#and there are other communities here in america who have been dealing with this for much longer

[earthylight]

how am I supposed to do schoolwork when laws are being passed/proposed every day to make trans people’s lives a living hell and people are debating my right and my friends’ rights and my community’s right to live

#and I literally feel overdramatic #bc other people in other countries and even this one have it worse #and there are other communities here in america who have been dealing with this for much longer #like obviously the BIPOC community #and people experiencing homelessness #I know it’s not good to compare and that’s not what Im trying to do #I just feel like Im being really dramatic and I genuinely can’t tell if I am or not #like should I be scared and preparing to move to a different country??? or is it too soon???? #I was really looking forward to graduating next year and moving somewhere with my friends and finally getting gender affirming care #but I don’t know if my friends would want to move out of the states #I can’t expect them to #and I don’t know how much it would cost to move to a different country and it’s kinda scary to think about doing that alone #anyways 🤪 lol! #if I’m being overdramatic just ignore this 👍🏻 #or message me privately and tell me to take this down 🫶🏻 #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbt+ #trans rights #trans #transgender #trans community

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not paying for my fiancee's trip?

(Sorry mod, sending this again as I forgot to add an important context detail)

This is going to be long, I'm so sorry!

Okay, so I (23M) am engaged to a very wonderful fiancee (27NB). She's fantastic, and I want to make it very clear that our relationship is great - we have good communication, we never argue, we're always on call without getting tired of each other, etc etc. There is just one issue we have - her financial habits.

For context, I am disabled and can't work due to both mental and physical health issues, so I'm on disability benefits. She can and does work.

We're long-distance (she's in America and I'm in the UK), and we've been dealing with it pretty well so far. At the beginning of our relationship, we agreed that before we got to the point of talking about moving in with each other etc. we would need to have her visit me here at least once to meet my family and get used to how things work here (as she wants to move here), and I would need to visit her at least once to do the same there re: meeting her parents etcetera.

The agreement was that I'd pay for her to come here, and then when it was my turn she'd pay for my visit there so it was fair.

She first visited me about a year and a half ago and came over here for two weeks. I paid for her plane tickets, our transport everywhere (we don't have cars), the AirBNB we stayed in, etc. This ran me about £2k, which was all I had at the time, and I didn't have enough left over to pay for her food on top of that, so I asked if she could cover her own food costs while she was here. This caused a bit of an issue at the time as she was very clearly frustrated at having to do it, and would make comments like "Ugh I wanted a new computer but now I have to save for this trip", "I'm having to sacrifice so much to pay for this" and it made me feel incredibly invalidated, like I was covering everything else and also sacrificing a lot to pay for everything else for us but the one thing I'd asked her to help with was too much. We had a conversation about it at the time and she apologised and said she'd work on it, so we moved on.

Plans changed a bit very early this year, as I was due to get surgery and the friend who was supposed to accompany me there dropped out last minute. I had no one else nearby to turn to and I couldn't go alone (it was the kind of surgery where I would need someone around for at least 1-2 weeks afterwards to help me move around and do daily tasks). As a last ditch effort I asked my fiancee to fly over again and help me out, and I paid for this again which I was completely fine with doing as the trip was a favour for me and it was unplanned from her end. This was another ~£2k.

So cut to summer this year. This was when I was supposed to have my visit over to America. She, at this point, was making pretty good money at a school job. However, when I asked her if we could finalise the plans and buy tickets, she told me that she had no money.

This is where I explain that she's really, REALLY bad with money. She impulse-buys clothes and things for her room etc., she plays gacha games like Genshin Impact and spends quite a lot of money on 'pulls' and the gambling mechanic, things like that. It turned out that through the whole time of having this job she'd been basically spending money as soon as she got it and she now had nothing for the trip. I was admittedly frustrated with her (especially as she initially lied to me and told me she hadn't spent money on games etc. and then later confessed that it IS where the money had gone), but we agreed we could push back the trip to winter/Christmas-time to give her more time to save, and honestly I didn't really mind because I've never spent Christmas/New Year with anyone before, so shifting the visit to over those days would be a nice experience.

However, soon after this she was fired from her job for too many call-outs/absences. For the next few months, she didn't get another job - she said she was doing all she could and was applying for, but I often got the impression that she wasn't and was sort of throwing out an application every few weeks and then writing it off as 'done', which I could be completely misinterpreting so take that with a grain of salt. I kept pushing her to get a job so we could get the trip sorted out and I know she got kind of frustrated with me a few times for it.

I ended up giving up the closer we got to the time and offered to just cover it again if she could pay me back when she did get a job, and she agreed.

Unfortunately, after this I was rendered homeless due to my abusive home situation. I was fortunate enough to be offered government housing and I now have an apartment in town, but it's completely unfurnished (literally all that's in it is a single bed and a cooker, there's no flooring or anything yet). I now have to put all the money I have saved (about £3k) towards getting flooring (which is a little over £1k by itself), furnishings, getting the walls painted, sorting out gas and electricity, etc. I'm also now paying the bills for this apartment. As a result, there's no possible way I could afford to cover the trip anymore myself.

It looked like things were getting sorted because my fiancee got another job recently. It's pretty well-paying, she seems to enjoy it so she's not calling out, and she kept prompting me to talk details of the trip with her so it felt like it was all getting figured out and she was ready to finalise it.

Then today I asked her how much money she had ready for it and she said... $15. I'm genuinely lost on how she still hasn't saved any money, she claims she used it all on "bills" but she doesn't pay rent or cover any housing costs as she still lives with her parents, so I don't understand at all where it's all going. We have less than a month before the trip is supposed to happen, nothing is sorted, we still have no clue where we'd be staying, no plane tickets have been purchased, and now it's looking a lot like it's going to have to be pushed back AGAIN to next year.

I thought about trying to pay for it again, because I DO really want that Christmas and New Year with her. Delaying it again would also mess up our future plans, as the plan was to get this trip to America and meeting her family done this year, then spending the first half of next year on the Visa process and then the latter half getting her actually moved over. It also means I would have to delay my college education, as I was going to start my course early next year, which I wouldn't be able to do if the trip is next year instead as it would require me to take weeks off.

If I tried, I probably could cover it - I need to spend the ~£1k on flooring as that's already arranged, but I could technically use the remaining £2k to fund the trip. However, this would mean my house would remain unfurnished and barely habitable for months longer. It's not so bad if I know she'd be able to pay me back quickly, but the reality is that I don't know how long it would take for me to see the money back.

Part of me also feels like she's kind of expecting me to give in and pay for it last minute in order to not delay it, because I offered before and I was willing to pay for the last two trips. But it's just so depressing and frustrating, because it feels like I keep giving things up and putting things into these trips and getting her over here, and trying to get it back from her is just like running into a wall.

We've talked about it before, but she insists there's nothing more she can do, she's trying as hard as she can, and that she's upset about it too. I just don't know what to do about it anymore.

So I guess my question is, AITA for complaining about the trip, missing Christmas/New Year and pushing her on money and nagging her about what she does with hers instead of just taking the L and covering the trip again until she can pay me back?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[mogai-sunflowers]

I hate it when I can't use a term that fits me very well because my brain (which processes everything with images) has an image of that term that doesn't look like me.

Like when I think of "transmasc" and all that pops into my head are skinny, white, American boys with very basic styles (which isn't a bad thing, it's just "too basic" for me personally), and of course, who look like cis boys and hate their bodies or prefer other body.

Meanwhile, I'm a POC, fat, Latine person, with questionable style (/joke), who CERTAINLY doesn't look like a cis boy and who really loves their body.

How could I use a term when my brain tells me that term doesn't fit people like me? I hate that. It's just me?

hey anon. i so wish I could reach through this screen and tell you that who you are is perfect and that you have every right to terminology that feels right, but as a fat trans person myself I know it takes more than kind words to deal with a pain like this, and one that’s even more intersectional than mine with your race and culture in the picture.

but that image you have in your head of what transmasc means, that is not the reality. that is what a small part of the community, of the world, WANTS you to think because they would rather throw other members of their community under the bus to gain faux acceptance for themselves, which is NOT your fault, but it’s also not everyone, there are so many people in this community who look like you or who truly stand with you. Transmasculine history is and never has been white or thin or any of that.

I’m going to link a few things you may want to look into if you’re wanting to start accepting your identity a little more, or just to see that you really ARENT alone. trans men/transmascs of color have been part of our history since the beginning. some of these things im sharing may be somewhat nsfw and have the word 'tranny' in them, just as a warning if that stuff bothers you.

newspaper clipping showing three trans men of color at a festival for a film they were part of, the first ever sexual/porn film by and for trans men of color

some pictures showing some fat trans men and trans men of color at marches are here

Bobby Cheung, the Asian and Pacific Islander trans man who won the Mr. Transgender San Francisco Pageant in 2004

trans men of color discuss intersectionality in a film they directed called "Trappings Of Transhood"

a photo showing the attendees of an FTM conference- you can see many non-white people in attendance

a photo of a group of Latino trans men who attended Tranny Fest in 1999

basic info on victor j mukasa, a Black transmasc lesbian active in East African LGBTQ rights scene

an older fat trans gentleman's photo and experience

a post on pauli murray (please look them up. his experience is much more nuanced than this post gives them credit for, and she was a wonderful intersectional activist)

various trans men (many fat and of color) who have contributed to our history

a conference of Indian trans men

the story of a trans man named Ben

one of my personal favorite transmasc historical figures, Amelio Robles Ávila

Zander Keig, the fat Latino trans man who won social worker of the year in 2020

a wonderful read on the intersectionality of transmasculinity and race

a digital archive of trans and queer Latino history

the Instagram page of a popular Black drag king

an article with interviews with various drag kings, including several of color

Florence Hines, the Black drag king once called the most excellent male impersonator in America

more drag kings many of color!

Drag Kings: An Archaeology of Spectacular Masculinities in Latino America

anon, it is so easy to feel like you are alone when your own history has been unfairly erased from you. but when I say “you are not alone”, I am not offering empty words of comfort- YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Transmasc and similar identity has truly NEVER actually been just for white people or thin people. You are WONDERFUL, and you are ABSOLUTELY a part of trans masculinity and transmasculine history is YOUR history and community as much as it is mine and others. You belong.

#🌌written in the stars ; asks🌌

[autumnmobile12]

My Hero Academia: Healthcare?

I don't know if any fanfic writers will find this useful or not, but I think the information is interesting and worth speculation in the My Hero setting. This also applies to any fanfic writers in the anime fandoms who want to have more immersive and in-depth writing. Obviously, writing fics that are 'accurate' is not a requirement since the point is to have fun, but here's some knowledge to use (or not use) if anyone is interested.

Obviously, Deku's been in the hospital a lot. A lot of the characters are injured and in the hospital a lot. But for all the hospital visits, nobody in the series is going to be bankrupted by astronomical healthcare costs. (Yes, that's a jab at America's system.) And it's not because the Pros, especially the popular ones, have money.

Here's why:

Quick rundown of how healthcare in Japan works: Everybody receives healthcare, everybody has health insurance. In Japan, your employer is legally required to provide you with health insurance. If you are unemployed, you will be on a community healthcare plan. There is also a plan for citizens over the age of 75. This also applies to foreigners who have established permanent residence of three months or longer.

Article 25 of Japan's Constitution is paraphrased as follows:

“all people shall have the right to maintain a certain standard of healthy and cultured life” and that “the state shall try to promote and improve the conditions of social welfare, social security, and public health” for this purpose.

I'm not going to reiterate the system in its entirety, but if you would like to learn more, this site here (the Article 25 quote I used is also found on that page) has a brief and comprehensive explanation of how healthcare is handled. However, one thing I am going to mention that is relevant for Deku and other Pros is the threshold out-of-pocket expense.

In Japan, citizens enrolled in healthcare do not spend more than ¥90,000 per month out of pocket, protecting them from financial disaster.

(To Americans, this may sound like a sweet deal, but hold your horses because Japan also funds this system through heavy taxation. Medical procedures are expensive and people will be paying for them one way or another.)

The question that needs asking now is how does this system apply to the hero society? Well, first off, since My Hero does take place in a slightly futuristic setting, we could take into consideration the system has been revised.

Assuming not much as changed, are heroes that operate their own agency technically considered business owners and are required to insure their employees and sidekicks?

Or...

Because they are all government employees, is the Safety Commission responsible for insuring all heroes and sidekicks no matter what they rank in their popularity?

Personally, I think it would be the latter since, in the coldest sense of the word, the heroes are essential to the Commission in upholding their system. So that makes them an asset. The Commission would want to protect its assets because as shady as they are, their own system could work against them. They certainly don't want heroes going on strike for lack of benefits or complaining the government doesn't take care of their people. So I assume it's the Commission who is covering insane healthcare costs on behalf of heroes.

(And since the system is probably funded by taxpayers' money, that also feeds into the prevalent societal discontent that's ongoing throughout the series.)

Now what about Deku and his classmates since they have not graduated and are not officially licensed yet? Honestly, I think it's probably UA itself that insures the students. That probably has to do with accreditation and so on, which is another matter entirely, but again, the backing is likely coming out of the Commission (and taxpayers') pockets.

And there you have it. Happy writing, happy research.

#my hero academia #deku #izuku midoriya #pro heroes #speculation #worldbuilding #boku no hero academia #bnha #mha #hpsc #the safety commission #healthcare #fanfiction #fanfic writing #research #archive of our own #ao3

[callsign-bunnie]

Jesus Fucking Christ.

Alright...

Just when I finally stopped losing followers from my public opinion on Makarov...

(Disclaimer: I am VERY anti-military. I will never join, I can't join, and my position is peace as a priority. I have spent years doing research on this topic and my opinion is only very recently fully formed after said research and I still continue to do research even now.)

This. This is not okay.

Now, I personally did not know Biblically Accurate Gaz that well but they are/were(?) mutuals with my wife, Captain-MJ. Nothing that I am about to say has come from consult or permission from them, everything is MY OWN opinion.

However, if you think that it is okay to take someone's personal decision, assume the situation, speak about it on a public social media, and make it a much bigger deal than it is, that is NOT okay.

BAG (biblically accurate Gaz), from what I understand, had wanted to join the military long before they got into COD. I don't exactly know what their reasons are, but I'm not here to defend that. I do not agree with their decision, as I am anti-military, but I respect it as their decision.

Now, I understand, they put this decision on a public social media (Tiktok) and so I will agree that it is free to comment on. Freedom of speech is a thing in America. If someone makes a post, you can take a screenshot and give your opinion. I am not blind to the fact that that is exactly what I am doing.

However

I won't comment too heavily on these, but I just thought I'd include them.

BAG is a REAL person. They are not a character, they are not a group of people, I would argue they're not a public figure. They are a cosplayer who is joining the military. It is an informed decision, it is THEIR decision.

Though this is not on the same level of severity, it does make me start to consider other times when the community did this. This can have real effects on real people's lives and it's getting ridiculous that this lesson isn't being learned. This isn't an isolated incident, this isn't a COD thing, I have been in many fandoms where this happens, and I am sure that I will be in many more.

Be anti-military, be publicly anti-military. Do not openly single out and demonize one person for the choice they have made. A choice they've had made from well before they even got into COD, by the way.

Enough.

#bunnie speaks #god i'd love to return back to not making public statements #despite this not being cod exclusive #i have to admit i'm getting a little sick of the cod fandom #i have a lot of reasons but I've been considering leaving for a long while

[compacflt]

if you're open to angsty prompts - tgm mission goes bad and Ice gets to accept Bradley and Mav's flags at their funerals? (but only if you're feeling angsty. if not, feel free to ignore!)

San Diego, California. November 2016.

It should not be surprising that the complicated politics of a funeral like Mitchell’s supersede even the national grief of losing him, but of course it is. The Defense Department and the new administration (loudly Tweeting out of their asses because the President-Elect hasn’t yet been sworn in) want to hold it in Arlington. Do it in D.C., show American unity, show how proud we are of our fallen aviator, who sacrificed himself for America’s national interests, bury him in Virginian soil next to Kennedy’s eternal flame… It’s not a terrible idea, geopolitically speaking. But the Republican leadership of the state of Texas wants a piece of him, too. Why not bury him in the National Cemetery in Dallas? That’s where he’s from. Lay him to rest in the soil of his forefathers, as all good men should be. But the entire Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy, it is argued by people who aren’t Kazansky, also has a stake in this. Bury him at sea. He gave his life for the Navy. This is how it ought to be. Bury both Mitchell and Bradshaw at sea the way we buried other American Navy heroes like John Paul Jones. (When he hears this argument, Kazansky also remembers that we buried Osama bin Laden at sea, too.)

The whole political clusterfuck is put to rest at last in mid-November, when someone bothers to ask Kazansky what he thinks, and Kazansky says, “I’ll remind you that there’s absolutely nothing left of him to bury. But Mitchell lived in California for the last thirty years of his life. He told me he’d want to be buried in San Diego. I don’t really care where you put him. But that’s what he said he wanted.” And after Pacific Command leadership hears this and communicates it to the White House, everyone all of a sudden bends over backwards to organize a joint funeral in San Diego, where Bradshaw’s parents are buried, anyway. Maybe it really is fitting. Okay.

It’s a funny thing, ritual. The military’s full of it. A funeral: that’s a ritual. So, too, is promotion, retirement, commissioning in the first place. So, too, is the everyday ritual of getting dressed, donning battle gear, which today is dress blues, the way it was the day Mitchell died. Medals instead of ribbons. The President posthumously gave Bradshaw and Mitchell Medals of Honor. Their bodies would be wearing them, if there were bodies to bury. The President prehumously gave Kazansky and Seresin Medals of Honor as well. Kazansky’s is sitting around his throat like a noose. He feels like nothing but a body himself, no soul, already passed-on. They’ll lower Mitchell’s empty casket into the ground this afternoon and Kazansky’s already thinking about climbing inside it before they do. He’s not so un-self-aware that he can’t see the absurdity in that thought. But he’s also not so self-aware that he isn’t having that thought.

It’s the highest-profile funeral Kazansky’s attended in a few years. The Secretary of State is here. The Secretary of Defense is here. The Secretary of the Navy is here. The Vice President is here. He, too, has only recently lost a son; he, too, has already lost someone he thought he’d spend the rest of his life with. They don’t talk, but when they shake hands, it feels like stronger solidarity than all the Sorry for your losses Kazansky’s received over the past couple weeks. Everyone here knows about him and Mitchell, in a way that had once been Kazansky’s worst nightmare; now, his actual worst nightmare having been realized, he can’t bring himself to care, and no one’s making a big deal out of it. When they say, Sorry for your loss, they don’t mean in the “loss of two highly strategic assets for the U.S. Pacific Fleet” sense, they mean in the “loss of the only two people you cared about more than your career” sense. Sorry for your loss. It’s not so bad. And because everyone knows, in a way that had once been Kazansky’s worst nightmare, no one bats an eye when Kazansky realizes his actual worst nightmare and accepts Mitchell’s folded flag. No, they weren’t legal family. But everyone knows they were close enough.

He tacks his own Naval aviator wings onto Mitchell’s empty casket. Twenty-one guns fire. He salutes. They lower two empty caskets into the ground and he’s still standing. It doesn’t really mean anything. It’s not really a goodbye, because neither Mitchell nor Bradshaw are actually inside. He watches Seresin struggle not to cry. He stands before a few hundred people and makes a short boring speech about service and sacrifice that he did not write. This is all political. This is all just for show. Most ritual usually is. So who gives a fuck.

He disappears before anyone can pin him down to apologize again and again, but finds that his intended hideout location has already been claimed: by the time he makes it to Goose’s grave, Seresin’s already standing there alone, his hands in his blues pockets, his cap tucked under his arm.

“I just,” says Seresin stupidly. His eyes are red-rimmed and his face is sallow. They’ve never really spoken, the two of them, but Kazansky’s heard the rumors about him and Bradshaw. And he’s sure Seresin’s heard the rumors about him and Mitchell. They’re in the same leaking boat, here. “Bradley talked about him all the time.” Gestures down to the grave. “And about you. And about Maverick.”

Kazansky says, “Would you want to have lunch with me? I’m not very hungry. But maybe we can talk.” He’s trying. Too little too late, but he’s trying.

He exchanges his jingling blues coat for a regular suit jacket in the armored Suburban. Takes the Medal of Honor off as he does. Seresin, still only a lieutenant, doesn’t have the luxury of a general staff who will carry around a wardrobe change on his behalf. He’s gonna have to make do with his dress blues. He’s nervously fingering the Medal of Honor around his neck, and will continue to do so long after they’ve taken their seats in a restaurant downtown where Kazansky used to take Mitchell out for dinner, not so long ago. He can hear his chief flag aide kindly whispering to their waiter: Somewhere in the back. Where they won’t be bothered. Everyone’s being so kind.

“I could kill him,” Seresin says after a few minutes.

“Who?” says Kazansky incuriously. He’s been running his fingers over the condensation on his water glass. Now his fingertips are wet. Actions and consequences.

“Cyclone. He’s the one who refused to send me. And he didn’t launch search-and-rescue, either.”

Kazansky blinks, then looks down at his menu. “No, son, that was me.”

Seresin’s Then I could kill you goes unsaid. It’s quiet for a long time, long enough that Kazansky’s read through the menu—every word—twice. Then Seresin says, “Why?”

“You would’ve searched for the rest of your life and rescued nothing, and blamed yourself.”

“I blame myself for not going anyway. For not disobeying orders. —Maverick would’ve gone.”

Yeah, he probably would have. Kazansky remembers, in a split second, a story Mitchell had only told him a few years ago, lying next to him in the dark, a little tipsy after dinner and touchy-feely as he always was lying next to Kazansky in the dark: I don’t think I ever told you the story of how I saved Cougar’s life. His warm hands, gentle and unhurried, sliding up and down Kazansky’s abdomen: it’s so funny the details you choose to overlook at the time, and only remember when you lose them. / Well, I never wanted to ask. You hate telling those stories, I thought, Kazansky had said. Because it was true. At any party, Mitchell could tell the stories of how he saved Cougar’s life and how he ejected out of a flat spin at TOPGUN and how he shot down three MiGs not two weeks later—but he’d always have nightmares about all of it the night after. He hated telling those stories. He’d only do it if people asked, so Kazansky never asked. / You’re here in bed next to me, Mitchell said, so I’ll sleep just fine. Let me be a hero for you for once. —It was the day I saw that first Soviet MiG up close. Remember that? Negative four-G inverted dive? That was real, baby. Scared the shit outta Cougar. Messed him up bad. I mean, he thought we were all cooked. He wasn’t gonna land, I mean. Or if he tried, he was gonna plow right into the side of the boat. Couldn’t see straight. You ever been so scared you couldn’t see straight? He was dipping his wings, power too low, basically drunk-driving his Tomcat, I mean, it was freaky. So I touch-and-goed my F-14. / Against orders, surely, Kazansky’d said. / Oh, of course. You’ve met me, haven’t you? Of course, against orders. We were both outta gas. But I took off again and circled around to find him, and guided him in, you know, level off, call the ball, there you go, Coug, you got it, you got it. Don’t know if he ever told you this—he probably did ten million dollars of damage to that plane. Fucked up the landing gear and snapped off his tailhook and ground up into the fuselage. / But he lived. / But he lived, Mitchell said, and that’s how I got sent to TOPGUN. And that’s—with a soft sweet kiss—how I met you. / My hero, Kazansky’d said.

“Yeah,” he says noncommittally. “Maverick would’ve gone. —But he’d have searched for the rest of his life and rescued nothing, and blamed himself.”

Seresin says, “Is that what happened with him and Bradley’s dad? Is that what happened with Goose?”

“Yeah.”

They sit in silence for another while. The waiter comes by to take their orders. Kazansky’s not hungry and orders a beer. Seresin’s starving and orders a burger and a side of onion rings and a glass of wine.

“Can I ask you a question?” Seresin says after another few minutes. “Are you, like, a coward, or something? —That speech you gave was pretty neutered, sir. You loved him and you can’t even say it at his funeral?”

It’s a stupid, immature question. The Navy doesn’t deserve to hear that out loud. Nor does Mitchell’s empty casket. Only Mitchell did, and too late now. Kazansky shrugs. “If I were a brave man,” he says, “do you think I would have let him go?”

“I’d like to think I’m a brave man,” says Seresin. “I let Bradley go because I trusted him to come back. —Honestly, I’m kind of fucking pissed about it, to be honest. Sorry for the language. But it’s the truth. The night after he died, I mean, I went apeshit. Tore up our photos, punched the wall, cried myself fucking dry, that kind of stupid shit. I was so mad. I trusted him to come back, and he didn’t. Thought he was a good pilot. —Sorry. Is that sacrilegious to say? We aren’t supposed to speak ill of the dead, are we? I don’t care. I’m still mad about it. I know I shouldn’t be. But it’s the only thing I know how to be, is angry. Does that make sense?”

“It makes sense.”

“Are you angry?”

“Yes, but not at Mitchell. You know that saying, we have old pilots and bold pilots, but never old, bold pilots? Maverick was an old, bold pilot. We both knew he was living on borrowed time. That’s how he lived.”

“Pretty fucking defeatist.”

Kazansky shrugs again. He is a man defeated.

Seresin says, “Are you gonna be okay?” Then, in the resulting silence, he says, “Sorry, stupid question. Sorry. It’s just—“ He hesitates. It’s only now that Kazansky sees the dark circles under his eyes, the tremor in his hands, the desperation in the stiffness of his shoulders. “Look, it’s just that I don’t think I’m going to be okay, and you’re a lot older than me, and I keep thinking you have, like, the answer. Some wisdom, you know what I mean? How am I gonna be okay? You’re the Commander of the Pacific Fleet of the United States Navy. Aren’t you supposed to know what to do? Aren’t you supposed to give me orders? What do I do?”

“If I were a wise man,” Kazansky says, “do you think I would have let him go?”

Seresin is quiet. His food comes. He immediately launches into it, eats ravenously and silently for a few minutes.

Then he says, around a bite of his burger, “You know, I was gonna ask him to marry me.”

“Bradshaw?”

“Who else?”

Kazansky blinks. “I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yeah,” says Seresin. “You know, fucking everyone is.”

“Lunch is on me,” Kazansky says.

Home, afterwards, is silent and lonely. Of course it is: Mitchell’s not here. Of course. Kazansky’s settling into it. Life so rarely gives you a choice, when assigning you ritual, routine. There’s still legal paperwork to fill out. That he can do. And there are still letters of condolences to respond to: Thank you for your kind words. Maverick was… figuring out how to end that sentence will give Kazansky a way to occupy his time for a while. And there are flowers to throw out—no one wants flowers after someone they care about has died. They stink up the house and permeate everything with their reminder of grief and mourning, and you’ll find the dried petals even months later and grieve and mourn all over again. Kazansky throws them all out before they can start shedding. There are friends to call and thank for coming. “I don’t know what to say,” Slider says over the phone. / “Yeah, neither do I,” says Kazansky, so they sit in silence on the line together for a while, and that’s pretty nice. / “He was the best of us,” says Sundown, and Kazansky thinks about what Seresin had said a few hours ago: Thought he was a good pilot. It’s a cruel thought, but sometimes the only thing you can be is angry: if Maverick really was the best of us, he should’ve come home. / “You know, I’m still in his debt,” says Cougar. “He saved my life thirty years ago. It’s so fucking stupid, you know what I mean, this idea that I should’ve saved his in return? Feels like it’s my fault that he died. Maybe I’m too superstitious. I’m indebted to a fucking dead man. I’ll never be able to pay him back. —Sorry, Ice. Sorry. I don’t mean to make it all about me. I can’t even imagine what you’re going through right now. I’m so sorry.”

“That’s okay,” says Kazansky. “Don’t, um—look, I’m just curious. How did he save your life? Would you mind telling me?”

“I don’t remember too much of it, to be honest,” says Cougar. “That’s why I quit, isn’t it? Something wrong with me. I was so scared I couldn’t see straight. You ever been so scared you couldn’t see straight? I wouldn’t have landed if it weren’t for Maverick. Or, if I had tried, I think I would’ve plowed into the side of the boat. Dipping my wings, power too low, basically drunk-driving my Tomcat. There was something wrong with me. You know, they could’ve kicked him out for that stunt, touch-and-going his F-14 like that. We were both outta gas. It could’ve killed him, too. But he guided me in. Saved my life. —I don’t think I ever told you this. I probably did about ten million dollars of damage to that plane. Fucked up my landing gear, snapped off my tailhook, ground up into the fuselage.”

“But you lived.”

“But I lived,” says Cougar. “And I came home to my family. Only ‘cause of him.”

“He was a hero.”

“He was a fucking hero,” says Cougar. “To the very fucking last. Sorry you had to go and fall in love with him. They advise against that, don’t they?”

“What, falling in love with heroes?”

“Yeah. —Sorry. Not funny.”

“A little funny. In a cosmic sense. Means it’s my own fault.”

Cougar pauses. “It wasn’t your fault, Ice.”

There’s still a Fleet to be run. Still work to be done. Kazansky can do that. People will laud him for the rest of his life for his professionalism under duress. He works when he should be grieving. Work is a ritual, too. Take some time off, sir, one of the Chief of Naval Operations’ aides had begged him. You need time. But he can’t. Only thing to do is keep working until all the work is done. The geopolitical situation after the mission, which was still classified as a success, is quite bad. They knew it would be. A bombing mission on Russian territory right near the American general election? Yeah, that’s bad. Russia’s Foreign Ministry has openly stated that if they find any remains of Mitchell and Bradshaw’s bodies, they will not extradite them home to the United States. I’m sorry you had to hear that, the President e-mailed him personally. But it’s fine. Kazansky likes the chaos. Means there’s work to do. He works.

When he can’t work anymore, because he’s done all the work that needs to be done, he takes care of another ritual. Life assigned him this one without giving him a choice, too. It’s past 2200. He turns no light on. He’s not sleeping in their bed, which is pretty cliché, and maybe he should be stronger than that, but you do have to make some concessions to your own grief when something like this happens. But he’s strong enough to sit on the side of it that had been his and open his phone and dial the number of his only favorited contact and hold the phone to his ear. It gives the dial tone five times, as is routine, and then Mitchell picks up the phone, as is routine. Hi! Captain Pete Mitchell here! Unfortunately I’m not able to come to the phone right now. Leave a message, or if it’s Navy business, you can shoot me an e-mail at C. A. P. T. dot P. dot Mitchell at navy dot mil. Thanks! Bye. Maybe Mitchell’s just busy. Maybe Mitchell’s somewhere without cell service. Maybe Mitchell’s just out flying.

Kazansky considers leaving a message, as is routine; realizes he doesn’t know what to say, as is routine; and hangs up, as is routine.

He takes all his medals off the rack of his double-breasted blues coat, packs them back into their clear-plastic-velvet boxes. He considers, momentarily, throwing out the Medal of Honor with the flowers. But he’s too self-aware to do that. He hangs up his coat on its felt-lined hanger, steams it straight, does the same to his slacks, slips the ensemble back into its garment bag, hangs it up next to Mitchell’s in their closet. This is a ritual, too. He takes a shower. He eats something. He answers a couple e-mails. He climbs into a bed that is not his own. He holds one of Mitchell’s college sweatshirts over his face and breathes in. He takes stock. His fuel gauge is reading pretty low. He knows his wings are dipping. If he really thought about it, he’d say he’s so scared he can’t see straight. And the truth is—he’s not so un-self-aware that he can’t recognize this, however numbly—Maverick’s not coming home to guide him in to land. Maverick’s never coming home again. Thought you were a good pilot. He closes his eyes. He tries to sleep.

#major character death #death #pete maverick mitchell #tom iceman kazansky #top gun maverick #top gun #icemav #top gun fanfiction #asks #sorry to start out my prompt fills with maybe the most soulcrushing thing ive ever written #ngl writing this yesterday fucked me up hard #sorry to sneak more pro-brandon propaganda in here but the parallel was too good to pass up #rip beau biden i guess #forgot to tag: #bradley rooster bradshaw #jake hangman seresin #hangster #soundtrack for this one is Judy collins’ send in the clowns

[oneshortdamnfuse]

The complete refusal by many Europeans to listen to and understand how ethnic identity “works” in America will always get to me, because why am I having a long winded argument with someone who refuses to recognize “Irish Catholic” as an identity in America because it doesn’t include “American” tacked on after it. “Why don’t you add American onto it?” - because it’s redundant when you’re obviously in America talking about an ethnic diaspora you belong to.

For context, it’s on a video response where an American Irish Catholic family makes a light hearted joke about Irish Catholic identity in America but some snarky person from Ireland stitched the video with an “Are ye now?” when the family said “We’re Irish Catholic.” The original video contains jokes that an Irish Catholic in America would understand to be about their diaspora community. While it may contain some stereotypes, none of them are particularly harmful (e.g. no references to drinking and fighting).

You cannot tell me that Europeans with their “superior” education systems can’t figure out that an American saying they’re Irish Catholic means something different from a person in Ireland saying the same thing. You cannot confess to me that you need that clarification on a video where people with “American” accents are talking about their ethnic identity. Furthermore, insisting that people identify as Irish American in the context of their original video is absurd given that “Irish Catholic” is it’s own unique cultural identity here.

There are churches and schools that are largely Irish Catholic here. There are neighborhoods that are traditionally Irish Catholic here. There are accents and dialects that are largely based around Irish Catholic immigrant communities here. There are ways of dress. There are foods and festivals. Naming rituals. Family structures. Religious practices. Folklore. There are remnants of our culture here from when our ancestors left their homelands that eventually grew into their own unique ethnic identity - the Irish Catholic identity in America.

I’m just using Irish Catholic as an example because this video sparked the discussion, but this goes for any ethnic identity here. We’ve been shaped by our ancestors, good and bad. We all deal with a certain level of disconnection and alienation because of choices made before we were born. Enforcing the “American” label onto ethnic groups specifically when it’s not necessary to comprehend that they’re distinct from “modern day” cultures in Europe serves no great purpose other than promoting “White American” identity.

I said it before and I’ll say it again - it’s good that White Americans remain connected or even reconnect with their cultural roots, because “White American” as an identity was made possible by white supremacy. There’s nothing wrong with diaspora in American referring to themselves by the name of their ethnic group. You can be critical about how people appropriate or bastardize ethnic identities, but Irish Catholic and ethnic identities like it are unique in America and there’s no reason to refer to ourselves by names imposed on us.

When Americans talk about their ethnic identities, that’s not the time to be snarky with a “well actually you’re not from x, y, z.” Just let Americans talk about their own experiences. Maybe learn why diaspora communities behave similarly and differently from you. Correct practices that you think are perhaps misinformed, stereotypical, or problematic,* but realize that not all cultural practices have to be scrutinized for authenticity outside of their cultural context in America.

*e.g. You can correct someone claiming they have “Viking” ancestry to defend wearing ahistorical dress that appropriates from indigenous communities, but yelling at Americans for modifying their ethnic cuisines to suit where they live because it’s not “authentic” enough to you is rude. There’s a difference between appropriation and adaptation. Being from a country doesn’t give you the right to define diaspora communities and impose your definitions on them.

#text post

[waitmyturtles]

Jumping into the Cooking Crush familial fray...

I've lately been a bit behind on all my dramas, but I did see percolating over the weekend a great conversation among drama friends and fiends about interpretations of Asian parenting tactics, family values, interfamily communication, and intergenerational trauma regarding Cooking Crush.

This past weekend's episode 11 seemed to bring up a lot. I feel like one of my Reasons for Being on Tumblr is to share thoughts on Asian family dynamics, structures, and tensions regarding our beloved Asian dramas, so I am simply going to add a few extra thoughts to @neuroticbookworm's absolutely FANTASTIC post here that meditates on the ongoing conflict between Ten and his father.

Before I jump into NBW's amazing post, I want to linky-poo some previous writing that I've done on Asian cultural touchpoints in other shows:

Poor Bad Buddy got the Asian analytical treatment here and here

Only Friends and Mew's lesbian moms being Asian moms first, here

A meditation specifically on BBS's Dissaya and saving face, here (which, in regards to her conflict with Ming, we should note, directly led to her literally sending her son physically away from her to continue the family feud)

When I watch our beloved Asian shows, as an Asian-American, I am clicking unconsciously into certain assumptions about how Asian parents and children WILL behave when parents are called for in a show (I emphasized this specifically in my OF piece about Mew's moms). I expect there to be either filial piety present, or struggles with it. I expect to see elder hierarchy and/or issues with elder respect. I expect to see issues regarding saving face. I expect to see issues regarding conditional love, and how a child should act so a parent may boast and/or save face with their external social circles. I expect to see issues regarding independence and parental control over... just about everything in a child's life, from their education to their partners. (Think of King's parents in Bed Friend, and how his parents were ready to arrange a marriage for him; Tian's parents sending him to America in A Tale of Thousand Stars, etc.)

Shows that DON'T deal with these issues -- shows that have wonderfully understanding parents, like Thun's mom in He's Coming To Me, and Pete's dad in Dark Blue Kiss, are also realistic, because of course, nothing is universal, and there are understanding and unconditionally loving parents in every culture.

But most of the Asian shows that we watch have themes like filial piety and elder respect/control present, and it's up to the show's writers to figure out how these elements play into the plots that they're writing.

Through @neuroticbookworm's post, I see that some in the Cooking Crush fandom are calling for Ten's dad to apologize for his hypocrisy in calling Ten out for hitting Chang Ma, while we have seen Ten's dad slapping Ten.

I want to get into how Ten engages with his father in a second, because it's pretty rare in Asian shows to see a child so directly combative, so consistently, with a parent figure. But before that, NBW makes an excellent point with the following:

But, I understand it when my friends, and Asian characters in TV shows, don’t want to force things out in the open if it can be swept under the rug for the time being, because peace of mind in Asian households is fleeting and you would be wise to take what you get.

This is a very important point that those of us in the social services are hammered with -- in other words, how do individuals, as they are growing up, adjust their behaviors to keep the stability of their family bonds either strong, or at least not weak enough to break? How does a child learn to adapt and/or cope for the sake of the other older individuals in their families who DEMAND compliance with their own emotional needs?

Ten has a combative relationship with his father -- but he's still done everything his father has asked for, save for staying away from Prem. As @respectthepetty previously noted, Fire becomes submissive around pressure and high-tension individuals and situations -- because that's how he's learn to cope vis à vis his mother and his upbringing.

This framing -- these specific, generational, tension-informed family dynamics that we see ad nauseam in Asian dramas -- do not lead to an automatic assumption among Asian audiences that apologies would emanate from the parental generation. Especially because the previous generational paradigm is that children have and should go along with the flow of parental control and demands -- as Ten and Fire have so far done.

In Asian collectivist societies and mentalities -- to combat against that flow of control would lead to a breaking of the peace among the family unit, in NBW's words.

I would even go so far as to say that an apology from a parent is as much of a fictional ending fantasy as a perfect romantic ending. And damn, what we have to go through to get an apology. NBW brought up Double Savage, which was so awfully messy -- we got a parental apology only after a not-at-fault child had to unnecessarily apologize first. The show made the children work beyond basic emotional ethics to get that parental apology. That's how rare it is for us Asians to expect a parent to apologize. (And NBW notes so beautifully that even showmakers themselves may not know how to write apologies -- because they themselves may have never received one in real life.)

Considering all these family dynamics and tensions, getting a 180-degree admission of wrongdoing from an Asian parent is rare. And part of the fabric of the lives of us Asians is in sharing stories with our communities about the tensions, the trauma, the misunderstandings that we've faced from our families to be perfect and obedient in all aspects of our lives, as NBW so eloquently says about her country's culture, which includes tremendous control over the sexual lives of children. That's why I go to Asian shows over Western media -- so that I can experience some of that communing over commonalities in fiction.

I want to make one final quick point about Ten's behavior towards his dad, which we see is abrupt and combative. Ten's got some gumption to talk to his father like that, which, me likey, but it's rare to see in Asian shows. Of utmost importance to note is that their history is marked by a severely traumatic event in the death of Ten's mom, which is guaranteed to have had a lifelong impact on the bond between Ten and his dad, and colors their relationship. I know that's obvious by way of the dialogue, but what we see in this outburst is a kind of marked ending to a journey map of his life's experience that got him to the point of the fight. (@neuroticbookworm, I'm stealing your screenshots, thank yew, friend!)

This fight had A LOT IN IT. It was about saving face, about the embarrassment that Ten's dad knows the slapping event will cause on Ten and Ten's friends (and, frankly, Ten's dad himself). It was about Ten's childhood trauma in losing his mother and his anger with his father for his father's actions. It was a revelation that Ten's dad had actually acted, in his own way, and failed at saving Ten's mom. It was about Ten's performance in school, and how Ten says that he has indeed been keeping up with his father's standards. And a whole lot more.

I'm betting money on at least some people -- maybe many people -- in Asian audiences watching this and being critical of Ten for being so combative to his father, his father being Ten's provider for education and money. THIS CRITICISM IS VERY COMMON.

While Western fandoms may celebrate performances of individualism and confrontation, many in Asian audiences will not agree with that. They will see Ten being disrespectful to a parental figure that, in our cultural mores, would arguably automatically demand respect from the start through our notions of elder respect and hierarchy.

This is, in part, because many Asians see going against the flow of familial peace as disruptive. And, anthropologically -- who are we in the West to judge that?

That's why this scene is SO FUCKING HUGE. As an American, I'm like, fuck yeah, read this fucking dad out for filth. As an Asian, I'm like, WHOAAAAAAAAAA. For real.

AND? THE ENDING of this fight -- with Ten's dad making one actually good point about how Ten's punch will affect his friends?

That's collectivism again. That's Ten's dad helping Ten to grow in that moment and recognize that Ten's actions affect other people. That shit is complicated, and I believe it's 100% intended to be complicated.

The dad is still clearly a hypocrite. I do not think that we get that entire fight scene without the show commenting on Ten's dad's hypocrisy that one's actions have impacts on others. Ten's dad is not clicked into his own collectivism, and I believe the show calls him out for it. If that scene only wanted to call out Ten -- we would have only seen that last part about Prem and Prem's friends. We would not have gotten all that other backstory, all the threads in this incredible fight scene.

It was a hell of a well-done scene. And I very much believe that scene is symbolic of this entire show -- marketed as a comedy, friends! -- being insidiously about very complicated family bonds, and depicting the struggles of these bonds just brilliantly.

This show is DIGGING THE HELL into the family backgrounds of characters experiencing tremendous life changes -- including MEDICAL STUDENTS! THE CREAM OF THE CROP FOR ASIAN PARENTS! -- and showing how these pressures can make young adults crumble or resilient.

I didn't mean to write so long, but alas -- y'all talk about Asian families, and I gotta yap. Thank you for letting me throw some coins in the pot, and to offer some thoughts about what us Asians are clicking into in our beloved Asian shows.

Tagging @lurkingshan, @bengiyo, @respectthepetty, @heretherebedork, and @williamrikers for enlightening convos this weekend, and many thanks to my dear Asian friendo @neuroticbookworm for one hell of a meditation that I enjoyed and related to deeply.

#cooking crush #cooking crush meta #cooking crush the series #cooking crush the series meta #offgun #off jumpol #gun atthaphan #tenprem #ten x prem #prem x ten #asian family dynamics #asian family structures #intergenerational trauma in asian families #intergenerational trauma #long post

[askagamedev]

Thoughts on the Helldivers PSN situation?

For those who haven't been following this story, Helldivers 2 multiplayer originally required a linked PSN account in order to play. The PSN back end was not ready, so the developers turned off the requirement. Recently it came back on and several players were upset because their games stopped working. There was a review bomb and a lot of angry feedback, especially because PSN accounts are not available without a Playstation console in several geographic areas. [Sony posted yesterday] to say that they would no longer be requiring a linked PSN account for Helldivers 2 Multiplayer.

The situation is strange to me because there doesn't seem to be a lot of reason for any real controversy. Sony is making all PC games that they publish on Steam require PSN accounts. That in itself isn't that big a deal - lots of publishers require similar things. EA requires Origin accounts, Ubisoft has their UPlay ecosystem, Activision has Battle.net, Microsoft has XBox Live, and so on and so forth. Helldivers was always supposed to launch with this requirement but they ran into major technical issues at launch and had to disable the requirement (temporarily). I know that Ghost of Tsushima will also require a PSN account for multiplayer.

The second thing with PSN accounts not being allowed in various countries is an issue within Sony itself and has nothing to do with Helldivers. The Helldivers team did what they were contractually obligated to do - require a PSN account to play. Sony's internal PSN team is responsible for which countries are and aren't on the whitelist for account creation via PC. Most game sales are in North America, Western Europe, and Japan/South Korea. There just aren't quite as many players in Uzbekistan or Ukraine. When your customer count in those countries is in the dozens, it really doesn't rank very high on the priority list.

Early on, I think it should have been communicated to players that they would (eventually) need a PSN account to play multiplayer and possibly some other "here's something for your trouble" bonus in game to help provide some value to the player. Now that it's blown up so large, the decision to step it back is probably the right one. I think that, for Ghost of Tsushima PC, the PSN linking should be a requirement for the game from the jump so that people know exactly what they are getting.

[Join us on Discord] and/or [Support us on Patreon]

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Frequent Questions: The FAQ

#helldivers #public facing #the business of video games #current events

[bambamramfan]

Discourse knows, there have been too many articles in the UMC publications about polyamory, and I apologize for adding to the bonfire of think pieces. At least this one linked above is less obnoxious than most of them.

(The most obnoxious one is referenced in this article, the Atlantic piece saying that polyamory is bourgeois identity politics distracting from material change.)

And what gets me is that for a bunch of supposed Marxists decrying how polyamory is just cultural superficiality irrelevant to the superstructure of material conditions.... none of them can bother to write a Marxist analysis of polyamory! It's just throwing different names at each other, no discussion of material incentives.

And it's so fucking easy to write one, isn't it. Here's our starting points:

Marriage (and the relationship models that lead to it) is an economic institution.

The change in modern polyamory fads is, like most fashion, coming from the upper-class.[1]

I think we can all agree on these basic premises, and they provide a great deal of grist for economic analysis.

For instance, the middle class in America is falling apart. Especially if you are a recent college graduate. It's easy to get an internship that might be on track to a very lucrative career, especially in a big city. It's a lot harder to start a stable middle-class job somewhere between the coasts. So you can't really start planning for baby until you're 30 and after 5 different careers you maybe have one that will last more than a year, and can put a down payment on a home at maybe 35. (Housing costs rising, especially in cities, has really exacerbated that.

Does this apply to everyone? No. Does it apply to more people that in the past? Big yeah. So, what does a young educated something do in their twenties and early thirties?

But the upper class - I suppose we are supposed to say upper middle class, but c'mon programmer earning $250k you're fooling no one - is booming. It's easier to enter it, especially if you're smart, than ever (note that increasing from 1% mobility to 10% mobility is a big change, even if on the absolute scale it's still unfair.)

Polyamory - or extramarital sex - has always been popular among the rich. Because marriage isn't really an economic necessity for them. If a couple splits, well there's enough money to go around for all the kids to live in nice houses. Mormon bigamy flourishes when a male breadwinner is so ultra-successful they can support for 5 wives, and geek group poly houses flourish when one systems engineer can pay for the whole house on their own too (maybe there's one kid everyone chips in babycare for in the house, but no one is even thinking about enough children in the group house for a fertility rate close to 1:1.)

So if you cut out the ladder from the middle-class-monogamy path, and widen the highway for upper-class-laissez-faire-culture, then cultural norms are gonna flow from the former to the latter.

The thing about relationship norms that makes the change really noticeable is their NETWORK EFFECTS. Being the only polyamorous person in a monogamous community is basically irrelevant, right? Who you gonna date? Similarly if you are in an entirely polyamorous community, my sympathies if you happen to be monogamous and so everyone you want to date has incompatible norms.

But once you start getting away from the edges, they S-curve up real fast because there's finally the option to try the minority relationship style, and for the agnostics who are okay poly or mono, they start seeing people they think are cute in the other camp, and hey, why not try it out.

So combine the collapse of the middle class, the proliferation of upper class hedonism, and network effects and a poly-explosion seems almost inevitable, doesn't it?

...

Of course, I haven't presented any hard evidence, this marginal change at most applies to less than double digits percentage of the populace, and this isn't even how the story feels from inside my head (as a poly converted person.)

But it was. At least. An attempt. To do. Materialistic analysis!

Why are all published Marxists so bad at this.

--

[1] Polyamory, or extreme family/relationship/household flexibility has always flourished in the underclass. But the NYT isn't going around interviewing trailer parks in Appalachia to ask them about their exciting new lifestyle.

#polyamory

[omgcatboi]

Are you a “eat until death” type of person? I know you want to get fatter, but 800 pounds is a lot…

Answer below the cut (:

I'm not sure how to read the intentions behind this anon, rather they be good or bad. But I'm going to answer anyways because I do get asked this from time to time.

( disclaimer because I can already hear people trying to argue with me, but my aunt who was 700 pounds lived until her 60's and she was fat her entire life, so no, she didn't die immediately from gaining weight. Nor will I. )

Am I an ' eat until death ' type of person;

I absolutely am, but I limit my ' death feedism ' posting here ( as well as tag it ) and am thinking of making another side blog to remove that posting from here entirely for the comfort of my followers. I'm not eating with intention to end myself, I just feel like life is what you make of it and anything can happen at any point to cut us a short deal. Also, my cultural beliefs are that the entire purpose of life is to experience it. So that's what I want to do. Death isn't the end goal, and I do eat many healthy foods ( and encourage it often on my blog so that other feedees can gain weight more healthily. ) I just know I wanna get as big as possible, and that may bring along a good handful of complications that can result in death.

TW ; talk of fascism and American imperialism as well as transphobia / legislation enforcing bigotry.

Also, not to get all doom and gloom but look at the state of this world. Look at the dying planet we have limited time on. Each day a new fascist bill gets passed here in America alone. If death takes me out this hellscape then it's doing me a hell of a favor, because there IS no other way out. Not without a ton of money for a passport and applying for citizenship overseas as well as paying American taxes AFTER moving out. And even then, America IS the empire of our age. It influences the rest of the world. And it has already been invading other countries and enforcing fascist dictatorships either directly or indirectly for MANY years now. So even if I COULD hypothetically move out, I'd still be at risk of being under Americas extreme rule anyway. Or worse, I'd end up in a situation like P/lestinian just like Vi/tnam was.

I know what I'm saying is dark and depressing, as well as anxiety inducing, but I'm showing that I've put plenty of thought behind this decision. Just like I did before starting HRT even tho I ALWAYS knew I am trans. And I don't need anyone trying to talk me out of the lifestyle I am living. Besides, with my genetics, I'm going to keep gaining regardless. It happened to my aunt who was roughly 700 pounds, and even then, she was near her 60's when she passed. I'm only gaining faster, not less. ( And she wasn't gaining intentionally, she just didn't care about fitting into other people's idea of what she should be and what she should do. )

In her 60's

60'S

I don't want to be old and wrinkly ( no hate tho those who are ) I don't want to live that damn long ( like 70's and older ) just. Nah. I'm good.

I'm just enjoying my time while I have it.

( this next part is not about people with triggers who are triggered by death feedism or very fat bodies. So if that is you, stop exposing yourself to this bc I tagged it and talked about it plenty before getting to this point of the post. )

And as a footnote to anyone who may be reading this, if you have an issue with people getting ' too big ' 1) you need to check that way of thinking because you ARE in the feedism / fat kink community. And that INCLUDES people who are, gasp, suprise, FAT. And 2) you should spend some time reflecting on what lead you to harboring that way of thinking.

Not saying this anon holds these views at all, I'm just mentioning it because it is my blog and we are on the topic. ( Plus I'm Knipping everything in the bud now as far as the group of people who will try and spew any level of fatphobia at me for this. In which case I'm not even going to read what y'all say, I'm just going to block you lol. )

One love and allat 😌

#fatty answers #tw death feedism #death feedism #death feedee #death feedist

[ritchiepage2001newaccount]

WHY UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND CHECKS ARE JUST AS UNLIKELY AS EVER, UNFORTUNATELY

I'm a leftist (Libertarian-Socialist), who votes progressive, because I live under an "elected" government, and I had thought I had purged the MSNBC/CNN Nation from my friends list, but apparently not, as my timeline is just chock-full of media-driven hysteria over current events, so here's a primer:

"Liberals" who think their arguments are clever or relevant to the Second Amendment are exhausting.

They are not the left; they are just one half of the good cop/bad cop act of the corporate owned fire-hose of bullshit that is the corporate media, and corporate America's governing criminal cartel/duopoly.

Both cults "I like simple and ineffectual 'solutions', because they make me feel like I'm doing something, and I'm just stinky with fear."

There are over a hundred million legal gun owners, who some want to punish for somebody else's crime.

Well, there are some things to consider.

We've been a heavily armed country since 1621, and yet the epidemic of daily mass-shootings didn't begin until 20 April 1999 (Columbine), at a time when gun ownership was at an all-time low, and five years after Clinton's assault-weapons ban, so maybe guns aren't the variable.

Worth noting: One of the first things the "Pilgrims" did when they betrayed the Native Americans, was disarm "King Phillip" and his men.

Maybe, just maybe, dead school-children are the price of the neoliberalism practiced under the "Washington Consensus" of BOTH right-wing authoritarian parties since the 1980's? When your country offers you no prospects, and you become terrified of the future, what then? Fear can make unstable people do desperate things. Add to that a culture of celebrity, and what could possibly go wrong?

Another factor that goes completely unexamined, is the way Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill emptied our state hospitals onto our streets, and onto families ill-equipped to deal with the sometimes violent mentally ill.

Thank God, the "solution" is so simple…

Also, 84% of NRA members support universal background checks. The problem is, every time a bill comes up for a vote, Democrats add poison pill amendments guaranteeing defeat in the legislature (and the courts), and then they proceed to tell the TV cameras that "once again the GOP and the gun lobby have voted down background checks and defied the will of the people", or some such nonsense.

If you want to watch Dems sabotage universal background checks (while Republicans roll their eyes and face-palm) in real time, go here:

P.S. You can probably guess which one of these three groups I belong to (Hint: It's the one that's growing and actually decides elections):

LaborPartyNow!!!

P S The line, "You don't need 30 rounds to shoot a deer!" is not clever.

The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting tools, toys for hobbyists (target shooting), or even weapons for self-defense.

It's about ARMS!!!

It's about the individual citizen's right to arms, so they'll be prepared to join a militia, not the other way around. ‘Well regulated’ at that time, simply meant, ‘efficient.’ In other words, in order for a muster to be efficient, civilians needed to be already armed.

So the "collective rights" argument has a couple of problems that make it quite unhinged from history and reality.

1) As I've mentioned above, Americans have always been relatively heavily armed. How did that happen in a collective rights paradigm?

2) Contrary to what you were probably taught in school, by the time of the Confederate artillery barrage on Fort Sumter, the war over slavery had already been going on for over six years, and was fought entirely by independent volunteer militia's. Fort Sumter was just the beginning of official involvement by government troops. How did that happen in a collective rights paradigm?

3) In what universe do government forces need to have their right to arms protected?

4) Since when do National Guard members keep National Guard arms (Hint: they're kept at the armory, and have been since colonial times)?

5) Obviously, "Liberals" are stupid.

Again: #LaborPartyNow!!!

P P S That was ENTIRELY the point of the first fruits of dissent, the 10 Amendments we've come to call the BILL OF RIGHTS (which have become a beacon to aspiring democrats all over the world), to protect INDIVIDUALS from the government they had just created. #TrueStory

[fifiophobia]

Romani Superhero’s 💙❤️💚

Dick Grayson aka Nightwing

Wanda Maximoff aka The Scarlet Witch

Pietro Maximoff aka Quicksilver

__________________

(Please take the time to read more under the cut)

I know it isn’t International Romani day, but I wanted to make this to celebrate and bring awareness about the Romani community. Characters who are Romani like Wanda or Pietro often get misrepresented or white washed in mainstream media (*cough cough* Marvel Cinematic Universe and the X-men *) for no good reason. This is horrible because the Romani are an already unrepresented group that deal with many injustices. According to The Council of Europe, some of the terrible things to occur to the Romani include:

“facing hatred and human rights abuses every day. Roma are refused access to decent housing, evicted without notice and left open to attack by prejudiced neighbours.-blocked from the jobs market and from opportunities to get better education and vocational training. Roma children are bullied at school, or sent to schools meant for people with learning difficulties. Roma women have been sterilised against their will”

This also doesn’t address the 500 years of slavery or the misuse of their culture from people who aren’t Roma

Unfortunately, this mistreatment exists around the world (including North America).

Despite this mistreatment, the Romani have contributed so much beauty into the world. Including the flamenco dance, movies, music, books, etc

I can’t speak on how good the representation Nightwing, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver are to the Romani community because I am not Roma. I created this because I understand how important these characters are, and how important they could be (if Marvel or DC hired Romani writers) to changing the perception of the Romani community. It’s important to recognize the beauty of other groups in real life and fiction; because their stories are important and should be told.

While you're still here, please check out these links for ways you can support the Romani community

Where you can donate

e-romnja

fundraiser for Stanislav Tomáš’ family

A gofundme for a 50yr old Romani Woman injured in hit and run

Ukraine: Help Roma Access Humanitarian Aid

help for roma in eastern europe and turkey

A safe place for LGBT Roma

Resources where you can learn more

The European Roma Rights Centre

We are the Romani People by Ian Hancock

Opre Roma

Terms of engagement

Union Romani

Media/Businesses

Romanistan: by Jessica Reidy and Paulina Verminski

Romani Media Initiative

Romafuturism

eriac_romamoma (an Instagram page dedicated to showing contemporary art)

Romani Design (a fashion line where you can buy beautiful outfits)

Voice of Roma

More accounts you can follow to support Roma and Romani activism

#scarlet witch #quicksilver #nightwing #Wanda Maximoff #Pietro Maximoff #Dick Grayson #romani #romani visibility #rromani #dc comics #marvel #I was gonna add doctor doom but it started to become cluttered 😔 #also if it wasn’t clear I don’t support the MCU or XMCU for what they did to Wanda and Pietro #romani wanda maximoff #romani dick grayson #616 scarlet witch #perhaps I should make another version that includes doctor doom and night crawler

[pinkflipphonez]

Hello! Really love your content so far and it makes me so incredibly happy seeing more people reimagining Alfred and Matthew as nonwhite compared to it being controversial 8years ago.

Ever since I joined the fandom I always had the (at the time) unpopular opinion that the NA bros were from mixed heritages (White/Indigenous), which as an American non-white Latino with Indigenous roots made the most sense to me especially considering that even in the manga they don't really represent the government, but the people themselves and both countries (especially the US) are so diverse it absolutely baffled me that they were just plain white boys. I always imagined them being mixed, but never quite fitting in with either groups.

I am sorry if I overstep on this next bit, please feel free to correct me on anything I say, I've just had a long time to think about this and how other countries would react, which is gonna put England/France into a bad light but...they were straight up horrific to the Natives. Even France.

I know you mentioned how in Hetalia, the personifications get along with their overseers/colonizers and that they wouldn't be okay with this, and I think I may have to *slightly* disagree.

I think when it comes to Nations and how they view their fellow personifications, how they look won't matter as much compared to how they act or culture wise. I can see that while the two heavily resemble Native features, when they were taken in by their colonizers they were raised to hold to those same European values that still do plague the country today. I can imagine Arthur making sure that Alfred ignores his Indigenous roots and that he's raised as a proper British colony, speaking and writing in English only, being raised as a proper Christian etc. Forced to assimilate, which has been done to so many people that come from different cultures from the time America was colonized to even now in some places. They may not look completely white, but by god will he makes sure they act like they do.

I don't think he would have ever been okay with his people being killed, tortured, having their cultures and languages erased or even enslaved, because he does not represent the cruel ideas the government has, but the people itself...which also do include the people that *ARE* okay with this. A constant battle Alfred has to deal with, which ends up with him making not the best choices.

Things aren't perfect even today, there's still so many issues that's happening where Indigenous folks are still fighting for basic rights to water, working roads, etc. But at the current time, more Americans these days (especially the much younger generations that were taught/look up about the atrocities that our government has committed, especially now that the Native voices have platforms to speak on), are much more aware. I see the brothers trying to reclaim their roots, and start what will be centuries long reparations on what their people have done to the Indigenous community. Which honestly, reconnecting with cultures after being forced to assimilate to American culture is something big thats happening here all across the United States with Latino-Americans embracing their heritage, African-Americans who were descendents of those stolen from their homeland reconnecting with their culture, Indigenous people bringing their languages and foods back to light.

It's honestly just a very difficult journey I think they would have as they have to deal with Nationhood, but forgetting who they came from and having to give themselves up to a certain group. Again, never fitting in completely with one or the other.

Again, I'm so incredibly sorry if this is overstepping in anyway or if some things don't make sense. It's such a complicated subject that really can't be summed up super easily and I did want to go longer but I felt like this was long enough already @_@

Firstly, you are not overstepping in the slightest! I am legitimately so content and kind of misty-eyed to see so many other native fans of the show both interact within the fandom and give their own interpretation on both canon and OC characters. It was never this wholesome and community-oriented when I first joined the fandom and I'm glad I stuck around to see the tide change.

Secondly, your interpretation of France and England's involvement in Canada and America's assimilation is... very accurate, and while it's something I've fought about with myself in my plotting of Alfred's life (because I don't want to hate them lol), they most definitely did have a hand in his disconnection. However, as much as I agree they are influenced by both their natives and settlers, I do think they very much hold their own reservations and opinions on the social climate around them as any individual human being would.

While American society and most American presidents were anti-indigenous and pro-slavery, there were also vigilant indigenous activists and abolitionists; there were men and women who defended and engrained themselves with native communities and there were men and women who fought mercilessly to free enslaved people. I believe Alfred was one of those people. Alfred noticed the wrong within the society around him and despised it-- but alongside his overseers and the people surrounding him, his thought process was in the minority.

I don't see Alfred participating in the genocide, assimilation, or enslavement of indigenous or Black people-- and it is not because I wish to sanitize this true history, but because I earnestly do not see Alfred being so cruel (as he was someone who also thought himself a better person than his brutal fatherly figure). I do think he did try to feel indifferent most of the time to... well, assimilate, but I also like to think he was infuriated, enraged, while at the same time having convictions on where his help is best suited as a native man with the privileges and appearance of a white man (I hc that he very consciously slaughtered slave-owners and triple k members, especially during the civil war, but I realize that may be a heavy hc to have).

I appreciate you bringing up the increase of younger folks in America beginning their decolonization/reconnection journeys because that is absolutely what I feel Al and Matt are going through actively, but I like to think they began their reconnection journey much earlier, during the rise of AIM in the 1970s. I see them being the biggest activists for all their native communities and they help in every possible way they can. Not only because they want to reconnect and amend their mistakes, but because they altruistically care for their people.

Their hobbies absolutely include remodeling the homes of elders and delivering food to them. They are very much for the landback movement and will call out anti-indigenous sentiment without hesitation. I also think Alfred separates himself from his governmental supervisors in current day and will challenge them now compared to when he stayed relatively compliant as a young nation.

I still have SO MANY theories about Alfred and Matt's origins and experiences with assimilation that I am working out, but I want to carefully plot it all out so as to not trivialize legitimate indigenous trauma, especially as a reconnector. All I can say is that if the land I stand on had a personification, it would be an indigenous being, no question.

#hetalia #hws america / #indigeneity / #assimilation / #if given the chance I will try being more elaborate but #this is a little bit of my thoughts on n8v al + matt if you squint #thank you anon I really do like talking about n8v al #kikitalkz

[mayadoesfandomstuff]

The Persona Series and the Generational Experience

Besides thinking about the ages of the protagonists recently, I had been greatly intrigued in the way that each persona game reflects the generation that would have come to the age that the main characters would have been as well as the social climate and environment that would have been present at the time.

The characters of the game would have grown up in a completely different age and environment from the previous generation, being Gen X in a world dominated by the post-war Baby Boomers, which causes them to struggle with what is expected of them and what they want to be. If not this, the characters are already labeled as outcasts due to their own individuality or personal histories they can't change. Yukino as a former delinquent and sapphic woman comes to mind and Reiji being a bastard and a delinquent himself too.

NOTE FROM OP AS OF 04/08/2024:

I feel like this wasn't the best worded post and I would rather rewrite a lot of this. I wrote this when I was fresh off of a serious personal event that led me to think a lot about Persona 1 considering I related heavily with Maki's experiences during the game. It sounds unrelated but uh, let's just say that's also the reason why the wording and research here is rather flimsy since I wasn't really in the most lucid or stable condition at the time. I don't think this post is that bad but I think some points aren't the best either and would rather not this post circulate but I don't really want to private it or to turn off reblogs so I'm just putting this note at the beginning. I'm going to try to read up more stuff and then I'll make a post about each game some other time. Sorry for the random note here but yeah. Feel free to read and still reblog the post though even if I don't really think it's my best worded one as of now.

Original Post:

Persona 1 (1996), besides being a game about how society leaves behind the disabled (Maki hating the world due to her inability to participate as a regular person in society due to her poor health), is primarily a story about the dangers of corporatization which was extremely relevant in Japan during the 90s especially coming from the economic boom of the 80s. The culture of this extreme progress also calls into question the traditional ideas of collectivism and how it could negatively affect the individual which is the core of the entirety of the Persona franchise.

This is more apparent in Persona 2 (IS: 1999; EP: 2000) which deals with a lot of discourse about rumors and propaganda and the early effects of the early internet on the community. There's also a sense of dread for the coming new age as such a possible reflection of the fears of things such as Y2K. An interesting thing to note about Persona 2 are the villains, mainly a serial killer and a terrorist bomber, which shows the communal fear of these events on a society-wide level as this calls back to how Japan just dealt with their own serial killer in the form of the infamous Otaku Killer in 1989 and the fresh from memory terrorist bombing of doomsday cult Aum Shrinrikyo in 1995.

The Persona 2 characters would have grown up in a similar environment as the Persona 1 characters as they are both within Generation X. Knowing my parents who had come from this generation as well, they had told me that there was a constant fear of the apocalypse. It was the height of the cold war when they were growing up and although we weren't directly affected by it, the sheer proximity of our country to large powers like China and our allegiance to their enemy America has created a constant panic. Japan falls in a similar position as a US Ally and a Chinese and Russian enemy that's extremely closely situated to them, so I could imagine that this sort of fear influenced the writing of the games as the writers most certainly had experienced this as well.

It's no wonder then that despite the characters coming from a post-cold war Japan, that these fears may continue in for them and everyone around them so rumors as ridiculous as Hitler literally coming back to attack Japan spread regardless of how realistic it could be.

Skip forward several years, and Atlus decides to brush off the dust of their shelved spin-off series and come back with Persona 3 (2006). The characters are now literally a completely new generation, a generation left behind by their elders and exposed to the harsh reality of the world at such an intensely young age - the millennials.

I know that a lot of people may see this as a stupid point to bring up, but I assure to you that as a non-American, that the war on terror still gripped and sensationalized my own country to such a degree that it did cause a level of apathy among the populace. I'm not sure if this is true of Japan as well, but I feel like tragic world events and the increased visibility of these stories due to the rise of the 24-hour news cycle certainly is a universal experience. It is not surprising that the members of S.E.E.S. needs to fight back against this desolation and desperation on a day-to-day basis when everyone is literally affected by this universal apathy.

An interesting thing to note about Persona 3 is how almost all the characters are either orphans, become orphans during the narrative, or have a complicated relationship with estranged family. I feel like this reflects the way that millennials may feel that they had been abandoned by their elders and now they're forced to navigate the world with little to no guidance or even possibly corrupted guidance from adults like Ikutski.

Technology is also an increased concern in this game, following the trends of the previous two. The progress of technology could lead to incredible and even helpful things such as the creation of Aigis as a fully-realized individual from an AI program or the creation of the evoker as a means to harness the ability of the persona which, in the lore of the franchise, needs to come more naturally but could now be summoned on command regardless of it all. No longer would the person with potential need to wait as long for their abilities to show, all they need is this macabre device in order to access it.

That's the thing though isn't it? This technology comes with a price and comes with disturbing progress as well. Aigis was created to kill shadows and the AI was just created to make her more effective. She was forced to destroy what were essentially her sisters in order to make her the perfect killing machine without any consideration about the possibility of her own humanity despite the fact that they programmed her to be as human as possible.

The evoker came about from years of research from the joint efforts of the Nanjo Conglomerate and the Kirijo group. The research involved in which abused children and destroyed the lives of those who opposed the research just to get where they want to go. There was no care for ethics nor humane treatment which resulted in these children to turn to crime in order to live as a consequence of the unethical research that harmed them.

The concerns of technology and the ethics of playing god were already prevalent before but the turn of the new century put it as a discussion front and center. Stories of cloned sheep or strange chimeras from experimentation had increased discourse of whether or not science had gone too far during this time. Vividly, I remember being s teenager in the 2010s reading these old articles and old Wikipedia entries about these oddities.

As Persona 3 discussed the increased societal apathy for the world, the struggles of the millennial generation navigating it by themselves, and the dangers of research that forego ethics, Persona 4 (2008) focuses on the world's obsession of media, the struggles of a small town in the center of fame, and how collectivism forces the individual to hide themselves to be accepted even moreso than the other three entries of the franchise.

Persona 3 focuses on the early to mid millennial experience in a pre-recession society, Persona 4 focused on the late millennial experience in a media-hungry, recession-era society. These characters would have grown up around the late 90s to the mid 2000s where things such as gossip and paparazzi culture was all the rage. People started to care more about their media presence and how they present themselves not only to the local community but the world.

Gone were the days where rumors only reached a handful of the informed gossipers and internet forum users, and here comes the rise of television! Found in every well-to-do middle-class home! The world is judgmental, unfeeling, and only cares about the hottest new headline and our Investigation Team needs to learn how to be true to who they are in a society that doesn't want them to be.

The setting of the story in a rural town in the brink of urbanization is such a relatable one as I also come from a similar background. The fears of the loss of the cultural and individual identity of the small town is a real one that I had the displeasure of experiencing recently. Progress is good, but it's destroying local businesses. Progress is good, but it's making everyone less personal. Progress is good, but it's making people lose who they are.

It's also not at all just a Japanese pandering situation for the themes of the game be centered on traditional Japanese culture such as the characters' personas being Japanese figures from history, literature, and religion, the main villain and basis of the grander narrative themes also coming from old Shinto mythologies, and the emphasis of tradition with the story even starting out in an old traditional Japanese inn.

Mass media is destroying culture and it's up to the younger generation to navigate these two worlds of preserving who you are and accepting the progress. As a child, I found some level of annoyance that the previous generation before me who acted as my teachers and seniors, both at school, at home, and on the internet, was too forceful on things such as local tradition to the point that some of them even shame people who aren't on the same page as them. In a way, this is them trying to deal with the grander pressures of what society is demanding of them and it's something that I myself grew to understand as I got older.

When I got older, I realized how these complicated systems had genuinely ruined too many lives and destroyed individuality and culture which I know for a fact is a definite almost universal experience for the next generation, Generation Z (colloquially now known as the Zoomers). A common experience for this generation is the shattering of wonderland and the intense exposure to horrible reality at such a young age which leads to such a desensitization that it's worrying.

Most often than not, this generation is told that they are responsible for the horrible state world around them, that they should be the ones to fix the problems of society, that they should do this themselves lest they want to die. This leads to a lot of youth activism and protests with people as young as 11 or 12 being so active in politics that it continues to permeate to this day. Think of those 16-year-olds in this website back at like 2015-2016 that rallied behind the discourse. This is that generation, and it's a universal experience among the group, not just in America, but globally.

I'm gonna be a bit salty and a bit cringy here and maybe a bit biased, but fuck it this is my generation after all.

Persona 5 (2016) is the persona game for the disgruntled Gen Z. As the previous persona games were criticisms of society that could be dismissed off as individual-motivational fluff by those that love ignoring the grander themes of the series, Persona 5 is a figurative punch in the face that's hard to ignore.

No longer are we in made up cities and towns, no longer are we just focused on finding our place in the world, we're in Tokyo, Japan, baby! And we're here to tell everyone in the world that the society that you pride yourselves in is a farce that actively oppresses the weirdos, the outcasts, and the miscreants! They've done fucked up and we're not sitting idly by no more! We're not just gonna defy you by being who we are, we're going to actively stop your shit before you continue hurting others!

As pompous and self-important and even stupid as that sounds, those words reflected the battle cry of the generation. Online slacktivism, exposés, cancellations, and borderline illegal activities that basically amount to doxxing and wiretapping are part of the gen z cultural identity whether we like it or not. The generation selects the shitty adult target and doesn't let off until they're gone and had paid for their crimes.

As how shitty these witch hunts could get, there is no denying that deplatforming dangerous individuals had garnered good results on the cases where it doesn't become a shit storm. In a way, the Phantom Thieves are the success stories that the copycats that we know about in-game try to emulate but just end up hurting innocent people.

As it stands, in the retrospect that we have more than half a decade later after the game's initial launch, Persona 5 interestingly also stands as not only a criticism of larger societal issues, but also to those who try to respond to it by force and how they don't help long-term and are simply contributing to society's oppressive systems. It's interesting to note here how the choice of taking Yaldabaoth's offer of keeping the Phantom Thieves a part of the grander influencers of Japanese society is considered a bad ending.

As much as you want to change society, you best be careful to not fall in the same trappings that would make you the villain that you so desperately fought against. Despite your good judgment before, you should not be the arbiter of right and wrong. You should be there to liberate people, not control them.

The games development in itself is interesting in that not only did it take a long time, but it's based on a lot of real-life events that led to the writing team to develop the game in this direction.

The original plan for the game was supposed to be a road trip with the characters possibly even going international. I speculate that it may be a story that would have supposedly tackled globalization and its effects on the individual which is also an equally poignant thing that Gen Z has experienced. This all changed, however, when Japan was rocked by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 which launched the country into a national crisis. The team became more aware about their country's situation and the people within Japan that it made them change the focus back into Japanese-society.

This refocus seemed to have spurred the writing into a more rebellious direction than the previous concepts possibly owed to the rise of social awareness within the country. News stories had never been more front and center than they have with not only the rise of the internet but it's domination in daily life. In fact, Japanese players had pointed out that the first arc of the game, the lustful PE teacher Suguru Kamoshida, may be based on a real life case of Masato Uchishiba, an Olympic medalist judoka that was accused of sexual harassment and rape by the women's team that he coached which broke out into the news the same year this sudden shift of direction happened.

With news after news of this caliber, it's not surprising that the game had such a frustration with how society works and the failings of authority to protect and to serve the people.

With all of these in mind, as much as the series in itself is flawed, it's such a fascinating reflection of the times. Each of these games are, to a degree, timeless in the fact that they tackle constant pervasive issues that affects not only Japanese society but the grander global culture. Though besides this, the context of the time period and the setting gives such a raw view of what the issues most prevalent were at the time and the struggles of the generation that these games were released for.

I know that there is absolutely no indication that Atlus would be releasing Persona 6 in the near future, but I am assured of one thing. Persona 6 is going to be a reflection of the generation that will grow up with the main characters. It would be a criticism and an earnest look at society's ills that are important to the next generation. The series will continue to build up on previous themes and discussions of the previous games as each generation continues to build up on the discourse of the last. This is the intriguing relationship of the Persona series and the generational experience.

#mayaposts #persona #long posts #persona analysis #persona 1 #persona 2 #persona 3 #persona 4 #persona 5 #p1 #p2 #p3 #p4 #p5 #analysis

[allieebobo]

While I am salty abt Rayyan’s lack of faith in our MC, I am also absolutely endeared by their consistent dedication to tennis and being the best ❤️ Their passion for the sport is definitely one of the reasons I’m attracted to them, and same goes for my MC. Their reaction to the doubles pairing is upsetting, but if you were aiming to make these characters feel real and authentic, then you nailed it! I’m happy Rayyan doesn’t change or give up their passion for the sport just because they’re starting to gain feelings for the new freshie. Tennis is their first love, not anyone else 😆 Rest assured though that my MC will still try to make them eat their words 😉

Ahh I'm glad Rayyan's response is something folks are thinking about and enjoying(?) To summarise, I think Rayyan has this almost obsessive fixation on tennis because they know how good they can be, and a lot of their self-worth is derived from that, for better or for worse. To the second anon, you're absolutely right in that this gives them a "standing at the edge of a cliff" feel to their frenetic, almost all-consuming passion/ambition.

Very long answer below hahaha :p do I psychanalyse all of my characters? Unfortunately... yes 🤣🤣 it's a blessing and a curse 😂

Tldr; Tobin and Rayyan have grown up with different family backgrounds and different experiences of being "othered", and this informs the way they react to big events.

Rayyan's family, as one of the only Egyptian (and Muslim) families in their neighbourhoods, are inevitably more isolated and insular--their family does their best to cling on to their traditions and religious beliefs and history, but this doesn't always help with assimilating to a new country. Rayyan has always felt alone, different, and have grown up learning to be independent, often with the mindset of taking on adversity alone. Hence their instinctive response to MC, and their dislike for doubles.

Being born into an immigrant family, Rayyan has also always felt as though they've had to prove themselves twice over: first to the outside world, then to their family--especially their father and grandmother who want nothing more than to see their child/grandchild succeed. Rayyan, as the oldest of the youngest generation, bears the responsibility of being the family's 'proof' of successful assimilation into America in some ways.

Rayyan is consumed by the need to do well at tennis and at school because it is tied not just to their own self-worth, but also their family's, by extension. So, they've always found it hard to accept anything less than perfect from themselves--there's just too much riding on them for them to "fail".

Tobin, in this IF, is a foil to Rayyan in that they deal with similar, but very different pressures of being a black athlete, but they respond in a very different way. Rayyan tends to focus on one thing and one thing alone: winning - the classic "I let my tennis do the talking". Tobin, on the other hand, has always prioritized people, over anything else.

Tobin's parents have always been very active and plugged into the African-American community where they live, and so Tobin has always felt like they belong squarely in the world they inhabit, unlike Rayyan. Tobin's parents are also big proponents of solidarity and kindness, so Tobin's stance has always been: the world's fucked up, but we're all in this fucked up world together.

Then there's also the dimension of their personality. Rayyan is hot-headed, almost brash, and they're also proud, fiercely independent, and distrustful of anyone not in their inner circle. On the other hand, by virtue of their charisma and more lighthearted demeanor, Tobin has always commanded/attracted/built their own "tribe". They're also far calmer and more laid-back than Rayyan, and their responses are always measured, thoughtful, and almost slow to act/anger--there's a con here too though, they often end up losing their own gut reaction in the midst of all that careful deliberation, not just of their own feelings, but everyone else's.

So in conclusion, CT:OS will always have its characters at the heart of it, and I've tried my best to give these characters rich and unique experiences and histories and ways of relating to the world.

That's not to say these characters aren't contradictory at times, and they will evolve through the course of the IF--MC will even have a big part to play in that, through their actions and words and the way they choose to interact with the characters.

As another ask mentioned, now that the characters are more fleshed out, I'm hoping a lot more of these dynamics can come into play! :) (oh dear, that got very long!)

#ct:os #if #college tennis: origin story #asks #interactive fiction #rayyan #tobin