#notstarwars

[wingletblackbird]

I don't know if anyone at all cares about my Gakuen Alice: Natsume Hyuuga fic, but if you do, it has finally been updated!

[star-wars-fashion]

Links to my various other fashion blogs:

@atla-fashion

@dc-comics-fashion

@narutofashion

@she-ra-fashion

@inuyasha-fashion

@bnha-fashion

@marvel-comics-fashion

@lotr-fashion

@onepiecefashion

[kswizzz86]

🔥🔥🔥

[drabber]

Some Familiar characters Testing out my new phone lenses with some #miniatures #ladymechanicum #astropolis

[tattoosbyfred]

View this post on Instagram

#tmnt leg I've been working on for awhile now. @dustinsmock thanks for letting me have some fun. #fanboy_fred #tattooinelounge #noegretstattoo #notstarwars #shredder #mousers #pizzapoint (at No Egrets Tattoo Studio)

[wingletblackbird]

The Inheritance of the Shapeshifter Gene

Since I have been enjoying the laughs the Twilight Renaissance has granted me: Here is my contribution. It is not hilarious, but I think it is interesting. I tried to apply a bit of science and realism into S. Meyer’s world…

Sex-Linked Traits

In Twilight, S.Meyer suggests, both in canon and through provided family trees, that the wolf-shapeshifter gene can be inherited from father to son. However, I think this is unlikely as the gene is almost exclusively expressed amongst males. In fact, until Leah Clearwater, no woman has ever phased. Given the significantly disproportionate expression in males as compared to females, I think the shapeshifting is an X-linked recessive trait.

This means that men who inherit an X-chromosome with the gene will phase in adolescence, if presented to the appropriate stimulus. (I do not believe it is exclusively vampires.) However, for a female to phase, she must have two X-chromosomes with the gene. I think this must be what happened to Leah. She inherited the gene from both sides. This, combined with the increased threat, led to her unprecedented phasing. (Also this means that we don’t have to worry about Embry’s paternity. He gets the gene from his mom.)

Why This Makes Imprinting Important

The unique inheritance of X-linked conditions makes sense in the context of imprinting. Men can pass down the gene to their daughters who will become carriers. However, they cannot pass it on to their sons. This means that if they want their sons to inherit the responsibility of protectors, they must reproduce with a woman who is a carrier to have a chance.

When one looks at wolves in nature, a pack is typically made up of the parents and their cubs. The parents are faithful to each other, as a general rule, until their partner dies. They also seem to pair up based upon genetic compatibility, and stay together for the cubs. In captivity, where wolves cannot easily leave a pack to form their own, usually it is only the alpha male and female who reproduce. In some cases, the beta may as well. In the rarest of cases, other wolves may.

If we translate this to the human context of Twilight, I imagine that typically it is only the chief, or the alpha of the pack, who imprints. Noticeably, Emily’s home has become pack central and she is the one caring for the pups who call each other “brother.” It does make for a mirror of a real wolf pack. Sam and Emily are the alpha pair. Now Sam’s kids will likely be able to inherit the responsibility as they age. 

Before the modern age, I imagine the pack typically was a father and his sons, even more reminiscent of a normal wolf pack, with some cousins and/or kids of the beta as needed. We know that wolves phasing has become rarer in the last couple centuries for the Quileute. Prior to Ephraim’s grandfather’s generation, however, a pack of three wolves was typically maintained.  Most likely encounters with Europeans decimated them and certain traditions were lost. I cannot imagine the gene got any less potent given the increased phasing we see in Breaking Dawn. Consequently, it is most likely that, historically, the sons of the chief/alpha were exposed to some kind of danger or test to get them to phase. If they did not, the next most likely adolescents, maybe a cousin or a child of the beta, were taught to phase until there were three wolves. They were trained by their fathers, and the traditions and responsibilities were passed down. Hence, the title of alpha, unless challenged, may be passed down the male line, but the genetic inheritance is owed to the mothers, quite possibly she was imprinted on. The modern-day pack had to fight as teenagers without training since that tradition was lost. It stopped getting passed down father to son/nephew/cousin etc.

I despise the way imprinting seems to take away your choice about who to love, and even alters your character, nor do I believe love can be compelled. I am far more inclined to think that imprinting is just a biological imperative to protect a female who is a carrier for an important gene. In the modern day, that can just mean she especially comes under the wolves protection. Historically, when arranged marriages were the norm in Quileute culture, marrying the woman you imprinted on likely was standard. This would make sense in the context of only the Chief imprinting, especially if they noticed marrying the imprintee meant his sons were more likely to be wolves. It was what was best for the tribe. Marriage has also historically been about protection/security in many cases too, for better or worse. Moreover, in the Quileute creation story, (the real one, not the one S. Meyer gave us), Kwati indicated that it should be one woman for every man, except the chief who could have several. Thus, if the chief/alpha was not in love with the imprintee, he could always marry another, (although marrying for love is a fairly modern notion.) Way back when, even eventually marrying a girl you knew as a child would not be utterly unheard of. In no way, however, do I think that means Jacob and Quil are going to naturally end up with the kids they imprinted on. Nope. They might feel inclined to protect these kids, but that is it. Yes, they do have free will. They could even ignore the imprinting if they chose. We can all ignore things our biology tells us. It’s just annoying and uncomfortable sometimes. (Hey, if the Cullens can ignore bloodlust, the wolves can definitely override imprinting.)

With imprinting acting as a means of preserving genetic expression, it does make sense that the number of cases of imprinting would increase with a heightened threat. I imagine imprinting is rare, generally reserved for the chief/alpha of the pack only, like what initially happened with Sam Uley. However, with newborn armies and more vampires in the area, imprinting went up. It is telling to me that the people who imprinted were the higher ranking and/or older wolves too.

Imprintees and Female Shapeshifters

The historical practice of ensuring there were always three wolves likely prevented any of the few females who might have shapeshifted from phasing. There would be no need for them to phase if the threat were already taken care of. Apart from men genetically being more likely to phase, it just makes more sense. You do not want women on the frontlines.  You can repopulate your people far more easily with a handful of men and many women, but it is harder the other way around. Also, who is going to nurse the young if all the women run off and get killed in battle? Women would not have been tested for phasing even if they could. 

Hence, while Leah is the first female to phase, I do not believe that Leah was the first female to have the potential to. She phased because there was an increased threat level. She was the right age with the right genes. (Plus, no one had a clue what was going on making things worse.) Her phasing is also why Leah does not get imprinted on, even though her male kids are guaranteed to carry the gene. The imprinter is not likely to pass on a gene to surviving kids if their mother gets killed in combat. Ironically, looking at the family trees, I think there is a good chance Emily might have two copies of the shapeshifting X-chromosome. However, if that was the case, Emily was just old enough to escape the effects. She got imprinted on instead. (Given that even the increased threat level in Breaking Dawn did not result in any more girls transforming, it continues to support the theory that phasing is an X-linked recessive trait.)

This leads me to Re-name-me Cullen. If she got imprinted on by Jacob, she must be a genetic carrier. This means that Bella was a carrier, and likely that Charlie was too. Given that Charlie seems to have a cousin who married into Quil’s family, I imagine he must have inherited the gene through some kind of Quileute connection in the past. Naturally, Charlie has no clue. It is hilarious to me to picture Charlie phasing all of a sudden though.

I imagine the odds of ignorant people phasing and not having a clue why could become a problem. When the tribe married within the tribe, people knew what was going on. In the modern age, as people who are unknown carriers for the gene leave, marry outsiders, and possibly never return...Well, I pity their poor kids!

[wingletblackbird]

What in the Heck Were the Elves Doing?

I don’t know if anyone on here cares at all about the Inheritance Cycle, but I stumbled across the movie-that-shall-not-be-named on Disney+ and got going. 

Seriously, what were the elves doing for the century Galby was in power? Were they storing energy in jewels? Were they training their warriors? Was there a constant military presence in case today is the day Galby attacks? 

What does Arya do in her role as ambassador? The elves may support the Varden with supplies, (IIRC), but what else do they do? How else do they help? Do they spy? Scry the land? Did Arya ever try to teach Du Vrangr Gata? Did they reject her because she was an elf or did she refuse because they were human and beneath her? Clearly she was not much involved considering the grammatically incorrect name. 

The elves know they are vulnerable because the only thing protecting them is that Galby doesn’t know where they are. So obviously they don’t want any member to get captured and give up that secret. So makes sense, to an extent, they’re holed up in the woods with few elves ever leaving. So was their only plan just to hope that they survived when Galby eventually came? (Assuming they were storing energy in jewels?)

Inquiring minds want to know. 

[wingletblackbird]

My Complicated Thoughts on Merlin

I started watching Merlin because I’d seen a lot of posts about it on Tumblr and heard good things. I struggled to watch it once we got to Season 4 though. I don’t think I have ever experienced such a love/hate relationship with a series in my life. I’ve tried to figure out why I have so many mixed feelings. Writing this post is cathartic, and has led me to the ultimate conclusion that I am in love with the potential of this show, but I don’t actually like what we were given. 

The Portrayal of Oppression/Morgana’s Arc:

Morgana’s arc could have been way more interesting, but they skip over too much important character development that we needed to see. In the beginning we see that Morgana opposes Uther’s cruelty. She is portrayed as being compassionate. We sympathize with her plight, especially once she discovered she has magic. 

This leads to an interesting moral dilemma. Should Morgana simply assassinate the king? Is Merlin’s long-game with Arthur more effective or moral? Uther is killing innocents. A revolution might be considered just. 

Instead, extremely rapidly, Morgana is played as the bad guy simply because she has decided to betray Camelot. We see her slaughtering innocent people herself when she becomes Queen. Why this transition to becoming like Uther but with magic so quickly? It made sense for her to want to assassinate Uther. That does not immediately make her evil. That needed to be more gradual. I saw the motivation for her hatred of Uther. But how she became evil, that is not portrayed well at all. 

We see hints of Morgana’s self-centeredness when she refuses to leave the Druids even knowing they’ll be slaughtered. Examine that streak. Show how a good cause can be corrupted by someone who becomes drunk on hate and power. The show tries, but it doesn’t quite get there. Show me that even a righteous cause can be led by a corrupted individual. 

Worse, the show does not show the nuance in any satisfying way. Show me that Morgana’s crusade against Uther and Arthur can actually be justified given that the law indicates that they would kill her and her kind. Morgana could legitimately consider Merlin a traitor. Her initial opposition to Uther is justified. He has committed and is committing genocide. Killing him could be seen as defense herself and other innocents. This could be opposed to Merlin’s bloodless coup, if you will. Which is the better option? What are the pros and cons?

And speaking of such oppressions, Merlin frees Freya and helps with Mordred. We really could have afforded to see more about how Merlin helps sorcerers escape, or about an underground network in general. How do they see Merlin? Do they hope he will influence the future king? Do they see him as a traitor? We see hints of this throughout the show such as with Gilli, but the writers never truly take it there. The story with Gilli ended up being about the corruption of power etc., and I liked it, but there was more to that story that needed to be addressed. Is it right or wrong for Merlin to defend Uther? Does it depend on the context? There are many times Merlin does that.

How Merlin Views Arthur:

Speaking of oppression, let’s talk about the effect it has on the psyche of Merlin. When we first meet Merlin, he has a strong moral compass, and confidence in his abilities. What he does not have is good self-esteem. He wonders if he’s a monster. He struggles because he is so powerful with something that is hated and can get him and his loved ones killed. Imagine the kind of fear that can creep into your soul when you have been watching people like you get executed since you were a child. Worse, you struggle to control your own abilities. You love your magic, maybe, but you also loathe yourself for the danger. 

Merlin, then, is a prime target for believing in Destiny. It’s nice to think he has a purpose in this after all. It is pretty clear that the Dragon is being manipulative. I don’t blame him after being trapped for decades. But Merlin is vulnerable and initially starts to protect Arthur because he needs to think he has a reason to be the way he is and is not a monster.

Having said that, I think we can say that Merlin does quickly come to love and respect Arthur. He believes that Arthur is a good man and will lead a good kingdom. All of these are good reasons to stay in his service. It is a good way to eventually show Arthur that magic can be good, to get a kingdom without oppression and the bloodshed of a revolution, and to protect a man he considers a friend. 

The problem with this is that by the end of the third season, Merlin’s double or triple motivation seems to narrow down in focus to simply protecting Arthur. Okay...but when are you going to have him see magic is good? I understand Merlin not being able to outright say anything because that might make him seem like a sympathizer, or just because of a lifetime of fear. But after all that subterfuge with Dragoon the Great and you can’t come up with a way to show magic doing something good without implicating yourself? Trust in Arthur’s character that you extol?

The fact is that by not revealing his magic to Arthur at the multiple different opportunities offered implies that Merlin does not in fact believe that Arthur is the man Merlin claims he is. I equally understand that growing up under that kind of oppression Merlin is not thinking straight. (Gaius does not help.) Furthermore, once you’ve risked your life to protect a man, it can become very hard to back out because you’ve already lost too much. It can also be hard to admit to secrecy after years of a relationship. But Merlin’s actions show that in the end, he does not trust Arthur, which is why he was supposed to have been protecting him. This suggests that Merlin is really just being emotionally manipulated. He has grown up in this oppression, and wants to believe his magic is good, and he has sacrificed too much, lost too much, at his point so he protects Arthur...even at the cost of other’s of his kind. 

If anything, Merlin goes from a kind-hearted boy who rescued people like Freya...to being willing to turn a blind eye to their suffering....!? Merlin goes from confident in the first season, with a clear moral compass...to being less so later on? When in theory, especially with Uther dead, he should be safer? More willing to take risks? 

There is another military aspect to consider as well. Morgana is a legitimate threat and without magic, Camelot cannot defend itself well. By not telling Arthur about his magic, or by not finding a way to make Arthur think about magic, Merlin is endangering everyone in Camelot. Arthur cannot defend his kingdom without the tools he needs. Merlin is now disrespecting his king, and making the decisions that are Arthur’s to make. How can Arthur command his armies without vital information? Merlin is powerful enough to be able to flee Camelot on the off chance Arthur tries to execute him. (In which case, maybe Merlin should join the other side.) He chooses to risk every life in Camelot rather than reveal his secret and help Arthur plan. That was acceptable for a minor coup when Morgana first took over. It’s not so great as the stakes progress.  Merlin was always willing to risk his life to do the right thing. And yet, when it counts the most, when Arthur is the one on the throne, he doesn’t?

This is never addressed in any satisfactory manner. 

Arthur’s Arc and Unfulfilled Expectations: 

This leads us to Arthur’s character arc. If Arthur’s character had shown Merlin the same respect in later seasons as in the first couple, I don’t think Merlin would have been placed in the position of having to truly betray his kind or indicate his trust in Arthur was wrong. Arthur even early in their relationship, like with Valiant, listens to Merlin. However, in later seasons, after so many years of faithful service, (and being right), Arthur is quick to dismiss him. (And then even that might get reversed in a dime...what are the writers thinking?) Of everyone from the knights to Gwen, Merlin is afforded the least recognition or respect it feels like at times.

Arthur also in the beginning showed concern for his friend. Additionally, he showed great concern in his own constipated way for Merlin’s feelings when he was down. Not so much in the later years... Why?

Moreover, has Arthur really learned to treat everyone as equals? Or only the one’s who have done something for him?

I don’t blame Arthur for his stance on magic much, because he has little reason to believe otherwise. However, in the earlier seasons we see him defying his father over things like killing Mordred, a child. Yet, in later seasons, he never seems able to step out of his father’s shadow. Never seems to truly realize how abysmal his father’s rule was. The Arthur of the early seasons ought to have grown enough to be able to do that, and therefore safely allow magic again. This does not happen. He is shown as being devastated by what he did to the druids...is this ever followed up on? 

This leads into unfulfilled expectations. Arthur was supposed to usher in a period of peace. Did he? No. And no matter what Kilgharrah says, I’m not buying it. If they had framed Kilgharrah as lying about that and manipulating poor Merlin for revenge, it would have made for a dreadful tragedy. As it is, it’s just a huge let down. If they had shown Merlin to be a tragic victim of oppression and manipulation who ended up not serving the man he thought he was...it would have been horrifying but interesting. As it is, I just hate it. 

Why would I want to watch someone who has been oppressed and threatened with death, lose everything to protect what he hoped would be his friend and his freedom, only to have to live with just being used? And be told that eventually, if you wait long enough, then you will have succeeded? That this was a good thing?! Is framed as a good thing? NO! I was sold a story about a man in a position of power being befriended by a man who has been oppressed. The man in power learns from his friend and becomes a man who helps liberate the oppressed. Together they create a better world. Eventually, the man in power dies tragically and we all cry. Instead I got this absolute garbage.  

I can see why Merlin’s fandom is so prolific. It is perfect for fanfic, because we have an interesting premise and interesting characters, but god-awful canon-writing. BBC Merlin is garbage with potential.