#its so nuanced and i am LIVING

[sparring-spirals]

there's a particular tentativeness to how imogen and laudna are interacting, that is so careful and raw and unsure- but still affectionate. still weighted. it feels like- both of them, reaching out occasionally, in turn, both of them drawing back a bit at different moments. its. so good. its a very specific post Incident/Argument tenseness that still has the threads of affection and effort underlying it, and its delicious and layered and i am thrilled.

#imogen and laudna both referencing things theyd done together but with hesitation that wasnt there before #moments where little comments dont quite land the same. relief when they do #its so nuanced and i am LIVING #okay back to watching ashton intently #critical role #cr spoilers #c3e24 #imogen temult #laudna #sorcery pact #speculation #character meta #cr liveblogging #FUCK I MISSPELLED TENTATIVENESS SORRY #my meta #right forgot about that tag

[tinarannosaurus]

hey Fully Weeping after rewatching the amelia earhart ep

#the shadow puppets. the music. the supportive goofy background family hijinks. #the serious and weighty frustrations of a nine year old grappling with what it means to be a hero and live a life worth living #the unique help and insights of a mom #i am going through it tonight!! #s13 is wild in that its highs are SO strong and its lows are so deeply whatever #and that it goes to these more emotional sentimental nuanced places more often and does them so right!!

[noecoded]

If you could have any Asmo/reader fic what would be the things you would want from it? like an ideal fic would contain what tropes or AUS or situations or whatever

uhmm anything wellwritten that characterizes asmo similar to the way i do ! i rlly like character exploration , both more serious stuff & just sillycute...anything where asmo is a little cunning and toxic and also gets railed into oblivion.anything where hes a vampire. ill write a tag essay about the specifics

#xreaders are too unrelatable for me usually .. im aroace and the only relationship dynamics that r rlly interesting to me r likee #toxic or tumultuous...i think in many asmo fics hes just very one note or like not a complex love interest .which is fine because hes like #that in the game but i am especially drawn to fics where the author has their own kind of unique take on it. nuance. etc #it's really interesting to see situations in which asmo kind of reaps the consequences of shitty behavior or struggles with parts of himsel #f he doesnt like. not just in like ohhh im insecure sobsob but like deeprooted issues & patterns thought processes that come with being a d #demon that maybe clash with human morality or ideals...like what if he sees human lives as generally more disposable because hes lived for #so long?? what would a fic be like about him wanting a fling with a human that ends up taking apart their life but to him its just a fun #little romance without any real consequences or commitment?? even if he was obsessed w them professing his undying love etc etc he could ge #t bored and drop it anytime and outlive them by millions of years and forget...& how does a human love an entity like that? how could the r #relationship look anything close to normal ever...anyway i like fics that touch on questions like this theyre kind of rare though #this all being said i def dont think asmo is completely evil💭 nuance #at work so im literally just wasting time by thinking about this rn but this was like the asmotoni dynamic its too interesting to me #asmotoni is like this in my head but on papwr i just draw them fucking witj bunny ears sorry #this doesnt even answer ur question really. if i could write a fic rn it would be like 200k word emo band au that isnt xreader or a romance #fic it would just be asmo beel belphie as humans starting a band and their rise and fall etc ive been thinking abt that plot nonstop

[rotzaprachim]

obsessed with the whole jyn and cassian as penelope and odysseys thing like the metatextual levels of the Ordinary Human couple in the midst of this mass mythos of gods and war but also the sense they are for almost their entire lives separated and yet inexorably bound by the narrative, they are threaded together they are looking in a mirror they are drowning in the wine dark sea they are standing on the beach they are the warp and weft they are coming home to each other they have never not once in their lives yet met 

#the cassdyssey #cassian andor #jyn erso #rebelcaptain #i have been preaching and saying and now i see other people finally picking up??? anyway #kyber crystals. olive tree bed u know. u knowwww #ok i AM thinking specifically abotu the odyssey's storyline and treatment in the lens of more modern greek writers #as an exploration of the traumas of war and diaspora and exile #the way the odyssey explores death as a trauma of war #but also exile also removal from a homeland and family separation #through the lens of cassian's story which also explores some of this #like odysseus and telemachus are different from many of the father son duos in classical storytelling #because they are a tragedy but neither died #odysseus just wasn't physically /there/ to see his son grow up and that is a tragedy! that's a tragedy worthy of a narrative! #like whenever i return to the odyssey i'm so profoundly struck by the nuance of its exploration of pain and trauma in a way #it's saying you may die in this war but those who live are still lost at sea going home #there are many sorts of pain the survivors carry #anyway odyssey thoughts it's fascinating to me #jyn and cassian are penelope and odysseus's equal and opposite reaction in terms of like #jyn and cassian only know each other for a very short time and then die? #well penelope and odysseus really only know each other for a fairly short time (i mean. they only have one kid and it's classical greece.... #and then they're forced to LIVE. they're forced to LIVE apart but that relationship is still so important and self-defining #and part of their individual maintenance of identities even when they are both in different ways trapped and controlled by outside forces #when the suitors come penelope is odysseus's wife. on kalypso's island odysseus is penelope's husband #anyway!!!! stream the song 20 years by the civil wars

[hopkei]

sorry if this is a dumb question, but what was the problem with keito calling him “nacchan”? is it because they’re filming? what does keito usually call him? (from what i know, fanta is more chill about honorifics among the members? sorry i’m new here 😭)

not a dumb question at all!!! japanese formal language can be very confusing!!

(disclaimer: i will say first that my japanese is not very good and i'm also not very familiar with other LDH groups so anyone pls correct me if im wrong!! i wouldn't be surprised if fanta is more casual about it,, so i'm not super confident about it but this is my general impression!!)

under the cut bc this got very long🙇‍♂️

from my understanding fanta (and LDH as a whole) actually tend to be quite strict with honorifics and formal speech. i remember just recently seeing a video of some Johnny Company groups on tv with some LDH members where they discussed the LDH high five rule, which is that kouhai must ALWAYS high five senpais with two hands

the J company members were very shocked (and maybe impressed?) by this because J company groups will apparently be quite casual with senpais

i won't speak to other groups because I'm not familiar with them, but in Fanta the members tend to be very strict with calling each other formally. all younger members will call members older than them with "name-kun" (except sekai, every member calls him sekai-san) and use honorific speech. Keito always calls nacchan as "horinatsu-kun" because he is younger, as does sota (though sota will also occasionally use "hori-san")

and all of this is despite many members knowing each other for 10+ years or being childhood friends (keito still speaks formally with sawa and horinatsu still calls leiya "leiya-kun". though from what i can think of, whenever horinatsu refers to shota, he does not use -kun), so i would say ldh is just very strict about it.🤷‍♀️ there is even a weird case with sawa and taiki, where sawa is older but taiki is the senpai so they both call each other taiki-kun and natsuki-kun (or sometimes sawa-san)

however i will say that while they are strict, because fanta is obviously very close the times i can think of off the top of my head where a younger member will drop honorifics, the older member will call them out, but they never actually seem very bothered (like with horinatsu, he is still laughing while hitting keito, and im pretty sure keito didn't apologize)

others i can think of are leiya calling taiki with no honorifics here (at 1:04): the question is "who do you think is most improved since debut" and leiya just says "taiki" and taiki yells "don't call me without honorifics!" but is still just laughing, and leiya does not apologize

and taiki dropping to informal speech while talking to sekai here (at 2:03). the question is "please tell us a good point of the next member!" which in this case is taiki, and taiki says "please tell me! (informally)" and sekai says "why are you speaking informally?" and taiki and the members just laugh🥰

in terms of using formal vs informal speech in general there are some members that i have definitely seen drop them from time to time (like yusei to leiya and sota to yusei) but even then they will always still call the older one with -kun

though all of this is to say its very possible that they are just like this in front of the camera to follow ldh rules and are very friendly and informal behind camera but i cant speak to that;;🙇‍♂️

#asks #anonymous #fantastics from exile tribe #sorry this got very long lol but i have always been very interested in the way fanta calls each other i find it endearing #and i am a language nerd obsessed with group dynamics ww #at first i also thought it was kinda weird and distant but now its very obvious that fanta are very very close despite using formal languag #so i think its just an ldh thing #this reminds me i was going to translate a clip of keitos recent live where he accidentally said 'nacchan' #and was immediately like 'no no sorry the comment said nacchan!! i meant horinatsu-kun!' it was very cute #tho i think across groups they arent as formal in terms of senpai-kouhai if people are the same age #like horinatsu and itsuki and ketosota and riki all call each other -chan #i am also not super good at noticing when people are speaking formal vs informal so there is probably more nuance to this if you speak jpn #i would be curious to know how it works in other groups too

[dockaspbrak]

In another life itd be cool if i had a night time only roommate who like came out of a wall and was a human version of an owl (not vibes but horrible lab accident) and we chatted and socialized when i have insomnia and cant sleep so its like. A positive opportunity instead of a failure that will be pointed out 150 times tomorrow

#😵‍💫im anxiouser now #owlman would translate owl books for me #i cant grasp the cultural nuance but some of their jokes translate funny #he still has a beak but it might be made of cartilage #idk what he does that keeps him moonlighting. early evening work but then hes up all night and sleeps from like 6-2pm #who motorcycles around at 5 am i guess anyoen could but #apartment living means hes so loud right outside rn #once a prof told me (creative writing #) #that if i was feeling motivated i should chase that even through the night make sure you write and give yourself space to follow the impulse #i still use to justification internally if i ever need to if i ever feel like staying up #but i just cant figure out how to make it work with my gf living with me #love her to death but she finds routine disruptions really annoying and is kinda judgmental about sleep issues without meaning to be; #i guess depressions making me act in strange ways and its scaring me so im. ruminating a lot

[protectoroffaeries]

i have a lot of leftist friends who are very strongly pro-voting and i have a lot of leftist friends who are very strongly anti-voting and i'm always telling them the same fucking thing: being a condescending asshole about your voting perspective is not going bridge that difference. it is just going to drive a further wedge in our movement.

#its only january and i am already so very very very tired of this conversation #every goddamn post i see. every conversation i have. im #i wish yall would put this much energy into a radical political reform movement #because let me tell you i have voted and i have not voted and i have wanted to vote and been too young #and ive seen it make a difference in some areas. but certain elections in certain places that aint good enough. its not gonna do jack shit #some of us live in the fucking midwest idk what to tell you #west coasties dni lmfaooooo #ig this is my way of saying i dont like the #YOUR VOTE MATTERS #YOUR VOTE NEVER MATTERS #it's complicated. it's nuanced. & frankly the outcome of putting workable politicians into office is very much effected by what happens #AFTER they are elected #my vote mattered A LOT in securing us abortion in ohio. but frankly there was nothing i could do at the ballot box about my republican mayor #can we. can we talk about that aspect. #can we please stop talking about ole jb #i am begging on my fucking knees for us to decentralize the fucking presidency from this convo #absolutely fucking begging

[iron-sides]

me when doctor who presents a species (daleks) at its worst (season one episode six the dalek) and asks the audience to sympathize Anyway. me when doctor who posits the idea that, yeah, this thing is the embodiment of evil it is in a forever war against the doctor personally and even HE. the DOCTKR. wants the entire species wiped from existence. it is going to kill Everyone because it honestly believes they should die. it is a person. it is scared. it is in pain. it is dying. the doctor wants to kill it: the last dalek and the last time lord locked in eternal battle, except its not eternal, is it? this is the only time we ever see the doctor with an honest to god advantage over any dalek and i dont remember how the episode ends but ive seen him torture it im watching him debate ethics with it- whats the point? whats it good for? and then revert under stress to: i think you should kill yourself. why dont you just die? he would make a good dalek.

#we see the doctor and the daleks both at their worst ans we are asked to see the best of both #and its so important that this is the episode that introduces us to the time war and it introduces us to it as meaningless violence between #two beings who have nothing left to lose and nothing left to live for trying to take each other down before they go #i cant die unless you do first. i cant live any longer but i cant die knowing you live #AUGHHHHH #my thots #bee liveblogs! #dw s1 #like its soooo fucking important to me that the time war is introduced not as the time lords' righteous defeat over the daleks #or for that matter the time lord's beautiful sacrifice taking themselves out along with the daleks #we learn first abt people displaced by the war torn from theor homes by senseless violence and then we learn about two mighty civilization #s refusing to stop ever until they took each other out #a dalek trying to change and the doctor trying to kill it. fuck #sorry guys i am always Like This aboit anti ear messaging that insists on seeing everyone involved as people #the daleks are people. the time lords are people. god fuck :( #me when nuance 😭

[ayyponine]

girl help im going back n forth on whether or not i should send an email to thank the beautiful man fr letting me join the drawing session last week (more info on that entire situation here and here) and letting him know i probably wont be back but appreciate having had the experience either way. great or horrible idea leave a comment or DM to lmk.

#anyway more nuance on the whole situation is this. i am very single and this guy keeps being on my mind but i do not have any read on him #the last contact we had was me makin an ass of myself by going like hehe yeah this was nice everyone was nice ok yall have a nice evenin bye #while my heart was like visibly pounding out of my chest and u could probably see on my face i was internally thinking girl shut UP!!! LEAVE #so im like ok either hes weirded out by me so let me say thx AGAIN now in a composed way AND giving him peace of mind knowing i wont be back #unless?? i was not as awkward as i thought & get reassured i can return any time and then i could still b like thanks! and just Not go #i mean even then he might say it's fine even if he IS uncomfrtable w me just to 1. be nice and 2. make money w a participant locked in yknow #it does NOT help that the line btwn casual and professional was like NOT there btw its him just hosting the event as we all do our art idkkk #anyway if you THINK youve PROBABLY been a lil off is it better to 1. have a do-over and get closure or 2. fuck off forever hoping u never #like EVER run into the dude again and be awkward AGAIN bc well! u live in the same city and are both into art so?? there IS a possibility #I CAN SEE THE PROS AND CONS OF BOTH OPTIONS REALLY #yay for sending email: get a response get some clarity NOW. nay for sending email: girl u met him twice. please. leave the stranger alone <3 #the one positive abt me feeling Dumb and Embarrassing is at least every time i think back i heave a Big Ole Sigh. feels nice tbh feels good #sad part is i rediscovered how much i love doing art and want to improve. would love to return it was so cheap.. pleek ill get over my crush

[capfalcon]

twitter this elon that i dont give a fuck

#i cannot encapsulate the sheer fucking ambivalence i have #i just #i STUDY social media i work in media i love it i hate it its how i plan to make a living #but i just- #things come and go!!!!!!! #like im sorry im not upset over an app that lists its trending topics like #'nazis' 'world cup' 'taylor swift' 'university shooting' like thats just #an app that encourages strong takes and no nuance #an app that literally is a festering cespool of people spewing their opinions and if you disagree its a keyboard fest to see who can yell #the meanest or loudest things #its so Stupid #and yes i get that people make money of it and i get that ppl have platforms #but i really am just not sorry about it dying #jordan rants

[werewolf-apologist]

ppl who complain that muto hates finn or that the show loses focus on finn bc it also includes side character episodes……..are u ok

#bro the whole world gets deeper more interesting more complex when it chooses to show side characters and their journey #also the series as a whole broadens its scope of characters and stories as the world becomes more nuanced and realistic. respectfully how #did u miss that. the show always stays abt being finn and jake but it lends itself to the world of ooo where they live to deepen the lore #and make the world richer. would u truly be happy and feel connected to a world where only the main characters are given voice. not any of #their friends or family ??? idk mayb i am a silly choose goose who enjoys a lore ep as much as a main plot ep but like. how can u say muto #hates finn when islands exists. when finn gets to be a teen/young adult who makes mistakes and changes and grows and Becomes even if it’s #ugly or negative sometimes. without the writers love and care he would be the same in s1 as he is in s8 Please be so honest in this space #idk i truly believe that to love a character or story u have to be willing to fuck it up a little. to show them in an honest light even if #it doesn’t look good. the flame princess/ice king arc does finn dirty on Purpose !! he’s a teen boy who doesn’t know how things work !! #it doesn’t villainize him it just shows he’s a fallible boy figuring it out and he fumbles. he isn’t perfect #it literally would’ve been 10x worse if finn was always the objectively correct person in every situation #idk. i love this show i love these characters. it’s silly (imo) to say the writers don’t bc they make the world wider and the conflicts more #nuanced. i think that’s silly is all

[sanstropfremir]

i love your blog and need need NEED to ask you if you have any opinion on this because people were talking abt it on twitter recently. if u don't tho it's fine! just wanna hear your thoughts. someone was talking about moments in kpop that were popular with the ppl but actually shouldn't be because they were designed for the male gaze and the two cbs mentioned were monster by irene&seulgi which, shocked me a bit. but more so the second which was sumni's tail. do you feel like tail stages/mv were designed to appeal mainly to men? genuinely this took me a aback a bit because yeah sure choreography makes sunmi appear extremely attractive and she wears revealing clothes but the power dynamics in the choreo and just in general in the camera movements in her performances during tail always made me think she's actually mocking men more than catering to them? anyways I hope this makes sense. sorry. just read it and immediately thought of u so I came here lol

;ALSKJF;LASJKF;LKJF THE CB WHERE THE ORIGINAL CHOREO WAS HER DIGGING HER HEELS INTO A MAN'S THIGHS????? THE MV WHERE SHE TIES A MAN TO RAILROAD TRACKS?????? THAT TAIL????????? god this is such a fucking stupid take i'm so sorry you had to read any of that anon. anyways here's my analysis post on the costumes in the tail mv and how they illustrate sunmi's (character's) reclaimation of power and masculine imagery.

but besides tail specifically, there is actually something i want to talk about here in regards to how this particular take smacks of an inability to understand basic critical and media analysis theory.

when you say that something shouldn't be enjoyed or engaged with, you imply that there is a should; a 'correct' way to engage or interpret a work. and there is NO correct way to interpret art. a massive problem with social media is that there is a hegemony on moralistic opinions. you have to have a 'good' opinion, you have to like the right things and hate the right things and why. because reasons. because some anonymous icon on the bird app said it was male gazy and therefore that apparently means it's bad. and yea i'm gonna sound like a fucking crank about this but you need to do your own readings. the male gaze is not a code of ethics, it is a theory of media analysis. and theories are tools that are meant to help you better understand the life you live and the ways that you engage with the world. YOU are the one that uses the tool, that makes the choice on when and how and where you use that tool, and also if you take into account the information that that tool provides. it's all about the nuance. unfortunate that the internet went and shot it in the back.

#nuance is dead long live nuance i guess #kpop questions #sunmi w #also honestly this take also screams of internalized misogyny #like these people are recognizing that something might not be for them so they immediately decry it as being bad #(im assuming these people are mostly cis str8 female bc that is a big demographic of kpoppies but of course this may not be true) #theyre unable to conceptualize any perspective outside of their own so therefore it HAS to be male gaze. obvs. #like why are you going after an artist that is known for having strong creative control over her concepts #have you literally not seen a single thing sunmi has done in the last four years???????????? did i hallucinate noir????????? #like please god get a grip and go read a book or just take a basic media analysis class #tail was for the bisexuals sorry i dont make the rules #ok i am simplifying a lot of this there are much longer discussions to be had here #text #answers #like here's an example: i just got back from going to see mamma mia live #and it was some of the most fun i've had at the theatre in a long time! #does that negate that the script has problems? no! but i am aware of those problems despite my enjoyment! #its very simple really #sorry if this sounds kind of angry this isnt directed at you anon #like imo u made the right choice. seeing something fucky and going to ask a question about it to someone who's opinion u trust #when u dont have the personal knowledge base to inform yourself. that's v smart and a sight lot better than many other people #not that im an authority on any of this bc im very much not. but if i can help fill in some knowledge gaps im v happy to

[blitzgamev]

Its kinda hilarious how id been thinking about wilburs lore finale because yknow more endings today. and how with time ive gotten to both love and hate the ending more. like i always liked utah mans should leave who cares where it was but everything around it was. a bit rushed and also too slow and Some People who dont let their characters be wrong and there was too much wet cat etc but the idea was there

At least i dont have complicated feelings about this one. can just wholeheartedly hate it

#ill prob get more nuanced later but oh my fucking gods WHAT #i liked the first stream the last two were. eh. but this? nha fuck this #its so unsatisfying for everyone involved nevermind the message it sends with the fucking sympathetic ending #they fucking reset their characters and the green fucker is STILL THERE #i am combining my Thoughts ive had for a week now with rage typing i am living the life and def wont regret anything #shut up blitz #dsmp

[spacelazarwolf]

this is the thing. if i talk to a zionist and tell them my stance, they tell me i’m a zionist. if i talk to an antizionist and tell them my stance, they tell me i’m an antizionist.

this is the exact reason i don’t identify myself as either. because in online discourse, they are essentially meaningless. if i’m talking to someone who identifies themself as a zionist, i don’t know if i’m talking to someone who just thinks jews should be able to live peacefully in the levant if they want to, or to someone who wants an authoritarian jewish theocracy at the cost of palestinian lives. if i’m talking to someone who identifies themselves as an antizionist, i don’t know if i’m talking to someone who staunchly opposes the israeli government and its occupation, or to someone who thinks every israeli citizen should die and hamas should establish an authoritarian islamic theocracy.

when i think about my stance, what my goal is, what i want to accomplish with my activism, my last priority is trying to decide what to call myself. i don’t give a fuck which word people on the internet decide matches up with my opinions. i care about what i can do in the diaspora to facilitate liberation. and to be clear, there really is not much i can do. i will not single handedly free palestine. but i’m hoping i can appeal to both zionists who care about the well-being of palestinians and oppose the atrocities committed by the israeli government, and to antizionists who care about the well-being of jews and want to find a solution that keeps us all safe.

and like. i know this is the arguing about labels website. but these labels are so charged that there’s constantly pressure from both “sides” to pick one. and i am simply not going to do that. bc i do not matter. my opinions do not matter. what matters is the safety and well-being of palestinians, so instead of arguing with tankies on the internet who will always demand i be more violent, i’m going to do what i do best. which is just be some guy on the internet who does their best to post some educational stuff and try to have nuanced discussions for people who actually want to have them.

[this-is-an-open-letter]

So Lea Michele on Broadway killed it are we surprised?

We are not.

If nothing else the dependability on her voice and work ethic alone (also which has gotten her into trouble) are always going to put her above and beyond most people.

I mean truly, it wasn't even like she came in with a whimper, it was a roar and a mighty perfect one. All the videos coming through, I legit teared up with happiness for her, for doing the job she was cast to do and for singing the fuck out those songs that were meant to be sung the fuck out of.

Its not...a hurtless win either obviously, she for many has not atoned for her past behaviour and there is a level of it that still feels problematic to me but I also have a very clear bias towards Lea because I DO think she's an exceptional performer and actor and in that bias I can understand just slightly her poor professionalism that is still in all its fanfare - someone who took her job seriously...too seriously but seriously in the way that women are called out for and men are praised for. The same way Christian Bale seriously ripped into his crew for disrupting him working and the media and everyone else brushed it aside as 'method acting' and sympathizing with the grueling work he had to do off camera to get into character. No different than actors who have to learn multiple dance numbers a day, plus their lines plus recording multiple songs a day. Its of the same but its not treated as the same.

However I also don't want to do what the hundreds of twitter users, journalists, comedians and Hollywood elite have done - by ignoring what Lea did so they can craft the perfect 142 tweet with the hopes of Likes and Reblog's, to get a viral tweet for which they will follow up the thread with, 'Woah this tweet blow up - since your here peep my Etsy page below! By my stuff! Oh here's a link to my soundcloud music.'

Every act is further proof that no one actually cares what Lea did, the people she harmed are nameless and faceless, they were a means to an end so that the perfect tweet could be sent and liked. If people genuinely cared about what Lea did they wouldn't spend time diminishing and erasing the stories of those who came forward instead turning that turmoil into an incredibly overplayed joke about her being illiterate.

This quote all but sums it up;

Now there’s a very boring rumor-joke going around that Michele can’t read. Boring because it’s gone past the specificity of the actual “Wait … can she?” moment and into the arena of an incessantly retweeted generic “joke” that doesn’t actually require much cognition x

I hope she has made amends with those that were willingly - it might not be something we ever know, it could just be as likely those people were unwilling or she just didn't reach out. For me there has to be some separation so that I can enjoy the fact that she's playing a role she is perfect for and she's doing what we all expected her to do, which is kill it.

I am happy for her as a performer - as a person...I don't know her but hopefully she's learned from this and understands the power that comes with being #1 on a call sheet and respecting that.

I guess the question is....when are we allowed to forgive people for past mistakes if we can see a change in them? What level of atoning is enough before we forgive them?

#I have my own beliefs that are incredibly nuanced to the occasion and the circumstance #but I am also not a POC so i cannot in any right mind tell someone that they need to move on #but I think I can be happy for her as a performer-as someone who upholds the standard of a broadway performer #i can live in that #I also have an emotional connection to Lea....that is weird and stupid but exists and I cant ignore that fully #its a bias for a reason #asks

[blackkatmagic]

I am fully in support of all of those posts that critique fandom's obsession with making the clones completely Mandalorian in every way curse you Traviss, and I think it's valid to take a second look at the impulse, but I also take umbrage with the idea that the clones have nothing to do with Mandalorian culture at all. Literally the most visible clone in the whole of TCW wears jaig eyes, used the same way the Mandalorians use them, and so do multiple other clones. Multiple clones also picked Mando'a names for themselves, or wear traditional Mandalorian hairstyles, and Boil isn't the only clone who wears some sort of Death Watch insignia (which is fascinating in its own right).

There's just - nuance to all of it, I think. The clones aren't wholly Mandalorian, but they aren't not Mandalorian either. Whatever canon you want to take re: Jango and the trainers he picked, the clones clearly picked up bits of the culture from them, whether because of or despite them. Especially considering Mandalorian culture was largely spread through conquest originally, and adoption, the clones have as much of a right to it as anyone, and writing that off or ignoring the fact that at least some of them clearly do consider themselves part of the culture in some way removes a lot of the grey area from them as their own thing, imo.

The clones are a grey area, as a whole. I think that's part of the tragedy of them. They don't have one people who are their own except other clones. They don't have one specific homeworld or culture. They were created literally to die as cannon fodder, and they made themselves into a people despite that. Taking away one of the major pieces they incorporated into their lives (in strict canon, even if you want to ignore everything Traviss ever touched) is weird and overlooks a lot of what's presented about the clones in TCW.

They don't have to be perfectly Mandalorian in every way. That's just as much of an injustice to them. But removing the Mandalorian bits entirely strips away a lot of how they clearly see themselves, too.

#kat rants #meta #star wars #finally saw one too many 'how dare you portray the clones as mandos' posts whoops #anyway #the way the clones incorporate and relate to their mando heritage is fascinating and it deserves more than to be brushed off #just because some bits of fandom take it to the extreme #clone troopers