#There's more to characters then “being badass”

[respectthepetty]

Petty, I have a wild ass Jack and Joker theory, and I need to know what you think because we often end up in the clown car together, lol.

There's been a lot of talk/fears about Joke (and Toi Ting), now that we know character death is on the table - I'm not worried Joke will die (I am terrified they will gut us with Toi Ting but oh I hope not). I'm not saying that Joke isn't about to feel so responsible for what has happened that he's gonna get reckless with his life, because I absolutely think he will.

I think he's absolutely about to do some very stupid shit that could be his life in real danger as penance.

But I've been thinking for a while - since your initial posts about Hope and Save and their names - that Save is going to die. And now that I just skimmed a post that basically said that Joke and Save are the same character in different fonts and Save's guilt in episode 10, I'm absolutely positive.

Save is going to die.

Hope will live, because he has too. Without hope, we have nothing. (I also have a tangential theory that Save will die to save Hope, so...)

Thoughts?

Why not a third secret option? Why can’t everyone live? Since the show killed Jennie’s character, and the man who tried to run away with his few dollar bills died too, let’s just believe everyone remaining will survive! Even more, if Boss survives, then everyone BETTER live because no shitty father should survive when the possibility of a child dying is on the table. So I'm going to aim high because

Fortune Favors the Monkey King

Move over, Kitty! I'm driving this clown car straight to the opera house.

Because this is a Chinese opera.

We already know there is a Chinese influence in this story, as @veemark pointed out about the meal Joke ate with Jack and his grandma.

So with that in mind, in the fourth episode, when Nang punished the men for hurting her people, she drew the "09" stick (but she said nine-zero), which meant the men had to perform the Chinese opera of the Monkey King, which people in the tags thought was sooooo ridiculous!

In that same episode, Jack received his fortune, which was number 9 and stated, "When the fool changes black to white, the fate of the forgiver will change"

Now, skip to episode 9 when Joke gets "The Fool" card and changes the fate of Jack, the person who forgave him, so Jack's fortune was right.

Now, in episode 9, we also get the iconic team name "The Four Little Pigs"

And this is where the light bulb turned on because this is Journey to the West.

Journey to the West is an epic Chinese story that is 100 chapters long about a group of heroes having to complete a certain amount of tasks to achieve enlightenment.

The main character is Tang Sanzang who is basically a saint who wants to bring good to all the land and who everyone is in love with and wants to marry. We are introduced to him in chapter 9 of the story. He is the heart.

The first person he meets on his journey is the Monkey King, aka Sun Wukong, who was so great at being the best trickster that he became overconfident and ended up getting put in heavenly jail for 500 years. The first chapters of the story are actually about him. He is foolish, but he is also the mastermind.

He has a daughter, Yuebei Xing. She has her own story, Journey to the South. She is a badass. She fights monsters and lives to tell the tale.

The Monkey King is easily the most powerful of the bunch, but Tang Sanzang doesn't like the Monkey King's methods because they are immoral, so there is a gold ring involved that keeps him in check.

Or maybe it's this ring.

I think it's the second ring because a goddess, who keeps helping them along the way, helps them with the ring too. She is also cool.

Along the journey, they meet Zhu Wuneng, aka Pig. He is a smart fighter but he is greedy and selfish so he keeps taking shit he isn't supposed to, which constantly gets them in trouble. He is human nature (the world).

There is Sha Wujing aka Sandy, who was once a god, but shattered a crystal and ended up banished to earth to be a mortal. He is conformity without thought (the moon).

And finally, there is Bai Long Ma, who is a horse that they ride for transportation. He is human will (the star).

There is also a princess somewhere in there who must be saved from a marriage.

The group meets obstacles along the way, and lots of crazy shit goes down, but after 14 YEARS they finally come to the end of their journey.

And on their journey to achieve enlightenment they meet a squire whose loved one is kidnapped with the possibility of murder and another squire who is murdered and his wife is pissed about it because she did everything to make sure he wouldn't be harmed.

Now, if you gasped because you think Hope (or Save) will die, well . . . the number 14 fortune was Hope's.

The fortune was given in episode four which is the same episode Jack got his fortune, but it seemed like Hope's fortune played out in the same episode when he found Joke right across the hall staying with Jack.

But the thing is, in the Chinese story, regardless of which squire it is, they don't just need the Monkey King; they need the Monkey King's help.

So the Monkey King goes to the underworld to get the loved one back and succeeds (both times). But he still needs to save our saint!

Remember, the group has to do a certain number of deeds to bring peace to the land, so the group goes in to save their leader, and the ONLY reason they make it out is because all of the people they have helped along the way (especially the people the Monkey King has helped) return the favor and save them.

By saving others, they saved themselves.

So . . . I don't think anyone else is dying. However, it's been YEARS since I read a very condensed version of this story in Asian Rhetorics, and @journeytothewestresearch's blog helped me piece some of what I forgot together.

So I could be wrong, and everyone dies.

But I don't think so.

*fingers crossed that fortune favors the bold Monkey King*

[ennn]

Assembled: The Making of Agatha All Along – What I Liked / Reactions

Y'all I joined Tumblr fandom with Glee, I can sustain my insanity with fuckin' crumbs.

I know some of you are delulu about this but being a (horrible and awful and morally unpredictable) mentor is so central to Agatha as a character

I'm not sure whether to shake the editor's hand or yell at them for putting that second almost-kiss shot after the "instant chemistry" line

Interesting how Aubrey Plaza said Kathryn called her to talk about the character

Really love seeing all these alternate line readings and takes

RIP Coat you will forever be cherished and remembered.

I did not know pink was once considered a masculine colour, hm. Would love Sasheer to just host things and talk about history forever.

Cyberpunk influence on Alice! "Barn's burnt down -- now I can see the moon." METAL.

Love seeing how the Lopezes work to create such amazing songs

"Darling I am a soprano and I do not sing back-up! Put me on the top baby!" -- Patti Lupone everyone!

"Honestly kind of rude they put me and Joe after her." Sasheer continues to be hilarious.

The amount of effort and time that goes into making a model house, my god. I'm curious whether CGI would have still been more expensive.

"sliding down a lube slide with Patti LuPone" -- KATHRYN

Is it weird I'm just happy to get Aubrey finally talking about her damn character as Death. Fuckin' FINALLY. She just here to have a good time and hang around her ex!

Really wish we had a bit more of a back-and-forth banter / argument between Rio and Agatha in the initial part of the final "battle".

That badass shot of Agatha just pulling glass out of her face and looking annoyed, why did we not keep it you guys.

[mauradersdaughter]

I have to be honest: if Katara had gotten the same treatment Toph did in ATLA, people would like her much more.

What do I mean about “getting the same treatment”? In many moments of the show, I realized that Katara was written differently than Toph (in the sense of how female characters are written). Toph is given much more substance and power showing scenes than Katara. She’s a genuine person that it’s not being written for a particular cause and has her story ending already written; she gets to do more and be more. While, for me, Katara has moments where she gets to be the amazing, waterbending master, that’s fair and loving (that to me are the scenes that show the true Katara), and then there are others where it seems she’s not allowed to be anything more than a plot device.

The episode that got me into that conclusion was “The Day of the Black Sun”. Katara does nothing in that invasion. Absolutely nothing. There’s a small scene of her attacking people, then her father gets hurt and she’s immediately removed from the story. While, Aang, Sokka and Toph go kick people’s butts and do something, Katara is (off-screen) healing her father. I wouldn’t have a problem with the trio fighting together, if it was shown Katara doing something important as well. While, Toph gets to be a person and get in fights, showing her skills and “hanging out with the boys”, Katara is only there to fulfill a purpose of that episode’s plot: which is getting kissed by Aang. After that, she’s removed from the narrative.

That’s something you never see happening with Toph. She fights creatively, grows on her power, gets to show her skills and is known to be a badass through the whole fandom, she doesn’t have scenes where she’s downplayed or underused and then just disappears. The reason for that is that she was written as a person with nothing binding her , with no sort of romantic connection to another character; therefore she gets to be a person. Now, this isn’t a post shitting on ‘kataang’ (this is not a post about ships), but Katara was written in many moments as just the romantic interest of Aang, having scenes where her entire actions are revolved around him, like in “The Day of the Black Sun”. Her purpose was to be kissed and now that’s she fulfilled it, she can be removed from the story.

Which makes me come back to my original point: if Katara was given the same treatment as Toph, people would adore her, ‘cause we know what she’s like when written normally: a fair, talented, fighter who guides the group through moments of helplessness and wants to save the world.

[fluffysaus]

(WARNING: ramblings incoming)

You know the more I think about it the more I think. “Damn, Bonnie should’ve gotten a villain arc”or at least got the chance to show more of his character. Honestly, I think he could’ve been a badass or a lot more morally gray than lead on.

Sure, he’s shown to be a genuine sweetheart and understanding…But also He actively defended Goldie’s actions to Foxy but knew when to put his foot down to Goldie when he goes overboard. He is shown to be capable and can stand up for himself and others… Foxy and Freddy turn around and do this-

Like

Bro is not happy. And that is what I think is interesting. I don’t know why this comic of all things stuck to me.

It’s just, why would Foxy and kinda Freddy like that? I can understand if it’s like wanting to protect a friend, Bonnie is visibly uncomfortable with this. He is not a child that needs to be protected and they should know he’s capable of handling these kind of subjects. and that last panel-he looks genuinely ticked off and I don’t know why.

The only reasons I can think of for this is if Bonnie has been outside before and knows it’s not certain death. Or B, Foxy and kinda Freddy have treated him like this before and he dislikes it a lot.

If the first one is true then that means Bonnie is a lot more adventurous and daring than he wants others to believe. And I think that’s cool! If the second one is true, then the others think Bonnie is a lot more innocent and kindhearted than he actually is. Like I know how it feels Bonnie, being seen as “pure” and “innocent” by your friends sucks. I can imagine him being frustrated by this whole lot. Mary called him very smart for a reason, it’s because he knows what he’s doing and what he signed up for. He knows Goldie is troublesome, but still continues to hang out with him and defend him to the others. He knows how Foxy and Goldie acts and warns others accordingly. He is observed to people and he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Freddy and Foxy should be glad that Bonnie hasn’t joined Goldie fully and that he’s a patient soul, or else they would’ve be cooked lmao.

TLDR: In the original comic, I feel like we were robbed from the possible morally gray Bonnie or a more badass Bonnie. I need more Bonnie in my life.

[glisten-inthedark]

I love how I said I was too tired and now here I’m back with another ask lol 

Ugh the Super Spy handhold scene is just PEAK insight into why Will fell in love with Mike. Why Will didn’t list Mike as one of the people he felt babied or treated like glass by. Like he’s not a mistake.

Mike listens to Will and then turns the now-memories into an ability Will now has, something that could help them defeat the Mind Flayer. He doesn’t baby him, he doesn’t treat him like he’s broken or infected or sickly, he encourages him and supports him, and he’s so soft and sweet and encouraging, but the second Will voices fear of the Mind Flayer figuring out that they’re spying, and spying back, Mike becomes so firm and determined and protective in a way that isn’t babying Will but rather throwing up his shield and standing by his side to go through this together.

The Duffers have clearly put so much thought and consideration into why Will loves Mike. They didn’t make it like Dustin and Max—Dustin had a surface level crush on Max, a girl he’d known for a week (and then a month, by the Snow Ball) that he moved on from by season 3. If you’d have asked season 2 Dustin why he liked Max, he’d probably sound a lot like Mike talking about El: she’s so cool, she’s badass, she’s talented at X Y Z. Nothing about how she makes him feel.

The reasons Will gives in the van scene for how Mike makes him feel are illustrated beautifully in season 2. And it sucks that season 3 rocked that—“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” but one summer wasn’t enough to destroy was has been building since they were in kindergarten.

Which, on that note, I think is another major piece of evidence as to Byler being endgame in season 5: the fact that they’re filming a childhood Byler + Jonathan flashback scene. I think it can be all too easy to forget that these characters lives are not confined to just the seasons that we have watched them go through. It’s one thing for the characters to talk about meeting in kindergarten, it’s another thing for us to see a scene of them that young and realize, “oh my gosh they really do have so much history and emotional buildup.” Especially if the flashback buyer scene that we do get is one with a lot of emotional weight or baggage (maybe Lonnie and something he did or said will be mentioned) or they make a promise together or one of those classic, “when I grow up, I’m gonna marry you!” scenes (if so, make Mike say it pleeeaaasseee).

They’re giving us a flashback Byler scene because they want us to understand and feel just how long these two have loved each other, even before it was romantic, even before they understood it was romantic. Because they want us/ the GA to see how much it makes sense. How this has been a long time coming.

Okay sleep time lol

Hello, you probably already slept, woke up and slept again lmao

No but in all seriousness, that's exactly what I think too. I believe it can be easy for people to think why would Will fall for Mike? Like, I see people saying that Will deserves better and blablabla.

But! Even with that awful thing Mike has said, he has shown more care for Will than he has for pretty much anyone else.

Mike listens to Will, doesn't coddle him or make him feel like he is wrong, ensures that Will knows he's there for him, supports him and listens to him but not only that, he shows to Will that he can do things himself and that he's not broken or wrong.

It shows how much Mike means to Will that not even those words were enough to stop him from caring about Mike, because the thing is, like you said, we don't even know the extent of what Mike means to him and vice versa.

Using the flashbacks is a sure fire way of letting the audience know that their connection was blossoming for ages, is a way of allowing us to see how much Mike has always cared for Will, even when he couldn't show it properly.

And also I hope you managed to get some rest ❤️

[flavia8]

Elizabeth Midford is a character I have such complex feelings about lol. Like I honestly do not like her that much but I'm also super defensive of her? I just don't like her because as a person she seems very self absorbed and way too inconsistent/easy to mess with. I know some people flipped on her character after Book of Atlantic (Valid, character development always results in re-evaluation of characters, thats what it's for) but tbh I still don't like her all that much. But she has some admirable traits and can be very caring, and I can respect her and understand her motivations even if I personally disagree with almost all of it XD But so many people are like oh she's super annoying and stupid! No! Leave her alone! She doesn't deserve to be treated like that! Her motivations and circumstances serve to explain her character very well and at the very least she has my sympathy!

[persimmonbread]

i struggled so much with drawing arthur normally that i completely caved and went in the opposite direction. bam. buck pajamas.

[throwawayasoiafaccount]

‘the black bastard of the wall’ moniker is the exact opposite of the ‘white wolf’ moniker and this perfectly highlights the irreconcilable differences between book Jon and show Jon

[starrysharks]

reassassination swap AU... fuckin.... unassassination idfk

[bisexualmcqueen]

alright this one's a little different

its a thumbnail comic of a scene from a silly fic i have YET to write (but i have half of it plotted out/partially written). was a fun choreo exercise. additional context at bottom.

had to omit some plot details for simplicity's sake, but the basic premise is as follows:

"sort of crack taken seriously in that a freak weather event occurs in radiator springs. the green and white cars are just random tourists who lightning is helping evacuate. he's borrowed one of mater's towing cables… but alas he is not a tow truck. also i throw rocks at him! {he doesn't break his powertrain [axel] just a link arm + a few other suspension bits. it's to nerf him for later to let another character do a good deed in his place} {also he has the tow cable because he was closest to rescue the tourists but everyone got separated}"

the tourists also were NOT supposed to be out exploring carburetor country, there were weather warnings posted, but they lied and went anyways and lightning had to find and rescue them </3 (and then they get detoured and This happens</3)

[iloveacronix]

Boutta go sleep cuz my brain be lacking neurons rn but guys PLEASE hear me out

Supportive brothers for life. Also taggin the historyshipping queen @kyokittymeow

[ganondoodle]

okay, bc i have seen this argument alot now (and it also seems to be the view point of aonuma himself..) is that "zelda cant do everything link does bc whats the point then"

and i take personal offense on that bc its a stupid argument (in. my. very. personal. opinion.- not judging people for liking it. its a ME thing)

whats the point? its that its her. its still a different character, different in story, background, personality, but i WANT to play zelda and she can do everything link does, why does she have to be so restricted and be bend over backwards to find some new way to make her 'useful' when link gets to do basically everything no questions asked (the only thing thats hers is like .. sealing power and sacrificial maiden, which i find a little underwhelming to say the least), if theres no point to it why are there always modders that model swap link with someone else, and in that case it has even less impact bc its an artificial model swap with no changes to the story (which can and should still be different when its the vanilla game with a different protagonist... its still a different character), clearly theres joy in just the model being a different one- and that isnt even to mention the story possibilities, since, again, its stil a different character

if we ever (never ... i know who we are talking about here) get to play as ganondorf i want to him to be just as versatile and active as link is, if we got a point and click adventure game for him instead bc 'whats the point' id be disappointed too- you can find any sort of excuse/explanation for zelda to be singled out but the fact remains it tracks with how female characters are often treated, and that hits a very sore spot for me

i guess i am unfortunately one of those annoying people that want to see female characters be treated exactly the same as male characters, possibly bc i am myself afab but identify as agender and have a deeply personal dislike for anything 'traditional' feminine bc i cannot and never will be able to truly live as myself in real life, it influences all of my work, my work is as just as much as my opinion on this, very personal

and in line with my point about modding, i see theres joy in just beign able to play as her even if its like this, i get that, i also get it for the creative aspect (though that mechanic worries me even more for the future bc it really seems to be the path now that -freedom = good, linear anything = bad-) it is a different idea and its not like i cant see that value- im not trying be "right" either, just bc i have that opinion doesnt mean i need everyone to agree, its a very personal thing, if you like it good for you! not for me though, and i think both of that is equally valid

i just personally wish she was allowed to be just like link, fight just like him but be different bc its still her and not him in the end- to be physically/playstyle like jsut like him, but you know ... as her, i dont think shed stop being zelda if she could wield a sword just like him

i dont really know how to get my point/feelings across, i dont want to step too much into personal stuff nor spam people with something that ultimately doesnt interest me alot, im just saddened by it really

(EDIT: bc i forgot to add this on here again; this isnt as much of a problem as it might sound like here, just the main topic i wanted to talk about; why im so uninterested in it is MAINLY bc i dont trust them to write anything interesting/care about lore anymore after totk, im always on the more pessimistic side that thinks its most likely worse than id hope and i know even the past games arent perfect or super interestingly written, but now its much more just a general distrust, together with everything like the price ... im just much less hopeful and cant get excited until i see more of it, like im waiting for the game to get out and reveal that its just as much of a mess and money i regret spending- kind of fear)

[edwardallenpoe]

so, I've read quite a bit of bagginshield fanfiction, because of course I have, and I've noticed that Bilbo is not as sassy in fic??

Like, is it just me or was Bilbo like, sarcastic and had an attitude in the moveis?? The best example I can I remember off the top of my head of this is when Bilbo tells Gandalf he saw Thorin and co. On Ravenhill and said he had to get to them, and Gandalf said he couldn't make it, and he said "uh, yeah I can." I loved it, honestly, but in fic writers tend to make him softer and shyer? This isn't a problem but I would love to see more sassy Bilbo!

[marlynnofmany]

LOL. Brain hack. Turns out if you're writing a sequel and none of the ideas you're coming up with seem good enough, and it's immensely frustrating...

Just ask yourself "Pretending this idea DIDN'T suck, what would happen next?"

Lo and behold, the scene I just described sounds cool after all.

[hellcifrogs]

I want to tell how much I love the way you fraw Tsunade. She is herself but she still looks somewhat of her age and is beautiful like that!

I'm happy!!! I love drawing her and sometimes I feel like I don't even make her look old enough!

[nagitosstolenhand]

okay does anyone else find it very icky that immediately after finding out kurogiri is a nomu and a victim of nonconsensual medical experimentation and malpractice. the pros n hpsc ppl immediately transfer him to a hospital for their docters to do nonconsensual medical experimentation on him to try and both see if they can turn them back into oboro and also just to see how the nomus tick. like maybe its cause i am a firm Kurogiri Should Be Allowed To Be Their Own Person And Should Actually Be Allowed Agency In Their Story believer but genuinely even if you think kurogiri is just amnesiac oboro this still feels shady on SO many levels.

also the fact we get NO comment from Mic or Aizawa. ik grief and anguish over the fact your dead highschool friend is an undead villainess butler now but they are the only vector we ever get updates on kurogiri so them never bringing it up just makes it feel like they dont care. let our dead best friends reanimated corpse be poked and prodded by a team of random government doctors. who cares what the actual person made from him says as long as theres some small vain hope they might get their long dead friend back.

this could all be very interesting and explore the hypocrisy of the heros/hpsc and give Mic n Aizawas relationship with kurogiri some genuine depth, but we don't get that because the kurogiri-oboro plot was inserted in for extra angst and an excuse to make aizawa extra pissed at and resentful of shigaraki and was just left there when it was time to chase another big shonen boss fight. i hope they actually manage to address any of this when the kurogiri-mic-aizawa plot actually shows up again but with how things are going. i severely doubt it. and after spinner and dabi i severely doubt they are actually going to find a genuinely satisfying conclusion to this arc. which is honestly just so fucking disappointing.