#but can we explore the affects of being a kid in a war where some of your friends are being hatecrimed

[strawberryblackcrown]

some of y'all need to keep your hate for young peter pettigrew in check.

young peter was undoubtedly a good friend. he never snitched, he snuck his mates out of detention, he raided the kitchen for moony when remus was too sore to get out of bed for food, he braided sirius's hair whenever asked, he gave all 3 of his brothers love advice because they were all too stupid to act normal around their crushes, and he was always there for them when everything went tits up.

20 year old peter was afraid for his life and did things he hated just to live another day. he picked the long term poison over the short term one and there was never a day when he didn't regret it in the aftermath.

he chose to live with that regret than attempt to atone for his actions. he crossed the line of no return, he knew it, and he was too afraid to even ask for forgiveness. he knew it wouldn't come, and even if it did, he wouldn't have deserved it.

peter pettigrew was a character with multitudes and he deserved to have been explored as such.

#peter pettigrew #young peter pettigrew #the marauders #marauders era #marauders #first wizarding war #he could have been a well written character if jkr wasn't a coward #the potential #harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban #good peter pettigrew #i do not condone indirectly causing the deaths of many of your loved ones #but can we explore the affects of being a kid in a war where some of your friends are being hatecrimed #the kill or be killed mentality that had to have carried them in fights #where you probably killed the kid who used to sit beside you in class except you'd never know cause of the masks #the fear #the uncertainty #the tossing your closest friends under the proverbial bus and ruining everything around you #and watching the world burn around you and hating every second of it #how he wanted to turn back time too late #how he hated that he was born in that time. him and all his friends that he'd kill for. the friends he HAD killed for #this wasn't supposed to get this deep #oops

[untitled-tmnt-blog]

Summary of Cartoon Base's Q&A with Ron Corcillo

(Feb 10, 2024)

This is VERY long, so putting it under the cut!

Apocalyptic Future

We don't know how Donnie and Raph died specifically, but it was in combat against the Krang.

The turtles were leaders of the resistance and obviously went through some serious trauma. We don't really know how that affected them emotionally. It might be interesting to do a series that explored that timeline at some point.

Leo was the best ninja fighter. Once Raph and Donnie were gone, he was also the leader of the resistance. He also had a special affinity for Casey. He may have felt particularly responsible for Casey once his mother was gone.

Mikey probably could have communicated with Raph/Donnie/Splinter in the same way they could communicate with Karai, even though we didn't get the chance to see it.

The turtles wouldn't have had time for having their own kids or starting families. They were too busy fighting the krang, and the world was too dangerous for raising children.

They couldn't work out everyone's timelines in the bad future, but presumably, Big Mama's assistant would have joined the resistance, because what else could you do? She would have to have adopted her brothers as allies.

Mikey is definitely less cheerful and more wise, but he still ultimately has faith in the goodness of people and the world. Some things, you just can't change.

The turtles are in their early 40's, but the war has taken a toll.

Characters

Splinter spent a lot of time in the Hidden City, so he knows about more mystic things than we realize. He's developed those skills (i.e. using Leo's odachi to make a portal on the first try), but they've been dormant for a while.

Donnie can temporarily create items with his powers like the ones we see in the movie, but to make a tangible item that would last, he's have to build it physically the way he would with any of his tech.

Leo probably had the hardest time accepting Draxum, since he is the most skeptical. Mikey is the one who accepts Draxum the most easily. But they did have episodes planned where Leo and Draxum work together, so Leo would have gotten over it as well.

They had never worked out a name for the second turtle sister (the first possibly being named after Frida Kahlo), but would have chosen another female artist to name her after. Maybe Camille, after Camille Claudel.

The planned sisters would be roughly the same age as the turtles, so also teenagers. The only existing designs are what we saw on screen. They had never settled on colors for them.

CJ and present Leo is kind of a weird dynamic, when you think about it. Casey still couldn't help but see Leo as a father figure, but it must be a little different when you're roughly the same age.

Leo keeps whatever he wants in the little bags he has attached to his belt. Snacks, candy, fidget toys, body spray - this is Leo, after all.

Splinter had never celebrated the turtles birthdays in the past, because he was so depressed about his own mutation. But going forward, now that he's come to grips with who he really is, he would start to celebrate that day.

A meeting between Cassandra and Casey Junior would be incredibly heartfelt. Break out the tissues.

They thought about bringing Piebald back in Man vs. Sewer, but it didn't work out. She's definitely still out there in the sewers, so there would be plenty of opportunity for the turtles to interact with her again.

Following the movie, the most serious repercussions would be to Raph mentally. He would still be carrying some of that krang mentality. He might even occasionally pick up on thoughts of the krang. It would almost be like he had some form of ptsd.

A lot of Draxum's softening only comes from after his horrible experience of having his life force sucked away by the dark armor. He may have never seen the error of his ways without an experience like that. So, if the boys had never been taken by Splinter, he probably would have gone through with his plan to make them into weapons.

Splinter would have understood that Casey Jr became a soldier because he had to, and wouldn't have a problem with that. He would view Casey Jr as a nephew or grandson. They're all used to thinking of people as family even if they're not exactly related.

As far as mystic abilities, Mikey is definitely the most powerful. Donnie and Raph both seem to have pretty strong powers too, maybe Donnie a little more so. Leo is the one who relies the least on mystic power and the most on his physical and mental skills.

Donnie definitely seems to embrace the mystic power at the end of season 2 and in the movie. Ultimately, he would find ways to combine it with his tech for supreme power-ups.

April is 18 and the turtles are 16-18. Casey Jr is around late teens or 20.

Rise Lore

Given that the first krang that came to earth crashed into the Crying Titan, there must have been some form of historic yokai/hidden city even before the empyrean was around to introduce mystic powers. After all, someone must have built the Crying Titan. Maybe it was built by some other race that actually predates the yokai, and the yokai evolved from that race, affected by the emperyan.

There are definitely still krang out there, and most of the ones that we encounter are evil. The possibility of a good Krang could exist, though.

Before the humans, the yokai roamed freely both on the surface of the Earth and underground. They were probably a lot happier then, and somewhat more numerous. Oppression by the humans must have taken a toll on them.

There were a lot of Hamato and only so many powers you could have, so there would have been a lot of overlap in ninpo abilities across all the ancestors.

The Prison Dimension and Dimension X are two different dimensions. Dimension X is where the krang are originally from, and the Prison Dimension was just used to get rid of villains. Both exist in the Rise universe.

If there was more Rise

There weren't any specific plans for Kendra, but she certainly could have been interesting as a frenemy.

They would definitely want to get into Casey's whole history with the TMNT, his mom, etc.

They would have wanted to develop April and Sunita's friendship a lot more, and see how both of them related to Cassandra Jones.

They'd make as many seasons as they'd be allowed to! But seriously, they could easily fill at least 3 more seasons. There's a lot to unlock with the Krang, and they'd also want to expore much more with Big Mama and the Hidden City.

Cassandra might not have been part of the main group, but she would have been a regular ally.

Cassandra and the turtles would have been allies, fighting the Krang. It's clear from the end of the movie that Cassandra is now roaming around and fighting krang, so she and the turtles could connect occasionally as a running storyline.

A new season would pick up from where the movie left off, so it would be a new plan instead of what was already made.

Bishop would have to be an ally, considering that the turtles had just saved the Earth. But he might be a grudging ally, one who didn't really trust the turtles or didn't like the fact that they don't play by the rules.

It would definitely be easier to do crossovers with the other 2D animated series, like the 87 series or the 2003 series. They could have some fun playing with both the writing and animation style of those shows. Combining 2D and CG animation is more difficult.

They probably would not have mutated April, as it would be a big step. In the scrapped episode where Dale turned into a wolf mutant, it was a result of a temporary mystic curse. They could certainly do something like that with April.

The turtles would still be able to comminicate with Karai through mystic means.

They would have gotten a lot more into the history of the Council of Heads in future seasons when they explored the relationship between the Hidden City and the Krang. They are clearly among the most ancient of yokai, possibly predating the Hidden City itself.

They could have done a temporary reverse mutation via some sort of mystic spell, to give the turtles human designs. It might have been fun since it seems to be something that fans enjoy so much.

They would have had the turtles go to the krang's dimension at some point in order to defeat the krang fully. They could have encountered any of the traditional dimension x/z stuff that way.

The storyline where the boys find their sisters would probably still happen. People would want to see it, even though it's been spoiled.

They had plans to eventually visit other Hidden Cities, such as one beneath Tokyo.

Cut Episodes/Scenes

In the original ending of the movie where Casey says goodbye and leaves, he was going to find his mom.

One of the scrapped episodes had to do with Mikey taking care of the other turtles when they were transformed into toddlers. He was a natural caretaker.

They never planned on a space arc, but they probably would have done one where they travel to the Krang dimension. They also were going to travel to the prison dimension to release Karai, and they could have had other adventures there as well.

Behind the Scenes

For the episode Pizza Puffs, Ben Schwartz did his part for feverish Leo without looking at the script so he would sound confused.

It would be great if Nickelodeon released some of the finished animatics for the lost season 2 episodes that were already boarded, but unfortunately, it's all copywrited material.

All animated movies go through multiple revisions, rewrites, and changes, which is why some of the original rise movie storyboards were scrapped.

They do remote recording all the time, especially since covid.

The amount that a writer incorporates into a fight scene varies from script to script. Sometimes, there are moments in a fight scene that are key to the story. If so, they are written out. Otherwise, they would sometimes write out a fight scene but know that it would change in the board. Sometimes, they'd just shorthand it.

The writers try not to indulge in too much fanfic because there could be copyright issues if it is similar to anything they would ever do in the show.

When writing the brothers, it was important to keep them in character. You have to know exactly who your characters are, all the time, in every way. The audience will forgive you if you do things that aren't exactly logical, but they won't forgive you if you sell out your characters.

There was never an overall map done of the lairs, just individual rooms. It was always kind of tricky for them to figure out exactly how to move the characters from one room to the other.

The krang invasion was specific to the movie, so we probably wouldn't have seen it in the series at all if it had not been cut short.

Other TMNT Characters

They weren't necessarily planning to add characters from other versions yet. They still had so many areas to explore that were specific to Rise, like the Hidden City, the yokai, and the history of the krang.

There were no particular plans for Honeycutt. One character that they wanted to use but never did was Monty Moose, and they were trying very hard to figure out a way to incorporate him into a story.

They didn't have any plans for Renet, but a character like her could easily fit into the Rise universe. Obviously time travel is a big part of the movie. They could use her to explore timelines that might have happened had the events of the movie turned out differently.

They didn't get a chance to explore triceratons, so there could certainly still be some out there.

Any similarities between Big Mama's assistant and the High Mage from TMNT 2003 are coincidental. They gave her the cape and hood to disguise her identity.

They didn't have any plans for Beebop and Rocksteady, since they don't really fit in with the Rise version of Shredder and the Foot Clan.

The turtles certainly could meet Yuichi Usagi.

Usagi Yojimbo crossovers are always fun. Ron could see one where his dimension has been overrun by the krang, and he comes to our dimension to seek the turtles' help because they're the only ones who have ever defeated the krang.

Ron-Specific Questions

Ron's personal favorite episodes are "Hot Soup: The Game" and "Sparring Partner."

They were super excited when they got John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten) as Meat Sweats, just because Ron and Russ are big pink rock fans.

When asked about favorite duos, Ron likes Raph & Mikey, Donnie & April, and Leo & Senor Hueso.

If he could only save one episode from Rise and the rest became lost media, Ron would save the four-part finale.

If he could save one cut episode or plotline, Ron would want to save the more complete version of the end of season 2, where we would have seen much more of the turtles training and bonding with Karai.

Ron was not part of the new Saturday Morning Adventures comic that has Rise Raph on the cover.

If he could make a spin-off, Ron would want to do a series where Cassandra roams the Earth fighting remnants of the krang, joined by her son Casey, and occasionally joined by individual turtles and others. Draxum might join forces with her as well.

Miscellaneous

The silhouette in a tank shown at the end of Bug Busters was meant to illustrate Lou Jitsu when he is first hit with the ooze and mutated along with the turtles. It's more of a memory than an exact replication.

The reason Raph was transformed via the pod instead of instantanously may have been because Raph was unwilling, and was more difficult to change than someone like the Foot Clan ninjas, who underwent their transformation willingly.

They never attempted to get a brand deal with a soup company so fans could get Rise hot soup, but it would be a good idea.

The photo from the movie was taken just before the krang arrived.

When asked which Rise character is most likely to be Spider-Man: none of them, because he's owned by Marvel and Sony.

When asked why Donnie likes cute bratty girls: Ron is not sure where that comes from.

In Dungeons and Dragons, Raph would be a fighter class, Mikey would be some sort of illusionist, Leo would be a clever assassin or theif. Donnie would insist on being a scientist because he's sure there would have been at least one sensible person back then. April would be the DM.

Ron doesn't know what the illegible skate ramp graffiti means, but can ask one of the designers about it.

In a coffee shop, Mikey would be the baker, Donnie would create the most efficient coffee brewing system ever, Raph and April would run the business side, and Leo would be the most demanding customer ever.

The Future of Rise

The demand for Rise merch is real. It would be nice if Nickelodeon would put out more official merch.

There are no current plans for a season 3, but we can keep trying!

All we can really do to try and get Rise back is continue to share the show and encourage other people to watch. As well as keep it trending whenever we can. Sooner or later, someone will realize that there's a very real demand for this show.

He has talked about the potential for continuing the show in a comic book or short format, or in some other formats as well.

When asked if there's any chance of Netflix picking up Rise, or for both Tales of the TMNT and Rise to coexist -- anything's possible!

Ron would love to see a Rise comic series, but it's not his call. As far as if it would be darker, Ron thinks it's important that for Rise, they keep things light-hearted and comedic. That was always the goal of the show.

Shows rarely get "cancelled" in kids animation. It can always be brought back, but the focus is on Tales of the TMNT for now. He's said before that Rise could be brought back down the road as a "retro" series, or in other formats like a comic book, movie, or shorts.

... plus one answer, that does not have the original question attached:

"She would be stunned, and probably disbelieving at first. But we would find a way (through mystic means) for her to see her future timeline, at which point she would be overcome with emotion."

#rottmnt #rise of the tmnt #ron corcillo #cartoon base #Q&A #my post #tmnt #Q&A summary

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Propaganda why Aang is insufferable:

He has some very bad ideas that the narrative never explores and gets rewarded by the narrative for bad behavior.

Mostly just the way he deals with his crush on Katara and kind of forces it on her. It’s honestly really shitty because she never truly reciprocated his feelings and had plenty of moments where she shows she’s just trying not to hurt his feelings with a straight up rejection, but ends up with him in the end just because that’s what he wanted.

Like we know what it looks like when Katara actually has a crush on someone, she wouldn’t let the situation like the war affect how she feels about demonstrating those feelings when she’s so in touch with them. Like how she was with Jet and Haru. I just wish the writing team did a better job of showing Katara developing feelings for Aang way better than they did lol.

Made a series that was otherwise reasonably tolerable impossible to watch. I hate that all the jokes written for his character target 8-year-olds exclusively. Also his little TV show keeps appearing on my dash no matter how many words I block and I hate it

Propaganda why Gregory is insufferable:

This boy is so poorly written, it hurts. In the gameplay, he just acts annoyed and pissed off the whole time. Then, in the endings, he becomes a whole other character who acts scared and sad, which does not match the previous hours of gameplay AT ALL

But that just annoyed me

What really made me hate him was the GGY and Robot Gregory stuff, because OH NO, Gregory could not just be a normal kid who got into this situation by chance, he has to be a robotic recreation of the Crying Child, despite not acting one bit like CC, or, according to the GGY story in the books, he's responsible for multiple murders and is Afton's/the Mimic's apprentice.

Just let this kid be fucking normal!

(Also, unlike a lot of people, I really enjoy what the Ruin DLC did to his character. And don't try to say that's still the mimic, the mimic recycles dialog from the main game. This Gregory uses completely unique dialog, and unless the mimic was able to form new words in his voice all of a sudden, that's still him. He had to make a tough decision, one life or over hundreds and I can respect that)

Suffers from being made into another one of Matpat's ""is actually a robot theory"". It is annoying as hell, especially if its canon. We do not need robot children theories in a game about possession, child murder and serial killers. Especially not dumb theories about him being a 'recreation' of someone with a completely different personality. It has completely ruined any enjoyment I had in that character because we're just going back to the Afton family again

Someone made a good point about how his personality seems to be reminiscent of a certain trend where a video game protagonist has to be snarky even though it would’ve worked better for the horror atmosphere if he was more scared because it would’ve made the player feel his fear. I recall people being surprised about his personality and expecting him to be more scared, and I assume the developers were just afraid of ppl calling Gregory “whiny”, but it still feels like a missed opportunity

#aang #avatar the last airbender #atla #fnaf gregory #fnaf security breach #five nights at freddy's #insufferable protagonist poll #insufferable protagonist tournament #tournament poll

[dragonfly0808]

Aisha: The Thesis

I don’t know if I have to keep saying this but SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE FUCKING REWRITE UP TIL THE CURRENT CHAPTER (S4 CH 14)

First Things First

The very first words on Aisha’s character sheet are: Sporty, socially awkward dancer

I feel like it’s a bit difficult to explain my thought process when it comes to Aisha. I think most of us can agree she was def the most interesting and most fleshed out in the OG, from her badass intro to her backstory and storyline in s2, she was a young girl who ran from home to avoid being isolated and was loyal to the point of risking her life to save her pixie friends.

Something that was very important to me was showcasing Aisha as being socially awkward and having a hard time believing people like her due to her trauma, years of isolation and never really having friends her own age. Her main relations up til this point have been with Nabu (who she stopped seeing when she was about eight and never really knew), Anne (who she fell for but abruptly stopped seeing when she was twelve) and the pixies (who aren’t human and therefore can’t really give Aisha the experience of having very relatable friends)

Due to all this, an important focus for me in s2 was showing Aisha as feeling like an outsider, she’s not only new to an already very clearly established group who already fought a war together, but she doesn’t really know how to become part of the group and isn’t always sure whether she’s intruding or not.

I tried to show how her integration to the group is kinda slow, giving her a pre-established friendship with Helia so the two could bond over being the new kids and having her first bonds be with Flora and Brandon.

She doesn’t really feel like a part of the group until the girls’ make a mock welcome-to-the-Winx ceremony that they don’t realize is so very important to Aisha because she’s never been part of a group like this before.

^ All of that makes for someone who is incredibly loyal to her friends, everyone in the Winx is very loyal but for Aisha specifically it goes even deeper in the sense that, these aren’t just her best friends, they’re her first friends, the first people that ever made her feel accepted and safe and didn’t vanish on her.

Imposter Syndrome say What?

Imposter Syndrome is a real thing and Aisha suffers real badly because of it. This is smth I’m exploring in her arc during S4: Generation Why (Talk About How Fast We Grew). This affects her in 2 main ways-

She feels like she isn’t a real part of the squad after the confrontation with the Ancestral Witches back in s3 finale (I’ll talk a bit more about that in a moment)

She feels like she won’t be a good queen and often compares herself to Stella and Sky who’ve gotten more experience in that aspect. Aisha can feel suffocated by the thought of some day becoming the queen of Andros, even if she loves her planet, being ruler seems like smth that would take away most of her freedom, which is pretty much her biggest nightmare.

Now, I’ll take a moment here to say that I feel like I haven’t given Aisha the attention that she deserves due to s2 being when she’s introduced and s3 having so much PLOT going on that the character arcs got slightly lost for most of the squad. In S4 I want to redeem this cause my girl deserves some more focus. I will say that the Generation Why arc won’t be the beginning and end of Aisha’s evolution in s4, though it will have a pretty big impact on how she views certain things.

If I’m All I Have, That’s Enough

One of my fave moments in the entire rewrite, is Aisha’s fight against fake-Anne (the Ancestral Witches) where, as the Witches try to convince Aisha that the squad doesn’t truly care for her and only friends with her out of pity, Aisha makes it very clear that, even if that were true, she’d still fight for herself. Because she knows she’s someone who deserves to be fought for and protected.

But even if no one missed her… Aisha would not give up on herself.

She had been alone most of her life, which meant she’d had to take care of herself. And she wasn’t done doing that.

Maybe she still wasn’t all that comfortable in her own skin. Maybe she was still figuring out who she was and what she wanted. Maybe she still doubted herself and the way others viewed her sometimes.

…but that was okay.

She didn’t need to have everything figured out to know that she wanted to live. 

If not to see her friends again… then just for herself.

Because she wanted to meet the person she would become someday.

Because the twelve-year old Aisha she’d once been had deserved to be protected. Just as her future and present self deserved that too.

So if no one was there to save her… then she’d save herself… for herself.

I really wanted to send a message that, while a lot of media will give someone with low self esteem some other motivation to fight for themselves, I really wanted to have Aisha fight for herself, to see that, if no one would fight for herself, she herself would still do it.

It’s a bit hard to phrase but I do think it’s been one of the most beautiful moments in the whole rewrite and while yes, Aisha still doubts herself and her place in the group, she doesn’t doubt that she wants to keep going and that she will fight for who she was, who she is and who she will someday become.

This kinda manifests in her finally standing her ground against her mom and making her see that all the shit she put her through in her childhood was wrong and only affected her in a negative way. It also manifests in her immediately feeling like she was exaggerating (pesky intrusive thoughts) and having to be pulled out of spiraling by Nabu.

I’m really excited to finally give her a bit more attention in s4, beyond just the current arc.

You Can’t Spell Lonesome Without Me

I feel like I’m bouncing all over the place with this thesis but just bare with me please.

Aisha’s main trait as a character is loneliness. She’s been isolated most of her life and, thanks to intrusive thoughts and imposter syndrome, her brain will make her feel alone and like she isn’t a real part of the group, which of course leads her to sometimes be lonely even when she’s with the other girls.

Because you don’t heal from that shit in just one year.

I really wanted this for Aisha cause it’s smth I myself struggle with due to some… really bitchy behavior from certain ‘friends’ in middle school, to this day it will take me 6 months to truly believe someone likes me and isn’t annoyed at spending time with me. I’m in college and middle school still haunts me, so I think it’s only realistic for Aisha to not instantly heal from what was probably an even worse situation.

Her loneliness is one of your brain constantly sabotaging you even when you’re happy with the friend group you currently have.

Thoughts Behind her Main Relationships

Flora: They are best friends, and their friendship is one of softness and comfort. They’ve both dealt with extreme loneliness and have both felt like not-quite-part-of-the-group at some point or another even if it’s for different reasons.

They have a perfect introvert/extrovert balance and are the best at bringing the other out of their respective comfort zones without making it feel forced or pushy.

Their friendship is midnight tea and sitting on balconies looking at the stars and dancing on the beach and cuddling after nightmares and doing each other’s hair and helping each other forget the pain and remember why they love life.

I feel like their friendship can be hard to explain because their friendship is one of quiet moments, of comfort and softness and the little things. It’s the flowers in Aisha’s sweaters and the seashells on Flora’s necklaces. It’s the comfortable silence and the random dance parties.

Nabu: Something I really wanted to do with this relationship was have Nabu kinda help Aisha heal her inner child. When he reveals his identity, they’re playing on a see-saw, they talk while sitting on swings, they run around the beach kicking water up at each other.

Nabu lets her act like a kid, something Aisha never really got to do thanks to her mom. He lets her feel like she can be childish and embarrassing cause she knows he won’t make her feel bad for it. They feel safe around the other, enough to act however they want to.

Another big thing in their relationship was trust and open communication, their situation is slightly awkward due to having an arranged marriage in their future, Aisha questions both their feelings, if they truly fell for each other or if they were just taking the convenient way out. Nabu is very clear that that isn’t the case and that’s what allows their relationship to flourish.

Going to Nabu is really one of the first times Aisha allows herself to go after something she truly wants, contributing to her coming into her own person.

Brandon: So, I would say Brandon might be Aisha’s first deep connection in the squad along with Flora. Brandon kinda sees right through Aisha and her self-doubt and he’s the one that really helps her start coming out of her shell.

The two are massive extroverts and love any and all outdoors activities, and they bond massively over this, constantly going for hikes, skateboarding or trying out new things.

And yes… Aisha does have a bit of a crush on Brandon at first, due to him kinda being the first guy she connects with in her teenage years, and him being… well… Brandon. While she never makes advances or even thinks about it (cause she would never do that to Stella) this does make her feel like an actual teenager, since she never really got the experience of having a silly little teenage crush.

The two are very close and, since both are very touchy people, it does contribute to the crush. Once the crush phase passes, Aisha sees him as a platonic soulmate, the two have a lot in common but wouldn’t ever really work as a couple cause they have too much in common. They are very supportive of one another and just really get one another.

Who is Aisha in this Rewrite?

Aisha is a young woman learning to be comfortable in her skin and to live and fight for herself.

She’s an incredibly loyal friend who struggles with imposter syndrome and intrusive thoughts. She’s working through that and trying to stop feeling like an outsider.

Aisha is someone who spent most of her life in isolation and wishing to run away, to be free. She’s someone who’s learning and embracing a new meaning of freedom and who is trying to come into her own in a way she can be proud of and that won’t restrict her freedom or make her go back to the lonely girl she once was.

Aisha is someone who, even at her darkest times, will fight for herself.

————

Masterlist

Aisha Moodboard

Aisha’s Instagram

Flora and Aisha Moodboard

Aisha and Nabu Moodboard

Aisha and Brandon Moodboard

#winx club #winx rewrite #winx #winx headcannon #winx fanfic #winx headcanons #winx aisha #winx moodboard #veiled wings and shattered panoramas #winx club rewrite

[smolbean-17]

OKAY HEAR ME OUT

I really don’t think Omega will leave with Ventress in the end.

Asajj is being set up for a future in Star Wars. Her voice actress said that her role in The Bad Batch is “just an appetizer” for what’s to come. There’s a world of possibilities for her.

Then a recent interview with Michelle Ang comes to mind where she talks about how they explored different endings for Omega before settling on one:

“there were slightly different ways [of the show ending]. We weren’t set on exactly how it was going to end. There was… some exploration, but as an actor, an emotional moment was the ending we landed on. It was like the culmination of my journey as a performer and Omega’s journey as a character all consolidated into, two lines.”

“Omega was set up with the possibility of a very large future [in the Star Wars galaxy], and then it changed from there.” Ang described this “new ending” as “bittersweet.”

Omega was going to have a large future. That changed. I feel like that means she was going to originally leave with Ventress, but they decided to go a different route.

I’ve been thinking about the overarching theme of The Bad Batch. What is the message? What are Omega’s motives?

Michelle talks about it some more in the interview, and I think it gives great perspective to where the story might lead:

“If you look at the broader perspective, at the end of the day, The Bad Batch is [about] a young person who has been fortunate enough to have the right kind of guidance to believe in herself and in what she can contribute to the world. That's such a universal story.” For Ang, it’s less about why Omega came into the galaxy and more about who she can become in it. “It's about growing up. It's the path that every young person goes through until they feel like they're ready to step out into the world.”

Step out into the world. Those are telling words. Growing up, moving on. Omega’s learned a lot over the course of these few seasons. There might come a time where there is no more for her to learn from her brothers. She might still very well leave her brothers in the end.

But not with Ventress. She will be given that choice and ultimately turn it down.

Then I think back to DBB’s interview about the finale:

“The emotions that are in play are real, human emotions, not just one of being a family member or a friend, but also of being a father, a father to a daughter… And so, not to get into it too much, there’s a lot of authenticity that’s in play with how the season finally, in its epilogue, plays out. And it’s very affecting and it’s very beautiful and um, I’ll defy you to avoid tears.”

Real human emotions. Things that parents, fathers, have to go through is letting their children go when they’re grown. Giving up that responsibility and trusting your kid to be okay.

Now, I don’t know how that “letting go” situation will play out. I still think there’s a really large possibility that at least one of the boys will die (you can read my theory about who I think it’ll be and why) and there will have to be letting go on both sides.

Then there’s that word epilogue. We could be getting an epilogue scene like we did in Rebels. Maybe Omega decides to stay with her brothers in the real time ending (she is still so young, she needs to be raised), and then in the epilogue a few years in the future, it shows her grown and leaving to be on her own. Or start her own Batch.

However it ends, we know it will be touching. Will it rival the Clone Wars ending? Maybe. I think so. But this ending won’t be so tragic. There will be hope. Which I think, in our world, we desperately need.

#the bad batch #star wars #clone wars #sw tbb #tbb #star wars tbb #the bad batch spoilers #omega the bad batch #tbb theories

[quicktosimp]

Kinktober Masterlist 2023

Day 01: Exploration - Lo'ak

A simple joke brings up interesting questions about your boyfriend's anatomy and maybe some answers for what's under his tewng.

Day 02: Warmth - Aonung

There is always work to be done in a village, and a little bit of rain will not stop me from my duties. Unless a certain Metkayina boy convinces me to go home.

Day 03: Happily Ever After - Spider

Despite meeting during parlous times, Spider and I are now happy, with us being mated together and with a little one on the way. This is our happily ever after.

Day 04: Something New - Jake/Neytiri

Life after the war has been good, although my mates have been overprotective of my human body. When the truth is, I just want to be ass up over their laps.

Day 05: Daddy's Good Girl -Jake

Alone by ourselves, Daddy said I finally get to have his cock.

Day 06: Trials - Tonowari/Ronal (Part 1)

A tawtute has never mated with an Olo'eyktan and Tsahìk before. One must go through a series of trials in order to prove themselves worthy.

Day 07: It Could Be Worse - Spider

Spider and Lo'ak got themselves stupidly injured again, and while Lo'ak is in the loving care of Mo'at. Spider is your responsibility.

Day 08: Watch Me- Aonung&Lo'ak

Aonung has always wanted you, jealous that Lo'ak got to you first. But he will take anything of you he can get, even if you don't know he's there.

Day 09: To Become One - Neteyam

Date night with Neteyam is always a dream come true, but tonight it's more than just my dream; it's our dream.

Day 10: Complete - Tonowari/Ronal (Part 2)

I'm half way finished my last trial, but already worn from the first half, the second half is looking much more daunting than before.

Day 11: Make Me - Lo'ak

Lo'ak is acting like a brat again. It seems he needs to be put in his place again.

Day 12: When the Kids Are Away - Jake

Jake and I are left alone in our marui... whatever shall we do???

Day 13: I Must Please You - Tsu'tey

Tsu'tey is a loving mate who will never let you go without, but that also means he'll take care of you no matter where you are...

Day 14: Make it Fit - Aonung

Aonung somehow learned about the 69 and is now determined to do it.

Day 15: Forever - Spider

No matter who is against us, Spider and I will become one.

Day 16: Well Fuck Me - Jake

Jake has yet to explore his new body, so I decided to lead him in it.

Day 17: Lesson Unsuccessful - Neteyam (Part 1)

Talking out of turn has consequences; arguing with your dom has more.

Day 18: Look at You - Quaritch

Just you, your husband, and a mirror.

Day 19: Under the Sea - Aonung/Rotxo

Who said work has to be boring? Now when you have two mates by your side.

Day 20: Lesson Learned - Neteyam (Part 2)

Spanking didn't work, but this seems to.

Day 21: Chivalry is Dead - Jake/Quaritch

You died years ago, only to be brought back in an avatar form. You have no memories of your mates Jake and Neytiri, let alone your kids. Waking up, you were told that Jake was killed by the leader of the Na'vi. Obviously, you believe it. Why would Quaritch lie to you?

Day 22: Our Time Alone - Lo'ak

The sea is beautiful, but leaves some unwanted affects. Thankfully a trip to a hot spring fixes everything.

Day 23: Girls Night - Neytiri&Ronal

Jake and Tonowari beg me to sleep with their wives, hoping that it will bring them together or maybe just lessen their fights.

Day 24: The Hunt - Tsu'tey

Pandora is not meant for humans. Especially when the natives hate your very existence.

Day 25: I'll Take it All - Spider

It seems my little mate broke the rules again, but I finally got the answers to why.

Day 26: Yes, Olo’eyktan - Tonowari

I have been trying to get pregnant for a while, and it seems Tonowari is determined that it will happen tonight.

Day 27:Not So Little Present - Aonung

Aonung has been interested in some "special" play. It's finally time to give it to him.

Day 28: I'll Give You the World - Lyle Wainfleet

A slow tale of how Wainfleet and I did not get together... fuck it, we tried.

Day 29: Daddy Says - Jake

Slumber party for the kids, a long time of pleasure for us.

Day 30: Teach Me, and I'll Teach You - Neteyam

A curious boyfriend and girlfriend sitting together on one bed, what do you think is going to happen?

Day 31: Doomed From the Start - Tsu’tey

Humans have no rights without a Na'vi mate; that is a fact. Yet there we are on another choosing day, whereas an omega human, I will be sold to the Na'vi.

#lunaskinktober2023 #kinktober #masterlist #avatar #atwow #lo'ak sully #lo'ak x you #aonung x y/n #aonung #aonung x you #spider avatar #spider x reader #spider x y/n #neytiri x y/n #neytiri #neytiri x reader #na'vi x human #jake sully x y/n #jake sully smut #smut #tonowari x you #tonowari smut #tonowari x reader #ronal x you #ronal x reader #tonowari x ronal #ronal avatar #atwow neteyam #neteyam sully #neteyam x reader

[emletish-fish]

My belated Netflix ATLA thoughts.

Things I loved

I think all the actors did a great job with what they were given. Dallas was especially great as Zuko. Perfect mix of smushable teenage petulance and trying-his-best. (Lol, it's always Zuko's actor, eh? Dev Patel was the only watchable and redeeming bit of the first live action. A bright spark of talent in an otherwise bleak cinematic experience).

All the kids were great too. Sokka was spot on and got to do some heavy character work. Daniel dae kim was living his best life as a villain and you can tell he had fun with the role. ABED!!! Sorry, Daniel Pudi - amazing choice for the mechanist. Shout-out to the lady who played Suki's mum.

(Love the Suki's mum plot and how Kyoshi's isolationism was explored).

Also Zhao's actor added a wonderfully Uriah Heap-esque obsequiousness layer. Very skin-crawling. Well done that guy.

low-key loved how careful the show was in casting POC. It's so great and refreshing to see so many wonderful actors get more work and recognition.

Loved the costuming and make-up and how it looked like at least some care and thought went into it. Details like the gold corners in the Kyoshi make-up were inspired choices. Shout out to whatever hair stylist did Jet's hair. They managed to achieve cartoon levels of foofiness.

Loved seeing Aang meditate with all the past avatars. Like that his relationship with each of them is being fleshed out early. Some very interesting theories and takes. It also does a great job of showing us all the past avatars were flawed people.

Loved some adjustments to Zuko and Irohs story, like the funeral scene and the division becoming Zuko's crew.

Loved how these changes affect the way we see the relationship. In the cartoon, Iroh is a goofy comic relief character for most of season 1. It's a front for his white lotus sneakery, but that is only obvious to viewers in hindsight. But Netflix ATLA knows who Iroh really is and where his story is going, so his guilt and grief and war crimes are all out in the open from the get go.

Because Iroh's grief is more obvious, Zuko's caretaking role is more obvious too. We are shown how he takes care of his uncle above other duties and it makes their relationship and more balanced one of mutual care. Zuko's moments with his uncle are elevated from occasional pet-the-dog instances to a fundamental part of his character.

Loved some of the fight choreography and scenes. The market place fight was especially entertaining, with the colour saturation of the scarfs and the random lady getting all up in Zuko's business for attacking a kid. She was great. Shout out to her.

In general there was a lot to love in this version, and I appreciate the work that went into it on a technical level. Whilst it maybe a cash-grab at a studio exec level, it's obvious the people working on this project really care about what they are making and it shows in their work.

#netflix atla #NATLA #emletish thoughts

[mamawasatesttube]

Flamebird Kon Guy again (I should start leaving some kinda signature), and Yes!! There’s so much about Krypton and it’s culture that cna be played with, and just barely gets touched on in regards to Kon and the other Kents and then being immigrants!! Like, on Krypton, clones literally had a civil war, and then centuries later, all of the children were born artificially anyways. Literally, Kon would be considered Clark’s kid by their standards, and that’s just never brought up or talked about!!

I’m a bit denier of the Bad Dad Clark fanon shit, but I do want to say, it would be so so INTERESTING to see this type of scenario played with. Kon who compares himself to Clark constantly, and has expressed insecurity over Clark keeping secrets from him and what he (Kon) means to him. And like, Clark has always rushed to assure Kon whenever these insecurities are made known, so something like this would have so much potential!!

But DC is too busy being Mfing haters 😒😒

Anywhores, sorry for the tangent. But this also plays into why I love Flamebird!Kon so much! Because there’s so much that can be explored with Kon taking that name. Imagine Clark telling him about Flamebird, a creature of passion who destroys not because she takes pleasure in it, but because it’s her duty to keep the spark from going out. Kon proudly wearing a name that Clark said he would be a good fit for, and every time they’re together or every time he’s alone, he can’t help but preen because it’s another name that Clark bestowed upon him, and that means something!!

okay first off "anywhores" cracked me up so shoutout to that <3. i just didnt see that coming at ALL hdfjkshdkjHd

anyway. yeah "bad dad clark" is my enemy and i'm setting this particular bit of fanon on fire and throwing it off a cliff. like... here's the nicest guy in the world! also he just hates this teenager for no reason. GET REAL. it's SOOOO much more interesting to give them a nuanced relationship (i also don't subscribe to them having a 100% nuclear family label in any way; i think it's somewhere between "brothers" and "father/son" and also both of them at the same time and also neither. no label fits them too well outside of simply "family"). but them having the struggle of "kon, esp younger early-in-his-narrative kon, craving parental affection from clark, who isn't quite able to give that to him the way he wants" is ABSOLUTELY my cup of tea and im so here for adding the extra layer of old kryptonian vs newer kryptonian culture as a further confounding variable. let them be complex and multifaceted!! the love is there but so are the issues, etc.

re: that last paragraph i can't also help but think of The Agonies... kon defining himself so much by clark's pride in him as a concept makes me wail into my hands. it's in-character Esp again when he's younger but also babygirl you are also your own person!!!! id love a narrative w flamebird kon where he first is so proud of it bc of clark but then grows to forge his own connection to flamebird's mythos and the deity herself too, in addition to the connection to his heritage through clark. kon's narrative re: individuality is just so gripping to me (even if we kinda have to imagine a lot of it bc dc does not want to deliver lmao) and that could be such a fun additional angle on it.

also this whole thing in general made me remember again how mad i am that rebirth just completely nuked the entire kon & clark relationship. clark just doesnt fucking remember him and by the looks of it/the way they wrapped it up so neatly re: house of kent arc, he never will. what the fuck!!!!! rebirth get out of my house bendis do NOT interact!!!!!!

#kon and clark are just SO. AUGH. you know? #the agonies persist but the love prevails!!!!!! #until rebirth decides to fuck them over anyway. BUT IM IGNORING THAT. THE LOVE PREVAILS #theyre family!!!!!!!! theres no other word for it that sits quite right on either or both of their tongues but theyre FAMILY #kon #clark #answers #flamebird kon anon #<- you get your own tag now :)

[randomnameless]

"#IDK IF THOSE 10K YEARS OF LORE WERE EVEN GOING TO BE CONSISTENT" I feel like the 10k lore (if it even exists‚ cause I feel like at that point they would have sold it already) at the very least‚ a single event happen at Year X then a huge time jump to Year Y for event Z with maybe a little bit of background explanation then repeat until 10k. I also think that I would have the reaction‚ "Okay but none of this is important to the games." At most it would affect the Agarthans‚ but they are so(1/2)

evil that it would feel like you're forcing sympathies when the games barely show reasons to give them. There's also the Nabateans‚ but I don't really know what could be said to expand upon them (maybe why two saints decide to live alone and in non-human form). Anyways‚ any reveals you would want to show up in the 10k lore (‚ and any that don't conflict with the setting's love for Grey tea)? (2/2)

Yeah, I think so too, we wouldn't have something as detailed as "-10000 Sothis creates the world but then still explores the infinite space ; -9987 Sothis' spaceship crashes in this new world she created, -9980 Sothis says hello to the inhabitants living there" etc etc.

IIRC the other timelines also have huge gaps like what you suggest, even if they don't cover 10k years lol

As for what I'd have prefered...

Well, it's no surprise I'm a sucker for WoH events, but I guess even some "-1400 Nabateans start visiting other places than the continent where Zanado is" could have been nice, or even some sort of rough draft of how events happened regarding Agarthans, we know from word of God they were salty about Sothis and her kin having power but at one time they were sharing tech at least peacefully, until the Agarthans started to nuke other lands and, in time, tried to nuke Sothis herself.

Also, maybe more intel about what Fodlan was like before Willy and Seiros created Adrestia and started the WoH.

However, I disagree, even the random "-9874 Sothis brings a lamp to the first humans she sees" is, relevant to the game because we have two factions (and a clown) drastically opposed to the idea that Sothis and humans/people could/can coexist in Fodlan. In that sense, unless they only reveal events like big eruptions or flood or whatnot, intel depicting Sothis/her kids as not tyrannical ovelords who are colonising people or whatever was being said in a certain discord is bound to cause friction with those two major factions - no one gives a fig about Agarthans bar some very devoted people, but Supreme Leader? What would happen to "You are a Nabatean you cannot rule over Humans" if the 10k years of lore reveal that humans, under Sothis' guidance, thrived and lived peacefully until Agarthan salt became too salty and was used to create missiles?

Nonetheless, I'd like to have some intel on how the "first" Nabatean-Agarthan war happened and ended, if Sothis "healing" the land meant she also re-created "humans" at the end of this conflict (like Raphael ?) or if Agarthans call beast the "humans" who sided with Nabateans in this war, and the setting of the War of Heroes, why Seiros'n'Willy took 14 years after declaring the war to fight in Gronder, why did it take so long, how that happened, how Cichol'n'co joined, if other Nabateans were part of the war effort, etc etc.

lbr i just want to know how many times Rhea had to fake her death and how many wigs she pulled off from 100 to 1180 with no one noticing that she's the same person

#anon #replies #war of heroes stuff #I wish! #FE16 #we have to consider Hresvelg Grey but given how the nin dev interview from 2020 dgaf about it #what happened to write Nopes the way it was written if Hresvelg Grey wasn't that important in 2020?

[an-angels-fury]

MY SW TAKE ON: The Fandom Fight over the Skytwins Families

(Disclaimer: Before I started, I want to clarify, once again, that this is solely my opinion on this specific subject and I didn't intend to offend anyone. Thank you for your consideration...)

Okay, where do I start...? Well, what I can say about all this is:

DAMN! It's kind of shocking the way some people in SW fandom react so agressively when you say that you wish that Anakin and Padme could have raised Luke and Leia and be happy together. They'll jump in your throats, screaming things like:

"But Anakin didn't deserve to raise his children, you forgot the guy killed the younglings? Do you really think a child murderer who strangled his own pregnant wife would be a good father to Luke and Leia?"

"Padme wouldn't really be such a good mother. What else do you expect from a woman who fell in love with a child murderer, wanted to run away with him even after knowing that and chose to die even though she gave birth to two beautiful children who needed her?"

"You just ignore the Organas and the Larses and don't give value to everything they did for Luke and Leia. They loved their children and were better parents than Anakin and Padme could ever be."

And there are some things that I'd like to say:

1. I don't understand where this idea that Anakin and Padme didn't love their children comes from. There were many moments in ROTS (both movie and novelization) where both demonstrated to be happy and excited to be parents and have their own family. Also, they both had loving parents (Shmi and the Naberries) who were good models during their childhoods. Honestly, if Shmi, a single mother and slave, was capable of raising a good, kind and selfless kid all on her own for almost 10 years in a dangerous and hostil planet (in a much better way than the Jedi Order could ever do), I don't see why Anakin and Padme couldn't raise their own, especially if we consider they would have help from Padme's family and even from some close friends since they wouldn't have to hide their relationship anymore.

2. Honestly, even if their marriage didn't last and they get divorced (because people also love to talk about that and use it as an argument to prove their point), that doesn't mean they couldn't come into terms, still being close friends and try their best to help each other and give Luke and Leia the family they deserve, putting them as their priorities and loving them unconditionally. I'm not saying that things would be easy, nor perfect, nor that Luke and Leia wouldn't be affected somehow, but they still could have found a way to be happy and things could have worked out. I don't mind in reading some SW fanfics that try to tell their stories and paint their characters in a more realistic light (I love some angsty/dramatic fics that explore the emotional/psychological state of the characters, most especially Anakin, on the other hand, fics where Anidala get divorced or their relationship is depicted as abusive are FAR from being in my list of reading preferences), but since Star Wars will always, in its core, be a space fairytale, I enjoy much more when the fics are written with a touch of hope through the narrative and a happy ending (another reason to adore fluffly fics/one-shots so much).

3. I think that some people don't get that when me and others say that we wanted Anakin and Padme to raise their kids, we are talking about a totally different scenario from the one we got in canon. We want the Skywalker family together in a world where Anakin never turned to the dark side and never killed the younglings and other Jedi and Padme didn't have to go through all distress, depression, desparation and betrayal she did, reaching the point of breaking down and dying right after that (it's really disgusting to see that some people really accuse Padme for being a bad mother and blame her for f*cking dying - or judgining her for still love Anakin and believe there was still good in him even after the horrible things he did, but didn't saying a word about her son Luke for doing exactly the same damn thing). I want a world where Anakin leaves the Jedi Order, finally gets properly psychological help to lead with his emotional issues and trauma and has close people who care about him to give him love and support, a world where he and Padme finally had the time to discuss about their relationship, try to know each other better (and falling in love with each other even more in the process), learn to adapt to their roles as parents and getting used to their new lifestyle (I'd definitely love to found some story with this premise).

4- I understand that many fans get rightfully frustrated with people forgetting the roles of the adoptive parents in the twins' lives and in the shaping of their personalities and beliefs, but there's absolutely no reason to demonize both Anakin and Padme to emphasize the fact that the Larses and the Organas loved Luke and Leia more than anything in the galaxy and did it everything they could to keep their dear children safe. There's no necessity to make a competition/rivality between Anidala and the twins' foster families.

So, in short: wishing Anakin and Padme could have raised Luke and Leia, but also being happy the twins were raised by good and loving families shouldn't be a hot take or some kind of unpopular/polemic opinion. Also, stop trashing Anakin and Padme for being bad parents when they didn't even got the chance to raise their children and be a family just because you don't like the couple or the characters themselves.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk 👍

#I really needed to talk about this topic #because this is another discussion in the sw fandom that's getting really annoying and exhausting #especially because it shouldn't even be a discussion #but since it is I decided to contribute with my point of view #star wars #anakin skywalker #padme amidala #anidala #luke skywalker #leia organa #skywalker family #owen lars #beru whitesun #bail organa #breha organa #my thoughts

[sylwanin-was-right]

It seemed like Spider didnt mind who his dad was as much as he was treated for who his dad was, which honestly makes me question his motives for the next movies and whether he'll truly side with Na'vi after he made the decision to save Quaritch (despite what a threat he was to entire clans and his semi-adpoted family).

I say this because its questionable how much sympathy Spider extended to Quartich over the course of a few months despite what Quaritch did and what he exploited him for. Spider was understandably desperate for parental figures since his mother died in the war when he was a baby, Quaritch was possibly cold to him in infancy, and Jake and Neytiri didnt fully accept him as a son ("...like a stray cat"). Quaritch technically died, which Spider could have been old enough to understand the impact of that early in his life, and Quaritch's artificial peservation and literal transformation could have revived his interest in knowing him. However, whats troubling about Spider's paternal-origins crisis to me is how much it overshadows a theme of collective family the film could have explored.

He lived for a long time without nuclear parental figures because much of the science crew (Norm, Max, etc) and to limited extent, Jake and Neytiri (though moreso Jake) were many people Spider could to look up to. In the scene where Spider is a baby running around the base in his diaper, a woman catches him and picks him up affectionately, and at the Camp, Spider is playfully teased by Norm. Soider is met by Max with warm affection at the lab. And of course, Jake and Neytiri's kids adored Spider and treated him as a brother. We can even speculate that Spider had chances to find parental figures among the Omatikaya Na'vi, like Mo'at and other surviving clan memebers. So its believable that Spider got adequate affection and attention from a collective "family" of humans, Avatars, and some Na'vi for most of his life. I feel that this makes his character's desperation to see a father figure in Quaritch a weird writing descision, because it doesnt make much sense for how old Spider is (how long hes been without a singular paternal figure) and how many parental figures he's already gotten opportunities to have between Na'vi and humans.

I havent read The High Ground so maybe there will be explaination there. Perhaps Spider didnt recieve much affection from the human crew, and perhaps most of his childhood was spent isolated among the humans and not amongst Na'vi. Maybe Spider felt he didnt know enough about Quaritch to take everyones word that he was a threat rather than just a dutiful man completing a mission. Whatever his motivations, they werent very clear in the movie, and the progression of time in the film wasnt very clear to me, so his initial hostility then sudden mellowness around the humans and RECOMs when offered protection felt a bit unjustified.

Also I know that people say Spider being a traumatized, isolated teenager—a first gen Pandoran human—is what led him to sympathize with Quaritch, even in a stocholm syndrome way, which is understandable. And I see how it can feel gratifying knowing someone whos still somewhat your dad has spared you from torture and death many times out of need and maybe even out of sympathy. And maybe Spider felt some typa way about Neytiri baiting his life to free Kiri (though he seemed to understand and remained relatively calm when in her clutch). But when you witness your father in charge of a fleet that put knives and guns to your siblings heads, captured and tortured them to bait and kill your adoptive dad (the nicest to you out of your nuclear family), then saw your father bait your closest sibling's life with a knife to her throat, its a bit hard to sympathize with... sympathizing with your father figure, especially since Quaritch could have had multiple motivations to spare Spider that had nothing to do with him as a son (like the liability of having a child killed on his mission, the dissatisfaction of having your arch nemisis get her way, the disturbing nature of witnessing child death firsthand in an intimate attack rather than from a distance by impersonal means, like missles, etc).

To me it just feels like Spider was written to have a crisis specifically about his father to parallel with Kiri (and to better flesh out Quaritch's gradual change in character), but it feels disproportionate since Spider doesnt seem to wonder or care who his mother was in the movie, and doesnt seem to have a similar connection to her as Kiri does with her mother(s). It honestly feels a little unnecessary? Or rather hamfisted, because of the flaws I described, and because of how Spider's actions dont really add up considering how much we didnt see in the movie and how poor Quaritch was as a father figure in that context (using Spider initially as hostage bait then as an interpreter).

So Spider's dilema about Quaritch isnt necessarily a bad thingjust to be clear. I think its an interesting story. I just think the eay it was presented in the movie leaves a lot more questions about the writing choices than about where his character is headed. I just dont care for all these religious and male/patriarchal based parallels, personally, and Cameron's focus on paternal relationships in the form of Spider's confusion about how to feel about Quartich just.... doesnt add up imo. I feel this is a main reason I dont care for Spider's character (aside from the actor's performance and his placement almost exclusively as fodder for Quartich's arc, imo).

Hopefully A3 and reading The High Ground will have more answers and make Spider's sympathies to Quaritch and his desperation for a father figure make more sense in context.

#oel.mine #spider soccorro #miles quaritch #awow review

[mikewheely]

Hi! I love your account because I also adore Mileven. They're literally the couple that had been setup since ep1 season 1. It's a simple story written by the duffer bros abt El being the survivor of the secret govt experiments, her powers, and its supernatural other side creatures, and the kids who help her and the people she learnt to trust along the way.

It's a pretty simple story tbh but somehow along the way the fandom has become toxic from all the many demands and expectations of different shippers. And I'm also beginning to think the writing is also partly at fault; for not giving Will a proper character arc instead of just.... sad boi.

I think partly people just wanna see Will be happy and somehow some of them started pinning that cause of happiness to be only Mike and Mike alone--and that's why I said the writing is partly at fault, because its refusal to write Will to meet new people, to write Will be happier.

I've seen how you've been defending Mike and I support you since passion is also my biggest trait lol. But I hope you understand that these haters will never stop hating no matter what you tell them. You can explain it all until you lose your breath and they will never agree with you.

I'm in a lot of fandoms and I've learned that sometimes, just not listening to their hate gives them less power. Over time, I've actually begun to like the characters that I used to dislike before in various fandoms--maybe that's the way for it to go--maybe the more people experience things irl maybe the more they'll understand characters in stories. And that's usually how people end up saying stuff online abt some characters in past shows like "oh this character was so underrated, that character was misunderstood" -- but by that time, no one really cares anymore. It's an old show, the echoes have long faded.

There's a lot of things about Mike that the writers failed to explore, and that makes it so easy for haters to fill in the blanks. And this goes to a lot of the other characters too and no, i do not hate the characters. It's okay to admit that some writers are good at writing exciting plots, but not so much at character arcs

At the end of the day, it's a story that we're supposed to take pleasure in and find entertainment in and instead the wars and hatred from various sides are becoming a turn off from the fandom

And not to mention, there are usually lots of people who likes A Thing but are silent fans, compared to haters. Haters are loud even if their quantity are smaller and maybe that's why they're all you'll ever hear. It's easier to be loud when we like something compared to when we do like a thing.

That's all! Kudos!

Hello! Well, I agree and disagree with you. Of course paying attention to what they say gives them more power, you're right. But I also know that me saying anything wouldn't change at how they look at things, I am not doing it for them. I am doing it for myself. I am doing it to vent. I am utilizing this space to support a character I love by giving valid points, to share the other perspective in contrast to the popular one.

Also, I do not blame the writers or makers for any of this. First of all, the character arcs. For a show like this where you get very little time to show the personal lives of the characters, I think they have done a very good job in developing their characters properly. I mean sure, you may think that they didn't, that's your point of view, but I don't agree with that. Secondly, about Will having a love interest, to be honest, he hasn't been able to come out yet, he hasn't been able to accept who he really is yet. Also, even Noah knows that he has just entered high school, he is a shy kid and it's the 80s, so it was more difficult to come out than it is today. And along with that, you are in love with your best friend who also happens to be your sister's boyfriend, that's even more complicated, so if anything comes out that affects 3 people. The story is still left, so I guess we have to see if there is a reason why they have not given that scope to Will. But then there's Steve also, not a LGBTQ character, he has not been able to find love after Nancy either, he still has feelings for her. But people don't find that problematic? Why not? The other day, I finished watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the bisexual character there, Rosa, chose not to settle down in the end when all the rest of the people were settled down/married and had become parents and found the usual 'happy ending'. Do you think that the writers did that intentionally because they wanted to show that she doesn't deserve to be happy? No.

So it's not the writers' fault, they did what they felt is right for the character, for some reason. If anything, they kept it realistic, because not everyone has it so easy in life. I don't know why that's so shocking or surprising to so many people. I mean if wearing a blue shirt, standing in front of a closet and so many more such things make people decide that these are all related to the sexual orientation of a character that is not anyone's fault, it is what they wanted to see. If they think Mike lied in his monologue, can you really blame anyone else for that? If they read too much into everything, then they are willingly choosing to be disappointed. And when things don't happen the way they want, they start creating drama over that.

Seeing how things are getting misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misconstrued and then being used against the characters just makes me angry. And I merely vent here. That's all.

But thank you for being so nice! Maybe someday I will get tired of venting as well. But till then, I would always stand up for Mike.

#mike wheeler #will byers #stranger things

[smallmxth]

Star Wars Theory I think?

Darth Sidious wanted to make an army of Force sensitive clones and here’s how I know:

If there’s anything I know about Sidious it’s that he loves three things; 1) Kidnapping force sensitive kids to make into dark side soldiers 2) Cloning and 3) He always has a side project

Despite the significance of cloning and clones in the Star Wars universe, there’s only a handful of major cloning operations. One being the clone armies on Kamino, and the other being Palpatine’s basement clone operation on Exegol. Obviously, the Kaminoan cloning scientists Palpatine took from Kamino had some hand in setting up the project on Exegol that was revealed in Rise of Skywalker. 

Being generous, setting up the relatively small cloning operation on Exegol couldn’t have taken more than ten years, and even if you were to give the Kaminoans five years to chill, that would still leave twenty seven years that Palpatine had direct control over the Kaminoan scientists and their knowledge. There is no way in my mind that Palpatine would just let that sit. So what was Palpatine doing with the Kaminoan scientists during that time? Cloning guests for his birthday party? Cloning a zillo beast?

I think he was trying to make force sensitive clones.

This draws way back to those episodes in TCW, where Cad Bane is kidnapping all those force sensitive babies for Palpatine’s dark side force army. There’s definitely no way he lets that idea go, I mean he goes on later to make the Inquisitorious. I think he started two plans at the same time, one being the kidnapping plan, and the other being the cloning plan. Palpatine, most likely by proxy, asked the Kaminoans to try and make a force sensitive clone. Which is why the Kaminoans made Omega.

On wookiepedia Omega is listed as “genetically enhanced”, and at the time of writing we as an audience don't know what exactly her enhancement is. It’s obviously not for combat, she has no physical enhancements that we know of, and she ages normally just like Boba Fett. The idea of her being created purely as a lab assistant, that’s frivolous, and why wouldn't the Kaminoans just use a normal clone then? I’m sure making a batch of normal combat grade clones puts less stress on their Jango DNA stores than making a (nearly) unaltered clone, right? I think the Kaminoans genetically altered Omega as a proof of concept in making force sensitive clones. The most likely explanation of how they did this is by finding a way to alter the midi chlorian count in a living being. But it probably hasn’t been done before, and thats most likely why they didn’t give Omega any skill enhancing mutations in her DNA. In an experiment you only change one variable, and that’s what she is, an Experiment. Genetically she’s a completely normal child with an enhanced midi chlorian count.

Added bonus? Palpatine knows the Kaminoans can make chips that control the impulses of clones, potentially giving him access to a remote control army of force sensitives.

I don’t think the “loss” of Omega has discouraged Palpatine from this idea of cloning force sensitive kids, which would be another reason he only saved the scientists and nothing else on Kamino.

TL;DR Palpatine wants to make force sensitive clones because it’s easier than finding and training force sensitives, and Omega is the experiment made to test his theory.

From a story perspective I think this would be a really cool plot thread to explore. It opens the door for a lot of character development for Omega, finding out why she was created (if she doesn’t already know) would be really cool to watch. Also, it would be cool to see the reasons why this project failed, or if it failed. Do the bad batch destroy the facility? Does Nala Se sabotage the research? Does the loss of the Kamino facilities affect the cloning process in any way? Does palpatine cut funding to the project? Idk! I think it would be a cool plot to explore both character and story wise, also the action scenes would be really cool I think. 

(I hope this is comprehensible lol)

#mxthrambles #the bad batch #star wars tbb #star wars #darth sidious #tbb omega #emperor palpatine #please note i dont read the books or comics this is based off what i remember from the movies and whatever is easily googled

[frick6101719]

the thg series is filled with interesting characters who have captured our imaginations. do you have any headcanons about a character from the series who was not given a last name? (ex: cato, thom, portia, etc). could be from any of the four books. 😀 @anonymousinpanem

I am not sure if you mean any headcanons about these characters or specifically about their last names, but I am going to assume it's the former. I mean I don't have strong feelings about anyone's last name, which is a bit out of character for me since I have strong feelings about most things.

I've always thought that digging into Portia and Cinna's relationship would be really interesting. I guess the headcanon I've cultivated in the back of my mind about the two of them is that Cinna is kind of a longsuffering Brilliant Artist™ who has his secret political agenda and quiet anger buried in there somewhere underneath his suave but unassuming exterior. By contrast (or extension?) Portia I've thought of as a foil of sorts, someone much more expressive and in-your-face, though still caring in the way Cinna is. I like to think Portia brings the fun and flair to a lot of their ideas, adding elements of whimsy into Cinna's more serious creations (like the purple lipstick on Everlark's fiery parade costume, that seems like a Portia touch to me). I think she teases him, plays loud music at work, and invites him to all her parties (which he attends for a perfunctory 90 minutes before quietly disappearing and going home to watch whatever the Capitol equivalent of Law and Order is on his ludicrously expensive sofa). On a sad note, I think Portia is devastated but not entirely surprised when Cinna is killed, but I like to think she survives and keeps making beautiful things in his honour after the war is over.

I had literally never thought about Thom before writing my utterly ridiculous and indulgent hockey au oneshot bullshit nonsense THING a month or so ago, but I kind of like the idea of Thom being kind of like Gale's Madge. I mean, you know the "wait, have we been friends this whole time??" thing Katniss and Madge have, I like to think Gale and Thom also have. They probably work really well together, and in Thirteen they probably realise this to a greater extent than they ever did in the mines in Twelve. I like the idea of Thom being unexpectedly very smart, and smart in a way that complements Gale's own intelligence really well. Like where Gale sometimes gets hotheaded and loses sight of the bigger picture, Thom never does, and keeps his eye on the prize for both of them.

This is definitely all coming from only ever having conceived of Thom in an au where he's Gale's linemate and practically his other half, but I like the idea of them having that kind of dynamic. Or like, they would have a Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards kind of thing going--sometimes they are so fed up with each other they never want to look at the other guys again, but they know that when they're together they're more than just the sum of their parts. So yeah, Thom follows Gale to D2, and they do a lot of good there together.

As for Cato... well, I don't want to say too much. I have so many ideas about this asshole but a lot of them are things that I'm in the process of slowly peeling back in the fic I'm writing, so I don't want to give it away! Without going into too much detail: I have had a lot of fun exploring what Cato's life would actually have looked like, and how he would have become the way he is. As someone trying to write a fic where he can be redeemed (at least a little bit), it has been interesting to consider how someone so young could be so bloodthirsty with such a blind faith in the authority figures in his life, and how that might be affected by watching so many kids he grew up training with die violently year after year in the Games they were supposed to win. All the Career Tributes probably face this to some extent, as they all have to keep believing they will be the one to come home victorious even as they watch their friends die, but I think what drew me to Cato is how with him all of this is dialed up. He's an interesting, extreme case study in the way the Career districts work and what kind of twisted things happen to produce characters like him. He makes you ask: if he really is everything Katniss sees him as--someone with no doubts, who hardly even seems to have any thoughts of his own--then how did he get that way? And that makes me ask what could have made the difference for him, letting him see he was just fodder for the insatiable machine of the Games?

I have some ideas. But I won't be giving them up that easily 😊

Thanks for the ask anon; this was a fun thing to think about, and in addition to giving me a chance to talk more about Cato (which I always love) it was really interesting to consider characters like Portia and Thom whom I don't think about much (but might have to think about more, who knows?)

#The Hunger Games #The Hunger Games meta #I just love asks like this #even if I wait 5-6 business months to respond to them

[relationaltherapist]

But mysteries are beautiful. Mystery can leave us in wonder. And wonder tells a different story.

Wonder is like that light switch. Having the wonder switch on leads to a healthy form of curiosity that is connected to dreaming, innovation, and creativity. The wonder switch also controls how you use your imagination. It doesn’t affect whether you use it, because your imagination was at work while you sat in the dark. Wonder simply changes what you use your imagination for. Everything you want, and then some, is on the other side of turning the wonder switch back on.

The reality for most of us is that life, and the art of living it, is an ongoing journey of the wonder switch being turned on and off. We’re born with it on. Then someone whose own wonder has been crushed, crushes ours. Wonder switch off. On. Off.

Wonder affects all areas of your life, just like there’s no part of darkness that light doesn’t illuminate.

Wonder can transform your leadership by changing the stories you tell yourself and the stories you lead others to internalize. Wonder permits you to believe in those you lead in new ways, helping you see the magic in others that they have yet to see in themselves.

If you’re struggling as a parent, engaging wonder can transform your parenting. It permits you to see the world the way your kids do, gifting you with a healthy dose of empathy and understanding as you try to relate to the stories they’re living and telling themselves. Great parents, like great leaders, are wide awake to the world of possibilities, with wonder increasing your ability to help your children step into their authentic selves and live their fullest lives. Without wonder, you run the risk of crushing your kids’ wonder and crushing their hopes and dreams in the process.

Instead of adventurously exploring potential solutions to the problems we bump into throughout our lives, we succumb to the pressures that come from being a responsible adult, and we settle for a life filled with stress and anxiety. The feelings of failure produce shame, so we isolate ourselves. And the lack of connection leads to a lack of hope, which breeds complacency. We feel like we aren’t enough. We feel like we don’t fit in or belong. We feel like the things we desire are forever out of reach.

Transformation happens when an individual or even a collective team at an organization moves from an old story to a new story.

Wishing to gain wisdom is almost the real-world equivalent of wishing for more wishes.

Socrates said, “Wisdom begins in wonder.”

As we leave a state of wonder, we pivot to a place of worry. If wisdom begins in wonder, then worry gives birth to foolishness.

We’ve been psychologically conditioned to no longer value mystery, making wonder uncomfortable. After all, why be amazed by something when you can simply “understand” it?

But before you turn on the lights with wonder about your future, you must sit in the darkness, where thieves and monsters lurk, waiting to crush your wonder to steal the magic away. The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.

The part of our brain that is responsible for language production is shut down when we are experiencing trauma.

We are all born awake to wonder. But then we are lulled to sleep. We are bullied. We are lied to. We’re abused. We are told to “grow up.” We’re yelled at or treated unfairly by a grown-up. Sometimes our mentors molest us. And the wonder of our childhood is crushed. Wonder switch off.

When wonder fades, our ability to dream big fades with it. We settle for the status quo—counterfeit versions of the lives we’re capable of living. We don’t even look up and marvel at the stars, because we’re far too busy looking down at our phones.

Our inability to stand wide awake in wonder of the magic around us, and the magic inside us, literally wages war on our bodies and lives.

Magic is what you feel in response to an experience that you can’t quite put into words. When you witness something that seems impossible, the awe that wells up inside you that sparks wonder—that childlike feeling—that’s magic. And we were all meant to experience lives filled with real magic—the extraordinary that exists all around us in the seemingly ordinary, often right in front of our eyes.

What if there was a life of magic you were meant to experience, but you’re settling for an illusion instead?

It was the first time I remember someone viewing me with a look of awe in their eyes in response to something I had done. Wonder switch on. And then Wonder began to work its magical power.

Wonder gave birth to a dream, and I was still naive enough to believe it might be possible.

Somewhere along the way I had been cleverly tricked and deceived. But at that point, I couldn’t sit back and blame everyone else for deceiving me. I was also deceiving myself.

In our current culture, “putting on a show,” whether on stage or off, is regularly rewarded.

Advertising is making people feel like they aren’t enough without the right brand of clothes or right kind of car.

Most studies now show that the average American takes in about five thousand messages a day. Some digital marketers claim as many as ten thousand messages per day, a good number of which are advertisements. Ninety percent of all the data in the world has been created in the last two years alone. We live in such a media-saturated society that we now take in more information in an average day than the average human who lived a hundred years ago probably took in over the course of their entire lifetime. Pause and let that sink in.

One of the primary narratives of all the messaging is some version of “I am not enough.” We’re subtly told as stories unfold that we aren’t thin enough, rich enough, cool enough, talented enough, strong enough, pretty enough, handsome enough—just not enough.

Story-driven messaging is incredibly effective because, as psychology writer Jonathan Gottschall says in his insightful book The Storytelling Animal, humans are storytelling creatures who “live in landscapes of make-believe.” We don’t just tell stories; we storify everything around us. We are neurologically hardwired for story.

The stories we’re told, whether by teachers and parents or advertisers, all shape the stories we tell ourselves. We take all the stories we’re told and form a narrative because we try to make sense of the strange experiences and weird situations we find ourselves in. Story is a tool for survival.

Stories teach us how to survive by showing us how to interact with others and avoid being kicked out of our tribes. They show us how to solve a problem.

Fiction is an ancient virtual reality technology that specializes in simulating human problems.

We need a tribe so that our sense of belonging outweighs being wounded by the words of a parent, a bully, a jerk at work, or the online comment trolls. We need a tribe to counterbalance the negativity we receive and help us “survive” the one-star judgments from strangers. When these kinds of things trigger our survival instincts, our brains immediately go to work to explain the situation. “Why did that person do that? Why did he say that? Is it true? Do I really suck and should just throw in the towel?” Studies like Kuleshov’s experiment show that our brain can’t avoid telling us a story to make sense of and find patterns and meaning in seemingly random things.

As marketing guru Seth Godin says, “People do not buy goods and services. They buy relations, stories, and magic.”

When we buy lies over truth, we’re settling for what seems to be the new “reality.” Not because it is reality but because the fiction feels like reality.

So we end up settling for counterfeit versions of the lives we were meant to live, instead of lives filled with real magic.

You are a complex storytelling creature, and if wonder is a switch, then stories are the electricity that feeds that switch.

One of wonder’s greatest powers is that it changes the stories we tell ourselves. It can change the narrative that drives all our choices and behavior.

In 1994 Steve Jobs, quipped, “The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” Then he gave us the tools to tell the stories we want to tell about ourselves and others.

Remember when you were praised? Maybe you received applause for peeing in a toilet instead of your diaper. People clapped for you and sang your praises for the most basic human achievements. You were more than enough. You had it all. Until one day the clapping stopped. You were more than enough. Until you weren’t. You found yourself broken and hurting. Then came the lie: “I am not enough.”

It took me a long time to realize that I didn’t buy expensive stuff because I was selfish. I didn’t build a house because I was materialistic and cared only about nice things. I bought that stuff for the same reason many others do— I did everything in my power to show the world that I was enough, worthy of acceptance.

And if they could accept me, then maybe I could accept myself.

I would walk onstage and receive applause. But when I walked offstage, I didn’t want the show to end, and I didn’t want the applause to end either. Every round of applause, onstage or off—in the form of a like on Instagram or a compliment from a friend—served as an affirmation that I was enough, or more clearly, as a confirmation of the story I wanted to be true.

The phones in our pockets have given us access to stages with bigger audiences than could ever fit into a single theater. Scientists now link the dopamine that floods our brains when we see likes on our social media posts to the hit the human brain receives from addictive narcotics like cocaine.

As Jon Acuff says, we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel. Or as my friend Marc Pimsler said in a conversation about the role of shame, “We compare our insides to other people’s outsides.”

An illusionist’s ability to trick you is directly connected to your willingness to submit to the story they lead you to think you’re experiencing, so you tell yourself a story that isn’t true. Illusionists don’t need to lie to trick people. Illusionists create scenarios in which people deceive themselves.

Maybe what we perceive to be true with our senses and feelings is not always reality. Check the narrative ruling your life and driving your choices and behavior, because the story you’re telling yourself shapes the story you’re living. That untrue story you were fed is what turned your wonder switch off, and it stays off by repeating that story over and over again.

Most psychologists agree that most of what shapes your current belief systems was in place by the time you were seven years old.

Affirmations alone don’t work from a neurological perspective. You have to find the underlying inciting incidents that formed your core beliefs that drive your current behavior.

What narratives have you adopted as true? When you participate in radical self-reflection and find a path toward healing from trauma, it has the power to release you from the old story and change your life forever.

Try journaling these to jog your memory. Tell me a story about a day when everything changed. Tell me a story about an event that left you never the same. Tell me a story about a time when you desperately wanted to give up. Tell me a story about a season of your life you wish never would have happened. Tell me a story about a moment when time seemed to stand still.

“What stories about who I am did this experience give birth to? And are those stories true? What are the actions I’ve taken as a result of the stories I made up about who I am?”

Once we adopt a narrative as true, even if it isn’t, we seek information to support that narrative, selectively noticing our circumstances and environment according to our presumption of truth. We then make choices that support that narrative.

You must do the difficult work of identifying the broken narrative you’ve adopted, the one driven by the lies that led you to deceive yourself. It’s impossible to awaken your wonder if that broken narrative continues to lull your wonder back to sleep.

The truth, the lies—all of it is rooted in a story, and you are the storyteller. You can rewrite the story. That means you have the power to tear up the script that was handed to you and take some ownership in answering the question all stories try to answer: What happens next?

If deception is rooted in the stories we tell ourselves, then we also have the power to tell ourselves the truth.

Seeing isn’t believing—the belief system driven by your narrative is actually what determines what you see.

We live in a world where things aren’t always as they seem.

Science shows is that believing is actually seeing—that what we believe has the power to change what we see.

What we believe tends to inform what we see, even if what we believe isn’t true. We’re in search of information to confirm those stories —the ones we tell ourselves.

Roald Dahl once wrote, “Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.”

Wonder is what gives you permission to believe in what you currently do not see.

If you want a life many have tried to manifest or manufacture without ever challenging their status quo beliefs, you must allow your wonder to be reawakened so that you have the permission to believe—then you’ll begin to see magic everywhere.

Wonder is the childlike state we find ourselves in when we are awake to possibility and rescued from the ordinary, granting us permission to believe in what we have yet to see. Wonder is often tied to awe. However, you can be in awe but absent of wonder. After all, awe is the root of both the words awful and awesome.

Spectacles are external events to which we are outside observers, while wonder is what happens when we allow ourselves to become participants in transformational stories. Transformation doesn’t always happen overnight, though wonder is powerful enough that it can sometimes transform us in an instant. But something about wonder is transcendent and connected to transformation.

Example: I had my four-year-old boy sitting on my shoulders. Jude marveled at the magic. For the first time as an adult, I experienced the spectacle of fireworks through the eyes of a child. I wasn’t just being told a story by Disney; I found myself in the story they were telling, and it changed the story I was telling myself.

According to a study by UC Berkeley, when participants were in a positive state of awe, feelings of pride diminished. The wonder they felt contributed to feelings of smallness, not in the negative sense as one would often think in terms of smallness but in a way that brings about a reverence for the fact that we are but a small part of a greater whole, bringing about a sense of humility and a stronger sense of connectedness.

Experiences of awe that awaken our wonder help us shift our focus from ourselves to the connectedness of all things, including one another as human beings.

This reaction is because of what our brains do in positive awe-states to shift our physiology. Lab studies show a correlation between awe and a reduction in activation of the sympathetic nervous system. As the system that is associated with fight-or-flight responses, it works to regulate your body’s unconscious actions. The more awakened you are to wonder, the more your sympathetic nervous system chills out, which means your heart chills out with it. Awe is calming. Instead of focusing on whether we should fight, flight, or freeze, we can simply be at peace, allowing us to reinvest our energy elsewhere, like the well-being of others.

New studies show that the human body is in its healthiest form when your mind (or your “soul”) and body (which includes your brain) have regularly occurring experiences that leave you “filled with admiration, amazement, or awe.”2 It’s as if we are hardwired to live with our wonder switches on, for when they’re turned off, it isn’t only the potential of our future stories that is affected but our physical health as well. It’s as if wonder is like a nutrient, and we far too often suffer from a wonder deficiency.

Production of pro-inflammatory cytokines that influence these and other conditions can be directly stimulated by negative emotions and stressful experiences. Additionally, negative emotions also contribute to prolonged infection and delayed wound healing. Resources such as close personal relationships that diminish negative emotions enhance health, in part, through their positive impact on immune and endocrine regulation.

A team of researchers at UC Berkeley set out to study the science of awe. Doing so led them to a treasure trove of findings. Our wonder impacts our entire lives. Wonder has the power to influence our physical health, our levels of empathy, the extent of our generosity with others, and even our sense of self. When we live in a state of wonder, we are not only healthier humans but better human beings.

In one study, a subjective feeling of awe was so pleasant and calming that it permitted participants to pull attention away from themselves and refocus on the world around them, supporting the ability to take in more information and reduce their tendency to filter current experiences through what they thought they already knew. In short, experiences of wonder lead to a willingness to consider different narratives.

The cycle of burying emotions and flaring up keeps you sick. These negative emotions and stressful experiences cause you to have high levels of cytokines, which when sustained over long periods of time, allow a variety of autoimmune diseases and even clinical depression to kick in.

Results show that the experience of especially awe, wonder, and amazement had the lowest levels of the cytokine most closely linked with inflammation.5 It’s as if our bodies are wired for wonder.

Often many of us are physically awake but far from being fully aware.

The first requirement is belief. Wonder is what gives you permission to believe.

The second is an awareness. Wonder experiences are transcendent and transformative, and they occur all the time, but we miss them because, as if our eyes are closed. In Soulful Spirituality, Dr. David Benner writes, “Living with awareness is a prerequisite to becoming deeply human.”

Wonder changes things. Ultimately, wonder leads to action. Wonder can be a powerful impetus, and can even shape our identity, because our experiences of wonder help tell us who we are.

As Mark Twain once said, “You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

Here are the top five fears that prevent them from being successful:

1.​not living up to expectations

2.​being judged negatively

3.​being rejected

4.​making a bad decision

5.​disapproval from others

All these fears are anchored in the perceptions and judgments of others. They also happen to be rooted in shame and can be traced back to experiences before the age of ten.

Do our minds do what they want to do or what we tell them to do?

Einstein, 1929: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

“Logic,” Einstein added, “will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”

Sir Ken Robinson on the importance of imagination: We have this extraordinary human power, the power of imagination. We take it totally for granted. This capacity to bring to mind things that aren’t present, and on that basis to hypothesize about things that have never been but could be. Every feature of human culture in my view is the consequence of this unique capacity. Now other creatures may have something like it. Other creatures sing, but they don’t write operas. Other creatures are agile, but they don’t form Olympic committees. They communicate, but they don’t have festivals or theater. They have structures, but they don’t build buildings and furnish them. We are unique in this capacity.

Your body will do everything in its power to avoid a bad ending to the story your mind is imagining.

This leaves you drained of energy, less productive and feeling rushed, which leads to stress, making it hard to sleep. Worry can make you irritable and cause problems in your relationships, creating drama.

Worry is a trap. When you are caught up in it, it becomes a straitjacket constraining your life, and the only way out is to flip on the wonder switch and use your imagination to create a positive vision of the future.

I hear self-limiting mindsets around the subject of imagination and creativity. “I’m not creative,” and yet the youngest child can mold some dirt into a mound and create a castle!

Not everyone is an artist, but every human being is highly creative, and we all have the potential to channel that creativity into any hobby, outlet, or vocation of our choosing.

I asked how this person used his imagination. It turns out he wrote Oscar-worthy screenplays in his head, and he was in the starring role. He, as the main character, was in all types of imaginative situations. His story just lacked the right ending. It was one of the most dramatic stories I’d ever heard, filled with a treacherous journey navigating an abundance of challenges, fears, and anxieties—the stuff great stories are made of. But in the version of the story he was imagining, he wasn’t transformed by the journey and didn’t end up in a more beautiful place. His creative energy was certainly being spent; it was just being misused.

This is why on the Transformation Map, we find both “productive imagination” and “destructive imagination.”

In Daring Greatly, Brené Brown says we can find belonging only when we are willing to accept ourselves. She writes, “Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance. Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.”

Adler believed that all problems are interpersonal relationship problems.

You have far more control over yourself than you do over the reactions and responses of others. You can’t control what people think about you any more than I can.

Love equals belonging. Love leaves little room for fear. Love lifts us up where we belong. The more open you are to love, in all its various forms—from divine, unconditional love, to romantic love in an intimate relationship, to the love of family and friends—the more love you allow into your life, the more your wonder will reawaken and the more your worries will fade, all the while permitting your imagination to create and dream in ways you never thought possible.

Painter Paul Klee when he said, “I create—in order not to cry.” Research backs up what many artist express: engaging our imaginations in acts of creation can, in fact, help us heal from the experiences that brought us tears and, in turn, flip our wonder switches back on.

A Wonder Mindset never stops learning, growing, or creating. A Limiting Mindset believes the best is in the past. A Wonder Mindset believes we have only scratched the surface of what is possible. A Limiting Mindset is ruled by fear and worry. A Wonder Mindset permits you to believe in magic and will lead you to do the impossible.

And far too often, we’ve allowed others to tell us what we can or can’t do, instead of deciding for ourselves.

Dweck continues, “I’ve seen so many people with this one consuming goal of proving themselves—in the classroom, in their careers, and in their relationships. Every situation calls for a confirmation of their intelligence, personality, or character. Every situation is evaluated: Will I succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I feel like a winner or a loser?”

We have the ability to develop our hand, throw away some cards every now and then, get some new ones, and learn how to better play the game by learning and growing along the way. When you have a Wonder Mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point, and from there you have nowhere to go but up.

Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow?

The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

This makes the difference do you have a belief that your qualities are carved in stone leads to a host of thoughts and actions, or a belief that your qualities can be cultivated leads to a host of different thoughts and actions, taking you down an entirely different road.

At the heart of this idea of developing a Wonder Mindset is realizing that to be awake to wonder means to be a learner. Being a learner means placing a high value on growth and perspective. You can develop your talents, skills, and abilities. You can grow. Your beliefs can be changed.

We must learn to root our identity in something far less fragile than the applause of others. Otherwise, if you live for the approval of others, their rejection will kill you.

My friend comforted me by letting me in on a secret: all innovators, creative thinkers, and great leaders “make it up as they go.” He spent most of his career as a longtime respected creative leader at Nike doing the same. Don’t let your Limiting Mindset fool you into thinking you’re the only one who doesn’t have it all figured out.

When you position yourself for growth, instead of “guaranteed” success by taking the easy path, you’re going to feel challenged; often you’ll feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. The wonder switch makes this possible because your curiosity becomes greater than your fear and the possibility of learning becomes more important than the consequences of failure—consequences that are often misperceived as being far more threatening than they actually are. Out of your depth? Excellent. In over your head? Even better. Congratulations: you are now positioned for growth.

Somewhere along the way, we have equated struggling with doing our best. We’ve come to believe that if it’s hard, then surely our capacity is capped out.

A Wonder Mindset says, “Well, I didn’t succeed . . . yet. Even though I failed, I am capable of learning and growth, so my ‘best’ can always get better.” Learning to add the word yet to our assessment of our achievements gives us permission to grow and helps us maintain a Wonder Mindset.

I haven’t yet,,, We must embrace failure as a form of growth.

But in the struggle lies your becoming.

The process is where the insights are. It offers us perspective and wisdom.

The results should be measured by two simple questions: What did I learn? And how did I grow as a result of the struggle?

The stories of our failures often hold the keys to unlock the obstacles to wonder. Our mindset is a difference maker because it affects how we view failure and, more importantly, how we respond to failure. It all comes back to our beliefs and what they permit us to see beyond what we experience in the present.

The result will not always mean she succeeds at everything she sets out to do, but it does mean she will set out to do more than she would have otherwise.

You were designed with the power to create the future.

We can also actively rewire our brains and, in turn, redesign our lives.

If you are able to create new neurons, change the way the neurons you already have “talk to each other” by forming new connections, and change the pathways those neurons travel by creating new habits, you essentially possess the ability to rewire your brain. Suddenly, changing your mindset, behavior, and habits is not remotely out of the question. If you can rewire your brain, you have the ability to revive your wonder and to reimagine your life.

Every time you learn something new, your brain replaces some of the neurons you’ve lost and builds connections among the ones you have. But what is required to learn something new and start that process?

In 2003, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, a neuroscientist at Harvard Medical School, rounded up a group of volunteers and brought them into the lab to play the piano. They began with a five-finger piano exercise, asking one group to practice for two hours per day, every day, for five days. At the end of each day’s exercise, the participants took a test. A “transcranial-magnetic-stimulation” was performed, which involved taking a coil of wire and running it across the top of their heads from ear to ear and sending a short magnetic pulse into the motor cortexes of their brains. Doing so allowed the researchers to look at the function of neurons. What they discovered came as no surprise. As a specific muscle was used more, the volunteers’ brains devoted more real estate to its development. But this part of the study was simply to find a point of comparison for what would come next. Another group of participants were asked merely to think. That’s it, just think about the same piano exercise, practicing only in their minds. They didn’t need to move their fingers—they didn’t even need a piano. They would play the exact same piece of music in their heads, simply imagining how they would move their fingers. When the same transcranial-magnetic-stimulation test was performed, the region of the motor cortex that controls the piano-playing fingers expanded in the brains of volunteers who only imagined playing the music, the same way it did in the brains of those who had actually played it.9 What we think or imagine has the ability to form connections that we can later put into practice in reality, outside of the land of “make-believe.” This discovery was validated by a study by Australian psychologist Alan Richardson, who gathered a group of basketball players who had never practiced visualization and tested each player’s ability to make free throws. The first group practiced every day for twenty days. The second group practiced only on the first and last days of the twenty-day study. The third group also practiced only on the first and last days but also spent twenty minutes visualizing their free throws every day in between. At this point, you can probably guess the results. The significant improvement was in the third group who practiced visualization by imagining their movements and shots and the balls hitting nothing but net. They didn’t just improve; they showed almost the same level of improvement as the first group who physically practiced all twenty days.

Rather than strengthening the neural pathways and connections for the challenges and hurdles in your way which amplifies them as problems, imagine what you want to see instead. The new pathways and connections will give way to beliefs that will change what you see in “reality.”

Our beliefs, habits, routines, and values shape the experience of our lives.

If you want to reimagine your future, it’s time to take responsibility for the life you’ve lived so far.

We do have the power to wake up each morning and to express control over our lives through our repeated choices: our habits.

Just because you have a thought doesn’t make it true. The more mindful you are of those thoughts, the less chance they will slip by your awareness unchecked. If they do, they will turn your wonder switch off.

When you learn how to really be, you can become mindful and comfortable with the uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that lead you to distract yourself in the first place. You have to unlearn before you can relearn and return to your original state of wonder.

In his book What Happy People Know, Dan Baker writes, “During active appreciation, the threatening messages from your amygdala [the fear center of the brain] and the anxious instincts of your brainstem are cut off, suddenly and surely, from access to your brain’s neocortex, where they can fester, replicate themselves, and turn your stream of thoughts into a cold river of dread. It is a fact of neurology that the brain cannot be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. The two states may alternate, but are mutually exclusive.”

Your attitude is often most shaped by your atmosphere— the environment that your brain was exposed to in its formative stages. Another definition of atmosphere is “the pervading tone or mood of a place, situation, or work of art.” What atmosphere do you currently find yourself in? What is the pervading tone or mood of the places and situations you spend most of your time in?

Audit Your Environment

What might be possible if we allow our curiosity to drive our own story and ability to shine?

We move from a mere state of astonishment to a practiced lifestyle of curiosity. And curiosity beckons us. It’s what turns the whisper of wonder into a bold call—a demand even—that says, “Satisfy me, or I will drive you insane.” But can curiosity ultimately be satisfied?

Curiosity cultivates creativity and will carry you from dreaming to doing.

What would it look like to become more innovative at home or in the way you lead your family?

What if there’s a new you waiting to be discovered? What if the story you’re living could change? What if…?

Einstein said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”

[avaaricee]

21 Day Challenge Blog #4

June 9th

Today I got the opportunity to go to the University of Waterloo and hear a Presentation from the Faculty of Environment and some other guest speakers. Specifically the speakers were there to talk about water scarcity, water wastage, basically just water and there to educate us about the importance of water, consequences of running out of water, the future of water and what we can do as individuals to help.

the three amazing speakers were

Amber: She is an anthropologist who studies human survival, she traveled all the way from Arizona. For her studies she spent years in Bolivia is learning how to manage living her life only using a bucket of water a day, just like the majority of people in Bolivia.

Isabel: She is in school, specifically in the school of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability; it was really cool to see her speak cause of the extensive research she does on water scarcity and the damage of irrigation, but also because she is in the program in going into next year for school. She told us her experience was water scarcity and water irrigation with the story of the Salton Sea. Basically a giant lake that got ruined due to irrigation, she also taught us about local contribution and the importance of helping even in small ways.

Dax: He is from Vancouver British Columbia and grew up around nature loving it; but today he aids nature with owns a tech company in Montreal, generating funds to help his other company that aids in environmental protections and restoration. He told us about the importance of union and actually coming together and helping in the greater cause, he was telling us that we have all the resources and people we need, we just all have to come together and work to prevent environmental damage.

After each individuals main presentation they had a question and answer segment, answering questions other kids and adults wanted answers to, some main points they addressed when answering questions were these:

-The importance of collective action, and how our actions have actually made an impact before.

-Also the importance of individual action, having a role of stewardship to address water issues and other issues present within our society.

-The idea that people who are concerned for the environment are focused on the uncertainty of things, and that with this mindset it is difficult to move forward and look into an actual future of things. They said success stories will help people to believe we actually have a future, and will encourage people and the news to not focus on the doom and gloom.

-The idea that global wars ing is a very deep systemic problem. But it being a system means it’s all connected and that one small thing affects other small things and eventually big things, and that more smaller changes means a bigger change overall. the whole butterfly theory where a butterfly’s wings create a hurricane was discussed a lot, specifically compared to how out individual action help a greater cause.

-How we are living now isn’t making us happy, it’s just distracting us from real world issues. Netflix and Chill instead of going out and talking to people and neighbours has made us unhappy as a society, and has created a huge disconnection between people. Basically the avoidance of engagement with society has made us an u happy society and that this whole idea has been proven by anthropologists around the world.

Overall the experience was great, very educational and eye-opening. and how it directly interconnects with what I am discussing with my blog post, water scarcity and water wastage it was the perfect opportunity. On top of the presentations we got to explore the campus and get a free tour which was also very nice cause that’s where I’ll be next year.

#savewater #water waste #water #wastewater #protectouroceans #protectourplanet