#not magic

[mamaangiwine]

I don't think many people realize how much they've been turned into a bunch of casually cynical jerks.

Someone may come to their parents and say "I want to write a book" and their parents will say "it's really hard to get published".

Someone might confide in their sibling and say "I want to sell my art on "x" platform" and that sibling will say "do you know how many people you'd be competing with? Do you know how many shops are even on that platform?"

I know a kid who once told his best friend "I think I wanna start a dnd podcast" and the friend was like "do you know what the word "oversaturation" means?"

Personally, I don't know why any of that matters? And even if it did, perhaps your response should be "Do it! Do it and see where it goes!"

#i am literallly lamenting the world we live in #not magic #creativity #art #writing #creative work

[stellarlex]

At this point Lila has more plot armor than Marinette salters ever accused Marinette of having. She literally gets away with everything with zero explanation and zero accountability.

#anti lila #lila rossi salt #is that even her real name? #most likely not #miraculous ladybug #ml salt #marinette sugar #marinette dupain cheng #marinette deserves better #once again the salt against Marinette makes zero sense #there’s literally no explanation as to how lila is able to fool everyone #not magic #not super intelligence #nothing #just writers dumbing down everyone around her to convince people she’s actually a viable threat #make it make sense

[lil-oreo-crumbles]

Hey, got any thoughts about Seth?

Oh, do I ever!!

Seth is an incredibly fascinating, dominant, and looming presence in the Magic Book of Spells with the potential to be one of the most intriguing characters in the entirely of SVTFOE… that was tragically underutilized, slapped in the face, and is who I believe to be the source of the biggest missed potential in the entirety of canon.

But I do not trust the writers at all to have handled him in the show proper.

The Septarians are notoriously treated like absolute dirt. Any and all of the Septarians we meet have either been humiliated, turned into a joke, villainized beyond any humanity, and overall treated awfully. They’re portrayed as this unfeeling, violent, monster species with no (biological? cultural?) ability to forgive or forget the countless atrocities the Mewmans committed against innocent people. GEEZ, It’s not like the Septarians have enhanced longevity and experience time differently than almost EVERY OTHER SPECIES ON MEWNI with most of them FIRST HAND experiencing the atrocities other species of monsters and ESPECIALLY Mewmans see as “bygone eras of the past!!”

And even with the book alone, Seth is also lumped into this stereotype, and may be one of the worst offenders. Globgor can’t stand him and has intense bias against him (I know he talked about “Septarians” but my god we all know he means Seth to some degree. Seth is very clearly a prominent figure if not the leader of the Septarians and he’s pictured/alluded to twice in Eclipsa’s chapter), bitch Crescenta smeared his name into the DIRT in a rigged election campaign and destroyed his reputation, and Comet refused to take him seriously whatsoever (but then again it’s Comet so what are we really expecting??). He was even on the Magic High Commission’s radar, labeled as an “extremist” (which just about anything is labeled “extreme” in the MHC’s eyes so they’re not reliable narrators). He’s spat upon and repeatedly villainized. He gets no breaks or even a glimpse of humanity and everyone in the fandom after the book came out was hyping him up as this huge villain.

So, yeah, I don’t think the show would have bothered to give him any humanity or depth if he was introduced in the show proper and would have made egregiously worse the show’s already bad problem of making monsters, the historically marginalized and colonized group of people, the bad guys. (Seriously, Meteora wasn’t a “real” threat until she was revealed to be half monster. That makes me frustrated.)

I love Seth. I think he would’ve had amazing potential if put in the right hands. There’s so much to do with him and I’m mostly glad he’s been left alone so fans can interpret him in any way they want.

Now… what are my opinions and headcanons about him? What’s the story I’ve concocted?

Thankfully Seth is a character I can talk about without worrying about AU spoilers… mostly (thank god).

In my mind, Seth is someone who actually didn’t see the Great Monster Massacre first hand, hatching about 200 years afterwards (due to my timeline and how I’ve designed Septarian aging). But that doesn’t mean whatsoever that he hasn’t seen the atrocities of Mewmans. In fact, he’s been put in several situations where— while not Moe levels of genocide— he has seen the cruelest and most inhumane levels of Mewman aggression against monsters. He’s a victim of it first hand and spent 80+ years through torture after being ripped away from his homeland before finally uprising against it with his sister (oh yeah he has a sister in my AU)

He is someone who wholeheartedly earned the respect and adoration of his people. He was a leader that they wanted, not because of blood or any ties to the throne he had. (He’s by blood the Prince of Septarsis, but by the time he came back to Septarsis not many people remembered him since he had changed so much). He completely changed the governmental system and put Septarsis into its golden age.

Now this is what may get me in trouble, but stick with me… I don’t think the reputation he’s acquired is completely unfounded. YES the Mewmans and MHC are incredibly biased and we can’t take what they say at face value, but some stereotypes have some truth to them. It’s way overexaggerated, but Seth is someone who I see as extremely trigger happy in his youth.

While a great leader and delegate, he can be incredibly rash and actively seeks violence against Mewmankind. Never Solaria or Moe levels of genocide… but if Mewmans happened to disappear one day he’d be over the moon. This makes him a fun foil for Toffee’s mother in my AU, Mylanie, who’s someone who strives to end the conflict and seek lasting peace.

In the early days he was active in battle and loved fighting against his adversaries. In fact, I find the idea of Seth being the one to kill Solaria— specifically beheading her with his own hands— fascinating and I LOVE IT. He’s not afraid to get messy when protecting monsters or his homeland, and the stories about his violence is NOT unfounded. If anyone is perpetuating ideas about Septarian stereotypes, it’s our buddy Seth.

But here’s the important distinction, he is not going out of his way hurting innocent people. He’s not this bloodthirsty monster who’s trying to commit genocide, he’s not Solaria, he’s just someone who sees violence as the answer and thinks peace is a waste of time.

It wasn’t until the election that his priorities changed and he actually calmed down.

The smear campaign was a huge blow. It really got him to think and consider how his actions were affecting monsters as a whole but especially his own people. He knows how much influence he has over how his people are perceived… and that’s when he pulled back. He was still active, don’t get me wrong, and got along diplomatically with the few surviving monster civilizations, but he took a lot less of a role than he used to. He started thinking critically and cleverly instead of resorting to violence first and foremost. Peace with Mewmans was still firmly off the table though and is still that way to this day.

When Comet sent the invitation, he genuinely planned to ignore it. He had no intention of going to the banquet— as last time he played along with Mewman rules he got screwed— but did allow Toffee to be a representative after Toffee offered to go in his place.

Under one condition: No harm was to come to the Queen

And we see how that went…

I’d gladly go into his relationship/dynamic with Toffee but this post is long enough :). Maybe in another post!!

His “death” was a stunt to fully get him out of any Mewman drama, and he was especially glad he perpetuated that lie because of how pissed he was at Toffee after Comet’s death. He’s alive and well and still in charge of Septarsis, he’s just out of the public eye because everyone thinks he’s dead (except close allies).

Overall I see him as someone who was essentially what his reputation said he was until he got a huge ego blow and actually matured enough to stop being so trigger happy. He was always a great leader over Septarsis and did whatever it took to protect his people, but he had some growing up to do as well.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. My AU goes into him a lot deeper and really fleshes him out. He’s a four dimensional character with layers and depth to him. While he seems like a Mewman hating “radical” on the surface, he’s humanized and he has layers and reasonings for his beliefs and actions.

I just love Seth. A lot. He’s so silly. He’s so fascinating and I love that everyone has a different perspective of him.

Also he is Rasticore’s dad you can’t change my mind !!

Dude I could literally make a whole other post on him I love this character so much—

Anyways here’s Seth and his little sister Zarina I love them to bits <3

#svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #seth of septarsis #septarsis #ask #seth kardona of septarsis #septarsis dragonfly au #yes I’m tagging my AU because it has AU plot points #Seth is very fun to write #he absolutely hates Mewmans 100% #He wouldn’t mind if Mewmans were all dead but he isn’t out causing genocide yk #Seth sees Mewmans as the problem #not magic #unlike Toffee #Anyways I can save this for another post I need to wrap this up

[graycloak]

Me: *typing a post on my phone*

Tumblr app: “Cool post so far. Your peeps are gonna love this.”

Me: “thanks! Oh.. a call’s coming in. Give me a sec…” *answers phone call*

Tumblr app: “… rude.”

Me: “Okay, I’m back. Where…. Where’s my post?”

Tumblr app: 💅 “What post?”

Me: “… rude.”

——————————————————

I’ll retype my post about me moving back to SoCal later tonight I guess. *glares at Tumblr app* on my PC this time, kthxbi.

#not magic #not magick #personal #life getting in my way #thanks tumblr

[princesssszzzz]

Excited for a Nettles & Aemond scene. No way the girls are tussling and never speak.

Nettles @ Aemond: “Your a cute kid but I already snatched up your uncle I won’t be greedy”

Lmfao that Nettles and Alys are both accused of being witches

#if nettles is a witch #one of my predictions is they are the same person #but the witch thing is played out after Melisandre #Nettles got a dragon from sheep #not magic #plz don’t make her a witch hbo #house of the dragon #house targaryen #nettles #alys rivers #hotd #hotd thoughts #hotd predictions #aemond targaryen #daemon targaryen #aemond one eye #alysmond #daetty #daemon x nettles

[nenchaarts]

Page 13 of the side comic; the power of science this was originally the last page till I added one more for the trio to get the last words

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #redirx #comics #totally real science #not magic

[appalachian-magic]

I've been extremely inactive both in magic circles and in my own daily practice and I think I've pinpointed why.

I work at a hospital now, I'm a nurse on a floor that sees a lot of comfort care and hospice patients passing. The first one I helped process for the family and funeral home followed me for the rest of the shift, so I decided to ward myself so that I wouldn't be seen by any others (mainly because that first one caused a lot of mishaps afterwards).

Well lo and behold I think I accidentally warded myself to All spirits and not just Work spirits. For a while I thought I was just losing my attunement to my incorporeal friends! I'm working now to lift it and the spirits in my house are Crowding me because it's been so long.

I'll have to make a charm or something for work instead so this doesn't happen again. 🤔

#i feel so bad 😭 #theres one that always hangs over my right shoulder and it is LAYING there my shoulder is getting Hot #ill habe to bake them all something to make up for the lack of energy movement #not magic #hollered over yonder

[mtg-talk]

Has anyone else tried out Marvel Snap? I would recommend, if you enjoy Magic. It’s probably more analogous to Hearthstone than MTG, but I’ve been having a blast with it recently.

There are microtransactions, but it doesn’t feel super predatory. The balance of the meta feels good, and the gameplay feels like your deck construction and actions are both meaningful.

One criticism is that occasionally you will be matched with bots, and it isn’t always clear that it’s a bot you’re facing. But that isn’t the end of the world, and it’s not so bad that it makes me want to quit playing the game.

What are your thoughts? Have you tried Snap, and what do you think if so?

#marvel snap #not magic

[stinalotte]

#uh huh #not magic #riiiiight

[commissionsdarian]

Theo was stomped on, burned then drowned and now dolphins are bouncing him around

I'm sorry, fucking what?

#are you people high #is it magic again #not magic #voodoo? I saw people mention that #what am I even supposed to do about that #if it is #what the fuck #darian answers stuff #tua rp #oc

[mamaangiwine]

It takes a while to heal- Like, I'm just mind boggled at how it can take a long ass time sometimes.

For years I was in a situation where it became hard for me to draw, or paint or make any real physical kind of art that wasn't writing and so... I just kind of stagnated.

I got out of that situation five years ago.

It's taken me until this last year to finally find joy in creating and for the simple act of creating.

And it's really weird when you get back in touch with yourself like that. The last time I was in touch with that side of myself, I was 19 and so it's kind of like having to manage the creative process, and therefore the wants and desires that fuel that process, of a 19 year old. I find myself wanting to stay up and draw till three in the morning. I find myself wanting to drink caffeine so I can stay up and draw until three in the morning. I find myself wanting to snack and binge so I can sugar-high myself through a particularly long drawing session.

Idk, it's kind of frustrating. But it's also kind of beautiful? That there are parts of us, because they didn't grow with us, it's like getting back in touch with a past version of yourself that has both negative and positive aspects. Like, I feel excited about things again in a way I haven't felt since I was a kid.

I think we're taught that not pursuing something and actively getting better means we wasted our time- but I also think there's something to be said about...just picking up where you left off? Sometimes you just don't go back to things because you're not ready, and when you finally are? Well, then it's equally celebratory when you become reacquainted with a you that had been left behind. A reunion of sorts.

#not magic #kinda magic #art #creativity #writing #drawing

[writingmysanity]

For the Sleepover Night—it's kind of a personal question so feel free to ignore!

It doesn't have that much time I've started to follow you for your Viktor fics (that are so sweet btw 💛), and I've notice that you're very active talking/interacting with artists and writers and your followers...

And I just wanted to know how do you do it hahaha, because yeah, I know that fandom is about sharing a common interest and make friends, but sometimes I'm just scared of reaching out to others both irl and here (hence the anon too lol). I think you're very friendly and kind with everybody c: so I wanted to know your magic/some tip if you have one.

I'm sorry if it comes out as weird, welp I suppose it's both personal and weird now lol

Not weird or too personal at all!

Endless curiosity. That is my main answer. I don't even necessarily do it with like the idea of friendship or something, just curiosity where the conversation will lead, no matter how small (as long as it's a good conversation).

People are... so very interesting. Just sitting and watching how they respond to things, what brings them happiness? What parts of themselves do they hold so close to their chest? No one ever shows their full hand. And it isn't always easy for me. I am quite socially awkward, conversation gets hard for me. I am such an introvert it hurts 😅 so I get where it can be scary or uncomfortable to reach out to someone you don't know!

My therapist told me once "it's okay to not be excited to see what the day holds, sometimes it's more than enough to just simply be curious." 💜 I try to apply that to as much as I can.

Also! Thank you so much for your sweet notes about my writing. I am so glad you enjoy my writing and that you're here! Even as an anon 🥰 it means more than you can ever know.

#ru answers #not magic #though that would be helpful.

[roguedeck]

Do I even like Everdell?

This question has been eating me up for three days. And I still don't have an answer.

Everdell is beautiful. Everdell is pleasant. Everdell is a mediocre game.

But do I like it?

I played Everdell for the first time this weekend, and walked away really disliking it. And then proceeded to not stop thinking about it for the next four days.

What is going on here?

The Good

Let's start with the stuff that is good about Everdell.

The production value is top-notch. The cards are gorgeous. The theme is resonant. I'd have preferred wooden resources, but I can't actually complain about the resource tokens.

The worker placement and recovery mechanism is clever. Having a limited number of workers is par for the course, but being able to dictate when you reclaim them add a nice level of interaction the the game.

The resource curve feel really tight. At first I was frustrated by how little I could do in the early game, but by the autumn phase I came to see the resource limitation as a feature not a bug.

The Bad

Everdell is almost a really great mid-weight game. The core conceit of an engine builder with asymmetrical pacing is really strong. I don't even mind the randomness of the card draw. You have plenty of tools to work through the deck and mitigate the randomness. But there is one thing that leaves a really strong distaste in my mouth.

Let's call it the Fluxx problem.

If you've never played Fluxx, imagine a card game where you draw random cards hoping to hit a specific two-card combination that doesn't interact with any other cards in the set. If you hit it, you win. If not, you lose when someone else does.

Everdell, unfortunately, does this two ways.

If you build a construct, you can play it's paired critter FOR FREE later in the game. In a game with resources this tight, getting a free action is backbreaking. If this happens early, you get extra runs of your engine AND you can maintain your pace in the current season while your opponents have to pick up their workers.

Similarly, there are special goal cards that you can only claim if you have both of the random cards. In the best case, the entire table ignores these victory points. In the worst case, one player gets access to them through no effort on their part and the rest of the table is disadvantaged.

Everdell has some unforgivable sins baked into its design.

And yet...

I haven't stopped thinking about all week. I think my wife and kids would love this game. And there are some nuances in the expansions that look really fun.

I'm at a loss. Is Everdell actually worth playing? Or am I just getting wrapped up in a pretty picture with no meat on the bone.

#everdell #board games #board game reviews #is this game any good #am i going to buy it anyway #not magic #table top

[pocketss]

mmm soob

#comics #these guys consider cooking to be a respectable branch of magic #as powerful as any other arcane skillset #yeah man nice divine incantation #check out this beef bourguignon tho

[bjurnberg]

My work boots are the most expensive shoes I’ve ever owned.

Also the most comfortable. I chose them after trying on several different brands and comparing lifespan vs usage vs comfort - I needed them for a physically demanding job, not the weekend hiking trails. I could have easily chosen cheaper boots that would have lasted long enough to be worth their low price, but I know the Sam Vimes Boot Theory and knew weaker, less comfortable boots would make my life harder in the long run.

So when the outside edge of the heel started wearing down after three years of heavy use I went to the shop I got them from and said “hey this is a common problem for me with how I walk but now it’s affecting my ankles and knees and I don’t wanna have to buy a new pair, is there a way to fix this?”

The salesman at this very fancy upscale boot store said “oh yeah, there’s a shoe repair place that can give you some heel guards - it’ll keep the rubber from wearing out.”

So at 8am this morning right after my 9hr shift ends I went to the shoe repair shop and it is the most hole-in-the-wall, is-this-a-real-business-or-a-mafia-front, am-I-gonna-get-shot tiny cinder block cube I’ve ever seen in my life. I grew up plenty poor and love me a good hole-in-the-wall business, but going from upscale store to this cash-only repair shop gave me whiplash. Wasn’t expecting this when a guy who wears three piece suits to sell boots said it’s the best place to go.

The skinny kid behind the counter looks somehow 16 and 25 at the same time, but when I tell him this place was recommended he smiles and says to hand over my boots. I hand him the vaguely warm foot-smelling boots, and stand in my socks in the 3’ square entryway surrounded by every color leather polish you could buy and watch as he turns my boots around in his hands, sizes up a crescent moon bits of plastic, and unceremoniously hammers tiny nails through them before handing them back.

The heels are perfectly level again. I can walk without almost rolling my ankles. They don’t clack loudly on the pavement or feel different. This is gonna fix my knee pain. It cost $10.

This kid had every tool he needed within arms reach, worked fast and smoothly, I was in and out the door in less than 8 minutes, and it only cost $10.

I didn’t think anything could cost only $10 anymore. I’m so used to hyperinflation prices I was spiritually thrown back to the 1400’s visiting the cobbler in town square. This kid might have been that cobbler and just decided to never die.

I’m still reeling from the whiplash, and gobsmacked at the price, and thrilled I didn’t have to go buy new, worse work boots (cuz I don’t have that kind of money for a second pair, I’m expecting these ones to last a decade) and it feels like I just experienced one of the rare little chunks of magic that floats around our world.

#shoe repair #cobbler magic #good work boots are a necessary part of life #and finding a cobbler I can take other shoes to is gonna change my life #I love craftsmen #bjurnberg

[yuumei-art]

Star Stroll ⭐✨🌟

Just my usual obsession with translucent dresses haha

#art #painting #stars #digital art #magical