#my weird self seriously considering a rewatch???? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

totaldramafan-lauri · 11 months

Text

A little self-discovery

Heyyyyyyy! It’s....b-been a bit! Truthfully, I....I haven’t been completely OK this week. I’ve been dealing with some stuff, but....I’ve been though worse at the same time, so it’s not a super big deal. But.....I wanted to talk about this, cuz I.....kiiiiinda alluded to it before....? Dunno if anyone saw it, tho, but..y’know.......

I-I still wanted to talk about it....

This is something that no one but me will care about, but....s-screw it, I'm already here, and this might be something I'll mention again in the future, so....here goes....

So....this has to do with....family history and stuff, so if that doesn’t interest you, keep scrolling, nothing to see here.....XD

So, I’ve had to do some CRAZY stuff in order to get over post-Eurovision depression this year. I still dunno why it got SO bad this time, cuz it’s usually not, but....yeah. I was doing pretty much nothing but rewatching Eurovision videos for weeks last month. On top of that, my favorite idol/comfort person has been on hiatus for health reasons, and his fanbase is collectively miserable and missing him horribly, which brought down my mood really badly, making it harder to move on from Eurovision which makes me happy. But....I FINALLY did something that got me over it for the most part.

And that’s that....I, uh....I revisited an old special interest of mine. I’m not sure if I’m getting back into it necessarily, but I’ve been looking at old things and having a nostalgia trip. I was last into this in early 2013 (it was one of the last special interests I was into before Total Drama and me getting this blog), so it’s been a while. And....yes, it does have ties to Eurovision for me. It's how I first discovered Eurovision, which....is a really weird story. KeepinmindI’mAmericansoIHADtolearnthroughaweirdway*cough*

Now, I’m not gonna say what this is, cuz it’s not SUPER important to this topic. It’s just the catalyst for it. This is its own can of worms. And honestly, altho I look back on this thing very well (and I consider it one of the best fandoms I’ve ever been in), I’m also embarrassed by it in the present day. This isn’t something I’d really recommend to people. I’m happy it exists, but I’m worried if it’s.....aged well enough to point new fans toward it, is what I’m saying.

All I’ll say for now is that....it has to do with world history, and leave it at that.

(If anyone is interested in me talking about this, and don’t mind me potentially talking about weird stuff, I AM more than happy to explain. There’s a LOTTA stuff I can talk about, seriously. XD I had a lotta great experiences in that fandom, and could basically talk about it all day if I could. It was one of those fandoms that I had multiple phases of. It basically ruled my life for many years, and it helped me learn certain things about myself that are....still getting mileage today.....and again, it’s the reason I got into Eurovision, which I STILL love today, so....NEED I SAY MORE? It’s very close to my heart. I just don’t wanna talk about it RIGHT NOW cuz it’d lead to a huge tangent.)

Point is.....I’m revisting it. I’m looking at old stuff I saved, and even stuff related to it that I made myself. It feels like I’m 18-21 again......and, through that....I remembered that.....there was something I’d started to do, that I’d stopped when I moved on.

I was.....learning Croatian. In 2013....

And I stopped....

I had a whole list of words I’d learned even, and I- I forgot all about, it-

So, uh...I know that sounded REALLY REALLY RANDOM, so- uh-

The same time I was in this fandom, I was part of a subfandom for this group of OCs I really liked, and- g-gosh, this is going all over the place, pffffff- b-but, these OCs, had to do with the history of Yugoslavia and the countries it became and- I sound so stupid right now- P-point is, it was a really weird coincidence, that this happened, not that long after I learned that I’m one-quarter Croatian!

So......family-related rambling time:

So, I knew that my dad’s side of the family was Greek. And that my paternal great-grandparents (none of which I got to meet) were immigrants. But....I didn’t know everything for the longest time. I knew I was Greek, cuz fun fact my last name is VERY Greek, and we celebrate Greek Easter instead of regular Easter (I’m PRETTY SURE I’ve mentioned this on my blog before?). We also follow a few other Greek traditions, and I was taught a few words. And indeed, SOMEWHERE in my grandparents’ house, we still have my grandpa’s parents’ Ellis Island papers when they came to America from Greece. My grandpa is very much Greek.

But.....what about my grandma? Through my childhood, I thought she was also Greek, she’s always just fit in with the traditions and stuff.....I knew that I was told her maiden name when I was young, but I forgot it....and no, turns out she isn’t Greek. Turns out, as I learned randomly as a teenager....she’s actually Yugoslav. But wait, that country doesn’t exist anymore! It DID exist when her parents left it, but....not anymore. I was briefly curious about what she’d identify as in the modern day, but never asked and promptly forgot for a few years cuz it wasn’t a big deal.

BUT, in 2012-2013, somewhere around that time, in a random conversation with my grandpa and uncle, things finally came together. She was playfully poking fun at Greeks, and my grandpa made a joke about Croatians in response.

And it came together, exactly where she was from, and I could say what every part of me was without using outdated words. I was like....”that’s neat” at first, but I didn’t really dwell on it for a while.

But THEN, this fandom happened again! And it got me interested in world history, and I hyperfixated on this group of popular OCs from it, and.....i-it led me to blogs, and art, all dealing with.....all this history, through the lens of characters I liked, and I realized that I was kinda.....learning about a p-part of myself? And through it, I got....curious about it.....? It seemed so interesting to me all of a sudden.....?

I’m....one-quarter Croatian. Yet, I was raised as if I was half Greek. I....didn’t KNOW anything about Croatia or Yugoslavia. My grandma never taught us anything about her family and how they lived. She just took on the role of my Greek grandma with my Greek grandpa and she was just fine with that. And I am too, don’t get me wrong, cuz I love my Greek side, but.....I’ve ALWAYS known and have been in touch with my Greek side. And, for once, I was like...VERY curious all of a sudden, sparked by fandom of all things, to discover my Croatian side.

Through this RP account I used to follow (RIP Formspring), I got interested in the language. I taught myself the alphabet and a few phrases. I also watched a YouTube documentary on the history Yugoslavia once (dunno if it’s still up) and hooooly crap Croats are badass (there’s no other word to describe that, pfffff). That country has been through a LOT and WON. The fact that I probably have distant relatives over there that fought through all that for their independence REALLY interested me. Ashamed as I was to admit it, I got really into learning about Croatian history, all thanks to this really weird coincidence of discovering I’m part Croatian and then almost immediately after, discovering a Croatian character I liked that talked about his history a lot. All the while, jumping between this and a historical comedy anime. It was probably one of my weirdest summers interest-wise. One day, I’d be looking up art of ships I like, and the next, I’d be learning a new thing about Croatia. A fun fact, or a not-so-fun fact, or a new word or phrase, or something completely random from this blog I followed, pffff....

I was super into learning about this seemingly-random country that I was slightly embarrassed about it, and didn’t really talk a lot about it to others. It would’ve been easy to say “my grandma’s from there”, but I dunno, part of me didn’t feel like that was a good enough excuse to admit I’d watched war documentaries. Guess I felt....guilty, so I hid it.

And then.....I stopped.

I got into new interests. It happens. I couldn’t stay fixated forever. The fact that it was a short Kirby’s Return To Dreamland phase, and then Total Drama of all things happening, that led me away is kinda funny to think about......but, eh, with how problematic my old fandom....could PROBABLY be viewed as, I guess I’m happy I avoided having a Tumblr while I was an active fan? Again, it was probably the best fandom I’d ever been in, but.....y’know, with time, things could’ve gotten uglier if I was actively gushing over it, so it kinda does feel like I dodged a bullet. I could easily see myself pissing off a hatedom.

But.....here I am again. I came back. Not to the fandom as a whole, but just feeling nostalgic and looking back at old stuff. And lo and behold, I remembered my old project eventually. I kinda felt bad that I stopped for dumb reasons, but then again, I started for dumb reasons too......

I still remember the alphabet, and a few words. Part of me still wants to learn how to speak in...even small sentences at one point. Not enough to wanna take lessons, but...step-by-step by myself. It’s a “what if” situation. Maybe I never will be able to speak it, but one can dream.

So....yup, that’s what I’ve been up to this past month or so. I’m not watching war documentaries this time, thank god (seriously, 21-year-old me went to the darkest places first, huh >__> Dang history fixation), but I’ve been looking up videos on several locations in Croatia, for one. Gorgeous place. If I could, I’d try to go there, but social anxiety makes it REALLY HARD to bring it up to my family, especially when I’ve NEVER brought it up before. But even in videos, I am immersed when I look at it. It’s my dream vacation (well, one of them). Split is one of the prettiest places I’ve seen in my life. Which, again, I did NOT expect. I’ve heard multiple people talk about the prettiest countries in the world, but did anyone mention Croatia? Nooooo! But it’s a very touristy country for Europe, it’s just that Americans don’t talk about it. Hmph! >__> Not only that, but.....Croatian music. SO much music. SO MUCH. I’m mainly using music as a way to learn new words, and....I got hooked. It’s REALLY WEIRD to say that the music I’ve been listening to has been one-third Eurovision, one-third K-pop, and one-third random Croatian songs from playlists I found on YouTube.

It’s been....a LOTTA Eurodance, actually. I didn’t search for any specific genre of music, I just looked up “hrvatske pjesme”, found a playlist, and it was mostly Eurodance, which I did NOT expect! From the kinda songs Croatia sent to Eurovision, I didn’t really associate them with dance music, but....turns out, they’re REALLY GOOD at dance music? Who would’a guessed.....Seriously, I’m tempted to queue up some of the best songs I’ve been listening to to prove this. I might still do that....

(This doesn’t mean I’m gonna be developing a bias when it comes to Eurovision, tho. I’m still unbiased at heart =P I’ll be happy to have a good song, but if it’s mid, I’ll still say it’s mid. If anything, I might be HARSHER since I know how good their music can be now. And I’m not gonna hold back if 2022 happens again, Hrvatska. Oprostite. =P)

(D-don’t get me wrong, I’m not MAD that they don’t send the stuff I’ve been listening to to Eurovision, cuz.....well, it’s junk food. It’s not for everyone, especially here in the 2020s. XD Going the Balkan route makes more sense. Even this year, when they were taking the piss...still, that song was clever and had a message, which is more substance than Eurodance has, pfffff)

To think that this was all sparked by a fandom....that THAT’S what it took for me to fixate on learning this part of myself. But it’s true. It’s....e-embarrassing, yes. And it really only is one quarter of myself. I really could’ve went the rest of my life without doing any of this. But....my brain works in weird ways. And my interests can be super unpredictable. That’s a fandom that, again, I might talk about another time, but.....it really is super important to me for multiple reasons, and this is one of them - leading me to learning about my grandma’s country and its culture and history.

Why am I sharing all this? Cuz.....for one, I might be following this up with sharing Croatian songs on here in the future, or referencing E.T (Electro Team) or Colonia next Eurovision season, or even something else might pop up. It might seem super random, cuz, again, I’m American.....so I wanna explain where it came from. And also, cuz this started before I joined Tumblr, I...never got to talk about this weird interest of mine before. So...it feels good to finally get it out.

Again, it’s only a quarter of myself, but it’s something that makes me unique, and I’m still happy discovering it.

#lauri talks to herself #i hope this made sense to those you read it #if not then....it at least feels good to finally talk about #i know this is a really random thing to have interest in #but thats nothing new to me

0 notes

ljf613 · 1 year

Text

I posted 3,049 times in 2022

186 posts created (6%)

2,863 posts reblogged (94%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@the-word-huntress

@lady-tortilla-chip

@raayllum

@vantrisha

@bananzer

I tagged 3,040 of my posts in 2022

#all queued up - 2,940 posts

#fanart - 1,830 posts

#avatar the last airbender - 527 posts

#thoughts - 443 posts

#fairy tail - 292 posts

#fullmetal alchemist - 279 posts

#my hero academia - 232 posts

#boku no hero academia - 232 posts

#furuba - 170 posts

#fruits basket - 170 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and everything to do with what being around people who are overly concerned with their own personal physical appearance does to your psyche

My Top Posts in 2022:

See the full post

110 notes - Posted February 3, 2022

What really sold me on Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs was the part of the movie where Snow can't get the shoes off (because deep down she's no longer so sure that she wants to be who she is without them).

It's one of the most realistically accurate scenes I have ever seen in an animated kids' movie.

126 notes - Posted July 11, 2022

Konekomaru: Hey exwires, here's a pro tip: do not write an email to your cram school teacher while you're seriously sick. Signed, a person who somehow came up with "dear hello, I am sick and not sure if I'll be alive to come tomorrow and I'm sorry, best slutantions, Miwa".

Shiemi: I mean, if someone wrote that to me, I'd probably believe they were sick.

Renzo: "Slutantions" has me crying laughing

Rin: i once emailed Shura with a migraine. a mistake. "I amsick will not to training because i have a heache. i Hope its very and i am so sorry love, blue" the subject line was "OW"

Izumo: THE SUBJECT LINE IS THE BEST PART JSJFISJDJS JUST IMAGINE GETTING AN EMAIL WITH NO CONTEXT OTHER THAN "OW"

Mephisto: As someone who runs a cram school, please send those emails because 1) We WILL believe that; no one would write that on purpose and 2) we need a laugh sometimes.

Ryuji: On the other side of this, once after getting taken to the ER by ambulance, I got an email from Sideburns, and the message had no text, just the subject line "you good?"

Yukio: Claritin makes me weird, but I have allergies so there’s about a month and a half block of time where I’m taking Claritin and am just weird most of the time. Anyway, last year, I got the flu or something and was also taking Mucinex. I told Shiro I couldn’t work one day by email except I couldnt think of what to say, so my medicated self decided to make a Fry meme. I think it said something like “Not sure if I can go perform an exorcism with a head the size of Gehenna, bottom text.” I didn’t think until the next day that it probably wasn’t socially-acceptable to tell the Paladin you weren’t coming on a job via Tumblr style memes. When i woke up, i found that he’d printed it out and taped it to the fridge.

Yukio: Oof you guys i turned on my laptop that I used to use back then. IT WAS ON THE DESKTOP. THIS IS WHAT I SENT. It’s even worse than i remember it

For @swearingintengwar

145 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

Adorable commission of Kacchan and Fuyumi-neesan from @wintertundra-art! I absolutely love how this one came out, thank you so so much!

145 notes - Posted March 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Apparently my best friend has never seen any of the How to Train Your Dragon movies, and I'm due for a rewatch, so we're watching them together.

We're about halfway through the first and there's two things that really stand out to me this time around:

Hiccup is funny. Like, really funny. (Sure, he's funny in the later movies, too, but there's something uniquely amusing about the self-deprecating humor of an awkward and lonely fifteen year old with absolutely no filter. It's great.)

All things considered, Stoick is actually.... a pretty decent parent. I mean, I've been reading a lot of HTTYD fics lately, and many of them portray him as this awful, domineering guy who doesn't care about his son AT ALL until he becomes "useful" or whatever. And watching the OG movie, especially from a more grown-up perspective on things, he's really not all that bad. Sure, he's not exactly getting any 'parent of the year' awards. He's a human, and he makes mistakes, but, considering the circumstances, he really is trying his best.

399 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #how to train your dragon #httyd #apparently nine of my posts didn't have any tags?#can't think what those would be i'm pretty careful about tagging everything #all queued up

0 notes

feelingofcontent · 2 years

Text

DNP Rewatch: RIP 'danisnotonfire'

Date video was published: 05/01/2017 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 343

The re-brand is here. Also the last video posted that was filmed in the first London flat.

0:05 - I’m really not sure the second half of the title clears things us that much...

0:11 - the dramatic music over this social media updates is great. also, his tumblr theme banner and YouTube banner still reading “danisnotonfire” 😂

0:14 - even using some cut-away shots in this video. also love that he’s using Phil’s laptop here

0:16 - and glasses-Dan!

0:20 - the side eye and deadpan expression. also his desktop wallpaper in the background. I love it all

0:28 - “change?! I don’t like change” very dramatic but a bit true. getting all of the change out of the way at once between the move and this

0:35 - “calm your non-gender-specific flaps” amazing

0:47 - that is a lot of years for something you created on a whim as a teenager

0:59 - Dan’s editing for this video is fantastic

1:04 - “dan attempting to have a career.mp4″ 😂

1:09 - just yikes; that would be so weird and embarrassing

1:35 - the self-call out of the “xD” tweets; I can’t. why is this video so funny to me

1:44 - he had been hinting at a rebrand in several other videos before this, including this Dan Takes Quizzes About Himself one

1:46 - repressed it just a month later apparently, haha

2:01 - he has left quite a bit up (and had more at this time), but he did go back and unlist more things about a year after this at the start of 2018

2:08 - ah, HELLO INTERNET. seeing fetus Dan with current Dan is always so strange

2:23 - “...maintain a false façade of perfection all the time” the wide-eyed fear there

2:32 - and there are all the branding things he wanted to kill for a while, but couldn’t with some of them until the end of the TATINOF era

2:36 - the fire in the editing there is great. (also, I spent so long trying to figure out why there was a glass in the fire, until I realized it was sitting on his desk the whole video...I am dumb)

2:39 - “yes this was actually my merch” help 😂😂

3:02 - really can’t blame his teenage-self who had no idea where that user name would end up for that

3:15 - several of these top google searches referencing the diss track is hilarious

3:32 - “dani snot on fire” poor Dan but also this is still so funny to me

3:55 - he tweeted about his horror of this all the way back in 2015

4:02 - can’t take is own script seriously here

4:18 - Dan’s got “crazy eyes” so many times in this video

4:34 - starting to get more open with politics in 2017 too

4:54 - he’s so horrified; poor Dan, again

5:19 - “I will always be ‘danisnotonfire’”...although he did eventually get it changed to youtube.com/danhowell (also, I’m still going to tag these posts for his videos with “danisnotonfire”...sorry Dan)

5:40 - I know he said at one point his family always calls him “Daniel,” but I had forgotten he said this about being “Dan” at school

5:50 - oh Dan 🙁

5:56 - managed to come up with two examples there, lol

6:01 - the flirty tone and eyebrow raise

6:19 - several old video clips in this one too, actually...this from College Dropout

6:25 - the start of the ramped-up journey to more authenticity

6:58 - “laughing at other peoples’ problems is a very popular kind of entertainment” ...self-aware Dan there

7:09 - I love it 😂

7:24 - sharing the moving news on this channel via a “on the ‘AmazingPhil’ channel” shout-out

7:36 - “I need a houseplant...” which is what Phil told him to put in his background in the moving video

Dan is somehow so funny in this video while still getting his explanation across. I guess I would consider this his first “announcement”-type video as he starts to share more about himself over the next few years after this.

This one I really think got filmed before they were in Australia, but he waited to post until he had a chance to also update social media and everything after the move. And it also makes sense as a sort-of “fresh start” in the new place.

#dan and phil #dnp #dnpRewatch #daniel howell #danisnotonfire #dan howell #daniel howell videos #RIP 'danisnotonfire'

44 notes · View notes

block-swing-perry · 2 years

Text

Ok I finally finished rewatching the entirety of six minus six and yup that’s a young adult right there.

Just the difference in how six went after the EVO was super clear. Idk if six was told exactly what the EVOs are (I’m leaning towards not in depths, easily enough time to have spaced out and completely miss the fact that EVOs can be humans BUT he is an assassin so he might have just not cared) but he treated that mission like a game. He didn’t really get any good hits on the EVO because ultimately he was fooling around and getting himself hyped up. He kept declaring he was gonna kill the EVO but most of his blows to the EVO wasn’t really life threatening, although I have no doubt six was planning to lead up to a kill blow.

His remarks to rex on the mission remind me of an older teen to a young child, and not in a man child kind of way, six genuinely does sound like he’s probably anywhere from 21-24. He declares he’s not a team player and he works alone, but his tone of voice sounds toddler level stubborn and almost pouty. Also he keeps calling Rex punk which makes me laugh because that sounds like when my sister was 10 and decided to take on this weird tough guy attitude and kept saying “punk” and “wack” all the time.

He also has no qualms in fighting and beating up random people when he accidentally knocked out a bunch of providence agents (wk said he took out 3 which I really don’t wanna know if he meant killed or seriously injured) which makes me think maybe part of the reason why he’s considered the sixth deadliest man was because he was just indiscriminately killing people.

Also that scene where he walks down the hall and just slams into people was peak!jerk six.

Six also demonstrates his younger self had no sense of chill whatsoever because as soon as providence was like “yikes :/” six was almost immediately calling his spooky shadowy contact for jobs.

Also six’s comment about not being Rex’s parent?? Could totally be taken as I’m way to young to be a parent.

Also six kinda now reminds me of my 9th grade history who was fairly strict and particular (also he looks like the actor for Hawkeye which was hilarious) but then he’d be like “listen I was a c student. I’d skip school to surf. Don’t be like me.”

#generator rex

23 notes · View notes

missanthropicprinciple · 3 years

Text

A Tale of Elio and My Fixation with Lovable Androids

TL;DR Feel free to scroll past this unless you’re keen to read my ramblings about androids, Neoclassical art, children’s lit, and bad science fiction movies.

Since the late 1990s one of my favourite books has been A Tale of Time City (1989) by Diana Wynne Jones. It’s a mildly confusing story but engaging, with memorable characters, including the android Elio, pictured above - my own fan art from a few years ago. Studio Ghibli really needs to make this film if no one does a live-action version, seeing as they brought Jones’ novel Howl’s Moving Castle to life. Here’s a scan of my favourite edition with mesmerizing cover art by Richard Bober.

This book inspired me so much I’ve done research on it. I wasn’t in a class in grad school that allowed me to write about it so I took it on as a casual independent project in 2019. Two days after my dad died of cancer I was scheduled to present my paper on Elio from ATOTC. Needless to say I was not able to finish writing the essay. I told the department coordinator I would likely not attend but I would let him know. He was seriously surprised that I showed up. I must have looked like a ghost - wearing a nice top, skirt, tights, and short heels. I was still in total shock but I thought I might as well press on. My paper’s working tile remains as it was: Elio: Android Autonomy and the Personification of the Sun God. I presented a long bullet point list of working ideas and research done up until that point. My work is still on the broad side because it’s an intersection of young adult fiction, Neoclassic art, and android autonomy; I have some narrowing to do. Here are my main arguments thus far:

Firstly, the android character Elio’s physical characteristics and personality are inspired by Helios, the Hellenistic Greek god and personification of the sun. Apparently, Elio is a Spanish name meaning sun and also an Italian given name referring to the element helium, originally derived from the Greek name of the sun-god Helios.

Secondly, Elio and Helios share more than an etymological connection and the comparison of Elio to Helios can be articulated in two distinct ways: the aesthetic comparison, and that Elio possesses some of the qualities Helios is known for. Jones’ work repeatedly associates Elio with sunlight and golden hues, aspects which are exemplified in the 1765 Neoclassical painting Helios as the Personification of Midday by Anton Raphael Mengs. (I vaguely remember translating a couple passages from a large art book written in German when I was studying Neoclassical art.)

This work is considered an unusual depiction of Helios. Mengs uses a motif of the glowing arrow which is interpreted by François-Xavier Fabre as a symbol of the midday heat and the sun's rays which penetrate and give light to the earth. The representation of the sun in this way is considered unusual for the 18th century because it goes against Classical and Baroque iconography which portrays Helios riding a chariot. Ironically, Jones references this. Elio proclaims his fondness for films, particularly the chariot race from Ben Hur. Elio, like Mengs’ depiction of Helios, lacks a chariot but retains his beauty and powers.

As for Elio possessing some of the qualities of Helios, the god is often referred to as “all seeing” or “Zeus’s eye.” Similarly, Elio has the ability to anticipate problems and see what humans do not, but not because he’s a god, but because he’s a servant. However, this is where his self governing comes into play when he uses his observations to take action beyond any directives he has been given. His physical strength, like Helios, exceeds that of humans. Elio himself says, “my utmost is more than twice that of a born-human” (Jones, 211).

Thirdly, Elio’s self awareness allows him to use both his powers of observation and superior physical strength independent from humans. He does not always wait to be told how to use his power; he wields it. Not only does he play a part equal to that of humans in Jones’ plot, he specifically controls the fates of certain human characters. For example, he doesn’t always utilize his speed when he’s at the beck and call of his master, Sempitern. He makes choices not to fully comply with the demands made of him.

My fourth point, which I can’t quite articulate well, is that the most significant dynamic of this comparison is the body of Elio and how his physicality interacts with his autonomy. Elio acts as an individual who contributes to a wider mythology just as Helios does. Yet, while Elio is superior to humans in many ways, his quasi-humanity allows him to act in ways which align with Helios’ qualities.

For example, Elio makes personal choices and exhibits emotions not necessary for him, as an android, to function. He confesses a desire to harm another android out of annoyance where a passionate opinion would not be expected from an android. This human failing is indicative of the same autonomy which allows him to act as Helios does. Elio has been constructed as a superhuman body in terms of his abilities, however, the human qualities which contribute to his Helios-like powers undermine his intended purpose.

Ultimately, Elio ascends the usefulness of his “owned” body by acting independently from the humans who utilize him. His human qualities make him vulnerable and therefore he loses some of his godlike powers. Elio, while only an assistant to his human owners, utilizes his own physical and mental powers to maintain his autonomy. Conversely, his god-like qualities make Elio more human rather than affirming his android identity.

This is a very complex subject and I don’t really know where I’m going with it and have possibly made some suppositional errors. TL;DR: What I do know is that Elio presents a paradox: being idealized for his abilities allows him to be autonomous while being autonomous disrupts the servitude of his body.

I am in the process of determining what lens I will use to analyze Elio’s experience and functionality of being an android. I’m thinking about using Alan Turning’s 1950 work Computing Machinery and Intelligence. I’m still navigating the literary theory aspect, or indeed philosophical aspect, of this area of study.

This brings me to something I came across later that relates to Elio and ATOTC.

SPOILERS AHEAD

The closest depiction of an android that I’ve seen to Elio other than Data is from a terrible and somewhat forgotten science fiction film from 1989. “Byron”, (played by pre-Jurassic Park-fame Bob Peck) the android in the painfully awful film Slipstream comes very close to Elio in terms of tone, attitude, and characterization. Despite the embarrassingly bad script and dialogue, Peck does a bang-up job, seemingly acting in a wonderful film running parallel to the absolute trash his co-stars were apparently “acting” in. Yes, I rewatched this film just to write this analysis. (The secondhand embarrassment is off the charts and I had it playing at a low volume most of the time Byron was not on the screen.)

When you first see Byron he’s acting out autonomy but you’re not aware he’s an android. The audience is told he’s an escaped fugitive, a murderer, and that’s all we know for over half the film. Yet there are several clues. When you first see him he’s running over rugged terrain in a suit which was kind of a big hint but nothing makes sense in this film so I just thought that it was a weird costume choice. Then he’s literally shot with a grappling hook. He doesn’t seem to be in pain even though he’s shocked by it, and then is pulled down by a bounty hunter named Tasker (Mark Hamill) and hits the ground from a great height and doesn’t die. He just quotes what I think is John Gillespie Magee, Jr.’s "High Flight”: “I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth….and touched the face of God.” Next time you see him, he’s in handcuffs, looking super depressed, and apparently not bleeding out from the now absent grapple hook that’s gone through his forearm.

He eventually quotes Lord Byron to cryptically indicate his name which is lost on Bill Paxton’s character, Matt. “Byron” essentially means cowshed. It’s ironic because Byron the android is in many ways a receptacle of knowledge. Matt even says sarcastically, “Well aren’t you a walking storeroom of information,” and Byron responds cheerfully, “Yes.”

Byron breaks out of his handcuffs saying they’d “become rather superfluous.” You think he’s just showing off but once you know he’s an android you know he’s just honest all the time. He then heals a blind child and paraphrases Psalm 127:3. Matt says, “I didn’t know you were a healer.” Apparently Byron can perform cataract surgery in less than five minutes. Along their journey together (Bill is set on collecting the bounty on Byron’s head before Tasker can catch up) they camp out. Byron sleeps with his eyes open. (Even if he is an android wouldn’t his eyes need to be “cleaned” in the same way humans need to close our eyes and blink?) Matt wakes up to find Byron seemingly strangling him. “I was feeling your carotid pulse,” he explains. “I was just checking for arrhythmia and episodes of ventricular tachycardia.” At this point you realize he’s not so much a spiritual healer as a doctor who philosophizes a lot.

Byron’s miraculous behavior and pontificating is called into question by a nomadic spiritual community which has been torn apart by an attack on their village. As he lays dying, Ben Kingsley’s character calls Byron a “false prophet” but his faith in this stranger is somewhat restored when he says, “all that will be left of me is bits of gold in the sand. You have a soul, do not abandon it in death.”

Another character says, “The stranger is no mortal man.” Therefore it is clear that Byron likely isn’t human. We don’t find out he’s an android until 46 minutes into the film. Once that’s cleared up, other concepts arise in the script. While not well executed, they are really interesting; emotion both positive and negative, free will, perfection, A.I. slavery, and murder are all addressed throughout the second half of the film. Byron says he doesn’t understand “hate” in context of his “master” to whom he was nurse, brother, father, mentor, and friend, but he admits he was more of a slave than anything else.

The character Ariel takes an interest in him for a variety of reasons, especially romantically. In one very evocative moment we see Byron in a museum exhibit, a false garden of Eden, full of fake vegetation and taxidermies, full body mounts. So we’ve got an android having an Adam experience. Whether or not he experiences “original sin” with Ariel or if he’s “fully functional” is never acknowledged. Although one woman says, “Amanda slept with a robot?!” (who the f**k is Amanda?!) and a man says to another sitting next to him, “I hear they’re rather mechanical in the saddle.”

Byron is less concerned with consummation and more excited about love, sleep, and dreaming. When he is with Ariel he doesn’t quite know how to act in terms of sexual play and then apologizes: “I’m not accustomed to being loved.” We see him closing his eyes when he’s cuddled up with Ariel; the next day he is certainly very pleased that he fell asleep with his eyes closed and had a dream.

In terms of his servitude and autonomy they did not spend an adequate portion of the exposition on it. Matt has a change of heart and says instead of collecting the bounty, he’ll set him free as it’s briefly revealed that Byron killed his “master” upon the man’s request. Naturally, this brings up a lot of confusing feelings for Byron. “Is this what it’s like to be human? I don’t think I’m up to it,” he says. “Can I be trusted with human feelings?” And in a way he cannot. Ariel is brutally shot by Tasker.

Byron is angered over Ariel’s death and follows the bounty hunter to his ship. Instead of taking him in to collect a reward, Tasker tries to run him down with the glider plane. Byron manages to get himself caught in the engine and starts to strangle his assailant. Tasker quotes “touched the face of god” which brings Byron to his senses and he stops killing Luke Skywalker Tasker and tries to save the plane. It looks like he’s going to hot-wire it but then uses the wires like reins (chariot imagery???). They crash into the side of a mountain slope. Tasker dies but Byron survives. Apparently he’s basically indestructible and somewhat godlike. “I’m too dangerous to be human,” Byron tells Matt. In the end, he goes off in search of the place he’d been dreaming about.

Although in terms of physical appearance the two androids are vastly different, they have so much in common. Here are some basic concepts.

Character: Both are stoic, formal, intelligent, honest

Indestructible: Byron is injured with a grappling hook, takes a major fall of about 20 or 30 feet without a scratch: he is somewhat godlike or slave-like, meant to withstand destruction and pain. Elio is less indestructible but easily repaired.

Healer: Byron has the skills to heal people with basic surgery. Elio doesn’t take his own injuries seriously and experiences pain for the first time (Jones, 218-9).

Both think they deserve to be punished: Elio states this quite clearly (Jones, 276) and Byron says the same thing about himself with resigned passivity.

Complex relationship with “human emotions”: Both come to terms with violence, anger, and love.

Autonomy: At the end of the film Byron goes off on his own to look for a promised land. Elio decides his own fate by deciding to accompany the children of the story, stating that Vivian is a “particular favorite” of his (278).

Dreaming and stories: Byron is searching for a place, “where I think I belong,” he says, which is a place he often thinks and dreams about. Dreaming is considered to be a human attribute, a non-essential bi-product to consciousness. Elio enjoys stories and old films (Jones, 180), similarly “human” in nature.

(Peck, seen here waiting for Bill Paxton to learn how to act. Sorry, I’m salty.)

Disclaimer: This is a work in progress! This project is an intersection of niche subjects that interest no one but myself.

Anyway, my point is (yes, I did have a point...or rather several) was that if anyone should adapt A Tale of Time City, Byron from Slipstream is the best example of how Elio should be portrayed in terms of characterization. I feel that Slipstream should have been centered around Byron. The film was kind of like, just about the “we’re both fighting over the bounty of this fugitive” sorta thing. It would have made more sense to focus on Byron as he is arguably the most interesting character and represents many of the conflicts within the story. I would like to combine my research on ATOTC and Slipstream one day. In any case, this is a good start.

Works Cited (WIP)

Jones, Diana W. A Tale of Time City: Knopf, 1987. Print. Perkowitz, Sidney. Digital People: From Bionic Humans to Androids. Washington, D.C: Joseph Henry Press, 2004. Print.

Roettgen, Steffi, and Anton R. Mengs. Anton Raphael Mengs: 1728-1779 Part 2. München: Hirmer, 1999. Print.

Turing, A. M. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Mind, vol. 59, no. 236, 1950, pp. 433–460. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2251299. Wilson, Eric. The Melancholy Android: On the Psychology of Sacred Machines. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2006. Print

35 notes · View notes

macgyvertape · 3 years

Text

Castlevania kinda had a pacing problem

spoilers for all of Netflix’s Castlevania. I haven’t seen much analysis for the show on tumblr, im honestly curious if discussions I had with irl friends mirror what fandom talks about

tldr: Castlevania seems inconsistently paced from season to season, and within season as well, leads to a lot of characters motivations feeling unclear so characters repeatedly explain why they are doing something while they’re doing it

overview of the seasons:

S1 I know somewhat of a test for Netflix but it has good main trio character establishment and sets the scale of the conflict

s2: pretty complete emotional arc for most characters and resolves the plot of killing Dracula while setting up additional characters to continue the story. Isaac, Hector, Carmilla all established with the audience as characters whose story would continue

honestly I would bet this is the most popular season

S3: s2 did a bit of worldbuilding, but this season really fleshed out the world with both a wide range of locations and exploring the question of “what now, Dracula is dead but vampires and night creatures remain”.

There were basically 4 plot threads: 1) Sypha/Trevor investigating the cult & Saint Germain; 2) Hector & Carmilla (also introducing Lenore, Striga, Morana); 3) Isaac’s journey of revenge & self discovery; 4) Alucard sits around the castle and is betrayed.

overall characters roughly feel like they are in the same place if not worse. A big criticism I saw at the time, which hold up after rewatching this before s4 is nothing felt resolved for the main characters

I would say this season is where the pacing issues start to become apparent, juggling 4 plot threads that lack a central theme or even mutual character connection. If there was a central theme it would be “humans are awful to each other”. The Judge doing Hot Fuzz style murders, The Wizard in the tower, Sumi & Taka

S4: it starts with the same 4 plot threads, though upfront it is made clear that the plot theme is “people are trying to resurrect Dracula”, and the progression of the plot works to resolve unrelated plot threads until the main trio reunites for the boss fights. To me and my friends watching it was obvious that the show would reunite the main trio, the question was how and how far into the run time.

Season 4 is why I’m writing this essay, for the past 2 days I’ve been like, yeah that character sure explained their motives repeatedly maybe with some philosophical discussion, but it’s just such a weird place considering where they were in s3

Alucard’s arc:

Where he was left in season 3, it was after killing people he had trusted in self defense and impaling their corpses. It was clearly meant to parallel Dracula’s dislike of humanity. However overall his character lacked a proactive motivating force.

Honestly the most interesting thing I found in s3 was Alucard clearly misses Sypha and Trevor, however they don’t miss him or refer to him

One reason Sumi & Taka betray Alucard is for the secrets and power of Castlevania. After inviting the village including St Germain who Alucard was warned of into the Castle, Alucard makes 0 effort to secure anything, not even his personal childhood room. Guess he really learned nothing

Discussing St Germain, I think it’s funny that they had a several minute flashback sequence for his lost girlfriend (who doesn’t have a name or a voice actor), to remind the viewer of who he is, and to justify how he’s suddenly back and down for murder.

In s4 there is the call to help the village, and the walk back to the castle is a montage of Alucard opening up to Greta and becoming friendly literally overnight. He laughs off the impaling, and basically all of the darker things he went through in season 3, which has me asking what was the point of his season 3 arc then?

Honestly writing this I realize the biggest parallel he has with Dracula is the call to action from a bold woman with a dramatic entrance speech which then leads to a romance

Isaac’s arc:

in s3, with all the other themes of “humanity sucks” I was always unsure if the townspeople were meant to appear irrational while attacking a larger force instead of letting him pass through an leave, or him not caring about how he’s provoking them is meant to show his insanity

ive seen the discussion elsewhere, curious about the Discourse here

is s4 Isaac has the whole monologue about how he now has agency but him gaining that agency was his s3 arc. In s4 he’s already at the point of accepting it. By the end of s4 he’s one of those who comes the furthest from his first character appearance to his last.

s4e5 where of Isaac attacking Carmilla in Isaac’s 2nd appearance had him resolving like 4 plot threads at once (Carmilla, Striga& Morana, Hector, and Isaac himself).

but i do wonder if Trevor, Sypha, or Alucard even know any of these people exist. I think not

I was honestly confused if I missed a scene from his dialogue about building something and what is inherent nature, to “My plan has evolved, my plan is now conquest” because he only conquests the one castle and the rest is left unclear

Upon rewatch the connection there is “killing [the wizard] felt just ... I liked that feeling”, so the show says that Isaac in the end attacked Carmilla for the sake of justice and not revenge.

Isaac in his last conversation expresses the theme of s4 “build something new on these old bones, where people can live for the future”

however, his arc honestly feel scenes were cut, and then dialogue was written around it. He’s the only living character who doesn’t show up in the epilogue and the sentient night creature “what if I could empty hell” dialogue was some of the most interesting worldbuilding. Night creatures with sentience and possibility of regaining memories!!!!

The Council of Sisters & Hector’s arc:

oh I’ve already seen s4 discourse about Lenore/Hector while searching for character analysis, a chunk of it seems to be rationalizing the absolute difference between how s3 ended with these characters and s4. It was extremely confusing for me and my friends; wondering if 1) was Hector showing more emotional intelligence than before and putting on a facade to cover up hatred? Nope 2) did more time pass than 6 weeks for there to be some kind stockholm syndrome? No, Hector seems fine to let Lenore kill herself

The slave control ring: played up in the climax of s3 and easily solved s4. s3 Lenore says if he tries to harm them, flee, or take it off it would cause crippling pain, in s4 Hector just easily cuts off his own finger.

for a control ring that they take time to show a version being on the Rebus, it doesn’t do much controlling of Hector

also guess the definition of “do harm” just refers to direct action

Lenore in s4: has no purpose in conquest, has that useless remarked on by multiple characters, is imprisoned, then kills herself after a genre aware philosophical discussion. This essay is long enough, but what the fuck happened to this character who ended s3 clearly physically and sexually abusive? Seriously this was one of the biggest writing changes to the point where she was treating Hector as an equal. Compare her last words in s3 “shh the real people [vampires] are talking”. The change in the relationship is actually something I would have taken being shown, or atleast told of what exactly caused this change other than the vague “you adopted him”

Striga&Morana get the best arc of the Council. 3 scenes: the tent argument, Daybreak armor fight & argument resolution, declaration of feelings and turning away. You could argue Castlevania is plot to be connective tissue between fight scenes, but for all the dialogue about human resistance in different seasons it was nice to see it. Overall the scenes were short but had a lot of showing what their relationship is not just telling,

unlike Carmilla. For as much hyping up as they did with her, and as much power as she had, she only appeared in 2 episodes and no other group except Isaac knew about her military conquest.

the map scene where she states her motive for conquest of wanting to take things from old men is the key example of how characterization became tell not show. How interesting was that monologue compared to the past seasons flashback to her murmuring the old vampire lord, or all her repeated insults of men/man-children that shows how she judges people??

That monologue had to carry the weight of justifying the Sisterhood bonds falling apart as well as why her motivation changed from building a human pen from Styria to Braila to world conquest. I think it did so poorly

Sypha & Trevor

really Sypha & Trevor have the main plot in the show. I checked and post season 1 the only episode they don’t appear in is s4e6, which is entirely devoted to the Isaac, Hector, and Council of Sisterhood arc. Their partnership and adventures are the main plot of the show.

Its easy to see what Trevor’s arc was over the show: coming to peace with the deaths of his family, taking up the mantle of being a Belmont, and starting a new family with Sypha.

With Sypha I actually had to scroll through tv tropes for what is her character arc, and I guess hers is disillusionment from adventure and life outside the speakers? My friends joke that Sypha’s magic is what the plot demands to look cool in a fight, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Tangent: the ending of their arc was easy to guess: as soon as Trevor went to fight the final boss alone I literally said “oh i bet Sypha’s pregnant, Trevor’s doing a heroic sacrifice, theyll use the unexplained magical dagger mcguffin, and 60/40 odds that he goes through an infinite corridor to outright come back vs just the implication he might come back”

I guess my final thought of the show, was overall the SUPER Final Boss got my by surprise. It was a good twist I enjoyed. Not that Death appeared, I had guessed that from the heavy foreshadowing, but I was surprised by who it was, because I had thought I thought the characters involved feeling shoehorned into the plot was just more bad writing. The Alchemist who put St Germain on the path or murder for no discernible motive for helping? Sure gotta move the plot along. New Dracula court member Varney who has a whole introduction with almost every character he meets and banter about his smell? Sure thats basically how all characters talk with a snarky and acerbic voice.

#Castlevania #castlevania spoilers #castlevania meta #castlevania season four #overall i enjoyed the show #id love to find some discussion of the show #this wound up being more of a recap than a persuasive essay #but i think my tldr thesis statement stands

30 notes · View notes

fectless · 3 years

Text

(This is technically in response to the post right below this one, as world building totally counts for it, right?)

Anywho, more fandom thoughts, but for BLEACH this time. I recently started rewatching the anime again for the nth time as part of my language practice (and having the Japanese subtitles on while watching it in Japanese is an experience) and reached that episode where Aizen and co. get rescued by Menos Grande after declaring their intentions to Soul Society. And then a few things hit me.

The first: Rukia says, the first time Ichigo sees her sending someone on via Soul Burial, that one neither feels hunger nor gets sick in Soul Society. We know that this is false for a few reasons.

Those who can become shinigami definitely need to eat and all souls need water which implies that they can suffer from thirst (and perhaps heat exhaustion).

Captain Ukitake is suffering from an unknown disease that makes him literally cough out his lungs. I’ve read something about it being a defect in the make up of his soul that is only not killing him because of the pact with the Soul King’s arm, but I cannot recall if this was canon or fanon (as the Blood War arc was just like that). If so, does this mean that sickness does occur in Soul Society, but so rarely as to not be mentioned? Or does it occur more in the outer districts? Why does it occur?

Hisana died from a sickness as well. Yes, it’s stated to be exhaustion, but I feel like that doesn’t make sense? Like, the flashback in the anime has her abandoning Rukia after she collapses while carrying her around. And she collapses later when she regrets this and goes to look for her sister. And then she dies.

Seriously, why does it occur? It’s weird. And it cannot be an Aizen thing as I’m pretty sure Aizen is younger than Ukitake. Is it because of what happened to the soul king? Does it have something to do with when people get sent on (like if they were close to being a hollow)? Is it because they died while sick? Is it because of their resolve?

...Do we never see sick souls in Soul Society other than them because they usually just. Die pretty soon after arriving?

And if spiritual power leaking is what causes spiritual pressure, and the “vents” can be closed... do people in the districts sometimes close them by mistake and then blow up? Is spontaneous combustion a thing in the afterlife?

The second: I’m pretty sure “Ichirin no Hana” is a love song that Byakuya is singing to Hisana’s memory.

Someone has probably stated this before, but the lyrics of the song literally say how some one, a “single flower,” is precious and can’t be replaced. How that flower bloomed despite being stuck somewhere dark and how they looked lovely but like they were about to wither away. And that the singer would accept all of their pain if only that person would smile and stay with them...

The title of the song also matches the title of the chapter in which Byakuya reveals to Rukia the secrets he’d been keeping from her about Hisana. He uses the same words, “ichirin no hana” to describe the season in which she died

Literally his whole dilema during this arc, the entire way he interacted with Rukia up to this point, was that he was conflicted between his sense of duty (to his parents, his wife and keeping his word) and his feelings for his beloved Hisana. Rukia’s physical resemblance to her sister is almost uncanny and the lie she is told when she asks why she was adopted was, “You look like Byakuya’s late wife.” How much must he have hated that? A person whom he had sworn to protect that, had she arrived two years earlier might have saved his wife’s (after)life? A person that looks just like his beloved, who reminds him of her every time he sees her (for those first 50 years), but is not and never will be Hisana. And then. To know that she’s going to be executed for crimes, that she felt she could not rely upon him enough to even let him know she’d encountered trouble in the human world when he’s been doing his best to ensure she’s safe (because that is one of the few reasonable explanations for why Rukia hadn’t been promoted yet, and then was promoted during the 3 year gap)? To see her stripped of her rank, her strength even (with that collar and the stone of the prison tower). To see a small form who so resembles his beloved all listless and soon to die, wearing a white yukata like his wife had in her last days...

Watching it again made me feel things, okay? Like yeah, it seems like it’s a stupid dilema from some perspectives. Especially considering Central 46 had a run in with Aizen by then, but. Byakuya was raised in the Seireitei. He was raised knowing that his life was the Seireitei’s tool. That his duty, his reason for existing was for the sake of his family’s honor, so he must be composed, must act as the family and Soul Society bid him. That’s some mighty powerful brainwashing/indoctrination right there. And he broke it once already to marry some nobody from the slums. He did something not only against the norms, but something selfish. Maybe if she’d had high spiritual power this would have been accepted, but she was sickly and likely did not. He went against the clan elders who had probably instilled obedience in him since birth and was afraid of doing it again.

(And if you count the filler arcs, you can bet that they held that one Kuchiki who went traitor against him too. Like: “he married that Hisana girl against our orders? What next? Will he betray Soul Society too?”)

And maybe I’m making a bigger deal out of his upbringing than I need to. Maybe it wasn’t really like this. But I feel like it really was. (Moreso with the filler arcs and what I’ve heard of the light novels.)

Also, this song and the way that the opening animation fit together really solidifies the whole “Ichigo and Rukia were always meant to have a tragic romance” vibe that I kept getting the first time I encountered this series.

The third: Rukia was likely younger than six months (physically) when she was abandoned, but I’m pretty sure that she was older than three months when she and Hisana died.

Her blanket was pink in the flashback.

Sure, the above might not seem to have much significance but it’s been proven in canon that clothes are part of oneself. I reblogged a post a while ago that went into detail, but to sum it up, clothes are part of your self image and your self image determines a bit about what you look like when you die.

Babies are usually no longer swaddled by the time they’re six months old, and some places recommend that you stop by the end of their second month.

Babies have pretty bad vision when they’re born. They take four to six months to reliably track objects in motion and use binocular vision decently. They take about four months to see across a room, and about two months to see farther than maybe 30 cm away. And around the three month mark, they start having decent color vision. Around then is when babies supposedly start showing color preference.

Babies tend to have poor long term memory. (To be fair, they’ve got a lot going on compared to being in the womb and sensory overload sucks.) Their memory by the age of six months is only a few weeks. Two months old had a memory span of a few days.

If she’s been consistently wrapped in a pink blanket, then by the time she’s old enough to see color, she would be old enough to remember what color her blanket usually is— or if it was a different color that particular day.

The fourth: when Gin raises his spiritual pressure on Aizen’s orders, Chad remains standing. This raised a bunch of questions as Gin is stronger than Yammy (to the best of my memory).

Chad remained standing. Yes, his whole fight with Captain Kyouraku was about his resolve and how he would stand by his friends and fight for their safety/ideals but. Like. Earlier that year, his spiritual strength was on par with Yuzu. He’d been friends with Ichigo for years which was why he was even that strong. He’d been in a Hollow attack maybe three times before Rukia was arrested and could only barely see them the time Ishida pulled a stupid and used Hollow Bait. Sure, he has experience fighting and he’d trained under Yoruichi, but it feels sus considering how the others fared.

Orihime fell to her knees pretty quickly after Gin turned up the pressure. She’d also fought against high-ranking shinigami at that point, and trained under Yoruichi, and fought off Hollow (alone even! And she was the reason why Sora moved on, despite Ichigo’s Blade purifying him) before. And yet... It could just be a lack of resolve, as that had come up in earlier chapters but it doesn’t feel right.

Ishida is excused from this due to circumstances.

Tatsuki has been friends with him for ages. Sure, it seems like they weren’t as close after his Mom’s passing, but by then they’d already known each other for quite some time. I’m pretty sure that they were hanging out semi-regularly through junior high/middle school, at which point he got close with Chad and she got close with Orihime. She also has experience fighting (admittedly in martial arts rather than the street fights Ichigo and Chad get dragged into). She experienced at least one hollow attack during Ishida’s Stupid Day. But she collapses as soon as Yammy shows up? That feels off.

In contrast, Ganju was struggling about the same amount. He was born to a noble family— who are known to typically have decently high spiritual power, like his older brother Kaien and his cousin/uncle Issin. He was raised in the Rukongai, meaning he likely came across Hollow attacks. (And those definitely occur.)

Makes me wonder things about Karin’s strength. Like, she managed to escape from the hollow who attacked their house to run for Ichigo’s help (manga) or lived long enough while alone with it that Ichigo and Rukia could come save her (anime), both of which are quite impressive for an eleven year old. She also kept up with Hitsugaya when they played soccer and he’s a captain. Based on Ichigo’s experience, it’s likely that she too will become stronger as she grows up. And does she have an inner hollow too, or is that Ichigo only? If White was simply a parasite and decided to stick to Ichigo I could accept it. But as a hollow Ichigo is a Vast Lorde, and hollows of that level can split into parts (like Starrk and Lilynette).

Does Yuzu not really have any spiritual strength because she inherited more of the Quincy genes from her mom and the hollow genes she inherited don’t balance out that same way it does in her siblings...? Food for thought.

TLDR: how and why is sickness as thing in Soul Society? Byakuya listens to rock music and I’m p. sure the third opening song is him angsting over his wife’s death; it also gave me strong feelings about how he was prolly brainwashed growing up so his angst over Rukia’s fate is not actually stupid. I continue to have IchiRuki feels. Rukia and Hisana died when Rukia was about 3 months old. And I am more confused now about how spiritual power works than I was before I started rewatching the anime for language practice. Also, more questions have arisen about hollows.

#bleach meta #bleach anime #remind me to look into Japanese textiles and dyes during Meiji era #maybe I should have split this into multiple posts...#long post #wish I knew how read mores can be put in on mobile #this is more than 3 sentences #bleach

15 notes · View notes

skamamoroma · 3 years

Text

BECAUSE I CAN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS SHOW UNTIL I WRITE ALL THIS DOWN: “I Told Sunset About You” - each other’s flaws, rivals and how the ending is so god damn hopeful and full circle it keeps making me cry etc.

Ever since I finished ITSAY, I’ve wanted to write a post about the theme of rivalry verses the fact that, in the end, Oh and Teh teach the other and give the other things they miss from their lives and how this story is quite possibly top of the list when it comes to the most romantic, most meaningful, most stunning example of that. I don’t think I’ll ever be over it or able to summarise how much emotion and lingering thought it leaves you with because it’s just humanity at its most lovely. The entire last sequence was something I rewatched the other night and it had me sobbing. I’m still just so stunned at how all of these little threads are tied together, how BOTH get what they need and have the most beautiful cyclical but developed stories and it ends in so much emotion for them both even outside of each other. AND THE GOD DAMN SCORE OVER THE END SCENE KEEPS POPPING UP ON MY PLAYLIST AND MAKING ME CRY WHEN I LEAST EXPECT IT.

So, I love that the show begins with the idea that Teh is chasing his dream. He’s in his audition making it happen and still, he thinks of Oh-aew and includes him as the reason he wants to succeed. We get their backstory and the idea that Teh’s passion for acting and especially playing Yongjian is wrapped up not only in his wish to pursue that career but also in proving a point to his mum and brother. He sees a chance to impress and be something because, as he said, he doesn’t see anything else in himself that could make them proud. Teh’s dream, triggered by Yongjian - the role - is kind of all encompassing with THAT Uni and THAT dream. It’s all wrapped up in one. It’s clearly part of the reason that Chinese is something he has this focus for and he comes back to it, even uses it to learn.

The fact that, as kids, they part on such bad terms because both effectively realised they wanted the same dream, both felt they each couldn’t have it at the same time, they were stubborn and selfish and gate keeping. Teh felt threatened and as if his unique selling point and passion was being stolen and Oh felt impassioned for once but then betrayed by a friend he thought would support him but didn’t stop to consider how effectively stepping into the one role Teh dreamed of as a kid could be a sore spot. It was all so childish and petty but when we see them as young men, they’re still those same people. They haven’t changed all too much and so we get to see their growth side by side, for good or bad.

The use of RIVALS as the first Chinese word, the word Teh writes on his test paper and the foundation of what they think they are to each other becomes so meaningful as they grow and we only see the growth through their flaws from that point onwards.

Teh’s flaws being in terms of his emotional growth and ability to be comfortable in his own skin and express himself and Oh’s in his finding drive, passion, focus and learning to believe in and apply himself. The other excels in the area that the other has flaws. Oh is so in tune with him emotions; he’s sure, confident, expressive, honest, open and affectionate. Teh is so driven and able to apply himself and never gives up, knowing he can do it that he’s a force to be reckoned with and even a little arrogant with it.

For me, THE most beautiful thing about this story is how both of them learn that lesson from the other and how the process is so detailed and wrapped up in so many other facets of the show. It’s so god damn stunning to watch each of them help the other and then learn/grow so that when they both stand at the sunset, they are different people.

Teh’s impact on Oh is significant. It’s all wrapped up in Ke Yi… he teaches Oh that he CAN DO IT. He encourages by providing his books, he tutors, he teaches so that Oh can understand, he pushes him to focus, he gives advice on how he can improve, he wakes up at 4am to encourage Oh to study… he makes him the idioms book, he never stops offering guidance and when he feels that he’s the reason all of Oh’s hard work has been for nothing, he gives up his spot to Oh. The fact that Oh goes very serious when they first have a tutoring session and asks Teh seriously - help me - has such a profound impact on Teh and his self worth, you can see how him being able to help makes him feel good. They are no longer rivals - Teh is helping him in every way he knows how and will not let Oh fail.

On the cliff, the conversation they have is so unique. I love the way that Oh says ‘never stop competing with me’. He knows the impact Teh has had on him and how good Teh’s influence is on him. He knows that his friendship with Teh has helped him see he CAN do it and has given him a boost. The fact that after RIVALS, Oh recognises that that might not be such a bad thing if competition can help you find your focus and can help you develop!

The fact that Oh makes his vow always makes me a bit misty eyed because he’s not being lazy anymore, he’s not sitting back. He’s being so active in his dreams and the belief in himself and he tells himself that he WILL succeed and be able to tell the sunset he did it. Him asking Teh to run alongside him is just… EMOTIONS… because Teh is the one he knows he needs by him.

And we see why. Because half way up the hill during their rehearsal, Oh stops and has a moment of wanting to give up and Teh doesn’t let him. He tells him they can sit for a while but they mustn’t give up… and you can see Oh thinking about it, looking at Teh and then deciding he has to carry on. Teh even helps to push him up the hill, always the encouragement.

And in the end, Teh is there by his side, doesn’t need to push Oh because he has learned and towards the end, Oh even overtakes Teh as they run. I remember in the documentary, Boss the director even telling BK and PP to run in a specific order too so I’m sure this was intentional. Again, THIS SHOW.

The fact that Oh gets to the cliff and realises the sunset isn’t visible and it’s TEH who tells him that a Uni student wouldn’t give up, that they’re not done yet and it’s that last little gentle push with the words (cue me crying on the floor) “That’s right. Still a long way”. THE MEANING BEHIND THOSE WORDS. You can see that Oh feels heartbroken for Teh not getting his dream but the fact that Teh has come so far that he can encourage in that way, can recognise his own happiness for Oh’s achievements because he loves him so much. He is able to swallow his own disappointment and pain of not quite getting his dream because he’s proud of his friend and Oh’s feelings come before any of that RIVALRY. Talk about full circle.

And then you have Oh’s influence on Teh and it’s monumental. Teh’s entire arc is his journey towards feeling comfortable in his own skin, to know himself, to like himself and to feel he knows who he is. Oh doesn’t need this. Oh is so endlessly sure of himself in the loveliest way and when he’s not, he’s not frightened to be honest and open and wears his heart on his sleeve. We saw how easily he loved Teh and showed it. As they get closer, the way Oh KNOWS Teh is stunning. He may not always be able to read his thoughts but he knows how to handle Teh when he’s struggling. The amount of moments when Teh is close to impossible to understand, Oh watches him, listens, is so attentive and then on so many occasions, tells Teh he can talk to him and that there will be no judgement. Oh is so gentle with him, so understanding and so encouraging to use Teh’s tells or his quirks to try to get him to open up. He’ll allow him the time and space to work himself out. The beach scene is so beautiful for that because there’s Oh being all lit up that Teh is there and Teh just has no idea where to put himself, how to behave or what to say but only knows he wants to be near Oh. The words Oh tells him, to just BE and do what he wants have such an impact because Teh changes in an instant to being more relaxed. AND I CANNOT EVEN WRITE ABOUT THE FACT THAT THESE TWO IDEAS COME TOGETHER IN THE ‘MALE PROTAGONIST’ SCENE… do not. Because that’s Oh trying to speak Teh’s language to try to help him with his feelings and trying to work out their emotions and it’s Teh leaning into the constant wish to help Oh (even if he uses it as an emotional crutch or a safe space when he’s all in his feelings!). The way that Oh is so affectionate and loving and ALWAYS first to speak is the kind of ‘all in’ someone like Teh needs. Oh KNOWS Teh has feelings for him and doesn’t ask DO YOU, he asks HOW LONG. He’s so patient on the boat allowing Teh the silence and then returning to sit down and give Teh the time to try to sort himself out and SAY SOMETHING. Teh is the kind of person who says I love you in weird ways and who expresses his affection through unusual means and Oh knows it - the “message me when you’re home”, “I’ll get up at 4am to tutor you”, “yeah boys whatever, I’m not taking the time to make you flashcards, who’d do that”, a handmade book of chinese idioms made pretty with pictures and flowers - the list goes on...

My favourite moment to show how in tune Oh is with Teh’s inability to tackle his own emotion is after their first kiss. That entire scene, Teh does his usual and collapses with his head on Oh’s shoulder. He can’t process his emotions but Oh lifts his head and pushes his hair back… then Teh distracts from his feelings by playing with the hole in Oh’s vest and Oh takes his hands and puts them on his own face...then Teh jokes by playing fighting and Oh takes Teh’s arms and puts them on his shoulders. It’s a scene ENTIRELY speaking in touch because they don’t speak at all for that whole moment but the words are all there and the subtext is overwhelming. He guides and is just so sweet with Teh in helping him work out how to express himself. The fact that he even resorts to using Chinese on instagram to try to get through to Teh when he’s going through it is so meaningful.

It’s what makes the way Teh behaves in the end sequence SO meaningful. He’s so relaxed, comfortable and chill. His looks are sure, his eyes aren’t scared anymore and he’s there FOR Oh. He’s not wrapped up in his own head, he’s so attentive towards Oh - running with him, buying him a coconut, helping him pack his bag, encouraging him to the Cape when the sunset doesn’t quite appear… and he’s playful. His blowing Oh’s face and walking backwards with the coconut and making silly faces - they’re all Oh moves and Teh’s only able to be this way BECAUSE Oh has been so kind to him and has taught him how to be.

The sunset shot will always make me cry. That moment Teh just stands and looks at the sunset and sighs and ends up crying is so unbelievably moving - I have no words, honestly. It’s his peace and comfort. He looks like he’s eventually able to breathe and the way he just allows himself to cry and FEEL. God, it’s blissful. I think that shot is what keeps haunting me in the best way because it’s so utterly gorgeous and emotional. The way Oh walks towards him and the way he LOOKS at Teh even though he can’t see.

“You came, finally”

“Well, I had to take care of a new uni student”

THE FULL CIRCLE FEELING OF THOSE TWO STATEMENTS. Teh is speaking first, being forward and knowing what he wants to do and Oh has succeeded in his dream. Those two moments they touch the other’s arm to say ‘it’s ok’ because they just CARE. There is no semblance of rivalry left, just pride and/or emotion in where the other has ended up.

The journey from rivals to finding value in that, finding friendship again and learning from the other and falling in love along the way is just made so overwhelmingly meaningful and powerful because of the way each step is framed, how HOPEFUL the ending is because even without the romantic element, it’s so beautiful. Oh being his typically brave self asks first about them but the fact that he says himself that he’s ok to not have anything more other than Teh in his life is so lovely but the fact Teh chooses to be the one to speak first and to be brave himself and shows how much he has learned by asking for more is just the most perfect ending. AND I AM STILL NOT OVER IT ALL, CAN YOU TELL.

#itsay #I told sunset about you #itsay thoughts #WHY CAN THIS SHOW NOT LEAVE ME ALONE

38 notes · View notes

takaraphoenix · 4 years

Note

*chanting* Danny Phantom, Danny Phantom, Danny---

Let me set the stage. The year is 2014, a friend of mine has successfully not just convinced me to watch this cartoon but also introduced me to the baffling concept that wait in this fandom, selfcest exists and is like vaguely popular? I was delighted!

So this story took off after 02x06 Identity Crisis, when Danny’s ghost and human side were split in canon. Phantom started to develop more of an on personality in Danny’s mind, a comforting presence, but they were now two souls trapped in one body. And, here’s where my memory fails me a bit on the “how?” but somehow, they would manage to split into two separate bodies, one full ghost, one full human.

The endgame was that they get married and adopt and raise Dani together, like on the very long run. And yes, long, because this was supposed to be a rewrite of the entire consequent show post 02x06.

And though I only ever got three pages written, the document has remained in my folder for those past six years, because I did make notes on the changes I had planned throughout the show and I guess that a part of me remained hopeful that hey, just maybe once I rewatch the show, I’ll get back into it and actually finish it.

(...man I really hope the vase metaphor makes sense. I had, still have, a very clear visual picture of what I meant with that xD”) But here, have a snippet:

It had started out how everything that ended in chaos, catastrophes and crisis in his life had always started. With one of his parents' inventions. Of course it did, it had to.

The Fenton Ghost Catcher.

The first time he became they. Splitting one person into two different, separate beings.

Sometimes Danny wondered if Sam and Tucker truly believed that going through the catcher again (and again because the second time had failed in the most confusing and weird way. Which was saying a lot considering the first time) would simply fix things again? Make them one again?

How could it? It had created two separate entities. Splitting his personality.

Phantom had explained it to Danny the first time he had asked what this meant, how this was possible. Right after the two of them had gone through the catcher to 'fix things', just to notice that Danny wasn't alone in his mind anymore. That he was hearing a voice, a voice he wasn't controlling, one that spoke to him. Another mind inside his head. Phantom's mind.

Now, Phantom had explained it with a metaphor. He had described them as a vase – which was weird for Danny, but he had gone with it and listened patiently anyway. A white vase. Danny Fenton was the vase and when he had gone into the ghost portal for the first time, one half of that white vase had been painted black. Creating Danny Phantom. Now that vase was facing society with its white side, everyone who walked past it saw a white vase. If someone came and just spun the vase around once, everyone who would walk past that vase would see a black vase. Just like when Danny would 'go ghost', turning human Danny into ghost Danny.

Going through the Fenton Ghost Catcher was like breaking the vase, a clear cut right in the middle. But it was more than just breaking the vase, it was like fixing each half with a flat part to close it, creating two working vases that coexisted. Going through the Ghost Catcher again didn't just put the vase back into its original form though, it just took the two fixed-up vases and glued the flat sides together. It looked like one, whole vase again and they couldn't stand beside one another anymore, but the water one poured into the white half wouldn't fill the black half. They were still two different vases, just now stuck together again.

And so were Danny and Phantom now. Two minds forced back into one head. And just like the vase, the half turned to the front was the half 'in charge'. When the black half of the vase was turned to the front, filled with water and holding the flowers, that was when Danny would go ghost from now on. Giving the reins over to Phantom, who took charge of their body.

Danny was a freaking vase.

It gave him a headache, really, so he decided to just nod and agree. They had been split and they couldn't be put back together to one, he got it that far. At first, that annoyed and scared him. Because there was that constant, nagging voice – Phantom had a lot to complain and it distracted Danny from the actual situation he was in, causing Mister Lancer, his parents and his friends to scold him for spacing out. What scared him however was the essential question.

Was he still himself? Had the split taken part of his personality away from him, given it to Phantom? Was he still the person he thought he was? But no one noticed a change in him. Where Tucker had claimed the human Danny to be 'fun Danny' before, now he and everyone else seemed to see Danny as just Danny. But that had only unsettled him even more.

If nothing of his personality was missing, then what exactly was Phantom?

“I'm not you. We're not split anymore. We're both separate people now, Danny. Why can't you wrap our head around that? I explained it often enough by now”, complained Phantom's voice annoyed.

Because it was strange and weird and confusing, really. Wouldn't that mean they weren't the ones who had come out of the Catcher after all? Because Danny wasn't so careless and uninterested in saving lives anymore, he was back to his overly worried and self-sacrificing self. And Phantom had finally stopped with his stupid alliterations, he still spoke a little high-and-mighty and seemed more intelligent than Danny though (if Danny was being honest, which he didn't like, because seriously, he wasn't even the cleverest person in his own mind anymore. How was that fair?).

“We evened out. Like the vases. I don't feel like you truly grasp the metaphor, do you? I've really tried putting it simple for you, Danny. We were fixed, like the two halves of the vase. Being glued together again changed our dynamic once more, just like breaking us apart had. We were two extremes – the heroic ghost and the carefree human. Now you're as much a complete person as I am, even though we have been split from the same. I am still the hero and protector of Amity, but it's not the only interest I have anymore. Just like you have concerns for other things aside from fun”, replied Phantom, sounding bored. “However, we adjusted differently. Not evening out to be exact copies of one another. Now we're two different people.”

Two different people, but stuck in one mind.

“You're not happy with that, I gathered as much”, sighed Phantom.

“It's not that”, muttered Danny beneath his breath, knowing it wasn't necessary for him to talk out loud, but very much feeling like this was important enough to be properly discussed. “I... like having you around. But it's just... draining. And confusing. I think Jazz is that short of stuffing us into a straight-jacket, you know? I'm worried about that. And it's depressing that I'm the only one who can hear you when we talk, which did lead to the whole Jazz wanting us in a straight-jacket thing to begin with. And sometimes I just... want you there, like physically there, when I talk with Tuck and Sam, because you're like the only one who really understand me, you know? Like, they can be really stubborn and they don't get me, but I know you would and you would be able to explain stuff in a way they'd get it too, because you're just better at those things...”

In Danny's mind, he could picture Phantom grinning at that. If Phantom would be here now, he so would be rolling his eyes and grinning, Danny just knew it. And it irritated him that he couldn't see it. But the Ghost Catcher was broken, had been broken a couple days ago. And there was no other way either of them could think of to separate them.

Send me a document title from my WIP folder and ask me about it! If I can, I’ll provide a snippet!

#Pitch Pearl #PitchPearl #Danny Phantom #WIP Doc Ask Game #send me asks #wonderdoves

54 notes · View notes

in-tua-deep · 4 years

Text

tua s1 rewatch - end

Less bc I am tired

Episode 8

I still have no idea how old Claire is supposed to be

Honestly Patrick was like... the first person who enforced boundaries and enacted consequences on Allison tbh and she didn’t even hesitate to use her powers even though they’d clearly discussed it before

I heard a rUMOR YOU LIKE BROCOLI?? WHICH SIBLING DID SHE USE THAT ON?

Roommate making the realization face about Leonard’s new prosthetic eye

Vanya our here like “my teen bullshit actually has a body count” a la heathers

Klaus not remembering his first is depressing but given by the fact that luther seemed surprised a girl was in his bed and had to check if he was naked indicates that,,, luther doesn’t remember his first either

Five knows EXACTLY where the aspirin in... buddy tell me you are taking stronger pain meds when you are getting shot and knifed

Pogo out here like “it was a difficult choice for both of us” like grace had a choice at all considering her programming was literally altered

I agree with luther tbh “there’s always a choice” damn

Tag yourself I’m five with his head in his hands with probably a killer headache

Leonard: it’s not your fault what happened to those guys

Roommate: yeah dude I’m pretty sure it’s yours

I love Agnes bless

The Netflix subtitles spell oof as ouf and idk what to do with that

Roommate theorizes that tua takes place in New York with the evidence that the cop dude says that Diego is being transferred up state and New Yorkers say that

Babie Vanya looks like kids I know tbh

Leonard keeps looking more unhinged and awful the longer I look at him tbh

Vanya gives Reginald one (1) tiny scratch and he decides to drug her and emotionally abuse her for the rest of her life :/

Five limping into the bar: CONTINUITY

Luther really said “hmm think I will launch into a depressive episode”

Maybe cha cha should take a nap and then maybe she’d calm down instead of bloWING UP GRIDDYS I forgot she did that

Sergeant cheDDAR I forgot his name was fucking CHEDDAR - all I can think about is the dog from b99

Vanya blease your boyfriend is a serial killer

Okay Leonard was definitively and canonically thirteen for the murder of his father

Vanya out here with her chemicals being WACK bc of cold turkey quitting her whole ass meds designed to numb her emotions like ouch

But also Allison is this the right time to tell ur sister that you were used to erase every shred of self confidence she ever had and also make you forget her cool ass powers

Vanya be like “look me in the eye and tell me you’re not threatened now” like yeAH VANYA YOURE BEING PRETTY DAMN THREATENING RIGHT NOW

Episode nine (I think?? I didn’t realize where the episodes switched over)

Leonard has directly killed at least three people so far but one (his dad) definitely deserved it and indirectly killed at least two more

She doesn’t even really get scOLDED FOR KILLING THE NANNIES JUST HER NAME IN A FIRM TONE NO FUCKING WONDER SHE KEPT ON KILLING

Huh does that mean vanyas body count is higher than Leonard’s?? There were at least three dead nannies and she killed those two dudes as well 🤔

Five doesn’t even bother insisting on volunteering bc he is thirteen and has also already lost a lot of blood I mean seriously

The whole making klaus get up by throwing a knife at him... sibling moon although Diego has a lot better aim than MY sister who always managed to hit me in the face with anything she threw at me :/

Leonard is poking the bear here and I really don’t know what he expected when vanya straight up kills him

“I really don’t know what he expected to get out of that.” -roommate

Aannnndddd check for five again on the “klaus heart to heart” list with that addiction discussion

Five is SO BEYOND giving a fuck by the time hazel shows up and five offers him a margherita ... he can’t even be bothered to get up and interfere with Diego and hazel

Though to be fair five does have a GUT WOUND so smashing a bowl over their heads is valid

Roommate: more scripts need to have hugs in them

Me: ...not this one

Roommate: w,, why. Why. You find out your sister has powers and instead of being a reasonable person you choke her

I’m blaming pogo for this as well because luther wouldn’t have known about the basement soundproof vault that luther put her in :/

Like pogo painted the WORST picture and told them about the people she killed and everything which informed luthers decision to lock her up which,, Vanya was a little kid with no real concept of death

“Maybe while he’s here he can pick up something new to wear” - roommate while five dropped Dolores off at the department store

Luther isn’t guarding Vanyas cell 24/7,,, the others could have done something or like?? At least stayed down there with her? So she isn’t horrifyingly alone thinking she’s been left to die?

Episode ten

I erased reginalds weird alien origins from my mind honestly because... I just don’t care about him. Like. At all? Fuck this man I wish he didn’t exist in s2 :/

The mansion really do be a walking house of triggers for Vanya huh

“I’m going to posit something. Pogo has no culpability as a being of his own free will, he’s just a second hargreeves. He’s just a second pair of hands to what hargreeves intended. He’s just a walking mouthpiece.” - roommate but that’s okay because I hate Reginald more than I hate pogo actually

I’m okay with pogo dying tbh and even the roommate isn’t exactly torn up about it

Goodbye mansion

Me, remembering this is the last episode: it’s been 84 years...

Five coming in late to find the academy in rubble like :0

Wow I still really hate the handler speaking Yiddish and the unfortunate implications that it has, just in general

“I have to respect she went home to change into formal wear and apply eye liner before ending the world” - roommate on Vanyas concert outfit

I’m amused by the bowling and the shoes but sad about the content :(

Five this is what you get from accepting candy from creepy women honestly

He just DITCHES

Why is Allison even salty at luther for sleeping with a girl. She MARRIED a man and had a child and Luther wasn’t salty I don’t think?

I feel like the handler could have kept five there for way longer before he caught on tbh

Agnes has had... a day

Luther and Diego are DUMBASSES

Ben taking care of BUSINESS

Roommate has questions about when exactly Vanya was photographed to put into the promotional material for the concert and honestly?? Now I do as well especially since they established Vanyas suit was at her apartment

“IS THAT A SUPER POWER INDUCED COSTUME CHANGE? Ya love to see it” roommate on Vanyas white outfit

Five really didn’t need to jump and also like BRO HE HAS A SHRAPNEL WOUND

Oh we can’t let Allison do any heavy lifting bc of her throat

Five has a GUT WOUND

As someone who had appendicitis and had to get that shit our gut surgery fucking sucks I couldn’t do shit for like a week and a half

Sibling energy is immediately rejecting fives plan then being like “okay what is it”

Their fucking bowling shoes I’m still yelling about it

THE END

and a picture of my cat bc i accidentally put it in here so enjoy a mia

#tua rewatch #done with s1 lads #actually finished it monday night and forgot to post this oops #will move onto s2 SOON #finally amiright #far tua long #long post

82 notes · View notes

thegreymoon · 3 years

Text

Ever Night

WTF is this telenovela bullshit?

Are they serious right now?? How does this fucking show just keep getting worse with each new episode?? 😫😫

***

This right here is PROOF that there is literally nothing that HYX can do that will ruin it for me. Here I am, willing to wade through what is now nearing 20 episodes of sheer bullshit just to see a certain actor give me TWO MINUTES of a performance that offers me a glimpse of a certain character.

HYX, WHERE ARE YOU. WE ARE STARVED. STARVED, I SAY, AND AT THIS POINT, WILL LITERALLY EAT CRUMBS OFF A FILTHY FLOOR.

***

Just yesterday, I saw a post saying that we should be gracious consumers and that we are obligated to buy into a certain amount of bullshit in order to have a fun time, and yes, I agree with this in principle, and yes, I sometimes feel guilty for hating on this show so much, but come on now. There are LIMITS to how much bullshit we are supposed to buy in!

I am a reasonable person, I know I am! I went through The Untamed loving it in spite of the wonky zombies, in spite of the giant dog puppet, in spite of the evil space and time defying giant turtle, in spite of the yin iron weirdness that just opened plot holes upon plot holes, and did you see me complaining? NO!! I moved past an whole fucking yeti in Nirvana in Fire with barely a hitch. I watched and rewatched Teen Wolf!! I mean, I might have laughed at it all a bit here and there, but did it spoil my fun? NO!! Because I understand that nothing is perfect and that I need to let go of a certain amount of nonsense in order to get to the stuff that I am going to like.

I AM A MERLIN FAN FOR GODS’ SAKE, MY TOLERANCE FOR NONSENSE IS VERY HIGH!

Yet this show manages to get on my very last nerve 🤬🤬

Don’t get me wrong, when it’s good, it’s SO SO SO GOOD, but it hasn’t been good since, idk, episode 30 now. Gone is the glory of its early episodes! JUST GONE. My hope was revived for a second when they found the evil shifu in the cave, but then they killed him immediately after, and followed it up with killing Yan Se in that pointless death match. Then I grew hopeful again when Ning Que went demonic, only for them to do this immediately after. FOR FUCKS’ SAKE. ENOUGH ALREADY.

***

With that said, Ireine Song is a wonderful actress and Sang Sang is a wonderful character. They deserve better than this shit writing.

***

LMAOOO, I missed her so much 🤣🤣

I love her scheming, self-serving self 🤣🤣

The initial cast of this show was SO GOOD and they had the best characters and the best dynamics, and then they pushed them all to the side to shoehorn in the likes of Mo Shanshan. I’m beyond mad.

***

LMAOOOO, that’s not how things work!

You don’t get to be mom and dad to a (nearly) adult woman who has had a full life away from you! You are practically strangers.

***

Lady, are you serious right now?

Kick them out, Sang Sang! Please do it!!

***

LMAOOO, yes! Sang Sang I love you!!

These people are ridiculous. The way they expect to get anywhere by denigrating the life she lives and the things she values, smh. They deserve to be kicked out.

***

My love for him knows no bounds 🤗

***

My rational brain is telling me that Ning Que has done NOTHING WRONG in regards to Mo Shanshan, but I’m still mad at him 🤣🤣

Seriously, though. Sang Sang is his child, he personally raised her from when she was a baby. Him not even considering her as a romantic partner and putting a distance between them when he started feeling attraction to her as a woman is normal and decent. And, yeah, him calling her his maid is disrespectful, but come on now, she is obviously the one fully in charge of that household and he has made it very clear that she is his life and that nothing and no one comes before her, whatever he calls her.

I just hate Mo Shanshan a lot. If he had hooked up with the princess, or any character with even an inkling of personality, I wouldn’t be mad.

***

Aww, look at her with her face stuffed with noodles and him looking at her like she’s his god descended from the heavens 💖💖💖 Beyond adorable!

Sorry, Mo Shanshan, there is no place for you here.

Anyway, I can pinpoint that the exact moment this show became unwatchable was when the two of them parted ways. Let’s hope it will go back to at least being tolerable now! Maybe we can drown the wannabe mom and dad in a swamp.

***

Oh, baby 😢

Don’t be sad! We can drown her in a swamp too!

***

Bless him 😭😭

I didn’t think I could love him more, yet here we are!

***

Crying 😭😭

Mo Shanshan is getting kicked out of his life so fast, she won’t know what hit her 🤣🤣

I was absolutely right, this show became unwatchable the moment the two of them parted and nothing has been good ever since. Let’s get back on track now! Please, let’s get back on track!!

***

I’m glad they buried them side by side.

I don’t understand what he’s angry at her for, as if Yan Se wasn’t an equal participant in this stupid little suicide pact.

***

Every so often, Ning Que reminds me why I love him 🤣🤣

You’re right and you should say it!!

***

I’ve realised that the reason Ning Que bothers me so much with Mo Shanshan is that that he’s just so OOC with her and I just... don’t like him much in that edition. Now that he’s back with the original characters, he’s reverted to his old self and WOW. The difference is staggering.

***

Second Brother, WTF.

Both Long Qing and Lin Ling tried to murder him first. Not only was putting them down worth praise, it was very necessary. What are you giving him shit for?

***

I love this woman, finally calling out the bullshit as she sees it.

***

Didn’t you just say that you have no grudge against him?

What are you angry about?

Anyway, this probably won’t end well.

***

Ah, so that’s it.

***

The way I love him and forgive all when he goes TXJ on their ass 🔥🔥

***

LOL, he’s so disappointed they both walked out of that hall alive 🤣

***

The way your days are numbered, LMAO 🤣🤣

I’m counting down the minutes until Sang Sang kicks you out on your ass.

#chen feiyu #ever night #en spoilers #en ep45 #en ep46

5 notes · View notes

faithfulcat111 · 3 years

Text

Watched the season one finale of Umbrella Academy as part of my rewatch at my parents today and my mom decided to watch it. My mom had initially tried to watch it when it first came out, but there is too many story plots for her to follow, so she stopped. (Literally the only part she has seen that she likes is the superhero landing Diego does in the beginning of season two and when Five turns back time in the season two finale cause she always wanted to see a scene like that).

Gonna put the rest under the cut for Veg's horrible parenting discussion cause my mom decided to try and defend him and it gets steamed

Anyway, she asks me why Vanya kills Pogo and I just say cause he was complacent in their father's abuse. My mom gets this stupid weird look and starts her usual "was it really abuse" rant that she has gotten into lately, so I, who wasn't planning to go into details at all, just say yeah it was. I figure the easiest and quickest example is Klaus in the mausoleum, but my mom starts freaking defending Veggie about that before I can say more than Klaus was terrified of ghosts and their dad locked him in there to get him to get over his fear and brings up this stupid story I've heard about fifty thousand times that always takes her like thirty minutes to tell about a kid with no arms whose mom pushed him to be self-sufficient that everyone thought was abusive but in the end he could live by himself cause he was self-sufficient. And I'm just in shock and I tell her that is not the same thing. That mom (who at this point I'm 90% certain my mom made up considering how much she liked to throw it at me as a kid) worked her kid up to that point, Veggie threw Klaus off the deep-end . And then I bring up Vanya and Luther as well and then my mom finally conceded that he was abusive. I didn't even bring up the whole they were numbers or kid soldiers.

Then she tries saying he may have been trying in his way to be a parent he thought they needed and I just said he said he hated children on multiple occasions including to them when they were kids and she finally dropped it. But I am so steamed right now. I don't know why she was getting so defensive, but seriously.

#tw child abuse #tw abuse #the umbrella academy #tua

15 notes · View notes

buildarocketboys · 4 years

Note

For the fandom thing, Robin hood bbc? And for the character one, guy of gisborne?

Ahhh Rouke I love you so much for this!

Robin Hood BBC:

Favorite character: Guy of Gisborne (who else? I blame Richard Armitage, Sarah Kennedy on radio 2 for planting the idea in my head, and my easily swayed 12 year old self. But also he's a good fucking character lol)

Least favourite character: uhhh as a *character* probably Robin. Literally such an arrogant piece of shit who rarely acknowledges his own privilege (when it comes to his gang and the fact that he's a noble and they're...not) or his own faults. And we're still meant to see him as the ultimate good guy/hero. Pass.

5 favourite ships:

- Guy/Marian (I want to be clear though, this is one of those ships where the character dynamic is absolutely fascinating and a joy to watch, but I honestly don't think it actually becoming canon would be a) a good story or b) good for either of them)

- Guy/Allan (just. I fucking love how Allan gives no shits and treats Guy like a normal fucking human. He calls him Giz! And that dream Guy has about both Marian AND Allan massaging his shoulders while sweet talking him...I'm just saying. Anyway as opposed to Guy/Marian I actually think these two are good for each other and I wish their dynamic had been explored more, especially when Guy joins the outlaws in s3 but it's not explored *at all*)

- Marian/friendship with any female character. Fucking seriously. Let her vibe with Djaq (although ig I hc Djaq as nb. Any non-male character then) and bitch about the boys. PLEASE. She needs it.)

- Marian/Allan friendship (I'm realising doing this that I care far more about the friendships in this show than the romantic relationships. But seriously, these two people are in exactly the same position in opposite sides ie spies for the various teams, and that's fascinating, especially as Allan still protects Marian/has her back after he's found out. They probably kind of mildly dislike each other at first but it's bc they see a lot of their worst selves in each other. But honestly together these two can rule the world with banter and pure deviousness)

- Much/literally anyone who respects and values him as a person I'm begging you pleassssee (seriously, he gets this for like half an episode with Eve, which is lovely, but then it's back to being the butt of the Gang's jokes and Robin's punching bag/servant/""best friend"". And when Much wants any kind of display of friendship and affection from Robin, Robin makes fun of it and acts like it's such a chore. Ugh.)

Character I find most attractive: Guy of Gisborne started off my lifelong Richard Armitage obsession so it can't be anyone else. That is a beautiful, beautiful man. Marian is also gorgeous.

Character I would marry: Djaq or Much

Character I would be best friends with: literally all of Team Castle - Guy bc he badly needs /someone/ to be his friend (although I doubt he'd let me), Allan bc he'd be hilarious, Marian bc we could bitch about everyone and just have some good times. Ultimately Allan is probably the kind of person I'd be most likely to befriend irl.

A random thought: @Robin King Richard sucks bro and when he dies Prince John is gonna be king anyway, monarchy as a concept sucks anyway, consider dismantling it instead of putting all your faith in things getting better when the king returns

An unpopular opinion: I actually don't hate s3 the way much of the fandom seems to? Yes it was a trainwreck (hello? Have you watched this show? The whole thing is a trainwreck) and I hate that Marian died but I do think it went some interesting places we hadn't been before, especially re Guy (who lbr is the character I care most about). Don't get me wrong, it didn't do it very well, but I rewatch it more than s1.

My canon OTP:....uhhhhhh....does Guy/Marian count?? They're not really an OTP anymore though (although they used to be when I was like. 13.) They just have a cool dynamic.

My non-canon OTP: Guy/Allan ig

Most badass character: Marian, 100%. Especially s1 Marian. Icon. Queen of guerrilla fighting and sassy comebacks and saying fuck you to men.

Most epic villain: I guess the Sheriff? Idk about epic but he is the epitome of cartoonishly evil, which is fun to watch. Love to hate him.

Pairing I am not a fan of: Robin/Marian 🤢🤢🤢 (not saying it's bad if you ship it lmao, Robin is kind of a dick but it's more I can't stand how unbearably cheesy it is)

Character I feel the writers screwed up: What character DIDN'T they screw up? But I feel like they screwed over Isabella the worst. They made her seem unreasonably evil when her anger was entirely 100% valid and fair.

Favourite friendship: None of the friendships I actually enjoy were written to their full potential. But I guess Guy and Allan?

Character I most identify with: Allan or Djaq

Character I wish I could be: wouldn't want to be in her situation but would love to be as badass as Maz

Guy of Gisborne:

How I feel about this character: my terrible overdramatic emo son. Wish he could have had a proper redemption arc without killing Marian.

Any/all people I ship romantically with this character: Marian and Allan. And I guess Meg for the brief moment in time where that was a thing.

My favourite non-romantic relationship for this character: I know we only get a hint of it (and she dies) but I love Guy's relationship with Ghislaine. I just feel like they had such a loving relationship and then it all went to hell :( I also kind of think both Guy/Marian and Guy/Allan might work better/be more interesting as friendships

My unpopular opinion about this character: tbh in this fandom even liking him is an unpopular opinion to a lot of people 😂 I think if you took away the sheriff, he'd treat Marian better than Robin treats her (I mean, in some ways he already does but also like...he burns her house down soooo)

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon: oh boy so many things. But the two places my mind goes most often are 1. Escaping the castle (with Allan and/or Marian), probably after Treasure of the Nation (ie my favourite RH episode of all time) and either joining the gang (equal parts hilarious and angsty) or starting a life somewhere new, away from all this bullshit and 2. Just more gang shenanigans after he joins them in s3. We had some, which was great, but I would have love to see more, to see him grudgingly becoming the weird ex villain friend and then actually building relationships with some of the gang

Favourite friendship: Allan

My crossover ship: Guy + therapy (also I'm sure I've thought about this before but I really can't think of a good answer). Maybe Eleanor Shellstrop (as friends)? I feel like that would be a fun dynamic to explore.

#asks #ask meme #afaintcloudyhaze #robin hood bbc #guy of gisborne

25 notes · View notes

seyaryminamoto · 4 years

Note

hii, can you tell me more about why you’re anti sukka?

... Okay, now, that’s an inaccurate statement.

As per current internet terminology, I’m not ANTI Sukka. These days, an anti is someone who obsesses with the ships they hate, and spends an insane amount of time harassing fans of the ship, attacking other shippers, making content to disparage the ship and pretending they’re on some sort of superior moral high ground by doing all these things. While I’ve made occasional posts on why I don’t ship Sukka, I don’t think I’ve made any since AGES ago. I don’t get in the way of anyone who does ship it and I wouldn’t even say I HATE the ship. In truth, I just don’t care for it. I won’t read or look for content about it, but that’s not the same as hating a ship, let alone the same as harrassing its shippers: so I’m not anti-Sukka, I just don’t ship Sukka.

Now, since your question’s intent was to figure out why don’t I ship it...

... Warning: long, long essay that won’t sit well with any hardcore Sukka shippers right under the cut. I would be using a truncated term like su*ka throughout the whole post if only the anon hadn’t already used the actual ship name, but regrettably, it’s likely to show up in your tags all the same. I am sorry, preemptively, if it does: please ignore it for your own good and go on your merry way without letting me ruin your day.

I haven’t talked about this for ages tbh. But anyways, here we go.

When I watched The Warriors of Kyoshi for the first time, I actually liked Suki plenty. I liked her initial conflict and chemistry with Sokka, though I wasn’t big on how she made him wear the Kyoshi Warriors uniform when it clearly made him uncomfortable, but all in all, I liked how their relationship had shaped up at that point and I even looked forward to Suki returning in future episodes.

On my first watch of ATLA, I seriously saw nothing wrong in Sukka. I didn’t think a lot of things through during that first time I watched the show, I was just binging the whole thing like a maniac (like a lot of people are doing at the time), so I found their relationship perfectly acceptable as it was, for the show I was watching.

And then later rewatches, even before the Sokkla bug bit me as hard as it has, I realized maybe that wasn’t entirely true.

One of the things I really, REALLY don’t like about Sukka to this day is how unequal their relationship is in terms of how the characters are written in the show. Basically, the same complaint I have about Asami in LOK applies to Suki ever since she reappears in Book 2, but ESPECIALLY in Book 3: her character ends up revolving almost exclusively around Sokka.

Meanwhile, Sokka appears to forget about her surprisingly often and easily.

Instance #1: there’s no sign of Sokka holding a torch for Suki when he first develops a crush on Yue. Implying that, while Suki impressed him, his feelings for her weren’t necessarily romantic despite she outright kissed his cheek... whereas he is crushing, HARD, on Yue. In contrast, Suki was so affected by Team Avatar’s visit to her island that she took off to help people around the world to follow their example. Sokka (and his friends) have a huge impact on Suki’s life... whereas Suki’s impact, sure, taught Sokka to set aside his sexism, but he’s never even seen reflecting on how much Suki has changed him because of this? Neither is Katara portrayed mentioning how much nicer he became after meeting Suki? There’s not a single sign through the rest of the season of how much Suki has meant for Sokka, whether as a teacher, friend or potential love interest.

Instance #2: after initially hesitating to kiss Suki in the Serpent’s Pass, Sokka finally kisses her once they’re about to part ways before she returns to the Kyoshi Warriors. It’s soooo very romantic... until, a mere episode later, Ty Lee openly flirts with Sokka and, instead of reacting as he does later in the season (with a comment along the lines of ”Uh, I’m with someone else”), Sokka merely WAVES AND SMILES. I... don’t even understand why the writers did this. They spent the entire season featuring Sokka avoiding Ty Lee, or being fully hostile with her, but somehow RIGHT AFTER establishing his relationship with Suki, he’s shown behaving like this? It doesn’t make any sense to me. It basically says either he’s not taking his relationship with Suki all that seriously, or he’s just blatantly disloyal, and considering how devoted he was to Yue, I can’t bring myself to believe it’s the second thing. A writing oversight? Eh...

Instance #3: when Toph talks about the moon turning mean, Sokka rages and rants about how nice the moon is. Why do I bring this up? Because Yue is out of reach. Yue is gone: he still feels the need to defend her from someone who isn’t really insulting her despite that. MEANWHILE... Suki’s fate, at the time, is unknown. Sokka has no idea if Azula captured her, left her for dead, tossed her in a river, sold her to a traveling circus...? He doesn’t. He seriously doesn’t. He can’t KNOW what Azula did because the last thing he knew, Mai and Ty Lee were masquerading as Kyoshi Warriors. Implying them, and their leader, did something to the group his girlfriend was part of. And yet, for an entire season finale AND the first half of Book 3, Sokka betrays zero intentions of wanting to discover what happened with Suki, or guilt about not being able to save her UNTIL AZULA BRINGS HER UP. I know it’s very sad for Sukka fans to see Sokka crying over Suki as he did when Azula taunts him... but why haven’t we seen the slightest sign of how affected he is by Suki’s presumed capture/murder/whatever he was imagining happening to her, when Book 2 features Sokka suffering over failing Yue in the Swamp, as well as rejecting Suki initially over guilt because of his lingering feelings for Yue, paired with fear of failing to protect those he cares about? And then in Book 3 he’s even standing up to Toph when she makes a careless comment about the moon spirit...? Why is it so easy to bring up Yue, but not Suki? Is this really just another writing oversight? So we’ve had TWO writing oversights about this relationship already, both of which suggest Suki is barely on Sokka’s mind at all? Is this oversight... or accidental characterization? :’)

Instance #4: Sokka and Zuko travel to the Boiling Rock. Sokka is determined to save his father. It’s a really cool, absolutely acceptable, very important decision for his character... but here’s the kicker: Sokka knows now, at this point, that Suki might still be alive and a prisoner of the Fire Nation. Azula outright said Suki had been WAITING FOR HIM AND GAVE UP BECAUSE HE NEVER CAME. This is what drives him to tears and to shout at Azula while wasting time during the Eclipse! :’D And then? Then he goes to Zuko, to ask him about Fire Nation prisons, and my gullible, first-watch self thought “oh, he wants to save Suki now that Azula said she’s alive! :D” ... only for his intent to be exclusively about his father. I’m not saying it’s WRONG for Sokka to privilege Hakoda over Suki, I mean, he is his father and Sokka really cares about family. It’s one of his main priorities, always has been. But isn’t it WEIRD that after Azula taunted him SO BAD about failing Suki, after saying Suki GAVE UP ON HIM, Sokka makes zero moves to find out if she might be alive and within reach? He could ask Zuko about her, maybe, seeing as he was on Azula’s side in Ba Sing Se and may have known a thing or two about any prisoners she captured in the Earth Kingdom? Sokka could have mentioned he wants to save BOTH Hakoda and Suki, and it doesn’t harm the story in the least for him to say something like that. It doesn’t make his efforts for Hakoda any lesser, and it shows Suki is a priority for him too... But no. Instead let’s feature him bumping into Suki by sheer luck, because that’s truly what it was, and instead of feeling any guilt for not helping her sooner, he’s just lovestruck and attempting to put moves on her when she doesn’t even know who he is yet. Super funny. Super romantic. Super lacking and I can’t understand why, WHY, someone would ever think this is how to write a quality romantic relationship?

Instance #5: connected to instance #4, actually. When traveling to the Boiling Rock, Sokka and Zuko have an awkward conversation. During this awkward conversation, Sokka asks Zuko if there was anything he left behind in the Fire Nation that he might have missed. Zuko smiles and talks about Mai. Sokka is surprised that the “gloomy girl who sighs a lot” was his girlfriend, and Zuko looks genuinely fond of her as he smiles and thinks of her. And then Sokka brings up his own romantic experience... WITH YUE. Instead of bringing up the girl who taught him girls can fight too, instead of bringing up the girl he hasn’t been able to save yet, the girl who MIGHT BE in the prison he’s headed towards, Sokka brings up the girl he absolutely CAN’T save anymore. He brings up the girl whose death most clearly scarred him, deeply, and I’m not trying to lessen the blow Yue’s sacrifice takes on Sokka... but Suki literally, LITERALLY, has something to do with the plot of this very episode? While “My girlfriend turned into the moon” “That’s rough, buddy” is a well-loved hilarious scene and line, I’d have sacrificed that IN A HEARTBEAT if the writers had thought to feature Sokka talking about Suki instead. He could’ve said Azula took her! He literally KNOWS this now, for a fact! Zuko could’ve told him “Hey, maybe she’s in the Boiling Rock too!”, and the plot of the episode wouldn’t have changed in the slightest, beyond featuring Sokka actively looking for BOTH Hakoda and Suki! But no. Again, no. Again, the writers choose to privilege Sokka’s bond with Yue over Suki. With Hakoda over Suki. With anyone else over Suki.

... whlie Suki, most obviously, has no one else she cares about more than Sokka. Why? Because she hasn’t even had enough screentime to establish any other significant relationships, and after the Boiling Rock, she doesn’t establish them anyways.

This causes Suki to feel like a Sokka satellite: SHE revolves around HIM. But Sokka? Sokka doesn’t revolve around Suki IN THE LEAST. Would it be healthy for him to be completely devoted and crazy over Suki to the point of disregarding his ties with other people over her? Hell, no! But it’s not healthy to feature Suki as good as doing that for Sokka either! :’D Suki doesn’t even have a solid, established friendship with any of the other Gaang members. She has POTENTIAL for it, but ever since she joins the Gaang she is most frequently shown interacting with Sokka and only on occasion with the others, but in no memorable, meaningful way with anyone but Sokka. She even joins Katara while searching for Aang in Sozin’s Comet, and we don’t see the slightest sign of unique, important bonding between them. She saved Toph from drowning once, found out Toph has a crush on the same boy she likes, and it’d have been interesting if she, for instance, had refrained from seeking an openly romantic relationship with Sokka out of respect for Toph’s feelings? They could’ve had a conversation about it? With Toph telling her to go for it, maybe, because Sokka liked her too? Suki saying she doesn’t want to hurt her? A perfectly nice bonding situation for these two girls, showing quite a lot of respect between them, as well as respect for their personal relationships with Sokka?

But no. That doesn’t happen.

The second important character Suki bonds most with is Zuko, and in the show, it’s exclusively because they’re with Sokka in the Boiling Rock. Once that’s over you can’t really say there’s any relevant, personal dynamics between them in the show. Heck, Suki tells him she wants a rematch with Azula in the Boiling Rock: Zuko could have offered her a chance to come with him to the Fire Nation and get that rematch, instead of offering it to Katara :’D Why doesn’t he? Because they DID take their time to establish a relationship between Zuko and Katara, even derrailing the show for a whole episode to ensure they would convince Katara to forgive Zuko for all the wrong he did, in the most absurd and contradictory situation possible. Meanwhile, a simple “sorry” from Zuko is enough for Suki to stop holding a grudge. You absolutely CAN interpret this as Suki not being the type to hold a grudge! Which, great! But you also CAN interpret this as the writers being way too lazy to give Suki as much time to forgive Zuko as she could have/should have needed. And sadly, while story-wise I’ll choose to read it the first way, I think, realistically, what happened was the second thing instead.

Suki doesn’t even have a meaningful relationship with Aang. AANG. I’m not saying she should have been his best friend, but Oyaji outright says “you kids had a big impact on her”. It’s PLURAL. It’s not supposed to mean “Sokka had a big impact on her”. Hell, Aang is Kyoshi’s PAST LIFE. Kyoshi is, in all likelihood, Suki’s hero! :’D And yet... nothing. Not even featuring Suki as a Kyoshi fangirl who knows all sorts of random facts about her, such as her favorite foods or the habits she enjoyed most, and Aang saying “oh hey, I like doing that too!”, so that they both could rejoice in this unique, curious shared common ground!

Nay. Nothing. Literally nothing. Her only serious, meaningful relationship is with Sokka... and like I said, whenever Sokka is asked about meaningful relationships with girls, his brain goes “Yue”, immediately, even when the plot would benefit from him saying “Suki” at least ONCE. He’ll sit out at night watching the moon, but he can’t be bothered to bring up how frustrating it is for Azula to have captured Suki whether before or after the Invasion. Yes, Sokka is shown to be the kind of guy who grieves quietly: why is it so much easier, then, to see his quiet grieving for Yue than his concern for Suki?

The truth is, it’s a writing shortcoming. It’s not even something I’d blame on Sokka’s character because, as I always have said, his relationship with Yue really highlights what a wonderful boyfriend he can be when he’s seriously interested in someone. He takes Yue out on dates, gives her gifts, fights for her people, fights the fiancé who only objectifies her, tries to protect her from fulfilling a destiny that will kill her? This is all top-tier romance hero behavior. It is. Why the hell isn’t this behavior seen with Suki too?

It’s not a matter of Suki being a warrior rather than a Princess so she doesn’t need him to act the same way he did with Yue: the show outright, literally, explicitly states Suki is a girl and a warrior, implying Sokka could easily enough woo her the same way he does with Yue, if he cared to. But he doesn’t. It’s Suki with the initiative when their actual romantic relationship begins, and later on Sokka can forget Suki is his girlfriend whenever it suits his fancy, to absolutely no consequences.

So... does this mean, then, that Sokka, in canon, only tries really hard when he’s chasing after someone he can’t be with? That he slacks off and drops the ball when the girl is already his? Well, that’s... not good. Not healthy. Not pretty.

This doesn’t mean that there’s nothing good about Sukka altogether, there are a few things about the ship that aren’t bad... but even then, scenes like “Sokka makes a gross sand sculpture and says it’s Suki” aren’t really that heartwarming to me. It’s not only a comedic relief scene that tries to feature these two as super romantic dorks... but it only reinforces one of the main shortcomings in this relationship for me:

Sokka doesn’t even have to TRY.

He doesn’t. He can make a gross-looking statue, say it’s Suki, and she won’t even make suggestions to improve it? She just says it’s perfect this way. It’s basically the kind of coddling Ursa did with Zuko when Zuko messed up in his firebending display and Ursa said it was wonderful. In the case of a couple, it feels like a mix of cute and condescending? Suki accepts Sokka as he is, sure, so she doesn’t challenge him, doesn’t try to make him do better, he doesn’t need to improve his work... because she’s fine with whatever she gets from him.

This is complacency. It’s a relationship neither one needs to make efforts for. Suki will always accept Sokka’s occasional romantic gestures, even if he leaves so much to be desired in his relationship with her, as opposed to his relationship with Yue. And I’m not saying Sokka DOESN’T care about Suki, but he doesn’t need to do better with her, and while that’s just what Sokka may think he wants/needs for the future, in truth, that’s not what makes his character thrive.

What makes Sokka’s character grow amazingly is CHALLENGE. And I don’t mean that he needs a girlfriend difficult to be with and out of reach (like Yue): I mean that, when faced with a love interest who keeps him on his toes and makes him continue pushing his boundaries, Sokka would genuinely develop and grow further as a man, warrior, leader and love interest. Look at how fast he develops into a quality swordsman while training with Piandao: why? Because it was a challenge. Because it was an opportunity to hone his skills. Because he had to rise up to prove himself, and HE DOES. In the Invasion? He feels he can’t measure up to Hakoda, but in the end? He winds up LEADING the whole operation. People FLOCK to him as he draws out the battle plans and strategies they’ll follow so they can figure out where Ozai is and take him out before the eclipse ends. Right after thinking he couldn’t do it, when the situation DEMANDED that he stepped up, he did and he goddamn EXCELLED at it, proving himself well above these challenges indeed.

THESE are the moments where his character shines the brightest. And a relationship that wasn’t so complacent would do this kind of thing for Sokka’s character just as well: a challenging relationship would promote his GROWTH. He wouldn’t be stunted in simplicity with someone who doesn’t give up on him when he spends MONTHS disregarding her circumstances. Because the truth is, I see Sokka as an overachiever in denial: he wants to go the extra mile, to do things no one else has done before, but because he’s stuck in a world where he doesn’t have the crazy powers his friends do, he wrongfully assumes they’re the ones who’ll do amazing things and he’ll just lag behind them, so he figures it’s better not to bother trying to stand out at all. Yet look at him, figuring out the perfect plan to take down Ozai’s fleet: look at him, making such an impression on Piandao, epic swordmaster, that Piandao even says “If you stay on this path, I know that one day you will become an even greater master than I am.”

Sokka has incredible, extraordinary potential as a character. He has huuuuge anxieties and sources of anguish and insecurities, and those only make his potential greater. He has flaws that can be worked on, there’s so much room for growth...

And the true reason I can’t support Sukka, on Sokka’s end, is because I don’t think that relationship will encourage him to grow any further.

Meanwhile, I can’t support it on Suki’s end because I don’t think she deserves to be an afterthought for a boyfriend who has so much going on in his life that she’s a secondary or even tertiary thing in his life unless she’s right in front of him. And even when he doesn’t have that much going on (meaning, during the first FOUR comic trilogies), he’s shown traveling the world with his friends instead of spending time with her. And heck, where Suki SHOULD have arrived in the South Pole with Zuko as his guard during North and South, Suki doesn’t show up at all. Why? Seriously, what sort of logic explains that the Fire Lord’s appointed BODYGUARD would stay behind in the Fire Nation while Zuko travels halfway across the world, with hell knows how many dangers ahead? If she HAD gone with Zuko, she would’ve had a chance to spend more time with Sokka and it’d even be a point in Sukka’s favor. But that doesn’t happen. To make matters even worse, Sokka doesn’t even tell Aang to say hi to Suki for him when Aang leaves to the Fire Nation by himself in Smoke and Shadow? There are TWO WHOLE PANELS as Aang takes off on Appa with NO DIALOGUE. Sokka calling after Aang to ask him to say hi to Suki literally would’ve fit PERFECTLY, right there! But no. Suki doesn’t even get that much from her boyfriend.

Seriously, it’s NOT THAT HARD to show a healthy long-distance relationship. It’s not that difficult to feature Suki and Sokka longing to see each other but having too much going on to meet up. But that’s not what we got with Sukka, not in the comics, not in the show. Fans ARE free to believe otherwise, and I’m not going to trample on someone who thinks we just conveniently never get to see the healthiest aspects of their very positive relationship... but there’s no genuine evidence to back up this belief. It’s just wishful thinking and hoping that things are far better behind the scenes than what we’re genuinely shown.

Again... I blame the writing. Especially seeing as Yang’s writing of Sokka is DISMAL. But it doesn’t erase what’s already there. It doesn’t do away with the very obvious problems in this relationship.

The positive moments Sukka gets are offset, for me, by all the negatives. The meaningful relationship they could have developed feels underdeveloped instead, something we should take for granted is there and nothing more. And even those positive moments and episodes aren’t necessarily that positive?

In particular, I point to The Ember Island Players: there are soooooo many messed up things about Sukka in this episode I have no idea how people aren’t more bothered by them. First of all: the episode features Sokka crying about Yue’s staged death scene, and Suki is shown amused, saying she had no idea Sokka had made out with the moon spirit. First of all: SOKKA DIDN’T TELL SUKI ABOUT YUE. Her initial reaction here is amusement, for some reason...? Yet as we already saw that there’s no real bad blood between her and Toph despite she, of all people, KNOWS Toph has a crush on the same guy she likes, there’s no real reason to think Suki would behave like a jealous fiend if she knew Sokka had a relationship with someone else before her. Yet Sokka doesn’t tell her about it: this implies he either doesn’t trust her, or doesn’t know her well enough to realize she WON’T be a jealous fiend, and outright assumes she will be one because of mistaken preconceptions about how relationships work.

At this point, Sokka and Suki have been officially together since Book 2, episode 12. Book 2 happens in spring. Book 3′s conclusion is at the end of summer. This means Sokka has had about four-five months of a relationship with Suki. Out of which, yes, she spent the majority of those months in prison :’D but then he rescued her! And... apparently proceeded not to tell her about his experiences while fighting in the war? To not share his biggest failure to protect someone he cared about? So... to NOT open up to Suki about anything that genuinely mattered?

Considering he’s willing to snap at Toph when she brings up the moon could be “mean”, considering he’s willing to tell Zuko that his first girlfriend turned into the moon when they’re only starting to trust each other... this unwillingness to tell Suki about Yue feels OFF. It doesn’t make any sense. His relationship with Yue was far from something to be ashamed of. It meant A LOT to him. Why the heck hide it from Suki, when all the reasons sound either condescending or distrustful as hell?

Ah. Because the writers thought this scene would be funny, that’s why.

And the funny scene gets even BETTER when Sokka shushes Suki and proceeds to cry about Yue’s death: he’s shutting her out. And hey... Suki doesn’t like this. She turns her face around and looks pretty irritated, whether by being shushed or by his unwillingness to share his past with her or BOTH THINGS...

... And then the show doesn’t acknowledge this OBVIOUS, SIZABLE, IMPORTANT shortcoming of their relationship ever again.

We’re supposed to assume Sokka explained everything later just because? Hell, he looks like he has absolutely no intentions of doing that. If you ask me, it even could feel like he thinks his relationship with Yue is none of Suki’s business? And that’s not pretty. That’s not good romance writing, no matter how you look at it.

This, of course, is not everything: there’s another two unpleasant situations in this episode alone! :’D

The second one is a slightly smaller one, but bears mentioning all the same: Aang is annoyed when the play makes a mockery of Zutara, so he gets up and leaves: Sokka tells him to bring him snacks. After his initial request, Sokka wraps an arm around Suki and they’re shown surprisingly cuddly now, DESPITE their previous impasse. At first, Suki smiles fondly at him. But then he turns around and asks Aang for more snacks. And then Suki outright looks ANNOYED, while Sokka looks like he doesn’t give a single crap.

This, I feel, ties in with what I mentioned earlier about how Sokka doesn’t even have to try with Suki: Suki isn’t merely a happy girl who thinks Sokka can do no wrong. She CAN be annoyed by him and his behavior, but for some reason, she chooses not to bring up her grievances with how he’s acting, even if it doesn’t sit well with her?

So while there’s supposed to be something so very cute with the monster blob sand statue, her approval doesn’t feel genuine to me. I simply can’t see it as genuine. Because when you feature Suki smiling in that strangely motherly way, saying the statue is “sweet” (instead of, I don’t know, saying she actually sees the artistic merit of it (if she did) or saying he just needs to put in a bit more work), she’s focusing exclusively on making SOKKA feel better about himself. And when Suki is annoyed? He doesn’t have to show remotely the same amount of consideration or compassion she displays for him. Why? Because she sweeps her feelings under the rug and lets him get away with everything he does, even things she’s not happy about. She lets him get away with keeping important secrets, lets him get away with annoying her in the middle of the play, AND...

... lets him get away with rubbing in Suki’s face that Azula kicked her ass :’)

Look, I’m not even being my biased shipper self here. The third unpleasant thing in Ember Island Players is that Suki decides to point out that Team Avatar keeps getting out of deadly pinches by sheer luck and that they lose a lot! She doesn’t say this with concern: she looks sardonic, like she’s legit mocking them. It’d feel completely out of place if she hadn’t been annoyed by Sokka earlier, so it feels (to me) like she’s just taunting him because she’s already not in the best of moods and expects to feel better by making fun of him. Not a terrible crime, but a rather strange one to commit too, considering she’s making fun of her boyfriend damn near dying all the time. You’d think, maybe, that kind of possibility should worry her a little more...?

... But then Sokka retaliates with: “You're one to talk, Suki. Didn't Azula take you captive? That's right, she did!”

Isn’t it goddamn WEIRD that Sokka would bring up what, according to a large amount of Suki’s fanbase, must have been a terribly scarring experience for Suki... just to win an argument with her? Just to piss her off because she’s making fun of him? They’re BOTH shown being remarkably inconsiderate towards each other and the struggles they faced in their respective journeys in this scene. It’s supposed to be lighthearted bickering, but the subject they’re choosing to talk about isn’t lighthearted AT ALL.

According to some Suki fans, Suki could have even been tortured, tormented in thousand ways, by Azula when she took her prisoner. There were whole posts going around about how heartwarming it was for Suki to still be waiting for Sokka, no matter what...!

And THIS is how Sokka reacted to Suki’s patient waiting for him? THIS? By telling her “lol loser Azula caught you anyhow so your argument’s invalid”? If Suki HAD gone through some serious torture, beyond getting stripped off her uniform, how on earth would it be healthy for Sokka to use this allegedly mentally scarring experience AGAINST HIS GIRLFRIEND?

Now then, it WOULD BE fucked up, but the truth is, Suki wasn’t tortured at all, so the whole delusional, tragic “Suki is so emotionally strong because she believed in the man who would come save her even in the darkest of moments!” is honestly nonsense in the end: a girl who was tortured, tormented and anguished by the memories of whatever she experienced in Azula’s hands wouldn’t have retorted to Sokka’s comment with an irritated: “Are you trying to get on my bad side?”

Yet again, Suki is annoyed.

They’re both annoyed by each other’s arguments.

But their discussion ENDS at this point, and goes forgotten, again.

Suki isn’t even a quality bickering source for Sokka, because as soon as Sokka rebuffs with a counterargument she doesn’t like, she turns things personal and takes offense. Where he may not have taken her initial taunt as a particular, personal attack, she does interpret his words that way.

AND THEN THEY PROCEED TO FORGET ABOUT THEIR ARGUMENT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS, YET AGAIN :’)

Now then... is all this so terrible? Am I making too big a deal out of small things that shouldn’t be inspected so closely, especially as they were likely written with humorous intent and nothing more? It’s entirely possible!

You see, I don’t exactly love the way romance is handled in ATLA because it’s frankly always flawed and faulty beyond belief. People often have said one of the three canon relationships is better than the others, but at this point I disagree altogether: they’re all written to be flawed and have huge gaps of logic in the behavior of the characters involved. The girls are always shown as prioritizing the boy above everything else ever, and the boys are too often shown leaving them behind, forgetting about their love interests alarmingly frequently, being outright FORCED by the plot to let go of their attachment to them, whereas there’s no such conflicts or situations with the girls, in the least! Implying that it’s fine for girls to be completely devoted to a relationship, to the point where their whole LIVES revolve around the boy they like, but the boy shouldn’t behave the same way and must learn to leave the girl behind or put her aside instead?

... The implicit sexism in this consistent writing element in ALL THREE CANON RELATIONSHIPS is honestly pretty disturbing. I don’t think I need to say much more about it, do I?

Now though, I will, however, point out that it’s relatively good for canon NOT to show Kataang, Maiko or Sukka as perfect relationships because it IS realistic. It’s not pretty, but it is realistic. These characters are children or teenagers who quite often didn’t even have good role models of romance in their parents or peers, let alone even slightly decent childhoods, so for them to be 100% healthy in terms of romance would have been utterly absurd. Therefore, these kids would be expected to make mistakes and then learn from them so their relationships improve over time.

Sokka and Suki’s relationship is flawed, which only lends MORE believability to it, because the characters aren’t warped to fit the narrative, to play them as unmistakably perfect, ideal partners for each other. But those flaws do lend for problems like the ones I pointed out above...

And you see, the ultimate problem is that these characters DON’T learn from those mistakes. They don’t. Mai and Zuko are shown making the exact same blunders in the show and the comics, hell, sometimes even worse ones in the comics. Sokka and Suki still act like they’re totally in love ONLY when they happen to be in the same place and even then? Suki outright ignores Azula’s zapping attack at Sokka in The Search! SHE’S IN THE SAME COURTYARD! But it’s the THREE BENDERS who come to Sokka’s “rescue”, despite he doesn’t even NEED rescuing, since the attack was goddamn meaningless anyhow.

The point is, however, that Suki is right there, damn it, taking care of APPA. And she’d sooner look after the sky bison that than check on her boyfriend, who was just “attacked” by her WORST ENEMY, WITH WHOM SHE WANTED A REMATCH???

Seriously. What logic is this. What kind of ROMANCE is this. It doesn’t make any sense to me, and if I were a Sukka fan I’d be beyond outraged by watching my favorite relationship written so carelessly.

So, because Yang’s writing isn’t even ALLOWED to move anything too far forward, because Bryke don’t want that, none of these relationships have developed in any interesting ways after the show. AT BEST you could say Kataang definitely act differently in the comics than they did in the show, for better or for worse, so you can say there’s some changes in their dynamics, though those changes aren’t necessarily related to genuine character growth. But Maiko? Same old story. Sukka? Same old story.

What exactly does Sukka do for Sokka at this point? He has someone to make out with whenever they cross paths? Yeah, okay, cool. And? That’s it? For that matter, he could be making out with anyone else just the same. What kind of room for growth does she offer him? Going by how she doesn’t even need him around her, by how she has never needed anything but mediocrity from him, I can’t say there’s anything to be found. Their relationship already dealt with its biggest possible hurdle WHEN THEY FIRST MET. That’s the main growth Suki offered Sokka, and now she can’t give him anything else because he’s way too efficient and learned everything she could teach him right away :’) Paired with this, Suki wasn’t developed enough as a character either, so if she has other regards in which she can teach Sokka a thing or two, we simply don’t know it, and the comics refuse to show it to us too, so up to date, Suki is severely underdeveloped by canon and will continue to be, as far as I can tell.

Which, of course, factors in the next question: what does Sukka do for Suki? Honestly, nothing. If this relationship did something interesting for her character, we’d have tons of things to say and discuss about her, but the truth is all Suki-related discussion tends to have nothing to do with Sokka (her past and growth as a Kyoshi Warrior, her future post-canon, whatever the heck happened to her by LOK’s time... I’ve never seen anyone genuinely pondering anything about her relationship with Sokka beyond “did they stay together or not?!?!”). Suki is at her best when she’s with the Kyoshi Warriors, because it’s the only element of her character that DOESN’T revolve around Sokka. Going by the plot of the Shells comic, she could go travel the world teaching girls self-defense, and kicking the asses of sexist dudes! It’s not really going to deepen her character, sadly, because that’s basically ALL we know about her since the start of the show, aside from her attachment to Sokka. And she doesn’t need Sokka to do this. She could do it by herself just the same.

Literally, just for the sake of giving Suki something else to do, not even for my personal OTP’s sake, I’d gladly see Suki breaking up with Sokka so she can damn explore who she is beyond this relationship? The Kyoshi Warriors serving in the Fire Nation Palace was probably the first interesting development for Suki in canon since she first met Sokka, and even then her role there was never explored fully, let alone was her potentially red-herring budding relationship with Zuko.

But who am I kidding? :’) not gonna happen. For all I know, they got married in canon and had a perfectly happy life together. A perfectly happy, mediocre life, where neither one has to make the slightest effort for the other, in the least. Taking each other for granted, every step of the way!

*sigh* I can’t want this for Sokka, seriously. I can’t. I love his character a lot, but I absolutely hate how he’s written in this relationship. Most my understanding of how Sokka behaves in a relationship has come from how he behaves with Yue, precisely because, as brief as their relationship was, he seriously appeared to value her above so many other things, to fight for her, to do anything he could to help her without asking for anything in return. And that’s why I write him as I do.

Love can feel different when you experience it with different people, of course, and I’m not asking for Sokka to be written exactly the same in two different relationships... but the difference is just way too vast. I don’t question he cares about Suki, but I do question that he genuinely loves her. This is NOT how someone in love behaves. And frankly, Suki’s behavior isn’t that of a girl in genuine love either. She likes him plenty, is impressed by the things he and his friends have achieved, but is it genuine love? How can it be, when they apparently can’t even trust each other about their personal experiences (Yue in Sokka’s case, spending months as a prisoner in Suki’s)? When his behavior rubs her the wrong way and annoys her when they’re at their most casual? When the bickering he’d likely enjoy having with a significant other just falters after two exchanges with Suki because she takes offense to what he said?

In conclusion:

Writing: the writing of this relationship is frankly really, REALLY flawed, far more than most fans are willing to acknowledge (whether fans of the ship or of the show in general). They try to make jokes with this relationship, but these jokes end up highlighting serious flaws in this relationship that are never addressed. Also, their relationship is hardly ever treated as something majorly important for Sokka, who constantly privileges his bond with Yue over Suki, which is radically contrasted with Suki, who has no meaningful relationships in the show beyond Sokka. As I pointed out earlier, the writing proposes the boy doesn’t need to revolve around the girl, but the girl DOES revolve around the boy? Absolutely appalling.

Dynamics: beyond their exchanges on their very first episode, their dynamics don’t offer anything unique to their characters. You can replace Suki with any other female character, and Sokka’s struggle to let go of Yue and accept a new love interest in his life wouldn’t change in any considerable way. It didn’t HAVE to be Suki, let alone a Suki whose original personality (sassy, demanding, proud to the point of bordering on arrogant, prone to making mistakes because of this flaw...) was completely hijacked by a new one (perfectly nice, friendly, reasonable, considerate, flirty, not demanding in the least, virtually flawless...). There’s not much Sokka can teach the Book 2-onwards Suki, or much else Suki can teach Sokka. There’s not much they can learn together either, because the writing never offers them new challenges they haven’t handled before. Their dynamics exclusively hinge on Suki being reliable in action situations, weak humor centered around Sokka being a mediocre boyfriend, and making out. That’s all their relationship provides, and frankly, they BOTH can do better than that.

Potential: I don’t think Sukka has much more potential beyond what we already have seen. Their natural chemistry isn’t anything out of this world, it’s FINE, but it’s not exactly something extraordinary that can’t be found anywhere else. And that’s really at the crux of why I don’t ship it or find much enjoyment in it: neither Sokka nor Suki appear to be at their best in this relationship. Suki is outright worse off by this relationship because she went from feminist poster child to a girl who REVOLVES AROUND A BOY. Please, let’s let that sink in? There are better possible relationships for them, relationships that absolutely could explore aspects of BOTH characters that have gone underdeveloped and overshadowed in canon, just for the sake of weak humor and make-out sessions.

*sigh*

Fact is, most the problems with Sukka are a matter of poor writing. With better writing, the relationship could be good, and would be easier to take seriously. But even then? I wouldn’t ever expect this relationship to outshine other possible ships for both Sokka and Suki. If you feature another girl as Sokka’s big, rude “girls are fighters too” awakening... what’s left for Sukka? Speaking from experience, seeing as I outright wrote that: without this factor, their relationship wouldn’t be anything particularly noteworthy. Sokka would respect Suki right off the bat, sure, maybe surprise her a bit because of how unpredictable and unexpected he can be, but there’d be no genuine reason for them to seriously develop feelings for each other. That their entire bond hinges on their first encounter, rather than the growth of their relationship across time, is far from appealing for me in a relationship. I absolutely need more than that to ship something.

I’ve already brought up most these arguments in the past, as well as others I probably forgot to mention, but I can give you one more post to look at (if you want it), specifically about how a certain ship can be a vast improvement for Sokka over Sukka :’D This, I’d hope, will clarify what I mean when I say other ships can offer Sokka far more than Sukka does. I didn’t dig into it here, since I tried to focus exclusively on why I won’t ship this, but that might help expand your understanding of my reasons not to support it. And then there’s also the ship I support for Suki... here are my arguments on that topic too. Admittedly, I was more centered on Zuko in this second post, but I basically already gave you all the arguments why Suki in Sukka doesn’t work for me :’D and there’s a few arguments in there about why Zuko would be a far more interesting love interest for Suki than Sokka has been so far, too. So... that’s that. I hope I gave you plenty to think about :’D

#anon #all this is about the ship itself #I have no qualm with the shippers except a select few #who exhibited some really gross behavior years ago #and whom I've happily not crossed paths with since then #I have no severe qualms with this ship's supporters #not like I do with OTHER ships #that won't be mentioned #so no I'm not saying no one should ship it #but I'm saying this is why I don't #*breeeathes*#anyways I hope you enjoy the veeeery long post anon

18 notes · View notes