#like there's the one who's totally not gonna betray them for power

[piiinkfreak]

Just two sect leaders and A-yao

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#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #mdzs fanart #mdzs modern au #lan xichen #jin guangyao #nie mingjue #chifeng zun #zewu jun #lianfang zun #3zun #3zun mdzs #mdz venerated triad #they are like the perfect triumvirate #like there's the one who's totally not gonna betray them for power #and the other two #drawing xichen was hard #cause like #he's the top one bachelor in the noves so he's gotta be extra pretty #also i'm pretty sure jin guanyo is supposed to be smaller #just pretend he's standing on a stall

[rfswitchart]

Obligatory Huntlow post for ASIAS anniversary

So, I might as well do an anniversary post for Any Sport in a Storm, shouldn't I?

Pop quiz: When did Willow Park fall in love with the Golden Guard? There's a lot of answers you COULD say for this. Maybe she started realizing it when they were in the Human Realm. Maybe she realized when he grabbed her out of the sky or was in the detention pit with him.....

You COULD say that.... but you'd be wrong. She realized it the moment Hunter stood between the Entrails and Darius. "Wait, how do you know that?" you might ask. Simple. Because as a writer of 25 years and someone who has had many crushes and relationships... I know that kind of body language and tone of voice well.

"After all, it will be 52 weeks until 'Caleb's' next day off..." Note the way she SAID that. Sly, coy, definite tongue in cheek. The way she's looking over her shoulder back towards him. I mean COME ON, there's a heart shaped cloud just above her head. Hearts being between the two of them is a big tell for that. It's called THEMING. "Ok, but that's just one moment..." Au contraire, did you think I'd come into this with one example? Remember, I WROTE THIS ALREADY. Now, pop quiz #2: Why did Hunter, who had only ever met Willow ONCE know the difference between the real and fake one?

After all, there is no way he could have known that after just one encounter. You can not determine a person's entire personality based on a sole encounter, no matter how much of an impression it left on you. The answer, again, is simple...

Because they had been talking over Penstagram since ASIAS. Probably took a while due to Hunter not being used to typing and stuff, but I cannot imagine they weren't talking since that night. It also explains why Willow trusted him so easily during the scout invasion of Hexside. Because it couldn't JUST be the breathing technique that swayed her. After all, Hunter had lied and betrayed her and her friends before.

...Again with the hearts. THEMING! Anyway, even if we discredit ASIAS and Labyrinth Runners, or how she totally went to kill Kikimora for trying to hurt 'him' (and stopped when she could have hurt him) and ran after 'him' specifically when 'he' was captured (remember, it was Luz, she just THOUGHT it was Hunter) Fine, let's forget all that then...

Because even if you discount those things, she definitely had a thing for him while they were trapped in the human realm. How do I know? Ok, time to teach you kids about flirting 101.

"I'm gonna borrow that book when you're done with it! ;)" She's not saying "I want to read that" because she's curious about Cosmic Frontier. She is saying "I want to know more about your interests," and saying it with a tone that says "I want to turn this into a date if I can." Even before when she's taking a picture and shutting down Amity's snarking on Hunter's costume, her body language, her words, her tone. They are all suggesting there's more than just 'friendship' there. When it comes to flirting, it is not WHAT you say, it is HOW you say it.

Also, while I'm on the subject. Willow is canonically Pansexual, she is not Ace. Also, she is not Demi/aromantic, she is heavily guarded and has trust issues from years of bullying and nearly everyone looking down on her or using her as emotional support. I have the same problem for the same reasons, and I know for a fact I am not aro. I am guarded because I've been hurt before, same as Willow. Hunter is the only one who ISN'T like that.

He doesn't see her as weak and frail, he doesn't rely on her for stuff, and he wouldn't be caught dead hurting her or looking down on her. That is HIS captain, and he'll be damned if he won't see her as anything short of incredible. And boy did he let her know that, more than once.

Anyways, sorry for rambling. Let's all appreciate these two amazing, powerful witches who really do compliment each other's lives.

#huntlow #the owl house #any sport in a storm #willow toh #willow park #hunter toh #hunter deamonne #hunter noceda #willow x hunter #Never underestimate a flirter

[anastasiareyreed]

all russians are guilty and let me explain why.

make yourself comfortable, it's gonna be a long ride.

you might notice that every time, if russians appear in a movie, series or documentary, they have either done something criminal, are doing it or are planning to do it. because the entire history of russia's existence is built on crimes, wars, genocides and occupations — Ukraine, Syria, Georgia, Chechnia and many more.

russia unleashed the most frequent genocidal attacks against Ukraine. occupation of Ukrainian lands and enslavement of Ukrainians, constant persecution and murder of speakers of the Ukrainian language, Ukrainian poets, writers, teachers — the entire nation, any Ukrainian figures of culture or politics. And, of course, the awful Holodomor (if you more into visualization, watch the movie about the Holodomor — «Mr Jones».)

no matter who is in power, throughout its existence, russia has been trying to destroy Ukraine and everything related to Ukrainian culture and history.

first of all, I think the terms «guilty» and «bad» must be separated here. I'm not saying all russians are bad, because «bad» is quite subjective and vague term. just like term «good». a person can be good in relations with neighbors, good at their job or good meaning polite. but what happens to a «good» person who stands by when other people are killed, tortured and raped in front of this person's eyes and on this person's behalf? this person becomes guilty. and many can and DO have the right to call and consider this person bad.

what exactly you are doing when you write «not all russians support the war»? you tell Ukrainians that THIS TIME there are definitely good russians, good guys among the people who constantly repressed Ukrainian people. but let me tell you this. if ten people stand in front of me and tell me that only one of them probably is not a murderer, I WILL NOT trust that person. I won't risk my life, and I'm sure you won't either.

I, like many Ukrainians, had friends or relatives in russia. but all of us were betrayed by these people, because it is in their DNA to put themselves above Ukrainians. and it's quite unreasonable in the digital age to justify their position about war by the fact that they don't know anything and totally drowned in propaganda. do they not know how to search for information, use their phones, computers or brain?

when you say that right now not all russians are against Ukraine or Syria, you cannot be sure that a russian who writes «I don't support the war» is telling the truth. that this person is not trying to maintain their public image and avoid condemnation. how can we believe the word of the representatives of the nation that every decade wage a war? the presumption of innocence doesn't apply here, hundreds of thousands of victims of russia are proof of that.

my favorite topic that people like to manipulate is how can we blame russian children. sure, we are in our right mind, so we don't say that a russian child is as guilty as an adult russian man who raped Ukrainian children and tortured Ukrainian women and men. we say that the russian child must know and feel collective responsibility from an early age, so that in the future the child doesn't take the place of that adult russian man.

while other countries honor the memory of their heroes and victims of the WWII on the day of victory over the fascists, only the russians proudly and joyfully said every year that they could repeat and start another war. which they did. that's why russian children should see that the world associates russia only with death, crimes and wars. that the world doesn't tolerate russian products, art, culture or people. this is the only way children will be able to realize from an early age that this way of russia's lifestyle is condemned by the world and must be radically changed.

Ukrainian and Syrian children, who are currently suffering from russia's actions, grew up too early and lost their childhood, they know what war is, know that it's evil and russia is a terrorist state. russian children should know this as well, so that the changes in the russian mentality — that the world has been waiting for several centuries in a row​ — have come.

you say russian children are not guilty, sure, but they are taught that war is branded, powerful, cool and solid. Ukrainian and Syrian children are not guilty, but they are taught how to act if their parents are killed by a russian missile. you say russian youth are not guilty and shouldn't risk their future to protest against the war. Ukrainian and Syrian youth are not guilty, but every day they give their lives for the freedom that the russians are trying to take away.

russian soldiers who went to kill Ukrainians and Syrians. russians who are relatives, friends or colleagues of these soldiers. russians who openly support wars in Ukraine & Syria or show their passivity. russians who volunteer to support the russian army. russians, who for centuries raised their children with imperialist views and contempt for other nations and races. and, as history shows, will continue to raise in the same way, no matter how the war ends. if russia loses they will raise children ready for another revenge. if russia wins they will raise children with mindset that Ukrainians are an inferior nation. russians have hundreds of years of experience in it. ask how the peoples that russia once occupied live today.

imagine what those hundreds of thousands of russian soldiers would achieve not on peaceful Ukrainian streets, killing people, but somewhere in a square in moscow, protesting against the war. soldiers, their relatives, friends and neighbors. eight years ago, Ukrainians protested against the dictator, dying for their principles and freedom.

Iranians went against a real dictator, dying for their principles and freedom. because this is the only way to achieve change.

the only «protest» action of russians is to post a picture somewhere online or to stand peacefully for half an hour in a small group of people, passively holding «no war» piece of paper and leaving before dark, because tomorrow they have to go to work or universities. russians support the war or simply don't care, because it's easier to live that way. if they chose collective indifference, they must face collective responsibility.

your «not all russians are guilty» is based on your assumptions about the good faith of russians, a naive idea of what this nation really is. my «all russians are guilty» is based on hundreds of years of history of relations between russia and Ukraine. on the number of wars russia has waged in the past and is waging now, the number of nations it has destroyed and the number of evil actions the world has forgiven the russians, hoping that THIS TIME everything will definitely be different.

#please share #stand with ukraine #russia is a terrorist state #free syria #long post #spread #spread the word #signal boost #russia invades ukraine #russian agression #russian terrorism #stop russia #fuck russia #help ukraine #support ukraine #save ukraine #ukraine #syria #syria news #syrian war #current events #russia #russian war in ukraine #russian war in syria

[markantonys]

My Mom Reacts To: wheel of time season 2 episodes 5-8 (episodes 1-4) (season 1)

the episode 1-4 post did not contain book spoilers, but this one does, so beware!

first, some dinnertable questions that arose in the past few days:

mom: 3000 years ago, when the first dragon was around, was ishamael--wait. was ishamael the dragon? me: no mom: but he was around back then? me: yes, he was the first dragon's best friend, but then he betrayed him mom: just like how liandrin is betraying everyone

(also, she keeps trying to call him "ishmael" like the moby dick character)

mom: at the end of 14 books, does good triumph over evil? me: i'm not gonna tell you that mom: well this show won't go for 14 seasons, or if it does, i'll be in a dementia ward by then

mom: how long is someone the amyrlin? me: for life, unless they get removed mom: is it an elected position or would they have like a coup? me: [sweating] it's an elected position

she wanted to know where everything was, so i pulled out the handy randland map mug she gave me for christmas to show her! haha

she also asked if we see more of the other colors (ajahs) in the books, and i said if anything we see less because liandrin and alanna have much less screentime in the books, and she was very surprised to hear that

dad: [setting up a dad joke voice] what's it called when lan dies? me: what? dad: lan's end

(okay that might be an americans-only joke lmao there's a big clothing chain called lands' end, not sure how widespread it is. but it cracked ME up, at least!)

mom: does lan die?!?!?!? me: you read his wikipedia article like 2 months ago mom: well i don't remember any of it, that was a long time ago!

she also assumed that no one who is together now (lanaeve + randgwene) will end up together. i'd straight up told her a while ago that rand and egwene don't end up together but she wasn't totally sure of that now, so i think it's actually okay if i tell her spoilers because she'll forget them immediately djkfjgh

episode 5

"she should be glad to get those ridiculous nails cut"

she was horrified by the horse slaughter!

my dad laughed at the guy getting his head exploded, maybe it's not just rand maybe he just likes to see Anyone have a bad time

elyas: your friends from the two rivers aren't your pack mom: ohhhh 😔😠 elyas: neither was your wife mom: [GASP]

she loves hopper so much and i'm not ready for her to see ep8!!

brown sister trio introduced, we pause as i am tasked with writing down every ajah and what they do lmao

my mom repeatedly asked if suroth was a forsaken. probably because she has The Audacity to talk to an actual forsaken Like That!

not much reaction to aviendha at all this episode! i think my mom was a bit overwhelmed by all the new info being learned in this episode, so she was more concerned with trying to figure out who the aiel and the seanchan are than with paying attention to aviendha specifically (partially my fault bc i first explained the aiel as "those warrior people" and she thought i meant the seanchan lmao). she mourned that we hadn't started our character/terminology list on a bigger piece of paper!

i had to fight to keep it together rather than shout with joy during the gawyn namedrop djkjfgh

mom: did the red one free nynaeve so they could try to escape?? me: yes mom: she is just too complicated for me

in this same vein, my dad later referred to liandrin as a "double double agent"

moiraine: [big sigh] dad: she's always a drama queen

he's not wrong jkdjfg

ishy tenderly stroking rand's face also got no reaction, much to my surprise haha i meanwhile was silently losing it

when the seanchan were bringing out egwene and saying how powerful she is, my dad was like "but she's the wrong one, it's the other one who's powerful" oh my god let poor egwene LIVE djkfg even he is pulling a "did you hear that nynaeve is the most powerful channeler we've seen in 1000 years" on her!

my mom cracked up at moiraine saying "it's your choice rand, i mean it this time" and was like "yeah i was gonna say, is she ACTUALLY going to let him choose here?"

episode 6

my mom literally THE SECOND renna's bracelet linked with the a'dam: "so she can channel too? i thought these people punished everyone who can channel" not her INSTANTLY clocking The Sul'dam Secret when in-world it apparently took hundreds of years for anyone to notice hahaha this certainly lends weight to the "this information Is Known but routinely suppressed, as fascist governments are wont to do" interpretation over the "literally not a single person had any idea until the wondergirls" interpretation

lanfear: why do you think you can't trust me? mom: because you have a silly hat

911 lanfear's just been murdered. i guess some people (straight women) ARE immune to her dominatrix outfit djkfg

my mom also voiced her displeasure with rand's haircut again in this scene. my mom 🤝 me 🤝 mat

BOTH my parents thought lanfear's condition was going to be that rand had to kill moiraine himself! the second he opened his eyes they both said it! they're already thinking so dark!

on that note, i'd predicted my mom would be annoyed at moiraine for refusing barthanes's sandwiches, but that was not the case: instead, she and my dad both went "oh i bet the sandwiches are poisoned" they're so suspicious of everything now! and rightfully so

"i can hear you bickering from the fruit market" got a good laugh

my mom also gave a hearty, appreciative chuckle at mat shitting on rand's hair. he spoke for all of us!

mat: i'll meet you in an hour mom: they don't have watches, how will they know when it's been an hour?

mom when moiraine apologizes to barthanes: why is she being nice? me: because she feels bad mom, as if it never occurred to her moiraine might have a conscience: oh..............

mom when siuan arrives in cairhien: now someone can tell her about liandrin! me: but no one here knows that mom: UGH!!!

haha welcome to wheel of time! the necessary information is always stuck in the wrong plotlines and unable to be passed along to the relevant people!

elayne to nynaeve: if we help ryma, we can't help egwene mom: oh this poor woman, now she's faced with another hard choice just like in the arches! me: [sits there stunned because i never made that connection]

episode 7

my mom loved lan telling rand to tuck in his shirt, naturally

lan: heron dips over the wing [or whatever the name was] mom: what? me: it's a sword form, they all have weird names mom: oh, that would explain why it didn't make any sense

lan: your duty is to protect everyone in the world, not just the ones you love mom: that's a big responsibility :(

she laughed and said "she doesn't like not being the boss!" at nynaeve's face when elayne told her to do what she said

she is SO PRESSED about other characters needing to find out about liandrin. she was so excited when anvaere eavesdropped and then so mad when moiraine left before anvaere could tell her the news (but i reassured her by saying that moiraine is about to go to the same place as nynaeve & co who will be able to tell her)

moiraine: [is Mean to lan] mom: TUH! dad: he should just slay her

mom: so what does this tea do? me: allegedly it will show mat his past lives mom: but it might be a trick me: ishamael DOES call himself "father of lies"

my dad was like "that was cool!" after mat's bad trip, which is among his biggest reactions to anything, other than "[chuckles] that was a good one!" when egwene said "renna i will kill you"

ishy: i just want to close my eyes and never have to open them again mom: so kill yourself then 🙄

911 ishamael's also been found murdered. i think she could put the forsaken in line honestly, "you have a silly hat" "kill yourself" she's just not having any of their shit. i hate to compare her to cadsuane, but it's kinda giving cadsuane.

lanfear's dominatrix outfit did get more appreciation this time though when the silly hat was not present ("they had fun with her costumes")

rand: i need your help lanfear mom: ??????? doesn't he know she's evil???????

"she could at least say something nice to lan 🙄" when moiraine fails to say something nice to lan after getting unshielded thanks to him

lanfear: [broken amyrlin line] mom: is she broken??? me: i think she just meant metaphorically, not physically mom: oh. but their love is broken :(

episode 8

my dad actually put his laptop away to watch this episode with his full attention. this is high praise! he never does that!

mom: who's that? [dain] me: the whitecloak perrin spared when he escaped with aviendha mom: i don't remember that me: we watched that YESTERDAY mom: 🤷

she did remember after another moment though haha but that supports my impression that ep5 was A Bit Too Much New Info for her to take in all at once

lanfear: rand i'm the only one who truly cares about you mom: i don't think THAT'S true!

when perrin tells hopper to stay there: "he's just going to leave his dog out in the desert with no water???"

mom when lanfear calls ishy sweetheart and strokes his hair: wait was he the one she was in love with????? me: no it was rand's past life, that's why she's obsessed with rand mom: rand's past WIFE???? me: LIFE

babe wake up new polycule just dropped (lanfear/ishy/lews/ilyena)

she GASPED when renna cut off egwene's braid! as she should!

she said "too bad min isn't here" during the episode (she thought it would be helpful if min could tell mat what would happen if he were to touch the dagger; i was like "i think he knows it would be bad mom" lmao) and after the episode she anxiously asked if we would ever see min again, dammit mom don't you dare become a min stan on me jdkfgh (although, the fact that she thought we might not see her again indicates it's 0% on her radar that min might be anyone's love interest, which is interesting! a number of show-onlys were at least expecting her to be mat's i think)

nynaeve: i'll make you regret the first kiss your mother ever gave your father mom: [delighted] that's a creative one! dad: there are a lot of nasty women on this show and only one nasty man [ishy] me and mom: TUH!

although he is not wrong to say that s2 was the season of Female Villains and Women Being Mean (and i loved every moment of it!). don't you worry dad, rand's gonna be stepping up to fill the Nasty Man Quota soon enough. and i can't wait!

dad when rand is watching egwene from a distance: he's not doing a good job of hiding me: at least his cloak is the same color as the wall dad: well his dumb face isn't

why is he SUCH a hater when it comes to poor rand jkdjfg please, that's your future son-in-law!

they both were repeatedly pressed about everyone carrying the horn box (or rather "the briefcase" as my dad called it) out in the open

mom: they need to just put it in a sack! me: they don't have any sacks on hand! mom: there's plenty of sacks lying around!!!

she keeps thinking that rand got the heron-marked sword from his mom, and when she saw that turak had one she was like "but i thought those were the swords of the aiel?" and i cracked up imagining how offended aiel would be to hear her say that

she missed rand killing all the seanchan because she was too busy asking me the above question, but when she looked back at the screen she went 1) "oh, this is so gory" 2) "did RAND do all that????"

she was sad about ingtar, she was like "ohhhh, i liked him :(" imagine caring about ingtar, could not be me jdkfg

me: so lanfear is talking about the seals of the other forsaken, she wants this guy to throw them all in the ocean because she doesn't want them to be released mom: why doesn't she just do it herself? me: me: me: i don't know, actually..................

(maybe she just wanted them gone stat but didn't want to leave falme for even a moment while shit was going down with rand and ishy? or maybe she was like, I'm Too Hot And Iconic To Get My Hands Dirty Doing Things Myself)

mom as soon as renna's shown to be alive, after egwene's picked up the collar: she should go put the collar on her!

she been knew again!

mom at the mat-perrin reunion: put the spear down before you hug him, you'll stab someone by accident!!!!

she was glad to see egwene get her vengeance, but added "but now i bet she'll feel guilty for killing someone because she's a good person :("

ishy: [talking about what rand did in his past life] mom: rand doesn't even remember that! rand right on cue: i'm not lews therin!

i warned her "you might not want to look" just before hopper's death, but she did look, and she was very sad. as was i!

she thought that one of the heroes of the horn was stepin and i told her it wasn't (it was just some random guy with similar hair) but maybe i should've let her keep on believing it because it's a nice idea!

mom when the spear goes through ishy and hits rand: OH NO!!!! just like min said!!! me: [vibrating with glee over The Great Cauthor Stabbening]

when ishy said "i'm sorry old friend" to rand here my dad said "that sounds familiar" and i was like what's he talking about? but then realized that's what LTT said to ishy in the cold open!!! my heart!!! thank you dad for catching that parallel, i gotta go make a gifset now

"how is one guy holding off all these soldiers by himself?" mom i cannot believe you of all people would doubt lan!

she laughed at rand being like "[half-dead] who are you???" but made no comment on the subsequent romantic shot of elayne. however, after the episode she was like "'who are you?' rand said................is something going to happen with him and elayne??" and i was like 🤷😁😁😁😁 and then she said "but they both have red hair, are they from the same place?" and i told her that elayne is not aiel and not ALL redheads are aiel lmao and maybe i should've just said "you'll see" but. i don't think it's a spoiler to confirm that elayne is not aiel.

she does not believe that ishy is really dead, and she kept asking me if he was really dead and if he shows up again later in the books and i swear, the three oaths possessed me in that moment and made me incapable of saying "yes he's really dead, no we don't see him again in the books". so i just kept shrugging which probably made it obvious that indeed, this is not the last we see of him haha

mom when moiraine starts weaving fire in the direction of the tower: what's she doing?! everyone's up on that tower!!! me: she's not trying to BLOW UP RAND mom: oh

at some point during all the battles she was like "now what's lanfear up to during all this? 🤨" a good thought to have always!

at the end of the episode: "now we have to wait a whole year or two for the next season!!!!!" she's hooked!!

favorite character roundup: my mom said lan is #1 and egwene is #2, and she also loves loial, and she said that she didn't care for perrin last season but likes him a lot now. my dad said his favorites are "the tree guy" (loial) and "the new woman at the end who's more powerful than anyone we've seen so far" (moghedien! that one was a surprise to me. tumblr 🤝 my dad. i hope he'll enjoy The Season Of Moghedien next season! tho it could also be that he just said her because she was the last character we saw and he'd already forgotten all the other ones lmao)

#wot #wot on prime #the wheel of time #wot show spoilers #wot book spoilers

[transgamerthoughts]

a night at poe's masquerade

Last night I made a quick tweet about how I think Persona games (particular from Persona 3 onwards) tend to be fundamentally conservative games. In worlds filled with magic powers, shadow selves, and literal gods there's an understanding that many of the most villainous people you can know are folks in positions of social/political power who weaponize their status in order to prey on those beneath them. This is a particular focus of Persona 5 but it extends even back to back to a game like Persona 2 and characters like Tatsuzou Sudou. Although these games acknowledge the social structures that lead to particularly vicious kinds of abuse, there is tendency for our protagonist to then fold themselves into those power structures. In games that focus less on real-life political allegory, there's still pattern of protagonists eventually accepting the societal roles that they're initial chafing against. It's a very common occurrence in the series. clockwork!

Persona 4 is the chief culprit here. Yukiko struggles with the idea that her presumed inheritance of the Amagi Inn is an imposition on her life but makes peace with that fact and eventually prepares herself for that role. Chie confronts Adachi, shocked that anyone who chose to be a police officer would do so for selfish reasons or betray the ideal image she holds of that job. Though confronted with the ways in which the system enabled Adachi's murders, she ultimately decided that she wants to become a police officer. Just as some examples. there's more. it's a fraught game in many ways

(I'm not gonna talk about Naoto. That's a minefield. as a trans critic people ask what I think about Naoto quite often. my answer is I like Naoto quite a bit and while I appreciate the queer read I don't need her story to be actually about transness. my tongue in cheek deep position here is that I think she's the damn coolest thing in the Dancing All Night opening movie. absolute fire!)

Persona fans are totally reasonable human beings. by which I mean that they might be the most electric and fuckin' absurd fandom I've ever encountered. While some people agreed with my read of the series, many others swarmed in. Which is fine enough. That's just what happens when you're visible on Twitter. I don't really have an interest in outlining the series in gross detail although, contrary to many accusations, I have played all the mainline games. One thing that can never be hurled my way is a suggestion that I don't play videos games. This criticism doesn't arise out of nowhere though I admit I didn't exactly expect it to become a trending topic floating in the "For You" tab. I was tweeting before bed.

Lesson learned! this fandom is wild! So it goes!

I've been thinking about people's responses and I want to venture into fraught territory to talk about a particularly bad habit I see from many fans. Which I think can be extended to things like ongoing debates about localization as much as they can apply to this little tempest in a teapot. Which is that I've grown somewhat concerned with he ways in which RPG fans (intentionally or not) exoticize Japan as a means to defend their favorite games from critique. It's kinda bad!

and I'm gonna risk a ramble exploring the topic… and I wonder how tumblr in 2024 will compare in reaction to hellscape of twitter

Something you often encounter in these discussions is an implication (sometimes a direct suggestion) that it is impossible to really engage with Japanese media as a westerner. That there's too many layers of nuance and too many centuries of ingrained tradition for anyone who has not engaged in lengthy study on the topic to penetrate. Often, this is framed as a desire to simply put things in cultural contexts. respect it and give due seriousness! Which is fine. I absolutely think if you wanna talk about something like the portrayal of the Japanese justice system in Judgement, it probably helps to… y'know… know details about the Japanese justice system. If you want to talk about how a game approaches gender, an understanding of certain social mores is important. No one debates this; it's important to understand art as arising from specific material conditions and places.

This is not really the approach people take however. Instead there is an insistence that the cultural difference between Japan and western nations is essentially insurmountable. Which has some bad implications. I think people are well meaning when they're like "hey, you gotta watch this YouTuber talk about Shintoism and JRPG boss fights for over an hour" but it comes at the cost of painting the culture as something of a puzzle to solve. and make no mistake: I'm glad anyone is doing the work but there's a bit of strangeness at play when folks are like "well you're American" and then tell me to watch criticism also made by Americans. especially since I do have a educational background that includes the study of world religions. i've studied plenty of this! and it's not impossible for me to have grasped.

the world is beautiful and nuanced and specific and full of vibrancies. but these things are not so singular that we can't connect with them or come to know them. and those nuances and specifics and vibrances don't create a protective ward around works. if anything, they're invitations to explore something new. if I walk away from Persona with a position that you don't agree with I promise that it's not something that's happened in haste. It used to be my job to think about games. and I've thought about Persona a lot! it's not inaccesible.

When we start to paint a culture as being particularly foreign we inherently exoticize it. We drape a degree of mystery over it which implies there is no universal connections found in art. Of course the concept of "police" is different in Japan to some extent as is the expectations that go into inheriting a family business. yes, the social nuances of a classroom differ. But Japan is not so alien to the western critic that we can't look at popular fiction and spot patterns. I certain don't need a 17 anime consumer to write me an essay on honne and tatemae or whatever in order to understand what's going on in the Midnight Channel. It's an easily observable truth that Persona often identifies issues within Japan society while also (particularly in Persona 5's case) concluding that these problems are not a consequence of specific power structures but rather moral failings of certain bad individuals. That's the text. Even when it wants to suggest otherwise.

Here's a little snippet from Persona 5. On face value, it seems to contradict what I'm saying. "Harper, how can you say that it only cares about individuals when it outright says that society itself needs to be addressed!?" DO YOU EVEN PLAY THESE GAMES YOU BITCH?! The answer is that the game does not have a model or idea of what it means to change society except vaguely to inspire people to more individual action. be nicer. stand up for yourself, speak your truth, do things for your own reasons. which has a radical element to it in the context to be sure but we've spent a huge portion of the game seeing how the abuse of power, particularly power placed in certain positions and social strata

a change of mindset is good but… is that sufficient? I'm not entirely convinced. not if this game want to truly deliver on everything it has explored. (side note, a lot of folks were like "why are you focusing on p5 so much here?" and the answer is that it's recent, representative of the series' values from the last decade or so, and because I'm a tired adult in their 30s who has stuff to do and isn't obligated to make a 300 tweet long thread breaking down multiple scripts. if you want me to do that labor, you better pay me for my time. otherwise I don't care to appease fan who have no plans of truly entertaining what I'd do anyway. no breakdown I do could please them)

but you fight Yaldabaoth Harper! You kill the collective gestalt representative of the status quo!. okay sure but the metaphorical battle falters as the game ultimately imagines many of our heroes (for instance Makoto, who also decides to become a cop even after her sister leaves the profession to become a defense attorney) are content to slide into the power structures as they exist. they've simply become "good apples" in the same basket that held the bad ones What does it matter if you kill the metaphor when you don't carry through elsewhere? It's not simply some vague human desire to be exploited that created the various monstrous villains we face throughout the game. There's real material circumstances, systems and long-held powers that gave them the carte blanche that enabled their abuses! Be they financial, political, or even sexual.

We might layer nuances on top of this of course. Notions of reticence to change or valuing of tradition, attitudes towards elders. But when we do so it's important be careful. When fans imply impenetrabilities in the works by virtue of cultural difference, there's a risk of veering into a kind of Orientalism. One which mystifies the culture and turns it into a kind of "other." Distant, strange. This sometimes comes paired with a kind of infantilization of creators but that's a different though similarly fraught topic that I think is particularly best left in the hands of the creators themselves. I'm not the person to talk about that!

Nevertheless, a frustrating part of the response to my tweet today has been a rush to say "This work functions that makes it necessarily elide your ability to critique it."

I'll be an ass and generalize. It's mostly people with Persona avatars making this suggest. That Persona, as a Japanese work, is imbued with an ineffable quality that magically allows it to side-step what's ultimately a pretty timid conclusion. Many of these folks are younger players, self-identified as such in profiles, who clearly have a deep connection to the series. It means something to them. But I'd rather they simply say "hey, I found this thing particularly moving at an important moment in my life" rather than conjure an impassable ocean between myself (or really anyone) and the work in the event they find flaws.

Otherwise, you just get this:

Stories are not merely about what happens on the journey. The destination does matter. It means something when the king grabs his shining sword and fights off the orc invaders or whatever. A value system is suggested Similarly, it does means something when Chie becomes a cop. (This is just a shorthand example mind you! But you hopefully get the idea!)

I don't think games or any work of art need us to defend them. The trap of fandom is that you often turn to any possible means to justify what you love. For Persona, a series which does have the decency to explore cultural issues, that same cultural specificity is often weaponize by fans (largely western fans even!) to deflect certain problems. This process inadvertently portrays that culture as a mystery, a shrouded thing that we cannot ever criticize. It's one thing to dig into some of those contextual specifics but it's another all-together to imply these specifics provide a mean to abrogate certain analyses. and I think navigating the line between due deference and something deeper and stranger seems to be something many of the fans reacting to me... have not managed. I had a peer talk to me about this situation and their feeling was that the animated members of the fandom that were coming at me, many of whom are self-identified as young and western, were kinda treating Japan like it was a land of elves. which it's not! it is a place on Earth and yes we need to take strides to understand and respect certain specificities... but we can't mystify an entire people. especially if the purpose is to turn those people and their culture into a shield. a means to justify and validate the specialness you see in a franchise.

I call Persona conservative because it cannot imagine a world in any other shape that what we have right now. God dies but nothing actually changes. I don't think it's enough to say "well, they defeated the god! and they needed the collective strength of society to do it! people did change because without that change of heart, the heroes wouldn't have the magical juice to fight the Kabbalah monster!" to toss Makoto's words back at the series: victory against a single god is meaningless if the true enemy is society.

If you can't show me what that grand spiritual change means for society, then I think you've kinda failed. you've certainly failed if the conclusion is that the world after that change is functionally the same and it doesn't really matter to me if "they talk about this in Strikers or whatever" because you can't offload your thematic snarls to side games. if the main stories you tell can't resolve this tension, that's a problem. these are often very beautiful games. they certainly have amazing structure and systems. but I don't think it's controversial to say they often hedge their bets at the end. and there's no impenetrable cultural wall surrounding the games that leaves the criticism off the table.

that's just What Happens. and it's fine for us to acknowledge flaws in even in things that contain beauty or meant something to us

really. it's fine.

#persona #casual game crit #fandom

[lloydfrontera]

Now that Javier experienced Lloyd sacrificing himself do you think he will still want him to go and sacrifice himself and save others or will he be now fine with Lloyd wanting to runaway especially with what he heard through the door?

that's such an interesting question.

to start with javier never wanted lloyd to sacrifice himself. just to be clear. that's not something javier ever wanted of him. he hoped he would try to help others even if it meant risking his life which is different but i guess the difference can be a little tricky.

that being said.

i don't believe javier would ever want lloyd to put himself in danger ever again, not for him, not for the estate, not for anyone else. but. i do think he would subconsciously expect it from him. you get what i mean?

like. he'd never want or think to ask lloyd to risk his life again, he'd do everything in his power so lloyd is never in a situation where he would have to, just like he swore to do in ch 384

And on the other hand, he made a promise. He was determined. I will protect that stupid friend even more firmly. No matter what happens. No matter what situation comes. I will protect that coward who pretends to be calm. ‘So don’t whine that you don’t want to die. Because that won't happen. If that moment comes, I will be the one who dies. for you... I'm willing to do that.'

so like. as far as javier is aware he would never let lloyd do something like that.

but. he would expect it. because that's what lloyd got him used to. which is,, very important to remember imo. i don't think it's fair to get upset at javer for feeling disappointed when lloyd says he won't put his life at risk for the sake of others when time after time lloyd has shown that he's very much willing to do so. and has explicitly said he will do so. like!! talk about giving mixed signals here!

remember the mastodons incident?? that time javier got upset precisely because lloyd kept putting his life in danger?? and lloyd was the one that told him that sorry but he would keep doing it anyway??

"I fully get what you are saying," Lloyd continued. "And I know you have good intentions. You're telling me to run safely and don't take things into my own hands when danger arises. Right?" "Yes," Javier confirmed "But you're upset because I always get winded up in this situation by risking myself, totally ignorant of my place. I'm right on this one, too, right?" asked Lloyd. "Yes, that's right." "But what else can I do? I don't think I can be more careful in the future." "Why is that?" asked Javier. "There are people that trust and work for me." Javier wanted to refute and fight back. But he couldn't come up with anything, so he stayed silent. Lloyd continued to speak amid his silence. "Of course, I don't want to be in danger, either. I'm scared. And I hate dying all the more. But you see, everyone has their own responsibilities," said Lloyd.

like?? i don't think it's unfair for javier to expect lloyd to try to help others even if it means putting his life in danger when this is an actual conversation they had.

the misunderstanding here was that when lloyd said he had a responsibility to others, he meant the people that worked for him, the ones under his care, the people he's in charge of. he owes them that protection because they put his trust in him and he's not gonna betray that even if it means his life.

but javier thinks they have that responsibility with everyone. he thinks it's their duty to protect those than can't protect themselves, even if they're not part of their estate or territory. he believes they owe them that protection because they are stronger than they are and it's their responsibility to do their best to help even if it means their lives.

and guess what! lloyd always ends up coming back to save everyone anyway! despite his fears, despite his protests, he always ends up risking his life for strangers anyway!... okay, mostly for javier but still! javier doesn't know that! he doesn't know that the major reason lloyd disregards his safety is because he cannot stand the idea of javier dying while being a hero! why would he! they're both very stupid when it comes to the other!

as far as javier knows lloyd always ends up doing the altruistic thing despite his words to the contrary. why wouldn't he expect him to do it again even when he doesn't want him to.

so like. yes javier would be okay with lloyd running away but he wouldn't actually expect him to and it would be a jarring surprise to him if lloyd did.

and the thing is. i think if lloyd suggested running away and javier accepted, it would even more jarring for lloyd, because that's just... not what he would expect from javier. which i believe would then send him down a spiral of anxiety and mixed feelings about being the reason javier gave up one of the things he most admired in him that would end up with him deciding to stay and help. thereby confirming exactly what javier expected of him. again.

but again. that's just what i think ajskdjskdfds

#hey i got an ask #Anonymous #tged #the greatest estate developer #lloyd frontera #javier asrahan #ch 384 #ch 155 #this was fun! i didn't know what my answer would be when i started writing this down actually aksdjlsdfds #but yeah i think it's fascinating to see javier's expectations and wishes for lloyd developing through the novel #he's a little ball of contradictions that make perfect sense when looked at in context #remember that javier started with the lowest opinion possible for lloyd he had absolutely no expectations or hopes for him #him coming to expect lloyd to be selfless and risk his life for others?? #completely lloyd's fault for. y'know. being selfless and risking his life for others!! funny how that works!! #turns out when you act a certain way other people come to expect that behavior from you! for both good and bad things! funny!!

[brightnote]

Secret Invasion Episode 6

I gotta to tell you. You might be better off not watching this final episode. It’s really really really really bad. Like it is so pathetically bad I straight up started laughing at it. The second it started I just knew that Maria was gone for good with nothing on that. It really is just such an absolute waste and a shame.

There was no surprise twist or reveal, everything you thought was going to happen in the worst way happened. This whole show could have been a five minute summary clip in the start of the Marvels and Maria and Talos could still be alive but no... we have this... 

In a fight that’s so personal, that Fury himself doesn’t even do it (which we all knew was gonna happen and was not even the least bit suspenseful....) G’iah fights Gravik and avenges Talos. It was super skrull vs super skrull and to be honest it was very boring. 

Literally nothing happens with Maria’s death. LITERALLY. I did get hyped in one scene when they pulled that agent away and I thought she was coming back as the agent. Since Cobie was like I had scenes at the same time as Don... yeah girl where the fuck were they, did they get cut? But the second I saw Olivia Coleman and I was like oh no, there isn’t going to be a reveal. And it was the lowest stakes most cliche Marvel Disney Channel type thing you could imagine.

I’m just not even sure why they brought Maria into it at all? Like Talos was already chasing Skrull Ross... Talos already had Fury’s number.... Fury and Maria I guess are out of it hanging out at bars in places they aren’t supposed to be and I guess Fury really was a sad boi who is so out of touch he thinks he, Talos, and Maria could just randomly stop dirty bombs with their bare hands I guess? He never avenged her, there’s a video of him shooting her, is anyone gonna explain that to Momma Hill? She served no purpose in this show and even her death served no purpose so like why was she even in it? 

to be fair, I think this show had a lot of potential to be awesome, and my Maria bias aside it really failed to deliver. Also, not having Maria in it would have saved them 4 million dollars, but go Cobie for getting that Marvel money. If you do the math for screen time ratio to pay she’s the highest paid person on the show!

It does make me sad but I hope there is going to be a Maria Rambeau and Maria HIll scene in The Marvels, I’ll wait until it’s on disney+ though cause I am not giving them a cent for killing Maria for real. I can’t believe they killed her for real and IN THIS TERRIBLE SHOW. She could have at least died in a movie!! 

Also you can’t sell a show as a boots on the ground agents fighting shapeshifters you won’t know who any one is when it’s all about super powers, the big scene is a fight between super skrulls G’iah is now the most powerful being the universe for some reason..... and there was almost no spy or espionage stuff going on. Not a spy thriller ... there was no wrap up ... the show ended just as it started Fury abandoning earth with a whole lot of problems but at least he gets to be with his wife who totally betrayed him but he’s cool with that now I guess!!! 

I am dying that in my 4 theories post the last theory which i said was the most boring and stupid and the most likely to happen, almost happened perfectly:

“Maria is really dead and nothing happens about that or her death being made public and there his no explanation about anything that happened in the first episode and we get absolutely no closure on this.

Fury and Varra make up and kiss cause everything is cool with them now apparently despite Varra’s earlier betrayal but he gets a happy ending cause he’s a man!  And then Fury wipes his hands and goes back up to space. He finally gives Carol Danvers a call and that’s the lead in to the Marvels. Then in the Marvels we get a flashback to Maria and Talos being murdered so all of the audience who isn’t watching this show is like oh what wait they dead? What?! Why are they dead? And not a thing happens with any of that.

This would be the most disappointing outcome but this is my guess cause it’s the most boring and stupid and probably most likely because Marvel is so slay-phobic right now”

SLAY PHOBIC 100% 

I’m not sure why this whole show was made, it could have been condensed down to a three to five minute scene in the marvels. 

#secret invasion #secret invasion spoilers #the marvels #carol danvers #maria hill #cobie smulders #emilia clarke #g'iah #talos #ben mendelsohn #nick fury #samuel l jackson #marvel #mcu #marvel cinematic universe

[breakfastteatime]

hope you don't mind the rant but argh i finally realised why i feel so disconnected to survivor in comparison to how close jfo is to me

spoilers for those who haven't played survivor

but i really dislike major decisions made and i'm gonna babble on a little (i've had like eight panadol and two sleeping meds as of the last hour n a half so if this doesn't make sense that's why)

one that's been swirling around my head ever since i played us that it really felt like they brought cordova back JUST to kill him off. this also ties into my next point that i find bode's betrayal hard to believe as well. every role he had in the story could easily be replaced by someone such as cere, and i felt like the only reason he was there was to have someone for bode to kill to show how really evil he was but respawn didn't want to kill any of the main cast off. he's such a useless character in the plot that killing him off didnt effect anything LMAO

my next major dislike is, understandably, about bode :,) yes i know this can come off as making excuses for a character i was attached to since the trailers dropped but the more i think about it the more i really cannot understand both the timeline and the motive that was behind bode's betrayal. i kind of get the idea he was lax about betraying them UNTIL cal mentioned using tanalorr for the hidden path but according to the echoes you get after the game bodenis plotting and scheming the whole time... plus, you think that his whole motive relies on creating a safe place for kata on tanalorr where no one can find them but also like. you have two (technically three) jedi, a nightsister, and a whole clan of anchorites that kick the empire's ass every day. "will you be able to protect her when the empire comes?" fuckass have you SEEN cal use a lightsaber?? kata is safer with cal then she is bode

dagan was hella underwhelming too which disappointed me tbh i was excited for this high republic jedi to show us all this cool stuff only for him to die in like three seconds 😔

ANYWAY i hope this ain't too long but i'd love to hear your thoughts/criticisms on js bc i love the game and all the little bits are amazing but some of the decisions made have me a bit hrghh

Okay, friend, you asked for it ;)

The decision to bring back Cordova was an unexpected one, but the sight of him makes me cry happy tears every damn time, so it doesn't bother me at all. I take your point re: Cere being able to do everything he does, but part of Bode’s betrayal also hinges on him betraying Cere to Vader, who clearly wants vengeance after Nur (which is SO IN CHARACTER for Vader I can only lol. Petty bitch.), so Bode killing her wouldn't have had quite the same impact.

Because I was so convinced he was dead that him *actually* being dead didn’t strike me as ‘brought back only to die’. I would argue that killing him off did put them at risk of not being able to reach Tanalorr and defintely drove Cal to Nova Garon, but yes… Cordova's character probably lacks development and definitive purpose compared to the others… Although even as I say that, I find myself thinking of the logs he left behind in the various ruins on Jedha and the words of advice and I just can’t get mad. Plus there's that teeny hint that he's been unwell when Merrin asks how he's feeling. I see your points, yes, but I'm not too fussed by any of it.

Moving onto Bode...

So, here’s my interpretation of Bode, based on the post-game echoes and the little nuances that take on a totally new light on a replay. Bode is playing Cal from the very beginning. They are never friends from Bode’s perspective, and he is a master manipulator. He’s a textbook abuser – he lovebombs Cal with compliments and praise to cement their relationship, and does the same with everyone in his family. Plus, he used his knowledge of Cere’s location to further his cause with the Empire.

There’s also a power dynamic at play here because Bode was a Jedi Knight during the war while Cal was still a Padawan. Bode is older and more experienced with the world than Cal. He knows Cal longs for friendship, and he wields that against him more effectively than any weapon. Every action, every word, every choice Bode makes is solely to dig in deeper with Cal so he can and Kata can escape the Empire. Had Cal agreed that Tanalorr would just be for them, *maybe* Bode wouldn’t have betrayed him the way he did, but Bode is well on his way to the dark side because of his attachment to Kata. And Cal very nearly follows him because of his attachments to his family.

To me, this is what the Jedi Order meant by 'no attachments'. Jedi are allowed to love, but when that love becomes all consuming, when it becomes an obsession, that’s when the attachment becomes dangerous. Bode’s story is very similar to Anakin’s, he’s just not as powerful. Hasn’t got those Skywalker genes 😉  

Bode’s motive to me is clear – he *thinks* everything is about Kata, but actually it’s all about him. It’s about his grief and rage and fear because of his wife's death the terrible choices he made. Denvik promises that if Bode gives him what he wants (Cal and Cere), he will reveal which Inquistor murdered his wife. Bode is already in it for revenge, not his daughter's wellbeing. His choices are very pre-meditated. He is a parent, yes, and I can understand that overriding love of a child, but he is also a grieving husband who is so broken by his loss that his love for Kata has become too possessive. He is terrified of losing his daughter, and it eclipses his love for her. Kata is aware of this, and her love is also turning to fear. Bode is neglectful (he's always leaving Kata behind) and bordering on abusive at the end. He trusts no one but himself, and he even asks Cal at the very end if he can protect Kata. Cal says nothing because he knows he can’t – he’s tried protecting so many people, and he’s lost nearly all of them. He won’t make a promise he can’t keep, and that’s what completely breaks Bode. Bode doesn’t believe anyone *but him* can protect Kata because he has become completely consumed with fear and anger. Cal gave him a chance to make a better choice when he disarmed him. In fact, Bode had *so many chances* to make a better choice, and he didn’t. So, when Bode responded by choosing to try and kill Cal, Merrin *and* very nearly his own daughter, Cal had no choice but to put him down – hard. That second shot took my breath away both times I played the game because Cal knows he cannot save Bode and protect the people who matter, and by showing Bode mercy, more people will die. It's also about control - Bode tries to control everyone. Cal knows he can't, so he takes the only option left - killing Bode. Honestly, the more I think about that finale, the more intense it becomes. It's an astonishing moment.

I do wonder if the reason people struggle with Bode is because he is so nice, and he fits in so well, but it’s all fake and it’s all an act. Whether you saw it coming or not, that hurts. Cal – and the player – want so badly for Bode to be better than he is, and that’s the tragedy. Bode’s not capable of that. He has suffered losses just like Cal, but he couldn’t overcome them. It’s a lot to deal with emotionally!

And as for Dagan, I quite like him! Mostly because that final battle with him incorporates my favourite Star Wars thing – WEIRD FORCE SHIT. He’s also a mirror held up to Cal – this is what you could become if your obsession takes over you. I also think his relationship with Santari Khri is meant to show Cal the potential pitfalls of his relationship with Merrin if his attachment overcomes him… but we’ll have to see what happens next…

Gosh this got long. It's always fun to see other people's perspectives and share my own! Hope you've got some rest and feel better soon :)

#jedi survivor spoilers #star wars jedi: survivor #jedi survivor meta #answered asks #bode akuna #cal kestis #dagan gera #eno cordova #long post #breakfast tea has THOUGHTS and FEELINGS #times like this I wish i had a youtube channel el oh el

[sadberrystuff]

WHOO BOY DO I HAVE SMTH TO SAY ABOUT THE COFFEE THEORY (GO2 SPOILERS lol)

I am a believer in the Coffee Theory. Do I hate Azi? Couldn’t if I was at gunpoint. Do I blame him? Absolutely not. Do I think he’s brainwashed and totally out of control? Nope. Do I think he still is conscious and making decisions based on religious trauma and his heavenly conscience? Yup.

Now, there’s two things I think will happen, and I’m just gonna call em the Basic Path and the Raine Path, and I’ll explain why.

On the Basic Path, pretty much the entire Coffee Theory is true. The Metatron used a combination of miracles and/or almonds (which some speculate have the ability to brainwash) to control Aziraphale and manipulate him into betraying Crowley. I STRONGLY believe that Azi’s words and actions during the final scene were just a smidge to OOC. Not entirely OOC, but odd enough to suggest that he’s being influenced. He just acted too damn cold for someone who was so warm and excited to get away for a moment with Crowley, dance with him, party with him. He turned him away, straight up said “there’s nothing more to say” and let him go.

So I raise you: The Metatron wants Crowley. He’s likely willing to use Azi either as a bargaining force, or if needed, as bait. He’s seen them, and he knows that Crowley depends on Azi to live. He probably knows that sometime soon, Crowley will run back to Azi and apologize and try to mend things, despite his attempts to forget him. God knows what the Metatron could want with him, but as he had security clearance in Heaven and was important enough to be given the gift of creation, I think it’s fair to assume that Crowley was very, very powerful as an Angel. And whatever the Metatron wants won’t be good.

That brings me to the Raine Theory. Y’all TOH fans (I see you depressed gay weirdos) know what I’m about to propose. AZI IS FAKING IT. You can’t tell me with a straight face that him acting off doesn’t feel like Follies at the Coven Day Parade at least a little. So what if The Metatron DID miracle the coffee to be able to control him (maybe if he had miracled Azi directly it would have caused problems so he had to do it indirectly) but Azi used one of those miracle cancelling slips? He’s already demonstrated a great amount of skill in misdirection and even saved his own ass by swapping papers via magic. That last look that Azi has, the solemn and tearful look with his fingers pressed to his lips, screams “I wish I could have returned it”. He looks hopeful and determined in the elevator. He may be convinced that he’s saving Crowley, or that he’ll take down the Metatron with the help of inside forces. And Crowley is probably *sigh* going to intervene and try to help.

I don’t think it’s fair to outright dismiss the Coffee Theory, nor is it fair to outright dismiss Aziraphale’s actions as OOC, because they were heartfelt and followed his moral code. I just wanted to throw my opinion in the fray because I’m REALLY hoping for the Raine Theory to pull through because I can’t get enough of the faking-being-hypnotized trope

#go2 #go2 spoilers #go 2 speculation #ineffable husbands #crowley #aziraphale #coffee theory #good omens #good omens theory #just brain dumping #dont mind my rambling #toh #raine whispers #sorry I’m a nerd

[aitu]

OK this is gonna be some Good Omens meta with implied Good Omens 2 spoilers and Good Omens 3 speculation so please feel free to scroll on but...

I've seen people talk about how much they dislike the idea of Crowley and Aziraphale ending the series as humans and lemme tell you I am RIGHT there with you. Not only because it would condemn them to infinitely shortened lives, but also because it does nothing to solve the structural problems inherent to Heaven and Hell. Like, yes, it would free the two of them from those systems (until they died?) but if the systems remain in place with the continued power to harm those who work within them, is that really a happy ending?

Idk HOW we can dismantle these toxic systems (it's not my job to know) but sometimes I think about the total destruction of Heaven and Hell and the building of a secret third thing where angels and demons are reintegrated with one another in a reflection of the multiple times the Book says that the two sides are basically indistinguishable just by looking. I think about angels and demons having to face one another and millennia-old resentments head-on, not through war but through communication. The angels could express how betrayed they felt when the demons rebelled, when the angels were stuck being Good, and the demons could vent about how much it hurt to have their friends take up arms against them for the sin of questioning God. I think about the two groups having real conversations for the first time in more than 6000 years in this shared space and coming out on the other side a single group. Not because the angels have Fallen or because the demons have been Redeemed but because they've all found ways to forgive one another.

(What this would mean for the cosmology of the blessed and the damned souls of dead humans, idk. Maybe the new Afterlife would implement a system of reincarnation built on the foundation that at the end of the day everybody is just trying their best with what they have?)

Point is, I don't think AziraCrow can be really safe & happy together until their "sides" no longer see the other as the enemy. The Heaven/Hell divide will always be a barrier, harmful not only to our duo but to everyone involved, from the lowest angel to the highest demon. I guess what I'm saying is, the idea of AziraCrow deciding to escape the Heaven/Hell divide by becoming human is a lot less satisfying to me than the idea of them leading the charge to mend the wounds that caused that divide and becoming Something New, together.

Oh also Jesus is there? Maybe They can be the moderator.

#Good Omens #Good Omens meta #Good Omens 2 #Good Omens 3 #AziraCrow #good omens: the point i'm trying to make is the dolphins #Otp: angel and my dear #Good omens spoilers #go2 spoilers #go3 speculation

[bibluebutterfly]

Just wanna talk about Stella,this is gonna be long:

I'm not defending her or Stolas or anyone mentioned in this

That quote she said when she argued with Stolas: "I like tormenting you, I like to remind you of what you did" or "Well stop, it's annoying to hear you screeching your silly woes all the time"

On a surface level, she sounds annoyed, complaining about how Stolas is a coward and how weak he is

I can't help but feel it that way somehow that what she said is right in some aspects. Please remember I'm not defending her, I'm just analysing what she maybe feeling or thinking about

I mean Stella could've huge expectations of Stolas,an idealized version of him,she could've wanted Stolas to be someone fearsome and cruel,but we know Stolas is a softy,he dislikes brutality and barely goes physical,in that he's not active in the physical strength aspect. I'm not saying being weak is bad or not pretty, it's not the good thing in Stella's view

I can see one factor which makes their marriage unhappy is that Stolas wasn't what Stella truly wanted: Stolas goes against what the Goetia royalty always abide by like "keep your head high or the crown falls down"

Stolas himself doesn't always keep his head high,he loves an imp for godsake and he doesn't care that much about social classes,he went to a ripped off amusement park where only imps go bcuz it was his fave childhood place,no self-respecting,noble royalty would go there

For a Goetia royalty like Stella,she cannot accept her husband doesn't follow what their families have been doing for centuries or simply how she wants him to be

Perhaps exactly bcuz she was just a bride married into the pureblood Goetia family is why she is angry at Stolas,she may have been trained to act like a Goetia since she was a kid bcuz she's gonna be one of them after marriage. The Goetia seems fairly traditional to me and I don't think it's impossible they have certain traditions and hierarchical codes,so if Stella was grounded into being a Goetia despite not actually being one or a lesser one,her bro is at a lower rank than her father in law,naturally she's upset her husband who was probably higher than her in rank but he doesn't act his position

Opposite to Stolas who's not hierarchical/social classes based,the hierarchy is everything to Stella,like you said about Stella having been told to keep up appearances,she would rather be caught dead than looking like a "ugly swan"

The second factor belongs to "I like tormenting you, I like to remind you of what you did" she could've been talking about the cheating with an imp,she sounds like a sadist who just wants to torture the husband she hates,but what if it's deeper than that? For some reason her tone when she said that sentence sounds like she was somehow betrayed by him which is possible how she feels

Relating to my previous point,Stolas was wrong of being and doing many things in Stella's eyes,he's a pathetic coward,he went against the norms of their Goetia society,etc. Stella could've been the only one in the family of her, Octavia and Stolas,who has been trying to keep up the facade of proud royalties since it's definitely mandatory for every Goetia,whether they're a pureblood or not

So ofc it's worse than cheating with an imp, technically in a way, Stolas was playing around and enjoying himself with pleasure while Stella is working her ass off to make their family look good. It's unfair for Stella,her husband didn't actively partake in the "keeping the family's name grand and powerful" duty,which I think it's important to a royalty, Stolas totally doesn't act like a proud Goetia unlike Stella is,sure she's the childishly frustrated wife here,but in another way, she's pretty right to be angry and Stolas had to ruin it for her

I mean she was fine with cheating cuz it's the norm in their society and status wise but she can't accept the class difference,showing how strong she has the high class superiority and how deep rooted that mentality is

Again, I'm not defending anyone mentioned in this analysis at all, I'm trying to look at both sides of the story, I found Stolas and Stella to be parallel forces and I'm interested in that,a lot of people keep trying to victimise Stolas in that "he did nothing wrong" but we should consider that this is Hell and it's not wrong to have faults, it's not wrong to personally I don't think Stolas was wrong but he's not actually completely right

Come on now this is Hell,you can be right and wrong

I think when she said about how Stolas was uninterested in her during their marriage and she had to do all the work, including making an heir and keeping up the grand facade. It sounds like Stolas was neglecting Stella,his own wife,she could've expected a loveless marriage but she may have wanted him to at least act like a husband, I mean she could have been fine with him just giving her expensive gifts to create an image of a doting husband to their peers and Stella can have stuff to brag about with her rich friends

Now I know Stolas said he didn't hurt her,but in some screwed way,he indirectly hurt her by not being that into the marriage. Sure it's an arranged marriage but he technically was irresponsible in this marriage bcuz even if it's forced,he still has the responsibility of a husband. Yes I know this sounds mean and awful, I'm heavily aware Stolas didn't want this marriage and he was put into some bullshit he doesn't want,but the exact same can be said to Stella

It's like Stella is an avid player of the power game and she's angry her husband didn't partake when he must have

-🌹

This is a very plausible analysis. Though the one thing I would argue with is how she hates Stolas because he doesn't participate in what she does to keep up their reputation other than just show up. This is because I think this would actually make her look better, being the one to host these events with her husband off to the side.

Think Lady Danbury from Bridgerton. Excluding the fact that personality wise she and Stella are COMPLETE opposites, Danbury also built a reputation for herself by hosting the most glamorous parties. Plus since Stella loves to insult and talk down on Stolas at her parties, I'd say that once again it makes her look good. To the public eye, she's the one who puts in all the work in both their relationship and their reputation.

It only STOPS making her look good when Stolas cheats, because by doing so, he's basically telling the public that he finds a lowly imp more desirable than his wife. Which is why it's so humiliating to her.

But besides that little tidbit, I can easily agree with the rest of this. Good insight!!

#helluva boss #helluva boss stolas #helluva boss stella #stolas helluva boss #stolas #helluva stolas #stolas goetia #helluva stella #stella goetia #asks answered

[pansyboybloom]

Wait so I'm confused here so bear with me; That post about the tmra thing, what is your stance on trans men talking about the issues affecting them specifically? I'm genuinely asking, cos it doesn't seem clear where you stand on this or how you view folks talking about trans man/masc issues specifically.

I know that seems weird to ask but I'm now so cautious in online trans space cos I apparently "don't have it as bad as a trans women" whenever I talk about my experience in the health sector dehumanising me and with queer spaces demonising me as a trans man or overall men or attractions to them, which just hurts because we have our unique issues. I'm just trying to understand what you feel.

You're welcome to ignore this if you want. /gen

this got soooo long im so sorry, but i wanted to give you a genuine answer so here we go!

so the person i was vauging about is a proud mra, like. 2014 men's right's activist opinions. obv im not gonna post his URL bc im not about that kind of life, but it's Bad. like, i 'explicitly hate women and im blaming them for the patriarchy hurting me, esp trans women' bad. the dude is a total douche.

now, as for us talking about our issues-- disclaimer here, i'm a white, gay, relatively gnc trans man who lives in the southern USA and passes well and im using that as my jumping-off point. I've been reading into some theory lately (whipping girl is great so far), but this is mostly my own experiences, not theory, based. I've mentioned it before, but i don't believe in misandery, and in that vein, i think that makes the concept of 'transmisndry/androphobia' misguided. in my interpretation of my transness, as someone who's lived as a woman for 19 years and a man for 5, I'm not facing discrimination for gaining manhood, but instead for losing womanhood. I'vd talked about that here and here, in reference to this quote but here are the highlights that are related to my opinion on being punished for leaving womanhood

trans men, on the other hand, are reaching for that 'ideal'[malehood]. we are trying to leave behind the despised and weak [womanhood], and that's so silly, so pathetic, you stupid little girl, you really think you can be the top in society? that's why radfems and similar 'feminists' say we are betraying our sex; they see it as leaving behind safety (women) for the enemy (men). to them, we are leaving them to rot in alone womanhood while we try to become the privileged ones stepping on their necks. this is also why the narrative surrounding trans women is predatory and sexual-- women only have power through sex, so a man would only want to leave manhood for sexual gratification-- while the narrative for us is that we are pathetic and tricked. women are stupid and delusional if they believe they could ever leave behind our oppression for privilege

and

that's why i don't see me being discriminated against as a trans man as something uniquely tied to anti-maleness / misandery/ androphobia / etc, but instead, just a facet of transphobia and misogyny (as well as ableism and such for me personally, but im talking bigger picture). I'm seen as a ruined woman because i betrayed gender roles. to them, im not transitioning because i am, ya know, actually a man, instead, i'm purposefully clawing my way out of the pit and hightailing it to the top, which is threatening. society doesn't like when women (trans men) are suddenly trying to be a class that is protected and privileged. im not transitioning to get access to privilege, but that's what it looks like to a transphobe, be them conservative man or radfem. im scary because im rocking the boat, not because im masculine, and they hate me because im showing their binary and hierarchy are false, not because im masculine. im stupid and delusional and a failure and a silly little girl and a bamboozled idiot tricked by trans women as well as a ruined woman and a rotten woman because of misogynistic binary power structures, not because im a dude. ya know? anyways, what holds me back is the gender binarist, cissexist, transphobic, and misogynistic stew that affects all trans people, just differently on a systemic and individual level

but i dont want people to think that we don't face our own issues. for example-- despite being on t for like 5 fucking years, I've had my period come back multiple times after switching back to gel. i panicked and went to a doc the 1st time, worried i was idk, dying, and she blew me off as not knowing my body and being hysterical. now do i think this was because i was trans? yes. do i think it was because i was a trans man? yes. but not because of the man part, but because of the 'was a woman' part. this doc was not seeing emil, the man, she was seeing emil, the stupid little girl who is playing pretend, and as such she treated me with the same disrespect she would a cis woman, just with different pronouns. I've found that most discrimination i have faced has more to do with people still seeing me as a woman and treating me as such, even when i pass and am very clearly a man.

now, do i think masculinity in the queer community is seen as bad? to an extent, yes, but i think that comes from gender essentialism more than any kind of misandry. butch women are abandoning 'the right kind' of womanhood, so they're bad. masc nb people, gnc people, and masc men are leaving behind the 'palatable' version of queerness that is, for lack of a better word, tied to femininity from a binarist and essenalist viewpoint. this femininity is an insult, wrong, so it is expected of queer people. this femininity is fake, easily dominated, flimsy, and docile in the eyes of a binarist and essentialist society. so queer people, who must be fake, easily dominated, flimsy, and docile to be safe for cishet society, must not be masculine. and like i said, even then it has to be the right kind of femininity. just ask any femme lesbian or trans woman or gnc trans man, like i am. we are punished for being feminine 'wrong' -- i could talk about this for hours, but i won't take up too much of your time haha. basically, i think that masculinity is punished in the queer community not bc of misandry/androphobia but because in the queer community, masculinity is being practiced in a way that breaks the norms we have internalized. it alllll comes back to the binary, gender essentialism, and misogyny.

obviously, my opinion is not the end all be all, and i welcome other takes and thoughts, (esp on this ask haha), but when it comes to other trans men, the insistence that a) misandry/androphobia/male oppression is real b) trans women are the cause of the problem or bad for calling us out when we say something gross and c) we don't need to do any soul searching on our own binarist, essentialist, or (trans)misogynistic thoughts, are when i have a problem. not when trans men want to talk about the oppression they face. i should be able to talk about that doctor's appointment, and you should be able to talk about your life experiences! just be sure not to fall into any internalized bigotry unintentionally in the process.

does that help? pls let me know if it does or doesn't, if it doesn't id love to dm and chat more

#long post

[onebadpunspoilsabunch]

On the topic on season 8 of mlp, I had a problem with the inconsistent way dragons were portrayed in season 8. It really confused me, since there were a lot of conflicting stuff being said by Smolder about how dragons treat their kids.

Oh, yeah! Right on! You're so right.

In the Molt Down Smolder told Spike that during the molt, dragon parents abandon their kids to fend for themselves against giant predators:

Spike: No-no-no-no-no. The last time I grew up, I turned into a giant greedy monster.

Smolder: Greed-induced bigness. That's totally different. The molt is completely normal. Every dragon goes through it. Pretty soon, you'll leave and strike out on your own.

Spike: Why would I do that?

Smolder: Have you been living with ponies your whole life?

Spike: Uh-huh.

Smolder: Oh. Well, in the Dragon Lands, a molter's loved ones kicks them out at the first stone scale.

Spike: What? Why?

Smolder: I think it's biological. We call it the "molt effect". I haven't even told you about the smell.

Spike: So no creature's gonna wanna be around me?

Smolder: Oh, I didn't say that. That molt stench is a magnet for predators. Tatzlwurms, hydras, rocs...

Spike: Dragons are scared of rocks?

Smolder: R-O-C-S. Rocs? Humongous birds of prey that can snack on a molting dragon like candy!

Spike: So Twilight's kicking me out, and the only creatures who don't find me disgusting want to eat me?

But in Father Knows Beast, Smolder tells Spike that dragon parents take time to teach their kids how to fly after they sprout wings:

Spike: Wow! Thank you so much! How did you know I just needed to bend my wings?

Smolder: Honestly, this is Dragon 101. Usually dragon parents teach this stuff.

So Dragon parents kick their kids out and don't care if their children are killed during puberty, but if they somehow survive through puberty then they take their kids back in just to teach them how to fly? Or was Smolder just lying to Spike?

In Father Knows Beast after Spike tells Smolder about Sludge:

Smolder: So, Sludge just lays around while you wait on him claw and tail? Uh, dragons are rude and rebellious, but they aren't lazy lumps who take advantage of their kids.

Spike: Huh. Now I'm really confused.

Then when Sludge reveals he lied about being Spike's dad in order to live in the Castle, Smolder berates him for it:

Sludge: Stop! I'm not your father!

Spike: What?

Sludge: I just said that to get in on this sweet castle life.

Spike: So... you... pretended to be my dad?

Sludge: Now-now-now-now-now, don't look at me like that, kid. I did what any dragon would do.

Smolder: No. You didn't.

Sludge: Hey. I saw an opportunity, and I took it. That's what dragons do.

Smolder: No. It isn't.

But in a previous episode, Smolder tells the Feast of Fire story that won the dragon contest, the story about Scales overthrowing the nice Dragon Lord:

Smolder: [narrating] Scales sat with the Dragon Lord's family and friends and had the biggest, best dinner of gemstones she'd ever eaten! Then, while the dragons were telling stories, Scales thought it would be so easy to seize power from this feeble and sensitive Dragon Lord. She saw her chance... and took it! [flames bursting]

Smolder: [narrating] She claimed the Bloodstone Scepter and took over the Dragon Lands! [as Scales, evil laughter] And forced the Dragon Lord to live out in the cold, just as she used to!

Ocellus: That's a horrible story!

Smolder: Maybe to you. But dragons like hearing about weak, kind creatures getting defeated.

Dragons are known to be opportunists and they enjoy stories of kind creatures getting betrayed and used, but Smolder tried to make a point to Sludge that it was definitely something dragons did not do...

Yeah, that's a bit confusing. 

It reminds me of the way Garble's character was retconned in Sweet and Smoky by Smolder's mere existence. 

This analysis is making me realize that Smolder's character only exists just to retcon/contradict everything we know about dragons. Spike is better off learning about dragons from Ember. I don't hate Smolder as a character, I just hate her role in certain stories, specifically involving Spike and dragons.

Sidenote: Torch and the ancient Dragon Lord are the nicest adult dragons we've seen in the show. Even after Ember disobeyed him, Torch congratulated her, and admitted he was wrong in front of the other dragons.

#ask #my little pony #mlp fim #my little pony friendship is magic #mlp g4 #mlp dragon #mlp analysis #smolder mlp #spike mlp #spike the dragon #smolder the dragon #sludge the dragon #sludge mlp #torch mlp #torch the dragon #mlp season 8 #mlp critical #critical

[butmakeitgayblog]

Sorry to bother you but that anon question (the one about CI Lexa being "the little spoon" of cuddles and more) made me wonder about Clarke. I really appreciated your answer about Lexa, it's really interesting especially for her character's psychology but what about Clarke? She is not dumb, even though it is a recurring joke between the two, she is not. Maybe she is emotionally dumb (in an affectionate way, CI Clarke is one of my favourite Clarke's of yours so only love for her) but she is sharp and clever when she wants (😂😂) so I suppose she knows she has this "power" - whether it's given by Lexa or not - and I suppose that at some point, maybe when they're already married (so with a few years behind their backs and out in public), Lexa will talk with Clarke about what does this mean to her, what does it mean to give this particular "power" away to Clarke. So Clarke has to know how important it is to not fuck this up, to not betray it. And I can't stop thinking about how much this power can create a need to protect her wife, to be fair and good to her, because even though they bicker and banter, they know how much the other suffered and they know how much this relationship means. So (I swear I really have a question 😂) my question is: is there a moment where, even though this power is not used in public, except for maybe some holding hands or an arm around Lexa's waist, Clarke uses it to protect Lexa? Because I know Lexa knows how to protect herself, especially against people that don't really know where to draw a line with her, but is there a moment where Clarke is like:"You know what babe? Let me punch this fool in his face for you just for fun, I know you can do it by yourself and I know people expect you to do it, but I'm gonna do it because I'm your wife and I need people to know that I will kill them for you." Something like that, I may have lost my train of thoughts but something like that. I don't know, I can totally see Clarke being scold at home for such a big reaction but then being kissed because of it. CI Clexa (in some ways) remind me of canon Clexa:"Yes, you may be the Heda, but I'll try to kill Nia because she pissed you off."

That last line, right there. That's their dynamic at its very fundamental core.

The thing is, most people don't fully realize the extent to which Lexa allows Clarke to be in control because she is someone who carries and conducts herself with so much poise and power. From an outside perspective it would look more often than not as tho Lexa is just this "I don't need no bitch, I run this shit" woman, and unapologetically so.

But they don't know her the way Clarke does and they certainly don't understand their dynamic. They don't understand that while, yes, Lexa is an extraordinarily strong and self sufficient woman, there will always be that little girl in a black dress and braids, standing next to her dad's casket thinking, "I'm alone now." They don't know that while, yes, Lexa is a Grade A heinous bitch who enjoys manipulation and toying with others, a part of her will always be that little girl who had to teach herself how to survive in a cold and unloving home. Who taught herself that there wasn't anyone else there to really look out for her without a selfish motive driving their actions. Who told herself that it was ok that there was no bigger bed to crawl into at night when she needed protecting from the monsters in her closet.

But when Clarke looks at her wife, she sees that. She sees her exactly as she is. Powerful and conniving and manipulative and hedonistic, but she also sees that scared little version of Lexa as well.

And the urge protect every iteration of this woman makes. Clarke. Go feral.

It's just like the moment when Hellen slapped Lexa. Clarke was this 🤏 close to beating the shit out of her. Lexa knew without a doubt if she hadn't stepped in, Clarke would have closed fist punched her mother repeatedly without question. Clarke maybe 80% bark and biting words - her weapon of choice has always been her words and malicious intellect - but when push comes to literal shove, Clarke fights dirty. She's a brawler. She's not interested in fair fights, she's interested in what will make her win.

That being said, she's also learned a lot from Lexa over the years in the sense that the best course of action is to simply ruin their entire life. Physical fighting is so messy. Half the time you come out looking like a degenerate and taking a knock to your reputation anyway. Hence part of Clarke's less than steller reputation before they were together 😬

So rather than physically fight more, she becomes more nefarious. More of a malignant entity in the life of whoever manages to get themselves in her crosshairs.

Someone in their social circle begins whispering little unsavory rumors about her wife? Clarke will make sure their spouse just so happens to catch wind of their own little dalliances over brunch. A board member challenges Lexa's competence at the helm? Clarke will systematically burn every personal bridge they have within the company until they're voted out. You flirt with her wife beyond what Lexa's comfortable with? She'll pay an escort to seduce yours instead. She'll even pay extra just have them fuck the little Mx. right in your bed (with pictures 🙂). You try and make Lexa look foolish among your peers? Don't be surpised if you're getting pulled over with glove box filled coke. Whether you're into it or not...

She will literally smile in your face while driving a knife square into your back.

The woman has very little conscience and a protective streak a mile wild. While she had her fun punching a few handsy bystanders in her youth, dating and then being married to someone like Lexa for years has had so many delicious advantages, one of which was learning the fine art of subterfuge.

And while Lexa may be the master, it turns her on like crazy when she's surpassed by her very sexy student 😏

#anon #cruel intentions au #i hope this answered your question 😔 #i know you were probably wanting an actually thing if Clarke throwing hands but #the few times when they first come out in their relationship and Clarke got into a tussle Lexa was always less than pleased #so you'd have Clarke sitting on their bathroom counter while Lexa bandaged up her knuckles #clicking her tongue and damn mear shaking Clarke's neck like she was scruffy puppy #she hated it #and the sex after always sucked because inevitably her hand was fucked up #priorities

[seaside-writings]

Happy Halloween, all you wonderfully, wicked people!

I have always loved found-footage horror movies; something about feeling like you’re with the characters is honestly one of the creepiest things about them.

So here's a prompt list created from one my favorite horror movies "The Blair Witch Project".

I hope this prompt list brings you inspiration wherever it is needed, and like always if you do use these prompts please tag me so I can see what you’ve made!

I hope you all stay blessed and safe throughout your day.

Lots of Love & Wishes: Celia 🧡🎃🖤🕸💜🔮

“I’m scared to close my eyes, I’m scared to open them, we’re gonna die out here,”

-

“I could help you, but I’d rather stand here and record,”

-

“I heard two noises coming from two separate areas of space over there. One of them could have been an owl, but the other one sounded like a cackling,”

-

“ I insisted we weren’t lost. I insisted we keep going. I insisted that we walk south,”

-

“What bugs me out is that we’re so damn deep in the woods, and people are gonna try and come out here and mess with us, then they gotta have something wrong with them, and I’m not gonna play with that,” “ But how do we know it was people?” “Well, even if it wasn’t, I’m not gonna play with that either!”

-

“Give me the compass. You’ve betrayed us all beyond. Way fucking beyond,” “Bullshit. You betrayed us when you couldn’t get us out of the woods last night,” “Yeah, thanks,”

-

“I hate crossing streams on logs. If I never cross another stream on a log for the rest of my life, I will die a happy girl!”

-

“You’re lost, you’re angry in the woods, and no one is here to help you. There’s a witch, and she keeps leaving shit outside your door. There’s no one here to help you! She left little trinkets, you took one of them, she ran after us. There’s no one here to help you! We walked for 15 hours today, we ended up in the same place! There’s no one here to help you, that’s your motivation! That’s your motivation!”

-

“I found some cigarettes. I found them all the way in the bottom of my pack. We’re still alive ‘cause we’re smoking,”

-

“I want to avoid being cheesy, here. I want to avoid any cheese,”

-

“We’ve exhausted all of our natural resources!”

-

“I don’t believe in witches and airy-fairy stuff like that,”

-

“It’s not the same on film, is it? I mean, you know it’s real, but it’s like looking through the lens gives you some sort of protection from what’s on the other side,”

-

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!?! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!?!”

-

“What are some of your favorite things to do?” “Well, on Sundays, I used to like to go hiking, but now…”

-

“I see why you like this video camera so much,” “You do?” “It’s not quite reality. It’s like a totally filtered reality. It’s like you can pretend everything’s not quite the way it is,”

-

“Ok I’m not allowed to smoke, but he’s allowed to fart as much as he wants?” “I didn’t give him any fart allowance,”

-

“How’s east?” “East? “Yeah, we’ve been going south all this time. How’s east? “Wicked Witch of the West, Wicked Witch of the East. Which one was bad? “Wicked Witch of the West was the bad one,” “Then we should go east,”

-

“ I am so sorry! Because it was my fault. I was the one who brought them here,”

-

“Mmmm. Marshmallows. Soft,”

-

“We have enough battery power to run a small third-world country,”

-

“You gonna write us a happy ending?”

-

“Flames are licking you like the devil,”

-

“Woke up this morning, just like two seconds ago, and there are piles of rocks outside of our tent. There are three, actually,” “Are you seriously fucking positive those weren’t there when we set up camp last night?” “I am seriously fucking positive these were not here. How would we’ve, like, just made a campsite in between three piles of rocks, just by coincidence?”

-

“Screw that, you think you guys are heroes for killing innocent people?”

-

“Are you eating a dead leaf?” “Yes,”

-

“Let’s not call him “the Captain,” you illiterate TV people. It’s “the Skipper,”

-

“They’re people fucking with our heads,” “But no one knows we’re out here,” “Yeah, but have you ever seen 'Deliverance’?”

-

“What’s with that slime on your backpack?” “That’s not slime, it’s just water. No wait, it is slime, what the fuck?”

-

“Yeah, it was like a serious cackling,” “See, my problem is that I sleep like a fucking rock,” “If I heard a cackling, I would have shit in my pants!”

-

“Whatever it is, it knows that he is gone,” “If that was him, he would’ve said where he was,” “Whoever it was sounded like him,”

#the blair witch project #writing #writing prompt #writing prompts #writing prompt list #writing prompt lists #prompt #prompts #prompt list #prompt lists #halloween #halloween 2023 #halloween prompt #halloween prompts #october #october 2023 #october prompt #october prompts #horror #horror prompt #horror prompts #suspense #suspense prompt #suspense prompts #dark #dark prompt #dark prompts

[foxofninetales]

Liu Sang: the unchanging character

It’s been a while since I screamed about my blorbo, but I have been Having Thoughts lately about Liu Sang.  Specifically about how one of the things I love best about his character arc over the course of Reunion is that Liu Sang doesn’t change; what changes is his and others’ perception of who he is.  

I know I’ve said this before, but Liu Sang’s character introduction is an absolute masterclass in communicating SO MUCH INFORMATION about a new character in such a very short amount of time. In the course of less than 5 minutes, we learn that Liu Sang:

Is pretty (oh come on, like I wasn’t gonna lead with that)

Has a difficult reputation

Has a superpower

Is vulnerable/whumpable

Shows different private and professional faces

Will choose to intervene to save others

Will do so with no regard to his own safety

Is a bitch

Knows all the bad things that are said about him and chooses to lean into them

Has hints of a dark backstory

Has obsessive hero-worship tendencies

Did we mention Is a bitch?

Is very confident of his skills

Demands respect

Like, the only thing that could make this intro better would be if he got naked.

Oh, wait.

So, what makes that character introduction so relevant to my word-barf today?  It tells us exactly who Liu Sang is.  Everything that makes him up is laid out for the viewer in the first five minutes, but only for the viewer.  It rapidly becomes clear that the characters in the story – including Liu Sang himself – have a very one-sided view of him.  And we maintain that one-sided POV throughout what immediately follows; we see him being hyper-competent, we get further glimpses of his backstory, but he's also fan-creepy to Zhang QIling, a total jerk to Wu Xie about his illness, and revenge-pranks Pangzi in a way that nearly leads to his and Wu Xie’s death.

And what is so pleasing about Liu Sang’s story is that the tipping-point in this unreliable internal narrative occurs without any change from Liu Sang, before there is any change in perceptions.  It occurs when Wu Xie dives back down to save Liu Sang.

Up to this point, despite what we as viewers know, for the other characters – and honestly for himself - Liu Sang has been a jerk.  A competent jerk, but absolutely a jerk, and one whose actions nearly had deadly consequences.  And that is who Wu Xie saves.  Wu Xie – the boy who lost his innocence, the man who destroyed himself to tear down the Jiumen and the Wang and who has just learned how total that self-destruction will be, the man who has spent his life being betrayed and saved in equal measure – Wu Xie looks at this person who has been at best unkind to him and at worst tried to kill him and says, You’re a jerk, but you are still worth saving.

And then, over the course of the rest of the series, it is revealed to the other characters – and, importantly, to Liu Sang himself first – just how right Wu Xie was.  In the end, by saving Liu Sang, Wu Xie saved himself, saved the world - but he saved him first without knowing any of that. And though Liu Sang’s nobler qualities shine more and more as the story progresses, Wu Xie chose to save him before he ever saw them.

And that’s what I love about Liu Sang’s journey.  He doesn’t change. In the end, Liu Sang is still a bitch – but he’s also still a man who will do everything he can to save people who don’t deserve their fate.  He’s someone who knows the value of his skills and will force you to respect him for that - but he’s also someone who is kind to people with less power than himself.  Everything that makes Liu Sang Liu Sang was there from the very start.  The change is that now everyone can see it.

Even Liu Sang himself.  

#dmbj #the lost tomb reboot #liu sang #it's sobbing about blorbos day in these parts