Every work of science fiction published in the late 20th century had something called, like, "the Acosta-Zimmerman drive", yet we have barely any such devices in the real world. Sad!

WAIT WAIT WAIT HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE

So normally we only get fullblown, extended and dedicated flashbacks for heroic characters in One Piece, the characters who we're meant to root for. The literal only TRUE exception we've had to this rule was Big Mom's flashback. Even fucking Doflamingo's flashback was tied to Law and Rosinante's

So the fact that we haven't gotten a single fucking GLIMPSE at Crocodile's backstory is?!?

Like sure, we haven't gotten like a Moria flashback, but you know, he literally told us all we needed to know himself, AND we got to see glimpses of him in the Wano flashbacks. Arlong didn't get a flashback of his own, but he did get to cameo in Fisher Tiger's flashback. And Rob Fucking Lucci got a flashback that was 6 whooping panels long

BUT CROCODILE?? Not only do we know almost Fuck All about his story, but also have never gotten as much as a glimpse at it? But his backstory has been HINTED and TEASED at multiple times??

GUYS. FELLAS

Like. I am SURE the "Full Backstories for Heroes Only" rule is going to get broken again, but with Imu and Blackbeard already there just BEGGING to have their beans spilled, can we even be sure Sir Fucking Crocodile is somehow going to become A Villain So Dangerous To The Narrative that he ALSO should also recieve a Full Fucking Backstory?? For his Nefarious Schemes?? AT THIS POINT??

Y'all

I think it's more likely Oda's been saving up Croc's backstory because it might just completely recontextualize his entire character

Recently got into Avatar bc of Spider (I love him and his character is SO interesting tbh), and one thing that rly shocked me is RDA Spider not being a bigger thing ? Because honestly ? If I was in his shoes I SO would have gone with the RDA purley out of spite. Like- this obviously neglected boy only wants a family. He desperately tries and does anything to make himself fit in with the Sully's. But all he gets back is hate and neglect from the adults he so desperately wants to accept him. And now imagine him getting captured and left behind by the adults he trusted and loved. And if that wasn't enough, so did his friends who were basically his siblings. The only ppl who atleast seemed like they gave a damn about him and loved him. And yet he STILL remains loyal, he still refuses to break under torture. And then he's with Quaritch and suddenly he gets a sliver of what he always wanted. He is included (to some degree at least) . He has an adult that (at least seems) to care for him. And it comes from the enemy of all places ! But even that still saw him loyal to the Na'vi, he was horrified when he truly saw what the RDA did. But then- then the Neytiri thing happened. The woman he pretty much saw as his step-mum but a knife to his throat, and Quaritch who he knew hated Jake, let Kiri go to save Spider. I'm not gonna lie, in his shoes I'd have gone with Quaritch the second he asked. Unironically. I'd be bitter as hell. Imagine being a 16 y/o kid constantly neglected. Your family and friends abandon you. The enemy is nicer to you than those you saw as your family. You watched him practically save your life while the ppl who you thought cared about you either put a knife to your throat or stood by for all that mattered. I'd be out for blood. And genuinely I think it would have been completely deserved for Spider to just say fuck it and go with the only parental figure he ever knew. I mean fuck, some people are mad about him SAVING QUARITCH'S LIFE ? They should be happy Spider didn't go with him to the RDA straight up ! Like ngl this AU is an untapped pool of angst and content that needs exploring. Especially Spider's justified anger for his mistreatment.

So, how would Vanny react seeing Perky alive and well, Right after stabbing them the other night.

Perkeo's been veeeeeeery careful about not getting badly hurt in front of people while working in the pizzaplex, that includes the weird furry that is not sneaky at all and bluntly carries a knife around (note: that does not equals to them not being one reckless stupid mf)

That said, when they found out about the correlation between Vanny and Vanessa, boy were they mad and wanted to mess with her

They let her land a hit — not a vital one, that would be annoying, just a scratch to their cheek or somewhere visible (then dipping right after because no, they are not dealing with this rn without a least a whole bag of sundrops on their system. Running was usually their go-to with her)

The next day Vanessa looked like she was about to lose her goddamn mind when she saw the skin perfectly healed and couldn't even find any video proof that anything happened (There was a signal blocker or whatever the name being used)

One time Vanessa did manage to hurt them more badly and they gaslit the shit out of her the day after

Either way my girlie was NOT having a good time while dealing with that blue haired twink, if glitchtrap didn't drive her insane dealing with Perkeo would for sure

Especially because that little menace was ruining all her plans somehow when it came to Moon and she had NO CLUE how because she ordered that bot to kill them like 50 different times and yet the next day they would offer her a coffee and the one time she went to look they were just throwing a virus-controlled Moon over their shoulder into a pile of pillows like he weighted nothing and that was one of the most disturbing views she had all day

it would be really funny if ted's internal monologue actually has a lot of swearing he just almost never says any of it out loud bc like, he's a polite midwestern dad

I’m curious if other communists have like a religious relationship to their political beliefs for lack of a better word? That’s not a good word to use but I don’t know how else to describe it. I’m solidly atheist but all of the feelings and emotions religious people talk about, revelation and spiritual connection to community and so on are all things I experience pretty regularly and I interpret those feelings as fundamentally communist. the way I take in and absorb information in particular feels revelatory in a religious sense. I’m pretty sure this is fairly common with MLs but I’m curious about it in general

for me personally the biggest reason why i believe they're going somewhere with macdennis is gang tends bar but more specifically how the episode has such a serious tone. no jokes or anything like that they were dead serious. and if i may, kinda like mac finds his pride. the whole ep felt like it was leading up to smth bigger and it was dennis having a genuine breakdown the entire episode was about him. its like years of burying so many feelings finally came out that is a man who's tired of pretending. and what triggered this was having his friends and his sister misunderstanding him. and then they literally connected an episode 100% about dennis with mac and only him. mac being the one to give him what he actually wanted but not only materially the rpg represents so much more than that. he could've made a joke he could've just said thanks but instead they made him hold back tears to the point where even his voice changed and make him say word by word that mac gave him what he wanted the most in the entire world. bc mac is the only one who ever could. it was dennis' awakening like oh shit he actually loves me he doesn't just wants to fuck me. when mac told charlie in the bathroom that dennis doesn't have any feelings he might even believe that bc its what dennis fights so hard to make him believe and there are stuff mac isn't able to realize about dennis (like dennis being in love with him) but he thinks hes the only who can change that, he knows exactly what dennis wants and he thinks the rpg is gonna make him happy which is what he wants the most for dennis. just to see him happy. and dennis picks that up, he realizes mac can see through everything dennis wants to be perceived as. dennis isn't emotionally available for me vs i'm emotionally involved with mac they were insane for this WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY ALL THIS I HAVE TO KNOW

Dude

I'm gonna lose it

the hatred so many historians/hobbiests nurture for Philippa Gregory is so beautiful tbh

so i really wanted to make a richard the third-richard nixon joke and remembered tricky rick’s tower twister being one of the more compelling parts of the play (go in the dark?) and that’s about where my investment in the situation ends. and yet at this time there are about 6000 people in my mentions litigating British historiography and the methods of this one lady phillipa gregory who we don’t like because she stans richard iii and comes up with evidence to match the conclusions she already has (?) what have i wrought

I might be ~quirky~ for this (welcome to my twisted mind and etc) but I genuinely have so much fun with shipping nowadays, ever since I chose to be singleship for each muse. I feel like my adhd has never allowed me to pour even half as much care and attention into a ship as I'd have loved to when I had multiple ones at the same time per muse, so being able to focus on a single romantic dynamic per muse really feels like a weight off my shoulders

bro I'm at the level of seasonal depression where my brain is like "maybe I should watch supernatural...."

It’s so fucked that the main source of unease I felt building up over the past several months was me feeling pressured to perform femininity to be seen as desirable to other people. It was never ever said said out loud in that space but I could FEEL it and I never knew until it was pointed out to me.

and if i said mikoto t2 innocent. then what

I do find it interesting that ATLA managed to use a very black and white narrative (stop Evil Empire) to tell several character stories with some nuance, while TDP claims it has a nuanced conflict and flattens everything to try and make up for that, ultimately leading to protagonist centred morality more than anything. And if they didn’t want me to compare the two then they should have let go of the ATLA references right away.

you're right and you should say it.

the constant and shoehorned references to ATLA do not really do this show any favors. honestly might be part of the problem (why are there 7 primals with color-coded elves? to follow ATLA's pattern of marketable separable elements. why is it an adventure story with a core crew? because ATLA was like this too. etc etc.)

but anyway. yeah. ATLA had a very simple main conflict to provide a constant source of tension throughout the show (even if they dropped the ball at the last season re: the plot), and this structure allowed for episodes that explore other aspects of the setting and characters while still making everything feel relevant and tied together by said conflict. it's not some arthouse show by any means, but it has good compelling story work into it. genuinely great show.

tdp immediately opens up with the nuance and it never really delves deeper. you'd think that opening with characters being aware of the cycle of violence stuff would be interesting and the show would explore that more, but it just... flatlines there. there's no progression or graduation or exploration of themes as the seasons go on like in ATLA. very rarely are there new questions being asked or arcs that feel sensical.

honestly the main characters having to be perfect in every situation is the biggest problem with tdp. the mains are not allowed to have shortcomings or mistaken judgements or anything to meaningfully interact in any way with the nuanced set-up. they emotionally exist entirely outside it, which ends up making them the Messiahs of Peace Who Can Do No Wrong. good for fandoms i guess, people bitched and whined about bato and the water tribe for years. but it's not very good for storytelling.

and also, they're just bad characters and the writers can't put two and two together while still asking you to take their world very seriously.

anyways i'm just rambling at this point. good observation.

as a russian who doesn't talk to russian people online what the shit is happening there hello

look man i myself have put in the effort to Not talk to online russians for like (checks hand) 7 or so years (of course i’ve met some really great ones but this isn’t about them and they probably know it) but i’m sure the community didn’t change much. actually from the glimpses i see it seems to have gotten worse. don’t even get me startedddddd man

The things you say ...