#in an ideal world

[roguemonsterfucker]

Practical effects my beloved 🥺

#when it’s SAFE #for anything too risky or uncomfortable for the actors #cgi that shit #in an ideal world #we’d have a good balance of both

[deadboyswalking]

Elementary school Shouto: 👁👄👁 what's that

Touya, drinking an oreo milkshake: it's spicy you wouldn't like it

#in an ideal world #todoroki touya #todoroki shouto

[anothersarcasticdolphin]

Alright. So I think this weekend the Second Conquest update is going to be tomorrow instead of Sunday, but it isn't going to be a double update weekend.

Next weekend I'm tentatively penciling in a double update for Second Conquest (those chapters are paired and I want them going up the same weekend), and then the weekend after that I should be starting the new Aemond 5+1 series. I think.

Mixed in with all of this is I have a fest fic (thankfully a shorter one) for another fandom due on the 30th and I don't like leaving those to the last minute.

#I don't know how much socializing is going to be expected of me #but my relatives don't get here until almost dinnertime tomorrow #so I should have plenty of time to write #keyword should #fingers crossed #in an ideal world #I'll write the fest fic tomorrow as well

[genderfluidgothwitch]

Sitting in the wheelie chair in the office is making me realize how nice it would be if I could sit down and work. Like, it's making me think even more about getting a wheelchair. And I guess like, I don't really need need it, but it also seems like it'll help on days where I'm really low energy and everything hurts

#and yes I realize the contradictions there #me saying I don't really need it and then proceeding to give reasons for needing it #like yes I do plan to eventually get one bc sometimes errands with Kaiden are hard #maybe if I ever get my fucking tax returns I'll invest in one #after I deal with all my car shit and medical bills #in an ideal world

[sunscreenstudies]

is it too much to ask to find a flexible, remote job that i can work on from my pretty little cottage with my pet dog, surrounded by colourful wildflowers and fresh air and a vegetable patch?

#asking for a friend #my ideal life #in an ideal world #where capitalism doesn't exist #and healthcare and education are actually #you know #affordable #why must we work nine hours each day #in a job that we hate #just to collapse from exhaustion on the weekends #and then #rinse and repeat #for fifty years #until we die

[sing-me-under]

Bruce Wayne is more important than Batman.

I feel like this should be more obvious, but no, it’s Batman. Bruce Wayne is the one who can genuinely change the system, who is able to provide and aid the people of Gotham. He is old money. As much as I despise capitalism and the power of the 1%, Bruce Wayne has the ability to change people’s lives on a systematic level. He is rich and influential but most of all, kind. He can fund charities, establish nonprofits, create jobs, better the prison system/mental asylum, etc etc etc. Yes, Gotham is probably genuinely cursed to always suck, but that doesn’t mean any efforts to help do nothing at all. Just some relief, another chance, a little bit of hope, is still better than being abandoned.

Empathy is supposed to be Bruce’s key personality trait. It’s why an old money socialite who has never wanted for anything (other than his parents) is able to look at Gotham and think “I want to help them”. It’s the whole point of his existence: someone with plenty of resources to help people actually does instead of sitting around, hoarding their wealth, and being condescending. And the whole “dead parents” thing motivated him to help people more directly beyond just writing checks and make speeches. Batman is the method that helps where the system has failed. He stops crimes (organized, petty, terrorism) that corrupted law enforcement ignore, perpetuate, or simply aren’t capable of handling.

Then there’s the whole “judge, jury, executioner” shit and the running theme of empathetic villains whose methods are terrible but their motivations stem from a flawed system. There are so many eco-terrorists, so many “teachers” and scientists, so many victims of circumstances who lashed out at a world that hurt them just as much. The exact degree of maliciousness varies from rogue to rogue, but none of them are innately evil (cue the criticism of the vilification of the mentally ill and minorities). The best Batman is the one who is empathetic to his rogues, who calls them by their actual names instead of their monikers, who is willing to agree to their demands within reason, who cares about their well-being and treatment once they got beat to shit for their acts of terrorism and probably murder. The best vigilantes in Gotham punch a guy in the face then offer them a chance to turn their life around. They would stop a robbery, but they’d look away when someone swipes food from a grocery store. Any hero could sit beside a scared kid and cheer them up, but a Gotham vigilante needs to be kind to the adults too (it’s why I think the WFA kidnapper trio is so funny, like they’re clearly not evil or malicious, but they are committing potentially violent crimes). Say what you will about the flaws in Batman’s principles, but you can’t deny that redeemed rogues are capable of so much good.

(As far as I know, the Joker is the only exception to this, and he doesn’t even have a backstory like at all. I actually blame the current state of Batman on the popularity of the Joker because the Joker is essentially pure evil and his very existence undermines the messages of the other rogues. But he’s more popular and produces more sales and honestly isn’t it just the funniest thing ever that DC pushes most for a villain that preaches about the flaws in human goodness? Isn’t it fucking hilarious that they’re blaming individual people for their problems (one bad day) rather than societal injustice??)

Yet for some reason, Batman is often written as if his entire mission revolves around the one moment where his parents died. “No more victims,” he says, then proceeds to brutalize anyone who remotely disagrees with his methods. He doesn’t discriminate between victims, except he’s not fixing or preventing anything. He’s just punching people one by one, and they’re not a victim if he’s the one punching them. It’s as though he believes the only way to victimize someone is by physically harming them. Without “Bruce Wayne,” Batman never interacts with those in power who are the root of the problems. As such, it ends with a Batman who only beats up people who are just trying to survive in the hellscape that is Gotham, so really he’s even worse than cops at the point. It’s why the current “edgy” Batman’s “no kill rule” is so stupid because his mission is entirely egocentric, a projection that lacks any nuance, and blames the symptoms, not the cause.

Stopping crime is police shit. Helping people is heroism. The former is dictated by the legal system. The latter is intention. You can help people by stopping crime, but stopping crime without helping people is just being hostile.

#personal #batman #dc #I have OPINIONS #modern Batman probably doesn’t vote #I like to think that the whole point of Arkham is not #locking away the crazies #but rehabilitating and resocializing #I think Arkham Asylum represents an ideal that keeps failing because the system is actively hostile to its inhabitants #in an ideal world #horrors like these exist because people believe in goodwill even when the reality is otherwise #Jason is both a Narrative and Moral foil to Bruce #i could go on another rant about that #there is no one size fits all method for preventing crime #I think it’s important that both Red Hood and Batman exist side by side #two different methods to handle two separate problems #two different people with very different priorities #because doing bad things don’t not necessitate being a bad person #that’s what Batman is for #helping supporting and encouraging the right to a happy life #but sometimes people are just terrible because they are no matter #and that’s what Red Hood is for #stopping the truly irredeemable who would waste and stomp on goodwill #it’s just a personality thing tbh #nurturer vs protector #both are avengers but that should not be their core trait #I’ve got more thoughts on this #but I’ve decided that this is enough words at 3AM

[wimbledonstrawberry]

in my mind Andy won AO

#in an ideal world #still im so proud of him #I wasn't this excited since a long time #andy murray you are a legend #smooches to my meow meow

[queertemporality]

hope can be far more infuriating than acceptance and I wish more people around me understood that sometimes having hope in excess becomes an excuse to avoid finding ways to be comfortable with how things are. when I say I’ve given up hope I don’t mean I’ve stopped thinking things will improve. i just mean I am allowing myself to accept the possibility that they won’t.

#quite frankly I DON’T expect my migraines to improve more than they have at this point #this might be the limit and no matter how much people say they understand #they do not really understand #that it is more disheartening for me to talk about things I might hypothetically be capable of #in an ideal world #than it is to accept my limitations and learn how to live within them #deviating from my sleep schedule will probably always be a trigger #because it always has been #I’ve given up hoping that washing my hair will become more manageable #so I’ve cut it off and found gentler ways of washing it #I cannot say for certain that things won’t get better #but I’m tired of hope #um like scoob where do you put it down #post

[sourestcandy]

i wish all 𝔸𝕋𝕋𝔼ℕ𝕋𝕀𝕆ℕ 𝕎𝔸𝕃-𝕄𝔸ℝ𝕋 𝕊ℍ𝕆ℙℙ𝔼ℝ𝕊 a very 𝕋ℍ𝔼 𝕊𝕋𝕆ℝ𝔼 𝕎𝕀𝕃𝕃 ℂ𝕃𝕆𝕊𝔼 𝕀ℕ 𝟛𝟘 𝕄𝕀ℕ𝕌𝕋𝔼𝕊.

#in an ideal world #nobody would hand me crumpled up ones 10 minutes before closing #but Whatever

[schmope-is-dead]

I love sulcata turtles...theyre really so unbothered that they live for over a 100 years

#charlie.txt #in an ideal world #I would adopt a lovely adult sulcata turtle #and pamper it to all hell

[orinthered]

#i posted this on twitter too. but im curious. #i already made my opinions clear and ofc in an ideal world both work in tandem and can elevate the other #but no holds barred. cmon #.txt #polls

[shadowtraveled]

"mithrun is the only real monsterfucker in dungeon meshi" is objectively the funniest bit you can get out of his everything, but in all seriousness i think his attraction to his love interest is deliberately overstated—and that makes sense, because romantic jealousy is a classic and digestible motive, which is explicitly what kabru was aiming for in condensing mithrun's backstory, and also because until chapter 94, mithrun wasn't willing to admit to the true nature of his desires.

but because romantic envy is both classic and digestible, it probably isn’t a unique enough or complicated enough desire to tempt a demon’s appetite. mithrun’s wish, as far as we can figure from kabru’s reduced retelling, was to have a life in which he had never become one of the canaries, and that carries like 3857 implications and desires within it. that’s delicious. his love interest acts as sort of a red herring to his motivation for making it, though. (side note: i'm saying "love interest" here because, keeping in mind that i barely speak japanese on a good day anymore, "想い人" is something i'd usually take as just kind of an old-fashioned and romantic way to refer to a lover, but in context i wonder if both the connotation of yearning and the vagueness are intentional, and i think this phrasing gets those aspects of it more effectively. anyway.)

mithrun considered his love interest to be untrustworthy. there was a minute where i thought that comment might be about a similar-looking elf (yugin, one of his squad members), but comparing the two…

the "sketchy" arrow is definitely referring to the elf we know as his love interest—the bangs go toward her right, she only has the one forehead ornament, and, most notably, her ears aren't notched.

every time she’s given a full-body depiction in his dungeon, she’s drawn as a chimera, with the body of a snake from the waist down. (side note: the “what if a dungeon has chimeras before reaching level 4?”/“then the dungeon lord is unstable” exchange just being mithrun grilling his past self alive is so funny. he’s so. but anyway) there are a couple things about this.

first, the snake part of the chimera appears to be modeled after some species of coral snake mimic

which, in the biology-for-fun manga, i… doubt is a coincidence, especially with the added context of the “untrustworthy” comment. the dungeon’s conjured illusion of mithrun’s love interest was a harmless copycat of a venomous original. for whatever reason, he felt this person was a threat and made up a "safe" version of her to be in a relationship with, and while it’s definitely possible to be attracted to or even love someone you find to be toxic and/or intimidating, when you take that into consideration alongside the configuration of her body, you get some interesting implications.

which brings us to our second point: if we assume that mithrun was not in fact fucking a snake, then sexual attraction, at least, was so far removed from his idea of a relationship with this person that he did not even bother to keep her dungeon copy human enough to maintain the illusion of the option of a sexual relationship. this is somewhat echoed in the depictions of their interactions, which also imply a frankly unexpected romantic distance. she kisses his cheek and he doesn't seem to react; she's at the edge of a narrow bed with only one set of pillows, on top of his blankets while he's underneath them.

the kiss is particularly interesting because it seems to contrast the text. kabru's narration tells us this was everything mithrun could have asked for, but mithrun is there looking unreadable to pensive, likely because this is right before the panel that makes it clear things in the dungeon are beginning to go wrong.

walking through this backwards for a minute, we have the physical barrier of his bedding and the spatial separation inherent in a bed made for one person, the emotional barrier of his mounting anxiety getting in the way of his ability to enjoy the affection he sought, and... the snake, which historically carries the connotation of temptation, yes, but also mistrust, barring physical intimacy. okay. ok. if a dungeon reflects the mentality of its lord, all of this might suggest that mithrun was not able to have any real desire for a relationship with this person. his unwillingness to be vulnerable or let another person in was insurmountable. but in that case, why was she such a focal point that she remained to the end, after his dungeon had stopped creating iterations of his friends to come and visit him? why would he get so upset over her meeting with his brother that he became lord of a dungeon about it?

well. mithrun's brother was also interested in her, probably genuinely. and mithrun had to win.

you have an older brother who your parents completely ignore, probably in part because he is chronically ill/disabled and almost definitely in part because he received a ton of recessive traits that resulted in rumors that he was an illegitimate child. you are aware, most likely because those same parents fucking told you, that you actually are an illegitimate child. but they keep you around because you had the good fortune of looking just like your mother. what can that possibly teach you but that you, like your brother, are disposable?

it's utterly unsurprising that mithrun, under these circumstances, developed a pathological need to be better than everyone around him. people don't keep you otherwise. i'd argue this is also why he says he looked down on everyone he knew while milsiril claims his dungeon reeked of feelings of inferiority—he sought out people's worst traits and prioritized them in his mind to protect his already extremely fragile sense of self-worth, and all the while he tried to be as likable and high-performing as he possibly could be. his parents disposed of him anyway, but even then he tried to keep up the performance. he was kind to everyone. he never once lost to a dungeon.

when he saw his "love interest" meeting up with his brother, what he saw was himself being replaced by a person his parents had always treated as worthless, and if that was what they thought of the child they'd kept, what value could anyone possibly see in the bastard they'd given away to die? mithrun and kabru tell the story like he wanted to win this unnamed elf's heart, but it was never about being with her. it was about cementing his worth, proving that he didn't deserve to be thrown away.

and so it's particularly cruel that his demon discarded him, too. but maybe it's also particularly gentle that, in the end, there was someone who refused to even consider giving up on him.

kui laid it out in three panels better than i could hope to.

yeah. it's love. you wanted to be loved, even when the only way you were able to understand it was through the desire to be wanted, and you wanted that so badly that the idea of being consumed felt like the promise of finally mattering to someone.

#dungeon meshi spoilers #mithrun #dungeon meshi #this has been rotating for a while but i wanted to check my evidence before getting into it thanks user angelspenance for posting that meme #half of this is just the text and the other half i'm sure has been said before but it's making my brain [radio static] so here this is #someone did for sure mention this but i do find it very cute that in his fucked up conjured world meant to portray his ideal reality #his teammates came to visit him. like part of the fantasy was then explicitly that they cared about him and were his friends. even though #he says he tried to see the worst in them. #hm it does feel important to note that i do also believe 100% in mithrun suicidality--his desire to be eaten does seem to focus a lot on #wanting it to be Over. wanting not to be left incomplete and empty anymore. #but that loops back around a bit to the hole in your heart that appears when you feel unloved. it's many things and the same thing at once #snakes #long post #severe problems #meshy

[ruporas]

kiss of the divine

#vashwood #vash the stampede #nicholas d wolfwood #trigun #trigun maximum #ruporas art #i will always love u vol 8… Obviously i was a vw lover even thru stampede alone but i think this chapter #really set it in stone for me 😭 aughhh wolfwood pleading to god and vash answers - that allll transpiring after wolfwood risked his life #to go Save vash in the first place - he fears death twice as much as anyone else. he is all the reason i need to fight #LIKEEEEE 🥲🥲🥲🥲 I drew this because i wanted them to kiss in my fucked up idealized world but truly canon did crazy work #in establishing their undeniable mutual trust and love already

[barrymccaulkinem]

all of our headers should be gifs of ourselves cumming

#in an ideal world

[headphonemouse]

First read is to find out what the fuck is going on (following the narrative as it's presented to you)

Second read is to find out how the fuck is going on (noticing foreshadowing and making connections between events)

Third+ read is to find out why the fuck is going on (analyzing characters, themes, and the narrative as a whole)

#in an ideal world #me? i havent found out a single thing about anything

[stuckinapril]

i am completely normal and i don’t crave love every day at all (i look for it in every nook and cranny and these days the sun sinks too soon and the cold encloses my bones in a vice-like grip and december will come and go and it’ll be just another year i’m left without love)

#i usually hold my own okay but yesterday i was at a bookstore and when i tell you it was the couple capital of the world. #why are you here. why are you having my ideal date. DISAPPEAR ! #text