Actually, the thing that’s so annoying about people whining that the timeless child arc changed the arc the show has been on before it, as in, kid in barn, outcast, bit of an idiot failure, is that for the commentary of the arc to Work it insists that all of the above Stands as it always was. 

The metaphor of the arc is that the timeless child was an avatar of the victim of colonization. They were ‘saved’ by this society that was so much more Advanced than their own, but uhhh no actually they just stole, abused, used and highjacked the child’s abilities and claimed them as their own advancements to prop themselves up as Great. As Lords, in fact. 

The metaphor for forced assimilation is shown in them literally wiping the child’s memories of their past away from both them And the entire society as a whole. You are one of us. You were Always one of us. You don’t Need who you were before, because you’re here now and that’s so much better! There’s an argument that their legend persists and that they didn’t entirely manage to erase the child from the stories, but even if ‘the other,’ the founder of Gallifrey whom is shrouded in mystery, is referring to the timeless child, they are still denied their own history, their own name. The memory that they’re the founder in the first place. Like really, this kid never gets a name and this is on purpose. The people telling this story don’t Care who this child was, only that they can be of use to them now. 

Thirteen’s absolutely Devastated realisation that she will never know who she would have been had she not been unlucky enough to have Tecteun find her on that planet millennia ago is the most gruelling and painful scene of this era for me. Honestly, it probably takes the crown for most painful moment in the whole show for me. Because while on a personal level this story here between the two characters is a story talking about abuse and kidnapping, when you scale it upwards to what wider commentary they’re making they’re talking about colonization and imperialism and forced assimilation of whole societies that will Never get to know what life would have looked like if this had not been done to them. 

This story is pointing out that we’ll never know what the world could have looked like without the evils of colonization and imperialism. This is the interpersonal devastation of the doctor realising they will Never get to not have this happen to them scaled up to a societal wide discussion about very real realities for countless people around the world. 

The arc stands upon the devastation that the child will never get to know how life could have been because This is how it actually played out. A terrified child crying in a barn. A society that others and hates them for reasons they don’t understand. This story of an orphan in a barn was already a sad tale in the narrative, a life the doctor liberates themselves from because it is too terrible and nobody ever saves them so they have to do it themselves. Pointing out that ‘this is the way this is. this is what happened. it cannot be changed’ and then saying ‘you will never know how it could have been different’ is just digging the knife a little further in what was already there. 

This so easily could not have happened if not for one person, one awful person. But it Did happen. The presence of the familiar story is necessary to fully expose the tragedy of the timeless child.  

They were an orphan, alone in a barn. Nobody likes them. They weren’t good at school or popular. They were kind of a screw up. All that’s changed is the knowledge that this was not a foregone conclusion or unlucky circumstance. It was deliberate and cold apathy. 

Alright new Jason Todd headcanons in a dpxdc setting:

Danny is a "liminal" ghost, rather than a "half" ghost. He's alive and dead at the same time. (He's like Jesus Christ (in the church denomination I grew up in), fully ghost and fully human.) Danny, in human form, can go through a ghost shield, because he IS a living human.

Jason, however, is a reanimated corpse. He isn't a ghost, wouldn't have a ghost core, etc, he has a normal human system that runs ON ectoplasm. Jason CANNOT go through a ghost shield, because he is always an ectoplasmic entity. Danny can go through the Fenton Ghost Catcher and be split into a ghost and a human; if Jason went through the ghost catcher, he would straight up die.

(For my purposes I'm gonna say that Jason became an ectoplasmic entity upon his resurrection, but wasn't very stable. Dunking in the Lazarus pit stabilized his system but also poisoned his ectoplasm.)

I do think that Jason could learn certain ghost abilities if he learned to harness his ectoplasm, especially if they detoxed him off the Lazarus waters. He's probably already enhancing his stealth and strength in ways he hasn't really noticed. I think he's held back by the amount of physical matter he's lugging around, so maybe he couldn't fly, but I'm imagining temporary invisibility, or intagibility of like, a limb at a time. Maybe he can't walk through walls, but in a fight he can dodge by instinctively making the targeted part of his body intangible.

Sorry if someone's already made this poll I am just DYING to know if anyone else finds it hard to believe, as the show seems to expect us to do, that he entirely failed to notice both these things.

Speaking for myself, I can accept the possibility that Julian was clever enough to hide his enhancements from even a trained spy, especially given his decades of practice at it. But personally I just cannot believe Garak didn't at least suspect something was off when Julian got replaced.

did. did alyss think that red eyes would be perfect for cheshire because. those with red eyes are the only ones besides glen who can approach the core. and alyss is kind of half merged with/the spokesperson for the core. and cheshire is very dear to her. just like lacie was to the core---

me: preserving my fertility isn't a priority for me

dr: but it's a priority for us

drawing my husband, noting when it ticks over & becomes unsettling to look at (in this case, Leg 7). this is actually going to work, that drider's gonna cure my arachnophobia in real life

Time to play another game of "Do I have undiagnosed ADHD or is this normal?"

"Dopamine, the brain's feel-good chemical, plays a crucial role in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, as dopamine levels are often imbalanced or dysregulated in some brain regions. This can contribute to difficulties in maintaining focus, impulsivity, and challenges with executive functions. When people with adult ADHD consume caffeine, it can mimic stimulant medication. The increase in neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine can lead to a sense of excitement or even euphoria."

I have seen multiple posts about the song “Never Love an Anchor” and how omg it doesn’t even make SENSE, an anchor is NECESSARY for a ship, a ship without an anchor gets DASHED ON THE ROCKS etc etc etc and like... I feel like y’all are missing the actual context of the song. I’ve seen it applied to so many ships and various friendships/peer relationships and like. Yeah I get it I’ve done it too.

But “Never Love an Anchor” is a song about a person who gave their child up because they knew they wouldn’t be able to give them the life they want. It’s a song about a parent and a child who’ve never known each other, because the parent chose to not raise that child, but still wonders if they’re okay.

It’s a song about fucking adoption, and as an adoptee it is very important to me that you understand and acknowledge that.

Is the ship truly loving an anchor metaphor a perfectly accurate one? No, but it’s fucking poetry not sailing. “why would it ever be love to cut the anchor off from the ship?” Do you know when it’s preferable to cut an anchor loose than keep it? When your anchor’s gotten lodged on something and you can’t pull it up, but you’re right near the shore and there’s a storm about to come in, that could snap the anchor line and then dash you against the rocks before you have any chance to save yourselves.

You wanna make that a metaphor? A pregnant 17yo whose boyfriend dumped her as soon as he found out she was pregnant, whose family doesn’t have the money and free time to watch her baby while she goes to school, and she doesn’t want to (or can’t) get an abortion, so her options are “try really hard to be a single parent with no HS diploma” or “give the baby up for adoption, hope and pray for the best for them, and graduate high school”. Maybe your perception of the situation as that 17yo is flawed or biased, but how easy to imagine that you’re essentially an anchor wedged under a rock, meaning that the ship you’re meant to help protect and function can’t sail anywhere, and if a storm rolled in you could be the reason that ship was battered and sunk. So you cut the rope, send that ship sailing into the world where they can and will get a new anchor, because sometimes ships lose anchors and sometimes it was necessary to keep them from sinking, and you feel like a relationship with that child was never meant to be even if you love them.

I just.

This song is insanely important to me, especially having finally met my birth mother this year, and while I understand the metaphor is imperfect, if you’re actually paying attention to the emotion and context of the song, it makes sense, and every time I see people talking about how “I wish someone would love me like an anchor!!!” I’m overwhelmed by the urge to shake them and shout, “THIS IS NOT A SONG ABOUT ROMANTIC LOVE OR EVEN PLATONIC LOVE THIS IS A SONG ABOUT A BIRTH PARENT’S LOVE FOR A CHILD THEY GAVE UP BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T FEEL LIKE THEY WERE CAPABLE OF RAISING IT.”

The context is important to the metaphor.

Wasting Watch

Tabletop Romance sometimes needs a side snippet Half-orc/Minotar gay shit (Minotaur belongs to a friend I can’t tag)

Brendan and Raka were supposed to take watch but they spent it doing something much more fun. For them. Not so much for anyone within earshot. Brendan reflects afterwards. 

The night's chill was bitter, a biting cold that he found familiar in the most unsettling ways, made deeper by the sweat on his skin. It was Brendan and Raka's watch but they found other ways to occupy their time. And now he sat in the dark, tucked against a sleeping mound of muscle and fur, fingers trailing over the larger hand held preciously in his lap. The bull's strength matched his own, but magic appeared to pull more stamina than Brendan was familiar with. He was content to let the warlock sleep anyway, taking the rest of the watch himself.

Except he wasn't very good at that either. Instead of looking around the camp for danger in the snow, the pools of blue had turned skyward and watched the stars shimmering along an equally cold expanse. Without the noise of their companions or combat, thoughts suddenly were far more loud. Each one made him feel, piling up and leaving him heavy with untouchable weights that neither his muscles or anger could budge. Not that long ago, he would have run from it. Even now the promise of the liquor Mal had bought him whispered, temptation dancing with the diamond dust on the breeze, chilling him to his bones. Alcohol had dulled a lot of what chased him, only to leave him at the mercy at the hint of a feeling that would send the half-orc into a storm. And he'd fly away, carried by winds he barely understood until he landed the next morning, either in a ditch, a cell, or worse.  A thick arm tightened around his waist and Brendan caught the tilt of a smile pulling at his lips unbidden, as if Raka had pulled at his puppet strings. Even in his sleep the bull was an ever steady presence that tied him to the ground. Perhaps it was unfair to put that on him, depending on someone else like that. He'd never had it before. Suddenly his chest felt tight, full with something else he couldn't put to words or get enough of. Addicting, uncomfortable, warm and irritating all at once. Brendan turned Raka's hand upwards, staring down the bull's palm. Eyes anywhere except where they're supposed to be as he pulled it to his lips. He'd seen people do it before, never understood the purpose and still didn't beyond that he wanted to. Maybe that's all it needed to be.

me: everyone should be proud of me for [doing a thing]

ppl in my life and online: we're proud of you <3

me: hey. woah. hold on. now let's not get ahead of ourselves. come on now calm down. no need for any of that >:|

It baffles me sometimes how Yakuza 0 is about the weight of taking a life and how death and killing is a big deal and then the rest of the series it's like lol no.

Female character? Kill her off with little fanfare and development. Helpful side character? Dies for the protag. Antagonist? Have them off themselves.

Characters whose deaths could've and probably should've carried more weight but we don't get enough focus or development on their character. Potential is often squandered. And yes, there is something hard hitting about losing a character before they truly had the chance to flourish, but when it keeps happening? We can't build on character bonds, that'd mean cutting down on substories!! What do you mean we've done this one before it's different now!!!

Not to mention when the franchise decides that completely fatal wounds Are Fine Actually They're Alive And Well All Along. And, y'know. The Heat Actions. Akiyama has kicked many men to death and you won't convince me otherwise.

Idk I like the franchise but I feel there's a bit of lack of tonal cohesion here and there. Notably.

WHY does homecoming waste so much time on rassilon and livia and mantus. like don't get me wrong i love livia. but it robs us of the gang reunion. and that's sad

still think the weirdest change hotd did was having benjicot blackwood be the one to present himself to rhaenyra at storms end and not like.... his dad? samwell? and then to have the bracken lose the duel and die. wtf was that

this causes so many future problems its incredible. benjicot during the dance is 10. even if they age him up as they do on average i think he could be AT MOST 13 and have his story have the same impact......... so is bloody ben during the dance benjicot ii? are they going to make him old? 

not to mention how samwell/benjicot killing a bracken just absolutely ruins the symbolism of the battle of the burning mill but alas....

I genuinely enjoy yellowjackets, so much it's unreal. It's the first TV series in ages that I feel like i just can't wait for the next episode. I'm even rewatching it as the new episodes are airing(I'm usually too lazy to), and I take the time to actually read the fan theories for it. It's that fuckin good.

the way that randos seem to have learned a tiny bit more about autistic people and are using this newfound power to give their ableism more range, like [inspiring: this gender-respecting bully will only give victims swirlies in bathroom that aligns with their identity] and [guy who researches your identity so that his microaggressions are more accurate] like oh radical that now you're throwing around the word "autistic" more comfortably as meaning shit like someone's "clueless" or "has an interest or perhaps talent" or what nonsense will follow when someone's breaking out the term "social skills" like oh nice, people accessing all the abilities of Autism Parents without having to be a parent

Is there a part of you still upset with Ren over all the events that transpired?

━━ ˟ ⊰🍁THAT'S JUST AN UNFAIR QUESTION -- ❝ ...yes, ❞ his answer is small, hidden beneath a layer of a whisper.

⊰🍁SEND A YES OR NO QUESTION .