WELCOME TO STOAT SATURDAY

since it’s a scary time to be trans: refuge restrooms is an app which maps gender-neutral/single-stall restrooms. it’s community-mapped, so it’s possible you might be the first person to log the restroom locations, but hopefully it’ll help some people.

please reblog this post if you’ve got trans followers. stay safe.

Does anyone else have this thing happen where you hear about a movie/show/game/book that is universally praised and beloved by everyone, and then ironically get super intimidated to actually watch it because of that universal praise? Because I noticed that that happens sometimes with me, and it's very confusing but also kinda interesting. Things like Gravity Falls, Breaking Bad, Dune, etc. that everyone likes, and as a result, I almost feel nervous about trying them out. Maybe it's a fear that the thing will never be as amazing as the hype around it/the mental picture I've created for it, maybe I just really want the experience of getting into it to be as amazing as everyone says it is, idk for sure. But I did think this was kinda a funny/interesting thing that I do sometimes, and I'm curious if anyone has ever felt a similar kind of intimidation to try a new series or if i'm just kinda weird like that

Ko-fi Full body commission for @theguardiandragon1 , featuring adult Sasha and Anne from "Amphibia". 🐸❤️💙

Thank you so much for commissioning me! 💜

Vander: "I always liked the name "Violet". "

My sleepy brain: "And then Silco must have suggested "Powder" after snorting a line of cocaine or something."

What gets me about the HTTYD movie in particular is the fact that they're seemingly trying to remake it shot for shot; really, what is the point of that?! If there's one bare-minimum thing i can say about the wave of Disney live-action remakes, or the live action anime remakes, it's that there's always at least *something* different about them from the source material. That change isn't always for the better (in fact one could probably argue that it usually isn't) but at the very least it means someone was willing to take risks, and justify the existence of the new movie. Thus far, the HTTYD remake has shown us nothing new seemingly by design, which really has me wondering what reason there is to see it when I can already watch the same movie but better which has been out for over 14 years now?

my biggest issue with the httyd live action-and just about any live action reboot is that it seems that the live action adaptations are being made to make the original “better”? like, so many people talk about a live action spiderverse, a live action hercules, a live action PRINCE OF EGYPT (dont piss me OFF.)-like animation is a beautiful work of art, and for some reason putting real people and cgi in it is supposed to be an “upgrade”? im probably being that friend that’s too woke or whatever, but i just think it’s so disrespectful to act like something that takes so much time and effort and energy is immediately considered as lower because it is animated. animation is beautiful, and it is one of the most heartfelt art forms there are, and erasing that for the sake of a cash grab is downright degrading to animation as a medium.

Students' students AU part 4

Part 1, part 2 and part 3

And so they tell Naruto everything they know. That Minato was his father, Jiraya's student, they tell about his skills and mention how great he was in the war. Kakashi also tells Naruto he lost his team in that same war, not as many details, but does mention Minato was in charge of his team during those battles. They do tell him he was, in fact, the hokage and explain that the fox was previously sealed inside someone else, and how he died when the it was released.

Tsunade tells Naruto about his clan, their history, her own relation to Mito, where they came from and what they could do. She tells him about Kushina, how kind and determined she was, Jiarya and Kakashi add their own comments about her, great fighter and even greater person. How she accepted her fate while never losing herself. And then tell him she was his mother and jinchuuriki. They don't know the details of how the seal was broken, but tell Naruto everything his parents sacrificed for him and to save both he and the village.

They try to explain Hiruzen's idea of keeping it all a secret was to protect him, but don't excuse him. His plan failed and his mistakes came back to snake bite him. Tsunade wants Naruto to decide his own path, knowing the full truth, it's the least she can do.

After that, Kakashi knows Naruto is gonna need a little comforting, but doesn't trust any of the adults at that moment, so asks Sakura and Sasuke to make sure he's okay.

[All of this is happening at around the time Sasuke originally defected]

I've been reading some stuff on punitive justice, and it made something click for me that I've observed a lot online but haven't been able to put into words before.

When someone does something wrong, that's bad, and the damage it does needs to be repaired while the person needs to try to do better in future to minimize repeating harm. We learn it in preschool - say sorry, don't do it again. If they keep at it, remove them from the situation where they can do the harm until they prove they're responsible enough to go back in.

So if it turns out someone DIDN'T do anything wrong, that should be a relief! There's no damage to fix, no internal errors to correct. Less work for everybody, literally no harm done. False alarm, all good.

The thing I've observed is, lots of people want them to have done something wrong. There's almost disappointment when it turns out there's no harm done. And I think that's because of this general undercurrent of punitive justice as morally righteous and desirable: someone does something wrong, you get to punish them. Turns out they're innocent? That's disappointing. Find another reason you get to punish them, or find another bad person you get to punish. But at the core of it is that desire to punish someone. Someone you can hurt in a way that makes you a better person for hurting them.

This particular brand of almost cannibalistic pseudo-justice is super common in tumblr, one of the most ostensibly liberal spaces on the internet; I see more borderline savagery in online discourse here than in the actually toxic parts of the internet that are just openly cruel for cruelty's sake. It's always thrown me for a loop, and has frankly also hurt me, because on the rare occasions I get personally dogpiled, it only actually stings when it makes me worry that I've legitimately hurt someone. If I did something wrong, or more realistically when I inevitably do something wrong, that would make it good and right for people to give me shit about it every day until I'm dead.

The thing that clicked for me most recently was this bit in Ijeoma Oluo's Be A Revolution:

Punitive justice is specifically, uniquely appealing to people who have suffered injustices. Of course it's the Tumblr zeitgeist. Everyone here is a marginalized person failed by at least one system. Punishing someone for perceived injustice is how someone the system has deemed worthless proves their value in blood, even if the person being punished hasn't harmed you directly - even if they haven't harmed anyone. "Righteous" anger isn't about the target in these cases, it's about the inflicter. This is how much my pain is worth.

And that kind of violent validation is so alluring and so very dangerous. It seeks an outlet, wearing the justification of justice. Who's in reach? Who's an acceptable target this week? What's a good reason to use?

Is there anything they could do that would make me stop?

Please please please don't click those phishing texts

it is indeed December 10th my dudes

Death Battle Matchup: The Collector (Aurora Webcomic) vs Emperor Belos (The Owl House)

Connections: ancient mages who have spent centuries perfecting their own twisted version of their world’s magic system (Belos invented the Coven Sigils to force people to control “wild magic,” whereas The Collector manipulates life magic to create monsters and destroy cities by “healing” their land). They see the people in their world as being entirely below them, and treat even the godlike figures in their world as just pawns and tools in their machinations (Vash for The Collector, Papa Titan and The Collector for Belos). They commit evil actions like genocide in the name of one of the ancient gods of their world, who makes up the very land that the story takes place on (The Primordials and Papa Titan), despite these entities not necessarily supporting their villainy back. They both have a form which can shift in between being humanoid and sludge-like, which allows them to regenerate from massive amounts of damage. Both characters prefer to enact their plans in secret and stay out of sight, but demonstrate deadly effectiveness in combat when the situation calls for it.

Animation potential: there’s a lot of potential for interesting scenes and interactions between the two characters’ powers. Belos has a much more versatile set of spells and abilities, so he can do a lot to outmaneuver The Collector using Glyphs, teleportation, mind magic etc., meanwhile The Collector can use her control of the Primordials to manipulate the terrain to her advantage and distract Belos by summoning Chimerae to her aid. They could then transition to a more close quarters physical battle with Belos’s Palisman form vs The Collector with her knives and plant magic. Lastly, Belos in his Titan form could go up against The Collector channeling the power of Primordial Life, and/or trying to take his soul for her own.

Dialogue/interaction potential: both characters are very calculating and sinister, so they would likely start with Collector trying to goad and study Belos while the latter tries to intimidate and belittle her. As the fight goes on, Belos slowly loses his composure and becomes more aggressive and animalistic, while the Collector becomes more confident in developing a strategy to win.

Track name: Wicked Witches

Debate: Both characters are pretty comparable in AP/Speed/Durability, so abilities and hax seem to be the deciding factor. Ultimately, I think Belos should win in this case even if Collector’s stats are likely a bit higher. He has several abilities between petrification, telekinesis and the Titan’s mold-breath that should be able to overcome the Collector’s life magic. Meanwhile, the hax that the Collector has are much more situational and less likely to overcome his defensive abilities.

Setup: The Collector arrives in the Boiling Isles seeking information about the Titan and its powers, hoping to study it and add to her collection. Locals lead her to Emperor Belos as the ultimate emissary of the Titan; however, Belos is suspicious of her Life magic as signs of a “wild witch” and so he decides to have her seized and petrified for her “heresy.”