#*ideals not traits

[normalbrothershow]

sam winchester + sophie lewis: abolish the family: a manifesto for care and liberation, 2022

[plutonious]

throwing my hat into the twin dragons ring

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

He is at his limit.

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[qcoded]

I do NOT trust Luz Noceda haters. Some of y'all looked at this neurodivergent, teen girl and claimed she was a bad character?? and a mary sue??? LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE 💔

[truuskn]

i find it really curious how differently elita may experience and react to similar events in her life in different universes. and before we begin, let's close our eyes to the fact that different writers worked on these two images, that the show and the comics differ greatly in ideas, atmospheres, ratings, etc, etc :D

i think wfc elita and skybound elita are her possible best version and her worst version, and i'm talking about her as a person, not as a character. two extremes, two paths she can step on. in two very similar worlds she can either rise up or break down

in skybound we see how war can disfigure elita, weaken her spirit, torment her spark, almost destroy her personality. her entire being is built on saving cybertron and resisting decepticons and it did not affect her in a positive way. there is nothing left in her life but struggle, pain and an animal hatred for the enemy and anyone who dares to take a step away from her views. she is cruel, cynical, she praises the fire in arcee, noticing how fiercely she wants revenge for ultra magnus, how she lashes out at shockwave, threatening his life (while optimus talks arcee out of hurting another living being, even decepticon, reminding her of what it means to be an autobot), she cheers the violence from prime, enjoying his momentary return to his former self (while optimus is sickened by the realisation of what he's just done). she really is the worst version of herself. she's not a bad person, no. but she's broken. and it's leading her down a completely new, unfamiliar for us scenario. the ruthless world has inflicted the worst wounds on her and this time she had no strength left to remain herself

despite everything, she's still an autobot, of course, she's an autobot! there is no world where things would be different. but... it's just that the concept of this term have blurred for her over the years. hope, faith in the best in every person, forgiveness, choice not in favor of violence but of words, caring for everyone in need and so on and so forth - all of these is forgotten by her. now it's a weakness, not an advantage. perhaps, a long time ago she had joined the autobots inspired by prime's speeches, fully sharing his belief in a bright, fair future, but those days are gone. that elita is gone. now being an autobot for her is solely about fighting and destroying the decepticons from the face of cybertron. her and optimus still have similar goals, but critical different desires, opinions and approaches. they both want peace. they both want to give their people a new, free life. but if optimus is ready to wait, temporarily step off or even move on, ready to shift his focus on another planet, then elita will never be able to let go of cybertron, not for a single second, no matter what's going on around them. she's not ready to put aside centuries of suffering, she's not ready to forget all the sacrifices they've made in trying to stop the invaders, she can't forget all those fallen soldiers, ruined lives and lost years so easily. she's not ready to prioritise anyone else. the centre of her life is cybertron and the autobots. and nothing in the world can change that. she means no harm to earth, she means no harm to optimus, but she will do anything to protect her home

wfс elita lives similar life. she’s at the lowest point of her existence. a dying, blighted cybertron. a completely decimated autobot army. she, abandoned, alone, leads frustrated and frightened soldiers just like her. no hope for optimus' return, no faith in her people's victory, the fight for justice and a better world is over, now the only goal is to simply try to survive. it couldn't be worse. elita started losing faith in the autobot cause a long time ago, each day she understood less and less what they continued to fight for, she grew disappointed, lost her fervour, and now, in the most scary time, it would seem that anyone would gave up. but not her. this world was breaking her, was trying to break her, but she kept holding on, clinging to optimus' hope, continuing to follow him and his beliefs, never taking a step into the darkness

she never forgot what set her apart from her enemy and as much as she hated them all, she would never dare to hurt them the way they hurt her. she decided for herself once and for all - she will not stoop to their level, she won't let her fears corrupt the reasons she became an autobot in the first place. no matter how much pain she was in, no matter how desperately she wanted to end it all in any way, she never gave up snd continued to march proudly forward, protecting each and every one of them to the last drop of her blood, helping even the opponent's soldiers when needed. she fought for her planet and for all its people, for all those who called cybertron their home. megatron would pay the worst price for what he had done, but no one else would pay for his sins. she will not allow the hatred to spread further. she knows how to forgive. she doesn't forget, but she lets go of grudges. because she knows someone has to be first, someone has to set an example, that's always been the point of the autobots. and you know what? skybound elita would never do that. she wishes the decepticons nothing but harm, nothing but the trial of terror and fear that they, the autobots, have felt all these years because of them. if it were up to her, they, every last one of them, would burn with hell flame, as much longer as it's possible

it turns out that the same fight can lead to very diverse consequences... i'm amazed by that difference, honestly

oh, and the last - their main similarity, the thing that's happening in most of her stories. elita loses optimus. maybe it's their fate to be separated forever, huh?

wfc elita let optimus go. she realised that his departure was inevitable and important. perhaps, she thought it was a mistake, yes, she was unsure of his plan, she was afraid of losing him and she did try to talk him out of it, but she knew that he believed it was the right thing to do and if optimus believed, then so would she. she believed, but she chose her own path. without any regrets. she was saddened, hurt by their parting, optimus was one of the most important things to her and it would be hard to continue without him as a leader and soulmate, she needed him, they all needed him. but if fate was to take him away from her and their fight, so be it. it's her job to protect cybertron. and she can handle it. even if she has to act alone

for skybound elita optimus' departure, his willingly choice of earth, was the last straw. time after time she had withstood every blow dealt to her by fate but this? cybertron did not just lose optimus prime. optimus prime betrayed them. he made that decision on his own. he abandoned them, chose outsiders over his own people and his own home, denied them, lost, frightened, begging him for help, needing him more than anything else. it was truly the worst thing that had ever happened to her, the cruelest and most vile event of her entire life, and this pain was brought by the person most precious to her. she's in hell. the real hell. but she's not giving up. because elite-one never gives up. she wipes away her tears, gets up off her knees, picks up her gun and continues her fight. okay. if he's not going to do what he has to do, she will. she's cybertron's only hope, she truly is

[eidothean]

Dark Urge falling for Astarion is like: your faint corpse smell and talent for embroidery has bewitched me body and soul

[gurggggleburgle]

I find the read that Luo Binghe is Airplane's self insert so weird because it ignores that that's not how self inserts work usually. Like a writer giving a character attributes similar to themselves is normal and inevitable. You can only draw from so many places and the easiest emotions and traits to write in are ones you are intimately familiar with. Like you can tell if a writer knows personally on a subject based off how they express and write details. Like I as a writer can't make characters tell jokes that are stylistically different from my own sense of humor because its so interpersonal and subjective. It's also a matter of how he sees and talks about Binghe as a complete separate character and a son rather than as a part of himself. Qinghua doesn't think or talk about Luo Binghe like they should be even considered on the exact same wavelength. So yeah, Qinghua probably does share some traits and elements with Binghe. They probably do share a braincell and a number of traits, but like this, all ignores that PIDW was a story written by a desperate author who had past failed works who realized people were actually reading this and needed to make money.

And when you stop and think about how PIDW is a very generic and standard in terms of what it does as a stallion novel doesn't it mean that Luo Binghe is less what Airplane would self insert as and more what he thinks is a marketable protagonist. Like Bingge specifically hits a bunch of classic tropes and elements with the only real defining thing being he's like a black hearted dude and Airplane was absolutely willing to pander to the masses.

What I'm saying is that Luo Binghe is what Qinghua thinks a basic bitch protagonist is. Luo Binghe is what Airplane considers generic wonderbread marketable.

And if you consider what you know and understand about harem novels and this genres tropes and bs nonsense doesn't it just make sense. Like of course he's not a gay man's self insert. He's a gay man's idea of what the basic bitch redditors like to see.

And like he did such a good job making a basic bitch he melted Shen Yuan's brain and made him obsessed and that's so funny. Your honor the man has no taste or sanity. He's truly unsalvalgabe and I love him so.

[skywalkr-nberrie]

One of the biggest arguments I’ve seen used by the Ob*d*l*s against Anidala, is that scene in the ROTS novel where Padmé says she could trust OW with the secret of the rebellion and was hesitant to tell Anakin and I just wanna say:

Padmé wasn't an idiot. She was an extremely intelligent and competent woman, perfectly able to understand that loving Anakin and thinking that he could be trusted with a certain politic-related matter were two very different things and reducing her choice regarding who to trust with an important political matter only on the basis of her feelings of romantic love diminishes her professionalism, and this is why I say y'all could never understand her.

Padmé didn’t have to "love" OW or even like him at all to know he was the perfect Jedi to ask for help in a secret political matter.

That's the point being made in the novel, she’s hit with the realization that Anakin in this particular moment could not be told this piece of info because of his relationship with Palpatine, and Padmé specifically mentions in the Junior ROTS novel that she didn't want to make Anakin “keep a secret” if he didn’t agree with their stance because it’d be “unfair.” So this also played a part in why Padmé didn’t think it best to inform Anakin about the Rebellion. It honestly had little to do with her actually lacking trust in him, and more to do with the circumstances she was in not allowing her to be open with her husband and her not wanting to make him choose between his wife and his “father figure.”

However, Padmé knows OW’s political ideas aren't tied to ONE particular person but to a philosophy, one which is closer to her own, at that point. None of this was ever meant to be hinted as “romantic” or even remotely insinuated as romantic. It’s strictly professional and even the tone of the scene makes that so abundantly clear.

All I’m saying is that, some of these proshippers are doing the most out here to try and prove their ship, like my loves? You forgot a very important thing called ✨ context ✨ and regardless of her rational thinking, Padmé still went out of her way to try and talk out all of this Rebellion secrecy stuff with Anakin when she confronted him in the scene where she asks if he ever thought they were “fighting on the wrong side.” Padmé didn’t trust OW in the same way she trusted Anakin (with her entire self and being) she had the level of trust and love for Anakin that was only meant for him.

Mixing up her unwavering faith in Anakin as her husband with her trust in OW’s devotion to duty as her comrade/ally is purposely deluding yourself, because the two aren’t the same and therefore can’t be compared. An example of this is: Padmé constantly putting more value to Anakin’s words over OW’s in the end of ROTS when he came to tell her of Anakin’s “crimes”. She completely disregarded what OW had claimed about her husband and instead made her way to where Anakin was herself, to ask him directly. Despite what the truth was, this is proof of her trusting Anakin unconditionally, and I didn’t even think I had to spell that out because it’s as clear as day.

In conclusion, Padmé didn’t trust OW more than Anakin, she just knew the circumstances she was in didn’t exactly make it easy for her to openly talk with her husband about these matters and that’s part of what played into the issues they had in ROTS, it’s exactly what Sidious wanted. This scene in the novel doesn’t exist to imply some hidden romantic undertone that George was intending all along. No, far from that. George was always an “open, , clear and easy to understand” type of storyteller, so if the former was the case, this scene wouldn’t be any different if there was some hidden message or subtext the reader should be made aware of, George would make it obvious. Fact of the matter is, the one and only reason for this scene in the novel to exist is only to show to us as the “reader” that the narrative is tearing apart the Star-Crossed-lovers (Anakin and Padmé.) and visibly putting the two of them on different sides in the story because the consequences of this narrative choice is what will foreshadow and play into the inevitable and great fall of the couple and character in the future. Even the novel makes a very purposeful and clear distinction between “love and trust” in this chapter where all this occurs. Padmé’s dilemma in ROTS was overtly “Love vs Duty” and both GL and Natalie Portman have said so in ROTS features and a perfect example of this is the fact that Padmé loves Anakin, but knew she had to trust OW with the situation at hand. And if you want to talk “narratively” Padmé needed a reason to keep the Rebellion a secret from Anakin, thus leading to Palpatine to sense “betrayal” in Padmé later on, and using that to his advantage to manipulate Anakin even more into getting him to “suspect” her. It’s all spelt out for us and it’s not hard to miss. All it takes is a little media literacy and understanding context.

(Mind you, hypothetically, if this scene existed for literally any other reason, it would’ve been brought up again, but it wasn’t. It’s only mentioned once and exists for only one moment which was meant to serve a certain narrative and then it was done. There’s not much to make of it since the context of the scene is so clear.)

[adhdo5]

Today on contesting common JGY apologist lines. I agree with the general refrain that he understands most if not all his crimes as Wrong and thus doesn't need a lesson in that department, and I absolutely agree with "JGY doesn't Want to do atrocities and wouldn't do atrocities in better circumstances," but I think that it's kind of reductive to ~leave it at that when discussing the notion of JGY ~~redemption

Because there are internal reasons he does atrocities? Just because he doesn't want to doesn't mean that there isn't a chain of reasoning and set of priorities that leads him to decide to respond to his circumstances that way, y'know? His choices are limited externally, and his alternative choices are often grueling and only debatably better and require sacrificing his priorities as they exist, but there's a reason he understands his options the way he does, chooses the things he does, and goes about them in the ways he does, and those reasons are character-central flaws! They're understandable, also because of circumstance in large part, but they are character flaws

I think it's important to JGY as a character that he is genuinely believes in the kind of violence that is normalized in his society, that the narrative condemns, and that ultimately kills him! The fact that he accepts and internalizes that logic, and that he accepts and internalizes the priorities of normalcy and values things like his filial obligation to a man he can recognize as evil, is important! The fact that he throws Mo Xuanyu under the bus – I would argue literally killing her! – via the apparatus of the rumor mill is important! This is the real way he makes direct contrast to Wei Wuxian, and it's why his arc ends in tragedy – unlike Wei Wuxian, Jin Guangyao is never able to shed the expectations of normalcy and standards of goodness of his society, even when he knows they'll never truly accept him. This is not to say he's even unreasonable to do so – his acceptance of this is formed of a genuine understanding of the social mechanics he lives in, and he's prioritizing surviving in those mechanics as he sees it possible! – but he very much does strive for that acceptance, does attempt to walk the bright paved road, and it's important that's what drives him to ruin, even and especially as it's what was *promised him.* Jin Guangyao believes and obeys where Wei Wuxian is able to question and rebel, and this is their primary difference and why Wei Wuxian can choose to leave and he can'ttttt

And in fixit logic these are the traits that one must work through for it to be truly satisfying and truly redemptive, y'know? Just saying that he's already actually not malicious isn't helpful because that's not actually addressing or unpacking the calculus under which he does harm, the modus operandi that destroys him!! I just want to see him unlearning that?? I want to see him being able to choose goodness outside the parameters of normalcy and not see it as a death sentence! I want to see him deal with the learned helplessness he has about #society!! I want him to unlearn the ~paternalistic logic that destroys his relationships and isolates him!!! Only this way can he stop killing himself!!!!

[snobgoblin]

^ me as a little dude

[oceanwithouthermoon]

ive never liked powerless saiki aus because the entire conclusion of the series is him accepting his powers as being a part of him that he cant change so like.. in aus where the power remover works, half of his development is erased..

if he had been "powerless" for longer, we wouldve gotten to see him realize this himself and im genuinely sad that we didnt.. we got to see him realize that being powerless wasnt the change he wished it would be and that its something he cant change, but its literally over a two day long period and we miss out on sooo much potential development..

and then in aus where hes born powerless, people think he would have the exact personality and development that he THOUGHT he would if he got rid of/didnt have his powers, like NO ? "without powers he would be another satou-" NO he would be a shy, borderline flamboyant, weird, awkward, genius LOSER.

he would have a more normal relationship with his brother (still probably competitive but in a way more average sibling way and kusuke wouldnt have had the motivation to become so murderous) and he would probably be even more friendless but with less trauma.. he may or may not have ever befriended akechi at all, and the classroom incident wouldnt have happened.. even some of his current friends might not be around if not for coincidences due to his powers or direct involvement from his powers.. (nendo and kaido would for sure still be there though, but this only ensures the idea that he would be the biggest fcking loser ever)

he would still be saiki, but. his powers are a key part of him. he would be totally different without them, but NOT in the way he thinks he would..

[persistentplums]

Brock being domestic is funny but also it comes from discipline that he obviously has as someone with his job/profession/life that works great. For Doc who definitely doesn’t have that but decided I’m going to have kids and do Christmas cards and all these family stuff makes me think Doc entertains the idea of domestic life while Brock is actually like more than okay to do it under the guise of work but I think out of the two Brock enjoys it (eventually, ik that family photo must’ve been hilariously annoying to get done)

I always think how Brock before leaving them goes “I’m not your family, I’m your body guard” and it’s the one time Rusty and him overlap in a single trait of lying to themselves. For all of good Brock has there’s still a reason though never said why he sticks to Rusty which is boggling to literally everyone and I think that it’s because Rusty is a person who gets the nasty part of everything including who Brock is and in turn the one thing Brock has shame about Rusty could really not care about.

I think Brock and Rusty entire ability to exist together so well is that in actuality they have more things in common, they take turn entertaining the idea of super scientist and hero for each other and it’s not such a wild thing to entertain because it is fundamentally true. Brock does hero agency stuff and Doc does super science it’s true, but they get something about each other that all that time shows itself to: the stuff people tell themselves to get thorough life, prideful traits, insecurities, that deep deep down want of something you’re ashamed of

I just think it’s so silly how these two weirdly are each other exception sorta ride or die bc they get each other and are the same

[mantisgodsdomain]

Now that we are being followed by people, we need to make some thoughts and opinions clear so that people are not later Shocked And Disgusted or whatever by thoughts we have held for many years. We think it's weird and also bad to treat queer people like they're a different species from cishet people, and we think that treating things like Having A Sexuality makes a character better than if they have a different sexuality is bad no matter what way you put it.

We also think that, if in your setting queer folks are widely accepted and straight isn't a "default", it may be worth noting that, say, a straight woman might need just as much self-discovery to work out she's straight that a lesbian does nowadays. In the same manner that, in Ace Attorney, Larry Butz needs to tell Phoenix that no matter how many photos of handsome men he shows him, he's tried, he's just not attracted to men,

[rachedurst]

Don't think I saw anyone mention this yet, but one thing I really like about the casting for the substance is how Sue DOESN'T look like how Elisabeth did when younger. We see what she looked like - the form that Sue has is not "a younger version" of herself really. But you know what it IS? More according to beauty standards. And specifically, white eurocentric ones. Isn't it so interesting how Sue is lighter than her and has lighter hair and blue eyes?

[cankersoregirl]

Obvo we’re not meant to root for them but Jinwoo & Hyejin being gender swapped versions of each other felt more off putting than romantic and I think maaaaybeeee Jinwoo doesn’t actually know what he wants & he’s just listing what he thinks he does…

[dykedvonte]

A Defense of Benny Gecko

Benny is more of a capable leader and person than people give him credit for.

Seeing as no one challenged his position as head Chairmen for 7 years and even then he only loses the position if he’s caught, killed or forced to leave. Yes, it’s also likely House wouldn’t have allowed him to be killed but he sure as hell would of found a way to remove him if he was causing too much unrest within The Tops power structure. Even Swank and Tommy don’t outright dislike him and more so are concerned with his recent secretive and shady behavior, emphasis on recent.

Taking all we know into consideration, Benny likely knew the future direction that he wanted to take Vegas but was so caught up in the plans to acquire Vegas that he didn’t think of how to make his dream a reality. Something he admits to in canon. I see this being used as the main argument that Benny doesn’t know what he’s doing at all but I see it more in the same vein as you can’t really plan something from nothing. The transformation of Vegas is a sensitive thing that he can’t really work on until he has it. The only reason he ran to the Fort prematurely is the Courier who was causing so much of a stir he would’ve likely been found out much faster, making all that planning for nothing if he didn’t take that chance.

Benny is careful (well a lot more careful than he is regularly depicted in fanon), the Courier being able to trace him was dumb luck on their part and his hair being noticed at the Fort is a realistically small oversight that even Caesar is disappointed in because he admits Benny got farther than he should’ve been allowed by his legionaries. The fact he can plan an ambush on the Courier or tries to quickly and concisely clean up lose ends that don’t lead back to him shows he’s not just acting on impulses or in the moment decisions. Or rather he’s quite good at thinking them out, whether they work depends on how you play really. This is all to say it’s 100% believable that Benny could lead an independent Vegas (house was basically setting him up to do that). If he had known explicitly that House was setting him up to replace him, he likely would’ve bought more time by getting in closer, learning more of the system to then flip House’s edge to his favor. Again something he was doing already but likely without the knowledge of House’s feelings on him personally.

No matter what, Vegas’ future was tied to Benny; House’s plans for him, having to get the chip and if he had somehow succeeded. It’s also interesting that of all the people vying for control of the dam/Vegas, Benny’s plans are the only ones actually oriented towards a new future, not a recreation of something long past.