#and there's a lot of things i just failed to talk about. like his relationship/parallels with jolyne for example. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

carrymelikeimcute · 7 months

Text

Going over the izzy/lucius/shark exchange is so interesting in the context of this being an episode about apologies. About making concessions and trying to fix things.

(In this ep there's a lot about ed making amends/accommodating the crew's triggers and trauma. It's also about stede having to fix things when he upsets the superstitious crew by not treating their feelings as valid.)

At the start we have Ed's (probably well intentioned) but evasive, non-apology. He does an 'I'm sorry you feel that way' sort of apology about 'whatever that bad stuff was'. It's a wish to do better, but it doesn't really cover what went before. A lot of people interject here, but Izzy remains completely still and silent, off to one side.

Lucius says he never used the word 'sorry' and rightly calls this out. Roach however, says he's never heard an apology before - and liked it - so this seems like as much as it's a first for Ed to take even some accountability, it's probably the first time some of the crew have seen a captain (or anyone else) do this too.

Archie says 'They just get away with it and we move on'.

Lucius rounds on Izzy, because obviously Izzy should have the biggest grievance here. But Izzy responds to the question about Ed's apology as if it was about piracy in general - clearly showing that the cycle of abuse is a feature, not a bug. This is part of his life and identity as a pirate. This is, actually, things going back to normal. You get whipped (and we see these scars on him later) no one apologises, and you just reset to how it was before, pretending nothing has been altered until it all bubbles over again.

Ed then tells stede that he's never apologised for anything. Confirming that most of the crew's responses are in line with their past experiences.

Then Ed goes to fix the door and tells it that it's not its fault that it's broken, it was just doing it's job. This directly parallels Izzy's rant to the figurehead about it failing to do it's job. Ed could be talking about himself here, as Izzy was talking about himself - but to me it doesn't fit that well, because what 'job' was Ed trying to do? He could instead be acknowledging, indirectly, that he is aware that Izzy was doing his job - trying to make sure they all survived and functioned as a crew. Ed probably broke that door, and he broke Izzy. But he has yet to talk to him about it.

Immediately following this, is when he scares the BEJESUS out of Lucius and tells him 'it would be faster to get all this out in one go'. It sounds like a reasonable suggestion, but we know that it doesn't actually work. Lucius pushes him off the boat and it doesn't help. Because 'I hurt you, so now you hurt me' doesn't benefit the abused, it's still about making the abuser feel better - making them feel punished and therefore redeemed, even when their victim isn't healed. I don't think Ed is trying to manipulate Lucius here - both of them think it might help to 'fix things' but fixing things takes emotional intelligence that's not really developed yet.

ENTER, THE SHARK

Izzy starts working on the shark, after the non-apology. He doesn't have it in the 'candle fighting' scene obvs - but he does receive an apology in that scene, when stede says 'feet' and then corrects himself to foot. It's a simple straightforward apology, even if he does sort of laugh awkwardly. Izzy also at least attempted to apologise to Stede in ep. 3 - so he clearly sees the use in apologies - AND right after the apology, Izzy agrees to help stede. Their relationship changes. It gets better and they're no longer stuck in those old patterns. Izzy is full-on gentle parenting stede - even when he shoots down a fucking sail.

He also, notably, states that the crew's feelings on the curse are important. Meaning, how the crew feels is important to him, period.

After this, we're back to Lucius throwing Ed overboard. But it doesn't work because Ed doesn't remember the talent show thing, he doesn't really know why Lucius was so blindsided by that betrayal of trust. It's not about who goes overboard. It's about the dynamics underneath that and those can't be fixed by just trading places for a moment.

FINALLY. We see Izzy finishing the shark, and he's completely unsurprised that Lucius pushing Ed into the water didn't fix things. Izzy's done this 'tit for tat' thing - betraying Ed to the English over being banished - and it ended terribly for both of them. It escalated things. He knows it's not as simply as getting even with someone.

The solution Izzy has chosen to the cycle of his relationship with Ed is to pretend that Ed hasn't done anything to him. A shark did it. Like with the non-apology, blame is being shifted to a third party 'the bad things' the 'bad times'. Lucius (rightly) points out that this is not healthy, but Izzy's response, that's better than not moving on, clearly resonates.

Izzy's response to being hurt was to 1. Get even and 2. (when that proved deeply unsatisfying and made things worse) to put the unresolved conflict behind him. Because he doesn't think Ed is ever going to apologise or change, and wanting those things just hurt more.

Anyone who has parents/a partner/friend who's NEVER apologised for anything, knows how he's feeling. You stop trying to have it out and fix the relationship, and it starts to wither, even though the other person thinks it's healthy.

'Not moving on is worse' is a warning, and it's one that Lucius takes to heart, immediately trying to centre positive things instead of resentment and anger. He shares his feelings with Pete, and their relationship thrives.

The issue here, is that denial doesn't work. Lucius might be able to move on from what happened to him without a proper apology from Ed, but that's because he's not in a relationship with him. Izzy's the one who's really in it with Ed - he's had DECADES of this shit. That can't be willed away.

Stede's resolution to the curse conflict models a healthier method and one that I'm hoping we see in a future episode between Ed/Izzy. He validates the crew's feelings, make a sacrifice (the suit) and TOGETHER they collaborate on a solution to the issue that is mutually satisfactory - he even gets to keep the shirt, as a sort of compromise. It isn't about just making stede or the crew feel better, it's about moving on together.

This happens with Ed and Fang! Ed actually apologises once he realises what, specifically he did wrong. Fang says they're 'sweet' because he beat Ed to death (oof) which outwardly seems like retaliation working - but there has also been an actual apology and Fang wasn't retaliating against Ed, he was standing up for himself - a physical version of saying 'that wasn't OK - you need to change'.

This method of resolution is echoed in the final scene, with stede and ed. They reach an understanding about the pace of their relationship and find a happy medium (holding hands) - mutually satisfied and moving forwards.

Bottom line? I hope we see 1. Ed actually apologise to Izzy and 2. the pair of them outline what it is they want to change in their relationship moving forward, ending the cycle for good.

Thank you for coming to my Ed talk.

#ofmd spoilers #ofmd s2 #izzy hands #edward teach #lucius spriggs #sprigghands #ofmd #our flag means death #stede bonnet #blackhands #edizzy #israel hands #thank you for coming to my ed talk

600 notes · View notes

aroanthy · 5 months

Text

thinking about nanami and touga both telling utena not to trust anthy at the end of the series. whilst nanami and anthy being friends is something that makes me bawl like a little baby and overjoys me immensely, ive never bought a reading of nanami post-32 that is anthy positive. like idk how you could get that impression when all she does is talk about how anthy is a terrible and dangerous person. she’s scared of her. and you know she shouldn’t be, but it’s understandable why a 13 year old living in ohtori academy might be scared of someone she already didn’t like after finding out something deeply traumatic regarding them and not having the tools to make sense of it in a compassionate way. and it makes me want to eat drywall

what’s really interesting about all this to me tho is how both kiryuus tell utena not to trust ‘the chairman/end of the world or himemiya anthy/the rose bride’. anthy and akio are a package deal of toxicity and harm to both of them and if that isn’t just the most fascinating thing ever. also the difference between nanami’s ‘chairman/himemiya’ and touga’s ‘end of the world/rose bride’ (nanami giving her warning during the badminton scene, touga giving his at the end of his duel. so much going on here wrt roles and settings and rituals and reality). but getting back to my real point isn’t it so cool (agonising) how nanami and touga are incapable of extending compassion or understanding to anthy despite the fact that they’re the two people who know the most about her other than utena and akio. and like. they don’t know a Lot, but theyve both had a smidge of insight into an abusive relationship that mirrors aspects of their own lives in myriad ways

idk something about the rose bride as a symbol who bears all of humanity’s hatred. and in the end all girls are like the rose bride yes, but key word here is like. an approximation; all trapped, all agonised, yes, but not all literally fucking crucified for eternity by a million swords that shine with human hatred. not abstracted in such a particular and insidious way. i always find anthy/kiryuu parallels compelling wrt issues of race and class and mannnnnn. nanami takes a step away from the duelling game. she’s not out, but she’s not actively partaking, not actively being exploited. touga, whilst a little more overtly involved in stuco business and still meeting with akio, does also take a step away. like, they’re both able to do that. it’s a bit of an artifice, sure, they’re still here, but oh my god oh my god oh my god. theyre not anthy. am i making sense can anyone hear me holy shit

i think what im trying to say is that for everything that both nanami and touga learn about ohtori academy and the people living in it, for everything that forces them to self-reflect and question the ground that they stand upon, they fail to break the chain with it. like, they too contribute to anthy’s abstraction. she’s an idea that they secretly embody/emulate (not sure which word works better for what im trying to say just yet), and not a person who shares experiences with them but is still wholly separate from them. this kind of compassion is like. it’s too hard, when you’re in the situations that all three of them are in. anthy too perceives both of them as nonhuman, but there is a crucial power dynamic at play here. how can you stomach such a kindness to someone you can only see as a poor imitation of the worst parts of yourself, whom you loathe??

^ THIS GUY loves it when characters commit acts of extreme violence against one another that they themselves have experienced. the nanamianthytouga brand

#big ramble tldr i am compelled by stabbing. lots of it. of the self and others (which are muddled by your misperceptions)#yum yum yum #dais.txt #obfuscation abventures

87 notes · View notes

alexthefunniest · 2 months

Text

Funniest mileven arguments to why byler won’t be endgame

I’m sorry if there’s any grammar errors or mistakes, I wrote this angrily at 2 am when I couldn’t sleep.

1. “Its the 80’s”- as if there isn’t any movies that have happy queer endings that were made/set in the 80’s, yall are just lazy and don’t want to actually do any research.

2. “It’s a Netflix original”- ok? And? Like we literally get a new mlm/queer show on Netflix every year, byler is a mlm relationship which Netflix has a lot of, young royals, heartstopper??? Are you guys ok?

3. “Cuz it’s too popular” - we already have over two queer confirmed characters in stranger things, the show that’s about fighting forced conformity ?? The show that focuses on nerds, losers and people that don’t ‘fit in’ ? And y’all find it so hard to see ur two main characters being gay? Read the room respectfully.

4. “It’s one sided” - if it was one sided they would make Mike tell Will he doesn’t like him in s3 and give Will a new love interest in s4 (it has been confirmed that there will be no new characters in s5 and that the producers want every character to have their ‘perfect ending’) Will believed he was a mistake and thought he wouldn’t fall in love, because he is queer so he most definitely will have a queer love interest and it will be Mike.

5. “Mike is in love with el”- is he tho? He never actually said he loved her to her face without the world and her life depending on it, he’s been pressured to say it twice and when she told him she loves him back the man didn’t look happy but conflicted.

6. “Mileven endgame” - it’s really not, the amount of symbolism that points to their downfall (such as everyone calling them the ‘star crossed lovers’ which are basically lovers deemed to fail, and more) is HUGE, they have too many familial parallels it’s insane, why parallel the it couple with family themes and relationships? Another problem I have with this it’s the fact that it’s very rare for the first ‘original’ pairings to stay together till the end of the show (like with Bob and Joyce or Steve and Nancy)

7. “Byler wouldn’t make sense to the plot”- watch the show again, just because somethings more subtle, doesn’t mean it’s not there, y’all will always say that about queer relationships but whenever u guys see a straight relationship in these subtle moments you jump into conclusions that they might end up together, it’s called being a hypocrite.

8. “Mike isn’t gay” - it’s what he’s been telling himself too, the guy was obviously made fun of and called slurs like Will, everyone already thought and knew their relationship was ‘special’ and everyone suspected something, that’s why Mikes own dad was surprised and said “our son, with a girl?” Also your so called straight Mike has a room filled with pictures and posters of buff men, he’s never shown any interest in girls or women (except el who’s been said, looked like a boy in s1) not to mention the first song on his official Spotify playlist being “small town boy” (yk the song about a young gay man running away from his homophobic small town??).

9. Mikes love confession- if u call that a love confession I wouldn’t wanna date u brother, he was pushed to say ily by Will, the same Will that was in the frame of Mike lying when he said that his life “started” when he found El in the woods, which was obviously a lie because Mike called El a weapon and said he’ll “send her back to pennhurst or wherever she comes from” after they found her, also if the love confession was honest why would El be still upset with Mike and not talk to him after??

10. “El wasn’t upset at Mike but was sad about Max” - me when I’m in denial, she wasn’t sad about Max until she found the coke bottle underneath her bed, then we get the flashbacks of her and Max having fun in s3, she wasn’t thinking abt Max before that, its called common sense and logical thinking skills.

11. “There would be no time for byler to develop in s5” - it might seem crazy what I’m about to say, they were literally childhood best friends and it’s been confirmed that Will had a crush on Mike since s1, they literally started to build their romantic relationship MORE in s4, with all the ‘[emotional, tender music playing]’ and parallels between byler and jancy, also even if they haven’t started to build their relationship up in a romantic way in s4, y’all remember how in less than a season Jonathan and Nancy slept together or how Max and Lucas got together in a spawn of a season (mind u they met in the same season). Byler knows each other since little kids and always had potential y’all are just in denial.

12. “Why make Mike queer” - why not? Do y’all actually believe that one of the main characters plot line is just about getting with the girl at the end? Even if it was (which lets be so fr now) why would Mike get with El from the first season (they kissed in s1 and basically u can count that as they’re together wtv) if that was his main goal as a character? Well written shows have something called a “character development” which the producers of st love apparently, so why make Mike just a bland character that just gets with the main girl character, and why have El date the first guy she ever met, I just think it would be very shallow.

That’s all, this was written in a silly way cuz it’s basically me talking to myself, it’s okay if u ship mileven I just really don’t like disrespectful fans that yell at bylers and call the ship disgusting, I don’t care about what who ships as long as we all just have fun and not yell at each other 🫶🏻

#byler #byler endgame #byler nation #byler is real

48 notes · View notes

very-feral-lesbian · 1 year

Text

the season six finale has officially become the lowest rated episode of 911 ever. here's my thoughts as to why season six as a whole is bad. this is long. it is needed.

objectively, the show has become repetitive.

kirsten reidel has no creativity when it comes to the storylines of buck and eddie. i am going to be focusing a lot on buck and eddie during this talk due to the fact that they have been the most neglected characters when it comes to relationships, and because there has been some serious, queerbaiting throughout the season alongside the worst of the show's writing.

this is our third love interest that buck has had that was representing one singular aspect of himself that becomes suddenly prominent due to the plot at the time. ali made buck realize that he needed someone who was going to appreciate his line of work and that it was a non-negotiable part of himself. abby served as a tool for buck to realize he could be in a serious relationship involving something more than sex. and now with natalia, she just represents this part of his life where he gets himself into near death situations and how to deal with them. these are all important aspects to buck’s personality and life; however, they don’t represent him as a whole.

buck deserves someone who knows him for all parts of who he is, and this show refuses to do that, because if we go from a logical standpoint, if eddie was a woman, and they still had the kind of relationship that they have now, they would be together. their personalities match, they are fucking coparent, and their lives are parallel to one another. 75% of their storylines outside of the emergencies at work are intertwined and coexist with one another.

the only other people with such interconnected storylines are the other couples and the families.

yes, hypothetically if they introduced a character who is basically like a woman version of eddie, and genuinely had this chemistry with buck then i wouldn't be mad. yet they actively choose people who do not have chemistry with him. especially with natalia having chosen a woman who failed a chemistry read with him (oliver) for a fucking romance movie. how are we, as an audience, supposed to ignore their lack of chemistry?

and i will say there was also something that happened in an interview with oliver that made me mad. as we have seen throughout the show, chris has become one of, if not the most, important person to buck outside of his sister. he fathers chris like he wished his father did to him. and oliver has even discussed this in interviews before, stating that buck is coparenting with eddie. but in his most recent interview, he made it seem like the idea of parenting is completely new to buck.

i don’t wanna put the blame on oliver, but the way that he is speaking so differently within such a short amount of time about these relationships, indicates that there was a change at some point. because during the second interview, it was very obvious that they were treating Buck like a second parent to christopher. they said that he was giving him the parental love that he never had. and now they are acting like buck has never experienced what it’s like to be a parental figure, which we have seen (and been told in the past) is the furthest thing from the truth.

before i get into eddie’s relationships, i do want to point out a couple things that also did make me mad this season that are smaller, but still important.

there was a scene between hen, karen and hen's mom when denny was trying to have a relationship with his father. hen's motherly "said that a boy needs his father". this is homophobia. it’s not even subtle. saying to two fantastic mothers of a child that that a child needs a father figure to grow up correctly. this show prides itself on having diversity, although a negligent amount. having a black lesbian family can go so far and be great representation. but now they are just throwing all of their work away by having this character say the most homophobic shit.

in general, the show is very good at not including repercussions of actions or situations. we have not gotten discussion about athena‘s father since the episode about him. they completely abandoned hen's medical storyline, giving an unjust ending that felt incomplete. and bobby’s storyline about that sponsor of his was just dropped like nothing. yes this happens a lot in procedural dramas. however, that doesn’t mean it should happen. this show is nothing without these characters, they make the show. yet, they set up all these gigantic plot lines only to not follow through or provide any insight about how it’s impacting the character going forward, leaving so many things feeling incomplete. and this leads me to eddie.

last time that we saw eddie date, christopher literally ran away from home to bucks because he was upset. and now, with zero resolution about christopher‘s feelings, with little to no talks about it, eddie has allowed chris to have information regarding a woman that he might possibly date before even dating her. this makes no sense for who eddie is as a person. his number one priority is his son, and he has made that clear several times that his son comes before dating. why suddenly is he spreading this information to christopher like it’s nothing? yes, chris has grown up a lot since then, but it was still an unresolved plot line that heavily impacted two of our main characters, but it was dropped like nothing.

i want to talk about the couch theory. oliver had hinted that the couch theory was very important and was going to come to a head at the season finale. i find it extremely difficult to believe that the couch theory that has been set up since the beginning of this season was created to be finalized with a character that we have seen for less than 10 minutes of screen time and has been in less than three episodes. you cannot begin to tell me that all of this work towards this metaphor that has been beautifully written is now just finished with a random character, that we know little to nothing about except her job. hypothetically, if we go with the idea that this was what it was meant to be from the beginning, they did a terrible job doing it. that is really undeniable. but if the originally story involved buddie due to the heavy involvement of eddie and chris in this metaphor, why change it? there have been undeniable parallels throughout the season and an almost frame by frame shot of buck and christopher doing the exact same thing on eddie’s couch, only for the answer to buck's "couch problem" to be natalia? i dont buy it.

as for this season six finale, it was a fucking disaster. for a drama about fire fighters, for all they have been through, a bridge collapse is nothing. there was no moment where i thought one of our main characters were dead. there was no intensity and very little emotion about the scene, except from maddie.

it was only made worse by the jumpcut at the end where all the characters are just fine. eddie had several broken ribs? nope, he's all healed, let him cheer and jump in the air. chim had a rod through his abdomen (that he proceeded to pull out because despite him being a paramedic, he definitely wouldn't know proper procedure)? he's perfectly fine, no mention of any repercussions of that injury. and cap had no injuries after being crushed by a literal bridge? of course, makes perfect sense!

when comparing this season finale to other plot lines like the tsunami, the earthquakes, the texas fires, the lightning strike, the firetruck on bugs leg, and countless others, this felt so subtle. and it was only exasperated by the last 20 minutes of the episode feeling incredibly out of place, like someone wrote it without seeing the first half of the script.

in general, i think that if 911 continues to have the same show runners and writers from this point forward, it is going to be a repetitive nightmare of a mess of a procedural drama. it is no longer good, there is no creativity in the show anymore, they have created these backstories for all of their characters and refuse to follow through with them.

i have loved this show and the community of 911 since season two when I started watching it, and it is undeniable that there have been some masterpieces of storytelling in the show. nothing will ever beat the tsunami, or any of the "_____ begins" episodes. that is where they peak. they peak when they focus on their main characters and showing their history and how human they are. and yet with every new episode, they undo the work.

i don’t like to throw queerbaiting around for a plethora of reasons, but season six has changed my mind on that. if they truly created the couch theory just to have it end up with natalia, then why include buck being on eddie’s couch then parallels it to their son? why would you cast someone who failed a chemistry test with your main character to be that character's love interest? i legitimately want a reason. because at this point it is just homophobia. they don’t want to do the storyline because it would mean that two more of their characters are queer. and it seems like they want the minimum diversity possible. they already have one gay couple, so why have another? they already hit the gay diversity mark.

there’s a reason that this episode is the lowest rated episode of 911 of all time. If ABC does not listen to 911 fans, season eight will be the last season of the show.

191 notes · View notes

toastandjamie · 6 months

Text

You know how in a previous post I talked briefly about how Mat is subversion of masculinity? Yeah that but now I’m also going to talk about how all of that and the contradicting nature of his character can all be traced back to him being Odin. Bare with me lmao.

So let’s start with the fact that Odin as a god covers a LOT of domains, and a lot of them contradict eachother. He’s a god of war and death but he’s also a god of healing and poetry. He’s a god of wisdom and knowledge but also frenzy and bloodlust. A god of royalty favored by princes and also a good of thieves and tricksters. The Allfather indeed! Odin is a god but very importantly he’s Mortal, he’s a god of wisdom because he seeks it out, he is a surprising Human god, with complex and often selfish motivations. Which is very perfect for a character like Mat. But this post isn’t just going to be me pointing out every single thing about Odin that parallels Mat because we’d be here all day and even though I can because everytime a mythological reference appears in those books and twirl my hair and kick my feet I will refrain lol

The main focus of this post is talk about one really interesting facet of Odin’s domains and myths. And that is his connection to magic, specifically the distinctly feminine magic tradition of Seihdr(and that in of itself is a whole thing that’s makes me scream and blather in reference to wheel of time). Odin stands out as a male practitioner of Seihdr, which is traditionally considered a ‘feminine’ craft. Seidhr is a type of magic related to telling and shaping the future(so no shock Odin as the ever curious god of knowledge practiced it) but according to Snorri in the Ynglinga saga the practice of Seidhr leaves the practitioner weak and helpless thus male practitioners were considered ‘ergi’ a designation for men in Norse society who were unmanly and feminine. Odin was no exception being called ‘ergi’ by Loki in Lokasenna.

This is really interesting when we view Mat’s characterization through this lens. Specifically he’s described in relation to other more traditionally masculine characters and his relationship to the one power specifically Saidar. Long before I did any research involving Seidhr and Odin I had noted to myself that Mat would’ve had an easier time channeling Saidar vs Saidine. I’ve always felt that Mat was better at embracing and submitting to power and change than he ever was at forcing it, which of course is mostly because of his adaptability and flexibility which make him such a great general in the first place. There’s a reason Mat never got a handle of the flame and the void despite both Rand and Lan trying to teach him in books 1 and 2. Mat also acts the most like the women in the series in comparison to say Rand or Perrin. jokingly I’ve mentioned how in Shadow Rising a big plot point in Rand and Elayne’s relationship is a miscommunication because Elayne was upset Rand didn’t ask her to stay when she left for Tanchico, and Mat practically has the same exact fight with Rand over Rand not asking HIM to stay when he said he was going to leave before the battle at Cairihan. I also want to point out that in the Wheel of Time, daggers and throwing knives are mainly used by women(see, Min, Faile, Berelain, Tuon) with Mat and Thom being the only men we see using throwing knives(something something the idea that subterfuge and caution are feminine traits) while swords and axes are mainly used by men or women specifically breaking gender convention such as Cha Faile and Elayne’s Queen’s Guard. interestingly spears(Mat’s other weapon of choice) is an androgynous weapon used by both men and women(this is solely because the entire Aiel culture uses spears and will fight with them), bows are also a relatively androgynous weapon in the context of WoT used pretty universally. There’s also something to be said about how the entire subplot with Tylin puts Mat in the role of the ‘pursued’ or as Mat himself puts it ‘the woman’ where Tylin takes the commanding and dominant role in their dynamic. There’s a whole different essay to be written about Mat’s romantic relationships and the vast power dynamic disparity in them and how the relationships with Tylin and Melindra primed him for the way his dynamic with Tuon works but once again that’s a different essay.

Mat’s relationship with the one power is also really interesting, because for a non-channeler he’s pretty heavily linked with magic. He’s effected by the magic inherent in the world despite for all intensive purposes being perfectly normal to start with. The Aelfinn and the Eelfin, the fact that he’s hunted by the Gholam who was created solely to assassinate channelers. Both of his sisters being born with the spark and him marrying a woman who was trained as a sul’dam(and in a prophetic vision said woman literally collaring him after we had just been introduced to the concept of a’dams). His medallion that negates channeling, the cursed dagger and him getting the first powerwrought weapon of the series in his Ashandarei. Mat’s practically rolling in magic nonsense despite wanting nothing to do with it. Not all of this was created by the one power, but he’s still very associated with it whether he wants to be or not. It’s also probably safe to say that between his sisters and being Ta’veren it’s likely he could probably learn to channel if he wanted to, of course he never would want to learn and as I established earlier I think he’d have a hard time channeling Saidine in the first place. Trying to wrestle a force of nature using brute force isn’t exactly his forte.

There’s also another essay about Mat and Elayne’s dynamic and how I think Elayne is a Freya parallel, and how that relates to Odin and Freya being the two patron gods of Seidhr- but I digress.

#wheel of time #mat cauthon #wheel of time spoilers #major wot book spoilers #minor wot book spoilers #wot meta #long post

97 notes · View notes

aihoshiino · 4 months

Text

chapter 135 thoughts

Akasaka seems to have heard me bitching about other characters not getting involved last week because pretty much this entire chapter is focused on outsider perspectives on the RubyKana conflict, which I actually really appreciate. Not knowing how everyone else was responding to this felt really weird and while I ultimately am glad in hindsight Akasaka used the last chapter to focus exclusively on Ruby and her feelings about Ai, it did still feel really weird in the moment. And there's still no Miyako… girl where did you go…!!!

It's also really nice to get a bit of Aqua and Gotanda time, too — I feel like it's been forever since we've had any time focusing on that relationship and it's one of my quiet favourites in the series so revisiting it now was a nice surprise. We're still pretty locked out of Aqua's head but I feel like his dialogue here speaks for itself without us needing to peek in there. And whether or not he means to, I think Aqua says something really, really revealing here about how he's been dealing — or abjectly failing to deal — with Ai's death.

A running thread through OnK that Ruby is finally starting to come around from is the way the twins have both struggled with their idolization and objectification of Ai and ultimately failed to treat her like a human being. Here, Aqua doubles down on that dehumanization, rejecting the idea of Ai ever having complicated emotions about any of the things that happened to her. He flattens her into a caricature of herself, carefree and avoidant and specifically says that he personally never saw Ai crying. Not even once.

Except… of course he did. Because Ai cried as she told the twins that she loved them as she was dying. The anime even takes this a step further by having Ai break down into sobs during this moment and having her tears literally fall onto Aqua's face as he gazes into her eyes. In denying the existence of these tears, Aqua is also to some degree, erasing those words of pure love that Ai poured out with her last breaths. It feels like a confirmation of something I've been suspecting for a while: that in his fucked up attempts to 'grant her wish' Aqua is even willing to desecrate and erase the real Ai.

In a lot of ways, Aqua is deeply stunted in comparison to Ruby. Honestly I kind of get the feeling that Aqua… doesn't want to humanize Ai? Not out of cruelty but out of seemingly necessarily self defense; if Aqua lets himself love his mom as a human person, if he lets himself love her properly and with empathy then he will necessarily have to finally mourn and grieve for her as a human being and I think that would be the start of breaking him.

What's exciting about this talk as well is that it sets up Aqua and Ruby to be in opposition on something extremely central to the movie arc: Ai herself. This sets up the potential for them to come into conflict and maybe even for Ruby to really lay into him about the exploitative way 15YL is making use of Ai's image.

Final note before I move on: whether this was intended or not, I can't help but see a lot of parallels between Aqua's insistence that Ai would never cry over her treatment in B-Komachi and Nino's rant at the end of 45510 in which she reacts with revulsion at the idea of Ai wanting to connect with them. Aqua/Nino parallels aren't what I was expecting for Christmas but the implications are pretty (discord eyes emoji)

Gotanda's response is interesting, too. He claims that he wrote the script by 'listing the events that actually happened' when we know for a fact that there is a huge amount of dramatization and fictionalization at play just out of the necessity of recreating the events in the life of a person no longer here to give testimony. But he also betrays something here: his own lack of real care towards Ai herself. He dismisses the idea that it's worth trying to understand her feelings after her passing and admits that he isn't really making the movie out of empathy but out of a sense of wanting to capture something he failed to before. This movie is his revenge.

And like… fuck, man. It's just so miserable. There has always been this really ghoulish undercurrent to the entire idea of the Movie Arc, of digging up Ai's corpse again, slicing up her private and most personal self and her painful history that caused her so much shame and dressing it up into something pretty and consumable for the public to salivate over. Even in death, Ai can't rest in peace. Even in death, nobody can just leave her be. She has to be bought and sold and swapped and traded until all the value has been wrung out of her. Nobody making this movie really cares about understanding the real Ai at this point, apart from Ruby; not even the director who wants to be able to film her.

That said. man. the scene that followed was pretty sweet. The idea that Gotanda pulled Aqua into his project not just to give Kana a bit of a wake up call but because he was actually looking out for her and genuinely wanted her to have some friends is a really lovely idea and his sense of relief in seeing her having found a place in B-Komachi was also really good. In a lot of ways, the second generation of B-Komachi may be echoing the mistakes of their predecessors but they're also learning to correct them.

kana's face when she takes a bite out of ruby's parfait is like the hardest i've laughed all week btw god bless mengo yokoyari

The Gillian Cut of Gotanda talking so warmly about RubyKana's friendship to the two girls still being cold with each other is framed as a joke but I do think it's supposed to be read as a reassuring moment for the audience. While Aqua puts forth that his rose-tinted idea of fights making friendships stronger only happens in fiction… Oshi no Ko is fiction. Literally the very first words of the story are that verbatim and it constantly uses in-universe fiction as metatexual commentary on its own nature as a story. More than a joke, this feels like a sort of reassuring pat on the back for the reader that the girls will emerge from this rough spot stronger than before.

Aqua's sense of trust for both Kana and Ruby is really sweet, too. They're two of the people he cares about the most in the world — often to the point of him not being able to trust them, out of fear of the supposed repercussions — but here, he not only steps back to let them handle things themselves but reassures Gotanda that he can do the same. Aqua has been pretty cruel to both these girls in a lot of ways over the series so it was nice to see him express some warmth.

And that's the final chapter of this year…! Jesus I can't believe I only got back into the series back in April lol I really feel like I've been following the weekly chapters for longer. Admittedly, I'm starting to get really fatigued with the Movie Arc with how long it's been going but I'm hoping that we'll start to see some more progress on it when we return in 2024 and that Kamiki will do. Something maybe. can you even imagine.

#oshi no ko #onk spoilers #oshi no posting

65 notes · View notes

luka-couffaine-ship-tournament · 5 months

Text

Round 1 Side A - Pair 1

CAMPAIGN

Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng

-They‘re just so good for each other. Luka is such a calming presence in Marinette‘s chaotic life and helps her relax when she feels anxious and unsure of herself, always willing to be there for her and offer a helping hand during tough times. Marinette has a deep appreciation not only for Luka‘s ability to play music but also hear heart songs, as if she understood immediately what he meant after listening to him play for the first time. They feed off each other‘s creative energy and are just generally so wholesome together. I could talk about them forever, they make me so happy!!

-Luka is the best boy, and deserves love from the girl he adores

-I just woke up and am too lazy to think of words for my favorite couple so here's some gifs as propaganda

Gif de gifs-misc

Gif de bizarrelovesquare

Gif de notasiren21

Gif de ouiladybug

Gif de kochengnoir

Gif de jeldraximo14

Gif de notasiren21

Luka Couffaine/Sabrina Raincomprix

-Listen, Sabrina needs someone who treats her well, she needs someone who considers her an equal and someone to show her what real love is like. And I truly and honestly think that she would try her best to understand and appreciate Luka but who he really is (if she can see the good in Chloe she is capable of seeing a God when she meets one)

-Vote lukabrina people. We cant lose this!

-This is just unfair we need to help our girl out!

I'll start!

Item Number One: Viperhound Is S Tier

This is the fucking duo right here, this is endlessly clever and positive tag team action, this is a pair who will NOT fail the mission alright?

They are designed so interestingly parallel and then put right next to each other in this sweeping shot of the new miraculous squad???

Like, am I supposed to not assume something about it??

Item Number Two: opposites contrast

Orange and Blue, extremely Sun and Moon energy, but I don't think that would make this ship sail smoothly. See, Luka likes being a moon. He is happy to support and enjoys being someone's shining beacon in the endless dark of night, and no one needs that kind of anchor to hold onto more than Sabrina right now. Sabrina cut ties with her best and only friend and while we see her hanging out with other classmates just fine, we don't really know how she is with being actual friends with people. I don't think anyone has tries to reach out to her since evillustrator and we saw in that episode how she approaches new potential connections. Overwhelmingly cheerful and warm and oppressively clingy, like a ray of sunlight that won't leave your eyesight on the hottest day of the year. She means well but, boy, she can be a lot. And more importantly, she needs to be the one helping because, what kind of friend is she if she isn't? Who is she if she's not doing everything for everybody else? It would, amusingly and annoyingly and endearingly, put her into conflict with Luka, who is similarly always pushing his own problems aside to help people with theirs. This would lead them into a loving rivalry of "take care of yourself" "no u" that goes both ways, a back and forth that ends with them reluctantly letting the other help them. And after so many years as someone's shadow, Sabrina deserves to have someone in her orbit, someone she shines a light on when he needs to be seen.

Item Number Three: YOU HAD YOUR CHANCE

Look I'm SORRY okay, but I have to say this even tho I also think their ship got done dirty by the show, I still think they wouldn't have lasted. I think Marinette and Luka being "too easy" is exactly their problem, as even if they didn't have everything else to worry about Marinette needs complexity or she starts to lose her mind overthinking things and goes looking for it. The simple nature of her relationship with Luka is what 13 year old Marinette needed, the Marinette who wasn't Ladybug yet, who hadn't stood up to Chloe and maybe even just had her heart broken in a mean prank. It makes sense she'd fall in love with and gravitate towards this living embodiment of all the comfort and security she wished she had, she had desperately needed at that time. But that's just it, she needed it then. And now she can rely on herself a lot better, she has a whole support system to fall back on, and what she needs from a romantic partner is something else. But Sabrina? She's done horrible things in the name of her friendship with Chloe and even enjoyed some of them, but had finally hit her limit of how much abuse she can both dish out and take herself. Sabrina can definitely recognize that Luka is a good person, but more importantly Luka would have to actually try to sympathize with a person, rather than just immedietely like them. Lest we forget, Sabrina is the one who locked Juleka in the bathroom on picture day. Chloe told her to but Sabrina physically did it. Being confronted with someone who hurt his sister but is, herself, hurting, and is determined to help everyone but herself will be a lot of conflicting emotions for Luka, and Sabrina would need to get used to being the center of someone else's attention in a way not entirely dissimilar to how Chloe was for her, although significantly less codependent.

What makes Lukabrina interesting isn't that they're perfect for each other or that it's immedietly easy.

It's awkward and messy and they clash, they push each other out of their comfort zones and find a new one to settle in together.

It isn't instant or love at first sight, but by resolving their issues with each other through communication, honesty and trust, they are able to become a happy and wholesome couple.

Don't fucking tell me the odds lol, I know they're probably not winning but they deserve a fighting chance. So please feel free to add your own Lukabrina Viperhound propaganda!

TAG:

Luka/Marinette - @mikoriin

Luka - Twitter @Karma_sensei_

@lukacouffaineappreciation

#luka couffaine #miraculous ladybug #viperion #miraculous tales of ladybug and chat noir #ship tournament #tournament poll #tumblr polls #tumblr tournament #fandom polls #polls #luka x marinette #lukanette #luka x sabrina #sabrina raincomprix #marinette dupain cheng #mlb marinette #mlb sabrina

65 notes · View notes

sapphic-agent · 3 months

Note

I thought of something that could add to the discussion around Izuku and Shigaraki. Back in the first war arc, Hawks made the morally gray decision to kill Twice before he could start multiplying and endanger the lives of every hero in the war. He didn’t seem to want to do it, but he did, because a lot more people would have died if he didn’t. Twice also wasn’t as malicious as Shigaraki and was portrayed as one of the more sympathetic League members.

Compare this to the current fight between Izuku and Shigaraki, where Izuku insists on saving him even when Shigaraki has been threatening to destroy everything, with the “sympathetic” part of him being buried underneath metaphorical rubble. There are parallels between the two, but I don’t know if Horikoshi intended there to be.

It adds to the problem of how Horikoshi never properly set up Izuku’s conflict of “saving” Shigaraki. It’s been mentioned by others how the relationship between Izuku and Shigaraki wasn’t expanded enough, but another way the conflict could’ve had more impact was through the reactions of other characters.

Hawks could have talked to Izuku about his decision, possibly pushing back against Izuku trying to save him and saying it’s “necessary” to kill Shigaraki because he’s too big a threat. And if he was written better as a more strict mentor, Aizawa could have been a character that pushed back against Izuku’s insistence towards saving Shigaraki, with possible parallels to Kurogiri/Oboro, while also pointing out the irrationality of (unintentionally) prioritizing one life over the millions of Japan (compared to his inconsistent logic in canon).

Seemingly the only significant pushback Izuku gets for his decision is from the vestiges who would probably be the only ones who would understand him when he talks about Shigaraki’s inner child. Instead we’ve got Izuku still insisting on saving Shigaraki, or the child inside of him, not only risking his life but also probably the entire country of Japan if he fails, and Horikoshi is forcing him down that path by making Shigaraki so overpowered that he can’t defeat him the normal way.

To add a question onto this, what do you think could have been done in the story to better set up Izuku’s decision to save Shigaraki, or at least what could’ve been done to make sure that Izuku didn’t come off as overly misguided in his decision?

Bestie, you hit the mark with this one.

I agree with basically everything here. Having Hawks talk to and relate to Izuku's situation (seriously, why is it so hard to get positive Hawks interaction) would have been perfect. Izuku learning that you can't save people who don't want to be saved would have been a crucial lesson as it goes against everything his built himself up to be.

There's saving people, and then there's the fucking mental torture Horikoshi's putting Izuku through for no goddamn reason.

There's actually a few things I think could have been done.

The mall scene should have been extended. I like it for what it is, but it really doesn't get into the difference in their ideals or what really sets them apart from each other. The parallels were all there, Hori just couldn't design to expand on them

Izuku should have been the one kidnapped, not Bakugou. Fucking Bakugou's kidnapping was so useless to the plot. All it proved was that Shigaraki can't recognize what makes a villain. Bakugou had everything handed to him his whole life, why would he compromise his secure future? Izuku would have had every reason to be a villain, but wanted to be a hero. This could have been the arc where the two of them learn to understand one another. Izuku sees the hurt kid and Shigaraki sees the battered hero

To expand off #2, I think it should have led to them both trying to "save" one another. Shigaraki wants Izuku to give into his hurt and anger, Izuku wants to give Shigaraki a chance at reformation. And that would make their final fight so much more interesting. They both think they're doing the other a favor when in reality Izuku doesn't want to hurt others and Shigaraki doesn't want to conform to society. And that ends up with one of them finishing things off for good

This Izuku vs Shigaraki fight should have had way more buildup. But that would mean properly developing Izuku and Horikoshi would rather die🤷🏾‍♀️

#mha critical #bnha critical #izuku deserves better #shigaraki deserves better

41 notes · View notes

moonah-rose · 1 year

Text

"What are you doing here, Dutch?"

"Same as you, I suppose." (RDR2)

"You're just like me, John. You can't change who you are." (RDR1)

Okay I'm currently hyperfixated on these boys and I gotta talk about how fascinating this relationship is.

Because while Dutch and Arthur's relationship is heartbreaking, there's something even more crushing about Dutch and John over the course of both games.

To start we're told by both Arthur and Bill that John is the "favorite", that he's "Dutch's pet", "the golden boy", even Micah brings it up in chapter six. Part of Arthur's bitterness over John's return is how cool Dutch seemed to be about it, how he was welcomed back with open arms. However nearly all the interactions we see (or rather Arthur sees) between Dutch and John are very tense and grow more heated over the game until they're outright screaming at each other - and of course things get as bad as they can be in rdr1. But how I imagine things used to be, pre-Blackwater or pre-John's gap year, was Dutch did dote on John and John worshipped him in return. John seems to have been found the youngest that we know of, twelve years old, so he was as much of a child as can be, which allowed Dutch to mold him into a younger version of himself, whereas Arthur was clearly more Hosea's son. Dutch taught John to sound smart without really saying anything, while Arthur learned from Hosea to be smarter than he appeared. To compare the two, I think Arthur was Dutch's joy (the mirror of his best friend, his first son) but John was his pride (his own reflection). It's very typical narcissist parent behavior to latch onto the youngest or one that most resembles you most as they're the most obvious extension of yourself. And for as long as John obeyed and adored Dutch, that fuelled his own ego - fitting then how Dutch's mental decline runs in parallel to John drifting away and learning to be his own person, a father in his own right, and seeing who Dutch is without rose tinted glasses. And the stronger John gets, the more Dutch feels threatened, like when he accuses John of "wanting to be the General". Dutch is a loving granddad to Jack and caring to Abigail, encouraging John to be a good father, but not if it means they become more important than the gang (ie Him). I also think a lot of the insults Dutch hurls at John later on are things he could be partly saying about himself, how he doesn't have the grit, how he's always been weak or blind. The more Dutch fails, the more he targets John as a punching bag for his own failures, to the point of wanting to leave him to rot as he admits in one hidden BH scene.

Side note, this also feeds into his resentment of Arthur, firstly of also no longer being a yes man, but Dutch also notes how much Arthur sounds like Hosea - except Dutch was ignoring Hosea right from the start of the game, even if he did help keep Dutch grounded to some sense of reality, Arthur is a reminder of Dutch's recent loss and also insulted at the idea of Arthur replacing Hosea - that's not Arthur's job, in his mind, it's just to be his big scary grunt. Once he's becoming weaker, he doesn't see the purpose in having Arthur around if he's just going to question and possibly (if he believes Micah) betray him. And he writes Arthur off as dead anyway once he starts getting sick, he already lost Hosea, he's not putting himself through that again so it's easy to just leave him for dead. But despite all that, Arthur still loves Dutch enough to ride back and try one last time to convince his "father" that Micah is out to get him, he even spends his last breaths begging him to see sense - not for his own sake, but the man who raised him.

But with John it's a different, more raw tragedy that Dutch's self-loathing and insanity grow in their time apart, despite both clearly having had Arthur's shadow hanging over them, eventually pushing them to the exact same destination on the exact same day with the exact same purpose - to kill Micah. John has been haunted by guilt that Arthur had to sacrifice himself for him, while Dutch has been haunted by (imo) the guilt of leaving Arthur to die as well as allowing Micah to manipulate him. But both men are also not killing "for Arthur's sake" here, more their own, as they both know Arthur didn't agree with revenge. But they do it to try to ease their own consciences. For John it works, for Dutch it just sends him off into isolation and his eventual fate.

And the saddest thing is, John thanks him. Even after everything Dutch did to him and Abigail, he makes an attempt to reach out. There was a brief glimpse from John of the boy who loved his adoptive father, but Dutch's ice cold stare and silence remind them they can never go back to what was. And John let's him go. But this moment seems to change something in John's perspective, as earlier he had always said he believed Dutch had been hiding who he was the whole time, but by the time of RDR1 he's saying similar things as Sadie that Dutch was a good man who "went insane". He now wants to believe that there was a part of Dutch that cared, long ago, but it's now gone.

The Dutch that John eventually has to hunt down is different than the one he last saw on Mount Hagen, the one who admitted that he didn't have much to say anymore, the man who still cared enough to spare John and leave him the Blackwater money. Dutch is now a complete bloodthirsty monster who kills for sport, who openly calls Abigail a whore and Jack a whore's son - the same boy he once doted on, found a puppy with, that he rode into hell for. His disgust for John, his boy, working for the government, being the "rat" he feared him to be, is enough to get him to not hold back on shooting him anymore, but I also can't help but think most of his words are egging John on to get him. "You'll have to kill me, John!" he yells. But when it comes to just the two of them, both on a mountain yet again, they both put away their guns. It's the closest thing we get in the first game to a hint of their past relationship, of father and son, rather than adversaries. John's name, his "golden boy's" name, is the last thing to leave Dutch's lips before he falls. The speech the same one he said with Arthur at his side. As insane as he was, he spent those last moments thinking of his sons, and possibly Hosea too, before he fell, how he wasn't able to fight his own cowardly nature to do right by them, you can't change my mind.

And while John would never talk about it openly, its just awful to think how this man had to watch the father he loved and who doted on him back, to slowly become a monster, to hating each other, trying to kill each other, then to see a glimpse of what was but being unable to save him. It also adds context to his own behavior to Jack, how he tries to be a doting father but doesn't discourage him too much from having his own interests, as much as they confuse him.

And then, the final nail in this angst coffin, walking out to face his own death knowing Dutch was right, that they did just find another monster to come for.

#rdr2 #rdr2 meta #dutch van der linde #john marston #arthur morgan #hosea matthews #horsegirl daddy issues

219 notes · View notes

1n-bl0om · 1 year

Text

ethan x chad hcs

SCREAMVI SPOILERS

just some hcs about the two (some suggestive and some canon. most are creepy)

more hcs of them, even more hcs

- ethan studies chad at every moment. they have two classes together and ethan sits in the back, watching chad from across the room

- ethan definitely watches chad when he was sleeping to study his patterns when he’s unconscious

- chad thinks that ethan is just anti social and bad at communicating

- ethan is just taking every moment to study chad

- ethan legitimately had fun when he was around chad, almost made him change his mind

- ethan almost impulsively kissed chad when he was trying to hype him up at the halloween party

- chad thinks of ethan as one of his best friends

- chad just thinks that ethan is clingy because he’s the only friend he has. ethan is actually possessive and gets jealous easily. chad is his. (as a target, he assures quinn, but we know…)

- chad is one inch taller than ethan

- ethan is crazy strong, only using his strength when the situation calls for it

- ethan secretly likes making chad laugh

- the more ethan pretends to be chads friend, the less he feels like he’s pretending

- chad has an infectious laugh and never fails to make ethan smile

- ethan hates tara. he thinks she’s a sweet girl but her sister ruins her for him and he hates how chad smiles softly at her

- in a perfect universe, chad and ethan kissed at the halloween party

- the carpenter sisters are his main target but he wants to spend every moment with chad

- ethan is a stalker. when chad says he’s going somewhere, ethan waits five minutes before following him for blocks to see where he’s going. for “research” purposes

- i imagine ethan being almost obsessed with chad. he studied him for six months of their friendship, and possibly before that. he learned every little detail to get close to chad and blend in. he wants to spend every waking moment with him.

- their first kiss would definitely be in the heat of the moment. a build up of emotion and tension coming to light. it would probably take place at a party, maybe spurred on by spin the bottle

- ethan is the death-glare possessive boyfriend while chad voices his opinions loudly. ethan would try to kill someone (perhaps literally) with his eyes while chad will tell someone to fuck off and probably fight them

- chad is little spoon cause i said so. but he holds onto a pillow to sleep

- chad has a football scholarship and ethan is a film major

- ethan didn’t talk to chad for the first two days of being roommates

- ethan is quite unhinged and creepy. chad just thinks he’s a quirky guy

- whenever chad would try to give ethan pointers for girls, ethan would zone out and only focus on his lips

- ethan would mark up chad. he is possessive. lots of bites and hickeys leading up his neck and across his collarbones

- mindy getting money from everyone in the group cause she made a bet that ethan and chad would get together before term ended

- chad steals ethans clothes sometimes. they are close in height and have almost the same build. ethan really likes to see chad wear his sweatshirts. their clothes get mixed in laundry

- ethan’s love for chad is “tear you apart” by she wants revenge

might make more hcs! ofc depending on how people like this. they would be more centered toward a relationship and maybe sexual stuff idk. these are more like canon, except a few

!! bonus !!

i would like to think that ethan is a sweet bf, and he probably is, but the man is creepy. he would stalk you and be possessive and want you all to himself.

ethan saying he always wanted to stick something in tara and stu saying he always had a thing for sid… the parallels

scream writers after making the obviously gay killer thirst for their friends gf:

#scream #scream vi #ethan landry #chad meeks martin #ethan landry x chad meeks martin #chethan #chadthan #chad x ethan #chad/ethan #screamvi #blooms ghosts #scream 6

212 notes · View notes

opal-inna · 2 months

Text

I was thinking of Megamind’s theme of heroes being made instead of born and the parallels between Megamind and Hal.

You can see how Megamind is trying his best, but Metroman is more privileged, so Megamind gives up. He had always had bad luck, compared to Metroman, so he thought it was his destiny to be a villain. So when Hal seemingly has everything delivered to his doorstep, it’s destiny that wanted this to happen. Megamind believes that it’s up to forces greater than him that make heroes or villains. And Hal had all the gifts Megamind hadn’t, and he chose to use them for evil.

But then I looked deeper into it. I compared Hal with Megamind. Both of them were social outcasts. Both of them were nerds. Both of them were in love with Roxanne. Both of them were rejected by her. And both turned to villainy when things didn’t go as they had hoped. In a dark twist of fate, one could recite the famous cliche “we’re not so different, you and I!”.

But obviously, they are so different. So what sets them apart?

Both of them wanted approval, but Megamind seeked acceptance from society and Hal sought to win love from another person. Both of them had a skewed idea of how human relationships work and both tried to follow in Metroman’s footsteps to get there.

But obviously, they failed. Because it’s not how it works. Again, they’re similar in this department.

And then it hit me.

Both of them tried to imitate Metroman to gain something- gain approval in their example. But you can’t just win someone’s approval, it’s up for them to decide whether they give it to you or not. And you may only get it by being genuinely good yourself. Even if both chose villainy, time and time again, Megamind proved himself to be good and Hal proved himself to be evil.

Here’s what I found so far.

Hard work

Megamind had worked hard and it gave him no results, so he thought it was meant to be. He put a lot of effort into creating devices that were supposed to imitate Metroman’s powers. Hal had everything given to him, which made him feel entitled to everything he desired.

Humility

Both of them had been rejected and degraded. But Megamind had enough humility to reflect on himself. He didn’t blame Roxanne for rejecting him (albeit the scene where she tells him to apologize and Megamind misunderstands and turns it around is hilarious). Rather, he blamed his status as a villain. Though he didn’t blame his choice to become a villain, but his destiny to be one- “Villains don’t get the girl”. However, Hal had an advantage of a status of a ‘hero’- one given to him, not the one he chose. He feels entitled to her love, so when she turns him down, he blames her. He played his part of being a ‘hero’, but she didn’t play her part of being a prize. She broke the rules.

Megamind had also reflected on what Roxanne told him. He corrected his mistakes, cleaned up the city and returned what he stole. He didn't have to, but he did it to make her happy and made an effort to be actually good.

And Hal has been actively gaslighting and lessening her, just to protect his ego.

Relationship with Roxanne

Obviously, I also had to include their relationship with Roxanne, and oh boy.

I know I’ve talked about it for the entire time, but I need to go in depth, because it’s a whole thing. Bcos Hal didn’t just have had his powers handed to him. He was also privileged even when it comes to their relationship with Roxanne. Hal had lots of time to form a real connection and friendship with her, but he chose to treat her like a prize he could win if he played the game right.

Megamind was doomed from the start, because he’s a villain. Yet when given a chance, he showed her his true self, became vulnerable with her and they shared each other’s nerdy passions. Though under another person’s skin, he showed her his soul and they formed a genuine bond. Megamind proved to be a better person, because he showed her true respect, valued her for her positive traits and just treated her as a person.

32 notes · View notes

viridianevergarden · 1 month

Text

There’s so many things that I think would be cool to see in Elain’s book.

More moments between Nesta and Azriel. Them having alone time to actually talk about things like Cass and Feyre. Give Az a safe space to actually open up about his feelings for her sister. What to do about certain situations. Or just sibling banter. “His secret to tell, never hers” was more than enough for me to think that she would be his platonic safe space in a heartbeat.

Similarly, more moments with Elain and Rhys. The parallels are there. Rhysand and Elain joking around and bonding over something silly and meaningful.

Azriel and Elain planting a special flower together? A flower that would hold heavy sentimental value that only they know about. Them raising that flower together or said flower being a frequent meeting spot for them. Perhaps the growth of that flower being a poetic metaphor for their relationship in a way.

Az’s shadows failing to tell him that Elain is close by. Her finding him some place quiet where he thinks no one else is around, singing/humming to himself. Him being caught off guard after noticing her there. Her telling him that he has a beautiful voice.

The possibility of Elain harboring some power tied to life (the ability to heal wounds, plants/creatures) itself aside from her seer abilities.

Elain thoughtlessly touching Az’s wings, or better yet, Elain asking to out of pure curiosity and him letting her without another word. (This isn’t a want but a need.)

I think Az and Elain might strike a bargain too. The others have. Floral tattoo perhaps 🤭

And more. Theres a lot in my brain 🤭

#elriel #acotar #pro elriel #elain archeron #azriel shadowsinger #elain x azriel #I’m coping at this rate #book announcement when?

29 notes · View notes

sarucane · 6 months

Text

OFMD Spiral Parallels 39: Wearing Fine Things Well

Intro: What I love most about how season 2 builds on season 1 of OFMD is the spiral narrative structure. Ground is repeatedly and explicitly re-trod from season 1 to season 2, but in season 2 everything goes deeper than season 1. Meanings are shuffled, emotions are stronger and truer, and transformation is showcased above everything. The first season plucks certain notes, then the second season plucks the same ones--but louder, and then it weaves them together to create a symphony.

---

These are two scenes that are really, really direct parallels, right down to the staging, music, dialogue, and colors. That's lovely stuff you can get from the various gifsets and videos around tumblr, so I want to talk about the way these two scenes parallel and spiral deeper into the character's emotions. Because both scenes actually highlight the same character dynamic: the biggest obstacle to these guys' relationship is themselves, and how often they are just not in the same emotional place. In the first scene, that results in wistfulness, a lost opportunity to reach for more. But in the second scene, that results in hopefulness, a starting point for reaching something that both men agree they want.

In the first scene, Ed and Stede meet to talk about what happened at the party that day. Ed is feeling crappy and disillusioned. He tried something he'd idealized for a long time, and it went badly. He feels like he failed a test, and at the same time that somehow the test failed him.

But Stede repeatedly reinforces what, to him, is obvious: Ed's perfectly worthy of care, and not having done well in the aristocratic world doesn't reflect on him in any way.

Then the scenes move to something Ed's holding. In the first scene, Ed's shy and almost cruel to himself, calling this important memento "a tatty old thing," pretending to himself and to Stede that it doesn't matter as much as it does.

In the second scene, Ed has also just emerged from an unfamiliar situation. He's been fishing for the first time--and more than that, he's actually had a serious and open conversation with Fang for the first time in decades. Ed has started understanding something beyond being "not a good person" today: he started to get that the real problem was he "wasn't a good guy."

That day ends with Ed meeting Fang's challenge and catching this fish. In the first scene, Ed just begun to understand what the shape of his life won't be going forward; in the second, he's understanding what it will be.

In the second scene, Ed is the opposite of shy about what he's holding. It's a tiny fish, but it means a lot to him--and he's comfortable enough with Stede to communicate the full emotional importance of this (perfectly respectable if rather small) fish.

And then we get to the romance zone. In the first scene, Stede--high on his success overthrowing the rich assholes, and responding to Ed's clear sadness--is the one who initiates this, probably without realizing it.

In the second season, Ed moves into the romance zone, first by complimenting Stede's shirt, then by directly referencing the moment their relationship really shifted. Back in the first season, Stede did this pretty much unconsciously (which makes it, if anything, more charming: he doesn't want something from Ed, he's expressing what he really thinks about Ed)...

In the second season, Ed does this as a signal. He was the hurt party in their breakup, so Stede doesn't move back into romantic territory until Ed signals he's ready. And this is where it gets to the scenes somehow hit exactly the same notes, while also meaning completely different things, the first season entering an emotional holding pattern while the second season dives deep into seriousness, though alao ending with a holding pattern.

In the first season, Ed totally steps in for a kiss here, and then sees Stede open his mouth to say something, and goes "oh shit wrong reading," and draws back.

And while I want to scream "you idiot" at Stede, at the same time they really do have different ideas of their relationship here, and the only real way to resolve something like that is to talk about it, which both are too shy and insecure to do at this stage.

In the second scene, again a kiss is cut off. But while in the first scene this was a sign of missed connection, in this scene it's actually a step towards a deeper connection. Because the next thing Ed does is talk.

In the first scene, they're too nervous and insecure with each other to talk to each other about what they want. But in the second scene, both Ed and Stede are able to express themselves. And in a fantastic display of character development, Ed actually plows right past Stede saying bullshit like "Yeah" and "I know," the kind of pleasantries they exchanged in season 1.

In the first scene, Stede and Ed muttered at each other and low-key panic, both rocketing from completely comfortable to deeply nervous, unclear on what the other person or they, themselves, wants.

In the second scene, they actually talk. There's still a lot that's amorphous here to both of them, but they're not plowing through or running away. Relationships deepen when conversations are at their most awkward and vulnerable, just like this.

In the first scene, Ed is more disappointed than Stede that they didn't kiss. He internalizes his feelings, his body language moving inwards once his back is to Stede. He doesn't feel safe enough to express that he's interested in Stede at all, let alone create a situation where he'll feel safe within a relationship.

In the second season, Stede is also disappointed that they didn't kiss more here (dude's been keeping half the crew awake with moans of "oh Ed," god knows he's gone from shy and confused to thirsty af). But-- while he at first tries to skim over the incident, just like last time--when Ed explains what he's thinking Stede understands. Because while the cut off kiss of the first season was him and Ed avoiding advancing their relationship, this cut off kiss actually deepens that relationship. Ed doesn't want to rush into anything with Stede right now because he wants to be with Stede, and for the long haul.

And so, healthy boundaries in place, they can both relax with each other.

The first scene may not have been when they first kissed, but it was the true starting point of their adolescent first season romance. They both left the conversation knowing there was something there, between them, even if they didn't know what. The scene ends on a note of pure angst and tension.

But the second ends with comfortable joy. It's also the beginning of a new phase of their relationship--but this time it's not a couple of idiots stumbling around in the dark. It's the beginning of a grown-up romantic partnership.

#ofmd s2 spoilers #ofmd #ofmd s2 #our flag means death #ofmd spoilers #ofmd meta #ed teach #stede bonnet #blackbonnet #these boys are so dumb the first time #and so smart the second

43 notes · View notes

terminatorbuns · 1 year

Text

The Deep Cut Deep Dive: Overthinking the Deep Cut Dynamic in Excruciating Detail (An essay by @TerminatorBuns)

This was originally posted on Reddit, but I want to share with Tumblr to see if Tumblr likes this format more. Also because I'm close to finishing a second essay about Deep Cut, focusing on Frye.

Deep Cut is great, I love them, and their relationship dynamic lives rent free in my head. The one thing Nintendo did for us this time is drop story mode lore for Deep Cut on Day 1, and it has fleshed out their relationship dynamic in IMMENSE detail, enough to rival what we know about Off the Hook. How much detail are we talking about, you might ask? A FUCKING LOT it turns out! We're talking about Tableturf secrets, we're talking about Frye's feet, we're talking about the implications of Big Man's breakfast on the course of his artistic development, this shit goes DEEP. I don't know who needs to hear this but Splatoon idol lore is the meatiest part of Splatoon world building and an absolutely BONKERS ride. I want to take you through that journey if you haven't been on it before, or just need more fuel for your lore headcanons.

I wish this was a bit more academic but I didn't have the time and patience to cite everything with game screenshots, so I'm assuming whoever is reading this has already played the story mode and has a rough idea of what I'm talking about. Spoilers obviously. At the very least I hope this will be an entertaining rant, feel free to yell at me in comments about stuff I got wrong, I welcome the discourse.

1. A Bunch of Theatre Nerds

Deep Cut primarily differs from Off the Hook in one way: they do not specialize in music, but in THEATRE. Each of the two humanoid idols are designed from the ground up to represent two different forms of traditional Japanese theatre, and it ties deeply into their dual roles in the game. The important takeaway is that each idol excels in one art, but struggles at the other, and we will explore what this means. Let's talk about Shiver and Frye; Big Man is a special case, we'll have to put a pin in him and come back to that.

2. Shiver is Rakugo

Shiver is a performer of Rakugo, or Japanese seated story telling. Deep Cut's day job as newscasters is represented as a Rakugo performance, and Shiver brings a fan and a little table to the job, both common props in Rakugo. Shiver exhibits all the qualities of a strong Rakugo artist, she sits in a Seiza kneeling position with excellent posture, and delivers the news with wit and poise. She has excellent, sharp facial expressions that she directs straight at the audience, she uses her fan to gesture in ways to attract attention, and she punctuates her delivery by tapping her fan against her table to create little sound cues for a listener. Her approach to drawing an audience to her words is multilayered and complex, and her vocal skills as a storyteller seems to parallel her strong vocals when singing (not that you can tell how good her diction is since she speaks in warbly Squid-Gibberish).

Frye is much less skilled by contrast, for a number of reasons. She doesn't even attempt to sit in a Seiza stance, and in fact can barely sit still without attempting to wiggle off her cushion. From a general speaking perspective, Frye fails to establish eye contact with the audience because she's always staring at the other two performers, whoever is speaking at the time. She also lacks all of Shiver's propwork and has no intentionality in her gestures. She compensates for her weak delivery with goofy, high energy antics that are charming in her own way, and this is what earned Frye a reputation as a fidgety gremlin baby compared to the cool, sophisticated Shiver. Before launch that was everyone's impression of Frye, but the arrival of story mode dropped a massive bomb on us that flips the dynamic COMPLETELY UPSIDE DOWN. Feet are involved, let's discuss.

3. Frye is Kabuki

Story mode showed us Deep Cut as a hilarious team rocket like villain team, but the bigger takeaway is that we finally see Frye in her preferred art form: Kabuki stage performance. Frye's entire villain persona is a stage act, she thrives as a stage villain and has the charisma and skills to back it up. I should note that Frye doesn't practice pure Kabuki with all of its strict discipline, but Frye isn't full, or even partially Japanese herself, since she's very much South East Asian in design. She has her own, maybe(?) SEA inspired take on stage performance, but some of her stances in the later sections of story mode are unmistakably Kabuki, it's clear where she draws inspiration for her style from.

Villain Frye is amazing, she's confident and charismatic, and genuinely menacing in demeanor before her fight. She has a professional code of conduct as a villain: she states her intentions clearly, paying respect to the player before her boss fight and offering to negotiate before fighting. She's the only one who correctly uses her smoke bomb correctly to make a dramatic exit, and she names all of her meticulously choreographed attack patterns like a proper anime villain.

Conversely, story mode is where we finally see Shiver struggle. Her villain performance is fun, yet inconsistent: she's unnecessarily melodramatic and overacts every scene, and she throws petty insults at you before breaking character to just try to run you over with a shark-bike. She fumbles her smoke bomb and becomes increasingly frustrated everytime you knock her down, unlike Frye who doesn't break character and recovers immediately after she is downed. Shiver still makes a fun, campy comedy relief villain, but she visibly loses the confidence and dignity she had as a Rakugo performer, highlighting how much she is out of her element. In Shiver's defense, she does manage to pull off that absurd sleight of hand in her intro where she switches her mask for her fan while delivering the spiciest piercing gaze, while Frye just chucks her mask off screen instead. Once again Shiver's dexterity in her face and her hands are her strongest tools.

4. Frye's feet

I feel like an absolute lunatic writing this section, but I assure you there is genuinely a need to discuss this topic in length. Forget Frye's forehead for a second, her FEET are easily her most important assets. Frye uniquely emotes with her feet more than any other idol the same way Shiver emotes with her hands, except Shiver's hands don't have enough lore significance to fill a whole section. Frye's feet DO. I would go so far as to say Frye's feet are one of the most SIGNIFICANT visual tools we have for contextualizing the difference between Frye and Shiver's entire professional art forms. Strap in.

For starters, Frye's footwork is MONSTROUSLY powerful. Take a look at her during her boss fight, she's playing an instrument, and hopping up and down on an Octostomp like it's a goddamn circus ball. It doesn't take a single eel hit to knock her off balance, you have to send her ENTIRE eel army at her before you can knock her down! I think the eels inside her Octostomp are moving it, so in theory she's not piloting it with pure foot power, but also she kicks it onto its side before she starts blowing into her flute?!! I have no idea, I can barely comprehend what is happening here.

At the same time, her feet fully solidifies her ties to Kabuki. Kabuki is an art form done without shoes, and since she performs her villain persona outdoors, she doesn't wear shoes anywhere. Kabuki is also a full body art form which requires precision footwork, and she has that in spades. This is in stark contrast to Shiver, whose seated Rakugo performance has no footwork whatsoever. Shiver's footwork is comparatively weak as a result.

Don't get me wrong, Shiver has enough footwork to dance in blocky Geisha shoes (I've been told they are Okobo shoes), but it's in a stage performance capacity where Shiver's footwork completely falls apart. Shiver doesn't know how to express body language through footwork, so she DOESN'T. Shiver stands completely in place during her villain performance and tries to compensate with her upper body expressions, but this lets Frye completely dominate her in stage presence. In most scenes with both idols, Frye physically takes up more of the screen through footwork: she positions herself one or more steps TOWARDS the audience and literally looks BIGGER as a result. Frye's full body poses are also wide and faces the audience/camera at an angle that maximizes her surface area to attract visual interest, which is a core Kabuki concept that, again, requires intentional footwork and positioning. Shiver poses with her feet together and her body turned to the side, so her screen presence is minimal every single time. In fact, she uses her feet so little in her villain performance that she's the one member of Deep Cut that fights on a vehicle and has no mobility of her own!

At the same time, Frye's feet are double edged swords and her greatest weaknesses. Take a look at Frye while she is newscasting, what is she doing in her default pose? Yeah that's right, HOLDING HER FEET. Her Kabuki background is so used to full body acting that she's restless sitting still, and she's holding down her feet because they literally want to EXIT THE PREMISES. Every once in a while she fails to contain herself and kicks off in every direction, threatening to kick a hole in Big Man's TV and boot Shiver's table off the stage. Frye's feet are a MENACE.

5. Big Man and Amateurism

Remember at the beginning we put a pin in Big Man? His arms are getting tired so we're letting him down from the wall now.

So how does Big Man fit into this dynamic? Nintendo confirmed that he is their composer, so he provides a music background to the team whereas the other two are theatre nerds. Big Man is unique in that his talents are largely background work, unlike our other two idols who specialize in stage work. However, that makes him a bit of an outlier in terms of theatrical performance. He follows Shiver and Frye around to both their performances but doesn't have much proficiency in either one. As a newscaster he stumbles over his words often, and his villain persona is just his regular persona but slightly angrier. He doesn't really dance and sing particularly well either, there's a sequence in the Anarchy Rainbow choreography where Big Man nearly smacks the other two idols out of clumsiness. Big Man is an odd duck in the Deep Cut trio, and yet, this is a central aspect of his design and his appeal, it's kind of the point.

The central theme of the Deep Cut dynamic is Amateurism, and this ties into Splatoon 3's core theme of Chaos. Each humanoid idol is a master at a specific performance art, and an amateur at the other art form, but the important part is that they show up anyways to clown around, and that in and of itself adds a distinct flavor to the performance despite their individual weaknesses. The chaos of Splatoon 3 is the contrast between a professional artist on a stage next to two absolute goobers, and the chaotic, yet dynamic performance that results from three artists of different skill levels colliding. In that sense, Big Man is the true amateur who shows up to everything in an effort to contribute, and his bumbling inexperience is extremely lovable. This is in direct contrast to the Off the Hook dynamic, as both members of Off the Hook are musically talented and completely aligned in their artistic interests, while the members of Deep Cut have differing interests but will always show up for each other, like absolute BROS.

The Big Man discussion does not end here, however. Big Man's sunken scroll depicts him as a member of the prestigious Manta Clan, with the fanciest dining set while the text describes the Manta Clan's meticulous breakfast habits. Shiver and Frye's sunken scrolls, in contrast, describe the ancient artistic history that both of them descend from. Jumping into story theories at this point, I would personally guess that Big Man comes from a different economic background than the other two. Splatsville appears to have the aesthetics of a rural city after a rapid expansion, many of the buildings are cluttered and old looking in contrast to some infrastructure that looks very new. If we assume that Shiver and Frye's families have lived in this area for quite some time, it would be quite likely that they were poor or middle class, partially explaining their concern for the underprivileged citizens of Splatsville. Big Man on the other hand looks like he comes from the richest, snobbiest kind of high society family. He's a fancy fancy boy.

The more important takeaway is this: Big Man seems to come from a family background that prioritizes formality and rules over personal expression. From this we can make an educated guess that Big Man started his theatrical journey LATER IN LIFE. Shiver and Frye could easily have been practicing stage performance from early childhood through their family history, but Big Man's family traditions doesn't lend itself well to open self expression, and whatever artistic ability he might have gained through his family does not translate well to the stage! Big Man's exposure to theatre would have happened outside of his family, possibly after he gained some amount of independence from them. I'd hazard a guess that his friendship with Frye and Shiver might even be the starting point of his stage career!

Shiver and Frye are letting Big Man, maybe even encouraging him, to perform with them on stage despite him being a relative newcomer to theatre. There's relatively little judgement, they too understand that all artists have been amateurs at some point in their journey, and continue to be amateurs at other art forms even after mastering their own. My boy is doing his absolute best to perform alongside his theatrical seniors and it's so precious. This dynamic is wholesome beyond my wildest expectations, I am HEALED.

6. Tableturf and Artistic Priorities

I added this section last because I only discovered this information after I had completed my original draft, and Nintendo is actively fucking with me at this point. Each of the three idols have personality traits that come through in their TABLETURF dialogue, of all places, and it's kind of the final piece that makes the Deep Cut dynamic click for me. Through their tableturf dialogue we learn a lot about each member's priorities as an artist, enough for us to explore in detail.

Shiver is an audience focused artist. Her focus in tableturf is centered on you, the opponent, and she makes it a matter of personal pride to compete against you and she takes her victories and losses very personally. No matter the outcome she requests a rematch, because her priority is the opponent's experience, as she seeks the approval of her audience. Her eye contact and graceful mannerisms are as sharp as ever up close as she is on stage. This plays well with the second aspect of her artistry, which is the fact that she has a Geisha aesthetic in addition to her Rakugo specialty. Hospitality and direct conversational interactions are a part of both jobs, even if she secretly has a bit of an ego and barely resists gloating if she wins.

Big man is a self-focused artist. He comes off as awkward and shy in a tableturf match, and we get to see a little bit of the bubbling insecurity behind Big Man's jolly smile. Big man's lack of stage performance abilities translates into his social interactions as well, and he uses self deprecation to downplay his abilities and expects to lose, being pleasantly surprised if he wins. What Big Man is primarily looking for is a kind of self-acceptance, as an amateur artist he wants to hone his abilities to a point that he can be confident in himself, and he shows the same anxiety in his social interactions and tableturf games. No matter if he wins or loses, his primary focus is on his own performance, and he mostly comments on whether or not he has met his own expectations. Every small victory seems to do great things for his self esteem and you just want this boy to be happy, let him win at card games.

Frye's tableturf mannerisms is the most interesting, as it turns out, and is actually the reason I even wrote this section (my Frye bias strikes again). The most important detail is that she fails to make eye contact with the player, AGAIN, just like when she's newscasting! At face value this is VERY strange: in the news room she is clearly staring at whoever's talking, but in a direct conversation with you, why does she still not look at you? I've also seen people complaining that she's one of the only players that insults the player after a win and makes no attempt to console the player, and that is completely true. What isn't very obvious is the additional layer of meaning in the same win dialogue that really clarifies her priorities in the moment, and this is a CRUCIAL piece of Frye's characterization. When she wins her first instinct is to tell SHIVER and BIG MAN about her victory.

Remember that Kabuki is a stage performance with multiple artists in multiple roles. Rakugo can be performed solo, and Big Man seems to compose solo as well, but Frye's Kabuki actively requires the participation of other artists, it is a collaborative performancr. This brings us to the realization that Frye is a uniquely TEAM focused artist amongst Deep Cut: her top priority is her bandmates, at all times! Frye NEEDS Deep Cut, her personal style of theatre doesn't even work without friends, and she's fixated on maintaining her friend group as a result. Frye is able to focus on an audience when she is actively doing her job as a Kabuki artist, but any other time she starts spacing out because she simply spends all her energy thinking about ways to impress her bandmates! She comes off as dismissive to the player, because her mind is literally wandering to her band friends, even when they are not around! Deep Cut means the world to Frye in a way that isn't as meaningful for her friends, and she's made herself into the glue that holds this friend group together; Frye is very much the heart of the Deep Cut trio. Frye's dedication to her friends is the actual CUTEST detail in this entire game, I CANNOT believe they hid this information in tableturf. Why is Nintendo like this?!!

7. Conclusion

Splatoon's world building is extremely art centric, and the lore they write for their fictional artists is some of their best, most detailed work. Looking at Splatoon lore through an artistic lens is extremely rewarding because there are secrets and details everywhere. I've obsessed over Off the Hook's similarly complicated character dynamic in the past, and Deep Cut is really making me relive those memories like that dude from Ratatouille, it's hitting me HARD.

In some ways even this write up is only a surface reading, I'm no expert on traditional Japanese theatre or SEA culture and I have no idea how many details can be uncovered by an actual expert. I also have no music background and the Splatoon team hides fricking lore in the fricking OST and I cannot begin to unpack any of that. I fully expect that there's more details I've missed or have gotten wrong, but I hope I've at least established how deep this rabbit hole goes, and how much fun it is to dig through Splatoon lore instead of getting enough sleep.

Anyways the next time someone asks me why Frye is best girl I'm gonna have 3000 words of documentation to show them.

8. Miscellaneous notes

- What is going on with Shiver's shoes, they don't have straps, how do they stay on? Are they glued to her socks? Does she have to take the sock part off to remove the shoe? She has to take her shoes off to perform on a tatami mat, but we can't see what's going on back there feet wise since she has a Rakugo table in front. Is her lower body even rendered back there? I draw fan art, I need to know this stuff.

- Shiver likes to take jabs at Big Man sometimes that he struggles to respond to, being a less experienced conversationalist and just socially awkward in general. It's not necessarily malicious, however, Shiver could just be giving him opportunities to practice his conversation skills and keep him in the discussion. Plus he's very cute when flustered, I dunno that Shiver can resist prodding him.

- Big man is differently abled in a very literal sense. He has no hands or feet with which to emote, he's trying his best to express himself with his flappy fins. He barely has functional vocal cords, just going AY and making warbling fish noises all the time. Big Man's body isn't great at singing or dancing, but it is very good at things that Manta Rays are traditionally good at. He mentions being able to filter feed, and his mobility is remarkably good in swim form. Big Man is also a pretty dangerous predator unless you have the sensor upgrade.

- Shiver's family situation is kind of a mystery, how do they have a tradition of Shark taming if Octarian society is a militaristic dictatorship run by DJ Octavio? I suspect that Shiver was never a part of his army and there are Octarians living outside of his rule. She's definitely a Splatlands native, members of Octavio's Octo Canyon army should have been able to identify Callie and Marie easily.

- Shiver's aesthetic shifts to a violent Bōsōzoku biker gang aesthetic when she boards Master Mega, since he's outfitted with motorcycle parts and wears those bad boy sunglasses. It's a sharp contrast to her polite Geisha presentation, and so is her entire villain persona. This is what I mean when I say Shiver's performance style is inconsistent, but Shiver's two-faced presentation is also super fun to watch and kind of her entire appeal. There's an aggressive pettiness underneath the polite outward presentation and the gap between her two personalities is peak comedy. - I only just recently realized that she's a Geisha with a shaved punk cut and that's amazing: https://www.reddit.com/r/splatoon/comments/xk5mtx/did_yall_notice_shivers_head_is_supposed_to_be/

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #deepcut #shiver #frye #big man #in this essay i will #long post

285 notes · View notes

limetameta · 3 months

Note

I need tombraxas fics and your opinion on it

I'm about to go OFF under the cut so beware

If you're looking for HEALTHY tombraxas I can offer you the following:

TOM RIDDLE HATES SOCIAL MEDIA

Summary: They're in high school it's modern au, the most dramatic thing that happens is that they know Walburga Black in person, who's trying to be an influencer. This is the cutest tombraxas I've ever written and I love it so gosh dang much. They're just so soft with each other and they love each other like lovesick teenagers can. Tom is a lil repressed and scared because he's a foster kid and Abraxas is a nepo baby and that's bound to create problems, but Abraxas is just so SAFE for Tom.

TOM RIDDLE THE IT GUY

To this day I believe I've peaked with this writing and that I'll never write anything funnier. Take the Riddle era kids, age them up, and shove them in a no magic office au. I'm laughing as I'm writing this honestly every time I remember this fic I giggle.

NOW IF YOU WANT TOMBRAXAS AS KIND OF THE DRIVING FORCE FOR PLOT, BUT SEEN FROM AN OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE MAY I OFFER YOU:

KNIGHTS AND (PRINCES)SES:

Voldemort Wins the 2ND WAR AU - Ginny falls in love with Luna, but parallel to them Tombraxas is out here being divorced toxic and learning to reconcile because Luna is Voldemort's favourite student and Ginny is Abraxas' favourite student. I like this fic a lot. MAINLY because I love writing Voldemort wins fics that make Voldemort depressed.

THE ARITHMANCY FIC

Trans Harry AU. Abraxas is SICK AND TIRED OF DIVINATION. HE'S GONNA GET VOLDEMORT AND HARRY POTTER TO FUCK OFF WITH THEIR PROPHECY BULLSHIT IF IT'S THE LAST THING HE DOES. Featuring Voldemort being very domestic with Abraxas.

NUMBERED DAYS

Every adult in Harry Potter's life has failed him as a mentor figure. Enter Abraxas Malfoy, who's like I BET I CAN SPEEDRUN my man Tom winning this war and not having him deal with Harry Potter - I'LL BECOME A PROFESSOR AT HOGWARTS! SECRET MARRIAGE TROPE, VOLDEMORT AND ABRAXAS DISS DUMBLEDORE FOR HAVING A GAY RELATIONSHIP LONGER THAN HIS ONE SUMMER ROMANCE ASS. Harry Potter is not harmed. Who knew that was an option???

SNAPSHOTS

This is a story of tombraxas as told through a series of moving photographs.

RUIN

The first time I ever wrote a fic with tombraxas in it (Abraxas doesn't appear, but Voldemort talks about how that peacock man can get it)

it's old 2016 writing tho so beware.

YOUNG SNAKES

Albus Dumbledore gets sorted into Slytherin and how this changes the course of his life. Tom/Abraxas are side characters but they're together and it's clearly stated in text.

TOM RIDDLE SR.

Tom Riddle Sr raises his son. His son is gay for the peacock man, but this story focuses more on the father son dynamic than on them.

SIBLINGS

Hermione time travels to the past and acts as Tom's sister. Tom is flustered by Abraxas lots in this fic and they are together.

NOW ONTO MY MORE EXPERIMENTAL WORKS THE ONE WHO BRINGS COLOUR

Voldemort dies as per canon but he winds up in a hellish world devoid of colour and his senses. As he travels farther and farther out and gains more of his senses, it isn't until he finds Abraxas that colour returns to his life. I like this fic a lot.

THE CHANGELING

Tom Marvolo Riddle (the human) is switched at birth with a fairy changeling. The Fairy AS TOM RIDDLE grows up in muggle london and goes to Hogwarts and has a liaison with Abraxas and becomes Voldemort and all that. Meanwhile Tom Riddle (the human) grows up in the Fairy world and fucks shit up for the Unseelie Queen. I like the prose in this one a lot.

AWARENESS

Voldemort and Abraxas in this fic are not endgame but they are together. Endgame for Voldemort is finally being happy and healthy. For Abraxas it's Minerva. The two of them are still very much clearly codependant on each other and very open, and they do fuck.

AND NOW!!! FOR THE CREME DE LA CREME, FOR THE OP OF ALL MY TOMBRAXAS FICS, THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION, THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE, THE MAGNUP OPUS OF MY AO3

RETIRED PROMETHEUS

FUN FACT: The very first fic Abraxas ever appears in my writing, the one that set the precedent for all the other Abraxas in my works FIRST APPEARED IN Retired Prometheus - the LONGEST TOMBRAXAS FIC WRITTEN ON FFNET AND AO3 to date. This fic has truly taught me so much about writing. These two in this fic are so deeply convoluted and yet in love with each other in a very toxis way. I adore them. I adore the messiness, the codependence, the nobody will ever love you as I love you, my love for you is monstrous, but that's fine, I'll love you with all of my monstrous being. Everything that you see in the fics listed above this one CAME as a direct influence Retired Prometheus had on me. This is the OG. This is the abyss that stared at me and had me churning out Tombraxas fics for YEARS. This is the, even though I'm a terrible human being, I deserve to be loved, too, and nobody can do it better than you, you, Hercules, who've come to rescue me from myself, from my punishment from the Gods.

#tom marvolo riddle #lord voldemort #abraxas malfoy #limeta #abraxas malfoy x tom riddle #tom riddle / abraxas malfoy #tombraxas

19 notes · View notes