#where there's like different possibilities for them but they're still distinctly the same character

[sciencegeniusgirlshowdown]

Can we submit Genderfluid Science Geniuses?

I'd say my stance is that, if a character wouldn't mind being referred to as a girl at least part of the time, they're definitely permitted! Speaking from the perspective of a nonbinary person (though not specifically a genderfluid person) I know I wouldn't be the most comfortable if I myself was submitted to an explicitly gendered poll like this, but I know that that take won't be the same for everyone! So if a character is generally comfortable with being lumped in with women then I wouldn't have an issue with it at all! If their preference when it comes to how they're acknowledged is vague, I may open up a preliminary asking for voters familiar with them their thoughts on whether it'd be respectful to the character for them to be included.

I will add that, with the current number of unique submissions already nearing the 128 limit with the submission period still having a ways to go, there's a chance that they may be one of the characters that doesn't make the cut in the end. If they don't, please know that it's not because of any phobic sentiments on mod's part! While I'd love to include every character sent to me, at the end of the day some will be facing the chopping block. If I do decide to run another SGGShowdown bracket sometime after this one ends, I'm like, 99% sure that I'll make it so characters that were solely rejected from the first bracket due to being at capacity would take up the first however many slots of the second bracket.

With all that being said, I'd definitely submit them if you think they wouldn't mind being a part of something like this! I'm worried it may sound like I'm already planning on rejecting them, but I promise that's not the case! I haven't decided exactly how I'll be picking which valid submissions get to be in the limited number of slots and which don't yet, so I just wanted to get that little disclaimer out of the way!

#SGGShowdown Speaks #SGGShowdown Announcements #The current plan is to have the format of every poll mention Science Genius Girl somewhere within the post. #Not exactly sure how yet but like #I wouldn't feel great about having the post say smth like “Who should be Tumblr's Science Genius Girl?” #only for one of the characters to not be comfortable with being called a girl you know? #Also for a certain set of characters (I am thinking about one in particular here but I won't say a name to avoid showing bias) #where there's like different possibilities for them but they're still distinctly the same character #and in one or more possibilities they're not a woman #I personally will be avoiding using images of them from the possibility where they're not a woman #and I'd generally recommend not propagandizing using information from the possibilities where they're not a woman #but they're still totally fine to be submitted! #If it's a case like a character starting the series off as a woman but later on transitions to a man or something like that #with absolutely no substantial (canon) examples of alternate timelines where that's not the case #the character will be rejected. #I know some media has situations like multiple endings where no one ending is considered the “canon” one where this can get messy #but just generally I'd like for winning SGGShowdown to be something fans of a character can be proud of instead of smth to feel awkward abt #Tags ended up running a bit long but the words just kept tumbling out lmao. #I hope this all makes sense! I just don't want to end up offending anyone accidentally or anything like that.

[shipcestuous]

Today I found myself thinking about how different authors try to downplay or erase incest in godly ships in Greek mythology retellings... stuff like, "the gods don't have DNA so it's different for them" or "gods are manifestations of cosmic forces so they only consider themselves related but aren't in a biological sense." One example I think is pretty funny in its execution is the webcomic Lore Olympus.

Now, I admit I've never read it, but from what I understand, the main characters, Hades and Persephone, aren't uncle and niece. Hades is brothers with Zeus and Poseidon, but Persephone was created with magic by Demeter, who was also created with magic alongside Hera and Hestia, her non-biologically-related sisters.

However, Persephone looks A LOT like Hades' mother, Rhea, to the point that people who like the comic sometimes say Hades is getting to "do it all over again" and have a better and healthier version of his parents' marriage (Hades himself looks a lot like his father, who is still Kronos, and yes, he still ate his kids) while people who dislike it (it's pretty divisive, and idly digging into all the drama is actually the one reason I know all this) joke about him just having Oedipus complex.

I think at one point (maybe before Lore Olympus was picked up by Webtoon?) Rhea actually had a much different design, but then the author retconned that to make her more similar to Persephone. And while Rhea is essentially a giantess, being a Titan, and Persephone is usually short and petite, Persephone can ALSO become a giantess, when she unlocks her full power or something like that. I think I've even heard that Hades REALLY likes it when she does that...

Anyway, in the same series, there's also two, or rather three, other examples of "related in myth, unrelated in the comic" that I think are quite unexpected and interesting.

One is Hestia and Athena. As I said above, Hestia isn't related to Zeus, and tbh, I'm not sure if ATHENA even is at this point, but in mythology, they're aunt and niece, being respectively Zeus' sister and his daughter. Here, they run some kind of support organization for young goddesses, where all new members have to take an oath of chastity and swear off relationship for some reason, but they actually have a forbidden secret relationship themselves.

Another, even more surprising one is Kronos and Hera... which leads directly to Hades and Hera right after. From what I understand, during the Titanomachy, Hera pretended to switch sides and ally herself with Kronos, but really, she was a double agent gathering intelligence to help Zeus and the others. To do that, she seduced Kronos, but then, he developed some sort of creepy, obsessive "love" for her. I think Rhea had been killed by Kronos or otherwise died by that point. Anyway, after Zeus freed his brothers and confined Kronos in Tartarus, Hera and Hades bonded over the trauma Kronos had inflicted on them and started a relationship, which I'm pretty sure continued for a time, in some on-and-off way, even after Hera married Zeus to become his queen.

Oh, and here's a fun bonus! Aside from all of this, I've heard of some much rarer, pseudo-incestuous, "unrelated in the myths, related in the comic" type weirdness, too...

You know the myth of Hades' concubine Minthe, whom he set aside after marrying Persephone, but who kept claiming Hades would leave Persephone to come back to her one day, until either Persephone or Demeter turned her into a mint plant for it in a rage? Well, in Lore Olympus, Minthe is Hades' girlfriend at the beginning of the story, but they both have issues and they aren't a good match for each other. Which is possibly why they have an open relationship, with Hades visiting strip clubs and whatnot and Minthe having a side thing with Thanatos, who is the son of Nyx and Erebos in the myths... but here turns out to be Hades' adopted son after Nyx left him in his care as a small child.

I distinctly remember seeing a panel showing that Hades had bought a ring for Minthe, so he must have been planning to propose to her before he met Persephone... which means that Thanatos was having an affair with a woman who could have soon become his own stepmother! Personally, I like to imagine what might have happened had they kept it up even with Minthe becoming Hades' wife... but that's just me, lol. In the comic itself, Hades eventually asks Minthe to have a more committed relationship despite already having feelings for Persephone himself, so she breaks it off with Thanatos, and he then moves on to Daphne, the same one Apollo falls in obsessive love with in the myths... yep, lots of unexpected ships, it seems!

But, imho, this is also interesting because Daphne is ANOTHER character who looks kind of a lot like Persephone. And, as an outsider looking in, it almost seems like a pattern for Thanatos to me... first going for his dad's girlfriend, then for a girl who's very similar to his dad's new girlfriend...

From what I think I understood about Thanatos' own subplot, Hades was a very neglectful and cold father to him because he was afraid that if he'd let himself grow close to him, eventually he'd somehow end up treating him the way Kronos had treated HIM as a child. But as a kid, Thanatos couldn't know what was actually going on in his head, and obviously he was still upset about Nyx abandoning him, so he started acting up, and then their relationship worsened from there. And so, my incest-shipping brain can't help but wonder... what if going for Minthe and then a Persephone lookalike was a subconscious way for Thanatos to try and feel closer to Hades, or maybe finally get his attention, if his affection was just too difficult to obtain...?

I think it's very unlikely I'll ever actually read Lore Olympus, because it seems longer than I usually like when it comes to romantic dramas and I've read some things about the way it handles its plot and characters, as well as certain sensitive themes (some of them showing up in the very same subplots I mentioned here, which would be the most interesting to me), that really put me off. But there's an AU of it more or less living rent-free in my head where Hades was in angsty unrequieted love with Rhea and Thanatos is now in angsty unrequieted love with Hades.

... And Hades/Persephone and Hestia/Athena are uncle/niece and aunt/niece, Kronos/Hera is father/daughter, and Hades/Hera is brosis, naturally. Because why not be as self-indulgent as I can while I'm at it, after all?

All of the incest with none of the incest? That's what this sounds like to me, lol. I do find the erasing of the incestuousness in various adaptations to be amusing. I just ignore it!

Some of these relationships in Lore Olympus sound pretty interesting. But they would be a lot more interesting if they were related!

#asks #anonymous #mythology #greek mythology #lore olympus #hades and persephone #athena and hestia #hera and kronos #hades and thanatos

[dairy-farmer]

Previous anon just continuing thoughts like....the idea of sweet Timmy who just wants to be loved by his family getting exactly what he wants in the worst way possible.....delicious

Like maybe it’s Bruce returning from being lost in time and he just comes back......different, realizes he can’t bear to loose tim, that Tim *belongs* to him, that he can’t afford to be good, or even that this *is* the good thing to do

Or a mirror verse that lost their Tim and are desperately looking for a replacement!!! Just.....yummy

truly it was a monkey's paw for tim, having his wish granted but in the worst way ❤️

smut fics with dark edges just hit different like i don't think enough people use the concept like bruce coming back from being lost in time definitely knocked a screw loose(or looser)- let that enable him to behave in a way he normally wouldn't!!! let him give into all his dark desires and morally reprehensible stuff 😩😩😩😩

and mirrorverse!! oh that's a concept that i don't hav emuch experience in- i remember seeing it a lot in cartoons especially for more horror themed episodes. i can't remember the show but distinctly remember a character standing in front of mirror talking to someone beside them and then they turn their head to keep talking but their reflection is still staring at them, they then smile widely and reach out to pull the person into the mirror with them- a real horror show scene.

mirrorverse for this- a family that lost their communally used tim and in their grief and desperation kidnapping him from his family ooooo!!!!

even the concept of multiverse, of tim and bruce interacting with a universe where things are the same but they're together!!!! 😩

i have the unfortunate habit of not being able to write fics unless i have the beginning and end in mind so many ideas i think are floaters never grow wings to fly but ill still keep them in mind- ill add the concept but i still have so many WIPS to work through but i hope to get to it😩

thank you so much for your wonderful thoughts and kind words!!!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

#anonymous #asks #answered asks

[lindira]

Uncommon Creator Questions for Envy

Part 5! Questions taken from this list of Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators.

A) Why are you excited about this character?

I'm excited about Envy because I've rarely written characters - especially in fanfic - who are not distinctly good. Envy has a kind of morality that is more flexible than my other OCs, like Aeric or Tangerine. While I wouldn't characterize him as a "bad" character by any means, he definitely leans toward the Chaotic Neutral. He will do what he feels is right, but also isn't above being vindictive or doing things purely for shits and giggles.

B) What inspired you to create them?

I went into playing BG3 with the intention of doing multiple playthroughs to romance folks. I wound up really liking both Astarion and Gale, but the character I was playing - Peppermint - was so much of a goody-two-shoes that Astarion wouldn't give her the time of day. So I wanted to make a character for Astarion who played less by the rules and wasn't above doing things for their own gain. I also really wanted to try being a bard and built a personality for him out of his being a performer.

C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story?

Sort of? I went through a few iterations of what Envy's backstory with Astarion looked like. I was inspired by Astarion's line when you meet him that you're both from Baldur's Gate but the two of you "must have run in different circles". So I wondered, what if they hadn't? What if they had met before the events of the game and happened upon each other again after the crash? Envy's story started to come together after that.

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

I've played with Envy's hair a lot but his general physicality has remained the same. His hair started out being a lot shorter (see above), then I tried even shorter styles for a little while. The styles I tried looked great, but they didn't quite feel like "him" until I went for the shoulder-length half-braided thing he has going on now. I might still play with his hair as I go along. He's a bit vain, so I think he (and I) will be playing with hairstyles regularly.

I'm also considering having him try some makeup too, for when he's feeling a bit femme. He's genderfluid/non-binary, and I'm looking forward to dressing him up when we get some of the nicer camp clothes in Act 3.

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

I think Envy and I would get along, but probably not be good friends. I'm pretty quiet, and Envy likes to talk, which is a great combination for both of us. However, I'm really stubborn about my sense of morality, and he's very flexible in that regard. He'd try to do something stupid or a little mean-spirited for the sake of having fun, and I'd flat out refuse. I think he'd probably think I'm a little boring.

F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)?

Pride and excitement, mostly. Even though I've been talking about how morally neutral Envy is, he has a good heart at the core of him. Also, his story with Astarion is pretty angst-ridden. Anybody who knows my writing also knows how much I like writing angst, so I'm really looking forward to their story.

G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most?

I don't know if Envy has any traits that bother me. Any flaws or wrongdoing will just make him more fun for me to write. That said, he's a bit of an alcoholic, which makes me a little sad for him.

H) What trait do you admire most?

Envy has a tenacity to him that I really admire. If he wants something, he does what he can to get it. If he has a goal, he works hard to achieve it. If he loves someone (*cough* Astarion *cough*), he does his damnedest to show them just how much they're loved and to keep them as long as possible until they inevitably (in his mind) abandon him. He falters from time to time, but always gets up, dusts himself off, and keeps trying to live his best life.

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

For now. I could see bringing Envy and Astarion into a modern or AU universe at some point, but I think most of their stories will be rooted in the BG3 setting.

J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

Well, the biggest canon factor that I'm manipulating is that Tav and Astarion have never met before. In Envy's story, he met Astarion 3-4 years ago and knew each other quite well before losing contact with each other.

I'm also going to be tweaking game rules or mechanics that don't work for me. For example, I'll be bringing more D&D things like spells or magic items or spell component requirements just because I think the greater complexity of casting magic makes sense from a narrative perspective. I also think resurrecting people from the dead will be considerably harder than just bringing your dead friend to Grandpa Boneman for revival. The lack of threat from death kinda puts a damper on the potential for angst. I'm not sure if it'll come up in a fic, but yeah... More D&Dish rules for resurrection will apply if it does.

#envy o'vall #character development #baldur's gate 3 #he's got so much ATTITUDE in this picture - i love it

[ectonurites]

Thoughts on Batgirls #1?

Alright. Okay. So.

I think that if I were a new reader picking up this comic- someone who had very little familiarity with the characters, especially if I was a young girl maybe intimidated by the general comic scene (predominantly male, lots of over-sexualization of women when they do appear, etc), then I would have loved it. Like, 15 year old me would have been ALL over this. It's got a fun energy, the art is absolutely captivating and engaging, and I do feel like it gives you three distinctly different girls as the main characters, and right away the friendship between Steph & Cass is compelling.

Buuuuut as a long-time fan of all three of these characters, someone who knows how they have been and is very deeply aware of canon (both current and pre-reboot), I think the first issue was definitely a bit disappointing. I do also think there was a lot to live up to in terms of expectations and wants from fans- and there was no way they could have possibly done everything that these characters deserve off the bat. But even bearing some allowance for that in mind, it just tonally didn't really fit the characters all that well, even as they've more recently been depicted, ya know?

And honestly something... kinda startling but definitely informative about why things felt very Odd in the book was in this one interview the creative team (the co-writers and artist) gave where they uh...

AIPT: How old is Babs? Becky Cloonan: She’s in her early 20s. Michael Conrad: Like marginally older. She’s like, old enough to… BC: …old enough that it’s a little bit older. I think Steph and Cass are meant to be like 13 and 14, and our series. Is that what it is? MC: I think it might be a little bit older than that. We try and keep it vague. BC: When we came in, they’re like, Babs is like, out of college. She’s like, in her 20s. And these girls are definitely like in their mid-teens. Jorge Corona: I just had to check the other day because I was drawing a panel. I was like, “Wait, how old are these girls in this continuity?” I think they are like 17 and 16. Of that spectrum. (source)

Yeah. Babs was last before this book implied in the 28-35 range (during her most recent Batgirl run), and Steph & Cass based on everything that's been presented in this continuity should definitely be more in the later teens even if it's still vague. The fact that one of the co-writers had the idea of them being 13/14ish when that's like around the same/younger than when they were initially introduced in canon (Steph was already older than Tim when they met, him being 14 and thus her ~15, and Cass was introduced at 17) and would make them about Damian's age is just... yikes. That perspective informs a lot of the immaturity a lot of us feared from this book. So that just makes me... fearful that it's not gonna get all that much better on that front.

IDK. Overall I'm just having a lot of mixed feelings. On the one hand I'm just glad they're getting spotlight at all, but on the other I think a lot of us have wanted a book with these three for so long and the book we built up in our minds is just... very different from this thing we're getting, which is difficult to reconcile.

#dc spoilers #tuesday spoilers

[colourful-void]

Supporting Satoshi - an examination and comparison of JN36 and XY121

Part One: Snowballs do not cure depression but it was worth a shot

You know that episode of Pokemon where a gym leader beats Satoshi in a battle so hard that one of his pokemon gets mildly hurt (though there's no long term effects) and because of it he becomes depressed, closing himself off from his friends before someone comes along to pull him out of that mental state, and also severe weather phenomena is involved and a reflection of a persons mental state? Or rather, the two episodes?

So when I was watching Journeys, I noticed an episode that had a similar-- but distinctly different-- plot to an xy episode I had seen before. And what was particularly interesting was that while I couldn't stand the xy episode, the journeys episode was one of my favourites. I won't drag this out for you guys, I love the journeys episode and re watch it a LOT and the xy episode sort of just leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. and don't go claiming its solely ship bias, because i saw the xy episode first and disliked it then.

This will analyze both of these episodes, comparing them against each other. Specifically within the context of how Goh and Serena both help Satoshi through a similar situation There will be some discussion of AmourShipping and Satogou in this analysis. I'm going to be a bit negative regarding Serena's actions and the potential "romantic" weight of them here, but I want to be clear that I Do Not dislike Serena as a character. Personally, I wish the writers had given her more room to grow outside of her romantic interests, but I do not hate Serena as a character. I do, however, disagree with her actions in this episode. Please don't take this out of context and dont be ship fighting in the comments, it's boring. This is a comparison of These Two Episodes, not of Goh and Serena and their respective ships as a whole.

This part mainly focuses on the xy episode and the second will focus mainly on the journeys. It's only divided into parts because of the tumblr post limit.

(If you like the xy episode or hate the journeys episode, awesome! having your own opinions is great. these are mine though, so i hope you'll listen to them)

With that out of the way, let's start. And I'm going to use mostly japanese names here because I'm taking screencaps from the subbed japanese copies.

The set up for each of these episodes is eerily similar as pointed out in the gag at the start.

Xy has a bit more set up before the episode in question though, with the initial loss and retreat into the forest by Satoshi taking place the episode before. The episode opens up proper with Satoshi taking time to breathe to himself, alone in the forest.

Emphasis is placed on him taking a deep breath, aided by the visuals showing them (thanks cold air) and the silence of the rest of the soundscape, with the only other sounds being the wind and some bird pokemon, plus some falling snow.

Journeys Satoshi starts off in a better mental state than Xy, with the episode starting off with him jogging along with his pokemon.

However, we can still see that he's been affected by the last battle he lost, against Saitou, as he's putting a lot of effort into training and doing better.

Which, doesn't go well for him, as he loses his next two battles as well, and drops in the World Championship ranking as a result

And he's pretty upset about it too. Same thing as over in xy. In both cases, a respective friend/love interest notes that Satoshi is upset and expresses concern.

He's got support from his friends in both situations! But that support comes across in very different ways.

But, to understand how that support manages to affect Satoshi, we need to understand the problem at play.

Now, I wanna make something clear here. Satoshi's problem is not that he is a sore loser. I'm not arguing that's not a contributing factor, or that he's not upset about the loss (particularly in the world championships), He's still bitter about the lost part, but the root of the problem is not losing, he's been shown to be fine with losing (if not a bit more motivated to win now) in prior episodes.

Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are getting hurt, because they're losing battles. Satoshi's problem is that his pokemon are losing battles because he's not training them well enough. And to clarify, that's not my viewpoint, it's his. Satoshi's problem is that he's not good enough for himself, and he feels that that's something he has to fix on his own.

So how do we help him?

Our weather event in question is introduced in separate points in the episodes, but I'll cover them both now.

In xy, it's this snowstorm, which conveniently becomes a problem directly after Serena returns to the Pokemon Centre.

In journeys, it's a sandstorm! That's in near direct contrast to a snowstorm! Incredible.

Heading back to xy Satoshi, things aren't going great in the forest. Luckily, Serena's run off to find him.

I think it's of note here that Serena runs off with the best intentions, she wants to help Satoshi, plain and simple. It just sort of goes wrong along the way.

It's worth noting that Xy Satoshi tries to bring himself out of being sad by the tried and true method of "stop being sad"

Despite telling himself this, he doesn't get anywhere. Which makes sense, because it's not getting the the root of the problem. It's not even addressing it at all. He's just trying to 'be better', which isn't even a battle strategy. However, it is something I can see him saying, so this isn't a critique of Satoshi's thought process, but me pointing out that this isn't really effective. Which is supported by the narrative, because again, he doesn't get anywhere, he doesn't even move.

I can't show it in screencaps but the lights in Satoshi's eyes are shaking here, something that they consistently do throughout the series when he's feeling a particularly strong emotion. Keep that in mind. It couples well with another trait of his, and that's his hat!

And by that I mean how he hides his eyes with the brim of it when upset, something he does exactly as Serena shows up and calls out to him. Now, he's not upset that Serena is here. He's upset about the pokemon stuff still. He's trying to hide the fact that he's upset from Serena.

Serena starts off with her speech well, trying to appeal to Satoshi to let her in and talk things out. And maybe it's because he wasn't ready for it yet, or because of the way she phrases it (a lot of 'i' and 'me' language which can be helpful but can also come across as though she's making it about her. not her intent i don't think, but a possible interpretation.), it's not her fault for how Satoshi reacts regardless.

But how Satoshi reacts is not good.

Now it's really interesting to note that before this, Serena was standing while Satoshi was sitting, putting her above him in terms of active power, when it comes to how the shot is presented, but when Satoshi stands up, the camera tilts with the movement so that they're on equal level. Neat!

And Serena yells in return, scolding Satoshi for not talking about it. Not the best move, since pushing someone to talk about something that's upsetting them isn't really productive, but she's trying here and she's frustrated.

Satoshi continues to withdraw and self isolate, claiming it is his problem and that he wants to be left be. Now, this is the mindset of a clearly upset person and isolation may not be the best option, but he did make the explicit request to be left alone here.

He's clearly upset as he turns away from Serena's eye and slumps over a little.

And then Serena throws a snowball at him.

Angry as he is, you can see Satoshi's expression change when he sees Serena's reaction.

Serena tells Satoshi that she's not like the Satoshi she knows, who is always full of energy and positive and a leader, and a bunch of other positive traits. The problem here, is that Serena's looking at an idealized version of Satoshi. And while the intent here was probably meant to be something more like "you have so many wonderful traits about you I know you can do this", coupled with the snowballs and the phrasing, it seems as though Serena is scolding Satoshi for being sad.

Or rather, being angry with him for not living up to her idealized version of him, and not wanting him to express any negitave emotions.

Which is sort of a really bad mindset.

The snowballs continue, never once does Satoshi fight back. In fact, he stops arguing entirely after the first one. Serena knocks him off his feet and tells him he's not being himself, before running off. (In the english dub, Serena claims that Satoshi isn't being "the real satoshi" and then demands that the real Satoshi be "given back", so it could be worse)

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up. Something like this just isn't like him. He's just gotta stop being sad!

Now personally, I really disagree with the idea that "being upset" isn't "like a person". That's because based off of my own experiences, I know it can be really damaging to hold the mindset that any negative emotions you feel aren't a part of you and that you shouldn't be upset because you're usually a positive and happy person. Not the case with every person, but I personally really have a problem with shows telling children that they just shouldn't be upset instead of processing their emotions in a meaningful way. (The journeys episode doesn't do an outstanding job of it either, but this is a bit of a tangent anyway. A show that does do this right is "OK KO! Let's be Heroes" which actually deals with this problem in greater depth and does a fantastic job of it.)

But the snowball scene ends here. Now I'll get back to Journeys in a moment, but since Serena has finished her part of the comparison for the most part, I'm going to summarize a bit more of the xy episode.

Satoshi decides to literally run his problems away, because it will help him reach some kind of conclusion, and immediately trips and falls down a large hill. No, I'm not making that up.

The snowstorm kicks in, Serena get back annoyed, then similarly groans and yells, and the whole xy gang + pokemon go running off in search of Satoshi. Pikachu appears the most concerned.

Now Serena tells the others she lost her cool and said something horrible to Satoshi, but explains its because Satoshi is someone she admires. Cool motive, I get it, still kinda bad.

and in the end, it's not Serena's words that get he message across to Satoshi. The solution to this problem was Satoshi finding a way to reaffirm his abilities and instinct.

In the xy episode, he helps some pokemon out of the tree, and when his very cool frog friend shows up, they're able to work together with their bond to save this one from falling off a cliff.

Here's the point. Satoshi learns by doing, by actions. He needs to see first hand that there are ways of getting past his problems, and that it's worth having the courage to keep going. The lesson is about valuing pokemon as equals and partners, and specifically that trying to be better as the trainer alone isn't going to help.

This is essentially where this plot line ends, team rocket is there for a bit as well but as much as i love them they're not relevant here, and some fun stuff with the league, love it not important right now its like 3am and I'm not sleeping until this is finished so we gotta keep things moving.

This was no doubt Serena's intent to get a similar point, but she goes about it the wrong way. She tries to convey this with words, as conversation and motivational words have helped her in the past (Elle's words of praise stick with her, Satoshi's words from when they were kids, etc). It's a good idea, but their different ways of learning and growing from a similar situation are incompatible, and that's why things don't work out in Serena's favour. There's also still the problem of "pulling yourself together" not being helpful in this case.

There's also a very similar line in this scene to the one at the end of the journeys episode, as Satoshi says to his frog that they should start over from scratch. It's essentially the same phrase with different wording. It's great. The Storm ends as he realizes this as well! Wonderful in terms of pathetic fallacy.

The gang all reunites, its nice. Satoshi thanks Serena for what she said after apologizing to everyone, which contradicts what he said earlier but I've already established that I dislike this message here so I won't go over it too much. I guess he's right in a literal sense in that in response to her words he went and ran until he tripped off a cliff but the emotional growth here was because of his own actions (and the frogs), not Serena's. Sorry Serena, you'll get em next time.

This is essentially where this plot line ends, team rocket is there for a bit as well but as much as i love them they're not relevant here, and some fun stuff with the league, love it not important right now its like 3am as I write this so we gotta keep things moving.

So. What about Goh?

Well...

(Part Two here on account of image limit!!)

#pokemon #anipoke #pokeani #pokemon analysis #pokemon xy #pokemon xyz #trainer ash #trainer serena #trainer goh #i dont wanna use the amourshipping tag to put negtivity in it that seems mean #analysis #this was written in the 2-3am area but the next part was written 12 hours later so thats a neat fact #long post

[scientific-tricorder]

"If Wishes Were Horses" through an aromantic/a-spec Bashir lens because it works out surprisingly well for an episode for which Bashir's legacy is having his sexual fantasy come to life for everyone to see.

So this is the one where everyone's imaginations come to life by aliens essentially playacting (to explore the concept of imagination and make first contact or something). Bashir's imagination-turned-to-life is a version of Dax utterly besotted with him. Which sure sounds like he is very romantically/sexually interested in Dax, if this version of her is being pulled from straight from his imagination. But I argue that that isn't what's actually happening.

One key point for this is the idea that the manifestations don't come straight from our character's imagination, but rather what they say/other things outside of the characters' minds that the aliens can access (namely computer records; Sisko even explicitly says that's where the aliens' info might have come from). O'Brien summons Rumplestiltskin - when he is explicitly telling Molly a story about Rumplestiltskin, so the alien playing the role just goes off of the story. Jake Sisko summons Buck Bokai, a long dead baseball player, who starts as a character on the holodeck and has memories and knowledge programmed into the hologram character. The thoron emissions and corresponding scientific catastrophe seems to start from Dax theorizing about ship traffic and then everyone building on with theories. We don't know who the Promenade ones that Odo tries herding come from. Quark summons a pair of scantily-clad ladies (who at one point disappear only to reappear once he describes them), Odo summons Quark in a security cell, and Kira summons a horrifying vision of someone burning to death in a fire (one of these things is not like the others, but that's a different discussion). We don't explicitly see these characters talking about what they summon before they appear, but it's still possible that it happened off screen or that it comes from accessing computer files.

With that concept as background, let's look at Bashir's interactions with his summoned fantasy.

The teaser features Bashir trying to flirt with Dax and initiate a romantic relationship over dinner, with her politely refusing and pointing out his recent pursuit of two other women. So here we have Bashir speaking aloud what he ends up summoning: a Dax interested in him as a romantic partner. As well as this going after any woman thing, which under this reading is the usual over-exaggerated playacting of romantic interests.

When this imaginary Dax (Dax #2) does appear, it's while Bashir is sleeping (looks like he just fell asleep when studying given the padd and him being in full uniform). The moment he wakes up, he is, well, not at all interested, and pointedly constantly leaning away from her advances. She keeps trying to kiss him, and instead of reciprocating, he talks to avoid it (can't reach lips if they're constantly moving) and pulls out his tricorder as an excuse to completely pull away, sometimes physically pushing Dax #2 away from him. He only reciprocates after she asks why he's fighting this, he asks himself the same question twice, and can't come up with a good answer. And as soon as Kira calls senior officers to ops, he immediately breaks it off and deflects the whole thing by calling it a joke.

Once they're in ops, Bashir appears distinctly uninterested in and uncomfortable around Dax #2. And when she says that she must have come out of his imagination? A confused look, almost as if a Dax besotted with him isn't anything he had been imagining.

[Image description: Screenshot from the episode, showing Dax and Bashir in profile from the shoulders up, looking at each other, with ops in the background. Dax, who is on the left, has a hand on Bashir's shoulder and is smiling at him. Bashir, on the right, has his mouth slightly open and eyebrows down, as if confused.]

(That screenshot is immediately followed by a shocked Bashir when Dax #2 goes in for a kiss)

And this discomfort and disinterest continues throughout almost the entire rest of the episode. The one time he isn't? At the end when Dax #2 is injured and becomes a patient, and he goes into Doctor Mode.

Admittedly, most of Bashir's avoidance behavior could be explained by him not wanting to play out sexual fantasies in front of his coworkers, embarrassment and humiliation that that is what his imagination conjured, and not wanting to take advantage of a Dax clearly behaving abnormally, but wouldn't someone genuinely interested in pursuing a romantic relationship have a bit more positive of a reaction? At some point, other than the one time when he tries to come up with a reason why not and can't? I mean, if one wants something, why would they be starting from a default position of refusing it and need to think and convince themselves that they don't have a good enough reason to refuse? And at that point he believes her to be Dax, supposedly a literal dream come true, and since it occurs right after waking up, for all he knows, it is an actual dream.

Now, this is definitely not the intended reading because the writers absolutely meant this to be direct imagination coming to life story and show a Bashir obsessed with Dax. But since when do we have to limit ourselves to the intended reading.

#Star Trek #DS9 #If Wishes Were Horses #Julian Bashir #Bashir #Queer!Bashir #a-spec!Bashir #analysis #Disclaimer that for me being aro is not understanding what romantic attraction even is and am thus conflating split attractions here #And reading facial expressions is definitely not my forte #I am rather a fan of the a-spec Bashir headcanon because #A. Projection (we always like to think of our favorite characters as being similar to ourselves) #B. I think it does work well with some of Bashir's later storylines (you know what I'm talking about if you've watched through DS9) #C. It helps explain all his creepy behavior towards women early on in the series (although still not justifying it) #I've also become weirdly interested in looking at all these early episodes with hindsight about what we learn about the characters later on #and seeing what the writers turned into accidental foreshadowing (which was a thing they did) and what they ignored/forgot about #Tricorder log

[swampgallows]

i'm having the same struggles with bfa where like, i just have no idea where they're going with any of this lmao. legion felt very directed but bfa is just like..."boats? you want boats??" idk, there *is* a lot to like in the questing and the new zones, and the new characters are mostly fantastic, i just don't know what they're DOING here. in between content in legion i could speculate about what was gonna happen next but here i just...got no clue lmao. at least jaina finally got a hug though.

To me BFA seems like half pandaria and half cata, where cata was desperately trying to tell like 20 stories at once and very hastily slapped them together or barely got their foot in the door (naga, earthen/Therazane, Grim Batol, dragon experiments, the Dragon Soul, Thrall as the earth warder, Wrathion [or proto-Wrathion], hour of twilight/twilight’s hammer, wildhammer dwarves, dragonmaw orcs, hhhh WORGEN/Gilneas, GOBLINS/Kezan/Bilgewater Cartel, Tol Barad) like oh my GOD there were SO many things happening and i bet I forgot a lot of major things too. 

Meanwhile, Pandaria was a departure from standard WoW fare by exploring a brand new continent with brand new lore so it was all super refreshing: new architecture, landscapes, climates, enemies, wildlife, lore, sentient races, philosophy, etc., all the while still keeping a plausible Red VS Blue Orcs & Humans thing happening because both factions wanted to stake a claim on the land and its resources. To me, that is very distinctly WARCRAFT. Originating as a fantasy RTS, it’s always been a race for resources in magnificent uncharted lands with new, fantastic creatures to befriend or to fight. So while people were bemoaning Pandaria at launch, I think the reason why so many people reflect and realize they enjoyed it so much was because they were all brand new experiences with totally unexpected and unpredictable outcomes while keeping the overall tone and spirit of Warcraft. 

BFA has incorporated the element of sailing to a land of legend, be it Kul Tiras or Zandalar, only heard of in passing, and allows the players to become intimate with the local people and the new and exciting signatures of every zone, while also tying some missions back to the overall issue at hand: a race for resources (in this case, azerite). This is what Pandaria did right. But BFA also has Cata’s issue, in my opinion, where too many seeds are being planted for stories that have yet to come to fruition or maintain momentum until they germinate. We WILL see the ends of these stories, in time, but I think by having so many different possible foci it detracts from a cohesive story structure while also being overstimulating because there are few visible resolutions.

Legion’s method of wrapping up the zone with a dungeon is fantastic. It punctuates the zone’s story in a meaningful way while also allowing you to mentally “shelve” that chapter. Plus, each of the main zones also tied into the overall story in acquiring the Pillars of Creation needed to seal the Tomb of Sargeras. From the very start of Legion, we know our objective is to put an end to the Burning Legion for good. 

From the start of BFA, however, our mission is conflicted: either save Azeroth from dying, or use her blood to wipe out the other faction. But WoW isn’t a single-player campaign like Fallout where you can choose to side with salvation or destruction; the MMO has to make both sides equally valid, and that in turn makes everything very ambiguous.

During the Battle of Lordaeron, we have an option to help fellow Horde soldiers or to spread the plague yourself. It’s unknown what bearing this choice may have, if any, or how it will affect gameplay. Recently, we have the option to stay loyal to Sylvanas or to dissent with Saurfang, both of which are irreversible and exclusive choices that result in different quest chains. And as we see in the new raid, Alliance and Horde get different stories depending on which faction you play, so that sets another fork in the road for the narrative. More and more divergences are being added all the time, but the options are no good if we have no idea where we’re headed in the first place.

whoops i typed a lot

#dissonancies #ask