#They just make me feel things | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

andrewwtca · 3 months

Text

when are we reborn? a messy Final Fantasy VII Rebirth essay

FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH SPOILERS AHEAD

I just finished Rebirth yesterday. It took me 72 hours. There were some things that I didn’t love—but I loved the majority of it, and god were the things I loved amazing. This is genuinely one of the greatest video games I’ve ever played and one of the most immersive stories I’ve ever witnessed. This is what video games can be. I’ve seen some people call it a must-play and I have to agree. It’s just such an experience.

And, in my typical fashion, my brain already started to literary analyze. The game presents so much in nearly every aspect a theorizer or analyzer would want, leading me to wonder what its forefront means. So behold a very messy impromptu essay about the meaning of Rebirth.

what’s in a name?

Let’s start with Remake. What does its title serve to do? It informs about what the story will give us from three angles: first, a meta angle. It’s letting us know that this is, obviously, a remake of FF7. Secondly, it provides a narrative angle. It’s letting us know that everything we hold true about the world of FF7 will be remade. We learn this through the inclusion of the Whispers, who provide a literal narrative reason for why the story is different this time around. Destiny and fate are now active forces in the narrative. And finally, it provides insight into the characters. It tells us that what we are going to see is the same characters but in a completely new light. This is especially true with Cloud, who we see in the original (hence dubbed ‘OG’ and ‘the OG’) act stoic and standoffish until hours and hours in the game. In Remake, we see the ‘true’ Cloud shine through very early on, through his kindness and headaches.

And Remake is also just a badass name for the series. The Remake trilogy. That’s just good.

What is the meaning of Rebirth then? From a meta angle, we can see that it’s giving birth to a completely new world, one we never got to experience in the OG. With its tens of quests and hours upon hours of side content, we are witnesses to a rebirth of what FF7 is and can be. From a narrative angle, rebirth refers to the establishment of new timelines. The world is reborn time and time again, branches of the original timeline that are usually doomed to end in disaster. (Hence, Sephiroth Reborn.) And finally, when considering the characters? That’s where the word rebirth truly shines.

role call

FF7 is praised for having such a strong cast of characters. While some people may fairly argue how this holds up over the compilation, the OG has a diverse, fun, and just alive cast of characters. From a vengeful man learning how to let go of his anger to fight for justice and his daughter to a teenage ninja wanting to liberate her country, we get such a colorful range of stories that it’s no wonder FF7 attracts such a wide range of fans.

And it’s not just as individuals: as a team, the characters are a delight. They are the essence of found family with a connection to one another that highlights the true theme of the game: that the true way to combat capitalism, threats to the planet, and evil as a whole is through love. It’s hard for me to even pinpoint a single relationship that highlights this the most because they’re all so important to the narrative of each other’s character growth.

We have Cloud who inspires the cast and the cast helps learn him to accept and love himself. We have Aerith who teaches the cast about the world and the cast gives her friendship that she never felt in her life. We have Tifa who teaches the cast about willpower and the cast teaches her self-confidence. We have Barret who teaches the cast about the will to never give up and the cast gives him the steps to giving up his pursuit of revenge and fighting for the ones he loves. We have Nanaki who teaches the cast about their authentic selves and the cast lets him be his. We have Yuffie who teaches the cast about the importance of community and the cast gives her a community that unconditionally cares for her. We have Cid who teaches the cast about finding new dreams and the cast gives him a way to achieve those dreams. We have Vincent who teaches the cast about responsibility and the cast teaches him about self-forgiveness. We have Cait Sith. This is the most bare-bone summary of what they bring each other emotionally, not even touching on individual relationships or their place in combat.

But when talking about this story from a meta perspective, what actually ties these characters together? In the OG, it’s a bit unclear. They all have some reason for fighting Sephiroth and they all have some reason for wanting to save the planet. They have some introduction that gets them on this wild train ride, but what was the reason for putting this cast together? What lets them build this relationship?

Remake and, in particular, Rebirth makes it simple: loss.

giving and taking

With all that Rebirth gives us, we have lost so much. In going from Midgar to the rest of the world, we’ve lost the familiar steel sky, we lose the familiar streets, and we’re thrust into the unknown journey. All our characters lose their normality: Cloud is no longer a slum merc, Barret is no longer with Marlene, Tifa is no longer a bartender, Aerith is no longer a flower seller, and Nanaki is no longer an experiment. (Note for that last one: loss is not always a negative experience.)

In this unknown journey, we are constantly exposed to these two extremes of gaining and losing. Following the Bandits' journey, they lose their bandit identity, gaining one of a corporate entity before forgoing that one and returning to their roots, but in a new light. Following Kyrie’s journey, she constantly tries to gain a new life as a merc but due to her laziness, loses it before reuniting with her grandmother, the Angel of the Slums, and re-establishing her life in a new light. It might seem like they are gaining, losing, and then returning to their original state, but that original state is gone. Just like how Sector 7 may one day exist again, the plate is gone, those people are gone, and things cannot go back to how they were.

Zack’s entire episode is about this loss of normality. His normal before Nibelheim was Shinra. His normal after Nibelheim was the labs. His normal after the labs was that struggle to survive and take care of Cloud. And finally, when he makes it to Midgar? The world is ending. He’s gained a second chance and he’s about to lose everything for good this time, when he’s already lost so much of his identity. With Aerith unconscious, he has lost any sense of direction and doesn’t know where to go or what to do. He just wanted to start where he left off, but where he left off no longer exists. He has no choice but to forge forward.

All the different timelines show him gaining something: in the timeline where he goes after Cloud’s cure, he gains apathy toward the end of the world. In the timeline where he goes after Biggs, he gains a will to keep going, to reclaim his life. In the timeline where he does nothing, he gains access to an entirely new world; that ending doesn’t quite hit the mark, but it follows the pattern. With all that Zack has lost, at the very end, he gains something, for better and for worse. He has forged forward, through loss gaining something new.

The very game starts with that showcase of loss: Cloud’s retelling of the Nibelheim Incident. Despite his version not being accurate, this tragedy is the epicenter of Cloud’s character and goes on a tidal wave of losing and gaining. It starts with something lost: Nibelheim burning. And then, something gained: Cloud’s status as an experience. Lost: Cloud no longer knows who he is in those experiments. Gained: Zack saves him, and his status is now free. Lost: Zack dies. Gained: Claiming Zack’s memories, Cloud Strife, First Class Soldier is created.

Or, in other words: Cloud is reborn. Again and again, Cloud is reborn. Once as an experiment, again as a free, comatose man, and once again as a SOLDIER (see: a mentally ill, conscious man). Cloud ‘dies’ and is ‘reborn,’ and he is constantly redefining himself, whether by choice (such as in Advent Children) or against his will (such as pretty much every other moment in his life.)

This theme of loss leading to rebirth is shown masterfully in the beautiful Trial of the Ancients sequence. We have Nanaki who loses his freedom, even loses his name, becoming Red XIII. We have Tifa who loses her home, loses her father, and loses everything she’s ever known. We have Yuffie who loses Sonon, leading to an extreme mental breakdown. We have Barret who loses his wife, loses his best friend, and loses his home indirectly due to his actions. And we have Aerith, who loses her mother and loses the only life she’s known.

Not shown in the trials, we know what the others have lost: Cid (whose backstory in OG was his losing the ability to make his dream of going to space come true) who loses so much freedom due to Shinra and loses Elmyra. Vincent who loses Lucrecia and loses his place in life. Cait Sith (see: Reeve) who loses the lives of thousands.

These characters do not know the extent of each other’s losses—they are not even aware of each other’s losses. But they are connected through it. They have all lost so much; and yet, they are reborn.

Nanaki becomes Red XIII who becomes a new, loved Nanaki. Tifa becomes a bartender who becomes a warrior for the planet. Yuffie becomes a part of a new team who becomes her true glowing self. Barret becomes a father who becomes the leader of an AVALANCHE branch. Aerith becomes a new daughter who becomes a florist. Cid becomes a pilot who becomes the team’s pilot. Vincent becomes a non-literal vampire who becomes a leading force against Sephiroth. Cait Sith literally died and was literally reborn.

They are reborn from their memories and through their love. Their loss carries them forward, oftentimes hindering them from connecting with others. And yet, it is that hindrance that connects them. It is the struggle that connects them. What they lose in immediate friendship, they gain in lifelong comradery. For example, Cloud and Barret couldn’t see on the same planet, let alone eye-to-eye when they first met, and they, throughout Remake, became each other’s ride or dies.

Even we, the players, are reborn in the story. We experience the loss of Aerith once again in a new light, in a new tragic twist, and we have gained so much by the reimagining of her character and here we are again, losing.

With every step we take, we are leaving the one behind us. They are footprints that we have made, footprints we cannot erase, but we have left them behind us. And we continue to forge forward a new path. We cannot be born again, for we are already alive. Yet we can reinvent ourselves with the knowledge we have.

who we are

So, who gets to be reborn? All of us.

Every gain is a loss and every loss is a gain. There’s loss, gain, and grief everywhere. Grief is love lingering, and there is love everywhere. Grief is loss and grief is gain. These characters have lost so much, have had so much grief piled onto them that it should surely destroy them, and yet they gain: they become new versions of themselves, for better and for worse.

That is the meaning of Rebirth and that is the message of Rebirth: love, live, lose, and then do it all again. That is what ties us together in life. Love and loss are two sides of the same coin like life and death. There cannot be one without the other. And if you let loss overtake you, you stop living; much like Sephiroth. He let the loss of his normality define him. He lost everything and was reborn one last time as a monster.

We lose every single day. We lose keys and we lose arguments and we lose our minds. And we gain every single day. We gain friends and we gain insight and we gain new ways forward. And so, we are reborn every single day. Every step we take, every word we say, we are redefining who we are, who we want to be, and who we can be. Just like how all of Cloud’s new hobbies (dancing, crossdressing, photography, cards, chocobo racing) in Rebirth give him a new path forward, so too do all our choices. Our fates are up to us, just as it is up to them. We are the ultimate harbingers of our destiny.

So when are we reborn? Every single second we are alive. So make the most of life, and above all, love and lose.

I hope this ‘essay’ was readable. I hope you gained something and hopefully didn’t lose your mind. Thank you for reading!

#ff7 #ff7 rebirth #rebirth spoilers #media analysis #literary analysis is my special interest #andrew's essays #meta essay #ff7 meta #if there's any big issues lmk I wrote this on 5 hours of sleep while fasting #they just make me feel things #grief and love and all that...

9 notes · View notes

oddly-casual · 1 year

Text

Cant stop thinking about how Donnie feels different from his brothers always and not just because of his interest in tech, but the way he communicates and expresses himself. The fact that he knows he’s much different than the rest of them and that affects the way he attempts to be perceived by others. Donnie hasn’t forced himself to change, so does that mean he assumes the others will have to stay and like him if he builds things constantly?

Cant stop thinking about how Leo knows he’s different from the others because he feels he doesn’t have a solid title to defer to when talking about his family, because not fitting into a box means that he must not fit in at all right? Bogging down his own potential because he fears failing the people he loves most.

Cant stop thinking about April, who thinks of herself as a failure (thoughts of self doubt don’t just go away), who’s made friend and seen things a ‘regular’ person would never see or understand in their life time. Who is ‘normal’ compared to her brothers but too weird to relate to everyday people. Who doesn’t consider herself part of the family either because she just doesn’t feel she belongs or because she’s not related by blood. Who tries hard to make friends and fit in with other people at school but can’t because there’s just something different and ‘strange’ about her that people recognize but never say, so April doesn’t know what it is. This feeling like something about her is wrong but she can’t place what it is.

Cant stop thinking about how Mikey doesn’t feel like an equal in his own family at times, because him being the babyest brother means that he obviously can’t do anything by himself and he obviously can’t protect himself alone. Even by Donnie, who Mikey hangs out with a lot, proves he’s not immune to putting Mikey’s well being over his own (even making a suit to prevent injuries- making Mikey feel like Donnie perceives him as reckless or unable to keep himself safe).

Cant stop thinking about Raph either. How he made his first priority always taking care and watching over his family, no doubt being the primary responsible one among the four made him a ‘kill joy’ or a ‘bad guy’ in his brothers eyes. With his brothers being kids and growing up never fully aware of the childhood Raph didn’t get to fully experience because he had priorities and believing that Raph is always the killer of fun. With Raph feeling the distance between not just him and his brothers, but his own father who never sought Raph out on his own.

I just can’t stop thinking

#My entire body AAAA #THEY #They just make me feel things #like-no matter how you look at it one of the family members feels excluded or like theh don’t belong in the dynamic #which is stupid because they all belong and they all care about each other and I’m just- melted #like that could just be insecurities or teenage hormones making them feel bad #or maybe the consequences of neglect growing up coupled with the living conditions they grew up in too???#maybe I’ll look into that idk yet #rottmnt #save rottmnt #I realized I had a lot to say about April in hindsight all I have to say about that is she is my favorite your honor

22 notes · View notes

lonesome-dreamsss · 2 years

Text

!!jack and ennis dancing in the kitchen at 2am!!

like just imagine after everything, jack getting beat up (and living because fuck that), and that being ennis' wake up call like, i can't lose him we're gonna have that sweet life. and then they go and get that life. but of course i'd imagine they would have issues after that, like they both suffer from nightmares after because getting beat within an inch of your life is bound to fuck you up, and almost losing the love of your life, seeing them all broken and bloodied, is also bound to fuck you up. so i think they'd have a little ritual of whenever the other has a nightmare, they'll wake them up and they just sit together, hold each other and remind each other it's okay, we made it to our happy ending, we're okay. and then one day it's really bad and ennis can't shake his dream, even after jack held on and kept reminding him it was okay, so jack takes them to the kitchen and he starts making some tea. and while they're waiting for it to boil, jack, in another attempt to cheer ennis up starts dancing. he starts off just swaying, but then gradually gets more into it, literally just fucking around, and calls it dancing. ennis is sitting there watching him like what the fuck are you doing?? and jack just grins and is like "come on, cowboy, dance with me" and at first ennis is all like no wtf, because he's y'know still in his head about his nightmare and he's just, not in the mood. but jack won't let up because he's nothing if not persistent and he would go to any length just to see ennis smile. and eventually ennis gets up and joins him. he doesn't really dance at first because his heart still isn't in it, but he stands by jack. but jack won't take that so he grabs ennis' arms and starts pulling him around with him in very exaggerated dance moves. ennis can't help but laugh at the whole thing and how ridiculous it is. he's like "you're insane, jack twist" and jack does a little twirl and says "maybe so, but you're smiling now" and ennis shakes his head but he is indeed smiling and he can't help but feel somewhat okay now because yeah the shit they went through was horrible and it isn't easy to get over, but they get to have moments like this. and this is what they went through all of that for, to have this type of life, this soft, little life. and then he decides to say fuck it and really gets into their shitty dancing, he grabs jack by the waist and dips him, and jack is like "damn!!! he's got moves!!!" and ennis really has no choice but to kiss him. (after this, when jack gets a particularly bad nightmare himself, ennis takes them to the kitchen, makes tea, and then makes jack dance with him until he's feeling better and smiling and laughing. it becomes their thing. and it never ever fails to bring smiles to their faces).

#help this was supposed to just be one sentence long #i get carried away when it comes to them #they just make me FEEL THINGS #id quite literally sell my soul for this to be the actual ending #ennis del mar #jack twist #brokeback mountain #anytime i think about these cowboys i become a puddle of tears on the ground

11 notes · View notes

stil-lindigo · 2 months

Text

lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)

if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.

no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.

I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.

I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.

If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.

#cw: suicidal ideation #cw: suicide #cw: self harm #cw: mental health #cw: depression #i made the balloon the main representation of my self destructive urges for a reason but im not going to explain it #i tried to keep a lot of the details in this vague #it would be my worst nightmare if this comic encouraged someone to hurt themselves #so. please dont #for a long time even the thought of making this comic felt so insipid and narcissistic #with the state of the world as it is #having the only threat to your life be yourself felt so privileged and trite and shameful #but doing this comic made me sit down and process things in full #and im just. very grateful i didn't give in to my thoughts back when i sincerely felt i'd be more useful to the world dead #i also feel the need to say that this wont represent everyone's battle with mental illness. its unfortunately different for all of us #there is no fix-all #and im afraid this might be one of those comics that either resonates a lot or misses the target by a mile #i made it for myself foremost. and now that its done im glad i did it #thank you for reading #and please stay alive #stillindigo art #stillindigo comics

16K notes · View notes

bereft-of-frogs · 2 months

Text

There’s that post that’s like ‘everyone should get into a tiny niche fandom at least once’ fully agree, that was really fun -- but I would like to add that everyone should get into a fandom where their opinions run counter to major fanon because it really teaches you about sticking to your guns and trusting your interpretation of the text without having to rely on peer validation

because WHAT are people talking about sometimes

#aka: genuinely sometimes I think I live in a parallel universe and simply watched/read different things #full disclosure it does make you feel like a killjoy sometimes #because often times these fanons will be presented in a silly jokey manner #'oh so silly isn't this character so funny this is just my silly little headcanon'#and it's like yes yes lol lol but ok look me in the eyes and tell me you know that this is #at best only one interpretation of many and at worst simply not supported by the text at all #please tell me you know that #or in one specific example such a ubiquitous joke that is literally a significant theme of the work and i feel like SUCH a killjoy #being like 'ok yes very funny.....you know that was a major theme right?? tell me you know that'

20K notes · View notes

inkskinned · 10 months

Text

because sometimes there are invisible tests and invisible rules and you're just supposed to ... know the rule. someone you thought of as a friend asks you for book recommendations, so you give her a list of like 30 books, each with a brief blurb and why you like it. later, you find out she screenshotted the list and send it out to a group chat with the note: what an absolute freak can you believe this. you saw the responses: emojis where people are rolling over laughing. too much and obsessive and actually kind of creepy in the comments. you thought you'd been doing the right thing. she'd asked, right? an invisible rule: this is what happens when you get too excited.

you aren't supposed to laugh at your own jokes, so you don't, but then you're too serious. you're not supposed to be too loud, but then people say you're too quiet. you aren't supposed to get passionate about things, but then you're shy, boring. you aren't supposed to talk too much, but then people are mad when you're not good at replying.

you fold yourself into a prettier paper crane. since you never know what is "selfish" and what is "charity," you give yourself over, fully. you'd rather be empty and over-generous - you'd rather eat your own boundaries than have even one person believe that you're mean. since you don't know what the thing is that will make them hate you, you simply scrub yourself clean of any form of roughness. if you are perfect and smiling and funny, they can love you. if you are always there for them and never admit what's happening and never mention your past and never make them uncomfortable - you can make up for it. you can earn it.

don't fuck up. they're all testing you, always. they're tolerating you. whatever secret club happened, over a summer somewhere - during some activity you didn't get to attend - everyone else just... figured it out. like they got some kind of award or examination that allowed them to know how-to-be-normal. how to fit. and for the rest of your life, you've been playing catch-up. you've been trying to prove that - haha! you get it! that the joke they're telling, the people they are, the manual they got- yeah, you've totally read it.

if you can just divide yourself in two - the lovable one, and the one that is you - you can do this. you can walk the line. they can laugh and accept you. if you are always-balanced, never burdensome, a delight to have in class, champagne and glittering and never gawky or florescent or god-forbid cringe: you can get away with it.

you stare at your therapist, whom you can make jokes with, and who laughs at your jokes, because you are so fucking good at people-pleasing. you smile at her, and she asks you how you're doing, and you automatically say i'm good, thanks, how are you? while the answer swims somewhere in your little lizard brain:

how long have you been doing this now? mastering the art of your body and mind like you're piloting a puppet. has it worked? what do you mean that all you feel is... just exhausted. pick yourself up, the tightrope has no net. after all, you're cheating, somehow, but nobody seems to know you actually flunked the test. it's working!

aren't you happy yet?

#almost wrote the champagne line as ''effervescent'' but legit could not write it without saying ''effervescent like a snail''#ah tumblr...#writeblr #warm up #idk . having trouble writing rn #ps i don't like to talk about it . it is my medical information. but before you ask. yes this is about being on the spectrum #i really don't like when ppl make my writing about how im [whatever ID]. i want it to ring true for the people who it rings true for #i don't want it to be like ''awwwww look at this person!!! she's the EXCEPTION!!! :)" .....#no.... not really.....#idk something gross happens whenever i admit to certain conditions and i turn into like inspiration p*rnography #like yes they actually let us use keyboards these days #furthermore i just... dont feel comfortable talking about this part of me. i had too bad of a childhood. adhd is one thing...#this one im like. still coming to terms with. which is like. my own journey.#idk. just please be kind. some things are more private than others. this one feels private to me.#i do not know how to help others w/this . and i do not know how to help myself. i will talk about it if im ever ready. idk if that will #actually ever happen #ty in advance i love u im kissing you we are kissing somewhere on the spectrum

49K notes · View notes

gibbearish · 7 months

Text

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

#yes i want things to be free like ??? that is not a weird desire #'but but it costs money to keep up' ok and? how is that my problem #the government has plenty of murder dollars they could reallocate a few to make internet services universal if they wanted #also these companies were perfectly capable of supporting themselves before the internet got drowned with ads so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#edit: muting notifs on this post bc new additions have kind of petered out #so no one feel bad about adding something someone else has said‚ it is not bothering me im just trying to keep my #notifs page cleanish lol #also since i saw some people are being redirected to read my tags: firstly hiiiiii this is a special secret message for you:3 #secondly i have learned since making this that the reason they were able to support themselves previously was because #of investors bankrolling everything #and theyre now finally realizing that theyre never going to actually make a profit and arent as willing to invest #however thats just a minor correction and doesnt change my overall point #once again. so many murder dollars #so thats why im just adding it here in the tags rather than making an actual correction #anyways . love yall 💕#origibberish #bigger gibbers

31K notes · View notes

pokimoko · 1 year

Text

I can't keep being fundamentally changed as a person by animated movies, it's just not sustainable.

#animation #animated film #animated movies #across the spiderverse #across the spider-verse #spiderverse #puss in boots #puss in boots the last wish #puss in boots 2 #nimona #nimona film #yes i'm posting this specifically because i just watched nimona and am feeling all kinds of things but really these are all PEAK TIER #the fact they have ALL been released within 7 months of each other...like...woah we are thriving right now #stylised animation with its own unique style reflecting the movie i love you forever kissing you on the mouth #films that make me ferally rip up any and all art blocks to shreds #and that's just the animation side of things #i won't get started on the plots. they also make me want to bounce off of walls #hugging all these close to my chest #as well as all the other great animated movies that exist because animation wins all catergories for me always #(let's not forget anime movies either; y'all are beautiful too! keeping 2d animation alive and i'm so here for it)

31K notes · View notes

freitag1607 · 5 months

Text

1.05 / Battle of the Labyrinth

#I FEEL SO NORMAL ABOUT THIS #percy jackson #pjo tv show #percy jackson and the olympians #pjotv #percabeth #pjo #screaming crying #mine #100 #500 #1k #5k #im in the middle of packing and this sent me frantically looking for my copies of pjo #anyway #i feel so insane i feel like im gonna die can anyone hear me. CAN ANYONE HEAR ME #annabeth has been so disconnected from the mortal world and just so fundamentally unable to enjoy her childhood #it makes me want to sob like seriously #i hope her and percy go on so many movie dates. like #not even just her and percy i hope percy tells grover and word spreads around camp and movie nights just become a thing at camp #because all these babies deserve it #god im gonna die. im seriously gonna die #WE KNOW THERE'S AN ORIENTATION VIDEO #SO THEY HAVE A PROJECTOR AND A SCREEN #MOVIE NIGHTS COULD HAPPEN!!!#okay bye. i'm going to go scream about percabeth some more

9K notes · View notes

muppetfreak · 5 months

Text

Mr. Riordan, it is truly a pleasure getting to experience your second draft.

7K notes · View notes

gremnda · 3 months

Text

Hello Ethubs nation :]

no text version

#gremnda art #this is the silliest thing i've drawn in a while and i am so happy w it #i just read a heavy angst fic with etho and bdubs #this is my way of coping guys let me have this #ethubs #hermitshipping #trafficshipping #ethoslab #bdoubleo100 #oo look at me go making ship art #guys im from dsmp fandom i feel like im committing an actual crime by drawing ship art #please be nice i will cry

5K notes · View notes

devilfruitdyke · 1 year

Text

we need to destroy the idea that girls should wear makeup. normalize bare faces on prom queens and flower girls and cheerleaders. no products at all instead of '7 product simple makeup routine.' no more 10 step skincare and regular facials and dermablading and gua sha just to be comfortable with yr natural face. i want to see eye bags on the funny librarian and acne on the swim coach and wrinkles on all our adult role models. i want to see a 16 year old girl that has never tried putting on eyeshadow. i want to see a 7 year old girl who doesn't have to go out and buy powder for her dance recital. i want to see trans women and girls everywhere to never have to wear makeup, regardless of how well they 'pass.' no more 'contouring to look masc' either. a post-beauty industry world is possible

reblogs are on but if you bring up the stage makeup point that i have addressed three times yr blocked on sight ☹️

#this is me warding myself against the b arbie m ovie shitstorm. </3 #too many teenage girls have had 'bimbo feminist' thrust upon them by the attention economy + consumer-feminist culture #its ok to just be fucking lame. like you can still be fem/me and stuff while doing it #there is a world where you can feel comfortable in yrself even if you arent Aesthetic #the makeup industry is trying to hinder this tho #plus i saw that post thats like. 'the reason we see a lot of casual pseudo-gender-essentialist and choice feminism rhetoric...#... is because we have fewer posts now that have basic feminist messages'#that resonated so i am the change i want to see in the world #i wanna try and make a r iot g rrrl masterpost for anyone getting into that side of things later so lmk if you want to see it

20K notes · View notes

bacchuschucklefuck · 1 month

Text

truly this one's just for me. I can do what I want foreverrr

#dimension 20 #fantasy high junior year #adaine abernant #figueroth faeth #kristen applebees #riz gukgak #gorgug thistlespring #fabian seacaster #việt phục #tbh the thing Im the proudest of in these sets is the skirt hike+áo tấc flap combo. and of course that went to riz lol #will use that again for other things later down the line. for now we play dressup. come play dressup game with me #some of these couldve done with more cookin time maybe... I feel like. for example adaine's gorgug's and fabian's silhouettes are #a bit too similar for my taste #esp. adaine and gorgug. fabian I feel like I just need to make his waist more apparent #and I really like what Ive got with adaine rn... just gotta rethink gorgug #lmao. the dilemma with using áo tấc is it's generally a rectangle #this never stops me however. if I like a guy enough I Will give them a set #it's not about them it's about me. its for me babeyy #also I love the way scabbards are worn in wuxia. like its just dangling back there #guess the amount of fabrics those characters have on mostly immobilize it. just a real good cushion

4K notes · View notes

giantkillerjack · 1 year

Text

Today my therapist introduced me to a concept surrounding disability that she called "hLep".

Which is when you - in this case, you are a disabled person - ask someone for help ("I can't drink almond milk so can you get me some whole milk?", or "Please call Donna and ask her to pick up the car for me."), and they say yes, and then they do something that is not what you asked for but is what they think you should have asked for ("I know you said you wanted whole, but I got you skim milk because it's better for you!", "I didn't want to ruin Donna's day by asking her that, so I spent your money on an expensive towing service!") And then if you get annoyed at them for ignoring what you actually asked for - and often it has already happened repeatedly - they get angry because they "were just helping you! You should be grateful!!"

And my therapist pointed out that this is not "help", it's "hLep".

Sure, it looks like help; it kind of sounds like help too; and if it was adjusted just a little bit, it could be help. But it's not help. It's hLep.

At its best, it is patronizing and makes a person feel unvalued and un-listened-to. Always, it reinforces the false idea that disabled people can't be trusted with our own care. And at its worst, it results in disabled people losing our freedom and control over our lives, and also being unable to actually access what we need to survive.

So please, when a disabled person asks you for help on something, don't be a hLeper, be a helper! In other words: they know better than you what they need, and the best way you can honor the trust they've put in you is to believe that!

Also, I want to be very clear that the "getting angry at a disabled person's attempts to point out harmful behavior" part of this makes the whole thing WAY worse. Like it'd be one thing if my roommate bought me some passive-aggressive skim milk, but then they heard what I had to say, and they apologized and did better in the future - our relationship could bounce back from that. But it is very much another thing to have a crying shouting match with someone who is furious at you for saying something they did was ableist. Like, Christ, Jessica, remind me to never ask for your support ever again! You make me feel like if I asked you to call 911, you'd order a pizza because you know I'll feel better once I eat something!!

Edit: crediting my therapist by name with her permission - this term was coined by Nahime Aguirre Mtanous!

Edit again: I made an optional follow-up to this post after seeing the responses. Might help somebody. CW for me frankly talking about how dangerous hLep really is.

#hlep #original #mental health #my sympathies and empathies to anyone who has to rely on this kind of hlep to get what they need.#the people in my life who most need to see this post are my family but even if they did I sincerely doubt they would internalize it #i've tried to break thru to them so many times it makes my head hurt. so i am focusing on boundaries and on finding other forms of support #and this thing i learned today helps me validate those boundaries. the example with the milk was from my therapist.#the example with the towing company was a real thing that happened with my parents a few months ago while I was age 28. 28!#a full adult age! it is so infantilizing as a disabled adult to seek assistance and support from ableist parents.#they were real mad i was mad tho. and the spoons i spent trying to explain it were only the latest in a long line of #huge family-related spoon expenditures. distance and the ability to enforce boundaries helps. haven't talked to sisters for literally the #longest period of my whole life. people really believe that if they love you and try to help you they can do no wrong.#and those people are NOT great allies to the chronically sick folks in their lives.#you can adore someone and still fuck up and hurt them so bad. will your pride refuse to accept what you've done and lash out instead?#or will you have courage and be kind? will you learn and grow? all of us have prejudices and practices we are not yet aware of.#no one is pure. but will you be kind? will you be a good friend? will you grow? i hope i grow. i hope i always make the choice to grow.#i hope with every year i age i get better and better at making people feel the opposite of how my family's ableism has made me feel #i will see them seen and hear them heard and smile at their smiles. make them feel smart and held and strong.#just like i do now but even better! i am always learning better ways to be kind so i don't see why i would stop

17K notes · View notes