#icedjellytea

[lets-go-dateko]

you sound like an A+ nerd. 10/10 tbh. Me too.

i have no idea what prompted this but it’s true so. thanks?

this actually made me laugh though it’s like. a very me-type compliment. 

[sunlitfighter]

OMG. YOUR ANSWER IS SO DETAILED AND SO REALISTIC HOLY SHIT. CAN WE HAVE YOU RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT PLIS. omg. I definitely can understand what you mean by Mars being an extension of Earth. And that every big name company is vying for a piece of Mars for whatever purposes. It's sad to see that Mars is practically a tourist site for the rich and privileged from Earth. Martian citizens must be pissed as hell. I wonder if Martians ever feel like they're mere livestock being traded around. Pawns.

Previous Discussion

(Ha, I would only accept presidency of fictional Mars. But really, thank you. My actual degree is in history and I find Gilded Age/Imperial politics to be something that should be well-studied for how exploitative they were.

As for companies with political power, that is a speculative fiction trope I really enjoy and felt right to include within my HCs. The exact political landscape of Starfighter is a little hard to work out – like is Mother only a figurehead or does she wield any real executive powers for example? But the idea of a company with enough money and influence to basically buy up all the land on another planet and build colonies for the sole purpose of profit, that is something very real. (Look at the history of Pullman, Chicago for an example.)

However, while I do feel there would be a lot of resentment of colonists against Earth, I don’t think it’s quite at the livestock/pawn level. While there are ingrained biases against colonists, Starfighter isn’t that type of dystopia. (And though exploitation is a major theme, I wouldn’t classify it as a dystopia).

Especially on Mars which I see as probably the first and largest of the colonies and where I try to build in a certain independent/rebellious streak. Like when it comes to Martian music for example, I’ve been referencing genres linked to protest songs in the anglosphere – folk and punk. (Of course, protest songs exist in numerous genres/languages/cultures, I’ve just been using those two because of my own enjoyment of them.)

But I can certainly imagine a variety of ways there would be push back against colonial oppression on Mars beyond simply the political – movements equivalent to pirate radio, zines, maker communities, off-the-grid homesteading and more would all be present in my version of Mars. A separate, self-supporting Martian culture having taken root both because of and in spite of Earth’s oppression)

[sunlitfighter]

//hey Helios mun! I've been debating about whether or not to message you cause you're just so good at what you do and I do feel a tad shy. But, I'm braving through! I think you write Helios fabulously and that you're an amazing writer. I'm always really interested in what you think of Mars and the colonies. I've read some of your posts and it's fascinating to think of Mars as having terraformed. I'm not sure if there's any mention of it on your blog, but what do you think about the colonies and

Cont: the sort of people who’re there? Thus far, we know that Cain and Helios are from the colonies and they didn’t exactly have the best lives. Whereas Abel, from earth, is far more privileged. Do you think there’s a connection between Mars and poverty, and Earth and wealth?

(Ah, please don’t be shy to ask me things! I’m always happy to to answer questions and chuck headcanons at people across the internet. And I am equally happy that you enjoy my thoughts on Mars both in terms of the post-terraformed geography as well as the society there. I’ll do my best to answer your questions concisely. But for the ask of everyone’s Dashes, I’ll be doing so under a cut -

Now in the Eclipse artbook and the script itself, there is reference to the Mars colonies – plural. I generally see Mars as a patchwork of both national and corporate interests, especially since there is indication that separate nations still exist on Earth (like Abel’s father being a politician and Cain having been held in New Volga). So there really isn’t a single unified Mars and I try to find ways to indicate that. I do so mostly by having Helios grow up in as different a location possible from Cain – a bustling corporate-controlled industrial city on the equatorial waterfront as compared to a small, snow isolated mining(?) town in a government-owned colony.  

But I feel that there is an overall theme of industrial paternalism present on the Colonies stemming from the very large wealth and resource gap between Earth and Mars. It’s like company towns on an interplanetary scale. Mars exists as an extension of Earth, the ultimate expression of offshoring. There are levels of social stratification, but any of the truly luxurious parts exist for Earth representatives or tourists rather than native Martians.

As for the people of Mars, I see them as a tough, working class people who make due as best they can inside of a broken system. And while there people who are beat down by those oppressive forces, there are others fighting against it and have hope for Mars to have an independent future. However, I don’t think it would be achievable without a massive revolution given how entrenched Earth’s influence is within Martian politics.

And this is why one of the running themes I have is that “The Colonies are shit, but Mars is beautiful.” This general idea that a post-terraformed Mars would be a place of intense natural beauty contrasted with exploitative practices and unjust social policies.

Anyway, I hope that answered your questions! Feel free to come into my inbox anytime and I’ll gladly share more of my extensive Mars headcanons.)

[euphorbic]

icedjellytea said: I feel you. I’m actually feeling a little guilty about it. Like I have fics to finish writing but then I don’t have the drive to. I feel like I’m moving on to other fandoms and it feels almost bad, as if I’ve fallen out of love.

I think you should move on if you have no interest anymore. Seriously, do the stories that get you excited. You don’t owe fic to anybody, not even finishing those WIPs. You aren’t being paid and you have no obligation. Write the stories that make you happy. <3

[luciddrugs]

WHY DONT YOU TALK T ME ON SKYPE. WHY? WHY ALEXNADRATDELTOROSPANIIORTA. WHY? WHY U DO DIS? also yo blog dp damn cute.

I haven’t log into SKYPE in ages because it slows down my mac and takes like 10 minutes for it to boot back up. I WILL GO ON SOME DAY SOME DAY. Get me on whatsapp dipshit! AND hehe my dp is misLEADING WE LIVE IN SINGAPORE ugh

[boydbaeulieu]

LAURENT IS A SWEET SUMMER CHILD. HE IS. LAURENT WITH FRECKLES SOUNDS AMAZING. ARGH. DAMEN WOULD TOUCH THAT FACE. TOUCH IT. BUT NOT BEFORE BEING BRUTALLY HURT FOR IT.

<33333 my precious children. 

no! no-one gets hurt. not anymore.