#I wasn't born to work

[princessheatherblossom]

Living life on easy mode is preferable 💅

[egophiliac]

still ruminating over Lost In the Book With Spooky Skeletons Part 1, so here's a selection of some of my favorite little bits! (...some more loosely paraphrased than others) (I just feel like Idia has no room to criticize in general, okay)

anyway, I'm sure we're just going to have a fun time celebrating Halloween and nothing bad is going to happen whatsoever! :)

[cloudinal]

Some character doodles from last night

[seyaryminamoto]

My latest completed commission may have been a bit ambitious... because I went wild with it. But I certainly relished in doing so :') Combining my favorite ship with my favorite-ever Disney movie is, uh... a dangerous concoction :'D

The commissioner specifically requested for Azula as Mulan, Sokka as Shang, and Xin Long (my OC dragon from Gladiator) as Mushu. The rest of the cast was up to me to choose, and I pretty much went wild rewatching this movie and picking out some of my favorite moments to recreate them in my style, with these characters. I came up with a lot of correlating characters between both ATLA and 1998's Mulan, but I couldn't hope to draw EVERYTHING, unfortunately. Still, if you want my reasoning for the cast correlation... check out the Read More! Beyond that, feel free to reach out to me if you'd like to commission me, or if you want to join my Patreon!

The Herbalist as Mulan's grandmother might feel arbitrary but she honestly felt like the ATLA elderly lady with the most similar personality to Grandma Fa. Fickle, with a unique connection with a seemingly perfectly ordinary animal, old and sassy? Figured it fit! So for once, the Herbalist is Azula's grandma! xD strange notion, I know, Azulon/Herbalist is not a ship I ever thought I'd accidentally put out in the world but there have been wilder ships than that in this fandom...

Momo became Cri-Kee, I wasn't 100% sold on it but when I considered that Avatar features soooo many hybrid animals... I figured he could be a hybrid cricket-lemur. Weird, I know, but eh? Better than nothing xD

Aang as Chien-Po was a no-brainer. He's the only character I settled on instantly, never even considered anyone else for the role. Their personalities line up really well, and Chien-Po's tendency to be OP and resolve things that are outside of other people's reach sounded like he was prime Avatar material! So, while their dietary preferences are an obvious difference between them, I decided to go for it nonetheless considering all their other similarities!

Kino (another Gladiator OC) is Ling, and he actually did give me a ton of trouble to choose. I considered many characters for the role right up until I realized that Kino's personality actually lines up fairly well with Ling's, down to being a class clown type (who ABSOLUTELY would have cut gym class!) and breaking out in song about the hypothetical woman he'd like to fight for? Yeeeeah that's right up his alley xD but there's another reason why I picked Kino...

... And that is my likely unexpected choice for Yao:

ZUKO.

ZUKO IS YAO.

YES.

I'M NOT EVEN SORRY.

(For the uninitiated, Aang, Zuko and Kino are best friends in Gladiator, very often together, and they make a really good team, so that's the extra reason why Kino became the obvious choice for Ling aside from having really similar personalities, definitely closer personalities than, say, Jet, for instance.)

People have likened Zuko to Shang a LOT since ATLA aired. This is the main reason why I'm even making this huge note! I suspect it's primarily because of the aesthetic, let's be real here, and because he becomes Aang's teacher, but people have exaggerated Zuko's alleged similarities with Shang, or taken them out of proportion, in many ways. I actually remember an AMV ages ago with "Be a Man" and it was Zuko "training the Gaang"?? It... didn't feel right to me. Obviously, someone might rebuff with "well, how does Sokka make MORE sense than that, though?" And believe it or not, I have arguments for that... (when do I not...?)

Not only is this what the commissioner specifically requested (and it obviously lines up with the ship we love!), but let's examine the actual reasons why Sokka as Shang adds up:

Sokka actually had to train a bunch of toddlers who weren't paying any attention to him. You know. Kind of how Shang had to train the unruly soldiers who weren't getting anything right. Sokka has a positive relationship with his dad (Zuko, ofc, does not). Shang also has a positive relationship with his dad! And not only this, but there's a military component to both relationships, specifically with Shang wanting to follow on his father's footsteps and aid him in the war... so much like someone else I know, who jumped at every opportunity to rejoin his father in the war, even wishing to join him as a child until Hakoda tasked him with protecting their Tribe instead (kinda like Shang is tasked with training soldiers rather than joining a battlefield).

And the final cherry-on-top that I'd loooove to hear Zuko fans try to argue against... is sexism :') didn't Sokka get characterized as a sexist guy for four episodes, which made people decide that this was his main character trait even if it went away that quickly? Um, yes, that happened. Shang literally sings the memorable song that's a crazy ode to masculinity, including the rather sexist line of "did they send me daughters when I asked for sons". Shang outright abandons Mulan once they discover that she was a woman all along (while, admittedly, choosing to abandon her rather than KILL HER, which as we saw from Chi-Fu, he was NOT supposed to spare her!)...

So, is this REALLY what Zuko fans, who willfully believe their boy is a feminist king (... why? beats me...) are trying to compare their unproblematic blorbo to? :'D Me? I have no problem linking Sokka with Shang due to Sokka's beginnings and due to the fact that both Shang and Sokka have similar growth when it comes to accepting femininity is as valid as masculinity, and as they both learn to respect women as fighters and potential heroes! (I simply do not believe Sokka's ENTIRE tenure in ATLA was about that, though, and that's what I continue to clash with the fandom over...) So... all this is why I've reasoned that Sokka is a VERY solid choice for Shang, in fact, better than Zuko could hope to be.

... but this isn't all.

Maybe some might accept my arguments for Sokka-Shang. And then, they might ask:

WHY ZUKO AS YAO, THO??

... And the truth is it took me long to see it, myself, but HOLY SHIT, DOES IT FIT!

What is the primary thing we remember about Yao in Mulan? This guy is constantly itching for a fight, to prove himself, surely riddled with insecurities that he exteriorizes through overcompensation of masculinity. He's funny as fuck, but he's taking himself 100% seriously as a manly man all the time, and he's always ready for violence. But there's one more thing...

He treats Mulan as his RIVAL.

And more often than not? SHE SCREWS HIM OVER. Intentionally or not.

What does that sound like? Why, yes, it sounds a LOT like Azula and Zuko's sibling relationship!

The fact that Yao is a temperamental dude who lashes out easily at things (oh, something he has in common with Zuko!), that he specifically resents Mulan (in this case, Azula, just as Zuko does!) and is either constantly looking to defeat her and prove his superiority over her (... wait, just as Zuko with Azula??), that he has a black eye perpetually across the movie, and it's his LEFT EYE (just as Zuko's scar is on his left eye! :'D), that he's friends with a pacifist he has basically nothing in common with, personality-wise (just like Zuko and Aang!), and that he pretty much has a REDEMPTION ARC in which he goes from a bitter, asshole rival to Mulan to treating her as a friend and ally, to the point where he was disappointed to leave her behind and THEN joined her at once when she says she has a plan? :') I have always been critical of Zuko's redemption arc, goes without saying. But if ANY of these characters redeemed himself in any significant way, it certainly seems to be Yao to me, and with people gushing NON-STOP about Zuko's redemption? Why, he ought to be the character who goes from bitter rival to loyal friend, right?

So. I'm not even sorry. Zuko is Yao. And I'd dare say that he should be flattered by the comparison, even, because Yao ends up being cool as FUCK!

I don't really talk about this much nowadays, but Mulan was my favorite Disney movie growing up, it ABSOLUTELY had a formative influence on me as a little girl, and Mulan was my favorite female character for a looooong time. Thus, any excuse to rewatch this movie makes me happy as heck. With the wisdom of age I know, of course, that it's not perfect, it's not what China wants, it's not the most thoughtful depiction of Chinese culture or the most faithful adaptation of Mulan's poem (... but I'd also dare bring up that the 2009 Chinese adaptation ISN'T all that faithful either...), but it has a kind of magic in it, a solid storytelling flow, so many memorable moments one after the next, that I could hardly choose which scenes to depict... Disney has never again seen the storytelling heights it reached with Mulan in 1998. I don't even care if that's a controversial opinion in any way... this is their best animated feature for me, and nobody can change my mind.

So... depicting Azula, my beloved, in all these scenarios as this character I adored and idolized as a child, was so damn fulfilling for me. While some might think that, personality-wise, these two ladies don't have much in common, the fact that Mulan is sent to a matchmaker who basically tells her she looks good but is going to be the worst wife ever...? Our girl Azula, with all those insecurities about being unloveable and a monster, probably would relate big time to that.

Mulan is also an INTELLIGENT soldier rather than a brawny one, which is how she starts to make progress in the army, it's how she manages to overcome the huns with that avalanche... and Azula's primary difference with most other antagonists in ATLA is that she's smart as fuck. She is very strong, no doubt, but a LOT of that strength comes from her intelligence, from assessing situations in unique ways, from planning and strategizing. The way Mulan finds the most unexpected solutions that still pay off reminds me a lot of how Azula achieves unexpected feats through rather unorthodox means, capable of taking over a city with basically no bloodshed while her nation has spent 100 years trying and failing to do so through major army incursions and who knows how much senseless violence. Obviously, I'm not saying what Azula did is GOOD and it's kind of dumb that we always have to point that out... I'm merely comparing the magnitude of the feats, and the fact that they both come from ladies who use strategy and intelligence to achieve their goals rather than muscle and physical power.

And while anyone would rage at me for the comparison between Fa Zhou (her dad) and Ozai, the truth is the dynamic between them CAN be compared, if loosely: Mulan literally goes to war to keep her father safe. Azula goes to war under her father's orders. Hell, she makes herself BAIT in the Eclipse to make sure the Gaang won't get to her dad?? While it's very much possible to say that both characters have different personalities and attitudes in life... I'd also bring up that their contexts are evidently completely different. I wouldn't say for certain that Azula, had she been raised outside a Royal Family, would be EXACTLY like Mulan... but they might have more similar traits than one might expect. Ultimately, though... I love them both. And this opportunity to swap their places was pretty much a dream come true!

Alright, that was plenty of rambling xD ultimately, I had a blast doing this commission, as I'm sure is obvious by now. So! If anyone wants to commission me, feel free to check out my prices right here and hit me up if you're interested!

[gingermintpepper]

Obsessed with the way Evadne's relationship with Apollo is described. Obsessed with the way Apollo was especially gentle with her because she was sheltered, hidden away and hadn't had any sort of experience with love prior to Apollo (and due to it being described as her 'first learning Aphrodite's joy' through Apollo', it was probably her first time even being attracted to someone). Obsessed with the way when she runs away, she stops in a violet patch to give birth. Y'know, violets, very famously the flower so strongly associated with Aphrodite that they were used in love potions? Those violets. Obsessed with the way that when Apollo realised his lover was going to have to deliver their child alone, he sent BOTH the goddess of childbirth and ALL THREE OF THE FATES to help and support her. Obsessed with the way that Apollo sends snakes to feed his baby honey straight from their fangs because Evadne abandons their son out of straight primal fear when her stepfather finds her and how the description of that honey is 'sweet venom' [ἰός] of the bees and is DEFINITELY a poetic pair/pun with [ἴον] aka violets and that every single thing about this relationship, conception and birth is a complete and utter fairytale down to Evadne's insanely overprotective stepfather having an immediate change of heart when he learned Evadne's child was an actual, legitimate Son of Apollo and the babe, after being cared for by his dad's honey-fanged snake buddies, was found perfectly healthy five days later swaddled in a blanket of violets (y'know the flowers so strongly associated with Aphrodite that they were used for lo-) and they called him Iamus aka Boy of the Violets which is AAAAAARRRR I AM GNAWING AT MY ENCLOSURE

Iamus was made of love. Everything about him was surrounded by deep and profound love and like, let's not even talk about his whole Thing of when he came of age and was like "I need to find out what my purpose is" and he literally had a Disney Protagonist moment where he ran out into the wilds and was like "Father!! Grandfather!! Tell me what I'm supposed to doooo!!" and then APOLLO FUCKING ANSWERED AND LED HIM TO ONE HIS TEMPLES ENTIRELY BY TALKING WITH IAMUS AND LETTING HIM FOLLOW HIS VOICE FOR THE WHOLE JOURNEY LIKE -

What do y'all know about the kind of SSS tier romantic escapades Apollo had fr?

[leoremin]

Tag your fandom

OCs work too!

[fictionadventurer]

A Biltmore Christmas may be the first Hallmark movie to drive me to fanfic.

[muiromem]

Kathryn Janeway - "The Fates"

The Moirai of Greek myth. The youngest, Clotho - the spinner who controlled life, choosing when a person was born and weaving their thread of existence. The middle one, Lachesis - the allotter who measured out the length of this thread and decided a person's destiny. And the eldest, Atropos - she who was inevitable that ended a mortal's life, cutting the thread and choosing the manner of their death.

[truly-sincerely]

Alex Rider S3 timeline

Season 1 Timeline | Misc Timeline Notes

Some facts:

For time of year we know s3 takes place in the winter, based on dialogue from Blunt and Smithers

The trees in the background during establishing shots are just as unreliable as in s2 but during actor shots they're a mix of green and barren (most notably the cherry tree in front of the Rider house), implying late winter, probably February.

I don't know anything about the British school system, but Tom mentions having taken his GCSEs in ep1 so they're presumably on holiday from whatever comes after that (sixth form? A levels? it's Maltese to me).

Now we look at the elephant in the room. John Rider:

There are two different timestamps on the recording of the bridge exchange. 06/01/2005 and 2005-05-21. Not sure what the discrepancy means but since the latter has to be May we can assume that the former is formatted for June (as opposed to January). Also, Alex wasn't born yet in January 2005.

Alex's birthday is 13 Feb, 2005 (according to a prop from s2ep8)

Julia says that Alex was six months old, but based on the time stamp he was closer to three months old (easy mistake)

John and Helen Rider's gravestone puts their deaths in 2006 and Julia says it took her six months to track them down after the bridge exchange, so that checks out

Now in the present Mrs Jones says that it's been 17 years since Scorpia was destroyed, which would make s3 take place in early 2023

Alex is about to or just turned 17 years old

And therefore he was 15 in s1 and s2

S3 takes place over the course of nine days, which I think we can all agree is absolutely ridiculous, but that's how it works out.

Day 1: Boat ride; find Julia Rothman's house; Kyra's soup accident

Day 2: Identify and research Julia; Museum art showing

Day 3: Scorpia sends threat to Kellner; Tom and Alex go to Julia's villa; Pritchard gets blown up; Alex sneaks into Consanto and it blows up too; Alex goes to Malagosto

Day 4: Scorpia kills the footballers; Tom and Kyra get arrested; Julia tells Alex about his dad getting killed on the bridge; and Yassen! Is here!

Day 5: The assault course and the water bottle; shooting challenge; getting beat up by the other trainees; Pritchard's funeral; Tom and Kyra trace the call to Malagosto and Nile tries to send them home; the incursion assessment

Day 6: Shinai (Bokken) 5 on 1; Department calls Scorpia back and Scorpia gives them three days; Kyra and Tom find Malagosto; Smithers and Crawley find Julia's litter; Syl graduates; Jack gets a delivery from Tom; Max Grendel gets Yassassinated

Day 7: Everyone gets back to London; Blunt asks the CIA for help; Alex and Yassen surveil Jones' flat; Jack, Kyra, and Tom go to the Department; Navy Seals raid Malagosto; Alex doesn't kill Jones and gets sent back to the Department

Day 8: Nile sets up in the big church; Crawley takes Alex home; Blunt and Julia do storytime for Alex and Yassen

Day 9: Alex goes back into the Department; MI5 try to take Alex; Alex calls Julia for a pickup; a bunch of people in Bath don't die; Blunt retires; Alex comes in and gets John's medals; Nile gets Yassassinated

[braceletofteeth]

“Is this how you we are supposed to be living?”

(insp.)

[uchihasavior]

[[ You're aware Itachi was 13 years old at the time of the Massacre, correct?

"Correct."

You're also aware he was being pressed by both sides to spy on them, correct?

"Correct."

Danzo also kept oppressing the Uchiha so he could force a coup and declare them a threat to the village.

"Correct."

So the massacre was not Itachi's fault and he's just as much a victim of it.

"No, it was his fault and he should've said no lol" ]]

[minai28]

Today's N thought: since he's adopted and there's no records from before, Ghetsis choose his birthday.

It's probably the day Ghetsis found him or a similarly important date. I wonder if N gets sad on his birthday post BW2 thinking of his 'father'...

[ihamtmus]

.

[mukuharakazui]

See I've been more annoying about TF2 recently but I need you all to know that I made this blog in October of 2016 and this is the timestamp of the first ever post on this blog tagged with "tf2"

I made this blog partially because a lot of Portal fanart was on Tumblr and partially because my best friend and I were super into TF2 and he posted his little Engie drawings here. TF2 is a cornerstone of this blog throughour all its iterations

[hsslilly-blog]

Why does Claire decide to become a mother? When did she decide that was something she wanted? Did she always plan to have however many kids she does have (I can’t remember how many she has lol)? Uhhh plus anything else you want to say about Claire’s motherhood journey 🫶

I wanted to answer this on desktop!!

Claire decides to become a mother because she wants to be a mother... that's it. She has a lot of anxieties and reservations around it, but she really does want to. Now, this desire itself is something she should've given a lot of thought to, because she may want things sometimes and also be aware that they do not fit with her lifestyle/who she is as a person. And if she still want these things anyway, she must make some changes and adapt. This is not something Claire does. She only realises how incompatible her life is to motherhood once she's holding her first baby for the first time.

She's very career-driven to the point she almost kills herself Trying To Make It (she has an issue with moderation). She likes her freedom. And She's Claire. Plus, at this point in her life, she still has a lot of unaddressed issues about herself/her childhood/her parents/her overall presentation that impact in her relationship to motherhood. She's always wanted to have a baby, I just think she never realised what it means to be a mother.

So, her and Hunt talk a lot about it (after he manages to, like, make her talk about it). At first, they're both happy with the compromises they make + Claire is pretty certain she's sure about the whole mother thing. But when the baby is finally here she realises wowwwwww... this is wayyy more serious than what I thought it would be!!! This is a vital moment to Claire's character because it's this breakdown (and her PPP) that leads her to get real help for the first time in many years and (try to) make sense of her life. Not easy!

I've written a bit about her kids here! She has two babies: Grace, the oldest, and Fee, who came three/four years later. They were both planned. Motherhood with Fee is a more positive experience since Claire is healthier at this point in life. I didn't mention it anywhere, but her pregnancy with Grace is overall normal, too. It's mostly everything that comes after that really affects her.

[sheep-turtles-and-pizza]

Hey just dropping by to say I love all your Rise April x Turtle arts, I don’t really see it much often

Thank yooooou,

ye me neither, that's why I do them lol XDDD

But I was only given 2 hands and one bish brain, how frustrating.