#he cheapens his own life so much and for what | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

redhoodinternaldialectical · 4 months

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Thoughts on Jason Todd’s choice of weaponry?

:D an ask! Yay!

Oooh, lets see, I'll start with the crowbars because I appear to be like one of three people on the entire planet who actually likes them.

They're a tacky as fuck riff on the fact that Jason's death is central to his character. They overemphasize the manner in which he died, muddy the waters about what part of his death is important to him, and strangely cheapens the manner in which he died through the parody feel of it.

No one seems to really disagree with my analysis here, but I happen to enjoy that about them and think it's very on brand for Jason. What can I say? They're fun!

Best Quality - His Wiggles

This ultra-sharp curved blade used to be his signature character design feature, the way the white streak in his hair is now, and I'm really not sure why it didn't stick!

Best weapon he's ever had, bring it back please!!!!!

The All-Blades

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

I have mixed feelings about the All-Blades. Like much of Lobdell's work: phenomenal idea, poor execution. Giving the guy who is most known for being morally grey a set of powers that is exclusively based on moral absolutes sucks shit, I gotta be honest, and the trick he pulled on the blood blade was cool but ultimately does nothing to solve those problems.

HOWEVER

I want to love them so fucking badly. A set of glowy soul blades is a dope sicknasty off the chain concept and I wish the well wasn't poisoned with the moral implications and the restrictions to use them only on the "Untitled", a set of enemies that only exist for Jason so far as I can tell. If someone seriously took Jason down a magic based path that removed the DnD alignment chart bullshit, I would be so game to see them come back! Hell I wouldn't even insist on a better cooler design for them!

...though uh, yeah those are the least interesting magic sword designs I've ever seen tbh

Normal Ass Swords

They're alright I guess. Like, there's nothing in it really, but it's not bad?

Guns - Real Bullets

Excellent, evocative yet simple, straightforwards and to the point. It makes hella sense thematically to boot, love this for him, please give him back his pistols and miniguns and shit

Guns - Rubber Bullets

Hate. HATE. hate ick disgusting bad NO.

I just fucking hate rubber bullets, like, as a concept. I refuse to accept "non-lethal" bullets as a valid use of gun, either in real life or in fiction. Guns are for putting many holes in things very fast!!!! If you're gonna use a gun, fucking well own up to that!!! Do not play this silly ass game of pretending that you can change out the material and do the same things as with lead bullets but with the video game status effect of "non-lethal" applied. YOU ARE GIVING PEOPLE SMALL CIRCULAR BRUISES. This is still harmful, yes, ooph ouchie, but it is not even slightly a good use of a gun, you are wasting holster space, and carry weight, and the physical materials used to make it all!!

JUST USE A FUCKING STICK! YOU DON'T RUN OUT OF STICK AMMO!

My belief in his capacity to take out enemies is shattered the instant those fuckers are on panel. Maybe this ain't entirely rational, or realistic to how fights go with rubber bullets IRL, but I hate them so much on principle that I will ignore any counterargument you might have that they'd work. I will die on this hill. Rubber bullets BAD. Please stop making him use this!!

Bombs

Love it, give him more bombs forever

ka-BOOM!!!!

His Brain

This is actually his best weapon - sorry wiggly knife, you're being shunted down to number 2 on a last minute technicality! I think Jason is at his best when he's outsmarting people and making long term fucked up schemes to ruin people's lives.

He's so good at it! It's so fun to watch him do it!

Genuinely a shame that this facet of him was mostly lost after Flashpoint, though to give credit where it is due, in Rebirth Jason did ruin the Penguin's life in an impressively elaborate way, which I did really enjoy. I want to see him be a tactical deliberate menace to one person in specific again idk, that's part of why I do kinda agree that he works better as an antagonist than a protagonist - which it should be noted does not mean I think he works better as a villain necessarily, his ethics aren't what matter here - he's just had his best moments as the schemer, and it's hard to have a protagonist schemer even when you make them ethically the good guy.

I hope you enjoyed my nattering on about Jason's weapons :D thank ye again for ask!

#jason todd #damian's tomfoolery

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the-badger-mole · 10 months

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But FWIENDSHIP!!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Okay, so you all know how I get when something gets stuck in my head, but yesterday I saw a post talking about how Katara and Zuko's potential romance messes with their friendship, and I don't understand how, but that's beside the point. This is an anti-Kataang post.

I will once again admit that I don't spend a ton of time in Kataang/anti-Zutara spaces (cause I'm respectful like that), but every so often, I see one of those takes pop up in my safe area (because respect isn't always a two way street, unfortunately). It's interesting to see how many times this take seems to crop up. Katara and Zuko falling in love would ruin their friendship, yet those same people fail to acknowledge that Bryke went ahead and ruined their friendship anyway out of jealousy. These same people also tend to hold Kataang as a prime example of Friends to Lovers, the only problem is, Aang isn't Katara's friend at any point.

Throughout the series, it's made very clear that Aang likes Katara, but for most of the series (until literally the last few seconds, in fact) it's also clear that Katara only sees him as a friend. This should have been an object lesson that sometimes crushes don't work out, but friendship can be stronger than temporarily disappointed feelings. However, that's not what we get. Aang doesn't care about Katara's friendship. He doesn't want Katara in his life unless it's in a romantic capacity. We see it in how he reacts when he feels romantically rejected (lava fissure, EIP). The narrative doesn't give Katara any space to say no to Aang without it permanently damaging their relationship, because they never had the relationship Katara thought they did. Katara thought she was Aang's friend, but for Aang, their 'friendship' was just a precursor to romance. In this, the year 2023, I know we all understand why this is a problem.

Aang can't even conceive of a world where Katara does turn him down. He dreams about her enthusiastic response to his declaration of love; he assumes that since they kissed he kissed her and staked his claim, they should be together, despite there never being any sort of conversation, and the fact that the one time he did try to talk about it, she changed the subject very quickly. Katara's feelings are an afterthought for Aang, which is terrible for any relationship, but particularly in a romantic one. There is never a moment where Aang puts Katara's emotional needs ahead of his own. He never puts a value on her platonic friendship. There's never a moment where he decides that despite his feelings for her, having Katara in his life as a friend is better than not having her at all. That moment should have happened regardless of whether they ended up together or not, because friendship is the most important component of the Friends to Lovers trope.

By comparison, the friendship Katara eventually forms with Zuko is much deeper, and based on a mutual respect, understanding and emotional support for each other. This is a fantastic foundation for a romance, although bafflingly, people who laud Katara and Zuko's deep friendship don't seem to agree. Them potentially falling in love doesn't cheapen their friendship because they actually were friends first. On top of that, their Enemies to Friends journey ending romantically would not only not cheapen their friendship, it would tie into the themes of the show beautifully (the illusion of separation; love being stronger than hate; learning to respect other people's differences etc).

Let's be real, what Kataang actually represents is The Hero Gets the Girl, and I think deep down we all know that, even the ones calling it Friends to Lovers. In the Hero Gets the Girl trope, the Girl in question doesn't really matter. She's less of a romantic partner and more a prize for the Hero saving the day. Her emotional journey to falling for the Hero mostly plays out off screen, even though she may not have even liked the Hero like that initially, and the hero doesn't ever show that he respects her as a person. For the most part it works (arguably) because the Girl isn't a character in her own right, she's just part of the Hero's story. The reason it doesn't work with Kataang is that Katara is a character. She does have her own journey, and as passionate and outspoken as she is in pretty much every other aspect of her life, it doesn't make sense for her journey to falling for Aang takes place largely off screen. Not unless you understand how little Katara's feelings matter to their relationship. Had Katara actually rejected Aang, their friendship would have ended because Aang was never interested in her friendship.

It's interesting to me to see people who claim to value friendship over romance spend more time complaining about a romance that isn't canon over the actual canon ship that really does cheapen the friendship. But then again, I guess that was never the problem in the first place.

#atla #anti aang #anti kataang #zutara #enemies-FRIENDS-lovers #that would have been worlds better than the Hero Gets the Girl ship masquerading as a friends-lovers romance #if you prefer platonic zutara that's fine #but let's not pretend that the problem is that their potential romance would spoil their friendship #not when you don't speak about how the actual canon ship completely devalued katara's friendship towards aang #be so for real #just say you don't like zutara and keep it pushing #because now the argument just looks hypocritical when you have nothing to say about kataang #the actual canon ship devaluing both friendship and consent #THE YEAR OF CONTENT!!!!

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sokkastyles · 6 months

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I don't know if it's just me but I never liked the idea of Uncle Iroh being pretty much the same before Lu Ten's death and his enlightenment journey through the spirit world. It feels like it cheapens the whole thing. What would the point be if Iroh was the same joyful person but he just happens to wear a t-shirt that says "imperialism and world conquest are only for the ꓘool Kids"? Also his relationship with Ozai reeks (atleast to me) of him not just being Azulon's favourite child but also the Fire Nation's favourite prince and war hero while Ozai was the scapegoat and pariah.

The point is that you can consider yourself a good person and still do evil. The point is that even someone who is otherwise kind and appreciative of other cultures can be swept up in the lure of fascism. That's all but textual, with Iroh stating that he believed he had a great destiny and that's why, despite him being a kind person, he was able to also believe that he had a right to conquer.

It's also historically accurate, as many conquering nations buy into the myth of benevolent imperialism and use it to justify themselves. Zuko repeats the same thing to Ozai, that he was taught that the Fire Nation's conquest was their way of "sharing their greatness with the world" something that is also repeated by Sozin to Roku. The idea that, in fact, as a "superior" nation, it is their duty to conquer.

I also think Iroh being Azulon's favorite is what allowed him to retain the recognizable parts of the character we see in the series while still being successful and respected as a conqueror. We know that even before his redemption, Iroh was regarded as "kooky." The specific use of this word implies that any behavior he exhibits that is outside of Fire Nation norms, like being more fond of drinking tea and playing games than winning battles, is just an odd quirk and can be forgiven because he also keeps winning those battles.

I think that's also why Ozai resented him so much, because Ozai was the scapegoat who could never do anything right, and here was Iroh who had so many traits that would normally be considered flaws in the Fire Nation, yet Azulon kept praising him. That also informs why Ozai became the hyper-militaristic, ruthless person he became, perhaps in an attempt to show his father that it was he who deserved to be the golden child, the star general, the crown prince.

I like this interpretation of Iroh and to me, it makes his redemption, happening too late, all the more poignant. Tragic, but also all the more important because it was overdue. Because Iroh did know better, but chose to maintain the status quo. And that affected not just his life (I've talked about how I think Iroh could have been a very different person if he was raised differently, and there's a part of him that probably would have loved to have a doll himself if that were allowed him) but his son's life. Iroh was able to get away with his own "kookiness," but maybe not so for Lu Ten. Maybe Iroh thought that if he had to stuff down that part of himself for the regime, then perhaps he enforced that in how he raised Lu Ten.

I think that also tracks with how Iroh's fondest memories of Lu Ten seem to be him as a young, soft child. Not the hardened military man he would have become. And it reflect on how he is with Zuko, too. How he works to teach Zuko that empathy and kindness are what really makes a man. And I like to imagine that in doing this, Iroh also learns that that part of himself was never something he should have had to hide or repress to begin with.

That also vibes with how hard Ozai tried to repress it in Zuko. I know the popular interpretation is that Ozai saw his own flaws in Zuko, and I don't disagree with that interpretation, but I think a part of him also saw and hated the things he resented in Iroh, the things Iroh got away with while he was so criticized by his father. Think about how Ozai speaks about and treats Iroh, and about how he usurps Iroh to prove that he is strong and Iroh is weak the first chance he gets.

The irony is that in the end, Ozai loses to Iroh yet again, when his own son chooses Iroh over him as a father. But that's what happens when you treat your kids like mirrors to reflect your own glory instead of people. The cyclical nature of the Fire Nation royal family's dysfunction is fascinating to me.

#iroh #ozai #zuko

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rudysrings · 1 year

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Neteyam x fem!Omaticaya!reader

Blurb: Neteyam is aged up, maybe 20-22, reader the same age. Neteyam and the reader have always been close, with an unspoken relationship and expectation that they will be mates when the time comes. When it does, however, things don't quite go as planned.

Warnings: Angst lol

At first, you paid no mind. It’s not that it didn’t matter to you, but you were secure in yourself and who you knew you were to Neteyam to be bothered by the rushed questions, the eager “Has he asked you yet?”s and the “How will he do it?”s. You only smiled coyly and shrugged, and if they pushed, you merely said you had work to do. As your people’s youngest, most prominent healer (aside from Tsahik Mo’at) during wartime, there truly always were wounds to be tended to and medicinal herbs to be prepared.

You considered what you and the soon to be Olo’eyktan of the Omaticaya had to be sacred. It was unspoken, heavy, tangible, but also easy, grounding and reliable, which is what made it all the more significant for the two of you. Speaking it into existence, especially to those outside the bubble the pair of you had fortified over your entire lives, almost felt to cheapen the entire thing. You knew. He knew. There was not a single doubt. Until there was.

Soon, the questions took a crueler turn; in fact, they didn’t even stay direct questions, but became rumored whispers. “If he has not asked her yet, then he must seek someone else. Who has he chosen?” And honest to Eywa, the first few times this got around to you, you only chuckled. People would talk. It was only natural. They were anxious to see what their future clan leader would do, and you knew it had nothing to do with you, or what lay in the future for you and Neteyam. You had no doubt he would ask soon, after all, his own mother had instructed him to make his bow from the wood of the fallen hometree and choose a woman many eclipses ago. Until you did.

It didn’t happen overnight. But you didn’t notice until one night. When the oldest Sully boy came back from a hunt, he only ever came to your healing tent or to Tsahik Mo’ats. This night, however, for the first time in you couldn’t remember how long, he entered the tent of a healer you could not even recall the name of. And all of a sudden, you realized you hadn’t put those beads in his hair, and they didn’t look like the ones the Neytiri would make either. You couldn’t remember the last time he had asked you to ride your ikrans to the one mountain the two of you frequented. Come to think of it, he hadn’t spoken to you since he had made his bow.

He wasn’t yours.

“What is it, my girl?” It wasn’t until Neytiri put a hand on your shoulder that you realized hot tears had made tracks across your humiliated face. As much as she represented a maternal figure to you and many other in your tribe, you couldn’t bear to speak your realization to the mother of your problem. Eyes glazed, you try to will them away and muttered some excuse of a tear inducing herb irritating your eyes and turned, making your way back into your tent.

Anger.

The next few days, your sorrow quickly turned into anger. How could things change for him just like that? And even if they did? Not a single word to you? That was the first time you regretted never putting a label on things between the two of you, even if it reduced the intimacy of what you had into a teenage relationship, at least he would have the responsibility of owing you an explanation before basically writing you out of his life. Even without all that, you couldn’t fathom the thought that he would simply not consider you worthy of a measly explanation. Clearly you did not know him as the person he actually was.

And that’s what broke your heart further. The final wound—that the Neteyam you knew and was oh so, inexplicably dear to you…wasn’t true, didn’t exist, must have been a fantasy.

Your friends worried. You were withdrawn, quietly and consistently turning over the events of your lives and figuring out when you had wrongly created this dream of the two of you making a life together, and when he decided to stop entertaining it. You always came up with nothing. For the life of you, you could not taint the memories you had made. Even if they really were rose-colored glasses, you couldn’t bring yourself to see him any other way.

You ached all the time. Mentally, even physically. You slept way later into the morning, but also had trouble falling asleep to begin with. It almost felt like along with your heart, every joint in your body broke, and you didn’t know if it would ever get better, despite your best friends constant insistence that this too would pass.

One day, Tsahik Mo’at instructed you to venture further than usual for certain herbs to keep from depleting the supply in your area. Woven satchel in hand, you made your way out, grateful for the alone time in a new area to stimulate your mind to keep from your constant straying thoughts.

You found a clove of what you were looking for, collecting them as you walked, not even looking up past the soil you walked on anymore you were so focused.

“You’re not supposed to come this far.”

You nearly shrieked, almost jumping out of your skin. You turned to see the very object of all of the thoughts you had been avoiding stood leaning against some sort of man-made bunker overgrown with greenery. Neteyam had spoken of this. Of the place that had sheltered his father’s human body while his Avatar roamed free. You knew it’s significance and you knew he had no business here either. “Neither are you, last time I checked,” you narrowed your eyes, your guard up.

Neteyam chuckled, brushing it off. There was a moment of silence where you both just took each other in. You had avoided him with such determination that you had almost forgot what he looked like and the effect it had on you.

“Spirits, you are still perfect,” he said, breathless, but still audible to you.

You scoffed, “What makes you think you can say that?” Your hands shook and your body vibrated with fury and defensiveness.

Neteyam’s eyebrows furrowed and he straightened, walking towards you.

You immediately put a hand out, “No, don’t come any closer.” And because you just couldn’t help it, you spat out, “You can’t just come and go as you please, even if you are the future eyktan.”

He paused, searching for something in your eyes, and gradually came to some sort of realization. “You think I wanted this?”

“Didn’t you?” you challenged.

“No,” he shook his head, coming closer again, grabbing onto your outstretched hand with both of his and stepping into it, head bowed so that your hand made contact with his bare chest, his eyes on you, your own eyes looking at your entwined hands. “I did not want this.” When you refused to look at him, still, you watched as he descended to his knees, you still barely taller than him.

You met his eyes; you saw them filled with emotion. “If you asked what I truly want, y/n, it is an entire lifetime with you. You must know this.”

Your breath came faster, confusion clouding your vision. “What are you saying?”

“You are what I most desire, y/n. Only you.”

Your entire body relaxed, and you sunk to the forest floor, knees together. You whimpered, “Then why, ‘Teyam?”

Neteyam nearly purred at the nickname, bringing his hand up to stroke your cheek with his thumb, “Because I also have a duty to fulfill. And you would be the mightiest Tsahik the people would ever see, know that I truly believe that.”

You exhaled, your palms instinctively reaching for his chest, right over his racing heart. The feel and familiar rhythm grounding you like nothing else.

“But I am also selfish. And I know what the pain and danger that mating with me brings. Not only would you be a target because of your status as Tsahik, but also because of my father. Our family will never escape the danger of the Skypeople, and I refuse to put you in that position. If…If something happened to you, y/n, Eywa, I have imagined it a thousand times over…” unashamed, a tear fell down his face. “It would end me, my love. I cannot know that loss..I cannot, I cannot,” he looked down, whispering it over and over again.

Your chest ached at seeing him so torn, but you knew you had to stand your ground. He had to realize the effect this had on you. You held his face in your hands, quieting him. “Ma Neteyam, I have felt this loss a thousand times worse,” he immediately flinched, looking up at your sorrowful face.

“I had believed all my life that Eywa made you for me and I for you,” at that he offered a small smile. “And when the time came, you rejected me. Whether your intentions were pure or not, for many eclipses now, I have lived in a world where the very person I was born for did not want me. And that loss, you must understand, is far worse than Eywa taking us away from each other, because there is no reason to be woven into it. It is only loss.”

Neteyam took in your words, hands on your knees. Ashamed, he turned away, “I have hurt you so much,” he closed his eyes, dipping his forehead to your shoulder, whispering, “Can you ever forgive me, beloved?”

His pet names were slowly coaxing the old you from the empty, defensive shell you had become, this last one nearly melting you into his arms.

You kissed your teeth, resigning. This was not your war. You wanted this, and you would not punish him more than he deserved. You inched closer, giving him time to lean back as you straddled him, his hands immediately going to your hips, that beautiful face looking at you in confusion and utter nervousness, as if you held the weight of his life in your next words.

You tilted forwards, your lips slanting over his. “I see you, Neteyam. It is already forgotten.”

His breath hitched, but you didn’t give him a chance to respond, because you moved your lips against his. Your first kiss. Not at all how you expected, tasting of the salt of your combined tears, but still as perfect and unreal as you dreamed. His eyes fluttered closed as he moved a hand to your jaw, guiding you into a deeper kiss. You grew hungrier, your toes curling at the sensation. All you could process was the feel of his fingers digging into your waist, holding you as if he was afraid to let go, every inch of your front pressed against his so that you felt his heartbeat through all of your skin. You hoped he felt yours, too.

He stopped you for a second, you chasing his retreating mouth, drawing a grin from him as he licked his swollen lips, both of you panting. He just looked at you, head cocked, smile soft.

“What?” you asked, nuzzling his nose. “Nothing,” he shook his head. “Everything.” His smile fell as his gaze became serious, with an intensity you had never seen before. He held your jaw, gentle but rigid, “I see you, Ma y/n.”

You couldn’t have predicted the effect those words would have on you. They fell off his tongue with such ease, but you quite literally purred. Your arms encircled his neck and you simply embraced him, cherishing the feel of your skin on his and letting the warmth flow between you. “I pray to Eywa I will always feel as content as I do right now.” You leaned back to meet his eyes, “I cannot wait for the day we make it official, ‘Teyam.”

His eyes darkened with desire, “Neither can I, my love.”

#neteyam x reader #neteyam x oc #neteyam #neteyam sully #avatar twow #avatar

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lineffability · 6 months

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on crowley's loneliness

there's sth that has been sitting with me vis a vis Crowley, loneliness, and what the fandom, largely, has made of it... and it is the notion, simply put, that Crowley is - well - lonely.

but of course he is, you might say, I've even got textual evidence for it! and you might quote Good Omens Season 2 Episode A Companion to Owls directed by Douglas MacKinnon and written by John Finnemore, and you might point to the final conversation of the Job Minisode, when they agree that being a demon/angel who goes along with hell/heaven as far as he can is...lonely!

and, yes, that's right and true.

and yet. still. I want to argue against Crowley being lonely. at least to some extent. I'm not saying crowley isn't lonely, it's more about how that loneliness is sometimes portrayed/interpreted/understood?

I think we need to look at Crowley's loneliness on different levels: his loneliness vis a vis humanity and his loneliness vis a vis the occult/his job/his place in the ineffable scheme of things

because it's right there in the quote, isn't it? it's lonely to be a demon who doesn't feel part of hell. it's not about being lonely on earth with the humans.

when it comes to humanity and friendships to humans, regardless how close or not they may be, Crowley is not lonely! he forms attachments, he meets and knows tons of people, he schemes, he has fun (Jane Austen anyone???? I mean it's actual canon) and yes of course they all die - of course Crowley's human friendships, just like Aziraphale's, are always slightly detached because , well y'know, they will outlive every single human they will ever meet, and that will influence your attachment style. they don't even really meet humans as equals, arguably, but they both have been shown to continuously engage in friendships, whether those are superficial acquaintances (like neighbor Maggie to Aziraphale) or genuine connections (like Leonardo Da Vinci or Jesus, both canonically really close relationships of Crowley's!!) but it's not even the fact that human friendships are fleeting that makes him lonely in the end - it doesn't cheapen the experience. he's used to people coming and going. it's the way things are.

where the loneliness hits, and yes it hits hard, is on the supernatural level. hated by heaven and hell etc etc. before he became closer with Aziraphale (so roughly around Job) he was truly a solo agent, all alone against the not-world, and this experience of defying both hell and his arguable purpose as a demon made him lonely where it mattered most. but Aziraphale has since been with him, they are the same, they are a group of the two of them and they are only lonely together, which is a different kind of loneliness. it holds defiance and partnership - us against the world.

he still struggles with purpose, both his own and that of the universe, he struggles with his own love for humans and God's seeming indifference to them, and there's loneliness in that too, or at least pain, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any friends??

ah I think this is the bit that gets me! that people think he doesn't have any friends! or that he doesn't have a life outside of Aziraphale! there we are, I have arrived at the core of my problem apparently. (idk if I'm making any sense with this incoherent rambling, I'm making it up as I go)

but basically I just have been irked by seeing this idea a few to many times that's basically: 'aziraphale is a happy little socialite who draws friends to him like moths to an angelic flame while crowley needily and sadly and longingly waits by himself for the angel to grace him with his company' (this is slightly exaggerated maybe but you get my drift, and I'm sure you've seen takes like that) (I love pining Crowley as much as anyone believe me, and oh boy does he do pine - but you know what I mean right??) (I just love this stupid optimistic and loving demon too much)

#good omens #ineffable husbands #my omens #i might even venture to say that Aziraphale is the more reclusive one #but thats another post maybe

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lloydfrontera · 6 months

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do you know how fucking mad i am at the fact that the webcomic gave us lloyd giving javier his own mana in an attempt to save his life and javier overcoming literal dimensional differences in order to be able to accept it into his body effectively foreshadowing how far he's willing to go just to be able to protect lloyd,,,, but they did it all with a fucking 'haha lloyd is ugly' joke. do you.

this could've been one of the best scenes in the entire thing. it could've been such a pivotal point for their character development. it could've been one of the most earnest moments in the story. but it's made into a joke because they just need to draw the ugliest faces possible to make a cheap joke that has been made a hundred times already. i'm not being funny i'm genuinely mad at the wasted potential lmao

the tone of the scene was changed from the webnovel so much it's almost unrecognizable. and not in a good way. like. why would you cheapen the emotional core of your own story like this. do you trust your own plot and characters so little to keep your readers engaged with the story that you feel the need to make everything in a joke. is that it. was the original story not funny enough to keep your attention so you think no one will care if you turn what's meant to be an earnest and heartwarming scene into a joke you've made hundreds of time before.

i'm not. mad. about the changes themselves (mostly). like i said this particular scene had so much potential to compliment the original story and foreshadow the ending that i'm actually upset that the tone and art made it so i can't in good faith say i like it.

they just. shot themselves in the foot by trying to make the scene funny. all the tension and emotional built up is wasted when the webcomic makes fun of itself. it cannot take itself seriously so i can't either.

like. it was going so well. i loved the built up with the scene where they talk about javier's parents and you see that they're still emotionally guarded with each other, they don't quite feel close enough to the other to call themselves friends even when we know that they care deeply for each other. i liked that they changed it so lloyd had the opportunity to save javier the way he wasn't able to in the novel. i even liked the development with lloyd's mana being so different from javier's that he struggles with accepting it, cause it was a chance to call forward to a very important event in the future.

the scene where they're reaching for each other as they realize that yes, they're friends and god help them they will save their friend no matter what?? gorgeous i loved it so much, it wasn't 'We'll be together forever, just like we've always been. Casually. As natural as breathing air.' yeah but it was perfectly okay on it's own too.

and then they do this.

like. what.

all that emotional built up, all that tension, all of it,,, for this?? this????

what's the point of making your audience feel emotionally engaged with the story if you're just gonna make the art equivalent of a fart noise. a well executed yet still completely out of place fart noise lmao

it doesn't feel funny, it just makes me feel like i wasted my time being emotionally invested in something that isn't interested in delivering. it's like watching someone setting up dominoes to topple them in a gorgeous pattern only for them to put on clown shoes and start kicking them all over the place without rhyme or reason. like yeah they're in their right but then what was the point of all that work in the first place.

and yeah maybe it's my fault for expecting something earnest and heartfelt from a webcomic that has shown multiples times that it's not interested on that but like. is it really too much to expect for an adaptation to, well, adapt the original source in a way that doesn't feel like it's making fun of it??

#i talk a lot <3 #tged #the greatest estate developer #lloyd frontera #javier asrahan #i'm just. so sad. and angry. and tired.#this is not fun anymore asjdhkjasa

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goingbuggy · 8 months

Note

When you have time I would LOVE to hear your thoughts about post time skip buggy!!

Hi, anon! Sorry for the late-ish reply. I thought carefully about how I wanted to reply, but alas, here I am again, starting my metas in the strangest places. Anyways, here’s a seemingly unimportant question: Why is it funny that Buggy keeps failing upwards?

My answer also happens to be one of Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling:

"Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating."

You might be wondering why I chose this quote -- after all, Buggy manages to escape most conflicts by sheer coincidence. Take the canon-filler episode(s) “Little Buggy's Big Adventure,” for example; coincidence is the sole reason why he ends up on Gaimon’s island and eventually finds Alvida, one of his future allies. But for as much as Oda is guilty of using coincidences to benefit Buggy, he also creates coincidences to get Buggy into trouble. Sure, Buggy left on good terms with Gaimon/found Alvida, but only after:

Suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Luffy

Losing most of his body

Being chased by killer fish/eaten by a ginormous bird

Nearly getting shot in the head by Gaimon over a misunderstanding

Being chased AGAIN by a deadly crab???? LMAO???

Buggy’s “luck” functions like a pendulum -- for every good thing that happens to him, horrible things are guaranteed to follow. This core aspect of his character is what keeps the gag afloat. Buggy is never rewarded by the narrative without experiencing consequences. In order to earn moments of respite, he has to suffer.

I find it hilarious when people argue that Buggy doesn’t deserve to have good things happen to him. Because, yeah? Duh. Oda loves having his cake and eating it too. It’s not necessarily good to play both sides with the audience when it can cheapen emotional impact, but Oda will absolutely continue to make Buggy both a complete joke and a genuine character. He has fun that way. However, he’s not going to help Buggy without hurting him first.

But that's a very meta perspective. How does Buggy view his own beneficial coincidences? He’s now an emperor, and extremely close to the One Piece/Pirate King title that he so desperately wants. But why does he think he’s being rewarded, in-universe?

His facade.

His devoted followers, his influence, that billion-berry bounty, his emperor status -- all of it stems from his fake persona and its snowball effect. He’s well aware of this. In fact, I think it’s likely that he hates himself for being such a coward and hiding behind lies. But when he sees his true self as worthless, what else can he do except dig himself into a deeper hole?

Look at 1082. Buggy finally stands up for himself, claiming that wealth and power come from chasing after your dreams -- not grand schemes. Here, he’s talking to himself as much as he’s talking to Crocodile and Mihawk.

“This is wrong… This isn’t how I wanted my life to go…”

It’s a very depressing peek at the man behind the curtain. Buggy only ever wanted to follow his dreams, but he uses schemes to get ahead instead, because they're all he thinks he has. His lies are a crutch to depend on, so he doesn't have to face the truth: he doesn't believe in himself.

To me, 1082 reads as a "Hail Mary" moment from a character at an emotional low. Buggy still doesn't believe in himself, but he is saying: Fuck it. If Shanks and I finally have an equal chance at becoming Pirate King, I at least have to try... Right? We can confirm his lack of self-confidence, because Buggy even admits he got here by “luck or chance or whatever."

He cannot entertain the possibility that he'd get this far any other way. Of course he doesn't see himself as Shanks' equal. It’s one of many reasons he didn’t want to go with Shanks at Loguetown; he assumed he’d be working “under” Shanks (even though Shanks only said “Come with me!"), because he truly believes he is lesser in terms of potential/greatness. ("You coward!" can also be interpreted as Buggy projecting his own insecurities onto Shanks.) Buggy's decision in 1082 is a desperate leap of faith. "Go for broke," "shoot for the moon," etc.

Post-Timeskip Buggy may appear more dangerous than ever before, but in reality, he’s just a small fish in a big pond. The farther he crawls his way up the ladder of success, the worse he feels, because the life he has built is not how he wanted to live at all. Based on everything we've known about Pre-Timeskip Buggy, we should expect him to be happier than ever. He has influence. Power. His monetary value in the eyes of the World Government has shot up exponentially. But look at the poor guy. He's miserable.

If you've ever seen Better Call Saul, I think this scene from S4E9 is very similar to how I feel about Buggy:

JIMMY: There you go! Kick a man when he’s down! KIM: Jimmy, you are always down.

Buggy is a character who is always down, even when you think he might be up. Until he stops maintaining that false image, he will always be punished by the narrative pendulum he's trapped himself in.

Unfortunately, change is hard, especially with the stakes he’s currently facing. If Buggy actually has to fight Blackbeard, Luffy, or Shanks... he can’t. Not alone. He needs people to believe the facade, because that's what got him here in the first place. He may look invincible, but he is quite possibly the most vulnerable character right now.

Crocodile and Mihawk would sell him to Satan for one corn chip (especially after that stunt he pulled in 1082). We haven't seen him improve his physical abilities (unless Oda pulls some off-screen bullshit). As an emperor, he has more people gunning for his head than ever before. Buggy’s last line of defense is his long-running gag -- if Oda decides to subvert our expectations, he’s a dead man walking.

And who would he have to blame but himself? He built his image on smoke and mirrors. Eventually, he's going to have to pay the price.

If Pre-Timeskip Buggy is a man defined by coincidence, then Post-Timeskip Buggy is defined by consequence.

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eluxcastar · 1 year

Text

Pantalone's…greatest interest

── ୨୧：pantalone x reader

୨୧﹑synopsis :: pantalone finds his interest in things he cannot have rather than in what falls at his feet and begs. he suddenly understands what it feels like to beg.

୨୧﹑genre :: mild angst

୨୧﹑content :: gn reader, reader is implied to be the owner of a legal brothel, they're referred to as madam in that context because it sounds classier than pimp 💀, pantalone is a simp, like really a simp to the point of being a bit obsessive

୨୧﹑words :: 600

so long story I was gonna post days ago some Scaramouche fluff in honour of getting him just before his banner ended but then stuff happened and I end up here. I burnt myself again 😭

the way Pantalone loves is…possessive, jealous and if money can buy it he'll have it, a true face of greed. he wants most what money cannot buy. the affections of the madam of a brothel he is loyal to only for its owner. he can buy any of the people there he wants and rent them out for a night and of course the one he wants most is only the manager of this establishment.

he tries his hand at gifts, all of which you have little desire and much less a need for. a banker speaks in money but how is he to bargain with someone who doesn't benefit from his full pockets in the way a common citizen would. dabbling in the unmentionable does have its own luxuries. what do you want-- no, need from him? what can he walk to the ends of the world to get for you that will make you turn around and fall in love with him like he knows he can make you.

you are a greedy little thing just like he is. materialism is like breathing to you. something in your eyes tells him you like watching him chase, letting Pantalone run about trying to appease you, to scrounge and beg for your permission to worship you. he has never been presented with something he cannot buy as even life itself has a price and if it doesn't seem to he can give it one. you seem to enjoy resisting that philosophy, stubborn thing you are.

he wants you, but does he want you because he sees something in you that he believes you let only him see or simply because he cannot have you? how far would he go to have you? in his mind he wouldn't do anything to jeopardise his own pride, but he knows that he can become weak when you want something. how much can you want out of him? he wonders if you'd be able to make him lick your boots and swear his loyalties to you above even the Tsaritsa herself. maybe.

he likes it when you act that way to him, click your tongue and spoil him in your own little way. sometimes you bruise him well. madam he calls you like the title attached to your role. it cheapens him in a way he didn't expect to enjoy but for you, who he grovels for, he'll allow it.

he revels in you finally beginning to play along with him, acting cordially and tolerating him like a common pest who has invaded your life and latched onto you. that or…maybe a little more like a house cat who comes and goes, at least with time. his impression of you changes and your tolerance turns to more spoiling, more rewards. you reward him so well for his efforts in chasing. equally so you punish him for getting in the way of business, or just annoying you.

your rewards always vary, but your punishments are always painful. he drinks every kind you give him in, burning, tingling, throbbing that are always swirling together with an electricity that settles in his body with the help of the vision attached to your hip. normally he would never allow such a thing but for you he would give anything as he finds you to be something he believes only he should be able to treasure, stringing him along in this little game you made just for him.

he was right to think that materialism was like breathing to you, he just so happens to be your highest bidder.

#✦ — headcanons.#✦ — angst.#here's some food #a little bit of food #that I prepared earlier #I didn't like it originally but I reread it #and was confused why I didn't post it #it seems fine I think #pantalone #genshin pantalone #pantalone x reader #genshin impact #genshin #genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader

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thesungod · 1 year

Note

Hello I would like your opinion and all possible spoilers for will nico book pls I don’t want to read it but I wanna catch up 🙏

hello anon! prepare yourself for my unadulterated, raw opinion and be warned: it’s not pretty.

BIG SPOILERS AND HARSH HARSH NEGATIVITY UNDER THE CUT please don’t read if you don’t enjoy hating and being mean let yourself have fun if you liked the book <33

So.

Let’s start with this: I had the BEST INTENTIONS about this book. Yeah, I bullied the preview like anyone else, but I had really been intrigued by Nico’s dream sequence and I do love, despite everything I say, Solangelo. Nico has been one of my favourite characters for my entire life and I have wanted a book about him ever since I was 12.

You see how much was at stake for me to enjoy this book?

And I didn’t.

I didn’t, because this book SUCKS.

First of all 1) This shit was boring. Like, I’m sorry. Believe me, it breaks my heart to say something like that because Nico?? BORING??

But yeah. I dare anyone to tell me something actually meaningful that happens in the first half of the book. Will getting coffee on his shirt? The Percabeth pep talk? (And I’m quoting). The infinite, repetitive dream sequences that did nothing for me because they were, you know, infinite and repetitive?

There was also constant reiteration of things that had already happened in previous books, both in the form of dreams and flashbacks, both because the authors never let anything be implied or understood by the reader on their own. Every single thought and feeling and past experience of Nico is shouted at us ad nauseam because god forbid we forget loneliness is part of him and he could never be loved and his sister died and and and.

It’s almost like Mark and Rick browsed the online pjo fandom, took a look at all the things we like about Nico and said “hey, what if we constantly make him think and say exactly those things with an off-putting self awareness and a dramatic tone? I’m sure people will love that!”

I finally thought we were going somewhere with them getting caught stealing by Persephone (yeah that happens) but it transformed into yet another tirade about love and friendship and how important they are. Which brings me to the second point.

2) Someone put tape in the mouth of every single character in this book. I’m so serious.

How many endless, therapy-talk, this-is-an-adult-speaking-not-a-weird-teenager conversations did we get? I don’t know. A million?

I’m reading a fantasy book. Do I need to be reminded about the importance of healthy boundaries and communication every time I turn the page?

I know, I know. The book is for kids and kids need to learn that friendship is magic and whatever.

But, yk, PJO and HoO and ToA are for kids too and while they have their flaws, I never felt like they were giving me a lecture.

This book was downright insufferable. I didn’t have pure, unadulterated fun for a single moment and it wasn’t because I had outgrown the target, which would have been a much more understandable reason, but because it was so slow and didactic and moralistic and lacked any humor except a couple of forced meta jokes. It was fucking sad.

And that serves me point 3 right on a silver platter.

3) Will and Nico have 0 chemistry and I wanted to beat the shit out of them

Seriously when did these two start hating each other. When did they start giving “why are we together” energy. I don’t get it. What happened.

They were so great in the Tower of Nero. They were fun, and colourful, and dynamic, and different, and teenagers, but also you could see that they were two people going through a lot. It didn’t feel as if Nico’s trauma was cheapened just because he occasionally enjoyed spending time with his boyfriend.

In this book… I mean, we get told they are in love. We get told approximately a million of times.

But what we are shown is two people constantly on the brink of beating each other with sticks. We didn’t get one big explosive stress fight, or the resurfacing of a couple of buried issues, as I expected. What we got was an exhausting death by a thousand cuts where Nico was angry at Will for breathing (seriously, count how many times the words annoyed or irritated are said about Nico in regards to his boyfriend) and Will apparently doesn’t understand Nico at all after a year of dating.

Basically, Nico is constantly mad at Will because Will doesn’t like the Underworld and never fails to make it known, while the Underworld is Nico’s home, and that could have been a kind of potentially interesting point of conflict if it hadn’t become draining at page 20. Was it realistic? I mean, I guess!! But that doesn’t mean I wanted to see that shit the entire time.

This was an urban fantasy book for middle schoolers!!! I wanted to have fun!! I didn’t have fun!!!

How could anyone ever have fun with a 400 page long account of two idiot teenagers getting on each other’s nerve with the occasional therapy communication-kiss-therapy communication-kiss interlude? NOT ME.

If that’s you, good for you, truly. But how is this Percy Jackson? Percy Jackson built an empire on being funny and cheeky in an effortless way and ToA followed suit, no matter what personal gripe one may have against the series. HoO is a bit of a wild card, but it was never close to being this flat and depressing. Not. Even. Close.

And as if two protagonists who I used to love being a giant pain in my ass wasn’t enough, the meager plot one can occasionally find between a dream sequence and a flashback and a stupid argument and a conversation about how humanity is love or whatever isn’t even compelling or engaging.

4) And are the interesting new characters in the room with us, Rick?

The only bad guy of the book is Nyx. Nyx is bad because she’s Darkness. She was born Bad and will die Bad and she’s Baddy McBad.

But don’t worry if the villain underwhelms you, because we will meet new interesting characters too!

… yeah, no.

We won’t.

Again. This is a kids’ book.

But. Have we forgotten Percy Jackson is for middle to high schoolers? Like, I know of people enjoying it well into their 20s because it’s nice fun. When did it become for 2 year olds?

Let’s leave aside the fact that Nyx’s motive makes little sense (no worries anon, we will be talking about this later) because there’s no way she cares this much about Nico Di Angelo. Not even I care this much about Nico Di Angelo and he’s been my entire personality ever since I was eleven. Be fucking for real. You’re not that guy, pal.

Any other character who’s not Nyx that is shown is sweet and kind and is changing and is in love and has been to therapy and loves other people. I could have vaguely accepted this (honestly, ToA often worked on a very similar premise), if it hadn’t meant making every single person or monster or whatever Will and Nico meet painfully boring. Literally fucking blank states.

I spent the whole book begging for Apollo to show up just so that someone could admit to drowning his ex in a bathtub and make a sex joke immediately after, because no one else was doing anything remotely cool whatsoever.

Even Persephone and Hades became Disney characters and wistfully raved about the power of love. What. The. Fuck.

It’s so wrong because ToA did the whole “love is everywhere, humans (and creatures) are cool” thing so much better while its characters still managed to have a personality, or were at the very least funny, and some were even villains.

This was all so blah.

Okay, now. Prepare yourself anon. Get a seat. Get a drink.

5) The finale.

Super short summary: Nyx wants Nico Di Angelo to live in Tartarus with her because Nico is special and unique and no one is like him. She makes babies out of his worst nightmares and traumas (because she can… do that, I guess?) and tries to guilt him into staying.

Yeah I know that this is weird as fuck but stay with me.

Nico Di Angelo is special and unique and has the power of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on his side, so he tells her to fuck off AND keeps the trauma babies, without any sacrifice required at all. If you’re asking yourself what role Will has in this, it’s zero. Zilch. He was literally useless for the actual plot, but we’ll get to that later.

After escaping Tartarus with Bob, Small Bob, Will and trauma babies, Nico finds out this entire thing has been plotted by Hades, who faked a whole prophecy to send his own son back to Tartarus and save Bob, because he knew Nico could do it and he loves Bob or whatever. Hades also hugs Nico and tells him he’s proud of him because he’s special and unique, and for some incomprehensible reason that I’m still attempting to concoct Nico doesn’t kick his ass for it.

He re-traumatised Nico just to get Bob out of Tartarus (because his voice was bothering him or whatever) but… I guess that’s okayyy?

I’m not going to comment any further on Nyx and trauma babies because frankly it’s just plain weird. Like I don’t even know what to say, except that it seems kind of far-fetched for a primordial goddess to do all that for Some Guy. I do have something to say against the Some Guy, though.

6) Someone sucker punch Nico, please.

Never have I ever seen a character act like such a dumb asshole for the entire run of a book while somehow being worshipped for being the Best Person Ever.

You know what was great about Nico? The fact that the books weren’t constantly yelling at you that HE IS GOOD HE IS GOOD HE IS GOOD HE IS GOOD LOOK AT HIM BEING GOOD DOING A THANKLESS JOB BECAUSE HE’S GOOD. You just kinda had to put 2 and 2 together. He acted like he wanted nobody and cared for nobody but we, the readers, called bullshit because everything he did went against that narrative. And when he was outed in HoH, we all said “oooooh”. Him loving Percy made so much more sense than him hating Percy, because his actions spoke louder than his words.

He was a kid, and he was going through it, but he was never completely won over by the bad side because he cared too much about people, even when they didn’t care about him. To quote myself, Nico has never won the idgaf war.

Well, in this book he won the idgaf war. He treated Will like shit, which we’ll attribute to nerves. His thoughts about dead people desperately looking for redemption or release were disturbingly unsympathetic, and he just did things without ever thinking of the consequences for others.

To be fair, this wasn’t a total 180 for him: Nico was previously shown to be touchy and defensive (hence the being mean to Will, who occasionally makes the grave mistake of expressing a thought that isn’t overwhelmingly positive on the literal worst place on the planet), cold (him killing Bryce and Octavian etc) and impulsive. Character flaws, we love them!!

Except that the final moral of the book is that Nico is The Best Person Ever Who Never Asked For Anything In Return For His Whole Complete Goodness And Now Gets An Army Of Little Trauma Babies Who Worship Him.

Ummm… Nico canonically commited murder? Hello?

Sure, he was never Bad, and Love Was In His Heart and all, but the entire point of his character arc was deciding that love was enough. Nico has, again and again, flirted with the bad guys, and been sketchy. He’s not PJO’s Jesus, and this last minute treatment of him was so weird.

We all wanted Nico to have a Win™️ , but it could have been anything less on the nose (NICO IS SO GREAT GUYS OMG) and it still would have been fine.

Also just… idk there’s something that rubs me the wrong way about pretending that pre-tsats Nico was trauma trauma trauma pain pain pain. Life is complex. Nico was a character that happened to go through things, not a character that things happened to with nothing else going for him.

What about Will, though? Well…

7) Will, get behind me.

Is he dumb? Yes.

Does he understand Nico perfectly? No.

Do I like him? The jury is out.

But he did not deserve this slander. Like, omg. He spent the book getting bullied and being useless in battles because he’s not a fighter and Tartarus makes Apollo’s kids weak (wow who would have thought!).

Nico made him cry, for fucks’ sake. A full on sob cry. Admittedly he had acted foolishly but damn.

He’s just a silly little guy, your honor😭

He also, inexplicably, didn’t expeditiously call his father or his mother or the firefighters or someone to kidnap Hades and flog him, despite the fact that Hades tortured his boyfriend for months and sent them both to Tartarus on a fake prophecy.

On a bright note, his pov was actually pretty okay.

So yeah, anon. This book is a pile of genuinely weird, kinda mean spirited and annoyingly moralistic garbage that created PJO Jesus, gave said PJO Jesus babies (?) shoved a couple of gay jokes in the middle of it as if I wouldn’t notice the rest, unwatered my crops, uncleared my skin, single-handedly managed to kill my PJO fixation that has been going on since middle school in six hours and kicked my dog on top of it.

Thanks for reading.

#tsats spoilers #ask #this is really long

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generalluxun · 6 months

Note

It's strange how many people use terms like Breaking Point, Lowest Point, and Rock Bottom when describing the path certain women like Azula and Chloe Bourgeois need to go through to grow. Aaron Ehasz is one of those people. But people never seem to talk about characters like Zuko and Felix Fathom in this manner.

Rock bottom is a sort of myth that came from I don't know where. More villains than heroes are created at rock bottom. People who are desperate and have nothing to lose don't make the best choices.

More people change when cared for and shown another way, than do at their wits end. Keep in mind that care and coddling are distinct things. Support, love, and a healthy environment are free of charge, but not necessarily easy to face, especially for someone whose worldview has been warped. Yet it is in such an environment where people are most likely to make a positive change.

If I'm being generous I would say 'rock bottom' has been missinterpreted, and a better phrase might be 'Must come to see the darkness/outcome of their current path. This might take the form of losing something important and realizing it was only their own actions that caused the loss, but it doesn't have to. That path is ALSO not a one size fits all answer.

Take Azula: She's been chasing success and recognition her whole life. She bought her daddy's line, she worked to overcome everyone else, to be a ruthless, cunning, perfection of a Fire Lord. She wanted to be her father's successor instead of Zuko. She lost her friends along the way, and that hurt, but what really was 'rock bottom' for her? Do you think it was losing to Zuko? No. She was broken long before he got there. Zuko even comments on it. What broke her was her father naming her fire lord... and then promptly making the title of Phoenix Emperor. The thing she had strived for her whole life suddenly cheapened, and made subservient to a new rank. All her work... and she ended up second, just where she started. *That* was rock bottom for her. And when she hit rock bottom what happened? She snapped. Being at rock bottom *broke* her. It didn't save her.

Similarly where is S5 Chloé? No power, no friends, under the thumb of an abusive mother, dragged to London. Seems pretty rock bottom. Did it look like some sort of epiphany was pending, or just more suffering?

By contrast: What did Zuko lose? He had lost, and he didn't change. It was actually his uncle, it was Aang, it was love, support, kindness, and repeated care in the face of Zuko falling again and again into bad habits. That's what eventually allowed him to see there was a path other than the one he was on, and it took him a while to believe even with so much help. That's because these kinds of changes are *had*.

Felix: Well, umm, Felix hasn't actually necessarily changed at all? He joined a side to further his ends, but he hasn't shown much character growth beyond that yet.

As for why some characters are pushed with this narrative and not others? That depends on the speaker I guess.

#ask #princess azula #chloe bourgeois #prince zuko #felix fathom

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exsanguidus · 7 months

Text

{ HEADCANON }

This is going to be a steaming hot take and people will probably hate me for this...

Astarion wouldn't walk into the sunlight or unalive himself once Tav passes on - be it old age or less natural causes.

The end of the game when he's non-Ascended makes it very clear that he wants to live his life for himself and begin to put his wants and needs first. It just happens to be that, if Tav successfully romances him, he wants to have Tav in his life as he discovers what else he wants in life.

Certain dialogue choices if you romance him and opt for polyamory post-his quest, he even basically says he's ok with it if Tav and him don't work out because he's accepted that life changes. Furthermore, that change doesn't have to be terrifying and that he can be ok if things change.

He literally spent all of his two centuries being forced to live his life for someone else up until the events of the game. There's no way he'd make someone else the definition of his entire personality, no matter how much he loves them.

Even the dialogue he has where if Durge!Tav doesn't succeed in redemption and is cursed by Bhaal, he states he'd stay with Tav until the curse succumbs them. But that he would inevitably leave for his own emotional/mental well-being and still think of them a thousand years later because he truly loves them.

He wants to be his own person and experience all of what life has to offer. That includes love and companionship, but also - if the gods so will it - loss, grief, and healing from grief to keep going.

He would not want to be so codependent on Tav that he'd want to end his life just because they cease to exist.

Him wanting to stay alive after Tav passes on would not lessen or cheapen his love for them. Even if in his immortal life he falls for someone else (he wouldn't actively try to, of course) that still wouldn't diminish the love he had for Tav.

Let this man have a life that doesn't revolve around existing and living for someone else - Cazador, Tav, or anyone else.

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hyacynta · 2 years

Text

I'm just going to say it. I do not want Jason to be brought back to life in the Solangelo book.

Jason's death wasn't for nothing. It was the most pivotal moment in Trials of Apollo. Jason knew that either him or Piper was going to die. He went into battle with the intent to sacrifice himself to save her, Meg and Apollo. He died like a hero. Jason death severely impacted Apollo's arc. It was because of Jason that Apollo made a promise to change for the better. Throughout the rest of the books, Apollo always reminds himself of Jason's actions and words. Jason haunts him to no end. He thinks of Jason as his brother. He doesn't want anyone else to do what Jason did and so Apollo tries to take on everyone else's burden. Jason's death is what causes change in the gods. He shakes up their very foundation by making Apollo truly understand that how the gods treat demigod lives as disposable is not right.

Jason's death is treated extremely respectfully and like it's final. His last wishes are honored, Piper, Meg and Apollo are saved, the shrines he designed for the gods are put up in Camp Jupiter, he is given a tribute song, he is mourned by everyone, Apollo keeps his promise to Jason, and he is given closure. Piper accepts it, Leo accepts it, Nico accepts it, and his own sister accepts it. Did they want that to happen to him? No, of course not. But they understand it was his choice.

Jason's death is quite possibly the most impactful death in the entire Riordanverse. Resurrecting him would cheapen his death so much. It would undo everything that happened in the last three Trials of Apollo books. All those goodbyes for nothing. What would it teach Apollo? "Oh it's fine if demigods die, we can just resurrect them."

I know you miss Jason, but bringing him back would do so much more harm than good both to him and the entire story.

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astromechs · 1 year

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i can't say that i personally really understand the sentiment of "i don't like what andor did because it means that cassian was being a hypocrite to jyn in their argument after eadu". ok, and? he was always being a hypocrite to her then. he was always trying to gaslight her right at first before she saw right through that and blew it all to hell, before we even had canon for any backstory of his.

("you're in shock, and you're looking for some place to put it. i've seen it before" / "i'll bet you have")

like... the whole argument is incredibly messy for both characters involved, and no one comes out of it looking good, which is what makes the scene great.(like, homegirl here called him a stormtrooper lmao, jyn's not in the right either, no one's in the right here.) and i don't think anything we saw in andor really cheapens this? cassian's whole life being a fight and then making a conscious choice to devote his life wholesale to the rebellion by the end of andor s1 because he perceives he has nothing else left and is just very hinged and normal about the whole thing like a well-adjusted person would be, that tracks, i don't need a child soldier backstory to make that work, personally. what i think this gives new depth on, too, is there is this part of him that sees a part of himself in jyn — and at this point resents. lashes out.

because at this point, cassian's delicate mental framework he's built for himself just to cope falls apart around him like a house of cards if he so much as questions the rebellion, this thing he has chosen to dedicate himself to so wholeheartedly. jyn actively threatens that, because jyn reflects a part of him that's best, to him, left unacknowledged. jyn touches his humanity, and reaches the person he used to be before he detached from that person to cope with the horrors he's convincing himself are necessary. jyn is his mirror.

i get that some people might've liked the supplementary material backstory better! but i say as someone who's been a fan of cassian since 2016 that i like what the show did with him, and it didn't really joss my own interpretation of him that much; i think it's interesting and nuanced and gives him a sprinkle of added depth. and yeah, looking like a massive fucking hypocrite after eadu is part of that. it's a character flaw and it's great.

#no i'm gonna tag it #cassian andor #let the character tag have it

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amorhedera6 · 9 months

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as someone who watched and loved season 1 of flash, and someone who watched tolerated all the way up to season 5 and half of season 6, i decided to sit down and watch the flash finale. and boy do i have thoughts.

most of them are what the fuck is going on.

i watched all of once upon a time, so i’ve been burned by shows losing steam and obsessing over the main ship instead of the interesting plot before. when i saw the signs in the flash, i pulled back. i didn’t wanna go through it again. honestly i should’ve before i did, but i have a crippling crush on grant gustin.

1) khione

i like dc comics, but it spans infinitely and there are lots of things i don’t know, so correct me if i’m wrong. but i did a little research and it doesn’t seem to me that khione was a character in the comics. so (if danielle panabaker was staying on the show) why not just let her be caitlin? have they just decided against the character they have been writing since season one? khiones plot of understanding her powers, of of coming to terms with who/what she was all could have easily transferred to caitlin. it got her well when they first began to integrate killer frost into her story! they could have continued, once frost died, by having caitlin regain some of frost’s powers. while having her mourn her sister, she adapts to having powers again and how to be herself with them and not frost. an echo of the plot that she was already going through when the writers decided to just jeckyll/hyde her. it would have worked incredibly well! plus, it would give caitlin a fulfilling end to the question she’s been asking since season one: who is she on her own? in season one, it was without ronnie, in season two she was battling discovering these powers, and by season three she was battling becoming the super villain she knew her doppelgänger was. making her another new character with the same plot that caitlin, then frost had just defeats caitlin’s purpose. when the original core characters of your show keep leaving (cisco, joe, any version of wells) why kill of another just to replace her with such a similar character played by the same actress?? it truly baffles me.

2) the time wraiths

i’m sure i’m not the first one to say this, but why introduce the time wraiths if you want to have barry keep time traveling to and fro. “but they’re creatures of the speed force, so obviously wouldn’t attack the avatar!” okay fine. NORA IS NOT THE AVATAR. WHY DOES SHE NEVER FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR HER TIME TRAVELS. SHE HELD HERSELF. AS A BABY. THAT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED.

i may be biased bc i don’t like nora.

3) bart

i know he wasn’t really mentioned much in the finale, but i wanted to understand things i’d missed/forgot so i looked into him for this. why did they make bart a part of the show. i understand he’s a big character in the comics, but if they wanted to have another child for barry and iris be introduced, why not use the tornado twins? why use his grandson and just change it? any create nora at all?? (again i’m probably just biased against nora, but still)

it just doesn’t make any sense to me to take an established character and change their lore just bc you like it better than using the established characters, since that conflicts with your original characters. JUST FOLLOW THE SOURCE MATERIAL ITS NOT THAT HARD.

4) eddie

bringing back eddie thawne, when his sacrifice already didn’t achieve its purpose, completely cheapens the finale of season one. especially by making him an uncle villain who wants to destroy the timeline because his fiancée (who he knew was destined to be with barry in the future) denied him because she already had a husband and family.

eddie didn’t like barry in season one. he rightly thought that he was into iris and came in between the two of them. but he tried to be his friend because he was friends with joe and he loved iris. he was a good guy and he wanted good for the people in his life. he loved iris, and if it truly made her happier to be with barry than him, he would have stepped to the side, the finale completely changes his character for the wills of the plot, making him hate barry for “stealing his life” when he sacrificed himself so iris could continue to live her life happily.

5) iris’ labor

for two and a half of the four episodes of the finale, iris is in labor. and because they’re being attacked by the negative speed force, everyone rallies together to fight, and she is left alone in the hospital in labor.

WHY DID NO ONE CALL JOE???

i get he has jenna to look after or whatever, but that’s his daughter, she’s in labor, the father of the baby he also calls his son, and yeah it’s weird, but we don’t talk about that. his daughter is in labor, all alone, worried about wether or not barry will survive, and no one thinks that he would be helpful to the situation at all. so fucking stupid. i understand if maybe the actor didn’t want to come back for it, but he was already in the finale episodes anyway!! he was a major point in the first episode, and he was there when she finally had the baby in the end!! why couldn’t he just be there for a little bit longer??

6) cisco

okay, carlos valdez has said that he had scheduling conflicts, and that it was heartbreaking for him not to be able to return for the finale. i understand that. i am not at all criticizing that.

they couldn’t even name drop cisco? be like, ciscos picking up the cake at the party scene? have caitlin be in the phone with him instead of her mother at the end? they were best friends, you’re saying when she came back from the dead she didn’t even call him? or say i called cisco, he has blah blah blah going on so he can’t come help buuuut he gave us this vital piece of information!!

come one people. throw us a bone.

7) chester

i did get to chester in the original series, but it was like right as i was losing interest in it, so i didn’t care to research him at all, but i did for this! why did they make him diet cisco?? internet he comics, because he has a vortex inside of him, chester is fat. why was he played by a skinny guy? why did they not utilize his character to its full extent instead of just being a replacement once they found out carlos was leaving the show??

okay that’s all i have, i wanted to complain bc it made me angry. i liked the flash originally, i think it had a lot of good potential, but like so many shows, it was dredged on too long, got convoluted, the writing prowess diminished instead of flourishing, and it ended after too many seasons. sorry to the flash, you could’ve been so good.

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pupmkincake2000 · 1 month

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I once had this topic in my posts, and I want to talk about it again. Perhaps I will say the same thing, but in this context it is important to bring to the main idea.

So, the found-family trope. It has been perverted into "here's a set of characters, I've squished them into the heteronormative roles of father/mother/child". - found family CAN be that, in some cases, but that is not what the trope was initially founded on. The found family trope was built on NON-CONVENTIONAL FAMILIES/RELATIONSHIPS. It is about finding a family OUTSIDE of the one you were born into, a family that can be whoever you want, and look however you want it to. That's the very reason it's so popular in LGBT+ spaces. It is not about pushing people into strict parental/child roles. It is about finding family in other people, regardless of what they are to you. Romantic partners absolutely count as found family, so no, we are not pushing aside a lovely found-family trope for the "sake of a ship" (a silly sentence to begin with, imo, but I digress) Hank and Connor ARE found family, because you can find your family; your comfort, your helper, your partner in life, in your husband, wife, or partner. The opportunity for a queer love story does NOT cheapen anything, especially in todays world, where it's desperately needed right now.

So, when people say they are not infantilizing Connor by making Hank treat him like a son because adults are allowed to have parents and that Connor is smart and all but he’s still unexperienced when it comes to human emotions and needs someone to guide him and that Connor needs a guide, an anchor in his life I always ask myself why.

Why it has to be Connor of all androids? Why do people think Connor needs an anchor, a guide and why do they think he’s unexperienced? Considering, he’s a clever machine whose brain, or whatever he has in his head, works much faster than human being’s. Does that mean all the androids need a guide and an anchor? Isn't that infantilization? Weren't they actually shown as independent individuals? Doesn't this destroy him as an independent person who's already decided who he wanted to be and is aware of his own actions? In addition, people forget that he is not a human and he may not need the very concept of a father figure or parents/child relationships at all.

I have often seen how people who insist Connor needs a father, need a father figure themselves, in fact, they simply project their desires onto Connor and Hank due to a lack of fatherly love or attention, and some of them have directly admitted this to me. Tho, they choice of Hank as a father figure seems really ridiculous, considering how his relationships with Connor started. But then again, Connor is not a human, and such concepts may be alien to him. We do not talk about Markus here, because he lived for 10 years with a man who considered him a son from the very beginning. Therefore, Markus is the exception rather than the rule. We leave out Alice because she was essentially programmed to be a child and needs to be taken care of, this is basically her function. And there were no other examples of family relationships among androids, there were only couples.

The most interesting part is also that people who are usually against HankCon, seem like the ones who are applying their personal feelings and issues to the characters. Can your partner not be your family? Is your partner not your friend, your confidant, and the person that helps you heal and uplifts you? Those things aren’t locked to just platonic or familial relationships.

Although I'm still sure that good old stereotypes are to blame, because if Hank was younger or at least looked younger, no one would think of him as a father figure. If people are only doing this because of his age and looks (and I suspect that's the case... in most cases), it's largely the fault of the fandom itself that forces Hank into this stereotypical role. Because a lot of people who played the game, but have never been part of the fandom, have no problems seeing Hank and Connor as a potential couple or just who they are accrotding the plot - friends), it just shows how incapable they are of analyzing characters. Because according to this perspective, any human being, if they are not a child or a teenager, will be more experienced in life than any android. Shouldn't androids view all humans who are over 20 as their potential parents or parental figures then? But for some reason, if a human being looks young, no one assigns them such a role, although from such a point of view this is exactly how it should be. So either people accept that Connor is an adult, capable of making adult decisions (while remembering that he is not human), or they accept that any android is infantile by the very fact of their existence and needs a parental figure, even if humans who the androids interact with, look young.

#detroitbecomehuman #dbh rk800 #dbh hank #dbh connor #dbh #hank anderson #detroit: become human #hankcon #detroit become human #connor x hank #detroit rk800 #connor rk800 #rk800 #pumkin says

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