#I guess we can't all be perfect

[teresiel]

I have a friend at work who is a blonde-dyed-black millennial who is into abstract art and smokes weed and is literally keeping her conservative dad alive while also holding him accountable to her whims and I think I'm obsessed EXCEPT she's a Swiftie.

[spotaus]

Thinking about Orchid and her connection to my take on Gender (because this was meant to be about her and the Crew but it just devolved into a character analysis kinda??? More trauma-dumping maybe???) This is very much an oc/personal rant so feel free to ignore it 🫡

So, Orchid started off as a character I didn't really think much of (hear me out this is going to be relevant) because I wanted to add a 'girl' character but didn't know what to *do* with her, y'know? She was always going to be the strongest one there, she had the odds stacked in her favor with her parents. She was always going to be the gloomy side-character to match Reset's energy. But I think she's gone through every stage of Generic Woman I could possibly find.

At first she was angry and abrasive (think Fell!Sans) where every other word was a curse and she was likely to throw the first punch then laugh as she kicks her enemy while they're down. This was when Reset was a cartoonishly self-centered villain whose goal was simply to prove others wrong. Then Orchid became a sort of sisterly figure. This was short-lived, but she was the one comforting people who Reset would torment, but would ultimately follow his orders, because at this point he was actually a danger and sadistic. And then there was the phase where the story mellowed out and she became the token Goth Girl who, yes she was strong, but was heavy on the 'whatever' energy. Then there was her Era of deep self-loathing and anxiety about her worth that held her back and made her a much more timid and meek character who would only lash out on occasion.

Now, Orchid is the best of those iterations I've written yet. She's calm, level-headed, and a natural leader. Her father raised those traits into her. But she's very reactive, and can be silly, and when she's comfortable it's likely that air of importance transforms into something more comfortable and familiar. She laughs loudly and grins wide, she likes loud video-games but loves to read in the quiet. She's extremely disciplined, and normally no one can get through her tough exterior besides her best friend, Reset. She does what she does for her own enjoyment, sure, but she's thought of every angle and makes her choice to help Reset and control the others with her whole chest. She still worries she won't live up to her invisible expectations, and that and her loyalty are her two driving forces.

I know that Orchid is important to me because she's the longest-running female oc I've had. I have a rough relationship with womanhood/girlhood and I know looking back that Orchid recieved every ounce of my distaste for being a woman that I could shovel into her. That never made her less of a character, she was actually always one of my favorites, and rarely was she a 'punching bag oc'. I just... projected onto her a lot. And she's a good sign of how I've learned who I am. I've decided that my own femininity is something I could live without. I'd rather not associate myself with it, and I'd like to leave it in my past, focusing on a future where I'm not tied down with any gender roles or expectations. That won't happen, but I've come to terms with it myself. Orchid though? I figured out through her that I don't have to hate women characters. My own distaste for my circumstances doesn't mean I have to push it onto my characters (on God I've never expressed anything rude to actual people, that'd be rude as hell and uncalled for, but I have a bad habit of disliking fictional women in media). So, Orchid is a well-roubded character finally. She has motivations abd goals and a *lot* more depth than I ever expected her to. She's happy with being a woman, she's content. She's not treated differently for it in unfair ways by those she cares about, so she doesn't mind it. She likes to wear pretty outfits and lets Reset add bows to her ribbons. She doesn't let being a woman hold her back in the slightest.

So, yeah. Orchid is one of my babies. If I ever leave this Fandom behind for good, she's one that's coming with (Ichor, Orchid, and Pretender all have human designs I can use elsewhere lol-) but in the meantime I'll just rotate her around in my brain for a while longer.

If I'm right, she's been with me for nearly 5-6 years and I went through a *lot* with her as an outlet. So, she's kinda just like an old stuffed animal. A lil ripped, matted fur, maybe a stain or two, but there's a story there and that makes it important beyond belief.

[sga-owns-my-soul]

sorry to everyone i tell a fic idea to that they get excited about bc i'm so bad at finishing a fic but i can offer you the start of the 8 new fics i've started this week with 0 plans on how to finish them if you would like

[sciderman]

I would say you’re more of a Mr peanut butter type yeah

doggy doggy what now?

[reticent-hush]

I think I saw it mentioned that Sukuna’s shadow puppets are the inverse of Megumi’s and…

Nue…

Divine dogs…

Even holding up different fists for Mahoraga…

Furthermore, it’s strange how half-assed they are, especially considering Sukuna has all of Megumi’s memories/muscle-memory. Like, he does not want to extend those fingers at all. I wonder if this is another way to show how superior he is to Megumi when it comes to jujutsu.

Like, I’ve always been curious about this dialogue here. We understand that Megumi is talking about his domain expansion, but it really seems like it extends to his entire technique. The Ten Shadows has always seemed incredibly rigid to me, you get ten shikigami by performing ten(~8 without dogs) rituals and that's it. Except…

It's really not? Being able to walk and store things within shadows, WHATEVER the hell is up with the shadow clones, even (not pictured) creating duplicates of his shikigami. Like, all we know about his domain expansion is that it powers up his techniques, which really means anything we've seen him do within it is something he can do outside of it. Megumi's chronically bad at thinking outside the box, and Sukuna is NOT.

He's got the skill, the power, and the imagination to use Megumi's own technique better than he ever could, as much as it pisses me off. We're literally watching him breeze past imaginary barriers Megumi set up for himself. Why hasn't Nue's size changed? Why hasn't he summoned multiple of the black divine dog? If this is just based on cursed energy, there's no reason for Nue to still be the same size after ~200 chapters at what is basically the end of the series. Megumi just doesn't have the imagination to see how his technique can grow, and so he restricts himself to what he THINKS works.

I think you can see this all in the shadow puppetry tbh. Megumi's form is perfect, there's no reason for us to believe he is doing it wrong when he's our primary example. Meanwhile, Sukuna's is sloppy (Nue's wings are folded, Divine dog has no jaw, Mahoraga doesn't even look like he's holding his arms up) and yet it still works. It really brings into question how necessary they even are, whether Megumi is putting too much emphasis on things that don't matter and may actually hinder his growth.

All this to say, Megumi's been handicapping himself for a while and he needs to get his shit together if he's gonna stand any chance at holding back the King of Curses from murdering his sister. Plus, there's one thing Megumi can do that no one else in his situation has been able to, and that's perform a domain expansion. We know Sukuna could drag Yuuji into his innate domain, so I'm hoping Megumi can finally do something unprecedented, perfect his domain, and contest Sukuna's control of his body. I heavily doubt he could win, but perhaps he can stalemate Sukuna long enough for someone to land a killing blow.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

what if we held on to whatever we get the idea of as Normal as unquestionable & think all you can do to this normal is apply some veneers overtop it to be more polite & also resent that. maybe we could project that everyone who seems to be Annoyingly Disruptively doing more than this must be putting on a performance to look good &/or humor others b/c that's all we ever believe we're doing, & again, we resent even that much....maybe we could use our show of More Polite language to make the same points blaming everyone who our Normal mistreats for their own mistreatment

[netherdevil]

unnormal vivilly dweller thoughts in my head

[batsplat]

okay what’s up with the good wife out of all the media you reblog this is the most random one ?

it's not RANDOM omg that is a top three rewatch show to me... I love my silly little lawyers.... perfect mix of fun week to week cases, excellent side characters, interpersonal mess between the main cast, plus all the ways they'd imaginatively tackle Current Events. the good fight had a similar appeal - minus the focus on week to week cases and plus far more explicit politics. didn't always work, but it's one of those shows where I just kind of appreciated how willing they were to take a swing at it and get a bit weird about it. even in the good wife, they had so many Good Bits... the nsa agents who were super invested in the main cast's relationships, the liberal judge with all his Causes, the wife killer, LOUIS CANNING!! obviously, the 'in your opinion' lady, the google guy... also this is from the good fight but the federal investigator lady who always had the birds fly against her office window was a+ plus, it's such a dumb bit but it got me every time as a great appreciator of dumb bits. such a corny pair of shows that are very much like,, About Liberalism and a reckoning with that entire era of american life from an unabashedly liberal perspective, with all the inherent pitfalls and shortcomings of that pov... but does consistently manage to do interesting stuff with that starting point. a lawyer show that's also a bit of an autopsy of a mostly dead vision of america, kinda all you need sometimes

and I love alicia and will, my tragic heterosexuals!! the forbidden love of it all!! I love how cruel and selfish alicia was a lot of the time and how she's mostly in control of that relationship even though will SHOULD be the one in the position of power, how she's constantly using him and then pushing him away while will is so obviously besotted, how she simply keeps finding excuses to stop herself from being happy... does she even love him at all or does she just like him in theory, does she just want to be desired... how they always have 'bad timing' and just cannot figure their shit out... "it's romantic because it didn't happen".... "my plan is I love you" the unapologetic melodrama of it all!! the deleted voice message is?? crazy?? (eli goated character btw, the cheese lobby episode is still one of my favourite episodes of anything ever.) that lift scene is peak romance... when she leaves the firm and he feels so betrayed... his tantrum!! "I took you in when nobody wanted you"!! "you were POISON"!! "you're awful and you don't even know how awful you are"!! he's so pathetic and angry for half a season that he's resorting to just arguing with her in his head!!! always with their failed communications via phone and lift doors and loaded gazes across office spaces and delicate finger touches... the romance of it all, how they really could have worked but it's also so glaringly obvious why they kept falling apart... in the end all these repressed losers create their own misery... elite

[reikunrei]

im always shocked and flattered when people say they think the things i say are smart or interesting. like. me? my dumb ass? for realsies? huh? wowie!

[kingdomoftyto]

FRICK. OF COURSE THERE'S A HUGE CLIFFHANGER. WHAT WAS I EVEN EXPECTING

Guh. okay. so... Book 3 has some... unfortunate choices if you squint too hard at it--my disappointment at the RainWings really being as lazy and careless as they'd been rumored to be is immeasurable--but from a character standpoint this installment was fantastic, and the plot has taken a TURN with this secret magic wormhole thing the NightWings have going on. Seriously what the heck. And here I thought I had at least a little bit of a read on what the NightWings were really like behind all the posturing and propaganda, but I have absolutely no idea why they would be helping Blister with the war, or living in a volcano, or... eating rotten carrion??? What?????

Next book is gonna be WILD

[chaddicus]

see the longer I play with my understanding of my transmasc experience and dysphoria, the more I grapple with the conflict between mocking fragile masculinity for refusing to allow the use of 'feminine' things vs knowing more and more keenly how much dysphoria I would and do get whenever someone associates something I do or use or wear with femininity. and no amount of people insisting that using "feminine" things doesn't invalidate someone's gender, man or otherwise, seems to have any impact on that dysphoria

we do need to untangle cultural perceptions of masculine vs feminine and respect for a person's gender, manhood in particular in this discussion, but I almost feel like knowing that means it's my responsibility to refuse to engage with those ideas for my own gender — and the problem is that knowing this is not the common understanding means knowing that other people *will* associate my use of feminine things as some sort of contradiction with any masculinity I may wish to express or identify with, and no amount of understanding the concepts and holding the principles can erase the revulsion and pain and fear I feel at the thought of people associating me with some concept of womanhood that I adamantly *do not experience or identify with.* fuck.

[mosscrab]

mgsv has so many literary references to books i have essays abt it kind of makes me.

[qilinkisser]

:(((

[kifu]

The stupid in question. He's not supposed to be a "try to kill myself" new world sheep, but he's trying his best!

[tomatoteddy]

Me: Hey, do you wanna watch MILGRAM together?

My older sibling: Yeah sure lol. Looks fun

*an hour later*

Me: But did he have a brother or not is the question

My older sibling: THE DOCTOR IS GUILTY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY VOTED HIM INNOCENT!?! HE HARVESTED PEOPLE'S PARTS NO!!!!!!!!

[bat-the-misfit]

GUYS MY AUNT JUST SAID SHE DOESN'T WANT ME COMING TO OUR FAMILY'S GATHERINGS ANYMORE IDUWGSVWKXIWHWUDGWHAHXIWJDJAJSBSJSJJSJA