#what fans think of as loose ends don't need to be tied up from their point of view

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I wonder about that sometimes, if they have a CO planned out. I wonder how much planning would have to go into that because there are 2 of them to think about. Even if HL aren't together anymore then I would think they'd still need to work together as a CO from one of them will raise questions about what happened in 1D. It would probably bring more attention to Larry. Every so often they'll say or do something that doesn't make any sense now but I wonder if it will make sense in the future with more context. The CO process really interests me a lot... if they will start laying the groundwork in advance or leave it closer to the tie, if they will tie up loose ends or just wing it, if there will be signs or it'll be when we least expect it etc. I love to look for signs but it's pointless really because it could happen in 1 year or 10 years or 20 or not at all, we'll never know until it happens.

I do think the question of how they think about coming out is a really interesting (and unknowable one). Is coming out something that is unthinkable at the moment, is it a desire for some vague future which is on the never never, is there a desire for a slightly more concrete future that impacts on the present day, or is there a concrete plan that is currently in place?

Fascinating question - there's no way we could have any idea about the answer.

If they're not together - then I don't think they'd need to work together to come out. I think if things weren't terrible between them then the person who was coming out would give the other a heads up. But there would be no need to plan together. Obviously there would be some discussion of the fact that fans believe they are together if they came out, but I don't think it would be that significant. (If Louis came out the question about Harry wouldn't be that big a part of Harry discourse. And if Harry came out the questions about Louis wouldn't be that big a part of Harry coming out).

I also think if there's just one of them coming out then there's a lot more options. It would have to be planned - but things can be planned over a relatively short timetable and it could be a 'I can't do this anymore' type timetable. Although given the regular cycle of a touring artists life - I think it would be more likely to take place in a way that reflects that cycle. I think it's unlikely that a touring artist would come out mid-tour - it's a uncontrollable environment.

If they are together and are planning on being out together and about their relationship - then I think things get heaps more complicated and would have to be planned significantly in advance. There are so many challenges to Harry and Louis coming out together (to add one - how do you do any kind of set up when you have all these people who will lose their minds if you start to do what you do very much mean to do. Or how do you deal with the fact that there are a lot of people who work in the media and write stories - who are very invested in this and it might have an impact on their sense of identity. And those are just some of the fandom based problems).

#You have to of your options as tie up loose ends or wing it #I don't think either of those will happen #what fans think of as loose ends don't need to be tied up from their point of view #and they're absolutely not winging it

[melanieph321]

Ruben Dias x Reader - City Girls Part 3/8

Reader plays for the Man City girls academy. She struggles a bit but gets Ruben to mentor her. The the two don't hit off despite having many things in common. It all gets worse when Reader eventually catches feelings for Ruben.

Enjoy!

Your first training session with Ruben was not what you had signed up for. One week passed without hearing a word from him. You hadn't exchanged numbers or anything, but you expected there to be more effort from his side to seek you up. You obviously couldn't look for him in the main building, but Ruben had all access to find you. Yet, you heard nothing from him, letting a whole week pass.

"Pass the ball Y/N!" Coach shouted. "Pass Sandra the ball!"

But why? You thought. It was another frustrating training session. You ran across the field, the football glued to your feet. Your teammate, Sandra, ran along side you but on the other end. It didn't make any sense. Why pass the ball when you could dribble?

"No, Y/N, don't!"

You managed to get past a front line of players, taking the shot and scoring the goal yourself. Still, coach wasn't happy with your performance.

"If you don't like the way I run my play then pack your bags and go home!" He said.

You stayed back after training, collecting all the balls that had been used during the session. The task at hand took you twice as long as it should have. Some of the balls you were meant to collect you shot aimlessly in frustration. You had a need to get all your anger out and this seemed to be a therapeutic way to do it.

"Merda!" (Shit!)

Your cries echoed across the empty football field. A sense of hopelessness washing over you. You were on the brink from crying when you spotted him.

"Ruben!"

You shouted his name seeing him leave the main building. He looked done for the day, dressed in regular attire, wearing designer sneakers.

"Hey Ruben, wait up!"

He was walking towards the parking lot, a trail of other first team players doing the same. Some of them turned to acknowledge the girl running towards them in a frenzy. They laughed, thinking you were some silly academy kid.

"Ruben please!" You shouted, desperate to catch up with him.

"Hey Dias, I think you have a new fan."

Ruben, who was walking ahead of his teammates, looked up from his phone.

"Finally." You sighed.

He acknowledge you, raising a brow. However his attention was quickly drawn back to his phone, ignoring you this way.

"No!"

He continued towards his car.

"Seu burro gordo!" (You fat donkey!)

There was a ball near your feet. You stepped back, then rushed towards it. The ball launched across the field towards the surrounding fence. It hit the fence with such force, rattling it. Some players flinched, the force of your shot suprising them. However, Ruben hand't noticed. You found another ball, stepped back and took the shot.

"Hey, watch it!"

The ball flew pass the fence, over it, landing on the concrete before bouncing off another players car. The ball almost hit Ruben and this time you had his full attention.

"You promised!" You said, breathless.

His expression was more or less unfazed. Your heart sank seeing him turn his back on you, continuing towards his car.

You gave up.

The ball that flew over the fence would be one less to collect. You returned to the center of the field to the bag containing the balls you had retrieved earlier. You tied a loose knot and threw the bag over your shoulder, just then you got hit in the back of your head, the ball bouncing off somwhere. You turned around. Ruben stood with his arms folded, mocking you with a sly grin. He had exchanged his sneakers for cleats, looking ready to play.

"You said you would help me." You threw the bag off your shoulder, the balls spilling out towards Ruben. "I'm very serious about football Ruben and you promised to help me."

A swift movment from Ruben. You had to jump to the side, avoiding the ball he kicked your way.

"Don't run off now. Let me see you play for it."

You frowned at his words.

Ruben moved again and like last time you jumped out of the way, avoiding his chip aiming for your head. He chuckled. "You said you wanted to play football and now you're running. Why are you running Y/N?"

"I'm not." You squealed.

Ruben got behind another ball but this time you anticipated the shot. You caught it with a knee before it rolled onto the ground.

"Well..."

You let the ball rest under your feet. "Well what?"

Ruben looked to you expectantly. "Go on then, try getting past me."

The goal was right behind him. He wanted you to dribble past him and score. Steam rose above your head as every breath you took turned to smoke in the cold night. You let go of all thought, dribbling required no thought just instict. You ran forward, the ball glued to your feet. Ruben was rough with you, pushing you hard, making you work for it. Frustration. You couldn't find a way to get past him. Not to mention the fact that he was a stack taller than you.

"Come on, Y/N, you can do better than that!" Ruben snatched the ball from your feet, teasing you with it, playing cat and mouse. "Don't be so lazy, put some effort into it!"

You gritted your teeth and tried again, one last attempt to lunge for the ball and dribble past him. However, one second you were on your feet, the next you were falling flat on your face, eating grass.

"Who's the donkey now."

Ruben walked off the field, not bothering to look back. You rose to your knees, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand.

"So you speak Portuguese?" How else did he know that you called him a donkey?

Ruben might have left the field but his car never left the parking lot. He waited for you to collect the rest of the balls, offering to give you a ride home. "Well I'm from Portugal, so..."

"Right."

You sat back in the passenger seat, regretting not having done the research on Ruben. You had done so on almost every first team player in Manchester City. You had to know which ones were ranked the best.

"I'm from Brazil." You said, to which Ruben chuckled. "I know."

"Yeah? What gave me away?"

"Probably your need to dribble and your unhealthy obsession with Neymar."

You gasped. "I don't have an unhealthy..."

"A pro tip." Ruben said, cutting you short. "Don't put other players on pedestals. They might become your biggest rivals some day."

"I doubt my obsession...I mean fascination, with Neymar will be a problem. Although it would be a dream come true to play football with him."

The corner of Ruben's lip twitched.

Silence fell in car. You watched the streetlights go by. It was nice, speaking portuguese again. It had been a while since you didn't have to calculate every sentence that you spoke, although Ester had gotten really good to hear through your accent.

"Is that why coach wanted us to meet?" You turned back to Ruben as the thought hit you. "...because you speak portuguese?"

He kept his eyes on the road, brifley shifting his head to look at you. "He said you were having some trouble settling in."

"I bet he did." You snorted. "Did he also tell you that I have dry skin and frostbites all over my hands. If it wasn't for the weather in this country I'm sure I'd be doing fine."

"It doesn't get better than this." He smiled. "You should adapt to your circumstances and dress accordingly."

"Easy for you to say." You muttered.

Ruben looked to calculate his response, but hesitated. Again, silence fell in the car.

"I take it you miss home?" He said, after sometime. The streetlights disappeared as you got off the highway.

"I miss my family, yes. And the sun."

Ruben nodded understandingly, although you doubted that he knew how you felt. Portugal was only a two hour flight away. Ruben most likely went by private jet, somthing you could never afford.

You gave Ruben the direction to your apartment complex. He parked just below Ester bedroom window. The light from her computer told you that she was probably huddled up in bed, watching a cheesy comedy.

"Thanks for the ride." You said, hopping out of Ruben's car.

"Hey?"

You to look back. Ruben reached towards the backseat, searching for something in his gym bag. "It gets better in time." He said, handing you a pair of Man City gloves and a Man City beanie.

"Um...thanks."

"Te vejo mais tarde, Y/N." (I'll see you later, Y/N)

You stood by, watching his car disapper down the street. The night fell silent. You looked to the gloves in your hand, Ruben's gloves.

"Obrigado." You whispered. (Thank you.)

#fanfiction #football imagine #ruben dias #man city #manchester city #ruben dias x reader #ruben dias imagine #footballer imagine #footballer x reader #football angst

[studdedchoker]

idk if anyone will see this or care but i have controversial things to say about renewing our flag means death.

i understand wanting more content, this show meant everything to me for SOOOO long so i totally understand wanting more and not wanting it to end. and i also understand the desire to keep it alive for the sake of representation. ofmd has been one of the best shows for representation that i have ever seen and that is so so so so so important!!!

everything the fandom has done to campaign to save and renew ofmd is absolutely amazing and beautiful and it makes me so proud to be a part of this fandom

but i think that ofmd had a very good ending (all things considered i think we can all agree that it was rushed but!)! the end of season 2 tied up most (if not all) of the loose ends that were left. every character got peace and resolution even if the fans didn't like it (izzy). but i really think that to bring back the show for a third season is doing it a disservice.

every character is doing something that makes them happy and i think that the end of season 2 set up all the characters for a happily ever after. a lot of shows in recent media have overstayed their welcome and the plot, characters, and quality all suffered from being dragged on after they should have concluded. not every show should run for 7+ seasons just so that the fanbase can be fed new content for eternity.

i think that it is better to leave the characters of ofmd alone and let them be happy. if the show was to come back for a third season, there would have to be some kind of conflict and introducing that conflict would take the characters out of their happy ending that they earned at the end of season 2.

idk i just think that it isn't the right move to bring the show back for a third season. idk why the execs made the decision not to bring ofmd back for a third season but i honestly don't think it needs it.

i want to know what other people think abt this!! i'm not trying to start any fights i just think that the renewal of ofmd isn't the right next step.

either way: we've written our names on one another in permanent ink <3

#ofmd #our flag means death #save ofmd #save our flag means death #renew as a crew #renew our flag means death #renew ofmd #stede bonnet #edward teach #izzy hands #david jenkins #i hope people see this

[smartycvnt]

Last Stand

Pairing: Rhea Ripley x Reader Summary: You and Rhea have one final battle to decide whether or not you're going to join Judgement Day.

If the cage looked intimidating from the outside, it was downright terrifying from the inside. This was it, your last chance to get Rhea off of your back about joining Judgement Day. The two of you were settling this inside of Hell in a Cell with an I Quit match. The match type had been decided by Rhea and Judgement Day, but you had been the one to request the cell to keep her teammates out. It wasn't that you didn't have anyone in your corner, but nobody would do the things her teammates would. Everybody else was with Rhea about you joining them, even Dom, which had surprised you. You had figured that Dom would see you competition for Rhea's affection, but he had been one of the first of the others to try and convince you to join.

"It's just you and me now," Rhea said as she walked towards you. You hated the way that she stalked you like prey. Rhea was the ultimate apex predator in the women's division, and soon to be the entire roster. She would keep going unless she was stopped, but you didn't think anyone else could do it. Rhea would listen to you because she had a soft spot for you, but if she won this, all of the power would be back in her hands. The little bit of balance you'd put onto the scales would once again be tipped in their favor. Their reign of terror would continue because you weren't strong enough to stop her.

You went for Rhea first. She let your arms wrap around her midsection, but you didn't get her very far into the air. Rhea kicked your leg out from underneath you so that you fell onto your knees behind her. Rhea turned so that she was facing you and grabbed onto your hair. She dragged you around the ring on your knees, just parading you around for everyone to see. Damian, Finn, and Dom were outside clapping as the rest of the crowd booed around them. You strained your eyes to see the commentary table full of somber faces, no doubt talking about how Rhea had taken this too far. They had been saying it for weeks, especially after Dom had thrown you into the LED light display on Smackdown last week to weaken you for his match.

"You're mine Y/n. All mine," Rhea said as she leaned down towards you. She puckered her lips for a kiss, but you bit her instead. Shocked, Rhea slapped your face as she threw your head back. You laughed, a bit of blood from her lip staining yours. You could tell by the look in her eyes Rhea wasn't going to hold back on you like she had been up to this point. "Now you're in for it."

There were few times in your career when you could feel the impact of what you were doing as it happened, but this was one of them. The crowd was reacting to the two of you in a way that you had never experienced before. Despite the pain of your beating, you persisted because of them. Every single one of those fans was rooting for you. It was pissing Rhea off, which wasn't necessarily good for you. She had weakened you physically to the point where even if you found an opening, you couldn't capitalize. All of your strength was doing was keeping you from saying those two words, but you doubted that it would last any longer.

"Is it worth it Y/n? I could give you everything you've ever wanted if you'd just join me. Why won't you join me? Don't you love me anymore?" Rhea asked. You had expected the anger to stay in her voice, but towards the end all you heard was sadness and desperation. "Can't you see that I don't want to hurt you anymore, but I need you to understand how you've made me feel all these months."

"You're full of yourself," you said through grit teeth. Rhea smacked you in the face hard enough that you swore that you felt a tooth get knocked loose. She grabbed your face and made you stand up on your feet before dragging you to the ropes. The problem with you and Rhea being as close as you were was that she knew exactly how to hurt you. She tied you up against the ropes with all of the pressure on an old back injury. You didn't want to quit, but in that moment you felt everything you had worked towards to get back going down the drain and the fear of god was put back into you. "I quit. I quit! I quit! I quit! Just please don't break my back."

"Good girl," Rhea said as she released you. You fell to the canvas in a broken heap as the cage was raised up. The rest of Judgement Day got into the ring and helped you onto your feet. Rhea didn't dare try to come near you yet, knowing that she had crossed a line with you this time. You were technically a part of Judgement Day, but you weren't going to be Rhea's ever again. She had been too focused on making you join her group that she made you unattainable for herself.

#wwe x reader #wwe #wwe imagine #wwe imagines #rhea ripley imagines #rhea ripley imagine #rhea ripley x reader #rhea ripley

[tare-anime]

Fullmetal Alchemist

Welp, finally I read this manga.

So very late, yes I know, but this and that happened and I've finally able to binge read this amazing 10 years work (2001-2010) in a little more than a week.

Tbh, the first book was mostly world building and kind of slow paced, but starting from the last half of second book.... I can't stop reading.

Wow. Just wow.

As a reader who usually has to wait a week or two between each chapter, being able to read a series from start to finish in a week is quite a different experience, tbh 🤣🤣 I need two days to take a breath and comprehend the story. There must be details that I missed that I need to reread.

Overall, the highlight of this series is the impecabble characterizations and the growth of each character, and character dynamics.

And not only Ed and Al as protagonists, or Winry, Roy, Izumi as the closest support characters but also the people around them up until the minorest characters. I love Scar, Barry the Chopper, the Homonculus, and even the main antagonist Shadow in the flask.

All of them get their moments to shine. All of them got their share of development, and most important, all of them got to do something in the plot!

The world building and plot also been done amazingly. From the current timeline, up until events in the past, and all loose ends being tied up in the end that give me the most satisfactory endings. It is still an open ending, but at the same time the epilogue feels enough.

And of course, this manga contains so many amazing female characters, and each one of them is so badass. They have their strength and weakness and impact to the people around them.

My favorites mommies.... Izumi Curtiz and Olivier Armstrong.

OmG!!!! Especially in these badass moments??? 🛐🛐🛐🛐 My Queeeennn!

Of course, I will always love black haired beauty with knives. LanFan my beloved 💖💖💖💖

And last but not least, Granny Pinnako!

I mean, this person has been there, and will always be there through sweet moments and sorrows. Supporting Trisha and Hohenheim, Ed and Al, Winry. She stands strong for them. She is there when these people needs some strong hands to steady their wobbly legs. And pushes them to carry on with their life.

That is.... one amazing woman right there!!

As far as pairing ships, being a TwiYor fan I am, I've always been bombarded with Royai fanarts (and I'm not complaining). Yes, I noticed the tragic pasts, the relationship, and how supportive Royai can be (and it is quite similar to TwiYor in a way), but I think for FMA, I lean more to Ed and Winry ship.

Don't get me wrong, I love both ships.

But seeing Ed and Winry grow from little boy and girls, do their share of hardships, realize their feelings, and finally voice their awkward proposal. Auugghhh!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰

My favorite moments for these ships are:

Yes yes, I will still love angst and hurt/comfort whenever I go 🤣🤣🤣

Oh, other ships that I like: LanFan and Lin, Izumi and Sig, May and Alphonse, Mr and Mrs. Hughes.

All in all, what an amazing series. I'm glad I finally able to read this 🥰🥰🥰🥰 and will do a reread while waiting for the next spy x family chapter.

#fullmetal alchemist #tare reviews #should i tag spoiler for a series that's completed for more than a decade?

[owlboyarchive]

Interview

So after I heard news of the Owlboy fandub, I was intrigued. I had the opportunity to interview the person who set it all up, @allthedavesallofthem , which is transcribed here. Minor edits were made, but only on my half for misspellings and grammar. Thank you to the voice actors involved with the dub as well as those who set it up, it's amazing to see other fans of Owlboy do such amazing things. Of course, a big thanks to @dpadstudio for making the game itself. The dub can be found at @unofficialowlboydub

Sorry for the preamble, here's the interview. Q is Question (and Qwerty) and A is for the person who set up the dub who I tagged up above.

Q: How long have you been a fan of Owlboy?

A: A friend of mine told me about the game when I was in college, I think it was the year after the game came out when I actually first played it, so about 2017. I was immediately charmed by it. The gameplay was simple yet engaging, and I found the ending incredibly touching.

Q: What led you to undertaking the dubbing project?

A: This is actually my second time attempting this dub. Before I had first played the game, I had also been involved in an amateur voice acting project that attempted to dub the webcomic Homestuck. I had occasionally considered the idea of starting a fandub project of my own, though I had no idea what would be a good thing to actually dub. I didn't really think about it for a while, but after finishing Owlboy, I had really wanted to do something creative around it, and I had remembered the idea of creating a voice acting project again, and I decided I had to do it. I created a casting call and actually ended up releasing two episodes, but I had no experience in managing a project and a chaotic schedule as a college student, so it fell to the back burner and finally fizzled out when I found that my game recording footage had been corrupted after getting a new PC. I didn't think much about voice acting or Owlboy for several more years, but last summer, I was looking for a new hobby to get into, and I remembered how much fun I had with amateur voice projects in the past, so I took an online voice acting 101 class, and it reinvigorated my interest in the hobby. I looked back to when I did the original attempt at the dub, and felt that I could do it better this time, so I decided to restart the project.

Q: What was the hardest part of setting up this dubbing project?

A: The hardest part is definitely coordination. There are a lot of different things that need to come together, and making sure that it all happens smoothly and at the right times takes a lot of work. Game recording, script transcribing, video editing, managing a cast of voice actors, audio editing, and more all have to come together at the right time and work together in the right way.

Q: How many more episodes do you have in the works until the project ends, and do you think you'll do another Owlboy related project (not necessarily a dub) in the future?

A: I'm not actually sure how many episodes are left before the end of the game... I recorded about 16 hours of footage for the game, and I aim for somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes per episode, but I also end up cutting out footage where there isn't much going on, such as long sections of just moving from one place to another or backtracking. My best guess is maybe around 20 episodes? We'll have to see once I finish sequencing all of the raw game footage. I don't think I'm going to want to run another voice acting project myself for a long time - after Owlboy, I want to return more to focusing on being a voice actor over directing projects. As far as another Owlboy project in general? I have no idea. I don't really have anything in mind at the moment, but who knows?

Q: Do you have a rough time frame for the end of the dubbing project? Like, when all loose ends are tied up, nothing left to do but post the video.

A: The current pace I'm targeting is about 3 weeks per episode. If there ends up being 20 episodes and that pace holds up, I would expect the dub to finish in early-to-mid 2025.

Q: Will you dub everything first and then put the lines in, or do you record lines as needed?

A: It's currently a "work-as-we-go" approach. It probably would've been more efficient had I structured it differently and got all of the video recording done, then the editing, then the scriptwriting, then the line submission and audio editing, but I know that without having some tangible results earlier on, it would be harder for me to keep myself motivated to finish.

Q: I understand. I think that's all the questions I had involving the inner workings of the fandub. I have two questions left, but do you want to clarify anything before we move on?

A: I just want to publicly thank the voice actors working with me on the project. All of you have been amazing, and there's no way this project ever happens without all of your efforts.

Q: Here's the last two questions. I saved the 'best' for last. Who is your favorite character from the game, and what scene or moment do you look forward to dubbing most?

A: Favorite character? That's tough. I keep switching between Geddy and Alphonse as I think about it, but I think I'll go with Alphonse. All of the other pirates are these cold, unfeeling killing machines, but on the other hand, Alphonse just has dreams of becoming a stage actor! He can still handle himself in a fight, and his musket blast is extremely handy. Out of the characters that aren't party members, I also really like Solus and his arc as well.

A: I think the scene I'm looking forward to the most is probably the ending sequence, post-final boss. In particular, the interaction with Asio at the end almost had me in tears when I first played. That one's gonna hit hard, I think.

Q: Thank you for answering my questions! That's all I have. Do you have any questions or concerns for me involving anything?

A: Thank you for interviewing me! I don't think I have anything else. I'm always inspired when I see people being passionate about things I've made.

That's it! Once again, a big thank you to the creators of Owlboy, D-pad Studios, to all the voice actors involved with the project, and the guy who set the dub up, who I tagged up above at @/allthedavesallofthem. None of this could be done without you! I'm really looking forward to the next part of the dubbing project.

#owlboy #interview #big thanks #discussion post

[eriexplosion]

5 6 7 10 for Star Wars violence 👀

OKAY TIME FOR THE VIOLENCE (I don't know how actually violent these opinions are but pretend I am Very Vicious)

5. Worst blorboficiation?

sdfsdifj REGRETTABLY... OBI-WAN.... I love the man but fandom characterizations definitely show some Popular Guy Character Syndrome where it's all about how sad and tormented he is and while I respect that as a lover of tormented men, it is certainly an experience when you're like, reading a CodyWan fic and Cody is comforting Obi-Wan through his tragic past like he's never gone through anything difficult in his life. Also some of Obi-Wan's fun edges are sanded off, he's more generically sassy but considerate of others feelings and kind, etc, and like. He's not UNkind. But this is a man that faked his death and did not tell his emotionally unstable best friend like that was going to do anything but drive Anakin absolutely batshit insane. He watched like ten clones in a row die without a reaction and then the instant a Jedi died they all had to stop for a funeral. He tried to get Luke to kill Vader WITHOUT telling him who he was. He's kind of an idiot and can be kind of an asshole. Let him hurt people's feelings! Let him be socially inept! He is a dipshit not a harmless weep blob!

(This ties in with my desire to see CodyWan fic where they straight up get in a fight but is not ENTIRELY connected to that)

6. Opinion on canon and/or fanon use of the secret child trope? Discuss.

It works for Luke and Leia and I think it should have stayed at that. I'm not a big fan of the Palpatine reveal for Rey but I didn't want her to be a Skywalker either, sometimes you want a main that is Just Some Guy, doesn't need to be a secret child of anyone. In fanon I just REALLY do not like it, partially because it's plugging in a blood relation where it doesn't need to be. The other part is that I have mostly seen it for Obi-Wan and Satine with that Korkie kid and with how utterly repressed those two are at each other I refuse to believe they ever successfully fucked.

7. What is the weakest piece of canon writing?

It feels like cheating to say the sequel trilogy mostly because I never finished it so a thing that I definitely finished and loved but makes no sense - AOC is not the strongest movie but ROTS was like, fully just a series of cool scenes stitched together to approximate a movie. And don't get me wrong, I adore the prequels. But the only one that I think succeeds as a Movie is TPM. ANAKIN'S FALL ESPECIALLY IS NONSENSICAL AS SHIT. Like the underlying motivations are there but they were not pieced into anything resembling a coherent narrative. You have a start point, an end point, and everything in between just kind of jumps around with I think the weakest point being the Tusken Massacre - it's treated more like a sign of Anakin's potential darkness than anything when like. That's a whole village. He killed a whole village and it never comes up again! Lucas apparently didn't consider it that big a deal!

It's to a point where I actually think the massacre can't be addressed from a fully in universe perspective, because there's no actual way to twist it around so that it makes sense for that not to be enough to Make Anakin Fall without breaking the already very loose rules of the universe. Most other Star Wars points I can figure out some kind of justification for how it works in world, but to explain how Anakin wouldn't fall here you just have to kind of confront that Lucas is both not a very good writer and also approached the Tuskens with an incredibly racist viewpoint given that he doesn't appear to see their deaths as fully Counting, unlike the Jedi younglings in ROTS. It's a plot choice that, if treated with the full weight it would narratively deserve, completely unravels the entire rest of the series, the only way to make the storyline of everything else WORK is to take it out or change it so much as to be an entirely different scenario, and I can't think of any other things that fuck it up THAT bad.

10. What’s a ship you've unwillingly come around to?

I think 'unwillingly' is overstating it (but then I rarely DISLIKE a ship, so there's usually not much Unwillingly about it) but I thought Tech/Phee was cute at most until everyone started being Like That about them. Now I want them to kiss and get married onscreen. I hope that she hits that every night. Phee deserves whatever she wants.

Also Anakin/Padme probably counts because I did not actually go into the clone wars watch WANTING to love Anakin but Whoops. WHOOPS. So that meant I got An Affection for the two of them in all their messy stupid as shit glory.

#Eri Answers #star wars

[bookqueenrules]

I go back and forth on Beth being alive and TPTB just being shitty writers who needed a shock value death. The back half of season 5 was so hard to get through cause I just wanted answers. Then sometimes I think 5x08 was just a shitty last minute rewrite because we know so much else was filmed and there was a shit ton of symbolism throughout the first half that meant her living. I still can’t get over the car scene in 5x10 or the coda after she gets shot. That’s the worst part is not having answers. But you’re 100% right. If they want viewers back then they NEED to shake it up. Stop writing in circles.

Hi,

I think the truth is that we can't be 100% sure of anything. I would refer you to the AMAZING twdmusicboxmystery and her fellow theorist for all of the symbolism and weirdness pointing to Beth's return. I love analyzing the symbols too, but I also look at the practical.

So, the whole purpose of this spin-off is Daryl's happy ending, right? Judith says this to him as he is LEAVING Carol and Jude. So, how could just making it back home to them be his happy ending? It can't. Sorry to Carly fans, but they ended the flagship with Carol/Zeke rebuilding their relationship and yet another BEST FRIEND declaration from both Daryl and Carol. It won't be adding a romance with Carol as his happy ending. He could have had that any time in the last few seasons.

Will it be Isabelle? A French nun? How is that going to work in the TWD universe? Daryl WILL, at some point, have to go home. I have more thoughts on why it won't be Isabelle in the previous ask.

Connie? That has been firmly cemented as a friend only relationship. Daryl and Connie had a couple of years to pursue something and never did.

A new character? Not likely. The fans wouldn't accept it, and, practically speaking, the first two seasons of DD are filming in France, so the character would have some of the same issues as Isabelle does as Daryl's happy ending.

Beth was taken away from Daryl before their relationship could develop further, but even though we don't "see" it go full romance, Daryl is devastated and inconsolable for quite some time at her loss. He doesn't react the same to loosing anyone else. Did he burn himself over Merle or Rick? No. That should speak volumes to the audience. She has tons of ties to the remaining TWD characters. Practically, it is hard to make a case for it being anyone BUT Beth.

But, she's dead, right? On FTWD the have brought back not one but TWO core characters the audience thought were dead for MANY years this season. The original working title of the DD spin-off was Raise the Dead! The whole TWDU is about raising the dead!

Fun Fact: According to the University of Google, a person has 42% of surviving a gunshot wound to the head if they receive medical treatment. The last time we saw Beth she was at Grady. We didn't see her buried or what happened to her body. This is EASY writing to bring her back.

Here is something interesting Angela Kang, who is a TWD showrunner and an executive producer of DD, said about Leah. When questioned she said they had NEVER planned to show Leah/Daryl kissing, COVID or not, because they knew where the story was going. She said they wanted to save Daryl's first on screen kiss for something monumental. When he really kisses someone, a romantic lip to lip, we will know that's it.

So, the writers have been holding out not having, IMO, their sexiest male lead even KISS anyone for 12 years! Why? The only sane answer is that had a plan all along. The plan may have been delayed or altered slightly, but Beth has always been the plan. They have stuck to that. I believe she will show up, but I am concerned that their continuing to delay bringing her back and restarting her story will negatively impact the spin-off, and the story they end up telling.

I know that was a LONG answer but thank you for the ask!

#team delusional #bethyl #beth greene lives #beth greene #twd daryl and beth #twdmusicboxmystery #beth is coming

[littleeyesofpallas]

How do you feel about Ikomikidomoe and hikone? I personally think they’re nice additions to the world but I’ve barely seen anyone else talk about them 

I think I did a post on that at some point actually, but I'm not in a position to go digging thru my archive on mobile. (found it, but it's mostly just poking at kanji in names rather than really commenting on the characters themselves, so I guess I can do more of that here.)

Broadly speaking I'm not really big on the LNs, least of all Narita Ryogo's. I know he is kind of the most beloved of the ancillary creators for actually addressing many of Kubo's obnoxious loose ends, my main beef with him is that even though he ties a lot of them off he never ties them off satisfactorily, and seemingly just for the sake of saying he did it; there's generally no thematic meat to any of it, all his hooksjust kinda amount to shuffling around Kubo's left overs. And granted, maybe that's a little harsh or unfair of an assessment, but I'm also not a big fan of light novels as a gimmicky genre/format to begin with, so take all that with a grain of salt.

Anyway. Of all the things he did over course of three books in Can't Fear Your Own World, I do think Hikone was a really neat idea. I like the general idea of exploring artificial souls and synthetic life forms and the hybrid spirits and how that all relates to the nature of the soulking as a lynchpin of reality, I'm just not super about the specific plot he built around it all.

I'm not especially in love with Ikomikidomoe specifically, I feel like it either needed more or just different lore or that it could have been done without entirely. I really think Hikone being an artificial god candidate and the nature of what that means and as an excuse to explore how the other canonical attempts to replace god could/would have gone was enough to center a story around. In particular I was already not super fond of some of the late throw away lore additions about zanpakutou that exist independent of a singular individual. (ala Nanao's family sword, and Oh-etsu's harem). I feel like it raised a lot of questions that got immediately swept under the rug and added nothing of value to the lore at large. I don't implicitly hate the idea of a zanpakutou that embodies a different kind of identity apart from that of an individual wielder, but that idea feels like it requires a LOT of additional explaining that we never got. So the fact that Tsunayashiro has an ancestral sword for no particularly meaningful reason, and that Ikomikidomoe has its whole convoluted backstory always kind of annoyed me.

It's a shame too because Narita seems to ever so slightly brush up against an idea that Kubo himself danced around in world building --that the identity manifested in one's inner world as a sword spirit, and the mask a hollow forms from its heart are the same thing, and thus a Menos accumulating myriad hollows within itself to consolidate into one uniform identity is basically the same process as what Oh-etsu describes is behind creating an Asauchi. So the idea of a powerful hollow becoming a zanpakutou or something similar has precedent, but the weird convoluted choice to make Ikomikidomoe specifically a product of Ichibee and Oh-etsu's intervention, rather than a natural consequence of a Menos ascending toward Vastolorde doesn't sit well with me.

On a side note, it bugs me that Kubo just casually threw in the idea that Asauchi are made of, what, hundreds if not thousands of shinigami souls(?) and then just NEVER addressed this weird implication that Soul Society, and Oh-etsu personally, have just, like, institutionally and systematically been committing mass genocides on the regular for all of recorded history? Huge huge mess of a world building flub. Not that it "couldn't" be answered, but that it wasn't, and that the effort it would take to patch up the apparent plot holes it introduces would just be so much effort for the sake of nothing but maintaining the status quo of the story.

Since you've got me in this rant, it's almost the same with the Ouken thing. I'm already not fond of the awkward retcon(ish) thing Kubo did with making the keys the bones of the Royal Guard as if that somehow answered any questions, when the bigger issue had been the idea that, literal key or not, each of the royal guard members was implicitly baptized in the fire of an apparent Sodom & Gomorrah catastrophes with whole cities or other swathes of land, densely packed with living, spiritually aware people being scraped off the face of the earth, ala Aizen's unfulfilled (and frankly Kubo's seemingly half forgotten) plans for Karakura.

And in the face of that weirdness there was a fun unaddressed parallel in the Royal Guard's private "cities" floating up in the royal realm with the king's palace looking like the perfect inversion of the hypothetical hole in the ground we were shown during the Ouken explanation. Were those cities populated? By whom?? Or were they empty? I don't know which possibility is more interesting to explore; that the royal guard each had a whole cult of ascended spirits living with them, each under the domain of one guard, or that the guard just lived in the hollow shells of the sacrifice it took for them to ascend alone to nigh demi-god status.

Was it that the ouken itself was the condensed souls of thousands of people, just like the later reveal about both the asauchi and White, and they died or were otherwise sacrificed to make this object(or i guess imbue the object that is living bones into becoming it(?) god the bone keys thing was dumb...), or did the souls serve some other purpose? Could it have been that rather than melting down living souls to make the key, as was kind of implied, that to create or imbue a key with the power required to function as the ouken it simply needed the presence of those souls? Did access to the god realm require being actively worshipped as a god, by thousands of people, a united spiritual power of a singleminded cult, a city of followers united in ascending the key holder into the realm of god? Who the hell knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But on that level, you'd think that's the same as the idea of a family zanpakutou, right? If the zanpkautou imprints or a person to reflect their true inner self which then grows stronger and gains power in the material world thru acknowledging and reconciling with, then implicitly the idea of a zanpakutou shared by a family would imply that its spirit is not a reflection of one person's singular traits, but those shared consistently across generations and in exchange for the lack of personal identity it confers the strength of literally multiple people's worth of power, just all reflected in a single persona.(or maybe not, i dunno, maybe the inner world of a family zanpakutou has some atlab avatar state stuff going on, who knows? Probably not Kubo.) What was the Soukyoku's giant execution blade, its destructive power conspicuously described in a measure of zanpakutou, if not a massive communal zanpakutou?(complete with its own spirit manifest as a phoenix) And what is Ichigo's inner spirit of a younger Yhwach if not the communal spirit of the Quincy bloodline? Andi n the context of these sorts of escalations of scale and power, is then the soul king actually a "human soul" in the way the cycle of human/quincy and shinigami and hollow all traffic in the same base elemental "stuff"? Or was the Soul King not that type of a "person" at all, and just a giant collective zanpakutou, a singular spirit reflecting the inner truth of humanity as a whole, and his "bankai" the wheel of reincarnation itself. Anyway that's veering too far off into speculation and potential headcanon.

Getting back to Hikone, though... I like the idea of there being various different approaches to achieving the hybrid spirit form seemingly central to god status. Ichigo was naturally synthesized that way by the circumstances of his birth, Aizen used the hougyoku and "science" to forcibly and unnaturally synthetize himself, Yhwach was seemingly born not by actively joining disparate elements together but by simply being an offshoot of something that was already a hybrid... And then there's Hikone... and while I feel like plot wise there are a lot of issues to there just having been the means to synthesize artificial life just floating around in the background, while characters like Mayuri and Urahara and even Aizen are out there actively struggling with the process, but I like the idea of a kind of middle ground where, ignoring the stupid contrivance of the Gremmy brain thing, Hikone's fundamental contraction isn't quite artificial "life" in the spiritual sense that Bleach deals in so much as it is a "body" without a brain.

But I like the implicit idea of having to draw a line around that. If you can make a thing that fulfills most of the requirements of life, then which things reserved for living personhood can it do and which can it not? If you elevate that to the level of godhood, then it's a fun question that in the grand scheme of things where apparently someone needs to be stripped of their autonomy and sit in the crystal for forever to hold the world together, then can it just be a fake person with no autonomy to lose in the first place? Where as Aizen thought being god would be cool(and was very probably wrong), and Yhwach doesn't seem to want to be god so much as remove him and replace him with ???(unconfirmed: in which it seemed like(ironically) plan A was originally Juugram, and plan B was Uryuu), Hikone is the Indiana Jones rock and the golden idol solution to the problem: Can I just swap god out for this god-shaped bag of rocks and get away with it?

I'm sorry between being at work, and googling images, and then making this silly edit now, I've totally lost my train of thought... Uh... to summarize:

I like Hikone as an idea: I like "synthetic god" as a plot hook.

I like their name having associations with silk and, like, silk worms, as if they were spun and woven like a fiber but also with cocoon imagery attached.

I also think they're a super cute design.

I'd have liked the artificial souls to have more of plot behind them: like what are Urahara and Mayrui's actual goals in making them in the first place, other than just mad science for mad science's sake

I'd have liked for Ichigo's(and Aizen's for that matter; like how was it different and/or insufficient by comparison to Ichgio, or Yhwach or Hikone) hybrid theme to have a better actual conclusion.

I'd have liked better exploration of the nature of god souls and what that requires/means

#bleach meta #bleach #CFYOW #ubuginu hikone

[long-suffering-little-spoon]

I JUST REALIZED THAT YOU WATCHED THE OFMD FINALE

H-

How are you feeling 🥲🥲🥲

Pahaha not swimmingly, I'll just say. First I have been doing a bit of the ol' menstruating which means everything is immediately more extreme lol. I've been very conflicted and I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about *THE THING* especially, but this is where I stand right here right now at like 11PM lmao

Under the cut cos this ended up being exponentially longer than I thought it could ever be sorry

Overall I've loved season 2!! It has been so much fun to interact with the community and convert everyone to the Izzy hands cult engage with the fandom week by week. We've had some incredibly beautiful high moments and some lovely refreshing queer joy. I adore the new characters and the developments of our existing ones. I know my negative thoughts here are much more substantial than my positives but this doesn't mean I didn't like it!! I just don't feel the need to describe the positives because I feel like they're pretty obvious and universally recognised, agreed upon and beloved, y'know? (if you want a purely positive thoughts autistic happy flappy hands rant™, i can oblige dw)

Izzy's death is not the only reason I have mixed feelings on the finale. Obviously the episode cuts were a result of HBO'S meddling and isn't the fault of the crew, but the pacing still felt off and everything that happened just kinda washed over me like white noise (haha will wo-). The loose ends were tied up in wholesome ways and if we don't get a season 3 this would be a mostly decent way to end our characters' journeys, if a bit rushed. But then...

Izzy's death. A lot of people feel very very betrayed and hurt by Izzy being killed off, some people don't feel the comfort they used to from this show because of it and no longer want to engage. I don't wanna discount these people's views, more power to them; I cannot stop them from feeling what they feel and doing what they choose. I haven't given up hope on this show but Izzy's death just felt pretty unsatisfying to me?? Putting my bias towards him aside, I get the "killing off mentor at end of second act" trope but I just feel and wish way more could've been done with Izzy. I wanted to see more of him being happy and secure in himself and his found family and his queerness and his disability!! But now I don't get that and it very much stings. I think I could've come to terms more with his death if there had been more time to dwell on it all and get to see the individual characters mourn, but again episode cuts, thanks HBO!! /s. And I know they had the funeral but it still feels like we didn't really get a chance to mourn or treat Izzy's death with the weight it warranted. And I am far too tired especially right now to engage in "is this/is this not bury your gays/disabled character" but I will say I've seen pretty compelling arguments on both sides. As an able-bodied disabled person I don't feel it's fully my place to dictate, but I am upset Izzy was killed right after some big moments in his healing process and being a disabled person and in general just enjoying his life.

Personally I'm not giving up on the show as a whole because the finale left a sour taste in my mouth. I still very much like this show and I'm willing to stick around for a potential season 3 and on future rewatches I'll be able to see the stuff I loved separate from the stuff I didn't. But since looking back now, the latter is most recent, it kind of casts an unpleasant shadow on a very enjoyable season of television.

RIP Izzy Hands you deserved better sweetie, you would've loved Drag Race. And also shoutout to Con O'Neill for a fucking phenomenal performance last season, but especially this one. Izzy was absolutely iconic and a fan favourite for a very good reason, even if imo the writers did him dirty. He was hilarious and a petty little bitch man but then deeply broken and compelling and a genuinely beautiful character with a beautiful journey despite an unfortunate and unjust end?? He slayed.

Wow this was a lot!! Sorry if you were expecting silly goofiness lmfao I got very analysi-ish and a bit melancholic. Thank you so much for the ask JJ, it was a good opportunity to try and express all my thoughts and squish them into something cohesive for both you and me. (And thanks to my friend who I was discussing this with earlier; they helped me get a new perspective by sharing some of his thoughts. Dude, if you're reading this you know who you are, thanks a bunch!!!!)

#wowie zowie this took a long time and i am too tired to proof read it lmao it is LATE #but i probably will anyway for the fear of accidentally saying something that is the exact opposite of what i mean #i am still rather conflicted and a bit upset #ofmd #our flag means death #izzy hands #ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 spoilers #asks #lovely moots tag

[nightglider124]

Titans: Season 4 - Ep11 - Thoughts

I have finally watched the episode. My God, my day at work was agonizing; I looked at tumblr and saw gifs and posts and was like screaming cos I wanted to watch it.

Anyway, since I've just freshly finished watching it, I am gonna note down some thoughts!

So... I feel weirdly mixed on this episode? As an episode it was good but as the penultimate episode? Idk... I feel kinda meh about it? I don't wanna come across as negative and the rest of this will mostly be stuff I enjoyed since I actually did enjoy the majority of it and as an episode in itself, it was good but idk... the fact the finale is all that's left, I feel like it's gonna be rushed... or the actual action is gonna be over super quick etc and loose ends won't get tied up... and I hate to say it, but I am kinda now doubting what is in store for dk fans in the finale? I would have thought this episode would have had more than it did, I gotta say. Idk... I just felt I had to say that to begin with.

Sigh, Kory continues to be and will forever be my absolute favourite. Idgaf what haters say and shit, I love Anna as Kory. I really do. She might not be like some of the versions people know Kory from but I think she brings close qualities and if anything makes this version of Kory edgier. Like, I absolutely adore her. Starfire is my absolute favourite DC character. Always has been, always will. I basically support any and all versions of my baby girl since DC doesn't spotlight her as much as they should cos she's fucking amazing.

Kory's dreaming and shit has me nervous for her. Like, we all know by now some bad shit goes down and happens to Kory. I am so dreading it. I know that she's gonna be fine from BTS stuff but like... it's still gonna hurt like a motherfucker.

Mercy was an interesting addition this season, I gotta say. I like the actress a lot since her days on Coronation Street (UK soap opera) and honestly, seeing her get choke slammed by Kory had me grinning but I like in the end she is purely like fuck it, take the documents, whatevs. Gar was also hilarious in that scene like no we don't need them all but I'm taking them ehehehehe. XD

Was... Was I missing something with May?? Like I thought she was dead when he burnt her ass up last episode? I was really confused cos she was just walking about like that didn't happen. Did she die and come back or was she never dead?? What... was that bodybag scene in the last ep real? I thought it was a dream. It was weird. I mean she dead af now and I enjoyed her as Mother Mayhem; she really had the villain oomf. Sebastian is... lacking in comparison.

In addition to that, Sebastian had potential to be scary but honestly, he comes off as a whiney mamas boy like he is grating. XD

Conner... my boy, I am always so left and right with you. I'm glad he is actually team Titans but... idk something in me still isn't trusting his ass XD. Like, I thought the bit with him and Dick in the tunnel was him tricking Dick or something but seems legit. We'll agree to like Conner and trust him... for now. XD

So, I didn't mind the Jason and Tim scenes but fuck me, wrong time. Like, I'm sorry. It felt so badly placed. We are at the penultimate episode and we're now just getting some Tim training as Robin with Jason? Nah, I was annoyed. And, they spent so many scenes on it?? Like miss me with that bs. It felt unnecessary, imo.

Another sour note, I feel like we actually could have had a lot more Kory scenes considering the episode was called Project Starfire. Like, damn. I promise, that's my only really salty thing.

Now, ahem... the dickkory scene on the balcony was cute af. It really nicely reflected the scene in S1 at the motel. But, it was too shorttt! Their sweet scenes are just... always too short for my liking which is disappointing. I'm happy for all and any scenes but jeez.

Gar and Rachel talking about wanting a change and shit, I was like are y'all gonna leave the famjam?? Cos I will not be emotionally okay if that happens. I literally just saw a certain new hero film where this was also a thing like pls CAN YOU NOT. My heart can't.

Lmao, Dick in the chamber thing when they were powering the orb thing was hilarious. Like, boy done fucked up the whole plan bc of his own anxiety for his wife. It was cute and his concern was very obvious.

Also, side note, the bit where Dick, Rachel and Gar appear where Kory is with Mercy made me giggle. Like Dick was so huffy like 'Making new friends?' and it was unusual like in this series its a real rarity that Dick is annoyed at something Kory has done like he has let her get away with literal murder whilst batting eyelashes at her. So, it was like tehe. Ya know? I'm assuming others know what I mean.

ALSO. When in the chamber thing as they got to 98% and before Dick fucked it up, did you guys notice Kory's eyes? That tiny bit where it went a bit slower and her eyes like flickered from glowing to normal? Was that something up with her powers or am I imagining shit?

I think that's mostly my thoughts. I still don't know how to feel on the episode. It didn't blow me away and I feel like with penultimate episode, I should be? I got excited in like the very last minute where he blows the horn and Kory's like 'There's only one way to end this. My way.' like bitch is dead serious and I'm scared for my girl.

I'm hoping the finale is really good buuut... I have also seen screeners really hyping it up and I'm just not trusting it. So, I think I'm gonna try and go into the finale with as less an expectation as possible to avoid crushing disappointment. I'm not gonna have any theories or anything or scenes that I would ideally like bc I think that's how you get set up for disappointment.

I'm gonna enjoy the ride and just see where the finale takes us. Weird that this time next week, Titans will be over. Sad times. :(

One upside, I'm working til 3pm next week so I am gonna try my absolute HARDEST to avoid tumblr and just not look at the tags so I remain blissfully unaware of what happens. Even if it kills me.

Each week when I am at work and a new episode of Titans comes out, I literally refresh the dc titans and dickkory tag like a thousand times to get me through the day.

Anyways! Hope others liked this episode and see y'all for the finale!

#dc titans #titans spoilers #dc titans spoilers #dickkory #just my thoughts

[mauesartetc]

Hey maue get to so you again. I want to ask you an Important question. What designs you feel needs a redesign? because there's this character name tinkerbell who while iconic I feel her design doesn't age well. Her design is extremely sexualize like her dress is skimpy, long flowing hair, lascivious lips, long legs and a bust. How would fix her design?

Honestly? Not sure what's really that sexual about it. She has a short skirt, sure (and the length probably would've been scandalous when the movie came out), but I've seen similar dresses on plenty of women in the summer, and like... it's not a big deal?

I've never been a fan of projecting morals onto body types or pieces of clothing. It's superficial and nonsensical to judge real women for their bodies or taste in fashion, so why judge fictional women for the same? Obviously characters don't have the same agency as real people, though, so there's a discussion to be had about the designer's motivations and thought process in drawing Tink the way he did. But implying she needs to be "fixed" because her outfit's a little revealing-? As if showing some leg is grounds for a redesign? Just kinda smacks of purity culture to me.

"But Maue", I can already hear pearl-clutchers mewling from the box seats, "this is a character in a children's movie! For children! Won't someone please think of the children??!!"

Welp, back in the 2010s, Disney released a series of 3D kids' films starring Tink herself. And wouldn't ya know it...

Her design barely changed at all. Guess they didn't see it as an issue. (Then again, this is Disney we're talking about, and those people stick to the script when it comes to their brand mascots, but still.)

I'd already aged out of this series' target demographic years before, but from what I can gather, Tink's more of a Barbie-like character in these films. More of a role model for girls instead of just "the jealous chick".

So it seems these filmmakers prioritized making Tink a more fleshed-out, sympathetic character rather than hand-wringing about her outfit. I guess you could cry to Disney about it if you really wanted to, even though I'm sure countless overprotective moms already have.

I don't even know why you think some of the qualities you listed even apply to Tinkerbell. First of all, her hair isn't "flowing"; it's tied up in a bun. Second, I'm not at all sure what "lascivious lips" means. How can lips be lascivious? Finally, you stated the fact that she has a bust as a negative, but like... literally everyone has a bust, at least if you go by the loose definition of the term. I'd also like to point out that the cultural fetishization of big boobs is utter bullshit that objectifies women who have them, but Tink's are actually pretty small in proportion to the rest of her body. Are we looking at the same picture?

It seems to me like you're projecting a lot onto this character just because you find her attractive. If you think she's sexy, that's totally fine. But sexy doesn't equal sexualized. It'd be a different story if she constantly posed in a provocative manner or was purposefully drawn with exaggerated proportions to highlight her feminine assets (like, say, Jessica Rabbit). And even if that were the case, sometimes characters who are sexualized end up doing more in the narrative than looking pretty. Sexualization isn't necessarily a bad thing; it just depends on the character and the story.

But sometimes - Le gasp! - Some characters just enjoy showing off their bodies or flaunting their sexuality, just like some people do in real life. It ain't a crime. Yes, it'd be a problem if all the female characters in a piece of media acted like this, as this would demonstrate that the media's creator sees women as interchangeable rather than individuals. But one character being a little sexual isn't the end of the world, despite what religious extremists may have you believe.

TL;DR: Cope.

#ask #questfroadventures #character design #purity culture #tinkerbell #disney #sexualization #sexism

[cosmics-beings]

Thank you for bringing that up because I am not a black person but the choice of making Megatron a slave and the way the fandom reacted to it in succession always made me really uncomfortable. Frankly, I found it ridiculous that to make an "interesting" narrative for Megatron, it relied heavily on using the trauma of BIPOC people in an unsatisfactory manner because it wasn't FOR them. Their narratives and their history were simply just transferred onto Megatron without much thought of the connotations

The fandom's tendency to favour/popularize something and make "continuity soup" (mix the lore, facts and characterizations), proceeding to enforce them onto other continuities also contributes heavily to this because it affects the view of other iterations. I enjoy Megatron as a character because I think he has a lot of untapped potential, but I cannot engage in almost any fan content of him because I heavily disagree with some of his portrayals and how his fans view him; and it ties back to his portrayal as a slave

Though iterations do not ultimately have a direct impact on each other (unless multiversal travel is involved), there's still a narrative that extends to all versions of a character. It's why people can react so negatively to one portrayal of a character, I don't like IDW1 Optimus Prime nor am I interested in analysing his "complexity." Optimus started off as a lower class character and he is slowly getting more privileged which I don't like, that's me enforcing my preference for G1 onto other continuities; I personally find it odd that Optimus "must" be given a position of power as a spokesperson but they choose to take away the fact that his original characterization had him as a marginalized person...

I like Earthspark Megatron and I think his characterization is handled better than TFP Megatron, whose character flaws I cannot differentiate on whether they're intentional or subpar writing... But there are still elements of Earthspark Megatron that makes me slightly wary due to the context of his slavery history in other continuities; despite the fact that his backstory in Earthspark is unconfirmed

TW discussions about slavery and abuse (for both megatron and starscream), some IDW and ES critical opinions as well.

This has been sitting in my ask for some time now, but I really REALLY agree. I’ve wanted to answer this for weeks and I’ve just been finding a way to do so. I’m gonna break this down and answer /agree with this the best I can.

Coming from someone with recent, traceable ancestry, and whose whole existence is because of slavery, I agree. And I think there needs to be HONEST discussion about why a lot of writers, who aren’t black or who aren’t familiar with slavery or don’t have ancestry tied to it, think that making someone a slave is an interesting narrative device, if they're just going to make them an abuser, a genocidal tyrant, etc., at the end. Because at that point, the narrative is just, shaming an abuse victim. Especially, in the case of Megatron, where it is not handled right and not everyone actually has the nuance to understand that or how problematic it is. The thing is that I actually like IDW Megatron, he is my favorite one. And next to him, is actually Earthspark Megatron.

My opinion however, is that we don’t really need anymore narratives where slaves rise against their oppressors and abusers, and become oppressors and abusers themselves. This isn’t just an issue with Megatron, but we also see it with characters in other popular media like…Hama and Jet, from Avatar or even Daenerys from Game of Thrones (and I use her loosely because while she was a slave turned into a dictator, her narrative also relied heavily on white saviorism. But that isn’t for here or there). Why is it needed? What does that tell victims and survivors of these things?

Another issue is that Megatron, despite how evil he IS, isn’t really ever painted as a victim before all of this. We've got his origin in IDW and a few more chapters in the LL, but we don't really get to see just how gritty it is. His narrative of slavery and abuse, because Megatron is an abuse victim is not actually highlighted in a way it should be imo, and the readers are mostly left to either have a vague idea of what he went through, or not understand how brutal it is. And slavery.is.brutal. it is one of the most violent and dehumanizing forms of abuse. And for the writers to not portray that shows it was something they didn’t really research or explain. And I will also come back to this later.

That narrative of an oppressed person, turning into an oppressor imo just perpetrates harmful ideas. And it takes real life issues, like slavery, colonization, violence, abuse, and ends up shaming the victims for their uprising. We don’t really need the whole “even someone who is hurt and tries to do better, can also hurt people. And they can be as bad as their oppressors” if it’s not written well, and if it’s not really adding anything positive to the struggle it’s trying to portray.

IDW Megatron ended up right where he started, but IMO worse. Yes, he got a family on the Lost Light, but the Lost Light was a prison sentence, with the understanding that he’d eventually be executed, or worse. He was still, by definition at the mercy of a prime when working with Rodimus, and even by extension Optimus. He still, at the end of his life had no power, agency or true autonomy. There was no way he, as a surrendered Decepticon, could have such privilege when he was aboard the Lost Light.

So while the Lost Light offers us a light hearted and even gut wrenching conclusion to Megatron’s story, it still rubs me the wrong way. He is still a slave, who the narrative decided to turn into a monster and abuser, and at the end of the day, he gets executed. That is just not comforting to me in the slightest.

I personally thought that ES would remedy that a bit, and it seemed to do so. The trope of slave turned into genocidal warlord, still existed but not only did we get to see him changing and redeeming himself, but we also got to see him making up to people he’d hurt. And his narrative, at least, from what we know, didn’t end in death.

But there are still aspects of ES that I don’t like, and with the recent Starscream episode, it’s confirmed that Megatron was still an abusive person (and lemme make it clear that i am HAPPY that starscream's abuse was finally taken seriously and not made a joke, but I still have critiques about how Megatrons' writing was handled, and those two opinions can co-exist T-T).

And this is where fandom in itself has kinda caused me to nope out because we have fans, wrt to both Megatron and Starscream not understanding the concept of a flawed victim and not really letting victims of abuse take accountability for what they’ve done wrong.

I’m seeing a lot of people saying they don’t like Megatron because of what he did…and saying that he is an abuser and that he deserves to be killed or that, he shouldn’t be redeemed in the show. Likewise, I see tons of people saying that it’s unfair to blame Starscream for how he hurt people, because it was a side affect of Megatron’s abuse, and therefore, he is blameless.

Remember earlier in this ask, I mentioned how Megatron’s own slavery and abuse wasn’t highlighted enough because the writers didn’t care? Well that’s what that is. And this is what I mean by fandoms cannot handle a flawed victim of abuse. Megatron is ALSO a victim of abuse, and his abuse is a reason he treated Starscream the way he did. This isn’t to take away from how Megatron treated Starscream at all, because I’ve talked enough on this blog about how he needs to be held accountable, to the point of being blocked and harassed. Megatron treated Starscream like absolute garbage and essentially made him a punching back in IDW and it SEEMS ES. That is something that shouldn't be igored and Megatron needs to be held accountable.

But my point is that if you are saying that Starscream shouldn’t be held accountable for his treatment of others (which is abusive!!) because of how Megatron treated him, then you’re also agreeing that Megatron cannot be held accountable for how he treated Starscream! Because Megatron's abusers caused him to abuse Starscream.

And that is bullshit.  And that is what I mean that fan spaces a.) don’t know that victism can be flawed and b.) the writers again, don’t have the emotional capacity or empathy to portray a victim of slavery as a survivor/traumatized person in an impactful and meaningful way.

Point a.) affects Starscream and Megatron. Because Megatron is seen as doing bad things, because the narrative again, doesn’t know how to write slave narratives. And because Megatron is bad and does bad things, this idea that he also a victim of abuse and that impacts how he treats other is not focused on at all. Likewise, Starscream is also abusive himself despite being a victim, because of shit that happened to him both because of Megatron and other things. But because fandoms don’t think abuse victims can be flawed and cause harm, a lot of fans do not actually allow Starscream to be flawed. A lot of fans attempt to act like he shouldn't be held accountable for the abuse he perpetrated and that's not true. Because that also doesn't allow him to grow and heal. Healing isn't always pretty and sometimes, it takes accountability but it's still healing.

Point b.) is the most important point because this ties back to the current conflict with both Earthspark and IDW Megatron. And that is the writers not having nuance or understanding to write a slave narrative where a revolutionary becomes corrupted. Because…at the end of the day, those narratives don’t need to exist. As an abuse victim, as a starscream fan, as a megatron fan, and as a Black person living in the South, I just do not think Megatron’s narrative in IDW AND Earthspark is given any sort of justice of nuance. And by the way a vast chunk of the ES Fandom acted, understandably, it just makes me angrier at the writers. And I would think, that for a show like Earthspark, that prioritizes Black people, and Black narratives, then a story such as slavery would be given proper care and nuance.

But that’s also an issue…the Black characters in ES aren’t written well, at all. They aren’t even characters, they are concepts and used as plot devices and are at large forgotten by the fandom. Which is disrespectful but we have writers that don’t actually understand the characters and narratives they are writing, again.

And we see it with Megatron for sure. I thought that ES would do better by him, but it didn’t, and the fandom discourse and lack of nuance and understanding SHOWS me that. Am I happy he’s getting redeemed – yes I am. Show wise. But what im not happy about is that, they have once again, chosen to go a slavery route (at least that is HEAVILY implied), but haven’t done enough to show or offer any type of empathy or actual, deep discussion about how that form of abuse deserves actual nuance. Even if we do see a redemption, it’s still not enough, especially if the writers—who write him wishy washy anyway—aren’t going to go all out and explain exactly why he became a Decepticon and the horrors of slavery.

This also isn’t to excuse him! Because I know that’s where this was going. Because as much as I love him, I can’t act like what he did is excusable despite his oppression. He was a genocidal tyrant, he became what he hated, he –as a victim of abuse, decided to take that abuse and trauma out on someone else. This isn’t excusing his actions.

It is more so, me wishing that ES handled things better, by earlier writing rather than dropping bits and pieces of a harmful IDW narrative, and not expanding in it in such a way that offered the fandom discussion points or allowed us to have nuance. It seems that, if you don’t have a personal relationship with slavery and the abusive dynamic, then you just don’t understand how bad it is.

And that was finally, my issue with IDW. For all Megatron changed at the end, and got better, he was still ultimately shamed, by the writing, for not wanting to be a victim of abuse anymore. The Lost Light was a bandaid on a very large, and unhealing wound.

The writers took a victim of violent abuse and instead of giving him agency and a good resolution, they made him worse than his oppressors. They made the people that oppress him, at the end of the day, treat him like a dog.

And I AM talking about Optimus here, since you brought him up. And that should also be a dynamic spoken about more. Optimus coming from a place of privilege, and being the ‘good’ one, the one who puts Megatron in his place, the one appointed by the gods to quite literally force the slave, who has turned corrupted, back into a bondage is just…I love Optimus, but that was not good writing. That wasn’t good writing at all. And it again, showed the lack of concern, empathy or understanding for handling a narrative like slavery.

If at the end of the day, your mission was to make a cop, turned prime (another oppressive group), throw and control the life of a slave who had, in the process of his revolution, lost his way…then idk you didn’t need to be writing his narrative in the first place. Because you don’t understand how harmful it is and how it’s not needed.

I don’t think the slave, turned into tyrant/abuser is needed. Especially since Megatron is an abuse victim, and by making him an evil warlord, the writers ended up shaming/punishing him for his abuse. But if it IS to be done, it needs to be done right. And for the longest time, I thought ES was doing it right but chile…

These recent fandom discussions have told me otherwise.

Do nawt get me started on TFP Megatron because that is another 5 pages of negativity.

Anyway, thank you so much for understanding.

At the end of the DAY, I DO love IDW megs the most, and I also love ES megatron. Because I wanted to see him turn good and find redemption if that was the route they chose to go. But idw fumbled, badly..like really badly. And ES, kinda did so with the writing as well. I know it’s an unpopular opinion to critique ES writing so I’ll keep it to a minimum. But similar to how the black and Asian characters in ES are more concepts, not characters, the writing for Megatron (and some other legacy characters) is off…it just doesn’t make enough sense to me.

But thank you so much and I am sorry it took so long to ask. If you have any more questions then please, throw them my way <3.

alll i can say at this point is thanks for reading, and if u liked this consider following my twitter &lt;3

#megatron #transformers #transformers earthspark #transformers idw

[anis-book-club]

i have opinions about the influx of posts i've seen regarding the romanticisation of coriolanus and lucy gray's relationship

[the ballad of songbirds and snakes spoilers under the cut]

i've been seeing videos of people wishing coriolanus and lucy gray had ended up happily together and writing fan fiction about it, and this is so funny (and unsettling) to me because he literally didn't see her as a "civilised" human being due to her being from the districts, but alright. this is something he was taught throughout childhood due to the trauma of the war, and for sure he didn't change his mind just because he met lucy gray. he might have convinced everyone that she was an exception to this rule, but the fact that he still considered every other district citizen to be "uncivilised" means that he never once fully believed she was human in the same way that he considered himself to be.

besides that, one of his major character traits is that, yes, he does genuinely care about the people close to him, but when it comes down to it, he usually values them more for what they can do for him than anything else. sejanus is the most extreme version of this, but the relationship between himself and lucy gray before the game is described explicitly in this way.

these two points intersect when he "runs away" with lucy gray, as his major motivation for joining her was that they wouldn't be able to punish him for murder if he disappeared, and the entire time he was in the woods with her, he was thinking about going back. the minute he found the guns and tied up the "loose ends", he was ready to return to the base and accept his officer's position.

i also don't think we can ignore the fact that he was fully prepared to kill her in that forest. the whole story discusses what humanity really is when stripped to the core, and coriolanus snow stripped to the core is a terrified man who isn't afraid to murder someone in cold blood if that's what it takes to keep him comfortable.

i don't think there's as much emphasis on these points in the movie as there is in the book, so i can see how people who've only watched the movie may have missed the nuances of his inner thoughts.

i could go on about this for ages but this is already a longer post than i meant it to be. i just needed to write it out because i haven't found anyone to discuss it with as of yet.

#the ballad of songbirds and snakes #suzanne collins

[miscelunaaa]

Hey author,

Give yourself a try is one of my favourite Yoon fics ever. There's very little representation of us non skinny girls in fan fic. Thank you for this. I may have re read this fic front to back at least 25 times. And I keep coming back to it.

Coming to my ask, idk if you've answered this already, if you have, please ignore me. My question was, is there a possibility that you will revisit this couple and their story? What they're upto now? Etc?

Lots of love,

🎈

Ah! Hello!

My apologies for likely getting to this super super late. I haven't been around much for a variety of reasons, and it's mostly because my last month, and specifically this last week, have been extremely difficult personally. I'm dealing, I'm here, but that's really all I can say for myself most days.

I have actually thought about revisiting them, which I'll admit is a little unusual for me. Normally when I'm done with a fic, I'm truly done with it. I tend to approach stories in a sort of completionist way, in that they need to have all the loose ends tied up, and I do my best to make that happen. For example, I feel no need to continue Sacrificial, nor will I ever revisit the characters in things like Sodium Vapor or No Shade in the Shadow. Those stories are done, and while I think about them from time to time, there's nothing more their stories have to give.

But the god damn GYAT couple ............ There are some loose ends there, and I do have some things kind of sitting in the back of the fridge getting kind of weird with time.

Tbh I almost don't want to say that they're back there. I don't want to give you any false hope about something coming at all. I'm feeling a bit creatively wrung out, recently, and this week hasn't helped that front at all. I'm too mired in my shit to really even pour myself into something; I'm just trying to let myself feel what I need to feel so I can move on.

But that said, I also can't ever say "never"! I've had the idea for ages now and it is something I feel inclined to put out there whenever it comes to fruition! I just don't know when that will be.

I means the world to me that GYAT is one of your favorites. Soft bodies are good bodies and they deserve more representation in stories that see to the emotions of the people who want to read to them. On that front, I do have more stories here and there, and there are some in my recs here and in my bookmarks on AO3. It bears mentioning that everything I write was written to be as inclusive of different body sizes as possible, even if it's not specifically written with a fat reader-insert in mind!

I'm glad to have given you a story that brings you comfort and joy!! Thank you for writing in :) it means the world to me.

#asksss #theuselessdaydreamingidiot #fic:gyat #thank you for loving my nonsense it truly makes my day better to hear you do! #connecting through stories is my kink

[hotdogshipping-miwa-enthusiast]

Now I think it is apparent I am a shipper, it is literally in my name

And I feel the need to speak of Vanguard ships I have been fixating that are very obscure

Now I have discussed my beloved TetsuRen and I still have a lot to say on that, but I shall spare you (mainly because I want to gather photos)….ngl this is just me babbling about ships that I cannot stop thinking sbout

Morikawa/Korin

I am personally am not the biggest fan of Morikawa (for many reasons but I shall never be able to forgive the heart swimshorts) and I don't really have an opinion on Korin one way or the other but this is...once you get past how Morikawa Morikawa can be...is very cute.

He genuinely loves Korin and while he is overly passionate in showing it and can definitely be overly rude to others in the course of that affection

He supports her in everything she does and never looses faith in her. His actions in the high school tournament shows that he can take things seriously and is willing to put his feelings aside if something is important, also takes her seriously as a fighter, he respects her.

Now yes he does have the weird fan of an idol thing I don't believe you should constantly be declaring you are definitely going to marry an idol or call them your darling in full seriousness, but I like how supportive he is of Korin.

I like to think that maybe after the events of legion mates he can find her again and fall in love with her, that with a little training in self control and maybe manners he could be a nice supportive boyfriend. She deserved to be loved after all she's been through especially with the constant uprooting of her life and how often those around her forget who she is.

(Please anyone for the love of god give her a hug)

(I've also seen Korin/Noaki which is another very cute ship for her)

Jun/Masaki (Naoki's brother)

I will not lie I saw a piece of fanart of these two and this ship just popped to me

They don't even exist in the same versions of the show, that is how far removed this is: Jun is solely in the original Vanguard and Noaki's brother only appears in the reboot. This ship has no business existing and I know that, but the intrigue of the dynamic gets me.

This man is an uptight, no nonsense, "stop being childish and learn to do something useful like a proper adult" type of guy. He sees Naoki enjoying himself and his first response is to tell Naoki to stop before he inevitably gets bored.

Jun is 'the king of underground cardfighters,' he walks around with a chain and in his second appears he ties Miwa up. He enjoys vanguard and the lawlessness of underground fights.

Stark opposites; would never reasonably interact.

But an idea came to mind; Masaki sees how much fun and how invest in Vanguard Noaki is, something the boy has never been with any of the other hobbies he picked up. Wanting to know more about what made such a dramatic change in his brother he stumbles upon the underground. Of course it is very sketchy but Noaki's blond friend who seems somewhat reasonable is here so it's probably fine (like Miwajun in both romantic and platonic and semi believe Jun smokes and definitely got Miwa into smoking).

Noting Masaki knows Miwa from seeing him interact with Naoki but doesn't actually know him and both of them ended up at Jun's entirely unrelated

"maybe not the best guy to introduce you to vanguard" - A Gaillard fan upon hearing about this ship

I think Masaki would be suspicious at first but slowly end up pulled into Jun's rythm. Jun would find this clear newbie to vanguards presence amusing and interesting him, pushing him to interact more with him.

He handcuffed Miwa to a poll after their first conversation, you cannot convince me he would pass up the chance to question why someone with zero vanguard knowledge showed up at his hideout.

(Miwa also sees Jun's newest toy and asks Noaki if he has a brother, immediately wishing the man good luck when Noaki says yes)

And finally...for now

Ibuki/Gouki

Ibuki will always be Suiko's malewife yes, it is his calling

But If also gave us this beautiful duo

They have their whole training sequence and god is Gouki a shojo protagonist in this ep.

I feel this needs no explanations, they're just great

He just immediately steps up to encourage this forelourned man, their whole conversation is the rejected heroine and the loner 2nd male lead who never admits his feelings but constantly encourages them, a couple you want to root for, is it all for his Jammer misson? Yes. Does that change anything? No.

BECAUSE HE IMMA GOES INTO TRAINER MODE TO MAKE GOUKI STRONGER AND HELP HIM FULFILL HIS WISH

The ending AND CONFESSION

THE FRUSTRATION OVER ALL THEIR TIME AND FEELINGS BEING EREASED AS HE IS FORCED TO ACCEPT THEY CAN NEVER BE

And of course

Gouki still dears of their time together, longing for memories he will never get back

This is such a weird ship but I just love it

Thank you for coming to my tedtalk (I have more screenshots for all of these but tumblr is limiting me)

#vanguard #cfv #cardfight!! vanguard #kourin tatsunagi #katsumi morikawa #Morikawa/Kourin #jun mutsuki #masaki ishida #jun/masaki #gouki daimonji #ibuki kouji #Gouki/Ibuki #rarepairs #i have other ships and many screenshots if people want to hear more #i promise not all of them are this obscure #also this is going off ao3 tags #all of these are nonexistent in tags