Beware the Tentacle LSAT

So some fanartist drew a “sexy” (read: booby) version of a (cartoon) character who is traditionally very non-sexualised. Fans of the character got mad about it because it’s kind of groundbreaking how that character is written and portrayed and this art totally ignores the entire point of the character. They demanded the art be deleted. In response to that other people said, well what the fanartist did may be distateful but they have every right to draw what they’re into. The two sides fight for days and each starts a harassment campaign and even report their “opponents’” accounts.

So far so typical. But things eventually come to a head and they decide that this will be settled by votes - not through a poll. Through donations to a children’s education charity via each side’s portal. Whoever can get the highest amount of donation wins.

“𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡. 𝐈’𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨.” -𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟓 Remembering acclaimed lgbtq+ artist David Hockney who passed away on June 11th, 2026 in London, England at the age of 88. Hockney's sun-drenched paintings regularly featured positive aspects of queer life during an era when the lgbtq+ community was encouraged to dwell in the shadows by an intolerant and unaccepting status-quo. The 1972 painting featured in this post entitled Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold during a 2018 Christie's auction of Hockney's works for $90.3 million in November 2018, establishing the painting as the most valuable work of art created by a living artist at the time.

But, crucially, the books manage all of this while having stakes. There are the relationship, personal level ones-- will these orphaned kids become friends? Will they learn to overcome the traumas of their respective backstories? Will they learn to master their magic?

And then there are Larger, life-threatening stakes... but crucially, not 'save-the-world' level. Pierce made the excellent choice for the first quartet (when the kids are like ~10-12 ish) to generally have the threats be natural. An earthquake, a forest fire, a pandemic; there's a pirate raid, but even then the framing feels more like a force of nature. As the kids age, the threats do become more human, but remain generally localized. A crime syndicate, a serial killer. The focus of the story remains what can we do to improve things, here, now, where we are?