#✮ ( receiving praise ) asks.

[bringthekingdom]

[beefcakekinard]

Buck (post getting back together) going to harbour to cook for Tommy and his team, and being so welcomed and praised for his top tier chef skills. It's all very warm and friendly and Buck realises he wants to do it again and make it a regular thing when he can.

After a lil smooch and drawn out goodbye with Tommy, Buck reaches his car to realises he's left his jacket and keys back in the kitchen so goes back to fetch them.

Only to overhear one of Tommy's colleagues telling him 'damn man, you really have to wife him up.'

Buck's expecting Tommy to shrug it off and maybe point out the weirdness of calling Buck a wife rather than a husband (!!!). He's definitely not expecting Tommy to sigh dreamily and say 'That's the plan, man. Too early right now, but that's the plan.'

((They've been back together less than a week at this point so it shouldn't be on the table AT ALL. His team at the 118 don't even know they're back together yet!))

But Buck feels the same, and just sappily happy that he and Tommy both know this is it.

They're endgame.

anon this is sooo sweet i've been looking at it all day bc it was so wonderful to wake up to this! 🥰 you just know the reason buck forgot his jacket is because kissing tommy makes him loopy... like there are literal cartoon hearts circling his head.

thank you for sending me this! 🩷

[piracytheorist]

something i love about spy family is that its a very funny manga, but it isn't afraid to be serious and talk about serious things (and its also really good at transitioning between the two)

Tatsuya Endo has an amazing grasp of balance. There are a lot of posts going around about how Spy x Family goes from something as heavy as "war makes monsters of us all" to something as silly as "Anya finds Loid's tourist fashion choices lame" and it somehow works.

It's one of the things that made me fall in love with the story from the second if not the very first episode of the anime. It dares to be realistic about how war impacts humans and how it takes them into a path they wouldn't normally take, but at its core it's a story filled with humor and love and connection, because this is how humans are supposed to live like. I mean, not to break it down to a "live laugh love" moral, but at the end of the day it does prioritize people living happily together and in peace. Even the "enemy" is shown in a sympathetic light from time to time.

And the humor and silliness attributes to that. It makes the story light-hearted despite the heavy issues it tackles. It would be hard to find hope in a story that focuses only on those heavy issues, if its vibe was constant grittiness and violence and dark themes. Not that there's anything wrong with stories with such themes; but you wouldn't usually watch such a story and expect to feel full of hope afterwards, nor expect it to have the humor that SxF has.

What is amazing is how Endo manages the balance of it all. How he works in the silliness amidst an environment of a cold war, of hardened spies and assassins, because it would be very easy to veer right into tone-deaf cheesy territory that gives you (unintentional) emotional whiplash. I think it's due to how the characters are only slightly exaggerated versions of something you'd see in real life. Anya behaves as any five-year-old would, where her focus is to work in protection of peace, make sure the family won't break apart, and above all, have fun. Yor's view of the world has been impacted by how long she's worked as an assassin, but her "naivete" is mostly her tendency to see good in everyone, even the "bastards" she's sent to kill. Twilight keeps telling himself everything he does is "for the mission" but he's only human and can't help bonding with his family even if he doesn't realize it.

The characters may behave in an exaggerated way from time to time, but they're not caricatures. The humor and ridiculousness (affectionate) in their actions are based on real human traits and behaviours we can see in real life. The want to have fun, the tendency to see the good in people, the desire to love. Endo simply takes those and has three people whose special traits clash with those three mentioned traits. Anya grew up as a science experiment in a lab where she wasn't allowed to have fun, so now that she has people who care for her emotional growth she goes all out with fun activities. Yor was forced into the choice of becoming an assassin, having to be told "This person is BadTM so you play judge jury and executioner", but with Yuri being her motivation (and later on the Forgers too) she managed to keep her kind heart. Occasionally she can't control her monstrous strength and may also consider killing people who inconvenience her and then go like "Yo wtf chill maybe". Twilight became a spy and distanced himself from human connections, but now that his job brought him into the position of staying long term with a kid and a wife and a dog, his desire for such a connection is rearing its persistent head. And so you get a Professional Master SpyTM playing "Rescue Princess Anya from the Evil Clutches of Count Scruffy Head".

It's the contrast that makes the humor of it all, and in such a way that it never takes only one character's side. I think that also adds to the "flexibility" of the story. It's easier to connect to a story when there's multiple sides explained and understood by the audience; and I mean, the only thing the story looks to be trying to "convince" you of is that humans live best when they live in peace and surrounded by people they love, and that's an undeniable fact of human nature. The characters can and do make mistakes but they're shown to be able to grow from them, and even someone radicalized and extremist like Yuri has understandable motives and a very human nature - just one that was taken advantage of by people in power.

Overall yeah, I think it's how focused on the characters' humanity the story is that it makes the balance between humor and heavy issues work. Again, though it can be exaggerated at times, it's not a caricature or slapstick, just for the sake of making the audience laugh. There's a depth and a genuine reaching out for the audience's emotions and understanding.

(Anime only fan here, don't spoil me for the manga 😁)

[27spoons]

Hi i just wanted to say I love your crush series, super excited for the next chapter! 😻😻

come off anon so i can give u a kiss on the forehead rq

[katyspersonal]

Honestly, thank you for calling Messmer a fascist I feel like so much of the fandom just ignore the way he is written for the sake of a more simplified and commodified character they can lust over. Not only is it weird to completely deny such an important part of his character that affects the wider narrative (not even getting into real world implications) it just makes him more boring! This is a Fromsoft game where very few characters are ever even close to morally pure. And yes, Messmer isn’t as pure evil as he was presented in the trailers, that doesn’t mean he’s a good person. A lot of people take away the main twist of the storyline as “the Hornsent were the bad guys the whole time and Messmer was completely in the right” when that’s just not the case. Sorry for ranting in your ask box I just thought you might like to hear out my case lol x)

First not going to lie, frien, I start to have some personal concern because of the messages like this. 😔 I am getting the type of messages like "thank you for doing this Elden Ring thing when everyone else does that Elden Ring thing" + followed by jab at the fandom for not paying enough attention or variants! There was "thank you for actually having positive reading of Nanaya when people portray her as agent of chaos", then "thank you for writing Rellana with her own ideology when people portray her as just Golden Order simp", then "thank you for writing Messmer and Marika as fucked up when people make them wholesome mother-son bond"... now this too

I want to say that I do not blame you, or anyone who sent previous messages I mentioned! And I am glad that you find enjoyment and understanding in how I analyse and write Elden Ring things! Like, yes, I am happy that it resonated with you when by your own admission, it is not something you see often! ...that being said, I really do not fit to be the "face of opposition" if you can even call it that! xD I am very meticulous in my analysis (against my will, autism is just like this) and try to not have any bias but instead fixate on what the writer really wants to say, but I should be more critical with compliments that I accept! Don't want to get my ego bloated with comparisons fshhddhsf I accept the compliments for my posts! Just not the '...unlike the rest of the fandom' part if this can be helped!

^^^ On the subject, Messmer said this phrase even in the first, gameplay trailer, and it already made me raise my eyebrow! Saying that "impure" creatures do not deserve to live is really wild, however, it didn't look to be Miyazaki's average jab at religious crusades... yet xD

^^^ Then THIS stuff in the second trailer. Basically, I was already labelling him fascist before the DLC dropped 🙄

I was actually really... delighted to find out that Fromsoft touched such a huge topic? Even though it is called 'Crusade', Miyazaki's jab at religion leaned more towards Inquisitors of Hornsent! Messmer lived up to my expectations from his character and MORE! He is not even wiser than burning all traces of history and culture, had it not been for his Knights beings better than this! Honestly, Fromsoft raising the topics of fashism and genocide is one of their biggest Ws so far, and something I will always love SOTE for!

Above all I agree that even if you ditch everything about 'subtext', 'media literacy' and 'obvious implications', the story about "justified genocide" doesn't really offer anything interesting narratively! Making a whole nation/race/whatever 'inherently evil' and their genocide as heroic act....? It doesn't offer anything: no meaning, no fuel for self-reflection as society, no awareness of real world parallels, no philosophical debate about horrors of revenge cycle...

Doesn't offer anything interesting, except for.... yeah, making Messmer more approachable to simp for. Well, everyone knows what I think of such characters:

Debate about media literacy and subtexts in Elden Ring is very tricky, and I've learned the hard way when Mohg beaten the allegations! (my confidence was shattered that day fhddhsf) It is hard to draw the line where 'obvious implication' ends and 'but they did not DIRECTLY say it...' starts! So yeah, when logic and reading deep ends, I think feelings can help. Messmer is a horrible, horrible person, and genocide is the worst thing humanity can fall into. Is making one character (maybe two, as Marika is connected) more "likeable" worth larger story with meaning, rising such significant topics? I don't think so!

As for Hornsent........ sighhhh...

[marymalone]

stop acting like you don't like the attention

I DESERVE the attention.

The gods handsculpted me themselves out of nacre, the iridescent sheen of the ocean's hidden treasures, and the delicate sound lovers make when intertwining their fingers in moments of silent understanding.

Each curve of my lips was shaped with care, as if to mirror the softness of whispered secrets exchanged in the dark.

My eyelashes were woven from the sighs of the wind as it dances over the waves and the gentle touch of a lover's regards.

Every detail, from the glimmer of my skin to the way I move, reflects a divine blend of nature's beauty and human connection, as if I were born from the very heart of eros itself.

Praise me, for you are just human, and it's my birthright.

[wewerebornsextuplets]

thinking about the kiru and kara dynamic again. in particular karas view of her is very amusing to me

[strugglingclassicist]

Hi!! I just saw your post with your pixel art of the minoan octopus pot! It's one of my favorite pieces of ancient pottery. I wanted to know if I had your permission to turn it into a cross stitch! It's so cute!

actually PLEASE DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! holy shit that sounds so amazing!!!!!!!!! I feel deeply honored and if you do I would love to see the result!!!!

While making it I did actually think about how transferable pixel art is to a lot of textile art (I have made knitting patterns in excel in past haha). I am happy others have had the same thought!

And yes the octopus pot is so charming and cute I think she really deserves to be rendered in all types of art:)

[bringthekingdom]

[fluffypotatey]

I don't like mean judges, they make me feel bad. But I also know it's a persona and likely not what they are like in real life. However, you go to Twitter or places online and there are real people taking it extremelly personally, threatening death or harassing the judges. So like I get why the classic Simon Cowell attitude has gone down

yeah fair, but i don't mean Simon Cowell. a lot of the times his criticism over the years just felt negative to be negative (so were his past judgments but i was too young to truly understand)

Len Goodman knew his shit. he's been a dance judge years before Dancing with the Stars even began, so a lot of his "mean", "bad guy" attitude is just him being blunt and unapologetic about his feedback. the audience will boo because Carrie Anne and Bruno were so positive and gave the stars a happy compliment sandwich, but he didn't fucking care

honestly, a lot of that could've just been his age and long experience, so whether or not his feedback was received well by the audience didn't mean shit to him so long as the stars and dancers understood and applied his feedback in later dances

another thing: the whole dynamic with the judges feels so unbalances because there's no one there to achor them back into the constructive feedback since all of them take care to be nice and hype up the stars' dancing. Len Goodman worked as a dwts judge because his "negativity" bounced back with Carrie Anne's positivity and emotion AND Bruno's hype man energy. if Bruno and Carrie focused too much on the positives, Len was there to provide them. if Len started off the judgements, Carrie and Bruno were there to blanket his statements with the praise

even when Derek started to judge with them, there was still a healthy balance between the feedback provided

we don't really have that judge right now to help keep a healthy balance and, personally, i think it affects the feedback the couples need to hear in order to progress and improve

[slashthrashandcrash]

assumption! YOU...have a praise kink

Denied...I think?

[27spoons]

please keep doing the gifs !!! you’re doing such a service for people (aka me) who haven’t re-watched yj in a hot minute, and i just want to stare at my fav women 🥺

THANK YOU ILY

[movedto-mrs-bluemarine]

Keep saying nice shit about me and we bout to end up like this

Cuddle up buttercup

[curiosity-killed]

It is! Possible! That I may be being too hard on myself! Again!!!

[notyouraryang0dd3ss]

miley still feels a lot more authentic though (its been years since i listened to her so maybe that's changed). not to mention that she can actually sing lol

true

[triforce-of-mischief]

You were so slay with that reposting thing, I commend you for that 👏

thank you, i am so tired. talking with a friend and realized that it (and people interacting with it) is the same principle as readers who comment on fanart but not fics (which i have another post about and i swear i always word it horribly). anyway. i'm tired, both from this and physically/mentally so i'll stop there.

tell your fandom creators directly how much you appreciate their work, and don't steal crap for goddesses' sake.