#A lesson learned the hard way

[senseioftheseidiots]

So Wu, any fond memories of your father? Must've been a lot of pressure for you and your brother, growing up as the children of the First Spinjitzu Master

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

It took 2 people to fully convince Crosshair to do a 180 on the Empire - but neither of those people were Bad Batch members.

They couldn't be. What would a squad of defective clones who had been disobeying orders since day 1 know about loyalty to an institution determined to establish order for the good of the galaxy? What would they know about finding purpose in being "good soldiers"?

Now, I DO think the seeds of Crosshair's eventual defection were planted by his brothers. Hunter pointing out that "Blind allegiance makes you a pawn" and then telling Crosshair "All you'll ever be to them is a number" are statements that are proven later to be true. But it takes Cody and Mayday to drive the lessons home.

Cody and Mayday share several characteristics that place them in unique positions to influence Crosshair:

Both are regs who accepted and befriended Crosshair - Cody says he specifically asked for Crosshair for the mission, and Mayday is upfront and friendly to Crosshair right from the start. (Contrast this to the other regs getting up to move tables when Crosshair sits to eat, or the other clone troopers who walk past Crosshair to get onto the shuttle without even sparing him a glance.)

Both are commanders. (I believe Crosshair ultimately respects authority for the most part: even when he was arguing with and challenging Hunter in "Aftermath," he still deferred to Hunter's orders until his inhibitor chip was intensified and he was then promoted to commander.)

Both are loyal soldiers who have served the Empire well - again, these regs are still commanders even under the new government. And we all know how important loyalty to the Empire is to Crosshair at this point.

Both save Crosshair's life during their missions.

In short, both are regs, but they are still soldiers Crosshair can quickly identify with and trust.

I think it's key that Crosshair encountered Cody before Mayday, though. And despite their similarities, both soldiers drive home different points.

CODY

Cody is one of the few regs we know Crosshair already respected - and still respects, given that Crosshair almost smiles when he recognizes him.

(Some proof in case it isn't apparent: Crosshair goes from frowny face...

...to relaxed almost-happy-if-you-squint-just-right face)

Anyway, while Cody does drop some hints early on that he has doubts about the Empire, he is willing to carry out the mission to rescue "Governor" Grotton, showing he will follow orders to a certain extent. However, he shows more restraint than Crosshair might have: he doesn't attack the civilians despite their obvious mistrust of the soldiers, he comes to an understanding with Tawni Ames, he's NOT willing to follow an order to execute her, and he is clearly dismayed and disappointed by her death.

And so, at the end of a "successful" mission, Cody more plainly reveals the depth of his dissatisfaction with following orders against one's own moral scruples:

Hunter had said "Blind allegiance makes you a pawn." And Cody, unwilling to blindly and unquestioningly be a pawn - or act like a battle droid - any longer, goes AWOL.

But that lesson alone isn't enough to make Crosshair turn on the Empire. Instead, he needs Mayday to give him the final push.

MAYDAY

First, Mayday indicates how appalled he is by the idea of anyone leaving their own behind - which we know is a sore spot for Crosshair. But most importantly, Mayday has demonstrated since he was first introduced that he strongly believes in soldiers being loyal to and looking out for each other (which is far different than just being loyal to the Empire).

Second, Mayday unknowingly challenges Crosshair's belief that serving the Empire provides meaningful purpose. (Remember that one of Crosshair's main arguments to his brothers about joining the Empire was so they could "find purpose again.")

Then, he unwittingly goes for the jugular and rips apart the motto Crosshair had adopted.

And then, in case Crosshair has any lingering doubts about the answer to Mayday's rhetorical question, Nolan decidedly answers the question for him.

Hunter had said "All you'll ever be to them is a number," and he is proven right in the most heartbreaking way.

Crosshair had accused his brothers of not being loyal to him; unfortunately, now he sees what true disloyalty looks like. And for Crosshair - severe and unyielding - realizing that he has misplaced his loyalty by giving it to an entity that mocks him and casts him AND those he cares about aside for doing so... this is the final straw.

Thankfully, Crosshair has now rediscovered the people who are worthy of his loyalty.

[cozylittleartblog]

diversity win your spam emails are queer

[ghurab-alzilal]

*In the training hall *

3 y/o Damian: Fight me!

LoA's Jason: Ha! Look at you! What are you going to do? Bite me in the ankle?

*Some minutes later *

Ra's Al Ghul: Uh... Why is the Red Hood bleeding and crying on the ground?

Talia: Damian bit him very hard in the ankle.

[galactic-rhea]

I'm a very simple person; I stay on my lane and my own blog and never ever go through the tags of the fandoms 🙂‍↔️

[lunarkittenn]

I rarely take pictures anymore. It’s like I just don’t want to remember any moment from this part of my life lol

[samwisest]

guess who got fountain pens that are shaped like sharks :) guess who is still brainrotting the x-men :)

[friendly-neighborhood-furry]

i love Carrie i think shes so so cool but i don't like drawing characters without any clothes on so i gave her a cute lil emo outfit :3

didn't go full on emo with it because i wanted it to simple enough that it could still be feasibly animated. idk how well i did cuz i'm not an animator but whatever i think she looks nice :)

[traumxrei-archive]

leona and jamil’s interactions in 6-67 and their growth

book 6 threw me in for a wringer with leona and jamil’s relationship, and it's funny because i never realized how similar they are until leona was pointing out all of jamil's negative thoughts about himself, as if he knew these thoughts like the back of his hand. tell me i'm not the only one seeing parallels between them:

jamil as a kid was told he was never going to be equal to kalim, because he's supposed to be kalim's servant; having to concede to him at every turn in private and in public.

leona as a kid hearing whispers about how he was so different from the bright falena, and how he wouldn't ever get the throne; all his achievements a mere shadow to anything falena did.

jamil who tried to create an elaborate scheme to pit everyone against kalim, and to subtly kick kalim from his "throne", only for it all to backfire, and for him to be so scorned by having everyone find out that he overblotted.

leona who created a plot in order to secretly reduce competition in the magift tournaments, and tried to severely injure malleus draconia to keep him from playing, only for his plot to be revealed, and for him to give up on trying, thus leading to his overblot.

and then when you think about it, leona probably sees the younger version himself in jamil. jamil’s lust for power is something that leona’s been through more than once, and he knows how being arrogant can lead someone down a bad path.

the rut that he was stuck in was the fact that he thought he was more suitable than falena. but was leona right for the throne ? or did he just want the throne to prove all the people who slighted him wrong ? and again, with magift, he knew that he didn't have the magic power to beat malleus, but he still wanted to win, so bad that he played dirty tricks.

sounds familiar ? it’s basically what jamil did to try and rip the housewarden seat from kalim. jamil thinks himself more suitable and worthy than kalim but is that because he IS more suitable, or is it because he wants to publicly be better than kalim at something for once ?

that’s why leona wants jamil to move on past that. he needs to throw away the arrogance that he’s the 'best', and that 'others just don’t see his brilliance', because…he has a long way to go. leona recognizes his potential. he learned the lesson that jamil is going through the hard way, that’s why he’s trying to help him.

jamil kept insisting that he could protect leona, because he’s convinced that he is more capable at protecting him, relying on his perception of who he thought leona was, rather than acknowledging his prowess. leona knows that he’s more skillful, and he, in the end, succeeds in getting him to accept that.

when jamil can accept that he doesn’t know all that there is, and that he’s at the bottom of the pecking order…that’s exactly when he can start moving up. that’s when he can start working on his skills for the future rather than lamenting the fact that others don’t see his potential.

and that’s exactly the lesson that leona wants him to learn.

okay a cookie for you if you ACTUALLY made it here bc whew this got really long really fast— thank you for reading this far and i hope that you enjoyed my interpretation of book 6’s events ++ leojami’s growth ^^ (also sorry if there’s any spelling/grammar mistakes, i shall fix it later)

[gravedigg]

Closeups of Angel's timeline, 1989 - 1998

[thisisadonaldduckblognow]

bangs pots and pans

raph was never any less suited to leadership than leo

raph was never any less suited to leadership than leo

raph was N E V E R any less suited to leadership than leo

idk how many times i can say it before it sinks in that in rise there was never once any point where that was the point being made

if you just like leo’s character better than you like raph’s, that’s fine! if you just like it better when leo is leader, that’s fine! i have no issue!

but we need to stop trying to circle that leadership change back to somehow being about better or worse or ~more cut out for it~ because it sucks to throw the great job raph did through the series under the bus in order to prop up leo’s good qualities. 

they’re both great leaders. they both have strong suits and weak suits in the role, they both have growth and development when they’re in that role. they BOTH make on-screen mistakes in that role and aren’t very good at it at first! not getting a more in-depth explanation about it in the movie or series stinks and it’s very interesting to explore, but seriously. 

[stellaluna33]

Man, I know she was dumb and screwed it up, but sometimes it kills me a little thinking about the way Rory picked out a pretty dress to wear to the Summer Madness Festival and was smiling excitedly at herself in the mirror (when she knew Dean wasn't supposed to be back in town until HOURS later) and was anxiously looking all around for Jess while she was all dressed up (he'd told her "you look nice" the last time she'd seen him) and... Baby girl, how did you see this going?? She was obviously expecting it to go a lot differently than the way it actually went! How long had she been daydreaming about this? What did she think was going to happen? Probably something a lot more romantic than this. My poor, stupid baby. 😅😭

[south-sea]

Three weeks, four days, and six hours

a mission shadow takes on is only supposed to last for two weeks. it goes horribly wrong and leads to a lot of new/reopened injuries. he spends four days in a haze recovering, and then finally returns home to find a worried housemate waiting.

could not figure out the style i wanted for this even after spending so much time on the lines, so it really stopped being fun. figured something was better than nothing so i cut my losses and wrapped it up however i could manage

[deathsbestgirl]

after reading this post by @randomfoggytiger and a whole mess of @carefulfears words forever rattling around my brain — i just need to talk about unruhe.

i tweeted a simple thought, that isn't really so simple at all. unruhe, to me, is about scully learning a lesson mulder intrinsically knows.

i think scully lays it out in her final voiceover as she writes her report after being kidnapped and nearly lobotomized. she spent her time with gerry trying to keep him talking. she has to take the time to understand this man to have a chance of escaping with all her faculties. scully asks him about his sister and his father, who mulder had questioned him about earlier. as mulder was putting together a profile, he said the man was either really tall or wanted to be — and this little piece of information let scully connect the dots that she was speaking to their suspect. gerry, on stilts. (in the interrogation, scully is angry & forceful — as a doctor and as a woman. mulder is more curious.)

so in her report, she's recording her musings about her experience. and it's something she dismissed earlier:

(unrelated to this post, but this scene always reminds me of their final scene in leonard betts. the disconnect between them, mulder's confusion but acquiescence.)

scully's voiceover:

in the end, scully knows that understanding gerry saved her life. it gave her the time so mulder could get there and intervene. and not just understand, but empathize. something mulder is able to do with just about everyone. even the worst criminals. in beyond the sea, it makes him stubbornly disbelieve boggs. here, mulder ends up shooting & killing gerry. he understood gerry believed he was helping these women, because he couldn't accept what happened to his sister. mulder doesn't over-identify this time. but i think scully's intimate insight into mulder allowed her to look into gerry. (edit: and i don't really mean samantha, though it's part of it. mainly mean the way his mind works. she hates gerry but she tucked away everything mulder said about him & his analysis.)

one of my favorite things about scully is the way she values mulder's mind & empathy. something i think she believes she isn't capable of. she tends to talk about relying on his strength, but she also depends on his empathy so much. when she was in this situation, that's what she drew on. scully rarely has empathy for men committing violent crimes against women. she knows the world is full of predators, as she once told karen kosseff in irresistible. it's a comfort to her to have a hand in bringing these men to justice.

after mulder kills gerry & releases her, scully takes one moment to look back at him before leaving. after this near death incident, scully takes the time to read gerry's diary. like she wants to understand him more. "for truly to pursue monsters, we must understand them. we must venture into their minds." lesson learned, and new fear unlocked: "only in doing so, do we risk letting them venture into ours?"

i actually think this was a silent fear lurking in irresistible. scully's horror at the case was layered. yes, it was the violence against women & the haunting of her own abduction, but also that donnie pfaster would kill women to "scavenge from the dead." she's a pathologist, she understands the curiosity. but she does it to bring victims' justice, to put away predators, to try to make the world a safer place.

over time, i think scully adopts mulder's desire to believe in people. a lot of the series is about scully being radicalized, more and more. to the point of paranoia and immediate distrust of anyone who isn't mulder. but she still goes off with csm in en ami, needing to take the chance he's telling the truth despite knowing he is a liar and responsible for the most reprehensible crimes. she still leans on skinner, doggett, reyes, the lone gunmen. she tries desperately to save cassandra spender. she goes to diana fowley when there's no other option, hoping there's a shred of decency in her, believing the woman really does love mulder. so many moments. the ways mulder changes her, helps her, gives her strength & courage to face her fears. (something about scully killing donnie pfaster feels like a culmination of this — and in the reverse, mulder doesn't kill donnie pfaster. the flip side of scully's lessons?)

kae pointed out to me the reverse here is true too. mulder learns a lesson scully already knew intrinsically. but a post for another night maybe.

all of this, in my mind, deeply intertwined with this post (aka required reading <3)

[revanisadumbass]

Oh but was there a moment where Jocasta Nu, Dooku, and Sifo-Dyas were all three on the Council? Or did they just miss each other, effective trading the seat like an elaborate game of musical chairs?

[sciderman]

We know that Peter was hanging around with Wade when Gwen got kidnapped by green Goblin, did Peter ever blame Wade or blame himself for having fun and goofing off while Gwen was getting 'napped?

i don't think he's that much of a jagoff to blame wade – and i don't think peter was really having fun or goofing off at all. he was just absentmindedly late - honestly, i think peter might've been running late because he was nervous about it. he's kind of characteristically always running behind. gwen's kind of always waiting for him.

it's just this time was the last time.

i think the thing is, peter knew he couldn't keep doing this to gwen - so, when he beats himself up for being too late - he's beating himself up over every. single. time he'd kept gwen waiting for him. over all of the years they'd been together.

he doesn't see it as one big failure - he sees it as hundreds and hundreds of little mistakes he kept making until it all fell apart at the end. i don't know if peter believes that, even if gwen lived, that he could've held onto her. he would've tried. and he might've failed. and i think he'll always feel like he didn't do enough.

i don't think it's her death that he feels guilty over - i think he feels guilty for failing her in life. for not telling her everything he wanted to tell her. for keeping her waiting.