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keepyourpantsongohan · 2 months

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Ayesha Liveblogs Spy x Family S1

"Proof that the foreign minister wears a toupée. I even have the negatives." "Well done. Now we can force him to resign." How could this possibly be enough to force a resignation? Is wearing a toupée a sign of dishonesty or shame in this cultural context??

"In an era in which the nations of the world were waging a fierce war of information just out of sight, this man survived the battlefield by being a master of disguise." Ooooh is this a historical anime? How fun!

Update from 1 minute later: The newspaper confirms this as a Cold War-era story!! Colour me intrigued

"Farewell. May you find happiness." What a polite end to such a callous breakup LMAO

Why does Donovan Desmond look so incredibly haunted LOL

"In order to achieve this [spy mission] you will get married and have a child." Ah, there we are with the premise!

Of all the spy strengths they've displayed thus far, I am most impressed with this blond man's ability to pull a newspaper apart without bending it. You must need to generate a lot of force:

"Yeah, sure. Take whichever one you want." This is about the average regard for orphans in Shonen Anime Societies

"This little girl happened to be a telepath." She's a WHAT NOW? What a casual way to introduce this fact

Honestly the random facts about what Anya likes and the bursting into tears with unclear motivation seems very much a realistic parent and child experience

"I just don't understand this irrational behaviour." I love how quickly Loid Forger aka Twilight, International Spy, has been foiled by this tiny, psychic child

Loid is approaching parenthood very casually so far. Surely a spy (pretending to be a psychologist, even) can recognize the psychological impact of abandonment on a child

Fjlkjfljflf what kind of society allows Loid to barricade his six (or maybe four) year-old child inside their apartment unsupervised all day LMAOOO

SCREAM not Anya immediately revealing their location from playing spy games. Also a very realistic problem to have

"Boss, I think we should just give up on the toupée." [Pulls out a gun and shoots him] "Transparency is essential in government. Toupées are a no-go." WHY ON EARTH ARE TOUPÉES THE ULTIMATE SPY PLOT DEVICE JFKJFJF

Love that the betrayal of the nation is SECOND to the toupée. They said: Wigs are for liars and cowards

"No one reached out their hand to save me. I felt alone, in despair, and so powerless all I could do was cry." We have unlocked Loid's parental instincts AND his tragic backstory in the span of 1 and a half minutes

"I'm a failure as a spy? No. My mistake was putting that little girl in danger to begin with. How could I forget? To create a world where children won't have to cry... That's why I became a spy." Alright Loid, colour me charmed:

Ahhhhhh I love Loid giving his enemy the chance to go back to his daughter instead of attacking him

Loid deciding to take Anya back with him despite all his misgivings bc he wants to give her a home 🥺💘 HE'S NICE

"Papa is a huge liar. But he's such a cool liar." Awww, Anya

I can see how being psychic and being able to hear every single child's confusion during a test would be distracting

"I... relaxed? What the hell is going on with me?" FATHERHOOD

"It is mandatory that the applicant attend with both parents. Absolutely no exceptions." For a society with such a cavalier approach to violence and orphans (at least where Loid goes), you'd think they'd be more accepting of single parents

Everyone's absolutely on Yor's ass for being a single 27-year-old. [Yor as Charlotte Lucas voice] I'm 27 years old. I have no money and no prospects. I'm already a burden to my brother—

"I have a client for you, Thorn Princess." Is Thorn Princess Yor's sleeper agent activation phrase? Her whole face darkened

Clearly Yor doesn't have the same violence-aversion as Loid:

Yor ready to fall in love with anyone who's nice to her. Mgkjgkg but same perhaps

"A spy...An assassin...? I'm... so excited!" [Narrator voiceover] "The little girl was straving for entertainment." The narrator's interjections are very funny

HAHAHAHA I love that they're both trying to fake date each other for very different reasons. Incredible, 10/10, love this

It's fun that Franky, spy gadget guy, is also now mission back-up

Also I take back everything I said about Loid's violence aversion

"I'll be sure to tell your brother that you came alone." Why is every woman that Yor works with (and, it seems, every woman with more than one line in this show thus far) seem to be so mean-spirited LOL

HFHLKHGLHGLGH Loid showing up to the party covered in blood and introducing himself as her husband when she needed a boyfriend. We love a spy who is terrible at his job

Loid managing to somehow make a really amazing impression on this party by being hot and defending Yor's past as a masseuse (murderer). GOOD FOR HIM

"The concussive recovery method is the latest in modern medical practices." Imagine going to your doctor for a prescription and having them kickbox you into submission LMAO

"Um, Loid-san, this may not be the best moment to ask, but why don't we get married?" SCREAMING AT YOR BEING THE ONE TO PROPOSE AND HOW KNOCKS THE WIND OUT OF LOID:

"No matter what hardships await us, let us be there for one another." [Explosions go off in the background] Colour me sold on this grenade-pin ring and spy-assassin romance

I love that they're going on a little family outing to prep for their interview

I can also understand how a political rally would be stressful for Anya

"I've completed countless missions, yet once again I find myself losing heart." Loid will eventually get used to his girls who are obssessed with nuts and knives 💞

All of them calling attention to themselves by helping an old lady deal with a purse snatcher ❣️ I love this family. I've only had the Forgers for two episodes but if anything happened to them I would [redact] everyone in this room and then myself

"I guess... receiving thanks every once in a while wouldn't hurt." "Papa is a softie." YEAH HE IS

"Papa and Mama are flirting." "No we are not!" HEE HEE

"Anya, are you going to be okay in this crowd?" Dad Mode Activated

Ohhhhhhh Anya helping the cow through her fear. Baby!!!!

OHGHGLGHLKGH setting aside how they managed to have at least three outfits in that suitcase, I really want to know how the quick change is happening in the middle of this cobblestone pathway to the school

"Why are you getting irritated, Loid? She's not even your real wife." I love that whenever someone makes an out-of-pocket insult to Yor (her coworker calling her a whore, this dorm master critiquing her lack of cooking) Loid jumps in and he's like, HEY, THAT'S MY WIFE

"My Papa and Mama are both so much fun, and I love them very much. I want to be with them forever." I also want this family to stay together forever, Anya 💗

Both Yor and Loid ready to fight this jerk for making their daughter cry!! I love them

The hope that Loid has because of his new family. This is really fulfilling a deepseated psychological need that I had to watch an anime that's just about a nice man

"He might just be the best spy in Westalis, so don't worry too much." With all due respect, that doesn't say much for the other spies, considering how suspiciously Loid acts everywhere he goes

Yor genuinely considering murdering someone to get her daughter into school 💝 Parenting!

"I appreciate the attempt at consolation, my elegant boy." This is how I will be responding to all attempts for someone to comfort me from now on

Loid just carrying a party popper around in his pocket for when Anya gets in. I LOVE HEEEM

Loid can waste government resources on a little play mission for his family. As a treat

"He's requesting agents. As many as possible," incredible how Loid immediately folds to his daughter's request to be attacked by enemies LMAOOO

HAHAHAHA Loid telling them in morse code it's an imperative part of Operation Strix, which is technically true, but not at all for any reason they would think

The way they're all like, "I will JUMP at the chance to attack Loid, been waiting my whole life for this," is also really fun

I was waiting for the spy costume. I am so glad it is a plot point

I can't decide what I enjoy more, Loid's blush over having to put on the costume mask, or the way the other spies are fangirling over him

Loid getting his butt kicked by Yor in this drunk roleplay does make me wonder if we're going to see that her assassination missions run contrary to his goals of peacekeeping

"I've come to save you, Princess Anya." "Papa!" "Wait, I'm supposed to be your dad in this?" AWWWW ANYA JUST WANTED TO HER DAD TO ACT OUT SAVING HER

In fairness to Anya's fear of kidnapping, she has been kidnapped before!

"Though, you're usually on the ball, so [discussing Operation Strix Phase 2] may not be necessary." "Well... I may actually be off my game lately." At least Loid's willing to own up to it LMAOOO

Firstly, what happened just now was definitely an attempted [redacted] crime, which is hideously uncalled for, what the fuck. But secondly: I love Yor and Anya bonding time

"I know it's really dangerous to be an Eden student now. But it won't be as scary if I train. I can do my best at school without dying!" I do love the idea of teaching this tiny child fighting techniques, but my god, what a thing to say

"Even if I can't be like a normal mother, I'm going to do everything I can for her." YOOOOOOOOOOOOR I love you

"She's already realized how amazing I am and fallen for me." Incredible confidence from Damian Desmond, Very Rich Six-Year-Old LMAO

"Mama, you liar. Smiling didn't help at all." I am very entertained by Anya's psychic child conflict management

Ffjhfkhfk I really do love the way that Anya tries her best to do things in a way that her parents would most approve of. Smiling first, trying to not get in trouble in front of the teacher when she punches Damian, claiming defence of a friend. She's a good kid!

What will Loid, who is not actually a psychologist, be doing during the day while Anya goes to school and his wife does her work. I hope it involves costumes

Update from 1 minute later: At the very least, it involves stalking elementary students from a rooftop

Update from 4 minutes later: IT DID INVOLVE COSTUMES!

Also. Also. How the hell would Loid's plan work if his daughter was NOT psychic. Like yeah yeah yeah, she knows she's supposed to be a good student. But it doesn't seem like he's explicitly told her out loud to be friends with Damian. So is he just hoping for her organic success? It's a good thing his baby knows exactly what he's thinking LMAO

I love that Becky has decided to be Anya's no. 1 supporter. She needs a friend!!

"Why do I find it so hard to speak when she's in front of me?" In a very expected turn of events, lil Damian has a crush:

"Plan B is done for." You are wrong Loid! Plan Befriend has simply turned to Plan Boy Has a Crush on Your Daughter

This at-home tutoring really resonates with my experience of being the child of Asian parents with high expectations when it comes to their children's innate talent for math

"No, Yor. You're not a stranger, nor part of someone else's family. Right now, you're the mother of the Forgers. I'm counting on you to provide whatever I'm lacking." AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I love the Forgers

I loveeee this parenting discussion around positive reinforcement

"I wonder what it'd feel like to have a real family," said Loid, tits deep in a family and fatherhood

"My sister got married?" I was waiting for this ball to drop. Can't wait!

NOT BABY BROTHER YURI BEING EMPLOYED BY THE TORTURE DEPARTMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OMG

"[Twilight] is the villain who is trying to make this world fall into chaos. You could call him my natural enemy." NOT BABY BROTHER YURI ANNOUNCING HIS INTENTIONS TO MERC HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW WHO HE'S ABOUT TO MEET AT DINNER:

I gotta say, despite them introing with assassinations, I do feel like Yuri represents a drastic tone shift for this show

"Yuri... I mean, my younger brother is coming here today! [Loid's voice raises several octaves] "Today?" The voice crack was funny. Back to family shenanigans

As a sister. I AM SICK OF THE SISTER COMPLEX JOKES. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, BABY BROTHER YURI, ANIME AS A GENRE, AND WHATEVER JAPANESE SOCIETAL NORM THAT ALLOWS THIS TO BE A CONSTANT IN SO MANY DIFFERENT STORIES?

"What could my sister possibly like about this guy?! Just because he can cook a little, and he's handsome, and tall, and considerate, and a doctor," It sounds like Yuri is talking himself into having a crush on Loid????

Wow, Loid has made Yuri as an intelligence agent within like, mere minutes of meeting him. Maybe Loid is a great spy!

Ahhhh, so the reason Yor took up killing as a job was to put her little brother through school. How honourable!

"Kiss here and now." I can't decide if this is terrible or fun. Maybe both. My money is on Anya interrupting to see her Uncle

I do appreciate that Yor has never been kissed! It makes sense, given her murder job, and I feel like we don't often get 20somethings without prior entanglements

HDJHDKJDHDHD this is so unhinged and weird. Jesus. Yuri Briar puts the B in Behnchod

"Loid Forger. You may lay claim to my sister's lips for now." WHAT A THING TO SAY

"So, let's do everything we can to make sure Yor is happy." Loid is THE Husband. There are no other husbands, just him!

"Children are so curiously observant at times," said Loid, about his daughter who is literally telepathic

"It's a terrible idea to date a woman while deceiving her," said Loid, as if that has not been the premise of his ENTIRE romantic history thus far

I think Loid is starting to develop (romantic) feelings:

You know, I haven't really commented on the horn cap thing, but I do wonder if they are to do with Anya's powers rather than just a fun little design thing

I need you to see what I'm looking at when they tell me this is Bill Watkins, Age Six:

I do like all the montages of how all of these children (and Bill Watkins, Deeply Suspicious Age Six) were preparing for this dodgeball tournament

SCREAM THE CUT TO THE DRAGON BALL Z NAMEK BACKGROUND

Damian taking the dodgeball bullet for Anya. Love u little guy

Calling it right now, with all this lead-up, I don't think Anya's throw is going to work out the way she wants

Update from a few seconds later: Yep, that was correct!

Gnjghkgjhgkjhg Loid loves Anya too much to be strict with her so he is engaging in quite a permissive parenting style

ANYA TRYING TO SAVE THE LITTLE BOY FROM DROWNING WHEN SHE'S JUST A LITTLE GIRL HERSELF. SWEETEST BABY ALIVE

DAD'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANYA EARNING HER FIRST STELLA! YEAH BABYGIRL

I like how they do a count of her Stellas (merit points which lead to the Imperial Scholar Society of Parent War Instigation) and Tonitrus Bolts (demerit points which lead to expulsion) whenever Anya gets closer to her goal

Also, bonkers that getting a Stella doesn't cancel out your Bolt? It's like, forgive, but never forget

Fhkhfkjfhfkjh Anya deciding she'll only respond to Starlight Anya. Very Six-Year-Old Behaviour

"Do you really think we go to some third-rate school that would hand out a Stella by mistake?" Damian continuing his chivalry streak

1) Extremely rude of the people to treat the dogs that way and 2) Does that big white dog's flash to the Forger family mean that we have unlocked a psychic puppy subplot?

I have been thinking since Damian was introduced that he and Anya are paralleling the Syaroan and Sakura Archetypes, but there is no greater Cardcaptor Sakura parallel than the fact this episode is called Penguin Park

"Please wait, Papa, who is a good and normal person." 10/10 spy deception Anya, no notes

Gghkhgkghkg Loid being yelled at by his Spy Juice Lady for not prioritizing this other mission. How does no one overhear this!!

"Mama, I'm being kidnapped," said Anya, as if she did not latch onto this spy herself to help out her dad's Penguin Mission

It's incredible how many of Loid's problems are solved just by him being hot:

Awwwwww I'm glad they did some actual family time after the Aquarium mission. Also I love how embarrassed Loid is every time has to do something silly, like pretending to be a Penguin Plushy for his kid, but how he'll immediately do it, even in public. Best dad!!

"Being both a Papa and an agent... must be tough balancing the two." Real and true, spy chauffeur

I love how they do parallel plots between family stuff and spy stuff. Anya looking for a puppy... Dad looking for bomb dogs!

They are in fact explaining the psychic puppy subplot

"It is far too early for Anya-san to get married!" Yor, I would like to study the way your mind works (also mom's here!!!!!!!!!!!!)

UHHHHHHHHHHHHHH EXTREMELY TRAUMATIZING FOR ANYA TO HAVE TO WATCH HER DAD'S IMMINENT DEATH BY EXPLOSION THROUGH DOG-O-VISION

That was an incredibly morose diatribe from The Handler, who is the only spy other than Loid to get a title/name

How is this baby supposed to disarm a bomb?!?!?!??

Ahhhh, by leaving a ketchup message for her dad on the door that says "NO! (Drawing of Bomb)" Of course! We love a girl who knows how to improvise

Dad has got back in the danger zone to stop the last of the Foreign Affairs Minister's terrorist threats, fair enough! I really hope they don't make him [redacted violence involving animal]

OH THANK GOD THEY HAD HIM ATTACK THE VEST AND NOT THE DOG—I WAS PRETTY CONFIDENT THEY WOULDN'T DO THAT TO LOID, BUT YOU NEVER KNOW WITH ANIME

From Yor's perspective, Loid has been in the bathroom for two full episodes

Yor kicking Keith the Radicalized Student Terrorist's car off the road after he has been discovered by Anya and foiled by Loid. We love a team effort!

"How many times must I tell you not to run off alone because it's dangerous?!" [Tearfully] "I'm sowwy." Awwww a very reasonable worry for your daughter who keeps running into every spy mission she possibly can

"I also had a daughter about her age." The Handler's tragic backstory unlocked?!

"Be prepared to take care of him until the end. I may have no right to say those words." Loid's dog care advice has accidentally turned into existential dread about adopting a child for the sake of a peacekeeping mission

Awwwwwww Yor taking cooking classes from her workplace enemy to be a better cook for her family

"Camilla-san has always been a nice person," said Yor, about the woman who called her a whore in front of a room full of people and tried to scald her with hot food on like Episode 2

"The more I savour each bite, the more I see my life flash before my eyes." Say what you will about Weird Brother Yuri, he is supportive

Admittedly this cooking lesson episode has made me like Camilla

HAHAHAHA the "They are whispering" caption so the viewer can understand why no one's reacting to the yelling about spy intel on Scruffy's potential lover

Awwwwwww Loid opting out of the family outing to comfort his little scruffy friend, who I have just re-learned is named Franky

LMAOOOOO at them just having Henderson-sensei do literally all of the classes. Top-tier writing

The Handler now has unlocked TWO new names, which are Sylvia Sherwood and Fullmetal Lady

"On the one day each month that Mister Moon goes away, Anya's power to read minds goes away too." Oooooh new psychic baby lore unlocked

Even though I don't care for Weird Brother Yuri, it is nice that Anya has someone outside of her parents to rely on for tutoring

Loid covering for Incompetent Spy Daybreak jkhfkhfkjhf

I love that Loid broke into the school, not to boost his daughter's grades, but rather to check that she didn't fail and leave it that way, and then reverse cheat (as in, undo someone's wrongdoing) to make sure two other students got their earned grades. What a man!

Ffljlfjjflkj Becky objectifying Anya's dad. I know they're six, but it's not a trope I love

"I was trying to report the cigarette I found, then he punched me." I know this is a scheme but what kind of society has SIX-YEAR-OLDS plausibly smoking???

"Second Son wouldn't do that! Anya was watching." Heck yeah Anya standing up for Damian (even though her Damian motives are decidedly ulterior LOL)

"Don't try to drag me into these adult matters in the first place!" An incredibly reasonable request from Damian

Gdljljggjglkj I love these kids telling Glooman 'Actually, the biggest problem is you have a bad personality' True and real and cutting

"Don't worry. The West is a safe place." ANYAAAA. Something something children and their ability to see people outside of the confines of politics

"There's saltwater pouring out of my eyes." The implication that George has not cried once in his six years of life LMAOOOO

Genuinely heartwarming to see all these kids singing for George and giving away their favourite school items for his sake (also I bet you $5 he doesn't actually have to quit this school)

Update from two minutes later: I was correct lol

I've been thinking about this since the hospital volunteering, but it is kind of a flaw in Loid's spy tactics to choose a public-facing job, because at any point someone could just walk into the hospital and realize he doesn't work there kjhgkjhgg like he should've just been some sort of private practice

Loid running home to "check on what Yor was doing at the school" but actually using it as an excuse to ask her on a lunch date <3

As if the show could psychically tell that I was wondering about it, they are now forcing Loid into a "Take Your Kid to Work Day" situation lmaooo

"[Loid] became an important part of our team as soon as he transferred in." How is Loid an important part of the staff if he's constantly out of hospital doing spy stuff??? How is he even capable of giving psychological care???

"To go with the rest of the facade, a number of my coworkers have also inflitrated this hospital." Ah, perhaps the fact he has a research position and other spies in the hospital is enough to cover his absences and maybe make him have fake patients

Honestly, it's a wonder Anya hasn't run into more problems in the spy realm recently other than getting stuck in a secret passage

HHGKJHGKJHGKJGH Loid taking Anya's improvised sandbox of toys as a sign of deep psychological distress

"He golfs at his workplace and creates shady channels." In every class there is one child who has the most chaotic possible interpretation of their parents' job (the kid who says their parent stabs people for money when really their parent is a tattoo artist) and Anya has decided to be that student

"But if Mrs. Forger just happened to retire, that position would have to be filled, would it not?" Why is Fiona so comically evil about getting to fake marry Loid

"But... this woman doesn't seem to have any flaws in her appearance." Even Father-snatcher Fiona Frost thinks Yor is hot

"To think the great Twilight is stuck playing house.. It's a disservice to the world." Loid said: Fuck you Fiona, I like playing house!

This silent spy standoff has certainly taken a turn:

I actually kind of love that Loid is faced with someone else who has feelings for him, because I KNOW for certain he will choose Yor, and I think that's good for Yor to see

"You're already working hard enough, Yor. That's why Anya is so fond of you. I couldn't ask you to do anything more." HE LOVES HERRRRR

I really resonate with Yor's Girls Who Are Bad At Stuff representation kjhgkgjh

"Agent Penguin suffered honourable injuries in battle." Loid sewing up his daughter's penguin stuffy and making up a backstory for their dog chewing him up ❤️ I love hiiiim

I appreciate that Fiona confirms from someone who knew him before Loid has been changed by love (for Yor and Anya)

NOT THE DOUBLE FAKE TENNIS COUPLE NAMES BEING TWAIN AND NAFALIA PHONY

Though, now that I think of it, I guess Loid's given last name is Forger, so really this is a pattern of very silly names

"We've been developing a new doping agent called OSO-R along with the government in preparation for the upcoming East-West Sports Exhibition." Every so often they dip back into the crime world, and today it's sports doping

"I wonder what her relationship with Loid is." Yor babygirl, you do not need to worry about her, Loid is fully Team Yor

I love this little look into all the different things that come up in an infiltration (having to be very good at specific things like tennis, dealing with potential poisons, compensating for traps)

"You're still young, and you're clearly talented. From now on, hone your craft properly. I'm sure you'll become an amazing player." "Twain, I'll really do my best from now on!" Aside from being an incredible professional tennis player, Loid's talents also include reforming his opponents into better people:

Fhfhfkjhfkfjhf Loid every time Fiona comes near Yor: Hey, please leave my wife alone

"Come at me with everything you've got." "Uh, don't, Fiona." Loid knows Yor has enough physical might to beat a hundred tennis players

Yor wanting Loid to praise her for winning the match 🥺❤️

Loid taking Yor on a reassurance date to let her know she's still #1

"Wait, does Yor have romantic feelings for me?!" TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH, BUT YOU GOT THERE, LOID

NOT LOID IMMEDIATELY SWITCHING TO PLAN HONEY TRAP AND YOR ACCIDENTALLY KICKING SOME SENSE TO HIM

"I can't let my guard down like that. Somehow, being with Yor throws me off." Loid, you stupid man, who can't see that him AND his wife have feelings for each other

"I would love for you to continue being Anya's mother. And to continue in the role of my wife." This is the most honest thing Loid has said in hours

Anya getting Becky a keychain because she didn't think she was allowed to get one for herself!! Sweet girl

What kind of father has ZERO time to interact with his son LMAO (Donovan Desmond, apparently)

"Anya's a little scared because she's not sure if Papa loves her or not. He always gets mad at me. But I believe in him because I love him." ANYAAAAAAAAAA

Papa Desmond and his truly haunting eyes finally make an on-screen appearance and meeting with Loid:

"Even the child that shares your blood is a stranger." Is this a general view from Donovan on his parent-child relationships or is this a shot at Loid for not being Anya's biological father?

"People will never be able to understand each other." What a thing to say about your six-year-old, who is standing right in front of you with his friends

"What's truly important is to continue walking them despite [not understanding each other]. I decided that I would accept her regardless, and I try to find every opportunity I can to talk to her." Loid laying spy ground work on top of challenging Donovan to be a better father. We love a man who can multitask

"I'm pretty sure she doesn't actually dislike you. It'd make me happy if you could be friends with her." "Well, I want to, too..." Gjhgjhgjhfjlfj Loid is also working on Operation Playdate

This has been a pretty delightful show so far. Spy x Family proving to everyone you can fight people AND be nice!!!!

#ayesha talks anime #liveblogging #ayesha liveblogs spy x family #spy x family #long post #sxf series #spy x family series #told you the next liveblog would be smth light-hearted!!#i haven't quite decided on a tag for this show yet #moqueueton #guns tw

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balkanradfem · 10 months

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As I moved to the city, I found a tree I liked, and there was a little bird on it one day. I sat under it and sketched it out, just shaded the silhouette of the branches and the bird within. It felt like I didn't do much, just spent some time putting pencil trail on a paper. The result was insignificant too, it held nothing that was meaningful for me to look at. It was just a way to pass the time.

However, few years back, this tree fell down. I now look at that drawing and I feel genuine gratitude I made it. It's a reminder of that tree, that it was there, and I sat underneath, and was able to draw some branches. I'll never be able to do that again, under that specific tree. It was now a drawing of a tree gone in history.

Last year, when my mental health got very bad, and I couldn't move much, I decided to make watercolors for a half hour every day, during twilight, sitting on the riverbank. I was making paintings of the bridge and the old buildings along the river. It was absolutely beautiful when the sun started setting, because all of the city lamps lit up, sending colorful stripes of glimmering light all over the river. It looked magical to me. The buildings on the riverbank were old, renaissance-looking and to me it seemed almost like they were leading up to a castle, it looked like a dream.

After drawing, I would take the paper and go home, and neighbours who recognized me on the way asked me what I've made; one of them liked the painting so much they offered to buy it. Seeing something they recognized on a painting meant something to them, it held memories.

Last week, one of the biggest historical buildings on that riverbank was bulldozed. I'm sure as it was old, there was a big threat of it collapsing on the pedestrians, and it was not used for anything anymore, it was only a memento of the past, an ornamental building that is now gone. A big empty hole replaced it, looking odd and unsettling, like there was something significant that needed to be there, but is now gone.

And I'll never be able to sit on the riverbank and make that exact same painting. Because the environment has changed to the point where it would no longer look familiar to me, it looks wrong. But my paintings, that still have the building in them, are now a historical record of how the city used to look.

That's not what I meant to do when I was drawing it, and yet with the changed context, I feel different about it. It's no longer a memento of my bad mental health and methods I use to self-soothe, it's like a little treasure, something that cannot be gained anymore. Reminder of how good the riverbank looked with that building in it.

Drawing on paper for me never does what I mean it to do, instead it always changes with how the world shifts. I wanted to make paintings of all of my favourite places in the city so I can hold it in memories, but it seems that I'm making paintings of a city that will no longer exist when I'm gone. It's unsettling that all of the things I favour in it are starting to be gone; I prefer the version in the paintings.

#drawing #making art on paper #traditional art #environment changes #making art to soothe mental health #existing in a city that changes in all of the ways i dislike

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fayoftheforest · 8 months

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vampire kyle & historic antisemitism

DISCLAIMER: this post is not intended to incite drama or discourse, I simply want to share my thoughts on a complex topic. Just because I’m Jewish does not mean I speak for the entire community. We’re not a monolith, there is great diversity of opinion among us, discussion and debate is a beloved part of our culture, etc etc :) ok on with the post!

But wait, Fay, I hear you interject. Vampires aren’t even real! How can they be sayin’ stuff about Jews? Well, my dear friends, I have some rather grave news for you: much of pop culture is Sayin’ Stuff About The Jews. And very little of it is positive :/

I’ll quote Jewish author Deke Moulton to establish the basic links between vampires and antisemitism:

The problem is tied to the conspiracy called the blood libel. If you’re not familiar with it, the blood libel started in Medieval Europe in the 12th century and claimed that Jewish people needed the blood of Christian children to make our Passover matzoh. For context, Jewish people are prohibited from consuming blood at all – we will salt kosher meat to draw out blood. Despite being very old and very wrong, the blood libel idea still persists today (albeit usually with slightly less obvious framing).

There is also a common trope of vampires operating through a secret, worldwide council that often governs ‘vampire affairs’ but also may dabble in controlling other aspects of the world’s governments. While some people can see a similarity to the Catholic Church, often times this calls upon the antisemitic trope of the ‘cabal’—that Jews secretly run the entire world (which is another strange antisemitic trope, as Judaism doesn’t have any central religious figure like the Pope). The word ‘cabal’ itself is a bastardization of the word kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism. If you combine this with a trope of vampires hoarding large amounts of money (especially gold?), you’re using yet another antisemitic trope that says Jewish people control the world’s banks.

Even things like being adverse to the sunlight can have antisemitic implications – the early Church claimed that, because in Judaism days start at sundown and thus our time of worship happens at night, that gathering at night to worship was proof of us being evil and satanic.

So, all vampires are bad and wrong, and vampire Kyle AUs are a hatecrime, and everyone who’s ever done one should go straight to jail, right?

Well. No.

Because really, it should be noted that this extract is from an interview on Moulton’s novel “Don’t Want To Be Your Monster,” a book which not only features blood-sucking vampires, but a blood-sucking Jewish vampire. Interesting, interesting... it's almost as if this topic is nuanced or something 🤔

Many iconic vampires are based on antisemitic stereotypes. Perhaps most famous is Dracula, with curly hair and a hooked nose, is an Eastern European immigrant who has the intentions of “infecting” British society. Another example is Nosferatu, who also has an exaggerated hooked nose, is thin, pale and hunched, and is topped by a skull cap. There are modern exceptions to this trend, though! Twilight comes to mind. Edward Cullen is far more inspired by Stephanie Meyer’s Mormonism than Judaism as a whole. Explained so aptly by The Quietus, “As vampiric portrayals become more positive, they tend to also become less connected to Jewish representation.” Come on, you guys >:( Jewishness can be hot and sexy too, I swear!!

From what I’ve seen of Vamp!Kyle AUs, portrayals tend to lean more towards the mysterious and alluring Cullen-type than the bad-to-the-bone Dracula. Ultimately, I think this is what redeems our fandom’s vampire Kyle. Because crucially, whilst vampires can be antisemitic, they are not innately antisemitic. When you show Kyle brooding behind his high-collars and flashing toothy grins at his love interest, it’s not typically symbolic of the ultimate evil that we are expected to fear and ridicule. It's intended to be cute, or cool, or hot, or whatever.

My advice is thus: if you want to make something deeper or complex with the AU, just have a think about what you’re using his vampiric traits to represent. Are you drawing from unfortunate stereotypes or feeding into antisemitic fears? Are you validating or justifying the “othering” or ostracisation of Jewish people from wider society? You could consider finding a Jewish beta/sensitivity reader, if that’s accessible to you. But generally speaking, so long as you’re not presenting Kyle as an all-powerful predator to pure, innocent Christian society, I reckon you’re probably alright :)

#south park #south park meta #sp kyle #kyle broflovski #vamp!kyle #vampire kyle #i took a long break from tumblr so posting a meta here after all this time is a bit scary haha!#if you enjoyed please let me know and maybe i'll post more stuff like this or smthn :)#cw antisemitism

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The *other* Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight story -- how we almost NEVER got a Kyle Rayner

(Years ago I made a Twitter thread about this and one of my favorite websites, DC In The 80's asked if they could host it and I was proud to revise it and have it be a part of their amazing site. I repost it here on my only remaining socials, revised once again and expanded quite a bit, for @greenlantern94to04 as well as everyone else. Thanks!)

Ok, so we're gonna talk about Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight. How we almost never got Kyle Rayner. How Gerard Jones had a very different story in mind. We're gonna talk about how DC made the drastic, correct decision. We're gonna discuss H.E.A.T.

I am gonna preface this by saying: Former Green Lantern writer Gerard Jones was sentenced to 6 years in federal prison for child pornography charges in 2018. There is no debate here. The man is a literal monster. Absolutely disgusting. Cancel culture exists to shun a man like this.

This thread is not to support his work or encourage you to seek it out. Please do not. Rather, its to showcase comics history & show you how we dodged a huge bullet & he was rightfully fired off Green Lantern & we got one of the best runs in comic history with Ron Marz.

So, historical context: Green Lantern as a franchise was struggling in the late 80's. It didn't have its own series, it was running in Action comics Weekly with some odd specials here & there. Hal Jordan wasn't that huge. In 1990 Green Lantern Volume 3 was launched by Jones:

Your mileage may vary on Jones' run & what he did for the GL franchise. The gist of his run is showing how OLD Hal Jordan is. He spends most of the series as an old drifter, wandering the country, with some fresh greyed hair. It is by no means an exciting book with Hal as the lead.

Anyways, this series runs for several years with Jones always battling with his editor Kevin Dooley about its contents. Meanwhile in the Return of Superman story, Hal Jordan's hometown, Coast City is destroyed by Cyborg Superman & Mongul.

Now this is followed up in Green Lantern 46 & 47 by Gerard Jones. Here's the last page of GL #47:

Hal certainly seems ok with everything that happened & he's ready to move on to some other story. Doesn't seem like he's gonna lose it & go crazy over the loss of Coast City, does he?

That's because Ron Marz' Emerald Twilight was originally not planned! Jones had his own version of Emerald Twilight planned. It was even solicited with house ads for it even appearing in books at the time!! Here's the house ad again that was to be the cover of GL #48 by Kevin Maguire:

Here are the original previews that were sent out to retailers for Green Lantern issues 48 & 49:

GL 48 by Jones, Cobbs,& Tanghal

"Superman and the Justice League gather by Green Lantern's side as Hal confronts the horror of the destruction of Coast City. Meanwhile on Oa, the Guardians of the Universe find themselves fighting a lethal battle against the Guardians of the Universe?"

GL 49 by G. Jones, Haynes, & Tanghal

"Green Lantern is caught up in a battle raging between two equally powerful groups of the Guardians of the Universe. Hal's side loses, and the winners' first act is to take away the power rings' 24-hour time limit, and their yellow impurity Their second act is to appoint a new leader of the Green Lantern Corps --- Sinestro! This issue leads directly into the landmark Green Lantern #50, a major turning point for the series."

So as you can see we almost got a VERY different course of action for Green Lantern in the 90s. Now those are hints of the original proposed plan, but Jones actually went into it all in interviews & a plot synopsis. Here is Jones' original plot for Emerald Twilight in its entirety:

"The destruction of Coast City and his breakup with Carol make Hal realize that he can't find the roots he wants on earth. He's inspired by the memories of the dead, especially his father, to become a better hero; he decides he must affirm himself first and foremost as a Green Lantern, finding his community in the Corps. But when he goes to Oa for the big swearing-in ceremony of all the new GLs, a new group of Guardians appears, claiming to be the true Guardians.

These "New" Guardians claim that the "Old" Guardians are impostors who plan to use the GL Corps to reduce the universe to chaos. The Old group counters that the New ones are impostors who plan to use the GLs to subject the universe to tyranny in the name of "order". Adding credence to the New Guardians' claim--and raising the stakes--are the Zamarons, convinced that they are their husbands. The Zams are about to give birth to the ultimate Cosmic Children, whose power will be such that whoever controls them can control the cosmos. The fate of the universe--chaos or tyranny--hinges on whichever set of Guardians can win over the GL Corps and gain control of the Children.

Hal--who knows the Guardians as no other GLs do, having seen the Old Timer at his most human and vulnerable, and having gone through his conflict with them and his "act of faith" in GL 35--knows in his gut that the New Guardians are the impostors. But the weight of evidence is against him and he can't convince the other GLs (the "Twelve Angry Men" dynamic).Hal has a choice: break with the GL Corps, now his only hope for community and belonging; or collude with something he feels will reduce the universe to tyranny. Hal chooses the former.

He enters the battery to increase his power, fights the Corps and takes the Old Guardians into hiding as he seeks a way to convince his fellow GLs or beat the New Guardians. The stakes for Hal are high: if he's RIGHT about the New Guardians, but they WIN, then the universe is doomed. If he's WRONG in his gut-feeling and HE wins, then HE'S doomed the universe. If he's WRONG and he LOSES, then the universe is okay but Hal is ostracized from the only group that means anything to him. The pressure is on him not only to win, but to be damn sure he's right.

The New Guardians announce their new leader of the GL Corps: Sinestro, renowned for his devotion to order before he broke with the GL Corps. He whips the Corps into a paramilitary group and starts a program of "good" but ruthless acts: like destroying the Khund homeworld. Hal sends his only ally, Star Sapphire, to appeal to her fellow Zamarons. She learns some things about the way the New Guardians convinced them of their legitimacy that suggest to Hal that the power behind the New Guardians is ENTROPY.

Hal contacts the confused but sympathetic Arisia, trying to argue his point with other GLs through her. But Sinestro has them all wowed or cowed...and when Kilowog throws in with Sinestro and his tough new approach, Hal feels his struggle to win over the Corps is becoming hopeless. Hal returns to the Coast City monument, to commune with the memory of his father, whose grave was destroyed along with the city. But the Hunter GLs-revived by Sinestro to police the Corps' internal affairs--catch him there.

He escapes for the moment, but they've destroyed his ring. But the inspiration of Hal's dad makes him want to find a way to keep fighting, and he discovers that he has power within him. His trip into the battery enabled him to internalize his power, but he couldn't realize that as long as he felt he needed his ring, and the Corps. Hal fights back, knowing he may have to fight alone to his death, and defeats the Hunters.

Sinestro reacts to this by getting even tougher with the Corps and speeding up his acts of "purification," and some GLs begin to wonder if Hal was right. The Zamarons, meanwhile, are about to give birth, which would give the New Guardians the power they need to take control of the universe no matter what Hal does. The clock is ticking faster and faster. Star Sapphire, acting under Hal's instructions, learns enough about the New Guardians through the Zamarons to start forcing Entropy to show his hand.

Hal gathers DC earth-heroes to join him against the Corps. When Sinestro tries to send the whole Corps against Hal and his allies, Arisia rediscovers her nerve and fights back against him. Other disaffected GLs join her--but not enough to stop the rest. Arisia's splinter group flees into space, is nearly caught and destroyed by Sinestro's group...but are saved at the last moment by Hal.

Hal now leads his rag-tag band of heroes and rebel GLs against Sinestro on Oa. But Entropy, through the New Guardians, throws him a curve: they reveal to Hal that his father didn't die by accident; his death was arranged by the Old Guardians.... who saw the potential for a great GL in Hal but foresaw that he would need a trauma to make him the fearless man he could be.

At the moment before the final conflict, Hal is shaken to the core: can he fight to defend the beings who killed his father? Hal realizes that his private grief and rage means nothing against the fate of the universe. He fights for the old Guardians despite what they did. The babies are about to be born. The New Guardians capture Sapphire and are about to kill her. The battle begins.

Hal goes head to head with Kilowog, the most painful battle of either of their lives. In the heat of conflict, though, Sinestro begins to reveal his true, wretched self. Hal tricks him into showing his true colors. Kilowog realizes he's been suckered. Enraged, he joins Hal's side. Sinestro's support collapses. The New Guardians dissolve, revealing themselves as mere manifestations of Entropy, and Entropy throws himself personally into the fray. His goal all along has been to reduce the universe to lifeless entropy by robbing it of its life, its ability to change. Too much order (Sinestro) is essentially equal to too much chaos (Entropy). The Old Guardians represent the right way, the way of Life. Now he's about to seize the Children as they're born.

The Old Guardians show up--thanks to Hal's power--and tip the battle. They snatch the babies from Entropy at the last moment. The GLs turn on him. He's destroyed. All seems well. Deceived GLs are forgiven. The Guardians send the Corps off to do its thing while they tend to the Children who will become the greatest powers in the universe.

But all isn't well with Hal. He fought for the Guardians, because it was right, but he can't go on serving the cosmic manipulators who killed his father. They say they don't do things like that anymore, but it's too late. Hal has his own internal power now, and he's learned that he fights best alone. He won't be manipulated again. He goes off to become the Protector!!"

... AND THATS THE END OF THE PROPOSAL! There are a lot of similarities in the proposed & realized Emerald Twilight: Sinestro, Hal fighting the GL's, Hal taking on a new identity clearing the way for a new fresh Lantern to take over the book.

Jones had this to say about it all in a Fanzing (#39) Interview about his proposed plans:

"Even before Paul, Mike and others said so, (GL Editor) Kevin Dooley and I were talking about using issue 50 to turn everything upside down, bring in a new Green Lantern, give Hal an indefinite break, and get back to basic, exciting stories.

Unfortunately, Denny O'Neil, who was Kevin's boss, and Paul Levitz and Mike Carlin, didn't feel it was big enough to turn around readers' perceptions of what by then had been a lousy comic for about a year. Particularly if the writer stayed the same.

As Denny said to me later, sometimes the market has to see that a complete creative shift is occurring, including the creative team. Which makes total sense, although at the time I was very angry and frustrated. This whole series was my frustration, the series I really wanted to make great but that for four years had never felt like mine, and here I saw a chance to start over and make it good at last, and I just couldn't get there.

What I feel worst about in retrospect is that Kevin was apparently going to bat for me again and again with his bosses, but because he wasn't free to tell me what was going on behind the scenes, and because I was mad at him about other petty crap, I blamed him. I criticized him to his bosses, wrote a nasty fax, really puerile ways to blow off my frustration. I apologized later, and I think everyone understood that I was just a clueless freelancer, 3000 miles away. But it was an ugly finish. I quit so they didn't have to fire me.

Then they had an emergency plotting session, Paul, Mike, Denny, Archie [Goodwin], and Kevin, and they handed that plot to Ron Marz, who was coming up at the time, had worked with [Jim] Starlin, had a cosmic resume going.

First, I hasten to say that "The Protector" was a working title! We were going to do better than that! But yeah, there was going to be a new, younger GL, which I'd originally preferred to doing a Hal who was too burdened by the ball and chain of continuity. Hal would have popped in and out, maybe gotten his own miniseries, and then maybe or maybe not have become a GL again. I had various thoughts about the down-the-road story. But issue 51 would have been the introduction of a new GL, a completely new character, who was still in the vaguest development when it all ended."

SO! What happened next?? DC, in a real pickle here has Jones leave the title, but a huge supposed "Break the Bat"/"Death of Superman" Green Lantern Emerald Twilight story has been solicited. In an emergency situation they turn to Ron Marz, who has this to say:

"I got a call late on a Friday night offering me the book," says Marz of 1993. "I'd actually been down in New York for the day at the Marvel offices. I came home, my wife and I went out for a quick dinner, and then I guess around 9 o'clock the phone rang and it was Kevin Dooley offering me the job. Mike Carlin, Archie Goodwin and Denny O'Neil were in the room, as well as Eddie Berganza, who was Kevin's assistant at the time. I believe Paul Levitz might well have been there too."

"Kevin said he wanted me to take over 'GL' because the book needed a fresh direction I was excited, because I'd always thought Hal was a pretty cool character, and I love that costume. And then the other shoe dropped. Kevin explained what was planned, essentially removing Hal from the book and replacing him with a GL that I would make up. Pretty serious stuff. The real kicker, and I swear to God this is true, is I was wearing a Hal T-shirt when I got the call. It was one of those pocket T-shirts from the Warner Bros. Stores. I still have it."

"Darryl Banks: I was already on the project with another writer then the editors decided to go in a different direction.

Marz: The previous writer had a different storyline in mind for issues #48 through #50, and Darryl actually drew some pages from that issue script.

Banks: I had drawn about five pages or so of the initial project when the changes began.

Marz: I think I have copies of them somewhere.

But ultimately DC editorial decided that story was not what they wanted, and offered me the title.

I assume Darryl and I started talking when he started drawing issue #50. Switching storylines meant that the schedule was behind enough that other artists had to be brought in to draw #48 and #49. That's why each issue of 'Emerald Twilight' has a different artist."

So Ron Marz takes over the books with a plot & we got what was published. Hal Jordan, utterly broken by the destruction of Coast City jarringly tries to remake it in his image with his ring. Stopped by the Guardians & gone mad with grief, he destroys the Corps & becomes Parallax while a new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner is introduced:

Marz: DC faxed me about a page-and-a-half of notes, just a broad outline of what the three issues were supposed to be. All the details were left to me to fill in.

Killing Kilowog was all me.

I felt like if Hal was going to destroy the Corps, it needed to be personal, we needed to see a known character meet his fate on camera. There's no sense in doing that kind of storyline if it doesn't hurt.

Banks: It's funny you said "heel turn" because Hal did use a few pro wrestling moves in issue #50!

Marz: The last line of the outline that DC gave me was, essentially, "...and a new Green Lantern is created." That was the only direction I was given.

I asked if the new GL could be a woman, and DC said they wanted to keep a male lead.

I asked if the new GL could be an alien, and the answer was he needed to be human.

Other than that, there was no direction.

So we just made up Kyle from the ground floor. I never made a secret that he was very much based on the Everyman archetype that Spider-Man typifies.

I wanted just a regular guy, rather than someone who was already a hero, like Hal, who was a test pilot. If we were going to go in a different direction, let's really go in a different direction. Let's have somebody who has to learn to be a hero. Irish ancestry because that interested me. I picked his first name because of Kyle Reese in The Terminator. I picked Rayner off a list of Irish last names, just because it sounded good with "Kyle." Black hair because Hal had brown hair, and Alan had blond hair. And an artist because Green Lantern is in a lot of ways a special effects book. We wanted someone who was going to make cool stuff with the ring.

Ultimately, Ron Marz makes the DC version of Spider-Man and Magneto in one fell swoop.

Marz: Darryl was the one who came up with the name Parallax, and it's perfect. Hal's view of everything has changed, because of his perspective. For me, Hal was never a villain, he was at worst an antagonist or an anti-hero. I wanted the audience to feel like, 'Well, maybe he has a point here...'

To me, the best villains are the heroes of their own stories. That's why I generally was more attracted to Marvel villains than DC villains. The old rule of thumb was that Marvel villains wanted to rule to the world, DC villains wanted to rob banks.

I saw Hal as Parallax very much in the Magneto mold. He was convinced in the righteousness of his cause, and he was willing to do what was necessary to achieve his goals. He was very much a sympathetic character to me. All-powerful, but broken.

Banks: Parallax wasn't the villain he was perceived to be. Hal Jordan was pushed past his limit. Furious, yes. Evil, no. There was still a nobility about the purpose and one of the reasons I designed him with knight-like armor.

The word 'parallax' essentially deals with a different point of view. It is a literal line of sight term but I thought it was a fitting metaphor for Hal Jordan's transformation. Originally, DC wanted to name him 'The Protector' because they already owned that name. That just didn't fit with where we were going with the character and I had to put in writing why I liked the name Parallax better. Hal's decision to gain more power was actually noble in intent. With the design, I thought of it as an Arthurian 'Green Knight' approach. I like armor anyway!

The response to this was shock. Some people loved the new direction and introduction of Kyle Rayner & Parallax. Others thought it the most disrespectful thing ever done, spawning one of the most polarizing fanbases ever: H.E.A.T. - Hal's Emerald Advancement Team. On newsgroups, Prodigy, GeoCities sites, AOL rooms, CompuServe & all of the other 1994 internet chat rooms of the time, people enraged over this direction came together. These fans together made H.E.A.T. whose mission was: As Green Lantern fans, it is our goal to encourage and advocate the return and exoneration of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, the restoration of the Green Lantern legends, and the revival of the honorable Green Lantern Corps. They harassed DC and the creators, sending death threats & countless awful messages to the writers & editors calling for them to be fired and worse. They were an incessant online troll fanbase. Defenders and members of H.E.A.T. claim they were a charitable group that set up a scholarship in memoriam of Gil Kane and that they also raised money to send John Broome to San Diego Comic Con in 1998 as well as organized many comic donation charities. I tend to believe the creators and fans who have their own personal accounts of how awful and toxic they were than the PR messages of the people in the group. In fact, every time I write about them, some of them STILL come out of the woodwork to "Um, Actually" me and disrespect me. Soooooo, make of them what you will but I think I've painted a pretty clear picture.

For years, they did not die down, they did not quit. In 1997 they took out a full page ad in Wizard Magazine. These people were unhealthily obsessed:

They are infamous for spending more than 5-10 years trying to harass DC & anyone who would listen into reversing this story & putting Hal back on top as a character. They are a clear cut case in what not to do as a comic fan.

In 1997, Will Allred of Quantum Zone interviewed Jack Grimes from H.E.A.T. detailing his efforts to advance Hal. Here's a few interactions from the interview:---

Allred: Now that we know I'm a fanboy, could you give us a little background on how this project got started?

Grimes: Well, I had had the idea for a Hal/Green Lantern Corps advertisement swirling around in my head since the Green Lantern Corps page's "Green Lantern Corps Petition" really started taking off, racking up something like 50 signatures a month. I just didn't have the initiative (nor the time) to investigate. That is, until late August, when friend and fellow Green Lantern fan Harry Philipo publicly suggested taking out an ad to the "regulars" on AOL's DC Online GL message board. When almost a dozen people immediately pledged at least $20, I figured we might actually have a shot at it, and I e-mailed them with my interest in organizing the ad. We did some investigating and found the ad rates for a few industry magazines. Despite the vastly greater cost in Wizard, we decided to make the biggest impact possible and go with the industry's most widely distributed magazine. Kevin Huxford opened communication lines with Wizard, which I then followed. Joe Sturgeon and Harry lent their computer graphics talents in constructing the ad itself, which I chose the image and wrote copy for, while I drummed up support on the Internet from the most publicly adamant fans.

Allred: You've got the ad. What do you hope to accomplish with it?

Grimes: Obviously, we want to see Hal Jordan in a prominent, heroic position again in the DC Universe, and the Green Lantern concept enriched once more with the mythology of the Corps. But at the core of it, it's to send a united message to DC, and all comic companies. A message that says long-time fans are tired of taking a back seat to hot trends and disposable incomes. And a message to fans of Hal and the Corps letting them know that they are not alone.

Allred: Do you think it will work and bring Hal and the Corps back?

Grimes: I don't see why not. We certainly aren't calling for the end of the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern. There's no way we'd wish "Emerald Twilight" on any comic fan, no matter the character. What we would like to see is in everyone's best interest: a bigger, brighter, more successful GREEN LANTERN.

Allred: How do you think those at DC will react?

Grimes: The optimist in me says, "Immediately hire Kurt Busiek." The pessimist in me echoes one comic professional I contacted for contributions (I contacted several, and most sent their best wishes of support, but declined to donate due to conflict of interest), who said that DC might treat the ad as a joke. But I really don't know how DC will respond...if past experience is any indicator, they'll probably shrug it off as the "cries of the loud minority," but this is a unique situation. I truly hope and expect them to take us seriously and at least consider where we are coming from.

Allred: Anything else to add?

Grimes: I'd just like to make it clear to all Kyle Rayner fans that we are not calling for replacement. We're calling for expansion and restoration. And, I'd like to once again thank all those that helped make this ad possible!---

Unhealthily. Obsessed.

Marz had this to say about them in 2020 (Source):

Marz: Certainly the overall lesson was that a relatively small number of people can make a lot of noise. The vast majority of people read a comic, enjoy it, and move on with their lives But a very few people obsess over some aspect. I knew 'Emerald Twilight' was going to be controversial, and upset a segment of fans. But ... yeah, some of them got a little carried away over these made-up people.

I've got a couple of stories. The first one is when I was in Portland, Oregon for a convention, and a guy was pointed out to me as one of the ringleaders of H.E.A.T., a guy who was seriously agitating for me to get fired by DC, and never work in the business again. He kind of loomed at the periphery of my table, and I figured he was never going to approach me. But he finally got up the nerve, stepped up to the table, and announced he was very unhappy with what I had done to Hal Jordan. I told him that it wasn't personal, the story wasn't meant to upset him personally, and that I hoped he had found other comics he liked. He presented me with a laminated H.E.A.T. membership card with my name on it, and a list of demands on the back, one of which was that be fired off the book.

So I politely handed back the card and told him I didn't really want to be a member of an organization that had a goal of making me unemployed. I pointed out to him that he was more concerned with what happened to imaginary people than real people, and he looked kind of baffled at that notion, like he had never considered that before. He assured me it "wasn't personal" ... and then handed me a stack of all of my Green Lantern issues to that point, and asked me to sign them. Which I did.

The other is when, in the midst of all the "Emerald Twilight" controversy, Wizard Magazine invited me and one of the vocal H.E.A.T. guys to come to their Chicago convention and debate the story. I said sure, that seemed like fun. But they couldn't get the other guy to commit to the trip. It was time for Wizard to book plane tickets and hotel rooms, and the guy still wouldn't commit. Finally, they needed an answer, and the guy admitted he couldn't come to Chicago because "my mom won't let me." He was a 16-year-old kid.

Now, personally, I love Emerald Twilight. Do I think its a jarring, sudden story that does irrevocably change a long time beloved character? Yes, very much so. Do I think it deserved H.E.A.T. and the hate? Not at all. I think everyone tried their absolute best to do something bold and new and rare for the Big 2 in turning a longtime hero character into a villain. That Marz was trying to, with respect and purpose after the initial rush job, fashion him in the Magneto mold, with fascinating shades of gray and the potential for an infinite number of great stories is, to me, something to be applauded for. He didn't unceremoniously kill him and constantly disrespect him. We actually got several excellent stories with both Parallax and classic Hal from Marz after this that I think serviced the character with such impressive depth and care in a way he's rarely ever been handled.

In response to fan backlash, Marz had this to say: (source: Emerald Archive: Ron Marz answers every question regarding 'Green Lantern')

"Look, people are going to believe what they want to believe. But if there are actually people out there thinking it was somehow my life's goal to 'destroy' Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern mythos ... please, seek help. I was offered a job. The job had certain parameters. I took the offer and worked within those parameters, and did the best job I could."

"The truth is, if I hadn't written Emerald Twilight, someone else would have, and the story would have been substantially the same. That's by no means an effort to pass the 'blame.' I did write those stories, and if you don't like them, feel free to blame me because, yes, my name is in the credits box."

"I still think 'ET' was a gutsy move by DC at the time. To effect permanent change upon one of your top characters is brave. I liked Hal as a character. I still do. But he'd been badly handled for a number of years prior to my tenure. I can remember picking up the first few issues of what was then the new GL series, and coming away just not caring because Hal seemed like a wuss wandering the country searching for … whatever. This was a fearless test pilot?"

"So the thinking at the time was that something drastic was needed, something that would attract a lot of attention back to what had become a moribund franchise. That much worked. When I agreed to take the book, issues #48, #49 and #50 were all due."

"The book was late, the planned issues had been pulled, and things had to get moving right now. So I wrote my first three issues at the same time. That's why there were three different artists on them. I remember writing part of issue #48 between sets at a Peter Gabriel concert. I found a quiet place where I could steal a few minutes to write."

"The deadlines were that tight. I would have loved to write 'ET' over six issues. I think that's about the length that would have been necessary to really make Hal's descent believable and tragic. So what we ended up doing was a bit rushed because of circumstances, and I regret that. But if I'd had six issues, the events would have been generally the same. I just would have had more room for the character stuff. Sometimes you just have to play the cards you're dealt."

"I had a few pages of notes from editorial, dictating the broad strokes of what needed to happen: Hal goes nuts, wipes out the Corps, kills Sinestro and blows up the Central Battery and the Guardians. The details were up to me."

"I decided to have Hal kill Kilowog on camera, because I felt we needed to feel the loss of a more known character to make this thing have some weight. I decided that Ganthet would be the one Guardian to survive, since he'd had some previous exposure."

"I've never given much thought to what I would have done differently, because that wasn't a possibility at the time. As I said, though, more pages to tell the story would have been great. I had the most freedom to develop the new Green Lantern. DC just let me make up Kyle from scratch. The name, the look, the background, everything. I'm really thankful for as much leash as I had."

"I guess I saw Hal as a classic character who had turned into a dull character that not many readers cared about. Very often it's not the character itself, it's the portrayal. And once readers become bored with a portrayal, it's very hard to get them to come back. 'ET' certainly jump-started interest in GL, so from that viewpoint, it was a success."

"As to whether it was necessary, apparently sales were sliding enough that something drastic was needed. Having read what was originally written and drawn for issues #48-#50, I can say that those issues would not have stoked interest in the series, because those issues were more of the same. That's not a qualitative judgment. I'm just saying that the material wasn't exciting enough to attract new readers."

So there we have it. All the behind the scenes drama and info surrounding Emerald Twilight & the huge change to Hal Jordan as a character by DC Comics.

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lucky-clover-gazette · 2 years

Text

thinking about how bodily autonomy is a really consistent motif in the zelda games... the amount of times link is forced into alternate forms or zelda is possessed/transformed/literally removed from her body is really interesting. off the top of my head we have wolf link, link's forms in majora's mask, link's forced aging in oot and revelation that he isn't kokiri, link doing a sort of tactical drag in botw, zelda being sheik, zelda being possessed in twilight princess, zelda preserving herself in time as the goddess in skyward sword, midna being cursed as an imp, batreaux, and the skulltula people in oot. there's also so much cross-dressing (i know that term might have a negative connotation but i don't think it should in this context) and gender nonconformity. bodies are constantly changed as a reflection of a character's arc and actions, and often a character regaining control of their own body is a resolution to their arc.

but i feel like the more you think about it, the messier it gets, both in good and bad ways. for example, i think there's a reason lots of trans, gnc, and queer people connect to zelda games because of the many ways gender and transformation are weaved into the stories. that's great. but i also think there are some huge failings on nintendo's part in terms of representation and transformation of bodies, mostly in their characters of color and lack thereof. like, tetra. just tetra. and that's not even mentioning the way they gave me the ick re: her forced gender presentation as zelda. also some designs like the gerudo esp in the earlier 3d games and holy shit the bokoblins and gorons in twilight princess (seriously they're bad) are obviously informed by racial stereotypes. and it's extra super not great bc there are not many hylian/human characters who have dark skin, or even tan skin. it sucks. it's just a shame that these fantastic games, some of which are 20+ years old, experiment with gender presentation in such a fascinating way (hell, even link was designed so that everyone could see a bit of their gender in him) but very little attention was placed on representing non-white players. in fact, some of the use of racial stereotypes and exaggerated features is just more alienating and dehumanizing, hence the not-good side of zelda's focus on bodies. holy shit, i say again, why did they do that with tetra! i mean i know why they made her white as zelda (racism) but they sidelined her in a way that seems uncharacteristic compared to sheik in oot!

just, so many choices were made in the zelda games re: bodies and some are fantastic and inspiring and some are huge disappointments. not to be blunt, but nintendo should absolutely be putting dark-skinned Black characters into their games. tetra and the gerudo are fairly light-skinned and lack many features (hair textures for example) that a large amount of poc have. it would just be nice if in future games the scale tipped from some great stuff and some bad stuff to mostly great stuff, bc the series has so much potential for future stories about bodily autonomy and the world(s) are not bound to any real-world or historical structures. they could do whatever they want and make it work, and should seek to improve! it would only contribute to the already sophisticated and nuanced themes consistent in the series.

#loz #legend of zelda #the legend of zelda #ocarina of time #majora's mask #wind waker #twilight princess #skyward sword #botw #breat of the wild #link loz #link #zelda #tetra #tetra loz #nintendo #also im sorry i tried to add a read more but mobile didn't let me

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txttletale · 1 year

Note

ayo could u rec some podcasts

sure

trashfuture is a political comedy podcast that riffs on the news and so on. really good source for a brutally critical view on tech and finance and also spectacularly funny. several catchphrases from this show are lodged in my head forever.

homestuck made this world is a masterful work of media analysis and contextualization that's well worth listening to even if you've never planned to read homestuck just for sharp analysis and great Bits. two media academics, one of whom has already read homestuck, read it critically and discuss the historical context of the fandom and internet culture at large while it was ongoing.

game studies study buddies is a little more academically inclined than most things on this list. the same guys as HSMTW talk in detail about academic game studies books. it's really accessible considering the subject matter, though--the hosts are really insightful and have some really fun discussions.

blowback is a podcast that talks about, in quite a lot of well-sourced detail, US military and intelligence interventions. they've covered iraq, cuba, and the korean war. it's well produced and will make you Fucking Furious

the venezuelanalysis podcast is a fantastic resource to hear opinions on venezuela by venezuelans who aren't right-wing diaspora. not perfect by any means but an incredible counterpoint to the USian media narratives the airwaves are saturated with.

the shrieking shack is funny. that's the main reason i recommend it, it's extremely fucking funny. two ex-harry potter fans go back and critically reread the books and point out all the insanely horrible bullshit in them that they missed as kids. they're now doing twilight.

eidolon playtest is the best actual play i've ever listened to and it's not even close. it documents the playtesting campaigns for eidolon: become your best self, a system designed to emulate the soul-battles of persona and jojo's, with two intertwined campaigns (POP and ROCK) and just it has some of the absolute best improv, most well-drawn characters, and healthiest table culture i've ever heard on an actual play. one of the player characters is a funny talking fox and another is the self-proclaimed pinball prince of las vegas. if you like actual plays at all listen to eidolon playtest.

#ask

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moongazeonastarfillednight · 19 days

Text

The Terror: When, How, Where... (PART 2)

See Part 1 here (ep 1 thru 5) See Part 3 here (Ep 10)

For Context I am trying to make a timeline with locations from The Terror. You will find here:

1. Probable location and coordinates

2. Probable date

3. Travel distance and speed

4. Death count

List of Locations identified so far:

Location 1 - David Young's grave (71.22, -96.60) - Sept 5 1846

Location 2 - Ships Position September 1846 (70.25, -98.00) - Sept 12 1846

Location 3 - Ships Position June 1847 (70.15, -98.30) - May 24 to Jun 11 1847

Location 4 & 5 - The Cairn and the Ice Camp (69.66, -98.27) - May 28 1847

Location 6- The Ships in January 1848 (70.055, -98.59) - January 10th- 17th 1848

Location 7- The Ships in April 1848 (69.88, -98.57) - April 22nd 1848

Location 8 - Fairholmes' Last Resting Place (69.72, -98.35) - April 23rd 1848

Location 9 - Terror Camp (69.644, -98.24) - April 24th-26th 1848

Location 10 - Netsilik Massacre (69.62, -98.05) - April 25th 1848

Location 11- Hodgson is found - Mutineers: (69.56, -98.06) - April 27th 1848

Location 12 - Hodgson is found – Crozier (69.54, -98.14) - April 27th 1848

Location 13 - Fitzjames Collapses (68.94, -98.79) - June 10th 1848

Location 14 - Gibson's death (68.860, -98.73) - June 27th 1848

Location 15 - Fitzjames' Death (68.78, -98.21) - July 28th 1848

Location 16 - The NorWest Passage (68.7, -98.06) - July 28th 1848

Location 17 - Hospital Camp (68.68, -97.74) - August 3rd

Location 18 – Bridgens' death (68.70, -97.95) - August 10th

Loocation 19 - It's Rat Meal Time (68.73, -97.99) - August 3rd

Location 20 - Crozier Ambushed (68.67, -97.84) - Augsut 10th

Known and historical locations are in blue

Proposed locations by Franklin Researchers in orange

Proposed locations by yours truly in pink

Historical locations but for which the show took liberties... in red

Analysis below the line

1927 Admiralty Map

Use this link ^ to see the Famous 1927 Admiralty Map

Matching the Show

Episode 6- A Mercy

This is it, folks! The LAST of the bottle episodes. Next one is going to make me go absolutely insane...

Location 6- The Ships in January 1848 (70.055, -98.4)

Date: January 10th 1848

Nighttime - 13h 01 min

Daylight - None

Twilight - 9h 59 min

Sunset: N/A- Sunrise: N/A

So! This episode is the beginning of trying to understand when and what the fuck is going on. :')

Timestamp declares it is January 1848

Following timestamp announces this is 2 weeks after Episode 5, which we put between December 14 and December 20 in Part 1 (will need to edit.. :') ). First proposed date: Between December 28 and January 3

Fitzjames tells us it's 1 week from Sunrise (17th Jan for that latitude) which brings our Second proposed date: January 10

Lady Jane's Christmas Pudding (Hear, Hear) was offered to the men the week before. So, either it was not served on December 25th or the Third proposed date is: January 1st.

Considering that 1. and 3. are undeniable, I must conclude that my assessment of the timeline for episode 5 in Part 1 was Incorrect It would, therefore, put the death of Blanky's leg closer to December 27th

I must also conclude that January 10th is our date for the beginning of the episode and that the pudding was served on Jan 6th for Epiphany rather than Christmas. (This seemed so important to me for some reason...)

Now! For Location!

In part 1, I used the proposed location from the 1927 admiralty map for the position of the ships in Sept 1846 and their position in May/Jun 1847 to calculate the travel speed of the ships drifting with the Pack. Which was about... 0.04 miles per day.

Considering that there is 232 days between May 24 1847 and Jan 10 1848, the ships would have drifted approx 9.3 miles SW from their summer position (Location 3 - 70.15, -98.30). and, now, I wanted to make an additional extrapolation from the known position in April 22nd but... well, you'll see that was more difficult than expected when we move on to episode 7 so... instead, we'll use that 9.3 Miles SW from May 24 1847, so, about near (70.055, -98.4).

To be noted that I tried to pinpoint Location 6 for my own litle fun because it is not that relevant. They're in the pack, that's it. Their position in April is much more interesting. Also to note, you'll see when I get to Location 7 that my proposition puts Location 6 closer to Location 3, which is counterintuitive considering that it would mean that the pack drifted much faster between Jan and April (3 months) than between June and Jan (6 months). I propose to revise Location 6 for a future edit of this fun rabbit hole. The 0.04miles a day for the pack drift may have been accelerated during the summer months (June to September), even without a full thaw. For future consideration...

Thankfully, we remain in the vicinity of Location 6 for the next event so we don't have to go through all of THAT again... :')

Date: January 16th to January 17th 1848

Nighttime - 12h 34 min

Daylight - 34 min

Twilight - 9h 52 min

Sunset: 12:01 pm- Sunrise: 11:27 am

Jacko dies of lead poisoning

Carnivale goes up in flame and we're all sad.

For the Death Count, now...

Lt. Irving gives us a count of 116 men onboard the ships

This sounds inexact... At the end of December, by my count, we had 121 men still "alive" on the expedition (22 Officers and 99 men). 8 of those are on a vacation in the Fairholme party (Not counted as dead yet). This would mean we have 113 men on Terror and Erebus.

DEATH COUNT: 7 (Total: 13)

19 Officers and 95 Men remaining

To be Noted: The 3 dead officers I counted are the doctors and since no other officers names are mentioned, I assumed that was it... We will adjust when we get to VPN.

Episode 6- Horrible from Supper

There we go, folks! This is where I began to go absolutely INSANE trying to figure out all of this... Thank God this one is easy for the dates... and wow, I'm sure there is actually a paper for all that stuff somewhere out there but... I was either too lazy to find it and this is what I will die doing instead OR it's VERY obscure and I might as well do it myself...

ONWARD TO

Location 7- The Ships in April 1848 (69.88, -98.57)

Date: April 22nd 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 17h 25 min

Twilight - 6h 35 min

Sunrise: 3:52 am Sunset: 9:16 pm

Departure from Ships

And now I'm going to go absolutely rabid about the location...

I have a problem and it might have to do with my lack of understanding of how coordinates work, which renders this whole post frustrating... The thing is... the thing is. The position given by Fitzjames on his amendment of the VPN is... I don't understand it... he says they landed at 69°37'42.0"N 98°41'00.0"W (69.63, -98.68) but then proceed in saying that they left the ships 5 Leagues NNW of the Cairn (Location 4 - 69.66, -98.27).

(See the summary map for episode 6)

Oh, Jimmy FitzJimmy... That... that's not a NNW-SSE line... :') It's also not 15 miles... Did they have different Latitudes in 1845? I would need to research...

So, anyway, I will, instead try to figure out what would be the location based on the 5 league (I expect this was an approximated distance) and here is my proposition for a rough Location 7 (69.88, -98.57 or 69°52'N, 98°34'W)

For comparison purposes, the position from the VPN will be identified in yellow in the summary map.

Next Location: That would Location 8! Poor Lt Fairholmes party.

Location 8 - Fairholmes' Last Resting Place (69.72, -98.35)

Date: April 23th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 17h 30 min

Twilight - 6h 30 min

Sunrise: 3:48 am Sunset: 9:18 pm

For the date: They have not yet reached Terror Camp and it looked to be either very early in the morning or late at night. I will suppose late at night, which would make the landing at Terror Camp to be made the next day. If Fitzjames and Crozier went to deposit the VPN the same day they arrived at TC, then this would make it April 24th.

For the Location: They mention that Fairholmes made 18 miles from the position the ships were at in June 1847 (Location 3 - 70.15, -98.30) and they had to find themselves in the path of Crozier and Co, close to the coast. Now, 18 miles... they certainly did not make the calculation on top of their head. From Part 1, we know that Gore had to travel 33.5 miles to get from the Ships in Location 3 to the Cairn in Location 4. 18 miles would have been a little bit over half-way there. In next image, I traced the path from Location 3 to Location 4 and Location 7 to Location 4 and you'll see why this is confusing:

Half-way from Location 3 to Location 4 would have been nowhere near to where Crozier and Co could have found Fairholmes. Maybe it wasn't as much as a straight line as I made it to be here or maybe Mr. Fitzjames is still confused about distances and Lat. Long position... Maybe I've been wrong this WHOLE TIME and they're counting in Nautical Miles and I'm about to throw my whole being out of the window.

Anyway, in order to preserve my Sanity, I will mark Location 8 at a very subjective position based on the flow of the episode rather than the information they gave... Now you understand why I became feral about this. Location 8 (69.72, -98.35) and that would be 30 miles from where the Ships were in June 1847...

Location 9 - Terror Camp (69.644, -98.24)

Date: April 24th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 17h 40 min

Twilight - 6h 20 min

Sunrise: 3:42 am Sunset: 9:23 pm

Date is given by the VPN - They arrive the day before going to Victory Point. Morfin dies.

For the Location, I would like to go back to our dear friend the 1927 Admiralty Map which identify where McClintock found the grave of Lt. J. Irving, a Camp and Many Relics. It is just slightly South East of Victory Point. Now, in the show, when Crozier and Fitzjames held hand, the first thing they saw was the Camp, vs when Gore climbed the ridge, he saw the Cairn.

Either the show moved the camp a little bit closer to the shore or they "landed" at a southerner position than Gore did. Either way, I feel that for a couple miles between the two points, we can go with the historical marker. Also, for my sanity. I will therefore arbitrarily put Location 9 at 69.644, -98.24, about 2 miles from the Cairn and I feel that this is a good location for it.

Last Location for Horrible from Supper (dear Lord)

Location 10 - Netsilik Massacre (69.62, -98.05)

Date: April 25th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 17h 50 min

Twilight - 6h 10 min

Sunrise: 3:37 am Sunset: 9:28 pm

Date: Same as the VPN (from Episode 8)

Location: Irving was assigned to go East by Lt. Little. Therefore, we'll sorta assume that it was a due East.

Now, when they split from Hodgson, Irving mentions that they are an hour before they are due before they are to return to Terror. Assuming that they would be on a hunting trip of 6 hours (this seems long but probably necessary considering they are starting to grow desperate for fresh supplies), this would make their split at the 2h mark and Irving went South. Assuming they may have walked another 15 minutes (they were due to turn back to where they split in 30 min), then we're up to 2h 15min away from camp.

They did not seem to be walking in any kind of fast pace, that they might have stopped on the way and that they are on an uneven ground and tired from hauling their sledge to TC, I will assume a steady pace of 2.5 miles per hour. This would put them a generous 5.6 miles away from TC. (To be checked with Hickey story next episode) and therefore, Location 9 is (69.62, -98.05)

And with this, we are DONE for episode 7!

DISTANCES AND TRAVEL:

Loc 7 to Loc 8

Travel time - 2 complete days (arrival eod)

Travel Distance: 10.6 NM / 12 miles / 20 km

Average Travel Speed - 6 miles a day

Travel Condition - Hauling Sledges and following a track - Pack is now littered with Seracs. This must have been gruesome - Comparable speed to Gore's Party.

Loc 8 to Loc 9

Travel time - 1 day

Travel Distance: 5.1 NM / 6 miles / 9.5 km

Average Travel Speed - 6 miles a day

Travel Condition - Hauling Sledges and following a track - High Ridge - Half distance on shale

Loc 9 to Loc 10

Travel Time - 2hours 15min

Travel Distance: 5.6 miles

Average Travel Speed - 2.5mph

Travel Condition: On foot, no heavy load, hunting - Not a straight line.

DEATH COUNT: 1 (Morfin) + 8 (Fairholmes) + 2 (Irving/Farr) (Total: 26)

14 Officers and 89 Men remaining

7 Men remaining on Ships

14 Officers and 82 men in Terror Camp

Episode 8 - Terror Camp Clear

Buckle up Buttercups, the horrors are coming...

So, first, let's do with the date. The next few movements are all the same date:

Date: April 25th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 17h 50 min

Twilight - 6h 10 min

Sunrise: 3:37 am Sunset: 9:28 pm

What I want to figure out is the hour by hour of that day ahah

Location 4 -The Cairn (69.66, -98.27)

Crozier and Fitzjames deposit the famous VPN.

Now, I could go on an on about how confusing the VPN was for me but I'll leave it at that... I would like to make the exercise of counting the dead men tho :)

Officers - 9

Franklin, Gore, Dr. Stanley, Dr. McDonald, Dr. Peddie, Fairholme, Hornby, 1 unnamed (Fairholme party or Carnivale)

Men - 15

Braine, Hartnell, Darlington, Morfin, Orren, Young, Torrington, Strong, Evans, Heather, Bryant, + 4 (Fairholme party or Carnivale)

So, as a note, that would not work because we have 7 deaths from the Carnival (4 named) and 8 from Fairholme (1 named) and I have only 5 unnamed left to make the VPN 24. *sigh*

MOVING ON

Location 9 - Terror Camp (69.644, -98.24)

And then back to

Location 10 - Netsilik Massacre (69.62, -98.05)

And THEN Back to

Location 9 - Terror Camp (69.644, -98.24)

So let's see how much walking Crozier has made today from the beginning of the episodes: 11 miles!

1.3 miles from Cairn to TC

4.9 miles from TC to Location 10 (Bird's reach)

Now we know that the average man walks 3mph

Crozier would have spent maybe 45 minutes to walk back from the cairn with Fitzjames (making brotherhood and stuff)

And then he would have to pace himself for Blanky to follow to Location 10, so, perhaps 2mph. - 2h 30 min to make it to Location 10.

In total, Crozier would have walked at least 6h that day and 12.5 miles

If the hunting parties were sent out from 6 am, that would mean that Irving and Farr would have been murdered around 8h30. He needed time to do his business, maybe 10 minutes (what are the Netsilik doing in the meantime?) By the time that Hickey runs back and forth to get Hodgson, who had gone in another direction, we can assume another 30 min, it is now 9:10 am when the Netsilik are massacred. To go back to camp, I assume they would have walked at fast pace, dragging Irving and Farr on their sledge, they could have made it back in 1h 30min. It is now 10h40.

It looks like Fitzjames and Crozier went back as Hodgson was entering the camp again, or just about. so they would have left the Cairn at 10 am and they would have left the Camp for the Cairn maybe around 8 am.

SO!

Let's say there's a bit of shouting, going around, getting Irving on Goodsir's table... they leave to go BACK to Location 10 around 11 am and they reach it around 2:30 pm, make their 10 min investigation and then make their way back starting at 2:40 pm.

They are back just in time for supper around 5:20 pm.

Yep, they could have done all of that in one day. Which is EXACTLY what I wanted to check. What a trek...

Anyway, I think Hickey was scheduled to be hanged around 8pm. Good time to die.

DEATH COUNT: 32 + Pocock + 9 (unknown) (Total: 68)

61 Total remaining

7 Men remaining on Ships

40 with Crozier

11 Mutineers and 3 Reluctant (Hodgson, Goodsir, Diggle) (counted on the screen... and Golding who is going back and forth)

And now, before we go on to Episode 9, let's do an Interlude for how we're going to proceed moving forward:

How We Move Forward

Ok, here is what this section about:

So far, I've been using clues from the show and known historical facts to know where the Cold Boys were, how they got there and who was still around.

Now we enter absolute speculation.

on the subject of LOCATION

Yes, we have a fine map (thank you 1927 Admiralty Map) that let us know where all of the Franklin Artefacts had been found over the course of 75 years but y'all will soon understand when I say that this is where the show accuracy ends.

For one, the most recognizable spot for me is McClintock's Boat Place. And Welp! Maybe one could argue that it is where Hickey attempted his little fake ritual in Episode 10. To which I will answer: ah... probably not? But that is the ONLY scene that could make sense for McC's BP...

Then we have the two famous graves: Le VesconteOrHarry Goodsir and the Peglar Skeleton/Bridgens and we have to ask ourselves, how accurate did the showrunner /author wanted to be about the specific placement of these deaths... After all, a wasteland of shale is a wasteland of shale.

In anyway, I will go over each of the Locations from the 1927 map to try and match a potential scene.

On the subject of TIME:

Now, we no longer have the luxury of dates so we will need to rely on everything else to let us know of the passage of time.

Sunrise/Sunsets - Which will help us identify the overall months

Grooming - These men get beardy.

Health - Declination and recoveries

Travel speed - If locations are known, we can match the date if we suppose a travel speed.

On the subject of SURVIVORS:

I will not keep up with the count. We know they all died and the show did not actually keep track of them. There seem to be as many that left Terror Camp as there are when Peglar collapses. I was mostly interested in doing for episode 8 because I wanted to keep tab on how many left with Hickey, etc but it was just hell to manage for this part.

On the subject of GROUPS:

Now we have 2 groups, the Mutineers and the Frankliners (Crozier and Co). I assumed that Hickey was mostly following the Frankliners at a distance of 4-6 miles behind.

Now, we enter Hell.

Episode 9- The C, The C, The Open C

The episode opens on a known Location and date (thank God), Location

Location 9 - Terror Camp (69.644, -98.24)

Date: April 26th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 18h 01 min

Twilight - 5h 59 min

Sunrise: 3:32 am Sunset: 9:33 pm

They burn their dead.

I assumed this would be the next day because they're still gathering their deads. - Kinda brutal to ask them to walk the day after the attack.

40 Frankliners

14 Mutineers

Location 11/12 - Hodgson is Found

Mutineers Location (11): (69.56, -98.06)

Frankliners Location (12): (69.54, -98.14)

Date: April 27th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 18h 01 min

Twilight - 5h 59 min

Sunrise: 3:32 am Sunset: 9:33 pm

This one is the first difficulty because we need to match a time, an intention and a speed.

First, I would like to propose that this is either the 26th again or the 27th and I will argue for the 27th.

We find Hodgson as he is so famished that he eats his own boot. We can suspect that he would, indeed, be very hungry after having ran through the night from the Tuunbaq. But he would have had supper the night before AND having been on three quarter rations since January. I, of course, have never been hungry enough to resort to eating my shoes but I imagine that if I was in Hodgson situation, I would keep the edible boots for as long as I can. Would he be hungry enough to start eating leather on the morrow of the attack, or more likely 2 days later?

Also, the frost bite on his cheeks suggest he's been outside for at least night.

Hickey and Co have been pulling their sledge, probably for the first couple of hours after Tuunbaq's attack. The difficulty here is to determine how long they would have gone without stopping and how far they would have walked. We've established previously that a sledge party would make, at good pace, 5 miles per day, assuming 4-6 hours of pulling with relays of the men, therefore, we could convene that 1.3 mph could be an acceptable speed for them who are fleeing from Tuunbaq with at least 1 reluctant puller (Goodsir) and 1 confused (Diggle)

We've also established that men on foot without sledges can go from twice to three times that speed. And I suspect that when Fitzjames declared 23 unknown, they actually scouted around the camp to find those men. If scouts were sent in the morning while they were gathering the dead, then they could have made a 2-3 miles search radius. If I was Hickey, I would have pushed for at least 3 hours that night to avoid detection (if we say that Hickey was scheduled to be hanged around 8pm, then they stopped at 11pm). So! in the night of the 25th, they are, at least 3 miles out of the camp.

Now that they are out of camp, they need to do 2 things: 1) Rest. They would not have been able to pick up the pace right back first thing in the morning. 2) Put more distance between themselves and the Frankliners. I suspect that they would have made only 4hours of pulling on the 26th, bringing us just about a whooping 7.8 miles out of Terror Camp.

Finally, it is impossible to detect what time of the day it is when they find Hodgson but looking at the tired look of the crew, maybe an hour in? That would be another 1 miles. So let's average that they found Hodgson after running 9 miles out of Terror Camp

Now that we have a radius, let's talk about direction...

I think it is fair to say that Hickey would have followed the same route as Crozier, seeing that he specifically asked Gibson to take a map. But Crozier was going to follow the coast in case they saw leads. Would Hickey do the same?

3 more things to consider:

1. They left in the fog, without much visual clues to orient themselves. 2. They took the map but Hickey was hoping to get Hodgson on board for his navigational skills (or maybe that was BS, who knows).

3. Mid Episode 9, Tozer reports that the Frankliners are 6 miles AHEAD of them, even though Hickey left first. We'll revisit that later...

Now, on the subject of the third point, it is very possible that Hickey would have rested more often... I just think it's funnier to suggest that he spent the night going in the wrong direction and then just circled back to follow the Frankliners... They realised it when they sent Golding back to Crozier for spying.

So here's the 25th to 27th route I propose for Mr. Hickey:

Mr. Hodgson would have had wandered approx 5 miles SE of Terror Camp. (69.56, -98.06)

As for Crozier, well, I suggest they took this route starting on the 26th, making 5 miles per day and this is where they would be when Hodgson was found (69.54, -98.14), putting them 3 miles away from each group:

Now!

The next scene is where it starts getting hazy and we need to get imaginative in how we account for time past.

In the next scene, we se ethe frankliners are struggling to pull their sledges. Blanky is limping badly and, then, Mr. Fitzjames collapses, complaining about the Heat.

Location 13 - Fitzjames Collapses (68.94, -98.79)

Date: June 10th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 24h

Twilight - None

Sunrise: N/A Sunset: N/A

About the DATE:

Time indicator to consider:

The health of the crewman JFJ is sharing his boat with:

When we left Terror Camp, the sick tent was empty, except for Pocock. While the men where most likely not at the top of the health when they departed, no one was on the verge of dying. Looking at the crewman, he is not only sick, he is emaciated. A quick google search tells us that sickness can make one lose up to 5 pounds a week. Perhaps in, their condition, one could thinkthat the rate could be a bit higher, say... 6 lb? From the crew for which we have the information, we deduce that they were, on average, 5' 6'' so we can use that as a reference to suppose the weight of that sailor. If we assume a BMI borderline to underweight when leaving Terror Camp, we would have weight, maybe... 120 pounds?

Now, severely underweight would put him at 95 pounds, which would be a drop of 20 pounds. Assuming 6 lb, that would be a guesstimate of 3 weeks and a half for him to deteriorate... let's give them a chance and say a month and a half since Terror Camp.

I think that's reasonable... JFJ didn't look great after the Tuunbaq attack but that shirtless scene proved that he was still quite fit.

About the Travel Speed:

See after Location 19

About the Location:

See after Location 19

Location 14 - Gibson's death (68.860, -98.73)

Date: June 27th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 24h

Twilight - None

Sunrise: N/A Sunset: N/A

About the DATE:

Time indicator: Facial hair. Courtesy of not having much shaving available, the Mutineers are looking quite rugged. Let's discuss the hairiest: Mr. Goodsir and Lt. Hodgson.

Hodgson starts his time with the Mutineers with a 2 day shadows between his muttonchops. Same for Mr. Goodsir.

See Below the Before/After

And now, huh... wow... that changes a man... I'd say this is looks to be about.. errr... medium beard? According to menhairstylestoday.com, this would take 1 to 2 months to grow at a rate of half an inch a month. Yeah, I can believe these are 2 month old beards. So, there!

Location? Speed travel? Well, I'll stop you right there.. I don't know yet.

Location 15 - Fitzjames' Death (68.78, -98.21)

Date: July 28th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 20h 50 min

Twilight - 3h 10 min

Sunrise: 2:11 am Sunset: 11:01 am

Time Indicator: More Hair. For this one, I will trust the hair because I somehow think the Frankliners would have kept themselves more groomed than the Mutineers.

Taking the angle into account, this is, what... 1.5inch? 2 inch?

Hair can grow at about 0.5 in a month. So, 3 months since Terror Camp.

Time Indicator: Crews' health: It is very evident that they're all getting thinner, sicker but Fitzjames and (most surprisingly) his boat mate are still alive! Considering the risk of infection and the progression of scurvy... it can't have been more than a couple of weeks since Fitzjame's collapse but, not, like, the next day? Can a doctor please stand up for this?

Time Indicator: The amount of food left.

No. I will NOT go there. There's enough math being done wtf...

Location 16 - The NorWest Passage (68.7, -98.06)

Date: July 28th 1848

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 20h 46 min

Twilight - 3h 14 min

Sunrise: 2:13 am Sunset: 10:58 am

Finally, finally! We have it! A Date, AND a location! :D Thank you Mr. Blanky!

So, this is the day after JFJ's death, June 28th.

On Blanky's map, we can read known locations: McGillivray Bay, Pt. W. Smith... Congratulations Mr. Blanky :') You are a true hero.

Supposing he can see McGillivray Bay from where he sits, he would find the Passage at Location 16 (68.7, -98.06)

And wow... does that make me feel like finding my own NW Passage, being able to reconnect all those lost locations from before :')

Back to location 15! Blanky would probably not have walked all that much, given he was in pain and only wanted to draw Tuunbaq to him and toward the Ice. I'd be generous and give him a good 5 miles before he had to sat down. From what Lt. Little reported before they had to stop for Fitzjames, the ice was to the west so we'll assume Mr Blanky walked south west while the party proceeded south east. This would put Location 15 at (68.78, -98.21)

Location 17 - Hospital Camp (68.68, -97.74)

Date: August 3rd

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 19h 33 min

Twilight - 4h 27 min

Sunrise: 2:48 am Sunset: 10:21 pm

Peglar collapses

See Location 17 reasoning for date of the camp

As for Position, well, we're just going to be a little off out of

Location 17 - Bridgens (68.70, -97.95)

Date: August 10th

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 18h21

Twilight - 5h 39 min

Sunrise: 3:23 am Sunset: 9:45 pm

Basically, we all agree that Bridgens is the Peglar Skeleton. Thank god I know where that is! Now, it is interesting that there was a paper published in 2022 about the real location of the Peglar Skeleton (assuming McClintock took his lat and long wrong) but since we are dealing with a 2018 show, we'll go with McClintock's account.(68.70, -97.95)

Sweet, now, about the TIMING

Considering where Location 15 put us, we were quite near the point of collapse for Peglar. I think we could give them a two more days of pulling before it's poor Henry Peglar's turn. No other reason than having previously established that there is a MUCH slower pace now (News is courtesy of Lt. Little) and they left Fitzjames' grave roughly 10 miles from Bridgens' last sighting . I propose the timeline to be thus: Peglar collapse on August 3rd and dies on August 10th. He didn't look like he had wasted away very long. Bridgens immediately leave the party, travel a couple of miles and lay down to die. Has he is seen going in the direction Golding came from (the Mutineer's camp, North), I assume that the Hospital camp is now further south than where the Peglar Skeleton was found.

Loocation 18 - It's Rat Meal Time (68.73, -97.99)

Date: August 3rd

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 19h 33 min

Twilight - 4h 27 min

Sunrise: 2:48 am Sunset: 10:21 pm

About the TIMING:

I suspect Hickey made Goodsir cut Billy the same day they pitched their tent, just to assure his dominance while so close to the Frankliners (6 miles out).

Cripse.... that would have been a 1 month old dead body to eat...

This gives us a location: (68.73, -97.99)

Now, the problem I am having is this... Night falls when Hodgson come to tell his little church story... There will be no dark sky until Mid to late August... so I am mostly going to believe that was only twilight.

Location 19 - Crozier Ambushed (68.67, -97.84)

Date: August 10th

Nighttime - None

Daylight - 18h21

Twilight - 5h 39 min

Sunrise: 3:23 am Sunset: 9:45 pm

About the TIMING:

Bridgens lays down to die the day Crozier is taken. I don't think he moved from there.

About the Location: Close to Hospital camp, by the shore.

NOW HERE'S A THING TO MAKE YOU CONFUSED:

Sophia Cracroft found snow in London in August 1848?

Blanky was still waiting for the Tuunbaq after they pitched tents for Hospital camp?

I think these two scenes are just out of order and for dramatic effect: Basically pitching the fate of Crozier failing to save anyone.

SO! Now that we know where 99 days of walking (April 27th (Location 12) to August 3rd (Location 16 - Hospital camp)), we can average the pace of the walk.

First, let's establish some distances:

About 100 miles, then! I would like to propose the following pace, to take account for the time passed and how tired the men would become. So this would be a decreasing pace and accounting for camping time due to weather (there should still be monstrous hail and blizzard until June), etc.

15 miles first miles at 3mph = 5 days

2 day of rest - 3 days of bad weather

20 miles at 2mph = 10 days

2 day of rest + 2 days of bad weather

25 miles at 1.5 mph = 20 days

3 days of rest + 3 days of bad weather

40 miles at 1mph = 40 days

3 days of bad weather + 6 days of rest

This would put Location 13 - Fitzjames Collapses 60 miles out of Location 12 (45 days travel time) around (68.94, -98.79), right next to Terror Bay :')

I'm also very happy that this would actually match the position of a camp and 2 graves from Halls and Schwatka's expedition! Sometimes I feel like I'm a genius but right now, I swear I'm just holding on for dear life...

and, if we assume that Hickey kept the pace with the Frankliners, this would put

Location 14 - Gibson's death 70 miles out of Location 11 (60 days travel time) around (68.860, -98.73)

Here's the summary Map for Ep 9:

Conclusion: Episode 9 was a mess and this is 12 hours of work...

Part 3 will be for Episode 10.

#the terror #the terror AMC #Reference #Cold Boys adjacent #Analysis #LONG POST #What am I doing #Hope it may help someone else...#how else should I tag this?#Not gonna lie. I mostly lost it when I was halfway through this post and had placed Fitzjames death in mid july only to realise that...#omg the tent is dark... the tent is dark because the sun has set... the sun doesn't set until AUGUST #and so I had to review my whole thing...#It's a lot of #rambling

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needahugfromesme · 2 months

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This is patient information from a 17th-century astrological medical case book, it reads "Anno 1578 27 July Sunday p m 30 p[ost] 9 Nata erat Frances H in Com’ Dors[et]."

Carlisle knows not only the date of his birth but perhaps, better than the rest of his family, knows the exact time of the birth, given the prevalence of astrology in folk beliefs.

#twilight #carlisle cullen #twilight historical context #nerd talking sorry

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willkatfanfromasia · 8 months

Text

Book review – Sangathaara

A book who’s reputation precedes it.

Based on the same topic as an already epic novel, this book accomplished the hard task of being an interesting read. The lack of an English translation is very disappointing

It is a historical mystery with politics and drama interspersed.

It primarily tries to answer the questions surrounding Aditha karikalan's life and death.

For starters it is just 1 volume instead of 5. The author’s (kalachakram narasimhan) writing style (perhaps intentionally) gives glimpses of his former career as a journalist. The story and pacing keeps the reader engrossed-slow enough to reel you in but fast enough to prevent boredom.

It is the content, however, that has left the audience split. The book starts off with aditha Karikalan ‘s spectre lamenting that he hasn’t received justice even after 1000 years- that his killers haven’t been found. We can’t help but quip- but they have been found! In the inscriptions. The author (via AK) argues that the ‘killers’ held important titles in the chola court (“bramadhirayan”) and termed as traitors (how can pandyas be traitors to cholas?). Most suspiciously, their punishment seems neither grave or memorable for a crime of this magnitude.

Several decades into the future, a daughter of Sundara chola with his second wife who'd become a Buddhist monk, dies leaving behind memoirs to her nephew Rajendra Chola. The latter tasks his daughter Arunmozhi nangai with reading them for him - with horrifying reveals for both.

The actual tale begins with kundhavai’s “coming of age” ceremony at the twilight years of her great-grandfather Parantaka 1’s reign. Ambitious kundhavai and Aditha karikalan have great dreams fuelled by youthful vigor.

A teen boy raging to kill his clan's mortal enemy and a teen girl desiring more than her lot in life.

The empire is threatened by Pandyas, Lankans and Srivijaya may too join them. Anirudhdhar, Pazhuvettarayar are frustrated that their new emperor Gandaraditha has no interest in war. They plot to waylay the ship carrying the young Srivijayan princess Vijayarekha and betroth her to AK. This young girl is already engaged to a prince of purasanga (Malaysia?) and loathes her kidnapping.

A handsome young diamond merchant from Purasanga and a young warrior from a fallen Kingdom both enter the empire. The former swiftly rises up the ranks of chola nobility through an advantageous marriage and draws kundhavai’s curiosity by claiming to be the descendant of an elder Chola line. He also claims to possess important ritual artefacts (conch, parts of a plant) used in coronations of ancient Chola’s (adicholar) that kundavai is determined to anoint her brother with. The latter youth, desolate from his kingdom's fall, gains AK’s trust and married kundhavai. (Surprise surprise!)

Pazhuvettarayar, Aniruddhar and kodumbalur vellalar try to steer the rulers.

A prominent devadasi grapples with a wealthy admirer’s attention as her own past and future are questioned.

Ravidasan is given an interesting chola link to weave him into this chaos. His condemnation is also added into this mix.

The author blends a legend about ancient Chola’s artefacts with the ambitions of 10th century South India.

But why the controversy? You may ask.

This book has irked keen fans of Ponniyin Selvan, due to it’s contrasting portrayal of some beloved characters.

- Kundhavai and Vanthiyadevan are NOT good guys. They have individuals agendas.

It builds up slowly and believably within the story’s context – but best not to consider it truth.

A few reviews have pointed this out- the author’s writing style and the book’s preface claim journalistic veracity (the book’s full of footnotes) yet it has the same creative liberties as ponniyin Selvan

- Parthibendran, a fictional character, makes a short appearance.

- There’s a Nandini esque character in this book too (linked to the details in this post ). And the author gives her an unhappy end. He equates her with a real person

- Pazhuvettarayar is cleared of responsibility for AKs murder as he is his greatgrandpa/ great uncle? – but the book goes on to portray other characters as capable of killing their flesh and blood. (This happens a couple of times)

- Gandaraditha’s characterization is – uhm- a choice, alright. As a story it was acceptable (within this universe) but its murky when you realise it’s based on a real person.

- There’s a baby swap in this too. Amv and Madhurantakan's parentage is given a shocking explanation. I may reveal in the comments if y'all want it.

The author has a thorough knowledge of chola art and inscriptions, as well as the many feuds that took place over several generations, weaving them artfully as contributors to the final outcome.

A thozhi (confidant) of kundhavai -thettakani- becomes an important observer due to her proximity to key events. A neutral character in a book full of people with ambitions.

@celestesinsight @thereader-radhika @ambidextrousarcher @harinishivaa @vibishalakshman @sowlspace @deadloverscity @favcolourrvibgior @thelekhikawrites @nspwriteups and anyone else interested !

#ponniyin selvan #ponniyin selvan 2 #sangathaara #cholas #chozha

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bracketsoffear · 11 months

Text

Rod Serling/The Blurry Man (The Twilight Zone) "While also a real person, I am submitting him in his form as the narrator of the Twilight Zone series, which in context of the 2019 revival takes the form of a fictional blurry figure that guides people into the Twilight Zone called Blurryman, making me feel he's fictional enough in his narrator form. The Twilight Zone has countless creatures and episodes that align with all of the entities: "Where is Everybody" (The Lonely), "The After Hours" (The Stranger), "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (The Spiral), "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" (The Slaughter), just to give a few examples. And in every episode, Rod Serling, our own Mikaele Salesa or Gerry Keay, delivers us into the Twilight Zone with his own words of guidance, foreboding, and danger."

David Ward (I Am In Eskew) "In many ways, David Ward seems like he would make an ideal avatar. He is a perpetually tormented soul and always has been, even before Eskew drew him into itself, repulsed by yet obsessed with the macabre and the horrifying. In Eskew, these two halves of him collide to frequently disastrous effect. Every episode he throws himself headlong into yet another terrifying, death-defying situation. Mr. How and Mrs. Why, the Commemoration Gallery, the Fishmarket, the Historical Society. He constantly seeks and is sought by Eskew and its many grotesque manifestations. However, and this is crucial to his non-avatardom, he always pulls away.

It becomes clear as the series progresses that Eskew wants nothing more than for David to find a place within itself, to fully embrace its horrors and become something not unlike an avatar. This is most explicit in episode 27: Breakout, wherein Eskew makes its most blatant offer yet: freedom from Eskew in exchange for him acting as a prophet or a harbinger of sorts, the voice of Eskew out in the real world, an archivist, in a sense. David, though, refuses, just as he always does. See, while David can’t leave Eskew, can’t even bring himself to really try, neither can he join it.

David Ward has precisely two things in life: he has his fear, and in Eskew fear becomes a perverse sort of comfort because in Eskew it’s all real, there really are terrible things lurking in the dark out to get him that aren’t just in his head, but he also has his hope, his fantasies of great escapes and his refusal to just give in to the world around him. His continued will to live is predicated entirely on fighting Eskew to a stalemate forever, even to his own detriment, unable to leave, unable to fully give himself over, forever here, in Eskew."

#16th poll #non-affiliated #poll #the twilight zone #i am in eskew

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just-antithings · 2 months

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you want problematic songs?? on this anti blog? oh boy do i have the song for you, which based on a quick search on tumblrs shitty system, doesnt seem to have been suggested yet let me introduce you to my little pony: friendship is magic fansongs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH2Ns9Tewpo (certified bronies will already have guessed which one this is)

specifically from "friendship is witchcraft" the abridged series (fandub) this whole song and a lot of the animation is fanmade. its about psuedo-incest. its lowkey a banger. ive seen people on tiktok use audio from this song on their edits. it has 2 million views. for historical context, twilight sparkle and shining armor are siblings, but in the abridged version theyre adopted siblings.

speaking of horse music, while the song itself isnt problematic, the animation for cupcakes is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43AuJjuxqAw pony gore warning. another certified brony classic.

#mod erin #ask #mod shenanigans #posted without comment #problematic playlist #incest mention

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venusofvolterra · 1 year

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Do you think Felix would love curvy women or girl who look like bella since he flirted with her multiple times and tried to call dibs on her

//CW: We are discussing historical views of sex/sexuality/beauty standards. Be warned there is some incredibly uncomfortable topics touched on briefly -- many of which involve consent that is dubious at best.

First things first: we are operating purely in HC territory

First, let's establish that we have exactly nothing as far as a canon backstory for Felix is concerned, we just know that he is really old.

Reasonably, based on Felix's unknown but incredibly old age, his rank in the Volturi despite lacking a gift, his physique and height, and his role as an executioner, enforcer, and strategist; many have headcannoned him to have been a Roman gladiator or soldier in his human life.

The historical context that may have influenced Felix’s preferences

I have discussed before how I do think a Vampire’s human life may have some influence on their preferences concerning physical attractiveness.

Without knowing exactly when/where in Rome Felix was born, it is impossible to pinpoint the exact beauty standards he would have been conditioned into appreciating.

That being said, it is a common misconception that Romans were largely interested in curvier women. This was definitely a much more prominent beauty standard in ancient Greece. In Rome, a particular physique was not as emphasized as other standards of beauty were and the appreciation of curves varied in different places and times. Other beauty standards were generally more emphasized. For example, paleness, smelling nice, and generally speaking: athleticism was appreciated amongst Roman women.

Here is a more extensive article on Roman beauty standards if you’re interested.

It is very common that in one way or another, most people’s preferences somewhat differ from those that are popular. This is for a plethora of reasons, however, much like today, it was very difficult for women who were not rich or nobility to fully attain these standards.

As far as how much Felix’s own preferences matched these standards? Frankly, if he was a gladiator in his human life, that would not have mattered.

As a gladiator, Felix would have been a slave with no actual bodily autonomy.

That being said gladiators did have sex, however, they definitely couldn’t be as choosey as say, a free nobleman. Most of his sexual encounters would have either been with prostitutes that would have been paid for by his keepers or with female slaves (who were often forced to participate by their owners).

Some scholarship even suggests that certain gladiators themselves were sex trafficked, and if this was the case, it was likely the strongest, most successful, or famous ones. Which is along the lines of how people headcanon Felix. I’ll leave it at that.

And Frankly, I don’t want to get into Felix’s potential exploits if he had been a soldier *cough cough* pederasty *cough cough*

Okay so let’s inch closer to twilight canon: we know he was probably there for the Volturi golden age in the Renaissance

As far as a time period that I think would have had an immense impact on Felix’s sexual preferences in which he was probably the most sexually liberated and autonomous he’s ever been? The Italian Renaissance bay-by!

From the context clues you can reasonably gather the Volturi and Volterra particularly thrived during the Renaissance and on into the Enlightenment.

Italy’s city-states were massive cultural centers.I can imagine that this is where the Volturi’s appreciation for the arts and sciences was reignited – much like how it was in actual history, this return to ancient heritage reignited these in Italy generally. World maps from the renaissance even place the Mediterranean as the exact center of the world. Even though the Volturi kept themselves a secret in the time, I do believe this would have been something of a golden age for them. The architecture of Volterra even suggests this and so does their rather Machiavellian style of rulership (Caius read The Prince and quotes it to win arguments with Aro now).

As far as renaissance beauty standards are concerned, we do have many more exact depictions and articulations of what was prized. Things like curves, long, flowing hair, and dark brown eyes were preferred.

Think of the works of Botticelli for example.

On Bella and these standards

Other than being bigger, Bella does fit some of these beauty standards, so I don’t think it’s entirely fair to discount her being attractive to Felix if we’re assuming that Roman and Italian Renaissance standards played a role in his personal preferences. Bella still has long, beautiful hair, dark brown eyes, pale skin, and soft features.

But also, immortality and general worldliness

I do also find it difficult to believe that when one’s as old, worldly, and couth as members of the Volturi are portrayed as being that one maintains a myopic view of physical beauty.

Now, this gets really nerdy but at that time (Renaissance into Enlightenment), contemplating and questioning beauty as a concept was very popular amongst the enlightened crowd (you bet Marcus was all over that shit). Even if you don’t think Felix is as interested in art, philosophy, and the sciences as the kings (I do), he was at the very least exposed to them and is decently well-versed in them. What well-off renaissance man wouldn’t have been?

Also, Vampires are on average significantly hotter than the average person. Which means regardless, Felix has met beautiful vampires from all walks of life, people he would maybe not have considered beautiful before meeting them. To put it simply: when you have access to the worlds hottest people, how much more picky are you really gonna be?

I also think that generally speaking, Felix probably isn’t all that interested in sexual relationships with humans unless under very specific circumstances.

This all means two things: Felix’s dating pool is incredibly small and incredibly hot.

Why he really flirts with Bella

If I’m being honest, I think the reason Felix flirts with Bella is likely the same reason he winks at the secretary – because he can.

It’s probably particularly gratifying to goad Edward by doing this.

He’s the biggest, strongest person in the room and has a very high status in polite vampire society – what’s Edward really gonna do if he flirts with Bella?

I think also with SMeyer it’s entirely possible that she was like “hot evil Italian vampires? Gotta make them flirty.”

The Volturi and sex on the job

This also brings me to one more point I wanna make: I don’t think the guard actually sleeps around as much as many others do, so Felix talks a big game for fun but doesn’t typically act on it. So who he’s flirting with isn’t a precise indication of who he’s attracted to.

There’s a few reasons for this but this post is already getting incredibly long. So to make it quick: Aro likes to maintain a professional standard, which means nothing that can be construed as coercive or an abuse of power is allowed – a standard which Felix has clearly maintained for over two millennia

TLDR; While examining the evolution of his preferences is fascinating, I don’t think Felix has many body type preferences and mostly flirts with Bella to be an ass. At the end of the day he’s a professional so sleeping around with secretaries and other vampires without rhyme and reason, potentially risking the wrath of the kings, probably isn’t something he’s doing.

PS. In looking at it again, it seems like when he calls dibs on her it’s to kill her. Nonetheless, he does get to flirting with her — mostly after she’s turned tho.

#twilight #sorry the history sections got so long #its one of my fields of study #the volturi #twilight renaissance #twilight meta #historical twilight #felix volturi #aro volturi #marcus volturi #caius volturi #Volturi #Volturi guard #I like history

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