#Iz meta

[sapphorror]

Obsessed with the way this page operates as the perfect encapsulated demonstration of how Zim and Dib have to respect each other in order to maintain their own egoistic fantasies. How they've become so tied up with each other that a judgement on one of them is inevitably a judgement on both. They build each other up to heights no one else would even imagine them capable of just so they can hold onto the satisfaction of building themselves up that much higher.

It's also a perfect ending for the Zimvoid in particular. Besides being funny, it strikes a great balance between leaving them genuinely affected by the experience, AND at the same time just as stupid as they ever were. My beloveds.

#invader zim #zim #dib #zade #zadp #meta #my meta #iz posting #natterings #saph reads

[izzysillyhandsy]

It is finally time for me to try writing about The Scene.

There's so much happening and changing within seconds. I feel that the whole history of Edward and Izzy is played out here, for (from their point of view) the last time.

We start off with Ed waking Izzy up, taking out his pistol (to Izzy's confusion) and then handing it to Izzy.

They are close, Ed is calm and fully in the moment. It is such an intimate moment, the way Ed tilts his head down in line with the pistol, never breaking eye contact.

And Izzy, who at first was trying to fend Ed off, now looks at him like this:

What is actually going on here? It seems like a return to something they've done before, like a memory of a tender moment. Of course, this is right after Ed tells Iz about the dream. Maybe it's just the closeness, or the fact that this must be the first moment in forever where Izzy is the sole focus of Ed.

But I feel that there is a story there, something in their past that makes Izzy - what is it - happy? Nostalgic? Regretful? I don't see turned on here, it's much softer than that.

"Good for you." (slightly sneering) "It was good for me." (completely sincere)

You don't need me to tell you this has more than one meaning.

Ed touches Izzy's hand as he stands up, "It was just what the doctor ordered."

The first half ends - these were the good times. Spending time together with weapons aimed at each other :). I think this was when both were young and relatively innocent, when life was exciting and the two of them were best friends, possibly even closer than that.

But now the second half starts.

"Anyway, it wasn't even like that."

Also has a double meaning.

"No, in my dream - I was standing. Just like this."

Ed turns his back to Izzy, making this an execution instead of an act of intimacy.

Izzy first raises the pistol, laughs brokenly and desperately. It feels like this was also a situation they'd both been in before. The laugh sounds like "No, we're not doing this. Once was enough."

I think a similar scene happened when they were young, and the next bit strengthens this theory for me.

Izzy puts his hand over half his face, his voice changes and he calls Ed "Eddie" for the first and only time in the show:

"Oh, you're scared, Eddie? To sc- to scared to do it yourself?"

Hornigold also calls Ed "Eddie", and I think Izzy is kind of channeling Hornigold here. Maybe, back on Hornigold's ship, Ed was ordered to execute someone and couldn't. And maybe Izzy had to do it for him. Maybe Izzy had to do lots of traumatizing things for Ed. Maybe the person executed was someone Izzy and/or Ed cared about. And maybe Ed started to resent Izzy for it. The way Ed is spreading his arms out, the way it seems almost staged - it's like Ed is saying "kill me like you killed him".

OR maybe this is how Izzy pep-talked Ed into becoming Blackbeard, which would be much darker (and harder for me as an Izzy apologist). But Izzy telling Stede that Ed's complete breakdown is like 50% his fault may point to events in the past where Izzy thought he had to push Ed into the Kraken-zone to secure their and their crew's survival. Maybe he did this often, especially at the beginning of their Blackbeard fuckery.

What is remarkable though is that Izzy hides his face with his hand, then forces out the words, almost choking on them. This clearly has importance and history - nothing so far in the whole show was forced out so violently - so I am heavily leaning towards a traumatic experience for Ed and Izzy both. It definitely crashes Izzy down from his nostalgia-high real quick.

Now Izzy's voice changes back to his own, but he speaks really fast and without inflection, trying to get everything over with:

"Go on clean up your own fucking mess I'm not doing it I've been doing it all my fucking life."

(without thanks I might add)

"Fuck off."

Izzy's finally, finally had enough.

Ed acknowledges, resignedly, and leaves. I think he expected it to go this way.

Izzy shoots himself. I think Ed also expected this.

Ed says he loved him best he could. It's over. He goes to his own death.

This scene is only a few minutes long, but as I said in the beginning, I think they're reliving their whole relationship here, first the good times (which are quickly devalued - "But it wasn't even like that") and the bad times (I did this for you, but for nothing - "Fuck off").

As Ed says to Frenchie, he's had closure with Izzy. He's shown him what it was like for him. Izzy's also had closure with Ed. From now on, Ed has to carry the weight of his decisions himself.

Both die.

(and then both indestructible fuckers come back)

#ofmd #ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd season 2 spoilers #izzy hands #edward teach #extreme closure with Ed and Iz #ofmd meta

[emmabirb8]

I've been an Invader Zim fan since 2011.

I was 15-16 at that time, and though I did thoroughly enjoy the show, I was not mature enough to really get it. Sure, it was funny, but I didn't pick up on the subtleties and style of humor beyond the surface level. I liked the wackiness and the characters, but I SURELY wasn't at a point of being able to deconstruct themes or analyze character motivations and narratives (like I very much enjoy doing now). I remember discovering an artist on DeviantArt who drew cute ZaGr stuff, so that was the pairing I liked too. I didn't think too deeply about much, and honestly, I don't think the majority of fans (if they were my age or younger, that is) did either. Everything was taken as dumb and silly for the most part, and that IS truthfully a major component of the show itself.

Getting back into Invader Zim within this past year though, I'm looking at it through a WILDLY different lens. I like Invader Zim for what it is and how it's intended to be perceived. I like that the show is meant to be dark, satirical, and tragic at the same time that it's silly, chaotic, and nonsensical. Almost everything that happens onscreen is written in to be funny above all else. (I've mentioned before that I've been watching Jhonen's Twitch streams for a while now, and I have a MUCH better understanding of his sense of humor bc of that. IZ makes way more sense if you can sorta see things from JV's perspective, lol.)

But at the same time, I also like Invader Zim for what it offers in terms of interpretation and what it can imply (intentionally or not). There is genuinely SO MUCH DEPTH to this dorky lil cartoon that a casual viewer wouldn't immediately pick up on. And a lot of that depth, I think, was not woven in purposely. The show itself was never meant to be taken so seriously. Nevertheless, I'm constantly fascinated by what IZ implies about good and evil, the nature of general society, and especially how it goes about demonstrating the devastating effects of social isolation and bullying. Meta for this series is always pretty damn *chef's kiss.* And what's even more interesting is how viewers manipulate canon to expand upon this world and these characters.

Given that I've come to understand Invader Zim better, I've also grown very fond of ZaDr. Now, while I wouldn't want to see this pairing happen in canon material, I love the potential it possesses in transformative contexts.

In reality, I get that these characters were intended to have a deep hatred for one another and a never-ending rivalry for the sake of comedy and not much else. It's an extraterrestrial perpetually throwing hands with a 12 year old because he's incompetent and his plans often fail. And that's funny. That's the point. But beyond that, canonically, these are two characters who are mirrors of each other; they're both treated like garbage by their respective peers, and they both crave acknowledgment, validation, and a sense of purpose. Throughout their story, they find they're only able to obtain these things from each other, so as a consequence of their similar personalities, they become utterly, unhingedly obsessed with each other (to a sometimes unhealthy degree). They are undeniably forever intertwined by design of how the show is set up.

And because of that, shipping of these characters was, frankly, inevitable in fandom spaces. I myself fell victim to their appeal too. (Sorry, Jhonen. 😅)

I'm not gonna go into any discourse surrounding this pairing because there's already PLENTY of that to go around online. Everyone has their own opinion on the subject, and that's fine. I respect that. Point is, even though I understand and appreciate what Zim and Dib are supposed to be in the context of the show, I also enjoy the idea of them as friends and romantic partners outside of and beyond the confines of canon.

And that's something that I think many fans who are biased toward ZaDr would also agree with! Actually, I'd say the majority of people who ship characters in ANY media would concur. We like the idea of seeing how specific relationships could develop over time and/or within different settings and circumstances. It's NOT always about wanting to see a relationship unfold on screen or in fan works strictly adhering to canon. It's about stretching canon, or in some cases, scratching canon entirely however you see fit! Who cares! It's fiction!

For me personally, I enjoy ZaDr because its attributes fall into so many trope categories that I've come to adore over the years (ones that I either wasn't aware of when I was younger, or that I didn't enjoy in the same intensity as I do now). Zim and Dib are, or could be, depending on context:

Codependent toxic soulmates

Human/non-human

Shared history

Classic enemies to lovers (or, as I often prefer it, enemies to friends to lovers)

Bicker couple

Battle couple, when put in the right setting for it

Violence as a love language

Smol and tol

The wild card paired with the rational one, the best part about this being that sometimes the more rational one is Dib, and sometimes it's Zim bc they're both a special flavor of insane

Make each other worse/stupider when together, tho oddly, they also kinda bring out the best in each other too

And, my personal favorites, the potential for hurt/comfort and angst with a happy ending, with the comfort and happiness aspects ultimately coming from each other

I like what these characters could be, to and for each other, apart from their roles in the show.

I would never want to explore a dynamic between Zim and Dib that goes beyond "frenemies" territory in canon (because that doesn't fit what the show is, and I do appreciate the integrity of Jhonen's vision). The subtle foundation for them is there, it's just that it can't really work unless a few key details are changed or manipulated, and, well...

I sure as hell like exploring every bit of that expanded potential in fan works because it's fun to imagine the various directions things could go if they were different!

This isn't me, like... trying to defend my (or anyone else's) enjoyment of this particular ship or trying to convince people to like it. Or the show for that matter! To each their own, truly. And I'm obv aware of the controversy ZaDr often incites and why. Everyone has valid reasons for liking OR not liking it, and I accept differing viewpoints on it. It's a touchy, nuanced subject to be sure. But this isn't about that.

I don't really know what this is, actually, aside from a very long very weird essay, lol. I just wanted to process why and how all of this works for me with my changed perspective from when I was first introduced to Invader Zim in my teens up until now.

It's strange, looking back. I didn't get ZaDr years ago. But I do now, and so much of it, at least from my perspective, has to do with taking the crumbs present in canon (that are undeniably there, whether you choose to acknowledge them or not, and whether they're intentional or not) and absolutely running with them to the ends of your own wild imagination.

#invader zim #invader zim meta #zadr #iz zadr #zim #dib membrane #my posts #this is... A LOT but i just needed to work thru it for my own sanity lol #said it before and i'll say it again: pls utilize the tag blocking function however you need to bc i KNOW this can be very Yikes for some #but at the same time this is my blog and i'm gonna do what i want :P

[beelzeballing]

listen i love izzy. i dont even have to say this, all of you are fully aware of that fact. today i woke up and before i was even conscious enough to clearly remember what i was thinking abt in retrospect, i was thinking about izzy. i am ALWAYS thinking about izzy.

but some people give that man too much fucking credit, especially in s1. "he said he massages the crew so that means they must have respected him if he can influence them" what show were you watching where that was happening? genuinely?? blackbeard's crew cannot stand izzy. at best theyre kind of afraid of him, at worst they think hes a joke and only begrudgingly respect his authority because he has blackbeard backing him. we are literally SHOWN in episode two what izzy's "massaging the crew" looks like:

fang expresses frustration and confusion at blackbeard's choice to follow the revenge and izzy basically tells him to shut the fuck up and do his job without asking stupid questions.

and we all remember what happened when izzy lost edward's shadow looming large behind him and had to actually lead a crew on his own; they staged a mutiny in less than 24 hours.

izzy hands in season 1 is many things, but respected by his crew he is not. id argue we dont even have enough info to confidently judge whether he actually cares about them or not.

that's what makes his arc in season 2 all the more emotional! because after all the jabs at him, the mean nicknames and his unsuccesful attempts at bullying people back into line, he finally earned the crew's respect through his care for them. so much so that, where they'd previously attempted to kill him the second edward was finally out of the picture, they now went behind ed's back (at great risk to themselves) just to save izzy. that's what it's all about! that's why the new unicorn scene hits like a fucking freight train! that's why his death scene was such an insult, with the crew observing from the sidelines instead of doing anything in their power to help him!

izzy hands is such a great character. stop smoothing him down into this innocent victim who has never done anything wrong in his life and has always had everyone's best interest at heart. he starts out a mean, vindictive, jealous little cunt whose top priorities are 1) the man he's in love with and 2) being at the side of the man he's in love with. thats half of his charm! the other stuff comes later!!

#moogsin' #sorry ive seen one too many posts blorbo-izing him #stop that #let him be a mean little ass. #please #ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #idk whether to tag this as critical or not. and its not meta i think #idk its less about the show and more abt how fans treat izzy #as a character #yknow? #ofmd s2 #ofmd spoilers #the izcourse

[goodluckdetective]

This is a Tim Drake Essay, I guess

Hello and welcome back to my blog. I’ve been recently getting back into comics and as a result, I’ve been kind of chewing on why out of all the Robins, Tim is my favorite.

I think everyone can agree that the new 52 did Tim 0 favors, as it just didn’t know what to do with him. Outside of that generally shared opinion, there’s a lot of general conflict within Tim fans about how Tim should be characterized. You have “super detective” flavors of Tim where he is painted as the “smartest of the Robins” which I don’t hate, but I also think is pretty simplified (Tim is smart, but I don’t think that’s his defining factor and to label him the smartest I think is off base given intelligence is a multitude of different skills). Then you have “woobie Tim” where he’s essentially “a poor little meow meow” which I personally cannot stand for a variety of reasons (but one of the biggest is how it paints Dick and Damian as malicious actors). Now if you like the previous two, I’m not going to come and shut down your party, that isn’t really the intent of this post. My intent here is more to explain to people who don’t understand why people like Tim who are mostly familiar with the fandom depictions above, a different perspective. If my opinion doesn’t sway you, that’s cool, I just wanted to leave my two cents out here.

The character trait Tim has that I generally really enjoy in characters who occupy a “sidekick” role, is this trope of characters whose motivation to participate in heroics not because of some past trauma or destiny, but mostly because it’s the right thing to do. This isn’t to bash characters who have motivations in destiny or trauma; I also love those(and of course they also choose their lives: Dick didn’t have to be Robin either). But I have always found something really fascinating about characters who, for all intents and purposes, could easily leave the danger of the narrative but stay anyway.

I think Frodo and the Hobbits are a good example of this? Yes, Frodo is somewhat forced to set off by Gandalf but by the time he reaches the council, he is given the option to opt out. He’s in fact told multiple times that he can opt out. But he stays instead and while the ring’s grip on him has something to do with that, I think a larger part is because he knows it’s important to do. He wants to make sure the right thing is done.

Frodo isn’t specially trained to be our protagonist and neither is Sam or Pippin or Merry. They aren’t trained fighters. They commit to this dangerous quest because of loyalty to each other and the greater good (also as a WW1 metaphor I know). And I think it’s always really interesting to have characters like this in a narrative who come outside of a life of danger, a life they could still go back to, and yet choose to stay. It asks questions about what makes a hero, is being a hero something for everyone, what is the cost of heroism, and how we place heroes on a pedestal often to their detriment. They can bring the plot back into focus on the people who aren’t heroes, the reason the heroes do what they do, and the impacts on that group.

And that’s why I really like Tim. Tim doesn’t seek Bruce out to become Robin: he wants Dick to take it back. The only reason he puts on the costume in the first place is to save Bruce and Dick. After that, he could have gone home to a wealthy upbringing (with less than ideal parents but that’s a whole other story) and done anything else. But he stays. Because Batman needs a Robin and someone has to do it.

That’s an interesting character motive to dig into! Tim absolutely is a bit naive about the danger ahead but he knows what happened to Jason, and he is, for all intents and purposes, an ordinary kid. What makes him interesting is that he decides to commit to heroism, a decision that is far from ordinary (there are a lot of capes in Gotham but it’s not exactly an every teen hobby without some wild backstory). And it raises super interesting parallels with Bruce. Bruce has chosen this life trying to prevent others from experiencing his interrupted childhood; Tim interrupts his own by choice. Bruce doesn’t often see himself as capable of having an ordinary life; Tim clings to keeping his cape separate from his day to day activity. Bruce’s commitment to the mission causes him to do harm to those he loves; Tim’s commitment to try to have a normal life causes him to harm those he loves. And this dynamic continues once he outgrows Robin: when do you stop being a “normal” person? How do you define yourself when the job you dedicated years towards is filled by someone who needs it more (I love Damian, this is a pro Damian Robin blog). Do you try to go back to being normal or is it too late for that? And even if you could go back, would you even want to?

I find Tim interesting because of all of that: the commitment to help other people and to reach out to others who are hurting despite not being obligated to. Because a lot of people who aren’t obligated to help don’t, and even a lot of people who are obligated to help don’t. And that I think is interesting! Especially when packed into a teenager who slacks in school, makes terrible choices sometimes and can sometimes let his ego get ahead of him.

Anyway those are my two cents.

TLDR: Tim is interesting as a character for the fact he chooses the heroic life despite having a relatively normal upbringing.

#tim drake #Iz rambles #I drop comic meta I wait for the tomatoes to hit me in the face #dc comics #Batman comics

[clefairytea]

Like I wouldn’t really recommend Zim as a show in and of itself if you’ve never seen it, like a lot of my enjoyment is nostalgia-based and while there’s some fun world-building and genuinely good gags, it’s kinda dated and doesn’t do anything SUPER interesting with the individual cool pieces it has.

But if you’re interested in how children’s media has changed from the 2000s until now and the particular type of mean-spirited nihilist humour that was in in the 2000s yeah absolutely, fascinating on that level.

#clefairy squeaks #Occupies a similar part of my brain to Danny Phantom where it’s like #This could be a LOT more fun and cool and interesting in the hands of like… #A better more thoughtful showrunner #And also I have a lot of nostalgia for it #IZ and the way it appeals to kids especially ND kids is super interesting tho like #A lot of it’s appeal to me then was definitely being like. an undiagnosed autistic at a shitty miserable school #A lot of it’s appeal to me now is kinda this meta-examination of it #Also if you’re just interested in voice acting it might be worth watching because it has some truly deranged and delightful line reads

[ethyt7]

NEXT ROUND

#kirby meta knight #kirby series #kirby star allies #kirby and the forgotten land #kirby return to dreamland #invader zim #zim #zim iz #enter the florpus #Spotify

[verm1c1de]

splatoon au not as in theyre in splatoon but they all play splatoon and theyre really badat it. zim would mewse chargers i think bcs theyre huge and also he thinks hes good at them ((he isnt)) .dib mewses shooters bcs hes bad at video games and GAZ SLOSHER SWEEP!!!!

#((guess whos bad at splatoon)) #((((its literally in my top 5 favorite games)))) #((((((im so bad at shootign and also killing)))))) #iz #invader zim #vermi.txt #ask me about spoon. not the lore. i know the lore. but not that well #dont ask me abt gameplay eifur. bcs idk it. im not meta. im not a gamer. idk tactics #but ask me about it

[charaznablescanontoyota]

8 & 12!

8. Is there a skill you think you’ve improved the most on?

insane answer but i intentionally started actually using semicolons in all of my writing this year. in my high school writing program our teacher was like "if you don't understand semicolons, don't use them" and never really taught us how to use them and finally after like a DECADE i have broken myself out of that mental prison because i read some other writers whose work i thought was really delightful and they used a ton of semicolons and i was like "i want to do that"

2023 year of the semicolon i guess

12. What’s your most popular fic for the year? Is it your best one?

thought i saw stars, but it was the rain, the gross but consensual vampirism fic i wrote about my two favorite fake sports blorbos who were dead and then they weren't suddenly. i still really like it and i think it is the best thing on my ao3 from this year so there ya go!

#writing meta meme #THANKS IZ

[sapphorror]

See. The funny thing about Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom is that it's easily the worst example of Zim exacting extremely out of proportion vengeance and wasting an absurd amount of resources in order to spite Dib... except it's technically not.

Because listen. Despite that simulation being one of the most horrifying, violating, mentally scarring things to ever happen to Dib—and that is NOT a low bar—it wasn't actually an act of intentional violence on Zim's part. The point of the simulation wasn't to punish Dib, it was to prove his guilt, and in true Zim fashion amazing amounts of damage are brought about through a totally different means than intended, most likely without Zim ever realizing his miscalculation. I mean, come on! He gave Dib nice imaginary things. What could possibly be traumatic about that?

Zim's actual act of vengeance was just another muffin to the face—which makes this episode, from a certain POV, the most perfectly proportionate act of retaliation that Zim's ever enacted.

#invader zim #zim #dib #zade #zadp #iz posting #meta #my meta #natterings #desperately need dib years down the line referencing the time zim caused him irrepable psychological harm over a muffin #and zim having no fucking idea what hes on about because that wasnt torture you stupid lunatic human #zim can SHOW you torture *foreboding pak activation sound*

[izzysillyhandsy]

I think the tragedy of Izzy is that he is the only character in the show who is severely punished for every transgression - and even the transgressions of others.

Ed gets a cannonball to the head, yes, but he is trying to get himself killed at that point. His atonement after he comes back is a few hours of banishment and a cat bell. The crew who openly plot to mutiny (and kill Stede) in S1 get art therapy.

Compare that to the mental and physical torture Izzy undergoes in S2 - and the lasting reminders of the violence done to him. There are lash marks on his back. His first severed toe doesn't magically heal, and his shot leg has to be amputated. Even his suicide attempt leaves a visible scar, while Ed comes away from a cannonball to the head without any lasting damage. In the end, Izzy (probably) dies from a combination of blood loss and an abdominal gunshot.

No other character in this show has any lasting effects from being - in some cases mortally - wounded like Izzy (apart from Lucius, but his finger is played more or less as comedy, and it's definitely not narrative punishment).

But Izzy doesn't only have to carry the consequences of his own actions. In the end, Izzy dies of a combination of the worst traits of the people he loves/aligns himself with.

Ed's projected self-hatred and perceived unloveableness costs Izzy half a leg. Yes, Izzy hurt him deeply and goaded Ed into becoming Blackbeard again. But Ed's extreme reaction and violence towards the person closest to him is all about Ed's issues.

Stede's careless recklessness (Things have a way of working out. At least for me.) and his casual disregard for the safety of others besides himself and Ed put Izzy in the path of a bullet. And yes, it wasn't Stede's fault. But it was Stede's "suicide mission" - planned without a thought for risk minimization and a blind trust in luck (or other people jumping in to save the day).

If I wanted to be really dramatic, I'd say Izzy died for Ed's and Stede's sins. And in the end, he even takes all of Ed's faults onto himself - thereby absolving him.

Maybe the Jesus Christ Superstar thing wasn't as clear-cut as we thought. We even get the classic pietà pose of a crying Ed holding his dead Izzy in the end.

(Which would make Ed a mother figure to Izzy. I think I'll better stop here.)

#ofmd #izzy hands #ofmd meta #Izzy has his faults #Ed has his faults #Stede has his faults #but Izzy suffers exponentially more than those two #also his suffering leaves scars - and finally leads to his death #I really cannot see how on earth Izzy deserved this #this is a comedy - sure #not for poor Iz though

[sabakos]

yeah okay that's probably enough

#blog meta #y'all can keep booping me iz cool #but i think im done boopspamming for the night

[fitzrove]

Actually all of my (canon-adjacent, for Vienna prods) Elisabeth takes boil down to wanting my favourite meow meows to suffer as much as possible. Tod (if we're doing a more human take) can never have Elisabeth, the only person he's ever loved - the person who actually made him aware of such a thing existing for him - because she's free and belongs to herself (and hence is gone at the end of the show: the thing that makes their relationship special is what makes it so he can't have a 'happy ending'); Rudolf can never have Tod; Lucheni can never have peace of mind/absolution/salvation (= kiss hehe) because he doesn't think he deserves it.

Also, as evidenced by Prolog the entire show is Lucheni's self-insert fanfiction and the other unhappy characters who "never stop talking about Elisabeth" are reflections of that

#i'm being very antifeminist by only meow meow-izing guy characters 😔 #this could be solved by casting me as all of them 😌 #no but for elisabeth i want a happy ending she's suffered enough #perhaps the only happy ending in the entire show #also while tod and lucheni have unhappy endings because of the narrative rudolf has an unhappy ending because of the laws of metaphysics #i don't believe its because he goes to hell for murder suicide and adultery or something moralizing like that lol thats not fun #idk within the show i guess its because of homopho- [gets shot] #oajfkdl no but i do think its because tod is a manipulative girlboss #its okay him sticking around forever like a ghost with unfinished business is kinda hot and sexy oajfldlcl #meta #elisabeth

[izloveshorses]

after some reflection, i think season 2 is the most i ever liked octavia, and i think it’s because she actually has... direction. somewhat of a narrative arc. a purpose. 

the problem with her imo is the showrunners never really knew what to do with her. they have this character who, on the basic premise, is so interesting: a girl who grew up living under the floor, unsocialized and dependent upon her brother to parent her. but they did nothing with such a fun backstory more times than not. she should get to be weird. maybe i would like her more if they didn’t lean into the sexy mysterious girl trope and instead let us have a weird girl™ on screen. but they didn’t. and to me all of her arcs just kinda feel like the showrunners just.... flailed around? like they never gave her anything to do, or a way to discover her personality, so they give her short arcs where she learns random skills and suddenly becomes useful. they need a girl to speak the grounder language? she learns it in like 3 episodes. they need someone to fight with a sword? she has like 2 days of training 😭 

but then in season 2, she gets a chance to like... be a little more fleshed out? but not in a girlboss™ way they want her to be but she like learns from her mistakes and her growth is relatively realistic. and her motives, too! she was shunned by her people, of course she’s seeking community and approval elsewhere. of course she wants to prove herself so bad. and even i can’t help but root for her a little bit. 

but after that they just... kinda don’t know what to do with her. and then there’s the racism. the racism, the racism, the racism. too many characters of color die/suffer for the sake of this skinny white girl. her brother more than anyone else. she hits lincoln for ?? being forced into an addiction?? and then the next season he dies and is used for her development for the rest of the show. and illian appears in season 4 literally only to exist as a prop for her. i’d even argue indra is mostly used this way as well. bellamy wears the scars she gives him for the entire second half of season 3 for a mistake that was not his. that alone will always leave a nasty taste in my mouth. 

so idk, i feel like octavia has always had potential to be interesting. i certainly love what fic authors do with her. but to me she’s just one of many perfect examples of what white feminism looks like on tv: a ‘cool badass’ white girl who stands on the graves of characters of color, and is still widely celebrated. 

#the 100 #iz watches t100 #meta #anti octagon #anti oct*via blake #i mean she's not real so i never have to forgive her for what she did to bel asdlhkfj #but god #idk if it's cool to speak negatively on this but i feel like not enough ppl talk about the racism that makes up this character's narrative #like while it was airing yes #but i don't see so much discussion on it anymore #idk #these are just my thoughts on the subject #and once i get through more seasons i'll be able to speak a little more eloquently on it #anyway fanon octagon > canon octagon <33 #thank u for ur time

[goodluckdetective]

I'm working on fic and thinking about something that I think is important regarding Crowley and Aziraphale.

This entire big messy fight is part of a huge misunderstanding and I think there's a lot of focus on where Aziraphale has fucked it up majorly regarding how he thinks Crowley thinks of Heaven. Aziraphale has never really considered that Crowley might not want to be an angel again and it really backfires in his face here, rightfully so.

However, something I think that's important to note is Crowley hasn't really considered what it's like to be Aziraphale. On some level, Aziraphale is aware he can't entirely understand Crowley's experiences: he doesn't know what it's like to fall, or be cast out, and I think he knows this, even if he still makes that massive logical mistake above. But I don't think Crowley has ever considered that just because he was an angel doesn't mean he understands what it's like to be Aziraphale.

Let me clarify a bit: Crowley is implied to have had a pretty high rank in heaven. Way higher than Aziraphale. He worked on high level projects. And while he was cast down, during his time in heaven, it appears he had something Aziraphale has never had up there: respect.

Because while Crowley was an angel once, he's never been a lower rank and file angel. He was able to summon a Principality to hold his papers! Sure, he lost that when he fell, but to compare the experience of being someone who paints the stars to someone who holds the chart for the star painter is very different. Crowley assumes Aziraphale knows all the upper brass are bastards because he's interacted with them: Metatron knows who he is. Aziraphale? He was barely able to get a conference call with the man over celestial zoom.

When you keep this in mind, is it really that surprising that Aziraphale still thinks Heaven can be good? He's never had enough respect or power to see the rot at the core first hand, not outside of Gabriel and a few other of the archangels. He's never had enough sway to see how systems can't change when they're built on corrupted ground: Crowley can. And when Crowley assumes that Aziraphale must know this, he has to know it won't work, Aziraphale likely hears "I don't you can do it. I don't believe in you and I don't believe in us."

And that's a pretty big thing to overlook.

#iz rambles #good omens season 2 #good omens spoilers #good omens 2 spoilers #good omens meta #crowley #aziraphale #even in Hell I think Crowley has more respect than Aziraphale ever has

[morganismoss]

I’m not someone who’s ever written a meta post before, but I’m making an exception to talk about my favorite character and my favorite ship. Anyone who’s looked at my blog(s) for more than two seconds can tell that I adore Lucius and Lucius/Black Pete (lucpete). That said, I’ve also always been a multishipper, or at least a “yeah I can see that” type of fan, so I don’t hate Lucius/Izzy Hands (lizzy). I get the appeal, I enjoy some of the fics, I don’t think people should stop shipping it. 

However, it’s always been kinda ‘meh’ for me. Like, sure, it’s nice and all, but also: lucpete is right there.

Sixish months later, I’m finally able to articulate why it’s not my fave. I’ve been thinking about this since April.

Lucius and Izzy do not change because of each other and that makes for a boring ship.

If we think about their big scene in episode 5, what changes after their encounter? Absolutely nothing. Lucius doesn’t learn to respect Izzy’s authority as first mate, he doesn't stop being loud and proud about who he is. Izzy doesn’t reflect on his actions and grow to respect Lucius, he doesn't ask himself why Lucius bothers him so much.

Both characters continue on as normal.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this! Izzy’s character isn’t meant to grow and change, that’s not his function. Lucius’ function as a character also doesn’t require him to change. Given all of that, it makes their ship kinda boring to me. A lot of fanworks have to make Izzy soften towards Lucius in order for it to work, and that’s okay, but we kinda already have that with Lucius and Pete.

Now, maybe something will happen in season 2 that’ll make me go “wow I love these two together,” but as it stands, it’s still not my favorite.

#our flag means death #ofmd #meta #ofmd meta #i could have worded this more seriously but i did enough of that in college thanks #also I know there's like a whole Thing with iz's subfandom in general but I honestly don't have the spoons to unpack that #and also con and nathan kinda play into the whole thing but again no spoons for that either #i hope this doesn't come across as hate i said multiple times i have no problem with the ship otehrwise i wouldn't have included it in lls #its not a moral failing to like them blah blah blah #a genuine morgan post™ #you have to imagine lucpete happy