#saw this movie in theaters as a kid and only now do i understand the gravity and meaning in these scenes

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

Y'know, there's this gripe I've had for years that really frustrates me, and it has to do with Love, Simon and people joking about it and calling it too-pg and designed-for-straight-people and all the like. (A similar thing has happened to Heartstopper, but that's another conversation.)

I saw Love, Simon in theaters when it came out my senior year in high school. I saw it three times, once with my friends/parents on opening night, once with my brother over spring break, and once with my grandparents.

On opening night, the air in the room was electric. It was palpable. Half the heads in there were dyed various colors. Queer kids were holding hands. We were all crying and laughing and cheering as a group. My friends grabbed my hands at the part where Simon was outed and didn't let go until his parents were saying that they accepted him. My friend came out to me as non-binary. Another person in our group admitted that she had feelings for girls. It was incredible. I left shaking. This was the first mainstream queer romance movie that had ever been produced by one of the main five studios, and I know that sounds like another "first queer character from Disney" bit but you have to understand that even in 2018 this was groundbreaking. Getting to have a sweet queer rom-com where the main character was told that he got "to breathe now" after coming out meant so much to me and my friends.

But also, from a designed-for-straight-people POV (which, to be frank, it was written by a bisexual author and directed by a gay man, this was not designed for straight audiences), why is it a bad thing that it appealed to the widest possible audience? That it could make my parents and grandparents see things in a new light? My stepdad wasn't at all interested in rom-coms but he saw it with me because it was something I cared about and he hugged me when we came out of the theater. My very Catholic grandparents watched it with me and though my grandpa said he still didn't quite understand the whole 'gay thing,' all he wanted was for me to be happy and to have a happy ending like Simon did. My Nana actually cried when Simon came out and squeeze my hand when his mother told him he could breathe.

And when Martin blackmailed Simon, my mom, badass ally that she is, literally hissed "Dropkick him. Dropkick him in the balls" leading to multiple queer kids in the audience to laugh or smile. Having my parents there- the only parents, by the way, out of my group of queer and questioning friends- made multiple people realize that supportive adults were out there. That parents like those in Love, Simon do exist in real life.

When people complain about Heartstopper not being realistic or Love, Simon being too cutesy, I remember seeing Love, Simon on opening night. I remember my friend coming out and my stepdad hugging me and my mom defending us through this character. I remember the cheers that went through the audience when Bram and Simon kissed and the chatter in the foyer after the movie was over and the way that this movie made me understand that happy endings do exist.

Queer kids need happy endings. Straight people need entry points to becoming allies. Both of these things can come together in beautiful ways. They can find out about more queer culture later, but for now, let them have this. Let them all have a glimpse at a better, happier world. Let them have queer joy.

#love simon #simon vs thsa #simon spier #spierfeld #bram greenfeld #my experiences #meta #the importance of queer joy #heartstopper #becky albertalli #my mom also watched rwrb with me last year when it premiered #and let me tell you that was interesting sitting in the room with her for an r-rated romance movie like that

[dragonanon]

Not me crying over Kung Fu Panda 2 🙃

#forgot how emotionally devastating some parts of that fucking movie are #like they literally animated an entire genocide sequence #and then you see po’s mom run off screen and it’s all but confirmed verbally that she died shortly thereafter #they did show not tell EXTREMELY well #saw this movie in theaters as a kid and only now do i understand the gravity and meaning in these scenes #like these were some dark af concepts they showed #really need to sit down and watch all three movies in a row #saw the first one so many times as a kid i’d kind of gotten sick of it #but thinking back on it some parts of the movie were extremely deep #like the scene shortly before oogway dies when shifu is arguing with him about control being an illusion #i thought it was just a funny argument about peaches as a kid #now i see though is was about how there are things outside of our control #and sometimes no matter what we do there are things we just cannot change

[neil-gaiman]

Hello Neil, my name is Zalean. If you have a few minutes, I wanted to tell you a little story. Not really a question and I’m not sure how to use tumblr but I wanted to say thanks so much for coming to Florida a few months back and talking with Art Spiegelman. It was my first time ever figuring out how to buy tickets for something. I lived in, middle of nowhere, Vermont for most my life and had no idea what I was doing, I had never been to anything before, nothing had made me excited enough to do the 5 hour drive. And then you just appeared 20 minutes away from where I am living now.

See, I was just starting to get to know your books and work because I fell in love with Good Omens so deeply when I discovered it during season twos release. Funny thing is, I knew of you all along without even realizing it, Stardust has been my favorite book and movie since I was a kid because it was my dad’s favorite story. Finding out my two favorite things were actually connected, I started trying to get hands on as many of your books as I could. I hadn’t read in years before finding your books. It was eye opening.

The talk event at the Dr.Phillips Center was sold out by the time I knew about it, someone had asked me if I knew of the event when they saw my Good Omens keychains my mom had made me. I called the box office because there is no harm in asking. I explained how I’m an art student at UCF and desperately wanted to be inspired and learn from you both. The customer service people were amazing and ended up calling me back to get me a seat in the orchestra pit before they were released to the public. I drove alone, I walked there alone, I sat alone, and it was worth it. I was so thankful to get a seat and grateful to my professor who was a bit jealous he didn’t know about it but let me leave class early to go because of course the art professor would be understanding for any learning opportunities in the arts. And it was truly wonderful, it seemed real and that’s what I wanted. I didn’t want a show. I just wanted to hear, in some sense, that you were like everybody else. I brought a notebook and pen for any information or story’s that I thought made a difference to my little life. The other people around were wonderful, you inspire kind people.

Like I said, I had never been to anything like this and I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know you would have signed books and I only found out because the people next to me came in late. I asked them why they brought the books after it was over and the lights turned on. They did look at me like I had three heads for a moment until they realized I didn’t know there were books to buy, they looked kinda sorry for me but they were so nice. I had never really thought about the importance of someone’s scribble before this but it’s something that proves you were there. It says “Remember when this person made you happy? Remember when they changed your life? Remember when they gave you hope? Look at this and remember.” I hope to see David Tennant and Michael Sheen to get an autograph now that I understand the meaning behind it a bit more but honestly I just love diving into everyone’s projects, the wonder you all create. Oh what fun it is to live a life full of stories!

The people that were sitting next to me let me look at their signed books and hold them. I flipped through some of the big ones, handed them back and expressed my gratitude just to be in the theater. I showed them all my little quotes I wrote down, I never want to forget why I create things and you say so much about never stopping, always creating. Then the women handed me a different book, a smaller book, but when I tried to hand it back, a bit confused, she softly placed it back in my open hands and said “I want you to have it, we have plenty and I want you to love these stories just as much as we do. It’s just starting for you, I want you to remember who started it”. The book she handed me being“The Ocean at the End of the Lane”. The first book I decided to read by you and had just finished a week before. The women had no idea she given me a signed copy of the book that made me want to read again. Your books make the world better. For such a big theater and such a big stage, I just wanted to tell you my little point of view.

The story you told about wishing you enjoyed the past more than you did, I hope you get to enjoy it now, and I hope you want to. And thank you, to you and to Terry Pratchett for creating something special. I convinced my dad to watch Good Omens with me over December break, he loved it.

I forget sometimes that everything is someone's first time, and then I read something like this and feel like I need to remember that better. I'm glad the people beside you were kind.

[chickenoptyrx]

You do so right by z Broly, you understand his potential. Your au with him and Trunks is a delight

Glad we all appreciate my blatant misrepresentation of the character 😌 im partly joking but man fr, 12 year old me would hate that instead of him bein a badass edgy monster, I draw him as.. *checks notes* .. an immature loser with bad coping mechanisms uwu

Ok but in true ask tradition! :U im hijacking this ask to talk about a dumb theory thats been rolling around in my head for like 2 years now: android 16 and broly similarities:

Ok so. If you aren't aware. The android arc of dragon ball was originally going to focus on the androids 19 & 20 and trunks even names them specifically

But Toriyamas former editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, didn't like them as the main antagonists and so Toriyama changed it to focus on 17 & 18 as the bad guys and introduced 16 as a sort of mystery

Now. This gets almost completely dropped once that same former editor ALSO doesn't like these androids and cell becomes the main villian for the arc (yeah yeah, the bomb thing is technically *there*, but its so inconsequential most people forget its even a thing :T )

So. Idk exactly when movie 8 went into production, but we know Brolys LSSJ form was inspired by trunks SSJ grade3 form that appears several chapters after cell has been introduced and the androids have become power-up fodder, so im gonna argue its safe to say the decision to move away from their story had been made

(side tangent that I find absolutely hilarious btw- despite gokus commentary in the HTC, SSJ grade 3 was the strongest form of ssj we saw at this point, so its pretty appropriate to use it as the basis of the strongest scariest ssj form.... rrriiiiiiiiggght up until toriyama introduced SSJ2 on Feb 2, 1993- near exactly 1 month before the first Broly movie hit theaters. Completely undermined what, up til then, looked like a trend in stronger form = bigger and beefier right as the big beefy strongest guy ever movie came out 🤣 absolutely love it!)

So anyways. The movies overall also tend to have varying degrees of similarities with recent arcs in the show and Toriyama, while not overly involved, would give the studio designs and story notes. And. Idk. Yall can tell me im reaching if ya want, but: A guy who's made into a weapon by his father who's on a quest for revenge and has this conflicting view of his son as both someone he feels he failed to protect, someone he cares about, but also as a tool for that revenge, and someone who's destructive power hes become deeply afraid of.. now where have we seen somethin like that 🤔 may be an extra reach but I also think its neat that despite their different face shape, Toriyamas gave em the same expression

Lol they're also both just ridiculously tall bastards. Like for no gd reason. And yeah, to me atleast, it explains why hating goku specifically gets shoehorned into brolys backstory (listen I can absolutely do the mental gymnastics to make it make sense! I'm fine with it! Its fine! I actually like it! ... but it IS a dumb shoehorned plot point! Both things can be true D:< ) look just lookit these tall ass shits

Anyway. My last note is just this statement from Toriyama about 16 and Gero. The way gero is presented is really in line with how I see Paragus as this tragic failure of a father- honestly caring about his kid, but letting grief and revenge drive him into conflicting corners where he wants revenge FOR the life denied his son, but also actively shaping his son into such a terrifying weapon that ultimately hed rather his kid just never be conscious cause thats the 'only way to keep them safe'

“Dr. Gero’s son who died young a long time ago served as the visual model for Android 16. He was a high-ranking soldier for the Red Ribbon Army but was shot down by the enemy. Dr. Gero reserved special feelings for 16 as “his son,” and although he equipped 16 with immense power and a frightening destructive device, he didn’t want to see him be defeated on the battlefield and thus programmed him to have a gentle personality. 16 was consequently considered a failed creation.” The smaller caption below Toriyama’s quote reads: “Was the reason Dr. Gero didn’t want to activate 16 perhaps because of his parental love to not see him destroyed?”

#asks #rant barely related to the ask :D #i just think its neat #if 16 wasnt such a pain in the ass to draw from MOST angles #id probably draw him more #but broly just sparks so much joy to draw #really cant beat it #just a fun design #android 16 #broly #dumb nothing theory that means nothing #ask

[theseusernamesarehard]

Stuck on the puzzle: Chapter one

next | masterlist

pairing: Luke Castellan x Olivia Messer (daughter of Apollo oc)

word count: 2,3k

summary: Will Solace arrives to camp Half-blood and finds that the two people helping him really don't get along.

Will Solace was having the weirdest day of his life. He had stumbled on to this weird camp place with his friend Mark only to find out that Mark was actually 20 and not 8 like Will and he wasn't his friend, but his protector? He also had hooves and antlers, but weirdly that didn't bother Will so much. He had always seen weird things, scary creatures hidden in dark alleys, winged horses and such. Every adult in his life had always chucked it up to him having a wild imagination and he hadn't questioned it until the pigeon started following him from school and suddenly started to grow bigger and bigger. Mark managed to scare off the creature for some time and within it they managed to make their way out of New York and almost onto the grounds of camp. Will barely made it across the border, but he did, the creature managing only a small scratch on his ankle.

The scratch was so small that he didn't think to mention it when a centaur (crazy) and the god of wine (crazier) explained to him that he was the son of a greek god who would maybe claim his as his son. He also didn't think to mention it to the dark haired teenager, who introduced himself as Luke Castellan, head counsellor of the Hermes cabin. Only when Luke started showing him around, was the scratch becoming a problem. He had to limp slightly and that was slowing him down, but Luke was a little intimidating with his knowledge of the camp and the way everyone greeted him with utter respect. Still, it was unapparent that Will was moving slowly, and eventually Luke noticed.

"Are you hurt? Mark said the harpy didn't get you", he frowned.

"It's no big deal", Will said shyly, but it was starting to really hurt.

"Let me have a look", Luke said and knelt down gently.

Luke lifted Will's pant leg and they both winced. The scratch seemed a lot bigger now than it was and it was starting to get yellow around the edges.

"Okay, next on the tour is the infirmary. And not to stress you out or anything, but we might have to get there fast, can you get on my back?" Luke asked.

Will nodded, suddenly in a lot of pain. Luke lifted him on his back and sprinted to the infirmary, a small building on the side of the cabins.

Luke let Will down to knock on the door and Will had the urge to hide behind him. He hadn't spent much time in hospitals and he didn't really want to start today.

The door opened to reveal a teenage girl. She had a smile on her face, but frowned immediately as she saw Luke.

"I'll get Lee", she said curtly.

"Wait no, it's not for me", Luke replied.

It seemed that only then she saw Will, who was doing his best to pretend he wasn't hiding and in great pain. He failed at both.

The girls face softened as she saw Will and when she looked back at Luke, an understanding seemed to pass between the two of them and they rushed Will inside.

"It's a harpy scratch, I think. Yellow edges and everything", Luke said once Will was settled into a bed. The girl had immediately started cutting his pant leg off with a knife.

"Why didn't you take him here immediately? I imagine you know they're poisonous."

Not as poisonous as her voice, Will thought.

"He didn't say anything, I just noticed him limping."

"I'm sorry", Will croaked, embarrassed he had hidden his injury.

Once again, a soft smile.

"It's not your fault. You're a tough kid for holding out that long", she said.

Will was given a glass of something that tasted like fresh movie theater popcorn with extra butter in it and he was so dumbfounded by it that he didn't register anything else around him.

"I'm going to have to give you a little shot on your leg, okay? Are you scared of needles?" the girl asked him.

Will shook his head.

"That's good. Means you're already tougher than this guy", she gestured to Luke, who was standing behind her looking at the ground. "Best swordsman in 300 years they say, but you try to give him a shot and you'd think he's never been near anything sharp."

Will smiled, still feeling a bit shy around the girl who gave Luke such a cold welcome. Behind her Luke was smiling so wide you'd think she'd sung his highest praises.

She injected the shot after cleaning the wound and told him to sleep it off in there for the night. He nodded, knowing that there was no way in hell, or maybe he should say Hades now, he was going to be able to sleep. She seemed to be a mind reader since she gave him a sleeping pill to take.

"It's going to be okay. Everyone's arrival is a bit insane and confusing. We've all been there and it's going to get better. Just sleep it off and Luke's going to continue the tour tomorrow", she said in a voice so calming, Will almost believed it.

He took the sleeping pill, but even in his sleepy state, he managed to hear a few words between Luke and the girl.

"Thanks for that", Luke said, he sounded awkward, something Will hadn't been sure he was capable of.

"Just doing my job", the girl said, back to the cold tone that seemed to be reserved specifically for Luke.

"But still, it takes a lot out of you, I know that now."

"Sure."

"Can you just cut me some slack? It's been like seven months. I've changed and I don't see any reason we can't be friends again. You don't have to heal me, look out for me, just talk to me. Please?" Luke's last words were barely above a whisper.

"I think you should go", her voice cracked a little.

"It's not fair."

"Life's not fair. Go."

The next morning Will woke up feeling a lot better. Luke wasn't there so the girl in the hospital was nice the whole time. Will was curious, so the temptation to ask her about Luke was big, but after seeing how deathly her stare could be, he didn't want to risk it. She introduced herself as Olivia.

"Your legs looking a whole lot better", she said cheerfully.

"What did you give me?" Will thought, only now to ask.

"Thinking of the taste? It's nectar, drink of the gods. It tastes like your favorite things, but you can't have too much. I'll give you a little bit before you go though."

"I mean in the vial. The shot."

She grimaced a little

"Right, I suppose you have a right to know."

"You don't have to say it if you don't want to", Will said, once again afraid to piss the girl off.

"No it's fine, some people think it's a little weird or gross. Or both."

"I won't."

She had a very bright smile, Will noticed.

"It was my blood."

"Huh?"

"I injected you with my blood. It's got some healing properties. Even I don't properly know how it works, but I'm O negative so it's been working for everyone."

"Your blood has healing powers?"

"Yup."

"So you have like a superpower?"

"I don't know if I'd call it that, but close enough. Some kids have a bit of godly power they've inherited from their parents."

"Like what?"

"Like...Children of Demeter. Some of them can make plants grow from anywhere and all of them have a certified green thumb."

"Who's your parent?"

"Apollo. God of the sun, healing, archery, prophecy...the list goes on, but even I can't remember all of it."

"So that's why you have healing blood."

She nodded.

"I'm also pretty good with a bow, but people get stuck on that first part."

Will was quiet for a moment.

"When did you get claimed?"

"It happens at a different time for everyone."

"It was quick, wasn't it."

"For me, yes. But then again I stumbled into camp with a three inch stab wound in my stomach that was almost gone by the time they got me to the infirmary, so there were suspicions quite early on. But even then it took my dad a week. Luke said-"

She paused, cleared her throat and carried on like nothing happened, but her smile was a bit faker.

"Luke said 'I could've told you that' immediately after it happened."

There was a knock on the door.

"Speak of the devil", she muttered. "It's open!"

"How you doing tough guy?" Luke smiled, deliberately avoiding Olivia, who was now busying herself with the medical equipment on the side.

"Better. Olivia said I can have a little nectar and be on my way."

Luke looked at her, questioning before he realized he was supposed to be avoiding her gaze. She looked back and once again Will got the feeling that something was being said.

"That's great! We can continue with the tour then!"

"One glass of nectar first. You can wait and make sure he doesn't drink it too fast", Olivia said, producing a glass and going deeper into the infirmary.

"You heard her, doctors orders", Luke said.

And so they left the infirmary. Luke first showed Will the Hermes cabin where his measly belongings had been placed on a sleeping bag in the corner on the ground.

"This is where I have to sleep?" Will asked, bummed.

"Just for now. As soon as you get claimed you'll get a bed in your cabin. Or here, if we're related."

"It's pretty crammed here already, though."

"Yup. But you'll get used to it, it's not as bad as it looks. Let's get breakfast."

At breakfast, Luke introduced Will to Chris Rodriquez, who'd been at camp for a year. Before he could even properly sit down, some girl came to say that there was an emergency counselor meeting about the feud between the Ares and Athena cabins. Luke sighed and got up reluctantly. Will watched him glance an automatic glance at the Apollo table, where Olivia got up. She walked right past him and sped up all the way to the big house, while Luke was almost dragging his feet. Chris looked at the whole spectacle disapprovingly.

"When are they going to get over this?" a girl sitting next to Chris said. She introduced herself to Will as Meg, daughter of Hecate, goddess of magic.

"I don't know", Chris sighed. "Luke keeps trying to talk to her, but she's either too stubborn or he's approaching it the wrong way because it always ends in a fight."

"My guess it that it's both."

"Well you should talk to her about it, you're always braiding each others hair and whatnot."

"I've tried, but she refuses to talk about anything Luke related. One time I tried asking her until she gave me an answer, but she just walked off."

"What happened?" Will got the courage to ask.

Both of the older campers, who seemed to have forgotten he was there, turned to him.

"It's a long story", Meg said apprehensively.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be nosy, they were just really weird to each other in the infirmary."

"Well the problem is no one really knows. Even Luke is kind of confused about the whole thing. They were inseparable for a while and then last fall there was this big screaming fight and they haven't really been friends since", Chris sighed.

Will nodded and the two soon left him to his own devices. Which meant that he stayed sitting down at the table because he didn't know his way around camp yet.

"Hey buddy, sorry about the interruption", Luke was suddenly smiling beside him. "Want to continue the tour?"

"Absolutely."

Luke showed Will the rest of the wonder that was camp Half-blood, but declared he wasn't allowed to try any of the fun stuff (archery, wall climbing or even canoeing) before he got another check up. So once again, they were at the infirmary.

This time a guy opened the door. Will was smart enough to figure out that he was also a child of Apollo and through that, Olivias half-brother. He tried to find any similarities, but they were hard to come by. Olivia had a light brown complexion and dark, curly hair down to her shoulders, while Lee had dirty blonde hair, like Will that looked to be sun bleached in different spots. The half-siblings shared the same smile though, Lee's scrunching up his freckles when he greeted Will and Luke. If he held any resentment towards Luke on behalf of his sister, he sure didn't show it.

"What's the problem?"

"Our new camper Will here got scratched by a harpy yesterday. Olivia-"

Lee raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"healed it yesterday, but I figured it might be worth getting a look at before we try any activities."

"Good thinking. Olivia give him a shot?"

"Yup. Along with some nectar and ambrosia."

"Alright, let's take a look", Lee gestured them in.

Olivia was already in there, fixing up a crying kid, about Will's age or maybe a year older, who had a bleeding knee. Olivia was patching him up and giving him the regular runaround of 'you're fine's and 'it'll only hurt a little's. The kid saw Luke and his tears stopped on sight.

"Luke! Luke!" he screamed out. "I got hurt!"

"Sure looks like you did, Dylan", Luke chuckled. "What's the battlewound like?"

The kid, apparently named Dylan, showed his sraped knee off with pride.

"I got it in a sword fight!"

"I'd hate to see what the other guy looks like."

"The other guy was a doll, based on what I heard", Olivia smiled.

"You weren't suppose to say that!"

"Sorry, I'm sure Chiron will have to throw it out once you're done getting your revenge, though."

"You're no fun, Olivia."

"Don't bite the hand that heals you."

"I'm sure you were fighting fiercely", Luke insured. "You do that sidestep I thought you?"

"I fucking nailed it!"

"Language!" Olivia and Luke said in unison, then proceeded to look at each other weird.

Lee choked a laugh from where he was checking Will's knee.

"You're all done Dylan", Olivia patted him on the back. "Make that doll pay for what he did."

"Will's done too", Lee announced. "Fully healed", he told Will.

"Great!", Luke clapped his hands together. "You wanna come show Will around? He just got here yesterday", he asked Dylan.

"Hell yes!"

"Dude!" Olivia sighed.

"Let's go before we get kicked out", Luke laughed and led the two boys out, looking at Olivia awkwardly when he waved her goodbye. She didn't wave back.

Will just barely heard Lee tell Olivia something about no traces and she responded that he might be one of 'theirs'.

Whatever that meant.

#luke castellan #luke castellan fic #pjo series #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #luke castellan series #stuck on the puzzle #luke castellan angst

[laundrybiscuits]

Content notes: Stancy, homophobic slur, high school theater production

Steve wouldn’t normally go to this kind of thing—he didn’t, his whole freshman year, even though a junior had invited him. He and Tommy H. knew that being an upperclassman didn’t automatically make you cool, even then. 

But love has him doing some crazy stuff, he guesses. Tommy H. and Carol are going to find out about this eventually, but he’s willing to put up with their teasing because Nancy likes Shakespeare.

She’s so smart. He never thought he’d be into a girl like Nancy Wheeler, but something about her just has him all mixed up, and he loves it. She’s a little uptight and particular in a way he never would’ve bothered with, last year, but now he’s way more mature and he can see the spark she has.

It’s like a movie, the way he looked at her and saw how beautiful she was underneath the nerdy getup, and now they’re together and this is his happy ending and everything is going to be perfect forever. They’re going to go to the same college and get married when they graduate, and have a bunch of kids; Steve’s going to work for his dad, and Nancy’s probably going to get some fancy secretary job or something when the kids are old enough to go to school. He bets she’d be really great at that kind of thing. 

It feels really good to have that kind of security in his future. He’s a simple guy, he doesn’t want to change the world or anything, he just wants a real home and a real family with Nancy. And that means doing stuff she likes, which is why he’s crammed into an auditorium seat, watching some chubby freshman with plastic leaves stuck in his afro squeak, “A merry hour was never wasted there! But, uh, look, fairy, here comes Oberon.”

Someone shakes a sheet of aluminum from offstage, and a blonde girl in a tiara and shiny princess gown with bright colors painted around her eyes steps onto the stage. 

She just stands there for a second, and Steve’s starting to wonder if she’s forgotten her lines when Nancy nudges him and tilts her head meaningfully to the back of the auditorium, where Eddie Munson is strolling down the aisle like he’s got all the time in the world. 

It takes Steve a second to recognize Eddie. While the blonde girl’s costume is all neon and pastel, Eddie’s got coal-black makeup smeared over his eyes almost like a mask. He’s wearing some ridiculous outfit with a lot of black lace and a silky, billowing black shirt cinched at the waist with a belt so thick it looks almost like a corset. 

When he saunters past Steve’s row, it becomes clear that he’s also wearing knee-high leather boots. 

Someone a few rows away coughs, “Faggot,” and a cloud of giggles rises in the auditorium.

“That’s enough, Paul,” says Mr. Williams, in a way that doesn’t sound like he’s going to do anything about it if Paul ignores him. 

Eddie must not have heard, because he doesn’t even glance over. “Ill met by moonlight,” he sings out. His voice drops to a smoky purr. “Proud Titania.”

He jumps right up onto the stage, only stumbling a little bit, and drops to one knee to kiss the blonde girl’s hand. 

She yanks it away, sneering. “Jealous Oberon—fairies, skip hence. I have foresworn his bed and company.”

The old-timey language is pretty hard for Steve to follow, but even if the words don’t make any sense, it’s not hard at all to understand Eddie’s tone when he looks up at the girl and says in that low, clear voice, with just a hint of steel: “Tarry, rash wanton. Am I not thy lord?”

Jesus. Steve always thought of Eddie Munson as kind of a burnout loser—the kind of guy who’d be a virgin living in his mom’s basement until he was really old, like twenty-five or something. 

But with his ragged metalhead rat’s nest pulled back from his face with small braids, leather cords wrapped around his wrists and throat, Eddie doesn’t look like a loser at all. Steve bets the drama girls are practically throwing themselves at him all the time. 

After the show, Nancy smiles up at him. “What did you think?” she asks. 

Steve tucks her more securely under his arm and smiles back. “I liked it,” he says. “Didn’t think I would. But I guess you’ve got pretty good taste, Nancy Wheeler.”

He leans over to kiss her, slow and sweet, and he thinks that there’s nothing else in the world he could possibly want.

purify our misfit ways on AO3

Fic-specific asks

#fic: purify our misfit ways #askbox #ask games #couldn't pass up a chance to do this one too! #I've decided that in this universe Jeff was Puck and that's how he and Eddie met #(I think I have the timelines right?) #also I couldn't figure out a way to fit this in but Barb painted some scenery which is why Nancy actually wanted to go

[tepli-mravenci]

I just had an epiphany about the Barbie movie and I need to share it

So I watched Barbie like a week ago with my friend and I liked it, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't really life changing to me, it didn't really feel like I was the target audience despite having been raised as a girl and partially still identifying as a woman.

It never crossed my mind that I should change for a man, that I should serve a man or that I should tie my worth to a man, I never had to overcome that because I never really...cared about those things. I'm a lesbian and even as a kid, even as a teen I didn't think having a boyfriend was an inherently good thing, if anything I viewed it as a nuisance because my friends would mostly just complain about their partners.

I walked out of the theater thinking it was a really nice movie and feeling glad that it made a lot of people reflect on themselves and our society. I felt glad for others, because I didn't really feel targeted by any of the themes the movie was presenting.

That was until I thought about it at home and realized something. The friend I watched it with was a very femme cishet girl, she was very much the target audience of this movie. She listens to Melanie Martinez, she has a history of toxic boyfriends, all that jazz.

I remembered that during the montage of reminding the Barbies who they are, she said, out of nowhere "Oh, I hope they find the Weird Barbie doll and fix her too, that would be so nice." and I was so flabbergasted by that and I had so much to say to her about that that I just shushed her instead of saying anything and ended up forgetting about it by the end of the movie.

So when I recalled that, I also recalled that it was really hurtful, in that moment, to hear it from her and I couldn't place why.

I understood that she didn't mean it in a bad way at all. I understood that she saw the damage on Weird Barbie as traces of abuse, the sequence with the girl doing it was very violent and I understand she would've interpreted that as a traumatic event. I understood how she would view Weird Barbie getting restored as her healing from that trauma, becoming again who she was before it happened. But I... didn't really see it that way.

You see, I was in the "popular" girls group when I started elementary school, I gossiped with them, I laughed with them, I had a pool, that was all it took to be a cool kid when you were 7. But eventually it wasn't enough. They changed their style and priorities and suddenly they didn't care about Monster High and Winx anymore, they cared about boys and make-up. I was called immature and childish for still playing with toys when I was 11-12...by 12yo girls. I dressed in a very colorful expressive way, that was called weird. I was advised, by my classmates (only girls), to try dressing "normal" and try wearing a little mascara when I was 13.

The thing is, I didn't feel like the weird one, because from my point of view they were the ones who changed and were being weird now. I didn't like how they dressed and how they acted and how they presented themselves so I rejected that and continued expressing myself the way I wanted. So I was pushed away, I was silently dismissed. I was called weird behind my back and to my face. I was mocked for being myself. I was advised again and again to just try and fit in. But I didn't want to because I understood, even at that age, that it wouldn't make me happy to fit in with these people.

In high school I doubled down in the opposite direction and went full goth, which still made me stand out, but I understood that the people who would stick with me even tho I didn't look like them, were the ones worth being around. I literally wore smudged black eyeliner and black lipstick and goth casual to the Barbie movie.

So I realized, that my representation in the movie was Weird Barbie. And if she did get "fixed" I would genuinely be upset and it would also go against the message of the movie I feel. Even tho she was shunned from her community she remained kind, she was more understanding than any other Barbie, she was herself unapologetically. Yes, her looks were the result of her getting damaged by her girl but she embraced it, she expressed herself through it, she was the coolest Barbie in Barbieland.

Because she was like me.

#rant #rant post #needed to get this out of my system #barbie #barbie movie #barbie 2023 #the barbie movie #weird barbie

[thestrangestthing89]

I like that the main couples have followed a similar trajectory.

Jopper works well together from the beginning and they have some conflict in the middle. In S2 it was that Joyce was dating Bob and Hopper is clearly jealous. In S3 they aren't on the same page because Hopper is ready to have a normal life and Joyce is grieving. But they are on the same page now at the end of S4 and together. It's implied they will be working together again like they were in the earlier seasons while being a couple. It also seems to be a foregone conclusion that they will be a family and raise their kids together.

Lumax works well together once Lucas tells Max what's been going on in Hawkins with the lab in S2. They have some conflict in S3 with juvenile breakups. They are broken up in season 4 for more serious reasons - because Max is depressed and isolated herself. But they are now on the same page again and it seems like they will be working well together again once Max is awake.

Jancy always worked well together for the the first two seasons. They have some minor conflict in S2 similar to Jopper - Nancy is with Steve and Jonathan doesn't like it. But they are a couple by the end of the season. They have some conflict in S3 and S4 where they aren't on the same page. In S3 it's because they aren't understanding each others perspectives about how to handle their hostile workplace. In S4 it's because Jonathan is holding back about why he didn't apply to college. But the college thing isn't solely about Nancy, it's about him feeling obligated to his family. And Jonathan and Nancy have always worked well together so them working through this too makes sense. I think it's possible they may breakup for a bit and go to separate colleges but I think they will still talk to each other about their families and Hawkins during this time. Once the drama starts building up at the end of the season it makes sense that they would work well together again like always. Continuing to follow the same trajectory as the other couples.

Byler is separated in the beginning because of Will's disappearance but Mike's entire storyline revolves around him and it's clear he cares about Will. They work well together throughout S2. There is conflict in S3 and Will calls Mike out for not acting like himself. In S4 Mike acknowledges Will was right and they spend the whole season problem solving their situation about how to get back to El and Hawkins together. It seems very likely that with the drama early on in the season that they will be working well together again since they always do. It makes sense that Mike would be protective of Will again since we have seen this established in S1 and S2. And also a bit in S3 - Mike notices something is wrong with Will at the movie theater and by the end of the season when they know something is wrong Mike listens to Will and helps to create a plan.

So the endgame couples follow a pattern. Work as a team -> conflict -> reunite/resolve conflict -> work as a team.

Then there is Mileven and Stancy.

Mileven meets and fights a lot through S1. They are also separated twice through the season - once when Mike leaves her on the side of the road when Will's fake body is found, and once when El runs off after she hurts Lucas and Mike yells at her. They also end up separated at the end of S1 and only reunite at the end of S2. They don't work well together in S1. There is a lot of fighting and their teamwork isn't as a couple (they aren't a couple at this point, but they also aren't a duo). It involves Lucas and Dustin too. They don't interact much in season one and even though El comes back at the end to help, it's not her and Mike teaming up to save Will. They both help Will separately. In fact, Mike is supposed to wait at the Byers house while El goes off to close the gate. But Mike goes off to help Will in a way that he saw earlier in the season - he knows the fire in the tunnels will help draw out the MF from Will because he watched it happen. It had nothing to do with something El told him. They didn't discuss this. S3 we see more conflict. They are together in the beginning and it causes conflict with the rest of the group - their friends and Hopper are not happy about this relationship. They breakup and are apart for a lot of the season. When they reunite to problem solve it's again, not as a duo but with the whole group. They are sort of a couple at the end? I guess. El decides they are back together so... In S4 we see more conflict. Their relationship isn't doing great. They breakup again (yes, the From El letter was her dumping his ass) and she runs off back to the lab. They are separated most of the season while Mike spends his season working as A TEAM (a thing that was stated directly) with Will. They reunite and still aren't discussing their problems but aren't even speaking at the end of the season.

They aren't following the pattern.

Stancy doesn't either. They are together in S1 but it's clear Nancy has reservations about it. They aren't on the same page. It results in her neglecting Barb and Barb disappearing. Steve doesn't care about this which results in Nancy finding someone who does - Jonathan. Steve and Nancy are a couple at the end of the season but it feels forced and random considering everything that happened this season. They are together in S2 but are still having problems and breakup (yes, the alley conversation was a breakup). Nancy spends all season with Jonathan and her and Steve are officially over at the end. They don't interact one-on-one in S3 and the teamwork here has to do with the whole group.

S4 has them working together, but again it's with the whole group. Nancy and Steve don't exactly work well together. Nancy holds back from him at first about her suspicious about the Creels because he's dismissed her before. Nancy works better with Robin and pairs herself off with her a couple times. When the group comes up with the plan at the end it's a bad plan. Max dies, the town is destroyed and multiple people die, Vecna isn't killed. They aren't a great team.

They don't followed the pattern either.

Mike/El and Nancy/Steve don't ever work one-on-one together the way the other couples do. Jopper, Jancy, Lumax, and Byler are always paired off together. Even though we haven't seen Lumax and Byler alone exactly, this is more because of their ages. They still manage to have moments where they are clearly communicating and working together though. In S2, Byler had their crazy together conversation and Mike is able to find a way to help Will with his possession because he listened to Will. So he's able to communicate to Joyce and Hopper what's wrong and help him. Lucas talks to Max about her depression and helps come up with a plan to help her with Kate Bush.

Both Byler and Lumax have scenes where they are talking through their problems. Since they are older now, I think we may see scenes next season where they are off together without a group around. I think Mike is tied into the story with Henry and he will be helping Will like he always has since the start of the series. And Lucas is very supportive and protective of Max and will want to keep helping her through everything. It makes sense narratively for Mike to be with Will next season and for Lucas to be with Max.

But I cannot think of any reason why Mike would need to suddenly out of nowhere learn to work as a team with El. Are they supposed to magically learn to communicate overnight? Will they suddenly be on the same page, again out of nowhere? They have never been a team. They have always worked separately and this benefits the group. They don't support each other the way they need to be supported.

Same with Steve and Nancy. They get people killed whenever they are together because they aren't on the same page. Mike and El killed Max too, in the same way Steve and Nancy killed Barb. Nancy and Mike weren't being honest and it resulted in the loss of a friend. Steve was not ok with the plan at the end of the season and tried to stop it at first. He gave in pretty quickly. He doesn't challenge her when she is wrong and he dismisses her feelings often (with regard to Barb and when she is upset about the Vecna vision). They are not a team and never have been.

Mileven and Stancy don't follow any clear path. They are a mess. Whereas all the other couples have a trajectory that from a writing standpoint, makes a lot of sense. You can understand the formula they are following and it doesn't feel like it's a roller coaster ride that is all over the place. Which is why I'm always exhausted by both of those relationships. The constant back and forth and breaking up and getting back together and endless conflict is so tiring to watch. If they wanted them to be endgame they would have written them to be a team. But instead they stress how they don't work as a team. And it stands out in comparison to the couples that do work well together.

#byler #anti mileven #gay mike wheeler #jancy #anti stancy #jopper

[alphashley14]

I just saw “Barbie” in theaters with my Mom and my sister, and SPOILER-FREE, I have three main takeaways.

One: they were NOT kidding about the sheer amount of PINK in a “Barbie” movie theater. Then again, I was wearing pink too. And it was GREAT.

Two: I would like to take this moment to apologize to Barbie, because I made the assumption when I was a kid that all she was about was being a girly girl and liking fashion and pretty things. I guess I listened too much to the people (men - let’s face it: men) who said Barbies were for girls as if that was somehow a bad thing. And now that I really understand what she was supposed to be about, I really wish I’d played with her and my dream house when I had the chance.

Three: that movie made me cry TWICE. I cry at movies, but I do not cry easily at movies. I can name only three other movies that have ever made me cry, and one of them doesn’t truly count because all it made me feel was TRAUMA (no one warned me about torture flicks okay?!) And this one got me TWICE. That alone should be a testament to how absolutely fucking brilliant it was.

#barbie #barbie 2023 #barbie movie

[thefloatingstone]

Is there a popular film you dislike?

It depends what you mean by "Dislike".

I don't like pan's labyrinth but I am fully aware that it is a great movie and I completely understand why people like it. I just found it too upsetting. When I watched it in theaters I had to go to the bathroom to take a mental health break. So that's one I dislike but it's not because I dislike the film as a film.

On the other hand; I think Up is an extremely overrated mediocre film that people only like because the 4 minute montage at the start of the film hit them the right way. It did not for me. I remember sitting there going "ok! Now I know the context! let's see where they take the movie after this!" not realising that the montage was the movie's biigest play and if you didn't cry your eyes out at the montage the rest of the film will do absolutely nothing for you.

I thought the montage was CONTEXT... not the literal point of the movie. And I think everybody goes "Oh up is so good it's so emotional oh Up is so moving oh Up is the best Pixar film!"

Up is about a kid and an old man squabbling in the jungle, and a giant bird who eats chocolate and talking dogs who fly tiny little airplanes...

And yes I know about the theme of overcoming Loss and moving forward with your life after it and yes I know a lot of people saw their grandparents echoed in the film. THAT stuff is good.

But so much of it is funny haha so random dumb kid and giant bird humour and dogs speaking in squeaky voices and... it's just... a mess.

And I find the emotional beats in the film to be SO overblown among the other elements they come across as extremely emotionally manipulative by the filmmakers in a way that felt like they were strong-arming me to try and make me feel an extreme emotion by hitting themes of age and death in an extremely forceful way.

And then it won the oscar that year when it was up against Secret of Kells, How to Train your Dragon, and Fantastic Mister Fox. And it is a lesser film to ALL of those.

#C-Puff answers

[forgottenyear]

[tw: suicide attempt - a very long time ago, I am safe]

I experienced a familiar disorientation just now. Since I have never given it another thought, maybe I ought to think about it now.

I was looking up something about the town in which we grew up (for a reason I can no longer remember), and when (now I remember – it was because I was watching a documentary and realized that it was possible for a person who met and spoke with Galileo Galilei to have visited the first home of the first settler in the town, and I needed to verify this – it is true that both events happened within a reasonable lifespan of the time) – and when I closed the page to do something else, I found my environment confusing, other than the fading light of sunset.

The disorientation is familiar, and I think it is associated with sunsets. Sunsets figure prominently in my memories of the house in which we grew up. Possibly because we would be more likely to play in the front yard at sunset because it had better light. Also, because we would be eking out the last bit of outdoor time after school in autumns.

We worked at the theater in summer, so sunsets are prominent in those memories as well. At the beginning of the season, it would still be dusk when the plays would finish, but by the end of the season it would already be getting dark and chilly when the plays began.

Finishing at the theater for the season was difficult because it meant our world would be packed away for winter.

I also have a memory of cutting our wrists but only leaving scars that lasted several years. In frustration, we hopped on our bicycle and began riding. We saw some younger kids that we recognized from church, playing in their front yard, so we stopped and spent time with them. This was at sunset. The next day, someone from the school saw the cuts and reported us. We spent a few weeks in a therapy group at the school, but then we dropped out to work for a professional theater (our guidance counselor told the parents that we were the first and only student they felt was making the right choice, to drop out – with a GED).

I had forgotten about this suicide attempt. I knew it was there, and I reference it often, but I forgot the details. Sunset is a big part of that memory.

There it is again. I wish the sun would set already.

It is the kind of disorientation that happens when you get really involved with a movie. You know where you are and when you are, but it feels foreign to be there and then. Like you were suddenly transported into another time and another place, but it is where you were all along.

I could explain it away and forget it, as I always have done. It is not necessarily anything to do with DID, but I write about it because it probably is.

I understand so little about us and how we function that I will grasp at anything that could explain even the smallest bit of it.

My partner is waiting for us to watch shows together.

[hairstevington]

So I love Ronance, and I agree that Nancy would probably end up being the one to initiate it, but what if what if what if-

“Best Friends”

Nancy Wheeler x Robin Buckley (first kiss, admission of feelings, Robin instigates for once)

Summary: quick one shot where Robin flexes her theater kid skills and acts like a woman she thinks is sexy from a movie to get Nancy to finally admit her feelings

Nancy insists that her and Robin are just friends, even though they flirt all the time and hang out one on one and by all means should be together. She says it so often that even Steve is annoyed by the obvious lie. So one night Steve tells Robin she should lay it on thick with Nancy as an experiment, because he thinks she’s just repressing her feelings like she always does. Remember, Robin is really good at improv and she’s seen a lot of movies. At first she thinks there’s no way she could be so bold with Nancy, and then Steve tells her to just act like *insert badass woman character from a movie they just saw together*

Robin still thinks it’s a ridiculous idea until later when Nancy says once again that she’s not attracted to Robin like that. Robin’s already had a few drinks but takes one more shot for confidence before she approaches Nancy.

“I’m sick of you saying that.” Robin admits. Her voice is firm, not sad. “Especially since we both know it’s not true.” Nancy looks almost offended at first, and for a split second Robin regrets ever agreeing to this. But then she realizes Nancy isn’t offended, she’s just surprised.

“Wh-what?” Nancy asks, looking off to the side with an awkward chuckle. Robin maintains her gaze on Nancy.

“Look at me.” She demands softly, her finger pushing Nancy’s chin forward.

“You’re drunk.” Nancy stutters. Looking into Robin’s eyes is almost painful, but the only other alternative is looking at her lips.

“You’re beautiful.” Robin says, winding her arm around Nancy’s waist.

“What are you doing?” Nancy wonders. She isn’t pushing Robin away, or expressing that she is uncomfortable. She just doesn’t understand where Robin got the sudden confidence from.

“Nancy, come on. I’ve had a crush on you since the day we met.” Robin knows she’s breaking character, that now she’s speaking more as herself than anything else. “You had to have known. Especially after I came out to you.”

“I-I didn’t know.” Nancy furrows her eyebrows before finally shifting her gaze up to meet Robin’s.

“Okay, so now that you know…” Robin was about to find out once and for all. Her free hand reaches up to brush some of Nancy’s hair back. “You still only see me as a friend, Nance?” Their faces were inching dangerously close.

“Well, I, um…” Nancy doesn’t know what to say. She’d never seen this side of Robin before. The possibility of them actually being together like that was never even entertained in her mind. She was Steve’s ex, and Robin was Steve’s best friend. But now…

“Tell me one thing.” Robin says, rehearsing her final statement in her head. She lays her hands flat against the wall on either side of Nancy, before putting her lips to Nancy’s ear. “Do you want to kiss me?”

“Yes.” Nancy affirms, her voice almost like a whimper. The answer sobers Robin instantly, and her eyes go wide, because holy shit. Nancy just actually admitted it. Robin pulls away, stunned.

“Oh my god, Steve, you were right!!!!” She runs off to find her friend, who’s been watching the whole time with a knowing smirk.

Nancy just stands there, flushed, confused, and wanting more. “What the fuck just happened?” She mutters to herself.

Ten seconds later, Robin runs back to her.

“Oh right, sorry.” Robin says, her usual nervous personality back (just the way Nancy likes.) Robin kisses her immediately, making up for all the other times she wanted to kiss her and didn’t. By the time they break apart, they are both breathless.

“This was unexpected.” Nancy says, smiling.

“Aw, Nance, honey. You’re the only one who’s surprised.” Robin tucks one of Nancy’s curls back.

“What? That can’t be right.” Nancy denies.

“Even Dustin’s been bothering me about it.” Robin laughs.

“Dustin? Oh my god, this is mortifying.” Nancy groans.

“No, don’t worry. We figured it out eventually. Now we get to be-“

“Really good friends, right?” Nancy teases with a smirk.

“Oh yeah, totally. Best friends.” She leans in to kiss Nancy again, relieved that their days of denial are over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TAGLIST: @abraca-fxckyou @allbimyself26 @jellybabiesforall

#idk where this came from #but Robin has proved that she can act and improv after the whole Ruth and Rose thing #so idk I thought this was fun lol #also the fact that Robin unintentionally uses a line Steve used on Nancy in s1 #points to anyone who notices #stranger things #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #me #ronance #robin x nancy #nancy wheeler x robin buckley #steve harrington #robin buckley x nancy wheeler #st robin #st fanfiction #st fanfic #writing #st imagine #ronance imagine #ronance fic #ronance fanfiction

[mittensmorgul]

since there’s no spn on the tnt loop today, i’m rewatching the Winchesters pilot. this is just general episode notes and things I haven’t talked about yet, for reference purposes mostly :D

Their meet cute... it feels “true-ish” to the story Dean shared with Mary in 12.01 as proof of identity. They met coming out of the theater where Slaughterhouse Five was playing by running into each other physically. But so many details-- TINY details-- aren’t quite “right.” They’re edited, but in a “the story became the story” way that we all probably have “sanitized” versions of our life history that we share with outsiders, you know? Or our kids... 

This was a major thing that Dean did throughout spn canon. I have whole tags about it: “the story became the story” and “sanitized for sammy,” and if we’re being completionist about it, also “sam vs reality.” And Dean began doing this ON JOHN’S ORDERS. He was to keep the truth of their lives from Sam, and there was a whole episode about Sam losing his innocence about monsters and hunting, and Dean blaming himself for it while STILL attempting to reframe the truth in a way that was more palatable and comforting, you know? Sam still didn’t get the details, he got “Dad’s a superhero” and “he always comes back.” Even though he didn’t, really.

The Story of John and Mary feels similar, especially since Dean’s our narrator now. The details are all the same-- ran into each other, they even joked that Mary really got John there even though Mary was the one knocked to the ground. Mary didn’t even see the movie but commented to John that the book was probably better-- i.e. she didn’t love the movie like Dean’s story before. It wasn’t Mary who apologized by taking them to a diner for coffee, it was John bringing her coffee trying to get her help/help her in their parallel searches for their respective fathers that feels FAR too coincidental, like a cosmic set-up scenario.

We know the cupids had to work overtime to get them together, you know? What better than to give them an Epic Quest to work through together? Which feeds directly into Chuck’s Process, his favored method of getting his characters to do what he wants. I.e. making people believe they’re seeking/doing something they personally want to by placing carefully orchestrated problems in their path. Even if Chuck isn’t the one TELLING us this story, since Dean is our narrator/storyteller now, he’s narrating events that had ALREADY HAPPENED, in theory. At least that’s the PREMISE we’re being invited to observe here, so until the narrative tells us otherwise, that’s how I’m personally observing.

I have no doubt that the reveal of The Trick Of The Thing in episode 13 will shed new light on this viewpoint, or shift our understanding of what we’ve watched to that point, but I do think they are laying out clues in the small details that we already think we know about the Winchester family history, you know? So how they’re choosing to present them to us now feels important, too.

There’s also the demons. That first one they encounter outside the clubhouse that Mary knocks into the holy water kiddie pool, I think that one ESCAPED rather than having been exorcised. That’s the only reason it was able to take a new host so quickly without having been redirected through Hell, you know? Even if we only saw John give about half an exorcism in the alley behind Ada Monroe’s place, I think we’re supposed to understand that’s what a successful exorcism actually looks like-- not with the smoke running off the way it had before, but sort of... poofing in the air and disappearing. Only at this point was it returned to Hell.

John and Mary are already doing the whole “stealing glances at each other when they think the other isn’t looking” thing, and it’s giving me brain worms.

Mary saying “there’s no secrets in our family,” I honestly had to pause it here to laugh. Five minutes later, it’s still fucking hilarious.

She’s never heard of the Men of Letters, but her father definitely has. Ada has. And now John learns his father had... and even Millie had... So was Samuel keeping this from Mary to protect her from the mysterious fate that befell the entire MoL organization 15 years prior to this time? Or shielding her from the heaviest of it all because he believed it had been defunct? Questions questions questions...

John being goofy asking Carlos how he got involved in hunting feels very Sam-like. 3.01 anyone? Carlos’ answer is fantastic though. The only thing worse than how someone gets into hunting is how they end... feels very Dean (it ends bloody or it ends sad, etc.)

John and Lata... really does feel like a thing. And it’s being framed as Mary SEEING it happen, and thinking John has feelings for Lata, and vice versa.

Mary’s deal here-- when we find my dad I’m walking away from hunting-- feels VERY Sam in early seasons. The only reason Dean was able to convince Sam to go with him to hunt their dad in the pilot was on the understanding that Sam was going back to his “normal” life as soon as they were done. After the pilot, it became “as soon as we find Dad, I can be free, be out, never hunt again” for SAM. That was Sam’s deal, for YEARS.

And even when Mary came back in s12, it was what she thought she was fighting for, working with the BMoL (maybe thinking they were the same as the MoL she’d known prior, if she retained any memories of any of this, which remains to be seen) to make it so her children wouldn’t HAVE to fight monsters, if there were no monsters left to fight. It’s kind of horrifying, her believing that’s what Sam would’ve wanted (and Sam... kind of going along with it in s12, even hiding it from Dean for a while). But the parallels between parents and kids are never 1:1 and never had been, either. There’s so much “Mary is just like Dean, John is just like Sam” commentary happening, that I don’t want to brush off “Mary’s also just a bit like Sam, and John of course shares some traits with Dean,” too.

Mille telling John that she hid the truth about monsters and the MoL from him because she would do anything to keep him safe, and that maybe one day when he had kids, he’d understand. And like... yeah maybe. The immediate reaction was PFFFT NO. HE MADE HIS KIDS INTO HUNTERS, INTO WARRIORS. But... not at first. He and Mary had been trying to keep them safe, normal. Until the demon came for Mary and flung John back into the life. Like... how different would things have gone if not for that? If not for The Story™ coming for them?

And again, this also feeds into “how much will they actually retain from this entire experience, or even possibly “how real is this entire experience to our known SPN Prime Universe?” Those seem like important questions to bear in mind.

I feel the need to put this link here now, before it gets pushed waaaaay down the google search results by results from the show... but Akrida has several definitions I think may all be relevant to some extent or another. It’s a garden, a place of leisure and play or sporting. A “play-ground,” created by the king either exclusively for the royal family to enjoy, or for the public to enjoy. And isn’t that what The Winchesters is? I mean, Dean is our King in this metaphor. But the Akrida in the show is a force intent on devouring or destroying all of existence, too. It’s a very ouroboros concept from that zoomed out perspective, you know? Creation devouring itself. More on this as our understanding expands through the season.

The last thing I think I really need to mention here: Dean, our driver picking the music. Our Storyteller. Also functioning as the Man of Letters chronicling and precepting for us. One other important thing that I’ve seen discussed since we got the first promo with Dean writing in a journal: THIS IS NOT NEW FOR DEAN, NOT OUT OF CHARACTER, and NOT GROUNDBREAKING.

In early seasons, it was clear that Dean DID keep his own journals. He didn’t just use John’s Journal. It sort of became their default master collection of lore at some point, and obviously was their “clue book” during s1. But all through the early seasons we’re shown Dean writing in other notebooks, keeping records for himself. Off the top of my head, we see it in 1.16 Shadow, and it looks like it’s very well organized and that Dean had been using it regularly, even if we only see it for a brief moment. I know that wasn’t the only time we saw it, either, but I don’t have time to scour the first few seasons for references today. We know he and Sam both eventually came to rely more on John’s Journal since they were partially using it as a clue book to find JOHN HIMSELF, and to follow the trail of clues laid out for them by John, you know? That journal functioned sort of like a codex to follow their family history, more than just a straight-up hunter’s journal of lore and info the way Dean’s journal worked. But now that he’s the storyteller, we’re finally getting HIS family history, written by him. I just needed to say all this, to note it down for reference.

#the winchesters #spnwin 1.01 #spnwin s1 rewatch notes

[friendship-showdown]

Friendship Showdown: Preliminary Round #29

Propaganda:

Pep and Cadebra (Adventure Time): you know peppermint butler right? well this dumbass got hit with a biochemical attack during the series finale and got turned into a kid again. but that’s ok because now he gets to go to school in his own tv streaming special. and get a new bestie friend who loves him SOSO MUCH even though he Could kill her and Wants to. she saw this man wailing crying in their dorm and was like oh I’m going to be his friend forEVER. him murdering several adults onscreen in front of her while possessed and then trying to murder her as well did not deter this love. the first thing she ever saw him do was tear a man’s head off (he was fine) and then steal one of her schoolbooks. at the end he’s like “I still want to be an evil dark wizard when I grow up:((((((“ and she’s like “sounds good to me!” (<— lives in a society where evil dark wizardry is Forbidden). He may be the only wizard in advtime who supports the kind of magic SHE likes to do. they’re so inseparable honestly

Gabriel Montoya and Bill Shakespeare  (Bill (2015)): bill is a movie about the early career of shakespeare aka bill. gabriel is a trans assassin who is hired by the spanish king to pretend to be an actor and kill bill, but then she discovers she actually likes acting and betrays the king. also bill is the first person to respect her identity and treat her as a woman so she saves his life and they become best friends who work together in the theater

Sheldon Cooper and Penny (The Big Bang Theory): they're just... great. I mean they're neighbours, Penny doesn't understand Sheldon's neurodiversity at ALL and mocks him a lot, but also she's the most supportive person whenever he has a breakdown or when he's in a pickle or when he has emotional turmoil. On the other hand Sheldon sneers at Penny's lack of education, failed career, or sexual activities, but cares a lot about her and even speaks about her in his nobel prize acceptance speech to say she's one of the best friends he ever had and the only one who doesn't also have a doctorate or something.

#adventure time #bill 2015 #the big bang theory

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Saw the Puss in Boots Movie.

Let's talk about Puss In Boots for a hot minute.

I was not expecting this level of story telling. Looking at the other movies that came out of the franchise, I honestly was expecting a mediocre fast paced joke after joke with a tenuous grasp on a plot.

I was so very surprised.

What a movie. The animation style was a solid choice and well done. The scenes and designs were fantastic. The story was wonderful, the black forest morphing to match the wish maker was making me scream every time it switched. Stellar.

So let me do what I do and try to be articulate enough to explain why I thought it was so amazing.

Who is the target audience for this movie?

Here's the tricky part. It's a cartoon set in the Shrek Universe. It's supposedly targetted towards young kids up to maybe early teens.

Yet it didn't feel that way.

So who is the target audeince?

The same people that saw the first Shred Movie.

You didn't have to have seen all the other movies to understand the characters or the plot. But having seen the first and second movie is key.

When did those movies first come out? Shrek was released in April of 2001. Shrek 2 was released May of 2004.

That's long enough apart for someone to start high school and just about finish high school.

That was 22 years ago!

The target audience? People in their 30s who are about to be 40.

This is a movie made by the people who sat in theaters at the age of 14 watching the first movie. People who fell in love with the fairy tale breaking movie.

The ugly ogre finds the princess, the princess kicks ass. She chooses him over the handsome prince and she changes to a form that she can feel happy in.

This is a movie for all the LGBTQ kids just finding themselves.

So now those kids are grown up. They've been faced with a hard life. Repeated traumas. Repeated world catastrophies that their parents never knew. Faced with fixing problems they didn't start. Faced with struggling to fight for their rights and riding off the tails of those that died to catch a glimpse of those rights.

Kids that grew up with generational trauma. Kids that were supposed to get married and have kids and instead of struggling to find happiness in themselves.

Live life fast and hard or hidden away and scared.

We've been seeing a lot of movies that discuss generational trauma: Coco, Encanto, Everything Everywhere all at once…

It's almost like we grew up and are trying to learn how to heal.

We are also starting to see found familiy. Learning to be happy with friends and those around us that make us feel safe and loved.

What's so special about Puss in Boots The Last Wish? There's more than one important message here.

Found family is a big role in two ways.

You have Goldie and the three bears. You see her desire to be with those like her and have a family and learn that her family has always been there loving her despite her not being like them. She's spent so long looking for what was right in front of her that she almost loses it.

Then you have Perrito who flat out says "You are my friends and I trust you. You are my family. Why would I want anything else when I have you?"

You see panic attacks and how irrational they can make you. How they take over your everything and how you view the world. Trauma and fear can lead you down a path very much like how we see in the movie.

You also have someone who has no regard for his life. He wastes 8 lives without care. Drinking, Gambling, gorging in things bad for him, being cocky, being arragant. Someone alone with no friends and afraid to connect and give up the glory that he thinks he has and needs.

Then he switches to someone too scared to live his life. Settling for mediocraty and such unhappiness because they think it's the safe path.

A good lesson. Cherish your life. Live it well because you only get one life.

But let's remember who this movie is made for. 30-40 year olds.

We have already lived most of our lives. Living the way we were told. Surviving. Trying to find ourselves. Go to school, find a career, get a job, make connections. Every step has been one task after another and we are still so unhappy and so tired.

We are a generation of people that weren't allowed to be who we were meant to be.

But we are now older. We are now adults who are about to be the next leaders to the young generations.

We can retire and be safe and slink away.

Or we can take what is left and see what we have. We can live. We can appreciate that we have this life and this life is ours.

So yeah. This was a good movie. This was a stellar movie. This was a movie that felt like an amazing end to a story that started when we were just learning how to be adults.

Now we are adults and it's time to learn how to live.

Someone once said it: We see him react to death in two days.

The first time he is terrified and doesn't want to die. The second time he is determined and not ready to die.

Death tells him to "Fight for it. Fight for the life you have."

#Not Moon Knight #Allow me to ramble about other things now and then #Puss in Boots #Last Wish #I liked Goldie way more than I thought I would #Even the bad guy who wanted to own everything because he could was a metaphore for what we have had to face as a generation

[moonstrider9904]

I just finished watching Tales of the Jedi and I have a lot of words so SPOILER ALERT if you haven't watched it.

I don't want to put this under a read more because I feel like that'll just make people ignore the post so please, if you haven't filtered spoilers and don't want to be spoiled, close your eyes and scroll past this fast :D

I'll be as coherent as I can 😅

First off I am blown. Blown away by this. I'm in awe at how much Star Wars can make me feel and how this is the only franchise that will do this to me.

Episode one, I cried. Baby 'Soka, I shall protect you from everything even though you shall be the one protecting me even with thou chubby baby legs. But when the end credits rolled and Ahsoka's theme played, I teared up. I hadn't cried with Star Wars ever since Crosshair was left on Kamino!! For a moment, I was nine years old watching The Clone Wars in the movie theater with my brother all over again 🥺

Now... Dooku. I hate him. I love him. I love to hate him. I hate to love him. I love Yaddle more (seriously, Yaddle my beloved, I'm not over that). And the way I howled when I realized some of the events were set in TPM?! I mean, animated TPM Qui Gon?! MY CHILDHOOD-

The sadness that Dooku felt at losing Qui Gon, and the scene at the tree felt so surreal. I would have loved to see Dooku's fall to the Dark Side in much more detail but this is in no way a complaint; I love the execution and the short story format, and I felt the setting was exposed pretty clearly and just- AGH.

Also, that scene where Dooku tells the guy from Raxus he can kind of understand his point of view, and while he talks, his face is lit red and the background behind him is dark - *faints* I love it when a scene can visually reflect a character's inner turmoils. 10/10

I still love Yaddle more.

and Mace Windu was fuckin' amazing in this, as he always is. We stan Mace Windu in this house - holy crap.

Now. Now. NOW.

Tales of the Jedi is truly special because, while many will like to dismiss nostalgia factor as pure frivolity, it's the reason I and possibly others feel so intensely right now.

We saw Ahsoka again, as well as Obi-Wan, Anakin, Rex, Jesse. Characters I watched as a kid, who have shaped me in one way or another; we see them grwo with the course of the mini series, and we can tell the context and feel either joy or pain, mostly pain by the end. I had no clue that the training montages with Rex and the boys would lead so smoothly (and so painfully) back to Order 66.

There's a sequence I will now watch with even more pain!! Thank you, Felony.

Also DEPA BILLABA AND CALEB DUME. Guys. The incoherent noises I made at seeing them. I yelled and cried and fangirled and asdkjhañksjdghañsdbgj it was gorgeous to see them. Their cameo didn't even have words, they were just there and it made sense and it felt nice and I love it. Same with Plo and Yoda.

And I respect Ahsoka way more now knowing she worked hard days under the sun. Respect to my queen. UGH and the pain of knowing she was at Padmé's procession because they were friends, having Bail tell her there was nothing she could have done for them (isn't Bail Organa just the best, most comforting character in the franchise?)

And that inquisitor - I was bummed that it ended so quickly. People, I'm a slut for Percy de Rolo, and then you give me an inquisitor with a bird like mask and a deep voice? AÑISDJHGFAÑSBJGFDA anyways ummm Ahsoka was a badass, as usual, and I really wanted to smack the dude who turned her in.

Hehes, I really hope not to have rambled too much. I'm still not over it, these are just my thoughts on the whole series. Soon, I'm going to rewatch it with a bag of popcorn.

#spoilers #tales of the jedi spoilers #totj spoilers #tales of the jedi #ahsoka tano #qui gon jinn #count dooku #anakin skywalker #captain rex #star wars totj #star wars spoilers #star wars tales of the jedi