#“sure”

[jarvesque]

shout out to Jacob Wysocki for being thrown into a demanding and high concept game as his first time on the show and fucking killing it

[batfambrainrotbeloved]

Guess whose apparently babysitting????

I mean the kid is apparently grounded so i'm just getting 80 bucks to sit in this guys house and just vibe

Aka chapter update might come way sooner than expected???

[woodlaflababab]

Hot Take: The Lion Turtle wasn't that out of left field.

Was it a deus ex machina? Yes. Technically. But it wasn't like some sudden dip in writing or like this was unprecedented and had no basis or reasoning in universe. Hear me out. This is Long.

Let's go back to book 1, specifically the book 1 finale. At what point prior to that are we told that there's a spirit that can turn into a giant koi monster and wipe out everyone? We didn't even know about the whole Tui and La thing until we are in the midst of the battle and there is no viable solution. Aang as he is, does not have the ability to solve this problem.

However, Aang is the avatar.

50% of that is having all four elements. It means mastering diciplines, practice, it's skill that you gradually improve on, it's being clever with the tools avalible to you.

But the other 50%, that I feel is too often forgotten, is spirithood, or being the bridge to the spirits. Spirits are not tools. They're explicitly shown to be things that just kinda Do Shit, and Are There. They don't care about the human world for humans' sake, that's the Avatar's job. The spirits are unexplainable. (I am ignoring Korra) Dealing with the spirits isn't something you can learn. There's not really a special technique Aang learns on How To Spirit 101.

But as the Avatar, Aang has the ability to comune with spirits, to seek them out, call to them, ask them for help, and give them help in return. Part of being the Avatar is doing things no one else can, and again, 50% of that comes from having four bending abilities, and the other 50% is his connection to spirits.

The Lion Turtle is the earned pay off of Aang's actions. Aang, like in the Northern Water Tribe, faces a problem in which neither he, nor anyone around him, knows what to do, and just like in the NWT at the twelfth hour, he turns to the spirits. He chooses to find a place where he feels connected, and calls out. He opens himself to a world outside of human control knowing that, as merely human, he is not capable.

It's the same set up.

Aang faces a problem: Giant Invasion/Having to defeat the fire lord

He does everything he physically can: Takes down a dozen ships/Masters three extra elements

But pulls back when he realizes continuing this way will destroy him: Retreats and admits hes in over his head/Refuses to commit violence with the intent to kill because that means sacrificing his values and the last remaining shreds of his people's values.

(PSA: Taking care of your mental/emotional health is just as important as taking care of your physical health)

He opens himself up to other people for solutions: Yue is just like 'you gotta dude :|'/His friends mock him

He chooses to turn to the spirits: Brings it up with Yue and Katara and Yue brings him to the spirit oasis/ Leaves the others to meditate

[Enter Magic Meditation Here]

He Goes To A Weird Spirit Place: Spirit World/Lion Turtle Forest

Fucks Around for a while as he tries to figure out wtf hes supposed to do: talks to spirits and Roku/talks to the avatars and momo (best place of advice obvs)

Finds the spirit he needs to help give him info: Koh+Ocean Spirit/Lion Turtle

Is granted sudden new powers that can solve his impossible situation: Giant Koi/ Energybending

Uses that shit

Saves the day

The end.

And I don't think this is really a cheat for him either. Aang still gives his everything to trying to fight those ships, even after seeing how many there are. He still has to go through all the hassle of the spirits fucking with him.

With the finale, he still admits to Momo that he may have to kill Ozai. He still accepts that, if literally no other solution is avalible, he'll do it even if it means sacrificing himself and his nation. He still has to do the battle to subdue Ozai and still has to risk being internally fucked by bad mojo from Ozai.

He still has to prove himself. In my opinion, he has to prove himself far more in the book three finale than book one. Book one he just kinda takes out some ships and then chats with some spirits and then the Ocean spirit does everything for him.

In the fight with Ozai, AANG had to learn all four elements, HE had to learn the avatar state (even if it conveniently got taken as soon as he did and then given back at dramatic moments), HE had to face Ozai even without the avatar state, HE still tried to reason with Ozai to the end, HE still used the avatar state (apon being gifted with a poke in the back) to fight back, HE still decided to not take the easy way out, HE still commited to and accomplished taking Ozai's bending.

He earned his use of the elements

He earned his use of the Avatar state (prior to lightning bc they couldn't have Aang be op too soon jebdjsbdn)

He continuously believed there has to be another way

He sought out solutions.

And he still had to get ragdolled some to top it off.

And as to the other Avatars' advice, and the idea that he was selfish.

He followed the wisdom of all the Avatars he spoke to.

He was decisive: "No, I'm not going to end like this."

Justice brought Peace: the firelord being rendered powerless and stuck to suffer jail the rest of his life weak and helpless is justice

He actively shaped his own Destiny: he decided how he was going to end things and shaped his destiny and the destiny of the whole world

"Selfless duty calles you to sacrifice your own spiritual needs and do whatever it takes to protect the world": to which Aang says "I guess I don't have a choice Momo, I have to kill the firelord."

The Lion Turtle did not come out of left field and Aang earned/deserved his ending.

[cryoverlife]

Where do bad rainbows go?

To prism. It’s a light sentence, but it gives them time to reflect.

[morganbritton132]

Me: You know how when you were a kid and you’d wish that you’d get sick or injured in a way that would justify why you didn’t live up to your potential?

Everybody, apparently: No?

[izzythedemigod]

I just found the funniest font ever

Like. What is this. Why is this. Who is the target audience of this?

[pipebombgf]

gender-affirming surgery is a months-long dark comedy. what the fuck do you mean you're charging me double for everything. what do you mean they itemize the bill by left and right ball. what the fuck.

[tvguts]

i think we've done a great job expanding the view of what a child's favorite animal can be. kids these days can say they love axolotls or pangolins or coelecanths and their decision is respected. maybe their parents can even find them a stuffed animal of it if they know where to look. and i think that's beautiful

[telebeast]

unoriginal joke

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Well fucks? Get to it!

[miggylol]

First off, spin this wheel.

You just landed on one of 200 fandoms that have been very popular somewhere on Tumblr over the years. Topics were chosen either from appearing on a @fandom end-of-year recap or from my own long (long, long) site memories before that.

also all of these fandoms are definitely things that really exist in the real world and none of them are Tumblr creations

[kazz-brekker]

in dracula there is a cowboy and the female lead lives. in nosferatu there is no cowboy and the female lead dies. ergo, the existence of a cowboy is highly important for the survival of the female lead in a gothic vampire story.

[shadesofmauve]

I want to step away from the art-vs-artist side of the Gaiman issue for a bit, and talk about, well, the rest of it. Because those emotions you're feeling would be the same without the art; the art just adds another layer.

Source: I worked with a guy who turned out to be heavily involved in an international, multi-state sex-slavery/trafficking ring.

He was really nice.

Yeah.

It hits like a dumptruck of shit. You don't feel stable in your world anymore. How could someone you interacted with, liked, also be a truly horrible person? How could your judgement be that bad? How can real people, not stylized cartoon bogeymen, be actually doing this shit?

You have to sit with the fact that you couldn't, or probably couldn't, have known. You should have no guilt as part of this horror — but guilt is almost certainly part of that mess you're feeling, because our brains do this associative thing, and somehow "I liked [the version of] the guy [that I knew]", or his creations, becomes "I made a horrible mistake and should feel guilty."

You didn't, loves, you didn't.

We're human, and we can only go by the information we have. And the information we have is only the smallest glimpse into someone else's life.

I didn't work closely with the guy I knew at work, but we chatted. He wasn't just nice; he was one of the only people outside my tiny department who seemed genuinely nice in a workplace that was rapidly becoming incredibly toxic. He loaned me a bike trainer. Occasionally he'd see me at the bus stop and give me a lift home.

Yup. I was a young woman in my twenties and rode in this guy's car. More than once.

When I tell this story that part usually makes people gasp. "You must feel so scared about what could have happened to you!" "You're so lucky nothing happened!"

No, that's not how it worked. I was never in danger. This guy targeted Korean women with little-to-no English who were coerced and powerless. A white, fluent, US citizen coworker wasn't a potential victim. I got to be a person, not prey.

Y'know that little warning bell that goes off, when you're around someone who might be a danger to you? That animal sense that says "Something is off here, watch out"?

Yeah, that doesn't ping if the preferred prey isn't around.

That's what rattled me the most about this. I liked to think of myself as willing to stand up for people with less power than me. I worked with Japanese exchange students in college and put myself bodily between them and creeps, and I sure as hell got that little alarm when some asian-schoolgirl fetishist schmoozed on them. But we were all there.

I had to learn that the alarm won't go off when the hunter isn't hunting. That it's not the solid indicator I might've thought it was. That sometimes this is what the privilege of not being prey does; it completely masks your ability to detect the horrors that are going on.

A lot of people point out that 'people like that' have amazing charisma and ability to lie and manipulate, and that's true. Anyone who's gotten away with this shit for decades is going to be way smoother than the pathetic little hangers-on I dealt with in university. But it's not just that. I seriously, deeply believe that he saw me as a person, and he did not extend personhood to his victims. We didn't have a fake coworker relationship. We had a real one. And just like I don't know the ins-and-outs of most of my coworkers lives, I had no idea that what he did on his down time was perpetrate horrors.

I know this is getting off the topic, but it's so very important. Especially as a message to cis guys: please understand that you won't recognize a creep the way you might think you will. If you're not the preferred prey, the hind-brain alarm won't go off. You have to listen to victims, not your gut feeling that the person seems perfectly nice and normal. It doesn't mean there's never a false accusation, but face the fact that it's usually real, and you don't have enough information to say otherwise.

So, yeah. It fucking sucks. Writing about this twists my insides into tense knots, and it was almost a decade ago. I was never in danger. No one I knew was hurt!

Just countless, powerless women, horrifically abused by someone who was nice to me.

You don't trust your own judgement quite the same way, after. And as utterly shitty as it is, as twisted up and unstead-in-the-world as I felt the day I found out — I don't actually think that's a bad thing.

I think we all need to question our own judgement. It makes us better people.

I don't see villains around every corner just because I knew one, once. But I do own the fact that I can't know, really know, about anyone except those closest to me. They have their own full lives. They'll go from the pinnacles of kindness to the depths of depravity — and I won't know.

It's not a failing. It's just being human. Something to remember before you slap labels on people, before you condemn them or idolize them. Think about how much you can't know, and how flawed our judgement always is.

Grieve for victims, and the feeling of betrayal. But maybe let yourself off the hook, and be a bit slower to skewer others on it.

[swedenis-h]

Wife lovers till they die

[sephiramy]

please enjoy this "vintage movie poster" I saw in a dream which was so funny to my subconscious that I immediately woke myself up to write it down for later