#This is in response to another post

[jimmythejiver]

Reminder that Peggy Carter sucks in both the movies/extended universe and comics, but for two different reasons. It is pointed out many times that movie/show version is based on comic book Nazi double agent Cynthia Glass, so much that they casted Haylee Atwell to look like her, and she's a British government agent. Nuff said.

Comic book Peggy is if you had Scarlett O'Hara but blond working in the French resistence with all the values dissonance that creates. Comic Peggy is a descendent of Virginian plantation slave owners (her being British in movie is an invention to bypass this uncomfortable fact while ignoring the complacency of British Imperialism and it's human rights violations) and in comics her and Sharon live that "genteel, romantic antebellum" inspired upbringing of exploited wealth and it's never explored in any way than as set dressing to these white writers because they think this archetye is 'murica girlboss and thematically contrasts Steve's northerner immigrant background, see. Comic Peggy married Howling Commando Gabe Jones who is black and nothing of her past is addressed about this legacy and then she gets alzheimers and thinks she's still with Steve causing a rift in her marriage and with Steve and Sharon's already weird relationship because before this development by later writers, it was never Stan Lee's intention that Steve dated both Peggy and Sharon who were originally sisters not aunt and niece and then great-aunt and great-niece as time passed from whenever Steve was thawed. Then Peggy dies of old age as the waste of space she was (liberating those poor French notwithstanding) and we still stuck with Sharon the S H.I.E.L.D. cop who shot Steve, but oh it's ok, see she was brainwashed, see. I hate the Carter's and knowing Marvel has no balls to make Bucky, Sam or Jack Moneoe his bf, if I wanted Steve with a woman, I'd rather it be with Bernie Rosenthal who he met sometime after being thawed and almost married before Sharon undied herself or Betty Ross who Peggy replaced in Canon as his war love interest because oops Stan Lee named Hulk's girlfriend that and we can't have both around…

Also another petty note: I didn't hate Haylee Atwell's Peggy initially, but after watching her play a slave owner who loses a fraction of her power marrying a man who inherits her property and has an affair with her once 'favorite slave' she abuses throughout, in the British series called The Long Song, I cannot unsee these two characters played by the same actress as the two sides of the white supremacist girlboss coin.

[westleywithatea]

idk if its the one (they dont have micros here ig), but it might be this one

yes it is! Thank you! <3

[dapper-lil-arts]

I'm not the kind of person that's like "Here let me fix the canon" usually but like holy crap gen 5 implied a lot of messed up shit about our hero Twilight Sparkle lmao

[bixels]

Jesus man, relax.

[phoenixyfriend]

Me: I'm color-coding it! [Explains system]

My sister: [chokes on a laugh]

Me: What?

My sister: Nothing, I was gonna say something but it's really mean.

Me: What is it? Like the suspected autism, or--?

My sister: No it's just, dude you're color-coding a cookbook. Get a job.

[loriache]

honestly i'm kind of interested in the idea of laios in an arranged marriage. because obviously straight-up inherited monarchies are ...bad, to say the least! but it's what the characters are familiar with (even laios' father's extremely local, extremely minor leadership role is inherited, presumably through the male line). and it isn't just about what they think the best way to run melini is; in terms of ensuring that the other longed-lived nations respect melini's continued sovereignty, having it passed down in a manner that's close enough to their own ways for them to understand it and respect it is important. And it seems like most of the other nations have leadership through inheritance - thought that isn't confirmed for certain except with the elves.

Also, a marriage carries the potential to establish foreign allies - something melini is certainly lacking. A marriage could come with resources they'll badly need, treaties of mutual defence, money, legitimacy and political capital... not that these things can't be worked around, but if laios isn't strongly opposed, there are a lot of advantages! and i don't think he would be, because that's the framework for marriage (conferring practical advantages, building intracommunity relationships and providing a partner to do important work that he can't do) that he had grown up with. he isn't exactly a romantic and I doubt he's holding out for any sort of relationship of that nature.

Like, I don't think it's impossible that they would go with this path, because it's the most obvious and it carries a lot of advantages and it's what almost all the decision-making characters would consider normal and not objectionable. and it could be so interesting.

I think Laios would have major hangups if expected (i.e., by Marcille) to establish a genuine, romantic interest in a woman. Whether because of his sexual or romantic orientation, or just his own deep-seated trauma about rejection and being inherently disgusting and scary. And I think he'd hate the idea of having kids, too, and be very frightened of being like his father. But I don't think he'd refuse on that basis; he could cope with a marriage contract, with clearly laid-out expectations and responsibilities. And when it came to having a kid, I think he'd be reluctant to express that he doesn't want to do it, because he isn't naive and he understood when he agreed to be king it would carry responsibilities like this. It's clear from his nightmare that he already felt pressure from his parents to have children, probably magnified by the fact his father has got a position, responsibilities and wealth to pass on. Obviously he isn't a perfect martyr, so he might struggle when it comes to actually going through with it - but I don't think he'd actually, outright refuse. I think he might do it even though he doesn't want to, and I think that could be really messy in a way that appeals to me.

I don't know, there's something about negotiating these kinds of complicated situations that's interesting to me. and i love a platonic marriage. If they find a woman who has an interest in education, for example, and can work with marcille on setting up schools and universities. she'd ideally be politically savvy enough to be an able partner to laios: even though kabru can and would continue to do a lot of that, there are different spheres that a queen and a prime minister can work within!

how would their relationship work? maybe she finds laios' perspective on the world, and his frankness, unexpectedly liberating after an extremely controlled, cloistered upbringing. maybe she had a rebellious phase, has magic, or something else which makes her a relatively unpopular candidate for marriage - even as melini grows in power, i doubt that they'd be getting offers for the cream of the crop in terms of perceived value on the marriage market, because laios' relationship is a bit too ambivalent/monstrous for that, and melini too new. maybe she's a widow! an older woman, wouldn't that be cool - though they'd want her young enough that she could definitely still have kids.

certainly i think he'd be happy for her to pursue other relationships, though ideally in a manner that couldn't produce illegitimate kids. with other relationships in play, that's even more interesting. like, both kabru and toshiro have complicated emotions relating to infidelity. i think kabru would actually find it quite cathartic to be in the kind of high-status environment that rejected his mother for perceived infidelity, pursuing an affair that all parties consent to, though he'd likely be incredibly aware of the public image - since "image" is what he was rejected for. toshiro... i just really really love the way he'd feel about being the "other woman" in laios' marriage, considering his feelings about his father and maizuru. especially given how much closer he is to maizuru than his mother, being in her position...! his emotions would be so complex, it's incredibly tasty. i bet he'd make a bunch of assumptions about how laios' wife feels about it and be totally wrong, and that's so interesting. also, i think laios' wife should fuck marcille (she and falin have an open relationship).

[basilpaste]

& he forgives you dogs are like that so loyal dead dogs are just happy you're here Let Dead Dogs Lie, Silas Denver Melvin (from Grit)

〔You grit your teeth so hard that they shatter into fangs.〕

[zinnie-zoloft]

Honestly I’m so glad I gave up having heroes or idols as a teenager for much less serious reasons.

I grew up with Neil Gaimans creations being a massive part of every stage of my life, from my mother reading me Wolves In The Walls, to watching Coraline repeatedly, to binging Good Omens and Dead Boy Detectives.

These stories will remain important to me and continue to inspire me, but he won’t, arguably he was never the main reason I loved most of these stories on the first place.

I love laika studios, I love david tennant, I love terry pratchett, I love the various different interpretations of the characters from the sandman universe. There are dozens of different artists who made these characters and their stories what they are. They deserve better than to have their work tainted by one man.

Multiple women have accused him of sexual assault, even his own response sounds like a confession, I believe he’s absolutely guilty.

He’s an egotistical prick and that’s the reason why he does what he does. I refuse to give him credit for other people’s efforts in art, writing, and acting. They don’t deserve to go down with him. He doesn’t deserve to take them down with him.

[autumnslance]

Normally I'd agree many Final Fantasy games have rather young protagonists. It's because they're usually single-player JRPGs made with the assumption of younger players, and like most Young Adult media, create characters that cater to that, even if it ends up with teens running the world and fighting in wars. And for many players, the first time playing these games is in childhood/adolescence/very young adulthood. So it's YA anime.

Final Fantasy XIV does not fall into that same mold, despite the "Teen" rating for legal and distribution purposes.

The majority of the FF14 cast, including the bulk of the main characters, are between 20 and 40 years old (the Scion Archons, Ishgard Elf Husbands). Many other characters are between 40 and 80 (Ishgard's Counts are all late middle aged to elder dads/grandpas, Gaius is mid 50s, Jehantel and Ran'jit are elderly, all still active). The younger characters (especially with any authority or special position) like the Leveilleur twins, are actually outliers. And the youth of the characters between 16 and 20 years old tends to be plot relevant, where that inexperience and naivety causes problems and drives story (Nanamo's arc at the end of ARR into HW, Alphinaud and the Crystal Braves, Ryne's determination of self in ShB, etc).

Characters have a variety of appearances; some characters in the same age ranges look very different. Varis is only 4 years older than X'rhun but Varis's model shows the stress and disagreeableness of his life a lot more than the RDM trainer's. Cid's in his mid-30s but with the beard looks older--and without it he has a baby face (hair color doesn't matter, cuz they do keep the anime trope of "everyone's got white or silver hair"). Lalafell are designed to be anime-cute halflings so it's hard to tell their adult ages even if they've got facial hair like grandfatherly Papashan. The pad'jal of course look like kids, but the youngest main pad'jal is A-Ruhn in his late teens; all the others are adults stuck in adolescent bodies. E-Sumi is a few hundred years old. Kan-E uses various methods to look older so other leaders and people from outside Gridania will take her seriously as an adult. The padjal introduced in the StB WHM quests is a child, and that's the plot; she's not in charge of anything, or has any particularly advanced-for-her-age skills. She's just a kid having a really rough time.

This inability to determine age by looking and assuming isn't just due to limits of the game engine and character creation options; it reflects real life. I met my work team for the first time in person recently; one person looked older than I know them to be, thanks to months of stress and health issues. While all of them were shocked to remember I'm in my 40s as according to them, I "look much younger". Most people are actually pretty bad at guesstimating ages based on appearance, due to the variety of folks' lives.

Speaking of kid characters, many of the children we interact with, like the Doman Adventurers, are between 12 and 14 and act much younger. Khloe has this going on too, with her age "corrected" to 13 (when previously listed as 10), but she acts way younger to me. Most of the actual child characters are treated like children, and it's not until they get to 14-16 (Honoroit, Leveva) that we start to see them treated like maturing adolescents and having some rsponsibilities, but still young and prone to the kind of choices one expects of less experienced and more emotional youth.

As a MMO, FF14's primary audience is actually adults; teens do play the game, but also age up with it if they keep playing. If a 15 year old began playing with ARR's release, they're in their mid-20s now. Having a primarily adult cast, and treating child characters like children, and adolescents like young people figuring out how young adulthood works, makes sense for this game.

FF14's time bubble is also part of the issue; a developer tool to keep it so they don't have to worry too much about character ages, new models so often, or how long things take in game. Timelines are then intentionally left malleable for the players' benefits, to create our own stories and determine how long things take for our WoLs and their tales. Some folks have their stories pass in real time, some compress it to a year per expac, some expand it out even longer. So the ages the characters have listed in the lorebooks and rarely in game (which is then reflected in online resources), is a starting baseline. Personal headcanons as always should be applied (including changing around some character ages to fit one's own story if necessary).

Also, FF16, made by the same team, has a brief prologue/tutorial section where the main trio is between 10 and 15, guided/trained by adult characters, experience the inciting incident trauma--and then we spend the majority of the game with the main cast in their 20s and 30s. The game also has a mature rating, featuring some sexual situations, lots of violence, and stronger language than other FF games. It's made for adults, and its cast reflects that.

So it is a matter of audience expectations; for a MMO, you're going to have an older and aging player base, and the varied ages of the cast reflect that, as do their varied appearances and experiences as adults. The young characters are treated closer to how their youth should be; still with respect for those in positions like Nanamo, but also prone to errors due to inexperience that drive story. In other FF titles, which were made to be more YA-focused, a teen and young 20s cast were treated much differently. But even in the single-player FF titles, if they are made with adult players in mind, their cast and stories likewise reflect that.

[transsongtaewon]

I think the way baby Yoohyun cried is sooo cute, especially since it was all crocodile tears. Here is this tiny little guy deciding to get his way by crying because he saw it on tv and then his hyung, also a tiny little guy, starts crying too because he was so startled and itty bitty Yoohyun never anticipated that reaction so he just sort of stops crying so hyung will stop crying and this was never meant to end this way.

[lady-merian]

@emeraldchase okay, here goes!

I’ve seen a lot of jokes about how the best the Ring can do to tempt Sam is a garden. I’ve laughed at them too, but there’s an element to some of the jokes that dismisses the importance of the scene in my opinion. 

The Ring offers power according not only to a person’s desires, but to their abilities. We can infer from what the Ring offers Sam that Sam would desire to do good with it, (arguably, overthrowing Barad-dur and turning the wasteland of Mordor into a garden is a good desire,) but that doesn’t mean it’s not a dangerous power fantasy in its own way. The desire to remake the world in one’s own image and enforce it by any means necessary is something not even our dear Sam is immune to. He’s not imagining a world where nothing threatens peace, he’s imagining being the threat that enforces the peace. If it takes a flaming sword to bring his order into the world then it takes a flaming sword. The Ring tries to convince him it would give him the power to do so. 

The Ring is, of course, a liar, and it’s a credit to Sam that he realized that after rejecting what the Ring was offering him, but it’s also a credit to Sam that he rejected it in the first place. This is his equivalent to Galadriel’s test. Unlike Galadriel, however, he’s in possession of the Ring at the time the temptation comes upon him and I think that’s saying something. 

Curiously, his reward when he returns to the Shire gives him the wholesome version of these desires, not to mention many more blessings besides.

The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.

Though Sam as the mayor isn’t a position of great power equal to the great kingdoms of Middle-earth by any stretch, it’s a responsibility. (What that looks like is better seen in the unpublished epilogue to the story, in my opinion.) A responsibility he’s proven himself capable of handling. Likewise with a garden swollen to a realm. The part of the Shire that most benefited from his use of Galadriel’s gift was Hobbiton, it’s true, but he did travel the four farthings of the Shire to mend what harms he could. 

I’m not suggesting that Sam could have become this tyrannical ruler, because Sam hasn’t trained his will to the domination of others and also does not have the innate power that Gandalf and Galadriel both have. (Not to mention Sam is correct that Sauron would have seen him if he’d put the Ring on in Mordor: Frodo put on the Ring at Mount Doom and Sauron was instantly aware.) There are few enough who would survive a direct contest with Sauron in a situation like that, so I’m not putting Sam down either by saying that Sam putting on the Ring would have doomed Middle-earth. 

What I’m saying is that just because the vision was of a garden doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been detrimental to Sam’s character if he’d accepted the vision. Gandalf was wary of even handling it. Sam meanwhile goes to the ends of the earth as far as his people are concerned, right alongside the Ringbearer, and remains mainly concerned for the welfare of Frodo. The thought of what he might do with the Ring hasn’t crossed his mind until that moment. When measured up against his devotion to his master and also his plain hobbit-sense, the Ring can’t compete.

[book-lover85]

thinking about sophie foster vs katniss everdeen

the moonlark vs the mockingjay

the chosen vs unchosen hero

how people's perception of you can be more important than who you actually are

[sharkneto]

what about five made him ur blorbo…

Man, what made Five my guy.

There’s the surface level stuff – he hits a lot of tropes I love. Asshole with a heart, competent in everything but people, an assassin who gets cool fights to good music, teleports, last man in the world, has a fucked up wife situation. He’s a fifty-eight-year-old man who looks thirteen, that concept right there has so much to work through, all by itself.

All of that is really fun stuff, but under all of that, I think I can sum up why Five hit so hard with just that he has heart. The show could have gone the route of comic!Five – unredeemable bastard of a tiny man. That would have been fun, I love comic!Five, but he works better on a comic book page, where things can be more 2D. The change the show made – maybe on accident – is that show!Five loves an incredible amount, and that’s what hooked me hard. Sure, some of this is fan interpretation, but I think it’s got moments in-show to back it up. One of his first moves he made, when stuck in the apocalypse, was to make Delores – he has her within a few days of landing there. She says so much about him the second we meet her in the show - shorthand to tell us just how bad the apocalypse was, and that, when faced with nothing, Five makes a person he has to take care of. With that, he survived four decades as the last person on earth in dystopian hell before he could get back to save the world – so he says, at least, but he has always prioritized his siblings. They're his world. He’s not great at saying it, but he’s a man of action and his actions speak very loudly.

With all that love, comes a lot of grief, which is actually what keeps me going with Five. I’m pretty open that I’ve had a lot of grief in my life. I’m doing better, it’s been a number of years now, but grief doesn’t go away, and Five is an incredible vehicle for playing with and processing grief. Experiencing it, growing from it, moving on with life around it. And Five has so many layers of grief to play with. There’s the grief for his family who he found dead when he was 13, grief for the world because it all ended, grief for the life he lost, grief for the life he had to live, grief for what he’s had to do, grief for his body and his situation. How do you keep going and move on after experiencing such loss? I find it both cathartic and motivating to think about and sit in that space.

He's a walking tragedy and I adore him for it. Character of all time.

[hidingoutbackstage]

The poor quality songs releasing solely on Spotify with no rhyme or reason to them…literally all other EAH and Mattel social media not saying anything about it…Allison Bloom not knowing what the hell is going on…MATTEL THEMSELVES CALLING THE SONGS AI GENERATED???

[54625]

I know we're all quite disappointed, now, about all of the things QSMP had going that will likely never happen. So I'm curious; what things can you think of, big or small, did we never get to see? A big arc planned, character growth that never occurred, a build never started or finished, a plot point that went nowhere, a question that was never answered, people who never reunited or met, even just a person reacting to/ seeing something.

Feel free to list as many as you can think of, or rant to your heart's content. We could all do with getting some of that grief of missed potential of our chests.

[whineandcheese24]

my unpopular opinion for the day: i don't like the way the 911 fandom shoehorns the firefam into a nuclear family situation. Bobby may be a father-figure for Buck, but he is not really his father and Athena is definitely not his mother. neither of them raised Buck, or even knew him when he was a kid, and that's kind of a big part of being a parent

the thing that pisses me off is the mom!Athena thing, because it feels like the only reason people say that is because of Bobby and Athena's marriage. Buck and Athena never had that kind of relationship. she may affectionately scold him, but like Bobby she didn't raise him, and unlike Bobby, she doesn't feel any kind of responsibility towards him. she loves him and cares for him, and he's part of her family, but that doesn't make her his mom. in fact, Buck already has a mother figure, and it's MADDIE. frankly, Maddie is more of a parent to Buck than Bobby is

and this goes for Maddie, May and Harry too. Bathena are not parent-figures for Maddie. Athena is Maddie's friend, and Maddie's on-screen relationship with Bobby is almost non-existent, same with Buck and Maddie's on-screen relationship with May and Harry. they're not siblings, as far as we know they barely know each other.

I just hate the way people want to shove Buck and even Maddie into the Grant-Nash family like a little nuclear family cutout. Bobby will always feel responsible for Buck, more so than he does for the rest of the firefam, and Bobby is one of the most important people in Buck's life. but being a parent isn't just about a relationship dynamic, it's about child-raising, and money, and teaching.