#NOT TO SAY i don't think their bond is real. or that its not meaningful.

[dhmis-autism]

if the book getting shredded wasnt a bad thing then why was there ominous music 🙄

COUNTERPOINT: if the house is so bad!! why are there so many cheery songs in it!!! if musical tone is the deciding factor in morality here then where are all the scary songs!!

youre gonna tell me youre scared of Big Day? youre scared of the We're in A Car song? Electricity? Cmaaawwwnn!!

SECOND POINT:

Whatever, yeah, okay everyone says the constant questionably real time loops and stagnation and repetition and sameness is a bad thing what! ever! I think it's a good thing!

I think that everybody has this assumption that the three of them will be sort of inextricably connected and woven into each other and their lives will continue on but better.

But man! When they get out of there- IF they ever get out (IF THERE'S EVEN ANYTHING TO GET OUT TO)- there's no way they're not going to want their own little lives!

At this point I'm looking at Red especially! There's no way they hang around each other much or at all when they eventually have their own things going on, own places to upkeep (if we go by the ideal set by the Community dream! Let's go with that!), their own little schedules to maintain? Come ONNN.

Expecting the three of them to stay together outside of an inexplicable force is like expecting childhood school friends to stay together once schools ended.

Sure, you know them, sure they were formative to your entire being as a person, but eventually you see them and suddenly, you're NOT looking at the first person to make you feel safe, you're NOT looking at someone who was the entire basis of how you understand relationships, you're NOT looking at the person whos kindness and tenderness touched your heart.

You're looking at "the girl I knew in 4th grade or something".

Really, I think I'm thinking of the best for everyone here!

[drdemonprince]

Hey Devon. This is related to community-building ask, as I feel it kinda hit something in me, and that is my frustration with my local queer "main community", who is mostly made up of people who can work/hang together (people in visual and performative arts, LGBT NGOs, event organisers and so on). It's so closed off and so circlejerk-y that it's demoralising. I've been trying to fit in ever since I started being an adult, almost ten years ago, but I have never made any progress on getting to any of its members. I have made queer friends who are wonderful people, and as you said in the previous ask, that is enough and makes a community of our own already. Nevertheless, it is frustrating for all of us to go to a queer space/show/event just to see that the crowd there is made up of people who know each other and talk to each other and make big groups, while we're just sitting there. It brings us down to know that for queer political events like protests (which are ofc organised by them), we have no one left to fall back on except us. It makes it weird when only one of us is able to go protest, they'd rather not go because it feels so lonely to be sitting around all those people who just know each other, who have been passing by us for so many times over the years, and yet never take interest in even saying "hi" or whatever. It makes us think that they're fucking disingenuous and their "community building" is a load of crap. And I don't really want to feel like that about my people, but look at me, after almost ten years in my city, I fucking do.

Hi there, thanks for your message.

Let me just say that while I understand where the perception comes from, the queer people who put on shows, run nonprofits, and go out clubbing are not "The main lgbtq community" in your city. They're just a bunch of cliquish, careerist, young, privileged people who market themselves as such because they've been convinced that's what the "queer community" is and because doing so helps them get butts in seats at events.

I've seen theater kids, drag performers, DJs, comedians, party promoters, and other various people of the attention-seeking arts (said neutrally) do this all my fucking life. They stake a claim on building "feminist spaces" and "anti-racist" spaces, too, among other things, and use those higher values to sell tickets to their shit too. It's a way to make every tragedy that strikes oppressed people into an advertisement for their burlesques and shit. Don't let the self-important myopia get to you.

The real queer community? In any given city? Well, it's not any one thing. There is no singular "queer community". What people often refer to as the LGBTQ community or the queer community is a demographic, not an actual community. That demographic is marketed to, including by fellow queer people, but that does not a community make.

A community consists of people who know one another, and have enduring bonds, and who have shown up for one another mutually in multiple ways. A lot of these hot cool stylish young queer people are actually merely colleagues of one another. When there's a conflict, or a cancellation, or a venue that closes, they will be tossed to the wind like so many dandelion seeds. Compare that to you and your friends, who can and do remain in contact as the seasons of life change.

It is demoralizing to see so many people who talk a big game about community fail to show up to do activist work that is meaningful to you. I can't deny feeling the same way. For many years, I dated an actor who was very plugged into the local scene, and while his theater company had a reputation for being progressive, trans inclusive, even left-leaning, almost nobody in that collective did anything for the broader 'community' at all. They were all too busy being overworked five nights a week for like a $200 per week stipend, writing plays in which they repeated leftist platitudes but did relatively little.

I'm being a big overly cynical here -- the theater did just put on a big pro Palestinian fundraiser -- but the fact is that running a club, a theater, a local education org, or a regular drag show is a business, and in the end the business always comes first. Even when the members of that business might not want it to. They're often extremely exploited and underpaid, which is part of what makes them so hungry to market themselves and maintain their careers. I have sympathy for it. But meaningful social connections and local impact it does not make.

All of which is to say: please try to remember that these people presenting themselves as the symbols of the local "community" are just a bunch of artistic kids who are trying to make a living doing what they love. They're naive, exploited, a little self-absorbed yes, but they're ultimately not that important. they just deal in a very self-important line of work.

There are SO many queer people all around you who never go to those fucking clubs and shows and aren't even on instagram. The "main" queer community, demographically, is more like the nerdy 40 year old gay couple that lives down the street from you who goes out to the movies once or twice a month and holds board game nights with their friends. The "main" queer community is volunteering at the zoo, going camping with their fraternity brothers that they met 20 years ago, working at the car dealership, planting tomatoes at the local community garden, taking care of elders with dementia, organizing weekly running groups.

You can find people like this -- total normies -- who will care about causes greater than themselves and want to contribute to community building efforts. Many of those people are already doing a ton to make community. It's just less sexy and less self-consciously queer than like, the dance parties. It's also more diverse, accessible, and capable of meeting people where they are at.

It does sound like you would like to meet more activist friends / politically engaged friends, and for that I'd say try looking at pro-Palestinian (for example) events and spaces and seeing who turns up there, checking out a local food not bombs chapter, looking up local mutual aid groups or buy nothing groups, getting involved in hyper-local initiatives, and putting what feelers you can on local forums and personals boards (like Lex, local Facebook groups, local Meetup groups, etc). You probably wont find a perfect space, but you will find worthwhile people scattered everywhere you look!

[darcytaylor]

I have been following few blogs on the Luke - Nic situation, and yours is the only one with the take there was nothing between them. So Im very curious about your take. The issue that personally affects me here is that after living 30+ years in this world, we pick certain actions and behaviours as related to romance and attraction right, but now I feel gaslighted (not by you, but by Nic & Luke) as if my understanding about romantic attracti9j language has always been wrong (this also triggers my trauma because I was never sure about romantic attraction towards me and had spent hours and hours dissecting behaviours by those I thought were attracted to me).

However, I am unable to fit their behaviour and body language in this special bond framework. There were many genuine, natural which went PR. This is where Im confused and feel gaslighted. What are your thoughts on this?

So coming back to your theory about, its a special kind of co-worker relationship, I totally agree this is possible. When you do something you are passionate about thats life changing and meaningful with someone else you can develop a special bond. Probably something similar to the bond soldiers or medical profession share being in a traumatic environment with utmost trust in each other. In Nic & Luke's case unlike other leads they had 5 years to develop the friendship, understand the material and brainstorm between them. I can see how that would create a special bond especially when you have to be vulnerable and comfortable with each other in those intimate scenes.

However, I couldn't fit their behaviour and body language during the promo tour under this special bond framework. There were many moments of genuine connection between them which seemed to go beyond PR or platonic friendship. This is where I feel gaslighted. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think those moments were just friendship and nothing more?

I have never said that there was nothing between them (because at the end of the day I don't know what their relationship is). But I ultimately think that the actions shown don't necessarily scream "we are in a relationship". I say this from experience, I know the bond that co-works can have, and just because they smile at each other, touch each other, and are comfortable saying certain things, it doesn't make me conclude that they are together.

I also think that when I see their interviews, I am not looking for proof of a relationship between them. I think if you go into it with that mindset, that there has to be something more, you make yourself see it and then you will start to believe it. Maybe this is ultimately why you feel gaslit, and I am sorry that the whole situation had made you feel that way. It's an awful feeling to have for sure!

I do think that when actors do promo tours there will always be PR behind it. But just because it is PR doesn't make their interactions not genuine. It can be both all at the same time.

Also, even when people have co-worker relationships doesn't make loving interactions not genuine. I have stated a couple times in my responses to asks what I truly think of these types of relationships/friendships. And they have the ability to be intense! They have the ability to be more than a 'regular' relationship/friendship.

Here are things I have said in the past. It may help you better understand what I think a co-worker relationship can be like and why I think that their actions don't necessarily mean they are something more:

"I do think they mainly have a co-worker type relationship/friendship. But that's NOT saying they aren't close. It's me saying that it is a different type of relationship/friendship, because co-worker friendships do have the potential to be way more than a 'regular' friendship. (I'm also saying this from experience)"

"When you are at work, your co-works tend to see you more than your family and friends. They see you at your worst and at your best, and they have the potential to see the real you."

"I do believe that they are friends with a very close bond. After filming something like Bridgerton and going on the months long promo tour, there will be a bond between them for life, even if they don't hangout regularly after this. I think it is that bond that people are seeing that makes people believe otherwise."

"I have been working for many years, and I have insanely close relationships with coworkers. Coworkers understand a part of you that nobody ever will! And then to top that off with them having to do intimacy scenes, I can understand why they share a bond (that nobody will probably understand)."

[applestorms]

i was gonna write a more extensive post about this, but. fuck that i have too many points to write proper sentences rn, here's a bullet point list of my review of sonic 3. spoilers, obviously. tl;dr: i'm a hater

maria is fridged to hell and back, she is such a nothing character i have secondhand embarrassment for the writers every time she shows up. maria exists only to smile in flashbacks and lie in the flowers and go, "noooooooooooooooo, shadow :(( you can totally be whatever you want, dude," and then die on the floor. we don't even get to see her getting shot. fucking rip off.

to clarify-- maria absolutely does NOT have to be a fucking dead wife trope incarnate, imo. she can very easily be used that way, yes, but i think doing so also misses the core of her character and what she means for shadow. part of the appeal of the conversations that maria & shadow have on the arc in SA2 comes from the fact that they are characters coming from a very similar position, both being incredibly alienated from the rest of the world/humanity, daydreaming about it more than they are able to interact with it directly. like, come ON, they literally live on a fucking space station, the symbolism does not get that much more obvious?? it is the fact that maria CHOOSES to love humanity anyways, despite being unable to interact with it/live within it, that makes her words meaningful. jesus fucking christ.

anyways, speaking of. shadow has NO arc in this movie (literally and figuratively. did you seriously put the spaceship in Ohio) and it drives me up the wall. perhaps i'm just out of the loop on the Current Shit, but it feels like Nobody knows how to write that guy nowadays :((

not that i could fucking tell anyways in this particular movie from how little he shows up or SPEAKS. LET HIM SPEAAAAAK. i swear to GOD, he interacts w/ the main cast like three (3) fucking times in this entire movie and two of those interactions are fights. if you want those cute, quirky, somewhat cringe sonic/shadow interactions, you're better off watching the trailer plus whatever clips of the final fight inevitably end up on youtube, since that's basically their only real conversations in the entire movie.

the ending falls incredibly flat because of this. in the last movie, we at least had some decent character interactions between sonic & knux which made their fight and eventual team up at the end that much more satisfying. there was something to dig your teeth into, a back-and-forth that was entertaining (by sonic movie standards) but also established who they were, not only why they didn't like each other but how they could eventually bond. you had reason to care about knux, and reason to root for them to fight together!!

instead, here we got a whole lotta nothing. sonic and shadow fight, and it's cool, and it does all the Sick References and wowie yay clapping my hands live & learn blue/red lights cool. epic. yet i'm still left sitting here like WHO IS THIS BITCH??? WHO IS HE?????

fundamentally, the problem with this movie is that it Does Not Know what it's primary storyline is, or even who the main character is, and it falls flat on its fucking face because of it. there is no focus. sonic maybe barely kind of squeezes out an arc about teamwork and believing in your friends (a repetition of the last movie, i would argue, but whatever). eggman gets a much more hefty plotline about coming to terms with family, which i would be able to appreciate a whole lot more if it didn't feel like the only meaningful story arc in the entire fucking movie. robotnik bullshittery should be the B plot guys, come the fuck on. and shadow, of fucking course, gets NOTHING. he stands around looking grumpy and cool (and very cute, the animators did alright, i'll give them that), and emotes jack fucking shit. i know he's not a certified yapper like some people, but come the fuck on, he can still like. say words. right. RIGHT

is this review even comprehensible even more? i don't care, this is driving me insane. are you guys seeing this shit. are you.

this isn't even just me being a shipper and going wahh wahh no sonadow moments. you put those bitches on the poster why are they not talkinggg. even just an argument would be Great. it was like the one thing sonic prime figured out, why is it so empty here.

this also leads to the fundamental issue where i have NO fucking idea why either of them are so chill with each other by the ending. not only do i not know why shadow is so chill with sonic, considering he was just dead set on ending the fucking world to get revenge and one conversation is not enuf to convince me that he would get over it (even the lowkey suicidal tendencies fall somewhat flat for me since AGAIN. NOTHING), but i ALSO don't know why SONIC gives a shit about shadow!! or why he's so happy go lucky about all this!!! dawg he just killed the closest thing you have to a father. as much as i hate the humans in this series, even i have to sit for a minute and go uhh what? there is absolutely NOTHING to make their team up at the end of this emotionally meaningful other than the bland, surface level reaction of Yay Shadow And Sonic On Screen :) like the movie itself simply does not build up their rivalry in a meaningful enough way to make it feel worth it. one conversation can do a lot, but only if you have the build up to MAKE it mean a lot. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh

the ending being almost exactly the same as the beginning thus doesn't surprise me in the slightest cuz like. what else do you do. sonic Does Not have any reason to care about that bitch and neither does anyone else. his actual enemy eggman is presumably dead, so. who cares. a couple good fights then nice knowin' ya man o7 thanks for sacrificing yourself to save the world or whatever

the scene where shadow stalks the individual team members through the remains of their old military base/Ohio Arc stand in or whatever is cool, yes. one single hand clap for that. i like them making him ominous as fuck. but i just-- i need everybody to shut the fuck up for like two seconds so sonic and shadow can talk directly and have a proper fucking conversation before the literal end of the movie, like please just argue or SOMETHING. DO. SOMETHING. MEANING. LIKE A CHARACTER THING. WHO R U

also the eggman/stone shit drives me up the wall. another set of bitch ass writers too scared to make their characters canonically queer, so they bury their gays instead. idfc that they're inevitably going to revive him again, it's still stupid as shit. stone also does nothing in this movie so his internal "conflict" is dumb anyways aaaaskjdflksdjfl smacking my head on the keyboard

there comes a point in this movie where it really does feel like Everything is just about eggman and gerald. tails and knux stop being meaningful characters with personalities outside of quips by approximately the chao garden. sonic's weird human parents aren't even given a meaningful storyline outside of the one time that shadow punches him when they try to set up some miscommunication bullshit or whatever at the end. sonic and shadow fight but even that gets interrupted by... whatever the hell they were doing??? again, all of this would be way less aggravating if those scenes were able to fulfill their actual purpose: side bullshit funnie stuff to break up the serious scenes of the main plotline. unfortunately, this movie thinks a flashback to the traveling wilburys is sufficient to make its main character a complex, nuanced person. face in hands

seriously. why is that scene of eggman & gerald telling stone & shads to get back in the crab a microcosm of this entire film. orz

also also, before someone bitches at me for not paying close enough attention to [x] specific detail or whatever-- anything that you can easily miss on a first watch through should Not be integral to the plot of a movie. istg, i write scripts, i know how this shit works. if your audience can't figure out the emotional arc of a character after one watch, you have fundamentally failed your job as a writer. a flashback is not sufficient character writing, jfc.

and really, that's what it all comes down to, isn't it? the writing. it's always the Fucking writing with these movies. the animation here is, for the most part, fantastic, the voice acting is decent at worst, even the awkwardness of a half-human cast is somewhat smoothed over. yet the writing for these movies never fucking improves-- the jokes are still cringe at best, the references are blunt and unnatural, and the characters. have. no. arc.

perhaps it was somewhat inevitable that we end up at this point. this movie series has already been building up an entire universe of Other Bullshit, and it is here that we feel a lot of that crashing back down. the shelf could only stand up for so long.

i suppose in conclusion, my main takeaway from this movie is that it is an adaptation that fails. it does not understand who its characters are or what they want, it does not know why people connected to the characters it attempts to introduce on an emotional level, and it does not know how to make its own confusing lore work with all of the new details.

[sophiapixel45]

I don't get all the Sonia hate

I know there's a lot of criticism raised against the sdr2 survivors (a lot of which I feel isn't really fair), but most of it is against Sonia.

Admittedly, her character arc isn't near comparable to Fuyuhiko or Hajime but I think its kind of close to Akane's. Likewise, why would you say that Sonia didn't get a character arc when Kazuichi is right there.

I'm gonna talk about him first because sometimes he annoys me. Sometimes.

Kazuichi has some of the clearest character flaws out of everyone, the only people who are more clearly flawed are Fuyuhiko, Nagito, and Hiyoko. They all have this addressed several times in the narrative, even if they don't fully develop from it in the end. Kazuichi doesn't even really have it acknowledged by the narrative. It's been a while since I've played his FTEs, but a key part of that is that he's got trust issues and he's a coward. He's still a coward at the end, but I don't care too much about that. What's worse is that he still can't trust others.

At times, it's suggested that he outgrows his trust issues, with how clingy he can be with Fuyuhiko and Hajime. Yet, he'll still turn on either of them at the drop of a hat. Kazuichi suspects Fuyuhiko a lot during the fifth trial, and very openly voices that without hesitation. He still doesn't trust him.

Still he spends more time with Hajime throughout the story and turns on him far more often. Not only does he accuse him of being the traitor constantly in chapter four due to the advice of someone he knows he shouldn't trust, but he clearly still thinks this until the beginning of chapter five.

The two worst cases of this that go unaddressed is trial five (again) and chapter six. Of the cast, he's the only one to immediately blame Chiaki for being the traitor, accusing her of tricking them. The others are only willing to believe she's the traitor because they trust her first and foremost. Not him. He takes it and runs without to doubt the entirety of Chiaki's character.

Again, this would be fine if he ever grew from it.

Yet, not only does no one really care about it, but he does it again in chapter six. When Hajime's accused of being the mastermind, he's the first to accuse him of tricking them. In contrast, Sonia says that she doesn't want any last minute plot twists (I'll come back to this later). He doesn't apologise for being so sceptical and everyone just knows this is how Kazuichi is at his core.

He comes out of chapter six having being the same person he was in chapter one, just having cried a little more.

Now onto Sonia.

Sonia is relatively actively compared to most other characters. She sets up the get together between the girls in chapter 2, trying to bond with them all in the way that no one else has really been doing in Imposter's absence. She's more upset than most others for Mahiru's death and seems to feel more guilt and responsibility for that. It seems those feelings directly lead into her being more active during the investigation and later contributing a good amount of evidence in the trial.

Even if she's not as active in chapter three and four, there's still substance for her here.

I always liked how the connection between her and Gundham felt real. They're both kind of dweebs who get a chance to bond over their shared interests, especially since they are each somewhat different from the rest of the cast. Obviously Gundham speaks in a way that no one else does and people generally don't take him seriously because of it, but Sonia's a foreigner who doesn't really understand the culture that she's in. What's more, she's never been treated normally even in her home country. Kazuichi pushes that narrative of her difference; Gundham doesn't care. The romance is cute without being too over the top.

Kazuichi never has any meaningful relationship with another character (that isn't entirely one sided). He's the only survivor who doesn't do so and thus loses the chances for emotion.

Sonia's actual character development doesn't start until the end of chapter four and well into chapter five. I think this is more so because of the cast I think that Sonia's more down to earth in the fact that her character flaws aren't glaringly obvious. She's overly emotional to the point that it inhibits her ability to act in a rational way, but this only becomes clear as the game continues and she actually becomes closer to the others. She defends Gundham, but she also is the only one to defend Nagito in trial 4 because she - in one way another - has faith in his character.

It starts with not just Gundham's sacrifice but the reason that he did it. Gundham believed in living.

Sonia doesn't just cry over Gundham, but she takes what he said to her to heart. Like Fuyuhiko, she takes what the person she loved thought seriously. She carried Gundham's wishes for her survival and everyone else's through into chapter five and refuses to give up as a result. Even when the others do, she doesn't just follow what they think but is trying to outsmart Nagito. Even if she fails, she keeps going. Her lack of faith in Kazuichi's more aggressive solution makes her use her own intelligence and the logical people she can trust (Hajime) to continue taking matters into her own hands without undermining the decision of the others.

But still, despite her efforts, she's still flawed by the end of chapter five. She, along with the others, fails to stop Nagito. She struggles against Chiaki's confession more than anyone else.

In chapter six, she's grown since the start of the game. When Hajime is accused of being the mastermind, although she's unwilling to believe such a thing, she's no longer too emotional to even consider the idea. She's grown, but not quite enough yet; she wants to cling onto a fake image of the past than the future. Gundham told her to keep living and so did Chiaki but, for a moment, she wants to see them both again. She still has her overly emotional mannerisms, but the influence of Chiaki and Hajime in the end pushes her to overcome it, just as she grew throughout the story to be capable of.

Although pretty subtle, her choice at the end is one of the most meaningful to her overall journey.

I thinks there's one final thing to be said in that she came to Hope's Peak, in a way, to hone her talents and become queen. But, instead, at the end, she's left with no kingdom to inherit by the time she's grown up enough to be capable of it. I think she's another testament to a character being more than a talent; choosing themselves over talents, just like Hajime. She grew into her own person in the end independent of everything she had come from.

Anyways, she's definitely worthy of having survived the game. And, for the record, I still like Soda.

[n3tworksucks]

Quackity fic where him and reader are best friends who are in love with each other??

hey! so sorry for the wait and thank you for requesting. sorry if it not quite what you wanted but I tried so lmk if its good or not cus idk lol

summary: you and alex have been best friends for years, but you start to get a feeling that maybe you should be more. so you decide to talk to him about it.

warnings: use of quackitys real names, like one cuss word lmk if i missed any

word count:1189

I think I love you

you and alex. alex and you. that how its always been for the past few years. the chaotic duo all your friends in school knew, the sweet and loving friendship yours and his parents knew, the bond you and him knew would last a lifetime. you always had a strong feeling in your chest when you were around him, pushing it off thinking it was just the excitement of getting to spend another day together,or opening his texts or answering his calls a little too quickly(which you nor him minded anyways).and maybe Alex felt the same as well, only really wanting to go to school because you were there, or making room on his schedule to go downtown with you and do stupid shit. yeah, maybe that is just what best friends do for each other, but something with yours and his feelings always felt extra, like something was trying with everything in its power to get you closer,but you would again push it off because how in the world would you guys get any closer than you already were, already knowing each others worst fears, most embarrassing moments or darkest secrets. well except one,

which is "I think I might love you". and of course you would never tell him that. it was just a silly little thought that no meaning whatsoever..which is what you would try to tell yourself whenever you would think of it, and you never really did think of it a lot. only whenever you had meaningful conversations and 3am, and whenever he would say something that would make you laugh, and whenever you were with him… and whenever you thought of him… ok so I guess all the time but come on, hes such a lovable person. always trying his best at comforting you when you're sad or helping you study, and that only made you love him more unfortunately. I guess you can say you were kind of mad at yourself when you would wish you and him were more than friends, not wanting things to be awkward if he doesn't feel the same and somehow having years of friendship down the drain. so you keep to yourself. and you were doing a great job of doing that until the feeling of this love for your best friend would just get so strong it would make you sad. you were sad because you wish you could go out to actual dates and going to school dances without going "ohh you should date him" or "you should date her" as a joke. you wanna just spend all your time just with him not thinking about anyone or anything else but each other and just enjoying being in each other's presence. but that would be a little weird if friends did it. it would sting a little when you would hang up the phone and and didn't say I love you. you got tired of feeling this way, feeling like you're just stuck on one big stupid question when you know the answer, so why don't you just talke to him about it, is what you thought about at night for a few days trying to plan how you're gonna bring it up to him. but of course, non of the plans worked without being awkward, but you did decide that you wanted to hang out at some random park and talk(and maybe make fun of some little kids),and would just let fate take over.

its the day, the day you're gonna tell him how you feel. you couldn't tell if you were nervous or excited or both, you just knew you wanted it to be over even though nothing has started yet. so here you both sit on the set of swings just talking and laughing like usual, you start to feel that strong and now annoying feeling again. "oh god, here we go", you thought as you start feeling it, the feeling of love you now knew. you both sit in a comfortable silence as you listen to sounds of the wind blowing the leaves on the trees, the slight squeaking of the swings slowly moving back and forth."its nice today huh?"he says taking you out of your thought, thanking what ever it was that made him speak first."yeah. finally" you say causing him to slightly laugh."you know" you start to say."you really are the best thing to happen to me" you say turning you head to face him. causing him to smile and look away. you can tell he's blushing but you don't say anything."you are too" he says quietly, looking down at his hands then looks at you. another moment of silence passes, just do it, you think to yourself, say it now,"I think". you pause after that, now its your turn to look down at your hands. he waits patiently, not rushing you."I think I love you" you say, but still looking at your hands, not yet wanting to see what his reaction was, tears slowly and painfully starting to swell in your eyes but not letting them fall."and I dont wanna love you as a best friend, I wanna love you as a boyfriend." you say a little quieter, slowly turning your head to face him, hes looking forward and smiling. the smile confused you, you didn't know if it was a "I've been waiting to say that my whole life" or a  "are you stupid". "i think", he says once again pulling you out of your thoughts, still looking forward but pulling his lips into a thin line and ever so slightly squinting his eyes, looking like he's thinking. "I think I love you too" he then says slightly shocking you as he turns to look at you, " I have for a long time" he says softly. out of nowhere a rush of that feeling goes flying through your whole body, sending tingles everywhere, it was such a happy and confusing feeling but it felt great, you then start laughing. you start laughing more and more, and the tears of fear from beforethen turn to tears of laughter. alex starts to look confused at first, but your laugh being so contagious he starts laughing as well. about 30 seconds go by and you start settling down, tears going away, it is then another comfortable silence."so what was that about" he says, you assume hes asking about the hysterical laughter that just happened,"just. happy I guess" you say smiling" well I am too. I guess" he says mocking the way you said i guess. "so." you say"so." he says " what does this make us now?"you say looking at him" well what do you wanna be now?"he says "I wanna be more than best friends" you say "then that we'll be" he says with care, holding out his hand. you take it, and hold it in yours, happy that this confusion and sadness is replaced with certainty and happiness, along with other great feelings. this day will forever be remembered by the both of you, all because the you both exchanged 5 words. I think i love you.

[helloiamunwell]

i kind of really don't understand the people saying the crews reactions to izzys death were ooc

we see most of them with tears in their eyes, we see them showing respect by removing their hats, we see them building izzy a gravestone out of the things that were important to him (crew arts and crafts bonding time)

they are all upset, they all feel his loss, but at the end of the day they're pirates. death is a regular part of their lives. and its tragic, obviously, but if god willing we get a season three i don't think that izzys contributions to the crew dynamic will be ignored, i don't think they've just forgotten him.

i don't know exactly what people were expecting? i agree he could've maybe died in a more meaningful way, but i don't think the crew can be faulted for say, holding a wedding, and trying to find some joy amongst all the death and heartbreak they've experienced.

in my real life experiences with death, i've learnt that it's not black and white. you're not necessarily going to be in a state of perpetual mourning, especially when death is so normalised. you do laugh, you do try find little pieces of joy.

and i can't see izzy being offended that that's what the crew are trying to do right now

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

Hii you asked for an ask and so I'm here to deliver:

What's your fave aspect of each character from the Seven + Grover? It can be something about their design, particular storyline or personality trait

Are there any Taylor's songs other than Prophecy that you associate with anything pjo/hoo?

oooh thanks for the ask!! you asked some really good questions hehe

Starting off with Percy, I think my fav part about him is his multifaceted character. Every trait has a trait that contradicts it, positive and negative and that makes his character real. Also his feminism which is rare to find in male characters even irl haha. When I say best written middle school book fictional character, I mean it! About Annabeth, I love how flawed she is. She makes mistakes all the time. She's strong and smart but she cares and she's kind. I love how rick didn't shy away from that in a time where women empowerment was taken to such an extent that every strong woman character ended up a perfect Mary Sue, even today. For grover, I think it's how rick wrote him as the typical goofy sidekick but with his own character arc and goals apart from helping percy. and also sidekicks like these are always portrayed as taken care of by the mcs, but here grover took care of percy from the start. for jason, I think it's the tragedy of his story, it makes me sad everytime I think about it, it's what sticks with his character and makes him all the more meaningful as a person. for piper, I love her arc of figuring out herself, and finally ending up with shel. I also like that she's vegetarian like me haha. For Leo, I find his "machines are easier to work with than humans" attitude very endearing and funny to read about. for hazel, I love her innocence and conservativeness, it's very relatable. for frank, it's def his bond with grandma zhang, as an Asian she's soo iconic.

2. This is a good one and has always been something I can rant about all the time. songs like dancing with our hands tied, mine and I think he knows are SO percabeth coded its insane. and ive seen people say yoyok is a percy or annabeth song, but I have to disagree, it's a perfect Leo song. I know I said before that who's afraid of little old me is a Leo song, but my minds changed and I feel like its very dark! jason (I was tame, I was gentle, till the circus life made me mean, don't you worry folks we took out all her teeth is def him at cj). Also paper rings is so cute and reminds me of frazel so much.

[mdhwrites]

I saw you on Twitter ask why Hexside was part of the story, and I remember that the school element was something forced on Dana by Disney that she had to work with, which is why it loses relevance come S2.

I'm going to be blunt: I mean Gus, Willow and Amity when I say Hexide isn't a part of the story. After all, a setting is mostly a tool to a writer and frankly I think TOH uses its school setting pretty well. It understands how incredibly useful a school setting is for introducing its characters, enabling easy explanations for characters of a certain age to come together and the sorts of events that are made possible by a school setting, such as clubs, dances, sports, etc. But none of that explicitly had to stop it from being plot relevant. Eda actually gets part of her backstory filled technically the one time she goes to Hexide as an adult. We then get that made redundant by Them's the Breaks Kid. King has a good B plot about stage fright during Grom, though it's contradicted by his one other appearance at Hexide where he immediately takes over a classroom. Still, it was proven that the two could do something with Hexide. Here's the problem: King has two B plots with Gus, one meaningful conversation with Willow and one adventure with Amity where Amity ignores him for the majority of it and he's there mostly for comic relief. Eda has one B plot with Gus, shared with King, zero real conversations with Willow and serves the same role as King in Eclipse Lake with Amity so gets no meaningful interactions with her either. The Hexide Squad (and frankly this includes Hunter too) and Eda/King are NOT ALLOWED TO INTERACT. Eda spends more meaningful time with EDRIC than she does with AMITY. And one of those Luz's girlfriend. And remember that Found Family, especially Found Family with King, is theoretically the most important part of the series as it literally revives Luz and allows them to win. And yet more than half the cast isn't allowed to even interact with the Found Family. Well what about Hunter? Hunter is at least plot relevant, right? Well... Yes. But if you cut out Labyrinth Runners then Hunter can go to the Titan Hunters with Luz and we can spend some time actually dealing with what just happened to him. Willow's role with Hunter in S2 bare minimum is to have a point of connection through "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and "I've struggled with magic too" which... *gestures at the magicless, bullied human* It's really not that different from Hunting Palisman frankly. Amity gets a Hunter moment too but the larger point of Eclipse Lake isn't anything Amity says but the fight forcing Hunter to use/bond with Flapjack which would have been done by Harpy Eda had she not been busy off screen. These are moments that are either wholly unnecessary outside of shipping or just easily replaced by Luz so that Hunter gets a real connection with anyone instead of four half formed ones by the time he's redeemed. And of those three moments, only Amity's holds real character weight for the Hexide character in question. After all, Willow's problems with magic didn't last long, SKARA is one of those 'don't judge a book by their cover' characters for some fucking reason, and Sport in a Storm is generally agreed to be about Hunter much more than Willow while Amity's character stuff in Eclipse Lake is actually relevant to both Hunter and her. It's also, as I want to point out, actually new since Willow's stuff is mostly a retread of Hunting Palisman.

The only other thing that can be argued is the importance of the Abomatons and... really? If that's your argument, it's pretty weak. The Abomatons never are portrayed as a proper threat to the heroes, to the point where they had to make an ULTIMATE MECH SUIT for Kikimora in order to try and say that THAT thing was a real threat. You easily swap out Abomaton for Emperor's Coven Captain and nothing changes except you don't add literal robots to your fantasy setting. And no, I don't count them as golems because the circuitry and metal is what's made out to make them powerful rather than the magic or the magical material. And the final aspect to talk about is themes. I've talked before that either Gus or Willow needed to be cut because they are such natural savants capable of only one form of magic, doomed to never be able to perform others correctly (this is explicitly Willow's issue) that they actually make it look like Belos is straight correct with the coven system. Bare minimum, they both come off as chosen ones in their own field. Amity at least can claim to have studied and trained to get to her position of power. Self expression is very loosely explored with Willow being better at plant magic at least. It's theoretically a large part of what Amity is about but her defiance against the old pressures that made her conform and be bad is so weak and limp that really, how much does it feel like any sort of struggle? This actually becomes worse as the feeling that she does everything for Luz becomes stronger and stronger. Rather than "This is the real Amity!" it starts coming off as "Amity swapped her mom with Luz for who she was modeling her life after." And the final point on this portion I want to make is that Dana claims that from a very early point, they knew they wanted a queer romance. Amity is that romance. The school isn't to blame for Amity never interacting with Eda and King. It's not to blame for how much time Amity's arc took because I do agree with people when they say the romance isn't rushed. It's given SO MUCH TIME as to feel decently natural if we ignore the ease in which Amity discards her past. If the school was forced upon the show... It used it for the part that frankly should never have been a part of the show anyways. Because The Owl House is a comedy adventure with major themes of found family and fantasy versus reality. The romance with Amity is explicitly even framed in the show as part of Luz's fantasy, through multiple lines from Luz, and she is not a part of the found family. Amity has no business here. But Amity is also why the show was more popular than Amphibia, at least on social media.

Let's talk about the Catch 22 that is the Hexide Squad. All of them minus Gus really. Shipping is a very powerful thing after all. Amity is also what allows Luz to be openly Bi in a way she wouldn't be able to otherwise. A way that is more definitive. Amity being explicitly a lesbian was a HUGE marketing point for the show to the fandom, especially as part of why The Owl House is more special than other cartoons. These are also the characters who are most popular in the fandom. They reflect the age demographic (Hunter included) and are pretty well written teenagers so it's easy to see why people latch onto them. This actually got so bad between S1 and 2 that some people who hadn't properly watched the show, only having been exposed to the shipping art, that they though AMITY was the main character. Which I don't wholly blame them for. S1 Amity has really strong protagonist hair.

Without the Hexide Squad, you don't have shipping and LGBTQIA as such forefront elements of the show. It's frankly the exact problem that theoretically Amphibia S1 faced. Lots of people apparently skipped S1 (and I really need to do a blog on how incredibly well written the first couple episodes of S2 are to even allow that) of Amphibia because they didn't like Anne. They didn't connect with the frogs. They needed more of the trio instead because people who look human are much easier to connect with from an audience perspective. Also from an art perspective, they're going to be a lot easier to draw because you have more references and more experience drawing humans. Amphibia knew what it was though. It was a story about friendship, relationships, Found Family, the complexity of relationships and how they're grown, challenged, etc. and S1 of Amphibia is CRUCIAL to that. Frankly, the decision to make Anne unlikable (in a really entertaining way to me and she normally gets genuinely punished in some way for being a bitch) and to keep S1 almost exclusively with the frogs is a braver creative choice to me than probably ANYTHING The Owl House does. Especially if we're not talking about societal contexts, because Amity is frankly, imo, the only brave thing about TOH and her arc of getting with Luz isn't brave or new or different at all from straight romances that have done that dynamic. She's only 'brave' because it's LGBTQIA+ which by the time Owl House would have been greenlit, that ball was already moving for them. Korra for Nickelodeon existed. Steven Universe for multiple reasons for Cartoon Network. The writing was probably on the wall by then for Adora and Catra for She-Ra as far Netflix representation goes. At that point... Disney was being pressured by their competitors to either start including representation in their televised stuff or getting lots of attention on why they aren't including representation while their main competitors are. And no corporation wants that sort of attention. It actually gets worse btw if you don't count SPoP because then it becomes even clearer about them wanting to get ahead of their competition with the first LGBTQIA+ main character and they failed even at that. But that gets into a lot of themes for why every July EVERY corporation, regardless of politics (Minus Chick Fil A because holy shit that company is religious and fuck Chick Fil A), gets covered in rainbows in someway. In fact, to the point where Skittles lost their Rainbow last year to give it to the LGBTQIA+. That's not a joke. That actually happened. But to get back on topic: You also don't get straight shipping with Huntlow. You don't have Gusthollomewl as your mlm representation. Hexide is ALL about the shipping. Literally. Every episode needs to feature a ship being pushed forward. That's why two of Gus' three episodes feature Matt and then his third has that atrocious moment where Hunter is able to identify Willow better than her BEST FRIEND. Hell, let's take this one step further: Them's the Breaks Kid's main function, as one of our very few real glimpses into the past, is to show Raeda. Just make you sure all adore Raeda. Understand that these two are soulmates and if you don't understand that, what the fuck is wrong with you?

BUUUUUUT Them's the Breaks Kid is also arguably the best episode of S2B. It's easily the most fun, possibly more fun and just entertaining than any other episode than S2 as a whole. It's an episode that embodies how much of a waste of time Hexide is, even when using a main character like Eda, while also showing that the show clearly knows how to have way more fun with a school setting than its own fantasy setting. So if Disney forced them to include a school setting... It sounds like Disney knew the strengths of the writers better than the writers did and knew what the real draws to the show were better than the writers. =========

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[purrincess-chat]

Some people say that Adrienette breakup is the only way we can get Ladrien.

Listen, I am a Ladrien bitch, but I don't actually think we NEED Ladrien to get together. I think that ship has sailed. (Literally)

Look, is playing with the different sides fun? Yes. Would it have been fun to see each side have its time to shine? Absolutely. My issue with breakups and get back togethers at this point is the way they've set Adrinette up throughout s5. Well, since s1 really, but s5 especially.

We have been waiting literal, actual YEARS for these two to do something. The requited love in s5 was years in the making. If they wanted to play with the Ladrien romantic potential, they should have done it within that time. Doing it now is just like ehh, okay? At this point, it would be doing it just to say they did it, and I am a Ladrien stan. Am I annoyed with the lost potential of that side? 100% yes. But I just don't see it being viable romantically after s5 without some kind of reveal happening. Believe me, I want Ladrien hugs and kisses more than anyone, but Adrinette fought way too damn hard in s5 just to be together. Doing away with them is just kind of like okay? Then what was the point?

And miss me with the argument that shows do it all the time because for me, if a couple breaks up and gets back together all the time, that's not healthy. That does not demonstrate to me that the couple has healthy coping mechanisms, and if they get together again, what guarantee do I have that it will stick? I don't root for those couples. A majority of my favorite fictional couples are couples who get together and work to stay together. Leslie/Ben from Parks and Rec (and yes, I know they technically broke up for a short time but it was a very specific and believable circumstance. I'm talking about the several seasons they were together without breaking up after that), Jake/Amy from Brooklyn 99, Sakura/Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. All of those couples have gotten together and had plenty of story after getting together where they grew in meaningful ways, and their relationship wasn't boring or a detriment to that. It made their romance more satisfying to see them go through things together (or even separately) and stay together. That's real love.

There are plenty of meaningful ways they can grow as characters while being in a relationship. We saw that throughout s5 with how hard they worked to figure their relationship out and make it work, and that's why I'm rooting for them. They worked for that shit, and I think they deserve it. They deserve to just be happy and in love. They can still continue to grow separately as characters and within the bonds of their relationship. Them being together doesn't automatically mean their development has stopped and won't continue. They don't need to breakup to continue to be interesting. To me, continuing the will-they-wont-they with more breakups and get back togethers would be boring. We've had plenty of wondering if/when/how they will get together. They are together now. I am personally now more interested in how they continue to grow together. How the other sides are different now that they are together. How the dynamics will shift and progress them further leading to an eventual reveal. That's what interests me about future seasons.

Idk, I find it really, really weird that we were begging for something to happen with the love square for years. We begged for them to get together, and now that they are finally together people are begging for them to break up. And for why? A lot of people never even tried to enjoy it. It's weird to me, nonny, and I think it's just a testament of the toxicity of parts of this fandom. I love, love, love Ladrien. I don't think they need an episode to be together romantically at this point. They should have done it a long time ago. I personally want to see them interact with a new dynamic at this point. We can still get Ladrien, it just won't be like what it was, and that's fine. It's fine for all of the sides to adopt new dynamics now that one side is dating. I would actually hope that would happen.

Cause let's be real, Ladybug still having mad heart eyes for her bf but having to pretend he's just another normal citizen who she definitely isn't going to makeout with later? Adrien still sweating bc m'lady pls I'm begging let me go so I can transform and help you?

At this point, some people should just stick to fanfic. 🤷‍♀️

[runthepockets]

One of the authors of those articles I was posting last night is a pretty standard cishet white guy on the surface, but he's infertile due to a shit ton of drinking in his youth. I really empathize with his plight as a straight trans guy.

Sure we have different backgrounds, but I spend more time navigating the straight world than not & also want to be a father, but am incapable of procreating in the traditional sense (for now) (I don't want to be a dad at 24 anyway, but whose to say about 32? At 40?). It's also highly likely that I'll want to settle down and get married one day. I pass, the gender markers and the Christened name on (most) of my legal documents accurately reflect my identity, and I like it that way and have no intentions of changing that. That doesn't make my inner life or struggle any less important or meaningful.

I don't place a lot of worth on the traditional senses of masculinity-- money, big house, nice cars, etc-- but I'm not gonna pretend I'm superior to other men for doing so after centuries of being given a very rigid script to follow to be granted humanity and reward, nor am I gonna pretend like I don't still care about some stuff and that it has no effect on me. I do still work out and worry about getting laid. I still think about fatherhood and what it means for me. I still worry about women's opinions of me. I still flounder under the pressure of all these things. I'm still human. This guy feels very similarly and spends a lot of time writing to a small audience because the topics at hand are important to him. He's determined to create a better future and safer spaces for other men, he wants to be the change he wants to see because he's tired of feeling left out and worthless in his manhood and he knows the system is broken and unsustainable at its fundamental core. I really relate to that.

The queer community is cool, but I don't relate to the prospect of shedding a mask and running their for repreive that most trans men seem to. The bonds I form and the concerns I share with my cishet male counterparts are just as real and earned as that of the trans men I meet, and I'm not the type of guy to leave another guy behind when the shit gets tough or inconvenient for me. Maybe that's why I hate this idea that only queer men should have the monopoly on discussions of masculinity under patriarchy when cishet men are just as effected by it as they are beholden to it. It feels like trying to jump off a sinking ship and not utilizing all the space on incredibly spacious life rafts.

I see a lot of trans guys self depricating about how shitty and lame men are and how they constantly feel the need to divorce themselves from men as a whole, and I get confused. I don't agree with the common idea that we as trans men have to pay lip service or answer to the sins of other guys (especially cis guys), but I do think we owe it to the women and queer people in our lives to take care of each other, because as we've seen time and time again, men who have nowhere to go will usually make it women, children, and queer people's problems.

If guys don't show up for / help other guys, if we continually write ourselves off as beyond help or too stupid or too selfish, if we don't make peace and heal with ourselves and recclaim ourselves as newly realized men and help the men in our lives do the same-- not as passion projects, but as equals and peers--, who will?

[jesskasb]

EXTREMELY LONG POST AHEAD YOUVE BEEN WARNED. DO YOU LOVE THE COLOR OF MY WORDS?

i've been so scared of posting my opinions about recent media because i want to maintain some kind of unproblematic agreeable image out here. i don't want to say i enjoyed something for fear that enjoying it means i am morally required to reblog or discuss every critique others have to make sure people know i am aware that it is not perfect. i suppose this comes from this increased ideology that people who like things need to do so critically at all times, and they need to demonstrate that or they're a bad person; which is stupid, obviously, but i have somehow internalized that because i wanted to make the small of audience of this blog to know im not stupid or "problematic" or whatever. which is another stupid thing to want because this blog is supposed to be for ME and not other people, and ive always tried to uphold that mentality by posting whatever i wanted and always saying my thoughts in the tags. but obviously, my feelings have had something else to say about it and ive been holding back opinions and expressing my enthusiasm for things because of how that enthusiasm may be perceived and misinterpreted, even though im aware that everything ever will be misinterpreted by somebody eventually and that is out of your control and its ok. this dissonance between what my logic tells me and how i actually feel has been bothering me a lot. even now im like oh i should put this under a read more so it doesnt bother people! while logically i know i want to post this as is because its some meaningful introspection for ME and thats what matters, truly. it's why i have this app in the first place. so i can express myself through text in eays i can't in real life for one reason or another.

either way it seems i've fallen into the social media trap of making everything content and palatable to as many people as possible, making things relatable and clever so others will enjoy it and i will be known as someone to be liked. all for the fleeting dopamine of a like and a reblog or a follow.

and then, because these feelings frustrate me and i have been in denial about them, i have also fallen into the trap of the "let people enjoy things" mentality. that scares me because it just goes to show how easy it is for someone to slowly get on the side of perpetuating a lack of media literacy or even shit like proshipping and stuff, when actually my feelings are not related to that at all but rather a dissonance between wanting to be palatable for everyone and wanting to talk about my interests when the reality is that there is not really anyone stopping me from saying whatever i want except for myself. im the only one who cares about this and the only one that is bothered. i've always looked down on a "what will they say" mentality and i hate that i've become so used to the way ive been thinking that i started ignoring the fact that i shared the mentality.

ok im just repeating myself now. point is. i want to work on getting back the mentality of posting for myself and being honest with my opinions not because i want to start discussions or get clout for being opinionated but rather because i truly enjoy analyzing things and expressing my thoughts. so. in an effort to do just so ive decided to unpack some of the media that have really reinforced the need to conform.

• let's start with the biggest elephant in the room: oppenheimer. i know! i know. no fucking wonder. "but hear me out!!!!" (headass need to justify everything i say and do so i wont be perceived incorrectly). i went to watch it with my stepdad at 11pm after the rest of our family went out to have boba tea without us bc we were resting, even though we LOVE boba and they couldve simply asked if we wanted to go. so the whole outing to the movies was spontaneous revenge and i loved that. it was a great bonding experience. in the parking lot we found two 20 dollar bills on the floor and the way we both dived to pick them up was hilarious. he was faster than me. we got some shitty churros and no popcorn and into the movie we went. now, the movie itself, i honestly did not like it and didnt have a good time, i was trying soo hard not to fall asleep. i was sleep deprived, tired, and honestly science and politics arent my thing at all. and that is obviously beside the fact that the whole plot was hard to follow because they tried so hard to make the audience sympathize with oppenheimer and frame it as if he really knew no better than to participate in the war and making the choice to kill thousands of japanese civilizatians. i was trying not to chew my arm off at the theater. ugh.

i will say i found the use of audiovisual distortion to represent dissociation and high stress brilliant. obviously its not the first media to do this but i think it made amazing use of the audio of a theater and the nature of film. i saw that post about how "if i cant see a movie in the comfort of my house and i have to go see it at the theater to get the full experience then its not very good" and i honestly think thats bogus. in fact im glad and i agree that something that can only be experienced in a theater full of people with good audio and a giant screen has value. chris nolan may be pretentious about it and fuck him but its like. the nature of a thater itself is not stupid and streaming it is different. theaters are about getting together with fellow humans and seeing something live and valuing the fleetingness of not being able to replicate that same exact experience again. whether its a musical or a play or a film youll never see the exact same thing with the exact same audience. and theres beauty in that.

• barbie was fun. it was different and refreshing from the usual stuff in mainstream theaters and i can really respect it for that. i cant believe mattel allowed that depiction of their own company to be in there but yeah theyre winning in the end. really good marketing. when the girl called out barbie for doing irreparable damage to the feminist movement i thought that was very based... im really biased because when i was younger, as a little hispanic poc girl who was chubby and kind of weird, i was just so bitter about everything that barbie was. because she wasnt me. she wasnt like me. she was like everything everyone said was pretty and that idea of pretty wasnt me. and i hated it. i wouldnt play with my blonde white barbies and i was obsessed with the one tan barbie with curly haired i had. she was a ballerina in a blue leotard and a tutu. i took off the tutu because i thought it was too feminine and i wasnt too feminine and i wanted her to be like me. but i still knew i could never be a ballerina because i was chubby and not athletic. it was the closest a barbie doll would ever get to being me though, and i was satisfied. i ended up relating more to my entire collection of g3 ponies than barbies.

going back to the movie; i think the message is important even if it wasnt handled perfectly. its a step in the right direction. we've been talking about this for YEARS and it has finally made its way to be told directly in an extremely mainstream movie. thats good! im glad! and i had fun laughing my ass off at the funny parts with my friends. i was ready to watch it alone after a hangout with my friends but some of them decided to join me and i love it. im very happy ive found people who want to go out with me and include me and like being around me and respect me. its been a while. i coughed a lot during the movie and my friend said "...do you need a cough drop, alex" at the end of the movie and i was so embarrassed and it was funny. my car keys fell in between the seats and it was scary but the employees were really nice about it. when magic ring ken appeared i yelled COCKRING KEN! and it sent my friends and a stranger next to me into hysterics. i had a great time and i wont forget it.

• good omens. neil gaiman has been a figure of great dissonance for me. i genuinely like his books and posts but im also aware that saying you like his work comes with all this other stuff that people assume is true, especially on tumblr, because he can also be really annoying. i dont support EVERYTHING he does of course but i love good omens and at the same time i was scared of what people would assume about me for sharing posts of season 2 and being excited about it. loved the first season of good omens and i was criminally deranged about it back in 2019. i liked the new season a lot! (SPOIILERS AHEAD SKIP TO AFTER THE Picture IF YOU WANT TO AVOID THEM) i missed the characters a lot and michael sheen and david tennant are just such stellar actors and you can really tell how much they like aziraphale and crowley. and gosh i just love when everyone involved in a production is as passionate about it as fans are. i will say michael and beelzebubs thing felt really fanservicey and i wasnt the target audience for their relationship. heres some more thoughts i want to share

besides that i mean fuck i would watch aziraphale and crowley talk about the weather for an hour. their banter is amazing. i also love the final episode drama. i just love mythology and exploring how all the fantastic bullshit fits into the real world. its why i like percy jackson so much, and i think gaiman really succeeds at urban fantasies (or magical realism?? not sure) extremely well. im not familiar with the work of terry pratchett but someone whose opinion i value likes his books so i wanna check em out one day. i had a good time with good omens and im excited for season 3. got a lot of theories but im lucky i have a friend to talk that to about so i wont keep you here much longer.

• the witcher. im SO passionate about the witcher show you guys have no idea i got my entire family to watch it and im able to connect all the dots and shit i love the world building i love the characters i LOVE LOVE JASKIER. but i hate the writing. i hate that i havent read the books and im progressing incredibly slowly through wild hunt so i feel like a poser and not a true fan. i hate that its so mainstream and i hate the way that i hate that. my feelings about this are not as dissonant and strong as the past three media i listed but i feel like it was the first straw. i just have this need to justify liking it and saying oh its not a good show but i like it haha sorry. IM NOT SORRY! I ENJOY IT A LOT, FLAWS AND ALL! AND I THINK ITS GOOD BECAUSE I AM STILL WATCHING! but i will stop watching after this season i refuse . liam hemsworth makes me puke while henry cavill is not only attractive but he genuinely cares about geralt and the witcher series and i dont want to watch something where the lead is just a replacement for someone who wanted better conditions and treatment and didnt receive it. fuck

• young royals. i just shat on it heavily back when it started trending on tumblr bc i thought it was some stupid teen drug show that had some shallow romance but honestly i think it was the internalized homophobia talking idk i gave it a shot and im LIVING for the drama and the cringe that comes with being a teenager and i love the setting and i love that everyone is so flawed and human and real.

• alice oseman's work. i actually dont know much about her as a person and author but i also shat on heartstopper when it became mainstream because the tv show annoyed me. i tried it, but the first episode left me feeling uncomfortable and icked so i quit and have been hating on it since without even giving the graphic novels a glance. i read the synopsis of her novel solitaire and a review compared it to catcher in the rye and i thought that was so fucking stupid. catcher in the rye, really? the creator of HEARTSTOPPER, making something that can even be of the same tone as catcher in the rye? bah, impossible. when i picked up i was born for this, i thought itd be a shitty and fluffy fan/celebrity book but i was just so desperate for trans rep. and then i pulled an all nighter to read it and i realized it was GOOD and had a lot of layers that impressed me. i had underestimated alice oseman's writing skills by SO much and i dont like thar i was so cynical. i started reading solitaire and man. it is dark. and evidently inspired by catcher in the rye. i am not done with it yet but from what i read so far.... holden, you have some competition.

solitaire is told from the pov of the sister of one of the heartstopper voice. through this book i learned that actually the heartstopper boy has a LOT of serious issues. i wonder if the graphic novels handle it better than the tv show. i hope they do! if they dont, then , well, i can say with confidence that i enjoy her books even if heartstopper isnt my thing.

ok i think thats all. if you read all that, post picture of an animal. i dont know. like and subscribe! i am growing as a person and i think thats beautiful. whatever. rolls my eyes and walks away

[mofffun]

how i look at Rita's relationship with the others

something i noticed is that Rita's just there, a lot (more than I expected)? like the plot would demand them to be there as a witness or the script would give them exposition lines, in turn giving them quite a few interactions.

Gira:

I think in-show Gira should be the youngest followed by Rita, and among them, Rita should be the latest king to take the mantle (even though she might not be that much younger than Himeno or Yanma).

I think these are two are similar, as they are both portayed as the 'righteous' character. They both act as 'King' because of / to protect somebody else. Even though its their focus episode, Gira and Rita only had brief a dialogue, with Rita under a presumption. Rita attempting to "balance the scales" for Gira in ep8 is a more meaningful scene for the two. Rita feels a sense of responsiblity to control the Gira situation (and to find out the truth of Gira's kidnapping). Gira came to respect or learn a lesson from the other 3 kings but there never was that animosity targeted at Rita. But then… Rita still doesn't know Gira might be the one person they tried that don't hate them…

Rita's impact on Gira is seen in his speech in the cell in ep5, and the sparkles in his eyes when Rita delivered a just judgment. Gira's impact on Rita is through Morfonia that Rita begins to open up.

These two are still interacting indirectly for now and I want to see them adopt each other. Some people are shipping it but I don't see it, they are more sibling vibes to me.

Yanma:

The natural antagonism between a deliquent and an officer of the law. I need their buddy cop road trip episode. They don't like each other but have a mutal respect. ep11 illustrates the divide between Yanma and Rita. They are both pracitcal-minded, yet appraoched problems from two sides of the law. They are both stubborn yet they can work efficiently in ep12.

Himeno:

i'm not immune to heated drama between women (gn).

Okay this is really interesting because Erica and Yuzuki are friends IRL and the the stage shows has been feeding us so it's easy to project that onto the characters. From what little we've seen so far I love how Himeno is the one inviting Rita into the conversation. If you don't count Kaguragi's "Rita-tono" then Himeno is the only other royal that called them by their name. They are so going to bond over Moffun please bring them to Moffunland Himeno-sama we're counting on you.

For real, so far I don't think they have much of a relationship to speak of? They barely know each other and you could say ep5's probably the first time Himeno set foot in Gokkan. I think Himeno sees Rita as 'better an ally than an enemy' but is stunned by their screams at times. Rita… Rita counts themselves lucky they don't get sensory overload each time they go to Ishabana. Can you imagine the dissonace between 'someone go do that for ME' Himeno Ran and 'I have to take care of everything but myself no matter how hard it gets' Rita Kaniska though.

With them it could be the extrovert adopts introvert trope, but classic's classic (Himeno go make them more wagamama)

Kaguragi:

They are platform boots shopping besties. They stand next to each other a lot because sentai color-coding. WHY ARE THEY SEEMINGLY FRIENDS (What's the deal with Kaguragi and EVERYONE)

I saw some tweets that had definitely affected how I look at their first meeting. The idea that Rita had to make an official publicity tour around Chikyuu after their accession is hilarious. Kagu said to Racles that Rita has a reputation of being 'cold as ice' - I can't even tell if this man is making that up or if he has a file on every king, or he's just repeating the general concensus.

Rita does not oppose to being dragged into Kaguragi's schemes (though I doubt anyone could do that sucessfully). Do they know they are being used in Kagu and Racles's gambits? Can they and do they want to, do something about it?

Racles:

Their relationship, if there exist of, is so fascinating. Rita's not the first Gokkan King Racles had to deal with. Racles has Rita (Gokkan King)'s direct number. Rita slapped that bitch.

Racles see the Gokkan King as another cog in his scheme, another chess piece, if however that worked with the previous king, or they simply hadn't threatened Racles power, would that work with Rita?

Morfonia:

Only after "potential successor" is pointed out I notice Rita is quite indulgent of her? I mean you could read it this way, but I don't think Rita would stop her from lazing around if Morfonia can come up with a citation from the rulebook.

I'm not sure about the age gap here because IRL Morfonia's actor is 9 years older but the character looks at max Rita's age if not younger?? Either way Gokkan's throne probably has a fixed term---oh i derail

okay my headcanon is that they grew up (like ~age 10 onwards)/entered the academy together and later apprenticed to the previous ruler as successor candidates. that dynamic probably hadn't changed since day one just some immature rivalry subsided.

From the frivolous way Morfonia speaks to Rita (addresses their first name without/instead of title), you'd thought they are the closest among the King-Retainer pairs, but they still seem just co-workers? Morfonia refuses to work overtime but genuinely cares about Rita when they're hurt.

[licncourt]

Why does Lestat only get involved sexually and romantically with other people? Is it a way to seek validation and love?

How do you all always know exactly what I've been thinking because this is a really under-discussed part of Lestat’s character that I've been meaning to talk about. I absolutely think it's what you said and when you look at his history, it makes a lot of sense.

We know Lestat experienced childhood neglect and abuse, with the implication that he was quite isolated otherwise. The first meaningful relationship he recounts experiencing is with Nicolas. This also seems to be his first real romantic/sexual relationship, occurring at a formative age when a lot of the identity is beginning to solidify.

Throughout the series, Lestat meets a lot of people and they react to him in a wide variety of ways, but his looks and charm are the only consistent way in which he attains the attention he desperately wants and needs. I don't think I need to expand on that bit of Lestat’s characterization, I'm pretty sure we can all agree he's extremely motivated by attention and validation. It doesn't help that he's consistently desired for his looks and charisma and then rejected on any level deeper than that.

I would argue that, in addition to the childhood groundwork, his assault by Magnus exacerbated the issue in its own way. This "rape" was based extremely heavily on Lestat's looks, something Magnus makes him very aware of, and then they form a sort of trauma bond through the turning where Lestat experiences what he describes as an almost romantic and sexual attachment to his attacker. He actually repeats this trauma bond with Akasha under almost identical circumstances.

Regardless, this trauma with Magnus and the subsequent rejections that follow (Nicki and Gabrielle) really kick Lestat's need for romantic and sexual attention into high gear. The way he falls for Louis essentially at first sight and commits himself entirely within days really drives that point home. When he feels Louis slipping, he takes drastic measures to either hold tight to that connection, find a new one, or both (Antoine).

I'm actually going to acknowledge later canon now because one of the only Lestat-isms that makes sense is his sudden serial monogamy. In a world where he doesn't remain in a committed relationship with Louis (something that might soothe those urges to seek and seek and seek love) I can absolutely see Lestat behaving the way he does in the later books.

Maybe in this scenario, the sudden intimacy with Louis is too scary and overwhelming so he backs away, but then that love void returns. What's interesting about the way Lestat approaches his romances for this period in canon is that, bar his human body...adventures...none of them feel like flings in his approach.

He seems to genuinely think he loves (or wants to love) people like David and Rowan and Gretchen and Dora. These relationships, however brief and ultimately surface-level, are all-consuming for their duration. He needs them, and for him that becomes indistinguishable from love. Or at least he lets himself believe it is.

Lestat is lucky that he's attractive and charming because it makes it easy for him to acquire partner after partner. He can satisfy his desire for love and attention without the terrifying vulnerability and intimacy that comes with a long-term, committed relationship that might actually meet his needs in a healthy way. Instead, it's one fix to the next like an addict.

The only thing he has that consistently gets him "safe" love is his appearance and superficial personality, so it's not a leap to say that these traits become something he leans too heavily on, flaunts and plays up to an off-putting degree in his attempts to be wanted. That creates its own issue, his perceived vanity and narcissism making the relationships he can form all the more brief and shallow, tanking his self-esteem further and creating a vicious cycle as he tries to compensate more.

All the terrible characterization notwithstanding and with my fantasy of "Loustat definitely worked things out in-depth behind the scenes between PL and RoA" intact, I think his happy relationship with Louis and the sudden drop-off of those serial relationships tracks.

The fact that he was so devoted to Nicki and then spent 70 years trying to keep his marriage to Louis intact by any means necessary indicates to me that he does want that kind of commitment and longevity from a relationship, he just didn't know how to achieve it before. It's not that Lestat is magically able to be happy with one person overnight and stopped wanting to sleep around, but that his intimacy issues have been resolved to the point where his need for love can finally be met by one person. I sure wish we'd seen that happen, but I'm very glad that he eventually got there.

[bookofmirth]

I have the opinion that having a rejected partnership would be very interesting if...

If the woman in question was prohibited from denying and lived in a Court that prevented such questioning.

If the female felt the bond much more than the male in question.

I'm not saying she wouldn't have to deal with the bond and deal with what the bond brings.

But the book makes it clear that the Macho feels more strongly that it takes too long to move on.

I was talking to somebody and I think the problem is not having that pilot in the book, how it's done.

Some are surprised not to be like them who feel tired of having a thousand partnership ties in Acotar.

But the thing is, Elain can refuse, she has freedom, so what questions does rejection bring up if she has no problem rejecting?

Is she going to question a Bond she might reject, does not she even need to talk to Lucien if she wants the whole book?

kind of meaningful questioning would be whether the woman was being forced to accept or lived in an environment that did not accept rejection.

Agreed! If there were real stakes involved and we knew that there was some injustice, then it would be so satisfying to have a rejected mating bond. Like if LoA and Beron were mated and she kicked him to the curb. But a mating bond being rejected where the woman says "I'm not into it, there is someone else" and the guy says "okay". That's so... boring? There are no stakes there. Literally no one cares. That's how an elucien rejection would go, too. No one cares that they are mated, no one has a stake in it happening or not happening.

I see what you mean about the process not being clear in the series. We don't really know how a mating bond is rejected, and even its acceptance seems to be very arbitrary? Because people do it however they want, pretty much. A dry biscuit, a bowl of soup, an elaborate 15-course meal with 500 guests. It seems like it exists whether it's accepted or not, so... It seems like there can't be a rejection in a way that would get rid of it forever.

Despite the crossover, I can't imagine her suddenly making this whole elaborate "here's how the mating bond actually works" speech when it doesn't really matter. She mates characters because she is telling us they are endgame. It's not really complicated haha.

But yeah, I think it's a very different situation if the woman were living in a situation were she had to accept and live with the bond (like women do in Autumn), versus a woman who lives in a court where people make their own decisions. You know, like the choice that Elain currently has, she just isn't doing anything about.

[mdhwrites]

What are your thoughts on Willow x Hunter?

I… don't care? They're fine. Cute enough, they have something to bond over, both good to each other and exceptionally boring as a couple. They're almost the same person even except one likes lifting weights and plants while the other likes sci-fi and actually matters to the story.

I do not get the hype I guess is what I'm saying. Not that I'm entirely surprised either. It was finally a ship for Willow that wouldn't get you accused of enabling abuse or evil like Boschlow would (seriously people, what the fuck? I don't like the ship but you all need to learn to breathe.) or just all alone like Willuz or Amillow would. For Hunter it was an even bigger reprieve. The show finally told you "Ship them" with a scene without it either breaking up Lumity or being with the CANONICAL LESBIAN.

Seriously, I will not drop that they tie his character arc, effectively starting it three times over, with three different girls and that would be bad without one of them being AMITY. Because each one really does get that "This could be the start of a friendship or a romance" moment with Hunter and that makes me roll my eyes some.

So yeah, they're the safe option. They're the show approved option with no conflict between them, little contrast and it does a good job of entirely making you forget that while Willow questionably worked out before the show (we actually have nothing to go off of one way or another), Hunter almost certainly did. Because child soldier.

Going into that goes into everything that's a mess about Willow though and how much the writers just do not care about her.

So instead, I actually want to talk about two of the complaints about Huntlow that I just think are… The complaint has a purpose but its target is wrong.

"Huntlow stole time from the show."

I actually severely disagree with this. After all, Hunter was always going to get time and his arc is already rushed, to the point where it doesn't really have a middle. It just starts a few times like mentioned above, then Hollow Mind forces a climax on it and we get a little bit of resolution. That was always going to happen because it was a well established as part of the story.

The only question was with who and… Well, Willow was the choice the writers made and they made it for the sake of Huntlow over narrative. And that's the problem. Your complaint is that Hunter's arc is not good and the unfortunate consequence is that giving the arc more focus would have meant Willow just… Not being in S2. Not in a meaningful way because Willow always has to have an excuse from another character to exist.

And the time Huntlow did take? Effectively none. Because they allow Hunter to just consume Gus' role as closest person to Willow, all the Huntlow moments actually get to flow naturally because they have one personal, one on one conversation and then just know EVERYTHING about each other so the rest of it is just glances, blushes, etc. that take no time and you can just move on from.

It's really fucking bad writing but hey! Part for the course.

"It's ableist."

I think the argument for it, what little I've seen, is… dumb. And puts way more importance and impact on the two's magical handicaps WAY more than the show literally ever did. And again, the complaint is kind of missing the real problem.

Eda's curse was an AMAZING disability allegory. Unlike so many shows where the dude in a wheelchair is actually in a SUPER WHEELCHAIR SO HE CAN KICK BUTT LIKE ANYONE EL-

No. Eda was genuinely held back by the curse. She didn't let it hold her back though. She instead took her medicine, watched out for the things that may trigger her and the curse, etc. like that. It wasn't a super power but it also didn't stop her from being an exceptional person. From living the life she wanted. As someone struggling with disability myself due to anxiety and depression… That's what I want.

I don't want characters being super powered from it is not. Or being cured. And Eda gets a super saiyan form, Gus takes out a fucking coven head and Flapjack DIES and their sacrifice gives Hunter magic. The cure to his disability (and I know this was not the intention since Hunter was dying from other things but it still matters) is another person's LIFE.

When I can say for myself that my number one goal in life is not to be a burden for others due to my jacked up brain.

So… I would say people are right to say this gets borderline offensive to disabled people but it's REALLY not Huntlow's problem.

Huntlow's problems really are about the show's problems. The problems inherent to these two characters. But, as I've shown in this blog even, for being able to say SO MUCH about the two characters… There's really not a lot to say about the ship. It's there, it's cute, they don't do anything that would make people hate it outside of… I dunno, being straight? At least there is a positive straight couple in the show that isn't dead.

It's a mess but only because the show is a mess. But it's hardly one worth actually throwing a fit over.