#its a national secret

[harbingersecho]

"zuzu, you didn't tell your friends about me? i'm hurt."

#avatar the last airbender #atla #prince zuko #fire lord zuko #princess azula #fire hazard siblings #fire siblings #*24 #art #mine #zuko #azula #bg of this is something like. zuko's doing a secret mission and azula's helping for her own reasons. the gaang shows up and its a thing #idk im not a fanfic writer i just draw and have ideas lol #in my head azula becomes a spymaster. idk if she'd work for the fire nation or if she'd be more independant but i love spymaster azula <3 #also i love fire nation reflective in the dark eyes. i imagine water tribe has a similar thing w/ the moon

[mytardisisparked]

Look, all I’m saying is that they really just don’t make movies like National Treasure anymore. Like this movie is about two dudes in a van who beat a team of highly trained criminals to stealing a valuable document from a high-security museum, by sheer accident get an antiques expert to come along with them to keep the document safe, get involved in several major chase scenes, escape the FBI twice, find a massive treasure, get someone else arrested for their crimes, and then give the treasure back to museums before yeeting out to do it all over again in the sequel. No one was doing it like them. And the thing is, by all accounts, this plot is ridiculous and the dialogue is ridiculous but it works unbelievably well because the writers and actors committed to the bit. This movie is campy and absurd and it’s also one of the most fun and quotable movies of my early childhood because the creators embraced the camp and did it with such a sincerity that it’s a goshdarn delight to watch. Top all of that off with a soundtrack that went WAY harder than it really needed to, excellent atmosphere throughout the whole film, and visuals that were darn near perfect and National Treasure becomes a classic. I’ve been chasing the high I got the first time I watched it my whole life. What a movie.

#I'm super normal about National Treasure #when I was a kid I loved it so much that I memorized the whole first movie and most of the second and I can still quote most of it today #its a comfort movie but in the way that I get an adrenaline rush every time I watch it #And like Book of Secrets was pretty darn good too #and so far I don't mind the TV series it's not bad #but that first movie #cinema peaked for me then I'm not remotely kidding #I have loved no movie as much as National Treasure #National Treasure #National Treasure Book of Secrets #Ben Gates #Riley Poole #Abigail Chase

[potatounicoorn]

People can say anything they want about Secrets of forbidden spinjitzu, but Master of the mountain is genuienly one of the best Ninjago seasons, and I stand by this fact

#I just finished it and holy God on a motorwheel it was so good??? #Like I have never seen such well done fighting scenes in Ninjago #I usually hate the two nations are haters cause miscommunication trope but it was so good here for some reason?? #WE NEED MIRE COLE SEASONS IF THIS HOW GOOD THEY ARE GENUIENLY #LIKE EVERY TIME COLE GETS FOCUS ITS ALWAYS SO GOOD AND MOTM IS THE ULTINATE PROOF #That season was beautiful #Just so so good #Ninjago #Lego ninjago #Ninjago master of the mountain #Master of the mountain #Ninjago season 13 #Cole brookstone #cole bucket #Ninjago cole #ninjago secrets of the forbidden spinjitzu #secrets of forbidden spinjitzu

[sparky-cryptidcrafts]

I think when your favorite character from a show that's main focus is diversity, acceptance and the experiences of minority groups is the white colonizers that's a red flag.

#voltron #generator rex #ben 10 #steven universe #star trek #cartoons #owl house #dc nation #I could go on #Fandom culture #minority groups in media #stop worshipping colonizers #som villans are just stupid and bad because there ideals are stupid snd bad #lile historically bad #its not deep its just how it is #genocide isnt redeemable #the secret Saturdays #tutenstine #she ra

[blluespirit]

I sort of like the thought that Zuko and Aang take the Sun Warriors' warning not to tell anyone about the dragons a little more seriously… and they keep it between them. Of course, they trust Sokka, Toph and Katara. Of course they know they wouldn’t tell anyone, but now three people (including Iroh) know the truth about Ran and Shaw. And that’s three too many when you’re trying to keep a secret.

(and there are other people at the temple as well - like Haru, Teo and The Duke - who, while trustworthy, aren’t as close to them as the others, and when it comes to secrets with as much consequence as this one, you can’t afford to take any chances.)

Furthermore, the culture within the Fire Nation since Sozin’s rein has been warped. The culture is not to respect the dragons as the original firebenders, it’s to conquer and kill them. It’s the ultimate proof of your strength as a firebender. All it takes is one mistake before rumour spreads, and people go looking for the ultimate hunt. It’s not something Zuko or Aang can risk.

Whether Katara, Toph and Sokka (and Suki) ever find out the truth is up to you. But post-war, after Zuko returns from a strange, poorly explained trip with a dragon, and eventually develops the ability to use rainbow fire, either the others have some questions about Aang’s knowing look, or they are finally let in on a monumental secret.

#it’s a kids show so i think for that reason it was played for laughs about keeping the dragons a secret is not necessarily a bad choice... #the show does that sometimes where it says something off hand and then leaves me lying face down contemplating ✨the consequences✨ of that #but there are some… implications there about being too loose lipped with the truth in leading up to the end of and immediately post #war fire nation. just because zuko understands the spiritual significance of a dragon it does not mean the rest of his people will. actuall #its more likely that they'd reject zuko's opinion considering that he's basically coming into power and then telling everyone that #they've been lied to their whole lives. the fire nation is drowning in propaganda. for a lot of people this opinion of dragons and #firebending's true nature being violence and destruction is all they know. fire is LIFE but to most people that's an alien concept #and in terms of keeping secrets - it’s not even a matter of trust it’s a matter of too many people knowing #you might not even realised you’ve revealed some incredible information to someone who has the means to spread it or pursue it #so… i think zuko would be hyper aware of this. since he grew up hearing stories about the 'glory' of dragon hunting #and since iroh has also made a concerted effort to keep this information hidden i think it makes sense he’d be very hesitant to let it #get out to the public #aang would agree i think esp if zuko explained the importance of hiding them even from loved ones #ALSO random but it also makes me wonder what the fire nation said about roku in wake of the war #he had a dragon but he didn’t kill it. he didn’t ’conquer’ it #sozin would have had to work his ASS off to reframe history as him being the more… loyal(?) patriotic (?) of the two #did he frame it as roku didn’t have the courage to kill a dragon??? that he lacked the strength of a true firebender? #the avatar works hard but sozin's propaganda machine works harder 🧍‍♀️ #zuko #aang #avatar the last airbender #zuko & aang #jack talks #sun warriors #book 3 #what is it with me having a whole separate post in the tags 👁️👄👁️

[doodlebloo]

Talking abt Doomsday is so interesting because. IMO while the event itself has some problems that aren't really solvable unless retconned, my main issue with it is that the L'Manbergians literally never got another win. If they'd been able to come back from that and prove that even if their home is blown to rubble they could rebuild again and again that'd be one thing (like how they rebuilt with NLM!) But it just sent the entirely wrong message re: the themes of the story. Like in a story abt the importance of attachment and community this event really said "that will all inevitably get destroyed and trying to fight for it is useless and you will not be able to recover from it and your life afterwards WILL be miserable"

Tldr Doomsday wouldn't have been as bad if it was a rock bottom that came before a significant win/high for the L'Manbergians (ALL of them)

#thinking abt my scrapped wip where they all go live in cNikis secret underground city after doomsday..... #doodle.txt #like yeah it was cool to see the hole left in their lives after L'Manberg was gone and its true that it wasnt the same anymore anyway BUT #it would have been even MORE interesting to end the series on a note of them all attempting to rebuild once again #like anon said in the post i just reblogged. dandelion nation.....

[tacagen]

just continued watching tmnt87! and is that a motherfucking bishop prototype.

#its s2ep08 'invasion of the punk frogs' #cant escape my demons man #like WHY DOES THIS FUCKING ANTITURTLE GUY LOOK EXACTLY LIKE HIM ONLY BLONDE AND NOT INTO LONG CLOTHES YET #losing my mind #BISHOP NATION WAKE UP THERE IS A SECRET 5TH OPTION!!! #when you spot that ancient fuck not only in the bg of old government photos and some dude's wedding but also in a previous adaptation #i wonder if theyre actually connected tho. but also i wouldnt be surprised if the stars once again just aligned like that. #agent bishop #agent john bishop #tmnt bishop #tmnt 1987 #tmnt

[casinoquartet]

#...hi #this is me exposing myself btw. it was probs obvious but ^_^ #guess who figured out a myth for them #ANYWAYS. EXPLODES ABOUT THEM. THE MYTH I HAVE IN MY HEAD FOR THEM MAKES ME SO ILL #but ill probs write a proper fic to fully explain it so. be ready #lsshipping #mcytshipping #<- kinda. its one of those things where the modern concept of marriage is how We today would describe it in modern translations #but theyre a secret 3rd thing 2 me. close bond that doesn't need a label fr #anyways fic Eventually i have gathered enough dispair from aps to write something i think...! ^_^ #anyways not maintagging this. casinoquartet nation this is a w for yall #no id

[usernyoom]

fully expecting daniel's hair to grow in thicker now hes less stressed and more confident. let our man thrive!!!

#secretly want his long hair back #except its not really a secret #national daniel bring back the long hair campaign #daniel ricciardo

[if-you-like-pina-colada-s]

I think.

The nations should have the ability to shapeshift, partially due to their inherent immortality.

We obviously know they aren't allowed to die as long as their nation is up and running. But what if the poor little lads are in a situation where their mortal human body cannot live? In your average daily situation, they have their rapid healing capabilities. But say they got stuck at the bottom of the ocean? (Why? Idk, submarine excursion gone wrong maybe?) Obviously they'd die, but if they're stuck under all that water pressure, how would they come back? They couldn't survive unless they change their physical bodies to adapt to the environment. Am I making sense? I feel like I'm not making any sense.

All I'm saying is, if they're not allowed to die, they should be able to shapeshift in order to adapt to conditions their human mortal bodies would not survive.

#hetalia #hws #hetalia headcanon #im not making sense but trust #am i implying they should be able to shapeshift into mermaids underwater? #thats a secret ill never tell #jk i will tell you yeah that is exactly what im doing #and who are you to stop me? its not like any of you care about canon plausibility anyway #piña rambles #she rambles about absolute nonsense like a mad lass #eldritch aph nations #they are not bound to mortal human bodies they coupd be so much more #i love putting these silly little guys in situations

[apersonwholikeslotus]

I just witnessed someone put in a disclaimer for a hetalia fic "I merely frolic through history, and the characters dance to my whims" and there it is, historical Hetalia's brand new slogan.

#its in the notes for Secrets in loving a nation btw #apersonwhotalks #hetalia

[butchswagcompetition]

Honorary Butch Round3B

Who has more butch swag?

#its down to the alt butches #come on moral orel people you havent failed me yet #stephaniesweeppppp!!! #super secret honorary round #round3b #stephanie putty #stephanie ai foamwire putty #moral orel #georgia st. clair #george z nation #z nation

[islandiis]

[Right now Fannar has red, white and blue paint streaked clumsily across his cheeks - courtesy of one of the many children out enjoying the celebrations in town - and he's got a bunch of flowers in one arm, too. And he just looks so happy, positively beaming with pride.]

Gleðilega Þjóðhátíð!! Til hamingju með daginn!

#in character. #he's so happy and proud weh :')) #I think Fannar's existence as their nation-representative is sort of an open secret in town despite his best attempts #bc it's just such a tiny population its hard to stop word spreading #But everyone is very chill about it tbh #But that means on June 17th even tho he doesn't really play a central role in the festivities #People give him flowers and take photos and shit and they all celebrate their pride for their country together #it's the one time of year he's an actual social butterfly HAHAH

[todaviia]

Why does it take hours to write the appeal? What's in the appeal? What's the "asylum agency", are they lawyers as well?

The "asylum agency" are the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (BAMF for short), it's the German Federal department for (among other things) vetting asylum claims. There are a lot of lawyers (as in, Juristen = people with a law degree) working there, but it's a normal administration job.

Basically in the German asylum system you first fill out an "Asylantrag" (asylum claim). In this you say where you come from and why you think you should be entitled to protection in Germany (both actual asylum - which refers to people who are personally persecuted - as well as subsidiary protection, which applies to people fleeing from general humanitarian disasters such as war).

Then the BAMF checks your asylum claim. Here is a very good English-language longform article by the Atlantic detailing how the BAMF works and what methods they use. Then they make a decision (Bescheid), which either accepts or rejects the claim (appealing it means you refuse to accept their ruling and try to overturn it).

There's TONS of problems with this. Even legitimate refugees often don't tell the truth or do so in a way that is contradictory bc we're talking about usually super traumatized ppl getting like half an hour to tell the absolute worst and often most intimate parts of their lives to a total stranger and THEN these total strangers judge whether they believe that or not.

And they can be super and I mean SUPER unfair about this. For example for the guy whose appeal I wrote today (let's call him F.), he was asked to describe his situation and he said he knew three other gay guys in his city, that they were the only people who knew about his sexuality and that they all were still closeted and still in Iraq. He gives detailed descriptions their meet-ups, their conversations, generally how they lived (it's literally all in the hearing transcript). The interviewer asked for their names. F. said their first names. The interviewer asked for their full names. F. said he doesn't know them.

In the Bescheid, it says among other things "F. was unable to give details including basic information such as names about the people who supposedly were members of the social group of people who shared his oppression. True accounts of persecution are often characterised by the fact that they are very detailed. His claim is therefore not substantiated."

We're talking about an 18-year old gay kid who just fled a country where he legitimately feared for his life because of his sexuality and who basically had to keep this part of himself secret his whole life, in a conversation with a complete stranger in a position of authority. Of course the fact that he didn't give the full names of his closest friends who still lived in that country in that situation must mean he's lying.

It also says it's contradictory and therefore unbelievable that the father would inform another family member about his son's sexuality because the fact that this would bring dishonor to the family means the father would have kept it a secret. (The "conversation" was the father convincing other male family members to join in and kill him - something which happens regularly in the country if you read up on literally any source dealing with LGBT Iraqis - often even clerics get involved to issue fatwas against them).

All in all, even if he was gay, he should have considered living anonymously in a different part of Iraq rather than come to Germany.

And what takes hours is to dig up reputable and up-to-date sources detailing the status of gay men in Iraq (Here is a heartbreaking report by Human Rights Watch btw), especially concerning the different regions of Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan for example is considered more liberal when it comes to religion, so religious minorities from Iraq just get told to move to Iraqi Kurdistan instead. However, this does NOT apply to sexuality).

Then you try to pad that with other German court decisions abt gay men in Iraq (unfortunately it's mostly lower administrative court decisions, which don't hold much weight - but the VAST majority of them accept gay men from Iraq as legitimate refugees. There's also an ECJ ruling that says gay refugees can not be expected to hide their sexuality in their country of origin, as that would not be expected of straight refugees either and therefore would be discrimination, that's why his chances are quite good bc the Bescheid literally expected that of him) The LSVD has a REALLY great compilation for all sort of different countries of origin.

And then you have to take apart the whole bullshit Bescheid, point out the logical flaws, add other stuff the refugee told you and try to come with proofs for that etc.

It takes A LOT of work.

#also you cant believe what kind of total bullshit sometimes gets written just to keep people out #the absolutely dumbest thing i ever saw was not asylum but spousal-visa related #it was abt ppl from a west african nation who got married in that nation #only to realise fun fact germany automatically assumes all documents from developing countries to be fake #even and especially if its official documents #so it didnt recognize the marriage certificate #and instead started ~verification proceedings via the embassy #(who im pretty sure has no other job except to try and keep ppl out) #they hired a lawyer to ~interview family members - he showed up unannounced at their house at 10 am on a workday #and when the neighbor informed him that the family members were at work and where they worked #he went back home and wrote that family members were not available for interview #so then the embassy wrote they believed its a fake marriage possibly between family members #who seemed to be in on not cooperating in the investigation #(the SECRET investigation which consisted of showing up announced at their house ONCE during work hours) #and that they assume the people were not spouses at all #rather family members #what compelling piece of evidence did they base this completely fucking bogus claim on? #the spouses had the same last name! #EXCEPT THE VAST MAJORITY OF MARRIAGES IN THAT COUNTRY INCLUDING THIS ONE #WAS INTRA-CLAN MARRIAGE #SURNAMES WERE INTRODUCED BY THE COLONISING POWER AND GUESS WHAT THEY JUST BASED THEM ON #if you guessed clan affiliation congratulations #you understand why the vast majority of marriages take place between ppl who had the same surname even before marriage #something which you could find out literally with one google search #or one conversation with anyone from that country #this still took like 2.5 YEARS to resolve

[orcelito]

Genuine sorrow remembering that suffering is a perpetual cycle. The things I went through and experienced are being lived by the kids and teenagers of the current day. I've moved on and grown up and in large part healed, but they're still dealing with all that bullshit fresh. It's difficult to see it, to know what it was like, and be unable to do anything to stop it. I suppose for me, personally, all I can really do is put my own story out there as a way of saying "You're not alone" to them. Maybe, just maybe, it will help someone. I can only hope.

#speculation nation #this of course being via my fic im writing #it's not 1 to 1 translation of my experiences to whats in the fic. but it is so largely informed by myself #and ultimately im writing teens making mistakes and dealing with trauma. & im writing it as realistically as i can. #i put warnings to prepare people for difficult content but i dont want to pull punches. #relationships are messy. emotions are messy. life is messy. #i want to portray this in a way that says 'its okay'. you can make mistakes. #you can feel like the whole world is out to get you. become jaded as all hell. but still come back from that. #It Can Be Okay. i hope the kids these days that read my fic absorb that. #i want them to have hope for the future. bc maybe things dont ever get 100% better #but you can still find enjoyment in the little things that make life worth living. #a central theme to my fic lol. finding happiness in the little moments. bc that's ultimately the secret to enjoying life. #at least in my humble opinion lol #anyways i want to start a stardew game and here i am getting genuine Sorrow remembering all the suffering kids there are #i hope they can be okay someday.

[vague-humanoid]

As a young boy in school, Masaki Sashima would be dragged out of his classroom and beaten by his fellow students.

Masaki, now 72, was different to the other kids. 

He was Ainu, an Indigenous people from the country's northern regions, most notably the large island of Hokkaido.

"During recess, the hallway door would open, and several guys would yell at me to come out," he said.

"I clung to my desk in the classroom and kept quiet.

"Everyone would surround me and beat me."

Japan has long portrayed itself as culturally and ethnically homogenous, something that some have even argued is a key to its success as a nation.

More than 98 per cent of Japanese people are descendants of the Yamato people. 

But the Ainu are distinct, with their own history, languages, and culture.

But, as the victims of colonialism, assimilation, and discrimination, much of that identity has been lost. 

#Ainu #colonialism #Japan