#I need to post more niche bullshit so. here we go. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

thebookishbruja · 1 year

Text

I've never watched Heartstopper, so in that sense, I don't go here. But in the sense that I am a bisexual with opinions, I do go here. (I saw that they forced that boy to out himself as bisexual and I have thoughts.)

I just think it's highly ironic that people have taken the inclusive, positive (as in, do something actively to add to the world) concept of 'Own Voices' and made it exclusive, negative (take away stories, police people's identities), and then used it for clout, pretending that they have any moral authority.

LMAO THAT'S ABSURD. YOU ARE ABSURD.

The entire point of 'Own Voices', and having people tell their own stories is to bring more people into the fold. It is to prevent the all too common bullshit of studios and publishing companies and powerful straight white men, of benefiting from marginalized communities while at the same time, leaving them out in the cold.

The point of Own Voices is to put a stop to the common Hollywood phenomenon of "oh look at that brave straight man willing to debase himself and play gay for a role" and lauding him with awards. Meanwhile gay men can't even get in the door because 'you're too femme' or 'no one will believe you as a straight man.'

The point of Own Voices is to address the fact that there are a ton of unemployed trans people because 'we don't know what to do with you' and 'we don't think you are versatile enough to play cis people' or 'we don't need any 'niche' writers, thank you' meanwhile they've got cis people picking up Oscars for the 'brave incredible' act of pretending to be trans for a few months. It's having people lining up to suck you off because 'oh look how much you care about those people' but in real life, they wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

The issue is, the vast unemployment problem for visibly queer people, and then, us having to watch the people who exclude them parade around acting like their savior.

The answer is always…if the money is flowing, you need to make sure little dams are not being built to keep it from flowing to the communities you are profiting from.

The solution is to make sure marginalized people are in the room in positions of influence, so that the characters aren't mocked. To make sure the stories are told in an authentic manner.

If you are telling queer stories and you haven't got any queer people on the project? That's a problem. If you are making money off communities and excluding them? That's a problem.

Own Voices is a principle that targets the capitalist element of producing art. It looks at the people who fund the project. It takes into account makeup of the project over all. It makes sure that the capital is flowing to the places it is benefiting from.

IT IS NOT an exclusionary principle of 'you have to be of that exact queer identity in order to depict that queer identity'. That's literally absurd. It inhibits empathy. It restricts storytelling. And, it goes in the dead opposite direction of where we want to go!!

AND it is actively homophobic and destructive and malicious, because it leads to policing people's identities. It leads to outing people. It leads to reductive, predatory, behavior, it leads to harassment. And for bisexual people, it creates this constant hostile environment of we cannot just be. We cannot just exist. We have to keep proving ourselves.

I remember when I told one of my friends that I was bisexual. (I talked about this in my day of bi visibility post) She told me she didn't believe me. That all girls like to kiss girls for boys attention and for fun. She told me when I ate pussy, she'd believe me. (lmaooooosob I know!) And this is a common common common attitude towards bisexual people. "I don't believe you. Perform a sex act." PEOPLE I'M NOT KIDDING THIS IS ABSURDLY AWFUL AND HORRIBLE AND YES SOMETIMES FEELS DARKLY COMEDIC BUT IT IS SO HARMFUL AND IT IS SO COMMON. STOP IT.

Now, is there nuance to the question of casting queer people in queer roles? Yes. Of course. As a feminist I would be remiss to not mention trans women. (actual feminists give a fuck about all women not just cis women, just, you know, for the record) For example, with trans women, the most overbearing stereotype of trans women is that they are men in disguise. There are quite literally legal defenses that are built on it that have (and continue to allow) men to murder trans women and escape punishment in America. That they are just men under women's clothes, tricking you. Waiting to spring the truth on you. They are literally murdered behind this vicious bigotry. When you have a cis man playing a trans woman, you risk feeding into that stereotype.

Now. There is more nuance on top of that. If the project involves trans people, trans women are writing it, is it well done, is it humanizing? It may have value! But people also aren't obligated to feel overjoyed about it either. People are allowed to point out that connection and to prefer to see a trans woman in a trans woman role.

BUT THERE IS LITERALLY NO NUANCE ANYWHERE that allows you to take this concept of own voices, and use it to say "you must always be x to portray/write x or we will harass you." THERE IS NO EXPLANATION ANYWHERE that allows you to require people to 'prove' their identities to you. There is LITERALLY NO WIGGLE ROOM for you to demand people to perform sexual or romantic acts for you to 'prove' who they are. That is disgusting. And it is actively hostile to bisexual people.

And when you fix your fingers to get on twitter and say that a boy (HE IS BARELY 18) is APPROPRIATING queer identity because he hasn't fucked a dude for you on camera, I mean lol you don't give a fuck about queer people. STFU lmaooo. You don't look like Marsha P Johnson, you don't look like Harvey Milk. You look like a petty, small minded little asshole with too much time on their hands, trying to get clout on the internet. (I also suspect there is some horny fetishizing behavior at play there because people want to watch him kiss other boys. This is the whole....please understand the difference between fiction and reality. Enjoy fictional queer relationships all you want. Find men hot together all you want. But do not treat REAL LIFE ACTUAL men and boys like they are your little performing dolls ffs. Gross, people. Gross!!)

Anyway,

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE QUEER TO PLAY QUEER. We can demand broad and consistently inclusive projects, AND not be utter assholes and police people's identities. I promise you. We can. In fact, it is perfectly logical, consistent and normal. We can include gay men and bisexual men in projects that depict them, without bullying children. I promise you that. It's easy. It's simple as pie my dears.

And if you get online and use the language of social justice to be a heinous little bully, I hope you know everyone else can see you for what you are. No one thinks you're smart or that you care about social justice. You're just a clout chasing asshole and you need to stop.

#kit connor #heartstopper #bisexuality #lgbt #long post

99 notes · View notes

hylianengineer · 1 month

Text

Okay I'm done with the film review for my sociology class, now you can all have my rant about it, and it's LONG so it's going under a read more:

I'm watching that new Netflix documentary about dirt - Kiss The Ground. For context, I'm an undergrad researcher in biogeochemistry and I study the carbon cycle, particularly a very specific type of decomposition that occurs in waterlogged soils - methanogenesis.

I'm so thrilled that something this mainstream is talking about soil carbon, soil microbes (my beloveds), and carbon sequestration. They're talking about root exudates and mychorrizhae and agriculture as part of an ecosystem! That's exciting. There's also a really excellent dose of climate hope in this documentary - and I am really excited to see that concept getting out of niche environmental circles and into things that regular people might actually watch.

On the other hand, parts of this documentary tick me off. I do not consider Tom Brady, nor his wife, to be a reliable source about the importance of organic agriculture. I know you're trying to interest the non-science types but come on, that is a classic appeal to irrelevant authority fallacy. And they should have said the thing about how we do still have to stop using fossil fuels and reach net zero emissions IN ADDITION TO sequestering the carbon we've already emitted more than one time in the whole film, because I just know people are going to take the rest of this message and run with it in the wrong direction. And they are really hammering home the appeal to emotions in the first half, to the point where I think the core of their argument suffers for it. Are you trying to explain this thing to me or are you throwing around buzzwords and pictures of sick children in hopes I'll get distracted?

Also they keep introducing guests with credentials like "ecologist from the Rodale Institute." You know nobody knows what the fuck that is, right? (It's an NGO dedicated to organic farming, for the record, but I did have to google it, and they had multiple guest speakers from this group.) Come on, you have no credibility if I can't tell where your info's coming from, and most people are not going to do background research as they watch a documentary.

Overall, I agree with their main points but I'm annoyed with how they made them. They're right about the ability of soil to sequester carbon, they're right that it could play a big role in climate change mitigation, and they're right that helping the soil is also better for people, ecosystems, and the planet. They're right about no till farming, permaculture, and crop diversity. They're even right about the bullshit that is the US industrial agricultural system, and they dug into how it came about in the post-WWII era, which isn't something I see talked about much. Kind of baffled how they managed to talk about soil degradation in the Midwestern USA without getting into the unique ways prairie soil and roots work, and instead went down a weird rambly path about how plows are bad (true, at least here - I cant speak for ecosystems I don't know as well - but explained poorly) and cows are good because this system evolved to have bison in it (sort of true, but incomplete. Cows aren't bison and the differences do matter.)

Also, reduced meat consumption is a very common thing that a lot of experts say is needed for climate change mitigation, and don't think I didn't notice how you sidestepped the issue just to say 'cows are good actually, stop vilifying cows.' I call bullshit. Just because cows work well in some ecosystems on a certain scale does not mean that it's possible to farm meat sustainably on the scale we currently do - factory farming and feedlots (CAFOs, if you want to get technical) are what allows us to make this much meat in the first place. You just admitted we need cows spread out on a lot more land to making ranching sustainable, and then failed to address the fact that this idyllic system doesn't really mesh with a world in which everybody eats multiple servings of beef per day. I see that decision and I know why you made it, because asking people to make sacrifices for the climate tends to make them ignore you, I don't even necessarily disagree with that decision because I know you're trying to persuade normal people and not environmentalists, but don't think I didn't notice.

Okay, fine, NOW they're talking about eating less meat and how what meat people do eat needs to come from more sustainable agricultural practices. Good. Better.

Oh look at our free range eggs, they're orange and that means they have more nutrients. Do they? Please back up this claim with scientific evidence. Of course the farmer says his eggs are better, he raised them. It's plausible, but I am pedantic and a scientist and I want data. You have to prove things to me.

Overall not a horrible documentary but ticks me off in several ways and tries to cram too many different subjects into like an hour and a half. Also, visiting the film's website makes me MORE ANGRY because they say even STUPIDER things about how they think climate science works. They make it sound like carbon sequestration in soil is THE solution which is BULLSHIT. There is no THE solution, there's gotta be a bunch of em stacked on top of each other - according to basically every climate change mitigation plan I've ever heard of (Project Drawdown is a good example). There's this metaphor I like to use to explain this to people - there's no silver bullet, but there could be silver buckshot. I read that somewhere once and cannot remember where but I'll never forget it.

Anyways, if you want a good intro to soil health directed at non-scientists/environmentalists, Kiss The Ground isn't bad, but you gotta think critically about some of the claims it's making because some of them are bullshit.

#hylian rambles #hylian does science #it's time for soil ramblings babes #get ready to learn what a root exudate is #kiss the ground

3 notes · View notes

greatprotector-if · 9 months

Note

Hii, I want to make if game but I'm kinda slow writer. Also I have never written so many words like other authors and it's a bit paralyzing. Do you have any advice how to deal with it?

anon i am so sorry this is 100% just rambling. the TLDR; my advice to you is this: comparison is the thief of joy. i know it's hard not to compare yourself to others, it's a super natural instinct for most of us, but seriously, as long as you're doing the best that you can, it doesn't matter how much or how little everyone else is doing. try changing your scenery! write in a different location! write using different materials! don't even bother with proper grammar and punctuation or whether things sound good or make sense for your rough draft. just write. Don't go back and fix things. and it might suck and you might just end up having to rewrite the entire thing in the end but at least now you know what not to do! and i am wishing you the absolute best in all your if writing endeavours <3

i'm fr just a guy so i'm so sorry if this advice is shit. i'm not a professional. idk if you came to me just because you saw the "slow writer" in the intro post and you saw a kindred spirit, but just in case you are not aware.... i am such a slow writer and i'll be so honest when i started tgp by far the longest thing i'd written was 11k words and it took like... 10 months to finish. usually the stuff i wrote was 500 words in Total and i was also the type of fanfic writer on wattpad who'd post three chapters and then never touch the book ever again

so, not a great foundation for a game that requires this level of commitment, and i knew that!! but i dunno i was so excited about the idea and the characters and i felt like i needed to share it with the world so i just went fuck it and started. when i first got that intro post up i had nothing but a handful of characters, a vague idea and a dream.......

basically what i'm trying to say is. I get it.

and my advice to you is: just do it LOL just write your if game!!!

it will be scary and impostor syndrome is SUCH A BITCH. you will encounter authors who will write like 100k words in the time it takes you to write 5k and THAT IS OKAY. I FEEL THIS EVERY DAY. BUT YOUR WORTH IS NOT BASED ON HOW MANY WORDS YOU CAN WRITE IN AN HOUR, SO TRY YOUR BEST NOT TO BE TOO HARSH ON YOURSELF. COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY. if your best one day is 15 words and they aren't even good words? that's fine. at least you're getting something down. you are doing the best you can in that moment, and that's what's most important!!!

ALSO WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE. you cannot appeal to everyone. there will be people who simply will not enjoy your game and you know.. we ball anyway because there will also be people who LOVE YOUR GAME JUST AS MUCH AS YOU DO, IF NOT MORE. i find that a lot of the time i'm stuck because i'm so worried about catering to my audience, and while it's okay to be conscious of these things, don't let it paralyze you. do not make your story about a bunch of bullshit you don't care about just because it's popular or something or you will just Never progress because you don't care about writing it. those days i shit out 1k (WHICH IS A LOT FOR ME IN ONE DAY) are because i'm like JUMPING OFF THE WALLS EXCITED ABOUT WHAT I'M WRITING ABOUT. WHO CARES IF WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IS CRINGE (cringe culture is dead anyway) OR SUPER NICHE OR WON'T GET YOU A MILLION FOLLOWERS IMMEDIATELY. i mean don't get me wrong validation feels so good i'm a bit of an attention whore myself but also you deserve to create things that make you feel good, and this is what sustains a long-term project. You know? You feel me? You pickin up what i'm putting down? plus there will always be other people who vibe with your story, no matter how much you think you're the only one it appeals to.

but just in case you aren't just here for incoherent moral support, i would highly recommend straying away from plain old google docs or whatever it is that you usually use to write and trying new things! pen and paper??? pen and Cardboard box (this one works really well for me for my art block for some reason LMAO)??? write while sitting on the stairs instead of at your desk??? stimuwrite 2.0 (i cannot recommend this enough the bubble wrap sounds are sooo good)???

also. remember that rough drafts are just that: Rough Drafts. just write!!! maybe it'll turn out great, but maybe it'll be complete shit. maybe it'll make you want to throw up just reading it back. DON'T DELETE IT AND WORRY ABOUT HOW TO MAKE IT SOUND BETTER. I DONT CARE IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY USED THE WORD "JUST" 3 TIMES IN 1 SENTENCE. AS LONG AS YOU GOT THE MESSAGE ACROSS ENOUGH FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND IT YOU'RE GOOD TO GO.

ok sorry i am mildly sleep deprived at the time of writing this i'm so sorry if i literally just didn't answer any kf your questions at any point in here. i have no idea what i'm doing i just roll with the punches!!!!!!

#answered asks #anon #I AM LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR IF GAME ANON #IT WILL BE AMAZING

19 notes · View notes

raindropsonwhiskers · 1 year

Note

Hi there! I know that this is really out of the blue but im asking for a favor or some help w/ my cats current medical needs. Please if you have an extra time to boost/share it for us so that we could get some traction or it could reach more people, it would definitely help a ton! I understand if its not okay, Im so sorry for taking some of your time and I wish you to be safe and healthy always, xx.(Please considering answering my ask privately or probably hit me a msg if its fine! 😭🙏

This is far from the first time I've gotten one of these, and I'm feeling spiteful, so I'm going to walk through why this is almost certainly a scam, for anyone who isn't already aware of these.

This is the pinned post on the blog:

It was made at 1:17 AM EST today, Jan 31st. Based on the timing and phrasing of this post, the emergency happened last Tuesday, as the poster seems to be in Montana and thus made the post at 11:17 PM on Monday. The vet hospital (VSS West) and the group Shelter Friends do exist, though Shelter Friends seems to be exclusively a "shelter assistance and networking group whose purpose is to help homeless pets find rescue or adoption" (their website).

They claim their cat is being held until they can pay the bill (pictured at the top of the pinned post, ~1600 USD) in full. This is a red flag, since as far as I'm aware, no respectable institution does this. Additionally, the timeframe on pickup seems uncertain - it goes between "picking him up tomorrow" and "cleared to come home by the next couple of days".

No goal amount is listed, nor is there any sort of tracker. This is extremely strange, since almost every signal boost/mutual aid/etc post I see these days has the OP pretty much constantly updating how much they have left to go. Not being upfront about the amount needed, or how much they already have, is a decent red flag for a scam.

They say they haven't made a GoFundMe because it takes too long and takes a fee. However, VSS West's website says payment is due upon service (see screenshot). Therefor, they must have known about the price for at least 5 days (assuming wiggle room from last Tuesday to the time of the pinned post) and - more importantly - they should have already paid for the surgery.

But let's say they delayed the payment and... used their pet as collateral or something. Here is a screenshot from GoFundMe's website:

So the fee bit is bullshit, too.

Now that we know why the scenario is a whole bunting's worth of red flags, let's tackle the blog itself. The earliest post is from 1:08 AM EST, Jan 31, 2023. AKA today, 9 minutes before making the pinned post.

The URL directly references the cat, Tonka, so surely the blog was created to be about him. It can't be a sideblog - those can't send asks. It could be an alt account, but why make one just for your cat's health emergency and then reblog ATLA posts, posts about the new Mighty Nein animation, and some random aesthetic photos?

And this is just me being pedantic: the name in the header, Nicolai, doesn't match the Nicole used elsewhere. On the bill in the pinned post, the name Susan appears in the client field, just before the blacked out phone number.

But even assuming this person did genuinely decide to make a brand new blog on tumblr and try to crowdfund for their cat, there's a few more red flags around the message itself.

1) This blog has never once interacted with me before. Not shocking since it was made less than 24 hours ago, but still. Not even a follow before sending me a scam? Rude.

2) They ask that I reply privately or via DM. This is very suspicious and VERY convenient for a scammer, because it's harder to provide evidence of the scam when nobody else has seen your correspondence with them.

3) They asked a random niche Doctor Who blog to signal boost them. Of all the demographics, Doctor Who Extended Universe shitposting was the one some desperate person worried for their cat chose? Yeah, right.

All that being said, I hope this post helps people be more aware of these sorts of scams in the future. There are a lot of genuine posts looking for help with their pets, too - but those posts come from real people with established blogs, who aren't sending demanding asks to strangers, aren't trying to hide how much money they need/have already, and aren't trying to take advantage of people. Always do some due diligence before donating to a cause; the worst that can happen is you spend a little time looking through someone's blog and find that they're a real person.

16 notes · View notes

autisticlee · 9 months

Text

I have so many characteristics that make me feel like dating would be absolutely impossible to do and navigate, because they're such undesirable things that no one wants. i

if someone DOES want/are ok with them, there's so few of those people that they either already found someone, or they're out of my reach/we'll never meet. and that's if THEY match what I want as well, which then makes that pool even smaller.

i'm autistic. i'm asexual/aromantic. i'm trans/nonbinary. all things that make dating extraordinarily difficult to begin with.

i'm also not smart, rich, socially acceptable, or conventionally useful. i'm not physically attractive/don't match societal standards. i'm not likable to most people and can't even make or keep friends. my interests are very weird and niche, and it's hard to find people who share them.

if I can't figure out how to make and keep friends, how am I ever supposed to date? that's many levels ahead of where I am, almost end game. i'm at level 0. the tutorial level. except my tutorial glitched out before I even started and won't work. so I can't advance.

yes, I have good characteristics that people would be lucky to have (like loyalty, willingness to communicate, honesty, going out of my way to be there for people I care about, etc) but those things don't overshadow the ones above. first impressions kill me. my most noticeable traits kill me again. I can't lie or mask. no one gets to the smaller "good" traits or they simply aren't ever enough.

this is why I never tried to date and never even thought about it until now. I gave up before even starting because I knew it would be a dead end, a waste of time and energy.

i'm going to complain further under here, despite already making like 10 posts about the exact same bullshit:

"until now." so, I need someone who lives in canada to date me so I can move there from US and be with the only supportive people I have in my life lmao. my closest friends, my found family, who meet my needs, respect my boundaries, go out of their way to help me, and reciprocate everything mutually and equally. they actually want me in their lives. it's not one-sided, for the first time in my life. I don't question their motives or loyalties like every other friend I had in my life. it's genuine and real and they've stuck with me for like idk 5 years now? meeting irl (which usually ends my friendships for some reason...I guess people don't like me after meeting me outside of my internet persona?) it was solidified even more that we are the found family i've been wanting and needing my whole life. why do they have to be in a different country that has an extremely strict policy for being allowed to move there?!

so back to the dating thing a big problem is that I have too many barriers that I can't hide that make people uninterested or dislike me. I also can't control other people. people are unreliable and difficult as hell.

throw on top wanting to date someone specifically to move countries and they might question MY loyalties and think i'm only using them. when actually, I genuinely also want someone who can be part of our found family and be my life partner.

unfortunately, I know it will probably never happen, since it's not even about "trying" or "not giving up." I literally don't know how to try to find someone. like where to look?? social medias are collapsing and I get ignored everywhere. dating apps are for more hookups, polys, cheaters, and bots/catfish than real partnerships. I have no clue how to make people like me because who i am hasnt done me any favors ever in my life. waiting around for someone to come to me first just wastes my time! plus i'm picky as hell and can't accept just anyone.

people keep telling me "keep waiting you'll find The One! don't give up! I was in a similar position and i found someone!" that doesn't help me. it doesn't give me hope or whatever. I prefer actual helpful things like "I'll help you get there!" if you want to "help." I prefer to look at things realistically and live in the moment. not a future I can't see. and in this moment i'm stuck in a shitty anti-lgbt state with unsupportive and unaccepting family who don't treat me very well and no irl friends i can trust and rely on. no one can say that will for certain change in the future. things don't always magically change for the better and if you aren't prepared for that, you'll always be stuck in one place, waiting. i'm not being negative. it's more dynamic than that. it's more "I need an alternative in case this truly is a dead end." i'm simply not getting my hopes up for disappointment and fooling myself into believing that doing nothing and waiting will help, while life passes me by.

but I also can't do anything. because I don't know how/what to do

and by can't do anything I don't mean in life in general. I mean about getting out of my parents house so I can be free from them and fond a safe and comfortable place. I can't afford it alone obviously. I unfortunately need other people on my life, as much as i wish i could be a lone gremlin human and never need others. and that's the part I have no clue how to do. if the only humans who want me aren't attainable, then what? i've tried for over a decade and only had failures because people are unreliable and turn on me without warning, after i'm the only one who puts effort into trying to help us escape our situations. i'm TIRED. I can't keep trying to do everything alone and end up hurt and betrayed by fake friends. i'm so tired.

(if anyone reads this, don't try to comfort me because it won't work. if you relate, you can share that because that's fine. if you want to help me by being a candian who can sponsor me to move there then that's even more acceptable 🤣 if you find you cant stand me after im permanently there, i'll appreciate your help and let you go lmao)

#autistic #asexual #aroace #aromantic #nonbinary #transgender #dating #relationships #why an i even bothering to tag this? it's a useless ramble and really dumb rant lmao #it feels kinda embarrassing to suddenly care about dating after 30 years of NOT. but its for a good cause. i need my found family.....#lowkey hope no one is reading these dumb posts lmao. i noticed i got a handful of followers here now. dont look!!! 🫠#i internally laugh at desperate people who think dating will solve all their problems and now here i am #wanting to date to solve a problem thar can probably only be solved that way LOL #but it is kind of different. im not desperate for someone to date for love and affection and attention #i just need help and support for a goal i cant realistically reach alone 🥲

6 notes · View notes

wartakes · 9 months

Text

"What Should It Look Like?" Part II: The Army (OLD ESSAY)

This essay was originally posted on December 9th, 2021.

This is the second entry in the "What Should It Look Like?" series - and the first proper entry drilling down into the weeds. This is basically me getting very nerdily in my element about force planning and development for ground forces for several thousand words so if you're left wing and into that shit I guess this will be nirvana for you.

(Full essay below the cut).

Prepare yourselves, people. I’m about to get very nerdily self-indulgent.

That’s because this is the second entry in my “What Should it Look Like?” series where I, a self-professed democratic socialist defense analyst, put my mind to pondering how the U.S. military should look under a more just and equitable system (and also maybe to satisfy some of my niche interests just a little, as a treat). If you missed the first part, you should go back and read that now or otherwise you’re probably going to be very confused and lacking a lot of context when reading this.

If you have read the first part already or are now caught up, I’m not wasting a lot of space on an intro in these essays. I want to cut straight to the action, because I got a lot I want to say – more than I’m really going to be able to fit here. We’re getting into actually looking at each of the services or components of the military and looking on how they would change to carry out the strategy we discussed in our first entry in the series. Our first victim? The big green machine itself: the United States Army.

Everything Old is New Again

While throughout contemporary times the Army has strove to represent itself to the world as a highly responsive and dynamic force with a focus on fast moving and overwhelming shock assaults to engage and defeat enemies on the battlefield, for most of its history up until now it has served as constabulary or occupation force – both at home and abroad. This has been the case since the earliest days of the United States with westward expansion, colonization and genocide of native tribes, to the more recent episodes of invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. The times when the Army has been anything close to what it claims it is, are really in the minority. In keeping with the strategy that we outlined in the first entry of this series, the Army will need to change significantly to actually live up to what it claims to be, working in the service of a foreign policy more concerned with international solidarity and self-defense.

With the “fuck around and find out” strategy we previously discussed in mind, we need to think in greater detail about what the Army’s role will actually be in order to properly think about its structure and capabilities. To fulfill that strategy – as we discussed – we’ll need a force capable of halting and rolling back aggression by a regional or great power against a weaker state or group. If we want to halt an invasion or attack before it’s too late and it becomes necessary to shift gears to a full-on war of liberation, then we’ll need an initial, light, rapid deployable force to get quickly to the theater to shore up allied defenses and to halt the advance or at least slow it down to buy time. Then we’ll need a more heavily armed and equipped force to follow on the rapid deployed force and do the actual rollback of enemy forces in conjunction with forces from other domains such as air, the sea and etc. If the enemy moves quickly enough and completely occupies an area, the Army will need to be prepared to generate mass and then launch a campaign of liberation into the occupied territory, conducting forced entry operations before it can conduct its rollback to push the enemy back to pre-war borders. Additionally, during all of this, there will be the need to inflict sufficient losses on the enemy’s capabilities to ensure that they won’t be able to pull their bullshit again any time soon once we have left the area.

I actually don’t think the Army has to change that drastically in terms of force structure and end strength to serve this notion we’re pondering (changing institutional culture and practices is another story entirely, and I think that issue across the military as a whole is worth an article or entire series in its own right – but I will get to that at some point in the future). There will be some significant change, but it won’t be anything unprecedented in the Army’s history. If anything, it’ll be working to create something similar to what the Army was prior to the demands of, and changes inflicted by two decades of failed counterinsurgency campaigns in Southwest Asia. Before some of the more cogent military enthusiasts get too leery, I’m not talking about a full on “reject modernity, embrace tradition” where everyone wears M81 woodland camouflage again and trades in it M4A1s for M16A1s (as much as that would make me aesthetically happy). New concepts, capabilities, and doctrine will need to be factored in here, even if the structure is more of a return to form. This isn’t a “time is a flat circle” plan but rather a “history doesn’t repeat itself but it sometimes rhymes” plan.

I also actually don’t expect the overall end strength of the Army to change drastically with this plan. According to the IISS Military Balance – which will be my primary source across the years for the approximate size of the military and number of key systems, the military as a whole and the Army in particular are now almost back to pre-9/11 levels: the total active-duty force clocks in at 1,388,100 personnel in 2021, compared to 1,367,700 in 2001, with the Army numbering some 485,000 active troops over its 2001 numbers of just about 478,000. This all of course comes after some major expansion of the Army and Marine Corps at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which would be followed by cuts in the late Obama years and then expansion again under Trump. This is also still much smaller compared to the highest extent of the Army and the all-volunteer military as a whole in 1989 at the end of the Cold War. Most of the change will be cuts to personnel and units within in certain areas that are more tied to the War on Terror and counterinsurgency to accommodate more of the large-scale conflict that we are concerning ourselves with (obviously we won’t completely get rid of those other capabilities, just in case, but they are going to play a much smaller and very different role that I will expand upon more when we get to the Special Operations Force part of this series).

One significant change in my plan that doesn’t necessarily affect the number and composition of units but does affect the way the force is built, utilized, funded, and interacts with the world will be the almost total elimination of permanent overseas basing. This is keeping with the strategy of “offshore solidarity” hashed out in the opening essay of this series. Aside from the ideological underpinnings of avoiding the trappings of empire and trying to help allies and partners stand on their own and have more control over their own affairs, it also has practical applications in concentrating more forces in the continental United States to be available for contingencies wherever they arise. A major drawback is, of course, these forces will all have to travel further to get to the combat zone – something that will need to be touched upon when we discuss the Navy and Air Force and their lift capabilities in subsequent essays. But there are ways the Army can structure its forces and respond to a conflict to make itself as effective and efficient as possible given the constraints that will arise due to the nature of this strategy.

Armor is Back, Bay-Beeeee!

A cornerstone of the changes to the Army will be in renewed focus on mechanized and armored warfare as its backbone. For as long as I can remember, I have seen more than a few supposed “experts” routinely claiming year after year that the tank is obsolete as a weapons system. This is a hobby horse of mine I could absolutely go off on for hours, but to keep it short, suffice to say the importance of armored protected heavy firepower remains critical in high intensity conflict and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. If anyone tries to use the most recent Karabakh war as an excuse that things like drones have rendered armored warfare “obsolete”, please kindly inform them that there were far more factors at play in that scenario to inflict heavy armor losses – on both sides – than just the simple use of drones by Azerbaijan (also tell them ‘fuck Azerbaijan’ please and thank you). Having heavy weapons on mobile, armored platforms is going to be useful for as long as I can see warfare being a thing and anything that may change that is too far off or odd for me or anyone else to begin to comprehend. So, with that out of the way, let’s talk forces.

The heavy hitting core of the Army’s maneuver force in my mind would be two “heavy corps” reminiscent of the forces positioned in West Germany during the Cold War. These corps would consist of two armored divisions – each with two armored brigade combat teams (ABCTs) and one Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) – a mechanized infantry division – consisting of two SBCTs and one ABCT, an armored cavalry regiment as the corps reserve and reconnaissance element (really just another ABCT) and then the various support units necessary to back up these combat elements such as supply, medical, intelligence, signals and so on. This would be the heart of the Army’s actual combat arms force with some 12 active ABCTs (one more than it currently has) and 8 SBCTs (also one more than it currently has). These forces would be those forces I discussed that would be the ones to follow on after the rapid deployment forces had arrived in theater to try and stem the tide, mostly coming in via sealift (trying to move six heavy divisions by C-17s and C-5s – while technically possible – is hardly the most efficient nor effective way to get a large number of heavy forces into a theater of war).

So, what about these rapid reaction forces that would be the trailblazers in such a conflict? I see these as being put into “light corps” or “rapid reaction corps”, designed to be easily air-lifted into the theater and be quickly able to fight – at the expense of heavier firepower and protection. The Army would also have two of these corps, each with two motorized infantry divisions (also capable of acting simply as dismounted light infantry or as helicopter-borne air assault infantry) – consisting of three infantry brigade combat teams (IBCTs), along with a single airborne brigade to fulfill the role that armored cavalry plays for the heavy corps, and again with all the various and sundry support units. A light corps like this is the one you’d push forward to the combat zone ASAP once you decided you were in a conflict, buying time for a heavy corps to follow on and join them. This would leave the Army with 14 IBCTs (12 ‘leg’ and 2 airborne), an increase of 1 over the current 13).

These light corps will be structured and equipped to be more easily deployed by air. However, they will not all be “airborne” in the sense that they will drop from aircraft attached to parachutes. While I still defend the utility of the tank, I am less bullish on the applicability of massed airborne forces, and I’m not the first one to assert that they’re overstayed their welcome being relevant in modern warfare. While there are still some niche applications of airborne troops, they are just that: niche. I’m talking like, battalion sized operations to maybe size a key airfield or other important asset. In an era of increasingly sophisticated air-defense systems where the United States can no longer be assured of air superiority – let alone air dominance – I do believe that the divisional or higher sized airborne drop is extinct (hell, I’m not even sure a brigade sized drop is really feasible but it’s at least more feasible than a division drop).

What these light forces would be is air-mobile rather than airborne, capable of being rapidly moved by aircraft from point A to point B – but without having to jump out at the end and just landing to get out. Really, that’s how most of our so-called airborne forces are employed these days anyway. When the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne was rushed to Kabul to assist with evacuation efforts in the final days of the old Afghan government last summer, they didn’t drop in on Hamid Karzai International Airport like it was D-Day, but their planes landed and they just – you know, got out. Same goes for when XVIII Airborne Corps was deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1990 following the invasion of Kuwait as the spearhead of the massive buildup of forces that would follow. Again, while you may want to hang onto some genuine airborne forces – i.e., the two brigades I mentioned that would each be assigned to a light corps, I see no issue with reflagging the other 3 currently airborne qualified brigades in the Army as just “leg” infantry and calling that a job well done. I see this as a net positive in multiple ways, considering all the time (and lives) that will be saved by more than halving the number of troops that need to go through jump school and be jump qualified.

Getting back to the overall structure of the forces that I have described, all of this doesn’t have to be set in stone and shouldn’t be. Flexibility is key. The current army structure is already built to be interchangeable, so moving around divisions, brigades, or even battalions shouldn’t be a huge issue. This base structure of two and two different types of corps gives you a good starting structure for the type of conflict we’re most worried about given our strategy. It also has room to be scaled up or down depending on what you’re facing. For a smaller conflict against a less capable adversary, you may only need to send one rapid reaction corps to assist local forces – maybe even just one division. In a larger conflict against a significant great power or near-peer, you may need to send most or even all of the active-duty combat force – or call up forces from the reserve to either augment active-duty forces or to stand by in case other contingencies arise. It is scalable and flexible, but at its core is still tooled towards the type of war we are thinking of.

Up until now, I’ve mostly been focusing on the ��pointy’ end of the stick that is the Army. I’d be a lousy defense analyst if I didn’t talk about the “boring” but incredibly important issue of various rear-echelon support elements. Without essential non-combat elements like intelligence, communications, medical services, logistics and more, no modern military force could effectively function. At first glance, I don’t necessarily see a problem with the quantity and structure of the Army’s forces in this area as they stand. I think the bigger issue for them will be retraining to deal with a higher intensity conventional warfare after spending two decades locked in COIN – something the Army is already struggling with. This is especially true of logistics, with the past twenty years spent having basically unfettered access to all the supplies necessary without anything the enemy could do to substantial stop the flow of food, fuel, ammunition and other essentials to the troops. In the types of wars we’re looking at, that will not be the case. Logistics will need to be robust and resilient in some areas and attritable and redundant in others. It will need to not simply focused on efficiency at the cost of everything else – the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us just how ‘effective’ that ‘just in time logistics’ can be when put under strain. At any rate, looking at the types of supporting units that the current three stateside Army corps, off the top of my head I can’t think of any substantive changes I’d make. Looking at the numbers in front of me, I think there should be enough to maintain what exists along with the units necessary to support a fourth active-duty corps, with any increases being marginal and offset by the cuts I’d implement (they’re coming later, I swear).

Pivoting back to pointy things, but remaining in the realm of support elements, one area the Army will have to regrow atrophied muscle is in short-range air defense (SHORAD), something it was quick to divest of as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq picked up in order to divert resources elsewhere – and with the post-Gulf War assumption that air forces could maintain unchallenged control of the skies. This is something the Army is currently working on fixing right now, fielding a new Stryker-based SHORAD system to supplement the existing Avenger system, but still has a long way to go on. With air superiority far from a birthrate in any future conflict, and the Army’s SHORAD capabilities far removed from the days when every division had an entire battalion dedicated to the task, some more substantive efforts will be required (for now I’ll spare you my gear-guy thoughts on the technological choices they’re making because I could go on an even longer rant, but tech aside they simply need more force structure here). In regards to my proposed structure, I couldn’t find specifics of which level the 10 new battalions the Army is fielding will nest in, so I’m assuming they’re going back to somewhere in the divisional structure.

Meanwhile, much like with the other support units, while I think the Army notionally has enough artillery units, it needs to work on making those units – both tube and missile – far more long reaching (another task it is allegedly taking to heart, but like with everything else, I’ll believe it when I see it and also doesn’t become yet another highly expensive and wasteful military boondoggle). Both of these types of support assets are important for going up against a near-peer or large regional adversary, with longer-range systems currently in service with multiple countries and being exported. This is especially true if you’re having to bust through an anti-access area-denial network and may not be guaranteed superiority in any domain of warfare.

Before we switch gears, this is an important time to note that this Army will not be perfect for everything – and that’s ok. For example, in a notional conflict in the Pacific with a country such as China, where you have vast expanses of ocean and not much real estate to sit down on, a large, mechanized Army isn’t going to do you much good unless China decides to suddenly invade one of its land neighbors (which is not impossible or implausible, but probably not the most likely scenario we’re seeing currently going forward). To anyone who would point this out, I’d say “that’s fine” because honestly, I don’t think the Army should be in the lead here anyway. This is a hypothetical conflict where they’ve desperately been trying to find a way to justify them being at the tip of the spear when it really is not primarily their fight. Oh, they’d be there, but it’d be mainly in a support sense, dealing with logistics and sustainment and other rear echelon tasks. The most combat they’d probably hope to see is through air-and-missile defense protecting bases and assets. Even as someone who wasn’t in the Army or the military, it’s frankly been embarrassing watching the trying to shoehorn their way into that scenario whether by trying to come up with super long-range cannons or desperately trying to assert that armor somehow has a role in a terrain dominated by small islands. Any war of that nature is going to be one mainly for the forces in the Air and at Sea – which we will get to later. The Army should be in the lead when its applicable and otherwise stays in its lane and is told to be a good team player, doing its boring but essential work in the back while others go to the front.

I like your hustle. That’s why it was so hard to cut you.

Now, the more observant among you will have notice the force structure I’m advocating for results in a net increase in the Army’s active-duty combat arms force with the brigade numbers that I quoted at you earlier. You’d be right. But I have cuts in mind elsewhere in the Army’s force structure to compensate for this and keep it about the size it is now or even potentially a little smaller. These cuts would predominately come from force structure that was added or created due to the demands of the failed occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan but still linger on. Again, it’s important to note that the Army is about the size that it was in 2001, when it had a force structure not dissimilar to what I’m currently suggesting. It’s just that personnel and resources were diverted away to units that were seen as crucial to that kind of war (again, not that it did us a whole lot of good in the end).

The biggest example I can think of where you can make cuts in this department is to Army Special Forces. This is where I make a bit of a cop out, because as I mentioned before, I’m not really going to go into detail about this part of the military more until we get to the part specifically about Special Operations Forces. But I can give you a bit of a preview here. SOF as a whole have ballooned significantly since the start of the Global War on Terrorism. Compared to its size in 2001 prior to the 9/11 attacks, U.S. Special Operations Command has more than doubled in size, going from a little over 28,000 active-duty troops in 2001 to over 63,000 active troops in 2021. The U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command is the single largest component of that, going from a pre-9/11 size of just over 15,000 active-duty troops to just over 34,000 active troops in 2021 – also more than doubling in size. Despite the supposed pivot back towards the potential of conflict with major powers, SOCOM is also reportedly still (slowly) growing in size (and wrestling with the implications of continuous inflation over time).

So, I wrote a whole essay on counterinsurgency and my views on it after twenty years of the U.S. military being focused on it above all else (I’d suggest you go back and read it if you haven’t if you want more nuance on my views). While I leave some room for certain exceptions, my overall views on counterinsurgency are the same as the 1983 film War Game’s views on nuclear war: “the only winning move is not to play.” It is on that note I think we could stand to shrink Army special forces – and SOCOM as a whole – back down to its pre GWOT size and potentially even a little bit smaller. That would definitely free up more than a few thousand billets for the combat arms and support units we’d want to stand up to support our new concept. I also think this would actually be better, culturally speaking for SOF as a whole and also offer an opportunity for changes to purge toxic attitudes and mindsets throughout the organization, but that’s the last of the previews I’m going to offer on that entry in this series, so you’ll have to wait until then for more insights on that part of the war machine.

Aside from Special Forces and their supporting elements, I think there are other areas that could stand some marginal cuts. For example: while having some EOD capability is nice, we probably no longer need two EOD groups – another area that doubled in sized during the GWOT and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. At any rate, don’t worry if you think I haven’t cut enough. I’m not trying to needless expand the Army or the military as a whole at the expense of roads, housing, healthcare, and all the other things we want to do as good socialists. Also, while the Army may not be shrinking so much, I have more drastic cuts planned in other branches and areas that we’ll get to deeper into this series (all I can say for now is gird your loins, Marine Corps, you’re going to be the hardest hit out of everyone but I’m doing it for your own good). I’m trying not to keep things just for the sake of keeping them, but also keep in mind you’re talking to the Dem Soc who does in fact think we’ll still need a military under a different system – hence the whole reason I’m writing all this bullshit.

It also just occurred to me before I moved to wrap this up that I didn’t address the National Guard or Army Reserve when it comes to my master plan here. I do in fact have plans for them, but if I droned on any more this essay would end up even longer than it already is on track to be, and I don’t want to go even more overboard with this. Besides, I also want to deal with the general issue of the National Guard (spoilers, I don’t like it) and how federal military reserves and local defense forces and militias and other things should be handled in general, so I think my plan is now to do a separate essay on the military reserve system in the country and changes to it and how it should serve the overall strategy. The sneak peek here is essentially I think that reserves for the Army should be used more like they were prior to the GWOT (this must be shocking to you given what I’ve written so far). While other tasks may arise, I see three main responsibilities for reserves in the Army’s case: they should act as a rapid mobilization source of key enabling units needed to support the active duty, they should provide additional units to augment the active duty when they need more mass, and they should also act as a strategic reserve is more conflict arises elsewhere and there aren’t enough active duty units to handle that new front. We’ll leave it at that for now and will talk about that further in a future essay.

“…in Defense of Others”

Ultimately, the Army isn’t going to look unrecognizably different to what it looks like now. In fact, it will be looking more like what it was for a longer period of time prior to the GWOT. What will really be different will be the ultimate strategy that the Army will be executed in service of and how it will be deployed and employed carrying out that strategy.

I know some people may look at my adjustments and still think the Army is too big or question some of the things I keep or cut. I understand that to a degree, though I would remind them that it’s not just simply the size of a military that makes it expensive. When the U.S. armed forces were at their largest post-draft extent in 1989, the budget – adjusted for 2021 inflation – was around $304 million USD. This stands in contrast to the over $700 billion that the DoD received for 2021, with recent years reaching levels of spending that have only ever been surpassed by military spending during World War II. Remember, this is all for a force that just about at the size it was immediately prior to 9/11.

Granted, some things are going to get more expensive no matter what as war gets more sophisticated and complicated. Part of that is unavoidable. But what is important to understand is that a great deal of the spike in defense spending over the past two decades was due to the requirements of actually physically carrying out the GWOT and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the demands such operations incur. The intensive, constant cost of simply maintaining an occupation with thousands upon thousands of trips in two different countries for years and years, having to make sure they were supplied every day with bullets, bandages, and butter. That is to say nothing of all the money that was poured into “reconstruction” efforts (money that was clearly well spent, especially in the case of Afghanistan). This has further been compounded by money wasted on major acquisitions programs that were cancelled and never came to fruition (to say nothing of the programs that didn’t get cancelled but maybe really should have been cancelled). An additional byproducts of that has been that some systems these programs were set to replace becoming increasingly expensive and time intensive to maintain. From the GWOT we have seen a whole cascading chain of dominos to lead us where we are now.

The long-winded point I’m trying to make is that it isn’t just the size of the military that makes it expensive, but also the equipment it uses and how, when, where, why and how often it is employed. And that gets us back to our ideological underpinnings here instead of just some random guy going on about how he’d structure the Army differently if he was in charge. We can structure the Army whatever which way, but if repeat the same mistakes as before (or make new ones) we can still waste just as much blood and treasure of ourselves and others as those who have come before us have. This is why I started with the strategy first and now have started working my way down. In this hypothetical future, we truly need to be committed to our vision of what is right and wrong and when it is not simply ‘just’ but necessary to go to war.

Giving future us the benefit of the doubt on our commitment, then I think the Army I’ve laid out would be more or less sufficient even if it doesn’t seem like that drastic a departure from what it is now or has been in the past. It wouldn’t be designed or intended to be a force of occupation (peacekeeping maybe being one minor exception here). It would be designed and intended to be a force that is sent to out to fight a modern war until the point the adversary is no longer a threat to those around it. It is designed to go out and do what it has to do to protect those who are under attack, and when not fighting it is in garrison or training for the next war and avoiding provoking conflict or stoking tension. Simple as that. For some time now, the U.S. Army’s stated mission has been “to deploy, fight, and win our Nation’s wars…” In the world I imagine, this sentiment changes a great deal in character while still capturing a similar meaning. The mission becomes “to deploy, fight, and succeed in warfare in defense of others.” While tactically and operationally engaging in offensive actions, the Army – much like the rest of the armed forces as we check off the list – is fundamentally defensive in nature in its strategic usage.

Well, I think I’ve beaten this dead horse as much as I can, so I think that this is a good spot to call it quits for now. I could keep going on, but then this would just become a series about what I think the Army and Army alone should look like. This is all making me realize that I’ll need to come back and revisit this series in the future to make update and changes to my ramblings (or I may just have to write some kind of full-on book or manifesto), but that’s a future me problem.

On the note of ‘future me’ problems, the next entry in this series will be taking us from the green machine to the blue waves as we tackle the U.S. Navy. For those of you who may have thought my plans for the Army weren’t radical enough, don’t worry, that isn’t going to be the norm for all the services and components, because I got some fucking plans in mind for the Navy and Marine Corps and they should be very afraid.

Also, as a final aside, I’d actually encourage folks who have alternative thoughts compared to my own plans to let me know what they would do differently with restructuring and reform or if they have an approach they think would work better (provided you’re not going to be a belligerent asshole about it). For now, though, this will likely be my last essay of 2021, so Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and stay safe all.

2 notes · View notes

mogai-sunflowers · 2 years

Note

Maybe im too meh about alot of things and this is kind of a vent

but i honestly hate that nowadays (mostly white) people wont reblog an important post about privilage in society or a post with links about a crisis cause the op dosent 100% align with someone elses opinions despite the fact that post has nothing to do with it. Like awhile back i saw a black person's post spreading around a bunch of super important links regarding the buffalo shooting and how to help the families just to see some white mogai individual refuse to mess with the post and yell at their other (white and poc) muturals for reblogging it cause op didnt specfically support emojipronouns. Like i understand that that makes them nbphobic and emoji pronouns are important but there is a bigger issue here that is very important. They refuse to support people unless they can slide themselves into their perfect image of a perfect progressive person which is why it takes so long for news to meet this community.

Im not saying you should never vet your sources and you should give notes to bigots but when it comes down to huge issues like racism, mysogny and communally-external lgbtphobia, wether or not that one person likes mspec lesbians, endogenic systems or neopronouns dosent really matter. Its about information reaching as many people as possible, the rest is infighting smaller issues that are very niche and dont matter in comparison. Im a poc, i use neopronouns, im an mspec lesbian and im a collective but im not gonna pretend someone whose only exclusionary view is not liking pnc gays/lesbians to a raging racist. Our community needs a bit of reality check concerning what is big issues and what is small issues and the mogai/liom communities are an echo chamber wether we like it or not. Internet discourse and national law are 2 very different problems and i see alot of abled white people conflating the 2 because they get all their news and live their lives on tumblr. I know because i used to do that, once tumblr wasnt my main app anymore, i learned alot more about the world around me.

I'm not saying you or anyone else is over-reacting btw, im just tired of seeing people comparing xenogenderphobes locking people out of nonbinary servers to anti-immigration laws and Trump's walls. There significantly more damage from one than the other and the comparison is always done by someone who only faces the lesser issue.

Ill just sign myself off as 🌿

i completely agree. i've seen this before too and it pisses me the fuck off, like I saw a Black person talking about fandom racism and how to support Black people in fandoms, and people were like "but they dont support bi lesbians" and it's like??? okay yeah that sucks but that's not relevant to the actual issue here and it's very disrespectful to ignore someone's input on their own oppression just because they have one opinion you don't like. like, just the other week, a bunch of white queer people started attacking a Native Two-Spirit trans guy who was talking about what's currently going on regarding the ICWA, and this person was reblogging the post saying not to listen to him because he asked not to be called queer because he thought it was a slur and im like. get out of your fucking ASS jesus fucking CHRIST. and im not like, saying that to try and distance myself from whiteness, i've caught myself having that kind of chronically online mindset before and had to evaluate myself. just agreeing with you anon, it's massively stupid the way people, especially in the mogai community, prioritize interneet discourse over things like structural racism and queerphobia. it's bullshit.

#🌌written in the stars ; asks 🌌#racism discussion #ask to tag

17 notes · View notes

mnyehlike · 2 years

Text

ok hi this is the duke Goode and Accurate Lore post. while I do love the eldritch abomination duke shit I feel like he's only a baby one (like the slug from bloodborne). let me elaborate;

mans said he went into a tomb and got a curse. could be bullshit but I'm choosing to run with it. im going to copypaste shit ive sent in discord real quick.

ok. so. we all know dukes immortal right and just having fun on earth bc he likes it here. but his current life is v interesting. he wasnt actually all that into crime before the 20th century and after the 18th, but somewhere in the 1980s he stole a diamond on accident (long story) and decided he in fact did like to grab shiny things to keep as his own. of course his special interest in the theft of artefacts dates back to 1742, when he was enlisted to dig up artefacts from an egyptian pyramid, because that;s what people did back then. of course, there, he got cursed, and he decided that perhaps this whole theft thing wasn't worth it. but, with his returning interest, he started making it his entire business to make sure these pieces of history, more specifically fragile ones like paintings, were kept under absolute lock and key. of course, he did sell convincing copies from time to time to keep the bills paid, and he stole other artefacts to return to people to get grand bounties for it. however, the petty crime started happening around 2017, when he would start hitting things because he simply...wanted something shiny. mostly high end jewellery stores and the like. then, he learnt about the existence of the payday gang, and dug a bit deeper, finding out that one of his descendants (from his sister, not himself) had run with the gang before. he crafted a lie quickly, assumed the role of that man's grandson, and joined the gang to see what sort of trouble he could really get into. he'd been around for, what, over 300 years? it was about time for a midlife crisis, he figured.

(going off the fact that he's from colonial America and got cursed with immortality after an archaeological dig gone wrong) after touting himself as a man for several decades he found out that sex reassignment surgery had been invented and immediately went to go get it. he was "at the seaside for his health" for several months and when he came back colleagues did note he seemed more confident and relaxed. it was only recently that he got it completely done because he simply hadn't been paying attention to medicine up til he heard one of the other heisters say something about them and or their sibling getting top surgery. heisters have noted that he seems more confident and relaxed post visit to the seaside for his health. this also got him his mental diagnoses. due to the nature of the surgery nowadays he had to go through multiple mental health tests and questionnaires and screenings, etc. he doesn't medicate, in his opinion the only thing he needs is a stiff drink to ease the issue (which is entirely correct at this point, pavlov'd himself into a placebo that actually works), but per the rules Dallas has a copy of the paperwork somewhere (hasn't looked at it to preserve his privacy). he had distant family over in England still that dealt in wine (the reason he was able to cross over for formal education- they were rich). he spent his time not studying or working in class learning about the industry, because his uncle assumed it preposterous that he'd get a job in such a niche sector, and that carrying on the family name was much more stable. this spawned his love of wine, specifically. one of his cousins ran a whiskey distillery, which spawned his addiction due to having nigh unlimited access to the stuff. he was born in 1736, but he can't quite remember the date, so he simply doesn't celebrate a birth date. he does have the date he got cursed written down, though. if anyone asks him for a birthday, he usually tells them that date.

SORRY for the wall of text but you simply must know all of this informaiton. OK SO

the curse was moreover like. yeah he grabbed a cursed amulet but that only got him a warlock like pact with an outsider creature. the creature saw him and decided it’d be a lot more fun if this guy were a god so it made it happen and now he’s been wandering the world for around three hundred years trying to find answers. he’d decided to take a break joining organised crime again but that seemed to only bring him closer to possible answers. if you want me to elaborate uh ask me ig

#duke payday 2 #payday 2

5 notes · View notes

ser-rctslcyer · 2 years

Note

NO SAY YOUR DRAGON PIECE I WANNA HEAR

AAAAAAA!!! I REALLY WAS JUST GONNA GET SAPPY FOR A MOMENT IS ALL BUT FUCK IT NOW IM GOING!!!!

truly didn't think anyone wanted to see my bullshitting in the tags but uh here we go

LONG POST AHEAD (SPIN WENT FUCKING BRRR)

[below the cut is me being very sappy about my love for dragons]

Intro

Okay so I know you might mean about got/hotd (and i will get there) but I very much adore dragons and just need to scream about them for a sec.

Ever since I was little, I always had a huge affinity for dragons. I don't know what exactly drew me in but it probably had something to do with their amazing designs, colors, and personalities they got to have. I own like several different dragon books (4-7) because that's how obsessed I was as a kid. I wanted to know anything and everything about them, not realizing dragons have such a vast lore and change between depictions-- but little me did not give a fucking shit. I collected a book that went through like the basic overview of dragons, I got another book (drawing book) that went through different types of dragons, and a few more that I can't remember off the top of my head. Anything remotely dragon related I wanted because I was that kid. Not to mention the vast amount of drawings and writings I did about dragons. I made oc dragons, backstories, came up with a different language — I’m pretty sure I even talked about dragons in my school work. I was obsessed man (still am).

Now I watched a lot of different shows/movies/games even that had some dragon in it-- and it would instantly become my favorite thing from it. So obliviously , I grew attachments to a lot of them but here a just a handful who mean the most to me, the dragon kid--

Mulan - Mushu

I will never not love this funky lil man, okay? Like who the fuck doesn’t want a little pocket sized dragon to follow you around?

He's giddy, exuberant, and most importantly funny. Honestly, why I probably love Mulan so much is for him alone. I know I wished, for like the longest time, to have a lil dragon who would follow me around everywhere/talk to me— that was the dream for me. Although the boosts himself up to sound all big and bad dragon, he really comes across as friendly which I enjoyed a lot. He’s comedic but in the end proves that’s he’s truly has a big heart. Most book depreciations I had read had always either made the dragon big and scary or like all-knowing and untouchable. For me, as a kid, Mushu was a little hilarious red dragon that could keep me company, give me advice (albeit maybe a little bad), or just chill in my company. He was the almost ideal dragon in my brain I wanted to bond with and take on grand adventures.

Spirited Away - Haku/Kohaku

Now, I preface this with I have Spirited Away in DVD— and would put that disk in religiously; that was my movie.

I love Spirited Away (one of the first anime movies I ever watched) for all the incredible character designs and to the sheer magnitude of the fantastical setting it take places. As a kid, I wanted to explore those strange worlds between and see all different types of people, creatures and just experience fantasy. Like, yeah is it pretty fucked up watching your parents turn into pigs-- but holy shit, yall see No-Face???? My fucking beloved right there; I adored them immediately when I watched that movie. like their design, although “basic” is very fucking cool and they’re such an amazing fucking character, even without having to say much. Absorbing creatures and using their voices to speak but also gaining their personality-- there is so many layers to No-Face, it’s impossible not be intrigued and infatuated with them. (

I say all this (not cause i was drawn off subject) to say--

Of course was also drawn to Haku. Yes, kid me had a big fucking crush on him(i mean truly who didn’t have a crush on hm bro); he fits my lovely lil blorbo niche perfectly. The stoic yet observant character was very interesting to me and I wanted to know more about him upon immediately seeing him. Then there was his dragon form, which is one of my favorites till this day; the white and green fur is iconic. He’s a bit more feral in that form but he’s not feral for no reason. His name has been stolen from him, forgotten so he acts accordingly; untrusting, aloof, and callous until Chihiro saves him from Yubaba’s control. Once gets his real name again, he’s free again and he does what he is meant to do. The reveal of him being a river spirit, and the way in which his dragon moves, smooth and flowing like water-- it’s simply perfect!!!

HTTYD - Toothless

Now I wasn’t the biggest biggest fan of How To Train Your Dragon (I say having seen the 2nd movie in theater), I did enjoy the seeing all the varied types of dragons in the show, especially Toothless. First off, Night Fury is a hard name for a species of dragon. The concept of a disabled dragon was something I’ve never seen before, and it was very cool to see a dragon adapt to having an artificial limb. Then there was also the retractable teeth, which I thought was fucking cool too. Toothless’s curious, cat-like, personality was very nice to see and I enjoy the little goober.

Hobbit Trilogy - Smaug

I know The Hobbit trilogy gets a lot of shit but I can’t help but to like it for a bunch of different reasons. One of those being Smaug. Look I know every other dragon on this list has been actually either sweet or they’re not really mean but I just had to like this motherfucker.

Foremost I absolutely adore his design, I think he also has another great and amazing dragon design. The sheer eyes scene at the end of ‘An Unexpected Journey”, had lil ol kid me wiggling in my fucking seat. He’s so fucking big (even though he’s one of the smaller ones in the universe) and seeing how easily he tore about Laketown in meer seconds was terrifying-- but also super cool. His look and movements are very fucking creepy too. The way he shifts around when talking to Bilbo when he first discovers him, it’s very clear it is a predator stalking his prey. He knows he’s intimidating and uses that to his advantage; keeping his movements slow so his “victims” can get the idea that he is this massive, undefeatable being. He’s proper and respectable, his ego and pride getting the best of him because he knows there’s nothing they can do to hurt him; they can’t possibly kill him. Then when he’s finally angered, his stature changes and he begins using his body like the weapon it’s designed to be. He’s agitated and swats with his tail and tries biting a whole lot more because at this point he doesn’t give a fuck.

Smaug is such a douche of a dragon too, he embodies the typical dragon instincts (wanting his big ol pile of dwarf gold) whilst being a snarky bitch about it. He’s both archetypes of dragons in one, all knowing and an asshole, who doesn’t care who the fuck he’s got to hurt to get to his fucking gold. He toys with Bilbo, simultaneously warning him of Thorin’s downfall but also making him fear the things to come. Then when he finally sees Thorin again, he eggs him on-- knowing how easily he gets under his skin, knowing that really he can’t do anything to hurt him; he does the same thing with Bard. He uses his words to pick and pry at people’s head because he’s got a superiority complex; he is a high being, why should he listen to anyone else? I love how strong his ego was, how much he really gave no shit about anyone else and how even visceral his death was-- like watching a flame finally die out.

GOT/HOTD - Rhaegal, Viserion, Drogon, Syrax, Caraxes (spoilers btw)

What you’ve all been waiting for!!! So funnily enough, I did come into the GOT scene pretty late (around s6-ish) and I really enjoyed lots of things about the series-- especially the dragons.

I adore the design of these boys so much-- they huge, different colors, spiky and look like they can (and very much will) turn your ass to dust. But at the same time we can see their thoughts and emotions through their eyes, how they process the words from Dany or the emotions from others. I truly think they have a level of empathy, besides with Dany, and their little softening expressions as they recognize those emotions and then go about doing their dragon business.

The depiction of dragons in GOT is really one of my favorite, because just like humans they have bonds, whether it’s between their rider or even each other. Rhaegal, Viserion, and Drogon being Dany’s children was so sweet to me because even through the struggles they recognized her as their rider, their mother and wanted to protect her and they also see each other as family. They’re a unit! It did hurt badly seeing their reactions to Viserion’s death and then Drogon’s was painful because their own little family fell right a part through their fingers. We see how badly Dany takes it but also Drogon who loses his brother’s and his mother in the process. He’s hurting just as bad but there is no comfort as he still wants to follow his mom to the end, and there’s no sympathies for him from anyone. I like to think him burning the throne was a way for him to process his ever growing grief, destroying the thing that had destroyed the only family he had ever known.

Okay so with HOTD I am very happy to see dragons back again, like bro I missed them so much.

I love the relationship that Syrax and Rhaenyra have, it’s so sweet and perfectly mimics how Dany was with her children. It’s very clear the dedication the two of them have between each other and she easily picks up on Rhaenyra’s emotions. I love Syrax’s color, although there is something about her face shape that I don’t really like, she’s a beautiful dragon.

Then there’s Caraxes (i apologize for the bias that is about to come out). I fucking adore Caraxes, his design is literally everything, like god he’s so fucking badass. The blood red color, the horns; truly a magnificent dragon indeed. I read somewhere that he’s deformed which is why the way he looks like how he does and also sound like that and I still think its amazing. He works with his elongated body, using his long neck like he’s a snake. He’s so fucking beautiful, I adore him.

It’s very clear he’s got the same strong bond with Daemon and he’s clearly very protective of him. Perhaps they bond in a way because they both feel out of place in the family (dragon lineage for Caraxes) because they’re so different from everyone else.

In conclusion - i think got/hotd dragons and their riders should go off and chill on beaches and be happy because they deserve it.

Closing

Now if you made it this far (or just scrolled all the way down), I congratulate you; you made it through me losing my entire fucking mind. Truly I haven’t had a big time to talk about dragons like this in a while or in such detail and if you read I hope you enjoyed my thoughts. There are so many cool and interesting things about these creatures and I always and happy to see all different sorts of approaches to them. Anyways ramble over.

#rct squeaks #loser idiot chattering #as you can see i have strong feelings about dragons

5 notes · View notes