#( meta )

[the-lazy-cat-bakes-souffles]

One of the most diabolical details in this episode was Melissa literally holding the same blanket Jackie died in while having her public blowout fight with Shauna the day the first snow of winter falls. This show is incredibly unsubtle sometimes and I love it for that.

[sobrevivenciatwd]

I love this. That would at least remove their vision because the maggots would eat through their eyes quickly and they'd decay faster. Ravens would attack them. In TWD, there is something about the virus that repels insects.

If zombies were real, you wouldn't first be warned by the approaching horde by their smell, by their groans, not even a cloud of smoke of the dust they raise coming closer from the horizon. It would be the flies. Hordes and hordes of insects, corpse-flies laying eggs on the carcasses of people who still walk, eating the eyeballs from their sockets, climbing across their unfeeling leathery skin. And the buzzing. The inescapable, deafening buzzing. Everywhere. Like you did not just kick a hornet's nest, but the very ground you walk on was a hornet nest, and each step caused another explosion of insects.

Insects, corpse flies, the buzzing. Their swarms blacken the skies, more horrifying than their migrating meals. The deafening cacophony of constant buzzing, the horrid noise of the living who feast on the dead who feast on the living. The buzzing.

The endless, inescapable buzzing.

[haithhegimp]

when ignoring how fucked up it is, its a wee bit funny to me that steph was the most ethically responsible robin and then the one that bruce treated the worst.

because dick was like 10 when he became robin, what the fuck were you doing making a ten yo go fight crime? plus he was under bruce's care which is like a massive thing of coercion and power dynamics.

jason had like NEGATIVE reason to be robin, he just needed to have a home and therapy probably

tim didnt want to be robin he just thought that batman needed one. and after getting adopted there is once again the issue of being under your virtual boss's care

and Oh God Damian. it was technically dick's fault this time but like kid did not have a choice in the way he was raised and shouldve gotten like happy fun learning to be a kid times not violent child soldier times

all of that compared to steph who

was already a vigilante when meeting bruce

voluntarily chose to be a vigilante

was not under bruce's care or guardianship and had a trusted adult

was almost a legal adult herself

had some fighting experience

like BRO in terms of ethics steph is The Best option and then she was treated like absolute Garbage. wild shit.

[toothlickpick]

the conclave book constantly emphasizes how being a pope is basically a lonely death sentence. cardinals close to being elected pope are isolated out of respect and awe, popes can't go out to eat at their favorite restaurants or go on strolls, they're constantly targeted as the head of the church etc..

the book frames benitez as, literally and symbolically, a 60ish year old boy who has no idea what hes getting into. he stumbles to think of a name when he gets elected pope, begs lomelli to stay with him to guide him, and even the smallest papal clothes literally do not fit him because he's so tiny. he's framed with a childlike awe and openness needed to lead the church through dark and cynical times

i think another genius moment for the movie is that it frames benitez in almost the opposite direction. movie benitez is quiet and contemplative. he likes lomelli, but in the same way an angel would favor a prophet. he's the only one to care about His Holiness' turtles and see their virtue despite their apparent stupidity, which is obviously a reflection of how His Holiness saw the cardinals and the rest of the Kingdom of God. From the very beginning, he is isolated from the other cardinals, never really shown to discuss things with anyone other than lawrence. In the end when he scolds tedesco, you dont get the impression of a wise childlike figure speaking up against a bully, you get the impression of moses telling ramses to let his people go.

and in the end when movie benitez is elected pope, he pauses. he refuses to get dressed until lawrence sees him about the one issue he knows will be a problem. he comes into the papacy knowing he will make a great sacrifice, and he treats it that way.

tldr book benitez is a 60ish year old boy wearing papal clothes too big for him to fully handle, movie benitez is a man walking up cavalry hill, both are my babies, thank you for coming to my ted talk

[livrelady]

#the reason leonard nimoy's 'if kirk died for real then spock would just. also drop dead soon' 70s headcanon is honestly a relief#yeah i'm watching tng. but it's like watching the movies and being like 'compelling iteration of trek that i have many feelings about#but i don't fully believe is actually the same people and universe as tos. they're more like interconnected pocket universes of trek'#70s nimoy headcanon reflecting spock's 'i shall do neither' in tos is the true tos future to ME. no characterization reboots. just#mission after mission for decades. another 5-year. a 20-year. they're starfleet legends at that point and medicine is wildly advanced#crew members come and go. each mission is more integrated with other cultures than the last. but it's always them until they retire#and finally get to ... stop. go to vulcan and at last listen to those silver birds and rest and take advantage of time.#figure out how to live with themselves without a critically important crisis or urgent problem to solve around every corner#and build a different life that wouldn't be particularly cinematic at all and eventually quietly die one after the other#but good lord. i also have many movie spirk feelings and just imagining spock's grief combined with knowing he just threw away#years they could have spent together. tmp is very very clear that spock's hang-ups are the reason for their estrangement#not reservations from kirk - /he/ obviously would be completely receptive and thrilled#imagine being movie/tng spock and carrying around the knowledge that they could have had years more if not for his own choices#like. damn.#spock#james t kirk#star trek: the original series#star trek films#otp: the premise#c: who do i have to be#c: i object to intellect without discipline#star peace (X)

i was trying to visually represent spock’s life in relation to jim and instead just make myself sad

[xelasrecords]

Going insane because in Midnight Warmth, Sylus says this after you worrying about not waking up on time because y'all are about to bang

But the closer translation to the Chinese is "Whatever you want, I will do it to satisfy you. Stop worrying."

The emphasis on him wanting to satisfy you, you just need to ask, is so sexy.

[lottienatsbian]

i’m noticing a theme with all of the on-screen adult yellowjackets deaths so far. every time one of them is doing better, they end up dead— in van’s case, within the episode. natalie died when she was finally sober and seemed almost happy. lottie died when she had just gotten out of the psych ward and was going to apologize to someone. van died right after she got out of the hospital and she was ready to be with taissa for whatever time she had left. whatever it is that’s responsible for their fates, whether that be the wilderness or some kind of divine intervention or even just sheer coincidence, it sees them getting better and it drags them back down every time

[shutupineedtothink]

You know I was thinking last episode (3x05) had such a bittersweet quality to it, especially for Rand making friends with this little Aiel girl. We got a look once again at the young man who wanted nothing more than to live a quiet life and raise a family. Who loves children and is easy and free around them in a way he can’t be around other adults. At the time, I thought it was a reminder that that part of Rand is still in there, and he is more than just the Dragon Reborn.

Now at the end of 3x06, when he has accidentally killed this little girl, this symbol of light and innocence and everything he will never have in this life again, and he cannot bring her back — we see now that her death is the death of his old self too, and a sign that there is no turning back for him. He is not and cannot ever be that past version of himself, not in this turn of the wheel. There is only the life of the Dragon Reborn now, whether Rand wants it or not.

And to bring Moiraine into it (because I will always bring Moiraine into it if at all possible) — no one knows that feeling better than her. This was his Gitara’s study moment, or something close to it. You go in thinking your life or even your identity is one way, you come out forever changed and knowing your path is set in a completely different direction. (Actually, someone should gif this side by side please and thank you.)

That’s part of the reason we get Moiraine and Rand together at the end of the scene while the others hang back. She recognized that irrevocable turning point and the grief that comes with it. No one was there to guide her through it, but she can be there for Rand. She can offer her understanding and presence. Once again, they recognized something in each other in that moment that no one else could see.

[bophtelophti]

Tags by @wintersoldierfell:

The Blue Spirit putting out firebending with a bucket of water is the absolute funniest thing ever done in avatar combat. It just is.

[artbyblastweave]

Of the various well known riffs on superman in other capestuff (omi man, homelander, eidolon, the plutonian, sentry, metroman, etc etc) who do you think would most interestingly play off the real deal in a miniseries crossover thingy?

It's Eidolon, by virtue of that writeup Wildbow did a few years back about a Superman/Worm crossover where any attempted team-up between the two would get violently derailed by A) David's insecurities in the face of this new guy resulting in New, Worse Endbringers and B.) Superman losing his shit the first time Eidolon tries to do a greater-good power-drain on a subordinate cape (which IIRC he figures out faster in this timeline due to the Endbringers speeding up his power depletion? I forget a lot of the specifics and I don't have time to go digging through his comment history right now.)

A lot of the rest of these guys can be accurately operationalized as "Superman if he had something really wrong with him" and would either be a bit of a nothingburger where they'd just bounce off each other (MetroMan) or else it would come down to a brute-force confrontation with an outcome decided by Narrative Fiat. Aside from Marvel, I think that the Wormverse is really one of the only one of these settings that's got enough going on outside of just being a scaffold for the evil superman figure that there'd be more than like, two layers to how they'd go about interacting.

[probablybadrpgideas]

Roll

The OmniDice

[fangirl-erdariel]

It's actually fairly possible that Théoden's mother was still alive during the main events of LOTR. She has no year of death given in the appendices (also technically no year of birth, but that can at least be counted from the age difference between her and Thengel), or anywhere else that I would know of. Nor is there any direct reference to her being dead, or text worded in a way that would be impossible if she were still alive during LOTR that I know of. The firmest piece of evidence there is for her being dead is only her absence from the story.

Now, yes, it seems likely to me that Tolkien intended for Morwen of Lossarnach to be dead by the time of LOTR. But Tolkien can roll in his grave all he wants if it's important to him, I am going to discuss the possibility of her being alive nonetheless because I find it interesting.

The appendices mention that Morwen was 17 years younger than Thengel, which would mean she was born in 2922. If my math holds up, that would make her 97 in 3019 when most of the major battles of War of the Ring are fought, if she lives that long. Possibly 96 if she was born late in the year, since those battles happen in spring of that year.

She is Gondorian nobility, mentioned to be descended from the Princes of Dol Amroth, though I do not think the details of her relation to them are specified beyond that. And if we look at the two Gondorian noble families where we have any kind of data for their lifespans, that being the Stewards and the Princes of Dol Amroth - the last four Stewards of Gondor before Denethor each lived 98-100 years. The last four Princes before Imrahil live to be 93, 111, 105, and 114, respectfully, and Imrahil lives to 100 years old. As for the next generation or two after that, Faramir lived to 120 years old. Prince Imrahil's son Elphir was 101 when he died, and his son Alphros was 99. Éomer, grandchild of Morwen Steelsheen, lived to 93 years old, despite his other three grandparents being presumably Rohirrim, whose lifespan (at a quick glance through the list of the Kings of Rohan) usually seems to range between 70 and a few years past 80.

So if Morwen falls roughly into the same range with the Gondorian nobility whose lifespans are known, then, yeah, sure, maybe she's dead by the time the main events of LOTR happen. But it's just as possible that she'd still be alive and even have a couple more years left in her.

And I just find myself fascinated by that possibility.

On one hand, there's the tragedy of her outliving at least two of her children, and at least one of her grandchildren. But on the other hand, when you consider all the women, all the wives and mothers, who fall ill and die, or waste away from grief or the horror and weight of the shadow in the last three or so decades before War of the Ring (Finduilas of Dol Amroth, Théodwyn, Gilraen, though at least Gilraen didn't die as young as the other two; and while her death has nothing to do with grief or influence of the shadow, Elfhild the wife of Théoden dies in childbirth during that timespan), I also see a certain triumph in the idea of Morwen enduring it and living to see a time after Sauron, if only briefly.

But if she is still alive, where is she? I see three possible options. The first is that she is still in Edoras. The second is that she lives somewhere else in Rohan, either in some other house belonging to the royal family, or with one of her unnamed daughters and her family. The third is that at some point after Thengel's death, she returned to Gondor and her family there.

The still in Edoras option seems unlikely from a logical standpoint, since there's no mention of her as there really should have been if she were there. There's something narratively pretty delicious, at least to me, though, in the idea that she might have been there to witness firsthand her son's decline and yet been for whatever reason unable to intervene

Living somewhere in Rohan, probably with another of her children (she had two daughters after Théoden before Théodwyn, and one who's even at oldest still under five years older than Théoden, so any of them could pretty plausibly still be alive), would make some sense, if she had wanted to retire from court life but still remained within relatively easy distance of her children and grandchildren. It would also kind of still allow for her being very aware of what's going on in Meduseld, while offering a more easy excuse for why she's unable to intervene and also not mentioned at any points in the books.

And returning to Gondor at some point after Thengel had died and Théoden had settled into the position of the king and all her children were adults likewise makes sense. She and Thengel lived in Gondor for ten years before moving to Rohan when Thengel inherited the throne, so it seems likely she'd have retained strong ties to her family in Gondor, rather than all those being cut off by her marriage, and considering all we know of Lossarnach, as someone on the SWG discord pointed out when i mentioned these thoughts the other day, Lossarnach seems like a nice enough place to retire to. It would put her pretty solidly away from all the drama going on in Rohan, though, but maybe if you're into fluff, Éowyn and Faramir could make a visit to her in Lossarnach sometime after the war

Anyway. I just wanted to say. Maybe Morwen of Lossarnach isn't dead yet, when LOTR happens. Maybe she gets to see what she probably never thought would happen in her lifetime, or ever at all, Sauron being defeated, Gondor having a king again. She'd have to face horrible loss, yeah. But she'd also see a new sunrise, triumph and joy like no one dared to hope for. So. Maybe. Maybe she's still alive, long enough to see that

[angstandhappiness]

Cute, and relatable

This is how cuteness aggression do to Wallace XDD

[edsrosetattoo]

This is the best idea in the history of film.

[memehex]

Now more than ever we need to make Tumblr unmarketable, do NOT invite the government into this space.