#also rose is such a badass in this episode

[insomniac-101]

God so I just recently purchased the Blu-ray edition of the tenth doctor's run and have been watching the commentary tracks for each episode (which btw, are soo good if you're a major fan of this era. They add a lot of context and extra details to the episodes).

I just finished the girl in the fireplace's commentary track and thankfully hearing the cast's comments on the scenes made it all the more bearable. Not because i hate the episode, but because everytime I rewatch it, it feels like reopening a flesh wound lol

Like it makes me so sad for everyone lmao.

Personally I am not of the opinion that it is badly written, I think the episode does a good job of exploring the more unflattering sides of the Doctor and his duties while also simultaneously exploring the strengths of those choosing to associate with him.

Within the episodes, the three leads make the ultimate sacrifice.

With Madame de pompadour sacrificing a slow path with the doctor for the greater good.

With Rose letting him go, knowing that his selflessness would never allow him to see someone he has come to care for, suffer a meaningless death

And the Doctor, choosing to step in and save Reinette, because it's the right thing to do in spite of knowing there's a possibility that he will never return. Especially with the amount of flirting they did, he formed a connection and now is made to pay the price for it.

It's such a sad episode, and the hurt on all sides always makes me feel so bad for everyone involved. Especially for Rose in particular, who has to put aside her personal feelings and step in spite of knowing how the doctor and Reinette feel about one another ( I wouldn't say love, but there's an attraction there definitely)

It goes to show how brave these two women are to do what is right even if it directly hinders their own needs. How much strength it really takes to accompany the doctor, given that one never knows how their adventures will end.

It also goes to show why you often don't see the doctor make promises to those he rescues. Why he often keeps people at a distance, because getting to know these people in peril personally makes losing them all too real. They become a priority above his better judgement, and he cannot escape the consequences of letting himself feel something towards them.

It's an unfortunate situation, but I think it goes to strengthen the bond between Rose and the Doctor further. As it not only explains why submitting to romantic attraction is a doomed endeavor on the Doctor's part, but why they both function well as a pair. Making them the only two in the scenario to really understand the repercussions of what has occurred on the big scale of things, but nonetheless letting the other grieve regardless.

Idk it's a war of conflicting feelings really lmao because although I am not a fan of the romance between him and Reinette (for other reasons), it manages to humanize him further. Making him a flawed individual that is not above making insensitive decisions or falling for flattery. He has feelings and emotions, that although help him sympathize to those around him, can also make him vulnerable in the same way any human is.

I think it adds to his character, although I will admit it had unfortunate timing on when it took place over the course of the overall character development (which ironically is a point that I have seen most agree with, even those that aren't the biggest fan of the Doctor and Rose romance). Overall, just very conflicted lmao

Lol just had to write out my thoughts, there will probably be more to come about these episodes since I'll be rewatching them.

[variousqueerthings]

VERY RAMBLY BUT I think rose and martha are like the inverse of one another in terms of narrative, in that they both meet a doctor who is deeply deeply hurt, but the doctor interacts with them about it so differently, because of where they're at with that hurt, and the doctor is like "hey, I'm suave and vulnerable beneath the surface, which is quite attractive, want to travel in space and time in my whimsical timeship?" and they both go "oh heck yes!" and then it's like splintered glass from that point on, like martha lives in a funhouse mirror of rose's story -- up until she makes it her own of course and she does call the doctor out on it relatively early on, although rose continues to have that haunting effect

so rose has this bubble created around her that is perfect and unchangeable almost, in which nothing bad can ever happen (except for all the times it does but huuush, we'll be together forever forrealsies don't look at that big ol hurricane hurtling our way), which then inevitably bursts, but is always there-as-memory, because rose becomes something of an impossible ideal to some extent

and martha isn't protected at all, and has all the badness spilling out on her because the doctor is unable to contain any of it (and maybe is relieved to finally give up on being strong), and subsequently all of the promise of wonder has an air of sourness to it, and the doctor will always feel incredibly guilty about how it all ended

but crucially there's a lot they have in common, that is quite different to, say, donna (who is woven in in her own, interesting, way) -- they both become attracted to this powerful, interesting, and suuuper traumatised being, they're both taken along on a journey of promised wonders, they're both incredibly reliable to the point that the narrative is retroactively fitted around how much the doctor's belief-systems revolve around belief in their companions, with many others from the past given their dues (starting with sarah-jane), and they both do see wonders beyond their comprehension (and so does donna, but again, there's something a bit different there to poke at in another post...),

except where for rose this wonder helps her break out of the path that was set down for her and become who she always had the potential to be in a way that is mostly framed as a positive (although with some -- I think -- under-analysed caveats...) and she will be forever thankful for the doctor arriving in her life, martha's is more like an awe that the universe is so hostile and so lonely and so heartbreaking, and so she needs to become more resilient and more ready to make choices that are terrible (from travelling the broken world for a year to the osterhagen key....), and so there's another story about someone who becomes strong and tough (just like rose) but it's because the doctor wasn't really able to be there for her, and while I don't think the show (from memory) ever has her totally regretting the doctor dropping into her life, there for sure is some solemnity to how her story ends, a bit of a dampener in comparison (even tbh in comparison to donna, who yeah, gets her memory taken, but is suggested -- now confirmed perhaps? -- to get more of her life in order/feel more self-confident, also partially because of that subliminal influence of her time with the doctor)

and this isn't to say that it's all-bad for martha! her working for UNIT and Torchwood has a lot of very interesting facets to it, and she is fulfilling her potential to be this impressive, capable person, but the ways all of this was built up to is so heartrending

rose coming in and "saving" the doctor, except it was a bit of a lie, because the second she wasn't there they crashed even harder than before, and martha coming in with the idea that she could save the doctor and walking away when realising what it was doing to her life, and both rose and martha irrevocably changed to the point that the person pre-doctor is barely recognisable in them anymore, both take on the doctor's self-sacrificial traits...

and also the idea that rose gets the fantasy, but it's the fantasy a-bit-to-the-left (funhouse again) because there's always something a bit disconcerting about the lengths the doctor goes to to maintain the bubble, to the point of offering up the alternate-him/tentoo so that she can still have it, even though the actual physical doctor that shared it with her isn't actually there! and martha gets the glimpse of the fantasy, and then has to come to terms with the fact that she's not the person it's "for" and reassess her relationship to the idea of a fantasy in the first place (it helps that martha is an incredibly practical, pragmatic person, but it's still so... ouch)

I don't think it was intentional, but this also fascinating from the perspective of rose as a white woman and martha as a black woman -- who is the fantasy for, to the extent that strange and universe-breaking events go into maintaining it, and who has to be practical and pragmatic and self-reliant?

and also, it's got more tragedy in both cases -- rose as a spectre/haunter of the narrative is always a little bit intangible when she's looked back on (even though in the story she's in she's incredibly real and well-rounded, every time I go back to s1 I am struck by how grounded she is in reality), and I think that's something interesting in terms of her mother's warning in s2, how if she travels with the doctor "forever" she'll become something else, something not her

and martha's mother warns her as well, although she's not completely sure of what, and in contrast to rose this warning comes into very painful fruition, harming her entire family (except, maybe her brother? I wonder if there's anything written about that), but where rose is so omnipresent, martha tries several times to take herself out

(also something about both of their mothers being their anchor-points)

there's something there that's at the centre of both rose's and martha's arcs:

is the change they're going through because of the doctor... good? good for them? good for their families? good as in they're becoming better people than before? good for the world they inhabit? is it good for the person they used to be? did they become better than that person? can they ever truly deal with or even begin to comprehend how these events made them who they are? can they even connect who they are now to who they were then? was this good?

they both become these larger-than-life people, somewhat without noticing on both parts (but the narrative does notice), one of them a ghost, and the other a soldier -- one of them an increasingly intangible, ever-present idea, and the other someone who has to fight every step of the way

it's just a bunch of things I've had going through my head that I can't quite formulate in coherent essay-like sentences, but for sure it's there

opposite sides of the coin, rose tyler and martha jones

I do wish they'd had space in the story for them to talk

[thefruitonyourfly]

Just read a comment under a magireco Madoka's magical girl sequence that said "now Madoka is a badass" and I was like HUH

Like did some of you watched episode 12 blindfolded and with ear plugs? Because I don't think you guys truly grasp the scope of what Madoka did that episode: The Incubator has been on earth for a MILLENNIUM, meaning that has been thousand of girls before Madoka who have tried to outsmart his system and met a terrible fate for their attempts, but only Madoka has been able to beat him, do you guys understand that? The smartest and strongest girls have tried, but something always thwarted their plans—be it their potential not being that high or Kyuubey twisting their words so it would be in his favor instead—But Madoka had something they didn't and it was her circumstances (Homura and the timeloops), Madoka knew her wish would come at a great sacrifice, but just like Homura said in Rebellion "She rose to the occasion" because she knew it was something only she could do; No one would ever have the perfect circumstances to make that wish like Madoka. So, she did it.

When Madoka made her wish and Kyuubey hesitated for the first time in the series because he understood the implication of it, Madoka said to him: "Now, grant my wish, Incubator." When Kriemhild Gretchen was born and Kyuubey thought he had the advantage back again because this witch could literally swallow a planet and Madoka killed her with one shot. Madoka won, essentially. Like her system isn't perfect, Kyuubey isn't dead, and there's still suffering, but it was the best wish for the magical girl kind as a whole, and all improvements are only possible by what Madoka did here. She played within the Incubator's system and rewrote it. She is the most powerful character in the whole franchise and arguably one of the most powerful characters in anime. "But didn't Homucifer defeated Madokami?" Well, sort of. Homura's win is, ironically, also due to extreme circumstances, only Homura could've done that and only within this one scenario: and even when she won it's heavily implied that if Madoka even has a slightly moment of deja vu it's over for her, she can't win against Madoka on fair terms so even Homura herself can't achieve that feat again. That's just how powerful Madoka is.

Do you guys understand that?

And here's the thing: my problem with that statement isn't even that I don't think magireco Madoka isn't as cool as Madokami, I think she's badass too. Is just like, I thought we all thought Madoka was cool as herself?? Like even without being a magical girl or a fucking godess, Madoka was cool as shit. When Madoka risked her own life to save the lives of her friends and strangers at the warehouse? She had no powers, no backup, and had just watched Mami die to a witch and yet she still followed Hitomi. But people only want to see Madoka's character as what the witch showed her afterwards, her own survivors guilt and perceived weakness and cowardice over wanting to live and not be a magical girl despite what she promised Mami, and yet the scene prior to this conflicts with this idea. Madoka not only can risk her life for others and save them when the need arises, but she already has. Even without being a magical girl. It's just who she is. This, to me, is one Madoka Magica's core strenght as a show that Madoka spent the majority of it being the most "powerless" in almost every scenario and yet she still tried her best to overcome things, even when it didn't work It was never worthless, if anything it proved her own strenght of character and without it she would've never gotten as powerful how she is today.

If Madoka hadn't been kind to Homura on her first day of school, if she hadn't done the simple act of reaching out to someone she thought was kind shy, none of this would've have happened. Her kindness did this, not any other power.

My favorite thing about Madoka's character arc is that Madoka starts as a very naive opmitimisc girl and with a somewhat sheltered view of of the world, then she goes throught horrors few can understand and while she could (understably) become bitter with the world and grow to despise it, Madoka comes of it realizing...she was right. Madoka has felt the pain the world could give her in her own skin, has literally died, and she now thinks Hope is needed more than ever. And it saddens me a lot when people don't understand how strong and cool she is because of that, to be hurt and choose to be kinder and more understanding to yourself and the world in return, because the world can be better we just can't give up...

Basically what I'm saying with this that if you don't like Kaname Madoka, fuck you—

[dreamchasernina]

The problem with having Kyoshi come in in the second episode to fight Aang’s battle for him.

And this is a long post so please bear with me.

I know a lot of people saw that scene as badass and cool, because they love Kyoshi. But can we just look at this objectively and agree that scene ruined every mystery there was about exactly what Aang was capable of, while also eliminating every limitation Avatar state had?

The original show showed very slowly what the avatar state was capable of doing, every single time it was very short, it came in only when Aang’s life was in danger or his emotions overwhelmed him, and it took a toll on Aang’s physical state. The first time we truly see what a fully realized avatar is capable of is in the Avatar Roku episode, episode 8! Where something similar happens, Roku takes over Aang’s body and fights for him. But it’s so short, it’s like 2 minutes long because there’s a time limit, it happens only because it’s the solstice and Avatar Roku can’t move. He stays in the same spot but shows exactly what Aang will be capable once he can control the avatar state, just in those 2 minutes (maybe even less).

The next time we see Aang’s great potential is in the series finale, when he merges with the ocean spirit and turns into a giant Koi fish, wiping a whole fire nation army. That’s when we see what Aang is truly capable of, even if it was with the help of the ocean spirit. That’s when we are shocked to see the great power Aang holds. But the show is still clever about it, in the very next episode it emphasizes that Aang still doesn’t know how to enter the avatar state or how to control it. It also adds in the same episode a restriction, a vulnerability, that even though the avatar state makes Aang incredible powerful, it also puts the Avatar cycle at risk. That’s how clever the OG show was. It answers the question and rose right after they showed the full potential of the avatar state, why doesn’t Aang just go into the avatar state right now and defeat the fire lord? It’s all explained so well.

The live action just destroyed everything that made the avatar state special in the second episode! Aang has no problem contacting Kyoshi, he doesn’t have to wait for the solstice, he doesn’t have to get into the temple in the fire nation, fighting his way in, he doesn’t have to wait for the sun to hit Roku’s statue, no, he just goes to Kyoshi island and contacts Kyoshi so easily. And Kyoshi has no problem taking over his body and fighting for him. There are no restrictions, Kyoshi just came back to life, full power, moves around the island however she likes, there’s no time limit, it’s all pretty easy. And that’s when you get rid of the mystery of what is Aang truly capable of. In the second episode! And there are almost no restrictions. Aang just has to be in that Avatar’s shrine to be able to contact him and let him take over his body. Literally the first thing Aang does when he arrives at the north is ask avatar Kuruk to take over his body and fight the fight for him. You see how that’s a problem? How you main character doesn’t have to work and progress and learn anything to be able to defeat the big bad, when he can just summon that great power at will whenever he wants? Aang doesn’t learn waterbending at all the first season! And why should he? He took out the whole fire nation army in the second episode!

And the next time Aang enters the avatar state in the live action is when he merges with the ocean spirit, just like in the show, but he wills it, it doesn’t happen because of Aang’s emotion, nope, it’s already established that Aang can pretty much enter the avatar state whenever he wants. But the show goes out of its way to explain to us that it’s not Aang in there, he’s gone, it’s something else, some kind of a monster. Taking away any agency Aang ever had. Which mean, we never really see Aang fight and showcase his capabilities. I think he truly fights only against Bumi and just a little bit against some fire nation soldiers in the blue spirit part and the siege on the north, which does nothing to show us exactly how powerful Aang was.

Forget the avatar state, Aang was pretty fucking badass without it throughout the first season too. Almost every episode showed us exactly what Aang can do with just one element, him kicking Zuko’s ass over and over, battling a volcano, fighting the pirates, fighting Zhao and so much more. So when you saw Aang kick ass with just air, you couldn’t wait to see what he’d be able to do with all 4. And none of that is in this show.

Aang doesn’t learn ANYTHING in this live action. He isn’t limited in any way. He can summon the avatar state at will, talk to every avatar, let them take over his body, he can enter the spirit world without a problem, and get out of it too. He doesn’t even learn waterbending, the only clear goal Aang had since the second episode of the OG show!

So when you give away the mistery of the true power the avatar holds in your second episode, and don’t even show me what Aang can do without it, there’s no anticipation in the audience to see Aang’s true potential. We see Aang get more powerful with every season and that’s exciting! That’s what makes the show fun! And we only see the glimpse of Aang’s true power is with the Avatar state until the very last episode of the OG, that’s why when Aang enters the avatar state and absolutely devours Ozai it was exciting, and shocking and fucking exhilarating. If that same scene happens in the live action, it will have 10% of the impact the original had, because you already showed me what the avatar can do, you showed me Kyoshi fucking flying and blasting everyone, why would I find it exciting when Aang eventually does it?

It’s just bad writing 101 and I don’t get how, with the budget they had, they made such amateur mistakes.

[vintagetvstars]

Betty White Vs. Eartha Kitt

Propaganda

Betty White - (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls, Life With Elizabeth) - I mean - does she really need an introduction? It's Betty White, people! The First Lady Of Television! What *hasn't* she done? She had an incredible career (in fact, she earned the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by a female entertainer *twice*!) with an infinite list of successes - she won seven Emmys, three SAG awards, and even a Grammy. I personally know her best for her spectacular portrayal of Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, but she's played so many great characters in her long career. A lesser known but marvelously charming role is that of the titular character in Life With Elizabeth, a 1950s sitcom which she also co-produced at the age of *28*! She was also a great advocate for a number of causes - animal welfare, gay rights (she used to accompany her friend Liberace to events to help him avoid being outed as gay), and racial equality: she famously hired Arthur Duncan, a Black tap dancer, on one of her shows, and when threatened with going off-air if he wasn't fired, she just declared "He stays, live with it." She's the whole package - amazing actress (and comedienne and producer!), kind and hilarious, and of course - beautiful! Just look at her - that smile! Those eyes! That charm!! Watch her in action if you can (they're too long to link here, but entire episodes of Life With Elizabeth are on youtube!), but honestly - her pictures alone are enough to make me swoon!

Eartha Kitt - (Batman) - No text propaganda

Master Poll List of the Hot Vintage TV Ladies Bracket

Additional propaganda below the cut

Betty White:

Have you seen her?? Look me in the eyes and tell me that Betty White's smile doesn't have the power to turn anyone's heart to mush. She looks adorable one moment, and can come up with the most out of pocket lines the next (all while still looking innocent about it). People know her best as Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, of course, where she played the show's most naive character. But reportedly, Betty was actually the cleverest person on set. She didn't even have to learn her lines; reading the script once was enough for her, and she'd be able to remember any additional changes throughout the week without a problem. Which is pretty amazing if you ask me! Anyway, Betty is an icon. Her television career spanned seven (7!!!) decades, covering basically the entire tournament's time period (and then some!). She *almost* turned 100 and her outliving other celebrities was a Tumblr meme for ages. She had her own talkshow in the 1950s, for which she hired a female director, and had an African-American tap dancer (Arthur Duncan) as a regular cast member. When faced with criticism for the latter and the threat of being boycotted, Betty responded with "I'm sorry. Live with it" and gave Duncan *more* airtime. She was also the first woman to ever produce a sitcom (Life with Elizabeth) in which she played the lead, and looked absolutely stunning doing it. All in all: Betty was a badass, had a heart of gold, and she's absolutely stunning!

I think I might cry at how pretty she is honestly

that SMILE!!!

she's even pretty when she's not smiling... ahh...

some soft butch realness

[ghost-bison]

why i don't like moffat's writing?

with rtd we had rose and martha and donna who were all amazing and by the end of their run (especially rose's and donna's cause martha's ending was satisfactory and somehow wholesome) you were left wanting more and being sad it was already over. amy and clara both outlived their welcome (especially clara even though i very much prefer her to amy).

like idk what moffat was trying to do with the amy/rory situation cause it could have been tied up in 1 series, and as for clara... well let's just say by the end (or beginning or middle if we're being honest) he was forcing her and her regurgitated storylines (stolen from both rose and donna) down our throats like a ripe lemon.

except there was no deep foreshadowing well embedded into the storyline like with donna and rose. no. just a constant reminder of "don't worry, the doctor will figure that out at some point" by the doctor himself which is not how the doctor is supposed to work. the doctor is thick and daft and too caught up in the chaos of his life to notice anything and that's what's so good about it.

and i mean yeah, he did do some mild foreshadowing thing with amy and the silence and all (how good it actually was, it's up to you to decide i guess), but bro i'd forgotten all of it by the time we knew what was going on cause it happened over two series and they had to use a flashback i think so that people would see how clever it was.

also this exchange in forest of the dead between ten and river:

"doesn't work like that"

"it does for the doctor"

"i am the doctor"

"yeah. someday"

brother, what were you trying to pull? what's this five-year-old behaviour? "my doctor is better than your doctor" literally how old are we. what a way to tell us the writing of the future series will suck. like i'm sorry but by this point we don't know river, there is no attachment to that character, we have never seen her in our lives. we don't gaf. by this point she's just an annoying lady telling one of the most epic, well-written, consistent versions of the doctor that he is no match to a future doctor written by a dude who's not like other dudes and whose self-insert is a little too on-the-nose. as well as his misogyny. (i love eleven he was hilarious, i just think he's a victim of bad writing and inconsistency)

every tenth doctor episode written by moffat, the only recognizable thing about ten is david tennant's acting. ten goes and falls for madame de pompadour over what? her boobies? even in classic who which was peak misogyny, the doctor wasn't like that. ten spent less than five minutes with reinette and you're gonna tell me that small minute was enough to make him fall for her? half of which she was a child, moreover? sure.

we can add to that donna's "if i had a face like yours i wouldn't hide it" to miss evangelista in forest of the dead yet again. why? how tf was that necessary??? i don't remember donna ever saying anything positive or negative about her own features apart from that. that was never the point. this isn't fanfiction. or how in that same episode miss evangelista became ugly in order to become clever. there's a real fkin pattern there.

how i miss the time women in doctor who didn't need to assault their men in order to be badass. a time when the doctor would have never forcefully kissed a married lesbian and made a sex joke after she rightfully slapped him. when bisexuality was taken seriously and not as a selling point. when doctor who was still doctor who

[setevulpo]

obscura love interests as paintings!

hello, yes, this vn has consumed my days. have a healthy dose of artistic rambles relating to the love interests from someone who knows nothing about art, and enjoy!

the pictures are unfortunately only of details, because tumblr will crash and burn if i try putting all 15 full paintings in one post, but seriously. look up the paintings. they're so beautiful y'all.

divider by @/cafekitsune

keir

boy peeling fruit by michelangelo caravaggio! picked because it gave me chilling-after-work vibes and it's kinda domestic!

the shipwreck by claude-joseph vernet! it's the tragedy! the despair! the only thing you can do is help those who aren't dead yet!

the last day of pompeii by karl bryullov! yes. it's the same reason as above. add the impotence of being unable to stop what's causing it and muah! gold! also volcano.

cirrus

noli me tangere by titian vecellio! this painting is named after the biblical episode after jesus' resurrection, and it's symbolical of belief/love without a physical aspect to it.

death and life by gustav klimt! another one that is about a lack of physical union, but i also picked it because of the light and dark contrast between life and death.

the annunciation by henry ossawa tanner! it depicts the moment gabriel informed mary of her pregnancy, and it is very much about clarity and revelations, usually of the holy kind.

francesco

david with the head of goliath by michelangelo caravaggio! there are many theories about what this one is actually about, but one of them talks about caravaggio's youth ruining his chance at becoming old. do you see my vision.

by the sea by piet mondrian! this one is mostly about the vibes, it's very rich but also simplistic in a way?

roses, convolvulus, poppies, and other flowers in an urn on a stone ledge by rachel ruysch! a peony at the central point for love and wealth, foxglove that, despite symbolising deceit also leans into healing, the nasturium standing for victory despite struggles!

oleander

the aegean sea by frederic edwin church! a temple of bacchus and a double rainbow and the freedom of an open sea. there's something there i tell you.

cymon and iphigenia by frederic leighton! cymon gazes upon a sleeping iphigenia and is filled with inspiration of which he never knew before. it has a very warm feeling to it, and it is set at dusk in early autumn. also it's just pretty.

symphony in white, no.1 by james mcneill whistler! the original artist said that this painting had no deeper meaning, ominous much, but also it depicts a woman casually standing on a dead wolf, which is undeniably badass.

+ bonus! vesper

the first mourning by william-adolphe bouguereau! adam and eve mourning their son after he died! it looks beautiful and desperate and completely anguished.

descent into limbo by andrea mantegna! this one is all because of vesper going into the mountain not sorry at all. the man in the painting is begging for mercy or help or literally anything.

the death of adonis by peter paul rubens! someone died when they should have lived. someone died way before their time. vesper my beloved this will be you.

[nerdygaymormon]

Favorite LGBTQ movie and TV quotes

“Um, I do drink red wine, but I also drink white wine. And I’ve been known to sample the occasional rosé. And a couple summers back, I tried a Merlot that used to be a Chardonnay, which got a bit complicated… I like the wine and not the label. Does that make sense?”

— David Rose, Schitt’s Creek, Season 1, Episode 10

“That felt so good to say. I feel like I just solved an escape room I’ve been trapped in my entire life.”

— Fabiola Torres, Never Have I Ever, Season 1, Episode 5

“Look, I’ll be hurt either way. Isn’t it better to be who I am?”

— Eric Effiong, Sex Education, Season 1, Episode 7

“Everybody’s story is different. There’s your version, and my version, and everything in between. But the one thing that all of those stories have in common is that moment right before you say those words when your heart is racing, and you don’t know what’s coming next. That moment’s really terrifying. And then once you say those words, you can’t unsay them. A chapter has ended, and a new one’s begun, and you have to be ready for that.”

— John, Happiest Season

“The good thing about being different is that no one expects you to be like them”

— Ellie Chu, The Half Of It

"When I'm with Brittany, I finally understand what people are talking about when they talk about love. I've tried so hard to push this feeling away, and keep it locked inside, but every day just feels like a war. I walk around so mad at the world, but I'm really just fighting with myself. I don't want to fight anymore. I'm just too tired. I have to just be me."

— Santana Lopez, Glee, Season 3, Episode 7

“Now, there is a long and honorable tradition in the gay community, and it has stood us in good stead for a very long time. When somebody calls you a name…you take it and own it.”

— Mark Ashton, Pride

“So I'm bisexual. So what? It's LGBTQ for a reason. There's a B in there and it doesn't mean Badass. Okay, it does, but it also means Bi.”

— Callie Torres, Grey's Anatomy, Episode 1105

“We’re standing here in Philadelphia, the, uh, City of Brotherly Love, the birthplace of freedom where the, uh, founding fathers authored the Declaration of Independence, and I don’t recall that glorious document saying anything about all straight men are created equal. I believe it says all men are created equal.”

— Joe Miller, Philadelphia

"Yes, I wear foundation. Yes, I live with a man. Yes, I'm a middle- aged fag. But I know who I am, Val. It took me twenty years to get here, and I'm not gonna let some idiot senator destroy that. F*** the senator, I don't give a damn what he thinks."

— Armand Goldman, The Birdcage

"Being gay is your thing. There are parts of it you have to go through alone. I hate that. As soon as you came out, you said, "Mom, I'm still me." I need you to hear this: You are still you, Simon. You are still the same son who I love to tease and who your father depends on for just about everything. And you're the same brother who always complements his sister on her food, even when it sucks. You get to exhale now, Simon. You get to be more you than you have been in... in a very long time. You deserve everything you want."

— Emily Spier, Love, Simon

"The greatest gift we can give each other is our authentic selves and sharing that. Sharing our truth is what will make us strong. So here I am. I am both human and alien. And I am a trans woman."

— Kara Danvers, Supergirl, Season 4, Episode 19

"But I feel more when I look at a picture of Kristen Stewart than I do when I kiss him."

— Elena Alvarez, One Day at a Time,

"You can’t change it. You can’t fix me. Because I’m not broken, I don’t need to be fixed, OK? I’m me!"

— Ian Gallagher, Shameless, Season 5, Episode 12

"Becoming me was the greatest creative project of my life."

Eliot Waugh, The Magicians, Season 1, Episode 1

"Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place. So, thank you."

—Raymond Holt, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Season 5, Episode 10

"I might be…bisexual, and you guys know I hate labels, but this one feels important right now to own the space I’m in and to make sense of it."

—Kat Edison, The Bold Type

[weird-will]

Ok so from what I can see and understand it seems like the episodes will go like this

Rose is playing out one of her fanfictions, saving Writer Alan, Possible Biker Scratch (also rose covered in blood is both badass and terrifying)

Jack (or tim) looks like they are playing an alternate version of Alan? (The quantum break style lamp, looking for "his love?" Also based on the one comic panel shot the dialouge might also mirror some of Alan's from the base game.

And Jesse's looks like she physically went into the dark place (whether it's to find Darling or some other FBC reason as it seems we get a dark place version of bright falls/coffee world)

I'm very intrigued to see where this goes, will probably do a live blog of it tomorrow 👏

[haylijahtilldeath]

What are your top 5s in anything TVDU related? (Characters, ships, friendships, familial bonds, episodes, etc.)

Ooh, my first question. Thank you for asking!

Even though I've watched tvd first, but I prefer the originals to it. So, my answer is going to be mostly about them.

I'm going to do the characters separately.

First, characters from T.O

Elijah Mikaelson (because he was the calm before the storm, I don't know how to describe him, he was just so resilient and holding onto his brother when the entire world could only see a monster in him, and for all his complex layers.) and Hayley Marshall (because she was a BAMF, the best mother you could have) fighting for first place, but none of them can win.

Camille O'Connell because she was such a ray of sunshine. (Caroline stans do not come at me, this is about two characters who have literally never met.)

Freya Mikaelson was such a badass.

Klaus Mikaelson because he had the best retorts and sarcasm.

Gia because she was so down to earth about everything. (Putting her after Klaus feels so wrong lmao.)

Now, Tvd characters. I can't conjure any explanation for them.

Caroline Forbes

Enzo St. John

Stefan Salvatore

Rayna Cruz

Rose from S2

Ships.

Haylijah, because have you seen them? The chemistry, the compatibility, the love and all the respect. (S5 never happened.)

Bonenzo because they were so good together, and Enzo actually loved Bonnie and didn't spend his time using her.

Klamille, because Camille could see beyond 'evil Klaus' and understood him like no one else ever did, and Klaus saw so much light in her, and he cared about her.

Steroline because they were also good together.

Gialijah because they had so much chemistry and there was just something about them

Friendships.

Caroline & Enzo, because he stepped up for her and they had something special about them.

Camille & Vincent, because they related to one another after all damage they got because of the Mikaelson family, and they made something good out of it.

Freya & Hayley because they spent years together raising Hope, and they bonded so well.

Stefan and Lexi because they do supportive besties better than anyone.

Bonnie and Damon because they have managed to go from sworn enemies to best friends.

Familial bonds.

Hayley and Hope. No one does mother and daughter better than them.

Elijah and Rebekah. We saw so many times how Elijah cared for her and how she looked up to him. I believe he was her favorite brother, even if the show wanted to make us believe it was Klaus.

Marcel & Davina. They're not family by blood, but the way he was her family more than her real family and tried to protect her meant so much.

Elijah and Hope. We did not get much of them, but they had so much potential. If the show didn't completely destroy Elijah to redeem Klaus, we might have seen him be the best uncle out there.

Freya/ Rebekah and Hope. These aunt/niece relationships were so good. Rebekah cared for her for months, and kept her safe, and Freya raised her with Hayley and taught her so much.

Finding episodes that I genuinely love from beginning to end is difficult.

TO S2E9: The Map of Moments. We had family, we had bickering and we had love.

TVD S3E14: Dangerous Liaisons. We had a ball straight out from a fantasy, do I need to say more?

TO S1E20: A Closer Walk with Thee. It was not a happy episode, but we had our first Haylijah kiss, and it's good enough to be in my top 5.

TO S5E8 : The Kindness of Strangers. As much as I hated S5, but this episode was so good. We saw the Mikaelson family reunited, and every time I watch Elijah break down after remembering Hayley's death, I can't help but cry.

TO S1E1: Always and Forever. This feels like such a basic answer, but I love this episode. It was the beginning of an epic tv show, and it's just so nostalgic.

These are the ones you mentioned, and I can't for the life of me think about anything else to rank. Anyway, I am awkward most of the time, and it includes this answer. So, don't judge me too harshly!

[bisexualamy]

ooh im intrigued 👀 go on, what would you change to fix utopia/ sod/ lottl?

I'm so glad you asked!! These changes are in order of importance. I have a few stylistic things that just make the episodes more my taste, but that's not fixing so I'm gonna stick to things structural.

#1: Martha needs the big win

People joke about "tinkerbell Jesus Doctor" but I truly think the resolution of LOTTL is the biggest thing keeping it from being truly great. The special effect really isn't the issue (this is Doctor Who after all). The issue for me is that the final scene on the Valiant, the scene that's concluding the whole plot arc of the serial, falls emotionally flat. Why does the Doctor get Martha's big win? Why was Martha's whole task to tell everyone how great the Doctor is? Every other RTD era companion gets a chance to be the hero by the end of their season. They get to save the Doctor. Rose becomes the Bad Wolf, and later becomes a badass in Pete's World. Donna saves the Doctor in Turn Left and again in Journey's End. Martha saves the Doctor by... talking up how great he is. She keeps morale up by telling stories about him.

This is so so fixable and it wouldn't change basically anything about the plot. The original plan can even stay the same! She uses the countdown to concentrate all that psychic power routing through the existing Archangel satellites. She can even still keep the people of Earth hopeful by telling them fantastic stories about the Doctor. But here's the thing. To them, the Doctor is a mythical figure. Martha is real. Martha walked the Earth, she got out of Japan alive, she has managed to walk through warzones without Toclafane detection. She is a legend of flesh and blood who sits at their dinner tables and around their campfires and tells them how to trick Toclafane and stretch their resources and she's a doctor who can treat their people and keep them alive longer.

The people's faith should be in Martha. That psychic energy should be Martha's. Instead of chanting for the Doctor they're chanting for Martha. It concludes her character arc and the episode's plot arc so well! Martha has spent the whole season feeling like she's second best. The Master kidnapped and tortured Martha's family. Who is the Doctor to forgive the Master? Martha deserves to have the win. Maybe from her time with the Doctor she chooses to spare him, only for Lucy to shoot him later, and everything stays the same. But imagine how Martha's already amazing speech would sound after a scene like this. Martha became the Doctor, only to decide that she'd rather be herself.

#2: Tweaking/nerfing the Master's drums

I used to be in camp "get rid of these completely" but I've come around on them since I saw TWEAT/TDF. The drums need to exist in some capacity to make End of Time work, and now that it's canon (as of s10) that Simm!Master no longer has his drums after they served their purpose, fine. The thing that has always bothered me about the drums is how heavily it's implied (if not explicitly stated) that much of the Master's "madness" comes from the drums. I think that's a big disservice to his character and from all the amazing groundwork previous actors did to build up the Master.

Simm!Master in TWEAT/TDF is still self-destructive, chaotic, and violent. He didn't need any drums to make him that way. I'd revise it in the Utopia arc so that the Master still has his drums, but they're treated more like a migraine disorder or tinnitus. They're painful. They bother the hell out of him. But instead of "he saw the time vortex and they made him lose his mind" it's much more akin to that feeling of losing control when your own body is working against you and there's nothing you can do to stop it. That would certainly make him meaner, more chaotic, more resentful and angry, but now it's just an amplification of what he already is.

(I also think this makes his decision for the subliminal Archangel signal to be his drums a much more telling decision. This sound is weaponized against him, and in turn he's weaponizing it against humanity.)

#3 Tweaking the Master's relationship to Gallifrey/incorporate the Time War in a smoother way

The Master has suffered a major trauma and I think the episodes try, but do not commit, to that. Instead it's more "will the drumming stop." I have always disliked that the Master's ultimate plan was to put "a new Gallifrey in the sky." Historically, the Master has not given a shit about Gallifrey unless he rules it. His rhetoric about the glory of the time lords makes no sense to me... unless it's a response to the Time War.

From the Master's perspective, he has just fled the Battle of the Cruciform to the end of the universe. He was so terrified he fobwatched himself so they'd never find him. The next memory he has as The Master is the end of Utopia, which goes straight into Sound of Drums. He has seen the Cruciform fall days ago. It makes sense he's not acting quite like himself. (I believe this is TV canon, but he was also literally taken out of the matrix to fight in the Time War, so he was quite literally dead -> Time War -> Utopia). I wish his plan, drums, and his relationship with Gallifrey was more pointed in this direction.

These are the big ones. I think this is maybe 15-20% different from what's written and I think it makes the whole arc much stronger. BBC hire me as script editor.

[mymanyfandomramblings]

I was just thinking about Steven Universe, and I was joking about how in Beach City the dads are all mostly used for comedy (except for Greg bc he's a major character, but even he's occasionally used for jokes), meanwhile the mothers could kill a man, when I realised about how well Steven Universe, even with the background characters, deconstruct the 'bumbling dad/hypercompetent mother' tropes.

It's pretty common in TV shows to have absolutely terrible dad characters, who can range from mildly incompetent to straight-up abusive, and it's extremely unusual to see a show where the father is the more competent parent than the mother. Steven Universe, however, shakes up the normal dynamic. At first Greg is everything you'd expect from your bumbling sitcom dad: he looks like a bit of a slob, he's a hoarder, he's far less attractive than Rose, the Gems don't think very highly of him, and he works a rather unimpressive career, having failed to achieve his dreams. But Greg goes on to prove himself not only as a competent parent to Steven, but probably the most competent of any of Steven's parental figures (and we all know if Rose had been able to live, she would hardly have been a wonderful parent either). This is not, however, to say that Greg is perfect--far from it, he has plenty of faults, but no more so than any other character. The point is: Greg may have the outward trappings of a bumbling dad, but subverts the trope instead, by being a responsible, caring and genuinely good parent.

The show also deconstructs the 'bumbling dad's' sister trope--the badass mama bear who is incredibly competent at running their family, and is involved with their children's lives. The mothers we see around Beach City--Barb Miller, Priyanka Maheswaran and Vidalia (as well as the Crystal Gems, who are Steven's maternal figures) all pretty much fit this trope, although certain of them fulfil certain parts of the description better than others. However, the show does display that none of them are perfect parents. Barb would clearly die and/or kill for Sadie and would love to be a part of her daughter's life, but there's multiple episodes dedicated to showing how stifled Sadie feels by her mother's enthusiasm and desire to be involved in her life. Dr. Maheswaran is incredibly competent but is also hyper-controlling of Connie, leading to a breakdown in their relationship. Vidalia is clearly a cool mum who supports all her children's ambitions--which would be great, if one of her children wasn't Onion, who would probably benefit more from discipline, rather than just affirmation of his behaviour--which ranges from minor crime to full-scale mayhem. And this isn't even starting on discussing the Gems and their failures when it comes to their parenting.

I just think it's really intriguing how Steven Universe plays with and subverts the classic tropes when it comes to parents and the roles and expectations of each parent. It's another example of why the show is so good at deconstructing classic character archetypes and tropes.

[vintagetvstars]

Betty White Vs. Gracie Allen

Propaganda

Betty White - (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Golden Girls, Life With Elizabeth) - I mean - does she really need an introduction? It's Betty White, people! The First Lady Of Television! What *hasn't* she done? She had an incredible career (in fact, she earned the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by a female entertainer *twice*!) with an infinite list of successes - she won seven Emmys, three SAG awards, and even a Grammy. I personally know her best for her spectacular portrayal of Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, but she's played so many great characters in her long career. A lesser known but marvelously charming role is that of the titular character in Life With Elizabeth, a 1950s sitcom which she also co-produced at the age of *28*! She was also a great advocate for a number of causes - animal welfare, gay rights (she used to accompany her friend Liberace to events to help him avoid being outed as gay), and racial equality: she famously hired Arthur Duncan, a Black tap dancer, on one of her shows, and when threatened with going off-air if he wasn't fired, she just declared "He stays, live with it." She's the whole package - amazing actress (and comedienne and producer!), kind and hilarious, and of course - beautiful! Just look at her - that smile! Those eyes! That charm!! Watch her in action if you can (they're too long to link here, but entire episodes of Life With Elizabeth are on youtube!), but honestly - her pictures alone are enough to make me swoon!

Gracie Allen - (The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show) - she's SO funny

Master Poll List of the Hot Vintage TV Ladies Bracket

Additional propaganda below the cut

Betty White:

Have you seen her?? Look me in the eyes and tell me that Betty White's smile doesn't have the power to turn anyone's heart to mush. She looks adorable one moment, and can come up with the most out of pocket lines the next (all while still looking innocent about it). People know her best as Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls, of course, where she played the show's most naive character. But reportedly, Betty was actually the cleverest person on set. She didn't even have to learn her lines; reading the script once was enough for her, and she'd be able to remember any additional changes throughout the week without a problem. Which is pretty amazing if you ask me! Anyway, Betty is an icon. Her television career spanned seven (7!!!) decades, covering basically the entire tournament's time period (and then some!). She *almost* turned 100 and her outliving other celebrities was a Tumblr meme for ages. She had her own talkshow in the 1950s, for which she hired a female director, and had an African-American tap dancer (Arthur Duncan) as a regular cast member. When faced with criticism for the latter and the threat of being boycotted, Betty responded with "I'm sorry. Live with it" and gave Duncan *more* airtime. She was also the first woman to ever produce a sitcom (Life with Elizabeth) in which she played the lead, and looked absolutely stunning doing it. All in all: Betty was a badass, had a heart of gold, and she's absolutely stunning!

I think I might cry at how pretty she is honestly

that SMILE!!!

some soft butch realness

she's even pretty when she's not smiling... ahh...

she is marvelously bitchy as Sue Ann Nivens. please for the love of god watch these videos

Betty White / Sue Ann Moment #1: Coffee Experts Agree

Betty White / Sue Ann Moment #3: Massive Mudslides Wreak Havoc

Betty White / Sue Ann Moment #5: Have a Sexy Birthday

Gracie Allen:

Gracie Allen--Best Lines Compilation 1

[wasyago]

episode 110 spoilers

just like, random thoughts and stuff, mostly bits that i remembered

i sat down to write this i forgot everything oh my god--

in chip's flashback. the black rose pirates following the king to the big sakura tree, and arlin holding baby chip's hand. this. the cutest shit ever, i think i almost cried at the image of this big badass group of pirates and this itty bitty child led gently by his hand. even if i didn't cry before i sure will right now, baby chip you're so dear to me...

QUEEN! they didn't remember anything aughhhhh 😭😭😭😭 and their and chip's little talk about how they're going to put the pieces together :( and their hug :(

whatever drey, finn and earl are doing on the ship... like, what? hello? glad they're having fun tho lol. also wait hold on a second. how did drey answer the call? i mean, probably with his leg or something, if i had to guess. or maybe finn held it up for him. not sure if finn is at it enough to be able to answer the shell by himself, so earl and drey are the only ones who can actually use it. and seing how earl is in a... predicament. hm.

jay saying that when she looks at gillion she sees family. AUGHHHHHHHHHH AUGH AUGH OUGH jay ferin i love you. and this is so important to me not only because like hell yes they're more than friends they're a family, but also for jay of all people, considering her relationship with her blood tied family and how complicated her relationship with this word is.

also girl please do something about your leg, im begging you. the bone is visible, this shit is not going to heal up by itself. i dont know how you're still limping around this must hurt so bad. i guess adrenalin maybe, but still. at least get some bandages or something, i don't know... what is it with jay and her legs actually. she fell off a roof in edison kingdom and landed on a piece of metal that fucked up her leg, and now this.

oh my god niklaus, how could i forget about my babygirl. i mean, what can i say i love this guy. i dont know how many times ive relistened to his intro song, but definitely more than i should've... um. there was a lot of big important lore that i don't have the brain capacity to process rn.... i want to say that niki is the nameless prince and/or the thing trapped in the hole in the sea. because he can only interact with one person at a time by inviting them to his pocket dimension (even with jay it was said that the time around her stopped while she was talking with niklaus), implying that niki is trapped somewhere and this is the only constricted way he can interact with the world. and to answer chip's questions he said he wants freedom more than anything, again implying that right now he doesn't have this freedom. which makes sense, right? but then, the big bad thing was supposedly trapped thousands of years ago (i think?), but niklaus was a world famous pirate lord not so long ago and not trapped anywhere, so.....? idk im probably missing something. can't for the life of me find the moment where they read the nameless prince book so like, whatever.

that moment where jay talked to chip about how she thinks its all her fault and she should've just gave up her arm and leg. and how chip reassures her....... them 🥺🤲 kind of inspired by that post abt chip and jay i reblogged earlier, but these two talking about their emotions and feelings is so dear to me. just, being human with each other and opening up. gill is great ofc, but i feel like for these two its much easier to talk to each other to feel understood and heard. i love them.....

chip is still very much dead and probably won't be resurrected any time soon, so... hooray new undead chip design! but also oh my god my poor boy... forever 19... (also charlie and condi being surprised that chip is only 19. yeah </3) my poor guy my poor baby, he sounds so beaten and depressed in the beginning of the episode, its just breaking my heart qwq...

star and zamia <333 hehe

chip trying to marry igneous. lol. darling chill out, you just got out of one unsuccessful marriage and it didn't teach you anything, you're dead, you're only 19, you've known this guy for like, 2 days? don't get me wrong, godspeed to chip, but cmon man take him out to dinner first or something

and uhhh. the end, that's all i got

[scifrey]

Somehow I wrote 137k words of The Sandman fanfic in the last 5 months. Behold: the result!

This has been an incredible journey - I decided to step back into fandom while I was waiting on some publishing info and news, just as something to do to keep my creativity sharp. The community and reception I discovered, however, has been astoundingly welcoming. I feel reinvigorated and ready to tackle my revisions on my next novel!

THE HOB ADHERENT SERIES

In which Hob Gadling's Stranger returns, they start a weekly hangout, Hob becomes Morpheus' Emotional Support Human (tm), Matthew bullies Hob onto a Docudrama TV series where Hob pretends to be his own ancestor, and Morpheus is the King of Repressed Symbolism.

Status: Complete

Fandom: The Sandman (TV 2022) Includes some comics canon, and some fun cameos from the wider Gaiman-verse, but it’s not necessary to know to enjoy the story.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Discussions of grief and in-canon character death.

Relationships: Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling, Eleanor | Hob Gadling’s Wife/Hob Gadling (past)

Primary Characters: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Hob Gadling, Matthew the Raven, Lucien | Lucienne (The Sandman), Mervyn Pumpkinhead, Patrick the Bartender, All the Endless Siblings, Rose Walker, Jed Walker, Lyta Hall, Daniel Hall, Orpheus, Lucifer, (plus some cameos from other characters from the Gaiman Television-Literary Universe)

CLING FAST

Hob Gadling is a clingy bastard, and he’s not ashamed to admit it. He clings to life. He clings to hope. He clings to his love of humanity. He clings to his Stranger. He also, unfortunately, has a habit of clinging to his name.

Which means, when the BBC is looking for a new pet history expert to appear in their educational docudrama series “Elizabethan Manor,” they’re overjoyed to find a professor who (according to their meticulous research) is actually descended from the Master of the National Trust building they’re filming in - Gadlen House.

Only Hob knows how right they are.

Picks up a few hours after the end of Season 01 Episode 6.

CARPE DIEM

Hob turns six hundred and sixty-six, invites some fellow Immortals to his pub to celebrate, and receives a gift from Satan themself. Or, the Key to Hell was always going to Be a Problem(tm).

Set between the epilogue and chapter one of Cling Fast.

HOLD TIGHT

Hob is tasked with his first quest as Vassal of the Endless, Morpheus is bad at using his words, Destiny thinks he's so clever, Desire makes a confession, Rose Walker meets her Uncle's boyfriend, and Lyta Hall punches Dream of the Endless in the nose. Or, the one where Hob Gadling turns into everyone's therapist, and honestly, he ain't mad about it.

Set at the end of Cling Fast - after the premiere of “Elizabethan Manor”, but before the Epilogue.

KEEPSAKES

Short ficlets set in the Hob Adherent world, based on prompts received from readers. Includes tales of how Hob and Eleanor met and wed, Hob being a badass at a Ren Faire, some hurt/comfort and sleepy smut, and the story of how Hob met Orpheus.

TAKE ROOT

A deleted scene for a sequel I ended up scrapping.

[proxylynn]

Blorbo: Adam (Hazbin Hotel) Mammon (Helluva Boss)

{*diving into purgatory to find some smexy douchebags*}

[Adam and Mammon share a single brain cell in the grey matter that is in my skull.

When it comes to Adam, I feel he had so much more but the episode limit forced them to constrict him down to his most basic. But this basic bro bitch is still badass and baller. Sure, I could be seeing through rose-tinted simp glasses and imagining the implications of how much more there is to him, so much so that I think he's part of Lilith's reason for being in Heaven, but that's a hill I'll die on when proven wrong. Lord, I hope he's not dead. Sadly season 2 is also short-listed and that pisses me off (Let Vivzipop cook, damn it!) but if he's able to return in the upcoming episodes/seasons, I'll be a very happy girl.

Mammon is without a doubt just as big of an ego-driven bastard as Adam but even with his shorter time, he gave off so much personality that this bugger stole my heart along with my wallet. His goal is simple, his want is simple, his need is simple, and yet he handles going about this in the most fucked up manipulative gaslight toxic way yet is so bloody charming about it. This cunt would sell me ice cream he stole from my fridge and dropped on the floor but do so with rizz to the point my dumbass would buy it...and eat it. Fuck, I need more of him and I'm so hyped that we are getting just that some time soon.]