#I would not trade this for anything

[blakbonnet]

allow me to gush for a second but I love this fandom so so much - the older fans and the new joinees and the casual lurkers - because everyone has absorbed the one essential tenet of the show which is always and forever "yes and"ing any situation, no matter how bizarre. you will always find someone who reads your crackpot theory and screams with you in the tags, you will always find someone ready to clown another day, each day a new person reads your fic and leaves a comment, a new artist finds a new scene to put a spin on and share, every day I see so many incredible lunatics in the tags who are just being happy and stupid and yes and-ing friends they don't know they're forming lasting bonds with, and I love that despite everything - the anger and the heartache and the sadness of it all - open joy and fandom bonds have persisted

[lanternagainstthedark]

The Feast of Farore

Good [insert current time of day/night],

Let me tell you about the Feast of Farore.

So, the way my personal calendar works is festivals are a single day, feasts last for 3 days and any holiday with the word “day” in it is more than that.

So, the Feast of Farore is a 3 day holiday/holy period dedicated to Lady Farore, Keeper of Courage, Bringer of Life, Protector of Children, Sister of Din, Sister of Nayru, Gifter of the Triforce.

It takes place from March 20-22.

Now, before I continue about the holiday, I am going to recognize my bias. NOTE,

TW Mention of past lives/kin-type implications

BEGINNING OF TRIGGER WARNING

I am a dedicated worshiper of Lady Farore. I have memories of worshipping her in multiple past lives, of even once being part of a spirit(s)(?) called Farore's Wind. I have had several tarot readings that referenced this, so I know I'm not just imagining it.

HOWEVER. My memories take place in a Hyrule that looks fairly different from the one seen in the Legend of Zelda franchise, primarily, one where worship of the Golden Goddesses is still an honored part of Hyrule's culture. It still deeply effects me to see a statue of the Lady of Light in my goddess's Spring.

I will attempt to keep this from coloring this post, but I cannot guarantee anything. I am not trying to bash anyone/thing, but it may come across that way. Just a note.

END of TRIGGER WARNING

March 20-Celebration of the Bringer of Life

Lady Farore is well know throughout Hyrule for her actions bringing life to the land of Hyrule. She blew over the hills and rocks that Lady Din crafted, and filled the world with Color. So on this day, we honor that, reminding ourselves of her joyful gift to our world.

I always honor her through spring cleaning. It is a fresh start, a new life/chapter of life beginning. I will also make sure to cook a hearty and delicious dinner, with bread served too. In the case of this year, I will be making Leek and Potato Soup(I will share that recipe tomorrow).

(I am especially fortunate this year, as my school district that I teach in has a district holiday. I could have cried when I found out.

I personally, will be beginning my yearly re-dedication ritual. I will NOT be sharing that.

March 21- Celebration of the Keeper of Courage, Protector of Children

Lady Farore is often seen as a joyful and caring person. Sometimes, she is known as Mother of the Kokiri/Koroks/Kikwi or even, on occasion, the Skull Children. She has walked and watched the Hero's Spirit since the very beginning, and his actions to continue to fight even in the face of great fear is what earned her favor.

On this day, I spend time in reflection. How can I embody this in my life? How can I act with courage and kindness and care even when frustrated to anger? I will be trying to write 3 prayers that I can use to remind myself of any ideas I come up with. (I also will make korok masks again and leave them as gifts to the Koroks/Kokiri/Kikwi.

March 22-Celebration of the Sisters, Gifters of the Triforce

The Sister of Power and Wisdom, the Lady of Courage is sometimes misunderstood(though likely not to the same degree as Honored Din, whose aspect is so often misappropriated). Today is spent reminding ourselves that it takes wisdom to have courage, not recklessness. It takes power to stand up against our fear. Today is spent reflecting on this connection.

I will be spending this day cooking, trying something new, or even just working the earth. I encourage all to connect not just to our Lady of Courage, but the Lady of Wisdom and Lady of Power as well.

I hope this was helpful to everyone! Colors associated with these days are browns, golds, and greens. Grow both yourself and prepare to help others grow too!

[lazylittledragon]

mini mcm dump 🖤

only 24 hours out and i already want to go back

(puppetstarion was made by bokkicat!!)

[cultivating-wildflowers]

ladies, I need to wander despondently across a foggy moor asap

[protect-namine]

thinking about the manhua still. I love that it explores aspects of the story that the show doesn't (or hasn't) delved too deeply upon, and it's also more like the first half of S1, which is my favorite format for link click.

I'm really enjoying how it explores the idea of how a client "sticks" with cheng xiaoshi, their regrets and obsessions linger in his thoughts and dreams post-dive, and how lu guang tries to take care of him through that. there's more thought put into post-dive "aftercare"

also them doing odd jobs like this:

the cases are much like S1 cases, and they're interesting to me. I like that they do missions that extend beyond the actual photo-dive, where a dive is just a part of the plan and not the whole plan itself. like, there's a clear difference between S1E2 shiguang who keep diving in photo after photo to find a noodle recipe, and manhua!shiguang who does like, internet searches and talking to people as part of their job helping a client find an old video recording.

manhua!shiguang........... oh man. lu guang acts way more, hmmm, how should I put this. feels like manhua!lg will jump through hoops to make sure cheng xiaoshi avoids feeling bad about a dive, while S1!lg either has a little more trust in cheng xiaoshi on handling himself and following his lead in unsavory situations, or he just straight up panics when he realizes that cheng xiaoshi is about to do something reckless.

like, lu guang's character has always been a tug-of-war between being extremely careful about handling cheng xiaoshi to the point that it can be seen as controlling, and being more trusting of cheng xiaoshi in how he handles an operation, even if it risks danger to himself. S1!lg is pulling on both ends but manhua!lg is definitely more on the careful side. kinda feels like manhua!lg has asked cheng xiaoshi if he's absolutely sure he wants to do a dive way more than I've seen donghua!lg asked that question.

some interesting characterizations:

love that we get some lu guang pov.

lu guang is still very principled (when he's not being a hypocrite) (for example, him telling cheng xiaoshi not to dive in a dead person's photos out of respect for their privacy) but it's clear that they have different priorities. cheng xiaoshi gets invested in the missions; lu guang is invested in cheng xiaoshi not getting fucked up by a mission.

it leads to fun moments like this where cheng xiaoshi is doing detective work from the get go, meanwhile lu guang is out here not really caring yet and preparing their sleeping bags (tbh I am soooo here for more detective-ing and operation-leading from cheng xiaoshi)

it's actually like. insane to me how palpable it is that manhua!lg cares little about their clients beyond fulfilling their primary objective of helping them (compared to S1!lg). like, he does care, but he really only acts when he sees it's upsetting cheng xiaoshi that they can't help out more. I think donghua!lg at least cares a little bit more about their clients than that (live action version is on the extreme end and cares way more than the first two, at least from the episode I've seen).

you can feel that manhua!lg has Gone Through Grief more recently and is channelling all of that into devotion lmao.

anyway. manhua!shiguang........ oh cheng xiaoshi you are so beloved in every universe

cute siblings moment:

[lunarharp]

shirahama-sensei reminded me she has a thing for the teacher from pokemon s/v so i randomly went off on an au where qifrey is the professor. etc

[bellshazes]

RE: your ethubs post (very good post btw)... who IS mimicking who with the chainmail armor? they've both been lying on purpose and by accident for so long now, I don't even know what I believe anymore

this is a great question, but i'd like to begin by asking: why did etho have chocolate on his knees during the mindrack trial vs. the b-team?

well, mindcrack ran on snapshots at the time and the trial occurred at the end of september 2012. dyeable leather would have been accessible on the server around the beginning of the month, so when Etho shows up for a pre-trial tour of Bdubs' place, he's wearing white leather with brown spots. in fact the trial may have been the first time anyone there saw dyed leather, hence the question.

so etho's wearing the latest fashion and bdubs takes this opportunity to one up him. chainmail was added in the same snaphshot but is uncraftable in survival, so it's got more bragging potential. etho is, as predicted, a little jealous but they're distracted by a visual glitch.

in the following years etho appears to calculate the following syllogism: a) chainmail is breezy; b) bdubs didn't like wearing armor in OOGE so c) he must wear chainmail to show off his skins. meanwhile, bdubs' stated reasons are more etho-like, as using worse or less armor is kind of a big flex - the same way etho used to only wear boots to make the game harder. (though bdubs agrees chainmail is lacy.)

so etho likes to see bdubs in (lacy, breezy) chainmail being vain abt his skin; bdubs does like fashion but pride matters more, as he rebuts in wild life. i suppose bdubs "started" it by virtue of being the first one to obtain, wear, and brag about it, but neither of them are exactly wrong about learning it from the other person. it's a cycle indeed.

[pokeberry5]

more rita except the first one is non-canon (<- lol what canon) bc i was an idiot and set this fake isekai in the fake early 1800s

[monstersholygrail]

If I could finish just one of my WIPs that would be amazzzing

[cerullos]

watching my favorite lesbian tragedy

[earthlyruins]

as much as the aus where sanji takes a crew member's last name to cover up "vinsmoke" (whether as marriage or just shenanigans that turn heartwarming) are nice, i don't realistically think sanji would give up his chosen last name of "black leg" for another. like that is sanji telling the world that he is the infamous pirate chef red leg zeff's Son. zeff is his family. zeff is the reason sanji is still standing. and yeah there's sanji's sacrificial tendencies of giving up everything for the ones he loves—his dream, his life, etc—but i think in this instance this is sanji saying that, yeah, he owes zeff his life, but he's also never going to forget him. that zeff raised him when the vinsmokes refused to. and sanji finds a family that would throw themselves to hell and back to make sure he knows he's loved, and really the one that he can thank for getting him this far, to letting him achieve his dream, for having him survive and feel loved even when he could not love himself—it traces back to his father. his real father.

[cybertron-smash-or-pass]

fat robots. say everything you think

Well, this is going to be barely coherent, but here we go.

I am not particularly shy about saying I think fat people and fat characters are often really fuckin hot. Idk if it's anything that deep, I just like em sturdy about as often as I like twinks or hunks or anything in between, and I think it's a damn shame you don't see more fat characters treated as complex or desirable or really anything more than the comic relief.

I've mentioned before that TFA has my ideal mix of partial softbody and hard metal. It's also got a really nice range of body types, and it gave us my beautiful beloved boy Bulkhead, very big, very cute, very sweet. I like that he's fat, I like that he has depth as a character, I like the idea of his belly and his thighs actually being at least a little soft. Also with Jazz and Shockwave, although both of them are pretty thin (unless you count Longarm), they both have that very clearly soft midriff (and in Jazz's case, those incredibly biteable thighs) and when people draw them even softer and chubbier than they are in canon, I simply black out. No thoughts, head empty, only robot tummy.

Even in continuities where that soft protoform look might be a bit more of a reach (like tfp, they lean a lot heavier into the mechanical for about everything except the face) I don't really see anything wrong with people simplifying some of the moving mechanical parts in the name of dialing up the softbody a little. Like don't get me wrong, I love the predominantly hard metal side of the spectrum too, I'm as fascinated with tfp Optimus's intricate mechanical hands Drift's solid steel thighs as the next robotfucker, I just also like applying The Somft™️ to characters that may not have it by default.

I'm also just kind of a sucker for characters that are Constantly Going Through It and Tired All The Time eventually gaining weight when they get to settle down and enjoy themselves a little, and with The War being a constant in every continuity, that gives me quite a few options to apply that trope post-war (cough cough tfp ratchet cough cough I NEED THAT MAN TO STOP STARVING HIMSELF DAMMIT)

In conclusion, your honor, I think I just like seeing my faves fat n' happy.

[mohntilyet]

not to mention the entire antaam fleet like 😭 that was the PERFECT moment to show off what the lords could do!!! The antaam fucked over rivain, theyve been a thorn in the whole nations side for a long time now, they would not pass up a chance for payback via full scale naval warfare so that the veilguard can do what they need to!! Sure dreadnoughts are dangerous but at this point they probably have tricks up their sleeve, thats one of the few things they have!

also wouldn't it be personal because does solas not try to blow up kont-aar because he's trying to 5d chess tevinter and the qunari into destroying each other. like. i know technically this would not be incredible widespread news because the attack was stopped, but i don't think the wonderful citizens of kont-aar would have missed the tsunami that nearly hit them and the shockwave that actually hit them. rumors go around. and i assume irian/vadis tell varric. who i think would tell isabela. who would tell the group she leads. who would care because ofc, they LIVE IN RIVAIN, and now know that solas and his followers thinks they can trade rivaini lives* to further his plans.

*while i also think there's probably a divide between kont-aar and the rest of the nation, it's one that the rivaini love to jump across and back over. an interesting comparison to be made here with most of rivain having similar sentiments towards dairsmuid and the chantry. like this is the country specifically mentioned to have a lot of citizens who follow the qun/are non-andrastian + it being MUCH more multicultural and accepting than other nations. any attack on rivain, even if it's a qunari settlement, would fan a lot of flames that solas cannot put out so the idea of trying to him taking multiple steps back because he didn't realise how intensely the qun/rivaini/lords would react is very fun for me. it would have been soo interesting for rivain to be a hub for efforts against solas because of how it's not influenced by andrastianism, how he (or his agents) specifically fucked them over, and (maddeningly for solas) also part of this resistance has spirits who willingly guide them against him. this could have even been a plot device where the door goes both ways and solas finds out rook's plans because he manages to eavesdrop through a seer or something.

and on the spirits. all the stuff where the mourn watch regularly communicates with spirits could have been done with rivain as well, and with different takes on being 'friendly' with spirits. iirc there's a spirit in the hall of valor which is so interesting but it's literally just there for flavour text. THERE'S A SPIRIT IN THE HALL OF VALOR THAT DOES NOTHING BESIDES LIKE. SAY HI. ??? bioware i would have liked to see more spirits and seers and the matriarchal pantheists you have talked about please. and also the idea of the peaceful qunari settlement being pushed to protect the country they are part of and what that means for them as qunari vs. rivaini. taash's storyline could have contributed to this . so A LOT less about choosing a side, more about how kont-aar has developed, changed, how rivain has influenced it and what it means to be qunari. not the qunari agents and fighters that we have seen, but their 'civillian' way of life in kont-aar.

complete waste not seeing any of established lore reflected in the lords of fortune or rivain because i stupidly actually thought we were going to see some kind of settlement and be introduced to a very different cultural norms.. in my beautiful mind i like to think taash is a little taken aback by how badly mages/elves/etc are treated. like they understood it was different outside of rivain (they would have been young when the dairsmuid circle annulment happened right? so they don't 'remember' it themself, they likely heard others talking about it when they're old enough to understand) but until they actually saw what was happening first hand, they had a weird dissonance about it. but what we got was a deserted beach, ties to another faction (wardens are fine!! they are great !!!! the fourth blight is interesting!!!! yet they are not the faction with a lack of info about them!!!!!) and also the hall of valor that exists as flavor text with nothing meaningful behind it besides a pub used in a few cutscenes and a minigame.

[kingworm]

there is a duality that claudia was a forty year old woman, who essentially joined a cult - louis warned her, but what else are you to do? she is not a child, though trapped in the body of one, that is to say that although it would come from a place of pride and claudia being an extension of himself as her maker: lestat would have never allowed her to be so ridiculed and humiliated

[aalghul]

comics are difficult to get into and the inconsistencies can be annoying/confusing and there is a lot of material to get through if you want to read major characters. but: it’s never so serious that you should let this stuff overwhelm you. just pick stuff up and try to figure out what’s going on. if you have a hard time going through a character’s reading order chronologically, just pick an event and read the issues for that specific story (trade paperbacks will make your life easier here). it’s literally not a commitment, tou can jump around however you like. reading comics isn’t homework, it should be fun

[mylove-themoon]

The whole ending for the main timeline kinda sucks for Zaun, even the one good thing they get is backhanded as fuck.

Like sure, Sevika is on the council- but the council relies on majority vote, and every other member of the council only work in the interests of themselves or of piltover. Nobody else cares about Zaun, so nothing will change.

And Piltover shows they will alway protect and prioritize their own over everything else

Cait gets no consequences for her actions from the last two acts, despite doing many, many crimes. She released the Gray on the Undercity- which is going to cause disease, death, etc to many innocent people (the same disease Viktor was dying of, it was a direct result of Piltover’s oppression and the gray- I could go on and on about his ending but I shan’t.), arresting random Zaunites- including children- and just leaving them in prison, and even tho we hate Singed, threatening to throw him under the fucking prison was a little far. She gave him the opportunity to either join her or die. So the people of Zaun are animals and criminals until they’re useful?

And the scene of the Noxian guy (can’t remember his name) literally torturing that Jinxer??? Ambassa’s dead and so is he, so I guess thats their consequence, but nothing for Cait? No, Cait gets to have a nice life, she might feel guilty and maybe she’ll have a couple nightmares but really she’s not facing a single consequences You guys remember when Jayce almost got exiled for Hextech in season one? A crime in which nobody died or was grievously harmed? Yet there are no consequences Caitlyn hmmm

After everything the people of Zaun have gone through, they get nothing- they see their oppressor hailed as a hero, they see their children die of a disease that should never have touched the new generation (or just straight up suffocate while it was actively being deployed- if they get caught in that they are dead- little lungs and little legs yk- if they can’t escape it then they die) they see their only hope (Sevika) repeatedly shot down by the council, they see the abuse will continue. Even after everything they lost- all those who fought in Piltovers war- they get nothing. They helped, they worked with them when working against them didn’t work, and they still get nothing.

I think Ekko’s ending really drives it home- the ONE character who deserves the world above everybody else is sitting alone in the end. He did everything right but was still alone. If he -and Jinx- hadn’t rallied their forces and convinced the people of Zaun to fight then Piltover would have lost to Noxius. He convinced his people to fight and die for Piltover- but Cait’s the hero, and he’s still fighting for his own people.