#and to be clear

[porcupine-girl]

Curious, because my husband and I are trying to help our 8th grader get shit organized and apparently we had VERY different approaches as teens:

In middle/high school, how often did you throw away graded work (homework, quizzes, etc) from your classes? If it varied (by class, year, etc), go with what you did most often.

#school #education #tumblr polls #poll time #middle school #high school #fwiw I varied anywhere from a week or two to a quarter at the MOST #whereas my husband is shocked at the suggestion of throwing anything away before the end of the year #and to be clear #my husband is the more organized one of the two of us by SEVERAL MILES #but as I told him #I was always given the impression that never throwing any of it away was the disorganized choice #because if I didn't clean out my folders occasionally they just got stuffed full #I will note that in COLLEGE I kept everything until the end of the semester

[david-talks-sw]

Picture a sculptor.

He sculpts an animal... and it was meant to be an elephant for a kids zoo, but because of the limits of his tools at the time, he stopped at the skeleton only.

And it's a great fucking skeleton! It's got that old feel to it, like a Rodin sculpture, but with a modern vibe.

The skeleton even has fans and stuff, and the fans go "we love this badass mammoth skeleton you sculpted!"

And this sort of bothers the sculptor. Because he was going for an elephant, not a mammoth, right?

So when he finally has the right tools, he completes the sculpture, so the next generation of fans can enjoy the elephant...

... and the previous generation of fans, who grew up reading and dreaming about a mammoth for 30 years, they go "wtf". They hate it.

Now, the sculptor takes on an apprentice, who is also a fan.

The apprentice learns the technique, learns how to look at the clay, how to get the right texture... and is able to do all this without going "wtf" because he looks at this elephant sculpture through an anti-establishment lens.

"Yes, it has shorter tusks and almost no hair, but the purpose of the sculpture is to say that it should be hairier, taller and with longer tusks. The whole point is that this elephant is failing to be the mammoth it's meant to be!"

And y'know, it's art! If that’s what this elephant means to him, great.

But once the tools are passed down to him, the apprentice (along with other sculptors) takes some clay and makes the tusks longer, adds some fur, shortens the ears, etc.

Overtime, he makes it a mammoth again.

Of course, most fans are happy again, including many who were introduced to the elephant as kids, because the transition was a slow one, done carefully.

And, hey, it's a nice mammoth!

My only issue is that I grew up loving the elephant, just as it was. I think the elephant was friggin’ great.

But nowadays, whenever the elephant is brought up, it's always through the lens of "it's failing to be a mammoth" rather than what the sculptor said it's supposed to be: just an elephant.

#George Lucas #Dave Filoni #this is probably a stupid metaphor but it's what I came up with #I'm not saying Filoni's content is “bad” I just think it's a pity we aren't seeing the original narrative intent much nowadays #And to be clear #Filoni was NOT the ONLY one reframing the elephant as a mammoth #it's a whole bunch of authors who worked on SW post-Prequels #From EU writers to current canon writers #I'm not pointing the finger and saying “FILONI IS THE ISSUE” #On the contrary if you look at his early TCW stuff you see his portrayal of the Jedi is much more charitable than say Karen Traviss' #It's a whole generation of fans who wanted to still like Luke and Star Wars DESPITE the Prequels #and concluded the only way this was possible was to see them as a commentary on the Jedi's failure #When the fact is: y'all just didn't think the Prequel Jedi were likeably-written... you were hoping for more Luke Skywalker #instead you got a bunch of ambassadors mediating between corporations and politicians #And GL was adamant the Prequels were about Anakin and the Republic and how Sidious helped them both corrupt themselves

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

There's virtue signaling and then there's a white guy's grindr bio that says "looking for a hung daddy to spank me, piss on me, and whore me out. #blacklivesmatter #freepalestine."

#I live in a very liberal neighborhood of a very liberal city and this is not uncommon #and to be clear #I support everything in this profile #post o' mine #clearing out the drafts #Grindr

[friskarm]

caitlyn is such a great character because she is such an unrelenting, unyielding force of kindness

and i do use that word specifically because you look at caitlyn and think "oh, she's just really good, lawful good or neutral good" and that is very true, caitlyn very much believes in doing the right thing and doing right by people but so does vi. so does vander.

caitlyn is distinct from the two of them because her approach is to solve the problems piltover has caused with kindness.

we see her demonstrate this again and again what with her trading over her gun for vi's medicine, hugging huck when she hears his story, looking after vi when vi goes and gets herself injured -- and then her speech to ekko really cements it. this city needs healing, is what she says. not fixing, not changing, but healing, which is such a profoundly objective and kind way to look at the situation.

caitlyn could have done a lot of things in zaun that would be less than kind that still would have benefited her goals and her cause, but she continually chooses not to aggress (for the most part) and instead to listen and learn, because she is demonstrably wrong about a lot of things in zaun.

vi leaving her behind in a brothel is forgiven, ekko's kidnapping of them is forgiven, and even her interactions with jinx bely this -- she trusts in vi's judgement when her instincts are telling her otherwise, and her only protest is "she's too far gone" -- not "she's dangerous" or "she needs to pay" or anything like that. even after everything jinx has done, justifiable or not, caitlyn still implicitly understands that jinx is one of the people piltover has let down. she's not chasing her down for justice. she's trying to minimise harm.

in vi's position, being someone who's whole thing is about being a protector -- why wouldn't you fall for all of that?

it breaks my heart a little to hear caitlyn pleading in the season 2 teaser with vi to accompany her to track down jinx. it makes it sound a little like vi has given up on her -- but caitlyn hasn't.

#arcane #arcane analysis #caitlyn #vi #caitvi #piltover's finest #and to be clear #caitlyn has the privilege to treat these problems with kindness because she holds power over the citizens of zaun #but it is nonetheless the correct approach to take #her moral core is so rock solid and it's so easy for me to look at vi and look at her looking at caitlyn and just fall for her #because caitlyn *gets it* #she is the character in the show most willing to accept her own faults and immediately try and move past them to better herself #and to be a better force for good in the world #and i think vi would really admire that #because it's something vi wants for herself too

[sandymybeloved]

its really funny to me (and by funny i mean infuriating), how vastly different the acceptable levels of silly nonsense are between different eras of specifically the revival

its like, RTD era: incredibly dumb moment (affectionate), Moffat era: that's silly (derogatory), Chibnall era: I have to suspend my disbelief??? (borderline homocidal)

#the tenth doctor solves a murder mystery with agatha christie #the murderer is a giant wasp/anglican vicar #what a fun romp #11 meets pirates and fights a siren #chiche and bad #12 meets robin hood and fights some robots #but robin hood isn't real #how could anyone take this seriously #13 and giant spiders #how dare chibnall do this to the show #and to be clear #i like all of these episode #okay maybe only the first 2 thirds of arachnids in the uk #but thats beside the point #i like all of doctor who #urrrrgh #anyway #and if its classic #it just gets taken at face value #its like #people make fun of the kandy man #or aliens made of bubble wrap #and its like #its good in context #seek out the context #done complaining now i think

[heelkenny]

Matt using Kenny like a weapon

(All Out 9/4/22 & Dynamite 4/12/23)

#matt jackson #kenny omega #hangman adam page #adam page #my gifs #my stuff #my posts #i'm new to gif making but i'm doing my best #anyway #matt was upset at hanger for teaming up with DO #he tagged in kenny instead of fighting hangman cause he knew that would get to hanger more #i think about it constantly #and now here matt is handing kenny a screwdriver to avenge hangman #the dynamic between the 3 of them is so interesting #really any dynamic including matt and kenny and another man is fascinating #and to be clear #i love it

[potahun]

rewatched ep 34, forgot that li lianhua literally says "if di feisheng's gotten rid of his mind control bugs....why hasn't he come to look for me yet?"

you think he's your dog or something

#li lianhua #di feisheng #feihua #i cannot with these guys #lhl #mysterious lotus casebook #and to be clear #the previous time they saw each other was di feisheng flipping them all off and running off with sgd #i cannot

[cuddly-vamp]

I'll be honest, I love projecting headcanons onto my comfort characters. That being said, I tend to project onto Draculaura a lot. One of my favorite ones is headcanoning her as aroace, more specifically cupioromantic (I have zero clue what part of the aspec I HC her on). However I'd like to believe she doesn't find out until later on, after she tries her hand at dating. Because she realizes that she had been chasing feelings she had never quite known.

For me, I didn't even know I couldn't experience romantic attraction until recently. It was all confusing because I couldn't differentiate platonic and romantic attraction, only to find out I guess I never felt romantic attraction. That's how I feel it would go for her. And yeah, people are most likely going to definitely disagree with this, but it's a headcanon. It's not canon, obviously.

#monster high #draculaura #this pertains to g3 soo #g3 draculaura #g3 monster high #aroace #aromantic #aspec #monster high draculaura #yes i project onto my comfort characters #cupioromantic #and to be clear #this does NOT mean draculaura cant date people 💀 of course she can #lgbtq+ #txt

[kiuda]

The allegation responses are very well thought out, the fact that none of the accusers ever went to the police/police never filed any reports alone are exactly the proof that needed to be shown to discredit and/or disprove everything, even if that's only one part out of many.

I'm happy with the video, I was neutral before but everything in there was more than enough proof for me that the accusers were lying.

Spreading this around to a few people so hopefully people like you and other fans are reassured that the majority of outsiders would accept the things shown, and I hope you've taken care of yourself through all of this!

Thank you Anon <3

#and to be clear #even before there was literally no proof so i was not worrying about thw video itself #but it's good to see ppl realise that #not in a 'ha i was right the whole time' way but in a 'hey it's good people are willing to change their mind' #ask

[thundergrace]

I love Justice Smith. In fact, I'm pretty sure I love this entire cast (Nicole Byer!!). So I was very disappointed watching this trailer and being left with the question of exactly who the fuck this movie was for.

Might be worth a mindless weekend stream, but this was absolutely not worth a theater release. The plot is not as clever as the writers think it is....

#and to be clear #having a light-skinned biracial lead #is an important critique #because the movie is LITERALLY about what makes white people uncomfortable or afraid #so why the fuck....

[narniangirl1994]

While I think the 'thank you' and 'fuck you' speech Ted gave his mom worked in the context of their relationship - seeing as he was thanking her for the loving and supporting things she did over the years while expressing his hurt over the other ways in which she hurt him, I do NOT think it worked in the context of Jamie and his dad.

Jamie saying he'd want to say both fuck you and thank you to his own dad - likely because he believes his dad's abuse is what gave him the drive to succeed in football - might make sense for his character to feel, but should not have been backed up by the narrative like it was.

Between Ted's line last season about successful people often having dads who were hard on them and the bits in this episode of Jamie forgiving and reaching out to his dad, the narrative genuinely seems to be saying the abuse Jamie experienced helped make him the athlete he is today.

And that interpretation really bothers me. Especially because you see it in other shows and real life.

Just like the line "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," a lot of people seem to think hardship and abuse makes people stronger/more motivated. But in reality, abuse tends to hinder people on their life journey - not the other way around - by making them more scared/anxious, doubtful, sad, blinded by anger, isolated, etc.

Take it from someone with perfectionism that stems in part from my own childhood experiences and anxiety, I think that has caused me more issues than it has helped me over the years. Even though I've always been decently 'successful' at certain things (ie: school, work), I really wonder if I could have actually accomplished more - or at least accomplished the same things without the extra struggles/stress - if I wasn't constantly worried about having to be perfect.

Jamie being a prick to his teammates (because he felt like he needed to be tough to get his dad off his back) was even shown to be detrimental to his team's success and his individual success as a player. And Jamie's fear over his father's presence and criticism both at Wembley and at the Manchester City stadiums were shown to make him more distracted and prone to errors.

It was once Jamie started working with his teammates, accepting guidance from others, and receiving their unconditional support, that he grew and improved as a player. Hence why this was the first year he made the national team. He's got plenty of talent and it's quite possible he would have had the drive, just from something else, if his dad didn't abuse him. I could easily see a desire to play alongside his hero (Roy) or make his hometown proud serving as helpful motivators for him growing up.

But even if Jamie WAS a worse player or never got this far without his dad's abuse motivating him...who cares? You can't tell me he wouldn't have been a much happier, healthier person without that abuse in his life. So the idea so many narratives and real life people push that there is a silver lining to abuse or that abuse is solely responsible for someone's success is a harmful one that seems to imply abuse is worth it in a way or that abuse victims should be grateful for the good that came out of it.

It's one thing to want to thank a complicated parent for the good that they did bring to your life even if they also brought some bad. But it's an entirely separate thing to thank a complicated parent specifically for the objectively terrible things they did to you, just because it may or may not (most likely did not) have the side effect of making you more successful.

I really wish writers would put a little more thought into narratives that would seem to support this idea. It just really takes away from so many other positive - or frankly more realistic - messages they could go with instead.

#jamie tartt #ted lasso spoilers #ted lasso #james tartt #cw abuse #ted lasso negativity #again i like the show overall #and think they've had some very lovely moments and plots #but various aspects of this season are not sitting right with me #like the weird conclusion to the hate crime storyline for sam #or the lack of resolution to beard's abusive relationship #and now this stuff with jamie #arguably some of the stuff with shandy and jack #i just feel like they could have been handled a bit differently to make it less simplified or black and white #and to be clear #real life people are within their rights to feel this way! #im not trying to tell people who experienced abuse that they cant feel this about their own abuser #im referring to storylines that back this idea up #ted lasso meta #my meta

[trelkez]

I haven't had time to really dig into my thoughts on the OFMD finale yet, but until I can do that, I just want to note that

a) It does suck when someone's favorite character is killed off, and acting like people don't understand media and/or real life if they get upset about character death is weird to me.

b) I don't entirely disagree that sometimes character arcs are best served with an ending in death, and I do think that the writing was on the wall for Izzy (I went into the finale expecting it), but "the narrative needed it" is only a reason to do a thing, not a justification of how the thing is done or what context it lands in.

c) To that point: when a character evolves from aggressive homophobia to feeling safe to experiment with queer expression and then immediately dies, that's ... an entire can of worms, and I get why some people are uncomfortable with it. I'm not sure they thought through what they were doing there.

d) My read is that, beyond the significance of Izzy's death to Ed's narrative - which I will not be getting into today, I have an entire U-Haul strewn apartment here and that's all the messy unpacking I have the hours for at this time - Izzy's death is meant to symbolize how far the crew has come from the violent, cruel piracy that Izzy encapsulated, to set them off on their own. But by the finale, what Izzy really symbolized is that you can grow as a person, move on, do better, and I think that his continued presence as the embodiment of real personal growth would have been a much stronger symbol. This way, the vibes are, "you grew and you're done now," but that's not how growth works.

e) In any case, I wasn't particularly thrilled with the ending overall, but I could actually hear the fanfic engines firing up as it was all happening, so here's to all of the words people are going to write about it! Excited to have time to look at fanfic again someday.

#ofmd #ofmd meta #ofmd spoilers #our flag means death #and to be clear #izzy was not my favorite character #but this was not my favorite character arc resolution of all time #and I'm really tired of the unkind takes hitting my dashboard

[sapphire-weapon]

In your opinion, is the laugh from Leon at the end of the Ada and Leon encounter in the castle one of amusement, or more like frustration? People seem to interpret it as him being charmed by her which has lead to some butting of heads. I'm not really sure how to take it myself, but I feel like there's some lingering attachment there mixed with a lot of frustration... y'know, with her whole elusive, never explaining herself thing. Gets a little old for him, maybe.

I know you personally interpret Leon as being done with her shit, but I still wanted to know what you thought!

I think that "charmed" is a good word, but I don't think that people are using it the way that it should be used in that context. Leon isn't "charmed" by her in the sense that he just fell in love with her all over again; Leon is "charmed" by her in the sense that he found that particular interaction endearing.

I've seen people make the argument that Leon didn't actually know that Ada was alive until that very moment of reuniting in the castle, and he's just become so incredibly good at masking his emotions that it catches her off guard -- but I don't agree with that interpretation. For him to be so shocked at Krauser's introduction kind of disproves that theory, because -- remember, Krauser didn't even fake his death in this version of the story. And Leon is still so surprised to see him.

The way I interpreted their reunion was that Leon has seen unconfirmed reports of someone matching Ada's description running around doing shady shit in bioterror situations -- maybe even on missions he's personally run (RE4 was OG Leon's first federal mission but not Remake Leon's first federal mission; he's been doing this shit for a while already) -- so he's already been through the "what the... Ada???? I thought that bitch was fuckin dead!" (kudos to whoever gets that reference) song and dance in his head. But there was no hard and fast evidence that it actually was her -- until she finally tries to hold him up in the castle, and it all clicks into place as "confirmed" for him.

So, I think the smirk/pseudo-laugh following their reunion is born from a few different places:

Leon is genuinely happy to learn that she is, in fact, still alive. Being able to see her and confirm it with his own eyes was probably such a relief for him.

He's probably feeling at least a little bit smug that he was right about the aforementioned reports. So, not only was it relieving to know she's okay, it feels good to find that he was right.

She's not even trying to put up a front for him this time; he actually got to see and talk to the real Ada for perhaps the very first time ever (at least, in his mind; we as the audience know that Ada was being genuine with him at several different points in RE2, but Leon has no way of knowing that, himself). It's probably endearing for him to actually see her as her true self for a change.

The way that she exits the conversation (through the window after a tongue-in-cheek offering of sex??? LMAO) is so extra and over the top and so very Ada. It was very likely a very endearing "some things never change" moment for him.

I genuinely believe that their reunion was a feel-good moment for Leon for all four of those reasons -- and all of that can be true with it also being true that he's not willing to put up with her bullshit anymore.

The two of them don't speak again until the radio transmission where Ada tells Leon that she saw Verdugo carrying Ashley to the throne room. A lot happens between those two points (including "the fall [in love]" moment between him and Ashley, which, when juxtaposed beside the way that he fell for Ada, is striking in its contrast) and a lot of time passes in which Leon can let the enormity of his actual emotions re: seeing Ada again sink in -- and it also happens right after Ashley is taken from him, so that's why he snaps off with "I guess you're not completely heartless" in that conversation. (He's also probably still butthurt about the "leave the girl" remark, too, which only makes his reaction more volatile.)

And that kind of sets the tone for their interactions/relationship for the entire rest of the game. Leon cares about Ada (because lbr he cares about everyone), he's happy and relieved that she's alive and okay, and he's glad to see her again if only just for closure's sake -- but he's done with her shit, otherwise. He has nothing to prove to her anymore, he doesn't need validation from her anymore, whatever romantic attachments he had to her in RE2 are long-since dead, and he refuses to make the same mistakes twice.

All of these things can be true at the same time. And, in RE4make, they are.

#resident evil 4 #leon kennedy #ada wong #meta analysis #i think a lot of people get confused when it comes to my interpretations of things because like #i openly and vocally hate aeon as a ship #but i love leon and i genuinely do really like ada #especially in remake i REALLY like ada #and i don't necessarily want the two of them to be at odds #i just want their relationship to be better written #so i just try to look at their relationship as objectively as possible #like 'what is this actually being represented as in the text' sort of thing #and to be clear #i do that with EVERY relationship in RE #romantic or platonic or familial #what does the text actually say #and in the OG storyline yes it's romantic whether i like it or not #but in remake it's no longer romantic #leon's done with her #but that doesn't mean he hates her or even dislikes her or anything like that #and i'd be kinda sad if he did tbh #because that's not who he is as a character

[petrichorium]

Until proven otherwise I am going to live in my delusion that capitano is the first harbinger ty

#pattering on the roof #and to be clear #probably even if I am proven otherwise #love and light 🫶🏻

[tumblezwei]

I'm just hoping the token male MC for part 2 actually has a personality. We can joke about Stelle being the preference over Caelus but at least he has a personality, even if it's a copy. Unlike Adam in APHO or the travelers.

I mean if they do the same that they've been doing for HSR, the male MC will have the same personality as the female MC.

What matters is how much effort they're going to put into the MC at all lmao. Because the real difference between Trailblazer and Traveller/Adam, in my eyes at least, is that Trailblazer's story is actually being focused on and matters to the story we're seeing unfold onscreen lmao.

And obviously if I had a choice I'd want Hoyo to drop the idea of duel MCs and give us another Kiana with her own fully fleshed out character and motivations. But since this is what we're getting, Trailblazer is the next best thing. And honestly I am so confident that male MC was dropped in last minute that I wouldn't doubt female MC already has a concrete character and backstory to explore.

#and to be clear #Stelle is still a work in progress that Hoyo could *absolutely* fumble #I'm letting them cook for now #bc lord knows Kiana didn't truly come into her own until HoV #so we wait and see #ask #anon #discourse tag

[normal-sea-urchin]

imo there should be more superheroes who wear casual clothes as their supersuit. i say this because if you got superpowers, what are the chances that you would get a supersuit that protects your body, has a nice texture, covers most of your body, is always skin tight, etc. etc. chances are your closet consists of mainly casual clothes, meaning that's what you gotta stick with. point is, more superheroes in media or even just superhero ocs should have supersuits consisting of normal clothes

#and to be clear #if you put them in the right casual clothes #superhero #superhero oc #supersuit #superpowers