#honestly I was so shook | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jemmo · 1 year

Text

ive had this ramble bubbling under the surface since watching the first 2 eps of t8s, but talking to @heesulovebot and @bengiyo ‘s posts have finally managed to organise my thoughts, about why this feels so queer and un-bl, and i think it’s because, even though unspoken, the characters recognise this as queer too. i can think of so many countless bl’s where things don’t start out gay, be it enemies to lovers or friends to lovers or characters not knowing what their feelings are or ignoring them or rejecting them, no matter what it is, it’s like the gayness is slowly eeked out. but this show, in the simplest way, makes it gay from the start, by showing us the beginnings of a relationship, a meeting and a first introduction and a getting to know each other, that is really very basic. one of the things i hear a lot when people dismiss same sex chemistry in shows unless it’s stated, like when people are arguing for the inferred same sex relationship, is “if this was a man and a woman, would you think it’s romantic?”, and so often an answer is yes bc we’re still stuck in this mindset of seeing opposite sex interactions as inherently romantic, while same sex interactions as inherently friendly. you can take any number of jihyun’s and jaewon’s interactions, their first exchange outside the bar, exchanging names, jaewon wanting to go to the restaurant to see jihyun, jihyun joining the club to get closer to jaewon, the sharing earbuds, the buying food, the keeping him out the smoke, the list goes on of big to tiny details that if it were a man and a woman, anyone would read it as romantic, and yet no one in the show yet recognises it as that or voices it. and that’s what is so good and so queer about this story. bc queerness can often hide in plain sight, as long as the two at the center of it recognise it as what it is. they know this isn’t just friendly, and yet they can use this veil of male friendship to disguise all the blatant flirting they do. THAT. IS SO. QUEER. heck, how many times are queer relationships referred to as some take on a ‘special friendship’. its how we hide in plain sight. it’s how we can brush hands and shower together and sit together round a camp fire at night with music being sung and look fondly into each other’s eyes and yet no one else in that circle is none the wiser. its how we, as an audience, know this is queer, not bc of the label put on the show, but bc of how our characters act. whether they know how they feel or not at this point, the way they act, and how those actions portray those feelings, let’s us in. queer media is kind of like a secret language like that, a whole thing you have to know how to speak so that you can understand the intricacies of what’s being said. and untangling and decoding the meaning of the word friend is one of those things specific to the queer experience, which makes the use of it here absolute genius.

#i finally wrote a thing #I’ve been waiting for the brainrot to boil over #and tonight is the tipping point apparently #I am just so stuck on this show it’s ridiculous #like I had to write this to stop myself from watching those 2 eps for the 6th time bc I’m that insane #and I don’t think my rambles can even do justice to the wonderful way this show is crafted #and I honestly can’t even figure out how they create and communicate this vibe that’s so identifyibly queer and yet nothing is screaming at #you in the face hey this is queer #like I’m just shook #the eighth sense

175 notes · View notes

revvethasmythh · 2 years

Text

truly obsessed with the fact that Laerryn's title isn't just "Architect Arcane." Her other title is "Hierophant Abjura" and she is one of seven other arcane Hierophants in the city, i believe (presumably the other schools of magic). Just--the sheer arrogance and dismissal of the divine to take a title that denotes divine priesthood and give it to the heads of arcane colleges is utterly galling

#can't believe I didn't notice that earlier #the sheer GALL #why were these wizards asking so hard to get smacked into the dirt #critical role #exu: calamity #laerryn coramar-seelie #cr spoilers #just in case #I've never heard ''hierophant'' used in reference to anything other than priesthood this shook me so hard #I'd say ''maybe there's another meaning'' but honestly this tracks

884 notes · View notes

wistfulwatcher · 1 year

Text

Leverage Redemption | 2.13 "The Crowning Achievement Job"

#leverageverse #leverage redemption #leverageredemptionedit #leverageverseedit #sophie devereaux #sophiedevereauxedit #astrid pickford #mine #edit #*#scene*#gooooooood i knew it was coming but it was still so good!!!#when the 'daughter' first happened i was actually kind of disappointed they were going that route but having it be her stepdaughter was #honestly so much better?? the circumstances were so good and fitting for sophie and the betrayal felt so much juicier?? so i really loved #how this all shook out and loved the scenes between these two 😍😍😍#and OOF sophie's reaction here?? someday i will write the full meta i wanna write about the frame up job but this fit perfectly into it #because sophie is so surprised when other people see her as important - when they illustrate just how deep of an impact #she's had on them and it just wrecks me every time. i wanna hug sophie so badly #q

218 notes · View notes

the-priestess-of-dawn · 5 months

Text

Grima and Final Blows

The other day I mentioned that I had an essay about Grima to write that I'd been putting off, and between that and all the great essays my fellow Grimleal scholars have been putting out recently, I decided to sit down and finally get it done.

So here you go. An analysis of Grima's difficulties with directly killing people.

Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, because one of my favorite things to explore when it comes to Grima is the gap between their villain act, which they actively play up in front of others in both Awakening and FEH, and their true feelings, which are hinted at in Awakening (particularly through the Future Past DLC) and made even clearer in FEH— their own evil actions are repulsive to them, and they wish they could live normally among humans, but they don’t believe they have any choice but to be the monster that “the fell dragon, Grima” is supposed to be. They are committed to this “fell dragon” character, to putting on a show for everyone, and they are so good at it that it’s easy to overlook that they… uh… aren’t very good at killing anyone important. Not directly, anyway.

Sure, Grima is responsible for numerous deaths. But what is their actual kill count? Well, in Awakening’s main game… zero. (Unless you count Chrom, but, as we witness, that was not a voluntary act on their part; Validar took control of their body. You could also make the argument that Grima “claiming the sacrifice” at the Dragon’s Table counts, but the problem with that is, although it’s obvious that Grima accepts the life force of the Grimleal members as a sacrifice, it’s not at all clear whether or not Grima personally kills them. Although it’s possible that they did off screen, it’s also possible that Validar killed them, or that they were ordered to take their own lives; there’s no reason Grima would have had to lay a hand on them.) In the Future Past, it’s… one, maybe one and half (Naga’s spirit, and Tiki, but only in body. More on this later.)

And it’s not as though Fire Emblem shies away from showing villains directly murdering people, Even in Awakening itself, the intro to Chapter 9 shows Aversa killing a Plegian soldier for delivering an unsatisfactory report, so it wouldn’t have been out of place to let Grima stab a few NPCs as a show of brutality. Especially seeing as Grima is the evil dragon final boss. As early as Mystery of the Emblem, we can see Medeus killing his cleric hostages to restore his own health if you fail to rescue them before trying to defeat him, and as recently as Engage, we get a whole cutscene of Sombron eating Hyacinth. Fantasy violence my beloved <3

Anyway, the point is, Grima could have been written to be much more violent and I don’t think anyone would have complained. Instead, though, Grima repeatedly— and consistently across the series— tries to avoid engaging in direct combat.

Let’s start with what Grima does in the main game of Awakening. We know that Risen pursue Lucina into the past, because we see them fall out of the portal with her in Chapter 1. We also know that those Risen, as well as the others that are appearing throughout the land, are not being directly controlled by Grima, because later in Chapter 13, as the Shepherds are leaving Plegia after meeting with Validar, Aversa, and the Hierophant, they are pursued by more skilled Risen, and Frederick notes that “Either they are learning our ways, or someone is commanding them…” So… It seems that sending the Risen—with or without specific orders—to attack while Grima is not themself present is a favored tactic.

But what about when Grima is present? Take a look at the Endgame: Grima chapter. Yes, you eventually get to engage Grima in direct combat. But not immediately. What Grima does first is…

Grima attacks the Shepherds with dark spikes from a distance, reducing everyone’s hp to 1. Now, here’s what happens next: Grima attempts to possess their past self, Robin hears the voices of their friends and breaks free, Naga heals everyone back to full health, and then the fight against Grima begins… Except actually, the Shepherds have to get to Grima first, because they’re at the top of the map and they’re not budging. Naga warns them that “Grima’s servants will beset [them] to no end.” and she’s not kidding. Grimleal reinforcements will spawn infinitely, and they can hit pretty hard. Even with everyone starting at full health, it’s possible to lose units to these Grimleal soldiers if Grima isn’t defeated quickly. Can you imagine what would happen if Naga hadn’t healed the Shepherds first?

Well, I’d guess that they’d probably all die to the Grimleal without Grima having to face them up close. Which was probably what Grima was going for.

This isn’t the only time Grima tries the dark spikes trick, either. Grima attempts this exact same move in the Future Past 3 when they face Lucina, Severa, Laurent, and Gerome.

Grima announces “With the next blow, I will kill you.” and then demands that they hand over the Fire Emblem as well as the gemstone they hold. The threat is very real. But…

Given that at 1hp, a gust of wind could take the kids out, would it not have been easier and faster to kill them and just loot their bodies immediately? And yet Grima lets the kids have an extended discussion about sacrifice, and even suggests that Lucina would indeed buy a little more time by running… Again, I cannot stress enough that Grima should be able to finish them off in one hit at this point.

So the plan was almost certainly to back off and let the Risen do the actual killing, even though that would be a lot less efficient under the circumstances. And when Chrom and the Shepherds arrive, Grima immediately turns their attention to them, saying “If it’s a reunion you seek, my soldiers shall welcome you on my behalf.” Then they once again pick a spot at the back of the map and refuse to move from it, forcing the Shepherds to fight through the Risen in order to engage Grima in combat at all.

And sure, Grima has some excuses. “I was hoping not to have to flex any muscle,” they say right before the dark spikes attack, as if to justify why they didn’t do it sooner. And of course they taunt Lucina over having to choose to whether to run as her friends sacrifice themselves for her or to stay and fight and die with them. “I must say I shall enjoy this either way!” Yes, Grima, we get it, you’ve made it very clear that you’re an arrogant asshole.

But is arrogance really all there is to it? If we look at what Tiki tells Grima in the good ending of the Future Past, it looks as though Grima’s arrogance has brought their own downfall. “If you had left Mount Prism alone, Grima, you might have stood a chance. Instead, you have brought the Awakening right to your feet.” However, when you think about it… Is Tiki’s continued existence not in itself a result of Grima’s repeated pattern of not really wanting to land a finishing blow? The game states that Grima did in fact kill Tiki… but only in body, not in spirit. This is, according to Tiki, because Robin intervened.

Now, the question I have is… Is it really possible that Robin could have intervened both against Grima’s will and without them having any idea? Honestly, it’s hard to tell exactly how aware Grima is of Robin’s resistance, because they lie about it a lot, e.g. stating that Robin’s spirit perished in sending Chrom back to his own world, even though just moments later, Robin is once again overpowering them. So, keeping in mind that Grima is a liar, was Grima really arrogant to leave Tiki’s body in Ylisstol, and to not make sure that her spirit was fully destroyed? Or was Robin simply able to capitalize on Grima’s propensity towards backing off?

Because surely the only way Grima could be unaware that Robin had acted against them is if Robin hadn’t actually acted against them. I don’t think I believe that Grima really wanted Tiki gone. Naga, sure—longtime nemesis and all. But if Grima had truly cared about seeing Tiki’s existence destroyed… Well, I doubt Robin could have interfered that much.

But maybe it could still be a matter of arrogance. Maybe Grima just didn’t think Tiki’s spirit could do anything with Naga’s spirit gone, and thus didn't care to pay attention to her anymore once she seemed dead enough.

If that’s true, it doesn’t explain why Shadows of Valentia Grima exhibits the exact same habits when fighting Alm and Celica, despite never having been outside of the Thabes Labyrinth at this point in their life. As opposed to the various Terrors throughout the rest of the Labyrinth, which chase Alm (or Celica) down in the overworld to force a fight, Grima is immobile in their room, and will wait patiently there indefinitely until the player chooses to engage. You can even evacuate from the dungeon.

But if you do choose to fight Grima, it proceeds much like the battles against them in Awakening go. The main difference is that they actually will move from their starting position this time, if you position someone in their range. That still requires a fight against (proto-)Risen who are spawning in from the sides to stop your party’s advance.

So… Now it’s starting to look like Grima actively prefers this one particular trick… And it’s a fundamentally defensive maneuver, which makes perfect sense from SoV Grima’s standpoint (they were attacked out of nowhere, after all), but is not really an obvious standout strategy for Awakening Grima, whose taunts and threats suggest an aggression that would be better supported with a more offensive strategy… Consider, too, that Awakening Grima is in fact being even more defensive than their SoV iteration, since they don’t move towards you at all.

With all that in mind, it really, really looks like Grima doesn’t want to fight, especially in Awakening. Not that they don’t intend for the Shepherds to die—on the contrary, they’ve set everything up so that the Shepherds will eventually be overwhelmed—but that they don’t want to land the killing blow.

(And gee, I wonder what might be fueling their reluctance? Being controlled and made to kill your best friend by your own hand wouldn't be totally traumatic or anything, right?)

And then... Funny thing here, I’ve been procrastinating writing this essay for a long time. I originally started thinking about it shortly before the Depths of Despair banner was released in FEH, so imagine my surprise when I saw this characterization hold up in the writing of Fell Exalt Chrom’s Forging Bonds as well… The Grima there says that Chrom was the one to kill the rest of the Shepherds. Now, it’s pretty clear that it was through Grima controlling him, but that’s not the point. The point is that once again, Grima didn't have to do any direct killing.

Look, if it had only ever happened once, I could buy that maybe Grima was just underestimating their opponents, that maybe they thought they could get away without having to put very much work in. But for Grima to operate this way so many times, so consistently, and to their own detriment? No...

Grima doesn’t like direct combat. Grima has trouble even when it’s a fight they asked for.

And when you think about it, that makes their reaction to Robin choosing to land the final blow themself in the sacrifice ending all the more understandable.

“…YOU WOULD… NOT DARE!”

Because Grima would not dare. Grima has always preferred to let someone else land the final blow.

#grima #fire emblem awakening #fe13 #grima studies #honestly realizing that main game grima doesn't kill anyone kind of shook me #future past grima only has naga and tiki... neither of which we get to see on screen so tbh grima might have weaseled out of them too #expiration has 5 range after all. naga could have just taken some dragon breath to the face from afar. we truly have no idea what grima did #to my knowledge the only time we see grima actually try to KILL kill (not dark spikes 1hp em) is... rearmed grima in the forging bonds stor #not her specific forging bonds but the general overarching one for that banner #which i have major problems with for other reasons anyway #and which might be retconned by feh itself bc thrasir said arcane weapons should be avoided at all costs yet... so many rearmed heroes now #so i don't feel too bad ignoring that one #but yeah like... writing this essay made me feel for grima even more #um... you know that one quote that the robin who's part of the day of devotion duo with chrom has...#“Having someone to express your love to is an amazing thing. There IS more to life than constant battle!”#yeah. i think about that quote and i think about grima's defensive fighting style and i. feel things.#to exist always on the defensive...#such an exhausting life they lead

30 notes · View notes

eidolons-stuff · 1 year

Text

*Wednesday & Enid leave their dorm holding hands*

Yoko: *shooketh* "What the-"

Bianca: "What?" *turns to see* "HOLY SH-"

Wednesday: "Bianca, close your mouth. Otherwise, flies will birth their larvae inside"

Enid: *giggles but grossed out*

Bianca: *too shook to comprehend what Wednesday said*

94 notes · View notes

dribs-and-drabbles · 2 years

Text

Are you telling me that one of Pat's iconic hawaiian shirts was in fact originally one of Teh's hawaiian shirts?!?

So it's not in fact 'Pat's shirt'...but Teh's shirt?!

That Pat wore it second?!

So then this random extra in Dear Doctor I'm Coming for Soul actually wore it third 😂

This realisation brought to you by seeing the last gif on this post by @biwichapas yesterday morning...and even though I'm forgiven because I haven't seen I Told Sunset About You, I have seen that top photo so many times...but maybe I've always concentrated on the crisp-eating and didn't notice the shirt before. 🤷🏽‍♀️

201 notes · View notes

roses-and-elixir · 3 months

Text

#its getting bad again #ive had nightmares nearly everyday the past week #and they seem so real like everything is blurring into reality in the mornings #this stress has just been too much im feeling it impact my physical health too #ive been so ill in January like one after the other and caught sm viruses etc from work #honestly my bodys paying for it now 😐#i told my mum one of my dreams rly briefly when i was driving back home at 8pm and she got shook #and that was just a fraction 😭

12 notes · View notes

tlgtw · 10 days

Text

I would agree perhaps that In Stars in Time is the second coming of Undertale.

#tlgtw ooc #in stars and time #i am this much close to not actually kidding about that either #i was 14 human years old when I played Undertale on its release; without a single spoiler--by miracle--until after the normal end #now I am 23. And playing this game in I think in the exact same kind of way.#Time to consider; of course. But the odds may be high.#What a game to play.#What an incredible powerful allegory #I'm honestly shook to my core. Like walking over my own grave I have never played a game that I was so much like before.#The creator is probably only like 10 years older than me or something #So when I'm that age as well. Will I be able to be there too?#yeow #I do not regret playing this game one ounce hot dawg

9 notes · View notes

radmista · 20 days

Text

My cat just ran outside while I was taking my dog out to the bathroom, refuses to come back while calling her and shaking food at her. Actively runs in the opposite direction. And ofc someone broke the laser pointer I keep on my keys so I can't trick her back into the apartment. I'm so pissed that shit broke off, all my other crappy keychains are still attached. The laser was how I got her back last time she escaped but she'd only taken a few steps out and I was able to snatch her.

And I'm not supposed to have her so I can't even notify the apartment complex a cat is missing 😐 guess she's an outdoor cat now :/

#she chose a really bad time to run away #i already searched and tried to get her back for an hour #I'm dead to the world after 3.5 straight weeks of 12-13 hour shifts #i feel bad not caring but she made her choice. she wants to go back to being a street cat 🤷🏽‍♀️#she's spayed so i feel even less guilty if she doesn't come back bc shes not adding to the population problem #i'll miss her but if she doesnt want to be caught she wont be #the only reason she got picked off the street in the first place is bc she got stuck in an engine #any tips or tricks people suggest I've already tried them. shes not scared or lost. she actively does not want to come back #this cat is ridiculously food motivated and she still wouldn't come back as i shook the food bag and poured some in her bowl #if she comes back at all I'll be surprised #she's lived on the street she's not an indoor only princess cat who will realize it sucks outside. i know shes not gonna come back #I don't 'not care' really. honestly I'm furious she slipped out past me.#but atm i literally have 0 energy left. work has broken me. if she comes back hooray. if she doesn't wtf am I supposed to do #i don't have money for traps and if she doesn't want to be caught she won't #i just hope she sticks to residential areas :/#i just don't know what else to really do if I've done everything i can in my power to get her back

7 notes · View notes

eir-trixa · 11 months

Text

A dinglehopper

This actually has a bit of a story, for once.

See Im doing an internship in our city capitol and once in a while, a clerk brings her granddaughter to work. Usually it was my co-intern she goes to but since she’s done with her hours, the kid now goes to me to play. So we became friends quick.

So she finds out that I can draw a bit and asks that I draw a mermaid for her, which I did, and let her do the colouring. So I let her do the colouring for a while with little guidance on how to use the digital drawing tools. When it came to color her skin, I picked a darker tone (partly because I just saw TLM and and was still freaking out) and helped her color. At the end of it, she told me that it turned out “ugly”. Rude but okay- so I asked her why, she told me because the skin is too dark. Then she pointed at my skin (lighter than hers and the mermaid we painted) and said that it would be prettier if we made her color like mine.

Which was an insanely misguided opinion that I corrected immediately. Told her that beauty comes in different colors, and that she’s beautiful in her brown skin as I am in mine. Then I pointed out that the in new little mermaid movie, Ariel is black. So princesses can really have darker skin and be insanely pretty. She took a moment to process then went back to painting, shifting the focus to the extra lines instead of the color of the mermaid’s skin.

When that was done, I took a moment too to process what had happened and whether I did make a mistake in explaining. Growing up the Philippines where the beauty standard is being white and thin, I suppose I shouldve expected that view. When most actresses and actors we see in the tv are light skinned, I guess it becomes a general standard of beauty even through the eyes of a 9-year-old kid.

And honestly? This is why representation matters. So little brown skinned girls or black girls can see themselves in the big screen and see that people that look like them are beautiful too. That they can be strong and smart and kind and annoying and loud, etc. They deserve to see that they can take up space in this world as well. And so again, I applaud the casting choices for the Little Mermaid 2023. Little girls all over the world have been seen because of you.

That drawing up there is something we both did that I just cleaned up a little and added glitter. But its the work of two filipino girls who both learned a lot that day.

23 notes · View notes