#(it’s not my typical audience)

[gingermintpepper]

In my Zeus bag today so I'm just gonna put it out there that exactly none of the great Ancient Greek warrior-heroes stayed loyal and faithful and completely monogamous and yet none of them have their greatness questioned nor do we question why they had the cultural prominence that they did and still do.

Jason, the brilliant leader of the Argo, got cold feet when it came to Medea - already put off by some of her magic and then exiled from his birthland because of her political ploys, he took Creusa to bed and fully intended on marrying her despite not properly dissolving things with Medea.

Theseus was a fierce warrior and an incredibly talented king but he had a horrible temper and was almost fatally weak to women. This is the man who got imprisoned in the Underworld for trying to get a friend laid, the man who started the whole Attic War because he couldn't keep his legs closed.

And we cannot at all forget Heracles for whom a not inconsiderable amount of his joy in life was loving people then losing the people around him that he loved. Wives, children, serving boys, mentors, Heracles had a list of lovers - male and female - long enough to rival some gods and even after completing his labours and coming down to the end of his life, he did not have one wife but three.

And y'know what, just because he's a cultural darling, I'll put Achilles up here too because that man was a Theseus type where he was fantastic at the thing he was born to do (that is, fight whereas Theseus' was to rule) but that was not enough to eclipse his horrid temper and his weakness to young pretty things. This is the man that killed two of Apollo's sons because they wouldn't let him hit - Tenes because he refused to let Achilles have his sister and Troilus who refused Achilles so vehemently that he ran into Apollo's temple to avoid him and still couldn't escape.

All four of these men are still celebrated as great heroes and men. All four of these men are given the dignity of nuance, of having their flaws treated as just that, flaws which enrich their character and can be used to discuss the wider cultural point of what truly makes a hero heroic. All four of these men still have their legacies respected.

Why can that same mindset not be applied to Zeus? Zeus, who was a warrior-king raised in seclusion apart from his family. Zeus who must have learned to embrace the violence of thunder for every time he cried as a babe, the Corybantes would bang their shields to hide the sound. Zeus learned to be great because being good would not see the universe's affairs in its order.

The wonderful thing about sympathy is that we never run out of it. There's no rule stopping us from being sympathetic to multiple plights at once, there's no law that necessitate things always exist on the good-evil binary. Yes, Zeus sentenced Prometheus to sufferation in Tartarus for what (to us) seems like a cruel reason. Prometheus only wanted to help humans! But when you think about Prometheus' actions from a king's perspective, the narrative is completely different: Prometheus stole divine knowledge and gifted it to humans after Zeus explicitly told him not to. And this was after Prometheus cheated all the gods out of a huge portion of wealth by having humans keep the best part of a sacrifice's meat while the gods must delight themselves with bones, fat and skin. Yes, Zeus gave Persephone away to Hades without consulting Demeter but what king consults a woman who is not his wife about the arrangement of his daughter's marriage to another king? Yes, Zeus breaks the marriage vows he set with Hera despite his love of her but what is the Master of Fate if not its staunchest slave?

The nuance is there. Even in his most bizarre actions, the nuance and logic and reason is there. The Ancient Greeks weren't a daft people, they worshipped Zeus as their primary god for a reason and they did not associate him with half the vices modern audiences take issue with. Zeus was a father, a visitor, a protector, a fair judge of character, a guide for the lost, the arbiter of revenge for those that had been wronged, a pillar of strength for those who needed it and a shield to protect those who made their home among the biting snakes. His children were reflections of him, extensions of his will who acted both as his mercy and as his retribution, his brothers and sisters deferred to him because he was wise as well as powerful. Zeus didn't become king by accident and it is a damn shame he does not get more respect.

[beaulesbian]

Something that came to my mind because of the chessboard Strawhat cover:

I mentioned before the Strawhat's relations to demons/hell/monsters and their symbolism of being in opposition to gods/heaven, but this time it's interesting how multiple Strawhats already have a title somehow related to rule or ruling pieces - but it's always a little bit twisted, that trope is a bit flipped upside down.

Obviously Luffy will become the King of the Pirates, (but even Big Mom in one of the Wano flashbacks mentioned she would become the King of the Pirates - not a queen, so this particular title is probably always King.)

Luffy just wants to be that, and not rule in the typical sense of the word, or how their world understands that title.

Then we have Zoro and his King of Hell title. (I think that's pretty self explanatory and i've talked about him before probably the most. (also smth smth, becoming the King for Luffy's and his dreams.))

Now we have Nami as the Queen on the strawhats chess board. Queen, which is the deadliest and a very important figure in chess (beside the King - and even there Oda broke the rules again - saying the 'King is the fighting piece', which usually it is not as much.) She's their navigator and the symbol of what they need to protect and how they let her move to attack in the best formations, in the most strategic moves.

We have SogeKing, who is a veeeery similar to the character of Usopp, practically the same guy. (Even on the chessboard he's with bow & arrow as the SniperKing.)

We have Soul King Brook. King of absolute slaying with his music!

We have Jimbei First son of the Sea, which sound like important (ruling) title as well.

With Sanji I don't really want to point at his family - the connection as Prince of Germa Kingdom connection, because he renounced that, but

-he did call himself a Prince all the way in Alabasta. So, prince he is, self appointed, in whatever sense he means it. (And something very fun is how he trained under Emporio Ivankov, and beat Queen in Wano, both who are also interesting characters in the case of breaking the stereotypical gender of those titles/names).

Nico Robin has one of the epithets 'Light of the Revolution', which I find beautiful. She's illuminating their journey with her knowledge, and at the same time her connections with the Revolutionary Army speaks about the breaking out of the typical roles as well.

(I couldn't think how it would be for Franky and Chopper, but they're kinda similar in the way they've altered their bodies. Franky building so much of his body, cyborg who had a dream to built the ship for the King of the Pirates; and Chopper, a reindeer with human knowledge of medicine to become the best doctor.)

Just to say that even when they're gathering these titles/names/positions, they're not meant in the generic sort of meaning. It's always looped around, broken out of the mold of how their (and ours) society views these roles. And that's what makes it their unique thing. Their way how they grasp their skills, the future and their dreams.

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

In other fandoms, tropes like found family, slowburn queer romances, and one set of siblings loving another set of siblings is purely fanon, but that's actually just what's in our show's script lmao.

[freakinator]

i wwonder if ls has always resulted in arguments about metastory or if it started in s4

[cringengl]

I think Will should use a gun in season 5, but only to show character development.

Since his initial instinct when first saw the demogorgan in s1 was to use a gun, now that everyone is going to be fighting Vecna with weapons, I think that he'll pick up a gun again as others such as Nancy and Hopper will have one and he'll feel like he has to use it in order to save his loved ones. It'll be similar to Jonathan in s1 who clearly has bad memories of using a gun, but tries it anyway as he cares more about saving Will (although I think that Will will be a better shot just so he does use a gun in s5).

However, the point that has been made many times about how learning to shoot is linked to trauma and that Will doesn't have to be made more masculine in order to be a 'stronger' and him liking shooting is kind of ooc anyway.

As guns are linked to Will trying to be a 'real man' and covering up his queer identity by doing something overtly masculine, I think that whilst Will will initially use guns, he won't find them very useful, as Vecna seeks to expose the status quo and destroy it ("conformity, that's what's killing the kids"- or however that line goes) so Will fighting Vecna with something traditionally masculine that he doesn't find strength and power in- which is why Nancy's guns and El's powers have worked for them, they find power in them- won't succeed.

Will will have to find his own way to defeat Vecna and it will likely parallel him truly accepting his queer identity (which honestly seems to be some kind of powers, whether they're light, creation, or an extension of his link to the UD).

[crwbannwen]

Below is a rant about how much I love how Walter Pensive is written.

So we all know fridging, right? When a character (usually a woman important to the usually male MC) is murdered to spur some motivation and revenge plot for the MC. It’s bad; it reduces a character to a plot device and merely support for another; and since it’s often gendered, it’s quite sexist. It’s killing not just the character but their agency.

But there is no reason why killing a character to snap another one into gear ends up diminishing the dead character so much. People are just fridging badly.

And Walter Pensive proves this. He is so fridged that it somehow strengthens his character. A wife dying and motivating her husband tells me nothing about her because of course she mattered to her husband. Someone dying and motivating multiple communities of people and bringing together even people who’d never met him and had just heard of him? That tells me so much about him.

And it’s not that they’re just avenging him, they’re getting justice against someone who’d been terrorising all of them. They’re following his lead, not avenging him. And afterwards he is honoured with Pensive day, so it’s just amazingly written.

Also he’s the man who named the Hallowoods, his legacy extends so much beyond someone’s revenge spurred murder spree.

[yoroshiu]

Sora: Expectations vs Reality (Coded vs KH1, CoM, and 3D)

Another Sora analysis because I can't help myself haha (help). But there's been a couple of posts that talked about this topic and it's really rewired my brain, so I also want to take a stab at it. I feel like this isn't something that's looked into/analyzed as much compared to other interpretations of KH's narrative, especially in terms of Sora, or at least I haven't seen it as much across platforms in a mainstream sense (though I do think it's been on the rise in recent times).

So if you're willing to bear with me, then get ready for another long post!

As the title indicates, and as mentioned, other people have brought up, Data-Sora creates an in-universe (and IRL) set of expectations for the actual Sora. While Coded is technically a rehash of KH1 and CoM's plot to an extent (hence its reputation besides its amazing gameplay), the point is to gather and present the stakes KH2, Days, and BBS introduced and set up what Sora's goals are going to be leading into 3D and 3.

The way it chooses to do so is to put a simulated Sora to the test, to see if he can "handle the hurt" and while he manages to do so, as many others have pointed out, Data-Sora's decision about remembering the pain to connect to others contradicts Sora's decision to forget at the end of CoM. Coded dictates that Sora can handle the pain of those within him and/or those who need to be saved. But 3D contradicts that as well. Many say that this indicates a potential point in Sora's development as a character and person, and while I agree, I want to focus on what has shaped him to this point in the first place. I must add, though, that Sora in 3, in terms of what he knows/is aware of by the end, understands a lot more than I've seen some people give him credit for, but this is another opinion in of itself.

Reading full-on long paragraphs might make this even harder to get through so I'll try to place some parts in bullet points (I get info-overloaded easily sometimes due to long paragraphs too ToT):

Coded, as said before, while initially having Data-Sora find/fix the missing/corrupted data in Jiminy's Journal (KH1 aspect), turns into a test to see if Sora can handle the "hurt" of the people he needs to save (CoM aspect).

Data-Sora proves he is willing to take on that "hurt" and can handle it. Which Sora by KH3/ReMind also manages to show.

But this neglects a few things about Sora's character before that point:

Data-Sora in the first part of Coded has guidance from Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Data-Riku especially D and G who have experienced their KH1 development and are currently ride-or-die for him. The KH1 experience ends up being different for him.

Even though he fights Data-Riku, it can be chalked up to the bugs/possession rather than anything malicious, which contrasts with real Riku before the Ansem possession.

Data-Sora losing his keyblade happened due to Maleficent rather than Riku. Rather than Goofy and Donald leaving him, he's the one that storms off and even then they go after him.

When we get to the CoM portion, Data-Sora doesn't have his memories of what happened in the first half, hence he goes straight to Castle Oblivion without the KH1 experience (also he's initially guided by Mickey, Data-Riku, and Data-Roxas)

In this case, it's a test of strength rather than what happened in CoM where Marluxia and Larxene hoped to break Sora to make him their puppet.

Data-Sora went to the KH1 worlds in each room and was made to forget right after getting through each one

But Sora had his memories from even before the first game actively messed with, while also being made to believe that it was the real Riku attacking him. All of that happened without much guidance from anyone.

What this shows is that while Data-Sora is the ideal outcome of Sora's development, I think as a narrative that presents trauma (intentionally and unintentionally), it emphasizes what the real Sora has been through. Theoretically, had things gone differently for Sora, and he had a proper support system on these journies, he would have been able to make the "right" choice. But he didn't have that. He had to figure a lot of things out and had to pull himself through. In a way, it feels unfair to some extent and it creates the expectations vs reality aspect.

And I believe this comes to fruition in 3D:

Organization XIII successfully overwhelms Sora, his heart ends up breaking under the emotional stress of all the people he's connected to as he's pulled into deeper sleep.

It especially sucks considering that the Mark of Mastery Exam was actively messed with in an outright attempt to break Sora (again).

His failure of the exam makes sense considering he couldn't overcome the Darkness in this real-world application like Riku, but it leaves such a bitter taste, right?

(The logistics of the exam can be argued ngl. Isn't it wild that all cases of the exam we've seen have had an external force get involved and have irrevocable damage on the test takers? Taking lives and souls fr.)

So what we get is a failure of those expectations (at least initially). Reality is much more harrowing and vicious. And that's such an interesting thing to do narratively, it feels purposeful. It establishes a depth to Sora that isn't fully seen and even adds to the concept of Data-Sora being his own existence by extension. By KH3, Sora's low self-esteem is directly shown to us and stems from the reality of his journey. He has a lot of unaddressed scars and while the characters view him as a beacon of hope out of love and respect, many of us acknowledge how harmful that's been to him in the most specific ways.

I really, really hope that the upcoming games build on this and address it, because it'd be so satisfying to see all of this acknowledged and explored! It would feel fitting for Sora to go to Unreality and face the reality of himself.

(I'm sorry if this was incoherent, I'm bad at collecting my thoughts on the spot...I'm open to corrections and additional thoughts!)

[maria-ruta]

ЁЖИК

Ёжик🤗💕💕💕

[restistance]

Update on my mother constantly hating on Hannibal and being a Will-apologist: during Contorno and half of Dulce she was like: alright, maybe he’s not so bad, Will might be a bit fucky himself.

Fast forward to Hannibal unpacking his bonesaw and now she’s threatening to abandon the show 😂 “that’s it, I’m calling it, he doesn’t love Will”

All the while I’m singsonging next to her about how the monsters love doesn’t protect from it. Oh well. Excited for us to watch Wrath of the Lamb together (hopefully soon) she will probably hate it

[sheathnknife]

the vampire diaries 8.16 // louise gluck, crossroads

“and damon, like the voiceover tell us, he was worried he would never see stefan again. it was just elena assuring him that there would be peace. that we’ve dealt with this other side of darkness for several seasons, but there’s also light out there and there’s peace, and damon will find it. if you search for it, you will find it. and we wanted to get that last moment to see that [...] damon found it too, and it looked just like his brother.” — kevin williamson

[devilsskettle]

i've watched a lot of good films lately in an attempt to catch up with a bunch of movies that have come out recently, but talk to me was the best movie i've seen in a LONG time

[mayadoesfandomstuff]

I do see that the series takes some of the themes from Ovid's work and as much as I do have a mixed opinion on it since his work wasn't necessarily supposed to be an official roman version of things but political criticism of the government as well as a way to trash the greeks, it does work well with the overall theme and narrative that Percy Jackson has built up with how gods are fallible and in fact had done a lot of wrong and them ignoring their kids is an awful thing and they should be better parents.

Like, yeah, I do have my own gripes with the usage of Ovid's Medusa rather than the original Greek one in the story, but it does work with the larger narrative of the series so it's not that big of a deal for me.

[vogelmeister]

actually one of us is lying being filmed in new zealand actually makes a shit tonne of sense because it's a common thing wherein when tv shows and movies "fake" a setting they understandably try and show as little of the setting as possible (makes sense) and tbh i realised we didnt really see a lot of the town of bayview.

still find it absolutely hilarious that there was an australian pretending to be an american accused of killing an irishman pretending to be american in new zealand pretending to be america. its actually so weird when you think of media that way. the australian played a very good american bad boy but once i knew, yeah that man knows what triple j is.

[microwave-prince]

I dunno. YAPPING HEADS UP YALL. In the whole post and tags and everything.

Hope everyone enjoys the potential influx of drawings that will be hitting this blog once school starts back up for me(in like four days, nearly technically three since this one is almost over with!). I can't promise I'll post everyy little drawing and doodle, but do expect a lot of traditional stuff!!

Perhaps an influx in drabbles or stories too👀

Truthfully, I'm kinda extra excited for it! Something about traditional drawing just feels extra in-control to me with how my lines are gonna turn out and stuff, probably cause I spent so long doing it! Not that I won't miss some perks of digital, haha! Maybe I'll do one of those things sometimes where you draw it traditionally, and then transfer it over to digital for like finalizing it and stuff?🤔 that could be very interesting..

But I haven't gotten to draw my boys a lot, and so I'm quite excited to get to really work out on drawing them and getting them stylized to my art style! Especially to where I can just crank out doodles of them without lookin up images or anything, hehe!! Will I be a complete mess trying to do it? Yes absolutely. Especially with Octavius. Good sir I mean this in the most respectful way possible but REMOVE YOUR CHESTPLATE before it KILLS ME. You are getting de-soldiered treatment, you can keep your red tunic that's all your getting

[ivyithink]

Мені тринадцятий минало…

War is a thing worse than hell not only for people, but for the animals too. You can check out (and donate to, if you’re able) this incredible organisation, they’re doing some truly important work, often risking their lives to save those who can’t save themselves.

Text on the piece:

Not long the sun shone fair and warm,

Not long my prayers I murmured,

The sun blazed fiery red above

And set this heaven burning.

As if aroused from sleep, I looked:

The village had grown dark,

Even God’s azure sky above —

That too was cheerless, stark.

The whole poem, translated, here, if anyone’s interested.

[acaciapines]

Sending on anon because im Nervous but i want you to know your coyote-kin kris au was a BIG PART of me realizing im other-hearted :3

oh!!! im so so so happy my au was able to help you realize that!!! im super passionate about writing these sorts of stories for this reason specifically, and it means a lot that you've reached out!!!

<333333