#or sympathize with whatever they're sharing with me

[jewish-sideblog]

"Both indigenous and colonizers" CAN PEOPLE STOP TALKING ABOUT SHIT THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND PLEASE

This wave of antisemitism and bullshit about "indigenous vs colonizer" makes me so scared as an indigenous person in the US of what will happen when Land Back movements do result in actual sovereignty restoration and then tribes do what people do and disagree over land and resources, like we were doing for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. Will we be reduced down to colonizers too??

It feels like Westerners, especially USAmericans, have such a black and white idea of what it means to be indigenous and what it means to be a colonizer/settler (because those terms are always conflated) and it makes me so angry and frustrated to see people apply those standards and lines thinking not just to complex sovereignty movements in their own countries but also to incredibly complex conflicts and wars happening on the other side of the world.

The damage I've seen done to sovereignty movements here in the US alone, people going around claiming that we want all "settlers" to go back to Europe or that we're going to start massacring people, has been horrible and the fact that it's all just to justify antisemitism makes me sick.

Genuinely. They're blocked now, but that same person said something to the effect of "Would an Iranian praying in a Mosque built on the ashes of a former synagogue be decolonization?"

And that was the point at which I was like. Ok. It seems like most people genuinely don't actually know what the terms "colonization", "colonizer" and "coloniality" mean. Obviously, that wouldn't be decolonization, because the Jews never colonized Iran. Emigration and colonization aren't the same fucking thing!

I used to have so much faith in my generation. I thought we were critical thinkers, capable of flexibility and engagement with new ideas. But I'm realizing now that we're basically just rebranded boomers. Back in the day, anybody you disagreed with was labelled as a "Communist". It didn't actually fucking matter if they were communist sympathizers, Soviet sympathizers, or even if they were remotely allied with socialist ideals. You could just call them a "Communist" and be done with it, without even understanding what that term means.

It's the same shit today. Instead of a HUAC witch hunt targeting communists, it's a social witch hunt targeting "colonizers" and "Zionists". I am terrified that the moment indigenous rights movements in the Americas and Oceania start making practical strides in Land Back, regaining rightful control over the ways your own land is used, you'll all be labelled as "colonizers" or "imperialists" or whatever the bad buzz word of the month turns out to be.

People simply can't wrap their heads around the idea that indigenous decolonization doesn't have the end goal of ethnically cleansing non-native people from the Americas. And it's because they're so absorbed in colonial thinking. They can't even fucking imagine what sovereignty could look like beyond an authoritarian structure based on control and violence. It's the same with Israel and Palestine-- they think that Jewish sovereignty must look like complete Jewish control to the detriment of Arabs, and they think Palestinian sovereignty must look like total Arab control to the detriment of Jews. The idea that a shared state or a two-state solution is "racist" stems from that false dichotomy.

Establishing an ideological binary of violence that pits "indigenous" against "colonizer", "native" against "settler", and "us" against "them" with no room for cooperation or collaboration is the core of colonialism. Because the core of colonialism is the idea that only one group can have true power at a time. And that's just not the way the world has to work.

[tfp-is-my-lifeblood-lol]

hi I love your work

I wanna ask if I can request the tfp bots would react to meeting a bot that hates humanity because they meet a human child who they developed a deep bond with but was kill by some bad humans and after that day they despise and resent humans and just seeing one is a huge Berserk bottom for them

Sure! Love me some angst!

TFP Autobots Reacting to a Bot that Hates Humans (because humans killed the Bot's human partner)

Optimus Prime:

-Optimus would be deeply saddened by this Bot's story. He would hate to think about Earth's creatures being violent, and making the same mistakes that Cybertronians have in the past

-Despite this, he would remind the Bot that hating humans isn't the answer.

"I sympathize with the tragedy you have suffered, friend. The loss of an innocent life, one whom you were close with, at the hands of any creature, is unacceptably cruel. However, might I remind you that, whatever human kind's faults...Cybertronian kind has committed its share of atrocities, likewise...perhaps even worse than that of human kind's. It is best not to judge a species by its most dangerous examples, for every species is capable of both great cruelty, and great acts of kindness."

-He'd constantly be encouraging the Bot to give humans another chance.

Ratchet:

-Learning the Bot's story would really catch Ratchet off-guard. After all, Ratchet complains about humans all the time...but, even though he won't admit it, he cares deeply for the children.

-So the thought of HUMANS harming other humans is very striking. He usually worries that a Decepticon might harm the kids. But, then again, there's also MECH.

-Ratchet wouldn't say much, but, inside, he'd wonder what HE would do if a human were to hurt Raf.

-Who knows. He might even tell the Bot that, although humans have their faults, the children have really grown on him. But he'd never tell the CHILDREN that, of course.

Arcee:

-She's probably the most sympathetic, having lost her own partners

-Not to mention she doesn't know WHAT she'd do if anything ever happened to Jack

-She'd encourage the Bot to go easy on humans, though, and, despite being sympathetic, she might be a bit mistrusting of the Bot

-After all, if the Bot hated humans enough to hurt Jack, Arcee would flip

Bumblebee:

-Bee would be fiercely protective of Raf

-He'd find the Bot's story sad, but he'd probably be the first to intervene if the Bot tried to harm a human

-Bee is used to stopping Arcee from going on crazy revenge sprees, so he wouldn't be afraid to do so in this situation as well

-If the Bot ever tried to attack a human, Bumblebee would stand in the corner making sad eyes, like: "Don't do it!"🥺

-Awww!

Bulkhead:

-He'd be genuinely curious

-How did the Bot's human partner manage to get scrapped by another human?

-Let's hope the Bot never gets into an argument with Bulkhead, because Bulk might even be a little judgmental, accusing the Bot of being a lousy guardian.

-He'd be suspicious of the fact that a giant robot was unable to stop tiny humans from terminating their partner

-Someone should really remind Bulk that MECH exists, and they're capable of fighting Cybertronians. Don't worry. Optimus will probably tell him off.

Wheeljack:

-He'd point to Miko, and say: "What are you talkin' about? Humans are great, if you ask me. Just look at this one. She scrapped an Insecticon singlehandedly, with nothin' but the push of a button. BOOM."

-He'd probably get along with this Bot pretty well, since he's so laid back

He'd tell the human-hating Bot:

"Don't worry, pal. Miko, Bulk and I will keep whatever trouble you have off your tail. Be it pesky Decepticons or bad-news humans. Nothin' a good grenade can't fix. Right, Miko?"

Miko: "Boo ya!"

Smokescreen:

-He's VERY no-thoughts-head-empty about this whole situation

-He even makes jokes about it

"That Bot REALLY hates humans, huh? Haha! Maybe they're secretly afraid of them. There's gotta be...like...a name for that, right? Human...aphobia? Squishy-phobia?"

-He tries to scare the Bot by sneaking up on them and talking in a squeaky voice: "HELLO, (Bot name)! I'm a scary human, coming to accidentally get stepped on and squished. WooooOOOOoooo!"

-Of course, the Bot would never fall for his tomfoolery, and everyone would reprimand Smokescreen for it afterwards

Ultra Magnus:

-He hasn't been on this planet that long, so he might even believe this new Bot's perspective on humans

-He'd ask Optimus: "Is it true what our new recruit claims about humans? If they are not to be trusted, we should do something about it."

Of course, Optimus would say: "(name of Bot)'s judgement is clouded by revenge, Ultra Magnus. Rest assured, the Autobot cause may never have made it as far as it has without the help of our human friends."

#requests #transformers prime #tfp #tfp optimus prime #tfp ratchet #tfp bulkhead #tfp headcanons #tfp megatron #tfp arcee #tfp bumblebee #tfp wheeljack #tfp ultra magnus #tfp smokescreen #tfp miko

[coeluvr]

forgive me for a long rant but I wanted to say my thoughts on liking bad guys too. tldr included

not every opinion is sent through an ask. obviously there will be just horny anons (also I feel like it's a way lighter way to show your affection towards a character than writing a huge post), and some people will like him both appearances wise and story wise too. I don't see how one reason is worse than the other, you can love a character in many different ways.

but also you don't have to forgive a character who is a terrible person to like and understand them?.. do I like Luceris as a character? fuck yes, he's an amazingly written character with a great design. do I excuse or forgive his actions? fuck no, and I would absolutely hate him irl.

also I don't want people to feel like MC forgiving someone who ruined their life should be the seen as a better route 😬 plus you can love a character and still want them dead. I do that all the time in my writing :)

and I'm sorry but I feel icky when people say that the players who go on revenge paths feel like murderers MC are in the right. maybe some do. but on this path MC is just another flawed character to me that people should be able to love without being put in a "ah yes they excuse murder" box. plus story wise that's also an interesting path, and games don't always let you play a murderer you know. I want to know how will vengeful MC achieve their goal.

also even if Luceris was the MC in his story I would still want the kid to murder him, yes. because I like this turn! and honestly, seeing it all happen from his perspective sounds SUPER interesting. I haven't seen an IF yet where MC is bound to die in the end no matter what. tho it would be much easier to bond to him cause we will know what goes through his mind.

tldr: people should be able to like bad guys for whatever reason they feel like and it doesn't mean you forgive them or excuse murder. also killing off characters doesn't mean you hate them.

tldr for tldr: bad guys👍murdering characters👍

Oh, I agree with you! If I thought the forgiveness route was the best route it would've been planned first but I started writing this with the vengeance route only because this is a revenge story (even if MC decides not to because Luceris wanted revenge and he technically starts MC's story).

I added the forgiveness route because I thought it would be interesting to have a path that's the opposite of Luceris' path.

I think both types of MCs are valid, not everyone turns out the same way even if they share the same trauma.

Luceris is my most complex character, I spent a lot of time on him so I think it's weird when people ask me how I don't hate him like lol he's my little creation I love him. Will players still get the option to end him? Yes.

But the real life comment is funny because I wouldn't even want to be anywhere near him if he existed. 💀

I get a lot of anons that dislike Luceris and Lancelot (and others ofc but mainly them) and I don't answer them unless they're light-hearted so you might feel like there are a lot of people who love him but I can tell you the majority hate the guy.

I do think having him as the MC would make people understand and sympathize with him because as we can see with MC, people don't become that way unless things happen to them.

Personally, I won't feel bad if MC kills the ones that wronged them and I wouldn't feel bad if Luceris as the MC murdered everyone that wronged him.

#coe answers

[aegor-bamfsteel]

To bounce back on the other anon, I have to say that the reason I didn't like the adaptation aspect of hotd is that they whitewashed the two characters from that time period I disliked the most from the book, namely aemond and rhaenyra.

Fans parrot "but the show made the greens much more sympathetic" but this is true for alicent and aemond only and rather than being sympathetic it's more that they're a lot less villainous and gained niche fans because they're pretty hated by the majority of the audience from what I see. But beyond that, the adaptation choices of the screenwriters are so strange. If you wanted to have sympathetic (or whatever that means) characters among the greens, it's much easier to acheive that with aegon, heleana and daeron whose terrible traits mostly come into action after the start of the war.

Have the first be a lazy hedonist nonetheless quite innofensive and disinterested in power, the second a joyful princess who is popular with the smallfolk thanks to her kindness and the third a dutiful nice boy with chivalric ideals. Boom, there you have your sympathetic greens without having to alter the story at all. It would have made the three's eventual downfall into cruelty or madness during the dance much more poignant if they used to be likable too. Instead aegon is a loathsome sadistic serial rapist, helaena a weirdo who barely has any lines and daeron was scrapped from this season. And aemond, the bloodthirsty psychopath who was described as fierce from birth and called his half sister a whore after learning of their father's death, has been turned into a poor meow meow who didn't mean it. As for rhaenyra, her whole personality was revamped, her bad actions erased and she was given a righteous purpose in the form of a prophecy to make her a daenerys lite.

Just imagine if in the first season of got d&d had tyrion as a mix of ramsay bolton and rorge, sansa as a ditz who is mainly here to look pretty in the background and not have jaime appear onscreen nor his existence being mentioned by his own family while turning cersei into a benevolent and peaceful noble queen and joffrey into a misunderstood brooding bad boy (now I'm not saying those characters are identical to the five children of viserys but they share similar archetypes and it's just a broad comparison anyway). Maybe the show would have been popular with the mainstream like hotd currently is but d&d would have faced a backlash from book readers way sooner than they did.

Although it is very convenient for the screenwriters that they can justify any change or stupid adaptational choice with "the book is biased" or "the book is an untrustworthy historical account". Then why even adapt it if everything written is false or made up ?

In the end, though I admit it's petty of me, I cannot completely enjoy this adaptation when the characters I disliked the most during my readings are glorified and the few I liked (+ Aegon who I didn't like but could've been more interesting) are not exploited at all. At least Daemon hasn't been whitewashed yet so that's a small win I guess ?

Thanks for your commentary about the show. I agree with a lot of what you said about the Green children’s characterization. I hated how they portrayed Helaena, since it’s clear they had no idea what to do with her; they gave her dragon dreams and insect obsession and sensitivity from scratch, making her unrecognizable from the brave, pleasant mother who put her own life over those of her children, and who was so beloved by the smallfolk they rioted when they believed she was murdered. You’re also right about Aegon and how he was given the worst possible interpretation to the point it’s impossible to sympathize with him since he’s a rapist and enjoys watching children beat each other; whereas Rhaenyra—who is supposed to be about as bad as he is (that’s the point of the conflict? The realm is suffering because these worthless rulers want their chair?), gets her horrible actions removed (feeding Vaemond’s corpse to her dragon) and some diplomatic ones added (she never wanted to betrothe Jace/Helaena, and she flat out refused peace with “Tell my half brother that I will have my throne, or I will have his head.”). Then Daeron gets mentioned once and isn’t going to be seen until Season 2, when the whole point of him is he’s a decent, humble kid who allows his vengeance for his nephew burn a town. Aemond is Daemon’s foil in the novella (they even want to strangle a messenger that gives them bad news), a fierce somewhat dashing fighter with no morals, he’s where sympathy should not be. I agree with you that your take on the characters would’ve been more faithful and complement the themes of the story. Really, most characters were in need of a rewrite.

I had no idea HOTD was popular in the mainstream—the reviews I read indicated that it was a massive step down from early GOT—but I have been relying on Songify The News for my pop culture knowledge, so what do I know. Why adapt it? Because it looks cool. Everyone loves dragons…except the people who get they’re dangerous weapons and give their riders an unhealthy amount of power and entitlement over others, but who cares about us? The after episode commentary—including the infamous comment of “It’s GOT—civilians don’t count”—indicate they’re going for big spectacle rather than carefully written characters and plot (not that the novella had that), while disrespecting some of the core themes of ASOIAF. It’s the opposite of writing I like tbh.

I’d say you’re not being petty, because these seem like reasonable criticisms of the characterization/writing, though Seven knows I’ve been petty before in this fandom. Who knows what they’re going to do with Daemon next season (we have Blood and Cheese’s confrontation of Helaena to consider, and it’s building up to be a Mysaria vs Otto conflict about the smallfolk. They’ve taken away all of Helaena’s good moments like mothering her kids sassing Aegon and pleading mercy for Orwyle; why not her defining character moment where she proves herself to be Best Targ of the Generation)? They did take away some of his comeuppance and brutality, at the expense of adapting an interesting character this season who could’ve served as foil for Rhaenyra and Alicent, Lady Jeyne Arryn.

#ask #opinion #anti hotd #anti targaryen

[blueberry-lemon]

the never-ending hustle bums me out

I've posted before about how I worry about how hard it is to be a creative freelancer online these days, especially for artists and musicians.

I wrote about social media starting to splinter last year. And then later I wrote down some truly pessimistic fears over here.

But I had one more thing on my mind about posting work online, so here it goes:

It makes me sad when I see people having to do the online content creator dance to get more Likes, Shares, and Followers.

And to be absolutely crystal-clear, I'm not judging everyone who is doing these things. I completely sympathize and I understand being in a situation (especially financially) where it feels that there is no other choice. It just bums me out. Especially the feeling that platforms make us dance and beg for attention. I'm mad at the tech companies and all the ways that they leave breadcrumbs out, telling people that it's easy to build an audience on their websites when it isn't at all and the engagement doesn't always translate into anything.

Elaboration below.

Everyone's gotta hustle, and I get that.

You have to put effort in to get eyeballs on your stuff, whether you're doing it for your income or just as a hobby. But it bums me out when someone was originally doing something they were passionate about, and now all of a sudden they're uploading like 5 Youtube videos a week with clickbait thumbnails and the whole nine yards, or tweeting with all sorts of hashtags, trying desperately to get "picked up" by the algorithm so that they can get some forward momentum and followers.

I think it's the "picked up by the algorithm" or "hoping to go viral" thing that bothers me especially. Because it's so nebulous, with ever-shifting goalposts that the companies who make these platforms don't care about at all. Even creators who DO have over 100k or 1m followers still struggle to maintain their livelihood because of all the ever-shifting preferences of the (supposed) algo.

This all came back to mind recently because of a mini trend on Twitter where creators are pretending to repost their own art to get more retweets. Basically, the theory is that people who steal art and repost it get more retweets than creators, so it's worth trying to pretend to be a reposter to get more people to share your art. "Woahhh, who drew this??" as a caption on your own drawing.

If I'm being totally honest, I don't really care about this little trend-of-the-day either way. I thought the original (now deleted) tweet was interesting and funny, and I'm sure most artists who have tried this afterward are doing it as a joke. I also think the lesson isn't really to say "yo who did this??" but rather just that people tend to retweet things with shorter, snappier, more relatable captions rather than a long self-promo post. I'm sure, psychologically, that self-promo posts with hashtags tend to turn a lot of people off, so they don't retweet them.

But in the grand scheme of things, I don't think any of these small tricks are going to make the difference in people having success or fun with their creative work. @erica had some nice thoughts about it over here and I'm inclined to agree. When the never-ending hustle to make social media work for your art feels hopeless, I think it's because the particular treadmills that you're running on might actually be hopeless. It's exhausting to constantly push more for more Likes, Shares, and Follows. I know that it's pretentious for me to say this (full-disclosure: i make a living off working for an indie game studio and don't currently hustle for freelance commissions) but I think scraping every last Like, Share, and Follow you can grab is unfortunately not going to change your life.

This is purely anecdotal, but no one who I support on Patreon or Twitch or whatever is someone who I just randomly saw on my timeline with like "cool art" or "a funny joke." It tends to be people whose work really speaks to me, or more likely, someone who speaks to me as a person because of their own thoughts, life, and experiences.

At the end of the day, it's probably more worth it (emotionally yes, financially maybe) to forge connections and bonds with people in smaller crowds. Places outside of Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. Places in real life, like conventions and meet-ups. Places on the "smaller" web, like forums, Discord servers, personal blogs, etc.

But, again....................what are we all to do? It sucks. And if there's a chance, even a small 1% chance, that you can get more followers, peers, friends, clients, and customers by hustling on these huge platforms.....I totally understand why everyone does it.

It just bums me out to see it. Particularly because I know that it takes time. And it takes effort. And mental and emotional energy. And all of that time, effort, and energy is probably better spent somewhere else, making the actual work that you like making and doing cool shit and exploring your own ideas and talking to people who really do follow you because your work speaks to them.

It also sucks because it pushes everyone into being the same type of "content creator" rather than specifically being a painter, or animator, or composer. Everyone feels compelled to make short-form video content, or microblog, or whatever it is that people say will make you go viral that week.

It all just sucks big-time and maybe it's obnoxious that I'm even writing this. My heart goes out to everyone freelancing. I have my fingers crossed that more stuff emerges that makes a clearer path forward. Patreon has thankfully helped make this life slightly easier for some people, but hopefully other tools will come out to supplement that and give people a safety net in case Patreon shits the bed.

#blog #blogofkylelab #social media #social media meta #art

[youngpettyqueen]

Kiss roulette: A romantic kiss (and whatever other kisses you feel like adding) for Charles/Hawkeye.

alright we've got romantic kiss and (rolls dice) 30! which is... kiss to the palm of the hand! aka perfect roll to drive me specifically insane

"I swear I'm gonna be arthritic by the time I'm 35," Hawkeye complains as he tosses his coat over onto his cot. His cot which he ignores, instead dropping down to take a seat beside Charles on his, "Damn this cold..." He mutters, bundling in on Charles' personal space.

Charles sits up from removing his boots. "You certainly complain like an arthritic old man," He replies drily. He notices Hawkeye is rubbing at his right wrist again, though, his expression drawn into a grimace, "Is that still bothering you?" He asks.

Hawkeye nods. "It's been killing me since yesterday," He admits, "Think I did one 12 hour shift too many, and this deep freeze doesn't help." He flexes his fingers with a wince.

Charles can sympathize- there are days he feels like his hands might go ahead and fall right off. "Here," He holds a hand out to him, "Let me."

Hawkeye gives him his hand, apparently in an agreeable mood. He usually is when they're alone- less prying eyes, especially with the tarps down to protect against the cold giving the added bonus of nobody being able to just look into the tent. Charles is quietly glad for it, since it means Hawkeye can bundle up against him and share his body heat.

He gently rubs Hawkeye's wrist, and the reaction is immediate. Hawkeye sinks against him with a quiet groan, all but melting into a puddle against his side. Charles allows himself a private smile, holding Hawkeye's hand close to his chest as he massages the stiffness out of the joint.

"Charles." He mumbles, a bit muffled as he's squished his cheek right up against Charles' shoulder.

"Hm?" Charles hums, focused on his task.

"You could make a guy believe in Heaven." Hawkeye informs him.

Charles chuckles at that. "It's just as I've always said. I do one thing," He brings Hawkeye's hand up closer to his face, "I do it very well. And then," He presses a kiss to Hawkeye's palm, smiles at the second little groan that earns him, "I move on."

Hawkeye turns his face up to look at him. "Where were you thinking of moving on to?" He asks, big, eager grin on his face.

Charles replies by showing him- ducking down and pressing his next kiss to Hawkeye's lips.

They have an hour before BJ's post-OP shift is over. Better make the most of it.

#mash #fic bitching #shorts #charles winchester #hawkeye pierce #otp: and their sons #I said I was gonna drabble but. well #hand kissing <3 #thanks anon! this was a sweet little write #great warm up for tonight's writing session

[strangertheory]

but you can’t hate mike because he is straight like??? it’s not his fault if he doesn’t like will lol and will shouldn’t confess, it would break his heart even more. he should shut up.

I like narrative depth. Mike is a fictional character. Yes, I legitimately find Mike as a character to be less complex and therefore less interesting to me within the story being told if he's intended to be a straight character.

If Mike is straight, that would mean he's an entirely flat character without any subtextual narrative journey from the start of the show to the end of the show. If Mike is straight, his entire story from season 1 until season 5 is simply "nerdy kid falls for supernatural magic girlfriend" and he doesn't have any sort of character growth or journey of self-discovery and he is a static character. Or, arguably, he's not a static character, he's perhaps a character that gets worse and stops spending quality time with his closest friends while he becomes entirely consumed by his need to be needed and desired by a superhero with whom he has spent very limited quality time beyond making out all summer in season 3 and now a roller rink date during which the entire time his girlfriend was lying to him. (I completely sympathize with her insecurities and respect she didn't mean any harm with the lying, but I'm focused on pointing out the weaknesses in the dynamic between Mike and El, and the uncertainty of their trust in each other, and their struggling relationship right now and that whole scenario is so very telling.)

So yes, I find the "Mike is straight" interpretation of the story to be incredibly boring and mediocre and I prefer my alternative interpretation that: 1) Mike is closeted and struggling to share his feelings with those he loves 2) there's actually something unique going on between Will and El and their dynamic and parallels and something strange is going on and there's a reason that they have such eerily intertwined narratives, and I don't think we know what's going on in Will and El's dynamics with Mike quite yet because something unique is happening that hasn't been revealed yet.

Even if we are supposed to assume Mike and El spent more time doing meaningful things together outside of what we see on screen: why don't they give us those scenes? I hate stories that give you a couple without developing their dynamic and meaningful moments together on-screen. As a couple that you seem to believe is intended to be the one we're supposed to care about: El and Mike don't have very many scenes that show them spending quality time together. Why?

I don't mind straight characters and pairings. I mind poorly developed ones that don't have any established on-screen commonalities, shared interests, or history beyond kissing and overblown love declarations. I hate when storytellers offer you an allegedly romantic couple but don't actually spend time giving their relationship any on-screen depth and expect you to simply assume the depth is there when they haven't actually written any into their scenes together. (And no, I don't count long stares and yelling for each other and kissing as "depth.") I want to believe that the writers haven't taken the time to give much depth to Mike and El as a couple simply because it's not actually intended to be a long-term relationship dynamic for them.

I believe that the relationship between Mike and El does serve a purpose in the story and I do believe that Mike cares about El very much but I cannot bring myself to see Mike and El's alleged romance as especially deep or meaningful. It's mediocre in isolation from whatever they're planning on doing with it in conjunction with the rest of whatever is going on with Mike and El and Will. I think it matters, but not in the way you think it does.

I don't dislike the concept of straight-Mike because of him being straight. I dislike straight-Mike because that erases all of the potential complexity and power of queer-closeted-Mike's internal struggles and journey to understand how he feels about his friend Will and how he can tell the people he loves about who he is and his feelings when he does care about El and wants her to be happy.

I find straight-Mike to be an incredibly superficial, boring story.

I like stories with hidden layers.

It's really as simple as that.

#gay mike wheeler #queercoding #stranger things theories #byler #I don't like labeling characters but I used the gay mike wheeler tag cause it's used often #mike is lgbtqa #it's not about the label it's about them hqving feelings and being true to themselves and their journey

[ramblingdisaster73]

I agree so much with your thoughts on season 4 so far. I don't understand why they placed all the blame on TK. I'm starting to give up on the show. I was mainly watching for Tarlos, but their relationship doesn't feel very fun to ship rn. It's becoming (for me) more about coming up with off screen excuses for why they're acting like they are rather than appreciating what I actually get. I felt nothing about the latest episode other than annoyance that so much was handled wrong or left out, and that's probably the right point to just get out.

I am a big proponent of “if it doesn’t make you happy – don’t keep doing it.” But, I am also a big fan of second chances.

I totally sympathize with the struggle with all the off screen moments we mostly have to assume occurred, unless they are specifically referenced at a future point. It gets very frustrating when we just want to see the realness of their coupledom, but have to imagine it.

I know I keep saying this, but, I will say it again – writing helps me so much with processing how I feel about whatever I am seeing/experiencing – I have done this since Middle School– but only recently started keeping/sharing it with others. Even just responding to the things in my inbox is very beneficial to me.

The need to blame TK for stuff is also very frustrating – if you watched the 100 – you get used to it – even if it still drives you nuts, and while it will annoy and frustrate me (except when actually warranted) - I can just write all the petty TK scenes I want – and each one makes me feel a little bit better.

I think shipping has it highs and lows – in a lot of ways – the beginning of season 4 showed them to us at what we thought was a high point for them. But then we learn some information that made a lot of people question things – then as we processed that they dropped the kidnapping thing on us – bringing us to a low point for them. I really do think that we are back on the upswing now, or I am at least optimistically hopeful that we are.

I do think that there will also be a bit of a break in how much we see Tarlos – at least until 4x08. That gives us time to have everything kind of soak in, which might help.

Another thing to look forward to: We are going to see more of the rest of the characters – I can’t wait to see what is going on with Marjan & Grace next episode. Or to finally meet a love interest for Paul – really looking forward to that.

If you need a break, take one – sometimes it helps us re-enjoy the things that we once found pleasure in – be it media or real-life things. Other times, it gives us the clarity to realize that what we once enjoyed, just isn’t there for us anymore – leaving room for something new.

I am also a fan of not watching the parts that you don’t enjoy – skipping over them – is totally fine. I do it with a few scenes throughout the series – For example: I personally hate a part of the DNR storyline for Nancy and hated that it was her first real central storyline – I skip over the scene at Tommy’s house – there was just something about how it felt like Tommy and Nancy were trying to guilt the woman to drop her lawsuit – even though her suit was valid, that still doesn’t set right with me – and I LOVE both Tommy & Nancy. That scene just makes me uncomfortable – it makes me think of people I know with DNRs and how they would feel if someone disregarded their legally made decisions.

Do what is best for you and if you need it, I am always hear to listen.

#911 lone star season 4 #911 lone star spoilers #anon

[roobylavender]

Was thinking about that succession post you reblogged a few days ago and I think what I really love about it (or what sets it apart from most "family dramas" out there in the post-succ landscape) is how the show holds the characters as complicit in very serious crimes (such as their influence on the media, their influence on the ELECTIONS). I think most TV shows have the whole: yeah they suck and they're annoying but uwu they have childhood trauma thing, but succession doesn't hesitate to show how the explosiveness of their trauma doesn't just affect them but affects the whole WORLD and while you can sort of sympathize with them, you can never allow yourself to let them get away with who they are as people. The SHOW doesn't let them get away with who they are as people. Even small things, like how Logan encourages the children to compete against each other to bring out the best heir (and how that fucks them up), reflects on big things (like how capitalism, as a system, encourages competition over cooperation and how that fucks society up as a whole). Your sympathy for them will only go so far though, because at the end of the day, they're still perpetuators of this cycle they haven't escaped from — and they never WILL escape from it, because they're billionaires. Every petty thing they do has small consequences for them, but big consequences for the world.

It all comes down to that, as it always does, because the show is aware of the corrupting influence of wealth on people (and the corrupting influence of RICH PEOPLE on everyone else), which, to me is a very smart work, even if the fans can sometimes get a little overboard or annoying. This isn't me saying you should watch it or anything, but that post birthed a lot of thoughts I had about the show and I just wanted to share☺️

i don't mind you sharing at all, it's insightful! and for whatever little exposure i have to the bulk of succession canon this does seem to make sense in line with what i've seen and it hits the nail on the head as to why i wouldn't like it if i watched it lol. it's very rare i dislike a property bc of the characters but on the occasions i do it's truly bc i cannot stand them bc at the core what they are is rotten (as another example, i hated 1984, bc i absolutely could not stand winston as a person, even if the point was to criticize his participation in and futility in the face of the overarching system). it's good that succession didn't shy away from that and fully embraced the depravity of its characters, regardless of whatever individual quirks made them marginally sympathetic in a given moment!

#outbox

[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

Do you have any general tips about writing g/t whump, or g/t or whump in general. I'm thinking about writing g/t or whump or a combination of the two. And your like my go to author when it comes to reading g/t or whump (your shit is really good, if you ever wrote a book and published it, I would be amongst the first to purchase it, I like your writing/content that much lol). So do you have any tips or tidbits for any wannabe writer that your willing to share?

Also I completely understand if this isn't an ask you want to answer, I realize im asking alot out of a stranger for free. So no hard feelings if this post is ignored.

Thank you for taking time to read my ask nonetheless though.

This is such a sweet ask you're so sweet to me ily and if I ever become a published author you may have all my books for free

I think writing anything definitely depends on what style you like, such as mine is very "internal thoughts" and "descriptive action". Settings, physical descriptions, plot set ups -- I'm much more vague about those (which can be a downfall) because I like to focus more on what the current action is versus what lead to that moment.

So my advice, based on my own style, is that mental feelings are just as important as physical feelings when it comes to describing. Your tiny character just got smacked against the wall by a feral giant: tell me how much it hurt, tell me what hurts the most, tell me how focused or unfocused they are, tell me how close they were to cracking their head open on something a few inches away.

Now tell me if your tiny has the stamina to run, tell me if they've given up the fight and are accepting their fate, tell me what they're envisioning said fate to be, tell me if they're scared or angry, tell me what their last thoughts might be before they're cut off by whatever the feral giant does next.

In my opinion, it's much better to write from one character's perspective for a fic (unless you have noted breaks in between paragraphs to switch POVs or if you switch POVs every chapter). It gives the reader time to attach themselves to a single focal character and really get to know them via these internal thoughts and musings. It makes the character much more relatable in the sense that we can sympathize with their reasoning, or at least understand it on a deeper level compared to another character. It also leaves that air of mystery that we, just like the character we're being projected through, only know what we're being told/shown.

And again, descriptions are the shit my guy. Not saying you need to go on a monologue about what color your character's eyes are, but describing your actions and reactions against a duller background helps create more vivid imagery for what's going on in that very second. Your character gets punched in the gut: they're winded, they can't suck in any air between their teeth, they can taste burning bile in their throat, their train of thought slams on its breaks, their stomach feels like it's been split in half, they crumple to the ground in a fetal position, they don't even have the breath to moan in pain.

Also, when it comes to g/t whump specifically, I like to throw in the reminders of how large their size difference is pretty frequently. Remind your readers just how easily it would be to snap a tiny's leg like a toothpick when you have them dangling upside down from your fingers. Remind them how suffocating a giant's presence can feel both literally and figuratively when they're trapped under a hand that engulfs them like a weighed blanket.

Last piece of advice, if there's a writing style you like or a fic you adore or an author you want to emulate - try to figure out which parts you like and why, and then copy it lmao. Not plagiarize their whole story, obviously, but if you see vocabulary or sentence structures you like that's being used, store that shit in your brain to use for later homie. I love run on sentences being used to portray anxiety because your thoughts are going a mile a minute. I love scenes ending with an italicized onomatopoeia because it's the last thing someone hears. That's shit I read from fanfics that I still use in my stories.

I hope this helped some (if any)!!

#ask #roxas k

[beemers-hell]

HANK AND EB????? WHAT???????

Yeah ok so I gotta explain this a lil bit lmao

[A lil bit meaning A Lot]

So Hank and Eb do not like each other n all that, that how it is right now, however, in the future, they start to kind of come around to one another. Cause like, they're very different people, but they have mutual problems and understandings that they can get along well enough to do their job, and like, help each other out every now and then. Both of them get each other on a personal level, and while they don't like the traits of each other that they don't share, they still share traits that make them similar and therefore able to relate and sympathize with the other. I don't think Hank is a heartless monster, I think he's a dude thats had a lot of problems in his life and they've tried to wall themself off from having connections with people because of it. But he's still vulnerable to forming friendships, and eventually relationships.

So, at the moment, they can't stand one another. But, the longer they work together, the longer they hang around in the same living space, the longer they do stuff with their coworkers and boss and associates, and the longer they have to spend time around another, they very, very, very slowly form a connection.

I've explored a lot of this dynamic in some of the art that I can not share on this blog no matter what, but its a very slow and tortuous turnaround, though thats mostly on Hank's end. He doesn't want to feel things for other people and he's slowly starting to feel things for her and he's in agony over it. Eb's much more passive about it, she knows how to deal with her emotions and work through whatever she may feel about him as she slowly goes from hating his guts to being able to see him as a potential partner.

Now don't get it mixed up, its not that she moves on from Tricky to Hank, she loves BOTH of them! As well as Pathos of course but Pathos' involvement is something s0uless would have to elaborate further on, jist id that Pathos is Also interested in Hank in addition to being together with Eb n Tricky (and Jeb but he's not relevant here). Eb is still madly in love with Tricky and Pathos but Hank just kind of walked into her heart by accident and she isn't complaining. Why not add another to the polycule!

So after a while, and after a good while of them accepting their feelings for each other and navigating what a relationship with each other looks like, by pure random chance, they get their little family started, not only with Eb having a set of twins fathered by Hank n Tricky, but also by Pathos having a kid with Hank too. And like, they already all basically had a bunch of kids, like the chart says the family tree is fucking CRAZY and needs a lot of explaining to be fully understood, but those three babies being born at the same time kind of cements the family as whole.

Yeah this is some cracked shit but I'd me n my boyfriend are having fun with it lmfao

Here's the (technically) triplets in full!

#beemer asks #beemers lore #beemers ocs #s0uless ocs

[safyresky]

Legit wanna ask you all of these, but I’ll try to be abstemious! (“Try” being the operative word) —

How do you choose which POV to write from?

What’s a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

How do you write emotional scenes? Do you ever feel what the characters feel? Do you draw from personal experiences?

What is one essential thing to remember when writing a villain? 

How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Share a snippet from a WIP (please)

How would you describe your style? (Character/emotion/action-driven, etc)

Of the characters you write for, which is your favourite? Has that choice been swayed at all by your followers/readers’ reactions to certain ones?

What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

Do you have a favourite scene that you’ve written for CS? 

(I’m sorry for asking so many!) 

💜 

Thanks K! I'll be proactive and read more this shit now, lmao

POV: I'm a basic bitch, I go third person always and tend to pick the character who's taking precedence in the scene for perspective! On the rare occasion I go first person, it's because the character (Usually Jacqueline) is breaking the fourth wall to make themselves HEARD and who am I to refuse a muse such as Jacquie? She's in my walls, man. Not even paying rent. Unbelievable.

Common writing tip: Said is dead. Said is NOT dead! It's NOT and I will USE IT and you will find it to be INVISIBLE and the dialogue will SLAP and SAID IS NOT DEAD!

Emotional scenes: I very much do put myself in their shoes at the moment! You should see the faces I make when I write these bad boys lmao. Sometimes I'll pretend to be watching them acted out when walking around and then bc I talk with my hands I look insane to the casual onlooker.

At their heart, most if not all emotional scenes have some basis of my own experiences entwined with them! Not like, direct from Dani, straight to Video Cassette and DVD, but like. I think of situations where I have felt the same and try to describe how I was feelin/pour those moments into it. The only exception to this rule is the Dite Comes Out snippet, which is 100% based on my own experiences when discovering asexuality and trying to talk about it with friends and such!

When writing a villain, what to remember: LMAO GOOD QUESTION! IDK! My first thought is to say to remember that they're people too. Not that I'm out here like SYMPATHIZE WITH YOUR VILLAINS (she says, writing redemption arcs for villains) bc some villains are just ASSHOLES and are MADE that way so you DON'T sympathize with them! Bc they SUCK! What I mean to say is that more often than not I find villains have their own motivations/thoughts, like heroes or other characters, and they think they are in the right, or that what they are working to do is what needs to be done. It's good to remember that, especially when writing scenes and such from their POV. They have motivations and things that drive them

AND! Just bc they think a certain way does NOT mean you do!!!! Get that Anti culture RIGHT OUT OF HERE! GREY IS A COLOUR THAT EXISTS AND WHAT YOU WRITE DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE INTO AN IDEA/BELIEVE THIS IDEA/WHATEVER. It just means you have a story to tell and by GODS you are GONNA TELL IT

When to end a chapter: I have a process for this and no idea how to explain it except for THE VIBES. Usually if it's a fluffy chapter, I end it on a high note; if it's a plotty chapter, I end it on either A) a reveal or B) a cliffhanger. I definitely prefer ending on like, nice statements that read like a natural end point. This does lead to me on occasion trying to write a smooth little closing paragraph; it's not a bad habit but I think I can absolutely do more natural ends without feeling the need to add a statement that's like "and end chapter", if that makes sense, lol. Practise makes perfect!

Share a snippet: Please enjoy this funny bit from a very self-indulgent wip called "The House That Jacqueline Forgot"

AHEM.

Heading back into the hallway, she bopped her head into the space before the basement. A smaller room, she had had it added on way back when. Hoping to avoid ruining the hardwood floors, she had thought it a good idea to have a mudroom put on the side. It also made the basement entrance less terrifying, given that the house was built in the Limestone City, and as such, the basement was much shorter than you would expect. She wondered if the fireplace downstairs was still in one piece. She’d have to check. And then probably get an HVAC going. Lady knew she’d need it given the hot Ontario summers.  She stopped in front of the door once more, looking up the stairs. It hit her then, all at once: if she wanted to get this house in working order, it was going to be a very long road. And the upstairs would probably be twice as bad as down here!  An overwhelming sense of despair briefly clouded her thoughts as she thought of all the work ahead. She almost sunk down on the floor right then and there, were it not for the four creaks on the stairs outside followed by a loud SNAP, and a very familiar voice swearing.  Whipping around, she pulled back the door to find a large hole in her front porch.  “You've got a hole in your deck,” Jack pointed out nonchalantly. He was leaning on the rail of the portion of the deck overlooking the garden, looking as casual as can be.  “That’s so funny, because moments ago when I got here, that hole wasn’t there.”  “Are you implying that I fell through your deck?” Jack asked, aghast. The railing started to creak below him. He sprung off it like it was actively on fire.  Jacqueline side stepped the hole, standing beside her brother. She picked something off of his lapel. “Yes, I am,” she said, flourishing the piece of worn, red, wood that had escaped Jack's magical clean snap.  “Well, I can’t argue with that,” he said, taking the wood chip and flinging it into the garden.  “What are you doing here?” Jacqueline asked, hopping back inside the house. “I thought you were in the Alps today, storming it up.”  “I was,” Jack said, following her in. “Really enjoying it too, until my lovely stormy walk was disrupted by a wave of despair so intense, I nearly fell down the mountain.”  Jacqueline flushed, looking away. “Sorry. I just had a moment. It’s just…it’s fine. It’s alright.”  “But are you?” Jack asked.  “Eh...” she shrugged, pushing the door open as far as it would go. “I mean. You know. I want to say I’ve seen worse but...I have my work cut out for me,” she said, gesturing to the inside of the house.  Jack let out a low whistle, stepping inside and taking it all in. “Wow.” 

Describing my style: another good question! Idk! I'd say character-driven, for the most part. They all have little arcs and growth to do and the story structure/plot helps achieve this goal!

Fave character to write: Jacqueline's so fucking funny, and I LOVE when Bernard gets sassy. That's always fun to write. Blaise has become a surprising fan favourite (people's responses to him may have swayed me a bit, ESPECIALLY the husbando's love of the "fiery dilf") and I've found myself really enjoying writing him! And the Twins are a fucking RIOT, and lately, when they're on their own with Jack in more emotional moments, they've been surprising the shit out of me. It's been fun! They are so tiny and full of chaos but they care about their siblings so so so much 🥺🥺🥺

Oh, and Adria! Once you all meet her proper, you'll see why she's such a delight >:)

Something I pride myself on in my writing: the convos all sound natural! I literally say them out loud and write them how I'd say them/hear them. Hence the abuse of capitals and lowercase, punctuation, and half italicized words ;)

You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it? Abuse of the semi-colon, evil uncles, horrible puns, and the dialogue reading like MSN in 2007 (see above point)

Do you have a favourite scene that you’ve written for CS? 

SO MANY. AH! My absolute favourites are:

Chapter 11: Blinter, with the chair and the Jack look and the ...you know look the pair of them have

Chapter 22: The window breaking and Blaise being like please tell me that wasn't our kids and Jack yelling SCATTER as the four siblings BOOK it and Blinter side eyes one another like alright, damage control time.

Chapter 16: Autumn and Winter's chat, and Spring and Winter's chat. there's something about the atmosphere of a quiet, dark kitchen while you carefully tidy, the people you love nearby having a riot while you take a moment to yourself, really, really hits. and I like when Winter tells Spring off and then tells her she needs to chill, she's doing okay, really (she being Spring in this case)

Chapter 23: Jack and Jacqueline's whole chat at the Springs, and then Jacquie pushing Jack into the pool and him dragging her into it too lmao. Not to mention the WOULD YOU HELP ME KILL A GUY bit!

I've also got some bangers I've yet to write but am VERY excited to! Chapter 27 especially is gonna be a HIT

thanks for the ask, K! I'm glad you did as many as you did! This has cheered me up SUBSTANTIALLY today 🥰🥰🥰

#dani speaks #ask box shenanigans #I think I may benefit from a nap as the horrors have been EFFERVESCENT today #update 6 hours later: i did benefit from a nap #ANYWAY TY K! AND NO WORRIES ABOUT THE LENGTH OF QUESTIONS!! #ask games #sorta #writing #about me #the snippet is from a v self indulgent one lol #in which i went. im gonna put jacqueline into MY SITUATIONS AND EXACERBATE THEM #HELLL YEAH!!! #jack has some bangers in this one lol #dani answers

[with-love-from-hell]

hey there Storm! Idk about you but I sure am tired of reading the "what your fav OBME Character says about you" and then immediately seeing lucifer as "daddy issues" and "you're problematic af." Can I get your take on those? I feel like your background would be useful in this (:

Love your writing by the way! 🖤

Bruh same. I HATE those posts and have only seen like...one or two that im actually like "accurate" about but thats because they all basically said the same thing and thats "u want someone to love u." Because who doesn't.

I'm gonna give a soft "no" to this request because again, I don't like those types of posts and I am not here to psychoanalyze anyone but the characters in game (because they aren't real people with real feelings), but I will elaborate a bit on why these particular posts drive me bonkers. I'm going to be tagging these types of posts as "character analysis" just for ease of finding if you want to hear more of my psychological/philosophical ramblings about this otome game haha.

(Read below the cut)

(Also spoilers ahead for the game past lesson 16; also spoilers for The Batman)

Sure. Maybe you do like Lucifer because you didn't have a great relationship with your dad. Or maybe you like Mammon because you were bullied a lot. But for everyone who engages in Obey Me, we all have tropes and characteristics of the characters we like and dislike for whatever reason.

If you choose not to read further into my analysis here, then the tldr is this: People aren't so one dimensional that the only reason they like/don't like a character in media is some sort of weird trauma-related inferiority complex.

For instance, here's what I like about Lucifer based on little snippets of the game where we don't see him being a dickhead: I like that his character genuinely changes from the start of season 1 to where we are now. And you can even tell which devilgrams were made in s1 and which ones were recent. I like that he has genuinely soft moments with Mc, and the romantic tropes he displays. For the rest, its mostly my own head cannons on him being soft, learning from mistakes, and acknowledging hurt caused. The reason I like him is he evolved, and is a cutesy romantic simp.

Does he remind me of my dad? Hell no. Not even close. That wasn't even my first thought in the game when he was shitty.

So why then, does the assumption run that this fictional man is symbolism for my so-called "daddy issues"? Is it because some people headcanon him as being into kinks related to domming? Maybe so, but thats not my headcanon.

So herein lies the issue of making blanket statements and psychoanalyzing people on like this, and sending judgement upon them based on their particular character preferences: Everyone engages with a character differently.

Not all people share my headcanons, and there's nothing wrong with that. I wont share everyone else's either. And that's fine. The glory of watered down characters like the boys in Obey Me! Is that you can project whatever you would like onto them! Its pretty neat! And can some of that come from a place of trauma and insecurity? Absolutely. But who are you to tell someone that liking Belphie despite the fact he kills Mc in the main plot means they're "a red flag?" Please. This shit is harmful in more ways than one.

Maybe that person had an imagined redemption arc for the character in their head? Or maybe they didn't. In short: who the fuck cares? Liking or not liking a character doesn't mean you endorse the terrible shit they do- again, especially in watered down media where fandoms are blatantly encouraged to make their own headcanons for how the story plays out in longevity, rather than the small snippets we are given. And that's something I've always appreciated about media like Obey Me!

Also, liking a "villain" doesn't make you a bad person. You can like the dynamics of that character, or maybe even sympathize with their motivations. For instance, appreciating the dynamics snd careful character construction of Riddler in The Batman is not saying "hey, I really like that Riddler killed a bunch of people in neo-nazi fashion." Again, people are more one dimensional than that.

So, in short, leave people like who they want. Everyone engages in media differently, especially within the Obey Me! Fandom. Telling people they have daddy issues just because they like a character is more or less a super Freudian thing to do- and we all know that dude was bonkers. The perceptions people have of something shape their experience, and we know this. If someone's engagement with a character isn't causing harm, leave them be.

Anyways, sorry for the long rant, but I like taking about this sort of thing. It really pulls out the philosopher in me. Any asks similar in nature to this are more than welcome, I could go on for hours about this stuff.

#character analysis

[martianclown]

billy isn't homophobic; there isn't a single homophobic thing he does. the singular sexist thing he does is when he's fatphobic to the high school girls and implies they're cows. shitty but not unusual for a high school boy. as for the racism, people can acknowledge flaws & issues with characters & still like them. why couldn't they like other things about billy while disliking that the creators chose to make him racist? why couldn't abuse victims who relate to his edginess and anger dislike his racism & wish the creators had treated the character better? tf.

The thing with the racism is that it was done so poorly via one vague line, no one can agree if it was or not. Billy shares one scene with the kid and it's like 2 seconds. I believe the first and only time they interact is at Joyce's house when he tells him to stay away from Max (correct me if I'm wrong bc its been a while since I watched it)

Anyway, what I'm getting at is their excuses for us to dislike this kid are weak and all their arguments against him suck so bad it's easy for us to have our counter-argument ready to go. Not to mention they keep regurgitating the same shit over and over, all of us critical thinkers have already moved on from that.

A lot of these people also seem to sympathize with Henry Creel which I find laughable bc the guy killed his family just because he wanted to. He had parents who loved him and a nice house and all that shit and still, he willingly killed them

I saw another "hot take" about Billy recently from an anti that 'If he didn't already want to murder people he wouldn't have given into the mind flayer so easily' as if to say Billy was already wanting to kill people and the MF helped facilitate that 😐 be for real

Examples of said 'wanting to murder' were:

-Trying to run over kids (you're a joke to me if you think he would've actually done that)

- Max saying he would kill them if he saw them at they Byers house (this is an expression often used in the United States, not to be taken literally)

Long story short before I keep ranting. I'm going to like whatever character I want and I'll see you all in hell babes ❤️

#sorry it got long #long post

[swirlmup]

Well well welly well well....

Let's talk about the art I made for the finale and the last couple character designs revealed, shall we?

It was an all-hands-on-deck situation, and I was able to contribute to one of the final scenes. I hadn't gotten to draw Maria yet this volume, and so that's what I request for this final assignment.

After my last scene with Adam, I had foolishly believed I wouldn't have to draw the Atlas rifles again. Nope! xD I also kinda uh, just put whatever for the mermaid grimm, and wasn't super clear that they had a specific look, so i just sorta drew generally aquatic monsters, but it works out anyways and nobody called me out on it wwwww

The mech was also a bit of a pickle! Had to ask other sketchies for ref images, and I think the design of the mech was still in flux right up to the very last possible second. Still though, skyscraper-sized robots are always fun.

Maria was such a treat to draw, I love how she's simultaneously full of wisdom and also continuously very confused on how qrow and ruby are related.

We in this house don't believe in "cheating" in art, but we do believe in taking shortcuts. Plus it turned out bretty coo.

Got some help with this! perspective is a weak point for me, but felly sketchy Jayjaybase was able to procure a better ref image for me than what I was finding off of google, and it helped a lot for the overall look of the thing.

Serious Maria, giving her final words as a mentor to Qrow.

This was another fun shot to do. Yang waving with her stump is probably my favorite part lol.

Qrow's the kind of character where I always fret if I'll be able to draw him and his tricky hair right, but one way or another he always seems to turn out okay.

It was surprisingly tricky for me to find a good reference image for Qrow's running legs here, luckily posemaniacs came in to save the day.

This was a fun sequence to do, i always like imagining what a person looks like mid-transformation into whatever animal they turn into, the way their body and features must contort. I wonder if I'll get to do more stuff like that in the future?

Lowkey hilarious that Maria didn't have the slightest inkling that Qrow could turn into a bird until this very moment, and her reaction is just "neat!" Perfect note to end that scene on imo lmao

Now on to the last two character designs of the volume!

First up, worst girl, Cinder! There was quite a bit of debate on how to handle Cinder, especially since I personally actually quite liked her canon Atlas outfit, and didn't want to deviate too strongly from it. Overall though, it was decided that she should keep more of her red motif and a lot of the more classy elements from her previous designs. A soft gradient on her cloak helps tie in the colors from her feathers and keeps her legs from disappearing into the cloak. She feels a lot more like a mage here, with us wanting to lean more into her maiden status. As a rule I'm not fond of Cinder, but when you're doing character design, you kinda gotta find a way to sympathize and get in the character's head to find the roots of their personality to design from, and I like to think I was able to find an approachable middle ground with her.

Malachite's new outfit! For realsies this time and not just a cobbling together of her old outfit with her sister's!

Originally back when Malachite reappears and fights with Cinder, she was meant to appear in the casual!outfit shown in this sheet, her hair already cut to its new length. However, for various reasons, the artists for that scene ended up using her vol.5 cobbled design, and the casual!outfit was never used. A shame, I'm so fond of clothes that defy gravitate and look like they're about to fall off xD

But nonetheless! Malachite's Atlas outfit was largely inspired by a particularly eclectic gothic/punk lolita dress that was shared in the server from online, which got some tweaks and adjustments for dressing malachite in. We're dialing up the intensity of Mal's mental schisms here, two brains existing in one person and generally getting along, yet clashing even so. Gave her more simplified hand weapons, as well as increasing the size of her ankle blades to better match the size of her hand-blades. The main idea behind her was for her to be a blender in a cocktail dress lol. Very excited for her to do more stuff in the future of FRWBY!

And that concludes volume 6! Thank you all so much for watching and reading my art commentaries! Hope to see you again as Fixing RWBY continues! Fare well!

#art #fanart #rwby #fixing rwby #qrow #maria #cinder #malachite #qrow branwen #maria calavera #cinder fall #melanie malachite #ruby #weiss #blake #yang #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #Youtube

[thosearentcrimes]

We like to talk about political opinions because they're designed to be talked about. The thing is, as far as I can tell most people simply do not have political opinions. Not just in the sense of most people being a lot less interested in politics than most of us are, though. Even the people who at least care about politics mostly seem not to have political opinions. What they have are political sympathies.

Political sympathies are often maligned. People deciding their political opinions on the spot, to agree with people they sympathize with or to contradict people they do not sympathize with, are regarded as the problem with political discourse, as subjects of irrational "tribal" impulses not fit for polite society. And certainly it is irritating to show up expecting a serious discussion about some important matter and discover that your interlocutor is merely spewing a couple rehearsed talking points and has nothing material to say about the topic.

The problem is, I don't think we'd get anywhere politically if we resolutely demanded everyone have object-level opinions. It's rare enough for people to be politically conscious at all as it is. In fact, unless you are going to pay a great (and frankly, excessive) deal of attention to political matters you are probably going to be more correct by sticking to sympathies rather than getting mixed up with the specifics. The sympathy heuristic is fairly inaccurate but it's better than the opinion heuristic would be with the usual level of intellectual investment. On a similar note, it does actually make sense to judge politicians on character as well as on policy, given that people are better judges of character than of policy on average. I mean, they're absolute dogshit at both, but you know.

Political sympathies are how you get things done. You do not improve the conditions of a group by getting them all to understand the intricacies of economic policy, however enthusiastic we are about the prospect of universal political education. You improve the conditions of the group by raising class consciousness, by getting them to consider themselves a group with shared interests and shared enemies and allies, and convincing them that you can represent those interests and deal with all the boring opinion stuff. Now, this is tricky because your enemies can pull the same trick with some bullshit alternate class like "nation" or whatever, but regardless there's no escaping the fact that this is how politics works.

But the thing is, political sympathies do not apply only to the masses of opinion-not-havers. Opinion-havers usually have sympathies too, even though some of us pretend we don't (there are opinion-havers without sympathies, they are incredibly weird people). They're harder to find, because any time you ask an opinion-haver about politics they'll almost certainly give you their opinion and not their sympathies, but there are tricks to figure it out. Consider, for example, a situation where two parties are arguing, neither particularly espousing the opinion a person has but not really contradicting it either. The opinionated sympathizer will attribute their opinion to the party they sympathize with, because of the tendency to assimilate opinions to sympathies and vice versa. We can observe the same phenomenon from the opposite direction when people form their opinions.

One of the interesting thing about political sympathies is that it seems to me like people who don't have opinions are more aware of their political sympathies than people who do have opinions. Repeatedly I've seen people with political opinions apparently sincerely misdescribe their political sympathies, typically making their sympathies out to be much more aligned with their opinions than they actually are (the same tendency to assimilate opinions and sympathies). Why should political opinions make you less self-aware? Cognitive dissonance or whatever, I guess. Maybe the apparent phenomenon is merely an illusion. But it seems to be the case to me, at least.

Here's a question. When people make political decisions or other decisions with significant political implications, and they have both opinions and sympathies, which of these will be more influential in determining the course they take?