#A tragic heroine

[kitsquared]

How do I explain how wild Mizisua is in Alien Stage is to me

It's the first pair. The first round. The first tragic love. The first to cling to shared dreams and the first to die.

And yet it keeps coming back and back as the love that is desired by others. The love that is envied.

The love that is used by both the aliens and other competitors

Even if love on Alien Stage will not survive.

Sua had chosen to sing and to die for love

Mizi just wanted to sing with her. She didn't think of the alternative on stage

And it's like. You already know that if Sua won and Mizi died, Till might throw his round like in round 6. And then Ivan follows cuz he can't live without Till.

What would we have of Alien Stage if Sua didn't die ??

[vyragosa]

“for the sake of people like you, who can’t do anything but tremble and cry, for the lonely people that no one else cares about.”

“i heard your message loud and clear, madara-han.”

[johnskleats]

Azula would have lost the Final Agni Kai no matter what. Here's why:

Azula is insecure. That's why she takes cheap shots. She did it with Katara, and she did it with Aang in CoD, AND she did it with Iroh striking him with lightning. One could even argue that her behavior in CoD foreshadows some of what happens in the Agni Kai, where in CoD, Katara fights Azula, and Zuko saves her, whereas in the Final Agni Kai, Zuko fights Azula and saves Katara. It's a little mismatch of dynamics.

Azula cheating (constantly), is a staple of dishonorable behavior, which I think is interesting.

We see her "play with her food" like a cat, with the Dai Lee and other opponents she encounters. She tricks them and manipulates them and there's no threat. Killing Aang with lightning was SUPREMELY stupid on her part, and she wouldn't have done it unless she was cornered. She didn't even stick around to make sure he was dead or have any of them followed-- because she was scared. Zuko NEVER flees in fights out of fear. He doubles down like a lunatic and tries to get himself killed instead. Azula is not willing to risk her life, and that's why she's a worse fighter. The insecurity gets to her head and she psychs herself out

Azula has a lot of fire power (lol), but Zuko has the heart and commitment to see actions through to the end. That's why he would have won, had Azula not cheated.

By the end, they were evenly matched in firepower anyway. They did the Raging Line of Flames Competing Colors thing and met in the middle, and stayed there. That's how animation tells us about their ability.

Azula's seat of power in her firebending is spite and fear. She's not even mad, bro.

Zuko's seat of power, at the end, is light and life and love. One is a powder keg that runs out after you blow it up once, and the other is like an oil fire in a parking lot. There's essentially infinite fuel there.

Zuko would have certainly outlasted her. And did, if you think about it. Because she panicked.

Azula's entire persona is a mask, just as Zuko's bravado and pettiness in the first season was a mask. (Funny, that he can only be himself when he's hidden the scar with the blue spirit mask, therefore freeing himself of the shame and the mark that brands him as a villain)

They show us that Azula's mask is not only slipping, but cracking, crumbling in the mirror scene. That's why it's there: to show the audience that all of her running has finally caught up with her.

This world that Azula created has been a sham from the beginning. Castles in the sky to make up for what she lacks: love.

Which is why she would never win against Zuko if they both reached their full potential, as they did during the comet.

[a-a-a-anon]

absolutely fascinated by young dee who is criminally under-discussed so here is my dissertation on what happened in her college years (ft. dr. gainer, setting her roommate on fire, being institutionalized)/my idea for a fic that I will almost certainly never write/my way too serious take on a few throwaway dee lore lines

timeline background: we know that dee majored in psychology ('charlie got molested') and got "three fourths" of the way in (meanwhile dennis finished his psych minor.) assuming this was a four year program, I'm gonna guess that in her third year she got institutionalized and most likely had to drop out ('gun fever too: still hot'.) we also know that she had her back brace until she was twenty ('underage drinking'), so I'm guessing that means she got her back brace off in her third year.

we know that dennis fancied himself a psychologist since he was young, but I think dee did too. in particular I think she was wary and interested in her brother's psychology; she seems very aware of his psychopathy and bpd in 'making dennis reynolds a murderer' and 'psycho pete returns.' in my head she's been interested in dennis' psychology since they were kids and she saw him snapping crows necks. so instead of forcing her way into acting school, she studied psychology to better understand her brother (and also deep down, herself, who is very much the other side of the same fucked up coin.) it also meant she could tell herself she could study her characters even better when she became an actress.

i think she put in (her version of) genuine academic effort to get in, fuelled kind of by spite (remember the way she studied that thick medical book in 'hero or hate crime' or her very quick math in 'boggs: ladies reboot'). she studies books and gets cricket to quiz her and she still fails to get into penn. but frank always pitied her (i think she was his favorite of the twins-remember "let your sister into the gang", "that's my girl!", "i'm sorry the grift didn't work out, sweetie") so he shells out cash to get her in, but also to get her away from home so he has to deal with her even less.

dennis wants to do anything dee does but better and he wants to keep her close by (to watch her crash and burn, and also because he's weirdly possessive-see 'the gang broke dee' "i'm your select!"). and obviously he's barbara's favorite. so barbara gives him money to get in too. she also gets him into a frat and pays for his classes and his rent and everything he needs. dee has to live in a dumpy dorm with a female roommate.

but college presents dee a chance to moult her previous place in life where she was known as a monster (remember how insistent she was that "people can change!" in 'franks pretty woman'. I think dees always wanted to believe she can shed that feeling she's inferior, but she never has). in my head her female roommate is basically normal-has real friends of her own, mentally stable, attractive-which is exactly what dee craves. dee wants to be popular and well liked and she wants to infiltrate her roommates life, imitate her, be in the Cool group. and she places all her hopes on a friendship with the roommate but dee has never navigated real female friendships before, not with someone like her. deep down she also wishes she found what dennis found in mac, whatever it was, because ever since dennis met mac he's never been as close to her. and i do think dee is some flavor of queer. and the roommate is well liked in the way that dee admires and envies. so there is that blurriness between wanting to be her and wanting to be with her. in my head her roommate looks like the woman from dee's fantasy in 'the gang saves the day' (and they both represent that promise of escape from dee's shitty life).

dee is so desperate for the roommates approval and her love and her life that she goes insane, copying and flattering and competing with her. ever the shitty actress, she tries to emulate her, but comes off as manic and creepy. and maybe her roommate is nice enough to not completely shun her, recognizing that she's struggling. maybe in dees mind they actually are becoming friends when her roommate asks things like "are you okay?"

and dee has to talk about her plan with dennis because he's the only person who would Get It. and she makes it sound like it's almost working. dennis feels jealous and worried and threatened that maybe dee might actually be seen as normal, especially when she gets her back brace off in the third year. so dennis fucks her roommate, more of a show that he owns and controls each and every pathetic part of dee’s life than anything else. and so that dee knows she'll never be as good as him, she'll never as easily charm people as dennis does. (or at least he tells her he does).

to prove that To Someone dee is Good Enough, and so desperate for attention, dee (who's been groomed all this time) enters a sexual relationship with her professor dr. gainer. she tells herself she has the power in it, that she seduced him ("he didn't molest me. i had sex with him 'cause i wanted to.") and she has a mental break, because the thing she told herself held her back from being loved (her back brace) is finally gone by now and yet she still feels like a monster, and the only scrap of "love" she can get is from her professor.

and then she can't take the fact that she can steal her roommates clothes, can emulate her sexual prowess (in dee's own fucked up, delusional way), and still neither be well liked like her nor be loved by her. so maybe dee will always be a monster. so dee tried to burn her roommate in her bed, because she represented the promise of change and popularity, and that promise was a lie and dee's effort was for nothing. and she's institutionalized.

and i think there was kind of a falling out between the twins and their parents, because barbara wants to abandon dee but dennis can't help but visit her. and frank doesn't even step foot in a place that reminds him of his traumatic childhood, and avoids dee even more than he used to because she is his childhood mirror image. so the family becomes even more fractured and estranged.

and maybe dee becomes medicated and slowly crawls her way halfway to normal by the first season (her acting classes are so well-adjusted, taking part in healthy hobbies of her!). until her father comes back into her life and everything falls apart <3

side note, even though dee is crushingly lonely-"I just got a cat 'cause I wanted something to hang out with. I don't have, you know, a roommate or anything, and I don't really have anyone to talk to..."-AND she struggles to pay rent whenever frank cuts her off, i hc that she refused to ever get a roommate in particular female roommate again after this because both her internalized misogyny got worse and she was afraid of what would happen (what she would do) again.

[danmeichael]

i think if shen yuan were a girl she should be a fujoshi. not for character reasons but because i think the deeply homoerotic bond between really dedicated fujos is just the right kind of weird to suit her perfectly.

[supersonic1994]

[akimojo]

I sit at the table, fork and knife in hand, ready for a meal. The server comes over with a tray, lifts the lid, and presents to me one singular crumb. I leave the restaurant bereft and hungry

[kylegallners]

sidney prescott x dynasty by rina sawayama

[sawmeinagallery-iwastheart]

I’m a woman written by a man, but the man was Euripides

[howifeltabouthim]

' . . . she might even make the poor boy fall in love with her—especially if she was tragic, if she needed to be rescued.'

Jenn Lyons, from The Ruin of Kings

[wonder-worker]

"It is too easy to dismiss [Leonor of Navarre] as an overambitious schemer who would do anything to obtain a crown, shedding the blood of her own siblings and her subjects in order to attain the throne. However, a deeper investigation of her long lieutenancy and ephemeral reign shows a woman who fought tenaciously to preserve her place but also worked tirelessly to administer a realm which was crippled by internal conflict and the center of the political schemes of France, Aragon, and Castile. She tried to broker peace, fight off those who opposed her, repair the wounds caused by conflict, protect the sovereignty of the realm, and keep the wheels of governance turning. Leonor was not always successful in achieving all of these aims but given the background of conflict and the lack of cooperation she received from all of her family members, bar her loyal husband, it is a huge achievement that she survived to wear the crown at all. Many writers have argued that Leonor deserved the troubled lieutenancy, personal tragedies, an ephemeral reign, and a blackened reputation, basing their assumption that she committed a crime that cannot be [conclusively] proven. However, a more fitting description of her would be that of a resolute ruler who successfully overcame a multitude of challenges in order to survive in a difficult political landscape and gain a hard-fought throne.”

-Elena Woodacre, "Leonor of Navarre: The Price of Ambition", Queenship, Gender and Reputation in the Medieval and Early Modern West, 1060-1600 (Edited by Zita Eva Rohr and Lisa Benz)

[sillyfairygarden]

getting lost in the rendering sauce again

[raionmimi]

Another day, another overbearing PruksaManee family headcanon

Ever since she graduated, when Symmetra goes to random places outside of Vishkar, she often finds that Niran’s family has made arrangements for her to be taken care of already. Even if she thinks it’s a bit of a hassle to this day

Like she could go to a hotel for a work assignment. There is a very high chance they ensured she will have an exclusive suite under “Ms. Vaswani-PruksaManee.” Or she goes to a department store, and suddenly she has a personal shopper helping her pick out her clothes with material she likes. She arrives at a restaurant, and they already make her the foods she likes that might not even on their menu.

She’s so used to them being pushy and throwing their money around as a way of showing their love, but she’s still thinking “these damn rich people…” (affectionate) anytime they go overboard over silly things.

Just living a “my in-laws are obsessed with me” lifestyle no matter. They laugh it off whenever she insists there must be something better they could be using their wealth on because what else is better than their favorite daughter/sister-in-law (they suddenly can’t hear when she reminds them she never married Niran either.)

Sometimes, there’s rumors in the media that the eldest PruksaManee’s son had a fiancé before he went “astray,” but there’s never any pictures of her for some reason. Any possible lead is always mysteriously taken down and replaced with a different story.

[choconotfound]

gnf on stream (2022) // ophelia by friedrich heyser (1857)

[sincerelymarner]

10/24/22 | jeff bottari via getty images

[misskattylashes]

This is so moving. We all focus on Alex and how overwhelming last week was for him, but let's spare a minute for Miles.

For whatever reason in 2017 his relationship with his best buddy/great love deteriorated to the point they were barely speaking. But the estrangement wasn't as long as people seem to think it was. There were sightings of them out socially in 2019 and there are pictures of them outside pubs in London taken during one of the many 5 minute breaks in Lockdown we had in 2020. We all took breaks in Lockdown to catch up with those we loved and missed. And Milex chose to meet each other.

Listening to a lot of the songs on One Man Band, and Hello You and Jet Skis on the Moat it is pretty obvious these past few years have been spent rebuilding their relationship to the point that the person who Alex wanted to be there for him during the last emotional days of the tour, was Miles.

Is it any wonder Miles shed a tear? It is like the end of a turbulent chapter of his life, no one knows what the future holds, but as well as managing his own career, he will have to be an emotional crutch for Alex.

I don't think he would change this for the world. But let's allow him to get a bit overwhelmed and stop painting him as 'sad Miles' when he clearly said it was the best week of his life.