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meduseld · 4 years ago

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The Aguilar Sisters aren’t giving up their land, not even for the Seeds.

The Aguilar family emigrated from Yara during whatever in universe equivalent there is for the Mariel boatlift in 1980, but chose not to stay in Florida, partially to leave their past behind and partially because there was increased government scrutiny on the father, Alonso, as he had worked for the Yaran government (he was an agricultural engineer educated in the USSR, and only ever did crops stuff but it was enough) which meant he was moved to a more dedicated processing center in Wisconsin. Their mother, Angustias, who didn’t speak anything but Spanish at the time and had never left Yara’s capital until this, carted her then two daughters, Mercedes (6 years old) and baby Remedios (3 months old), all the way there and then to Montana, where Alonso had a friend of a friend of a friend of a cousin that helped them with a little plot of land in exchange for his know-how and some Russian lessons.

And they worked it, and grew it, buying from neighbors, and raised their girls, making sure they never forgot where they came from even though Milagros, born 12 years after Remedios, was delivered in Bozeman. Alonso and his wife are long in the grave, but the sisters keep the land in their memory, running it together. They don’t care how badly the Seeds might want it, might envy their success. The Aguilars have survived three governments that hardly cared if they lived or died, and all the trouble being Latina Women can bring in America. They’ll be damned if they lie down and lose their legacy. Zapata might have been a Mexican but their father admired all revolutionaries and they’re ready: "Mejor morir de pie que vivir arrodilladas".

[Full disclosure, this happened because I love these three actresses and they do in fact look super similar, Google will show you]

The Aguilar Sisters

[Played by Zharick Leon, born in 1974]

Mercedes, the eldest sister. Always serious and stern, you could say she was never much of a child. She was more of a mother to Milagros than Angustias was, at least in terms of discipline and making sure she did her homework and brushed her teeth, because Angustias’ age and the health issues that plagued her since they left Yara. She was the only other family member present at Milagros’ birth, some kind of omen, as her mother’s health meant she had to be in Bozeman to deliver safely and no one else could be spared the farmwork.

There’s a lot of trauma she hasn’t acknowledged around having to leave Yara behind, as only she actually remembers it, and having to be the reliable one. Secretly she hates that she can’t let go or have fun, but she’s the woman who bears the burden of leadership.

Unmarried, she avoids relationships pretending she’s above them, but she’s scared she’s somehow too much, totally unlovable. Smart and sharp, she was a player in local politics and when things turned rough, people looked to her as a leader of the community. Fiercely protective of her sisters, she has a hard time showing affection, mostly scolding them as a way of expressing concern.

She has no real love for Montana, but she does not allow room for failure, the farm must thrive. Her father’s favorite, she grieved him most and was allowed to listen to his harder stories from home. It annoys her that her sisters have a fantasy version of Yara in their heads but she also can’t bring herself to crush it.

Speaks the best Spanish, and some Russian thanks to her father. Headstrong and brave and fierce, she is a woman to look up to, even if not like, exactly.

[Played by Inma Cuesta, born in 1980]

Remedios was always the peacemaker, the one in the middle looking for compromise, her elder sister’s only confidant, the child that never gave anyone any trouble. Closest to her mother, she cared for her in her final days as Angustias followed Alonso, the love of her life, to the grave less than seven months after he went. Softer spoken than her sisters, and prone to taking a more roundabout route to her goals. Seen as the reasonable one, but just as smart and strong as the other two. Beautiful singing voice, half the boys in her gradeschool were in love with her. The mom friend, the one that reads poetry and recites Lorca (her father loved that), she can’t speak Spanish quite as well as Mercedes but she’s the better reader and writer.

Didn’t know Yara, but she’s proud to be born there. She has a less romantic view of Yara than her little sister, but loves Montana the most out of all of them. She grew up in refugee camps and motels and spare bedrooms with the four of them crowded in until the farm did well and they had their own little house, now revamped into a big house, in the middle of the land under that big, big, sky. She never wants to leave Montana, and hasn’t, for the most part. She got a few certifications in Bozeman and Billings, but she’s happiest out in the wild country of Hope County.

The only sister that’s married. To another Yaran emigreé, Brasa, who fits her perfectly. He must love her madly, to live in a house with her and her sisters.

Excellent at reading people (family peacemaker and even mediator/go between with their Americans neighbors/her sister and school authorities/ her mother and medical authorities/ and sometimes her father and real authorities made her a master at it), she was the first to suspect and distrust the Seeds. Mercedes listens to her above anyone else, and John’s repeated overtures towards them were rebuffed.

The best shot out of her sisters, because she’s always seens guns as tools for famring and living in somewhere so rural, she’s scared she may have to find a worse outlet for her aim. But for her sisters, her husband and her land, she’ll do anything.

[Played by Adria Arjona, born in 1992]

Milagros is the baby of the bunch, flakiest and most romantic, she was spared a lot, in terms of burdens and responsibilities and duties by her parents, who saw her as too young and too unexpected to handle it. She was the wildest, most troublesome child, and she wasn’t actually much of one, but compared to her sisters she was a handful.

The most American, her Spanish is the worst, which is a constant point of contention between her and her sisters. (She doesn’t want to admit she has actual trouble with it, and Mercedes doesn’t want to admit she’s clinging more to it out of pride and tradition, that she doesn’t have to be so hard on Milagros. Honestly, that’s the thing. She’s almost her mother, but not quite, and demands a bit too much, and doesn’t show enough love, while Milagros wants so badly to live up and resentful that she even wants it, and scared she will never live up to either of her strong and smart and capable sisters. She’s never had any real hardship, not like them. Maybe she really is that soft...). The only one to openly fight with Mercedes, and the only one allowed to try to get her to dance.

Milagros has no strong feelings about Montana or the farm, her sisters would run it after all, what she wanted was to travel and have fun, she wants to see Yara, which feels as real to her as Narnia. She made it as far as California, for a bit, and then her dad died. She raced back when they told her it was urgent but he was already gone when her plane landed. She was still reeling when her mom was suddenly gone. And there was so much guilt, for going, for feeling she didn’t love them enough, didn’t get as close to them as she should, that she didn’t mourn them enough.

So she stayed, trying to really learn the farm work that she was so shielded from as a kid. Mercedes won’t let her forget, what Milagros’ only now learning at her age, she and Remedios were doing at the crack of dawn since they were ten. She always looks to Remedios for comfort, her kind hearted sister, who pities her and comforts her but refuses to coddle her. Always on her side but not quite enough. Milagros wants to prove herself to her sisters but also to step out of their shadows, to finally measure up.

And now, it seems the Seeds will set her a challenge to rise to. If only she wasn’t scared she can’t. Not that she, a stubborn Aguilar, would ever admit that.

#Far Cry 5 #OCs #I love them and have so many feelings #I poured a lot of history and irl stuff in this #And if you know Spanish #Their names are real but also an in joke #to the point where I switched two to make it fit even better

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reallunargift · 3 years ago

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25.03.2022

i know the translation is a tentative one, and i’ll wait for a proper one before really committing to this, but

mind empty, thoughts still full of "the guy who’s always smiling and is actually the Final Boss”

so Port has final boss vibes not only in the sense that yeah he was a force to be reckoned with, but also you don’t expect him to be one. And it makes sense, because if your first impression of him is based on current times, you get the idea of a sentimental, melancholic, calm guy with a weird affinity for the ocean

then you look into his history and it’s.... it sure is something.

so idk i really like the idea of Hima acknowledging this side of him, because the unexpectedness is something i see irl with people who aren’t familiar with the country beyond tourist brochures.

Like, there’s countries whose past is kind of well known in pop culture, but Port ain’t one of them so most people simply don’t know, which is understandable, there’s many country histories I don’t know either. I’m just happy Hima seems to have taken this into consideration when working on the character, you know?

and Hima gets a lot of flack but idk i always felt he was doing a good job with Port. Do I wish he levelled the playing field with him and Toni and show Port isn’t actually the one bothering his neighbour the most historically? Yes, absolutely (mostly for fandom’s sake). But maybe he’ll show us more of that in the future.

Like, according to that translation they “used to be close but now [their] relationship is very delicate.” I would die happy for a comic that showed why that is

#lunie blabbers #also on a more selfish side it aligns so well with an AU i have lmaooooo #the teammate who turns out to be the final challenge #this post has been in my drafts for long enough lol #also i try my best to portray toni and port's relationship in the most unbiased way i can #bc i'm very very aware that as a portuguese person i will.... have a bias towards port lol and also my understanding of history #is very much shaped by a portuguese school system that highlighted certain areas and downplayed others #and i have drawn stuff pointing out port was responsible for a lot of shit that happened to him #and i truly hate the victim narrative that can crop up not just in fandom but irl #but make no mistake lol toni isn't an angel and most definitely deserves to be strapped to that bed and have olive oil poured on him~

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ofcowardiceandkings · 3 years ago

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WOW HEY NEW FOLKS ?!

there's suddenly a lot of new people here for the first time in forever LOL hello everyone !! i'll do a "Brief" Intro because my blog info is a vacant hole, though i AM still an unidentified flying bastard

i'm Rory (he/him) i'm a 26 yr old art maker person and dormant archaeologist in the UK, i like vidja games and history stuff :]

this blog has been dormant for a while but then my DEEP LOVE for Legend of Zelda (and other games) kicked me in the arse big time so now i have brainworms. i DO have an active queue right now which currently posts 6 times a day, which i havent had in literal years (this blog is over 11 years old pour one out for my time)

i post a lot of Legend of Zelda (particularly BotW), zelink (after 15 years of not doing that, but side-eyeing it), D&D, AC: Valhalla, RDR2, Horizon Zero Dawn, Studio Ghibli, + other games as well and a healthy dose of nature, history, cool art and humour posts

speaking of humour its worth noting i use a lot of sarcasm but i also tend to clarify this in my epic tag rants, and speaking of rants i talk A LOT into the echo chamber with a lot of course language because i have no filter anymore, and a lot of garbled [action text] because im an animated person irl and thats just how it is, im so sorry lol

sum tags: #rory's ramblings, #my art, #botw blogging (rambling and spicy opinions), #rory plays viddy games (this is usually me talking WHILE playing games actively), i also tag for n/s/f/w so heads up

other places: my art portfolio site / my twitch profile

enjoy the chaos lads 💙

#gawd my follower count has been at a steady just-below-9k for years and now theres like over 100 more of you and youre NOT BOTS !! WILD #i generally trust people but its worth noting that any disrespectful clowning gets the boot #im not especially block-happy though so dont stress lol #this got quite long but honestly this blog has a messy pedigree and its nice to know these things #rory's ramblings

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icaruskey · 3 years ago

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Nobody is disputing Tentickle's quality, the issue is that it's in really poor taste. It's already poor taste for Americans to be flying Ukraine colors everywhere, and then as "Fuck War" dildos... To say nothing of the broader political implications. Why not Fuck War dicks for Middle Eastern countries and so on? Why care about just Ukraine unless you're a milquetoast liberal capitalizing on a bandwagon? Like we might not be used to thinking critically about what we shove in our holes but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.

Okay so like, I can see why people would be bothered by a dildo company creating fuck war dildos in theory -- but they're donating 50% of the profits to a specific cause.

I mean, no, I cannot know for sure if they've done so, and the only way we'd learn is if they posted some sort of proof (that can be admittedly doctored) but from what I know of the indie dildo community, people who make that quality of pours are generally not assholes.

So I don't see it as comparable to US citizens hanging Ukraine flags everywhere because at least something is being put towards the war effort.

Now as for the "why not the Middle East" I can't tell you. There's a lot going on here. I don't know how the UK teaches history (I checked, they seem to be UK based) but in the US, we're taught that the Middle East is constantly at war with itself, that the artificial borders created with a bunch of nomadic people created high tension and it is constantly going to shit.

That's not an excuse mind you. I just remember that's what I heard when I was like. 15. And most of that was through church so! WTF.

Anyway, it can be a jump on the bandwagon. It can definitely be in bad faith. But I guess I see the best in people and having a close connection and sentimentality to the tentacle dildo community, I can see why an artist who feels so overwhelmed by the news dominating the airwaves may try to do something to help.

Does it dismiss the fact that people should be donating directly? Does it diminish the problems in the Middle East? No.

But, like I said, I like to see the best in people, and it's fucking hard to not get burnt out on everything. I literally am not talking about Ukraine or anything because I am too overwhelmed to even touch on the subject. But I see it literally everywhere. Every time I log on tumblr, every time I log on reddit. Even in my emails.

Idk. I'm not saying it's not wrong to be infuriated that Ukraine seems to be getting extra attention when so much is going on. But... idk. I guess while there's definitely a race factor for a lot of fucking gross individuals out there, there's also just. It's Russia. The cold war. All these old, long buried sentiments rising up again and it's not exactly easy for people not to be terrified that this is WWIII coming up.

Idk (again) lol. I'm waffling about but at the end of the day, I just see an artist wanting to do something so they don't feel so useless. And as someone who feels like that when he turns on the web and sees Ukraine news and the pushback against all the attention its getting and people I like getting harassed for trying to talk about their issues and all my stuff irl... I guess I can't bring myself to assume the worst of a small creator.

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juicemitio · 5 years ago

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Alright I went to Louisville Galaxycon and saw Travis and Clint twice, for their worldbuilding workshop and their Q&A. Here's some interesting stuff I learned (I didn't include stuff they talked about that's pretty common knowledge or they talked about on the last ttazz)

Graduation

Fitzroy was originally going to be a jock that was weak bc he no longer had a team, Travis told Griffin that that didn't really work for the world so they reframed it as him training to be a hero, was great academically and behaviorally, but had a problem no one had seen before and no one felt like dealing with. It specifically wasn't "barbarian fails bc he can't keep his rage in check," it was that no one was willing to deal with his magic so they shipped him off

Someone asked Travis to explain fitzroy's magic, so from the DM's mouth- he's a barbarian subtype with elemental magic which has a random effect while raging, which we haven't seen yet (path of the wild soul if you want to look it up and see what he can do) and he took a feat which gives him the ability to cast 3 cantrips of his choosing. What I thought was interesting was that Travis described Fitz's magic using the word "elemental" twice, even though that isn't specifically stated in the path of the wild soul entry

Travis knows Argo's secret and is very excited about it

Clint has a pirate fiction book he reads every night before they record to get into the headspace to play Argo, he told us the name but I forgot it

There is one small little concept that made the whole of graduation make sense to Travis and is what the arc will be about, and he only figured it out a few days before recording. Obviously he didn't tell us what it was

Originally it was going to start with everyone starting at age 11 and slowly killing the other kids off, but Justin didn't feel comfortable playing a game surrounded by kids dying

The accounting scene is already one of Travis' all time favorite taz scenes

The pegasus scene informed Travis on exactly how he was going to treat the firbolg

Also Travis referred to Justin's character exclusively as "the firbolg," which means "master firbolg" is solely a thing going on with the npcs in the game which I find hilarious. They just all decided to give him a dope title bc he deserves it, meanwhile no one will call Fitzroy "sir"

To Fitzroy, social threats are an extremely real and serious thing, like the Biggest thing to him (we were talking about what characters found threatening in the workshop, for context)

There's some big concept/idea that comes up in the next episode that travis almost let spill and had to quickly stop himself from saying it

Someone mentioned eating breakfast in their question in the workshop and Travis goofed on it for a second, then said "cereal world" suddenly, and Clint had to pick up the question bc Travis had to take a second to make a note of it in his phone

Travis started brainstorming graduation in March and they recorded the first episode in October, and his main job in that time was working on graduation

Before Buckminster was adapted for graduation he could not fight at all, if he got into a fight he would die, he poured everything into charisma and could talk his way out of any fight (even the big bad of the game he crit 20d his check and the big bad walked away from the fight)

Travis is really into psychology and how if you assign a label to someone they're going to act more like it (ie you tell a kid they're amazing and smart and talented and they become more like that, you tell a kid they're annoying and dumb and a problem they become more like that), and how that was a major contributor to play into hero/villain/sidekick/henchperson dynamics, you get assigned this arbitrary title of good/evil/subservient and you become like that to fit the role, and then the inevitable pushing against that mold

Travis is fully aware of his story being compared to harry potter and he doesn't care bc it's apt (people in a school arbitrarily divided into four groups and one of them is the Bad One), also he knows people describe it as "sky high meets Harry Potter meets my hero academia" and he actually finds that really flattering bc he thinks that sounds cool and like something he'd want to watch

On that note, Travis is a self-identified Slytherin and he's always upheld that the reason Slytherin is depicted in a bad light is bc Rowling decided she didn't like them, and he's always sympathized with the idea of a first year Slytherin working their ass off following the rules and doing their work and getting points, and Dumbledore rewards three idiots for breaking like every rule and pulls the trophy away from you. This was a big inspiration for graduation, of one group getting a bad rep and being portrayed as evil for literally no reason

Amnesty

Clint & Travis's favorite scene they've ever done together was Ned & Aubrey's final scene together

Aubrey and Dani do move in with each other at the end of amnesty

Balance

Travis' main emotion around taz is pride and he's most proud of the scene in stolen century with the spirits in the robots, bc they had to record it a second time bc it got way too dark and ended in a really grim way and about 20 min after they finished they all decided that they weren't happy with it, that it didn't fit the tone, he's really proud they didn't just leave it be and they took the second pass at it to make it right

I'm pretty sure he's talked about wanting to kill Magnus off at the beginning before but he mentioned that it was only at the end of petals to the metal he actually realized he wanted Magnus to live, bc Hurley had to sacrifice herself to save Magnus bc Magnus had been so reckless, that hit Travis really hard. Travis realized that Magnus' recklessness was getting people hurt and so Magnus did too, so Magnus become a bit more cautious and took up rogue training to try not to get anyone killed again

Dust

Dust wasn't designed to be anything more than a one off and the workload was completely unsustainable, the document of notes for dust was about 100 pages and only about 10% of it got used

The reason Travis loved it so much was bc it was a mystery and he found it really fun

Commitment

Clint would love to revisit commitment, but probably not in podcast form bc he didn't find himself really being in the moment as much bc of all the different things he had to keep track of, he'd like to see a comic adaptation/continuation if possible

It was based of a comic he wrote that never got published bc the company producing it failed (he still cashed his paycheck) so he reused it bc he still liked it a lot, it was about how America was founded as a monarchy instead of a democracy and what that changed in the usa's (united sovereignty of america's) history, and how people now were fighting to establish a democracy. Also there were cowboys and spaceships and other cool stuff he put in there bc he liked it

General adventure zone

The reason why they're are able to do romantic relationships w/o being weirded out by it (they joke about it but they don't actually care) is bc it's never done in an explicit or sexual way and since it's the decision the characters would make to pursue the relationship then that's the decision they make. He reframed it as it wouldn't be weird if a family were writing a script together and there was a romance and one person wrote lines for one character and the other wrote lines for the other. He did mention that two siblings playing characters in a relationship as actors on screen wouldn't be cool though

They sometimes get comments that some of the stuff they do is "fanservice," but they feel that they owe their success to their fans and they owe some to them

They are both aware of and proud that Justin is the best at character creation, Clint specifically really was talking about how Justin's strong suit is definitely character creation and characterization

General mcelroy stuff

They walked pretty close to me when they entered the stage room for the q&a and like… they're short, like shorter than you think

Travis referred to his unborn child as "baby dod" (I'm not 100% certain but I'm pretty sure) which I looked up and is a nickname for George, and given with their older kid being named Barbera and nicknamed BeBe and Travis talking before about how he and his wife like classic names with cool nicknames it makes sense

Travis had an earing in his right ear, I didn't get to see his left ear and I couldn't tell if it was an actual piercing or a fake, it looked really good though. Also his tinted glasses look a lot cooler irl than they do in pictures

Clint told the teenage mutant Ninja turtle story with the signatures that griffin told on mbmbam, but Clint remembered it as happening at King's Island, not Disney. This story was prompted by the question of the biggest lie he ever told his kids, and he only came clean about this a few months ago

Travis told a story about how he finished a videogame when he was younger and was so excited that he picked up a plastic knife, yelled "throwing knife!" threw it directly at Griffin who dodged it and it hit and shattered a window

#taz #taz graduation #taz amnesty #taz balance #taz commitment #taz dust #travis mceloy #clint mcelroy #mbmbam #mcelroys #also i left out the actual worldbuilding tips bc the workshop is something you pay for and it wouldnt be fair if they wanted to do it again

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forestwater87 · 5 years ago

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Would you want Gwen and David to become a couple at the end of CampCamp? And adopt Max as well? Cuz' I do...

Gwenvid becoming canon is one of those things I simultaneously love and feel is unnecessary. The show will never let it be as pure and fluffy (or emo) as the fans will make it, anyway, and there is no force on earth that will stop me from shipping this ship with every ounce of my shriveled little heart, so I’m kinda ambivalent on the whole thing. (Besides, I know at least one of the showrunners is not at all into it, so I don’t see it happening no matter how much we may want it to. As long as they keep giving us little ship nuggets we can read way too much into, I’ll be good.)

Also I’m not convinced CC is the kind of show that needs an end, so “at the end” is one of those things that … eh, whatever. It’s an endless summer existing outside of time. Does it ever have to end, as long as they keep having new ideas?

As for the other part of this question … oh, boy. Anon, you did not ask me to go the fuck off on this question, but I gotta because I’ve been holding all this inside for literal years, and I don’t even care that this will make me hemorrhage followers because I’ve been very good and very quiet about it for a long-ass time and I just gotta –

I fucking hate Dad//vid.

And you know? I didn’t used to. My feelings, much like those regarding Cute Waitress, went from “how cute!” to “eh, not my thing but whatever,” and now we’ve circled all the way around to my entire soul lighting on rage-fire every time it’s mentioned, and just … I hate it so much … it’s just …

I feel like this deserves an explanation. And I think the people who’ve already blocked me or whatever aren’t going to read it, so let’s put it under a cut just for the sake of scrolling. But here’s the cliffs notes version:

1. It’s #NotAllDad//vid. There are some iterations of it I don’t hate, and even quite like.

2. David adopting Max, as a general concept, blows. There are exceptions – see #1 – but 99 times out of 100 I hate it with all of my hate. (The short reasons why: David is baby and Forest has Issues, it’s kiiiiinda racist?, and it’s lazy, boring, and way overdone.)

3. The fandom will not fucking chill about it – at the expense of all other explorations of David and Max’s relationship. And that makes me highkey annoyed.

That being said, anyone who’s worried my blog will become a cesspool of dad//vid hate, please don’t be concerned. This is like lancing a boil of something (I’m bad at metaphors). All the garbage pours out in one massive textblock, and then I go back to being more or less chill about the whole thing. We’re dealing with years of repression here. Shit’s gonna be a lot more intense than it needs to be, and then we’ll settle back down to our regularly-scheduled CC fluff times.

I’m hoping this doesn’t make the fandom hate me forever … but given #3 up there, I’m pretty dang scared it will.

(And hey, I don’t want Cute Waitress to explode in a pit of fire and snakes anymore, so maybe my opinion on dad//vid will change eventually too. Always hold out hope, right?)

1. #NotAllDad//vid

Like I said, I didn’t used to totally despise the whole Dad//vid thing. Like, I love the idea of David having been a counselor for so long that he just has ingrained Dad Instincts (see S4E14 for the most recent example of this). David as the Dad Friend? Good shit. David as the mother/father hen of his little cabal of campers? Very good shit. Nonliteral interpretations of dad//vid are usually really cute and fun and have some solid basis in canon, and I’m all about it.

Even some of the more literal David-adopts-Max AUs aren’t … the worst. Some of my friends have written versions of it that are original or at least were at the time and really compelling, and usually they found a way of skirting past the majority of the issues in #2. It can be done well.

It just … usually … isn’t.

And for that we gotta see #2.

2. David-Adopts-Max Sucks as a Concept

There is nothing good about the idea of David adopting Max, at least based on what we’ve currently seen in canon.

(Yes, I am aware that I should couch statements like that with “in my opinion” and “with exceptions” and the like, but that’s a lot of work for this and a bunch of the stuff I’m gonna say in a second, so please just assume for the purposes of everything I put on this blog that it’s in my opinion. I’m not out here dropping Cold Hard Facts about Camp Camp of all things; I’m just spewing my feelings.

I have lots of feelings.)

I don’t really have a cute little opening segment for this, so let’s skip the hors d’oeuvres and hop right into the meat of it:

David is Way Too Young to be a Father (According to Forest, Who Has Massive Emotional Baggage About These Things)

David is 24 goddamn years old. You know who shouldn’t be put in constant legal charge of a 10-year-old? Someone who is only 14 years older than him. If he’d had Max the old-fashioned way he would be too young to go on 16 and Pregnant.

That is too fucking young.

I know that some people become parents that young, and even younger. I’m not saying your experiences are bad or invalid. I’m just saying, from the standpoint of being 26, that if one of my two-years-younger friends told me they were adopting a kid they knew from work, I would tell them they were fucking bonkers and to hand that child over to a grown-up immediately. This is especially true of David, who has remarkable emotional maturity but is also mentally about 8 years old. Gwen is the adult at that camp, and David is such a baby.

Please don’t give the baby a baby.

Also, I’m terrified of having children. I never plan to, I’ve only recently accepted the fact that I don’t have to (grew up religious; it was kinda a whole thing), and get knee-jerk defensive over the idea of anyone my age or younger having children. It freaks me out, and that’s not a good or right emotional reaction to have but it’s mine, and I lowkey panic every time I think of David having children because if he should have a child at 24 then I’m already late.

Yes, I get the feeling that I’m running behind. For something I don’t actually want, ever. In comparison to a fictional character. Whose fatherhood decisions are not even remotely canon.

TL;DR I have issues and my other arguments are decidedly more valid than this one

So How About That Racism, Huh?

I know this has been a matter of some debate in the CC fandom for a while now … but you know what? It’s not nearly enough of a debate. People should absolutely be talking more about the potential problematique aspects of having a way too young white kid take a child from his immigrant parents on some pretty shoddy evidence (which I’ll address in the next section). There’s some White Savior stuff going on there, some negatively-stereotyping-poc-and-immigrant parents going on there … I’m not saying these should completely disqualify any dad//vid AUs or speculation or anything, but it should absolutely be much more of a conversation than it currently is.

(This is why one of the few David-adopts-Max concepts I like is one in which his parents have died. Not only is it more interesting – again, see the next bit – but it neatly sidesteps some potential gross stereotyping, and that’s just always rad.)

I feel like the common counterargument to this is that there are not-great parents of color and not-great immigrant parents IRL, so wouldn’t it be dishonest not to portray that in fiction as well?

I mean … I dunno.

I’m not here to tell anyone how to write the One Pure Dad//vid AU or anything. But I will say that I don’t think most people in love with this concept have done anything resembling due diligence in considering how best to sensitively portray the complicated familial, racial, and other implications of this particular AU or concept.

Besides, it’s not real life. It’s fiction, which means any decisions are being made deliberately. It’s a choice to depict Max’s parents as abusive and neglectful monsters who immigrated to America to give their son a better life but that’s for the next section, and it’s not inherently a bad choice, but it’s one that should be made thoughtfully, with an eye to the history of negative stereotypes that already run rampant in fiction. That’s just part of the writing process, and not one that should be shunted aside because it’s more work and less dramatic than creating the biggest of big bads for David to make grand speeches at and/or punch in the face.

Just Not Very Interesting (And Done to Death)

Regarding the overdone thing: Reading a David-adopts-Max AU most of the time is just like reading every other David-adopts-Max AU; I’m pretty sure I could put all these fics on transparencies, overlay them on top of one another, and still have a legible story because they differ so little.

Now to be clear: This – along with the rest of my points in this section – are about personal taste. Some people love reading the same story over and over again, and it brings immense comfort to them. That’s okay, and you shouldn’t feel bad about reading (or writing) these stories and not wanting to break your back trying to find a new angle for it. Cringe culture is canceled, and my personal tastes should not dictate the fandom. You do you.

That being said, I’m also allowed to be so bored by almost all of these fics that I nearly fall asleep scrolling the AO3 feed.

And the frustrating thing is, it would take so little to make it different. All it would take is asking: what if it wasn’t that simple? What if his parents aren’t all bad? What if they’re trying their best, but aren’t able for whatever reason to care for Max the way he needs to be? (I’m thinking Deja’s mom from This Is Us, for a cool example.) What if they later come to regret whatever behavior is making them so sucky, and reconcile in some fashion with their son? What if David and/or Max have fundamentally misread the situation, due to being on the outside and a kid, respectively, and it turns out his parents are actually making the best decisions they can in this situation and David doesn’t need to literally become Max’s dad, but integrates into the family in another way? (Seriously, even “what if they’re dead instead of evil?” would blow my mind in terms of originality. It’s been done, but not nearly enough.)

So that’s the overdone thing out of the way. What about lazy and boring?

It just seems to me that, based on the evidence we’ve been given in the show, there are infinitely more nuanced and creative alternatives to “Max’s parents are canonically abusive and neglectful and deserve to have their child ripped away from them by the guy who sees him at his job like 2-3 months out of the year.” I, in fact, refuse to believe Max’s parents are bad people based on the current evidence, and won’t do so unless canon forces me to see no other option.

Because as of right now, I just don’t buy it.

Didn’t show up to Parents’ Day: Well, we know they immigrated from India to escape “menial labor” (S1E4), and we know capitalism stomps all over the kind of people stuck doing menial labor, so what if they were unable to get away from work or they’d be fired? Hell, what if they couldn’t afford it for whatever reason – car broke down, they don’t have a phone or were out of data, they got hurt or sick or something came up that was interpreted by a small child as a lack of interest because he’s been shown that he doesn’t fully understand either adults’ motivations (all of S1) or the complexities of living in adult society, though he thinks he does (S1E4)?

Didn’t give him an activity: What if their grasp of English isn’t great? It’s a damn hard language to learn, and I sure as hell couldn’t pick up a second language if I was working to the bone to support my family. I’m exhausted trying to get through my 5 minutes of French on Duolingo, and I have a relatively cushy job and the benefit of an owl harassing me every few hours. Maybe they looked at the absurd camp activities and assumed they were misreading something, so they handed it over to their son (who is clearly fluent) to pick something he likes. Maybe they wanted to give him some responsibility and a sense of autonomy in deciding what he wanted to do for the summer, and he was so annoyed at being sent off to camp that he refused to do it and interpreted their hands-off nature as not caring. Maybe they were tired and just told him to pick something and it’s as simple as that, because parents are allowed to be exhausted sometimes. Just strikes me as pretty bizarre that they’d bother sending their son to a summer camp (and those things aren’t cheap, even one as not-awesome as Camp Campbell) but not be invested enough to give him the activity. Saving all year to scrape together enough money for a summer camp, sure, but filling out one line on a piece of paper? Pfft, who has time for that bullshit?

(I recognize that assuming they’re poor based on a single line about “menial labor” might seem like a bit of a stretch to some people. But honestly, to me it’s no more of a stretch than assuming that they hate or don’t care about their son, or any of the other wild theories thrown around about Max’s parents all the dang time. At least this one is relatively new.)

Sent him a sweatshirt and a short note: Again, maybe their written English isn’t great. Some people are better at a spoken language than a written one. Or maybe they didn’t have enough time to write a long note, or they knew Max wouldn’t read it (he doesn’t seem like the type to be all that into long emotional letters). Regardless, they knew to send him something he’d like that would likely be worn down by constant wear at camp. And sweatshirts aren’t cheap. Neither is mailing a package. Just seems like a surprising amount of effort to go to if they don’t care about or love him.

Sent him to Camp Campbell for the summer: Let’s say they’re poor, based on the evidence we have. It makes sense to assume that they work relatively “unskilled” jobs, or are in school, or both. Because those jobs don’t offer benefits or a lot of money, we can also reasonably assume that they either work multiple jobs, long hours, or both. They probably don’t have family in the area or even the country, and it wouldn’t be reasonable to expect neighbors or friends to take their son in all day, every day, all summer so he’s not home alone while they’re at work (especially considering he’s not all that easy to get along with). He’s familiar with the city (S3E11), so we can assume he’s grown up in an urban environment, which means he’s probably to some extent a latchkey kid. Sending him to a summer camp would get him out of the city, around people his own age, where he’d be supervised and kept busy while his parents are at work until school starts. Camps are expensive, but I imagine Camp Campbell might be the best they can afford, and they’d assume it’s better than him sitting in an empty apartment all day.

Max’s insistence they don’t care: He’s … ten years old. Not only has he made it clear that he assumes the worst of most people, including adults, but it’s also relatively common for kids whose parents worked a lot while they were growing up to interpret that busyness as a lack of interest in them. It’s hard to understand things like expenses or financial security as a kid and view it as “my parents are never around and so they don’t love me.” Hopefully when he’s older he’d appreciate everything they’ve sacrificed for him, but at 10 years old it’s expected he’d feel neglected.

I’m just saying, maybe a borderline emotionally unstable child isn’t the most reliable source, is all.

This isn’t rock solid, I realize; I’ve made a lot of leaps of logic and assumptions extrapolating from what we’ve been given. But I don’t see it as any less plausible than his parents hating him or whatever the prevailing fan theories are, and more importantly: it’s a fuck of a lot more interesting (yes, yes, in my opinion). I think adding nuance and sympathy to Max’s parents will always end up more interesting than “good David vs evil parents.”

Of course, we’re in a bit of a limbo since we don’t know necessarily where RT is going to take this. There is every chance they’re going to drop the bomb that Max’s parents are literally as bad as everyone has made them out to be – and worse. Maybe they’re actually Xemug. Fuck if I know. And if that happens, I’m gonna call it out for being the cheapest and least-interesting of the possible options. Bad, lazy writing that pits pure good against pure evil is always gonna suck, even if it comes from the writers of one of my favorite shows.

I really, really hope they don’t go with that (to finally, I guess, answer Anon’s question fully). And I’m pretty forgiving when it comes to things people hate CC for: Dolph doesn’t bother me, most of the problematic episodes don’t bother me (that pee one is still pretty rough though), but if they go the “Max’s parents are the devil and that is why Max is the way he is” route, I’m gonna … well, just be so profoundly disappointed that the showrunners could’ve done something interesting and decided instead to go for the lowest-hanging fruit, that’s all.

FINALLY:

3. This Fucking Fandom

So here’s the thing. Dad//vid is unique among the “ships” in the fandom in that it is deliberately placed as “the anti-Max//vid.” And I understand why that was done, and I appreciate it holding up that particular vanguard; max//vid has no place in dad//vid, and vice versa.

But the problem with dad//vid being set up as the not-max//vid is that everything that isn’t dad//vid is suddenly viewed as “max//vid-lite.” Even when that makes literally zero sense.

See, even when I was briefly into dad//vid in its very literal “David adopts Max from Max’s evil parents” form, what I was really drawn to was the idea of David being Max’s older brother. Back when the fandom was like 100 fics on AO3, I had started planning out this long plot involving David taking on a brotherly role to this kid I thought really needed one. Admittedly I’m just a sucker for sibling relationships, but from the beginning I’ve been all about this brotherly bond, and so when a popular artist came up with the term “bro//vid” and it started gaining traction, I was all over that noise. There was finally a version of this relationship that wasn’t either “Max and David fucking” or “David literally adopts Max and becomes his literal father,” and I couldn’t be more excited.

And then … I found out that apparently “bro//vid” was becoming synonymous with “max//vid but secretly.” And … man, it really sucked to suddenly be treated like I was supporting pedophilia because I didn’t like the idea of David-adopts-Max as much as the whole big brother thing. I can’t even imagine how much it must suck if your favorite iteration of Max and David is something along the lines of mentor/friendship, without some sort of buffer of “well they’re basically (or literally) related.” Because if “these two as brothers” is max//vid-lite, then I can’t fucking imagine what that would be called.

And even when it’s not specifically about max//vid, it just keeps cropping up. I posted about the Season 4 premiere and expressed how much I saw a cute, brotherly relationship between David and Max, and someone immediately replied saying that they thought it was more like father-son. Which … yeah, fine, I don’t care if you see it like father-son, go nuts, but I am getting really sick of the fact that father-son is the only acceptable “ship” and everything must lean in that direction, no exceptions. (I know, it’s not a ship technically, but I don’t know what else to call it. Don’t read anything weird into me calling it that.)

I don’t think “please just let me enjoy these two and their relationship dynamic without making it pedophilia or insisting David adopt Max from his terrible evil parents” is that tough an ask.

Or at least, it really shouldn’t be. But somehow it … kind of is.

And that sucks.

(Also, I hate the whole “Max is David’s favorite camper” thing. It’s not technically tied to dad//vid, but it does often come hand-in-hand with that and it just irks me to no end. If David has such blatant favorites, he is terrible at his job and kind of a douchebag. I think he gravitates towards the camper(s) who need attention the most, because he likes feeling like he’s made a difference, but I don’t think David would just straight-up pick a favorite like that, not when he has a full camp of kids who need him. Just saying.)

#in which i rant a lot #campcamp #Anonymous #i am very sorry anon #and others #if you read all of this i will give you a cookie #if it made you think i will give you a hug

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vaguely-concerned · 6 years ago

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Temeraire let’s read: Crucible of Gold AHOY!

- lol I’m glad hammond is back, he is phenomenally funny. I do love me a bureaucrat character who won’t let trifling things like dignity, morality, politeness or common sense get in the way of their job

- it is a CRIME that Tharkay had to leave before he got to see Laurence all sun-bronzed and casually dressed and golden haired and relaxed, I wish to petition the universe itself on his behalf to correct this injustice

- hahaha shen li is the best; a buddhist dragon would be the greatest party pooper among her own kind

shen li, serenely: attachment to material things can only bring suffering

literally every other dragon, dripping bling from every available surface: um actually

- . . . without the clinging stink of murder and treachery which seemed to have by slow octopoid measures attached itself to his life. laurence I understand where you’re coming from on this but you have served colonial britain since you were like twelve. this has been an extremely slow process of waking up to smelling dem roses (fatherhood changes your perspective on your life situation I guess)

- awwwwww laurence finally studying some more chinese while temeraire helps him... no no this is just rain on my face yes I know I’m indoors it’s just me and lady allendale sitting here with our arms around each other crying about our boy reading poetry of his own freeish will

- oooh I really like how novik writes the way hammond talks -- it can be hard to write a character who constantly breaks up their own dialogue and interrupts themselves and continually couches their words without it being hard to read and annoying, but she really nails communicating that he’s a) completely graceless and with no dignity but also undeniably intelligent, b) definitely a Diplomat but not a total weasel, if only by a hair, c) hilarious

- pour one out for laurence’s civilian beard with me guys, gone too soon and dearly missed (and again tharkay didn’t even get to see it! this continues to be the greatest tragedy of these books let’s hope he grows it out again later when they’re all settled down.)

- . . . These were distinguished from the others mainly for their having had less time in their careers to demonstrate a lack of initiative or skill, so he could have some small hope of uncovering some previously hidden talent. OH MY GOD LAURENCE the straight up savagery

- DAD!LAURENCE!!! DAD!LAURENCE!!!!!!! (aaah it’s so interesting that when he gets a bit more stern you can definitely see sides of his father peeking out, but he deeply remains his mother’s son -- he’s acting from a place of affection, feeling of responsibility and concern for their futures, not the weird controlling shit lord allendale routinely pulls)

roland is such a teenager at this point oh my god. also laurence’s whole speech to demane about respecting her boundaries and agency... *chef kiss emoji* and ALSO demane is so sympathetic in this still because who HASN’T wanted to dangle some asshole over a cliff for being a creep to your friend/crush... they’re all good and perfect and I love them actually

- ...I’ve managed to put it out of my mind in the last few books but with the allegiance going down like that I keep remembering there were so many actual children onboard and now I feel ill

being an adult and realizing the full fuckedupedness of these things sucks haha

- 1) the description of seeing the ship sinking from underwater is hauntingly beautiful and 2) as I have said many a time before, thank god for demane

- see this is the other side of the coin of these books making you care so deeply about the characters; I know that no important characters die in this book but I am still so fucking stressed out by all of this D:D:D:

- well well well if gong su’s ludicrous competency wasn’t suspicious before it certainly is now, I guess china trains its spies well in the culinary arts haha

- I mean uh. what a way to symbolically and literally sever laurence from his former life and former self, I guess. you’d be hard pressed to do so more explosively at least

- something extremely bad happened to granby, we can tick that off the list

- I feel like the prose and writing in general is super improved in this one? it feels sharp and purposeful in a way the last few haven’t quite been

- He hoped Riley would be mourned; Riley deserved to be mourned ahfksahsdajklhsajkfhaslkjfhsakjdfhdaslkfhakj pain :(:(:( I’m so sorry laurence and I didn’t even like the guy. I can’t believe that the first thing this madman does after trying to secure their survival as best he could is writing letters -- on dragonback!!! hands stiff from cold so he can only work in five minute increments!!! -- to make sure riley’s memory isn’t blackened how can he be like this

- emily roland is so smart and capable and amazing my heart is blooming with pride

- iridescent feathered dragons... holy shit this is awesome

temeraire has a little feather envy tho and also maila casually eavesdropping so he can chat up (literally) hot babes... I know they’re prisoners of war and everything but this is all pure unadulterated gold

- oh temeraire darling no have no fear hammond has no self respect whatsoever, that will not be what stops him

- I can’t believe laurence is actually taking time to tie himself in knots over not following perfect procedure around his officers’ future career options while they’re FUCKING MAROONED with a bunch of asshole sailors fkdfhsjdh

- GET YOUR DIRTY FUCJING HANDS OFF DEMANE OR I’LL CHOP THEM OFF FOR YOU YOU SWINE

sipho is like eleven and a nerd and ready to run at all these grown men armed just with a branch PAIN

- granby’s unending exasperation at laurence not knowing all the stuff that seems self-evident to him having grown up with dragons fksjdhfskajd

- aw laurence finally having a little dad talk with roland ;____; and demane has proposed to her repeatedly and she would agree in a moment under other circumstances ;________________; and it never even occurred to me that that’s why she was so upset about him taking on his own dragon but of course that would fuck everything up if that’s what she was planning OH NO ;_________________________________________________;

laurence confirmed for boytoy & hideously embarrassed about it flasdfsdkjhfksd

“But I don’t want someone I want, if I can’t be sure of seeing him one week in the year” crack crack goes the sound of my heart breaking

I hope they find a way to solve this eventually :(

- really interesting what a clear view emily has of roland and laurence’s relationship tho, considering he’s basically her father figure -- like there’s clear affection, physical attraction and camaraderie there but it never feels particularly romantic & they both have other shit to do. (and laurence knows it too on some level, considering his main emotion when she refuses his proposal is relief lol. it really shows off this central conflict he has where like... he has a very clear idea of who he feels he should be and managed to convince himself he was for a long time, and what that man wants and needs (namely very little, emotionally) and is loyal to. aaaand then there’s the person he actually is, who’s been fighting his way to the surface since temeraire showed up in the very first book and sort of woke him up by giving him something he actually loves and values with all of himself and can’t compromise on. proper gentleman/navy!laurence feels like he has to do what society deems decent and marry roland to be a good person, actual!laurence seems to know that what they already have isn’t wrong or immoral in any way as long as they’re both happy with it. ugh I love him and I hope his last remaining character development includes realizing that who he really is is not only acceptable but actually a better man than that imagined perfect self ever could be and how many people love him for who he is already A N Y W A Y onwards)

- the incan dragons continue to be dope as hell

it’s super interesting how they’ve grown to value people -- and not just one special person, like british dragons, but whole groups of people -- over gold and jewels. like the tendency is there in dragons from other cultures; temeraire loves The Bling but would still easily prioritize laurence and his crew over it. presumably some of it is cultural and some of it must stem from the sheer trauma of losing so many people within a few centuries, which is basically living memory for a dragon (which makes it equal parts sympathetic/heartwarming and juuuuust on the edge of being too creepy and possessive haha).

- jeez this book is doing a good job at showing what a haunting fucking sight it must be to enter a land where like. 90% of the people are dead in plague and their cities stand abandoned

- fhasdklhfaskljfhs hammond going full diplomat on the dragons squabbling... he truly is something

and laurence apologizing to demane because he was out of line and he is a fellow captain now T_____T lord allendale could never

- haven’t had a lot to say for a while because I’m just so entranced with the world building and stuff haha, I find the irl history of this area super interesting as well

- ambassador iskierka........ what a time to be alive

poor poor poor granby hahahaha

- if these books were named harry potter style this one would be ‘william laurence and that time he tried to put off wearing his ceremonial robes for as long as humanly possible’

- granby being good at drawing but having atrocious handwriting is such a good little character detail, novik is just so expert at nonchalantly plopping them in

- temeraire is being haunted by a green-eyed monster the size of a continent huh lol fair play to maila tho, he’s given it his sleazy all right from the start

I can’t believe gong su invented dragon ice cream solely so temeraire could eat it out of a tub over this... the real mvp

- awwww granby <3 I’m glad there’s some actual canonical queer rep in this series as well (as for the technically not stated straight(heh) out in canon... listen my friends if you can come up with any kind of heterosexual explanation for normally extremely sensible tenzing tharkay gazing at his friend and thinking shit like ‘in the fading light he was a statue gilded by sunlight’ and ‘it was a pang not unmixed with pleasure to look on him, as ever’, you are free to try to come at me with it but I won’t believe you lol. also laurence has the most potent disaster bisexual energy of any man in modern media even if he hasn’t quite caught on to it himself)

tbh I know it’s mostly in desperation but they should come up with some new kind of medal to give granby for having this particular Talk with william laurence, one of the most awkward men to ever walk this earth... braver than any us marine etc.

- temeraire and iskierka in this scene STRONGLY evoke dirtbag teens sneaking off to make out in the backseat of a car or something god bless

- ...I guess you can’t fault the empress for siding with the dude already crashing like a natural catastrophe over his own home continent and who is eyeing the other six like a starving eagle would a pack of mice. all the europeans suck but I guess it’s sort of her best bet to ally herself with the biggest bully on the playground, especially since forces in her own court would be hard pressed to do anything about the situation. respect sister & congratulations granby lol

- hahahahahahaha leave it to hammond to be forcibly adopted by a dragon

poor churki tho she’s a grownass adult and she only has one weird coke-addled diplomat and three basically adolescent dragons to work with here

- GRANBY SETTING SOME BOUNDARIES FINALLY I’m so proud of him ;__; this book really does have a lot to say about dragon/human relations huh

- LETHABO!!!!!!!!!!! man i’m so happy she’s doing well, she fucking deserves it and she’s doing good work

- laurence has evolved to his ultimate form of give-no-fucks-do-some-good laurence and hammond was not prepared lol

“You forget yourself, Captain Laurence,” Hammond said . . .

“I forget nothing,” Laurence answered . . .

im crying b/c he literally has forgotten before but remembers himself at the end of victory of eagles b/c of tharkay and and aaaaaaaaaaaaaugh here he is refusing to do the dirty work he’s handed once more

- lily and maximus! this is not a drill it’s the good good kids back at it again. also temeraire’s phenomenally misplaced sense of superiority re: his reaction to kulingile growing bigger than any of them fkshdfksahdfkj

- berkely <3

- poor harcourt :( ah well she’ll survive it tho he wasn’t that important it’s not like she lost her dragon lol (I honestly can’t feel that bad about riley considering y’know how he was not only chill with but actively for the institution of slavery)

- YOOOOOOO GONG SU! and temeraire is so happy they’re going back to china aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah I love this (laurence’s stammering outrage at this reveal is also highly entertaining “he STAYED in my father’s HOUSE!!!!!!!”)

- man that entire last battle scene was so cool in the context of the rest of the series; the sheer effort and ingenuity that went into avoiding a bigger battle and slyly aiding the only worthy cause in the situation (the tswana and freeing the slaves) is so satisfying, especially after VoE

- holy shit I really enjoyed this one! It had a good balance of travelling/character moments and giving us time with the culture and characters of the Inca and their dragons, as well as driving the overall plot forward splendidly! I also feel like we got some more meat to the laurence POV (in hindsight it feels like it was mostly temeraire POV in tongues of serpents, which is fine but I do love our golden boy and his slow burn character development too)

on to blood of tyrants! I don’t know anything about this one except a) amnesia and b) some Very Important Lines I’ve already picked up along the way, I’m not sure I’m prepared (as a trope amnesia can be pretty hit or miss for me, so it’ll be interesting at least!)

#temeraire #meta #his majesty's dragon #yes hello I am back on my bullshit

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raisingsupergirl · 5 years ago

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Comic-Con-fusion

So, I drove up to Iowa this past weekend and stayed with some good friends in order to experience my first comic-con. Some of you are giddy with excitement to hear how it went (you’re the ones who probably recognized the above picture of Carey Means, Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Frylock). Others of you are wondering why this is a big deal because comic-cons are stupid and colossal wastes of time and money (though I DID go to represent Havok--my publishing company--and to support the book releases of my aforementioned friends). And still others of you are completely lost because you’ve never heard the term “comic-con” (or you have a vague idea that they're a place where comedians gather). For you skeptics, I concede. Like most recreational things in this world (baseball, fishing, quilting, video games, etc.), it is a waste of time and resources. But only in the shallowest sense, and only to those who don't understand it. For a large percentage of humanity, these conventions represent a collection of the things that bring them joy. And more importantly, they're collected in a safe place filled with other like-minded fan boys and girls, free from ignorance or judgment. And for those of you who are oblivious, let me just say this: stick with me. By the end of this post, you'll have some understanding of what a comic-con is and why people attend them. At least… you'll have some understanding of what I experienced while at my first con, which was not what I expected…

First, I'll admit that a part of me still doesn't get it, and maybe it never will. But the rest of me is totally embarrassed by that practical, "normal" part. "Ooooh, I'm Andrew. I do my own taxes and wake up at a sensible time so I can exercise before work. Then maybe I'll mow the grass and watch a documentary before I fall asleep and do it all again." Gag me. Life is about balance. There are countless ways to break the monotony and make life memorable, so don't imagine that I believe that things as… unique as comic-cons are appropriate for everyone. I get it. They're pretty out there. Like, "a-body-painted-woman-casually-strolling-through-hundreds-of-sexually-frustrated-boys" out there. But we're all just little specks that make up a huge world, and just because something's foreign to me doesn't mean it's not healthy and enjoyable for others, right?

I know, I know. I'm opening a huge can of worms here. And I'm doing so on purpose. As I said, this was my first con, and I was struck with a lot of surprising aspects, the biggest one being the sexual dichotomy that pervaded everything. Like I said, right next to my booth was a body painter, and each day she covered a new "canvas" with a work of art. The canvas was always female, and she always had bikini bottoms on and pasties covering her breasts. Well, covering as much as pasties are designed to cover. The first day this took place, I couldn't believe it. Here we were, sitting quietly behind our vendor tables, giving away stickers and selling books to kids and fairly conservative-looking adults (not counting the occasional light saber or pair of fairy wings), and this woman was sitting twenty feet away wearing nothing but pasties to keep her warm.

But slowly, this artist covered her "canvas" with what I would truly describe as art. And it was incredibly frustrating because I couldn't bring myself to give more than a cursory glance without feeling like a pervert. Many of the passing convention-goers seemed to be in a similar boat, but curiously, they seemed to feel better about staring when they actively discussed and critiqued the artwork. It was as if continuously reminding those around them that they were looking at everything except this woman's ta-tas made them seem less like voyeurs. And you know what? I did the same thing. And it wasn't just with the body painting. A lot of the cosplay costumes (people dressed up in various costumes based on characters from video games, movies, cartoons, etc) were also sexually provocative. Most of them came by it honestly since the source material is often hyper sexualized, but seeing an animated blonde bombshell poured into a latex outfit is a little different than seeing someone try to replicate it IRL (in real life for all you noobs out there. And a "noob" is a newbie… a newcomer. Gosh, I should do a blog post just on gamer—video gamer—lingo.). And while I had no problem sizing up the more modest costumes (you know, the bloody zombies and ten-foot demons), when a woman would walk by in a Jessica Rabbit costume, I couldn't look at it without assuring the guy next to me that I appreciated its attention to thematic detail. All in all, the situation just made me want to crawl away and hide somewhere no one would find me.

But here's the thing: the fact that I didn't understand how to act in this environment didn't cheapen the experience. The work that these people put into their creations was seriously impressive. The merchandise for sale (costume jewelry, original paintings, metalwork, hand-made toys) was truly awe-inspiring, and the costumes were no less so. These people were dedicated. They were expressing themselves in unique and extremely talented ways. Yes, some of the art played on sexual attraction, but what era of human history hasn't (our current society's inability to process that appreciation in a healthy way is a MUCH larger and different topic)? And there was so much more to it than that, as well. Decades worth of stories, characters, and story worlds—which have all been heavily inspired by centuries-old, real-world cultures—were represented beautifully, and their creators all poured their own style and flavor into their work.

The longer I was there, the more I was able to appreciate this culture. Yes, some of the costumes and creations were beyond what I could understand, and yes, some of the attendees undoubtedly had unhealthy relationships with these fantasies, but no more so than the obsessions of baseball fanatics or diehard fishermen. That's the nature of passion. Kept in balance, it brings us joy and motivation to do great things. Left unchecked, it will destroy us. And in the end, I finished my weekend with a deep appreciation for this passion that the con-goers shared, both the vendors and the guests. And this fact alone would have made the five-hour trip worth it, even if I hadn't shared delectable drinks, decadent food, and more laughs than I've had in a long time with some amazing friends (though the drinks, food, and laughs certainly helped).

Okay, so if you had no idea what a comic-con was when you started this article, you're probably more confused now. Sorry about that. But for those of you who knew just enough to be judgmental, hopefully I helped shed a little light on the inspiring culture behind all the "weird stuff." And maybe next time I go, I'll learn to not be so cheap so I can actually buy my daughter that $5 pair of unicorn earrings I saw. Or maybe I'll just make her some myself. I've been known to be pretty creative, myself.

#comiccon #comic-con #comic con #planet funk comic con #planet funk #cosplay #art #creativity #recreation #frylock #aquateenhungerforce #flash fiction #havok publishing #body paint #amwriting #comic books

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lafillederenard · 7 years ago

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all the questions!

Thank you, Kate! I’ve been going through these slowly for a while now. Here are the first 50 questions to the ask post found here: x

1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk?

I pour more milk than is needed and feel wasteful when there’s milk leftover in the bowl. Sometimes I drink the milk and feel better. Usually I don’t even eat cereal though? I’m a wakey wakey eggs and bakey gal.

2: do you like the feeling of cold air on your cheeks on a wintery day?

Love that crisp cold winter air! Sure would like to feel it sometime soon! Right now at school, it’s almost like I can feel the weather slowly shifting to cold winter air weather.

3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books?

I often just use scraps of paper that are handy. I’ll use a pen or pencil if I’m switching between reading and writing. And I’ve used my phone a couple of times.

4: how do you take your coffee/tea?

I like really sweet and flavored drinks when going out for either. For coffee from scratch, I like to add a lot of creamer, preferably flavored.

5: are you self-conscious of your smile?

I used to be more so before. Now, not so much, but it has become a habit for me to smile with a closed mouth for pictures.

6: do you keep plants?

I try to, but it never seems to end well. 2 of my 4 succulents I had in my dorm room were stolen recently when I left them out. The other two I’ve been ignoring. I’m much better at taking care of my virtual plants on the app Viridi.

7: do you name your plants?

I’ve named a couple of my real plants, but I don’t really care to for the most part. Most of my plants in Viridi have a stupid meme name.

8: what artistic medium do you use to express your feelings?

Music and writing. I haven’t been journaling as often as I used to, but I still consider it a big way I like to process my emotions: by writing down as much as I can.

9: do you like singing/humming to yourself?

Yeah. I get self-conscious though, sometimes even when no one is around to hear.

10: do you sleep on your back, side, or stomach?

I like to sleep on my stomach, and can pretty much only fall asleep that way. But I sometimes switch to my side during the night.

11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends?

I don’t know if I can think of anything specifically that actually really applies so I’m just gonna pick some stuff…. High school friends will probably laugh if I mention how we all agree I have pretty good aim with my vomit….and college friends, well they call me the Cheese-It Harpy. Friends, let me know if you’re reading this and you think of something else.

12: what’s your favorite planet?

I don’t have a favorite planet. I’m very appreciative of space and I know basic astrology with the planets, but somehow I just don’t have a fave.

13: what’s something that made you smile today?

I did my friend’s hair up pretty and she liked it and another friend liked it.

14: if you were to live with your best friend in an old flat in a big city, what would it look like?

It’s gonna have vines on the walls outside and there’s a courtyard maybe and the apartment will have yellow painted walls and the window will look out over the street and we’ll put up lots of string lights and small plants. I really want to make those tiny tiny gardens with the little benches in them and stuff. And the kitchen sink will usually have dishes in it bc I’m/we’re not people who wash our dishes right away. There will be original and purchased art on the walls.

15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is!

So apparently CalTech astronomers think there might be a big planet way out past Pluto, technically in our solar system.

16: what’s your favorite pasta dish?

UM I love all pasta but I will pick lasagna as my favorite almost all the time. I really love a baked ziti covered in mozzarella tho

17: what color do you really want to dye your hair?

So I don’t really want to dye my hair, but if I did, legit I would want it to be opalescent (silvery-white with pastel colors). Opals are my birthstone, and you bet that my hair would look like that if I was a Crystal Gem. But I don’t really think I’d be able to pull that off irl.

18: tell us about something dumb/funny you did that has since gone down in history between you and your friends and is always brought up.

So yeah, so my CV squad is always gonna remember me throwing up into the cup holder of the RENTAL car. My college friends…there’s probably so many but I’m blanking and can only think of when I spilled the cappuccino….or when I was tired and they put plastic lizards on my head and I got emotional bc I felt loved LOL. Idk help me out here guys Idk why I’m forgetting. I need to write down more of the things I do.

19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it?

I keep a writing journal at all times, and it’s basically a regular journal/diary where I write what happened, how I’m feeling.I also have a gratitude journal. I try to write in there as often as I can about things I am grateful for on that particular day, like compliments I may have received, or nice things that happened.

20: what’s your favorite eye color?

Brown. Almost everyone I’ve ever crushed on has had brown eyes. Brown eyes are beautiful!

21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces.

Favorite bag??? I don’t use bags, lol. I got my backpack. I’m not terribly attached to it.

22: are you a morning person?

Nope! My sleep schedule may be really messed up, but either way, I love being up and doing things at night. I really like to take my time waking up in the morning; I’m pretty slow about it.

23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations?

The thing I usually end up doing is bumming around the computer, tumblr and all. My favorite thing, though, would probably be to watch a really good movie or two, or to gather a pile of books and read through them all, like I used to do when I was little. I also really like to sleeeeeeep

24: is there someone out there you would trust with every single one of your secrets?

Not really. There are some things that I just don’t talk about with anyone.

25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into?

I’ve broken into very few places. One of them is the toilet paper dispenser in the slightly scary bathroom downstairs in the campus center.

26: what are the shoes you’ve had for forever and wear with every single outfit?

This is basically all my shoes, as I kinda just find one pair of shoes I really like, and wear them every day until they get destroyed. I really liked my San Antonio Shoes that I wore to band. Several people complimented me on them. They seemed to fit really great. They were some good shoes. If I ever have the money, I might buy another pair sometime. The pair I had were bought ridiculously under-priced at a thrift store.

27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor?

I really like fruity gum. Fruit Stripe is my favorite chewing gum, but my favorite legit bubble-blowing bubblegum is the cotton candy bubblicious. It’s blue and super sugary and I have distinct memories of times when I chewed it, or wanted to be chewing it but was chewing something else, lol

28: sunrise or sunset?

Sunset is my favorite time. Since I do a lot at night, it’s not really a sad symbol of my day ending, but the night beginning. Whereas if I am seeing the sunrise, that probably means I’ve stayed up all night, which probably was questionably smart to do….

29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing?

I have a friend who kisses my hand to show affection, and I think it’s really cute and nice.

30: think of it: have you ever been truly scared?

I’ve never had any bone-chilling moments — no ghosts, home intruders, etc. But I have been genuinely scared of whether or not me and my family would be okay.

31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks.

I don’t really like the look of fuzzy socks, but I like how it feels to go to sleep in them. I prefer not to wear socks to bed, but my feet get cold often and I can’t fall asleep if my feet are cold. I’ve got a growing collection of socks with foxes on them, but I kinda prefer to wear plain socks. I feel like it’s immature to wear colorful socks.

32: tell us a story of something that happened to you after 3AM when you were with friends.

I can’t recall anything exciting happening. We’ve gone out for food. Had a microwave macaroni party…

33: what’s your fave pastry?

Ooh. I can’t think of anything specific. I like stuff with cherries, or maybe like a cheese danish. I’m not picky!

34: tell us about the stuffed animal you kept as a kid. what is it called? what does it look like? do you still keep it?

When I was really little I had Silly Bear. He was purple or something, and wore a jester’s hat, I think. I used him to make my brother laugh for the first time. Then I had Maple the bunny. She was the most beautiful bunny, until we put her in the wash and then the dryer. Now, I have my fox. It doesn’t have a name, it’s just my fox. I’m sorry to say that my fox went in the dryer, too. My mom told me it would be okay, and it wasn’t. It’s fur is all messed up, but it’s still cute and I love it. Makes me wish I had kept Maple the bunny. And yeah, I sleep with my fox most nights.

35: do you like stationery and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often?

Ughhhh yeah my favorite is designer notebooks that are all pretty. Blank paper is enticing to me. I used to really like pencils that were colorful or had designs on them, too, but I’ve actually made the switch to pens now. I never thought I would switch to pens because I make so many mistakes, or I used to. I prefer my pens to be comfy and write nicely, rather than to look good. Pencils that write nice and dark are very important to me. But yeah I love stationery, and I always have to visit the stationery aisle whenever I go to the drugstore.

36: which band’s sound would fit your mood right now?

So lately, I think my mood has been sort of like Norah Jones or Corinne Bailey Rae. Kinda soft and sad, but nice. At least, that’s how I want my mood to be. Less the sad part though, just kinda soft and nice. Tryin not to stress out over finals.

37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean?

Definitely messy, but an organized messy. I want to know where everything is, and I want to be able to function and move around in the room, but I love having little figurines and papers all over my desk and stuff.

38: tell us about your pet peeves!

Well, as an English major, I have many grammar pet peeves. I hate it when people put recyclables in the trash. I dunno what else…

39: what color do you wear the most?

I wear a lot of blue because it looks good on me. Matches my eyes. I am gaining an increasing number of maroon-/burgundy-colored clothes. I don’t like to wear gray clothes.

40: think of a piece of jewelry you own: what’s it’s story? does it have any meaning to you?

I don’t wear jewelry. Let me tell you about my Two Cats On a Couch instead. They’re made of painted wood; two cats, one striped, and one in some kind of clothing. They are on a red couch with white dots and yellow flowers. The cat in the clothes is me, and the other cat is someone to talk to. My mom found the cats at a thrift store and said she got them for me because she wanted me to always have someone to talk to. They were the last gift I ever received from her, as she gave them to me shortly before she passed away.

41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving?

One of the last books I remember liking a lot is The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart. I read it about four years ago, and it was meant for a younger age group than mine even back then, but I remember it really resonating with me. It also totally hyped me up for a good test experience when I was about to take the SAT, because I read about the kids taking the test in the book right before I went to take the SAT, and it made me excited to rock a test.

42: do you have a favorite coffee shop? describe it!

I wish I had a favorite shop, but I don’t get out much and I usually take things to go places. There are several coffee shops in the area, but the independent ones are kinda new and kinda less comfy, and more minimalist, at least from what I’ve noticed. I can tell you about Norm’s, though, because I could definitely say that it’s a favorite spot of mine. My larp club at college, AOKP, goes to Norm’s every other Thursday or so. We have this big table in the corner that we usually sit at. I steal crayons from the basket on the front counter. My friend once left a big pile of sand in the bathroom because she didn’t clean herself off before we left the beach. I’d say that Norm’s has become a special place for me.

43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with?

Alice, this one is you! The last time I really watched the stars, alone or not, was when we went to the beach to watch the sunrise. That was a good time.

44: when was the last time you remember feeling completely serene and at peace with everything?

Thanksgiving break was emotionally rough for me, but there was one afternoon when everything seemed really pretty, and the sun was real good, and all the plants were good, almost like they were giving off a vibe, and I just sat outside for maybe an hour and wrote in my journal, and started to feel really calm and good. I don’t even remember what I was thinking about, I’d have to check in my journal. That time just felt really good, from what I remember.

45: do you trust your instincts a lot?

I would say that I do try to intuit a lot of things, but I maybe have a hard time trusting myself or what I’m feeling. I’m trying to learn to recognize when I’m ignoring a feeling that is telling me to do or not to do something.

46: tell us the worst pun you can think of.

I like this joke, cuz English: A rule of grammar: double negatives are a no-no

47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe?

I don’t think people should be eating balut (duck embryos), and I’m pretty sure the smell alone of coconut shrimp has the power to make me throw up in an instant.

48: what was your biggest fear as a kid? is it the same today?

I think it is the same. I just kinda always am afraid of, instead of a comfy life, being alone and not having money or food and not being okay. Especially the alone part.

49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought?

I really don’t buy or even use CDs anymore, since I was little. We didn’t have internet in the house when I was a kid, so all the music we listened to, we played on a boombox. It could do CDs and tapes. My mom had a small collection, and we rented a bunch of stuff from the public library. The sound on the boombox got messed up eventually, and by that time I had access to the internet, so now it’s streaming and Youtube.

50: what’s an odd thing you collect?

I have a collection from, like, late elementary and middle school, of pencils that I used until they got really heckin small. I’m talking, you can barely write with the dang thing. One of these pencils is a colored pencil that is one of the best shades of my favorite color (neon orange) that I’ve ever seen.

#ask

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empressdrega27 · 7 years ago

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Self Insert ref sheet: Drega

Name: Elizabeth a.k.a Drega (They probably know my name)

Age: 19

Height: 6′5″ (I used to be 6′3″ but the extra arms added a couple inches)

Weight: 265 pounds (What? I have wings and a tail and four arms, i’m not built to be dainty)

Appearance: Drega is- Thanks buddy, but I’ll take it from here. Ugh, don’t you hate it when someone thinks they know more about you than you do? Anyways, you can call me Elizabeth, Drega’s the name I use when I’m off saving the world and stuff. Well let’s start with the basics, I have purple scaly skin with armored plates from my jaw to the end of my tail. Yeah, I have a tail, it’s approximately 5′9′’ long. I also have wings, the ‘fingers’ are the same color as my body, but the webbing is black. Each wing has two clawed fingers on the tops, and my total wingspan is 27 feet even. I have two horns that come out of the top of my head and slope backwards. My ears are higher than the average human and they look a bit like tiny wings. Huh, I just noticed that. I have 4 arms and they’re longer than normal to facilitate me being able to run or walk on all fours, or in my case all sixes. That brings us to my legs, which are digitigrade. In case you don’t know, that means I walk on my toes! It’s like I’m wearing stiletto heels for eternity. Which isn’t that bad really, it’s not uncomfortable to walk or anything. Let’s see, what else? OH, there’s an arrow head at the end of my tail that’s black and silver.

With the appearance section out of the way, let’s move on to my personality! I like to think that I’m a generally nice person, and that I maintain a calm attitude (most of the time). I’m sarcastic tho, so if you say something that I could reply sarcastically to, be prepared for sarcasm. I love to talk to people I know well. If I know you well, chances are I hardly ever shut up! I’m not afraid to speak up or defend myself. I like to draw, write, sing, fly, and play video games. I also like to cook! I’m a bit cynical, but I’d like to think that that’s improved over the years. I also like messing with people, I derive amusement from the discomfort of others. Not like pain, just mild embarrassment.

And now to the weaknesses...... I don’t like talking about these, but I trust you guys. First, I have a very high metabolism. I have to eat a lot throughout the day to maintain my energy. If I don’t get enough food, I’ll collapse, and maybe even die. Second, I don’t like a lot of people, it’s hard for me to accept change. Third, remember when I said I’m a generally kind person? Well, notice I also said ‘most of the time’. I have one hell of a temper, and I don’t like people messing with what’s mine. I’m half dragon, half human, and that’s not the most stable combination. The dragon part of me wants to protect and defend, but the human side is vindictive. It holds grudges, and I don’t let go of those grudges until I’ve gotten satisfaction. That doesn’t always work out that well for me. The last weakness that I can think of is that I have a butt load of mental illnesses, and they don’t always leave me alone.

Last but not least! The misc. section! So, I’m from Texas, so I have a bit of a southern drawl. I have retractable claws and extendable teeth. I can unhinge my jaw like a snake, and I have a forked tongue. My bite is venomous, but it can only hurt you if there’s deceit and/or malice in your heart. I have a number of breath attacks, namely, fire, ice, electricity, wind, shadow, and I have a really loud roar. As a dragon, I can use magic and I’ve been told I’m pretty good at it! I have immense strength that comes from being a dragon and also from magic. My most dangerous power comes from my soul. Apparently, my soul is strong enough to change my appearance and give me additional abilities. Basically, my hair turns into fiery energy and my eyes change color and I can do even more cool shit!

So, now for the brief history. My dad died when I was 12. Sorry for the sad start but that’s how it began. He died and I couldn’t believe it. I was so sad that I didn’t go to school again for 6 weeks. When I got back, people treated me differently, they asked me why I was gone, so I told them the truth. They said they were sorry and gave me the whole ‘he’s in a better place’ spiel that I’d heard for weeks. I had a book that he had given me, and the bookmark I was using for it was a picture of him and me together. It was the only picture of us together that I had. One day, I was walking home from school, and I decided to stop at the elementary school playground. It was quieter than the playground by my school. I was doing my homework on the equipment, when I heard voices. I looked over the rail and saw a group of teenagers that were older than me walking towards the playground. They were cursing and passing around a joint, so I decided that I should probably leave before they saw me. Unfortunately, they saw me as I was walking away. They ran over to me thinking I was their age, a mistake that happened often. When they found that I was younger than them, they wanted me to pay them so I could leave. I refused. Then they tried to take my backpack. I ran.

They ran after me of course, but I thought I could escape. I didn’t. I tripped on a rock and fell. They caught up to me and poured the contents of my backpack onto the ground. The leader found my dad’s book. I tried to take it from him, but he just laughed. He started tearing pages out of the book, now the whole crew was laughing. Then, he got to the bookmark. He took it out and looked at it, he asked me who the man in the picture was. I shouldn’t have told him, but I did. He laughed again and took a lighter from his pocket. He then proceeded to light the picture on fire. As I watch the picture burn and heard them laughing, something in me snapped. I threw my head back and screamed, only, it didn’t come out as a scream. It was a roar. A roar loud enough to shake the ground. Then, my whole body felt like it was on fire. I felt my skin changing into scales. I felt the wings and the tail and the horns, all of them. I felt every second of the transformation, and it was excruciating. It felt like hours had passed, but really it was only minutes. I stood up, unsure on my new legs (they had broken and bent into a new shape after all). The group had stopped laughing, but they thought that I was an illusion, a trick. At least, they did until I started chasing them. I scared the living hell outta all of them, and I warned them never to tell anyone about me, or else. When they left, I fell to the ground in tears. I picked up the ashes of the picture and I cried. But suddenly, the picture started fixing itself! In fact everything they had destroyed was fixing itself! Soon, I had all of my stuff back in my bag, but I had lost something else out there that day. I clumsily made my way home, and slowly adjusted to the new me. My mom couldn’t have been more understanding, having recently developed powers of her own. If only the rest of the world had been as accommodating.

This is where my story began, but there’s much more to tell!

(okay, so please take this with a grain of salt. I obviously can’t breathe fire irl, so please don’t expect me to be able to actually do everything that my self insert can do. the whole point of a self insert is to insert yourself into the universe of your choosing, so please remember that. if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!)

@claustro-phobic-turtle It me! At last!

#this is only the beginning #drega writes #Drega speaks #self insert

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pumpkinspicedlesbian · 4 years ago

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Okay my input is that a large part of it is that Tolkien only writes about men and that kind of instantly makes stuff gayer. Frodo and Sam were meant to be like 'a master and his loyal servant' so Sam is literally ride or die for Frodo and bc this dynamic is pretty outdated and tbh their class difference doesn't come into play in any major way it's easy to forget about which just makes the whole thing even gayer. It's also a little old fashioned in tone, both the fantasy setting and the fact it was written in the 20th century, so I feel like that adds to things seeming more romantic if that makes sense? That said it definitely is a thing in the book and it definitely was not Tolkien's intention.

As for the movies, because Tolkien cared more about the greater history of his stories some of the characters are a little more two dimensional in the book. It makes sense that for the movie they gave the characters more of an arc and internal conflict, this extends to the relationships between the characters getting more focus.

Everybody who worked on these movies poured their heart and soul into it so I definitely think that shines through in Sean and Elijah's performances. I'll bet they also bonded a lot irl so in the movie you can really see how much these two characters care about each other. I think it being Like That is mostly unintentional but is definitely the result of a lot of passion.

I'll leave you with an anecdote from behind the scenes. When Frodo wakes up in Rivendell in the first book Sam is so happy to see him awake that he grabs Frodo's hand. When they were filming this scene Ian McKellen suggested the actors put this in, he said the significance of this gesture would probably not be remarked upon by the two straight actors, who didn't think to do it in their initial take. Sean and Elijah took his suggestion and it did end up in the final film. Sean Astin says he still gets letters from people telling him how much that moment meant to them.

i've been watching lord of the rings and just finished the two towers and i gotta ask, did tolkien write frodo and sam like that or is that a peter jackson thing or are elijah wood and sean astin just like that

#this is all just my humble opinion #and speculation #i really liked the question #and i really like lotr #fjfjfjfjf if i got something wrong or you disagree id love to hear!!!#lord of the rings #sorry op #D post

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aftgonice · 7 years ago

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I'm not sure if this is weird but maybe story time I guess. There was this anon that bashed one of my fav authors.. Said that they wondered why author was so well liked when said author is self centered and doesn't really have good work. Several minutes later, messages came pouring in. Author's mutuals defended said author and well of course, said anon's an asshole and all that (to be continued) - 💙

I’m not close with fav author and I know that anon is asshole but when I saw the comments from author’s mutuals, all I could think is how much envy that anon felt after.. And maybe it’s because I’m not a mutual to the author, but I empathize with the anon more.. (to be continued) - 💙

I saw myself then and there, how shitty I was and how I lost respect from potential friends/peers and how much it sucked that said anon just being bashed by other’s when really that anon might be a lonely person who just wants someone to talk to.. (to be continued) - 💙

And it just made me want to reach out and say these things, support them, tell them on their bullshit without telling them off that they’re the worst human being ever (because really human’s are flawed and that said human probably just need a friend.. That.. Or they really are an asshole.. I wouldn’t know haha but it just.. It stung my feels so hard… - 💙

Sorry if this is becoming an angst fest hahaha it seemed like a weird thing for me I guess soooo yea I just shared.. Anyways have some 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙 - 💙

Hey Blue Heart Anon!!! (I love that you sign your messages)

Okay, first of all, thank you so much for these messages! They’re really personal so I want to thank you for opening up and most of all trusting me with these.

Secondly, I need to make it clear that something similar happened in my circle of mutuals (and I think it’s likely that you’re referring to exactly the same episode I witnessed). I don’t know why I feel like I should point it out but I guess it’s a disclaimer I want to have here in case my mutuals think this episode touches them personally.

Okay. Now.

You, dear Blue Heart Anon, have a great heart and a very sensitive soul and I appreciate it a lot. And let me tell you, while reading your messages I could see my own thought process and I could see myself writing the exact same things. Are you actually me?

You see, when people find a way (here the way is anonymity) to be needlessly mean like that anon was (from here on: Mean Anon), it means they’re envious and jealous. So when they say: “your work isn’t good enough”, what they say is: “I’ve never written anything in my life and I’m jealous that you’re writing something and are so successful”.

It’s perfectly fine not to like someone’s work, and depending on what type of content they create there are ways to let them know. For example, it’s essential to the book industry that published books get honest reviews from readers. But books are something you pay for, and there’s a whole market behind them, and the reviews don’t go to the authors themselves (unless they do decide to read them, but reviews are supposed to be for other reviewers/readers and for the publishers).

When dealing with fanfiction or fanart, obviously everything is very different from what I described about the book industry. First of all, any criticism (unless the author/artist asked for it, usually in the form of constructive criticism) should be kept to yourself. That’s because content creators are giving you something for free, they’re often exposing themselves in a way they would never do with their friends and family, and you’re just a witness to what they chose to let you see. And unless they gifted their work to you specifically, you chose to click on their work and could have stopped consuming it at any point. So, unless the author asked for criticism, you simply leave, maybe even unfollow them, but that’s it.

(Sometimes a fic/work is very offensive and it hurts a group of people, that has happened in two of my fandoms and that’s a whole other thing to deal with, but I wanna try to keep this as short and as in-topic as possible.)

TL;DR so far: generally speaking, if something is free and you are somehow able to talk to the content creator directly, do not criticize.

Let me go back to the comparison with the book industry a little bit.

I feel like there is this barrier we see between ourselves and someone we know is a published author. Even if you can talk to them via twitter these days, we still see them as automatically better than us.

This barrier doesn’t exist on tumblr. We see authors or artists interact with other people we follow or even our mutuals. Maybe we’re mutuals with some of them. We actually talk to them and share many of the same interests as them.

So when we see their success (a bit like we’d see a published author’s success), it’s much easier to both identify with them and also to ask ourselves, “Why not me?”

If my mutual or this person I follow is just a “common person” like me, maybe even someone I have talked to, what do they have that makes them more successful than I am?

We aren’t envious of something that we know is almost impossible for us to achieve. To change metaphor a bit, we don’t send hate messages to, let’s say, the greatest pianist of our generation, because it’s very unlikely that we could have ever competed for that spot ourselves (unless we’re a great pianist too).

We are most envious of what we could see ourselves achieving, and yet don’t.

We don’t because we aren’t brave enough to try, to put ourselves out there, and that’s okay! Not everybody needs to be writing or drawing, but the thing is: we see that there’s only one tiny step between Doing The Thing and Not Doing The Thing, and content creators on tumblr are just one step further than other tumblr users (the ones who only reblog and send nice messages and that we all love because we wouldn’t have an audience without them).

That’s where Mean Anon comes in. Envy is normal and natural, and a healthy amount of it is actually what drives you to do better and put yourself out there, as long as you recognize it for what it is and put it to good use.

But people like Mean Anon aren’t able to take that envy and turn it into something productive, so they twist it and turn it to something ugly like hate messages (all as anons, of course, because they would never show their faces while saying those things).

And you, dear Blue Heart Anon, are absolutely right. Mean Anon is probably unhappy IRL for whatever reason (@ Mean Anon or whoever identifies and sees themself as a possible Mean Anon: I don’t know you and I don’t want to make any more assumptions about you, but I hope you’ll somehow see this message and maybe it’ll help you) and coming on this site where creating and being successful is so potentially easy that it seems like everybody could do it must be really hard (and no, that’s not sarcasm: it really is hard to see others succeed while we simply don’t, no matter if it’s IRL or here).

It’s okay and it’s good for us to acknowledge that there are real people with real feelings behind these Mean Messages, because sadly they won’t stop coming, so we might as well try to understand why they act the way they do. True, some people are just pure assholes and that’s it, but I think when we’re talking specifically about someone attacking someone else because of their success, there’s always envy at the root of the problem.

And envy is one of the worst feelings ever. I talked about how Mean Anons are probably people who were never able to take that step towards creating something, but we all experience envy even if we create content ourselves. The same people who got hate messages probably envy someone else they deem more successful than them.

I envy some of my mutuals every day because they are faster writers than I am, or they write stuff that attracts more people, or whatever reason, and on bad days I need to take a step back and be off tumblr for a bit, but at the end I turn that into a way to push forward or tell myself that it’s okay if this is the best I can do.

Their success is not your failure. There is a role for everybody and you just have to find yours.

I don’t think it’s my place to tell people how to react to this particular kind of Mean Anons (the envious ones). I can’t blame people at all for treating them like the assholes they are, especially in the heat of the moment. The thing is, Mean Anons are bullies that, regardless of their reasons and personal history, want to intimidate others because that’s much easier than showing them support, because they have no one to properly vent their anger and frustration to, so they vomit all over you and your shit and that might give them a tiny bit of satisfaction right away, but believe me, they’ll feel like shit afterwards. Even if they don’t feel like shit about what they said, they just keep feeling like shit because living life this way only makes you more bitter and sad and there’s no way out unless you start loving yourself and others.

So, this turned into one of my longest rants yet, but I’m really grateful for your messages, Blue Hearts Anon. Keep seeing good in people even when they’re in the wrong and when they’re flawed, as long as you acknowledge that what they do is shitty. Maybe one of these Mean Anons will meet you or come across your nice messages and will feel understood and won’t harass anyone anymore.

#fandom life #dealing with online hate #okay to reblog #wisdom pulled out of my ass tbh #idk which tags i should use tbh #long post #blue heart anon #renee answers #renee rants

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