Sanji being the only one checking up on Usopp during Water 7 and Enies Lobby makes me ill. The second Luffy and Usopp are arguing and Sanji kicks his own captain for acting that way. The way he snaps at literally everyone. Like-- Okay, everyone was irritable and emotional at the moment because Usopp was leaving. But there's just something about the way they portray Sanji's anger and reaction towards the situation that makes me go insane. It's not only the fact that he defends Usopp at all costs, but also how he's the one verbalizing it too. He cares deeply about him. And I feel Sanji is the one who would look around him to look for Usopp even when he knows he isn't there. And then he finds him again, and the first thing he does is kick Franky for hurting him. No hesitation. "Our long-nose" what do you mean OUR???? He finds the possessive somehow comforting because Usopp is still theirs, no matter what. And then Usopp acts like a proud, stubborn, dramatic idiot. And he wears that stupid Sogeking suit and Sanji is just so done with him but in the most endearing of ways. Then the whole "I'll do what you can't, and you'll do what I can't" thing happens, and it's so important for Usopp's character. It makes him trust in his crew and believe in himself and his abilities and it's Sanji the one saying it because he was with Usopp in Alabasta when Usopp told Chopper "Just do whatever you can". It's just so beautiful. The bond Sanji and Usopp have throughout the series and how much it shows in Water 7 and Enies Lobby that Sanji cares about him in a different way he cares for the others. He wants to protect him but he knows Usopp can do it alone. He protects him when it matters. Sanji understands Usopp because he's been there before, feeling left out, weak, and inferior. Then the whole drama happens yadda yadda yadda. And when Usopp is plotting how to get back to the crew, the one listening is Sanji. He asks himself what is the idiot he has for a friend doing, but he stays to listen to him. To keep an eye on him. He could've just told him to come back right at that moment. Talk to him. But he didn't because he knew this was something Usopp had to do for himself. He just watched his steps carefully and wished for the idiot to come back soon. And you know, I think it's nice to see how Sanji keeps Usopp close all the time.
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I've been reading Exodus lately and I've just gotten to the portions where God gives the first commands to the people via Moses (twice), and then goes on to give detailed instructions about the tabernacle and how it should be built, and I'm just... we think art is unimportant?? we think things only mean as much as their functionality?? we so easily fall into the trap of believing that beauty means nothing, that it's cheap and only worth whatever mindless distraction it brings, that it's barely more than a cheap sensual thrill, that buildings should just be practical and plain and cheap, that everything should be functional but ultimately disposable, that paintings and dresses and mugs and curtains and carpets are just pretty but have no real value, that beauty is fleeting and vain and therefore shouldn't be thought about too much, if even looked for at all... we fall into these traps so easily, and we forget that there are chapters upon chapters of painstakingly detailed plans to build one portable worship tent, and those plans have been handed down through thousands of years of human history, because beauty and art and skill in craft is important
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You know something I don't think I've ever seen people talk about is how Freddie changed the lyrics for Big Spender.
Because in case you don't know, all original versions of the song are sung by women - and it is made very clear that they are singing to men:
The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a man of distinction
A real big spender
[....]
So let me get right to the point:
I don't pop my cork for every man I see
Hey, big spender
Spend a little time with me
Probably not too surprising, then, that when Queen performed this song in 1974 Freddie had to do a bit of a gender-switch on it:
Though, it would probably be more accurate to say that Freddie made this song gender-neutral because he didn't change it to be about a woman. He eliminated the first use of "man" entirely and then sang "I don't pop my cork for everyone I see" (instead of "every man").
And honestly there's probably a whole dissertation you could write just about those changes alone, but what I really love is when Queen brought the song back in 1986 and Freddie changed the lyrics again:
Because yes he still dropped the first "man" but the "everyone" is changed and Freddie instead sang "every guy" with just the barest hint of a "-rl" sound at the end to give him plausible deniability if anyone asked about it.
So much of Freddie's music speaks to his experiences as a queer man but, because of the nature of the times in which he lived, he couldn't always be directly open about that fact. Most of his love songs are intentionally vague, and he sang about "somebody" or "you" to avoid having to use gendered terms as much as possible.
Freddie singing "I don't pop my cork for every GUYrl I see" wasn't just an adjustment to the original lyrics, it was a specific change from how Freddie had sang it before in order to make it more gay in a way that he could rarely be with his own music, and that is what I adore about this. It's such a little thing, but it gives such a unique insight into how Freddie balanced his sexuality and his stardom, and how the relationship between those two changed over the nearly 12 years between these performances.
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three conversations about one thing
He’d known there would be consequences when he made this decision. But he hadn’t realized how quickly they might steamroll right over him.
(Jughead & Veronica & Cheryl & Betty & memories of the future. Set post-7x19.)
read it on ao3.
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travis matagot just -- the very concept of him unlocks something deep and feral in my brain, even aside from all the changeling stuff. an angel looked upon you once as a child and, after seeing every possible thread and pathway of the man you will grow into one day, said 'I see no sin here' even as its holy flames consumed your screaming parents and the town around you. that angel, having stumbled head over heels to earth after killing god, later deliberately loses their name to you in a card game so the eyes of heaven can't find them. you and the angel have proceeded to annoy the everloving FUCK out of each other for centuries because you just keep. bumping. into each other!!!! through the power of like Narrative and also simply being two of the only people who've even been around that long. you've kept their name for them this whole time and never breathed a word of it, even though they seemingly never even explained why they wanted to lose it in the first place. you've sworn to die together or not at all.
what if you met an eldritch horror as a child and then became their best (and most irritating) friend/life partner/frenemy/perpetual thorn in their side (affectionate). I'm obsessed with this idea of being divinely judged as unworthy of damnation so early in your life and having to have that in the back of your head forever even as your self-loathing and trauma start piling up over the centuries and you have done so many shitty things along the way. like. is he trying to prove them wrong. is that part of his whole thing about trying to escape the narrative. or is it to prove that 'no actually awful things happen to me because I'm awful, you got it wrong from the start (fuck you btw)' because at least that feels like a choice, like some kind of control to hold on to? what is going on here travis. what the fuck
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It aren’t about anyone here, but while it's already been stated on guideline, to make a personal psa in depth, if we notice the Starwake System and especially Micah are being infantilized / overly sexualized / excessively underestimated, it's a hardblock. A prominent pattern we notice is when most prompts we're given from a mun involves Micah being comforted / assisted, which we personally find it demeaning. Especially as an Asian individual who experiences all of these three aspects in the rpc / on the internet and especially in real life, I'm really not in the mood to let our muses, especially my most beloved Asian OCs, be subjected to such treatments.
With Micah in this case when it comes to infantilization and the underestimating, they are extremely emotional and sensitive as they can be childish and dependent, just as I am too, but no muses should be always babying and underestimating them. Micah is quite powerful and skilled, and they were quite known to be highly aggressive and wrathful when they were younger--- they CAN be so as wrath is actually their biggest vice, believe it or not, it's just they actively choose not to / try not to due to experiences and mindsets while they had gone through sessions with both their personal therapist and alter therapist with Phoebus who helped them find ways to manage their anger issues and intrusive thoughts. There's just so many layers and factors to their "childlike" traits that I can write essays on, but basically, their traumas and lack of certain experiences and treatments and having certain needs make them the way they are. I'd never write characters as silly or childish to poke fun or coddle and people shouldn't either nor narrow characters into one trait because they happen to have foolish or childish traits.
Being small and petite or emotional and gentle, what have you, should not make one a weak person and I really wish more folks can understand that, truly, speaking out for both characters and people.
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