It’s outright my favourite manga, it manages to avoid most of the issues fantasy manga tend to fall into nowadays and it’s remarkably mature and well-thought out in how it approaches a lot of its subject matter. It’s also just a delight of a work when you analyse it.

Since you’re quite early I’ll go over one of the simpler things I had fun considering: the magic system! Without going too in depth, it functions as an allegory for several things at once, most notably art. Obviously the magic is drawn, but it goes further as the way that the witches relate to their magic is the same way artists relate to their art; they develop styles and preferences, they have to work around their lack of skill in certain areas to produce their art, the way people talk about it, etc…

But it also doubles as an allegory for scientific progress, one of the forbidden magics is medical, after all. And there’s this lovely tension between the two. I’d go further but to really explain my thoughts requires a lot of later context.

It’s a lovely series, and I adore it.

It’s just lolita for the fashion style, gothic lolita is a substyle of the wider lolita movement which has other substyles like sweet lolita and classic lolita that each try to focus on particular parts of the overall aesthetic of cute, frilly, victorian-inspired clothing. The vtuber is very much not wearing anything even remotely lolita, the outfit lacks pretty much all of the characteristics beyond just vaguely being cute.

Ultimately the names for all of these call back to the novel Lolita, since in Japan the term became associated not with the pedophilia that is the focus of the text but instead it kinda merged with pre-existing idealised notions of cute young girls to the point where, over time, the term has been basically entirely disconnected from its source material.

Lolicon reintroduces the sexual component through the addition of ‘complex’ to the overall term. Technically there are non-sexual ways to understand it but like you said, it’s mostly awful pedo stuff. The vtuber here is specifically saying lolicon. (ロリコン is rorikon when transliterated)

Source is my obsession with lolita fashion and my little bit of self-taught japanese.

I use local libraries and bookstores mostly. When I’m reading comics/manga/big publisher fantasy I tend to pirate until I know that I like the series to justify the purchase. For theory I use a mix of the usual Marxists.org alongside my uni library, libgen, and Iskra’s pdf versions of their books. I also read a lot of visual novels, usually pirated until I know I like them.

I’m currently rereading two things: The Hobbit as a bit of a comfort read, and Sekien no Inganock since I never got around to finishing it and I found its steampunk mutants setting cool. Unfortunately I forgot that its first chapter’s villain is a transphobic stereotype, so I haven’t continued it for the past few days. Although I’ll probably push through anyways cuz the vibes are so good.

For theory I’m taking a bit of a break now that my exam season is done before I restart reading theory again.

In my experience a lot of the “haha genocide” types just don’t play the game super often, which makes sense since genocidal empires are by far the least interesting playstyle.

🦀 🦀 🦀 🦀 🦀 RIP BOZO 🦀 🦀 🦀 🦀 🦀

>Nazbol Gang flair

That’s great! I hope that you feel comfortable to be your authentic self soon.

The answer is yes since he’s a cop.

I mean, reread the definition. Oddity specifically states that animals are the thing to avoid cruelty towards. Bacteria are not animals, therefore they don’t matter under this definition.

There are some microscopic animals that exist, but they still don’t really contradict the definition because of the “as far as is possible and practicable” clause. You can’t really stop your immune system from working so it’s a moot point. Hand sanitizer doesn’t matter since tmk the actual microscopic animals like tardigrades or roundworms aren’t really affected by it.

Blade of Arcana, an untranslated japanese game with a tarot card gimmick. From my understanding it’s a mostly standard d20 only game but I’m really curious how they managed to incorporate the cards into its gameplay. Unfortunately I don’t speak Japanese so I can’t read it.

True, but I hate 40k as a game. My point of comparison was more AoS since I prefer it.

When I was talking about the list-building though I moreso meant stuff like X-Wing 1e and 2e where it’s kinda like building a card game deck. (although from what I’ve heard 2.5e ruined it, I don’t play it anymore so can’t comment beyond that)

TFU

I’ve had an interest in trying Infinity but none of the factions have really drawn me in enough to actually commit the time to learn the rules and none of my friends play it atm.

Also tbh that last bit is a positive for me since rules that lack models seem like fun kitbash fodder.

I played OPR for the first time recently too, although I did a smaller 750 point game of AoF just to get a grasp on the core rules of it. Took around 30 minutes to play and was mostly just my friend and I throwing our models at each other instead of doing objectives.

It was definitely enjoyable but I think it’s too simple for my taste. Admittedly this is partly due to me doing such a small game without any real objectives. But I’m also just not the type of person this game is made for since most of my favourite wargames are either decently complex or have pretty involved list building, neither of which are the case in OPR imo. I did really like some of its rules though: the morale rules in particular seem really cool as a movement control mechanic and I might try a few more games just to play with it.

Nah you don’t get it, that extra 3mm is actually the source of the cost since it’s made out of solid gold, and obviously if it costs more it must be better. So it’s actually very normal for an artillery round to cost that much.

Please ignore the fact that gold wouldn’t even be close to that price because it ruins my joke.

They’re a man or woman now

This is why, this statement means that you don’t view trans people who haven’t “finished transitioning” as their actual gender. This is a transphobic and pretty reductive understanding of how transition works (albeit one that some trans people hold themselves, usually transmeds). I won’t write an entire essay on why but here’s just a small bit to chew on: consider that a “finished transition” is very different from person to person and some people might never consider it finished. Some people only want to socially transition, others have to medicate for their entire lives, both could consider reaching their ideal state “finished” or they could consider it a continual work in progress.

Also,

This isn’t defense, this behavior actively makes things worse for trans people.

The idea that pointing out someone’s transphobia will somehow support the transphobes is laughable. If being called out is seriously enough to make someone stop supporting trans people then their support was conditional and only surface-level.

Staying civil, as you suggest, is what actually helps conservatives since it allows their views to go unchallenged when their views are bad and should be challenged. Part of this includes challenging people who may think they are supportive but harbour transphobic beliefs that they haven’t analysed fully. And these wrong beliefs can have actual harm. As a simple example, there are a lot of “allies” who say that trans people are their gender but not their sex, which is a belief that can harm trans people when brought into a medical context where our bodies are (if on HRT) closer to those of our actual gender than to our AGAB.

40kcels will look at this and dismiss it because AoS “doesn’t have good lore” and “isn’t grimdark enough” when they’ve probably never even touched a 40k book, let alone an AoS one.

Or they’ll actually play AoS and hate the double turn, one or the other.

Genuinely, some of the most painful things I’ve ever read were texts written by small evangelical communities about their history and folk heroes who were doing missionary work. The way they write about the subject is just extremely uncomfortable to read. Especially when they complain about the way other christians treat them and then do the same shit to others.

Like, one was about a man who was basically disowned by his family for being in a different denomination from them. But then he fought in WW2, found others like him and built a community that came back home with him to establish their churches. Afterwards, he went to Brazil and “heroically” tried to convert people there and fight against the Catholic majority who didn’t want him there. And the text tries to imply a parallel between the isolation from being disowned, the war, and finding community to the work of a missionary. Like, he’s so isolated here but he’s fighting back against the Catholic oppression to found a new community type stuff.* Meanwhile, the book is mentioning how faithful his wife and kids were for being there to support him while he does this, and I, being someone who moved around a lot as a kid, just feel bad for them.

*(This may be slightly off but it’s how I remember it. It’s been a year since I speed-read it so some parts are a bit hazy and my entry in my reading diary for it was just a simple “fuck missionaries.” It’s safe to say I won’t be rereading it anytime soon)

Games Workshop, they’re the company that produces Warhammer models and overprices everything. They are not good.

The pieces breaking off is actually a positive when used as a blunt instrument; they embed themselves into the chud’s feeble flesh and cause lead poisoning, thus removing a day or two of their life.