something i feel responders to pjo criticisms are not getting is book accuracy is important.

rick riordan created this project to be a book accurate adaptation on the screen. it doesn’t matter if annabeth is white and blonde, those people who are mad about that are wrong and their “criticisms” should be just thrown out. no, i’m talking real criticism. because being upset a series whose reason for existing is to be a faithful adaptation isn’t? not stupid. if you can enjoy the series—in my opinion not all the changes are objectively bad, but many, from a storytelling angle? from pure craftsmanship? are objectively bad—regardless, i’m happy for you. truly, if you feel the joy and magic the original series gave me while watching this show, i am overjoyed someone feels the magic. that’s more magical to me, worth more, than the show itself. but if you then insult me for not enjoying the show? tell me i must not love the story as much as you? tell me i am simply looking to hate the newest next thing, and not that i adore this series so much it pains me to see it so? that i don’t wish to see it succeed regardless of the betrayal i feel?

silly me, i thought our shared love of something meant we could all express it, even in different ways. but i guess not. i guess many of the series’ fans are just keen to discuss the show with the same bad faith it was made in.

peter parker bisexual moments

one example of atla fans’ media illiteracy is that they don’t understand the past avatars’ advice was written in a way that’s so vague that aang literally does everything they told him to do.

i see so many takes being like aang just ignored his past lives or even yangchen would’ve blah blah and i’m like. how did you miss the point that badly???

so i’m gonna point out all the ways the writers wrote around what the previous avatars said so that aang actually does what they all advised:

starting with the most obvious point: none of them actually tell him to end ozai.

kyoshi: “only justice will bring peace.”

aang? takes away ozai’s bending so the fool rots in a prison cell for the rest of his life.

the world? at peace.

kuruk: “aang, you must actively shape your own destiny and the destiny of the world.”

aang? makes his own choice against what everyone tells him to do and literally ends a war that was going on for centuries.

the world? destiny changed!

yangchen (because for some reason you all don’t get this one and it’s just never been clearer to me lmao): “selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world.”

so let’s point out some key words:

selfless duty calls you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs, and do whatever it takes to protect the world.

and let’s go back to aang taking ozai’s bending away, but before that, when he says this right before even meeting the lion turtle.

aang: “I guess I don't have a choice, Momo. I have to kill the Fire Lord.” - Selfless duty

see even just like you guys, aang didn’t catch the signs, but that’s okay! cuz shortly after this the lion turtle starts to move and makes itself known to aang, and reward him for sticking to his faith.

now, let’s look at what the lion turtle was actually saying and how this aligns with yangchen’s advice:

lion turtle: “To bend another's energy, your own spirit must be unbendable or you will be corrupted and destroyed.” - is the willingness to Sacrifice his literal Spirit sinking in yet??

if not, here’s what was actually happening while he said that:

[As he speaks, Ozai's energy begins to make its way to Aang's body, consuming the blue and replacing it with red energy. Cut to a view above Aang looking down at his face as the energy reaches his face and continues to cover the beams shining out his mouth and eyes. Cut to a side-view as the red light begins to take control and the blue light diminishes. Cut to close-up of Aang as the red energy has taken over almost completely with just one eye left...]

WHATEVER IT TAKES?? literally? like hello

i feel like because this is a kid’s show and that it was obviously gonna have a happy ending, that people take for granted what aang did and what he was willing to do.

he put his literal spirit on the line to end the war, and this was after he was running trying to spare ozai for an hour.

and then you say you wanted him to end him. and sure yeah, let’s pretend that doesn’t go against the whole show and would’ve ruined his entire arc for a seeeecond, how exactly is that supposed to be more satisfying or end any differently to what we got? aang would’ve still been hit with the rock ex machina. ozai would be dead sure but the climax would be a lot less visually appealing, and everyone in the world would STILL be at peace except for…. oh right. AANG.

thinking about a no upside down au steddie fic where steve and eddie run into each other years after moving away from hawkins, and eddie remembers steve and his fall from grace as king, and is kind of intrigued to see what kind of person he is now

and steve doesn’t remember him at all at first, because, look, eddie changed his hair again, and steve’s had a few head injuries (no upside down but i imagine he still went thru some shit with the party and with robin), and he didn’t really think about eddie in high school anyway, and he’s trying to forget about hawkins as much as possible (besides the kiddos, but they’re all moved out for college now, anyway) (obviously he lives with robin)

but steve is different now, happier, more open, flirts with guys, flirts with EDDIE, and eddie….. well, he wants to know more! and he tells steve he knows him from hawkins, and steve’s sunny little smile flickers a little, but he just apologizes for not remembering him and mentions he has some memory problems

and they get to know each other, and eventually as eddie tells him more (and maybe with the help of some yearbooks) steve remembers eddie. and. well. they like getting to know each other. and they like each other. and then they get together

eventually they’ve been together for a while, and eddie thinks he wants to maybe introduce steve to wayne, and he mentions he’s going to go back to hawkins for a long weekend (as he’s done a couple times) and this time he’d like steve to join him

and again steve’s sunny smile flickers a bit, but he says he’d love to meet eddie’s uncle, and… they go to hawkins. and it goes well— meeting wayne, at least, but steve seems a little on edge the whole time they’re there, tense when they drive in, fidgety when they go to the grocery store, et cetera. eddie thinks maybe steve is nervous about staying with the man who raised eddie, which is ridiculous, because wayne LOVES steve.

it’s not til they leave the town altogether that steve relaxes, and eddie realizes it wasn’t “meeting the parents” but rather going back to hawkins. and speaking of meeting the parents, steve didn’t ever bring his own up, even though eddie knew they still lived in hawkins. and the way steve glanced around whenever they went in public, like he was scared of getting recognized

and he asks about it, and steve doesn’t really want to talk about it, but he gives eddie snippets of it. people he wanted to leave behind in hawkins, memories that resurfaced, things he wants to forget

eddie goes back to see wayne sometimes, and the first time he doesn’t know whether to ask steve to come, so he just mentions he’s thinking about going to hawkins for some weekend and steve immediately starts making plans with him as if the invite is implicit. they go back to hawkins several more times, steve still tense and pent up the whole time they’re there

over time steve reveals more and more to eddie. everything that made hawkins hell for him, from the things he himself did in high school to the things people did to him. stuff tommy and carol and billy said to him. some of it is just typical high school bullshit (and oh, the nancy thing.) some of it is the tragedies steve went through, the horrors he had to protect his kids from. the injuries he sustained. more generally the homophobia that permeated the whole town, keeping steve from being himself. the lack of support in the indiana public school system for a high school senior who’s had two concussions and gone through incredible trauma.

his parents. the reason why steve’s mail is addressed to ‘steve buckley’ now, not ‘steve harrington’.

(that doesn’t come out until much, much later, and eddie is kicking himself for ever suggesting steve come back to hawkins.)

eddie, who hardly had an easy time of it in hawkins, is absolutely blown away by what steve had gone through in the same town, right under his nose. the entire persona that steve was trying to leave behind — the cool as a cucumber, unaffected, douchey mask he wore to hide all that he had endured. the head injuries. the emotional tragedies he had gone through. the way he had to be the rock for the kids even as he went through the same things as them.

he tries to tell steve they never have to go back to hawkins again, and steve is having none of it. he tells steve wayne can come visit them in their new city, and steve thinks that’s completely unfair to the man who had raised eddie, seriously, you’re going to make him come all the way up here?

and well i don’t know exactly what the ending is but steve is so stubborn about trying to love hawkins because it was eddie’s home and he wants to be able to go see wayne because wayne deserves to see his kid and eddie deserves to see his uncle and steve doesn’t want to be the problem :(

it’s so scary and so freeing to just be a person.

stole this from basu on twt bc 🙌🏼 preaaachh

some ccs are just straight up nuts there’s no other explanation

ohhhhh how i wanna shake some people and tell them never to play mmos … don’t do it … save yourself

It’s wild how so many people are fundamentally incapable of recognizing queer characters unless they explicitly say the words, “I’m gay” on screen

For the ask game: Tonari - 5, 7, and 12!

Heya Ray! Ok here goes

5) What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Honestly I’ve got a handful, most for maybe a line or two of association, but the first one that came to mind when reading this question that’s completely hers in my head was “The Moon Will Sing” by the Crane Wives. I love imagining the song as her reflecting on her dad, friends, Hayase, and Fushi, and how they’ve all contributed to the way she feels about herself and her legacy. Fun fact, the association came about from my mishearing of a line as “I shine only with the life you gave me,” the original word being “light” instead of “life.” But the more I reflected on the song, the more I felt her presence in it (I described this to my best friend as Tonari clawing her way to the surface lol), especially in the third verse. That one in particular draws a really vivid image to me of what Tonari’s headspace must have been right after Fushi pulled her away from the flames. I imagine she’s remorseful that she couldn’t give her friends a better life and is rallying to find her courage to kill them before Fushi steps in. “Instead you hoarded all that’s left of me” is a complicated little line too, filled with the bitterness and confusion at Fushi of keeping her from death. There’s not much left of her with the death of her friends, what Fushi did was selfish, but also implies Tonari didn’t realize Fushi cared if she lived or died. Then he takes the sword from her hands, “swallowing your doubt,” and she’s… grateful, angry, upset… but most of all, she acknowledges the mutual hesitance between herself and Fushi, even though they both know this is the only course of action. Even though it makes her feel like he’s taking the sword through her own body. He might as well be. The line “I want to feel the fire that you kept from me” is the most straightforward in my opinion, and what really solidified this song as being hers for me. It’s a little funny what I’ve done here tbh. The song probably meant the line as “i want to become the person you stopped me from being, I want to regain the life that was supposed to be mine,” but for this Tonari interpretation, I’ve given it the opposite implication… cough

Anyway, the chorus also kind of ties in with another song I somewhat associate with her, “Your Best American Girl” by Mitski, for the lines “Well I’m not the moon/I’m not even a star,” but I’ll spare you the analysis for that and “Goodbye My Danish Sweetheart” (also by Mitski) til… later 👀❗️

For now, I’ll leave you with the three following, lighter songs: Laufey called “Best Friend,” which I listen to as something directed towards the immortal army as a whole; “Wings,” by So!YoON! and Phum Viphruit as a song between her and Ligard and Fushi woah who said that; and “A Thousand Years” by Christina Perri bc immortalism and the heartbreak of waiting to reunite with someone. Also please imagine the second verse as being from Fushi’s perspective on getting not just her but all of their friends back at the end of the past era arc with potentially rough implications for their thought process in the modern arc WHO SAID THAT

7) What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

(Lyn asked me this too so I’ll cover it here for the two of ya!)

Tbh… I just like it when anyone talks about her ówò Tonari tends to get overlooked- even tho I’d argue she’s something of a deuteragonist- so I really just love whenever people acknowledge her importance to the story and show some enthusiasm for her plotlines. In terms of stories and fan art, it’s always awesome to see all the different sides of her shine through! Tonari’s badass, bitchy, and a little judgmental, but she’s also fashionable, studious, and warm, especially toward March and Eko. It’s also nice to see the occasional silliness she used to show on Jananda shine through every now and then. She’s changed a lot by the next arc, for obvious reasons, but she was pretty silly to Hisame when she was inviting herself to dinner, I don’t think all that playfulness should just disappear! So it’s nice to see fans playing with Tonari without vilifying her ;w; Also without reducing her to her feelings for Fushi, because yeah she has some but that’s not the only thing she’s about (even tho…. I fixate a lot… on that particular subject……… cough). While I’m on the subject, I really love that most ToFu art is limited to things like gentle physical affection. A head on a shoulder (I spent hours running around my house when you sent me that pic Ray, HOURS), a meaningful hug, and touching hands- an absolute must if you like em. I’m definitely getting carried away now though…

12) What's a headcanon you have for this character?

(Limit yourself, limit yourself, limit yourself…!!!)

(Also Coop if you’re reading this, the green one is the only safe one lol)

Bisexual Tonari is an obvious one, I’m convinced she was attracted to Parona’s form (who isn’t in this show tho lmao), and I find those ship posts between Tonari and Mizuha to be so fun tbh. Enemies to lovers maybe, invited to hold hands with her and Hanna! That theory you had about Nagisa having a crush on Tonari lives in my head rent free too, absolutely canon to me. Actually the MizuNariHanna stuff would be extra funny in a world where Nagisa has a crush on Tonari bc now Mizuha’s a girl stealer too! Nagisa just can’t win!!!

Tonari loves writing! And she’s a woman in STEM! Not a headcanon just fact but it lays down the groundwork for my following headcanon: she probably went away to grad school or something. Bon asked if Tonari knew how to do surgery, implying to my insane head that she’s probably gone away for school or something, maybe even received a doctorate, but Bon doesn’t know what for. Her stitches look a bit spaced out and wonky tbh, so she probably doesn’t have the patience for things like needlepoint. I’d wager her calling probably isn’t physical art either haha.

She absolutely goes drinking with the immortal trio + Bon and maybe Gugu once she’s old enough to do so (… would Hairo drink? Designated driver Hairo Rich, but also it’d be so funny if he’s completely normal in the stupidest way while drunk. “Stands like perfectly normal but topples over the second he goes to take a step” typa drunk- BUT THIS ISNT ABOUT HIM SORRY). I think they’d love having Tonari around to pal around with! I imagine that old Jananda arc silliness comes out full force then, if her excitement at Mizuha’s birthday was anything to go off ✌️

(This one’s safe Coop!) Her hair’s been short and choppy since before she got to Jananda so I like to think she did that little kid thing where she tried cutting her own hair and it came out looking uneven. Instead of letting her parents fix it though, she just insisted it wasn’t a mistake and wore it out like that for years. Then when she got to Jananda all the scissors sucked so she just had to keep cutting her hair in the same shabby way. Mia and Oopa having long hair is so funny to me too cuz I imagine they wouldn’t let Tonari get anywhere near them with scissors in her hand (OK stop reading here Coop!)

While I’m here, i think Tonari probably sees a little bit of her old friends in the immortal army tbh. Like, @/alphaofdarkness made the connection that March probably reminded Tonari of Oopa ;; So I feel like Gugu could remind Tonari of Uroy in some ways too, like in the buff, blond, older brother figure kind of way. Eko could remind her of young Sandel in the same way both were kind of upbeat and cute, but quiet in a way that they faded a little in the group (my brother INSISTED Sandel had NOT been there the entire time we were watching the Jananda arc). Meanwhile Messar might remind her of the older Sandel, the kind who probably was more like a brotherly shithead to her after all their years of growing up together. And Mia… imma be honest Mia’s weird as hell, chair fighting, curly hair collecting? Ain’t nobody doing it like Mia 🫡 ACTUALLY ITS BON, BON TOTALLY REMINDS HER OF MIA LMAO

OK IM ENDING IT THERE (Believe it or not this is me limiting myself, I’d typed out an entire section on Tonari’s relationship with each of the members of the immortal army). Hope these were decent enough responses to your questions Ray!

If you- or anyone- has anymore questions on Tonari or literally anyone else please feel free to send them! I have thoughts on like literally everyone, no character too obscure ✌️

i am so in love with Mihawk, it’s not even funny anymore. like wtf i’m going insane

he’s a 43yr old goth, gay swordsman, who wields a sword with a giant (and extra asf) jeweled up cross that’s quite literally almost as big as he himself, wearing possibly one of the most actively homoerotic and goth outfits in all of One Piece —which is saying something— with his goddamn tits out AND a cross necklace that’s actually a small dagger. This mf has pitch black hair, a goatee and dumbass sideburns and moustache he somehow pulls off, golden double-ringed eyes, and a constant resting bitch face (which just means whenever he smirks or actually smiles (OR LAUGHS HHH) it hits 10x harder)

Mr. “i totally have a thing (😏) going on with a Yonko, one of the literal most powerful people in the world, and have the confidence and ability to act dismissive and annoyed by it”, who also randomly accidentally adopted a pastel goth ghost lesbian and an endearingly dumb, jock swordsman gay who just so happens to be the guy who promised to defeat him. they both just show up at the motherfucking castle he lives in his house and he can’t be bothered to kick them out so they just move in and he takes care of and does stuff with them.

He can’t be bothered to show up to meetings for his job for the literal government, and when he does he pretends to be asleep. He naps in his coffin boat —that’s only light source is his weird ass abundance of candles— and if anyone wakes him up he just cuts their fucking ship in half- because he can and how fucking dare they wake him up? he doesn’t actually care about his job for the government and he only took it to get them off his back, and he’s most likely the strongest of all the warlords (AN: excluding Blackbeard cuz i hate him and i like pretending he doesn’t exist :3)

he’s weirdly yet charmingly posh, he makes reading the newspaper look regal, he farms with the murderous monkeys on his island that he tamed, he’s majestic as all fuck, absolutely gorgeous and the goddamn best swordsman in the world

:)

Saw two posts recently and I disagreed with them for the same reason and that is, y’all better not be falling into the pit of dissing things bc they’re not “sophisticated” enough for you or something.

Like someone complaining about cutesy wutesy terms or like stupid fanfic writing. Some people be saying stuff like ‘no! You have to like real books! Only use real words to describe yourself!’ Who are you? The cringe police?

Actually the colloquialisation of language is kinda a complicated topic. Yeah we shouldn’t dumb down words and stuff when it comes to discussing serious things and we shouldn’t be calling anyone else things that they don’t want to be called. But if someone is using casual language to refer to themselves and they’re someone who can ‘reclaim’ (for lack of a better term) that language, then I don’t think it’s hurting anyone. Sometimes we need to use serious language and sometimes we don’t.

And let’s not make fun of hashtag weird fanfic or fandom (as long as it doesn’t actually promote harmful views or cause harm).

There’s obviously exceptions to both these points but my general rule is, let’s not attack things for the sake of ‘it’s weird’ or ‘different’. Being judgemental and shaming people to conform to arbitrary standards is the talking point of literally every single hate crimer. That mindset is used by ableists, racists, sexists, queerphobes etc etc. Lets not forget that.

I don’t think katara and aang ever learn how to navigate properly without sokka’s help. even when they travel the world just the two of them, it’s not like they ever actually know where it is they’re going or how to get there. sokka has his entire life planned down to every detail a year in advance so that he can juggle all of his various obligations, and he doesn’t understand their system (or lack thereof) at all. he’s like “how do you guys ever know where to go if you can’t even read a map??” and they’re just like “oh......... yknow....... ✨vibes✨”

I GOT THESE SILLY LITTLE GUYS AT ONE OF MY LOCAL STORES TODAY ‼️‼️‼️‼️ (+ a Tenderheart plushie… which is not pictured. I forgot to snap a photo of him. 😭😭)

THEY ONLY HAD THEM IN STOCK SO I HAD TO SNATCH THEM BEFORE THEY COULD BE DONATED WAY!!!!

wip wednesday: hoping to have all the fic revisions up by saturday (long shot tbh) or wednesday!

THE WIP LIST IS BACK!! Tell me more about Broadcasting Live From Daybreak Town? That sounds like it's probably an entertaining one, haha.

(For this)

YEAH!! WIP LIST!!

Would you believe me if I said it’s angst? lol

So, I love taking a pieces of the Daybreak Town backgrounds and just making a whole fics about them. I’ve done it with the Marketplace, I’m gonna do it with the Moogle Shop, and this one is specifically about the radios.

The original idea was a radio broadcast from a local station (run by an unhappy conspiracy driven Dandelion) right when the glitches started to get bad. It’s kind of evolved into a Brain and Ven centric fic where Brain has to not only deal with his own anxieties, but also needs to help Ven process that some people are just determined to blame them for things that aren’t their fault because of their position (something I discovered while writing this post… thank you for helping me figure that out, you’re gonna solve my whole block for this fic lol).

Snippet under the cut

Disclaimer: This is a WIP. All things are subject to change

“As our home gets overrun by flashing colours and ghosts from a time passed, the Union Leaders remain ever silent. I’m sure the question of whether or not they know what exactly is going on has crossed each of our minds at some point over the course of this strange day. And the Union Leaders seem uninterested in our pursuit of answers, keeping themselves locked up in the Clocktower, turning everyone who approaches them away for something of supposedly higher importance. Could they be trying to fix this problem, or could it be that they are the ones causing it.” Brain stopped typing. His teeth ground against each other. “Their refusal to give us an-”

“Ven, turn the radio off,” he barked, not watching his tone.

 I have more important things to focus on. I can’t let myself be distracted by conspiracies on the radio.

“The Union Leaders have…” There was a moment of hesitation before Ven placed his finger on the button. Suddenly the radio’s volume peaked. “abandoned, abandoned, abandoned, abandoned-” the word repeated, each delivery the same as the last, but slightly distorted, wrong. 

Ven jumped backwards and nearly out of his skin, hands swiftly covering his ears. The younger wielder shot Brain a wide eyed look just as the whole broadcast drowned in static.

They both knew what had happened, but that didn’t make the event any less startling. The host and their crew must have been caught in a glitch.

Brain winced at the thought, his mind flashing back to the moment a glitch had appeared over his hand.

At first it had just fallen asleep. Then the pins and needles gradually sharpened, digging deeper and deeper, pressing harder and harder, until…

The static from the radio died down and he was free to hear the startled and disgruntled noises of the announcer and the crew as they reoriented themselves. Then, “I can’t feel anything! I can’t feel-”

The sensation in his hand still hadn’t returned.

“Ven!”

“Sorry,” almost immediately this time, the younger wielder pressed the button. The room fell almost entirely quiet.

Brain welcomed the less distressing sounds of the Clocktower. The familiar repetitive clunking and clicking of the gears turning below him. The rhythmic knocking of Ven’s feet hitting the table’s leg. The faint buzzing of the screens…

Or maybe that was from the portal.

At the reminder, his attention drifted over to the portal. It flickered and swayed, looking unstable as ever. 

He made his way over to one of the smaller computer setups, and, with a few swift clacks of the keys, he’d typed in the command ‘Portal Status’. Enter. 

Almost hesitantly, his eyes shifted to the display.

<Stable>Good. He let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. It had to stay that way. Otherwise Ephemer and his friend wouldn't have a way back, and that’d be creating a whole new problem he wasn’t sure they’d have time to fix.