#I am not an atla fan (i think i watched it once) and it has many problems too

[numericalbridge]

I think it should be clear by now that i have many, many problems with toh's writing, but i also think that both the strengths and the weaknesses of the show are present more or less evenly through out it. So i am always side eyeing the fandom when fans paint Hunter and the Whittebanes as something that elevated toh and made it special and more mature.

Like, yes, Belos's character is important, but he is important in the way his character contrasts Luz and Eda and others, and as the representation of a certain worldview and type of person. There are some interesting things about the way he is written as an individual too, but the way the fans prop him up and give him so much sympathy and care for his characterization and backstory - even when his actions are not excused - compared to characters of color who are dismissed or get simplified to suit narrow roles (even though they are also interesting in canon) is often pretty evident.

And Caleb's and Evelyn's roles are way overblown by the fandom. They could've been swapped with a different backstory for Belos, yet parts of fandom treat them as the most essential part of the series all the while saying terribly unkind things about fans who are unhappy about Gus's and Willow's treatment. (and i am an enjoyer of background characters myself, but i think it is one thing to say 'oh i love this guy with 0 lines, i am going to vote for him in a poll and invent a backstory for him' and the other thing to pretend the guy is the most special character in canon while treating major characters as if they are nothing).

Like, i obviously don't think there is anything wrong about liking the Whittebanes/Evelyn and writing meta about them or creating fanworks, but it really feels like some of the fans would've preferred to watch a show about these white characters rather than the actual Owl House. Even a white disabled woman like Eda seems too much for this type of fans.

And while Hunter's story is fairly well done, it is not the only important part of the series. Other characters also have interesting things about them, they are often just not given the same chances to shine - sometimes by the show itself, but sometimes fans just refuse to give them a deeper look.

And the show didn't even get more serious or deep just because of the addition of Hunter. Luz's depression and guilt are present from early on, there are some things about Eda and other adults, and education and society, that are relatively deep for what it is - just not in that specific 'wow so dark' way. And as the show adds more plot and lore in season 2 it gets more serious - which is nothing special but a usual development for this type of a kid show. And then the fans majorly overblow how serious and deep it became when it's still very much a fantasy-comedy aimed at tweens.

[sneezypeasy]

*sigh*

Y'know, this really doesn't/shouldn't matter, but as this particular accusation keeps getting thrown at me over and over again - oh fuck it, I'm gonna take the bait this one time and set the record straight once and for all. Honestly my "appetite" in this context is truly not anyone's business (and if you don't care to hear about it this is the one warning you'll get to click away lmao) but I've reached the point where if you really wanna attack my credibility based on who you think I enjoy fantasizing about, I'm gonna throw you a bone and tell you exactly what type that is - cuz as much as I'm sick of the ad hominem attacks the Aussie in me is even more sick of watching them miss so fucking hard. If you're gonna roast me, the least you can do is hit me where it hurts, goddamn it. Get it right or go home you uncooked noodles. Capiche?

When it comes to my taste in men, my "type" is: big, strong, hairy brutes. There, I said it. Give me lumberjacks, give me cavemen, I want my Jason Momoas, I want my Ma Dong-Seoks, I want them broad shoulders and tree-trunk calves and I wanna see those muscles bulge. If a fictional character ever gets me biting my lip at the screen, it's never gonna be a fine-featured pretty boy, it's gonna be a good thick daddy who can take my wrists, pin me against a wall and [--------------------------------‐---sustained bleep sound effect---------------------------------]

1:38-1:51 🤣

Personality wise, I'm a basic bitch who has approximately zero defenses for the "jerk with a heart of gold" stereotype. Gets me every time, without fail. The smooth-talking playboy who flirts with everyone and who could bed anyone he wanted, but who only lets you see him at his deepest, dearest, most vulnerable moments? Sorry, am I supposed to not fall for that shit or something? Well frankly I don't understand how and I'm not ashamed to admit it. If he happens to be built like a fortress on top of that? Yeah, I'm done. Have me bathed and brought to your tent, sir, please and thank you.

I admit, it's rare that a character with the physique I like also has that heartbreaker personality I'm a sucker for. Guys in fiction are usually strong and mean or they make up for their lighter frames with silver tongues and barbed promises - rarely do writers create a character who's stacked with both brains and brawn, so to speak. Makes sense though, as while irl people can max out any combination of stats that they put effort towards - in fiction a character who's too good at too many different attributes can come across unbalanced or Gary Stu-ish and will fail to resonate with audiences unless the writer really knows what they're doing.

That being said, there really isn't any character in ATLA who fits my type - either of them, actually. There are some bit characters like Chit Sang who get close in terms of physical build - but Chit Sang has very gaunt, angular facial features that I'm really not a fan of and tbh, while I get that I can't expect all my big buff boys to also be masters of wit and cunning and charm, being dumber than a box of rocks does seal it for me, sorry. In terms of personality, I guess the closest character would be Jet, and he's cool and all but yeah, the whole "would go as far as killing kids" thing makes him a bit of a hard sell for me too. (And yes, it's worth questioning the writers' choices to create him with those flaws to begin with but look, that's a discussion for another day 😂)

All this to say, if you wanna tease me about coveting fictional characters and allowing thirst to cloud my judgment - COME AT ME BOYS. But not with Zuko, for fuck's sake. The character that makes sneezy.exe blue-screen ain't him. It's actually the late great Carthaginian General Hannibal Barca, the man the myth the legend may he Rest in Peace if anyone's seriously wondering. Look, I do like the scar, and the awkwardness is endearing - he's definitely not ugly or unappealing by any means so please don't misunderstand, I'm not trying to bash him or nothin' - but if I'm being brutally honest, he's not my type! Not physically, not even emotionally. If I ship Zutara, it's because aspects of the ship appeal to me that are unrelated to my personal opinion of Zuko as an object of fantasy, which if you must know (and now you do, congratulations, you're welcome), the kind of boy I do fantasise about when I'm in the mood for that sort of thing could literally and figuratively sweep Zuko off his feet - and then sit on him. In either order.

P.S. While we're on this topic, the character I personally relate to most heavily is not Katara either btw. It's Toph. If you're going to accuse me of bias, questioning my views on Toph would make the most sense for that reason. But really, it's hardly my fault that she's basically the most perfect flawless irreproachable badass in ATLA or practically all of animation as a whole. Come on now. *whistles innocently*

[misscammiedawn]

I Am Also A We - Integration and Functional Multiplicity in sense8

CW: sense8 depicts suicide, transphobia, medical trauma, deadnaming, chronic alcoholism, drug abuse, homophobia, homophobic slurs, intense sexual themes, plays sexual assault towards men for humor. Check DoesTheDogDie for more information.

If you watch the show be warned the first episodes involve a family forcefully trying to (allegorically) detransition a transgender woman and circumvent her agency in a medical setting. This may be more than most can handle.

"I've been thinking about my life, and all of the mistakes that I've made. The ones that stay with me, the ones that I regret, are the ones that I made because of fear. For a long time, I was afraid to be who I am because I was taught by my parents that there's something wrong with someone like me. Something offensive, something you would avoid, maybe even pity. Something that you could never love. My mom, she's a fan of St. Thomas Aquinas. She calls pride a sin. And of all the venal and mortal sins, St. Thomas saw pride as the queen of the seven deadlies. He saw it as the ultimate gateway sin that would turn you quickly into a sinaholic. But hating isn't a sin on that list. Neither is shame. I was afraid of this parade because I wanted it so badly to be a part of it. So today, I'm marching for that part of me that was once afraid to march and for all the people who can't march - the people who living lives like I did. Today, I march to remember that I'm not just a me but I'm also a we. And we march with pride." Nomi Marks (sense8 - Season 1, Episode 2)

Humans are fascinating and varied creatures.

Imagine for a moment, a transgender hactivist in San Francisco, a closeted homosexual movie star in Mexico City, a cop in Chicago, a Nordic expat DJ living in London, an orphaned gangster in Berlin, a bus driver in Nairobi who has never lived in a home with running water, a Hindu bio-chemist in Mumbai and a kickboxer in Seoul whose father owns a powerful investment firm.

Lives so disparate that it would be simple to create walls of division to keep them wholly separate and incapable of acting as a whole...

And yet the show is all about erasing the division between people and as the show goes on these 8 people with all their unique and individual perspectives and backgrounds, will become one and many. A collective as one.

That seems like something I may want to talk a little about.

sense8 is a Netflix drama that ran for 2 seasons (and had 2 specials) between 2015-2018. Created by the Wachowski Sisters of Matrix fame and J Michael Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame.

It is a show about radical empathy, the full spectrum of the human experience and the virtues of living openly and connected in the face of a world that pressures the marginalized to hide and remain divided.

Yet in listening to our contributors, especially those with Indigenous ties or who identify as people of color and/or not bound by the ties of Western medicine, dissociation as it’s been described so far [...] can mean many things that are not helpful. A general consensus from these contributors is that trauma survivors ought never be shamed for doing what they have to do in order to survive, especially because so many of the contexts into which people are born promote division, disconnection, and marginalization. Usually this context is shaped by a dominant culture that relies on separation in its most unhelpful and wounding sense to uphold the power that the dominant culture so readily craves. (Dissociation Made Simple - Jamie Marich)

To acknowledge the flaws in both shows and creators, The Wachowski's tend to have a lens of privilege and blind spots to their works that undermine their messages of radical empathy, most famously their fumble in the diversity of Cloud Atlas' cast and the use of white actors in Asian roles (Natalie Portman was originally offered the role that went to Bae Doona).

sense8 is not immune to this and does have issues with connecting the 8 main characters without consideration to certain biases. Some mild examples are that the Christmas special having all 8 unanimously celebrating the Christian holiday (including a Hindu and a character with religious trauma centered on Christianity specifically) to the unchecked Copaganda and the show completely erases asexuality as a valid lifestyle with dialogue even going as far to say that sex is why we exist and to deny it is to deny being human.

Also as someone with an extreme aversion to depictions of suicide... this show does like to offer suicide as The Only Way Out a lot. The show opens on a suicide and the final episode involves no fewer than 3 attempts by various characters when they are cornered. One even succeeds. Lana's experience with her suicide attempt was important to her coming out as a trans woman. A version of that moment is even depicted in the 4th Matrix movie with Neo (allegorically Lana herself) helping someone else wake to their own identity in a suicide attempt. I do not want to rob her of the transformative power of that event and memory. It's clearly important to her and her work, but it's troublesome that averted suicide attempts are always depicted virtuously in her work. Again... it's a matter of blind spots and biases.

I acknowledge the show is flawed in these and many more respects but it does speak to empathy and connection in a way that though not perfectly placed upon the screen, is a message worth internalizing. Though it's okay to be uncomfortable with how it is presented and opt out.

Regardless of imperfect execution and the early cancellation, it is still a miracle of a show. In many ways it is a show that shouldn't exist. It cost $9 million per episode and its filming schedule required flying between 11 cities for 3 weeks of shooting a piece. It features full nudity, multiple sex scenes involving huge swaths of the cast at once.

To put all of that in perspective, the entire experience is literally bookended by a rainbow strap-on glistening from use.

But... this is not a show about dissociative disorders. Mental illness is only represented in that characters briefly question their sanity. So why am I talking about it in my Media, Myself and I essay series on positive representation of dissociative disorders in fiction?

Well... it just so happens to also feature the best depiction of Functional Multiplicity in all of television.

Functional Multiplicity or "Integration" is a goal in treating complex dissociative disorders where the dissociative system are able to function as a single person with minimal division between parts.

It is important to note that intergration and fusion are two separate concepts and are both valid outcomes for treatment within CDD therapy. Where fusion is the concept of merging all dissociated personalities into a single unified personality, integration allows the system to communicate and cooperate with full access to memories and skills with no inner-conflict exacerbating symptoms.

The final approach in Fraser’s article addresses the issue of fusion or integration, a strong area of potential controversy for those diagnosed with or identifying as DID. Many individuals with DID strongly resist or oppose a psychiatrist or any other provider’s insistence that they integrate the various aspects of their personality into a cohesive whole. This process can feel disrespectful to the members of a system, and if you are reading this passage and have ever felt triggered at the suggestion that you need to integrate, you are not alone. (Dissociation Made Simple - Jamie Marich)

The terms “dissociation” and “integration” have long been synonymous with one another—meant to signify that the only reasonable goal in working with splitting and compartmentalization must be the fusing together of dissociated parts to create one single “homogenized” adult. Daniel Siegel, however, makes a strong case against defining integration as fusion. He asserts (2010a) a different view: “Integration requires differentiation and linkage.” Before we can integrate two phenomena, we have to differentiate them and “own” them as separate entities. We can’t simply “act as if” they are connected without noticing their separateness. But, having clearly differentiated them so they can be studied and befriended, we then have to link them together in a way that fosters a transformed sense of the client’s experience, facilitating healing and reconnection. - (Healing the Fragmented Selves - Janina Fischer)

Acknowledging the separateness and clearly differentiating people to befriend, link and foster a transformed sense of experience, facilitating healing and connection.

Now that sounds like sense8 to me.

As mentioned above the shows protagonists are from different walks of life. Nomi, Lito, Will, Riley, Wolfgang, Capheus, Kala and Sun are all "born" into a "cluster", a nest of 8 connected minds who share their every thought and experience with one another.

The core 8 are able to share control of one another's bodies as well as speak telepathically in one another's heads. "Sharing" and "Visiting" respectively, if we are to play the YA Novel game of naming every single concept in a fictional world.

Each character has their strengths and weaknesses and connections that make up for their weaknesses.

To give an example Lito is an actor who has a little bit of a diva streak. He's good at lying under pressure, he can flirt with women effortlessly, he is deeply in touch with his emotions and he lives in absolute terror of his homosexual lifestyle being discovered for fear it will ruin his career and the comfort he has earned in life.

Wolfgang is ruthless and blunt and so leans on Lito's ability to lie under pressure, something that he is typically incapable of doing because he does not value roundabout methods of deception when he can just brute force his way to solutions. Lito helps him lie when the situation calls for it.

Sun is emotionally repressed, choosing to work her emotions through her fists, though she is one of the most privileged members of the cluster she has more than enough reason to be sad with a father who refused to show her love, the worst brother on the planet, a dead mother and a plot that involves her being wrongfully imprisoned and subject to multiple assassination attempts. She can offer the rest of the cluster her fighting skills but it is Lito who helps her to be able to cry when she needs it. In a beautiful scene late in season 2 a depressed Lito is crying in Sun's hotel room and Sun admonishes him saying that she is the one with reason to cry and Lito responds plainly "But you never would. Maybe that is why I am here."

On the flipside whenever Lito is in conflict about his life in the closet he pulls up Nomi, a transgender woman who has been through the entire coming out process, and leans heavily on her.

Though it takes much of the first season for the characters to understand what is happening to them we eventually get to see all 8 of them completely at home with one another's thoughts and perspectives.

They are separate, yes. But they are of one mind.

This is akin to the end result of trauma focused parts work in therapy. When a person is not yet treated for trauma based dissociation their inability to integrate their experiences creates a fracture and a disharmony that breeds emotional volatility and a breakdown in inner experience.

Disowning requires selective attention, a focusing away from whatever is “not me.” The senses fail to register what is taking place around us; we don’t feel our emotional responses, good or bad; we are in a zone. We can’t “own” our anger or dependence or fear when we don’t feel them. We can’t “own” traumatic events that we haven’t witnessed. We can’t know ourselves as whole human beings because only those qualities valued in a traumatic environment are accessible to consciousness. Segregating intense feelings, though, results in affect intolerance: if we can escape our emotions by automatically and involuntarily shifting into a different part of the self or different feeling state, we never get the opportunity to exercise our “emotional muscles,” and all feelings gradually become more and more intolerable. Inner conflicts are never resolved, just distanced. When that happens, acting out (self-destructively or addictively) and “acting in” (through self-hatred, self-judgment, punitive introspection) become the only avenues for regulating emotions and autonomic arousal. Splitting or fragmentation must become more complex and creative. - (Healing the Fragmented Selves - Janina Fischer)

As the main cluster of the show are able to expand their horizons via empathy and connection to one another they are able to challenge their blind spots and achieve a level of comfort in their world that was not accessible before. From our above example Sun can process her emotions thanks to Lito.

In a similar fashion, in Season 2 Kala becomes guilty about her lifestyle because she discovers that the company she works for is sending inferior medication to Capheus' region of the world and through experiencing life through Capheus' eyes she is aware of her position of privilege and uses her power to make positive change.

Had the show have been able to continue on this empathy would have been the center of the show with Capheus running for political office, Lito embracing his role as a queer icon who can inspire others and Riley risking exposure by touring her music and making contact with other sensates.

Alas. We'll never get the promised potential of the show's premise.

Another factor that was promised but was not fully paid off on was the concept of blockers.

In the show other sensates could visit (but not share) with a single member of a cluster if they make eye contact (Cloud Atlas which shared 3 directors and 3 writers with this show also included this concept of eye contact creating a human connection) and the only way to prevent their intrusion was to take blockers. A medication that cut off their empathetic connections and turned off their psychic ability.

The blocker allegory was about masking and hiding and working to blend in with the dominant culture without standing out. Part of the show's humanity was the characters wishing to go against the narrative that they needed to hide and to live loud and proud and inspire others to do the same.

It would have been interesting to see each of the sensates on blockers learning to act in ways their cluster would without being able to let them take control of their body. Show that the integration of the system is not a matter of separate parts in their own boxes but a cluster that is fully connected and capable of sharing their sole life.

To go back to my discussion on functional multiplicity, the concept of being able to share memories and skills is emphasized as a part of both integration and fusion models.

Sharing roles, responsibilities or tasks also enables other parts to help the System’s successful functioning in the outside world. Then, these parts can grow and mature individually. It also gives the System the opportunity to feel first-hand appreciation for what parts have done and contributed to the System’s survival and success, as well as better understanding of what it takes to keep the System functioning well today. (Got Parts? - ATW)

We are all in this together.

A beautiful thing that the show displays outside of the core cluster is the radical empathy and acceptance that exist within the side characters.

In the final episode of the show Wolfgang's surrogate brother and only true family Felix arrives to the help the cluster Capheus rushes over to him and embraces him exclaiming "MY BROTHER, FELIX!" and laughing with joy. This was Capheus' first time meeting Felix but the empathetic connection travels between them.

The same connection causes Kala's love for her husband to be felt by Wolfgang and allow the three of them to engage in a polyamorous relationship. The final orgy scene of the show literally climaxes with Kala's non-psychic husband exclaiming "My god, I didn't think such things were possible" after a threesome with his wife and Wolfgang who share the same love for him. This is the very last line of the show.

In a dissociative system conflict can breed between parts that are not integrated when their needs, desires and drives are not in alignment.

To give an example from our own life, Wynn is a part that is capable of turning off our empathy. When she perceives a threat to us from the idea of someone emotionally manipulating us (a parent trying to shame/guilt us into ceding to their demands or a partner threatening suicide) she will lock out the rest of the system who may be swayed and force us to act with hostility and coldness. More than once this has ended with us in further danger or emotional turmoil and it leads other parts to over compensate to try and "fix" the damage done when we were "emotionally compromised" by the part acting in our interests of survival over the harmony of the system and our relationships. Especially because the dangerous situations that necessitated her existence are not part of our present and her reactions may no longer be appropriate.

This kind of divide is natural in a dissociative system early in their healing journey.

The range of emotional experience, including both positive (e.g., joy, love) and negative (e.g., anger, fear, grief) affects, plays a vital role in human adaptation by promoting closeness in relationships. Relational distortions result when emotions repeatedly fail to achieve their purpose, when they are persistently activated, or when their expression is blocked or punished. Distortions in emotional regulation (and associated defensive distortions of behavior) refl ect distortions in care (Bowlby, 1969/1982) that manifest as dysynchronies between caregiving behavior and child emotional experience and needs (Sameroff & Emde, 1989) [...] A lasting split between self-preservation and integrative self-regulation leads to a vicious cycle. Extreme affective states become infused into the person’s selfand other-representations (“bad objects,” Benatar, 2003), producing disorganized and unstable mental representations, which further destabilize and fragment affect, perception, and behavior. Thus, dissociation results when extreme stressors necessitate a lasting split of the integrated relationship between self-preservation and selfregulation. (Dissociation and Dissociative Disorders, DSM-V and Beyond - Paul F Dell)

But towards the end of therapy parts, even when activated, are able to act in a way that benefits the stability of the shared life, preventing further dissociation and division between parts.

It is when one part, who wants to deny our condition to prevent thinking about our trauma, accepts that our multiple nature is integral to who we are and how one of our closest relationships function and in accepting this allows for us to carve spaces in our life to exist as a system. To take off the mask. To stop hiding.

To march and state boldly I Am Also A We.

There are times where we worry about using the term "Plural". We view our condition through a lens of psychopathology and constantly try to justify our existence through reading psychology textbooks and working with our therapist and constantly justifying.

We play by the rule books written for us and about us but not by us. Not by others like us. Well... mostly.

One of the quoted books in this essay is from Jamie Marich who is openly a diagnosed dissociative system. Her book is written from an insiders perspective there to promote love and acceptance. I selected her quote at the top of this post with care. She does get it. Got Parts? Is also written by collaborators with DID sharing lived experience.

There are so many things which divide us as people who experience plurality. There is syscourse raging in Tumblr inboxes Just Asking Questions about whether a person should be diagnosed to openly present as a system, there is fakeclaiming trying to witch hunt those who really have a CDD and those who are "roleplaying", the tone policing in support communities that admonish anyone who glorifies or fetishizes that which is a hard to live with disorder...

Over the years we internalized many of these narratives ourselves. We lived in fear of scrutiny, worried for the day we were exposed as Not Traumatized Enough, Not Performing Our Disability Correctly, Not Divided Enough or a number of other accusations.

We still are. It's terrifying to think that at any point someone could just deny all of our truth and no amount of paperwork, testimony or evidence would be able to make us any more legitimate than we already are.

In some regards we shouldn't be proud of being who and what we are. The fact that there is always going to be a part of us stuck in London reliving the worst experiences of our life is not a source of pride.

But we survived.

We survived. We kept one another alive. The part that needed to be an adult when we were a child kept us safe. The part that needed to seal off our heart kept us safe. The part that kept our emotions alive kept us safe. The part that pretended to be what our abuser wanted us to be kept us safe... and yes. The part that handled erotic concepts kept us safe.

We survived and we protected one another and we are the only Family who have been here the whole time. Experienced everything. Shared in all the pleasures and all the joys. We survived. And we will continue to... but not we're not surviving anymore. We're living. And we choose to live together. We choose to be 5 and 1. We are an I.

I am proud of that and this show helped us feel just a little bit more confident in saying that outloud. We are plural... and there is no shame in that. None at all.

-

Forgive me for the less than stellar work on this one. This essay was more a vehicle to talk about positive integration and use the show as a framing device for the topic. Plus I just wanted to be a bit Plural Pride because the show made a compelling argument as to why I should be.

The promised Act 6 of In Stars and Time essay and the Umineko follow-up essay are both in the research phase. Act 6 of ISaT is looking at characters who share a common history and I want to make sure I have some good examples without treading on other creators I respect's toes and the Umineko follow-up requires replaying all of Chapter 7 of that game and it's a long one.

Media, Myself and I is a series of Tumblr Essays for positive depictions of dissociative disorders.

Other essays include:

Time Loops and Dissociation (In Stars and Time) A History of Murder Alters Discworld and Plurality Incidental, intentional and accidental representation Gender, Dissociation and Clinical Stigma in The Third Person Recontextualized Memories in Umineko Derealization in Night in the Woods and Metal Gear Solid The Dangers of Hypnotic Personality Play in Penlight System Origins in The Incredible Hulk Relationships with Systems in The Incredible Hulk The Healing Journey in Mr. Robot

[justsomeoneintoomanyfandoms]

Hey! I got a matchup a while back, and lately I have been craving another one😭 so if it's alright could I get romantic matchups for tears of themis, genshin, and atla? If not that's fine ofc💕

I use She/her pronouns but I've never really cared very much, I'm Bi but I'd like Male matchups for this one if that's alright (I love women but idk none of the women in these fandoms are like my type??? Idk)

Not sure if you use looks to pick, but I'm 5'7, longish brown hair and brown eyes, kinda chubby I'd say, and I wear glasses!

Ok so for the good stuff, I'm an enfp and a virgo and I have gad and adhd so I am very all over the place lol, I'm usually very energetic and loud (got called a human pep rally once) but every once in a while I take a hard turn the other way and do absolutely nothing lol.

Taking thing seriously is kinda hard for me, idk why but I'm very much the deflect and cope using comedy kind of person.

Personal life wise I'm the oldest of four (love my siblings) so loud is kinda the default in my life so I'm pretty comfortable in loud environments, but if I get a chance at peace and quiet I am JUMPING for it.

I have a few plants, I bake quite a bit (I make BOMB brownies), I'm very much a nerd lol, I love comics (fandom request gave that away tho), I play dnd, I love video games (rdr2, mk11 and mass effect are the current ones), I watch cartoons and build legos, and I'm learning how to draw.

I'm big into flowers and flower language, and I play guitar, alto saxophone, steal drum, and I have a violin I'm gonna start working on soon.

This turned out alot longer then I thought so the speedrun of the rest is although I dont often, I really like putting work into how I look (I just got a treble cleft claw clip with some dangly thingys and I like it I just wanted to mention that), no clue how to to makeup tho, I'm planning on going into communications, and uhh my favorite colors are pink and blue.

Thank you so much if you get to this

Hi Abby! Thank you for your request! Sorry it took a while. I hope you like your matchups!

In Tears of Themis, I match you with...

If there’s one thing that drew Luke to you, it’s the fact that you enjoy peace and quiet. He loves being in your presence when it’s quiet around. He just finds it soothing.

Definitely understands you using humour to cope. He does the same so he knows when it turns from just making jokes to coping and will check in when needed.

Please invite him to do gardening together some time. He likes being able to do something where he’s creating and nurturing life. It’s a good change from what he usually does.

Flower language is a big part of your relationship. I see Luke as someone who’s well versed in flower language so every bouquet he gives you has a hidden meaning behind it.

He also enjoys drawing so it’s not uncommon for you to find a sticky note beside your bed with a little drawing on it when he has to leave early in the morning. If you return the gesture, he’ll keep all your drawings in a safe place so he can look back over them.

In Genshin Impact, I match you with...

You and Itto are both the definition of human pep rallies so when your powers combine, no one can stand in your way. You can both be a lot sometimes but you get along well.

He also struggles to take things seriously so he’s a lot more understanding in that regard than others are sometimes. You just get each other.

In a modern au, Itto would be a huge fan of cartoons. He’s a firm believer than cartoons aren’t just for kids and still loves watching all those “childhood” shows.

In the same vein, he also loves Lego. I can’t see him being a big fan of tricky sets but he enjoys all of the bright colours. He’d love to make a set or two with you sometime.

I can see Itto being a fan of D&D as well. I think it might take him a bit to get his head around the different types of rolls and doing so much maths but he loves the roleplay elements and thinks it’s great fun. (I actually wrote this while playing a D&D session!)

In Avatar: The Last Airbender, I match you with...

You’ve got to be a certain level of energetic to keep up with Sokka’s plans. And you certainly meet that criteria. Sokka loves being around someone who can match his energy.

In a modern au, he’s definitely a fan of comics. He’s the type of person who buys two of every comic, one to read and one to keep in pristine condition.

For all his self-awareness, Sokka does have a tendency to deflect so he can easily recognise when you’re doing the same. He hopes you know you can rely on him if things get too much.

When he does run out of energy, there’s nothing that Sokka loves more than relaxing while listening to you play music. He finds it soothing both because of the music and because of your presence.

Please do lots of baking for him! Sokka will never admit it but he does have a soft spot for snacks, especially if you’ve made them.

[epickiya722]

For the anime ask game, can I ask :

Balance : Unlimited, Vanitas no Carte and ATLA?

BALANCE UNLIMITED 💴

Favorite Character: Haru Kato! From his design to his personality, Haru easily became my favorite character.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: The entirety of episode 4. It's just too funny to me that Daisuke left the house because he got natto for breakfast, left his phone by accident, and has to stay with Haru because he refuses to go back home. He slept in the bathtub! 😆

Character I Think is Underrated: The whole Detective Division. They're actually very enjoyable characters to me and a lot of the scenes they have together are favorites of mine.

Character I Think is Overrated: We all know it's Daisuke. Remember when that show came out?! Oh my gosh... still love him though.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: DaiHaru, that will always be my ship!

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The gag that at the end of each episode shows the total balance of how much money was spent is something that I love. Whoever thought to do that, I applaud them. Also, just the overall vibe of the show. To me, it's an anime worth a rewatch. I find myself doing so once in a while. The opening song is one of my favorite anime openings still!

**

VANITAS NO CARTE ✒

Favorite Character: Noé is everything to me. He actually holds a very special place in my heart because he looks like a character I created way back in middle school.

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: One of my favorite scenes has to be that Vanitas had pushed Noé to the point of being scary. First season when they're facing Roland and Noé takes Vanitas hostage. The way Vanitas reacts will always have me in tears and Noé? Me watching that scene "you're doing amazing, sweetie!"

Character I Think is Underrated: I feel like Amelia is underrated. She's nice, I like her.

Character I Think is Overrated: Noé definitely, but more so Vanitas is overrated.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Vanitas and Noé! Their dynamic is everything to me, okay?

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The anime, to me, is very beautifully animated to me. The music though? That first ending song, oh my gosh. That song is just... I can't even describe. You ever listen to a song and it just puts you in a trance and it relaxes you? That's what that song is like.

**

AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER 💨

Note: ATLA isn't an anime. But I'll answer for it.

Favorite Character: ATLA has such a good cast of characters, it's hard to choose a character. But for me, it's Yue! When watching her episodes as a kid, I couldn't help but admire her. Still do!

Favorite Arc/Episode/Scene: Other than Yue scenes, The Beach is definitely one of my favorite episodes. Another would have to be "Firebending Masters". My favorite scene is when Aang and Zuko gets stuck in that trap and Aang yells for help and Zuko responds "who are you yelling to? No one has lived here for centuries!"

Character I Think is Underrated: Hmm... okay any Avatar that isn't Roku, Aang and Kyoshi. Avatar Yangchen being one.

Character I Think is Overrated: The main cast, but can you blame them? To pick... I'm giving it to Zuko and Sokka here.

Favorite Ship/Pairing: Sokka/Suki will always be one of my favorite canon relationships. It's just so sweet! And admittedly, I am also a fan of Zukka.

Something I Love About the Show/Movie: The characters, love them. The plot, amazing. Music, on point. One thing I really like about the show is the number of memorable quotes. It's been over a year since I actually watched the show, but almost every day I or anyone in my family will quote something from it.

"Let us leave!"

"Lettuce leaf?"

"My aura has never been pinker!"

"My own mother thought I was a monster. She was right, of course, but it still hurts."

"I CAN STILL FIGHT!!"

"It just says... 'bear'."

You get the picture.

Anime Ask Game

[spikeisawesome456]

Oooh, I finally got contacted by the Avatar: the Last Airbender people about the figurine I won from the Braving the Elements podcast Live! panel I went to at Comic Con! Apparently, I won a Diamond Select Toys Uncle Iroh figurine that they’ll be shipping out to me soon! The whole panel was about Iroh, since his voice actor was one of the guests on the panel (as was Toph’s), so it makes sense.

Ha, I was so worried that I was going to be ghosted by these people, especially since my last name is commonly misspelled and my email address is just my first and last name, so it’s nice to have gotten contacted at least.

(Also, since I don’t know if I made a public post about this on this blog, when I was at Comic Con a couple weeks ago I attended a panel for the live recording of the Braving the Elements podcast that Janet Varney and Dante Basco (Korra and Zuko’s voice actors respectively) host. Since my mom is physically disabled, we were able to enter the room first and I got front row seats to the panel, and was able to book it to the line where they were doing trivia for ATLA. Now, I’m usually awful at trivia, but I am a fairly big ATLA fan, so I had some hope that I could get it. Luckily, the question I got was one I knew (at what stage of the siege on Ba Sing Se did Lu Ten die), and while I kinda didn’t get the question fully right, since I had no idea what they meant by stage, I answered that he died right as they broke through the wall and they were about to invade Ba Sing Se. Which Janet Varney accepted, ha. They told us to give our email addresses to a staff member to the side and they’d contact us about shipping out our prizes later, since they’re supposed to be a nice, more deluxe prize. After a week passed I was a bit skeptical about getting contacted, especially with the previously mentioned concern over my last name, but I finally got contacted which is a relief. ^-^)

(Oh! Also, I took video of them doing live script reads from the show, even though I don’t technically think I was supposed to?? No one has requested I take it down yet, though, so if you’re curious you can click on this link to see the YT video I made of it. They did three scenes, the one where Toph meets Iroh in season two, the scene where Iroh and Zuko reunite in the White Lotus Camp in season three, and the “father lord” scene also from season three. They also did a read of a comic book page with Iroh and June, but since I was on line for trivia at that point, the view is very obscured, and you can overhear the lady who was getting our signatures to acknowledge that we were going to be featured on a recording for a podcast. I also missed a bit of the beginning of the scene, but it was still cute, so I decided to add it to my video, ha. The actual podcast episode will be coming out at a later date?? From what I’ve seen of past live recordings, it can take months before they’re released, but if anyone does watch that podcast, you’ll hear/maybe see (if they post on YT) me answering trivia correctly for once, ha.)

[waheelawhisperer]

Slogged through V9E6, thoughts are under the cut

As always, I am worried that Jaune’s arrival means he’s going to start sucking focus away from the other characters again. Here’s hoping the writers remember he’s best used as a supporting character.

Jaune why did you grab the weird thing that looks like a clock what did you think was going to happen

Don't touch weird shit you idiot it's like rule #1

I hate the Ever After so much

So did he just sit there for years until he got DILFed? Lmao.

I'm sure this change will have long-lasting ramifications for both Jaune's characterization and the narrative as a whole.

Well, this was a wonderful, touching moment until it was immediately ruined by Weiss’s daddy kink

Like seriously who the fuck thought it was a good idea to have Jaune admit that he’d gone through a horribly traumatic experience and been incredibly lonely for what’s indicated to be literally decades based on his physical changes and then have Weiss immediately start thirsting for him like we literally see his eyes watering and then not seven seconds later Weiss is looking at him with do-me eyes

These writers genuinely have zero understanding of tone or how to set and maintain it effectively it’s amazing it's like they watched the MCU and the only lesson they took away from it was that every moment that might possibly have any kind of emotional impact needs to be undermined by a snappy quip as quickly as possible because otherwise someone might make the mistake of assuming your show is sincere about anything

Anyway girliepop’s showing her whole ass right now way to keep your fetish under wraps Weiss

Yang’s looking at her like “I know what you are”

Nice try Yang like I didn’t see you eyeing up Jaune too feast on the crumbs my fellow pan Yang truthers

Miles is genuinely never beating the “Jaune is a self-insert” allegations holy shit

Like if you want people to believe that the character you voice, who's received a disproportionate amount of narrative focus throughout the series already and has received repeated criticism for it, who's already been presented as attractive on at least one occasion, isn't a self-insert, maybe don't have one of the mains openly thirsting after him once you've written an excuse for him to be aged up so that he's both closer to your age and significantly older than she is after you've already posed for a picture with a body pillow of an underage girl from the show you write for and your coworker has posted that picture online with the caption "She's still only 16, don't get too comfortable". Like maybe consider the optics for 5 seconds. It'd be 5 seconds longer than you typically think through your writing choices, at any rate.

Wow, finally someone is engaging with the fall of Atlas, Team RWBY’s part in it, and the ramifications of both the previous things. Only took half the fucking Volume.

I actually like the pretty distinct perspectives and the conflict between Weiss and Blow. Weiss is the one who has the most reason to be attached with Atlas and Blow has the most reason to feel negatively about that Kingdom, so having them be the ones arguing here is a good choice.

Yeah, Weiss, you did fail, but it wasn’t just you. Most of the blame rests on the shoulders of Ironwood and these dumbass fucking writers.

That said, you guys didn’t exactly pass your trials with flying colors.

Good point, Ruby.

Yang is the first one to engage with Ruby’s distress again, even if she’s not exactly on the money here either in terms of her actual position on Ironwood or how to help Ruby.

I feel like this is one of the few moments of actual substance we've gotten this Volume and I really wish we'd spent more time digging into it. Unfortunately, He-Jaune, Master of the Universe, cuts it short. Not a fan of that choice unless we pick this up again at a later date.

He-Man’s a little bit of a jerk. Interesting. I kinda want to see where this goes.

He also doesn’t seem to like the Cat. He gets points for that.

He-Man, Master of the Jauniverse, does not want them going to the Tree. Given what apparently happened to the Herbalist, this implies something sinister about the Tree and Ascension.

You read my mind, Weiss.

Jaune has a very different perspective on Ascension than the Cat. On the one hand, the Cat is a denizen of the Ever After and probably knows more about how it works than Jaune does. On the other hand, Jaune is far more inherently trustworthy as a character we’ve known for 8+ Volumes, whereas the Cat is sinister as fuck. They've been creeping me out since their introduction.

Once again, Ascension is equated with death – you lose your memories, lose who you are. Whatever you used to be is gone.

Good pun, Yang.

Who the fuck is Lewis?

Oh, wonderful, Alyx had a brother. An irrelevant character had another irrelevant character to hang out with. Can we please stop expanding the cast?

Go off, Weiss (and Yang)

What the fuck did the Cat just do

I love you Weiss. There really is just no end to the Ever After’s bullshit, is there?

Where the hell are Blow and Yang?

You walked right into that one, Weiss.

Love how He-Man’s just done with everything. I am too, buddy, I am too.

Here it comes, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Maybe we’ll get something decent out of this Volume after all.

YOU GUYS CAN LITERALLY DOUBLE JUMP WHY DOES EVERY SCENE IN THIS VOLUME THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE COMBAT INSIST ON FORGETTING THAT THE CHARACTERS HAVE MOBILITY TOOLS

I could cross that shit and I don’t even have superpowers

You have perfectly good ropes right there

Yes I get that it’s a metaphor for taking the next step in their relationship blah blah blah but the metaphor is shit

This Volume really likes presenting challenges as insurmountable when Team RWBY has regularly handled far more difficult ones it keeps breaking my willing suspension of disbelief

I'm normally pretty willing to buy into what a show is going for but I just can't do it for this Volume

Was that Summer in the reflection?

Looks like the reflections show everyone’s issues – Summer for Ruby, Penny for Jaune, Atlas for Weiss

Oh, so Alyx was a little shitter, huh? I’m sure there’s nothing negative about the choice to portray a (female) character of color this way, especially in a show known for being racist produced by a company known for being racist.

Okay yeah Jaune you probably fucked up here trying to railroad her into the book’s storyline. Somebody’s never played D&D before and it shows

Poor guy’s really hurting though, can’t blame him for feeling like a failure

I’d like the show to unpack all this but I don’t even trust it to handle Team RWBY’s issues (or even address them in a meaningful way) so we’ll see

I feel like we have to take everything Jaune says about the Cat and the Tree and the Ever After with a grain of salt, but the Cat is genuinely creepy as shit, so I feel like there’s some validity to this, at least.

So Jaune thinks the Cat fed Lewis to the Tree. Is he right? Who the fuck knows?

But it does set up some sinister implications about the Tree, the Cat, and the nature of the Ever After. If the Tree’s not an option, how does the gang get home?

I get the feeling that Jaune is at least partially wrong about how the Tree works, but what he's saying makes sense based on what he knows.

Yang you fucking dork

Anyway if Blow has a really good brain it’d be nice to see more examples of it beyond “she’s the bookworm”, I’m sure setting her own house on fire was a great demonstration of intelligence. I feel like this is another indication that I’m right when I say that RWBY would’ve really benefited from another Beacon Volume to really build the relationships between the core cast that the show tries to convince us exist.

Also, Yang is smart even if Blow makes her brain turn to mush. She seems to have figured out the trick here. She sounds so sweet and sincere when she mentions liking Blow’s ears, though I feel like this is another instance where the show isn’t taking Blow’s status as a minority seriously, what with the potential elements of fetishization here. Still, I’ll try to go with the writing’s intent here.

Honestly it probably wouldn’t even bother me if this Volume hadn’t insisted on continually comparing Blow to a cat

You did, in fact, nail it, Yang. Such a fucking dork I love her

Okay, Blow, maybe you do have a really good brain after all. Again, would’ve been nice to establish this a bit earlier, but oh well.

Yang you fucking dork lmao

Damn, Blake went hard here. Yang went with the surface-level stuff and was probably expecting the same in return and Blake just started pouring her heart out. I love the way Yang’s eyes and face just softened the moment Blake said she was an extraordinary person. Girlie was not expecting that at all.

“I like that you’ve never been intimidated by me” BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Yang she fucking flinches like a dog expecting to be beaten every time you raise your voice around her she’s the only one in your friend group who’s ever been intimidated by you even Jaune is fine around you and that boy’s afraid of his own shadow

Jk I lied the other abuse victim on your team also has negative reactions when you act aggressive

Anyway I guess we know why we got that line about Yang not being scary (even though she could be if she wants to) back in Episode 1.

Yang how are you missing with every line Blow gave up on Adam and the White Fang and that was a good thing because it let her escape his abuse hello?

Oh and she sure as hell gave up on Qrow and Ironwood when Qrow crawled into a bottle and Ironwood decided to raise Atlas, and she was literally the only person on her team who didn’t believe in Yang’s innocence when Cinder framed Yang during the Vytal Festival (guess who was ride or die for Yang in that moment? I'll give you a hint: her name starts with a W), and she ran away from her entire team when Weiss was racist for two episodes. Finding her was the whole fucking plot of the V1 finale. Like I’m not even arguing that she was wrong or unjustified for any of that but if you want her to be the one who never gives up on anyone then maybe fucking show her never giving up on anyone

Does Blake really know what matters to her, Yang? It sure as hell wasn’t Faunus rights during the Atlas Volumes.

That fucking lighting lmao

Just spit it out you idiots lets get this over with my expectations are dropping with every line

God Yang is such a fucking dork I genuinely love this for her it would’ve been so easy to make her the cocky flirty one all the time and they didn’t

For all my frustrations with this show I do genuinely like that.

I like how Yang hesitated a bit and didn’t quite commit but Blake went full-bore.

Oh my God it’s so sappy and cheesy and romantic

I can understand why people love it even if for me it crosses the line to narm like honestly this scene just feels ridiculous but that's just a personal taste thing, it feels too over-the-top for me but there's some charm to it as well

I feel a little bad for the Cat but honestly they strike me as manipulative more than anything

Every scene just gives me bad vibes

Damn, they were makin out, hands changed positions and everything

Nice little leg pop Blow

You and the fandom both, Jaune.

Kinda wonder when you figured it out though because you were not picking up on it in Volume 8 ("Ruby?" "Yeah... Ruby.")

Good to know the Bees thought confessing their feelings was more important than getting home or stopping Salem. I like both characters less every time they treat the Ever After as a vacation.

The little hand touch is cute though.

Okay, Ruby is not reacting well to the return of Crimson Rose, probably because it represents the burden of being a leader and a Huntress.

She's pushing her insecurities down again. That's gonna burst out sooner or later.

Jaune thinks Alyx traded Lewis to the Tree in order to leave. My guess is that either Jaune or Ruby tries to trade themselves to the Tree so the others can go home.

Damn, Ruby’s rejecting Crescent Rose pretty emphatically there.

Music is still forgettable I don’t think there’s been a single song that I’ve remembered a not of when it’s not actually playing for 6 whole episodes

Miles gave a solid performance here and so did whoever voices the Cat.

Okay, so, here it is: the scene we’ve all been waiting for since Volume 2 at the latest. The Bees are an item now, and it’s really obvious that it meant a lot to CRWBY. They put a lot of love into that scene, and it shows. Visually, it’s gorgeous, the voice actresses clearly put their hearts and souls into it, the music is meant to scream romance...

Unfortunately, I don’t like it. Perhaps this is just a nitpick on my end because I’m a stubborn ornery cantankerous bastard who hates being told what to do, but this confession doesn’t feel organic. It feels like they were forced into it by outside factors (the stupid fucking punderstorm that wouldn’t let them leave until they told each other their feelings. If I'd been in their place, I would've sat my stubborn Texan ass down and told that fucking weather condition that it could let me out right now or move along on its own time, but I'm staying right here until it does. Ain't no fuckin rain clouds gonna tell me what to do).

I don’t like that in and of itself, but it gets worse when you consider that both characters are A) queer and B) were only coded and not explicitly confirmed as queer within the show prior to this scene. It feels like two queer characters are being forced out of the closet, which would be bad enough on its own, but gets infinitely worse when the company behind the show named itself after a homophobic slur and then built a company culture around bullying and bigotry and the lead writer on the show has been openly biphobic and fetishized bi women in the past. Good job, morons, you managed to take a ship I’ve supported since the characters involved met in the Emerald Forest and make it feel gross to me. Between this and Blake’s jokes about Yang’s arm in Episode 2, I’m officially not a Bumbleby shipper anymore. You’ve fumbled the bag that badly. Please never hold a job in any creative industry again.

Overall rating: Horrendously Bad And Specifically Disappointing On Top Of That/10

Amazed that I can't definitively declare this a bottom three episode of the Volume because 3 of the 5 others I've watched so far were also this fucking bad. Truly an accomplishment.

Everything that wasn't Weiss's thirst for DILFs and the Bumbleby confession was okay (not amazing), but the writers fucked up so badly with the parts that sucked that they accomplished something incredible: they executed a scene I've been waiting for for ages so incompetently that I don't ship Bumbleby anymore.

[coralcatsea]

Random thoughts regarding different fandoms:

(I've seen/read these, I just don't engage with the fandoms that much. These are just thoughts based on what I have seen of the fandoms.).

Death Note: Endless memes. Constant poking fun at all the overthinking going on. Putting these dramatic characters in goofy scenes about cake and friendship. The jokes never get old for me. I don't see much discourse, maybe an occasional conversation about whether or not Kira was right. 😆

ATLA: Zuko getting teased. Kataang and Zutara battling it out while Zukka laughs and slowly rises higher, taking more and more people as it goes. I'm not that interested in the ships, but Sokka ships are the best. NATLA wins the "not as bad as you could've been award" and "the effects were decent". Lots of fun analysation.

Percy Jackson: I feel Nico is a fan favourite. The main discourse I've seen for the fandom as a whole is whether or not Annabeth treats Percy well and whether or not Piper is annoying. A lot of people compare Percy Jackson and Harry Potter (the characters), and those who have read both seem to agree Percy is better. Like ATLA, there's a new live-action series that is a mixed bag, but much better than the old, horrible live-action movie (and sequel) in the past.

Zelda: DOWN WITH KOROKS vs STOP KOROK ABUSE. Everyone loves Sidon senpai. Glory to Master KOHGA. Most of the stuff I see right now is BotW/TotK related, but there's still some good stuff for other games, as well as the AUs people do with different Links meeting. Midna is the best sidekick.

Hazbin Hotel: I'm wary since there's LOOOOTS of discourse in this one. The fans can be pretty funny, though. I love the song edits and that there's a whole ship tag for Vox's unrequited obsession with Alastor. I also like watching people analyse the characters and writing.

Helluva Boss: Well...I once again like watching people discuss the writing. But I am hesitant to engage with any fans because I have a weird relationship with this show and don't think I really qualify as a fan. 😅 I watch it because it's so bizarre to me I can't look away. One time I gave characters different colour schemes for fun, and I got a bunch of annoyed asks from someone taking it too seriously. 😆

She-Ra: Catra Applesauce Meowmeow is a poor little meowmeow. Cat. I like the cat memes. I also love the comparisons between Scorpia and Kronk. Entrapdak is probably one of the better ships, yet has haters for some reason. The accusations have the same vibes as Beauty and the Beast accusations.

Owl House: Tons of Lumity. Personally, I'm more invested in Eda and her relationships with the other characters. Belos and Hunter get compared to Ozai and Zuko. Hunter is very popular. Everyone side eyes Disney for what they did. HOOTY SUPREMACY HOOT HOOT.

Miraculous: The Adrien vs Marinette discourse makes my brain hurt, but I'm glad we all pretty much agree Astruc does everyone dirty. Canon? What's canon? Usually I like and try to follow canon. Not here. Who tries to follow canon in Miraculous? The fans write the show better than he does. Love all the fan comics I see for this show. Chloe could've been more interesting. We all make fun of Smooth-Brain Gabe. We came for the Love Square and then started to hate it. Then Emonette and Emodrien came and reignited our interest.

[i-d-e-g-a-f]

“demonized her by putting her in a relationship” and “being harassed for existing” yall are one to talk every kataang post i see on EVERY platform y’all are lurking saying “kataang sucks” and telling ppl to kll themselves over the ship. also demonizing her is ironic bc if she ended up with zuko it would’ve just ruined everything she went through and worked for so stay mad fucking freak 💀💀

1. Get the quote right, I said “disservices her by putting her in that relationship.” which is very different from whatever you said.

2. I can’t argue against anecdotal evidence or your experience but I can say in my experience, I’ve always seen people shit on zutara unprovoked and try to justify it with their performative activism or try to act as if it’s okay to make assumptions about someone’s character because of an unproblematic fictional ship. Also I don’t cross tag so if anything is ironic, it’s that you’re lurking in our tags when you just criticized zutara shippers for doing so.

3. Once again I said disservice not demonize, massively different. But for arguments sake tell me what did she gain from being in a relationship with Aang? Did that relationship not ruin everything she worked for? Because the Katara in ATLA was passionate and never stood on the sidelines when she saw injustice. But the Katara we see in the comics and LoK is passive and constantly sidelined to being the Avatar’s wife or mother of the Avatar’s children. Not her own person. She doesn’t even have a statue when everyone else in the gaang does. In season 1 Katara literally protests for the right to learn how to fight and in LoK we see none of the passion. What is exactly so fulfilling about her relationship with Aang? Was it him being an attentive father to their children? Oh, no that wasn’t it. So tell me, would being with Zuko really ruin everything she’s worked for, because it seems like being with Aang already ruins that quite successfully. Katara basically becomes an accessory to Aang which, yes, I would say disservices her! Especially when we’re shown that she is capable of having relationships with people based on mutual respect, compassion, and mutual emotional support. Relationships where they are equals and one is not an accessory to the other. Relationships where they respect each other boundaries and don’t act entitled to another’s affection.

But you know what’s even crazier is that at the end of the day none of that even matters because that is just what I prefer and you don’t have to agree! My problem lies within the fact that I constantly see anti zk’s assert that zutara is an inherently problematic ship or that people who enjoy the ship are problematic or are just hysterical women. Those assumptions are problematic and unfounded and if anything perpetuate misogynistic stereotypes about women being not knowing which man is actually good for them. It also requires an incredible amount of cognitive dissonance to arrive at those conclusions because the people who argue that Zutara shippers only like Zutara because they want a bad boy will talk about how Zuko has a great redemption arc in the same breath. We truly cannot have watched the same show, watched Zuko say “Hello, Zuko here” if they think the appeal of Zutara is that Zuko is a “bad boy.” However, even if it was, that still wouldn’t justify the constant negative assumptions made about the people who enjoy the ship, or the way those generalizations about zutara shippers are used as a way to delegitimize zutara (ad hominem fallacy). I fucking hate kataang and I am open and honest about that, but I don’t go around saying the actual people who ship kataang are problematic or are all secretly incels because that is a ridiculous and unfounded generalization. I hate kataang so I will critique kataang, not try to discredit its shippers in an attempt to make the ship seem less legitimate. I cannot say I’ve seen anti zks and the general fan base behave similarly.

I can’t speak for the anti kataangers in kataang tags because fun fact i have it blocked because i don’t like it! But I will say, although i do not condone going into other ships tags to instigate, there a massive difference between shitting on a ship versus shitting on the people who enjoy a ship. And mind you, I noticed the pattern of people shitting on zutara fans long before i even became a zutara fan. This is a trend amongst this general fan base that flares up anytime new atla content is released and I was venting about it on my page as someone who is tired of it. It is my god given right to vent about a fictional couple I don’t like on my page and to vent about the fandom discourse trends I notice. If you notice different ones and want to vent about make your own goddamn post, don’t act like a coward and send anon hate just because you disagree with me. I have my opinion and you’re entitled to yours. You have your own experiences with this fan base and I have mine. If your upset, vent about it on your own goddamn page instead of accosting me with your dumbassery.

[pacificwaternymph]

My thoughts on Zutara Versus Kataang

Let me preface this by saying: I’m not here to come after anyone’s ship. If you like either one of these ships, that is a hundred percent valid. I can totally see the appeal of both of them, and tbh, it’s not my business what other people like.

I’m not here to start drama, this is entirely my opinion, and I’m not going to get into an argument with anyone over this. 

Starting off:

I don’t ship either of these ships. I don’t like either of them. And I don’t think any of the characters involved in either ship be in a romantic relationship. 

No, this isn’t me just saying that so I can ship Katara with Toph, or Suki, or Azula, or whoever else you might be thinking of. I genuinely don’t believe that a romantic relationship would be good for Katara, Zuko, or Aang at the time where the show leaves off. 

Let’s start with Kataang. 

I don't hate this ship because of its dynamic or because I dislike either of the characters. I think that in a hypothetical future scenario where the gaang are all a bit older, it could work really well.

When I first watched the show, I was the kind of person to just ship whatever pairing the show was pushing. So that meant that I was actually a Kataang shipper, and for a long time, too. 

But recently, after going back and rewatching it, I… just don’t really like it anymore.

First off, there is zero romantic tension between the two of them. For the vast majority of the show, Aang’s crush is entirely one-sided. I know they tried to show that Katara was also interested but like… it wasn’t working for me.

This may just be my inability to pick up on subtext, but even when they were shoving it in our face, I just… couldn’t get behind it. It never clicked for me.

And second, I would be remiss as an ATLA fan if I didn’t address the drama surrounding Kataang’s… first two kisses.

I, like many others, am uncomfortable with the fact that Aang kissed Katara without her consent, not once, but twice, one of which happening directly after she told him that she was confused, that she didn’t know what she wanted, and that she would prefer to stay friends for now.

“But Dizzy!” I hear you say. “He didn’t know any better! He’s only 12!” And that, my friends, is EXACTLY my point. 

Aang is still a child, and one that is dealing with a LOT going on around him. He lost his entire nation in what to him was only over the course of a few days, he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, and EVERYONE is depending on him. But at his core, he is still a kid, which is the entire point of the show. 

He is not emotionally mature enough to handle a long-term, committed relationship. I don’t think he should be romantically involved with anyone. Period. 

Aang is one of the youngest members of the cast. The only person I could potentially think of as younger would be Toph. He’s not even a teenager when the show starts. And that, does not sit right with me. 

Now, adult Kataang? Yeah, sure, that’s cute. I could get behind an older version of Kataang if they got together as adults or even in their later teenage years. But at twelve and fourteen, let’s be honest, that kind of relationship wouldn’t be very serious, and it wouldn’t last a year. 

I wish they had kept the ending more ambiguous. I’m fine with all the cute crush stuff they had going on with Aang, because kids his age are going to have crushes on people. But did they really need to make them kiss? 

And don’t think for one second I haven’t forgotten about Zutara, because I have some THOUGHTS about it.

Admittedly, I have never been a big fan of Zutara as a ship, so I have not consumed a lot of content for it. At first it was because I preferred Kataang, and then it was because… well, a lot of reasons, really.

First off, let's state the obvious. Zuko is a mess. And we love him for it, he's my favorite character in the show, and I would do absolutely anything for him. But let's be honest: he's not in a good place for a relationship, and especially not with someone like Katara, who also has a lot on her plate.

Because of the fandom's general attitude towards both of these characters, between the massive woobification of Zuko and the outrageous misogyny towards Katara, Zutara to me feels like the kind of ship where people would heavily focus on Zuko, and downplay or even outright ignore Katara’s trauma.

And I feel like they do this in order to slot her into the role of the perfect caretaker, an endless source of comfort and compassion and understanding and forgiveness without ever taking the time to address the toll that it WOULD have on Katara. 

ATLA has a wide range of strong female characters, so there's a bit of ridicule all around especially around Azula, but Katara takes the brunt of it.

From people calling her annoying for talking about her trauma during sensitive moments, to others accusing her of being a Mary Sue. And she is more traditionally feminine than a lot of the other female characters in the show, most notably Toph, which makes people quick to write her off and say "oh she's the mom of the group" and not look any further.

Katara’s issues are often overlooked by the fandom as a whole, which makes me think that a lot of people who ship zutara are probably only in it because they want Zuko to have someone he can constantly vent to. Which like- I get? But it can be frustrating to see how Katara's problems are treated as irrelevant.  

There are probably exceptions to this, of course. There are always exceptions. But what I’ve witnessed has permanently scared me away from the ship. 

And don’t get me wrong, I love a good good girl/boy x bad girl/boy, blue-red coded, enemies to lovers ship. Some of my favorite ships have sprouted from that exact formula. But at the same time, Zutara to me feels like the most overdone, basic, and just generally bland ways to do that. 

Which makes no sense. By all accounts, they should be really interesting together, but they aren’t because uh, good girl x bad boy? THAT’S NOT WHAT THEIR DYNAMIC IS?

Zuko is an intense, broody, angsty source of constant drama with a mysterious past. But he also has a secretly dorky side that only ever comes out when he’s well and truly comfortable. And Katara is a caring, compassionate, and brave young woman. But she’s also a rage fueled, grudge holding powerhouse who never forgets a face. 

Writers seem to forget that they can, in fact, be both.

It’s the dichotomy of their individual characterizations that make them so interesting. And if a zutara shipper actually takes the time to address that, acknowledges BOTH of their issues, and puts equal amounts of effort into presenting both of the characters? Then YEAH, I could TOTALLY get behind that.

But what I have seen time and time again in fandom spaces is that really complex characters like Katara and Zuko get shoved together, and then both of them are watered down to caricatures of who they’re supposed to be. 

Now, again, this is all a hundred percent my opinion. If you disagree, that’s completely valid, and I get it. I really do understand why people like these ships so much, and I am most certainly not judging anyone for shipping them.

But do not try to start drama in the notes, or start drama with me personally. I will not get drawn into it, I will block you and move on and the only thing you will have accomplished is making yourself look like an asshole to a complete stranger on the internet.

Anyway thanks for coming to my TED talk. This took me nearly twenty minutes of nonstop writing to hash out lol. 

[peanutbutterex]

tag 9 people you want to know better!

I didn't realize tumbr did this kind of thing too! I haven't done one of these since I was more active on DeviantArt!

Thanks to @givefangapuppy for the tag!

3 ships of all time:

I have so many ships, but I guess the ones that have been most significant and long lasting to me have been...

Zuko/Katara: I remember when Zuko became my favorite character alongside Katara, and I found fan art of them paired together. I thought it was such a great ship that I started liking it more than Kataang, and now that I am older and understand the nuances of it more, I am even more of a fan of them

Usagi/Rei (Sailor Moon/Sailor Mars): Now I have on occasion found the two of them to be pretty annoying, and my first actual ship in Sailor Moon was Makoto/Ami, or Sailor Jupiter/Sailor Mercury. However, after a while there was just something very compelling about Usagi/Rei and the drama of it, how they are at each other's throats like a married couple but still deeply care about each other. Also, Tuxedo Mask never did anything for me as a character, and while I like Seiya, I will always think the true one for Usagi is Rei.

Ed/Stede: My god this one was pretty groundbreaking. My one friend asked our friend group one day in the middle of finals week to watch ofmd with her, calling it the gay pirate show. I thought that she called it that because pirates are often pretty fruity, and I thought it was just going to have a gay aesthetic. Like many others, I thought once Lucius got his kiss from Black Pete and Jim was out as nonbinary that would be it. I had never seen some of the famous queerbait media, but I had been friends with people who had, so I was not expecting Ed/Stede to become canon even though I shipped it. When they kissed I screamed and after I finished the show I went straight to reading fanfiction. Never has a ship caused my mind to be as overtaken as it was from Ed/Stede becoming canon. So yeah, probably one of the most significant ships I've ever shipped

First Ever Ship:

Gonna be honest, it is probably Zutara. My first ships were either Zutara or Torklenz (Peter Tork/Micky Dolenz of the Monkees), but given that I was into ATLA before The Monkees it is probably Zutara.

Last Song:

Given that it was the last song I played in Project Sekai, probably Becoming Potatoes by Neru (the vocaloid version, of course. I am a vocaloid fan first and a project sekai fan second)

Last Film:

I can't remember, but it might have been Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter? I did not finish it because it was a family event to watch this so bad it's good movie, and we have to all finish it together.

Currently Reading:

here is the thing, I don't read books for fun much anymore, especially since I am a college student, but I started reading a witchy book that I am not sure where I put it rn.

Currently Watching:

well, if by watching you mean a list of the shows I want to finish but have not had the energy to, I will give a short but incomplete list:

Harley Quinn

Reservation Dogs

Tokyo Mew Mew

Revolutionary Girl Utena (though that is because I want to finish the manga before I finish the anime).

Currently Consuming:

Water. Hydrate don't diedrate

Currently Craving:

Sleep, which I will get after posting this, and for my major to not require a thesis, which will not happen.

Tagging:

only if you all want to! @midnightwings-pirates @marquise-de-clarabas @blakbonnet @dolenz-harrison-girl @plaudiusplants @bisghetti-o @missbananarose (yes you are like one of my closest friends but I am curious about your answers) @d0-n0t-p3rc3iv3-m3 @gaypir8bois69 @mycroftpedvia

[mayhemproduces]

It’s a mixed crowd reaction here tonight for one of Professional Wrestling’s greatest, as Jeff Jarrett is finally gracing an MPW ring with his presence. This would usually be cause for celebration among wrestling fans, but here, the MPW faithful, most of them anyways, leverage boos at Double J, due to the fact that last week, he showed up here in MPW and cost fan favorite Effy the MPW Atlas Championship. 

Now, as Jeff Jarrett approaches the ring, guitar in hand, it appears we’ll finally get some answers. 

Jarrett steps between the ropes, and retrieves the mic from Steve Guy, setting his guitar in the corner of the ring as he looks out into the sea of MPW fans. 

“Last week… The Last Outlaw made his presence known here in MPW, and turned the entire wrestling world on it’s head… and now, all anybody can ask is why, why would Jeff Jarrett show up in MPW, and target Effy…” 

Jarrett licks his lips to moisten them as he continues. “Effy… About three years ago, you made a point of trying to step to Double J, and quite frankly… Due to other commitments, you got off easy. But if you think for a second, that I forgot about all the bullshit you spewed out of your mouth back then, well then you’re dumber than I thought you were, son. The Last Outlaw doesn’t forget, and The Last Outlaw doesn’t forgive.” 

“Three years ago, Effy. All you wanted to bitch about was that Jeff Jarrett was out to take your shine. Well let me tell you something, Effy, you’re one of the most delusional sons of bitches I’ve ever met. I don’t think you understand, I don’t think you know who the hell Jeff Jarrett is. But I’m gonna spell it out for ya. Everything you’re doing, everything you’re trying to do, Effy, to set yourself apart… It’s been done before, Effy, and you’re lookin’ at the son of a bitch who did it all first.” 

“MPW, Last Outlaws, Ultraviolence. The MPW locker room walks around actin’ like it invented Ultraviolence. 30 years ago in Memphis, we invented Ultraviolence. Intergender wrestlin’, acting like that’s a new idea. 25 years ago, I wrestled the late great Chyna on Pay Per-View, and Effy, I didn’t do it in front of the 200 schmucks you do it in front of, I did it in front of thousands live, and millions watching at home, and they’re still talkin’ about it to this day. Last Outlaws… You know who was the original outlaw? The man who walked up to that son of a bitch, Vince McMahon, god damn his soul, held him up for six figures, and walked out of the building that night with cold, hard cash.” 

“So why am I here in MPW? Why did I come around, once again? It’s very, very simple. It’s to beat some respect into the man who walks around, twitter fingers flying freely, trying to talk about how Jeff Jarrett tried to come for his spot, when he himself has been rippin’ off Jeff Jarrett since the start of his career.” 

As the crowd is worked up into a frenzy, sure enough, Effy comes through the curtain, not dressed to compete tonight, but that isn’t stopping Effy from marching toward the ring, looking to confront Jarrett! 

Or at least, he would, when suddenly from behind, Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku, Violence is Forever, charge out from behind the curtain, and attack Effy from behind! Violence is Forever get the jump on Effy!

As Jarrett watches on, Dom & Ku beat down Effy outside of the ring, before they throw Effy into the steel ringpost, knocking Effy down on the outside! VIF gets Effy into the ring, and each man grabs an arm, holding Effy as Jarrett grabs his guitar. VIF for some reason working under the employ of Jeff Jarrett tonight, and now they’ve left Effy vulnerable for a guitar attack… 

As Jarrett raises the guitar over his head, he quickly instead decides to bail out of the ring, and VIF looks over their shoulder for a second before electing to do the same, down the ramp come Big Sam Holloway & Tomi Nickells, sliding into the ring, chasing away Jarrett & VIF, and saving Effy!

Something is brewing here in MPW, it seems Jarrett has recruited the services of the former MPW World Tag Team Champions, but Effy has friends too! How much longer until the powder keg explodes?

[dogsinspaceandyou]

I am re-using Tumblr just for this blog, please give me some nice garbage x happy Headcanons, not need to be all romantic but like, slice of life? Plz and that k you

I don’t fully understand slice of life, but I think I did pretty good. Also this is pre-relationship, like before they even realize feelings are there. I hope you like it!

Slice of life / Pre-relationship Happy x Garbage headcanons:

Garbage starts making an extra sandwich for Happy after they become friends again. He likes making them for his crew, so why not make his old friend one too? The corgi always makes sure to give Happy the sandwich before the Venus takes off for their mission. Happy really appreciates the gesture and he loves the way Garbage makes his sandwiches.

The two of them often have one-on-one friend dates. Garbage and Happy still take time to hang out with their respective crews, but they really do enjoy getting to spend time together like old times. They mainly eat at the diner or watch movies, talking about their day or reminiscing about training. Often they gossip about the other PET teams, the dogs on the M-Bark and even the things going on in the council. Happy always has the best gossip and Garbage loves listening to him talk.

Sometimes Garbage (and the Pluto crew) invite Happy to hang out after he’s done with council meetings or after missions. Surprisingly he’s merged pretty well into their group. He enjoys spending time with them, even Ed! On the other paw, merging Garbage into the Venus group has been... challenging, but Garbage is determined to get them to like him because Happy is important to him.

Garbage isn’t a fan of video games but a certain poodle is. On a day where Nomi drags most of the crew to the arcade, Garbage runs into Happy playing on various machines. Happy finds some of the games’ repetitive patterns and gameplay to be relaxing so he often comes there to destress. It now gives Garbage a reason to go to the arcade; to watch his friend play. (Garbage still can’t believe that Happy is the one that keeps beating Nomi’s highscore on her favorite alien shooter game.)

Happy is now an honary Pluto member, whether he knows it or not, and because of this, he is obligated to join the Pluto cuddle piles -started by Garbage after becoming captain and after Nomi joined the crew. Happy usually ends up in the middle with Nomi sleeping on his chest or on the outer-ring with Garbage snuggled into his side, sometimes it’s just wherever he passes out. At first Happy was reluctant to join but he quickly found all the cuddling really nice. He does every once in awhile wonder about starting a cuddle pile with his crew, but decides against it since Atlas would probably be the only one that would like it.

[howlingday]

Does Pyrrha still have trouble fitting in, even in this Au I'd imagine she'd be rather popular considering she's an ex-champion. Has anyone tried to approach her for the sake of just using her fame?

Pyrrha sighed as she approached the Beacon League doors. Even before opening the doors, she could hear people whisper, or even speak aloud on the subject. There wasn't a single person she's met that hasn't heard of Pyrrha Nikos, Mistral's most recent Champion.

The last two years were both mentally and emotionally exhausting for Pyrrha. First, she had to sign a contract with a brand of sneakers she wore only for the commercial, then she signed a lifetime deal with a brand of cereal she could barely stomach on camera, and she was hounded by the paparazzi day and night for even the slightest mistake. She still remembers littergate too well in her nightmares.

But this was a brand new start, and that meant by putting your best foot forward-

"YEOW!"

Pyrrha panicked and shut the door, helping the young man to a seat nearby. He flexed his ankle, wincing with each movement. He had a mop of shaggy blond hair and blue eyes hidden behind squeezed eyelids. After a few moments, he spoke.

"Sorry, miss, I didn't mean to get in your way."

"No, no, it was entirely my fault!" Pyrrha argued. "I should have watched where I was going. I shouldn't have just barged in like that. I should have just walked to the trash can!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Easy!" He said. "Listen, I don't know who you are, but sounds like you're taking this way more personal than you should. Here, let me start over." He took a deep breath, looking her directly in her eyes. "The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it." She giggled and he smiled. "Wow, I think that's the first time I ever made a girl laugh at the joke, and not me."

"Well, it was a funny joke." She sighed. "So you don't know who I am?"

"No, should I?"

Before she could say anything, a young woman stood over them, covering her mouth. When Pyrrha looked, she gasped at her. She then fanned herself so hard, her white hair fluttered a bit.

"You're Pyrrha Nikos!" She practically shrieked.

"Er, yes, I am." Pyrrha instantly felt uncomfortable. It was bound to happen, but that didn't make it any less awkwafd for her. "And you are?"

"Weiss Schnee," she curtsied, which Pyrrha found odd before remembering being screamed at for not doing so in Atlas, "and this is Myrtenaster." A Froslass danced out from behind her.

"Oh, you know her already?" Jaune asked. He then gasped. "Wait a minute!"

Pyrrha winced. She was hoping this to be the one person in all of Remnant to not know who she was. But I guess there wasn't any hope for her.

"You have a Ghost-type, too!" Pyrrha did a double-take at him. That's what excited him? "Hey, can you help me out? Mine hasn't listened to a word I said since I got him." He looked past Pyrrha. "Right, Crocea Mors?"

Pyrrha turned and saw an Aegislash glaring past her. He looked powerful, with notches showing that he had served in many battles, against Pokémon and hopefully just the Grimm, too. His shield was scuffed and unpolished.

"You need to polish him more." Pyrrha said. "Aegislash are Ghost-Steel-types. This means they need to be polished once a week, or every three battles."

"Really?" Jaune replied. "How do you know all this?"

"She's Pyrrha Nikos!" The girl screeched. "Don't you know who she is?!" Jaune tilted his head to the side. "The Spartan of Steel?! The Champion of Mistral?!" He furrowed his brow.

Pyrrha pulled out her scroll and showed her ad for that disgusting cereal. He gasped as he recognized her instantly.

"Oh, you were on the cereal box!" He then pursed his lips. "Then you stopped. I guess the contract ran out, right?"

"Yes, yes, it did." She smiled.

"Well, Pyrrha, I gotta go get registered." He said, standing up.

"I'll come with you." She replied, standing with him. "I'm registering here as well."

"Oh, cool!" They walked away, leaving the Atlas girl behind. "So, should it be special kind of polish, or will any brand do?"

[buttterknifeee]

Deep Six- Teen Titans x Aquagirl!Reader

Request: May I request an insert in the episode Deep Six where the titans meet Aqualad?

Masterlist

Summary: Robin makes you accompany this guy name Aqualad and Beast Boy. Will you be able to handle them or will their bickering tear you apart. Also you're a katara kinnie (i know ATLA didn't exist then but still) This episode is Season 1 Episode 8!

Pairings: Platonic!Aqualad x reader, Robin x reader if you squint

Word Count: 4314

A/N: this time i decided not to split up the episode and post it as one! I made them meet for the first time here, so the Aqua kids don't bond much yet, but if you want to see more, feel free to request! (click here for guidelines) Also yes I also ended this one with "anyone up for pizza" thats all i know how to do to end a fan ficbskghs

“Ahhhh, don’t you just love the ocean?” you admired the shallow sea, the blue water flowing by you. The others prepared for launch, reading off the status of the T-Sub.

“Main power online.”

“Oxygen tanks at maximum”

“Defensive system active”

Beast boy hums confidently. “And your new secret weapon is ready to rock.”

Cyborg rolls his eyes through the headset. “Only time you qualify as a secret weapon is after eating a tofu bean burrito.” You stifled a giggle as Beast Boy yells in protest.

“Uh, 'scuse me, bud. Can you breathe underwater? Uh-uh. Can you be any fish in the sea?”

You shrugged your shoulders and smirked. “Cyborg can’t but I can. And I can breathe underwater without being a fish so I guess I’m just as much of a secret weapon as you, BB.”

You found out that you could breathe underwater a few days after you and the others formed the Teen Titans. You were surfing for the first time since that day when you fell off your board. You had accidentally inhaled underwater, and to your relief, you found that you were able to breathe in the ocean water with no problem. You offered to swim outside the sub on your own, but the team didn’t want you to get hurt, so you were stuck in the small confines of your own pod of the T-sub.

Robin ignores you three’s bickering. “We have to find out what this Trident guy is planning,” he says. “If it takes forty barrels of toxic waste, I doubt it's environmentally friendly.”

The engines warm up, the vessel humming to life. “Titan Launch!” Robin exclaims and the T-sub shoots through a tunnel and into the Jump CIty Bay. You watch in awe at the ocean life around you. Now that you had a connection to the ocean, your perspective on ocean life had changed. You clutch your seashell necklace as you continue to take in the view of the ocean, ignoring Beast Boy showing off his teeth and Cyborg turning off his mic as a result. Robin’s voice snaps you back into reality.

“Sonar contact. Beast Boy! Aquagirl! Ready to go?”

You gave a quick smile. “On it.” You unbuckle your harness and the dome unlatched, allowing you to swim out. Beast Boy gave a mischievous smirk.

“Dude, I was born ready. Try not to be jealous.” He aimed the second comment at Raven, who looked at him indifferently. Beast Boy quickly swam out of his pod and transformed into a whale.

“He just put on three hundred thousand pounds. I am so jealous.” she notes sarcastically.

You and Beast Boy made silent eye contact before swimming towards the cargo ship, examining its destroyed remains. He turns into a shark to keep investigating, and you follow his lead. You couldn’t help but feel that you were being watched, as you swam around the ship. Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you see a green figure; not a bright green like Beast Boy’s but a sicker, murkier green. You point at the green man as he swam away, and you and Beast Boy immediately bolt after it, the T-sub following behind.

Your black scuba shoes propelled you forward, and you aimed blasts of water towards the figure, but it kept dodging your shots. The monster, whom you now assumed was Trident, fired his weapon at you and Beast Boy, and when you dodged, it hit the T-sub. You forced yourself to continue to chase after Trident, hoping that the vessel was also capable of dodging his shots.

You and Beast Boy were nearing close to catching Trident when a voice rang in your head. It wasn’t yours, nor Beast Boy’s; it was clear, belonging to someone no older than you were.

“Your friends are in danger.” you heard. You and Beast Boy both stopped in your tracks, looking at each other in shock. You realized that the T-sub was no longer following you.

“Our friends are in what? Whoa! How did you say that? Dude! How did I say that? Hey!” Beast Boy also says in your mind. You turn to see the T-sub being attacked, and shot off without waiting for Beast Boy.

“Dude, questions are for later! Let’s go!” You order, not even entirely sure how you were able to talk either. You approach the vessel, which was being destroyed by Trident, who you swore you were just chasing.

Suddenly, a figure knocked Trident down. Trident and the mystery person fought each other, moving so quickly that all you could see of the person was a blur of black and blue

You turn your attention to the T-sub, which was slowly sinking into a fissure on the seafloor. Water was filling up fast and a look of panic settled on your teammates faces (except Raven, who seemed to have accepted death). Your eyes glowed blue as you outstretched your arms towards the damaged vessel. Focusing on the water around the titans, you forced the leaks to cease and the descent into the fissure to stop. Your muscles burned as you kept your stance; holding the vessel in place underwater was similar to holding it up on your arms above ground. Beast Boy raced to help as you struggled to keep grip when suddenly, two whales came and carried the sub on their backs.

You let go of the ship and breathe a sigh of relief. Beast Boy sees you almost passing out and comes to your side, now in the form of a squid. Instead of comforting you, he complains about the whales' help.

"They got it? How come they got it?"

A familiar voice rang in your head again. "Because I asked for their help." The voice belonged to the guy who was fighting Trident before. He comes to your other side and supports your other arm, putting it around his neck.

"You talk to fish? Yeah right. And let go of her!"

"You guys need help, and I'm talking to you right?" He glared at Beast Boy, keeping his grip on you.

Beast Boy was about to reply when you held your hand up in front of his squid face. "Beast Boy, I'm a solid five seconds from collapsing. I'm fine with the help."

The guy in blue gave a small smile. "And it's called telepathy. Let's go."

The three of you swam into a cavern. As you entered, the T-sub was floating on the water's surface and although it was extremely damaged, it managed to keep your teammates safe. You nodded to Beast Boy and the other teen and they let you go as you approach the other titans.

Raven asked, "where are we?"

"My place," the mysterious teen answered. "I told the whales to bring you here."

Raven and Starfire both blushed and gave bashful thank yous. You stared at them. Are they… in love with the new guy???, you thought, confused.

Beats Boy seemed angrier than ever. "He saved you?" He yelled, turning back into his human form. "Hel-lo? I was there too, you know."

Cyborg raised an eyebrow. "Were you? Because if anything I remember Aquagirl keeping us from drowning. What, you stopped Trident from kebabbing us with that souped up shrimp fork?"

"Way to go!" Robin said sarcastically. Beast Boy stuttered a response, but the blue teen interrupted.

"Aquagirl, huh? Well, I'm Aqualad. Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier, we Atlanteans like to keep a low profile."

You shake his hand, now taking in what Aqualad looked like. He was half a foot taller than you, with slicked back hair and black pupils. He wore a bodysuit with blue scales and black accents. He had nice features, but you couldn't figure out why the other girls were drooling over him, so you kept that thought to yourself.

"You're from Atlantis? That's so cool!" You say.

He nodded. "So is Trident." He opens up a hologram from a table in the cavern. "He's the worst criminal in Atlantis, with an ego to match."

He continues a sideshow filled with pictures of the sickly green monster. "Trident claims he's perfect in every way so he thinks he can do whatever he wants."

"Any ideas what he wants to do with all that toxic waste?" Robin asked.

"Whatever it is, it'll be bad for both our worlds. He's already gained some kind of new power. It's like he can be everywhere at once." Aqualad says.

"Noticed that," Raven says sarcastically.

"As long as we're after the same guy, maybe we can help each other." He looks at the six of you.

Your eyes sparkle. "Of co-" you begin, but Beast Boy pushed you out of the way.

"Whoa, hey, no, we're good. Got the whole Trident thing under control. 'Sides, I'm sure there's a school of minnows somewhere that need your--" He rejects Aqualad's offer, much to you and the other's dismay. Robin pulls him back, and the six of you group huddled.

"We're at the bottom of the ocean," Raven notes.

"Our sub is Swiss cheese." Cyborg adds.

"I almost died back there," You say.

"And we cannot breathe water," Starfire mentions.

Robin is the first to break away from the huddle. "We'll take any help you can give us." He says to Aqualad.

Aqualad nods and has some amphibian guy named Tramm fix the T-sub. He turns back to us. "While he's helping you, I'll track down Trident. " He turns to go into the ocean again, but Beast Boy intersects.

"You mean I'll track down Trident," He says, pushing him a little

Aqualad pushes him back a little harder. "That's ok, I can handle it."

"Thanks, but I think I should do this."

"Seriously, I can take care of it!"

The five of you watched as their quarrel turned into an all out brawl, and suddenly you couldn't take it anymore.

"GUYS," You yell, causing a wall of water to shoot up next to them to grab their attention. They both stared at you wide eyed. "Stop. The. Fighting." You say with a stern expression.

"Why don't you two both go track him down together?" Robin offers, but the two teens cross their arms and scoff.

"I usually work alone." Aqualad says.

"Yeah. Me too."

"You do not! You're part of a team!"

"And you hang out with Tramm the fish boy! What's your point?"

"Hey! Arguing isn't going anywhere. Listen, Aquagirl can go with you. That'll make sure you stay on task." Robin commands, and you perk up at the sound of your name. You quickly pulled him aside.

"What the hell man?? They obviously don't like each other, you should have seen how much they fought on the way here!." You argue, and Robin looks at you through his masked eyes.

"You're the only other person who can survive underwater, they're gonna need you. Besides, you're great at handling conflicts; you'll be fine." He says with a smile. You blush a little at his comment, and sighed.

"Alright Rob, you can count on me” You return to the rest of the group and the three of you jump into the ocean.

As you headed towards the bottom of the ocean, you decided to ask Aqualad a question that's been bothering you.

“Hey Aqualad,” you say telepathically. “Before you said that you were able to communicate with sea animals. How come you’re able to communicate with me?”

“I don’t know actually,” Aqualad admits, still swimming next to you. He points to your necklace. “I’m guessing it's because of your necklace.” He stops to examine it. Beast Boy groans and stops as well. It glowed a little in his hand as he read the ancient text off of it.

“The Shell of Poseidon,” He read out loud. “I recognize this from the library in Atlantis. Only Atlanteans can use its powers, so you must be Atlantean then, right?”

“Woah! I’m not Atlantean, I’ve never even been there,” you sputter, absolutely shocked at what the teen said.

“Well, you must have some blood in you,” he shrugged. “Hey, maybe we’re cousins or something.”

You grin. “Aquacousin? I like the sound of that!”

Beast Boy interrupts your moment. “Ok, haha, family is fun and all, but while you were floating around finding out parts of your identity or whatever, I’ve actually found something on my sonar so, try to keep up.” He swims off, leaving you two to follow him. You expected to see the sea monster, but instead came upon a group of dolphins.

“No offense B.B. but these don't look like Trident to me.” you smirk.

Aqualad swims up to the dolphins, focusing on his telepathy. The dolphins swim up together and Aqualad turns to you and Beast Boy.

“They told me where to find Trident. Try to keep up.” He mocks Beast Boy, then swims with the dolphins. You look at Beast Boy, who seemed pretty grumpy, and turn to follow Aqualad.

You tailed behind as the two boys raced each other, Beast Boy turning into various aquatic creatures to catch up with the equally competitive teen. Then you see it. In front of them, Trident swam into view. You and Aqualad stop on instinct, but Beast Boy keeps going.

"Beast Boy! Stop!" You both yell, as he barrels straight towards Trident.

"What's the matter?" He taunts. "Am I too fast for y-"

You winced as you watched him crash into the sea monster and fall to the floor.

"Heh… how's it going," Beast Boy says telepathy to the monster towering over him. Trident growled.

"Keep your thoughts to yourself, you inferior fool!" He pointed his well, trident at beast boy and fires; Beast Boy barely dodges it.

Aqualad tackles Trident and they fall off an underwater ridge.

"Oh no you! This time he's mine!" Beast Boy yells, following Aqualad to the ridge.

"Beast Boy wai-" you yell, but was cut off by something grazing the side of your head. You turn, and see Trident swing his weapon at you. You dodged his next swing, wondering how he was able to get to you right after being attacked by Aqualad. You send him flying across the ocean with your water powers, when you hear Beast Boy yelling. You turn to see Beast Boy in squid form latched onto Aqualad's face. You could see Trident swim away from the corner of your eye as you swam to pull Beast Boy off of Aqualad. Aqualad glares at Beast Boy, his face peppered with red dots from Beast Boy's accidental attack.

“I said, ‘incoming’” he defends himself. Aqualad ignores him and points to another figure swimming into a grotto.

“He’s getting away!” Aqualad swims away, Beast Boy following.

“Wait-” you say, confused. Didn't you just send Trident flying in the other direction? How did he move so quickly? You reluctantly followed your friends into the cavern. You joined them as they observed the two tunnels that split off into two different directions.

“What are we gonna do now?” you think out loud.

“Maybe the question is where were you guys?” Aqualad snaps, turning to the two of you. You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion while Beast Boy swims forward to be face to face with Aqualad.

“Where was I? Fighting Trident by myself!” He jabbed a squid tentacle into Aqualads shoulder.

“You barely laid a tentacle on him! At least I managed to break his weapon!”

“Dude, that's just wrong. I so broke that fork thing!”

“BOYS!” you yell. “I also fought Trident and I sent him in the opposite direction, and now he's here. There's something going on…” The two began to think, but then perked their heads up. They then point at opposite tunnels.

“There he goes!” they yell at the same time. You stare at the two of them in even deeper confusion. Beast boy swims up to you, making eye contact.

“I saw him! He's that way! I'm right, he's wrong! End of story!” He crosses his tentacles. Aqualad pushes Beast Boy aside so that you were now staring at his dark pupils.

"I'm telling you, he's this way!"

"GUYS, we can just split up," You say flatly, pinching the bridge of your nose in frustration. "Aqualad I'm sure you can handle yourself, so I'll go with Beast Boy."

"Aw sweet!- Heyyy…" Beast Boy says to your backhanded comment. Aqualad nods and swims off into the tunnel.

You and Beast Boy were alone in the tunnel when you sighed.

"B.B., why do you keep picking fights with Aqualad?" You asked, still looking ahead. Beast Boy turns to you, acting shocked.

"ME??? It's not my fault Mr. Pretty-Boy-Know-It-All keeps showing off!" He whines.

"Dude, he's just trying to help us. Maybe you should-" you were cut off by a loud booming voice.

"Worthless scum! You cannot beat perfection!" Trident bellowed from behind you. You and Beast Boy turned, already in a fighting position.

"How many of you fork things do you have?" He mumbled as you charged forward.

You dodged his energy bolts, Trident in return dodging your attempts to push him farther back. Beast Boy turns into a turtle, pulling his arms and legs inside. Trident threw his weapon and it bounced off of him, flying into you and sending the two of you hurtling through the water.

"I always win!" You hear him say as you regain your stance. Beast Boy turns into a giant crab, grabbing onto Trident's weapon.

"And I thought Aqualad had a big ego!" He yelled telepathically.

"BEAST BOY GET BACK!" You yell. He swiftly let go, and you shot a jet of water towards Trident, sending him flying into a cavern wall. The cavern shakes, and a mass of boulders come crashing down. All you could see was a crushed trident sticking out from under the rocks. You breathed a sigh of relief until you felt a searing pain in your leg. You look and see a burn mark; Trident probably hit you before you buried him in a pile of rocks. Beast Boy looks at you, a worried expression in his eyes (despite being in the form of an ocean animal).

“I’ll be fine,” you grimace. “Let's find a way out first.” You painstakingly swim until you find a cave similar to Aqualads. You drag yourself towards the land as Beast Boy turns back into his human form. Right after you pull yourself up, you see Aqualad jump out of the water. He sees the two of you, and runs to meet up with you. He and Beast Boy begin to talk at the same time.

“ I just saw Trident!... No, you didn't!... Yes, I did! Cut it out!”

“I don’t care what you say! I fought Trident!” Beast Boy yelled, a vein nearly jumping out of his forehead.

"That's impossible!" Aqualad counters, his fists clenched so tight you thought you saw blood.

They both seemed to be prepared to fight each other. You jumped in between them, holding both their heads back as they flail their arms, trying to get a hit at each other.

"You know," You begin, silencing the two boys. "When Robin asked me to join you guys, I didn't want to. You two are heroes that just met each other and you were already fighting! But he told me that I could handle it and he's right! I can handle the both of you; but it seems to me that you guys can't handle each other. So here's what's gonna happen: I'm gonna heal myself because oh right! I got BURNT and you two are gonna talk it out." You let go of the boys, and they watched as you limped over to the edge of the water, plopped yourself down, and started pulling the ocean water to your leg. You listened in a little as you concentrated the water on your leg. It only took a few seconds to heal your burn, it was only surface level and you had gotten better at using your healing powers. They were still talking as you noticed what was in front of you: hundreds of Trident clones and yellow Trident capsules-eggs attached to the ceiling.

"Uh guys…" you say, rejoining them, but they had seen it too.

"One Trident is bad…" Aqualad says.

"... but this is…" Beast Boy adds.

"... an entire …" You say.

"...ARMY!" One of the tridents finishes your thought.

They all charge, and the three of you brace or impact. You raise your arms and a wave of water takes out a small group of the monster clones. You dodge their attacks, shooting jets of water at their heads. You see Beast Boy get flung into a machine, and an egg hatching sequence begins on the screen. You regroup with the other boys in front of the machine.

"Oops," Beast Boy said sheepishly.

"Great," Aqualad groaned as the clones began to close in.

"We need a plan," You mumble.

A group of the clones began to speak.

"My brilliant plan is already a success"

"If one of me was perfect…"

"Why not make more?"

"You can never have too much of a good thing"

"Once my army conquers Atlantis…"

"I will declare war on the surface world! Everyone on the planet will bow down before me"

"And praise my perfection!"

Aqualad whispers to the both of you as the clones cheer. "Any bright ideas?"

Beast Boy whispered back. "Just one. Try to keep up." He turned to the clones. "So if you're all perfect, which one of you is the best?" He asked.

One of the tridents answered. "I am!... Huh?"

As soon as you understood what Beast Boy was doing, you grinned. Aqualad stepped up.

"Come on. You can't all be the best." He says.

"One of you must be better than the others," You add.

One of the tridents step forward. "I am the original!I am the best!"

"You are not the original"

"I am!" Multiple tridents yell at once.

"Nonsense you inferior fools! I am perfect! I am Trident! "

You watch in amusement as the clones turn on each other and the fight turns into a full on brawl. The fight eventually ends, and all the tridents laid on the ground, defeated. Aqualad turns to Beast Boy.

"Great idea," He says. You noticed that there were no hints of sarcasm in his voice. Whatever they said to each other earlier must have made them work better together, you figured.

"Kinda got it from you," Beast Boy says."Now we just have to stop those from hatching." He points to the yellow pod filled ceiling. Right as he said that, the screen on the machine behind you hit 0 on the timer and the word "begin" flashed on the screen.

"Too late!" The three of you yelled at the same time. New Trident clones were breaking through their membrane "eggs". Beast Boy instinctively turns into a hippopotamus and tramples the crowd, creating a path to the ocean. You and Aqualad sprint behind Beast Boy, dodging the clones' outstretched arms. You all dive into the water, the Tridents close behind.

"We can't let them escape! We need to find some way of sealing the exit!" Aqualad yells telepathically.

"Right now, I'm just worried about getting to the exit." Beast Boy replies. You didn't look back, but you could feel the clones closing in. As you got closer to the exit you saw a familiar looking silhouette.

"The T-sub!" You exclaimed as you swam out of the cave. The clones stop in their tracks in confusion.

"Huh?" You hear one of them say.

You moved out of the way as the sub sent beams towards the entrance of the cave. The Blast caused a pile of rubble to fall, blocking the exit. You smile at your team who's cheering (along with Aqualad’s friend Tramm) inside their pods. The three of you turn bad to observe the T-sub’s work.

“Good thing Trident likes himself so much, 'cause I'm thinking he won't see anybody else for a looong time.” Beast Boy says.

You find yourself on the surface again, on the shore of the Titan’s Tower. Raven and Starfire both continue to look at Aqualad with heart eyes as Robin steps forward.

“Consider yourself an honorary titan” he says with a smile, holding out a familiar black and yellow communicator for him to take. “We couldn't have done it without you. Thanks.”

“Right back at you. It's good to know there's people up here I can trust.” Aqualad looks at you and Beast boy. He says goodbye to Raven and Starfire, who blushingly say it back. He then turns to Beast Boy.

“What can I say, dude? You're the best.” Beast Boy says.

“Nah. You're the best.”

“Yeah, you're right. And if you ever want me to prove it, I'm always up for a race.”

“Just try and keep up.” Aqualad laughs, patting his head. He finally turned to you.

“Aquagirl, it's been really nice to meet you. Next time you’re near Atlantis, give me a call and I’ll show you around. There's so much to show you,” he stretched out his hand for a handshake, but you pulled him in for a hug. He was surprised at your gesture, but soon returned it. Raven and Starfire looked at you with pure envy as you pulled back with a smile.

“I’ll take your word for it, Aquacousin” you say, making a reference to your nickname for him earlier. He laughs, then waves goodbye. The six of you wave back as he swims back into the ocean. Robin gently put his hand on your shoulder.

“You did a great job today Aquagirl. I knew I could count on you.”

“You know you can always count on me, dude.” you say with a smile. “Now I’m kinda hungry. Anyone up for pizza?”

[sokkabaddiebender2021]

Just some commentary on the ATLA live action casting

This contains discussion on colorism:

Ok, so I’ve seen a lot when it comes to the casting for the live action, and for the most part, I’m actually really hyped and excited to see where this project goes. And while I think most of the cast looks amazing, I also can’t help but notice that Netflix is once again showing their obsession with casting mostly if not only light skinned people in major roles over darker skinned people.

Now if you didn’t already know, Netflix has been in a constant controversy over their casting choices at times showing they consistently will cast light skinned POC over dark skinned POC: this is no exception with the atla live action casting.

(A prominent example of colorist casting in Netflix, literally light washed a historical figure)

As fans know of the beloved original animated avatar: the last airbender series, Sokka and Katara look like this:

Both have darker complexions, and at the time, there weren’t all that many main characters in kids shows (especially fantasy ones) that looked like them. For many, these characters represented them.

But THEN.....

You can see, especially with Sokka, that the actors cast for these characters are significantly lighter.

Honestly, I don’t have as much beef with Katara’s actress. I watched her in Anne With an E and she was great playing an indigenous character, and in NO way am I saying these actors should be harassed for getting cast in these roles....HOWEVER

I do blame the casting directors at Netflix. With Sokka, there is no excuses. He is clearly darker in the original show, yet they cast a white passing person. I’m sure they will say it’s because he will play the character the best, but considering Netflix’s history, I don’t believe it. They clearly have a preference for casting light skinned actors, whether that be because they think those people adhere more to the typical beautiful standard or because they are straight up ignorant.

It’s just frustrating. Just think about all the dark skinned people and actors who are rarely represented in major roles (especially with female POC!). All I can say is Netflix, do better.