#anon this is an interesting topic

[smoozie]

i can never say this off anon but. like. i don't agree with rpf ideologically but there's something to the narrative of it, right? like if i was a minecraft youtuber and so was my best friend and i fell in love with them i would never fucking say anything publicly. there's a story there. i just wish it made sense to write about fictional youtubers or write aus about my ocs as youtubers without it turning into meta commentary on actual RPF. why is there no respectful way to write about c!cc!characters huh

There is most definitely a story to be told in which the entire world thinks two people should be together, and because of that two people cannot reveal they are in love with each other.

#anon this is an interesting topic #so cruel of u to put it in my inbox tho lmao /lh #now I have to say smth off anon abt it! #but uh I'm trying to phrase this ever so delicately #I don't think u should ship real ppl #obviously #I grew up watching dan and phil guys #but this ask is soooo like #yeah #them #I think abt them a lot and how hard it must have been to be in the closet and somehow outted at the same time #very interesting perspective #but also it is so intrusive to explore smth like that ya know? #like in a fanfic #and ur right any story revolving around this topic is ultimately a commentary on rpf culture #even if 'youtuber who is in love with youtuber friend“ could be a fun story #it will always draw uncomfortable parallels to actual ppl #smooziespeaks #ask #anon #dragonanswers #also u mentioned mcyt's specifically which is funny cuz my response is basically #ah yes my favorite mcyts dan and phil #ALSO! What drove you to ask me of all ppl abt this??? #not mad I just desperately need to know #what abt me screams send ur anonymous confessions #I need to exude that energy everywheew

[fairycosmos]

i know you hate taylor swift but i feel like you would genuinely love some of her songs

hmmm idk honestly a lot of what i've heard from her sounds generic as hell however 9 yo me was not immune to love story / you belong with me and then i liked marjorie from one of her more recent albums so i get what you mean! tbh the problem is not really solely her music for me, though i get why people find it trite and overrated, it is literally her consistently horrific character / beliefs unfortunately. same with a lot of these weird hollywood people ofc like she is not an outlier. it's just compounded w her bc she is so famous and there's the environmental element. also bc her pr team works extra hard to make her seem like she isn't that way when obviously she is so there's a large contrast there which obviously creates discussion. anyway sorry for rambling lol but yeah. it's an interesting question to pose about separating the art from the artist but i find it increasingly harder to do that with any artist i give my time to if they're egregiously asshole-ish tbh

#sorry i know u did not ask for this half essay i do find this topic v interesting w the public figures i choose to follow #anon

[silverwhittlingknife]

How do you feel about Jack Drake?? What are your thoughts on him and Tim’s relationship?

Anon, I hope you were interested in a novel, because look, I am fascinated by Jack Drake.  He’s key to a whole lot of what I find compelling about Tim as a character, and if I were in charge of DC, I’d bring him back to life.  This would make Tim unhappy but would IMO make for good plotlines.

Jack and Tim’s relationship is Complicated (TM)...

Jack and Tim hug in Nightwing 20 / Jack impulsively yanks a TV out of the wall in Robin 45 / Tim grieves in Identity Crisis

“I could tell the truth.  But I don’t.” - Robin 66

...and it involves a whole lot of Tim lying, and feeling guilty about lying, and thinking about telling the truth, and choosing again and again to keep lying.

And I think that’s great.

Below the cut:

Shorter version - key points about Jack

Really long version - my gentler take (vigilantism is choir and Jack loves sports) vs. my harsher take (Jack has some major flaws)

Final thoughts

Shorter version - key points about Jack:

He’s a bad parent.  He’s self-centered, he consistently prioritizes his own comfort and interests over his son’s, and when upset, he does things like order Tim off to boarding school.

But he’s never a bad parent in an actionable way.  He’s not like David Cain or Arthur Brown, who are abusive monsters.  Jack’s not a monster!  He just...kinda sucks.

He genuinely loves Tim. If Jack’s aware that Tim’s disappeared or is in trouble, he’s always worried and upset.  He periodically resolves to be a better dad, and IMO he’s always sincere.

And Tim loves him, a lot.  Tim’s protective of him and worries about him when he’s kidnapped or in danger, and when they’re reunited, Tim’s really relieved and usually hugs him (and Jack hugs back!). 

...But they have very little in common, and that’s a problem. Jack doesn’t value the things that Tim values, or respect the people that Tim admires, or care about the things that Tim’s interested in.  Tim lies to him a lot, but that’s partly because he correctly guesses Jack wouldn’t respond well if he knew the truth of what Tim’s up to.

The Batfamily is a surrogate family that Tim’s drawn to because of the ways his real family doesn’t meet his emotional needs…but also he feels guilty about that and disloyal. (And to the extent that his dad recognizes what’s going on, he's jealous and resentful!)

Very long version:

(LISTEN I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS)

Okay!  So first: Jack’s a character who IMO is pretty up for interpretation.  You can interpret him very charitably, and make excuses for the bad behavior, and fill in the blanks sympathetically when situations are ambiguous; or you can interpret him uncharitably, and emphasize the bad behavior. I don’t think either approach is invalid - it depends on what kind of story you’re interested in!  I have enjoyed Bad Dad stories and also stories that redeem Jack.

My personal take on canon is that Jack and Tim’s relationship is in a gray area.  Jack's definitely neglectful, and he does prioritize other things over Tim, but he’s never so bad that Tim can easily reject him, and he's never so bad that Bruce could justify taking Tim away.  He's just...not great.  Tim loves him, and feels loyal to him, but it’s a very mixed-up complicated love.

I have a gentler take and a harsher one which I switch between as the spirit moves me. xD

My Gentler Take (tl;dr: vigilantism is choir and Jack loves sports)

Here’s the core conflict: Jack and Tim are very different people with different values.  Tim idolizes Bruce and Dick and vigilantism, and secretly gets involved, knowing his dad will hate it. He gets increasingly wrapped up in his secret world and lies to his dad...because if his dad finds out, he’ll make Tim quit.

This is a great setup for an ongoing comic.  It’s practical, because it provides endless potential for plotlines, and it’s nicely thematic, because it maps closely onto relatable real-life situations with extracurricular activities:

Tim the drama nerd whose dad thinks he’s playing football and not in the school play; 

Tim the closeted-queer kid secretly getting involved in his school’s politically-active Gay-Straight Alliance; 

Tim the choir kid whose dad only values making money and wants him to go into the family business (and Tim keeps promising himself he'll give up choir soon, definitely soon, but maybe he'll stay in just a liiiittle longer, because they need him, you see, the last tenor left town, so...); 

Tim the computer geek with the sports-obsessed dad (this one’s just canon);

etc. etc.  

The extracurricular metaphor works pretty well for Tim’s relationship to vigilantism.  Tim's involved in his "extracurricular" because he genuinely thinks it's important and fulfilling, and he values it and wants to be good at it. He idolizes Bruce and Dick because they're good at it. He's been collecting information about it since he was a little kid, and hiding it from his parents because he knows they wouldn't approve. And mayyyybe there's also an element of low-key rebellion against his dad, and maybe that's secretly part of the appeal. And yet also as Tim gets more and more invested, he starts to daydream: maybe I could tell my dad and he'd be proud of me and supportive. But he doesn't, because actually he knows his dad would be upset and angry and make him quit.

And - again, just like with lonely kids and extracurricular hobbies - one of the things that happens is that Tim starts getting his unfilled emotional needs met ... by people he knows through this secret hobby. And people like Bruce and Dick start turning into a surrogate family. Which Tim feels guilty about. And also as Tim gets more and more wrapped up in their world, he has to lie to his dad even more, which means the distance between Tim and his dad gets bigger and bigger and more and more unfixable.

I love this dilemma. It's simple, it's recognizable, it provides endless sources for conflict, and there's no obvious solution! Tim can't tell Jack: he'll make Tim quit! And Tim doesn't want to quit, because he loves choir / art / theater / whatever.  Yeah, it’s difficult, and there are challenges, and sometimes he has doubts...but at the end of the day, he cares about it a lot.  And everything he values is there, and all the people he admires and cares about are there, and all he wants in the world is to feel like he's one of them and belongs there. So he has to lie, even though he doesn't want to lie, and he feels guilty about it...

...but also he ends up lying more and more.

(Sidenote: I think it's important that Tim chooses to keep lying - Tim's narration often glosses this as "I have to lie to my dad," and that's certainly how it feels to Tim, but this... isn't quite true. He has to lie to his dad, because if he doesn't, his dad will get mad at him and try to stop him, not because he literally has no choice about it.)

Other Reasons Why I Like The "Secret Extracurricular" Interpretation

(tl;dr it complicates not just Tim's relationship with his dad, but also all his other relationships)

Tim's problems have some obvious parallels to Steph and Cass, who both become vigilantes while rejecting their evil supervillain dads. But Jack isn't evil. And that means the Tim-and-Jack relationship is ambiguous and complicated in ways that I like. Steph and Cass can just leave their Bad Dads in prison, and say good riddance, and feel very righteous and triumphant about it! Tim’s more complicated. Tim gets into vigilantism ostensibly out of duty and altruism, but secretly, he's also involved for straight-up selfish self-fulfillment reasons. He's lonely, and bored, and his life feels pointless, but he thinks that Bruce and Dick are cool and amazing and he wants to be a part of the things that they do.  When his dad gets jealous of Tim’s relationship to Bruce, and feels like Tim’s looking for a surrogate family, he’s... not wrong.

And the ways in which Jack is not Actionably Bad complicate things from Bruce's POV.  If Jack was a straight-up villain, it’d be an easy call to keep in touch when Jack finds out and makes Tim quit...but he’s not a villain, not really.  So what do you do?  Do you try to surreptitiously stay in touch with Tim even though you’re ignoring his dad’s express wishes and thus forcing Tim to sneak around?  Do you respect his dad’s wishes and stay away from Tim even though you have a years-long relationship at this point?  

Again: a bit similar to the extracurricular analogy.  Say you’re the choir director and you’ve built this whole relationship with a kid in the choir, and you’re an important mentor to him and you care about him etc. etc. etc.... and then right before a big performance, his dad finds out he’s been secretly involved, and yanks him out.  How would you react?  Well, maybe kind of in some of the ways Bruce reacts.  You replace him. You’re annoyed with him. You miss him. You want him to come back. You’re also worried about him.  You’re upset with his dad.  But also... what should you do, exactly?

Bruce and Alfred and Dick care about Tim as if he were part of their family, but he’s not part of their family, and there’s a lot of interesting tension there.

My Harsher Take

Jack never hits his son.  But his temper is a big deal.

In his worst moments, he takes out his anger on Tim’s stuff - wrecking his room, or ripping his TV out of the wall and confiscating it.  When he’s worried about Tim, he usually expresses that fear by yelling at him / punishing him / sending him away - threatening to send him to boarding school in Metropolis in Robin III, or threatening to send him to military school abroad in Robin 92, or actually forcing him to go to an all-boys' boarding school post-NML.  

This is bad behavior!  It is Not Good!  

And you can easily connect the dots to a bunch of Tim’s terrible coping mechanisms, like the constant lying and or the fact that Tim’s go-to methods for dealing with interpersonal conflict are 1) repress it and pretend it never happened (most of his fights with Bruce), 2) withdraw from the relationship until he can pretend the conflict doesn’t exist (when his friends get mad at him in YJ, he quits the team for a while), or 3) literally run away from home.

Also, Jack is a Manly Man with firm opinions about how men behave vs. how women behave, and he thinks boys shouldn’t be scared and thinks Tim should date hot girls and pushes Tim to work out and wants him to play football and expresses period-typical sexism, etc. etc. etc. ... and though obviously this wasn’t what the writers had in mind at the time, all of that is certainly interesting to read backwards in the light of Tim as a queer character.

More Disorganized Thoughts on Jack Drake

Tim’s our hero, so we’re naturally more sympathetic to him, but it’s also true that relationships are a two-way street, and Tim doesn’t value any of the things his dad values, either.  Jack at various points is shown to care about grades, business, money, boarding schools, archeology, football, a kind of macho bragging-about-dating-hot-women ethos, and a very public and performative kind of caring. Tim tends to respond with discomfort or disinterest or even disgust.  When Jack gets on TV to try to rally the government to save his son from No Man’s Land, Tim isn’t touched—he’s mortified.  When Jack makes some bad investments and loses money, Jack’s deeply upset and his self-image is majorly impacted, and far from being sympathetic, Tim’s annoyed and kind of contemptuous of the idea that this is a problem.  Jack thinks fishing in the early morning and going to tennis matches is a fun father-son activity; Tim finds it exhausting and tedious.  And so on.

This means that Tim often longs to be closer to his dad in theory, but this longing is more tied to fantasy than to reality. He rarely seems to enjoy spending time with His-Dad-The-Actual-Person.  So for example, when Tim’s deadly ill with the Clench, he has an extremely poignant fever dream about telling his dad the truth and getting hugged…even as he insists in real-life to Alfred and Dick that he does not want them to tell his dad what’s going on.

The same is true of Jack, who IMO genuinely wants to be closer to his son and is continually declaring that he’s going to turn over a new leaf and get closer to his son…and just as continually backs out of activities or loses his temper when faced with spending time with his actual son.

Tim and his dad sadly get along best—by far—in Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder situations.  When Jack gets kidnapped or is in danger, Tim worries for him (and Tim grieves him deeply when he dies).  When Tim disappears or runs away, Jack’s genuinely worried about him.  So e.g. they have a really moving emotional reunion and hug when the earthquake hits Gotham, and Tim panics about his dad’s safety and comes running home (and meanwhile Jack’s been panicked about Tim’s safety!).  It’s the day-to-day, regular life stuff where they don’t connect.

Jack's written quite differently by different writers. Mostly, Tim's parents are at their least likable in his early appearances and early miniseries (this is where you get, for example, Jack and Janet being nasty at each other while a pained employee looks on, and Tim disappointed to once again get news of where his parents are via postcard - "I guess that sums them up! Never know where they’re going to be–or when–or even how long!” - and Tim alone on school break, and Bruce and Alfred thinking there's something weird going on with Tim's parents, etc. etc.). Jack's more sympathetic but still often unlikable in most of Tim's Robin solo, and he's almost invisible (but positively treated if he does show up) in Tim's team books.

For obvious reasons, Jack's remembered way more sympathetically after his death. Tim's completely devastated by Jack's murder, which he arrives moments too late to prevent, and he basically never gets over it. We see him grieving Jack again and again in Robin, and also in Teen Titans, and also in Resurrection, and again in the Halloween Special, and again in Batman: Blackest Night, and all the way up to the end of Red Robin. Tim also grieves for an extended time over Janet - he hallucinates a happy reunion with her when he's feverish in Contagion, and hallucinates her in the final issue of Robin, and the reveal-your-buried-emotions song in Robin 102 brings up his grief for her too (meanwhile, other characters dance or laugh or otherwise get giddy).  Tim’s grief over his parents’ deaths is intense and long-lasting.

I'm not going to clip comic panels because this is long enough, but if you're curious, here's a nice and fairly lengthy compilation of comic panels with Tim and Jack.

If you're interested in a Jack-centric story with a softer-but-still-recognizably-canon take on Jack, I really like the way Jack’s narration is written in the one-shots Heart Humble (set shortly before Jack dies) and Never a Hero (Ra's resurrects him during Brucequest, and Jack's archeology skills turn out to be unexpectedly useful).

#tim drake #jack drake #ask tag #i wrote this ages ago and now i can't remember what i was going to add to it so oh well draft amnesty? sorry for the long wait anon!! <333 #anyway i kept this carefully on topic and virtuously did not derail into talking about the other blorbo but tags are for disorganization SO #for me this kinda half-in half-out place where tim is with the batfamily is SUCH an interesting part of his relationship with dick #and i never stop turning it over in my head #he's kiiiinda replaced dick in that he's robin - but in a very real way he *hasn't* - he's NOT bruce's new son the way jason was #and early!tim makes a BIG POINT of how bruce is not his dad #and i think this relative distance from bruce is a huge factor in why dick is able to build a close relationship with tim at all #(because dick's still pretty estranged from bruce!) #and there's such interesting tension there when dick starts jokingly calling tim ''little brother'' or when villains call them brothers #because they're NOT. increasingly they would both LIKE to be brothers! but dick has zero official standing in tim's life #if tim got hit by a car in his civilian identity bruce and dick wouldn't even be able to visit him without his dad's permission #which jack would be pretty unlikely to give! jack doesn't like or trust bruce! #or like. this is morbid. but if tim died. dick wouldn't even be invited to the funeral you know? #and there's such interesting tension there for me in the contrast between this vigilante relationship that's very very close #but in their civilian lives no one would assume they're anything in particular to each other #anyway the 1st half of tim's robin solo has this thread of tension between tim's family life vs. his vigilante life (plus his mom's death) #and then the second half + red robin has the thread of struggling with grief in a world that's not fair + feeling lost/alone #and these two threads are a big part of my interest in tim as a character! jack's the backdrop that makes a lot of stories possible

[tangledinink]

Would you ever make a non-graphic comic on Donnie laying the eggs?

I mean, I'm not opposed to exploring such concepts, generally speaking, (as I've repeatedly showcased lol), I just don't really know what a comic like that would really entail. I don't have a good story in my mind atm about this, so I don't have any plans r/n. 🤷🏻‍♂️ If y'all have specific questions about his experience and such, then maybe I'd get an idea for something, but right now I have no plans for it.

#i mean it's basically birth just to the left #i figure most of y'all (dear god plz) understand what that experience is like generally speaking #obviously every person and their experience is different but. you know. same basic steps for most people? #there's just a million different ways to do it and a million different ways to get through to the same end goal (more or less) #but r/n off the top of my head it would just be a lot of donnie swearing and crying and swearing and pacing and swearing etc etc etc #i guess it also depends on whether or not theres like? genuinely any interest for that type of comic #coz we've established im v down to make content abt '''taboo''' topics but i still often feel like im toeing the line lol. #so i kind of. gauge a lot of these things off of y'all. #gemini au asks #asks #anon #tw birth #cw birth #birth #kinda sorta #tw childbirth #cw childbirth #childbirth #sorta kinda #man whenever i tag these things one of the things that pops up under “popular” tabs is always like #things like b1rth k!nk and im like #nO #im trying to tag this for people who wanna blacklist it i dont wanna accidentally put it in the Pornography Bin #and there's nothing wrong with that like power to the ppl go off live ur life but like #A) thats not why im making this stuff and i dont rlly want it to be viewed that way #B) you know what im sure this isnt what the k!nk ppl are looking for anyway i dont wanna clog up their tags with off topic content--

[riding-palominos-every-day]

Why does Crutchie use one crutch? It looks super uncomfortable and I feel like he could get a second from children's aid or something if he wanted. Why does he use it on his right side when he's not putting weight on that side (on Broadway)? Thoughts on this?

Ohh this is a super interesting ask! And one I think I can talk about fairly confidently, being a crutch user myself and having knowledge about polio from family.

So in the UK show, Crutchie is disabled due to injury. He has one crutch on the opposite side of his injured leg to give it some extra support, and keeps his weight on his toes (possibly indicating the injury is in his knee, and it can't extend fully). His mobility is a little more than USA!Crutchie's, as his leg is technically usable, just very painful to walk on unaided.

In the USA productions, however, Crutchie a polio survivor with a paralysed leg. AKB and Zachary Sayle's Crutchie appears to be only paralysed in his ankle, whilst Andy Richardson's is completely paralysed (seen when he has to manually lift his leg to kick Snyder (one of my favourite little details)).

Polio wastes muscles and often leaves paralysed limbs shorter than healthy limbs. Crutchie's foot folds in on itself, indicating it's completely unusable and he cannot put any weight on it. In this scenario, his crutch substitutes as his leg, taking his full weight where his right leg can't.

As for why he doesn't request a second crutch, in his own words: "if someone gets the idea I can't make it on my own, they'll lock me up in the Refuge for good." If he went to Children's Aid asking for extra support, he'd likely end up in either the Refuge or with the Gerry Society as they'd deem him unable to care for himself (even though he's shown to manage alright). Having two crutches is certainly helpful in a lot of scenarios, but Crutchie likely feels he can manage fine with just the one.

#thank you for the ask anon! v interesting topic #if any of my other disabled mutuals would like to make additions please please do! #newsies #crutchie morris #anon #asks

[homochadensistm]

Unga bunga to neolithic is a long time, the majority history of our species, but due to being prehistory we know extremely little about what happened and not a lot changes (or am i wrong?) until agriculture happens?

What's it like studying that massive knowledge void?

Ooooh I get u now.

I think a lot of ppl have this misconception about prehistory, that not much has changed over so many years. In fact, lots of things changed, from our diet to our behavior, and we don't really need textual sources to figure it out!

We can see human eating habits thru the bones they left behind in garbage pits and piles, showing progression from large prey preference to smaller prey because ppl figured out how traps work and that it's easier to just wait for an animal to get caught rather than chase it. In other places ppl built massive hunting contraptions (google the Negev Kites) that force prey to fall into pits or off cliffs to kill it more efficiently. These preferences change and shift fluidly many many times in many different places!

People were doing art stuff way earlier than what we'd like to think, including music. Neanderthals made simple flutes that can be still played today! Natufians brewed beer and alcohol before agriculture was a thing!

The biggest change we see is in the tools. Flint tools get more and more advanced, from large clunky rocks to symmetrical, neat and carefully planned handaxes, knives, daggers, scrapers and even tiny burins that were used for many activities, including tattooing.

The most interesting part in prehistory is the void! You just know it's filled with so many things that are just waiting for you to notice and make sense of. There is tons of data collected in prehistoric excavations (unlike historic ones) and it's sitting there waiting for the creative researchers to look at it and figure things out!

#archaeology #this doesnt scratch the surface anon prehistory is so so so interesting #and the topic is insanely thicc with stuff

[welcome-to-green-hills]

I’m very surprised that you haven’t drawn sonadow since you love the ship. That and blazamy

Expect something soon😈

#But yeah! My comfort ships are my go-to things to draw. I’ve got one that I’d like to post if y’all are interested! 👉👈 #They’re my Barbie dolls that I play with in my corner #Sonadow #Blazamy #mystery anon #off topic

[l3viat8an]

One of my favorite tropes is cryptic pregnancy (when you don’t know you’re pregnant because of your body type/shape, lack of symptoms, and/or because of the position of the uterus making it so that the baby develops towards your back so your bump is way less noticeable esp if you’re plus-sized), and I headcanon that humans are more likely to have a cryptic pregnancy when carrying a demon baby because the symptoms are different and the human body reacts differently to a demon baby than it does a human baby. So imagine poly!mc (specifically in a throuple with luci and dia) going to bed early with period cramps one night, and then going to breakfast the next morning with a baby in their arms lmaoooo. All the brothers are SO confused, and ask where MC got the baby from. Levi and Mammon both pass out when MC shyly admits they gave birth alone last night. They were really scared and disoriented afterwards, and that’s why they didn’t call for help. For extra dramatic bonus points, imagine everyone’s panic when they get a good look at the baby and realize it looks just like Diavolo, and even has little versions of dia’s wings. Barbatos can only pinch the bridge of his nose and sigh when he finds out what’s happened. Dia is ecstatic, and even though he knows he can’t, at least not yet, he wishes he could immediately throw one of the traditional week-long celebrations for royal babies. He settles for a smaller private celebration between he, MC, and the brothers. Lucifer is slightly less happy than Dia, because he knows how this will complicate things not only for their relationship, but for dia’s rule; dia and MC will have to get married, and the devildom will effectively have a new ruler with mc becoming the princess, and not only that, Lucifer will probably be given the title of consort, so that he can be legally recognized as part of the relationship…there’s gonna be MOUNTAINS of paperwork for this.

I read this and just can’t get past MC giving birth alone in the middle of the night jsksjsk

Like the trope is an interesting one, and this idea is amazing!! Poor Lucifer definitely ends up with a fuck ton more paperwork-

But- Just MC being, like “Oh, yea, I had a kid last night no big deal.” I mean they’re in hell so that’s probably not the weirdest thing but still-

And I’d imagine the first few weeks after the baby is born are the hardest. MC and the baby going back and forth between the castle and HoL a lot and Diavolo constantly asking them and Lucifer to move in with him officially.

#anon! #ro rambles #I’m gonna have to think about this some more but it’s an interesting topic!!! #obey me! #obey me #obmswd #om! #obey me poly mc #obey me lucifer #obey me diavolo #obmswd lucifer #obmswd mc #obmswd poly mc #obmswd diavolo

[meat-wentz]

How do you think your thing for cannibalism started?

oh!! fun story time!! so i grew up with two really specific movies that started it: jennifer’s body which i saw opening day in theaters and i had a super gay hidden part of my room where i had all these magazine pages of megan fox spreads all taped up at an angle where i could see them but my parents couldn’t, anyways i was sixteen and had literally just friend broke up with my fuckedupgirlbestie which was a relationship i would describe as so intense and emotionally cannibalistic that jennifer’s body had just come out at like such a specific correct time for me that i just hold it so dear to myself. and the other movie is ginger snaps, which was very similarly about inseparable girls and the violence of becoming your own person and the terrible terrible ache of growing up and i was just obsessed!!! anyways ive spent most of my life holding cannibal girl movies near and dear and used my time in film school to write about them quite extensively, particularly about the subversion of female autonomy displayed in films like raw, teeth, daisies, pink flamingos, trouble everyday, we are what we are etc. for instance the common gender theory we can apply to weapons in horror films is that the weapon is a stand in for the phallus which is 1) not able to be controlled and 2) not physically a part of the body (think leatherface’s chainsaw, ghostface’s knife, jason’s machete, even freddy’s glove but i would pose it has a more complex reading which i would love to go into at some point). they’re weapons of sexual aggression and power. what i love about girl cannibals is that they negate the horror male weapon by using the opposite, rather than wield an external weapon, they use their mouths, the horror of their victims is all about the internal. it’s about what goes on inside, about the horror of the body that no one else sees, it’s a weapon that’s completely a part of their bodies and that they have complete control over. where the machete indicates a something independent from the aggressor, the mouth as weapon is completely dependent on its host. it becomes less about the fragility of aggression and more about the self empowerment of aggression, to take something in, to make it part of you, to establish your autonomy by feeding oneself, to devour everything in your path!!!! now this is just one way to look at it but it’s my usual cannibal spiel that i go on. i also have to give a big old shout out to hannibal and yellowjackets.

i think there’s also just this metaphor that ive always loved of wanting to be one with someone, to mesh yourselves together in a horrible twisted way, to never want to be apart, to do it until you disintegrate into the other, to acknowledge the horror of loving someone so deeply that you would make them yours forever forever.

#anyways this is so long!! sorry!! i can post some of my film papers about this topic if anyones interested #i just need to brush them up!!! #ask #anon #jbfob #also please acknowledge this is based off super binary theory #which i’ve spent a lot a time studying and writing about

[hood-ex]

Probably that when someone asks a simple question, especially about nightwing or another robin, I’ll give them the most complicated answer without meaning to just bc I get excited getting to talk about them irl…😭

Ahh the info-dump extravaganza. I'll let loose like that if I can tell the person is genuinely interested, but if I can tell they're inquiring about it just to be nice, I give them the simple, easy answer.

#i can hold back when it comes to dc stuff #but it's hard for me when tmnt comes up #reminds me of when the maintenance guy from my school was giving me a ride to the town over #and donnie had just nearly been killed off in the comics at the time #and he was interested in the topic and i was trying so hard not to just be like *tmnt vomit* #anon

[hotcat37]

I think we all know K is weird, but they are different kind of weird and for some of us tommy just doesn't pass the vibe check

I think it's absolutely okay if some people don't like Tommy!! Everyone's entitled to their own opinions, I just wanted to point out that judging Tommy for being weird is a bit silly if you don't also mention that Jere is a total weirdo as well. I personally really like Tommy and he seems rlly sweet when he's out of character so I just hope that people don't make problematic assumptions about him based on the antics he gets up to. But again, it's totally fine if he's not ur cup of tea :P

#käärijä #tommy cash #this is a civil discussion btw lol I'm not intending to start drama with this #just thought the topic was interesting #Ask #Thx for sharing your perspective anon!

[tintinology]

doesn't tintin always speak french because he visits colonies

Not necessarily. Of all the countries he visits, the only ones I can think of that would be French or Belgian colonies are Congo and Morocco (Bagghar, while fictional, is said to be located in this country). Shanghai had a French concession, though whether that's the one that Tintin visits (as opposed to the British concession for example) or not is unclear. And he does visit French-speaking countries in Europe (Switzerland and France) where he presumably is speaking French. But they're far from being the only ones he visits.

As for the other countries he goes to, some are English colonies (Egypt, India) or former colonies (US), so I don't think they'd necessarily speak French there. Not to mention that he also visits South America a couple of times and the characters from the countries he goes to are shown to speak Spanish (think of General Alcazar exclaiming "Caramba!" or Zorrino calling him "señor"). It's not a stretch to believe that there might be people who speak French there, but it certainly wouldn't be the norm. I doubt the Incas were speaking French, tbh.

For the fictional countries, it's harder to say. Khemed could have at some point been a French colony, but it's never specified, and both Syldavia and Borduria have their own (possibly Salvic?) language, though again, it's possible that they know some French (King Muskar might have spoken French, for example, it having been the language of European courts for centuries).

Anyways, aside from all that, both Tintin and Haddock canonically speak English; it's especially obvious in the French version of Tintin in Tibet, where Tintin actually switches to English to ask for directions and Haddock asks some kids if he can eat the peppers in English.

It does admittedly suggest that they do speak French most of the time and that switching to English is notable enough to be written out explicitly, though it's hard to say for sure. But Tintin definitely doesn't only visit francophone colonies, so if he's speaking French, it's not (solely) because of that. It's more likely just something that we're supposed to ignore as readers.

#I missed some countries there because I felt it might become a bit redundant #don't think french was spoken in the soviet union though #and he visits england and scotland i dont think he spoke french there #anyways yeah the language thing is probably glossed over in the comics for the sake of brevity #and to avoid questions about how tintin can possibly know so many languages at such a young age #but yeah its inaccurate to say he only visits french colonies they're actually a minority among the places he visits #anyways sorry for the long reply lol its just a topic i find interesting #answered #anon #tintin #the adventures of tintin

[pleasantlyinsincere]

Do you know what John's hang ups about not being good about playing with kids was about? Like the Kyoko tape sounds adorable, and so do the the audios with Sean that are around, and even that moment in GB where he's joking with Heather about eating kittens. I don't at all get the sense of a man bad at hanging around with and entertaining children in the slightest.

I can't help but wonder if it was because he had some idea of how a dad "should" be that he felt he couldn't live up to because he didn't have one around. But then Paul also mentions in MYFN iirc that John couldn't play with kids, so I guess it wasn't just in his head, but I don't get it.

(Hi. Sorry, I had family over for a few days, so I am a bit late with replying.)

I actually don’t know. I think it might have just been one of the stories you start telling yourself and that sticks, or like you said he thought he should be able to do a certain kind of play that he found difficult to do. I do think he we can see that he was able to be fun with kids and doing a lot of goods things like we see with the tapes, playing guitar with them, teaching them swimming, riding bikes, flying paper planes, making drawings, taking Julian picking flowers in the garden for Cyn, or just being in idiot with kids like Julian said. So, maybe he thought that his way of hanging wasn’t really considered play? "I'm not a daddy with a set of bricks to play with. When I'm with the kids, they just come along with me and be with me, whatever I'm doing."And then I guess he knew that he didn’t have the patience, the endurance for constant repetition, or the will to put a child's needs first all the time, but those probably more blended into his uncertainty of fatherhood than a question of being entertaining with kids. I think it's in Giuliano, but definitely someone talking about the diaries, where there's a lot on John reading parental guides and trying different techniques and feeling frustrated, when he doesn't feel like they are working. In that context it definitely sounds like John thought there was a manual and a correct way to be a father and that he instinctively was doing it wrong.

#i feel like i am kinda missing the point but i can't seem to be able to formulate it the right way #my guess is that a lot of the self-doubts come from missing the opportunity to bond with julian early on #i also think that his interest in forming apple school to provide a better way for educations shows his interest in those topics #long before sean. so that's not play related but shows that he is maybe already thinking there is a way it #'should' be like anon asked though play/education and kids in general/fatherhood is difficult for me to differentiate right now. #was paul saying john said he couldn't do a certain kind of play or that he observed that he couldn't play with kids altogether? #people would have to ask him what he saw that made him think that.

[litrallytyrus]

look i literally don’t go here but i peeked into the hsmtmts tag and you’re telling me ricky showed up to visit ej at his college? isn’t that a direct parallel to troy coming to see gabriella at stanford?

i’ve never even seen any of the high school musical movies but man that just speaks even more to the caswen tragedy ….. they have a fucking romcom set up every time they’re interacting with parallels to a canon couple and then disney still wants to slip in the ‘brother’ word ……… it’s like they’re making fun of us at this point

#also obsessed with the fact that u don’t go here and yet have stuff to say about caswen 😭 #thank u for supporting the cause 🙏🤝😇 #while i’m here and on the topic it’s so interesting for ricky to be the only one interacting with ej this season . #unless i missed something which i could have since i was skipping around #but like . why not gina . or ASH . orrrrrr ….. idk anybody? #but it was ricky …….. #shows some sort of development #but not the development we really deserved #the only way any of this is justifiable (to me) is if ricky and ej meet a couple years into college (somehow) and hit it off #and get together then #caswen endgame can still win ☺️🤝 #these tags got carried away oops #cute asks #anon asks #caswen #ricky bowen #ej caswell #hsmtmts

[moophinz]

I’m sorry, but if you believe the only way a fictional character can achieve happiness is through a nuclear family, and you view this as “normal” then your opinion on anything is meaningless to me. The idea that that is the only way to be happy is flatter than a crêpe.

We see Kiryu at his happiest, when he’s at least got a good friend by his side and when he’s running the orphanage. It’s just so unnecessary and honestly boring to associate happiness to living the heteronormative dream. It’s the same thing with Mine when people can’t realize he’s gay. It’s the same thing with people who are mad about Majima not ending up with a certain someone and having kids with her. There’s too many fans of this series who don’t understand any of the core themes. There’s too many fans who walk in expecting the most bland story arcs.

Idk if Kiryu is going to have an inkling of a romance with someone in Gaiden or anything. All I do know is that I’m beyond tired of certain sides of this fandom whining and crying over a character not getting the trophy— ahem, the girl— like he HAS to. Like this is VITAL to everything. And that’s all I can say on that.

#yakuza #ryu ga gotoku #like a dragon #I for one am sick and tired of the behavior of certain individuals who can be found in the subreddit #this behavior is on YouTube and Twitter and some other places as well but oh my god #I’ve never seen THIS many people throwing a rage every other day over the most flavorless endings for characters #I’m venting here of course but also am not interested in having another anon approach me under the idea i automatically agreed #with everyone else on any topic similar to this #I’ve got some strong feelings about this and I just #I would HOPE someone doesn’t just get thrown at a woman and starts making babies right away #that’s not great writing

[revvethasmythh]

That Specific Take TM is part of what led me to stop watching critical role entirely. Wouldn’t go so far as calling myself a “stan” of Nott, but I adored her. And I adored her progression into being comfortable with being Veth. But it feels like people see what they want to see far more than they see the character that’s been portrayed… TLDR I sympathize entirely, it’s kind of miserable to know so many people dislike characters you find very compelling for how they are portrayed simply because they are misinterpreting that portrayal at a rather fundamental level!

I actually do not think a take like that stems from dislike! Misinterpretation, yes, but misinterpretation is not always connected to disliking a character. Like, as many insane and wrong takes I've seen about Orym that have popped up during c3, the OPs of those posts often do not necessarily dislike Orym (at least, so they say). They just have a particular perspective that is not, uh, correct if you actually engage with the textual evidence. I think re: this take in particular, it really does come from a sense of disappointment that the dynamic between Nott and Caleb didn't maintain course, that the Veth reveal did irrevocably alter the dynamic.

Which--okay, there's a lot going on with that, and I think people who were overly attached to the "dynamic" over the individual characters involved tend toward Caleb-specific fans (hence how he's the listless sad boi of the post, the queer neurodivergent guy, while Veth is cast as a flat perfectly happy straight neurotypical woman (that was painful even just to write, but that is what the post is positing), and ignorant of all of Caleb's sad boi feelings--which of those descriptions is going to be more relatable/sympathetic to your average tumblr user, you know?), and if you were to track fandom engagement with Nott as a character, I feel like you would find a significant drop-off of investment in her after the Veth reveal. Because she yelled at Caleb, she altered the dynamic, her story separated from his story, she moved away from him narratively, and when the focus was placed more fully on herself and her character details, I suspect a lot of people drifted away from her. Because Nott was Caleb's funny sidekick and qpr and loving mother all rolled into one, and it's just not the same if she is a married woman, a mother, with goals of her own that may--and do--cause her to shift away from her very tight relationship with Caleb. In the eyes of a lot of people, she was there to serve at the altar of the dynamic, and her role was to support Caleb. Breaking the dynamic is a cardinal sin--it's similar to the way some people react so weirdly to the Nein all splitting ways after the finale. There's that deep attachment to The Dynamic, the Found Family, that rifts and conflicts and alterations to the dynamic are distressing to people and they'll come up with similarly incorrect metas full of projections and act like they're canon as a reaction to that.

So, instead of "dislike", I think perhaps the better word to sub in there is "disinterest." If people cleave so strongly to the original representation of the dynamic, when alterations to it are made they are disinterested in letting themselves be invested in, think deeply about, and care for the new dynamics created, because they're too tethered to a thing that was already lost--OR never really existed the way they're imaging to begin with.

#also I'm sorry bad take like these made you drop the show! #stepping back from fandom can sometimes be necessary to really enjoying the media #I was lucky to have about 85-90 episode of the second campaign to watch on my own w/o fandom before getting involved #which I think was overall a good thing #but even with the current campaign if you have the right people on your dash who you can talk to and agree with #it makes the bad takes feel a lot more like background noise. annoying background noise yeah but stuff you can ignore ultimately #anyway I hope this response was on topic because it kind of felt like I was but also like I was not I really can't tell #oh also re: wondering if fandom engaged less w/veth after 47--that's speculation #informed speculation but I--as previously stated--was not involved in the fandom at the time #so I'm not sure exactly how it shook out when those eps were airing #retrospectively I think it is true that people are less interested in veth than they were with nott though #which is where my point stands #anon #asks