#ITS ALL SO FUTILE

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

i'm going to he so fucking insufferae about theatre btw. just started my job at the theatre, with which i'm already obsessed bc their plays and stuff are just plain brilliant i could go on rants for hours and boy am i gonna know these plays by heart once i've sat through one half a dozen times. AND i joined a theatre class at school. with four other people but. i'm so incredibly motivated. i NEED. anyway it's tumblr y'all know i regularly go full obsessed nerd on things i am a Freak when it comes to these things and BOY is it gonna be Bad with the theatre

[getvalentined]

Vincent Valentine of the Elite Four from Pokémon Holy/Meteor, releasing never on the N!ntendo Switch.

I put way too much effort into this for a dorky one-off, but here we are! I have a whole backstory for this AU but I will not bore you all with the details.

[ironmansbay]

“aegon’s mini-speech to larys listing his new ailments and insecurities was designed to humiliate his character” is easily the funniest breed of finale hate so far. “The guy who gets traumatically castrated as a result of an already extremely traumatic disabling event in every version of this story should never bring it up bc I, the viewer, consider that an insurmountable embarrassment for him and inherently undignified. I’m saying this for disability rights reasons btw.”

[julijbee]

so i finished the dlc.

[nighthaunting]

You ever have a moment where you reconsider something you thought a lot about in the past but then sort of turned your attention away from for a while, and your new perspective just blows the whole thing open?

Me thinking about russ and magnus during ATS/PB today after years of taking a break from HH/40K lore yielded one such series of revelations.

I was thinking about Betrayer and Russ' attempt to give Angron a lesson via the Night of the Wolf. I was thinking about Prospero Burns and Russ' belief that he's had a direct line to Magnus this whole time via Kaspar. I was thinking about that 'please'. And.

I know this is pretty much canon to the text but I've never before really Considered that one of Russ' motives in keeping this guy alive and sending him out on compliances with his Legion was (Russ believed at least) letting Magnus see the SW in action and hoping that this might influence him into trying to Avoid doing anything that might cause Russ to be sent after him.

In the past I've talked a lot about the SW keeping Kaspar around to see what would happen in terms of thinking the TS were up to something or going to do something to the Legion, which is very much the assumption the Chaos entity wanted them to make, but looking back I tbh think i slept on the concept of Russ, who canonically has taken out at least one of the Lost Primarchs in an event which is prefers not to speak (or at least the codex Strongly Implies that Russ has been used against another primarch before), and who also canonically went into the Night of the Wolf fully willing to die to make his point to Angron if only Angron could understand what he was doing.

I'm sort of compelled by the concept because in a sense Russ was letting (what he thought was) Magnus take a peek behind the barbarian mask he likes to put on, to see into a more genuine heart of his legion, letting his guard down a bit by allowing this obviously-compromised spy in. Much the same way he let the mask drop when he went to try and talk some sense into Angron, bringing up philosophy and reading and ideals that Russ' ignorant-but-noble barbarian persona would never admit to being interested in let alone reading.

And both times the gambit failed, in Magnus' case because it wasn't Magnus on the other end of the line, and in Angron's case because he was too far gone to really get what Russ was illustrating for him.

The whole thing was orchestrated so well, ironically giving the "proof" that Magnus was up to something via this sleeper agent spy that the SW were toting around with them, playing on Russ being curious enough to keep this guy around and connect the dots on the (false) links between this guy and the TS. I have this headcanon that Russ and Lorgar were actually fairly close, with Russ actually talking to Lorgar about Lorgar's writings, because he didn't seem surprised that Russ had read them and had thoughts on them in Betrayer, so I actually sort of like the idea that he had a hand in setting up the fall of Prospero? I like the tragedy of the idea that he at least had some input on the idea, being familiar enough with Russ to know he'd take the bait.

Which would make that a third time Russ got genuine with someone and had it either fail or be used against him...

[time-is-restored]

btw not to make everything about My Fucking Guy but i honestly think one of the things that seperates q!phil out from the other islanders is the approach he takes to dealing with the lack of agency + control all the islanders have over whatever the fuck the federation's doing.

it shows up most prominently whenever tubbo is excitedly telling him about the 'progress' he's made with cucurucho or various investigations (ie: trapping him into a corner with the 'do you have free will' questions), and phil always shoots it down w an immediate 'that doesn't mean anything. curucuho will say anything to mess with you. you can't take anything he says as true.'

and it's not that phil is... a paticularly pessimistic character? he's just EXTREMELY practical. like, he's yet to give up on anyone EVER finding ANY answers (he was the one who initially gave the federation that one week ultimatum w the cage for a cage stream), he just doesn't trust the idea that curucuho is ever going to voluntarily give them. they're uncontrollable + senseless - you might as well argue with the weather.

and like, if that's how he sees the one (1) and only point of contact the islanders HAD with the federation for months, it explains a lot abt his characters lifestyle! ofc he sits on the wall all day, talking to his kids, and keeping his head down. he believes that the federation wants nothing more than to drag the islanders into sick games + tasks just so they can fuck with their head (ie: curucuho revealing he was the one cellbit gathered all that information for). and while he can't totally PREVENT any of that from ever impacting him, he can make sure his kids are well fed, well protected, and as happy + comfortable as he can manage. this is objectively not a perfect situation, there is a guaranteed amount of suffering + fear that he can't mitigate, but he can at least account for it.

like, he REFUSES to engage. whenever curucho shows up, he treats them with total ambivalence. he's not going to get riled up by anything they do, he's not going to get super attached to the guy, he's just gonna laugh it off and irish goodbye it when things drag on. the ONLY time he's strayed from that general guiding principle has been since he's lost his eggs, and can no longer afford to let the federation's fuckery go: those are his fucking kids.

hence the completely unprecedented levels of outward rage and sadness and terror he shows throughout the birdcage streams - almost all directed directly to cucurucho. it's all a completely fair + proportional response to the horror the islanders are being subjected to, but it feels so different bc until now, q!phil has been so dedicated to not reacting, and not giving the federation any sign that they're actually getting to him.

[bad-as-me]

i think in the best timeline, the dlc is trying to say that jar burials and erdtree burials started off with the same intent - "the cycle of death and rebirth, taken into the hands of mortal men".

its possible that not unlike the golden order, this intent was corrupted over time or one subsection of zealots took the process and committed atrocities with it

that said

i think a big theme in this story, one that might supercede the cycle of violence angle, is the flawed thinking of one person or one group believing they know whats best for others. manipulating or using them for the supposed "greater good"

i think the hornsent/crucible (and possibly certain groups of shamans, see the Greatjar helmet) genuinely believed this form of death was a good thing to do for people. they see life as this intermingled thing, where the holiest of beings are ones that have aspects of every part of nature. they're more than comfortable with death, given the many rituals surrounding it in the shadowlands. It's living as a way of preparing for the life to come, rather than focusing on life as it is for the living.

that in itself isnt a "bad" faith to have, but imposing that belief on others, insisting that you know better than them and this will all be worth it in your next life, well. thats bad.

marika started her kingdom on the ideals that she would bring a sense of Order to the world, after witnessing what she saw as pure chaos and senseless cruelty in the shadow realm. by staunchly opposing the crucible's ideal (death is natural, all things should be conjoined/mixed together with one another), her process was one that left everyone... unalloyed, for lack of a better term. but its too aggressively independent, too cruel towards even the idea of variance, and shes limited by what she knows in her upbringing. hence, the erdtree burials and jar burials are very similar. hence, she imposes the Golden Order on all of the land and refuses to compromise that.

where we're at now, I think, leads to us seeing the same cycle with miquella. I don't know (or at least, don't agree with) whether the lore implicitly states one viewpoint is inherently Good or Correct, but I think that hardline approach that all these groups eventually develop is whats killing them. they refuse to allow other worldviews, or permit a cycle to change, because they genuinely believe their faith is best for everyone's interests and worth the sacrifice

and in a way, we the player are potentially continuing this track record too if we seek lordship, aren't we? it's up to us for sure, but most of the npcs in the base game don't tend to describe us as good or evil. More often than not, they say we are tremendously uncompromising.

[taraxacum-vulpes]

why is everyone pretending like cyberpunk edgerunners is good. the writing is so bad i hate it

[thedailydescent]

Every time I see advertisements for the third season of Bridgerton I'm forever thankful I gave up that liberal covid escapism show after season 2 when I realized that we were actually supposed to be rooting for the main character who exposed a black pregnant teenager and a feminist activist, and that there would be no lasting consequence for that because this show is really all about preserving social order and maintaining the nuclear family. why look at class segregation when you can look at these shirtless colonizers.

[dayurno]

do we think jean was allowed 2 get his stickers from the nest ever…. Did they ever mail him some belongings……. the few things he had…… everything in me tells me No but my heart wants to say the the ea president had his stuff like mailed out due to stephanie’s request or something. do u think kevin ever got him some of the stickers and postcards when he traveled (bc we know kevin too had postcards on his wall……) im ill dayurno. renee and jean need to go out on a little shopping spree and he needs to get more stickers and magnets

MORE STICKERS AND MAGNETS I AM SERIOUSLY ILL MY STOMACH HURTS i cant do this anymore............................ i dont know if jean ever got any of it back but the idea that jean moreau likes stickers. and he likes magnets. and he was a person, a real person, not a punching bag, someone with interests and hopes and fears and dreams and a past and a future and and and and. do you get it. i feel like when a character has been through so many horrible things we are bound to forget the little cracks of light but isn't it insane that he had stickers. isn't it. isn't it crazy that life was horrible and jean is more scar tissue than skin but he had stickers. my god he had stickers. and he had magnets. and he thought edgar allen looked like a pretentious coffin. and he was thankful to renee. and he was ready to die but he liked stickers. DO YOU GET IT!!!!!!!! he was ready to die. but he liked stickers. this is fucking me up

[jam-packed]

oughhh i have. something.....in the works. but i cant draw it till my new ipad comes in next week sigh :(

[frogs-in3-hills]

anyways it’s funny that i say i prefer stories that work with themes on a bigger scale meanwhile my favorite piece of fiction in the entire world is nana by ai yazawa, which is so deeply embedded in its characters perspectives that it almost becomes apolitical. like i don’t know if ai yazawa fully realizes that nana k is a csa victim or that ren manipulates nana o with sex or that shin & reira’s relationship is unhealthy. she might or she might not.. it doesn’t matter what she thinks because she’s just fully uninterested in passing judgement on these things, instead focusing on portraying them and the characters’ experiences extremely authentically & leaving the viewer to interpret what it is and what it means. which counterintuitively makes them more compelling to me (the themes enjoyer…) only because she’s so fucking good at doing that. truly i have seen some very well-written characters but i have never seen anything like the characters in nana……..

[swampthingking]

oh! oh </3 oh!! okay!

[larrythefloridaman]

*decadently sampling Cheeze Whiz on a Ritz Cracker like its pâté* The thing about crimson and chartreuse's relationship is that they fight. Crimson says some cruel shit to her here and there, mostly revolving around folk. but, and ive discussed this before, i really dont get the sense that crimson hates her like he hates prism and cobalt. chartreuse has been a little defensive of him, because she gets how bad he has it even before he grasps the fullness of it, and she picks fights with him, sometimes- hes just a dickhead and thinks shes a fool for hanging all her hopes on folk and isnt shy about letting her know it. And like, from his perspective, I kind of get it? I dont agree, but like. lets look at the facts for a second

First off- they met a VERY short amount of time ago by the standards of Immortal Gods, and from crimson's perspective, chartreuse has been all Distant and Enlightened and Omniscient™️ for a long time and her recent behavior is distinctly unstable by comparison to that standard. chartreuse was saying she loved him in a matter of months, when they met because Folk was doing something that was hurting her and happened to flirt with her while she was reeling in confusion and anger from losing her nonlinear timesight and the chip damage of time being fucked with until her failsafe activated, and thus not really in a normal, sound, rational state of mind? She was a bit emotionally all over the place at the time, and very much kept Folk, then borderline a stranger, on impulse. Yes, ryan said in the brief time Folk was gone and chartreuse had her absolute perspective back she witnessed all of folk's life in an instant to make that decision, but thats very... one-sided, isnt it? Like, from crimson's perspective chartreuse looks like shes having some sort of breakdown and deciding to throw her everything into dating Some Guy who used the stabbing chartreuse machine even if it means she keeps getting stabbed because she became inexplicably obsessed with him

Second, Folk is bound to her. his continued existence is hurting her, Crimson knows this is costing her something just as much as Cobalt does. and Chartreuse won't tell Folk fucking anything at first, and Crimson would know this because chartreuse doesnt tell Anyone anything she doesnt absolutely have to. Not just about the fact she's maintaining his future to keep him around, slowly letting his old life turn to dust to buy him as much time as possible before she inevitably has to let him die too, effectively making their relationship a kind of entrapment, the ethical question of 'what if Folk had gotten fed up with her secrecy and refusal to be honest and open with him and broke up with her, what would she do then? If theres no way to end a relationship without ending up dead or as a dying prisoner of your bond then thats fucked up' never raised- but also just. basic information about their family. She didn't tell him Cobalt existed until he was starting to meddle in kerfuffle affairs, and she wouldn't confirm or deny if there were more of them either.

Third, Folk is a mortal therapist who holds kindness and understanding as core, open values. Now, Crimson is a deeply jaded son of a bitch who tends to distrust anything thats too overly nice and goody-two-shoes right out of the gate. and We Know Why. But theres also an element of defeatism in Crimson's understanding of their situation. This is apparent in his conversation with Folk in the winners waiting room of ncct4. This doesnt mean he intends to stop trying, but there's an air of grim acceptance, of futility to a lot of what he does because at the end of the day he doesnt really have any hope things can get better, especially through something as simple as therapy, before he starts to let himself feel otherwise. When Folk thinks he knows how to help, Prism speaks through Crimson to dismiss it as useless, and Crimson does not resist. He, fundamentally, agrees with the notion that therapy would be useless for them, even if getting it were on the table for him. Crimson does not believe that his family can get better and live (relatively) normal lives, its an impossibility in his mind. He understands why it would be wanted, but the thought is absurd. Its childish. So when Chartreuse starts distancing herself, Crimson is confused- it's hopeless, what does she think she's doing, she's just gonna get herself hurt for something that'll never last, what is she so upset for when she knew this would happen, her own nature, THEIR own nature made this inevitable. And then she abandons her godhood, and, oh God now thats an Option On The Table, Crimson tries writing her off as a fool- throwing away her lifeline, her vigilant awareness of her meddling, every safeguard shes ever had, all to save Some Random Fucking Guy she thinks can 'fix' her. 'Really, Chartreuse? I know you're having a little episode here and we're all pretty fucked in the head but isn't dating your therapist you met three months ago a little on-the-nose?' type sentiment, y'get me

And finally, I get the sense that Chartreuse is the only person in that family crimson respects and cares for without caveat, because while the whole pomp and circumstance of godhood she and cobalt put on is annoying, and again, they fight, shes got a backbone and integrity and sincerely good intentions, but she also does what she wants without making self-righteous excuses for herself or pretending she's untouchable or lording over him, and theres a sort of 'dont tell mom/cobalt' solidarity between them. but I think theres also a cocktail of fear and jealousy in there, when she starts to pull away. Like. "Dont be stupid. whats your gameplan sis. Youre making this up as you go and its gonna kick you in the ass sooner or later. This is never gonna work. You're hurting and endangering yourself for no reason. You're gonna forget what its like and right when you let your guard down you're just gonna get fucked over. Stupid. Crybaby. for the love of god don't leave me alone in that fucking house." Y'get me.

And when he's finally accepted Folk as something important to her, important enough to upend her whole life to be with him, that she's really healing and he's really good for her... he's still not being especially nice- he'd hardly sound like himself if he did, hes a little cunt reflexively- but he tells him to make their time count. He wants to be at their wedding even if he has to crash the fucking thing. Hes starting to let things be meaningful to him again. Its clear to me that, while he sincerely cant stand cobalt or their mother, he actually really does care about his sister even if he sucks ass at showing it sometimes. Its... bittersweet.

[hum--hallelujah]

the THING about Disloyal Order Of Water Buffaloes is that, #1, it is one of the most melodically satisfying songs I've ever heard and that's why it was one of the first FOB songs I actually listened to of my own free choice, and #2, it makes people crazy insane bc so many of the lyrics simply make zero sense on a surface level EXCEPT "I'm half doomed and you're semi sweet" which IMMEDIATELY gets across its point and acts as a thesis statement to the song, thus allowing an understanding of the rest of the lyrics to fall into place

[verflares]

i feel like i could write an entire mini-essay thing on why draconification rules as a narrative thingy + why it, the dragons and the thematic of immortality/undeath are so relevant and impactful towards botw/totks characters and themes as a whole. like i WONT because it really is just text thats already there. but i could .