#needing as well but to a lesser extent because you can only need to a certain degree before it becomes wanting. lusting for sure

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

literally all i have been doing the past two weeks is Wanting. they call me the wanter the way i'm wanting things i can never have

#yearning longing whatever you wanna call it #needing as well but to a lesser extent because you can only need to a certain degree before it becomes wanting. lusting for sure #i have not stopped since the year started and i don't see an end in sight yet. i literally can't even think straight anymore #i literally cannot do anything or get anything done i mean i'm bad at that usually but like i genuinely think i've lost it #and as someone who never had it to begin with... idk!!!! #it's like i'm afraid to lose focus on it as if it isn't a constant choice i keep making when i wake up #i must remember that i can give up anything if i decide to. everything could change tomorrow #not looking at him for 2 hours will not make the feeling go away... pls be convinced brain #because i have not been sleeping well </3 #and i'm becoming hard to be around again. people can just instinctively tell when i'm being weird #it is important that i be as realistic as possible while being the most deranged person on earth #wouldn't want to hurt myself again lmao... but i always do anyways so i just gotta let it happen #anyways i'm gonna try to watch harold and maude sometime today and also watch another movie bc we are only 4 weeks into 2024 #and i already fucked up the 'watch a movie a week' thing i've been doing LMAO all because i wanted to look at a man #i'm ridiculously fucking braindead #not upset about it tho that's just who i am. brain is fully developed in 2 weeks and 1 day so it's never gonna change sadly #atp growing and changing are not impossible but if i do not see a reward of being loved at the end of the tunnel i will end up dead #and it's fine it's all so fine

[sweetiewrites]

𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙗𝙞𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙣𝙨…

𝙎𝙔𝙉𝙊𝙋𝙎𝙄𝙎: just some spicy headcanons for hobie !!

𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂: smut !!! gender neutral reader !!! random headcanons that have no literally no evidence !!!

𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀: as an apology for not having part two out yet. listen listen i want to make it good for y'all. also also if you want some content on your spidersona please consider checking out my commissions shop!

❥ here's one of my favourite things about hobie; he fucks. he's well experienced, and he knows exactly what he's doing so he's not satisfied just sticking his dick in and going to town.

❥ hobie is a true switch; he can do whatever you need and more, but most of his past partners have been subs so he's used to that role.

❥ he's a pleasure dom. i am not taking any notes. when hobie tops the only thing he wants to do is make you feel amazing. he won't even put his dick inside of you unless your legs are already shaking.

❥ he has an oral fixation. so he usually has something in his mouth, but that also means he loves giving oral in every since of the world. he worships your pussy/dick like it's a god in his own right.

❥ "oh aren't you the most perfect little thing, all of your parts are perfection." and he means it, because even though he has had his fair share of lovers; yours is his favourite.

❥ hobie is all about praise and worship. even when his cock is deep inside you he's calling you a god/goddess, telling you that you're taking him so well and he's encouraging you to go deeper.

❥ trust me though, he has the capacity to be so mean. in the mix of his praise he's commanding you, groaning out how you're a good little whore and pretty little slut.

❥ when hobie is subbing he's a bit less cocky and confident just because he truly is not used to being in this position

❥ don't get me wrong he's still a sassy, cocky motherfucker just to a lesser extent because he's still teasing you, egging you on, telling you that you could do more to him.

❥ hobie is already pretty vocal but he's more vocal when he's subbing. he's groaning, letting you know that he feels amazing and to keep going.

❥ if you tease hobie he can hardly handle being on bottom, because he just works himself up so much and he desperately wants to do whatever he wants. while he's a true switch he also doesn't believe in consistency so expect him to flip you over and fuck you.

❥ may i add that he loves being physically restrained. he's into bdsm as long as you are and you consent. he wants to be physically tied down and by god he would do anything to have you tied down underneath him squirming and begging him.

❥ like i said, hobie absolutely fucks and he will blow your mind in anyway you want him to just say the word

#across the spiderverse #atsv imagines #atsv x reader #spiderverse #atsv smut #atsv hobie #hobie brown x reader #hobie brown #hobie spiderverse #hobie x reader #spider punk #spiderman across the verse #astv #hobie my beloved #hobie imagine #hobie brown headcanons #hobie smut #hobie brown smut #hobie brown x you #hobie brown x y/n #hobie brainrot

[elexuscal]

The "Top" fics in fandom are not the "Best"

I've seen a couple of posts here in there implying that the ways to find the best fics in fandoms are just to go to ao3, and sort by 'Most Kudoses', 'Most Bookmarks', 'Most Comments', etc. I've also seen some folks say they feel like their fics are failures if they don't make it to the front page(s), or at least near there.

But the simple fact: this is not true.

Now, I'm not saying that the top-rated fics in a fandom are bad.

Far from it! They're often very popular for a reason. Well written, fun dynamics, cool plots, etc. A lot of my own favourite fics have made it to the first page when you sort by "Most Kudos"-- but then, a lot of mine also haven't.

Why?

Because those selections are inherently biased.

What do I mean by that? Just that there are other factors influencing what stories accumulate the most comments/kudoses/etc in a fandom, meaning none of these serve as a neutral metric of quality.

I'm going to explain some of these biases briefly, just so folks get a sense of what I mean:

Age Bias This, I think, is the easiest to grasp. A fic that is three years old just has had more time to gain views than a fic that's three days old. Also, consider that pretty much any fandom needs time to grow. If you're in the first days/weeks/months of a fandom, there probably just isn't that much content being made. If there's only 10 fics on the archive, then 11th one stands out. It'll get a lot of attention. But if that same fic were to come out a couple years later, when there were 11 fics published in a single day, well, people are more likely to miss it. If you doubt me, take a look at the front page of 'Most Kudos' for a fandom of your choice. You'll probably see a lot of the stories there are on the older side- and this is exactly why.

Multi-Chapter Bias There are a lot of ways people find new fics to read, and one of the most basic is just: look at the front page of the most recent updates. Now, this way of sorting fics is exactly what it sounds like. A list of fics in order of when they were most recently posted/updated. But, obviously, if a fic has multiple chapters, it's going to appear on that front page way more often. A 50 chapter epic has 49 more chances to get seen this way than a one-shot. This issue becomes even more intense when you consider the Most Comments sort option. For a one shot, a person is probably likely to only comment once. Maybe if they really love the story and revisit, they'll leave a second or third. But multi-factor fics? By design, people come back every update. And that means a lot of people leave comments every single time. (Or at the very least, after big plot developments and twists!) This is what leads to long-running multi-chapter epics dominating the 'Most Comments' rankings in most fandoms.

Popular Pairing Bias Again, this is just obvious. Some pairings are more popular than others. A rare-pair fic can be just as soulful, hot, and well-written as a story featuring the fandom's powerhouse fic, but if only 30 people are interested, well... [shrug] Less people will click on it, kudos it, and leave a comment. To a lesser extent, you can expand this to any trope. 'Coffee Shop AUs' just seem to be more popular than, say, '1930s Mobster AUs'. That effects what tags people search, and what fics they find. But shipping is such an important element of many fandom cultures I thought it would be the most illustrative.

Positive Feedback Loop Bias And honestly, this is maybe the real clincher. Because I've established some of the things that can cause a story to start gathering lots of kudos, comments, and bookmarks in a first place. But once that starts, you get a positive feedback loop going. Because what's one of the first things a person does when they're looking for good stories in a fandom? They sort by 'Most Kudos'. And then they select the first story on the list, and they like it. So they leave a comment and kudos and... Yeaaaah.

So... What do we do about it?

Well. Nothing really. This isn't really a problem. It's just something to be aware of.

Any attempt to put metrics on something as subjective as art is going to fall short. So don't go rating the quality of your own stories about how well it performs, and don't go chasing those coveted top spots. You'll have a lot more fun if you just write stuff that you enjoy, make some friends, and recognise a lot of factors influence fanfic statistics beyond just quality.

Searching via most comments/kudoses/bookmarks remains one of the easiest and quickest ways to start diving into a new fandom. It's often the first things I do, and found stories I love that way.

That said: I highly encourage you to search for fics beyond just that method. Here are some of my suggestions if you want to figure out ways to get started:

Search up Fanfic Rec Lists. Lots of people put them on their blogs, and websites like TVTropes even have that as a whole feature

Ask for fic recs! Seriously! Post about it in the fandom's tumblr tag, join Discord communities, etc, and just say, "Hey, I'd love to read a story where... [insert the general themes, characters, or plot points you like". People will be EXCITED to share.

Search by specific tags Like, do you really, really love time loops? Search the 'Time Loop' tag in your favourite fandoms. A lot of specific tropes, AUs, etc. are canonized, so you can find a lot of stuff up your alley that way

Browse the most recently updated fics Yeah, I know, it's old school. But seriously, you can find some awesome stuff there-- including stories from new authors just starting out, who could really use a boost!

And hey... if you find some stories you like... Consider writing some fic recommendation lists of your own. Spread the love!

#fanfic #archive of our own #ao3 #fandom

[etaleah]

I’ve been thinking a lot about Shadow’s characterizations in the Project: Shadow fan film, SA2, Archie, Heroes, ‘06, Prime, and Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and why they’re all considered among the best. And I’ve been thinking about his characterizations in IDW and Boom, how they’re considered among the worst, and how much they clash with the other portrayals. I think I’ve hit upon the number one quality that Shadow needs to have to be written well.

Loyalty.

I’ll explain below the cut.

The best Shadow is one who is loyal to someone or something. Maybe he’s not always loyal to the right someone or something, but he is loyal nonetheless. It’s a core part of his character. He is ride or die to the very end for whatever friend or cause he cares about. Shadow is always ready to kill or be killed for whatever or whoever matters to him most; it’s what sets him apart from the others. The others have limits on their loyalty. Sonic will help you out, but he’s not gonna kill a man for you. Shadow will. He doesn’t have that limit. If you are Shadow’s friend and you need him to kill for you, he will do it. Period.

Here’s a recap of Shadow’s loyalty:

In SA2 and the fan film, it’s to Maria, and to a lesser extent, Gerald.

In Heroes and ‘06, it’s to Team Dark.

In Archie, it’s to Team Dark, Hope Kintobor, and Commander Tower. Sometimes it’s even to his own values like when he goes against Rouge to help Blaze in Treasure Team Tango.

In Sonic X, it’s to Maria and later Molly. Maybe even to the universe, given that he’s ready to kill Cosmo to save it.

In Prime, it’s to Green Hill. And later on, Shadow is also loyal to Sonic despite the latter driving him crazy.

In Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s to Amy.

And in his own game, Shadow can be loyal to Maria, Sonic and friends, Eggman (up to a point), Black Doom, or even Earth itself. Not all of those folks are worth his loyalty, but the fact is that Shadow still cares about fighting by their side. That key element of his personality remains.

And that’s what’s missing in Boom and IDW. Because in those, he isn’t loyal to anything. He isn’t ride or die for anyone. At least, not that we can tell. When you remove Shadow’s faithfulness to those he loves, you remove a lot of what makes him who he is and all that’s left is an edgy aesthetic that soon wears out its welcome because there isn’t anything to supplement it. And this is made worse by the fact that they’re never allowed to bring up or expand his backstory, so they can’t ever talk about why he’s like this.

I guess you could make the argument that Shadow is loyal to the world in IDW since he helps save it a few times, but he’s so mean and heartless to everyone in the world that it feels less like he’s fighting to protect other people and more like he’s just trying to save his own house so he still has a place to live. I mean, if he won’t help Rouge when she’s been kidnapped by Starline and he won’t help Omega when the latter has been smashed to bits and he won’t help the Chao get out of their cage and he actually has to be talked into saving a village from an avalanche and he seems to really dislike/be annoyed by everyone he comes into contact with…what exactly is he saving the Earth for?? It can’t be for the people living in it. He hates them. He doesn’t care if they need his help. So the only conclusion I can draw is that he’s just doing it to save his own skin. The only person Shadow shows even the slightest bit of loyalty to is himself.

And that makes him unrecognizable from the Shadow we know and love.

His loyalty is his greatest virtue, even when it’s misguided. Let him keep it.

#sth #shadow the hedgehog #shadow meta #my thoughts #sonic the hedgehog #maria robotnik #space colony ark #sonic games #sonic comics #sonic idw #sonic archie #sonic prime #sonic 06 #team dark #project: shadow fan film

[reasonsforhope]

Do you have any advice for dealing with election anxiety?

I think/hope so!

First, a couple caveats:

I'm from the US, so US perspective, and about US 2024 elections

I know more about politics/follow them more than like, at least 85% of US Americans? But I am not an expert.

Environment/climate news and climate hope are science-based and can be measured/predicted empirically wayyyyy more than politics can, because People

I'm not getting into the trenches around Democrats vs. the Left vs. Liberals vs. Progressives. In this post, we're all in one big venn diagram of mostly interchangeable terms

So, first off, maybe my biggest piece of advice is this: The antidote to anxiety is action.

Find something you can do to help - anything. Anxiety is like fear - it's part of your brain's alarm system. It's part of your brain's mechanism for telling you that you need to do something

So if you listen to that alarm and do something, your brain won't feel the same need to desperately escalate the alarm system

You can look up and sign up for actions, protests, petitions, letter-writing campaigns, phone banking, canvassing, and more for candidates near you at Mobilize.us (no Repubs on here I promise). They also work with Swing Left a lot - a group that helps voters look up and focus on helping the nearest race that is actually competitive (because most of them aren't!)

Again, that's Mobilize.us and Swing Left as two of the best places to find out how and where to help, and sign up to do so

Other than that, I don't have advice specifically so much as I have "some useful and more hopeful ways to think about the coming US election" and to a lesser extent democracy in general

1. The media is going to underreport how well the Left and/or Democrats are doing, basically no matter what.

So, although we can't get cocky about it, this is something absolutely worth remembering when you see just about any polling or predictions about the 2024 elections.

Here's why:

Poling is weird and often inaccurate and skews in a lot of ways and is inherently biased, and it's less accurate the further you are from an election. Also, the electoral college is a huge complication here

This skewing is built into both the interpretation of the poll and the design of the poll itself - how many people do they sample? Demographic spread? Polls try to go for "likely voters," but how well can you predict that, especially as voting rates for young people and marginalized groups are rising, often dramatically?

Right now, those biases are all skewing most to all polls and predictions to the right. Including from basically all pollsters, as well as left-wing media and news outlets.

Now, THAT'S NOT INHERENTLY A BAD THING. It's not because they don't want the Left to win. It's because in 2016, basically all mainstream media, including left-leaning media, said that there was a very low chance Trump was going to win. They said that Hillary Clinton had it in the bag. So they're all correcting for the huge inaccuracy in the 2016 (and 2020 and 2022 tbh) elections

Not only were they catastrophically and humiliatingly wrong about that, they then had to deal with the fact that that very reporting was part of why Clinton lost in 2016 - voters heard she was probably going to win, so they felt safe staying home instead of voting

And then the 2020 election polls were also super wrong, mostly in the other direction

Polling as a field is undergoing a massive shakeup around this, trying to figure out how to not fuck up that badly again, but they haven't figured it out yet, so right now they're skewing things to compensate

That's for the sake of both their own credibility and, you know, the part where just about no one in either left-wing or mainstream media or mainstream polling orgs wants Trump to win

So they're going to underreport Democratic chances on purpose to a) compensate for the bias skewing things toward Democrats in their models, and b) to make sure that they don't accidentally help Trump win again

Sources: x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Reasons the Republicans are in more trouble than a lot of people think

Democrats are largely closing ranks hard around Biden, because no matter what they think of Biden, they know a Repub victory would be a thousand times worse

Republicans, however, are absolutely NOT unifying around a candidate. And they're also the ones who go around saying a ton of awful and offensive and wildly untrue things about their opponents. Meaning that the Republican primary is about to get fucking messy, and probably all of their candidates will be tarred in the process

So, basically, the Republican candidates are all going to be busy smearing the fuck out of each other - while Biden mostly doesn't have to deal with that level of negative campaigning against him for months and months

As studies show, in politics, "a negative frame is much more persistent, or “stickier,” than a positive one. If you come at an issue negatively, but are later reminded of the policy's positive aspects, you will still think it's a bust."

Also, Biden is gonna get basically all presidential-race left-wing big-name donor money, while the Right will have that money split a bunch of ways and blow through it hard on infighting, creating a probable funding gap

Trump's campaign contributions are all going to pay his legal fees. Like, to the extent that last month, his main PAC had just $4 million in cash on hand - because they siphoned over $101 million to pay his legal fees (muahahaha)

Sources: x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Other hopeful things to consider

Yes, Trump's indictments and trials are, unfortunately, boosting his numbers among his supporters. However, that's only with the hard right wing - and you can't win a general election with just the far right. He needs to appeal to independent voters and moderate Repubs - and every indictment and trial hurts his chances with them. x, x

In 2022, literally everyone was predicting a "red tsunami." And they were wrong: it never happened. Instead, Democrats picked up a seat in the senate, lost a third or less of the seats in the House that they were expected to, and won a number of statewide races. x, x, x, x, x

DeSantis's decision to go to war with Disney stands to do him a lot of fucking hard. Disney isn't just powerful in general - it's an unbelievably powerful force and employer in DeSantis's home state of Florida. Disney has already pulled a $1 billion project from Florida due to the feud, is responsible for "half" of FL's tourism industry, and and is branding DeSantis as "anti-corporation" and "anti-business" - dangerous charges in the right wing. x, x, x, x, x, x

Abortion is an issue that gets voters to the polls. This is an issue on which politicians are wildly out of step with voters: Numbers change depending on how you break it down, but generally 60% to 70% of Americans think abortion should be legal - which is, in election terms, is a landslide. For years, that momentum has been with Republicans. Well, now it's with us, and so far pro-choice candidates and ballot propositions have done way better than expected. To quote Vox, in 2022, "abortion rights won in all six states with abortion ballot measures, including in red states like Kentucky and Montana that otherwise elected Republican lawmakers." x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

#Anonymous #ask #me #us politics #us elections #election 2024 #trump #biden #democrats #florida #united states #abortion access #pro choice #abortion rights #reproductive rights #political campaign #polling #statistics #good news #hope

[eroguron0nsense]

"The Marines Are Garp's Found Family"

I am something of a certified Garp hater but one of the things I see floating around a lot of comments sections regarding Garp's behaviour at Marineford (i.e. his conflict of love and duty re: failing to do the right thing and help save Ace/leave the Marines for any number of reasons) is the notion that Garp is choosing between two found families: his grandchildren, and the marines that he's come to see as a second/found family in the vein of every other One Piece child looking for a place to belong and this is, as far as I can tell, pulled out of someone's ass. We truly don't know enough about Garp or what he thinks of the Marines to conclude that they are, in any way, shape, or form for him, a family that effectively filled a need for him that wasn't already met. He's mentored some kids, certainly, and he's close to Sengoku, but Garp is a massive mystery and the only feelings we see him display toward the Marines are a) absolute, flawed loyalty and b) a desire to see them change with a subsequent generation, hence his willingness to defend Coby til the bitter end. Garp's dedication to the Marines reads more like steadfast dedication to the platonic ideals of their propaganda –in spite of him knowing full well how fundamentally corrupt and oppressive they are– than anything related to seeing them as his kin or family; you know, the thing he decided was less important than his duty to The Evil Empire. If we're talking about Found Family though, there's a marine with a way stronger perception of that, who we know for a fact was raised by Sengoku and dedicated his life to serving the people who took him in after he lost everything. Corazon more than anyone sees Sengoku as his adoptive father, and the feeling's returned; after his expulsion from Mariejois and the incredible traumas of his childhood, they're the only people who gave him safety, stability, and affection. He has more motivation than virtually anyone to be unflinchingly, painfully loyal to the Navy, but when he's confronted with Law–a sole survivor of Flevance and living incarnation of the WG's cruelty–he's horrified, guilt-stricken, and eventually risks everything for a child he's only really known for a short time, betraying the Navy and his mission to steal the Ope Ope no Mi, because he knows in his heart that it's the right thing to do as a parent. He dies for love, but also to a lesser extent for justice– to give a child who's lost everything to the oppressive system he was part of, a child everyone else has failed and abused, who was condemned to death by the World Government, a second chance at life. Cora had a found family in the Marines and he left/betrayed them anyway because he knew, when confronted with a living example of their atrocities, where his real duty and morals lay. That their hypothetical interests didn't supersede the life of a little boy that their higher ups stole everything from and ruined. Garp could never.

#one piece #trafalgar law #trafalgardwaterlaw #donquixote rosinante #marineford #monkey d garp #corazon one piece #corazon #sengoku the buddha #ope ope no mi #coby #portgas d ace #monkey d luffy #dressrossa

[spotty-bee]

Hazbin Hotel Headcannon

I've been thinking a lot about Adam, Lute, Vaggie and the exorcists. How they all work and everything that we've learned over the course of the show about them. After looking over the pictures of them without their masks and all the back dealings with heaven I was kinda starting to think...

What if their all related?

Adam and Vaggie have the same skin colour. Lute has Adam's nose. They all have golden pupils (Though Vaggie's sclera is red, many have head cannoned that being from living in hell.) Vaggie and Lute both have white hair. Theres a lot of similarities between these characters physically and while that can be due to the art style, I do start to wonder.

However WHY would Lute , Vaggie and possibly all the exorcists be Adam's daughters? Well it starts to make sense when you remember that Sera wanted to keep the Exterminations under wraps. If you have Heaven Born or Saint (Dead humans who got into Heaven) warriors doing the exterminations, word would eventually get out. These people have lives outside of their work and all it would take is talking to a spouse or one of them feeling guilty before news spreads. IF you have warriors who's entire life was Exterminations, then they would A- be less likely to tell anyone and B- Be less likely to feel guilty if they weren't taught anything else.

As for where all these woman came from, my guess would be cloning. We know for a FACT that Heaven has Science.

A good way to get warriors that won't have outside influence/ loose lips is if they don't have any parents that will be wondering whats going on. Cloning would also ensure that warriors will walk off the assembly line fully grown and ready to train. Adam likely used his DNA and then mixed it with donated DNA from other Heavenly Residents . All he then had to do was train his army.

OF course this opens up some rather dark things to consider. There are at least 100 Exterminators. All of them are female. The likelihood of that happening by happenstance is extremely low. Adam had to have chosen to only have woman in his army, and when you factor in Adam's misogynist, narcissistic attitude, that dose not paint a pretty picture. We also need to consider that Adam was left to train/educate these woman with almost no outside interference. Sera made it clear she wanted as little to do with the Extermination business as possible and she maybe one of the few who knew about the army's creation. IN FACT I know she had nothing to do with the army because, apparently, Adam got to name these girls and nobody, and I mean NOBODY, stopped him from naming Vaggie after female anatomy. (I wouldn't be surprised if Vaggie is a nickname and she's actually just named Vagina.)

They seem to have lived a life of constant training and battle. Its also heavily implied that Vaggie (and Lute to a lesser extent) were taught to view themselves as disposable. Worthless if they didn't have someone to serve. We see it when Vaggie tries to lead the trust exercises, when she beats herself up for not making a proper commercial for the hotel, in fact she seems to have little personal life unless its training or Charlie is involved. Lute herself rips off her own arm just to try and help Adam. If Adam did raise/train them, then these are some pretty bad signs.

These are just some things I was thinking about looking over the show. I am also not making this to bash anyone who ships Adam and Lute. This is all speculation and personal interpretation. I've just never felt anything romantic between Lute and Adam, but they were clearly close. I took that last, tearful goodbye in the finally as a distant, estranged Father- Daughter relationship.

Anyway, what do you think? Its highly unlikely this is true, but could make for a fun, dark fan fiction or Au!

#hazbin hotel #hazbin vaggie #vaggie #hazbin hotel lute #hazbin lute #lute #adam hazbin hotel #head cannon #hazbin hotel vaggie

[itsclydebitches]

Any tips for new grad students? I'm about to start in the fall and I'm curious how it'll be different/hopefully better than undergrad!

Congratulations, anon!!!

Let's see... some alphabetical tips based on my own experience:

Ask for help. You'll likely have a million questions and, unfortunately, the designated people who can answer them are often crazy busy and may take a while to get back to you, or forget entirely. So don't be afraid to ask for help from whoever might even feasibly know the answer -- including tumblr blogs! You're off to a great start lol

Be on the lookout for advisors early. Whether you're just in need of a singular advisory for a thesis, or if you'll be putting a whole committee together, approach every new instructor with the question, "Would I want them to mentor me through my research?" in the back of your mind. Pay attention to not just their specialties and teaching methods, but who they are as a person. Do you like them? Are you comfortable with them? Do they treat you respectfully? Do they seem to have everything well in hand? I loved my advisor dearly as a person, but he was often waaaaaay behind on his work. Looking back, I would have at least considered choosing someone with better organization/time management skills.

Get good at writing emails. Can you write a succinct, professional sounding email? Great! Get comfortable doing that throughout the whole day. Feeling a little iffy? Practice over the summer. There are a lot of templates online that can help, but you'll want to ensure you're not going into grad school still writing "k thx" from your iPhone at 3:00am. (For the record, your professors may do this, the students should not lol).

Have designated, scheduled downtime. Literally if you don't plan to take a break... you won't be taking a break. Not until your body decides to take one for you, anyway. Friday nights were always my couch potato time. Absolutely no work allowed and no strenuous activity unless it was something I was legitimately excited about (so no getting pressured into outings I didn't actually want to attend). Friday nights were sacred, a time for takeout and only whatever else I felt like doing, usually TV, video games, and vegging out with my cat.

Imposter Syndrome is a BITCH. Luckily, pretty much everyone's got it to a greater or lesser extent, we all just need to acknowledge it more. You know those boards some schools have celebrating places where students have gotten in and other achievements? Yeah, we put one up for failures in our department. Literally a giant, glittery, "CONGRATS YOU DIDN'T GET IT!" board where we hung proposal rejections, grant rejections, school rejections, scholarship rejections, job rejections, and on one memorable occasion a date rejection. I highly recommend it. Nothing lessens the sting quite as much as seeing that you're a part of a sea of similar disappointments and remembering that you're all in the same, often luck-based boat.

Pick a non-academic hobby. Your mental health will thank you, trust me. Like the designated downtime, you need to be doing something that's not reading/writing/researching 24/7. Pick a hobby that in no way relates to academics or your chosen field, preferably something hands-on and creative. Grad school is when I picked up crocheting alongside knitting.

Prepare to hold down two jobs. This really only applies if you're going to be teaching while you get your degree (or if you have an outside job for the paycheck), but I was pretty blindsided by what it took to be a full-time student and a half-time instructor. I don't really have good advice beyond "Figure out your time management skills now" and "Don't pour all your energy into one or the other because the one you've neglected WILL come back to bite you in the ass," but even just being aware of how difficult it is going to be would have staved off the initial shock.

Read strategically. Perhaps this is different for someone not in the Humanities, but you will be reading a LOT in grad school. Like, an absolutely stupid amount. There simply will not be time to cover everything from title to footnotes (I know, it hurts), so get comfortable with reading abstracts, chapter summaries, skimming, and otherwise summarizing lengthy works to figure out what you should prioritize. Unless a whole article is assigned for class, figure out what you need from any given text -- or what you think you may need -- and hone in on that. You can always return to read more if you have the time.

SAVE EVERYTHING. Do not delete emails. Get copies of everything even remotely official. Print everything out. Buy yourself a couple of cheap file boxes, stick them under your bed, and keep it all just in case. What kind of things have I unexpectedly needed to dredge up weeks, months, or even years later? The printed paper with hand-written comments to justify a grade I gave. An ancient email from a committee member proving that they did in fact sign off on a certain chapter choice. A copy of the publication forms I signed for a book collection after those got lost on their end (somehow). Seriously, save everything. You'll never know when you may need proof of some communication you've had.

Take naps. That's it. That's the advice. Someone gives you shit for being "lazy" or tries to make you feel bad for "wasting" a sunny afternoon? Make them step on a Lego and then both of you take your nap outside. Naps are beautiful and sacred and life-saving. Just set a good alarm for whenever your next class/meeting is.

Work at making friends. Unlike high school or even college where you'll be spending the day with a core group of people, in graduate school (unless your school is really small) the students are a lot more spread out and there aren't as many built-in opportunities to socialize. So plan to put in more effort at connecting with others because you will want that camaraderie, both for practical help and your sanity. I didn't realize how much more I needed to do to get to know my peers until I was nearly finished my Master's. Luckily, my PhD threw me into an office with seven other grads, so I didn't have a choice about getting to know them lol

You're responsible for your own learning. You've gotten a taste of this in college, but grad school cranks it up to 11. You're an adult (not an "adult" adult like a college student) and you've committed to putting forth 2-7 additional years towards your education. The expectation is that you want to be here and will showcase the necessary effort without outside influence (unless you require accommodations, of course). Be prepared for your instructors to treat you like a peer, both when it comes to the fun stuff - intense debates about your field! - and the responsibilities they expect you to follow through on. In some ways grad school is nothing like college because you are now focused on one subject, you are working collaboratively with people who were once solely authority figures, and 95% of the work will occur outside the classroom via self-teaching. You're a professional now. Still being mentored, but well on your way to that equal standing. The sooner you realize that you are responsible for your own education and future career -- not your teachers, your parents, your BFF, your roommate, etc. -- the better.

Most importantly:

#school #teaching #grad school

[bestworstcase]

Do you think Weiss will get a romantic relationship?

i don’t think so, and i’m skeptical as to whether she is even really interested in romance at all; notably her core relationships are all with her family, winter and klein and whitley and (to a lesser extent) her mother. her interest in neptune in v2 is superficial and evaporates over his flirting with other girls in v3, and then in v9… lmao well

i know v9 was widely perceived as ship-teasing and the going assumption in the fandom these days is weiss/jaune endgame, but aside from the fractal ozlem problem there (both salems) what strikes me is that weiss specifically expresses physical attraction to jaune at the lowest point in his life; he looks like that because he’s been miserable and not taking care of himself for years. and then when he acts like someone who’s miserable and isolated and not taking care of himself weiss is like oh he’s crazy, we can’t depend on him, which he hears and gets understandably upset about. that fissure is repaired but that it happens at all speaks to a fundamental emotional disconnect.

like imagine the bees in an equivalent situation, if yang was stranded in time and aged several decades before blake found her again in such a haggard state—lank hair, prosthetic arm covered in rust, visibly exhausted. can you imagine blake’s first/only reaction being “yang looks hot!” in that moment? with weiss and jaune it’s played as a joke and the humor comes from weiss leapfrogging over “holy shit is jaune okay?” to “jaune’s hot!” and blurting out something completely insensitive. it’s very sun referring to blake’s avoidant self-destructive behavior in v2 as blake being “all… blake-y.”

and then

in terms of the fractal ozlem narrative—like, weiss is the girl in the tower who creates her own knight in shining armor. that’s the conceit. i think the point of her with respect to ozlem is to interrogate the idea that the girl “saves herself” by asking for help; weiss summons her knight but it isn’t the knight who rescues her, it’s klein—her father-figure—who helps her get out, which makes a pretty straightforward implication about salem. the girl who is her own knight leaves her tower through the genuine love of her father-in-all-but-blood; the only way for the girl to leave the tower without being saved is if her father is kind, and salem’s was not.

(<- which is all wrapped up in ozma’s self-hatred; he writes the fairytale as if the hero was merely the inconsequential tool the girl used to free herself because he feels inadequate—he died and left her behind, he couldn’t save her in the end, he was too cowardly to take her hand, therefore he never saved her at all and really she was the one who saved herself.)

anyway the point being, there’s a strong thematic incentive against giving weiss a romantic partner because her character poses this counterfactual question—what if salem didn’t need ozma?—which reifies that salem did need ozma, because her father was cruel and would not let her go. a salem who did not need ozma is necessarily matched by an ozma who did not need salem—they must be equals, always—and the question then is what would bind salem and ozma together if he is not her freedom and she is not his sanctuary. do they fall in love at all? probably not.

and it does look to me as though that’s where weiss’ character arc is headed, with how hard she’s taking the fall of atlas and the open question of what reclaiming the legacy of the schnee name from her father’s wrongdoing looks like now that the whole kingdom is gone

[slocumjoe]

fo4 companions react to sole breaking down crying in their arms

We're gonna do something a little different, and make this a ranking. Because at first I thought "Well, obviously they're all gonna be worried, so how do I..." but then I realized that...like...crying in Nick's arms vs crying in, say, Cait's, are two very different experiences.

So, on an x-y axis scale of 0/10 Comfort Competency (C.C) and a 0/10 Internal Calmness (I.C),

How good are the Companions are comforting a crying person (in their arms)?

Cait; 3/10 C.C, 1/10 I.C. Oh boy. Look, she cares, and she wants to be helpful, but...uhm. She'll freeze for potentially a few minutes. Just stand there, looking around for someone else to take the Ordeal on. After a bit, she'd start testing things out. A hesitant pat on the back, a "there, there" hissed through teeth, maybe a loose hug. Cait isn't panicked, like some of the others, just deeply uncomfortable. If she says anything, it won't be comforting. More of a "Fuckin' hell, that bad huh?" It's Cait, man. She's never seen this before. And she isn't a touchy person, so someone clinging to her is awkward enough. But crying? Oh no. Feels really helpless and useless. She wants to help, but...how?

Curie; 6/10 C.C, 9/10 I.C. She knows what to do, and even if she's worried for Sole, Curie is nothing if not determined. She'll get Sole into a comfier place, somewhere they can lay down. Much like Cait, her comforting is a bit...off. Clinical, how a doctor would try to calm someone down. She'll talk about healthy coping mechanisms, mental health, etc...Sole will be making Sanctuary a second river and Curie will be telling them about the health benefits of crying. She does a good job, though! Will pet their hair, rub their shoulders, very touchy and tries to ground them. Makes them drink so much water after.

Danse; A very fun 10/10 C.C and 0/10 I.C. Canonically, Danse's first instinct when someone is crying is to hold and cuddle them until they feel better. We also know, from this same conversation, that Danse does this because he doesn't know what else do to. Least likely to say anything during this. He'll hold them tight and close, probably tuck their head under his chin. Rubs their back. To Sole, Danse is a warm, solid wall they can always lean on in their most vulnerable moments. To Danse, he's a buffoon who can't provide the simplest words of comfort. Seeing them like this probably makes him sick. He's panicking and worried and there's nothing he can do to make them feel better. Will hold them long after they're crying for his own piece of mind.

Deacon; Manages to ricochet from different points on the axis. He'll start with a joke, then shut up immediately and just...let them cry.. Keeps his arms to the side because Deacon isn't a hugger, and unless he and Sole are really fucking close, is going to be as uncomfortable as Cait. But then he'll offer some horse-comforting, y'know, the 'sshhh' and 'woah, hey, it's okay'. That stuff. Will eventually hold their head into his shoulder, pat them. Then its joke time, baby, because he's freaking out! Oops, Sole is...not finding it funny. Okay. No more jokes. Well, maybe one more, if its really good. Whole time, he's going 'shit, shit, shit' in his head. Deacon also will suffer from sympathy sickness, but to a much lesser extent than Danse, if only because Deacon actually has experience with interpersonal relationships. He used to do this, he's just rusty.

Hancock; 6/10 C.C, 4/10 I.C. He also tries to lighten the mood, but unlike Deacon, doesn't try to deflect with it. Hancock would start massaging Sole just to do something with his hands. Will try to offer advice, some words of wisdom. "Ah, c'mon, it's not gonna be like this forever, you don't need to worry..." Goes through an entire mental court hearing to decide whether or not to offer them chems. Hancock doesn't panic or worry too much. He knows Sole is a tough cookie and can deal with it. But...cookies crumble, man. He wishes they didn't have to deal with it at all. Will sweetly tease Sole in a "hey, no, seriously, I am here for you" way.

MacCready; He was a husband and is a dad. 8/10 C.C, 6/10 I.C. Now, hear me out. MacCready will huff at first, but a worried huff. He knows the drill. Will also tease, but quickly gets his arms around them. Hums lullabies or other soothing tunes, slowly rocks them and rubs their backc in slow circle. Might not realize he's doing it. But Mac, he knows how to handle crying people. His friends in Little Lamplight cried, and even if they all could be rough, they knew when one of their own was really hurt. He learned a lot from Lucy, too. Mac has the same kind of concern as Hancock, he just trusts that this is only a moment, and not an indication of something else. He's awkward, but he's not nervous. Big distinction.

Nick; 10/10 C.C, 10/10 I.C. I tried, for the longest time, to justify giving him anything lower. I couldn't. It was simply incorrect. Nick notices they're about to burst and pulls them in with a quiet "Hey, c'mere..." before they realize they're that upset. He's warm, his clothing is soft and cushy, that metal hand feels great petting your hair. Incredible physical experience, for one. For two, Nick keeps his voice soft and gentle while actually comforting. Not making jokes, not teasing, not listing off coping techniques. Nick will tell them they can get through this, that they're not alone, that he'll be there every step of the way...Nick will actually make them feel better and stop crying. No one else on this list can do that. I tried to nerf him but I can't deny the emotional comfort this man is capable of.

Piper; 7/10 C.C, 5/I.C. She's used to comforting Nat, or people who start crying while she's interviewing about something sensitive. One is a little kid, another is an adult she doesn't know that well. Piper will try shoving candy in Sole's face. If that doesn't take, will wrap her arms around their neck and keep them in the crook of her shoulder. Also stays quiet and plays with their hair. On the inside, Piper also suffers from sympathy sickness. But, where Danse and Deacon's sickness is melancholic and almost hopeless, Piper gets angry and indignant on Sole's behalf. She gets frustrated, wants to drop everything and go running head first at whatever the problem is. With Nat, she cried when something broke, when her homework was too hard, when another kid was mean. Piper could fix those immediately. Sole's issues need armies to fix. Well, an angry enough Piper isn't too far off.

Preston; 9/10 C.C, 4/10 I.C. Preston's I.C being so low is largely from the fact that he, canonically, doesn't like hugging. He'll do it, and do it well, but he's still uncomfortable. Preston hugs like a bear, will probably almost pick Sole up. Will if they're small enough and take them to a couch, much like Curie. Lots of patting. Also does the horse-comforting thing like Deacon, except it actually works coming from him, because Preston is not imagining he's trying to calm a literal spooked horse. And I like to imagine he came from a big, tight-knit family, so he knows what to do. But...seeing your general have a mental breakdown is maybe the most concerning thing you could see, so he is panicking a little bit. Will make them food afterwards, whatever they have an appetite for or can stomach.

X6-88; Yall know he's garbage. 0's across the board. Goes ramrod stiff, says nothing, does nothing. Well...he does fight off all of his training and instincts to hurl them across the room, as is standard when someone grabs him. Goes through the 5 stages of grief like a fucking merry-go-round goes spinning in a tornado. There's screaming. There's indignance on his behalf. There's a little Railroad agent devil on his shoulder laughing that haha, discomfort is a feeling, you have feelings! The only one that will tell Sole "Alright, you have been regurgitating through your eyes long enough" and move away first. Will hunt down a therapist in the Institute, and find a way to forcibly teleport them to his location should Sole ever attempt that again. He might—MIGHT—put one around them if especially close. But he's still going to slink away from them for a while, like a cat whose tail you stepped on. X6-88 knows he was not the person to do that with and is, frankly, offended Sole thought he was.

#fo4 #fallout 4 #paladin danse #preston garvey #piper wright #nick valentine #x6-88 #robert joseph maccready #companions react #hancock

[foxykatie425]

You know, as much as I’d love Star Wars to bring Cal and Merrin into live action, I struggle to picture how they could do that without it being super deus ex machina.

Like one of Ashoka’s biggest problems as a series was its reliance on the audience being familiar with Star Wars Rebels, an ANIMATED series that didn’t necessarily have the same target audience as Ahsoka. And I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, I love Star Wars Rebels, but the simple fact is there are more people watching the live action shows than the animated shows.

So how could you possibly expect the majority of your audience for a live action tv show to be familiar characters from a video game series?? How do you effectively introduce these characters to an audience that hasn’t seen them before without having entirely too much exposition that would totally kill the pacing?

If they can find a way to do that well, then great, although we also run into the problem of spoilers. Because we’ve still got one more Jedi game coming, and that’s probably not gonna come out for another 3-4 years, if we’re lucky! I have to imagine that game is gonna be set sometime before A New Hope because they need to establish a reason why these characters are not major players in the OT and to a lesser extent Rebels. (Right now they can still go to and from Tanalorr, my theory is they’re gonna get stuck there somehow but that’s a discussion for another day.) If we’re keeping our live action shows in the post-ROTJ timeline, and Cal and Merrin get brought in, then you’ve spoiled the end of the third game. So realistically they just can’t bring them into live action until after that third game comes out. (Also I’ve heard Respawn is super protective of Cal as a character, which you know, who can blame them?)

This is simply my opinion based on my own speculation. I’d love to hear what other people think about this, but at the end of the day, as much as I’d love to see live action Cal and Merrin, I only want it if it’s done RIGHT! 🙃🤔

#star wars #cal kestis #merrin #nightsister merrin #merrical #jedi fallen order #jedi survivor #ahsoka #star wars rebels #mandoverse #nightsisters #jedi

[smokestarrules]

Do you know how/why Suletta realized what was happening on Earth was Prospera’s doing? That part wasn’t clear to me and I’m curious as to your take on it.

That scene, to me, was all about Aerial and to a slightly lesser extent Miorine. Suletta's recently had the revelations that 1) you do not need an excuse to be loved and 2) sometimes people do bad things because they perceive them to be the only option.

So when Suletta sees the carnage of Earth with Aerial being illuminated in the flames, her first thought is: Neither Aerial or Miorine would do this.

Aerial's been keeping secrets from her for her entire life, yes, but Suletta still knows her, had grown up with her, and to a point still believes in her sister.

And Miorine--I mean, even if Suletta thinks their entire relationship was a lie, there is one thing that has always been true about Miorine, and that's that she adores Earth. That part's not even a question.

Which leaves one last option. Following the logic that Aerial was trying to protect her, Suletta can ascertain who exactly would have had this plan in the first place, if only because Aerial clearly knew about it beforehand. Prospera is the only other person who could have worked with Aerial to this extent, and Prospera is also the same person that Suletta has just had her First realization about.

It's a really well-done scene.

#at least this is my take on it #mobile suit gundam the witch from mercury #g witch #g witch spoilers #suletta mercury #miorine rembran #ericht samaya #lady prospera #smokey answers #novandor

[tavtime]

One of the things I've been thinking a lot about (as I very, very slowly write my longfic about it) is this theme in BG3 of conflict between gods or godlike authorities versus ordinary people. I think the things it has to say about how "the Great and the Good" treat people they consider their inferiors, and where real power is actually located in that dynamic, are very interesting.

Like. Ok. Literally every full companion's personal arc is concerned with that companion being used as a pawn by an actor with greater scope of influence than themselves: Karlach is on the run from Zariel; Lae'zel finds herself in direct conflict with her people's god-queen; Shadowheart's entire relationship with Shar is dependent on her compliance to being bent to Shar's purposes at the expense of all other connections; Mystra tells Gale to blow himself up to earn her forgiveness and derail a competing power. Even Astarion and Wyll, who aren't beholden to gods per se, are struggling against being manipulated by those who hold sway far beyond the scope of their own (Cazador is not just powerful as a vampire but implied to be socially powerful as well, and Wyll's conflict is not just with Mizora but also his father in his capacity more broadly representing the needs of Baldur's Gate).

And the interesting thing with each of these, what gets brought up time and again, is that these gods and betters aren't actually the ones exercising power over the situation. They're trying, via manipulation of those in service to them, but they aren't actually exerting influence directly in most cases. The implication is of indifference, impotence, or being themselves beholden to a greater power (Gale does make an offhand comment re: how willing Ao would be to overlook Mystra's interference in mortal affairs). The people who actually end up exercising power in this situation are the little people, the ones nominally being used.

Which, Thing One, I think this is a very intentional storytelling choice that yields fantastic contrast to the interactions between the controlled party and the antagonists. The Dead Three are a threat in large part because they were willing to get their handa dirty and operate on the material plane. The first real boss the player faces, Ketheric, is not just chosen of Myrkul directly wielding some of his power, but transforms physically into his avatar. Orin and, to a lesser extent, Gortash as well, can be analyzed along similar lines.

But Thing Two, which I think is really the thing I want to spend the most time turning over, is that the story takes a pretty clear position on moral and personal value in this situation. Basically, in the conflict between the ordinary people of the world and its gods and paragons, the narrative comes down very firmly on the side of the people who are considered pawns or disposable. The protagonists are the ones winning this fight, not their gods, and every time a character gets the opportunity to rise above their "station" to be on equal footing with those powers it's framed negatively. Durge embracing Bhaal, Astarion completing the Ascension, Shadowheart becoming a Dark Justiciar, Gale reforging the crown, Karlach becoming a mind flayer, any Tav or Durge choosing to dominate the brain - all of these involve the character gaining a large amount of power, and all of them are framed by the narrative as "bad endings" (though whether you as the player personally feel differently about them is left up to you, of course). The sole exception to this might be Wyll, who has the opportunity to step into his father's shoes, but even then, there is some aspect of power only being framed as "good" when it is used in service of the people.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that there is an allegory here about class conflict and the power inherent to ordinary people which I think is worthwhile to examine, and is a crucial part of any thorough analysis of BG3's themes.

#and don't even get me started on withers as a pov for the hand of the author. i could talk about that funky little dude all day #this is by no means world shattering or original analysis of an rpg lmao. but it is taking up space in my brain #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #karlach #wyll #shadowheart #gale #lae'zel #long post #meta

[krugkorien]

Happy New Year everyone! Today I want to show you my main setting: the Divine World. It’s a dark fantasy world that combines both epic (gods, monsters, magic, saving the world) and mundane (death, decay, bigotry, oppression) aspects of the genre. Worldbuilding and lore is a very important part of DW, to a point where if I could write everything I want about DW it would be one of the biggest books in the history of mankind. But this is an introductory post, so I’ll try to keep it brief!

1. While I’m not going to get into any unpleasant details here let’s still get some trigger warnings out of the way first. As I said DW is dark fantasy, and it’s so dark that Marena came up with the name Macabre Fantasy in order to emphasize how dark DW is and how the aforementioned themes of death and decay play a huge role in it, as well as many other sensitive topics. Aside from what has been already mentioned there's also a lot of cruelty & violence (both interpersonal & socio-political) and also topical problems: sexism, nazism, colonialism, etc. All of this, of course, is not for the sake of being edgy, but to make a lot of important points.

2. The inhabitants of the Divine World are appropriately called Divine Humans [1], aka Homo Mirandum. While they look a lot like regular humans, there are a lot of differences between us and them! They have horns, claws, different hair textures and skin tones, three spinal cords instead of one and are also bigger than us: it depends on a lot of factors and the shortest men are actually not that big, being only 166 cm tall, but the tallest women can go up to 350 cm! And yes, you’ve read it correctly, women are taller! Divine sexual dimorphism is somewhat flipped compared to ours and Divine women are tall, muscular and hairy, while men are short, thin and mostly hairless. Meanwhile their voices are pretty similar and androgynous, and also have a metal (as in material not music) vibe to them.

Physically Divine humans are, for the lack of better word, monumental: they are strong, capable of surviving wounds that would kill a regular human ten times over, have a great memory, but are also stiff and slow, both physically & mentally, for physiological reasons as well simply because they can afford to be — their lifespans can be measured in multiple Earth centuries. However Divine humans rarely enjoy their longevity to its full extent. Outside dangers aside, their illnesses and disabilities are just as monumental as they are. For example, Divine albinism means fully transparent flesh which in turn means complete blindness and high vulnerability towards radiation (levels of which are very high on Mirabilis).

Divine souls are just as physical as anything else. They are also Aetheric in nature, and are another example of Divine sexual dimorphism: white souls belong to men and black to women (with rare exceptions). This plays a huge role in Divine society and became one of the reasons why most Divine societies are patriarchal: men, despite being physically weak, can literally mind-control women when needed. It doesn’t help that too much contact with an aether opposite to your soul can lead to death.

While Divine humans are technically the only race of Mirabilis, thanks to magic they can turn into many various creatures: Demons, Angels, Chorts (lesser Demons, roughly speaking), Bieses (lesser Chorts), Beatas, Vampires, Turnskins (Divine equivalent of werewolves), Beasts, Chimeras, Nocturnals, Urials, Cadavredaxes and so on, many of them having sub-types (for example vampires being living and undead).

4. Technology & society-wise Divine civilization can be compared to 19th century Earth: imperialism and nationalism are at their peak, proto-industrial society, recently invented trains & electricity. However Divine civilization also possesses traits more associated with our Middle Ages: religion being the most important social institute, no concept of humanism, plate armor & melee weapons still being main tools of war.

5. Like Divine humans themselves Mirabilis looks somewhat Earth-ish but is actually very different. For starters, when I say that DW is a dark and oppressive world I mean it a bit literally! Mirabilis has high atmospheric pressure (~8 higher than Earth), it’s a much colder and wetter planet, and most noticeably — it has no sun. Despite this, Mirabilis still has light and heat, even if not as much as we do, all that thanks to the White Aether (a very important magic substance) that fills the space around the planet. A Sun’s fire isn’t the only kind Mirabilis lacks — due to the low oxygen level of 15% fire simply cannot exist in normal conditions on Mirabilis.

If the word “normal” can even be used towards Mirabilis — all of the planet’s flora are technically mushrooms and much closer to the meat-side of things, so stuff like bleeding human-eating trees isn’t exactly shocking to Divine humans. Animals are technically the same as on Earth but with a huge caveat — their appearance is based on the medieval depictions of them which means animals like hyperagressive fishes with limbs, talking horses with human teeth, owls with human faces, giant non-arthropodic insects and so on.

While Mirabilis is bigger than Earth, it has only one continent that is sliced in half by the so-called Black Wall —an  impassable wall of Black Aether. The stories I write take place on the western half of the continent, and its inhabitants can’t just cross the ocean to explore the East because of the atrament — a deadly substance that fills the sea and is so dangerous only two western races out of twelve have any level of resistance to it.

The explorers of Mirabilis would be very upset about this if not for the Remnants, mysterious ruins that are both more ancient than anything they have ever seen yet more advanced than anything they could dream of. Exploring Remnants is an incredibly dangerous, often illegal job, but what’s that compared to a chance to learn more about the world? More materialistic folks are attracted by the artifacts that are capable of granting incredible miracles and, of course, even more incredible horrors.

And I think that’s pretty much it for the introductory post! From now on I’m going to repost the stuff I’ve previously posted on my Twitter before but now with all kinds of lore tidbits. There’s other projects we’ll talk about, especially Neon-23, Marena’s cyberpunk setting (that has a crossover with DW we made for fun!) but that’s it for now. Thank you for reading all this! And thanks to @goldporces & ippoteq @ Twitter for beta-reading this text!

[1] — In Russian I call them Дивнолюди, based on an archaic Russian word for “miracle” — диво. “Divine” is a very lucky translation because it sounds similar to the original word and also points at the, well, divine nature of the Divine Humans.

#worldbuilding #dark fantasy #divine world

[heinousactszx]

In your opinion how did the open world format work for pokemon legends of arceus? Is there anything you would have changed about it?

TLDR, i think it worked fantastically. but in order to get into why, i think i need to get into why the open world of SV (and to a lesser extent swsh) did NOT work.

It's practically one of my mantras at this point, but an open world game can have an explorable space as big as the real world itself; it's not going to be fun to play if it's not worth exploring. that means having interesting locales, secrets and new abilities to find, and exciting challenges to seek out.

Scarlet and violet... Don't really have that. the only thing you can really find in the game are, well, pokemon. Yeah yeah I know there's trainers and the treasures of ruin and maybe a raid battle, but overwhelmingly what you're finding in that big open world is pokemon. And the fun of discovering them sort of pales when really all you can do with that discovery is add them to your team or your dex. Plus, unlike classic pokemon games, the removal of random encounters means there's no real reason to even engage with the pokemon you see once you're at a high enough level and have them in the dex. seriously, once you realize how much of SV is just walking around pokemon in the open world, you'll never unsee it

you could argue that having the choice to complete the 3 stories in any order you like is one of the things you can find. But when all of those events are tied to a structured level scale that doesn't change, your "choice" comes down to either running into fights that are way too hard and then abruptly way too easy, or playing in the exact order they want you to. not exactly enticing either way. Scarlet and violet probably would have just been better off as a more linear pokemon with typical hallway routes instead of spending all this time on an open world that rarely enhances any part of the experience (though i will admit running around with a friend in union circle is really fun)

ANYWAY to get back to what you actually asked, Legends arceus sidestepped this issue by making interacting with pokemon the entire gameplay loop. it was a stroke of genius to make completing the pokedex the main goal of the game, because unlike in the regular series, catching a pokemon does not tie the bow on it. No, in order to advance in the game and truly fill out the dex, you have to complete research tasks related to that pokemon. Hitting it with certain attacks, using items, number caught, number stunned, using certain moves, and so many more. some of them even have side-quests associated with them!

all of this encourages you to do more with the entirety of the world you're exploring than SV offered. switching up your team and trying new things to fill out dex entries is encouraged and gives so much variety to the actual experience of playing the game like you usually would. While there's actually less pokemon to find than in SV or swsh, improving the way you actually engage with all of them makes legends much more exciting to run around in.

not to mention, the game feel in legends is just better, flat out. walking around feels better, the ride pokemon are more fun, pokemon running from you or attacking you feels more immersive than the way they mostly just exist waddling around in the other switch games. It helps that legends, while having some performance issues, is nowhere near as bad as SV has it.

of course, the truth of the matter is that legends arceus is not truly an open world game. It's a series of large and open but disconnected areas accessible from a main hub, rather than one large contiguous gamespace. remoraid to my head, i think i'd pick the former every time. it gives the game more focused central game design and cuts out a lot of extra transient elements that don't really add that much. Running around a true open world is fun and all, but legends arceus would not have been a better game just because you could walk directly from one area to another, much in the same way that Scarlet and violet really aren't better games for it either

as for what i'd change? honestly? nothing. the gameplay loop of legends was so addicting that i did almost nothing but play it for weeks when it first came out. it was and is the best pokemon game in over a decade. in some ways i can't believe it's actually as good as it is. i remember being so anxious with a friend that it was going to be a disaster when it ended up being a masterpiece.

no, wait, what i'd change is game freak's awful habit of adding cool new features, like this entire game, and then never touching them again. make a sequel. pokemon legends kyurem. call me mr iwao i can make this work

#heinousasks #driftingballoons #pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #pokemon scarlet and violet #heinous plays pokemon

[delphinus-dancer]

Why Mihaly’s [spoiler] form is different, and what it could mean

Sorry for the clickbait-esque title, but I’m not sure on the state of the Jd 2024 storymode spoilers with the fandom, so spoilers for the storymode ahead (including images)!

It’s also a bit long because I’m back on my bs of overanalyzing Mihaly

I’ve already made a post about Mihaly in the 2024 story mode with elements of their journey and uniqueness of their interactions with Night Swan- which grants them a lot of depth, in terms of their dances and character. With Night Swan’s corruption at the end of 2024 altering the costumes of Wanderlust, Brezziana, and Sara as well, the refs posted via the YouTube short allow for several details to become clear. (Shoutout to the costume department- they’re gorgeous!!) As pointed out in another post by @phoenixriaartemis , Mihaly’s headphones become the belt in their Dark form, and without the earbuds, Mihaly would be unable to connect with their headspace. I initially thought this was the case as well, since Mihaly’s maps both begin by placing them in their ears to enter their space of contemplation, practice, and growth. (More on that in a moment.)

As I noticed when I did the other post, Mihaly is the only one of the corrupted dancers to maintain elements of their original outfit. I initially thought it was only the leggings and wraps, but after comparing the concept art, those parts have changed too- the pants are shorter with rips cutting up, and the wraps come up further. While part of it could be chalked up to a different dancer portraying Mihaly in their dark form and requiring an alternative costume even for similar pieces, I think those elements are more deliberate. Looking at the headphones, pants, and wraps, they can be viewed as something Mihaly retains, but is twisted by a vision of perfection- just to a lesser extent than the others, who don’t retain any aspects like that.

It wasn’t until a Rather Be rewatch that I noticed something that I completely overlooked: the details of Master Panda’s design.

Although Mihaly’s design mimics his closely, there are some notable elements where they are different. There are two small ones of note: the piercings on his left ear, and the headphones. When Mihaly assumes the panda form in Never Be Like You, they gain almost all elements of his costume, barring some colors. Their hair color is retained in his hairstyle, and while their pants lighten to dark blue, they become looser to match his. However, there are two elements unique to the panda that they do not gain: the headphone belt and the two piercings. (Sorry for the image quality below.)

Instead, in its place are two over the ear headphones, which seemingly combine those elements into one- the headphone component and the piercings/ear adornments. As a result, the headphone belt and piercings are absent, even in the form where Mihaly seemingly achieves mastery of a milestone in their training. While this could be chalked up to Mihaly’s individual understanding of the Flow, its commonality seems more significant.

Let’s consider the Panda’s costume to represent mastery of the Flow. Since the headphones are used as a belt rather than their practical purpose, this indicates that instead of needing the headphones and the music they provide to connect with the Flow and be transported to that higher plane, it can be done by mastering the Flow within oneself. After all, the Master Panda appears in both maps independent of Mihaly’s music, and appears/disappears on his own time. Even when Mihaly gains the Panda form, they still keep the over ear headphones, binding them to the music, even in their supposed ascension.

Going off of that, let’s look Mihaly’s Dark Form again. (Sorry for the same photo again!)

It’s easier to see in the art than the photo, but since the headphones have become a belt, Mihaly has also gained the earrings in their left ear. Between this and the dark feather elements being the least prominent out of all the corrupted dancers, including Jack in Treasure, Night Swan’s vision of perfection is not very present.

Instead, Mihaly’s Dark form is ‘tainted’ by Night Swan’s influence with the creeping feathers on their robe and the alternations to their leggings and wraps, but the overall costume is Mihaly’s own idea of perfect: a master of the Flow. With the headphones as the belt, this represents their goal of connection beyond the confines of music, and piercings of the Panda could possibly symbolize mastery of the spiritual and physical realms they inhabit in their maps.

By gaining both of these elements that they have yet to achieve and lacking as much of Night Swan’s influence, it seems to imply that Mihaly has retained a degree of control over their identity that the others lack. In the other post, I speculated this could be because of how they were initially corrupted. Rather than passively falling to the smoke Sara brings in, the smoke comes from offscreen (presumably from Night Swan herself), and they send out the message to Jack while actively losing their color. They also have a degree of control and agency throughout their part of Swan Lake that Wanderlust and Brezziana lack, since Sara does not actively defeat Mihaly or control any smoke during their part. Night Swan also may not have subdued them as much, with the short interval between losing their color and the Dark forms appearing, causing the perfection imposed on Mihaly to have more elements of their own than Night Swan intended.

Going off of that, as I said in the last post, Mihaly could be the easiest coach to return to normal, as they have presumably retained the most of their former self. While they could be reached through the usual method of dance fights/battles, they may also be brought back by the true, pure Flow they aspire to practice. If they are returned to normal before the other coaches, maybe they could achieve the true mastery they’ve sought after by freeing them.

Whatever the story mode holds for Mihaly and the other coaches, I have a feeling the true mastery of the Flow they’ve sought after is somewhere in cards for their future appearances, both literal and physical.

If you’ve read this far, then thank you for listening to my rambling! Hope you have a great day/night and feel free to fire back with any ideas or questions!

#just dance #just dance 2024 #jd spoilers #jd mihaly #jd panda #just dance spoilers #just dance mihaly #mihaly #jd 2024