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coffeeadict61 · 9 months

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Humans Are Weird: Auditory Processing Disorder

Report # 306

Topic: Auditory Processing Disorder

APD: disorder of the auditory (hearing) system that causes a disruption in the way that an individual's brain understands what they are hearing.

Four days ago I was doing my monthly meeting with the electrical department, receiving updates on our monthly usage, needed parts, and checking up on general morale. (The transcript of that meeting is already turned in.) After the meeting we had refreshments and I discovered Lucy (previously mentioned in report #286) pouting in a corner. I inquired what was bothering her. She said, "The ship's head medic just diagnosed me with APD but he wasn't trained to treat it." I asked for further information on the condition. She listed several of her personal symptoms. "It means I don't always catch what people say. It feels like my brain doesn't want to listen. In one ear and out the other making me look stupid to however I talk to. It's connected to my misophonia, and the fact I was born really premature."

I was unsure how to comfort her so I made no effort. This seemed to work for Lucy kept speaking.

"And what's worse is there's nothing I can do! We don't have a speech therapist aboard or even any research materials! Its starting to affect my work performance. On top of decoding, hypersensitivity, and prosodic problems, I have integration issues which mean its really hard for me to focus on what people are saying when I'm doing something. Which freaking sucks when you're part of a team!" I had no clue what she was really talking about but gave her a hug (human gesture of enveloping one in your arms as a sign of comfort or safety), and she apologized for "venting" to me.

She then spoke on how her crew mates just thought she was "slow" or wasn't good at her job. They questioned if she was capable because she would follow directions incorrectly and she was worried she'd be replaced with someone "less problematic". I tried to assure her that I would help anyway I could on her behalf. Never again will I doubt a human's sincerity.

After some of my own personal research I have made a list of the different types and their definitions for your education on the subject:

Hypersensitivity – Hypersensitivity to sound is often diagnosed as misophonia or hyperacusis. Misophonia is when people have adverse physical reactions to sounds, such as becoming nauseated by the sound of chewing or slurping. Hyperacusis, on the other hand, is characterized by a sensitivity to sounds. For some, this means that white noise can be deafening, even causing physical pain.

Decoding – Decoding difficulties involve a lack of figuring out words that are spoken. They hear the sounds, but their brains do not process them as words.

Integration – Integration applies to those who struggle to do multiple things while listening. Such multi-tasking may be writing notes and listening, or having conversations while typing an email.

Prosodic – Prosodic refers to people who have trouble with tone, inflection, and implied meaning. A question and exclamation are processed identically in their brains. Their speech is also often monotone.

Organizational – Finally, organizational, or output, is often characterized by not recalling information in a specific order or having difficulty with noisy situations.

Honestly, Humans are so diverse and unpredictable. To think that different "problems" or " abnormalities " within their mind or body can lead to even more similar issues astounds me. They are so intricate in a way my species has never been. Despite the struggles that their disorders, and conditions being, I think it's strangely beautiful. Maybe that's just me, but I have a new appreciation for them.

I am requesting the presence of a speech therapist, whether physically or digitally, to be readily available to our crew. We must also add APD onto our medics research requirements. It is not an overly complicated subject to be fluent in. I also request that Lucy's diagnoses be added to her list of wrongful termination along with her gender, age, and race. No one should feel their position is at risk because of a disorder or disability. I also request that a written copy of daily instruction be printed for her if necessary. She is one of our best electricians and I mean to keep her employed here as long as she wants.

Human Observer #5743

#humans are weird #humans are space orcs #APD #auditory processing disorder #its an educational one folks #Lucy #Human Observer #Human observer5743 #Lucy is back #space #science fiction #sci fi #aliens #hope you like this one guys

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chipmunkfanno1love · 4 months

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Cliva Theories

I thought I’d write my personal thoughts on the Cliva ship and how I imagine it playing out if it possibly does head down the romantic path. I also want to give my comparison if they stick to the platonic route.

Thoughts on the ship generally:

When I learned that Viva was related to Poppy and later found out that she's actually her long-lost older sister, the thought of her falling in love with one of Branch's brothers sounded like such an adorable idea to me. Considering that she and Clay rule over the Putt Putt Trolls together, the pair already have an established relationship in the platonic and professional sense. The two seem to have a lot of respect for each other (which I'm sure Clay appreciates as he wasn't taken seriously by his brothers during his teen years) and seem to be the best of friends.

Viva appears to look up to Clay as her rock and confidant when it comes to her strongest fears and insecurities (something she struggled to open up with even Poppy). The fact that she’s been so open with him and trusts him with the responsibility of being her right hand man shows that Clay has proven himself as trustworthy and that he’s very important to Viva. She was obviously devastated by his betrayal in the movie, but doesn’t appear to hold a grudge due to her focus on freeing Clay from his diamond prison while Branch and Poppy were working on freeing Floyd. Obviously Clay is very important to her, not just as a right-hand man but also as a friend.

Despite trying too hard to be serious, Clay isn’t afraid to have fun and be silly around Viva, which shows he feels comfortable around her and she helps him embrace the fun side of himself while also acknowledging his desire to be taken seriously. Clay may also lean on Viva when it comes to handling his insecurities and frustrations (specifically regarding his issues with his brothers). I’m sure he appreciates someone as fun-loving and energetic as her taking over the responsibility of being “the fun one” and I’m sure he actually has fun with Viva due to not feeling the pressure of living up to his past boy band image. These two truly seem to empathise and understand each other as trolls.

I definitely believe that Clay and Viva have a shared love of dancing. Clay was obviously in charge of choreography for Brozone back in their youth, plus he’s famous for his Rusty Robot and later the Well-Oiled Robot dance moves. Viva is obviously a talented and enthusiastic dancer herself with lots of energy for crazy moves like flips and cartwheels. I personally would love to see more of these two dancing together, whether it be as two friends dancing together or possibly as a romantic dance fast and/or slow.

I think it's only natural that possible romantic sparks could grow between them as they re-adjust back into the lives of their long-lost family members and also accept that Bergans are no longer out to eat them. They obviously have a strong and special connection which they already built up even before they learned that their respective younger siblings are dating, so the possibility of them falling in love themselves does not seem that strange.

I have heard some people say that it's wrong and even incestuous for Branch's older brother and Poppy's older sister to start a romantic relationship because when Broppy gets married it will make them in-laws. While I do acknowledge for some people it may be weird for one romantic partner's brother to date and/or marry their romantic partner's sister I will say in the ship's defence that it is neither morally wrong nor incestuous for a husband/boyfriend's brother to date and/or marry his wife/girlfriend's sister. They are not related by blood or legal siblings themselves, so there are no reasons why they can't date or marry (with Poppy, Branch's and King Peppy's blessing). It's not that unusual for a couple's siblings to fall in love and eventually marry in real life and fiction (e.g. The Chipmunks and their Chipette counterparts in the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise are some examples). Either way, let's try to respect each other's thoughts and opinions without judgement or harsh criticism.

I’m certainly open to this ship from a compatibility standpoint, but from a chemistry standpoint I think I’ll need a little more convincing as their limited interactions seemed more platonic in nature than romantic. I personally felt that Clay calling Viva “girl” sounded more like how a male would greet his female friend than how he would a potential lover. Although I have heard from some people’s translation of some non-English dubs of Trolls Band Together that Clay calls Viva “babe” which sounds slightly promising on the romantic side. Still you could easily say that was simply how the international production people personally translated the dub rather than it being the original writer's intention. Still, I’m certainly open-minded with this interpretation.

I definitely think like Branch, Viva will need some time to reconnect with her family and readjust to the outside world again, including learning to overcome her fear of the Bergans and coping with her trauma and abandonment issues. While well-meaning in her desire to protect her sister and fellow Putt Putt Trolls, I found her holding Poppy and to an extent the other Trolls hostage in order to “keep them safe” to be quite frightening and unhealthy. I only hope that to some extent Clay stayed with Viva out of genuine loyalty and care for her and not because he was basically held hostage by her. It would not be healthy for them to build any type of relationship out of fear and possessiveness.

Just like Poppy and Viva are adjusting to their newfound sisterly relationship, I think both Clay and Viva would also need to make some adjustments in their relationship as it changes with them being back with their families and learning to trust the Bergans. I’m curious how they’ll lead the Putt Putt Trolls now, whether they return to Pop Trolls Village or continue to run the Putt Putt Village together as they always have, but this time make it more welcoming and friendly to Bergans and give themselves and the Putt Putt Trolls more freedom to explore outside their home. I believe it will not only be good for Viva’s mental health, but will also help their own relationship to grow as Viva learns to be less codependent and becomes a little more interdependent with Clay. Plus, I trust that Viva doesn’t hold any hard feelings against Clay for his betrayal, knowing that he was only trying to save his brother. I’m sure she can empathise and understand him on that over knowing the pain of losing and parting ways with family.

Here are two plausible directions I could see the ship taking:

Romance option

Perhaps over time, Clay and Viva begin to notice that their relationship has grown and changed as they've settled back with their families. They start to realise that their feelings for each other may be more than platonic and their partnership may be based on more than a purely professional connection. I imagine that they both may struggle to open up about their feelings for each other at first. Clay's brothers (namely John Dory) may tease him over his crush on Viva but are overall supportive of the relationship.

Clay’s brother’s teasing him over having feelings for Viva (3:51 to the end) I imagine Chandler as Clay, Rachel as Bruce, Phoebe as Branch, Ross as Floyd, Monica as John Dory and maybe Gunther as King Peppy:

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Branch in particular empathises with Clay's struggle with getting out of the friend zone and being in love with an overly energetic royal. He and Bruce may offer Clay courting and dating advice as they are currently the only two brothers to be in happily committed romantic relationships.

Poppy is incredibly supportive of Clay and Viva becoming a couple and even offers to help them get together. She gets excited at the possibility of the pair going on double dates with her and Branch. Despite some hurdles along the way, the two eventually get the courage to confess their feelings for each other and eventually become a couple.

Before that happens, I could see a little ship teasing happening between them in this form. Perhaps Poppy and Branch have just gotten engaged or maybe it’s their wedding day and the two can’t help but get into a touching yet very awkward discussion similar to that of Ross and Rachel from Friends as they watch the happy young couple.

Viva and Clay ship tease example (0:05 to 0:34) (*Warning*: Sexually suggestive adult content)

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I could see the conversation playing out like this:

Viva: “Look at them, they make such a Fantastamazing couple, don’t they!”

Clay: “My baby brother and your little sister are in love and getting married. I never would have believed it.”

Viva: “Yeah, kind of ironic…what with you being my right-hand man and all. I guess it shows they were really meant to be.”

Clay: (chuckles a little) “Yeah, it is a pretty big coincidence, huh?”

After a few moments of silence, Viva finally speaks up again.

Viva: “Hey, Clay?”

Clay: “Yeah, Veevs?”

Viva: “Do you ever think…we’ll have what they have?”

Clay: (becomes noticeably nervous but yet also hopeful) “Uh, we, as in…”you, me, us: together”

Viva: “Oh nonono, not us (gesturing between the two of them) together (laughs nervously). I mean like, you with someone and me with someone.

Clay: “Oh, whew. (fakes wiping his brow) You kinda scared me there.”

Viva: “No probs, Clay. Just shake it off!”

Clay: “Right, shake it off.” (Clay shakes himself rapidly like a dog and Viva lets out a little laugh to which Clay follows after her)

Viva: “You make me laugh.”

Clay: “Hey, I’m the former Fun Guy of Brozone and your current right-hand man. It’s what I do.”

Viva: (chuckles, though she’s still smiling it looks somewhat strained) “Yeah…i-it would make things kinda weird if we became a couple wouldn’t it?”

Clay: (smiling but his eyes look visibly saddened) “Y-yeah, real weird.”

The two share a heartfelt but very awkward moment, hinting that maybe the idea of them being a couple isn’t so weird to them. They may even be visibly disappointed at the thought of the other thinking it’s weird.

In terms of romance comparison to other fictional characters' relationships I would imagine a romantic relationship developing in a similar fashion to these character’s relationships:

Melman and Gloria:

Perhaps like Melman, maybe either Clay or Viva have had feelings for their friend for a long time but have always been too shy to admit their feelings, while like Gloria the other expresses interest in dating, completely oblivious that their friend is in love with them. Maybe it’s only when one of them starts dating someone else who later turns out to be wrong for them (not that they have to be a bad person) do they start to realise the strong extent of their feelings and they get the boldness to finally confess. Overall, in the end the oblivious friend soon realises that their best friend is actually the one for them and the two eventually become a couple.

Melman and Gloria moments:

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Melma and Gloria love confession:

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Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable:

Viva and Clay share a lot of similarities to Kim and Ron in that they aren’t just best friends (Kim and Ron have been friends since Pre-K, while we’ve yet to learn what age Viva and Clay were when they first met) but are also professional partners, e.g. Ron Stoppable is Kim Possible’s crime-fighting sidekick while Clay is Viva’s right-hand man in the leadership of the Putt Putt Trolls.

Kim and Ron as a couple:

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Unlike Melman and Gloria in which one was simply too shy to confess their feelings and the other is oblivious to their friends feelings for them, it’s hinted a lot throughout the Kim Possible series that Kim and Ron share mutual feelings for each other but neither of them confess out of fear ruining their friendship. It was certainly confirmed to be the case from Ron’s side of things, while it’s merely hinted at from Kim’s side.

Proof that Kim and Ron had feelings for each other:

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I could see either Clay or Viva being reluctant to admit their feelings for each other out of fear of their friendship being ruined as a result of their feelings being unrequited or their relationship doesn’t work out and they break up. I could see this storyline working well as their excuse in future Trolls shorts and/or films.

There’s a possibility that they may have even not confessed their feelings due to it interrupting their professional relationship, e.g. Clay was too focused on being taken seriously in his job as Viva’s right-hand man while Viva let her fear of the Bergans returning stop her from considering a romantic relationship with Clay, possibly out of fear of losing him too or she was too focused on her job as leader to consider what her feelings for Clay truly were.

With time for them both to reconnect with their families and time to readjust to the real world again, perhaps they both consider the possibility of romance in their lives, which possibly opens them up to dating other trolls but realising that they don’t have the same connection with their dates as they have with each other, leading to them realising that their feelings for each other may be more than platonic.

Chandler and Monica:

Perhaps they may go down a similar route as Chandler and Monica from Friends where perhaps they begin a relationship off-screen and try their best to hide it from their siblings, either because they don’t feel ready to tell their family and/or they’re worried about how they will react to them being a couple. Though when they finally do confess their relationship, I’m sure their whole family is very supportive of the two as a couple.

Monica and Chandler Love Story (*Warning* - Contains sexually suggestive adult content and possibly triggering fat jokes)

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One thing all these couples have in common is that they were all friends first before eventually becoming a couple. The female character is generally depicted as a bold and beautiful woman (seemingly out of the guy’s league) who while she’s generally strong and independent does occasionally struggle with insecurities (with maybe the exception of Gloria perhaps), while the male character is generally depicted as more comical and goofy but overall very supportive of their female friend and vise-versa. Perhaps they date other trolls or other creatures, but ultimately realise that they’re each other’s true love.

As we all picked up, they are quite similar to Branch and Poppy’s dynamic as well, only their roles are reversed somewhat with Viva being the more emotionally traumatised one and Clay being the more stable one who is there to emotionally support his friend/lover. Though Viva still has Poppy’s energy and enthusiasm while Clay is a little more cynical and organised like Branch.

If they do become a couple like Poppy and Branch I could see it happening in a slow burn manner with little romantic hints here and there. Though hopefully there are enough differences in their pairing that they don’t play out exactly like their younger siblings do and therefore their own relationship is still its own.

Platonic option

Of course, there's also the possibility that these two may just remain really good friends and later close in-laws when Branch and Poppy eventually get married. They may even support the other in their romantic relationships with other trolls/creatures.

In terms of other fictional friendships and professional partnerships I can definitely see similarities between Princess Fiona and Brogan’s shared leadership of the Ogre Resistance in Shrek Forever After to Viva and Clay’s shared leadership of the Putt Putt Trolls.

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They may also have similarities in their relationship to General Amaya and Commander Gren from The Dragon Prince series who have a very close friendship as well as a professional partnership much like Viva and Clay themselves. I feel if either one or both of them eventually fall in love with someone else I could see either of them supporting their friend’s romance as Gren supports Amaya’s relationship with Queen Jenai. Perhaps if Clay is one to fall in love with someone else (such as perhaps a girl from his Sad Book Club) maybe Viva would feel a little jealous at the thought of losing her best friend and confidant, but only when Clay reassures her that he’ll always be there for her as a friend does she eventually accept his new relationship and gives the couple her blessing.

Whichever direction Cliva goes, whether it remains platonic or heads in a more romantic direction, I am keen to see more of these two interacting with each other and seeing how they met and became partners in leadership. I hope their relationship grows with the changes to their situation and environment and continues to flourish.

I'm just glad that Broppy has become canon as their romantic chemistry was so obvious and I'm just grateful that the ship has sailed nicely. Whatever happens with their older siblings is up for debate.

#dreamworks trolls #trolls band together #trolls 3 #theories #cliva #clay and viva #clay trolls #trolls viva #trolls #broppy #brozone #Youtube

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bomberqueen17 · 3 months

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On the way home from work I was thinking about Rochr and Iorveth in your fic and remembered a question I had for you: there is this scene in which Roche gives an overtired and insomniac Iorveth a blowjob in a secluded room, there are knives involved, I think Breniriel is guarding the door? Anyway, Iorveth finally falls asleep and it is implied that Iorveth has been adapting poorly to feeling save and thus somehow feelt safe enough with Roche to fall asleep but not his friends /family?? I don't think they were even talking at this point in your fic, what did I miss?

Have a nice evening /day!

Well, so like, that's the premise of the fic. I'm not saying this to be an ass, this is a genuine response, because it is sort of an honor to have someone thinking about your work beyond even the time it takes to read it, but: That is the premise of the fic.

And either it works for you, or it doesn't. That's just... how fiction works. Do i think that in real life two traumatized people would actually hit it off just like that? Do I think it would work? Do I think it would be healthy? Do I think it would lead to long-term happiness for either or both of them?

I won't answer that, I will just leave that to sit for a moment. My answer is immaterial anyway, because the author's intent is only marginally relevant in some circumstances.

This is fantasy, critically, more broadly than fiction (is it a broader category? I think so). Like... one of them is an elf, and has a shapeshifting dragon as his leige and protector. Some other fantasy elements are even less realistic, but the idea is that they're plausible, for the purposes of fiction.

So this is kind of how fiction works, and fantasy in general. Do you accept the premise of this story? Do you find it plausible, for the purposes of this fictional exercise, that, to bring it specifically back to this story, two characters who have long been enemies, would find something in common like this? Two people who have been on opposite sides but were in the same conflict, who went through many of the same things, who, crucially, commanded others during this awful cataclysm of violence, who had to warp their own moral centers not only to survive but also to potentially damn others by their tragic, inevitable actions. Who have in the past bitterly fought, physically injured one another, murdered one another's comrades, and worse... but in this new peacetime, find, strangely, unexpectedly, compellingly (precedentedly, in reality!) that their former foe is the only one who truly understands what they've been through. And they can trust this former foe the way they can't trust others, because this foe gets it, because this foe knows what's at stake, fully understands what happened, has the same sense of both the fragility of society and the preciousness of its little contracts. Iorveth knows Roche would stab him in the face, not the back, and that is a kind of trust. The whole underpinning of this ship is that in the video game there's a scene where one can best the other, and in each decision tree the loser says unhinged shit about how if they have to die they're perversely glad that at least it was the other who is doing it. Because that other understands what it's worth, and is a worthy foe.

That's it, that's the ship manifesto, LOL.

So-- that's the exercise of the story, trying to draw the reader along to find this as plausible-- I did not say realistic! Plausible-- as possible. The art lies in underpinning it with realistic detail here and there-- including that after many wars in real life history, the veterans of the conflict have found more in common with their opposing veterans than with the civilians of the side they fought for-- and so on and so forth. To make it vivid, to make it relatable, to make the fantasy compelling.

And if the premise doesn't work, then the story doesn't work. That's fine, not all art is for everyone. But that's how it is. Either you accept the premise, and it works, or you don't, and you go find something else that works better for you. This is no judgement on anybody, you or me or anyone, that's just how fantasy works. A reader brings as much to it as the author, and takes as much away, and while there's an element of skill on the part of the author, a large part of it is just going to be the reader's response. Things will or won't work for you and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just another of the ways fantasy works.

(I don't know if you've missed anything, I haven't reread that scene in quite some time because I'm still working on sequels and that takes up a lot of my energy and time; same reason I rarely respond to comments, I just don't have time to both do that and make new works. I do think the blowjob with knives is a separate scene from the passing out with knives but I don't recall exactly either. It's kind of a long story. If you think you missed something, try rereading it? But if that doesn't compel you, then it's really no skin off my nose if you don't! It's fine! I'm not offended, I just don't know how else to answer that question. I don't remember the scene that well. I wrote it like a year ago or more. But I'm well aware the premise of it doesn't work for everyone, which is why there are so many people writing so many different stories.)

LOL I have more to say on this topic because I got a faintly ridiculous comment on a story recently on kind of a loosely related concept, but this is getting long and I should address it separately. Suffice to say, you got a long reply here because I have been spending some time thinking about fiction, what it is and isn't, and how it works.

#on fiction #my writing #asks answered #fantasy being the broader category of imagination #fiction being specifically published narratives #idk how else to explain it #public answer because this is something i'm considering a lot #not to spotlight this person who i genuinely think didn't mean to be a jerk #but it is hard not to see this as kind of a mean thing to ask #like truly i cannot read the story for you it either stands alone or it doesn't #and the other comment i started to essay about is way meaner LOL

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austinmaris18 · 11 months

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Personal Thoughts on Yona (No Bashing)

I'm gonna be honest, I hate shipping discourse because at the end of the day, characters aren't real and muting tags, posts, accounts are a thing. I also don't want to clog the Sidlink tag with discourse bc it's bad enough on twitter. However, if there's one thing I've learned about myself, it's that when something's bothering me, I need to talk about it, if only to process it. So, apologies but here I go. I will say that I feel like this is a nuanced take, so I guess if you're interested in that feel free to read. Disclaimer before I go in: there will be absolutely no Yona bashing. This post isn't to bash or attack Yona, anyone who enjoys Yona individually or paired with Sidon. I don't necessarily dislike her as a character, I'm more annoyed at the writing surrounding her introduction.

I've been thinking a lot, and I think the reason that Yona's introduction bothers me so much is because it mirrors (more than likely unintentionally) a pretty annoying heteronormative trope. In Jeffrey Brown's book Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes (an amazing analytical book in general, would highly recommend) they note that following the publication of Seduction of the Innocent in 1954 - which claimed amongst other things that Batman and Robin were a couple - there was a sort of moral panic about comic books. This was also during the era of McCarthyism, and so to avoid Senate action, the comic industry created the Comics Code Authority, which partly ensured that "illicit relationships" weren't hinted at, and in 1956 Kate Kane as Batwoman was introduced to be a love interest for Batman to reinforce his heterosexuality.

Now, am I comparing Sidlink to the supposed queer subtext of Batman and Robin in 40s and 50s comics? No. Am I saying that Nintendo purposefully introduced Yona for the same purpose as DC did Batwoman? Not necessarily. I just think it's almost comical how similar the situation feels, and the writing doesn't help either. Now, Yona is apparently Sidon's "dear childhood friend" and is also from a different kingdom. That in and of itself feels so awkward because again, we've had Breath of the Wild and Age of Calamity AND their respective DLCs, and not once have gotten mention of Yona or her kingdom. Not in a throwaway line from an NPC, not in the murals of Zora's Domain, not in Mipha's diary. (Also, I know that technically, Age of Calamity isn't canon. But it still had input from the Zelda team, and it provides a supposedly canon view of the settlements in Hyrule before the Calamity.) Especially considering the fact that we get confirmation from Sidon's mural and King Dorephan's dialogue that the engagement to Yona is political/arranged, this engagement was not really foreshadowed in any meaningful way other than this sort of heteronormative notion of "He's a prince so he'll have to get married at some point." Like, Sidon had a whole fanclub in BotW, and not one of them knew?? Did the engagement happen in the six/seven years between BotW and ToTK? Again, for a race of long lived beings like the Zora, that feels a bit hard to believe.

This in particular is what makes her introduction so jarring. We've seen all the countless Twitch and YouTube streamers reacting, the TikToks, the tweets and Tumblr posts of people shocked and disappointed. Here's where I point back to the fact that Aonuma and Fujibayashi even addressed the fact that Sidon was so popular during the BotW DLC Dev Talk. That's not to say they were aware of the ship or even cared enough to have taken the action of mitigating any potential queer readings. Other than reactions to the gameplay and the overall story, I don't think Nintendo particularly cares what we do, think, or ship. But they did know that Sidon in particular was a standout popular character, and so it seems so strange to not pair him off in a more well written way.

That's before even mentioning the whole Zora mural where Sidon parallels his relationship with Yona to that of Mipha, literally calling her a sister. There's also no getting around the fact that he uses that phrasing as in Spanish, French, and the original Japanese (those are the languages I read, so that's what I'm referencing) so it's not an English localization quirk. And I know there's the line about his feelings become more "difficult to quantify" but again, why? Why not just say he admired her instead of comparing her to Mipha in that way if they want to show us there was something there even in their childhood? I know it's meant to be sweet and to depict a sort of growth of feelings between them, but it reads strangely.

So we have these aspects and then we compare this to Sidon's interactions with Link this game. (Also before that, I want to acknowledge something: the vast majority of us who ship Sidlink or just enjoyed Sidon's character were never under the illusion that Nintendo would go towards any canonical romance between Sidon and Link.) We arrive to Zora's Domain to find a statue of us riding Sidon from the Vah Ruta battle. There is a whole Hylian bedroom constructed near the area where Sidon and Link fought Vah Ruta (more built out than the bed area Mipha used). The whole "Link Shrine" Sidon has singing his praises. Sidon literally getting down on one knee, taking OUR HAND in both his hands before presenting us the ring (I know that the other champions say the same oath and give us rings, it's the imagery of a proposal that I'm referring to). Link standing equally distant to Sidon as Yona during Sidon's crowning. Yona telling us that when Sidon speaks it's more than likely to talk about Link. Already Yona's introduction so funnily parallels heteronormative tropes, but to actually have so much imagery and subtext for Sidon and Link makes it feel even more crazy? I think this is where people get so hung up on the idea that "Yona was just introduced to get in the way of Sidlink." Honestly, I think the interactions with Link are more probably concessions for fans (not necessarily shippers) because again, the devs know how popular Sidon is. But it compounds with the manner in which Yona is written into the game.

All that being said, I don't necessarily have a neat conclusion to draw from these thoughts, but going back to the Batwoman parallels, I do think it's a shame Yona won't have to chance to canonically develop further the way Batwoman did. After all, despite her original introduction, most people nowadays think Batwoman and think of Kate Kane, the redhead badass lesbian superhero. But that happened over the course of decades in a medium that iterates narratively on the same characters over and over. Even if we get a story DLC for ToTK that has more Yona content, I don't know that it would be enough to smooth over how awkward her introduction was, and it's hard to believe Nintendo would make another direct sequel or carry over Sidon and Yona to the next version of Zelda. But we can already see Yona's iterative growth through fandom!

Now listen. I know myself, and the truth is I'm never going to actively ship Sidon and Yona. But I'm sure there are amazing artists and writers out there who will flesh Yona and her relationship and history with Sidon out (whether that includes Link in a polycule or not). I'm glad that the game has made the interpretation of a lavender marriage between Sidon and Yona who have their respective paramours possible (with the politically arranged aspect of the marriage, Sidon's boisterous actions concerning Link, Yona's acknowledgement of Link's importance to Sidon). I'm looking forward to fics, standalone art and comics that take that route. I'm sure that there will continue to be art and fanfiction that don't acknowledge ToTK or Yona, and I will surely be consuming those as well. I really hope the homophobia and general discourse towards Sidlink subsides, because it's been surprisingly overwhelming on Twitter. I also hope that there aren't people actively attacking posts about Yona. After all, muting and blocking words, tags, and accounts are options across all social media platforms.

This post will definitely be a one off for me, and I don't ever see myself making another post like this again. I honestly might also delete this post in the future now that I've properly written out my thoughts. Anyways, time to get back to drawing practice and working on my fics.

#prince sidon #sidon x link #sidlink #lady yona #tears of the kingdom ship discourse #nuanced ship take #no bashing of female characters #please do not be homophobic in my comments or dms

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cellarspider · 1 month

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25/?? Eschatology for Dummies

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

Once again, we dive into that font of madness, Prometheus. I lied last time, we’re not talking about language today, I want to bash my head against the problem of “what in blazes is the intent of this movie”.

As the expedition enters the alien structure, suddenly Shaw remembers that germs can float.

“Wait. We still don’t know how Holloway got infected. If it’s in the air–”

This is one of those maddening little moments where the script tells me that no, the earlier removal of helmets was not just the oversight of someone who didn’t know better. The script chose violence.

“Smells fine to me.”

So does VX nerve gas. Truly, this is the mental acumen required to become rich.

The movie attempts to raise tension through a ZOOM AND ENHANCE, and cluing in those in the audience who may have been thinking “Ha! Foolish Engineers! How would they ever destroy life on Earth if they don’t have any spaceships?”

Well, turns out, there are these great big buildings called “hangars”, and you can put spaceships in them, sometimes even under the ground. I almost feel like if they hadn’t buried the ship, Holloway would’ve tried to see if he could do a burnout in it.

David, meanwhile, is having a great time. He’s giving a guided tour of the ship (that he explored more thoroughly than anyone else), pointing out their technology (that he learned how to use), explaining what they were doing (which he figured out before anyone else did), and assuring Weyland that yes, he can talk to the Engineer (which no one else can do), blithely skating by the reasons why he knows Holloway didn’t die from an airborne illness and how the Engineers were going to press the reset buttons on Earth. Simultaneously excelling at what he was supposed to do and also anticipating Weyland’s inevitable doom, possibly even that of humanity as a whole. It feels appropriately childish for a character that’s extremely young, extremely smart, and has had the worst socialization this side of Immortan Joe’s war boys.

Weyland doesn’t care about any of that, because he’s a horrible homunculus of an old Englishman formed out of a forty-five year old Aussie. This continues to vex me, even now. I keep trying to figure out why they did this. Did they originally intend for him to be depicted as young and change their mind? Was the mobility aid exoskeleton thing they put him in heavy and cumbersome? It’s hard to see in these screenshots, but he is wearing one.

Honestly, just have Lance Henriksen play another Weyland again. Lance can definitely play scumbags, and it would honestly be funny to have every single Weyland in every single time period played by him. Have him play Vickers too, for good measure. It would’ve taken me out of the film less than this.

At this point, I personally did not care about any characters besides David and the Engineer. Which is a very strange position to find oneself in, caring most about two characters who seem just fine with humanity going pft!

And I’d like to examine that. Because fiction can put you in all sorts of strange headspaces that can be thoroughly contradictory to personal morals and self-interest. What was the movie trying to do here, and where has it ended up?

I want to start with some assumptions that mass media tends to make. Fiction, in general culture, is often presented as a moral lesson. Your protagonists are virtuous, and anything that stands in their way is villainous evil. The protagonists are also expected to be likable, and the audience is expected to root for them. A moral tale of who is worthy and who is not.

This is only a small piece of what fiction is. No one of these things is required. Villains are not required, sometimes problems aren’t caused maliciously. Protagonists do not have to be moral. Moral characters don’t have to be likable. You don’t have to root for the protagonists. And none of these divisions are binary.

I am uncertain whether we are supposed to root for the protagonists in this movie. Ridley Scott isn’t a stranger to this idea–look at Blade Runner (1982). Is it good that Deckard hunts down fugitive replicants? No. Absolutely not. Is it a compelling story? Yes! It’s beautifully told and tragic! If you make me watch Roy Batty’s monologue I will cry.

So. It is entirely possible that we are supposed to find the human characters unsympathetic. The Engineers created humanity, and then decided to destroy it. This could have been planned from the start–many religions describe cyclical, world-ending death and rebirth, after all. But this movie is heavily influenced by christianity. Those sects that believe in a destructive apocalypse call it the Last Judgment of humanity, something that occurs when the world has fallen into a state of corruption.

Which then brings us to the question: Does humanity deserve that most fatal judgment?

I mean, in real life, I’d say no, absolutely fucking not. The problem of a suffering world is not sanely responded to with “I’ve got a solution: murder everything”.

This is fiction, though. We are being presented with a vision of humanity. This has the potential to be a counterpoint to the Engineers’ thinking, or their evidence, or a mix of both.

What is it, then? Most of the cast are morons, selfish, or featureless ciphers. They are a very pessimistic view of humanity. And remember, this is fiction. People don’t need to act like real people. When you think about redeeming qualities in yourself, in your friends, in your favorite so-and-so, this fictional realm does not necessarily contain them. In its barest form, it only contains the characters we see.

We’ve got Janek, who’s been charming and indicated he’s willing to stop the Engineers here, but that’s all we know about him. He’s also behaved in negligent ways that contributed to the deaths of Millburn, Fifield, and the nameless guys mutant Fifield wailed on. Christian morality is big on redemption as a path to unconditional absolution, so is he redeeming himself through a last-minute sobering up? Maybe. I’d note he’s missing the “confession” and “recanting past sins” parts that are usually bundled up with that.

We’ve also got Shaw. Shaw has all the makings of a Final Girl, somebody who is destined to survive the plot. They usually have some redeeming quality that makes you want to root for them. What does Shaw have?

Well, she’s got a never super-defined strain of christian faith. And she’s had a really shit time lately, so it would be cruel to watch her get kicked around more.

So, that’s two. Two could be enough in Abrahamic religions–Lot flees from Sodom to Zoar, and it’s spared from destruction because of its presence. Sure, he does some Weird Shit, but he qualified as righteous by whatever standards were at play there. But Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for want of ten righteous people.

And all that gets more complicated in New Testament stuff, after God’s pinky promised not to destroy everyone again, except for the aforementioned Last Judgment thing. Is this movie, as christian allegory, advocating for a god of forgiveness, or depicting a just god who punishes the wicked?

No idea. It doesn’t have to be clear, obviously, fiction doesn’t have to be clear, any more than it has to be moral. I didn’t personally want the Engineer to sail off and destroy Earth, but frankly, I could see it from that perspective, given what this poor bugger’s met with upon waking up.

Next time: our Engineer wakes up from a two thousand year trauma nap to find some little monkeys yelling at them. Surely, this will go well.

⛬

(Previous) | (Index) | (Next)

⛬

Alt-text rambles:

https://extra-images.akamaized.net/image/8a/5by6/2021/04/17/8a6f54c4f0ca4bd397cc22aceb4cb30e_md.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torc

#Prometheus 2012 #Prometheus (2012)#This movie keeps trying to be biblical and I keep trying to meet it half-way on the analysis #only to be left hanging like the movie wandered off in the middle of offering up a high-five

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ltwilliammowett · 5 months

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Speaking as an embalmer, I'm also skeptical about the scrimshawed skull. Though admittedly not my skillset, the removal of skulls being more of a taxidermy thing and not something generally practiced on humans except in the context of medical schools, I'm really skeptical about someone's ability to preform the required tasks one the body of a friend to get the skull out of the skulls. Few enough modern embalmers are even comfortable embalming their own family. I find it really hard to think that someone would be able to remove all the skin from the outside AND the brain from the inside of a skull of their friend. And even if they were able to emotionally, I'm not sure that they'd be able to practically accomplish that while out at sea. But like I said that's more in the realm of taxidermy so I couldn't say. The line that goes around the skull on which the ship is sitting is looks like what you would expect from a cranial autopsy, but that's usually done with electric tools. Not sure about how or even if iit would have been done like that in 1868. I'd also be really interested in how the top portion of the skull was reattached. In short, I think you're right to doubt its authenticity. Hopefully this hasn't been too weird or creepy. I find my ability to judge what others might find unsettling isn't as great as it used to be before I started studying this stuff. Oh, and if you're interested in beautifully decorated skulls the Hallstatt Ossuary is absolutely gorgeous if you ever have the opportunity to visit.

Hi, first of all you don't sound creepy at all- I like that because I'm not an embalmer but a sepulchral archaeologist I work with mummies and the dead of all kinds. So hello mate ;) And yes, I know the Hallstatt skulls, I've even worked with them.

I agree with your objections, but let me tell you, whalers were very good at taking whales and other animals apart and processing their bones. And with a surgeon on board, a clean opening of the skull was no problem, which by the way has been around since ancient times, albeit with saws.

Whether one was emotionally capable of removing the skull of a comrade, cleaning it and boiling it is another matter, and at that time the moral concepts were again very Christian and conservative, so it is difficult to imagine that one would have done this to a comrade, especially since what were the men planning to do? To bring the skull to the poor mother or widow and say - well, unfortunately he didn't make it but here's the rest of him, even decorated, you can put him on the fireplace, was nice to meet you ma'am have a nice day-. Not really - but well ... sometimes ... Well, let's not go there, it just sounds too weird.

It's hard to imagine, but collectors at that time had completely different ideas and walked over dead bodies (in the truest sense of the word) to get a great story and a great exhibit, even if they bought a skull and had it decorated by a Sailor or Whaler. So I assume the latter. But a good story sells well and brings in a lot of money. And the Victorians were strange as hell and very morbid, death was something quite fascinating for them and was already blooming in very weird ways. I'm just saying mummy unwrapping parties, memorials of the burial site made of hair and teeth of the dead etc.

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toburnup · 10 months

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I don’t understand why people care enough to negatively comment on work because they don’t like a character…

I don’t like some characters that my friends reblog and I just scroll past like a normal person, I’m not going to dictate or judge what people like and I can’t stand the way people say “oh I block people who like *insert character they dislike*” like it’s so petty and strange… I like all your work I think you’re a great writer do I ship all the same people as you? Nope but does it bother me? Not at all. There is no letting people have fun in this fandom I swear to god!

i find it very odd. it's especially easy to avoid on tumblr, so i don't understand people's reactions (also, sorry, i accidentally wrote a whole essay here)

i'm not sure if it's because so many people in the ST fandom are newer to fandom in general, or it's just how things are now (i'm afraid it's this one), but i find that a surprising amount of people see any interest in a character as like... symbolic of someone's personal morals and values. and this is especially rampant among steddie shippers which is unfortunate. i block a ton of people on twitter because they say "hellcheer dni" and then i see passive aggressive messages on discord about how i blocked them. is this because people make the media they consume their whole ID? or people trying to play activist? (i've said it before on here but my activism isn't an online activity for me, it's my work and it's my personal life, and i'm intentional about separating these. i don't share much about my life on here on purpose).

billy anti's are actually scary at times. i personally don't see the logic of harassing real people in the name of fictional characters (and this is a generalization, but most of the time it's white shippers pulling that shit which just feels performative at best). this isn't billy-related, but joseph quinn fans bullied a jquinn fan account (run by a woc) off of twitter because she wasn't retweeting social justice-related posts. lmao. people really see sj rt's as the be-all and end-all of Being a Good Person. like people have lives outside of fandom and they can't see that.

LONG STORY SHORT, i know that posting my hellcheer and metalsandwich fic is going to make some people hate me or whatever, but i'm really tired of feeling like i can only openly like and enjoy steddie in order to have value here. if people are going to stop reading what i write, or blacklist me or whatever, i'll make my peace with that. and let's be real, who's really the one losing out in that scenario? because it's not me.

#maybe if i say this enough i'll believe it. but i know myself and if people start harassing me for it i will leave lol #i talk a big talk but i'm sensitive about this and i'm only here for the community so if i lose that - there's no reason for me to stay #so i hope people will be able to Be Cool about me posting different ships and not make vagueposts about me again #hanging on here by a thread folks #on fandom #vio speaks #billy hargrove mention #harringrove mention #hellcheer mention #multishipping #losers DNI #long post #(accidentally)#antis get a life challenge #steddie negative

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deadbeatbirdmom · 5 months

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Bumbleby is my OTP aka One True Pairing, my favourite RWBY ship.

I've come to realise that one of my NOTPs aka least favourite pairings is a little strange bearing in mind what my OTP is.

While I can understand why it's a thing, and even why it's aesthetically pleasing, Blake paired with possessed!Yang from Justice League x RWBY Part 2 is a NOTP for me. H%rnet I think the pairing is called, although maybe that's when it's specifically with Negative Blake from Ice Queendom.

Possessed!Yang or Y@ng does look pretty cool with those glowing eyes. I find the whole possession an interesting thing to explore, and might write a fic about possessed!Yang at some stage.

I'll get into why H%rnet's a NOTP for me under a read more cut, because I don't want to rain on the parade of anyone who likes it. I just hope that cut works, I'm not entirely sure they always do.

It's my own personal opinion. There's nothing wrong with liking H%rnet.

Why is it a NOTP for me? It's because Kilg%re is the one possessing Yang. He's the reason her eyes are glowing. He's the one in charge. Yang's trapped in her own body, unable to do anything but watch. Going by what happened to the Flash with his possession in Part 1 and the after effects in Part 2, those possessed are aware of what's happening.

The involvement of Kilg%re in possessed Yang doing anything romantic or sexual with Blake just thoroughly squicks me out (squick being an older general fandom term meaning it personally grosses me out or repulses me without bringing any moral judgement into it).

Then there's how Yang can't consent because she can't say or do anything to give it. I don't think it can be taken as a given, even with Blake as her partner. It's not impossible to get past this issue, because Kilg%re could release his possession for long enough for Yang to speak up, and call a halt to what's going on after that if he can tell Yang's not okay with it anymore.

I've no idea how likely it'd be that Kilg%re would respect those boundaries, I don't know much about him besides that he's a villain who possesses people because he apparently doesn't have a body of his own, and specialises in hacking. He certainly doesn't ask for permission before possessing his enemies.

Anyway, again, there's nothing wrong with liking possessed!Yang and Blake as a pairing. Even with the implications with Yang not being able to consent, there's ways around that. They are also fictional characters. No one is really being hurt.

I fully subscribe to the philosophy of 'don't like, don't read.' That means it's my own responsibility to avoid all things H%rnet. Here on Tumblr that means it's a tag I should filter. It's absolutely not my place to tell anyone their fun is wrong, which is why this is (in theory) behind a read more cut.

#Justice League x RWBY spoilers #do I still need to tag for spoilers? No idea #Bumbleby #Yang Xiao Long #Y@ng

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lagosbratzdoll · 4 days

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https://www.tumblr.com/fragileheartbeats/748430968090755072/ok-so-i-watched-promo-and-im-embarrassed-instead?source=share

TB actors can't have fun...

And I don't know why but some of this post feels racist. That white guy makes black actors look plain, wtf?

It’s a very weird post to be sure.

I don’t care to address most of the other points because other people have spent months trying to drum into their heads that much of the hate that Rhaenyra faces is baseless and driven by misogyny.

“So it's straight up an insult to the actors not the characters. And weren't blacks the one who were angry because Criston and season 2 Aegon are too hot? And I mean Aemond is so famous and one of the reasons is because he's sexy and sorry to break it to you but Alicent is more beautiful and feminine that Rhaenyra... So yeah bullshit. Just Aegon himself is enough to make you guys all look plain.”

This made me laugh. I can’t lie. Steve Toussaint ribbing his cast mates, who he knows, will never be the issue they keep trying to make it. Everyone’s reaction to this has been strange. A couple of weeks ago, a tweet comparing Corlys to a horse had almost 5k likes. When black people were like, that’s a weird thing to tweet, everyone kept gaslighting us.

People kept telling us it wasn’t racially motivated, and they argued that the fact that only a crackship involving a dark-skinned black person was generating this much vitriol was simply coincidental. Keep in mind, in this fandom, everyone ships everyone, and I mean everyone. The fandom will hop, skip and jump over racism and racist posts to make ugly white people the victims.

In that vein, what explanations would the Greens offer for their usurpation? “She’s a whore and her children are bastards”? Do you honestly believe that Anno Domini MMXXIV, sane individuals will start screeching about “bastardy” and “whoredom” as moral failings? I need all of you to be serious. No matter how much you freaks try, Bobblehead and Crescent Moon will never be the victims you keep trying to frame them as. That last part about Alicent and Rhaenyra, what a weird thing to put out into the universe.

Also, I read the comments and I have to wonder where people are getting this George is anti-feudalism and anti-monarchy reading from. George is anti-war, and that is very clear in his writing, but the rest is just personal bias leaking through. Where is this coming from, considering the smallfolk are rarely individualised? Outside of prologues and epilogues, there are only four lowborn POVs in the entire body of work. There’s no movement to end monarchy and the concept of nobility. The main cast of characters are in the middle of various plots to reclaim/hold on to their ancestral seats. Well, except for Daenerys who is fighting slavery and Jon who is busy being dead.

#hotd thoughts #house of the dragon #asoiaf

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woodsfae · 8 months

Text

B5 s02e20 The Long, Twilight Struggle Table of Contents • previous episode

Wow, we're almost to the end of another season! It's been a really good one, despite my own rocky start with its beginning. It's been interesting how my perspective has shifted enough along the way that I had change of minds about my change of minds of some characters. In The Gathering I loved Garibaldi, then came to dislike him for his sexism, police brutality, abuse of position, stalking Talia, being a shit about his ex, and general cop-ness, but the writing really brought me around on him! Weirdly, I now believe he can and will be better.

Almost the same for Londo. I didn't really like him at all, came to like him a little, then was to be SO disappointed in him that now I'm just fascinated to see how far his moral depravity and Sunk Cost Fallacy-ing will go.

And on to the episode!

Their CGI planet is really lovely and colorful, and does look quite 3d! And it's Centauri Prime (presumably). Must be a Londo episode!

This guy is petting the throne. wtf Refa. Very blunt about the fetishization of power that's going on here.

Londo: "Lord Refa, I have come a long way, and I am tired. Is there a reason I have been summoned here, now?" Refa: "Indeed there is, I have good news. The war which began six months is about to end. Sooner than any of us could have hoped. And you, Londo Mollari, will be the architect of our victory."

ope, the Centauri are about to do some crazy war crimes, I see!

Finally, a sexy transparent glass silhouette showering scene! I've been waiting for this since the show started. Classy of them to make it be Sheridan.

Friendly Draal Planet!!! I hoped to see him again! How delightful! What a bad omen, though.

Delenn is becoming just…transcendently beautiful. The lighting and camera shots, her expressions and grace, are all just astonishing. I am glad she gets to see her friend again. Maybe some of the other serene characters will pop up for a reunion. I'd love to see the little telepath girl who went to Minbari, Janice the Healer, and Thomas Jinxo the Seeker of the Grail again, and I think they'd all get along well (or at least interestingly) together.

Draal, appearing before Sheridan fresh out of his shower: "I've been watching you for quite some time, Captain. And I thought it was time that I introduce myself. My name, is Draal. How do you do." *Minbari bow* Sheridan, damp and be-robed: "Uh, fine. I'm fine." Draal, who has no idea how to talk to humans: "Good. You don't have any idea who I am, do you?" Sheridan, who did his research on B5 tysvm: "Unless there's another Draal who can do what you just did, you're the Minbari who took custody of the planet we're orbiting." Draal: "Ah, Captain, you do not take custody of the planet, the planet takes custody of you!."

This made me laugh really hard. The planet really did take custody of Draal. Near-total isolation, but youth. idk if I'd go for that.

Details…details…lmao Draal.

The Narn…cannot catch a fucking break. Contact with an entire sector of colonies, lost. They're losing, although their official stance is that they're holding their own. I wish them and their counter attack well! One all-out strike with the majority of their forces is a hardcore strategy! They could lose everything.

G'Sten: "If we make them pay, for every inch of space, we can wear them down, prolonging the war beyond their capacity to fight it. Centauri want a quick victory: they don't have the stomach for prolonging the war."

He also says there will always be enough ships to defend their homeworld, but dang that still feels really risky. I am so excited to see a little of G'Kar's family. His uncle! And he's so kind, warm, and loving. The exact opposite of the way they were described by Delenn and the Centauri in season one. They both call the Narn cold, strange, impossible to empathize with. I hate to see anti Narn propaganda! They have risen highly in my estimation and I am rooting for them so hard.

The Centauri are going to bomb Narn from orbit with banned weapons and wipe out much of the entire population. To "save Centauri lives." War crimes, as I thought.

Everything depends on Londo. It's too late to back out. Bringing the pressure and the logical fallacies down on him! He bends, obviously, and is going to reach out to Morden for help carrying out the sick plan.

Londo: "All right. I will bring my assoociates into this, but this is that last time. We are Centauri. If we are to sieze our destiny, we must do it ourselves. After this, no more." What'shisface" "After this there will be no need! Thank you. Cheer up. By the time you return to Babylon 5 the war will be over, and the Narns will be at our feet. This time, we will keep them there."

Exactly. The Narns will not stop resisting, they will eventually gain their freedom again, and there will be another and another. You can't build an empire without horrifically violating sentients' rights, and those sentients are always going to resist.

Love Delenn's outfit today. I hope Draal won't be an ass about her hair.

Aw, so nice, Londo gets to go watch the Centauri genociding the Narns, live and in HD safe on a warship. How thoughtful. May he choke on the sight.

Dr Franklin is a real and good friend and a great anti-fascist comrade. Gathering deets from his Narn patients to give G'Kar as up-to-date as information as he can, as quick as he can.

Draal Planet light hearted B Plot, yay! And Delenn is now experimenting with swearing She used the f-word even! Frag me, she's so great.

Delenn: "Draal? We're here." Draal: "Did you think I hadn't noticed, my old friend? You've changed. I like it."

I'm glad he's not racist to her! That makes two Minbari who have on-screen supported her: Lennier, and now her old mentor. I'm so glad!

But onto the meat of the visit. Draal has been using the planet's resources to gather information, including Sheridan's history and all the plotting Sheridan's been doing. Convenient, and awesome! Powerful allies are badly needed right now. Draal has been studying the universe and the planet, and he's ready for action! And I"m ready to see that action!

"In the long, twilight struggle which lies ahead of us, there is a possibility of hope."

That's a great message, and good repetition of the same sentiment from earlier with G'Kar and G'Sten. I'm afraid G'Sten is going to die, but I hope he lives. The Narns have faced enough tragedy.

Shadow ships coming for G'Sten and his fleet, the evil shits! The CGI has definitely improved from last season to a degree, although it's extremely obvious with the shadow ships. but I love the effect! They are all cgi and thus fake-looking, which I think enhances how out of sync with the normal dimensional bounds they are. I'd be fucking unnerved if I saw something that fake looking in real life.

goodbye G'Sten. :/

There's people on the Draal Planet! Wow, they must be weird.

LOVE this for Delenn. She's needed friends really badly, too!

Zathras!! Is in league with Draal! Cool!! I didn't think we'd see the Space Werewolf again, but this should be fun! JMS's spreadsheets must have been wild.

Narn is in a BAD position. Centauri have Narn surrounded, there's massive destruction and death, and the Narn fleet has been neutralized. An impromptu re-enactment between Narn and Centauri on B5 is underway. Of course.

Narn looks mostly brown and orange from orbit. I wonder what it looked like before the Centauri ever arrived. Bombs underway, Londo watching on while looking sick. Hope he feels even sicker than he looks!

Ineffective response from Minbari and Earth, of course. An atrocity! They condemn it! Really hard! Finger wag! Don't do it again!

G'Kar. What a horrible horrible place to be. Narn plans to surrender. I hope they can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but knowing this show, it will be even more grim for them and the universe by the end of the episode. Horrific.

G'Kar is reduced to asking Sheridan for political asylum. If they hand him over to the Centauri…! fuck! That's the kind of dystopian universe this is, too. I hope that won't happen, though.

Ugh. A speech by Londo. What an awful piece of propaganda.

Londo: "A little over five standard hours ago, the conflict which began with the Narn declaration of war, came to and end. The Narn regime has offered complete and unconditional surrender. The terms imposed by the Centauri Republic are as follows. One: the ruling body known as the Kha'ri will be disbanded, and its members subject will be subject to arrest and trial for the commission of war crimes against the Centauri." Sheridan: "Earth requests the right to send observers to these hearings." Londo: "That request is denied. Two: to prevent further acts of terror by the Narn against our people, the penalty for the murder of any Centauri by any Narn will be the execution of five hundred Narns. Including the Perpetrator's own family. Three: a provisional ruling council appointed by my government will take up the responsibility of re-building a more civilized Narn government, as a colony of the great Centauri Republic." Sheridan: "Is there anything else." Londo: "Yes. Just, one thing. Because the Narn homeworld is now a protectorate of the Centauri Republic, we reserve the right to determine who can speak for Narn. As a result, Ambassador G'Kar may no longer represent the Narn in any official capacity whatsoever. His appointment ambassador to Babylon 5 is hereby withdrawn. And as the only member of the Kha'ri still at large, Citizen G'Kar will return to Narn for trial."

"No," quoth Sheridan. Minbari supports Earth and Babylon 5 in this, although Delenn does call him Citizen G'Kar like Londo did. Fuck him, man. He's fully a bootlicker channeling his frustration at his guilt over all the war crimes against the non-Centauri. My least favorite fictional war criminal.

The framing and character work through this scene is WILD. G'Kar, sitting, slumped, not meeting anyone's eyes. Londo, speaking with clear enunciation, racist and imperialist language framed as the ethical, sensible decisions the Narn have forced them to make. G'Kar rising and speaking calmly before leaving when Londo loses his temper and demands, screaming, that G'Kar leave the council room.

G'Kar: "No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power, governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. The Centauri learned this lesson once. We will teach it to them again. Though it take a thousand years…we will be free."

The Narn will not go quietly.

Centauri is celebrating, they are dancing in the streets on homeworld. Or so the propaganda news broadcast goes.

Sheridan has a very nice speech for G'Kar and offer of support of all his personal assets that can be put towards that aim.

G'Kar: "The last time I took someone's hand we were at war twenty-four hours later." *takes Sheridan's offered hand anyway*

Mad lad.

And now Sheridan's off to a super-secret meeting! Delenn presiding. She has gathered him allies to pledge to Sheridan. Ah, Sinclair's project! <3 Sinclair, good work, buddy. Kosh is there, too! Somehow I doubt he is there to swear TO Sheridan. Along with, benevolently, to help the ants win against the anteater, maybe.

This is an episode of speeches! G'Kar's was terrible and great. Sheridan's falls a little flat. His line has been drawn on the other side of a fascist empire re-enslaving an entire people.

Well. I can only hope for some great and wild successes on the other side of the season finale!

The balance of affection between G'Kar and G'Sten, and Delenn's joyful reunification with Draal and the hope that and Sinclair's rangers inspired were all a much-needed balance against the Narns' current plight, but this was still so heavy and dark. It went there, it did that! Man, the forces of the Light are just fucking crippled without the Narn and their previous resources. All destroyed, and mostly dead, to feed the appetite of the Centauri Empire.

next!

#babylon 5 #G'Kar #many many war crimes #woodsfae b5

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crossovershipstournament · 1 year

Text

Crossover Ships Tournament Contestants

Alright, after putting it off for a bit (due to real life being busy and also I got lazy), I’ve finally gone through and prepared the list of ships for the tournament! Congrats to the lucky 64, and apologies to anyone else whose ship didn’t make it in. I did appreciate every single entry that followed the rules, though, and all the infodumps made me smile!

Before the list, however, I wanna say that this post and the eventual bracket matchup post are going to double as places to post your propaganda via replies and reblogs (or even asks). Going forward, I will use whatever propaganda people add to the posts/send via asks with permission to add as propaganda on the eventual bracket matches. By adding any sort of replies/tags/etc to any further tournament-related posts, you are consenting to having that propaganda added into the tournament. If you are uncomfortable with this, please state it outright on any posts/asks you might send.

Also the rule about fanart for the ships still remains; if you send/provide fanart, please also provide explicit permission from the original artist or proof that you made it yourself. Otherwise, I will not feel comfortable using it in the tournament.

With all that said, let’s meet our 64 ships for the tournament! Please let me know if anything is misspelled or any information is incorrect:

Bayonetta (Bayonetta)/Palutena (Kid Icarus)

Beastman (Masters of the Universe)/Lifeweaver (Overwatch 2)

Ben Tennyson (Ben 10)/Rex Salazar (Generator Rex)

Chibiusa (Sailor Moon)/Kid Trunks Briefs (Dragon Ball Z)

Damian Wayne (DC Comics)/Marinette Dupain-Cheng (Miraculous Ladybug)

Dib Membrane (Invader Zim)/Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls)

Dimentio (Super Paper Mario)/Jevil (Deltarune)

Ash Williams (Evil Dead)/Crawford Tillinghast (From Beyond)

Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (How To Train Your Dragon)/Jack Frost (Rise of the Guardians)

Isabelle (Animal Crossing)/Wolf O’Donnell (StarFox)

Jake Long (American Dragon: Jake Long)/Juniper Lee (The Life and Times of Juniper Lee)

JD (Heathers the Musical)/Nathan Prescott (Life is Strange)

Jigglypuff (Pokemon)/Kirby (Kirby)

Johnny Bravo (Johnny Bravo)/Samurai Jack (Samurai Jack)

Leonardo Hamato (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)/Yuichi Usagi (Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles)

Michelangelo Hamato (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)/Miles Morales (Marvel)

Reagan Ridley (Inside Job)/Toriel Dreemur (Undertale)

Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera (Ducktales 2017)/Clover Ebi (RWBY)

Gyro Gearloose (Ducktales 2017)/Hazel Rainart (RWBY)

Gandra Dee (Ducktales 2017)/Winter Schnee (RWBY)

Dewey Duck (Ducktales 2017)/Whitley Schnee (RWBY)

Mogar (Xray and Vav)/David (Camp Camp)

Jimmy Neutron (Jimmy Neutron)/Timmy Turner (Fairly Oddparents)

Jane Porter (Tarzan)/Captain Amelia (Treasure Planet)

Max Goof (Disney)/Yakko Warner (Animaniacs)

Huey Duck (Ducktales 2017)/Wakko Warner (Animaniacs)

Dewey Duck (Ducktales 2017)/Silver the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog)

Wirt (Over the Garden Wall)/Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls)

Webby Vanderquack (Ducktales 2017)/Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls)

Max (Camp Camp)/Phineas Flynn (Phineas and Ferb)

Sora (Kingdom Hearts)/Jim Hawkins (Treasure Planet)

Angus McDonald (The Adventure Zone)/Shigeo Kageyama (Mob) (Mob Psycho 100)

Anne Boonchuy (Amphibia)/Nepeta Leijon (Homestuck)

Applejack (My Little Pony)/Hol Horse (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders)

Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)/Cinderella (Cinderella)

Commander Peepers (Wander Over Yonder)/Wilt Michaels (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends)

Ditzy Doo (My Little Pony)/The Doctor (Doctor Who)

Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio)/Timothy Q. Mouse (Dumbo)

Sam Winchester (Supernatural)/Spencer Reid (Criminal Minds)

Bowser (Super Mario)/Dr. Eggman (Sonic)

Kokichi Ouma (Danganronpa)/Venti (Genshin Impact)

Charlie Bradbury (Supernatural)/Rose Tyler (Doctor Who)

Alex Mercer (Prototype)/Desmond Miles (Assassin’s Creed)

Adrien Agreste aka Chat Noir (Miraculous Ladybug)/Berry Shirayuki aka Mew Berry (Tokyo Mew Mew)

Pinkie Pie (My Little Pony)/Shockwave (Transformers Prime)

Floyd Leech (Twisted Wonderland)/Kanata Shinkai (Ensemble Stars)

Skales (Lego Ninjago)/Starscream (Transformers Prime)

Selina Kyle aka Catwoman (DC Comics)/Loki (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Phone Guy (Five Nights at Freddy’s)/Wally Franks (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

Megaman (Megaman)/Pit (Kid Icarus)

Merida (Brave)/Rapunzel (Tangled)

Ange Ushiromiya (Umineko no Naku Koro Ni)/Rin Tohsaka (Fate/Stay Night)

Bendy (Bendy and the Ink Machine)/Cuphead (Cuphead)

Luca Paguro (Luca)/Maisie Brumble (The Sea Beast)

Princess Peach (Super Mario)/Samus Aran (Metroid)

Blossom Utonium (Powerpuff Girls)/Dexter (Dexter’s Laboratory)

Daffy Duck (Looney Toons)/Donald Duck (Disney)

Kefer (Egyxos)/Dragon Shiryu (Knights of the Zodiac)

Gaz Membrane (Invader Zim)/Mabel Pines (Gravity Falls)

Gregor (Star Wars the Clone Wars)/Harley Quinn (DC Comics)

Sally “Thorn” McKnight (Scooby Doo Franchise)/Skwisgaar Skwigelf (Metalocalypse)

Astro Tenma (Astro Boy (2009))/Wilbur Robinson (Meet The Robinsons)

Apollo (Percy Jackson)/Clark Kent aka Superman (Superman)

Madoka Kaname (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)/Shinji Ikari (Neon Genesis Evangelion)

#Mun Speaks #Poll Talk #Submission List

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fernsnailz · 1 year

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What is your opinion on Hope Kintobor.

i really miss hope :( i had more to say about her than i expected so i’ll put the rest under the cut lol

i think she provides an interesting perspective into the robotnik/kintobor family, and she has some pretty good characterization from the beginning despite being a human side character. she’s consistently shown to be one of the smartest and most capable members of her family - she’s the first to doubt robotnik before the overlanders get roboticized, is the one who theorizes that the xorda followed her ship to mobius, and is able to create a portal into the special zone once she starts working with team dark. she has the robotnik intellect, but also has like. basic human decency which is a HUGE win for that family

the sheer tragedy of her story is also something that gets me - after her grandmother and stepdad get roboticized, any chance hope has at a family that loves her is gone. despite this, she still has hope in her snively, who repeatedly disappoints her - her faith in her family only brings her pain, and it just. hurts to see

and, as is the nature of pre-reboot archie sonic characters, this is the last moment that hope gets in the story. she will never get the chance to be happier. what the fuck

however, i think the biggest issues i have with hope is her initial relationship with shadow and the general feeling that she’s written as a sort of maria 2. this is also a complaint regarding how shadow was written at this point in the comics, because oh man they had NO idea what to do with him.

issue 145 is a hot mess and the height of these problems for me, which is the chapter where shadow and hope get dragged into echidna family drama by locke. hope tells shadow he’s wrong to attack locke... even though locke literally kidnapped both of them?? i guess it’s supposed to be a moment of moral realignment for shadow (similar to maria’s final words), but it just makes it look like hope’s morals are completely backwards.

even though shadow realizes she’s not maria after this, he’s still strangely obsessed with protecting her until they both return in sonic universe, and it's. bad to read? like the only reason he cares about her is because she looks like maria, and nothing in this part of the story ever disproves this idea. idk their dynamic early on feels so hollow and leaves a bad taste in my mouth!! i don't like it it's weird!!!

thankfully their dynamic get better once the sonic universe series begins, and hope’s dynamic with team dark is pretty fun. story-wise, it’s wild that GUN was willing to hire a 14 year old genius to be the tech guy for government missions, but hope’s somewhat absurd existence makes her feel strangely in line with team dark. like this is a team of rag tag losers with nowhere else to go, of COURSE they would take hope in.

i think this is the reason why i miss hope so much: her entire character revolves around a missing family she’ll never regain, but if pre-super genesis archie continued, they could have made team dark into that family. and from what we have, it seems like that’s what they were trying to set up - her and shadow get some decent moments together eventually, and omega is the only one there to comfort her after she finally denounces her brother snively. i can only imagine what a story with her and rouge would look like and i WANT IT

i miss hope, but i think elements of her character exist in belle from the idw series. it’s not an exact match, but both of them have difficulty coming to terms with the morality of their family and bring some extra depth to the robotniks/eggman. i really appreciate a lot of sonic stories for this reason, they bring a lot of depth to the freedom fighter/eggman conflict through the existence of characters like hope. idk i really wish her story could have continued she could have done SO MUCH MORE :(

#i need to include hope in more of the team dark content i made #this is another archie character whose story was cut short by the reboot and it makes me SO SAD #sonic loreposting #archie sonic

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hxhhasmysoul · 26 days

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As a writer, can you see the appeal of self-shipping? I don't mean to be negative, but I just don't understand that concept. Like, I just got block because I wrote fics about Endeavor/Hakws and Sukuna/Yuuji by my group of fics writers.

Before I was blocked some member criticize me by saying "how could you ship age gap like that, that is wrong in so many way". And I answered, "at least better like me than wrote self shipping like some of you guys. Gojo/reader and Sukuna/reader is just weird in so many ways". Then I was blocked.

Do you think I'm wrong?

Idk if this will answer your question, anon. I hope it's not too rambly and at least a bit helpful.

I have never considered self-shipping from the perspective of being a writer, but that makes sense to me, I only write things that I want to read and can't find, or not find enough of.

And self-shipping doesn't appeal to me as a reader. The second person makes me uncomfortable as a pov, possibly due to my history of abuse. My abuser very often assumed what I must've thought in a given situation and berated me for it and didn't accept me telling her what I actually thought. The second person pov feels too much to me like a stranger trying to tell me what I'm thinking.

This is also why I hate people policing ships in any way, because it’s always assuming what is in a stranger’s head based on confusing discomfort and lack of understanding with morality, and often based on some strange inability to separate fiction from reality. It's very far right fundie coded.

As much as a lot of stuff doesn't appeal to me, including self-shipping and several other things, some of them generally uncontroversial, it doesn't have to appeal to me because people enjoy whatever they enjoy and I can't care less about it. If it makes me uncomfortable like the second person pov or abo or real person shipping, I just avoid reading it. And I also don't have to understand why it appeals to people, it's their thing.

Nowadays I try not to tell people that they are weird or wrong for doing stuff that is a personal preference. Shipping or most other fandom activity isn't activism or a reflection of someone's character but a personal preference. It only turns into a mark of character when people use fandom to express or try to hide their bigotry. Or use it as an excuse for actual harassment.

Basically it's okay to find things weird, or react with discomfort. But I've learned to interrogate my repulsion or discomfort. And often it stems from internalised societal or cultural bull shit, that is about policing people and trying to fit everyone into some artificial norm. It doesn’t mean that understanding the roots of your reaction must lead you to liking the thing, but it might help you remove the value judgement. One of the best skills to have is: thinking “this is not for me” and moving on to things you actually like. I’m working really hard on honing this skill.

For me it’s very freeing to just accept that everyone experiences the world differently and has different needs and as long as their need isn’t to harm others then it’s okay not to understand them and just say okay and move on. You can’t have all the experiences, a lot of stuff people will talk about will never be relatable because their life experience is so incomparable to yours. It’s best to accept that understanding everything and everyone is impossible but also unnecessary. You don’t need to give everything your mental energy.

As to the person blocking you. Good riddance, they will thankfully not expose you to their shitty opinions anymore. They acted in a shitty way towards you and then couldn’t take a strong reply from you. I’m of the opinion that one should only start shit if they are ready to get the same kind of energy back. I feel no sympathy for them.

Also I’m a huge supporter of blocking people, I block at least one person every time I go into the JJK tags. Either for tag spamming or not tagging so my tag blocking doesn’t work, or just for shitty opinions so I don’t have to see them and sigh.

And their opinion is shit because shipping isn’t wrong or problematic, it’s just people imagining things. What's problematic in the JJK fandom is the racism, the misogyny, the transphobia, the harassment, the graphic vitriol towards the author and so on.

#answering asks #fandom #thank you for the ask #it will take time for me to get to all the asks #my life isn't great and i have little time and a shit ton of anxiety #sorry #i'm not ignoring anyone

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yuamusuzuran · 8 months

Text

Avatar brainrot for remaining three sequels... (RAMBLINGS + THEORIES)

*Disclaimer: some of these opinions/theories are based on my opinion on natural story progression, some are just my wishes and hopes. I just have to let it out somewhere because my brain won't stop giving me these thoughts!

**Disclaimer 2: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS

I've seen first Avatar when it came out back in 2009 (I was 12) and am now even more in love with The way of water (though I'm 9 months late with the actual watch). And considering I appreciate the organization and thinking about the entire franchise, here are some things that I THINK MIGHT HAPPEN or that IT'D BE NICE IF THEY HAPPENED in three sequel movies.

Avatar: The Seed Bearer

It'll be revealed Kiri is actually Pandora's "Jesus" (cause she is) and she'll become even more powerful

Lo'ak will be our narrator, but focus will most likely be on Kiri and Spider more than him or they'll share equal amount of attention in movie plot

The plot will continue very shortly after the battle against tulkun hunters and Neteyam's death, maybe a few months later

Fire Na'vi or "Ash people" could be outcasts from other Na'vi clans because of some crimes/taboos they have committed; Varang will probably have some personal vendetta, maybe even against Jake or Omatikaya in general

Quaritch will definitely join forces with Varang and Ash people

Quaritch and Jake custody battle over Spider

Spider will be shown in even more positive light

Lo'ak suffering intense survivor's guilt over Neteyam's demise and his relationship with his family could further deteriorate OR they could become even closer

Neytiri will have some kind of deep internal conflict, tipping her into more morally gray territory

Spider might have a fallout with Sullys after they find out he saved Quaritch from drowning

We could find out that Eywa actually conceived Kiri with Grace's avatar body

More scenes of Neteyam's memories, especially when his siblings need him the most or are unsure about their future endevors which might show us completely different side of Neteyam, one that couldn't be properly flashed out in TWOW

More screen time for Tsireya and Ao'nung (and us possibly seeing their younger sibling that Ronal is currently carrying)

By some strange twist, Spider (and possibly other Sully kids) end up being shipped to Earth

Avatar: The Tulkun Rider

Earth is the main playground this time around

Lo'ak and Spider might share the equal amount of importance in the plot

Finding the way to go back to Pandora

Gaining more human allies

Plot reversal: they learn how it is to live on dying Earth

This time, a bit more time has passed (because cryo-sleep)

WARNING- FAT WISH AND DELUSION WITH THIS ONE: Possibility of Neteyam's resurrection because of avatar program, making him a new body and transferring his memories/consciousness from Eywa to the body; avatar looks, speaks and behaves like Neteyam, but it's not actually Neteyam; Spider might play biggest role in this wishful theory and might finally fall in Neytiri's graces

If Kiri is in the movie, her and Spider deepen their relationship even more

Spider possibly getting his own avatar body

Main battle of the movie is still on Pandora and Payakan makes his return

Quaritch is still ever-present but might also tip over into morally gray

Jake and Neytiri might not be in the movie as much as we're used to

Avatar: The Quest for Eywa

SOME OF THESE ARE ONLY IF MY WISHFUL THEORY REALLY HAPPENS AND NETEYAM IS BACK TO THE WORLD OF THE LIVING

Lo'ak completing his character arc and we see a lot of similarities/mirroring between him and his dad

"It is Neteyam but not original Neteyam", his own inner conflict and finding his place

We might possibly lose either Jake or Neytiri (god forbid both)

Final confirmation and possible marriage of Lo'ak and Tsireya

Big assembly of all previous characters and picking sides

Entire Pandora is now a huge battlefield

Possible big return of Toruk?

Finally making peace with humans

Quaritch finally dead for good

Remember, these are just my wishes. Gotta wait until 2025/2029/2031 to see what'll actually happen.

Also, NETEYAM PLEASE COME BACK!

#avatar 3 #avatar movie #avatar twow #avatar the way of water #lo'ak sully #jake sully #neytiri #kiri sully #spider socorro #avatar headcanons

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darklinaforever · 2 months

Note

https://www.tumblr.com/darklinaforever/743510853004984320/the-fact-that-aegon-is-a-rpist-in-the-series?source=share

People can love any kind of characters, I love Kylo Ren myself (although I don't like Darkling), but at the same time belittling Aegon fans, just because YOU PERSONALLY don't find the character interesting, but justifying characters who used violence against women IS double standards, really. I might as well say that Aegon r*ped a maid in the series because his mom and dad didn't like him, your explanation of the actions of Darkling and Ren sounds exactly the same. NOTHING justifies the fact that Darling put a damn collar on Alina to control her powers. Again, you can love anyone, ship anything, but don't be a hypocrite and shame others for what you do yourself.

It's not hypocrisy to tell the truth about fictional characters.

I have no problem with people liking Aegon II as a villain. What he is.

I have a problem with them trying to justify deny the fact that Aegon II is a rapist, something that consistently arrives in my inbox at the moment.

Again here you are trying to say that this is something that only comes from the series, except that I repeat, that is not the case. Aegon II is also a rapist in the book.

Also, I have a problem with people trying to compare him to the Darkling and Kylo Ren, two character types that have nothing to do with Aegon II.

Really, I don't see the connection between Aegon II the rapist and the Darkling, a morally gray character committing evil actions with an overall noble goal, having been raised by a toxic and abusive mother with no taste for the noble causes and the compassion in general, a miracle that he is endowed with it, and the character of Kylo Ren / Ben Solo abused and manipulated (groomed) in order to join the dark side since he was literally a fetus.

The Darkling and Kylo Ren / Ben Solo have big extenuating circumstances for what they become, namely morally gray characters with morally gray actions and not pure villains, as the role of Aegon II and the Team Greens.

I doubt you can compare Aegon II to Kylo's situation that I just explained, or the life of persecution and danger that the Darkling had to endure for several centuries for himself and his species making him what he is today.

How can you even think that compares / becomes an equivalent to the fact that Dad Viserys and Mom Alicent wouldn't like Aegon II ?

The simple fact that you think that this could be some sort of extenuating circumstance is disconcerting.

And I also don't see the relationship between Aegon II, rapist of a woman, and Reylo or Darklina, relationships located in contexts of enemies to lovers with an overall consent between the two parties but which obviously do bad things to each other in view of being on damn opposite sides during a war !

I don't see the hypocrisy in pointing out the simple truths surrounding the characters. You can't compare Aegon II to these two. It's a simple truth, and I'm sorry if it shocks you. The characters have nothing to do with it.

I would like to add that if you find Aegon II interesting, great. But it's kind of funny that I've never seen a single fan of his be able to explain what they found so interesting about this rapist, misogynistic man, besides probably being a pedophile in his own right. era. All that, in the book ! But people are free to try. The same goes for saying that you prefer the Greens team because their story is amazing. How is it ? Strangely I haven't seen anyone be able to explain it without making up lies about the characters, or explain it in relation to the real canon events of the book, instead constantly mixing them with those of the series, or the Greens are nothing more than a bunch of right-thinking hypocrites that the writers try very hard to victimize.

It's not justification to explain how a character becomes what he is. At best as I said it gives extenuating circumstances, at least if it is directly linked, like with the Darkling and Kylo. But again, that's not justification. This is just fucking understanding.

I also advise you to go to the blog of @stromuprisahat and @aleksanderscult in order to have a better angle of view on this whole situation of the necklace for Darklina, itself complex, whether you like it or not.

The only extenuating circumstance that Aegon II could get is having been educated by a bunch of already nasty misogynists, even if it doesn't seem to me that Otto and Alicent are potential rapists, or even potential pedophiles. Oops. Not really equivalent to the fact of having been manipulated since fetus for a very specific purpose, and of having suffered centuries of persecution therefore...

GRRM does not look at the life of Aegon II in particular either, simply because he is characterized as a villain in the story itself, not meant to be endowed with any redeeming traits or complexity/gritness. GRRM doesn't care about Aegon II and therefore, generally speaking, I don't.

There is once again no complexity in Aegon II and his behavior, unlike the characters of Kylo Ren / Ben Solo and the Darkling. He's a pure villain, written and characterized as such. You can like Aegon II as a villain, but stop justifying / ignoring the rape party, let alone comparing it to gray characters like Kylo Ren / Ben Solo and the Darkling. It just makes the person look like a jerk.

Also, I literally explained how Kylo Ren / Ben Solo's behavior towards Rey was not abuse. They are only enemies in the middle of a war who fight when the time comes ! Just replace Rey with a man, without the romance, and no one would call it an abusive relationship ! They would simply say that this is what two people fighting on opposite sides of a war are like. And the same if Kylo had been a girl and Rey a boy, I'll hold it ! No one ever said that the Sorsha and Mardmartigan relationship from the movie Willow was abusive that I know of ?!

I repeat myself, but in what Kylo Ren abuses Rey when exactly ? During the so-called torture that Kylo allegedly subjected Rey to in episode 7 ? From 1, they are at war. 2, they are enemies. 3, Rey has information that could be valuable to Kylo's side, it's literally his job to interrogate Rey. And 4, he was gentle and careful with her, avoiding hurting her. So damn, we have to stop with this stupid "torture" scene. What exactly do you think the TRUE torture scene of Poe by Kylo at the beginning of the film was there for ? It served as a contrast to Rey's situation later. Poe was beaten and had his mind searched in an extremely painful manner. Rey was having none of that. Do you want a real scene of torture suffered by Rey ? Snoke in The Last Jedi, or this time, Rey screams in pain like Poe when his mind is invaded. And if you come to point out all the times Kylo and Rey fought, should I remind you that it's war and they're in enemy because they are in different camps ? Just the basic thing that forces them to be against each other ? I also remember that when he sent her flying against a tree she was going to attack him first. I also remember that it was Rey who first attacked Kylo Ren on the Death Star, invaded by the dark side. I remind you that Kylo has I don't know how much chance of killing Rey or really harming her during their fights which he never does, while Rey for her part, as soon as she has the slightest chance of farting on him Shut up, she does it. (I love her for that) Once again, if we were on two men, or if we swapped sexes between Rey and Kylo Ren / Ben Solo, no one will come and talk to you about an abusive relationship. Or maybe it's such an obscure minority that you won't even come across one !

But anyway, I don't even see why I would stop to explaining something so obvious, since I could simply respond with :

Aegon II is a rapist book and series, which Kylo Ren and the Darkling are not. Aegon II is characterized as a pure villain without redeeming qualities, which Kylo Ren and the Darkling are not.

In my opinion, very sufficient reasons why I love these two but hate Aegon II and hate those trying to come and justify to me / deny the fact that this loser is a rapist and try to prove that he is a complex character.

And you want to know something funny ? I like Aegon II. It's true. He is a villain I deeply hate, who disgusts me and for whom I have no pity. A good thing actually, since that's supposed to be his role in the Fire and Blood story. Aegon II is a good villain who fulfills his narrative function correctly. So I like him as a result of that. But not for its so-called depth or non-existent complexity. I love him, for what he is. Namely once again a good villain fulfilling his function. This is how people should love Aegon II instead of coming to my inbox to explain that he just acts like any man of his time (which is not true) and that he is not a rapist (which is also false), but just a sexual abuser (wtf ?!). Or even dare to compare him to Kylo Ren / Ben Solo and the Darkling. (Double wtf ?!) And I also like him a lot in the series, but this time mainly because of the very talented actor, who brings a charisma to the character that is not present in the book. See, you can love Aegon II without saying royal shit.

This is what I denounce and which I am full of and which I judge. People coming to tell me that Aegon II is not a rapist, or that he is just a sexual abuser and that he only acts like a prince of his time. Basically, bullshit. That's what I'm full of. I don't care about people who just like him as a villain. Most people love fucking villains. I'm a fan of Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty ! A being who likes to do evil for the sake of doing evil !

My other problem is that most Greens and pro Aegon II teams will act as if their characters were less bad, or equivalent to the Blacks team populated either by gray / complex and or heroic characters to give themselves a better conscience for loving a team of villains.

And sorry, but that doesn't make me a hypocrite. It makes me someone who knows how to differentiate a villain from a gray and complex character. This makes me a person who knows how to differentiate rape from enemies to lovers in contexts of war with opposing camps.

The incredible nerve of receiving messages like this explaining to me that we can like whatever we want in fiction. No kidding ?! I didn't know ! However, I'm not the one who goes into people's inboxes to spit on what they like even if I don't like it ! They are the ones who come to my inbox spitting on what I like, insulting me and giving themselves the role of right-thinking / morally superior. Not me. I give my opinion on my tumblr without annoying anyone. And if the fact that I'm telling truths about fictional characters bothers you, then just move on.

Aegon II is a rapist in addition to being a character belonging to the villain camp who is also misogynistic. This is a pure and simple truth. And I therefore hate the people who come to support me to the contrary, while having the nerve to give me moralizing speeches to love a character (Daemon Targaryen) whom they will accuse of being the real rapist while their poor favorites do not is just a misunderstood prince of his time. The good joke... It's that simple. And once again I don't see what's hypocritical about it. In fact, it's more the fans of Aegon II and the Greens team in general who look like big hypocrites.

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