#SO SORRY for rambling. but also not that sorry

[yerproblematicfav]

The thing about Angel Dust is that yes, he's soft and sweet and loving. But he's also a literal murderer. He didn't just kill those mobster sharks, he did it with a smile on his face. And you know what? I love him for that. No notes. 🩷

Love these pictures on Angel's door

[muscariii]

Is this anything? (also poll below)

Quick shitpost I had time for and also doodles based on a picture I'll add below.

Soooo. That poll I mentioned about the comic. I'm putting it in this post. I would appreciate all feedback from those of you that are interested in the Rasha comic and its future.

Basically like I mentioned in another post, I'm currently overworked at uni and making next parts for the comic will be difficult with the amount of things I have to prepare to pass the semester (meaning it will take me ages to get it done). That's why I want to know what you guys would prefer.

This is a random picture I found that I showed to my brother and he said I should remake it with Rasha.

[madbard]

I love shipping characters who hate each other in canon.

I love shipping characters who have had exactly one (1) conversation in canon.

I love shipping characters who have never met in canon.

I love shipping characters from different pieces of media.

It starts off silly. The notion of the pairing is so weird, so unexpected and seemingly dumb that it makes me laugh a little, perk up, look into it and see if this is really a thing.

And then it becomes a joke. Haha, look at this ship I’m shipping ironically, isn’t it silly, it would obviously never work out in canon but I’m looking at it and producing content for it anyway because it’s fun.

But as time goes on, it starts filling my feed. I start thinking about it - really thinking about it. Why did someone put these characters together in the first place? How would they really interact? How did they end up together, and why would they stay together?

What started out as a joke becomes a diving-off point, an opportunity to really think about both characters. The dynamic isn’t canon, so it’s yours to shape. The dynamic isn’t canon, so now you must delve into each character on your own, figure out how you perceive and understand both of them, learn to see them in a different light. What started out as a joke encourages you to dig deeper, think harder, fall even more in love with those characters as you consider the potentials which lie outside of canon, but which ultimately trace their roots through the core of the characters themselves.

Because by their very nature, crackships and rarepairs are not based on plot, and they are not based on canon. They are so seemingly random and odd that they disrupt your typical view of these characters, making you think more deeply about them. The non-canon ships you embrace or reject can inform your perception of these characters on a deep level. They can make you cry just as easily as they make you laugh. They add so much flavor.

And they can also be really, really funny.

[potato-lord-but-not]

WOAH GOOD EVENING 💥💥💥 I don't know if I hallucinated it or if it was actually a thing more or less established that Noel isn't reaaaaally the one with the highest libido the ultimate whore being Arthur, as we all know but . Fact is. With the DELICIOUS DELIGHTFUL monster!John AND the occasional dollins we get, it got me thinking. Would he be more... Attracted to what's dangerous, what could hurt him, in a way? Who said that. Anyway. Which could mean nothing, and all that.

(also sorry been scrolling your blog tonight and my new phone hates me so sometimes it liked random things without my consent. Which isn't an issue in itself. But yk.)

honestly I think I need to retract my statement about him having a low libido because I think you’re on to something,,,,, our man just gets turned on by rather unconventional things and that’s a slight concern for Arthur and (mainly) Oscar. but John is like O BOY YIPPEE :D

[pixie-melon]

Colonization will always try to separate “human” from “nature” because it depends on people feeling isolated and disconnected. From each other, from the planet, from nature because that makes it easier for the colonizers (The Rich and Powerful) to steal from us (extract resources) if we:

1. Don’t know what they’re stealing from us (connect to the land, your community and globe. Get roots through connection and knowledge and you’ll feel safer taking action)

2. Don’t think we deserve the earth we walk on or the people we love or the things we have (express gratitude, show love. To the self and the earth and others. Pick up trash. Carry extra bus fare and maps to give. Rest when you’re sick, share meals with others)

And

3. Find the enemy in our own and not The Empire (have conversations with others. Not about politics or theory or the weather. Talk about your lives your needs. Your interests and fears. Connect over your nuance and humanity and we can SAVE each other with a network of care)

This type of “environmentalism” stands directly in the way of praxis because it’s an extension of capitalist-colonial thinking. It’s not really environmentalism at all because it’s not interdisciplinary or intersectional. It overlooks the human psychological impact of being told “you don’t deserve to be here”, the trauma that statement passes on and how that trauma creates stagnancy, and animosity between the family unit then the community. Stagnancy and in-fighting creates a political environment where extractivist capitalism can thrive (because it’s easier to steal from a population that doesn’t know you’re stealing from them), isolationist ideals breed fascism and we come to the current global sociopolitical landscape.

It is quiet literally in your best interest, and therefore the collective best interest, to radically and fundamentally care about yourself, because once you know your value you’ll understand the power that The People have. That El Movimiento has. That tenderness and care has.

Because I deserve to be here, happy and cared for and about. So do you. So do we all. Once we understand our place in nature we understand our duty to our selves and fellow human, plant, animal to live together and live well.

I refuse to believe any of us want this. Even the most indoctrinated and disillusioned. This colonial capitalist, greed based system is not “natural” because it’s not sustainable and life always works towards sustaining itself. That’s evolution. We will evolve beyond it because we have to but we don’t have to do it with a massive death toll as we are now.

The time we exist in now is unprecedented but revolution has ALWAYS succeeded in making change, it’s against the spirit of humanity to give up now we can’t afford to believe this shit let alone spread it to our CHILDREN! Children are our future they are hope incarnate why take that power from them? The little bit of power they have under these exploitive institutions. We need to feed that hope and love and care. That’s what sustains us.

If we can put humans on the moon we can find a way to live sustainably. It’s literally our nature. Don’t let them take that from us too.

TDLR: DOOMISM (esp. climate doomism) IS THE DEATH OF PROGRESS CHOOSE TO CARE AND LOVE AND HOPE INSTEAD

the problem i have with the whole "humans and nature as opposed and mutually exclusive forces" style of environmentalism is that it discourages people from a sustainable, mutualistic relationship with the ecosystems around them, because getting resources from an ecosystem is Bad. Therefore it requires you to think that parts of Earth that provide resources are not ecosystems.

this is where you get unbelievably stupid crap like the "half earth" project that proposes "protecting" half of Earth's land mass as nature preserves, never mind how we choose what half or what happens to the other half.

this type of environmentalism literally encourages people to think of their own presence as excluding or cancelling out "Nature."

And so people think of their lawns as Not Ecosystems, as Not Nature, so they cannot think "How do i live in right relationship with my ecosystem, as its caretaker?" This is death to ecological thinking.

The lawn was consciously created by intention and design, with heavy machinery that was manufactured, sold, and operated, it is not spontaneously created by fumes that the human body gives off.

You act upon the land, now time to learn what you are doing, and who you are doing it to.

[birbleafs]

Most people tend to point out how badass Alhaitham is here (true). But what I like and appreciate a lot about this scene is how it also shows that Alhaitham cares enough for the general public's safety (including the Ayn Al-Ahmar members he'd agreed to fight with just moments before) that he rushed in to disable Mizri's corrupted Akasha terminal to stop his rampage. Alhaitham didn't actually need to do so either (he's not the Matra; public security isn't part of his job as the Scribe) since Mizri was attacking his own members. But Alhaitham still crossed that distance just to protect the other members of the faction once he'd realised what was happening, and he didn't even draw his swords out against Mizri. It can be argued, of course, that he only did this knowing that Mizri had the Divine Knowledge Capsule, and because he'd wanted to steal it. Still, Alhaitham could've kept his distance as Mizri continued lashing out at his men, and during the chaos and confusion, he could've easily filched the Capsule too before letting the Matra deal with the group's in-fighting while he slipped away with it. But he chose to jump right into the fray instead and risk injury to himself by going against a berserk Mizri.... though, I suppose Alhaitham had probably already decided that risk is extremely low and reasons that "I'm a very good fighter and I've a Vision, so I was never in any actual danger" or something along those lines. Because he's just annoying like that lmfao. This also makes that one iconic, quotable quote of his "I'm merely a feeble scholar" all the more hilarious.... What a lying liar LOL...

Still, I'm willing to accept his (modest lol) rationale, that in terms of sheer brute strength and perhaps without any help from his Vision, Alhaitham isn't as physically strong as the most jacked Eremites—he did preface the above line with "Compared to the mercenaries...", after all lol. He's simply a very efficient fighter who excels at using speed and agility to his advantage.

[your-unfriendlyghost]

love the ‘P.M. Curtis’, I think author Pony au’s are fun

Thanks, me too lol

Speaking of which, I like to h/c that he gave everyone fake names w/ like a similar vibe, since everyone in the book is still alive and around Tulsa and Pony doesn’t want all that info to be totally public. (Like how in the semi-memoir “On the Road”, Jack Kerouac called himself “Sal Paradise”, Neal Cassady became “Dean Moriarty”, LuAnne became “MaryLou” and Carolyn became “Camille” etc… )

Darrel “Darry” Curtis -> Ronald “Ronny” Connor

Sodapop Curtis -> Coca-Cola Connor

Ponyboy Curtis -> Ponyboy Connor (I’m sorry it’s too distinctive I can’t think of any alternative other than “Cowboy”, but that’s got a totally different vibe yk)

Steve Randle -> Mike Abel

Keith “Two-Bit” Mathews -> Lance “Two-Cents” Wiliams

Dallas Winston -> Dean Marlboro

Johnny Cade -> Tommy Hale

Pony meant well with the whole privacy thing, but everyone who knows of any of them and has read Pony’s “The Outsiders” can very clearly tell who’s who. Dally thinks his fake name is kinda cool, Steve hates his, Sodapop thinks his is too boring and “Cherry-Cola” woulda been cooler (It would’ve, but he’d get mixed up with Cherry), Two-Bit forced Pony to leave in a version of his nickname and also do just one “L” in “Wiliams” to mimic the one “T” in “Mathews”, and Darry thinks his makes him sound like Ronald McDonald and doesn’t like it. Johnny’s the only one without a complaint.

I also like to h/c Steve and Dally weren’t allowed to read it. Dally because Pony didn’t want him to know he killed him off in the book, and also sorta because he knew it was vulnerable stuff in there and Pony didn’t want Dally to know he’d been…yk psychoanalyzing him basically. And then on the other hand, Steve can’t read it mostly because Pony likes to annoy him

[serial-unaliver]

I feel the same way you described in your last post. Hopeless, but continuing on out of necessity. It's strange though because even though I follow you, i know you're a stranger and I can't really begin to know you, but your post still made me feel so sad. That initial wave of "no one should ever feel that way, you don't deserve that." And I do believe that for you! Your posts are always funny/can be blunt but there also seems to be a deep empathy and desire to understand others. I think you deserve good things, to see good things. Its always easier to want that for others, though. It can be harder to have that same hope for yourself, but I guess we just have to keep trying until we can get there.

I'm mostly just rambling now so sorry for that- but I do hope you feel better. 🩷💚

first parasocial ask that's actually really epic thanks

[spinnysocks]

HELP this is pretty much it yeah 😭 /pos

[aria-greenhoodie]

You asked and ye shall receive. Aria,why do you use birds to symbolize Abigale's inner turmoil?. Besides the obvious surname thing. Also you apparently have more thoughts on the Muse art? 👀,explain?.

So obviously yeah, “Blackwing” is such a bird surname. BUT THATS ONLY THE SURFACE!

Birds are so often used as symbols of freedom, creatures untethered by laws of the land due to their ability to fly. In the same way, I imagine Abigale as being similar; free, not having to abide by the laws of her land as much as others did. In order to explain I think I have to dive into my version of Abigale’s backstory a bit…

(Warning: I’m going off what I know about 1800-1900s American Society. I’m no historian, but I’ve tried to keep things as believable as possible. I will say I’m pretty confident in that believability thanks to my feminist history class I been taking this semester.)

Born in the early 1880s, the Blackwing family was wealthy, yet fairly unknown. Calling it a “family” before Abigale’s birth would be a stretch in many’s opinion, being made up of just Mr. Atticus Blackwing and Mrs. Chastity Blackwing. Chastity tragically passed in childbirth, leaving Atticus to raise Abigale all on his own. He became fiercely protective and supportive of the young Abigale, a tiny spitting image of his late wife.

Abigale was always an insatiably curious child. At first, Atticus tried to teach her how to be a lady, to be domestic, to cook and clean and dote on her future husband, but quickly realized he was woefully unequipped for teaching a subject he knew nothing about. What’s more: Abigale HATED her womanly lessons. Instead, Atticus decided to let her learn something she actually was interested in; inventing.

Abigale loved to tinker, to create. The mechanical was a fascination of hers from the moment she saw it. Atticus as an architect had some mechanical knowledge, but not to the level Abigale’s insatiable desire to learn needed. But what engineering school would allow a woman in? At this point in the late 1800s, women were nearly always snubbed in inventing spaces, most universities not even offering engineering degrees for female students.

And so, Abigale’s “twin brother” Abraham Blackwing was created. A pseudonym for Abigale, under which she would don Atticus’s old clothes from his boyhood and attend a prestigious engineering school. Her father even falsified documents like Abraham’s birth certificate to make him appear like a legitimate person. It was risky, as crossdressing was a punishable offense by law back then, but Abigale was willing to take that risk if it meant she could learn.

Between her rich father supporting her every decision and passion, and her alter-ego, Abraham, to fall back on, Abigale had a lot of freedom growing up. When her father died of an illness just before she graduated, he left “Abraham” everything, which of course meant that Abigale could “live with her brother” and hold a bank account under his name. She was truly given every opportunity for freedom, more than any woman of her time.

And then, Bill Cipher enters her life.

She’s plagued by the triangular demon ip every night in her dreams, but she refuses to succumb to the shape’s demands. As tempting as building a machine like an inter-dimensional portal was, she knew better than to trust a man who wouldn’t explain his motives. When Abigale asked why Bill wanted this portal built, he couldn’t give her a straight answer, and that was enough proof to know he was no good.

After weeks of restless nights and aggravation, Abigale finds a peculiar ad in the paper, written by a certain Thurburt Mudget Waxstaff III…

On some level, she has to thank Bill for entering her life as much as she has to curse him for it. If he had never decided to torment her specifically, she never would have met the rest of the Anti-Cipher Society. Abigale THRIVED in the society, delighted in inventing new ways to ward off Cipher, collaborating with her dear Jessamine to create specialized weaponry, learning self defense from Horace, gossiping with O’Pimm, spending night after night explaining the mechanics of how her inventions worked to Thurburt so he could whip up a stellar sales pitch… she had never felt more alive! She was flying high, much like a bird on the wind.

And then the conference happened.

Thurburt was institutionalized, right then and there. Abigale watched the asylum workers from backstage with mounting horror. Worst case scenario for Thurburt, he’d be locked in a cell or sent out west at some work camp, but for Abigale? If the asylum workers got ahold of her, she knew they’d think her hysterical. Treatments for “insane” men were often much kinder than treatments for women in those times. Deeming Thurburt insane would send him to a locked cell, but he would at least be allowed to remain himself. Abigale had heard of women like her, eccentric unmarried women, “frivolous women” as they were often called, being scooped up by doctors and spat back onto the street with their entire personalities wiped. A hammer and a well placed nail up the inside of one’s nose could do heinous things. Abigale would sooner die then let them take what made her HER away.

So she ran. She tried to take Jessamine with her, but she refused to leave Thurburt. For six days Abigale hid in the society’s underground bunker, terrified of venturing outside, not knowing what happened to her companions besides Thurburt. She only ventured out on the seventh day because she had run out of food.

She couldn’t go back to her house, when she tried to scope it out, she saw the asylum workers already knocking at her door. She couldn’t stay in the bunker, it was only a matter of time before it was found. She was desperate for a way out, to keep herself free.

And here comes Mr. Northwest.

See, the thing about birds is that while they make excellent symbols of freedom, they also make excellent symbols of being trapped. Birds can be put into cages, forced to sing or speak for meager treats, and lets not forget that at that time most birdcages were anything but spacious and comfortable. Most captive birds of the time were expected to die quickly, only purchased in order to sing prettily for a short while before their tiny little hearts stopped beating. Birds are as much a symbol of freedom as they are of captivity, of being trapped, of the LOSS of freedom.

Abigale never wanted to be a wife, but what choice did she have? Mr. Northwest offered her a way out if she married him. Her choice was thus: escape the state with Mr. Northwest as her husband, or stay in town and eventually be found and promptly lobotomized, erased of any trace of her real personality.

She chose the former.

Better to live in a gilded cage, twittering for scraps, then to be gutted and stuffed on som taxidermist’s wall…

Right?

As for the muse stuff most of my trout process I already told you in the notes of the original piece lol

[spookberry]

Izuru Kamukura's design is interesting to me cuz like what was the point of having all that hair.

I feel like usually the metaphor in design would be to make the hair shorter. To signify the way hes stripped of identity and remade. But they go the opposite route. Izuru's hair is long and all over the place.

Also with an in world perspective, why would the people who created him give him/let him have long hair like that. What was the motive there?

Not that its a design that says nothing about him or is out of place either. I think it actually says a LOT about Izuru. The lack of styling reveals a disinterest in his appearance to some degree, or maybe a lack of identity. He doesnt even bother to push it out of his face, just sorta leaves it. He could've just as easily cut it all off though, seems like itd get in the way or be more of a hassle to worry about, and hes not one for hassles either. Having long hair involves caring for it to some degree thats just a fact.

Also cutting it all off after everything, I get its symbolic of Hajime and whatever, But I cant help but think it wouldve been more interesting to go an alternative route. Finding some kind of inbetween, not quite Hajime anymore but certainly not Izuru either. Ya know? I feel like that be more in line with the point. Not going back to the past, but looking towards the future and whatever that means.

[ken-katayanagi]

Plus, SPOILERS: in other books we see how often the chance to go to battle school is kind of held over kids heads. Zeck deeply opposes Battle School as a concept but they basically threaten him with exposing his 'satanic' photographic memory to his father if he doesn't attend (his father who is shown in the first few pages to be abusive to the point of obvious scarring and Zeck letting an insect just crawl all over him (hell I think it might've been his eye) to avoid being accused of 'not listening' in church and thus again being beaten).

Bean attends partially to escape horrific poverty but also because part of his education on planet is predicated on the idea he's going to Battle School.

Hell, even when kids go voluntarily, they go because something big and scary happened and they, being children, feel it's easier just to go to Battle School. Bonzo goes because his parents are on the brink of divorce and he reacts very normally for a child, basically running away from the idea of his family structure changing. Han Tzu's dad gets arrested helping him cheat to get into Battle School (which he rlly didn't need to), and Han is like well my dad just went to jail for this guess I'm going. A less, well, evil system might wait until these big life events have calmed down so that these kids can make more rational decisions.

It's a system very aware of the people it's 'recruiting', and its only voluntary if they can afford to not have you attend.

anyone contrasted Starship Troopers (movie) with Ender's Game (movie) in the way that they both involve teenagers being drafted by a fascist state into genocidal war against aliens?

[mintmatcha]

I’m sorry but the fact that reader doesn’t get child support from her PRO HERO EX HUSBAND?!?like how could this man possibly get any worse??im so glad reader eventually just gets tired of his shit and moves on coz she FUCKEN deserves that and more I hope she never finds out what her son said about her in his bout of teenage angst but also, I kinda want her to just completely trash monoma at one point in front of the kid Yknow? Do she seems so sweet and just almoat naive that I want her to lose her shit just once. Just really go off for a second Yknow? Anyway I’m so sorry for rambling in ur inbox op I just really had to get that off my chest feel free to ignore this!!!

she's poor- she can't afford a lawyer.

its easier for her to roll over and take it that fight with him (that's why shinso's so ready to fight at every turn)

[ihaznoclue]

Hi there! Could I request Optimus, Smokescreen and Knockout with a very doting human lover?

Parings -> Optimus prime, Smokescreen x Reader

Warnings -> None

Note -> Reader just spoiling them because they deserve it

Genre -> Fluff

so sorry but I felt like doing Optimus and smokescreen if that's okay I don't feel motivated to do three characters at the moment

Optimus Prime

Would be confused on why you are spoiling him so much

Like he knows you love him and he loves you two but you don't really have to spoil him for your cause

But you don't mind at all, spoiling him and giving compliments as well as giving him some gifts here and there

Optimus loves them and would keep them in his berthroom for safe keeping

You would do anything for him

Like literally anything

You would literally die for this man truck robot

And when I mean that I MEAN THAT

Smokescreen

Now this dude would either question if he did something to get you so riled up to spoil him rotten

OR he would just let it happen as he likes it

You would always give him some compliments and some kisses on his cheeks when he holds you up to his faceplate

He would also give them back to you to equal it up

You and him would also go on little midnight rides

You would always ramble on how cool it is for his LED lights to light up during the evening around midnight to make the midnight ride much cooler which he is proud of

Jack was the one who put them in

Smokescreen would melt everytime as well

Like tell me he wouldn't

-A<3

[rin-solo]

I love. LOVE. Get In the Water

It's one of the objectively best songs in the musical; I will die on this hill.

Poseidon was always, despite being pretty much the main antagonist of EPIC, a really underdeveloped character in my opinion. He just needed a little more nuance and the fact that one (+ kind of one more) song managed to add so much to his characterization pretty much exclusively through subtext and implications is incredibly impressive writing. Because it did!

At the start he's yet again playing games with Odysseus, the way he did in Ruthlessness. In both songs he could kill him easily at any point, yet he chooses not to for the sake of playing games. In Ruthlessness, this becomes his own hubris as it leads to Odysseus escaping.

If you listen closely, at the start of GITW he already sounds slightly different. He's still trying to keep up this "God of Ruthlessness" front that he's so proud of, but he's no longer more or less carefree the way he was in Ruthlessness. He's been obsessing over this feud for ten years, and even if he would never admit it, it's actually clear just from his voice that he really is tired of it too. Not in the sense of it emotionally draining him the way it probably does Odysseus, but in the sense that it's a bother, a loose end in his life, a book that he finally wants to slam shut.

But he still has a reputation to uphold, and he still cannot close this book until Odysseus is dead, so he keeps up the game. Instead of just killing him, he's taunting him to kill himself. He might associate the idea of just striking him down with a sort of loss, like then he'd have to his hands dirty. Then he's rambling about killing his people, his family. He's provoking Odysseus on purpose, likely trying to get him to snap back, to hate him and fear him the way that Poseidon would think any mortal who has consumed this much of his time should. In his eyes, Odysseus deserves nothing less than to curse him with his last breath as his "darkest moment", the god who became the bane of his life.

And Odysseus replies, of all things, with ... sympathy.

Honestly, I don't blame Poseidon for being speechless for three full seconds. He literally just threatened to gauge Telemachus' eyes out the way Odysseus did with Polyphemus, and this absolute madlad of a man replies with an acknowledgement that he (might have) caused Poseidon pain too.

Now, I don't really think Poseidon was particularly hurt over Polyphemus' loss or hurting in any way in that moment. But just the fact that Odysseus acknowledges that he might be hurting too is probably something Poseidon hasn't heard in ... who knows how long? His family is the Olympians. I don't think I have to say more.

It's actually more of a genuine apology than Odysseus' explanation in Ruthlessness ... Now he doesn't say "sorry" because he's still not sorry for hurting Polyphemus, since he still needed to do that in order to escape. But he expresses regret over the pain he caused in a more genuine way than ever.

I am convinced that Poseidon is utterly unfamiliar with sympathy or mercy. He's lived by his "Ruthlessness is mercy" motto for centuries, and he doesn't know anything else. No one would try to teach him something different. The other gods all live by this logic, even if he's the most vocal about it considering he seems to have made it his whole personality. Mortals wouldn't dare to question Poseidon in the first place. And barely anyone would be willing to treat someone with kindness who is in turn treating everyone around them with ruthlessness.

It's very likely that Poseidon hasn't encountered anyone like this until Odysseus. Ruthlessness is simply how he treats people, and also how he expects to be treated back. The fact that Odysseus doesn't, the fact that instead of hating or fearing or cursing him he acknowledges that they have both hurt each other and that it doesn't lead anywhere to still pursue vengeance must have triggered Poseidon in an unprecedented way.

To him, this was probably the most outrageous thing Odysseus could have said in that moment. And it throws him off so much that he is genuinely speechless, and then simply replies, "I can't." ... his most genuine-sounding line in the whole musical.

I cannot stress enough how much it threw me off to hear this line; in the best way imaginable, it doesn't sound like Poseidon. It sounds almost vulnerable. Almost human. Because he is genuinely at a loss so much that he forgets to put up his "wrathful god" facade for just one second. Standing ovation to Steven Rodriguez for his whole performance, but especially this part.

And then Odysseus goes all out, to say something even more outrageous: "Maybe you could learn to forgive?"

... Which is when Poseidon snaps.

Kind of understandable, honestly. There's this mortal whom he has likely fantasized about seeing pleading, hate-filled, and terrified, cowering before him, for ten years now ... telling him that he ought to learn something. Even hijacking his own motif and his instrument in order to turn it on its head, "defile" it if you will.

This f*cking mortal pr*ck took his own "Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" catchphrase and turned it into forgiveness ... Of course, Poseidon is no longer hesitating, of course he is no longer concerned with getting his hands dirty or not. He yells "DIE!" and unleashes his ultimate move (which is really overkill for simply killing a mortal if you think about it) ... But he does it anyway because this time he genuinely means it.

This simple exchange (my favorite moment in the whole musical, actually) tells us so much about both of these characters that it makes me want to skitter and squeal in excitement.

Here is Odysseus—the very same one whom Poseidon specifically tried to teach ruthlessness—becoming the first person in a long time to offer him sympathy despite how Poseidon himself showed him nothing but ruthlessness. And then one song later, here is Odysseus showing him the consequences of not accepting said sympathy.

Six Hundred Strike and what Odysseus does to Poseidon would've not hit the same, in my opinion, if he hadn't made this offer, if he hadn't given Poseidon this way out, even if no one watching genuinely expected it to work (probably not even Odysseus himself.)

Six Hundred Strike is not Odysseus exacting vengeance. If GITW proved anything about Odysseus it's that he does not want vengeance. He wants all of the hatred and pain to be over, to the point where he is willing to let go of, and I am inclined to say forgive, Poseidon for what he's done to him. Six Hundred Strike is simply Odysseus teaching him this lesson that Poseidon couldn't have learned in any other way, because he has proven in GITW that he genuinely does not speak any language besides that of ruthlessness.

It's just the perfect representation of how Odysseus has now finally learned the balance between mercy and ruthlessness, which seems to be the core theme of the musical: Both have their time and place, one simply has to be willing to act in both ways and know when to use either. No one extreme is the solution. I am genuinely exhilarated that Odysseus finally seemed to have figured out that it's been both all along.

[eerna]

i was one of the people who saw the early leaks post and i remember trying not to read too much of it but i had a moment of being like wow this cant be real but also it definitely could be. i remember reading about the damn caitvi sex scene and i thought to myself thats so ass why would they do it in a prison and then i realized the writers probably thought it was some meaningful parallel or something about vi being able to transform being imprisoned with something good

then the act dropped and i saw the damn parallels with cait finding her in the cell and i was like ok yeah. they basically had that as an idea. amanda overton was talking about it in a watch party and said they love their parallels and it was meant to symbolize vi addressing her trauma and im like. i see what they were going for and i get it I GUESS narratively but i really feel like this is such monkeys paw shit like we got this scene at what cost. and like the scene ITSELF was very good and sweet and lovely but like could it not have happened ANYWHERE ELSE?

i feel like the biggest problem with arcane s2 was that the creators rlly wanted to push the bar with animation storytelling. amanda talked about this too and like i feel like it kind of highlights the problem. where bc this show is so amazing graphically the animators wanna highlight that with as much action as possible instead of focusing on smaller scenes and more intimate quiet moments. i watched arcane s1 all at once after it came out and there were def parts that felt a little rushed in certain acts but it was nothing like s2. it just feels like they had all these story beats they wanted to hit but didnt give it the time it deserved and it sucks bc they said they always meant it to be 2 seasons so like why does it feel like this. they wrote them back to back around the same time what happened between s1 and s2. i just feel like the caitvi sex scene is a microcosm of the larger problem. they had these emotional beats and story moments that in isolation are really powerful but its almost like we didnt get a proper A to B transition. its like we skipped several steps for sooo many story beats.

such complex characters with real ass lives causing real ass problems. cait's privilege being an issue, how gratifying that could be to have explored. viktor's experience being explored more in depth. just so much more about zaun. like all of it was there in tiny slivers but it was never given the depth to GROW or properly BREATHE bc five million action scenes and plot points had to be squeezed in.

ultimately i love arcane overall. i think it has broken boundaries and done some amazing things. but its blemishes are really... painful at the same time. and knowing how the writers did such a good job in s1 makes me just like. cmon guys. you had it. YOU HAD IT

anyways sorry for blowing up your ask with so much rambling i just... idk. what are your thoughts on this stuff do you agree with my assessment or do you think the culprit is something else

No prob, welcome to the symposium~ Yeah, I totally get what the writers were going for with Vi. Which is why I am so shocked they thought it was a good idea. Like, okay, she is addressing her trauma in the sex scene... But why should her trauma get addressed by being locked in a jail cell by her sister, who just spent days being wrongfully imprisoned in there by the girl she's about to have sex with, and who then told her she was gonna off herself. If anything, the thing I was feeling was pain because it happened again, a Zaunite was thrown in jail by the Enforcers after she helped and saved them without any rights, and she was reminded she was less than them and her life is worth nothing... Mmmmm, the perfect memory to overwrite prison abuse!

I too felt s1 had some strange pacing choices, Vi and Jayce teamup comes to mind first, and that was, surprise surprise, a fight scene. But those were pretty minor, and still left time for other scenes to develop properly. It only becomes a real problem when it happens scene after scene, character after character, until no one is acting in character and you constantly feel like you have skipped a scene or two. I too remmeber them saying they wrote the seasons back to back, but. Dare I say it. I think s2 was so majorly rewritten by the time it went to recording that only the bare bones remained. In fact, that might be why we feel this way - maybe they DID have a frame they wanted to follow, but the rewrites warped and twisted the characters so intensely they ended up making no sense in the context of that frame. That's right, I'm talking about the way they decided to more closely follow and collaborate with LoL in s2. Jayce's final speech to Viktor only makes sense for game Viktor, and goes completely against s1 Viktor. Vi deciding police brutality doesn't really matter all that much makes sense for game Vi, and foes completely against s1 Vi. Jinx giving up on ever being loved or accepted by others makes sense for game Jinx, and goes completely against s1 Jinx.

So yeah my thesis is: Arcane knows it looks good, and sometimes it prevents it from being well written. It also decided to throw in its lot with LoL in s2, and no amount of good intentions from the writers could have saved it from crashing and burning.