#SO SORRY FOR THE RANT

[evi-anxiety]

Do you think the paladins regret not spending more time with Allura and get to know her better than just a princess?

Like "do you remember when we were not in mission or training, and she would act totally different. I wish we all could spend time like that back then, not princess or paladins, just friends"

I definitely think there's an interesting divide between "Princess Allura" and just "Allura".

It's clear that the Paladins saw Allura as some kind of leader figure, you know, being the princess of Altea and all that stuff. That being said, I think the loss of "Allura" to the Paladins was a two-way struggle.

On one hand, the Paladins kind of blocked out Allura as being more than a leader pretty early on. We can especially see this in the earlier seasons, where they will do activities and stuff without her present (I think "Space Mall" is a great example of this). I don't think this was done intentionally, but Allura's death forced them to confront this fact.

On the other hand, I think Allura also contributed to this divide. She had a lot on her shoulders, not only being the leader of a dying race, but also the leader of Voltron (in the sense that she was teaching the Paladins how to be Voltron). She was their space guide, their sense of security, and they put a lot of trust on her word.

That being said, she also made a lot of mistakes as a leader, and I think she put the pressure of those failures on herself. So she built this sort of persona of herself to the other Paladins. Leader first, then her second.

To answer your question, I 100% agree that the Paladins regret not spending enough time with just "Allura". They were so caught up in their own needs for a person to fall back that they failed to realize Allura had her own troubles as a person of authority. They cared about her, of course, but I think as a found family a lot of characters had trouble showing that they care.

Idk, maybe after Allura's death they try to come up stories about her outside of missions, and they just. Can't.

[contagious-watermelon]

It's interesting to me that understandings of transsexuality have been almost exclusively filtered through the lens of queerness and the social aspects of gender. In other words, that the "T" was added to "LGBT." I've thought for a while that in a lot of cases, transness — and specifically dysphoria — makes a lot more sense when analyzed through the lens of disability rather than through queerness. (Personally I see it as being at the intersection between those things.)

I think that a theory of transsexuality would be incomplete without taking into account the societal aspects of gender, yes, but it seems to be similarly incomplete in the popular understanding of it.

I've seen a lot of discussion in the stuff I've read by disabled people about the contention between being objectively harmed or, well, disabled, by your disability, but still wanting to be proud of it or finding identity in it regardless. A lot of autistic communities, I've noticed, talk a lot about the fact that being autistic is difficult; it's made worse by other people's reactions to it, but it still is hard on its own (e.g. auditory overstimulation); yet people still can say that they'd rather be autistic than not. Or they may say they wish they weren't, but that they've come to terms with it because it's not exactly changeable.

Point is, there's open discussion about the differences between inherent challenges to your disability regardless of society, the ways which ableism makes things more difficult, and the contention of finding identity and community in your disability despite that. (And I use autism as an example because I'm autistic; I don't want to speak for, say, a physically disabled community as I'm able-bodied. But I have seen similar discussions there as well.)

The trans community, as I've seen, doesn't really have that. We're polarized between the extremely self-hating people who think that being trans is a curse and that people who like being trans are just fakers co-opting transness, and the toxically positive contingent who refuse to engage with the fact that sometimes dysphoria really does just hurt. And also that transphobia exists.

There's also the fact that in many ways, dysphoria is actually disabling. It isn't for everyone, and part of the problem is that transness as a concept covers so many things that analyzing it through just one lens will always be incomplete, but for me at least it caused me a lot of depression and dissociation, and made it difficult-to-impossible to interact with other people or function at my classes. Back before I medically transitioned, I related a lot to some descriptions by disabled people about their chronic pain, because my dysphoria effectively was chronic psychological pain. I don't want to say it's the same thing, because obviously I've only experienced one of those things, and dysphoria has a treatment while many (all?) chronic illnesses don't, but nevertheless it was a comforting lens to think of my dysphoria through in the time before I got top surgery.

Also of note is the way both our communities are treated by the medical establishment. I've heard many horror stories by disabled people of how doctors simply refuse to diagnose them or give them issues with their meds. Trans people obviously also have to deal with the shit that doctors put out in order to get access to HRT and any necessary surgeries. People deride HRT, saying that we shouldn't take it because it'll "make you a medical patient for life." People act like mental pain isn't real — calling depression fake, acting like because things like fibromyalgia aren't "real pain" that it shouldn't bother you so much, etc. — and that extends too into the way they dismiss the pain of gender dysphoria.

So, I don't really understand why the trans community has taken so many pains to disavow themselves from being considered even remotely similar to disabled people. I know that the common refrain, "we're not mentally ill!" is meant to combat the idea that we're deluded into thinking that we're a "different gender" than we really are, but the effect is throwing actually mentally ill trans people under the bus. The insistence that there's no way that dysphoria should be considered a disorder because there's nothing wrong with us — I just think that we could take a hint or two from the way that disabled people theorize about this subject.

[wellgoslowly]

I WANT TO GO BACK TO COLLEGE SO BAD!!! LIKE IDC IF ITS STRESSFUL GET ME BACK IN ONE OF THOSE MF DORMS IM BEGGING!!! I NEED IT GODDAMN I NEED IT SO FUCKING BADDDDD I MISS MY FRIENDS AND I MISS MY CAMPUS AND I MISS MY DINING HALLS AND I MISS MY LIBRARY AND I MISS MY STUDENT MEMORIAL CENTER AND I MISS MY LAKE AND I MISS MY QUAD AND I MISS MY LAME ASS FOOTBALL TEAM AND I MISS MY WEIRD LOOKING MASCOT AND I MISS THE INCONVENIENT FIRE ALARMS BC PEOPLE WERE SMOKIJG IN THE DORM AND I MISS USING YIKYAK TO FIND OUT WHAT WAS GOING ON AND I MISS IT ALL SO FUCKING BAD I THINK IM GONNA MAKE MYSELF CRY. I NEED MY SCHOOL GUYS LIKE IDC IF IT WILL STRESS ME OUT I NEED IT LIKE AIR.

[qmorningcrew]

That man is never going to move on and I think it would be fun for the federation to manipulate this

oooh okay wait you’re so right

q!charlie could be manipulated by the federation so quickly and so easily. like he would genuinely do anything to get his daughter back. he’s shown that before (like when he tried to burn down the entire server and kill all the eggs, when he tried to ritualistically sacrifice mariana, when he was willing to give up his own soul) but i think something important about tonight is that he’s shown that again.

like. yes. he’s obviously been seriously upset about her death and its wrecked him. but when he was getting drunk or singing about her at the wedding, those types of situations, it didn’t have the same complete vulnerability that he showed tonight.

and then cucurucho shows up. we don’t know how long it was there or it was listening. but if it was it definitely knows the state charlie’s in now.

the federation could take control of him so easily its insane. he would truly do anything for her, and the fact that he hasn’t been letting himself grieve or heal further shows just how far he could go

and oh my god no one else knows how bad it is. no one else knows he much he’s suffering and he doesn’t have a super close ally so oh my god the federation could fully take control of him and if they did it right. no one would know

learn from jaiden and cellbit and how other people got in the way or stopped the federation from being able to hold control over them

and unlike those two, he has nothing to lose. he genuinely has nothing anymore.

[hummusxx]

“how can u be stressed? your just a teenager”

kys. Throw your body into a pit of flames.Don’t talk to me

I hate it when my parents do this omg they don’t know one thing about me and it’s annoying. I have band every single day, i have to go to weightlifting practice every day,i have tests back to back, and hw on top of all that due.

So yeah i’m fucking stressed Mother. She’s literally the reason i want to move FAR away.

Her and her stupid shit. Makes me do everything in the fuckin house while my brother sits upstairs and yells at his tv and when i say “well why doesn’t (my brothers name) do it” she gaslights me and says you don’t do anything, u don’t love this house, i have to do everything for u. Istg hispanic parents will tear the shit put of the eldest daughter to the point where she doesn’t talk to them anymore but treat the son like a king when he’s a brat

[noxalyss]

day 11

[oh-snapperss]

they'll fund a genocide and let their poor regions be destroyed. don't fucking forgive them for that.

my hometown is completely gone from what pictures i can find of it, i have not heard from my family (including aunts, uncles, parents, one sibling, and a grandparent), and the infrastructure in the mountain communities is wiped out. i cannot stress how catastrophic this is, or how difficult it will be for these communities to build back. i am angry, and scared, and heartbroken by everything that's happened.

and our government is spending it's money to fund a genocide.

free palestine, and don't be complicit. realize that this is not something happening that doesn't affect you--although it shouldn't take this to care about the deaths of thousands of people anyway.

[variksel]

i hate you ai art i hate you "unalive" i hate you youtube premium i hate you twitter 8$ checkmark i hate you nfts i hate you therapy app advertisements i hate you non-chronological timelines i hate you instagram reels i hate you subtle tiktok filters that cant be turned off i hate you family bloggers i hate you ads on true crime episodes i hate you facebook i hate you vr glasses on chickens i hate you dystopian social media

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I am incredibly serious right now when I beg you all, please, and if you have Twitter or Tiktok or whatever to please spread the word: click on an author's profile on Ao3.

You want to know if an author has written more? Want to know if they're still writing? Want to see more from them? Want to know if they've written a trope or kink or sex scenario you enjoy?

Click on their name. And look at their profile.

I cannot tell you how many times in the last six months someone has read a new or newer fic of mine and said they (a new reader who has read nothing else I've done) "can't wait to see what you do next!" I've written 50+ fics and over a million words already.

"I don't know if you're still writing..." click on my profile. I am. I literally wrote a 128k+ fic for that ship last month.

"Would you ever do X?" "Please do Y!" I already did. Click on my name and look at my works.

Archive of our Own is a library. It's an archive. Not social media. It is your responsibility to fight back against the laziness that corporate algorithms have trained into you.

Click my author name. Just click it. Just click it.

Before you demand more, or ask if a writer will do XYZ, or wonder if the author still writing, or anything - click on their profile. Click on the author's profile.

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending or anything like that. I'm just exhausted. It's disheartening and frustrating to repeat myself ad nauseam, because someone couldn't take thirty seconds to do the tiniest bit of work to see if I've written lately, if I've written more for their ship, or scan my works to see if I've written what they're asking for. Please. Please. I'm begging.

Click the author's name, and explore before you ask.

[honeypleasejustkillme]

i thought i was at my lowest but holy shit it gets lower

[lordandladywhistledown]

You can tell by the reaction people have to Penelope asking Colin to kiss her whether they ever experienced being a wallflower/insecure fat girl at a party or not.

Because you say it's pathetic, I say it's relatable, no matter how desperate it may sound. If you've never had your insecurity eat you up from the inside (but also the outside, as Portia literally told Penelope that she was delusional for thinking she was gonna find a husband in her third season out) to the point you genuinely, wholeheartedly believe no one will ever love you unless you physically change, then obviously the scene is off to you.

But Pen literally told Colin she felt stupid for thinking she's gonna find a husband (she just started believing what the ton and her mother said) and that she knows no one would want to kiss her. And for a romance girl like her, do you think the thought of never having a kiss, never experiencing that passion, would be easy to bear? I can so relate to being the most romantic of the bunch but also being the loneliest and aching for physical and emotional romantic love.

She is so vulnerable and so real in that moment but y'all gotta bitch about it because it doesn't make sense to you. It doesn't make sense to me either because she's gorgeous, but that's the thing - no one ever told her she's gorgeous and actually meant it. And even if they did, there must be 10 more people who didn't that keep that insecurity in her, specifically her sisters and her mother.

Nicola said this one was for the wallflowers, and it truly is, so if you find scenes like this cringe, you just don't relate to the character enough to feel it and recall moments when you had the same thoughts as her.

[cowgyaru]

wolverine sevika you are so special to me ….

[sydneyofalltrades]

it’s the fact that ricky KNEW he would die young, he says this in their speech (“ever since i was six years old i knew i wasn’t destined for this life”) and CHOSE to be upbeat about it.

yes, even after being ignored and unnoticed.

yes, even after ocean’s blatant ableism.

yes, even after everyone they ever knew only boiled him down to their disability.

ricky made his life as peaceful and as good as they could. took up choir practice despite only being the tambourine. taking care of their cats with his family. making friends with people who didn’t just see him for their disability, just for him.

and people are still playing the “oh, he was better after he died” or “his disability is so unnecessary, it’s a good thing new productions are removing it” card is disgusting ngl

this is why i hate new scripts, like the 2020 and high school scripts, bc they remove what makes ricky, ricky

circling back to ricky being boiled down to just his disability

did we all learn nothing from the dialogue after sabm?? paraphrased because i dont remember it exactly

"you are so cool in the afterlife"

"i've always been this way, it's just that no one ever bothered to listen"

now that he is given the means to communicate with the choir why are you ripping that away from him and dumbing him down to "c slur cat guy"

why cant you appreciate his actual character. how selfless and kind and creative he is. how he was never scared of jane and was the first one to properly engage with her. how he built an entire universe with incredibly complex lore in his head. HOW HE GAVE UP A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE BECAUSE IT WOULD BE A DICK MOVE TO VOTE FOR HIMSELF

also his disability is not.. funny??? it's a degenerative brain disorder?? He probably would've died young either way?? That's Fucking Awful???

tldr ricky potts is more than space cats and crutches

[emovulture]

"Noo, I don't have an opinion on what's going on in Palestine."

"I don't like politics so I'm neutral about all of that stuff."

"Don't send me things about the politics of Gaza or Palestine or anything like that, it just makes me really anxious and-"

Those are some real things I've seen people say before. You don't have an opinion on the literal genocide going on in Gaza and Palestine? The lives being taken? The atrocities Israel has done? You're refusing to educate yourself on all of this because it makes you anxious? (Boo hoo) That's disgusting to me. You can't be "neutral" about a literal war??

You're either with Palestine or not. I'm loud and proud about supporting Palestine, and if any of my mutuals, followers, friends or family who don't feel the same, please get away from me and this blog.

[pastabaguette]

look guys i don’t like to argue but i hate it when people portray equius and nepeta like this:

i mean, they’re both just thirteen, come on.

equius is not her parental figure, and nepeta isn’t a fussy baby that can’t eat her fruits and veggies! equius isn’t some malicious evil guy, he’s just a stupid little teenager. that goes for eridan too (and i guess like, all of the trolls, but especially those two). nepeta’s not some innocent little baby. she’s the same age as all her friends. she kills huge wild beasts on the regular for consumption.

a lot of dubs i’ve seen, too, make nepeta sound like a toddler, and equius like a whole grown adult man, and i don’t really like it because neither of them are those things. (granted, i don’t watch too many dubs, so maybe i am wrong on this)

[papanowo]

i think dan should get to be a little weird too. as a treat