#I'm not reacting to anything

[pocketseizure]

While Ganondorf definitely served as a symbol of resistance against empire in previous games, I can’t see any other way to read him in Tears of the Kingdom except as a symbol of militaristic fascism.

The story of Tears of the Kingdom has a lot of holes, but the information we’re given presents Ganondorf as a rogue military commander and self-identified king who attempted to wage a war of aggression and lost. In the name of peace - and partially out of arrogance - Rauru offered to allow Ganondorf’s faction to join a coalition of other regional leaders (who included the Gerudo sage) as a condition of his surrender and agreement to cease hostilities.

Ganondorf then stalked Zelda, murdered Sonia, and used a secret stone for the express purpose of waging war, including war on the Gerudo. In the present time, Ganondorf triggers climate disasters (once again hurting his own people) in order to create political instability, and he openly says that he sees the “monster” races of Hyrule as servants who exist only to fight for him.

As someone who’s written hundreds of thousands of words of fanfiction about Ganondorf, I obviously think it’s a worthwhile project to dismantle and resist simple narratives. “Fight fascism by killing bad people” is itself a form of propaganda, after all.

Sill, as much as I wish otherwise, my stories are just fanfiction. The game itself goes through great pains to communicate that Ganondorf represents the type of militaristic aggression that seeks to oppress cultures perceived as weaker in order to create an empire. 

Speaking personally, I very much want to read Ganondorf against the grain of the narrative simply because I find the xenophobic elements of his design and characterization to be indications of real-world bias within the developers, who don’t have the same excuse for not being aware of certain types of problematic character coding that perhaps they did when Ocarina of Time came out in the 1990s.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to work around the plot holes and lore gaps of Tears of the Kingdom, which I dearly wish hadn’t been written by outside contractors. Breath of the Wild presented so many interesting possibilities for what Ganondorf’s character could have been, and it’s a shame that Tears of the Kingdom defaulted to such a one-dimensional portrayal of Ganondorf’s actions and motivations. 

In the end, while the story of Tears of the Kingdom has many strengths, I just don't think it can support a nuanced political reading.

[autisticrosewilson]

"Oh Steph wouldn't like Jason just because they have similar backgrounds because he kills people/is a criminal/fights the bats!!"

This is in the 90's BEFORE he even tortured her. She doesn't go through with it, but she sees the evil he's capable of and its enough for her to justify it. She only doesn't because it "goes against what Batman taught her" but well.

That's the same man who would let her dad's friends infest her house for MONTHS until BLACK CANARY came to Gotham and handled it

A grown man who would go on to verbally degrade her, withhold the tools he gave everyone else, keep her intentionally isolated and then use her lack of resources against her.

So yeah. I'm sure Steph's faith in Batman and his teachings have wavered plenty. Just because DC casually discarded the way she was treated so she could play happy family with the boys, but she has NO REASON TO. Before she was aged down there was definite tension between her and Tim, and while Babs worked to get that relationship back, Bruce did no such thing. "Oh I'm just as proud of you as I was with the boys" when he thought she was dying doesn't fucking change how he treated her.

And of course, there's her own forray into betraying the family and being a criminal in The Next Batman series.

That's without getting into how she was compared to Jason, the way she watched a murdered east end kid be toted as another violent, reckless, idiot who didn't think and got himself killed.

"Oh but he tried to kill Tim!" First of all, you didn't read that comic. Jason was TESTING him, they were 2 years apart MAXIMUM, and Tim FOUGHT BACK. Jason gave him a little cut and a nose bleed that he slapped a bandage on and was fine. Damian also started his first meeting with Tim antagonistically and even though he was actively hostile to her, Steph still formed a close sibling bond. Her first meeting with Tim she threw a brick at him. He spent a not significant amount of time belittling her and telling her she wasn't cut out for hero work when she came back. This is the same guy who hallucinated Jason just so Jason could be like "Oh I got myself killed don't be like me!" Can we be real she doesn't give a shit. I guess you could count Hush but. I know they retconned it so that was Jason but when the fuck would he have had the time to do that between death, catanoia, the All-caste, and his murder tour.

Stephanie understands better than anyone that desperate circumstances lead to desperate people who do bad things. Stephanie understands being belittled and compared to a rich white boy who never had to fight to survive like you did. She understands being isolated from the hero community. She understands the evil that exists and the ways the system is corrupt, and that the bad guy never STAYS caught. And it's not like she has any big problem with people who kill, Babs said in 90's she would fucking LOVE Joker to drop dead and Dinah has killed multiple times. She literally switched places with Lady Shiva? These are both women Steph looks up to. You don't think Steph would feel any admiration at all for someone who gave Bruce a taste of what it feels like to be shown up? Someone who made Roman's life hell? Someone who made Tim put action behind his shit talking? An alley kid who came back and refused to be another statistic, who showed everyone who spent the last decade calling him stupid and reckless EXACTLY how cunning he can be? None? At all?

I just find it a little hard to believe.

[heretherebeturtles-comic]

DID YOU KNOW THAT ANDY SURIANO TALKED ABT YOUR COMIC ON INSTA???????????

YEAH I SAW IT!

really cool!!!!!! nice things were said about my art and story!!!!!! i am so flattered!!!!!!!!!! i am still figuring out how to react to it all!!!

[drrav3nb]

AYO EDEBIRI as Sydney Adamu WILL POULTER as Luca THE BEAR SEASON 3 | Episode 10 - Forever

Are you close? Yeah. Kind of best friends and kind of lost touch, so. It's nice to reconnect. Yeah, especially when it literally is like a best friend that you saw every day of your life and you kinda went through this sort of battle together.

Bonus:

[laurellala-comics]

Fun fact! This was the real tipping point that made Edgeworth run away after AA1, they just couldn't show it on screen because they didn't have the rights to Chappell Roan's music <3

(A spiritual successor to my "Hot to Go" joke from this post. Image description under the cut below)

[Image ID: a four page black and white comic of characters from ace attorney.

The Judge stands solemnly at his podium holding a gavel "Mr. Miles Edgeworth, you are on trial for the murder of blah blah blah..."

A cheerful Maya Fey leans over to Miles Edgeworth, who is staring straight ahead and looking very concerned

Maya: "Psst! Mr. Edgeworth! If you win your trial, can I show you Chappell Roan?

Miles: "What the hell, sure." Internally he thinks "Oh God I am going to jail"

A box saying "later" in the top corner of the next panel marks the passage of time.

The Judge smiles as he says "I declare you... Not Guilty!"

We see a full body shot of Maya dancing excitedly while Miles looks on, emotionless

Maya: YIPPEE omg you're going to LOVE this

Miles internally thinks "oh no, the consequences of my actions.

We see Miles standing in between Phoenix Wright and Maya looking apprehensive. Maya beams in excitement, while Nick puts a reassuring hand on Miles' shoulder

Miles: Alright, so what is this exactly?

Nick: She's a pop musician Maya really likes

Maya: You promised you'd let me show you, and it's legally binding because you said it in a court room!

Miles: That is not how the law works Ms. Fey

Maya: Shh just listen!

We see a panel of Miles' pensive face concentrating as he listens to "Hot to Go". He thinks to himself "hm".

Another panel zoomed in more. His pensive expression has grown more tense/confused as he listens to "Red Wine Supernova". he again thinks to himself "Hm" in a larger thought bubble.

We zoom out again to see Nick, Miles, and Maya standing together again. Miles stares forward blankly, eyebrows raised. Maya excitedly leans in.

Maya: Ok, that's her whole discography. So! What did you think?

Nick looks at him, waiting for his response

We get a panel of Miles, looking bewildered. He starts to speak "I..."

We cut again to see the three of them standing together.

Miles: I... don't think I like women?

Miles looks shocked and confused. Nick is bent over laughing, using a hand on Miles's shoulder to support himself. Maya looks outraged and appalled!

Maya: MR. EDGEWORTH! Just because you don' like her musi it doesn't give you an excuse to be sexist!

We see a panel of Miles looking stressed and confused. He leans his head on one of his hands, which messes up his hair, showing how he isn't his normal put together self.

Miles: I should rephrase that. What I mean is, Ms. Roan is clearly VERY assured in her feelings towards women. I was... unaware that anyone felt that strongly. I thought we all viewed these things with a vague sense of distaste and unease but collectively ignored it. Like how we do with climate change.

We zoom out again to see the three of them. Miles stands in the middle looking deeply uncomfortable and lost in thought, vibrating with unease. Nick and Maya exchange deeply concerned glances across from him.

With lingering unease, Miles begins to walk away.

Miles: Well, I should be going then. Goodnight.

Nick hesitantly raises a finger to point out an inaccuracy in that statement

Nick: It's four in the afternoon-

he gets interrupted by Miles who repeats firmly: I said Goodnight

Nick looks in the direction Miles walked off in.

Nick: ...He'll be ok, right?

Maya reassures him: Of cours Nick! I mean, what's the worst that can happen?

Jump cut to a closeup of Nick's hand holding Miles' letter which reads Miles Edgeworth chooses death in all caps. Then, below in smaller font, it says Also femininomenon was really good, thanks.

We see a panel of Nick glaring wordlessly at Maya as he holds the letter in his hand. Maya leans against the wall and looks away, whistling, trying to look innocent to avoid blame.

As a bonus, we also have a page that takes place a year later. Miles and Nick stand talking. Miles looks calmer now, and Nick smiles encouragingly.

Miles: In my time in Europe, I've been examining myself and my approach to law. Ultimately, the most important focus must be justice. We owe it to ourselves and to the people we serve

Nick: Wow, that's really inspiring Edgeworth. And, uh, hows the... the other thing going?

We get a zoomed in panel of Miles glaring menacingly at a suddenly nervous Nick

Jumping out again, Miles turns his back to Nick as he continues to talk

Miles: So as I was saying, justice is truly so important...

Nick nervously rubs the back of his neck wearing an awkward expression as he sweats nervously. He thinks to himself internally "Ooookay then, clearly still working through some things there"

/.End ID]

[martynsimp69]

Dogwarts - A Horror-Themed Minecraft Map

Ever since the beheading, paranoia has taken hold of the Red King.

Dogwarts is a short Minecraft map full of secrets, made for AUFest 2024's Reverse Big Bang. You can find more information on it here, including the world download, content warnings, how-to-play guide, and a video showcase for anyone who can't or doesn't want to play through it themselves.

As part of the event I had the honor of working with two INCREDIBLE writers, Sparrow @erstwhilesparrow and Writer @capriciouswriter207!! Both of them did a masterful job bringing this story to life in a new medium, and I'm delighted that I got to have them on my team <3 Check out their fics:

branches, but softer by sesquidpedalian

The things Martyn carries with him have dwindled to almost nothing. One bucket that he doesn’t dare abandon to the capricious shadows, a handful of glass bottles. A scrap of banner that he keeps in his pocket, that he wipes his sweat on but never without feeling a little bad. If it’s the tunnels themselves that are responsible for all his misfortune, they never make a sound to suggest so. If this place is haunted, it’s not haunted by any ghosts but his own.

What happens below (none will ever know) by Writer207

The enchanter must be protected at all costs. Away from prying eyes, deep below the ground, nobody but Ren will ever lay their eyes on it again. A labyrinth of dirt and stone must be dug to further protect it. The process weighs heavily on Martyn, and the tunnels themselves seem to suffocate him. It's all worth it, though. The enchanter must be safe.

Thank you, and enjoy <3

[cake-emu]

Coronation Street | Betsy Swain + Lisa Swain + Carla Connor (19th March 2025)

[rainbowtitania]

I wrote this on discord last night but I'm reposting here mainly because I think "eddie walks into that kitchen like a prey animal. emotionally speaking" is a funny argument (but also true????).

The kitchen scene starts with eddie walking through the dark hallway unaware of what's in the kitchen. so eddie starts from a position of vulnerability and lack of sight. the camera cuts to the grocery bag first, but eddie still only has a partial view of the room. then the camera moves quickly to buck and we get the infamous low-angle shot. so eddie/the camera/the audience sees something incongruous in the space and it's like "OH NO, SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT" and has to look for, and then look up at, Buck (and again, we're too low to be aligned with eddie's eyeline, so that camera movement is deliberately being exaggerated). Low-angle shots are historically used to make the subject of the shot look larger, distorted, and more threatening btw. And Buck is also stretching up, so he's physically even bigger than he would otherwise be.

Cinematographically, Eddie is the one walking into a "dangerous" situation that he's unprepared for, clocks the sign of danger, and starts immediately scanning the space for threats, only to alight on buck, who's all puffed up in the frame like a bear on its hind legs.

Like obviously nobody is in physical danger in this scene (I can't believe I have to caveat that), but the character who's visually framed as most vulnerable during this argument is Eddie. Just saying.

[benoitblanc]

no no you guys don't get it. the x files cancer arc was, excuse the pun, a fucking white whale of a tv plotline that would not have worked nearly as well on literally any other show. it was a complete hail mary. the writers' room nearly didn't make it happen because they were worried it would fall too deeply into soap opera territory. and on any other show, it would! but the x files is about four key things: mistrust in the government, faith in both science and the otherworldly, building a life around trauma, and the fine line between love and codependency. it is the only show where the entirety of this situation- a government experiment on an unwilling young catholic leads to a terminal illness that is counteracted by a literal scientific miracle in the eleventh hour due to her partner's refusal to accept her impending death- could both happen at all and happen well. none of the themes in the cancer arc were new to txf at all. they'd all been lurking, to some extent, in the background since the pilot. the cancer arc wasn't merely milking a left-field catastrophe for the drama, it shoved the overarching themes of the show to the front and said look. look what these people are to each other. look how impossible it is to face the darkness alone. regardless of when the plotline was conceived, it was always going to happen. it was the only way the story could have ever gone. they were always doomed from the beginning

[asterthemegadisaster]

Would you do headcannons Cullens x reader and how they would react if you broke up with them as a prank?

Okay, honestly doing a full-fledged fic would be a LOT of brainpower, and today's a minimal spoon day (sorry I tried to do it in a day and I just couldn't lmfao), so I'm just gonna format this as a textpost with reader's breakup message and then how I think each Cullen would react.

I'll work on a part 2 with the Cullen women at some point, it may take me a bit though. But for now, here is how I think the Cullen men would react to you breaking up with them as a prank

gif cred

As you stand in front of your lover, you fight to push down the smile threatening to reveal your farce, instead trying to evoke tears to make your words believable. "I think we should break up," you say, a dramatic tear rolling down your face; trying to imagine it's real, more tears begin to fall as you continue, "I haven't been happy for a while now, and I don't want to hold you back. We can coordinate exchanging our things later, but right now I think I should just go." You stand there, tears streaming down your face, waiting for their response.

gif cred

Emmett: He paused, thinking carefully over your words, a small smile formed on his face as he said, "I don't believe you. Nice tears, though!" "How did you know??" You cried, not expecting him to see through you so easily. His laughter boomed as he doubled over, holding his belly. His voice took on a mocking tone as he said, "I dOn'T wAnNa HoLd YoU bAcK," he stuck his tongue out at you, "you would never say something like that, plain and simple." He paused once more, "It's also April 1st," he said with a smile.

Edward: "I knew a monster like me could never be loved," Edward said to you, tears running down his face rapidly. You reached out to him, but he was gone in a flash, leaving you standing there, jaw dropped and stunned to silence. Edward didn't return for a week and wouldn't talk about where he'd gone off to when he got back, only that after Alice had texted and called him countless times, he relented and came home. You slowly walked up to Edward, your eyes filling with tears, "Oh, God, Edward," you said, rushing to his side and taking his hand, "it was just an April Fool's prank." You stroked his smooth cheek gently before continuing, "You know I love you, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you so much." Edward met your eyes and spoke softly, "I deserve this pain, you're too good for a soulless demon like me."

gif cred

Carlisle: Carlisle just stood there, unmoving for a few moments, as if he was unsure of what to say. When his eyes met yours, they were sad but set; his response came gently and level-headedly, "If that's your choice, who am I to stop you? Would you like anything before I take you home?" You stood, unmoving for a moment, the sight of a single tear rolling down Carlisle's cheek broke your heart in two, and you couldn't help but confess to your facade. "I love you, it was a bad prank, I'm so sorry," you said, your words blurring together as you tried to get them out before the tears spilled out of your eyes. "A prank?" Carlisle said in disbelief, "How could you be so cruel?" And in a flash, he left the room.

image cred yasmine_sahid on insta

Jasper: Jasper just stood there, unmoving, the glaze over his eyes making it clear he was overwhelmed by the smell of your blood. His frame relaxed as you moved to the couch on the other side of the room. He took a measured breath before he responded, "I can tell you're lying." He met your eyes as he continued, "Why are you saying this?" "It was just a prank, it's April 1st," you replied, ashamed of your actions. A wave of calm washed over you, no doubt caused by Jasper. "I'll get you back for it later," he said with a small grin.

If you wanna read more of my stuff, check out my masterlist! Thanks for your time today, and feel free to drop an ask of your own. I take requests for more than just twilight haha, if I don't know the fandom, I'll let you know.

[genericpuff]

Hey puff! So you said Hades is a "mess who hasn't spilled over" and there are definitely some warning signs even now - Artemis' dislike, the ominous grin in the last chapter does not bode well for Alex, him treating Minthe pretty badly and dismissively, being open about his attraction to Kore while acknowledging Minthe, eating Dio to shut him up and laughing about it (No Kronos flashbacks, Hades??) Of course he did a lot of this in LO too but that was framed as a good thing and you seem more self aware than that.

My question is are he and Kore still endgame with his bad traits? Or is Kore just hiding a much darker, more selfish side who would like all this?

Hades and Kore are both very, VERY complicated people with complicated backstories that involve both the good and the bad. They're both victims of circumstance as well as their own wrongdoings (even the ones that were well-intentioned, they're both walking the road to hell wink wink), they're both holding on to some pretty dark shit and we're going to be exploring plenty of both sides along the way. I'm obviously trying not to spoil anything, but I will say that Hades and Persephone are not going to have a cut-and-dry 'fairy tale romance' like what was attempted in LO, Rekindled is attempting to be a more faithful retelling of the original Hymn to Demeter after all (or at least its original themes and messaging). They're both incredibly damaged people with a lot of tightly-sealed baggage that DESPERATELY needs to be unpacked and we all know what happens to relationships built on those types of foundations ;0 So that's all ima say on that ~

As for the irony of Hades 'eating' Dionysus, hurt people hurt people. Though I wouldn't worry about Dionysus, he just projects his consciousness into berries, he's alive and well ;) As for Hades... let's just say you shouldn't eat berries possessed by the god of madness, guy is gonna have a harsh comedown LOL

[grayintogreen]

Respectfully, but a character can be and SHOULD BE allowed to be more than one thing without it being considered "contradictory", "retconning," or "negative character development."

[funforahermit]

I'll be honest with you, I listened to Steve Wrigley's podcast episode with Rhys just now and I thought it was really great.

I know Steve's not exactly the fandom's favourite person, and in fact I agree with most of the reasons why, I just maybe don't lean into the "therefore he's clearly a toxic person" vibes too much I guess?

There's one thing I want to talk about though, which is why I'm here - In their conversation, they touch on the topic of mocking/making fun of people as part of comedy, and whether or not it's okay to do it, and they kinda land on the conclusion that it shouldn't be taken too seriously. And I get what they mean. However...

I believe it's important to consider that ridicule is also a very effective instrument of oppression. I know because it worked on me, big time. I grew up laughing at so many groups, and individual people too, that the media told me were complete idiots, and I'm only now finding out that their ridiculousness was just made up of half-truths and twisted facts specifically because someone wanted their credibility destroyed to make themselves look better. It's comedy abused as dangerous propaganda, and it fucking works. Once we start laughing at someone, we don't listen to them any more. Just think about the woman who sued McDonalds or whatever it was because "her coffee was hot", for example. I believed it. I laughed. I made my own jokes about it, for years on end. I didn't think twice about why she might have been right to do it. We weren't told the facts, we were just told a comedy version of it, with the good side and the bad side clearly assigned, and we bought it. So this is why I'm extremely wary of it now. And I get really uncomfortable when comedians think they can mock anything and anyone they want, because in the process they could - even accidentally - take away precious credibility from someone who actually needs and deserves it.

I almost want to tell all this to Steve, make him aware of this angle, maybe make him think a little bit more about who he really wants to mock. I think he's big on not taking any sides, but then maybe leave politics alone altogether, it's just too important :/

Anyway, I'm evidently not good at articulating what I mean, let alone in a concise not-rambly way, so I won't.

[hikato-chan]

Hi dear SVSSS fandom, does anyone have any fic recommendations where SQQ is a complete badass? Please? I want to read that so badly, I got reminded of Inappropriate Use May Result in Strange Side Effects by AceOfDivineChlorophyll and how badass he is in LBH body and now I just need to read something that doesn't immediately wife plot him.

Doesn't matter if the fic is about something else as long as he's allowed to be actually strong! Please! I have no idea how to find this

[cornertheculprit]

i saw someone on reddit say that turnabout revolution sucked because apollo had pretty much no reaction to watching jove's last moments compared to his breakdown when he found out dhurke was dead and like. yeah man. he literally says, earlier in the case, that he never really gave enough of a shit about jove to ask about him because he never knew him and considered dhurke his dad ("[...] Plus, I always thought of Dhurke as my dad, so I never really brought it up."/"(My real dad... I was never really interested in learning about him. [...])"). he got curious enough about him when dhurke gave him the photo to ask for whatever details they knew but he still didn't KNOW the guy at all. why would he have the same reaction to his final moments as discovering that the man who raised him was dead.

[lizasweetling]

I see the main cast is joining us behind the couch. Cool 👍

also, isn't Dal "Captain Dal Maghiar"? like maybe not a hugely high ranking officer but that's an officer's title isn't it?? Maybe the enlistedmen in the black squad all have low officer rank, and theoretically could command boots on the ground from other divisions?

So like even as an officer, he doesn't think of himself as an officer?