#i wish i had the creativity to do more complex pieces

[unwisegirl]

listen like. people are totally entitled to their opinions and criticisms of the pjo show but. sometimes it’s just hard to hear/read. I know the show isn’t perfect but seeing the cast & producers talk about it and seeing the level of love and excitement theyve put into the work, idk, I feel for them having people tear it to shreds. criticising the author himself for not adapting it well when he’s doing something different with a new medium, saying they’re sorry for the kids who love the books but have to act in this “terrible” show as if these kids aren’t THRILLED by the opportunity and just so committed to giving the show their best.

(watch the behind the scenes documentary. seriously.)

again totally valid criticisms & opinions!! but you win some and lose some in an adaptation. eg. trying to expand on themes, keep a consistent tone, appeal to a broader audience (including those of us who loved the books as kids but are now!!! adults!!!), keep within budget, etc etc all these things involve some trade offs. sure some of the humour and goofiness has been lost but we also get amazing beautifully acted scenes that really expand on core themes of family or who is a monster etc etc.

speaking on a personal level I have had a hard time these past few months and this show became a genuine escape, a way for me to connect with my sister watching the episodes together, a rediscovery of my inner 12 year old who waited so long for this. and I know there are people who are like me and they had certain expectations and that’s why they’re disappointed and that’s so valid, but it’s a lot of negativity sometimes, & I just wish we could give a little grace bc making a creative thing is hard, and pleasing everyone with that creative thing is impossible, and most of all, maybe we could revel a little bit more in this unique complex piece of work that lots of people poured their hearts into with nothing but the best of intentions.

#again u are entitled to your opinions maybe this is just #my very long way of saying please tag your criticisms #I’ve filtered the tags but it still pops up on my feed #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo tv show #pjo series #pjo #pjo fandom

[bro-atz]

Hey. Is it possible for you to write a stepfather!Yunho fic where he can't take it anymore and pounces on you one time? Seems like non con, but it's just because she's also been wanting him but is in denial? With a bit of plot?

in denial

in which: yunho is the stepfather you never wanted.

pair: stepfather!yunho/afab!reader

word count: 6k

content: raw sex??? (remember to wrap up irl pls), "forbidden" sex, "taboo sex"?, a lot of denial, secret sex, hate that turns into lust, consensual!

author’s note: i seriously had to rack my brain for this one bc omg anon what a complex request that also gives me a lot of creative freedom??? so much freedom that this is a p long piece HAHA i wish i could say more of it is reader x yunho doing the winkwonk but it’s so plot heavy 😔 nevertheless i hope this fulfilled your desires ❤️

tag list: @k-hotchoisan apply for the permanent taglist here! part one | part two

It’s not that you hated your mother, you just preferred your father over her. Your mother was pretty young when she had you (teen pregnancy, she was 16), so she was pretty immature as you got older. Your father was only two years older than your mother, but he was so much more mature than your mother, hence why you preferred him.

So, when your father ran away from home when you were 15, you were stuck with your pretty immature mother. You had no idea where your biological father went, so it’s not like you could have gone and stayed with him. No matter— you just had to deal with your mother for another three years, and then you would be able to get out of her house and never have to live with her after. Again, it’s not that you hated her, but you seriously couldn’t deal with her bullshit on a daily basis.

When you turned 16, though, your mother got remarried. So, at the age of 32, your mother married a different man, Yunho. But this man was barely a man. He was 10 years younger than your mother, which weirded you out a lot because you were closer to his age than he was to your mother’s age. So fucking weird. You hated it. Your mother knew him for a year before she locked him down, which meant he was just 21 when she first met him. You lost a lot of respect for your mother the day she married him.

Yunho, your stepfather, moved into your house. If only you were 18, then you wouldn’t have to live with the weird dynamic of your family, but you had two years until then.

When your mother went for work, you would be alone with your stepfather. Your mother had to go into the office, but your stepfather worked remotely, so he was always home. You hated being alone with the guy, so you would just camp out in your room until your mother got home. You grounded your own self whenever you got back from school. It sucked.

One day, when you got back from school, Yunho was in the living room. Usually, he was in his office, but that day, he was in the living room.

“Hey, Y/N. How was school?”

“Fine.”

You immediately started to walk towards your room, only for Yunho’s voice to stop you.

“We haven’t talked in a while! Come, sit here. Let’s talk.”

With a groan, you turned around and trudged over to the living room. You sat on the sofa furthest away from where that man was. “What did you want to talk about?” you asked rather coldly.

“I feel like we should get to know each other. We are family now, after all.”

“Okay, let’s get something straight,” you sat forward and stared him down. “I only have to be in this stupid house for another two years, and once I’m in college, I’m gone, so don’t even think about trying to be a proper “stepfather” and don’t expect me to call you that either. Legally, we may be a family, but that’s only on paper. Okay?”

Yunho pressed his lips together. He looked slightly disappointed, but he also looked as if he was anticipating this reaction from you. “I’d rather you didn’t call me stepfather, so that’s fine…”

“Also, why did you marry my mom in the first place?” you asked him point blank; since you were actually talking to him properly since the first time you met him, you thought you might as well ask him. “You’re so young. Fuck, you’re closer to my age than hers! What the fuck are you doing? Did you marry my mom for her money?”

“No! I really do like your mom! We had a genuine connection and…” Yunho trailed off.

“And what?”

“…Nothing. Nothing you would want to know.”

You took a moment to process what he told you, only to be immediately disgusted. You stood up and marched out of the living room, thankful that Yunho stopped before divulging his sex life with your mother.

Two more years with that man, and then you were done. You couldn’t wait.

In those two years, many things happened. You mother got pregnant (much to your dismay) and gave birth to a girl, your half-sister. You were very unhappy with the development of your mother’s relationship with your freakishly young stepfather when your half-sister was born, but you couldn’t help but have a soft spot for her— she always loved you and being in your arms. You were the only one who could get her to stop crying and go to sleep.

Then, you got accepted into your dream school hundreds of miles away from your hometown. You were so excited to go, and the final year of high school passed quickly.

During this time, you had very minimal interactions with Yunho. You only really talked to him when you had to, but that was maybe once every week. Then, when you went to college, you didn’t interact with him at all— or at least you thought you wouldn’t have to.

“But mom, I don’t want to—”

“I don’t give a shit! You are coming home for Thanksgiving, otherwise you can find a way to put yourself through school!”

You couldn’t believe that your education was being held against you to go home, and to be very honest, you would rather suck it up and just go home than work several jobs to pay for your tuition and dorm.

So, every Thanksgiving, every winter break, every spring break, and every other miscellaneous holiday that happened throughout the year, you were at home ignoring the hell out of Yunho and just focusing all of your energy on your younger sister who got bigger every single time you saw her. Your friends would always wish you luck when you had to prepare to head home for the holidays, and you would always be jealous and salty that your friend group went on vacations together during these breaks and would post the pictures online and on social media fully knowing that you were stuck at home with your mother, her husband, and your sister, who was the only person worth going back home for.

One year, however, you had enough. It was your final year of school, and you desperately wanted to go on a trip for spring break with your friend group. Your mother was hellbent on getting you home for that time, so the two of you spent a lot of winter break arguing about it.

“When I say I want you to come home, I mean it! There is no way you’re going on that trip because I am not paying for it!”

“Mom! I listened to you every single holiday for the past three years, and this is my last chance to go on a college trip with my college friends! Please!”

“I’m not saying you can’t go— go if you want! I’m not paying for it, so I know you won’t be able to afford it, so dream on because you are not going to go.”

Frustrated, you let out a huff and stormed upstairs to your room, slamming the door behind you. You sat on your bed and angrily beat up a pillow, trying to get out all of your anger so that you wouldn’t physically take it out on your mother. Someone knocked on your bedroom door lightly as you beat the shit out of the pillow.

“Sis, I’m not in the mood right now,” you said with a sigh, assuming that the person on the other side of the door was your younger sister.

The door opened— you forgot to lock it— and in walked Yunho. He would’ve been the last person you wanted to see had you not gotten into that argument with your mother. He closed the door behind him.

“Oh. What do you want?” you asked him flatly.

“May I?” Yunho pointed to your bed, asking if he could sit without explicitly stating it.

You didn’t want him to, but at that point you were exhausted. You nodded, allowing the man to sit.

“You want to go on that trip with your friends, right?”

“Did you not get that from the argument just now?”

“I did, but I just… I talked to your mom.”

“Okay, and?”

“I told her to let you go on the trip. I’ll give you the money that you need if she doesn’t.”

You stared at the man in complete confusion. Why was he doing you a favor when you made it very clear to him that you couldn’t stand his guts? Narrowing your eyes, you asked, “Are you serious?”

“Yes. You’re right— you never got to go on any trips with your friends, and I want you to be able to go before you graduate. College trips are always fun.”

“Well, you should definitely know since you literally just graduated,” you said, pointing out how freakishly young he is.

Yunho let out a light laugh. He nodded and continued, “Just let me know the expenses when they come, okay?”

You nodded. Yunho stood up to leave. Just as his hand was on the doorknob, you said, “Hey. Thanks.”

He turned and smiled at you, your heart suddenly fluttering. He had such a beautiful smile. Without a word, he left.

Thanks to Yunho, you were able to enjoy the rest of your college experience to the fullest. Whenever your mother refused to let you have a good time, you would tell Yunho, and he would help you out. It made you wonder why you couldn’t have given him a chance earlier.

Graduation rolled around, and you forgot that with graduation came your family to watch you graduate.  

Your friends knew that you didn’t like your stepfather, but they didn’t know why. Then, when they finally met him, they were shocked.

“Dude, your stepdad is so fucking hot,” one of your friends said.

“Why the fuck did you not want to go home for the past four years when that’s the view?!” another friend asked.

“Also how have you not pounced on him yet?” asked one other friend.

“First of all, shut up,” you slapped each one of your friends on the cheek lightly. “That’s gross. Second of all, he’s my stepfather, and that’s all he will ever be to me.”

“Say whatever you want, but the man is hot.”

“And he looks so young!”

“I mean… He is ten years younger than my mom, and he’s six years older than me,” you explained.

“What?!”

“Girl, he’s closer to your age than hers!”

“I know that…”

“You can totally hook up with him!”

“Stop,” you held your hand out and shook your head. “He’s married to my mom, guys, and that’s so weird for me to think about. Can we just not talk about it anymore?”

Your friends nodded, only for one friend to say under their breath, “But he’s still fine as fuck…”

“Shut the fuck up!”

Your mind was racing the rest of your graduation. What your friends said about your stepfather really stuck in your head— it was those kinds of thoughts that made you avoid Yunho like the plague in the first place. You didn’t want to think that way about the guy that your mother fell in love with. You were so in your own head that you didn’t realize your graduation was official until one of your friends’ hat hit you on the head on the way down.

After leaving the venue, you stood outside the doors and waited for your family. Your mother wanted to take pictures of you with your cap and gown in front of the stadium. Your friends waited nearby— they wanted to get a look of your stepfather again. You tried to shoo them away, but they refused to move.

“Y/N! My baby!” your mother cheered as she saw you. “You’re officially a college graduate! I’m so proud of you!”

Your mother hugged you, and you could only weakly smile. She kissed your cheek before immediately turning to your friends and asking, “Can one of you please take a picture of me and my daughter?”

One of your friends stepped up and took your mother’s phone to take pictures. At first, it was just you and your mother, then it was the entire family. You stood in between Yunho and your mother, your little sister standing right in front of you. You felt your heart start to race the closer Yunho stood to you, which freaked you out because you wouldn’t have been feeling this way had your friends not said anything about his looks.

“Okay, now just you and Yunho,” your mother told you.

“Wait, I—”

“Yes! Stand over there, Y/N!” your friend with the camera said as they pointed to an area slightly further away from them.

You shot your friend a glare before going to where they asked you to go. You seriously did not want to take this picture, but you didn’t want to make a scene in public. Yunho stood next to you as you positioned yourself. There was a slight gap between the two of you, prompting your friend to say, “Scoot closer together! You both look so awkward!”

You were so ready to kill your friend. Reluctantly, you took a step towards Yunho. He also took a step towards you at the same time, causing you to bump into him. Before you could stumble anywhere, his hand went around your waist. Butterflies erupted in your stomach when he hugged you lightly. His touch was so… Pleasant. You hated that you liked his touch, and you hated it even more when you wanted him to touch you more. He wasn’t getting touchy-feely at all, but that didn’t stop your libido from wanting more. You couldn’t help but think that it would be so nice if he could be more intimate, only for you to immediately reject the idea. You seriously needed your brain to shut up. Thinking about your stepfather in that sense was so weird, and you needed it to stop.

The second your friend took the picture, Yunho released you, and you could breathe once more. You didn’t even realize that you held your breath while he was holding you. After you took a couple pictures with your little sister, you immediately turned to your friends and slapped the backs of their heads. If it weren’t for them, you would not have thought about Yunho, your goddamn stepfather, in that way.

Luckily for you, you found a job right after graduating from college. It was in the big metropolitan city near your hometown, and while you could have made the commute daily, you decided to live in the city for a multitude of reasons, a huge one being the fact that you just didn’t want to live with your mother and her new family. It wasn’t that you hated them, but you wanted to be an adult, and living at home would not allow you to do that. Also, Yunho. You wanted to continue to avoid that man as long as you possibly could.

That being said, you did go home pretty frequently to eat your mother’s cooking (for free, and free food is always great), and you went to visit your half-sister because you liked being there for her. You babysitting her also allowed your mother and her husband to go out on dates, which meant it was mainly just you and your little sister at home. Not bad at all.

One day, you went home to run some errands. Your friends in your hometown wanted to meet up, you had to visit some of your old favorite stores, and you wanted to grab some food from your mother to bring back to your apartment in the city because the next week was going to be incredibly busy for you at work, and there was no chance you would be able to make yourself meals.

It was silent when you got home. You looked around to see if anyone was home, and you found someone, but it wasn’t who you wanted to see.

“Oh, Y/N, what brings you here?” Yunho greeted you from the living room.

He was sitting on the couch and just started playing a movie, which he paused as soon as you walked into the house.

“I’m just here to grab food because I have a busy week next week. Where’s mom and sis?”

“Your mom took her to the eye doctor to get her eyes checked because she’s been sitting too close to the TV lately.”

“Oh…”

You stood awkwardly in the kitchen, unsure of what to do with yourself. You had to wait for your mother to come home to make food, and you felt awkward just leaving the area and going to your room. You and Yunho had never been alone together, so ignoring him felt wrong.

“What’re you watching?” you asked Yunho after a long moment of silence.

“Orlando. Have you seen it?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Come watch with me, then. The movie barely started.”

You hesitantly made your way to the living room. You were going to sit in one of the arm chairs, but Yunho patted the space on the couch next to him. You joined him on the couch, enough empty space for God between the two of you.

As the movie played, you tried your best to watch the movie, but you couldn’t help but steal glances at Yunho’s side profile— he was heavily invested in the movie. You kept thinking about what your college friends said about him, and you finally admitted to yourself that, yes, Yunho, your stepfather, was indeed very attractive. You had to keep reminding yourself that he was your stepfather, and that the thoughts in your head were just wrong.

Then, the craziest thing happened. Yunho put his hand on your thigh. You immediately reclaimed your thigh and scooted away from him.

“What is— Why— When— What do you think you’re doing?!” you stuttered.

Yunho looked you dead in the eye, his serious face making your insides swell with heat. “Cut the crap, Y/N. You want me, don’t you?” he said with a low voice.

“Are you insane?!”

You continued to scoot backwards and lean away as Yunho approached you. Your head hit the pillow as Yunho pinned you down, his hands pressed on the couch on either side of you.

“You think I didn’t see you sneaking looks at me? Why do you keep looking at me instead of the movie, Y/N?”

“I mean— I don’t— How— Uh—”

“See, you can’t even answer me properly. You want me.”

Yunho ran his hand up your thigh, which you immediately slapped away while saying, “No, I don’t!

“Really?”

You tried to roll off the couch and away from Yunho, but his arm blocked your path. His hand firmly held onto your waist as you tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

“S-stop it…”

“Face it, Y/N. You want me just as much as I want you.”

Your eyes went wide. You had no idea what the man meant by that when he said it, and it freaked you out completely. Slightly panicking, you tried to push him away, but the second your hands touched his chest, he grabbed your wrists and pinned them above your head. You squirmed and tried desperately to get out of his grasp, but then he kissed you.

Yunho kissing you melted your brain. He was an amazing kisser. He kissed you intensely, his soft lips sucking sweetly on yours. You pushed yourself further into his kiss, your lips desperate for his. You had never kissed anyone so intensely in your entire life until that moment, and you only realized that fact after he finally broke away from you as you were completely out of breath the second he moved away. Your face was hot, and your eyes were bleary as every atom of your body yearned for him.

“See, I told you.”

“Fuck…”

Wordlessly, Yunho turned off the TV before turning back to you, his arms wrapping tightly around you. He lifted you off the couch, and you immediately wrapped your legs around his waist. You held onto his face and kissed him over and over and over again because you seriously could not get enough of him. When his hands supported your thighs instead of your torso, his grip on you got stronger, turning you on even more. The two were you were breathless as he carried you to his room and laid you down on the bed gently.

His lips were still connected with yours as he began to caress your body. He rolled the tips of his fingers over your clothed crotch, causing you to moan into his mouth.

“Fuck, that was so hot,” Yunho pulled away to comment. “You’re so fucking hot, Y/N.”

You had never heard the man utter a single profanity in the time you knew him, so him swearing was so unbelievably sexy to you to the point where your body trembled with excitement. You desperately needed him to do something about your throbbing pussy, but Yunho wanted to take things slow. He dragged his tongue along your neck before kissing your neck sloppily. While you didn’t think it was smart of him to leave a mark on your neck, you couldn’t help but want him to. Then again, it was fine if he left hickeys on you, but you definitely could not leave hickeys on him.

“God, I could just fuck you up,” Yunho whispered half to himself.

“Do it.”

“What?”

“Do it. Fuck me up, Yunho.”

Yunho stared at you, his eyes getting darker. He brought his face near yours and said with an incredibly sexy, low voice, “That’s the first time you’ve ever said my name, Y/N.”

He kissed you hungrily, making you hold onto his shoulders for dear life.

“I want you to say my name. I want you to scream and cry my name,” he uttered as he wrapped light fingers around your neck. “I want you to beg me to fuck you senseless. Will you do that for me?”

You responded with a light nod. Yunho kissed you harshly, his fingers pressing into your neck. You didn’t realize how much you would enjoy someone choking you while making out with you until then. Yunho was experienced, and he was using that experience to turn your brain into mush. You wanted him bad. Your hips moved restlessly as you felt the tension build between your legs, and you desperately needed a release. Your hand move down to rub yourself, but Yunho grabbed your hand before it could go there and held it above your head while he stopped kissing you. There was a slight smirk on his face as he noticed your restlessness.

“Yunho,” you said, your voice wavering.

“Yes, Y/N?”

“I— My pussy… Do something,” you nearly cried.

With a knowing smile, Yunho nodded and sat up. He pulled off his shirt— he grabbed the back of his collar to take it off, which you found to be incredibly hot— before helping you strip down. Your clothes were in a pile on the ground, leaving you laying on the bed completely naked. Your pussy was soaking wet by that time. Yunho gazed at your pussy, your throbbing, pink, fresh pussy, with sparkling eyes. He grazed his nails along your folds, your thighs trembling at his touch. But, he was taking his sweet time with you, and it was driving you crazy. You clutched the pillow under your head and groaned in frustration.

“Yunho, just fuck me please! I can’t take it anymore!”

“Mmm, for someone who’s been avoiding me, you sure do want me bad right now,” Yunho chuckled.

You were going to respond, but when you felt his fingers shove into, you let out a loud gasp and moan. You flung your head back into the pillow and let out cry after cry. You had to bite your lower lip and muffled your noises when Yunho started massaging your breast and sucking intensely on your nipple.

“F-fuck, I’m cumming,” you choked out as you felt your orgasm nearing.

“Yes, come for me, Y/N,” Yunho moved up to whisper in your ear, his fingers not letting up.

That was all you needed to hit euphoria. Your nails nearly tore through the pillowcase as your pussy convulsed. Your moan echoed in the room, and your eyes rolled to the back of your head. Sweet, sweet relief.

“Shit,” Yunho hissed as he removed his fingers. “You’re so incredibly sexy… I can’t hold back any longer.”

You were completely out of breath as the high of your orgasm slowly disappeared. Your eyes were bleary as you opened them to see Yunho’s faint shape get off the bed to remove his pants. Within seconds, Yunho was back on the bed, and he moved your legs, your knees in the air as your feet pressed into the mattress. He positioned himself and leaned his upper body down to dominate your lips. The second his lips locked with yours, he thrusted into you powerfully. You moaned into his mouth when his waist slammed against yours and when his tongue shoved its way into your mouth.

Yunho let out grunts of pleasure as he waist met yours repeatedly at a slow and steady pace. But, when you let go of the pillow to hold onto his shoulders, and when your nails dug into his skin, he inhaled sharply through his teeth and fucked you harder and faster. The entire bed squeaked and moved as his tempo increased, and you felt your brain and body melt with pleasure.

“Yunho! More!” you ended the kiss to whine.

And he delivered. He moved up, held your waist with a strong grip, and pulled you closer towards him as he lifted your waist. Him pounding the shit out of you felt so good that you couldn’t control yourself anymore. Tears filled your eyes as more moans and groans and cries spilled out of your mouth. His cock felt amazing inside you, and even though he was pile driving you into oblivion, you somehow still wanted more of him.

“I’m close,” Yunho bit out. “I’m going to cum inside, okay?”

That was probably the more you wanted. You nodded and pulled him down towards you once more, your mouth begging for his tongue. He groaned into your mouth as you felt his dick shudder and spurt within you, his cum filling and warming you up. When he pulled out, his cum leaked out of you, and you watched him stare at your pussy in delight.

You laid on the bed until your heart rate calmed down before pushing yourself up and saying, “I’m going to go clean myself up…”

You didn’t even wait for a reaction from Yunho. You scurried to the bathroom (trying desperately not to leak out on your way), and sat on the toilet to quickly clean yourself up. Shortly thereafter, you stood in front of the mirror and washed your hands. You looked at your reflection to see small, dark hickeys scattered across your chest. As you inspected the bruises on your skin, Yunho walked up behind you. He arms snaked around you and massaged your breasts as he pressed his dick against you.

“Yunho, what are you doing?” you asked carefully.

“I’m not done with you just yet,” Yunho said softly as he bit your earlobe.

“Uh, no. We’re done.”

You turned around and tried to push past him, but that didn’t work the first time, so how was it going to work again. Placing hands on the sink countertop on either side of you, Yunho trapped you. He leaned in towards you, and you leaned backwards to the best of your ability. You were so sure he was going to kiss you, but when his face stopped a mere couple of centimeters before yours, you stared at him in surprise.

“What, do you want me to stop now?” he asked you teasingly.

You felt his hard cock press against your stomach, and feeling how hard he was, not to mention seeing the amount of lust in his eyes, turned you on entirely. You swallowed hard and begrudgingly shook your head. You needed him again.

“That’s what I thought. Turn around. Bend over.”

With his hands guiding you, you did as he said. Your breasts pressed against the cool countertop, making you shiver. You didn’t have the time to be cold, though, because Yunho swiftly slid his dick into you, your entire body lurching forward.

“Oh, fuck!” you screamed as you felt Yunho’s pelvis slam against your buttocks quickly. “Y-yunho!”

“You like that, huh?” Yunho said with a grunt.

You moaned loudly in response. The two of you were breathing heavily, and the mirrors in the bathroom were starting to fog up. Suddenly, Yunho pulled out, making you cum almost instantly. Your legs trembled as you came, and they nearly gave out. However, before you could collapse to the ground, Yunho turned you around and sat you down on the countertop. He shoved his dick deep inside you, but he didn’t move quite yet.

“What is it?” you whispered as he looked you up and down.

“You’re stunning… So sexy,” Yunho answered as he brought his nose to brush against your jawline. “I could seriously just stare at you all day long.”

He peppered kisses along your jaw and neck, his hands running up and down your waist sensually. You wrapped your arms over his shoulders and held onto the back of his neck as he left more hickeys on your chest. When his hands went around you and hugged you towards him, you couldn’t help but press your fingers into his skin, making the man tremble.

Without a second to lose, Yunho lifted you up and fucked you by using his arms to raise and lower you onto his dick. You held onto him tightly, the fear of falling and feeling of his dick going deeper inside you exciting you. He pressed his lips against yours again, your tongue dancing with his briefly until he brought you down harshly on his penis.

“You’re hitting so deep, Yunho!”

“It’s because you’re taking me so well, Y/N. Your pussy was made for me.”

Your heart skipped a beat. Yunho saying something like that to you was unnatural, but it made you feel so good, so sexy.

Yunho carried you out of the bathroom. He pulled out, set you down so that you were standing, and stroked his dick several times. He pinned you up against the wall and brought your thigh up, your leg wrapping around him. His cock entered you again, and he resumed thrusting fast and hard.

Then, you both heard the front door open. Yunho covered your mouth— he did not intend to stop fucking you. You did you best to hold back your moans, but you were worried about the sound of his hips slapping against yours.

You heard footsteps head towards the door of the bedroom. Tears filled your eyes and started rolling down your cheeks as the fear of getting caught tensed your body entirely. You heard the doorknob jiggle as your mom tried to open the door, but the door did not open. Yunho had locked the door ages ago. So, she knocked on the door.

“Honey?”

“Yes, darling?” Yunho responded, his voice low, sensual, and almost a little groggy.

“What’s going on? Why is the bedroom door locked?”

“I’m taking a nap.”

“Oh… Okay. Have a good nap, then.” You heard your mom walk away from the door, only for her to quickly walk back. “I saw Y/N’s car outside. Is she here?”

“No, she stepped out. She said she would wait until you got back since she only really came to pick up food.”

Yunho’s hips hit yours even harder, the sound scaring you, but the force pleasuring you.

“Shoot, I have to go grocery shopping!” Come, sweetie,” your mom said to your sister— her household nickname was sweetie— and continued, “Let’s go grab some snacks for you and your sister!”

The second you heard the front door close and lock, Yunho removed his hand. You hiccuped and cried softly. Meanwhile, Yunho was still fucking you.

“That was so scary,” you cried. “Why didn’t you stop?!”

“You look way too fucking good right now. I can’t stop.”

Yunho thrusted so hard into you that your back hit the wall slightly, making you yelp. You continued to yelp as he fucked you without remorse.

“Fuck, Y/N. I’m so close.”

You sniffled and nodded, tears still blurring your vision. Yunho kissed you again, but rather than him eating you alive, his kiss was sweet this time around. He held your face and kissed you softly. With one final thrust, his cock throbbed and trembled inside you, his stickiness filling you up once more. Your hold on him relaxed, but you continued kissing him, his posh lips making you forget about why you were so scared in the first place. You remained in that position against the wall for a good several minutes, not wanting to lose the feeling of his long dick shoved in your tight pussy so quickly. If anything, you wanted him to fuck you more.

Which he did. A couple more times, actually.

You got cleaned up and donned all of your clothes. Before you could leave the bedroom, Yunho grabbed you and hugged you. He buried his nose in your hair and sighed deeply.

“Yunho, I have a question,” you told him as you leaned away from him.

“What is it?”

“Earlier, when you said that I wanted you as much as you wanted me, what did you mean by that?”

“You’re a beautiful young woman, Y/N. It’s hard for someone to not be attracted to you. I’ve honestly been wanting this to happen since you graduated.”

The realization of your relationship with the man hit you. It was in the back of your head the entire time he was fucking your brains out, but you only really remembered the nature of the relationship then and there. You pushed him away; and this time, he allowed it.

“We shouldn’t have done this, Yunho.”

There was a certain look on Yunho’s face, but you couldn’t quite put your finger on what it was or what he was thinking. The two of you maintained eye contact, and despite the fact that you knew very well that there was nothing that could ever happen between you and the man in front of you, your libido still lusted for him.

“I know that, but,” Yunho took a step towards you and wrapped one arm around your waist. “I’m glad we did.”

And with that, he kissed you one more time— it was sweet, hot, but nonintrusive. His hand moved up from your waist to your neck, his fingers moving to your scalp and holding you closer to him. You nearly whimpered when the kiss ended.

“You can stay in denial all you want,” Yunho told you. “But just know that I’ll be here in case you ever want to cross the line again.”

#ateez #jeong yunho #yunho smut #yunho x reader #reader x yunho #ateez yunho #jeong yunho ateez #yunho ateez #jeong yunho smut #ateez jeong yunho #broatz #broatz request

[wildfire317]

@liveleaker @jaquesmes

Alright listen here you little inbred, KKK wannabe chucklefucks news flash neither of you are main characters and your barely even background characters so quit acting like you dumbfucks are worth more than the dirt under your toenails. Nobody in their right mind actually thinks your dumb racist, homophobic and sexist comments are funny or cute, you two just look like absolutely moronic dipshits with micro-dongs and chihuahua complexes. And another thing you living condom usage advertisements, Nobody wants your defective sewing needle sized, piss poor excuses for cocks that not even a rat could choke on or your rotting in the middle of a dry summer sewer smelling, flatter than a piece of paper asses any where near them and if you think they do your even less intelligent than a single cell organism. You both claim to be adults so goddamn act like it because as things are right now you're both acting like a pair of rocket propelled spaz maggots spring-loaded face first up the asses of psychedelic freakout weasels on idiot drugs. Also you want to call someone swagless and bitchless you might want to take a good long look in the mirror because I don't see a singular molecule of swag on either of you or a single bitch and I'm not surprised considering you both look like the kind of guys that order boneless, dry rub chicken wings and then lose a fight to a chihuahua. And by the way just because you pieces of dick-cheese started putting out at twelve and peaked at 15 doesn't mean you get to drag everyone else down the perverted dunkass tree with you. Also your 8 decade curse is the biggest joke in the history of curses from any religion it isn't even an actual curse, it barely even qualifies as a jinx and thats ignoring the fact that it's basically useless the way you attempted to use it anyways and was over all a monumentally stupid waste of everyones time so stuff that in your prison cell and sit on it. You two blithering, feculent, shit holes are such lame wastes of genetic material i would not be surprised if both of your probably absentee fathers wish they had worn a condom at the time of your conceptions which explains your blatantly fatherless behavior and I bet your mothers change the subject when anyone asks about you and envy people who have never met or heard of you. Your "your momma" jokes are the most pathetic I have ever seen, were either of you actually even trying or was that the extent of your creativity? Because they were the weakest, most uninspired and embarrassing "your momma" jokes I have ever had the displeasure of reading to the point that they barely even qualify, And don't even get me started on your insults because I have met 3rd graders who have better insults. Your "oh look at me I'm a terrorist" shtick is so stupid and pathetic i couldn't help but cackle at your waste of energy like what do you want a cookie? Because you don't even deserve the crumbs of crap after someone else ate a cookie so who even gives a barfing fuck about it? You jackasses are about as threatening as some mild flatulence. I hope you piss ant's have fun dying alone and unwanted and that every time you think you have to fart you end up shitting your pants, i hope that every time you go to put socks on they are soaking wet and ice cold, i hope that the next time you are anywhere near a lego set or box of thumbtacks you step on one, i hope that every time you go to bed both sides of your pillow are annoyingly hot and give you lice, and lastly i hope that every single time you go to walk past a piece of furniture that you bang your toes on it hard enough to break your toe bones. Isn't it funny how quickly your bullshit unravels when someone actually intelligent calls you out? Do the world a favor and delete all of your social media, go apologize to whichever trees are working their proverbial asses off to replace the oxygen you're both wasting and then sew your mouths shut you cowardly wastes of skin. Id say you could learn from this but then I'd sound just as stupid as you two. Sayonara you worthless, crotch-stained barf-puppets.

( @warringwarrioridiot @p1n34ppl3-c4t24 for your reading entertainment)

#call out post #replies #go shit yourselves you entitled douchewagons #for those who don't know #the two users tagged at the top are total pricks

[temporarilyunstable]

it's a monster of a ppp essay

Finally writing about this film I’ve pretty much obsessed over for months! Hopefully I can put some order into this but in case I ramble you have been warned lol. Spoilers will be discussed. 

I first saw this film in Japan on opening day— prior to that I tried to gather as much information as I could via JP tweets and impressions, especially those of the pre-golden week screening on April 29, then adding more info as soon as spoilers were lifted to increase my understanding. And now a couple of months later, I finally have full context, but really happy that most of the information I got was accurate, and the only details that I had to clear up were related to the more complex elements of the plot, plus the ever-important talk-no-jutsus (tnj) in the film. 

If I were to give this film a score, it’s a 9/10. Prior to this, my fave iteration was case 3, being the ever-economic-just-over-an-hour-but-does-everything-right entry to the series. Maybe it’s my Akane bias but PPP just knocked that one right out of the park. The animation was great (I am not well-versed in this so you won’t hear me talk about it much), even if wonky Arata took me out despite the emotion in the scene. Voice acting, no one does it better than the JP actors, I will not be convinced otherwise. It’s my preference and frankly if you’ve never watched this in sub I do think you missed out. The music was TOP-TIER. I’ve not stopped listening to this OST ever since it came out, blessdt Ennio-Morricone-esque Is this your choice, Akane Tsunemori? track #27 CD2?!!?!??! *INHALE* 

I can’t actually use technical film critic jargon here so in short, I LOVE this film so much. 

A bit of background info from the recent interviews Director Shiotani participated during the roundtables/live stages in JP - the “switching” of the timelines were at the behest of the producers (Fuji TV), including the introduction of new characters, in order to continue the story indefinitely from a TV perspective (link). It was a ballsy move, and in hindsight it paid off, but not without its pitfalls which I will touch on later. PP3/FI was developed during PPSS, and PPP was developed during PP3/FI, so you can imagine the difficulty of making sure the creative team have crossed their t’s and dotted their i’s. That being said, apart from telling the story it wishes to tell, the purpose of this film was to tie the past to the present, and I think that they did it very well. 

My thoughts are still evolving, but interestingly enough, most of my impressions haven’t changed. So I’ll talk about some elements of the plot that interest me, then I’ll go to specific characters, and ofc I’ll talk about the ship (not the Grootslang 😉).

There’s a clear three-parts to this film: up to Saiga’s death, up to Atsushi’s death, and Akane’s career death (if it is to be said, so it is lol). Each part had their pros and cons, but it’s quite a feat managing to squeeze all the information in. There was no dull moment for me.

I think the deaths here (especially of the characters we were supposed to care about)— the manner and speed in which they perished, and at a certain point in the film, all for nothing— were part of the point.

Before I watched this with subs I actually thought that it would be more difficult to understand, but I have to say that the nolan-esque expositions were well executed and nicely placed, for example the talk about possession between Kogami and Shion was a good prep for the audience for when we actually get to hear about how it works from Akira. Also a great way to show both Kogami’s detective skills that have not dulled the slightest, and his and Shion’s closeness(?/familiarity? Call it what you want). Another example is the Mika-team essentially telling the audience what’s about to happen prior to us seeing Sugo get things done in the sky (also I forgot he was just flying a drone and was out of harm’s way ehehe). I would say that the hardest parts to piece together have to do with the elements related to PP3, including the involvement of Bifrost. I’ll touch on this later.  

I’ve talked about Saiga’s death to my friends way before the first trailer ever released. Him not being present in PP3 was the biggest clue, and not that I wanted it to happen, but it was necessary to raise the stakes and make it personal. As a fic writer, admittedly I’ve never been happier to be right 😅. His scenes with Akane and Kogami at the beginning of the film were standouts. I particularly love how Saiga and Akane are so at ease with having a simple conversation— they’re talking about work but he could so easily talk about his doubts regarding Atsushi, for example. I love how he’s the same with Kogami, how he clearly states his allegiance to Akane, and ofc reminding Kogami to apologize (and something else I picked up that I will discuss later). 

I can say that despite the initial ridiculousness of the Divider/possession, the way it was explained was quite convincing to me compared to how they brushed over how Arata’s mentalist skills worked in PP3. Also, there’s kind soul from the JP fandom who attempted to explain how it could probably work irl (link). It’s creepy, if you think about it, and well-documented too. Have a read if you’re interested. 

Action scenes, definitely a strong suit of this film - you just know they can’t help themselves sometimes LOL. Kogami v Akira is definitely the best one (RIP Kogami’s balls hihi), and I’ve said this before but they definitely have perfected Kogami’s animation when it comes to fighting, and he is always the most flawlessly animated, however I think they did Gino really well here too. There’s this other really wonky one where Sugo falls down the escalator and it just looks like he’s a solid object and not a human body asdlfkjaskldfj. Honestly I finally understood the critique that the Sugo drone scenes were definitely way too long (I didn’t notice this bec it was hella entertaining when you don’t have subs plus it was super fun if you watch it in 4dx/mx4d).

Really dropped the ball on the Stronskaya Papers imo. I think, for something that was meant to be so important, the exposition regarding its use was really a lazy excuse. “SEAUn essentially proved its value” ain’t gonna cut it. If this is something so important people choose to kill/die for, then the implications of it should have been shown to the audience, not told. 

I only noticed after the third subbed rewatch, but to me, everyone is being measured against Akane in this film. I will elaborate later.

Sibyl as an AI

Finally, the little complication about using the term "AI" when describing the Sibyl System. When the first impressions of this came out, there were a LOT of dissatisfied JP fans. Until it was described as such in the film, since the system constitutes actual human brains, then the interpretation is that it is human. I’m not sure if this was a general interpretation btw, but since this is the first time the term “AI” was used to describe Sibyl, ofc it rubbed people the wrong way, especially bec it feels like the whole concept of Sibyl was retconned. 

I somewhat agreed with this interpretation— I had always considered the Sibyl System as an independent character in this series, who was meant to be impartial but somehow acts/reacts as a human would— and it's not hard to think so, when you look at the way the system has acted and evolved throughout the show. At times, the system is shown to be curious, greedy, and even cruel. I am ofc talking about them as a whole and not their androids (Kasei, Misako, Chuan Han, Hosorogi, even the dude in Case 2, etc)— individual brains act as human with a CA constitution (so still slightly different from a normal human), that’s clearly shown in the series.

When I read about this through interviews of Director Shiotani, I didn’t quite get the full context as it was used in the film. My initial interpretation was that the system was human, but the mechanisms that make it work (the claws swapping brains supposedly without human intervention, the city/country-wide whole network/surveillance system, the immediate reaction to process a Dominator’s request, etc) were powered by AI. I thought that they used the term AI to update the terminology, since this technology is quickly becoming commonplace irl. Now I've seen PPP with subs and thought a bit more about it, I still somehow think this is the case but also, all things considered, the term AI also makes sense. 

Bear with me as I try to break it down. The Sibyl System is a system that is bound by its raison d'être: the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people (very important: not all). To achieve this, it has taken over control of the lives of its citizens via the Psycho- Pass, a quantified measure of mental states/psychological tendencies and aptitudes— a supposedly objective measure. This includes law enforcement, as the system is able to predict an individual’s tendency to commit crime. We also know that the Sibyl system has auxiliary functions, like planning citizens’ lives or recommending the best option for the individual’s happiness, matchmaking, art/cultural/historical/religious control. Its role is very simple: assign the best possible job that one is most capable of (essentially eliminating non-productivity as a society), and through psycho-pass measurements, maintain/execute (criminal) law and order under the PSB. It can be implied that other non-criminal laws can’t be divorced from Sibyl, since its functions make all these possible within the confines of what Sibyl constitutes as “right” (and is implied,) based on the rule of law. Sorta like a chicken and egg situation, but the law, being at the base of it all. Sibyl came into legal force - it is, first and foremost, lawful.

Applying that to the definition of AI, we could say that at its inception, the law would be Sibyl’s code/algorithm, prior research (be it criminal/non-criminal data/aptitude/psychology/physio etc etc) and eventually its actual application is its data set, and the use of human brains as its processing mechanism. If we review how the system has "acted" so far, it's all consistent with the fulfillment of their purpose, EVEN if exceptions, limitations and anomalies exist. 

A key concept that has been repeated in the show’s run is Sibyl’s “evolution”, which coincides with the same concept of AI “developing/learning automatically”. If I still have your attention, you will probably know that the main driver of Sibyl’s evolution has always been Akane, be it directly (S1, PP movie, PPP), or indirectly (PP2, PP3). This has been introduced from the start, with Sibyl itself acknowledging its imperfection, but insisting on the need to maintain its perceived perception in the interests of a peaceful society. 

What makes it a bit contentious is the fact that the individual brains ARE very obviously still human - so I think that the “the Sibyl System is an AI” really feels off somehow, or at least conceptually feels like it should have been carefully defined rather than left up for interpretation, given what we’ve seen in the series thus far. In any case, here are some references to help you think about it and make your own interpretation.

World Affairs (OffiPro)

Genesis 1-2

Genesis 3-4

Characters - I’m just gonna put this disclaimer, basically if I quote something from the film please just understand that it’s mostly paraphrased. 

Akira

Definitely one of my favorite additions to this massive cast. Not the first one to say it but what a shame (he’s so sexy UwU). He’s probably less complex of a character than Atsushi (oh we’ll get to him), since his motivations are not “heavy” enough for me to believe such a sacrifice. He volunteered to be a double agent, burned his face to prevent identification, took on the mental (physical, actually) load of the chips in his brain and for what? For the greater good? Where did we see that anywhere? It is implied that as an immigrant he’s had his fair share of exposure to wars/conflict - we all know this was the same case with characters like Kei and Maiko, for example, but if we’re simply relying on the context of this film, I got the impression that he was merely doing it for his brother. 

Things I love:

Dropping the machine gun post shootout with Kogami, signaling that he has no intention to go that far (gonna talk about the other side of this coin in a bit)

RECITING THE GREAT ASO on top of that holo cliff *chills* 

In the JP version, his very VERY noticeable voice change when he surrendered to Kogami and Gino

His “please take care of Kei” never fails to make my heart ache T-T AKIRAAAAAAAAAAA

Atsushi (& a bit of Yabuki)

One of the best characters in this film (who no one will invite in their wedding— oh the irony lol). I think that a good baseline from watching PP3/FI really helps appreciate him, though I didn’t actually care much if not for Niki making me notice in PP3 that there are conflicting accounts about him (a malicious one c/ o Obata in her testimony, vs Arata’s POV of him as a good and loving father), plus the more I learned about the complexities of Bifrost the more I got interested in him, too. Atsushi is clearly a morally grey character, and in this film it both comes out of his mouth (as a form of admittance in his speech), and shows in his actions. His speech: "The right choice can be wrong in a different time, that’s because righteousness is relative, but the truth is absolute. What we need is the truth, the means to accept that truth and choose the path where no one gets hurt." is clearly directed at only four people in that room. The speech also served as an admission of his guilt— and once again, the theme “he did what he had to/someone had to do it”.  

There’s a line during his interview with Akane where she says “you don’t make mistakes. Everything you do puts you a step further in your career, as if you’re following a path laid out before you.” When she seems to have hit the right line of questioning, he was clearly about to confess, but alas, it was not to be. I remember reading an interview where Director Shiotani said “he doesn’t get to have it easy” and you know what, ok fine. 

Atsushi and Yabuki’s approach is, in a nutshell, big picture thinking, the end justifies the means. They make difficult decisions, get things done and can’t avoid people from getting hurt. This is also driven home by Yabuki’s words to Frede “ideals are not enough to bring about change”. (He also said something good about needing that kind of power to exact justice and being prepared for the infamy that would result - help me if you remember this was my takeaway from it). To me, they both represent the kind of people who are about to become obsolete in Sibyl society IF it is heading towards the path people like Akane and eventually, Arata, are aiming for (put a pin on that). 

We know that he was a Bifrost Inspector, and interestingly enough, it seems that Yabuki is too since they’re communicating via the terminal we saw Kei use. As is on trend for anything related to Bifrost, you do not see the hands of these guys getting dirty despite all the dirty work they actually do. That said, Akira, Milcia and most likely Saiga, are probably foxes.

Things I love:

I think that he and Tonami, while they must have believed there was no other way at the time, acknowledged that there was no excuse, and as a result are inspired (or in Tonami’s case, persuaded though begrudgingly) to trust the newer generation to do it better than they could. I feel like Atsushi already knew his time was coming the moment the deaths of those he had personal ties with started piling at his door. 

His conversation with Kasei/Sibyl: “we’ve been watching you for a while”, implying Sibyl being complicit in all the dirty work he’s had to do. “Do you believe in the potential of humans?” and the response “of course. this is the reason why we exist” — really rubs the god/religious themes here, handing him the gun that will take his life as their parting gift, as if to say “this is your judgment”. I’m gonna touch on this again with Akane. 

I’m not the first person to say this but with the exception of Yabuki, who was killed, at the end, Milcia, Akira and Atsushi’s acts were extreme, and I’m just not gonna gloss over this, cowardly. Choosing to die instead of living. Choosing to be absent instead of being present (in his brother’s life, in her daughter’s life). Atsushi preached it to his son (“do not dive without a lifeline”) but not only failed to act on his teachings but continued his approach. You could say it was the only choice at the moment, but all their previous choices led them there, and it’s even worse that they got someone else involved and killed, even if that wasn’t their intention. 

HOWEVER, and this is going to be brought up again: someone has to do it, and therein lies the nuance in the other main character in PPP we’ll talk about later.

Saiga

I don’t really have much to add except they made him especially handsome in this film… 😳 And ofc I love that he picked up the lack of people in the building, he really said you can’t hide anything from my keen observation skillz. I loved that he was pretty chill about it too, maybe he was trying to cool down his favorite student 🤗

Things I love:

Akane visited him at 23:41 in the evening, I am assuming on that same day (it’s the time stamp on his laptop, also confirmed by Director Shiotani). I guess the concept of after office hours does not exist bec it looks like they left for Dejima immediately after. 

“People aspire for comfort and find themselves unable to escape it, like me” and Akane immediately saying that’s not the case 🥹

Coffee on the lips. Leaning back on the couch. The toast and the chuckle RIP

“She’s not a saint/bodhisattva”: I’ve understood this to mean that she WILL enforce Kogami if it comes down to, hence he better apologize to her while he can. 

His very meme-able criticism of Kogami before they got on the elevator 

“Well, that was crazy!”

HIM BEING PEAK HANDSOME WHEN HE HAD A KNIFE ON HIS THROAT LIKE?!?! 

The desperation and VERY obvious there is no other way here when Akane’s whole body is about to fall just trying to hang onto him

That they muted Akane’s scream when he fell

That she went straight down to him without so much as looking back at the fighting still happening

That she fixed his body 😭

I’m really gonna miss him. I always used to hc that Akane and Kogami would have a moment with him at some point in the future, calling back to their visit to his house in s1 but alas… we can’t have everything we want, huh? 

Tonami

AHHHH old man, old man. 

My favorite part about Tonami is that they clearly improved on making sure they don’t paint him as an evil guy. They tried to do this with Garcia, but frankly the novel did a better job at making him look more nuanced than the movie did— and that’s saying a lot since like I said, I love case 3. This is probably because they had the benefit of time, of course, and we’re gonna touch on this again later, they spend less time making Kogami look good (i mean, not physically) in this film. 

They were very economic with how they portrayed his character, too. With just that one scene of him and the kid, you immediately empathize and are forced to listen to what he’s actually saying. My favorite scenes of any iteration is the “reckoning”/tnj that Akane has towards the end, basically summarizing the thesis of the story, and the questions it poses to the audience. This film is probably the best at presenting the most nuanced argument of the series so far between two sides. Very simple, very straightforward, and the movie’s prior scenes have done the legwork for the viewer to connect the points each is trying to make, like neat little puzzle pieces that make you go oh.

Things I love:

“Don’t forget you were the ones who made me this way.” (mic drop).

Akio Otsuka’s voice acting, especially when Akane was crawling to grab the Dominator. THE FRUSTRATION IS REAL.

This was pretty much confirmed and I’ll touch on it again later: he was not going to kill Akane (link) . I thought this was up for debate at first, but actually after seeing the subbed version I am convinced this was actually not up for debate due to the following:

It was him talking to Kai when he killed Milcia, he asked “You killed her?” and said “You messed up, Kai” 

We do not actually see him kill unless there is a purpose. Killing the SAD guys to get to Milcia, killing the SAD guys to get to Saiga. He revived Bokamoso because he needed to get the papers (wasn’t convinced that Saiga really didn’t have it, as already established by Saiga a few scenes prior), and was biding their time when he engaged with Frede & Gino after Kai confirmed the papers were not there, probably waiting for Kai to finish with Kogami (“time is up”). Decided the ops team (Ko, Gino, Frede) needed to die after they were exposed and the safety of the General and Raphael were put in jeopardy. 

He shot Akane in the same place he shot Kogami a few scenes prior— this is also why I do not believe this is random, but rather just a means to incapacitate them while he needed to do what he needed to do: possess Kai bec he now knows where the General is and needed him out of there, (unclear whether he knew at the time that Kai had the papers but likely he did since he referred to the memory chip during his first meeting with Akane), and have Akane not bother him while he possesses the peacebreakers in battle).

Shooting Akane again, not fatally wounding her.  

Akane’s line “why don’t you just kill me?”. Like, really, why didn’t he? The link above sheds some light on the creator’s vision on this and it’s delicious, lol. IMO, if he had wanted her dead they’d not have even talked. Very simple.

This is not to justify his actions btw, in fact, Akane even called him out “the same wars you helped perpetrate”, and her lichrally saying “I promise to expose the truth about the peacebreakers, but this doesn’t excuse what you’ve done”. Madame Justice said YOU WILL BE JUDGED BY THE POWER VESTED IN ME AS AN INSPECTOR OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY BUREAU ETC ETC  

He cares about Kai/Akira (the line to Atsushi “so Kai is your pawn, too?” at the helipad, and his concern about the divider overloading and his reaction that Kai is choosing to die). He clearly cares about the peacebreakers, too. Nuance, man. Delicious. 

“You can’t stop what you started here” CHILLS. Definitely reminds me of Kamui’s tnj in S2.

Frede

I have a soft spot for her. She’s clearly more loyal to Yabuki & the MFA than to Saiga, and, judging by her character we’ve seen so far, she’s taking after Yabuki as well 😉

The reason why? #21 in Director Shiotani’s Q&A space last June 15 (link).

So pretty when she was conflicted about not telling Saiga/Kogami about le grand  ̶f̶a̶i̶l̶  plan

I like how she calls Yabuki “boss” 🥹

Fave scene when Kogami calls her out for lying to Saiga LOL, I just love that he can just do that and that she doesn’t even bat an eye, I like that about them. 

Gino

He’s not my fave, but I’ve grown a bit soft on him here I have to admit. Love that they gave his devotion to Akane more context, and that this whole system of trust between them (and the rest of Div 1) is shown. 

He is right, it’s his ego talking (the boat convo). Akane didn’t and isn’t staying/tied to the CID bec of them (Ko & Gino) jeez man. It’s not about YOU. LMFAOOoOOOOooo 

Little Ginomika moment, I loved that. Speaking of…

Mika

“This is no time to be playing politician” sis— did anyone ever tell you that you have an aptitude for it? The whole plan about selling them out if they all die so she could save their asses, then actually coming to their aid when it truly mattered? Does your fave ever?!?!?! 

While she’s probably the one who has one of the best charadevs in the show, I fear a little that she’s starting to become a gag character, ALTHOUGH i’m arguing that she’s clearly still a writer’s fave with the way they give her critical hero moments when it counts (the whole rock star raid at heaven’s leap in PP3, then this “I got it covered” in PPP). I think Mika best displays the balance required to stay (sane) in this job. She’s able to take on what she needs to, and accomplish the role she’s set out to play, and at the end of the day she probably goes home and has a boba, binges netflix and has a good night’s sleep. 

I dunno where I read this - but there are main characters, and there are main side characters. This is Gino and Mika’s fate in the grander story, with their arcs pretty much over since Case 1.  

Finally, the good stuff. If this ain’t much of an overly long essay already.

Kogami

Before I go off, my experience is as follows:

When the first trailer of PPP came out, his words “I have no regrets” were so jarring to me. I didn’t quite understand how that was supposed to add up to the Kogami in my head, the hopeful man who was ready to come home at the end of Case 3, and the guy who said sorry at the end of PPFI. This led me to find some answers by machine translating the PP3/FI novels, and the case 3 novel. 

In a nutshell, I had thought that the ending of case 3 meant that he was going to turn a new leaf and fight for the same justice Akane was (in short, no killing). Guess what? I forgot that he did kill Jackdaw in PPFI, and the novel pretty much confirmed his actions and thoughts around it (aka, he was really going to kill the guy— I mean, he came into the scene guns blazing, you know? AND I FORGOT ABOUT IT (I call this my akane-tinted glasses 😉).

Another line in Akane’s monologue that cemented my reinterpretation of Kogami, and I was immediately reminded of this passage when Akane sadly spoke to him right after he shot Tonami: 

“Believing in the meaning of the stars was something only she herself held, and it was as if she was being told that the stars were just stars by the others she believed to be her comrades. When she began to consider that perhaps it was not the incomprehensible others who were truly isolated, but rather herself, true loneliness arrived. The moment of being cast into the sea of true loneliness, without even the stars or the sound of waves.” (the stars here was implied to be either law, or justice)

It’s been confirmed by Ryo Yoshigami that Akane’s monologues in the PP3/FI novels were written with the plot of PPP in mind— so you all know, this was intentional. The novels really helped me take a step back and assess what I was really looking at as a character, and Kogami’s role in the overall story. I thought he was someone who was on his way to change, I was wrong. I thought that his values have aligned with Akane, again, wrong. Now I know what some of yall are gonna say, that you didn’t misinterpret him. Sure, this statement isn’t for you then. BUT don’t lie to me, those who DID. 🤪

As for the rest, go read and form your own opinion  (PP3 Novels)

Kogami’s sense of justice

As a main character of the series, Kogami’s journey has been up and down, but one thing that’s consistent about him, in the simplest terms: his justice is personal. Whether it’s one of revenge, which he had closed the door on post case 3, his inability to turn away from injustice, and in PPP, his acceptance and taking responsibility of what he stands for, and what he can do. 

In the beginning of Case 3, he was making an effort to avoid killing— even using it as a condition for cooperating with Kinrei on the raid in the train station. This was during a time when he was clearly at a loss of what to do, still swimming in his regrets and just letting himself go in whichever direction life takes him. Come the end of Case 3, we see his hopeful decision to return, and, in PPP, clearly stated during his convo on the boat, his reasons. He did not come back to die, but to help people. This is essentially an explanation of his choice and lack of regret that he failed to explain properly to Akane, but if it wasn’t clear yet, this is also where the lines have been drawn between the two protagonists, interestingly enough, since the beginning of the series. Akane’s sense of justice is directly tied to the law, whereas Kogami’s does not (and, I think a moot point to argue now, will never). 

He does what he does because it’s what he can do. The difference between Kogami S1 and Kogami PPP/PP3 is that he’s found a purpose/place that aligns with his sense of justice. He owns it, and takes full responsibility for it. It’s a facet of growth, though probably not in a direction that would bode well for him if he fails to look from above, as was Saiga's last words to Akane. I can take this apart in a few ways, firstly, and especially towards his “belief” in Akane, he’s a hypocrite (LOL). Says one thing, does another. Wanting to be judged after the fact is like, are you kidding me, man? Right in front of the blood of someone she just tnj’d “you will be judged according to the law”?!?!?!!

Let's take a break, I’ll throw him a bone.

He simply cannot turn away from injustice and would rather get his hands dirty than allow others to get away with their crimes

This is a great callback to his time with Garcia “you hesitated, and now someone’s dead.” See? Charadev. (I’m being sarcastic). It must suck for him that though he didn’t hesitate, Saiga is still dead. 

To me, he’s started walking forwards post case 3, and while he still regrets everything he did before that, he’s left that behind to fulfill a new purpose in his life

In this scene specifically, he would rather kill than have Akane be killed.

Very personal, very short-sighted, very impulsive, reactive sense of justice. That he agreed with what Tonami had said, for all that talk of his belief in Akane, he’s a funny  ̶l̶i̶t̶t̶l̶e̶ guy, isn’t he? 

I’ve always argued that if his aim was that good (and again, Tenzing commented on this, he CAN shoot to disarm someone), then why didn’t he? Kogami in PPP, in every scene, operates on a shoot to kill. I’m no longer here to apologize for the guy, even if he did, three years too late. I think that it helped me come to terms with their differences, and this is fundamental. Don’t get me wrong, I still like his character, maybe even more now that we’ve learned quite a few things about his… shortcomings (lol), but I’m not gonna make excuses for him in the same way he doesn’t make excuses for himself. He chose. He still chooses to. Cool motive, still murder. 

Where this will lead him, it’s been alluded to in the film. Tonami is what a misguided Kogami could become, and even Saiga clearly reminded him of it. That’s a matter for his future, but know that this movie is sowing seeds the creators may decide to reap someday.  

Things I love :

He got his balls kicked!!! Love that for him 🤣

Used to complain about how lousy his shirt looked is in pp3 and whoooaa he took the jacket off and I'm sweating

WET HAIR

TACTICAL GEAR

The PP OST and the dominator UI, before he takes his first shot *chills*

Despite all my beef about him, I still really do love the guy. Now I just dunk on him every chance I get, it's fun. And ofc, I still have a tiny bit of hope about his future, and I’ll be holding him to that standard, otherwise yeah, he can die in a ditch (or if we’re going there, he can die whilst leading an uprising to destroy Sibyl) 😉 

Akane

So when I said earlier that everyone is being measured against Akane, I really meant it. She had taken a back seat since the PPSS films, and in PP3/FI the whole mystery surrounding her imprisonment was an invisible hand driving many elements of the show. PPP is HER film, and as a character, her continued relevance to the series' thesis cannot be discounted.

“The law doesn’t protect people. People protect the law.”

If Kogami was consistent about his sense of justice, she is even more so. What makes her leagues above him is that she’s driving change, and change DOES happen in the manner that does not allow her to break her principles… that is, until the end of PPP 😉. I’m not going to elaborate on her sense of justice, it’s pretty straightforward even if the series likes to throw stones at it as if following it is the hardest thing in the world. What makes Akane stand out is that it's actually not hard. Look, ask yourself whether it’s easier to kill another human being or not— I’m not talking about exceptional circumstances, but even then, I think you know the answer— there’s a moral and ethical basis here that she shares with a great number of people. Killing is wrong, it’s against the law to take another life. To me, the point of each iteration is to keep stacking odds against her through characters, each with their own complexities and nuance that the audience is made to empathize with and contrasted to her sense of justice, resulting in making it look like her principles are ideal and impossible to achieve, when actually, they're not. 

One of my favorite lines of the film, when Tonami says to Akane, “these are the facts that lie in the shadow of the peace that you enjoy”. Let’s be real. Akane is privileged. She’s not had to fire a gun to defend herself in a war torn land— but the argument against this is the same argument for it— it’s because she doesn’t have to. Kogami is back in Japan, it stands to reason that he must adhere to its laws, because despite his experiences abroad, he is not and will never be above the law. 

I’m gonna touch on something I already discussed on twitter, because there’s a difference between the way Kogami has killed, versus the way Gino and Sugo have. 

As far as the series has shown, the following are Sibyl-sanctioned “killing”, the last one specifically relates to PPP:

As judged by the Dominator (LE/DD)

In cases of national defense/during the execution of duties as members of the NDF

In cases of self-defense in the course of an official operation

It stands to reason that just because they are sanctioned does not save the person from their hue deteriorating, because that part is directly related to a person’s view of guilt. Throughout the show, the audience is constantly reminded that the act of (indirectly) killing does not necessarily impact one's hue (e.g. the PP of the person who manufactured the gun is not the same as the person who fired it, the whole premise of the foxes in PP3, etc), hence the "guilt" associated with the act falls on the person who does it, which may result in a higher cc. A person is able to absolve themselves precisely bec they know they're doing it within the confines of the law, but this doesn’t always follow (e.g. Sugo’s hue deteriorating in Case 2). There's a good example of this in action during Akane's operation in PPP, when Tonami issues the order to kill, and the team, who had been disarming/arresting everyone a few minutes before, was left with no choice but to defend themselves, often resulting in a kill.

While the Peacebreakers were able to hand over this guilt to Tonami via the Divider, Gino and Sugo could not. At the start of the film, they only used the guns when the Dominator was not functioning. The difference with their actions in the last third of the film is they participated in an unsanctioned operation with Akane, have killed as a result and are now likely above regulation. Had no idea the words “once the hounds have thrown away their collars, public safety will never tame them again” also served as foreshadowing as this is probably why Sugo and Gino were requested for transfer to the SAD. And if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that Gino actually gets the job done with fewer bullets than Kogami does. Kogami, from the start, comes into the scene, kills all his enemies on sight without hesitation. This is a huge difference, and this is what Akane is trying to keep him from defaulting to. Violence to fight violence was not the answer, but they clearly do not align on this. It’s a perspective thing. 😉 

So why did she do what she did? 

In principle, she made herself an anomaly, directly challenging the decision to repeal the law, by committing a crime in public while not having her PP deteriorate. In short, she pretty much broke the law to protect the law. So how did she objectively know that her plan would work? 

I had a few discussions on twitter surrounding this, and frankly the “she knows she’s doing the right thing, not for herself but for the greater good” doesn’t cut it for me, nor does the premise of “leap of faith”. To do this, she HAD to have known with certainty that her hue would not deteriorate because if the dominator suddenly activates for her, then it was a pointless act, and more importantly, she was fully aware (as stated in the PP3 novels) that she was committing a crime. 

There are cases to be made of course, the first being she knew that Kasei is merely an android and that Akane avoided shooting the brain (effectively keeping Kasei alive), but that still doesn’t establish the fact that Akane does not absolve herself of the act, and again, that she needed to objectively know this would work. This is theory time, but the only thing I can think about are two specific things, one in the film, one not. 

Defying Sibyl orders to enact her own operation in the Kuril Islands - this is directly disobeying Sibyl, using her Chief Inspector authority to assign temporary roles to Kogami and Frede so they could participate, loading the Stronskaya Docs to her Dominator and giving it to the General, all these, unsanctioned and should have at least raised her PP. My guess is, in the aftermath, she noticed that it had not, despite the scale and the effort and potential losses had things gone wrong, and decided that was enough to go ahead with the “answer” she found for herself.

She had to have procured a gun. This was not in the film - but procuring the gun establishes her intent/motive, and should have also raised her PP - my guess is it did not. This would have been sufficient, but you can imagine, until the point of carrying the gun to the venue (probably hidden inside her hat), the fact that she wasn’t flagged basically made it certain her plan would not fail.

In the June 25 roundtable (link) , Director Shiotani wished that if he had 3 more minutes to add, he would have added a scene right after Atsushi’s death where the men in the roundtable ultimately decided to proceed with the abolition of the law. In hindsight, I think adding this scene would have been better, because it takes away room for interpretation that Akane was actually in a desperate situation, and not just frustrated at the close of the case. In the movie, this was supplemented by Kogami’s line “what Tonami said is probably going to come true, the law will likely be abolished.” Not as desperate, if you ask me. 

Deviants

The difference between Akane and Atsushi is that, Atsushi, in his capacity as a double agent and methodology as a Bifrost inspector, is like a puppet master holding the strings, indirectly enabling change and leaving mere traces of his impact while others either take full credit (or fall) from it, whereas Akane pushes change by directly challenging Sibyl head-on. We have yet to clarify Atsushi’s motivations in rising the ranks of Bifrost (he was alluded to be on the way to being a congressman or that he had the talents for it), and the fact that he’s played double agent for so long with his methods steadily growing shady over time just goes to show that there was clearly a better way (and he ofc acknowledges it). 

In the same way a CA can only be recognized by Sibyl by committing crimes OR if a Dominator was wrongly pointed at them, Sibyl becomes aware of these deviants (I’m gonna call them that) the moment they start defying Sibyl while being able to keep their hues clear. Perhaps Atsushi would be an imperfect version of a deviant, Akane the better one, and Arata probably the ideal despite being CA, sort of like Genesis 3-4’s Makami Sou. It would be interesting if Akane becomes APA, let’s see (read the Genesis links above 🙂). 

“Do you believe in the potential of humans?”

Post-op Akane was forcibly promoted to Atsushi’s role (iirc, a Department Head of Statistics in the Ministry of Welfare c/ o Steohsama's translation). I think it can be read two ways: one, in the context of the recently closed case, to get her fully out of the way and busy with other, bigger stuff that she was already dipping her toes in prior to Atsushi’s death (referred to during their convo, about her not “making a fuss”). Two, that she really did have the aptitude to be someone like Atsushi— only that her methods would clearly be different. Now that she’s back in the CID, there’s obviously a question of Akane’s future as a statutory enforcer (fun fact, the creators pretty much confirmed that it’s just a name for someone judged according to the law but whose PP did not deteriorate / someone who was appointed as an enforcer whose PP is below regulation ( link / link ). If Hinakawa will be promoted to an Analyst, then there’s a spot open for her in Division 1, assuming she’ll be playing detective. While I think this is likely to happen, I think it’s a boring outcome for her. Like Atsushi, I want her to move up in the world, especially if the world is gearing towards Sibyl going public. It’s going to be interesting what role she’ll play in the future, especially because, as Niki had so nicely put, “she can’t do this alone”. 

Oh, Koaka. 

Objectively, I no longer think the ship is romantic in canon. I’m gonna copy-paste some thoughts I already shared at length in discord and edit parts of it, but if you’ve seen me the last few months, this isn’t new.  

This is nitpicking, because I'm a writer and facts like they don't know each other, not really (they spent not more than 100 days in s1, maybe a few days in PPP) are things that are at the back of my mind always. I have yet to see Kogami and Akane treat each other more than the pedestals they put each other on (arguable for Akane but I think this is also why she keeps getting disappointed that their sense of justice doesn't align).

This divide between their sense of justice is their biggest flaw as a potential couple, and one that is too fundamental. I do not see compromise here, especially after the events of PPP. If Kogami were to gear towards a positive change, then there’s hope, but I leave very little room for that now. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing, either. I see it as a potential stance that the show is trying to make. “You murdered someone, you can’t go back.” If he had been heading towards change it should have been on the way for a while, not a “possibility” that he keeps failing to live up to. Getting over this hopeful assumption took me a while, but I think that it also helped me appreciate the wider story being told. 

That being said, I think that romance in stories is important and I would like to see the writing team go there, not just from a shipping perspective but from a storytelling/amping up stakes perspective. In PPP I felt how Gino was much, much closer to Akane, and I didn't see this previously. In the past he was more like a controlling dad esp in s2, undermining Akane's POV, improved a bit in the pp movie though he still felt a bit on the overprotective i know better than you side (nicely resolved in ppp where we see a piece of his mind btw)— there's a whole lot of trust there. With Kogami and Akane, while they cleared the air after the infirmary scene, once again I saw that trust shaken when he shot Tonami. 

These characters are depicted as human beings, and I think that entails grounding. While meaningful connections can be made through short moments (destiny, if you will), relationships built over time like literally and not let's have a nice moment in a film i'll see you next movie kind of thing, is something that, to me, means more. That said, Kogami was separated for a long time and it's lichrally impossible, but they're in the same place now. Where does that lead them? This is where part of my hope lies, small as it may be. Granted, this is not that kind of show and I'm fully aware of that, which is also why I'm happy to get what we get and that artists/fic writers are there to fill those gaps.

I still ship them but a lot less— I find it funny because even before PPP, I was always looking for more (I'm greedy haha!). I always saw the PPFI scene as just the beginning of their relationship— I wasn't convinced that scene was enough, despite the romantic undertones. And let me tell you the betrayal I felt when I found out the reason why they did the whole back to back thing in PP0308 was because... IT WAS AWKWARD FOR HIM TO CROUCH DOWN THE LITTLE WINDOW OF HER CELL and not the little romantic shit I had going on in my head— I just ( ╯°□°)╯ ┻━━┻

I went through the five stages of grief but at the same time it's not as bad since it's not like I didn't think that way from the start (it's just me being anal about it all, really. Because I would end up writing whatever I wanted anyway and canon didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things).

I do like their dynamic now given the recent developments, Kogami especially being particularly unskilled in the romance department just makes it all the more funny (I'm not capable of writing him that way though so I guess all my fics are ooc now 🤣). If they don't develop past the Arguably Platonic™️  way they treat each other then I won't be surprised if I stop creating for the ship, likely bec it will no longer satisfy my enjoyment of it.

Final Thoughts

I think it’s pretty much confirmed we’re getting more, it’s just a matter of when (can’t believe I’m staying here forever, huh?). Director Shiotani wishes that he will be making PP in the next 30 years, gotta love him for that. 

As the series progresses, there was a clear tonal shift and hopeful direction it seems to be heading towards. To me this is partially because in a practical sense, this benefits the prolonging of the show (which we already know is true), but in a thematic sense, destroying Sibyl means the end of the series overall. No Psycho Pass without the Psycho Pass. And to this I give credit where it’s due. This is not the kind of progress you’ll see if Urobuchi is still in the writer’s room, and frankly, the complexity and depth of the show ever since he left has pretty much taken off in great strides. I had wished they were heading towards a natural conclusion (Sibyl going public) and leave it alone for a decade before they pick it up again, but I guess the producers have other plans. After all, they don’t have any other IP that has withstood the test of time, is ahead of its time and continued to remain relevant as time went on. While not perfect, this is an amazing feat of a series, and this movie is a stellar addition to it. 

They’ve got a dilemma of course, because until now it seems they went with a serialized format (with a definite ending) versus an episodic one (criminal of the week). By choosing to expand the world and explore other facets of society, all the while connecting the threads in an overarching plot, they have to complete the “passing of the torch" before going back to an episodic format, which means they MUST give the new kids their time of day,̶ a̶n̶d̶ ̶e̶x̶c̶u̶s̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶a̶s̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶e̶t̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶n̶k̶s̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶l̶a̶i̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶S̶h̶i̶z̶u̶k̶a̶. Shifting the timelines allowed them to usher in the new cast, but now they’re marketing the legacy cast and have to contend with their obvious popularity compared to the new, fully knowing that the legacy cast is returning to the back seat once we kick things off again. This is a problem that can be solved if a spinoff is decided for SAD, because at least a chunky (huehue) part of the cast will be cordoned off doing their business in Dejima, while the CID with its usual players can stay where they are. I think if you’ve been following Director Shiotani though, this is not happening without him in the driver’s seat, so it’s like… if they’re smart he will delegate this task to someone he trusts and we’ll get both a main and a spinoff, then a converging point somewhere in the form of a movie. 🎶Psycho-pass forever!🎶 (to the tune of Emilia Clarke "best season ever" GOT S8 interview, iykyk). 

Finally, I’m just gonna say that I love Akane so much, I’m glad she got the spotlight on her in this film. To be able to experience this film is unforgettable, I’m so grateful that it was possible for me. I’m training myself to expect she’ll take a step back next time I see her, but more than anything, I hope to see her happiness fulfilled, no matter what that entails. Once more, I just can’t thank these creators enough. They’ve made a series and a world I’m obsessed with, makes me think and makes me evaluate its implications in real life, makes me create!!!!! I’m so happy that they continue to believe in the stories they want to tell. I hope they are all healthy and resting now (until the next one, eheh!)

I’ve talked way too much and it’s really just because I want this out of my plate so I can start writing my fics now lololol. If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Always happy to discuss! 

#psycho pass #psycho pass providence #pp #akane tsunemori #kogami shinya #ginoza nobuchika

[usernamesuggestionsarefunny]

Wish spoilers ahead.

The start of Wish is exactly like that of Encanto but without all the heart. It is literally the meme of "Can I copy your homework?" "Yeah but change a few things so it is not too obvious."

Also Asha deserved a pretty dress in the end like wth are you going to sell to little girls Disney you are all about money and you failed miserably even at that.

And it is for real soooo unfair how the queen did get a pretty dress the whole movie and Asha only got some lazy ass sparkles added to her boring ass dress.

Asha... not bad, ok, but she is copy paste Anna, Mirabel, and Rapunzel. Youtuber ModernGurlz is right about Disney's "adorkable" problem. All their main girls since Rapunzel have the same "quirky" personality save a few details. I have liked them all but it is getting boring. Give me a princess with a monotone, sad personality, give me a shy princess who only smiles and talks around close friends, give me back the classic super girly personality Aurora and Snow White style, give me an angry girl with a brutal sense of humor like Merida. Be creative, please!!!

I love the queen's design, super gorgeous. Too bad her character added nothing. Her help was barely needed since Asha's friend had already sneaked them into the castle and it was her who deciphered the king's magic. A super villain couple would have been way more fun.

Oh, yeah, Asha's friends. There were so-damn-many of them and only like 3 were rememberable or needed for the story.

The villain is a complicated issue. I appreciated Disney's attempt at another fully evil character, I liked how he wasn't yet another badly set up "twist villain" revealed only at the end. But I didn't like the end result that much.

His backstory was super underdeveloped and to "get" his motives better, if they really wanted to make him evil-yet-complex, they should have shown us a flashback of him losing his family Encanto style (They copy pasted the start might as well do the same with the antagonist backstory.

What the hell was the missing piece of tapestry for if it wasn't going to have any significance later on? Did the writers just forget or what even?

Worst part for me: The stakes were low as fuck. Disney doesn't respect its target audience, nowadays it thinks that children can't handle anything worse than a main character getting disappointed. The worst this "super evil" villain does is make people sad temporarily, for like two minutes (Kid you not), like one character stays sad for longer but MOST people in the kingdom seem happy and normal after giving up their wishes, he legit just makes people sad a few minutes (Again, I kid you not, no one dies, the wishes he "eats" to make himself stronger come back, nothing he does has a permanent, devastating effect, he is not even revealed to have killed Asha's father in a dramatic way or something). Yeah he makes people forget their wishes which is pretty sketchy but up to that point he seemed to have complex reasons for that, reasons that seem to disappear or have never even been there the second half of the movie when he magically becomes more evil due to a forbidden green spooky magic he uses, and then suddenly he becomes Maleficent (The cool, perfect villain version, not the woobie one) style evil in a very, very rushed and over the top way. I feel like he should have started up as fully evil with no backstory (Just a simple, Gaston or original Maleficent style, self centered guy, who wants more and more power and adoration), and simply gotten worse and stronger OR given more complexity as to why he became that way, but instead we got this weird thing in between where it is clear he just wants power and love from the people for the sake of it and yet he has this half-made sob story on how his family died.

There was a great lack of originality in this movie at the climax as well. Anyone watched "The little mermaid II"? That was pretty much it. Villain gets power boner, says he will enslave everyone (Worst thing he does in whole movie and yet no one trying to defy him dies at least off screen or gets hurt in any meaningful way). Then heroine saves the day.

The funniest part of this movie is that the villain's fate is worse than anything he ever did in the movie I swear. He gets trapped in a freaking mirror and then locked up in a cell (Similar to the Little mermaid II villain's end too lol). That is straight up torture till death, it is so fucked up. And his wife who literally sees how the green spooky magic is the main thing responsible for his bad day (If we are being honest that is all it was, other than the taking wishes part he seemed to be a good king) leaves him to rot and becomes queen Catherine II style, it is hilarious. Like girl, you turned against your husband like five minutes ago because apparently through decades of seemingly loving marriage, you never knew he was evil but now somehow you are ok with him rotting in solitary confinement till the end of time? So dorky and silly. So bad, so bad.

Lastly, that goat was annoying as hell.

#disney wish #wish #asha #asha disney #disney princess #disney prinesses #rant #disney rant #wish rant #wish review #disney wish review

[sapphyreopal5]

I posted before about Gen partaking in witchcraft here back on November 3, 2023 in the hopes that she had not dabbled into black magic while she was at it. Unfortunately, I was merely hopeful in making that statement when I made that post. I suspected she indeed has when I was making that statement but hadn't known enough about her to know for sure. In this podcast I made a post about a couple days ago Gen made, she made this statement:

6:15: Dave said "talk a little bit about the ways you have had to be creative in maintaining the relationship that you have, the love that you have with the distance that has historically existed and the complexity of what it means to do the work that you both do. To which Gen responded "yeah I think it's finding the little things and I always enjoyed having a long distance relationship with him. It's kind of silly 'cause like it's in some ways it's like this vacation you have when you're together and then they're gone and so it's almost like super- not superficial but but it's not realistic and when we were apart, what I would do is create boxes. I mean he still has this box from um when we first met he was a port drinker. And he had a bottle of this Pinto port that he loved and so I took the box and I put in you know love letters and n' what have you and then once we had kids you know it obviously gets a little more complicated and you're strapped but just making that time. It's so silly but it's work and you have to treat it as such but without it becoming monotonous I guess.

7:25 (con't from above) I'm finding creativity in that work and you have to work on, on that relationship and um find creative ways to 'cause you know especially after the two of use have been together for 12 years, we're really different people and you grow at different times and sometimes you are like "I really don't like you right now" and then the other person grows in a different direction and you kind of have to find the balance and that creativity to come back together and that commonality to come back together and you know..."

Ladies and gentlemen, what she is describing above here is in fact a type of spell, specifically a box spell. It also seems it is a type of "love spell" if you will based on the fact Gen uses these to "keep the relationship alive" since this is the context in which she discussed this "creative way to keep the marriage alive" with Dave Hollis. According to this site as an overview of what box spells are, "A spell box is, well, a box that is intended for spells. It’s quite simple. You choose a box, put ingredients inside that correspond with your intent, put a lid on and voila! Your spell is contained and therefore will continue work until you disassemble the box. The ritual to set the spell into motion be as elaborate or simple as you wish. I like to write my intent on a little piece of parchment paper, which I then fold neatly, draw a sigil on the outside and place in the bottom of the box. Then I will add crystals and herbs, sometimes trinkets like bracelet charms or make clay discs or figures especially for the spell. I have two subcategories of spell boxes – a single purpose or theme."

As an overview of how love spells work which I derived from this website here, "You can already take a wild guess on what a love spell does. It is supposed to help you attract love. You need to remember one important thing: love spells are not going to make someone fall in love with you to the point that they never want to leave. A spell to make a man love you will help your paths cross. You can build a stronger connection than what you have right now. It will still be up to you to ensure that the relationship will last. Love magic is going to work better when an initial attraction is already there. This means that spells will have a higher chance of working if your crush already likes you back. It will also work better if your ex has always wanted to get back together with you. The person is just waiting for an opening to get back into your life. Spells to bring back a lover will need proper connection and genuine care or love to work."

Because Gen used a box that Jared had for one of her boxes along with letters they had written, photos, etc., there are elements of sympathetic magic. A synopsis of how sympathetic magic works and what it is: "Frazer broke down the idea further into two distinct parts: The Law of Similarity and the Law of Contact/Contagion. He said,

“From the first of these principles, namely the Law of Similarity, the magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it: from the second he infers that whatever he does to a material object will affect equally the person with whom the object was once in contact, whether it formed part of his body or not.”

As you can see, it seems that Gen indirectly admitted to using boxes to conjure a love relationship between her and Jared and to "keep the relationship going". Call it taking things out of context if you want and perhaps she doesn't/didn't know this is technically witchcraft. It is not however about knowing whether or not this is witchcraft so much as it is about intent. Her purpose of making these boxes from the get go as straight from the horses mouth was as a creative way to keep the marriage and relationship going between them.

Also, I initially posted this J2 magazine interview "A Walk on the Dark Side" back on Nov 18, 2023. A couple of quotes from other posts of mine I found from various sources (podcasts, magazine interviews, etc.) looking back should be of great interest given this context. This one comes from that J2 magazine interview "A Walk on the Dark Side": "Ever since we learned that Sam had demon-given powers, fans have been wondering Just how far the writers will take his journey to the dark side. Not that long ago, many people - including Padalecki himself - assumed that Sam and Ruby would never hook up. He said he didn't think that storyline would pan out. Of course, the writers did go there. "I thought it was interesting," Padalecki reflects. “Supernatural is not, and never has been - and hopefully never will be - a show about sex and lust and all of that kind of stuff that you expect on teen melodramas." The episode in reference here is Season 4 episode 9 "I Know What You Did Last Summer". Hmm, seems to me he didn't quite have the same excited response to being asked about this scene in comparison to Gen.

She said about this sex scene also in a Supernatural Magazine interview in response to the question "I'm sure you protested when you had to kiss Jared!" to which she said: "I know! I’m going to get roasted! I have a great sex scene with him [in I Know What You Did Last Summer]". According to this filming schedule, this took place sometime in Fall 2009. I also had read somewhere it took on average between 8-10 days to film an episode and I believe they had weekends off. With this being said, it seems to me that this was a few episodes before Thanksgiving where they had the whole week off (November 26, 2009). Therefore, we can guess that it was about a month and a halfish or so before Thanksgiving so this would put it probably between the 2nd and 3rd week of October or so. This therefore means it was about a month and a half before they became "official" in terms of dating according to this timeline post where I have multiple sources linking to their said relationship timeline. Which by the way things moved WAY too fast, especially given Jared had not too long before meeting Gen broken up with Sandy. Hmmm...

3 days after I posted the J2 interview aforementioned above, I noticed a story Gen made where she was reading a particular book and reblogged it with that book and some screenshots of different stories pertaining to the book. I reblogged it on Nov 21, 2023 specifically in light of a witchcraft themed book called "The Lost Apothecary" I spotted that Gen made a post while reading in her Instagram story from this day, 3 days after I shared that J2 interview. Interestingly enough about this book, the synposis of the book says via the first thing that shows up on Google: "A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course. Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman." As one of my good friends mentioned in context of the show itself: "She's poison Sam she's manipulating you!" (in reference to drinking Ruby's blood and her manipulating him). Life imitating art perhaps? Well another interesting tidbit, this type of phrase was used in that same Rise Together Podcast I mentioned before but in the context of Gen's role as Kris Furillo (and yes the host Dave admitted he never saw Supernatural but perhaps he should). Oh if only Dave realized just how much art really does imitate art.....

21:20 Dave mentions Gen's first role as Kris Furillo who "was a troubled teen that worked at a horse ranch and as you said, you were born in LA, moved to Montana and then Sun Valley. It feels a little bit like art imitating life how does the saying go? I don't know but outside of the troubled teen part your career feels like it's mirrored a little bit with some of the moves you've made". Gen agreed saying "Yeah absolutely. You know what the craziest part is that so I was born in the Bay area and the same mountain. So this girl Kris Furillo steals this horse, she's sent to juvie or something and ends up going on this horse on this crazy ride up Mount Diablo and that's where I lived. So it's so crazy to be reenacting this story." She did say also "I don't know if I'm that troubled but I feel I felt the role at that time I think." She mentioned talking to Nicole and doing a rewatch and "reviving the show or something".

Yet another quote from that Rise Together Podcast post I made that should be of great concern here:

"26:25 Dave asked Gen what it's like joining a show and then creating a life with them. He also was wondering about what it's like working with Jared while married and such. Probably the very best part of this whole thing in my opinion and what really made me want to watch this podcast from that post you shared Anon: "I was just talking to someone about this that my favorite relationship with him is a work relationship. Sometimes it's hard to be married to him because he's like, Jared is so interesting because he's so analytical. I mean my husband, I'm going to toot his horn because he's literally one of the smartest human beings I've ever met in my life and it's annoying because he will correct you on words you think he didn't even know. I have a book of SAT words just because I'm like I am going to get him. And so I'll just casually talk about something and use a crazy word in a sentence and he'll be like well you pronounced it incorrectly. It's so frustrating. Also in our marriage he's very giving and emotional and supportive. He's supportive in everything that I've done and I feel really lucky and grateful. I think even more so when it comes to work he is your biggest cheerleader and it's going to be a lot of time together. But funny enough, I think we'll be better at work than sometimes we are at home. Because I'm like, this is how the kids are, this is how I like them, this is the order that I like things in. And it's hard for me to let go I think, at home. but at work, it's just a really nice exchange and I feel really lucky, and he'll sit there too. If he's not working, he'll take it, pull up a chair and talk on the phone and watch at me and I can hear him bragging about me and whether he's doing it for my benefit I don't know but it makes me feel good and I feel really lucky that he does stuff like that."

Is it possible Gen used some kind of witchcraft to make this hookup scene become part of the script? Is it also possible she has used it in other unpleasant ways as well (ex. the car accident from April 2022, the 2015 breakdown while in Geneva alone)? Can't prove it for sure nor can we say when exactly she got that used up pinto box but I can say to grab a box like that when first dating tells me she had some magical intentions with Jared, not to mention is kind of creepy no offense ha ha. I 100% believe she has used it to maintain their "relationship" like she said about making those boxes. Then again if she really doesn't like him being at home that much, maybe she just wants his estate and the lifestyle his money provides(?).

#anti genevieve #black magic #love spells #supernatural #spn family #gen padalecki #jared padalecki #pada marriage is a mess #box spells #sympathetic magic

[burningvelvet]

You have mentioned that you read a lot of academic writing, so I was wondering how you annotate your reading? Or any tips on reading academic writing. Thank you!

Tips on Reading Academic Writing, & My Explanations & Experiences (pure tips are highlighted in bold)

Thank you for the ask! I'm not a professional, but I will share what I've found useful as a student/soon-to-be grad. Besides the few times that my professors have required us submit formally annotated bibliographies, I usually do not take them in any neat, organized way. When I read an academic text, I often underline/highlight if possible (if I have an ebook version or paper version to do so) while focusing on key words/key concepts and inserting any associated words/concepts that come to mind. I also copy/paste (or use iPhone's text scanner in the photo app) specific terms or phrases that I want to remember or that stick out to me. I primarily use my Notes app bc it syncs from my laptop to my phone. If I'm doing a close-reading and wish to take my time, I read over each paragraph (or in rare cases when I really wish to do an even closer reading, each sentence) and I attempt to then summarize it to myself in as few words as possible. This last part appeals to my own personal learning style though, which I'll discuss further on below.*

I scan every text for the most important parts, keeping in mind that each paragraph contains its own sub-topic. A paragraph is like a scene in a film or a play, and each one has its own beginning, middle, and ending. By reading the first or last sentence of a paragraph, you can usually glean what the whole paragraph is about. The first and last sentences of a paragraph are the most important. Likewise, the opening and closing paragraphs of an essay exist to summarize the most important parts of the entire essay. The thesis statement (the main idea of an essay, or the "TLDR summary" to put it into Reddit terms) is usually located at the end of the first paragraph of an essay. Also, this all applies to formal academic writing; not so with casual or creative writing. If I am desperately trying to absorb information and don't have the time/energy to fully study something, what I do is allocate the work's thesis statement, and try to summarize in my own terms the "main point(s)" of the work.

Another invaluable piece of advice is to build your vocabulary and keep vocabulary lists for heavy reading (a list of terms and their definitions). Some academic papers or textbooks will include these in their works. For years, I have kept a sacred list called "Words" which is simply a list of terms that I either struggle to remember or that I've had to look up the definition of. But specific topics get their own vocabulary list, especially if it's something niche or a list of terms only used by a specifer writer or in a specific theory or sub-field. A lot of academics/writers/philosophers invent terms to more easily explain or describe their concepts. Heideigger, considered one of the most interesting but difficult philosophers to understand, is especially difficult with this. It feels like learning a new language sometimes to read his work. But academic reading is often a matter of the writer putting forth new ideas and/or explaining complex things, and so it is often slow, heavy reading, which requires patience.

My biggest piece of advice is to look up lists of learning styles and try to experiment with each of them until you find which one(s) work best for you. Maybe review your earliest memories from school or past memories where you felt like you were excited to learn. Try to implement these while reading information to see what method is most beneficial & comfortable. Everyone learns differently and no two people are exactly the same. Don't feel bad if methods working for others aren't working for you; this is an opportunity for further exploration.

*My individual learning style is "learning by teaching," which means that in order to retain information, I recapitulate it to myself, or make up imaginary scenarios where I have to teach or explain the information to others, or occasionally I do so in real life by info-dumping the information to interested people (or here on my blog). By explaining a subject, it deepens my own understanding of the subject, because you have to understand something well in order to be able to regurgitate it in your own words. If I get stuck and find myself unable to explain something, then this allows me to see where I'm lacking knowledge, and what I need to review. I recall implementing this learning style in some of my earliest memories. Around ages 3/4, I would pretend to be a teacher in an imaginary classroom while practicing my letters and numbers.

#ask #asks #education #academic reading #academic writing #annotations #notes #literature #english literature #academia #dark academia #tips #academic tips #academic advice #uni life #university #me #my writing #my essays

[chronostachyon]

As someone who's not a professional therapist but has had to develop a deep understanding of psychology in order to figure out my own issues, I kind of wish I could sit down with J. R. R. Tolkien about how much of himself he poured into Eä, and how guilty he felt about having the hubris to write down his own little imitation of what he imagined the Christian God's forging of reality must have been like. To put words in Eru Ilúvatar's mouth, when Eru Ilúvatar is very much a likeness of Tolkien's own God.

On the surface you can easily see that he identifies quite a bit with Gandalf, Aragorn, and especially and most openly Beren. But if you read between the lines -- of the story of the Ainulindalë, with Melkor's arrogant dissonance, and of the forging of the dwarves by Aulë, whose actions clearly meant to be compared and contrasted with Melkor's -- I think the beings that Tolkien identified with deep down were Melkor and the Maiar of Aulë who defected to him (especially Sauron and Saruman). He saw himself as harboring a piece of Satan within himself, and could not forgive himself for it, and therefore could not see a path of redemption and forgiveness for them.

I don't think it's a shock to say that I see Tolkien as (a) being autistic, in that noticeable way that makes one feel like a social outcast for liking weird things and being upset that so many ordinary things "don't make sense", and (b) that he suffered from severe PTSD, which may well have preceded his time in the WWI trenches based on the depth of his self-loathing.

Aulë was Tolkien's idea of a "good autist": creative, excited about the possibilities of complex things built from simple ones, but humble and subservient to his own Creator. Melkor was a "bad autist": creative, but wants to be in control so everything can meet his personal definition of order, jealous of God for having abilities that he does not but lacking the humility to admit it and therefore refusing subservience to the inherently superior being, as the "natural order" dictates.

I think, if you plopped me down in Hobbiton a few weeks before Bilbo's 111th birthday, I could actually talk Sauron into redemption and the War of the Ring could be entirely avoided. Part of that is my own PTSD fawning response at work, I'm sure, as I'm always on the lookout for how to "fix" fictional bullies, but I see something in how Saruman looks at Sauron, and how Sauron looks at Melkor, and how Melkor looks at Eru, that I could call out and make explicit and force Sauron to confront about himself. I think I understand Sauron's will well enough that I could sit down with the Ring and have a conversation with it, maybe to one day reunite it with Sauron so he could be made whole again.

I see this in Sauron because I see it in Tolkien because I see it in myself: the thing I find hateful about Eä is that I hate all imbalances of power. They are inherently unfair. Melkor, Sauron, and Saruman each sought to wrest power from a tyrant, but thought only of having that power for themselves, rather than seeing the symmetry of the situation and realizing that power over others is inherently evil.

Tolkien could never openly admit this, perhaps not even to himself, because it's pretty explicitly blasphemous. It implies that the standard Catholic theodicy of Free Will is hollow; that God was evil all along and that the serpent in Eden spoke the truth, and that God was never anything more than a petty tyrant undeserving of worship.

But there's also something Tolkien's faith kind of got a little bit right: redemption. The sin of Saruman and Sauron and Melkor and Eru is the sin of the Christian God, but sin is not a permanent taint so much as it's the harm we do to others, and if we stop hurting others and start considering their well-being in our actions -- especially their autonomy and self-determination -- then that sin will fade from the world with time and patience.

In the end, Tolkien wasn't wrong about preferring Aulë over Melkor for his humility, but he was wrong about the purpose of humility and why it's a virtue. Humility isn't servility or obedience; it's acknowledgement that one does not and can not understand everything that is. Humility is a virtue because each and every living being is the only expert in the world about that particular being's actual lived experiences, no matter how much broader your experiences may be than theirs. The real fantasy of Christianity is the fantasy that God knows more about your life and how you feel about it than you do, which is a lot less lonely and scary than the truth: you are the only person in the world who can make your choices for you.

#tolkien #lord of the rings #the silmarillion #atheist criticism of christianity #universalism

[mania-sama]

Hello, just found your blog and I love your posts. Thanks for sharing them.

When I first saw your blog, I thought it will be about classical books like Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, etc (sorry for my mistake). I'm new in anime/manga (about last 6 years), before that since my school days, I only read classical books.....So not young in age but young in fandom :D

Are those seven are your fav media : BSD, JJK, Genshin Impact, AFTG, Voltron, Demon Slayer, Haikyuu? Can I ask why you love them? What made them special for you?

P.s

Are you excited for the Haikyuu movie, new season of Demon Slayer, and new spin off for AFTG?

Thanks 🌻

Thank you for sending in another request!! I smiled wide when I saw that sunflower 🌻

I completely understand where you’re coming from. The A Tale of Two Cities is sure to through anyone off. Sorry!! I mainly use this blog to post my ramblings and creative projects that I can’t really put anywhere else, plus a few one shots. I might transfer more of my one-shots to here from Ao3, but I simply haven’t gotten around to it.

Love to hear that you love the classics, though!! I wish I had the patience to read more than I have already. I’m an extremely slow reader, so it makes it difficult to get through classics (even though I love them dearly). For anime/manga, I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan myself. Not that I don’t enjoy it, but I don’t go out of my way to read or watch something in that genre because it’s in that genre. I watch or read anything that may pique my interest, regardless of the format, be it on Youtube, Hulu, Crunchyroll, etc. I haven’t really even seen many animanga myself, to be honest.

I wouldn’t say the seven that you listed are my favorite media, they are just the ones that I have written fanfiction/analyses about and posted it on here. I use that list as a masterlist guide for people to find my meaningful posts easier! So, not my favorite, just whats available to peruse on my account. As for my actual favorite… it’s hard to say. I don’t think I have seven I can list off the top of my head, but I do have some favorites in general.

Interestingly, for most of my “favorites”, I have never written a fanfiction for, nor do I read many fanfics for (with the exception of a couple of favorites). I don’t know why this is. Maybe because I find the original story too good to be expanded upon? I can’t say for certain.

A Silent Voice is easily favorite movie. It’s also my favorite anime, if you don’t require the anime to be a series. I haven’t watched any movie better, animated or otherwise, and I’m not sure I ever will. The characters are all so beautifully human, who say and do the wrong things, who are awful to each other, but who also do kind things, who develop, who change, even as others stay the same. Not to mention that the animation itself is beautiful. I could go on and on about this movie; I cry every time I watch it. I’d say it’s my favorite piece of media in general. Everything else falls behind it. Nothing can top it (at least not yet). Fun fact, if you didn’t already know: the English voice actor for Shouko, the main female lead, is actually deaf. Wonderful voice casting as well, just to top things off.

Bungou Stray Dogs is my favorite manga as of right now. I love it for many of the same reasons I love A Silent Voice; the characters are horribly human and complex, despite their inhuman abilities. Each character is interesting and unique, and while I do have gripes with the main storytelling, Asagiri’s Bungou Stray Dogs: BEAST really makes up for it. All of the character designs are also very unique and thought-out. Each character and their design leaves me spiraling as I think and analyze. It really triggers the autism LMAO.

Child of Light is my favorite video game. While I do have the most hours logged into Genshin Impact (and it is a close second in terms of favorites), Child of Light is simply one of those games that I can never forget. I have a lot of good childhood memories tied with it. I also completed the entire thing in one sitting in about 10 hours, which is the first and probably last time I ever speed-run a video game (speed-run is used loosely here because I am not “speedy” in any sense of the word). Anyway, Child of Light is a very beautiful game both in visuals (with its watercolor game design) and music (one of the best soundtracks in any game, in my opinion). The language in the game is also very unique — every character speaks in a rhyming pattern, all except the Jester character, who you would THINK would speak in rhymes but fails miserably every time. Each character is as fantastical as the next, ranging from a water droplet to a mouse. I wish everyone would play this game, because it’s so fun and so beautiful.

The Grishaverse is my favorite book series, though there are multiple series within the universe. I just don’t have a favorite (definitely not the Grisha Trilogy though 😭). Although it’s been a while since I’ve read the books, I seriously couldn’t put them down when I was reading them. They are a perfect blend of fantasy and realism, with believable characters and powers. While the OG series is genuinely not good in my opinion, the Six of Crows and King of Scars Duologies are actual masterpieces. Six of Crows is full of action, intensity, and found family, while King of Scars balances it out with political intrigue. Very, very well written and well done book series in plot, character, and setting. The TV show is a crime against the books, honestly, but it’s okay, Just read the books, they are better.

Merlin is my favorite TV show. I actually really love watching medieval settings. Not as much reading (not that I don’t like them in books, I just don’t search them out for the purpose of being medieval), but I love to watch them. I like admiring the old settings, buildings, clothes, and lifestyles that are being presented. I also love Arthurian retellings, so Merlin kind of hits the spot. I don’t have as many good reasons for loving this series, I just do 😭. Best (b)romance of the century. I did cry at the end when I watched it. Also, thank you to the Merlin fandom for reaching me what a good fanfiction is supposed to look like.

That’s all I can think of. I don’t really have a favorite individual book, classic or otherwise. I think that’s kind of impossible for me. I’ve read many great series, and I assume I will read a great many more to come.

I’m not sure if I’ll watch the Haikyuu movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve watched the anime, but if I come across it and I can watch it for free, then I’d be down honestly. I have been keeping up with Demon Slayer, with plans to read the manga maybe, so I am pretty excited for the new season!! And don’t get me started on the new All for the Game book!! I need it in my hands right now.

Thank you so much for asking!! I love talking about my favorite medias lol

#anon ask #answered ask #favorite things #bsd #bungou stray dogs #grishaverse #merlin #all for the game #demon slayer #child of light #a silent voice

[fatratbabyy]

hi! i really love your designs, the colours are always really well done anf the characters are full of life.. and i love how your rewrites give the characters complexity and make them really interesting to me, much more so than canon(though i am a fan of some ideas introduced there, they don’t quite turn out in ways that make sense to me)! i’ve been wondering a few things about helluva troupe for a while however and hopefully the answers aren’t spoilers, lol.. in HT, what is Fizz’s involvement with the ‘troupe’ and what is stolas’s involvement too.? i wish you much luck on your work as it is lovely to see! (also apologies for my silly username)

Thank You!

Thank you so much that means a lot!! waaAahee! It makes me happy to see people interested 🥺👉👈

With Fizz it's,,, a bit Fuzzy, because hilariously he's the whole reason I made this AU among other things But I ended up makinh him a sorta side character antag again because while originally he was going to be part of the main crew from the start of HT's storyline, as I went along in trying to write I saw some cool hcs about his star clown days and so I thought to use the more canonized view- mostly in that he's a star clown during the events of HT instead of dropping the show life to join Blitz in I.M.P. That previous version is why you see him in the I.M.P references- and hinty hoo that ol version isnt completely null and voice to the current HT

ANYWAY so yeah- While Fizz isn't as much a main character as he was he still has a great deal of importance to the story and themes I want to express in HT. When it comes to him and the Troupe itself, I could best describe him as one of the biggest foils or parallels to the main cast. Just,, he's this golden image that represents their every want fulfilled. For Blitz especially given their thick history heehooo. (That's not to say this 'golden image' is entirely as it seems btw...)

Now it sounds much like canon I know but I like to think I'm taking a different direction with it- It's not really just the "haha you suck with relationships, fuck, shit, pénis im doing better look at my good relationship" nonsense cuz for 1. Fizzarozzie does nOT exist anymore- its Mamzie now 😊 (Mammon + Ozzie) and 2. The themes with Fizz and really most of HT has less to do with the melodramatic romance "will they wont they" of Stolitz (which isnt really a thing either) and more the struggle impoverished and oppressed peoples experience with success, failure, identity, community, family, status, history, trauma, etccc. Specifically, because I am an indigenous person from Canada, a lot of the themes are drawn from my own experiences, knowledge and history as an indigenous person. Though with execution, creative liberties were taken to make the fact they're in Hell clear btww-

That very likely did nOT answer jour question but i amn,,,stoopi 😭😭😭 simpler answer i suppose maybe by chance would be Fizz is an eventual antagonist to I.M.P. Specifics and how it happens and wheNNN?? Im still not sure yet if im honest- been really busy the last year or so and so Ive hadnt had any time or energy to work as much on writing all the things! ;u; thats probs disappointing to hear cuz plaNNing and all is important if you're gonna post story stuff at all,,, but !! I do hope to work more on the story this year so i can wrap up all these floating ideas into a Concrete line of stuff cuz truly all im missing is the middle pieces. Maybe an HT comic will be real this/or next year! 👀🏃

ANYHOOT ONTO STOLAS! i rambled a bit too much about Fizz cuz im still figuring him out- Stolas might be a bit shorter cuz his role is sweet and simplisticerr.

So, Stolas is an antagonist. He and Blitz still have an exchange sort of deal, but the deal is Blitz gets to keep the grimoire for I.M.P if he handles Stolas' "errands" and gives it back on the full moon with ofc none of the uh,,hawny stuff, obv. Blitz kinda keeps this deal under wraps from the rest of I.M.P because for him, it hurts his pride to admit he's in need of some big guy's help. And Stolas is somewhat aware of this. And so, Stolas is this looming, cruel threat that Blitz carries the burden of cuz he's stubborn as fuck whilst the rest of I.M.P remain ignorant.

Some bonus notes that dont really have to do with Stolas involvement with imp but jus how stuff ive changed with his canon influence the story diff than canon; so, Stella isnt a thing anymore. In general the Goetia work much differently- majority of the Goetia being the children of Ozzie instead of Paimon (who is Stolas' sibling now btw too) and the Goetia being thousands of years old instead of fucking 30- Also! While Via is existant she is but a baby instead of a moody teen,, ties heavily with Stolas' motives and how he operates as a character, royal, and Goetian and felt it would work better with how HT Stolas is as a character than it would otherwise.

Also no worries about the username! I dont like canon stolas much either lol,,;

I apologize if this didnt answer much 😭 feel free to let me know if you wanna hear about somn else gwahgh 🏃

#Helluva Troupe #redthreadduo #helluva boss

[cicadaknight]

tag game (horizon)

tagged by @artekai 💕🤝💖 thanks, pal!

1. ride or die ship: fashav/kotallo straight to my grave. mythological tragedies, those two, i tell you what.

2. most annoying ship: the boat aloy takes to san francisco. can you imagine, never rowing before in your life and making that trek through choppy currents and storms? insufferable.

3. second favorite ship: aloy/kotallo. the parallels of aloy and kotallo being forced into roles they never wanted, being alone and outcast from their tribes, moving through their grief and rage by learning to trust a new found family? being seen by another for more than their physical prowess but their humanity and creativity? excellent shit.

4. favorite platonic relationship: SYLENS AND BETA AND GAIA. Sylens getting taken down a fucking peg or two by a teenage girl and an infinitely compassionate AI. Beta being able to collaborate with someone (and an AI) who sees well beyond her mistakes and faults. GAIA finding consistent, complex companions who remind her fondly of Lis. Sylens making Beta food and teaching her how to cook. HELP ME.

5. Underrated ship: So many. I really love Aloy/Drakka. The idea of him being such a counter to Aloy’s single-minded focus on saving the world by being an absolute goober. But her seeing that he cares so very deeply about doing the right thing and protecting his people. Alva/Beta is sweet. I dig Erend/Talanah.

6. overrated ship: the odyssey. just kidding, i already made a joke about a boat.

7. one thing i would change in canon: the entire last act? specifically varl’s death, that kotallo doesn’t fly to the grove with aloy, that aloy ends the entire tenakth/regalla conflict via single combat duel, and then fights alone twice more with erik and tilda. RIP all the build up to aloy understanding that she’s not alone and all the people in her life are as competent and complex and have just as much stake in the fate of the world as she does. and beyond that, i deeply regret the way they wrote talanah in hfw. she shoulda had that fourth bunk in the base.

8. something canon did right: don’t get me wrong, i wish fashav hadn’t died at barren light, but i love his back story and everything we find out through his journals. added so much nuance to carja and tenakth cultures and characters in just a handful of paragraphs.

9. a thing i’m proud of creating for the fandom: i’ve been in a perpetual state of burnout for yeeeeeears. this kotallo portrait was the first piece i’ve drawn in ages. i’m also working on a bookbinding project and doing art for Kotallo with amazing folks on Focus on the Heart.

10. a character who is perfect to me: Hekarro. I hope the writers, animators, and actor who made him come to life are very proud of their work.

11. character i relate to most and why: uhhh like every other neurodivergent queer with trauma and parental issues, i gotta go with beta.

12. character(s) i hate most and why: tekkoteh. absolute steaming pile of shit. genuinely every time i think i’ve reached peak hatred for that slime, someone writes a beautiful fic where i find myself despising him more. in my interpretation, there’s no world where he didn’t take advantage of, manipulate, and abuse kotallo after his parents died.

13. something i’ve learned from the fandom: awww this is cheesy, but i learned how to take a chance and post things i make again. most people are so curious and so excited to discuss lore or characters in good faith. oh, recently i did discover i missed MANY post-mission dialogues for side quests on my first few playthroughs.

14. three tags i seek out on ao3: i’m guaranteed to get drawn into anything re: kotallo and fashav’s early marshal days, lis character development, aloy/kotallo hurt/comfort (sue me)

15. a song i associate strongly with my otp/favorite character: i made this playlist based off this fic. it’s basicallg my score for fashav and kotallo falling in love during their marshal duties. instants by skúli sverrisson and anything by hermanos gutiérrez sends me into pondering fashav and kotallo’s lives together.

i’m gonna tag @poulticepurse @fogsblue @rowanisawriter @ayaitch @robo-dino-puppy if y’all wanna do this?

#tag game #h

[th3-0bjectivist]

Be back soon (and visit my store on Poshmark)!!!

    Heya gang, I’m starting to miss posting to Tumblr with a searing sharpness that could cut glass. Since my migration to North Carolina, I’ve found a full-time job. I’ve been working on new drawings and prose to go along with them. AND I’m learning how to animate some of my old art into gifs (Tumblr only allows 10MB quality, which sucks, but I’ll deal), the products of which you’ll see materialize over the next few weeks and into the rest of 2023. I wish I could say I’ve been incredibly creatively productive, but I haven’t been for a myriad of reasons. HOWEVER, give me about two more weeks to fully charge my brain battery, and I promise that I’ll deliver content you’ve never seen before, per usual. I’ve got a metric assload of music on the way, and of course random content that will make you both critically process reality and slap your knee in fits of belly-laughter.  

    If you’re wondering how I’m doing, I’m just fine. Mentally and physically healthy, although I’m not getting any younger, so it’s time once again to quit with the apathy and make hay while the sun is still shining. North Carolina is nice, very southern, but more relaxed and more my speed! Maybe not as aesthetically beautiful as Massachusetts, but the people here treat each other respectfully and without automatic condemnation, which is more than I can say for the D-Bags in the northeast. My new job is teaching me to work with my hands, recalibrate complex environmental monitoring devices and settle into the world of technology. If I had found a job like this in Massachusetts after my 2018 graduation, well, my life would have likely taken a trajectory that I could only experience in another reality/alternate universe. I am content; my local family is taking care of me and I’m taking care of them in turn. I am where I should be.

     Oh, and before I forget, I have an online closet set up over at https://poshmark.com/closet/galleryofluke. A lot of it is art pieces you can find on this very page. I’m not a salesperson, but I am trying to rebuild my life after a divorce, so if you wanna help a brother out and purchase something I would really appreciate it. I’d like to sell off some of my old paintings before working on new ones later this year, and everything is very reasonably priced. No pressure, but if you like my stuff and want to support me, please consider a purchase. That said, I will see you all very soon!

Best,

Luke (th3-0bjectivist)

#BUY MY SHIT! #or don't #back soon #two weeks #music on the way #animations on the way #drawings and prose on the way #page update #this page #in the midst of rebuilding my life

[joemuggs]

Albums of 2023 part 2

And so, on from part 1, we continue. This is more dreamy synth-dub that sits perfectly next to the Harrow album: Richard Norris is another artist with an extraordinarily long and illustrious career but who also has never lost the exploratory urge and total delight in sonic finesse.

Honestly Uruguayan-in-Ireland Lila Tirando a Violeta is right up there with the very best of the "deconstructed club" generation - dark, gothic, complex, VERY WEIRD - and this collab with Berliner Sin Maldita is up there with her best. It's really, REALLY intense!

Just impossibly beautiful elegies from ambient harpist Mary Lattimore which builds towards the final track collaboration with Slowdive's Rachel Goswell that is so lovely it will single handedly bring back swooning as a popular pastime.

Officially an EP but there's enough here to cement Nia Archives's place as a heavyweight - add "Off Wiv Ya Headz" and that Jorja Smith remix, and she's had a humdinger of a 2023....

Saw some discourse suggesting that Burna Boy is resting on his laurels here, but I don't hear it. Maybe it's the fact that the cover looks dashed-off? But musically, this bangs: it expertly joins so many dots but keeps his voice and personality right at the heart of it.

I mean come on there was no way a collab between Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist was going to be anything but good, right? Just purest essence of deep and dreamy stoner hip hop. Yet another small (27min) but beautifully formed album - definitely a trend there.

Feels kind of (literally) sacrilegious to say I prefer Cleo Sol's more personal, less scriptural records (e.g. Rose in the Dark) - and this is, top to bottom, a gospel album - but the conviction to her performance and the whole realisation of it here is still really magical.

From Coventry via Skopje, man like NOT_MDK's first album in 23 years, and he's zooming into the deep flows that join grime and dubstep into the longer, deeper electronic funk continuum... These tracks are so crisp and crunchy!

She's from Turkey but Ahu's been plugged into the London Plastic People / NTS / etc scene for years - file this with Yazmin Lacey and similar LDN soul-jazz, also it's very Boho and vibesy and incensey, definitely one to light your best candles for.

Can't remember who put me on to this, possibly Radio 3? Anyway if cold wet misty Scottish hillsides are your jam Claire M Singer has you covered - these slower-than-slowly unfolding organ-led pieces practically smell of wet moss, and are extremely beautiful.

He's lent vocals to a who's who of electronic music, but it turns out Paul St Hilaire's own studio craft is the equal of just about any of them - this is just a stunning, ocean-deep album of dub abstraction and subtly potent lyricism.

Icelander Eva Jóhannsdóttir aka EVA808 has already made a name in the dubstep/grime world but this is her really spreading her creative wings. Mad psychedelia, elemental abstraction, movie-theme composition - there's not much she can't do. Big things beckon!

There's still SO much to say about amapiano, and so much incredible UK, SA and wider world stuff last year (this isn't even the only great DJ Maphorisa album - he had THREE out in 2023, including a mini album with Shino Kikai and a 25-track one with fellow originator Kabza De Small!!). Suffice to say this has gorgeous songs, primal grooves, endlessly sophisticated mixdowns and bass that'll take your breath away.

Just gonna link to my review for this one (it's got the music embedded) - but TL;DR Darren J Cunningham aka Actress is the holy prophet of the era of enshittification, yet for all that his music is constantly "off" and made for a world that is "off", he alchemises it into real gold.

Yeah I'm going to be THAT space-jazz hipster and say this is the record I wish Andre3000 (who is on it, and Carlos Niño co-produced his album) had made. It's just a more lavish, free, FUN way to cavort with the five-dimensional fractal machine elves.

Zoning in on the platonic breakbeat mathematics that underly Jersey / B'more club Chicago hip house, UK rave, trip hop etc, Bored Lord could seem arch or retro if her beats weren't so gloriously functional and bumping.

Fed up of generic records? You will never EVER find another one that sounds like IFS MA. Polish abstract slightly Autechre-y footwork / drum'n'bass with Japanese rapper MA sounding like a cyborg beat poet Taliban Trim and I.... 🤯

Every man jack and their dog are doing high bpm retro rave lately but you can trust Meemo Comma to put a fresh and uneasy twist on it. These tracks will get you proper buzzing up loud! I got to DJ for her live performance of this at Spiritland earlier in the year, hearing them on that system was a real treat.

You get a twofer with this one. Phil Kieran's ode to Belfast is gorgeous in studio form here, but he also recorded and released a version with the Ulster Orchestra that single handedly revivifies the idea of electronic music done classical style!

Two true underground troupers teaming up here - Jordan GCZ from Juju & Jordash and David "Move D" Moufang with some otherworldly good-dream ambient, deep house and space-soul jams heavy on the Fender Rhodes, fuzzy reverberation and sensually sweeping portamento.

My musical safe place for so much of this year. Brooklyn "electronic jam band" Purelink somehow burrowed into electronic music history and found the softest, happiest, warmest fur lined chamber and then invited us in. I cannot emphasise enough how LOVELY this record is.

More modular synth grooves from E Ruscha aka Secret Circuits, but no over-indulgence here and the grooves REALLY DO GROOVE. Trippy as a weasel circus and twice as funky.

Talking of trippy, here's Optimo Music's second acid-drenched entry, from the man formerly known as TB Arthur and the mighty Magda trading as Blotter Trax, it's a kind of parallel universe early 80s alt disco where everything gurgles and melts.

More from South Africa - King Mzaiza Sound via the reliably tough Parisian PSSNGR label - not 100% sure what you'd call this though it definitely has some gqom sonics, some trap drums, and some strident rap vocals... It's HARD AS NAILS is what it is.

EVEN HARDER - Nyege Nyege brought us a sampler of this (and I don't use mental health language lightly) FUCKING MENTAL shrieking, raging, solvent-huffing sound from São Paulo stewarded by the young DJ K, and it's extremely funky and scarily thrilling.

OK there we go, part three is here.....

#music #acid house #alt disco #dub #modular synth #psychedelia #South African music #amapiano #gqom #rap #stoner rap #hip hop #odd future #ambient #electronica #Japanese music #polish music #experimental rap #grime #drum'n'bass #footworking #deep house #breakbeat #rave #jungle #soundtrack #belfast #london #space jazz #Icelandic music

[gliphyartfan]

MY BOY...God he is just so pretty. I love him so much. Twilight Princess was my first Zelda game and so he will always be my favorite. -He did pout about losing the wolf pelt but he has settled for fur-lined jackets that are well broken in.

-Does own cowboy boots, mainly cause the other fuckers boys keep just giving them to him.

-You can see the chest tattoo peeking out...I am soooo tempted to draw them all. Definitely one of the more heavily inked along with Legend and Wild.

-Had to have room to run around as Wolfie.

-I see him wanting and maybe owning a ranch? He needs a weekend away to ride Epona and be away from the city. (Our girl BETTER have come with our boy or we RIOT)...also gives him an escape with y/n when she gets close enough with them. He'd love to show her an escape from the stress of the city...and how wonderful life with him can be.

-His clothes are more durable than comfortable. He likes broken in clothes, especially good leather. -Just as charming as Warriors but in a more, good boy way. Definitely, boy next door vibes...no one expects the violence he is capable of when you come between him and his singular reason to exist. He loves his darling so much.

GAH I COULD TALK ABOUT HIM ALL DAY

Oooh, if that man approached me... huehuehue

First off yes, If Epona can traverse through the portal in canon, she can travel beyond dimensions! (The horses of the modern world WISH they could be a single percent as amazing as Epona!)

Chest tattoo? I wish to to pull the collar of hos shirt out...and see the full view... huehuehue

Ahem, I mean, from a creative standpoint, of course...

I feel that the main house the chain reside in is nice and large. Not because they wanna be extravagant, but those dungeon crawlers learned a thing or two about making a large building veeeery complex (with traps and runes and places to hide their prisoners...)

But they do have large spaces and most of them DO have their own little properties. So Twilight would have a ranch with many acres of land and Legend would have a set of warehouses and a huge library that only the rest of the chain have access to.

Four would have a private personal forge to create things. (Not to be confused with the main forge he uses to make the chain their weapons)

Time would have probably bough some property on the water for Wind (and made sure the sailor had a few old fashioned and modern boats so he can expand his skill)

I like how it looks like a punk but the moment someone would speak to him, it's like whiplash!

(When he dresses for 'business', ooooh he is as deadly as his blade. Then again they all have that trait)

If he manages to obtain something of hers that has her scent, he stays as Wolfie, basically just drilling her scent into his memory, so he could never forget it. (Even though he acts intoxicated if he does that for too long, but the others merely swipe away whatever he's latching to in order to snap him out of it. Even though they'll probably do the same thing when somewhere private)

Remember, this boys be cray-cray, but they are gentlemen! (Even if they have some crooked morals these days. But for their beloved, they can reign them in!)

A fantastic piece! I just wanna snatch his jacket, I bet it's nice and comfy!

Phenomenal work!

#also I found my sketchbook! it took several days but I found it! #be prepared! #linked universe #yandere linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu #loz #mafia au #not my art #lu twilight

[winchester-reload]

As sort of a follow up to the ask about artists trying to break the perfection mentality.

How do I, as a non-artistic person, most effectively encourage artists who see the flaws instead their amazing talent?

I have a fandom friend who is hella gifted. You've seen their work, know their name just by looking at it, and they create such gorgeous art. But they also are hypercritical of their work, and while I understand that (I feel the same way about stringing words together), I also just want to point at every single thing that makes their art so amazing to me and be like, "You did this thing that I can't do, and it's a such an extraordinary gift, and I can never thank you enough for sharing it. Have my non-existant first born as a sign of my devotion."

This friend has admitted they don't really want to create in this medium anymore, which I respect and won't push back on. I just wish they could *feel* how much their art touches me.

For other artists, though, how do I help? I know that positive feedback is always welcome, but sometimes I wonder if there's something else artists find useful when it comes to reactions.

(P.S. Rainbow Mohawk Cas is, and always will be, one of my favorite pieces of your artwork, and you could try to pry him from my cold, dead hands, but you'd fail.)

Okay, I’m gonna try to answer this but it’s gonna be difficult for me because, full disclosure, I’m getting through a huge art dip right now.

The reality is, this issue is as varied and complex as the artists you’re kinda asking me to group up and speak for here. So let me be clear, I can only speak for myself and my own experience with fanart, an online presence within a fandom, and how those two things impact creativity, motivation, and self-perception. But know at the same time that my experience is not going to be exactly like other peoples’.  

First, as you noted, there are always going to be the obvious things people can do to help promote their favorite artists: 

Reblog their posts

CREDIT THEIR WORK ELSEWHERE

 Likes

Comment

Commission them

Don’t steal

Be respectful: refrain from criticism or personal biases on their posts <—Are you allowed to have your own opinion? YES! Do you need to barf it all over their comment section? No. If you don’t agree with something they made, go make your own art. Can’t make your own art? Then go supply positive support to artists who do create the things you enjoy. *Some of you may be surprised to learn that we do read comments, tags and reblogs. No matter how *big* or *small* you perceive us to be. So if you leave some shit in your tags, we’re probably gonna see it. 

But now here comes the complicated part. 

The thing about fanart creation is, it’s very much a labor of love. The time, effort, and mental energy required to make, post, and manage the feedback may often outweigh any external benefits of making the art (income, accolades, fandom celebration, etc). So there'll always come a point when artists hit a wall and need to draw on their own self-motivation. This happens over and over again, not once or twice. It’s kind of like a wave that ebbs and flows with the mood of the fandom. And with Supernatural specifically, you can imagine that wave is a little more like a typhoon: sunny beach moment one day, drowning in inescapable toxicity the next. So it doesn’t surprise me to hear you have a fandom friend who might be done creating in this subject. Does it make me sad though? Yes, incredibly. We’ve had a myriad of talented artists throughout the years that’ve since moved on and I mourn every one of them. But I also support their decision to do so. If the current subject is no longer a source of inspiration, it becomes impossible to create for it. 

I do hope your friend is still creating though.

However, since you mentioned hyper-criticality, I’m afraid they might not be. The thing is, I don’t have a solution for ridding yourself of hyper-criticism as an artist. It may sometimes appear as though I do because I have a lot of art out, but that’s just an illusion. The reality is, I don’t like most of my art. And, like your friend, I’m often hyper-critical of it. The difference is, I post it anyway because I decided I don’t need to like it. I just have to make it. And if I make it enough, I build the skills I need to, every once-in-a while, accomplish something I do like. And everything in between those pieces are just stepping stones. Which is why I always finish a piece of art and tell myself “it is what it is, on to the next.” That kind of thinking has helped me move past what might otherwise be a immovable obstacle. 

So, if I have any advice for your friend, it’s that. You don’t have to like your art. You just have to make it, and keep moving forward. 

This is where audience interaction becomes so incredibly important. Artists always get caught up in their own head about what they’re making, but the positive feedback can help us see it through your eyes. And it isn’t everything, because tbh we’re always getting our feet caught on mental hurdles and faceplanting in our own puddles of self-loathing, but audience support can get us up again, refill our wells of motivation, and help reaffirm our goals.

I mean, I can honestly say I would not be here without the support I get. But it’s even difficult for me at times, and I’m fully aware that I benefit from much more support than many other skilled artists do.  

So, @eyesofatragedy67, all of this is to say I do believe your friend knows how much their art means to you, just as I know how much my art means to other people--even the pieces I don’t like. It’s just that sometimes it’s hard to get out of our heads about it. Ultimately, it’s something we have to overcome ourselves, but that impossible task is made infinitely easier with a kind, supportive audience base. So, you keep doing what you’re doing, and I’m gonna send a little nod to your artist friend: I miss you already, but I can’t wait to see where you find your new source of inspiration. 

#asks #art asks #wonderful people

[evanwritesgames]

AI Thoughts

A few years ago, I wrote a small piece I thought I might publish on Medium back when I had an account. It was about this story I saw regarding an "AI composer" and a challenge from a human composer about the limits of its capability.

The story was framed as a Doubting Thomas narrative in which the human composer was defeated by the AI creating some music, which we would now regard as an obvious pastiche of training data just a few short years later, that fooled a general audience that was brought together for the bet. At the time, I thought I understood what was really going on there. To me, it seemed the real takeaway was that humans can be and often are gullible idiots who don't actually know that much about classical music anyway. They probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference, broadly, about a lot of "high culture" shit. Perfect vector for convincing people something cool is happening when it isn't. But the takeaway I was supposed to have was something quieter, even then, than the fever pitch we're seeing now. That would be: AI is coming, real AI, and it's gonna make humans redundant! Even the the most complex, creative things humans do!

Honestly, I wonder if they used classical music because a lot of it is public domain or because they knew it was more likely to fool people give the niche interest. I wrote that this was a parlor trick, not real AI. For obvious reasons. And I really think the merit of that piece, the idea that I really wanted to get across, is exactly that idea of a trick. The tech sector aren't gods or wizards, they are magicians who thought that, by now, they'd be turning lead into gold for real. Instead, they are simply selling gold-plated lead and barely having to do much selling. The market has changed such that the selling is done by an increasingly gullible crop of digital foot soldiers who do it for free while hoovering any bit of loose validation "important people" give them. Watch 'em tweet at Musk or whatever smaller "big name AI disruptor" is getting people riled up on Twitter this week. All while ignoring the obvious:

Lead is toxic, y'all.

More than this, it might be worth noting that a better analogue for these guys (than magicians) would be medieval Christian priests who simply speak an unpopular, difficult language and can leverage that for power so long as people believe that what's said in that language matters. It's not that coding doesn't matter, or is fanciful like some religious beliefs are. It's that cabal shit, that elitism, and how eager people have become (hilariously) to believe a guy with a cell phone holster knows something they don't. Something that matters profoundly as opposed to trivially, like how a product works matters trivially in almost all cases. It's no stretch and difficult to refute that the tech sector has become THE elite for at least this generation.

Machine learning algorithms, even impressive ones, do not pass the smell test of even basic, foothill AI as we have long imagined it and as the breathless marketing campaigns are telling us is now here. Campaigns paid for by companies, like Google and Microsoft, who fire or dismiss their ethics teams when they hear how dangerous this tech is, the way they're misusing it, for regular mundane human activities. Self-driving cars already have a body count to say nothing of machine-assisted algorithmic misinformation leading to political violence and the kinds of trade and big business fuckery that gets impoverished people around the world dead one way or another.

AI, in this sense, is a marketing term that means just about nothing. It's similar to all the other contemporary tech names and brand names ripped from the pages of Science Fiction or lifted from the dialogue and world-building of decades-old movies. It's always a cheap, shitty, or dysfunctional facsimile that is named thus in tribute to the real thing. The move to do that isn't out of some humble wish to pay tribute. It's pure cynicism, meant to create easy recognition and familiarity for branding purposes.

If you're not convinced, consider this punchline: we live in a world where Skynet exists. Look it up. It isn't building any Terminators anytime soon.

Last year, Crypto, Blockchain, and NFTs were the big grifts that exploited millions, made already rich people money while impoverishing regular people who bought the hype, and ended up collapsing in on themselves when the hype cleared and people started getting indicted for fraud. Now we've mostly stopped listening to the goons who wouldn't shut up about it. They've been largely laughed off the stage to go lick their wounds in quieter, darker, more lead-lined corners of the net.

But, I mean, they'll always come back with some new bullshit to reapply the emotional imperatives that really drive these trends. Even as their victims and stooges claim it's all very rational and intelligent and you'd know that, implicitly and self-evidently, if YOU were rational and intelligent. Excuse me while I fucking yawn. These guys think stuff like an AI DJ is something new, let alone intelligent.

This year, it's this "generative AI" shit and I think we are, thankfully, wising up a lot faster. I wish I'd published that article about the AI composer, though, because I think it was a tad ahead of its time -- odd to say when it's only been a couple of years. Now, a small subset of the endless articles, videos, blogs, etc about ChatGPT are about how it's all bullshit as advertised. It gets compared, rightly, to the scams of yesteryear, including the outrageous and fatal scam that is self-driving cars. I used to really believe in that, by the way, ten years ago. I bought into that hype and was burned very gently by just being wrong. I didn't lose money and I was already wised up by the time bodies started dropping. The only suffering I faced was the embarrassment of mea culpa-ing a few people who had taken the opposite position in various discussions. They were right, I was wrong. But I learned from it.

I don't understand the people who get burned by these things every time, same as before, and never seem to learn. That said, doesn't it always seem like there's a fresh crop of gullible seniors and over-eager kids to exploit for these grifts? It does to me. Some day, maybe we'll actually address the fact that the online demographics have inexorably shifted, and most of the people with the free time to be here and doing what passes for culture online are literally underage children. Maybe!

Usually a given person commenting on this would, at this time, do some disclaiming about what actually does work or is cool about so-called AI. Just so they don't look too silly if AI tech, as we now know it, winds up doing something useful. It already does some useful things. The problem, and why I'm not gonna bother disclaiming really, is that the people peddling this shit do not care about it. They care about convincing you that ChatGPT might kill the world so we better change this law over there and offer this tax incentive over here. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

It's all just to make numbers go up in an account at this point, I swear to MetaJesus. Silly men competing with other silly men because they can't think of anything better to do than replay schoolyard rivalries and petty dominance hierarchies with all that time, wealth, power, and technology. Ain't that just the way.

#AI #opinion #big tech