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the-dixon-effect · 8 months

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Daryl Dixon - idiots in love headcanons

Daryl's never known anybody like you before. for the first time, a person has chosen him. you can make him feel loved just by talking to him, Hell, you can make him glow just by standing in the same room.

he thinks you're so beautiful. if love at first sight exists, which firmly believed it didn't before he met you, then this apocalypse was the best damn thing that ever happened to him.

it took Daryl a considerably long time for him to realise that his uncharacteristically affectionate feelings were love.

before Daryl realised he was in love, his brother used to constantly tease him about the way he was looking at you. he didn't even know he was doing it - "Whatchu givin' that girl puppy-dog eyes for, lil' bro?"

you two were definitely best friends before he confessed his love for you. you grew close during the prison era, and you were the first person whom he let his guard down in front of.

he can't stand to be apart from you. "If she dun' love me back, I can either be her friend or drive a thousan' miles west, an' never see y'all again," he had told Carol once.

his eyes inadvertently follow your movements, as if his subconscious felt like he needed to protect you.

everything somehow always comes back to you. a piece of jewellery he found on a run? Y/N would love that. the heating system in her house at alexandria's broken? he's fixing it tonight. in the meantime, he's at your door delivering a pile of woollen blankets. he spots a deer outside the walls? he's tracking it for days because he knows you love venison.

you love the way Daryl always steps into a situation to protect you. especially if it's another guy bothering you. he gets jealous so easily, and he doesn't even know it, like defending you is instinctual.

God forbid another man lays his hands on you. that motherfucker is already dead before you can object in the slightest.

Daryl is the only man you trust to talk about your issues with. he'd never pass up an opportunity to listen to your voice, but some of the things you tell him break his heart like nothing's ever done before.

you'll sweetly ask if he'd just hold you. and he wraps you up in his big arms and lets you cry softly into his chest while he places a hand in the back of your hair. rubbing sweet circles into the back of your neck. nothing could make you feel safer than Daryl's embrace.

after countless intimate moments like these, you start to wonder if he's like this around anyone else. surprise, surprise: he doesn't. and a part of him wishes you knew.

oh, but how much you adore him. you wonder if he knows how pretty he is; and how much you want to show him. his unkempt chocolate waves that perfectly frame his face, how much you'd like to tangle your fingers in them and kiss him all over.

you feel as though you owe him for all the times you've cried into his large, comforting figure. he occasionally brings up his past, his brother, his parents, and how much you want him to let it out. to hold him and wipe his tears away while you press soft kisses over his eyelids and cheekbones.

maybe one day, underneath some lucky constellations, you'd let each other.

taglist: @alldevilsarehere90 @poisonmenegan @radcollectivesoul @emilykolchivans @pinchoftheoutsiders

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unhingedmarvelandclassicwhobuff · 7 months

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According to the MCU wiki, the Blip is today. So I figured I'd take the time to detail the four biggest reasons why the time jump in Endgame was a universe-shatteringly horrible idea that should never have seen the light of day

the absolute biggest problem, of which there are many, is the fact that countless people died as collateral damage in the initial Snap. Hell, we are shown it in the Infinity War post-credit scene with those multiple car accidents and that helicopter slamming into a building. And that was just the tip of the iceberg; imagine how many planes crashed because the pilots were dusted, or how many babies starved because both their parents were dusted, or people who may have died on the operating table because a surgeon got dusted. All of these people are totally ignored. It's never so much as mentioned when talking about bringing everyone back, and Tony insisting that the last five years remain unchanged is implicitly saying all of those people remained dead when the dusted returned.

the second big problem with this plot point is that it's used as an excuse for every character except Nat to be totally unrecognizable. Bruce becomes Professor Hulk, Thor gets fat, Tony has a family (and I fucking love how the movie inadvertently says he just let the world rot for five years instead of using his billions of help. That is 100% in character for him), Clint went on a mass killing spree, and Steve... I actually have no idea what made him change so radically. None of this is shown to us at all, it's just told to us.

this is less a problem with Endgame and more a problem with Phases 4 and 5, but the other worse thing about this development is that absolutely nothing has been done with it. Far From Home played the time-jump for comedy, WandaVision had that one great scene in the hospital and then did nothing else, Shang-Chi had a singular throwaway line about the Blip, Hawkeye had that one neat visual of getting Snapped from Yelena's POV and then nothing else, Multiverse of Madness had a single conversation where Strange wonders if letting Tony have his way was the only way to save the universe, Quantumania had a single scene addressing the homelessness issue and then nothing else, and I think Secret Invasion tried to do a bit of a look at how Talos reacted to the Blip, but that show was so awful that I'd rather not think about it. The only projects to do anything at all with the Blip as a major plot point are Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Eternals.

the fourth and final massive problem with the Blip is pretty simple yet complicated; it ignores the absolutely insurmountable societal implications both the Snap and the Blip would have. Think about it; half the fucking universe disintegrates into ash. There are SO many things that would do to just human society alone. But even more importantly, five years after all those people were declared dead (meaning wills are executed, spouses remarried, jobs and homes redistributed, etc) those people suddenly reappear, and from their POV it's only been a second. Just to put it in perspective, the Snap happened on April 29th, 2018. Doesn't that feel like forever ago? If the Snap were real, all those people would have been gone until today. That is such a huge mindfuck that I'm shocked no one went insane. And even looking aside from the psychological impact, all those people are pretty fucking screwed. Far From Home had a single scene addressing this, then promptly forgot about it.

My final point is less of a problem and more of an amusing byproduct; since Tony directly forbids Bruce from undoing the last five years, that means the events of WandaVision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Hawkeye, Multiverse of Madness, and Secret Invasion are on some level his fault. That’s fucking hysterical.

I suppose I'll be absolutely fair and say that rewinding time isn't a morally perfect solution either, as you would be erasing any maturity the survivors gained during those five years, as well as anyone born in that time. But that's just all the more reason to NOT HAVE A FUCKING TIME-SKIP!!! I still think the only reason it was done was for cheap shock value.

All in all, the five-year time jump is the single worst major plot point in the MCU. Fight me.

#anti endgame #the blip was an awful idea #anti tony stark

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zvezdacito · 1 year

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// TWST Book 7 spoilers, thoughts of Malleus's writing as a character

So I was reading some other people's opinions on why some people consider Malleus overrated/annoying, and tbh this makes me really sad. The general consensus is that a lot of people fixate on certain sides and can only see him as one extreme or the other and it results in many ppl thinking a watered down version of his character is how he is in canon.

I feel that its such a shame because he's the most interesting, compelling and well-rounded take on his character archetype I've seen.

From my observation, usually they kinda make this archetype (the broody misunderstood 'everyone fears him like a monster except for one special person') someone you can't take that seriously, because of how his struggle usually kind of written in a way where everyone involved feel less like actual fully fledged original characters and really just one note tropes interacting with other one note tropes.

To elaborate: What i mean when i say this is usually ppl who hate him kind of just do because of plot requires them to and to show how all their haters are "normies" who can't get him because 'he's not like everyone else'. The misunderstood guy still usually has toxic personality issues but the story really tends to make it feel like they don't fear him for that but because they're shallow and have prejudice to ppl like him, so his personality issues are not framed as wrong or character flaws.

I don't think there's anything inherenrly wrong or mediocre with the "one special person who gives him a chance before anyone else" trope like I'm literally a Malleyuu enjoyer lol but like i said its all in the execution cause otherwise it fails to be compelling and believable. Usually in the poorly written version of this trope the guy doesn't undergo any character development other than showing more emotion and kindess to his partner because they melted his ice I guess so it really makes his whole character feel like its revolves around the sake of romance and fanservice.

Malleus doesn't fall into this trap in my opinion because his situation despite how fantastical it is, the way he was written makes it believable as to why everything is the way it is with him, and it also challenges the viewer if they would be able to say they wouldn't fear him too in that situation.

"We're gonna give you this character who everyone sees as a monster and show you deep down he just wants the same love as everyone else, making you contemplate changing judgement on him. He wants to prove this, but his way of going about it always inadvertently harms others."

"You know where hes coming from and if he had that social connection to give him a better understanding of others this wouldn't be happening, but its also equally understandable that the people hes trying to connect with don't deserve this and fear him even more after this, trapping him in a cycle of isolation."

"Given his track record, do you go about giving him a chance or just considering the repeatedly proven danger he brings. With the valid reasons of both parties, can you really say he isn't a monster and demand that 'if only people be near him'?"

There's just such a tragic and thought-provoking dilemma to his character that adds so many layers that makes him so good.

As omniscient viewers we have the benefit of seeing what he's going through form his POV so we can sympathize with him and understand that he thinks what he's doing is the best course of action and he's just trying to create a "win for everyone" situation.

But also everything he does ironically reaffirms everyone's fear and distrust of someone like him. No one can deny he has a tendency to cause further destruction when he tries to do something "good", examples including: past Briar Valley lantern lighting fire, the Halloween 2 ghost world party, and now his Sleeping Curse stunt in Book 7 Part 2 (they really emphasize this by making the spoken name of his UM basically mean "Malicious Fairy" but have its written name used to convey what its meant to mean be "Blessing").

↑ Given this, it honestly makes sense others, especially those who don't know him all that well, would just expect the worst when he's around already, and you wouldn't be able to blame them for that given the track record. It doesn't help that this impression is worsened since he tends to cause misunderstandings due to his lack of familiarity with human social cues.

Alongside the bias and preconceived notions from his status and reputation, they also make a point on how his personality flaws are still also a huge factor in pushing people away, such as not being able to see things through the perspective of others.

He also holds a subconcious belief due to what has been ingrained in him since childhood as a Draconia and the next in line that because he's superior to others at certain things, he has the right and responsibility to decide on what will protect and help them, disregarding the individual values/priorities of human beings and leading him to take reckless and destructive action with good intentions.

His upbringing, character strengths and character flaws are all realistically connected to each other and the way they are subtly shown to be ever-present in defining his decisions, goals and thoughts throughout the whole story. So we don't really need to have a character go out of their way to exposition this to us this word for word just so we can understand and believe it.

Moving onto something slightly more lighthearted, I really also like how dorky Malleus surprisingly was. Other similar characters in the archetype I usually see don't really have any hobbies, interests, or quirks outside of being a broody authority figure, which might've been appealing to some at first but it really just gets stale and boring after a while.

This should be the bare minimum in making a fleshed out and interesting character so maybe i sound like im giving them too much credit for pointing it out😭 But yeah compared to the other examples it's good that Malleus has his Tamagotchi and Gargoyle interests it makes him feel like a believable person who has his own life going on too (with the bonus that these interests are also metaphors for aspects of his character). The gap moe adds an endearing side to him, and makes the gap between his intent and impact of his actions even more tragic. It wouldn't hit the same without this side.

(^ Forgot how the exact quote goes, but it basically said dark stories are more effective when there are moments of genuine happiness and good in them, compared to if it was always just grim and edgy. The former increases the stakes and tragedy because you have something you to care about losing, while for the latter there is nothing for you to care about so nothing the story does really matters. Same logic applies to Malleus)

Overall, it's just like an unfortunate incompatibility of goals and circumstances, which is what TWST is all about. Another thing I want to say is out of all the characters, I feel like Malleus is the one who is the ultimate embodiment of TWST's main themes:

-> How it's not about "hero" vs "villain" just differing circumstances crossing paths and clashing because of how people on either side have their own complex perspective and dreams they want to realize

-> And how connection and finding community is important to find people who will help you make up for what you lack in reaching your goals and to better understand all the factors that caused the situation in the first place.

As if seeing yourself reflected in a mirror, the more you get to know the people around you, you realize in many ways you are actually quite alike, and through understanding others you could also possibly better understand certain aspects of yourself. It's sort of encouraging you to do the opposite of dehumanizing others and yourself, which is something Malleus has most evidently internalized.

So yeah this was so long😭 I had a lot I wanted to say since Malleus is my favorite TWST character. Idk if I missed anything or if i managed to express my thoughts in a cohesive way but yeah. I kinda go into a rage whenever I see the worst takes ever be put out about his character but tbh sometimes I can't completely blame others since fandom trends and the convenience of simplifying things into tropes can warp your perception of a character and what you associate with them.

Also sometimes twst doesn't do a good job with utilizing his character like Book 5 where he got turned into a deus ex machina and Halloween 2 where they killed any hype and intrigue for the plot we had at the beginning through the ending reveal and gave the worst justification ever for Malleus and Lilia's actions ever.

Regardless, I hope more people manage to move past this and appreciate his character for what it really is soon though. He's an amazingly tragic character; a lot of thought was put into how his experiences, strengths and weaknesses would convincingly connect, and he represents something relevant in the story's plot and themes.

The fact that I've seen some people unironically believe that Malleus may just be faking his cluelessness of social cues to hide his "true evil" is evidence to how convincing his character's situation is, that even some in the audience who know more about him than the characters would still end up in the same place of doubt and distrust of Malleus because of what he's capable of.

Aight thank you for reading👍

#twst #twisted wonderland #twst book 7 spoilers #malleus draconia #twst writing analysis ?#diasomnia #i am his number 1 defender #ignore me just putting random photos in between text i tried separating chunks of text to make it more readable lol #twst character analysis ?

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oshiawaseni · 9 months

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Trails of Love Hori's been paving down in the build up for the series' ending

Part II: Decoding the love story being told through other characters

Part One | II. KamiJirou | Part Three ->

.•° ✿ 5. "I̥̰̟͈̣̮͑̑͐̓̌z̴͉̙̲̋͗͌u̶̫̝̒̊̐Ocha" ೋღ

Oh look, time to defeat the raid boss of BNHA: IzuOcha. (I wrote this meta in March, and after reading it now, I didn't feel I needed to change anything, but I added a small bonus section at the end. Hope you enjoy!)

I have a lot of things to say about why Ochaco was never meant to be the one... but I'll try to stay concise and on topic with regards to this meta. Ochaco appears set up as Izuku's love interest from the get-go, but is that really what Hori wanted to do? I'll be taking a dive into their themes and in part three of this meta, I'll be explaining why the answer to that question has been a resounding: NO!

When I compared the feedback Ochaco got from Aoyama, Toga and Mina about her having a crush on Izuku for wanting to be like him, to Izuku, who didn’t get any feedback for all the times he did the exact same thing and copied Kacchan, it felt very unfair.

See what I mean? It is completely unfair. And this was such a hard topic for me to navigate and answer for the anon at that time. But then I did some thinking.

Compress, Gentle/La Brava, Kamijirou and finally Kirimina (which came as a pleasant surprise, and for me, cemented Hori's intentions with all of this)... all of these characters have been written to highlight various things about BkDk's relationship.

Then, there is Ochaco's admiration of Izuku and she always gets told it's a crush, and it's so weird of a plot to begin with. This very one-sided "crush" also felt out of place with the rest of the themes going on. I eventually realised maybe we had been looking too closely at the admiration issue all along. By attempting to explain the meaning of the tree and why it's different from this other tree, we didn't see the forest it's connected to and that there was actually something bigger going on that Hori had been crafting.

Scale it back and you’ll see: It’s not that Izuku didn’t get his own feedback about his feelings for Kacchan in the various ways he shows he wanted to be like him, but Ochaco’s conversations with Aoyama and Mina and Toga were his feedback!! It was one of the biggest AHHHHHHHHHHH SO THAT'S WHY pin drop moments I've ever had.

No one was calling him out, because they didn't need to! Calling out Ochaco for that behaviour was all Izuku's same behaviour needed!

Chapter 15 is the first time Izuku displays this behaviour of wanting to be like Kacchan. In Chapter 48 Izuku trains his movement after thinking of "Kacchan and the others". His movement mimicking Katsuki's is first noticed by Iida in Chapter 52.

We spent so much time worrying what the difference is between Izuku and Ochaco’s admiration, but we tackled the problem all wrong! In fact, we didn’t need to tackle it at all.

Because not only did Ochaco’s crush sideplot serve as a red herring to veil the real love story going on from the average reader, it was also used as another tool to highlight it.

In chapter 58, Izuku showed off his new movement style and everybody, even Katsuki, noticed it was copying the way Katsuki moves. The fact we get another Ochaco shot of her watching Izuku mimic Katsuki really does add credence to the theory that she noticed Izuku's feelings because he's also copying the person he loves. And if their logic was true for her, then why couldn't it be true for Izuku too? Izuku's mimicry being such a non-issue for 1-A was surely done on purpose for us to see this hypocrisy one day: That her mimicry gets called out as love by everyone, but everyone sleeps on Izuku's own mimicry simply because it's between two boys.

Our take away was never meant to be “what’s the difference between their admiration/love”, but simply that Izuku was both wanting to become like and inadvertently becomes like Kacchan because he loves him so much and a way to keep Kacchan close to him was incorporating both his attitude and movement style into his own.

Hori was linking the two concepts of mimicry and romance together with commentary from Mina/Aoyama/Toga while having Izuku do this EXACT THING they were talking about, with Katsuki, right in front of our damn salad!

Because what other characters noted about Ochaco's behaviour... Izuku was also expressing towards Kacchan. (Hori even brought it up again in DvK2 just to remind *everyone* that Izuku is very conscious of doing the exact same thing as Ochaco)

Even if Ochaco later reveals their logic to not be true FOR HER (which I wholeheartedly believe in. BkDk+TogaChaco end game LETS GO), we know for sure this logic has absolutely been true for Izuku. And the feedback Ochaco got also fits Hori’s framework of;

Bkdk -> are the actions

Other characters -> are the words for their feelings and actions.

Ochaco never was a raid boss to begin with... she only had the appearance of one. All to get BkDK through to the finish line.

Ochaco talking about "putting the All Might doll away" here used the same verb as "shutting her feelings away" and her scene instantly jumps to Izuku looking at his black whip - a quirk he has also "put away" behind a locked door that represents OFA. Black whip is a quirk which emerged from the feelings he has for Katsuki, that Izuku has also had to "put away" because what happened to him was so traumatic. I think Hori wanted us to see their two stories of "locking something away" were actually the same in essence, and it wasn't just black whip itself that Izuku had to lock away, but also his feelings for Katsuki... because we lost Izuku's POV towards Katsuki after the "I'm too blessed." scene. Most likely to hide the romantic love Izuku feels towards him from the reader.

I realised the same logic of the other couples also applied to Ochaco too a few months ago, while I was putting together this meta about all the ways Hori has indirectly shown readers what Izuku’s feelings for Kacchan are. Hori couldn’t say it outright because of his demographic and the current expectations society has that BL should stay in it's own category and far removed from shounen.

So Hori gave bkdk their moments without a whole lot of context and developed the idea of them simultaneously in another language, by getting other various characters to do the talking. And he used these characters to indirectly spell out bkdk’s love story in conjunction with bkdk’s own behaviour, all for the sake of his big bkdk reveal in the series' finale.

And to think he’s been doing this almost since the beginning blows my mind. (Chapter 15! Chapter 15 was the start of WWKD: What Would Kacchan Do) The man is a genius. A lot of this feels like he had needed to release his feelings about bkdk, so he left these trails of code throughout the manga... and we’ve finally cracked the damn thing.

We did it. We realised Hori’s 2nd language and roundabout method of telling one of the greatest love stories in shounen history. And I’m sure there’s even more examples of it to discover, that all our fandom's talented, keen-eyed bkdks find every day.

If Horikoshi Kohei-Sensei wrote this story because he wanted to cement his mark in jump history, he has deservedly done just that!

Part B - The real ship of dreams

(It felt too good to be true, yet I was quietly hoping...) .•° ✿ 5. TogaChako ೋღ

Circling back to the first part of this meta, "The Shape of an Eternal Bond" ... Do you remember when I talked about how BkDk couldn't imagine a world without each other, and the sense of an eternity they both exude together? Something that has always been, something that will always be. It seems more themes and feelings we get from bkdk's relationship have now been thrown into the Togachaco fight.

Ochaco gave Toga what is essentially a marriage proposal to a vampire, and then her wires made the shape of the infinity symbol. Toga expresses to her "I can't stand the thought of you not being in this world anymore." This is 1. so touching 2. bkdk as HELL, and I am certain that Katsuki and Izuku will confess their desires to be together forever before this manga ends.

I mean, this just goes to show you how us bkdks and Hori are literally on the same neural link, and we've been right about his methods of storytelling and how he's leaving trails of love inside these other couples to express concepts that are present in bkdk's own (soon to be) very romantic relationship.

It's a fun thought exercise to look at Togachaco's fight and predict what certain themes of theirs Hori will install into bkdk's talk/feelings they will express to each other... but there is a certain one, other than "forever", I feel very strongly about and will focus on here...

And that is Izuku's smile.

Something Katsuki once detested became the thing he most advocated for and longed to protect. His thumbs pointing to himself while talking about smiles... no wonder this had an air of Katsuki, himself, being the biggest reason Izuku smiles. "How could you leave me and choose this for us - a life of no smiling like that?"

At the start of the series, Katsuki couldn't stand Izuku's face or the smile he made at him. Whenever he saw it, he could only think of it as somebody laughing at him, looking down on him... but then DvK2 reframed Izuku's wide smiles at him and turned them into something pure, and genuine, and I think that's when Katsuki started to realise how much he was being loved the whole time.

And how could Katsuki possibly not reciprocate those earnest feelings from his special person who helped him find his heroic heart?

And this seems to be something Ochaco has noticed about Izuku? Ochaco, somebody who loves when people smile, noticed how big Izuku smiles when he talks about heroes... but especially the besotted faces he makes whenever he's with Katsuki... Of course she did.

On the Weekly Shounen Jump cover that featured bnha chapter 394, most of the characters on it are happy and smiling. Izuku isn't, however. That's because he's lost the ability to smile because Katsuki is still dead in the manga... Hori used this jump issue to build on this theme in the manga - that if you take Katsuki away, then away goes Izuku's smile, too.

Because Katsuki's very existence gives Izuku his happiness.

These two panels were supposed to be compared to each other - "Blood" and "Smiles" are two concepts mirroring each other in Togachaco's story. It's their different love languages. Toga felt like she couldn't ask Saito-kun for blood because he'd never accept her, Ochaco felt like she couldn't ask Izuku for his smile... because he'd also never accept her... she knew this was because Izuku already had somebody who gave him his sweetest smile... the same person who knew him more than anyone.

Chapter 395's title, 'shiawase no ue ni' was an interesting one that feels nuanced with Ochaco's feelings towards Izuku. It can be read as "Above (my) happiness..." I think this title is describing the concept of prioritising something else BEFORE one's own happiness. It's the perfect concept title for self-sacrifice, like Toga putting Ochaco's life above her own, but could ALSO be referencing Ochaco placing Izuku's happiness with Katsuki before her own feelings for him!!

Ochaco's story, at present, appears to be about putting aside unrequited love for a person she didn't quite understand, and instead placing her efforts into an attainable goal - rescuing somebody's heart from despair, and in doing so, becoming each other's important person. And then neither have to journey through life alone anymore. Ochaco knew this is something Izuku and Katsuki found in each other. In the image above, the girls are looking at Izuku and Saito, who won't turn their way, because they are both looking at a blonde boy next to them. Their "Sometimes Saturday." Katsuki.

The hidden face as Ochaco says she "came to like" Izuku Midoriya is quite suspicious. It belies what she's saying and she seems to either be hiding something negative or she’s not being truly forthcoming about her situation and feelings for Izuku. There are also themes of envy that finally showed up in Togachaco's dialogue which may be foundation Hori has laid down for the reveal of Ochaco's feelings later, as well. Envy about the attention Izuku received from others as a hero. Envy towards Izuku's innate passion for heroes, and the adoring faces he makes for Katsuki, perhaps.

So this smile that Katsuki has always misunderstood as something negative aimed towards him ended up turning into something... very lovely and important to him, as shown in Izuku's panel and how Ochaco described Toga's smile right afterwards.

And honestly... if we get little snapshots of the many smiles Izuku has made for Katsuki, while Katsuki is thinking about how adorable Izuku looks just for him when they're talking, I don't think I'll make it out of this bkdk reveal alive. Hori is going to obliterate us with whatever he's got cooking for them.

With all the major bkdk-alike couples now finished, the next post of this meta series will be: Part III, and the conclusion of this meta series ->

Back to Part One

#bakudeku #bnha meta #bkdk canon #hori trails #must read meta #kana writes #togachaco #bkdk #I'm sorry I took so long to post this part #you see... there was an order i was trying to do things in...#i wanted to link to topics I was writing on twitter but then stuff happened there which messed with my plans for writing these metas out #on top of that #the tumblr editor would randomly wipe out entire asks so I became really demotivated #but this is one of the last metas I wanted to write for bkdk so I will finish writing at least this series to completion #sorry the togachaco section is small I didn't want to make the post even longer but I felt like I should talk about them #as this was the intended final post of part II - I shoulda known togachaco would also become a big part of this meta series xD #but their themes and expressions of love are a happy and welcome surprise just like kiriminas :)

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ingravinoveritas · 6 months

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(**Warning: Spoilers for the OFMD 2 season finale follow. Read at your own risk.)

I've just watched the finale of season 2 of Our Flag Means Death, and it has stirred a lot of thoughts and feelings in me (as it has many of us, unquestionably). I had initially planned to include some of these thoughts in my review of GO 2 (which I still have not written), but the death of Izzy Hands (Con O'Neill) has brought back some of the feelings I had a few months ago, so I'd like to talk about the theme of ableism in GO 2 and OFMD.

Since the first season, Izzy Hands has seemingly been a polarizing figure, but there has been a clear emotional resonance on the part of fans toward him, and especially now in season 2. To have his arc and "redemption" come in such an ignominious fashion certainly feels like a slap in the face to those fans. I would characterize myself as "Izzy neutral" (that is, I did not hate him, but I didn't necessarily feel a deep connection to him, either), but what troubles me is how Izzy was ultimately treated as a disabled character.

Earlier in episode 8, the Revenge crew is jailed, and Prince Ricky pulls Izzy out of the cell to have a drink, and during this exchange Izzy says this line, which we had previously heard in one of the trailers:

It was Izzy who the writers/creative team specifically chose to have say this line, and because of that, I find it very difficult to swallow the idea that he was the one character who was later killed. That in the end, the character who speaks about belonging is the one who doesn't get to belong. As if he was there to further Ed's storyline, to be an object lesson for him, and was then disposable after that.

Further compounding the issue was the crew using Izzy's prosthetic leg as a grave marker (presumably under the assumption that he no longer needed it). But for many disabled people, prostheses and wheelchairs and other accommodations are what help us thrive in the world and are part of who we are, so to me, taking that away from him inadvertently diminished how complex and multifaceted Izzy had become as a character and seemingly reduced him to little more than a mascot.

As a person on the autism spectrum who works in the field of disability, Izzy's line about belonging resonated with me extremely deeply. For many of us who are neurodivergent or disabled, this is the stuff of our everyday lives--being told through childhood, adolescence, and even adulthood that we are nothing, and that our lives do not have value. I spent so many years searching for that sense of belonging, to know that I had a place in the world, and it was not something anyone could give to me, but something I had to fight for. To make that space, because no one else would.

As I've said before, while I have watched both shows, I am far more into and emotionally connected to GO than OFMD. This leads me to GO season 2, and the parallels to this that I saw there. In GO 2, we have the character of Saraqael (Liz Carr), who is an angel that uses a wheelchair (as does the actor who plays them). It's shown in one of the episodes that Saraqael's power is to miracle wheelchair ramps everywhere they go, and in nearly all of the reviews and articles I've read about the second season, this trait is met with widespread praise.

But to me it mirrored precisely what we see in real life--that is, that the burden of accessibility is often placed on disabled people ourselves. I would have loved to have seen one of the able-bodied angels have not only the power, but the desire to create those ramps. It was disheartening to me to think that even in a seemingly ideal place like Heaven (although we know it certainly isn't), it is the disabled character who has to create a place for themselves.

The character choices around Saraqael and Izzy are something I would describe as benevolent ableism, in that while no harm was likely intended, it still reinforces long-ingrained prejudices and ideas about disability. There is so much intersectionality between queerness and disability as well, and so it is disappointing to see an opportunity to have that idea of "belonging" encompass every character only encompass certain characters instead.

I truly think this will only change if and when we have disabled people behind the camera as well as in front of it. And I hope that day comes sooner rather than later so that all of the fans who see themselves in Izzy or Saraqael are not left feeling the way they do now...

#our flag means death #ofmd 2 #ofmd 2 spoilers #izzy hands #con o'neill #good omens #good omens 2 #saraqael #liz carr #ableism #disability #media and disability #i'm feeling a lot of feelings #so i hope this all makes sense #not trying to hate on either show but really wishing things had been done better #thoughts #discourse #gif by me

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reesiereads · 7 months

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Isabella and the Mask (Goosebumps 2023 Analysis 2/5)

So for anyone who has not read my first post I highly recommend checking that out. The jist of this analysis however is that I am attempting to show the symbolism in the new Goosebumps show behind each haunted Biddle object and the connection of each object to each kid.

I’ve already talked about Isaiah so now let’s discuss Isabella.

(Spoilers below the cut, I seriously recommend watching the show first before reading. Trust me, it’s worth it)

Isabella is the point of view of the show’s second episode The Haunted Mask and in terms of symbolism is one of the most straightforward.

The Haunted Mask starts with showing us how Isabella spends a majority of her time: trolling her fellow classmates and leaving mean-spirited comments on their posts. There’s a vindictive sort of energy to her voice and facial expressions as she reads off each comment and stares down at her phone which completely fades the moment she runs into somebody else or attempts to talk to someone in person.

It’s implied throughout the episode that Isabella has some level of social anxiety. She struggles to raise her voice around others, apologizes unnecessarily for things that aren’t her fault, and in general conveys a rather anxious energy when talking with anybody that isn’t her family. The scene at the party where she sees Allison and her friends laughing and immediately grows self-conscious, assuming they’re laughing at her, is a prime example of this.

Now it’s also implied throughout the episode that Isabella has some anger issues (yes, even prior to her putting on the mask). The online trolling is a good example but there is also heavy annoyance in her tone and demeanor when dealing with Alan during breakfast as well as her snapping at Lucas for nearly running into her on the stairs, raising her voice around a person who isn’t her family for the first time on screen.

What’s interesting about Isabella’s first scene with Lucas at the stairs is that, while she seems frustrated, Isabella doesn’t seem genuinely angry until Lucas tells her he ‘didn’t notice her.” Her reaction to this line, particularly her facial expression, is a mixture of both hurt and genuine anger, as Lucas had unintentionally hit Isabella’s main issue right on the head.

See, Isabella is socially anxious, right? And Alan states later that she isn’t very involved when it comes to social events. This has inadvertently led to Isabella bleeding into the background, nobody knows who she is. Isaiah even states they’ve had classes together for years but he doesn’t know a thing about her, not even her name.

Except nobody truly knows her at home either, except perhaps her kid brother. Her Father is never home and her Mother is a nurse. It’s implied her Mother isn’t home very often either and that her Mother jumps very quickly to disciplinary action without fully hearing her kid’s out or connecting to them emotionally.

Isabella is invisible both at school and at home and this fact has caused her to grow resentful

It’s obvious both in her vindictive comments and actions to her fellow students and her Mother that Isabella heavily resents the people around her for how isolated she feels. When speaking with Alan she states she can’t go to the party because “no one knows who I am there. I’m literally invisible to them” in a tone that implies she believes it’s their fault. Alan challenges this by asking her if it’s possible she’s alone because she never joins in, which is what goads Isabella into going to the party.

Unfortunately, her social anxiety kicks in as soon as she walks into the Biddle house and leads her straight to the mask.

The Biddle mask works like this: It can whisper in the minds of it’s targets and once worn begins to drag out a person’s worst feelings and impulses. This effect is kept in place even after the mask is taken off and it seems to leave it’s targets in a sort of emotional trance. The mask also begins to fuse to it’s targets face and body once worn, though it can be pried off by the wearer with enough force. It’s also implied the mask has some sort of persuasive thraw about it that lures in it’s victims and convinces them to wear it.

Now the mask brings out three main reactions from Isabella: Confidence, Vindictiveness, and Violence:

It’s immediately apparent that Isabella gained a social confidence after putting on the mask at the party, going up to both Isaiah and Allison to dance around them and in general walking with a purpose that she did not hold originally. However the behavior continues the following school day, as Isabella holds a conversation with Isaiah that previously she seemed unable to manage. She’s speaking up to other students now, correcting them and holding full conversations. Her social anxiety hasn’t completely gone away as we see her struggle to speak to Isaiah when he first approached her and struggle to advocate for herself and her frustrations with Lucas and Colin, however there is still a markable difference in behavior.

The vindictiveness and violence on the other hand are radically apparent. While Isabella had already had a vindictive streak her anger begins to show far more apparently, exploding out of her in a way she quite literally can not control. Her original shouting at Lucas echos her original anger in the stairway however when the mask goads her in the office it’s very obvious she is acting out of character, digging into both Lucas and Colin’s insecurities directly to their faces the way she typically does online. She later forcibly walks Alan out of her room and then tracks down Lucas to violently beat him up, sent on a rampage by the mask that seems wildly out of control and erratic, nothing like the small bursts of anger Isabella had showcased previously.

She’s so lost in her own rage at her Mother that she ravages their home and almost attacks Alan.

The message for this episode seems about as clear as the last one: If you allow your anger and resentment at others to fester, only expressing it in small petty ways rather then properly communicating, you are eventually going to explode and there is a high chance people you care about will get caught up in the blast.

#goosebumps #goosebumps 2023 #Isabella Chen Lopez #character analysis #goosebumps analysis #reesie rambles

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heretherebedork · 8 months

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It felt like, for the first time, Kanghan was pushed out of his bubble where rich people reside and was confronted with reality. He saw Sailom, who he always thought was someone who would never bend or cower, but suddenly so scared and vulnerable, the literal opposite of how he envisions Sailom. And he acted instinctually, inadvertently saving the boy he went to scare and subjugate; and it was like, Kanghan liked the feeling of being a hero, or a protector or the good guy, even though quite clearly from his face he couldn't understand what it was, that he was feeling.

Oh, absolutely.

Kanghan has never mattered. He's always been powerful but he's never mattered and those are two very different feelings.

He saved Sailom, who he came to threaten, and he suddenly saw all those moments that Sailom stood up to him and realized the difference between the kind of power he had and actual authority and he realized that isn't him.

He went to Sailom with an empty gun, an empty threat, and turned it into a rescue from a real threat.

Because that's all Kanghan has ever been.

An empty gun.

He carried money like armor but that can never actually protect you.

Kanghan was an empty gun and he found that out when he saw Sailom being hurt and he turned that empty gun into the threat that his money never made a difference in.

And once he saw the power in that moment and the real danger and the actual fear, there was nothing left in him. Real danger, real importance, someone needing him, was never in the equation.

I think a lot of it is that Kanghan has power and no ambition, no goals, no one asking anything of him. The teachers write him off as a rich kid to protect, his father asks him not to try and to just relax, his grandmother looks at him but she doesn't hold the power to push him as hard as he needs.

Kanghan is an empty gun trying to fire, again and again, burning himself and breaking himself and hurting himself trying to make something happen. He has never had anything matter and so he is constantly searching for something to do with his power.

Saving Sailom showed him what power could be and then Sailom, the one who always stared at him with amusement and disdain in his eyes, sobbed and clung to him like he was the center of the universe, like he mattered.

This is going to shape a lot of their relationship. Between the fact that Kanghan was coming to threaten Sailom (that's definitely gonna come out at some point) to Kanghan discovering what it feels like to be a hero to Sailom's money issues and sense of justice to Kanghan's amorality to just... everything. All of it. I love them so much.

#asked and answered #dangerous romance #dangerous romance the series #kangsailom #kanghansailom

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dutchdread · 2 months

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I love your posts and I can't wait for you to start posting about Rebirth but I have to ask something. Do you think that with the story going seemingly a different direction that your post about remake and the og will still hold up? And also what are your thoughts on Rebirth and the way the LTD was handled?

Unfortunately I was on vacation till yesterday so I haven't been able to play much yet, I've only just caught a chocobo, so I can't say much about the different direction yet. Especially since I've been avoiding spoilers. I'm not sure which posts you meant specifically but so far everything feels very in line with what I've said. The one "date" Aerith and Cloud had in Kalm was essentially just a pretense for Aerith to ask about Cloud and Tifa and was more her matchmaking than actually interfering. Her then pointing out the date in front of Tifa is also either her trying to goad Tifa and Cloud into actual, or else needlessly cruel. The game made sure to point out Aerith has lost most of her memories of the future, which you can tell from her behavior, which feels more in line with her personality from the OG rather than the gandalf-esque mannerisms she had in remake. This is interesting to me since it, for one, gives SE the justification to have her try and make moves on Cloud without the stigma of her trying to entice someone she KNOWS is destined for someone else (her best friend no less). But as a story beat it also works pretty well to turn her resolution in part 1 into foreshadowing that her attempts will eventually fail because it's "not real". It's like part 1 showed us how this will eventually end and now we get to see the road leading up to that.

Even so, even without the future knowledge Aerith now knows enough about Cloud and Tifa that being intentionally cruel or trying to get between that would make her EXTREMELY unlikable, and since I doubt that SE wants her to be extremely unlikable my prediction is that Aerith will go 70% trying to cheerlead for Cloud and Tifa, 30% trying to work out her issues with Zack through Cloud. And while she inadvertently will catch some feelings herself because of that "working through things" the conclusion will be what I've always said, she'll realize the thing she has with Cloud isn't romantic, it's not like with Zack. But I'll try to do some updates as I continue playing.

#ff7 #ffvii rebirth #Cloti

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geeky-politics-46 · 2 years

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Jealous Bucky Headcanon

Kinktober 2022 - Day 5: Jealous Sex with Bucky Barnes

Smut - Explicit content - NSFW - 18+ only!

Summary: I decided to do this one as a headcanon because you know jealous sex with Bucky is a fairly regular occurrence

Warnings: Smut (NSFW) - 18+ ONLY - swearing, oral sex, pet names, dirty talk, biting/marking, rough sex, spanking, needy Bucky is a warning by itself

Bucky hates seeing other guys flirt with you. He's terrified that you'll realize you could do so much better, or just how many issues he has.

He hates that he gets so jealous, and he knows it isn't the healthiest thing in a relationship but he's working on it.

In the meantime though, his jealous and possessiveness usually leads to really good sex. Even if it takes some pouting or mild arguing to get to it.

There are 2 ways things usually play out when Bucky has had one of his bouts of jealousy.

The first is if he is left feeling insecure and needy. This is sweet, passionate, and intimate.

Your wish is his command, and he will stop at nothing until you're writhing in pleasure telling him how good he makes you feel.

You are barely through the door before he is on his knees trying to bury his face in your pussy.

His touch starved side takes over and he could get off just from your taste on his tongue and your fingers tugging at his hair.

The way he moans and whimpers as he licks at your slick folds and sucks on your clit making your eyes roll back in your head.

He doesn't even have to finger you he's tongue fucking you so good.

If he has access he will start inadvertently grinding against your leg, trying to get some relief for his cock that is now aching from the way you drive him nuts. How everything about you makes him hard.

Then after he has made you cum with his mouth once already, he'll scoop you up and carry you to bed.

Taking his time in removing the rest of your clothes as well as his own. He wants to show you how he worships every inch of you. How no one could possibly love you more than he does.

He always fucks you in missionary or a mating press position on these nights. His forehead pressed to yours or whispering little praises in between kisses the entire time.

He will stop several times to go down on you again and make the session last as long as possible with as many orgasms as he can give you.

Only worrying about his own orgasm when he is sure you are completely satisfied and cockdrunk for him.

When he is about to cum he needs to hear that you love him and that he is all you want. Looking into his big blue eyes and assuaging any fear he ever had of losing you.

"Love you so much, Bucky. So perfect. You make me feel so good. Wanna feel you cum baby. Cum inside me Buck, fill my pussy up. It's all yours. I'm all yours."

The second way is if he ends up feeling pouty and grumpy. Even angry sometimes, never really angry at you but at whoever tried to steal your affections.

If you try to tease him by flirting with someone it will always lead to this ending.

This sex is rougher and more intense. Think hairpulling, spanking, biting/marking, and lots of dirty talk. He wants you to know you are his.

As soon as you are through the door you find yourself up against the wall or bent over any available surface with Bucky already working on leaving a couple marks on your neck.

"Can't stand seeing another guy flirt you. Now everyone will know you are mine."

You better not be too attached to the panties you are wearing, or the rest of your clothes, because they will most likely be ripped off of you.

He likes to fuck you from behind when he feels possessive like this. That way he can really fuck you hard and fast. Using your hips or your hair for leverage.

He will still guarantee you cum multiple times, but he is more driven by his own hunger when he feels this way.

He wants to have you screaming his name and unable to form coherent sentences. He also really really wants to cum in you. He wants you marked from the inside out.

"That's it babydoll, taking my cock so well. You know why? Because this pussy was made for me. It's my pussy isn't it baby? I'm the only one who can fuck you. I'm the only one who gets to hear you moan like a needy little slut. Who's slut are you baby? Who's pussy is this? Let me hear you say it."

If you don't answer loud enough he'll give you a good slap on the ass and make you say it again. Never slowing the pace of his cock slamming into you over and over.

"Gonna fill you up doll. Gonna keep you so fucking full of cum and dripping all night. I want people to smell my cum on you. Beg for it. Beg for my cum. Gonna cum so fucking hard for you baby. Gonna cum so much."

Either way your night begins it ends with him holding you close and making sure you know he loves you and you assuring him you are his.

--------------------------------

Back to Kinktober 2022 masterlist

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So apparently I only have a Doctor Strange taglist. If you want to be tagged in Bucky stuff let me know. There will be a handful more for him this month.

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zuko-always-lies · 2 years

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Toph was forced into joining Team Avatar more than she chose to do so[Toph meta]

Team Avatar didn’t intend this to happen, but their actions inadvertently led to this situation.

Before I begin, I would like to note that the conventional narrative surrounding Toph’s decision to join with the Gaang usually amounts to something like “Toph joined up because she was unhappy with her life with her parents and wanted a life of adventure.” At least, that’s what I thought until I happened to have a moment of insight recently. I happened to see a post which reminded me of this exchange from “The Chase”:

Katara: Ever since joining us you've been nothing but selfish and unhelpful. Toph: What? (Doing a half turn and pointing at Katara again.) Look here, sugar queen, (Drops arm and continues, Katara makes a gesture like she wants to interject.) I gave up everything I had so that I could teach Aang earthbending, so don't you talk to me about being selfish!

This didn’t exactly correspond to the conventional wisdom on why she joined Team Avatar. As we shall see, it doesn’t exactly correspond with the reality of what happened, either, yet it’s easy to see why Toph feels that way.

In “The Blind Bandit,” Toph’s introductory episode, Team Avatar try to recruit Toph since Aang thinks she’s destined to be his earthbending teacher. Their first real exchange goes like this:

Aang: (airbending himself to his feet) Well, a crazy king told me I had to find an earthbender who listens to the earth. And then I had a vision in a magic swamp and... Katara: (cutting Aang off) What Aang is trying to say is, he's the Avatar, and if he doesn't master earthbending soon he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord. (The Bandit sticks her open hand in Katara's face, who looks taken aback.) Toph: Not my problem. Now get out of here or I'll call the guards. Sokka: Look, we all have to do our part to win this war. And yours is to teach Aang earthbending. (Cut to a shot of the Bandit's back as Sokka speaks. When he concludes, she turns around, looking distraught.) Toph: Guards! Guards, help!

Toph declines the offer to join, while demonstrating she doesn’t care that much about the war or regard it as her job to help lead the Earth Kingdom to victory.

Later on, Aang and Toph have a more substantial exchange:

Toph: Even though I was born blind, I've never had a problem seeing. (They reach the end of the bridge and she jumps off the guardrail and lands on the ground.) Toph: I see with earthbending. It's kind of like seeing with my feet. I can feel the vibrations in the earth, and I can see where everything is. You, that tree, even those ants. (The screen zooms backward three times as Toph speaks, each time showing a wider overhead shot of the pair. At the mention of the ants, cut to a shot from ground level showing Aang and Toph in the background. In the foreground, some ants are silhouetted waling across over a mound of dirt. Aang looks around, but is unable to see that ants that Toph is talking about. He finally turns to her with a smile.) Aang: That's amazing. Toph: (frustrated) My parents don't understand. They've always treated me like I was helpless. Aang: Is that why you became The Blind Bandit? Toph: Yeah. Aang: Then why stay here where you're not happy? Toph: They're my parents. Where else am I supposed to go? Aang: (pause, then with a smile) You could come with us. Toph: Yeah. You guys get to go wherever you want. No one telling you what to do, that's the life. It's just not my life. (The camera slowly zooms in on Toph as she speaks. When she concludes, her head turns suddenly as she senses something amiss. She drops to her knees and places a hand on the ground.)

Toph emphasizes that she feels the allure of the Gaang’s lifestyle and freedom, but also that she wants to remain home with her parents, even though she has to hide who she is from them and they don’t understand her. Although this isn’t directly stated, a huge issue here is that she deeply loves them and doesn’t want to leave them. Her real wish is that her parents would not only love her but understand her and allow her openly live the kind of active life she loves.

Obviously, Toph and Aang soon get kidnapped, and Toph has to step up to save Aang in front of her parents and show them the other side of her to their disbelieving eyes.

Katara: Toph, there's too many of them. We need an earthbender. We need you! (Toph, Lao and Yu turn to look backwards, then cut to a shot of Lao.) Lao: (angry) My daughter is blind. (camera pans down and to the left to reveal Toph, holding her father's hand) She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. (Toph closes her eyes) She cannot help you. (Toph snaps her hand back from her father's.) Toph: Yes, I can.

Note, however, that she never says anything in this scene which amounts to a commitment to join Team Avatar.

Soon Toph has defeated her opponents, and she, her parents, and Team Avatar sit down for a chat.

Toph: Dad, I know it's hard for you to see me this way, but the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting. I love being an earthbender. And I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me. But I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend. So now that you see who I really am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me. Lao: Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you, Toph. It's made me realize something. Toph: (hopeful) It has? Lao: Yes. I've let you have far too much freedom. From now on, you will be cared for and guarded 24 hours a day. Toph: But dad! Mrs. Bei Fong: We are doing this for your own good, Toph.

Note that Toph does not actually ask for her parent’s permission to join Team Avatar. She doesn’t even mention the possibility, nor does she say anything which amounts to her agreeing to do so if her parents give her permission. In fact, from what we’ve seen in this episode, it’s not clear if anyone has ever actually unambiguously articulated the fact that Team Avatar wants Toph to join them as Aang’s earthbending teacher to Toph’s parents.

Instead, what Toph asks her parents to do is accept her as who she is. She wants their acceptance of who she really is more than anything. It seems like what she wants to do is to be able to live an active lifestyle while staying with her parents, wants them to love her for who she is while allowing her to combine her lives. She doesn’t want to leave with Team Avatar, she wants to stay at home and live a free life with loving, understanding parents. It’s not clear if Team Avatar understands that this is what she’s asking for, though.

Of course, Toph’s parents reject this, and instead tell her that they will do everything they can to control her, eliminate her double life, and prevent from being active at all. Hence the following exchange:

Aang: I'm sorry, Toph. Toph: I'm sorry, too. Goodbye, Aang.

This is just about the only lines in the episode you could plausibly read as evidence Toph had already decided she wanted to join Team Avatar.

When Team Avatar first arrived, Toph had a choice: she could either continue to live her double life even though she felt unhappy since her parents didn’t accept the real her, or she could leave them behind for a life of adventure. She choose the former. Due to the unintended consequences of Team Avatar’s actions, she no longer had that choice by the end of the episode. She could only choose between becoming nothing more than her parent’s perfect, controlled, doll, or joining the Gaang. Both what she really wanted(her parents’ acceptance of the real her) and the compromise she could live with were gone. Hence the following scene:

Cut to a shot of the bushes behind them. Toph runs through them, breathing heavily. Aang's turns to see her with a look of wonder.) Aang: Toph! What are you doing here? Toph: My dad changed his mind. He said I was free to travel the world. Sokka: (he and Katara look at each quickly) Well, we'd better get out of here - before your dad changes his mind again. Toph: Good idea. Aang: You're gonna be a great teacher, Toph. Toph: (slyly) Speaking of which, I want to show you something. Aang: Okay. (Aang airbends himself out of Appa's driver's seat. As he lands in front of Toph, she taps the ground with her foot and a rock erupts from the ground, throwing Aang out of the frame. Cut to a shot from the branches of a nearby tree. Aang hangs from one of them by his feet.) Toph: Now we're even.

This makes it understand why Toph was carrying around so much resentment in the next episode she appears in “The Chase,” and why she was so willing to leave the Gaang behind then.

#Toph #Toph meta #I would like emphasize she never actually agrees or asks to join the Gaang before the end #I think this a very reasonable take which makes Toph more complex #you could read the episode otherwise but I think this reading actually makes the most since #sense #Avatar The Last Airbender #ATLA #avatar the last airbender meta #ATLA meta #toph beifong #Beifong family #lao beifong #poppy beifong #Katara #Aang #Sokka #avatar: tla #avatar

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i-is-v-tired · 1 year

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D20 theory time: Colin Provolone

I have seen a lot of people bring up the ex-noble theory and I personally love this theory Could Colin Provolone be a bastard? I think he is hiding because he is technically the last of the Fontina line.

In episode 1 and 2 he referenced being an orphan or coming from the streets. When he talked about not eating enough and tell Karna he knows what it is like to be on the streets.

My idea is that he is a bit younger then we think. So after the coup he hide as orphan child, in ACoC they talked about how small the Dairy Islands are and after Cal’s coup and Cinnamon’s destruction on port syrup that innocent people die in conflicts like that some child left parents less. So it would be easy to hide with the other orphan children. I think he is older then Deli but not by much. So 20s at least but I don’t see him breaking 30

He was quick to stay and aline with Deli.

He understands being close to a heir of tribe would inadvertently bring him protection from people looking for him but also being just a sword and working in the shadows would help bring cover for him. Deli can account for him/ who he is and no one would ask those questions to him. Him becoming Skald Provolone messes with him a little, but that’s still Deli giving him protection.

In episode two, he talks about people looking for him. When Deli asked “Is it someone you killed” only to responded “I don’t think I even really did anything”

This personally makes me believe in him being a bastard because he could literally have nothing to do with his royal family but just him being born would cause issues for the Fontina family and later the coup. However, for him, he in all reality didn’t do anything.

He recognized the banter but He is not used to being in the spot light nor prepared to announce or what to say or when to say it.

With ACoC being inspired by Game of Thrones, It makes sense for him being a part of the Fontina family in someway, but being a Jon Snow like part of it. This would lead to him being put to the side and never being involved in a court atmosphere.

His build shows someone that was trained and knows how to survive battle. Cunning Action, Mobil feat, and AC of 17 show he is going to be hard to hit and to keep in one spot.

With GoT inspired and going with the Jon Snow influence, him being trained makes perfect sense. And if he’s the only surviving member of the coup him, picking up the rogue aspects combined with the battle master. would give way to someone who’s battle smart but not courtly as a noble would be.

Some of these points might not really add to the theory. But I think it might explain why he ask a certain way.

He was creeped out by the Archbishop, paying so much attention to him

(Honestly, I would be too.) This gives more evidence into him, trying to hide who he is.

He is not a church going person, but he got serious enough to quick to pull a sword when he saw Karna’s magic. Then continued go so far as to threaten Karna even after it was explained as she was a miracle worker.

It would make since for him not to be church going or trust the church. In GoT people bastards/ people born out of wedlock from an adulteress situation are looked down on and considered a sin. Maybe he has had a bad experience with someone who was a miracle work for the Fontina

I think it would be really cool to have a bastard character because we didn’t really see one in ACoC. The was everything with Jet, Ruby, and Saccharinne, but at the end of the day that didn’t matter really because they were all turn out to be legitimate and Ruby did want the candy crown. Yet this is just a theory by the end of the day so feel free to pick up this as you like or add to it. I am very interested to hear everybody else is theories.

#dimension 20 #d20 #the ravening war #colin provolone #thane delissandro katzon #trw #raphaniel charlock #karna #mine

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collectionoftulips · 1 month

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Thoughts following the most recent episode of The Way Home

There's probably maybe like one other person on here or maybe a few who watch The Way Home and if so, hi!!, and secondly, I hope my regulars will excuse me for talking about another show for a minute. (For those who haven't seen it - I really recommend giving it a watch!) Basically - I've had some thoughts swirling around my head since the latest episode (this is mainly about some of my changing thoughts on who I ship on the show):

(Spoilers for 2x08 of The Way Home and it's mostly Kat-centric thoughts)

In some ways, my thoughts can be summarised by two points and I will make the case for them below: I feel like I have outgrown Elliot/Kat the way they are currently being written and I'm pretty heavily going on the Kat/Thomas ship.

If someone had told me at the end of season one, that I would be finding myself torn between Elliot/Kat and a new ship, I would have said that they are bananas. But after thinking about it some, at least the way the ship is being currently written, I'm not the fan I once was - and I don't think it's entirely because I'm 'intended' to have those feelings at this point of the show.

I really appreciate how this season has really given Elliot more space to grow as an independent character outside of his romantic relationship with Kat, but I think by giving him that space, the show inadvertently, or perhaps too successfully, made a case for why they are not right for each other at this very moment in time. The fundamental issue, to me, is that Elliot has spent so much of his childhood idealising Kat and he has in some ways put her on a pedestal. He knows her, but the way he knows her is so intimately wrapped up in his feelings towards her and that coupled with the weight of their past together, makes it an increasingly less attractive ship because of a few reasons:

a) he knows her very well but it's going to be very difficult disentangle the reality from the fantasy he has grown up with in his head (and being friends with someone is very different from being in a romantic relationship with them) b) she's been put on this pedestal that the only way she can change in his eyes is by disappointing him; she's already got this aura of 'endgame' status in his head c) it's very difficult to see where they get room to grow in a way that allows them both the character growth they both need/deserve, especially given the amount of trauma that especially Kat is going through (Elliot has also been through stuff, but that's mainly in the past that we partly get to see or it's off-screen in the past).

Additionally, seeing Kat going back to the 1812 has really highlighted some aspects of her characterisation that were previously not as prominent; she's spent most of her life blaming herself for Jacob's disappearance and now that she is on the precipice of finding him, she's displaying really a lack of self-preservation and desperation (to the point where she even forgets Alice and Thomas has to literally remind her that she has people depending on her and obviously there's the subtext that he might have feelings for her that I'm now very here for). These things make total sense for Kat as a character, but I don't think any of the people back in her time fully realise the extent of that self-destructive tendency (we also saw a less Jacob-related instance of this in the most recent episode with Kat's idea to go to London and leave Brady, but Elliot was too busy to be all 'this is my shot!' to really notice).

My growing hypothesis since 2x07 is that a lot of Kat's interactions with Thomas is fundamentally fuelled by Thomas' acknowledgement and frustration with Kat's lack of self-preservation (a skill he himself had to learn growing up in the time he is from), a tendency which is also amplified by the fact that Kat is from a different time and doesn't really have the same kind of sense about the scale of danger around certain tasks. I'm might be reading into it, but I was thinking about what was going on during their superdramatic beach scene, when he picks her up and it looks for a moment like he is about to wade out to sea with her. On the surface, of course, Kat's terrified that Jacob might die and also a fear and frustration that she does not know her brother, that even if he survives it might not matter because he might not remember her, that he has grown so much from the little boy that she knew that the fact that she found him might matter very little.

But I was wondering a little about Thomas' reaction regarding that whole scene. He's of course frustrated that she doesn't seem to have much understanding of the extent to which the world that they inhabit is not one that is forgiving or allows one to stay on any kind of moral high ground, but I also thought that probably from his perspective, he's probably getting quite frustrated with Kat. This is a woman who seems to have absolutely no self-preservation, and while he has recently learned that she is a time traveller, that lack of self-preservation runs much deeper than just being ignorant of the time period. She is a woman he clearly deeply respects and admires and has growing feelings for but that regard is seemingly not one she has of herself, and it has to be pretty frustrating for him to see someone whose strength he admires seemingly not respect herself or have such little regard for her own wellbeing. Which is why I think he reacted the way he did, trying to snap her out of the emotional spiral she was going down when she was in a panic trying to grasp at anything to soothe the sense of crisis that was exploding inside her.

In these ways, I sort of feel like the show has propped Thomas up to be the opposite of Elliot; this is not a man who has been in love with Kat Landry a really long time, but one that only recently realised it, and where Elliot sees this idealised 'prize' version of Kat (informed by his childhood), Thomas sees all of Kat's 'flaws' and all of the 'cracks' that she conceals from people in her regular life, and loves appreciates her for those qualities.

While obviously the extent to which they have any future depends on what the writers have decided to do for season two (and for season three), and it is looking pretty bleak, I like the path forward for Kat/Thomas more, as there is more ground to cover there and I think it would be a very different dynamic that I would find refreshing. Hence me going a bit cold on Elliot and Kat (despite that kiss in the most recent episode which felt like the most shoehorned thing ever that had extremely poor build up but that's a rant for a different post) and am now leaning towards the potentially doomed ship of Thomas/Kat.

I don't know if this made any sense, and I'm not sure if anyone is interested in my thoughts on this but it's either ranting about it here or at some point writing fic, so I decided for the former for the time being.

#the way home #the way home hallmark

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demonslayedher · 1 year

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How would the rest of the story play out if Mitsuri was actually filling in for Kyojurou during the Infinity Train arc?

In reference to this joke of a post, most excellently transformed into art here (thank you, it's amazing and I still love it)!

Of course, it was only meant to be a joke because it fixes only one problem of that night; that Akaza won't stay and fight if it means crossing hands with a girl. It leaps with Love Breath flamboyance over the whole issue of the train crashing after having turned into a demon and the whole getting crushed inside one's dreams thing. Mitsuri might have the love-for-all-people power to save over 200 passengers and deal major internal damage to Enmu, albeit with potentially less clear instructions to her juniors and needing a moment to calm and realize there's got to be a head somewhere to cut off. However, if you let Mitsuri accomplish her dreams inside her dreams, I hate to say it, but everyone might be done for. She fights with her gut and her guts loves and trusts people. Even if she has an inkling that something is off, she's got a history of denying herself her own feelings and the "oh, danger!" push might come too late.

But this is a Fix-It AU, we're fixing it with Nezuko befriending Mitsuri before the tickets get punched (despite the stares of other passengers), and when Nezuko's playmates fell asleep, she didn't like the menacing looks of the people coming in with ropes, so she burned the ropes (and inadvertently, the tickets) and starting trying to wake up Tanjiro and Mitsuri right away. That probably makes Enmu confused as hell about whats going on, so maybe he and Nezuko duke it out a bit before the others finally wake up, and he hasn't made much progress on oneness with the train, so Mitsuri offs him before he ever got to do much.

Maybe Akaza shows up. Maybe he leaves before they notice him. Maybe he shows up while Enmu is in peril and he gives the train a punch to tell Enmu to shape up in there and not embarrass Muzan, resulting in Mitsuri saving 200 passengers anyway.

Since Mitsuri witnesses Nezuko fight and protect the passengers, she sings Nezuko's praises far and wide, contributing to the others accepting her better (however begrudingly), especially Rengoku, whom she reintroduces Tanjiro to, so he can inquire about Hinokami Kagura. Tanjiro becomes Rengoku's Tsuguko. This AU continues to fix everything! Senjuro still has a bit of a toothache, though, sacrifices had to be made. At some point Tanjiro will headbutt Shinjuro anyway and Rengoku stepping in to defend his Tsuguko leads to a change of heart and positive character development for Shinjuro after all. Senjuro's really gonna need that tooth pulled with how well this is going.

Mitsuri stops by the Butterfly Mansion more to visit Nezuko, so this means more on-screen interactions between Mitsuri and Shinobu. Did I say 'more'? I meant 'finally some.'

Not having had the extreme failure to drive them, maybe the Kamaboko boys wouldn't had worked as hard on training the four months before... nah, Rengoku training them all, they'll be fine in Yoshiwara. They still generally reside at the Butterfly Mansion because Shinobu accepted official responsibility for Tanjiro and Nezuko.

Iguro hates how much Mitsuri talks about the Kamados. Tanjiro gets death threats from both Haganezuka and a mystery hater with nice handwriting.

Fighting Hantengu goes smoother because Tanjiro and Mitsuri are already familiar enough with each other that they fight well together. And since he's alive and well, Rengoku is there too! Maybe even fighting alongside Muichiro and being the first to warmly congratulate him on having his memories back. Oh my heart, I want this. Also, after meeting Genya, Rengoku keeps making conversation about him to Sanemi, who can't manage to pull the "I have no brother" line when Rengoku is so aware of the truth. This leads to some kind of socially award situation in which the Shinazugawa brothers have to get along.

And... and 'cause this is a fix-it AU Akaza is no match for Rengoku and Giyuu combined, and... and somehow or another Rengoku saves 200 Demon Slayers in the Mugen-jo. Is that too much to ask of this AU?? Argh... probably. This is where I leave the rest up to your imaginations. Keep pulling Senjuro's teeth if you must.

#kny fix it au #kanroji mitsuri #rengoku kyoujurou #rengoku kyojuro

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softlyspector · 1 year

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So, today I turn 26. Forgive me, I'm going to be a little nostalgic and sappy below the cut about age and you all and fanfiction.

tw: mental health issues, please don't feel obligated to read this

I turn 26 today, and I'm feeling very nostalgic and odd about it. I've never had a good relationship with my birthday. Mainly because every year, I think, really? Again?

In all honesty, I never thought I would make it this far. I never planned to get this old (and I am aware that I'm not old). But a large part of who I am and my continued existence, is because of this blog.

Even when the world was loud and things were bad, I could always come here.

Some of you have been here for nearly the whole time I've been writing. While I've never been particularly open about what's going on in my life, you've all gotten me through a lot. The characters I write for sure, but more than that you all and the interactions I get to have with you.

So, I just wanna say thanks. Especially to those of you that have stayed through the rollercoaster of new interests in the last year, and allowing me to explore them.

I know some loved this blog because it was only Bucky all the time. In that was my safe space for a long time, because it was familiar. I couldn't even branch out into new media because it was too uncertain. Starting a new show or movie literally gave me debilitating anxiety.

While I've still have a lot of issues and things I'm working though, and found out some horrible things from my mother about my childhood, I'm much better at working through that than I ever have been.

A lot of that has to do with you all, and the attitudes around mental health. I've learned a lot from all of you. I've learned how to be kinder and gentler, I've learned how to stand up for myself and others and that silence is never okay.

I started writing when I was 19 and a freshman in college. I was anxious and depressed. I was scared. I was in therapy because the suicidal ideation had reached a peak. I was miserable as an undergrad, I hated the jobs I had, and nothing seemed worth it.

And then, I started writing. First, letters to people that I would never send. Then, fiction, at the behest of my therapist. It wasn't good. It was dark and mean. I realized I wasn't just hurt, I was angry.

But I've never known how to be angry, not really. I was never allowed.

And then I started writing fanfiction. And in those little worlds, no matter what else was happening, there was always someone who was kind and understanding, someone who got it.

And when I started posting (and I realize how stupid this sounds) I realized based on reactions that I was not the only person who needed that, who sought it out, and who understood me even if they didn't realize they did.

It gave me a reason to keep going. Writing and knowing that someone would read it and identify with it, kept me going.

Now, I'm 26. I've moved abroad, made friends with people I would have never met otherwise. I'm getting my masters degree in something that's really important to me. I've gotten to travel to places I was convinced I'd never see because I couldn't see past the next month, let alone the next couple of years.

And although I still have lows and highs, and plenty of undiagnosed issues, I feel like I can handle it. The weight isn't as heavy as it used to be.

Not to get too preachy about it, but don't do it like I did, if you're struggling. Talk to people, let others help you shoulder it. Only inadvertently did I do that through this blog and I can never be thankful enough.

I love all of you, truly from the very bottom of my heart I do.

I wanted to be upset about turning 26, but I just can't manage it. I never thought I'd get this far.

#bec talks #im going to be so embarrassed about this in a couple of hours.

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fanfic-inator795 · 10 months

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**ELEMENTAL SPOILERS AHEAD**

Okay so, I was reminded of this (thanks random clips on Youtube), and since I never made a post sharing my thoughts on ‘Elemental’ despite seeing it a week ago, I wanna give my thoughts on this particular moment now and see if anyone agrees/disagrees with me, cause I’m curious.

Alright, in the typical 2nd act Break-up Scene, I understand that Wade was looking out for Ember's happiness, but he basically called her a coward and for me, that crossed the line. It may have been done with good intentions, but it was also ignorant and arrogant.

The movie makes it very clear that it's not a matter of Ember simply following her father's wishes like it is in something like ‘Turning Red’ - it's Ember wanting to make sure her dad can retire so he doesn't WORK HIMSELF TO DEATH. I can't blame her for being hesitant about revealing the truth to him. Yes, that may count as her being ‘afraid’ as Wade says, but it’s a damn reasonable fear to have! Also, I’d like to point out that if she had taken over the shop, she still could have made her glasswork art on the side, so it's not like she would be completely giving up on her dream.

I get that yes, the truth ultimately was the right decision in this case - Bernie assumed Ember wanted the shop since that's what she always said/implied since she was a kid, and once he learned that she didn't want it, people in the community were able to take over the shop for Bernie so he could retire.

Essentially, everything worked out... but it was very much an idealized best case scenario/Hollywood happy ending, so Ember was still valid in thinking that her rejecting the shop and being selfish would inadvertently lead to her father's death/them eventually losing the shop again. I could also see Ember being reluctant about leaving in general since, again, outside of the shitty customers she seemed to enjoy being at the center of the community and being an assistant manager/delivery girl. It was just being in charge of EVERYTHING and all the stress that came from it that made it a nightmare.

But in THAT regard it’s like - geez, Wade, if you're that concerned about Ember getting burnt out (ha) and being miserable, maybe YOU should offer to help run the shop with her so she doesn't get overwhelmed by awful customers (which seemed to be her main issue, given that she enjoyed the shop itself). At the very least, he should have tried to help her find some sort of compromise instead of only pushing her towards the 'tell the truth and follow your dreams' path - a path that, as Ember said, not everyone is privileged or lucky enough to follow, while Wade seems to think it’s the only valid path.

I feel like Wade being willing to not just help her find happiness but also understand her duty and loyalty to her family would have been the TRUE sign that he was a good match for her. Instead it just feels like an ignorant person seeing the dynamics in a family from a different culture and calling that family 'abusive' because they don't understand said culture differences.

Given that I enjoyed the cultural and familial aspects of ‘Elemental’ much more than the romance plot, I feel like it could have been nice to have Wade - instead of declaring his love and following the rom-com tropes to a tee - find a way to be an actual supportive ally and have THAT be the true foundation of their love instead of it JUST being their ‘chemistry’ with each other.

Instead of him deciding to take a one-way ticket out of the city and being all sad, have him discover the cracks in Ember’s glass at the dam and have him still be there later on trying to still fix it for her when she comes across it herself. Show Wade actively caring about the fate of not just Ember but also all of Fire Town, fighting for their safety and wanting them all to be okay even after Ember rejects him. I feel like seeing that, plus him helping her save the blue flame, would truly allow Ember to return Wade’s feelings, as it would help her see that even if he doesn’t fully understand it, he still sees and accepts that Ember’s people and community are important to her, so he wants to help support and protect them too regardless of whether or not it earns him a date/relationship afterwards.

There was a lot of other things that could have been added in to further support this new climax - like, instead of Wade just introducing Ember to the wonders of Element City, Ember could be sharing Fire Land culture with him as well. I also feel like Wade needed to be more of a character in his own right and less of an overly-emotional manic pixie dream boy, as otherwise he just comes off as Jack from ‘Titanic’, complete with heroic sacrifice for his love interest. Except here it’s less ‘quirky guy wanting to save a rich girl from her abusive fam’ and more ‘quirky guy wants to date a girl he fell head-over-heels with and is putting her happiness above all else... buuut that unfortunately also includes putting it above the people his love interest cares about the most’, so it’s less charming.

The fact that we barely get to learn anything about Wade’s backstory with his dead dad combined with his only real goal in the film being ‘help Ember/date Ember/save Ember, etc.’, it just makes him feel sorta shallow and a bit of an after-thought compared to Ember and the rest of the Lumen family. At best, he’s an overly emotional romantic who just cares a lot (which can be a positive or negative thing depending on the circumstances) and at worst he’s an ignorant optimist whose empathy only somewhat works on an individual level (like with Ember, or with that one airball athlete he got the arena to cheer for). Either way, I feel like Wade is the main reason why I couldn’t fully get behind the romance in the end, no matter how sweet or cute some of the earlier moments of it might have been.

#elemental #pixar elemental #long post #my thoughts #for the record I don't hate this movie #Lightyear is MUCH worse #but this one still has some frustrating or 'wait wtf' moments #that brings it down to like #a 6 or 7 out of 10 for me

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