#just the same friendship dynamic

[theotterpenguin]

the performative accusation that shipping zutara (and occasionally this criticism is levied at jinko/zukka) is colonialist apologism has been addressed in some excellent posts, explaining the inaccuracies and problematic implications of this logic far better than i ever could - like this post and this one and this one and this one and this one.

and i know this topic has been talked about to death, but if you could indulge my contribution for a moment, i just find it interesting how this sentiment results from the cognitive dissonance of atla fans being unable to reconcile with the idea of their favorite show's political beliefs not lining up with their own.

atla is a largely philosophical children's show that at its core deals with themes of love, redemption, and destiny vs. free-will. atla examines these themes through an anti-colonalist, anti-imperalist lens that deconstructs the idea of racial divisiveness and the idea that people of different ethnicities are inherently different. this is message is pretty explicitly stated by guru pathik:

Guru Pathik: "The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same." Aang: "Like the four nations?" Guru Pathik: "Yes. We are all one people. But we live as if divided."

and also by uncle iroh:

"It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others, the other elements and the other nations will help you become whole."

this theme is developed across three full seasons, with the crux of this message culminating in zuko's friendships with the gaang - despite coming from different nationalities and different backgrounds, they have all had their own experiences being hurt by the fire nation and work together to take down the oppressive fire nation government. the question of destiny vs. free will is also explored through zuko's character - despite starting off as an antagonist, he develops into a symbolic representation of how the fire nation's oppression hurts its own citizens. he unlearns the fire nation's imperialist propaganda while simultaneously unlearning his father's abuse. rather than following misguided beliefs of what he thought his destiny was as the heir to the throne, instead he forges his own path.

thus, to claim that zuko can never form a deep and meaningful relationship with any of the gaang because of his nationality goes unequivocally against the themes of the show. and a major part of this is because these are fictional characters being used to analyze different theoretical questions within the show and in some cases, are used as symbolic representations of different philosophical ideas - their friendships and their character arcs serve a purpose within the text that cannot be easily transcribed onto real-life dynamics between people.

it's illogical to criticize fans who are choosing to understand atla at the level of the themes that are presented by the text - who are interested in exploring similar philosophical questions brought up by the show through the context of relationships.

if you don't like the themes of forgiveness and redemption that atla explores, your criticism should be aimed at the writing of the show itself rather than other fans. because you are giving far more thought to the "implications" of a close friendship or romantic relationship between someone from an imperalist nation and someone from an oppressed nation than the writers ever did. (and if you fall in this camp of people, i would hope you wouldn't be reblogging fanart of zuko and the gaang together while simultaneously claiming zuko could can never escape the sins of his ancestors and can never form a deep relationship based on trust and intimacy with katara or sokka or jin - because that would just be hypocritical).

and as a side note, people seem to apply this flawed logic to zutara far more than other ships solely because the show spends the most time exploring the complicated nature of fire nation imperalism in the interactions between zuko and katara in the latter half of b3. this is because they've been juxtapositioned against each other and paralleled with aang since the beginning of the show in ways that toph, sokka, and suki are not, who have mostly been used to examine different themes. there simply isn't enough time to explore these complicated themes with all the other characters, even if they theoretically exist in zuko’s dynamics with these characters, so the writers focus the most on zuko's relationships with katara and aang, and these relationships are given far more narrative weight, so have more content to criticize. but zuko and katara also canonically become friends by the end of the show. if you want to discount the existence of their friendship, claiming that it will always be tainted by the fire nation's oppression regardless of what is shown in the text, then you also have to discount zuko's friendships with aang, suki, toph, and sokka - because even if this isn't shown as a permanent barrier to their friendships in the show, it’s also not shown as a permanent barrier to his friendship with katara. if your logic is solely based on the idea that a person's identity in a relationship as a colonizer or a victim is fixed and unchanging regardless of character development, this would apply to zuko's friendships with everyone else as well.

#zuko #katara #zutara #i have seen people say that the zutara dynamic makes them personally uncomfortable and that's fine - to each their own! #but it's hypocritical to only dislike zuko's relationship with katara while simultaneously exalting his friendships w aang or toph or sokka #just because the show doesn’t take as much time to explore these issues with other characters doesn’t mean the same dynamic doesn’t apply #my post #my meta

[somewhereincairparavel]

Its canon that Jason and Leo sneak into Chiron 's rec room in the big house, to play Mario Party six on Nintendo switch. And Leo would also program to game to do stupid stuff so they both can win all the time. I have no idea what you will do with this information, but I'm letting you know anyway.

#Source: blood of olympus. YALL THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED IM NOT MAKING THIS UP 😭 #it was mentioned while they visited Asclepius to get the physician's cure #when they were trying to get past the statue. Leo said he'd program the statue the same way he programmed the game. #I NEED to draw this #I honestly wanted to post this after I drew it. But it would take a while. And I couldn't help myself #They are both the embodiment of 'boys will be boys'. #In the end. They're just teenagers #I like how it's a personal bro secret between them. Not even Piper knew this. #I love valgrace friendship #Jason is leo's best friend and vice versa #I like these small cute fluffy moments of friendship between them <3 #Valgrace is so tragic omg. They are both platonic soulmates #Im sad #Their dynamic is my Roman Empire #pjo #pjo hoo #pjo series #pjo hoo toa #pjo fandom #heroes of olympus #leo valdez #jason grace #valgrace #piper mclean #percy jackson #annabeth chase #hazel levesque #frank zhang #nico di angelo

[onesidedradiostatic]

My worthless Radiostatic headcanon is that Vox met Alastor because he was new to hell and captivated by the pretty redhead at the bar swigging gin and was flabbergasted that nobody was asking him to dance. He was also equally oblivious to everybody else at the joint shitting their pants as this absolute NOBODY approached the Radio Demon for a dance. And Alastor who was bemused by his ignorance and idiocy can still admire someones moxxie and agreed to dance. And listen, this is mostly because with all these great shipper tag names I can't help but call their past partnership "electro-swing." So yes they danced to something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3hjodKJTRs. Suffice to say Vox was enamored and Alastor was surprisingly amused and it was the start of both of them chasing that high.

HAHAHA I like this, there's like so many different ways to imagine their first meeting, and like imagine this being like. okay you know how he probably couldn't openly like men in life but once he landed in hell he realises it doesn't matter anymore (depends on if you interpret him believing himself to be straight(tm) and closeted prior or he already knew but just couldn't act on it openly), so he's freshly landed, walks into a bar and just walks up to the first cute guy he sees cause he no longer has to hide it LMAO. he gets what he wants (the dance) for NOW, but of course, getting what he wants doesn't last forever, and he was kinda doomed from the start when he made a beeline to making moves on the aroace guy.

also part of me is going like. this is the 1950s. electro-swing didn't exist then. (just roll with it anyways. just roll with it anyways. just roll with it anyways.)

^^(link in ask)

#ask #osrs.txt #also what is this like miraculous ladybug now where we need multiple names to indicate different dynamics of the same 2 characters kSLLLHSD #NOT MEANT TO MOCK just funny to me #(the separation of one-sided is kinda cause it has a large following in itself separate from the mutual ship #their past friendship is more of a given regardless of however you see it considering that aspect was probably canon at some point) #radiostatic #staticradio #onewaybroadcast #hazbin vox #hazbin hotel vox #vox #hazbin alastor #hazbin hotel alastor #alastor

[dittolicous]

"anti-zosans just dont get it! the appeal IS that they hate each other!"

me, a zosan shipper:

#ditto rambles #zosan #sanzo #I SWEAR THIS IS LIGHT HEARTED #its just that #saying that hate each other is so not true????? #they literally dont #they care very deeply for each other just as they do for all their other nakama #but love can be shown in different ways #and the trust and friendship between zoro and sanji is absolutely why i ship it #their dynamic is hilarious and theyre complete buffoons #but there is zero REAL hate between them #taking the piss can be a bonding activity #designated pissed off friends #if you like the 'hate' dynamic thats cool #but we are not the same lol #none of the strawhats hate each other #one piece #i swear this isnt hate #i just thought the gif would be funny to use and it kinda spiraled from there

[alpacacare-archive]

inside you there are two wolfs

#repostober #day 19 #undertale #alphys #gaster #wd gaster #ive given you old man gaster & alphys father daughter friendship dynamic #now its time for same age group queer nerd coworker besties #this was inspired by a con i went to #when i was there i couldnt help but notice two prominent kinds of people #cosplayers/anime fans dressed in cutesy merch and clothes(/positive) #and gamer nerds who were also dressed in merch and pins of games they liked (/positive) #and i also couldnt help but notice that its them #they are in fact discussing an anime they watched and with them both being academics i can only assume that every argument is extremely #detailed well thought out and informed. id like to believe that they sometimes site sources. aloud. #details i love in this are alphys painting her tail to look like mewmews for her cosplay i just think its cute hdfks #you can pry aroace gaster out of my cold dead hands that man made his children in tubes i just know it #also i shouldve drawn him wearing portal merch i almost wanna redraw this just for that #actually i really wanna redraw this i think. i wont rn (i am so. tired) but i feel enough anger at gaster not wearing #an aperture science t shirt that it might make me draw again

[revrads]

More John and Lisa friendship dynamic doodle I did while doing one of my midterms!

Ending where they run away together :)

#faith game #faith the unholy trinity #faith fanart #john ward #lisa pearson #fanart #drawing #doodles #digital art #art #((I love these two sm y'all have no idea <3)) #((A lot of people liked the previous JohnLisa friendship dynamic headcanon so here's one!)) #((John doesn't like being touched by anyone except Lisa. And he likes physical contact with her alot)) #((Lisa used to carry and pull John everywhere she went like a teddy bear when they were kids)) #((When John got Bigger he uses his Big Boy privelege to do the same thing with Lisa when they decided to run away together)) #((You'd find him holding onto her or even hoisting her up with one hand with his cross on the other whenever something startles him)) #((It's not that Lisa doesn't appreciate this new protective side. She just kept getting motion sickness whenever he carries her like a sack)

[lollytea]

I get to write Willow and Amitys weird awkward friendship in this fic I'm so excited!!!

#its hard being both a willow lover and an amity liker #i LOVE to talk about how amity deeply affected willow's life for the worse #but i also love to talk about how amity has to live with that truth for the rest of her life #i love how amity continues to try because she loves willow #tries too hard even #i love how amity STILL continues to fuck it all up because shes so painfully awkward and guilty #and shes so busy trying to preserve a friendship that died years ago that she doesnt realize that she should be aiming to build a new one #because this is NOT the same girl that she knew #i love that amity still means so much to willow that she cant bring herself to get confrontational over the obvious infantilization #i love that willow is trying so hard too because she wants this to work out so badly #and she cant even admit to herself that this idealized friendship shes wanted back for YEARS is not everything she hoped it would be #i love both girls so much #it used to be a real struggle to talk about this because somebody with a hate bias towards amity always wants to chime in #and like okay fine sure you can hate whatever character you want im not gonna shame you for it #i just dont WANT to discuss one of my my favourite dynamics with people who hate one of the characters yknow? #theyre two teenage girls who love each other and theyre struggling to love each other properly but they want to #I LOVE THEM!!!

[lilyginnyblackv2]

If you view Kazuki and Rei as friends or buddies - as platonic, PLEASE don't reblog my post talking about how I view them as being queer (via a queerplatonic or platonic life partnership reading) and state that you view them as buddies or friends or platonically. My post isn't saying that and I don't like how reblogging it and adding tags like that erases the queer aspect to that post. If you view them as purely platonic friends or buddies, that's cool and fine, just...Make your own post instead about how you view them platonically, as friends, as buddies, etc. Thanks!

#it's just so tiring #queerplatonic and platonic life partners dynamics are not the same as friendship dynamics #I'm just so tired of seeing this happen so much with that post #it really speaks to how a lot of ppl don't really understand or get the difference #between something like queerplatonic and other aspec relationship dynamics and friendship #though that is likely just due to the lack of media exposure to these relationship dynamics #Buddy Daddies #KazuRei #asexual things

[infizero]

listen i was guilty of this once upon a time too but dawg ppl GOTTA stop calling any platonic dynamic they like “siblings” without any precedence 

#there are many characters where there is good right to call them siblings. but ppl have gotten so trigger happy w it #and like theres nothing wrong with viewing a dynamic that way ig but at the same time it makes ppl who may ship those characters really #uncomfortable. bcuz although there is nothing to suggest that those characters view each other in that way by calling them siblings #instantly you've made it weird for anyone who might interpret the dynamic differently #idk this is very nuanced but it just irked me a little bit #absolutely nothing against the person in the tags of my art btw power to you #but. as someone who ships pearl and scar a little it was a bit uncomfortable to see them be called siblings #i dont like ppl making ANY of the hermits siblings. like grian and pearl are a common one i see and i just. i dont get it i truly dont #none of their dynamics read like that to me. idk. again ppl have their own interpretations of things and they didnt mean any harm by it #it just made me feel a little weird #and this is a problem or well. trend ive seen in all fandoms recently #please. people are allowed to be friends and have close friendships and not have a familial element involved #esp with a girl and a boy THEY CAN JUST BE FRIENDS! YOU CAN HAVE THEM BE TOTALLY PLATONIC WITHOUT CALLING THEM SIBLINGS #whatever whatever idrc. just something ive noticed i know other ppl have talked about this before #again this is not a callout or anything im genuinely not mad or weirded out or anything please dont think i am #serena.txt

[yb-cringe]

nothing has icked me out quicker than learning ppl are saying spiderbit adopted mouse whaaats wrong with yall lmao ooo

#they just met and theyre the same age #can yall allow dynamic friendships for like. a second #qsmp liveblogging #fandom crit #discourse #tw discourse

[hella1975]

there's a very specific kind of vibe that comes with living with your friends in final year that it just does not have in first year or even second year. like as a fresher it's usually the first time any of you have lived away from home let alone with SO MANY people your age and it's terrifying and exciting and randomised to boot so it's generally carnage for a whole year in the best and worst ways, and then second year you pick who you're living with and it feels like for the first time you're doing this adult thing PROPERLY. you have a place of your own now. these are the people you've chosen to live with. studying gets serious etc. but it's still fresh. it's still new. you still don't know how to navigate it. but final year? final year is when you actually get it right. you know how to manage your time better. you know what works for you and what doesn't. studying is the main focus and you've been out in the world for three years now and it's not loud and boisterous like it was in first year and you're not exciteable and awkward like you were in second year. you're comfortable. every single one of my flatmates has their own friend group and we mainly keep to our own social circles, but we'll still meet each other back at the house after a night out and sit in the kitchen or my room to do the debrief. sometimes i'll go days not seeing either of them despite sharing a house but every now and then someone will softly call up the stairs that 'the heating's on!' or one of us will sneeze and the other two will yell 'bless you!' through the walls. the lack of interaction isn't interpreted as dislike in ways it would have been even last year, because we're all just old enough to be past that now and settled enough in our friendship not to worry about it. idk. uni is very loud and unsettling a lot of the time so it's been really sweet to see how almost boringly comfortable final year is.

#like my day today was literally drag myself out of bed at 10am to meet my econ friends bc we're in a group together #and i spent two hours with them writing a fucking TRADE REPORT before coming home #and the rest of the day was kinda lost. i showered. i put a wash on. i had a nap. i mainly stayed in my room #which sometimes is the End Of All Things but today was quite nice #and i can hear in their rooms how my flatmates are doing the exact same thing. pottering about and getting on with uni #and we've barely spoken all day but earlier my one flatmate ran into my room all excited to show me her nails #bc she's been teaching herself to do gels and it took her 2 hours but im still one of the first people she wanted to show #and just now we all went to use the bathroom at the same time and it led to one of our Stair Sessions #where we all inexplicably just gather on the stairs and chat for no reason with a cup of tea #idk it's just nice. it's such basic shit but i can't belive in first year i used to spend EVERY DAY with these girls #and we were one single friendship group and that was all we had #and then in second year one girl branched off bc she lived in a studio and got into her societies #but me and the other girl lived together again and it was the same thing of she was a friend before she was someone i lived with #and weirdly that can actually be detrimental to a dynamic. but this year we're all just very solidified and confident in ourselves #and where we stand and yes we all have our own friendship groups outside of the house now #but there's still that love and simple comfortableness around each other that you only get with time and a hell of a lot of proximity #and a sense of being settled that maybe is just what happens as you get older #idk it's just really nice. if i had this exact same day in first year (doing economics and barely leaving my room) #it would've been a really bad depressive day for me so the fact i can find such contentment from it now is really heartening #i love my little life here im very proud of what ive been able to achieve :) #hella goes to uni #feeling nostalgic because SOME BITCH decided to ribs post

[kraviolis]

if there is one hill i will die on its being very against the constant trend of everyone saying “omg siblings!!” about every single friendship between a man & a woman in fiction.

#its the same concept as constantly shipping a man & a woman together despite them just being friends. #MEN & WOMEN CAN JUST BE FRIENDS. THATS FINE. THEY DONT ALWAYS HAVE TO BE SIBLINGS #this is about the doctor & donna btw. theyre not fucking siblings theyre just best friends. there is a difference. #i was ready to die on this same hill about hunter & luz before she literally in the show adopted him as her brother #which is FINE i really love them being siblings it makes sense for their dynamic as their friendship developed in the story #but not every single friendship between a man and a woman has to be labeled like that. it annoys me so much #krav talks

[hebezunet]

alright boys it's that time of the year. please shoot some megaman (classic) requests my way and i will do what i can

#will work on them today and tomorrow and stuff #and im ok with ships as long as its not dudes built by the same guy #like no wilybot x wilybot or lightbot x lightbot etc #i can do friendship stuff or sibling stuff though no worries! dynamics and all that #just no Romantic stuff between them. you understand #chris blabs #megaman #rockman

[yea-baiyi]

one thing i love is how shi qingxuan and xie lian are just buddies? the book is full of all kinds of complicated relationship dynamics and traumatic backstories, but xie lian meets shi qingxuan after his third ascension and they have zero history together and they just get along? they talk comfortably and they look out for each other and they are on the same bitchy wavelength? they don’t get a lot of time to bond and get close but its clear that in time they could? sometimes you just meet someone you vibe with and they’re your friend it’s not that deep and you know what it makes me so happy to think about!!!

#tgcf #xie lian #shi qingxuan #meta stuff #sqx #cringefail bestie #xianxia jesus #dude i don’t. i don’t know how to explain how much i love them #it’s simple it’s uncomplicated its just good ol friendship #i am definitely just making up things to get emotional about at this point #but really genuinely i just love them it’s such a specific dynamic to me #they are on the same wavelength. they’re in different life stages and they both have a lot going on #but they’re just natural friends they get each other and hanging out is comfortable and fun!! #side note i’m thinking abt how xl is relaxed around sqx. he’s not fully comfortable he just met sqx but he’s just not as self conscious #thinking abt how my coworker said something about me puts people at ease. #hold on i’m having a revelation #rambling #god no post i have made deserves that tag more than this

[spicyicymeloncat]

I saw a lot of nexo knights reviews saying that I it’s a Ninjago rip off. And I disagree (they have very different plots and structures). However I want to put forward the notion that nexo knights is actually…

A legends of Chima rip off

(For all intents and purposes this is a joke I only watched one episode of chima lol and Ik they are very different shows pls don’t be offended)

#question why’s chima so fancy looking #the animation is so high quality like everything is so shinyyy #I haven’t seen enough of chima so like this is wrong but like #chima has more in common with nexo knights than both do with Ninjago #I’m just saying #the lion and crocodile have the same dynamic as clay and Jestro apart from their friendship is way more set up #in my opinion #also #the lion has the voice of a YouTuber lol #i mean his va is a ytuber but he also sounds like an anime dub va #imo #take everything I say with a grain of salt #i am willing to engage in friendly debates with this but I remember last time I did a hot take people took it more seriously than I did #@me if you want friendly banter I just hope no one gets mad at me again lol #ninjago #nexo knights #legends of chima #Lego

[jabberwockprince]

since we're all having fun talking about theories and headcanons before the game drops. one thing that i do want for missing link, that is mostly wishful thinking on my part, is a reveal for kairi being a descendant of the player

this is based on their parallels of being shooting stars later found washed up on a beach from the new missing link trailer, plus that one moment from KH1 where kairi's grandma tells her about the age of the fairytales and nothing else lmfao

and i want that so badly because. it would be so fucking ironic and poetic to have kairi be a direct descendant of the one person that raised and cared so much for xehanort. the player, whose memories of ephemer and skuld and chirithy and everyone else influenced xehanort into starting his whole ass spiral and descent into darkness

only for her (and sora) to be the ones to get xehanort to stop in the end. ending a cycle of sorts. for her to be haunted by the memory of xehanort, the same way xehanort was "haunted" by the memory of the player's past life

PLUS. i want it to SPECIFICALLY recontextualize kairi's inheritance of the keyblade from BBS. because kairi's reason to wield a keyblade being nothing more than an "accident" feels like such a disservice to her AND aqua??

if they could recontextualize xehanort into whole new depths in dark road, i dont see why they couldn't reframe that moment as kairi reclaiming a dormant power, her own heritage that her bloodline forgot for centuries, since knowledge about keyblades and wielders began to fade out over time to the point where people who KNEW about them thought they were evil. makes sense that as the age of fairytales is left FORGOTTEN, no one can remember how to summon a keyblade, let alone the knowledge to create one from someone's heart. but having a strong heart (one of the requisites for bequeathing ceremonies) and being in direct contact with a keyblade, could just. help jog the memory a bit

and show that yeah. kairi deserves to wield a keyblade because she has a strong heart, and because this was her heritage that was taken away from her when the worlds began to drift away from each other and so on. not because of an accident

everytime chance, fate and destiny are brought up in the saga to explain why something. happened the way it did. it carries so much weight and so many events that led to That Point. but kairi's inheritance as of right now was just. yeah, an accident. no ceremony at all AND I JUST THINK SHE DESERVES RLLY COOL THINGS OKAY

#khml #DONT GET ME WRONG. THE THEORY AND HC ABOUT #RIKI BEING THE ONE COMING FROM A PRESTIGIOUS BLOODLINE OF POWERFUL WIELDERS #IS ALSO SUPER GOOD #BUT I THINK KAIRI DESERVES SMTH TOO OTHER THAN THE WRITING USING HER JUST TO ELEVATE SORA #their dynamics mean so much to me #some fucking guy named sora and his very cool anime protagonist best friends who actually think HES the coolest protagonist in the world #kairi being stubborn refusing to let go of sora. the same way the player is stubborn in refusing to let their friends die #to the point where they both can just cheat at death many times thanks to their connections with other people #since MOST ppl who came back to life in the saga. they do it by cheating time. or sheer force of will. but rarely thru. friendship and love #looks at luxu. some even refuse to die. kinda wild #YES im delusional #look at me in the fucking eyes right now #sora as a character who keeps being shattered. due to the pressure of his role. things he never asked for and keep happening to him #riki as a character who bends and breaks over and over. as punishment and rebellion. because he doesnt know where he fits in all of this #kairi as a character who keeps vanishing. who continues to have the places and people she loves taken away. and she keeps being left behind