#ARTHUR CLENCHED FIST MEME

[markantonys]

Re your Mat ranking I'm thinking of back when s1 first aired and people were complaining so much how they changed Mat's backstory but seeing how they're adapting his character on the show now it's honestly the best thing they could've done for his character

it's especially worth noting that those complaints exclusively came from readers. show-onlys LOVED mat straightaway in s1 and near-universally listed him as the most compelling of the EF4 and the one they felt most invested in. nynaeve, moiraine, and lan obviously had him beat overall, but if i'd run a poll during s1 asking show-onlys who was their favorite among mat, rand, perrin, and egwene, i'm quite confident that mat would've won in a landslide.

and it was precisely because of those backstory changes. in general Sad Childhood is a trope that audiences gobble up, as rafe & co knew very well, and for mat specifically it was an excellent way to convey the heart of his character (hero who thinks he isn't a hero) right away in the first episode (where we see him worry about being just like his shitty parents but then he charges into battle to rescue his sisters). for me at least, giving him tangible fears and insecurities about his nature makes his struggle with viewing himself as a hero emotionally resonate much more than the book version of "i don't want to be a hero because it's too dangerous and too much work" (a comedically realistic attitude for a fantasy character to have, for sure, but doesn't make for as powerful & moving of a character arc as "i've grown up viewing myself as a worthless piece of shit and now i need to be a hero and i'm terrified that i'm not good enough to pull it off").

in conclusion, the un-self-awareness in the "mat deeply sucks and is hated by all readers until book 3. oh my god how dare the show change mat's backstory in a manner deliberately calculated to make the audience understand, sympathize, and emotionally connect with him right away in the first episode?!" complaints will never not be funny to me

[shastafirecracker]

I have a minor grievance with Stampede to air out, brought on by listening to Adventures in Solitude by The New Pornographers which is of course the ultimate volume 14 of trimax song. In the last ep of Stampede, Vash and Knives both sprout one wing and fly completely normally. (It takes Vash a minute to get his balance but then he can fly fine.) And this seems to posit that like, they inherently only have one wing each, and that that’s normal and not a hindrance. Obviously the visual -wiggles hand- whatever is that if you put them side by side they make one whole entity with two wings.

However this is in reference to the final volume of the manga, in which they fly off into the sunset holding each other, each with one wing out for balance. But. But. Here’s my beef. Vash is the one who grabs Knives and takes off with him to save him from the Earth fleet/Chronica’s rage. Vash manifests a full ass set of angel wings. Except, in doing so, he’s burning through way too much of his power, and also he just got impaled in the gut by one of Knives blades, so he falters and starts to pass out. One of his wings falls apart. Knives then manifests a single wing to balance Vash’s remaining wing, and he does it with a look of terror and desperation- obviously he’s never done that before, and it’s easy to read into the moment that Knives is not used to trying to manifest something -useful- or -creative- with his blades. He just makes weapons. So his wing is strange, a weapon repurposed to a practical task, unwieldy. The thing is, Knives -can also generate feathers- like Vash but for all his bluster about how Vash never learned how to use his powers and Knives is so all-powerful with them, in the end, he has actually poured so much of his focus into becoming death incarnate - becoming Millions Knives - that he can’t even manifest the one thing it makes sense for feathers (his basic nature) to be: a wing.

And then the two of them fly away struggling with it, barely holding their forms and barely balancing each other, but finally crossing a bridge to work together to achieve something. Anything. Even if all they achieve is to escape (and do exactly what Vash always said: run away and wait for things to calm down, and then try to come back in peace).

So yeah my beef with Stampede is borrowing the visual of the one-winged angels and losing the meaning. I mean, I think Stampede creates some new and interesting meanings of its own - it’s leaning far more into the idea that the twins aren’t really whole on their own, that they need each other to be complete in a more ontological sense. But. As a filthy manga stan. I will always adore what Nightow did with these boys and their troubles, and how few words were needed to explore their feelings. So much of manga Knives is in his facial expressions. His anguish of loss and grief in the last volume is so damn palpable. Stampede’s only brushed over the surface possibilities of Knives as a character.

[jrueships]

THE RICH LESBIAN WINE AUNT JUDGEMENTAL STARE

[anotherawkwardfan]

this entire song makes me feel insane.

(shout out to being raised religious then growing up and becoming atheist/agnostic against your parent's wishes AYOOO)

[arithmeticanimaniac]

i know we all know and hate planned obsolescence but i need to vent because i finally got an ipad 4th gen to boot up and none of the apps work. not even the apps that come included with the ipad like pages. and the browser is so outdated i actually can’t use a lot of websites. the fury.

[chewing-the-drywall]

Headcanons where Izzy's glove reveals a burned hand that happened at the same incident that burned Calico Jack's arm

[carbonateddelusion]

nobody talk to me until I'm done listening to mary on a cross for the thousandth time and thinking about 80s eddie and jack

[bylertruther]

THERE'S A FUCKING BYLER STAR WARS AU FIC THAT JUST DROPPED TODAY AND NONE OF YOU SAID ANYTHING TO ME?! FOR SHAMEEEEEEEEEE STARTING THE YEAR OFF WITH NOTHING BUT FAKE FOLLOWERS N FRIENDS I SEE...... RUNNING AWAY WILL BYERS STYLE WITH TEARS STREAMIN DOWN MY FACE FR

[reticent-fate]

I think one of the more painful things about experiencing the varied forms of dissociative amnesia is that you can recognize someone, have a whole packet of data about them, but zero emotional attachment to whoever you are supposed to feel an attachment to.

I'm thinking about this a lot bc we seem to go through a weird not-quite-reset period around certain periods of the year because our system just remembers being in public school (system designed to excel at school while "dumping" traumatic material to minimize chance of failure).

As a result, I'm a little more attuned at the moment to the fact that we have so many people we either do or have talked to that we suddenly feel/felt obliged to cut out of our lives because they feel like strangers to us.

I don't know if I've seen this consequence of emotional amnesia talked about in plural communities, but it sure is terrifying to experience and be aware of considering there's nothing I can really do about it! 

Now that we're better aware of the system, too, it's a lot easier for us to understand that a lot of our behavior in the past was self-sabotage related to this; leaving entire groups of support, casually cutting off people, so on and so on...

Meanwhile the Mii Channel music is playing in repetition in my brain because the scholar subsystems are stuck fronting rn because of this and all I can think of is how much I wanna psychoanalyze myself like I'm a thrilling essay tbw. We love a healthy coping mechanism (/hj).

-Tia

[zacala]

saw someone praise someone else for correctly using ; and I got angry because I use that a lot in writing but not in casual conversation. that should've been me I'm so mad

[patchworkcowboy-archive]

✿ 🤠

THE PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIP MEME 0.2 send me a  ✿  and i’ll fill out the template below. bold for things i could definitely see or want, italics for things i could see or am unsure of and striked out for things i don’t want or cannot see.

FRIENDSHIP.     childhood friends  /  work buddies or coworkers  /  family friends  /  friends with benefits  /  smoking buddies  /  adventure buddies  /  fake friends  /  recently friends  /  party buddies  /  friendship of need  /  dying friendship  /  circumstantial friendship  /  partners in crime  /  old friendship  /  [ your muse ] is the good influence  /  [ your muse ] is the bad influence  /  [ my muse ] is the good influence  /  [ my muse ] is the bad influence  /  opposites attract  /  ride or die  /  frenemies  /  roommates or flatmates  /  penpals  /  exes to friends  /  enemies to friends  /  other

I feel like they would/could vibe once arthur learns to trust him. your arthur seems to have a fairly high honor and pj does too although he tends to skew towards neutral a bit more than high

ROMANCE.     childhood sweethearts  /  [ your muse is mines ] childhood crush  /  [ my muse is yours ] childhood crush  /  exes  /  exes to lovers  /  forbidden lovers  /  highschool sweethearts  /  secret relationship  /  opposites attract  /  long distance  /  unrequited [ from your muses side ]  /  unrequited [ from my muses side ]  /  unrequited [ from both sides ]  /  skinny love  /  friends to lovers  /  enemies to lovers  /  spurious relationship  /  power couple  /  newly entered  /  soulmates [ metaphorical ]  /  soulmates  [ literal ]  /  awkward  /  turning toxic  /  toxic love  /  cheating [ on your muse ]  /  cheating [ with your muse ]  /  other 

^^ So far I think this would only possibly happen in your werebuck AU but who knows maybe things will change once they interact more.

FAMILIAL.     siblings [ half ]  /  siblings [ step ]  /  [ my muse ] is an older sibling figure to your younger sibling figure  /  [ my muse ] is a younger sibling figure to your older sibling figure muse  /  [ my muse ] is a parental figure to yours  /  [ my muse ] is a child figure to your muse  /  guardian figure  /  legal guardian  /  adoptive child  /  foster child  /  [ your muse ] is taken under mines wing  /  [ my muse ] is taken under yours wing  /  other

Logic: our 1 and only active thread with them and the vibe it's giving off right now. PJ needs help and friends fr.

ANTAGONISTIC.     dangerous to each other  /  dangerous to others  /  unpredictable  /  rivals  /  petty  /  developing into sexual or romantic tension  /  based off family matters  /  based of off circumstance  /  based of professional matters  /  based off misunderstanding or lies  /  conflict of ideology  /  betrayal  /  hero - villain dynamic  /  enemies  /  fight club  /  friends turned enemies  /  lovers turned enemies  /  exes turned enemies  /  other 

I don't usually write a lot of antagonistic stuff but am open to it! I feel like they'd only clash over misunderstandings or if she wanted to use the tadpoles bc he is anti-tadpoles.

[lovinggreeniehours]

WHY DOES EVERY PICTURE I SEE OF LAI.OS WITH BUTTON UPS ALWAYS HAVE THE BUTTONS FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES. LEAVE ME ALONE

[enthusiastofshit]

[kaiju-krew]

Hey there! Firstly, big big fan of your art and headcanons, ty for your cool and awesome big brain ❤️ Now that you’ve seen the movie, I’m wondering what your thoughts are on Shimo??? I’ve just seen impressions of her so scattered. (I saw your post on how she will NOT be treated as a pet, and I so appreciate that.)

I will say, for me the ‘old gal’ vibes are so strong and I’m here for it. Like when Goji blasts his atomic breath into the sky at the end and she’s looking at it with such awe and her cute super gummy smile, it reminds me of when a grandma gets shown some common piece of technology that the rest of us are used to, but she just can’t heckin believe it because she lives in a damn cave??? I loved that.

hi hi! omg u think i have a big brain...... compliment of the century.... i must have ppl fooled bcuz i am viscerally dumb most of the time

anywAYS. gxk spoilers below (and a lot of ranting)

shimo my beloved💙 i appreciate most interpretations of her, besides people who are just straight up caling her a dog. and like, not in the way i’d compare goji to a cat? for me it's more mannerisms based, so for goji my main expression/mannerism inspirations are cats, wolves, and komodo dragons (obviously), and for mosu it's owls and cats, with a crumb of horses because of their 'ear' communication so i use that with her antennae.

sorry for tangent but anyways. i dont need someone barking at me that i call goji a cat/draw him acting like a cat so calling shimo ‘kong’s pet dog’ is fine. i think its the difference between goji having the personality i characterize him with + mannerisms inspired by other animals, vs. him having no personality besides Being A Cat. like, he’s a dumbfuck but he’s clearly an intelligent creature capable of communication and understanding. i make a lot of shitposts but truly in my personal hc i’d never reduce him to ‘pet level intelligence’

i think i’m extra touchy about people calling her ‘kong’s pet’ because like. dawg. did you watch the movie? she was JUST freed from being skar’s slave/beast of burden/abused pet whatever you wanna call it. why would you want her to become another creature’s pet again?(obviously minus the abuse) idk mannn it just feels…. reductive somehow. she clearly shows intelligence and understanding when she realizes what’s happening during the fight and helps to kill skar. i just refuse to reduce her entire character to kong’s pet status bcuz that makes me uncomfortable asf.

as a disclaimer, you’re welcome to have whatever hc you enjoy. me expressing my personal thoughts on the matter isn’t an attack on anyone who characterizes her that way, i’m just not interested in engaging with it in the slightest.

DOUBLE ANYWAYS i just needed to get that outta my system. TIME FOR CUTE FUN IDEAS YAHOOO

i’m seeing mixed info about her age so idk where she actually sits there?? i remember seeing something like she’s the First Titan but i also think the novelization of the movie said she’s only 3 million years old?? when im p sure they’ve said goji is 250+ million years old so…. i have no clue there lol. personally she feels less jaded and grumpy than goji does to me so my brain automatically sees her as similar or younger bcuz of my Grumpy Old Man bias.

i’m still workin out my ideas for her but based on how the movie ends i like to think she helps kong with relocating the apes to a better home, and they mostly live in HE. her n kong venture up for surface dates bcuz she gets what she fucking deserves 💙

goji nearly has an aneurysm the first time they come up, since mosu literally takes them for a lil tour of monster island. bro standing there clenching his fist like the arthur meme, he begrudgingly knows she’s right and eventually he gets used to it

i got more ideas cookin for her but this post is already too damn long cuz of my ranting time to stfu

SHIMO BEST GIRL 10/10

[menlove]

remembers the demo of be my baby where you can hear john say "I need him" like. arthur fist clench meme.

[markantonys]

for the LOVE of GOD, the girls are NOT going back to the tower in season 3!!! what about "season 2 is an amalgamation of books 2&3 and season 3 is book 4" do people not understand! they have completed their Tower Arc Amalgamation! they have no in-world reason or narrative need to return! their next step is to embark on their TSR roadtrips! it is not efficient storytelling to hurtle them all the way back to the tower from falme, have them stay for one (1) week and half (.5) an episode just so that egwene and elayne can take the accepted tests they DO NOT ACTUALLY NEED TO TAKE in order for the rest of the story to work, and then hurtle them off again on their roadtrips, rather than just going straight off on said roadtrips from falme! especially since the entire rest of egwene's travel party is already conveniently gathered with her at falme and ready to head out! do you want the poor woman to wander around the desert for ages looking for the rest of the party since she went there separately from them?

tldr: "the girls will return to the tower in s3" is the Poorly-Thought-Out Reader Assumption That Makes Me Irrationally Angry of season 3, in the same way that flicker flicker & portal stones were for s2 djfkgh i become arthur clenching fist meme every time i see it said! (note that this outburst is 100% brought to you by r/wotshow, i haven't really seen much of this assumption on tumblr. you guys are safe from my wrath!)

(also, same for mat - this is less prevalent but i've seen a fair number of people saying recently that he will get dagger-sick AGAIN and go back to the tower AGAIN, purely so that he can meet gawyn & galad and have his fight with them, even though said fight could be made to happen in literally any place & time and it would make no sense to shoehorn mat back to the tower for s3 when he's already completed his Tower Amalgamation Arc and is ready to go to the waste)

(also also, same for "3x01 will open with them taking the stone of tear." NO!!!! why would they hurtle everyone over to tear and construct a giant-ass set for a single episode before sending everyone off on their roadtrips? be serious! tear will not appear until a later point in the story, when there is time to spend multiple episodes there!)