Sorry just looking back at it, I really do think G3 sacrificed having good fashion in order to have good character design. Which like, if it was just the cartoons they were rebooting, then like sure. But all I'm saying if any other doll brand in the year of our lord 2023/2022 come out with tye-die shorts with frills we would have laughed them off the market but it's Monster High so it's fine

I think it succeeds a lot at times, for example, no matter how much I don't like G3 Clawdeen, not gonna lie, they really got that 'quirky protag girl' vibe incredibly well with her. Or how the G3 Werecat Twins personalities show so strongly though their designs, but dear god WTF is Meowlody wearing.

But on the other hand it's not like good character design and fashion are antithetical to each other. Like not only was this the reason G1 Monster High got so popular (that and it's gothicism) but G3 HAS put out nice looking fashion pieces before!

scribbled clip, fool, and y/n from gitm by @venomous-qwille o7

cough hack wheeze who wants a teeny tiny fantasy au snippet with uhhhh laughingstock Tension. it's like... half a scene! unedited & out of context As Is Tradition

~

“Nothin’ much. I think I’ll poke around nearby towns, shake down some travelers - see what falls into my paws.”

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, Barn,” Howdy says. He sweeps aggressively, spreading dirt more than gathering it into the usual neat piles. “Who knows if those ne'er-do-wells are still roaming around the woods - if you and Ed couldn’t take them, what makes you think you could alone? Or- or! What if you stumble across those cultists? I hate to think of you stuck in an ambush with no help coming, knowing fully well that-”

A large paw slips the broom out of his grip and sets it to the side, and Howdy stammers to a stop as Barnaby crowds him against the bar with a soft, “Howdy.”

Howdy swallows hard, bracketed on each side by strong blue arms. The look Barnaby fixes him with dries up his well of words and bristles his fuzz. Howdy’s heart hammers against his ribs. He can feel Barnaby’s body heat, and it’s lighting his blood on fire. 

“I’m not gonna be reckless, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Barnaby says. He barely needs to speak louder than a whisper for Howdy to hear him loud and clear. He smells like sweet smoke. “The other day was a one time deal, cross my heart. But, if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll take someone with me. I’m sure Jules is itchin’ to get outta town.”

“What would really make me feel better is if you stay,” Howdy blurts, just barely reining in the with me. He tenses, knowing that he’s toeing a dangerous line. One wrong word, and he’ll make the unspoken spoken - but the stress drains out of him as Barn’s eyes go soft. Perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad. Of course there’s no reason to worry, not about this, not with him. There never has been.

“You know I can’t do that,” Barnaby murmurs. “Not yet.”

Howdy doesn’t need to say that he knows. Not for the first time and with any luck, not for the last, it clicks in his mind that they’re on the same page - he doesn’t need to be a telepath to understand the thoughts behind Barnaby’s dark eyes. 

Barnaby says it anyway. “I gotta get him back. I can’t… there’s no room for anythin’ else right now.”

Howdy sighs through his nose and slumps against the counter digging into the small of his back. He nods and adjusts the lapels of Barnaby’s vest. His fingers ghost over soft blue, and Barnaby doesn’t flinch at the contact. If anything, he leans the barest millimeter into it. His gaze burns into Howdy’s, even if they aren’t meeting at the moment, but it isn’t a bad feeling. Quite the opposite, actually.

“Well,” Howdy says in a low voice, “if you find a good lead, send for the rest of us. I’ll be there as fast as my four legs can scamper.”

Barnaby smirks. “Even if you need to take a boat?”

“Even so, Barn.”

The smirk slides into something that isn’t a frown, but isn’t a smile. It’s too soft for a grimace, but too intense for simple recognition. Barnaby seems to sway forward, and Howdy is sorely tempted to meet him halfway.  

But Barnaby’s claw taps the counter, and he pulls away before anyone’s mind can be made up. Howdy’s hands slip from his lapels, brushing against fur as they fall and knuckles skimming over the smooth, fresh scar cutting across Barnaby’s belly. 

“I’ll be back before you know it,” Barnaby says, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He squeezes Howdy’s shoulder and then his back is turned, and he’s leaving. All Howdy can do is watch. 

And call out after him, “Your table will be open and waiting for you.”

Barnaby pauses in the doorway and looks over his shoulder at Howdy, and his grin is so full of affection that Howdy may just burst. 

“With a free pint?” he asks.

“Hey now, don’t push your luck pal.”

Barnaby bursts out laughing, and Howdy can hear it even after the door thuds closed.

that specific way that ppl talk abt male celebrities or male charas in fiction that have features deemed ugly that are just. them being fat or them being disabled or them just existing. like nobody says "oh this is ugly" but u can tell they think it is by their tone. the ohrase "hear me out" is really up there w worst phrases for me. like ok i hear you out but very quickly explain to me why you need an explanation for why you find like jack black or peter dinklage hot, for examples that stuck w me

Thinking about IDW Optimus again and the fandom's aversion to even acknowledging he exists bc he's a cop or whatever and like. Most of the time people literally just replace him in fic with some white bread knockoff archivist/librarian, not even bothering to keep in IDW OP's personality (which just bolsters my theory that the problem isn't him being a cop the problem is that he's too multifaceted but I digress).

And it's annoying because you could totally write IDW Optimus as not a cop while still keeping his canon personality. You just have to realize that the reason IDW OP became a cop in the first place is because his formative experiences when he was young shaped him to basically have two priorities: 1. To help people and 2. To do it by being on the ground actively doing something about the bad things happening to people.

IDW OP would not be a fucking librarian or archivist because even though those are noble pursuits that can help people and change the world, and Optimus is educated/smart enough for the profession, he wouldn't be satisfied just teaching people or spreading information about activism or social-historical studies or whatever. He's a mech of action: he needs to be doing things right now, in front of him, to people he sees/interacts with in his own eyes, improving society with concrete actions rather than indirect action or abstract inspiration.

So basically the alternate job ideas I can think of for IDW Optimus are something like being a firefighter (or any first responder really) or even whatever the equivalent would be to international charity organizations, those ones that send volunteers across the world to do stuff like build housing/infrastructure or distribute food or whatnot. I mean I can't imagine that the equivalents to these things would be exactly the same in IDW Cybertron, so you'd have to get a little creative with it, but these are just some ideas of jobs that would fit IDW Optimus' personality while still filling the niche of "not a cop" for people who are just that opposed to it.

Though I think the revulsion against coptimus is annoying in general tbh because IDW is already a continuity that rejects the idea of easily defined good/evil people or groups. It feels like people really want Optimus to be a good person in a very sanitized and academically approved way, so he has to be nice and squeaky clean but also like, a perfect leftist who knows theory and holds the most progressive opinions on every single issue....

There is no room for the idea that good people join bad institutions, there's no room for the idea that the reason people think cops are good guys who help people is bc of the government propaganda everything is saturated with. Hell there's even later issues of the Optimus Prime series by John Barber where Optimus like, MULTIPLE FUCKING TIMES, is shown in flashbacks grappling with the fact that he as a cop/Zeta's regime that he works for might not actually be improving society like they say they are, and dealing with the fact that he feels more like a lesser evil compared to the Decepticons (perhaps not "lesser" at all).

It's like there's this idea in fandom of like, fictional media and opinions on media having to strictly adhere to progressive ideals at all times. So people just go "cops bad, this character is a cop, therefore they suck" without being willing to engage with the idea of like. IDW OP is born wanting to fight injustice and protect people -> a good way to protect people is to fight the people who are hurting them and committing crimes -> surely following the law is a reliable moral code to guide him in this -> becomes a cop because he's been indoctrinated into a society (much like our own) where he was told that the state/the law exist to protect the people and being a cop means you get to fight bad guys that hurt people. There's really so many interesting concepts there that could be (and CANONICALLY IS) explored about how good, well-intentioned people can be led to harmful actions simply because they have been fed the idea that the things they're doing are good/helpful/noble. Which is especially important for a character like Optimus, I think, who has a cultural icon status as The Irrefutable and Perfect Good, so it's really important actually to use IDW Optimus as an example of how even the most noble people you know have held problematic beliefs or done bad things at some point in their life. You know, because no one is born perfect and ideologically pure, and in fact society is constructed in exactly a manner to make people drink the kool-aid and believe that the systems designed to hurt them/others are just a normal, if flawed, society.

I mean the writing in IDW literally has Optimus deal directly and indirectly with the harm he's done as a cop and how people don't/didn't trust him because of that. I don't know what the fuck else this fandom wants if the source material literally saying "OP realizes that cops suck and he hurt people and earned their disdain by doing the things he did" doesn't stop them from going EW cop bastard sucks and is the worst Optimus. Like the narrative barely stops short of outright saying ACAB and Optimus himself would agree with this sentiment.

At that point, the collective fandom beef with IDW OP isn't because he's a cop and the narrative didn't do enough to condemn that. The problem is literally just that people don't read and don't care

TLDR: Consider the fact that good people can do bad things sometimes especially when living from birth in a corrupt society that thoroughly disguises its vices/oppressive structures as completely normal parts of existence

I can’t remember the name of the Xena musical episode but do remember watching it the first time on TV and thinking: this is the best possible way they could have resolved all those horrific complex emotional issues that the season built up to that point and I am unexpectedly moved and invigorated by this episode. Vaguely, I think I remember that Xena and Gabrielle had murdered each others children by that point or something similar and full of hate and betrayal. And the writers went, ok somehow we have to get them back journeying together again but we need something to resolve the impossible and we only have one episode of space. And they decided that something was a musical.

The reason why it was so perfect? I mean, a traditional episode would have been all clunky dialogue and exposition and matters would be glossed over and it would just feel fake, you know? So they leaned right into ‘fake and clunky’ and went let’s just stylise the fuck out of this into a symbolic dream and set it to music, this is perfect.

Hey! Just dropping in to say i love your yuu! She kinda inspired me to revive my own tiana yuu.

Also, I was curious, does your yuu have her own Charlotte? Or is she in twst alone?

Thank yooou 😭💕 AND NOW A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY HFGFGD. SHORT ANSWER: Yes, there is a Lottie equivalent, and her name is Lisette! She is Tia’s oldest childhood friend. BUT, she’s back in Tia’s homeworld, so Tia no longer has contact with her or any of her other friends— which, is not great. Part of Tias whole “pre-life in twst” ordeal involved her incidentally distancing herself from her friends and not ever spending time with them anymore after a very personal event that led her to engross herself completely in her work, so she has a lot of regrets now. Especially, since there is no guarantee she’d ever get to see them again. (All of this is paraphrased hhhhhh, but yeah Tia herself is alone in twst.)

SPEAKING OF WHICH HERE THEY ARE because long ago I made reference material for myself (so its not exactly fully rendered)

i love them a lot, even if they are just people who are from her homeworld.

Is rei queer?

It doesn't really pop up in the story, but I'd say all the main cast are, including Rei

I'm a psych survivor & want to find community in general or join conversations on here but it seems like no one really cares what I have to say & a lot of the conversations on here about mad liberation etc. are so academic that I feel alienated & shut out by them, and afraid of being talked down to & made fun of, even though I was (barely) able to master's degree and thought I was fairly intelligent. it seems like the academics mainly want to talk amongst themselves. idk. it's like the more I try to connect the worse I feel. I guess you probably don't have an answer to this but I appreciate your blog & how accessible your writing is

💜💜💜anon i think you have SUCH an important point. for me, the most meaningful mad community that i've found has always been when I've been institutionalized and just talking with other mad people, where most of them don't have any experience with mad liberation politics or antipsychiatry or any of that vocabulary. But like--time and time again those are the people who just get it the most, and are some of the most insightful people I've met. And I know that if some of my psych survivor friends came on tumblr, I think they would be judged for not having the "right" language or not communicating clearly enough or whatever. Which makes me so fucking mad, especially considering how many of us are disabled in ways that impact our communication, processing, and language. and how to me, it feels like such an important value of mad liberation to celebrate different styles of communication and all the different ways we're going to show up and exist as mad people! I'm sorry that you haven't been able to find a lot of welcoming community on tumblr--I know how exhausting and isolating it feels to not be able to connect with the people that are Supposed to actually understand and support you.

and it's not that I hate academic stuff about madness--I'm currently at university studying disability studies and really appreciate disability scholars. I think it's super fucking important + there's a lot of really talented people doing cool work. But I think that especially in disability studies, there needs to be a LOT more of an effort put in to actually make research + writing accessible. If half our community can't access any of the writing about our community, that's fucked up, you know? I'm always getting into arguments at university lmao when I talk about how we should do more to translate academic work into plain language. especially since i think it's a form of injustice when we are kept away from resources and knowledge that would let us build a political understanding of our experiences. it just feels super important to me to think about accessibility and what that means in mad spaces and psych survivor spaces, and who feels welcome to participate in our spaces and who feels left out of them.

and i also don't really have answers or solutions for How to Make That Happen on Tumblr--if you or any followers have any suggestions i would def love to hear them. i know that a lot of people are going to come on tumblr to do a lot of different things and that some people see this mostly as an academic space for them, where some people just come on here to talk or create art or a million different things.

For me, I use tumblr as a space where I want to talk and connect with a lot of people about all kinds of topics and hear psych survivors opinions on a ton of stuff. a lot of my posts are pretty casual, but when i make longer educational and political posts i spend a lot of time thinking about the best ways to translate really academic concepts to a wider audience. when i sit down to write out a long post i try to incorporate as many accessibility features as possible like using bullet points, putting in summaries/ Tl;DR sections at ends of posts, adding in real life examples when I'm defining complicated technical concepts, adding content notes, and more. Before I post, I read through my posts and highlight every time I use a more academic or technical term. Then, I think through whether that vocab is necessary for people to understand the post, or if there's better language I could replace it with. A lot of times I do end up keeping in some technical terms in my posts because it is honestly the most direct way to explain some of the stuff I want to talk about, but it's been super valuable for me to go through and really think about it, even when some terms stay in my writing. that's just my process and what works for me and I really don't think that other people need to write the same way I do lmao, but if anyone ever wants to talk about writing in plain language & easy read PLEASE come into my inbox bc i love talking about this and want to chat about it with more people.

other things i'll say is that i've found that virtual/in person psych survivor/antipsych support groups are often times a lot more welcoming and accessible and are just like, people talking about things and hanging out together. I've heard really good things about Wildflower Alliance's support groups, and also recommend the Hearing Voices Network. Project LETS has been running an exceptional psychiatric survivor support group for almost a year that is more casual and is a really great community, I'm hoping that they're going to open up availability again in the spring so that might also be worth checking out in the next couple months. Campaign for Psych Abolition in the UK runs a mad art space that seems super fun. i wish there were a lot more existing groups cause it sucks how few things there are tbh.

anyway, know that you + anyone else are always welcome to chat in my inbox or on any of my posts and you will not face any judgement from me. i genuinely love talking to other psych survivors so much and want to hear what people have to say. the only people i get annoyed at on my posts are psych students and other mental health professionals who leave really bullshit stuff on there lmfao.

sending you all the solidarity, anon <3

(tearing my hair out) what happens to you when you become the second-ever spider-man in a world that has already fucking had superheros before for fuck's sake don't you get it it's a terrible horrible beautiful freedom for miguel it's the worst fucking bestgoodgift miles ever got in his life the mask says this body is mine it is the only thing you cannot take from me the mask says you are the next in line in line and not the last and this is not something spectacular or special or fucking sacred by christ it's just goddamn cloth and you're alive and he's dead and you're alive and it was probably all your fucking fault it even went wrong to start and you're alive and you're alive you're alive and don't you GET IT DON'T YOU GET IT.

Ship asks! what’s your favorite headcanon for xiaoven?

Okay so when I was firs thinking about this question I had a few ideas, cuz I do have quite a few headcanons that I passively apply to xiaoven pretty much every time I write them. But then I actually realized that they're all just headcanons about Venti that are applicable to xv?? Embarrassing. But I was able to remember one!

My favorite xiaoven headcanon is that Xiao's vision is the first one that Venti ever gave after becoming the Anemo Archon.

This ties in with quite a few ideas I tend to use about how vision granting works (They come from the Archons of their elements, and the Archon does have some consciousness of when and to who visions are being given) and the spiritual connection that vision holders have with their Archons, which basically adds up to Venti and Xiao having this very long-lasting connection to each other through Xiao's vision.

Over the years, Venti has obviously given a lot of visions, and he's felt most of those vision holders come and go as they grow old and die. But for Xiao to not only be such an old vision holder, but also Venti's first, I would think that there's a depth to that bond that has made Xiao almost integral to Venti's being. He always has this feeling of loss when one of his anemo vision holders dies, but if he were to ever lose Xiao, it would feel as if someone reached in and tore out a part of his soul.

I also like this idea for what it lends to Venti's side of the xv pining factor. Because Xiao is so often written in fics to have this feeling of indebtedness to Venti for saving him from his karmic debt, and prior to their meet cute Venti would be oblivious to this. But the idea of Venti carrying a piece of Xiao with him for most of his existence as an Archon, holding this cry for freedom and salvation so close to himself and wanting so desperately to know if that child was able to find the help that he needed just rots my brain in horrible ways.

It makes their yearning for each other more mutual, because Xiao idolizes Barbatos so much and wants to pay back his debt to him, while Venti still thinks of his first child from time to time and wants to know if he ever found happiness. And mutual pining is just so tasty, I don't really know what else to say <3

(Ship Asks)

okay i don't really know how to title this so im just gonna call it how Half tells the story of Kazui's marriage with Stages.

Half opens up with a green apple in the center of a stage, the spotlight illuminating it. The green apple in Kazui's MVs is tied to Kazui's sin. The apple being in the center of the stage before the 'performance' even begins could represent that this is Kazui's main motive for acting and lying, this is the reason for the show.

The Kazui of the present is in the audience of the play. Throughout the entirety of Half he is there watching the events leading up to Hinako's death with us. We are the audience watching the video but also the literal audience of this performance. I think this could represent Kazui reflecting on his actions and what he did throughout his marriage while in Milgram, or right before Milgram (which I'll get into at the end.)

It then cuts back to the stage, where we see the Kazui of the past walk onto the stage wearing a mask - the performance is about to begin. This is, I'm assuming, when he is freshly married. Sure he would've had to lie while they were engaged or simply partners but there's not so much at stake at that stage in a relationship rather then when he's married. Kazui is wearing a mask to cover up his sins with lies and now he is also acting, putting up the performance of a happy marriage for others so they wouldn't question his true motives for getting married or see the real him.

When we see flashbacks of Kazui during his marriage, we can see either stagelights or the background never filling up the entire screen. This also ties to the fact that, even when Kazui isn't wearing his mask, he is still acting and putting up the performance of being content in his marriage with Hinako. I've chosen this scene to showcase this because it shows both at the same time but this happens in the bar scene too.

In this scene Kazui is singing the chorus of Half while acting on stage. However, he is wearing his mask and doesn't show alot of emotain in his movements or expressions. This could be interpretated as the effects of hiding his true self that Kazui experiences, which can really be seen considering the fact that the lyrics and way his VA sings them is very intense and rich with emotain, compared to how Kazui's expression and movements are animated

In this same scene, there is a shot of an empty chair on stage alongside Kazui. This most likely referances Hinako's involvement in Kazui's 'performance', or lack thereof, as empty chairs usually represent the empty space of a person in art. This could be interpreted in different ways: Hinako isn't shown in the performance anymore because she's dead, Hinako isn't shown in the performance because she wasn't aware of it happening so her presence is replaced by a chair - etc.

This scene in Half is one of my favourites for a multitude of reasons, so let's point out the things that stand out first and then we'll delve into my understanding of their meaning. Firstly: Kazui isn't wearing a mask in this scene but he also isn't on the stage, which has more meaning considering the other times we saw Kazui without his mask, he was still on stage - still acting. Here his performance has fallen. Secondly: the green apple is atop the stage in between Kazui and Hinako. I've already established my previous interpretation of the apple on the stage at the very start, but I think its appearance here is in a different context. This is the scene where Kazui tells Hinako the truth, so his mask and performance has stopped because these are both tied to him hiding his true self and his lies. The apple being on the stage in the middle of the two of them could mean that this is the topic of conversation. It is illuminated because they are litteraly bringing to light the elephant in the room that has been putting a wedge in their relationship. The reason why it's still on the stage might be because Kazui is still hiding what his sin is from us, so in a way his sin is putting on its own performance - disguising itself as an apple.

After Kazui tells the truth, his performance is alot more emotional. His movements are more dramatic, and so are his expressions. He's not trying to hide his real feelings anymore, and after years of doing so, they come bursting out all at once. He is still acting and putting on a performance, so we can assume at this point in time Hinako is still alive and they are still married, but he's unmasked. He's no longer lying to her.

In this scene, Kazui takes what looks to be a final bow infront of the chair before walking off the stage. I think this scene shows Kazui's intentions when it came to telling the truth. He told Hinako the truth and expected them too get a divorce afterwards, so he walks off the stage - ending the performance (their marriage.) The bow to the chair could be interpreted in different ways: a goodbye, an apology etc.

However, despite what Kazui's actual intentions where when it came to telling Hinako the truth, they didn't happen. Kazui sees the apple shattered on the ground (Hinako's death) and goes back onto the stage. He starts his performance again, this time as a mourning widow, and starts lying again too. He puts back on the mask, scared of what might happen if he were to reveal the truth about himself to someone again.

Remember what I said at the start of this painfully long post about how this might be pre-Milgram Kazui watching his performance? Yeah, this is where that comes into play. There are things I had to leave out because of tumblr's 10 photo limit, but the main point is that this Kazui on stage at the end of Half and the Kazui in the audience are wearing the same outfit. I think this might be a case of Kazui reflecting on what happened in his marriage right after Hinako's death and pinpointing where he went 'wrong' (in this case, he deciphers that telling the truth was his mistake) and decides to start his performance all over again, careful to not repeat his mistake - vowing to never reveal his sin to anyone else.

Ichigo being a stay at home dad who works online is so in character for him actually…… he’s the type of dad to enforce 1 hour of no screen time outside playing in the yard and/or playground. He texts Orihime goofy pictures of Kazui jumping around in some water fixture in the local park and carries him home soaked to the bone and shivering with the biggest smile on his face and then they eat ice cream and wait for Orihime to get home so they can have family game night.

um. a weesele

umm i think thats what a weesel is

I think that 'you're like a father too me' vs 'you were my brother' is crucial in understanding the Anakin and Obi-Wan dynamic and their particular brand of dysfunctional communication.

can’t stop thinking about somebody saying that zuko is constantly going against his very nature in order to be evil and i will be crying about it forever frankly