tim drake having an ‘idk man i just work here’ approach to being a member of the wayne family is my fave joke. like everyone else has a dramatic story of trying to belong and tim is like ‘i brought in my resume unprompted and got hired on the spot’
No because the way I get so VISCERALLY angry when someone refers to an animal as albino when they’re actually leucistic, erythristic, or xanthochromatic is both deeply irrational and greatly unhealthy
ALBINISM
Total loss of melanin in the body, i.e. skin, hair/fur/feathers, and eyes (the eyes look pink/red because the lack of melanin in the eye exposes the blood vessels within it to light, which then reflects their red hue)
LEUCISM
Partial loss of melanin in the body; the pattern of melanin distribution is unique in each case, so some people or animals with this condition may have patches of typically-colored skin/hair/fur in addition to pigmented eyes, while others may only have the aforementioned ocular pigmentation
ERYTHRISM
Abnormal prevalence of reddish pigment in the skin/hair/fur/feathers of an animal; concentration of this pigment varies case by case, so humans/animals with the condition can present anywhere from only slightly pink to intensely red in color; to my knowledge, the condition does not affect the eyes
XANTHOCHROMISM
Abnormal prevalence of yellow pigment in the skin/hair/fur/feathers of an animal; similar to erythrism, color intensity can vary from light golden hues to deep yellows; again, to my knowledge, the condition does not affect the eyes
matt smith really did an insane job as the doctor. 26 year old man youngest doctor casting in history and yet he managed to be older than them all. What is in that man's eyes
So there's this really fun rabbit hole I discovered today. It's called Zutara. Because a lot of people have a lot of opinions on that. I'm a fan of atla and I've definitely thought about it.
To start off, I'm not a hater of anyone who like kataang it's just not my thing. I once described it to my sister as like that one relative that's really pushy about affection. And it is! Aang is seen pushing his feelings onto Katara during the show, and we never actually see what she thinks about this. Sure, at the end they kiss, but it felt super awkward to me. Like, okay, I guess I'll return your affection. It just felt really off.
Now, Zuko. The guy who walked through fire, who was willing to listen to her. He felt right in the sense. Katara opened up to him about her trauma and her lingering feelings of anger and desire for revenge. He knew that it wouldn't make her happy, but instead of resisting her, he offered her closure. Aang only made her more angry by resisting the idea.
I think above all, the thing I hate most about this romance triangle is that Zutara literally was going to be Canon! Like, huh? You went back and redid the script for some reason? What the heck?
TL;DR Zutara is like Ying and Yang and no one will ever change my mind.
So I made the mistake of stumbling onto the NOT STEVE ROGERS FRIENDLY tag today and..
You have to be a special type of delusional to be this obsessed with a character you don't like!??
Over 2k fics have the tag and are almost entirely Tony Stark-centered fics. I'm assuming these are the "fans" who totally buy into the MCU canon and don't know any other Captain America lore outside of what Feige and Whedon have done. Or, they're the "fans" who refuse to understand the politics behind Steve's character and how he was inherently undermined throughout the entire ten years of the MCU by the directors and writers for most of the films.
Because the arguments in most of these fics for being "not Steve rogers friendly" are really surface level shit like:
1) "Steve refused to sign the Accords and broke up the Avengers" (he was right & he didn't break them up, an overemotional Tony did when he refused to listen to Bucky's side of the story).
2) Steve fought Tony and almost killed him (yeah, like Tony didn't blast Bucky's arm off and shoot his repulsor rays directly at Steve).
3)Steve is homophobic (y'all are just making up reasons to hate this man atp)
4)Steve is racist (Steve hated racists & you'd know that if you read the comics, or you guys are just that deluded that you're making Steve racist & trying to project it as canon and therefore a "reasonable" explanation as to why you hate him)
5)Blaming Steve for Rhodey's accident (WHICH WAS TEAM TONY'S FAULT!)
6)YALL, THEY MADE STEVE THE BAD GUY IN A BROCK RUMLOW/BUCKY FIC! I stg I cannot make this shit up💀 Steve's bad for wanting Bucky to be Bucky again, but somehow Brock's the good guy for wanting Bucky to be the Soldier...
Steve left Bucky for Peggy (we'll get to this soon)
There's a hundred more irrational reasons for the Steve Rogers hate, but let me get to the WORST part.
THERE ARE BUCKY STANS WHO ARE ANTI-STEVE ROGERS.
And I'm sorry, no. I don't accept that you love Bucky Barnes but hate the one person he loves the most in the world.
They argued in a couple fics that "Bucky also went rogue after Siberia but he didn't want to associate with Steve, Nat & the rest of the team- WHO HELPED RESCUE BUCKY & EVENTUALLY EXONERATE HIM- but rather, he went off on his own & eventually Tony finds him, they hash it out and become friends to lovers."
Helppp???? Wdym Bucky isn't gonna stick with the one man he's been keeping diaries about to try and get back his memories? But he'll go to the one guy that re-traumatized him by blowing out his arm again?
Not only that, but Bucky absolutely hates Steve in some of these fics and the reason will be, "he left Bucky to go back to Peggy." Like, you cannot be a serious fan if you're still going with the Endgame canon. For a majority of us, we recognize Endgame as being nothing but terrible writing and mischaracterizations. Why are yall not analyzing and interpreting media critically? The MCU has never been on Steve's side and have always diminished his character in an attempt to make Tony the ultimate hero of the OG 6. Don't yall know the discourse? It's embarrassing atp.
And this is my stance on the entire thing: there's nothing wrong with writing fics about characters you don't necessarily like or aren't interested in. It's OKAY if you don't like Steve Rogers- but you've gotta be rational about him, instead of hateful. Most, if not all of these "anti-steve" fics are written in bad faith. Bad understanding of the character and pure, shameless mischaracterizations which just makes these types of fics fickle and weak- hilarious to read though cos that Brock one had me deadddd😭💀.
Atlantis: the Lost Empire subverts the "White Savior" trope so well and here's my Ted talk tangent
Atlantis: the Lost Empire is just Avatar but with a smarter story. Both films feature a young white man discovering a foreign culture, falling for the culture's princess, and saving the natives' way of life. Both films commentate on the exploitation of indigenous people for their resources. The biggest fundamental difference between Avatar and Atlantis is how the white male leads approach their scenarios. Milo Thatch is a wide-eyed scholar who just wants to learn; Jake Sullivan is a soldier infiltrating the culture so he can exploit them. Milo never had any intention of hurting/exploiting the natives but the people around him did; Jake knew the end goal was exploitation and only changed his alliance when he fell in love. Kida comes to Milo for help and he approaches her with respect not condescension; Jake has to learn the planet and its people are worthy of respect. Milo is attracted to Kida but he doesn't save her so he can get the girl; he saves her to save her people (getting the girl was a luxury and even then, it's obvious they'll take things slow cuz there's more important things than romance like reconnecting the Atlanteans with the lost parts of their culture). The Atlanteans are also not harmless, primitive natives. They had super-advanced technology ie the Leviathan that took out a modern submarine in like 2 minutes while the Navi are overtly primitive, their simplicity treated as a virtue. The Atlanteans were so advanced that they sent themselves back to the Stone Age with their war tech. This little detail keeps the Atlanteans from being hippie-dippie natives who need rescuing and make them a cautionary tale; they used to be greedy, hyper-advanced warmongers and that hubris leaves their race and culture on the verge of extinction. Both the Navi and Atlanteans have spiritual, mystical aspects to them, but the Navi are anti-tech while it's only the rediscovery of their tech that allows the Atlanteans to save themselves. The primitive life we see the Atlanteans lead is not presented as ideal; it is the death throes of a culture, a fatal stagnation at the bottom of the world. When Kida and Milo meet, it's not the typical "more advanced culture taking from the weaker culture" that has come to define first contact between societies. It's quid pro quo: we both answer, we both listen, we both come away with more not one party coming away with less. No one is humbled or talked down to. As for the antagonists of both films (Avatar and Atlantis) the antagonists of Avatar are just cardboard cutouts. The antagonists of Atlantis are just disinherited individuals coming together for a treasure hunt. There's a gag where Milo asks what each character seeks and they all say "Money" but that's not it. They each want to pursue goals unique to them and they need money to do it. When the chips are down and it's either money or NOT dooming an entire lost tribe to death, they choose saving the tribe. The main big bads, Rourke and Helga, have just spent a day walking through a ruined city where people live in the remains of their greatness and think, "Yeah, we are so stealing their technology so we can reenact the fall of their civilization on our OWN civilization. Why? Cuz capitalism." Why am I talking so much about Atlantis but not Avatar? Because Avatar lacks depth. I've watched Atlantis a thousand times on my cheap 2000s-era TV and get pulled in each time but Avatar's just a pretty screensaver playing in the background.
So, I’ve noticed that when we design an alien species that’s supposed to be sapient we tend to make them look like us, and I don’t mean in the typical “why in the world does this people on an entirely different planet of a completely different species with its own unique evolutionary history have a very primate/human-like body plan???” Kind of way. I’ve noticed that even when we make sapient species that look nothing like us and have a completely different body plan, we still give them the same or similar facial expressions and body language to ourselves. I find this really interesting because facial expressions are not across the board for all species (or all humans for that matter). Take, for example, the smile, a common friendly greeting among humans that communicates happiness, contentment, humor, and a lack of hostility, etc. However, for most animals, bearing teeth is a sign of unease or even open hostility. Its a threat that, “I have teeth and I’m willing to use them to protect myself!” Or take cats who, to the human eye, look relatively apathetic or sometimes even slightly annoyed when they are actually completely content. As I mentioned before, even human expression is more complicated than a set of particular facial expressions that only communicate one type of emotion.
Take a good look at this picture. What Emotion is this woman feeling?
Did you say pain? Loss? Anger?
If you did you’d be incorrect.
This is a picture of Sofia Kenin after winning a point in the first round of a Women’s singles match.
With the full context, it’s clear that she’s feeling elation, or excitement.
This is in no way meant to criticize artists for making their characters with distinctly human expressions. I understand that, especially in visual media, these sorts of expressions are really important to communicating the character’s inner world with the audience. I just find it super fascinating, and I think that it says something about us as a species that we look for and insert bits of ourselves in everything around us. So, yeah. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.