations of her in media, and as I've said before, Vicki Vale representing pretty much everything Lois thought she wanted to be as a journalist prior to finding out Clark is Superman. And you do see early in the season the way Lois pursues a story like she has already come to all the conclusions she figures she needs to, is very similar to how Vicki pursues her exposé on Superman--which isn't journalism! Journalism is about investigating and finding the truth! Which is also probably why Lois is still stuck as an intern when we meet her, because she's been emulating this ball-busting B&E style of journalism without actually building up the necessary experience and compassion and direction to make it effective! I don't think the show really wants to pit women against each other so much as really ask the question of "How's Lois going to find her place in all this?"

I'm getting a little sidetracked but I do think that basically we haven't been able to see Lois develop a strong relationship with other women in the show because for this season, at least, the show's writing is about establishing this interpretation of Lois, Clark, and Jimmy. So basically what interactions the trio has with characters outside of the trio is more about establishing the trio themselves as characters than actually building relationships with characters outside the trio, you know? Like, just think back to Jimmy's interaction with Steve Lombard--like yes, we got to know Steve as this macho guy but ultimately that whole interaction was exploring Jimmy's feelings of being left behind by Clark and Lois and his frustrations with not being taken seriously as Flamebird.

Hopefully next season (if there is a next season) they'll be able to expand the cast more and build on more complex dynamics outside the trio (Pleeease bring in Kara pleeeease), but in the meantime I'm just going to say that DC has been doing whatever the hell it wants with Vicki Vale since forever. Vicki's been obsessed with proving Bruce Wayne is Batman, she's been a significant Bat-Love-Interest, she's been a supervillain, she's been a generic NPC newscaster, and now she gets to be this sort of reflection of Lois but also placed at a position in the narrative where she's completely independent from Batman and also has a surprising amount of power. Like I love the lore that she's been a rival journalist to Perry! It gives her a lot of flavor! It gives this fun sense that even in the midst of a whole bunch of superhero craziness, regular people have their foils and rivalries! Plenty of comic book characters have continued to persist despite less-than-flattering interpretations, and plenty of comic book characters have undergone significant changes basically to fit the narrative demands of being adapted to animation. This is not the be-all end-all of Vicki Vale.

Also I hate the concept of "if this female character is mean or unpleasant or unlikable to me as a woman then that means the writing is unfeminist." Like, just because a character is a bitch, that doesn't mean she's not bringing something to the story. Bitchiness can bring a lot to a story.

[invested-in-your-future]

They had to take a breather to develop characters. Hard to do with Salem's threat looming over them.

Plenty of fictional works manage to cram good ol' character development in even the most tense of the situations.

Honestly its rare to even find a fictional fantasy or contemporary world where some threat isn't looming over characters or the world isn't ending. How would character development happen then if the characters are running out of time against unbeatable threat?

By realizing that narrative progression =/= time passage.

The cool thing about fictional stories and overall fiction, is that passage of time is completely up to the control of the writer.

A character can reflect on a lifetime of achievements in split second. An entire book can take place during the exact same single hour but from different perspectives.

And again, RWBY knows this. Half the V3 transpires in literally less than a day. The whole finale takes up barely few hours. Even in the bad volumes the narrative uses the convenience of skipping ahead quite often to "get past" writing specific bits of story or to not have to deal with things.

The show already avoided dealing with so many issues, both outwardly between characters and inward, that its all boiling over. It doesn't take a filler padding dimension to actually have characters interact or emote or actually self-reflect or to make all those Chekov's guns go off.

The fact that they genuinely thought "we need to take the characters LITERALLY OUT OF THE PLOT so we can deal with this "character stuff"" is damning for writers. Like it's literally treating CHARACTERIZATION OF YOUR LEAD CAST as nothing but a sidequest.

And as for them doing this to develop characters...

But. They. Haven't????

Like AT ALL?

V9 does touch upon on some of surface-level issues, but also avoids like majority of core issues the show has never dealt with.

It starts by establishing few SHOCKING facts

"Ruby is Traumatized" - well gee, who would have known, its not like that's literally been obvious since V3. Does she reflect on Penny? LOL. On her worldview kind of falling apart? LOL. On the nature of her relationship with her team and how all of them have changed as people? NOPE ITS ALL FINE YOU ARE FLAWLESS BBY, TRAUMA AIN'T REAL. YOU DON'T ACTUALLY HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT AT ALL.

"Blake and Yang have unresolved issues" - Yes. Again. V3. Final Scene. They have issues they have never really spoken about. Issues that were set up but then got no progression as the characters just stood around. And guess what? They don't in this volume either. The show just sidesteps it. Because the personal character issues ARE STILL IGNORED - Has Yang dealt with her aimlessness and identity search and actually processed her trauma, her conflicting feelings about her overall role, her mother, her sister and everything else that has literally piled up for years? NOPE. Has Blake actually dealt with the moral conundrum she was living? Has she figured out what exactly she wants to do? NOPE. Have they both faced abandonment issues they have? LOL.

"Jaune feels bad" - well gee, that's a new one. Its not like ~70% of the show's screentime is telling us this for some reason rather than focusing on actual lead cast. Its okay, any consequences he managed to somehow get will be undone by MAGIC.

And beyond that? Weiss? PFFT. Penny's unfortunate fridging? PFFFFFT. The actual progression of characters being the focus? PFFT. Here's bunch of new absolutely nonsensical lore that completely breaks suspension of disbelief instead. How do you like talking animals in goofy alternate dimensions run by a tree?

Its like whoever wrote this took cursory glance at like Volume 1 character moments and went "this will do"...and then the lore about magic tree gods was vomited all over the result

If anything V9 tells us they won't Develop characters.

Let me sum up what V9, intentionally or unintentionally, says:

"Self Reflection is bad. Having flaws is BAD. Good People don't have flaws nor have to deal with psychological trauma nor have to question the morality of their actions or nature of their world. A mean evil being whispering on your shoulder is all that psychological trauma is and as long as you just reaffirm that nothing you did ever affects you or defines you it will all go away, especially if you have magic god tree available to plot device you. Whatever good or bad decisions you made don't matter. People enabling your behavior, flaws and escapism is what it means to be a good friend. Even passage of time and losing years meaninglessly doesn't really affect you or change you because you are not allowed to change and will go back to normal via a plot device. Acceptance and understanding of one's emotions, thought patterns and problems, one of fundamental elements of therapy (or really any sort of healing) is BAD. You don't need coping mechanisms of any sort if you ignore issues being there! Actually exploring your relationships with others and any sorts of issues and trauma there is BAD and you should just pretend its all fine between you all. Even facing your trauma is BAD - you need to avert your eyes, listen to the voices telling you you are flawless and move on. After all there's Absolute Unchanging Truth of Right and Wrong. There's absolute definitive way to view the world and yourself. There's only the True Way To Be Yourself and the rest is Lies. Whatever trauma or issues you have stems from LIES. Who needs self awareness? Who needs change? Who needs any sort of progress if an unchanging(literally) Divine Higher Will can just tell you what you are supposed to do with your life next?

All of that stuff about facing your trauma, picking yourself back up and the necessity to keep moving forward because nobody else will do that for you and you need to persevere through hardships(You know the specific thing Monty Oum wanted to focus on)? Who needs that when Greater Divine Beings Tell Your Perfect Flawless Existences What To Do and you don't ever need to change or grow as people or face your trauma and issues"

The purpose of entire V9, the purpose of the Volume upon which the very fate of RWBY franchise's continued existence hinges is all about telling you that NOTHING IN THE SHOW MATTERS and characters won't ever change or develop and will remain exactly the same till the day they achieve their Purpose.

Its yet another volume that literally doesn't matter. Just like majority of the show past V3. Just pretending the lead characters figured out their issues offscreen is better than what V9 gives us.

[khorazir]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thanks a lot for the tag, @helloliriels

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

25 (23 fics, 2 artworks)

2. What's your total A03 word count?

1,462,682

3. What fandoms do you write for?

BBC Sherlock

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Enigma

The Horse and his Doctor

Rewind

The Summer Boy

Putting up Shelves

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do, if only to thank the reader.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

None of my fics have angsty endings.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

All my fics have happy endings. For a while, I played with the idea of writing an unhappy ending for Enigma, but luckily decided against it.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. There’s been what I like to call ‘The Rabies Outrage’ in connection with my fic The Horse and his Doctor, in which I had John, a veterinarian, have an animal checked for rabies (as one does in this profession, especially if an animal is injured and is behaving oddly). Several (British) readers alerted me to the fact that there is no rabies in the UK and that hence, John wouldn’t have done this. I had, however, confirmation from actual British vets that of course one would check for this disease, even in the UK. But those readers made it seem as though I had personally insulted them by implying that rabies might be present in the UK after all.

9. Do you write smut?

Awkward and hopefully realistic sex-scenes, more like.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Kinda.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I’ve had fic uploaded at Wattpad and Goodreads without my permission, albeit on Goodreads, I think it was unintentional. They were uploaded via people’s ebook-readers. Still, it’s a pain to have them taken down again, and now with all this AI crap, I’m really sensitive about this issue, especially because plenty of my art has been stolen and uploaded in places where I’d never give permission for it to be uploaded. Some of it has also been used on t-shirt and stuff without my permission.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, several.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Back in the days of message boards, I co-wrote Tolkien fics.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Not sure about ‘all time’, but at the moment, it’s BBC Johnlock.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

The Passage

16. What are your writing strengths?

My readers can probably judge this better than I can, but I’d say dialogue and making places come alive.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Smut, I guess.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I’ve done this a few times: German in Nightjet, Over Hill and Under Hill and Enigma; French and Italian in Slipstream. I enjoy it as a reader, too.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

My first fanfic (of sorts) was an Indiana Jones story (first written in longhand and then typed on an actual typewriter – those were the days ...).

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Difficult to say. I like and dislike bits of all of my fics.

Tagging @discordantwords @raina-at @7-percent @calaisreno @jrow and whoever else wants to play.

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk in the Desert

Let me talk a bit more about Solarpunk this week. Especially about Solarpunk in different climates and areas. Because, let's face it: Most of Solarpunk art does depict either (sub)tropical foresty areas or at least temperate regions. It does not show any other climate extremes, which is kinda sad, because the world does not only exist in those lush green areas.

Of course, one of the big reasons is, that it kinda depicts the places it is from. For once South America had a big influence on Solarpunk, which is most oftenly associated with the lush rain forest of the amazonas. But also... White people kinda feel most at home in temperate regions.

But if either we woud establish a Solarpunk world - or you just wanted to write a Solarpunk stories... There would still be deserts.

And sure, we could talk about stopping desertification and such things. Something that is definitely important. But some desert should remain, because they are still a unique habitat. So, what does Solarpunk do with that - and how could people live in those areas?

Now, I have to underline again: Deserts are habitats for all sorts of flora and fauna. Animals live their, no matter how inhospitable to life they seem to be. Because of that they should be protected to some degree. Again: We should stop the spread of deserts into other habitats, but the desert in of itself is home to a lot of life, even if it might not seem that way.

As such it has also been a habitat to humans for a long while. No wonder. While humans did not originate in the deserts of Africa, those were darn close and of course some of the first humans went there and some managed to survive there. As such our species has actually a lot of experience when it comes to surviving in the desert.

Humans for the most part will not live in the middle of the desert, of course, but rather at the outskirts or maybe at an oasis of some sort. But of course even there people might need to deal with the elements. Like the heat, the sun, the cold nights (never forget: deserts are very cold at night), the generally dry climate.

Of course we could deal with the heat with ACs, but... ACs are not very good for the environment of course. But also: For most of human history, humans did not have ACs and humans have actually found a lot of ways to keep houses relatively cool through passive cooling system and by using building materials, that cool the insides and help the place well tempered.

But of course in modern times, we also could use heat pumps to move the temperate air around and keep the houses cool during the day and warm at night.

One big issue is the water. Of course, humans tend to go to places where there is water. Like an oasis or close to a lake or other body of water. But of course we do have an issue with the ground water declining for several reasons. So, what can we do?

Well, actually we have found intesting ways with harvesting the water from the air through all sorts of methods. For example by spanning wires, where the daw can collected during thr night. While it is not plentiful, it does work quite well.

But, of course, I cannot talk about solarpunk deserts without talking about photo voltaic and also wind energy.

There are those folks, who will propagade that it would be super practical to build like this giant, giant photo voltaic farm in the middle of the Sahara and then get all the energy from it. Which, technically... I mean, a lot would have to change, but yeah, there is a lot of energy there.

Even though... I am not a big fan of this idea. Because, again: Habitat. And animals cannot all live in those areas, where there is big, big photovoltaic. Still, some areas of the desert could be used as such to add to the general energy grids.

And, yes. There is also wind energy. Something a lot of people do not consider. But a lot of deserts have very windy areas, which could easily be used to generate energy. So... Yeah, that would be nice, wouldn't it?

[citadelofmythoughts]

I’ll be honest, I’ll always have a serious problem with seeing people want redemption for antagonists with a body count (no hate, just irritation). Like, I understand characters like Cinder and Shigaraki having tragic childhoods, but to me that doesn’t excuse their current actions, especially if they feel no sympathy, hesitation, and/or regret for their actions.

Cinder thus far has killed countless innocents (and Pyrrha especially) with a smile, only ever showing any other emotion when she gets her ass kicked or faced with a disappointed Salem.

Shigaraki only starts to have an issue with what he’s doing when AFO starts to try and steal his body.

They’ve both had plenty of opportunities to show any kind of remorse for their actions, but haven’t so far beyond selfish reasons. To me, they’re no more worthy of redemption than their respective bosses.

And yes, I do get that redemption is a theme in RWBY and that MHA is about rescuing people, but still there has to be a line, and imho they’ve both crossed it long ago.

When I mentioned Neo and Cinder last night, it was less about redemption (which is something they have to choose for themselves and no one else has to accept it or forgive them) than sympathy. I can see and somewhat understand what led them down that path.

My best friend is writing a series whose protagonist has done some truly heinous things even to her own family and friends because of some really, really poor decisions (which seemed like the only good options at the time) and she's finding it hard to find forgiveness even within herself.

But she's trying so hard to be better and that's what makes a good redemption. It's not as simple as saying "I'm on the good guy's side now". You have to do the work, you have to try to make amends. Not for forgiveness but because you are actually trying to undo the harm you've done.