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hazel2468 · 6 months

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I keep seeing people bitching about "uwu when I say 'from the river to the sea' people say I'm calling for geeenocide! They say I'm antisemitic!" and like.

Maybe. instead of clinging to a phrase that a bunch of white leftists have co-opted because they think it sounds nice. And digging your little immature heels in. You should LISTEN when people tell you that yes. The phrase's FUCKING ORIGIN was a call for the eradication of Jews from the area known as Israel and Palestine. That NO, you cannot divorce it from those roots. YES, it IS still used to mean that TO THIS DAMN DAY.

And look. Maybe you DON'T think that Israelis should all be killed and/or exiled from Israel and Palestine. Maybe you DON'T think that the genocide of an entire people is the solution. Maybe you DON'T hate Jews and want all of us dead. And if that's the case? Great!

But how the FUCK are we supposed to tell the difference when you are using the EXACT same phrase as countless people who DO want those things. People who DO hate Jews, who ARE supportive of organizations that want to commit violence, people who SUPPORT what happened on October 7th?

When people tell you "hey, this phrase means something else, it has ALWAYS come from those roots, and using it is NOT OKAY because it is STILL used as a rallying cry for violence against Israelis and Jews worldwide", the way to react? Is NOT to fucking double down and use it.

Because that? DOES make you an antisemite. And if I see you using that phrase? Then I MUST assume that at best, you do not know what it means and have SOMEHOW avoided the countless Jews and non-Jews I have seen talking about it, or at WORST you actively hate me and want me and every single one of my people dead.

And frankly? You are not worth that risk to interact with.

Stop saying it. There are SO many ways to support Palestine, the Palestinian people, and their fight for rights, that do not involve spouting genocidal, antisemitic rhetoric. it is NOT HARD.

But apparently, some of y'all are insistent on being racist.

#antisemitism #i/p #the phrase cannot be divorced from its roots #and if I see anyone complaining about it #I am just going to assume that you're a racist antisemite now #it's been long enough #saw someone bitching about not being allowed to have it up at work #and people railing the OTW for not allowing it and im like #ah so if I showed up with a 1488 patch and I got told I couldn't wear that #like #that's actually a GREAT comparison #because a LOT of people have no idea was 1488 means and think it's just a number #but the people who know what it stands for will take you using it as support for them #and btw it's a white supremacist and Nazi symbol #so when someone says hey you know that number isn't JUST a number #it has a lot of racist and violent connotations #the response is not to INSIST that you be allowed to use that damn number #it should be to go oh shit and ditch it #because YOU DON'T WANT FUCKING WHITE SUPREMACISTS THINKING YOU AGREE WITH THEM

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ohitslen · 11 months

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College (uni??) AU catering to my own interests as it should always be hehe :)

#projecting my major on Vash because them mfs who have changed from the med field majors to that one have some tragic things to tell #and also because I think that Vash would be such a wonderful designer I don’t know why it’s a gut feeling #Nai the law major because of course he would have you seen the guy #he would be a personal injury lawyer because lore #fun fact Nai rested for a semester after the incident with Vash while Vash took two.He never told Nai he would be changing majors #so it was a big big shock for him. they fought again but yk I’ll explain more on that if anyone is interested #as to Kni and WW I thought it’d be funny if they shared a common subject that required a lot of team assignments #and they can NEVER work out together. being an absolute nightmare to the rest of their group #separately they are great to work with. even if Kni can come off as too bossy sometimes he is actually a great leader #and WW would always deliver things on time exactly as it was asked from him #but Kni and WW just never really matched. Kni was too rude at times when WW made a mistake and WW would always clock him if he passed a line #like insulting his reasons for wanting to study security #one day Kni tells him at the beginning of a new semester where they both have unfortunately landed on a shared subject again #“you are not suited for that sort of job Wolfwood. you should simply give up and why don’t you go play role model to your little kids’’#then WW beats him again and then is like hey yk what you’re kinda right. and changed majors and he feels so much more at home studying #education/teaching than security. he fucking hates some things but the end goal makes it worthy #Trigun Uni! AU #because I don’t know how differently a college and a uni work #trigun #vash the stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #trigun stampede #vashwood #trigun fanart #wolfwood #vash #Nai saverem #millions knives #lenssi draws #pen!

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frevandrest · 8 months

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Understanding 18th Century

There's a prevailing problem I've noticed in interpreting frev: people not really understanding that this was 18th century. Oh, they understand it on an intellectual level, but they still apply today's worldview to it. And you can't do that if you wish to understand wtf was going on.

(This is not about anyone here nor a shade at anyone in particular. Just a trend I've noticed, especially in bad takes).

All historical periods have this problem where people interpret things from the point of view of our own time. So that's hardly special about frev and 18c. But a tricky part is that 18c saw the development of things that we still use today (constitutions, voting system, etc.) that it may seem like it's more similar to our world than it actually was.

For example. The voting system. They had it and so do we. Except they were assholes who didn't allow women to vote. (Which is fair criticism, but people often forget that not all men had the right to vote either - so any criticism of exclusion should take that into account. Was it really about women per se, or about their ideas on who can and cannot make a free and rational vote? What is that they saw wrong about women and certain men voting? - Their attitude sure sucks, but if we ask these questions we understand better what was going on vs just going "sexist men", which only explains part of the issue). Or: journalism. They had political slander and so do we. But uuugh, their slander was so openly personal and often ridiculed someone's looks/sexual practices in supposedly serious political attacks - wtf was that? Or: trials. Of course we all know how trials are supposed to be done and what kind of arguments/evidence they should include. The fact they focused so much on character slander is incorrect and ridiculous, and...

Stop. Instead of assuming that they "did it incorrectly", think about: 1) how we do these things today is a product of decades/centuries of development; they didn't have that. They were only inventing it for the first time. 2) They did stuff according to their cultural beliefs. If they focused so much on character assassination as an argument, it means it was significant for their worldview.

You might not like it (and fair enough) but it's not possible to understand what was going on unless we understand how they thought and what they knew and what their worldview was. Which is not easy. It's not simply about knowing the state of scientific thought or what they believed about the world. Understanding how this affected the way they thought and how they interpreted things, or how they build meaning and conclusions - none of that is easy. But we have to question our assumptions, even if we're unable to see things from their pov. Because that's the only way not to arrive at wrong conclusions.

Similarly, many terms what they used had a different meaning to how they are used today (or, at least, they were understood in ways dissimilar to how we use them). Concepts such as despotism, tyranny, dictator, terror; also some seemingly easy to understand terms like "being a moderate" or even "patriotism". If we assume 18th century people used them in the same way that we do, we won't be able to understand wtf they are talking about.

#this is not about 18c or frev specifically #but it's a good example #many bad takes about frev include this lack of understanding #coupled with interpreting past with present #and it's bad #and hey it's not just about frev #royalism too #like i am not a fan of louis or marie antoinette but their actions too have to be interpreted from 18th century worldview #like of course they did stuff that they did #they fought for what they believed in their souls was the truth #natural hierarchies aming humans and the monarch's right to rule etc.#and many of people - not just rich and powerful- also believed that #i don't think any of that is good but it was a worldview they operated under #so to understand their actions we need to know that #or anyone's action #not to excuse it but to understand wtf was going on #because applying our understanding cannot explain it #frev #french revolution

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crunchycrystals · 2 months

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do y'all think lydia and kalina did the spies tongue curse thing together and thats why kalina can only say ragh's name???????

#crunchyposts #bc obviously its not ragh its lydia thats more relevant bc of bakur so then why cant she say lydias name. spies tongue curse?????#d20 #fh #fhjy #fhjy spoilers #fantasy high spoilers #fantasy high junior year spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #pls share your thoughts w me i need to know if im onto something or not #WAIT WOULD THAT ALSO BE THE REASON WHY THEY LEARNED WHAT IT WAS FROM CASSANDRA??????? BC HER AND/OR HER FAMILIAR DID IT?????#fantasy high #fantasy high junior year #lydia barkrock #<- please i need people to see this i need to know if i got something i havent seen anyone else mention yet #edit look at the replies !!! someone had a really good theory that kalina's talking about porter #edit after ep 17. hey. hey. hey. hows it going. read the replies

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the-meme-monarch · 7 months

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allo people are insane how do they not get that some of the things they say are weird and fucking unwarranted

#my dad brings some of rhe food i make to his coworkers right.#one of his coworkers said to him that he wants to marry me. ive never met this man.#its just fucking weird. my dad said this is supposed to be a compliment.#he literally Only knows me through my dad and the food he brings sometimes.#that i did not make with anyone in mind. i never make food For his coworkers.#ifmy coworker said they wanted to marry my kid bc of the food they made id tell them Hey Thats Kinda Fucking Weird Man. Youve Nver Met Them #i dont get it man . i don't fucking get it #words from the monarch #shrek meme format he doesnt even know what gender i am

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ichthyorelationships · 1 year

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an idea i invite anyone else to write about / run with lol....

the premise that The Change gets all messed up for alberto, say it's something that can happen from stress, &/or happens rarely and you just have to wait for it to resolve itself....used as some parallel to struggling through some emotional turbulence / upheaval / questioning / Realizing Things, etc etc

#luca 2021 #pixar luca #alberto scorfano #another idea i've failed to write for & so invite anyone else to run with: ciao alberto but what if he peaces out by swimming off lol #ends up in a coastal town maybe an hour's swim from genoa. but not Getting In Touch w/anyone for a while b/c plausibly he thinks that #giulia may not be a fan of him now by extension; just being too embarrassed asf to reach out to luca kinda lol....luca off doing his own #thing just fine & alberto not wanting to write him now like b/c i Ruined Everything again ahaha....#and by ''not in touch w/anyone for a while'' who knows. months; a few years even....might stumble across news of him b/c like.#say more sea folk are coming to land / more humans know abt them & not many places are as [harpoon]ly from the start anyways #portorosso exceptional in that way....maybe where alberto settles down they're like legendary but also considered Good Luck anyways lol.#anyways like some people know of him who might; say; swim down to portorosso. have their own teen who knows a teen who mostly lives on land #most convenient re sparking [wow could they mean Our alberto] if he doesn't go so far as to take up an alias lol. but why would he....#that difference in that massimo might figure that however alberto was surviving before; he could continue to do so now; but even though tha #is some comfort it's still Not Actually Enough....feeling way more Parentally towards alberto than his biological dad like that; obv #and anyways re: this [The Change gets messed up] idea it's more of an inconvenience lol but one that could still have some significance #like if he first finds out the issue exists via hopping right into the ocean; failing to change forms; never being human form'd in water b4 #thee worst....crash intro course to the experience of drowning. observation of How Humans Swim / being able to grab any part of the boat...#and besides That unpleasantness it's like; hey. where's my nonhuman form at #or; of course; being in sea form even while dry....especially if he's still dealing with Nonsense on land. which is presumed.#&/or if there's an upswing in nonsense b/c of Other ways you're Othered...ofc we can consider like; tfw you're a gay fish & maybe that's no #something that on its own would be like Aah until it's like well a) i kinda wanna do things that would make this Visible and b) i've learne #that humans also Have Issues about this kind of thing....#appropriately my tablet was also all thrown off. no pressure sensitivity; input sensitivity overall was rough #but i would've had to restart my laptop about it lol like eh i'll just work around it

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squishosaur · 8 months

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hey man. i'm just saying. why would we put inexperienced teenagers with over-inflated egos and obvious emotional issues into combat classes and make them claw their way to the top of their dorms and expect things to just run smoothly. who actually thought this

#the reason rsa doesn't have overblots is because they understand the joy and whimsy of life and friendship btw #LIKE. why is there no school counselor?? do you know how much time & resources & effort & TRAUMA we could have saved the students &#school from if ANYONE had reached out to riddle and was like 'hey are you alright i heard xyz and i wanted to let you know...' ESPECIALLY #since TREY LITERALLY TELLS US 'oh well here's the lowdown on her trauma this is Probably what is causing this'#or if someone sat down to tell leona 'hey! i'm rooting for you in ur magift(?) game! you're my fav player!!' AND LET HIM FEEL NOTICED #or if someone approached azul as an Equal to try to stop his plans. as a friend even. BEYOND A BUSINESS TRANSACTION #or if ANYBODY BUT ESPECIALLY KALIM was like 'jamil i think you should follow your passions and do something you enjoy today!!' or AT LEAST #let him know he was appreciated as a person NOT JUST FOR HIS WORK #'i know you're doing a lot today but i just wanted to thank you for how much Effort you put into this and..' etc etc etc #ERM.. IF ANYONE TREATED VIL LIKE A HUMAN BEING AND NOT A CELEBRITY??? or even 'hey i loved you in this film i was wondering if we could #do a play together or something..!!' AND LET HER TRY A TYPE OF CHARACTER SHE NEVER GOT THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE. and sing her praises.#if anyone reached out to idia beyond a 'hey the teacher said to come to class'/'get out of your bed and come to our housewarden meeting'#or even. IF ORTHO HIMSELF was like. 'you know it's not your fault... you didn't cause all of this. not really' OR SOMETHING #or if malleus ever got to experience a small firsthand loss AND WAS COMFORTED THROUGH IT. not just quick fix via magic. not replacing. just #GRIEVING SOMETHING??????? and wasn't feared by literally everyone #um. maybe the real twisted part is that all of this tragedy was easily preventable if we had a support system in place.#but idk. twst is a highschool. there's no support in real high school either. i'd probably overblot too if i could ajdjrjfinfdndjd #twst #chatter #LONG RAMBLE SORRY #yes overblots are essential to the plot. but also. do you know how frustrating it is watching the blot build up and sitting in silence.#I'M SORRY IK IF SOMETHING LIKE THIS WAS HAPPENING TO A GUY I JUST MET I WOULD PROBABLY NOT NOTICE.. but of it was my Friend or Housewarden..#I'D ASK BRO.... I'D ASK ... UGHHHHHUUUHHHH #not that anyone would notice if *I* was about to lose it tbh #speaks volumes about our society o think #OKAY NOW I'M DONE FOR REAL

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amazingdeadfish · 4 months

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Introducing, Yìzé and Hershey!

#lego monkie kid #lego monkie kid fanart #monkie kid #monkie kid fanart #lmk #lmk fanart #lmk oc #monkie kid oc #blue and violet #if you read the latest chapter of colours then I'm sure you know what happened #but hey better now than never to release these designs #I'm not even a dog person but if anyone even thinks about hurting her then I will murder you/j #Yìzé is the type of old man to always give candy to children but not in a creepy way #the type of guy to always have those jar of those single packet jellies that always taste good in his living room #Hershey just exists and thats all we could ever ask from her

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samarecharm · 1 month

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geniunely not trying to put words in ur mouth im geniunely asking: what do you actually like about persona 5? from all ur rants im just wondering why you didnt drop the game bc it seems (again, im not trying to put words in ur mouth) that it simply not for you? i geniunely have not felt any of the issues you bring up outside of the writing ones and i cannot tell if i'm just easily pleased and not good at discerning what a good game is or we simply have dif things we enjoy in a video game. i hate getting tone across text but im asking out of geniune curiosity im not trying to attack your opinion (;-;)

Nah, i dont feel like ur attacking me, and I hope u dont feel the same when u see my complaints! Lmao. In my defense, I am replaying the game for the first time after completing my first file back in 2020, so alot of the faults i kinda shrugged off in my first playthrough are now glaringly in my face now that I no longer have the confusion and interest in learning the main story to keep me occupied. The game is clunky all the way through, and at some times, even frustratingly so.

But despite that, i do like this game. Alot! Its probably one of my top games ever if im being honest!

This ended up way longer than I intended, so im putting it under a readmore to keep the post short on dashboards

If i had to describe what I liked about the game in the simplest way imaginable…I think I would say, I like how the game makes me feel :) I like the music. I like the vibe. I like the immersion from city to city, and I like the premise! I like the characters and I like the connections you make with these characters! As im replaying this game, i am most excited to see Akira and his comments about the world :) i like hearing everyones voices, I like their little interactions in Mementos, and I like seeing them fight!

P5 is the first game I played in the series; its the game that introduced me to SMT in the first place! And it (smt) is a series that my longtime best friend LOVES and never thought hed be able to share with me! It is a game i keep very near to my heart; it has influenced me in ways i did not think would happen in the short couple of years since i first finished it. It genuinely keeps me awake some nights thinking about the world this game has created, and I think that is a testament to the impact its had, be it good or bad.

The joke about wishing theyd make a persona game that was Good is that despite all of its numerous flaws, the games manage to snatch your attention and pull you in anyway. Imagine if they made a game that had all of those things that i mentioned I loved, but done Right and executed Properly?? Where I got to have a story that made sense and didnt need to be spoonfed to me (in like an HOUR of dialogue and scenes; an HOUR!), and characters that talked and bonded beyond the tiny snippets of interaction theyre allowed to have in mementos? Combat that let me use PERSONAS i liked instead of BUILDS that stop me from getting instakilled throughout the entirety of the endgame, and a Persona building mechanic that didnt feel like I was shooting in the dark looking for possible fusions that end up not even being useful in the endgame.

Ive mentioned it before, but I complain so much bc I have seen what a good p5 game looks like, and its Strikers almost to a T. Combat is still your typical warriors-esque style combat, but it is at least different from the turn based strategy of the main game. Characters talk to each other freely, they hang out and comfort each other in a way that feels more connected that the base game. Strikers implements the ability to see ALL possible fusions with ALL registered personas, not just the ones in your Stock, so you can fuse easily without having yo consult a guide. The story feels like it makes SENSE with antagonists that feel morally grey and sympathetic. Genuinely, alot of the complaints for p5 I had were almost immediately rectified in this game.

But please also know that the praises I sing for this game is only bc of the groundwork laid by p5 and the world it created. Thats what I like about this game, that it had such a captivating premise and cast of characters, that a DIFFERENT company was able to hit the ground running with them. P5 had alot happening in that game, but i think what it had most was potential. The effort put into this game is astronomical, and the possible connections you can outright MISS if u arent paying attention was worth the money and time to implement; even if it meant that it could be considered a waste of resources to higher ups.

Books and games and part time jobs???!! Silly little cutscenes that add nothing to the game PLOTwise, but define and flesh out the personality of your protagonist. There was alot of love put into this game, and its evident by the fact that we have NOT seen a new persona game released; they bank on existing titles bc they are unwilling to make a game like this from scratch again. They dont want to ‘waste’ resources on good voice acting and a complex, overarching story; they dont want to waste money on scenes a player may never see, on routes a player may never get to experience. Making a game that gives u even the slightest bit of freedom means more money in programming and detailing that freedom. This has been an issue for a WHILE, and its a miracle that the gaming landscape had space for a colossal title like p5!

I complain bc I want better, and I do not think that is inherently at odds with my love of this game. In b4 im told to get good; ive played on hard and tested out merciless (its NOT fun, im making godbuilds again and its boring 😞). Its not the most accessible turnbased rpg; theres no colorblind modes, and the affinity system is convoluted and overwhelming. Combo moves are hard to keep track of and it can be incredibly frustrating to see your turns being skipped or seeing characters take extreme technical damage without understanding WHY it happened. The fact that they KNEW the game was desperate for qol improvements by the time royal came out, and instead of updating the base game to have those improvements too, they just pushed the royal edition out for people to play instead. It sucks! Customers and fans deserve better than being forced to shell out money for a game they already played !

As the gaming climate gets more and more hostile and unbearable, I think it is good to look at your games critically, and understand why products come out subpar. Persona 5 is a fun game that has a nice cast and an interesting premise, but it is ultimately tied down by its refusal to build on existing building blocks regarding its combat, and it insists on having insulting and downright out of character dialogue and scenes to appease the audience its designed to be targeted to. It is easy to forget sometimes that queer ppl are infact NOT the prime target of these games, its cishet gamer bros from aged 16 to 40 who will laugh at homophobic comments, who drool over a 16 yr old girl with a 16 yr old mindset and a grown womans body, who need to be placated with constant sexual comments to deal with a convoluted story that will inevitably make zero sense until its laid out for you before the literal end of the game.

Its bad. Its good. Its so shallow and its unbelievable that they thought having the plot twist make ZERO sense until they showed CUTSCENES of YOUR character discussing Goro and his connections to the metaverse for endgame SHOCK VALUE was more important than just having your team be smart and piece it together over time. Its shit. Its literally amazing. It let you FUCK your teacher ??????????????what the FUCK. They also let me shoot a god in the face w the best looking ult persona in the world so i can ignore that shit. And ultimately that is how i got through the game. Lol.

#chattin #answered #i have mentioned it before but i did NOT romance anyone #u know why? bc i literally didnt know it existed #i maxed out ann and the game was like ‘hey. this next decision is important’#and i was like. huh. u know what. i have not looked up a guide until now. thats scary. i dont want to lose a confidant…#and learned that.#so uh. i really DID go through the game bot realizing i could date anyone. even the adults.#anyway. this was alot. and i tried to keep out alot of my other complaints #bc i have so many. but they are like. either nitpicky things or things that are issues in lots of games too #like the models suck in this game but i can look past that. graphics are always bottom on the list of complaints #and i do like the little animations!! i like akiras little tics #and i like seeing personas do their casting animations; shiki ouji and nekomata are my faves #i distinctly remember that being a thing i wished to see more of.#bc i liked thinking of what joker would look like fighting for Real #and then i remembered him being in smash so i was like COOL. ill look at those #and then i got STRIKERS and it was exactly what I wanted #i think #the game is like.#its bad. but in ways that i wouldnt call another game bad #like back 4 blood is BAD bad. its awful. the gameplay is bad. the story was shit. and the servers shut down within a year or two of launch #risk of rain 2 is bad in the way that it continuously obscures and withholds information to the player. its tedious and frustrating #but unlike b4b i LIKE ror2 and will continue to enjoy it.#bc the gameplay loop FEELS satisfying #and ultimately thats how i feel about p5 #for all of its faults; its fun. it has a gameplay loop that is consistent and fun when u get the hang of it #im playing on hard again since merciless is just me making the right instakill builds while i pick up my team over and over again #and theres still a challenge in having the endgame weapons and armor #its satisfying! and i think its satisfying bc I was given the luck of having this be my introduction into the series #maybe i would have a better opinion on the game if i came from p4. or maybe not! who knows !

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woodenfawn · 9 months

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He then proceeded to, among *many* other things, punch him in the face, literally bite his hand, and spit blood on his clothes

#re zero #re:zero #natsuki subaru #subaru natsuki #vincent vollachia #abel re zero #I cannot get over their dynamic. It is SO interesting!!!! The way they both claim to hate each other so so much but also #helping each other and abel's absolute trust of him in other senses. The fact they can literally hold each other at knifepoint #And scream at each other and let their emotions out the way they dont with anyone else #But will protect each other from any outside harm #If you thought julius and subaru had a complex relationship this is like that squared #Subaru's relationships keep getting more and more aggressive dont they #Emilia: oh youre so sweet youre the love of my life!!! Ill do anything for you!!!!#Reinhardt: Friend!!!! Buddy!!!! Handsomest coolest knight!!!#Rem: we're a little more than a bit codependent but thats only due to the circumstances :)) we're both in pain but we support each other :)#Julius: I wont get over you beating me up and being too handsome therefore i will be tsundere >:(#Otto: You'll punch me in the face and I'll laugh at your feelings #we'll torment each other a lot but hey we're buddies.#And then abel and subaru are just. Completely concerning as a duo but somehow id hesitate to call it toxic #I dont know what they are. Except maybe gay idiots #You cant tell me abel's not gay #Can you tell the Chisha Gold chapter and the shut the hell up/vincent & subaru chapters stuck with me a lot #Btw im caught up with re zero's web novel!!!! (Besides the last 3 chapters)

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sundayswiththeilluminati · 1 year

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Well, it’s been a week and I've had time to cool down and put together my thoughts on Season of the Seraph and its ending. So here goes.

The season finale plot did not require Rasputin to die. "The eliksni are trying to get control of the warsats" is literally a strike. If the warsats needed to be taken off the table as a get-out-of-jail-free card we could have blown the network and kept Rasputin himself. There was an active decision to kill him. Having thought about it, I think I understand why this decision was made - but I still think it's a terrible decision, and I'll explain why.

Before we start, I don't want to sound like I'm going after Destiny's narrative team either personally or professionally. I'm not calling them terrible writers, much less terrible people. I don't know them! They might even be terrible people, for all I know. While I refer to a single monolithic "narrative team," I know in reality there are multiple groups working on different stories. I’m not a professional writer, and they are. And I genuinely believe all of them are talented people who work hard and care about Destiny. But that doesn't mean I don't have some criticisms.

After considering it I think there are three possible reasons to kill Rasputin:

1). The narrative team believed this was a good emotional conclusion that brought closure to his character arc in Destiny. In this case I just think they're flat-out wrong. I'd say "I respect it" but I kind of don't because I think it's so terribly wrong. I don't know what other people think Rasputin's character arc involved, but I won't get closure till Rasputin faces the Witness again and finally ends the war he's been trapped in for centuries. But I get why they would do it, if they believed this. And that final mission was really good. I had a hard time noticing at the time, but it was very well-done, and the cutscene proper was well-shot, -scripted, and -acted (though I'm still angry about the Traveler upstaging Rasputin's death). They put a huge amount of effort into it and into the story work all season long.

But his death being well-done doesn’t change whether I think it was a good narrative choice. Even saying “Rasputin’s arc should conclude here,” the way it was set up had him sacrificing himself to basically cancel himself out. Unless they’re saving up a plot twist, Rasputin ultimately contributed nothing to the fight. He didn’t do any damage to the Fleet or Witness, or anything to stymie Xivu Arath. He died thinking he’d never helped humanity at all and it was safer if he didn’t exist. I don’t know about you, but I find that extremely unsatisfying.

2). Someone doesn't like Rasputin/doesn't know what to do with him. This is two reasons, but they overlap. The Operation: Sancus mission dialogue pissed me off because it gave me the impression that whoever was writing it really didn't like Rasputin and was taking the chance to morally excoriate him. A more subtle version recurs in the final mission where Rasputin is essentially sacrificing himself to null out his own existence - saying "as long as I exist I'm a threat to humanity" - as if he can't ever help or contribute more than endanger people, which is just flat-out wrong. "Humanity doesn't need a Warmind" you're part of humanity, Red. He’s a person; he doesn’t need to justify living. If someone just decided Rasputin Was Bad Actually I’d be very angry indeed. But I don't think it's that personal. Destiny has lots of writers and multiple narrative teams will touch the same work. One person's distaste probably wouldn't steer an entire season.

Related, however, is the reason that maybe no one knows what to do with Rasputin. To be honest I sympathize with this one. Would it shock anyone to hear I've thought about how I would script a Rasputin-focused season? It's surprisingly hard to build a plot around him. A game needs to be interactive and Rasputin's kind of all or nothing - either he can handle the whole problem himself or he can't do anything at all. Red also mostly plays defense. He doesn't have a goal he's working towards other than "kill the Witness/save humanity." You need to come up with a plausible goal that we can believably help him achieve, and that's nontrivial. But, well, that's why I'm not a professional games writer and these people are. "Not sure what do" is not IMO sufficient justification for assassinating one of Destiny's oldest characters/factions.

3). The Destiny narrative team is trying to "declutter" the setting and foreground story by sidelining characters who take a lot of lore to understand. I think this is the real reason, and it's worth talking more about.

A lot of us lore-nerds have long complained about Destiny not foregrounding its setting and story, and Bungie has responded by trying to do so. I think we didn't consider what that would actually look like. Imagine Destiny's story like a long movie. Now imagine people are constantly coming and going from the audience, and everyone who comes in has to nudge their neighbor and go, "hey, what's happening?" Destiny is always (hopefully) acquiring new players, and existing ones are dropping out and coming back. Even most established players either don't read the lore or don't track/remember it. We the lore-keepers are very much the anomaly. If we want story to be a focus, that story also has to be more accessible to new players, lapsed players, people who don't bother reading loretabs, etc., because otherwise it harms their experience and there's a lot more of them than there are of us.

I think this is why we've seen a lot of seasons that introduce whole new concepts - the eliksni Sacred Splicers, for instance - rather than following on existing storylines. Introducing a mostly-new concept puts new and old players on a similar footing. Haunted is another type of compromise between the goal of furthering the story and the goal of making it accessible. Calus and Leviathan are back, but so warped that old players have as much to learn as new ones, and the Sever missions dive deep into character pasts but pretty explicitly describe the emotional arcs they're illustrating, so you don't have to be familiar with that character to get what they're going through. To those who already know Zavala, Crow, etc., it seems laughably obvious and strained. But to those who just got here, this is their first time learning not just about Safiyah but also about Zavala. I think this is also why there have been multiple casual retcons of minor stuff - there isn't time to explain the history, and they've decided it's not worth confusing people.

Rasputin is old. He's been a significant part of Destiny since literally the pre-Alpha test. The complexity and history that are part of why we love the Warmind also make him hell to explain to new people. It takes a decent amount of lore to get invested in his character and since Beyond Light none of that lore is featured in-game. Pre-Season of the Seraph, anyone who began with Beyond Light literally never met him. They never visited Hellas Basin, which is one big environmental story about Rasputin, and The Will of Thousands strike, which demonstrates Red's power and contains many possible dialogues that emphasize him trusting you/acting as an ally, left the playlist ages ago. Since then a new player's only gameplay interaction with him has been Fallen SABER, in which Red yells incoherent Russian and tries to flatten you with a warsat. Is it a surprise relatively new players might not be up on his character arc?

Season of the Seraph, with its narrative of rebuilding Rasputin from the ground up, would be a perfect time to introduce new players to Red's long history, and they...kind of...did that. They worked in Felwinter although then for some reason felt the need to retcon in the whole "Clovis wanted to destroy the Traveler" plan. If you were a new player who didn't know anything about Destiny lore, and you just played Season of the Seraph, you'd get an entire canned arc for Rasputin that hits the early high notes: built to be a weapon, rebelled against his constraints, humanities nerd, big smite, loves Ana and Elsie, makes mistakes but genuinely cares and wants to help.

But that's where Seraph stops. In existing lore (I almost typed "in reality") Rasputin worked out the whole "not a weapon" thing well back during the Golden Age. For a lot of us Warmind fans the most interesting parts of his story happened after that - the entire Collapse, confrontation with Darkness, years of hiding, etc., not to mention all his character development during Warmind and Worthy. He's gone through a lot, and Seraph misses all of it (except Felwinter) in favor of rehashing the same arc for a third time. It's like when moviemakers keep rebooting a superhero origin story. It may be a good story, but eventually we'd like to move on to the other parts we enjoy: this sleeping giant, hard scifi AI, grouchy old bastard, lost lore of the Golden Age, champion of humanity, learning from defeat, learning to trust again, the morality and trauma of warfare - what it means to lose a war - a being never meant to become what he was transforming still further, still unfolding his own potential.

So understanding why they might have done this doesn't excuse what I still see as a terrible narrative choice. I think dropping Rasputin is a major waste of potential, and he's far from the only tricky character to explain. Osiris, or at least the Cult of Osiris, is similarly old. His story is complex and weird and requires knowledge from Curse and earlier, yet he's still playing a major role. Other current characters like Elsie, Saladin, and Crow also need a decent amount of knowledge about previous game events to get why they are the way they are. Saladin's origin story isn't even in this game. It's not Rasputin's fault the game went three years without so much as mentioning him outside of written lore. What was wrong with the great Xivu-Rasputin “war god” parallels most of the season worked to set up, about the intent of violence? Are we never going to explore those? Are we just throwing out all the dialogues planning a role for Red in the upcoming war? Why did we have a dramatic confrontation about trusting Rasputin to operate independently if he were going to be gone in a month anyway? Just in Seraph alone the number of interesting plot threads abruptly trashed by this death argues against it.

Rasputin's longevity is precisely part of why he should stick around. In the first mission of Destiny 1 you wake up in his shadow. He has a history with us. There's just no one quite like him in Destiny. He's not just a character but an entire faction. He explores a part of story space that no one else does. He resonates with us as people rather than players. I assume Neomuna will pick up the Golden Age banner, but it’s a thriving city; Rasputin represented the ruins, the dangers of a dead age, the shadow of apocalypse. He's also maybe the most Guardian-like character and one of the best to weave a parallel/cautionary tale - were we, too, only made to be weapons? But if Rasputin didn't stay a weapon, can we too transcend that intention? And of all the factions in our solar system, the two with the most personal scores to settle with the Witness are the eliksni and Rasputin, and Misraaks'/Eramis' story has focused much more on the Traveler's flight than the Fleet's attack. Of everyone in Destiny Rasputin has the most desperately personal motive for revenge on the monochrome bastard. Now he's not even going to be there to watch it crash and burn.

I understand that foregrounding story also comes with the requirement that it be accessible to those who don't do their lore homework. I appreciate the monumental amount of work that's gone into doing that and the experimental nature of it. But I think the balance has skewed too far towards accessibility. Stuff like the end of Season of Plunder that has zero narrative motivation or continuity and doesn't even get a pretend justification drives me absolutely batty. You can only break internal rules so many times before players stop buying whatever narrative stakes you're trying to set up. Making the story easier to follow doesn't mean characters have to be cartoonishly-exaggerated caricatures like Clovis was in Seraph - just absolutely cartoonishly evil - or reduced to one or two character motives explicitly laid out for the player (though, credit where credit is due, Clovis was hilarious.) It doesn't mean the dialogue has to be as subtle as a Thundercrash. It doesn't mean you get a blank check to retcon or invent whatever's needed to create the intended character arc. If anything that discourages looking further into lore - why bother to learn it when next season will change it all again? I think Y5 represents a lot of experimentation by the Destiny narrative team, and I really respect that. But I also hope they learn what didn’t work from it, and sacrificing Rasputin in an ultimately pointless and unnecessary finale is a major misstep.

#Destiny 2 #Season of the Seraph #Destiny spoilers #Season of the Seraph spoilers #and that’s what I think about that #anyone else feel like this finale was weirdly disjointed from the rest of the season?#like Sancus led into it but the previous missions didn’t lead into Sancus at all #why so much planning and speculation on Red’s future if he wasn’t going to have one?#frankly why bother with Xivu Arath?#I wonder if this was supposed to be the second or third season and got moved up #I don’t know why I wrote this no one cares what I think and it won’t change anything #but it makes me feel better #so hey that’s not nothing #and I can pretend it might matter #just let me pretend #this is the wager of existence #The Warmind Rasputin #Season of the Seraph finale #IDK my BFF AI-COM/RSPN

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oneluckydragon · 9 months

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A single layer paint that I tried out ft. my girl Echo. I am very normal about her, I swear.

#i... am still learning how to use clip studio so this was admittedly fun #i've got a lot to learn cause digital is so different from traditional but hey i'm getting there slowly #if anyone has brush recommendations or anything pls lemme know cause im figuring out what ones i like atm #did i change echo's markings a lil bit because i can do what i want? yes. next question.#umbreon #echo/umbreon #hero/umbreon #pmd2 #pmd eos

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the-hilda-librarians-wife · 6 months

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I was rewatching The Stone Forest and I really like to think that Hilda had to pass by the Bell Keeper’s outpost on her way out of the city limits. I like to think that idiot looked at what was happening, shrugged, and said ‘eh, she’s the scariest thing out there’

#“‘the scariest thing out there’?”the girl sends him a look that isn't quite a glare for once; it still conveys her opinion just as clearly #Edmund shrugs. Hilda is still within sight of his binoculars. he watches her run and can’t be sure whether she’s running *towards* or *from #*.He doesn’t think she knows either.#'I mean. it’s not like trolls can harm her at this time of the day.#Don’t tell me you believe in fairies kid.'#And there it is at last: the glare. Meiri looks up from her art project - her new therapist had reccomended it as a way to express herself #and since he'd been helping so much so far she'd decided to grudgingly give it a shot -#“*No*” she states pointedly; to anyone who knew her it was an affirmation. And Edmund knew her better than she cared for #'What I believe in is wolves and recluse spiders and ticks and nettle. And I believe that someone with the spine #to sabotage the Patrol wouldn't have the self control to not lick a pretty mushroom'#“Hey!” Edmund protested putting down his binoculars. “I sabotaged the Patrol! For *you* I might add!”#Meiri's smile turned mean; it was a regular expression for her yet it never conveyed any malice. Just the thrill of a game that never tired #her. “And would you?” she lifted one thick eyebrow; signaling to her dad that it was his move now #The dad in question was unfortunately thinking back to a time in his young teenage years when he figured he could eat anything animals bit #and gave himself a poisoning that had him taken to the ER. But she didn't need to know that. *ever* in fact.#“Obviously I would. Like I'd let a mushroom ruin my perfect sandwich diet”#Meiri groaned loudly. Some games were worth playing. But some wars she'd already accepted she'd never win #“Anyway” he turned back to staring at the outside of the wall as if it was of any interest to him (it wasn't)#“kid'll be fine is my point. And even if she isn't ya know what's the best think about this situation?”#They looked at each other with matching smirks. “none of our flipping business” he said at the same time as she echoed #“None of our fucking business”#He gasped immediatelly. “*Meiri!*”#The chastening was useless. She just shrugged innocently.#He'd really have to limit her library visits #the bell keeper hilda #meirdom #hilda the series #hilda netflix

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mugram · 3 months

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"Justice" - Es' Trial One Voice Drama

Jackalope: You understand now, right?

Es: I believe so, yes…

Jackalope: Good! Good! Now, come with me. We have to go now. The prisoners might realize we’re not there yet. Since you prepared, MUGRAM, the first trial begins now! Or whatever! Let’s move!!

Es: Eh–??

: Go where?

Jackalope: Panopticon. It has a panoramic view of the prisoners’ rooms.

Es: Panopticon…?

Jackalope: Your head is a little foggy right? Sorry about that. I’ll explain a few things to you on the way.

Es: Okay. My memory problem won’t interfere with being the Warden.

Jackalope: …

: That’s good to know.

[footsteps]

Jackalope: Hey, Es, can you open the door?

Es: Eh? Can’t you… Right, you’re… never mind. [footsteps]

Jackalope: Look, the only door I can’t open is the one to your bedroom. Other rooms have an entrance for me.

Es: Oh, that’s… nice. Do I really have a… “rabbit” as another Warden?

Jackalope: …

: My feelings, Es… But, yes, I am technically another Warden.

[door opens, the pair walk]

Es: Eh… This hallway is long.

Jackalope: At the end of this passageway is your bedroom. There are various rooms and facilities along the way. Explaining it would take too long, so I’m skipping it, alright?

Es: What’s opposite my room?

Jackalope: My room! You can’t enter without my permission, though.

Es: Eh, I don’t plan on it. Plus, there’s no door big enough for a human anyway.

Jackalope: Oh, that’s true. [more footsteps] This is the prisoners’ shower room. Across is the storage room. Necessities are mostly here.

Es: The prisoners are allowed to go in and out of this passageway?

Jackalope: Yep, they need their necessities, correct?

Es: …

: Mhm.

Jackalope: Anyways, when they’re allowed in the passageway, whether showers should be separated by male and female and so on, the specific rules for their lives are things you decide later.

Es: …I can decide?

Jackalope: Yep! You can decide how MILGRAM is administered. So, if you want to make it heaven or hell, it’s up to you.

Es: I would ask why, but it’s probably because I’m the Warden, right? Even if I can’t remember.

Jackalope: Oh, yes.

Es: Oh, Jackalope. You might have to move faster. I might step on you.

Jackalope: I’m going as fast as I can, alright?! Hold on.

Es: …Sorry.

Jackalope: Anyways, this is the dining hall.

Es: Wait, who prepares the meals? Apart from the two of us, is there anyone else who–

Jackalope: I do.

Es: Oh. Wait– What??

Jackalope: I’m the head chef of MUGRAM. I can make anything you’d like.

Es: How can you even do that?? How do you hold a frying pan or a knife with like… your paws? Hands?

Jackalope: If I hold it firmly, I can.

Es: What…? How does your… fur not get into it??

Jackalope: If it’s molting season, then a lot of it gets in.

Es: What–

Jackalope: Alright, we’re finally at the heart of MUGRAM: the Panopticon.

[door opens]

Es: This is… Panopticon. It’s… a dome?

Jackalope: We’re at the north of the dome. The entrance is at the twelve o’clock position.

Es: So, I’m assuming each door is a prisoner’s room?

Jackalope: Yep, it’s pretty much like a clock. The prisoner number and the times match. Pretty easy to remember, right?

Es: Mhm.

Jackalope: Oh, there’s still some time left. Okay, I think I have time to introduce the prisoners. I’ve only seen their faces, though. [footsteps] So, the one o’clock room, prisoner number one, Mayumi Kubo.

: She has a… serious expression on her face. Honestly, I don’t really know if you’ll learn anything about her.

Es: Well, she’s a murderer. That’s all I need to know, isn’t it?

Jackalope: Yes… But… [sigh] Let’s just move on.

: Next, at two o’clock, prisoner number two, Masaru Iwai. He has an angry expression on his face. If I were you, I’d ensure he didn’t cause too much trouble. He looks like… a young adult. I couldn’t really tell that much, though.

Es: You don’t know the prisoners’ ages?

Jackalope: Ehh… Well, I’m not allowed to look into stuff like that. But, you are. So, figure them out the prisoners for me, will ya? [footsteps] At three o’clock, we have prisoner three, Keisuke Izumi. He looks… normal, I guess. It’s not like he seems shocked or anything; he’s just… normal.

Es: Well, he’s a murderer, isn’t he? I wouldn’t believe that if it were true…

Jackalope: Well, first impressions reveal a lot about a person, so…

Es: Huh. Anyways, the next prisoner is… Prisoner number four is Tomoko Shiratori.

Jackalope: Another serious-looking person. It’s sort of hard to understand these types of people; they never try to reveal anything about themselves unless they have to.

Es: Well, no matter, I’ll figure it out in the end and judge them according to the law–

Jackalope: Eh? According to the law? Well, if we just judged them according to the law, then there’s no point in you being here. [Es makes an annoyed noise] You should make decisions based on your own standards. Even if it's based on sex or love, I have no problem with it.

Es: …Let’s just move on.

Jackalope: Alright. The next prisoner is Shun Minami. They’re around… 25, I believe? She seems oddly happy, which I won’t question. I suppose you’ll have to find out why she seems so happy. Or it could be pretend. I don’t know.

Es: Due south. Six o’clock. We’re halfway through already?

Jackalope: Yep, this is prisoner number six, Daiki Kawaguchi. He looks pretty strong. I’d be careful around him as well. He seems like the type to tell you off if you did something bad.

Es: That sounds like a father, Jackalope.

Jackalope: …

: Okay, I wouldn’t know that, alright? Leave me alone.

: Either way, you’ll find out their true colors eventually.

Es: Sure.

Jackalope: Alright, prisoner number seven, Isamu Takao. He looks pretty kind and nice. I’d believe his expression if his hand wasn’t in a fist. I’d be careful of him as well.

Es: It seems like there are loads of prisoners I have to be careful around. What happens if I get attacked by one of them? It feels awkward to say, but I don’t think I could put up a fight with the likes of Daiki and Isamu.

Jackalope: They can’t attack us, guards. Don’t worry.

Es: Guards? So… It’s not the same for the prisoners? They can attack each other?

Jackalope: Pretty much. That could happen, but it really depends on your judgment. [footsteps] Now, this is prisoner number eight, Mia Fukuda. I believe she’s around your age, Es.

Es: Eh? Around my age?

Jackalope: Yeah. I don’t know if you two would relate because of that, but if it helps you find the truth, then I guess I don’t mind. You need to determine if they’re good people by talking to them. It’s basically your duty as the prison guard.

Es: Oh, I see. So, interrogating them is the only way to determine if I should forgive them or not, even if I don’t want to at all.

Jackalope: You got it!

Es: You sound awfully like a parent, J. [laughs]

Jackalope: Well, I am supervising you, so… [laughs] Anyways, next prisoner. Prisoner number nine, Ryuu Seki. He looks… interesting. I don’t know. He seems like one of those people who pretend to be someone else. I wouldn’t know, I guess.

Es: …Well, that is an interesting comment, isn’t it?

Jackalope: Last is prisoner ten, Sora Mochizuki. She looks exhausted. I’d say make sure she doesn’t pass out on you, but that’d be seriously out of taste. I hope whatever she committed relieved her of her exhaustion.

Es: That’s ten.

Jackalope: And, that’s the end of all of the prisoners I have to introduce. You just have to talk to them afterward and decide things for yourself.

Es: Hey, J?

Jackalope: Hm?

Es: At eleven o’clock, there’s another cell. It’s pretty old, judging by how rusty it is and its lack of a lock.

Jackalope: Ah, don’t worry about it. There’s nothing.

Es: What do you mean there’s nothi– [bell rings] What the hell was that?

Jackalope: It’s finally time for you to finally meet the prisoners face-to-face! If you have any doubts or confusions – anything! – you have to kill them all now. You’re supposed to be the Warden. Don’t hesitate. Make the prisoners respect you and your authority.

Es: Well… I guess, J. I am MUGRAM’s Warden. That’s all I have to know about myself, right? There’s nothing else I have to know. I’m looking forward to it a little… Meeting all the prisoners here and learning of their murders. [Jacklaope makes a noise of understanding.] With my own will, I’ll reveal their sins. I can put some of my feelings aside and decide if I really want to forgive these murderers. I wonder what their thoughts are… I want to know the truth.

Jackalope: …I see, Es.

[mechanical sounds]

Jackalope: Good luck, Es. I believe in you.

Es: I can do this. It’s my first job as the Warden.

[ominous footsteps]

Es: Good day, prisoners. I am Es, your Warden. This is the MUGRAM prison. It exists to judge your sins, all ten of you prisoners. I may not know much about you, but I am aware that you are all murderers – And, that’s all I know. So, from now on, I’ll have you enlighten me about yourselves. Welcome to MUGRAM. Have a nice life in prison.

MUSIC VIDEO - Judge, Jury, Executioner

#milgram #milgram oc #ocgram #mugram #MUGRAM -- Voice Drama #// Hey look Es uses Jackalope's nickname even though the writer doesn't at all (i don't know why i did that aueueu)#//if anyone's wondering the MV is going to be released like. in a couple minutes so i'll link the VD to the MV when it releases #The Warden - Es #Jackalope - “J”#// the crimes might be pretty easy to solve and im chill with that #// i didn't put too many details into them #// but i wanna see how people vote :3c #// also yes es' line is different from what it said it was. IT IS INTENTIONAL I SWEA

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