#he is a king who is realistic about the good and bad his god is capable of

[hkrieg]

Everyone's favorite (or least favorite) martial god...

[qqueenofhades]

maybe i'm misunderstanding the concept, but it lately it's felt like Online Leftists™️ have been using homonationalism as a cudgel against lgbt people wanting to go abroad and feel comfortable doing so instead of as idk a way to critique american exceptionalism or whatever

The thing about Online Leftists and American exceptionalism in any capacity is that literally all their ideas and concepts of it are a) gibberish and b) completely contradictory and hypocritical. This is because it is all based on a reactionary Vibes ideology that has to constantly change itself to oppose whatever the Democrats/the US/the West in general is doing and therefore has no actual logical guidelines or consistent internal principles. To wit:

America is the most powerful country in the world, and that influence is always and forever totally evil because (insert terrible shit America has done here, which is then generalized and applied to all time periods and places without context or nuance). Indeed, America is so powerful that no other country or government in the world has actual agency or makes real choices for which they are morally and legally responsible; they're just helpless and manipulated pawns reacting to American/Western imperialism (which is the only kind of imperialism that exists, somehow). As such, nothing they ever do is actually "bad" or worthy of condemnation, because they're just totally victimized by America and everything they do is justified as long as it is anti-America. Hence, Russia genociding the Ukrainians is actually fine and good, the Ukrainians must have deserved it somehow (witness how many of the people currently screaming about Gaza were yelling that Ukraine was totally fine to attack actually!) and America is evil for trying to intervene. Russian propaganda calls America bad, we think America is bad, and therefore Russian propaganda must be correct, we love Russian propaganda a whole lot and have no interest in examining that fact any further. Russia is actually good because it used to be the USSR! Did you know that?

However, Israel genociding Gaza is utterly unforgivable and terrible and anyone who tries to offer any kind of realistic critique or appraisal of what can or can't be done to stop it is a genocide apologist. America should in fact be intervening to the point of invading Israel and/or dismantling the Israeli state, because maximalist American military intervention is Good when we say it is (but the rest of the time it's the most awful evil thing in the world WHY DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT THE GLOBAL SOUTH). America is still the most powerful country in the world and it should be intervening at all times, but actually it shouldn't do that at all because we're totally not the right-wing America First isolationists sent through the rabbit hole. If America does not choose to exercise its almighty godlike power to stop all the evil in the world (but remember, American military intervention of any kind is obviously bad and Ukraine should definitely still be genocided), it is just proving how evil it actually is. Remember, nobody else makes real choices. They're just reacting to America. America is all-powerful and also evil but still should use this evil power for good because it's good if we decide it is.

Voting is meaningless because the parties are the same, but it's powerful enough to produce a president god-king who could just decide to snap his fingers and end all bad things in the world but just doesn't do that (at least if he's a Democrat; we don't really care what a Republican president does). We think this is a good idea, but don't worry, America is still the source of all evil in the world. America should intervene everywhere and nowhere all at once. America should do nothing because everything it does is evil and past redemption and the only solution is The Revolution which destroys society. America is evil because it was founded on the violent oppression and exploitation of minorities, and therefore the solution is to let fascists be elected to punish those minorities even more because they get in the way of our purist thought experiments and their actual lived experiences don't matter when they contradict our Ideology. BUT ACTUALLY IT STILL SHOULD MILITARILY INTERVENE EVERYWHERE WE SAY SO BUT ACTUALLY IT SHOULDN'T EVER GLOBAL SOUTH. (We don't know what the Global South is or any of its issues, politics, problems, identities, languages, postcolonial developments or so forth, but we know that the Cold War happened and it was all America's fault. Have you heard this piece of Russian propaganda about how Joe Biden is the antichrist? SILENCE IS VIOLENCE SO YOU BETTER SHARE IT.)

Likewise, we support LGBTQ rights in theory but we don't think they're ever worth actually voting to protect (remember, voting is meaningless!) if that also contradicts our aim of The Revolution. We love virulently anti-gay groups like the Houthis if they theoretically support our Anti Genocide stance (don't look at Ukraine, that doesn't count) and also hate Jews. Israel is the only country in the world that has LGBTQ rights and also does stupid or awful military things, and therefore it alone is the problem because it's just pretending to be a democracy or have LGBTQ rights (in comparison to the rest of the Middle East) because it's just cynically covering for all its sins, but those sins are actually America, because Israel is just a white settler colonialist outpost of America, so America not stopping what Israel is doing (by being Israel) is bad. Remember, America is the source of all evil in the world and all other countries are its puppets, so it is also Israel, but it should stop being Israel, because it's the only country that ever makes any choices or has agency. We are very smart.

...basically, if your head hurt trying to read that or follow the logic, that's the point. It has to change constantly and contort itself around in order to both oppose those Weak Mainstream Liberals and act like it has the perfect moral high ground in doing so, regardless of what principles it has to change or what hypocrisies it has to embrace. As such, it has been stripped of any authentic critique or ability to say anything about anything, and I suggest we generally stop letting it pretend that it does. That is the only way to rescue western leftism and make it actually 2% of use at opposing fascism, because right now? Nah. Not in the least. It's actively and gleefully enabling fascism, and after so long hearing how us normie Democratic-voting losers were going to be the ones collaborating with fascists, it makes me just a little bit crazy. Good thing we can erase that too.

[sungbeam]

𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒!

HEY !! HEY YOU, YEAH YOU!! remember to give these authors and the fics all the love they deserve! if u liked what u read, reblog it or comment or send in an ask !! cool, ty <3

a/n: hihi everyone! again, i wanted to extend my appreciation to all my fellow writers with this post (ik it's not a lot compared to how much all y'all do 😔), but if you'd like more fic recs, pls do check out my other blog @luv-beam!

**NOTE: lol 🤡 i do apologize if my bias(es) show per group !! i love every member of every group but some rot my brain a little more than others 🤧😭 i also haven't done a lot of reading lately ,,, this is an accumulation of like three months

NCT

his same, old, safe bet (jeong jaehyun) — @jaehunnyy

not finished just yet but it's off to a brilliant start !! we love yn's "bitch who r u" attitude toward jae lmaoo

swiper no swiping (lee donghyuck) — @/xosimo (linked my rb bc they deactivated 😭)

I WAS SWOOOOONING like omg hyuck is so attractive pls and just the unfolding of events and the build up? yes.

inevitable (na jaemin) — @korijime

dude the vibes r so immaculate in this piece, like the soft sort of atmosphere and the low-key confession style mwah

SVT

11:23pm (kwon soonyoung) — @xuhuihuis / @.maiademia

okay i admit i'm a little obsessed w this (maybe cuz it was my request so i must promote) but it was also written so well and hoshi is so nOm

love on the air (hong jisoo) — @suhnshinehaos

joshua hong 😔✨ ugh such a romantic,, both of them r two idiots in love but isn't that one of the best tropes?

pocket money (choi seungcheol) — @ethereal-engene

found this realistic in a good way!! cheol would be so cute all flustered and he *would* catch non-carat eyes too no doubt 👀👀

the way seventeen breaks your heart (performance unit) — @moonsolie

broke my heart </3 into seventeen+ pieces </3 if i love angst, then this was my ride or die

i less than three you (xu minghao) — @junshine (they deactivated unfortunately :( but i'll link my reblog!)

although op deactivated, pls do continue to read and enjoy their work :') it was so well written and i loved it so much

"i'm here. it's ok. you can cry. i've got you." (kwon soonyoung) — @holdinbacksecrets

comfort to the max ; i cannot tell u enough how much i loved this like ,, oh god i found this when i was not in a good spot and it just made me feel ,, seen?

order up (yoon jeonghan) — @leejungchans

my love for trickster jeonghan is thru the roof 😔😭 this was so so cute (and funny watching jeonghan not get the reaction he wanted skcjdj)

vernon heist au (chwe hansol) — @freakyfriedrice

i LOVED the uncharted movie and to be blessed with this au ?! like dream come true omg i loved this beyond words ; flustered vernon >>>>

TXT : i'm sorry txtblr i was and am in a beomgyu crisis.

nap of a star (choi beomgyu) — @blue-jisungs

omg literally mE WHEN?! (´Д⊂ヽ soft moment to the soundtrack of clownery, my favorite </3 u know u like them gyu õ_ó

8:55pm (choi beomgyu) — @4ure2

dUUDE the imagery in this one? i felt so many things, and this man goes and says this 😔 denial fr but sighs ,, that's love ig

balance game (choi beomgyu) — @yeonjunszn

low-key down bad for this trope, like /bruh/ u like ur best friend?? own it?? ; also this is funny asf even tho beomyn r lichrally dumbasses 🤕🤕

2:37am (choi beomgyu) — @ijhyo

now THIS was simply UNCALLED FOR my heart cannot take this like goodbye. this is all i want.

SKZ

king candy (han jisung) — @petrichor-han

how can i not put this hanji fic on here õ_ó READ IT, it's so cute and a holiday staple for me atp

poisoned fangs (kim seungmin) — @petrichor-han

i have so much to read from rain's m.list and i don't often read like horror-ish things? but i thoroughly enjoyed this one (i also have a weird thing for morbid reads 🤡)

probably up (bang chan) — @loveliestfelix

why we love christopher bang chan (´Д⊂ヽ ugh there was something so warm, mellow, and comfortable about this one and the ambiguity of potential lovers was also super refreshing

6:26pm (bang chan) — @daydreaminskz

i've actually never seen this kind of situation written before, and tbh i'm so here for it like the domesticity and chan being cute as always (i'm sorry but i might have laughed when he fell 😭💀)

10:43am (lee minho) — @cleyellow-wood

i honestly really love how this was written, like there was something abt op's style and the way lino was portrayed as well that hits the spot

tag, you're it (lee felix) — @loveliestfelix

read the warning so u aren't too surprised, but u will still need a box of tissues ; literally sHivers from this one

ENHA : lmao let's not talk abt my jungwon brainrot either 🤡

you're mine (yang jungwon) — @goldenhypen

em's stuff always makes me like 2489292x more delulu that's a fact like it's short but too sweet i 😔

bookmark (park jongseong) — @crystalsoobin

so so dang cute — even if he did call reader a nerd ig 🤕🤕

kisses nonstop (yang jungwon) — @goldenhypen

this woman posted this on my birthday as if it would not sHOOT ME THRU THE HEART ?!? LIKE U EXPECT ME TO BE OKAY AFTER THIS??

closer (yang jungwon) — @palajae

tbh read this during physics and i am not ashamed bc it was so cute and the pacing was mwah and oh god yANG JUNGWON (´Д⊂ヽ

ATZ

midnight kiss (kim hongjoong) — @i-write-some-stuff

i love whump aus part 28472993 OP U WROTE HONGJOONG SO WELL AND SO AHHHHH

11:54pm (choi san) — @stayarmytinyzenmoa-l

i will say this again and again but this lives in my brain rent free and i need to stalk crys' masterlists once i have the time 😔

june+july fic recs

[punkeropercyjackson]

In general white queer Atsv fans seem to be under the impression the poc of the Spidercast have to basically be turned white personality and presentation wise to act queer which is very harmful at worst and really annoying at best.Sorry not sorry but Miles is never gonna have some Love,Simon shit going on with Hobie and he dosen't need a bi awakening considering that realistically he probably knows he's bi already by online things and extra not sorry but trans boy Miles is nothing like M.cu Peter who's the actual disgrace on the Spiderman legacy Miles haters think Miles is and if Miles needs a queer awakening by another Spiderperson,she'd be a trans girl egg that was cracked by Gwen and it makes way more sense than 'Hobie gives Miles his first gay panic' and i can't emphasize enough how much Punkflower is more like a lot of poc4poc m/f ships than they are any bland white gay ones and Miles dosen't even have to be transfem in the context for it to be accurate

Much like this,a significant amount of Ghostflower content has Miles acting white to make it conform to norms rather than a proper transmasc4transfem couple i.e existing completely outside of cisheteronormativity and Gwen is self-inserted into by certain people in the fandom who can't accept she's not a racist weirdo like them but a genuinely realistic and awesome trans girl who's good to the characters of color and that the jealousy scene was ooc and only existed to make Gwen look bad and screw over Margo even further and it's important to note she's never been mean to Margo nor expressed actual dislike of her as a person.Margo is magically not part of the poly Spiderband despite deadass being Miles' crush and when black queer women BUILT the lgbt community and Pavitr is basically had microaggressions thrown at him nonstop by feminizing him because white westerners don't know what actual positive masculinity instead of praising men for the bare minimum is or anything about indian culture that's not the chai joke

Spiderd*ds is so fucking gringocore and as a Peter B selfshipper since 2018 y'all've made it impossible to like the newer fan content of him and i feel so bad for Miguel because he dosen't even seem to like Peter B all that much seeing as their ONE scene was him being DIRECTLY annoyed by him and showing it unlike Margo and Gwen who don't have real beef but every fandom needs it's nonexistent in canon smut fest with racism injected into it ig.Jessica's canon trans in the comics but like Margo,y'all're no blacks and women dni in bio types

And Hobie.Good fucking GOD,white punks and white people with punk fetishises can't act right.Next mf to make a they/them Hobie joke is seeing stars,Prowlerp*nk is on my shitlist purely because Miles G is made into a violent tsundere by everybody who ships it and i never wanna hear about how the super darkskin black character should've been aroace instead of the center of romantic attention to BOTH mcs.Hobie is a black transsexual,not your papable lil trans gag character and the sweetest,gentlest person ever who's a consent king and that's right there in the text by his relathionship with Gwen and oh btw,yeah,they ARE dating and he has way more reasons to be into her than he does any white boys cause he stays having a thing for transfems and i'm giving major sideeye to black Gwen being nonexistent for multiple reasons too when it's so fitting and such a no brainer take

Point is:Be better.Stop acting like poc have to whitewash ourselves to be queer.You ain't slick

[slocumjoe]

Gage with Sole that gets lost in nuka cola world? Like he doesnt pay attention to them for one second and they already wandered off and has no clue where they at "gage pick me up im scared and there are flying ants"

aka my experience being underleveled and doing the hardest areas of the park first :'D

Gage and Overboss's No Good, Very Bad Vacation In Nuka World

Realistically, Gage should have anticipated it. It's was a theme park, they were designed to be massive labyrinths with money sinks at every corner. The bigger and more confusing it is, the more likely someone will get lost and wander, and hopefully stumble into a shop or something. This is basic Capitalist Design 101.

Another thing he should have expected was that there were damn good reasons the other parks weren't already full of raiders, living the high life. Colter didn't do it because he was lazy; no one else did for fear of death. Gage himself never heard of anyone coming back from the other parks, that means they don't.

So, really, he should have considered it his own damn fault for not thinking about it, the first time he lost track of his shiny new Overboss.

That first time, it happened in that bottling plant. They went into a door, he followed behind, they went into another door, and another, and shit got weird from there when the soda river erupted with crabs.

He killed some crabs. They killed some crabs. He turned to see where they were killing crabs and saw jack shit.

It was then that he realized that the bottling plant was echoey as fuck, and he hadn't been behind them for...a good ten minutes, at least, just following noises that came from God knows where.

Gage didn't know the layout of the place. Neither did they. The fact that the river is just one line doesn't help shit, because there's employee tunnels, manufacturing, the rest of the plant. The plant was fucking big. They could have been anywhere. Whererever they were, there was more fucking crabs. And Gage, being a good underling who had to pull a lot of strings to get to this point in the first place, wasn't very okay with the idea of his boss being crab dinner.

So he hit the legs, backtracking through tunnels, the walkways above the bottling zones/whatever the fuck those were. Kept finding crabs he didn't kill, good start. Kept hearing gunfire, grenades, crab-screaming. Less good. Ended up back on the soda river (what the fuck was wrong with these people). Accidentally triggered every fucking pre-recorded line from the intercom, which drowned out the shit he needed to hear. At this point, Boss has been fighting for their goddamn life for twenty minutes, and the walls had started to melt into one big blob of samey-samey. Not even the sky was this blue.

Eventually, they found him, pursued by six hunters. He killed some crabs. They killed some crabs. He turned around, grabbed them, and was about to threaten to put them on one of them toddler leashes if they wandered off like again. But then a pack of Assaultatrons kicked down a door and they jumped in different direction away from the lasers. Ran down different hallways. Found more crabs. Killed more crabs, pursued by Assaultatrons. He knew Boss ran back into the river, because the all of Announcer Lady's lines were playing over and over each other, like the layers of hell condensing into a pure diamond of auditory psychology warfare.

Gage didn't notice when the chaos stopped, when the robots and crabs started dropping. It just happened and he had to take a breather, find his happy place. When he met back up with the boss, they were covered in stab wounds from stimpaks, used all their ammo and grenades, and thought that a suit of power armor made up for it.

The power armor did do well against the crab kings on the roof. It did not survive the Queen in the pond.

After this, he pulled them aside, told them to slow the fuck down and not charge through places like a drunk bull in a china shop. They said yes, Gage, I will definitely do that, and I will definitely proceed with caution and carry extra supplies on my personal.

They did, for their credit.

The Mr. Frothy's, however, didn't let that stay true for long.

Both of them took one step into Galactic World, and a fucking soda nuke dropped in between them. And again, they scrambled for different cover. Then a Frothy went after Gage, and the soda bomber bot went after the boss, and they had to separate again.

It'll be fine, he thought, I'll just kite around this corner that leads back into the main area, this wall is like three feet wide, this doesn't lead into a different level entirely.

It did.

Gage made it to the middling level of the Galactic Zone, every eyebot swarming like they wanted fresh meat or some shit, and the Overboss was running from the Nukatrons and a Mr. Frothy screaming about strangling them. Couldn't go the way he came, had his own robot fixated on asphyxiation behind him. Kept running. Then the laser turrets kicked on, and this was now an exercise in agility and being God's favorite.

When the robots patrolling the park finally all died, it was midnight, Gage was half-dead, had no ammo, and no indication that the overboss was alive, save Redeye's music playing at full volume somewhere nearby. Back to Nuka-World for supplies, sleep, and a nervous breakdown.

The next day, they took on the Vault attraction.

It seemed like things were looking up. Sure, the boss got lost looking for...what, stickers on the walls? Something with dumb bottle-cap glasses. But the robots were few and far between, the space was small and linear enough Boss couldn't wander off too far, and they made it out having not used all of their ammo. It was a good sign.

They went to the Interstellar Theatre, next.

Boss had the good idea to go in quiet, sneak around. They found an elevator up to the projection room, found a starcore, and figured that the area was clear, or at least mostly safe. They just cut all the power, after all.

The robots are motion activated.

Fighting turrets, protectatrons, Mr. Handy's in the dark was bad enough. But whoever the fuck put a sentrybot in a theatre, Gage hoped they went to hell.

He found the boss trying to drown themselves in a water fountain, when the last bot went down.

Back to Nuka-World for ammo, stimpaks, and another nervous breakdown as a treat

I saw a robot fighting ring, Boss said. The bots would have already killed each other in there, they said.

So they went to the Robco Battleground.

One or two robots, the rest were dormant. Thank. God. Boss found some starcores, some good loot, went into a door in a basement with robots.

The door shut and maglocked behind them. The pre-recorded announcer starting up the match. All those dormant robots in the basement woke up. On one side of that door, the Overboss fought for their goddamn life with a bunch of tincans. On the other, Gage did the same damn thing. When it opened back up, guess what they did? Yep, back to Nuka-World for stimpaks, ammo, and another nervous breakdown. And a shower, because flammable oil is not a good thing to be covered in, when using firearms. Gage heard the boss muttering and giggling about laser turrets to the plush toy sloth they picked up, and wondered if he would have to put them down out of mercy.

And then the fucking...Nuka Galaxy ride.

So dark. So big. So long. It was the longest attraction at that fucking park. Couldn't see your hands in front of you. Gage could have lost his mind in that section with the giant fake rocks. Found a lot of dead people who did, anyway. Once the Frothy's came barreling out from a hallway, yet again, the Boss went one way, he went the other. When they killed the bots, had to marco-polo triangulate their way back to each other. And then the area with the giant UFOs, and no lighting on the scaffolding. Who the fuck made this park? None of this was OSHA compliant, surely. You know what's even less OSHA compliant?

Laser turrets on EVERY FUCKING WALL.

Laser turrets on every UFO, every ceiling, every wall, every stairwell, every giant fake rock, laser turrets everywhere. Why? Why would Nuka Cola Corporation think they needed this many? Were they expecting two dipshit raiders to come strolling on through, and hated them, specifically? They weren't fucking ashing little Timmy for lifting from the gift shop, right?

You know what else sucks? Laser turrets high above you, in a pitch black corridor, where there's a drop just mere feet in front of you.

Boss didn't get lost in here because Gage grabbed them by the scruff of their shirt if they so much as leaned too far away. No, he doesn't care what shiny thing you see, you are staying within arm's length. Fuck treasure, fuck Galactic Zone, and fuck John Nukacola, or whatever his name was.

Gage never again let them get more than five feet away from him, after Galactic Zone was cleared, and the boss never again had to whisper hateful nothings about laser turrets to their sloth toy.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s1 ep12: Cathexis

Another one I didn't remember at all, this one was quite exciting to watch. Voyager's first 'crew getting possesed by aliens' story, it's another one of those episodes that's pretty much a copy of an earlier Next Generation episode, but it was well done, and very creepy and suspenseful. I like the way they played up the crew's paranoia to add to the tension. And it was the first time we get to see Captain Janeway's Victorian governess holonovel, which is one of my favorite things, and not just because I'm tickled that Captain Janeway shares my taste in literature, but because she looks absolutely gorgeous in period costume. Like, let me fangirl for a moment here, because look at this perfect vision of beauty, oh my god:

I want her whole outfit, it's perfect. Major kudos to the costume designer for giving her an historically accurate dress and hairstyle. As someone who used to do a lot of historical costuming, I'm very nitpicky about those things, but this is a good costume on every level- beautiful design, well fitted to the actress, fits the character's personality, absolutely nothing anachronistic about it anywhere. 10/10, no notes! I need to cosplay this so bad!!

Okay, I'm done being a costume nerd, back to the episode itself: I appeciated that they mentioned the EMH being programmed with knowledge of various cultures traditional healing practices instead of just having him dismiss Chakotay's medicine wheel as superstition. While I have issues with the wheel prop itself not looking very realistic, I do like that they made a point to say that Earth's medical establishment will become more open minded and inclusive in the future. (But the artwork on the wheel looked central or south american, and I'd always thought Chakotay was supposed to be from the north american southwest- it says a lot about how much the writers didn't care about him that after 7 years of episodes, I still have no idea what continent he's even from. sigh.)

Also lol at Tom Paris talking about how when he was a kid he had a doctor that made housecalls- who the heck has that even now, let alone in the 24th century?? I think this was probably where I started to get the headcanon that the Paris family is super rich- like I know that Earth is supposed to be a utopia with no poverty, but I feel like rich people with inherited wealth would keep on living in their fancy houses in their gated communities, and Tom Paris strikes me as being a privileged kid who grew up in a big house with a swimming pool and a tennis court, who spent his youth riding around in his expensive car (or would it be a shuttlecraft?? do rich people have their own shuttles on earth??) and being a slacker/prankster king at his fancy prep school like a 24th century Zack Morris. (I know I read Pathways back when I was a teenager, and it may have mentioned something about his childhood, but I don't remember any of it, and novels aren't technically canon in Star Trek universe, so I'm sticking with my rich kid Tom Paris headcanon.)

More of Neellx being possessive of Kes in this episode, ughhhh.

I didn't remember that they gave background crewmember Lieutenant Durst a pretty prominent supporting role in this episode. Obviously it was meant to make his subsequent death more impactful, but it was anyway, since I still remember him for getting killed off. (I probably don't have to give spoiler warnings for a decades old show, but spoiler: he dies in the very next episode.)

Anyway, tl;dr: a solid alien possession episode.

[minthe-lover]

Chapter 220 analysis

This chapter has... alot I don't like and a few small small things that I do like but it's still pretty bad. At first there is this really weird repeated panel.. like usually the repeated panels have like a small difference or are slightly zoomed in but these ones are just 100% full repeats and it sucks cause it's just lazy.

Like two of the panels even have the same speak bubble... the only difference is a few small changes in the sides. It's annoying and clearly lazy... like.. at least change how high he is holding the staff thing to show how each failed attempt weighs on him. It would be so easy... change his stance or fuck change the way his hair is. Any change at all!

As for all the tartarus stuff I don't fully mind it as cause though I'm not sure how I feel about the kronos plot will continues. Though I don't mind the direction cause at least it's somewhat interesting and is going to be used to bring hera back into the story. Plus who knows since rs would loves to get teenagers dating old men maybe Hebe will get into a relationship now she's 18/very very heavy sarcasm.

Though I really do wish it would have been made clear how this happened, I mean during the kronos fight it was shown pretty clearly that tartarus is strong then kronos... though who knows maybe it was just all Persephone magic womb powers!

Also another note the goofy faces in this chapter especially with hades and hecate really break any seriousness or tension that can be built with his chapter. Along with hades just... extremely pointy shoes.. like why are they so pointy this chapter.. they are god damn clown shoes.

Now onto something that I do like about this chapter! is that Persephone is still effected by apollo, do I think it's moved on from a bit to quickly but I do like it shown. Her being shaken from seeing him and getting effected despite her own experiences I like. It's realistic and again a good point in the chapter. Though small note did persephone ever get her drivers license.. should she really be driving?

Now comes the worst god damn part of this chapter which makes me want to rip my hair out. Cause you know persephone the supposedly kind heart person decided it would be best to threaten a worker that she knew TEN years ago that she had a slightly bad experience with.

Though you know what lets look at the so terrible things he did to persephone! since they are clearly so bad that persephone feels the need to threaten a worker. Well their first interaction he's is already completely terrified of her which makes complete sense considering the info he knows. He knows that he is most likely closely connected to hades a king that has been shown to not exactly be the nicest to people underneath to him. Plus how him and his brothers are known for sleeping around so again an understandable assumption.

Now their 'friendship' starts with persephone offering to help him with some home work.. right after he got insulted by the teacher. Which this is when I'm first going to bring up persephone massive privilege. She's a goddess from a rich family that is extremely smart and respected, tori in like a second episode with him is fucking insulted. There is a huge difference between their lives and how they are treated.

Then alex roommate gets fucking kidnapped, tortured and his god damn eye is ripped out!! it's fucking clear that tori is clearly horribly effected by this, and it's all fucking legal as well! hades is just fucking allowed to permanently disable someone and the biggest consequence he faces is that persephone gets a bit sad.

Not to mention while alex was being fucking tortured hades and hecate where talking about persephone.. and it makes complete sense why he would think that persephone was the one to make hades do this. Plus it's completely fucking okay if tori didn't want to be friends with someone who is clearly close with a king that repeatedly abuses his power to almost fucking kill his roommate! Like imagine whats going through his mind he could very much be thinking that if he upsets persephone the same thing could happen to him!

The next time persephone sees him she chases after him when he tried to run away, and then grabbed him which like.. I don't care how persephone is blind to these sort of things it's clear that he trying to get away from her and is clearly terrified so yeah his reaction is 100% understandable. He's scared for his life and the life of his friend, and is setting an understandable clear boundaries. He made a large assumption for his safety and that's okay.

Now again, persephone is in a position of power and when tori mentions both that and how in universe her name kinda just makes the situation worse. Again it's the equivalent of you knowing someone is like probably in a relationship with the prime minister and the prime minister is also legally allowed to fucking torture people and has proved that he is more then willing to do so on the behalf for that person. Yeah I wouldn't exactly be the sweetest while talking about that person.

Not to mention that persephone response to this is how it must not be true, and it is there must be some sort of misunderstanding. Like tell me persephone what the fuck is the misunderstanding here, that the person who got fucking kidnapped doesn't know what one of four kings look like??

The last thing we see of tori is this panel (I think), Where we just have tori and one of his friend whispering behind persephone. Like yeah how terrible of them... we aren't even shown what their talking about. Now I'm going to talk about the last line that persephone said to tori. Where tori was talking about her behind her back "during one of the hardest time of her life" Which is a terrible point because tori didn't know any of that shit! He barely knew perse before he starting avoiding persephone, they studied once together and supposedly that's enough for his actions to be deemed as truely terrible.

Now the main problem with this confrontation is how both tori is probably one of the people who've done like the least shity things to her. Along with the fact that.. he's at his job, it's not like he ever misstreated her when he was working but because persephone decided to basically threaten and scare him at his work he can't do anything. Again persephone is extremely privileged, shes a powerful queen that could seriously fuck him up if she wanted to... he's in a position were he can't stand up for himself.

It's a weird power fancy that would have been better written to be directed at any other character. Persephone doesn't seem like she's some strong girl boss, it just comes off as cruel and kicking someone beneath her that never did anything to cruel for him.

Plus persephone doing stuff like pulling her stats as queen of the underworld to again threaten a worker. Which as hecate said when alex eye was ripped out, mean that she could FUCKING TORTURE HIM and it would be perfectly legal. It's a fuck up abuse of power that persephone is using... especially taking into account how tori could very much be traumatized from seeing his roommate attacked in such a way.

In the end persephone actions are cruel and don't fit into the whole "perse is so kindhearted". This is an abuse of power.. and if persephone is supposed to be some great leader that cares for the everyone.. then why is she acting like this.

Now moving onto the last problem/thing I like about this chapter is. I like that persephone has payed for her own home.. but I'm really annoyed for the reason she got to be able to do that. While yes on the surface she did pay for it herself.. it's still because of hades. She got a bank account because of hades, she got payed for an internship because of hades... and she didn't really earn most of the money she has.

Like at most she worked for 4 weeks.. how high was she paying and how high was the interest that she clearly has a large sum of money given tori's surprised and just immediately get an apartment. Like in an evening... she barely earned this.. she just waited and the just got this money. She still doesn't have a job... and if she is payed for being the queen of the underworld that money is still coming from hades... it sucks.

[steampunkforever]

Ridley Scott is a director that I largely view as washed up right up until he releases another good movie, at which point I wait around for his next run of bad films before I resume my judgement and hold it until he makes another good film, restarting the cycle. And he always seems to do this, following every Exodus: Gods and Kings or Robin Hood with The Martian or Prometheus and resetting my respect for him.

I don't think that "Ridley Scott is sort of washed up" is a controversial statement. At least not at the moment, considering popular reactions to Napoleon. Maybe Gladiator 2 will be good and he'll prove us all wrong. What's more interesting is Scott's tendency to make movies in his run of good films that are undoubtedly solid, but don't reach the acclaim of Blade Runner or Blackhawk Down. Films like All the Money in the World, The Last Duel (or House of Gucci for that matter) are solid but frankly understated for being Ridley Scott pictures, and only really shine when compared to his bad films or the idea of his bad films (re: Gladiator 2). They're certainly not Alien or Thelma and Louise, but Scott clearly uses them to explore interesting concepts and develop his craft in new ways. Body of Lies is one of those films.

The movie itself is by no means revolutionary. A 2008 film made about the war on terror, the biggest thing the plot does is explore the internal agency politics and infighting of the era's spycraft organizations rather realistically. Other than the inclusion of surveillance drones, the movie is a bone stock antiterror spy thriller from the same era, albeit with a fantastic selection of Iraqi cars on display.

Where Scott really works on this film is the interplay between Leo DiCaprio (a young operative with his boots on the ground) and Russell Crowe, his Cold-War-forged handler who calls the shots from Washington DC. Using their relationship to echo the disconnect between Washington and boots on the ground in Iraq, Scott positions spies as much more fallible than the Bush era propaganda machine would have us believe. Most interesting to me is how Crowe's character was handled. While DiCaprio chases informants down dark alleyways and dodges gunfire on dusty desert roads, we almost exclusively see Crowe's spy chief calling the shots from the phone while picking his daughters up from football practice or fixing breakfast for the kids or puttering about in his home office waiting for breakfast to be ready.

The war on terror is a lazy man's war at this point. It's all drone strikes and Crowe's presence halfway around the world overriding DiCaprio's decisions is an elegant way of portraying this, even if the rest of the film is largely boring otherwise.

[mephiles-the-jester]

rewatching wreck it ralph the worldbuilding is actually insane for how many worlds there are to build i love it,,time for some random thoughts while i watch the movie in a single post

i like felix and ralph,and i think with the scene in the hallway on its own people can see felix not liking ralph but when you see him next to the nicelanders its clear he really does want to let ralph into the anniversary party when he comes,he doesnt want to tell him to leave despite how everyone doesnt want him there, i think inversely to how ralph finds it difficult to break from being the 'bad guy', felix finds it difficult to break from being the 'good guy',, or smth like that idk,,,

other thing, i love how the movie treats vanellope,like she's a child and so silly but shes also a strong parallel to ralph and it takes her seriously for it, i don't know why ive noticed that but its really cool to think about. it might be a while since ive watched movies with a child protagonist like her but i noticed it and i appreciate how shes not written off as just a child ralph just relates to, because she gets what its like for ralph and she knows it

no huge thoughts on felix and calhoun i love them both,also god i with that were me,,,(both of them)

also ive been thinking this for years and i must come out and say it now that i have the chance,,but king candys warning to ralph i think is the movie's best example of how much it succeeded with its storytelling and with both its princess vanellope reveal and its turbo motivation reveal. because vanellopes glitch getting the game put out of order when players see it, and her not being able to escape the cabinet being unplugged are,,like actual concerns if she was a regular racer,like if she wasnt a princess and an actual game anomaly than that scenario might happen, because she really cant escape the game when the cybugs do come, and she does retain her glitch ability when she enters the roster,,. and it makes ralph destroying her kart more sad than infuriating because you know as much as him and that he wants to keep her out of danger, and despite king candy being an antagonist,the audience isnt told why he truly doesnt want her in the race, and he gives a realistic explanation to ralph of a series of events that could threaten vanellope, and mislead the audience while giving foreshadowing. after all, turbo does have experience glitching a game into getting unplugged,,so,,,

also while writing this ralph telling king candy that the players will love vanellope and king candy going "and if they dont",,,im gonna hit that candy cane stripped ass mf 12 yards across a willy wonka world of imagination,,,with glasses

damn this movie look gorgeous the scene of ralph talking to gene with the orange out of order sign is beautiful,,

i think when i first watched the movie i thought it was unfair that vanellope had a built in power up in the form of glitching around when she gets added to the roster,but candlehead can turn cherries nearby into bombs so ill accept that,,i would play a real game of this tbh

i love turbo and ralph/felix recognising the other immediately since they were literally neighbours when turbo was plugged in, and you can even notice it in the salmon castle when king candy cane recognise ralph despite the audience getting the vibe that he just stays in sugar rush,(he has to because he probably has his disguise only in that game)

vanellope keeping her glitching is great for the disability allegory of her character, becoming a princess doesnt magically solve what happened to her code being disconnected like that and thats fine, she just becomes an absolutely busted racer that all the players are gonna use and i love that for her

the characters who got their game unplugged being invited to a bonus level is so funny,they dont even have to deal with copyright its perfect

in conclusion: wreck it ralph i think has become a favourite movie of mine

[baalzebubuu]

So. Why exactly do you think the head of HR would chastise and insult one of her bosses for doing something that, while risky, was the only thing that could be done at the time to keep Kronos locked away AND reawaken the Underworld? And WHY would they then treat said boss like a fool for being freaked out over her powers seemingly inverting when, 1.) her powers were working as they usually do up until spring, and 2.) there were few known precedents over what Erebos would do to those that make deals with them (i.e. as far as we can see, Hades didn't get his pre-king powers "inverted")? I understand that you have your gripes with LO (some I can even agree with), but damn, at least be fair with your critiques, and also maybe don't mock these characters for having certain bodily features that are often the focus of negative attention IRL...

(P.S. No Greek god/goddess would accept a nymph insulting them to their face like that - they've done far worse for lesser, and even indirect insults, and a nymph being the "Head of HR" in the Underworld OR Olympus realistically wouldn't save them from that wrath, ESPECIALLY if it's coming from the queens themselves; yes, I also saw your Hera post - Hera may be leery of Demeter at times, but she's far from being genuinely terrified of her (ep. 188 clearly shows this), and please remember that Persephone was in danger due to MINTHE'S jealousy over a damn tabloid photo, not Hera's (you know, the GODDESS OF MARRIAGE, who's allowed to play matchmaker if she sees chemistry between people since THAT'S ONE OF HER JOBS, and who also likely wanted to give Persephone experiences outside of the latter's sheltered life) decision to have Persephone intern in the Underworld.)

All good points! These comics are meant to be mostly skits just what the fans always wanted to say to the characters themselves so I don’t really take them seriously in terms of plot or any of that nature

Also I’m not really much for posting here on tumblr

But DW I’ll answer the best I can with some background lore I have currently in store

Originally Gunnarr was a Humble devoted loyal Mage Serving under Freya the most powerful revered goddess in the Norse Pantheon and they were sent Away under Mysterious Circumstances

And they’re placed in high regard by many connections with Justice goddesses due to their good behavior and devotion to them Which somewhat explains why they’ve gotten away with the BadMouthing certain scenes and if any god ever really does anything to HR Freya definitely won’t be too happy about it and would cause a whole dispute between pantheon

As for Getting away with badmouthing with Hades and Keeping him on his Toes HR and Hades have a very long history working for him for up to thousand or so years

HR and Hades Essentially had a relationship just like Bojack Horseman and Princess Carolyn

And HR essentially is completely done with his Foolishness and 99% of The Olympus Family

To the point of calling them out at with whatever legal problems the gods will cause as even if they DIE being called out HR gonna die knowing he was right and essentially their point proved

they don’t really care if they Die by Their hands

( till they eventually became nicer Because of their poly relationship)

As for the part about Persephone reaching That Tower because of Minthe

I was Planning on making a comic about it soon where HR talks to Minthe and gives her consequences but I never really had that much planning how to execute it right

As for how i usually draw Persephone I was mostly following along to how other creators were doing things, not much thought put into it

However that I will apologize for since i do admit they are in bad taste

Let me know if I’m missing a part that I forgot to explain

Edit: Also i am very sorry this post was poorly written I suck at explanations

And it’s the morning by the time I made this post and I’m heading to work atm

I very much apologize for this lackluster explanation

[choices-binglebonkus]

TRH/TRF felt more like a parody of TRR

It really did. TRR book three’s ending felt very wrapped up, very final. MC and her spouse got married, Anton was behind bars, and the royal council was formed.

Then there were all sorts of little loose ends tied up for individual characters rather than just the plot itself. Penelope became a dog fashion designer (which was never explored again in TRH or TRF iirc), Kiara joined the foreign ministry, Maxwell’s book solved House Beaumont’s financial troubles, Bertrand and Savannah finally got engaged, Madeleine got her position as Royal Communications Director and finally apologized to Hana, Olivia decided to lean into her role of Duchess of Lythikos and rebrand the Nevrakis legacy into one of loyalty, Drake finally had a place and purpose on the council, Hana’s parents started making an effort to let her be her own person, and Liam finally eased into his role as king with the dust from Anton’s rebellion settling.

It felt like truly deserved and realistic endings for all the characters, protagonist and antagonist alike. It felt like everyone’s stories were complete.

And then TRH fucked it all up. Basically every character became hollow. Or worse, traitors.

The fact that so many of them turned their backs on the MC and the crown so quickly in TRH was absolutely insane considering how reverent everyone was of the crown in TRR. The entire original cast of TRR except for Liam, Hana, Bertrand, and Olivia was ruined for me.

Hell, even Olivia wasn’t immune to the shitty characterization. The Scarlet Duchess herself became a victim of Flanderization. Dagger this. Dagger that. Dagger, dagger, dagger. Training. Knife. Sword. Dagger. Yes, Pixelberry. We get it. Olivia is a warlike Nevrakis descendant whose weapon of choice is the dagger.

Hell, now that I actually think about it, Olivia wasn’t immune to bad writing, and neither was everyone else. They butchered Maxwell’s character beyond any recognition or repair. Drake felt oddly wishy washy for the rest of the series. The MC’s plot armor was nuts and somehow she only got more annoying as a character as the series went on. And for someone who had years of extensive tutelage and lessons, not to mention was the fucking KING, Liam sure as fuck didn’t know what he was doing after TRR ended. He was pretty much powerless and always lost in the sauce.

Truly? The only characters who I feel weren’t done poorly were Hana and Bertrand.

And good fucking god, don’t even get me started on TRF. TRF makes TRH look half-decent in comparison.

[someguyinc]

Ooooh what are your story ideas and meta in the works?

ahh !! i have a good handful,, most of them are merlin related so forgive me spn mutuals ;-; but i'm just going to list them off bc i fear if i give an in depth response this post would be one of those long ones that make your app glitch and phone burn to a crisp in your hands

bbc merlin:

meta:

- gwaine being more observant than he's given credit for pulling a classic "oh i just drink and make jokes" silly guy move as a cover

- arthur, merlin, and mordred and their roles in the prophecy/ties to the old religion and triple goddess

- destiny in bbc merlin being a living breathing entity that lives through feeding off of tragedy

- gwen and her flower motif !!

- morgana and merlin being two sides of the same coin

- the different sects of the old religion and those that believe in the once and future king vs those who don't

- magic and its relation to gender throughout the entire series and how it is often a punishment for the women in the series

- gwen and lancelot being foils for each other

- gwen and elyan's sibling relationship (this one is mostly head canons based off the scraps we get throughout the series)

- more in-depth exploration of the main 4's character thesis

- difference between merlin and emrys and where the line blurs

- druids and their expectations of merlin

fic ideas:

- key trials: merlin and arthur have to enter the kingdom of the sidhe and stop the ever growing plague that has begun destroying all the crops and causing an abundance of monsters in albion,, this one investigates the double standard merlin holds for arthur vs himself, the lies they've told themselves and arthur internal bias from being raised anti-magic, as well as merlin being a liar

(i've stated writing a few chapters but lost motivation n school n work once again took over my life)

- dragon's ire: heavy political intrigue, prince merlin au, focuses heavily on the reality of merlin and morgana's ill-fated friendship and how merlin telling morgana about his magic could've definitely made things worse in the long run, kingdoms at war and gives more background to the knights as well as blacksmith!gwen who i hold close to my heart

- fae circle fic: really just guilty pleasure of seeing genderbent morgana and gwen if i'm being honest,, silly fun :3

- elwaine fic idea: moments where traveling blacksmith elyan meets gwaine multiple times but working with him as a knight gets a bit more difficult from there prolly just smth short n fun :)

//

spn:

meta:

- sam and dean and hoodoo/voodoo in spn and how many times they should've died after using it... i do not know how to stress that not only are these practices closed off to non-black folk but then also like,, even black people that do not have practitioners in their bloodlines do not fuck with these practices because the repercussions are just that !! bad !! 😭😭 (ofc ik the 'god favor' and more realistically this is bc there were probably no black writers in the room but DAMN,, it's just insane)

- probably low hanging fruit but,, song genres relating to each member of tfw and their arc in the story

- i'm sure someone has done this before too but bela/dean parallels and similarities

fic idea:

- jock!castiel... that's all i got 😭😭 i've only recently gotten into spn and castiel is very close to my heart,, but i keep seeing fics where he is a gardner/knitter and while i think he'd be interested i think he'd also drop them very quickly bc he strikes me as a person(?) that likes the idea of taking things slow but when it comes down to it much rather would prefer things get done immediately or at least he can move his body and feel like something is getting accomplished,, he's also incredibly charismatic and i would love to see him leading a team in something without feeling like it could become a cult

it's kind of just a guilty pleasure lol not too much backing

anyways thanks for the ask hope any of this is interesting 😭🫡

[candyskiez]

3, 4, 5, and 13 for the toh ask game!

3: Oh this is HARD. I'm currently beginning a rewatch so this might change? Y'know y'know. But I think it's Eclipse Lake. It's just so....man. The nuance. The depth. Genuinely such an accurate portrayal of abuse. I've said it before but just. It's so realistic. I like that they don't make Hunter a perfect victim. He's rude, he's bratty, he's manipulative as FUCK in this episode. We see how he got so far as the Golden Guard. He's cunning. He's smart. He's just also insanely reckless with his life because he was taught it's irrelevant. He uses the same tactics on Amity that Belos used on Lilith. It's also a very raw depiction of an abused teenager that just. Doesn't pull any punches. I love that Amitys trauma doesn't go away and that it shows that trauma influences all kinds of relationships you find yourself in. I don't know what I can say about it that I haven't already said. It's just. An excellent episode about abuse that handles the subject matter properly. It's just fucking GOOD man

4. Hmmm. That's a good question. Honestly? Aladarius. They're interesting! I know it's. Nonsensical given we know scraps. But. Listen. Listen. They're FUN. They have it all. Weird sexual tension filled angsty rivalry, childhood best friends turnt awkward tension, comedic gold, divorced energy, absolutely loving and tender after canon, what more can I ask for? I just ..I love thinking about them. I love thinking about the possibility of what their dynamic with Odalia was like when the three of them were best friends. I like thinking about them both having so many regrets with how their relationship ended, but they can't say it. They can't get it out. Darius can't risk ever being hurt like that again, the idea of getting his heart broken again is too much, and the idea of having to be NEAR Odalia or having to think about the thousands of hurts near that is enough to make him sick, and hes trying to tell himself hes over it. Alador is just...resigned. He can't fix it. He feels like he can't. They both fucked up so bad and were...not very good people at some point but try SO hard to be better and they make me so emotional. God. With that being said they do not touch dating until their kids are grown up. Ty and gn. Also I love thinking about them having a conversation about Odalia and going "What happened to the friend we knew? Did she ever exist?" "I don't know." "...Would that be worse?" "I don't know." And. Eats a leg.

5. Oh man this is a HARD one. There's so many good ones! Genuinely just ...so many. So fucking many. One that has absolutely no canon backing in any way whatsoever is Darius and His mentor but. That probably doesn't count for many obvious reasons. So I'll take actual canon. Eda and Luz. I fucking love them. They love each other SO MUCH. Eda calling Luz her kid makes me want to scream and just. God. They're what the other needed. Eda needed someone who gave her a reason to get up and keep going. Someone to make her see the outside world. If King and Luz hadn't shown up, she would've rotted away in that tower forever. She needed a purpose, needed someone who made her stop and see that there were some people worth protecting. Luz made Eda see the outside world and. God. Goddd. And Eda being the accepting mentor she needed, offering her companionship when she needed it the most. Scared and sad and lonely, she needed someone to tell her nothing was wrong with her. She needed someone who could help her figure her weirdness out in a safe environment. And Eda was that. Eda helped her so much. And the owl family gets separated over an dover and over again and then Luz breaks that cylce of pain by COMING BACK and going, no, you know what? This doesn't get to end in tragedy. I love Eda. I love King. I love Hooty and Lilith and Camilia ad Hunter and Willow and Gus and Amity. You don't get to take this from me. I'm going to live on the isles and be happy. I'm going to live. I love my family. And just. Man. Man. Considering Eda and Luz both go through depressive periods in the show it's so. Man. MAN.

13. Season two! Simply because it has the most amount of favorite episodes. It's just a really good season man idk what to tell you.

It's. Late at night for me so sorry for incoherency wah

[andvys]

andy i knew you’d linger is a chef’s kiss masterpiece the way the angst hits so good and leaves us thirsting for more i can’t wait to see what you’ve planned

i’ve seen a lot of turmoil whether reader should be w steve or eddie bc of reasons a, b, c but i wanna know who you think reader should end up w like in your heart if you were in reader’s shoes who would you choose bc honestly as much as i love steve and love to see him grovel working his way back i’d go for eddie bc reader feels so at home w him like they can be their complete self no stress and have been the happiest they’ve been in a long time

but i’m also a sucker for a good comeback story and if i saw steve realizing what he lost and really making changes to be better for reader and himself it’d be so hard not to fall back into things

either way i love what you’re doing keep up the good work you gorgeous person you 🫶🏻

oh my god you are so sweet! i appreciate your kind words and i’m so happy you like this story and my writing so much! 🥹🫶🏻

to answer your question (and this is not because I’m and Eddie girl, I would’ve answered it this way as well, if it was about other characters) I’d rather have her end up with Eddie (fun fact, he was never supposed to be in this story, it was a spontaneous decision) (and again, i’m not saying this because I’m an Eddie girl). It’s just that, he gives her the things that she wanted from Steve, all these years. And, he asks for nothing in return, he just does them for her because he wants to do them for her and he doesn’t expect her to do anything for him! He adores her, he protects her, he is there for her, he supports her and even shows up at games, just for her! He never wronged her in any way, he is just the sweetest guy ever and I love their chemistry (which happened naturally while I was writing it). Would I have labeled this as a love triangle from the start, then she would’ve ended up with Eddie.

As for Steve, he will do and be better, he will say goodbye to his King Steve antiques. He will grovel and he will try to make it up to her, he will learn and he will become the Steve that we know now, the one that we love. But it’s gonna be difficult for him to get her trust back after all the things he had done to her.

Realistically speaking, he fucked up too much. He abandoned her, knowing that her dad left her. He broke every promise he ever made. He told her that he wasn’t in love with her anymore and that their whole relationship was a lie, he cheated emotionally and got together with a different girl just two days after he had dumped her. That is bad enough but there is so much that happened during their relationship too.

He was only eighteen and he was a really insecure and weak guy and he won’t be the same later on but getting her trust back in the future, won’t be easy at all.

The ending is still very much open but I’m just going with the flow right now and trying to figure out how they should end up together

[thisloveforyourmom]

Everyone criticizing the new helluva boss episode because the characters do unhealthy things instead of resolving everything in the most perfect and mentally stable way....yall been watching the show so far??

Deadass saw someone saying octavia doesnt need to apologize to stolas bc hes obviously such a bad dad she is in the right to want to get away from him.......king. Octavia didnt do this to "get away from him." She did it because she had been consciously holding him to a promise he made offhand 10 years ago that she didn't remind him about. It's entirely possible if she'd waited an hour, had breakfast, took a shower, etc. she would have been able to remind him and they could go. Instead, she stole a pricelessly valuable artifact directly tied to stolas' ability to perform his responsibilities in Hell and ran off to the immensely dangerous human world without telling a soul where she was going.

Is it a childish reaction? Yes! Octavia is a child. This happens. It'd be unrealistic to make her perfect. But part of making childish mistakes is apologizing for them when you realize you worried everyone around you and put them all at risk because you were too in your feelings to think about the consequences your actions might have. She had no idea how to use that grimoire - what if she'd been stuck there? What if she'd been sent somewhere much, much more dangerous? What if stolas lost them both?

This episode was not about octavia forgiving stolas for everything ever. It's about the realization she has to go through that everyone is flawed - even her parents. That stolas makes mistakes not because he doesn't care enough to fix them, but because he's not a perfect person who's confronted all HIS issues in a healthy way. And that's a really hard thing to realize about your parent! That they can love you and still hurt you on accident like every other person you know. But it's one you need to have when you're on the cusp of becoming an adult.

And when Stolas realized that he'd totally forgotten something Via was really, really excited about, the FIRST thing he does is try to apologize to her. He's not angry with her for running off, he doesn't call her motives childish. He just apologizes. It's Via who cuts him off, because she's now had the realization that Stolas forgot not because he's prioritizing his hatred of Stella over his love for her, but because a divorce and public disgrace and a traumatized, angry teenager he desperately wants to help is a lot to deal with and he doesn't always have room for everything in his head.

Everything about Octavia's arc so far is about her shedding the naivete of childhood. She's facing the fact that her parents don't - and maybe never did - love each other. She's facing the fact that her parents are flawed and might struggle to express themselves or connect with her even when they desperately want to. She has to confront the fact that she won't and can't always be the only priority in her parents' lives, especially as she gets older and more independent.

And is stolas good at handling that? God no. Lmao. This is not a "FOWGIVE STOWAS OR DIE >:((((" post. But he and octavia are both having realistic reactions here - the disappointed daughter, trying to find ways to understand her parents' love for her when their love for each other is in question and her household is a nightmare, and the stressed out father, trying to keep control of everything even when it's all blowing up in his face. There's no one right or wrong party. The only goal we can have for them is to eventually figure this situation out in a way that works for them.

[dulcewrites]

What is your opinion on show Aemond? In books he was basically psychopath, in show not yet, but I wonder what do you think of him besides the things you said before like he is arrogant. Btw, you are probably the only person who sees his arrogance and inability to rule (despite having Vhagar, being great swordsman and studying history and philosophy) because I swear to God, every Aemond stan views him as perfect and not arrogant at all and perfect material for a king. And you know what is the funniest thing? That they only acknowledge his traumas when they are comparing him to Daemon, you know, Daemon is the bad guy from episode 1, groomer and many other things but Aemond is hurt and insecure and disabled, but when confronted, they all view him as perfect. You know, just because he has traumas means he is perfect. But it never crossed their minds that any sort of trauma affects the process of thinking, self confidence, perception of people around us and does it in not positive way. And no, just because Aemond is traumatized doesn't mean he will be good father and husband because how in madieval world would he have any opportunity to even acknowledge that he has something called trauma and then starting to work on it, slowly realising how this worked and made him the person he is now?

It's 2022 and people are talking a lot about mental health which is great, but seeing how many people not even understand how Aemond's traumatic past shaped him and thinking it won't have negative effect is really sad.

And maybe the reason you got this terrible anon message because his stans really have no clue how his past will affect him and people close to him. They focus on how a good and dutiful son he is, but in fact he is parentified child. I also am one and believe me it could be great for strangers, me caring about my mother, but they don't know how hard it was in childhood when I was the one to take care of her where it should have been other way around. And my relationship with her is not a testimony of any kind of strong bond, but the fact I was burdened by her problems and needed to find solutions to them, because she couldn't. And in episode 9 when Alicent says If anything has happened and her panicked expression, it reminded me of my mother and everytime she relied on me.

You are basically the only person I saw admitting that he is a piece of work. Others believe that after all he has been through he would be perfect father, husband and king. No one sees how his past shaped him in bad way. Because it's like knife that cuts on both sides, sure, after losing an eye he became full of determination, dutiful, but also full of anger and having many repressed feelings. And this will affect all his relationships, but his stans doesn't see him as flawed character, they point out Daemon wrongdoings and use it to put Aemond on pedestal. And once saw one of them saying Aemond will get rid of his traumas once Viserys and Luke died. So thank you for portraying him in realistic way, I know it was request to write his wife being killed over a lie, but you captured his essence in such amazing way.

Well I appreciate that you like my different interpretations of Aemond. To be fair/honest, the way I write him in fmo or even in that request is not how I personally would want him written in the show. I don’t enjoy seeing women, regardless of the context or nature, being treated so poorly. There are times where it makes me sad when writing. But I’m also an admittedly sensitive person lol. Those anons I got, while complete weirdos who need help, I see as outliers compared to a lot of people who enjoy hotd. It’s just when you are in a large fandom, the wronged opinions tend to be the loudest. I do a lot of people misinterpret characters but they also have the good sense to not harass people.

I think that all the layers that make up show Aemond is why he is extremely compelling. He can be messy or arrogant, and probably a bad king/Prince regent. But he can also be a young man who had to deal with a losing his eye, a neglectful father, a mother who takes on a lot and probably projects a lot onto him bc he is so dutiful and kind to her, and having unique sibling relationships. And that does not even mention the possible piety or the strained relationship with intimacy he may have. I do think a lot of writers on here know and understand show Aemond but maybe choose to paint a prettier picture bc why not. Like I don’t plan on writing Aemond as a terrible father or husband in everything I do. I have some stuff in the works that is the opposite actually. He can be a lot thinks at once bc most people are. You just have to pick your threshold of what you can tolerate, irl and when you engage with media.

As for how I feel about show Aemond. I like him. I wouldn’t take the time to write about him if I didn’t. There are certain changes that I think the show did well, and I would argue and say his characterization is one of them. It also doesn’t hurt that ewan plays him extremely well. Older aemond could have fell flat if they did not have someone as talented playing him. So much of that charisma is not the text, it’s ewan acting his ass off. I’d say that’s the case for all the Hightower/targ kids. Phia, Tom, and ewan did the best with what they got, especially Tom and phia