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lestwritewhilewaitingforajobcall · 3 years ago

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The Odd Rumble of Thunder - Thor x Reader

(A/N)

Hey guys! I wanted to personally thank you all for the kind comments and messages, they really inspire me to continue writing more and the support truly means a lot! Also, I just found out how to access post replies, I apologize I haven’t gotten to reading them since my first story, I’m still trying to figure out the gist of things here on Tumblr! Anyways, recently I’d only been posting more on Poseidon, so here’s a special one for our Norse god of thunder (aka the god I simp for the most). This idea came to me while out on a camping trip, I hope you guys enjoy it! Feedback would really be welcomed and appreciated!

This is for entertainment only. Record of Ragnarok belongs to Shinya Umemura, Takumi Fukui and Ajichika. I also do not own you, the reader.

The Odd Rumble of Thunder

Thor x Reader

Even before the news spread like wildfire, Thor had become under the tyranny of a good habit to bringing his wife with him wherever he may go. It stood to reason that he would never be so careless to invite you over to danger, hence why, at a god’s ephemeral notice, he had stopped seeking direction for his combative side, but when, at last, he had to venture, he made much quicker work of it than when he would have otherwise.

Inarguably, if you’d wanted to lay down and rest instead, it was a surety you’d receive your meals in bed, unbothered. But for Thor there was no guarantee he’d ever have to worry about you, so the whole of Asgard knew by now he’d drop whatever he was doing to accompany you, uncaring about diplomacy in the first place.

Not that Odin nor Loki minded either; especially since the Allfather knew more about the concerns of a father expecting their first child. Moreover, Loki enjoyed shapeshifting into his cousin during days he was absent. It was much more fun to cause mischief legally, as he would say.

Today, Thor stood by his wife who sat comfortably in her rocking chair on the porch, allowing a full view of the hills that sloped gently down to the grand gardens. You were seven months along, approaching the eight month, the swell of your stomach now far more prominent.

At the very moment you had begun to show, you had a companion of whom would almost never leave your side, your husband’s absence in the kingdom gradually becoming more frequent, more lengthened, till at last his presence among his people became an exception. Despite your constant reassurances that you would be fine, Thor insisted on staying, casually sweeping aside your thoughts regarding his habitual sense of duty.

“I would only be gone for nine months to tend to my wife and child, they should fare well on their own lest they are more incompetent than I would’ve thought.” Thor had told you once before, and you’d decided not to question him further on that. You understood your husband’s concerns, to be truthful, you had a few of your own as well, so having Thor assist you alleviated some of the stress and worry concerning your child’s safety.

Especially now that you were nearing your due date. For instance, you were having the toughest time moving, suffering primarily from the weight in your belly and pains in your back and legs that made walking and even standing difficult. What made the physical strain worse too was your child’s eagerness to know you and Thor both, unable to stay long in one position, much like their father’s enthusiasm for battle.

“How are you feeling?” Thor’s question rested upon a rather precise calculation of the last time he had asked the same only a short moment before. It was quite visible in his actions that he did not want to cause any negative feelings if he could help it, though desiring you to avoid stress as much as possible.

You smiled. “Come close. You’ve been standing there for ages just ogling at me.” You opened your arms out wide. “Are you not tired?”

Truth be told, despite Thor’s constant need to remain close to his wife, he felt a real, undeniable fear of touching you, specifically, your abdomen. He closed the distance between until he was right in front of you, staring down at you with hard eyes. Longing leaped like a flame reaching out in his celestial yellow orbs.

“Love, I am always grateful for your concern for me. And I am feeling much better just knowing you’re beside me.” You raised yourself up, pushing against the chair to try to stand. Thor rushed forward, held you then put his hands under your arms to lift you up. Your child was growing fast. “But how about you? How are you feeling?”

You inched closer, your fingers playing with the locks of his hair that you could reach. “Aside from the stress of waiting, I’ve noticed that you have something else weighing on your mind.

“Tell me, what is it?”

At the sight of you through his warworn eyes, his mind was filled with bliss. For that loving glance of yours, he felt a divine presence and holy atmosphere that seemed to pervade everything around you. Having an inkling of what you were hinting at though, he broke your gaze, in an attempt to avert the guilt you conferred on him.

“Please. We’re in this together, I would want nothing more than to help you back as much as you’ve helped me.” Thor felt you shift in his arms, get more comfortable. He felt the bulk of your child across his legs, the weight no doubt pulling you down. Seeing you in pain like that, was sad and unbearable, and the gnawing feeling grew stronger. And since he knew you were always so full of strength and determination, always unrelenting in your attempts to make him feel better, he began,

“I am afraid.” Red eyebrows drew together.

“Afraid of what?”

“That I might accidentally hurt you and our child,” Thor took a deep breath in then let it out in a sigh while taking a step back. “I do not want that to happen, even if I want to be at your side at all times. And this frustrates me to no end.”

Thor did himself a favor by giving attention to anything other than his wife, refusing to be a witness on the sadness and any he may have caused. Dealing with his own disappointment was nothing new, but he had trouble dealing with the fact that he was the cause of yourpain. He wished he could take his troubles which escaped, hanging in the air, and all the bad feelings on himself and let things continue as they were, but he knew it didn’t work that way. You needed to know that he only wanted you and your child safe and protected, even from himself.

He could not understand how the cosmos could play such a cruel joke on the both of you: you, bore so much pain because of one of the greatest affairs of life, and him, the strongest deity in the Pantheon, was powerless against the natural laws of existence.

Strong shoulders slumped, head bowing as stray strands of red hair fell over Thor’s brow. Not again. He did not wish to be reminded of the cautious sympathy his father and cousin had approached him with. His stomach lurched whenever the subject of your frailty came up. Dread and a terrifying fear overwhelmed his soul for the first time, the thought of losing you−

“Hey,” Your voice which lingered on the gentle breeze brushed against Thor’s face, pulling him out of his stupor. He refocused, turning his gaze onto your sweet face.

How were you able to hold yourself up well despite your obvious pain and suffering? Did you not bear the same nervousness as he did? The answer was obvious, practically screaming in Thor’s ears but became deaf following his guilt and clouded instincts. For a long time since you’d first told him about the news, he bore these worries in silence; but when at length he’d been perplexed by your introspection−or seeming lack of it. Why, in fact, did you concern yourself with him at all? Compared to you, there was hardly any threat to his own life posed. Why had you always done more to make him feel better when you were the one who needed it most?

Cutting through the haze he found himself in was the shape of you, or maybe your hair billowing in the wind, a wisp of it across your face, and then suddenly the feel of your skin, the sense of your head on his chest. Even if it were fleeting, that alone brought him the possibilities of comfort that he’d so needed. Oh, how he missed this; you cupped his big callously marble hands around yours, caressing them so tenderly, as if he were fragile and might break, so short it could never be pulled back.

As he relished the warmth of the blaze you gave him for the winter of unease, he’d realized much sooner that the coldness that inched its icy fingers up his spine still threatened to battle your kind words, you, his very own wife, and he detested himself for being unsure whether or not it was of his own doing; was he pushing you away when you’d only wanted to offer your help?

Thor’s immediate impulse was to pull back from you, abruptly halted by your fingers which slipped between his now splayed hand. You wrinkled your nose in a delightfully unguarded manner that caused his breath to hitch in his throat.

“Do you remember the first time we said our vows?” If only you knew the way Thor perceived you: in his eyes, your radiant smile reflected the morning sunlight of Valhalla, for a split second picturing the moment you’d walked down the aisle, that headpiece on your head instantiating the paradox of mystery that once lifted revealed your beautiful face, marking it the best day of his long life. Something warm bloomed in his chest once again and spread its heat out through every vein in his body. He remembered the smooth feel of the veil against his cheek after sealing your promise with a kiss, his lips parting with a breathless sigh.

“Your hands caressed my fit of nerves with light, tender touches and then inspired me with hard, passionate embraces,” With effortless ease, you lifted your intertwined hands to your mouth and kissed his knuckle. Thor watched with great admiration your every move, the desire to distance himself was now but an afterthought. Nothing would ever separate him from you when all you’d ever done was pull him closer than ever.

Then, you sought out his hand, kissing his palm as he stroked your face. You clung onto his arms, gripped at his chest as if you were searching for warmth, as if you needed his touch, and much like him, couldn’t bear to be even an inch away. His mind was still slowing its racing to let him mutter something in response, so he allowed himself to be entranced by how smooth and sure of yourself you were, with nothing to mar the calm serenity of your features. Your smile seemed to be a natural adornment, the utter gentleness in your eyes, reminded him of every morning when he woke up, he would see you by his side, as well as your sleeping snoring face. Right at that moment, the silly scream finally made it to the deaf god’s ears:

He was your haven,

The place you called home and went to find peace.

As Thor immersed himself in your smell, your sparkling eyes, he felt the excruciating cold all melt away in your warmth. No more seeds of doubt with which to sow and seek his destiny. Slowly, he began to see his surroundings from a keener point of view, realizing, then appraising them: from the passing wind your hair messed which he pushed aside, tucking it behind your ear, to how his sash seemed to fit him better indeed, rather than cling onto his skin even tighter as brutally as it had done before. He noticed the minute changes since he’d last taken a good look at you months ago: a little flusher on your skin, lines around the eyes a little deeper, a little increase in body temperature.

He pulled you closer, his actions not arising from calculation instead led by instinct. You let him take more of your weight, your belly pressed against his stomach as you sighed, his fingers working wonders on massaging the muscles that had been much abused in carrying the baby’s weight. A sudden wrenching through his sash struck Thor’s heart and had him holding his breath.

The baby had moved, and he’d felt it.

Bending down, he buried his nose in your hair, closing his eyes as he drank in your scent. Your arms wrapped around his back as he connected in this loving embrace, feeling his heart beat in rhythm with your own.

“Our child would no doubt love to be enveloped in their father’s safe arms,” With a light, gentle touch, your fingers ran through Thor’s hair, making him shiver with delight.

On that day, only the beautiful gardens of Asgard became privy to nothing more than a moment in which husband and wife reached for the same comfort and their concerns met. These gardens were simultaneously the very same place where Thor had first avoided the problems that plagued his mind, but also became exactly the same place where he’d find solace in the arms of his lovely wife.

Resting his hand on where his child was, he recognized that familiar feeling turning up, but upon realizing the bittersweet irony of and within these gardens, the revelation came to him: happiness could also come from the very object of fear.

And as you had an unmovable trust in him, there was an unspoken mutual understanding that he too, should put his trust in you.

#snv x reader #snv thor #snv thor x reader #thor x reader #shuumatsu no valkyrie #record of ragnarok #record of ragnarok x reader #record of ragnarok thor x reader

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the-clockwork-three · 2 years ago

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I posted 8,129 times in 2022

That's 8,129 more posts than 2021!

240 posts created (3%)

7,889 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@ulysses-but-somehow-more-transer

@charlataninred

@transgender-rex

@the-dashing-mx-ollandre

@ladydragonkiller

I tagged 1,652 of my posts in 2022

#is mise an crann - 163 posts

#ask game - 48 posts

#prev - 29 posts

#save - 28 posts

#self reblog - 28 posts

#my beloved fictional husband - 23 posts

#asks - 18 posts

#the mechanisms - 16 posts

#you mean a gun powdered this tim? - 15 posts

#the mechs - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#this was like 30 years ago but i still get really nervous when the bus takes the 'o fuck were like half an hour behind schedule lets skip

My Top Posts in 2022:

I listened to the TBI debut while knitting, some highlights

"Drumbot Brian.... Actually playing a fucking drum"

Huh,,,, the lyf segments are supposed to be verbatim from a recording they made.... Note to self

Raph 🥺🥺🥺 no thoughts on Odin. Just Raph time

Oh fuck. The Ooohs in Loki gave me shivers. it's the quiet before tim just Going for it that cements it for me

Moss stitch is.... So boring but also just annoying enough you constantly have to pay attention

Something about how Thor is preformed in the debut makes me believe his anger more than the recording. It may be a voice crack or something

In Losing Track's chorus, Tim's mic is Way Too Loud and Ashes' is nowhere near loud enough. However everyone sounds fine in the verses so it may be a human issue not a tech one.

Lyf's interaction with the mechs in Expert Testimony is great. It was just a little off from the recorded version but it was a cool break

I like how red signal worked in this version. The quiet bit at the start was nearly imperceptible, and it steadily got louder. The difference between the two ranges of volume between the debut and the album is interesting

I forgot to take notes during the Ragnaroks. It was different enough to keep my attention but similar enough it wasn't distracting. Tim was not super overwhelming during Loki-Sigin duet in V.

It should not have taken me An Entire Hour to finish knitting one 3.5 inch square. AND it's even not the right shape due to bulging >:(

The crowd started to clap before the end of Terminus because they were not expecting the distress call segment

Jonny's smile at the end of Terminus is SOOOOOO good. I haven't been able to watch the video much because I was busy but I caught that :) The Void grins through him and you should be afraid

"(talking about CDs) Nothing too squamous I can assure you." "Awwwwwww." "Maybe just for you"

In conclusion: its a good live show. You should listen to it if you can

99 notes - Posted June 21, 2022

In a world so full of magical fairies, dragons, and demons sometimes you just gotta be Some Dude to stand out.

103 notes - Posted July 20, 2022

The Howl cardigan is done!! Featuring my full Howl Pendragon cosplay

See the full post

119 notes - Posted July 31, 2022

Had a fun dream last night where I was dressed as The Toy Soldier, and as I looked out the window I thought I was just seeing my reflection in the pitch black garden, but was actually Jessica Law in full costume. In my garden. Staring into my kitchen. Mimicking my every movement.

120 notes - Posted April 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I love Expert Testimony because of the implications of Marius just summoning a violin.

Like if its just those three in the room, then the obvious answer is that DBB is sitting outside the cell with a small pile of instruments to hand to his pals when they need it.

But if all the mechs are in the room but most of them are just too grumpy to speak to Lyf, then do they have secondary powers of instrument creation? Do they have Really Big Pockets where they store spare pianos?

Extra Question, do the guards confiscate their contraband? And if so where do they keep them?

219 notes - Posted April 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #false #is mise an crann #oh my goodness I try not to swear that much here at yet my tag #and yet my tag

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wnnbdarklord · 4 years ago

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Hi, I noticed you said that you didn’t like Ragnarok for various reasons, and I thought you had some really interesting takes. I was wondering if you could explain, like, why you don’t like it and what it did to Loki’s characterization :D

oooh boy. Well, in the interests of not making this an essay and repeating many other metas, some of which I’ll link at the end, the bulletpoints:

- the movie made fun of the previous movies, which I actually really liked. this is most evident in the play scene in ragnarok, making fun of Loki’s very moving death scene and making him out to be a self aggrandizing buffoon

- the movie completely erased any progress Thor’d made into becoming a better man and even regressed him, cause now’s completely convinced he’s a hero and anything he does is the right thing. the movie loves to validate him about this. I went from liking Thor to hating his guts.

- it makes out that Loki was a terrible king just sitting on his ass and eating grapes all day. it completely glosses over any identity issues he would have pretending to be his dad all the time, not to mention resolves all his trauma about being jotun off screen and really lazily. also makes fun of his suicide attempt later on Sakaar

- Hela being their secret sister is just boring and makes no sense, but the real thing that offended me about her was that it seemed like the movie was trying to take everything about Loki and give it to her, only more lazily and worse. for instance, the reason Loki isn’t in his signature green and black for most of the movie is cause “there’d be too much green otherwise”. which completely ignores the fact that if there’s too many characters in green around, the logical step is then to change the colors of the newly introduced character

- the colonialism “commentary” the movie spends 2 mins on is lazy, incomplete and unlike what other people would have you believe, not new in the slightest. I made this gifset commenting on it in 2014 . also, for all that it criticized Odin for building his kingdom on blood and war, it then turned right around and made him the spiritual guide to Thor at the end, with Thor very blatantly comparing himself to Odin and finding himself wanting. mixed messaging much? not to mention that in doing the lackluster commentary, it completely sidestepped the issue of Loki’s allegory of internalized racism and the whole “stealing a baby from that realm you conquered, trying to make it exactly like you and then discarding it when it turns out to be its own person”

- the movie did not meet an emotional scene it did not immediately undercut with a joke. most glaringly, Asgard’s destruction

- completely stripping Loki of any competence and prowess and making fun of him at every turn. the original set up of that meeting with Strange had him locking Loki up in a porta potty where people could pee on him

- making Loki out to be nothing but a backstabbing trickster, whose problems with his family were all in his head and would all be sorted out if he just realized that they loved him. this is the driving force of my hatred of the movie, encapsulated by the elevator and electrocution scene. it completely invalidates Loki’s rather very valid issues. until the events of Thor when he finds out his heritage, Loki has been shown to be a loyal and caring person who was utterly devastated by the revelation. he wasn’t some shithead who kept stabbing his brother for fun. he cried when he stabbed Thor in the Avengers with a 2 inch knife when they were blatantly at odds - this isn’t someone who betrays people for funsies

- about the only character the movie is any good to is Heimdall. I’m not putting this here as a dig at Heimdall, but as a condemnation of the treatment of every other character

- it strips the Thor franchise of every other introduced character, writing off Jane, Darcy and Selvig with one mention and unceremoniously killing off the rest of Thor’s friends

- Hela is also a terrible villain, who just goes around monologuing exposition at Skurge

- Skurge is the only character in the movie with a narrative arc and he barely has a dozen lines

- Bruce and the Hulk are completely OOC

- there’s definitely more, but I’ve lost steam. so here are some links to previous meta myself and others have written. I’m sure you’ll find even more if you go through the ragnarok negativity, ragnarok criticism and anti ragnarok tags on tumblr

Meta 1 Meta 2 Meta 3 Meta 4 Meta 5

#ragnarok critical #meta #fanwank #grandapplewit #ask

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anzcty · 3 years ago

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Analysing Episode 6 Sylvie - her actions, her choice and a whole bunch of theories (Spoilers!)

After watching the Loki finale, I have been scrolling through Tumblr for quite a long time. I already knew that people's opinions were gonna be incredibly different but I definitely did not expect this much negative backlash. Especially when it comes to two specific topics - the Sylvie and Loki kiss and Sylvie's betrayal (/choice/actions). I'm gonna be talking about the latter, for it is another time I'll talk a lot about Sylki's relationship. (Beware that this post is also really long though)

First of all, everyone has different opinions and I respect that. I absolutely adore movies, books, TV-shows and videogames because despite what's happening within the story, each viewer has the opportunity to see something else in what they are shown (besides the obvious canon). What I mean is that everyone interprets certain scenes differently and gains the opportunity to make up theories. Therefore I want to clarify that I do, by no means, want to force my views upon others. It's nice to see people talk about the Loki Series (as long as it doesn't get too negative and hateful, iykwim) because every viewer can share their specific experiences with it :)

I'm gonna analyse Sylvie's character a bit ( because, well, I'm bored and I kinda wanna protect my beloved character that I've only had for a few weeks >:^0 AND the only thing I could think about the past day was this episode) and try to explain her actions in the finale (keep in mind: not justifying them, but explaining them).

I'm terribly bad at concentrating on one single topic point so I kinda made a 'list' with questions and whatnot that I wanted to dive deeper into. Your thoughts are also more than welcome!

I already want to apologise for grammatical mistakes, for I am not a native english speaker.

Sylvie's reason for being taken away by the TVA is still kinda unknown

You know, I've heard quite a few theories about Sylvie's nexus event by now. Some people say that she got taken away because she was playing with her toys in a way that indicates her having a good heart (playing as a Valkyrie and wanting to save someone, another hint may also be the reaction she showed towards someone else who got kidnapped by the TVA, yelling at the soldiers to "help them out"). Another theory is that she already knew she was adopted, unlike Loki who found out way later than her. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but we never got to hear the actual reason why Sylvie got kidnapped. Even Renslayer didn't say a word about it.

Now I'm gonna come up with yet another theory. What if Sylvie didn't really have a nexus event in the first place how we know it? In the final episode, Kang has said that he has planned out everything beforehand so both Loki and Sylvie would end up right in front of him. Did Kang's plan also possibly involve him getting killed by Sylvie? Hear me out: We don't actually know if the Kang we saw in episode 6 is the actual 'nice' Kang and not one of his evil variants. He has already talked about 'reincarnation', so who says that after ending the first universial war, Kang didn't reincarnate into someone with an unpure heart (aka, one of his evil variants)? That'd mean that the real Kang would have been killed and the Kang we've seen in the finale is actually an evil version that simply lied to both Loki and Sylvie. Besides that, we also don't know if Kang actually had that 'point' where he didn't know what would happen next. The show revolves a whole lot around trust, not only regarding the characters, but also the viewers. Who's to say that Kang said the truth? Maybe he planned it all out: He created the TVA, let Sylvie get kidnapped and therefore give her a reason to hunt after Kang, who in return could reincarnate if he got killed OR get killed and therefore give his other variants a possibility to conquer the universes yet again. Don't you think that it was kinda suspicious that Sylvie escaped so easily out of Renslayer's hands? The one person who's probably closest to Kang? (Even though, yes, she doesn't know who he is but Renslayer seems to play a very important role in his plan). What if the Kang we saw was the nice Kang though? Would he plan everything up to a point where another universial war would break out because he might know that there is indeed something/someone out there who could end it and therefore, possibly end Kang as a whole or create a new kind of system revolving around the universe? And therefore, get rid of the possibility of another universial war happening? Who knows. I am definitely overthinking and reaching at this point. One more thing that stood out to me while thinking about the episode again today (which kinda weighs more into my theory of Sylvie being a keypoint (or rather a puppet) in this plan): Kang has talked about his Tempad and that he knew that he would need it to have enough energy. But for what? Yes, his initial idea was to give it to Loki and Sylvie to rule over the TVA, but what if it was supposed to be used for another reason? Sylvie used it to transport Loki back to the TVA (though I kinda think he was accidentally transported to another timeline, hence the reactions of both Mobius and Hunter B-15) and therefore get rid of the only thing that could prevent Sylvie from killing Kang. The Tempad was used to secure Sylvie's path and therefore eradicated Kang's only option of safety. You can see the Tempad loosing it's glow after Kang was killed, possibly due to Kang himself being the origin of it's energy. But maybe, it only had enough energy for one specific action: getting rid of Kang's protection. I do think that Sylvie is now stuck at this place and somehow has to find a way back to Loki's reality. The Tempad clearly doesn't work anymore (at least in my opinion) and there was quite a long shot showing the Tempad up close, which is kinda suspicious tbh. Also, something regarding Sylvie's unanswered nexus event feels kinda odd to me, too.

My theory in conclusion: Sylvie (and Loki) are unconciously helping Kang with his plan (a big, big, BIG plan). They're his puppets, especially Sylvie, because she's the one who created the Multiverse to begin with. Think about Loki, who was said to be manipulated by Thanos in Avengers? It's basically the same train of thoughts.

Sylvie does not take Kang's offer into consideration

To be honest, this was something to be absolutely expected of her. Sylvie was kidnapped as a child, taken away from her home and family, and had to grow up in countless apocalypses where she could never form a real bond with anybody because she knew that those people were all going to die anyway. (Please don't judge me if I got that wrong, maybe I understood the next thing wrong? Idk, if so, I'm very sorry) She revealed that she was kidnapped way before Loki was even born (something I have to think about, too, because, if Loki is the actual Loki the other variants are based off, why did he exist after Sylvie? Wouldn't that make him a variant of Sylvie instead? Idk timelines and parallel universes are hard to understand for me :') I'm kinda stoopid ), therefore she must've had spent several decades of her life running away. She had no life at all. Her only goal was to bring down the TVA and whoever is behind it, driven by pure rage, seeking out revenge for stealing her life and basically forbidding her existence. And now that she has found said person, the only thing that'd be right for her character would be to go for the kill. As immoral as it may sound, it is the only thing that makes sense. And I am actually very happy that Sylvie's goals didn't change besides the fact that she did indeed soften up a little and has gotten someone really close to her. In contrary, it makes sense for Loki to do the exact opposite. His goals have changed. He does not act the way he did in Thor or Avengers anymore. He has found another goal for himself: to make Sylvie feel alright. He has had immense character growth and didn't take a chance to change his goals back in the Thor movies or in Avengers, (....maybe later in Thor: Ragnarok, kinda). This is exactly what I think might happen to Sylvie, too. She is at the beginning of her character arc. She doesn't take the chance to change her goal, but goes for her original goal instead. Said goal does not really have positive consequences (though, maybe it might have some? We're about to find out), which results in a so called 'negative character development', which Loki has already gone through. I think that Sylvie is gonna grow as a character in season 2 and get a positive character development in addition, just like Loki did. I highly doubt that she's gonna become the antagonist, it does not make sense at this point.

Why does she not take Kang's offer (besides her very obvious intention ofc)? That leads straight (or not so straight, pun intended) to the next thing I wanna talk about. Sylvie's distrust in everything and everyone. Besides not wanting to let other people go through what she has been gone through and wanting to let people have a free will, she also does not trust Kang with his offer of 'ruling' the timeline. And it might be because she also does not trust the one she'd be ruling with: Loki.

Why does Sylvie not trust Loki?

I don't even have a specific answer to that, except that Sylvie has an incredibly thick wall built up around her. Loki has always been portrayed as the one you should not trust because he's known for backstabbing people. Loki could have thought the same about Sylvie, but he didn't. Due to his character arc, he himself has learned to trust other people and tries to redeem himself with making himself a person others can trust (He may project that onto Sylvie, meaning that he puts his trust into a Loki variant and therefore in himself, too). You can connect that fact with both Sylvie and Mobius. They're both people who are incredibly important to Loki. He wants them to trust him. He openly told Sylvie about his mistakes and tells her that he's not that person anymore. Sylvie on the other hand does not trust that easily and is - in my opinion - a very important key regarding Loki's character development. It is incredibly hard for Sylvie to trust others (probably due to her trauma) and it therefore creates a very difficult situation for Loki, where he has to 'prove' himself as trustworthy. It's basically about 'trusting yourself' if you put it that way. It's something Loki has to learn about himself: not betraying the trust of others. Sylvie might have to learn something like this, too: learning to trust someone else. It's kinda like a two sided coin - one side is about putting trust in others, whereas the other is about gaining trust from others (and what you do with it). (Good) Relationships in general are always based off trust and honesty. So in order for them to be able to have healthy relationships with others and themselves, they have to learn about trust within themselves (I hope you understand my point, I got carried away, sorry). Loki started to trust Sylvie very easily (maybe because of love? Maybe because of something else? There are still a lot of unanswered questions) whereas Sylvie doesn't trust Loki very easily. Sylvie's character arc might (hopefully) carry on with this topic in the next season.

Was that kiss initiated due to emotional or practical reasons?

Kinda both, somehow. I do think that Sylvie used the kiss to her advantage but you can also clearly see how moved she is while hearing Loki's words. Facial expressions are insanely important when it comes to acting and both Tom and Sophia delivered perfectly. You might've already heard of the quote "The eyes tell more than words could ever say". Look at Sylvie's face when Loki tells her that he wants her to be okay. She is teary eyed, sighs even. She is indeed touched by his words and I strongly think that Sylvie also has non-platonic feelings for Loki, despite barely showing anything.

Here's a snippet out of an interview with Sophia:

(Source)

Both Sylvie and Loki are said to be people who can not trust others. They both have a vulnerable side though. Loki clearly showed that several times when with Sylvie (singing to her, the blanket scene, the comfort scene in the room of the timekeepers, the confession of wanting her to be okay) and is also shown incredibly vulnerable at the end of episode 6: there are several shots showing him, crying. Sure, we have already seen Loki cry a few times beforehand but this time, it's different. He cries because the one person he is the most vulnerable with doesn't trust him, and that does hurt like hell. By the way, if you look at the close-up shot of Sylvie after she yeeted Loki back into the TVA, you can see pain in her eyes, too. But that pain quickly shifts into rage and determination. Something that I have to admit was incredibly well executed by Sophia and the people who directed this shot. Sylvie does show her vulnerable side for a brief moment before putting up her walls again and reaching for her goal.

In conclusion: I think Sylvie initiated the kiss as an emotional response to Loki's words but also used it to distract him to be able to kick him back into the TVA at the same time. Keep in mind that it was because he was in her way of fullfilling her goal. She didn't want to kill or hurt him, so she sent him away instead. So, yes, I think the kiss had both emotional and practical intentions.

Did Sylvie betray Loki?

Even though it really felt like she betrayed him, she didn't. Let me tell you why:

Loki knew exactly what Sylvie was gonna do after reaching the person behind the TVA. Loki supported her all the way up until Kang suggested a deal to them, that's where Loki's and Sylvie's paths divided. Loki is a very smart character, he outsmarts a lot of Marvel characters and therefore I think it's very in character for him to consider one part of the deal and outweigh the pros and cons. Not because he wants the throne, no, but because he wants Sylvie to be okay. A universial war could lead to countless casualties - possibly those people close around him, so of course he would want to keep her safe through that decision. Making them both rulers over the TVA and the sacred timeline would probably guarantee a strong protection from several threats. Also, maybe he thought about the possibility of Sylvie regretting her decision (which she clearly did in the end) and wanted to protect her from even more emotional pain. But as we know, Sylvie's intention has always been laid out in front of her and it didn't change. Loki knew what choice she was going to make and merely tried to change her way - without being successfull.

I don't really know what to think about this scene though. To me, it doesn't meet the requirements of a 'betrayal' but at the same time it does feel like one. It's very difficult to explain :'D

Also, I've seen some people asking themselves how or if Loki will ever be able to forgive Sylvie for making her decision. Let me assure you one thing: he will forgive her. He has said it himself: "I know what you're feeling, I know what you're going through". He has been at Sylvie's point, too. Not only once, but several times already. He seems to have learned from his mistakes, Sylvie has yet to do so. ("I betrayed everyone I've ever loved" is a line to keep in mind now, too. Maybe it could even be projected onto Sylvie this time, because Loki is indeed very dear to her) If there's someone out there who can empathise with Sylvie the most, it is Loki.

Why would Sylvie straight up cause another Universial War?

As I already said. Sylvie's arc is a negative character arc. It does not end well and causes a lot of chaos. Think about Peter Quill in Infinity War and his rage moment on Titan. They could have had the infinity gauntlet way before but Peter got emotional (understandable) and therefore destroyed the chance of an early good ending. The same happened with Sylvie. Her decision was mostly emotional, but also practical on the other hand (giving people free will and freedom). She will face the consequences and I'm pretty sure she's gonna redeem herself and tries to help fix the big mess she has caused.

Sylvie's breakdown

Another scene that was absolutely brilliant was the scene after Sylvie has killed Kang. She backs off slowly and then slumps to the ground, breathing heavily (now that I think about it, I think she even started to cry). She has waited for this moment her whole life, but now that it's done, it kinda feels like she didn't exactly get what she needed. Hunter B-15 has already mentioned it before that Sylvie needs to hunt the person behind the TVA down, unlike Renslayer, who only wants to find out who it really is. Although Sylvie might have recognized that this wasn't everything she needed at this point. We already got to know that she didn't have a clue what to do after she's done with the TVA. She didn't have a goal beyond that. And now that she has reached the point where she is clueless, she might have recognized what she really needed beyond finishing her goal: friends, a life, literally anything that doesn't make her feel alone. And she literally just kicked that one thing away from her. Loki, the one person who has been closest to her and gave her the feeling of not being alone anymore, the feeling of having a friend (or someone more than a friend), has been pushed away by herself. I think that in this exact moment where she sinks to the ground she recognizes that not trusting Loki was a mistake this time and that revenge isn't enough to satisfy her forever.

But maybe that one thing that will satisfy her for a long time is something she's returning back to in season 2. I am so excited to see her again and find out more about Sylvie's character!

Thank you so much for reading this! If you want to add something to this list or correct something or anything, feel free to do so. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Sylvie's character in the finale and what you think might happen with her in season 2 :) see y'all, stay safe and have a nice day/night!

#sylvie laufeydottir #loki series #sylki

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iamanartichoke · 4 years ago

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Started to post this rant on the other post but the conversation was involving so many people going back and forth that I didn’t feel my additions were necessary there; everything I’d want to say was said already, and better.

But, of course, I still have feelings, so I’m just gonna dump them here instead.

Under the cut.

Wow. Just wow.

Fuck whoever took someone’s TAGGED POST and spread it around for the sole purpose of mocking it. @iamnmbr3 I am so sorry that happened to you.

Fuck whoever responds to people’s apprehension and negativity with anger and mockery.

Fuck people who think that the Loki fandom clearly has to be a hivemind, bc anyone who is deviating from the “omg bEsT mOsT AcCuRaTe LoKi dEpIctIoN EVAR i am SO EXCITE” reaction is being shunned, made fun of, vague-posted about, and just generally being treated as if they should not speak AMONG THEMSELVES about their disappointment in what we’ve seen so far of the show.

Fuck people who submit anonymous ask after anonymous ask to popular Tom Hiddleston ask blogs, obsessing over what people are disappointed in.

Fuck people who make posts like “omg guess what the whiners are complaining about today!!” and spread them around. (How do you even know what’s being whined about today? Stop fucking seeking it out.)

Here’s the thing: I am/was excited. I am taking the trailers with a grain of salt. I am examining what Tom has to say about it and considering the sheer volume of content we’re about to get and remaining (cautiously) optimistic. I have never hated the idea of this tv show.

And for the record, I have never hated Ragnarok, either. I’ve seen it more times than I can count bc there was a time when it was my comfort movie. It was funny and fresh. It got me into Loki enough to actively join and engage in fandom. But even when enjoying it as a comfort movie, it felt much more like crack fanfiction than anything that went in tandem - canonically, characteristically, or tonally - with the first two Thor movies.

As I familiarized myself more and more with the entire franchise, it was more and more clear to me that there were two sets of characters being portrayed, and that I vastly preferred to engage with the Thor 1/TDW set of characters even while enjoying the Ragnarok set.

And talking about that on tumblr was interesting and engaging to me, bc that’s how my brain works. I like to dissect things. I like to analyze fiction. I like to be critical. And I enjoyed reading meta and engaging with people who had similar thoughts.

Until it became clear that this is a fandom that makes you feel like you’re not allowed to be critical of anything, lest you be labeled an “anti” and a debbie downer and a misery queen. Ragnarok was kinda ruined for me in general bc I felt like I was no longer allowed to enjoy it the way I wanted to bc I didn’t also consider it even a good movie, let alone the best Thor movie ever.

And this is happening with the show now, too. Like I said, I was excited and I was optimistic but the closer we get to the premiere, the more deflated I feel. And it’s because this fucking fandom is ruining it for me. Specifically, the majority of this fandom who is so offended by a small number of outliers who do not care for the new way Loki is being portrayed (and yes, it IS new, and does not mesh with what we saw before Ragnarok, and you can protest that but you are wrong) that they can’t ever shut up about it.

Yes, I can curate my fandom experience and I can block tags and whatnot but even after doing that, I still keep encountering it. And, also, I feel like I shouldn’t have to block/blacklist 75% of the fandom just so that I can feel secure in engaging with it without worrying about being attacked or made fun of.

I don’t care if you’re excited about the show. I’m happy for you! If you’re excited and engaging with that excitement in positive ways without shitting on anyone else, good for you. Thank you.

But it seems like a whole fucking bunch of you aren’t content to just be excited. You’ve gotta stir up discourse shit too, bc - I don’t know, you’re bored? It makes you feel good? It feeds your superiority complex?

Here’s the facts: You are the ones who are making it miserable for everyone - you who are doing all of the above things and continuing to make tumblr feel very hostile to everyone who isn’t wetting their pants in excitement about this fresh new Loki stuff.

Just stop it. Maybe do some self-reflection and ask yourself why it bothers you so much that other people don’t feel the way you do, or ask yourself why you need to stir up drama where there otherwise shouldn’t be any, and whether or not you’ll be happy when the outliers have been driven from the fandom completely and all that’s left is your hivemind of toxic positivity.

^^^ This is not well-written, it is literally a brain dump, so I apologize if it’s nonsensical or disjointed.

#just ugh #fandom wank #reblog if you want to i guess but #i'm not proud of the quality of this post #smh #long post #cut post #skip if you don't want to read about fandom nonsense

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fayesdiary · 3 years ago

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For SoV ask: 2, 3, 12, 26, and one of your choice!

Sure thing, and sorry for being so late! To compensate, the answer is really, really long! i know you said I could choose one but question 33 is kind of a joke question so whatevs. Also no keep reading sorry but Tumblr formatting is being a butthole 2) Who’s your favorite character from Alm’s side? Faye! Yes I know, you're all shocked. But honestly, she's the kind of character who absolutely deserved better (and imo she's the one who got shafted the most alongside Rinea), but it's so fun to flesh her out from the few things we know about her! Also, her fanbase is very small but so talented?? Besides the great fanart, especially on AO3 there are a lot of wonderful stories, my favourite being this one about her travelling with Celica! 3) Who’s your favorite character from Celica’s side? Previous answers: Celica Hoo boy, answering this question again is kinda hard, since I really like all of Celica's party besides Deen, Nomah and Jesse. But since Sonya T-Posed over Jedah's corpse today, I think I'm gonna go with her for this! She's an interesting personality (her confidence is honestly great and I like that while aloof at first she slowly warms up to the party), most of what she says reveals something about her or her past and she's connected with Echoes' main villain! Also, she has the only optional boss conversation in the entire game. Honestly Sonya to me is the perfect example of a mysterious character because every interaction with her is important to learn something about her and makes you keep wanting more, but you never get the whole picture, which means there's also room to speculate. For example, how did she end up working for Grieth? When did her sisters become witches? Should her endcard be taken literally or is it a rumor she just spread herself? 12) Of all the antagonists, which one is your favorite? Berkut! He's such an interesting villain and one I constantly have the time of my life mocking, but at the same time someone you can't help but feel sorry for the more you learn about him. He steals the spotlight every scene he's in, doubly impressive since he wasn't even in Gaiden to begin with and he has an incredible presentation, between the design, Ian Sinclair overkilling it and his overly grandiose themes! Rudolf gets a dishonorable mention, because while I absolutely hate him, dragging him through the mud every chance I get is so much fun. And honestly, that alone makes him "better" than a boring villain.

17) What’s the flavor text quote that made you laugh the most?

This one:

This playthrough was the first I had Celica visit Ram Village (i didn't even know it was possible the first time I play, gods I love this game), so seeing her roasting Tobin with Ragnarok Omega without even knowing just sent me Also if you check a Library in Desaix's fortress Alm will start looking for comics, which means there are comics in Valentia, and that's a whooole rabbit hole waiting to be explored. How much do you bet Gray pranked Tobin with the loss comic once

26) Talk a bit about the game’s themes!

It's intriguing and kinda suprising for FE standards the relative nuance with each theme, and I really like it! For the class struggle while you do get the message that your station shouldn't impact your opportunities and the hint that class won't matter nearly as much in the age of mankind, you still have things like Clive openly believing in the systems of monarchy and nobility (see: his support with Python that is one of my faves), and while he wants to fight for the common people and making life better for them, he has to face the fact he knows very little about their struggles, not to mention a lot of bias he still has to overcome (see: the whole situation with Delthea). Heck, the whole thing about Alm being secretly royalty makes the whole thing even more muddled, because while the game argues for meritocracy we also see how Alm has been able to do things the average person can't because of his bloodline. So, in this fantasy world, nobility would matter, right? While obviously there need to be more equal rights and less privilage, at the same time you wonder if Berkut was right after all about nobility being meant to rule, even besides the whole prophecy nonsense. Zofia and Rigel are a teeny bit more nuanced than the usual good country-bad country of Fire Emblem standards, same with Mila and Duma, so it's really interesting to discuss them, even if I wish we could have seen a bit more of both at their best (same for the gods' philosophies), instead of the decayed mess we see ingame. Rudolf (at least in theory) is the usual conqueror, but instead of being a puppet or just working for the main villain he's actually doing the opposite, preparing the hero to be the one to save Valentia never mind that he likely did more damage to Valentia than the freaking Faithful ever did Jedah, while being the usual evil sorcerer, he's also extremely devoted to Duma, with his motivations being that Duma must maintain his position for Valentia to survive, so he does whatever he can to tend to him and further his power (outright not caring if this will end up in an age of tyranny), and while this absolutely does NOT justify his action even a little, it's so intriguing and more interesting than the usual evil sorcerer doing evil things because they're evil (Gharnef) or even because of a tragic backstory! (Not to shit on characters like Manfroy, his manga backstory fits him perfectly and fleshes out a theme about persecution that was barely mentioned in og FE4, I really hope they make it canon in the eventual remake)

33) How many cats do you think Alm and Celica adopted after Duma’s fall?

Let's just say that if someone allergic to cats even approches Zofia Castle they just die.😼

Echoes ask game

#fire emblem #fire emblem echoes #fire emblem echoes shadows of valentia #fe15 #echoes ask game #ask replies #face-stroking-intensifies #sorry for taking so long to answer!#have been real busy these last few weeks

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eirikrjs · 4 years ago

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A Misinforming Species of Shin Megami Tensei Myths and Secrets

What more can we say about these books? Barbara Walker’s intention to reclaim mythology for women is thwarted by the need to twist known facts into spurious generalizations and rely on the work of fabricators like Robert Graves. Godwin’s Angels similarly provides “unique” interpretations. Unfortunately, it very much seems like the Woman’s Encyclopedia was one of the primary sources used for Shin Megami Tensei, while Angels shaped Atlus’ perception of angels themselves! These books aren’t great, or even good, but they are important for SMT fans to know.

We already talked about Woman’s Encyclopedia a bunch the past couple weeks but this post compiles everything we know, including some new findings I’ll dive right into. There’s nothing new for Angels but I thought I might as well throw it in there for completeness. This is also my 5,000th Tumblr post! Not bad for someone who mostly answers asks. C-E-L-E-B-R-A-T-E arbitrary numbers!

And thanks to: @gabriulio, @greed92-smt, @nulla-senzanome, and @b-reis for actually finding the majority of these! Here’s just a few of the new, I’ll put the rest behind a link.

A FULL SCAN of Woman’s Encyclopedia is here: https://archive.org/details/womansencycloped00walkrich/mode/1up

If more SMT-related tidbits are found, I may update this post!

Baldr described as a Bel!

Pig-headed demon! Note that SMT1 Orcus uses the dragon body of Belial, who is a plot character and probably designed first.

Tiamat as mother goddess. Could this book be Strange Journier?

Much more behind the link, including previous discoveries:

Buddha

[…] Buddha had many other names because he had already lived through many incarnations on earth. Even the Buddha supposed to have appeared in the 5th century B.C. had several names: Gautama, Sakyamuni, Siddhartha the last, again, not a name but a title, “Rich in Yogic Power.” Buddha was miraculously begotten by the Lord of Hosts and born of the Virgin Maya, the same Great Goddess workshipped throughout Asia and having the alternative Near-Eastern names of Maia, Marah, Mari, or Maria.

Hermes

[…] Hermes was a universal Indo-European god. An Enlightened One born of the virgin Maia, he was the same as the Enlightened One (Buddha) born of the same virgin Maya in India. The Mahanirvanatantra said Buddha was the same as Mercury (Hermes), the son of the Moon (Maya).

Maia “Grandmother of Magic,” mother of the Greeks’ Enlightened One, Hermes; the western version of Maya, “Magic,” mother of the Hindus' Enlightened One, Buddha. She personified the powers of transformation and material “appearances,” the same powers attributed to Maya-Kali, who made the universe by her magic. Greek writers called Maia one of the Pleiades, but also understood that she was the Great Goddess of Maytime festivals, of the renewal and rebirth of the dead. She made her son Hermes the Conductor of Souls in the underworld, just as the Hindu Maya made her masculine counterpart Ya-Ma into a Conductor of Souls and Lord of Death.

Maya “Magic,” title of the Virgin Kali as the creatress of earthly appearances, i.e., all things made of matter and perceptible to the senses. She also gave birth to the Enlightened One, Buddha. The same Goddess, called Maia by the Greeks, was the virgin mother of Hermes the Enlightened One, who had as many reincarnations as the Buddha. […] She was more than the Maia who mothered Hermes; she was also Maga the Grandmother-goddess who bore Cu Chulainn’s mother; and the Mandaean Christians’ Almaya, called “Eternity,” or ‘the World,“ or "Beings”; and Maga or Maj the May-maiden in Scandinavia.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/630988818849349632/satan-seth-queen-maya-and-maia

Original findings from Gabriulio about connections between Maya and Maia in Persona World profiles.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/630998471810351104/walkers-book-has-entries-for-ma-and

This was a huge find. But even if Walker’s book doesn’t really apply to mythological studies, Strange Journey’s original narrative contains it in an intriguing way.

Various profiles mention the “May the Black God exterminate you!” bit. This is also sourced to a Larousse book, which tend to be reliable!

Bits about Anahita from the Mithra section. Possible explanation for her SJR appearance.

Remember when Kali was called Kali Ma in Japanese SJR? It didn’t make the jump to English localization.

Possible explanation for her design and profile.

Mentions Vanadis, while not an unknown name may have influenced that choice for P5R since it’s right up front in her entry.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/145233380737/i-might-or-might-not-be-the-only-one-whos-a

Whatever our speculations were at the time, this is definitely where SMT’s Queen Mab comes from.

Here’s where the thing in her profile about the gods returning to her at Ragnarok comes from, plus why Scathach evolves into her! Also possibly her role in Nocturne (boss with Earthquake) and design. Interestingly there is no separate entry for Scathach in the book.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/172468730762/dx2-the-heretic

Remember this post, when I said Sleipnir being called the “wood of the gallows” was something lost in translation? Of course I was wrong because it’s from this book.

Mara may not be female, but he still jokes about it even in the Japanese version of Strange Journey. Why wouldn’t he?

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/631792412884402176/do-you-happen-to-know-from-where-the-claims-of

More profile shenanigans.

https://eirikrjs.tumblr.com/post/144522239172/alciels-true-name-and-sources-have-been-found

The original Woman’s Encyclopedia find!

Godwin’s Angels

The scans of this are big so I’ll just link the original posts.

Killer Metatron?

Female Gabriel?

The Satanael Solution

Thanks for reading and please let me know if you find more!

#woman's encyclopedia of myths and secrets #angels #shin megami tensei #megaten #atlus #mem aleph #tiamat #queen mab #arsiel #mara #freya #jahi #kali #persona 5 #satanael

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agentem · 4 years ago

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Initial LOKI thoughts

I have said here that I was not that excited about LOKI as WANDAVISION and TFATWS. I did not wake up early but I had a work meeting today at 2:30 and I thought it was Eastern time but it’s Pacific time do my schedule is all fucked up snd I have three hours so I was like, “fuck it, I’ll gonna watch Marvel shit.”

Before I get into the episode, I will talk a bit about the press tour. I love press tour shit. I don’t know why. I watch the interviews on YouTube and they always seem so painful. Randos asking the same question over and over. (Take a drink every time, Tom Hiddleston stalls by saying, “that’s a really good question...”. It’s not a good question.) Some of the Marvel people are A+ at a press tour (Mackie, Bettany, Hemsworth, Waiti, Downey, all pop right into my mind. Oh Rudd too, he’s got s very easy charm). WandaVision press was fun because Bettany was dialed up to 11 as a troll. And Mackie went in on how boring SebStan is for TFATWS.

I feel like the LOKI press tour hasn’t been as fun. But it’s possible the silly videos that take more editing aren’t up yet. I really want to do a dumb game. I love dumb games instead of serious questions. Like when they quizzed Kathryn Hahn on MCU stuff and she knew nothing but would just, once told the answer, do another take where she got it correct.

Mostly the press has been showcasing how smart Tom Hiddleston is. And he is. Quite charming too. I remember during an Avengers related Hiddleston panel at Nerd HQ he started speaking French and Zachary Levi (who was then Fandral) was like, “fuck this! He speaks French too!” Those kind of interactions are fun for me and it’s a bit sad they are all alone in their own houses.

One thing I LEARNED from the press tour that the tumblr Loki stans must have known forever is that Loki really was supposed to die in THE DARK WORLD. They played it straight. And it was only later in reshoots they had him take over for Odin. And I think that is... a mistake. Because they talk about “Loki’s redemption arc” and I never really thought he was fully redeemed, except that he sacrificed himself so MAYBE Thor could buy some time in INFINITY WAR.

I had read THE DARK WORLD as him having learned nothing and manipulated Thor, banished Odin and didn’t really care as much as he said he did about Frigga. Because of how it ends. I think they should’ve kept it and maybe had Hela bring him back in Ragnarok or something. Idk. (And I was legit ANGRY that Frigga was killed for so little payoff. I am still angry she was frigded but was slightly molified by the scenes where he looks at her and ACTS. APPRECIATE FRIGGA MORE.)

Anyway, the episode. “Glorious Purpose.” A reference to @allofthefeelings’ hilarious glorious porpoise costume from many comic cons ago, I suspect.

I was excited to see Pillboi from “The Good Place” aka actor Eugene Cordero, the guy who doesn’t know what a fish is and has all the Infinity Stones. Get him a gauntlet so he can remake the world. I bet it’d be funner.

I am really loving Wunmi Mosaka, the Hunter who arrests Loki. She has such a commanding presence. And I love that this badass enforcer of the TVA is a lady, and a lady of color no less.

I didn’t like when Loki had her in a time loop. The question was if he enjoys hurting people. In that moment, I thought the answer was yes. But the script would have us believe no. I would like for him to really convince me of that no by the end of the series.

I thought Hiddleston did a good job of acting against the CGI images of Loki’s life. I love some good alone in a room acting in Marvel. It’s pure imagination.

Do we have bets on who the killer Loki variant is? Everyone on YouTube seems to be saying Lady Loki. I think it’d be fun if it were Kid Loki, honestly. But I might be thinking of my Young Avengers. Kid Loki would probably also not be that tall, in the final scene. Old Man Loki is also a possiblity. There were rumors that was Grant’s character, I think?

I always want things to subvert expectations but the previous shows never really did.

#Loki #marvel #glorious purpose #spoilers #Loki spoilers #press tour #wunmi mosaku #gugu mbatha raw #owen wilson #eugene cordero #pillboi #tom hiddleston #loki laufeyson

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the-ice-sculpture · 4 years ago

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Reflecting on the Loki show

Hurray – fewer instances of cringey humour in Episode 2 than Episode 1!

Shame about there not being a single scene in the entire episode in Episode 2 where Loki felt in character

If this wasn’t a Loki show, I’d probably be enjoying it at the same level as a casual viewer of any other TV show. The plot’s interesting with a different take on time travel that I’ve seen, and there are no boring moments. But I can’t get past the lack of MCU Loki here. I just... Ugh. It’s so frustrating. No other media could get away with the main character suddenly having a personality transplant, but because it’s Marvel people are... fine with it, for some reason?

I can live with the tone and plot being different to what I’d do with it if I’d had the choice. I’ve said multiple times in the past that just because the show probably won’t give me what I want from it doesn’t mean that the show can’t be good in its own right. But what I didn’t anticipate before any of the trailers started coming out was that the Loki here might not feel like MCU Loki at all. I can forgive a lot of things, but I just can’t wrap my head around the sheer number of people who must have given the green light to all the decisions made about his characterisation. Those kinds of things can’t just be blamed on one person, it’d be a combination of the writers, directors, actors, producers...

I never thought that Loki finally getting to be the main character on screen (how many years have I wanted that to happen? 7? 8?) would be the thing to cause me to have my first ever thoughts about quitting this fandom.

I’m not having fun. I’m used to being more than a bit disappointed. I even stayed in the fandom after Thor: Ragnarok came about without much complaining, despite not being a fan of a fair amount of elements in it. I even stayed after Infinity War and Endgame came out with very little complaining either, despite how many things there were that I didn’t like in them. I even rewatched Game of Thrones after being just as unsatisfied with how it was tied up as everyone else was, and I still love the first four seasons and some scenes from later on (yes, even including Season 8).

But I’m not used to being this level of disappointed. The past month I’ve gone from having 5 different Loki WIPs I wanted to write to suddenly not being sure if I want to finish any of them at all. I mean, at least two of them will be finished because they’re oneshots for an event and I’ve already done most of the work so I might as well, but the contrast with my motivation is huge.

I don’t want to leave this fandom. I still have things I (hypothetically) want to write. I have over 100,000 words of various unpublished Loki fanfics that I’ve been working on. I don’t want them to go to waste. I want to finish what I started. It’s not like the enthusiasm for the idea of the stories has gone, it’s just... I don’t know, the overarching disappointment and not having fun in a fandom space anymore? How strongly Loki is associated with me feeling bitter and miserable now? How the show and the experience outside of it is doing the opposite of inspiring me?

I don’t to be that person either. You know, the one who has an entire blog dedicated to moaning about something. The one who seems determined to interpret everything in the worst possible light, regardless of rationalism. The one who seems like they’d never be satisfied unless something was made 100% their way, and if it wasn’t then of course it’s Problematic and that’s why it’s Just Plain Bad, and it’s nothing to do with personal taste and a certain amount of projection. The one who starts getting positive reinforcement about hating something, so it becomes a habit and before they know it, it’s part of their daily routine, and they’re still regularly doing it years later. The one who goes on about how ‘if you’re a true fan of [x] and really understood [x], this would bother you’, or worse, starts making it personal with the real people involved in the creation of the show.

But the experience of not liking the show is a lonely one. There are other people who don’t agree on his characterisation either, I know. But when the vast majority of people who watch it seem not to find the changes in his entire character jarring? When people are going around saying that it’s not until now that the writers have finally understood Loki? When you get people acting like anyone who voices any criticism whatsoever is ridiculous and shouldn’t be in the fandom and behaves like they might catch the Taint of Negativity if they were to associate with them? When any criticisms are dismissed as ‘people who just want to hate the show’?

Believe me, I don’t want to hate the show. I’d love to be happy with the show. But I'm not. This Loki doesn’t feel like MCU Loki. The only time he did feel like himself to me was during the scene towards the end of Episode 1 where he was watching parts of his life on screen. That’s it. Over one and a half hours into the series so far, 1/3 of the entire show. Out of all that, only one scene.

And now every time I see people being happy about the show it makes me feel resentful. And, no, I’m not going to add anything negative to their posts or say anything to them. If the show is what it is and there’s no changing it then it’s better at least some people get to enjoy it rather than it bringing about universal misery. I don’t want to take away anyone else’s happiness. I just to feel happy too, but I don’t, and I’m painfully aware of it.

I don’t know where I’m going with this, I think I’m just venting.

I don’t know what the solution is either. Space from fandom for a bit? I mean, I’ve been doing this a bit already recently (not full commitment, just more than usual), but I like being able to use tumblr as an escape. Unfollow people/leave Discord groups? But there are people who I’ve had plenty of positive interactions with, and I don’t want to lose those connections.

It’s really dumb, but I like my fandom corner. I like knowing that if I post a fic, there’ll be a certain small group of people who’ll probably read it, and a smaller chunk of those who’ll comment on it, even all these years later. And there are still so many stories I want to tell with Loki, so many things I haven’t done yet, but...

Yeah, I don’t know if my motivation will come back or not (I’m leaning towards maybe not). Or how much the fandom will change as a result of the show. I’d expect a wave newcomers, but if a lot of new fics being written are largely based on the show characterisation (and if reader expectation of Loki’s characterisation lies with that too), then I have little to no interest in it.

Oh, and another thing to add to my list of things I don’t want to be: I don’t want to be that person who is all ‘I’ve been here longer and know better and am therefore more of a real fan than any of you new people’. So there’s that.

Ultimately, I think I’m eventually going to have to choose between staying and trying to squash/somehow extinguish any bitter feelings, or leaving. I don’t like either of those options very much. It might be premature of me to post this before the show has ended because my feelings might change, but, unsurprisingly, writing is a good way of processing feelings and I’ve been having a lot of them that need processing.

In case anyone’s actually read this obscene amount of rambling, I’m okay, I’m not, like, weeping over this as I write or anything. But it’s still not a great feeling to have a place that was once my favourite place for escapism and creativity to make me feel like I might not be welcome or like I might not want to be there. And it’s not like I can easily just switch over to another fandom to write for, because there are no other characters who have inspired me to write anywhere near much as Loki has. So, yes, I’m feeling a little sorry for myself. All over a fictional TV show. I repeat: it’s dumb.

#loki negativity #venting #personal #negative #my posts #not for reblogging

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lady-of-the-lotus · 4 years ago

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Thank you @nyebevans! I too love Wang Lingjiao. As you can see, I have a thing for unrepentantly awful women.

Rules: List 10 favorite female characters from 10 different fandoms

In no particular order. Maybe not my top 10, but at least 10 female characters I love:

1) Marian Halcombe (The Woman in White) (the book version) who is awesome despite the limitations placed on her by the author and his need to make Walter “Boring McBoringface” Hartright the hero.

2) Louis Belcher (Bob’s Burgers) – need I say more? She reminds me of a me. Just love her.

3) Gwen Poole (Gwenpool) – great comics, great character. I love her gleeful amorality.

4) Aunt Dahlia (the Jeeves series by PG Wodehouse) – I just utterly adore her

5) Yzma (Emperor’s New Groove) – she is just fabulous

6) Topaz (Thor: Ragnarok) – small role but I just love how they cast an actress like that, for a role like that. Her grumpiness. The joy she takes in shooting down the good guys. Everything (though I wish they hadn’t made all the female characters in that movie hate each other)

7) Lucille Bluth (Arrested Development) – just the worst/best

8) Kira (Deep Space Nine) – love everything about her aside for her getting with Odo

9) Debbie Jellinsky (Addams Family Values) – she got the wrong Barbie! She can’t be blamed

10) Bebe Glazer – (Frasier) – iconic. We’ll forget the cigarette episode out of respect to her.

Special Mentions: Ishka (DS9) – she deserves to be on this list by virtue of starting a feminist revolution on a cartoonishly misogynistic plane, and Ulrica from Ivanhoe, because REVENGE

There a bunch more that I love, obviously, maybe even more than the ones above—Buffy Summers, Leslie Knope, Eowyn, Mulan, Lucy (Peanuts), Shigo, E (Incredibles), Murphy Brown, Felicity Smoak, Moana’s grandmother, Villanelle & Eve, Belle, Okoye, Huntress, Princess Leia, Elpheba (musical), etc etc etc—but I had to choose just 10 so I chose the ones that stuck with me/deserved some attention.

Tagging some blogs I don’t think I’ve tagged before/Tumblr never let me tag -- @paranoid-by-midnight, @sortedcrayons, @overeasysmokemachine, @aviandinosaurfluff. As always, if you were tagged by me for something else/simply want to join, consider yourself tagged!

#tag game #insert clever queue tag

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gaming · 6 years ago

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Indie Game Spotlight: Bravery Network Online

Think you got what it takes? This week’s Indie Game Spotlight, Bravery Network Online @braverynetworkonline, is a game in which you coach a team of fighters to victory in the future sport of Bravery. Winning a game of Bravery means making your foes give up by either beating them up, being really nice to them, or blowing them up with digital magic. Ka-boom.

We got the chance to speak with Damian Sommer (writer, lead designer, backup programmer, and handler of most of the boring stuff) and Min-Taylor Bai-Woo (creative director, art director, lead programmer, keeper of the wheels in motion) about the post-apocalyptic game. Ready to go? Let’s do this!

You said something about digital magic earlier?

Yeah. The game takes place several thousands of years into the future, and technology has evolved to the point in which it’s indistinguishable from magic. The main technology the characters use, Fire, is a kind of advanced internet, which is always present and affects all your senses. There are weird glitches folks can exploit to hurt others, which is usually frowned upon, but in a Bravery match it’s anything goes. There’s lots of implications of an always-on, augmented reality internet, and something we like to play around with in developing the game’s world.

What are some major influences to the game?

The biggest influence, and something a lot of folks picked up on when we released our first trailer was Pokémon. We really like Pokémon’s battle systems, and wanted to have an alternative take on the genre. Other games have tried to riff off of Pokémon’s “catch em’ all” formula and stick pretty close to it. Our main goal is to, instead, take Pokémon’s battle system and run with it in a completely different direction.

Our other big game influences are Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Android: Netrunner, Ragnarok Online, and the unofficial battle sim Pokémon Showdown, which we love and still play from time to time in the office.

Funnily enough, another influence on the game is actually our very own character artist Guillaume Singelin (@blackyjunkgallery), who’s done a whole bunch of amazing character art. Min actually has a copy of his book Junky in her desk that she uses for inspiration here and there.

We pull inspiration from all over the place though, with shows like Mob Psycho 100 and Avatar: The Last Airbender, to books like The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin and Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson, to just our experiences with friends and family. We’re putting a lot of ourselves and our influences into this game, and hopefully, people are into that!

Bravery Network Online is described as taking place in a post-post-apocalyptic world. What does that mean?

This is our shorthand for “things were really bad, but they’re sorta fixed now.” Lots of pretty nasty stuff happened in the game world’s past (environmental collapse, nuclear war, meteor impacts, and more!) to get the world to the point that it is in BNO, but people are largely in a stable environment, and lots of those problems have been solved or at least mitigated.

When coming up with lore for the game, we didn’t want to play off of the super common tropes in games, like the gritty cyberpunk dystopia, the generic fantasy setting, or the typical post-apocalyptic wasteland. Something we wanted to explore was what a utopia in games would look like, and how that would operate. Pretty quickly, in needing to create some sort of conflict for players to solve, that utopic vision cracked, which created what we like to call a questionable utopia. The game’s world is in some ways better than our own, or at least easier to live in, but it’s certainly not objectively nicer. There’s a reason that in our first trailer and all our screenshots feature snow outside the window.

How does the game allow you to connect with others online?

While Bravery Network Online will have a decent-sized single-player component, a good chunk of the content we’re working on is dedicated to building up your teams for Bravery matches versus other players. There’ll be ranks and matchmaking and all that standard stuff, but we’re also adding in a few twists to really make it our own.

One kind of weird thing we’re doing is adding in something we call the “Rival System.” It allows you to mark different players you play against as rivals—basically strangers whose progress you follow, see when they’re online, and easily challenge them. If you win against a rival, once a day, you get little goodies. The longer you’re a rival with someone, the bigger the goodies. Hopefully, this gets this friendly competition going on where you’re like “Oh yeah! Gerald94 is online! Hope they’re up for a fight, because I think I’ve finally figured them out.”

We’re currently working on a few little systems like that, but they all need a bunch of testing, as is the nature of online games! Above is just a taste of what to expect.

Where can we purchase the game? What platforms is it available on?

It’s not out yet! We’re working hard to get it out late 2019 for PC and Mac. If you want to be sure you don’t miss it, you can wishlist it on Steam!

Want to be in the loop with all things Bravery Network Online? Make sure to give their official Tumblr a follow over at @braverynetworkonline !

#Indie Game Spotlight #Bravery Network Online

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