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maverick-werewolf · 1 month

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Werewolf Article - (Play As A) Werewolf Video Games

The results of the poll for this month on my Patreon are in, and the winner is an opinionated article on werewolf video games! Apologies in advance if any of my opinions here anger you. I was asked for opinionated, so I went opinionated and did not hold back.

For clarity's sake: this will be a relatively concise list of SOME video games in which you can or do play as a werewolf. It will NOT include every single game in which you can or do play as a werewolf, nor will it include certain kinds of playable werewolves that exist in gaming, for the sake of brevity. You'll notice some missing and then want to be first to tell me I left out [thing], but I assure you I am aware of those too. I am also not going to list games in which you can play as a werewolf but it requires either user-made mods or else playing in a custom campaign/tileset/server (like Neverwinter Nights <3), only games wherein you can play as a werewolf as part of base game or expansion pack mechanics.

This IS a tiered list. It is tiered based on the werewolf gameplay mechanics and elements in the game.

Let's get started. I will begin at #9, go to #1, and then I will close with some words on some other games that didn't make the numbered list.

9. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

Note: your player character will never have torn-up clothing or use his claws like in this artwork/like the enemy worgen do

I'm just going to list Cataclysm here because, frankly, I don't even want to discuss WoW at Shadowlands and beyond... even if discussing the model update will reach into that era of content. Obviously, I don't play WoW anymore and haven't in quite a while, but yeah, I used to really enjoy it. Played it for many, many years. Probably too many.

Cataclysm was a pretty outright bad expansion, but it did add playable worgen (something I obviously wanted from day 1 after seeing the worgen mobs running around), and they can even turn into human form, which is a must for me in terms of actually being a werewolf instead of just a wolf-person, which I wouldn't even roll. That was a nice touch I didn't actually expect from the devs.

Unfortunately, the model update turned them into something far "cuter" and more cuddly than I liked, not to mention adding preposterous fur options like stripes and merle, but the human form customization was nice. Still, the model update drove me toward playing different races, like maining my kul'tiran and night elf instead of the worgen I was always ultimately pretty disappointed in, given his wearing fine armor and wielding giant weapons. Anyway, the entire game took a huge nosedive not long after the model change, so it's a moot point for me regardless.

As for the deeper worgen lore beyond "they are werewolves with a funny name": I hate it with all my heart. I did my best to ignore every scrap of that and how they are just self-parodies, to delete the Gilneas/worgen starting zone quests from my entire brain, and especially to ignore the fact that they were all preposterously British despite England being one of the last places historically to even have many werewolf legends of its own. I have an article about that here if you are interested in the topic. The game made all of these things very difficult, especially how hard they wanted to drive home that the worgen are silly posh British parody dog-people strutting around in waistcoats and tophats instead of being fearsome cursed werewolves. So I won't bother going into all that.

The mechanics are fun except for the fact that you have to wear armor and use weapons, so ultimately you just look like a beast-person instead of a werewolf, especially after the model change making them far more appealing to a certain demographic. If Blizzard had wanted to put in effort, they would have made your gear look tattered and would have made you swap to claws when you turn, but that would've been a lot of work. They could have at least added a specialized class or something and then also given it to some Horde races to make the precious Horde players happy. I don't know. I just think werewolves wearing fine clothes and armor and wielding weapons is immensely silly. They're supposed to be werewolves.

So while they are extremely far from perfect, the worgen are at least relatively fun in that, if nothing else, you can go between werewolf and human forms and run on all fours as fast as the fastest ground mount, and I am deeply surprised they did either. I immensely enjoyed both of those things during my time playing a worgen, and they helped mitigate the great disappointment otherwise in many other regards - though not enough to keep me from maining other races, especially later on. But, in the end, WoW sucks now and it's unrecoverable, and WoW Classic is a joke, so I'll never be playing a worgen again anyway.

8. Diablo II

I'm sure you were looking for this one - the werewolf druid in Diablo II (preemptive sidebar: I am not going to talk about Diablo IV). I love his design and gameplay mechanics. He's fantastic. However, he is of course yet another instance of "the werewolf must be a druid," which I personally find a little tiresome after so much of it. But hey, this was one of the earlier games to do that, so it predated a lot of the craze.

At any rate, the Druid class in Diablo II obviously gets a werewolf form. It also gets a requisite werebear because werewolves can almost never just be werewolves, but at least the werewolf does not completely suck. You can also summon wolves, which is a bonus.

While I'm not really that big on Diablo-type gameplay - I prefer either third-person or else a proper isometric, party-based RPG - so Diablo II didn't really hold my interest a lot, the werewolf druid is very fun and a very cool werewolf, the setting is great, and the werewolf suits the dark Gothic feeling and look of the game that is enjoyable and well conveyed in the first place. The werewolf druid is a great addition that I am glad they added.

7. Baldur's Gate II

Let me make something perfectly clear: Baldur's Gate II is, in my opinion, the best game ever made (only Uncharted 2: Among Thieves also makes this rank for me). Combined with BG1 to create the Baldur's Gate Saga, it is one of the best stories ever told and also my favorite game mechanics-wise, again alongside Uncharted 2 even if yes, I know that those games could almost not be farther apart in terms of mechanics. I absolutely love BG2 beyond words. Please note I am talking about the original Baldur's Gate II, as released in 2000, not the "Enhanced Edition," which is a disgrace to the game, the entire series, and a piece of garbage. It's shamefully difficult to find the original game anymore, but it's worth it over playing the EE; trust me. I'll try to spare you any further ranting on this topic, as the original Baldur's Gate Saga is something very close to my heart.

Anyway, the werewolf in BG2 is - once again - a druid, specifically a druid subclass called Shapeshifter. It doesn't really have any werewolf gameplay mechanics in that you are not treated differently for it, nor do you transform out of your own control. In fact you will be spending the majority of your time in werewolf form, which can get quite tiresome. I'm not the biggest fan of a werewolf holding normal conversations with NPCs, etc. But regardless, it's there, and I love it, and it looks awesome, and that's more than I can say for so many games. Plus, you get cool bonuses and stuff. The power of it varies over time and with the progression of your character. I will not go too deeply into it, as I am actually an insane D&D video game nerd and even today I can spend far too much time building characters and tweaking numbers and doing ridiculous tricks in D&D games to powergame. If you want just one of my credentials I beat BG2 on the hardest difficulty with Ascension and no other gameplay mods. Long story short, the Greater Werewolf is quite powerful, and it shouldn't be a detriment to your party to either be one or bring along Cernd, one of my favorite companions.

So don't listen to the people down on the Shapeshifter in BG2. You can get mods that make them overpowered, anyway. Also don't listen to my complaints about it not feeling werewolfish enough because that's nearly impossible to come by anyway if you're not playing the #1 game on this list. Go try one out. It's fun! Plus, BG2 is the best game ever made.

6. Altered Beast

What are some of Mav's favorite things? Ancient Greece, hoplites, hot men, werewolves, dragons, tigers...

When I found out Altered Beast exists and is a game wherein you play as an awesome hoplite dude and turn into a werewolf, a green dragon, a tiger-man, and ultimately a werewolf is still the most powerful of all his forms, I was ecstatic. I had to play it immediately.

I wasn't disappointed. It's a fun, unforgiving game, because it was made before video games started becoming what I think we're supposed to call accessible today. I don't know what else there is to say about the game if what I've already said hasn't convinced you to play it. The werewolf form is your first transformation, and your most powerful is a golden werewolf. Me being me, I appreciate that a werewolf form is still the best in the end instead of being outshone by other creatures, and even the other forms available are all very cool.

As I said, I really don't know what more one could ask for of this setting and gameplay. I've never been picky about genre; I play a very wide variety of video games and have plenty of fun, and I certainly had fun with this one.

(Note: I'm not going to talk about that 2005 Altered Beast remake, I like to pretend it never happened)

5. Werewolf the Apocalypse: Earthblood

I'll be the first to admit I'm far from the biggest World of Darkness fan ever, as has brought many insults my way already, but I was pleasantly surprised by the mechanics of the werewolf form in Earthblood. I will not call it the "crinos form," as that terminology is so immensely silly that I could no longer take it seriously if I did. So anyway, the gameplay actually lets you feel like a werewolf, and you even get two stances you can swap between for different combat styles instead of anchoring werewolves down to just doing one thing. I'm not going to wax on about the lore, the story, etc. - but man the werewolf mechanics really are fun. It is, of course, the main draw of the whole deal, and they didn't slouch on that element.

It's important to me that a werewolf feel powerful and also violent. Werewolves should not be cuddly, or else they are no longer werewolves. Painting hallways with the blood of my enemies as if I'm recreating the Ninja lead-up in Metal Gear Solid while in werewolf form is cathartic and a good way to give the player a sense of being a werewolf instead of just an animal-headed person. This is a very solid "play as a werewolf" game, and one of the few games that exist with the primary purpose of letting you really play as a werewolf, whether you are a predetermined character or not. Be warned, the game is notoriously janky, but if you're like me, you're enjoying the werewolf mechanics enough that you don't care - or you can be even more like me and not give a toss about "jankiness" in a game in the first place.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

While a significant and crushing downgrade from the werewolves in certain other Elder Scrolls entries - more on that momentarily - at least Skyrim let you become a werewolf in the base game. No waiting for an expansion pack and no waiting forever until you move on (thanks, Oblivion). However, the differences between the mechanics of werewolves in past entries and the Skyrim werewolves are many and tragic. I confess I did not play Skyrim much, partially as a result of these exact elements, and partially because I just don't spend much time playing video games anymore, among other things.

In Skyrim, being a werewolf becomes what is colloquially called an "awesome button," letting you turn into a big, strong, cool werewolf that can eat people to extend your werewolf timer. It's great and enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't actually feel as if you are truly cursed with lycanthropy or smelly lupus or whatever silly name Elder Scrolls gave it (yes, I know the name, but that doesn't make it less silly). You have no real disadvantages to being a werewolf, such as having to worry about when you will transform outside your own control - because you never will, which is an immense downgrade in terms of feeling werewolfish and adding appropriate challenge and downside to being a werewolf. You also don't have to worry about being forced to devour a civilized race in order to sate your accursed hunger. Instead, you're doing that on purpose to turn out of werewolf form again, because the more you eat, the longer you stay transformed. Still, the werewolves in Skyrim are good - they just don't compare to previous entries. But I certainly appreciate them and the fact that they are present in the base game.

3. The Sims 3

Trust me, they do look better in game, but I couldn't find any of my own screenshots because it's been a hot minute since I played this.

You probably think I'm trolling you, but the werewolves in The Sims have always been pretty fun; I remember when the ones in 2 first came out, I enjoyed them like crazy. The ones in 3 rocked and were easily the best variant; too bad the game is relatively difficult to get running properly, and many aspects of the werewolves are delicate and easy to glitch, including your entire Sim's werewolf form design. I am not going to talk about those abominations that were added to The Sims 4, because they are some of the worst things I have ever had the misfortune of seeing and are not werewolves by any metric.

Sims 3 changed the aspects of Sims 2 werewolves that I didn't like, such as how being a werewolf altered your sim's entire personality over time and how the werewolf form always looked the same. They made the system much more robust. Frankly, the Sims 3 werewolves are some of the better werewolves in gaming, especially for the kind of game that The Sims is (expect assorted dog jokes, for example, given it's The Sims, yet it still isn't half as bad as it could be). I also love the wolf-man design; it works much better with Sims than something bigger and more wolfish. Certainly far better than whatever the hell is in Sims 4, which again, I will try my best not to talk about.

Anyway, I absolutely recommend Sims 3 if you enjoy Sims games and werewolves and want to have some werewolf fun. I'd probably still be occasionally blowing my finite amount of time on this earth playing it if I had it properly running on my current PC.

2. The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Bet you didn't expect to see this one, did you? You thought I was gonna say Skyrim as #2, right? Actually, I bet you thought I was going to say that one as #1.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is a game many would consider unapproachable today. I enjoyed it. Obviously, I played it for the playable werewolf, and I had fun! They work similarly to the ones in Bloodmoon, but, in my opinion, they still aren't as fantastic as the Bloodmoon ones. But the game does force you to actually live and behave as a werewolf - I love the werewolf hunter[s] mechanic - which, again... it's almost the only one of its kind other than Bloodmoon. For that, it gets #2 on this list.

And that means you know what makes #1, untouched in its glory, undimmed by time...

1. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - Bloodmoon

Alright. Have I ever talked about how this is the single greatest werewolf game ever made? I think I have, but let's get into it again.

I like Morrowind in the first place. I think it's hands down the best of the Elder Scrolls series and, frankly, the only one really worth dedicating much time to (forgive me). I played it when it first came out, and while I have never been the kind of person to pour hours into any ES or even any other open world game, Morrowind held my attention even as a kid - before I knew about "open world" and before it was such a buzzword - whereas other games before and after it struggled to do so or else failed entirely. Morrowind was groundbreaking for its time in many ways. And then they announced the expansion pack called Bloodmoon that would let you play as a werewolf. I was so excited I could hardly stand it, and even with my extreme werewolf pickiness, I was not disappointed. At all.

This is a game wherein the werewolves are treated as a serious threat, they are insanely rare to encounter in the wild in any capacity (I actually became a werewolf through a random encounter because I ran around on Solstheim obsessively every night rather than just becoming one through the story - it took me many nights, IRL, to encounter one), and when you do run into them, they are likely to destroy you. You are insanely, over the top powerful when you turn into a werewolf, yourself. Some would even call it stupid. I would not. You run at the speed of light and your jump turns into borderline flight. It's basically gliding. You're also preposterously powerful in general. I love it.

Most importantly of all, however, is that you are actually forced to roleplay as a werewolf. You will turn each night, and you must consume 1 victim NPC of any of the playable races. Solstheim is full of assorted enemies that will work for this, but when you go back to Vvardenfell, it can be harder to find a nightly meal while avoiding devouring any quest NPCs. Plus, you have to manage your gear before and after transformations, and you have to be sure you are never witnessed transforming. The entire system is in-depth and very awesome, making you actually feel like a cursed being that has to worry when the sun starts to set, forcing you to run far from civilization.

I cannot put into words how much I adore this game's werewolf system. Nothing compares. This is a real werewolf system, instead of "play as a wolf-person" or "hit the awesome button to become a werewolf for a little while with 0 consequences" like basically every other werewolf game out there.

So long story short, if you claim to love werewolves and want to play as one in a video game, and you haven't played Bloodmoon, then you're lying to yourself and the whole world. Shame on you.

And now for things that didn't make the list...

10. Assorted Acknowledgements

This category is for ones I don't even really have a lot to say about, but I figured I would mention them.

Terraria - You can get an item that lets you turn into a werewolf when night falls. It's pretty fun! I like the mechanics of it, plus it has a neat werewolf design, to boot. I dock serious points in this game for straight-up replacing the zombies with hordes of werewolves in hard mode, though. "Werewolf infestations" and werewolves being zombie stand-ins these days is preposterous and overdone. But I had a lot of fun running around as a werewolf and exploring, so it's absolutely top of the non-tiered list especially as far as werewolf mechanics go.

Pillars of Eternity - The "werewolf" in this game is one of several animal-person forms the druid can get, continuing the common theme in gaming of druid werewolves. The wolf is decidedly the worst of the lot, less useful even than the prey animals available. Put bluntly: they are basically terrible, and you're an idiot to ever use this form when there are so many build options available. There are also lots of other RPG options available. As in other games out there in the world. You should play those instead.

Guild Wars 2 - You cannot actually play as a werewolf in Guild Wars 2, but I figured I would mention it because lots of people do. If you want to roll one of the Norn giant race, either as a pretty giant woman who is the mommy stepping on you from some men's dreams or as the ugly tiny-headed cartoon men, you can get an ability to turn into a werewolf for like 30 seconds; it's far from exciting. And like so many werewolf abilities today, it comes with the option to also turn into other humanoid animals with different abilities. I've heard that, of them, only the cat and bear are useful, which is not a shocker as video game logic goes (game devs think wolves straight up suck at everything lol). I didn't play a Norn during my stint with Guild Wars 2 - I played a male human. He's Nolan North, so he's obviously the only choice and also why I played the game as much as I did.

The Elder Scrolls Online - This disgraceful abomination of a "game" is terrible in every way and could not have been a bigger disappointment on the promise of an "Elder Scrolls but MMORPG" concept even from the very beginning. It was never good, it only ever got worse, and I am happy to say I abandoned it long ago (I am not happy to say I was playing it in early closed beta because of the promise of werewolves - and I played it far more than I should have, so I am not coming at this from ignorance). It is a game with designs so ugly and unremarkable that you want to quit and walk through the woods just to remind yourself beauty still exists in the world. ESO clearly had no idea what direction to take itself in from the moment it dropped, and it certainly was never created with the pretense of playing like an Elder Scrolls game but being massively multiplayer. It has no sense of mood or atmosphere whatsoever and possesses writing that will make you long for the riveting tales in other low-rent, low-thought MMORPGs. You can play as a hideous weird sad werewolf model that is absurdly small (most likely smaller than the race you are playing as, which means you actually shrink when you transform) and should have been left in beta, which functions like a worse awesome button werewolf than the ones in Skyrim, because you also suck gameplay-wise especially depending on the dev's mood with the meta. It is terrible, as is everything about the game. ESO also went out of its way to completely wreck all previous Elder Scrolls werewolf lore that was actually really good. Anyway, don't play this. Your time is worth more than that, even if you don't think it is.

That covers some of the best! Requisite apologies if I didn't include your favorite.

( Free Newsletter — Patreon — Wulfgard — Werewolf Fact Masterlist — Twitter — Vampire Fact Masterlist — Amazon Author page )

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edwardianmumbo · 5 months

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Verbal Terminology in Autistic Tumblr Survey Results

After quite a long while (and for that I apologise) I’ve finished the results of a survey about the descriptivist uses of the terms Nonverbal/Non-Speaking and Semiverbal/Semi-Speaking in Tumblr’s Autism Community. This survey was originally intended to cover more, and just be a fun side project that unfortunately ended up with many flaws throughout the whole process. I'll go into specifics more at the end in the “Further Notes” section!

All that to say, I heavily implore you to do your own research and listen to others outside of this survey about these terms. Admittedly I think this survey is best taken as a small peek into how a very small group of people currently use these terms, in a fun non-informational survey format. (Also this was my first time doing image ids, so well i tried my best they might be really bad and for that i apologise in advance!!)

Demographic Questions

[image id: a bar graph called “What Would You Call Yourself” with the options going top to bottom the graph says Nonverbal at 16 (3.5%), Semiverbal at 118 (25.9%), Someone Who temporarily Loses Speech or Temporarily Can’t Talk at 308 (67.7%), Verbal or At allistic Level at 171 (37.6%), and Hyperverbal at 95 (20.9%) end id]

First things first I looked at the different ways survey respondents identified personally, and at a base level we can see most people said they had varying speech levels. The next highest given types overall were Semiverbal and Speaking Autistics, with Nonverbal being the least used term among survey participants. Due to this being multiple choice I also looked at what group of responses where most common:

[image id: a bar graph of Unique Term Use Types. The highest is Temporary Only at 141 respondents. The next Highest is VT (Verbal and Temporary) at 60, followed closely by Verbal Only at 59. The rest in order of highest to lowest is Semiverbal Only at 41, ST (Semiverbal and Temporary) at 33, TH (Temporary and Hyperverbal) at 29, Other Combinations at 21, VTH (Verbal, Hyperverbal, and Temporary) at 19, Hyperverbal Only at 18, SVT and STH and VH are all tied at 8, SV (Semiverbal and Verbal) at 6, and finally Nonverbal Only at 4 respondents. end id]

This graph more clearly shows that a majority of responders would consider their verbal speech levels to change, but only a minority of that group also considers themself Semi or Non-Verbal. You can all also see how a majority of responders considered themself either as just temporarily losing speech or a combination group using the Verbal option, which highlights a potential bias in the future questions. (Also the other section is for all combinations that got under 1% of respondents individually!)

[image id: A pie chart pf praticapent’s age groups. The highest at 56% is 18-29 year olds, with 13-17 place at 38.2%. The rest have the percents cut off but in order are 30-29, Under 13, and then 40+ year olds. End id]

Most responders fell in the age ranges of 13-29. This seems to follow general Tumblr trends after a quick search, but possibly leans a few years younger then the general user base. The lack of older adults taking the survey is unfortunate as some of these terms have been around for a while, and it’s always a plus to get an all ages response on surveys like these.

[image id: A pie chart titled “Where did you find the survey”, The top choice being “Another Tumblr Blog” at 59.1%, and the 2nd “Nd Culture Is” at 37.1%. You can see the slices for “From Someone I Know” and various Other Responses in the pie chart, with the other responses blurred out in the index sheet. end id]

This graph is admittedly a bit worthless, as I made it before deciding where I was going to post the survey to, so a decent amount of people, both those who selected “Another Blog” or Other mentioned getting it straight from the og post or a reblog of it. So needless to say i wasn’t quite exact enough by what i meant in this question (which was to see how far it spread vs any bias from just my “in-group” so to say), but it does does imply that that the survey didn’t make it far from the groups I posted it in. Which is expected with how little "promoting" was done during the survey period.

NonVerbal / NonSpeaking

[image id: a multiple bar graph showcasing the correlation between how responders self identified vs how they define Nonverbal. Going from top to bottom is The Fully Always option chosen by 3 from Nonverbal Only, Masking with no chosen responses, Little to No Speech at 2 from Nonverbal and other Terms Users, Allow Temporary at 9 from Nonverbal and other Term Users plus 7 from Nonverbal and Temporary and an intentional Nonverbal Only Responder, then All Above with 1 Nonverbal and Temporary plus a Nonverbal Plus Response, Followed lastly by Other Definitions with no responses. End id]

Before going over this data I want to reiterate that the survey had very few nonverbal people taking it, so this data is not going to be all possibly not even most, nonspeaking people’s option on defining those terms. Next The N Plus section on the graph includes the N and T groups as well as other responders who marked themself with more than just the Nonverbal role. That said it seems that the greater community tends to lean towards the “Someone who has periods or is always not able to speak and/or can't speak well” option, and well quite a few nonverbal autistics agree, there’s a group especially among those who only consider themselves nonverbal who prefer defining it as those who always can’t speak fully ever. This matches with trends i’ve personally seen in the nonverbal tags of nonverbal people preferring definitions that centre on the lack of verbalness, even completely or most of the time vs speaking autistics using more broader terms, but again with such a lack of nonspeaking people involved there is no solid reliability to the data.

SemiVerbal / SemiSpeaking

[image id: a multiple bar graph showcasing the correlation between how respondents self identified vs how they define Semiverbal. Going from top to bottom is Partly All with 8 from Semiverbal Only plus 7 Semiverbal and Temp and 10 from Semiverbal Plus, Next is Inbetween with 24 from Semiverbal Only and 42 from Semiverbal and Temp plus 53 from Semiverbal Plus, Lose Speech has 5 from Semiverbal Only plus 6 from Semiverbal and Temp and 8 from Semiverbal Plus,All Above with 2 from both Semiverbal and Temp plus Semiverbal Only, Context-Based with no responses, and finally Other with 1 from Semiverbal Only plus 2 from Semiverbal and Temp and 3 from Semiverbal Plus. end id]

Like The Nonverbal Section, The S Plus section on the graph includes the S and T groups as well as other responders who marked themself with more than just the Semiverbal role. Otherwise, from this graph we see an overall trend of including anybody “between nonverbal and verbal” regardless of how the respondents identified themself. There also seems to be less of a disconnect between those who are semiverbal vs the greater community when compared to the results of Nonverbal, although whether that is a bias of the survey or a general trend is hard to tell. Most respondents who chose Other seem to have given either an all of the above answer (which I might have manually included???) or mentioned a definition using the idea of always struggling with speech but at different levels.

Further Notes

One thing I really wish I had done was involve more nonverbal and semiverbal people in the whole process of making this, i think looking back there’s definitely moments were you could tell this was made by a speaking autistic and I really didn’t do nearly enough to include and uplift the voices of those who this survey was literally about. In a similar vein I forgot about pretty much every non-autistic community who uses these terms, but also didn’t make it clear enough that it was unintentional, leaving not only countless voices unheard but accidentally ostracising those whose voices are equally as important as what this survey managed to cover.

Alongside that I was very unclear in what some questions meant to the point even future-me wasn’t sure what the data was for, plus I bit off much more than I could chew, making for a messy at best survey experience. As such survey taker’s might notice not every question was given space here, and that is simply because I couldn't process the data in a timely manner.

I did however let people opt-in to sharing further notes about how they use these terms and will share some of those under the read more with no individual commentary so as to let people speak fully for themselves:

There is a gap in the language available to describe autistic difficulties with speech. Verbal should describe the ability to use language, written or spoken, but in the context of neurodivergency almost always describes speech only. Non-speaking would be a more appropriate term and would free up nonverbal as a term for autistics who struggle with written and spoken English (as in syntax or language in general, not spelling). This has been talked about in high support need circles but is not mainstream.

I think we should look to the wheelchair users for language design, specifically the differences with the language around full time wheelchair user and ambulatory/part time wheelchair user

i wish mostly speaking people would find other ways of explaining their experiences without using nonverbal/nonspeaking people's language. we already have a much harder time communicating and when our language is taken or used in different ways that makes people confused about the meaning and they assume that the experience of mostly speaking people is the same as mostly or fully nonverbal/nonspeaking people. when actually the overall experience is very different

I am not sure exactly where I fit within being verbal but losing speech and struggling to speak almost always, or if I am semiverbal. I think the lines between all of these terms can be blurry, but I think it's bad how verbal autistics who lose speech occasionally (and often talk about being able to push through this and force themselves to speak - which is how I feel almost all the time) have taken these terms which makes it very hard to find content from people whose experiences with speech are similar to mine or who are nonverbal. I think it's connected to how in general lower support needs autistics take most of the space in the autistic community and it can feel isolating for people like me who are higher support needs.

And well this survey was about English specifically, I want to share what this survey respondent said about how the terms work in their language and how that affects their usage of these terms:

third of all: the alternatives to that, such as "losing speech", "having verbal shutdown", or "going mute"... simply do not work in some languages. and as proof, let me show you my beautiful native language, that being ukrainian!

"losing speech" = our word for speech equals our word for talk. when losing speech, i CAN talk - but not by using my voice.

"verbal shutdown" = our word for shutdown is not being used in the same way as in english and there is no good alternatives.

"going mute" = our word for mute has a very long and complicated and problematic history, and is not something most people would be comfortable saying!

so, that means that i am left with absolutely no phrases to use in my language - because the only one, that being "going/becoming non-verbal" which is translatable and has the same meaning - is not an option anymore.

#survey #neurodivergent #actually neurodivergent #actually autistic #long post #cw long post #emri.exe #i'm still not certain if this is actually legible as one long ass Tumblr post #and not a reblog chain but that was much harder mechanically to make in advance :/

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raven-at-the-writing-desk · 1 year

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do u ever wonder why malleus is the only person who has holes in their ceremony robes and not any beaskind students ( which are probably over 200) and not even leona who's a prince (albeit second)

Also Jack states in Deuces' robes vignette that it's really hard for him to put his ears in the hood. He has the biggest ears of the the 3 so it must be even more uncomfortable.

I wonder if this is a sign that human society presses on the beastmen’s comfort and accessibility kinda like what they did with women's jean giving no pockets so they'd have to buy purses. Also if this subtly is implied there,is there a chance they would expand more on that narrative?

***Content warning!!: I briefly mention microaggressions during this discussion.***

I’ve never wondered why Malleus is the only person with holes his the hood because an explanation was provided for it (in his ceremonial robes vignettes). When Leona comes to return the clothing (due to the laundromat’s mix-up), Lilia states that Malleus had his robes specially tailored to accommodate for his horns. This means that had Malleus not gone out of his way to have that alteration made, he would have had a hood that looked like everyone else’s. It doesn’t seem to be a race or a prince privilege thing; it’s a personal decision on Malleus’s part. Please view the following screenshots (taken from EN; JP says something similar):

I’m not sure where you’re getting the 200+ beastmen students figure from? I’d be interested in seeing the math/lore on that! 🤔 It’s stated in Ace’s ceremonial robes vignettes, Endless Halloween Night, and the TWST light novel adaptation that there’s around 800 students (give or take) enrolled at NRC (a number which aligns with the figures of many real life private British boarding schools). The vast majority of those students appear to be human (which is also reflected in our main cast being mostly humans). Many generic NPCs or mob students also appear to be human, so it can be assumed that humans are the most prevalent race in their world (though, of course, demographics will vary by country; ie there are more merpeople in the Coral Sea than there are humans). Beastmen seem to be concentrated in Savanaclaw (likely due to ease for the devs/game limitations), but the manga adaptation and a line dropped by Riddle in Lyreless Lyre (the second Beans Day event) tells us that the other dorms (like Heartslabyul) likely also have beastmen in their ranks. This makes it difficult to calculate how many beastmen there are total of the NRC student population.

While there doesn’t appear to be inherent discrimination of beastmen in particular, this does seem to indicate that the ceremonial robes were designed with humans in mind, not other races (some kinds of fae, beastmen, anyone that has additional features which may not fit comfortable due to the hood, etc). This is a strange observation, because we see in practically every outfit of Savanaclaw’s that accommodations can and have been made to suit their differing physical traits. For example, beastmen wear pants with a zipper that can be adjusted for their tails to poke through; note that there is a difference in how Jack, Ruggie, and Leona’s tails present. (The image below is taken from my copy of the Magical Archives book.)

Accommodations have also been made for other characters whose physical traits cannot work well with usual fits; for example, Malleus often has hats of a slightly different design than the other characters’ to make space for his horns. In the case of hats, it seems like beastmen are able to usually hide their ears in the hat given that there is ample space, such as in their Masterchef and Halloween cards. There doesn’t seem to be comments about discomfort in these cases (and for Masterchef specifically, keeping fur out of food is probably for the best). However, we do have Ruggie’s Masquerade card, which definitely demonstrates that holes can be made in hats to accommodate for their ears.

So these alterations and similar ones are clearly possible (and even feature in dorm uniforms, such as Savanaclaw’s). Why aren’t there variations of the ceremonial robes that would allow more comfort for some of NRC’s non-human students??? I don’t think anyone has a clear answer for that quite yet 💦

I think there’s probably some practical (but still sort of dumb) purpose for it that probably hasn’t been explained yet?? It’s a common joke in the fandom that Crowley is cheap and wastes money on silly things (being a frivolous crow and all), so maybe he went with the human model for the ceremonial robes and left any desired tailoring/alterations for the students themselves to pay out of pocket?? This would save the school on some costs, but it still doesn’t fully explain why students that feel discomfort in wearing the hood (ie Jack) wouldn’t have it changed… I guess maybe because they so rarely wear the ceremonial robes that, in the eyes of most students, it doesn’t warrant shelling out money to have the robes altered?? (I don’t know why Leona’s hood isn’t the same as Malleus’s though; he definitely has the money for it and he could just as easily have told Ruggie to run the clothes to a tailor for him if he was too lazy to do it himself.)

A friend of mine has suggested that NRC loans the ceremonial robes out and went with a human model at different sizes when designing the hoods since that would best fit the majority of its student body. All humans, all merpeople (they have humanoid bodies on land), and some fae like Lilia would be fine with said hoods, so I’d imagine that this accounts for most of the students. Additionally, my friend argued that the (loaned) ceremonial robes would mean that NRC usually wouldn’t allow for drastic modifications because it means it may not be suitable for the next student that receives the robes (and NRC isn’t willing to keep making so many new robes every year). Maybe Malleus was just the exception due to his power and/or status, or both. Again, this would fall under the “Crowley wanted to save money” family of explanations 😂 (as well as the also common “Crowley sucks up to money and power” explanation—)

Using the “average” individual to base one’s plans and designs on certainly doesn’t come without its challenges or deviations from the average. However, this is often the standard used for many things, not just clothing. Many scientific tests and scales exist only because there is an average to be compared to. There’s nothing wrong with that; it may come off as selfish or not accounting for all cases, but it’s unfortunately what is most practical and convenient in a business sense.

ADDENDUM: This is a slightly different situation than the dorm uniforms, which have been stated that alterations are allowed; it is a privilege specifically for dorm leaders. It seems that school uniforms may also be modified to a slight degree, as there is clear variation in how the cast wears theirs. While it may sound arbitrary, I wouldn’t be surprised if an old fashioned private school like NRC has weird and inconsistent traditions for the various uniforms, allowing for more freedom in some areas and less in others, such as their apparently all important and famous ceremonial robes. Weirdly enough, it seems the robes are what is the fit that is most iconic about NRC; Leona’s sister-in-law wants to see pictures of him in it and Ruggie mentions just how famous the robes are to the public. Please note that the other uniforms are worn much more often than the robes are, while the robes are reserved for mainly special ceremonies. This may explain why the rules seem to be much more strict concerning the robes than other uniforms, to preserve the traditions of NRC. At most, they’d offer different robe sizes but not usually changes which would alter the physical design of the robes or fabric (which, as we see in Leona’s Ceremonial Robes groovy, is the case with Malleus’s robes; again, an exception may have been made here due to power/status).

Of course, this is all only speculation! It would be nice if the game actually told us why the robes are specifically different than the other clothes. Having said all of that, I don’t know if it’s fair to point at one outfit out of several and say that it could imply limited accessibility for beastmen 😅 A lot of their other outfits (even those provided by the same institution) seem to tell the opposite story. It’s just weird how ceremonial robes is the one glaring exception to that. It’s even weirder that we never got an explanation for why it’s only the ceremonial robes that are like this (though I guess it’s not like that part of the lore is super important in the grand scheme of things).

While it’s true that microaggressions can occur and are insidious in that they are subtle in nature (and thus difficult to detect and easy to go over people’s heads), I don’t see enough of this clothing issue to the point where it’s a systemic and normalized problem. We don’t have a lot of knowledge on human-beastman relations in TWST canon, and I’d rather not jump to conclusions when there’s not enough evidence to come to one. If anything, I think the narrative will try to elaborate on the tensions between humans and fairies (which has been references many times, sometimes with mentions of war), not humans and beastmen. We do have that upcoming Sunset Savanna event so maybe that’s a chance for us to learn more about beastmen (or at least the royal family??) and what their relations with other races are like.

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verminfang · 10 months

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Had a dream last night featuring two extremely fucking lame super villains.

The first was a hulking rock monster man who backed down and turned into a regular guy the second a weapon was pointed at him, admitting that his rock form came with no added durability and that while looking rock like it was just as vulnerable as his human flesh.

The second was someone who just was, kind of normal? Their power was apparently looking like a slightly less attractive version of the most attractive person in the room, for unclear reasons this was person on a safety poster that happened to be in the room.

I love them.

Because they suck so much.

Weirdly I can very much see them as parahumans because they both have a very obvious trigger logic to them. The first being a changer with a crisis of identity when an indomitable tough guy bully image was destroyed by someone standing up to him and the second easy to see as a Stranger\Changer desperately aping someone they idolized and failing to measure up. Given they could copy people not physically there I feel like a parasocial focus on a beauty blogger or celebrity feels right for that.

Naming the first Grotesque after gargoyles, made of stone and meant to ward off things with their scary image. I think the thrust of his power is he can change back and forth from dude to rock monster form very quickly (probably mirroring the speed of his pedestal toppling once his image was destroyed) and that the deal with the hulking form is he changes size but not mass, he's lighter and more vulnerable as the changer form. Clearly it's mostly an intimidation thing so I like the idea of it coming with a mild fear aura that builds in intensity the longer he can go without losing status. Getting hit resets both the fear ticker and tends to make him reflexively turn back due to the pain and forms fragility.

In practice his best bet is to play the glowering enforcer, build up his groups status as a totem during a meeting or as a prelude to a fight breaking out hopefully enough that once things do break down nobodies going for the paper tiger. The irony of course being that brutes and giant killer capes always go after the big threatening brute calling that attention.

Other mildly interesting power interactions is funnily playing into the name I think his rock forms long limbs and lightness would make it great at climbing and clinging to things. Once he's actually in the thick of a fight one of the better ways to utilize the power would be to rapidly keep form switching to fuck with expectations of reach and where to aim hits on him and maybe even use the weight shift to his advantage. I think in practice he rarely does this because he either doesn't want to lose the fear aura he's been building by changing or he's too hyper aware of how weak his rock form is.

Ersatz as I'm calling the second is kind of interesting. The most attractive person, or most attractive image of a person, in their vicinity is someone they can change into, clothes included. With the caveat that they don't actually look like them, a slightly less attractive knockoff. By no means ugly but you'd be more likely to call them the second most attractive person in the room and wouldn't confuse them with their target.

I think much like a lot of parahuman powers this is very much a thing of the Agent deciding what that means, likely it would be who Ersatz believes to be most attractive and less attractive is also down to their own biases of what creates the imperfection. The main use case of their power is obviously infiltration, but not quite imitation. It's easy for them to slide into a family gathering as someone who can easily pass for a cousin or sibling, blend into other demographic based gatherings by bearing a resemblance to someone who fits in.

I think if they can take a form and 'hold' it they can easily be a very successful honey pot or femme fatale, looking only slightly less attractive than some knockout they found online is still useful and of course the big benefit to any of their infiltrations is the second you lose sight of them they can be a whole new person with a different crowd or an online image search.

In the same way I gave Grotesque the fear aura though I do think they need just a little more pizzazz to distance themself from say, being a slightly faster but less hot Oliver. I think in line with the vague trigger of overly investing themselves trying to become like an idol and failing I like the idea that if they can get possessions owned by someone their imitating, possessing them gives them access to lesser imitations of that person's skills. Giving them more of a reason to copy people actively around them or go full celebrity stalker.

#wildbow #parahumans #worm #ward #wormblr #famously people love to hear about peoples dreams

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archive2394934 · 1 year

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Alright so HENRY CREEL FANDOM and anyone in the Stranger Things fandom who is able to possess any semblance of critical thought and dare I say media literacy, this is a big analysis post thing I made on Henry back after the ending of S4 when I decided to start writing him. I decided to repost it as since then I've made some updates to it. And also the fandom is always in need of a refresher on these things lately. Straight to the point I do not interpret Henry as a remorseless psychopath and I don't believe this was canons intention one bit. He is not “pure evil” and he was not “born evil.” To me it is quite clear that a lot of themes in Stranger Things are allegories for, and are very much metaphoric to metal illness and neurodiversity, most particularly a lot of themes in Stranger Things touch on the the demonization of and abuse toward people with mental illness and neurodiverse individuals. Please keep in mind Stranger Things is a period piece that is taking place from the 50s through to the 80s and EARLY 90s. This was a time period particularly in AMERICAN HISTORY that was not known for its kindness toward minority demographics and just as it was difficult to be lgbt+ or a poc, for example, in these times, it was also very difficult to exist as a ND or mentally ill person without experiencing oppression, horrific abuse, exploitation and demonization. Please do yourselves a favor and look into abuse toward the mentally ill, ND and treatment of people with autism in particular historically. Also start to listen to and support Autistic people as well, maybe, that’d be great.

GENERAL: Ultimately, to me Henry is on the autism spectrum. The coding in his character is VERY explicit and he resonated heavily with me as an autistic person myself, who has experienced similar things as Henry and was labeled the same way from the same figures as a child. Henry has literally described himself as autistic without using the word autistic. Henry is very high functioning but none the less he was labelled as “broken” by his doctors and teachers because he was born in the 40s and was a young boy in the 50s where this stuff was not understood or recognized ( and we are still fighting to raise awareness decades later. ) Theres a few other factors floating around that make this story true to the horror genre and further add to the metaphorical side of things ( Henry’s psychic powers, the idea the Creels were living in a haunted house, the concept of demonic possession, etc ) but bringing things down to basics Henry was a high functioning autistic boy living in a time period where kindness and understanding toward his neurodiversity was not a thing and he suffered tremendously for it. People will debate whether or not Henry was abused or neglected by his parents but its absolutely clear that he was. In both flashbacks from him and Victor, Henry is shown as isolated. The character himself laments on being "alone" and makes claims that his family were not the good people they pretended to be. He relates to spiders as a child because people approach them with contempt and disgust, as little Henry felt this was the same for him. There is a reason a CHILD felt this way. Henry's mother had put in motion a plan to institutionalize Henry simply because he was "different." Different is not code here for ASPD, its code here for neurodiversity, most likely autism, again given Henry's OWN descriptions of himself and his feelings/thoughts on the world. Henry also claims he related to El because of the fact that she was bullied and ostracized. Other children thought of her as "Stupid and Clumsy." She was constantly shown as isolated from the other children around her and it was clear that they did not care much for her company. ( El is also a heavily autistic coded character and this has been a topic of conversation in the ST fandom forever ) Henry is not an unreliable narrator here because nothing he says is ever contradicted anywhere by canon. Instead its all completely supported by the things we’re shown in canon from not just his POV but from the other character’s POVs as well. After coming to live in Hawkins, Henry discovered he had unlocked the ability to read minds. He then discovered his mother hated him and he discovered she planned to have him committed, where he would be taken away by a Doctor ( Dr. Brenner ) and “fixed.” Virginia Creel was essentially an Autism Mom TM and explicitly wanted to “cure” Henry, something she had already put into motion by the time of her murder. This was a secret she had been keeping from him and this was the final trigger for Henry’s murderous rampage. He practiced using his psionic powers on small animals and prepared to kill his mother and escape from his family to avoid the horrors of institutionalization within a “psychiatric hospital,” as had been planned for him. He did not do that for fun or because he liked killing people.

This perfectly explains why Dr Brenner knew Henry existed. Keep in mind, again this is the late 50s. Virginia was an upper-middle class house wife. Her duty and image as a loving mother and wife would have been held in the highest esteem. If she was someone who secretly despised one of her children ━ not only is this particularly shitty for Henry as the child she disliked to discover this ━ but it does in fact make her a hypocrite as someone who would pretend otherwise to fit societies mold of “normal” and “perfect.” Its also been heavily suggested the Virginia Creel was a cheat, and Alice possibly isn’t even Victor’s child. In the News paper article detailing the Creel murders, Alice’s birthdate is listed as 1944. This is a year before the end of the war, before Victor returned home. Virginia has also been associated with bathtub symbolism and often draws parallels to Karen Wheeler. Bathtubs often symbolize infidelity, and immoral thoughts. And we all know that Karen was planning to hook up with Billy. This is detailed more by @wheelercore�� ( who makes excellent posts btw go look at 'em. )

Henry used his powers to “torment” his family by “showing” them their “real” selves. He was attempting to force them to recognize they were not “normal” or “perfect” like they pretended. I don't think the motive here is hard to imagine given Henry was being shunned by others because he was "abnormal" and was clearly suffering psychological distress and self-loathing over this. This was his attempt to make his family see themselves and thus accept him more so Henry didn’t even resort directly to murder. Prior to the murders, Henry was nothing but a lonely, innocent child. He was unfairly judged as “broken” and “wrong” by his family members who themselves were actually not the ‘perfect’, ‘faultless’ people they pretended to be, hence his accusations of hypocrisy toward them, claiming that they were broken NOT him. Henry was born different and try as he might he couldn’t change what made him “different.” Henry struggled hiding his differences, something which was expected of him, so he grew disgusted by people like his parents and sister who were so obsessed with perfection, conformity and this false notion of “normality,” particularly as they themselves didn’t even fit the mold they were trying to project to the world and to force on Henry. After his attempt to escape failed, Henry would spend the next 20 years of his life kidnapped, wrongfully imprisoned and suffering various kinds of abuse, exploitation and dehumanization at the hands of Dr. Brenner’s project. Henry was as much a victim as anyone else in this situation. We are made aware of the fact that he was often tortured and essentially functioned as a slave to the facility. Henry, by his own admission, suffered a life of fear and cruelty.

ALICE CREEL: I'm adding this because I can't decide if all the extreme inconsistences surrounding Alice mean something in canon or if it was just laziness on the Duffer Brother's behalf but for now: Alice was 15 years old. ( Despite being portrayed by a much younger actress and thus appearing to have been the same age as Henry if not younger. A really weird inconsistency. ) Her date of birth is given on the news paper clipping and she would have been 15 accordingly, 3 years older than Henry, making her Henry's OLDER sister, and again, canon has seemingly suggested Alice might have been the product of an affair given Victor claims he had only been home from the War for 14 years. Moreover, in the original script there was more emphasis on Victor's neglect and Henry's discomfort with the fact that his father "always lies to himself." In the canon, Vecna refers to Victor as "blind and dumb." This all points to something more “personal” going on in the Creel house than just Victor believing in "demons". But on that note, even Victor believed the "demonic presence" in the house was "punishing them for their sins." Strange that he would think that way if this was a totally normal and innocent family. What sins is he referring to here? Clearly something else was going on with the Creel family. Anyway, back to Alice. I imagine Henry and her to have had a relationship best described as an inverted parallel to Will and Jonathan. Where Jonathan was supportive of nurturing toward Will, Alice was scornful and neglectful of Henry. She viewed him as a burden due to his "differences", which she considered where just him being difficult and a "freak." She was very much a normal teenaged girl in the 50s who largely kept her personal life a secret from her parents in case of disapproval. Henry tormented Alice the least of his three family members because he simply didn't understand Alice's fears, insecurities or secrets well enough to prey on them on a personal level. A similar thing could be said of his mother, as Henry's "torment" toward both his mother and sister appears to be very much in the vein of only making them “see” general phobias like bugs and spiders, thus and not near as personal or potent as the torment his father received thanks to his PTSD and guilt from his actions in the war. I'm hoping we'll see more Alice in season 5 to understand more about her and her possible dynamic with Henry.

THE MINDFLAYER: To me, and I’m very sure this was what canon was suggesting, the entity we know as the Mindflayer was actual the “demonic presence” that emerged within the Creel house and Henry has really just been a scapegoat and a medium for this thing to connect with Hawkins. Stay with me here. The Mindflayer exists within another dimension, but the barrier between the human world and the Mindflayer’s dimension is thin around some places in Hawkins, which is why all this bullshit is going on in Hawkins in the first place. This is a canonlogical fact. The Upside Down and Hawkins are connected and this was true before Henry was sent there and before Will Byers was taken by the Demogorgon. There is a reason the Lab where Brenner was doing his experiments exists in the small ass-backward town of Hawkins. From what we can gather the Creel house happened to sit a top of one of the places where the barrier was thin. Canon seems to show that Henry was particularly sensitive to and susceptible to the presence and influence of the Mindflayer due to his psychic abilities. Henry once believed that he was the demon in the Creel house, but this isn’t entirely the case. Henry was the medium. This also explains why Henry's powers only became so strong and continued to multiply when he came to live in Hawkins, another canon fact.

We know that the Mindflayer is a malevolent force that amplifies feelings of sadness and anger, which are the emotions that it feeds on. Henry couldn’t have been a more perfect target because he was a sad child, a child who was ostracized from other children and found it difficult to fit in with others and was constantly being made to feel as if he was wrong/bad/at fault. This takes a psychological toll on a child and almost always leads them to acting out, even without the existence of them having insane psychic powers. Henry’s negative emotions however were amplified by the presence of the Mindflayer, which in turn amplified Henry’s powers.

Once again, this is why Henry’s abilities became so strong once he and his family had settled into their new home in Hawkins. This is what drove Henry to look into his families minds and find their “darkest secrets.” He wasn’t a twisted little demon who was just sick like that, Henry is shown actually as a sad and lonely kid. His spirits only brightened a little when he found some spiders inside a vent inside the house as he recounts he has a love of spiders and they brought him comfort in a very stressful time in his life.

Henry then spent most of his time illustrating the spiders while his family fretted over the “evil presence” in the house, which used Henry’s powers to manifest itself. There is a lot of evidence in cannon to point to this being true. There is a scene in Victor’s flashback which shows Henry drawing with his crayons in the living room of the house when the lights around him begin to behave strangely, causing Henry to look confused and concerned. This was not Henry’s doing and it calls back to scenes in season 1 when something in the upside down is trying to get through to our world. Furthermore, when Henry draws an image of the Mindflayer he uses charcoal in order to accurately depict the creature as true to life. How would Henry know the Mindflayer was cloud-like and made up of particles if this was just something out of his imagination and nothing more? There is so much more going on here and the clues are everywhere.

There is also the fact that a 12 year old boy in 1959 learned to, essentially, suck the “souls” out of his “victims.” Like. How? Which brings me to something else. While Henry’s method of killing does seem to be demonically influenced, it makes sense to me that a child like Henry would seem to reason this as a “valid” way to commit a murder. If he is able to basically “keep” his victims in some way, linking their souls to himself and thus giving them some type of immortality, it would serve to ease his guilt somewhat in the fact that he hasn’t completely killed them in the first place. This seems to be the case as Henry explained to Eleven after the lab massacre that the other numbers he "killed" weren't really gone.

Furthermore we know the Duffer brothers took nearly direct reference from entities such as IT/deadlights, the Thing and possibly DnD’s Elder brain to create the Mindflayer ( look it up ). These creatures are all very thematically similar to the Mindflayer we see in the show. The thing is a monstrous cosmic mass that assimilates other creatures into itself. Its “original” form was spider-like. IT/Deadlights is an eldritch form of energy that eats the souls and flesh of its victims ( It also takes a spider-like form ), and the DnD’s Elder brain is a evil psychic entity that guides its community ( the mindflayers ) toward world domination. ( Its depicted as a huge brain that uses long black vine/tentacles to attack ) Its suggested here that the MF may have preyed on Henry’s love of spiders to make itself more friendly and appealing to him.

Vecna, on the other hand is a character that takes direct reference from Pinhead, DnD Vecna, Freddy Kruger and possibly Henry Bowers if his human name is anything to go on. Pinhead, Freddy, DnD Vecna and Henry Bowers are all characters who “serve” malevolent gods/entities in their referenced canons and in the case of Freddy, DnD Vecna and Pinhead, all of them got their powers from said entity. With Pinhead its the Levithan. ( An abstract ancient entity that resides within "hell" and guides the Cenobites through dreams and visions ) With Freddy its the "Dream Demons" ( Demonic entities that thrive on nightmares and have a goal of merging the dream world and waking world ) and with DnD Vecna its The Serpent ( a mysterious godlike entity of unimaginable power that has a close relationship with Vecna ) What inspo came from each of these characters in creating Vecna is extremely clear. Pinhead was claimed to be the biggest inspo used to create Vecna. He was a human who was severely traumatized and disillusioned from humanity and "god" by ww1. Pinhead chooses to serve the Levithan because of this. This is clearly referenced in Victor Creel, and Henry being traumatized by seeing his father’s memories of ww2. Freddy was a human who became a monster with the ability to trap his victims within dreams with phantasmagoria and kill them. This is the inspiration for Vecna’s curse. ( Note, I also mentioned the Dream demons goal was to merge the dream and waking world. Like, come on. ) DnD Vecna was once a human, noted to have had a VERY cruel mother, claimed to have been be an evil woman who consorted with monsters, who's cruelty shaped Vecna into who he is in the DnD lore. As a human he somehow rose to become one of the greatest sorcerers ever known ( presumably through his pact with The Serpent ━ theorized to be an alias of the demon-god Asmodeus by some ) and in death eventually reached demi-god status as a lich. Well the inspo once again here is clear. Dustin described Vecna as Mindflayer’s 5 star general for a reason. He has never been wrong before, why are we so confident he's suddenly wrong now? Why would these themes be continually repeated in Vecna's conception and creation if they aren't somehow relevant to the character? Further, the vines ( The Mindflayer’s physical vehicles ) were shown to behave the same way as they always have before Henry was even in the Upside Down. He cant be the one actually controlling them, at least not all the time, which means there is something else highly intelligent, evil and highly powerful working along side him. Henry claims the Mindflayer made him Vecna and in the original script this was suppose to be more explicit, with the Vines having a big part in Henry’s terrifying transformation. The original script details Henry being assailed by supernatural jolts of lighting, which rip off his clothes and burn his skin, followed by the "Vines", which began to similarly attack and transform him into Vecna. What creature do we know who's body looks just like a storm cloud, thundering with the same red lighting we saw "transforming" Henry? What creature do we know has been in the Upside Down before Henry and thus the only one who could be controlling the "Vines"? The Mindflayer. Now is it possible that this is somehow inverted in Season 5 and Henry is just the guy behind it all? Sure, maybe. But with everything we've already seen in canon this would leave a big plot hole for how any of that shit was happening before Henry's arrival in the Upside Down. It seems as if Henry is actually a medium for the Mindflayer to act, and a TOOL FOR IT, rather than the other way around. Until season 5 shows otherwise ( And I don’t think its going to ) this is something that really needs to be considered more in discussions about this character whether he is liked or not.

THE LAB MASSCARE: There are many reasons for why Henry killed the other test subjects in the lab. This doesn’t just come in one shade. Survival is the leading one, but behind this we have the fact that Henry only learned to harness his powers through sadness and anger, two emotions that can be very intoxicating, even when utilized by someone who doesn’t have a life of lived trauma and oppression behind them like Henry does. We also have the fact that Henry saw the other children as enemies, given they viciously bullied Eleven for no good reason and he saw his own childhood of ostracization and bulling in their interactions with her, which was clearly upsetting to him. Ultimately, Henry killed them because he could not save them and because if he left them alive they would only be used as weapons against him and Eleven. The children in the lab were not allies to him and Eleven, many were extensively brainwashed by Brenner and he was not wrong in believing this. Many of them would do anything to please “Papa,” this including beating and abusing Eleven with glee, possibly to the point of being willing to kill her, and thus would easily include using their remote location abilities to track Henry and Eleven down if they escaped. It was a worse outcome to leave the other subjects alive than it was to kill them. This is justifiable/excusable homicide, not cold blooded murder for fun.

DR. BRENNER: Henry’s mercy on Brenner was mostly vindictive. He wanted Benner to live knowing he had taken everything away from him, that he was powerless and that he lost all the control and oppression he had cruelly lauded over Henry’s head for most of his life. It was really a power move because ultimately Henry’s relationship with Brenner was/is a deeply fucked up one due to years of psychological and physical abuse and torture. Ultimately, he wanted Brenner to live and witness his escape, witness the loss of everything he had tried to build for years and witness everything else Henry would come to do free of Brenner’s imprisonment. Vecna’s motives for for continuing to leave Dr. Brenner alive are very much the same.

HENRY AND VECNA: Simply put Vecna is Henry but Henry is not Vecna. Vecna is the result of Henry’s “death,” as much as he is the result of Henry’s “connection” with the Mindflayer entity. As previously discussed, it seems the Mindflayer entity was always a malevolent force that amplifies and feeds on feelings of sadness and anger. This is why Vecna is so warped, both physically and spiritually. This is why Max explains that Vecna can’t see anything within people but hate and darkness. This connection with the Mindflayer changed him on a metaphysical level. Henry’s body was mutated by the unique constitution of the upside down and his merger with this entity to become the wickedly powerful creature that is been dubbed “Vecna” by the hellfire kids. By all logic, Henry should have died after he entered the Upside Down, not just by the multiple lightening strikes he apparently suffered ( Note again these strikes of lightning were of a supernatural nature, they are further manifestations of the MF but still, they were not fucking around ) that horrifically wounded him to the point of deformity, but also the fact he had to have fallen from a couple hundred feet at least. Somehow he didn’t die. There is no logical explanation as to why “Vecna” is or would actually be “alive” in a normal sense given what we were shown in canon. But we have seen that the Mindflayer has the ability to reanimate creatures that have supposedly died as well as literally create brand new creatures such as the Spider Monster in season 3. ( The Demodogs in the Russian prison are a good example of some type of reanimation. ) Its more likely that Henry did “die” after he was thrown into the Upside Down, whether from the supernatural lightning his body conducted or from hitting the ground from the seemingly endless height he fell from. Its all thanks to the influence of the Mindflayer and his psychic link with it that he was ‘revived’. Meaning he was apparently able to get up and simply wander around the upside down dazed and mesmerized until he found the Mindflayers “physical” body and the two “linked” together. This also explains why “Vecna” was able to take several head-on rounds from a shot gun, all the while being set on fire, and continued to live and function through the whole ordeal, even after falling at least a dozen feet out of a window, to the point that he was able to get up and escape with little effort. There is no logical explanation for any of it other than that Vecna is, in fact, “undead” in some way. In his human life, Henry hoped to use his powers to change the world; to make things better for people like himself. As Vecna he is opting for more brutality and something much darker, likely a lot due to his heavy corruption from the Mindflayer, though he still believes he’s doing this for a good reason, remembering his own goals, which is Henry’s remaining “human” element coming through. Basically, in the story Vecna embodies all three major archetypes in the horror genre. He is the killer, the monster and the ghost. This means he is a vindictive, driven, malevolent creature who is not bound to human mortality but has a hauntingly tragic and human past. Vecna is vengeful and ruthless. He kills with impunity not because he likes killing but because it brings him closer and closer to his “goal” of “reshaping” the world that hated, abused and rejected him. Vecna targets his victims for very specific reasons that allow him to believe these attacks are less murders and more “mercy” killings. The kids Vecna targets are suicidal. Its suggested they are going to commit suicide which is why Vecna steps in and "collects" those particular victims. His motives are for them to join him in getting revenge on the world and society that has given them such pain that they are literally heading toward killing themselves as Vecna relates. Henry on the other hand has a killer instinct, and will kill if he has to, but he is not Vecna and his murders are almost always survival or revenge based. Henry’s goals included more typical anarchy for the sake of political and systematic change; to bring about a better quality of life for oppressed and marginalized individuals like himself. Henry and Kali were the same in this regard and this why I’ll never believe they weren’t connected or that they didn’t have a positive rapport, or that it wasn't extremely likely that Henry played a part in Kali’s escape from the lab. This is at least my personal headcanon and will remain that way until canon tells me otherwise. So far though canon is heavily, heavily suggesting this is true. Basically, Vecna is more a Samara Morgan and Henry is more a Magneto, to put it simply. I also wrote about Vecna's motives here and also about Henry's actions in the lab if thats of any interest.

"A PREDATOR BUT FOR GOOD": Henry’s speech to Eleven and his interest in spiders has resulted in a lot of the fandoms insane misunderstandings about Henry’s character and what his actual motives were and what he actually represents. I’ve been over it in a previous post but to largely quote that post: Henry’s self-label of “solitary” creature and his relation to spiders is not suppose to clue us on to some innate evil within the character. Completely the opposite actually. Henry has spent his life only ever knowing scorn, rejection and exile from others. Whether this exile is imposed on him by others or self-imposed to cope / feel safe, this is a heavy feature in Henry’s life. This single feature made most of the fandom convinced that Henry’s interest in and relation to spiders was scary and proof of “psychopathy”, because they think of spiders as scary, weird things that need to be avoided or eradicated; they're just not viewed as living creatures worthy of respect or sympathy despite the fact they very much are. Its very ironic that people took this away from Henry’s speech as he was actually explaining the opposite. Henry literally says he relates to them because they’re a misunderstood creature, a creature that people hate and only want to exterminate, and that people have always treated him the same way. He takes comfort in being able to relate to something so much and finds them inspiring as a result. He draws strength from them. They made him feel safe and seen. He feels more empowered and less alone when he thinks of them. Unfortunately, a lot of people somehow boiled this down to “Spiders kill things, spiders are scary, spiders are unrelatable, spiders are emotionless so that's what Henry was trying to tell us about himself.” Which all couldn’t be further from the truth. Henry further spoke about the experience and unending stress of anyone who can not conform to societal norms, anyone who couldn’t live up to societies “expectations” and the restrictive, unfair standards of what is good and right vs what isn’t as these standards DO NOT apply to everyone. They are largely unnatural and that it is downright evil to try and enforce them on everyone since it is impossible for everyone to fit into the “mold.” The mold being heavily bias and flawed from the start. He is saying that all this nonsense has been made up by evil, bigoted, stupid people in power. He is talking about the real struggle “othered” people face against societal and systematic oppression.

He’s trying to say that a spider is considered an important part of the natural ecosystem. Spiders fit this ecosystem whether people like it or not and despite their differences they have a valuable role in brining order to the natural world. He’s not saying he wants to murder people because he finds it funny and he’s a sadistic freak; he's ensuring himself he belongs and he’s trying to illustrate that someone with powers like his and Eleven’s would be able to fight and perhaps work toward dismantling the painful, oppressive system that is currently in place and bring about balance. Equality. If he has to eat a couple insects to do it then so be it. He directly specifies he wants to be a predator BUT FOR GOOD and that is what his meaning was. It was intended to be the opposite of a predator being seen as an evil, monstrous thing. Henry straight up specified that he had HEROIC INTENTIONS, at no NO POINT say he was planning to kill innocent people because he thought it was fun and he enjoys killing people. Oppositely he clearly expressed he wanted to fight back against systematic oppression so it really isn't a stretch to think that the people Henry was ever going to be threat toward was bigots and oppressors if he was able to escape the lab in his human form. Kali is literally his counterpart character and the two of them directly reference each other. Vecna, thematically, takes clear inspiration from the goddess Kali of Mythology ( The goddess of time, doomsday, death and change. ) and Kali as a character literally has the same views as Henry expressed in canon. ( Leftist and anarchist ideologies.)

And I'm just saying MAYBE... Maybe the fact that JCB apparently agrees with all this and was in fact trying to put this same shit across in his portrayal of Henry/Vecna is saying something, too, hmm? Just maybe!

#henry creel #vecna #001 #william byers #eleven hopper #jane hopper #billy hargrove #stranger things #stranger things analysis #I don’t want to apologise for Vecna’s murders – I’m not sorry #Old man yells at cloud

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phoenix-is-the-hottest-thing · 1 year

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To me, Proshippers are why I can't safely view tags of kid chars safely without blacklists on any website, not just twitter. I think there's a reason why Lolicons (pedophiles in the strict definition) associate with Proshippers

I think you're conflating wildly different demographics that sometimes overlap but are not equivalent. I mean, it makes sense right, of course lolicons would rather flock towards people who have a principle of ignoring what they hate instead of harassing others???? They just get blocked/ignored/etc that way.

Also from what you've sent to other people's inbox (assuming you're the one sending warnings about me to others) your issue isn't that I post such content, which I don't, but that I reblog posts "famous" "problematic" people have chimed in on about (people that I've never heard about, that roach person is news to me?? I didn't even reblog from them???). Even if I had said "I'm a proshipper", don't you think you're stretching the legitimacy of your mental association a little too far?

(The rest goes under the cut it got way too long. You've made me write that much so please do read all of it.)

One of my issues with your reasoning is that proshippers aren't all writing or drawing children at all. In fact, very few are, at least that I've seen float by? Claiming that a subset of a group is all of them is not honest, not to mention proshipping by itself, as I understand it, has little to do with being into anything taboo in the first place. It's just about staying in your own lane. Not everything proship is lolicon, there's plenty of other stuff and reducing it to that means you're talking about lolicons, not proshippers. Wrong cause for your woes, and uncomfortably reminiscent of those people claiming all gays are pedophiles. I'm queer so,, very uncomfortable assumption to make anon.

Reading your ask tho, I do getcha. Pixiv in particular has seared my eyeballs, I getcha and I've got my own additional things I cannot handle, which I will not be expanding upon because it's my own damn business and I don't want angry people sending it to me in my inbox. I assume you're the one who's been "warning" people against me, you may be polite now, but you have not shown that you are worthy of trust. Sorry anon but I cannot believe that you will be respectful to me and as such I have to take steps to protect myself instead of being completely open. Will be referred to as [REDACTED] if relevant.

So yes I understand being grossed out or shaken by content you think is disgusting, whether it's a trigger or just distaste, and you'll have to believe me on that.

At least we have our blacklist, so once it's set up, if our content moderation is working properly, we never have to think of it again. Maybe just to add some extra stuff sometimes. That's already pretty damn good? Coz that isn't a given, and it certainly wasn't a thing when I was a child. In the past I just went "oh uh oh yeah I'm losing my marbles about this time to get a hug from mom".

I'm sorry anon, we cannot control what others do, and attempting to do so is a fruitless endeavor because there's always more content we'll find off-putting in some kind of way. Even recently, as an adult, when I voluntarily look up adult content for myself by god I find things that make me mad, grossed me out, etc. Both "problematic" and purely personal taste stuff. I understand the feeling. I get angry. But.

People have a lot of imagination and it's just a part of life. We don't know what their inner life is like, we don't know if they're survivors of the worst thing you can think of or if they're just into game of thrones, and it's not our business. I'd rather block a game of thrones enjoyer than be a jerk to a CSA survivor, and I'm sure you feel the same.

At the end of the day, you say it yourself, we just don't want to see whatever they came up with, we just want to safely browse tags for stuff we enjoy.

I believe blacklisting keywords and tagging stuff properly is the only way we'll be left alone properly, because the internet is not a safe place. It's a public place, and mind control isn't a thing. And it would be bad if it was. The world where nobody posts about anything "wrong" is Big Brother's world and that's not the world I want to live in.

Your feelings of anger are valid, but to me it sounds like you don't want to do anything at all and still see only things you want. Unfortunately we are not entitled to the people around us just not posting what's they're allowed to post. Most we can ask for is warnings so we can fit the website to us rather than the people.

I've left a comment on a fic I hated once, not even a rude one, I tried to be very polite, I was saying something like "hey, this is really out there and maybe this isn't the fandom for you if this is what you're into?" and you know what! Someone else in the comments called me a jerk. And they were completely right. I felt deeply ashamed. That kind of behavior is being a jerk, I loathed that content deeply, I should've just blacklisted it and ended it here. I let my anger get the better of me and I shouldn't have done that. So I deleted the comment and I will never do something like that again.

Your anger is valid but you should be journaling or telling your friends about it, not... whatever sending anons to other people about me is. You will never successfully stop everyone from thinking up fucked up pure fiction, because it is a completely legal thing to do no matter how gross. People will just keep doing it for their own private reasons. They'll even do worse things too. The internet is not safe, and it will never be safe so long as people are free to use it.

You live in a society and you have to adapt to it with the tools you can use, so everyone can have a compromise of a happy, if not a safe place.

Block me, block the stuff you hate, keep blacklisting stuff, do as you like but remember a block should be out of sight, out of mind. If it still actively bothers you (in a "active distress" or a "keep thinking about it" way, not in a "I still think the concept's gross" way) after you've stopped seeing it you probably need to see a therapist. That's not normal.

No matter how much I hate the result, drawing and writing stuff is one step above thought crimes and it should be pretty obvious from the name of my most popular fic that I don't think those are legitimate crimes. If I told people into [REDACTED] "hey it bothers me that you do that" I would just be entitled as hell. It's legal to do. Lawyers are willing to fight pro bono about it on ao3. The horny is even stronger than capitalism and there's nothing we can do to make people stop having weird tastes, sexual or otherwise. This is what it comes down to.

If you have friends comfortable with that, you can talk about it with them when you still come across content you hate. Seek comfort.

I do sincerely wish you happiness and peace anon, it just can't come at the price of everyone else's. The blacklist is the compromise I've accepted, and I don't think you can avoid that so long as you're sharing a space with others. This is fundamentally an unsafe public space we can never hope to control, only moderate with tools and polite labeling.

#lemons #...discussed #asks #phoebe rambles

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kagesdumpsterfire · 2 years

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The Winchesters Season 1 Episode 2: Teach Your Children Well

I had to be a good friend last night which meant putting off The Winchesters until this morning, but seriously, everyone refusing to watch it, is MISSING OUT!

SPOILERS AHEAD

Characters

ADA

This is the character I didn't know I needed in the mothership and I'm so glad we have her now.I absolutely adore her. I love a mystic anyway, so she was already on good ground but damn. I love that she is able to get her point across without being agressive about it. Her talk with Millie was such a good moment. The Jasmine vine thing made my heart clench a little.The shadow writing was cool as hell.My only complaint is that there wasn't more of her. I need a whole Ada backstory plotline.

MILLIE

Millie is a hardass, but with good reason. To play devil's advocate, as a mom, I 100% get where she is coming from with John. It's not that she doesn't believe in him, she just doesn't want to lose her son. She already lost her husband ( and btw she's not gonna heal instantly now that she knows Henry didn't just walk out on them. Years of bitter resentment don't wash away over night). Parents make mistakes but a good parent knows when to apologize for them and explain themselves, and Millie is a damn good parent who loves her son(and knows how to tell him so[meaning the Winchester Emotional Constipation comes from John]) I REALLY wish she was around for Sam and DeanI and I am so not looking forward to whatever the hell is going to happen to her.

*also, fuck Abaddon for taking Henry away from them. I know the whole " if she hadn't AB&C wouldn't have happened but still.

LATA

She is so smart. I love that the group has an eager bookworm. I feel bad for her when it comes to her friends both having such...strong...personalities, while she is a pacifist. It seems to me that she often gets caught in the middle of their nonsense and that is never a fun place to be. But she remains loyal and patient and I think that brings such a nice balance to the group. Proud of her for sticking to her guns when Mary shut her down.

CARLOS

Carlos is love, Carlos is life and if they harm one glorious hair on that precious baby's head I will riot. I feel like it's too soon to call Carlos my favorite character, but he is definitely the most relatable to me, I don't know why (says the bisexual latina with a love of all things music) he just is. He has his fun goofy streak but knows when to keep it serious. I love a character who is not afraid to be 100% themselves despite time and environment. He says what is on his mind. He talks to each person in a different manner acording to their personality.He loves what he loves and will defend his beliefs (I also would have given Mary the silent treatment, Cabaret is a fucking masterpiece). And I really do love the free love hippie vibes. I know there was some discourse last week about making the Latin/Bisexual character a promiscuous stereotype, and look, I get it. I do. I think I have quite a good grasp on how both of those demographics have been presented in media and how disappointing it can be. HOWEVER, knowing what I know about the time setting AND how storytelling works, I'm not personally upset by it.

It's the 70s. If you have ever sat down with someone who was young around that time and talked to them about the culture, you will know there is no more explanation needed than that. If you dont have acces to a person then I suggest looking into any media or major events from that time to know what that means

One of them had to be a slutty character. If you look at television and movies (even books) where there is a core group of teens/adults ( young or old) there is always a character who is more promiscuous and/or wild than the others. It's just a basic archetype.

Now, does it suck that it had to be the Latin bisexual? Yeah. Yeah it does. But it wasn't going to be Mary or John, as that would have messed up the story and upset fans quite a bit. It sure as hell wasn't going to be Lata, that doesn't fit her character nor does it fit Ada. That leaves Carlos. I get why people are upset, I'm not going to sit here and say you shouldn't be, but again, me, personally, I'm okay with it. That's that.

MARY

She is definitely her sons' mother. I see all the Dean-coding for sure, but I appreciate the bits of her I see in Sam( which we know Sam learned from Dean so, still heavy Dean-coding.) I still very much get Mary Winchester from her. Stubborn, pushy, badass, acting without thinking, know it all, caring about others, but not to the point it gets in the way of her goal.. The works. I still have my mixed feeling on Mary. I like her, but I resent her. I love that.

JOHN

John JohnJohnnyJohn John. What to say about Sa....I mean John Winchester. Look, I'm not saying he's a bad guy yet. He's not. He's young and bullheaded, but he seems nice enough. I really do see a lot of him in Sam ( mostly the back and forth about the self conciousness and the desprate need for approval without admitting he wants it) , which isn't a bad thing it's just....I see it, okay? I see the John Winchester I know and loathe. And I don't think it's just because of previous bias. It could be but...it's the little things. The way he treated his mother in the beginning, running head first into danger without thinking about the consequences for the people around him, the cockiness. I just can't unsee it. I'm trying, but it's hard, okay?

Story

I really enjoyed this episode. It had both MOW feels while also moving the story along. Those were always some of the best episodes of SPN. I wasn't always of a fan of plain ol' MOWs that had nothing to really move the plot forward, but when they balanced plot and monsters it was always a good time. La Tunda was a good monster (story wise). It gave Latika a chance to flex her contributions to the group with knowledge and I like that the whole "not a shapeshifter" point was there to humble Mary a bit. And the abusive parent story. *chef's kiss*. The show has so far been about two characters finding missing parents and healing from childhood trauma put on them because of those parents. I could go into more detail but it would inevitably lead down a personal patb I don't want to take, but I got a "Face that trauma head on and kill it before it kills you so that you can move on with you journey" vibe. You know? I liked that they used Ada as someone who knew Henry for a catalyst for Millie to start her healing process. Her subtle way of telling Millie that Henry put that vine there to protect them while he was gone was a nice moment. I feel like Ada knows more about the MOL than she lets on, mostly by the way she seems to feel incredibly comfortable with the workings of the chapter house (where they keep their shit for spell casting and such). Seriously cannot wait to know more about her. The moment in the hotel before the core group goes to the comune is great. It added a nice free moment for this group of troubled young folk. The zombie scene was fun and it showed where everyones strengths lie and I'm glad it gave a bit more insight to the dynamic between Carlos and Lata. (Lata trying to put the Zombies it the box was kind a funny to me idk why) Not much on the Akrida but there's still a whole season. That end though! I'm in Camp Rowena with everyone else. It's possible that it's another witch, but I don't think so. The hell hounds were a bit concerning (unless its it's a time traveling Rowena who is already queen of Hell even though it doesn't need to be because she centuries old) because the Gates are still closed but like I said, whole season ahead.

Production

It was great. The monster effects were miles above episode one with the Loup-garou ( a rugaru varient apparently) and honestly I saw no major issuse. The only thing I saw was a slight inconsistency with Mary's hair style shot to shot but that's just being nitpicky. ( Spn had whole ass filming equipment and crew members in shot before so...)

Acting

Already noticing improvements in chemistry. The cast is doing a great job.

Final thoughts

It's safe to say I'm already hooked. This felt like an episode of SPN just with different characters. With the improvements I've seen already from the pilot to episode two, I have hopes that it will only get better from here. It feels so good to have this universe back. Solid 8/10

Will we learn more about the Akrida?

Will Ada get the screen time she deserves?

Who the hell was the hooded figure?

For the love of Chuck and all that is unholy, will someone please address the RDP ( random diner patron) from In The Beginning that I know is most likely just a continuity error but I desperately don't want it to be and its been bothering me for almost an entire DECADE?!?!?!?!

Find out next week on: Kage Rants about The Winchesters To Almost Nobody But Themselves

#the winchesters #tw #the winchesters 1x02 #kage rants #kratwtanbt #spn prequel

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vanilla-cigarillos · 9 months

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Satanism - A Breakdown and History

Satanism is one of the most widely misunderstood religions I’ve ever come across. With our current culture being dominated by Christianity, it’s easy to understand how Satanism has become one of the most demonized (heh) religions out there.

In this post, I’m going to do my best to explain Satanism in a way that represents the true nature of the religion, as well as its history.

TW: Discussion of sexual content, Christianity, bigotry, etc.

*I’m going to do my best to fit as much information into this post as possible, but if I miss anything please please feel welcome to add more!*

What Is Satanism?

Ah yes, the million dollar question. What is Satanism? Well...it sort of depends on who you ask!

Just like Christianity, Satanism isn’t exactly something that can be fitted into a singular box of beliefs and practices. When you look up Satanism on the Internet, you might be met with a definition that looks like this:

Satanism, the worship or veneration of Satan, a figure from Christian belief who is also commonly known as the Devil or Lucifer.

- Britannica

However, if you ask modern Satanists, you’ll find out that many of them don’t even believe in Satan at all! You’ll easily see that many Satanists have personal beliefs that differ widely.

History of Satanism - Understanding Where We Are Now

Biblical texts themselves do not give Satan a backstory. By the 3rd or 4th century, Satan had begun being presented as an angel who had rebelled against God. By (at least) the 4th century, Christians were regularly terming non-Abrahamic traditions as “pagan”, though anyone given this label was rarely connected with Satan.

During the High Middle Ages, it became common for Christians to accuse other groups of actively worshiping the Devil once non-Abrahamic religions were no longer a serious demographical rival. These accusations were made against those in the Jewish faith, as well as Paulicians, Bogomils, Cathari, and Waldenses. It was usually alleged that these groups would worship Satan in rituals that engaged in incestuous sexual orgies, and made human sacrifices (a claim still used by some today).

Saint Wolfgang and the Devil, Michael Pacher

Later on in history, fears of Devil worship were speculated around Freemasonry from the 19th century onwards. In more modern times, the “Satanic panic” spread conspiracy theories about Satanic ritual abuse of children in the 1980s and early 90s. These allegations originated from claims about such abuse from therapists reporting adult patients who had recovered “repressed memories” from their childhood. Said allegations gained massive support and traction from a coalition of Christian groups, social workers, and even aspects of United States and British law enforcement. This cultural panic died down in the early 2000s, however it has recently seen a revival through the conspiracy theories of QAnon in the late 2010s.

Modern Satanism

Modern religious Satanists can broadly be divided into two camps: atheists/rationalists, and supernaturalists. Atheists/Rationalists may see Satan as a figurehead, a symbol of values they wish to emulate. Supernaturalists, on the other hand, view Satan/Lucifer as a being that exists and whom they worship.

Religious Satanism sees much of its origin in the increasingly sympathetic portrayal of Satan in the literary work of Romantic authors during the early 19th century. Satan, in some cases, was portrayed as a heroic rebel who challenged an unfair (almost arbitrary) authority. Through this lens Satan was sometimes adopted as a symbol for anticlerical groups (later on music groups in the 80s and onwards would see this same perspective).

Church of Satan (CoS)

The first major group to express modern religious Satanism was the Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey in 1966. Read my post on organizations to avoid here for the details of why you should NOT support the CoS.

LaVeyan Satanism was formally an atheistic belief system that presented Satan not as a real entity but as a symbol of humanity’s animalistic nature. However, the belief system eventually accepted certain supernaturalist ideas. Specifically it adopted a belief in magic, with LaVeyan Satanists beginning to perform rituals with magical intent. LaVey’s beliefs were informed by right-wing libertarian principles, and he emphasized the idea that Satanists should regard themselves as an “elite set apart from the herd of ordinary humanity”.

The Satanic Temple (TST)

The Satanic Temple offered an alternative interpretation of religious Satanism to that of the Church of Satan. Established in the United States as well, but later in 2012, TST also claims that Satan does not exist however it deviates by rejecting CoS’s libertarian philosophy. Instead, we see The Satanic Temple promoting a more progressive and politically left-leaning ideology.

TST became known for its public stunts in defense of legal abortion access, as well as same-sex marriage. They are known for openly opposing the hegemonic role of Christianity in much of American society. They heavily promote the belief of bodily autonomy, the embrace of compassion, empathy, and rebellion against unjust authority.

Temple of Set

Unlike the other two groups mentioned above, the Temple of Set maintained that Satan as an entity is real. This group maintained that Satan’s “true” identity is Set, a god drawn from the pantheon of ancient Egypt. This shifted the group’s belief system away from Christian origins to modern forms of Paganism.

Conclusion

Satanism is not a “one size fit all” label for a set of beliefs. It encompasses a variety of religious, philosophical, and ideological beliefs that differs per person. As with many things, it’s so important to do your research and decide for yourself what you want to believe in and support.

#satanism #satanist #witch #witchy #pagan #paganism #culture #history #no hate

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gothicprep · 2 years

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i saw some pretty ghastly shit on my dash last night, and i have nothing better to do than to weigh in. but instead of naming names, i'm going to try to toe the line and redact some specifics & paraphrase while trying to represent this as fairly as possible. take my word for it when i say i got my hands dirty enough to get the full picture on this.

person a makes a post that says something to the effect of "it's wrong to e-stalk someone with the express purpose of sexually shaming them for a callout post. if someone is circulating a post that's saying 'this person is into omegaverse? it's that disgusting?', in my opinion, OP is significantly less safe to be around than the subject of the post. most of the time this happens, it's targeting a trans woman, and this is good enough reason to be more critical about this practice"

before i move on here, it's important to point out that this sort of thing happens so often online that it's impossible to look like a statement like that and definitively say it's referencing something specific. i think the most egregious example of this i can think of relating to a callout here is five years back where a nontrivial amount of the post was. like. screenshots of sexually explicit conversations between 14-15 year old users. and that's just tumblr. not even getting into the far slimier versions of this on kiwifarms, 4chan, or if you really want to turn back the clock, encyclopedia dramatica or something awful.

the post makes the rounds and is intercepted by person b, who does some mental calculus and deduces that it was made in reference to a large callout post that was going around. unfortunately i have not been able to dig the post up for the life of me because everyone who's been talking about this situation has been vague about this, but the gist is that it had several people on it an the broader theme was extreme sexual creepiness – race play, noncon, pedophilia, and bestiality included in the mix. person b expresses surprise that person a apparently sided with racists, and people who sexually assault children or animals, but concludes that person a is a cis white woman and "they're usually all three".

person a gets angry about this for reasons that i think don't need to be elaborated on. "this statement could be applied to this call out, therefore it definitely is, and person a is defending these people specifically and she's doing it because she's like them". both are doubling down. person b is also saying that person a was the mod on an anti social justice blog in '14. there is no evidence for this, other than the blog having a mod from the same country as her, with the same nickname, which is very, very flimsy grounds.

so, what exactly happened here? A doesn't mention any of that stuff in the post. omegaverse, maybe you could make some kind of case for if you're reading the post as "defending omegaverse" rather than "condemning sexual harassment". but i don't think racism and sexual abuse apologia is an entirely fair thing to extrapolate, even if omegaverse is the given example and it's a dubious trope. especially because the big call out wasn't about the omegaverse, right?

the short answer is i'm not sure what B was doing here, but i feel like her response being to try and dig up dirt on A's online past, and deferring to something speculative and unsubstantiated when she can't readily do that is a massive call for concern.

but all that out of the way, i want to talk a little bit about how situations like these are good examples of how frivolously extremely serious allegations can be thrown around.

for one, making a joke about "well most of the people in this demographic group fuck children and pets anyway" doesn't really seem like the kind of shit you say if you take abuse seriously by any real measure. but it gets worse.

do you guys want to know why conservatives are really fond of casting gay & trans people as pedophiles and child groomers? it's because it's very, very common for people to be okay with violence against people who sexually abuse children, and feel urgently enough about this that they're willing to turn a bit of a blind eye to forgoing due process in support of that, due to the weight of it. their goal is to tap into that same justified anger and visceral disgust and weaponize it against a group they dislike. so seeing B react to A's post highlighting that this sort of cyberstalking tends to hurt trans women the most with "well white women tend to be pedophiles, amongst other things" strikes me as very, very reckless advocacy. and that's me being a lot more generous than they deserve.

also:

you could apply this vague post to a callout –> she's probably a creep in the same way they are –> *additional accusation based on extremely circumstantial events*

you can follow how this has a way of calling into suspect the original allegations in the callout, right? if this vague statement about a common instance online can be used to suggest that someone is a pedophile, how exactly was that determined for the other people involved in this? did someone come forward and say "this older user put me in some very uncomfortable sexual situations" or was it a similar situation of "i read their post in the worst possible light"? we understand that it's extremely dangerous to create a boy who cried wolf situation with stuff like this, right?

there have been plenty of bunk callouts on here. some cases like the lesbian makeup application photo, which was just complete shit. or the mitski sex trafficking debacle, that was the unfortunate result of a user having a psychosis episode – even though they later told people over and over again that they had written it while hallucinating and it still kept circulating. surely we need to have some kind of vetting process? but many situations of abuse are not going to have a paper trail, which complicates things.

what to do, then? i guess something like this, it's worth your time to dive into posts that have more of a gossipy "they said a bad thing" tone and figure out why it something is being said/if it's a fair interpretation of events. as for things where this isn't an option, i truly don't have any ideas.

either way, the kind of internet conduct where you just assume the worst possible faith at all time isn't keeping anyone safer.

#long post #like. very very long post

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seasurfacefullofclouds1 · 1 year

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Some larries were re-tweeting and @-ing Matt Vines, BMG, etc that open letter. So clearly there are larries who recognise not enough is done to support Louis’ career, though they are in the minority.

I was thinking about this too: I do find discussions surrounding Louis’ expression of his potential queerness offensive because I do think it is pretty obvious that Louis was told to act differently. Louis is and always has been naturally flamboyant and that definitely comes out more when he is comfortable but the discussions from larries surrounding it are irritating because what, it doesn’t occur to larries that Louis was probably told to change but harry wasn’t? Harry was allowed to be coy and answer not that important and to do as he wished but Louis was made to deny Larrie, become more guarded, lose all his confidence in himself? What kind of relationship do they stan where they would see this and just make posts about how Louis isn’t like Harry (read: as flamboyant (even though I think louis is more naturally flamboyant, Harry’s has always come across as a bit more like a performance to me, which in itself isn’t a bad thing because that is how it is for some people, I just don’t like what Harry does) and yeah they’ll say that’s okay, it doesn’t mean he’s not gay, he’s just not Harry. I prefer this take to the other because it is extremely harmful to present an absolute idea of what being queer looks like (there is no one way to be queer, that entire take is insane) but I still think this dismisses the boy who understood camp, who could put-camp Alan Carr, who described himself as flamboyant and had so much fun at that club performance where he was covered in cake and then flown to be told off. And I think I saw that El and Louis were announced as a couple in the media on the same day as that performance? I don’t know Louis’ sexuality and it’s none of my business, I don’t know if he and h were ever actually a thing but to me it would make Harry a bad partner, even if I kept in mind it would be a terrible and restrictive closet if it were true. I don’t know if I have a point except that larries really do see what they want to see, even the ones who might have reasonable takes on certain things

No, Louis is not 18, 19 anymore and people change as they grow older but dismissing what it seems likely happened to Louis is easier for larries than facing the possibility that the entire situation is wrong and unfair and that Louis has born the brunt of it in a way that Harry hasn’t. Because how could a loving partner see that happen to his loved one and say nothing?

Hi,

I found that I’ve really stepped back in terms of all these discussions, even though my thoughts about Louis and LGBT haven’t changed. I’m going to paraphrase a friend:

UO: I think Louis’ music will be about universal themes applicable to all, including his strong LGBT+ fanbase, like lost love and heartbreak and going it alone/solo song; however, I think LGBT+ signaling will be more and more muted. I think Louis is 100% inclusive and supportive/welcoming to his LGBT fanbase. But we will see fewer overt references to belonging to the community. Part of the reason is most likely career considerations as he tries to move into an indie market, new fan demographics (if his team ever catches on and markets him that way), and to be less “celebrity” and tabloid fodder, less connected to Harry publicly so that he doesn’t get 1D/ Harry/ Larry questions. I think the toll of Harry/Larry/rampant fan and media speculation about his sexuality has played a huge, heavy part. I mean Euphoria - millions of people watching an HBO-sponsored scene of you in a sexual situation with Harry Styles, and the resulting media circus during Pride month was more than just offensive - it was psychologically damaging to Louis given the context of Larry, the public speculation over his sexuality, their respective careers, his first album, and his publicly constructed personal life. I mean Louis handled it as he could - he didn’t approve, he was not asked about consent, he understood the cultural interest etc. ... - but privately I expect there was a much greater toll on him with everyone in his life being aware and/or reading about it or seeing the scene including fellow songwriters, band members, casual friends, his grandparents, etc. If Louis is protecting himself and trying to move his career further away from speculation, controversy, fandom drama— it’s understandable, and frankly good for him.

Given that Louis had always been the most outspoken 1D band member about LGBT equality, has always been sensitive to his LGBT fanbase, has always defended fellow band members from homophobia, I think he hasn’t changed and he’s as strongly supportive as ever, but we can see the toll of years of negotiating this issue through media and fandom speculation. Louis is taking back some control of the way people talk about his private life.

#louis tomlinson #louis and lgbt

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girlongirlactionatadistance · 1 year

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I’ve been trying to come up with an inoffensive way to say that I think part of the difference in cultures between my former and current workplaces is due to the staff of the former being mostly men, and the latter being mostly women, but. Anyway.

I used to work for a company that did construction takeoffs and estimates. It was fun at times because I got to apply some things I’m studying in school and there was a strong problem solving component. Literally one woman in my whole office tho. In a senior position, so not with zero influence, but still.

Now I work as a unit clerk in a NICU. Other than attending docs, there are like five men total on staff, but on a given night I’ll be one of two or three actually scheduled.

Some of my own values have actually changed working this job, and not in ways that I think could be chalked up to general differences between the medical field and the construction industry.

For example, to make an almost inordinately broad statement, the women I now work with value making things nice. Value being the operative word. It’s not a waste of time or effort to them to make anything more pleasant or comfortable. I was literally raised - not even subtextually conditioned, like explicitly taught - to think caring about stuff like this was frivolous. And the more serious the situation, the more frivolous. Running to silliness, naïveté, and poor judgment in the limit. Converging towards possibly dangerous.

Yeah, that is actually all backwards.

It turns out healthcare is kind of a uniquely optimal setting for proving principles like that. The way things really work is, the more serious the situation, the more impact any slight kindness or conscientiousness, any little improvement that can be made, will have. It becomes huge. It’s clearly evident in outcomes for patients and in the way the unit functions.

It took me a while to learn this. It annoyed me at first. Then one day someone borrowed my desk and filled my pen jar up with new pens before leaving. I realized being annoyed was gaining me nothing. I was just scoffing internally at the “woman’s touch” all over the unit while benefitting from it in ways that were in some cases literally right in front of me.

Actually come to think of it, and idk what this means, but I think the first person who was probably trying to teach me about this “making things nice” principle was a man. Someone I consider my most influential climbing mentor in fact. In his late 60’s this guy lead me and a couple others up the emmons glacier on mt rainier. It was my first climb on a glaciated peak and it’s funny in retrospect how much I underestimated it. So, this guy baked us all cookies. Each of us got a bag of the crispiest, laciest, most delicate oatmeal cookies I’ve ever had. “Bring a treat on every climb,” he told us, “or you’re going too light and too fast.” I can’t explain how good those cookies were after a day of hopelessly strenuous climbing, looking forward to a freeze dried dinner and a night on a crowded, dirty spit of crumbly rock. Or how much easier everything seemed with the uptick in morale.

So what is my point? I think it’s that misogyny is bad for you. Maybe not for your demographic, but for you on the scale of little actions that you probably have not been taught to appreciate can make things way harder or way easier for you. Or for somebody else. Don’t give women shit for doing the stuff they do to make things nicer for everybody. Society literally conditions them that way and then teaches us that it’s just ~girl stuff~ and men should be too tough to care. Do you know how much better my old office would have run if we’d been more oriented towards picking up each other’s slack when it was needed? Towards anticipating that need? Sports metaphors. I could make sports metaphors about this.

Then again maybe it’s bad on the demographic scale, too. It’s not like my female-dominated workplace is utopia, it just has some things men’s spaces often don’t. To put my male feminist hat back on, I think the misogynist desire to control and pigeon-hole women into this role of sole-emotional-laborer arises because men obvs do need the kind of support that goes around in women’s spaces. We’re just not up for doing those things for each other. We don’t believe that we’d be better off if we were more like women.

#live-blogging my feminist awakening #feminism is the radical notion that men are people #climbing?

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descentintosiblingcon · 1 year

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Episode 2: Kite's Bracelet

Agh, everyone's faces are so dolly...

So in the anime, we get to see the twin's dad, who's currently living with Shugo. His whole demeanor screams "defeat"...yeah, the divorce got him good. But fuck him, back to the escape game! The twins run away from Mireille because Rena wants to keep the adventure in the family (and with whatever silver-haired hunk manages to rescue her) and join a new event where they do stuff with hammerhead sharks. Shugo checks out his sister when she gets wet. I lose 1 SAN point.

Later, the two sit under the tree and flashback to when their parents were still together and the world was blurry and happy. Then, a dog (Ouka) shows up! Unlike in the manga where she was more hostile, Rena is happy to see him happy, noting they don't have a dog in real life because their mom is allergic. Balmung comes over and, after some reintroductions, investigates Shugo's bracelet. Mireille looks for treasure and gets her dumb ass attacked by a monster, drawing the trio's attention. Again, the monster wasn't supposed to be there but unlike last time, Balmung gets rid of it and fights the rest that follow it.

Again, Shugo uses the bracelet to data drain the monster...and again, it doesn't work but it does give random status effects which include making his sister charmed with him. Yup, the kids show gets explicit incest so that's something we gotta deal with. Enough whining, Ouka transforms into her humanoid form and destroys the monster. She also gets a saxophone letimotif so that's something. Shugo solves the event problem and Balmung drinks sake while watching the blossoms bloom. The treasure is not cosplay costumes but a dog collar which Ouka uses as an excuse to flirt with Shugo and make Rena jealous. The episode ends with Shugo eating reheated pizza for dinner alone.

THOUGHTS

Couple of things I've noticed: Balmung is portrayed in a far more serious light here than he is in the manga, where he's basically King Shit of Troll Mountain. By contrast, Mireille acts more like a little kid than a simply excited treasure hunter, wanting to snatch items from others and being a complete weakling that others are in a hurry to ditch. Last but not least, Ouka is not her flirt-accepting but ultimately fight happy self from the manga but a flirtacious shewolf who just happens to be strong. I wonder why these changes had to be made especially since they made my boy Balmung significantly less tolerable as a character but if I had to guess, it was to appeal to the demographic who watches the anime. Balmung had to be cool to give the boys someone to look up to (they sure as fuck ain't finding a hero in Shugo), Mireille's personality was scrambled so not too much attention was taken away from Rena and Ouka was given Hot Babysitter overtones to draw in the hornier teens. It sucks but it's show business.

#.hack #.hack//legend of the twilight #review #anime #these are all guesses #but still #i can't help but wonder how their original selves would have fared in a darker setting #guess we won't know

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fasa-umich · 1 year

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My Experience in FASA Through Cryptic Song Lyrics <3 || Angeli Fandiño, FASA'S 2022 - 2023 Co-Social Chair

“Feels like we’ve been through war together. Feels like you’ve been right here forever. But I don’t even know you at all.” - I Don’t Know You At All, Lizzy McAlpine

bucket hat baby!

Before my college career, I genuinely had no concept of what it meant to be Filipino. I grew up thinking that being Filipino was just a fact of life—it wasn’t my identity. I only knew some Filipino dishes, I had only been to the Philippines twice in my lifetime, and (surprise surprise) I couldn’t speak Tagalog. If you asked me who I was while I was still in high school, I would’ve responded with adjectives like athletic, musical, funny, or stubborn. My Filipino culture was always a part of me subconsciously, but it was never an aspect of my personality that I found worthy of conversation with people outside of my immediate family. It was much easier to acknowledge my Filipino heritage through jokes about the brownness of my skin or by contributing to my classmates’ ill comments on Asian stereotypes. I often look back at the person I was throughout my childhood and wish that I hadn’t been so indifferent to learning about my culture, but that’s why I am now so grateful that FASA has given me this opportunity to explore the part of identity that I had once suppressed for so long.

“You gave me a meaning to my life, yes, I’ve gone beyond existing. And it all began when I met you.” - When I Met You, APO Hiking Society

“OMG LOOK, it’s Greenwood—the super cool, underground but upcoming Filipino American cover band at U of M that performs a wide range of genres from OPM to R&B and indie rock!!!” – real anonymous gen mem

When I first joined FASA, I’ll admit that I originally felt obligated to because of how involved my older sister Bea was. I already knew a majority of Bea’s friends, so joining FASA was more of a “why not?” situation than it was a “how could I pass this up?” opportunity. My thinking quickly shifted though at Fall Mass Meeting last year. I vividly remember the boba push with my small group after the event and traversing as a large Filipino clan from Rackham to Ding Tea. I think this was honestly one of the first times in my life that I had hung out with Asian people outside of my family. It sounds soo cliche, but it was on that walk that I started to feel different about my Fil-Am identity. I remember how welcoming and conversational everyone was and how eager we all were to learn each other's names. Never had I ever thought that I could find a community so fast, let alone in a demographic of people that I once wanted nothing to do with. From that day on, I involved myself in every FASA event that my busy schedule would allow, and I’ve made friendships here that I know will last a lifetime.

“This weight’s too much alone. Some days I can’t hold it at all; you take it on for me. When tomorrow’s too much, I’ll carry it all, I got you.” - I Got You, Jack Johnson

my lovely e-board family <3

Confession time! Even though I was elected for Social Chair this year, I actually only went to a grand total of 2 out of the 7 social events as a freshman (half of Fall Mass Meeting, Fall FAM/Lin Reveal, and [not even] half of FAM Games). This was quite frustrating because almost all of the major events I missed were due to scheduling conflicts or prior commitments. I thought that I was “falling behind” in making friends in FASA because I had been so used to that high school mindset of “establish a friend group and stick to it.” However, I could not have been more naive. I eventually learned that although FASA can look like a large or intimidating community at a glance, it quickly becomes family. FASA has taught me that anyone and everyone is welcome here, whether you are Filipino by blood or Filipino by love (#FACT2022).

This is why I wanted to run for Social Chair last year (aside from the fact that Amanda had been planting seeds since Day 1 and I’m an easily convincible person); I wanted to cater towards the members of FASA who, maybe like me, also had packed schedules and could only attend a small handful of social events. With every event I put on, I wanted to create an environment where new faces would feel safe to be themselves and eventually call FASA home. Of course, I wouldn’t have been able to attempt any of this vision without this incredible board and especially the following people…

“Cause we’re okay, we’re fine. Baby I’m here to stop your crying… Adding up the total of a love that’s true, multiply life by the power of two.” - Power of Two, Indigo Girls

Bea (left), appearing age: 14; Angeli (right), appearing age: older?

(Ate) Bea: Thank you for introducing me to this home away from home. Thank you for letting me have the same friends as you and follow you around at FASA events whenever I would get anxious. I’ve definitely said a whole Senior Farewell speech about how much you mean to me, so you can refer to that again if you want to be reminded of more warm n fuzzies 🥱. But honestly, in high school, I wish I had a better appreciation for what it meant that you were a single Performance Chair who choreographed PCN and choreographed/competed in Battle, and the fact that you were Co-President during an entirely virtual school year is nothing to gloss over either. I might be a little late to the game, but I’m very proud and impressed of all that you accomplished within FASA. Thank you for leading by example of how to embrace my Fil-Am self, and I’m so glad we could share this community together.

Me and Mandy at the intern event last year <3

Amanda: I’ll never forget how you recruited me to FASA before I even set foot on campus as a freshman. We were at Lucas’ grad party over the summer, we were standing by the dunk tank, and the conversation went something like this…

Amanda: Hey! Are you Bea’s sister? I’m Amanda, Sam’s cousin!

Me: Oh yes I am! Hi, nice to meet you!

Amanda: I’m the social chair. You should join FASA.

Me: ..Okay.

FAST FORWARD >> It’s a little bit over a year ago today, and the scene is set in one of the union basement booths (duh)...

Amanda: Hey are you running for board?

Me: Uhhh maybe, I’m not sure yet. I was thinking about it.

Amanda: You should run for social chair.

Me: Okay.

If you had not planted these seeds, I would not be here! You’ve been a major support system to me in FASA since, quite literally, Day 0. I know I can always count on you for honest advice and just a shoulder to lean on. Thank you for showing Andrew and I the ropes of being socials and never getting (visibly) annoyed at our many questions or concerns. I simply could not have pictured my FASA experience, let alone my time as social, without you <3. See you at the next lin hang! Haha get it cuz–

Alyssa and JC: Hey slays. I just wanted to pop in here and say that I think we finally squashed the beef this year (#walangbeef). This “socials vs culturals” war has gone on long enough, and I thank you guys for constantly being an open ear and available resource in all the events Andrew and I put on this year. Andrew and I might’ve grumbled at first at the idea of implementing elements of culture into every social event, but you helped us find ways to make it fun and intentional. I’m constantly amazed at the duo you guys are, as real recognizes real 🤝. I have really enjoyed working with you guys on board this year, and I am so proud of the work we accomplished together. Cheers to no more beef ❌🥩🥂

Sophia Grace Samson: you are so wrong for that angelisa pic. even though you were not too kind to me in your own testimonial, i’ve decided to turn the other cheek (heh) and write you a nice poem anyway. ahem…

Roses are red 🌹,

Violets are blue 🫐,

To my favorite nickels 🪙 ,

I’m so glad I met you 🥰

here’s to more waffle house adventures, nickel debriefs, and trips to urgent care!

xoxo,

foop

“Caught you cryin’ cuz you be jealous. Don’t be whinin’ if you wanna be us 😎” - [REDACTED], Andreli

your friendly neighborhood social chairs, Andreli 🕷️🕸️

Andrew: Story time! For anyone who doesn’t know, the first time Andrew and I met was not a positive experience (yes I am going to expose the both of us here). Andrew and I had dm’d a bit over the summer because Bea and Mango (hi mom, hi dad) suggested we become friends going into the school year to have a familiar face on campus. After maybe a couple weeks of chatting, I kinda ghosted Andrew (oops) and we didn’t end up meeting until the first day of Tagalog. Ate Irene had asked everyone why we all wanted to learn Filipino, and Andrew answered with, “I’m tired of my parents talking about me behind my back.” Everyone laughed, but apparently he looked over at me and I had a “scary,” unamused, dead expression. I was planning on introducing myself after class, but he immediately zipped out of the room and I thought to myself, “wow rude,” just to find out later that it was because he was scared of me! But wowow, fast-forward 19 months later, and here we are…

Mannn, you already know that I couldn’t have done this job with anybody else. There are so many little traditions that I’m going to miss as co’s: post-meeting jam sessions, CAPS massage chairs, our outro + tagline, and just sitting for hours in the Union Panera bouncing off ideas until our brains are completely fried. Even though we always joke we’re the exact same person, I’ve learned a lot from you this year. You taught me how to never doubt myself and always give 110% into whatever I care about. You also taught me that although we are both perfectionists, nothing is ever going to go according to the original plan. We had to be alert yet composed at all times, which was never an easy task. As tiring of a position as Social Chair is, I never felt like either one of us settled with an event. We held each other accountable while understanding how to take space when needed. All of the ambitious and elaborate events we’ve pulled off continue to amaze me and make me proud of our tenure together. From planning a whole scavenger hunt and escape room to forming a real band with Greenwood (shoutout to Catrina, our third og member), I’m really amazed at the team we’ve become. Thanks for always keeping my ego in check, for becoming one of my best friends, and for being the best co I could ask for. Action items: GenAPA, be mush, and finish writing our album!

To the future Social Chairs: Simply put, this position and your time on board is whatever you make it to be. The biggest piece of advice I have for you is to never forget your “why”-- why did you run for social chair, what is the impact you want to leave on this community, and how are you going to do so? It’s easy to think that as a social chair, you have to constantly go above and beyond, always innovating and creating until you burn yourself out. Something I wish I knew at the beginning of the year was that although it can be fun to constantly invent new ideas, FASA can always use more laidback, chill events too. Remember, you facilitate da vibes. It doesn’t always have to be “go big or go home.” Just be there for your general members and they’ll see that you care <3. Be alert, don’t be too prideful to ask for help, pivot on the fly, and trust in your co. I’m very excited to see what you guys accomplish next year, and I will happily be here for support if you ever need anything!

awww yeahhhh!!

To FASA: A lot of other people joke that my only personality trait nowadays is being Filipino, but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. Thank you for being the community that has taught me how to be my most honest and unapologetic self. You’ve been responsible for the most meaningful aspects of my college experience thus far, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything. It’s been a pleasure being your Social Chair this year, and I’ll see you around!

Signing off for now, your friendly neighborhood Social Chair,

Angeli <3

#2022-2023 #FASASocial

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mi6014ikepearson · 1 year

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NARROWING DOWN - “PICKING A BRIEF”

creative design modules are consistent throughout University courses; set up in such a way that students become accustomed to the process of being given a brief, and interpreting it in the way that best suits their skillset and ambition.

the mi6014 module is unique in that we have the opportunity to pick from a selection of briefs to work on ( 17 to be exact.. )

and with so many options in front of us; we are somewhat spoiled for choice.

with having options there comes an idiosyncratic freedom to pick and choose the one that will best fit the interests of the individual, as in my experience, that is the way to achieve the best outcome.

if you enjoy working on something - you’ll naturally invest more time into your work: and that will therefore result in a better production.

READING THROUGH THE TASKS - “DIRECTING OUR INTERESTS”

the first thing I wanted to do, to begin production was to start narrowing down the options, by reading through each of the briefs, and highlighting the ones that interested me. as well as both the “why” and the “how” of undertaking each project - to allow me to pick a final direction to move forward with..

DUOLINGO - “DEMYSTIFY MATH”

a common trope amongst the artistic community is that creatives have a distain for mathematics; however, throughout school I thoroughly enjoyed problem-solving.

although nowhere near as gifted as the other students, I spent plenty of personal, out-of-school hours, which were usually dedicated to production of SQUAD_I, instead trying to wrap my head around some of the more complicated theorems necessary for what was going to be a pursuit in the engineering career branch.

Originally my interest was drawn into the duolingo brief; as it would have allowed me the opportunity to animate a gargantuan kaiju owl comedically shooting laser-beams, playing into the memes about the evil owl..

youtube

an example of the concept at play - with cuddly, cute characters causing destruction & chaos in a comedic manner.

an example of duolingo marketing playing into the “evil duo” idea that was generated by its users.

but due to having a pre-conceived and strongly formed idea, from the get-go: I wanted to look at some of the other briefs before I made any final decisions, as it would allow me to have a better production.

I find starting from the very beginning to be a much better setup for a scenario like this: where I will research into the company, before any personal bias clouds my judgement and directs my research into the direction, I have preconceived.

EBAY - “MOST LOVED FOR PRE-LOVED”

as someone with an array of hobbies; namely (for the sake of this sentence) including collecting retro video-game memorabilia, and hardware:

I use Electronicdotbaydotcom fairly often..

the brief asks us to explore a potential update to the site to appeal more to Gen Z, specifically within regards to selling clothing.

Originally I was interest in this brief, as it allows me the opportunity to work with a company that I use frequently, and have been constantly happy with their service:

with them having a wide array of different users with so many listings on so many different things,

offering insurance by allowing refunds for scams and lost items,

and all around just being an easy-to-navigate application with its layout.

in my initial research I found that eBay had approximately 138,000,000 active users in 2022, which is a 12% decrease from the same date in 2021.

As well as the statistic that the gross merchandise volume ( the value of all goods sold on the site ) fell 18% to $18.55 billion in the second quarter of 2022.

in times of hardship it can be difficult not to look at the success of your competitors; with applications such as Vinted, Depop and AliExpress all being alternatives that have garnered favourable reputations - so much so that they have taken an audience from the demographic that uses eBay to get second-hand clothing.

Depop having no listing fee and only charging the seller once you make a sale

Vinted taking no commission, so you take away the full amount of what you sell.

AliExpress, allowing you to send products virtually anywhere in the world without any extra costs or fees.

you can’t just garner an audience, with your name alone - you need to give people incentive into using your application by proving it’s the better option when compared to its competitors..

and for this reason, I wanted to look elsewhere for a project that I could be more excited for.

PENGUIN - “IN SEARCH OF MERCH”

as much as I work with books, reading is not one of my more preferred past-times..

as much as I enjoy a good book - I find that I don’t like putting things down mid-way and coming back to them: as when I immerse myself in something, I want to at least complete the full experience.

when I’m working on a comic, video, or just any form of work - I won’t stop until I reach a milestone I feel comfortable leaving said work in!~

the difficulty for an almost 100 year old company is that penguin has remained fairly consistent in what they have been doing - as a publishing company that started from an inspiration to offer quality reading after the founder (Sir Allen Lane) used the poor quality and high priced reading materials offered at Exeter Train Station.

with the company being around for so long, and publishing arguably one of the greatest selections of titles in the literary catalogue it seems like they would be a company that lasts forever..

but as the prevalent internet-age becomes more and more inevitable; instantaneous access to resources have made our species’ attention span feel like it’s shrinking and from this the slow and calming process of reading - that allows audiences to become immersed and escape from the hardships of reality is instead too time consuming for a people who endlessly scroll for new stimulation.

Penguin’s brief asks us to find a way that makes books more instantaneous using merchandise - which is an aspect I think will be extremely interesting to tackle, and allow a multitude of ideas!

HEINZ - “GAME-CHANGING FOOD”

when I first read this brief - I was cautiously concerned, out of care for seeing a brand succumb to t̷̄́͑͐ͅḧ̶̛̗̠̺̆̈́ē̵̘̗̼̦̈̈́ ̸̢̗̪͙̀̔͊͘͜f̷̛̝̹̰̟̓̀͜a̷̲̮̺͋͝ẗ̷̹́̅̐ͅͅe̶̢͔͔͈̣̓ of so many before it..

finding a connection between Heinz Products and "Gamers”..?

using said connection to make a BRAND advertisement..?

“ the only food worth pausing for ”..?

these were all the elements of a “fellow kids” commercial in the making.

youtube

an example of an advert that attempts to appeal to an internet audience, using online terminology - but through a wonderful combination of its brand status, over-acting, and extremely stale out-dated memes creates a viewing experience that is extremely painful to sit through..

The reason I love this brief, is that it flushes my mind with a range of fleshed out ideas that I feel a confidence in my competence in creating a good final product:

a series of shorts where we create a correlation between Heinz products and popular current video-games: - such as having a Cowboy monologuing as he is roaming the desert range, and it ends with him eating a can of Heinz beans around the fire (Red Dead Redemption II) - a survivor, in a zombie apocalypse finding a Can of Heinz Soup amongst a ravaged shelf - and eating it, smiling, only to be killed by a zombie, with it spilling on the floor - creating the Heinz logo (The Last of Us) - playing into common horror/gore tropes using ketchup as blood

combining Barbecue Sauce and Baked Beans to make an all new experience: Barbecue beans - with high energy visuals and sounds to accompany such a brilliant experience

a comedic sequence showcasing a gamer running from their desk in their dorm room, and back to the kitchen in-between rounds, while preparing food: only to be defeated in-game by someone who just microwaved a can of beans, and has a meal to enjoy their victory to

as much as I would love to make a high energy advert that plays into energy drink/”gamer supplement” commercials - that instead has Gamers chugging down cans of beans, and spaghetti hoops;

I have instead decided to move ahead with two briefs, and decide which I want to work on, after some research into each of the companies..

NARROWED DOWN - “BINARY PATHS”

This module is one that will allow us to develop our industry focused skillset - by working on a conceptually challenging project that demonstrates both the intellectual and creative ability.

I want to work to the deadline to showcase my skillset, at working under pressure - and enhance my employability in the Animation and Design fields by working on design briefs set by A-list organisations in conjunction with D&AD.

and the briefs I would like to choose from are..

HEINEKEN - “PERSPECTIVES DON’T COME FRESHER”

WILLIAM LAWSON’S SCOTCH - “WAKE UP WHISKEY”

what with the two briefs being 2 alcohol brands that are wanting to rebrand in such a way that appeals to a younger audience; my initial research will satisfy both briefs, and allow me to showcase my versatility in many situations by creating a successful product that not only satisfies the chosen brief..

but accomplishes the task well!~

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