#dan shive says stuff

[danshive]

I started out making a White “quirky removal” deck inspired by Bovine Intervention, which destroys a creature or artifact, and replaces it with a 2/2 ox.

Somehow, that evolved into a cow theme deck that doesn’t include Bovine Intervention (because it’s terrible).

I defend the equipment being included because of Bruse Tarl. Man is a warrior rancher, after all. He’d arm / armor himself and his cows.

This deck could probably be made better by reducing the more expensive cards to 3 apiece, and adding in 3 removal cards, but I’m not playing this deck to win every time.

I’m playing this so people will think “is that a cow deck?”

#dan shive says stuff #magic the gathering #cow deck #seriously bovine intervention was next to useless #I replaced it with Colossal Plow and never looked back

[egscomics]

As with everything, the specifics would matter in real life. This is an “in general” poll, meaning scenarios with potential additional complicating factors should be ignored.

#dan shive says stuff #el goonish shive

[reactionnonsense]

A Reaction Side Blog

Dan Shive here. I've created this blog because I hyperfixate on things I've watched / read / whatever, and that can be a huge distraction 🙃

I want a place where I can regularly share my lengthy, possibly rambling thoughts, hopefully releasing some of the tension on that hyperfixation.

I'd also like all of these reactions to be in one place, because Tumblr search can be a nightmare.

Also, since these are about stories, they will frequently be a "this is what I'm talking about" followed by a "Keep Reading" button to click to see more.

I don't want my main blog (danshive) to have a bunch of posts that look like that all the time, hence the side blog. Plus, anyone following this knows what they're in for.

#dan shive says stuff

[dizzyhslightlyvoided]

Don't be afraid to take a page out of Dan Shive's book and just be self-indulgent with your worldbuilding/magic system.

You really wish you could transform into any shape you want in a manner which is simple, easy, and safe? Just say that magical transformations are simple, easy, and safe, even earrings and stuff don't cause problems! You don't like time manipulation and are worried that it would be a bit too game-breaking in your universe? "Time-manipulation as such is impossible", boom, done.

Those are just Dan Shive's own examples. Wish you could fly? Flight is now a basic form of magic. You want your fantasy setting to work exactly like a JRPG, complete with discrete 'skills' people can use? There's an entire genre for that.

Basically, just take "that's the way the magic works" as an axiomatic Truth™ and don't worry about "explaining things"; if an explanation happens to come up organically while you're working on it ("Earrings count as 'inside you', so if the transformation shrinks you, your earrings shrink along with you even if the magic doesn't specifically target them, but clothes are 'outside of you', so they --"), you can use that, but don't sweat it otherwise. Your worldbulding, your rules!

#shenanigans #philosophy #writing #writing advice #worldbuilding #magic #dan shive #el goonish shive #writing is like reading except the book is trying to kill you #queue continuum

[macksting]

Murderbot: System Collapse (and Susan Pompoms)

This is not exactly spoiler territory but I'm still putting it below a cut. (It might qualify as spoilers for El Goonish Shive, but I kinda feel the same about that in this case too.)

Bharadwaj says even good change is stressful.

A relatively recent page of El Goonish Shive has a character facing this head-on. Unfortunately for Susan, she wants to be rational about things, even though she knows she sometimes isn't, and seems to consider it a bit of a weakness. She's harder on herself than she is on others. Big Mood. We have to deal with our own bullshit 24/7; at least when we sleep or are alone we aren't around someone else's that often, and even then it's a different angle on the subject and, in my experiences, compassion is easier.

[ID: El Goonish Shive page. Susan and Sarah are standing talking on the roof of the high school. Susan is facing away, distraught and trying to hide her expression as she has lost her composure. Sarah suggests, pursuant to a page omitted, "It, um. Maybe you're upset by change?" Susan, still facing away, incredulously asks, "By good change? Not the store closing, but... quitting a job I don't want? Being done with this school? Not having to deal with that terrible locker anymore?" Sarah, concerned but calm, continues her supposition: "Well, I mean... You've worked there for years, and you've been here for years. It's what's normal for you, and... there is stuff you like about both places, right? Like, you started your movie review show with Elliot because of your job, and... you have friends here. You met Catalina here. Got to know Elliot and Tedd here." Susan half-smiles, her expression still bearing the strain of the strong emotions she's navigating, and asks, "And what's there to like about a locker with a sticky door?" Sarah smiles and replies, "You share it with me?" Susan, the sardonic half-smile gone, turns to face her more fully, and with a haunting expression as she comes to terms with it, pauses and says, "I want to hang out more." /end ID] So, y'know, right now I'm a mess. One little line messes me up so much. okay from here on I'm just fangirling to clarify shit. If you don't wanna hear me ramble about these fandoms in the abstract, adios. If you're a Murderbot fan wondering what this is about, El Goonish Shive is a webcomic that's been going since 2002, is unapologetically queer, has both accidentally and deliberately given earnest and deeply compassionate portrayals of queerness and neurodivergence, and also is just interesting, clever, and has a really big cry button moment as early as 2003. Susan in particular doesn't use the label asexual; Dan Shive considers her sexuality representative of his own, and is personally uncomfortable committing to restrictive labels such as that, though he knows how important they can be as well. She is beloved by asexual fans, okay frankly she's beloved by all fans because she's a complex, fascinating character whose political and philosophical views are her own, and excuse me I'm a mess again. She's not even my favorite fucking character. If you're an El Goonish Shive fan, I am crying over a construct made of cloned human tissues and robotic parts who is bitter, sardonic, and spent the first few books in a deep depression it was not aware of, has developed into a badass punk, and has an unsophisticated but very personal perspective on oppression, slavery, and artificial consciousness under a corporate dystopian rule. It calls itself "Murderbot" because of an incident it cannot remember that led to it hacking its governor module so that it might never be forced to kill again. It will kill, it's occasionally even Plan A, but it's a choice, not an order. ("As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure." - Book 1: All Systems Red.) It is asexual ("Things. :p"), prolly aromantic, prolly agender, and wonderful.

Then she added, “You know, you can stay here in the crew area if you want. Would you like that?” They all looked at me, most of them smiling. One disadvantage in wearing the armor is that I get used to opaquing the faceplate. I’m out of practice at controlling my expression. Right now I’m pretty sure it was somewhere in the region of stunned horror, or maybe appalled horror.

My favorite installment takes place after the fourth novella, but the first novella is absolutely sufficient as a standalone work of fiction, with a satisfying beginning, middle and end, comes in a glorious audiobook format narrated by Kevin R. Free, and makes me cry a lot. The early "humor me" level cry button for me is when everyone confronts it, and it turns to face a corner to avoid their deeply stressful eye contact. I have heard that fan responses to All Systems Red led the author Martha Wells to seek out an autism diagnosis; compare Dan Shive's "It would explain a lot."

#susan pompoms #murderbot #secunit #dan shive #el goonish shive #kevin r free #system collapse #Sarah brown #tiffany susan pompoms #rambling #ramblings #fangirling #neurodivergence in art #queer art

[danshive]

"Go touch grass!" - Person browsing social media and judging random strangers.

#dan shive says stuff

[danshive]

🐄

What I've found about the cow deck 🐄 (Tumblr post) is that it can be REALLY strong and scary if you can get a Colossal Plow in play turn two, and a Giant Ox in play turn three.

That's a big "if", however, and it can lag a bit if you don't.

That said, it can also catch up quickly if you get the Colossal Plow going, and Ox of Agonas can finish the job just by virtue of drawing three.

#dan shive says stuff #magic the gathering #cow deck

[danshive]

I'm going to praise this public figure!

"But what if they kick puppies?"

Shut up, brain, they don't kick puppies.

"But what if they do, or something else, and everyone gets mad?"

That's… I mean… They SEEM okay…

"MANY PEOPLE SEEM OKAY!"

Okay okay I won't say anything!

#dan shive says stuff

[danshive]

“Certain people don’t like this thing, and are rude about it. I’m gonna make a post that reads like I’m insulting EVERYONE who doesn’t like this thing.”

“Wait. ARE you insulting everyone who doesn’t like the thing?”

“Unclear!”

#dan shive says stuff

[danshive]

I enjoy adding "as one does" in parentheses after describing a strange thing to do (as one does).

#dan shive says stuff #as one does

[danshive]

I think personal labels can be useful for “there’s a word for it”, “I’m not alone”, and “oh neat, I know what to put in a search engine now” reasons, but I also think they can be troublesome.

Plenty of people won’t fit 100% neatly into a label, and when they encounter a rare exception to what is otherwise an accurate label for them, it can feel like an identity crisis.

The labels aren’t literally what you are. They’re words. They’re meant to assist communication and organization, not to control you.

#dan shive says stuff #labels #communication

[danshive]

I sometimes see people argue about one of these circles as though it were all three circles.

Sometimes something can totally make sense in-universe, and fit with the themes of the story, the characters, etc... And you just don't like it for whatever reason. Maybe it wasn't done well in spite of that, or touched a nerve, etc.

Maybe you loved a story, and it was an excellent exploration of a character, but it would be totally fair to call out the technical nonsense, and how, even in-universe, it doesn't add up.

And maybe you thought this episode of a show was GREAT! But it was non-canon, nothing made sense, and, ultimately, it was UTTER NONSENSE.

And so on, and so forth. Heck, you could fairly add more circles to this. I'm keeping it simple with three.

My point is mostly that there's nuance to opinions, and sometimes, someone not liking something in a story has nothing to do with whether it made sense, or complimented the narrative.

Those things can be separate points. Stories don't have to be a failure at everything to be disliked, or succeed at everything to be liked, and arguing as though that were the case is silly.

#dan shive says stuff #communication

[danshive]

An important thing to remember is we are born knowing NOTHING.

That thing you know that EVERYONE knows? No they don’t. Not unless their individual circumstances resulted in them knowing.

We are born knowing nothing, and knowledge is taken for granted. Ignorance is inevitable.

#dan shive says stuff

[danshive]

“Showing nudity in this social media feed is a no-no!” ”What about a gruesome fatality from a modern Mortal Kombat game?”

“Oh, that’s perfectly fine, let’s show it as a randomized video based on the algorithm.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah. Our sense of visual acceptability is DISTURBINGLY out of sorts. We hate our own bodies, and are cool with graphically violent murder.”

“Sounds healthy.”

#dan shive says stuff

[danshive]

My issue with Spider-Man is the lack of self care. It varies by continuity, but it seems like, in general, the boy’s a disaster putting himself through a hell his uncle never would have wanted for him.

Like, forget the villain of the week. He’s his own antagonist, and what I’m rooting for more than anything is him getting his life together.

Except he’s not allowed to do that, because then the series is over, so I don’t really have anything to root for other than it ending so he can finally take a break.

#dan shive says stuff #spider man

[danshive]

If you look at a cloud and see a giraffe, you're not right-brained.

If you look at a cloud and see a hippo, you're not left-brained.

I say this with certainty because people being left or right brained is a myth.

#dan shive says stuff #myths