#you can defend the US system to death but the simple fact is that many many young talents have wasted away in that system

[defensivelee]

Can you do The Menhera au and the Alien Alien au??? I think it’ll he fun!!

anything for you my dear Wivew <333

You would be right, it does look like fun! I think I would use the plot and setting of MENHERAMEN, but the general worldbuilding of Alien Alien. I think that'd be interesting, exploring that world with modern dynamics.

CW: mentions of addiction, abusive relationships, kidnapping, torture, objectification, and death.

William isn't stadtholder or king here, he's a simple Defender hybrid with the same issues he has in MENHERAMEN (addiction and PTSD). When he was younger and in the foster system, he was given a little android friend to cheer him up and bring everywhere, which would be given to a lot of kids here to help them with any issues they may have (therapy substitute, in their words).

His android, Bentinck, grows to be much more protective here than he is in Alien Alien, in a sense going down this path of bloodshed and darkness because of his own insecurities and uncertainty of what his destiny should be. In the original MENHERAMEN, he's never found any joy in his life other than when he is with William, and never shows himself any respect because he believes that's up to William to decide. In this AU, that's amplified by...a lot, considering he was quite literally made just for William. He follows Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics with pride, but he also won't hesitate to switch his First and Second Laws should William be in any danger.

Something added to his insecurity in this AU would be his worries that William may no longer need him once he grows and recovers from his trauma. Normally he wouldn't mind, in fact he takes pride in the fact that William decides when he dies...but oh, no. He's in love with his master, he doesn't want to leave him, he wants to be here to protect him forever.

So, of course, the overdose happens, and Bentinck kills Charles as he does in the original MENHERAMEN. From there the story would be pretty much the same as the original (for those of you who've read it), with just a few added dynamics that I think would be interesting to explore.

In MENHERAMEN, Bentinck is portrayed as a killer who has no idea what he's doing. He wanted Charles' death to be painless, but he just couldn't stab the correct artery...!! Things like that. Here, however, he uses his database to figure out how to make it as painless as possible...and by the time he kidnaps Marly, he can also know how to make it as painful as possible.

On that note, there are so many new ways a robot could mess with a biological being. In MENHERAMEN, he has a little fight with James, and that happens here too, of course. James tries to bite him, infect him with his venom, but there's just no way to make Bentinck back down. In addition, he wouldn't need to smack James on the head with any old stick-- he could just use his fist as it is, and if he swings hard enough, it can kill James. Also, of course, tail-snapping!! In Alien Alien, Bentinck accidentally breaks James' tail, but there's nothing accidental about it here.

When Marly is in Bentinck's possession, he can scream and fight all he wants, but a huge metal hand over your mouth is better than any average gag. He's also insanely strong-- a little human can't do much against that massive metal creature. The size difference would be a fun thing to explore, as well.

The romance between Keppel and Bentinck could also be fun! Keppel wouldn't be as much as an expert with robots as he is in Alien Alien, but he'd know some stuff here, enough so that Bentinck feels unsettled by just how much Keppel knows about how his body works.

But Bentinck wouldn't be the only one unsettled here. Keppel's aware of just how big and dangerous Bentinck can be, but he doesn't dare believe it at first-- Bentinck's the sweetest robot he knows, a gentle giant. Slowly, though, as Bentinck turns his violence against Keppel, he realizes that every time they're alone, he is in so much danger. Of course, that's a dynamic in the original MENHERAMEN, but here, just looking at Bentinck's hands sends shivers down Keppel's spine.

In Alien Alien, Bentinck considers himself inferior to the Asterothiriots. But in MENHERAMEN, he grows to consider himself superior, a hero, to everyone around him. What if I work with that dynamic here? While his confidence in his identity is shattering, he comes to believe himself superior to these nasty, feral little creatures-- he's smarter and stronger than they are, after all. Is he, then, not justified in doing what he pleases to them just because he can? After all they've done to him?

Add that to the Hansijoost dynamic! Humans are the most inferior species of all. Keppel doesn't deserve respect from Bentinck.

M&W would be interesting! Bentinck is not only threatened by the love Mary shows William, but by her species as well. She's fucking HUGE....and with a single bite, she could end William. Ironically enough, Bentinck's afraid that because of the inclinations of her species, she may snap the same way he did. He sees her as a far more plausible threat here than he does in MENHERAMEN and seeks to eliminate her as soon as possible.

Another threatening factor are her visions of the future. Not everyone has visions as precise as hers, thus she was the one who knew immediately, even before anything happened. But she held onto the hope, the thin thread where she stops him...sometimes following the dark paths where Bentinck ends her life. Later on, she's consumed with guilt over the knowledge that there were many times where she feels she could have stopped him, but didn't, all because she wanted to follow the unlikely timeline where she maybe could have stopped him and maybe everyone would have been safe.

In Alien Alien, there are times where something unexpected, but very small, happens and throws Mary's timelines off. By the time it's happened, she doesn't know what it is, because she can't look into the past. But...the day William overdoses, she just feels a twinge...something is wrong, and she notices immediately when William starts acting off.

Oh, and another thing I just thought of: she could have known the night Charles was going to die. She wanted to tell him, but she knows how dangerous Charles is (and by addition, his terrifying brother), so to protect Bentinck, perhaps she follows him downstairs and tries to talk him out of it. Ooh, yes, in fact, why not make that a dynamic? She knows, and he knows that she knows, and they play around with that until their final confrontation.

By the end of it, Bentinck is supposed to turn himself in. But there is no prison for androids, only deactivation. By that time, he thinks it's more than he deserves, as he's always believed death to be a more of reward for him rather than anything to be afraid of. But he doesn't complain. As it is, androids have no heaven.

[tybaphysio]

The impact of negativity bias on how pain is treated

When does negativity bias start?

Essentially, the first indication of negativity bias is seen in new-borns at around three months old. It looks like negativity bias is ingrained in us. They don’t know whether it’s a genetic propensity, such as an evolutionary code that has been passed down, or if it’s learned at a particular age. They can’t understand what’s going on, but they’re aware of the evolutionary significance. Because negativity is a step back and saying no, I’m not going to do this because there’s a danger of causing harm or dying at worst-case scenario, it plays an important role in evolutionary survival.

What about positivity?

The power of optimism, on the other hand, isn’t as significant as you might think. In an evolutionary sense, positivity has no benefit for us. It’s just a simple “yes,” implying that you can take one step forward. There is nopsychological boostto motivate us to modify our behaviour; just keep going until you hit a wall somewhere along the road. Nothing here will cause difficulty. It comes in when you get something like a donut as a reward. That feels fantastic. However, we all know the dangers of overeating too many doughnuts. And then you can’t control yourself because you’ve trained yourself to do so. And then you understand that you have no self-discipline.

How much of a part does negativity bias play in our lives?

Negativity bias is very powerful. And it has such a significant impact on our decision-making process as humans throughout our lives because it’s the first thing we become aware of, it’s the first tool we have to defend ourselves from injury or death or disgrace, or whatever it is. And because of that, it screens out everything. Everything we do, everything we see, and even the systems we rely on to look after us, such as ourhealth care system. It is a negativity bias that screens all the way through.

How does negativity bias impact our health system?

So with ourpublic health system, it’s all negative. It’s it’s about avoiding litigation. It’s about avoiding this. It’s about avoiding that. No one actually looks at the optimistic viewpoint of getting someone better. It’s well “we better avoid that”. You go to your GP and it “let’s do a scan” because we want to avoid this. Avoid this. Avoid that. No one has an optimistic viewpoint because it filters all the way from the top down.

The negative bias, this downward flow of effect, top-down, is in fact what I believe to be most responsible for us having such large issues with pain and injury across the world. It’s a statistic that I’ve referred to many times before, like a 63% increase over 30 years. You’d think that we’re so advanced now we should be seeing that drop, but we’re not. My theory is, is this negativity bias has filtered and penetrated the decision-making tree at such a high global order that we are just basically drumming ourselves into the ground.

For More Info:-->

[finderjust]

Intel power gadget big sur

INTEL POWER GADGET BIG SUR PRO

I heard this theory on TWIT not too long ago It is entirely possible that Intel promised OEMs like Apple, Dell, and ASUS that their upcoming Core i9 would fit well inside of a power envelop that Intel simply could not deliver. Intel provided a number for base frequency, assuming Apple did their jobs properly they'd have their own numbers on how the I9 performs and would have a cooling solution capable of handling it, just like every other Core I9 laptop.īut hey, let's not let user experience and performance get in the way of design and form. I'm saying that it is up to Apple to design and TEST their own products. You need a completely different Boost than what Intel uses because of that.ĭon't put words in my mouth, no I'm not saying that. You can do that in Desktop enviroments, maybe server but not in Mobile where you have a very close thermal budget due to size (and noise) Restrictions. So you're saying that the throtteling is perfectly normal and to be expected?īecause Intel said that their TDP is useless from the getgo and can't be trusted? You are deflecting blame from one of the Partys that is responsible for this mess and actually defending Apple! Its just a theory, but a theory that fits available data. If that info ends up being not accurate, then you are going to end up with problems when you have all these tooled chassis sitting around waiting to have Intels latest space heater plopped into them If that is what happened or not doesn’t actually matter, what does matter is realizing that an OEM can’t design a laptop without info from the CPU manufacturer. We either shift blame fully to all of those OEMs, or we can say, “You know what? Maybe Intel might have some share in this?” Notice a similarity? Many of them are relatively compact. My opinion is that those laptops would’ve been better off with the 8750H or 8850H. The fact that an MSI GT-series laptop sees very high temperatures at 3.8GHz should already be a red flag for anyone wanting to put the same chip in smaller machines. It’s such a silly decision to put such a hot CPU inside a compact laptop without ensuring adequate cooling. It’ll run far hotter than the cooling system is able to handle and as a consequence, that CPU will have to throttle back and may even slowly damage itself over time. However, manufacturers putting them inside compact machines are signing a death sentence. Intel made a CPU that was so hot that it was really only suitable for big beefy desktop replacements. Likely now made worse due to the increased power demandsĮurocom Q8 - Struggles to maintain base while playing The Witcher 3ĪSUS Zenbook Pro - Just manages to maintain base but at close to 100 degrees as a consequence They aren’t MacBook-level expensive but they’re still expensive, some of which are close.Īlienware 15 R4 - Struggles to outperform an 8750H How many of those(x number you need to give me) are billed as premium and cost as much as the macbook? So how many others throttle to below base clock? Nobody forced Apple to create this thing and nobody forced them to sell it to customers knowing it wasn't working correctly.

INTEL POWER GADGET BIG SUR PRO

Intels CPU is behaving normally, the fact giant gaming laptops can't keep the I9 cool should have been a hint and yet the thin & light MacBook Pro I9 still exists. It's up to Apple to ensure the product they designed and are selling is tested properly. Now let's say that Maclaren had been using this tyre on the 540c for years with zero issues so they decided to start using it on the P1 too but suddenly tyres started exploding. Let's imagine for a second that Toyo made a tyre and this tyre had a spec sheet that rated it as good for a top speed of 180mph and a max torque of 750n/m. It's very simple, if you cram 2 extra cores into a cooling solution that wasn't designed to handle it without changing anything about said cooling solution then you cannot realistically expect the new product to perform the same as the old product. Refer to Datasheet for thermal solution requirements. Thermal Design Power (TDP) represents the average power, in watts, the processor dissipates when operating at Base Frequency with all cores active under an Intel-defined, high-complexity workload.

[hardtchill]

You’re being purposefully obtuse. Julie is injured and will not be playing, truthfully if she doesn’t return by next January camp I believe she’s done. Andi will be starting this camp. That means we STILL need a backup for her! This situation is not the same with Huerta, stop using her as a scapegoat to try and say players shouldn’t try to get onto the USWNT if they can. Same shit was said about Cat before she switched over! And she’s having a decent first few years.

Dude, you're not seeing the actual problem.

The problem in the US has never been a lack of talent. There were back ups for Ertz and still are, but they refused to develop those available until Ertz got injured and they panicked. Why would Damaris be the exception to the rule?

Also, Cat is a completely different example. She always played for the US and it has been clear for a long time that she would choose the US. Damaris would switch suddenly after playing for Spain during her youth years, it's very different.

You can pretend that Damaris is needed, but in truth she is not. What the US needs is to stop playing starters to death and giving young talent chances. And yes Damaris can be that talent that gets a chance, but right now that is not the system the US uses.

So yeah, seeing as she can choose two other countries with way better track records of giving young players chances, the US wouldn't be my pick for a player like her.

[farmerbrown]

COLUMBINE STUDENT'S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !! Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript: "Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers. "The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart. "In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent. I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. Your laws ignore our deepest needs, Your words are empty air. You've stripped away our heritage, You've outlawed simple prayer. Now gunshots fill our classrooms, And precious children die. You seek for answers everywhere, And ask the question "Why?" You regulate restrictive laws, Through legislative creed. And yet you fail to understand, That God is what we need! "Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts. "As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone! My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!" - Darrell Scott Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can. God Bless ~Charles

[news4dzhozhar]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/08/biden-commute-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-death-sentence/

The Supreme Court has just overturned that ruling and ordered that the death sentence be reinstated.

Now, the life-or-death question is whether President Biden, who has expressed deep concerns about the death penalty and holds the power to commute federal death sentences, will confront the central reality of our capital punishment processes.

The fact is, our adversary system can never generate the individualized moral judgment that the modern death penalty requires. Tsarnaev’s case shows why.

The annals of death-penalty litigation bulge with horrific lawyers. We have prosecutors who hide evidence, encourage perjury or showcase bogus forensic science. We have drunk defenders, buffoon defenders and defenders who refer to their clients by the n-word. Those miserable lawyers are an indictment of the capital punishment system in operation.

Don’t let them distract you.

If you have followed the Tsarnaev story, you have watched some of the most dedicated and accomplished lawyers in the country demonstrate the bankruptcy of the capital punishment system in principle.

The reality is brutally simple. Great lawyers can’t supply the understanding of an individual that a moral judgment requires. They won’t even try. The prosecutors used their skills to get Tsarnaev killed; the defenders used theirs to keep him alive.

The prosecutors’ strategy is to collapse the actor into the act. The details of the life of a Tsarnaev simply get in prosecutors’ way. Prosecutors want a silhouette.

What sort of person is Tsarnaev? The prosecutors’ answer is “the sort of person who would commit these murders.” They don’t care what representation of Tsarnaev the defense offers; beneath that representation, the murderer abides, and always did.

The defenders represent the defendant by a process that goes by the Orwellian term “humanizing.” They must commit themselves to a particular version of a human, then portray only that version, and as vividly as possible.

But where do they start? Ask Tsarnaev? How many of us know ourselves well enough to assist with that challenge? Is there reason to think that Tsarnaev, seeing complex family and cultural dynamics from inside a teenager’s isolated world, ever had much understanding of them?

Besides, no relationship in which one partner holds the other’s life in her hands will be free of the distorting effects of power. Silence and concealment are the reflex of the vulnerable in the presence of the powerful. All the raw materials for a portrait — the school records, medical records, tests — are warped by similar dynamics. No capital defendant, no matter how much he likes his lawyers, can be anything but panicked by the possibilities that disclosure might bring down on him.

And assembling a courtroom mosaic to portray a capital defendant is like handling nitroglycerin.

Defenders in death cases don’t lie or make things up. But they do leave things out, because before they put anything in, they must perform a harrowing analysis of whether some trivial fact gets their client killed. Some information — a mental health evaluation, for example — can open the door to damaging reframing by the prosecutors: It’s too dangerous to share.

No one can be certain how a juror — the crucial juror — will react to any fact. Will he see Tsarnaev’s flat calm at the counsel table as a terrified adolescent’s shutdown, or as evidence of sociopathy?

At the end of Tsarnaev’s trial, the jurors voted on the fate of a portrait — on the life or death of the courtroom effigy that substituted for Tsarnaev.

But when jurors vote for death, there will be an execution. Then, the effigy will not suffice, and the actual human, not the “humanized” courtroom construction, will be substituted and strapped to the gurney.

The prisoner executed will be a stranger to the jurors who condemned him.

And despite the thousands of stories we’ve read about him, Tsarnaev will remain a stranger to the community for which the jurors acted.

That’s the way our system works. Every time. Will Biden face that fact and commute the sentences of the 44 prisoners on the federal death row to life in prison?

[marty101sblog]

Guess our national leaders didn't expect this. On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death.

Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,

Your words are empty air.

You've stripped away our heritage,

You've outlawed simple prayer.

Now gunshots fill our classrooms,

And precious children die.

You seek for answers everywhere,

And ask the question "Why?"

You regulate restrictive laws,

Through legislative creed.

And yet you fail to understand,

That God is what we need!

"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"

December 16, 2012

COLUMBINE STUDENT'S FATHER 12 YEARS LATER !!

- Darrell Scott

Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can.

God Bless

[thekingofwinterblog]

How Amphibia eases into it’s magical power system

In the Isekai genre, it’s common for the characters who are sucked away from their home and into another, wacky world full of adventure and mystery to be blessed with powers of some kind. Usually to even the playing field, in this new setting that is often quite dangerous. These can be anything, from super strenght, to an intricate and supernatural understanding of the behind the scenes rules of the setting’s magic system, to something as simple as a superpowered animal companion.

Amphibia is no exception to this concept, but it’s use of this trope is a bit more subtle than first meets the eye.

The main human characters of the story, Anne, Sasha and Marcy, are transported to the death world of Amphibia, where sentient frogs, toads, newts and salamanders rule, birds are horrifying, giant abominations, and insects as big as they were in prehistoric times.

As they were transported there, the magical box(The Calamity Box) that sent them there from Earth also imbues them with the energy that powers the device, infusing them with wast, magical energy that in times of immense emotions, bursts out and infuses the three girls with incredible superhuman physical capacity. 

Sasha would use this power to free an immensely heavy warhammer lodged so hard no one had ever lifted it, and take down a giant stone golem in a gravity increased room, Marcy to escape the insides of a giant ant queen, and Anne to defend herself from a giant mantis in the first episode, a vegetable Getter Robo in season 2 premiere, before finally unlocking the powers true potential in the season 2 finale, as she achieves a superform where she is able to not only harness the power to boost her physical might to titanic degrees, but also channel it outside of her own body.

Where Amphibia differes from most other Isekai, is that these powers, while very, very usefull and critical in several moments in the story, isn’t in any way, a part of the characters regular arsenal, at least not before the season 2 finale.

Before that, they are for the most part just regular human girls, who has no superhuman abilities. Or at least that’s what the show wants you to think the first time watching.

However, if one actually begins to look at the feats of each of the girls in a critical eye thoughouth the first two seasons outside of these moments where the magic is clearly flowing through them, one starts to notice the fact that even outside of these bursts of energy, these girls are WAY stronger, faster, and more durable than any 13 year old girls could ever dream being.

In the early first season, It is very easy to dismiss just how strong Anne is as cartoon logic, because the show hasn’t established itself yet as a world where the fact that it’s characters generally arent superhumanly strong, and they usally struggle with bigger, stronger enemies is fully established. And by the time you start questioning the fact that this 13 year old girl is capable of carrying the entire plantar family on her back while moving at high speeds, is capable of jumping at an olympic level when the situation calls for it, and is beaten around, survives falls, and all in all is the subject of slapstick and amusing injuries that by all accounts should have killed her many times over, the show expects you to treat this as normal. 

The frogs can take much more abuse than humans generally can because they presumably have adapted to do so, and so since the “Regular” frogs can do it, the show knows that the viewer is less likely to ask why Anne is able to. And that is intentional, because the show doesnt want to outright spell that there is much more to Anne physically than meets the eye, even withouth the power inside being unleashed in full. It’s definitly there, and if you pay attention, you can figure it out, but there isnt a moment where this surprising level of strenght is brought directly to the forefront as a thing people comment on(The frogs have no frame of reference, and Anne probably isnt fully noticing it, because she’s not become blatantly superhuman).

However, the moment where is should be obvious for the viewer that there is more going on here, is the episode “Toad Tax” where Anne’s arm is broken by being hit by a giant, spiked wooden cudgel, wielded by a very strong Toad.

On paper, that doesnt sound pretty impressive, but when you compare the mace, the wielder, and the fact it was a direct, downwards blow on an outstretched arm, the fact that it only resulted in internal damage is freaking miracle.

I mean, look at that, it didn’t even break the skin, despite the fact that such a blow should have destroyed her arm enough that bones was sticking out of it.

But that isn’t the real miracle. no the real miracle is that Anne not only came off of the whole thing with what looks like a minor, internal break, but she shrugs it off by the next week, having seemingly made a complete recovery by the time of “Grubhog Day”. 

And for those wondering, a broken human bone usually takes weeks, up to two month’s to recover. in other words, about the entirety of time that took place over the course of season 1. And this miracelous durability and ability to get up from broken bones in record time isnt something limited to just Anne either.

As we know from her theme song takeover, literarly the first thing that happened to marcy, is that she took a tumble down a ridiculously tall staircase. A nasty fall that by all accounts should have killed her many times over.

How badly is she hurt from this catastrophical fall?

She breaks her leg, gets a cut, and some nasty bruises, probably some internal damage to her hand. Then, after making a recovery she went out, became a royal ranger, a state advisor, fought pirates, a cult, did research on salamanders brain, and learned a shit ton of the local culture, history, and technology.

And all of that, happened over the course of 3 months.

It’s not hard to guess that like Anne, she probably shrugged off the broken bones in record time, before going right out and doing incredible physical stunts.

Also, unlike Anne and Sasha, Marcy does not seem to have been a particularly physically active kid before coming to amphibia, and yet she constantly pulls off ridiculously impressive athletics feats, just like Sasha and Anne(though to be fair, she seems to be the weakest of the three by a fair margin).

I could cover Sasha’s feats.... But that fact of the matter is that the stuff she does before losing the direct connection to the pink gem is so jawdroppingly impressive that it speaks for itself.

What it all boils down to, is that Anne, Sasha and Marcy all seems to have been granted a pretty impressive boost to their physical capabilites, durability, and healing capacity, that they had access to even withouth having to tap directly into their respective gem powers.

What is also interesting is that these powers don’t seem to have completely gone away after their respective draining either, as both Sasha an Marcy keeps pulling off jaw droppingly impressive feats even afterwards(though in Sasha’s case the drop in sheer power is very, very noticable). That would suggest that either their connections to their respective powers isnt completely gone after all, or the very fact they served as vessels to these powers permanently altered their bodies.

In any case, it’ a very interesting and restrained power system, that achieves both to “Level the Playing field” withouth making the protagonist overpowered, as well as hint at the future that would come with Anne’s super mode.

All in all, while i don’t think the show did a good enough job at handling the outbursts of power in season 1 and 2(in season 1 i would say that anne not having a burst of power while carrying the Plantars up the mountain to the spring is a flat out plot hole, and there are other times where it really, really should have shown up in some shape or form), i do applaud the show for keeping this lower, more lowkey but always present level of supernatural on the downlow, as a thing that is noticable, but not so blatant that every single viewer figures it out on day one.

[thepumpkinthingart]

You say we are not here for venom content, but I personally am always a sucker for a) lgbtqia+ content and b) the potential for Aus between fandoms. For example, ishimondo venom au. Do with that concept as you will. Also, what did you think of the Venom movie?

You have given me wayyy too much power, and sent me down a rabbit hole of relooking back into my comics for symbiote lore to figure out how I wanted to do this. For that- I thank you. Omg Did I spend forever coming up with ideas and working out how I wanted to do this.

Hope I did some justice for this AU, may I present - Ishimondo Venom Au

Symbiote! Kiyotaka was soooo much fun to figure out! Trying to figure out how to make something look like Taka while also being a shift-shaping blob? Oh god- there was many, many blob drafts.

I really wasn’t sure how I wanted to do this, a simple Venomize Mondo would of been neat enough. BUT I am sucker for the relationship Eddie and Venom have in the comics, I mean their whole relationship dynamic is loving someone so much you never want to be apart from them. That you’ll go to great length to protect and finding yourself whole with this creature and I of course then had to make one of them the symbiote. Originally this was gonna be Mondo. I thought loud biker man may fit the carnivorous alien bill better. But, more I thought about it and more I looked back at the comics the more I tipped into thinking I could do more with symbiote!Taka.

Concept work for Symbiote!Taka

I got into many, many ideas on how these two function and interact.

-Taka thinks Humans are some of the most disorganized chaotic creatures he has ever meet, right after his own species. All he seen from the humans so far is disorganization, the fact they pump weird not food subsistence into perfectly edible food, and do things like share germs through their mouths. Are they trying to kill each other?!

-which means is perfect host is of course a chaotic, unorganized, fast food loving biker. How wonderful for uptight alien child.

-Taka refuses to eat the process junk Mondo often buys, terrified the weird chemicals he learned so much about that humans put in there food will be the death of him. Nope, nope, Mondo had to get him Grade A meat with no preservatives .

-Up first Mondo and Taka constantly fight (A tale as old as time) mostly for control as Taka is ether trying to get away from whatever dangerous or ‘completely horrfic’ thing Mondo it trying to do or eat. This makes biking hard for awhile as Taka is completely terrified of the ‘death rawr maker’. It takes a lot of convincing the motorcycle isn’ta death trap and they finally do come to the agreement if Mondo is in actual danger Taka can put a stop to it. But this has lead to Taka just stopping the bike entirely cause there is a acorn in the road.

-Taka doesn’t need to sleep and is too curious about everything around him. This is lead to Mondo leaving on documentaries whenever he actually does go to bed to leave Taka entertained. When he wakes up Taka is more then excited to go on about all he learned about!

-eventually Mondo convinces Taka he won’t die if he eats Mcdoanlds. He still cares to disagree but has taken to nipping at fries.

-Protecting himself and his host is upmost important... but this slowly turns into protecting Mondo is upmost important

-Ishida is the Takaized Mondo, Which very rarely happens. Mondo can take care of himself and protecting Taka way from those who would take him is much more important. Very rarely does full suit happen unless it’s a situation that is life or death.

-After the death of Daiya, Mondo felt more alone then ever. Losing his whole support system in one go and feeling guilty for the death. Taka has become a rock in his world he didn’t know he needed. Feeling whole with a alien of all things isn’t what he expected out of life. But, He will defend Taka with his life at this point.

-Taking some liberties and Sleeper abilities from the comics. Each symbiote has a unique feature they can do. Sleeper able to use dead host, Carnage able to make weapons of mass destruction- Taka over time has found he can create a human like appearance. Although still attached to his host (Why you will never see Taka without Mondo) it has allowed him some more freedom in being able to explore. Although this form isn’t perfect, going out in public is still heavily avoided.

How did they meet?

How do you think? Mondo touching shit he shouldn’t of Been, of course!

As for my thoughts on the venom movie? I fuckin loved it. I am a avid comicbook nerd, I love looking at comic art and reading the stories so my venom comic collection is extensive. While the venom movie varies wildly from the origins and extent personalities from the comics, I still really enjoyed Tom Hardy’s performances as both characters. Also VENOM LET THERE BE CARNAGE IS COMING AND I AM HYPED.

Although, I do hope I get to see my two favorite symbiotes Scream and Sleeper in the movies at some point!!!

Thanks anon! This was definitely a challenge to figure out, hopefully I have done this idea some justice!

[gralunaisland]

About those who try to defend Juvia's stalking with "Japanese culture finds it okay!"

...don't stalking cases in Japan met with public outcry as well?

Statistics and Analysis of Japanese Stalking Data to Debunk a Pro Gr//vian Argument

TW: stalking, mentions of assault

Thank you for the great question!

I did some research into this, and it really doesn’t seem like the regular Japanese citizens appreciate stalking or think it’s normal. There is in fact plenty of public outcry against it.

(Side note: I’d suggest reading this post of mine since it’s about this subject! I debunk the “culture” argument in its entirety.)

Anyway, here’s what I found:

It was quite recently that they enacted harsher Anti Stalking Act after 1999, where after a college student was stabbed to death after reporting to the police that she’d been stalked and the police hadn’t done anything about it. It allowed people to get the police to issue public warnings against the stalker, which apparently are pretty effective according to this study, but according to this investigative video, the number of stalking turned killing is still at large. The video’s description claims that Japan’s ratio of stalking is growing faster than other countries, but I can’t find other sources talking about that.

This shows that even the Japanese government realizes the evils that stalking causes, and the even worse potential harm that can come from it.

Under the new anti-stalking law, victims can ask the police to issue warnings against stalkers. These simple warnings have been quite effective. Of the 453 people the police issued warnings to in the six months after the law took effect, 96% ceased their stalking activities. If a stalker continues to persist after the initial police warning, a desist order, which is similar to a restraining order, is issued to the stalker. Upon violation of this order, the stalker faces increased penalties ranging from a maximum of one year in jail to a 1 million yen fine. Although it developed later in time, the Japanese anti-stalking law is much more pro-active and victim-oriented than any of the anti- stalking laws that exist in the United States today. While not mandated to do so, the Japanese police lend portable securitybuzzers and telephone answering machines to victims.'" Furthermore, they give victimstechnical advice on how to blockcellular phone calls and e-mails. At the request of the victim, the police will also give the victim their stalker's address, presumably so that the victim can take affirmative steps to avoid thestalker or move far away from the stalker.

Another advancement of the anti stalking laws:

The law was updated in 2012 to take into account advances in technology, with threats sent by e-mail added to that list. Police were also given the power to issue perpetrators with a warning or ban them from certain areas where their victims live or work.

Perhaps people who use the argument that “it’s culture” have an inkling of truth, but not in the way they were thinking. It seems a lot of times the culture of the Japanese police would be to victim blame those who came forward to report stalking. Here’s an excerpt from the study I mentioned earlier:

Of twenty-five [stalking victims] polled, approximately 40% of the victims said they were dissatisfied with the response of the police who handled their cases. They claimed that the police do not provide protection if they are merely harassed, and that investigators are "reluctant to do their job.” Other victims complained that the police do not even listen to their claims." Many of these victims want harsher punishments and "a government-backed system to compensate those who suffer psychological effects from stalking, as well as a third-party body to provide consolation and support other than the police." While the majority of the victims in Japan feel that the new anti- stalking law is effective in stopping the behavior of their stalkers, both victims and investigators seem to agree that the investigators need to work on their "skill and delicacy in talking with victims and their families. This is because there is a general attitude of mistrust when it comes to the police because of how they handled stalking- related crimes and deaths in the past. Although police complain that many victims are not honest with them about their relationship with their stalkers, they concede that they do not have "special knowledge about stalking and lack understanding of the victims' feelings."

From here, it’s clear many of the stalking victims in Japan are not satisfied with how the police or laws handle the perpetrators. Clearly, stalking isn’t just the norm and something people think of as ok. It’s the opinions of the Japanese police that make it seem like stalking isn’t that important.

I’ve seen several articles talking about the police response, and some examples include the police asking the victim if they’d done anything to warrant stalking, such as this excerpt from another article:

It is a longstanding police practice in Japan (and many other countries) to stay out of domestic or inter-personal disputes, instead urging the parties to resolve the problems themselves or to accept personal responsibility for whatever is happening to them. It is therefore regrettably common for the police to ask victims intimidating questions or making assumed statements such as, “You must have done something to cause this” or “Are you sure you want to file a formal complaint?” In the Japanese context, this kind of questioning can often result in the victim leaving without taking any official action, choosing instead to endure the situation a little longer, possibly with unfortunate results.

Another quote from a different article:

After two incidents in the five years she has lived in Japan, an American professor at an international college - who only wants to be identified by her first name, Holly - set up an online forum for women who have been attacked. The first time was around 10 in the morning in Osaka when a man picked her up and tried to carry her into a short-stay "love hotel." Kicking and fighting, Holly called out to a police officer - at which point her assailant dropped her, bought a bottle of water from a vending machine, gave it to her, said "sorry" and walked off. In her latest brush with aggression, a man seized her when she was riding her bicycle and accused her of stealing it. Holly is sure that worse would have followed if she had not been able to escape after an altercation that lasted several minutes and was ignored by dozens of passers-by. The response at the police station was a shrug and "It can't be helped. Maybe you should not be out alone at night." "It's as if we are easy targets," she said.

And from the same:

Even with the new laws, there has been fierce criticism of the police - from the media and the public - for failing to protect women who seek their advice, such as the case of schoolgirl Saaya Suzuki, who was knifed to death in her home in October of last year. Before the attack, Suzuki had reported Charles Ikenaga to her local police station after their relationship had broken down. When she blocked his phone calls and mail messages he began to threaten her. After her death, it also emerged that that a police officer had dismissed Suzuki and a teacher just days before the attack because they were not able to act on non-urgent cases on weekends and he failed to inform a senior officer. "Even though police had received complaints from the victim, they failed to offer her sufficient protection," the Mainichi newspaper said in an editorial. "The interview with law-enforcement sources and school officials suggests that the police did not act with sufficient urgency, even though stalking cases can often escalate into serious crimes."

The public tends to be unhappy with the police and criticize them fiercely for their lack of care in this subject, despite even more new legislation to protect stalking victims. Maybe you could call it the “culture of the police” to not take stalking or stalking victims seriously, (that would be different from the Pro argument still though because it’s not like the police really think it’s ok, it’s just that they don’t want to have to do “extraneous” work that may not even lead to other crimes. It stems from laziness and lack of empathy, not a deeply ingrained cultural Japanese thing where stalkers are celebrated, as per some Pro arguments) but Pro gr///vians can’t pretend that regular Japanese people think stalking is just a regular occurrence that’s no big deal.

Now, here’s something else we have to consider; it might be a part of an old, sexist, cultural value where the rampant Japanese stalking stems from.

"Japanese men still have a sense that they have more freedom and authority over women, and that's partly a result of the traditional values that are still in place here," Makoto Watanabe, a lecture in communications and media at Hokkaido Bunkyo University, told DW. "And superficially, this looks like a peaceful society, but Japanese men still hold true to principles and values that only sometimes appear in the public sphere. In addition, men here struggle to find a way to treat someone who is so fundamentally different to what they are used to," he added.

That was in one of the articles I linked already. And in the investigative video I also linked, where they talk to an actual stalker, he revealed he believed he owned his ex completely, that she was his property and her wishes didn’t matter, that eventually, he would even kill her to make her his forever.

Of course, men can be victims of stalking too, and by women no less, and I never want to make light of those situations. Either way, stalking is a wicked, evil thing, and women should also be punished heavily for doing it to others. (EHEM juvia). However, most of the stalkers are men. On Statistica, it says that in the year 2020, 87.6% of the stalking victims were women and 80.7% of the stalkers were men out of 20.2 thousand reports in Japan.

So, while the “traditional values” reasoning probably doesn’t apply to the female stalkers, for the male stalkers, maybe a motivating factor of their stalking is their belief that women are inferior, that they are objects for men to own, that they don’t have the same rights and that’s why men can stalk women without remorse. (I think this still coincides with what female stalkers think though, that their victim doesn’t have the same rights and that their victim is theirs to own; the women just probably don’t get this reasoning from the traditional Japanese culture though.)

Maybe this could contribute to the Pro’s argument that stalking really is a part of Japanese culture.

HOWEVER.

It really does nothing to prove what the Pros were really trying to, that regular Japanese people find juvia’s stalking behavior to be funny and normal.

Here’s my response after looking at the facts.

So, ok, there are some people in Japan who might find the stalker-harassment bit in anime, in Fairy Tail, funny. (We already knew this though, because some people just like evil things in media).

But.

Do Pros really want to be proud of the fact that the sexist, misogynistic/misandrist criminals are the ones in Japanese culture who would find it funny???

Hooray? Woopdidoo?

The regular public of Japan clearly hates stalkers and wants even harsher punishment of them and more reparations for the victims, and they want their police to wise up and do better, but because the actual perps like stalking and might find it funny and relatable in anime, might find juvia’s behavior to be funny and relatable, that makes it ok???

That’s a huge fat no from me.

Try again, Pros, try again.

Side note:

here’s the definition of stalking in Japan.

In Japan, stalking is defined as "repeated acts of harassment of a specific person, motivated by an emotional attachment or a grudge borne because of unrequited love." A person who engages in any of the following eight activities can be charged with stalking:

1. Following and waiting near or visiting the victim's home, office, school or other places the victim frequents without a previous appointment.

2. Placing the victim under relentless surveillance and informing the victim that he or she is being closely watched.

3. Demanding to meet or go out with the victim when he or she has no wish to do so.

4. Speaking or acting rudely toward the victim.

5. Making silent or constant telephone calls or sending repeated fax messages to the victim.

6. Sending repugnant items that will cause discomfort to the victim such as excrement or dead animals.

7. Telling the victim that the stalker knows secrets that could ruin the victim's reputation.

8. Telling the victim things that will make him or her feel sexually debased or sending documents or pictures that will sexually embarrass the victim.

juvia literally is the definition of “repeated acts of harassment of a specific person (Gray duh), motivated by emotional attachment or a grudge borne because of unrequited love”.

she followed him all over the place without appointment, she literally keeps him under relentless surveillance, she demands and believes that Gray dates her, she acts plenty rude to him by invading his privacy, personal space, and ignoring his refusal of her, she sends him plenty of items, from explicit body pillows of her to trying to force feed him buns with his or her face on them, to giving him a bento box with his face on it when he had no clue who’d given it to him, etc etc, (not to mention she made an entire secret stash of Gray merch that she gets off on *shudders*) and she also makes Gray feel sexually debased through trying to get him to spank her publicly and throwing herself onto him every chance she gets.

Yeah, but she’s so cute amirite?

[problematic-faves-appreciation]

Problematic Faves Cliffs Notes: Harvey Dent/Two-Face

Batman (1980) #329

Summary: Once a crusading district attorney that worked alongside Batman and Jim Gordon to fight crime – now the duality-obsessed super criminal known as Two-Face.

Harvey Dent also serves as a dark reflection of Batman's own struggles living a dual life with conflicting identities.

Main Goal: To enact his own justice whilst committing crimes.

Fears: Uncertainty, himself in general [the things he's capable of, specifically], losing control, his loved ones dying, his darker half discovering Bruce's secret identity [Detective Comics (2016) #1021], Renee Montoya's rejection [Batman: No Man's Land, novel], and the Joker [Joker (2008), only].

Mindset: Sees himself bound by fate and its will. As a result of Harvey's black-and-white worldviews, he considers his two-headed (scarred on one side) silver dollar a truly objective instrument of justice due to it only yielding two simple, 50/50 outcomes at the end of every coin toss.

"Some people go to the beach to forget their problems. They can watch the waves for hours. I understand the fascination.

There's a pattern – then there is no pattern.

It's the same with the coin. We want it all to mean something – we want to find the pattern – but in the final analysis, it's just waves."

— Harvey Dent, Secret Origins Special (1989) #1

•••

"He was always interested in the law – some might say obsessed. Man's law gave order to Harvey's world – they delineated the parameters of right and wrong, good and evil. They gave him something to believe in."

— Gilda Dent, Secret Origins Special (1989) #1

•••

Hugo Strange: Let's go back further, you were a rising star, a beacon of light for this city. A white knight riding in to save it with the Dark Knight not far behind.

Harvey Dent: You can leave him out of this. He is wrong. They all are. No one understands the beauty of fate's hand. I am grateful to Falcone. He gave me a clarity; a purity that few will know. Everything boils down to a simple choice, this way or that way, good... or bad.

Hugo Strange: Do you really believe that?

Harvey Dent: How could I not?

— Batman: Arkham City

•••

Batman: If you pull the trigger, how are you different from the Roman?

Harvey Dent: That's Jim Gordon talking. You know the system doesn't work. That justice can be decided like the flip of a coin.

— The Long Halloween

•••

"You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time... but you were wrong! The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced, fair."

— Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight

•••

"Life's a lottery, Holman. It's chance that decides who lives and who dies. Who gets cancer. Which kid is born with spina bifida. Who gets run over by a truck.

This [the coin] is what decides whether or not I blow your wife's brains out."

— Harvey Dent, Joker's Asylum: Two-Face #1 

Teen Titans Spotlight (1987) #13

Character Traits:

🌗 Loving • Idealistic • Genuine • Principled • Resolute • Focused • Driven • Workaholic • Passionate • Eloquent • Wrathful • Obssessed • Brooding • Self-loathing • Black-and-white thinking • Dauntless • Fair • Honest (generally) • Man of his word • Learned helplessness (regarding the coin and his choices) • Self-destructive • Unpredictable • Hair-trigger temper • Can be persuaded • Charitable (depends on coin toss) • Takes his pain out on others • Self-enabling • Serious • Harsh • Intimidating • Vengeful • Physically violent • Self-aware • Conflicted • Feels remorse • Tries, but fails to improve as a person • Too Dependent on his coin • Fatalistic • Suicidal • Forgiving • Self-centered, but not selfish 🌗

Key Facts:

Harvey Dent...

• Had mental health issues long before his disfigurement [Batman Annual (1990 #14, Batman: The Animated Series - Episode 10, and Batman: Arkham City].

• His father physically abused him every day as a child. Christopher Dent used a double-headed coin to make Harvey believe he could "avoid" the beatings if the coin landed on the non-existent "tails" [Batman Annual #14].

• Bruce Wayne was his childhood friend [Rebirth universe & Batman: Nightwalker].

• Harvey "Legal Eagle" Dent was the top of his class [Secret Origins Special (1989) #1].

• Paid for his father's nice apartment [Batman: Two-Face (1995) - Crime & Punishment].

• Half of Harvey wanted to love his father, while the other half wished him dead. Despite everything, he tried to make peace with Christopher prior to the acid attack [Batman Annual #14].

• Never stopped loving/thinking about Gilda Dent when she disappeared from his life following the events of the Long Halloween [Batman (2006) #653 & Batman (2011) #712].

What's more, Harvey continued loving Gilda so much that he wound up murdering her second husband's killer in a pre-Long-Halloween continuity [Batman (1980) #329] because the man's death left Gilda grieving.

• Fun fact: The Power of Love helped him resist Poison Ivy's pheromones in the Dark Victory #11!

Begone, thot!

• Blamed Batman for what happened to him with Salvatore Maroni Carmine Falcone and the acid attack that scarred his face [Batman: Arkham Knight].

• Uses his coin to determine whether he should kill or spare his victims. Also, he has been known to perform acts of charity [Detective Comics (1942) #66 & Batman: The Silver Age Newspaper Comics Volume 3 (1969-1972)] sometimes.

• Loves and hates Gotham [Batman and Robin (2013) #23.1].

• Dislikes hypocrites [Batman: Two-Face (1995) - Crime and Punishment & The Spectre (2001) #5].

• Developed strong feelings for Renee Montoya in the Batman: No Man's Land storyline.

• Continued caring about Renee deeply, despite the events of Gotham Central (2003) #10 [Convergence: The Question #1-2].

Received training from Batman [Batman #653] and Deathstroke [Deathstroke (2018) #38].

• Has tried growing better as a person, but he keeps failing [Batman Annual #14 & Batman and Robin Adventures (1995) #1-2].

• Has re-scarred himself more than once [Batman Annual #14, Batman #653, and Batman: Black and White (1996) #1].

• For all his faults and crimes – such as nearly beating Dick Grayson to death in Robin: Year One – he has helped people [The Batman Chronicles (1999) #16], defended Jim Gordon from himself as Jim's defense lawyer [Detective Comics (1999) #739], cares about the women in his life, and keeps his word when the coin comes up good.

He is a complex character, period.

Other Facts:

• Has seen Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast" [Batman (1986) #397].

• Knows how to sculpt [Detective Comics (1986) #563].

• Owns a "thememobile" like Batman [Batman (1987) #410]!

• Likes baseball [Batman (1987) #411].

• Likes symmetry [Batman (1989) #442].

Smokes, but also doesn't [Batman (1994) #513].

"My own version of the literary reference mark known as a diesis – more commonly known as a double-dagger! My next pair shall strike to the heart of the matter!" — Harvey Dent, Batman: Two-Face Strikes Twice #1 – the words of a man who certainly reads a lot!

Batman Annual #14 & Teen Titans Spotlight #13 – A himbo he is not!

• Reads classic books such as "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" [Detective Comics #66] and "A Tale of Two Cities" [Batman: Two-Face Strikes Twice #2].

• Still finds putting criminals behind bars fun [Batman Gotham Adventures (1999) #12].

• Can speak Spanish [The Batman Chronicles #16].

• Doesn't mind hitting women at all. There are so many examples of this; Harvey confirmed it himself [Batman: Streets of Gotham (2009) #7], and beat up Jim Gordon's wife in Batman (1999) #572.

• Made a self-insert comic book in an art therapy program. Yup, he wrote and drew it himself [Detective Comics (2001) #753]!

Called it "The Adventures of Copernicus Dent and His Best Girl and Plucky Assistant R'Nee!" 

• Plays chess with Batman [Gotham Knights (2002) #32].

• Has watched Star Trek [Nightwing (2008) #150].

• Fought and killed a werewolf [The 2008 DC Universe Halloween Special]. Yes, really.

• Was a cult leader [Detective Comics (2020) #1020].

• Rebirth!Harvey is now working as a jailhouse lawyer in Blackgate [Detective Comics (2020) #1024].

• Understands how binary code works, but computer geeks make him sick? [Robin (1994) #11] Yeah.

• Has kids. Twins! [Batman: Two-Faces Strikes Twice]. It looks like they're irrelevant.

• Remembered Renee's birthday and sent her tulips [Detective Comics (2000) #747].

• Has been a judge before [The New Batman Adventures - Episode 24 & Arkham Unhinged (2013) #11].

• Hates odd-numbers [Robin: Year One #2].

[a-shrieking-cloud-of-bats]

so earlier this year I attempted to stop buying so many video games because I thought I needed to finish the ones I have and while I still believe that, that attempt has absolutely imploded and I’ve given up for the rest of the year

which means it’s time to go over steam summer sale games that I bought, click the names for steam pages.

listed in no particular order

this is not an extremely in depth review set and I haven’t finished most of them (but I have played most of them long enough to get a handle on them)

so yeah

Steam Summer Sale Roundup 2022

The Last Spell - this was a game I was sort’ve nervous about getting and god damn I am so happy I got it; easily my number one

turn based strategy game (think fire emblem, isometric though), the hook is the in depth character creation, loads of stats to pick from, and while it’s a fairly difficult game and there are some clear winners, but I’d say none of the stats are useless, which is nice

additionally, weapon type determines your moveset, for instance...

one handed swords have a lot of mobility based moves, the attacks move you, you get more damage on one of their attacks depending on how many tiles you moved prior to using it

one handed axes are “cleave” focused, with a lot of skills that hit a small area (its basic attack equivelent hits 3 tiles, which is nuts), in exchange they are inaccurate

one handed hammers are big on single target damage and stuns

and so on; you can see how this variation would encourage you to build characters differently based on the weapon they’re using, I’m sure

with this said most weapon types must be unlocked, but the game is hard enough that I think having an introductory period where you’re racking up currency/getting achievements that unlock stuff is reasonable enough

unit death is permenant and in fact, damage is semi permenant; you go through multiple nights on stages and damage carries over between the nights, along with spent MP. This does two things, it puts a lot of focus on HP regen/MP regen when picking stat ups (not my favorite thing but I accept it as a quirk of the system they put in place), and makes you think about how often you’re using those big fancy skills that stun and do huge damage, a big part of the game’s difficulty is resource management, which leads into the next (and final) mechanic, town building

you’re defending a town in this game and it starts out mostly fucked up, every day (as opposed to night) you pick upgrades, build new buildings, and tell workers what to do for the day, there’s stuff that generates gold (needed to build buildings), materials (needed to build walls), stuff that gives free armor and weapons, stuff that restores HP/MP for gold cost (there are upgrades for freebies)

overall the game offers a load of depth and replayability and even as much as it’s twisting my balls I’m enjoying it quite a bit, it’s giving me darkest dungeon vibes

the plot is nothing to write home about but it works, basically wizards made a spell that fucks up towns, it’s used in military action, the spell creates purple mist that zombifies the dead, the rest is history, medieval zombie apocalypse plot take it or leave it; also as a result of this event mages have been spurned and are now forced to end the concept of magic, hence the title, you’re protecting a mage that’s working on a segment of the spell

there’s also some weird stuff going down with the upgrade vendors and how the MC seems to be resetting time but I dunno nothin about that yet

at any rate if you love difficult turn based strategies and character customization, you could hardly do worse!

Earth’s Dawn - Japanese Indie side scrolling beat-em-up, basically aliens invade earth and humans get beaten back but there’s a secret project that you’re a part of that makes you into a robo human that can kill the aliens and like I said with the last spell, take it or leave it; this shit ain’t shakespeare. what it is though is a surprisingly simple beatemup with some heavy focus on upgrades, you can upgrade your weapons, you can upgrade your armors, you can unlock new skills, and this is overall sort’ve a grindy beat-em-up where you’re doing a lot of little random stuff to get Points to Get More Upgrades to Do More Stuff, etc

that’s the draw of it anyway, I personally love this shit

the progression is a little funky in places (there’s an early game mission that puts you up against an extremely tanky basic enemy that you are basically guarenteed to die to) and I think the bosses are too tanky overall but death does nothing significant

not a bad beat-em-up, nothing groundbreaking, a lot of where it is on this list is due to my personal affinity for a good grind and beat-em-ups

Mind Scanners - this is a game a pal recommended to me because it looked like papers please (and it does! It was clearly inspired by the game), however it plays significantly differently. Less paperwork, more warioware. We’ll touch on the plot first though.

The game starts with the local oppressive government taking away your daughter because she’s got a rare form of infectious mental illness. You become something called a Mind Scanner, which is a sort’ve futuristic kinda campy form of psychologist where you determine if people are mentally ill and then administer treatment if so through various tools at your disposal (these are the warioware microgame things). As the plot progresses you learn about a revolutionary group that’s attempting to free the city from the reign of an oppressive government.

The second half of that paragraph obviously sounds familiar, it’s a fairly common concept for a game these days. But mind scanners works with it remarkably well. When you’re treating individuals, failures will build stress, where max stress makes the patient freak out and run away from you (and probably get you taxed the next day), and there’s a sanity bar, as there’s a subplot about how the tools can erase people’s minds or something, it honestly never gets explored particularly well. Regardless this sets up a few potential outcomes for various patients.

either you think the patient is sane, and let them go, this gives you a few bucks, you find them insane and treat them, this gives you a larger paycheck, or you find someone insane, think they’re not worth letting exist (or you erase them on request from someone), and erase their brain on purpose. This gives you a paycheck for treatment but if done on the wrong person can have consequences. Money is used on rent and buying new tools. The game tends to make you feel bad for erasing minds, obviously, and the revolutionary group doesn’t like it when you do it either.

All this lines up to make an interesting game that’s attempting to tell a story that’s way too long for it to sustain. The story isn’t bad; I especially appreciate that this is a game plot like this that doesn’t beat me over the head with how the fucking government is evil; I hate that; but ultimately 6 minigames with some side ones you can do to get minor auxilary benefits is not a lot of content. Additionally I think the game tries a little bit too hard to be “difficult”, because some of the later patients can take like 2 days to treat entirely, and it’s kind’ve hard to optimize the minigames you use. The game ends up dragging on for a plot that’s heading towards a pretty obvious direction by the time it starts dragging on.

It’s not bad and it’s pretty cheap; worth picking up if you’re looking for a decent plot and a game that doesn’t take itself too seriously mechanically. There was definitely interest in getting new tools and seeing how they worked, but the game ran a bit too long for me. Will definitely finish it eventually, but the repetition does make it hard to push through.

Full Bore - I am not a puzzle game player. Full Bore is a block based puzzle game. Full bore is Extremely Good. Full bore is also abandoned by its dev and has some bugs. They don’t seem to be game breaking, and I’ve never heard of them halting progress in the game, but it’s also not exactly a super popular game. They are Definitely Noticible, and Definitely Stress Me Out. Take note. Game would probably be higher then mind scanners if I wasn’t so concerned about the bugs.

Full Bore is a game about a boar that stumbles into a minefield that explodes, tossing him underground, which leads to him getting into a rocket that takes him to a Place, where the dominant species is boars. He’s also framed for a gem heist. There’s some time/location ambiguity going on with the plot, and while the plot is obviously not the main focus, is interesting.

Game is quite simple, you can dig blocks, blocks react in certain ways depending on where they are, what they are, and what they are surrounded by, in some cases. Rock falls slowly and digs slowly, sand and silt fall quickly and dig quickly (and can be broken from a distance by a stomp), that sort’ve thing.

Your goal is to get gems to pay off your debt. On the tin, anyway. The real goal is to dig down, find terminals explaining the plot, and eventually reach a culmination of said plot. Saying more would be too much. If you like block based puzzle games, check it out, I really think it stands out from what I’ve heard of the genre. If you like weird sci fi, consider it. It’s not a primary focus, but the plot might hook you. I’m certainly interested. The game doesn’t let the fact that it’s a puzzle game keep it from doing interesting narrative stuff, which I appreciate, I feel like a lot of puzzle games resign themselves to being a quirky vector for Weird Tetris. Or whatever. Anyway.

Skul: The Hero Slayer - Skul is another roguelite in a long line of roguelites. I keep buying them and I’m not sure why, but I’m not letting that effect my opinion of Skul. I initially thought it was pretty bad, but ultimately it’s a platforming action roguelite that has some excellent pixel art, a solid difficulty curve, and.. not as much variety as I’d like.

The game revolves around a little skeleton by the name of Skul, who works for the demon king. The First Hero captures the demon king in the intro and your job is to rescue him. Along the way, you and a witch that also works for the demon king learn the heros are using something called dark quartz which warps creatures into abominations and removes their will. Moral Ambiguity Plot

the plot is not incredible. Not a big deal, most roguelite plots aren’t. It’s a cute concept, but it’s mostly a surface level thing, beyond the primary gimmick. As a skeleton you can swap skulls. This gives you new movesets and gimmicks. This was part of the reason I didn’t like it initially; these skulls have A Lot of work put into them. They are all upgradable, which unlock additional mechanics in the skull, and you can generally think of a skull as a class moreso then a piece of gear. You can carry two skulls, somehow, and swap between them, with a cooldown preventing you from spamming it (many skulls do something unique on swap).

There are also passive items, and if you’ve played a roguelite you already know what they do. Increased attack speed, increased attack power, chance to stun, yadda yadda.

This overall makes skul a roguelite more about good execution rather then getting a series of items that makes something insane happen that wins you the game. To compare it to its contemporary, Dead Cells, Skull is more about precision platforming and dead cells is more about getting through stages as fast as possible, while killing as many enemies as possible. At the end of the day Skul feels like an odd combo of slow, careful platforming and replayable, six runs an hour roguelite stuff. I frequently feel more hampered by my ability to platform, which is weird. When the platforming and combat are put in the same place, enemies are frequently put in places specifically to make you approach things slowly and carefully, which is also weird, because the game is very fast when it doesn’t do that. It’s not a bad game. But it is a weird game. I suppose it’s to be expected from a genre as populated as this one.

Ultimately my beef with skul is that the platforming is Very Finnicky. The number of times I’ve bopped my head into a spike ceiling and lost a tenth of my very important health pool is absurd given I’ve never gotten past the first world. This frequently happens even when enemies are not present, and while I might just be bad, I also think that “be careful don’t jump too high ha ha” is a messy design concept to begin with. I’ll probably play it more but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s more because it’s designed to tug on my endorphin glands rather then a legitimate desire to play that game specifically.

Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate - Look I could keep you for like 4 paragraphs but Shiren the Wanderer is the grandaddy of mystery dungeon games. If you’ve ever played Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, they’re similar, though it’s not pokemon so it has to get the Pokemon Variety from somewhere else, namely gear and items. You have usable items that cause effects, equipment that applies passive effects/has super effective hits on certain enemy types, and the game is tough as nails and more of a long burn thing. If you’re looking for a roguelike that doesn’t have a page of DnD stats on every item and does have a graphical interface, you could do much much worse.

Hellsinker - Hellsinker is an extremely fast top down shmup that will probably blow you apart if you’re not used to shmups. It probably will even if you are. It is also a historic game within the genre, and lead to a load of innovations in other games within the genre.

The game starts with 3 selectable characters and more unlock as it goes along. There’s a surprisingly in depth plot that’s mostly kept in the manual, and I don’t understand any of it because I’m still working on stage 2.

Mechanically it varies by having two meters on the left, sol and luna, which determine how much damage your primary shot does and how fast it fires, respectively. Luna depletes when you shoot, sol depletes when you bomb (which can only be done at 3 or more sol, both meters cap at 5).

So, yeah. Shmup! You either know how they work or you don’t. If you don’t I highly reccomend another shmup. I’ll reccomend Zero Ranger. Nice, easy going, and not too esoteric, but also won’t just give you the win.

Video James; the sale is still going on as of now so most of these games should still be on sale! Check em out. Or don’t. It’s not like I spent an hour and a half typing this up. (seriously though don’t feel obligated)

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

The F-22 is the most advanced plane we have. It’s an all-weather air superiority fighter that is unparalleled by anything else in the world. The F-35 that came after it was supposed to be a jack of all trades plane that would be the standard plane for the Air Force, Navy, and Marines as well as for export to our allies (minus some sensitive avionics). The F-35 however is a compromise plane that suffers from limited performance capabilities in many areas as a consequence of being a multi-purpose aircraft. Both are extraordinarily expensive but the F-35 does make some back in foreign sales. The F-22 is more expensive and not exported due to its capabilities as a dominant fighter/interceptor with unparalleled performance. It still exists because the Air Force refused to give up this dominant air superiority fighter for a lesser multipurpose jack-of-all-trades master of none replacement.

The Air Force still however relies heavily on its most numerous aircraft the F-16 which went into service in the early 80’s and with updated avionics, extremely good performance, reliability, and a more modest price tag is still superior to anything any other nation flies. It’s also a popular export model, minus sensitive avionics packages. The Navy relies mainly on its F-18 which is not quite as old as the F-16 but still superior to what other nations use and with the benefits of the F-16. The smaller Marine Corps fleet is using a mix of older jets and the new F-35. What our allies and adversaries have is hilariously lagging behind.

The US has a somewhat unique geographical position that forces us to defend two warm weather coastlines. While this has largely kept us safe from distant foes it puts us in the awkward/unfortunate position of having to spend nearly twice as much on ships and planes. With prices at astronomical levels many smaller nations have abandoned having an airforce at all and only tiny navies. These countries have farmed out their defense to the US or NATO. Russia can no longer compete economically and now only develop new weapons systems in conjunction with foreign nations that split the r&d cost and agree to buy the exports in advance. China is spending on an unimaginable scale in the hopes of militarily taking over everything between India and Japan and are making no secret of it and in fact boast about their plans.

This pressure allows the military-industrial complex to thrive like nothing seen in history. While our defense and our necessary role as the world’s policeman is valid, the situation allows Republikkkan corporations and billionaires to loot the treasury to the tune of trillions. We could make surgical cuts to our military and trim the fat, even only a few percentage point drops in military spending could fund all our social programs and more. But where there is a dollar, there are Republikkkan corporate fascists looking gorge themselves. The fact that a disproportionate number of Congressmen and women from both parties are vets doesn’t help when it comes to trimming the fat and making reductions. The arms manufacturers, a.k.a. merchants of death, do employ huge numbers of workers and make up a significant portion of the economy and in many congressional districts are the largest employers.

Nothing is simple in our modern world. We have the economy to provide both guns and butter but not the political will. Republikkkans will always put profit before people. Both parties are not the same. The Democrats have some flaws, due mainly to disorganization, but the Republikkkans literally want to impoverish, enslave, and kill you. My two cents.

[theravenclawrevolutionary]

A couple weeks ago you mentioned in a post that most of what's known about Robespierre is propaganda, could you elaborate on that?

Of course Anon! I’m always glad to talk about anything pertaining to the Frev! I’m not sure how much you already know about the French revolution, but I know other people will read this so hold on, 'cause it’s about to get long and in-depth as hell!

Also: Just a reminder that I don’t have a degree in history or anything. I simply spend a majority of my free time looking up information cause I’m a nerd like that. And of course, my statement about Robespierre could be applied with different levels of accuracy to other historical figures at the time, including the monarchy. This is just how it applies to Maxime as requested. Any questions about any other aspects of the French Revolution are always welcome. I'll try to answer then as clearly, accurately, and respectfully as possible.

A majority of information commonly spread about Robespierre is that he was a vicious and cruel leader with no regard for anyone but himself. Supposedly, he was so obsessed with the ideas of perfection and ‘virtue’ that he lost any human emotion, rendering him cold, friendless, and willing to sacrifice anything or anyone to get his way. In fact, when I first was introduced to him and the French Revolution in school several years ago, I was under the impression that he personally was responsible for a majority of deaths that occurred during the revolution. That’s what caused me to first look into him. Morbid stuff has always interested me and I wanted to know all about the vicious relentless killer who had no regard for human life and wanted to purge France of anyone who lacked the necessary virtues of his twisted moral code.

As I began to research I realized the picture of Robespierre painted for me by the flawed American education system, the modern media, and a surprising amount of books summarizing the history of the world was incredibly skewed, usually in favor of the ‘poor monarchy’ who were ‘thrust into an impossible position and didn’t mean for anything to happen’. 

In reality, Robespierre was, despite remaining a flawed individual like the rest of us, a quiet well dressed, polite man who was loyal to his friends, cared deeply about his family, wanted to reform the country in favor of the common people, and fought for what he believed in. Maxime had social anxiety and loved animals especially birds and dogs. Oftentimes he left his glasses places and couldn’t remember where he put them. He once wrote a poem about how much he loved tarts. Things made him angry, happy, and scared. The man who played such a crucial part in the revolution was still the same person as the young man who cried when his youngest sister Henriette died at age seventeen and the man who was praised as being a bright student at Louis-le-Grand. He advocated for women’s rights to an education, supported the rights of Jews in France (who were an unrepresented minority at the time), proposed laws in an attempt to decrease unnecessary violence (which he hated along with the war against Austria, the dechristianization of France, and the dangerous mob mentality). Maximilien Robespierre was an actual person who actually felt things like the rest of us. He was no heartless monster who preyed on innocent Frenchmen for no reason.

Now it’s time to point out the wrongs he committed. It can never be a fair judge of someone’s character, living or dead, without taking into account the bad things they have done. Robespierre did vote in favor of Louis XVI’s execution, mistakenly believing that France would benefit from the king’s death. After Capet’s execution violence spiraled out of control, resulting in a period of death known as The Reign of Terror. He also didn’t do as much as he should have to oust revolutionaries with dangerous tendencies and a penchant to condone mob violence. One of his biggest faults was his habit of compromising when he should have stood his ground and standing his ground when compromising would be the better option. His signature can be found on the arrest warrant sent out for the Dantonists, including his friend (to some degree) Georges Danton and childhood friend Camille Desmoulins, who eventually would go on to be executed.

Now the question is, how did a usually quiet, reserved individual become known as a bloodthirsty cult leader? The answer is, of course, Thermidorian Propaganda. For those of you that don’t know what that means, allow me to explain. 

Thermidor was the name of the fifth month on the revolutionary calendar (which was implemented in 1793 and used in France through 1805 ) that spanned from July 19th to August 17th on the Gregorian Calendar. At the beginning of Thermidor Maximilien was to make a speech to the National Convention speaking about but refusing to then name of several members who were corrupt or had committed crimes against the revolution and defending his own part in trying to find them. (Actually, I believe he straight-up named three people, but I don’t remember their names so it’s not important.) Convention members who feared exposure by the speech conspired together to overthrow Robespierre, who was seen as the figurehead of the revolution, (similarly to how the president represents the United States as a whole) and save their reputations. Robespierre and those still loyal to him fled to the Hotel de Ville, were captured by the National Guard, and were sentenced to death via guillotine all within the span of a few days. Those who accused and condemned him have come to be known as Thermidorians and the event itself known as the Thermidorian Reaction.

In order to preserve their reputations, the Thermidorians began criminalizing Robespierre and using him as a scapegoat for crimes committed (and not committed at all) by different people during the revolution. As the common saying goes, “History is written by the winners.” Because they succeeded in their plot against the Robespierrists and frightened anyone who wished to stand up and support their own Robespierrist views, the Thermidorians were able to control the narrative and the light in which Robespierre is presented. As his rivals/enemies they wanted themselves to seem obviously correct and Robespierre to seem clearly in the wrong. Things were not so black and white, so they fudged the information a little to help their cause.

As a result our picture of Robespierre is very different from the actual man. I'd like to say that he did both helpful and problematic things over the course of his time in the spotlight. He was a human, simple as that. It isn't right to demonize him and completely butcher his true self the way the Thermidorians and many historians since have done, but in the same breath we also have to remember all the awful things he allowed and was a part of.

Sorry it got so long, but I hoped I cleared things up for you Anon. If you have more questions, please hit me up!

~Dara

[0aurelion-sol0]

SNK 134: Why we need to move forward.

Well...

That's horrifying...

Oh but whatever they are probably bad people in there. Thieves, greedy people, hateful mothers, men who beat their wives , liars, bullies, killers, murderers, rapist, child rapist and racist babies.

Yeah...

This is a rhetoric that has been used for ages and is currently being used in this fandom especially on reddit and 4chan.

The justification of injustice.

When George Floyd was slammed on the ground and died because he couldn't breathe anymore, conservatives and republicans at large ignored the police brutaliy leading up to that.

He was just a cocaine or drug addict who one day pointed a gun at a pregnant lady. So he was a criminal and deserved that.

Of course ignoring the racial segregation that happened from the very legalized slavery hundreds of years ago and how poor and racially stigmatized black people are being in America right now.

When the Uyghurs are being genocided by China, the world blinds itself because China is one the worlds necessary assets in economy as it basically produces a good chunk of what is being used in the world. Most made by children, " but it makes us live "... Apparently that's the only logical reason...

When Palestinians and Israelis are literally killing each other over some complicated non sense that no one ever really understands and also Israël basically doing Apartheid at this point,

When the totality of the Middle East has turned into a warzone because of the United States's violent imperialism,

When most far right or extremist group decided that Islam and Islamic terrorism are the same thing,

When xenophobes and racist always attack immigration,

"If she wasn't wearing that skirt, she probably wouldn't have been raped",

When we have homophobes, transphobes, LGBTphobes, telling us what's natural and always bragging about "\___-_-___/ God, Holy Jesus",

When you have people who tells you that poor people chose their way of living when there are a small percent of billionaires and soon to be trillionaires having such a gigantic amount of wealth,

When 6 millions Jews were genocided which was 40% of Jewish people at the time and 2/3 of European Jews,

When the prime minister of Israël is saying that the Holocaust wasn't Hitler's Idea but Haj Amin al-Husseini, (who was extremely anti semitic, don't get me wrong)who suggested it to him maiking the prime minister a revisionist but at the same time making his actions against Palestinians justified,

When around the world Christianic places of worship are being vandalized,

When entire SYSTEMS of segregations have made societies work,

When the South American continent has been attacked by the United States because of different political beliefs,

When people use their rape as a way to attack other communities of a specific religion or color,

When Black Panthers uses racism against White people because of the story of USA and are being anti semitic but essentializing a whole group,

When Nationalistic Israelis tells you what is a good Jew and what isn't a good Jew,

When dozens of groups have been forced to extinction,

Natives who were being murdered, yeah? YOU DON'T SEE THAT A LOT IN YOUR COWBOY MOVIES ?

When literal "feminist" calls for the destruction of men while they can't educate the kids about what to do and what not to do, OH, can also be transphobic apparently,

When you have entire websites who encourages pedophilia,

And pedophiles killed, left alone and live a life of endless torment while no one does nothing to help them and fight those who encourages it even in the highest places of our society,

Oh and Hollywood, that's all I need to say.

And let's not even talk about animal brutality and the destruction of ecosystems.

And there is more and more and more and more and more and FUCKING MORE,

All that because of reasons, reasons, reasons, reasons,

All stuck in a cycle of hate, violence and discrimination that just never ends.

The selfishness,

The greed,

And at end, everything is meaningless. There is just blood.

This is what this chapter represent the meaningless of it all. How everything goes to shit...

How everyone, whether it's the oppresor or the oppresed, will justify the violence, the injustice.

Society does nothing cause society right now runs for the entitled and the entitled only and creates it's own monsters.

I want to ask those people who defend the rumbling.

After everything we saw in this manga, after what the real world has commited, after how much these real events have inspired this story, how can you say it was the only way ?

After everyone hided Hange valuable informations including Eren who had information about KRUGER who was a spy in MARLEY. Who has created a civil war in Eldia and activated the rumbling while killing Eldian civilians in the way.

After seeing the mental breakdown of Bertolt, who we don't hear about anymore, Annie and Reiner's mental breakdown over GENOCIDING AN ENTIRE GROUP OF PEOPLE, by the way Reiner totally didn't develop another persona at that time to cope with what he was doing, HUH ?

After all the deaths, Carla, Grisha, Dina, Faye Marco, Levi's squad, Ymir, Erwin, Sasha, Hange, Hannes, Floch and many others, how can you go and be like "CHAD EREN, BEING DADDY, FUCKING HIS MEAT WAIFU, PHILOSOPHER FREEDOM SEEKER"

"104th crybabies... xDdDDDD Prfrpfr"

Come on...

This isn't serious at this point.

And for the H character, we're gonna come back for her but...

GODDAMNIT!

THANK YOU, DEATH.

This has sparked debates.

Some are thankful for this speech by the commander.

Others are finding it disingenous.

Others think it's too on the nose and not natural.

Others don't care.

On my part, I enjoy it but I take it with the context. Most of their airships have been destroyed and they are facing their doom upfront right now. It's more of a death plea at this point. Just like in the cave with Histor... GOD IT'S SO HARD SAYING HER NAME... with Historia who said truly horrible things at the point of an imminent death. At that moment, words like this can tell what you really are inside but even that is not enough to have a full picture.

It did have some interesting elements.

It is true, using, raising, breeding hate and shoving problems upon a group will always come bite you up the ass someday.

Marley in their extensive and violent coloniaslistic, imperialiatic behavior towards Eldia creates only weaknesses for them on an international field and create this monstruosity that is right now Eren.

Eren, a soldier who suffer from trauma and PTSD, who has terrible insecurities and everything to lose after losing so much and possibly in my book being influenced by another entity decides to kill them all.

But...

In no way does that justify Eren's actions, in fact it goes against it.

He is just as angry and hateful as they were back then but instead of destroying the system, he decides to genocide.

Essentializing the whole world as your ennemy and problem, and deciding to get rid of it is just continuing what has been started and continued for hundreds of years before.

No one ever thinks about the simple families, the innocent children, the homeless...

What about them Eren ?

What about the people who faced discrimination like Ramzi ?

What about the other groups that are almost extinct just like yours ?

What about the groups that tried to support the Eldians but were considered freaks ? HUH ?

What about the babies and innocent children ?

Isayama is even spelling it out for you this chapter.

Is he not worth it ? To stop all this ?

He was born into this world just like every other baby.

Look at that while everyone, is trying to jump off, their trying to save the baby. Even if it's probably impossible. That's humanity right there.

And... jesus christ...

I literally saw people who said that the mother was dumb to give it to the people because titans were behind them.

I can't even...

Imagine if Eren is the daddy of H's Baby and that he completes the genocide, killing his friends or even persuading them and at the end he is saying you are free to this baby.

So this baby is worth more than this baby ?

He is more legitimate to live than him.

I can't even imagine what the arguments would be like with the Eren stans:

"He's protecting his friends."

While literally challenging them to fight and right now trying to kill them.

"Well, you know the Rumbling is horrible but they got what was coming for them. They did nothing to help Paradise."

While forgetting the complexity of human nature, how banalization of these acts of violence have come to be BECAUSE...

These just like me and you are just simple people. With simple lives and not too much power who can't do anything about it.

Most of the people today sees all the suffering in the world, they just don't have the power, nor the will to go against such complex geo-political conflicts.

Would you be able to just resolve the Israelo-Palestinian conflict ? I don't think so, so shut your ass down with this argument.

These people can't change the world with power that they have and the one that has the power to change that, is killing them right now. BRAVO.

" Well, uh, the child is a child, parents might be racist and uh... child maybe is racist or will become racist..."

God...

Just because someone has done horrible shits or is an horrible shit doesn't mean he should die like this.

Here it is people, how we work as human :

Fuck redemption and possible solutions, let's kill everyone who did something bad.

Y'all would have been perfect during monarchies time.

And like... having an argument on a baby should face genocide is just fucking disgusting.

AND DON'T GIVE ME THE BULLCRAP OF FICTION DOESN'T EQUAL REALITY!

That you are interested into what could bring the Rumbling in terms of thematics and story is fine.

BUT ENDORSING IT ?

Do y'all even hear yourselves sometimes ?

You just sound like every racist, bigoted, fascist and violent person that has ever existed.

You're just excited to see someone die because he commited something wrong, sadistic pricks.

You're no different. Perhaps the guy who was talking to Grisha in chapter 97, who was a Marleyan and gave serums to Eldian is right. When he was talking to Grisha, Isayama use it to break the fourth wall and talk to the readers.

Why do we watch this, all this violence ?

" Because it's fun!"

" People take peace for granted!"

" Of course we're abnormal in society's eyes."

" We wish to exterminate all eldians!"

" Your sister did nothing wrong. Shame she was an Eldian!"

The fun fact is that this guy is a racist fuck but he dies pushed by Kruger and killed by his very own creation: a titan.

Why do people endorse genocide ?

" Because it's justice!"

" They got what was coming for them!"

" Isayama is just showing us that genocide is not really wrong if you just understand the concept of morals. Puritans."

" Humanity can die, they deserve it!"

" I'm sad for Ramzi, he didn't do nothing wrong but you know... maybe he didn't have good ideas about Eldians."

While also saying why children could deserve genocide. \____@-@____/

Of course I found most of these on Reddit and 4chan, the nazi propaganda website. Tumblr is a little free of it.

Babies....

Literally babies...

That remind me of somethin'...

OH YEAH!

QUEER NO MORE.

*put gloves on*

PUUUUUUUSSHH!!! COOOOOOOMMEEE OOONN!!!!

Breathe...

I SEEEEE THE HEAAADDD, IT'S HEREEEEEE!!!!

Natalie, bring the bucket, quick!

Of fuck she shitted on herself a little bit!

_________________________________________

So ?

Y'all like my fanfic ?

It's about how Erehisu is canon and how Historia is actually thinking about Eren right now because she is blushing.

But also about how Historia actually looks good and sexy while being pregnant and how she looks so happy!

She also is a lesbian that turned straight.

I'm so proud of my work.

_________________________________________

In all honesty...

This is... dissapointing and an insult to Historia fans. Why ? What is the purpose or the reason ? Being tragic ? To show how far Historia can go to protect her loved ones ? A female Eren so ?

I always leaned towards the fake pregnancy even if I don't know how something like that could be really pulled. I didn't understand this choice for his storytelling. The others I understand but this one...

O_o

What the fuck ?

So she really is pregnant ? But nothing leading up to it makes sense.

The character whose thematics still rings too much true for this arc is put in the background and as a breeding farm on top of that.

It even came to a point I started people to stop asking about her.

I had faith in her presence in the final arc. That she would have a role play.

But now ?

/\/\/\

For people who don't understand why this aspect of story is wrong, we have to break it down.

First off, Historia one of the first queer characters with Ymir in SNK. Others are suspected but these two are the few that holds a definitive representation as queer.

Most often in media or in real life, LGBT people have been forced into a situation that requires them to fall under heterosexuals lives. Here Historia is forced to be pregnant, yes in a way she agreed because of her people, but at the same time she didn't really want it.

For queer people, like me, this still rings true. Too much true. People literally forces you to go for your opposite sex everytime, to have a family.

No, stop forcing your view of your own life or desire of life on other people.

The fact that the fandom rationalizes that and says that she is happy and in love with Eren is just so fucking weird.

It either is blind ship following, heteronormativity or not understanding the story.

And I saw people saying she might be bisexual. This doesn't change anything. Also ignoring the fact that she hasn't shown any attraction to men other than women in the story.

If she is bisexual, it doesn't change anything, she is still queer. Not semi-straight AND EVEN IF SHE WAS A WOMAN WHO HAPPENED TO BE STRAIGHT, SHE IS STILL FORCED INTO SOMETHING SHE DID NOT WANT.

Bisexual is not semi-straight, semi-gay.

It's bisexual.

Bisexual, Straight and Homosexuality are not the same thing.

And if she was straight, that doesn't make it acceptable. It's just sick.

Just because you're a straight woman doesn't mean you are going to be more happy or have god like duty to have kids.

I just don't understand it...

A manga who was so progressive with his female characters reduces Historia to this.

Imagine...

Just imagine...

Eren is the father. I would shoot myself in the face. A forced straight relationship at the end for the pleasure of shonen readers and heteronormative readers.

" What if I have baby, Eren ?"

" Only if it is from me. I want him to live and have FREEDOM!"

" It's open bar, honey." *saying this after hearing the guy says he's going to genocide which goes against her own values and actions as queen*

Ew... Just ew...

And even worse she wasn't supposed to give birth right now, she was supposed to give birth in a few months.

She could DIE. SHE IS 19. This is dangerous.

Everyone is like this is normal.

THIS IS NOT NORMAL. *sigh*

This goes against what she is supposed to have as a character development.

The fact that she would be okay for genocide while as a queen she reached out to the most weak and in need is fucking incoherent.

No. This doesn't make sense. Even Eren said that Historia's action as a queen were to help others. How could she be okay sitting at her house ? Telling no one about what Eren was going to do ? And becoming a breeding farm ? What is the logic in that ?

Why make it suspicious than ?

The only thing that was able to make any logical sense to me was that the person we are seeing here isn't Historia.

I know if my theory is right, it's sick, even more sick.

The only times we saw Historia after the timeskip was during flashbacks, the reveal at 107 and possibly at the end of 123.

If this is her at the end of 123, I want to ask you why is she all prepared, why is she all dressed up and why is she wearing the same clothes in 134 that she is wearing 107. Something doesn't add up.

She is young, small-petite, blonde and her belly and face are hidden.

I was only able to go through the theory that this is a fake Historia. Than who it is than ?

Well, I searched for female characters who look like her or who could look like Historia right now. From all the characters that we haven't seen coming coming back and that has interacted with Historia, there is only one.

Rico Brzenska.

For those, who don't remember her : She was a Garrison Member who helped Mikasa and Eren during the Trost Arc and also helped Historia while she was exhausted during the Clash of the Titans Arc.

She hasn't appeared ever since the start of the Return to Shiganshina Arc unlike many of the older characters.

She is the only one I see who could pass as Historia I think.

I know this is still sick. But this is the only way I would be able to make Historia get out of this crappy storyline and play some relevance in the story. And if we look at Rico and Historia in 107, they kinda look the same. They have the heart shaped face, they are both small and they both have this sort of closed eyelids.

One line that just stuck with me of Rico was:

"Hiding/Lying about Eren's rampage in the report wouldn't have benefited humanity. "

This was during Eren's trial before joining the Survey Corps. What was discused was when Eren lost control of himself during the Trost Arc and attacked Mikasa.

The second line that struck was the one where she holds Historia who is exhausted in her arms:

"Wow! Who is this girl, is she okay ?"

I don't know why it just pushed that theory. And I kinda believe it now, because no one can make me believe that there is something satisfying coming out of this. Why would she sacrifice herself for Historia ? Well, I don't really know but Rico was always a little wary of Eren, even after the Trost Arc but yeah ultimately for Rico being able to give her own life for Historia. I don't know about that. But with this manga you never now. It is a very dark and twisted theory but this is the only logical thing I can see right now since no answers have been provided.

Monkey is BACK

Zeke is back and like most of us predicted, Eren dragged him with him. And I'm not gonna lie, the way he was attached to the spine was pretty badass.

He is used as a puppet which reinforces the theory for me that all three of them: Eren, Ymir and Zeke are being used by the Attack Titan.

I cannot understand Eren's illogical behavior especially after seeing the train scene where he says he wants them to live long happy lives and than having him kill his friends.

Ymir the first being free and having eyes to returning to having no eyes just like before and Eren.

And Zeke would have never agreed to the Rumbling. And we can't see his eyes either.

And...

Thank you, 104th for existing.

Because...

After how much shit they have gone through and after how much the fandom, not just the Eren stans, have mocked them. Like the fandom has been the biggest asshole to the the Alliance while they were the ones who were able to survive through the sentence " Genocide is wrong!" that so many people seems to find to be so hard to say.

I will root for them until the bitter end, I don't care. They are the one who are fighting. You can call Cringevengers all you want but I am glad they are winning.

They all suffered like Eren but they didn't prioritize their own and only feelings above everything else and they stood by for the values they fought for since they joined the Survey Corps. Even if I have to admit they have, for most of them, conflicted feelings with what they were doing and have done things like trying to talk to Eren while it's obvious he wasn't going to talk and that in a situation like this I don't think someone would try to stop Eren by just talking.

Levi, and it would be foolish to not recognize it, is being consumed by his promise but he is restraining it and still is able to think about the bigger picture.

There's one thing I really like about this is Armin asking Eren:

"Eren... I'll ask you one last time... "What part of you is free" after we rip you out from there... "

Hehe... yes... what part of you is free ?

To be honest, there's many things I don't want for the ending.

A Lelouch Ending, it was all Eren's plan. Literally wouldn't make sense. No one would be questionning his free will and he wouldn't have these weird shits happening to him.

A Code Geass ending, why would Mikasa have to kill Eren, what does that add to her as a character ? More tragedy ? No she doesn't have the scarf, it's pretty telling what place she's at right now.

Eren being the daddy. NO, JUST NO.

Everyone dies, genocide is the right thing. You know all the worst shit that can happen.

But most of all I want important plot points to be explored and moved over because ever since the timeskip, there has been no important plot points out the way. Eren's behavior, Ackertalk, Bertolttalk, Historia's Condition, Paths stuffs, answers!

Whatever... Trust me Peace is not something I take for granted. Being proud of myself and having a life with the least conflict and problem is something you fight for. Having rights, being recognized as a human.

Never lose that, fight for it. But never with injustice, be smarter and stronger. Cause at the end what unites us is not only what we have in common but what the perspective of what we have not in common can make a bigger picture of what we are as humans. We all are different and have a different story with similarities but in the end, we are human and born into this world. And in that, we must move forward. In the present, because of the past and for the future.

We all wish for the problems to go away but if it's for the solutions to be rigged with injustice, it will not work. No one has acheived with genocide and never will.

It's kinda sad that this long of a post has to say this. Did y'all see that ? Pretty inspiring what I wrote. Oh well you know what ? If they can be bigoted why can't I myself.

Here's a song I wrote:

(Fuck everyone and you.

We hate women

There are only 2 genders, the breeder and the breeded.

Everything is degenerate.

We hate brown, Arab and Muslim people.

Genocide is cool

And Hitler was too.)

I know but you know what, at least if they want a spy for Nazi Germany someday. They'll know not to give it to me because I'd laugh at the stupidity of the people just like you and I are doing with the rest of world cause for all the shits it gives us, it's entertaining.

[charmspoint]

xgod okay but the THING about Michiru and Nana isnt that Nana saw her and went "oh.. youre different" NO its the fact that Michiru is /kind/ and shes so incredibly kind that Nana literally cannot process it at all. Because Michiru is the type of kind that tries to save someone who bullied for her months, the type that tries to help ANYONE she can, even when she is lying on a bed dizzy with fever. and NANA, who has probably not even SEEN this type of kindness since her PARENTS, (1/3)

She doesn’t know how to HANDLE Michiru, because how could this person who is like THIS be responsible for the deaths of so many people? Michiru is the exception, because (besides Nanao) she’s the first Talented kid Nana’s come across who is KIND like Michiru is. And so its really not love at first sight, its CONFUSION. (2/3) ((sorry if u get this one twice for some reason))

Michiru confuses the SHIT out of her, and without evening knowing it, completely throws a wrench into Nana’s entire psychology. Because if an “Enemy Of Humanity” can act like THIS, with 100% sincerity, who’s to say that all of them CANT? Its just SO well written and I have so many feelings about them ty for listening. (3/3)

Yesss anon I 100% agree! Michiru really is that crack in the celling Nana needed to see what her world actually was. Nana is a child soldier, she’s been raised in hate, with her only parental figure using her for his own gain, his love and approval hinging on how well she does, how obedient she is. Someone like Michiru is a meteor in the system, someone who shakes up the foundations of her world.

And it’s so so important just how absolutely 100% kind and selfless Michiru is. She doesn’t have a bad bone in her body and that’s very important because Nana is suspicious and paranoid of everything that has to do with ‘enemies of humanity’. She starts thinking Michiru will betray her as soon as Michiru starts acting a little bit in thought. It’s really important to know how brainwashed and conditioned Nana is at the beginning of the story. She 100% believes in her mission and very early on we can see her excusing it. When she sees other kids flaunt their powers she thinks of course these kinds of egomaniacs would turn into monsters. People like Yuuka and Tsunekichi only serve to confirm this view more, but even little things such as striving to be a leader can be twisted into something bad. Because that’s what she’s been trained to do. Her own trauma made her fear the talented and her training made her hate them. If there was any sort of give in Michiru’s character Nana would dig into it as an excuse because that’s just what she was trained to do. Talented being bad is normal so all of their less then selfless actions are interpreted as 100% worse than they actually are (Tho Yuuka and Tsunekichi are p validly bad here) and even Michiru Nana doesn’t accept right away because she relays on those numbers. But little by little Michiru’s actions and those numbers don’t align until the cracks in the ceiling appear.

Because Michiru is honestly custom made to be a good person. Think about it. Most of the other kids talk about being the most powerful, being the leader. What does Michiru want to become? A doctor, someone who helps people. Michiru’s talent is healing that she pays for in her own lifespan and she does it without hesitation even on people who bullied her, even on people who you could objectively say were bad because she’s THAT selfless. She proves with her actions over and over again what a good person she is, even before the island she helped in so many hospitals and on the island she’s always ready to jump to aid no matter who it is. She openly defends Nana from Kyouya despite the fact that she herself isn’t a very confrontational person. And she gives Nana a home, she gives her someone to trust, to confide into, to love. She gives Nana her first friend in forever, she gives her the gift of human love and connection with no strings attached. And for Nana, for someone who spent most of her life scrapping for approval, scrapping for attention from the person who was using her, that means the world. Just that simple, unconditioned friendship, selfless care for another human being.

Also Michiru is so often compared to a dog. Enemy of humanity vs Man’s best friend, I see what the writer did there.

Just like you said anon, Michiru’s mere existence brings everything Nana knows into a new light. Enemies of humanity are supposed to be 100% irredeemably bad. So if one of them can be this completely good, that means that this core knowledge is wrong. So what else is wrong too. People she killed, were they really the enemies, or were they people. Some of who are bad, some of who are good, some of who are a complex mix. People, not monsters, just complicated people.

Michiru is an earthquake that shakes Nana’s world and leaves her questioning everything and scrambling for more information instead of just blindly and obediently accepting what she is told. Nana has such a good arc and Michiru is a catalyst for it all.