extrovert final boss (author edition)

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.

I know there are constant newcomers to the Horus Heresy series so I thought someone might find this useful:

HORUS HERESY READING LIST/TRACKER

It's a blank template so the idea is that anyone can create their own copy and use it in any way it works for them - adding, renaming, editing or deleting columns.

I basically took this chronological list and made it into a spreadsheet so that I could filter it by:

title

author

format (short story/novel/novella/audio drama)

anthology (if it belongs to one)

whether it is included in the minimalist version of this super useful guide (which includes recommended reading order and has been an invaluable resource for me)

chronological order

I added one anthology that was missing and tried to add at least an approximate timeframe)

I also added the Primarch novels at the very end but they are numbered in order of release

most prominently featured legion or primarch (there's also "multiple" and n/a for non-legion factions etc.)

reading status (ngl, the "plan to read" list is growing every day)

rating - how much I had fun reading the book

rating - how much I liked the idea/message of the book (bc those are two different things)

any personal notes

Someone is complaining their child wants to cut their hair short or grow it long? Point out that it's the child's hair. Why shouldn't they have it how they want it? Why is that parent upset?

Support all kids' rights to do sports or dance or whatever - be a little judgemental, make concerned faces, if someone is pressuring their child toward an activity they don't want.

Let kids play with whatever toys they feel like.

Exclude creepy uncles or similar entirely from family gatherings.

Teach kids language to advocate for themselves. Respect their no, encourage them to express their feelings, listen when they cry. Criticise and argue with people who automatically ignore or shut children down.

Stand against beating and other forms of physical "discipline"

Every child deserves to feel ownership and autonomy over their own body, and regardless of their gender, an issue some trans ppl run into as they grow older is a sense of tension between what they want and who it feels like their body "belongs" to - their family, their future spouse, society

I received this email today explaining that the cost of my Microsoft 365 subscription was going up in cost from 9.99/mo to 12.99/mo, and that my plan would switch over on February 14th, 2025.

If you received a similar email, I'm here to tell you that this is deliberately misleading information from Microsoft, and you can absolutely stay on your current plan if they're trying to switch you to a new, more expensive one.

Log in to your Microsoft account and go to your Subscriptions tab. You should have some splurge here about how they're gonna automatically switch your plan on a certain date.

Find the "Cancel Subscription" option.

This will bring you to the subscription cancellation page, and if you scroll down, you'll find the option to simply NOT switch your plan to the more expensive one they're releasing.

Microsoft is trying to be sly about signing people up to their AI bullshit by making it sound very much like you don't have an option in these alert emails.

Even if you haven't received one of these emails, go check up on your Microsoft subscriptions and make sure they haven't just made a decision for you, because it's clear they would rather try to sneak and shoehorn Copilot into our pockets without our informed consent.

Harrow is the broke homeschooled kid from an isolationist cult that was let out on mission and/or bargained her way into attending a university so she could bring knowledge and funding back to the community. All her clothes are second-, third- or fourth-hand and have been patched and mended to hell and back and are not visually distinctive enough to identifiably belong to any subculture. The only exception to this lack of visual distinctiveness are her Church Robes, which are Church Robes. The only new clothing she owns is, like, underwear, maybe.

She is covered from neck to wrist and ankle because if anyone saw she had a human body under there she would gouge their eyes out. Most of her clothes are home-dyed black because she did it in the bathtub, and they must be black to show she is in permanent mourning. Also because then it's less likely people will notice she wears the same shirt and skirt for three days straight.

She does still have piercings (she is the only one on the Ninth mentioned to have piercings, I do not believe those are sacramental and are fully a Harrow Thing) because she can argue it's holy mortification of the flesh. Otherwise, thinking about what she is wearing is a distraction from more important things, which are a) being Righteous and b) proving she is the smartest person in the room.

things armand loves:

structure

group of people meeting regularly and following the same rules

abstinence and self-denial

he sees an AA meeting and his eyes light up with a kaching noise like in a cartoon. he’s like oh great, rules given to me by a higher power? an opportunity for self-flagellation? set steps i have to follow to cleanse me of my sins?

There is nothing sexier than a compassion-based revolutionary, so allow me to tell you just how sexy The Boy Saviour really is:

While every other revolutionary in Zaun cares about winning against Piltsover no matter what, Ekko actually cares about the people of Zaun, which is why his focus is on community organising. Yeah, he'll kick some ass when he needs to and look damn good while doing it, but he found a tree growing in the under-city despite all odds, built an entire sanctuary around it, and he refuses to turn anyone away because he has so much compassion in his heart 🥹

2. Ekko has compassion for his enemies while also not letting that cloud his judgement (except for one time against Jinx but the Timebomb shippers would argue that makes him sexier) which is such a rare but important trait to have as a revolutionary. He's someone who understands the necessity of violence, but he doesn't revel in it. He may chew out his oppressors on the Piltsover Council, but his only demand is that they give his people the rights and respect they deserve, because then he wouldn't have to fight against other less compassionate "revolutionaries" who are taking advantage of the people's desperation.

3. Ekko may be tough as nails to outsiders, but under the surface, he is a tender-hearted young man who was forced to grow up way too fast. His father figure was murdered and his crush was groomed to become a murderer by the very man who killed him. Ekko lost his whole found family in the course of a few days, and despite all that, Ekko never grew up to be resentful or give into despair. Instead, he made it his goal to fight like hell for a better future, no matter the cost to himself, so no other child would have to go through what he did or carry the same weight as he does.

4. Ekko was so right about everything that in Season 2 the writers had to send him to another dimension so he wouldn't expose all the flaws in his centrist messaging. Did you read that? If being a compassion-based revolutionary is the sexiest thing ever, then that means Ekko was sexy enough to scare the writers of Arcane, and the show was made actively worse for it. If they embraced Ekko's correctness and sexiness, we could've had an amazing Season 2.

5. Following on from him being sent to another dimension, this was one where he was given the peaceful life he was denied: his adopted father is still alive, his crush was never taken in by a drug lord, and Ekko could have spent the rest of his days in that peaceful reality, but he still chooses to go back to the world that is cold and hard and cruel. Why? Because the people in his reality still needed him! (And because he didn't want to steal this life from the Ekko of this peaceful reality.) That is so profoundly selfless, and so utterly sexy of him.

Ekko has so much love in his heart for everyone and everything. He won't burn the world down for you, but he will change it for the better so you can finally live in peace. It is far, far easier to destroy the world than change it, which makes it the undeniably sexiest choice a man can make for you. And that is why...