#fatalism and villainy

[veliseraptor]

hmm how about a throwback - Felix/Mildmay

answering one more and then taking a break for a bit - always love to see it, good throwback and I'm gonna say yes, particularly if we include a loose definition of "shipping" but also. if we don't

What made you ship it?

Sarah Monette made me ship it when she wrote a pair of codependent brothers damaged by trauma with a deeply dysfunctional relationship who still love each other very much, and also one of them is attracted to the other one, but possibly that's at least partly because of the relationship in his head between sex and love as inseparable from each other.

It's all her fault. I take no responsibility.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I mean... [gestures above]. But if I have to go beyond that, I think it's probably the way that their relationship grows and develops over the course of the series in a way I feel like I seldom get to see the full arc of, particularly not played out so messily and unevenly. Things get better and worse and better and then a lot worse, and by the time I hit the end of Corambis the catharsis was very real.

But also the ways in which Felix is very mean to Mildmay as an extremely ugly expression of trauma are a lot of fun to me. And the way that Mildmay reenacts his issues with Keeper with Felix are also pretty great.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I know that if they actually fucked it would be catastrophically bad for their relationship and also undermine a lot of the ultimate development that happens at the end of the series but also a part of me is still like. They should've fucked. Just a little.

#conversating #fatalism and villainy #incest cw #doctrine of labyrinths #i guess?? #ship opinions meme #thank you for asking! love to talk about dol #and get possessed again by the 'i should reread' devil

[wizardysseus]

top 5 scenes in Star Wars

ahsoka vader faceoff in twilight of the apprentice

"i won't leave you, i've got to save you" "you already have. tell your sister you were right"

luke smiling at ghosts, leia coming to pull him away and both of them laughing

anakin asking "what have i done?" before kneeling to the emperor

luke throwing his lightsaber away

#i feel like i should lump all the rotj ending scenes into one because i love them for mainly the same reasons #and then i would have more room for swr and tcw scenes #ANYTHING FROM VICTORY AND DEATH??? #ask #fatalism and villainy

[wolffyluna]

Jing Beiyuan/Helian Yi?

What made you ship it?

Look, you show me a ship with intense loyalties, all in a sketched out backstory from another timeline, and I am there like a shot. I love feudalism*, and I love both "we are close confidantes and I dedicated my life to putting you in power, but you could never trust me and had me killed," and "I still want you in power, and you are pining while I studiously avoid you because you are terrifying."

2. What are your favorite things about the ship?

It's the free real estate!

Or, rather, I love how we only have a sketch of the previous timeline, so there's a lot of room to play around with that rough outline and do what you what in fic and art.

(My second favourite thing is the pining, where Helian Yi just does not understand why he keeps being rejected.

3. Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't have an unpopular opinion, but I do have an embarassing confession:

I don't grok Helian Yi, or the previous timeline.

Due to a combination of mostly reading while waiting for a bus or in checkout lines + the translation + priest's own... priestness, I know there was a lot that went over my head. And I know that in particular the little bits we got about the previous timeline, and current timeline!Helian Yi, flew right over my head with a whistling noise.

So all my opinions about this ship are very much shaped by that.

*Now there's a quote you can take out of context!

#qi ye #helian yi #jing beiyuan #thank you for the ask! #asks #fatalism and villainy

[docgold13]

Profiles in Villainy

Femme Fatale

The bank robber, master thief and ardent misandrist known as Femme Fatale plagued Townsville with a string of heists wherein the villainess only stole Susan B. Anthony coins.  Her hatred of men was so great that she did not want currency adored with male faces.  

When the heroic Powerpuff Girls arrived to put a stop to the crime spree, Femme Fatale was able to convince them of the urgency and importance of her cause.  Young and impressionable, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup were swayed by her argument regarding the ways in which sexism and the patriarchy has so terribly oppressed women.  As such, the Powerpuff Girls joined Femme Fatale in her rebellion against feminine injustice.  

It was not long, however, before the girls were able to see through the villainess’ hypocrisy.  She was cruel toward fellow women and showed that she did not even know the actual story behind the suffragist, Susan B. Anthony.  It became more and more clear that Femme Fatale did not really care about the welfare of women and was merely using her feminism as an excuse to commit crimes.  Disabused of her spell, the Powerpuff Girls quickly defeated the villainess and sent her to prison.  She would return on several occasions but was never able to once again coax the young heroines into accepting her man-hating views.  

Actress Grey DeLisle provided the voice for Femme Fatale with he villainess first appearing in the twelfth episode of the third season of The Powerpuff Girls, airing on January 5th, 2001.

#Profiles in Villainy #Femme Fatale #Powerpuff Girls #Grey DeLisle #cut-out #paper art #Villains!

[ariadne-mouse]

Alert: this is a very stupid post and not to be taken seriously.

So when it was revealed the first attack on Keyleth was Ludinus trying to test drawing out Vax, folks were pointing out that Ludinus would have had to stay up to date on Vox Machina romances in order to have the information to make that plan, which is very funny. I posit an additional hypothetical: if the preliminary attack had accidentally been fatal for Keyleth herself (I say accidentally because Ludinus would want to wait to execute the plan in full later, so wouldn't have killed her then) then Ludinus would have lost his bait and would have to figure out another way to draw out Vax.

And you know what that means. Matchmaking. Get the sad bird man to fall in love again so he can threaten the new person. Ludinus using every iota of his skill in manipulation and patience and influencing of events to set up Situations, and he needs it because as a celestial champion Vax is not just walking around into your average coffee shop. He becomes the king of tropes. He reads trash romance to get ideas and runs into Caleb at a naughty book store in Rexxentrum and it's very awkward for both of them. With centuries of experience and villainy, HOW has it come to this-

#he's picked up a Fiona Fancypants novel & felt deeply unsettled for no reason he could detect and since ignored everything from that author #once again this is a joke post not to be taken seriously #it's just Monday and I'm dodging the horrors #if Ludinus did kill Keyleth in serious Vax would probably go straight to the source in vengeance #also Gilmore - though happily married - is certainly still there and would be a next target perhaps #and Vex as foxqueen pointed out #as I say this is purely to envision Ludinus using all his prowess for something stupid lol #c3 #critical role #ludinus da'leth #op #it's shitpost o'clock

[dalishious]

The Dragon Age Fandom’s New Favourite Charming Slaver

There is nothing wrong with appreciating and enjoying villainous characters, especially when they are done so well. Everything about Rezaren Ammosine makes a him a remarkable and fascinating villain. He’s very intelligently depicted; all aspects of his character matter to how he presents in the story. His design is that of a handsome young white man. He is animated with a graceful and gentle flow, not just in how he casts spells but literally how he carries himself. His voice has a soft and soothing tone, and he uses that soft tone as part of his powerful charisma and sway he has over the people around him, like Tassia. In fact, Rezaren uses all of these characteristics for his benefit. Because just like in real life, abusers do not always wear “I’m a shithead” signs on their chest. To the outside world, they are charming and gentle people who couldn’t possibly hurt a fly, could they? But make no mistake. Rezaren Ammosine is a villain to his core. And treating him as anything other than a villain is a grossly disrespectful interpretation to fans of colour, given the nature of his villainy.

From his very introduction, we see that Rezaren is used to getting his way, and becomes easily frustrated and angered when his will is denied. When he summons a spirit of memory to interrogate about the circulum’s creation, the spirit warns him that answering too much would be unwise. Rezaren ignores these warnings and orders the spirit to continue, to the brink of turning the spirit into a pride demon. This is called back into further example when Miriam refuses his plans for her. Again, he becomes easily angered and physically lashes out, using his magic to flare up the pain in her wound. Then to solidify the power he has over her, says “You live because I will it.”

Rezaren explains to Tassia, “Her name is Miriam. She's my sister. My mother owned her. She was to be my personal spy, assassin. Whatever was needed. My left hand, as it were. But she raised us as siblings.” Except we see how Miriam and Neb were really raised in flashbacks. We see how they were beaten for Rezaren simply tripping while playing with them. We see how they were forced to do hard labour, and told they were not allowed to own anything. And we see how Rezaren’s mother sacrificed Neb so that Rezaren would not become an abomination during his Harrowing, sending the demon into Neb’s body instead. And that raising has obviously shaped how Rezaren views this so-called siblinghood, because while he may call Neb and Miriam his brother and sister, make no mistake, he still views them belonging to him. Rezaren has no respect for their autonomy. Even in death, he defiles Neb’s body by using blood magic to put a demon inside it and controlling him. And Miriam? He cannot bare to accept that she refuses to submit to slavery again, no matter how pretty a picture he paints of them being like family. But you don’t own a sibling. “Selfish bitch! You and your ungrateful brother. You were mine!” he shouts at the very end, before Miriam fatally stabs him.

So, Rezaren is a villainous slaver. Why is it, then, that people are writing reviews praising his character while calling Miriam and her party the real baddies? Why are people saying he “deserved” a redemption arc? The only assumption I can come to is simply that people are so not used to the white guy being the one to lose in the fantasy genre, that they’re willing to bend over backwards to try and paint the only white person in the show as a victim of the #mean brown woman. Think about it. How many stories are out there where the hero is a white man? White people are conditioned to always be the centre of attention, so when they’re not for a change, they need to seek it out by shining a spotlight on whatever white man they can find. This is of course nothing unique to the Dragon Age fandom, but rather a disease found in fandom spaces as a whole. Hell, look at the Star Wars sequels, and how the bizarre love for and babygirlification of Kylo Ren was so strong it led to ruining the second and third films. This is why it’s such a relief to me that Rezaren dies in the end of Absolution, because otherwise it would truly end up a fear to me that the writers would try the same with him.

When you’re pushing Rezaren into the spotlight, you are pushing Miriam out of it. And Miriam is such a treasure of a character, it’s a crying shame to see her get so much disrespect. I have nothing against people who like Rezaren, but if your like for him goes to the extent of putting down Miriam in order to put him up, then we have a problem.

#dragon age #da absolution #rezaren ammosine #meta #fandom bs

[sparklecryptid]

The Folgers "Incest" Commercial and the Internet

the internet doesn't know how to engage with things that make them uncomfortable or self reflective and im a killjoy

TODAY ON: The Internet is once again Hitting My Buttons and I have been Enabled (shoutout to @fatalism-and-villainy for reminding me of my BEEF WITH THIS SPECIFIC MEME) so now you are all going to listen to me rant about why I get so fucking annoyed with the meme that grew out of the Folgers Brother and Sister Commercial.

This is the commercial in question:

Is the acting weird and stilted? Yes. Does the whole thing remind me of bring a teenager and having awkward interactions with the family members I haven't seen in a long time? Also yes. Does this commercial commit the crime of being suggestive? Does it commit the crime of making it seem like the brother and sister are in a *gasp. pearl clutching. etc.* incestuous relationship? No. It doesn't. The acting is bad. The camera angles suck. The lighting is terrible. The script could be more natural. These are valid criticisms of the ad. The fact that a meme culture jumped up around the siblings in this ad making them into an incest joke makes me wonder if we all need to go back to elementary school Language Arts.

Granted I do take the view that messaging in media can be interpreted by others however they please so I know I've already lost some of you and that's chill, I am not here to convince I am here to rant.

Also like. My guys. My gals. My nonbinary pals. The intention of the creator matters. The creator of this stunted and poorly acted commercial did not intend for the internet to read this as an incestuous relationship.

(That doesn't matter to the internet, and is of little relevance here, but it is still important to note.

"But Moose," You say and I already know where you are going with it, "We know that, that's why it's funny to meme!"

"I know," I reply with a sigh that speaks of having just completed three end of term group projects, "But at the moment I'm taking the words incest and incestuous away from you because none of you can be trusted to use it to describe the thing it is made to describe and siblings just being siblings.")

The internet has decided its a funny haha to giggle at the bad acting here. That's fine! It's fine! You do you! I am simply a fellow on the internet that gets annoyed too easily! It's fine! The author is dead and the internet took over and nothing matters ever.

We're here to talk about how one of the reasons this commercial took off so fast as a meme is likely because it showed an awkwardly acted familial relationship that made people uncomfortable because it showed an attempt sincerity and sincerity is cringe. The internet around the time the memes took off was full of people who would rather make jokes about being affectionate toward your sibling than ever admit that sibling relationships are complicated things and that *gasp* being sincere with a sibling you have a good relationship with isn't uncommon! Admitting that you like your sibling might ruin your cool guy street online cred! Admitting you don't get the joke might make people make fun of you!*

Admitting that you're afraid of self-reflection and being forced to confront why you would rather these two characters be in an incestuous relationship than just be siblings is scary!

AND THAT is why this commercial annoys me! Because these memes are seem like they are laughing at a poorly acted aid that at least made an attempt to be sincere about how it portrayed a brother and sister relationship! Is the commercial cringe? Yes. Does the acting suck? Yes. Is the commercial implying anything? No. It's not. You guys just can't imagine something being cringe and sincere and are stuck on the heteronormative imagining that any relationship between a man and a woman has to be sexual if it is to mean anything.

*why i was on the bandwagon for so long. i am not good at Getting The Joke in real life why would I be any better online?

#i cut this down from 500 words so here #anyway. i should have a tag for rants #moose rants

[vgperson]

Vocaloid Highlights: June 2023

What if you, wanted to eat caramel, but Sacabambaspis said: Forbidden Highlights Archive

========== Stand-Outs ========== Over the Rainbow! Pure-Hearted Paparazzi Top Notch Snob Re-Newtons Wanna Eat Caramel Forbidden Exposure Glittering Ultra☆Galactic Girl Something Forgotten Absurdly Happy☆Dream Girl! Blast Off! Sacasacabambambaspispis It's Gravity Liar Dancer Roller Virtual Singer Agape Happy The Way I Hope Rallentando Necro Familia Smokescreen HERO oops Mud-Eater Any Event A Mystery

========== Worth Your Time ========== Cry Cry Cry Cutting Pie Happy Jade Promotion-san is Coming. Frogfr Reverberation Liar Syndrome Wild Pitch Embers of Dawning Night Incomplete Record Boiling Point Charlie Unchanging Metro Taxi Vanitas and Night Light Goodbye, New Humanity Noisegoto Glass Slipper Runner Starfish's Fatal Wound Scorching Heat Big City and Stella Blue Progression Bumble Rumble Meika Town My story Dark Night Get Over the Pixels Dyed in Blue You later (Yuurei-ter) Boundary Sputnik Rainbow Canon Happiness Painter!! Dream Riser Phoebe Bubble Summer Syrup You-Like Color Party Nyaight! Crescent Rally scent Glitter Sparkle Messy Flop Crow Crow Karen's Cleaning Auto Focus Heart Portrait Last Amethyst Poem Distoile BURAI (Villainy) New Discovery→Familiar Daydream Lament telo sewi Ugh, Just Let It Happen. Music Frontier Anoxia Secret (Full Verson) Common Carp Song of Stereotypical Spoiled Brat Who Wants Understanding and Approval Without Effort Yet Has Low-Detail View of Grown-Ups and Friends Fleeting Life Show Beat Infinite Nap and Rain Kudanshita Pandemic. Halo, Auvers. Embryo-Like Illusion Global Engineering How Many More Lonely Nights Nebula Flower Trick Drowning imitation Rainy Terrarium Secret Frend Martial Maximinker (Splatoon Remix) Peacock Round and Land Entrust via 39 About June 20th I'm Always Watching. 99% of the World is a Lie I Can't Die Because, Sea and Heat Haze Eye to Eye Don't Say Goodbye Flower of Talent Fuwa Fuwa Foo Love-Tying Ghost Don't Tease! French Cruller Primary Monster Z Bonfire Flower AB Test Lifeform X Analog Romance Breath Jenny Wearing a Snail Mr. SHADOW ATAVISM Huge Annoyance The Man Who Stole the Pirozhki Grudge Inversion You Have To Open Your Eyes! Never Having Shallow Dreams Don't Wanna Die, But Oh Well Brainwashing

#vocaloid #vocaloid highlights

[13thdoctor]

the master is femme. (yes, missy, but not just missy.) I feel and believe so deeply in my soul that koschei, the master, all iterations, is femme. sexuality is irrelevant, whether she's gay or he's lesbian or they're ace etc. that timelord is femme!

obviously, missy is a femme fatale. elegant, beautiful, villainous woman. he's regenerated into a form where he's expected to be feminine, and he does what he does best--has fun with it. turns it into a PERFORMANCE. this isn't isolated to gomez' master, though. everything has always been about performance with the master. her villainy, from the start, has been a show for the doctor above all else. her schemes are designed with showmanship in mind, not efficiency. when the master steps into the room, you WILL look at her. she'll make sure of it. if you don't turn your head yourself, she'll turn it for you. she's going to ruin your life and you will watch and you will obey because she is your master and she is THE master. missy's appearance and behavior are as striking as ever--elegant, fanciful, dramatic--but this is true for all iterations. think back to delgado's master, how striking she was. how she performed. the master cares about her presentation, it's like, 80% of her villainy. she needs to stand out, it needs to be showy, unnecessary, and creative in its evil.

even simm's master, the painfully unstable, deluded, grandiose self that was resurrected starving & naked--who threw on the closest hoodie and eagerly tore apart a rotisserie chicken with her bare hands--took the time to do her eyeliner once she collected herself! found himself a nice suit, too. brought back that striking appearance. (I think it's important to note the difference between harold saxon's suit [a disguise] & the suit she wore for herself. saxon's suit is far less fashionable in my opinion.)

SHE'S FEMME!!!!!!!!!!!!

#the master #master #doctor who #dr who #the master doctor who #master doctor who #missy #the ratty post-resurrection self is just what happens when a girl forgets to take his mood stabilizers. it happens 💖 #i hope you enjoy the alternating pronouns subverting expectations as much as i do. the master is incredibly gender. In my opinion #i love she/her master so bad. sooo bad. indulgent headcanons i love youu. #Im utterly in love with her. By the way. Somebody help meeeee hellpp #I'M SOOO DYKE. i think about the master being the doctor's femme and i start kicking my feet and giggling and blushing. hiiii. ^_^

[parasiticstars]

ITSV au where Aaron gets bit instead of Miles.

CW: child death

Having to figure out how to navigate the spider powers as a grown ass man and how to hide it from people— specifically Kingpin.

Miles, for whatever reason, still goes down to the subway tunnel— maybe just to brood, or add more to the walls— and that’s when he sees the fight. And being a normal regular ass teenager, he doesn’t have the strength yet to barely survive just watching the battle ongoing like he did canonically.

Miles still promises to help Peter, because Peter is on the verge of death and Miles is trustworthy and right now, his only possible ally. Normally he’d never trust such a dangerous task to a child, but… yannow

Kingpin sees the kid running, Aaron gets ordered to kill him. Since Miles doesn’t have spider powers to give him an edge, Aaron catches up to him, or Miles gets severely injured at some point in the chase for other reasons.

Definitely fatally.

canon event /J

Aaron tackles Miles, who’s already wounded and stressed, and realizes who he is and unmasks himself. Miles’s horror once Aaron unmasks, his impending death, and the fact that Miles used his dying words to tell Aaron that he still loved him and he could still escape villainy makes Aaron realize the whole great power great responsibility thing, and he decides to covertly double cross Kingpin to shut down the collider— and then apparently get these random ass spider people that just keep showering up home to help.

It’s the world’s worst week for him.

#the parker has spoken #itsv #into the spider-verse #into the spider verse #into the spiderverse #spiderman into the spiderverse #spiderman: into the spiderverse #spider man into the spider verse #spiderman into the spider verse #Aaron Davis #itsv Aaron #itsv aaron davis #Aaron itsv #the prowler #the prowler itsv #miles morales #itsv miles #itsv miles morales #1610 miles morales #kingpin #itsv kingpin #miles itsv #itsv au #spiderman #ripeter #miles morales 1610 #marvel

[veliseraptor]

Think I've said this before but I was initially aware of you for Silmarillion fic, then found you on tumblr and discovered you were really into Loki and had some great takes in that regard, so I followed

you're definitely one of those people I think of as silmarillion first so that makes sense to me - I actually kind of forgot you were into the mcu/loki! but I am pleased for the reminder and also very honored that you considered my takes on the subject good, particularly because there were a lot of takes flying around back then

also was just thinking "huh surprised alpha found me since I was kind of doing my best to remain unnoticed on this website at the time" but then I remembered that if you. followed a link I probably put on a silmfic you'd be immediately hit with wall to wall loki blogging, so

#conversating #fatalism and villainy

[wizardysseus]

3, 6, 14

3. What were your top five books of the year?

[that i read for the first time]

the last unicorn by peter s. beagle

chalice by robin mckinley

sandman: brief lives by neil gaiman

hellboy: the storm and the fury by mike mignola

[that came out this year]

the grief of stones by katherine addison

the oleander sword by tasha suri

yeah that's six but what are you gonna do about it?

6. Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?

i meant to reread the neverending story and the earthsea series this year. they are still sitting on my coffee table. staring me in the face.

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

the girl in the tower by katherine arden

the spear cuts through water by simon jimenez

#fatalism and villainy #ask #captain's reading log

[docgold13]

Profiles in Villainy

Boris & Natasha

Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale are a pair of ruthless (often witless) spies working for the nefarious government of the sovereign nation of Pottsylvania.  Boris was raised by wolves in the Pottsylvanian forest and was a petty crook before he was recruited by secret intelligence.  Whereas Natasha was trained from birth by a group of scientists seeking to create the perfect secret agent.  

The pair were partnered and sent to America to endeavor on numerous schemes that aimed to disrupt western democracy.  These schemes were time and again thwarted by the actions of Bullwinkle the Moose and Rocky the Flying Squirrel.  Indeed, the constant meddling by Rocky and Bullwinkle became so great that Boris and Natasha were assigned the secondary objection of: ‘kill moose and squirrel.’  Fortunately, Rocky and Bullwinkle’s luck and guile coupled with Boris and Natasha’s bumbling incompetence has kept the two heroes one step ahead of these treacherous spies.  

Actor Paul Frees provided the voice for Boris, while actress June Foray voiced Natasha.  The pair first appeared in the premier episode of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, airing on November 19th, 1959.

#Profiles in Villainy #Rocky and Bullwinkle Show #Boris and Natasha #cut-outs #paper art

[mariana-oconnor]

The Abbey Grange pt 1

It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning during the winter of '97 that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder. It was Holmes. The candle in his hand shone upon his eager, stooping face and told me at a glance that something was amiss. “Come, Watson, come!” he cried. “The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!”

Watson is a far better person than I am. My response would have been 'fuck off' and a flailing arm to Holmes' face. But Watson is so used to this by now, I guess.

...the air was most bitter and neither of us had broken our fast.

Yeah, I would be so grumpy right now. Cold, hungry, tired. I would be contemplating murder. And Holmes doesn't even explain yet what's going on.

“Stanley Hopkins.”

Oh hai, Stanley.

I can't remember the last time we saw Stanley. Black Peter? He definitely arrested the wrong guy that time. And the internet tells me the Golden Pince-Nez as well, which was the one with the cigarettes that reminded me of Vera or The Nihilists. I think he's okay for the most part.

"I must admit, Watson, that you have some power of selection which atones for much which I deplore in your narratives. Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has ruined what might have been an instructive and even classical series of demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon sensational details which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader.”

Holmes fundamentally misunderstanding the nature of literature. And also following up a rude awakening, a lack of breakfast and a journey through the freezing cold with what is essentially an insult to Watson's writing. The man would be dead by now, I'm telling you.

“Why do you not write them yourself?” I said, with some bitterness.

"As to the release of the lady, it would appear that she has been locked in her room during the tragedy."

Or that's what she wants you to think...

“I'm very glad you have come, Mr. Holmes. And you too, Dr. Watson! But, indeed, if I had my time over again I should not have troubled you, for since the lady has come to herself she has given so clear an account of the affair that there is not much left for us to do."

Well now I really don't trust her.

Lady Brackenstall was no ordinary person. Seldom have I seen so graceful a figure, so womanly a presence, and so beautiful a face.

Watson, I know you're hungry and half asleep and have just been told you got out of bed for no reason, but don't ogle the grieving widow within 24 hours of her husband's grisly death. It's not a good look.

As she did so the loose gown fell back from her forearms. Holmes uttered an exclamation.

This all seems so very staged to me, but I am very cynical and suspicious. The beautiful widow lounging, bereft, in her dressing gown which just happens to fall to reveal evidence of injuries.

But I am cynical and suspicious, we have covered that.

“You have other injuries, madam! What is this?” Two vivid red spots stood out on one of the white, round limbs. She hastily covered it.

Or maybe the reveal was a mistake. Difficult to say at that time. "white, round limbs" is such a bizarre way to describe an arm. I guess it's accurate... but still. Weird.

"...Sir Eustace was a confirmed drunkard. To be with such a man for an hour is unpleasant. [...] It is a sacrilege, a crime, a villainy to hold that such a marriage is binding. I say that these monstrous laws of yours will bring a curse upon the land—Heaven will not let such wickedness endure.”

"There is no one else, and no sound could alarm those who are in the farther wing. This must have been well known to the robbers, or they would not have acted as they did."

Or it was well known to someone who lives in the house? That seems more likely than the robbers knowing. I mean it sure is convenient that the robbers who were conveniently mentioned in the paper the other day conveniently knew that about your house and conveniently killed your drunk abusive husband, while you were conveniently locked in your room and unable to do anything about it. Woe.

If you killed your husband, I honestly wouldn't blame you. Like you said, divorce should absolutely have been available to you, but it wasn't. So... eh?

"I have already told you, have I not, that one was elderly, with a beard, and the others young, hairless lads. They might have been a father with his two sons."

You were doing so well until you emphasised this bit. You might as well have said 'you know, like those people I read about in the newspaper'. Don't overplay your hand. Keep it subtle. And why would they leave you alive after you just saw them murder your husband and you know their faces. That would be exceptionally sloppy of them.

“I saw the men before ever they came into the house,” said she. “As I sat by my bedroom window I saw three men in the moonlight down by the lodge gate yonder, but I thought nothing of it at the time."

Maid is in on it. Good for her.

"...she never wanted courage, did Miss Mary Fraser of Adelaide, and Lady Brackenstall of Abbey Grange hasn't learned new ways."

Might as well have said 'she's absolutely capable of killing her husband and framing someone else for it.'

An abstruse and learned specialist who finds that he has been called in for a case of measles would experience something of the annoyance which I read in my friend's eyes.

And I sincerely hope he would hide that annoyance and treat the measles to the best of his ability.

These details only struck our attention afterwards, for our thoughts were entirely absorbed by the terrible object which lay upon the tiger-skin hearthrug in front of the fire.

I feel like they only struck you afterwards, Watson. I feel like Holmes probably assessed them all pretty much immediately.

"One would have expected that they would have silenced Lady Brackenstall as well.”

“They may not have realized,” I suggested, “that she had recovered from her faint.” “That is likely enough. If she seemed to be senseless they would not take her life."

Not sure I get this logic. She still definitely saw their faces earlier. Why would her being unconscious affect this?

"There was a scandal about his drenching a dog with petroleum and setting it on fire..."

Well fuck him, then.

I mean... Am I now expected to feel any sympathy for this man at all? He beats his wife, he burns her dog alive. And he wasn't arrested for that? May his soul rot in hell. May his body be eaten by worms and recycled into something that will actually do some good in the world.

"good-hearted man when he was sober"? If he had it in him to burn a dog alive, then, my dude, respectfully, I think he was just good at hiding it when he was sober. Good-hearted men do not just start murdering puppies when they get drunk.

Can't believe we've now actually got a puppy murderer and we're supposed to care who killed him.

Also, Stanley, this is the same as the Black Peter case. No one cared that he was dead, either. Let's just all agree not to care about this one.

Holmes was down on his knees examining with great attention the knots upon the red cord with which the lady had been secured.

Do they look like they were tied by the person who was in them rather than by another person? Or do we think the maid tied her up?

"There can be no doubt that this fellow must have known the house and its habits. He must have perfectly understood that the servants would all be in bed at that comparatively early hour, and that no one could possibly hear a bell ring in the kitchen."

Stanley. Stanley... the most likely explanation for that is that it was someone in the household instead of a burglar. Please engage your critical thinking skills.

Or not, because honestly, she should probably get away with this one.

"And yet you must admit that the three glasses are very remarkable, Hopkins. What, you see nothing remarkable! Well, well, let it pass. Perhaps when a man has special knowledge and special powers like my own it rather encourages him to seek a complex explanation when a simpler one is at hand."

"Of course, it must be a mere chance about the glasses. Well, good morning, Hopkins. I don't see that I can be of any use to you, and you appear to have your case very clear. You will let me know when Randall is arrested, and any further developments which may occur. I trust that I shall soon have to congratulate you upon a successful conclusion."

This whole section strikes me as the exact moment Holmes finalises what had happened and decides to just let Lady Brackenstall get away with it. I might be mistaken. But the interruption of that thought line about the glasses.

'Oh, there's something strange about these, haven't you noticed there's something stra-n-g-e a-b... No, you know what? Never mind. It's just my mind overcomplicating things. Nothing wrong with the glasses. You're clearly right about everything. Good day.'

Stanley really does pick his cases, huh? I think every victim he's had has been pretty much a terrible person who was pretty much justifiably murdered as far as the narrative is concerned.

#Letters from Watson #The Abbey Grange #Sherlock Holmes #long post

[entryno17]

i really struggle to understand where the interpretation of gaster as a villain came from, to be honest. like okay, maybe when we only had a weird mystery man behind a gray door and not much else, i can kinda see why. in a game where villainy often doesn't seem to exist, i guess it only makes sense to ascribe it to someone who is literally intangible. but now... i just don't get it!

based on everything we've seen in deltarune, the impression i get of gaster is just a strange skeleton man, stuck beyond the boundaries of spacetime. he's someone that distantly appreciates the beings in the world he most likely had a hand in creating, and wants to share this experience with the player. at the very worst, he's just "mildly unnerving" due to the mystery around his (non)existence.

my best guess is that this might stem from a misunderstanding of the gonermaker sequence? recall that it's gaster guiding the player to create a vessel for themselves—a vessel meant to inhabit the light world. he's not the one who forces kris under the player's control; the vessel is discarded by a third party, who then asserts that "no one can choose who they are". the vessel is discarded, kris's body is seized: autonomy is stolen from both parties. this exact thing seems to be what gaster was working to prevent.

there are two opposing forces here: one on the side of the player, and one on the side of 'fate'. seeing the appreciation gaster seems to have for the player as well as their ability of choice, i REALLY don't think he's particularly fond of fatalism. don't forget that gaster seems to be aware of the nature of SOULs, including the power of determination: the force that drove the entire plot of undertale; the power that allowed the player to survive death—to subvert fate—and the ability to choose what 'route' they went on. fundamentally, deltarune's metanarrative appears to be about the immutability of a set story contradicting the inherent interactivity of a game: determinism vs. determination. neither side is 'evil', but each has its own narrative to push.

that being said, i don't definitely don't believe these interpretations of gaster stem solely from a metanarrative misunderstanding. unfortunately, i'm 99% sure the main motivation behind the vilification of gaster is simply that it gives the story an overarching 'antagonist', which it currently lacks concretely. this isn't a bad motivation, i guess... but it's just so hollow to me. gaster is the villain because the story needs one. he's just fulfilling fate. it's not that this WOULDN'T work at all—there are some circumstances where it might. i mean, forcing someone into a narrative they're desperately trying to subvert seems like a pretty bad situation to be in. maybe they'd start to crack. maybe they'd have no choice but to succumb. who knows! the possibilities are endless...

#i realize the end sounds like i'm saying 'if you keep being MEAN to gaster he's gonna GET you >=(' which is objectively hilarious #but that's not what i mean i swear </3. #OH forgot to include in the post but there's also another contradiction in the determinism/determination duality: #each 'route' is still predetermined; it's all written in code. these choices are not truly yours to make even when they're meant to be. #there's a lot of really interesting stuff going on there in that dichotomy. i enjoy exploring it a lot #i know for a fact i've talked about this topic here before but it's on my mind again. that's why i'm posting this at 3 AM </3

[lord-squiggletits]

Hi! Hope it's not a bother to ask, but since you seem highly well-versed in IDW Megop... have you (or anyone) made a kind of Megop-focused comic timeline or a chronological rec list for what comics to read if you want to get into IDW Megop? Sorry if there's one already out there that I'm missing. I'm new to the Transformers franchise (haven't even ever watched the Bay movies) and I've chaotically been watching different things, but what I've read and seen of IDW Megop seems fascinating.

Your Pay Unto Evil was one of the first fics I got recommended for getting into the ship, actually. I read that with zero knowledge of any kind of Transformers canon and it made me cry at 4 AM after I couldn't put it down, so just... many thanks for writing and sharing all your amazing work!

No, not me nor any of my mutuals have made a timeline for IDW MegOP. If you're interested in it though, I'd definitely start with Chaos Theory + Police Action (The Transformers 2009 issues #22-23) as that's literally Peak IDW MegOP Being Gay Old Men for each other. It was also literally the first thing I read of IDW1 myself, hahaha.

And then to get more IDW MegOP, I would recommend just...reading more of the comics? Because the thing about IDW MOP is that it's not like, say, TFP where Megatron and Optimus interact frequently and get a lot of cool teamup/fanservice/etc moments together. IDW MOP is the kind of MOP where they get a few key moments together, and the rest of their chemistry just comes from...... the way they think about each other when they're apart, the way that each other's actions as leaders/people affect the trajectory of each other's lives, the respect and easy casualness they have with each other despite their position as enemies. There aren't really many "ship" moments like "oh, they have this conversation together that's super gay" except for Chaos Theory, rather it's a ship where you have to read between the lines a little and observe the way they interact with each other/talk about each other to see the chemistry they have together. And in order to understand the significance of those interactions/thoughts/reminders between each other, you have to actually read the story as a whole and understand the things that contextualize IDW Megatron and Optimus' close orbiting of each other.

As pretentious as this sounds, IDW MegOP isn't the kind of ship where you can point at a few moments in canon and go "here's proof they're gay for each other/have romantic chemistry," it's more like a bunch of reading between the lines and thinking about their histories together and coming to the conclusion that these guys are so fucking intertwined together.

And that's really one of the main appeals of IDW MegOP to me; it's that, tragically, they never really GOT chances to interact with each other as people and mostly existed as diametrically opposed military/political leaders. They have parallel character arcs that involve rising as heros, falling into villainy/moral grayness, and coming back up into some semblance of goodness. They share a lot of the same grief about the pointlessness of the war and the way they're individually, uniquely responsible for things getting as bad as they did.

Their personalities and struggles are similar enough that they're basically two sides of the same coin, where you see a few of the same core values (desire for justice/equality, passion, anger, keeping emotional distance from others) and it makes you go "IDW Megatron and Optimus are basically the same guy, just put in two completely different life situations and fucked up by what happened to them and the shitty messages they got from their mentor figures." And in the end it creates this really tragic version of MegOP where you feel like they COULD have been great together, if the trajectories of their lives and their fatal flaws hadn't conspired to separate and pit them against each other at virtually every turn.

It's not something that I could really recommend specific series or issues to you, it's just an overall vibe that IDW MegOP has. That being said, I and my mutual @quetzalpapalotl have a lot of good posts about IDW Megatron, IDW Optimus, and IDW MegOP (mostly she has the good posts, I just babble shit on my blog and post fan fiction) that could possibly intrigue you into reading specific series?

#ALSO THANK YOU FOR SAYING MY FICS GOT YOU INTO IDW MEGOP #THAT'S WHY I'M HERE MISSION ACCOMPLISHED I DIE HAPPY #squiggle answers #megop #idw megop