firefly42 to the stars

inactive sideblog. main @ firefly42.tumblr.com

[o0katiekins0o]

Klingons are a diaspora. They're an empire that span multiple planets with multiple environments. Their history is long and full of expansion and conquest- which inevitably creates cultural differences.

Included in their history are plagues and genetic and surgical manipulation that created physical differences.

That's how this guy is Klingon

And this guy is Klingon

And this guy is klingon

And this babe is also Klingon

Klingon identity as a diaspora is kind of the whole point of the story of the Klingons. What does it mean to be Klingon?

The rallying cry of the Klingon armies during the war with the Federation is "Remain Klingon".

What does that mean? Do they even know?

Is Klingon a racial or cultural identity?

Those are questions B'elanna Torres and Alexander Rozhenko are asking themselves all the time.

Can you convert to Klingon?

Curzon Dax and the alternate timeline "Sons of Mogh" seem to indicate you potentially can.

The planet of integrated Romulan and Klingons managing to strike a balance between both cultures was such a shock to Worf because hate and mistrust for Romulans had been such an integral part of his concept of Klingon identity that it made him ask new questions about himself.

If hating Romulans is not essential to Klingon identity, then what is Klingon identity?

Worf being biologically Klingon and culturally Jewish, I think, was meant to drive home the point that, like the Jewish people, Klingons are a diaspora and not a monlith.

And arguing about which Klingons are "real" ones is kind of funny because it's replicating the same debates the Klingons are having amongst themselves without even realizing it.

[parkayquarts]

he's shrinking😨

[firefly42-ad-astra]

Personally I’m visualizing a vimes who’s short and in the habit of underestimating tall guys’ heights

[bugslaststraw]

*slumps down at table, downs glass of apple juice like it's alcohol, looks down at the table defeatedly, sighs* aight guys, it's time. It's time I finally went over my little thing I have about Leonard da Quirm--

Basically, and it feels weird saying this but I'm going to do it anyway, the sheer amount of queer energy surrounding his and Vetinari's relationship is insane. I had a period where I was suuuuuper obsessed with Discworld, like, really obsessed, and back then I went and did some stupid research on this. Let's see what I can remember to back up this argument. Let's see what I can say on the subject of Leolock.

Let's start off with a history lesson. As you probably figured out already, Leonard (or Leo as I will probably end up calling him) is based off of Leonardo Da Vinci. That's basic knowledge, and nothing uncommon in the Discworld universe. As you probably also knew, Leonardo Da Vinci was gay. No doubt about that. The dude was queer and if you didn't know that, you've probably been living under a refrigerator. From this I can easily conclude that Leo himself is probably a gay man. Cool. That's out of the way. Now, here's an interesting fact about Leonardo Da Vinci; when he got older, he was invited by the current french king, king Francis I, to basically come live with him in his court. He said yes, packed like three of his paintings and was given an escort to Nice (by the king himself I believe!)

Anyway, he and king Francis became really close, and would, apparently, sit and talk and talk for hours. About art and architecture and politics and philosophy, oh so much philosophy. This one servant who wrote about it said that they seemed to spend more time with each other than apart. Doing nothing but talking. Kind Francis I also made sure to supply Da Vinci with all the materials he needed and wanted, and often asked for his help to design things. Does this sound even a little bit familiar? I mean, DW's Leo only really talks to two people, one of whom he hates (she cleans for him since he has violent ADHD and can't do it himself lmao.) And the other? See what him getting at??? At least to me, there are clear parallels between kFI and Da Vinci's relationship and Leo's own relationship with Vetinari.

Here's where it gets good though. Francis I and Leonardo Da Vinci were shipped. There is this moderately famous painting and I think it's called "The Death of Leonardo da Vinci" that is explicitly meant to be gay. Made by some dude a hundred years after the death of the artist himself. Beat that.

With the history lesson out of the way, I wanna talk about something else. Traveling back to the Discworld, I think it's interesting how Vetinari's demeanor changes when he's with Leo and when he isn't. When he's outside in the big bad world, he's got his guard up, he's clever and snappy, and, if Vimes is there, he may even laugh or smile. He has his fun, I guess. But then, during those three to four scenes throughout the Discworld books where he travels behind the walls of the castle and goes to hang out with his prisoner-not-actually-prisoner, something changes, and suddenly Vetinari seems far more relaxed and somehow far more human.

No, really. How often does that man show surprise? Confusion? Can you ever remember Vetinari confused? Probably not. I can though. But such non-cool feelings as confusion are only feelings he will show when he is in Leo's company, and nobody elses. "What is this thing? Why would you make it? What the shit." Also, when he is with Leo, he will talk about his problems. He will show that he is tired, or frustrated, he tells Da Quirm everything with little to no filter.

Oh, and don't get me started on his inner monologue! God damnit. It's like, sooner or later, no matter if there are huge problems that need solving, Vetinari's inner monologue, when in Leo's company, will sooner or later deteriorate into:

"Woah this dude is so weird and careless and free and he's so fascinating and special he truly is one of a kind wow--"

And so on and so on. It all boils down to Leo doing whatever the sit he usually does and Vetinari gradually forgetting his problems and just making heart eyes at him for 20 minutes.

And I think it goes the other way too! Leo will talk and talk and talk, as one with ADHD will sometimes do. And he doesn't apologize, he just spills everything to Havelock, onto stopping to ask if he wants sugar with his tea. They very much enjoy each other's company, that's for sure.

I don't think I've convinced anyone. But at least, maybe, I kept someone interested enough to get this far. Expect to see more of this from me! (Well, drowning in the endless ocean of JoJo content.)

[firefly42-ad-astra]

Interesting! Without the historical context, I would have expected people to ship vetinari with drumknott

[nonasuch]

oh! Also I should take this opportunity to air my crack theory about Night Watch, to wit: Ned Coates is a time-traveling grown-up Young Sam.

My evidence: 

Ned is the only other Watchman who is new to the squad, and new to Ankh-Morpork.

He is supposedly the only person who knew the real John Keel, but he never calls Sam out for it. If there ever was a real Ned Coates, and he really knew John Keel, we only have Ned’s word for it.

When he and Sam spar, he fights just as dirty as Sam does, and claims John Keel taught him the tricks Sam uses himself. 

He’s protective of Vimesy, moreso than other Watchmen though he’s known them all for the same length of time.

He is clearly up to SOMETHING; Sam thinks he’s one of the real revolutionaries plotting to overthrow Winder, but none of the other revolutionaries interact with him or seem to know him that I can recall.

When Sam admits he’s a time traveler, he’s unfazed; his question “From how far back?” would make perfect sense as “from how far back in my timeline, where you are my dad?”

He supposedly dies in the last fight, but Sam doesn’t see it, and Sam supposedly died in that fight too.

Lu-Tze is 100% good enough to have two time-travelers operating at the same time without breaking the timeline; he does, however, worry about the unusual strain he’s creating.

So, let’s say an adult Young Sam has a time-travel accident. Possibly after some sort of major falling-out with his dad, one that’s got him still pissed off at him. And now he’s stuck in a vastly more shitty version of the city he grew up in, and the versions of his dad he has met so far are a) a dumb kid and b) kind of a dick. He is not having a great time. He really, really wants to go home, but first he has a revolution to see through.

Viewed that way, Ned Coates makes a lot of sense.

[firefly42-ad-astra]

I don’t think “Coates is his son” is very specifically supported by that evidence, but maybe you’re right that something’s up with Coates, that there’s a lot to him that we’re missing

[deboracabral]

I think it’s the 25th on most places now. 

[aro-ace-until-stated-otherwise]

hello. i just wanted to say that i don’t identify as asexual anymore because i feel very very disconnected to the label. not feeling sexually attracted to people doesn’t affect my life nearly as much as my aromanticism and i don’t feel like my sexuality is something i care as much about. not feeling romantic attraction for me is such a major issue in life that it cancels out everything else. i think even with sexual attraction i would eventually only go by aro because that is so much more important to me and will always be the thing i will struggle the most with.

hope you’re having a nice day.

[what-even-is-thiss]

What and who is included in the lgbt/queer/gay(general) communities aren’t always super clear cut actually and like... that’s fine.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Like a cishet man that likes doing drag likely doesn’t consider himself queer and neither would any of his queer/lgbt friends but he might still be super active in the community and mostly hang out with gay guys and bring his girlfriend to pride and maybe even perform at pride. And maybe the queer community is where he feels most at home because he’s kind of feminine, and doing drag is a big part of his life.

Irl probably almost nobody would kick this guy out. A lot of internet discourse would. But that kind of makes no sense.

I grew up in the theatre community, and after I learned what being gay was I discovered that gay people were everywhere in theatre. But so were straight people that just kind of fell outside of societal norms a bit. Straight people that often just felt more comfortable around gay people because they could just be themselves.

And yeah that’s an obvious example of people that aren’t queer hanging out in queer spaces but there’s also a ton of gray area. Straight polyamorous people for example. People that identify as cis that “crossdress” or even do some things that might be considered to be part of “transitioning”. Or some intersex people that don’t id with the lgbt community. Or people that id as non binary but not as trans.

At some point you need to stop trying to figure out who definitively belongs in the club because like... there is no club. Irl queer spaces tend to cover huge swaths of people. There’s a lot of gray area. And also you’ll also tend to find a lot of cishet gender conforming people in these spaces too. Because their significant other or a family member or a good friend is lgbt+ or because they’re poly or because they just feel more comfortable around queer people or they just feel like fighting for gay rights is something that they’re supposed to be doing. And if they’re respectful and the space isn’t explicitly “no cishet right now” then like, them being there isn’t that much of an issue usually.

All of this internet discourse that tries to exclude or bully people just isn’t grounded in reality.

[eldritchtree]

This is just for the "main cast" as far as there is a main cast for Widdershins. Also Voss and Lei are there, they're a little ambiguous- Voss more than Lei. But I made the quiz and I say it's eyepatch man hours. Anyway! If you aren't familiar Widdershins is a comic by Kate Ashwin, you can read it online at https://www.widdershinscomic.com/ ! All for free! It's very good.

I have made a fan quiz for @katedrawscomics​‘s masterpiece Widdershins.

I did my best! I hope you all enjoy!

[katedrawscomics]

oh my god i love this! also I got sid which is extremely correct, go take the quiz and tell us what you got! 

[craftyhikingoutdoorsopera-deact]

[headcanonsandmore]

My apologies to my friends and family (both IRL and online).

[headcanonsandmore]

Don’t act like you don’t see it. 

[space-morningstar]

If there is anyone capable of adapting The City Watch saga correctly, it is  Michael Schur

[headcanonsandmore]

Yes, but also… Taika Waititi.

[noirandchocolate]

The thing that gets me the most about critics of Terry Pratchett’s novels who say they’re not important or “literature” because they’re “not realistic” is this:  

By what yardstick are we supposed to be measuring “realism”?

See, I’m willing to bet that the yardstick these critics use is that oh so popular model of “the real world is really a terrible place, so the world of this piece of media is full of barbarism and grotesque cruelty.”*  And Terry Pratchett never, ever fell into that dismal trope.  He didn’t hunt his characters for sport.  There’s no gratuitous sexual violence (no sexual violence at all, that I can think of).  Even if a death or an act of evil is senseless from an in-world point of view, it isn’t random and senseless from a narrative perspective, thrown in to shock or to remind readers/viewers that “that’s reality.”  The Discworld isn’t a happy rainbow place all the time.  But it’s not a bleak pit of despair, either.  There are bad people of all stripes, from literal torturers and megalomaniacs to regular folk who perpetuate the kind of small mundane badness pretty much every human is guilty of at one time or another.  But there are good people too.  And sometimes some of them die along the way, but ultimately the good people win and the world is changed for the better or at least doesn’t get any worse.  Is that really “unrealistic”?

Terry Pratchett didn’t write a bunch of books about people being brutal to each other because “that’s human nature.”  Terry Pratchett acknowledged–often, even–that humanity is prone to base acts.  But what his books are really about, is humanity’s ability to rise above that.  Terry Pratchett wrote about protagonists who are imperfect, doing good in the world often against their first instincts.  He wrote about situations where it is hard to be good, but where his protagonists choose it anyway.

Rincewind is a coward who craves only boredom, but he steps up to the plate and saves the world whenever it turns out no one else can.  

Sam Vimes is a bitter, cynical recovering alcoholic who is desperate to be a better man and to do what’s just for everyone.

Granny Weatherwax is an aloof, blunt loner who finds “being the good one” a burden, but she works tirelessly to protect and serve her steading, just so everyone else can be free to go about their normal little everyday lives.

Brutha starts off blindly believing that “purifying” sinners is necessary, but he learns to think for himself and when later on he has the chance to kill the worst of the Quisition’s torturers?  He carries him through a desert, instead, and ends up reforming a religion.

These are just a few of so many examples.  And are they “unrealistic”?  Is the idea that imperfect beings can choose to do good even if it is difficult “fantasy”?  Is it really too hard to believe that maybe even if the nature of humanity inclines toward selfishness and greed and all that terrible stuff, humanity can also do better than that, if individuals choose to?

Because, wow, to me that’s an awfully uninspiring view of “reality”.  It’s kind of a boring one, too, when it comes to media.  If all you’re going to show me is a series of escalating cruelty for shock value, because “in the real world good people suffer” or whatever edgy thing you think is “realistic”, I’m not interested, sorry.

Give me Terry Pratchett’s world, where readers can think that if a screwup like Rincewind or someone as bad-tempered as Granny can do good maybe they, the readers, can do good too.  That if Vimes can turn his life around and work for justice, and if Brutha can question authority and stand up to oppression, maybe they could help change things, too.  Give me that “fantasy” any day.

That’s the kind of “literature” I want.

*Either that or they just see books where magic is real and immediately put on their “I’m a grown up, grown ups don’t believe in magic” hats and roll their eyes, sure in the knowledge of their superiority, because what value could there ever be in having a little imagination, right?

[aenramsden]

But more to the point… I mean… the Discworld is hella realistic. The world makes sense. People act like people. Imps with a good eye and perfect memory are used in cameras and watches. The clacks rapidly goes multi-national after being invented and is soon a part of everyday life. What’s that quote from Night Watch…

Keep reading

[downtroddendeity]

Reblogging especially for that second part, and yeah, seriously. I’ve never seen a work as realistic as Discworld in terms of the solidity and reality of things like “where does the food come from” and “where does the sewage go” and “what do people with no connection to the main characters do all day?” Ankh-Morpork has pencil factories and a slaughterhouse district and a garbage mogul and cloth-production sweatshops and seed salesmen and hairdressers and milkmen and stationary manufacturers and rat catchers and runway fashion designers and all-night takeaway restaurants, and at one point the top candidate for the Patricianship was a guy from the Guild of Leatherworkers who ran a sex shop. The greasy details of candle manufacturing are a plot point in Feet of Clay, as is paper availability in The Truth and the murder of a condom manufacturer in The Fifth Elephant. I’ve seen plenty of fantasy novels that talk about noble ladies having expensive cosmetics, but Discworld is the only one I’ve ever seen with a passing mention of someone who makes them.

There are guilds of thieves and assassins and beggars, yes (which started, for the record, as a parody of old-school heroic fantasy where underground Guilds of [Criminal]s would often be the only organization present in the narrative besides something like the City Guards), but there are also guilds of clockmakers and bakers and teachers and engravers and laundresses and town criers and exotic dancers. I’ve never seen anything that so well shows the scale and diversity of a society as Discworld.

[thesummoningdark]

And on the note of Realism: most of Pratchett’s heroes are not in any way Special. They don’t tend to be Chosen Ones or the subject of prophecies. They are, for the most part, ordinary people who chose to step up and do something about what’s happening, because if they don’t who will? 

And those characters who do have something inherently Special about them (Carrot and Susan spring to mind), their story is often about them rejecting the narrative it would usually follow, and choosing to interact with their legacy on their own terms. Carrot chooses to be a guardsman. Susan chooses to be a schoolteacher.

[lazysupernova]

now, guys, i like daenerys and all … i’m just saying that Lady Sybil Vimes is my real queen and mother of dragons.

like if she were in danny’s place, she’d not only abolish slavery for real, but the former slavemasters would definitely be more polite, they’d sit up straighter and they’d eat all their vegetables. and her dragons would be much tamer.

she’d do it in record time too

[felren13]

lady sybil vimes sitting on the iron throne. someone write this!!

[thebibliosphere]

“It’s a little…sharp, don’t you think, dear?” Vimes tried, voice echoing around the deserted throne room.

He disliked King’s Landing out of principle, it was all right there in the very name. Sybil was in her element however, although it was hard to think of a time when Lady Sybil wasn’t in her element. The world morphed to her, fitting snugly around her form until it settled around her as though she’d always belonged. He’d watched many a time as she’d made rich lords and ladies feel like strangers in their own grand homes and now—

“I mean who on earth builds a throne out of thousands of swords. I know Vetinari is a bastard for symbols and metaphorical meaning, but this really takes the pis—I mean tart.”

“Yes, the whole place could do with a bit of a spruce up, don’t you think?”

Oh yes dear, thought Vimes, the manic edge to his thoughts threatening to well up and bubble over into hysterical laughter. I dare say if you got some curtains measured up you could hide the view of half a burning kingdom, no problem…

He didn’t belong here. Neither of them did. But who could have ever predicted that that bloody dragon would return? I could, said a little voice in the back of his head. It had been waiting for all of this to end. Not necessarily the dragon of course, but for the careful world he and Sybil had built to shatter in a shower of fire and smoke and then the ice would pour back into his veins and Sam Vimes would cease to exist, because whatever man had existed before had died somewhere in an Ankh-Morpork gutter a million miles away…

What was it the old wizard had said? Something to do with stories and narrative need? About fitting into the holes of the pantaloons of the multiverse?

It didn’t matter now…all that mattered was that they were here now, summoned by whatever need had pulled them here and—oh yes—he looked up at the open hole where the palace roof ought to be. Three dragons looked down, as attentive as kittens with a ball of string. He tried not to think about the sound of their claws scraping over the stone or the way their eyes moved to follow him if he strayed too far from Sybil.

Mother of Dragons…

They’d shouted it through the streets, even as they burned. Mother of Dragons…breaker of chains, first of her name Her Grace, Lady Sybil Deirdre Olgivanna Ramkin-Vimes, The Duchess of Ankh …and Queen of the Iron Throne…

“I know what you’re thinking, Sam.”

“Do you, dear?” Same asked, letting his eyes drift from the dragons to her reassuring form, her blue evening gown streaked with soot, wig only just slightly askew.

“You’re thinking you want to go home…and I can’t say I blame you, but until the wizard chaps figure this out, I say we make the most of this… there’s a whole city out there Sam Vimes. You saw the mess of it when they opened the gates, you saw what those awful people did to their people…”

Vimes was vaguely aware of an audience gathering at the giant doors that hung on their hinges. Fine looking people, or at least people who thought they were very fine, rich robes singed and ruined in only the way a dragon burning your city can do. And all of them cautiously livid. There was something reassuringly familiar about that.

“Yes, dear. They do what all ruling classes do.” He turned his attention to the gathering crowd. “They piss down and call it plumbing.”

An old man wearing chains opened his mouth to protest, “I beg your pardon—“

“Yes you bloody should!” snapped Vimes, reaching for the cigar behind his ear that wasn’t there and beginning to pat down his pockets. “Call yourselves a tyranny? My gods what a shambles. Vetinari would have a fit at the state of this place. An absolute fit.”

Another woman, slightly older than Sybil, and almost as regal, turned what could only be defined as a look toward him. “And you both are, sir?”

“Oh do forgive me,” he said, with manic faux politeness, his ducal façade slipping into place like an anvil on thin ice, “hadn’t you heard? I would have thought that mob was awfully clear. This is the Mother of Dragons, Breaker of Chains, First of her name Her Grace, Lady Sybil Deirdre Olgivanna Ramkin-Vimes, The Duchess of Ankh and Queen of the Iron Throne. And I’m her husband—“ Commander Vimes City Watch…the words died on his lips as new words funneled in through the back of his head, poured down by the cosmos in rich vibrant hues as the world finally knit together around him. He grinned and several people backed away.

“They call me, the Kingslayer. And I’m her Guard.”

Sybil smiled, that soft genteel smile that could light up rooms and made people feel warm inside. Overhead the dragons spat white hot plumes of flame, making everyone within a twenty foot radius feel very warm indeed.

“And you lot—” Vimes said, finally managing to pull a cigar from somewhere in his dented armor, holding it up to the still sizzling air and letting the tip self-combust before taking a long heady drag—“have got some bloody explaining to do.”

[firefly42-ad-astra]

Very good style emulation!

[redbeardace]

[firefly42]

@firefly42-ad-astra

[firefly42-ad-astra]

@firefly42

[bananapeppers]

If your landlord is having a hard time understanding the rent crisis here’s a handy information sheet about investments and risk to help them!

Nick Thackaz (March 27, 2020)

[my-gender-is]

My gender is under quarantine

[firefly42-ad-astra]

Social distancing from it

[mercifulangel]

man why do europeans always condescend about the US government like this like everyone on here knows about it and is against it dude what exactly do you expect regular ass americans from tumblr to do? it's not like they can just phone trump and ask him if he would please stop

[squidificati0n]

It's definitely important to talk about things like this and spread awareness but it would be cool if people stopped acting like we are either willfully ignorant or don't care. We fucking hate living in a dumpster fire, trust me. There's only so much we can do.

[raavenb2619]

[ID: The two buttons meme. The first panel shows two buttons labelled “existential doubt that I’m really aro” and “existential fear about my future because I’m really aro”. The second panel shows a man, labelled “me”, trying to decide which button to press. End ID]