Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide
Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:
Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)
Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)
Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)
Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)
*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.
Mango (Languages: So many and the endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)
Transparent Language: (Languages: THE MOST! Also the one that has the widest variety of African languages! Perhaps the most diverse in ESL and learning a foreign language not in English)
AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)
AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone
lingory
ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)
Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)
That nonsexual intimacy of just being in each other's spaces, of gravitating towards each other, always subconsciously reaching out to each other. Finding comfort and satisfaction in being close to each other, breathing each other in, existing together.
You are capable of great things, do not let this negative world discourage you to do what only you can accomplish. Only you see the world as you do, perspective is everything. Whenever trying something new, whether that be drawing, writing or anything creative, you start in the same place as everyone else. Nobody is a master at first brushstroke. You too, can be an artist or musician. You could be a v-tuber or streamer. Don't quit on your dreams, even the masters started late in life and you are never going to be too old to, at least, try.
You can do it.
Laid-back but I’m filled w passion
No sleep. Thoughts are consumed by how when Pomme was first given to the french she was the youngest, the littlest egg, and while she was babied as the youngest she was also the one in the most danger as she was the last egg with all her lives. Not only did she have to grow up so fast, she actually used her lives as protection for her siblings since as long as she had all of them the code would target her and her alone. And she got better, and stronger, and tougher, and the entire island knew her strength. But she was still q!frenchs daughter, youngest in their heart. And while Pomme slowly noticed that most stopped looking over her shoulder, none of the french ever let her face anything alone. She would always be their baby <3
I think it’s perfectly acceptable to headcanon that the rogues such as Scarecrow, Riddler and Catwoman would attend pride. ESPECIALLY, if you’re doing this to cope or feel better about your identity and self.
If it makes you feel better to draw then wearing pride flags, GO FOR IT.
If it makes you feel better to headcanon them as your gender, SLAY QUEEN.
These ideas don’t hurt anyone and make you happy, and isn’t that the point of a headcanon? Pride headcanons are valid in my book.
Let Scarecrow be ace, let riddler decorate his robots in trans colors, let Catwoman show her bi pride, let Batman be queer.
Be proud of who you are, okay? This blog supports you.
There are three types of avian
Lesser Avian - Don't have wings - Sometimes have feathers or bird legs, but not necessary - Can either have bird tails, or long tails with feathers on them, or no tail at all Common Avian - Always have wings, wings are often small, but can grow with age - Always have some sort of feathering and tail Greater Avian - Large wings, feathers, and tail - Can be born as Common, but grow into Greater with age - Can speak in Chirp (bird language) Examples in dsmp and qsmp
Lesser Avian - c!Tommy, no tail, no feathers. Chicken - q!Forever, no tail, feathers behind ears, on legs, arms, and sides. Duck - c!Wilbur, no tail, small bits of feathering across body. Eurasian Jay
Common Avian - q!Quackity, bird tail, small wings, feathers behind ears, and spread across body. Duck - c!Quackity, bird tail, small wings. Duck - q!Wilbur, long tail, medium wings. Bluejay - q!Baghera, bird tail, small wings, lots of feather across body, esp on arms, neck, and legs. Duck - q!Jaiden, bird tail, medium wings. Green-Cheeked conure
Greater Avian - c!Philza, bird tail, large wings, crow - q!Philza, bird tail, large wings, crow
@kun1nn requested this so I delivered it, hope you like it ^^
Headcanons for Jonathan Crane as a parent:
•Whether it be his biological child or one he adopted Jonathan will be incredibly worried about raising it. He never had a good parental guidance in his life, all he has are examples of what not to do to a child. He will need his partner reassurance that he can do this.
•You can bet your money that he in week read more then fair share of books about parenting, he learns all stages of child development and any signs he should look for.
•With his knowledge on nursery rhymes, lullabies and poems he make sure he has a set of new ones each night. Staying with his kid until they fall asleep. He has notebook that keeps track of his child favourite ones, noting if something changes.
•And if the child wakes him up at night? Depending on the cause he will deal with it differently. If it's a nightmare? He invites his child to sleep with him and his partner, while he holds them both close. But if the "monster" that woke them up? He makes display of putting on his mask and taking his glove, barging into child's room, looking under bed and making it seem like the monster run away at sight of him. After that he stay with his child until they fall asleep.
•He ask other rogues for advice more often then not. He ask Harley for all kinds of fun but safe toys and gadgets while he will consult Edward on stimulating kind of riddles and puzzles he would recommend for developing child. He would ask Jervis for advice on tea parties and dolls. He also would refer to Pamela for advice about herbs in case his child has a stomach ache or headache, maybe something soothing before bed.
•Speaking of toys, his child would be given all kinds of plushies and staff toys to play or sleep with it. He would even created a scarecrow plushie he made, refer to him, as "Mr. Hay" and tell his child it will be guard them when he isn't around.
•He can and will train his Crows to watch over his child and imidiatly alarm him if something is wrong. Whenever he sees his "feather children" play with his real child he will get move, but deny if question about it.
•As child he knew what a true fear feels like, so he makes sure his child is never forced to feel it ever. He will help his child overcome or just managed any phobias of fear they have. What kind of "master of fear" would he be if he couldn't help his child with it?
•When the child's get's older he will teach them how to make his most simple fear toxin for self defense purposes. While he would be more then happy to teach his child all he knows about fear and show them how to make all his different fear toxins. He would never forced child to fallow his footsteps, just teach them nessesity and if the child wants to learn more? He will happily teach them, adjusting everything to his child knowledge and age.
•He will make his child a matching little costume so they can be "like they dad!"
•Whenever his child get's into new book series he make sure to read them so he could talk to them about that books, if it's anything else like TV series or games? He will try his best to also research on the topic. He just wants to know what his child likes.
•God have mercy if his child is bullied in school. He will rage a storm that will explain to everyone while he is "God of fear in human form". But if he finds, it's mostly because other parents badmouth his child and they children just reapeat what they heard? Well he just found his new "volunteers" for his newest batch of most potent fear toxin.
•He will support his child whenever they seek higher education or want to look for career imidiatly after highschool and if the child wants to fallow his footsteps into criminal carrier, he will show them the ropes and take them as his sidekick (They will have to be at lest 15, but even them he never brings them if he expects anything dangerous might happen).
•While in private I imagine he let's his southern drawl slip more often, he becomes proud of his child picks up on it and develops one of they own.
•He is kind of father that would teach his child all kinds of skill they would need. Cooking, cleaning, laundry, how to fix the car, a basic electrical work, how to escape heavily guarded asulum, you know the nessesities.
•He will make sure to always let his child know how beautiful they are. He will work with them if they have any esteem issues, he knows better then anyone what it's like. He specially feels responsibility if the child inherited his Marfan syndrome or Stahl's ears, or any appearance altering issue.
•While he knows he isn't perfect dad, he tries. He feels like failure whenever he feels he let his child see him at low point or doing some bad sytuation. He specially will have hard not to break if child just hug him better. In private he will cry about being a failure, but after gentle reassurance he doing good, he will take his child for ice cream and them them how much he lives them.
•He is great listener, always listening to his child stories. He also takes they ploblems serious, since he knows it's important to them. He will always get to source of ploblem and help them fix it.
•I think if possible he would love to raise his child on the farm or at lest take his child often into countryside.
•And if someone tries to hurt his child to get to him. Oh boy they as good as dead, you will not only have a furious Scarecrow and his partner after you, but also all kinds of rogues who serve as aunts and uncles to that child. They might be only few rules amongst the rogues that they all agree on, but "Don't hurt or involve children" is golden one they all respect.
•Jonathan might struggle a lot, but every "I love you dad" makes it worth it for him in the end. He is happy to give his child live full of love without fear he never had.
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@kun1nn if I can ask for your attention just a bit more, just something you ask me and I remember it.
Jonathan: Jagna and I are adopting a kid.
Kuninn: that’s gre—
Jagna: slamming adoption papers on the table It’s you, sign here
🎉Congratulations on a suprise adoption🎉
I love whenever I get some kills using Mantis and Dr Strange goes "Excellent form, dear Mantis!" And I'm like 😳🥹 blushes
Repeat after me:
The first draft just needs to exist
The second draft needs to be functional
The third draft needs to be effective
Remember, the second and third can't happen if you don't have something to work with. Your first draft will always be shit compared to your third, but at least it exists. The worst first draft is an unfinished one. The best first draft is a just completed one.
You read books/stories not in their first draft form-- only in their finished form (third, fourth, sometimes fifteenth draft). So stop comparing your first draft with a final one.
So, just write--you can make it better later. Perfectionism is the greatest weight a creator can carry.
Are there any other LO-critical projects like LR?? Doesn’t have to be comics, I like fanfic(critic-fic?) too, I’ve been really interested in reading stuff like LR
Sure is! The list I have here are just the ones I know of, there are definitely more out there if you browse the #antiLO #lo critical tags or filter your searches on fanfic sites like AO3, but I hope this gives you a good start into finding more works that scratch that itch!
Lore Asgard (AO3) - Briefly in the original LO, Persephone jokes about running off to the Norse Pantheon; Lore Asgard is what would have happened if she actually went through with it.
Lore Mictlan (AO3) - Also plays with the question of "what if Persephone ran off to the Norse Pantheon", but instead she winds up in the realm of the Aztec gods.
Pomegranmints (AO3) - Re-imagines the plot of LO if Persephone and Minthe kissed instead of fighting over Hades ٩(♡ε♡)۶
Survive the Night (Tumblr) - Not sure how long this project is planned to be but it's basically a re-imagining of LO that further explores all the deeply-rooted issues of Hades and Minthe's relationship. Very tense and emotionally raw dialogue scenes, Minthe gets a lot more agency and character exploration here.
Desire for Peace (Webtoon) - Though it's an entirely unique work separate from LO (it's not a fan comic or retelling), the creator was compelled by a distaste towards modern Greek myth retellings to create their own Greek myth comic, starring Ares as the main protagonist. It has both beautiful and unique art, and it presents a writing style that isn't as watered down and simplified as so many popular commercial Greek myth retellings tend to be. The creator is very cool and has done an amazing job at creating a true Greek myth retelling comic, without all the bells and whistles and crutches of "modernizing" the stories.
Theia Mania - Also not at all related to LO, it's just a great comic series that covers all sorts of different myths and tales, but it's most famously known for its ongoing retelling of Hades and Persephone in Queen of the Dead. Like the creator of Desire for Peace, the creator of Theia Mania is someone who Gives a Shit™️ about the source material they're writing about and does a great job at both presenting the culture of Ancient Greece at the time (so again, no modern 2000's stuff here) but also putting some of their own unique twists on an old tale. And the best part? No Demeter scapegoating to be found here <3
Lore Valhalla (Youtube/Patreon) - A brief one-shot that remakes the first episode of Lore Olympus, but with Norse gods instead of Greek. This isn't an ongoing series, just a fun project that Youtuber Crown Obsidian challenged himself to make after he read (and did not particularly enjoy) Lore Olympus.
Joined 1/12/25 | New to this/still figuring out the website | She/Her please :)
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