i am a victim of time zones and bad decisions

honestly, normalize quitting. it's so okay to drop a course, quit a job 3 weeks in, leave a relationship when it isn't giving you what you need. quitting isn't a sign of weakness, isn't a sign that you're not trying enough. a lot of the time, it's a sign that you are prioritizing yourself and your values, and that should be honoured.

I love how Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse said “Anyone can be Spider-Man”. I love how it inspired everyone to imagine their own Spider-People, saving the day in their own universes, with all kinds of cool, interesting personalities and aesthetics and mutations and life stories and relationships. We all put pieces of our soul into these homemade heroes. We had fun. We found community. And then Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse said, “Wow, great job! You’ve really taken our message to heart. Well, get ready for even more of everything you liked from the first movie and a new message to complement the first. Anyone can be Spider-Man… and anyone can be pulled into a cult.”

So now we all have to contemplate whether our lovingly crafted heroes would ever be on Team Mandatory Trauma Because Martyr Complex or not and why.

Something I like about Leo is that he’s honestly really chill? It’s easy to remember the moments where he’s being obnoxious or excitable but I feel like most of the time he’s incredibly “go with the flow” and has an overall affable demeanor.

WIP - this time with more pocket charcaters in the background!

(Note to self: whenever I'll get to him, Cody will get the Mando treatment at best because I'm still big mad that he has no flowing fabric on him and that really trips up my sketching process. I'm still undecided about Wolffe though, since he's got his kama which is nice, but on the other hand he also has that facial hair situation going on in Rebels that's grown on me far less than Rex's beard...)

The rest of the Mandalorian Star Wars meets Hades AU project is here

remember you can vote every day! peace and love on planet earth <3

Hello Ash.

I just finished She Who Became the Sun and I’m crying. Dying. Dead. Deceased. Thank you for jumpstarting the ripping out, stepping on, roasting, and eating of my heart that has just transpired.

Aside from the obvious Zhu and Ouyang, what’s your favorite character parallel in the first book?

HIII thank you THANK YOU im so happy the propaganda got you too <33 and HMM much to think about!! I will say that it's been a couple of years (I think?) since I read swbts so the details are fuzzy but one of my fave parallels are between Ouyang and Baoxiang, especially for how strong they become in hwdtw too. They are both seen as lesser and not conforming to the "male" mongol ideal, ouyang because he's a eunuch, wbx because he's not a warrior. They both go against their roles in a very explicit and performative way: ouyang by becoming a war machine and truly embodying the masculinity of a mongol warrior despite his inability to truly ever being considered one bc of his mutilation, wbx by refusing to become a warrior and acting super feminine (genuinely don't remember how much of it is genuine and how much is out of sheer spite but id say at some point the lines got blurred for him too. the guy has Problems.) Something something "femininity" being forced on someone vs being choosen and its Consequences. They hate each other. they're scheming together. they're scheming against each other. they loved Esen. they had to kill him. being gay is a curse. being gay is a game and i am winning. they fucked each other in a parallel reality. and most importantly they're twinks. this does not even begin to cover how insane their dynamic truly is.

I consider this a science party achievement

you are correct

~ World's Finest: Teen Titans

Guess who is gonna be in trouble with his dad because of his friends'bs?

The way RTD has handled the Thirteenth Doctor's legacy so far makes me really uneasy, to be honest. And I don't mean plot elements (it's really positive that he's leaning into the timeless child so much so far!), I mean how (imo) Jodie's doctor reconfigured who the Doctor can be and who can see themselves in the Doctor.

Her doctor is the first 'woman doctor' but that is not to consign her, nor is it to put assumptions on who her doctor might/should be. The understanding of what 'woman' means felt reconfigured, expanded upon- she's an alien, she's not going to play by the rules some humans love to put on such a designator! It's a possibility not compulsory, a jumping off point for fluid ideas about the self. Her costume is a recognisable representation of this idea- intended by Jodie to be genderfluid, for anyone to wear. It is both inclusive and expansive, beyond binary (there's so much I could say about her performance to which this also applies).*

So, RTD seemingly not understanding this, or perhaps not willing to stand by this decision and instead bowing to how bigots might react (so putting their binary, restricted understanding ahead of those who celebrated Jodie's doctor and felt represented by her in importance?), and getting rid of her costume feels... disheartening.

So yeah, I'm uneasy about how 13 might be referenced or represented in any way going forward. It's usually fun when a current doctor references a past self, but so far, 13's costumes been incinerated and RTD's dropped in some really (imo) stupid jokes about 'the woman doctor.' We've seen very little of his tenure yet, and I don't want to put my cart before my horses but it's not a great start.

It gives the impression that he took his own understanding of what the 'woman doctor' should mean as his compass rather than engaging with Jodie's doctor, honestly. We shall see, and I want to be optimistic, but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

*This is not to say that the doctors that came before Jodie don't also offer sights of reconfiguration. I really like that her predecessors, to some extent, also break down ideas about male-presenting characters. But her doctor is a clear break with the status quo (she's not portrayed by a cis, white man)

Glad we finally have the Exact Face Akito made when he learnt Hatsune Miku was real and in his phone.

So, this parallel, right.

That parallel and the 4x11 shadowpeach fight as a whole:

Macaque: "No that's YOU! You're the one always running off! Looking for more power, more sources of immortality—you're the one who wouldn't quit while were were ahead! Not the great sage, he's got to drag EVERYONE else into his mess!" Sun Wukong: "You're not in this mess, you're still free! Everything I did was for us!" Macaque: "You did it for yourself! You've become like this, obsessive demon! I told you going against the Jade Emperor was a bad idea, but no, Wukong doesn't listen to anyone! He just does whatever he wants! You put yourself here, not me."

(4x11 A Lifetime of Mistakes)

-

A large part of Wukong's motivation to keep getting more power was the freedom of it—the more power you have the easier it is to do whatever you want. It's easier to ignore everyone else and focus solely on yourself. It's also easier to ensure yourself and your loved one's are protected and have the ability to do what they want.

So, a punishment where the great Monkey King is imprisoned and trapped for hundreds of years? It's effective and tragic and fitting. Wukong wanted to have the freedom to protect the people he cared about, and in trying to reach for the power to do that, he completely had his freedom removed. He went from the mountain, to then the circlet, and then all of a sudden he had morals and was bound to those.

And then I think about his end of s3 choice to go face the Lady Bone Demon alone. Once again Wukong was trying to protect his loved ones (not to mention the whole reason he went after the Samadhi fire to begin with was to have the power, the freedom to stop LBD (which in itself is another case of SWK believing he needed to be stronger for such freedom)), but he also wanted to make sure MK and himself both had agency. He didn't want MK to have to fight LBD, and he didn't want LBD to end the world.

This is exactly the sentiment he tells Macaque in the 4x11 flashback:

Sun Wukong: "It's so we don't have to worry about anything or anyone ever again! Just living a lazy life, sitting in the sun, eatin' fruit, and doing whatever we want!"

But where does it all lead him?

To possession, imprisonment. Once again Wukong no longer had the freedom to do what he wanted (which is to protect the people he cares about). Once again in his attempts to help his loved one's, he only hurt them.

This can be applied to his relationship with Macaque, to MK in s2, hell, even Wukong trying to get the map in the first place left him powerless, which then led to him and the gang being imprisoned in 3x02. It's a familiar pattern, one we see with antagonist and protagonist alike.

MK in s2 trained to become more powerful, which in the end only strengthened LBD and forced him and his friends on the run. Mei in 3x12 protects MK by letting herself get captured and placed into LBD's crystal. Mei in 4x05 goes to protect MK, breaking her sword and leaving her vulnerable to being captured by Kui Mulang ("How am I supposed to protect everyone without my sword?"). DBK reached for more power and then became possessed by LBD, hurting his wife and son. Azure reached for the Jade Emperor's power and bound himself to that role, jeopardizing Peng and Yellowtusk in the process.

It's a cycle of reaching for power, endangering others, and then being imprisoned.

So anyways, here's why MK is going to lose control (his agency) next season and hurt his friends with his own- *get's shot*

looking at qcharlie. if the codes and the federation truly aren't on the same side, charlie's somehow got the attention of three separate, opposing forces by doing nothing but trying to heal. the islanders (and the eggs) want him to live closer to spawn; for safety, yes, but because they want to see him more. they're worried about him. whatever the federation as a whole may want with charlie is up in the air, but with elquackity's interest in him, and nearly all of his birthday presents being bombs and escape tools, I think we can take a guess. and the codes, one masquerading as his dead daughter -- they want to learn from him. he managed to convince people that HE was an egg, didn't he? he's one of the only people on the island that hasn't hurt the codes, isn't he?

it seems like everyone's going to start pulling him in different directions very soon. two of these three groups are willing to do anything to get him on their side. but only one has gone far enough to ensure he'd stay there.

"I should've seen the signs" I feel like Stoick was basically reliving the way he lost Valka.

To him, after a lifetime of wanting nothing but to kill a dragon, Hiccup's suddenly and inexplicably changed his mind. To him, Hiccup saying he can't kill them is just like when Valka refused to and tried convincing others as well, then as a result was 'killed' by one herself.

To him, way Hiccup tossed his weapon and shield to the side then approached Hookfang while speaking about how dragons aren't what people think they are probably bares an uncomfortable resemblance to the way Valka put down her weapon and stared a dragon in the eyes and as a result was taken.

To him, attempting to do anything but preemptively defend yourself against a dragon will only end in tragedy, so he has to do anything he can to stop Hiccup before it's too late.

(And just like with Valka, he unintentionally escalated the situation by trying to protect Hiccup but only agitated the dragon, causing it to panic and react, inadvertently putting someone he loves in danger. again)

Stoick of course, wasn't acting rationally, but it makes sense when you think about how traumatizing Valka's 'death' must've been for him (and how much Hiccup reminss him of her); he watched her get taken, presumably killed, and couldn't do anything about it.

i don't know why, but in the sparse five hours of sleep i got last night, my brain decided to plague me with dreams of lilia taking care of an elderly silver, up until the final moments of his life. i could hear silver's thoughts the whole time, and he was so absolutely inundated with shame and guilt it almost seemed like he was suffocating. he kept thinking over and over and over again that this all should've been the other way around. he should've been the one looking after his father in the twilight of his life. he should've been his aging father's rock, his safe place to land, his stalwart defender against a world so unbelievably cruel to its most vulnerable denizens. again and again his heart cried out in vain, it should've been the other way around.

as a child he had once wished - prayed, even, to the same force now threatening to reclaim his spirit back into its unconscious designs - for his father to live a long and prosperous life, and it was as though that very wish had backfired on him in a way he never could have possibly imagined

Liam O'Brien characters have one mission, and it's to love their friends so much they will offer themselves up to save their friends no matter the cost to them personally. Looking forward to seeing how this particular deal will resolve itself, and what Orym has gotten himself into.